Week 2
Live Speak / Wrap Up
Thirst
Un-quenched
The Point
Don’t chase after things that will leave you still thirsty. Chase after the things of God who will satisfy for good.
INTRO
We’re in week two of our series, Thirst.
And today we’re going to be looking at what happens when we chase after the wrong things.
I want to set up our episode today with a story from the Bible that will tie everything together later on.
John 4:5-15 NIV
John came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was
there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into
the town to buy food.)
9 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.[a])
10 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.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 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?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.”
15 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.”
This is only the beginning of the story. Wait ‘til this all ties in. But check out how the group discovers where they can go to get
water in this week’s episode of Thirst.
PLAY WEEK 2 OF THIRST.
MESSAGE
This week, they get a broadcast that promises them water but then it’s interrupted with a message says that they shouldn’t go
to the place—that it’s not what it seems. The messenger says that place is death and that they need to head in the opposite
direction.
If they want water, they need to head west and “follow the sparrow.”
We all thirst for things in our lives. There are things that we want, and a lot of times we’re willing to go to the wrong place to get
it. We do things that we think are going to quench that thirst, but it just leaves us thirsting for more.
Some of you always have to have a boyfriend or girlfriend because you’re trying to feel love and affection.
Some of you want to be the best in your activity because you think it will make you feel like you matter.
Others of you hang out with people, and do things, and say things that you know aren’t you—but you do it because you think it’ll
help you belong.
Others of you do the whole “party thing” because you’re trying to make your life a little more exciting.
Week 2
Live Speak / Wrap Up
Thirst
We all do things thing to try to quench those thirsts in our lives. But not all those things are the right places to go to get that
thirst quenched.
If only you had a transmission interruption like in this week’s episode where someone is telling you, “Don’t go there! Don’t do
that! There’s no water in those things.”
If someone warned you of those dangers, would you still keep doing those same things or would you change direction, head
west, and follow the sparrows?
Lets see how this plays out in Bible story we looked at.
Jesus goes to a well to get some water, and this Samaritan woman comes by to draw water from the well. He asks her:
“Will you give me a drink?”
Now here’s the thing … Jesus isn’t lazy. He can get his own water. After all, He’s Jesus. I’m sure He could just open His mouth
and the water would jump up out of the well and flow into His mouth. He has that kind of God power.
But He asks her for a drink. He’s doing two things here: He’s using this question to initiate conversation with her, and He’s using
water to set up a point He wants to make.
She replies: 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.[a])
Jesus responds: 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.”
He goes on to say: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.”
This is where it gets really interesting! Check this out!
15 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.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 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.”
Oh SNAP! Jesus just laid it down! He called her out.
This whole conversation about water was His way of letting her know that she’s trying to quench her thirst in all the wrong ways,
and it’s just leaving her more and more thirsty.
She was hurt, broken, lonely, and felt worthless so she tried to satisfy all that with men in her life. And Jesus basically told her,
“The way you’re living now, the things you’re doing aren’t going to quench that thirst. Only I can fulfill what you’re longing for—
for good!”
What are your searching for? What thirst are you trying to quench in the wrong ways?
Name it! Name the one main thing that you’re trying to satisfy. Think about it, identify it, get it in your head.
There’s a great quote from a guy named Barnes who responds to what’s happening in this story. Here’s what he said:
The soul by nature is like such a desert, or like a traveler wandering through such a desert. It is thirsting for happiness, and
seeking it everywhere, and finds it not. It looks in all directions and tries all objects, but in vain. Nothing meets its desires.
Week 2
Live Speak / Wrap Up
Thirst
Though a sinner seeks for joy in wealth and pleasures, yet he is not satisfied. He still thirsts for more, and seeks still for
happiness in some new enjoyment. To such a weary and unsatisfied sinner the grace of Christ is “as cold waters to a thirsty
soul.”
The only one who can truly satisfy is God. Jesus is the living water that quenches thirst for good!
Look at how this Bible story ends:
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me
everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Did you notice that? She left her water jar! That’s what she literally did. I think the Bible made sure to make note of that because
while she actually did that, it was also a metaphor for her life. She didn’t need that water any more. She was accepting the living
water that Jesus promised her. She was done trying to quench her thirst in all the ways she tried.
And this is the result:
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever
did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of
his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
CLOSE
Close your eyes and bow your heads.
Maybe you realized today that there are things in your life that you want, and you think they’re going to quench that thirst that
you have. But you also realized that you’re going about it all wrong, and you know that thing that you thought of a little bit ago
isn’t going to truly quench it. You know you’ll just keep getting thirsty over and over and over. So if tonight you’re willing to put
down your water jug, and trust God to give you what you need, if you’re saying that you’re going to rely on God instead of trying
to do it your own way, then raise your hand right now and let me pray for you … (Pray for the students.)
With your eyes still closed and heads still bowed …
Maybe you’re here today and you realized that you’ve been trying to fill an emptiness in your life with different things, but every
time you try those things, it may work in the moment but afterwards you’re left just as empty as you were before—still wanting
and thirsting for the same thing. The reality is, that emptiness and void you feel can only be filled by God. Only He can give you
what you really need. If you’re here today, and you want to give God the chance to give you what you need, and you want to
rely on Him for the first time in your life, then raise your hand right now and repeat this prayer after me … (Have students repeat
a prayer after you.)