HYDRATE!

            IT IS IMPERTATIVE TO KEEEP YOURSELF HYDRATED. I’m not going into the medical ramifications and the biological effects on the body from dehydration: my husband is the emergency room nurse – I’m the preacher; and, it is very  likely anyway that most adults know full well how wonderful it is to drink enough liquids – after all, you can live a lot longer on only water than food. I have no doubt that children are wisely being educated by their parents as to the importance of drinking proper amounts of daily water as well.  And in Minnesota, where the summers can be quite tough, you will see many kids and grown folks carrying around water bottles (or in many cases like mine – iced coffee – remember my Caribou Coffee flash drive?) Water is one of the daily basic necessities of life, good life.

Being a preacher of the Good News – the Gospel of Jesus Christ – I’d like to draw your attention to the most important water – living water – of course! Let’s go now to the Bible and see the biggest necessity in each individual’s life:

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:14

Eternal life. Remember, Beloved, life on Earth is a gift to be cherished and enjoyed – but eternal life is far superior in every way. That God-kind-of life, eternally being with God and His saints, will be filled with joy unspeakable and pure holiness surrounding all who deliberately chose living water as one Samaritan woman did…

As Jesus was resting by a well as a certain Samaritan woman came to draw water. It has been said this woman came at an unusual time of day so as not to run into other people. She had been married five times and the man she now had was not her husband. This JEM is not about her – it is about the answer Jesus gave her…

Jesus was thirsty and He said to this person: “Will you give me a drink?” (John 4:7.) It is very nice to know that Jesus Christ – fully God / fully Man had human needs because as the Bible tells us He understands and sympathizes with our own weaknesses –and that is refreshing to know! He was thirsty. What a privilege to give something to Jesus!  At this point this woman – remember a Samaritan – did not feel right for a Jew to ask anything from her. Not knowing yet who Jesus was, she knew Jews at that time did not associate with Samaritans. BUT: He did ask, He did associate with her and – He did give her the answer. That day the request her Messiah made of her changed her life and that of countless others:
           Now he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 4:4-26

This precious woman that Jesus died for, married five times, then having a man not her husband, gave a cup of water to the Messiah. What did she do next, when she found out who He was? She blabbed it all over town!

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
John 4:28-29

Did the people listen? Thankfully – they did!

They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
John 4:30

This woman and many (hopefully all) she preached to learned how to hydrate themselves. Everyone who drinks the living water Jesus offers will never thirst. I invite you to reject Hell, the lake of fire, and be refreshed daily in the water that hydrates the soul, body and spirit. I do not want you to ever thirst again. And, love people – all people. AND – be wise enough to know you don’t have to like them all  – that’s a no-brainer. But be brilliant and loving – and blab, blab, blab. Blab to the saints. Blab to the sinners. You have living water – you are hydrated: hydrated with holiness! You never thirst for love, for joy,  for peace, for mercy, for forgiveness – for your Father knows you needs these things and gives you all things richly to enjoy! Amen. I say it again – Amen!

The Master is calling you!

Grace and peace from me, Reverend Ann Marie Turner, one who also loves you and wants you thirstless!

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FROM THIS ‘JOY JEM:

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:41-42

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
1 Timothy 6:17