(congregation applauds)
- We're so grateful, aren't we, to be here tonight?
(gentle piano music) I wanna welcome all of
the campuses that are, (congregation applauds)
those of you that are here in Riverside, in Orange
County, and Cosecha. This is amazing to be able to do this with the technology God has given us. This is just awesome to think that the word of the Lord
is alive and powerful, whether you're right here
in this room in my presence, or sitting in a campus somewhere
else listening to this, or watching this on the live screen. It is amazing, isn't it, that
God has blessed us with this? (congregation applauds)
I wanna thank you for all being here. You guys can have a seat. This is our wonderful worship team, and Ricky is gonna stay up
here on the platform with me, because in a few moments after
I do my welcome to you guys and introduce Nancy to you, we're gonna all campuses join together and sing a chorus together
as just uniting our hearts as we begin this conference tonight. I was thinking about reading
in the Old Testament, at various times, the people
of God would gather together in Jerusalem around the temple
for festivals and feasts. And the reason they did that was because they were gathering together to recall what it was that
God had done in the past to remember the miracles
that he had done in the past, and recognize that God was still at work in their lives today. They gathered together to hear
the teaching from the book, the only book that can be
trusted in all the world, 100% trustworthy. And they learned about the
character and the nature of God, the reality of sin, the
need for repentance, for the beauty of redemption. They celebrated that, and we're
doing the same thing today. We're gonna ask the Lord to remind us through the teaching of his
word about his character, about the fact that he is a
God that does miracles, right? We just sang about the fact
that God can still do miracles, and he's going to do miracles
in our midst this weekend, and we believe that wholeheartedly. We're so grateful that
we have this opportunity. And I wanna tell you that
if you're visiting Harvest for the first time,
dropping my notes here, I wanna let you know that we have ladies in this auditorium that
have name badges on. And we know that for those
of us here at Virtue, this is one of the big
events of the year for us. This is one of our big feast days. And so we wanna welcome you if you're visiting from another church, or you come from somewhere else. And we have a few people
visiting from out of town here. We wanna let you know that this is your home for this weekend. We have ladies that love you, that have prayed for you,
that wanna serve you. And so for anytime during this weekend, if you have a prayer need, or would like to go to our prayer room, or have someone to come and talk with, and visit with, ask questions of, we want you to know
that we're here for you, and in all of the campuses, there is going to be a prayer
room where you can meet, and you can have someone
meet you right where you are. So you don't need to
wait for an invitation at the end of the service. If you want someone to talk to you, the Holy Spirit is moving in your heart, just know that we have a prayer room. Here in Riverside, it's at the back, and the campuses hostesses
at the different locations are gonna tell you where
that prayer room will be. But we're so grateful tonight to have Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
here this evening, aren't we? (congregation applauds) It's not very often that
she gets out to California. And I will tell you that
we tried to get Nancy about seven or eight years ago,
and the plans fell through, and we were so disappointed,
but we never gave up. And she is a very busy lady. She has traveled the world. She's just recently come
back from South Africa, and had a amazing revival
happen down there. We're grateful that she has
come through the jet lag, come all the way from Michigan
to be with us this evening. She's written, oh, gosh, I
think it's over 20 books now. They have sold over three million copies. She leads a ministry
called Revive Our Hearts. And how many of you are
familiar with Nancy's ministry? And if you're not yet, you will be by the end of this conference. She has online resources. She has these True Woman conferences that had been attended by
tens of thousands of women across the country, and
even around the world, where she impacts them with
the truth of what it means to be a woman as the Bible
expresses what true womanhood is. So we're so grateful tonight. Nancy's here with her husband, Robert. And Robert, why don't you
stand up and say hello, wave. Maybe we can get a camera on you, and everyone can see you over there. (congregation applauds) These two are newlyweds, and Nancy may tell you
a little bit about that. Robert was, she said she's
the only woman who hired, fired, and then married (congregation laughs)
her book agent. So this is the truth.
(congregation laughs) And that's quite a story in and of itself. But we are more than blessed this evening to have Nancy with us, and she's going to be up
here in just a moment. But before we have her come up, oh, what was that?
(congregation applauds) Did we see something up there? (congregation laughs) Oh, they got you on camera. That was it, I missed it. (congregation laughs)
Okay, there you are. (laughs) Aw.
(congregation applauds) They're lovebirds. (laughs)
(congregation cheers) Before Nancy comes up and brings us a word from
the Lord this evening, Ricky, let's just sing a chorus, all of us, all the campuses join together, and lift our voices to the King of kings and the Lord of lords as
we begin this conference. Let's do that. - Let's sing it one more time. Sing this. - [Nancy] What are your eyes on tonight? (congregation applauds) What are you, what are you focused on? - [Congregation Member] Jesus. - As you came to this place tonight, were you focused on the traffic? - [Congregation] Yeah. - My sweet husband, we live
out in the middle of nowhere. We have more deer than cars on our road. (congregation laughs) And it took him two hours
to get to an appointment from Riverside to Harvest
Orange County yesterday morning. He was texting me, going,
this is unbelievable. (congregation laughs) Love living in Southwest Michigan. (congregation laughs) So some of you came through traffic. How many of you drove or traveled more than a
couple of hours to get here? How many of you had a
hard time getting here for some reason, your
childcare fell through, or? How many of you had a hard day at work. (congregation laughs) Lots of things our eyes are on, right? But what we've come to do this weekend is not to hear a great speaker. There are better speakers. There are a lot of other things you could be doing this weekend. Could be watching March Madness. (congregation laughs) Lot of things you could
be doing with your time. But I believe the reason you're here, and I know the reason I'm here, the reason we're gathered,
not only here in Riverside, but at Harvest Orange County, and there in the Spanish-language service, we've come to seek his face, to lift our eyes up though
they may be filled with tears. 'Cause some of you, it's
things a whole lot worse than traffic that's troubling you. Some of you just got a health diagnosis, and you just found out it's terminal. Or somebody you love
just got that diagnosis. I met a woman last night, she may be in one of the services here, she lost her two-year-old child within the past year
through a tragic accident. She's married to a man
who doesn't know Jesus. And there are just heavy,
hard things in her life. But you know what, she
was unexplainably filled with a sense of peace,
and calmness, and joy. I don't even know how that makes sense. The only thing that explains it to me is that she has turned her eyes on Jesus. (congregation applauds)
- Whoo! - And here's the thing, when you are looking at
anything other than Jesus, whatever is closest to you,
whatever you're focused on, that's what's gonna seem huge to you. So you focus on your problems,
and we all have them. And some of us have some serious problems. And if you don't right
now, just wait, you will. (congregation laughs) But you focus on those problems. You focus on that husband
who doesn't love Jesus, that prodigal child, that problem at work, that health issue, that financial crisis. If you put your focus there, that thing is gonna seem humongous to you. And God's gonna seem like tiny. And maybe there'll be times when you think he's not even really there at all. But if you will lift your eyes
up above those circumstances, those problems, those pressures, I'm not saying they aren't
real, they're really real, but if you lift your eyes up onto Jesus, what you're saying is you are
more real than my problems. And you are faithful
when everything around me is going crazy. And you fill your eyes with him, then the things of this earth
are going to seem to be tiny. And in light of eternity,
they really are, right? One of my favorite
quotes is a Bible teacher of the 1900s, G. Campbell Morgan. And he said, "The supreme
need in every hour "of difficulty and distress
is for a fresh vision of God. "Seeing him, "all else takes on proper
perspective and proportion." That's a supreme need in
every hour of difficulty and distress is to get
a fresh vision of God. And my hope this weekend is not that you'll fall in
love with some new speaker, that you leave saying,
oh, wasn't she great. Listen, I don't mind if you leave and forget what my name was. And most of you can't pronounce it anyway. (congregation laughs) But what I hope is that you'll leave, and you'll go back to
whatever your world is, and you'll say I got
a fresh vision of God. And in his light-- (congregation applauds)
- Whoo! - Everything else doesn't
really matter so much. Now it does matter. God cares about what's
goin' on in your world. He's not asking you to ignore it or pretend like it's not there. He's gonna walk with
you right into the face of that crisis, that challenge. When your eyes are filled with him, it's gonna look so, so different. So let's sing just one more time, and lift up your voices, if you would, like you really believe that
you're fixing your eyes on him. Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Let's sing it with faith
that it really is true. - Father, how we thank you
for your glory, your grace, your beauty, and all that you are, which is gonna meet all that we are, and all that we are facing
this day, this weekend. And we're gonna leave changed, because we've been in your presence. And we give you thanks. Whatever we're going
through, we give you thanks. We bless you, the sweet name of Jesus. And all God's people said? - [Congregation] Amen. - Amen, amen. Thank you, Ricky. Thank you, team, so much.
(congregation applauds) Well, what a joy it is to be here. I didn't know about the
time we were supposed to be here before when we got
our some missed connections. But the Lord knew just when we
were supposed to be together. And I'm thrilled that
the Lord in eternity past put this weekend on his
appointment book in Heaven. And he said, I'm gonna be there, and I'm gonna have you, and you, and you, and those women at the
Orange County campus, and those women in the
Spanish-speaking campus. Pray for those, for my
sweet friend, Erica, my new friend who's gonna be
translating all weekend long. While I'm speaking in English, she's translating into
Spanish, so you pray for Erica. That's a big job.
(congregation applauds) I wanna thank Cathe, Tiffany,
Ricky, the Serve Team, so many, many people that make
a weekend like this possible. And aren't you grateful for
what they've done to serve us? (congregation applauds) Now I know that we come from
different seasons of life. When I started doing these
kinds of conferences, I was usually one of the
youngest ones in the room. And I woke up one day recently and realized I'm an older woman. (congregation laughs) I don't know how that happened. I turned 60 this year. And if you're 25, you probably
think that is ancient. (congregation laughs) And I'm telling you, it is. (congregation laughs) I got this gray hair honestly. Now I noticed people don't
have gray hair in California. (congregation laughs) I don't know how that is. (congregation laughs) (laughs) But we have so many
different seasons of life here. And I come from the Midwest,
and it's a kinda rural area. You guys live in all
these, all the cities. I actually went to school
in Southern California, and so I know a little bit
about smog, and about traffic. I commuted to, I won't
say which school it was, but it's yeah. (congregation laughs) But we have young women here. How many women do we
have who are under 30? Can I just see your hands? Wow, lots and lots.
(congregation applauds) I am so thrilled that you are here. And you may think it's
gonna be a hundred years before you have gray hair, (congregation laughs) and you can say you're 60. When I was 30, I thought 60 ancient, too. But I'm telling you, it happens like this,
(fingers snap) (woman laughs)
so fast. And so I'm thrilled,
because I'm at the season of life when I'm really interested in passing the baton on
to the next generation. So you women who are teenagers,
in your 20s, in your 30s, I'm so thrilled for your
hunger for God's word, and your eagerness to meet with him. And I'm just praying that
God's gonna do something in your life this weekend
that you will take with you for the rest of your life. Now those women who you
really have gray hair, but only your hairdresser knows for sure, (congregation laughs) I wanna say this is for you, too. (congregation laughs) Because you're never so old that you don't need to keep
learning, and keep growing, and keep letting God speak to you, right? - [Congregation] Yeah. - So how many women over 50 here? (congregation claps and cheers) Okay, lots of those, too. (congregation laughs) And I hope we're gonna do
some learning from each other, some listening to the Lord,
whatever your season of life. Some of you are married,
some of you are single, some of you have children,
some of you are empty nesters. You may be divorced, you may be widowed, you may be a high school student. Some of you have been
long-time followers of Jesus, and you've been in Bible studies and church ever since
like the Jesus revolution. (congregation laughs) I think your pastor knows
a little bit about that. (congregation laughs) But I've met some people who
came this weekend, this week, who came to know Jesus
during the Jesus revolution, and they're grown-up hippies now. I mean, it's amazing.
(congregation laughs) And then some of you, you're
really new to all this stuff. In fact, some of you are wondering if you're even in the right place. (congregation laughs)
Because somebody told you you had to come to this,
and they dragged you here, and you had no idea what
you were getting into. And about now, you're
wondering where is the exit? (congregation laughs) Or somewhere in between. I wanna just encourage
you that this weekend, God has something for you, for your season of life,
for your situation. And here's what we all have in common, and that is that we want more. We want more. We want more of Jesus in our lives. We want more of his fullness. We want more freedom in Christ. We want more fruitfulness. We want to know him more. We want to love him more. We want to experience his love more. How many of you need
something more in your life? We do. So that's what we're asking him for. So I'm gonna pray just
before we open God's word. And I'm gonna ask as we bow our hearts, if you want more of what God
has to give to us this weekend, would you just lift your
hands up kinda like this? You're just, Lord, here's my cup. I want you to come and fill it up. Now when you lift this up,
and you say I want more, you know what you're also saying? I don't have everything I need. I don't have it together. You may teach the Bible
studies in your church. You may be a disciple. Or you may know a lot about God's word. The stories, the messages
I'm gonna give this weekend may be really familiar to you. Do you need more? - [Congregation] Yes. - Are you saying I have
a lack, I have a need, I'm not as full as I wanna be, I want my life to overflow with
the life and love of Christ? And maybe you don't even really want that. But you know you need more. So when you're lifting up your cup, you're just saying, Lord, I need more. Would you make me want more? (phone rings) Would you give me greater desire for you? Because some of us, our lives are so filled
with stuff of this world, we don't really want more of Jesus, but we desperately need more of Jesus. So Lord, we're lifting up
our cups to you tonight. We're saying we need more. We're empty without you. We're hopeless without you,
we're helpless without you. We're lifeless without you. So come, fill us up. Give us more, more of
Jesus, more of your word, more of your love, more of your grace, more of your wisdom, more desire for you, more hunger, more thirst. Please, Jesus, come and give us more. And thank you that you've said that you would give
more of the Holy Spirit and every good gift to those who ask you. So here we are, we're just asking. By faith, we're believing you're going to give us more of all that we need, not just because of something I say, but you're gonna be saying things to people's hearts that I didn't even say. But your Holy Spirit's gonna be working, so help us to listen, to receive, to welcome your gracious
work in our lives. And we pray it with thanksgiving. You're so good. We bless you in Jesus' name. - Amen.
- Amen, amen. Well, I've been told that people at Harvest Christian
Fellowship love God's word. Is that true? - [Congregation] Yes. (congregation applauds) That wasn't totally convincing. Is that true? (congregation applauds and cheers) Okay, I love that. Then let me ask you to open
your Bible if you brought it, or scroll on it if you've got
your phone to John chapter 4. And I'm hoping we have enough light throughout the room that you can see, because I want you to see
the Scripture for yourself. This is the word of God, and what it has to say
is way more important than anything I have to say this weekend. So I'm just gonna take you to the word. I'm gonna take you to the throne of grace. We're gonna go to Jesus. I need him, you need him, and
so we're gonna go to his word, which is what gives us life, and what for some of us may
be a really familiar story. You may have heard this
story a hundred times, or it may be the first
time you've heard it. And the details of this
woman's life may be similar to the details of your life, or they might be really different than the details of your life. But if you could cut us
open, and look inside, we would find that every one of us has something in our heart
that is a lot like this woman, that we have a lot in common. We're gonna see in this
passage tonight something, a truth in God's word. It's found throughout the Scripture, but it's been one of the
most liberating truths in my own life, and in
the lives of other women as I have shared this over the years. So we're gonna look at this
passage of Scripture first. And we're gonna take some time. We're just gonna soak in
it, gonna meditate it. I don't have any messages
that have three points. My messages, my poor Erica,
the Spanish translator, I got like 39 points (congregation laughs)
in my messages. So if you're like one of these firstborns who has to have like A, B, C, D, I'm gonna really disappoint you. (congregation laughs) Because we're just gonna
soak in God's word. Is that okay? - [Congregation] Yes. - And we're gonna look at the passage. And then I want us to look at
a problem that we all have. And then we're gonna close tonight by looking at God's provision, God's provision for our problem. So I wanna read John chapter
4, beginning in verse 3. And we'll read the first
part of the passage, and then we'll talk more about it. And as we read, I wonder here,
and in the Spanish campus, and the Orange County campus,
if you would just stand. Or you're watching live. I don't know if we have livestream. But wherever you are, would you just stand as we give honor to the word of God? John chapter 4, beginning in verse 3. This is the word of the Lord. Jesus left Judaea, and
departed again for Galilee. Now I just gotta put
a parenthesis in here. If you know something about
the geography of the Holy Land, you know that the southern
region was called Judaea. The northern region was called Galilee. So Jesus is starting in the South, and he's traveling toward the North. Now that's important,
because verse 4 says, and he had to pass through Samaria. Where was Samaria? Right in between, right in the middle. So we got Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee. You say, why would God inspire to say he had to go through Samaria? Of course he had to go through Samaria. It's right on the way, right? Wrong. Geographically, it's on the
way, but it was a world apart in terms of the culture of that day. The Jews who lived in the North and the South hated the
people who lived in Samaria. There were centuries of deep ethnic and racial hatred and prejudice. The Jews did not consider
the Samaritans true. They were like half-breeds. They weren't true in their
religion or in their faith. So what the Jews would
do if they had to go from the South to the North, they didn't go the direct route. They went around, the long way around, so they could avoid going through Samaria. So why in the world
does the Scripture say, Jesus had to pass through Samaria? You know why? Because there was a woman in Samaria, and Jesus had an
appointment with that woman. He had to go there
because that's the where the Holy Spirit told him to go that day. And Jesus with crowds
everywhere, north and south, goes in the most unexpected way and place to meet with one thirsty woman. Wasn't a big crowd that day. He didn't get his name written
up in the Jerusalem Times for having a meeting
at the well in Samaria. (congregation laughs) Jesus wanted to meet with that woman. He had to go through Samaria. You know what? Jesus is passing this way tonight. And yes, there's a crowd of people here, but he's not looking at the crowd as much as he's looking
at you, and you, and you. Everyone one of us, we come
as thirsty-hearted women, needy women, and he's singling us out. Aren't you glad that Jesus cares about the one who's in need,
the one who is rejected, the one that people wouldn't
invite to their service? He had to go through Samaria. So he came, verse 5, to a
town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob
had given to his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he
was from his journey. Aren't you glad Jesus understands (congregation member laughs) stuff like being tired? - [Congregation] Yes.
(congregation laughs) And the people who are laughing
are the moms of toddlers, (congregation laughs) or teenagers. (congregation laughs) He was weary, so what did he do? He was sitting beside
the well, he sat down. It was about the sixth hour,
which would be 12 noon. So it's the heat of the day. He sits down because he's tired. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone
away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew,
ask for a drink from me, "a woman of Samaria? "For Jews have no
dealings with Samaritans." Jesus answered her, "If
you knew the gift of God, "and who it is that is saying
to you, give me a drink, "you would've asked him, "and he would have
given you living water." This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, you may be seated. Okay, now let's just back up a moment, and look at what we just read. I want you to see that everything
Jesus says to this woman is designed to show her her real need. And it's also designed to point her to God's provision for her need. So think about that as we're
reading through this passage. Now this woman had three
strikes against her. First of all, she was a Samaritan, and Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jews hate the Samaritans. So she's a Samaritan. She's got a second strike against her, and that in this culture was
a huge strike against her, and that's that she was a? - [All] Woman. - So she says, "How is
that you talk to me, "you're a Jewish man, "and you're talking to
me, a Samaritan woman?" I'm told that religious
Jews in those days, when they would say their morning prayers, they would say, oh, God, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, I am not a slave, and I'm not a woman. (congregation laughs) Women weren't valued. And one of the beautiful things
Jesus did here on this earth was to show the value of women. Aren't you glad? - [Congregation] Yes. - Aren't you glad? Now she was a Samaritan,
and she was a woman. What was the third strike against her? She had a history. Now she knew that Jesus knew that she was a Samaritan and a woman, but she didn't know that
Jesus knew her story, her past, her present. She was a woman with a bad reputation. She was a woman of ill repute. So Jesus says to her, "Give me a drink." And she's astonished,
and she can't believe that he would break the
protocol of the day. This was striking. Now we know the story, many of us, so it's like, what's the big deal? Jesus talked to a Samaritan woman. It is a big deal that Jesus would do this. And Jesus says to her, "If
you knew the gift of God." He's gonna tell her about a gift, something she can't earn,
something she doesn't deserve, but something that he wants to give her. And notice, he says, "If
you knew the gift of God, "and who it is that's talking to you." Listen, ladies, the gift
of God is not a thing, it's not an experience, it's a person. His name is Jesus. He's saying, if you knew who
I am, I am the gift of God. You would've been asking me instead of me asking you for water. You would've been asking me for a drink. And he, this man you're talking to, would have given you living water. Now all of a sudden
here, we have a contrast between the water that's in the well, which is why she came to
the well in the first place, to get this water, this
literal, physical water, and this thing that
Jesus calls living water. Now she understood the
importance of water, because this was an arid, dry region. You couldn't live without physical water. And Jesus uses the water in
the well as an object lesson to make this woman understand
that her soul could not live without this living water
that he was offering her. Here's a woman who knew
she was thirsty physically. That's why she was at
the water, at the well. But what Jesus wanted her to realize was that she had a much deeper thirst that was far more serious
than her physical thirst. And so he speaks to
her of the gift of God. He's saying there's something
that you need even more than you need the basic,
physical necessities of life. There's something you
need more than health. There's something that you
need more than eyesight, more than hearing, more than food, more than water, more than bread. Jesus was offering her a gift. And he says to her, "You
would've asked him." He wants us to ask for this gift. Some of us are gonna do that
before this night is over. Now this woman is very confused, as maybe you are feeling right now, because we're just in the
middle of the passage. And verse 11, she says to him, "Sir, "you have nothing
to draw water with, "and the well is deep. "And where do you get that living water? "Are you greater than our father, Jacob? "He gave us the well, and
drank from it himself, "as did his," she's just goin' on and on. She has no idea what she's talkin' about. (congregation laughs) And doesn't that what we do sometimes when we don't know what
to say, we just say a lot? - [Congregation] Yeah.
(congregation laughs) - What is this living water? She's confused. So he's made a promise to her, if you ask me, I will give
you this living water, but she can't fathom how he's
going to fulfill this promise. Well, the water is not
going to come from within, but from above. And in verses 13 and 14, we see a comparison between the water that the world offers that
promises to satisfy us and the living water that Jesus offers that truly does satisfy us. So look, verse 13, Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water, "this water in this well,
will be thirsty again." You gotta keep coming back
again and again, day after day. That's why the woman was
back at the well, right? "If you drink of this water,
you're gonna be thirsty again. "But whoever drinks of
the water that I give him, "this living water, will
never be thirsty again." The world's solutions to
our thirst, they don't last. You have to keep coming back for more. But Jesus said, "If you drink
of the water I give you, "you will never thirst again. "You will always be deeply satisfied." Jesus said, "The water that
I will give him will become "in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life." The world offers natural
solutions, natural water, things you can see, things you can touch, things you can experience, but Jesus promises a source
of supernatural water, a spring of water. And he says, the water that I
give him, this living water, you can't get it anywhere
other than from Jesus. The things our souls most
deeply need and crave, you can only get from Jesus. That's why we gotta turn
our eyes upon Jesus. The world offers to meet
our external physical needs, but Jesus, the living
water that he gives us, meets the deepest internal
needs of our hearts. This well, this water, will
become in him a spring, an artesian well, a
spring of living water. It will keep flowing,
it will keep flowing. You'll drink, and you won't be thirsty, because you'll always be full. Well, this woman is not understanding what he's talking about, but something in her heart
says that's what I need. That's what I need. So verse 15, she says to him,
"Sir, give me this water, "so that I will not be thirsty "or have to come here to draw water." Now she still clearly doesn't
understand the difference between the water in the well
and the living water, right? But she says, this sounds wonderful. I don't wanna have to keep
coming back to this well. This is hard work, it's
lonely, I don't have friends. We're gonna see about that in a moment. And give it to me. She asks for the living water, she's motivated, she's intrigued. But isn't it curious, if
you didn't know the story, what would you think would
be the next sentence? She says, Jesus said
ask me for this water, and she says, I want it. Don't you think the next
sentence would be, here it is? But Jesus doesn't do that,
and I think that's curious. He says to her something
that doesn't even seem to have anything to do with
the conversation at all. He said to her, verse 16, "Go call your husband, and come here." Here's a woman who was
wanting to avoid her problems. So when Jesus said, I'll
give you this living water, and you won't ever thirst again, it'll be eternal, and
living, and supernatural, she said, give me this water, so I can get out of my problems, so I won't have to keep coming back here. But Jesus was wanting her
not to escape her problems, but to face her problems. He wanted her problems to
cause her to turn to him. He wanted her to stop
looking for solutions to her problems in the
things of this word. He wanted her to see that
only he could satisfy deeply. And in order for that to happen, she had to better understand
what her real problem was. He wanted her to become a true worshiper. But before she could do that, she had to understand
that she was an idolater, that she was worshiping false gods that could never satisfy
or meet her needs. So Jesus says, "Go call your husband." Jesus wanted the truth about this woman. We're gonna see the word truth
come up here several times in the next several verses. "Go call your husband." This is the hardest thing
Jesus could've asked her about, because look, verse 17, the woman answered him,
"I have no husband." Period. (congregation member laughs) Change the subject. (congregation laughs) That's not something I wanna talk about with a complete stranger. Maybe not somethin' I wanna
talk about with my best friends. So she just says, "I have no husband." Now imagine, if you're
familiar with this story, you gotta pretend like you've
never heard it before, okay? What's happening inside of her when Jesus says to her, verse 17, "You are right in saying,
I have no husband, "for you have had five husbands, "and the one you now have,
the man you're living with, "is not your husband. "What you have said is," what's that word? - [Congregation] True. - True. Now can you just imagine this woman? She just innocently walks
up like she does every day to do her chore, and there's
this man sitting here. He's a Jewish man, he speaks
to her as a Samaritan woman. And he says, "I wanna give
you this living water." She says, "I want this living water." And he says, "Go call your husband." (congregation laughs) "I have no husband." You're right. In fact, let me tell you a
little bit about your past. (congregation laughs) Now when there's this burst of light, when lightning flashes,
it's not that it stays lit that it becomes day all of a
sudden, but when it flashes, it kinda everything you can
see for just a second, right? And I just imagine this woman, this was a flash of lightning, and she's realizing if he
knows these things about me, he knows everything. How scary is that? I imagine she's trembling at this point. But this is a really
important conversation, because Jesus asked
about the very last thing in the world she wanted to talk about. What's the thing that Jesus
might ask you to talk about? You say I want this living water, and he says, tell me about
your, your childhood. Tell me about your
relationship with your parents. Tell me about your eating disorder. Tell me about your addiction. Tell me about your alcohol abuse. Tell me about your drug use, your addiction to
prescription painkillers. Tell me about your broken
relationship with name the person. You say, Jesus, anything but that. (congregation member laughs) Let's talk about the weather,
let's talk about the sports, let's talk about politics,
let's talk about religion. (congregation member laughs) That's what this woman brings up. But Jesus wanted to know
the truth about this woman. He knew the truth. He wanted her to acknowledge
the truth to him. He wanted the truth about who she was, about where she had been,
about what she had done, about what had been done to her. He wanted to know about her past. He wanted her to tell about her present, the things she was ashamed of, the things she didn't want anyone to know. He wanted her to tell
the truth about her need, about the sinful ways that she had tried to get her needs met. Tell me the truth. And initially, she did. She told just a little
bit of the truth, right? "I have no husband." But that's not the whole truth. Jesus knew it, but she needed to say it. She needed to acknowledge it. He wanted her to come
to him just as she was, no pretense, no hiding, no pretending, no trying to look respectable. Listen, you want living water? You want more of Christ in your life? You gotta be willing to
be honest about your need, about your emptiness, about your thirst. And that's hard for us. Have you ever been in one
of those groups where they, you know, you wanna introduce yourselves, and they say, tell us
something about yourself that no one else knows, or that
no one in this group knows. Well, if I'm in a group like that, I'm gonna say something like,
I used to play the cello. (congregation laughs) I mean, nobody in that group knows that. I'm only gonna tell 'em the things I don't mind them knowing, right? (congregation laughs) I'm not gonna just tell 'em the most shameful thing in my life. None of you know me, so I can tell you a lot of
things about me you don't know, but I'm not gonna tell you anything more than what I want you to know, right? But when we come to Jesus, he's saying, I know it all about you, so why don't you just tell me the truth? Tell me the truth. What's the truth that
you wanna keep hidden? Can I tell you that Jesus knows it? He knows what others have
done to you, the rejection, the abuse, the husband who abandoned you, maybe the husbands who abandoned you, the son, or daughter, or grandchild who's living an immoral
life, or strung out on drugs. He not only knows what's been done to you, but he knows what you
have done, what I've done, the overspending, the debt,
the addictions to social media, to Netflix, to romance novels, to food, prescription drugs, to alcohol, things we're trying to
escape from the real world. He knows about the anger, the temper, the screaming at your kids, and you thought you were the only one in this room who does that. He knows. He knows, he knows about
the eating disorders, that you're estranged from your parents, he knows about the broken vows, the broken covenants,
the multiple marriages, the immoral relationships
before you were married, the immoral relationship
you're involved in right now. Some of you playing with fire
with a man in your workplace who's got a wife, and you're
in a compromising situation. He knows it. And maybe nobody else in this room does. It's the last thing you would
wanna tell the truth about, but he knows. He knows that there are
marriages in this room that are falling apart,
hanging by a thread. He knows that there are women in this room who are making your
plans to leave your mate. He knows there are women in this room who are thinking about
taking your own life. He knows those personal,
sinful, immoral habits. He knows about the abortions. He knows it all, and he's saying, I want you to be honest with me. If you're gonna be a true worshiper, you're gonna have to tell me the truth. He knows the things about
us that no one else knows. He knows things about us that we don't even know about ourselves. What the psalmist in Psalm
1:39 calls hidden sins, things we're too proud or too
blind to see, he knows it all. And he's waiting for us to get honest, so he can give us living water. If you're gonna have living water, you're gonna have to let Jesus come into every hidden part of
your life, past and present. You gotta deal with it. Now Jesus has this
conversation with this woman, and he's just too close to home, too close for comfort right now. So after Jesus says, "You've
been married five times, "the one you have now
is not your husband," verse 19, the woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." (congregation laughs) Didn't take a rocket scientist. (congregation laughs) So she's gonna turn the conversation. Remember, we don't wanna
talk about our marriage, my marriages, so let's
talk about religion. You must be a prophet. And then she brings up
this theological dilemma. "Our fathers, the Samaritans,
worshiped on this mountain, "but you Jews say that in Jerusalem "is the place where
people ought to worship." Can you solve that
theological problem for me? If you don't wanna talk
about the truth in your life, then just talk about some
out-there subject, right? Talk about religion. And for some of us, our spiritual
language is a smoke screen for not wanting to get honest about what's going on in our lives. Because you see, we're all sitting here. We dressed up for the
occasion, and you look amazing. But I have no idea what's
going on in your heart, and you have no idea what's
goin' on in my heart. So we fix up fine, but Jesus is saying, stop the religious talk,
and let's get real. Let's take off the mask. So Jesus says, you wanna
talk about religion? I can talk about that. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, "the hour is coming when
neither on this mountain "nor in Jerusalem will
you worship the Father. "You Samaritans worship
what you do not know. "We Jews worship what we know, "for salvation is from the Jews." Remember, he's wanting to show her God's provision for her need? He keeps bringing it around to the gospel, which is what she needs more than anything else in the world. It's what you need, it's what I need more than anything else in this world. "Salvation is from the Jews, "but the hour is now
coming, and is now here. "When the true worshipers
will worship the Father "in spirit and truth, "for the Father is seeking
such people to worship him. "God is Spirit, and those
who worship him must worship "in spirit and truth." You see how Jesus is looking for truth, for us to be honest with him? The Jews and Samaritans were concerned about the format of their worship. Jesus was concerned about
the heart of their worship, who they were worshiping,
why they were worshiping, how they were really worshiping. So the woman says to him, verse 25, "I know that Messiah is coming,
he who is called Christ. "When he comes, he will
tell us all things." He's gonna solve all these problems. Let's get off this subject. (congregation laughs) And then this amazing
moment of revelation. Jesus says to her, "I who speak to you am he." Now that's what most of
our translations say, but you know what it actually
says in the original? "I who speak to you, I am." Have you heard that name before? - [Congregation] Yes. - What's Jesus saying? I am God in the flesh. I am. Imagine. See, this woman knew enough about theology to know that there was a Messiah coming, and now Jesus says, you're talkin' to him. Amazing, amazing. Well, just then, verse 27,
his disciples came back. I love how God times things. (congregation laughs) They marvel that he was
talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek, or why are you talking with her? So verse 28, the woman left her water jar, and went away into town. She forgot the whole reason she came to the well in the first place. (congregation laughs)
I love this. She just leaves her jar,
it doesn't matter anymore. She has found she's in the process of finding something that
is far more important than the water she could get at that well. She goes into the town,
and she says to the people, verse 29, "Come, see a man who
told me all that I ever did." Now let me just ask you, if you met someone, a
stranger on the street, and he could tell you
everything you had ever done, do you think you would run
back to your neighborhood, or your school, or your church, and say, I want you to meet this man,
he knows everything about me. (congregation laughs) I don't think so. (congregation laughs) I think we'd be terrified to think that someone
knew everything about us. It would be terrifying,
unless that someone is Jesus. "Come see a man." Now the people in the town had heard this woman say that before. - [Congregation Member] Yeah, right. - Six times, to be exact. (congregation laughs) Yeah, so what's new? She got another man. (congregation laughs) He's not just another man. "Come see a man who told
me everything I ever did." And the implication is,
and he still welcomes me. He knows, and he loves me, and he came to bring salvation, and living water, and to fulfill needs that I've been looking
for all my life in men. "Come, could this be the Christ?" "Could this be the Messiah?" Verse 30, they went out of the
town and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat," but he said to them, "I have food to eat that
you don't know about." Skip down to verse 39. Many Samaritans from that town, many Samaritans from
that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." Can you imagine that's a testimony? (congregation laughs) "He told me all that I ever did." Because you see, the
gospel is for sinners. Salvation is for people who need a savior. And the world is desperate
for help for their sin, for a solution to their sin, for a savior who can
deliver them from their sin. The world isn't interested,
or doesn't feel the need, and isn't impressed by a religion that just gonna patch up their lives. You don't need church to do that. The world wants salvation from sin, somebody who knows all
that we've ever done, and still loves us, and still
will extend his grace to us. So many Samaritans believe
'cause of her testimony. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with him, and he stayed there two
days, and many more believed. Why? Because of his word. They said to the woman, "It's no longer because of
what you said that we believe, "for we have heard for ourselves, "and we know that this is
indeed the savior of the world." Was some people who
acknowledged their sin, their emptiness, their
need, their failure, who tell the truth, and find Jesus, that's the ones whose testimonies
have the greatest impact and draw people to Jesus. Let me just ask you to
turn over a few pages to John chapter 7, wanna
read just a verse there. And then I wanna make
just a few observations about what we've talked about. John 7, verse 37. On the last day of the
feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, "let him come to me and drink. "Whoever believes in me,
as the Scripture has said, "out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water." Now what do I see in that passage
that speaks to us tonight? Why does this woman from
thousands of years ago have anything to do with us? Well, here's the thing, we're all thirsty. Would you agree with that? - [Congregation Member] Yes. - We're all thirsty, and
that thirst is God-created. We're thirsty for purpose, for meaning, for identity, for significance. We wanna know, who am I, why am I here? We're thirsty for love, for
acceptance, for intimacy. We wanna know, who loves me, who accepts me, who really cares? We're thirsty for security
to have our basic needs met. We're thirsty for fulfillment,
for happiness, for peace. We're thirsty for freedom from fear, from guilt, from bondage. We're thirsty for emotional wholeness. We're all thirsty. Don't you think you're the only one. We're all thirsty, and
that's a God-created thing, and it's actually a gift, as we're gonna see in just a moment. The problem is that we've
tried to satisfy our thirst in all the wrong places. We've tried to satisfy our
thirst in all the wrong places. You can see this in the
woman we've just looked at. She had different levels
of thirst, as do we. She had physical thirst. That's why she went to the
well in the first place, right? So she sought fulfillment for that physical thirst through water. We seek fulfillment
through physical things our surroundings, creature comforts. But this woman had a thirst that was deeper than her physical thirst. And all of us relate to this. She was thirsty emotionally. She was thirsty emotionally. Here's a woman who had been
rejected multiple times. In that culture, a woman could not easily
divorce her husband. But a husband could divorce
his wife for a big reason, or a little reason, or
almost no reason at all. So here's a woman who we don't the story, we don't know the background, but we can imagine that at
some point as a young woman, maybe through an arranged marriage, she was married to this man, and he promised to love
her and be faithful to her, and then the day comes when he says, I don't love you anymore. I don't wanna live with
you, I divorce you. We have a lot of women in this room, lot of women there in Orange County, and a lot of women listening by Spanish who've heard those words, and
it hurts so deeply, that cuts. So this woman is now divorced, and in that culture, this was
a huge stigma, a huge shame. She had no means of being provided for, no means of being cared for. And then another man
comes along, and he says, I'm gonna take care of
you, I'm gonna marry you, I'm gonna love you. She's a little nervous, 'cause it didn't work
so well the last time. But she says, okay. She knows she needs a
husband in that culture. So she says she'll marry him. He lives with her for
we don't know how long, and then he's tired of her. He didn't like the way she cooks, or he didn't like her
mother, or whatever it is, and he says, I'm outta here.
(congregation laughs) I divorce you. Second time, third time,
fourth time, fifth time. The sixth time, why get married? Nobody keeps their promises. Nobody really loves me,
nobody really cares. Here's a woman who knew acute loneliness and the pain of rejection. In fact, there's a little clue to that. I can't be certain of it, but it appears that she
came to this well alone. You say, what's so weird about that? Well, first of all, it's noon day, the hottest time of the day. That's not when women would
ordinarily do the hard work if carrying those pitchers
to get the water at the well. They'd go in the earlier part
of the day when it was cooler, and they would go in groups. It's a social thing, right? We women like to do things together. When's the last time you were at a restaurant with some couples, and a man got up and said,
I'm gonna go to the restroom, would anyone like to go with me? (congregation laughs) I don't think so. (chuckles) But that's
the way we do it, right? - [Congregation] Yes.
(congregation laughs) - And so here's a woman who's alone. Why didn't she go with the other women? Now I'm reading something into
the text that's not there, but we can imagine those
women talked about her. They looked down on her. They just said awful thing. She didn't wanna be with those women. She couldn't afford, she wasn't
secure enough to do that. She's emotionally thirsty. And so how does this woman
seek for fulfillment? She seeks for fulfillment
for her emotional needs at the well of men, relationships. And there are many women
in this room who've looked at that same well to
meet the deepest thirst and longings of your heart. That's how we seek fulfillment,
as women particularly, through relationships. And so you're single. Met a women last night. She heard I didn't get
married till age 57. And she looked to be
maybe around that age. And all of a sudden, her
eyes just lit up with hope. (congregation laughs) So when you're single, you're thinking, if I could just have a man to
love me and to be my husband, my emotional thirst would be satisfied. And then you get married, and you find out probably
before the honeymoon is over (congregation laughs) that there is no man, no
matter how wonderful he may be, who can meet the deepest thirst
and longings of your heart. So you think, I know what I'll do. Marriage doesn't completely
deeply satisfy me. So let's have a child. (congregation laughs)
- [Congregation Member] Right. - So you're holding that
precious little baby that you gave birth to so
he could meet your needs, (congregation laughs) until you realize that baby
is sinful, and selfish, (congregation laughs) and all that child wants
is not to meet your needs, but for you to meet his needs. (congregation laughs) So you say, that's not
working out so well. Let's have grandkids, (congregation laughs) or friends. Now marriage is wonderful,
children are wonderful, grandchildren are wonderful,
friends are wonderful, but they're not God. They can't satisfy the deepest emotional longings of our hearts. And so we look for
relationships for approval, for praise, for affirmation. We look to satisfy our
emotional needs in shopping, in food, in reading
certain kinds of books. What are we trying to do? We're trying to fill the emptiness. We're trying to mask the
pain, and the loneliness, and the longing that we feel. We medicate the pain, the emotional pain. But let me tell you, this woman
had not only physical thirst and emotional thirst, but there's one other
even deeper kind of thirst that she had, and that
every one of us has. And that's a spiritual
thirst, a spiritual thirst. Because you see, and I
wanna say this carefully, 'cause I want you to understand me, the core issue of this woman's
life was not her woundedness, how she had been wounded
by others, she had been, but that was not the
core issue of her life. The core issue of her life and
ours is not our woundedness, but our sinfulness. You say, I paid money to
come to this conference for you to tell me I'm a sinner,
and that's my real problem? You know what? You'll never get hope, and help, and freedom, and fullness in Christ until you realize that your core problem is not what other people have done to you, awful as it may be. And I know that's true in
a lot of women's lives. But even more core issue in your life is the fact that you have
sinned against a holy God. And if we don't deal with that issue, we're just putting BAND-AIDs
on hemorrhaging wounds that aren't gonna go away. So where do we turn to
get our thirst satisfied? I've had women write me
about this over the years. Let me read a few things
they've said to me. This woman says, I've
been filling my loneliness with friends, TV, shopping instead of letting God
take care of my thirst. Another woman said, I've
looked for satisfaction in my career rather than
fulfillment in Jesus. Another woman said, I've
been filling my heart with noise and busyness. Another said, I've looked
for fulfillment in men, in food, in shopping, in friends. Another said, I've tried to meet my needs at the well of work. This woman says, I've been disappointed in my husband's inability
to meet all my needs. (congregation laughs) Listen, you wanna have a happier marriage? (congregation laughs) You wanna move a miserable marriage? Expect your husband to
meet all your needs. (congregation laughs) That's a prison for a man. (congregation laughs) You ask your husband, he'll tell you. If you're looking your husband to meet needs that only God can meet, you're gonna be one disappointed woman, and he's gonna be one frustrated man. - [Congregation Member] That's right. - Now you can have a great marriage, but you don't have a
great marriage by saying, I'm looking to this man
(fist thudding) to meet the deepest needs
and longings of my heart. See, all these thing that
we look to are inadequate, because God has put
eternity in our hearts. And when you're looking
to things, and people, and experiences of this world to satisfy, you have to keep going back for more. That's what this woman did,
and that's what Jesus said. If you keep drinking from
this well of the world, you're gonna have to keep
coming back, and back, and back. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks
this water will thirst again." All these things are
temporal, they are fading, they are fleeting, they can be taken away, they can be changed,
they will all disappoint. So that's our problem. We're thirsty, but we've
tried to satisfy our thirst in all the wrong places. So I wanna just, before
we wrap up tonight, give you this bit of gospel good news. And that is God's provision. What is God's provision for our thirst? We need to realize that God wants to fulfill our thirst
and our deepest longings. He wants to satisfy us. You read this all the
way through Scripture. Some people have this idea of God that if you really get close to God, you get surrender to God,
you get committed to him, he's gonna keep you unhappy, miserable the rest of your life. If you really wanna be satisfied, the world says, go to
the wells of the world. But look around, do they look happy? God's word says he wants to satisfy us. Psalm 107, verse 9 says, he
satisfies the longing soul, and he fills the hungry
soul with goodness. I want you to realize
that Jesus Christ himself is the well that truly satisfies. He is the water that truly satisfies. He is the only water that
truly and lastingly satisfies. He is God's provision. He said to that woman, "If
you knew the gift of God "and who it is that's
asking you for a drink, "you would've said to him,
give me this living water, "and he would've given it to you." He is God's provision. He not only gives me living
water, he is the living water. Christ is God's provision
for the deepest thirst and longings of my soul. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of this water "of the world will be thirsty again. "But whoever drinks of
the water that I give him "will never be thirsty forever." What did the woman at the
well say to her friends? "Come see a man. "Come see a man." God's provision is Christ. He became, God became a man, so that we could find fullness
and satisfaction in him. So one more question, and then
we're gonna call it a night, but I want us to just ponder
this for a few moments. How do we get our thirst satisfied? We've seen our problem. We've looked to have our thirst satisfied in all the wrong places. God says his provision for
our thirst is Jesus Christ. So how do we get our thirst satisfied? Is that what you wanna know? Number one, we've gotta
admit that we're thirsty. We've gotta admit that we're needy. Women of every age, teenagers. Listen, teenagers, if you'll learn, women in your 20s, if you'll
learn this basic principle now, it will save you a lifetime-- - Yes.
- Of heartache and disappointment.
- Yes. - And it's the older
women who are saying amen. (congregation laughs and claps) Lot of older women here who wish they could've understood this
when they were younger women. You gotta first admit that you're thirsty. God says in Isaiah 44, "I will pour water "on him that is thirsty, and
floods on the dry ground." Now to admit that you're thirsty, you gotta be willing to humble
yourself, and that's hard. Say, I don't have it together. This is not a pull yourself
up by your own bootstraps, make yourself happy,
satisfy yourself message. That's death. The good news starts when we realize, when we acknowledge that we are thirsty. You say, but I'm so, so needy. And we think that that
keeps us away from God, or God away from us. Can I tell you, and we're gonna talk
about it again tomorrow, the thing that most qualifies
you or makes you a candidate to receive the fullness of
God's grace in your life, you know what makes you
a candidate for that? The fact that you're so desperately needy. God's not looking for people
who have it all together. There are none. And the ones who think
they have it together, they're deceived. - [Congregation Member] Yes, yes. - God's looking for
people who are desperate. I need you, I need you,
every hour, I need you. - [Congregation Member] Yes. - I'm helpless, I'm hopeless,
I'm desperate for Jesus. There is not a woman in this room who doesn't need the living
water that Jesus can give. - [Congregation Member] Whoo! - So we've gotta admit that we're thirsty. And here's a second thing,
and it's really hard. We've gotta be willing
to identify the wells that we've been running to
to get our thirst satisfied, the substitutes for Jesus. Where have we been turning
to get our thirst satisfied? Jot down this reference, and I wanna invite you to go back later and really ponder this,
Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13, Jeremiah 2, verse 13. God says to his people, "My people have committed
two great evils." You say, God, what have we done? Here are the two evils. First of all, he says,
"They have forsaken me, "the fountain of living waters." God's people says, God, you're not enough. I mean, I know theologically, you are, but in my real life, I haven't
found that you're enough. "They've forsaken me, the
fountain of living waters." And what's the other great evil? They have hewed out, for
themselves, cisterns, places that they think can hold water, and they've tried to fill them
with the water of the world. But he says, "They're broken cisterns. "They cannot hold water." What does God say in all this talk about, not sisters, cisterns? (congregation laughs) God's saying, you've settled
for cheap substitutes. You've turned to things, and people, and places of this world. You know what God calls those? Idols. Say, I'm not an idolater. Oh, you know what? Our hearts, as one great
theologian in the past said, "Our hearts are idol factories." - [Congregation Member] Yes. - We're always making idols. What's an idol? It's something that I
look to to fill needs in my life that only God can meet. So you've gotta identify the wells that you've been turning to
to get your thirst satisfied. In fact, I'm gonna let us
just start that right now. If you got a little piece of paper there, or something you're takin'
notes on your phone or whatever, I wanna give you a minute to
just jot down what are some of the wells you find yourself turning to to get your thirst satisfied. Now if you're nervous about your neighbor seeing what you're writing down, (congregation laughs) I'll just set our minds at ease. We all have these things. So just jot down the first
things that come to your mind. Where do you turn to get
your thirst satisfied? And I want you to do it
there on the OC campus, there in the Spanish campus. Take a moment, and just
write down, where do I go, what do I tend to turn to
to get my thirst satisfied? I give you just a minute. (paper rustling) Okay, just so we can see, and
you can keep making that list. (all laughing) But just so we can see that we have some of these things in common, I just like to hear from several of you who can call out loudly enough just that you'd be honest enough to say, here's one of the things
I find myself looking to. I see the hand, just
real loud so we can hear. - [Congregation Member] Social media. - Social media. Anybody else have that on your list? - [Congregation Member] Yup. - Or should have it on your list? (congregation laughs) Okay. Try to meet those emotional thirst. What else? - [Congregation Member] Crossword puzzle. - Right here. - [Congregation Member] Food. - Food. Anybody put that on your list? (congregation laughs) That's a big one on my list. I eat when I'm happy. I like to eat when I'm sad. I like to eat when I'm mad. (congregation laughs and claps) What am I doing? What am I doing in the middle of the night when that donut is calling my name? (congregation laughs) I had to ask my husband, my sweet husband, to get a donut out of our room today that somebody graciously
gave us yesterday. (congregation laughs) And just like it's calling me. (congregation laughs) What am I trying to do? I'm trying to satisfy longings in my soul. By the way, this is the
first woman's problem. - [Congregation Member] Yes. - Eve. - Yes.
(congregation laughs) - She looked at food to
satisfy needs, right? (congregation laughs)
- Yes. - So we're in good company. (congregation laughs) What else did you put on your list? Right here. - [Congregation Member] Netflix. Netflix.
- Netflix, Netflix. - Netflix, okay. Anybody have somethin' similar to that? All right. - Thank you.
- Somebody else. Right there. - [Congregation Member] Starbucks, coffee. - Coffee? - [Congregation Member] Starbucks. - Starbucks. (congregation laughs and cheers) I can tell you, that's one
I don't have on my list, (congregation laughs) 'cause I've never tasted coffee. - Aw.
- What? - And that doesn't make me spiritual, let me just tell you that. (congregation laughs) Yes, right there. - [Congregation Member] Acceptance. (microphone rustles) Acceptance. - Acceptance. People, maybe that didn't
make it first on your list, but if you think about it,
isn't that a well we look to? We want people to approve of us. One of the comments I
didn't read here from women is a woman who said, I parent
my six-year-old harshly, because I'm so concerned
about what my parents will think about my parenting. Dying for her parents', she's a mom, and she is desperate for
her parents' acceptance, trying to fill that well, right? Someone else? Right here. - [Congregation Member] Working out. - Working out. Okay, listen, these, and we
could keep going on the list, (congregation laughs) but the things we've
listed, did you notice? There's nothing sinful about those things. - [Congregation Member] Right. - Food's a good gift. - [Congregation Member] Right. - Marriage is a good gift.
(woman laughs) Coffee's a good gift, I suppose. (congregation laughs) Working out is a good gift. The problem is when we
look to those things, those people to meet needs
that only Jesus can meet. I'll tell you when this
first really came home to me. I was a woman in my 30s, early 30s. And in a short period of time,
the course of several months, one of my very dear friends
died of a brain tumor, another very close friend
married and moved away, another close friend had a failure, and had to move out of the
ministry, and moved away. And all of a sudden, I found
myself without these people that I loved, that I felt I needed, and I went into a tailspin. And here's what I began to realize through the course of
really wrestling with this. All those years, I had thought
that I was being a giver. I love people, I invest in people, I help take care of their kids. I'm a friend of their family. But what I came to realize
was I had been giving to get, to get the emotional,
relational needs of my life met. And I was looking to
those people to meet needs in my life that only Jesus could meet. Friends are a good gift, but they had become a God in my life. And little by little, God began to pry open my clenched fist. You discover what's God in your life, capital G or lowercase G.
- Right. - You discover if you have an idol when that thing's taken away, and you find that you
can't live without it. So somebody said social media. What you do if you take
away our phone for a day? - [Congregation Member] Right. - Right? And I began to realize that I was drinking
out of broken cisterns, that I'd forsaken the
well of living waters. I said, Lord, I wanna love
you, I wanna need you. I wanna worship you, wanna drink at the well of living water. And then you say, so you didn't
have any friends anymore? Now you know what happened? God gave me precious,
wonderful friendships. But they were free friendships, because I wasn't holding
on tightly to those people to meet needs that only God could meet. I was free to give, free to love, free to serve, free to bless others. And in the process, I found God meeting my needs
so beautifully and deeply. So as you identify the wells
that you've been running to, acknowledge that those things
can never deeply satisfy, not permanently, not fully. It's futile, it's utterly
futile to try and meet my needs in anything or anyone other than Jesus. In fact, let me tell you something that I hope it'll stick with you. I've learned that disappointment,
and loneliness, and loss, having things taken
away, people taken away, disappoint, loneliness, and
loss can actually be a blessing. - [Congregation Member] Yes. - You know why? Some of you have experienced
this, I can tell. Because they force us to look upward-- - [Congregation] Yes. - To get our needs met, right? And some of you in the
deepest, darkest valleys of your lives have found
Jesus to be amazing. - Whoo!
- Yes. - So anything that makes us need God
(congregation applauds) is a blessing. Can you say it with me? - [All] Anything that makes
me need God is a blessing. - I want you to write that down, and I want you to keep reminding yourself. Now you may be saying, I
got too many blessings. I just don't need so many blessings. (congregation laughs) But anything that makes you
turn to him is a blessing. And then just by faith,
come to Jesus and drink. Jesus said, "If anyone's
thirsty, let him come to me." Isaiah 51, "Come, everyone who is thirsty. "Come to the waters. "And he who has no money,
come, buy and eat." How can you buy something
if you don't have money? If I go to the grocery store, what's your grocery store around here? - Stater Bros.
- Trader Joe's. - WinCo.
- Stater Bros.! - Whatever. (congregation laughs) It's Martin's in our area. If we go and fill up those grocery carts, and take 'em to the counter
and the checkout and say, I'm sorry, I don't have any money, but I hope you'll let
me have these groceries, what are they gonna say? - [Congregation Member] Yeah, right. - No money, no groceries. But you know what? When you get to God's grace market, he says, come on in here. You're empty, you're
needy, you have nothing, you can't afford anything? Fill up the cart. Get everything you need, and then tell me you can't
afford to pay for it, and I'll tell you it's been
paid in full by Jesus Christ. (congregation applauds and cheers) Come to Jesus and drink. Find in him forgiveness,
freedom, all that you need. Listen, I was teaching a Bible study in my home number of years ago, a series on women of the Bible. And I taught one night on this
woman, the woman at the well. And that night, there
was a new woman there. She'd been brought by a
friend, was her first time. I didn't know anything about her. I learned later that she had
a very religious background, been in church all her life,
but she didn't know Jesus. And she came to me at the end
of that session, and she said, "I'm that woman you talked about tonight. "That's me." I didn't know it, but I found out later that she had had multiple
failed marriages, and had just come out of
a broken relationship. God began to work in this woman's heart. And it was a few weeks
later, it was Easter week, and that week, I showed a
film of the life of Jesus. And here's a woman who knew the story, but she told me afterwards. So when she saw the Crucifixion, Jesus hanging on that cross, that God opened her eyes, and she said, "I realized
I belonged on that cross. "He was there for my sin." God opened her eyes and gave her faith. She placed her trust in Christ that night. And I wanna tell you, that woman's life has never been the same. She's been drinking deeply. She's had a lot of hard
things in her life, a lot of hard family situations. Her problems didn't all go away. But she learned to start
coming to Jesus that night. She became a Christian, and she's been drinking deeply
at that well ever since. There's some here tonight who've
you've never come to Jesus, but God brought you here tonight because he wanted to introduce you. And I'm saying to you, come see a man. He knows everything I've ever done. He knows everything you've ever done. And he says, I love you,
I wanna give you my grace. I wanna bring salvation to you. And he's calling you
tonight to come and believe. Before you leave this place tonight, if God's speaking to
your heart about that, I wanna encourage you to find one of those people with a name tag, go to the prayer room, come here. There'll be some people
who'd love to talk with you, someone who just love to
pray with you personally. But I believe there are many others here. You know Jesus, but you've
been going to the wells of the world to get your thirst satisfied. God's been speaking to you tonight. And as we bow our hearts in prayer, I would just ask, would you say, Lord, I confess that these are the
wells I've been going to? I've been looking for satisfaction, for fulfillment in people,
in things other than Jesus. God says that's a great evil. Would you just say, I've
been worshiping idols? I've made idols out of good things. Would you ask him to forgive you? Would you acknowledge that
the wells you've been going to aren't satisfying you, and they can't? Someone has said, you'll
never know that Jesus is all that you need until
he's all that you have. And when he's all that you have, you'll find out that he
really is all that you need. So just lift your heart to
him tonight, and say, Lord, I want you, I need you.
(peaceful ambient music) I wanna drink deeply from
the well of salvation, the well of the gospel,
the well of Jesus Christ. Wanna turn my eyes upon Jesus. I wanna be filled with you. Wanna stop looking to my husband, my kids, or the idea or possibility of marriage, or entertainment, or sex, or sexuality, or drugs, or alcohol, or books, or church, or conferences, or anything to satisfy me. I know that only you can. How many of you, as our hearts
are bowed before the Lord, you just be honest enough to say, tonight, God spoke to me
about an idol in my life, something, someone I've been
looking to other than Jesus to get my needs met, and
I've seen that tonight, and I've confessed it by grace. I'm coming to drink tonight
from the well of living water that only Jesus can give. Would you just slip
your hand up in the air if that's true of you? You just wanna acknowledge
that before the Lord. And there in the OC campus, and
there in the Spanish campus. Yes, just up and then down. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus,
that you are living water. You are bread for the hungry. You are water for the thirsty. You are life for the dead. You are hope for the hopeless. You are joy for the despairing. You are peace for the anxious. You are a friend for the lonely. Everything that we need, we find in you. So help us, Lord, to keep
drinking deeply of you. And show us when we
start to look to things, or stuff, or people, our house, our stuff, our job, our shopping, our food, whatever, when we're looking to those
things to satisfy needs that only you can need, show us that, and help us to repent,
and turn back to you. We love you, Lord Jesus, we bless you. Thank you for ministering to our hearts through your word tonight. I know some have traveled a
long way, and we're tired. I pray that you give us good rest tonight, and bring us eager to hear from
your word, from your spirit. Thank you for what you're
doing in our hearts. I pray that as we leave this place, we'll be able to share with one another what you've been saying,
what you've been doing, not keep it to ourselves,
but share with each other. So we bless you, we love
you, and we give you thanks, in Jesus' name.
- In Jesus' name. - Amen, amen. (congregation applauds)
