MESSAGE NOTES AND INDIVIDUAL/GROUP REFLECTION QUESTIONS, 9/8/24
So, what do you believe about Jesus? We all believe something about Him. A.W. Tozer, a famous American pastor in the mid 1900s declared, “What comes into our minds when we think about Jesus is the most important thing about us.”
In week 4, we focus on John 4:1-42 and consider this question of belief: “Do you believe that Jesus can satisfy you the most?”
CONNECT
- What in your life brings you great satisfaction?
REFLECT
- Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus talks to everyday people like you and me through direct, personal conversations. How does this idea of a personal and relational God make you feel? Compare John the Baptist, the disciples, and Nicodemus with the Samaritan woman. How were they alike and how were they different? Who are these individuals in our culture today?
- When reading John chapter 4, it is important to understand the location of this well (*see below) and the fact that the Samaritans and the Jews had a long and difficult relationship as people groups. Though both traced their ancestry and religion back to Moses, the Samaritans and Jews thought different mountains were the sacred places of worship (Mt. Gerizim vs. Mt. Zion), used slightly different Scriptures (The Torah –first five books of the Bible vs. our entire Old Testament), and had a great dislike for one another culturally. It is also important to know that Jewish men did not relate much publicly with women, whether Jewish or otherwise. With this in mind, what do you learn about Jesus by reading John 4:1-9?
- Jesus talks quite a bit about “living water” in the first part of this chapter. Living water is literally a description of running water as opposed to still water, as would be found in a well. What do you think that Jesus is trying to get at in John 4:10-15 by talking about “living water”? Also, see John 7:37-39. Would you describe your life as “welling up” or “gushing forth” living water from God? Why or why not?
- Reflect on John 4:16-30, 39-42. Note: This is Jesus’ first public admission that He was the Messiah. What did Jesus satisfy in the Samaritan woman? How was she changed? What did she do?
APPLICATION
- In what area of your life (career, resources, health, relationships) are you seeking to find satisfaction that only Jesus can really satisfy? How could you release that area of your life to Him more?
- Others believed and followed because the woman shared her story and the people came to see for themselves. Who do you know in your web of relationships that you can invite to come and see for themselves?
PRAY
Jesus, satisfy me more than anything else.
Chosen Video – scene of Jesus and the woman at the well [https://rb.gy/rt8lq0]
Gospel of John Simple Journal/Reading Plan (in lobby)
Gospel of John Overview Video [https://shorturl.at/hVyfX]
*Background on Location of the Well
In the Old Testament, we recall that Joseph received a special blessing from his father, Jacob, at his death. It was a promise that he would be a fruitful vine climbing over a wall (Gen. 49:22). Psalm 80:8 speaks of a vine being brought out of Egypt whose shoots spread throughout the earth, eventually bringing salvation to the world through the true vine.
In John 15:1, we read that Jesus identifies himself as this true vine, and just as Israel of old, Jesus was also symbolically brought out of Egypt (Matt.2:15). In his conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus – the promised vine in Jacob’s promise to Joseph – is in effect climbing over the wall of hostility between the Israelite Jews and Israelite Samaritans to unite these two parts of His Kingdom through His person, teaching and deeds. In a deeply symbolic fashion, this conversation takes place at the very well built by Jacob to whom the promise was given!