Good morning everyone. It is a complete honor to preach this morning. Like I shared on Friday, I had a pretty good week. Then situations happened on Friday, and I got a real reality check, a wake up call. I am still processing everything. This morning, I come to you as a fighter. I care about you and want the best for each of you, but ultimately you are grown men, and YOU have to decide for yourselves whether you will fight or not. The reality is that we are all in an unseen battle. It is happening around us. No matter what you choose, I am determined to fight in this invisible battle against the enemy Satan who is real and wishes to steal, to destroy, and to rob.
Opening Prayer. Beloved God and Creator, I thank you for the honor to share this morning. I pray that you will push out any distractions that anyone here may have. I pray that we will make space in our minds and hearts for You to speak. I pray that we will listen to You. Open our ears, our minds, our hearts, our spirits to hear You. God, I ask that You will protect this space and time from the Enemy. I pray that by your blood we will be protected from anything that Satan would want to steal, kill, or destroy during this time. We love You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
So, as I said earlier, I come to you as a fighter this morning. There is a fighter, one of the greatest fighters of all time, who was a heavyweight champion multiple times. You may know him. His name is Muhammad Ali. He said this, "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion'."
This week, in England, one of the greatest sporting events begins, Wimbledon. There's a top tennis player who'll be competing. She's the No. 3 Women’s Singles tennis player. Her name is Vera Zvonareva. She was asked recently what's the difference between the top 100 players and the top 10 players, and she said this, “It’s about learning how to bring the best out of yourself even if you’re not having a good day and about [being] able to win those matches even if you’re not playing good. You have to work probably ... and always be thinking how you want to beat your opponent.”
Our enemy is Satan, no matter what our issues are. And, we ALL have our issues. As such, I offer to you the only source of true victory ... Jesus. These stories in the Bible encourage me and help keep me on track as I look to Jesus to be my complete source of victory, my total source of fulfillment, my EVERYTHING.
I want to look at two passages in John. The first is in John 4:4-14.
He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
It is very clear that Jesus had to go through this town, that he made time and space for this woman. I'm not sure what you know of the culture during this time, but in this time the woman was an outcast. That's why she went when she did at that time for water. Jesus went for her. The truth is that only Jesus can truly refresh us and quench our thirst. He is the source of a river of life that COMPLETELY satisfies.These words aren't just for you. I need to hear these words too as I am learning now how to be completely filled and satisfied with just Jesus. It's a process I'm in right now, and it's difficult for me to learn, but I'm committed to not going around and around in a revolving door any more and to break through this wall of something I've been pretty bad at for a while. The woman's reaction is really powerful to me. She goes back to the town and starts sharing with others. Let's look at this at the end of the chapter in verses 39 to 42.
John 4:39-42. Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”
We need this river of living water springing up in us. It will change us like it changed this woman and the people she told. It is victory for us, but we also need life. We all have a problem with sin, the wrong things we do against God. We are dead spiritually because of sin. But Jesus will give us new life. Let's look now at a long passage, John 11:1-45.
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.” Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”
The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.” Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” So Mary immediately went to him.
Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them.
They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” Jesus was still deeply troubled as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.
Jesus said that he is the only way to freedom and to life, that He is the way (John 14:6). If you're not sure of how you've gotten here or how the problems or issues that are in your life got there, I ask you to take some time and consider them this week. Think about the substitutes, the band aids, the distractions that keep you from being fully satisfied and coming to Him. Jesus wants to give you freedom and new life. He wants to give you the river of life that never stops flowing. He wants to completely satisfy you.
Closing Prayer. Jesus, I thank you that your Spirit is here. Fill us. Thank you that you bring good news to the poor. Thank you that you comfort the brokenhearted. Thank you that you set captives free, that you release prisoners. Jesus, thank you for comforting us when we morn. Thank you for your favor, that you give us beauty for ashes and joy instead of mourning. Thank you that you give us praise instead of despair.
Jesus, I thank you that you make us righteous and strong like oak trees. God, I thank you that you rebuild the ancient ruins, that you repair what was destroyed long ago. Thank you for making streams in the desert in the dry, craggy, hard places of our hearts. We love you God. We praise you God. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
