Becoming the Well

I tell you what, I wish you could have been

on this side of it watching the worship this

morning. There's something about

having 5-year-olds up to about

18-year-olds, close to, I don't know,

probably 75 or 100 of them. And, you know, my mom

used to tell me, she'd say, now, I'm not gonna cry. When you see a

church where there's a lot of kids, God's got a plan.

Amen. She said, when you see it just to

become— the children become more scarce and the

congregation ages and the replenishing of the children,

you don't see that, then you really need to start interceding. Then you really

need to start seeking the Lord regarding what's next. But she said, oh,

when you see the kids, when you see the kids, know that God's got

a plan. God's building something. And I'm so— so I'm so

encouraged the next time we do it, and there will be a next

time, because I think that this is right and proper for us to

worship together. Don't you think so? Yes. And then next time, I'm

just gonna invite the families to come and stand with

their kids and worship together, 'cause that's so

important. One of the greatest blessings of my life was

sitting on that second row for about a decade and a half

behind Pastor Ronnie and Pastor Margaret and the Meeks

family, and to watch Ronnie and Margaret hold Bo, to

watch them teach the kids how to worship and to be able to

do that together. So I'm encouraged by that. Another

thing that we're getting ready to do is on September

13th, if your child, if you would like to have your baby

dedicated, 17, 18, you know, 19 years old, usually— I

know how some of you mamas are. They're 35 and you're

like, well, that's my baby though. Those that are

willing to be dedicated— On the 13th, you can sign up. We

will have a baby dedication that day, and we have a few for

that, and you can sign up for that. The other thing I wanna

let you know is on September 27th, the last Sunday of this

month, we are gonna have one gathering, and it will be

your gathering. I had to tell the early service, sorry, nobody will

be here. But anyway, it'll be your gathering, and it's going to be

a worship and baptism service. So if

you have not been baptized, and you're like, you know, the Holy Spirit has really

been drawing me to this, You can sign up for that, and we would love

for you to be a part of that. We would love to get in contact

with you and let you know what that looks like here. And we're just gonna

worship while the Lord does what he does in that day. So the

27th of September, put it on your calendar, invite your

family. It's gonna be full, it's gonna be rich, and God has

a plan for that as well. So just mark it so you're a part

of it. Speaking of God's plan, about, I don't know,

Probably a dozen years ago, the Lord put on my heart to do a series,

a teaching series entitled, The Young Lions. And we invited

some of the gentlemen in this body who we knew had a calling on

their life, a teaching calling on their life. And guys, we still got some

lions in the room. So today, would you welcome Pastor

Justin? Thank

you. Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. I just want to see

if you were here in the room last week. Pastor Allen

did a fantastic job. And but he said, I've only got

about 25 minutes of stuff. And I looked at my wife

and I said, well, I'm going to have about 90 next

week after I take his time. So buckle up. Get locked

in. Look, if we were watching Interstellar.,

you'd have no problem, right? Sitting here for 2

and a half, 3 hours. God forbid I say we're gonna

learn about the Bible today, and you're going, oh,

I'm hungry right now. Well, should have got something out of that

cafe, right, Kate? So lock in, get comfortable,

get your Bibles and your pens out. We're gonna journey through the Word this morning,

okay? Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day that you have

given us. I thank you for Waking us up this morning, keeping us in our

right mind, giving us a reason to live. Father, we have

gathered here together, young and old,

new in our faith, seasoned saints. God, we're here to honor you,

and I pray that our collective cry of praise would reach your throne, that you

would be pleased with your people this morning, that you would root out

sin and selfishness in our hearts, Lord, that we'd be open to

an encounter with you. As we look through the scriptures, I pray that you

would speak to us individually and collectively as a body, God,

and that the name of your Son Jesus would be glorified through the power of

the Holy Spirit. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. And amen. If you have

your Bibles, go ahead and open them up. We're going to be in John chapter

John 7 · chapter mention

7, and this morning, uh, we're continuing in our To the Well

series, and we have discussed re-digging

wells and seasons where you have to leave the old wells

behind. And go dig new wells. And we've— Pastor Barbie

has shared with us her process of digging wells. We've

examined Jacob's well historically and Jesus's

encounter with the woman at the well. And so there's a theme

that we're going to continue today. And this morning I want to talk to you

about becoming the well. Okay?

So we're going to be in John chapter 7. If you have your Bibles and

John 7 · chapter mention

you're there, say amen. Amen. Amen! All right.

Yeah, man, that's how I get— listen,

I'm telling you, when you open up the scriptures, you gotta be like,

yeah! And if you ain't, then maybe you will be

after I'm done, okay? We're gonna be reading in John

John 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7. I'm starting in verse 37. We're gonna read through 39, okay?

It says, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus

stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts,

let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me,

as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of

living water. Now this he said about the Spirit,

whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit

had not been given, because Jesus was not yet

glorified. This is the word of the Lord. So you guys know I'm big about

context. You ever watch a movie and you come in on the back end of

the movie and you have no idea what's happening because you missed the

first, I don't know, 50 minutes of the message maybe? I

don't know. That's an inside joke. Friends of mine

said, hey, we were so excited to hear you speak this morning, we got here

at 10 AM. And so I know how it ends, but I have no idea

how we got there, right? So we literally read this

passage. How many of you guys know how we got here? Right,

couple of you guys, okay. And if not, that's exactly why I'm here. Do you

know that part Oh, the reason we're here is to equip the saints for the

work of ministry. We're here to learn, to grow, so that you

can take all of this information, you can allow God to change you, and then

we take it out to a hurt, broken, lost, and dying world. Come on. Okay?

And then you bring those hurt, broken, lost people back in here, and they get

trained up, and then they go out and minister to the lost,

hurt, and broken. You got— you see how that kind of works? Okay? That's part

of the design here. So let me give you a little bit of a background.

Uh, we're in John chapter 7, and if you go back to the beginning of

John 7 · chapter mention

John chapter 7, this takes place in Jerusalem roughly

John 7 · chapter mention

6 months before Jesus is crucified. So when Jesus

stands up and makes that statement, he's got about 6 months before

they put him on a cross. Imagine, 6 months from now

there's the crucifixion. The chapter opens with this

tension in Jesus's own family. How many— well, is

my mom in the room? Where are my parents at? Nah, we ain't got tension

anymore. We went through a season of tension, many seasons of tension. How

many people have had tension in your own family? Yeah. Right?

There have been many tense moments, and we've had to learn

how to grow. One of the ways we had to learn how to grow— forgive

me, Mom. Me and my mom have a beautiful way

of telling each other that we love each other, and that is by cutdowns and

putdowns, right? It's— I don't recommend it. It's hurtful.

Okay? We've had to grow in that. We don't do that anymore. But there was

a season where I'd be like, Mom, these beans are terrible. Oh, hush up. You

don't know how to cook beans. And I go, you're right, but you still put

too much salt in them. And she's all, well, you over here eating them. And

that was like, Mom, I really appreciate you cooking for me. And she's like, son,

I love cooking for you. That's what I heard in my

head. Everybody else at the dinner

table was like, I can't believe he's speaking to his mother like that.

And so, but here's the problem. I took that into my family, right? When I

got— when me and Jess got married, it was like the Marines have landed,

okay? And all my bonus kids were like, who is this guy that you picked?

Like, is this the guy? Like, is this what we're doing? Praise God they all

had vision and they get this version of Dad now. But

sometimes you have to learn things that are

hurtful, right? There was conflict in Jesus's own

family. And part of the conflict was that Jesus has

disciples and he has a following, and half of his own family don't

even believe that he's the Messiah. Imagine the tension,

right, that, that, that, that causes. You grew up with this guy,

and now all of a sudden, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the

sins of the world. Like, absolutely not. No, straight-A

student. Like, geez, he's got his own— he knows how to build stuff. Like,

they're sick of him. They're really not. That's speculation.

Okay. But there's tension in his family.

His brothers urge him to go to Jerusalem and display his works publicly,

yet John notes that they didn't even believe in him. Jesus

initially declines to go up openly, and then he travels to Jerusalem

privately. The Gospel writer reveals when Jesus is making

this statement. So Jesus is making this statement about living

water at the Feast of Booths. Or the Feast of Tabernacles,

the Jewish Sukkot. So we're going to read, we're going to go back and we're

going to read John chapter 7, verses 1 through 6.

John 7:1–6

So it says, after this, Jesus went about in Galilee.

He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand, so

his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea. that your

disciples also may see the works you're doing. For no one works in

secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things,

show yourself to the world. So like, you need to go show everybody all this

stuff you're doing, Jesus. Come on, get it out there. Quit doing this,

this top secret ministry. Verse 4, it says,

for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you

do these things, show yourself to the world. Verse 5, for not even his

brothers believed in him. And Jesus said to

them, my time has not yet come,

but your time is always here. In

the Greek, there's two— you know, Greek, man, we could probably

learn a thing or two from the Greek language, like having words that

actually mean what they mean, right? You can't love ice

cream and love Jesus. Something's got to give there. It's got to— we got to

figure out a different word. You can love ice cream and love Jesus. Let me

Go ahead and retract that statement, okay? Yeah,

everybody was like, I'm leaving, he's a heretic, right?

What I'm saying is they're not the— I mean,

they don't give you the same gumption and impact, you know

what I mean? And so the Greeks had 2 words for time,

kairos and chronos. Kairos, chronos.

Chronos is chronological clock time. Kairos was

a little bit different. Kairos were those intentional

moments where chronological time seems to stop.

Several years ago, I think it's— I had— I meant to text him, but I

was like, I don't want to pull my phone out. We're in such a sweet

worship moment. But there's a friend of mine, his name is Troy Ross. You guys

probably, if you've been here for any length of time, I've, I've told you the

Troy Ross story. Baptized the guy over here. Um, but just to give

you a little brief snippet. I was doing this little thing called Reclaimed

America where I'm riding around trying to tear down barns. I don't know why that

was the idea that I had. And I was taking the

barns and I was, uh, uh, turning it into different

furniture pieces and, uh, selling it as, you now

own a piece of American history, right? Beautiful

marketing. Um, this guy has been trying to get

access to this particular barn over here for the better part of 2

years. Turns out I had access to the barn. His daddy

finds out about it, ends up coming down there telling him. He comes to my

shop, don't even know this guy, on a random Tuesday. I'm in

my workshop working. It was an actual Tuesday. I'm working

and he's talking to me and I stopped what I'm doing. We're having a conversation

about woodworking and barn wood and he looks up and he

sees this picture of Jesus that's as big as this screen right here in my

shop. And he's like, what is this? Tell me about it. I said, oh, I

was a part of a 1-year discipleship program for men with

life-controlling problems. For those of you that need the explanation,

that's a 1-year drug rehab that I went to. Okay, um,

I like to church it up. Discipleship program sounds a little bit—

you know what I'm saying? It sounds a little bit better, right? That's I love

Jesus. That's the drug rehab. That's I love ice cream. You got it? Okay,

so See how I'm connecting these dots? Anyway,

so, so it's, it's 6 canvases that make

up one picture of Jesus, and each canvas has something

different painted on him. And I started telling him, I said, man, the

guys that were in this program were all painting, and

each one had a canvas, and they were doing fine

until they started to look at the other canvas. And for some

reason, they got to comparing their canvas to the guy next to him.

And why does it— my canvas look like his canvas? canvas? Why does

my life not look like— why does my marriage not look like their marriage?

Why is my kids not growing up like their? Why is my this and

this and this? And you start to fall into the comparison trap. And so I

said, and in the skit, this Jesus character is trying to convince them that, hey,

I've got a path for you. Focus on your painting. It's part of a beautiful

picture. And some guys turn to drugs, some guys

try to kill themselves, some guys turn to violence, and it's in the midst of

this skit, and finally Jesus is able to vanquish the enemy

and get them all back to their painting, and then he adds color to the

outside of the painting, and they put all these pictures together, and it makes the

picture of Jesus. And I've got it hanging up on the wall in my shop,

and he's just— he's standing there like, wow! And then I looked at him, and

I said, I don't think you came by here for barn wood. I

don't even know this guy! And immediately he's like,

oh, my life's a wreck, man! I'm just— Poor

guy! just crying in the middle. It's just me and him

on a Tuesday with no one else around. And I heard the Holy Spirit say,

are you gonna go fishing or not? Yeah. Are you gonna— are you gonna go

fishing or not? You've got the guys primed. He's ready. He's

ready for the gospel. Just throw it out there and see what happens.

This guy, uh, went home. He threw away his drugs, threw away his

alcohol. He's been sober and walking in freedom for about 8 years now.

Yeah! Like, yeah. And there's a much

longer teaching and story about that. It's got— I got pictures of him sitting

on top of that barn when we finally took it down. He, he

takes barn wood. He was going to use it for something else. Now he takes

it and makes crosses out of it and wrote his testimony down, and he gives

out crosses with the barn wood. Isn't that crazy? Like, he came by there

for barn wood, got freedom, and still got the barn wood.

Right? It's amazing! Here's what I want you to understand.

That was a Kairos moment in the midst of chronological time. Yeah.

Do you see the difference there? So when Jesus says,

hey, my time has not come, He's

using the word kairos there. The moment

that things are going to actually change is not here yet,

and you keep trying to push me up to the front. You keep trying to

throw me out there, and my time is not yet. Not that it's

not literally time for me to do these things, but there is a

pivotal moment in history, and if you push me out there too

early, then you've had it your way.

And Jesus says, there's a moment in time where everything's going to change,

and it's about 6 months from now.

So they're— once they're at the feast, Jesus begins teaching

in the temple courts. He's astonishing the crowds with His

knowledge. Jesus defends the divine origin of His

teaching, and He challenges those who seek Him— seek to kill

Him for healing on the Sabbath. The crowds are sharply

divided. Some consider Him a good man,

others a deceiver, and still others wonder if He might even be the

Messiah. The festival

is celebrated in autumn. Autumn is a

Midwest term for fall, right?

Nobody below the Mason-Dixon says autumn. We—

it's fall, right? And if you live in Tennessee, fall is one of the 9

seasons we have here. You're

experiencing second summer right now.

And then comes false fall, then real fall. Okay?

The festival is celebrated in autumn. It is a week-long holiday

remembering the Israelites' 40 years in the wilderness. So they

spent 40 years wandering, and this festival is a week-long

celebration where they remember God remembering

them and taking care of them. Every day they walked

outside and food was on the ground.

And they found something to complain about.

I had a kid come out to me the other day, Dad, there ain't nothing

to eat in the house! I said, Tommy, hang on. Worked way too hard for

them cupboards to be completely bare. There is no way there's not a drop of

food in this house because I ate when I, when I came out here.

What he meant was, there's nothing I want.

I didn't get mad at him. My kids have historically been mad at me because

I don't have I have ingredients.

They get mad at me. They're like, Dad, there's nothing to eat. I'm like,

Absolutely. And even Jess, she's like, What am I gonna cook? I was like, Oh,

it's simple. Just throw this in. And she's like, How do you do that? I

was like, 'Cause it's just— 'cause the beans were too salty. That's how I do

that. I grew up being told, You're never gonna make

anything of yourself. I'll show you. Give me some, right?

So they're complaining, man, about God's provision!

How? I'm gonna stop complaining about anything

in my life when I realize how much God has provided.

Yeah. So that's what this festival is. They get together for a week and celebrate,

God, thank you for providing for us. Right? Thank you for providing for

us. Each day for 7 days, the priest

leads a procession With music from the temple to the Pool

of Siloam. And in my mind, it's Pied Piper. He's out

front, there's, there's music playing, the people are

behind him. Don't mess this up for me. I don't know if that's exactly how

it happened, but that's how I envision it. Okay, if you read your Bible, you

can figure— you can envision it however you want. Okay. But you

probably should do some research since those— you actually know we're not making up

stories that become doctrine for people. Okay, that was for me.

Each day they lead a procession. The priest fills a golden

container with water and he carries it back to the temple while the

people rejoice. At the altar, the priest pours the water

out on the altar. On the other side of the altar, a priest

pours a drink offering of wine on the other side.

Anytime you read your Bible and there's something that seems like a coincidence,

That's not a coincidence, right? There's water

and wine, which was symbolic of blood. So you have water and

wine being poured out on the altar,

and 6 months from now, water and blood will

flow from the side of Jesus

on the ultimate altar, the ultimate sacrifice. The

water and the wine is both poured out on the altar. That's

right. Right? And the Holy Spirit is like, you think I just put this stuff

in here? Like, you think that this just happens? No, it's for a

reason. They

do this to thank God for the rain and look forward to the prophetic

promises of renewal. On the 8th day

of the feast, which is the final day, the water

pouring ceremony was not repeated. So this is the one day when there

is no water. So now you got this picture in your head, okay?

For 7 days they've had a party going to the Pool of

Siloam. They get the water, they bring it back for 7

days, and they pour it on the altar. There's one day of the feast there's

no water, and that's the day Jesus says, I got something I need

to say to everybody. Yeah. Does that not change the

dynamic of the story? There's one day where there is no

water, and Jesus says, hey, listen up.

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me

and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the

scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of

living water. And the people were

astonished. They were

astonished. Jesus— this is the

exact proclamation He made to the woman at the well.

Hey, uh, I'm pretty thirsty. Can you pull some water up? Matter

of fact, I've got some water to give you, and if you drink of this

water, you'll never thirst again. And then 3 chapters later, he

says, hey, everybody listen up. Are you thirsty? Come to

me, and out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.

He is the true well of living water, and those who place their faith

in him will become wells themselves.

Jesus begins His statement with one particular requirement. There's

only one requirement. There's actually 2, but I'll tell

you the first one. The first requirement that He

says is to thirst. If anyone

thirsts. Have you ever been really thirsty?

Really thirsty? Sure. You don't care about

anything in that moment that does not quench your thirst.

Your only desire is for water. Went to a volleyball game on Friday,

okay? Didn't realize I'm a volleyball dad. Got kicked— I almost got kicked out.

Not for what you think, Judgy McJudgers

over here. It wasn't that I was cheering. I was in the

wrong place to be cheering. So if you're sitting behind the

scorer's table, you can't say anything. I was behind

the people that were behind the scorer's table. And so the referee

said to my wife, hey, is he with you? She said, yeah, he's mine.

She said, hey, listen up, sir. If you keep talking like that, then you

gonna have to go. My bad. I'll go over here and

bump, set, spike. Bump, set, spike, right? Amazing

match. It went all the way to the 5th set. It's a tiebreaker,

game point, okay? Uh, our team pulled it out. Everybody's

excited. I'm helping my wife clean up. She says, hey, I need you to take

this trash out. I said, where does it go? She said, into the dumpster. I

said, where's the dumpster? She said, on the other side of the warehouse at the

back of the parking lot. Right? So I decided I should probably take 3

children with me for backup. And, um, we're

taking this trash out. We round the corner. Noah's trying to run ahead. I said,

hey, you don't know what's around that corner. It's dark right now. Like, just be

careful. We run around the corner, and the dumpster is as

far as it is to the pavilion out here. I mean, it's a haul.

And then all I heard was one of them said, race you to the

dumpster. He didn't get the words to the dumpster out before I'm in

a full sprint. Okay? Trash— don't listen. I

don't need any reason other than I'll race you, and it's gone.

So we've got 3 children and an adult running through the parking lot with trash

bags. Full speed, full speed, right? We

get there, we throw the trash away, we're huffing and puffing. One of my kids

is like, that wasn't fair, I had the heaviest trash bag. They said, fine, let's

race back. Boom, we take off again. And

I'm telling you, it's a haul, right? And it's, it's late. We're—

soon as we get back to the van, there's a cooler there that was for

the concession stand. They ripped the lid open and was just

immediately in the water. They didn't care what

kind it was. They weren't worried about, is it mountain spring water?

Is this Dasani? Like, is this premium, triple

distilled? They would have drank the ice in the water that was holding the

bottles of water. You see what I'm saying? In that mind— have you ever

gotten to a place in your walk where it does not matter

if you don't get to the source of water? Yes. When

Jesus says, if anyone thirsts, He's not saying, man,

hey, is your throat parched? He said, if there is

this place in your life that you realize that

nothing, nothing is going to satisfy me,

none of this stuff that the world has to offer, nothing that you

think that the law has to offer, if you get to this place where you

said, I don't— I'm so thirsty and I don't know, there's only one

thing that can quench it and I don't know where to get it, Jesus says,

that is me. I am that thing. That thing

you've been searching for your whole life, it's me. That relationship

you've been desiring and praying for for 50 years, it's me.

Those children you want, I'm— I will fulfill that.

I'm not saying those desires are bad or wrong. He—

don't hear what I'm not saying. What I am saying is

Jesus says, if you are thirsty, if you are truly thirsty,

if you come to me, I am the fountain of living

water. Oh, we try all types of things to fulfill

our thirst instead of things that actually satisfy. Things that

contain water but are not water. Many years ago, I told this story

in First Gathering,, people didn't believe me. I just woke up one

morning and said, I'm done drinking sodas. Say that a little

louder. It's true. Just woke up one day and said, I guess I'm gonna stop

drinking sodas now. She's like, who are you?

Not like because she wanted somebody to help drink sodas. She's like, that's just what

I did. And, uh, she used to tell me

before, she's like, you need to drink water. And I said, there's water in Coke.

Amen. See, I knew it was coming. I told him I was going to

tell the story again. He was like, will you tell? I said, stop spoiler alert.

He's out here telling everybody. And,

uh, she said there's water in it, man. How many of

us are looking things to quench our thirst that are

not water but contain water? How many of us are going

to food, and drugs, and alcohol, sex, pleasure, work,

power, leisure, looking for things that

satisfy but only temporarily?

The scriptures wouldn't talk about the passing pleasures of sin.

It wouldn't describe sin as pleasurable if it didn't provide some

temporary relief. Yeah. The problem is it's

temporary. It can never satisfy you.

But it's not just sinful or wasteful things either.

Some of us have a multitude of serving in our life that it—

to the point that it becomes an identity, and we become angry with those who

won't serve in the house of God. I caught myself

telling somebody this the other day. I said, you know what? This is at our

church, don't be mad. I said, man,

serving in church is like a football game. You got 22

people doing all the work and 1,000 people watching and yelling

at you from the stands. It's the same 22

people! And then the Lord was like, well, hold up, Martha.

Don't get bitter now. Don't get bitter now.

Yeah. Because you can wear that as an identity. Service in

the church and ministry! I'm doing ministry all the time!

That can become an identity, and then you've lost the reason

why you're trying to do it in the first place. Podcasts and

sermons and teachings that are about Jesus or Christian

living that only increase our knowledge but not our

dependence in the reality of our depravity on this planet.. I

don't want to just know things about God. I want to know Him.

Amen. And be found in the power of His resurrection.

Yeah. I know all kind of stuff about Michael Jordan. I don't know Michael Jordan.

Would you want that to be what your relationship with— is with the Lord? You

just know all kind of things about Him? Just know all kind of stuff about

how He acts? Now, it's important to know about Him because you can

understand His character from reading His— reading

stories about how He's moved in people's lives. I'm not saying

podcasts and sermons are not good. I'm just saying you can't keep drinking

Dr Pepper thinking that that's water.

All you Dr Pepper drinkers, see me outside. I don't— you know what?

Catch me in the cafe. How about that? Right?

Maybe switch to Diet Dr Pepper. I don't know. Look, he got a cold one

back there. I see somebody swigging one. I love it.

Earlier in John's Gospel in chapter 4,

we covered this last week. Jesus meets a woman at the well

and he's thirsty. And during the conversation, He tells

her that if she thirsts, He could give her living water.

During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus

opens with a discourse we refer to as the Beatitudes.

Okay? And in verse 6, look what He says. He says,

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. He

says, if your sole desire is for righteousness,

you'll be filled. You'll be satiated. So what does

He mean by righteousness? Well, in this instance,

Jesus is talking about right standing with God.

When He says, if you hunger and thirst for

righteousness, He's saying, if it is your desire to

be in right standing with God, He will make a way for

you to be in right standing. See, so you're telling

me that if you're hungry and thirsty to be in right

relationship, he has the one thing that will fill

you? Yes. He told the woman at the well, that's me.

He told all the attendees at the Feast of Tabernacles, that's me.

Whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living

water. Living water is the evidence of right standing

with God. It's not the only evidence, but living waters flowing from your

life is evidence of being in right standing with God.

Now I want to talk to you for a second about being full, filled, or

overflowing. You got me? What'd I just

say? Full, filled, overflowing. Okay, you're paying attention. Okay, all

right, all right. It's

important. So there are potential problems.

It's not, it's not a problem, it's a potential problem. Okay,

the Chinese word for crisis means danger and opportunity.

Okay, there's some danger, but there's also an opportunity here.

There are potential problems that arise with this because of our human condition.

When Jesus tells us that we will be filled, if you hunger and

thirst for righteousness, you'll be filled or

satisfied, right? That's a

positional thing. Ephesians 2:6 says,

Ephesians 2:6

And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in

the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Let me ask you guys a question.

Where are you at right now? Church. You're sitting

right here in church, right? Mary Sue's sitting right there on the front row.

You're sitting— you're seated right here in church with

me, and yet the scriptures says you're also

seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places. Okay,

I'm not fixing to get on some weird mystical stuff, some duality

of realities. Don't worry, okay? Because

that's not what he's saying. He's not— you're not in 2 places at one time.

What he's saying is position. Your position with Christ

is seated in the heavenly places. How many of you, when you committed your life

to Christ, if you committed your life to Christ, that all your problems magically

disappeared? Yeah. You still

got— but if you're raising your hands, you still got problems, right? You're lying. You're

still lying. You're lying, right? So they

don't just magically go away. Matter of fact, Jesus says, in this world you will

have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.

That's what he says in, in the same Gospel of John. I have known

people who have struggled with drugs and alcohol,

um, and, and had a radical transformation.

And sometimes if you're on certain type of

drugs or, or deep in alcoholism, like

immediately stopping has a physiological impact on your

body, right? Sometimes that can kill you, like because you've—

your body has been used to having that much narcotics or

alcohol in its system. And I've known people that should have not been

able to just stop cold turkey, have a radical

transformation. God can do that. But

sometimes he will allow in his sovereignty what he can

prevent in his power. Right. And we run

around here complaining about it. Why do bad things happen to good people? Well,

first off, are there good people?

Second off, second off, if God can

prevent it and He does not, then I have to trust in His sovereignty.

I don't— when we enter into covenant with

God, you don't get to determine the terms of the covenant. That's

right. You guys, we didn't— when He says, when He says, come to me

all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, that rest

doesn't mean that you get to go sit up on the couch for the rest

of your existence. If it was only about you being set

apart and you being saved and that you get to go to heaven with Him,

then the moment you commit your life to Christ, why are you still in the

mess that you're in? Because there is a sanctification

process that God wants to work out progressively in your

life. When you say things like, I don't talk the way I used to, I

don't I don't walk the way I used to, right? I've become a different

person. I'm a new creation in Christ, and I'm becoming

something new. I'm positionally seated with

Him, but I'm becoming something new on this planet. Are you

tracking? Yes. Okay? So when

He says, you'll be filled, that's what He means.

Positionally, you'll be with me. But many of us take

this filling, and we equate it with being full.

I'm gonna tell you a story. You're gonna think it's made up, but it's real.

Anybody knows me, I don't tell jokes. I tell real life stories. They just sometimes

are funny. Um, my wife has banned me from

jokes. Tried one the other day. She looked at me, said, don't ever say that

again, ever in your life.

I have a cousin. You can guess which side it's on. My mom and dad

will take offense to that. Um,

Right. Uh, I'm with him one time and he takes— and he,

he has a bottle of ibuprofen and he pours out 16

ibuprofen in his hand and takes them all. I said, hey man, what are you

doing, trying to kill yourself? What are you doing right now? What is happening?

He said, oh no, I take, I take 16 on Sunday

and it lasts me all week. Shut

up! I said, man, give me the keys to your car

right now. Give me, give me all the knives in your kitchen. Give me

your driver's license. You don't need to be out in public. You don't need to

be out loose. You're a danger to yourself, to everybody around you. You

cannot think— I'm dead serious. He said it lasts me all week. I said, man,

that's not how that works. Your liver, man, is

like, what is this guy doing to me? I don't know what day it is,

but one day out of the week, this guy just hammers in the ibuprofen,

right? Dead serious! I said, man, you're

going to kill yourself. You're going to kill yourself. You laugh.

You laugh. How many of us come into this building

on Sunday and take 16

ibuprofen and think it's going to carry us through the week? Come on!

Yes! How many of us come in here and we go, well, I got my

sip of water for the week? What are you going to do when the

guy walks into your shop and his life is broken? What are

you going to do when your parents die? What are you going

to do when your kid's gone? What do you want to do when your

kids run out to the world and have nothing to do with the

Evangelical church anymore? Do you know the retention

rate? of Jewish children, of Amish children, of Muslim

children compared to evangelical children? From 70 to

90% to down to 25 to 30% of evangelical kids keep their

faith once they leave the house. And we're acting like

that 16 ibuprofen on Sunday is going to solve it. Ain't

talked about it at our dinner tables. Isn't modeled in

our marriages. We're not working through the

scriptures with our kids. I got so convicted my wife

bought a Bible game at the homeschool conference. And we

come back and it's like a trivia game, and I am dominating

my family with this trivia game. Come on now.

I'm so ashamed, man. Not for that,

but—

well, my kids were so sad. He was like, Dad, I don't know this stuff.

Come on. I don't know it like you do. And I know I've got

a lifetime of studying the Word,

but in that moment I felt like I had abandoned my responsibility as

a God-fearing man, that I wasn't pouring that information into my kids. Not just so

he can know Bible trivia, you know, and they do the JBQ, but I was

like, man, that his heart was in that place. He's like, man, I want to

know it. I want to know the scriptures like you, Dad. How's he going to

know it? How's he going to know it if I don't teach him

that? How will he know?

Train a child in the way that they would go. Yes.

Stop letting them pick their habits and their

extracurriculars. Make it a point of emphasis.

Stop taking 16 ibuprofen on Sunday and thinking it's going to last you

for the rest of the week. One glass of water is not going to do

it. He said, if you thirst, Guess

what? There was a moment in your life where you came

to the foot of the cross. Have you gotten to the

place where you're not as thirsty as you was on that worst day of your

life when you recognized and realized, I am a wretched sinner.

Come on! I am a wreck. My life is

unmanageable. I cannot do this apart from you. I do not want

to spend eternity separated from you. Yeah. What has changed

from then to now? Because we're not as thirsty anymore,

because we've gotten a taste of water and we think we're filled and

now we're full, but we're not overflowing.

Do you guys know why the children of Israel were carried into Babylonian captivity a

second time? Let me ask you this, uh, how many of you

even know there was a Babylonian captivity? I don't mean that as a

slight. I was talking to Pastor Jonathan

on midweek and I said, hey man, I got a problem, like,

when I teach. Excuse me. I said, I

assume everybody either knows every Bible

reference I'm ever talking about, or I assume you know

nothing and this is day one. Like, I'm nowhere in between. So

when I ask you, do you even know that there's a Babylonian captivity? I'm

not being snarky. I genuinely think either you know everything or you know nothing.

Okay? So for those of you that know everything, I'm going to explain it every

single time.

So they're liberated from Egypt, you know the Red Sea, they're liberated from

Egypt, right? And they're wandering in the wilderness, which is

what the Feast of Booths was recognizing, and then He takes them into the

land of promise. They're in the Promised Land and then they lose their

mind. They get comfortable. They,

they say, thank you, God. This is my bus stop. We know where we're

at. Thank you so much for delivering us. I've got it. We'll take it

from here. And God says, all right, well, how about we'll just come

and conquer Jerusalem and then we'll march all you jokers right back out into

captivity since that's how you want to act? Okay, I know a thing

or two about being set free and then having to go back in and then

being set free and having to go back. I was on the same 4-year probation

for 13 years. Yeah. How does

that happen? They can start it over at any time, just know

that. Here's what the Lord has to say

about this. Let's pick up in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 2:1

chapter 2, verse 1, okay?

The word of the Lord came to me saying, go and proclaim in the hearing

of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, I remember the devotion of your

youth I remember the devotion of your

youth, your love as a bride, how you

followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of

his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt;

disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of

the house of Israel! Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your

fathers find in me, that they went far from me and

went after worthlessness and became worthless.

Can you imagine God saying, what did I do?

What did I do that was so wrong that you forgot about me? I

don't know, I brought you out of bondage? I provided for

the entire country?

I watched over you, I shepherded you, I gave you

food every single day! You did nothing for it! You

woke up and it was there! And y'all traded my

love for worthless things that don't even matter. What did I do

that was so wrong? They did not say, where is the Lord

who brought us up, up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the

wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep

darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?

And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy

its fruits and its good things, but when you came in, you defiled my

land and made my heritage an abomination. The

priests did not say, where is the Lord? Those who handle the law did

not know me. The shepherds transgressed against me. The

prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not

profit. Therefore I still contend with you,

declares the Lord, and with your children's children

I will contend. For cross to the coast of Cyprus and

see, or send to Kedar and examine with care. See if

there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its

gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have

changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be

appalled, O heavens, at this! Be shocked! Be utterly

desolate! Declares the Lord. What did I do to make you

stray? What has the Lord done to make us stray from his

good and loving hand? Even the pagans don't change

their gods. Did you notice that? He said, the world,

they worship false gods, but at least they're honest

about worshipping false gods. You guys keep

flip-flopping around, making requests on Facebook.

I need a church and it's got to have a dynamic worship set, and it's

got to have a good children's ministry, right? And it's kind of— and they got

to have this type of outreach. Man, oh my God.

I had to kick myself out of groups.

Your behavior follows your belief 100% of the time.

Behavior does not put you in— let me go and say this— your behavior does

not put you in right standing with God. There's nothing you can do to earn

your way to the cross. Behavior should flow from the cross.

That's what the book of James says. He says, hey, you tell

me that you have faith, I'm gonna tell you that I got works. That's right.

The reason why I'm telling you I got works is because works prove my faith.

The way I live my life is what will show you what I actually believe.

James verifies that your behavior will follow your belief.

Behavior does not put you in right standing, but somehow we've been led

to believe that it doesn't matter how we live because after all,

His mercies are new every morning. We don't mind

grabbing that verse out of Jeremiah. We don't mind running to, I know the

plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper

you and not harm you, plans to give you a future and an expected end.

Do you know who that verse was written to? These same

people that were in captivity! The same ones that

went back to the open prison cell!

Don't

make— don't mistake God's mercy for His grace. My

lack of discipline and self-control when it comes to my speech and

behavior are disrespectful to a God who created me for purpose.

When you come to Christ, you don't get to live any way you want to

anymore. Right. If you don't— I'm sorry that you don't like that.

You don't get to determine the terms of the covenant. You

accept God on His terms or you don't accept it at all.

We got to stop coming to Jesus with our list of demands and

expectations. Amen. I was

so irritated last night, I wanted to watch

a movie. Couldn't even watch it,

man. Not because it was a bad movie,

because the Lord was like, man, you don't need that. I'm like, yes I

do, I need to unwind before I preach tomorrow. He said, what you really need

is to come in here and pray and read these scriptures, which you— you go

on and shut that off real quick. Text my wife, said, I'll see you

tomorrow.

This is what the Lord says to them in verse 13. For my people

have committed 2 evils. They have forsaken the fountain

of living water, and they've hewn out cisterns for

themselves. Broken cisterns that can hold no water. So the

Lord says, what did I do that was so wrong that you guys

abandoned me? You forgot about me? You've got this DIY

attitude to your faith? Here's what you've done. I'll tell

you, you keep blaming me for this. I'm gonna tell you what

you did. First off, you've forsaken me, your fountain of

living water. You've dug a well that has no fresh water

running in it, and you're trying to pour from an empty cup.

And matter of fact, the cup that you picked up has got holes

in it. It can't even hold water to begin with.

What an indictment. What an indictment.

The people were full, but they were not filled, and they were certainly

not overflowing. When Jesus says, if anyone thirsts and

whoever believes, what He's saying is that the thirst is what

draws you and the belief is what keeps you.

Believe and keep believing. And then He says this, rivers

of living water will flow from you. Amen. Let me

tell you guys, the river is not the source. The river

itself— every time you've ever seen a river, what is

happening? No matter where you see that river at, if

you're up close on its banks, if you're up high on a

perch, that water is always moving, and it is carrying

life all the way down its banks. Rivers carry water

from one place to the next. They're supplied from a

source, but they are not the source. They give life to

those who contact its banks. So what am I trying to say

here? If we're talking about becoming the well, if we

want living water to flow from us like a river, we're

required to do 2 things. And God wants us to be a source.

You know, it gives me great joy and honor when somebody

says, hey, would you pray for me? Or, hey, what do I do in

this moment? Hey, I need some advice. Can you give me some counsel and

wisdom? And they're coming to me and they're looking for something from Me,

and the temptation is to give of myself. Well, here's what I would

do in that situation, or here's what I think you should do. And what

the scriptures actually tell us is you need to dig a big old

hole and put a bucket at the top, and you need to dig deep enough

and far enough down that you find water that is moving

underneath, because that's the source. And all you are is a big old hole,

and you're responsible to keep the critters out, to keep the walls

clear. So that the water that's poured out of it,

even though it came from your well, you're not the source.

One of my greatest dangers or fears in my

life is not giving somebody advice that ruins their life.

It's giving them something that they are successful in and then

thinking that I gave them anything. I'm terrified of that

because I don't want I don't want you building on your life

on something Justin said unless I gave

you the word. Then build your life on that. I— you know, it's one

of the greatest honors of my life to stand

here in a long lineage of men who have

shared and taught the gospel,

like just some of the 17th and 18th century

theologians. And then you think back and you're going, Man, Peter and

Paul and the disciples were sharing the same thing, man, and

I get to be counted among them? I'm telling you guys, I feel like a

bug. This is not

important work, this is dangerous work. Yes. This is

dangerous, 'cause there's a danger to

give of myself and to think I've given you something

if I'm not connected to the source, if I'm drawing from anything

That is of me. Yes. If

you want to become a well, you got to do 2 things. Thirst is

the first thing. To the degree in which you thirst will determine the

size of stream that flows from your life.

Do we really need him? Do you really thirst for

God truly? And the

second thing you have to do is believe and keep believing. Yeah.

That word means rely upon, to continually

trust. Stop taking ibuprofen

once a week. That's what that means.

So how do we do this? Duh, you dig the well.

You would do whatever it takes to get to the water if you was thirsty

enough. How deep are we willing to dig for the source?

I didn't care about what water was in that cooler when we got there.

I just needed the water. I'm gonna read this verse and I'm gonna

close with this, and we can, we can pray if you want to come down

here and pray about anything, um, if you have a need. And then

also I got 2 specific requests that you might hold off because people are gonna

think that's what you're struggling with.

I love the way that the writer of Hebrews says it in the King James.

He says this: But without faith it is impossible to please him,

for he that cometh to God must believe that

he is. He is what? He is

whatever you need him to be. This is my

favorite part though. He is a rewarder of

them that diligently seek him. Did you notice

something? He didn't even say you got to find him.

He says, I'll pay you for looking for me.

Do you see that? You want to know what else is not

a parameter here? When he says, if anyone, that's not an age

requirement or an age limit.

Anyone. Anyone

thirsts. And you want to know what the

reward is that you get for looking for him? You'll

be found by Him. You will find Him.

He says, I'll pay you for looking for Me, and the reward you'll get is

you'll find Me. You'll find Me. I'm not hard to find.

You've just got to dig. If you'll get your shovel out and dig,

you'll eventually hit water. Have

you dug a little bit and got frustrated and be like, ah, this ain't for

me. God must not be there. So I'm gonna stop

digging. James only had to dig a little bit and that water just

started bubbling up. Don't get caught in that comparison trap.

Dig and you'll hit water. Seek and you'll find.

Thirst and you'll be satisfied. Believe and keep believing

and you'll be the conduit that carries the much-needed water to others.

Thirsting and believing allows us to become wells

that Others are able to draw from. Only if you're

connected to the source. So this morning, if you have a need, uh,

and if you want to pray, we're going to worship. I'll have some people over

here. I'm going to come down here if you want to pray for anything.

But if you have taken on this DIY attitude in your

faith, if you're coming in on Sunday mornings and

thinking that this is going to sustain you, or using it

to sustain you, Then let this season end today and come

and drink from the fountain of living water, because

there are people that need to draw from your well and

it's not full, filled, or overflowing. It's not an

indictment, that's the reality. And also, if you have

hewn out for yourself, if you find yourself giving of

yourself and out of your own understanding, of your

own wisdom, if the If the cistern that you've hewn out

is for yourself and it's got holes in it, then come and

lay it down this morning and take the container of the

Lord and allow Him to fill you up. Amen. So they're

going to lead us in worship. We're going to come down

and pray and we're going to close it out. Church, my

prayer for you is that you're as thirsty on your best

day as you were on your worst. Jesus says that if you do 2

things, then rivers will flow from your heart, rivers

of life-giving water to those who need it.

Thirst is the first thing. Believe and keep

believing. Yeah. Raise your hand. Let me give you a blessing. May the God and

Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

increase your thirst for him.

May he satisfy that thirst and fill you

to overflowing