Give Me to Drink - Levi Baer

Greetings to teach one of you. I think of an irregular

heartbeat this morning, so I would ask interest in your prayers.

Might have something to do with being up here. I'm

not sure, but I know the Lord is faithful and

you know the right thing to do. And that's what

we do usually, is we greet each other in Jesus' name.

And as I think about the significance of that who

is Jesus to us this morning? And I was just

thinking this morning of the different as far as how

scriptures describe Jesus the man, Jesus Christ. He's Alpha and Omega,

the beginning and the end. He's the light of the world.

He's the bright and morning star. He's a giver and

sustainer of life, of each of our lives this morning.

He's author, He's a finisher of our faith. That's all

the part that Jesus plays in our life. And my

question to myself and all of us here is what

are we to Jesus. He's all that to us, But

what are we to him? What are we giving up?

What are we doing? As far as in service to him?

As he did to his heavenly father, he was a

servant if you'd like to turn in your bibles this

morning to John chapter four. We will be getting the

message out of this chapter, especially thinking of the first

oh about forty two verses. We have the very familiar

account mostly called the Woman at the well. That's one

description of this story, or Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

And I would really like to be able to just

read the first forty two verses, but I think that's

going to run us into a time crunch here, so

it would give us a little better picture of the

setting here. But just before we get into this and

read any of it, let's just go back a little

bit to John chapter three and just for a little

bit more of a backdrop of this leading up to

this encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. And one

thing I would just a couple things I would you

say about this story is I don't know if you've

ever thought about it, but it's the longest conversation that

Jesus ever had recorded in scripture. No doubt he's had

other conversations with people as he as he walked this earth,

but John, here, the friend of Jesus, records the longest

conversation recorded. So back in John chapter three, Can anybody

just tell me what what is what stands out to

you in John chapter three, especially towards the beginning, like

what is without looking what is the story? What does

that encounter? Who did who did Jesus have an encounter with?

There anyone? That's right? Nicodemus? And and the reason I

want to just think about that for a little bit

is in comparison to Nicodemus was a ruler of the Pharisees,

and he was he was he was a man of

of I'm sorry, a ruler of the Jews, but he

was a man of great social status. He had, he

had a lot of authority, and he would have been

very much looked up to in this day. And just

thinking about that in comparison to when we get to

the Samaritan woman and what she represented. Uh, And I'll

get to more of that later. So here we have

Jesus or Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night. Did you

ever think about why did he come by night and

the Samaritan woman came by day? He came by night.

He he did not want to be seen because of

his social status. He came to Jesus by night because

he was curious and he needed some answers. He wanted

to know how a man can be born again. As

the story goes we know that Jesus gave him that answer,

he answered the question, and then as the chapter goes on,

here we have arguably the most popular verse in scripture,

in the sixteenth verse here John three sixteen. Maybe someone

can just quote that for us. John three sixteen got

some love the world that he gave only to got

my son that whos believes that's right? So think about that.

So this verse here Nicodemus comes to him. Soon after this,

Jesus has encounter with the Samaritan woman. Here is Jesus

living out that he actually loved the world like he

said he did. And that world by world that means everyone,

everyone of every status, no matter what they've done in

their life. He came to die for each one of them,

and he lived that out in his life. So then,

as that chapter goes on, in verse twenty two says

after these things came Jesus and his disciples into the

land of Judea. So then they were in the land

of Judea here leading up to chapter four. And now

we'll just read the first four verses there, when therefore

the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus

made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself

baptized not but his disciples. He left Judea and departed

again into Galilee. We'll just read through verse six, and

he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to

his city of Samaria, which is called Psychar, near to

the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with

his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was

about the sixth hour. So let's just stop there a

little more and think a little bit more about the

setting here of Jesus and his conversation with the Smaritan woman.

There were some things going on here in Judea that

were becoming controversial, and it doesn't say it for sure,

but I wonder if Jesus didn't think it was it

wasn't his time to stay and argue with these people here.

He decided to take his disciples and move on. So,

if we would picture geographically, we have Judea south of

Samaria where he had this conversation with the Samaritan woman.

He decided to head back to Galilee. So he and

his disciples, it says here in verse four, and he

must needs go through Samaria. And the reason it says

that is because directly between Judea and Galilee to the

north was the country of Samaria. I won't go into

much of those details, but Samaria and the people of

Samaria were, as we know, outcast of the Jews, and

that had to do with the Assyrian army that captured

northern Judah, which would have been Samaria. Now Samaria and

those people would have been considered they then intermarried with

with pure Jews and became what they call half breed Jews.

That's that was one of the ways that they described

the Samaritans. So they were very much looked down on.

But here here's Jesus and his disciples, and he feels

the burden to go back to Galilee, but he also

feels that I must go through Samaria. One one side

to the west of Samaria was the Mediterranean Sea. There

was no way to go around it. To the east

would have been the Jordan River. The one one way

they described that area would be Poia, which which if

I understand right, literally means Jordan country. So most of

the Jews when they would go from Judea to Galilee,

would literally cross the Jordan River and go through the

mountain country just to get around Samaria. Jesus didn't do that.

He knew that he had there was there was a

divine plan that his father had for him, and that

means he must go and meet that need. And that's

what he did. So as the disciples and Jesus continued on,

they would have got up, most likely early that morning

in Judea and they headed They headed north to Galilee

through Samaria. And now he come to I'll just back

up a little. I read verse six already, but here

here they come to what they called Jacob's well. And Jesus,

it said, he was weary, he was hot, he was dusty,

and it was high noon, and he came to this

well and he sits on this edge of it. And

I can't help but think about Jesus being weary and hot.

In Hebrews four point fifteen, it talks about there for

we have not an high priest which cannot be touched

with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all

points tempted like each of us, but without sin. Jesus

felt the tired, dusty parts of life as well. And

it's just such a beautiful picture of Jesus and his

humanity and meeting the needs of an outcast person. As

he comes there and he sits on the edge of

that well because he was tired. Will continue reading in

verse seven. There come at the woman of Samaria to

draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink,

for his disciples were gone away into the city to

buy meat. I would like to stop and spend a

little time on these four words, give me to drink.

In fact, that's the title of the message. Just think

for a little bit about the significance of Jesus himself.

Jesus a Jewish rabbi, let alone, just a man, a

Jewish rabbi who took the time to speak to not

only a woman, but a Samaritan woman. There was great

significance in that there was every reason to not talk

to this woman. And this woman, for whatever reason, I

believe that she came to the well in the middle

of the day, in the middle of the hot day,

because there would be no one else around. This woman

was living a moral life. She didn't want to. She

was most likely very much an outcast even in her

own country. But there she meets Jesus. And what does

Jesus say to her. Does he immediately start to tell

her all the things that she's doing wrong and the

things that she can do to rectify her situation. No,

he asks a request of her. And that's what I

would like to think about as we continue on down

through this story based on Jesus, how he opened the

conversation with a Samaritan woman by asking a favor of her.

This story, or this message comes or this chapter comes

very close home to me, partly because of circumstances in

my own life. In our life, how some years back,

how the Lord brought someone into our life and I

felt like it was such a it was a divine

plan of God. I have no question with that, but

the but in my mind, I was a complete failure

in that situation. And that's why this makes me. It

brought me. The Spirit brought me to this these four

words that Jesus asked of the Samaritan woman. You know,

it's so easy for us to we have so much

to offer. We just and we really do. We have

a lot of good things to offer, But how do

we what is the basis of our relationships? Is it

on that we have so much to offer? Or is

it that? Or is it making people I feel like

they are worth something first of all, and by that

bringing them to a place in their life where they

first of all trust us? And that what we are

after is that we long to see them drinking living water,

being right with God. That's at the bottom of it.

So think about that as we continue down through this

on how Jesus open this conversation by asking a favor

of the Samaritan woman Verse nine, It says, then say

it the woman of Samaria? Unto him? How is it that, now,

being a Jew, asked us drink of me, which I'm

a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings

with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said, unto her, if

thou knewest the gift of God and who it is

that saith to thee give me to drink, thou wouldest

have asked of him, and he would have given thee

living water. The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast

nothing to draw with, and the well is deep from

whence then hassel that living water? So just back a

little bit, backing up a little bit again, you know,

I had to think In Second Corinthians five, verse twenty,

Paul to the Corinthians. There he uses example of believers

as us as believers as ambassadors for Jesus Christ. And

I think that's key when we think about what are

we doing here? Why are we really on this earth?

We're only here because we're only here to be ambassadors

of a greater cause, and that is the Kingdom of

God and Jesus Christ. And to keep that in perspective

as we walk in and out among people, and so

many times for me, we have this concept of we

have this to offer. If it's financial needs we have,

we can cover you. If it's fellowship, if you need food.

And these are not bad things, But what message do

we send to people if they cannot truly find living

water because of all these other things that maybe could

possibly get in the way. And we'll think more about

that later in this conversation. I am grateful for God

that in the situation that I found myself in, that

reconciliation was made and that God is faithful and if

we are serious about following Him in this way, that

he will be faithful. I just wonder sometimes if we

would emulate how Jesus reached out to this person, this

Samaritan woman, how he started this conversation, what the results

would be among not only our church, but you think

of even on foreign mission fields of praise God. There's

many successful stories, but there's also many failed missions. And

why is that? That's what I love so much about

the idea of the savings programs that are catching fire

across the globe. And I don't know how much you

know about those, but what's at the bottom of those

savings program programs are helping people feel that they're worth something,

helping people feel that with someone to walk along beside them,

that they can get this figured out. It's not just

telling them how to do everything, but walking with them.

I had to think about this in regard to you know,

here in the Pacific Northwest and our cities, we have

many homeless people, and these homeless people, you know, we

try to figure out what exactly is going on with

why they think that they need money. Usually, and I've

also heard many times that you know the wrong thing

to do is to hand them money because they'll take

it and they'll use it for something to feed their addiction.

And I'm not going to say that that's never it's

always fine to give money. I think we need to

use discretion, We need to follow the spirit's guide. But

what are we telling a homeless person when they ask

for money and we say, I'm not going to give

you money, but I'll take you to McDonald's and I'll

buy you a hamburger. That should be good enough for you,

because we're I'm not sure what you're gonna do with

the money. What are we telling that person when we

do that, We're telling them we don't trust you. We

start off on the wrong foot, right off the bat.

If we ever hope to build any kind of a

of a relationship that we can lead them to Christ,

I don't think it's a good foundation to tell someone

that we don't trust you. Plus, maybe behind it is

we really just don't want to part with any money

might be some of the reason as well. Also, to

think of the story of zach Chius in relation to

Jesus and Zachias. How you know, Zachias was overjoyed to

find Jesus. And you know, Jesus didn't say come on

down here and you come to my house and I'll

show you a good time and I'll treat you right now.

What he did is is he told Zachias, I would

like to come to your house. You're worth that much

to me that I would like to come sit in

at your table in your setting where you're comfortable. I'm

not bigger than doing that. I believe Jesus showed humility

there and it was a way to reach what was

a Zachius was a cheater. He he cheated many people

out of their taxes. And the way I would understand

scripture from that day, whatever Jesus did with him, it

was a success in leading him to new life in Christ.

He was a different person. I would like to think

it had something to do with Jesus saying I will

come to your house. I actually I had to think.

This is kind of going down a side trail here,

but I had to think think about in my growing

up days. I don't know if it was a Canadian

thing or Russian Mennonite or what it was, but then

in those days we were more apt to have people

invite theirselves over to your house. And I know that

can sound kind of intimidating to especially the ladies, but

that was the way things were done pretty often. And

looking back at that, I don't know that that's necessarily

what I'm after, but I think it would. I think

there was some some good points about that that were

just it actually showed humility in a sense to say

we want to come over to your house. In fact,

here a while back, I won't say any names here,

but my wife and I tried that on someone here

in our conversation in our congregation, and because I knew

I had some history there, and I knew it would work,

and so we did it, and it did work. It

was still just like old days, and so I appreciated that. Okay,

moving on, I read verse nine there where the woman was,

of course surprised, what is this Jewish man? Probably by

the way Jesus was dressed, it was quite obvious that

he was a Jew. Why is he asking something of me?

And then he goes on to introduce her to living water.

But the thing is is she missed the point, just

like any of us probably would have. And she says,

the well's deep, I have nothing to draw with or,

She said, you have nothing to draw with you, telling Jesus,

where does this living water come from? Are you greater

than our father Jacob, which gave us a well and

drank there of himself and his children and his cattle.

So she misses the point of the living water. Jesus

goes on with the conversation verse thirteen. Jesus answered and said,

unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give

him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall

give him shall be in him a well of water

springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir,

give me this water that I thirst, not neither come

hither to draw. It appears that she misses the point

completely again, because now she acknowledges you must have some

way to give me water. You know, I would really

like some of that water. That way, I wouldn't have

to come here in the heat of the day and

trying to stay out of sight of anybody this long, hot,

dusty walk to draw my water. That would be handy.

But that's still not what Jesus was getting at, because

in verse fourteen. I just I love the picture in

verse fourteen of the opposite of a well or a

cistern of water that is stagnant and doesn't move. Hear

Jesus in relation to living water. He says, it shall

in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

So it gives us picture of something that's moving, that's alive.

He calls it springing up. So think about a spring

compared to a well. This well was probably about one hundred,

one hundred and fifty foot deep in those days. I

think that was common, and I'm not sure how far

the water would have been down. But here Jesus as

they stand out there in the hot sun beside this well.

As Jesus sat there on the edge of it, he

introduces her to living water and introduces it as a

spring within us, you know, and a spring has a

source that never runs dry, and that's the key to

this living water. We'll move on to verse sixteen. Jesus

saith unto her, go call thy husband and come hither.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus

said unto her, thou hast well said I have no husband.

For thou Us had five husbands, and he whom thou

now hast is not thy husband, And that thou saidst.

And that saidst. Thou truly the woman saith unto him, Sir,

I perceive that thou art a profit. So here Jesus

changes things up a little bit. You know, he got

started going down the path of living water, introducing her

to that. But then because a relationship is forming, and

I believe it goes all the way back to the

work for words, give me to drink, he now can

face the woman's sin in her life. And I think

that's key in relating to people, although we will never

be Jesus in that regard. But here Jesus brings up

her husband's and she tries to lie about it. He

sets her straight. And then in nineteen she's starting to

be suspicious of something not normal about this Jewish man,

and she said, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

And then she goes on to say, our father's worshiped

in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is

the place where men ought to worship. You know, here

she it appears that she wants to bring is trying

to avoid the subject at hand. Jesus faced her head

on with her immoral lifestyle, and she wants to bring

religion into the picture. Here she talks about where our

fathers worshiped, and notice how Jesus reports back to or

how he answers that verse twenty one, Jesus saith unto

her woman, Believe me, the hour cometh when you shall

neither in this mountain, nor yet it Jerusalem, worship the

Father you worship. You know not what we know. What

we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the

hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall

worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the

Father seek it such to worship him. God is a spirit,

and they that worship him must worship him in spirit

and in truth. Jesus turns this around, and I wonder

how many times do we maybe the right word would

be our culture, for all the wonderful things that it represents,

and the fact that it's been a stabilizing force in history.

How many times if it's not in its rightful place,

could it stand in the way appointing someone to living water?

You know? The first thing that was asked of her

wasn't if you would come join the synagogue that I

preach at every Sunday, your life would be a lot easier.

It is how Jesus introduced it to introduced her. He

introduced her first to living water, after he asked a

request of her, after he made her feel needed. And

that's I'm going back on my own experience with that

of you know, we just have this mentality or I do.

I hope I don't as much of if we could

just usher people into I don't like the word system,

but sometimes we use it to make clear what we're

talking about. That there would be a lot of questions

answered and life could go on. We would no longer

have to work with or walk with you anymore because

here you would be and everything would go on like

it should. That isn't That wasn't the heart of Jesus.

Jesus here he was in it for the long haul,

whatever it took to point Jesus or point people to him.

And here he says, answers the question on her trying

to flip this into a religious conversation. It doesn't really

matter where we worship. What God wants is warm blooded individuals,

wherever that may be, that have a heart to worship

Jesus Christ, to worship the Father, wherever that may be.

That it says he seeketh such to worship him, and

that may be right here this morning, and that's good.

Verse twenty five. The woman saith unto him. I know

that the messiahs cometh, which is called Christ. When he

is come, he will tell us all things. Verse twenty six.

Jesus saith unto her, I that speak am he? Very

seldom in scripture does Jesus refer to himself. You know,

it can sound kind of arrogant in some ways. The

person you're talking about, that's me. That's what he does,

because he was the source of living water verse twenty seven.

And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he

had talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what

seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her. The woman

then left her water pot and went her way into

the city, and saith to the man, Come see a

man which told me all the things that I ever did?

Is not this the Christ? So here we have a

drastic change in the life of this woman. Drastic there's

no longer any talk about who's well or who's greater

where we're worshiping, or if I could have that kind

of water, it would make my life easier. She now

leaves her water pot and goes to the city to

tell the people in nearby Psychar about this profit that

she meant that can give her water, that she will

never be thirsty again. I would like to notice, briefly,

says the woman left her water pot and went her way.

And I had to think about that. As we receive

the water of life, living water and a trust that

most of us here have, do we ever wish that

we still had our little leather wrinkly water pot to

draw from some stagnant well somewhere, just in case we

need it? You know? The woman it says, she left

it there, she didn't take it with her. And I

think there's significance in that when it comes to a

conversion experience, as we no longer need that water pot,

we now walk in faith that and that's what it

takes is faith to actually recognize that we do no

longer need it, we will not be thirsty. We can

leave the water pot right where it's at and we

will not be thirsty. That's a promise. If you think

about how we don't go to the doctor more than

we need to. I don't think. But if you think

about how often or how easily we come down with

the sickness of some kind, and we're more than happy

to go to the doctor, get a prescription, go to

the drug store, pick it up, and if you're like me,

when I get home, I'm quite soon taking the pills

without a second thought. And think about that, that's someone

that you do not know, most likely do not have

a relationship with. You know, who knows what the pill

could be. We're more than happy to go ahead and

try it to make ourselves feel better. Why is it

so easy to do that when we can't have faith?

So many times we don't have faith in a living God.

And here she goes to the city and she says,

come see him in Jesus somehow drew her to himself.

And I think it goes back again to the four words,

give me to drink. He drew her to himself. We

don't need to draw people to ourself. We need to

draw them to Jesus Christ first of all. But Jesus

was the living water, so she needed to be drawn

to him. I don't know what happened from this point on.

I don't know if Jesus had more to do with

this woman. Later on, as we read, you're going to

see that there's more people became involved, more people came

to Jesus. But I would like to think that Jesus

kept up to her a little bit and walked with

her as a new believer. And sometimes that's what's hard

to do, is we can share the gospel and we

can feel like we did our part, and sometimes that

is all that's asked. But many times I think we

fail in the in walking alongside people, in continuing to

point them the right direction. You know, general revelation us

being a revelator for the God gospel. It's not sufficient

to save a person. That alone will not save a person,

but general revelation it is sufficient to if rejected. If

someone rejects general revelation, it's enough to condemn them to hell.

And so it is important to spread the gospel, but

it's also important to follow through with people that God

brings into our lives. Verse thirty. Then they went out

of the city and came unto him. In the meanwhile,

his disciples prayed him, saying Master eat and he said

unto them, I know I have meat to eat that

you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another,

hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith

unto them, my meat is to do the will of

him that sent me, and to finish his work. Think

about that for a little bit. The disciples, as we

would have been, they were concerned with Jesus. He had

spent all that time out in the sun no shade

by this well, in a long conversation with this woman

of all people of outcasts. And as they came back

from the city, they said, Jesus, you must be hungry,

You need to eat. Does anyone have some meat for Jesus?

How does he respond to that? Verse thirty four, It says,

my meat is to do the will of him that

sent me, and to finish his work. And as I

thought about that, what Jesus was doing was going about

his father's business. And I had to think about that,

what business am I going about? Whose business am I

involved in? Are we doing the father's business? Verse thirty nine,

Actually verse thirty fives, or say not, ye, there are

yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say

into you. Lift up your eyes and look on the fields,

for they are white already to harvest. And he that

reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that

both he that seweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

And herein is that saying true one's and another reapeth.

I sent you to reap that we're on. You bestowed

no labor. Other men labored, and you are entered into

their labors. You know, we're very familiar with the term

harvest should be in about three or four months. Harvest

is a very significant part of the culture in this

valley that we live in, so that strikes a chord

with us. But here Jesus is saying it must have

been the same way back then. Jesus is saying, I'm

not so sure you should be so concerned with that harvest.

He's saying, don't be so worried about when harvest is ready,

but be concerned that now harvest is ready. He said,

look on the fields, now they're white and ready for harvest.

I believe he's using a lesson there that relates to

these people. He's actually teaching this here to his disciples. Remember,

the woman had already left, and he's using an opportunity,

like Jesus was so good at doing at telling the

disciples his concern for their life Verse thirty nine. And

many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him

for saying of the woman, which testified he told me

all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans were

coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry

with them, and he abode there two days, and many

more believed because of his own word, And he said

him to the woman. Now we believe not because of

thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know

that this is indeed the Christ and the Savior of

the world. It's such a beautiful ending to a long

conversation that started with telling a nobody, an outcast bottom

of the totem pole, I need you for something. I

see that you're worth as much as anyone. Remember it

says in John three point sixteen for God's love the

whole world, that he gave his life for you and I.

And here it says that many believed on him. The

woman said, come see a man that told me all

that I ever did. That's the same man that knows

this just as much about you, and and she was

excited about it. At this point, you know, her sin

was exposed. Jesus reached her, she gave it up. She

left her water pot. She was drinking living water. And

because of the spring that now was within her, she

goes back to the city, the village at Psychar, and

she has something to offer them, and more people come

to her, to Jesus, and it says many more believe

because of his own word. And they said, now we believe,

for we have heard him ourselves and know this is

indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. In closing,

I would just like to think briefly about, you know, Jesus,

the way he operated, and the fact is we we

hurt people. That's just the way it is. I have

hurt people. We hurt people. It's just our human nature.

If we're not drinking living water. Jesus wasn't that way.

He doesn't want us to be that way. That's not

his plan. But it's very hard, you know, Like at

the beginning of the chapter it talks about how Jesus said,

I must go through Samaria, and I had to think

about that. Do any of you avoid people for any reason.

I know I do. It's a human nature thing. We

have people for whatever reason that maybe we don't like

to hear them talk about themselves, or we just know

we're gonna get an ear full of the same thing

every time, and we tend to just our steering goes

out just a little bit every time we're in line

with them. That was not the heart of Jesus. That's

not what Jesus. That's not how he operated with people.

It says he went through Samaria, and as I think

about the heart of Jesus here how he did not

give into an economy, if that makes sense to you,

an economy of exclusion certain people, inequality, giving into that,

that's just the way it is. He didn't give into that.

I believe that Jesus knew that an economy like that

kills brotherhood, It kills love for each other, It kills

being able to reach a loss and dying world. We

cannot give them living water. We live in that way.

You know, if you think about it, how can it

be a news item when or I will just say

it this way, how could it not be a news

item when an elderly, homeless person dies of exposure, and

it happens all the time. But if the stock market

loses two points, it makes the news. That's an example

of the society that we live in the world we

live in. But I don't want to condemn us on that.

I want to encourage that we we turn that around

in our in our world we be people that are

not known for that, but we we live like Jesus did.

I think what happens when we when we operate in

that way, is that we have, at least for myself,

we lose sight of people being created in the image

of God. We lose sight of that many times and

we just you know, it's someone in our way. We

don't have time for them in our busy schedule. The

pressures of life keep us from opening our hearts to people.

Jesus was never that way, although it says he was

human like each of us, but he never went around anyone.

Maybe it's because we treat the symptoms too many times

without diagnosing the disease of people that are struggling. You know,

we feel like we have the answer to fix their problems,

but we're not going to why they behaved the way

they do. Many times, there's always a reason can be

in our own children. You know, if we could just

sometimes a child that is acting like they should and

we just think of you would just be quiet and

sit on the couch for a while and settle down,

that's what you need. Or maybe we're not thinking about

sometimes why they're acting out the way they are, you know,

because we don't have time to deal with why they're

acting the way they do. And I'm telling on myself there.

Jesus didn't do that. He rolled up his sleeves and

dug into the situation, whatever that was. So I hope

that can be an encouragement to you as it was

for me. My desire is to go forward and and

live live, live a life. We will never be perfect,

but we must strive to live like Jesus taught. We

have the words of Jesus to study, and his life

is an encouragement to me. So let's remember that as

we God brings people into our lives. How Jesus started

this conversation with those four words, give me to drink

My God, bless you.