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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 452 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text --Brother Thomas: Okay, I belonged to these churches where they did such things as this, so you'll know what it's about--some of you will at least. The pulpit committee of the local church was in search of a new pastor. This is of course is a method that they use, and was interviewing a candidate. You know they usually appoint about three men as what they call a pulpit committee. Then they'll go and visit the preacher. It'll be one within the confines of their own denomination and what they believe--experiences and doctrines and everything else. They won't look for one anywhere else. Not even if the Lord was to come at night and say, I want you to go over here and see this fellow. If he didn't wear their brand, they wouldn't have him. He'd be out of the question. But I'm just putting that in extra. They were in the search of a new pastor and was interviewing a candidate who had just graduated from the seminary. Now this fellow was a seminary graduate. The chairman of the committee said, "Son, do you know the Bible?" To which the young preacher replied, "I'm a seminary graduate. I've been to Bible college. Of course I know the Bible." The chairman of the committee said, "Which part of the Bible do you know best, the Old Testament or the New Testament?" And he said, "I know it all." "Well if you know the Bible so well how about telling us one of your favorite Bible stories. For instance, do you know the story of the good Samaritan? How about telling that story?" Confidently, the young preacher replied, "I'd be happy to. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus who went down to Jerusalem by night. ( laughter ). "The next day he fell upon stony ground, and the thorns nearly choked him to death. ( laughter ). "And he said, what shall I do. I will arise and go to my father's and so he arose and went through the eastern gate down the road that leads to Jerusalem to Gaza, climbed up in a Sycamore tree ( laughter ). "And got his hair caught in a limb and hung there for 40 days and 40 nights. ( laughter ). "And he was an hungered. The next day the ravens came and fed him some loaves and fishes till he was satisfied. ( laughter ). "Later on Solomon and his wife Gomorrah came by. ( laughter ). "Solomon and his wife came by and shaved his head"...Just a moment here..."shaved his head, got him out of the Sycamore tree and accompanied him on his way to Jerusalem. When they got there they found Delilah sitting on the wall, and he said chunk her down boys. ( laughter ). "And they said, how many times should we chunk her down? He said seven times? He said 70 times 7. And so they chunked her down 490 times and she burst asunder. In their midst they picked up 12 baskets full of fragments which were left and in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?" ( laughter ). The chairman looked around at the rest of the committee and said, "Folks I believe we ought to hire him. ( laughter ). "I know he's young, be sure does know his Bible." ( laughter ). Now, I guess he'd be qualified for something, wouldn't he? Oh me. Turn with me to John--the Gospel of John chapter 4. You need to get all that laughter out of your system before we get serious. "When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her.... "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, 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. "The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. "In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." I going to conclude with that and as the Lord enables me I want to comment. I will say this now, where he said here, "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." You see God, in the beginning, He sent the prophets to the Jews and of course a Gentile could come over and embrace the faith. And for all practical purposes, she'd be a Israelite, you know. She'd practice their religion--or he, just like Naaman the leper, and also Ruth the Moabite and some few others--the harlot Rahab, she hid the spies. She actually by her actions, she showed she had faith in what they were doing. So she too became one so far as that's concerned. Now I want to go over this as much as possible. You notice in verse four, it says, "And he must needs go through Samaria." Him going through Samaria wasn't just an incidental thing. I believe He was led. I believe He knew, in the Spirit, where He was going. You know Jesus had the Spirit without measure. That means He had God's Spirit as in the fullness. That's because of the vessel I believe. Because we don't have it in the fullness is because of our vessel, which has it's limitations because we're under the curse. Anyway, that's a good thing though to do. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 6 says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." And so it's a good thing to always be prayed up, always looking to God. I feel like the other day, I had a chance to go out to Taylor and I had some reservations about going, something that had happened and I was about to back out. But you know, I prayed about it and I had a feeling God wanted me to go, so I went. I went there to a family reunion and I met folks, you know, and also my sister came down from Columbus, Georgia, and her daughter and son in law. And so I had a good time of fellowship with them. And I see God was in it. But you know what? I had to go against my own feelings to do it, but I feel good about it inside. I feel like something spiritual was accomplished as a result of being able to go by faith. And faith don't always go by what you see. Cause you don't walk by sight, you walk by faith. That's just an example of what I'm talking about. Now let's notice this woman came out to this well as women would in those days to draw water and take it to her home wherever she lived, and Jesus was sitting there. He got tired just like the rest of us. He was a man and He had His limitations--physical limitations. He could get tired, and He didn't know everything--only when God revealed something to Him. But anyway, He's sitting there. So she comes out. He notices her. She notices Him, but she probably wouldn't even have said a word to Him, but He said to her, "Give me to drink." Now that was unusual because she said, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." That put Him in the category of an unusual Jew. In other words, that was completely out of the ordinary for Him to ask her for a drink of water. But you know, there's something else here that you need to see. For Him to reach that woman with salvation, He had to communicate with her, and that broke the barrier. There was a course of communication that started right there as a result of that. That don't mean that we run up and try to collar everybody and talk to them, but it does mean that we need to be led--we need to be alert, we need to be willing. Anyhow, communication doesn't seem like a very important thing but it is. For instance, now I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. Satan despises anybody that he controls to any degree to talk with somebody that can help them. And he does everything to stop them that he can. For instance now, when I was dealing with Judy Clevenger back there years ago, I'd be...sometimes the spirit would be in control of her and sometimes she'd be free--her spirit would be free and she could talk to me. I could say to her, "Judy who am I?" And if she was in control, she'd say, "Brother Thomas." If the devil had her, "I'd say who am I devil?" He'd say, "Reverend Thomas." He got real polite. Anyhow, that shows you. And then I would say, "Judy, you don't mind praising the Lord." And she'd say, "No." And she meant it at that point. I'd say, "Well, let's praise the Lord then." I'd put my hands up and start praising God and she'd, "Prai...prai...no, no, no." He'd take hold of her faculties and turn her head where she wouldn't even look at me. I said, "You foul devil, you. You won't let that girl speak to me, will you?" I said, "Why won't you let her look at me?" You know what he said? He said, "She draws strength from you." And the thing is, that's why you have to communicate with people. You watch Satan. He'll do everything in his power to keep anybody that has any kind of influence or any kind of Godly influence or knowledge of God--I'm not talking about religion now. I'm talking about really knows the Lord. The devil will work everywhere he can to hinder that work, and to keep the person from communicating with anybody that does know the Lord. And you take somebody that's full of religion, you can talk to him and it goes in one ear and out the other. He ain't paying no attention to you. But this woman was. And that's why...now notice she said, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" Now He didn't go into no lengthy debate and try to explain to her why He was doing that. He didn't say one thing about it. In fact He asked her a question. That got her mind completely off of that--the difference, the fact that He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan. He just said, "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." See. Now that got her to thinking. You know in Hebrews 13 verse 16 says, Forget not to communicate. With those sacrifices--that's one of the things he calls a sacrifice-God is well pleased. "Do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." In John chapter 7 and in verse 37 it says, "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Now that rivers of living water, it means out his belly, it means innermost being--from within. That's why we need a prayer life. That's why we need to constantly look to God, depend on Him, take time out to consult God, seek His face, pray for people, pray for your services. That's why we need to pray for the Convention that's coming up. Already see a smattering of folks here. Good to see you. Praise God! And we need to do like Joshua told the people when they was fixing to cross Jordan. He said...they lodged there three days. They didn't go right on over. And he talked to the men and says go through the host and tell them to, "Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you." That means to get down to business. Let's begin to think about what we're doing. Get everything out of the way. Take time. This shouldn't be a time of frivolity, time of partying, and just a time of vacationing and having a good time. We should come here because we want to hear from God. That means pray, seek God's face. Hallelujah! You know, I've been in all kind of churches, and some of them you have to have a revival every six months to revive the people. And the preacher comes in there and he preaches hell fire and brimstone, gets a lot of them to come down, you know, and rededicate or do this and do that. That shouldn't be the norm. We should be like an artesian well--just flowing. You know what an artesian well is? Artesian well is water that boils up out of the ground, an inward pressure down there. You don't have to pump it. You don't have to draw it up with a bucket. It just flows out. Hallelujah! Too many Christians are like these old pitcher pumps. If you knew anything about them, used to keep prime water sitting there in a can. That old pump, you'd lift the handle up and pour that prime water in and pump like the dickens. It finally catch and go. ( pumping sounds ). And then, after you got your bucket full, you'd leave it and start walking off, it'd say ( draining sound ). Gone dry again. We don't want to be that king of Christian--go dry about two or three days after the meeting's over. We want to get something, keep it tomorrow and the next day--right on and on. Praise God! Then of course you had to hear and another thing you had to overcome, that was this racial prejudice thing. You know we're not free...I'm not advocating now that we go out and try to purposely mix people. I'm not advocating that nor am I advocating to segregate them. I think what we need to segregate is the goats from the sheep. We need to be free to talk to people about the Lord, free to preach the Gospel wherever God might lead. Hallelujah! That's the freedom we need. That living water, God wants us to have it. Let's go to John chapter 6. I want you to see now, and better identify this thing. This is where Jesus said, except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye have no life in you. That's in the 53rd verse of John 6. Whatever He meant, it's important. Of course Jesus used this as symbolic language. When He said eat my flesh and drink my blood, He did not literally mean to eat His flesh, but He meant that you had to receive the humanity that He dwelled in. You had to receive Him. How can you receive anything I have that's from God if you don't receive me? That's why Satan does everything he can to discredit somebody that has something from God. That's his business to do that. Of course, they murmured at this saying and many of them went back and walked no more with Him. Then in the 63rd verse, Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." That's the living water. "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him." Of course, God knows all that. Anyway, everyone left but the 12. Then Jesus turned to them and said, "Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." I wonder today where we can the words of eternal life? I wonder how many pulpits you'll find it in? "If thou knewest the gift of God,"--people don't know the gift of God. He didn't just say, If thou knewest the gift of God," he said, "and who it is that saith to thee." That's another thing. I believe it's necessary--I believe we need to know. That's why He said, "If thou knewest the gift of God , and who it is that saith to thee." You know people don't know who has the Word of God today and who don't. For instance now, if we were like these people here trying to get a preacher, if we were a certain church--Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, I don't care what. What church would we go to find one? Same one. That's exactly where we'd go. We wouldn't get on our knees and say, God you send us somebody, would we? No sir, we wouldn't do that. We'd get him ourselves. We'd get one that's been recommended, you know, like this fellow thought he was. He'd gone to their seminary. He'd graduated, and he sure had a understanding of the Word, didn't he. ( laughter ). Anyway, "If thou knewest the gift of God." And did you know the scripture Jesus said in John chapter 8, He said, "I said therefore unto you..." 
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