At Jacob's Well: Jesus Restores Your Thirst for Him

In this message given in preparation for the Women's Camp of ICC TV Montreal, Pastor Renathe YAO opens the Gospel of John chapter 4 to remind you of something simple: Jesus has an appointment with you. No matter where you find yourself today, no matter the pit you think you have fallen into, no matter what has corrupted your Christian life, he comes to sit down next to you at Jacob's well.

The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is not a story for spectators. It is a mirror. The question she asked may be yours. The diverted thirst she carried may be yours too. And the transformation she experienced is the one the Lord wants to work in you.

In this teaching you will see how to step out of religion and into the knowledge of Almighty God, how the Lord reclaims your thirst when it has been stolen, and how a single woman met at a well can be enough to shake an entire city.

Outline of the message

1. Jesus has an appointment with you, wherever you are

Jesus was tired from the journey. He sits down at the well, at the sixth hour, at high noon, under the sun. This is not the hour when people go to draw water. This is not the hour when people meet someone at the well. Everything about this encounter is unusual.

Pastor Renathe YAO puts it this way: "No matter where you are, no matter the pit you find yourself in today, no matter the filth, the environment you are in, Jesus will come find you there." He has an appointment with you during this camp, and he is not going to leave you where you are.

Anyone who makes the decision to be in the right place meets the Lord. This woman: someone might have thought she was not in the right place. Yet there she was. That is where Jesus was waiting for her.

2. "If you knew the gift of God": stepping out of religion

Jesus says to her: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The preacher asks the question directly: do you know this Jesus? Have you taken the time to know him? Our Christian life has often been corrupted because we live it like any other life. The Christian life is not an ordinary life. It is a higher life.

The Samaritan woman did not even recognize Jesus. She talked with him because she did not know him. She had an attitude that showed her limitation, an attitude that showed she was not connected to the heart of God, an attitude that showed she did not have the revelation of who he is.

The prayer Renathe YAO lifts up is Paul's prayer: that God would enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you may know. The knowledge of God pulls you out of ignorance and drives you to seek.

3. Do not take for granted the gift you have received

We take things for granted because they are accessible. Salvation is so accessible, we receive divine life through a simple prayer of faith. No cameras, no announcement in the newspapers, nothing happens with fanfare. So we do not value ourselves at our true worth.

The pastor adds a nuance: "It is not free, it is given. There is a difference between free and given. Given means someone has paid, and you only benefit." The price was so high that you could never have paid it. So do not take it for granted and do not minimize what you have received. Celebrate God and seek to know the one who paid the price.

4. Moving from the natural to the spiritual

Jesus speaks to this woman about spiritual things. She keeps bringing him back to the natural realm. "You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?"

It is the same with Nicodemus. Jesus tells him he must be born again. Nicodemus answers that he cannot enter his mother's womb a second time. He is looking with natural eyes.

The pastor urges you: when you draw near to God, you are not drawing near to a man. You are drawing near to the Creator God, the living God. Do not come with fleshly requests. If the word of Jesus does not shake you, if you do not find it strange, it may be because your ear has grown used to it, it has become religious to you. You pretend to understand. But if you find it strange, you will keep digging to understand.

5. The devil diverts your thirst: the Lord restores it

The Samaritan woman knew the history of her people, she was proud of Jacob's well, she had knowledge of her origins. But her spiritual thirst had been hijacked by the desire for marriage. She had had five husbands, and the one she had then was not her husband.

Renathe YAO puts it this way: "Her spirituality had been stolen by the devil. Today, your spirituality is being stolen by the devil. Your thirst: that is what determines the level of spirituality you will have with God. The devil will always want to direct your thirst toward something else."

The moment Jesus captured her thirst, brought it back to the right place, the woman began to speak of spiritual things. She came out of everything that was fleshly. She was no longer talking about herself. The Lord wants to restore your thirst during this time.

6. Worshiping God in spirit and in truth

Jesus says: "The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him."

God is spirit. He is not flesh. We do not worship what we do not know; we worship a God we know. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, not with our intellect and our memory. That is not worship, that is a song held onto like a recitation.

The pastor warns against the devil's strategy today: making you religious, making you worship a God you do not know, keeping you busy so you never go into the secret place. Yet it is in the secret place that God lets himself be found.

7. Becoming a mouthpiece like the Samaritan woman

The woman left her water jar, went back to the city, and said to the people: "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" She, who was known for her quarrels and for living with another woman's husband, becomes the first evangelist to the Samaritans.

"Many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the woman's clear testimony." An ordinary woman, not well regarded, but filled with the Spirit. The pastor declares: "Be that woman on fire. Be Jesus' mouthpiece throughout this whole week."

Jesus stayed there two days because of her. A whole city opened up to the Savior of the world because one woman met him at a well.

Key takeaways

• Jesus has an appointment with you, whatever your current situation.
• Knowing God (not just knowing about him) pulls you out of religion.
• The Christian life is not an ordinary life; do not take it for granted.
• The devil diverts your thirst; the Lord wants to bring it back to himself.
• A single woman in the right place, with the right thirst, is enough to shake an entire city.

Personal application

1. Where are you today? Are you ready to believe that Jesus is waiting for you there, without having to change locations first?
2. When you read the words of Jesus, do they still shake you, or have you become religious?
3. What has stolen your spiritual thirst: a relationship, a career, a recurring worry? Take time to name it before God.
4. Does your worship flow from spirit and truth, or has it become a recitation?
5. Who could you tell this week, "Come and see"? A single simple word, moved by the Spirit, can be enough.

Verses cited

• John 4 · The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (central text of the message)
• John 3 · The conversation with Nicodemus and being "born again"
• Hebrews 11:6 · "Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him"
• Ephesians 1:17-18 · "That he may enlighten the eyes of your hearts"
• Romans 8:26 · The Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words
• 1 Chronicles 28:9 · "Know the God of your father"

FAQ

Which biblical passage does this message cover?

Pastor Renathe YAO reads and comments on John 4, the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, connecting it to the assembly's preparation for the Women's Camp.

Who is this teaching for?

First for the women preparing for the camp, but the message speaks to every believer who feels religious, lukewarm, or whose spiritual thirst has been diverted by the concerns of daily life.

What does it mean to "worship in spirit and in truth"?

It does not mean worshiping with your intellect and memory, that would be recitation. It means worshiping the living God whom you know personally, in real intimacy, guided by the Holy Spirit, resting on the truth of his word.