This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] Remember that first day when we came into this building, it was January 1st of this year, 2015, and we have been praying for a place to gather together and worship and God provided this building. And so some of you, I think, even were here that day, January 1st, and you came to serve, to paint, to clean, to make this a home for our church.

[00:00:25] And I remember I was so excited about the new building and I was coming in and I was told that the water had been cut off for our building. And that kind of took the joy immediately out of the moment, I don't know if you've ever existed in a building that doesn't have water. But I was like, I think and how I would present that to everybody. Hey, great to have you here. Isn't this an awesome new building? Yeah. You need to use the restroom. There's a gas station down the street. You hit that up. And so we were announcing to everyone how happy we were to have them here. But we had no water in the building, which was going to greatly cripple what we could do. And because it was the first, you know, we couldn't get it turned on today.

[00:01:04] And lo and behold, this beautiful soul here at our church works for the city of Huntington Beach in the water department. And she had the guts to stand up in front of the crowd and say, hey, I actually worked for the city water. I can get that turned on in 15 minutes. And water was on here at the building and it's been flowing ever since. That turn turned our morning into joy right there. It was it was awesome now. So we have an insider among us.

[00:01:33] I'm not going to reveal her identity in case the water police come to your house because you're using the water on days of the week that aren't water days. Just remember, brown is the new green, my friends. Right? Right. This is the state of California and we are in a drought. And the drought has been going on for four years, they tell us.

[00:01:52] And so I said, hey, you know, I'm the pastor. You work for the city. Let's get real. Is there really a drought going on? I mean, is this a political thing? What's going on?

[00:02:01] You know, and it turns out I don't know if you know how this works. I'm assuming maybe some of you do. But in case you don't, that water typically comes from the mountains. It comes from snowy places. And then it melts and it turns into rivers that flow down to the rest of us. And the reason California is in a drought is because the Sierras, a mountain range up towards northern California where the drought is really prominent and worse than it is down here. Now, this year is don't have snow. There's no snowpack. And so the rivers aren't flowing down. And and we're really hurt. Now, I don't know if you realize this, but we actually get our water down here in Southern California in the megalopolis that is Los Angeles and Orange County. We get our water from Colorado.

[00:02:50] Did you know this from the Rocky Mountains. And they flow into the Colorado River, which goes over to the border of California. And there's this amazing aqueduct that brings that water right in so that when you turn on the tap at your house, the Rocky Mountains come flowing out.

[00:03:08] That's how it works.

[00:03:10] And she said, well, the source of the drought is a legitimate problem. And El Nino is going to come by and fix everything here in a few days. And maybe today it's coming any moment. So so they tell us that El Nino is going to come and it's going to get that snowpack in the Sierras and the rivers of living water will start flowing once again. What we're here to learn this morning that we have a source, that we have a abundance of where life comes from, that our rivers of living water will never run dry. Well, you open your Bible to John Chapter seven. And when you turn there with me and I want to look at this statement that Jesus makes everybody grab a Bible, turn to John Chapter seven. We're going to start in verse 32. We're really going to zero in on on verses. Thirty eight is really going to be our main focus is on page eight hundred and ninety three. If you got one of our Bibles and we're working our way through the gospel of John and Jesus is going to use an analogy, a metaphor here, as he often does in his teaching. And he's going to talk about rivers of living water. Follow along with me as I read the text. And we'll see that while there might be a drought in our state, we don't need to be in a state of drought in our own souls. John, chapter seven, verse 32. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him. People were starting to refer to Jesus as the Christ in the verse above. So the Pharisees didn't like people referring to Jesus as the Messiah, as the holy one from God. So the Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him and the chief priests, and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. So they officially now are trying to working together here. The chief priest in the Pharisees trying to arrest Jesus Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer and then I am going to him. Who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me where I am.

[00:05:04] You cannot come. I didn't really understand what Jesus said and the Jew said to one another. Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying You will seek me and you will not find me. And where I am, you cannot come. So they're confused about what Jesus is saying. But verse 37 on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus.

[00:05:32] Stood up and cried out, if anyone, Turse, let him come to me and drink whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water.

[00:05:50] Now, this, he said about the spirit. Who knows who believed in him were to receive for as yet, the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. And so we want to zero in on this phrase that Jesus inviting, again, thirsty souls to come to him and drink, which he's done before in the Gospel of John. But here's a bigger announcement to the whole crowd here at this feast. Whoever believes in me. OK. Look at verse 38. There's a verse. Maybe you could memorize a verse you could meditate on this week. This is a true statement from Jesus.

[00:06:28] Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water.

[00:06:37] Jesus is saying that when you have faith, when you believe in me, when you get saved is a way that we say it. When you get that new life I put within you rivers of living water. There is such a source of life in your soul from that point on that it's like the Sierras or the Rockies or mountain, and all the water's flowing down together and it's making this powerful stream of life that's flowing through you.

[00:07:04] That's what Jesus says it's going to come out of. Your heart will flow. Rivers notice the plural. Notice the S at the end, like multiple streams of life are flowing through you. That's what Jesus says right here.

[00:07:18] We're going to dissect that. What does that mean? What does that look like in your life to you would have rivers of living water? Look back at verse 37. Let's get back into the context years. We're studying the Bible, the context. We can't just take out the quotes that we like. We got to look at the context because it adds greater meaning. And here in verse 37, it says, on the last day of the feast, it seems like that's significant to what Jesus says about if anyone's thirsty, they should come to him for rivers of living water. Well, it says that he said that specifically on the last day of the feast, the great day. Now, we've got to go back in Chapter seven, go all the way back to verse two, and you'll see there what the feast was. This is what we learned about last week. If you were here now, the Jews feast of booths was at hand. OK.

[00:08:07] So this is in the context of this feast of booths or otherwise referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles or the ingathering. This was one of the three main feast that the Jews would have where they would all come together in Jerusalem. And this feast was unique in that everyone, whether you lived in Jerusalem or not, they set up booths, tents. That's what Tabernacle really means, is is a tent. And they would not live in their houses if they even if they lived in Jerusalem, they might set up a tent on their roof for all the travelers coming in. They would set up tents all over the city and everyone would basically have camp for a week in these booths or Tabernacles.

[00:08:49] So also a very unique setting, very unique time.

[00:08:53] Now, why the booze? Why the tabernacles? Well, one thing that clearly happened at this feast, this feast was to thank for the harvest in the fall harvest in October. Time frame was part of it. And thank God for the rain and the things that had had grown. But it was also a time to look back on the history of the nation of Israel when Israel got delivered out of Egypt, before they came into the Promised Land. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and they had a tabernacle, a big tent that they would set up. That represented the temple, the presence of God among them. And they lived in tents. And so it was like, hey, remember when our forefathers lived in tents? Man, let's do that for a week. Let's camp out in the city and let's look back on all that God has done. And they would have certain ceremonies to help them remember how God had provided for their for the nation of Israel in the wilderness in one of these things that they would do. It is is a water ceremony. OK, so now you're kind of seeing how this context comes together everyday. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest would take a a golden flag soon and he would go to the pool of Siloam and he would fill it with water. Now, we've got a map here. This is a little model of the city of Jerusalem in Jesus day. And if you look at the top right up there, you can see that's where the temple is. The massive structure kind of overwhelming the city. And then you can see the circle is where the pool of Siloam was the source of water for the city. And so every day, while everybody's living in these booths and we're remembering how God provided out in the desert, out in the wilderness, right when people were living in tents and traveling around, well, God provided water even out of Iraq one time. God provided water for the people in Exodus 17. And so as we remember God's provision, the high priest, he takes this golden flagon goon full of water from the pool of Siloam, and he walks all the way up that path that you can see there up to the temple. And you can imagine people were observing this. They were cheering him on. They were watching. They were singing perhaps Psalms. And when he came up to the gate to start moving towards the inner city, a trumpet would be blown three times and then they would come in when the sacrifices were being offered and they would pour out this water as a way to remember what God has done as an offering to God. And people might quote scripture. There were Old Testament passages that would be quoted at the Feast of Tabernacles about how God had provided for his people, even in drought, even in the desert, even in the wilderness, God had given them water.

[00:11:34] And and while that is going on in that context, Jesus master of the moment stands up and says, hey, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

[00:11:46] When you put a statement in context, it really has a lot more power when you understand what's going on around it. And here's a moment that the entire nation is focused on remembering how God has provided for his people through water in the desert. And Jesus says, really, you know what? All of this is about them.

[00:12:05] You know what this is symbolizing? You know what this is leading towards? It's leading towards me. And here's what I'll do. If you're thirsty and you come to me and you believe in me, well, I will put in your heart. Rivers of living water that will flow out of you.

[00:12:21] What an amazing statement.

[00:12:23] Talk about taking over the scene. Talk about stealing the show. Here's Jesus mastering the moment as everybody's observed this ceremony throughout the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus now says, hey, are you thirsty? Come to me.

[00:12:41] Powerful, when you put it in its context, go to Nehemiah, Chapter nine.

[00:12:45] Turn there with me to the Old Testament and let's see an example of them celebrating the feast of Tabernacles here in Nehemiah Neoh. Mya's right before the the Somme. So if you get to the Psalms, keep going. A little back to Nehemiah. We're looking at Chapter nine, page four hundred and five, if you got one of our Bibles. So this feast of Tabernacles, we could do a we could do a long study on on the Feast of Tabernacles throughout the scriptures. We could see how we could see the idea of the Tabernacles in the wilderness and how God provided water out of the rock in Exodus and in numbers. And we could see how the people of Israel celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles before the time of Jesus. Now we're seeing it during the time of Jesus. And there are prophecies that in the Millennial Kingdom, when Jesus returns and when he reigns, we will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and we will continue to remember Jesus as the living water. And so it's throughout the scripture is this feast and this focus on water. But zero in with me at Nehemiah Chapter nine and look at verse 19. So this is after the people have been judged and they've been taken out of Jerusalem.

[00:13:56] They've been in exile for 70 years. Now they come back. And for the first time in a long time, the people celebrate the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. And here's what they were thinking about you and your great Merce's did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them, the way by which they should go. You gave. And here's the connection which we're gonna get to the spirit, which is really the source of all these rivers of living water.

[00:14:31] You gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 40 years you sustain them in the wilderness and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

[00:14:52] So when you read Nehemiah and you see what's going on, the people have now come back to the city of Jerusalem, a revival breaks out. They're reading the scripture every day as they're gathered together and they're looking back on what God has done in the past. And they're worshiping him for it. They're praising it. They're calling it to mind. They're remembering it. That's what the Feast of Tabernacles was about. And Jesus says, hey, you think it's amazing how God provided for your forefathers in the wilderness? And he gave them water out of a rock. How does that even make sense? What an amazing thing God did. Well, if you're thirsty, come to me and wait. Do you see how I provide living water for you?

[00:15:31] That's what Jesus is saying.

[00:15:33] He's once again claiming that the Old Testament symbols, the Old Testament narrative, is pointing straight to him as the promised one of God, the Messiah, the Christ.

[00:15:45] That's what he's claiming.

[00:15:47] Now, go back to the gospel of John, because this isn't the first time that Jesus has used water as a symbol to draw attention to the life that he wants to give you, the life that Jesus wants to put in your soul. We can all relate to a hot day and just being thirsty and all of a sudden that great taste of water. Maybe you are outside working in the yard or you are having some physical exercise at that refreshment, that life that you get from drinking water when you're parched, when you're thirsty. Jesus is offering that for our souls. And he did it first in John Chapter four with this woman at the well. He met her at the well. She was going to draw water and he mastered the moment there again and use this same metaphor. So anybody getting to John's seven, where Jesus is saying this in public to master the moment at the Feast of Tabernacles, we already are familiar with how he did it with this woman. Look at John 413. Maybe you remember this.

[00:16:46] If you heard this sermon, Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water, referring to the physical water in the well. Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. I'm offering satisfaction for your soul in eternal kind of life. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And the woman, she understands that that's something she doesn't have. She's thirsty for it, sir. Give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

[00:17:29] And Jesus immediately goes right to the issues of her heart, the issues of her soul. And Jesus said to her, hey, go call your husband to come here.

[00:17:37] And the woman answered him. I have no husband and Jesus sedar you're right in saying I have no husband for you. I've had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. I mean, here's Jesus using an analogy that he wants to give this woman a spring of water welling up within her and internal kind of life. And then after she says, I want it, he immediately goes after than why in your heart? Have you been seeking after something that does not satisfy? This is a woman who had been looking for love in all the wrong places. Five different men she had tried. It says here you really have had five husbands and now number six, you haven't even married him. It's not even a right relationship before God. And I see that your soul is very thirsty.

[00:18:28] Jesus is pointing out to this woman he's exposing her sin in a way that only he can because he sees straight to her heart.

[00:18:37] And if you know the rest of the story, the woman responds and she sees that Jesus is the Messiah and she believes in him.

[00:18:44] And she gets a spring of living water flowing out of her soul. And she runs back into town and says to everyone, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this man be the Christ? And the whole town comes out to meet Jesus.

[00:19:00] I mean, this woman who we think was a social outcast, coming to get water in the middle of the day because she was probably avoiding the other people who came to get their water first thing in the day. Well, now she's running into town and now she's a social trendsetter, getting the whole town to come out and see Jesus. This is what we're saying. We're saying you're pouring your life out into things that will never satisfy. And instead, Jesus wants to put in you a flowing spring that will fill you up and overflow out of you of eternal life, a new quality of life in knowing God through Jesus Christ. If you were here, that sermon about the woman at the well, we did it on a Wednesday night as part of our Jesus Saves series. And the point let's just review real quick if you're taking notes. The point is, we want to turn from broken things to flowing springs. That was our point that night. We want to turn from dumping our lives out into cisterns or wells that can't hold water. And that's a reference you should write down under that review. You should write down Jeremiah Chapter two versus 12 and 13, because what we see there is God says, hey, heaven and earth. Look at this. Be shocked. Be appalled. Let me tell you something that's happening. That's scandalous. I'm over here. God says, and I'm a fountain of living waters. I want to satisfy people's souls. I want to give them life. But not only are my people not coming to me for life, they're turning to broken systems. They're digging for themselves, their own wells. But the wells are flawed. The wells can't hold water. The wells don't satisfy their hearts. And they're dumping their lives out into wells. And as soon as they dump their life into it, it seeps out the bottom and it disappears. And there's no satisfaction. There's no life there. And God says in Jeremiah to look at how shocking it is that they could be over here having a well, having a fountain of living water flowing out from them. A real sense of life coming from the inside. But instead, they not only reject God's offer of spiritual eternal life. They come over here and they dump their life into things that will never fill them up or satisfy things like relationships, things like sexual immorality, things that we think will somehow ease the pain or make us feel better or satisfy our hearts. And yet, how many of us have been deceived and seen the water go seeping out of that broken. Well, never to fill us up.

[00:21:33] That's what's going on right here with this woman.

[00:21:37] We preach that that night. We called out, we pleaded with people to turn from pouring their lives out into things that will never satisfy them.

[00:21:46] And we begged them to come and just see if Jesus really is a stream, a river of living water flowing through your soul. And I'm here to tell you, we had some women, women who responded that night.

[00:21:58] We've got some women now who from that night forward, they seem to be fundamentally different people from the inside out here at this church. In fact, I saw one of the marijuana here on Wednesday night and she walks up to me. And this was a woman I had sat down in marriage counseling with. And she had told me there was no hope for this marriage ever. It was done. It was finished. That was the testimony coming out of her mouth.

[00:22:24] And I saw her walking down the halls of this church on Wednesday night. And she's radiating she's smiling. She's filling up the place with life. And she's come in to pick up her kids. And she's looking at me and she's like, you have no idea how good things are now. And she's talking about her marriage that she had counted out. But here it is now, just a few weeks later, later. And it seems like things are completely headed in a different direction. And that's because she stopped pouring out her life into wells that can't hold water. And she's got streams of water flowing through her right now. Eternal life happening right here at this church.

[00:23:04] But people who are willing to say, I got to stop looking for satisfaction in a world that is filled with drought and I got to start go into the real source. The only place that can fill my heart up and overflow out of me is Jesus Christ.

[00:23:19] That's what we got to start saying around here.

[00:23:22] He said, whether you believe it or not, he said, if you do believe in me. Whoever believes in me out of your heart. This is what the scripture says out of your heart will flow rivers of living water. This is what Jesus says will happen in your heart.

[00:23:37] If you believe in him, sorry. But it's going happen. That's what he's saying.

[00:23:41] OK, now go back to John Chapter seven, just a few pages over and let's try to build on that plea to have everyone turn from the worldly things that we try to fill our lives with. Which empty us.

[00:23:54] And we want to turn to Jesus Christ and the life that he gives that fills us up and flows out of us.

[00:24:01] And so this is a statement that Jesus is making and he's quoting scripture.

[00:24:06] Now, there's a lot of debate and we could have endless kind of dialog about what scripture. Is he referring to when it says out of his heart will flow rivers of living water? Because it's hard to find a scripture in the Old Testament that says exactly that. The same kind of phrase. But there are so many it the better question might be which passage is he not referring to? Because the Old Testament is filled with endlessly with this idea that God is going to take a desert. He is going to take a barren wilderness. He is going to take a drought filled land. And all of a sudden there are going to be streams flowing where they've never been. And it talks about this throughout the Old Testament, both about the souls of men, but also about even geography.

[00:24:51] There's prophecies about in the future. When Jesus returns, there will be rivers flowing in places in Israel. If you've ever been to Israel, a large part of it is just this barren desert. And then there's going to actually in the future, be rivers flowing through that desert.

[00:25:06] When Jesus returns and you can read Ariah 13 and 14, you can read Isaiah 43 and 44, which prophesy that here's what God does. He puts rivers where before there was drought. That's something he loves to do. He loves to take the dry and thirsty soul and just have it flowing with life.

[00:25:26] That's what he does now.

[00:25:27] Go to Isaiah Chapter 12, because that's maybe, I think, the scripture that Jesus might be referring to, although there's many we could turn to. But let's look at Isaiah Twelve as an example. And there is some recordings, some reports that this was a chapter that was read specifically at the Feast of Tabernacles as a part of their celebration. And there's some prophecy even you might be familiar with some of the prophecies in Isaiah. The prophecy of the virgin birth is often referred to in chapter seven, verse 14 or Isaiah, Chapter nine, verse six says, For us, to us, a child is born to us. His son is given. The government shall be on his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So there's some Christ prophecies in Isaiah. And we kind of look at Chapter seven to Chapter 12 as a unit in Isaiah Prophecies of Christ yet to come. And it ends with this. If you've never read Isaiah Twelve, look at what it says here. Look how encouraging this is. Look what Christ is going to do after he comes. How a future people are going to rejoice.

[00:26:35] You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

[00:26:45] Behold. Look at this. God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid for the Lord. God is my strength. And He is my song. And He has become my salvation. So with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

[00:27:06] Here's people praising God for saving them. And it's like they've got salvation so deep within them that they can joyfully draw out of the well that's within them now. This this exciting life that they have in God. And it says in verse four and you will say on that day, give thanks to the Lord. Here's a festival.

[00:27:28] Here's a celebration. Call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted, sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all the Earth. Shout sing for joy o inhabitant of Zion, the City of Jerusalem for great. In your midst is the holy one of Israel. And does anyone here want to proclaim the name of Jesus that when your soul was a barren, dry wasteland, he has filled it with rivers of living water? Anybody want to praise Jesus here this morning in this place? Do we want to make known his deeds among the peoples? Do we want to proclaim that the name of Jesus is lifted? High is the one source of satisfaction.

[00:28:14] And we can't trust the Sierras. We can't trust the Rockies. We can't trust our relationships. We can't trust the pleasures of this life. There is only one place that we can go to that we know will overflow out of us, will fill us up. And that's Jesus Christ.

[00:28:29] And it says, if you're a Christian, here's something that we need to do on a regular basis, here's something that we need to believe by faith and we need to act on that faith in our lives.

[00:28:39] We need to withdraw. Go down into the well of salvation that is within us. And we need to draw it out. That's what it says.

[00:28:49] This is something we're gonna have to actively participate in.

[00:28:56] The command with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

[00:29:01] Now I know what some people are thinking here this morning and you're thinking, well, rivers of Living Water did exactly scribe describe my week this week.

[00:29:09] That's not how I felt this week. All right.

[00:29:13] That's not what my circumstances showed me this week, is that there were streams of when my kids lost it for the end time. This week, I wasn't exactly seeing the streams of living water when that same problem happened at work with that same coworker this week. I wasn't exactly feeling like there was a fountain of life flowing out of me.

[00:29:33] So I hear what you're saying. I like the idea of it, but there is a contrast here in this idea of what we're studying this morning with the reality of our daily lives.

[00:29:46] So how am I going to think about this?

[00:29:47] Because when I wake up in the morning many days, I don't start seeing and I got a river of life flowing out of me.

[00:29:55] Now, this week, I really thought about it because I was studying this passage, but a lot of times that's not the way I feel in the morning. But Jesus is saying, let's just take Jesus at his word. Let's act like Jesus knows what he's talking about here for a minute.

[00:30:11] In fact, I want you to be so bold here this morning that you will say that your experience does not define what it means to be a Christian, but that Jesus defines what it means to be a Christian and what Jesus says the Christian experience should be. Is that out of your heart should flow rivers of living water. That's what Jesus says. And he says, whoever believes in me. Now, I know he's talking about faith, sect saving kind of faith, where we put our trust that Jesus is the Christ who did come and he was born as a baby and he lived a perfect life and he died on the cross for our sins and he rose again. We're talking about faith in the good news, the gospel of Jesus that begins at Christmas and goes right up till Easter. We know the story.

[00:30:57] That's what we put our faith in.

[00:31:00] But I think some of us think, why put my faith in it a while ago? So I'm just expecting those streams of living water to flow, even though I'm not living in faith right now. See?

[00:31:11] No, I mean, if we're gonna keep on believing that what Jesus says is true, we're gonna have to learn how to get past the drought of doubt. Let's get that down for point number one here. We can't give in to the drought of doubt because you and I have many conflicting messages that are telling us there are not streams of living water flowing out of our hearts, our emotions. Many times our feelings are arguing against that in our lives, our daily circumstances. When we wake up in the morning, we're not we're not thinking, yeah, Jesus is just surging out of me today. Can't wait to share the fountain of Jesus. That's within me with other people today. Right. We go to work. We sometimes we roll into work and we have good attitude. You remember those days. You know what those days are like.

[00:31:59] You roll in and you think today's a new day, a new dawn, and then you face the same old problems that you always face and you start becoming a little bit the grumpy version of yourself, because no one of talking about that ever happened to anybody.

[00:32:14] I don't like this. All right.

[00:32:16] Well, Jesus says he got streams of living water rivers multiple in the plural flowing out of you, but you're not.

[00:32:22] Conflicting messages. How are you going to live by faith in what Jesus says or by your feelings or by your circumstances?

[00:32:30] So go to go to First Corinthians 10. We got to learn the real lesson of the people in the wilderness, God's people. Although he provided for them in amazing and miraculous ways that are worth remembering and celebrating. This is First Corinthians, Chapter 10. Turn, turn there with me is where we're going. Page nine hundred and fifty seven. Although there are great things to remember about the wilderness wanderings of the people of Israel and how God provided for them. We realized that the people of Israel didn't have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. If you've read through the Old Testament, if you've heard the story, God was ready to bleed them right into the promised land.

[00:33:07] And guys like Joshua and Caleb, they were saying, let's take this promise land now. If God's with us, we can do it. But there were 10 other spies who scoped out the promised land. And what were they saying?

[00:33:19] No, those guys are too big, too strong. We're just little grasshoppers compared to these guys.

[00:33:26] And there was a lack of faith.

[00:33:28] And because this lack of faith was found to be disturbing, that God made them wander in the wilderness until every single person who didn't have faith in the wilderness died off, and who were the two people that got both out of Egypt and into the Promised Land while their names were Joshua and Caleb, the two people who had faith in God, that what he said he could do. He actually could do in their lives. See, this is the issue that we come to again and again in these sermons, is it not? It's not necessarily even what we know from the Bible on a Sunday morning. It's what we do from the Bible. On a Tuesday morning that really seems to matter in our life.

[00:34:10] And we can all claim faith in Jesus when we're feeling it, when it's our appointed time and our schedule to come and celebrate it here together in a public way.

[00:34:19] But in private, in our innermost moments, in the thoughts of our heart, do we believe we have rivers of living water flowing from us?

[00:34:27] Or do we doubt the words of Jesus Christ himself?

[00:34:30] We don't want to follow the example of Israel. Look what it says in first Corinthians 10, verse one. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. And they all passed through the sea. They saw God do great things. They saw God save them, deliver them out of Egypt. And they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

[00:34:49] And they all aid the same spiritual food, manna coming from the sky. They all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them. And the rock was what is to say they the rock was Christ. Okay, now we're adding a whole new level of meaning on this story that Moses. He goes to this rock and water comes out to everybody who's thirsty, can have a drink. Well, now we're saying that's a symbol. Guess what that rock was. That rock was Christ.

[00:35:20] They had the power of the living God. They're among them. They had a life flowing there among them. And did they believe it? Did they trust in it?

[00:35:30] Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. We can't go back to those broken wells that don't hold water in our lives. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Don't worship idols and here's why they worship idols. Because we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did.

[00:36:00] And twenty three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. They were grumbling. They were complaining. They were discontent. They weren't satisfied with the life that they had. And because some of them grumbled, they were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happen to them as an example, an example for who? Well, they were written down for, ah, instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

[00:36:29] They were wandering in a literal physical wilderness.

[00:36:32] And God's bringing bread from heaven, water from rocks. There's a pillar of cloud guiding them by day. Fire is leading them by night. And yet they would not trust God to provide for their souls.

[00:36:44] And God was displeased with them. We now live in a different age. It says we live at the end of the age here. It says in verse eleven, the end of the ages has come and it's come upon us.

[00:36:57] And I'll tell you, it feels like America is in a spiritual drought, does it not? It feels like we're living in a time where it's rare to really hear the word of God talked about among people in our country.

[00:37:10] It's rare to really even meet Christians, even among church going community. It seems rare to meet people who you would describe as full of life, like they've got a fountain coming out of them, like they've got a little bounce in their step. And a song in their heart and regularly with joy, they're drawing from the well of their salvation. And it's overflowing into their life. And it seems like we have a drought of those kind of people these days.

[00:37:36] But we have the promise that out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.

[00:37:43] And are you going to believe that or not? That's what it's going to come down to.

[00:37:47] Yeah, I can understand why you might look around and you might think, well, that's not what Christianity is like today.

[00:37:54] I don't see a lot of examples of that. I don't know if I really believe that. Well, what are we going to believe what we can see with our eyes or what Jesus says to us in the scripture? What is the basis of your life?

[00:38:08] The drought of doubt is something that's going to be a temptation for every one of us. Well, it's okay if I'm not that excited about Jesus today. Well, it's OK.

[00:38:18] I mean, who's really satisfied in Christ all the time? Do you hear? Do you know how many times as a pastor, I hear that on a regular basis from people at this church who's really overflowing with rivers of living water all the time. Come on. Who can be like that? Who can live that way? Jesus says whoever believes in me.

[00:38:37] That's what he says. Whoever believes in me, will you believe in him?

[00:38:43] Will you believe in him on Tuesday morning when you're not feeling it, when you believe in him on Thursday afternoon, when the circumstances of your life are telling you to go pour your life out into a broken system and seek for some other kinds of satisfaction? Will you still trust in Christ? That's what he's looking for. Don't be like the people wandering in the wilderness when the water was coming from the rock and the rock was Christ, and he was ready for them right there the whole time to give them what they needed to give them life.

[00:39:12] Now go back to John Chapter seven, because it gives us a secret. Now, there was great confusion here in John, 7:00 in the context. There was a lot of confusion here among the people. They didn't understand who Jesus was. A lot of them, they they wanted to arrest him. And when Jesus says, I will be with you a little longer. They completely don't get that right.

[00:39:33] He says, I will be with you a little longer. I'm going to go back to him who sent me while he already has made it clear that the father sent him. So what Jesus is telling us is that he's only going to be around a little longer, i.e., he's going to die. He's going to go back to be with the father. He's going to rise from the dead, ascend into heaven. All of that is what's about to happen. And that's what Jesus is referring to. I'm going to go up to heaven to be with the father. And you're not going to be able to follow me there. That's the message he's giving to the crowd. They don't get it. Oh, he's going to the Greeks.

[00:40:02] Is that what he's doing is leaving us for the Greeks? They're completely lost. But we get the explanation. Look down at verse 39. The water analogy is a little bit cryptic.

[00:40:13] It's a it's a metaphor, but it says it clearly here in verse 39.

[00:40:18] Now, this he said about the who does it say there about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for as yet, the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. And that's the or the way to say it. Jesus is going to be there a little while. Then he's going to be lifted up. He's going to be glorified. That's a way in the Gospel of John. We refer to the death of Christ. The moment that he came for the time that he had come for was for him to die on the cross. And that when after he's glorified, after he dies, after he rises again and he ascends into heaven, then there's a promise here which we can better understand today than the people at the Feast of Tabernacles could understand that day, that the way this whole earth rivers of living water thing works is the spirit now comes and it dwells you and lives inside of you. Then you have the Holy Spirit of the living God, the helper he's referred to in the gospel of John, the spirit of Truth.

[00:41:19] He's called. He comes alongside of you. He lives in you. And he causes you to live in a way for Jesus Christ.

[00:41:28] We have the spirit in a way that the people in the Old Testament did not this indwelling of the spirit that Jesus talks about in the gospel of John, John kind of just says, hey, in case you're confused about what this means, it means the spirit. OK, now let's actually jump ahead and let's get the full explanation of that. Go to John Chapter 14, turn ahead to where Jesus is going to explain how this is going to work to his disciples. And he uses the same idea, hey, a little while and you'll see me no longer. And the disciples. That was great heartbreak for them because they love Jesus. And they were with him for three years and they had given everything to follow Jesus. And now he's going to leave. And they thought that was a terrible idea, that Jesus would leave. But look at what Jesus says. And John, 14, and start with me in verse 19. Let's just start there because it's similar to our text in John seven.

[00:42:23] Yet a little while and the world will see me no more. OK. We get that. That's what he's referring to with the crowd. They're not he's they're not going to see him anymore. But you will see me. And here's an amazing statement because I live.

[00:42:39] You also will live because I'm going to rise from the dead and because I'm going to be living at the right hand of the father in heaven. You the spirit that God is going to send you, that I'm going to ask the father to send you that hour. I'm going to send you the spirit will bring my life in you.

[00:43:00] I mean, he goes so far and John, 16 to say, it's to your advantage that I go away, it's going to be even better than me being around here physically. Is my spirit being within you?

[00:43:12] Now, this is something we believe. This is what the Bible says, that at the moment you put your faith in Jesus at the moment of your salvation, your regeneration, that the spirit of the living God lives in you from that moment forward. Do you believe in that?

[00:43:27] Well, you affirm that.

[00:43:28] Is that a doctrine that you hold to in your heart that you would say that you are. Yes. A human being. And we can all relate to the thirst that we all share and the weaknesses that we all share and the shortcomings that we've all fallen short of the glory of God. We can all say amen to that. But do you also believe that those of us who have put our faith in Christ have something else in common, this spirit that is greater than ourselves, that gives us a new sense of life, of the life of Jesus because he lives.

[00:43:58] We also will live, he says. Now go back up and look how he introduces the spirit in verse 16, he says, and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper help or with a capital H. That's the spirit. The one who is going to come alongside, come within us in the spirit will be with you forever. Even in the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. Why can't the world receive? Because it didn't believe in Jesus. But we who have believed in Jesus, we can receive him. The world cannot receive it because it neither sees him nor knows him.

[00:44:33] But you know in him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

[00:44:41] Here's what we need to start doing when we don't feel the life of Jesus Christ. We need to tell ourself our feelings. Hey, I've got the spirit of the living God in me right now.

[00:44:51] Next time your circumstances want to make you have a bad day. You just remind your circumstances that the spirit of the living God is causing you to which joyfully draw from the walls of salvation and your circumstances cannot stop the rivers of living water that are going to flow out of your soul.

[00:45:09] We got to believe that the spirit is within us. Jumped out of verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name. He will teach you all things. And he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. That sounds pretty good. I would like to think that I've got some spigot somewhere that I can go to and when I turn it on, there's just living water flowing from it. Does that sound nice to anybody else? Right now, we all understand we have a tap. We have we are kind of some of us are kind of too good for the tap water at our houses. Right. But I you would say we have water at my house. OK. Now when you wake up in the morning, you don't expect that water to be there flooding you in your bed. You don't open the closet to look for that water. You don't open a door in your house in the morning and get knocked over by a tidal wave of water. Hopefully that hasn't happened to, you know, when you want the water to to start flowing in your house. What do you do?

[00:46:20] My friends. You you turn it on. You find where it comes in.

[00:46:25] That's it. Let's use the cool word of spigot, because I just am fascinated by that word. I mean, you can call it a faucet and call it a tap. You can call it a nozzle on your shower.

[00:46:35] But the Rocky Mountains are flowing into your house and you understand that every day and you turn it and here it comes. And you're complaining if the pressure is not right and if it doesn't get hot fast enough, you've got some problems because you expect you believe you have faith every day when you turn that on, that the Rocky Mountains are going to come flowing through. That's the same thing we're saying from the scripture this morning. We're saying there is an endless source of life that has so much power, it's like multiple rivers overflowing the banks and surging into your soul and all you gotta do is turn the spigot of the spirit. Let's get that down for point number two. We want to look to the spirit of the spirit. That's the key. You've got rivers of living for water. Well, I don't feel the rivers of living water. Well, the spirit is where you get them from. Not your feelings. So how do we then access the spirit? How do we get this water flowing in our lives so that you and I could have a sense of fullness as we go into each day, that we could have a sense of joy and of singing and of salvation in the morning. Would anybody like to live that way? If you want a glum, melancholy life, then just don't do anything, my friends. But if you want some joy at maybe the way this would be a good way to say it. If you would like to have a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then all you got to do is go to the spirit. He's in you. He's here to help you. He's going to remind you of things. He's going to teach you the truth. He's going to teach you all the things from Jesus Christ so you can have his life flowing in you. How do you do this? How do you tap in to the tap of the spirit every single day? Go to officiants chapter five. Let's get really practical. What is it going to look like for you to turn on the spigot of the spirit every single morning in your soul?

[00:48:38] And maybe just to remind yourself of this. Just go turn your water on for a minute and just watch it flow down the sink and think you've got that flowing inside of, you know, we won't tell that to the water police who are here among us that we're gonna do that. But look at Ephesians Chapter five and start with me in verse 18.

[00:48:55] Here's a broken well, you want to talk about a a broken. Well, let's talk about alcohol. Let's talk about drinking, man. We got a lot of people pouring out their lives into bottles all around us here in Huntington Beach. And it says, do not get drunk with wine. That is debauchery. And that's a big problem that we've got in our culture right now, that a lot of people want to numb the pain or they want to try to get some kind of feeling by drinking. And they think that's going to help them out. That is a broken well.

[00:49:22] Please don't go that way. No, instead do this, it says be filled with the spirit. Yes, that's what we want.

[00:49:29] We want this river of living water flowing in us. How do I get filled with the spirit? Well, here's what getting filled with the spirit is going to produce. Here's some of the ways it's going to overflow. You'll be addressing one another, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

[00:49:45] You'll be like one of those people who's like, got a song in your heart. You know, those kind of people like you. There's something like they're going through a rough situation. But why are they smiling? It's kind of annoying sometimes when when they're like they should be down, I feel down them. They're in the same situation I'm in. But yet they kind of have a little little something going on there. What's what's that about? Well, they've got this psalms, hymns and spiritual songs flowing from them.

[00:50:11] They're singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. They're giving thanks always and for everything to God, the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't that sound nice?

[00:50:24] And you want to just be upset with the traffic on the four or five. Is that what you want to do with your life? I know people here in Huntington Beach who avoid Beach and Edinger because there's too much traffic at the intersection.

[00:50:37] You won't be one of those people always discouraged about the realities of the drought of life. Always seeing the glass as half empty.

[00:50:47] Or do you want to be somebody who's walking around and in their heart? They don't have headphones on. There's no music playing. But there is a melody going on in their soul. That's what it says here. They're filled with the spirit. I'm going to start singing it. You guys better watch out. I'm good. I got a river of love. I mean, I feel it right now. If you don't know that song, you should look it up. Classic that I grew up with a church.

[00:51:13] I got a river of life flowing out of me.

[00:51:15] Do you have that song? That's what happens when you're filled with the spirit, what you're saying, give me more. What does it mean to be filled with the spirit? Go to Colossians. Chapter three. Turn with me to Colossians. Chapter three. And we know that some of these letters here, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, we believe that they were written by Paul at the same time. They have a lot of similarities. We believe that he was in prison when he wrote these letters. Here's a man in prison. You would think that might bring out the bah humbug a little bit in you, the Grinch and you a little bit locked in jail. No, he's got joy flowing out of him.

[00:51:50] And look what he says here in verse Caution's three, verse 16.

[00:51:56] It says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another. Here we are speaking to one another again and all wisdom. And guess what we got here again, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We've got that thankfulness in all circumstances, in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, you're doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him.

[00:52:21] No matter what this person does, they're giving thanks. They've got life flowing from them.

[00:52:26] Well, in a Fusion's Chapter five, very similar description, same psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, they're the command was be filled with the spirit. Well, here it seems like we've got the same effects, the same overflow of our soul. But here the command look back at verse 16.

[00:52:43] What does it say? Let the word of Christ dwell in you. And how does it say that you dwell in you richly.

[00:52:50] So would it be safe to assume then that this heart attitude of Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This speaking to one another. This giving thanks to God and doing everything in the name of Jesus? In one passage, it comes from being filled with the spirit. In another passage, it comes from the word of Christ dwelling in you richly. Might we then say that being filled with the spirit and being filled with the Scripture are parallel ideas here.

[00:53:19] Might that be the way we can turn the spigot on is when we start pouring the scripture into our lives? Doesn't that even make sense that this is the book that the Holy Spirit inspired, that he moved men to write it? Even people like John experiencing that life with Jesus. And then the spirit comes and he reminds John of everything that happened so that he could write it down so that you could read it, so that you could read the Jesus said, whoever believes in me. The scriptures say out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And how does that happen? The spirit that's out at.

[00:53:53] And there's a spicket of eternal life that you can turn on every single day. And there's no limitations. There's no conservation required. Let it flow. How much scripture can you get into your life? This week that's going to help those rivers of living water flow.

[00:54:13] Yep, you're saying. I knew it would probably come back to this man. It's always coming back to this here at CompassHB Bible Church. Here it is again, another sermon where it seems like he wants me to get into the Bible. Here we are once again, my friends. Right. I want you to have rivers of living water.

[00:54:32] And I'm saying there's a source and the source is the spirit and the way the spigot of the spirit where our heart means the source is right here in the scripture. And here's what I'm here to tell you. Good news. Brown is not the new green here at Compass Bible Church, everybody. There are no limit to the amount of days you can water your lawn.

[00:54:54] That's what I'm here to tell you.

[00:54:56] Some of you guys are watering your lawn one day a week, and then you're wondering why your life feels brown the rest of the week.

[00:55:04] That's what's going on in churches all across America. We limit nobody's telling us to Jesus Hussein freely.

[00:55:12] Come to me if you're thirsty, come, I'll give you something to drink. I'll put my spirit within you. He'll cause you to overflow. And we're saying, no, I think I wanna keep it to one day.

[00:55:22] I think one day is going to be kind of enough for me.

[00:55:25] In fact, here's what happens at this church. I see it Sunday after Sunday. I get I have a unique perspective of being the one person that actually gets to look at the church while the word of God got rings out.

[00:55:36] What a blessing it is to see people every week get affected, get stirred up, get convicted as the power of the spirit works through the preaching of the word of God. People have told me here at this church that they leave here much more excited about Jesus than when they came in here.

[00:55:56] And it happens to him on a regular basis.

[00:55:58] Happens to him Sunday after Sunday. In fact, I had a lady tell me last week, even though she was going through some circumstances that would cause us to mourn and that would cause us to be down and frustrated.

[00:56:11] She said, I had to come here this morning because when I come here, I get a sense of life, she said.

[00:56:19] Now, why would we want not want that experience every single day of the week?

[00:56:26] Every single day?

[00:56:28] Well, we can't all gather for church at Sunday at nine and 11 every single day of the week. I'm with you on that. But we can all turn on the spigot of the scripture and let the spirit flow into our lives.

[00:56:43] In fact, here's something I was talking about with somebody this week, I saw two times this week, I saw him right after church on Sunday and they were pumped. They were like telling me the things that stood out to them in the sermon and how that was going to change their week. And they were excited if they looked like something was overflowing out of their life. Then I saw him again. I think it was Friday that I saw him and I was like, well, you remember how you said that to me after the sermon on Sunday? Right. And it's like they didn't even remember it on Friday.

[00:57:10] The cure was something that was giving them life on Sunday. And I don't know what it was, they had hadn't looked back at their notes. They hadn't thought about it. Maybe they didn't go to the whole fellowship group. I don't know what it was. But by Friday, something that gave me life on Sunday, I've already forgotten about. Well, no wonder my soul feels dry that.

[00:57:27] When I've shut up the flow of living water.

[00:57:31] I mean, here's something you could actually do if you if you like a sermon, if it encourages you. If it lifts you up, you listen to the sermon. Just just throwing it out there. This place is a beautiful place. It's called the Internet and is this Web site compas, HP dot com. And we put these sermons up there every single week like we decided here at this church. The biggest thing we were going to do on our Web site is just put the sermons up there. Just put the sermons up there and let people see what the church is really all about, which is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus through this scripture. Let's just if people are going to click on something, let's have them click on getting the scripture in their lives. And people do. People do click on that. What's keeping us from Cook? Sometimes people when they sit down to read the Bible, let's get honest. If we can be honest here, a church, it's just kind of boring. That's what people think. It's hard, I, I. When you talk about it on Sunday and you say some stuff I like, I like some of the stuff you say. But then I go and I read it and I just don't get the same stuff out of it. It's hard. Well, you could just go listen to the sermon all over again. Like, if you're having a hard time getting something out of the Bible, if you feel like you're turning the spigot and nothing's flowing out of it into your soul, just one thing you can do is listen to more sermons. I mean, every sermon we've ever done is on that website. You could listen to all of them. And and you haven't been around that long. So if you if you are so thirsty, you get through all of our sermons. You can go to this place called Focal Point Radio where Pastor Mike planted this church from Compass Bible Church down in South County. He's got endless sermons. You know, there's a lot of other guys out there preaching the word of God. And you can listen to what their sermons are on the Internet to. It's an amazing thing. What you can do. You get on your phone. You can get it on the radio. I mean, you could probably listen to a sermon every single day if you wanted to. You could water the lawn of your soul every single day if you wanted. So, yeah, we might not be here every Sunday, but that doesn't mean the water needs to stop flowing. And let's talk about that, because I think that's a real issue that we're really going to focus on addressing as we get into January is I think we've got people here who sincerely come to the scripture and don't really know how to take what's here from God's word and to then see it happen in their life. And that might be a real challenge for you to read through the Bible and then apply it. And if that's something that you struggle with, we are. We want to help you learn how to do that. And we have many different ways that we want to teach you to, to get the spirit flowing through you, to be filled with the spirit, to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly so that you will go around with this melody in your heart to the Lord. This overflowing stream coming out of you, one way we do this. And if you can pull out that hand out there that you've got, if you have been taking notes on it or not, pull it out. Turn it over. And you can see we give you some application questions. And those are things you could do by yourself. You could do with your spouse. You could do with your kids. You could do those with anybody. We designed. Fellowship groups with equipped leaders to have good conversations about these sermons to help us think about not only what did we hear, but what are we going to go and do based on what we heard from the word? How is this going to affect everything about us? And so if you're not a part of those fellowship groups, that's a great way that you can start to get this stream coming from the scripture on Sunday and flowing out in your life the rest of the week. We also do this thing called Partners Who's heard of partners before? Anybody heard of our one on one discipleship program. So what this will look like there's a chapter in there that teaches you how to get something out of the Bible by yourself every day when you read it on your own. And so if you do partners, you'll come to this chapter. I think it's chapter three that you get into a pretty quick. And one person will sit down with you at Starbucks or a restaurant or you one of your houses. And we will go through like how to get something out of the scripture together. We will break it down into steps. We will practice it together. We are so committed to teaching you how to get something out of the Bible on your own. Let me just tell you, if you find the Bible boring. The problem is not the Bible. Let's just let's just put it like that. Okay. Can I say that in a non insulting way? And does that work?

[01:01:56] Did anybody when you were growing up, have your grandma have anybody complain about being bored when you were growing up? Right. And now it really, really frustrates you because you're looking at the room full of toys that your child is complaining about being bored and all the toys that you have purchased over all the Christmases over all of their entire life. And now they're bored in everyone. But that's that's different. But but I had my I had.

[01:02:20] I made the mistake one time of telling my grandma that I was bored. And she said to me the wisdom that I think many grandmothers have passed down throughout the history of the human race, which is that only boring people get bored. Thank you, Grandma. You know. But isn't she right? Isn't that maybe the same wisdom some of us might espouse to our own children or grandchildren? Right. Well, the problem is not with the source material. It's nothing boring about the life that God has given us. There's nothing boring, especially about the life that he's given to us in his son, Jesus Christ.

[01:03:01] And there's nothing boring about a book like this where thousands of years ago they started doing this feast because it represented something that happened in the wilderness. And they kept doing it over hundreds of years. And this priest, he kept walking this water down that road up to the temple. Year after year, he did it and all the people watched it and they poured out the water. And then one day a guy said, hey, this is all about me. And I want to put in your soul, if you will believe in me. I will put in your soul a stream of living water that will flow forever. And the source will never run dry. Well, you let me do that, he said. If you're thirsty here, anyone who is thirsty, Jesus is inviting you to come and drink and he wants to give you his spirit. And that's something you tap into every time you get into this book. You sit down to talk about it with a friend. You listen to it. You can even listen to worship songs. You can even. I mean, people have put the scripture into song. And you can listen to it in your car. And he can motivate you. Sometimes I encourage people to memorize scripture and they say, well, that's for kids that are wanted to memorize scripture. I have a hard time of memorizing scripture to start singing it. And I'll stick in your head.

[01:04:20] Just start making up your own melodies and start singing them. And you'll remember them. And maybe next time you're sitting in traffic, instead of getting upset and frustrated, you'll start to sing into the Lord and giving things because you've got a river of living water flowing out of you. And I just pray for our church. God, I prayed that there would not be a drought here in our hearts when it doesn't need to be. God, I pray that there would be no one here who's going to leave here today and maybe feel good about coming to church and seeing some people in here and a word and having some donuts and maybe a coffee drink of coffee on the way out. And then this week, they're going to start pouring their lives into wells that can't hold water.

[01:05:01] They're going to start looking for satisfaction somewhere else besides the source of eternal life, besides Jesus Christ, who offers to us his spirit that willing to tell us that will come alongside of us and help us.

[01:05:13] The spirit of truth that speaks to us through the scripture when the spirit is filling us in, the word of Christ is dwelling in us richly. He causes us to be singing songs and to be giving thanks. And to be speaking to one another. And to be worshiping you from our hearts.

[01:05:31] God, I pray that we would believe that whoever believes in Christ has rivers of living water flowing out of them, got encourage our hearts, stir us up not just today, but every day with this good news that the spirit is within us. And he wants the life of your son, Jesus, to flow out of a sky that we would believe that by faith that we would get into the scripture and that we would see the spirit doing his work and we would sing the songs of praise and we would make known his deeds among the peoples.

[01:06:04] And we would let the world know I got a river of life that's flowing out of me. It makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. It opens prison doors and it sets the captives free. Yes, I got that river of life and it's flowing out of me.

[01:06:16] We praise Jesus who gives us this, and we pray this in his name, Amen.