Flowing Blessings: Becoming Vessels of God's Grace

"Jesus went up into the hills and he called to him Those whom he wanted and they came to him he appointed 12 designating them Apostles that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive our demons you see it he called whom he will whom he wanted and they came and he appointed 12 to be Apostles and he said I've chosen you to be with me marvelous marvelous we say yes very marvelous indeed but that was not the end of it he called them to be with himself in order that having been with him in the flesh he could send them out and send them forth to carry the message The Good Tidings the Glad Tidings to other people but others might share in the grace of the Incarnate Lord and in the saving purposes of the Eternal God." [00:18:27]

"Go this man is My Chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel I will show him how much he must suffer for my name sake what a marvelous Vision that was on the road to to Damascus we can't go into that tonight but let's simply note this it was something extraordinary not every Christian not any other Christian seems to have had this a revelation of the of the enthroned Lord Jesus Christ so that he saw him in the midst of the throne and he never got over the spectacle that Jesus was Jehovah and Jehovah was Jesus but it wasn't just for Paul to luxuriate him and talk about and dream about and think about no no no says ananas he's got to Bear my name I've chosen him before the Gentiles even their kings and the people of Israel and I'm going to show him how great things he must suffer in order to do that he's got to take something of the Marvel of it and The Wonder of it and the grace of it elsewhere I want to reach others through him." [00:20:22]

"The gospel that is given to us the gospel that is committed to us the gospel that has brought us the knowledge of God and of his grace is a gospel which has in it an inherent capacity to win to gain Victory the gospel itself has an inbuilt capacity to succeed really I'm preaching to myself now I guess more than to you you forgive me for that but you'll listen in for a little while will you but I find that I have to tell myself this very very often I know how feeble my efforts are to EXP bound and preach the gospel but this is something that comes own to me ultimately it doesn't matter on how you preach if you're proclaiming the truth of the Gospel it has this inbuilt capacity it will bless it will reach it will touch it will save amen and brothers and sisters we need to see this we on the side you see of divine power." [00:24:12]

"Now I believe that that river that uh Ezekiel Saw is a glorious picture of the Gospel of God and of his son Jesus Christ what is the gospel after all isn't it God coming forth from his Temple isn't it God coming out from his Sanctuary God coming down to planet Earth God be coming and fleshed in Jesus from the virgin's womb God becoming man and coming down and moving Among Us like a mighty River and that's what the gospel is it's God in his going forth It's God on an errand of Salvation God doing his Sovereign saving will and purpose have you looked at this picture and now please I'm only throwing out a few suggestions just read it before you go to bed tonight you'll have a good sleep after it you may not sleep for half an hour or so but when you do you'll you'll be blessed." [00:27:48]

"The gospel like the river in the passage takes its origin as we have indicated from under the threshold of the temple have you got the picture the spring of this River the source of this river is in God's Temple and there it begins to Trickle and it flows out it flows out and it moves in its own particular way past the altar of sacrifice and once it goes past the altar of sacrifice it it it just gushes out through the southern door and it moves in a certain direction so does the gospel of God where did the gospel begin brothers and sisters I don't need to remind you it wasn't a council of men and women but called forth the gospel of God it wasn't a group of the intelligencia of Greece or Ancient Rome or anybody else or any other people that called forth the gospel of God do you know where it started it originated in the heart of God himself and in his mind and in his grace and then it passed the altar of sacrifice it came via Calvary and when once it came off this side of Calvary you couldn't stop it the river gains momentum it's a river in Spate in it's moving mightily along nothing can stop it." [00:30:13]

"The remarkable thing about this river is this there are no tributaries to it in every other River a river is enriched by its tributaries not so the gospel of God the gospel of God comes in its own momentum your philosophy your bit of Theology and mind don't add anything to the gospel we don't make it go faster it's all in itself self-contained and the thing that sends the gospel forth sends it out gives it momentum it's not the preacher it's not the people it's God and you measure it 100 cubits and you're in water ankle deep and you do another Dan did I say 100 or 1,000 it's a th000 go another thousand cubits and it's up to your knees and go another thousand that is up to your thighs and go another thousand and there water to swim in you can't cross you can't cross this River what happened and it's happened all at once no tributaries and it started as a little trickle it should have it should have got less and less as it moves over the dry arid land it should have become less and less instead of becoming less and less it's becoming more and more and greater and greater you see the power of God isn't it the power of God is in it." [00:32:00]

"Now if when we've gone to the end of the river which we haven't of course and never will but if we go to the other end of the river turn back with me now come back towards the city of God and you'll see that on either side of the river man alive there are trees there were no trees there before and they're bearing fruit every season of the year every month of the year and the fruit is marvelous and the the very leaves are for the healing of the Nations there's something extraordinary about this and it all stems from the nature and the quality of the water of the river god is in it see God is in it and then to me the most wonderful thing of all is this that when it gets to the salt sea maybe the Dead Sea is going down towards the araba or maybe the sea the Mediterranean even never mind which sea the saline properties of the sea are negated by this water and the water of the sea becomes fresh and fish begin to live where fish could not live Hallelujah and it all started as a little triple under the threshold of the temple." [00:34:22]

"Jesus stood and said in a loud voice if any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink whoever believes in me as the scripture has said streams or Rivers is the the old translation rivers of Living Water will flow from within him now brothers and sisters if that doesn't take your breath away you'd take some breathtaking Jesus said If any man really thirst for the things of the spirit and the things of God let him keep on coming to me and that's what the tenses here say they stress that he is speaking not just of a coming once in a lifetime however much may have happened on that one occasion when you came to the Lord Jesus he is not talking about that he is talking he's saying if any man thirsts let him come and come and come and come and keep on coming to me so that the first coming leads to a communion with him see if any man keeps on coming to me let keeps on thirsting let him keep on coming to me and let him keep on drinking and whoever keeps on believing in me not just believing once for All Forever whoever keeps on believing in me as the scripture has said what rivers of Living Water shall flow from within him." [00:36:08]

"Now we all know too well that there is a kind of formal association with Christ and his gospel that has no Dynamic effect at all it doesn't change a plot in the garden it doesn't chain change a foot square of territory doesn't transform anything and here is something that transforms the desert now despite the fact that there are some difficult Dramatical issues here the point is quite clear Jesus says Jesus says that paradise can be regained in some measure in our experience here and now and our souls can be so satiated by the Blessed Ministry of the holy spirit that out of our Inner Man there can flow Revels of Living Water my word this is a great theme isn't it." [00:38:54]

"Do you bring life where you go do you bring Grace where you go is the grass greener are the heavens Bluer is God nearer is Jesus clearer is the word of God more powerful where you and I go is the grass greener is the Wilderness transformed or are we just dead Ducks I don't want to be f but somebody did say that rather than be like riving Waters many of us are more like dripping tops and you know what that means don't you we trip a little bit of blessing every now and again and somebody gets a little drop a little bit of a blessing through us but brothers and sisters what do we know of the rivers of God this is the promise now either this is true or it isn't and if it isn't the sooner the better we we we expose it I believe it's true though it condemns my own life if any man keeps on thirsting and keeps on coming and keeps on drinking." [00:42:08]

"Drink will you drink to the bottom of it and when you drunk to the bottom I'll fill it again and out of you it is possible for rivers to flow is it you believe it do you really believe believe God's word then brothers and sisters we are in honor bound we are in honor bound to seek more and more of this all for a divinely given thirst that will bring us back and back and back again believing and believing and believing and receiving and receiving and receiving until the floods begin to flow Channel's only blessed master that with all thy wondrous power flowing through US thou can use us every day and every hour." [00:46:25]