Because opportunities to attend services may be limited for several weeks, the newspaper has invited local clergy to submit sermons for publication here.

By BILL RUDD

Pastor, Cottonwood Valley Baptist Church, Hillsboro

Jessica McClure, also known as Baby Jessica, fell into a 22-foot deep well Oct. 14, 1987, in Midland, Texas.

Her fall became a heavily covered event as people around the world prayed for the rescue of the 18-month-old. After 45 hours, the child was brought up alive.

In the Gospel of John 4:4-34, we read of a woman making her routine trip to a local well.

When she arrived at the well, she saw a stranger sitting there. She was unaware this was the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Though she did not know Him, Jesus knew who she was and sought her out.

The Bible says, “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, ‘Give me to drink.’ ”

It was not customary for men to talk to women. Add to the unusualness him being a Jew and she a Samaritan. So she questioned Him regarding his interaction with her.

In verse 10, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” Jesus responded.

In verses 13-14, “Jesus answered and said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Unlike water, what he offered would continually satisfy, and never run dry — life eternal! She was looking for a miracle that would keep her from having to routinely visit this well.

Jesus continued to reveal his identity by telling her what no stranger would know — her sinful ways. He reveals that He knows she has a sinful, shameful past. She now perceives Him to be a prophet, which He was, but He was also priest and king!

It is clear that she was heart-thirsty for love, acceptance, and satisfaction in life. Her life always seemed to fall apart.

When Jesus revealed her sinful past and present, she instantly changed the subject, likely due to her guilt, to a subject a prophet would be interested in —worship. He then revealed God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

She then speaks of what she has been taught, the Messiah is coming, and “He will tell us all things.”

He revealed her sin and figuratively removed a veil. “Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city.

I can tell you that Jesus Christ changed my life 35 years ago when He saved my soul! Though I’ve not always been faithful to Him, He’s always been faithful to me. He has satisfied my thirsty soul the way no one else could ever do.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8.

Jesus is the only way you find peace, love and a full life here and in the heavenly city that awaits.

To reject his salvation is to receive payment for your sin by spending eternity in a horrible place called hell. To reject God’s son is to reject his love and the sacrifice of his son in our place.

If you are willing to humble yourself before God and “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

If you have been rescued, forgiven, by his saving grace, then you, too, know how wonderful it is to be rescued by the living water, Jesus!