WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET???

Get ready...ramblings late at night from a thirsty soul.

Since Pastor Ryan is on vacation, the next few weeks at church will be filled with guest speakers on Sunday mornings. It's not that I don't like guest speakers, or that I don't "get anything out of their message", it's just that when you are under the leadership of an awesome man of God as my pastor, you miss it when he's gone. But alas, he deserves a rejuvinating vacation, and I pray he comes back more rested and ON FIRE for the Lord. This past Sunday's first "guest speaker" was certainly no guest. He is well knows to many CrossPointers, and has filled in many times before. Tim Tidwell is an awesome guy. I love to hear him preach. He brought lots of fruit to the table today, and I must say, I'm still feasting! Here's a few points that I'm still chewing on...

Scripture: John 4:1-29

Theme: The Woman At The Well

Now how many times have we all heard sermons preached on this particular scripture? For me it is far too many to count. And as Mr. Tidwell said in his sermon, there are so many different messages that can come out of these words and there's not enough time to get to them all in one day. That's just like God, huh? To fill us full of the scripture, and have it mean something in so many different ways, to so many different people, in so many different stages of life, so many different times of our life! I like the angle presented in this message...

How many times do you think this woman had come to this well with her bucket?

This was a routine for her. (remember that point...I'll come back to it) She probably drew water from this well daily, if not more than that! She carried her bucket to the well-probably a long walk from her home-and all the way there, her thoughts of her life surrounding her. When she get's there...a Jew is sitting near by and asks for a drink. "Wow! What's he talking to me for?? He's a Jew, I'm a Samaritan!" (as scripture references, Jews and Samaritan's have nothing to do with each other...much like many of the racial divides throughout time-black vs white, german vs jew, muslim vs christian, etc).

The verses 7-15 tells us alot about this woman's relationship with God...for she didn't recognize just who it was talking to her. Jesus tells her that if she only knew him, He could give her living water! Jesus is referring to her life style...not her physical thirst. If she would know, trust, love and live for Jesus, he can fill her heart so full that she would not thirst for anything else! (That whole "God shaped hole" that we all try to fill with worldly things at some point in our lives-nothing can fill a God shaped hole but GOD HIMSELF!). He "calls her out" when he asks her to go get her husband in verse 16, and she LIES to Him. Well, she told the truth by admitting she had no husband, but lying by omission is still lying! In fact, she'd had 5 husbands, and was shacking up with a dude even then! When Jesus confronted her with her sins, and offered her a drink from His well, she left her bucket at his feet and ran off telling everyone! (v. 28-29)

So let's turn this into a lesson for the day (one of the many)...as was asked of us in church, I ask you to ponder now...

"WHAT IS IN YOUR BUCKET?"

What is on your mind when you find yourself face to face with the Saviour? What to do bring to him? What do you pray about? What do you anticipate when you approach the throne?

• Do you fill your bucket with your bills and debts? An overly stressed financial situation can cause problems in more than just your checkbook. Marriages become strained over the fight of money, your availability to be used by God is lessened when you're strapped down and can't give to others to help His cause, you can't be obedient to the Lord and give what you want, or should give as commanded!


• Is your bucket filled with all your relationships? The good, the Bad, the Ugly? Are you astrained from your parents, siblings, or inlaws? How about the relationship between a husband and a wife? There is nothing more important than to protect and annoint a marriage with the Grace and Love of God! A couple who comes together before the Lord on a regular basis is taking steps to ensure they're remaining close to each other, and are seeking God and his will for them. Separatly pursuing God is good too, but when you draw nearer to God together, you also draw closer together! (see image below)

• What are your desires? Perhaps a better question would be, are YOUR desires HIS desires? Psalms 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." The closer one draws him/herself to the Almighty God, the less desire you have of your own, and the more desires you have of the Creator. His desires become your desires. So I ask again, WHAT DESIRES ARE IN YOUR BUCKET?

The woman at the well was going about her ROUTINE. It is imparative that believers not get mixed up in a routine! Christ didn't come here and die for us to have a routine! It's just not about a routine, it's about a RELATIONSHIP!

This message gave me conviction and I've been thinking of it all week. Far too often, I get mixed up in the day to day grind, that is not nearly as hectic and bad as I might believe it to be...especially when you consider the hectic, chaotic, and torn up lives of others. Ashamedly, I get so wrapped up in outside influences...TV (tivo is a great invention, but should be used wisely more wisely in our home! We watch far too much tv now!), internet (i.e. blogs, MySpace, etc...while they are excellent resources for connection to the outside world, too often I find myself spending many many hours surfing the net when I could be surfing the word of God and finding more of his desires for myself). I realize that these are all tools used by the greatest deceiver of all time to thwart my use to the Kingdom of God. My goal is to connect the desires of my heart with the desires of my head. My head knows the logic of turning the tv off, and setting limits for those outside influences. But apparently my heart has not caught up. It's time to draw near to God. I put my trust in the Lord, and not in the deceit of my enemy.

I leave you with this verse:

Psalms 145:1-4,10

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

May blessings from the Lord be abundant in your favor today....