In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that the belief that the power of the Holy Spirit is only for advanced Christians is a misconception perpetuated by the devil. The speaker refers to the story of Moses striking the rock at Horeb, which is seen as a picture of Christ in the New Testament. The speaker also mentions Jesus' teachings on the Holy Spirit before his ascension, highlighting the importance of waiting for the Holy Spirit's empowerment before sharing the gospel. The sermon concludes with the speaker's personal journey of seeking the Holy Spirit's power to overcome spiritual dryness and live a life without complaining.

This is the second of a series on speaking on the subject of the power of the Holy Spirit. The first one was in the morning session. Jesus, before he went up to heaven, spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit to prepare his disciples for what was going to be the most important thing in the new covenant age, in these 2000 years. In fact, he told his disciples, these were the last words he spoke to his disciples before he went up to heaven. He told them, there is a world out there in need. He knew that. They desperately need to hear the gospel. But you are not ready to go. You must wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Otherwise, you'll be wasting your time. Essentially, that's what he was saying. That was such an important thing for him. And I believe it must be equally important for us. And it's because this is such an important requirement that the devil has caused such a lot of confusion around the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, particularly in the last 100 years. Jesus used word pictures often to describe many things. He told his disciples that they were going to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and things like that. And in relation to the Holy Spirit also, he used word pictures. In the first session we considered the Holy Spirit as the breath of God, the rushing wind, which was the breath of God that went through that upper room on the day of Pentecost. The breath that Jesus breathed upon his disciples after his resurrection, saying, receive the Holy Spirit. Another picture, which we want to consider now, is that of living water. Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit as living waters. John chapter 7, verse 37 to 39. Jesus expected us to understand the meanings behind these word pictures that he used. He does not want us to be lazy about that. He wants us to consider, just like he spoke a lot of parables that he never explained. John 7, verse 37, on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water. This he spoke of the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Yet we read in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit did come upon David, Gideon, Elijah. Elisha received a double portion of the Spirit that was upon Elijah. So what does it mean when it says here the Spirit was not yet given? Because Jesus was not yet glorified. It means that in this particular way, in which the Holy Spirit was going to be given, from the day of Pentecost onwards, nobody in the Old Testament could experience the Holy Spirit in this way. In this way the Spirit was not given to be permanently on earth, to dwell within a man. The first human being in whom the Spirit dwelt was Jesus. When God became man, took human form, that was the first person in whom the Spirit could dwell. And the wonderful thing that the New Testament teaches is that the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus in His earthly days is the one who can dwell within us. And if we yield to Him like Jesus yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, our life can be more wonderful than what anybody experienced in Old Testament times. You may remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11. Once He said John the Baptist was the greatest man born of women. Right up until that time. But He said, the least person who enters this new kingdom of heaven can rise to greater heights than even John the Baptist. What did He mean? He was referring to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Another time, He turned around and He said to people who were standing there, some of you will not die before you see the kingdom of God come in power. That was in the day of Pentecost. Again, He was referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. So, this is something that Jesus prepared His disciples for and they understood the importance of this. And when they waited, they received that power. And that was the secret of the lives of those early Christians. I feel that a lot of Christians today have majored on Christ dying on the cross which is of course very very important and His resurrection. But have not allowed it to lead on to a spirit filled life. I want to show you a couple of Old Testament illustrations. You know, the Old Testament is 3 quarters of our Bible. And a lot of things written in the Old Testament refer to what is fulfilled in the New Testament. We read that after the resurrection Jesus walked with 2 of His disciples to Emmaus and it says there beginning from Genesis all the way to Malachi He explained to them the things in the Scriptures concerning Himself. That entire Old Testament was referring to Christ. So there are many wonderful things in the Old Testament that refer to Christ and the Holy Spirit. And I want to show you a couple of them. First of all in the 2nd book of the Old Testament Exodus and chapter 17. We're thinking about the Holy Spirit as living waters. It's one of the pictures used in the New Testament and in the Old Testament of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Exodus 17 We read about the sons of Israel traveling out after having left Egypt and they came to a place called Rephidim. Exodus 17 and verse 1 And there was no water there for the people to drink. Now think of what we've been just speaking. Living water symbolizing the Holy Spirit. There was no water there. And the people quarreled and said give us water that we may drink. It's interesting that Jesus used word pictures that are so essential for our life to symbolize the Holy Spirit. In our first study we were considering the breath of God. Our breath we know is the most essential thing for life. We can live without thousands of things but if we stop breathing we don't live very much longer. And the other picture we're considering now is water. Water is more essential than food. We can live without food for a number of days but we can't live without water for too long. And Jesus used pictures like this breath, water as pictures of the Holy Spirit to teach us what? To teach us that these are absolute essentials for the Christian life. These are not sort of optional extras that if you want you can have. No! Air and water are not optional extras for our life on earth. And the Holy Spirit is not an optional extra. It's not for some Christians. Air and water are not for some human beings. And yet a lot of Christians think that, well, my sins are forgiven by the Holy Spirit. Oh, well, that's for certain advanced Christians. It's not true. It's what the devil would like you to think. But it's not true. And that's the reason why many people live substandard Christian lives. So, Exodus 17 we read that the people thirsted for water and Moses cried out to the Lord, verse 4, what shall I do? And remember, all these things were a picture of what is going to be fulfilled in the New Testament. Like the Passover lamb that the Israelites killed in Egypt was a picture of Christ. Here's another picture of Christ. It's very clearly told us in 1 Corinthians 10 that this rock that was smitten is a picture of Christ. And the Lord told Moses, I will stand before you, verse 6, there on the rock at Horeb. And you shall strike the rock. And that's a picture of Calvary. Bible says that rock was Christ and he was smitten on the cross for our sins. So, that's one part of the gospel that we've all understood, experienced, hopefully, and that most Christians major on. But, what happened when the rock was smitten? This is the second part of the good news. And water will come out of it that the people may drink. So, the rock being smitten was a picture of Christ being crucified. What was going to be the result of this work that Jesus accomplished on the cross? The living waters would flow so that no one need be thirsty. No one need live an unsatisfactory or unsatisfying Christian life. And yet, if you were to ask the average believer whether his Christian life is satisfying, if he is honest, the answer would be no. He lives a life of frequent defeats, frequent bad moods, and when he compares his life with the life of many other good people on earth, he doesn't seem to be much different. And is there something that he has missed? Yes, there is. It's life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It's experiencing these living waters that are pictured in the Old Testament and frequently referred to by the prophets. We read in Isaiah and chapter 44 and verse 3. The Lord says, I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. Isaiah 44 and verse 3. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring. So, in a number of places you find in the Old Testament and then Jesus picked it up in the New Testament. There is this promise of God pouring out living waters but always you find it is on those who are thirsty. And thirsty means someone who is not satisfied with what he already has. And the reason why many people never come into experiencing a spirit-filled life is because they are satisfied with their substandard, defeated life. That's the reason. Such people are not thirsty. And the promise is, I will pour water on the one who is thirsty. Not on anyone and everyone. Let me turn to a couple of verses in the New Testament. In Hebrews 6, it speaks about pressing on to perfection. In the first verse. The Christian life is pictured here like laying a foundation for a building and then building the superstructure. It's got to be like a skyscraper, pressing on to perfection. But, what does the foundation consist of? It's important for us to see. We are told in Hebrews 6 in verse 1 and 2, the foundation consists of repentance. We all understand that, turning from sin. Faith. We have heard a lot about that. And instruction on baptisms. Speaks here about baptisms in the plural. Baptism is a word which means immersion. That's all it means. It's a Greek word which means to dip or to be immersed. Then it speaks about laying on of hands and the eternal judgment and resurrection etc. I want to refer to this baptisms as part of the foundation. We are not talking about superstructure now. The basic fundamental doctrine, the elementary teaching it says in that verse of Christ. In the elementary teaching about Christ, which we should learn in our spiritual kindergarten. There is repentance, faith and at least two baptisms. Many of us have gone through one baptism. Baptism in water. Symbolizing our death with Christ and resurrection. There is another baptism. Another immersion. And that is immersion in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said, I can baptize you with water but he, the son of God will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. I can immerse you in water but only he can immerse you in the Holy Spirit. Another verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I want to show you these scriptures so that your faith is not founded on the wisdom of men but the word of God. That's the reason why I point out these verses. So that you can have a solid foundation for your faith. Again, he is referring here to this Old Testament example of the Israelites who came out of Egypt. Egypt being a picture of the world. The blood of the lamb that was shed put on the door post being a picture of our publicly expressing our faith in Christ and his blood shed on the cross. And thus we escaped the angel of death. So he says, I don't want you to be unaware. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. That our fathers, the Israelites were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. So there were two things he mentions here. The cloud and the sea. And then he calls them going through them both baptisms. There were two baptisms. Verse 2. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. There were two baptisms. They had a baptism or an immersion in the sea and an immersion in the cloud. That means they went into the red sea and came out which is a picture of water baptism where we go in to the water and come out. And then there was a baptism in the cloud. The cloud came from heaven and immersed them. It was a huge cloud that immersed all those people. And this is also called a baptism. And that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now let me turn you to Revelation chapter 22. There are two ways in which we can be immersed in water. One is if you go into a river like John the Baptist baptized Jesus immersed him in the river and brought him out and as he was brought out the Holy Spirit came down upon him we read and immersed him. And Revelation 22 verse 1 This river of living water that Jesus spoke of that we read at the beginning is mentioned here. Revelation is a book with symbolic language. And it says here this river of the water of life came from the throne of God and the Lamb. We saw in Exodus when the rock was smitten that river began to flow so that all the people could drink. Here we see the river flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb in heaven. Try and picture this in your mind. A river flowing from the throne of God in heaven something like the Niagara Falls much higher than that coming all the way from heaven down to this earth. What would happen if you stood underneath that? You'd be immersed. That is the second baptism. Immersion. This river, Jesus said, was the Holy Spirit poured out from heaven and the Lord wants you and me to be totally immersed and filled in the Spirit. So having shown you these verses so that we realize we are on good New Testament scriptural foundation. I want you to turn back to John's Gospel chapter 3 first of all. We want to try and have a Bible study on the subject of the power of the Holy Spirit under the symbol of water. Living water. There are three times in the Gospel of John that Jesus spoke about this living water. And those three instances refer to three stages in the Christian life. Three operations of the Holy Spirit in our life. Number one, John chapter 3 and verse 5. Jesus said, truly, truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. This is similar to like John the Baptist said he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Where he uses fire as a picture of the Holy Spirit. Here, Jesus is using water as a picture of the Holy Spirit. So being born of water and the Spirit means being born of the Holy Spirit. That's the first operation of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. When a person turns from his sin believes that Christ died for his sins and rose again from the dead and receives Christ as his Lord and Savior he is born of the Spirit. As many as received him to them he gave the power to be the children of God. So no one can be born again without the operation of the Holy Spirit. So if you are born again you have already experienced an operation of the Holy Spirit in your life. That he brought you to birth you know just like the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and produced Jesus in her. The Holy Spirit has come to produce the life of Christ in you and me. Exactly the same way. This is called being born of the Spirit. We can symbolize it like a cup of water. There is an Old Testament verse in Psalm 116 and verse 13 where the psalmist says What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation. Salvation there is pictured as a cup and it's a cup containing water. And that's where we begin. A cup of water where our sins are forgiven and there is that initial operation of the Holy Spirit where we are born of the Holy Spirit and we become children of God. We go to the second reference and that is in John's Gospel chapter 4 and here Jesus says again using the picture of water verse 13 Everyone who drinks of this water Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman here will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst but the water that I give him will become a well of water springing up to eternal life. So now you see the cup of water has become a well of water. This is a higher stage. What does this mean? Well, in 85% of the homes in India they get water from a well probably more than 85% maybe 90% 85% of India is village and nobody has running water in a village and like it was in the days of Jesus himself one of the most essential requirements in a house is a well and if you can't afford one in your house then you need to be in a village where there is a well and that well, if you have a well in your house it supplies your need of water even in the cities where I live many people have a well in their house because the water supply from the city is erratic very often we don't get water because there is not enough in the lake that supplies the water and so they turn it off sometimes we get water running water just two days a week and so then it's good to have a well so that if those folks turn off the water you still have water at home so I can understand in our situation in India how important it is or how wonderful it is to have a well where we are not dependent on somebody else supplying the water and nobody can turn it off now, I have applied this to the Christian life in this way can somebody else turn off your joy? does it happen? can somebody else do something that brings you into a bad mood or gets you upset? well, you need a well when you have a well nobody can turn off the supply something is missing in your life if somebody else can turn off your joy that's what I mean Jesus said in John chapter 16 and verse 22 the last part no one takes your joy away from you isn't it wonderful to be able to live a life on earth where no human being can ever take away my joy I mean, he may be able to take away my money he may be able to take away my health make me sick or hurt me but he can't take away my joy maybe he can take away my liberty and lock me up in prison but he can't take away my joy the Christian life is really wonderful this is what God wants us to live this is the level at which God wants us to live where no one else can take away my peace or my joy or my love I mean if someone can do something to you and thereby stop you from loving him he's turned off your love it happens all the time with Christians somebody does something and the supply is turned off Jesus says that's because you're getting your supply from other sources not from me the water that I give him will be a well that keeps on springing up into everlasting life that was not possible in the Old Testament that's why you don't have a command like this in the Old Testament be anxious for nothing how in the world could God give a command like that in the Old Testament if he didn't put a well inside there rejoice always you'll never find that in the Old Testament because the Spirit was not given the Spirit is given only after Jesus glorified he who endures to the end in love will be saved how can you endure to the end in love love your enemies bless them that curse you it wasn't possible in the Old Testament there's no such command in the Old Testament because the Spirit was not given when the Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost then that word was fulfilled where Jesus said I will put a well of water a spring of water that's the meaning there actually a continuous spring springing up into everlasting life that's what Jesus told the Samaritan woman I will put a well of water within him that springs up keeps on springing up to eternal life in the Old Testament there was no eternal life it was laws rules and regulations and when you follow rules and regulations you're not a joyful person you're pretty grumpy and miserable most of the time trying to keep these rules and regulations and you make other people miserable too trying to get them to follow these rules and regulations and that's how people were in the Old Testament I can't imagine the Pharisees rejoicing and being happy I mean their hallelujahs must have been long faced hallelujahs when they praised the Lord in the meeting but Jesus came and changed all that see he came not with laws but with something more wonderful than laws and it's very important for all of us to understand this that the Old Covenant was laws and as long as you're living under rules and regulations you're still being governed by the spirit of the Old Covenant and that's why we have a lot of problems you know we think we can live the Christian life I spend half an hour reading the Bible, rule number one rule number two spend 15 minutes in prayer rule number three go to meetings twice a week it's just another bunch of commandments like the Ten Commandments and it's not going to bring any joy or peace into our life we can be just as miserable as those Old Testament people we've just got different set of commandments but there is another law which the New Testament speaks about I don't know whether you noticed it the Old Testament was the law of Moses the Ten Commandments the New Testament is called in Romans 8 verse 2 the law of the Holy Spirit what is the law of the Holy Spirit? we know what the law of Moses was not only Ten Commandments if you read Leviticus there are hundreds of commandments it's a bunch of rules and regulations which made people miserable burdened, heavy laden and Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden of following these rules the law of the Spirit, Romans 8 verse 2 is described in the next phrase Life in Christ Jesus that is the law of the Spirit it's not read your Bible every morning or pray for so many minutes it's Life in Christ Jesus it's exciting the law of the Spirit the Holy Spirit has not come to give us a new bunch of rules He's come to give us something better Life that is what the water speaks about living water and Jesus said I've come to give you Life and to give it to you more abundantly not only a cup of water but a well of water springing up that nobody outside can turn off your supply let them do what they like you're still overflowing with joy and peace and thanksgiving and love to those fellows who hate you it's wonderful this is the Christian life as God wants us to live it we must have this inward connection with God now let me show you another verse in Jeremiah chapter 17 it says here now these things are only prophesied in the Old Testament but they find their fulfillment only after the day of Pentecost Jeremiah 17 and verse 7 blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord and he will be like a tree planted by the water the tree is us planted by the water and listen to this it extends its roots by a stream you know when a tree is planted its roots it's got an amazing ability that God's given these dumb trees to just look for water and the roots smell out that water and go towards the river it's amazing underneath it's all hidden you can't see it on top you see a tree on top of the ground underneath the roots are searching for water it's got a thirst I want water where is it? where is that river? and if it doesn't find a river anywhere nearby it just dries up but if it finds a river in some direction in some miraculous way the roots go there and draws and sucks in that water and what's the result? it doesn't fear when heat comes its leaves will be green it will not be anxious even when there is drought and famine all around and it never ceases to yield fruit what a wonderful life in the midst of so many other Christians are always complaining all this is famine and things are bad and the economy is bad and things are happening contrary to my expectation ok so what? this tree doesn't bother because it's got some hidden roots that's brought it in touch with the sovereign ruler of this universe who controls all circumstances and everything that's how we're supposed to live but if we complain and grumble just like anybody else then of course we don't have those hidden roots going out you know what we need for the days to come? we need some hidden roots in our life that search and the bible says he's not far from us that river is not so far it's been poured out on the day of Pentecost and we can connect up and never never cease from yielding fruit always green always fresh I remember when I was born again 44 years ago and for a number of years I never understood the secret I was born again I put the blood outside and I was saved by the blood of the lamb I was baptized in water but I did not know what it was to be filled with the Holy Spirit and from my own experience I know it's possible for a Christian a good Christian to be born again and not be filled with the Holy Spirit because he doesn't thirst for that he's satisfied with his substandard life I was satisfied with my substandard life and Jesus said if anyone thirsts let him come to me and I didn't thirst so I didn't go to him I was okay you know I was going to heaven my sins are all forgiven I'm on my way to heaven praise the Lord but when I lived like that God allowed me to be defeated and frustrated people could turn off all types of things in my life from outside because I never had this well I was born of the Spirit I had the cup of water but the cup finished pretty quickly and I'd be dry again I wonder if that's your experience and yet that's not what God wants us to be there is a higher life there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God that's where God wants us to live all the time in the midst of turmoil and confusion and chaos and all types of things this is not I'm not just preaching theory my brothers and sisters I hope you'll believe me it's absolutely true it's real it's life and God wants every one of us to have it if you will thirst and if you can trust that God will do it for you don't ever let the devil say oh I'm such a make you say I'm such a rotten person God won't do it for me God will do it for you He came for sinners He didn't come for the righteous He came for those who are weary and heavy laden you know if you're sick and tired of your life Jesus says come that expression come to me all who are weary and heavy laden I paraphrase it come to me those who are sick and tired of your life sick and tired of your defeated life I often say that to people who want to join our church I remember once a man came to join our church and said Brother Zach I'm sick and tired of this other church and I'd like to join your church I said well you'll get sick and tired of us too I said if you come here because we're also a bunch of imperfect people but I said if you're sick and tired of yourself then you can join us because because we're a bunch of people who are sick and tired of ourselves and we want a better life so we're not we didn't leave something because we were sick and tired of them we're sick and tired of our own defeated life we wanted to seek God and that's how we started meeting together I said if you come on that basis well welcome to join us Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden all you who are sick and tired of your fruitless dry existence always complaining about the drought around you and the famine around you and always dry come to me Jesus says and I'll give you rest I'll lead you to this type of life come and drink from me and out from your innermost being will flow rivers of living water we'll come to that in a moment so John chapter 4 is the second stage where I get this supply of the Holy Spirit's power within me to sustain me in times of spiritual famine and dryness that's as I said I started out like that and I began to seek God and I said Lord I want a life where I will never complain about anything this is a verse in the Bible Philippians chapter 2 which says do all things without murmuring and complaining now that's not a suggestion it's a commandment by the way a commandment that God gave Philippians chapter 2 I think it's verse 13 or 14 do all things without murmuring and complaining I wasn't living like that and I was satisfied with that type of life and I said Lord I don't want to be like that I want to live a life as described in the New Testament where whatever people may do or not do they will not be able to turn off the supply of water because I've got a well inside I want that life and God gave it to me and God didn't give it to me because I deserved it He gave it to me when I was utterly defeated and when I was a failure just to teach me that He didn't give He doesn't give any of His gifts to people who think they deserve them He gives it to those who know that they don't deserve so this well of water springing up constantly refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit constantly keeping us fresh and making it impossible for us ever to become dry no matter who tries to turn off whatever supply to us it's not dependent on them then we go to stage 3 where Jesus spoke in John chapter 7 to the verse that we considered right at the beginning so here are the three ministries of the Holy Spirit first of all to bring us to new birth born of the Spirit like a cup of water and then to bring us to the place where we have a well springing up so that nobody can ever turn off our water supply constantly keeping us fresh and in touch with the Lord and the third is John 7 verse 38 where it says from His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water you see this well or this spring springs up and keeps on springing up so much that it begins to flow out from my innermost being and becomes a river and becomes many rivers now what is this refer to? this refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit where my life becomes a blessing to other people in many directions north, south, east and west now is this only for some super spiritual people, some special, specially called of God people, no! it says here everyone who believes in me the only condition is do you believe that Jesus can do that for you or do you believe it's only for some special people if you believe in Him He can do that for you you remember what Jesus asked the blind man who said Lord I want my eyes to be opened and Jesus said do you believe I can do this for you he said yes Lord he had never seen in his life but yet he said yes Lord and the Lord said according to your faith be it unto you supposing he had said Lord I believe you can open one eye laughter do you know what the Lord would have told him, according to your faith, be it unto you and he would have gone out with one eye open and he would have started the one eyed denomination and found fault with everybody who preached that Jesus can open two eyes this is what's happening in Christianity one person has faith that Jesus can do this much, he gets that much and when somebody else gets a lot more because he trusted Jesus for more, this fellow says that's wrong Jesus can't do that, he doesn't do that today he didn't do it for him because he didn't believe that's all, he who believes in me from his innermost being, there's no qualification here you got thirsty, you come to him and drink, if you believe in him from your innermost being will flow rivers of living water now that wasn't possible under the old covenant I remember the years, my early years in my Christian life, born again, it wasn't a river at all when I tried to serve the Lord, it was like a hand pump we have lots of hand pumps in India it's a very common feature of, because there's a great shortage of water in the cities and villages every here and there, the government fixes up a hand pump and you see people standing in a long line waiting to collect their bucket of water you pump and pump and pump and a few trickles of water come out and that's what you got for the day I think there's a little difference between that and a river who pumps the river? Jesus didn't speak about a hand pump this life under the law is this hand pump life no wonder they were weary and heavy laden Jesus said come to me God can send a river through us to bless other people believe it my brother and sister believe it, if you've never believed it till today, believe it because Jesus says so say Lord I have no qualification, I'm thirsty that's all you need that's the only qualification you need are you thirsty for this life? do you long that your life will be a blessing to other people oh I long for it so much you know about ten years ago I was driving my little motorbike in India and a railway gate fell on me and I was knocked off unconscious and I could have died but somehow the Lord spared my life and when I came to my senses I said Lord I haven't finished saying thank you to you you can't take away my life so soon I haven't finished saying thank you to you for dying for me on the cross you gotta give me a few more years he's given me ten more years I hope he'll give me some more to be a blessing to other people I didn't say Lord I haven't made enough money or I haven't enjoyed myself as much as I want to that's not what I wanted to live for I said Lord I have not fulfilled all that I want to do for you before I leave this earth are you thirsty for that? do you long not that you'll make more money or enjoy life a little more or see some new places as a tourist we can leave that to the millennium and God will show us many things when he comes again but Lord in this little short life that I have I want to do the most that I can do for your kingdom on earth before you come again I want to be available I thirst for that I want my life to be a blessing to people north, south east and west I want rivers of living water to flow through my life that's thirst do you have to be a mature believer to have that type of thirst? no, you may have been born again yesterday and you can say Lord I want my life to be a blessing to people I want life to flow out from me rivers of life you know if you study in history the ancient civilizations of the earth you'll notice one thing they always gathered together near a river it's always true whether it's in India or the United States or anywhere you'll find the great congregations of people when they gathered together you never find great congregations in a desert anywhere they always gathered together where there's a river why? because they need water nobody needs sand they need water and so they would congregate around a river think that you can be a person like that you can be a person around whom people come together because you got water in a dry land water flowing out of your life and how did it flow? not because you're better than those others because you thirsted you said God I want my one earthly life to be a blessing before I leave this earth I don't want to waste my life just making money and enjoying myself and seeing places that's not what I'm here for I want my life to be a blessing I want to show you Galatians chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 I don't know whether you've noticed this verse as I said I want your faith to be founded in God's word not the wisdom of men it says why did Christ become a curse for us? Galatians 3.13 Christ became a curse for us on the cross so that the blessing of Abraham might come to us non-Jewish people so that we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith what it's saying is way back 4000 years ago the blessing that God gave to Abraham can be ours now through the Holy Spirit I don't have time to turn there right now, Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 to 3, the Lord told Abraham two things the blessing of Abraham, I will bless you that's the well of water and I will make you a blessing that's the river of water that's the blessing of Abraham in a nutshell the blessing of Abraham is I will bless you turn to Genesis 12 sometime and study it and I will make you a blessing it's not enough that God blesses us that's only a well we go on from there I will make you a blessing I want to say to all of you sitting here don't leave this earth till you become a blessing to other people don't don't be satisfied with a cup of water saying my sins are all forgiven don't be satisfied even with a well of water until God's word is fulfilled that rivers of living water flow out from you this is the purpose of the Holy Spirit this is why we must thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit not just once continuously I've seen rivers in India that were full and you go by that river some years later it's absolutely dry the people living there because it's dry the rains haven't come I've seen Christians like that once upon a time filled with the spirit and a real blessing to people you see them 10 years later they're running after all types of things in the world they've lost their love for Jesus Christ lost their devotion no we need this continuously there is no such thing as a once for all experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit see health it's like health I don't have health once for all on one day I need it everyday it's like breathing I need to breathe everyday I can't breathe once for my whole life no I can't be filled with the spirit once for my whole life I need it all the time let me finally turn you to Ezekiel 47 you know when Jesus said as the scripture has said out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water you know which scripture he was referring to? Ezekiel 47 in Ezekiel 47 we read a picture of the temple of God and from the temple we read underneath the door of the temple verse 1 the water was trickling out there's a verse in Zechariah which says don't despise the day of small beginnings so if you find it's only a trickle don't get discouraged maybe you got you were a blessing just to one person in the whole of last year praise the Lord let's move on let's move on it's gonna be two people this year or more it's a trickle it started as a trickle flowing from under the house and trickling from the south side the last part of verse 2 says and then he led me through the water and see it's increasing it reached my ankles it's becoming a blessing to more people and then he led me another thousand cubits and it reached the knees verse 4 and then he led me some more into that and then it reached my loins and then another thousand cubits and it was a river that had risen so high that I had to swim in it see this is how the holy spirit leads us on from one degree of glory to another deeper and deeper into the life of Jesus Christ the life of Jesus Christ is like a fantastic huge ocean and the holy spirit leads us into that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus little by little by little that's what's pictured here and what happened when he reached the place where he had to swim I picture it like this first it was up to the ankles and up to the knees and up to the loins and as long as it was even up to my neck my feet were still on the ground there's something in us that always wants a little bit of earthly security let's keep our feet on the ground in all this business of Christianity and all that it's ok we'll trust the lord we'll go to the meetings and we'll pay our tithes and all that but let's keep our feet on the ground and let's find some security here and then we come to a place where the lord says you want my best you got to now trust me completely take your feet off and trust me that's when we begin to taste something which other Christians have never tasted when our confidence is only in the lord and his feet are off the ground and the river is carrying him and you know what happens it says here every place where the river goes verse 9 there will be many fish very many fish and the waters will bring healing wherever they go verse 11 the swamps and marshes will not become fresh but many other parts will become fresh in other words there are some people who will never change no matter how much we try to bless them but there are others who are going to be blessed and everywhere the river goes it says in the last part of verse 9 things are going to become fresh what a life I'm so challenged when I read that I want to encourage you to read that passage in Ezekiel 47 when you go home those few verses and say lord will you give me a life like this a life where I can bring freshness wherever I go where I can go to a meeting and lift the spirit of a meeting just by my sitting there think of it think of living such a spirit filled life this is what I've encouraged people in our home church I say you must be so filled with the spirit every time you come to a meeting you just sit in the meeting and the spirit of the meeting lifts even though you don't open your mouth think of being a person like that I believe it's possible this is what it means to be filled with the holy spirit may God help all of us let's bow our heads for a moment of prayer the only two conditions are thirst and faith if you thirst you qualify if you believe that Jesus can do that for a wretch like you he'll do it lord you see our need in our home to our neighbors to the people we meet everyday you desire that we become a blessing in the days to come you became a curse on the cross that we might be a blessing to others lord lead us into the fullness of the holy spirit everyone here in Jesus name amen