Journey To The Rock - 4/8/06

Peter 2:4,6, & 8, "Come to the Lord Jesus, the 'stone' that lives. The people of this world did not want this stone, but He was the stone God chose, and He was precious. The scripture says, I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem. Everything will be built on this important and precious rock. Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disappointed. Also, He's a stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they do not obey what God says."

The analogy of the stone, or rock, surfaces so often in reference to God. It's a great way to describe the power and stability of our Lord. In this scripture from Peter (Peter's name means "rock" or "stone"), Jesus fulfills the prophecy from Isaiah. The one the Jewish people rejected was chosen to be the foundation of all. This same rock will stand strong against those who sin - causing the shaky ground on which they built their lives to crumble and forcing them to rebuild on the solid rock of Christ Jesus.

As Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well, if you come to Him, the "stone that lives," as Peter puts it, your thirst will be permanently quenched. John 4:13, "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life."

There is a song that refers to Jesus as "a fount of living water." He can quench a thrist you don't even know you have. A thirst for truth. A thirst for love. A thirst for something real, at least one thing in your life that is permanent, unchanging, that has the strength of a rock. Deuteronomy 8:15, "He led you through the large and terrible desert that was dry and had no water, that had poisonous snakes and stinging insects. He gave you water from a solid rock..."

Moses struck a rock with his rod and a spring of water flowed from it in the desert for God's children. The teachings of Jesus - of love, forgiveness, and a relationship with God, work in the same way. They are a life-giving stream that flow from THE Rock.

The woman at the well met the Rock of Ages, and couldn't help but tell everyone that the Messiah was here. She wanted to share the life giving water flowing from the cornerstone of God's kingdom. John 4:42, "They said to the woman, 'First we believed in Jesus because of your speech, but now we believe because we heard Him ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

This woman shared the life giving water, and they believed. Their thirst was quenced because she shared what she knew to be true. Then, they believed after receiving life from the source. Psalm 73:27-28, "... But I am close to God, and that is good. The Lord God is my protection. I will tell all that you have done."

I will tell all that you have done so that others may taste the life-giving water that you receive when coming to the rock. Then they too can turn to the source of that water like the Samaritans did, so they may have a spring of water gushing up inside them - giving eternal life. Then we may never again thirst for true love, truth, and a quenching relationship with the savior.