WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.919 We are in a sermon series if you're just new to us. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:11.519 The sermon series this month is thinking, praying, and living a missional life. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:16.879 And so we read a passage that speaks about that from Ezekiel chapter 47. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:29.760 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple, toward the east, for the temple faced east. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.920 The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:43.280 Then he brought me out by the way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.159 And behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:59.759 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle deep. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:05.120 Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee deep. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:10.799 Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was waist deep. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:18.239 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:24.159 It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.359 And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.359 Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:36.879 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:43.920 And he said to me, This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Araba and enters the sea. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:48.079 When the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.640 And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:00.079 And there will be many, very many fish, for this water goes there that the waters of the sea may become fresh. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.760 So everything will live where the river goes. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.480 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.879 From Engedi to Engelem, it will be a place for the spreading of nets. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:18.719 Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea, but its swamps and marshes will not become fresh. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.879 They are to be left for salt. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:26.319 And on the banks on both sides of the river there will be grow all kinds of trees for food. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:37.840 Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.840 Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.159 This is the word of God. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:10.560 So we pray that there will be spiritual vitality and freshness and healing in our hearts this morning as we look into your word. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:15.199 As we are led by your Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:16.159 Amen. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:27.199 As I mentioned earlier this morning at the banquet last night, we talked about the river. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.560 Where the river flows, everything lives. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:37.599 That is a powerful statement that God says in his word. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:52.479 But where the river doesn't flow, things are barren, things are dry, things are hard, things die where there's no water, where there's no life. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:00.159 You know, we could say that this is certainly true of those who have not come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:07.199 We could say that this is certainly true for all who have not yet professed the name of Christ, who are not followers of Christ. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:20.399 But I've been a pastor long enough to know, and I've been a man long enough to know that sometimes this speaks to me and my spiritual dryness, and this speaks to you in your spiritual dryness. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:23.120 We know, don't we? 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:25.199 We know. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.879 That the river's not always flowing in us, and the river's not always flowing through us. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.959 What about that? 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.480 What does Jesus have to say about that? 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:41.199 What did he give Ezekiel in the Old Testament about that? 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:42.879 The river. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:48.000 The angel takes Ezekiel on one more tour. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:59.279 Four major prophecies in this book, and this book is far too long, and there's far too much complexity and depth to it for us to do anything but touch on it. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:10.160 But what about this prophecy, this vision that the angel of the Lord gave Ezekiel one more tour of the new temple? 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:15.839 Ezekiel in this vision stands in the inner court of the temple. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:19.040 And the angel has a measuring stick. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.319 Think of a big measuring stick. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:28.959 And he points out that the water is but a trickle under the temple threshold. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.319 And put yourself perhaps in Ezekiel's shoes. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.199 Why is he showing me this? 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:44.240 The temple of all places, representing the presence of God. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:50.639 But there was a problem because Ezekiel is not in Jerusalem where he was raised. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:56.240 He, like Daniel, we saw two weeks ago, is now living in a pagan country called Babylon. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:10.480 And because there were not rivers of living water flowing to and through the people of God in Daniel's time and Ezekiel's time, God punished his people. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:17.360 And God moved his people out of their homeland for centuries and moved them to a faraway country. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:24.160 They were very aware that they were very far from God, many of them. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:29.360 You know, if you're far from God, it's a good thing to know that. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:33.040 Not everybody knows that. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:40.399 They may feel it, but if your heart is far from God, it's good for you to know that. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.079 Because you can't do anything about it until you acknowledge that. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:07:00.639 By taking that measuring stick and looking at this little trickle under the temple threshold, Ezekiel was getting a very vivid image of the spiritual climate of the people of God for many years. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:07.199 And then the angel took him on a tour of the river. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:11.839 He took him to the outer gate as the water got deeper. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:17.040 It goes from ankle deep and now it's knee deep. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:23.120 And then he takes him further down the river, and now it's waist deep. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:26.639 And he keeps taking them down. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:31.040 And this river current is picking up force. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:34.319 And then he takes him further. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.519 And he takes him to the part of the river that he couldn't cross. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.199 It was just too deep. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:41.439 The river was too powerful. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:46.160 And the angel said to him, I'll tell you where this river is going to go. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.199 This river is going to go all the way to the Dead Sea. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.639 And eventually it's going to make the things that are dead come alive. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:02.079 And he points out on this tour of the river, he says, Look along the banks of the river where the river flows. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:03.920 Do you see the trees? 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:08.160 The green trees lining up the banks of the river. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:10.800 Do you know why those trees are green? 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.680 Do you know why all those beautiful flowers are along the banks? 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:15.759 Do you know why you see all the life? 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:18.720 Because that's where the river flows. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:24.720 Wherever the river flows, everything lives. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:41.279 If you're not a follower of Christ, if you're not following Christ, the place to begin is to acknowledge that you don't have that water. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:48.480 Noah, nobody has that water, that life-giving power, but Jesus. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:50.399 And that's where it begins. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.960 Ezekiel understood that. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.559 What's the message about this river? 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:59.759 Well, we read it earlier this morning in the worship service. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.360 That's why we read it. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:15.600 On the great day of the feast, the last day of the feast in Jerusalem, near the end of his ministry, Jesus stands up, and typically rabbis did not stand up and cry out. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:19.039 Typically, it was that was considered uncool. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:28.720 If you were a rabbi, if you were a learned teacher of the scriptures, you sat and you didn't shout out. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:45.440 If people wanted to benefit from your wisdom as a learned rabbi, you would just probably speak like this, and other people, they would see the value of your great learning, and they would come and they would sit and they would listen, maybe ask questions. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:49.759 Why did Jesus not do that? 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.559 Let's go back to the text. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:59.519 On the last day of the feast, the great day, that Jesus stood up and he cried out. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.360 Why do you think he cried out? 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:08.639 Which was uncharacteristic of him in many of his teachings. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.960 He cried out because he knew that people were dying all around him. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:21.360 He cried out because he knew that there were many people that were listening to him that were dying inside. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:25.279 They were not connected to the vine. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.399 They were trying to be the vine. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.519 You know, none of us are called to be the vine. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.720 There's only one vine in the Bible, and that's Jesus. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:40.720 We are called to be branches that are in the vine. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.240 And if we are the branches in the vine, we will bear fruit. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:48.480 It just goes hand in hand. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.960 We talked last night at the banquet. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:56.320 Healthy organisms grow and reproduce and multiply. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.080 That is true biologically, but it's also true spiritually. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:16.000 Any healthy organism where Jesus lives by the Spirit indwelling us will flourish. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:23.360 We'll have life and will be life-giving Christ in us and Christ through us. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.240 Because wherever the river flows, everything lives. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:35.440 Jesus knew that people were drying up and dying all around him. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:43.840 That's why he stood up and cried out, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:49.440 And do you know the powerful word of the powerful king is still today? 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:56.720 How could I preach a sermon without raising the question of Jesus? 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.000 Is anyone here thirsty this morning? 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:06.159 That's a wide range. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:11.600 You may be here this morning and you may not know anything about what I've said so far. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:21.919 You may not know that the Son of God came to this earth to give living water to people who were spiritually dead. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:23.279 Dry? 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.559 Do you know he can do that? 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.480 He's been doing it for millennia. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.240 But it starts with acknowledging our thirst. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.639 If you don't acknowledge your thirst, you're not going to find help. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.399 And so I repeat the question is anyone here this morning thirsty? 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:47.919 You might say, well, for what? 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.840 How about for life, spiritual life? 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:52.879 How about for peace? 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:55.919 Are you looking for peace and you don't have peace? 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.559 And you know you don't have peace. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:01.840 You know your anxiety is running amok. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.320 You know that your anxiety keeps you up at night. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:14.000 You know that your anxiety is very distracting and debilitating in your waking hours. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:22.559 If anyone is thirsty, Jesus says, I'm not calling you to a philosophy. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:25.039 I'm not calling you to religion. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:30.159 I'm not calling you to a long set of do's and don'ts. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:35.679 Jesus calls people who are thirsty to himself. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:43.200 Jesus says, let him come to me and drink. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.679 You can drink this morning. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:51.519 If you're in need of forgiveness, Jesus can forgive you this morning. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:56.480 If you're in need of peace, Jesus can give you peace this morning. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:06.320 If you're in need of love, you're really in need of love, of being loved. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.080 Jesus says, You come to me and I will love you. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:12.320 I will receive you. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:22.399 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.240 Did you note that word, that universal word, whoever? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.759 I think that includes you. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.320 I know it includes me. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.519 There have been times in my life where I have been spiritually dry. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:45.759 There have been times in my life where I have known that I felt like I was kind of going through the motions. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:52.480 There are times in my life where I have preached from a dry heart. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:58.960 Let me tell you, for those of you that will never do that, that's not much fun. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.000 The preacher can do that. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:21.039 The preacher can preach a sermon that is theologically correct, doctrinally sound, and even interesting to listen to, but that doesn't mean that he's got rivers of living water flowing in him and through him. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:30.320 This past week I had the privilege with Pastor Josh and Pastor Mike to go to a conference on the praying church. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:31.759 You know the book you're all reading? 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.759 A Praying Church by Paul Miller? 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:35.679 Paul was speaking. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.120 Paul was speaking about the book. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:49.200 And I was just reminded in a very, very compelling way how much my life was changed by Paul's dad, Jack Miller. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.080 I asked myself, what would my life look like? 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:06.000 What would my ministry look like if God had not used Jack to really open up the scriptures to me in a new way? 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.440 To open up the gospel to me in a new way. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:13.039 It changed my heart. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.039 It changed my life. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:24.240 I wish I could say that since that time, 30 some years ago, I wish I could say that my heart never went dry again. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.799 But you know better than that. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:37.440 None of us are hooked up to some water source where the water just pours constantly and automatically. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.159 It just doesn't work that way. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:42.320 For good reasons. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:49.840 If that were the case, you wouldn't need a real relationship with Jesus, would you? 00:16:50.559 --> 00:17:01.279 If you just were hooked up to this water source and it just flowed automatically, you wouldn't, we wouldn't need Jesus. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.079 That's why you're not hooked up in that way. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.480 He says, I want to give you more than power. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:13.440 I want to give you a relationship with the living God. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:20.160 I want you, I want you to see that you can't do anything without me. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:28.400 I want you to see that only in me will you find satisfaction. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.079 Only in me will you find forgiveness. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:36.160 Only in me will you find hope and purpose in your life. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.200 Aren't you tired? 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:44.240 Aren't you worn out trying to find it in other places? 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:51.359 When I met Jack Miller, I was aware of my thirst and my dryness. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:02.079 I'd been a pastor long enough and had been relatively successful enough that I got a call from this church to come. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.200 The Lord had done some things in our ministry, but that's no guarantee. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:12.319 You can't live off of your past, Christian. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:24.480 You can't live off of the living water that you maybe enjoyed ten years ago, one year ago. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.880 That's not what Jesus is saying in this passage, is it? 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:35.599 Let's do a little bit more deeper dive in the language, the grammar. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.240 That is John 7. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:44.240 Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:51.839 Now this he said about the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:58.160 For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.319 Whoever believes in me, that's a present tense in the Greek. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:03.920 Continual. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.519 Continually, present tense. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:22.240 And as Jack taught me, there was a point in his life, even after he was a pastor for many years and he was a professor at a seminary. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:31.039 He said, I'd failed to see, I had failed to realize the most important point of this promise from Jesus. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:37.279 He said, I had always known, looking back that this was true, looking back to Pentecost. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:43.599 At Pentecost, it was clear rivers of living water were coming by the filling of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:50.799 And I knew future, looking forward, that the day was going to come when that would be true. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.799 Revelation chapter 22, the last book in the Bible. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.799 Remember, we started this worship service looking at Genesis chapter 2. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:03.440 And what was there in that garden? 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:04.720 A river. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.000 Revelation chapter 22. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:18.720 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:25.359 Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.400 Man, I want that kind of life. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:34.160 Yielding fruit each month. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:38.000 The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:46.880 There's so much we can unpack here, but just notice that the Bible starts with the river and the Bible closes with the river and the new heavens and the new earth. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.119 God loves rivers. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:51.839 Jesus is the Lord of the river. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:58.640 And he wants you and me to drink of those rivers of living water. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:02.000 And we can't get it anywhere else. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:07.839 No matter how hard we try to work it up ourselves. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:17.279 Whoever believes in me, present tense. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:23.680 And by the work of the Holy Spirit right now, you can believe and be filled with the Spirit. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:33.759 You see, when you receive and rest and surrender to the Spirit, you don't go home and do your spiritual workout. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:41.759 This is not like spiritual karate where you work your way up, you know, from the lowest belt to the black belt. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:44.400 I have found that a lot of Christians think that. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:50.400 A lot of Christians think that you just have to, it takes, it takes a lifetime, you just have to work really hard. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.400 You got to do your homework. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:22:04.960 And eventually you just learn more and more Bible, and you live a whole Your life mostly because you think you know your Bible. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:06.480 It doesn't work that way. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:11.119 You're not here to work yourself up to a spiritual black belt. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.359 You're here because Jesus wants to give you living water. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:25.039 And I have found in my own life, when he gives me living water, the life comes instantaneously. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:30.319 Because the river is flowing from Jesus, the Holy Spirit. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:32.960 That's the way it works, my friends. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:42.880 And so what Jack Miller discovered was this verse, this promise isn't just looking back to Pentecost, it's not just looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.440 This promise is for now. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:52.960 Whoever believes on me now, stop trying to find life. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:58.799 Stop trying to create a life of fulfillment on your own on this side. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:00.000 You never will. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.680 If you think you're getting it, the bottom's gonna fall out on you. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:06.160 It can't last. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:09.119 It's not real living water. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:14.480 Oh, the fact. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:25.599 These rivers of living water signified life-giving power provided from Jesus alone to flow in us and just flow through us. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:36.720 Power for holy living, power for witnessing present tense, habitually, continuously present activity. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:45.440 The abundance of the Spirit is for those who are believing now and who believe ongoing. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:50.000 But because we remember the confession of sin earlier this service? 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:58.640 Because of our flesh, sometimes the living water, the hose, if you will, gets kinked up, doesn't it? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.480 The hose gets kinked up. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.519 And there's no water flowing, there's no river. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:12.640 And you know what that feels like, just like I do. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.759 That's when we become critical. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.160 That's when we become judgmental. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:22.720 That's when we gossip. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.240 That's when we are kind of hopeless. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.680 That's when we get focused on what we do for Jesus. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.119 You didn't see that one coming? 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:47.440 We get so focused on what we're going to do for Jesus that we miss the most important step of just being with Jesus. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.160 Jesus, speak into my heart. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:52.799 What is it that you would show me today? 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:58.640 What is it that I'm missing because I'm not believing? 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:06.000 I'm not resting in you, and I'm not receiving rivers of living water. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:13.519 You can do church that way, you can do the Christian life that way, but it's no way to live. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:17.119 Do you believe Jesus? 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:26.160 I'm just going to pause for a moment. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:28.559 I don't think you need to hear my voice right now. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.160 Do you hear Jesus speaking through his word? 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.240 I'm just going to read it one more time. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:45.279 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.000 Can we just take a moment of silence right now? 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.480 Can we talk to Jesus? 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:54.160 He's omnipotent. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.960 He's able to hear every voice, every heart. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:03.440 If you're dry, would you tell him about that? 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:41.839 Jesus, we are trying to listen, but we need your Holy Spirit to hear you. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.559 Nobody here can hear you without the Holy Spirit. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:49.359 Holy Spirit, would you fall fresh? 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:53.119 Would you fall fresh on us among us now? 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.480 Only you can take us to Jesus. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:02.720 Only you can show us the things that are dry within us. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:06.240 For some of us, it might be our marriage. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:12.160 For some of us, we might feel dry because we're just worn out by poor health. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:19.359 We may be dry because we've been so religious. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:21.680 We've missed Jesus. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:24.000 We've been so busy. 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:27.759 Lord, you know. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:29.680 You know us all. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:31.359 You created us all. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:35.200 Would you speak to each heart here this morning? 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:49.119 Would you give us faith to believe that if we come to you, Jesus, that rivers of living water will flow in us and will flow through us. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:28:00.960 Lord, we want those rivers of living water to flow through this church, through this city, into this world that you gave. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:04.720 Oh Jesus, we we bow before you. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.799 We come in your name. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:11.039 Amen. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:17.920 Where the river flows, everything will live. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:25.519 That river went deeper and deeper as it descended eastwards toward the mountains, toward the Dead Sea. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:35.119 That river which started in the Garden of Eden, runs all the way through the new covenant into the new heavens and the new earth. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:38.480 If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, one day you will see that. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:41.920 One day you will participate in that. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:44.400 This is not fantasy. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:46.720 This is reality. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:29:01.279 One day, you and I, if we are followers and believers in Jesus Christ, will see the rushing current of God's river and everything will live. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:04.960 There will be no dead parts in you. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:11.920 We will be surrounded by vegetation life on the banks of the river. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.559 But we've got to be in the river. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:31.759 I'm here to testify to you today that Jesus met me in my dryness more than once. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:41.839 And the Holy Spirit opened my mind and my heart to receive his life-giving power. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:44.720 I still need to do that. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:55.359 But all how I love what the river can do in my life. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.200 What would the river do in your life? 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:11.680 May Jesus meet you this morning. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:15.599 May Jesus give you what you need this morning. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:18.160 May He be glorified. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:20.960 May we be changed. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:25.839 May we find new power to love people. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:28.400 Do you struggle loving people? 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:32.960 May we have new power to forgive people. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.079 Do you struggle forgiving people? 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:40.000 May we have new peace. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:42.799 May we have joy. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:46.960 May we start sharing the good news. 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:49.519 That's what people in the river do. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:55.200 They share this good news and we talk about the healing for the nations and the leaves. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:30:57.759 Because it's life. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:19.039 One of the things that we're praying for is that these chairs will all be filled, not so that we can be proud of our church growth, but because there are so many more people in this city that need to be in this river. 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:23.119 We heard testimonies last night at the banquet. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:33.759 Testimonies of people who have been saved by the power of the gospel through this church ministry this year, people who have been renewed and revived through the power of the gospel this year. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:49.920 We want to see these chairs filled so that the Lord of the river will give life and give power to people who don't know what that is, who will join us one day in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.880 But the river has to flow in us before it can flow through us. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.319 So Lord, let the river flow through us. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.079 Oh Lord Jesus, let it flow in us. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:16.079 We yield, we submit now by the work of your spirit to anything and everything that would block that beautiful rushing current of your love. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:18.240 We yield to you. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.039 In the name of Jesus, we come. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:21.759 Amen.