If You Get Romans, God Gets You

During the 1920’s to the 1940’s, a teacher at Abilene Christian College named R. C. Bell who taught and wrote on Paul’s epistle to the Romans made the title of this article well known.  He often said, “If you get Romans, God gets you.”

Of course, Bro. Bell meant that the message of Romans is so significant that ‘if one really grasps/understands/accepts it, then God will capture the heart of the one who gets it.  What is so important about Romans?  Why should we as  Christians make it our goal to know/comprehend its message?

BECAUSE:  The way/means to a right relationship with God is revealed by Paul in his epistle to the Romans.  When I was a boy growing up in the churches of Christ, I thought I understood the gospel/the way of salvation.  My conception of salvation was ‘if I obeyed God well enough, I would be saved.’  As a result of this conception of the way of salvation, I lived in fear of hell and guilt over my failure to obey well enough.  I lived with the constant anxiety of being lost, even though I was a Christian (as I understood Christianity).  I was a lot like Paul describes himself in Romans 7.  I desperately wanted to be righteous, but I did not have the will power to defeat sin.

Paul’s message in Romans (his good news) is that ‘righteousness’ in God’s sight has been made available to us by God Himself.  God makes it possible for us to be ‘not guilty’ before Him.  We can be righteous in God’s eyes because of what God has done for us.  SO WHAT HAS GOD DONE??

Romans 3:24-25 tells us that God (the author/initiator of our salvation) put forward Jesus His Son as a sacrifice of atonement for our sin.  He has redeemed us from our sins.  God did this because of His grace.  He did this freely because of His love. Therefore, we are justified before God by our faith.  I love the sound-alike definition of justified:  JUST IF I’D NEVER SINNED.  That is how God looks at me because of Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice.  He considers me ‘not guilty, sinless, righteous in His sight’.

How does this make me feel?  ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!!  How does this make me act?  IT MAKES ME WANT TO GIVE MY BODY AS A LIVING SACRIFICE TO GOD!!

Prayer:  Thank you, God, for opening my eyes to see the good news.  Thank you for making it possible to be righteous.  Help me to live a life worthy of your gift of salvation.   

Terry Brown

Abilene, Texas

  

Washing Feet

It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  John 13:1

Jesus and the disciples gathered for an evening meal.  After the food had been served, Jesus got up and began to wash his disciples’ feet.  The men had trouble understanding Jesus’ motive for washing their feet.  “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Simon Peter said.  John’s account of the event (John 13:1-17) describes a practical demonstration of Jesus’ love for his disciples.

Washing dirt from a guest’s feet was a generally accepted practice, showing hospitality and respect.  I would imagine, however, that the actual task of washing feet was typically delegated to a servant.  The disciples obviously needed their feet washed, but none of the “chosen ones” stepped forward to serve.  Jesus sets the example (v.15).

The disciples have been following Jesus for many months.  Yet, they still have trouble with humility.  Pride and arrogance have kept the disciples from learning the true meaning of Jesus’ lessons.  Urgency has set in.  Jesus is soon to leave them and, therefore, he wants to seize the opportunity to emphasize the importance of “servant-mindedness”.  “Do as I have done for you,” Jesus said.

If you really love, you will look for ways to serve.  If you genuinely care, you will put your love into action in practical ways.  Interestingly, Jesus concludes by telling the disciples they will be blessed if they serve others (v.17).

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to follow your example by demonstrating love for others in practical ways.  Help me to be humble enough to accept the role of servant.  Thank you for blessing me.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Carl Smith
Stephenville, Texas

Sons and Daughters of Encouragement

Hebrews 3:12-13

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

“Encourage” defined:

1. to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence 

2. to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc.

3. to promote, advance, or foster

(Dictionary.com Unabridged)

Everyone hungers for encouragement, believers are no exception, each one needs encouragement. Christian encouragement builds strength for the battles against sin’s deceitful nature.  “One another” appears time and again, as New Testament references teach us to walk side by side, to bear one another’s burden.  Too much of the time, we choose independence.  Scripture urges Christians to encourage one another, let us ponder some of them:

Acts 11:22-23

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

Acts 15:32

Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 

Acts 16:40

After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

Acts 18:27

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

Acts 20:1-2

When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia.  He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 

Romans 1:11-12  

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—  that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith

2Corinthians13:11  

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

Ephesians 6:21-22                                   

Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing.  I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

Colossians 4:7-9         

Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.  I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.  He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

1 Thessalonians 3:1-3                                                                 

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens.  We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.

1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:11                                                                                                 

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:14                                                                                                       

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 

2 Timothy 4:2                                                                                                       

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 

Looking back to Hebrews 3:12-13, Let us encourage one another in the present, not rely on yesterday’s words and deeds, and not procrastinate-“I’ll call, write, visit tomorrow”.  Someone is in need of encouragement today.  Who will bring it?  And let us also be thankful for each word/deed of encouragement aimed at us.

Thoughts of Job’s wife have lingered in my mind recently.  Over the years, I have harshly judged her.  Job’s friends came to him, once they received news of his devastating losses.  Maybe Ms. Job also had friends come to comfort and encourage her.  We are not told.  The thought of losing one child, let alone all born to her (10 children, in her case), my imagination cannot comprehend the depth her despair.  The losses don’t end there.  Loss of massive property and her husband’s health is severely stricken.  How can she begin to comfort her spouse?  She is credited with only one statement in the book of Job-speaking to her husband.  “Why do you hold onto your integrity?  Curse God and die.”  She turned away from God.  Yet, Job continued to refrain from blaming God.  He did not sin.  Would her story be different, if she, too, was lifted up by faithful friends?

Job’s wife may not fit into this discussion of encouragement, but her story continues to bring questions to mind.

Days on earth bring heartache and discouragement to everyone.  Christians are not spared the difficult days; on the contrary, their heartaches may be multiplied through persecution for the faith they hold.  God commands His children to support, strengthen and encourage one another.  Who will obey?  What brother or sister can I spur on today?

Father God,

You who give encouragement and endurance.  Thank You for the hope You provide through Your Word.  Thank You, for Your plan: Christians encouraging one another-strength for the battle.  Let us take up the assignment to encourage and lift one another up.  Give us eyes to see the need, give us words to speak life, give us hands and feet to serve.  May our words and our deeds be pleasing in Your sight, may they serve as an encouragement to all in our path.  Jesus’, love and compassion, show us how to encourage-may we be good students of His example and others in Scripture who walked as encouragers.

In His precious name, Amen

Mischelle Oliver, Stephenville

Outrage for Action

It’s easy for me to see and analyze the world’s problems.  I mean, they are all so obvious that it isn’t hard for me to see them and pick them apart.  

Yes, I am that guy.  I go to a retail store and I can pick apart the service or cleanliness or merchandising.  Twenty years in retail will do that to you.  I go to a restaurant and I can quickly analyze all the things they could do to serve me faster and better.  Eating too much will do that to you.  I can go to a car dealership, a movie, wherever, and I can quickly analyze the problems and come up with a list of solutions.  I simply know what I like and think everyone should cater to me.

 

I can do it with churches too.  And, best of all, I can do it with people.  Yes, I have the ability to look around, see everyone’s problems and have answers for how they could all live better lives.  As long as it doesn’t affect me of course.  Or worse, cause me to look in the mirror.

I wrote a post recently about “the church’s” outrage at government and how misplaced I think it can be at times (see it here Outrage for What?).  Here’s the thing with outrage.  It’s a good emotion when it leads me to do something about it.  You see, it’s when I take the outrage and do something about it that I gain credibility.  Complainers are not credible people.  Resolvers are credible people.  Sure, complainers can stand on their soapboxes that look like pulpits or blogs or books or podcasts or social media and get noticed yet their complaining rarely resolves anything.

The other day, I ran across a blog post from 2003 and the writer was “debunking the myth of Mother Teresa.”  He had reasons why she wasn’t really healing the sick or protecting the poor and he certainly blasted her for her Catholic faith.  He gave examples of things she said and wrote to cast her as a non-Protestant at best and a non-believer at worst.  As a bit of a radical in my faith tradition, I found myself agreeing with much of what she represented and taught although the author was castigating the same.  Other things he criticized I found to be…well…insignificant.  He did mention some of what he reported was said or written in 1984.  Oh my, if people went back 30 years on me to find out what I was up to they might bolt and chain the church doors to keep me out!  

For a moment, I was outraged at the blog author and sat in my chair questioning what efforts he was making first-hand with the poor and sick.  However, the longer I thought about it, the more I thought about my need to examine my outrage.  What have I done recently to help the poor?  How have I reached out lately to touch the sick?  

I pray my outrage will continue as long as it drives me to right wrongs, to help others and to see with the eyes of God so I can be his instrument of peace and hope on earth.

Grace and peace.

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas

A Place at the Table

When I think about coming to the table for communion and the words, "This do in remembrance of me," a concept that comes to mind is that of vastness. Think about an open field, a desert, the ocean, the horizon. All wide open spaces, extending beyond what the eye can see. If the eye can't see it, then there is something a bit terrifying about it. That is something that all these spaces have in common. There is a simultaneous beauty, awe, and inspiration that comes when you are standing on a beach looking out at the ocean. There is grandeur in lying on the ground and looking up at the sky. There is, on the other hand, a deep sense of smallness that comes with being enmeshed in these spaces. They are beautiful, yet terrifying. This is called "the sublime." I find that, for me, the space of the Lord's Supper is very similiar.

You see, I view the Lord's Supper not so much as a fixed event or as a "time," but as space--a space suspended between opposite poles, suspended between natural human responses to an act from a divine being. On one hand, there are feelings of gratitude, thankfulness, relief at the thought of grace and mercy shown us through Jesus' selfless act, His body willingly broken. On the other hand, there is sadness, guilt, remorse, a voice echoing in the back of your mind, repeating the youth group propaganda: "Can He still feel the nails every time I fail?"

The space of the Lord's Supper is a point of contention. And it is vast. The image in my mind of the Lord's Supper's vastness confers grandeur on intensities that seemingly have nothing in common. The space at the table is so vast, so immense, welcoming all, inviting everyone to partake and commune, to eat and remember. Intimacy with the Lord in the midst of this vastness feels incompatible, but in all of the Lord's goodness, we access an intimate immensity here, a paradox that, despite itself, displays the grandeur of the Lord's design for "communing," a cosmic form of what we, alone, cannot create or perfect. This space, in which we come to the table and bring a spectrum of complexities to dine with us, is a space that is open enough, broad enough to hold our inner turmoil, our hidden and exposed sins, our joy and hope and longing for the love of the One who was broken for us. This space is vast enough to bear our silence, our swift thoughts and occasional tears. It is vast enough to hold all of our present grapplings while simultaneously making room for our rememberings, for personal memories and for memories molded and shaped by phrases like, "This is my body," or, "This is my blood," and, the culmination of it all in, "It is finished."

This space beckons us into ritual, covenant, community, confession as we, week to week, hear the echoes of past gatherings at tables or at the foot of a cross, breaking bread and drinking, and letting our thoughts whisper into this vastness, "Yes, Lord. We believe."

Press into the vastness. Open your eyes to the Lord's grace and mercy and love extending beyond the confines of a plate being passed around on Sunday mornings. Delve into this imaging of what it means to gather at the table day in and day out. This space of communion is not just for Sundays. It's for discipleship.

Erin Daugherty, Abilene, TX.

The Goldilocks Church

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

I’m not a church romantic.  By that I simply mean that I don’t believe there has ever been a “golden era” for God’s people – a time when we had it all together on every front.  I do believe that some churches are healthier than others.  The New Testament alludes to that in several places.  I think we can see it today, too. 

The reading from First Thessalonians sets off a variety of experiences in me.  It encourages me. It offers a sketch of a young church coming to its feet and what life for them was like, at least in the early going.  It also exists as a kind of mirror:  What do you see in you…in your people…in your generation’s discipleship that resembles the snapshots of faith and community “back then?’ 

A simple reading of First Thessalonians discloses a picture of people coming to faith amid considerable trials and suffering…by choice.  They had to count the cost before they made the good confession and entered community (3:1-5).  They didn’t grow up “in church.”  They had to think about what they believed and whether or not they wanted to give their lives to a message that was going to cost them something, maybe everything.  Gospel and confession preceded community.  Trying to woo them with a latte bar and playground would have been ridiculous (Acts 17; 1 Thess. 2:14).  In fact, Paul didn’t do that.  He told them something else.  Read 3:1-5!

Fast forward to the present.  I listened to a handful of believers lament the decline that is evident in evangelical churches in general.  “We are losing people right and left,” one said.  Churches are shrinking.  Over 2000 churches close their doors in this country each year.  Some decried the growing irritability and restlessness that plagues so many churches.  “It’s just difficult to keep people happy,” another said.  "Ministry just isn’t much fun anymore."  Fun?  Hmmm.  Let’s think about that one for a minute.  

Sometime later I made the comment that the choice to leave faith community and go on a spiritual boat ride to "wherever" can be diagnosed a lot of ways.  Every congregation has things that can and should be improved.  People have emotional and spiritual needs that should be addressed.  However, what is happening is people simply “quitting on the Lord.”  Nobody wants to put it like that.  But the sad truth is we are buying the lie that “being in Christ but in my privacy is okay" and “being in the body as a known, present, engaged person" is little more than a subjective preference.  Being in the body of Christ is…well…optional.  It’s impolite to suggest otherwise.  We aren’t really into salvation and “thy kingdom come”.  Evangelism has been tailored by a variety of things to mean…well…whatever.  It’s really about being polite and deferring to sophistication and being a part of what we deem church to mean.  We read scripture selectively.  The various things in the air we breath have affected in unmistakable ways how we think about faith and kingdom.  And, it has become a machine that dictates what we can say and who we can say it to.  Please don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not talking about being rude and weird.  Or, whether we read from the KJV or what women can and can’t do, or 29 other things that we allow to intrude into this conversation.  I want to go deeper than that.  The symptoms we are experiencing right now – the stuff my chat group was talking about earlier! – are pointing to something else.  The ground is shifting beneath our feet and we need to pay attention.  I’m talking about how we think about our faith and commit ourselves to it.

Remember the story about Goldilocks and the Three Bears?  “Goldi” had trouble finding “just right.”  The soup was too hot and then too cold.  The chairs were too big and too small and then the right one broke! The beds were too hard and too soft.  It took a while to find “just right.”  But she did…eventually.  Good for her.

 

That’s well and good for soup, chairs and beds.  But what about church?   

We are a consumerist culture that shares much in common with the story of Goldilocks except for the “just right” part.  We are in a constant state of “dis-ease” that has created all kinds of diseases of the mind and heart.  We can’t sleep or eat in peace because we are constantly looking for some adjustment to make church worth our while or that will fill our need.  That’s the problem.  We begin with “our need” which has become a euphemism for narcissism. 

I was struck again while reading several stories about Christians around the world with the gap that exists between their conversations about kingdom, faith and life and what preoccupies our chat time.  Traditionally, such stories have proved to be a good exercise for me personally.  It helps me keep my wits about me.  I read about congregations that are half the size they were two years ago because of death by persecution or, because several of their members had to flee to another area.  Story after story sketched out the daily trials people contend with that are faith related.  Believers living in duress have to fight to be together.  Community is a struggle to sustain and regarded as a treasured possession given to them by the Holy Spirit.  They are together because of the gospel first and secondly because of “who is in the room with them.”  Theology drives and regulates sociology.

We have this inverted in America!  Sociology and consumerism determine the extent of our engagement with community and our commitment to the gospel.  Don’t like something….leave!  The other store…I mean…the other church….will prepare it the way you like it.  Goldilocks! 

You can see it and hear it in how we talk about doctrine, especially baptism.  Doctrine is selectively embraced depending on who is standing in front of us.  Professionalism, money, their “potential” determine what “welcome” means.  We “need them” originates in a human place with a little theology thrown in for spice.  Being a part of us is more about us than the “confession of faith” we are supposed to hold in common.  Come to think of it, what does “us” mean?  Are we essentially saying, “thanks for your work Jesus and apostles….we will take it from here!  For some reason Ephesians 2:20-22 comes to mind. 

The Corinthians tried this and Paul countered.  He asked them, with sarcasm mind you, “ For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?  Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich.  Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!....Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? (1 Corinthians 4:7-8; 14:36).  Sometimes arrogance will not bend an ear to kind reason. “Who do you think you are?” Paul asks. The tragedy of it all is that they thought they were so far ahead (progressive?) that they had forgotten what it means to be a community in the Spirit (3:1-3, 16-17; 6:19-20; 11:17-30; 13:1-13; 15:1-58). 

 

We need to get some things figured out soon before the three bears come home and a whole lot more! 

Are we people of faith or people of the Christian religious gathering?  There’s a difference.  We need to think about our preaching.  I know I do.  What are we talking about each week that matters…really?  If an apostle spent six months with us would he understand our talking points?  What are we doing in our small groups?  Are we gathering and growing or just gathering?   Elders need to do real diagnostic work.  We might ask, “Where are we…really?  What’s happening to our people?   Do we know?  What new trumpet charge needs to sound that will awaken our people to the call of the Lord?  Does it begin with us?  When we talk about church, faith, ministry and such are we, to borrow a west Texas adage, “all hat and no cattle?”  Do we major in meetings and minor in ministry?  Let’s throw pride and sophistication to the wind and lay ourselves before the Lord.   

Summon the body of Christ to think about their faith.  Moses and Joshua did it.  The prophets did it.  Jesus and the early Christian writers did it.  We need to do it, too.  Sluggish thinking and novel conversation make us weak.  We need to get personal.  Why are you in this?  We aren’t ordering hamburgers here or asking about your favorite devo song.  What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus…to you?  Are you torqued about something?  Fine.  Is your beef worth our time?  Should we listen to you?  Make your case…if you can.  And, do you serve as much as you gripe?  If not, take a number and get in line. We’ll get to you once we have finished with “Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  May take a while.  Be patient. 

Faith is confessional first and communal second.  We are introduced to community through the gospel.  Acts 2:41 says “and there were added to their number about 3000.”  If we think community first and gospel second it’s a short walk to consumerism and community according to “me.”  Every believer should obey from the heart that form of doctrine which saves (Romans 6:17).  When the gospel is central then community takes its cues accordingly.  That’s the message of Philippians 2.  Paul says, “Look at Jesus…now look at yourselves” (Phil. 2:12-18).  Getting this order right is first order business.  We spend absolutely too much time thinking about ministry, community life and kingdom business in the order “people first and gospel second.”  We say it in reverse but that’s not how we talk it.  “Who is God and what does the gospel look like in this situation” is the line of thought that should drive every conversation.  And, the church comes along for the ride. 

We are body builders.  Ephesians 4:16 says that every member contributes to the growth of the body.  There are no extraneous members in the body of Christ.  Our posture should be toward what benefits the body.  With all the mess going on in the church at Rome Paul commends people who were in the middle of it “working hard in the Lord” (Romans 16:1-16).  Nobody is born again and added to “hermitville.” 

If we hope to see any of the above get traction in our congregations, we must think small and intentional.  This kind of conversation will not be sowed, nurtured and harvested in a big setting.  We need conversations….lots of them.  We need settings in which disciples understand that everybody is expected to bring something to the table.  This is not a spectator sport.  Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:14-30 about the three stewards reminds us that everybody is a steward of the manifold grace of God.  Nobody watches from the sidelines.  On this team…everybody is in the game!  In such gatherings we will learn about each other.  We will discover our “real needs.”  We will hear the call of the Lord in deeply personal ways.  We will stop worrying about the soup and the bed and begin to think in terms of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  And, each day we will arise from our beds knowing that we are a part of a community of believers who are also rising from their beds praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…here am I, Lord, send me.”  And church will be just right. 

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Living Water

I have a renewed appreciation for water. Our well stopped pumping water last Friday.  We went without water until the following Monday when the well service could restore our pump. I had buckets of water scattered around the rooms of the house to assist with cooking and brushing teeth. I knew the well was dry, but I still turned on the tap numerous times each day. Each time, it was a renewed shock when nothing happened. I was reminded of the Samaritan woman who carried her jar to Jacob's well to draw water. Jesus surprised her by asking for a drink.

John 4:7-15
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.)

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.”


Jesus assured the woman he could provide "living water", the Holy Spirit, available to refresh those who ask. The Spirit of grace is like living or running water,  and will never run dry! Our souls can be comforted and satisfied with "living water"; ours if we only ask.

Several years ago, the vocalists, Acappella, recorded the song below:

Water From the Well

Chorus:
Give me water from the well that never runs dry
Give me water from the well that gives me hope when I die.
Give me water from the well that never runs dry.
And I will thirst no more.

Living water flowing from above
Through the Spirit of never ending love.
And I'm the first to declare my longing thirst
For the water that comes from above.

Repeat Chorus

Living water leads me to my goal.
Now refreshing and cleansing to my soul.
Truly I'm alive, and I know I can't survive
Without it, the pure waters flow.

Repeat Chorus

And I will thirst no more

Their video link is below. So many people of the world struggle to obtain clean water to drink. The greater need may be satisfied with Jesus' gift to us, the living water that is cleansing to the soul.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLBH3JWd-Ow

Dec 12, 2011 - Uploaded by TheAcappellaCompany
A video directed by Melissa Lancaster working with Acappella and Kim Lancaster Brantley ...

Dear Heavenly Father: Thank you for the many blessings we take for granted each day. Help us to share our abundant blessings with others. Thank you especially for water, living (and from wells) or still.

Sherilyn Svien
Stephenville, TX