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Transcript

The Wellspring · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_00: During the worship, I was thinking about how most of us here we worship because God has done something.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: God has done a healing in our hearts, or he's doing one, and you know that.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: And we know that it was something and someone bigger than ourselves that has done this.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we worship.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: That's why we don't just get together and talk about how good we are and and how you can all be better, how people can all uh just be better.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: We talk about him because he's our life, he's our source, and we know that.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: We've tasted that, we've seen that.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I want to talk about your life today.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Your life.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: And your life is him.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: He is your life, and you know that.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: And that life is your source.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that supplies everything that you need.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus said, I will not leave you helpless, I will not leave you alone, I will not leave you comfortless.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: The spirit of truth, the powerful spirit of God will be with you always.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: He said, My grace is sufficient for you.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: He said, In the world there is trouble, there's tribulation, but you can be of good cheer because I've overcome all that.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: And how does he overcome that?
1:40
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at that, but but we have a source of life this morning.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking, and I usually capitalize that because I'm talking about God Himself, who is our life, L-I-F-E.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: And that life encompasses so much, and and I've done this over the years.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: A long time ago, I saw this in the Word of God in the Bible, that you can take three words that start with L that the Bible mentions a lot in the New Testament, especially.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Love, life, and light.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: God is light, God is love, God is life.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: And you can take those and you can interchange them anytime in any place because they're all the exact same thing.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And it's much more powerful than, of course, we know uh when we talk about life, it's much more powerful than our human existence.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about something that always was, we're talking about something that always was in heaven before the beginning and always will be, and that something is in us and with us, and it's flowing, and it's supplying something for us today.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: I want to jump right into this because I have a bit of a mouthful to get out this morning.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, John chapter 15, verse 5.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: I want to start by reading that, and this is from the Passion Translation.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: Jesus uh speaking a very good and very familiar uh verse, he says, I am the sprouting vine, and you are my branches.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you, but when you live separated from me, you are powerless.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Point number one.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad in this context of his teaching here, he doesn't call us the trees or the or the vines.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: He says, we're the branches.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: So that that tells me something right there.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I used to be afraid of how many of you ever used to be afraid of the verse where Jesus uh talked about where every every tree that gives bad fruit is going to be plucked up and burned into the fire?
3:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that we're not those trees.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: We're the branches.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: He is the tree trunk, he is that which supplies to us, you and I, the branches.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: And uh and he's and and of course he gives the picture here and he says, and you know that your life it comes from me.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: The branch doesn't sit out there and just produce its own life, but it comes from a source, doesn't it?
3:49
SPEAKER_00: It comes from the trunk of that tree or the vine that Jesus is talking about himself.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm that trunk.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm that source.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: It comes all from me and it goes in, it goes to you.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and because the branch is connected to the to the trunk of the tree, that's why it's fruitful, right?
4:06
SPEAKER_00: That's why it has leaves on it, that's why it produces fruit.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: All the pretty stuff is out here on the branches, you and me.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: And he and he and he and uh and he says, as long as you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you because we do have that source of life.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: And I and as we get into this, I hope we can, as we look at it, it's it's something it grows in our eyes.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: We see this, that we're all here this morning with this wonderful, powerful, and very, very real, eternally real, always, always was, always will be, eternally real, power uh source of life.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Um he says, but when you live separated from me, you're powerless.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Obviously.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: You cut the branch off, it can't produce fruit, simply because it's separated from the source.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: But we're not separated from the source this morning.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: That's good news.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: And nothing you do is going to separate you from that source.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: You're in him, you're with him.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 4, I want to look at this.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: Here's another passage where Jesus speaks a similar thing in a very different way.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: And it says in verse 37, then on the most important day of the feast, the last day, Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, very briefly, let me tell you what's going on here.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: This is the the Feast of Tabernacles has concluded, actually.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: And this is the eighth day, this other day at the end of that, that's a holy convocation.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And and a lot of there are a lot of rituals that go on.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: And at this particular time, uh a tradition uh had been added to this many years ago.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: And at this time, one of the rituals that they would do is that uh the priest would go out to the to the pool of Siloam, which was about from the temple, it was about three football fields.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: And they would take this walk and they would take these vessels and they would get water out there, then they would come back and go to the go to the temple.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, this whole thing's a big deal.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're singing psalms and and the people are cheering and and all this is going on, and they're taking this water and they're bringing it back to the temple to pour it out.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, in reading, you'll find out if you read commentaries, they'll say, why do they do that?
6:15
SPEAKER_00: What's that about?
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's two different things here that I've that I've seen.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: One of them is natural, one of them is spiritual.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Some of the commentaries will say what they're doing is that part of the reason that they're doing that is that that with that um that water pouring out, or water offering, if you will, that it's uh it's to to ensure that they will have in their land that they will have sufficient water uh that that coming year.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: This this this day actually marks the end of the of the calendar year.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: And so, and so many commentaries will say that it's natural that they're that they're that that they did that to ensure that God would give sufficient rain or sufficient water for the land, you know, for their crops and so on.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And others say, and I can see it both, I I I have both of them in my mind, others say that they they knew about the promise, and they were, and that was symbolic of the water that God, or the spirit that God would pour out upon all flesh.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And so they're always looking forward to that day of restoration.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And so that's going on.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: And imagine that.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: And so so they're doing this big big show here, and it says, and on that day Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds, all of you thirsty ones, come to me.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Come to me and drink.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you want water, I'm your source right here.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Rather than having to keep trying to produce enough sufficiency for your next year or whatever, I'm your source.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: If you want water, come to me and drink.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Believe in me, so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the scripture says.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: He's telling he's the source, and he's also revealing that he is the promise of that, of God pouring out his spirit on all flesh.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: But he's there again, he's pointing to himself as the source.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times we can look at a lot of different things, but but what we're remembering, what we're looking at this morning, that we do have a source, and he's right, and he and he's right here and he's with us, and he's power, not powerful, is not even big enough word.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean he is God, he is life himself, he is eternal.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: And you have that source.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times when when I run into trouble in this life, I I love, love, the awareness of this, is that very quickly I can remember and turn to and acknowledge and draw from this source of life.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: When you run into something that steals peace from you, thank God we've got a source of peace.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: You lose your joy, it's only temporary because we have a source that will flow like a fountain or a well spring that will just keep on on flowing and never never run dry.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: I see the camera, so I gotta slow my movements down right here.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: They have the hardest time getting a good picture of me because I'm so animated and rubber-faced.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: Let me pause just for a second.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Another verse of scripture as we get into this, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 says, now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: We're most of us are familiar with that, talking about this great big power.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: I want to I want to give the definitions of some words that are that are in this one verse right here.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: That word exceeding.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Now unto him who is able to do exceeding or exceedingly, some of your Bibles will say.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: That's the Greek word hooper, H-U-P-E-R, and it's it's our word for either hyper or super.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: But it's big.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Now unto him who's able to do super abundantly, and the word abundantly is perisos, which simply means excessive.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: It's just, it's too much.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: You can't even quantify it, really, if you look at it.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: Super excessive.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: And that's where I like to hear people talk about this when they talk about the abundance of God's grace, because because I don't know if you're you've heard it out there in recent years, but but I'll run into people and they're all scared of this thing called hypergrace.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Too much grace.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Just just think about that.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Hyper grace.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: And they have their you know their definitions and their reasons that they express.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: And almost like it's not a biblical thing, but we see it's very biblical, right?
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a super abundance, it's too much, it's excessive.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: See, and that's why people are they use this term hyper grace, and they're scared of you receiving too much grace from God or relying too much on the grace of God because they they they're scared of excess.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: But I but every one of us knows if we just look at this that if God is supplying a superabundance of grace, it's not going to produce an excess of demonic activity in our lives.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: It'll do the opposite, right?
11:29
SPEAKER_00: How many of you ever had too much grace of God in your life?
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Never.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: And then there's that other word where he says, exceedingly, exceeding abundantly above, and that word above is the word hooper again.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, Paul's writing this, and he's he's like, he said, it's super, it's excessive, super, excessively super.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: It's big.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: According to the power, that's the word dunamis or dunamis, which means dynamic miracle, power, or referring to the miracle itself that manifests.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: According to the power, according to the miracle, according to the miracle power that works in us, in us.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: The word works is the word energy, inner geo, which means it's it's an active word, it's actively working.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: So I want to say it this way.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Right now, where you're at, we have a source of life, and it is a miracle in here, and it's working actively right now, right this moment, it's working in you right now.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: You got some trouble going on, you got some pain in your heart, you've got something that's just been there all the time in your life, and it kind of colors the things that you do and you think, and and you're and you just can't seem to shake it and all that.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: I've got good news is that there is a miracle that's working.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Something is happening in you.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: You're not done, you're on a great walk with God.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: He's got lots of grace for all for all of our weaknesses.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we were singing about all this stuff today.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: I love God, don't you?
13:06
SPEAKER_00: I love what the gospel reveals about him.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: But we have this source.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: In all these things, you remember that you always have this source of life, and this source of life is not sitting there.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: And it's not even necessarily, you know, something where you have to figure out how do I light the fuse to get this thing started.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: It's someone, something, someone in you, working in you, loving in you, caring about you, knowing you, being ever patient with you and I.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: But he's but he's all powerful.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: He's the source of life itself.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to I want to focus on that, but talk about what is this thing we call life.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I came that you would have life.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come to condemn the world.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: I came that you'd have life.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: To a lot of people who are walking around on the earth and they're they're they're breathing and marrying and eating and doing all these things, but he says, But I came to give you something you don't have.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: I came to give you life, I came to give you a source.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: He looked at them at one point and he said, They're like sheep with no shepherd.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: He came to give us something big.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: He came to give us something that maybe we didn't even know what it was before.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: We made something we weren't aware of, something we could not have imagined because he was able to do more than we could ask or think.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Super excessively beyond what we could ask or think.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: As a side note, that's one reason I've noticed over the years, I'm okay with not being too specific in my prayers.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: Because if I can think it, I'm probably limiting God in some way, right?
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Don't you like that idea that he can do more than you could ask or think?
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Super excessively beyond.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Why?
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Because this life is so big.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: I want to read a uh a passage of scripture, and it's a little bit long, but it you'll you'll you'll you'll love it.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, it's powerful.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: And this is from that same uh passage there in Ephesians chapter 3, and I want to read it beginning in verse 16 from this particular uh translation, the Passion.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: It says, and I pray that God would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, pause just for a second because when I see that that term about the riches of glory, my God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: In other words, according to that source, that life source, is that he's given us, as the Bible says, all things that pertain to life and godliness, right?
15:48
SPEAKER_00: It's all right here.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: It's all right here.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And the more that we're aware of him, aware of his sufficient grace working in our lives, and by that I mean him, his, his, his, his, his, his source of power for us, his source of life.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: He says, until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power, then by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of his life.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: No matter what I talk about when I'm talking to people about God, it comes down to this all the time, doesn't it?
16:29
SPEAKER_00: That knowing the goodness, the grace, the love of God is the key to knowing him.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And as this says, resting, becoming him becoming the resting place of your soul.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: And it becomes the root or the source of your life.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: And being aware of it lets you know that you're never alone, that you're never without help, and not just some help, but you're you're not you're not without super excessive help.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: Him who's able to do more than you could ask or think.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: There is a source.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, Well, how come certain prayers don't get answered and all this?
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Because this is not a machine that we make things happen.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: This is God with us.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: This is God loving us, God walking with us.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: This is a relationship for real.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: It really is, isn't it?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And so there is somebody with us, in us, a part of us, caring for you, loving you, knowing you.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: And in so many of these things, what we learn as we walk with God is we learn great peace, great confidence, great joy as we try to navigate a world that's got so much ugliness and so much pitfalls sometimes.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: So many pitfalls.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: But we find ourselves, as we're receiving this abundance of grace, we find ourselves navigating it so much more gracefully, don't we?
17:54
SPEAKER_00: That's called growth.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: He says, then you will then you will be empowered to discover what every Holy One experiences, the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all of its dimensions.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love, how enduring and inclusive it really is.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: This extravagant love pours into you until you're filled to overflowing with the fullness of God.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: I wrote a book many years ago called Fullness because I started to drink of this water.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: I had carried it in me a long time, but I was distracted by other things.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And then it was like one day I woke up and it's like everything I need is right there, and I partook.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I just let it be, let it be real, let it let it flow.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: And I had this sense that for the first time in my life, my heart felt full.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And it had no more lust for anything else, and I was good, and I was, I was, I was good with me.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: As imperfect as I am, but I knew that I was right in the place I needed to be.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I was right there with God, in God, and He was with me, and He was everything that I would never, ever need, and there is no other, and I would not be searching for something like that ever again.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I would not have to look to anything else to try to complete me.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Because knowing the love of God fills you with the fullness of God.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: And everybody's trying to get home.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants that fullness.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: Humanity carries shame.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Humanity carries so much pain, don't they?
19:49
SPEAKER_00: We've all experienced very much of it.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: There's so much of it.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: But there's a source of fullness.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: Never doubt, it says, never doubt God's mighty power to work in you and accomplish all of this.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and he will exceed your wildest imagination.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: God will outdo them all because his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, I was thinking when we were singing one of the songs, and as Lauren was just sharing, talking about healing and the source of that healing, that it's not in, it wasn't in her, it's not in ourselves, but there is a source.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we can just put ourselves out of the way because it's not about any of that.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: It's about our source, isn't it?
20:43
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking how we all have this, we all have our story.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: And really, it's a story of death being swallowed up by life.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Something that was hard, horrible, ugly, painful, something.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: And in all that, and just about everybody I've ever talked to says that they've been in situations where it just didn't look like it could get any better at that time.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: But how do we get from there to where we are?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Something bigger than us.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: We've got a source of life.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: We're not alone.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: And this source of life is so big, and when you look at it, it's the it's it's it's eternal life, it's resurrection life, it's the life that Jesus carried in in a mortal body, a body that could die.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: But talked about being raised on the third day because, not because the body was so strong, it was weak, just like mine and yours.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: But there was life in it.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Resurrection life was in that.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: And that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is our source today.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: He could rely on That because he knew he wasn't without a source.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: He says, in fact, uh, when he's about to be crucified, he said, You're all gonna leave me.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: But I won't be alone.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: I've got my father, I've got my life, I've got my source.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And the the this thing is so powerful that all of these manifestations and experiences of death that we have.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: And when I talk about death, I'm not talking about just the body physically dying, the heart stops and the lungs quit breathing.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about, you know what it feels like.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: That's one manifestation.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's fear, it's pain, it's anger, it's this feeling of hopelessness, it's loss.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: You know it when you're when you're when you're experiencing it.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: There's a stench of death about it.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: It makes you want to cry out, it makes you makes you feel like you need more.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: It makes you wish you had an answer because you're buried.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: You feel like you're lost in it at times.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Will God ever come through?
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes your brain will say, Is there really even a God?
23:08
SPEAKER_00: This life is so powerful that in the resurrection of Christ, of Jesus, death got swallowed up by life.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's what has happened and is happening in your life and in mine.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: That all of that death is being swallowed up by life.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: Right now, there's a miracle actively working.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Be of good cheer, Jesus says.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: I have overcome that.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: See, this life causes the horrible to become beautiful.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: How many people over all the years I've been a Christian?
23:52
SPEAKER_00: I still become more surprised in a way that's what I think the percentage of people that have experienced such horrible and many times damaging things in their life and often in the earlier parts of their life, that color the things that they do and make have effects upon their upon their life and on their mind.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: And how many of those stories were people have experienced things?
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Let's say, for instance, in childhood, something that wasn't even their fault, something that they don't that they didn't ask for, didn't deserve.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: But it was there anyway.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: And it seemed like God just watched.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: And why?
24:43
SPEAKER_00: But he gave us a source, see.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: So that the one who's experienced something like that has a source of life, and the story like that becomes so beautiful.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Right?
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know what I'm talking about?
24:56
SPEAKER_00: I do.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I know what I'm talking about.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: I know how such pain and shame becomes this beautiful, beautiful story of life because not because you or I were strong enough to get out of that, but because we had a source that was bigger than that, and that death was swallowed up by the life that was given to us, and Jesus said, That's why I came to give you that life.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Be of good cheer.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Of course you're gonna be fine, you're gonna live forever.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Of course you're gonna, it's gonna get better inside you.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Of course you're gonna have more peace and more joy.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: This thing is the miracle working in you.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Either you've had that story and you talk about it, or maybe you're still, maybe you're still in pain from it.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it still sits there and it and it comes up every once in a while.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, that's okay.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: There's a miracle working, there's a story being written.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Death is being swallowed up of life.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful church, glorious church.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: And this is what our brand is is that Jesus came to give life.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: And what we what we declare, what we experience, what we know is that life has been imparted to us, and that life is powerful, and it has swallowed and is swallowing up all death.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Right now, while we're right here in this house today, something is actively working inside of you, and it's eternal life, resurrection life.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: And this is the answer for every single person, no matter what they believe, no matter what political stripe they are, no matter what their background is, what they've experienced in life.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: This life that we're talking about this morning is the one and only power and answer for every person.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Quickly, I want to give you a couple of biblical examples of the of what it's about.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: A Samaritan woman at the well.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is asking asking Jesus a question.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: I see you're a prophet.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can answer this question.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: We Samaritans say we worship over here, the Jews say we worship over there.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: Which one is right?
27:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, we know what Jesus did.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: He didn't validate either one of them.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: He said, It's not about either one of those.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Not about this mountain or in that town.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, because the hour is coming now is where the true worshipers, we're talking relational, the true worshipers will worship him in spirit and in truth.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: It won't be about any of those two things.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: And see, what he was offering her was truth and living water there.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And what he did, in other words, he says, listen, if I say it's Jerusalem, big deal.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: They're still experiencing death there.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: If I say it's Mount Gerizim, you guys are still experiencing death there.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: There is something bigger than this.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: I came to give something bigger than the correct place to worship.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: I came to do something bigger than to let people know that you're right or let them know that they were right.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Because whether you worship in Jerusalem or in Mount Gerizim, you both need the same thing.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm offering, this is good for the Jew and for the Samaritan.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: It's the same.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: It's the one answer.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love this.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: It's perfect, it's big, it's beautiful.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was teaching one time about the Holy Spirit.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And while he's teaching this beautiful message, this brother, he's not even really listening because he's got something else on his mind.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: He stands up, he says, Jesus, rabbi, master, he says, make my brother give me part of my our inheritance.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like a good request when I'm reading that.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking, yeah, Jesus, that's he's holding back, won't give it, won't share it with his brother.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus doesn't settle that issue again.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: He makes it about life.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: He says, he he takes it away from that and he says, beware of the covetousness of money.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: And he tells a story about somebody, you know, stockpiled all of his money and says, now I've I'm I'm I'm in good shape.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: And then he loses it all the next day because he dies.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: And he says, That's not what life is.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Don't make it about things.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: There again, he says, I come to give you a source.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come just to bring you fairness in man's eyes.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come just to bring you money.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come just to bring you any of these things.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: I came to give you life.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: I came to give you a source that'll win everything.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: I came to give you a source that will swallow up all the death because I can get you, make your brother give you some money, and you're still gonna have death.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
29:16
SPEAKER_00: You're still gonna be lost.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: But I came to give you something and you'll never be lost again, you'll never thirst again.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: This is a source that'll never run dry.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing anything?
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus, are you gonna do anything about the Romans?
29:30
SPEAKER_00: So what if I do do something about the Romans?
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Let's say we overthrow the Romans.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: You're still in death.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: So what if I choose the choose the choose the Jews over the Romans?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: What if I chose the Romans over the either way, you're still in death.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: What I'm offering is the answer for everybody.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: It's what Jesus came to give was the answer for the Jews and the Romans.
29:54
unknown: Woo!
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
29:56
SPEAKER_00: It's your answer today.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: That's why our brand is not about fighting for the Romans or the Jews, or for Mount Gerizim or Mount or Jerusalem.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Our brand, branding, is life.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: The one answer, the power.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: And that's why, that's why.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: I want to go, I want to give this example.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: So a friend of Judy and a friend of ours who who happens to be a black lady, and she's a minister and powerful, has a powerful word in her mouth.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: We're just talking as friends, and we're saying, what about this stuff that's going on in the culture and the world and all this?
30:37
SPEAKER_00: And and the, you know, there's there's there's the signs of black lives matter, and there's all lives matter, and which side, you know, and you know, you got what do you say about all that?
30:46
SPEAKER_00: In essence, it came down to this.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Because of how I look, the color of my skin, I have experienced abuse.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: I have experienced the things that that are being mentioned that people say is real.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: However, I can't let that pull me over to where that becomes my thing because I get consumed with what's out there and it's death.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Even though there's there's there's truth and there's right in that, it's still death.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: And I have to stay right here where there's life.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Because what we have is still is the answer for that which has been oppressed, and it's the same answer for that which is the oppressor.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: You see, I had a friend that used to always say the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Because that's our source.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: So what if we win this cultural battle and and lose that and and and win that cultural battle?
31:59
SPEAKER_00: Great, fine day, it's okay, but but there's still death all around.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: It's still death on all the sides, it's still human.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's not forget our source.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: That there's a source that swallows up all of that death.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I got a picture.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh Revelation chapter 22.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: There's a picture of this.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: Now you remember in Genesis there was a garden, right?
32:25
SPEAKER_00: And there were many trees, but there were two trees in the midst of that garden.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: We know about those trees, right?
32:33
SPEAKER_00: One tree was a tree of life.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: Partake of it, and you receive life.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: The other tree produced what?
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Death.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: And that's been the issue.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: That's been the issue.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Is that is that all of these other things, and remember, and that tree looks good.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: That's the problem with it.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: It just looks good.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Eve said so.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: It looks right.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a way that seems right, but the end of it is death.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: But we've got a source of life.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: And we go to the end of the book, Revelation chapter 22.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 says, That the angel showed me the river of the water of life.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: There's your source right there.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: How many old enough to remember an old song that said, I'll be merciful, I won't sing it, but I will quote it.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: There is a river that flows from God above.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: There is a river that flow that's filled with his great love.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, come to the water.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: There is a vast supply.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: There is a river that never will run dry.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Got good news for you.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: You're always gonna have water.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: You're always gonna have life.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: You're always gonna have source.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: It's signed, it's sealed, it's it's it's forever.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: It's you, it's a part of you.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: And if you were to lay this physical body down, it that source will be the exact source after that as it is right now before that.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: Just knowing it brings joy.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: He showed me the river of the water of life, flowing with water clear as crystal, continuously pouring out from the throne of God and from the Lamb, continuously, continuously.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: The river was flowing in the middle of the street of the city.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you that Isaiah says, They will call you the city.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Zion, the city of the living God, the dwelling place of God Himself.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: There's a river flowing in the middle of you.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: And on either side of the river was a tree of life, not those two trees that we see in Genesis, but on both sides, a tree of life.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Whatever, there's death on both sides.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the book, we see life on both sides.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Why?
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Because I know something for a fact.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Death is swallowed up by life.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're getting happier.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're getting better.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're having more peace, while you're having more joy, more clarity.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: There's a power.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: A super excessive, super miracle power working right now inside of you.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: The river is flowing.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: We don't do something to get the river flow.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: We couldn't if there was a way to do it.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: We're not.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: He gave it.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: On either side of the river was a tree of life with its 12 kinds of ripe fruit according to each month of the year.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was always bearing fruit.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: What if it's winter time?
36:03
SPEAKER_00: There's still fruit.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: There's still love.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: There's still peace.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: There's still joy.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: We've got a source.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Father, I'm trying to love, I'm trying to forgive.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: Remember your source and drink.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: You have it.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: God give me peace.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: You've got it.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Drink.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: I need some joy in my life.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: You've got it.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: Drink.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: There's a river.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: You'll have it today.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: You'll have it next week.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: These are those pretty leaves on me and you, the branches.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Why are we the healers in that sense of the nations?
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Because we got the source.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: We've got the source.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: We're aware of it.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: And when you're aware of this, this becomes your brand.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: This is all you want to do, is you want to tell people, show people that source.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: That's why we know it's not a religion.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: Our brand is not about morality.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Our brand is in him with life.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: And that life is the light of men.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: Is there any hope for our world?
37:37
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Look at the source here.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: There's a river.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I got a Ezekiel saw the same thing.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: He saw the river and he saw the trees on both sides.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: But he went a step further and he said, And that river didn't stop flowing, and it went to that which was dead.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: It went to the Dead Sea.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: And when the waters of that river touched the Dead Sea, what happened?
38:04
SPEAKER_00: It became alive because death is swallowed up of life.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's happening, and it will continue to happen.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: Is there hope for our world?
38:14
SPEAKER_00: There's more than that.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: There is super excessive, super miracle power working in this world right now.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: It's right in here.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: So what do we say to these things?
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Come, says the Holy Spirit and the bride and divine duet.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: Let everybody who hears this duet join them in saying, Come.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Let everybody gripped with spiritual thirst say, Come.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: And let everyone who craves the gift of living water, please, just let them come and drink it freely.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: With no boundaries of moralizing that disqualify anybody.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: Would you all stand up?
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Please.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: But all we want to do is tell those that are thirsty, come to the water.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: Come to the water.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: It's your miracle.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: Come.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: Come and drink.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: If you're thirsty, if your heart has never been full, come and drink.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: I recommend it.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: Let everyone that craves the gift of living water come and drink it freely.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: Come.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: How many of you feel yourself drinking right now?
39:40
SPEAKER_00: It's just right there, isn't it?
39:42
SPEAKER_00: It's your source.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: He's good.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: He became your life's source.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: The source is with you.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: Father.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: More than we could ask or think.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: I pray, show us more.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: Just show it to us.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Like Hagar when there was that water right there, but she almost died of thirst because she didn't even see it was there.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: You just opened her eyes and she saw.
40:23
SPEAKER_00: And let us walk in the power, the reality, and the awareness of resurrection in ever-increasing measure.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: We give you praise in Jesus' wonderful, life giving name.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Can y'all say amen?
40:38
SPEAKER_00: I love you, Grace Church.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful day.