An older couple were sitting in their family room one night watching TV. The husband, turned to his wife and said: “Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state dependent on some machine. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.” His wife immediately got up, walked over and unplugged the TV.
No doubt, all of us would be better off if we were to do the same. I’m not just bashing television, although I do believe it can have a mind-numbing effect. The question is, what kind of life are we really living? Are we just existing? Or are we really living the abundant life Jesus promised? 10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness. [John 10: 10 NCV]
Our Sunday School lesson in the Sanctuary Class this past Sunday dealt with the living water of Engedi. The pictures on the video were amazing. Here is this lush tropical oasis in the midst of a barren wilderness. Fed by an underground stream, water literally gushes out of a rock and tumbles down a waterfall bringing incredible life to the area.
Sometimes our world seems like a barren wasteland. We are parched and thirsty. We wonder if we can survive another day. Yet, there is a source of living water available to us. Jesus offered this water to a thirsty Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. She had been trying to find joy and happiness in a string of broken relationships, but with little success. Jesus offers her something better, “14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4:14] A little later Jesus offers this great invitation on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
[John 7: 37-38]
I'm reminded of a story I read recently about a group of sailors whose ship capsized in a terrible storm. They had survived for several days in a lifeboat, but their water supply was gone. With the sun blazing down they knew that they could not survive for long. They were so thirsty. But what they didn’t realize is that they had drifted to within a mile of where the mighty Amazon River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The fresh water is lighter than the salty ocean water and thus stays on top. It empties into the ocean with such force that it pushes a plume of fresh water several miles out to sea. The sailors didn’t know it, but all they needed to do was lean over the side of their lifeboat and they could have quenched their thirst.
The good news for us this morning is that living water is available for the taking. We don’t have to just exist. We don’t have to remain thirsty. God wants us to experience so much more.
Maybe you’ve heard the song by Crystal Lewis that has become one of my favorite invitation songs:
Come just as you are Hear the spirit call Come just as you are Come and see
Come receive Come and live forever Life everlasting Strength for today
Taste the living water And never thirst again.
Look to the One this morning who can satisfy.
Have a great week!
Pastor Barry
No doubt, all of us would be better off if we were to do the same. I’m not just bashing television, although I do believe it can have a mind-numbing effect. The question is, what kind of life are we really living? Are we just existing? Or are we really living the abundant life Jesus promised? 10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness. [John 10: 10 NCV]
Our Sunday School lesson in the Sanctuary Class this past Sunday dealt with the living water of Engedi. The pictures on the video were amazing. Here is this lush tropical oasis in the midst of a barren wilderness. Fed by an underground stream, water literally gushes out of a rock and tumbles down a waterfall bringing incredible life to the area.
Sometimes our world seems like a barren wasteland. We are parched and thirsty. We wonder if we can survive another day. Yet, there is a source of living water available to us. Jesus offered this water to a thirsty Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. She had been trying to find joy and happiness in a string of broken relationships, but with little success. Jesus offers her something better, “14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4:14] A little later Jesus offers this great invitation on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
[John 7: 37-38]
I'm reminded of a story I read recently about a group of sailors whose ship capsized in a terrible storm. They had survived for several days in a lifeboat, but their water supply was gone. With the sun blazing down they knew that they could not survive for long. They were so thirsty. But what they didn’t realize is that they had drifted to within a mile of where the mighty Amazon River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The fresh water is lighter than the salty ocean water and thus stays on top. It empties into the ocean with such force that it pushes a plume of fresh water several miles out to sea. The sailors didn’t know it, but all they needed to do was lean over the side of their lifeboat and they could have quenched their thirst.
The good news for us this morning is that living water is available for the taking. We don’t have to just exist. We don’t have to remain thirsty. God wants us to experience so much more.
Maybe you’ve heard the song by Crystal Lewis that has become one of my favorite invitation songs:
Come just as you are Hear the spirit call Come just as you are Come and see
Come receive Come and live forever Life everlasting Strength for today
Taste the living water And never thirst again.
Look to the One this morning who can satisfy.
Have a great week!
Pastor Barry
RSS Feed