Wells | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

All right. We've had a wonderful morning already.

And the word this morning that I felt the Lord

stir on me is in response really to the word

that Dennis gave a couple of weeks ago. How many

of you remember that on the well that the Lord

is opening up? And so I've begun, I just began

praying through that and I want us to... because

you can hear a word like that on Sunday morning.

And sometimes, especially if you're newer to

this, you're like, what does that mean? A well

is opening up, you know? Sometimes we use language

that if we've been around this a while, we understand.

But if you're newer, that might be new terminology

for you. So I wanted to dive a little bit into

that. So what we're gonna do is... Nick laughed

at me when I put my notes back there. He's like

we're gonna be here all morning I said no, we're

gonna move through this fast What are we gonna

do is I'm gonna I want you to have from the word

the Old Testament basic understanding of the

importance of wells in the Old Testament And

then we're gonna transition that into the New

Testament, okay? So you'll want a notebook in

your Bible this morning, because you're gonna

need to write these down, because we're gonna

move through them quickly. But how many of you,

I think there might be a couple of you in here

that would say, my dream life, if I could do

anything and had unlimited resources, would be

to begin and live on a homestead. I would like

to just. Yeah, a couple of you. I think most.

Oh quite a few of you. Connie really? Nathaniel

do you? Nathaniel shaking his head no. I'm trying

to envision you Connie having a homestead. I

don't know. As long as she doesn't have to go

outside. What she means is Nathaniel she would

like you to start the homestead and she could

just dwell in whatever dwelling you build for

her. That's right. So, Alexandra and I like to

watch this show called Homestead Rescue. Has

anybody ever seen Homestead Rescue? The Alaskan

family that comes all over the United States

to people who we believe, and we get a little

critical, quite honestly. We're like, have you

ever watched a YouTube? I mean, I feel like I

could because I watch enough YouTube videos on

the subject. There's some basic things I feel

like I could go and do. And so some of these

people that they have to go and rescue, we are

like, what is your problem? What were you? Like

they had a romantic idea of leaving the city

and living off grid. And then what happens is

they don't know what they're doing. I'm like,

really? I thought some basic research on how

to grow a garden might, you know, at least grow

a garden. And so they come in and they rescue.

Honestly, I don't know how they do it. I would

be too much like exasperated with people, but

they're invested in their homestead. So they

come in and they get them set up to succeed on

their homestead. And every time, here's what

the issues come down to. The issues come down

to their inability to hunt or trap animals or

raise animals. Or they might raise animals, but

when it comes time to harvesting the animals,

there's a problem. Or the garden, they cannot

successfully grow a garden. So they cannot provide

food for themselves. The other major issue that

you find is they cannot provide a water source.

Almost every time, it's one of these two issues.

They cannot provide food for themselves and they

have no water source. And there cannot be a successful

homestead where there is no food and where there

is no water. I mean... We do. We sometimes just

laugh and disbelieve over some of these. I mean,

some have legit issues, okay, but some of them

I'm just like, come on, watch a YouTube video.

That's all you need to do. This morning we're

going to talk about the importance of wells in

our life. And so we're going to walk through

here really quickly at the beginning because

I want to get where we're going at the end. So

there are five wells in the Old Testament that

we're going to take a brief moment to look at.

Okay, the first one is the well of being seen

and accepted. This is the first well that we

see in the Bible, and that is in Genesis chapter

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

16. This is the account of Hagar, and if you

know the backstory, you know the promise God

gave Abraham for a son, and then he and Sarai

could not have a child. So Sarai got tired of

waiting on God and said, here, take my servant

and have a child with her. That will be my child.

And so she sends Hagar into Abraham and they

have a child, Ishmael. And once she gets pregnant,

Sarai, unfortunately, begins to resent Hagar

and to be jealous of Hagar and to treat her poorly.

And so Hagar runs away from Sarai. She flees.

And so we take up the account in verse 6 of Genesis

16. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar, so she fled

from her. The angel, I'm skipping around in this

chapter, The angel of the Lord found Hagar near

a spring. A spring is also used interchangeably

with a well, and later on in the chapter it's

called a well. Near a spring in the desert, she

gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her.

So the angel came and visited her at this well.

And in response, she named This well you are

the god who sees me for she said I have now seen

the one who sees me This is that is why the well

was called beer the high Roy the god who sees

Hagar had only known unfair treatment and rejection

There is something and that was all she needed

in that moment Was to know is the angel the Lord

came to her God sees me Because when God sees

her God accepts her and God takes away the rejection

that she's been under This is I didn't understand

the power of this really until After I had my

first two, my plan in life was to have two kids.

I got a boy and I got a girl, and I was happy.

And a couple of years later, the Lord began to

speak to me about having more children. And that

was on a Friday, and I said, I don't want to

have more children. But the Lord spoke it in

such a way, I knew he was asking me. I was like,

oh, no. And he said to me, I don't want you to

talk to anybody about this till you decide if

you're going to obey. And so I had a lady I was

praying with weekly and I knew I wasn't supposed

to say a word to her. Sunday night, we had a

church fellowship and she came up to me and she

said, Cami, I've been praying for you. The Lord

has spoken to me that you're in a battle and

it has to do with children. And He wants you

to know that He sees you. That's all she said.

That was all I needed to hear. And I said, yes,

Lord. There was something, there was a power

in knowing God sees me. He sees what He is, it

is empowering to do the hard things that He calls

us to do in life when we know He sees us. Because

really that's all I need in life, is to be seen

by my father. To be seen, to have his attention

upon me. You ever see kids, a lot of kids act

out, why? Because they're trying to get attention

from somebody. Might be a discipline issue, but

sometimes they just need to be seen by the adults,

right? There's something in us that was created

to be seen. And for Haggar, the Lord told her,

he said, you need to go back to Sarai. You need

to go back to your place of hardship, to your

place of unfair treatment. How many of you have

ever been treated unfairly? By family, by a job?

God sends her back to the place of unfair treatment

and she's able to do it why because He saw her

and it empowered her There's something in knowing

that God sees you and I feel like that's the

beginning place often for us and our faith journey

is To be at the well where you encounter him

And no, he's not looking and seeing your neighbor

next to you. Everybody look at your neighbor.

He's not looking at your neighbor. Darren, you

tell me to do this stuff all the time and you're

not looking at a neighbor. He's rebellious. He's

acting out. He needs attention. is true. He gets

honoring when he needs attention. Now I forgot

what I was saying. Okay, so God's not, he's not

looking at your neighbor and saying, oh, I see

Abigail. I don't see Vanessa. No, he's looking

at you. Right now, he sees you. He's not valuing

somebody next to you more than he's valuing you.

His son died for you. He sees you. He sees you.

This is the well of acceptance where he says,

all are welcome at my well. All are welcome to

this place of encounter. So our first well, the

well of being seen. The next well is the second

well of visitation for Haggard. And so Haggard's

story continues. And this is the well of provision.

And so Hagar had gone back, right, and gotten

pregnant, had the baby, and still Sarah is having

issues with this. And she can just no longer

take it anymore. And she says, send that woman

away. I don't want her in my household. Send

him away. Send her away. And so we come to Genesis

21. And so after, you know, Abraham really just

should have stood up to his wife. But early the

next morning, Abraham took some food and a skin

of water, this is verse 14, and gave them to

Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and sent

her off with the boy. She went on her way and

wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the

water in the skin was gone, She put the boy under

one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat

down about a bow shot away, for she thought,

I cannot watch the boy die. And as she sat there,

she began to sob. All the mama hearts can understand

that, right? God heard the boy crying, and the

angel of God again called to Hagar from heaven

and said to her, What is the matter, Hagar? Do

not be afraid. I love the perspective of heaven

is so different God has heard the boy crying

as he lies there Lift the boy up and take him

by the hand for I will make him into a great

nation Then God opened her eyes and she saw a

well of water So she went and filled the skin

with water and gave the boy a drink I think that

her eyes were so, how many of you have cried

so much your eyes just get swollen shut, right?

Her eyes were so consumed by her tears. All she

could see was the despair that she was in and

her son was in. Because man's provision had already

failed her, right? Abraham had sent her out with

provision. But it was not enough and it never

will be. Man's provision will never ever be enough.

You will come to the end of man's provision,

of this world's provision. It will take you only

so far and then you find yourself saying, what

now? We're left to die. All along, though, there

was a well. She couldn't see it, but there was

a well. And in that moment, heaven opened over

her and began to speak over her. And suddenly,

she finds herself at another well. The well of

compassion. He had compassion for their desperate

place. for their destitution. You know God has

a well for you in your place of lack, in your

place of destitution. Maybe it's a destitution

of relationships. You have no relationships and

you're lonely. Maybe it is a financial, maybe

it is a physical. There's a well of provision

that He gives. But what it takes is us censoring

ourselves around the well and not the provision

of man. I just discovered that I had some blood

work and found out I have like a thyroid that's

in the tank. Like it's way off almost to the

top of the chart. And Darren was praying for

me last night and because I have a hole I deep

dived into. all about thyroid, and I've got a

whole protocol I've got myself on. I've got to

make a note to know what I've got to do. And

so I'm faithful to steward it, but do you know,

there's a supernatural well for me that will

refill it, that will restore it, that I put my

trust in. Man's things will take me so far, and

then there is the provision of heaven. And so

I position myself around the well of provision.

So we have our first well was the well of being

seen, the second well the well of provision,

and our third well, and this is good news for

you, I've named this well the well of yes and

amen promises. How many of you have promises

that God has given you and years later you are

still waiting? You know He spoke to you. you've

yet to see it come to pass. Well today you can

be encouraged. We're going to look at Genesis

24. Eventually Abraham and Sarah had their own

child, the promised child who was Isaac, and

there came the time that they wanted a wife for

Isaac. And so Abraham sends out His servant to

find a wife for Isaac and So I love what his

servant does his servant obviously knew the ways

of their household and in 24 verse 42 The servant

came to the spring So he found the well in town

and he said Lord God of my master Abraham If

you will, please grant success to the journey

on which I have come. See, I am standing beside

this spring. If a young man comes out to draw

water, and I say to her, please let me drink

a little from your jar, and if she says to me,

drink, and I'll draw water for your camels, too.

That's a big job. That's a lot of water. Let

her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master's

son. Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebecca

came out with her jar on her shoulder, went down

to the spring, drew up water and said, I said

to her, please give me a drink. She quickly lowered

her jar and said, drink and I'll water your camels

too. He immediately went to the home of Rebecca.

Rebecca became Isaac's wife. This is the well

of where God's promises that he made to you are

yes and amen. So let them be You receive a prophetic

word and you're believing for it God speaks direction

over your life over your future and you have

yet to see it come to pass What you need is not

to in your own strength and ability fulfill God's

promises what you need to find is a well Abraham's

servant could have gone door to door, knocking,

looking for relatives of Abraham. He could have,

in his own mind, come up with a plan of action

to find a wife, you know, matchmaker .com. He

could have done something like that, but he didn't.

He went and he found a well. And he trusted that

God would, in that place, at that well. Bring

the yes and the amen. God's promises for you

are not fulfilled in your own strength, in your

own abilities. They are fulfilled at the well.

They are fulfilled at the well. If his servant

had not found the well, He would have missed.

He would have missed the provision of the Lord,

the fulfillment that the Lord had for Isaac's

wife. And so don't get discouraged over these

promises. You just say, I'm going to stay at

this well until Lord you send it. I'm going to

stay at the well of your presence until the fulfillment

comes. Okay, that takes us into well number four.

We're moving through these fast to get somewhere

Genesis 26 This is still his son Isaac and Isaac

we're gonna come back to this passage a little

later on but Isaac He went up to bear Sheba and

that night the Lord appeared to him And he said,

I am the God of your father Abraham. And what

he's doing here is he is reaffirming the covenant

that he had made to his father Abraham, to Isaac.

And he says, don't be afraid for I am with you.

I will bless you and will increase the number

of your descendants for the sake of my servant

Abraham. In response to that encounter, here's

what Isaac did. He built an altar there and he

called on the name of the Lord. This is how we

see them worshipping the God of Abraham in those

days. They would build an altar and they would

call in the name of the Lord. This was their

act of worship. And so he did that. The first

thing he did was build an altar and then it says

he pitched his tent and there his servants dug

a well. Dug a well. This is my favorite well

the well of worship and encounter There's just

really nothing else this for me. This well is

not about what I can get from God This is a well

of where I can worship him. This is the well

where I can just enjoy his presence I Love this

well He pitched his tent and he there if you're

going to listen digging a well is no easy thing

it's not like we have the drills that we have

nowadays right can you imagine digging a well

is a big deal but digging down through bedrock

to get to the water table and so this is no easy

task but he was committed he had encountered

god at this place And now this place was a sacred

place. So he pitched a tent and he dug a well.

He said, I'm driving my roots down right here.

The well of worship and encounter. Man, visit

this well, live in this well. This should be

a well that's day in and day out of your life.

The place of encounter. Which leads us to the

last one that I'm going to briefly touch on the

well of refreshment We come later on to the Israelites

and their exodus from Egypt in Exodus 15 and

You know, this was a great wilderness. They were

often hungry. They were often thirsty But in

chapter 15 verse 27, it says that they came to

Elam where there were 12 springs of water and

70 palms. This is the well that enables us in

Psalm 84, 6 to pass through the valley of weeping,

where they make it a place of springs and of

pools of refreshment. How does that happen? Because

There's a well that God gives of refreshment.

It's a well for you to drink from. And so these

are wells that we find, and they're literal wells,

but they're places of God encounters as well.

Right? You can drink actual water from these

wells, but they were also these God encounter

places. In the New Testament, there are two wells,

and this is where we're going. And you can't

get to the second well unless you go to the first

well. And the first well is found in John chapter

four. And I'm gonna be moving around in here,

but we're gonna start in verse six. This is where

Jesus comes and he meets the Samaritan woman

at a well. His disciples have gone in to get

him food and he comes to Samaria and he sits

at the well of Jacob. And in verse 6, it says,

Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey,

sat thus by the well of Jacob. It was about the

sixth hour, and a woman of Samaria came to draw

water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink,

for his disciples had gone to buy food. And the

woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that

you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan

woman? For Jews had no dealing with Samaritans.

They would have nothing to do with each other.

A huge racial issue right here. And Jesus sees

her. She's not used to being seen, especially

by men or by Jews. And Jesus sees her. Jesus

answered and said, If you knew the gift of God

and who it is who says to you, give me a drink,

you would have asked him and he would have given

you living water. And then the woman said, I

have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.

Where then do you get that living water? Are

you greater than our father Jacob who gave us

the well and drank from it himself? as well as

his sons and livestock. Jesus answered and said,

whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I have will

never thirst. But the water that I shall give

him will come in him a fountain of water springing

up into everlasting life. And the woman said,

Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst

nor come here to draw it. And then Jesus gets

real personal with her. He's offering her the

gift of salvation. But in order to do that, he

has to touch on some things in her lives. How

many of you, when you came to salvation, the

Lord had to touch on some things in your life,

right? And he still has to touch on things in

my life. But he says, go call your husband and

come here. And she says, I have no husband. And

Jesus says, you have well said, I have no husband,

for you have five husbands. You have had five

husbands. And the one whom you now have is not

your husband. In that you spoke truly. And the

woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are

a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on that. Actually,

let's stop there and go over. to verse 28. So

she perceives he's a prophet in verse 28. They

have a whole nother conversation, but in verse

28, it says after her encounter with Jesus, she

left her water pot, went into the city and said

to the men, come see a man who told me all things

that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Then

they went out of the city and came to him. And

so she brought all the men of the city out to

see Jesus. What was she doing in that moment?

She was testifying. She was evangelizing. Go

over to verse 39. After the conclusion of this,

It says, many of the Samaritans of that city

believed in him because of the word of the woman

who testified, he told me all that I ever did.

So when the Samaritans had come to him, they

urged him to stay with them and he stayed two

days and many more believed because of his own

word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe

not because of what you said, For we ourselves

have heard of Him, and we know that this is indeed

the Christ, the Savior of the world. Hallelujah.

This is what all the other wells build up to.

This is the whole enchilada. It is salvation

that has been given at this well. And this woman

had been thirsty. She was so thirsty she had

tried to find in all of these husbands and men

Something that would satisfy her and she couldn't

find it Until she encountered the Christ the

Savior of the world This is the well This is

the well that you cannot move beyond This is

the well that satisfies the longing of your heart

the longings You don't even understand but have

been put inside of you to be satisfied by the

Christ He says to drink deep Drink deep of the

salvation. I love in Isaiah It says come all

you who are thirsty come to the waters you have

no money Come buy eat Come by wine and milk without

cost." And again, he calls out and says, with

joy you will draw from the water the wells of

salvation. Listen to me, if you are here this

morning and you've said, I have never drank of

these waters. I have a thirst that I've been

trying to satisfy and I just can't seem to quench

it. There are waters available for you all are

welcome at the wells of salvation and He would

love for you today to draw deep and to drink

from the well of salvation Once we have drank

of the well of salvation though Here's here's

where we're gonna land this next well of the

New Testament And so a couple of weeks ago, Dennis

gave this word. And it says, the word that came

was, the Lord would say, surely that there is

a fresh well that is beginning to flow. It will

soon gush forth with the oil of the spirit that

the world has not known before. It will bring

forth fresh revelation, fresh understanding,

fresh flow of the spirit that the nations have

not experienced before. Reformation will come

forth in a mighty way that the world has not

known. For surely those who would want to stand

by the old, the old was for an appointed time,

for an appointed season. Although the source

is the same, it is going to be a fresh revelation

of the Spirit of God that the world has not known.

Come and drink, come and be transformed, come

and be renewed by the power of the Spirit, says

the Lord. We were going through this on Tuesday

night at our leader meeting and and Katherine

was pointing out to me that this is not a well

of water in this word But it is a well of oil

of the Holy Spirit And once we have drank of

the wells of salvation What was the first question

that the apostles would ask in the book of Acts?

They would come unto groups of new believers

and they would say, have you received the gift

of the Holy Spirit? It was the first question

they would ask. Have you received this gift?

The well of oil. And you're not going to necessarily

find this term, the well of oil, but really all

a well is, is a source, right? It's a source.

And Jesus, when he was doing his ministry, after

he was baptized, he went into the temple and

he began to read in the temple from the book

of Isaiah. And he read, the spirit of the Lord

is on me because he has anointed me. He anointed

me to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim

freedom to the prisoners, recovery of sight for

the blind, the oppressed free, to proclaim the

year of the Lord's favor. But he was anointed

to do that. How did they anoint in the Old Testament?

It wasn't just these little bottles, man. They

poured on the oil. There that oil was gonna Everybody

knew the priests have been anointed the king

had been anointed with oil it permeated I Mean

even one little dot of this and you'll know you

were anointed with oil today and they were permeated

with it and So Jesus was saying I have been anointed

by who the Spirit of God anointed me. And so

when we talk about oil, what the association

is in the word is with the Holy Spirit. Because

it was the Holy Spirit, nobody poured oil on

him, the Holy Spirit came down upon him and anointed

him. And so we see that the the oil in the Holy

Spirit that Association and so Jesus he was ascending

into heaven after he died and Resurrected and

he said this you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit comes on you And you will be my witnesses

in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends

of the earth. And in fact, Jesus said in John

14, these things that I'm doing, you're gonna

do even greater things. You're gonna do even

greater things. What I want us to see is that...

After we have drank of the wells of salvation,

there is the oil of anointing, the oil of the

Holy Spirit that is now available for us. And

just as it anointed Jesus to proclaim freedom

and set people free, it is what he has anointed

us to do. It is what he has sent his Holy Spirit

to do. to empower us to be witnesses, to move

outside these walls and for the Holy Spirit,

the oil of the Holy Spirit. Just as it would

permeate those kings and those priests when you're

at work, so should the oil of the Holy Spirit

permeate your life. The aroma of the oil should

be very evident in your home, should be very

evident in your workplace, should be evident

in your school, wherever you are, the oil of

the Holy Spirit. it should be evident that we've

been filled with and touched and baptized with

His Spirit. The oil, the well of oil is the Holy

Spirit. And so Jesus, Jesus said in Matthew 25,

He had just been teaching the previous chapter

about the end times, about His second coming.

about one that we haven't seen yet, his return

for this church. And so in the next chapter,

he says, at that time, here's what it's gonna

be like. The kingdom of heaven is gonna be like

10 virgins who took their lamps. and went out

to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish, five

were wise. Five took their lamps but no other

oil. Five took their lamps and brought oil and

jars. And so the bridegroom was a long time in

coming. And so what began to happen, they became

drowsy, they fell asleep. And then at midnight

came the cry, the bridegroom is coming, the bridegroom

is coming. Oh, what began to happen, the foolish

ones ran out of oil. And so they turned to the

wise ones and they say, give us some of your

oil. And the wise, like, sorry, we only have

enough for us. You need to go buy oil. By that

time, it was too late. The bridegroom had come

and taken them and the doors had shut. Listen,

your person sitting next to you, cannot give

you the oil that you need. Teenagers, you can't

rest on the oil of the Holy Spirit of your parents.

You guys gotta be filled. Kids, you gotta be

filled for yourself. I cannot give my kids oil

anymore. They gotta get their own oil. As much

as that hurts our hearts sometimes, it's the

truth. We cannot provide oil for others. We can

only go to the source for ourselves. Everybody

has to go to the Holy Spirit for themselves.

But I love that Jesus at the end of time is saying

here, are you going to be a foolish or a wise

virgin? The wise ones are carrying oil. The chief

concern for these virgins while they waited for

the bridegroom was that they would have light.

Right? It wasn't enough. They just had the oil.

They had the lamp that the oil filled so that

what? The light could be shining forth while

they waited. Are we connecting the dots here?

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit that you would be

a light. And he then becomes the source. for

the light, the oil for the light. Our chief concern

as we await the return of Christ is light, is

being a source of light for our world, and that

requires oil. We cannot be our own source. We

cannot be the source for the light The call is

for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be

a witness and So we have to keep drinking because

what happens in those lights they do they burn

the oil And as you are sharing the light If you

are not continually drawing from the source,

from the well of oil, you will burn out. The

source has to flow through you to be a light.

And so, finally, I want us to see the importance

of these wells, because we have an enemy That

desires to stop up your well to cut you off from

your source When we read in Genesis 26 About

Isaac remember pitching his tent If you go back

to that verse what he had been doing up until

that point was reopening the wells of Abraham

Abraham had dug a lot of wells And then the Philistines

had come in and stopped up all of his wells.

And so Isaac was going through the land and he

was reopening the wells of his father. There

are wells of our forefathers. There are sources

that are important that the enemy would love

to stop up in your life. If he can cut you off

from the filling of the Holy Spirit from the

source of oil, if he can cut you off from the

wells of salvation, this is what he wants to

do. This will knock you out if he's able to stop

up your wells. On October 31st, how many of you

are history buffs? Any history buffs? Really,

not very many of you. I'm surprised. Well, you're

getting a little history here. October 31st,

1917 was the Battle of Beersheba in World War

I. And this is actually one of It's remembered

as the last great cavalry charge of history.

And so they were in battle and the Allies had

tried a couple of times to take this ground of

Beersheba. And the importance of it is this.

There were 17 wells. in the city of Beersheba.

There were 17 wells. It was a water source. And

all around them was a desert. And they had tried

a couple of times to take it and had not succeeded

until an Australian force rose up and said, we're

going to do this. And so the Australian Light

Horse Company executed a daring charge, riding

four miles in the desert under machine fire.

Four miles under machine fire. They did lose

a great number, but they are famous for using

their bayonets as swords to take the town and

capture the wells. For Australia, it's their

moment of fame. Because they taking that city

and those wells changed the course of World War

I. It really is what enabled England to come

in and to finish off the war. It turned the tide

and it had a lasting political landscape. for

the Middle East, laying the groundwork for the

return of Israel. All over water wells. All over

water source. Your enemy wants to cut you off

from your source. And there has to be this same

kind of tenacity as the Australian light horse.

company to say, I'm not letting my source get

cut. I'm going to be like Isaac and I'm going

to pitch my tent and I'm going to drive down

deep. And I'm going to, I think about, I think

about all of the believers in this region before

us decades and decades ago that have prayed prayers

for this region. That we are praying. prayers

of. Do you know what those are? Those are wells.

And every time we pray, we pray in, we are reopening

those wells for this land. For those of you that

came to our newcomers class last week, you heard

the story of us moving here and finding out that

Darren's great -grand - Was it your great -grandfather?

Your grandfather? Great -grandfather, Airy Vanderhorst,

had been a president over at Lincoln College.

We didn't know that until we moved here. There

was a great move of God that happened on that

campus the years he was the president. What is

that for us? That is a well. That is a well.

Gary and Kathy worked hard re -digging those

wells as we dig Chi Alpha on that campus. That

was in 1930. There are wells. There are wells.

My father dug a well for our family when he came

to Christ. He dug a well for my family. The enemy

wants to stop up those wells so that future generations

can't benefit from them. There has to be a tenacity

in us that says I am not going to settle. I am

going to live my life around the source, around

the source, around I will release the Holy Spirit.

It doesn't matter. My kids have to choose for

the well for themselves, but my responsibility

is to camp us out as a family at the well. My

job as a parent was to make sure we were drinking

from the well as a family. Then comes the moment

they've got to choose for themselves. But as

much as in my power, I'm gonna make sure there's

an open well, an open source for my family and

for every person that the Lord brings. Now listen,

there is, we are living in this time and I love

the word that came. that Dennis brought. And

in 2 Chronicles, if the team wants to begin to

come up now, at 2 Chronicles chapter 26, we have

2 Chronicles 26 · chapter mention

King Uzziah. And he started out as a really great

king. He ended up in pride, but he started as

a great king. And it says in verse 9 that Uzziah

built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate

and the valley gate and at the angle of the wall,

and he fortified them. He also built towers in

the wilderness and it says this he dug many cisterns

Because he had much livestock in the foothills

and in the plane and He because he also had a

lot of people working in his fields in his vineyards.

So he needed a lot of water sources We are living

We are living in a culture that requires many,

many water sources. It is a dry land out there.

And it isn't enough to say, oh, the pastors can

be the water sources. No, you have been filled

with the Spirit of God. You are a source for

this community. We need everybody to be filled

as a source for our community, filled into overflowing

in your light shining. And so this morning, I

want us in this moment, There may have been,

as we went through these wells, a certain well

that just gripped you for now. But ultimately,

what the mission, the heart of God is, is that

we be wells filled with the oil of the Spirit

so that we would shine in this world, so that

we would have power for living, so that you would

have power to overcome your difficulties so that

you would have power to overcome what the enemy

would try to bring against you. So that you would

have power to overcome in your family troubles.

So you would have power to overcome in your physical

troubles. So you would have power to overcome

in your workplace troubles. You don't have to

struggle. You don't have to struggle in lack,

you have been filled with the Spirit of God.

You have in you what is needed. You have become

a well yourself. You have become a well yourself.

And so this morning, this morning, what I'm asking

is that we would all in some way in our heart,

just respond to the Lord. And so I want you to

just stand with me for a moment. And the first

thing I want us to do is, listen, if you have

never drank from the wells of salvation, today

is your day to do that. Today is your day to

say yes to the living water that Jesus offers

you. And so before we go any further, I want

us to all just pray this together. And if that

is you, I want you in sincerity of heart to join

with us in this prayer. Lord Jesus. We acknowledge

that we need you. Without you, we have no source

of life. And so we receive your life -giving

waters. We draw upon your salvation, and we receive

it as our own. I choose you, Lord. I choose your

waters of salvation. I'm pitching my tent at

the well, and I will not be moved. In Jesus'

name. If you prayed that today, we want to know.

And so, at the end of the service, either one

of the elders or Darren and I, come and tell

us that you prayed that prayer, because we want

to help you. in that. And now for the rest of

us, I want us for a moment, Brianna's gonna lead

us in a moment of worship, and I want us to just

take a fresh drink from the oil of the Holy Spirit.

I know some of you are, you need it desperately.

Life has sucked you dry situations have sucked

you dry and for a few moments You just need to

be filled up again with the Holy Spirit And so

if as we worship you need some people to pray

with you We want to pray with you that you would

be have a fresh Infilling of the Holy Spirit

the oil of his spirit for you. He's longing to

source you He's longing to give. He wants to

give you more than you could ask or imagine.

And so as we worship, hey, life will continue

on in a few moments, but for the next 10 minutes

or so, let's just say, fill me again. Fill me

again, Holy Spirit. And so Brianna, lead us here

just for a moment. If you need a prayer, I want

you to just come up to the altar. We would love

to pray with you this morning.