SNS - Mr. and Mrs. Betterhalf Series

Mr. and Mrs. Betterhalf Series; Sermon 4

"Wrong Well"
Pastor Steven (Elevation Church)

John 4:1-26 (NIV)
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John — although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”  “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 4:39 (NIV)
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

• It doesn't matter what people say or think, just stay focused on what God is telling me (you) to do.
• Rick Warren: "When you're small people ignore you, when you're growing they criticize you, and when you're big they resent you."
• Jesus chose to ignore all the other things, and go help the hurting and heal the hurting.
• Jesus was compelled to go.
• Jesus came for those who feel unclean.
• I (you) have to expose my (your) sin in order for Jesus to heal my (your) sin.

Different wells.
1. Well, I'm not worthy.

• Jesus doesn't tell us that the solution is to keep a standard, the problem is that we haven't received the gift.
• I (you) don't have holiness and God doesn't need my (your) holiness - that's why He offers to give it as a gift.
• Holiness is not what God wants from me (you), it's what He wants for me (you).
• God's commands are not demands. God doesn't command me (you) to live life His way, and to deprive me (you) of what is good. He commands me (you) to live a certain way so that He can give me (you) something that is so much better.
• His way is so much better.
• His commands are not burdens, His commands are for my (your) good and all about His grace.
• It's not about what He wants from me (you), it's about what He wants for me (you).
• When God calls me (you) to make a change in my (your) life, He will tell me to do it (not always all at once, but day by day)
• God doesn't speak to me (you) because He wants something from me (you), He doesn't speak to me (you) to keep something from me (you). He gives me (you) an instruction because there's a blessing that He wants to give me (you) and it can only be found through obedience.
• If I (you) knew who God was I (you) wouldn't give up.
• If I (you) knew who God was I (you) wouldn't take matters into my (your) own hands rather I (you) would live under His protection.
• If I (you) knew He was good, I (you) wouldn't go do things my way, because His way is the best way.
• It's not what He needs from me (you), it's that He wants something good for me (you).
• Don't tell God how difficult or impossible my (your) situation is; {tell my (your) situation how big my (your) God is}

2. Well, it's too hard.
   - Well it's too hard, it's too difficult, there's too much against me, I've lost too much.

• It it's too hard to do what God has called me (you), it's time for me (you) to go to another source.
• The well/source of true satisfaction is something God wants to do inside of me (you).
• My (your) biggest problem in thinking everything will be all right is where my (your) source of satisfaction comes from.
• I (you) need to go to a different well, if my (your) source of satisfaction isn't in God.
• I (you) don't need {fill in the blank} because I (you) have a love/joy that runs deeper then physicality.
• The key to filling fulfilled is not wanting a person (or thing) to act the way I (you) want them to act, but the spring of living water inside of me (you) saying "I don't need a {fill in the blank}, I walk with Jesus."
• I (you) have everything I (you) need; I (you) have the Spirit of God and He's in me (you) and with me (you).
• Before God can give me (you) what I (you) need, He has to expose my (your) sin.
• Jesus knows the condition of my (your) heart, but He still doesn't push me (you) away.
• The best thing Jesus can do is to not pretend my (your) sin isn't there and let me (you) live in it, but call me (you) out on it.
• In order to receive Him, and receive His well I (you) have to let go of all the other things.
• I (you) can't find fulfillment in other places, persons, or things.
• I (you) have to get away from the wrong well.

3. Well, not now.

• The time is now!

John 4:39 (NIV)
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”

• Everything I've (you've) ever done (up to salvation) has been wrong, but then God uses all the pain I've (you've) been through as a platform to show people how good He is.
• God wants to clean me (you) up, so He can show (you) off.
• Jesus wants to clean me (you), change me (you), and rearrange me (you) not because He doesn't love me (you), not because He's ashamed of me (you), but because He made me (you) and He wants to show the world what He can do through me (you).
• God wants me (you) to drink His water.
• We are all thirsty and we are all lost and we all need to drink from His water.
• God loves and uses broken people for His causes and for His glory.
• God raises me (you) up and out of the pit so that I (you) can reach down and help someone else up and out too with His power working through me (you).
• Jesus gave His life so that my (your) life could be rescued from empty wells and so that I (you) can drink freely from His grace and never thirst again.