The Holy Spirit in Our House III - The Thirst For the Spirit

Hallelujah. We today are in the third, and it's quite appropriate that the Lord chose to speak this morning. And I appreciate the faithfulness of the brethren there. But we're in the third week of a series of teachings on the Holy Spirit. Now, it's easy for someone who's heard of Northway as being that wild charismatic community out there in Bradley's to think that 50 weeks out of the year we talk about the Holy Spirit and his gifts, the other two exceptions being Easter and Christmas. But that isn't true, beloved. And I want to be really clear that God has for over a year brought us together in the disciplines of maturity, in His Word and in fellowship Koinonia building on the principles of the Word of God. And he's bringing us just now to this teaching on the Holy Spirit. And if you are interested in former teachings, there's a whole library of tapes that you can avail yourself of out in the hallway after worship this morning. Today, we're going to be looking at something that the Lord had took a long time to get into my heart. And I'm sure it wasn't because he wasn't saying it. It was because I wasn't hearing it. Any of you ever had that problem, okay, I feel better. But the Lord was speaking and I wasn't exactly listening. One thing that I'm discovering, as I've been probably a month now and pretty substantial study on this subject, is God will not mark it. He will not be put into a box when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. I believe that's true in anything of God's doings. But in the Holy Spirit in particular, people have fallen into traps, whether they be on the Pentecostal persuasion on the one hand, and strict second grace theology in a certain way, or if they be on the other end of the spectrum, the dispensational theology. And once you're saved, you've got it all. And don't worry about what happens in between. Heaven. Here in heaven, you see, brothers and sisters, there's a gap in there and the Bible, if you're honest with the Bible, God works in all different kinds of ways. And the key is not our understanding. The key is in our heart, the willingness to experience the life of Jesus Christ and its fullness in our heart. One thing that I saw consistently, I won't say it's without exception, but consistently was that God ministered the life of the Holy Spirit to people who were thirsty. Now, I don't want to take the time today for you to follow through these Scriptures with me. But would you allow me to read for you just a sampling of how the Lord Jesus speaks by the Holy Spirit concerning thirsting in the Scriptures? The Lord speaks in Psalm 42, as a hart or a deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. The Lord God gives the Holy Spirit to those who are thirsty. Isaiah 41:18. You might want to jot these down, look them up later when the poor and needy seek water. Water all through the Scriptures, is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and the Word, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I the Lord will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. Isaiah 55:Ho. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. He who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in the fatness. In the Beatitudes. Jesus says, blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? For they shall be satisfied. And so all through the Scriptures, and particularly in a passage that we're going to look at here in a minute, we see that God answers the cry of a thirsty and hungry heart. I'm persuaded today that no theological debating will ever bring us into the surrendered full and dynamic experience of the Lord. Beloved Jesus did not say, out of their minds shall flow rivers of living water, but out of their hearts, am I saying that? It's not important. What you understand is very important, because I think that understanding is the gateway to being open to receive. But people make such a mistake when they try to line up their doctrines in such a fashion that they've got God all worked out. Because how many of you would testify that in your experience, when you think you've got God figured out is when he surprises you the most. Hallelujah. Now it's possible today that you're here and that you're thirsting for the Holy Spirit, but you don't even realize what you want. You're thirsting for living water, and you're not sure what it is inside of you that's creating this thirst. On the other hand, I believe that there are some here today, that are not thirsty, that aren't really in their inner being, hungering for God at all, but you find yourself being quite satisfied today. I want to say to you, beloved, no matter what I would talk about, no matter what anyone would teach you, God will not, God will not meet cool Christians. By that I mean if you're indifferent to the things of God, I believe that you will reap fruit that you sow. Indifference never gets things from God, only hunger, only thirsting. And when it comes to the Holy Spirit, there are some of you here who I know well, who have walked in the things of the holy spirit for 15 or 20 years. I want you to turn to a passage the Lord gave me just this morning in second Corinthians. This isn't going to be the focal point, but I want you to see this. Because the Lord impressed me that there were some today that need to be reminded of this. Look at 2 Corinthians 3. And the Holy Spirit says through Paul, verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty or freedom, alright? And he ties right with that verse. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. You see, beloved, there's an unfolding, there's an ever increasing glory of God that's being made manifest in us. And this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. And your life in the Holy Spirit today will determine how the glory of the Lord is being manifested in your heart. And you may feel like I had the greatest experience of the Lord 20 years ago. In fact, I had the greatest experience six years ago or last summer. But today, beloved, today are you thirsting for the Lord? Now the passage that we're going to settle in today is John 7. Let's turn there. John 7. For the sake of time this morning I'm not going to read the entire chapter. It wouldn't hurt at all to do so for this morning. But I will say this. I'll pick out a few verses. Verse 1 of chapter 7. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee and would not go about in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. And now the Jews feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And so his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. And Jesus says, this isn't the right time. But verse 10, after his brothers had gone up to the feast. Then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. And they began looking for him. Because, you see, the word of Jesus was preceding him. Wherever he went, people were waiting to listen to him. Verse 14. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. How long was the feast? It was eight days. The Jews marveled at it, saying, how is it that this man has learning when he's never studied? My teachers used to wonder that too. I didn't have this kind of learning. I just was able. No, I better not go home. So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Beloved, read that verse again. You read it along with me. So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. If any man's will is to do his will, do you will the things of God in your life. And then look down at verse 37. And on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, if anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. And just to be sure that they understood what he was referring to now, this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. I've discovered four evidences of and sources of thirst for our lives as Christians. The first one would be the evidence of thirst, which is the evidence of religion in our lives. Now, the feast of the Tabernacles that Jesus is speaking at here was an annual celebration. And Jews came from all over to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. And every day they had special sacrifices and offerings and they built booths and little temples, little tabernacles. And they spent time thanking God for all the harvest that they'd reaped the year before. And it was a festive thing. There was a lot of eating and a lot of celebration. The Jews know how to celebrate. And it was a week long thing. And every day, as part of the sacrifice, the priest would go down to the pool of Siloam and pick up a container full of water and then pour that into another container that had holes in the bottom. And that water would drip through the container on top of the altar. And it was a symbol of sacrifice, of being poured out. But on the last day of the feast, you see, they didn't do that. The last day of the feast. They went and got palm branches and struck the altar, which was symbolic of what Moses striking the rock at Meribah. Remember that? And water gushed forth. You see, Jews knew what living water was about. They knew that it had to do with the life of God inside of them. And on this last day, Jesus saw these Jews going through all of this ritual. And he stood up and he said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me. You can't imagine what kind of a saying that was, beloved. You cannot imagine how a Jew would receive that, that here, this man that was standing there in the flesh would say, I will be the source of living water in you. You know something? I think Jesus had compassion for these religious people. I believe that Jesus saw that they were thirsting for things of God and weren't finding it. And he was willing. He was willing to meet them. He saw that as an evidence of thirst. I wonder, do you have a religious thirst? Have you been a religious person all of your life? God indicates here that he has compassion on that kind of a thirst. Most of you know from watching or from listening and reading about church history in recent times that in the last 20 years, God poured out his spirit in many, if not all of the denominational churches, not least of which was the Roman Catholic Church. And hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Catholics around the world have entered into what had become known as the charismatic movement. And some people found it strange that why would God. Why would God pour out his spirit? These people knew the Lord. They weren't just fooling around. But people couldn't understand. Why would Catholic people or Episcopalians or Presbyterians or Methodists or people that maybe had just been locked into tradition, why would they be receiving the Holy Spirit and coming alive? And I believe that one of the reasons why is that God knew that deep inside of them, they had a thirst. How many of you know people that are in churches today who are sincere and well intended, but not alive, they have a thirst. And Jesus says to them, if any man comes to me, I will give him living waters. It's possible that you're here today at Northway and you're a religious person, and maybe you've been coming here and you find this form of worship and this form of expression more appealing to you. But you're still thirsty inside, you're not satisfied inside you realize that you don't have a river of living water. The second kind of thirst, evidence of a thirst that I see is the thirst for reality. For you, religious practice isn't enough. Maybe you were never a very religious person. But you want to see things that you know you cannot otherwise explain. You want to see things answered to need in your heart that you can otherwise not have met. There's a fellow that's here today and I won't mention his name, but we were together this week and he's kind of new to the community. And I was asking, well, why did you keep coming back after that first time? I can't believe it. Sometimes people come back. And he said, well, you know, it was really different for me and I was just a little bit. It was foreign to me in a lot of ways. But I couldn't deny the reality of what was happening in people's lives. You see the reality that's taking place because of Jesus draws people and that's what many, many people are searching for. Miracles. The reality of miracles. The reality that one person can affect another person's life by the power of God. Is it any wonder why Jesus said In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, you shall receive the Holy Spirit, you shall receive power dunamis miracles. When you receive the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, remember that reality miracles taking place. Remember Simon in Acts chapter 8? What did he want to do when he saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands? He wanted to buy it. That was reality. You mean I can make somebody visibly change by laying my hands on them? That's what he was saying. You mean that's what I can do? I want that kind of reality. But you can't buy it. It cannot be bought, brothers and sisters. It cannot be purchased at any price except the surrendering of your will. One thing that I've been noticing here is that increasingly one of the things that the enemy does to fill up that void for reality in our hearts is what is to fill it with other things. How many of you have ever heard a testimony of a particular athlete or an entertainer or whatever who has said that I was looking for God in all these things? I wanted to find reality. And I did this for six months and did this for a year and a half. Then I did that and I went over here and at the end I was just as empty and miserable as I was when I began Ever hear a testimony like that? Maybe many of us could say the same thing. But you see, for you today, as Christians, maybe some of you are are Christians that are walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that Satan would delight to dull that cutting edge in your life by filling it up with the things of the world. It's so easy for us to sit down and watch three hours of television at night, but so difficult to spend a half an hour with the Lord. It's so easy for us to go out and play 18 holes on Saturday, but so difficult to go over and visit with a brother or sister for an hour. You see, beloved, the things in the world God has given freely to enjoy. But Christians who cannot discern that those things when they become possessive of you have literally filled the reality gap that only the Holy Spirit was intended to fill. And that can happen to us. And it does happen to us. We go to parties, young people, that word party has been around so long, it just is so tired. And there's a thirst that comes up in us. Thirst for acceptance, thirst for reality. And so we go to a party. And it's no wonder that what goes on at parties is drinking, drinking, trying to fill the thirst, but it doesn't work. Only for a while and then you're empty again. Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Then the third thirst. And this is a way, beloved, perhaps if you're not thirsty today, here's a way that you can begin to sense the thirst in you or even create a thirst. It's the thirst of relationship. When I was a student at seminary, there was a man that was in one of the local churches, a large congregational church. And I had met him a few other times at camps and college and this kind of thing. When I got out there I was amazed because somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 or 40 seminary and pre seminary students were absolutely shadows to this guy. I couldn't figure out why they wanted so desperately to spend time with him. If he was going to get his hair cut, someone would follow him down and sit in a chair across and talk to him. I thought maybe something was just a little wrong here. But in fact what it was is they saw in this man something that they wanted and so they were willing to do silly things like that just to talk to him. And we don't need to necessarily go to that extreme. But I wonder today, is there someone in your life that you can spend time with that brings out a thirst in you that when you're with that person, that brother, that sister, you want more of what they have. And when you leave them, you don't feel discouraged or, oh, man, there are problems. But you feel like they know the Lord, and if I spend time with them, I'm going to know the Lord too. There's a beautiful story that would be a teaching in and of its own, right in the Book of Second Kings. You don't need to turn there unless you'd like to. But I just want to read a couple verses to you in Second Kings. And this is where Elijah passes on his mantle to Elisha. Remember that story, Second Kings 2. Well, if you don't remember it, you better turn there then. Go ahead, take a minute to do it. 2 Kings 2. Some of you are flipping the wrong way. It's back. Five, 31. If you have a harper, if you don't have a Bible, you're going to have a hard time finding it. Okay, just underscore this in your heart. Look at this. Second Kings, chapter two. Now, when the Lord was about to take Elisha up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, this is the mentor speaking to his student. Tarry here, I pray, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel or Bethel. But Elisha said, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. The same thing happens again in verse, verse four. Elijah says, you stay. And Elisha says, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. Same thing happens again in verse 6. As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. Now, verse nine. And when they crossed, there was a guy that wanted to be with another brother because he saw something there that he was absolutely drawn to. Thirsty for Verse nine. And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let me inherit a double share of your spirit. Let me inherit a double share, a double portion of your spirit. Oh, I love that. Let me have twice as much of whatever you have. Whatever it is you have, Elijah, I want twice as much of it on me. Is there anybody that wants twice as much as what you have? And them? Is there anybody that goes out of their way to be with you? Or anyone that you go out of your way to be with You? See, it works both ways for us as Christians. We're not all Walking around, trying to get a little group of people following us. We need to be submitted to others. I want twice what you have of the same thing, beloved. That's desire that very few men or women ever get to know. But I pray that it happens in our fellowship because it produces a thirst. The final thirst I want to talk about today is the thirst of requirement. The thirst of requirement. Excuse me. There's four thirsts there. Did you get them? Did you pick them up? All right, I'll tell you again. The thirst of religion, the thirst for reality, the thirst of relationship, and the thirst of requirement or of necessity. It's very possible that you have come to Jesus yourself. Let me ask you to bear with me. And in conclusion here turn to one last section of scripture. Back in the Gospel of John again. If you haven't used your Bible all week, it takes a few days to get the binding loosened up. Alright, back to John, chapter four, John four. We were in seven, we'll finish there, but in four. Here's the story of the woman at the well, the woman of Samaria. We won't read it, most of you are familiar with it. But look down at verse 13. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water, or the Greek word is a fountain or a well. Spring, fountain or well of water, welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water, but I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Alright, you may have come to the Lord yourself. And you have found that by believing, by asking the Lord Jesus and believing on him, you have a well of eternal life springing up inside of you upon which you can draw. And there is a wonderful security that comes with that, Beloved. To be born again. To know that there's the well of water bubbling inside of you. There's precious changes that begin to come over. You find that your desires are beginning to change. You find that there's a hunger in your heart for some of the things that were never there before. Character. You find that you want to leave some of these things that you were into and get into some new things. God makes you new inside. And the indwelling Spirit brings the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And maturity begins to come. But someday God, he's very gracious and gives us time. But someday he begins to challenge us with the reality of a mission that we are to take this gospel to all the earth. And then you begin to get out there where the need is, and you begin to recognize that there's a lot of people out there who are dry and thirsty. And you begin to realize that they need the living water that you have. And so you run back to the well and you get a bucket full and you take it to them, and you begin to do this again. And then you go to work and you do it again, and you go to school and you do it again, and you go to your neighbor and you do it again. But pretty soon you begin to realize that that's that trip back and forth to the well, that trip to go back in and to try to figure out what can I say to them, how can I do this? That that well is difficult. It's difficult. It's difficult, too. It's difficult to be carrying that water over there time after time. And what you really need is a good bucket brigade. And so you organize a bucket brigade. And so one person carries the bucket from here to here and another one from there to there. And beloved, churches are very good at bucket brigading, aren't they? One organization will do this, another organization will do that. And so you build the bucket brigade as tall as you can, as long as you can. But then you want to come to a point one day of saying, lord, if I'm to take water to the desert, then it can no longer be a well that I'm running back and forth to. There needs to be a river. There needs to be a river that I can be flowing in as I'm out there in the desert. And I want to submit to you, beloved, that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he made a difference between a well of the indwelling spirit and the river of the spirit outpoured. And the reason why the Holy Spirit is given in fullness is that you might become a river of living waters to go out to those dry streams, those dry stream beds and deserts, and bring the living water to people who are there. I read recently about a younger man who was with a team who were evangelizing down at the Mardi Gras this last year. And this team of folks were going from one concert to the next. And at one of the concerts, there was a good sized group of people and the band was just concluding a song that was called Sympathy to the Devil. That was the name of the song. And they were speaking and singing in glowing terms of what the devil has had to put up with all these years. And at the end, near the end of the song. This young man in his twenties felt the Lord impressing him to go and ask the band leader for an opportunity to speak to the people. And he shared it with the guy that he was with, and the guy was no longer with him. This is crazy. You know, we're here to pass out tracts. We're not here to. But the two men then prayed together, and he said, you know, the Lord is impressing me to do this. And he said, I didn't know what I was going to say, but I went up to the bandleader and I said to him, I need to borrow your PA system. I need to make an announcement. And the guy said, what for? What do you want to say? He said, well, I need to tell these people that Jesus loves them. And the band leader said, well, don't they already know that Jesus loves them? And it was amazing to me how the guy said, yes, but they need to know from me that Jesus loves them. And the band leader says, well, go tell them that. And he walked up and he made some sort of a demeaning remark about this, that and the other concerning this guy. And he took the microphone and for five minutes had total silence as he shared with those people. Jesus loved them and gave his life and gave him the gospel. No explanation for it except that the river washed away the filth that was on the side and carried it through. Beloved, I believe that if you're thirsting, if you're thirsty for the things of the Lord, it's Jesus Christ who says, come to me and drink. And he who believes on me, out of his heart shall flow rivers, Rivers. Not one river, but rivers of living water. We at Northway Christian Community, as well as the Church of Jesus all around the world need to have rivers flowing. You think what a river does. It's dynamic, flowing. It carries things with it. Sometimes it makes a beeline through some rapids, and sometimes it meanders along and carries gently, but it flows. It's ever going toward the goal. Is the life of God in you that way? Is it flowing toward a goal? Is it moving along, sweeping up on the side of the banks and carrying things? That's the kind of life that God wants us to have. It's the kind of life that Jesus was glorified to give us. Are we thirsty today? You may be here and honestly want to say, I want to have a thirst, but I don't have any right now. And I want to just urge you. All you need to do is just be honest with the Lord and say Lord, I don't have that thirst. Maybe I once had it, but I don't have it now. And I'm willing to have it. And perhaps some of you are here today, and you've never, ever sensed that flowing river in your life. Beloved, we cannot go on in the strength of our flesh. And I want to tell you something. I know the elders of this community. I know that we're not intent on building bucket brigades. Do you understand what I'm saying in that analogy? That there's thousands of programs that we can come up with to do all kinds of things, just carry one bucket at a time. But if we can make a river out of Betty and God can put a river in Dallas and a river in you, brother, and a river in you, sister, then that stream flows and life is affected wherever you go. And I believe that's the intent of God today. I believe that's what he wants with us. Let's pray. Lord jesus, hallelujah. Thank you, father. Praise the lord. Would you speak to the Lord? Would you tell him of your thirst? Are you thirsty for His Holy Spirit today? I want to ask today as we pray, is there anyone here, anyone here at all that's in your life? You've been looking for reality. You've been looking for an answer to your questions. And you've never come into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You've never come to a point in your own mind where you know that you said yes to God through his Son. This is drinking at the well. This is the first thing that you must do. Most of us here have come to the Lord and said, yes, Lord, I want this eternal life. I want forgiveness of sins. If that's the desire of your heart right now, as we're all praying, if that's what you want today, would you pray right now and ask the Lord to come into your life? Would you ask him to come in to wash away the sin and to give you new life? Go ahead and ask him in your own words. Just say, lord, I need this living water. I need Jesus in my heart. And may I ask you to do one more thing? If that's a prayer of your heart today and that's something you desire, would you do as the Bible says and acknowledge that before man by doing this one thing in this next moment, would you lift your head and let our eyes meet? And that meeting of our eyes will be the sign that you are saying, in your life, Lord, I want to have Jesus in my life. I want living water. Go ahead and lift Your head right now. If that's the desire of your heart, only lift your head. Yes, ma'. Am. Is that why you're looking at me? Praise the Lord. Jesus brings life into you. Be assured of it. It's from him. Okay. Anyone else that would lift your head and let our eyes meet. And that will be your sign if I should miss your eyes. Slip your hand up very quickly so I can see you. I believe there's others. Anyone else? Yes, sir. Is that why you're looking at me now? Jesus Christ offers you eternal life. Receive it in his name. Thank you. Anyone else that would lift your head and just let our eyes meet quickly? Anyone else? Praise the Lord. Lift your head, let our eyes meet. That'll be your sign that Jesus, you know something? You can lie to yourself from now until your deathbed. But this is all something that you don't understand. And you'll never really be a good person. It doesn't matter. Jesus Christ comes in and he brings in life. You don't generate it. Is there anyone else that would say, I don't want to fight anymore, I want the Lord in my life? I feel led to ask this. Is there anyone here that would say, today I can't make that decision, but would you pray for me? Because I know I need something. Put your hand up real quickly and put it down. Up and down. Then, beloved, I want to ask this. Do you need a touch of the Holy Spirit today? If you know the Lord, you can speak to him right where you are. You don't need somebody necessarily to come and pray with you. But say, holy Spirit of God, become a river in my life. Come to Jesus Christ. He is the one. He is the one who gives the river, not man. Nobody's hands brings the river. Only Jesus. John the Baptist said Jesus Christ was the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. God the Father has given Jesus the Holy Spirit to be poured out. Who would say today I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Just put your hand up and put it down again, would you? I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. I want to make this clear. You were saying today, I don't know that I've ever been filled with the Holy Spirit, but I want to be. Go ahead, put your hand up just so I can see and pray with you. Praise the Lord. Alright, many of you, praise the Lord. Thank you.