Tongues of Fire

Good morning. Oh, that's good. Good morning. It's not bad. It's not bad. I'm just going

to move this up because I'm a little bit taller. Great. It's great to see you this morning.

Welcome if this is your first time at Watermark. If you've been here since like the beginning

of time, it's just great to see you. My name's Chris. I'm a teaching pastor here. And I'm

this morning. We're kind of going, continuing our series, looking at the book of Acts. And

I have to just make a real kind of confession to you this morning because I found this passage

actually really difficult to know what to say. Not because there isn't a lot to say. In fact,

there are so many things to say in this passage. Like normally when I'm getting to prepare something,

I've kind of thought about what I'm really going to say. And it's just kind of sitting for a while.

And, you know, I really feel I know where I'm going. And I was sitting last night and just kind

of, I had about a thousand different ideas going through my mind. I'm thinking, God,

what on earth do you want to say? So, and you know, Kevin's going to come next week and he's

going to look on a similar kind of passage. And I think I don't want to steal his thunder either.

And I'm kind of going through this. And I woke up this morning and I just felt God kind of say to me,

wind, fire, rain. And I'm from Britain. That tells me like weather cycle, you know, but,

but, um, uh, so that's what we're going to talk about this morning. Wind, fire, rain. Okay. Um,

and I don't even know precisely where we're going to go. I don't know where we're going to end up

fully with this. Um, but I think I'd just love you to pray for me as we, as we go through this,

because I feel this is a passage that we really need as a church. I need this passage. And I think

God really wants to speak through this passage to us as a church in a way, which really does help us

to see something of who Jesus wants us to be as his church, us to be as his followers so that we

don't have what I call a, a pocket size Jesus, you know, a kind of Jesus who just kind of fits in

conveniently into your schedule and you can kind of bring him out when it's handy, but you know,

he doesn't really disturb your life too much. And so I just love us to pray, pray right now and

pray for God to really speak to us.

Father, you're an awesome God. We stand in awe of your grace and of your mercy and of your goodness

and of your kindness and of your love. And I pray this morning you would just

with feeble words, just help me to articulate something of what you're wanting to show us

in the birthday of the church of something about what it means for us to come and be your people.

Please just kind of take away anything which is just, um, yeah, we just don't need to hear and

just speak what you want to hear into our hearts, Lord. Open our eyes, open our ears to hear you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. So, I'm going to leave that up here. Um, so if you have your passage with you,

um, we're going to, we're going to look at wind, fire, rain this morning, uh, and then have a, um,

uh, uh, something of application at the end. But, um, the way I want to do it is, um, Fiona and I,

probably a little while ago, we, we, outside our flat, I suddenly discovered that there was,

somebody had put out a whole load of seasons of 24. I don't know if anyone ever watched 24.

It looks like kind of back in the dark ages. Anyone ever seen 24? You know, it's just, yes,

a few of you. Well, so someone put like all the whole series, like outside to throw away.

And so I thought, well, I haven't seen it, so might as well. I, I, I picked it up and I, and I took it.

And like a couple of nights ago, we were going to go and watch it. And, um, we opened up the box

and I was going to watch it. And then suddenly I realized that the, the, the, the DVD I was putting

in was actually episode two and there was no episode one. And, um, and so we kind of started

episode two. And it's always a little bit disappointing when you start episode two,

because you're trying to work out what else going on, what's happened, who are these guys?

And, and as we're looking in Acts, what you're going to see is Luke, who is writing the book of

Acts and talking about the spread of the gospel as it's going through, how the church is birthed.

Um, he's going to use some images, which actually, if you don't get what episode one was, which is

the old Testament images, you're not going to get what, what he's really talking about,

what he's trying to show us about what it means to be church. Okay. So, so as we think about some

of the images of wind, fire, rain, I just want us to kind of go back a little bit and, and show you a

little bit of the, the, the, the storyline of what the Bible is trying to tell us through some of

these, these pictures. So let's start off with, um, with wind. Okay. Remember in this passage,

okay, what has happened previously is Jesus, the King has come. He's had a load of kind of proud

followers who wanted all their own kingdom, reserved with their own agendas, but, but he brought them

together. Jesus died for their sins. He raised again. He, he came back, he met his disciples and

he said, I'm going to send you out to be my witnesses. Where's he going to send them to?

This is a test. Okay. This is kind of audience feedback. Okay. So where's the first place to

Jerusalem? Okay, good. We said that's kind of like Poc Fulam. Okay. And then what's the next place?

Judea. That's kind of Hong Kong Island. Okay. And then the next place, Samaria. That's kind of

the dark side of Kowloon and new territories. Okay. And then to the ends of the earth. That's like

kind of everywhere else. Okay. That's a pretty big term. That's what he said. And then he ascends

into heaven and he says, just wait for my power to come upon you. Okay. And 10 days after his

ascension, it's Pentecost. Pentecost, the word means 50 in Greek, because it comes 50 days after the

Passover, which is a celebration. You know, we Dutched on communion, the celebration of God's

salvation, which is interesting. Jesus dies at the Passover. Okay. And 50 days after Pentecost was the

celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest, the gathering in of the wheat harvest.

And what you have here, you have all these different people. It's kind of a pilgrimage

festival. So all these people from all around the nations come to Jerusalem to celebrate this

festival. You know, it's like if you've ever seen Muslims going to Mecca or people who are in the

arc team going to Dragon Boat. You know, there's all these people just gather at the Dragon Boat

Festival. They're all going there. And what you have at this time, there's probably at least two

million devout Jews in this city going to the house of God to offer sacrifices at the temple

because that's where they thought God's presence was. But they're continuing their religion. So all

these Jewish people, they're heading down this direction. It's kind of festival. They're hanging

out. And then there's another house, which is just kind of nearby the temple. And there's this little

community of small Jesus followers there. And they're waiting. They're waiting for Jesus to come and give

them what He's promised. Anyone like waiting? Anyone kind of like, yeah, I just want to spend the whole

of my life waiting? Isn't waiting just one of the hardest things to do in the world? I don't know about

any of you, but I don't know if you've got things that you want to see happening in your family,

in your job, in your health, in your life. And you're just kind of like, I'm waiting for something to

change. I'm waiting. And you don't know how long it's going to be or what the result is.

And it's like, we feel so insecure when we have to wait, right? You know, it's like when you, if you've

ever been to an ice rink and the first time you've gone out skating on the rink and someone kind of

pushes you in the middle of the rink and you're desperately trying to hold on to the side because

you don't want to kind of go out because you feel out of control when you're in the middle, right?

Waiting is a bit like that. It takes away everything that you hold on to. And waiting is actually God's

preparation time for you to realize you're not in control. The only place you can turn to is God.

That's what he wants to do when we have to wait. That's what the disciples are doing. They're waiting

saying, God, you need to show up here because we're going to look pretty stupid if we're just in this

house for a little bit longer. And they're praying. And as they're praying,

it says, there was a sound coming from heaven of a mighty rushing wind. Typhoon number 50

comes in from heaven. Straight in, okay? Now, that's not really normal, okay? Doesn't normally happen in

your house. What is going on here? What do you got to realize? Let's go back in the story to episode

one. New Old Testament. In the beginning, God is the king on the throne of heaven and he creates

everything through his spirit. He creates a man and a woman. And do you know what he does? He

breathes into them and they come to life. That word for breath in Hebrew is the word ruach.

It's the same word that is the word used for spirit. It is the same word which is used for wind.

Because in the Old Testament, God's ruach is what his energizing presence, which brings life,

when before there was death. That's what his ruach does. It's his presence, which is energizing and

giving you life, okay? Now, the story continues that humans kind of thought, okay, now we're alive.

We can kind of get rid of God, dethrone him, set ourselves up as God, and we can basically run the

world we want and kind of come to God whenever we want him to come. You know, there's an old 1960s

movie called Bedazzled. I don't know if anyone's seen it. It's about a famous business guy who

basically sells his soul to the devil for seven wishes. And at one point, the businessman asks the

devil, he says, what was it like before you got in trouble with God? Okay? And the devil says,

okay, I'll show you. So he jumps up onto like a post box up like this. And he says, okay, now,

now to the business guy, what I want you to do is to kind of just walk around me like this and say,

you're wonderful. Thank you for everything. You're wonderful. You're wonderful. I love you. You're

amazing. Okay? So the guy starts doing, oh, you're wonderful. You're amazing. You're great. You're

good and everything. And then he says, oh, I'm getting rather tired of this. Do you want to come down

and I'll sit up there? And the devil says, that's exactly what happened. Because when

we took God off the throne, that's what we wanted to try and do. We wanted to dethrone him and put

ourselves up in his place to be in control, to make ourselves great in our lives. And what happened

was the life that God had given us in his presence, we got thrown out. And death came into life,

into our lives. We broke down the relationship with God and his presence. We broke down actually

the relationship even with each other. Because you know in life, there's only, the throne of our lives

only has one seat. Did you know that? There's only one seat. And you know like it's getting on the MTR

and there's only one seat left. And what happens? Everyone starts to fight for that one seat,

right? Relationships break down when you're trying to fight for the throne in your marriage, when

you're trying to fight for the throne in your workplace, when you're trying to fight for the

throne in any kind of relationship. It leads to war, at least attention, at least all those different

things. You know, most of my arguments with my wife, no, not most, all of my arguments with my wife

are because I want to be on the throne, she wants to be on the throne, and somewhere in between,

there's a problem. Because we can't both sit on it, right? And so, if you fast forward in the story

to the book of Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel gives a vision of what life is like when you've stopped

relying on God's ruach and trusting him on the throne. And what you see is this valley filled with

dry bones, scattered everywhere, like an army has come in and just devastated everything. And all that's

left in the hot, dry sun are just these bones withering in the hot sun. No energy, no life, no power.

You know, it's like, have you ever been sailing? I've only been sailing once, okay? And I got really

excited. It was in our CG, a guy was going to take us out. We went out down to Middle Island,

and we were going to go sailing. And I was kind of excited because I thought we were going to kind

of rush out on the wind and everything. So, we get in the boat, I go up with this guy, I'm going into

the middle of the sea, and there's no wind. And do you know how boring it is when there's no wind?

You just sit and you don't move. And that is what life without the Spirit energizing you in your life

is like. You know, if you are not a Christian, the Bible says you are like dry bones.

Because you can have all the external appearance of looking like you're alive. You can have the

appearance of looking like a sailor. But if you've got no wind in your sails, if you've got no breath

of God in you, you're not going anywhere. You have no life before God in you. And do you know what?

Corpses don't resurrect themselves. Did you know that? Corpses don't do CPR on themselves.

But the Christian message, and what you begin to see with Ezekiel,

is you need someone else to come and breathe life into you.

And if you are not a Christian, what the Bible calls you to do is to repent, say,

I want to get off the throne of my life. Jesus, I want you on the throne,

and I'll come and breathe your life into me. And what you see in Ezekiel is God says to Ezekiel,

I want you to prophesy. I want you to speak to these bones. And he does.

And what happens is these bones, which are kind of all over the place, suddenly start

kind of snapping together. You know, it's kind of Frankenstein-like or, I don't know, Walking Dead,

whatever you like. But there's still corpses on the ground, but they're kind of now bodies.

And then he says, prophesy again and prophesy breath into them, ruach into them. And do you

know what happens? The wind comes in, it enters into them, and they stand up like a mighty army.

And when you fast forward to Pentecost,

when that mighty rushing wind comes in to the room, what is he saying? He's saying,

in your own power, you are never going to be able to move in the Christian life by yourself.

You know, there may be habits in your life you're wanting to change. There may be negative behaviors

you want to move on. But you will never be able to by yourself because you need God's ruach

to come in and empower you with his life, his energizing presence in your life.

We need wind, not gas, wind. We need the church. It's not a church if it's just filled with programs,

if it's just filled with kind of a great appearance. We're only a church if the Spirit of God

dwells in us with his presence. That's what the church is. So wind.

Then there are tongues of fire. Okay. Are you with me, Star? Good.

Fire. Okay. It says, verse three, tongues, divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each

one of them. Okay? I mean, imagine, I can't imagine the scene. You know, it can't be great

for your hairstyle if, you know, fire just starts coming down on your head. But it comes down and

it divides on each person. And in the Old Testament, go back, fire you see all the time through the Old

Testament. Fire symbolizes the holy presence of God. Not just the energizing presence of God,

but the holy presence of God. You see, Moses sees a burning bush. And do you know what God says to him?

Take off your shoes. Where you're standing is holy ground. Mount Sinai, where God gives the law. Do

you know what happens? Fire comes down and he says, you can't come up to this mountain. You can't touch

this because you're going to die. When the temple of God was inaugurated, fire comes down so nobody can

enter it. Because our God is a consuming fire. His presence is holy. Now, I don't know if you've,

I think we struggle with this. I think we struggle with this kind of idea because we,

we don't really think of things which are awesome in our lives too often. You know, we use the word

awesome for like a hamburger, you know. But when, and I've said this before, when my brother died,

it was the most awesome moment of my life. And I mean that word in the real sense of the word.

And I'm not trying to make anything morbid about it, but what I, when my brother died,

I saw that life and the very breath that I have is not held in my hands. At any moment,

God could pull the plug and life could drain out of me. My life is held in the hands of a God who

created the whole universe. I am not in control of my life. And so, if this God who has the power to

give life and the power to overthrow governments and the power to create galaxies and the power to

change the stock market, you know, your job, do you realize your job is totally in the hands of God?

Did you know that? He could click his fingers and you'd lose it tomorrow. Your very breath is in the

hands of God. You could click your fingers and it would be gone tomorrow. That is awesome. Right?

And so, when it says that God's fire comes down, his holy presence come down, this kind of God comes down

to be with us, his people. I don't know when you come to Watermark. I just realized that

I think we often forget what a privilege it is to be in God's presence. Right? You know, we kind of

come in, I come in casually, you know, think, okay, let's hope there's an interesting message for me on

Sunday. And then we hear about, okay, God's presence. And I say, oh, that's cool. I quite like that. And

when's lunch? Right? But if he's that powerful, we sometimes think, well, why doesn't he just sort

out my world now? Because that would be nice, right? But he comes on his terms, not ours.

We often want to reduce God to kind of the pocket-sized God where I can still be on the

throne of my life just as long as I kind of get a little bit of help from him. But the interesting

thing is in the Bible, and this is a really challenging thing, I think, for all of us,

is in the Bible, sinful people who try to dethrone God experience the fire of his anger.

That's not very PC. You know, if you approach him too casually, you know, touch the arc of his

presence, and people become like toast. You know? This is kind of a scary kind of size of

God, which is like, you know, it's not just kind of Jesus is my buddy, me and Jesus kind

of just hanging out. You know? There's this sense of he is awesome and holy, and holy means

totally set apart. You know? And the church is a place where God in his holy presence dwells.

Not just in a church collective, but in every one of you who is a Christian.

That's why fire comes down on each one of them. But that fire is just, this is not just a kind

of Old Testament kind of crazy language. New Testament, you go forward to chapter 5 in Acts,

and it gets a little bit scary. You see, one couple decides to lie in the church about selling

some property, and they get struck dead. You know, and it says, great fear seized all who heard what

had happened. Now, church gets a bit real then, right? Because just imagine, like, Graham lies in

church about his bank account, and then we're taking his funeral. How many of you are going to start

lying? Right? You're going to be watching your tongue a little bit after that, right? Because it gets

serious. Now, it's not a great church growth strategy. You know, it's not a great model. God doesn't have

this kind of great model of how to do church, like, in kind of seeker-friendly, make everybody,

like, wonderful, and then he strikes somebody dead. I mean, that's not great PR.

But the church of God grows not by just our programs and all those different things. The

church of God grows when we actually see how awesome and holy he is. In your life, you will see how awesome

and holy he is. And you take sin seriously. Because when you start doing that, what's really interesting

is you'll actually begin to see God's grace more clearly. Because if you notice, the tongues of fire

come upon this little community, and none of them die. They actually lead to joy, which is like, okay,

God's holy presence. This is something awesome. And yet they have this joy. Why? Because the Christian

message, when we look at the cross, is that that burning anger that God had towards you and me

was diverted onto Christ, and his anger fell on him, not on you.

I don't know if you know the feeling when you've done something really wrong, and you're going to go

to someone you love, and you go to them, you kind of go back to face them. You know, I remember,

and it's not really bad, but I remember when I lost my wedding ring. I didn't want to go and see my wife.

Because I thought the fury of my wife was going to come upon me, okay? She was incredibly gracious to me.

There was a story I read in the news about a guy, a lady called Mary Johnson. Her son got murdered by

a guy called Oshia Israel. He goes to prison for like 15, 20 years. The lady was angry. Wouldn't you be

if your son got murdered? But she was a Christian, and she began to see what God had done for her in

her life. And so she actually went to go and visit Oshia in prison. Can you imagine what it was like

for Oshia Israel to be thinking, waiting, this woman is going to come in, whose son I murdered is going to

come and meet me? I mean, can you imagine what that felt like? Like, you're just waiting for all this

tirade of abuse and anger and hatred to be poured out on you. And do you know what Mrs. Johnson said to him?

First thing she says is, she says, Oshia, I've lost a son who I'll never see married, I'll never see

have grandchildren again because of you. But I forgive you. And I don't just forgive you. I hope

one day that I will see you married and graduated and having grandchildren. And do you know what

happened? That lady, when he came out of prison, she actually adopted him as her son.

He actually attended as the bride, what do you call them, the best, like the groomsman of a wedding

that she had when her husband had died. She remarried, became the groomsman.

You see, if we lose sight of the rightful anger at sin, you'll lose sight of the incredible,

amazing costliness of grace to you. Imagine what Oshia must have felt when instead of accusation

and condemnation, he received forgiveness and grace. That's what God offers you for whatever you have done.

But here's the thing, when you're in the presence of someone who has done that much for you, Christ

died for you, taking the anger of God against you. Are you just going to treat him casually and then say,

he's going to forgive me if I do stuff wrong, it's fine. Are you going to treat them like that?

Or do you see

his holy presence, you can only come in because he paid that cost for you

and his grace invites you in to be adopted as his children.

And that is a privilege. It is not a right.

And so we come reverently in awe of who he is.

His wind is his life-giving presence. His fire is his holy presence.

You know, at this point, I feel we should have earth because then you'd have earth, wind, fire,

which is a great 1970s pop group. But I think some of you guys, you're just way too young to remember that.

So the third thing is you have rain.

Peter, you know, the whole house is filled with the presence of God.

And Peter, when he's explaining to the crowd what is happening, verse 17, he says,

in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people.

I will pour out.

The word means like a downpour,

like a torrential rain.

I will pour out my spirit on all people.

The image comes from the prophets in the Bible.

Isaiah, Joel, Peter quotes him here.

And the picture is of a people who've dethroned God,

who've dethroned God and are now living

in a parched, dry, barren land.

People who are thirsty.

Because when you take away your source of life and your source of water,

you know, have you ever gone on a run in the heat of summer?

And probably most of you are not as stupid as me to do that.

And you forget you've got water.

And you come back and you're so thirsty that you will drink from anything.

You'll drink from anything.

Like, normally I don't drink from the tap.

But I will just go to the tap and just start drinking.

Because you're so thirsty that you'll go anywhere looking for something to satisfy your thirst.

That's kind of the image.

When you turn away from God, it's not that you just have nothing.

You'll look for anything to try and satisfy.

Whether it's your work.

Whether it's your relationships.

Whether it's getting other people to like you.

Whether it's your Facebook account.

You'll go to anything to try and satisfy that thirst.

And do you know what?

I just realized even for myself.

And I'm going to get some water to satisfy my thirst.

I realized like last year.

With everything that was going on with the church.

And all the stuff that was happening.

I actually didn't realize at the time.

But I felt I became dry.

So many tasks to do.

So much stuff to do.

So many things to try and fix.

But you know.

Anyone know that thing.

Where you're just running around.

Trying to do all kinds of endless activity.

But you just end up feeling dry.

You know.

And there's many things which you just can't control.

You know.

The rent got tripled.

We got all kinds of things happening.

And even with the kids ministry.

You know.

We wanted people to be able to help out.

Someone to oversee.

We still don't have someone to oversee.

And we're waiting.

We're waiting for something to be fixed.

And running around.

Trying to fix things.

But actually.

The more I try to fix things.

The thirsty I become.

And the drier you become.

And the more frustrated.

And the more stressed.

And the more tired.

And the more it feels like.

Oh.

The world feels on your shoulders.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

And honestly.

I think many of us as a church.

Are also dry.

We're dry.

We've been in the heat of life.

Like those dry bones.

We're like a.

We're like a kind of.

A dry sponge.

Which is just.

If you wrung it.

You get nothing out of it.

And then you hear messages.

About how you're supposed to be.

Speaking the gospel to people.

How you're meant to be doing all these things.

And it just feels like.

Oh.

I've just got nothing left.

To give.

You know.

We have health issues.

We have work issues.

We have family issues.

We have all kinds of stuff.

And some of us are dry.

Just because of this season of life.

We're in.

Some of us are dry.

Because we've been preoccupied.

With so many things.

That Christ has just.

Slipped off the throne.

In our lives.

And we've been seeking for.

Satisfaction.

And thirst.

Satisfying thirst.

In other areas.

We're trying to be in control.

Of our lives.

I mean.

Just think about it.

What makes you anxious.

At the moment.

What worries you.

That if you didn't get this in life.

It would be unbearable for you.

What are you looking for.

That at the moment.

You would think.

I just need that.

And then I'll be happy.

Those are the idols.

Those are the things.

That we go to.

Other than God.

To try and satisfy our thirst.

Anyone stressed.

Anyone parched.

Anyone dry.

Let me ask you.

If God's presence.

Is really.

If I was to ask you.

Is God's presence.

Really real.

In your life.

At the moment.

Are you just enjoying.

Sweet times.

With Jesus.

At the moment.

In your life.

When you read the Bible.

If you read the Bible.

Does it come alive.

To you.

Is it active.

In your life.

In a way.

Which penetrates.

In your heart.

Do you know.

That clear.

Vivid sense.

Of the forgiveness.

Of God.

In your life.

And his fatherly.

Care for you.

At this moment.

Do you know that.

Because if you don't.

Then I would say.

You're dry.

You're dry.

And the question is.

Do I want to stay content.

With being dry.

Do I want to stay content.

Or will I willingly surrender.

The things which I.

I'm trying to put on the throne.

The idols that I have.

And I lay those down.

And I say.

Okay.

Lord.

My expectations.

For my work.

For my family.

For.

For.

For my relationships.

I'm willing to lay those.

Down at your feet.

And I'm willing to say.

God.

I need you to fill me.

Because you see.

When he says.

I will pour out.

My spirit on you.

He says.

It's like this.

I'm going to.

I'm going to pour it in.

And it's going to go everywhere.

That's okay.

And you know.

You know.

When Jesus says.

I will baptize you.

With the spirit.

Do you know what the word.

Baptize means.

It means.

It means to immerse.

To plunge.

In.

And you know.

When you plunge.

Something in.

And it just soaks up.

That water.

And that moisture.

Do you know what happens?

It just flows out.

Afterwards.

And all those things.

Which seem to be.

Oh.

Such a drain.

To do this.

Such a drain.

To read my Bible.

Such a drain.

To come to church.

I'll do all these things.

But when you are filled.

With his satisfying.

Spirit.

Revealing Jesus.

To you.

Then actually.

You don't have to look.

To everywhere.

All the other stuff.

Can be happening.

In your life.

But you know.

The gospel.

Of God's grace.

In your life.

And it's freeing.

You're refreshed.

That even when you see.

Your own guilt.

And sin.

You just come.

And you experience.

His grace.

And it's just so animating.

It's so life-giving.

It's so full.

That's what church is about.

It's not.

You know.

When I was a kid.

We had plants around our house.

And you know.

My parents went away at one point.

And I was left in charge.

Of watering the plants.

That is a bad idea.

Because do you know what happened?

I dutifully watered about two of them.

And then when my parents came back.

They found the plant.

Which I didn't even know existed.

Which had been right in the sun.

By the windowsill.

And it looked like a wilting kind of prune.

Or whatever they look like.

And I.

You know.

I thought.

Hey.

That's.

Sorry.

You know.

This kind of wilty cabbage.

I thought that was it.

I thought that was the end.

And 30 minutes later.

My mom goes in.

Puts it under the tap.

And do you know what happened?

I looked back.

And it was like.

And I was like.

How did that happen?

It's a miracle.

That's what.

What God wants to do.

In your spiritual life.

So that.

You begin to see.

Jesus.

As so beautiful.

That all the other stuff.

You know.

When you have something bigger.

Than your problems.

To look at.

Your problems look so much smaller.

You see that.

You know.

When you're flying in an aircraft.

And you look over.

And you think.

Wow.

Those people are so small.

But as a church.

If we are so worried.

About our programs.

We're so worried.

About.

About all the stuff.

Being right.

We're so worried.

About all these other things.

Which distract us.

And we miss Jesus.

Do you know what's going to happen?

You're just going to get dry.

And your problems.

Are just going to wrap you up.

And you're just going to be thirsty.

And as a church.

What I believe.

God is calling us to do.

And I'm going to finish here.

What I believe God is calling us to do.

Is he's calling us to come back.

And to seek him.

And to pray.

To pray.

Whatever's going on in your life.

To say.

God.

I want you for you.

Not just for what you can give me.

I don't just want a pocket sized Jesus.

Who.

Who kind of just.

You know.

Fits in with my little world.

I want your presence.

Your life giving.

Satisfying presence.

Because there's so many areas in my life.

Which I'm powerless.

I need you to energize us.

I want your holy presence.

Because I want to see you.

In your beauty.

And your glory.

And I don't just want to be trivial.

With the sin in my life.

I want to take it seriously.

And where I am chasing after other things.

I want to repent.

I want to surrender.

I want to come off the throne.

I want you to be on the throne.

I need you.

I can't do that by myself.

And I want us to pray.

That God would so soak us.

So we're saturated.

Because you know.

When you're.

When you're overflowing.

With the spirit.

You know.

When you're full.

And you overflow.

And somebody's sitting next to you.

They're going to get wet.

Right?

We're a church in this city.

Which Jesus calls on a mission.

To be witnesses to the world around us.

But we can't just do that.

By kind of chasing after doing a hundred programs.

We've got to come back to who he is.

Have his presence.

Know him.

Chase after him.

Pray to him.

And you'll see.

Other people in the city will get wet.

955.

We're going to be here every Sunday.

We're going to be here.

Praying.

And seeking God.

Maybe we need to repent.

Of just.

The stuff that's just wrapped us up.

Some of us are just dry.

Because we're tired.

And you need to just experience.

God's rest.

And pleasure.

On your life.

Some of you.

You're just chasing after.

So many other things.

And you just say.

Do I really want God?

Do I really want him?

Because what you see happens in the book of Acts.

Is when people get how amazing this presence of God is.

Things just start exploding.

God's word starts changing lives.

So my prayer is in our community groups.

We start getting serious about God.

God.

I just want to pray.

Let's just pray.

I want you just to spend.

Just this minute.

Just thinking about.

Where am I with God?

Am I dry?

Do I feel like I'm.

Not moving?

That I'm just striving.

In so many things.

So many stuff to do.

Christ has slipped off the phone on my life.

Have I lost sight of his incredible love?

Because I've just.

Been toying with sin.

I believe.

I believe.

I believe.

God wants us to right now.

Come to him.

And just.

Some of you need to repent.

Maybe just spend this time.

Just repenting before him.

Ask him.

For that real sense.

Of his presence.

With us.

Ask him to saturate you.

In this city.

Which is so tiring.

And so.

So barren.

In so many ways.

Let's find.

That greenery.

That refreshment.

That joy.

That praise.

That life.

In him.

Because that's what he wants to give.

To just ask him.

To fill you.

Afresh.

Give him your struggles.

Allow him.

To breathe into your life.

Again.

Jesus name.

Breathe.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.