But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14)
As humans we dream of an endless supply of anything. Not a temporary thirst quencher, but a permanent alleviation of thirst. And what if God had created within our body the capacity to recycle our water? What if we would never have to head to the refrigerator to get a glass of water? Or what if we would never enter a building and have to inquire about the location of the water fountain? And God could have done that. He did it for the earth with the installation of a system of condensation and precipitation. There is not one drop of water in this world more or less than when it first begun.
And this woman came, yes for water, and yes with some problems. But Jesus wisely dives passed the surface and symptoms. The core issue was neither her marriage nor her need to come to this well, but the teaching that she had been exposed to left some ambiguity, some confusion. The well was deep, but the pots that carried the well water were finite, limited, shallow.
Make no mistake about it; God is please to use people as teachers. But every human teacher can only go so far. His capacity is only so much. By the Samaritan teachers, this woman had been helped but she was not whole; she learned something but not everything. She did not know whether the abode of God was in Jerusalem or Gerizim? Was God in the temple or the mountain? Are the Jews God's people or the Samaritans? Is the truth here or is it there. Her problem was that she had some water pots. Yet Jesus tells her of an indwelling source. He tells her of an endless supply. He tells her of a well of springing water. No more toting the buckets and no more drawing the water out of the hole.
And there is a teacher that is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. As John put it else where, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you...” (1Jn 2:27). If one is indwelled with spiritual water, he too will leave his water pots... They are antiquated, obsolete, and unnecessary... Again John says, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things (1Jn 2:20). One hymn writer caught the essence of this inexhaustible spring:
Holy Ghost, with light divine,
Shine upon this heart of mine;
Chase the shade of night away,
Turn my darkness into day.
Let me see my Savior’s face,
Let me all His beauties trace;
Show those glorious truths to me
Which are only known to Thee.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. What an anointing! And there are a lot of people who are preaching with no anointing. Yet you cannot speak for God without the Spirit being poured out upon you. You may speak, but it won’t be for God. You may speak but it is not authorize by God. God will never endorse anyone who the Spirit is not upon. Yet so many today claim to act in a manner pleasing unto God, yet they do not bear the identifying marks of His Spirit. And speech without the Spirit is no good, ungodly, and unproductive in kingdom business. One cannot do anything when the Spirit is not upon him.
So preacher how do you know that you have the anointing of the Holy Spirit? You know because the Gospel will be preached to the poor. Not the poor because they lack money, but the poor because they have no answer to their core issues in the treasure chest of men.
There was a woman with an issue of blood. She had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. She had exhausted the treasury of men. There was a woman at the well who had married five men and was now with one that was not her's she had exhausted the treasury of men.
And I’ve been there, where I was disappointed by everyone who had promised me anything, where my situation would exhaust the strength of my strongest advocate, where my help was beyond anything that men would do or could for me. But God had appointed and anointed a man, poured His Spirit upon that man. And by and with the power of God, that man preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to my impoverished condition. And that is what Spirit-empower anointed preaching does… it heals the broken-hearted… it gives liberty to the bruised… it speaks to your core issue… It speaks to whatever is holding you captive… It speaks to whatever is blocking you from God’s reward… It speaks to whatever has broken your heart… How does it speak…? It proclaims the acceptable day of the Lord. Can’t you hear the hammer ring - at Calvary… can’t you hear the hammer ring…? It rang because sin broke my heart… it rang because sin held me captive… it rang because sin bruised my life…
Calvary is the answer to whatever is ailing you. At the top of Moriah Abraham found the Gospel of a Substitute. At the Exodus from Egypt Moses preached the Gospel of the Lamb’s blood. At the destruction of Jericho Rahab heard the Gospel of the scarlet cord in the window seal. When the Spirit of the Lord is upon man… He’ll preach Christ heals the broken hearted…… He’ll preach Christ delivers the captives… He’ll preach Christ recovers sight to the blind… He’ll preach Christ sets at liberty them that are bruised… Jesus is all the world to me… my life, my joy, my all.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. What an anointing! And there are a lot of people who are preaching with no anointing. Yet you cannot speak for God without the Spirit being poured out upon you. You may speak, but it won’t be for God. You may speak but it is not authorize by God. God will never endorse anyone who the Spirit is not upon. Yet so many today claim to act in a manner pleasing unto God, yet they do not bear the identifying marks of His Spirit. And speech without the Spirit is no good, ungodly, and unproductive in kingdom business. One cannot do anything when the Spirit is not upon him.
So preacher how do you know that you have the anointing of the Holy Spirit? You know because the Gospel will be preached to the poor. Not the poor because they lack money, but the poor because they have no answer to their core issues in the treasure chest of men.
There was a woman with an issue of blood. She had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. She had exhausted the treasury of men. There was a woman at the well who had married five men and was now with one that was not her's she had exhausted the treasury of men.
And I’ve been there, where I was disappointed by everyone who had promised me anything, where my situation would exhaust the strength of my strongest advocate, where my help was beyond anything that men would do or could for me. But God had appointed and anointed a man, poured His Spirit upon that man. And by and with the power of God, that man preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to my impoverished condition. And that is what Spirit-empower anointed preaching does… it heals the broken-hearted… it gives liberty to the bruised… it speaks to your core issue… It speaks to whatever is holding you captive… It speaks to whatever is blocking you from God’s reward… It speaks to whatever has broken your heart… How does it speak…? It proclaims the acceptable day of the Lord. Can’t you hear the hammer ring - at Calvary… can’t you hear the hammer ring…? It rang because sin broke my heart… it rang because sin held me captive… it rang because sin bruised my life…
Calvary is the answer to whatever is ailing you. At the top of Moriah Abraham found the Gospel of a Substitute. At the Exodus from Egypt Moses preached the Gospel of the Lamb’s blood. At the destruction of Jericho Rahab heard the Gospel of the scarlet cord in the window seal. When the Spirit of the Lord is upon man… He’ll preach Christ heals the broken hearted…… He’ll preach Christ delivers the captives… He’ll preach Christ recovers sight to the blind… He’ll preach Christ sets at liberty them that are bruised… Jesus is all the world to me… my life, my joy, my all.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Miracle of Twilight
And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? (2 Kings 7:3)
Why sit we here until we die? Before this question was uttered, these fellows were in a hopeless situation. They are leprous men, at the gate of a famished city, surrounded by a conquering army. In other words, there was death in the city, death surrounding them, and death within them. What ray of sunshine can penetrate the dark clouds of this dreary day? What glimmer of hope can be found in this midnight situation to prompt the question, "Why sit we here until we die?"
The asking of this question begs other questions. First, why the question? Then secondly, Why the question now? They had been sitting there, sick, dying, degenerating. And we have been there, sitting. We had heard message after message, invitation after invitation, and call after call. But we sat, sick, leprous, dying, decaying, degenerate, unable to respond, unable to see the point in responding. Paul says, That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. "Why the question?" and "Why the question now?"
Another way to put it is, "What can make a dead man seek life?" One may look at the text at a glance and consider these fellows simply applying prudential judgment; that is, they simply came up with a good idea. I may be inclined to such a view myself were it not for there being at least three miracles in the text. The miracle of revelation, the miracle of salvation, and the one we are most interested in at this point the miracle of regeneration.
Revelation: That the man of God had already spoken to the king and prophetically announcing the end of the famine on the morrow precludes the notion of co-incidence. Salvation: the empty Syrian camp that the four men are prompted to move to and therein find a great store of victuals is evidence that a divine way had been prepared. But what good are a promise and a provision without a prompting? And therein is the answer to our question, a third miracle, but yet the primary miracle, the miracle of regeneration. The same God that promised and provided prompted them to God's promised provision. Dead men don't move of themselves, by themselves, to save themselves. Dead men don't hear preaching. Preaching does not prepare a person for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prepares a person for preaching. Only the Holy Spirit regenerates and enables one to seek life. Preaching is not nor has it ever been for the dead, but for the living.
Why sit we here until we die? Before this question was uttered, these fellows were in a hopeless situation. They are leprous men, at the gate of a famished city, surrounded by a conquering army. In other words, there was death in the city, death surrounding them, and death within them. What ray of sunshine can penetrate the dark clouds of this dreary day? What glimmer of hope can be found in this midnight situation to prompt the question, "Why sit we here until we die?"
The asking of this question begs other questions. First, why the question? Then secondly, Why the question now? They had been sitting there, sick, dying, degenerating. And we have been there, sitting. We had heard message after message, invitation after invitation, and call after call. But we sat, sick, leprous, dying, decaying, degenerate, unable to respond, unable to see the point in responding. Paul says, That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. "Why the question?" and "Why the question now?"
Another way to put it is, "What can make a dead man seek life?" One may look at the text at a glance and consider these fellows simply applying prudential judgment; that is, they simply came up with a good idea. I may be inclined to such a view myself were it not for there being at least three miracles in the text. The miracle of revelation, the miracle of salvation, and the one we are most interested in at this point the miracle of regeneration.
Revelation: That the man of God had already spoken to the king and prophetically announcing the end of the famine on the morrow precludes the notion of co-incidence. Salvation: the empty Syrian camp that the four men are prompted to move to and therein find a great store of victuals is evidence that a divine way had been prepared. But what good are a promise and a provision without a prompting? And therein is the answer to our question, a third miracle, but yet the primary miracle, the miracle of regeneration. The same God that promised and provided prompted them to God's promised provision. Dead men don't move of themselves, by themselves, to save themselves. Dead men don't hear preaching. Preaching does not prepare a person for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prepares a person for preaching. Only the Holy Spirit regenerates and enables one to seek life. Preaching is not nor has it ever been for the dead, but for the living.
Like these men we all sat there until foreknowledge sent predestination and predestination sent calling. We sat there until God blew again the breath of life in us. We sat there until we slid through the womb of a new birth. We sat until an east wind blew and the red sea parted. We sat there until degeneration gave way to regeneration and we could no longer hold our peace. Like these leprous men, we cried out "Why sit we here until we die? It doesn't make sense anymore as it once did when we saw no way to affect our salvation. But we can now see a glimmer of hope, the miracle of twilight in the night. No longer can we sit and die: got to get up now and seek life. Because life came in us and life began to live. Life began to seek life more abundantly. Paul exclaims, Even when we were dead in sins, [the Spirit] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)
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