Old Aberdeen Mission

Sunday 12^th September 2004

Theme: Living Water

 

Aim:  The Lord wants the us to come to Him and drink.

 

Reading:  John 4: 1-30

 

Psalm:  Psalm 63

 

Main Principles

Living water is a gift of God (Jn 4: 10)

You cannot earn it, you will never deserve it, it’s not because we are good. God gives it because He loves us.

We ask Jesus for the living water (Jn 4: 10)

We only receive from God through Jesus. It is because He died for us and rose again that we can receive.  “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth” Jn 14:16,17.

He gives what we ask (Jn 4:10)

We can be sure that He will give us this gift when we ask him.  We would not even ask unless God first touched us, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” Phil 2: 13. And when we ask He loves to give. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13.

The one who drinks will never thirst again (Jn 4: 14)

We come Him once, and He then comes to be with us forever. It is our thirst for God that Jesus is referring to, which reveals itself in our lives as a longing for love, joy, peace and friendship (Jn 4:16-18). His Spirit put within us brings us into a relationship with God that satisfies our deepest longings.  He remains with us for ever.  Here is a paradox – we never thirst again, and yet we continually long for more of Him in our lives.

Jesus will put within us a spring welling up to everlasting life (Jn 4:14)

He makes us a source of His life and grace.  This is not just to satisfy our thirst.  It is so that we may bring His grace to others – a fountain of grace.

 

First session

Ask the children if any of them have been really thirsty. When was it? Why did they become thirsty? Introduce the quiz.

Quiz

1. We become thirsty when our body begins to run out of

(a) oxygen  (b) salt  (c) water

2. We know we are thirsty because

(a) we feel sick  (b) our mouth gets dry  (c) our heart beats faster

3. We can make ourselves thirsty by

(a) getting very cold  (b) getting very hot  (c) going to the toilet

4. We get more thirsty if we

(a) sit very still  (b) run around a lot  (c) watch television

5. On a hot sunny day we will get less thirsty if we

(a) stay in a swimming pool  (b) sunbathe for a long time  (c) go jogging

6. The best way to satisfy our thirst is to

(a) drink fresh water  (b) eat a big meal  (c) have a bath or shower

7. Another good thing if you are thirsty is

(a) salted peanuts  (b) crisps  (c) an ice lolly

8. Sucking a sweet

(a) makes you more thirsty  (b) makes you less thirsty  (c) leaves you just as thirsty

Thirst Quenchers

Ask three children to help.  Tell them to imagine that they have just been running in a long race on a hot day.  They are very thirsty.  They can choose a bottle to help quench their thirst.  Show them a number of different bottles and get them each to choose one and take a drink. Only one bottle contains fresh water. The others contain vinegar, salt water, gripe water, cod liver oil, sunflower oil and tonic water. Ask them if their drink will satisfy their thirst?

Application

Just as our bodies get thirsty for water so our souls (our real selves inside) get thirsty too. We know when our souls are thirsty when we are not satisfied, when we are discontented, lonely, unhappy or unloved.  Sometimes we try all kinds of things to stop our souls being thirsty:  some people go to lots of parties; others drink too much or take drugs;  some people spend as much time as possible watching television;  some people try to get a lot of money.  But all of these things are like eating salted peanuts or crisps when your mouth is dry and thirsty – they just make things worse.

Jesus knows all about our souls getting thirsty, and He wants to give us just what we need to satisfy our thirstiness.  After we have sung another song we will have a story about how Jesus did this for a woman he met by a well.

Second session

Tell the story of Jesus meeting the woman by the well.  Use a style of narration, with selected children acting out the parts of the disciples, Jesus, the woman, her neighbours. Use a water-feature comprising barrel and hand-pump to represent the well, but don’t have the water flowing initially.

Points to emphasise

The woman knew what it was to be thirsty in her soul. She thought she could satisfy this by having many different husbands, or most recently a boy-friend, but she was wrong. We can be like that.  When your soul is thirsty, what do you try to satisfy it with?

Jesus offered her living water to satisfy the thirstiness in her soul. This isn’t water like the water we get from a stream or from the tap.  It is like Jesus himself coming into our lives to be our friend for ever.

The best way I can explain it is, suppose you had something very horrible happen to you – maybe you hurt yourself badly or something made you very sad - and you really needed someone to comfort you. You run home, and there you are met by your mum or your dad or someone else who cares for you, and they scoop you up with a big hug and sit you down with their arms around you and comfort you until you fall asleep.  And then you wake up in a panic in case they have left you, but they are still there, and their arms are still around you, and they comfort you until you go to sleep again. That feeling just before you go to sleep of being understood, wanted, loved, secure and peaceful, and everything is going to be alright – that is what this living water is like.

Only Jesus can satisfy the thirst inside our souls. We wants to come into our lives and stay with us for ever. He does this by putting His Holy Spirit within us. With Him in our lives we need never be lonely again. He said it is like a spring of water inside you that never dries up, so you never have to be thirsty again. (Turn on the power to the water feature, so that the water flows continuously from the hand-pump).

Response

Encourage people to respond by coming to Jesus and asking Him for living water.  Have a time of prayer during which each can make his own personal response. Pray for those coming to Jesus to drink for the first time. Pray also for those whose wells have been filled with rubble and rubbish by the evil one and need to be cleared out (Gen 26:18).