God is THE LIVING WATER
Final for the series; we made it through the term!
If you want more about who God is, check out these episodes:
God is THREE, including the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
God is CREATOR
Water is like LIGHT. We have to have water to survive, just like we have to have sunlight to survive.
God likens himself to light, just like he likens himself to water.
God is in charge of water:
God created water
Crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan on dry land
God causes it to pour torrential rain for 40 days straight
God causes it to not rain 3 years - Gideon
Jesus walks on water
Jesus calms a storm
Jesus turns water into wine
Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights - no food or water at all!
Most of the earth’s water is in our oceans - 96.5%
Only 3.5% of the earth’s water is fresh, and most of that water is ice!
Our bodies are mostly water.
What do you think?
What is the difference between NEEDS and WANTS?
What are the things that you NEED to survive here on earth?
Your switch? Your soccer ball? Your toys? Your car or your TV?
Food, water, shelter, clothing, love.
When God says he is the living water, he is saying that he is something that you need. WE NEED JESUS. Many people believe in just God the creator, but not how Jesus came to earth to die for us. This is the thing we NEED.
Think back and remember a time when you were really thirsty. Maybe after exercise. You didn’t have anything to drink. When you finally were able to drink, how great was that feeling of quenching your thirst!?
Story Time!
Do you like drinking water? Sometimes it can taste a bit boring, sometimes its yucky. I love purified water - clean pure water.
Travelling around Australia we had 2 water tanks on our camper. Brad always made sure we had enough. We had a tap that you had to pump because if we left it on then we could be in trouble!
We had a hose and found taps to fill up our water. Caravan parks always have taps. Service stations where you get fuel often have taps but not always. Once near Broome we couldn’t fill up because there were no taps. We asked around and found a place where we could buy water that had been salt water from the ocean but had been cleaned and treated. It tasted like pool water.
The water from the different taps all tasted differently. Some like rust. Some like chlorine. None tasted like pure water!
When we got home, we all agreed that the thing we missed, over the internet and wifi, was our water purifying filter and fresh tasting water.
The woman in this story is a Samaritan, and they do not socialise with other Jews who aren’t Samaritans. Most Jews would travel around Samaria to avoid it, but Jesus led his disciples through Samaria, it was more of a direct route to Galilee.
Bible Passage: John 4:3-15
3 Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. 4 This time he had to go through Samaria, 5 and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. 6-8 The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.
Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”
9 “You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?”
10 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? 12 Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14 But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”
15 The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”
Jesus isn’t saying that if you believe in him you will never need to drink normal water again on earth. He is saying that you will have everything you need for eternal life.
God is everything we need.
We need light and he is light.
We need water and he is the living water.
We need food and he is the bread of life.
Bible Passage: John 6:35, 48-51, 57-58
Jesus replied, “I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty… I am the bread that gives life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna[j] in the desert, and later they died. 50 But the bread from heaven has come down, so that no one who eats it will ever die. 51 I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live forever. My flesh is the life-giving bread that I give to the people of this world… The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58 The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
It sounds very strange. Many people stopped following Jesus after this. They thought he was asking them to eat him. He was asking them to believe in him and follow him. If they did this they will get eternal life.
If you drink water and eat food you will get to live another day, even a few days or weeks. If you believe in Jesus and rely on him, you will get life forever.
Question Time!
Do you sometimes say the word ‘need’ instead of ‘want’ and when would you mix up those words?
How is Jesus like living water and like bread of life?
