Filled to Overflowing

Filled to Overflowing

Thirst: Part 6
March 29, 2026

John 4:27-42

The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?' They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.

 ~ John 4:28-30

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Good News is contagious.  Once we really get it, we can't keep it to ourselves.

Imagine you were cured of cancer by an amazing doctor with a brand-new experimental treatment.  Wouldn't you be telling all your friends with cancer about it, hoping that this doctor could help them too? 

"If our faith is real, if being a Christian makes a deep difference in our own lives, it matters that we be able to talk about that with the people we care about and the people that Christ cares about” (Martha Grace Reese, Unbinding the Gospel, 13).

Many of us as Christians are more likely to invite someone to our new favorite restaurant than we are to invite someone to church, and we are far more likely to introduce someone to our best friend or even to our favorite TV series than we are to introduce them to Jesus. 

For the woman at the well, Jesus was likely one of the first people who ever truly loved and accepted her for who she was, flaws and all.  He knew her better than anybody and yet he didn't judge.  He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, but that didn't stop him from reaching across the lines.  He was clean and she was unclean, but he wasn't afraid of getting dirty.  Nobody else in her life had ever loved her that much.  Her excitement is overwhelming, and it is contagious.

The people probably think she's crazy.  They know her.  They know her past.  They know she's got no reason to be so joyful.  But they can't help but wonder what has changed inside her, and so they come to meet Jesus for themselves. 

She has no idea how the people will respond, but it doesn't matter.  She's not even certain if Jesus is really the Christ, the Savior, at all?  She's not clear on her beliefs.  She has no religious answers and little to know biblical knowledge.  I'm not even certain we can say that she "got saved," in the way we often think about salvation... at least not yet.  But her encounter with Christ impacted her so much she could not keep it to herself. 

Before we met Jesus personally, each and every one of us saw Jesus alive in someone else.

Who needs to see Jesus alive in you, so that they will come and see the one who knows them and loves them too?

Good News!

Good News!

Good News - Part 1

Sunday, January 7, 2024
Mark 1:1, 14-15

The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son…

… After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

Mark 1:1, 14-15 (CEB)

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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When I was a teenager, I received a small pamphlet called a “gospel track” that laid out what was called “The Gospel.”  In summary, it went something like this:

1.  You are a sinner and separated from God.

2.  If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you can be covered by his blood and forgiven.

3.  Only if you pray this prayer of salvation can you be in heaven with God when you die.

I was told this was the “Gospel” or “Good News”.  Over the years I struggled more and more with how this was “good news” for people born in a context where they had never heard of Jesus, or worse yet, who grew up in settings where Jesus was presented in such horrible and unloving ways that no one would want to “accept him as their Lord and Savior.” 

I also struggled with the fact that the default position is that we are sinners bound for the eternal fires of hell unless we just happen to be fortunate enough for some well meaning evangelical Christian to come along our path and lead us in the seemingly magical words of the “sinners prayer”, which I have found nowhere in Scripture.

What happened to Genesis 1 and 2.  What happened to “And God created humankind in his own image… and it was very good (Genesis 1:27, 31)?

If so few people in the history of creation would actually even hear the words that would supposedly get them into heaven, how was this, as the angels said, “Good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10)?

Mark begins his account of the “Good News” by saying this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus.  Jesus’ first recorded words in this gospel do invite us to repent of our sin and prepare our hearts and lives, but they do not say anything about our eternal destination or offer us a simple prayer to “get saved.” 

One would think if the prayer in those gospel tracks is the only way to avoid eternal damnation, perhaps Jesus might have started with that.  But no, Jesus begins by declaring that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand… It has come near.  The kingdom of God is right here, right now… and later he will teach us to pray for the Kingdom to fully come on earth as it is in heaven.” 

In other words, the Good News isn’t an inheritance check we pick up at the pearly gates after we die.  The Good News, the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of  God… is a present reality.  It is here and now!

What does the Good News of Jesus mean for you today, in this moment, here and now?