In a conversation with a woman at a well about the satisfaction of eternal thirst, Jesus reveals why He had to go through Samaria and the kind of drink only He can give. He also reveals that everyone is thirsty and is slaking their thirst one way or another. But only one drink, living water, will eternally satisfy.

In a world that is in desperate need of a message with authority because everyone is their own authority, we need to be reminded that there is one who spoke with absolute authority. To receive the message of Jesus is to receive Him as God. To receive Jesus is to receive eternal life. To reject Jesus is to reject God and to remain under His wrath. Eternity is at stake!

John had to repeatedly answer questions about who he was and he spent a lot of time telling people who he was NOT. “I’m not the prophet. I’m not the light. I’m not the Messiah/King/Savior. I’m not The One. I’m not the groom.”
John the Baptist was not the groom, but he was the best man. And his greatest joy was to use his voice to prepare others to hear Jesus’ voice. And as John’s popularity lessened, Jesus’ fame grew. “I must decrease and He must increase.”

This morning we will continue our journey through the Gospel of John and we will see how the love of darkness keeps us from coming to Jesus in faith. We will see the crucial heart conviction that when we honestly and openly come into the light of God’s truth and holiness we will not find condemnation but grace and acceptance.

If you are a mother, childbirth is difficult. If you are a baby, it’s impossible! Mother’s give birth. It would probably be better if we said, “I was birthed”, just to communicate that conception and birth are completely out of our hands! No one can just make themselves be born! We are all simply recipients of birth!

Yet Jesus tells us that we “must be born again”. Jesus demands that we be born a second time. He commands the impossible. And the results for this impossibility are entrance into the Kingdom of God. Eternal life is for those who will receive this second birth.

Jesus is gracious and will work with us where our faith is at the moment, helping us to grow our faith so that it is more trustworthy and more connected to the reality of who he is and what he has done by his death, resurrection and present reality in the church by his Spirit.

Jesus had waited a long, long time for this moment. And it was finally time. It was time to clean house. So Jesus went into the temple, made a whip and drove out the cattle and sheep and those who were selling them. He turned over the tables of the money changers. What might seem like an uncharacteristic display of “flying off the handle” is actually a display of Jesus’ zeal for His Father to be treasured above every other treasure.

What is a sign for? To point you to something else. And that’s what Jesus’ signs were all about. They pointed people to a greater reality. His miracles revealed His glory.

Jesus is fine with us saying that we found Him and know Him. But His knowledge and finding precede ours. Be amazed and be encouraged by this!

Following Jesus. What did it mean to follow Jesus in His day? What did it mean to follow a traveling Rabbi who was the Lamb of God and Messiah? What will it mean for us today? Does he have the right to give us a new identity and a new future?