Eight years ago I spoke out of John 4 about the woman that Jesus encountered in Samaria. I don’t remember what all the circumstances were but I ended up sitting with my mother-in-law.
And don’t get worried, I’m not going to trash my mother-in-law here. She said, David, you know what you left out in that message today? I say, what would that be? She said she got so excited she left her water pot. She said, do you know how significant that is? And she left me hanging. So I’ve thought about it and I’ve never preached on this before. In fact, I don’t remember ever preaching. April said she’s going to be out with the children this morning and she said, I want to know what I’m missing. Have you ever preached this sermon before?
As though I always pull sermons out of pork barrels. And I said, no gear, I haven’t. And so without a doubt she’ll want to tune in this afternoon and watch it on the internet. You know you can always go back and watch these messages on the internet. And for those who are tuning in, I know they’re tuning in right now in the east coast and the west coast. So we welcome those people and the Lord blesses them. So I’m speaking this morning about how she left her water pot. So in John’s Gospel, chapter 4, I’m going to read it to you. And I’ll be pausing a couple of times to bring something out of it. So we read in verse 5 of John 4, that Jesus came to a city of Samaria, which is called Saikar, near the plot of Brown, that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now, Jacob’s well was there and Jesus, therefore being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well, it was noon. Something that I did not read was the end of the verse before, verse 5. It says, he left Judea, departed again from Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. Most Jews people did not have to go through Samaria. I looked this up on a map to find out what was being said. He needed to go through Samaria. You know there’s not an idle word in the Bible. You know that. So when it says he needed to go through Samaria, there’s a reason for that. If you want to get to Montreal from here by car, you want to go the shortest road. You probably have to go past Kingston.
I just thought you’d need to know that. Why is it in here he needed to? Well, he didn’t need to. But if you’re going in a straight line from Judea where it was and you’re going to go to Jerusalem, if you’re going to go on a straight line, you will have to go through Samaria. But a good Jew would not get the dust on their sandals from Samaria because Samaria was known as the lowest of the low. They were half breeds. That would be a term that they would have spoken in their own lingo because these were not true Jews. They were so rebellious they’d gone ahead and built their own temple. And that was the end of it completely like you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to build your own. We have our temple up in Mount Zion.
So these were rebellious people. We’ll talk in a few moments about why they were considered so rebellious. So why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? He had to go through Samaria to get to Jacobs well. Why did he have to go to Jacobs well? Because he had a divine appointment with a woman, the woman at the well. Why would he think that she would be at the well? Nobody is going to be at the well at 12 o’clock. 12 noon is probably the hottest moment of the day in Israel at that time of year. It’s going to be super hot. And the women who would go, it would be the women’s chore to go and get water.
That was a woman’s duty. And so the women would go either in the morning when it was cool or in the evening when it was cool. They would not go at noon. But Jesus knew there would be one woman who would be at the well at the hottest moment of the day. And so he had to go through Samaria. Verse 7, a woman of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said, please give me a drink. First disciples had gone in another direction to buy some food. The woman of Samaria says to him, how come you’re talking to me, seeing I am a Samaritan? You would dare to drink water after I have even touched it by his very appearance. And by the way he spoke, if you’re from Montreal, we can tell if you’re from Montreal, it’s the way you talk.
If you’re from Dallas, Texas, we got an idea where you’re from. Listening to Jesus, she knew. She knew he was from Galilee. And so she’s wondering why he would dare to associate with her in any which way. Because Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, whatsoever. They’d rather starve than eat food prepared. They’d rather die of thirst than to take a drink of water from a non-Jew from a Samaritan. How is it that you, a Jew, asked of me a drink? I’m Samaritan. For Jews you see, had no dealings with Samaritans, it says. Verse 10, Jesus answers and says to her, if you only knew the gift of God,
If you only knew who it is, that says, give me a drink, you would have asked him to give you a drink. The woman said to me, to Jesus, sorry, you have nothing to draw water from, and the well is so deep. Where are you going to get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons in the livestock? And Jesus replied, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give will never thirst. The water that I give him will become in him, a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman says, sir, give me this water so that I don’t thirst, and I don’t have to come here and draw water again. Jesus said to her, go and call your husband to come here. She replies, I don’t have a husband.
Now you’ve said it well, I have no husband. You’ve had five husbands, and the guy that you’re living with now, he’s not your husband. So you’ve been speaking the truth at least. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our father’s worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. She’s picking a fight with them. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem will worship the father. You worship that you do not know. We worship, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is. When the true worshipers will worship the father and spirit and in truth for the father’s secrets such to worship him.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you is he. Verse 28, the woman left her water pot, went away into the city and said to the men, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could he be the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came to him. This story concludes in this way. Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, he told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his own word.
They said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed Christ, the Savior of the world. I am so enamored with this story. There’s so much in it. It is just fabulous. I’m going to surmise with you that this is not a young woman. She’s already been divorced five times. I also want to submit to you that she was not an ordinary woman. She was despised. She was a reject. Five husbands, she couldn’t get along with men. There were some who would have called her under their breath.
She acts and lives like a harlot. She hardly had any friends in this city. And when she went back into the town, she went to the men. The women would not be seen talking to her. She went to the men and told them the story. She had a lot of things going against her. Number one, she was a Samaritan, a half-breed. What was wrong with the Samaritans? Israel had been overrun by an enemy force, the Assyrians. And for some reason, and I didn’t have time to get into all of the details, but for some reason, they kind of left the Samaritans alone. But they took thousands of people out of Israel to their own country.
They kidnapped them, took them. And then they started to populate Israel, and the place they chose was the place where there were people, Samaria. The long story told shortly is that they intermarried. Then eventually, you know the story of Nehemiah and Ezra, how the people came back and rebuilt the city and whatever. But the people who came back, who were pure Jews, they were good people, they would have nothing to do with those Samaritans. Because they had intermarried with those filthy Gentiles, so they’d have nothing to do with them. And so, if you were going to go up to Jerusalem and go shopping, lots of luck, nothing’s on sale for you. You were a reject. You were worse than a dog. I mean, the Jews considered them horrendously terrible. And so they lived under this terrible black cloud.
So this woman had this thing against her. And when Jesus starts speaking to her and reveals to her some divine truth, she suddenly realizes this man knows God, and so she has a bone to pick with him. You Jews, you say we’ve got to go up to your mountain and worship God there, but we have our synagogue here. What makes you think that God would choose you over us? So she’s trying to pick a fight with him. Of course, Jesus does not fall into the trap. He simply says, you know what, sweetheart? The day is going to come. And he says such unique words. The day is going to come when you and I and everybody else are going to worship God. It won’t matter what mountain we’re on. And it won’t matter what tribe we’re from. It won’t matter any of that stuff because the Father will look on. All of us is the same and we’re going to worship him in spirit and in truth. So he was trying to kind of, he was inviting her into his arena.
She was trying to draw him into a debate. I’m a Samaritan and I know what you think about me. And Jesus comes across to her and says, you’re wrong, sweetheart. I’m not thinking those kinds of things about you. I’m here to tell you that there’s fresh water to drink. And if you’ll drink it, you and I will be communicating.
We’ll be a part of the same community. Something beautiful is about to happen. The Father wants to bless you. The Father doesn’t look down upon you like those people up in Jerusalem. He looks upon you as a needy soul. Isn’t it interesting that he does not attack her? I quite frankly think that the church over the years has made some errors. I’ve got to be careful now. I know I’m going to walk on some very tender eggshells here today. But where do we get off condemning people because they don’t live and they don’t function just like us?
We make enemies of people that we think that we want to reach out to. You can make friends with people and build a bridge and find a way to minister to them. Isn’t it something? How did Jesus approach this woman? He shows up at the well. She wanted to be alone. She was despised. She came at noon knowing she wouldn’t have to talk to a soul. She lived a very isolated life. She’s despised by the Jews who aren’t going to come near there anyhow. And she’s despised by the women of the town year after my husband next, I suppose.
So she came to the well at a time when she knew she would be alone except Jesus had another plan. And he knew what she was going through. He knew that she was a desperate person. And you see, these people, the Samaritans, they were very religious people. They followed the Word of God. They followed the Bible very, very much. And in fact, they made some claims. They claimed that they were true remnants of the kingdom of Israel. They claimed that they were from two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Many Jews had lost track of what tribe they’re from. We don’t read about tribal differences when Jesus comes, when we’re reading in the gospel.
You don’t read an awful lot about tribal challenges because when they were taken off, hauled off to other countries, they lost their sense of identity. They couldn’t tell one. And you talk to Jews today what tribe you’re from. They can’t tell you that’s all been lost. But this group of people in Samaria said, no, no, no, no. We know where we came from because we didn’t get exported to that other country. We’ve been here all along. And we know we’re from either Ephraim or Manasseh. And by the way, we have some people among us that we know they’re of the group who were known as Levitical priests.
You want to talk about being spiritually adept at the things of God? We think we’re ahead of the Jews. But they’re far too high and far too wonderful for us. How’s Jesus going to find a way to speak to this woman who obviously is engaged in liturgy in her own church? How many churches are engaged in liturgy today? You know, they’re going in and they sing to him. They do everything whatever. And when it’s all over, they shake the hand of the pastor and the way they go. And so their service began sharp at 11 and ended dull at 12. We go on till 12 15, hoping that we’re proving something.
Because Jesus actually dealt with that very fact a little bit later on when she said, you in your mountain, you in your mountain, he said, you know what?
The Jewish people have not lost their way. He’s defending them a little bit. He said, they’ve not lost their way. Don’t you come up against them? I’ve lost my way now. I was going to tell you something and I’ve lost it. Is that I’m having a Biden moment just way? I’m looking for Kamala to bail me out here. It’s gone.
It must have been really, really important. So these people were really religious. These people were very religious and they followed the Word of God. But they were also involved in what’s called syncretism. And I learned a lot about that when I traveled to different parts of the world. We had that kind of problem. Syncretism is a word to describe a mixture. I know this happens in South America. I went to a home once. I’m not going to talk about the kind of country or what I’m just going to say. I went to a home where a woman was sick.
I was there conducting outdoor crusades. Many, many people had come to the crusade. God was doing some wonderful things. People were getting healed. It was obvious. And so some people came to me and said, would you come to a home? There’s a lady very ill. And when I walked in the door, right over on the left side was something burning. Like incense and a little candle and a little character obviously was supposed to be merry. So this sick individual laying on this sick bed and right over here is some incense and a candle being burned for merry.
But over on this wall was some other incense and another candle and it was obviously another religion. So here these people were and there was something else on another wall. And I can’t tell you the difference between that wall and this wall. I knew, I recognized the merry image. And I knew that this all over here on this wall, that this wasn’t anything that spoke of Christianity. That one didn’t either. And where were those two things from the same root? I don’t know. I just know that this person was so desperate that they were calling upon whoever’s listening,
I need help. That’s called syncretism. In South American countries, the Roman Catholic Church actually has a lot of people among them. They’re still practicing voodoo. And it’s not challenged. And in African countries, the African witch doctors are not challenged. That’s a very religious thing. You get syncretism. You get this mixture. And so the Americans were accused of syncretism. They were upset people.
How did Jesus reach this woman? Number one, he didn’t preach to her. He didn’t start off with a message. And number two, he didn’t do what I used to do. I used to do outdoor crusades. You don’t know about all that. I had a 35-foot-long truck. It was 12 tons. It was a mobile stage. I’d go downtown London. I’d go to beaches and parks.
Parks, I went down to Montreal, down along the river, and I preached again. But what I did, I got up and I read, for God’s love of the world, he gave his own to me. And then I’d start railing on those people. You’re all going to die. You’re going to bring up hell and whatever. And it was a message of condemnation. Please notice Jesus did not say, if you don’t listen to my message today, you’re doomed. You’re condemned. And for that reason, I say, I think at times the church has gotten a little carried away with your bad, bad, bad, bad. Look at the way that Jesus reaches out to her.
He asked her for a favor. He knows exactly what’s going on in this woman’s mind. He’s determined to reach her heart. He never mentions sin throughout the entire dialogue in John’s Gospel for he never mentions sin. She’s been married and divorced five times, four times. She’s living with a fifth guy now. She was guilty of something along the way. He never mentions it. He never brings it up. No, instead, he says, could I trouble you for a glass of water?
And the end result of that is she turned into, what’s this? She turned into a bridge to a whole town called Syka. I read for you the end, many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. If he’d put her down, if he’d given her a tract, you know, this Gospel tract, condemned. The little tracts often have fire on them, not against Heaven’s gates and house flame. I’ve got somebody staring at me over here. He didn’t condemn her. The woman taken in the act, the very act of adultery, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. I believe that a woman’s life was transformed in that very moment.
He said, go and sin no more. I believe she went and sinned no more. His attitude toward her transformed her whole life. Pastor David, are you saying we’ve got to go light on sin? No, but coming against a person, and that’s what you’re doing, coming against a person, coming against a whole nation, coming against a society with condemnation. You know, I was told a long time ago, you can win if you want to attract flies, just use honey. Flies are attracted to honey, so are ants. Jesus touched somebody’s life by asking for a favor, and she became a bridge, and a revival broke out in the town of Saikar.
Everybody that knows the Bible knows the story about the woman at the well. So here’s a woman that I believe very much lived in isolation. She was isolated and rejected by the true Jews, because she’s this person that intermarried and you’re a mess. But now we also realize that she was rejected by the people of Rowan Village, because she obviously had some problems in her life. So she was separated from everybody else accused of being a sinner. See, the Jews would call her a sinner. You’re a sinner just by birth. You’re a half-breed. You’re already 13 steps down.
You haven’t got a chance of making it. You’ll never get up to where we are. We’re at the very pinnacle of spiritual success. God loves us. He’s going to spit you out of his mouth. So she’s isolated from the Jews. I believe that this is a woman that lacked hope. Why did she come at noon when nobody else was there? Because she felt more comfortable alone than with her own people. He reached out to her and he touched her in the midst of her helplessness. Jesus came, I’ve been talking to you about bliss.
What does that mean? That God wants to kneel down wherever you are. He came and he met her where she was. He came there. And although we don’t hear him touching her, embracing her in the spirit, he wrapped his arms around her and he changed her life. He met her where she lived. And he didn’t do so by condemning her. John 3 16, you know that, right? For God so loved the world. My grandmother taught me that.
For God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son. But whosoever? Believe it or him, should not perish but have everlasting life. What’s the next verse say? Anybody?
You love that verse. What’s the next one say? For God said not to send him to the world to condemn the world. The world through him might be saying that. Turn that, stand Peter. I’m not trying to stand and turn. And quote that verse. Nice and loud but slowly. Because there’s one word I want there to hit like thunder. Go. For God said not to send him to the world, condemn the world. The gospel is not a condemnation message. It’s not a put down message. It’s a lift you up message. For he came not into the world to say you’re a sinner and you better straighten up your back.
That wins, that wins nothing, nothing, nothing. He knew exactly what he was doing. And there was a whole town that lived just like her. She was very religious. You know, there is a verse a little later on where she says, well I know the Messiah is coming and when he comes he’ll sort all this out. He’ll help us figure it out. She was a believer in the Messiah and she goes into the town and she says hey, hey, hey, this could be the Messiah. She was very religious but she was very lost. But Jesus does not go after her lostness.
He goes after the sincere desire of her life and what were the materials that he used to teach her the lesson? A cup of water. That’s what he used. Would you give me a cup of water please? Why would you drink a cup of water from my hands? And then he says, if you knew who I was, you would be asking me for a drink. He put a little, a little finger, just a tip of his finger with some honey on her tongue. If you knew who I was, you’d be asking me for a drink. Jesus says to John, you need to baptize me. And John says, me baptize you.
No, I only baptize with water. Please baptize me. John tried to turn it around and say, I know who you are. I want what you have. Jesus is saying to this little woman, if you knew what I have, if you know about the well that I represent, if you knew about the truth that was going to set you free, if you only knew that what God’s going to do in Saikar, instead of being decide, despise, you’re going to become a hero. How did this happen, Mommy? How is it that now we have church? How is it now that we’re walking with God?
Well, you know that lady that lives in that humble little house down at the end of the street? Yeah, she was the one. She came. He came and spoke to her and she came and told us he’s going to turn her life around completely transformed. He said, if you’re only new, if you’re only new, when he asked for a favor, she was absolutely startled. You would take a drink from my hand and he says, would you care to take a drink from my hand? I’m a Jew, but I’m offering.
You see what he’s doing? You see what he’s doing? What I dare to ask you for a drink, I would. Would you dare to accept a drink from me? And if you drink from what I have, you’ll never thirst again. You’ll give me a drink of water and in a couple hours in this immense heat, you’re going to have to give me another drink and another drink. But the drink that I give you, you’ll never thirst again. If you’re only new, let’s turn that around. Let’s be the audience if she only knew, she almost missed it. Well, I, when I was meditating on this and working through, if she only knew, if she only
knew, I’ve talked to a couple of people in this town. I try to win people with humor, with gifts. I try to be all things to everybody that I might touch somebody’s life. And to never say to them, you need to come to our church. I don’t think I need to do that. I’ll just say, how’s it going in your church? Well, you’re a pastor, are you? Yeah. And then I say, how’s it going on in your church?
It’s so interesting. So I’ll tell you about a person. I’m not going to reveal who they are. They live in this town. I’ve knocked on the door several times. I’d be welcome right now if I went and knocked in the door. Hey, Dave, come on in. Let’s have a coffee. I have a good relationship. I haven’t burned any bridges. You burn bridges when you condemn. Hello? Come on.
Say, amen. You, you mustn’t burn bridges. How’s it going with you? You go to church. I haven’t noticed. I don’t study your house. I don’t watch your car coming and going. Well, he says to wife, she wants to go. He said, she’s religious, but he said, I just can’t get into it. I asked the right question and he just started opening up. I said, well, what do you mean you can’t get into?
He said, well, it’s so boring. He said, they sing these old hymns. I sing so slowly. He said, there’s no joy there. He said, nobody ever gets excited. He said, it’s just kind of dead, dead, dead. Then he says, this preacher gets up. He said, I don’t want to say anything against him. And I thought, well, you’re on a roll now. And he said, he’s so boring. And he says, he says nothing.
That comes anywhere near close to who I am or where I think I want to go. Or I’m thinking this guy is going to die soon. He’d kind of like to know a little bit about heaven. But when you get there, they talk about politics. And they talk about flowers. And they talk about nature and bees. And how to survive in this culture and all the rest of it. And meanwhile, they’re crying out for destiny. He said, I suppose you want me to come to your church. I said, oh, I don’t want you to get uncomfortable.
I said, I don’t just talk loud. I spit when I preach at times. And so I actually talked to you. I said, I probably scare you to death. Some people, when you say, there’s this movie downtown. Cares will live in daylight, so do you. They’ll run and buy you tickets. Scare me. Scare me. Am I scaring you yet today?
With that truck, we were downtown London. And I got permission to go and set it up at a big mall. And I set up the loudspeakers so that when people come out, the main entrance, I mean, they’re going to get pulverized with noise. And we had this song that we sort of changed. Most of you won’t catch under. It used to be a song about a house of very bad reputation. A song. It was a popular song. And it was about a bad song.
Some of you are nodding. You already know about it. Do you remember a song that had a bad ending? It was about a house of ill-repute. There is a house in New Orleans. Don’t sing it now. Watch this. Watch this. We took the song, and we changed the words. There stood a cross on a green hill where the Son of God hung. People came like they came. They came. I broke up a huge blues festival in London with that song. People came by the thousands and stood around. And you know, Marilyn Skinner, do you know the Skinner’s? What’s their choir called? Watoto Choir? OK, well, Gary and Marilyn, we’re just freshly married. They came. They helped me to do all this. He’s playing the guitar.
And she’s on the organ. And we had this big far-fieza speaker. I can’t describe it for you. But this thing could boom and could fill the city. And so when Gary’s singing on the green hill far away, she’s on the organ. Rrr, rrr, rrr, rrr. And the people were attracted to it.
There was not one mention of sin. And when I got up and I preached to this crowd, it was huge. It took about six minutes. And I didn’t tell them anything about condemnation. I didn’t say it. And every one of us is appointed to die. And none of you are going to stand before the judge. No, beloved, that drives people away. Yes, it’s the truth. But you mark my words. Read the gospels. I challenge you. You say, oh, well, Jesus called them snakes in the grass and white at sepulcher.
Who was he talking to? He was talking to the Pharisees. He was talking to those know-it-alls. But to the people who were hurting and broken, he cried out, come unto me. If you’re weary and you’re broken, I’ll give you rest. No mention of their diabolical ways. Condemnation drives people away. The message of the cross is not condemnation. He was condemned. And the message of the cross is, you can be free.
Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood. It’s a happy message. Yes, you have a burden of sin, but there’s a wonderful message. There’s power in the blood. I’m thinking about these people that I’ve spoken to. And I want to say to them, you’re so close. I know you believe in God because you’ve gone to church a little bit. You’re so close. But you’re so far away.
And when Jesus said, we’re religious, you know, we worship here on our mountain and you worship on your mountain. And Jesus basically said, but your worship is empty. Your liturgy, your vestments, all the stuff that you do, the people who gather with you are not connecting with God. And he didn’t bring up the fact that the Jews were exactly the same. And they got together, they sang these songs. My mother makes better cookies than your mother. Empty, empty, empty.
If only we knew, if we all knew, drink of this water. And as the messengers, we got to be careful how we present the water. Please, can I offer you a drink? Jesus won a whole city to Calvary by asking for a favor. Winning ways. We’ve got to touch people. It doesn’t translate into anything wonderful or astounding yet, but you men, some of you will remember. Last year, remember we threw a garden party at my house.
I went door to door all along through here with an invitation. And 90% of the time, it was the lady who answered the door. I said, hi, my name’s Dave. I didn’t tell her I was a pastor. You tell them I’m a pastor, and they don’t slam the door. But immediately, a curtain goes up. When people say to me, what do you do? I say, well, I’ve had a job traveling the world. What do you do? Well, I just do a lot of things.
I took eyeglasses to people in Uganda and fed them a lot of macaroni because I really did. But I don’t say, well, I’m a Jimmy Swaggert. You’re a what? No, no, no. I just kind of crowd it with, so when I went to these eyes, I said, my name’s Dave. And I’m new to the community. And I just, my wife and I just bought a house down the way. Here, we cut in the grass. It’s kind of nice.
And we’re throwing a garden party. And the lady’s eyes are, whoa. And I’d say, it’s free to whoever it wants to come. I said, it’s a breakfast. And I said, we’re going to have a piano up there. I’m going to make some astounding music.
It’s going to be great. She says, sounds wonderful. One is it. And I said, well, that’s next Saturday. Oh, that sounds great. What time should we be there? And then I’d say, oh, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t mention it. You’re not welcome. I did. I just dropped it like you’re not welcome. Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are you here? Because I’m inviting your husband. You women always have tea parties, lemonade parties. You get a candle. I said, you get crazy.
You get together to watch candles burn. Like, you have your parties. I said, I’m throwing a party just for the men. And 100% of the time, the response was, oh, I’d love my husband to go to something like that. And they came. We fed almost, wasn’t it close to 70 people? Elle, he’s up there with a bowler hat singing, bad, bad, Leroy Brown. That’s a spiritual song. Leroy gets saved to think by the end, right?
It was a beautiful day. The men ate breakfast. And I’ve had several men say, wait a minute, wait a minute. You’re the guy that lives down there. Yeah, you’re the guy that put on the break. Are you going to do that again? I say, well, if you want. Yeah, yeah, please do it again. By the way, sir, did I tell you you’re going to hell? You know, come on, I’m being real here. I’m being real.
We have to build bridges. Jesus ministered to the lady. And she became the bridge. Had Jesus gone into that town and stood in the square and started preaching. We don’t know the response except he was a Jew and he was not welcome. They would have started jeering him and, oh, yeah, you’re special, aren’t you? You’re from up in Jerusalem. Yeah, well, you go back to your prayer meeting.
We know that we’re some of that. They never would have listened to him. But wisely, he befriended this little gal. And when she said, hey, tell me more, get your husband. He knew exactly what he was doing. And so now, he’s crowding her out into the open. She didn’t want to hear this thing about her husband. She says, well, I don’t have a husband. He said, well, you’re telling the truth, aren’t you? You’ve already gone through four of them. And the guy you’re living with now is common law.
And that did not put her up because he did not say it in a condescending way. In fact, he did it in such a way that she was awed and her jaw dropped and she said, how did you know that? You’re a man from God. I know who you are. And she got so excited over a glass. Hello, she got so excited over a glass of water that she left her water pot. Dear sister Gillum, when she said,
you left the best part out, you never mentioned the water pot. I said, well, what’s that all about, mom? The water pot. She said, unless she was a rich woman, that water pot was the most valuable piece of ownership that she had in her house. You gotta save up a lot of money to get a water pot and you don’t live it, leave it just anywhere. She said she forsook her water pot and grandma Gillum. That was her name, April’s mama. Oh, the same height, very beautiful as well.
I said it. But here’s the other point she brought out. She said, when she left the water pot, the most important commodity that she had, there was another commodity that she had, the possession of faith, but now realizing from the man of God, her possession of faith was misappropriated. She was depending upon showing up, and everybody’s seeing her put her little tie then, singing the song about mama’s cookies, shaking the pastor’s hand, telling him to feel really good about his sermon. I’ll be at the door. She realized that all of those trappings meant nothing, but this man, this man of God, he’s offering me life, and it’s gonna be within me, and it’s gonna be gushing forth a beautiful flow of living water. This is the answer. When she left her water pot, it was her first move of leaving everything she had depended upon before.
You depended upon your water pot to keep you alive, and supposedly you were depending upon the liturgy and the attendance at the temple to secure your place in heaven. Leaving the water pot was the first sign. She’s gonna forsake all, and she’s gonna follow Jesus. I got one amen. We’re okay. We’re gonna leave the people, our friends, on the internet just now, as I would like to take a few moments to pray over people.
Thank you.
