Dropping Buckets

DEEP WORK | WEEK 4

"Dropping Buckets"

Pastor Rory

There’s a strange tension in life: sometimes we get exactly what we wanted… and still end up miserable.

Pastor Rory opened this message with a simple story most people can relate to — grabbing a late-night gas station snack on a family trip. In the moment, it felt worth it. A quick craving satisfied. But for the next three days, the consequences caught up with him.

“I got what I wanted… but I didn’t want what I got.”

That tension doesn’t just show up in food. It shows up in our souls.

The Problem Isn’t Desire

Most people assume desire itself is bad. But Scripture paints a different picture.

Desire is part of how God designed us. Hunger points us toward food. Thirst points us toward water. Longing points us toward fulfillment. The issue isn’t that we desire — it’s where those desires lead us.

Pastor Rory unpacked how modern culture constantly feeds those desires without ever truly satisfying them. Social media, shopping, entertainment, achievement, addiction — all promise relief, but often leave us emptier than before.

What we thought would satisfy us becomes the very thing creating deeper anxiety, restlessness, and emptiness.

The Apostle Paul called this struggle “the flesh.”

Not merely our physical body, but the self-directed life that operates apart from God. A mindset that constantly reaches for what looks good, feels good, and promises fulfillment — yet ultimately leaves us trapped in cycles we cannot break on our own.

Living in Loops

Using the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4, Pastor Rory described how many people live in “loops.”

The woman came daily to Jacob’s well carrying a water jar. On the surface, it looked ordinary. But underneath was a deeper cycle of shame, isolation, and unmet longing. She had been married five times and was now living with another man. She kept returning to the same places hoping something would finally satisfy her soul.

Jesus exposed what was really happening: She wasn’t just thirsty for water. She was thirsty for life. And the same thing happens to us.

We return to the same wells over and over:

approval
success
relationships
substances
distraction
achievement
pleasure
validation

We keep lowering our bucket into places that can never truly fill us.

Some wells may feed you temporarily, but they can never fulfill you permanently.

Empty Buckets

Jesus tells the woman:

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” — John 4:13

That’s the tragedy of disordered desire. It always demands another trip back to the well.

Sin promises freedom but eventually turns into slavery. What once felt exciting slowly becomes exhausting. The satisfaction fades faster. The cravings grow stronger. The bucket keeps coming up empty.

Pastor Rory pointed out that eventually we find ourselves serving things that are no longer serving us.

The result is spiritual exhaustion:

peace disappears
joy erodes
insecurity grows
shame deepens
the soul becomes depleted

The flesh always takes more than it gives.

What Fills You Will Free You

But Jesus offers something radically different. Instead of giving the woman a better bucket, He offered her a completely different source.

“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” — John 4:14

Jesus wasn’t offering temporary relief. He was offering transformation through the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Rory emphasized a powerful truth: What fills you will free you.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t merely help manage desires — He reshapes them. Instead of constantly searching for fulfillment externally, God begins producing life internally. What was once empty becomes overflowing.

That’s why the story ends so powerfully.

After encountering Jesus, the woman leaves her water jar behind.

The very thing she carried every day no longer defined her.

“She left it because she wasn’t thirsty anymore.”