Living Water- Pastor Andrew Maneval

Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church. Well good morning.

How's everybody doing this morning? Oh that was pretty weak. I think you can do

better. Good morning. How's everybody doing this morning? There we go. That's

much better. Thank you so much. Well I just wanted to first off introduce myself

for those of you that may not know me. I think I know everybody in the house this

morning. For those of you that may not know me, my name is Andrew Manable and I have

the privilege of being the student ministries pastor here with my wife

Alicia, my two girls Nora and Lucy. Lucy's up in Kiddtown. Nora's right here on

the front row with my wife. But it's a privilege to be here. It's great to be

here this morning with you. But this morning I got to start off with a

confession. I have been known and accused from time to time of using some off-the-wall

idioms and sayings. Pastor Eric has called me out on this numerous times. My

wife has called me out on this numerous times and said nobody talks like that,

right? Anybody else use some crazy sayings? Yes, thank you, Doc. I appreciate

that. Okay, I'm not alone. Thank you. Yes, fantastic. Some of my personal

favorites. Here we go. If something's not very good, I eat something or saw a

movie that wasn't very good, I might say that's nothing to write home about.

Right? Okay, okay, you're with me. Or if my daughter Lucy is getting real excited,

she's real hyped up about something, I'll say Lucy, hold your horses or cool

your jets. Hold her horse. She's six now. She's getting a little smart. So

she says, like this dad, and holds her horses. But one of my personal favorites,

if someone's telling me a story, telling me a joke, the punchline's not very good,

or the story drags on forever, I'm like, man, that was a long walk for a short

drink of water. I looked that one up online. I couldn't find who originated

that, so I'm not gonna take credit for it, but the author is unknown, so it might be

me. We'll have to see. But this morning I want to look at a passage of Scripture

where Jesus goes on a long walk to give someone a not so short drink of water.

This morning we're gonna be in John chapter 4 starting in verse 1, but before

John 4 · chapter mention

we open our Bibles to that, I'm gonna pray over the Word of God here this

morning. Heavenly Father, God I thank you for your Word. God I thank you that it is

sharper than any two-edged sword. God that it opens soul and spirit. God, bone

and marrow, as your Word says. God that you would just use it to illuminate our

lives. God that you would reveal yourself to us through your Word here this morning,

and it is in your name we pray, amen. Well if you heard me preach before, you know

anytime I get into the Word, I'm gonna give you the context. I'm gonna give you

the context of John 4 this morning. We know that the gospel of John was written

by the Apostle John, one of the first 12 called by Jesus. We also know that the

gospel of John is not one of these synoptic gospels. Synoptic just means

that the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all very similar. They share a

similar point of view, a similar perspective. John is a little bit

different in the way that it's written, in its style, and in its context, and

things like that, but synoptic just means it has the same general point of view. We

also see in John chapter 4 that Jesus is gaining in his ministry, he's

John 4 · chapter mention

gaining in notoriety with the Pharisees and the religious leaders. He's also

gaining in recognition by other ministry people, by John the Baptist and his

disciples and his followers. Well if you got your Bibles this morning, like I

said we're gonna be in John 4. If not, the words will be on the screen as well,

to the passage as well, but let's pick up in John 4 starting in verse 1. It says,

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard he was baptizing and making more disciples

than John. That's John the Baptist. Though Jesus himself didn't baptize them,

his disciples did. So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through

Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near

the village that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus,

tired from the long walk, sat warily beside the well about noontime. Soon a

Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, please give me a

drink. Soon and he was alone at the time because his disciples had

gone into the village to buy some food. We see in the start of this passage of

scripture that Jesus has left the area of Judea, the city of Jerusalem more

specifically, and he's headed back to Galilee, back to his hometown, right? Back

to where he grew up. We see that in verse 4 it says that he had to go through

Samaria. So if you look at a map, if you pull up a map, and I think I got a

slide in this for this. So if you see Judea is the orange section in the

bottom, Samaria is in blue, and Galilee is to the north there in the yellow. Well

Samaria is on a direct route between Judea and Galilee, but here's what's

crazy about this is most Jewish people would actually travel through the green

section, Peria, around Samaria to go to Galilee. That's because the Samaritans

and the Jewish people had a long-standing history of not liking each

other. See the Samaritans were actually a mixed race people group. You can pull the

slide on, that's fine. I'm done with the map. Thank you. The Samaritans were

actually a mixed race people group. They were half Israelite and they were half

pagan and heathen groups in the area, and the Israelites looked at them as half

breeds. They look at them as not true Israelites. Well the Samaritans thought

of themselves as the true Israelites. The Samaritans are claimed descendants from

Jacob and they actually made their specific place of worship Mount Gezrim in

Samaria where the Jews worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem. So the text says

that Jesus had to go through Samaria. The only reason that Jesus had to go

through Samaria was because he knew that he was going to meet this woman at the

well. Because the road that everyone took wasn't right through Samaria to go to

Galilee, Jesus intentionally took that route to go see this woman. Jesus knew

that he would encounter this woman at the well and he had to be there. John 4

9 picks up, says the woman was surprised for Jews refused to have anything to do

with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman,

why are you asking me for a drink? Jesus replied, if you only knew the gift God

has for you and who you were speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you

living water. I want you to bump your neighbor this morning, give him a little elbow, give him a

little tap and say living water. That's the title of our sermon this morning, my

sermon this morning. And we find this passage of scripture is a couple

interesting things here. The woman is at the well at noontime, about noontime it

says, or the sixth hour depending on your translation. And this is

unusual for a couple of different reasons. The first one is because noontime

is the hottest time of the day, the sun is at its highest in the sky,

scientifically it's the hottest time of the day. If you've been outside this week

at noontime you're probably wishing you weren't, right? But in this in this

culture, in this region, the climate of the Middle East, for those of us that

have never been there, I looked it up, it's a desert. It's like sticking your

head inside an oven at noontime, right? Which doesn't make sense why you would

do the manual labor of collecting water, because they collected water in heavy

ceramic jugs strung across ropes or sticks that they would carry to carry

gallons of water. It was hard manual labor. The second reason that this is

unusual is because the woman was alone. This was normally a social event. This

was normally an event where multiple women from the village, neighbors and

family members would gather together. They would walk together to the well to

gather water, to bring it back, and they would have conversation and I'm sure

laughs and tell stories along the way. So why then does Jesus find this woman

alone at the well? Our passage goes on and it continues and it explains a bit

why this woman was all by herself. Jump back in John 4 verse 11, but sir you

John 4:11

don't have a rope or a bucket, she said, and this well is very deep. Where would

you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're a greater than our

ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and

his sons and his animals enjoyed? Jesus replied, anyone who drinks this water

will soon become thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I give will

never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving

them eternal life. Verse 15, please sir, the woman said, give me this water that

I'll never be thirsty again and I won't have to come here to get water. Go and

get your husband, Jesus told her. I don't have a husband, the woman replied. Jesus

said, you're right, you don't have a husband, for you have had five husbands

and you aren't even married to the man that you're living with now. You

certainly spoke the truth. Due to life circumstances, this woman has found

herself being previously married five times and currently not living with

her husband. She's not married to this man that she's

living with. She would have been a social outcast even in Samaria and that's why

she's alone at the well. That's why she's alone when she gets to meet Jesus, but I

love what Jesus does here. Jesus doesn't condemn her, Jesus doesn't

belittle her, no none of that. Actually the opposite really. Jesus does what He

does best. He starts talking about spiritual things using physical concepts

and physical terms and he uses the analogy of water. He's at the well and he

asked for a drink, right? Simple enough request, but then he shifts this

conversation to spiritual things, to the things of the

kingdom. He says to the woman in verse 10, if you only knew the gift that God has

for you, he's talking about spiritual things now, and who you were speaking to,

you would ask me and I would give you living water. Living water. Water is

important to human life. Without it, we would simply not exist as we know it,

right? According to the NIH, human beings can only go about three days without

water, not very long. A human being is approximately 60% water, 60% of a

person's body weight is water. That means if I weighed 200 pounds, 60% of that

would be 120 pounds. That's approximately 55 and a half liters of water. The earth's

surface is about 71% covered in water. Water is important stuff, right? But what

is this living water that Jesus talks about? What is Jesus talking about here?

I think before we can understand this passage, we must understand what living

water is. From context, we can pull clues in and we can begin to understand what

Jesus is saying here. Here's what we know. The first thing we know is that Jesus

offers it to the woman. He said if you only knew the gift that God had for you

and who you were speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water.

We also know that it gives us eternal life and quenches our spiritual thirst.

John 4, 14, but those who drink this water I give will never be thirsty again.

It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life. Talk about

water, I'm thirsty this morning. We see Jesus reference living water here. Again,

later in the Gospel of John, and this is where we find our answer. Later in John,

in the book of John, chapter 7, we see Jesus and his disciples are at the

John 7 · chapter mention

festival of Booth, the festival of Tabernacles, which was one of the Jewish

festivals that they celebrated. Jesus and his disciples are there and

that's where we find our answer to what is living water. If you flip over to

John 7, 37, there's a couple pages there in John. I love hearing those pages turn.

That's awesome. John 7, 37 says, on the last day, the climax of the festival,

Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, anyone who is thirsty may come to me.

Anyone who believes in me may come and drink, for the scripture declares rivers

of living water will flow from his heart. When he said living water, he was

speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone who believed in him.

But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into

his glory. From that passage of scripture, we can understand and we can know that

the living water that Jesus offers is the Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus as

our personal Lord and Savior, when we recognize what he did for us, we receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. As believers, we have God

in the form of the Holy Spirit residing inside of us. I love the

analogy that Jesus uses here of water. He connects water and our physical

need for thirst to our spiritual need for salvation, the thirst for our souls.

Jesus makes it crystal clear. That's a pretty good water pun. I thought I'd get

a laugh out of that, never mind. He makes it crystal clear that the Holy Spirit is

available for all who believe. Jesus is inviting this woman into salvation. He's

inviting this woman into salvation. Freedom from shame and guilt that she's

been living under. Freedom from sin that she's been living under. He's offering

her a better way. He says, if you only knew what I had to offer. In church, that

offer is still there for us today. Jesus still invites us to come and receive the

living water of the Holy Spirit. No matter what we've done, no matter what

we've said or who we've done it to, Jesus is still calling us and inviting us to

come and drink, come and receive the Holy Spirit. I think as believers, this

is sometimes where we misunderstand and misinterpret this passage a little bit.

I've been guilty of it myself. We look at this story and say, oh this is a great

story of Jesus leading this woman to salvation. We say, that's great but that

doesn't really apply to me. I've known Jesus for years and then we just kind of

pass through this story. But see, the thing about taking a drink of water is

it makes you want more. We as believers need the Holy Spirit active in our life.

Jesus said it becomes a fresh and bubbling spring within them, giving us

eternal life. Fresh and bubbling spring, man I don't know about you but that

sounds refreshing. It's about like 90 some degrees outside right now and it's

a fresh bubbling spring sounds fantastic. But I want to do a quick side-by-side

comparison. I got two pictures of water. Both are actually water, believe it or

not, on the screen here. We have on the left side a fresh bubbling spring and on

the right side we have some nasty swampy, it's hot. You can just tell it's hot

by looking at that picture. I don't know about you but that does not look

appetizing. So which one looks better to drink, right? The clear bubbling spring,

right? Which one looks safer to drink, right? Which one looks like you'd rather

take a shower in it? I don't know about you but that green nasty stuff does not

look appealing. Nope, not at all. It's a pretty easy test, right? It's not hard to

look at and say which one's better. But church, this is where we go

astray. We choose the nasty water instead of the living water of the Holy Spirit

sometimes. We follow the guidance of the world and fall into sin, fall into all

different kinds of sin instead of following the living water that we have

inside of us. We indulge in and we drink that nasty water and we wonder why it

makes us sick. Jesus is calling us. He's saying, hey, hello, I have a better way

for you. You don't have to drink the nasty water of sin of this world. You have

living water inside of you. Jesus is saying, come and follow the Holy Spirit.

Come and follow the living water and it will quench your thirsty soul. Church, not

just the unsaved, not just the social outcasts, everyone. We all need the living

water of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus doesn't leave this woman in her sin. He

doesn't just say, you know what, that's fine for you. No, Jesus doesn't do that.

Jesus confronts this woman in her sin without belittling her, without berating

her. Our passage continues, John 4 18. It says, for you've had five husbands and you

aren't even married to the men you're living with now. You certainly spoke the

truth. Verse 19, sir, the woman said you must be a prophet, so tell me why is it

that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship? While we

Samaritans claim is here on Mount Gezrim where our ancestors worshiped. Jesus

replied, believe me dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter,

will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or

in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one that you worship,

while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. You

can almost feel the mood shift in this conversation. You can almost feel the

change in this conversation whenever Jesus brings up this woman's spiritual

condition, whenever he brings up her sin. She goes on the offensive, she goes

on the attack to him and starts to bring up these accusatory statements to Jesus

and Jesus doesn't take the bait. Jesus brings it back to a personal spiritual

conversation. So down to verse 23, but the time is coming, indeed it is here now,

this is Jesus talking, indeed it is here now when true worshipers will worship

the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will

worship him in that way, for God is spirit, so those who worship him must

worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said I know the Messiah is coming, the

one who is called the Christ and when he comes he will explain everything to us.

Then Jesus told her I am the Messiah. Jesus confronts the cultural and

preferential differences and ways of worship between the Jewish people and

the Samaritan people by stating it's not gonna matter where you worship for much

longer, it's gonna matter how you worship. Jesus is speaking and foretelling of

his own death and of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the coming of the

Holy Spirit's arrival, the living water, the Holy Spirit in us allows us to have

a direct connection with God. If you read in your Bible whenever Jesus died on the

cross for us, it says the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to

bottom. That was significant in a way that it showed that there is no longer

a barrier between man and God because of what Jesus did and because of what Jesus

did the Holy Spirit could come. So the Holy Spirit inside of us gives us the

ability to worship in spirit and in truth. We can worship and praise God and

give thanks anywhere. You can do it in your car, you can do it in church

together, you can do it at school, you can do it at your job, you can worship

anywhere because we have the Holy Spirit, we have the living water inside of us.

That's what allows us to worship in spirit and in truth. We see in verse 25

this woman is finally recognizing her need for the Messiah. She says I know the

Messiah is coming and she is eager for his arrival and up until this point

Jesus has not told anyone his true identity. He has not told anyone that he

is the Messiah, the sent one from God. He hasn't revealed to the world his divinity

yet but he tells the woman I am the Messiah, I am the Christ, the sent one

from God and the way he tells her would have been scandalous to a Jewish or

Samaritan reader of this right because in the Old Testament God revealed him

to Moses in the burning bush by saying I am who I am. When Moses said who should

I say sent me, God says tell them I am sent me. So whenever Jesus tells the

woman I am the Messiah he is clearly referencing God's revelation to Moses

in the burning bush. So he's saying I am the Messiah but I am God and I love that

the first person that Jesus reveals his divinity to that he reveals that he is

God is to a sinful woman in need of a Savior and he is offering her salvation.

Our story wraps up in John 4 27 says just then his disciples came back and

they were shocked to find him standing to standing talking to a woman but none

of them had the nerve to ask what do you what do you want with her or why are you

talking with her. The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back

to the village telling everyone come and see a man who has told me everything I

ever did. Could he possibly be the Messiah? So the people came streaming

from the village to see him. We see this woman has changed from the beginning of

this passage she now believes that Jesus is the Messiah and she runs back to the

village telling everyone who will listen that Jesus is the Messiah. She said come

and see this man because this living water is flowing out of her. Why is she

running back and telling everyone because whenever we have living water in

us it's gonna flow out of us. Water doesn't stay put very well that's why we

put it in containers like bottles and and Yeti cups and Stanley cups right we

have to put it inside of something because if you just tried to hold it it

doesn't stay put very well it's gonna flow out right and the living water of

the Holy Spirit flows out of us. We see excuse me we see three major changes in

this woman's life after she accepts Jesus. The first change we see is the

living water of the Holy Spirit inside of this woman changes her forever. She is

no longer the same no more shame and guilt no more hiding from people in fact

she's running two people. The living water changes us it cleans out the

swampy water of sin that resides in us before we know Jesus. See whenever we

accept Jesus as our personal Savior we are too changed forever we act

differently we think differently because of the Holy Spirit the living water

inside of us. Romans 12 2 says do not copy the behavior and customs of this

world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think

then you will know then you will learn to know God's will for you which is good

and pleasing and perfect. Second change we see in this woman is she begins to

worship not just how culture tells her not just how she's worshiped in the past

but the way that Jesus told her to worship because living water inside of

us will cause us to worship. Jesus said but there's a time coming when and

indeed it is here now when true worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him

in that way for God is spirit so those who worship Him must also worship in

spirit and in truth. Worshipping in spirit and in truth looked a whole lot

different than the way that the Jewish and the Samaritan people were used to

worshiping because they were used to worshiping going one place doing a

specific sacrifice doing a specific ritual and now Jesus is saying it's not

about where and what it's about how you worship because of the Holy Spirit the

living water inside of us we have that direct line to God that I talked about

we aren't confined to one place of worship but more than where we worship

it's about how we worship we can go boldly before God because of the living

water because of the Holy Spirit inside of us and thirdly we see this woman

telling everyone she can about Jesus because living water inside of us the

Holy Spirit inside of us causes us to tell others about Jesus this woman came

to the well with a water jar it says to get water to draw water from the well

and take it back she leaves it at the well and runs off to go tell people

about Jesus that's that reckless abandon that Pastor Kipp was talking about last

week if you missed last week's sermon go listen to it online shameless plug

YouTube podcast go check it out thanks faster but she drops her water jar and

runs back to town the only reason she came there was to get water but she got

more water than she bargained for she got the living water of the Holy Spirit

in that moment and she is going out to tell everyone who will listen and it

says that people came streaming to see him when the Holy Spirit changes our

lives we have a story to tell I don't care if you've been safe for 57 years

and you haven't sinned a day since right you still got a story to tell we must

tell others about what Jesus has done for us because it builds our faith and

it'll build their faith because they'll say man what God did for them he can do

for me we have to tell people about the love of God that he loves them that he

cares for them so much so that he sent Jesus to die for them we'd to tell them

about God's forgiveness and his grace I'm getting ready to close here praise

him if you'd come on up church if you'd stand with me and close this morning

actually church if you'd make your way forward this morning we're gonna pray

together here in just a moment come on down these altars are open pastor kip's

coming up at East Shore gonna call everybody forward there as well and if

you're new with us here this morning and you're asking why is the pastor calling

everybody to the front of the church that's so weird well I want to answer

that this morning because I asked that same question when I was here a million

years ago for the first time it's because it builds unity it when we pray

together when we get close together it gives us that ability for unity that's

why we call you forward not trying to make anybody feel uncomfortable just so

that we can pray together I promise I won't spit on you Justin I might I'm

sorry I'll try not to we'll say that but living water living water of the Holy

Spirit maybe you're here this morning you don't know Jesus you don't know that

living water that I'm talking about you don't know what it's like to have the

Holy Spirit inside of you Jesus's invitation to come and receive living

water to receive the Holy Spirit is still available to you if you've heard

me preach before you know it's as simple as ABC first thing you got to do is you

got to admit that you're a sinner and sin is just anything you have done that

is contrary to what God stands for means to miss the mark it was an archery term

sin the second thing you have to do is you have to believe that Jesus came to

this earth he lived a perfect life and he died on a cross for our sins for your

sins for my sins not that he stayed dead he rose again on the third day Jesus

didn't stay dead he did not stay in that tomb praise God he rose from the grave

defeating death hell in the grave giving us that direct access to God via

the Holy Spirit and the last thing you have to do you have to see you have to

confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior of your life there's a lot of people that

say Jesus is my Savior he saved me from my sins making him your Lord that's

something different Lord is a position of rank and title it means first it

means above everything else and that's where we struggle as Christians is

putting Jesus truly above everything because that means we put Jesus above

our families that means we put Jesus above our career that means we put Jesus

above our kids and that's a tough pill to swallow sometimes but that's what

Jesus asks of us the word of God says whenever we follow him with that

reckless abandon whenever we follow Jesus everything else will fall into

line if you put Jesus first your job and your family and your kids are going to

sort themselves out because of your faith in Jesus if you bow your heads

with me in prayer this morning Heavenly Father God I pray specifically right now

for any in the house who may not know you Lord if they don't know you in the

house this morning I pray that they would pray this prayer along with me Lord

I have sinned against you Jesus I have sinned against you forgive me now of my

sins God I recognize that you came to this earth that you lived a perfect life

and that you died for me and that you rose again on the third day defeating

death and paying the penalty for my sins Jesus I make you as my Lord and Savior

today God I confess that and Jesus it is in your name we pray amen and amen every

head still bowed and every eyes still closed if you prayed that prayer for the

first time this morning would you just lift your hand up put it right back down

for me tell me that you prayed that prayer that I could pray with you that I

could talk to you thank you so then I'm gonna assume that the

rest of us in this room are believers I'm assumed that the rest of us have the

Holy Spirit inside of us you have that living water maybe you're standing here

this morning and you're saying that living waters kind of just down to a

trickle or it's looking a little swampy these days Jesus's invitation is still

for us because the Holy Spirit can refresh and renew and give you a fresh

outpouring of himself inside of you and all you got to do to do that is you got

to get right with God you got to confess whatever sin you have in your life ask

God to reveal sins you may not even have known about and you can ask and you can

receive that from the Holy Spirit this morning

Heavenly Father God I thank you for your living water for your Holy Spirit inside

of us now God that you would make us right in your eyes Father forgive us of

our sins God I pray you would pour out your Holy Spirit on your people pour

out your living water on your people this morning God God I thank you for

your word God I thank you for your example of leading this woman at the

well and offering her living water God that we can follow and that Lord I thank

you that we too can receive what I pray blessings over your children in the

house this morning over your people in the house this morning God that they

would go throughout this week flowing with living water flowing with living

water Lord we pray and thank you for you are so good to us God what do we give

you glory and honor and praise and it is your precious name we pray amen and

amen pastor Kip if you come

I'm sure at this point most of you have seen the news and as I watched the

news this morning or rechecked the news from last evening a verse of scripture

came to mind Psalms 23 the Lord is my shepherd right I shall not want he makes

me to lie down in greeting pastors he leads me beside the still waters he

restores my soul right he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's

sake yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death right I

will fear no evil today there are families grieving the shooting that took

place in Butler PA yesterday with this presidential rally there are that I've

heard of and I don't know if the reports are accurate but there are at least two

they say that are deceased a third ones in critical condition and of course

former President Trump was grazed but we need be in prayer for families because

right now there's some families walking through the shadow of death right now

they're grieving and even one of our Lifehouse folks were at that rally so I

talked with them this morning and they're safe and sound but they kind of

unfolded the events that took place so we need to pray for those families as

they step through we need to pray for this country and you know these

senseless acts of violence that just continue and we know it's a you know

it's the heart it's the moral decay that comes from people who are not following

God and have no regard for human life so we need to pray for these families we

need to pray for this nation that God will you know penetrate the hearts of

people in this nation but these families that are walking truly through the

shadow of death they're again they're gonna bury relatives this week and it's

gonna affect their lives going forward from here on in and we don't even know

all the effects of that but we need to pray for them and if they don't know the

Lord you know the only thing they can comfort them at this point is the Holy

Spirit you just preached about it is the Holy Spirit himself so they may not know

God I pray at this time they look towards God because the Spirit can

minister to them in their time of grief and if they do know the Lord he's the

one that will come he's the comforter that's what the Word of God says right

so let's just bow our heads father we come before you grateful and thankful

God that we have the opportunity to come into your house but Lord we come with

heavy hearts God for families who are suffering today God who are in grief and

sorrow and Lord as a nation watches one more time in shock of what's taking place

in these acts of violence Lord we pray God that you would surround these

families Lord that you would minister to them God that you would take these

broken hearts and put them back together and Lord we know that it's only you it's

only the Holy Spirit that can come and bring any type of comfort during this

time of grief God is a nation I pray Lord that we fix our eyes on you and God we

look to you and God that we begin to hear your voice and God we begin to walk

in your ways and God Lord for your ways are far above any of man's ways and Lord

we just thank you that we can call on you and Lord we are believing and

trusting Lord for families we've not yet even heard the names of Lord and we just

pray this in Jesus name everybody said together amen amen let's this week be in

prayer for them okay thank you that this time you're dismissed take take a chance

rare take some time don't take a chance I was gonna tell you turn shake

somebody's hand take a big chance right now turn and shake somebody's hand

honestly you know just greet somebody and thank you God bless you we'll see

here next week

Thank you for tuning in to this message from LifeHouse Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message. If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with us as we love God love people every day, visit our website at www.LifeHouseChurch.com

www.LifeHouseChurch.com