The Woman at the Well

Children's Sermon: The Woman at the Well (John 4:5-34)

Most of you probably play some kind of sports. Raise your hand if you play sports. (Pause.) What kind of sports do you play? (Allow responses.)

Whether you play sports or just play hard, you know that when you’re exercising, it’s very important to take in plenty of liquids. (Give each child a cup or bottle of water. Tell children that when they hear the word “water,” they are to take a sip of their water.)

The question is: What kind of liquids should you drink? 

Ordinary water, (pause) of course, is a good choice, but when you go to the store, (Hold up the sports drink) the shelves are full of all kinds of sports drinks, energy drinks, and flavored water (pause). It’s hard to know what’s best.

The advertisement for one popular brand of sports drink says, "It's better than water (pause), juice, or any other drink. It gives your body what it is thirsty for! It gets you going and keeps you going."

Wow! They have me convinced, but one thing I’ve noticed: In all the claims made by sports drinks, not once have they ever claimed that if you would drink their product, you would NEVER be thirsty again. If somebody had something that would do that, they would really have something, wouldn't they? Well, Jesus claimed to have that very thing!

One day Jesus was walking through a town in Samaria. He was hot and tired so he sat down beside a well to rest. A woman came to the well to get some water (pause) and Jesus asked her if she would give him a drink. The woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her because Jews would not usually speak to Samaritans. 

Jesus told her that He could give her living water! (pause)

She didn’t understand what He was talking about so she said, "You don't even have anything to get water in, (pause) how can you give me living water?" (pause)

Then Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from the water (pause) from this well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water (pause) I give him will never thirst again."

Wow! Water (pause) that would satisfy your thirst so you would never be thirsty again! Jesus wasn't talking about our thirst for water from a well. (pause) He was talking about our thirst for God. The Bible teaches us that we have a thirst in our heart for the living God. And that is a thirst that only Jesus can satisfy. So when we have Jesus in our heart, He satisfies our thirst for God and we will never thirst again! Jesus is life! Drink it up!

Dear Lord, You have given us Jesus, the Living Water. (pause) May we drink of Your Living Water (pause) so we will never thirst again. In Jesus’ name, amen.