Sermon
When Thirst Meets the Savior
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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It says, and he must needs go through Samaria.
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Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground
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that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
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Now Jacob's well was there.
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Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.
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And it was about the sixth hour.
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There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
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Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
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For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.
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Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew,
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askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
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For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
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Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God,
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and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink,
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thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
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Let's pray.
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Dear only Father, Lord, I just thank you for this opportunity that we have
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to just gather around your word a little bit and talk about this living water.
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Just be with the bitners as they are away.
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Give them safety as they return tomorrow.
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Be with the message today.
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Help it all to be from your words this morning.
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In Jesus' name I pray.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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Thank you for standing.
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As I was studying for this sermon this week,
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I thought it was rather ironic that the sermon is talking about water.
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And by the way, the time of day during John chapter number four
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is about 12 o'clock noon in a desert city.
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All right.
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So it is very hot.
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It was very ironic that I chose this week to do that, though,
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because it was extremely, extremely hot this week.
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All right.
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How many of you had to stop what you were doing outside
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and go get a drink of water this week?
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Anybody have to do that?
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Just a few people.
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All right.
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Some of you have the nice, nice business shops.
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All right.
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You never have to go outside and feel the heat that everybody else is experiencing.
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All right.
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No.
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The Burrs, I talked to Brother Clayton before the service,
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they went to Six Flags on Wednesday.
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Wednesday was the day that the heat index reached 117 degrees.
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All right.
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Me and Brother Tyler were talking about it.
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Brother Clayton had to, that was the only day he could get off.
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So they went to Six Flags, was talking to him about it.
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He said it was very, very hot, and you had to make sure you were hydrated.
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Brother Tyler said, I'm not man enough to do that.
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I probably just would have eaten the money and just not gone.
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All right.
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That is, that is some bad, bad heat.
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And when it is that hot, we do have to make sure we stay hydrated.
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Well, quite some time ago during World War II,
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sailors who became stranded on life rafts in the ocean often faced a very terrible temptation.
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They didn't have any fresh water left.
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So they were tempted to either drink of the seawater that surrounded their life raft,
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or just go without water at all.
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And oftentimes what they did in great need of water,
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they would go and get a drink from the ocean.
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And many times the immediate satisfaction was there.
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They were satisfied.
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They quenched their thirst a little bit.
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But before long, they realized that they were now thirstier now than they were before.
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It's funny how a person can be surrounded by this water.
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But if it's not the right type of water, then you go thirsty.
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And that's what was happening to these sailors.
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Some of these sailors died drinking of the seawater.
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They were dying before the people that didn't drink anything at all.
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Why is that?
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They were drinking of the wrong water.
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I think the problem with society today is we are drinking from the wrong water.
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We are not drinking from the living water that Christ is offering.
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We are drinking of the same water that the woman at the well was drinking from.
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The water that if you drink it, you're soon, very soon, going to become thirsty again.
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So I have a very quick question to ask you this morning before we begin.
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What well, what water are you drinking of this morning?
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That is going to be the thought that we're going to dive into.
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But first, let's get a backstory or history.
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It's very widely known in our Christian realm that the Jews and the Samaritans didn't really like each other.
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They didn't have an affinity for each other at all.
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And there are several reasons for that.
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That it was going on for several hundred years, their feuding was.
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There were several reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was actually religiously.
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The Samaritans only believed that the first five books of the Bible, otherwise known as the Pentateuch,
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was what they should heed to or what they should listen to.
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That's what they referred to as their Bible.
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But the Jews wanted to listen and learn from the entire Bible.
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So the Jews looked at the Samaritans and said, you guys are unclean.
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You guys are basically half Christians.
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You're not doing everything the right way.
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So they would do everything in their power to make sure that they did not associate themselves with the Samaritans.
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Which brings us to our passage of scripture here.
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Jesus, being a Jew, is going from Judea to Galilee.
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And there are three separate ways to get from Judea to Galilee.
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The quickest way is to go through Samaria from Judea, go through Samaria, get to Galilee.
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But the route the Jews would often take, they would go around.
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There were two routes around.
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It took a little bit longer, but the Jews hated the Samaritans so much,
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they thought they were not as good as them,
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so they would take the routes around Samaria so they wouldn't have to go there.
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But I see in verse number four, it says, and he must needs go through Samaria.
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So we already discussed, there was two alternate routes that Christ could have taken.
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He could have taken two alternate routes instead of going through Samaria.
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So why did he do it?
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And why does the Bible say he must needs go through Samaria?
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It's very interesting.
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Because Jesus, being a Jew, he shouldn't want to go through Samaria.
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Samaria doesn't have good people, by the way.
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They don't have a bunch of saved Christians.
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They have a bunch of people that aren't doing the right thing, aren't living the right life.
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But he must needs go through Samaria.
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My first point this morning is the pursuit of the Savior.
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The pursuit of the Savior.
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I see that during our story here, it says in parentheses in verse number eight,
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that the disciples had gone away into the city to get meat.
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They went shopping.
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They were doing all the things that they needed to do.
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And here's the deal.
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It could have been very, very easy for Christ to have just gone with his clique.
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Gone with the disciples.
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If we're not careful, I know this happens in school, high schools.
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But if we're not careful, church can become like this.
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It can become very clique-ish.
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Certain people only talk to certain people that they have stuff in common with.
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Like these people over here, they're talking about sports.
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These people over here, they're talking about cars.
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These people over here, they're talking about politics.
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Everybody's got a clique.
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But then somebody new walks through the door.
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That lost person, that Samaritan, walks through the door, sees everybody in their cliques,
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and they walk right back out.
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Because they say, that's not a church I want to be a part of.
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That's not a church that has the living water that I'm looking for.
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Jesus Christ went out of his way to make sure he reached one person.
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So first of all today, if you're that one in here that says, I don't have the living water.
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I'm not saved.
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I've never asked Christ into my heart.
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Let me just tell you, Christ is actively pursuing you.
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Oftentimes how we look at it is, God loved the whole world.
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God came to save the whole world.
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That is true.
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But on a more personal basis, he's after you.
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He's not after everybody else.
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He's after you.
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I would imagine the majority of people in here probably are saved.
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There might be a couple, though, that aren't.
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And that's who Christ is pursuing today.
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Christ is pursuing those that are unsaved that don't have that living water.
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But here's the deal.
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Christ can pursue you all day long, but he can't force you into salvation.
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Christ can run after you, but eventually you have to make the choice to come back home to him.
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I have a dog.
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His name's Murphy.
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Now, Murphy, he's a good dog.
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If you've ever been to my house, you've seen him, and you've seen how he drives me crazy sometimes.
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This morning, as a matter of fact, my morning went terrible because he threw up all over our floor.
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So it was fantastic.
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But I love my dog most of the time.
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But every now and then, Murphy gets the idea to dart out the front door when it is left open.
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And when he darts out the front door, I have to chase him.
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Because the reality of the matter is when he runs too far away, he's going to get lost.
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He's not going to be able to find his way back to my house.
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He just won't.
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So I've got to chase him.
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So if you ever see me running around Gainesville, I'm not like Brother Tyler exercising.
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I'm just chasing my dog, all right?
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And I'm running around trying to chase him.
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And you know what?
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When I call his name and he is playing, sniffing, doing whatever, it seems like he has gone deaf.
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He can't hear me.
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He doesn't know that I'm calling his name.
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He's running around like crazy.
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He's going to get hit by a car.
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But he doesn't know that.
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Only I do.
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Only I can see the dangers that he's putting himself into.
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But I am chasing after this dog.
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And only when Murphy gets tired of playing and running around does he decide that it's a good idea to just stop and walk back to me.
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And the problem with that is then I've got to walk a mile back to my house.
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I'm carrying this 50-pound golden doodle over my shoulder trying to get him home, all right?
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That's what Christ does.
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Christ is after you, Allah Center.
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Christ can see the danger you're putting yourself into.
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Christ can see the direction that you're going and what the ending entails.
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Christ can see that.
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That's why he's pursuing you.
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But it's not until you choose to come back to him that you can truly be saved.
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Christ can't force it upon you.
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He can't.
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I have a mixed relationship with AI.
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I kind of like AI, but I really like ChatGBT.
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I did a lot of things for Vacation Bible School using ChatGBT.
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It's a great, great tool.
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But you know what ChatGBT can't do?
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It cannot make its own decisions.
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It can only give you information that has been programmed into it by a human being.
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That's the difference between AI and you.
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You have the free will.
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You have the decision.
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You have the choices that you can make.
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God could have made us like a robot.
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He could have done that.
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Men are not the first ones to figure out the idea of a robot.
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God could have done it.
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God could have forced us, every single one of us, to worship him and to follow him.
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But he didn't do that.
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Because he wanted you to choose him.
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He wanted you to choose that living water.
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I just find it very interesting.
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He must need to go through Samaria to find that one soul.
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And it says in verse number nine,
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Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him,
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How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
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For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
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What we do as human beings, we look on the surface.
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We take things for surface value.
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And that's what this woman at the well is doing.
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She doesn't really understand the whole principle about what Jesus is talking about.
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Jesus wants to give her living water.
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And all she sees is, you're a Jew.
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I'm a Samaritan.
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We're supposed to hate each other.
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I'm supposed to not like you.
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You're supposed to not like me.
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Why are you talking to me?
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And it says in verse number 10,
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Jesus answered and said unto her,
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If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee,
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Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him,
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and he would have given thee living water.
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Jesus was following the Father's plan.
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It says in Luke chapter number 10, verse 19.
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This is one of my favorite verses.
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Or 19 verse 10, I'm sorry.
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One of my favorite verses in the Bible.
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It says, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
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God's plan for Christ was to seek and to save that which is lost.
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Did you know if you were a Christian,
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God's plan for you is to seek and to save that which was lost.
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That's what God's called us to do.
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But I love the fact that Jesus didn't just tell us to do something.
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I don't enjoy it when people tell me to do something,
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but I know they've never actually experienced it in their life.
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I'll use an example.
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I think I've used this before.
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One of my professors in college didn't like him very much.
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I was at a Bible college.
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There are bad professors at Bible colleges too.
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All right.
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And he told us a long time ago, he said,
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Well, I am not the stage of Christian that has to mow the lawn.
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I'm past that.
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I'm beyond that.
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I don't have to do that because I'm a higher Christian than they are.
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I don't like it when people say that because Jesus was washing people's feet.
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I have to imagine that Jesus's stage of Christianity that he was at was high above washing somebody else's feet.
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I like it when somebody shows me by example how to do something.
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I don't like somebody telling me to go scrub a toilet if I know they've never scrubbed a toilet in their life.
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I like somebody showing me how to do something by example.
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And that's what Christ did.
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Christ didn't just tell us to win the lost.
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He showed us how to do it.
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He said, Watch what I'm going to do.
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And he just, it wasn't an easy thing.
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It wasn't like one of your friends walking up to you and you talked about your Sunday morning message.
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This was out of his way.
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Probably not the greatest journey in the world.
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It's super hot.
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And Christ reached a woman in Samaria.
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Where is your Samaria?
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Where is your woman at the well?
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Who is your woman at the well?
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Because everybody's got one.
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Everybody's got one where it might not be the easiest thing to do to go tell them about Christ.
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To go out of your norm and reach them with the gospel.
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It was way out of the Jews' norms to ever talk to anybody from Samaria.
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But that's what Christ did.
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So first of all, if you have not drank from the living water, Christ is pursuing you today.
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But also, if you are saved, Christ pursued you.
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You should pursue other sinners as well.
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Because Christ did it.
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My second point.
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Firstly, we have the pursuit of the Savior.
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And then we have the thirst of the soul.
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The thirst of the soul.
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Let's look at verse number 11.
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It says,
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I find this crazy that the woman at the well is saying,
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You can't be better than Jacob.
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Jacob's the one who gave us the well.
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Jacob's the one who first drew in the well.
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You're not better than him.
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What are you talking about?
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How are you going to draw me water when you don't even have a pot?
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You don't even have a bucket.
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What are you going to do, Jesus?
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And it says in verse 13,
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Jesus answered and said unto her,
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Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
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But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
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But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
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The woman saith unto him,
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Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
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She is stuck.
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The woman at the well is very stuck in her way of thinking.
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She cannot get out of her head physical water, physical thirst, physical satisfaction.
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That's where she's at right now.
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And a lot of times that's where we, even as Christians, are at.
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Physical satisfaction comes above spiritual satisfaction.
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Looking to humans, looking to see what others are doing,
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that's who I want to model my life after, not Christ.
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There was a man, and I do not want to deride any person, especially from the pulpit.
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I'm just going to tell you a couple facts that I know.
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There's a man, a great preacher.
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I've heard him many, many, many times on audio,
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but I got to attend a youth camp one time, listen to him preach.
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I know Pastor Tyler has heard him at a youth conference.
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He actually got saved under his preaching.
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I'm sure several of you might know his name.
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His name's Kenny Baldwin.
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And this week he was arrested for sending inappropriate photographs to a teenager.
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A teenager that, by the way, he met in church.
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And I got to thinking about that.
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A lot of people were saying how hurt they were, how troubling it is that a man of God like that,
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probably top five famous Baptist preachers in America.
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And he messed up.
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And if you're not careful, looking on social media can be a very, very bad plan,
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especially at things like this.
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But nonetheless, I looked at Facebook.
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I did not heed my own advice.
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And I looked at Facebook, and several different comments,
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several different people were speaking and saying,
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Man, that's why I left the Baptist church.
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Because a man like that, that would preach one thing,
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and then they get caught doing another.
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I would never go to a church like that.
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And I got to thinking.
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And man, their argument seemed pretty founded.
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Like, this guy's a famous preacher.
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He's preached many things.
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Many salvations have occurred under his preaching and his leadership.
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So what do you even think when something like this happens like that?
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It doesn't make any sense to me.
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It doesn't make any sense to us.
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But the problem is, other people have begun looking at preachers,
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have begun looking at pastors, have begun looking at people,
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and idolizing them, saying,
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Man, one day I want to be that kind of Christian.
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I want to be that kind of Christian when I grow up,
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instead of focusing and looking at Christ alone.
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Guess what?
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At church, there are a bunch of sinners that come into this building.
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There are a bunch of filthy, filthy people.
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And I'm not supporting what this man did.
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It's vile.
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It's disgusting.
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But let me just tell you, if we're looking at that man and saying,
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Well, he couldn't follow God.
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If he can't do it, we're not going to be able to do it either.
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Focus on Christ.
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What happened with this man is, he forgot to focus on Christ alone.
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And that's what Jesus Christ is trying to get across to this woman.
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He's saying, Stop worrying about all the physical things that can satisfy you.
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Stop worrying about this water.
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I've got something far greater for you to draw from today.
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Look at me.
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Stop looking at everything else.
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This world is filled with obstacles.
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This world is filled with sin that gets in our way,
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that makes us dart over and look the other way.
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Keep your focus on Christ.
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Because if you don't, sin will catch you.
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It will.
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If you don't keep looking on Christ, you're going to go wayside very, very quickly.
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Keep your focus on Christ.
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She's focused on physical things.
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What can make her physically feel good?
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But here's the thing.
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It should not, this living water is not just for those that are looking for salvation.
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It's for Christians too.
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We should be constantly drinking from that living water.
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But right now, it seems some of us have taken the immediate satisfaction of that seawater.
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Man, that looks good right now.
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We drink that seawater.
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We realize, man, I need more of it.
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We keep drinking.
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Before long, we're so far gone.
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We're so far away from the Lord because of immediate satisfaction.
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The Bible says sin only lasts for a season.
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It doesn't last very long.
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One day, you're going to stand before the Lord.
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Hopefully, you're not going to be one of the ones that hears, depart from me for I never knew you.
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Hopefully, you're one that hears, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
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But so often, it seems like the immediate satisfaction, that's what's winning.
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Are we drinking from that living water?
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Are we fulfilling that thirst that we have?
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Man, you see so many people trying to fulfill their thirst with things, with little pet sins that they have, with things that right now seems fun.
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But you're just going to thirst again and again and again and again.
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The word of God, that is what fulfills our thirst.
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Let me just tell you, Jesus is pursuing you too.
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Jesus wants to give it to you.
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But again, you have to choose the living water.
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Christ can't choose it for you.
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Man, if I could choose, I was talking to Brother Caleb about this this morning.
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If I could choose who gets saved, everybody around us would be saved.
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But I can't.
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Neither can you.
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Neither can Christ.
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They have to decide and choose to follow Christ.
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However, it's our job to pursue them too.
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Christ pursued you.
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We need to pursue them.
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The thirst of the soul.
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How thirsty is your soul for things of the word, for things of the Lord?
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Because if you're thirsting for things of the world more, it's just because you're drinking the salt water.
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It's just because you're drinking the salt water and it seems good.
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But one day it's not going to be.
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God can see the dangers you're putting yourself in by following the world.
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Just like I can see my dog getting hit by a car if he wasn't careful.
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God can see the dangers of you living the life that you're living.
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You have to be the one to change it though.
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You have to say, you know what, Christ?
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You've chased me long enough.
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I want to come back to you.
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The thirst of the soul.
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Thirdly, I see the exposure of the heart.
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The first two points seems pretty easy.
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Christ is laying everything out.
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I'm giving you a gift.
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I'm giving you living water.
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Man, if this is all there is to it, I'm all for this.
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Verse 16.
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This is where you lose a lot of people.
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Jesus saith unto her, go, call thy husband and come hither.
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The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
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Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband.
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For thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.
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In that sits thou truly.
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Are you carrying around to sin like the woman at the well was?
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Because God told you, leave it here today.
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Leave that sin here because I want to give you something far greater than that sin you've been dealing with.
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She's had five husbands.
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Now the person she's living with isn't her husband.
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Her love life is crazy.
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Talk about like a love octagon or something, all right?
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It's not a great deal for this lady.
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She's not in a great place.
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But Christ says, I can make everything better for you if you just turn your life over to me and take this living water.
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It says in verse 19, the woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
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She's still missing it.
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Our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
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This is crazy to me.
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Jesus just pointed out the biggest sin in her life, the sin that she thought she was hiding from everybody else.
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And she says, man, Jesus, you must be a prophet.
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You're a fortune teller.
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This is crazy.
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But then she says one of the most random things that she could say.
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As a back story, one of the biggest reasons why the Samaritans and Jews, again, were feuding,
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the Jews believed you had to worship at the temple.
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The Samaritans worshipped up on a mountain in a cave.
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And she brings it up.
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She says, okay, Jesus, you've told me all that now.
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Maybe you can help me out with this problem I've been having.
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Should I worship at the temple or where I'm worshiping right now?
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Answer me that question.
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Now she thinks that Jesus is just a guy that can answer all her questions.
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That can give her all the help she needs.
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Maybe this is the guy.
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This is the answer.
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It says in verse 21,
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Pretty much what Christ says here is it doesn't matter where you worship.
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Worship in the mountain.
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Worship in the temple.
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But at the end of the day, the only thing that does matter is who you're worshiping.
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Who you're following.
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That's what Christ tries to tell her.
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He says, listen, everything else in your life has been crazy, has been terrible.
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I'm not the guy you think I am.
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I'm not a prophet.
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I'm not all this.
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But I'm the guy you're supposed to be worshiping.
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You see, the focus was still in the wrong place.
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First, she was focusing on physical water.
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Then she's focusing on her thirst, what she thirsted after.
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Now she's focusing on where to worship.
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And Jesus has to rattle her a little bit and says, look, none of that matters.
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It matters who you are worshiping.
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That's who it matters.
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And, man, it must have been pretty terrible for her to realize that, man, Jesus knows all my sins.
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This guy knows everything I've done wrong.
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Everything that's happening, he knows.
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Did you know Jesus Christ knows your heart too?
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He doesn't just know the people he talks to in the Bible.
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This isn't just a storybook, by the way.
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This really happened.
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This is truly God's words.
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Christ knows your heart too.
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If Jesus Christ was beside you all day long and you did the exact same things that you normally would,
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would Christ be disappointed in you?
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Because, by the way, he sees it all.
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The Holy Spirit, if you're saved, is dwelling in your heart.
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He sees everything that you're doing.
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When you're sinning, when you're doing the wrong thing, Christ sees it.
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Christ knows your heart.
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Is your heart in the right place this morning?
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My mom's here, so I guess I can use this illustration.
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Anybody ever heard of a mother's intuition?
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Mother's intuition, okay.
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How many of you think you have mother's intuition?
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Yep.
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Yeah, several of you.
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Okay, I do not, all right.
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But any time when anything used to happen to me when I was a kid,
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I could bank on it that no matter how secretive I thought I was, my mom always knew.
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I don't know how she knew that.
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I don't know how she knew any of what she knew.
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She had her ways, I guess.
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But she always found out what was bothering me,
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something that I did wrong that I thought I hid from her,
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all kinds of things like that.
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And now I see my wife, Emerson, will come crying and babbling to me.
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And I'll have no idea what she's talking about.
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And I'll say, go see mama.
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And Tiffany yells at me saying, babe, all she wants is this.
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Mother's intuition.
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She knows.
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Emerson didn't even have to say anything to her.
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She already knows what she wants.
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But let me just tell you, your mom doesn't really know everything about you.
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But you know who does?
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Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ knows everything.
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He sees everything you've ever done.
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He knows every deep, dark secret you have.
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I've heard several pastors mention this.
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If we were to broadcast, if we were able to broadcast your thoughts into the church today,
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the thoughts of your heart today, how many of you would be, don't raise your hand,
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how many of you would be ashamed of what's on the screen?
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I think I might be sometimes.
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I think I might be in that same boat.
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God knows our hearts.
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You can fool me.
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You can fool Pastor Tyler.
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You can come dressed to the nines.
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You can come in a ballroom gown.
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You can come in a tuxedo to church.
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You can do that.
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And we can say, man, he's dressed up nice.
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Man, he looks like he's ready to worship the Lord.
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And your heart can be dark.
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You can fool us.
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But you can't fool God.
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And that's what Christ is proving to this woman at the well.
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Man, you can fool everybody else.
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You fooled maybe your town in Samaria, but you can't fool me.
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And she still missed it so far.
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It says in verse number 24, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
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Christ extended grace.
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The amazing part about this is Christ knows your heart and he still gives us the opportunity to turn back to him.
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Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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Every single one of us have problems.
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Every single one of us.
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Christ decides to extend grace.
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And you can say, man, I'm living the wrong kind of lifestyle.
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I'm just not living with God.
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Christ could never save me.
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I've heard that many times before.
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Jesus went out of his way to a lady that his people were supposed to hate.
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That is living obviously a scandalous life.
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And he still extended grace to save her.
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Christ wants to save you.
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If you sit in here and have not never drank of this living water.
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Today's your opportunity.
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Don't leave this room without drinking of the living water.
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But also, those of you that are saved, Christ still knows your heart.
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You should still be drinking from that living water.
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You shouldn't be drinking from the well of the world.
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You should be drinking from Christ's well.
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It says in verse number 25, the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ.
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When he has come, he will tell us all things.
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How convenient is that?
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The woman at the well has finally gotten there.
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After all these verses in John 4 of her not understanding Christ, Christ puts it as plainly as he knows how.
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And she says, man, you sound about like this guy that I heard is coming.
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You sound like the Messiah we've been told about.
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Verse 26, Jesus saith unto her as plain as he can say it.
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I that speak unto thee am he.
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Point number four, the revelation of the Messiah.
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The revelation of the Messiah.
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What's amazing about the woman is through all of this entire story, she does know about the Messiah.
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She knows he's supposed to come.
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But the problem is until these next couple of verses, it never reaches her heart.
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She knows the Messiah is coming.
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She knows Jesus has the answers.
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But it's all up here.
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You might have come to church your whole life.
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But let me just tell you, that does not get you into heaven.
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Being the best person you can be does not get you into heaven.
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We have a step up on a lot of people.
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We're in church.
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We're hearing Christ's name preached.
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We know the story of Jesus Christ.
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There are a lot of people who don't know that.
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We have all the information.
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There are a lot of people that don't know.
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We have the information.
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But man, I've heard the analogy.
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So many of us will miss heaven by about 12 to 18 inches.
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From your head to your heart.
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That's how a lot of people are going to miss it.
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Christ is pursuing you.
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Christ is offering it to you.
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Christ wants you to come.
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I think of the prodigal son.
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The father of the prodigal.
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We preached on, or Pastor Tyler preached on the prodigal a couple weeks ago.
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The father has to wait until the son is willing to come back.
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But when he is, the father's chasing him.
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The father wants him to come back.
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But it has to be the son's decision.
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It has to be your decision today.
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Christ wants you to come.
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I know there are many people in here.
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Saved people that want that one to come forward.
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To drink of that living water.
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But you have to decide it.
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Don't leave that information in your head.
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God knows your heart.
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Don't leave that information in your head.
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Get it to your heart.
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Get it to where it belongs.
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And it says, very quickly.
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In verse number 28.
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The woman then left her water pot.
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And went her way into the city.
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And saith to the men.
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Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did.
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Is not this the Christ?
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I find this very interesting.
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As we close.
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This woman at the well.
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Comes to the well.
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For water.
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Very very hot day.
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12 o'clock.
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Desert city.
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Very hot.
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She needs water.
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She needs to hydrate.
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When she has this encounter with Jesus Christ.
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I never see her actually drink a drop of water.
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But not only that.
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Verse 28 says.
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She left her water pot.
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At this point in time.
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Her water pot is probably one of the more valuable things that she's got.
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That's how she can get water.
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That's how she can stay hydrated.
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That's how she stays alive.
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She just left it there.
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Anybody can take it.
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She just left it.
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Why in the world.
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With the whole reason she came down there.
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With her water pot.
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Was to get water.
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Why would she leave it?
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Because she found something infinitely greater.
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A lot of us are carrying a water pot today.
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We carried a water pot into the services today.
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Whether that is friends that we've got.
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Whether that is things that we're holding on to.
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Not willing to let go for Christ.
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Whatever it is.
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There are a lot of us that brought a water pot in here today.
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And a lot of us are probably going to leave this room.
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Still holding on to that water pot.
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What the woman at the well realized.
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Is I have to drop everything else that I've got.
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If I'm willing to accept Christ.
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If I want that living water.
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Everything else.
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Should be back burners.
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She had to get her priorities.
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Straight.
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Where are your priorities at today?
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When someone truly encounters Christ.
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Their priorities change.
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What are you prioritizing?
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Are you prioritizing your job?
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Your friends?
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School?
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Or are you prioritizing Christ?
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That's what Christ was trying to get through to the woman at the well in Samaria.
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He said you have to change the direction that you're going.
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You're not living for me.
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You're not living for.
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You're living for yourself.
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A lot of us are carrying that water pot living for us.
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That water pot makes us happy.
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That water pot made this lady happy.
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And she left it when she realized that Christ was greater.
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She realized that the living water.
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The everlasting life was greater.
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And I find it amazing.
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In verse 29.
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She could have told everybody.
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Guys.
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Guess the guy that talked to me.
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Guess who talked to me?
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He didn't talk to you.
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He talked to me.
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Yeah.
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Jesus Christ.
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That Messiah that we're waiting on.
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He talked to me.
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Not you.
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It's not what she did.
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She pointed everybody to Christ.
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She said guys.
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Leave everything else.
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Focus on Christ alone.
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Nothing else matters.
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A little Samaritan woman.
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That was living in sin.
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That had no business.
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Coming to Christ.
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Or getting the grace that Christ showed her.
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No business.
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If Christ didn't go to her.
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I don't think she'd have ever heard the true gospel.
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If Christ never went to Samaria.
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Didn't go out of his way to a place that he was supposed to hate.
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If he never went there.
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She might not have ever heard the gospel.
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There are people like that in your life today.
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Aren't there?
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People that if you don't go pursue them and tell them.
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They might never hear the gospel again.
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They might never hear what Christ has done for them.
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If you don't go tell them.
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Tell them about the living water.
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Because if you're drinking from it.
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You'll know how great it is.
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You'll know that that is the only water.
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We'll ever truly need.
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Seawater tastes good at the time.
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But ultimately it's going to leave you thirsting for more.
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Are you going to leave your water pot here today.
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And realize that the only thing you need is living water.
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Are you going to leave the water pot of life.
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Of the world that you've got hanging on your shoulders.
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Are you going to leave it here today?
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Jesus still wants to meet thirsty people.
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But you don't need a water pot.
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You don't need a bucket to draw with.
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All you need is a willing spirit to come to Christ.
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Go ahead and bow your heads and close your eyes.