The Lord, that's our desire: God, fill us again, fill us in full today, fill us in greater power. And it comes through surrender; it comes through the place of surrender.
You can be seated. This morning we have a baptism, and that is an act of surrender. It's a moment when someone comes to faith in Christ. The act of baptism is to publicly declare before the world, before the church, that they are following Jesus, that they're walking with him, that they've staked their claim with him alone.
I'm excited for this morning to celebrate this baptism, so I'm going to welcome up Maverick. Come on up; he's getting baptized today, and then his friend Elliot will be baptized. Come on up.
So, it says in scripture that when someone comes to the Lord and puts their faith in him, that in heaven, the angels erupt in a party, in a celebration. So in a minute, he's going to share his story, and then they're going to get down to the water, and he's going to be baptized. When he comes out of that water, as a church, we celebrate because that's the heart of God—to see that happen.
I'm excited this morning to hear your story again, man. So Maverick, why don't you take it away, and why don't you share with us what God's made for you this morning?
Doing. Living my life for him.
Oh, man. It's hard after those moments and the emotion that comes with those moments and seeing God at work to jump right into talking. But I want to do something for a second. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you feel like Maverick felt. You felt like you had to clean yourself up before you came to church today. Or you have to clean yourself up before you come into a relationship with God.
And I want to tell you right now, the invitation is laid out right in front of you. That the shower of God's grace is enough. That he paid for through his son's death on the cross, Jesus Christ. And all you have to do is place your faith in him for the forgiveness of your sins, and you can receive that relationship this morning.
It's a free gift that he offers you, that he lays right before you, and all you have to do is take it. That's all you have to do and say, "God, I believe in you through your son, Jesus Christ, to pay for my sins." And he dwells in you. He comes and he dwells in you. And that offer is right there for the taking this morning. Will you take it?
Morning, hear that. That God loves you, and he proved it through the cross. Thank you, God, for that.
And so, Lord, I praise you for that. I thank you, Lord. You know my life, my heart, how far I was from you. I thank you for your grace. I pray, Lord, a fresh outpouring of your faith in this place. New faith, Lord, stirring up. For those that have walked in thinking they had to clean themselves up, I pray new faith coming into their heart now.
And experiencing you, Christ, seeing you as you really are—not as the world has taught them to be, but as you have taught them. Or some messed-up form of churchianity has taught them. But instead, as you are, Christ, we see you today, filled with grace and love.
I pray, Holy Spirit, lead them, guide them, speak to them. And, Lord, for all of us, I pray that you'd open our eyes to see this morning who you are, your heart for the world. You have such a heart for the world. I pray that you'd stir that up in us through your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, last week, we began a two-week series on our vision here at Freshwater Church. And our vision is simply this: that the heartbeat of our church for the last 20 years has been this reality that we are made to experience the manifest presence of God, for him to come and to fill us.
And then the second half of that vision is for us to then go into the world of God. And that's what we're doing. We're taking that presence into the world.
In the first message last Sunday, we explored this reality that you were made for that presence—that the entire purpose for your life is that you were made to live in God's presence in every way. And when you came into faith in Jesus Christ, you were actually, the Holy Spirit flooded into you. You were dwelled in by God in that moment.
And even after that, we can be and we should be filled by God's power over and over and over again through fresh encounters with him. And so as a church, as a people, we actually are desiring, we're longing for, we're hungering after manifest encounters with God, where he shows up in the place that we are and we experience him, where he speaks to our spirit, where he leads us through his scripture, where we encounter him in moments of worship, and we know that the presence of God is there.
It's what we long for. It's what we seek after because his filling is the source of our spiritual life, and you can be filled by him over and over and over again. This is the promise from God. So church, be filled. That's the vision of Freshwater Church. Be filled by the presence of God with power and authority. Hunger after it.
And so that was our first half of the vision, and today we're going to dive into that second half. And so if you want, you can turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 47. It'll also be up on the screen for us, but you can follow along in your Bible or on your phone.
Our vision, excuse me, our vision comes directly from Ezekiel 47. And I just feel compelled again. I want to pray. As we start our time in the scriptures here, there's nothing that I really offer. There's nothing that I can bring this morning.
And so what we need is we need the presence of God in this place, filling this place, leading us, teaching us from the scriptures what he wants for us. And so if you'll join me, let me pray for us one more time this morning.
God, I confess again that I have nothing to offer. But God, you and your spirit can do incredible things in us as a church. Fill us with the heart of your mission, God. Come, Holy Spirit, and move in us. Come, Holy Spirit, and move among us. Amen.
So back in the 80s and the 90s, the Ferrari F40 was one of the fastest and most powerful cars on planet Earth. And when turned loose, the F40 could reach top speeds of up to 200 miles an hour on the road. Over the last decades, it's become one of the most sought-after collector cars on the globe.
So in 2019, a 1991 Ferrari F40 sold on the open market for $1.6 million. I just wanted to give you an idea of how expensive these cars can be. But despite the F40's power and the fun that that could be on the road, many of the owners that purchase these cars, they don't use them.
They'll store them away in garages or collector units, and they'll keep the mileage as low as possible because they believe that the value of the car is too expensive for it to be used. And so they only see the light of day when they're hauled off by a truck, and they're taken to a show or something like that to be put on display.
It's weird to me because all of that power and all of that potential joy that's there just sits there unused. And these car lovers, they're sort of like the luxury watch owners, if you've heard of any of them, that will buy luxury watches and store them in their closet and never wear them.
Or the vintage video game connoisseur who buys all these old video games, and they'll put them in a closet or they'll have them stored around just to show their friends that they have them, but they never take them out of the wrapper. It's a bit strange to me. It doesn't make sense to me when someone gets something good but never uses it.
As we talked about last week, you are given the manifest presence of God inside of you, and he's poured out into you. It's what you were created for. And these experiences can be profound and beautiful and amazing, but for many followers of Jesus, we become like the car collector.
What we do is we experience these moments with God. We're filled by his presence, but then what we do is we tuck it away. We store it away in the garage of our inner life. We hoard it off for only us, and then we go looking for the next experience or the next encounter or the next spiritual high.
While we should constantly be seeking to be filled by his presence, the reality is when we encounter God's spirit, we are called to take the river of God's presence and do something with it. We're called to go into the world, to flood out of these walls and into every nook and cranny and corner of the earth and to take his presence with us.
This is the vision of Freshwater Church that we get from Ezekiel 47. Last week, we looked at verses 1 through 5. In that text, the water of God, it's this metaphor of the presence of God. It floods into the temple. It comes down into the temple in a real and a tangible way.
It's the picture of the Holy Spirit filling us over and over and over again, filled with his presence. But last Sunday, we skipped over a few things from verses 1 to 5. I want to start this morning looking at that. I want to dive into it together if you'll join me there.
Here's what it says. Verse 1. Then the guide brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple. That's important. Key into that. Toward the east, for the temple faced east.
And the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then the guide brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east.
And behold, the water was trickling out on the south side and going on eastward. Key into that word. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the guide measured a thousand cubits and then led me through the water, and it was ankle deep.
And he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee deep. And again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water, and it was waist deep. And again, he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, and it was deep enough to swim in—a river that could not be passed through.
This water is rushing in. It's creating a river, and it's coming into the temple. But it's not only pouring. I want you to notice this. We skipped over this last week. It's not only coming into the temple. The outpouring is so strong and so full that it gushes out. It surges out into the world.
The river leaves the temple. The river leaves the temple. It rushes past the altar and it goes past the threshold. Now, the temple in this time was the place where God dwelt. It was where his presence would come.
This is important because the threshold is that place where the temple ends and the world begins. It's the dividing line between the sacred and the secular, the holy and the unholy. It's the place that separates God from us.
And the water of God's presence crosses over that sacred space, floods over that dividing line, and the presence of God flows out into the world. Here's what Ezekiel is saying: the river of the Holy Spirit must pour into you, and then it must flow out of you into the world.
Listen. The people filled up to be poured out. You experience the manifest presence of God to then go and give it away. In John 7, Jesus teaches us this. He says, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me."
So he's already setting up this image as if something's going to be filled up, like a cup, right? So if you're thirsty, what do you do? You drink a cup, and it fills you, and you feel good, right?
So he says, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." And whoever believes in me, as the scripture said, listen to this: "Out of their heart." What does he say? "Out of their heart."
This is important because Jesus is giving this image that you are being filled by something, but then he says, when you're filled with it, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit.
So the river of the Holy Spirit flows into you to flow out. This is the true Christian life. The Holy Spirit will fill you, and his presence will rush out of you like a river flowing. The Holy Spirit is flowing and soaking and nourishing everything and everyone around you.
Scripture is teaching that the natural result when we encounter God is we want to give him away. The natural result of encountering God, of experiencing his manifest presence, is we want to give it away. Are you giving him away?
His presence into the world, into the hard places? Or are you hoarding him? Are you keeping him to yourself? Are you holding him close, looking for that next experience, the next high, but never pouring him out on a hurting world?
Here's the reality. If you want to bring people the presence of God, you have to flood into the dead places of our world. You have to actually put yourself in the place where you can bring life to somebody.
In verse 3, when the river of God's presence runs out of the temple, did you notice which direction it went? We keyed into this. Which direction was it? East. East.
Okay. So this is important because on the east side of the temple, if you were to walk out of the temple and leave the city of Jerusalem, on the east of the city of Jerusalem is the Judean desert. It's this lifeless place. It's a rocky wilderness covered in mountains and crags and crevices and canyons and caves. It's barren and it's dead.
In Ezekiel's vision, the flow of God's presence, it rushes out of the temple. And hear this: it goes directly and intentionally to the dead place. See, some will think that God is only at church. He's only there when we're doing spiritual things.
So he's in my car with me when I listen to worship music or when I hang out with my Christian friends, God is there. Or when I do a spiritual thing like a Bible study or something, God is there. He is there.
But God's presence, his heart, his desire is that his spirit would flood out into the places that are barren and bitter parts of our world—to rush into the hardened and cracked corners of the lifeless landscape of our modern age.
He wants his presence to actually soak those places with his life. We see this very clearly in the ministry of Jesus. This is beautiful. I love this story. Jesus, we know, didn't hang out in the temple all day.
It wasn't the place that he spent a lot of his time. In fact, he didn't cluster with his synagogue friends. He didn't go into the safe place where he could have his Beth Moore Torah study, you know, or have his private prayer meetings.
He would go into those places, and then what he would do is he would come back out of those places with the presence of God, and he would go directly to the lost, the broken. We see this in Matthew 9.
Jesus calls a man named Matthew to follow him in this text. Matthew is an outcast. He's a tax collector who's taking money from his people and he's giving it away to the Roman Empire, so the Jews hate him. They can't stand him.
Matthew is actually banned from coming into the synagogue. Matthew would be a non-religious person who can't even come into the presence of God in that day and age. It's amazing because Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, but he doesn't just do that.
Here's what he does in verse 10. He actually goes to Matthew. He goes to Matthew's house. Here's what it says: "And as Jesus reclined at table in Matthew's house," listen. I wonder if you could replace your name into that sentence.
Jesus intentionally spends time with those that are far from God. Isn't that great? Isn't that a pattern for Jesus? It says, "Behold, many tax collectors and sinners, they came and they were reclining with Jesus and his disciples."
He wasn't with the religious people. He was out in the world, surrounding himself with the non-religious, the outcasts, the hard-hearted, those who seem to have no business experiencing God. Jesus actually goes directly to them.
He sits with them. He laughs with them. He loves them. He spends time with them intentionally. And I want to ask you the same question. If the Holy Spirit is in you, the same one that was in Christ, are you?
Are you spending time with people who are far from God? Who want to know him, and all they need is someone to flood into their life with his presence?
When I was 22, I went to graduate school at Ohio University. At the time, I had been a follower of Jesus for just a handful of years. I knew I was sort of headed into the lion's den. OU is known for being a party school, a little crazy down there.
In my early time there, I got involved in CREW, which is a campus ministry. I started to get to know some other Christians, and then I got involved in a church there. That was stabilizing for my faith, especially as a young believer.
But I didn't want to get stuck in the Christian bubble. So I moved into one of the grad apartments on the south side of campus. This grad apartment was really—you got the full college experience there. Okay, I'm just going to leave it at that.
Well, I'm not going to leave it at that. It was wild, okay? So alcohol and partying and just crazy living all around me. One of the guys at the center of it lived next door to me. His lifestyle literally was like this: every afternoon, he would start to drink.
Then he would go out at night and drink. Then he would come back with other people. I'll let you fill in the blanks from there of what his life looked like. He was really somebody that was wild and crazy and not a Christian at all.
I liked him immediately, and I loved hanging out with him. We became quick friends, and we would get together and go eat and hang out in the apartments and just talk for hours and spend a ton of time together.
Early on, I told him he knew I was a Christian, and he said, "That's cool. But I don't believe any of that stuff." I said, "That's fine. I would love to still hang out." So we would just spend time together, just normal college life.
After a while, I started inviting him to crew and saying, "Hey, why don't you come to crew or to Sunday morning church with me?" He said, "I'll go with you, but with one caveat." I was like, "Okay, like, what do you want?"
He said, "You have to go out with me sometimes." I was like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "I go out; you got to go out." So I would go out with him sometimes. He would do his partying, and I would just be around.
I wouldn't participate in it. I wouldn't be a part of it. I would just be there. Then he started over time coming with me to crew and going to church. He started to meet other Christian friends.
He started to develop these relationships, and we would just love on him and hang out with him and pray for him and be around him and invite him into our space. Yet, I also would go into his space.
In our text from Matthew, did you notice what happened? Did Jesus invite him and say, "Hey, why don't you come and just do all the things in the synagogue with me?" Or go be around me with my disciples? He did invite him to that.
But what did he do first? He went with Matthew where? Into his space. Into his house. Into the place he was comfortable. Around the people that he was friends with.
So I began to go with him, and he began to come with me. Again, we loved on him and just spent a lot of time with him. I remember one night we went uptown one evening, and we ended up at Wendy's on the Strip in Athens.
If you've ever been in a fast food restaurant on a college campus late at night, you know it's not like a normal Wendy's, okay? So there was just a lot of festivity happening there. A lot of bodies, a lot of noise.
That would normally be his space. He would be all about it, mingling with everybody, just living it up. We got a couple burgers, we sat down, and despite all of that festivity around us, he got really quiet and serious for a second.
He asked me, "Why do you hang out with me?" I was caught off guard by the question. I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Why do you hang out with me? We don't do the same things, or think the same things, or even desire the same things."
He said, "Why would you hang out with me?" With him, I shared that God loves him so much that he would send his son, Jesus. It was the first time that I had a chance to share the gospel, and the first time that he had ever heard it.
Later in the book of Matthew, it says that Jesus is accused of being a friend of sinners. And listen, I'm the biggest sinner there is. I'm just going to tell you that if you guys knew my life and you knew my background, I'm the biggest sinner there is.
What I know is Jesus came for me. He crossed over those lines of my obstinance towards him, and he approached me, and he came after my heart, and he met me, and he found me.
If Jesus did that for me, why would I not take his presence to those that are like me? Why would I not go see students? I would imagine that if Jesus was in your school, he would be sitting at the lunch table with the most broken and hurting and troubled students in your class, Christian.
If Jesus was at your office, he would be spending time with the opposite and atheists that all the other Christians are avoiding because they're afraid. If Jesus was in your gym, he would be reaching out to the angry and lost young adult.
If Jesus was in your family, he would be extending himself to those who have wounded him. See, you never know how the Holy Spirit will use you in their life through his love. You're called to go to the dead places.
There is no other calling for the Christian on their life. You are called to go to the dead places with the love of Christ. If you will go, the presence of God will bring to life the lifeless in those places.
In Ezekiel 47 verse 6, it says this: "And the guide said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen this?' And then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other."
The guide said to me, "This water flows toward the Eastern region and goes into the Araba." Listen to this: "And it enters the sea." This is the Dead Sea. "When it flows into the sea, the water will become fresh."
This is where our name comes in. It comes from Freshwater Church. When the freshwater of God goes to the world, it brings life. See, the river in this picture, the river is jutting through the barren wilderness, and Ezekiel and the guide are following it.
As they follow it in verses 1 through 5, the only thing living in that space is the river. The river is running through it. But when Ezekiel turns around in verse 6, what does he see? Trees.
See, as the river begins to soak into the soil there, Ezekiel sees trees—trees popping up, life, abundance happening there all around. Then the water travels for many more miles, and it gets to the Dead Sea at the end of the Judean desert.
This is incredible. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on planet Earth. It's the lowest spot on the globe. The waters there are so salty and bitter that they actually can't sustain any plant or animal life. It's a place devoid of life.
The river of God's presence rushes past the plateaus and the peaks of the desert and over and down this ridge that leads into the Dead Sea. It plunges into that oily water filled with bitumen and sulfur.
As the river of God's presence hits that dead water, what does it do? It transforms it into life. Transforms that dead water into fresh water. The Hebrew term for fresh water here is "rafa."
It's a word normally that refers to a diseased body being healed. In other words, in Ezekiel's vision, the lifeless waters are healed. On our globe, the rivers, what they do is rivers are passages.
They're passageways on our planet that actually connect land and oceans and seas and lakes. These rivers over the planet become a conduit through which many good things get around the world.
Through rivers, sediment and living things and nutrients are passed all over the earth. Here's what Ezekiel is saying: when God fills you with his spirit, you become a channel of his healing and loving and saving presence to the world.
In Matthew 9:9, Jesus is eating with those tax collectors and sinners that we saw in the passage, and the religious people show up. The churchy people show up. The religious leaders of the day would have never been caught dead with the people that Jesus was eating with.
They were outcasts. They were unclean. They were outside in pariahs of the religious order. Jesus is sitting there, and the religious leaders ask his disciples, "Why does he spend all his time with these sinners?" as if it's a condemnation.
But Jesus doesn't see it that way. Here's what he says in verse 12: "Those that are well, they have no need of a physician." Jesus says, "I intentionally go to the dead place to bring life. I came to the barren place to restore. I came to the sick place to heal."
Spirit-filled people bring a restoration of life. They bring a restoration of life when they release God's kingdom and presence on the earth. We see this in Ezekiel 47:9. Here's what it says: "Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live. There will be very many fish, for this water goes there that the waters of the sea may become fresh so that everything will live, listen, where the river goes."
Then skip down to verse 12. It says, "On the banks and on the sides of the river, they will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fall. But they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."
You are a channel. As the river of God filled with this Holy Spirit, you are a channel of the life of God.
And so I want to ask you a hard question. It's our second hard question of the day. Where is the dead place that God is compelling you to go right now in this season of your life?
Where is the dead place that God has planted you right now in this season of your life? I'm going to speak boldly for just a second here. Over the last few years in our city schools here, there have been some things that have happened that have just been really hard.
It's things that have happened that just seem like the darkness is winning in our city. For some during those times, it's probably felt like things are hopeless and difficult and they're broken beyond repair.
Yet when I hear that and I look around this room, I get hopeful. I'm filled with hope. And here's why. Because I look around this room and I see teachers and counselors and parents and students who are filled with the river of the Holy Spirit of God's presence.
Tomorrow morning, you're going to flood out of these walls, and you're going to flood into that place, into that lifeless and barren hallway. You're going to go to that place, bringing the living presence of God to that desert. God has sent you.
I'm going to say that again. God has sent you out of here. He is sending you out of here with his presence to change the broken place. And he's filling you and empowering you to carry him to the dead place.
For some of you, that's your work environment. For others of you, that's your college friend group or your sports team or your hobby spot. For others right now, God is actually raising you up.
He's in the midst of preparing you to be sent into a really hard place to be a missionary around the world. There are probably people sitting in this room right now that are being called into mission work in a hard place.
God is sending you there to bring life. Every Christian is empowered and commissioned to bring the healing of God's presence into the world. You may say, "Man, I want to be used like that, but I just don't see it in my life. It's hard.
I go into places like that, and I feel weak and ineffective. I feel like the dead places impact me more than I impact them. I get around a group of people, and I get sucked into old ways, or I go into that place, and it drags me down, or I get in that environment, and I can't help myself."
Here's the reality about our world. Normally when water runs into the desert, what happens to it? It dries up, gets soaked up. The desert typically impacts the water more than the water impacts the desert.
But Ezekiel's river, it's not affected. It's not affected by the desert. Instead, wherever the river goes, it brings blessing and life and healing.
Here's the principle I want you to see: you can actually increase in your usefulness and authority for the kingdom. There are ways that you can change and grow in the power of God to be used to take his life to the hard places around you.
If you feel weak and ineffective, I have some hope for you today. I want to spend the rest of our time on five very practical ways that you can grow in authority and power to take God's presence to the world.
If you're desiring to be used like that, if you're desiring to grow in that, number one: you must admit that the power is not you. There are some that will hear this message and get really motivated to go and try and impact the world.
But that'll end up only in the place of burnout and ineffectiveness. You actually have to humble yourself before God and admit that you're not the one that can make the difference.
A few years ago, Holland and I went on a bike ride on the Ripman to Creston Trail. It's a really beautiful bike trail. When you go on it, it's seven miles out to Creston and seven miles back.
We rode the first half. We made our way through the country roads and we got to Creston and turned around. We felt like we made pretty good time. We started working our way back.
I'm not used to riding 14 miles on a bike. That's what I'm going to say. We get partway there, and I start riding slower and slower and slower. My legs are pumping, but it feels like the bike isn't going anywhere.
After a while on the horizon, I see this other biker coming towards us. I'm already sweaty and sort of bitter and want to be back to my car. This biker looks like he's Lance Armstrong. He's moving like 20 miles an hour down the path towards us.
I'm like, "How? This guy is incredible. How is he doing this?" Literally, he's headed for the Tour de France. He gets closer to us, and I see something peculiar.
I look, and he's moving at us, and he's moving at this fast clip, but his legs aren't moving. I'm like, "This is a miracle. This is an absolute miracle right now."
Then he gets a little closer to us, and I look, and he's like moving his wrist like this. I realize he has one of those e-bikes. Anyone have an e-bike? I'm really not bitter at you if you do have one. Those are pretty cool.
He flies past us, probably 20 miles an hour. I don't know how fast they go, but he was moving. I'm sitting there sweaty and still like, you know, four miles away from my car, a little jealous, I'm not going to lie.
I'm like, "This guy's taking credit. He's taking all the glory for moving down that path." Here I am working hard, trying to make it happen, and he's just like coasting right down.
I think that I got a spiritual picture in that moment. So many people long to have the power of God for ministry and to be used by God. But they want to do it so that they can get the credit.
See, that e-bike, the power was that battery. It wasn't the person propelling the bike forward. In your mission, the power was that battery. The power will never be you.
Yet you want to take the glory when God works through you. You say, "Did you see how God used me there?" You know, you start to puff up a little bit. "Did you see the impact I had on those people? Did you see what God did through me?"
We begin to puff up and lift ourselves up and lust after the glory that we'll get for how God uses us. Well, in Acts chapter 8, Philip goes to a city in Samaria, and he's preaching the gospel there.
There's a man there named Simon. Simon is an interesting character. He's actually a practicer of dark occult sorcery. He's in the city, and the people of the city are actually impressed by him.
It says that in verse 9. They're so impressed by him because he's carrying out these powerful spiritual acts in front of them. Philip shows up preaching the gospel, and much of the city becomes Christians.
Even Simon himself becomes a Christian, and he starts following Philip. He starts watching Philip perform these incredible things. Then Peter and John show up on the scene, and they begin to do incredible works of God that the people are so impressed by.
Simon begins to want the power. Here's what it says in verse 18: "Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'"
But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you." In the Greek, this is much more coarse. He's saying, "To hell with you and your money."
"Because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God."
Here's what Peter says: "Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray that the Lord, if possible, would forgive you. The intent of your heart may be forgiven, for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity."
Simon wanted the spiritual power for personal gain, and Peter says, "Your lustful heart condemns you." I believe that there are believers in this room right now that God longs to give greater power and authority in the kingdom.
But he cannot and he will not because you want it so that you can lift yourself up with bitter ambition or a lustful heart. You want it to be used by God to gain attention or glory from man.
Or you want it so that you can gain money or self-worth or something for you to consume it on. For others, God's already used you, and you've taken the credit for it.
For others, you want so badly to be used by God; maybe you've poured yourself out, and you're burned out because you just want to be used by God and do something profound.
When in reality, that's your desire to want to be praised, to want to get fame and glory through the work of God. Peter says, "If your heart is that way, the only recourse is to repent."
To leave behind your pride and self-sufficiency and your own strength because the power is not your power. The power is his power. God opposes the proud, but listen, he gives grace. He gives grace. He gives grace to the humble.
If you want to be used by God, you have to begin to lay yourself low and realize his power is the one that works through you.
And then if you want to be used, you must receive to give. Here's a kingdom principle for you: you cannot give away what you have not received. You won't be effective for the kingdom until you're in the presence of God in a way that you receive so that you're ready to be used.
We've read this a lot from John 15 over the last two years, but I want to read it again. Jesus says, "I am the vine, and you are the branches, church. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do—what's that say?"
That spiritual life you want to produce, that spiritual good you want to bring to the world, you can produce none of it. He gives the mission. He gives the power. He gives the blessing.
It comes from being in God's presence, him pouring it out into you, and then the river of that presence floods out of you into the world.
Number three: if you want to be used, you have to look for wadis or opportunities. In the Judean desert, a wadi is a space that's a dried-out river valley, and it sort of carves through the desert plains, but it has the shape and form like it should have water in it, but it's often barren.
It's often a place that's ready for really waiting for a fresh inflow from rain or from another river. So what I would tell you is that as you begin to look for places to be used by God, you need to look for spiritual wadis.
You want to look for places and people who are ready to receive, ready to receive the water of God's presence into their life. So I want to ask you some questions. Where is God already giving you influence in your life right now?
Are there friendships or people in your life that God has brought in, and God is giving you influence there, and he's giving you trust there that you can offer a fresh water of God's presence?
Is there someone going through a health issue or a difficulty or a hard season or some other thing that's a trial in their life? Is there someone that maybe God, you very clearly can see, is opening a door that you can love on them?
Do you know someone in your life that you would describe as being parched and thirsty spiritually? Then I want to tell you they're ready to receive. They're a spiritual wadi, ready to receive God's presence into their life. Pour it out there. Give of yourself. Offer of yourself into that space.
Number four: if you want to be used, you need to ask God to show you Holy Spirit-given assignments. Every believer has a kingdom assignment. If you're a follower of Jesus, you have a kingdom assignment.
But listen to this: every believer does not have every assignment. You're not called to go fix the world. You're not called to meet every need in front of you. You're called to simply accomplish the assignment that God gives you for the mission.
So I want to ask you, what has God asked you to do today? What has God asked you to do in this life? What has God asked you to do in this season of your life?
If you don't know, get into his presence and hear from him. Listen to him because he'll speak it into you. He'll tell you who to go to, who to speak with, who to love on.
When he tells you, this is important. When you hear, the next step is you have to obey. He's not going to give you another assignment if you've neglected the first.
Jesus, he would say when he was on earth, he would over and over say, "I see what the Father does. I hear what the Father says. I only do those things." Take on that posture of heart. What is God telling you to do? Obey it.
You're seeing him in action, and he wants to move through you. Lastly, if you want to be used, I think this one is so important. We've alluded to it. I want to talk more in depth on this.
If you want to be used, you have to grow in authority. There are certain places in your life right now that you probably feel helpless spiritually and sort of ineffective.
But the Bible is very clear that you can grow in greater authority and power for the kingdom of God. In Mark chapter 9, Jesus sends his disciples out to the world, and they're called to go take the gospel to the world and to heal and to cast out demons.
They're out there, and they're doing it. They've been given authority to do this. This is important to know. They get out there, and they run into this little boy who's possessed by a demon, and they're helpless to do anything with it.
They can't seem to get this boy free. Then Jesus shows up, and within minutes he has this boy free, and the disciples are like, "You sent us with authority to do this. Why did we feel so weak? Why couldn't we cast it out? Why did we struggle in that moment?"
Here's what Jesus says. He says, "This kind of spiritual warfare, this kind of demon, it cannot be driven out by anything but—what does it say?—prayer and fasting."
See, Jesus had given them authority, but he said there's a place that you need to go of greater intimacy with me through prayer. A greater closeness with me through prayer to see my heart, to know my power in that place privately.
He'll begin to, through that intimacy, give you greater effectiveness in the ministry. But he doesn't just say prayer. What does he say? We have that intimate time with God in prayer, but then he says it's through prayer and fasting.
Beginning tomorrow, we're going to kick off a church-wide fast here. We've done this the last two years at the beginning of the year, and fasting is giving up something good, typically food, to intensify this expression and this desire for more of God and his work in our life.
This fast, it's going to be an opportunity for us to grow in that intimacy that we talked about. God wants to draw us in as we humble ourselves and become needful and wantful for him.
He's going to begin to draw us into that intimacy, and he's going to begin to pull us closer to him. There's something that happens when you fast. It actually clears out a lot of the clutter in your mind and your spirit where you can begin to hear from God in fresh ways that maybe you haven't before.
We're going to do that as a church. I want to tell you, I want everyone in on this fast. We can each fast individually. There's a power in that for your spiritual life.
But I do believe that there's something corporately when a people gather together and say we are going to fast together. I believe that God looks at that and he says, "This people, they hungered for me up to this point together. But now I'm seeing a greater desire as a corporate body together to go after me."
He honors that. He wants to pour out on a people that long for him in that way. So if you're in our congregation here, if you're online, I want to encourage you, jump into this fast.
You need to be a part of it because you're going to be shocked at what God does in your life and in your family through this and what he might teach you. Each day, we're going to have a different theme for the fast.
The first day is humility, and it's going to track on different themes each successive day. We actually have a packet out in the lobby and also through this QR code that you can get that walks you through that.
In that packet, it also teaches you some more about what fasting is and why we should do it and what can be accomplished through it. I would encourage you to get that packet and track with us.
You can fast. There's something called an absolute fast where you fast from all food except for water, and that can be an amazing biblical fast. There are also different ways you can do it. You can skip a meal or two meals.
You can skip different portions of what you would eat or drink. Some people will fast social media, and I think that can be good. But for this one, I would tell you, if you're medically able, I think we need to do food.
That's a biblical fast. There's a benefit spiritually in that. When you begin to hunger on those days when you're hungry for food, let it be a reminder of your hunger for God and pray. Seek after him.
I believe that as we fast and pray, God's going to begin to work in powerful ways through our church. I believe that he will draw us near, as I said, in that intimacy.
But I also believe he's going to give you greater power and authority for the kingdom. A church is not built, you guys know this, but a church is not built on the staff or the pastoral team.
The church is the power of God and his people. As a pastor, I'm one of his people in this church. I have certain callings and responsibilities to the church in that.
Yet the power here is the power of God in you. My prayer is through this fast, it will be sort of a watershed moment that he'll fill you with greater power and authority for the kingdom work.
You're called to take God's presence into the world. I believe this with my whole heart for our elders, for our pastors, and for our staff. We felt this way for a long time.
This church has so much untapped kingdom potential. It's almost like we're a door that God is waiting to unlock and to send out into this world and to change so much around the world through this church.
We're believing that God is beginning to open that door in a greater way. You are called to be on mission. Your responsibility is not to do something on your own power, but to follow God's direction.
He's wanting to unlock you into the mission. I think he wants to send us if we'll go. Now, normally I would love to sing a song. I love worship after a message. I think it's a great time of response, but today I don't think that's the response.
I think the response today is to listen from God. So we're going to have a reflection time right now. I'm going to lead us into that just into a prayer time.
I'm going to guide us to three different questions. What we want in this time is, God, we want you to speak to us, to begin to open up those new kingdom missions in our people.
If you'll join me in a posture of prayer, I'll just lead us now into that. God, we invite you, Holy Spirit, to speak to us. We are open-hearted.
Right now, we confess fears that we've had of taking your kingdom to the world. We confess complacency. We even confess hard-heartedness.
God, we know you love the world. You love the people of the world. You love those that are out there, that you want to draw into your presence.
So Lord, speak to us in whatever way you're calling us to go. As we continue this time of prayer, church, this is our first question of God: "God, is there any area of pride or sin that's keeping me from being effectively used by you?"
Just begin to let the Lord speak in this. Here's our second question: "God, is there anyone that you are giving me kingdom influence with now?"
Lord, we're going to ask boldly that you would even bring that person to mind, the name or just a picture of their face to mind, or the group of people that you're giving us kingdom influence with.
Lastly, I know we're moving through these quick, but we'll get these up on a blog post so that you can pray on these this week as well as you fast.
Lastly, the question is, "God, is there a specific spirit-given assignment that you're giving me today or in this season of my life?" Make it very clear to us, Lord.
If you're someone that came in and you don't know where you fall in the faith spectrum and you feel like, "I don't believe in Jesus," I want to tell you something.
We've talked a lot about the people of God going to the broken places of the world. You might say, "Well, why would you do that? And why are you talking like that?" Because God loves you.
Because God loves every single person. What he wants to do is reveal his presence that seems so veiled and hard to find. He does that often through his people.
God, I pray a greater empowerment on your people. Holy Spirit, fall on your people. Give them power and authority for the mission. Give them eyes to see as you see and hearts that have your heart.
I pray right now that you would tenderize the religious heart, the heart that is still so caught up in religion. I pray right now that you would tenderize the religious heart, the heart that is still so caught up in religion.
I pray right now that you would tenderize the religious heart, the heart that is still so caught up in religion. This is your spirit that says that you desire mercy and not sacrifice.
I pray that you would fill us with a heart that looks exactly like your heart, God, with such love, compassion, and a willingness.
To close our time this morning, I want to do something unique. We may end up doing this fairly regularly. I want to actually commission you.
In a second, I'm going to begin to ask different groups, and if you're a representative of that kind of a group, I want you to stand in that moment.
At the end, don't be afraid of this because at the end, everyone's going to be standing, or most people will be standing. We're going to stand, and I want to sort of send this out.
The first group that I'm going to ask to stand, if you are a teacher, or an administrator, or an employee, or a student in our schools, or in one of the surrounding schools in other cities, I just want you to stand right now.
Just stand up right now if that's you. If you're a doctor, or you're someone that's in the medical field, I want you to see three groups right here.
Represented right here are probably thousands of connections and relationships and impact, possibility for the kingdom.
All right, we're going to get broader. If you're a parent, stand. You have influence. If you're a grandparent, stand. You have influence.
If you're a brother or sister, stand. You have influence. Stand. You have influence. If you're a follower of Jesus, if we haven't caught everybody, if you're a follower of Jesus, stand.
Here's what I want to do. If you are standing, if you are standing, all of you who are on your feet, here's the reality. This morning, you are being sent out by God to the world.
In Ezekiel, it says that the river actually hit the Dead Sea, and it became what? Do you remember? It became fresh water. Everywhere the river went, everywhere the river goes, it says in our text, there was life there.
Here's my commission for you, church. Not from me, but God through me to you. Here's the commission: Go. Go and be the fresh water of God to the world.
Go. He has sent you. He has equipped you. He has empowered you to take the water of God to the world. Go. Take that life and take it to every corner and nook and cranny.
So church, go with the presence of God and the fresh water of his presence to the world. You're dismissed. Go. And as you go, take that fasting packet. Begin to join us in that tomorrow morning.
We love you. Have a great week. God bless you. God bless you.
on Jan 12, 2025
