"Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. "
The article goes on the talk about more awards she's won and then continues with this...
"Winehouse's problems with drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and her self-destructive behavior were regular tabloid news from 2007 until her death. Winehouse was found dead on 23 July 2011, at her home in London. Police have said that the cause of her death is "as yet unexplained" and that the death was "non-suspicious". Winehouse's family and friends attended her funeral on 26 July 2011. In August 2011 her album Back to Black became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century."
There were no illegal drugs found in her system but we still don't know what killed her. Theories range from emphysema, to bulimia, to alcohol withdrawal.
Recently Kitch and I had a friend pass away and for a while his death was a mystery just like Amy's. The difference is when his toxicology report came back it revealed that he had died of a morphine overdose.
We knew that he struggled with a morphine addiction but we also knew that he had been clean for at least a couple of years. He was working his dream job hand making instruments for a well established business. He had made arrangements for his son to come live with him in just a few months. He was working on a budget and saving money for the first time ever. We were all so happy to see him doing so well and then BAM! he was dead.
Once we found out it was an overdose our obvious question was why?? Why did he go back to that? Why did he choose that?
Why do any of us choose it? Not all of us are addicts but we know what it's like to long for something. All of us are thirsty for something.
And we are so quick to attempt to quench our thirst with something temporary like food or drugs, or gambling, or alcohol that we overlook the eternal satisfaction we can find in Jesus Christ.
A friend of mine once said, "Duracell ain't got nothin' on Jesus!" and I have never forgotten that statement. So I ripped it off and entitled this devotion, "Snicker's Ain't Got Nothin' on Jesus". See Snicker's claims it can satisfy you and maybe it can for a moment but physical things will never satisfy our spiritual thirst.
We'll be looking at John 4:1-30.
So we begin with Jesus on a journey to Galilee.
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he 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.
Right off I need to say do not be fooled by the words "He had to go through Samaria". Most other Jews would have gone around Samaria even though it was the long way to Galilee. They would have done this because Samaritans were not full blooded Jews. They were descendants of mixed marriages between Jews and local gentiles and this practice was very frowned upon. The Jewish people thought of themselves as better than the Samaritans.
So we know that it's not that there was no other way for Jesus to go. But we also know that the Bible is accurate so we must conclude that Jesus "had to go" through Samaria because He had divine work to do there.
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.)
When I was 15 I dated a guy I went to school with who was black and I have never experienced racism the way I did then. I was called names and treated badly when we were in public places together. Many of you know what I'm talking about. For me it stopped when he and I broke up about a year later. But for him it was something he dealt with every day of his life. He actually even dealt with it in death. Lin was murdered at the age of 24 by white supremacists.
Here's the thing, no matter your color or your sex or your economic status, Jesus will never look at you the way that men do.
In Galations 3:28 it says,
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
In Christ we all stand on the same level. We are all one in Christ!
So He asks for a drink and she asks how He could even ask her and ...
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."
I love this part of the conversation because all of a sudden they aren't talking about the same thing anymore. See she's speaking of spring water. Living water is spring water. So she's speaking of her very real need to quench her physical thirst. Jesus on the other hand is speaking of himself. He is living water and He's offering to quench her spiritual thirst.
So often we make the same mistake as the woman at the well. We choose the physical and temporary and ignore the spiritual and eternal. Often we do this because it is easier. Sometimes we do it because we don't know any better. And sometimes we ignore our spiritual thirst because we don't think we deserve to have it quenched.
Verse 16 says,
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.”
Jesus already knew about her ex's. He wasn't surprised by her sin and He's not surprised by ours either. He knows who we are and He knows what we've done and guess what! He loves us anyway! He pursues us anyway.
Remember Jesus didn't have to travel through Samaria. He was there for her. It was no accident. Just like it's no accident that we're here today.
God is pursuing you. He's wooing you! He loves you and wants to be in a relationship with you!
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
In these verses we see the woman at the well asking questions. Kind of like, "Oh yeah, well since you know everything what about all this?"
Notice how Jesus responds to her. He doesn't get impatient or rude, He just answers her questions. And He'll answer ours too. If you have questions ask them honestly and then be willing to accept His honest answers. You will not scare Christ away!
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Jesus wants us to know who He is! He's not keeping it a secret or telling a riddle. He makes His identity very plain.
I tell my kids this all the time, and it's something to get excited about. The creator of the universe knows you and He wants you to get to know Him!
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
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.
Remember when I said Jesus knows you and He wants you to know Him? Well, there's on more thing He wants...to change your life!
I love that the woman at the well left her jar and went back to the town to tell everyone about Jesus. She was so excited that she left her jar! She came to the well on a mission to get water and left with another mission, to take Jesus (the living water) to others. That's a changed life!
Jesus knows us. He knows our heartache. This woman at the well, she had some obvious problems. She wasn't an addict like Amy Winehouse but she had 5 husbands. And have you ever noticed the fact that she was at the well in the heat of the day? Most women in her culture and time period would have chosen sunrise or sunset, the cooler times of the day. No one wants to carry water when it's 100 degrees out. So why was she there at noon? Was it because she wanted to avoid the other women? Was she an outcast because of her 5 marriages?
I've experienced heartache in my life too. And I bet I'm not the only one. Maybe you've experienced the pain of not knowing your father. Maybe you've been betrayed by the person you thought was your true love. Maybe you've lost a child, or battled cancer. Maybe you're broke and you're not sure where your next meal is coming from. Maybe you have an addiction that is ruining your life and hurting those around you.
But you know what, there is a God in heaven who loves you and He longs to satisfy your thirst. He longs to heal your broken heart. Just like the woman at the well, we're all hurting and just like the woman at the well, God is pursuing us!
He knows us! There is nothing about you or me that has been kept from Him. There is nothing you or I have done that would keep Him from loving us! He doesn't judge us the way others do. He's not surprised by our sin. He's not offended by our questions! He knows us and He wants us to know Him in a life changing way!
And yet, we stand in His way! We come up with all kinds of reasons that He wouldn't want us/love us. All of them are wrong! And not only that we seek out physical pleasure, physical satisfaction, physical fulfillment to quench a spiritual thirst.
There are so many things fighting for our attention and our devotion that we end up ignoring the one person that can offer eternal satisfaction. Only Jesus can fill the longing in our hearts. But just as He has chosen you, you have to choose Him.
So what does that look like? In our real lives what does it mean to choose Jesus?
First it means becoming a Christian if you haven't already. In children's church we have an easy way to explain what this means. We call it the abc's of salvation.
A- admit that you've sinned and disobeyed God. The Bible says we're all guilty of sin and that the punishment for sin is death.
B-believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again and that His blood was shed to pay for your sins.
C-confess that Jesus is Lord of your life.
If you haven't done this I encourage you to do it now!
But even praying the prayer of salvation isn't enough. If you want to quench your spiritual thirst you have to choose Jesus everyday!
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to,Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight
So how do we do that? How do we trust in the LORD everyday of our lives?
I've been married to my husband for 13 years. How do you think things would go if once were married I decided to hang out with him for just 1 hour, once a week? What if I just couldn't make any more time for him? Our relationship with God is the same! It takes time to develop trust. You must give Him more than Sunday morning in the pew.
First, read your Bible! It is full of God's story told through people who He was faithful to over and over again, people whose lives were changed because of His work in them.
Also, if you're reading your Bible and you're loving those stories, ask the Christians you know to tell you their stories. God is still working today and it's important that we share with each other our stories of God's faithfulness and trustworthiness.
Next, pray! Pray all the time. The Bible says to pray with out ceasing. You can pray before bed, while doing dishes, while mowing the grass, while running on the treadmill, while driving to work. (Just don't close your eyes if you're driving or mowing or running. :) )
Take your relationship with God to the next level and let Him amaze you!
Don't let your past or man's prejudices keep you away. Don't try to quench your eternal spiritual thirst with temporary and physical things.
And don't forget, Snicker's ain't got nothin' on Jesus.
