Strike, Speak, Sing - The Three Holy Spirit Streams

Let's pray, Dear Heavenly Father as we open the Bible today. Sometimes hard

to discern the Holy Spirit in the scriptures because we read write over him,

assuming that he doesn't exist, sometimes in the minds of some, assuming he's

an impersonal presence that's not alive in the minds of others. The Lord in

the heart where we need you the most. Thank you that Jesus taught that

he's living water. He's alive. He's the God deep within that we all

need. So help us to learn and grow in the scriptures today and share

Jesus and be found in Him and his name Amen. The title of the

message this morning Strike speaks seeing the three Holy Spirit streams and Psalm seventy eight

to two. The Bible tells us that in the Exodus story and the Exo

is real history, but this verse tells us that the history of Israel is

a parable meant for us to understand in later generations. God has given us

the sacred accounts of his people so that we can track the history of his

people. And in tracking the history of his people, we can learn the

lessons of Israel and not repeat their mistakes, and we can gain the victory

that we need to make it to the Promised Land. How many of you

want to make it to the Promised Land for real? Look, Jesus is

coming. It may very well be in our generation. We need to be

about doing godly things, sharing the Word of God, and living right.

We can learn from the past. Symbolic truths are embedded in the Exodus story,

according to the singer. And I said symbolic truths because the word parable

makes us think of symbolism automatically. Look at Psalms seventy eighty two. Just

take your bibles, open them. Of course I have it on the screen,

but it says, here's Asaf the singer. The songwriter saying, I

will open my mouth in a parable. Do you see that I will utter

dark sayings of old? And then he begins to talk about the Exodus story,

how they rebelled against God they didn't, and where they were successful,

where they were not. And he's saying that what happened to them is a

symbolic parable of what can happen to you and me and in the future of

the church. The word translated parable in Hebrew is the word MacHall, and

it also means a proverb. It's the word used for proverbs a MacHall.

The Greek Old Testament Subtuagint translated second century BC translate this word michelle as the

word parabolae, from which we get our word parable. So that's why it

kind of comes out that way. It's what it means here. When Jesus

came to earth, he taught his disciples, and what you know the answer

to this, he taught them in parables. Many people soon today that he

taught them in parables to make things clear. How many of you thought,

well, he taught the parables so people would get it. Do you ever

think that? Raise your hand? Well, The fact is he didn't.

He taught imparables to hide the meaning of what he wanted to teach, so

that those who dug those who listened well, would perceive the deep truths of

the King of God. He taught them in parable so that the hidden truths,

that the mysteries of the kingdom would not be just given out to everybody,

but they would be understood by the person who carefully studies the Bible and

praise Look eight, nine and ten. Here's jesus explanation. Then his disciples

asked him saying, what does this parable mean? And he said to you,

it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

But to the rest it is given in parables that seeing they may not see,

and hearing they may not understand. So don't think for a minute that

a parable was given so you could have a simple, easy understanding. A

parable was given to make us pray and think about the deep things of God.

Christ is telling us his kingdom parables represent symbolic, embedded, hidden truths

that are for Kingdom Christians to understand who have a relationship with God. The

crowds will always misunderstand jesus symbolic teaching and fight against it. You know,

if you want group religion, if you want majority by vote religion, you

want a religion that will ultimately be deceived and not understand the things of God.

Christ is saying, Look, it's for you, who dig, who

pray, who stay with me, to understand these things. John six,

Jesus' critics refuse to believe that Jesus blood and Jesus flood his flesh are drink

and food because they literalized his words. He said, my words are spirit

they're spiritual you're not getting it. So when Asaf tells us in Psalms that

he said seventy eight, excuse me. So when Asaf tells us in Psalms

seventy eight two that the lessons of the historical Exis are parables with meaning,

hidden things and mysteries, he's saying the same thing that Jesus did in his

parables. Now, let's fay there are deep spiritual truths in the Exodus narrative

that have a direct impact on our lives today. How many of you want

the shallow things of God or the deep things of God deep things? I

want the deep things of God, because the Holy Spirit goes deep. He

wants us to have a deep relationship with God. So we need the Holy

Spirit in our study of the Bible today. Paul draws from Psalms seventy eight,

And if you had to link two chapters in the Bible, you should

put Psalms seventy eight with First Corinthians ten. They are interacting. Paul is

drawing from Psalm seventy eight in some other places. So let's compare the two

passages together here Briefly, you can follow on the screen, or you should

have your Bible out in Psalm seventy eight, and have First Corinthians ten handy

all right, Verse twelve, Asap says, this marvelous things he did in

the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of

Zone, he divided the sea and casts and caused them to pass through.

He made the waters stand up like a heap in the daytime. Also he

led them with the cloud, and all night with a light of fire.

He split the rocks in the wilderness, and he gave them drink in abundance,

like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock uses the

word the rock. He caused waters to run down like rivers. And they

send even more against him by rebelling against him the most holy in the wilderness.

And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their

fancy and Psalms twenty eight, they rebelled against God. Now we can do

the same thing in our lives. We can rebel against God. We can

rebel against God's word, We can rebel against God's body. We can rebel

against God by violating our conscience. It says they rebelled against God, who

gave the manna No, I don't know about you. I've never seen bread

fall from heaven. But to have bread from heaven, that's supernatural. To

sustain you for forty years, you ought to have some faith. But in

the light of that, they still rebelled. They forgot that God was the

rock. They gave them water in the desert. That's what Acep is saying.

They go down to verse twenty three. Yet He had commanded the clouds

above and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to

eat, and given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels food.

He sent them food to the fool full. And then verse thirty two

a little further. In spite of this, they still sinned and did not

believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days he consumed in futility, and

their years in fear. And when He slew them, then they sought him,

and they returned and sought earnestly for God. Then they remember that God

was their rock. Now, if I were to ask you in verse thirty

five, who is the rock, what does it say? God was their

rock and the most High God their redeemer. So let's repeat it. Who

was the rock? That they brought water out of According to this verse,

God God was the rock that sustained them in the desert. Now this is

where Paul gets most of what he says in the first part of First Corinthians

ten. So turn your by to First Corinthians tent. Now let's read down

and compare. And by the way, there's real virtue in bringing your Bible

to church. Did you know that it's a great thing. I mean,

I have this little electronic Bible right here, my Cordance Bible software. Now

I like using a lot, but it's no substitute for a physical Bible.

I can highlight and mark in and have someone put their birthday in their baptismal

date, and to be my guide through life. You get it. So

bring your Bibles to church. No substitute for that. All right, look

at First Corinthians ten, verse one. Moreover, brethren, I do not

want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud. Now

what cloud was that? That was the pillar of fire and cloud that led

them out of Egypt. God was in the cloud. All passed through the

sea. What sea was that, I'm quizzing you, the red sea?

All were baptized in the Moses in the cloud and the sea. What event

was that when they went through the sea. But when you think of them

being baptized in the cloud, we scratch our head. Okay, all ate

the same spiritual food. That makes sense. They all drank the same spiritual

drink. All right. What was the spiritual food? You know what it

is? What was it? Mana? And what was the spiritual drink they

drank? It was the water from the rock. For they drank of that

spiritual rock that followed them. And what does it say that was? This

is loaded stuff in this passage. There's embedded information here that would challenge our

traditional way of thinking. Now we looked at Asaf in Psalm seventy eight thirty

five, and he says God was the rock. Remember that I asked you,

Now look at verse four. Who was the rock? According to verse

four Priss Corinthian's tent, that rock was Christ. Well, you don't have

to be Einstein to connect the dots here. Christ is God. You don't

have to be Einstein to connect the dots here, just simple comparison. The

rock that gave them water was God almighty. In Psalms of seventy eight.

The rock that gave them water was Jesus Christ. It means he's God.

Now it gets continued. Paul's careful to say that the man was spiritual food

and that the water was spiritual drink. Jesus affirmed the same thing when he

told the Jews that his words were spiritual regards to the bread that is his

body. The same as true of the water. The water represented the Holy

Spirit spiritual drink. So the bread represented Christ the manna, but the water

represented the Holy Spirit. Paul agrees with Asath that the rock that was opened

up in the wilderness was God himself Christ as God. But the God of

Psalms seventy eight thirty five, who is the rock that gave them water in

the wilderness is Jesus Christ. For Paul and one Corinthians ten four. And

we should never miss clear points like that is when the Bible cross connects in

this way. Paul says clearly that rock was Christ. Apesf says the rock

was God. Christ is God, the rock of our salvation. Friends.

I don't know about you, but I can't be saved by anyone less than

God. A creative being can't save me. An inferior creature can't save me.

Someone who is not God cannot reveal God. Christ must be God.

Notice the statement from the Spirit of Prophecy and Signs of the Times July twenty

three, eighteen ninety six. Prophecy was fulfilling all the events of the life

of Christ, from the Manger to the Cross. The conviction is forced upon

the unprejudiced student of the Bible that Jesus in human flesh is the only begotten

son of the Father. Notice, she says, Jesus in human flesh is

the only begotten son of the Father. He is that rock which was smitten

in the desert by the rod of Moses, and from which the streams of

pure water gushed forth. I'm reading out from Signs the Time August twenty nine,

nineteen hundred. Christ is the preexistent, self existent son of God.

Amazing language. In speaking of his preexistence, Christ carries the mind back through

dateless ages. He assures us that never was a time when he was not

in close fellowship with the eternal God. In other words, God has no

beginning. Christ has no beginning. He has always had fellowship with the eternal

God. She says, he to whose voice. The Jews were then listening,

had been with God as one brought up with him, and then Evangelism

Manuscript one one eighteen ninety seven also found in Evangelism six fifteen. He was

equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. He is the eternal, self existent

son. Yeah, that's why Jesus is the rock, because Jesus is God.

Paul agrees with Asaph and the Spirit of Prophecy that the rock who is

God was Jesus Christ. Now let's continue in One Corinthians ten five with the

practical lessons for the church that Paul brings out of the Exos story. Because

we're a land where we live. Look at verse five. But with most

of them, God was not pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the

wilderness for six. Now these things became our examples to the extent that we

should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, and do not become

idolaters as some of them. As it is written, the people set down

to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual

immorality as some of them did, and one day twenty three thousand fell.

Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by

serpents. Nor complain, as some of them also complain and were destroyed by

the destroyer. Now, verse eleven is like Psalms seventy eight two in that

there are lessons parables for us in the excess story. Notice verse eleven.

Now, now all these things happen to them as what's the next word in

your Bible or at least on the screen examples, And they were written for

our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Now, the

Greek word translate examples in verse six is tupas we get our word type or

typology from it. The Greek word translated here as examples in verse eleven is

tupicas. It's similar, it's a little more specific. It means a symbolic

type that is a warning to be heated. So types in general, and

types that are prophetic warnings. When God uses parables, we are to decode

them and to take their message to heart so that we can take the warning

and live right with God. How many of you want to live right with

God? For real? I'm in the camp. So it's more about me

listening to God than me telling others. If I'm really listening so Paul was

doing here in PRIs Corinthians ten, is he's showing you how that story in

the Exodus unpacks for us in our lives. We are to be careful in

deep students of the Bible, with an I to understand how God wants us

to live right now today, I could talk about the story of Coora,

Daith and the Biram. Now, the sons of Kora survived that ordeal where

the earth opened up and brought them down because they weren't with Dad. They

end up writing a number of the psalms that we have. God saved them.

I could talk about them who rebelled against God and the earth opened up

and so on. I could talk about those who died after they danced around

the Golden Calf and drank and played around with immorality. I could talk about

Miriam gossiping and murmuring about Moses's wife, and how Mariam was struck with leprosy

and the Lord Jesus spoke to her so straight that if I did it,

you'd think it was awful because Christ was the angel of the Lord back then.

Or about the fire of God that broke out and killed the complainers,

or those who went to sex party at beth Pear and were hung on a

tree leaders in Israel. There are plenty of lessons in the Exodus stories that

we should take to heart in the church, but this morning I want to

briefly focus on the lessons that points us to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit

much needed in our lives today. That's where I want to land. Is

that okay? Now? Paul says in one Corinthians ten four that the rock

that was opened up in the wilderness for water was Jesus Christ. And don't

spiritualize that a way to where it doesn't mean when it says the ancient Jews.

In fact, when they read the Excess story, they believe literally,

and they cite this and the Targets and other places that the rock physically moved

with Israel. It was not a stationary rock. It was not in the

side of a mountain. It was moving with them through the desert. And

Paul tells us in the same verse that the rock that moved through that desert

was Jesus Christ. Judaism did not make that connection. It was not a

stationary rock because Jesus moved through the desert as the good shepherd rock in the

cloud. No, what's that famous song we have about Christ, Rock of

ages. Clap for me and we sing that song. We think of Moses

hitting the rock. Right, We get the connection even in the music we

sing. So Paul says, the rock was a spiritual rock. In First

Corinthians, tent for because that's supernatural spiritual rock was the person of Jesus Christ,

as the spirit of Prophecy affirms in the Bible. Also, Christ took

the form of that flying stone so he could communicate that God is rock,

solid stuff with living water. For us, the manna is spiritual manna,

because Jesus is manna and Jesus's body is the bread of life. But this

is not the only thing spiritual. In First Corinthians ten, go to verse

four, and let's read it again. They all drink the same spiritual What

what does it say in your translation? There drink that's water. It wasn't

just ordinary water. It was supernatural, spiritual water. For they drank of

that spiritual rock. We already know that's Christ, he says. So that

follow them from that rock was Christ. So we're not just talking about a

spiritual rock. We're talking about a spiritual water. The rock was Christ and

it was spiritual. Paul is saying the water was spiritual. Also, the

water from the rock was the Holy Spirit, and the rock was Jesus Christ,

the rock who is God. So this morning I want to focus briefly

on the rock who is Jesus, and the water who is the Holy Spirit.

Now some people say, what's the language of the Holy Spirit. There's

so many symbols describe the Holy Spirit in the Bible. But the Bible.

Peter calls Christ a living stone. Come to him that living stone, because

he's alive. And Jesus the well told the woman that I will give you

living water because the Holy Spirit is alive. Peter says, of Jesus and

one Peter, two come to him, to that living stone, rejected by

men, but in God's sight chosen and precious. The word precious here implies

a gemstone that is highly valuable and greatly honored, not an ordinary rock you

find in the desert, not some cliff rock. Christ is represented the Bible

by the color of blue. If I were to ask you next week what

color represents Jesus, how many of you wearing blue today you have you have

some blue, raise your hand if you have blue on your clothing. I'm

wearing blue. I love blue. We have the top of that's blue.

This is blue because we love Jesus. Blue is the color of Christ.

I'll prove it to you in a second. Because the throne of God is

sapphire blue in the Bible, and Jesus is the center of the throne.

He's at the heart of it. The throne is a sapphire stone, blue,

true blue gemstone, precious to God Hebrews one eight. But to the

son, he says, Oh, Oh, God is forever and ever.

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. Friend. Jesus is

the source of the Holy Spirit, according to the Bible, and it flows

from the throne of God in Revelation twenty two to one. In other places,

because Jesus is in a sense the throne of God, all authoritying heaven

and earth has been given Christ. That's the language of the throne. Christ

is the authority of God. Christ is the Word of God. Christ spoke

the ten Commandments because He is the ten Commandments. He is the Great Yahweh

God. I am who I am, of which the law describes him in

character. And Christ died on the cross for our sins because Christ alone can

atone for our sins as God. And so we must never see Jesus less

than he is. And there's a reason why when Christ was in the tomb,

there was an angel toward his feet in the Greek, and an angel

tored his head in the Greek, and he was in the middle, because

that tomb became the ark of the Covenant and the Shikaina glory of Yahweh,

God Almighty was Jesus laying between the two. Cherub cannot separate Jesus from God's

eternal throne, even in death. He is God relations seven seventeen. For

the lamb, who is in the midst the center of the throne, will

shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. At the heart of

God's throne is Jesus, and that's where the water comes from. And God

will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Ezekiel won six. I think

I got that right, one sixteen. Actually I got the wrong verse here,

and Ezekiel ten to one. It's one twenty six. Can I look

it up? Think your Bibles and look it up. I don't want to

give you the wrong verse here. I used to have a great memory.

Mine's a little shallow. Now. You never had a bad memory. Do

you see sapphire versus that here? I'm just give me a second here,

Yeah, it's verse twenty six. I have a typo here and Ezekiel won

twenty six and Ezekiel ten to one. I'm sure of that. The prophet

of Ezekiel informs us that God's eternal throne is sapphire. God is standing on

a sapphire throne, as elder Dwight Nelson called it, true blue. Jesus

Christ is true blue, the blue stone throne of God, he said in

a sermon at Andrews University after the Ten Commandments weekend here in two thousand and

six. In Exodus twenty four, God called the seventy Israel up to the

mountain in the chapter to eat and drink. He given the ten commandments verbally.

And they were there, and there was over their head a blue sapphire

stone, transparent, and they ate and drank, and they couldn't see God

directly, but then they could see that He was there, and they had

fellowship with God on the mountain. It's an amazing pick in the Bible recorded

in Exous twenty four. Now it was transparent enough so they wouldn't have direct

sight and die, but they could see enough to know that God the Father

was there and that blue sapphire stone failed the glory of God. Moses tells

us plainly in Exus twenty four twelve in the Hebrew text that God gave Moses

the Ten Commandments from the stone, that God was standing on the blue sapphire

stone throne of God. He says, come up to me on the mountain,

and I'll give you luhote hot heaven tables of the stone. Now that's

an amazing statement. That means the ten commandments were taken from the blue sapphire

stone throne of God. And that's why every Jew had a blue tassel,

four of them at the four corners, to remember to keep all of the

commandments of God, because blue is the color of the moral of God,

the throne of God. The commandments came from there. And just like God

was standing on that blue sapphire stone throne at Mount Sinai when he gave the

law, his glory was over the ten commandments in the Ark of the Covenant,

which were sapphire stone. And thus the continuity blue represents the law.

I said, blue is the color of Christ. Friends, the law of

God came from the person of Jesus Christ on Mount Sinai. Christ spoke the

law at Sinai, because Jesus Christ is the living word of God. When

a man or woman tries, when a manor of woman tries to do away

with the ten commandment law of God, they're doing away of Christ. Now,

in Exodus seventeen, when water came out of the rock, according to

the text, God was in horror, which is Mount Sinai standing on the

rock. The stone, it's the same one. Here he is on that

blue sapphire stone, standing on it, just like in Exous twenty four.

And that's the rock that was struck in the desert. Paul says that rock

was Christ. The spiritual water that came from the spiritual rock represents the real

person of the Holy Spirit turned Isaiah forty four to three. The Bible says,

for I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on

dry ground. But what is the water in the flood represent? I will

pour my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring. I want

the water of the Holy Spirit of my life. I want the blessing of

the Holy Spirit of my life. I want my children to have it.

I want our children to have it. So when he opened up that rock,

it represented the Holy Spirit coming out. The blessing that comes from Jesus

Christ that is for us and our children is the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit blessing we are dry and thirsty for God

in life. Christ is the rock that followed them in the desert. There's

no difference between him and the throne, because he is the authority, the

word of God. In fact, in Zachariah three, just as a sideline

here when the Angel of the Lord, who was the pre existing Christ,

was there before Joshua, and Satan was there to use him. Christ is

the Angel of the Lord, says the Lord Rebuki o Satan, who has

chosen Joshua. And then it will say, behold, there's a stone standing

before Joshua with seven eyes, seven wells. Same word in Hebrew. But

you go to book Revelation, there's a lamb before the throne, and what

does he have? Seven eyes? The Rock of Ages is the lamb of

God. The stone the rock in the desert is is the pre existent Christ.

The seven eyes are the Holy Spirit. And so we have symbolism teaching

us something. The rock that appeared on Mount sign and Extos seventeen when Moses

struck the rock and spiritual came out for all the people to drink, is

the same rock he was staying on when he gave the law. It next

appeared at the door of the tent of meeting and number twenty when God told

Moses to take the rod that was before the Lord in the tent of meeting

and to not do anything with the rod, rather just talk to the rock

so water can come out of it for the people. Now, why would

you talk to a dead rock? But that makes any sense talk to the

rock. I mean, I wouldn't tell my child to talk to a dead

rock. Something is not alive. This rock has to be alive for him

to talk to it, or it's nonsense interaction. You don't talk to a

thing, you talk to a person. Paul says that rock was Christ.

Sister White says the rock that was opened up in the wilderness was Jesus Christ.

Moses struck the rock twice, once for himself and once for Aaron,

as if to say we brought the water from the rock, and God stopped

them both and says, I'm sorry, you're not going to the Promised land.

The lesson is lost. You don't strike the rock this time. You

talk to the rock. Preachers and teachers don't bring water out of the rock

when we talk to the rock. We can talk to the rock. But

Jesus is the one who gives us the water the Holy spirit. He opens

it up for us the third time in the desert. Most people think there's

only two times when water came out when Moses struck the rock at Mount Sinai,

the second time when he struck it when he should have talked to the

rock. But there's a third time, the third time in the desert,

when water came out of the rock that moved with Israel in the cloud was

in numbers twenty one, and we shouldn't ignore that chapter. It's right after

numbers twenty. In each case there is no water around. They needed supernatural

water because they were going to die without it. Friend, I'll say it

fourth rightly there's no water in this world. There's nothing to refresh our lives

in the culture around us. The nonsense of unbelief does nothing for the soul.

It takes a miracle from God in our lives for us to come to

Jesus, to receive his Holy Spirit, to be broken, and to repent

and be saved. That's what it takes. Left to ourselves, we will

wither in the desert without the blessing of the Holy Spirit. We need the

living water now. One way to refuse the Holy Spirit, and I'll be

very frank here. One way to refuse the Holy Spirit is to insult him

by denying that he even exists, by telling the Living Water he's not alive,

He's only an impersonal presence. He's alive. He's living water, just

like the living Stone. This morning, I want to briefly draw the lessons

from the three times the water flowed in the desert for the people. The

first time in Extas seventeen, Moses struck the rock for the water to flow

to save the people from their thirst. Ex's seventeen six. Behold, I

will stand before you there on the rock in horror, and you shall strike

the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink,

and Moses did so on the side of the elders of Israel the keeping and

Paul says that rock was Christ. The key word here in verse six is

strike. The rock was Jesus Christ, and this true story was a true

prophecy. As a parable predicting the future death of Jesus Christ on the cross,

Zachariah prophesied in Zacharia thirteen seven that God would strike the shepherd when Jesus

was arrested, they'd beat him to a pulp Luke twenty two, sixty three

and sixty four. Now the men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him,

and having blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him,

saying, Prophesy, who is the one who struck you? They hit

him so many times, we have no idea how about it hurt Isaiah fifty

two fourteen. Isaiah fifty three to two says, his appearance or mara was

marred beyond human semblance. He was bruised for our iniquities. When they beat

Jesus, you couldn't even recognize him as a human being anymore. Isaiah says

his face was demolished in the abuse that was leveled on Jesus. You couldn't

fix his face or teeth with a good plastic surgeon or dental surgery. They

trashed his human semblance before they cung him on the cross. Christ prophesied in

John seven that when he would die, living water would flow from his belly.

At that time, and John said that living water is the Holy Spirit.

Look at John seven thirty eight. Jesus said, he who believes in

me, as the scriptures said, out of his heart the Greek words coliip

belly will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the Holy

Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was

not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. In the Gospel of John,

the glory is the cross. They beat Jesus all the way to the

cross, But on the cross the last insult was when the Roman soldier took

his spear out and struck Jesus in the belly all the way to the heart.

Now don't forget that it went to the heart. And when the water

came out from God's heart, it was blood and water rock had been opened

up John nineteen thirty four and thirty five, and one of the soldiers pierced

the side of the spirit and immediately blood and water came out. And he

had seen this as testified. His testimony is true, and he knows that

He's telling us the truth, so that you might believe. Friends, if

the deep things of God don't make you want to know Jesus deeper, than

there's something wrong with us. God is showing us that the God who led

them in the Old Testament is the Christ who died for them on the cross.

The Holy Spirit stream. The keyword here is strike, strike the rock

so water can come out. Christ was stricken, He was smitten on the

cross, so we can receive the Holy Spirit in God's word. So if

you want the Holy Spirit, the cross of Christ is indispensable. You can't

get the God's Spirit without coming to the Cross. At the cross, we

see Jesus high and lifted up, the rock opened up. The second keyword

is speak, speak to the rock. Numbers twenty seven and eight. The

Lord spoke to Moe's saying, take the rod. You and your brother Aaron,

gather the congregation together. What does it say in your Bible. You're

looking at the same verse, I am, what does it say, speak

to the rock. You don't talk to a dead rock. Speak to the

rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water. Thus you shall

bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and

their animals. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck the rock twice,

destroyed the lesson that God intended. Friends, once you come to the

cross and you are broken and you're converted into heart, and that's where we

all need to go. There's no salvation unless we come to that cross and

we realize Jesus got it bad for me. He was beaten to pulp for

me, and the Holy Spirit comes from Him, not from me. Once

we do, then all you need to do after that is to talk to

the rock in prayer, and God will give you the Holy Spirit. In

those times in your life when it's rough and you can't put it together,

the Holy Spirit will flow. Jude, the brother of Jesus, told us

how to build our lives up in God so that it will not be torn

down by the devil Jude one verse twenty. But you, beloved, building

yourselves up on your most holy faith. What does it say next praying in

the Holy Spirit, We got to talk to the Rock. Christ is the

rock. We pray, we talk, we receive the river of the Spirit

in our lives. John was in the spirit on the Sabbath, the Lord's

Day in Revelation one ten, because he was praying to the Lord and Jesus

shows up as the answer to his prayer. They're on the island of Patmos,

and he gives him prophecy. But Jesus in prophecy, I mean,

if I read the book Revelation, the first thing I see is Jesus,

and so I know that Christ is in the prophecies of the Book of Revelation,

and I see Jesus in the book of Daniel in other places as well.

He shows up because he was praying. He was talking to the Rock.

So the first keyword is strike the rock, because it takes the cross

of Christ in our lives. To receive the Holy Spirit, we have to

be broken at the cross. But the second keyword is speak to the rock,

because when we talk to the Rock, who is Jesus, God will

give us the Holy Spirit in prayer. That's how we receive. It's so

we got to be praying Christians, we pray alone, we pray together.

And when you're praying for someone, you can't you can't hate them, you

have you love them. This is why prayer meeting is so hugely important.

It's not nearly attended as it ought to be, because when we come to

prayer meeting, we're receiving the Holy Spirit. And listen, christ isn't coming

for people who avoid prayer meeting. Now, some people can't get there.

I understand that, but if you're avoiding it in your life, you're avoiding

the Holy Spirit. Come to the rock. The third keyword is singing.

Singing to the rock all together, strike, speak and singing. Israel had

struggled with grumbling and bickering in the desert, and just before they got to

the Promised Land, they were thirsty again, and this time they had to

sing to the rock numbers twenty verse fifteen, and the slope of the brooks

that reaches to the dwelling of Ar and lies on the border of Moab.

From there they went to bear, and a bear in Hebrew means well to

the well. That's the rock, which is the well from which the Lord

said to Moses gathered the people together, and I'll give them water. So

they came to the rock. The rock was leading them. They came to

it again. Friends, we have to go back to Jesus Christ. We

have to come to him after we were converted in life. It's not enough

to get him once. We have to get him again and again. There

are times we will have to come and fall down at the cross and be

broken all over again, because the growth in Christ requires renewal. And so

they came after all those failures, after Moses had messed up. And this

time they're not striking or speaking to the rock. This time they're singing to

the rock. Look at verse seventeen. Then Israel sang the song spring up

a well. All of you sing to it. This is You don't sing

to something that's dead, you sing to God. This was Christ the well.

The leaders sank dug by the nation nobles, by the lawgiver with their

stabs, and from the wilderness they went to Matina. Now the Greek the

Hebrew word mattoni means gift. The well of living water was the gift.

And Jesus quotes this verse in John four when he tells them the woman the

well. If you knew the gift of God, and who was speaking to

you, he would have given you living water. See he's quoting this verse.

The rock in the desert on the way was a spiritual rock because that

rock was Jesus Christ. And the water was spiritual drink because the water was

the Holy Spirit. That's always with Christ Hesians five, eighteen twenty. You

not be drunk with wine. I've seen church members leave their relationship with God

because they socially drink. It's gonna be very flat out frank with you.

Bible says, not be drunk with wine and which is dissipation, but be

filled with the spirit. See, the spirit is the opposite of intoxication.

Speaking to one another in psalms. That's music and hymns and spiritual songs.

Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now, Parule,

praise God that you knew how to play that piano. How many of you

been blessed over the years by the sweet melody of Christian hymnity that Perule has

led right here through Christ. I'm glad you're supporting your mom, Prul.

It's indispensable for us to feel them, for the same was done with guitar

music today. It was precious. It says giving thanks always for all things

to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The kind

of music that brings the Holy Spirit into our lives. I'm gonna be very

frank with you. It's melody kind of music. According to Paul, did

you hear me? It's melody kind of music. It's not a violent kind

of boastful, erotic or angry musical form. Hi, I sweetheart, you

can run in front of me all you like. I'm glad you're in church.

It's not that. If the melody is lost in worship music, then

you lose the message, the emotional continuity. There needs to be rhythm and

beat, but melody and message, and it needs to match the message.

Or we got it wrong. Why because when we sing to the rock,

we're not singing to what we like. We're not singing to what ministers to

me. We're singing what ministers to Jesus into the Holy Spirit and to God

the Father. I love the child running the church. My little boy Donald

used to run up and down at slie Go. I remember ranging all the

way down that long church, all the way up to the platform. For

me, I didn't mind it a lick. I'm glad you're here, a

little girl. The Lord is insulted by music that is a den of noise.

Sister White calls that kind of thing, that kind of musical interaction was

just racket. Synagogue of Satan, Holy Spirit music respects the presence and the

person of God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy

Spirit. When we sing to the rock, we should not grieve the Holy

Spirit by singing sad, slow, moroseful music, raw coving. You know

we say that with Mourning Club. For me, are we singing so with

our founds? You know, look they were happy when they were singing,

So I'm not arguing for moroseful music, sweet, joyful hymnanity. Martin Luther

King Junior knew the difference. He said, the sacred art form of hymns

cannot be replaced by modern rock music. He was clear, it's a sacred

form. You can't substitute the two. The kind melody of kind music can

be joyful. There can be variation, but you can know the difference.

Why, because the true Holy Spirit comes. I don't think the Holy Spirit

comes when people throw chairs across the stage and they feel like they're filled with

the Holy Spirit. I've seen Christian rock groups do that. I don't think

they're doing and they're going back and forth and acting like they're a concert artist

and swagging their hips. Am I right? Is that humility? It is

not humility. It is an utter profanation to God, God's people to have

dignity and to sing in the spirit based on the instruction of the Word of

God. We've been given sound counsel and how to function musically in the church

in the spirit of prophecy, so we don't need to err in these things.

There is no honest passion. If there's no honest passion in the music,

it seems in number twenty one they're passionate. That's good. It's not

honest and passionate. It dishonors God. So that needs to be there.

But it's not to be a din of din of noise. That's the difference.

Sometimes young people have come to me and say, pastor Mike, how

can we know the difference. Every generation has to struggle with this question.

They have to look at it because every generation is a right to produce music.

I'm a songwriter. I've written music but you know what, we have

to get it right. And sometimes music we might use in other places doesn't

work here. But angry musical forms and rock music intrinsically is an angry musical

form, and the modern rock movement. I mean, if you ask Paul

McCartney what the beat is to the rock music that he wrote, he says,

it's very simple. It's per sex. He says that, now,

why do we have to ignore the people who know in the church we are

to use the kind of music that brings glory to God and does not profane

the church. So violent Christian rock music is not worth a nickel for bringing

the Holy Spirit into our lives. There are three Holy Spirit streams in the

Parable of the Excess Story. Let's review them carefully. Three keywords strike,

speak and sing. Strike means we receive the Holy Spirit because Christ is the

Rock who was smitten on the cross for our sins. There is no life

without the Cross of Christ, and the Cross in our life is that right.

Strike speak It means when we are down in life and challenged, we

can get on our knees and pray and talk to God in Jesus' name,

and God will hear us. When we pray on our knees and together we

receive the Holy Spirit. Sing means the melody, kind of music that is

kind and sincere, that respects the person of God. It brings the sweet

Holy Spirit into our lives. So always remember the meaning of strike, speak

and sing in Jesus' name, receive God's blessing of the living water of the

Holy Spirit. And never forget that the Holy Spirit is life. You know,

Christ is that living stone, the Holy Spirit is living water. We

need him, We need him here in Jesus's name. Strike, speak,

sing, Dear Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is that you would come

to us in Jesus God, with us he Manuel, that we could look

into the eyes of Jesus and we could see you with no contradiction, no

lack of clare clearly. So you and Father, what a privilege it is

that Jesus has sent his Holy Spirit, the living water, so we can

see you through Him. And Father. Today, may we feed on the

manna. May we drink of the water. May we never forget that Christ

is our rock. He's not a rock, He's the rock that is God.

And somehow, Lord, we don't have to figure all that out.

Just help us delive it because in this truth that's too hard to understand.

We find you, so bless your people to this day and keep us.

Lord. I ask your blessing on the food and the fellowship meal. So

we're asking the blessing right now so people can eat and fellowship freely. Thank

you, Lord, and bless the dear people there in the kitchen who have

put it together for us in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,