March 19 2017 Wells of Water In the Spirit

March 19 2017 “Wells of Waters in the Spirit” *John 4.5-42 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

If you ever need a little drama, meet Jesus at the well, [slide # 1 Jesus/well] like a woman did in chapter 4 of the gospel of John. He will not only ask something from you, as if it is your place to serve those who are considered to be in a league above you, but he will get into all your personal business as if he cares about you. [slide # 2 he cares]

Jesus is something else! Wherever he went, he stirred something up. He asked this woman who had never met him before, to draw him some water. He was thirsty and it was hot and dry as it often is in the Middle East. The woman at the well did not necessarily recognize him as the lover of her soul. She may have been preoccupied with the five boyfriends she had back in town. She had drama in her love life and Jesus stirred it up. [slide #3 drama]

She called Jesus “sir” and wanted to know why he was asking her, of all people, for water since his kind did not usually mix with her kind.   “If you knew me” he says to her, you would be asking me for water and I would give you living waters.

That is true for us, too. When we ask for water that refreshes, he will give us living water, no matter how important or unimportant others say we are.

Living water is refreshing water that brings life. Living water is the opposite of stagnate or polluted water that injures and brings death. In the bible, living water symbolizes the presence of God that rains on us and carries nutrients to the seeds of love and health and prosperity that are growing in our lives. [slide # 4 bucket of water]

We know how to ask God for what we want and what we need. There is a great prayer ministry at Bethel. We pray for one another, we pray for family and friends, we pray for our leaders, and we pray for the nations. We pray for our children, our neighbors, and we pray for ourselves.

We are all ministers and we all pray. [slide# 5 man praying on knees] That is, we have come to know Jesus well enough to ask for living water so we can be blessed and not harmed.

We are prayer warriors and like all soldiers, we understand that praying is spiritual warfare. [slide # 6 armored person] We understand that we are being trained to fight. We wear the helmet of salvation, we carry the sword of the spirit, we are armed with the shield of faith and the breastplate of right living, our feet walk in peaceful intentions, and we wear truth like a supportive girdle.

We exercise spiritual disciplines like all who want to remain in shape to fight and conquer the enemies. [slide #7 athlete stretching] We fight faithfully and courageously. We know we are winning the war, but we also know that we do not always win every battle.

Sometime, the answers to our prayers take longer than we want. Daniel prayed and fasted during troubling times. He prayed for 21 days before God answered by sending an angel with a message.

I woke up one morning and my thumb was tender and would not bend right. A chiropractor said it was arthritis and he pulled and pushed and I felt better. I did not believe it was arthritis, though, so I went to the hand center and the doctor there said it was tendinitis, and he showed me a needle and a dose of cortisone. [slide # 8 needle] An interesting thought came to my mind. “Take the shot, now. Take the shot, now.” I prayed and thought, “God, that is not your voice.” So, I told the doctor, “No shot today. I will think about it and come back.”

I spoke to a nurse in our congregation who noted that often this condition gets worse and I could lose the use of my hand and need to be surgically corrected. The nurse said, “You’d be surprised at how important a little thumb can be in your daily activities.” How right she is. Nevertheless, I continue to ask God for healing. I may lose the battle, or I may beat the odds, but I continue to pray and ask God’s help and mercy, as I do for all of us when we face physical and emotional turmoil.

Jesus gives us living water when we ask. We are refreshed in the midst of battle, whether we win or lose. It is not a problem. Ultimately, we can leave all of our problems in the hands of God. [slide # 9 plug in]

There is a show called The Doctors. Recently it featured a woman named Penelope who was nearly bitten to death by her fiancé’s two Rottweilers. They bit her from head to toe. She was in terrible shape.Her nurses cried when they changed her bandages. She was in a coma for weeks, and when she emerged, she was terrified of dogs.

A phobia expert worked with her to deliver her from her fear. His goal was to have her remember the past without the pain. That is a good thing to do in our Christian journey as well. We know that God recreates all of our pain so that it has a holy purpose. Losing a battle for which we pray so hard to win is painful. Yet, we never fail to get important lessons and blessings from painful experiences, never.

Whenever Penelope relived those horrible moments the therapist encouraged her to say, “That’s not a problem. [slide # 10 dog in carrier] He said to her, “I have a dog right here on my lap in this carrier.” And she answered, “It’s not a problem.”

That is a helpful meditation for all of us. No matter what happens, we can say, “It’s not a problem.”  Jesus has our back. He is with us and will never leave us, so we can bravely say about everything and anything that comes our way, “It’s not a problem.” God has the solutions we need. God will help us. [slide # 11 not a problem]

In troubled times, Jesus may seem like a stranger, because we may feel it is strange that he would allow us to have such a hard time. We imagine miracles and outpouring of blessings, but we do not go looking for trouble, so when trouble comes, we look at trouble and we look at Jesus as if they are strangers. We do not always get it.

But, I Peter 4 reminds us in verse 12 - Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

When we spend time at the well, we get to know Jesus and we learn to be free to ask for that living water. Then he may ask something from us, and we understand it is our place to serve him. He may get into all our personal business as if he cares about us, because, yes, he does care about us. Whatever trouble comes to us, we can say with confidence, “it’s not problem.”

On Monday night before the storm, I went to a worship service in Germantown. The preacher was Carolyn Knight, homiletics professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. She was named as one of the top 3 female preachers in the country. She preached on the Acts of the Apostles, which we are studying for six weeks in our Sunday Lenten Luncheons arranged by Ed and Aubrey.

She referred to Acts 12 where Peter was in prison for preaching the gospel. He was chained from head to toe, with security guards inside and outside his cell, and Dr. Knight noted that in spite of all the trouble that was going on in the church, the church was praying.” The church was not crying or complaining; the church was praying.

It just so happened that the answers to their prayers were unbelievable. When he showed up at the prayer meeting, they thought it was a ghost or something. Even Peter thought he was dreaming at first. They were praying fervently. They had high hopes, but they had low expectations.

When we pray, we ought to have high expectations that God will answer, and we ought to be prepared to give God high praise and sincere thanksgiving for every blessing, whether we appreciate it or not! As the songwriter says, “If we count our many blessings, name them one by one. Count our many blessings, we can see what God has done.” [slide # 12 count your blessings]

As you know, animated movies are prepared one frame at a time. One frame may show a foot dancing 6 inches from the ground. The next frame shows the foot dancing 3 inches from the ground, and the next shows the foot on the ground. When you put the frames together and add some speed, you can see the whole picture. [slide # 13 Snoopy dancing]  Giving thanks in every step of our journey helps us to see more of God’s blessings, to see that God is working something out for our good.

Dr. Knight encouraged us when trouble comes, to say, “So what, the church is praying.”

We are a praying church, so when trouble comes we naturally may grieve and shed tears of sorrow, but we keep on praying, we keep on asking, and in a manner of speaking, we say, no matter how big the cross we carry, “It’s not a problem.” No matter how tough the battle, “So what, the church is praying.” God is working it out for our good, no matter how terrible it seems. [slide # 14 troubles - so what!]

This season of Lent reminds us that we serve a big God. As we spend time at the well, [slide# 15 Jesus at the well] we begin to realize that refreshing blessings are deeper than we have imagined. We come to know Jesus in the fellowship of his suffering as well as in the power of his resurrection.

As Jesus said to the woman at the well, he says to us. “If you knew me, you would ask me for water, and I would give you living water.” Let it be so today. Spend time at the well. [slide # 16 church is praying] Resolve to do whatever he asks you to do, and let him mind your business, because he cares. Amen.  [slide # 17 count your blessings……]