I'm a sinner
I'm a sinner. I'm selfish, I'm rude, I think I'm better than other people (when I'm worse). I have so many faults that haunt me and that I'm trying to get rid of.
I'm blessed, though. I have God in my heart and He has taken away the penalty for and has forgiven me of those sins.
Pastor was preaching on "Living water for a thirsty soul" tonight at church. The text he used was John 4:5-42
Jesus was going places, preaching His Word, and He went to Samaria. Samaria was a wicked place. They were a "mixed" group of people- worshiping pagan gods and not the One True God.
Jesus stopped there and sat down at the town's well. Along came a woman to draw water.
This wasn't any ordinary woman. This woman was a sinner. She had been married to 5 different men and the man that she was living with at the time was not her husband. Jesus knew all of this, even before she walked up. Jesus asked her for a drink because he was tired from his journey. She asked Him how He was going to get a drink, seeing as He had no bucket to let down.
Jesus took her question and witnessed to her through it. He told her that she could drink from the well and be thirsty again, but if she drank of the Living Water (salvation), she would never thirst again. She wanted some of His water and received it that day at the well. Jesus told her to go get her husband so that He could minister to him also, and she told Jesus "I have no husband." Jesus knew that. He told HER about her 5 husbands and her live-in boyfriend and shocked her that He knew such things.
God knows everything about me and you. He knows how we feel, He knows what we think, what we do. He is the Living Water and wants to refresh you and "hydrate" you so that you will have the strength to do His Will.
- Jesus meets us where we are at in life. We don't find Jesus; Jesus finds us, just like He found that woman at the well. He doesn't ask us to "clean up our act" before we can come to Him; He tells us to come to Him and He will "clean us up" in His power, not our own.
- Jesus knows who and what we are. Jesus is All-Knowing. He knows what we think, feel, do. Yet, He loves us anyway.
- Jesus loves us as we are. We don't have to change to come to Him; He'll do the changing for us if we only submit to Him. Sin cannot separate us from His love. Praise the Lord!
- Jesus cares too much for us to let us stay where we are. We are sinners. We fail. But God can take those failures and sins and cleanse us from them. He can make us a "new creature" like II Corinthians 5:17 tells us.
- Jesus wants to meet our deepest need- Salvation. John 3:27 says "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." God in Heaven gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the sacrifice for our sins. If you don't know my Saviour, you are missing out on one of the most personal, most important, most wonderful relationships that you will EVER know! Repent! Hell isn't worth the "fun" of this world (which isn't really "fun" in the long run). You will regret it.
- Jesus changes us. HALLELUJAH! He does not leave us where we're at in life. He brings a new heart, new purpose, new feelings, new thoughts, a wonderfulness and meaning to life that NOTHING ELSE can give! Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." How wonderful a life we all can have if we would get rid of the PRIDE and the SELFISHNESS and just let Him lead us.
Life is so hard to navigate; lets give the "map" to the Creator and let Him work everything out!
Romans 6:15-18 says "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to DEATH, or to obedience, which leads to RIGHTEOUSNESS? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been SET FREE FROM SIN an have become slaves to righteousness."
There will be a change in your heart when you are saved. You will no longer want to do the things that the world does, you are a new creature. If there was no change in you, no reservations to sinning, no changing of ways...then you need to examine your heart and find out if you are truly saved or not. "Saying a prayer" doesn't save you; pleading with the Holy God to forgive your sins and come into your heart, does.
I'm so thankful for the woman at the well. Her sins were many, as are ours, but Jesus saw right past those, chose to talk to her even though some of us would steer clear, and ministered to her and gave her the Living Water for her thirsty soul.
http://www.somervillebaptistsermons.com/audio/2012/1-5-12-PM-Living%20water%20for%20a%20thirsty%20soul.mp3
I'm blessed, though. I have God in my heart and He has taken away the penalty for and has forgiven me of those sins.
Pastor was preaching on "Living water for a thirsty soul" tonight at church. The text he used was John 4:5-42
Jesus was going places, preaching His Word, and He went to Samaria. Samaria was a wicked place. They were a "mixed" group of people- worshiping pagan gods and not the One True God.
Jesus stopped there and sat down at the town's well. Along came a woman to draw water.
This wasn't any ordinary woman. This woman was a sinner. She had been married to 5 different men and the man that she was living with at the time was not her husband. Jesus knew all of this, even before she walked up. Jesus asked her for a drink because he was tired from his journey. She asked Him how He was going to get a drink, seeing as He had no bucket to let down.
Jesus took her question and witnessed to her through it. He told her that she could drink from the well and be thirsty again, but if she drank of the Living Water (salvation), she would never thirst again. She wanted some of His water and received it that day at the well. Jesus told her to go get her husband so that He could minister to him also, and she told Jesus "I have no husband." Jesus knew that. He told HER about her 5 husbands and her live-in boyfriend and shocked her that He knew such things.
God knows everything about me and you. He knows how we feel, He knows what we think, what we do. He is the Living Water and wants to refresh you and "hydrate" you so that you will have the strength to do His Will.
- Jesus meets us where we are at in life. We don't find Jesus; Jesus finds us, just like He found that woman at the well. He doesn't ask us to "clean up our act" before we can come to Him; He tells us to come to Him and He will "clean us up" in His power, not our own.
- Jesus knows who and what we are. Jesus is All-Knowing. He knows what we think, feel, do. Yet, He loves us anyway.
- Jesus loves us as we are. We don't have to change to come to Him; He'll do the changing for us if we only submit to Him. Sin cannot separate us from His love. Praise the Lord!
- Jesus cares too much for us to let us stay where we are. We are sinners. We fail. But God can take those failures and sins and cleanse us from them. He can make us a "new creature" like II Corinthians 5:17 tells us.
- Jesus wants to meet our deepest need- Salvation. John 3:27 says "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." God in Heaven gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the sacrifice for our sins. If you don't know my Saviour, you are missing out on one of the most personal, most important, most wonderful relationships that you will EVER know! Repent! Hell isn't worth the "fun" of this world (which isn't really "fun" in the long run). You will regret it.
- Jesus changes us. HALLELUJAH! He does not leave us where we're at in life. He brings a new heart, new purpose, new feelings, new thoughts, a wonderfulness and meaning to life that NOTHING ELSE can give! Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." How wonderful a life we all can have if we would get rid of the PRIDE and the SELFISHNESS and just let Him lead us.
Life is so hard to navigate; lets give the "map" to the Creator and let Him work everything out!
Romans 6:15-18 says "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to DEATH, or to obedience, which leads to RIGHTEOUSNESS? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been SET FREE FROM SIN an have become slaves to righteousness."
There will be a change in your heart when you are saved. You will no longer want to do the things that the world does, you are a new creature. If there was no change in you, no reservations to sinning, no changing of ways...then you need to examine your heart and find out if you are truly saved or not. "Saying a prayer" doesn't save you; pleading with the Holy God to forgive your sins and come into your heart, does.
I'm so thankful for the woman at the well. Her sins were many, as are ours, but Jesus saw right past those, chose to talk to her even though some of us would steer clear, and ministered to her and gave her the Living Water for her thirsty soul.
http://www.somervillebaptistsermons.com/audio/2012/1-5-12-PM-Living%20water%20for%20a%20thirsty%20soul.mp3
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