In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having hope and joy in the midst of a hopeless world. He encourages the congregation to live in hope and to rely on the Holy Spirit for joy. The preacher references Jeremiah 17 and highlights the God of hope mentioned in the scripture. He emphasizes that in the last days, there will be a stream of glory and life that will bring an end to despair. The preacher urges the congregation to trust in God and to draw from the stream of living water for abundant life.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Verse 13, just one verse out of this chapter I want to read to you. Follow me please. Now the God of what? The God, did you know he was the God of hope? Well you heard it, no wonder if you believe it. Now the God of hope, that's the kind of God, I'll tell you what folks, I read that this past, I was reading it on Monday. I thought, boy I'm really going to, I'm going to go right through the book of Romans. I got to that and stopped. The God of hope, I couldn't go any further, I got so blessed. The God of hope, I got so blessed I said, Lord that's what you want me to preach Sunday night. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that he may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we think of the letters that we heard during the prayer request time. Depression, depression, anxiety, fear. Lord, there are people that are absolutely cast down beyond any time or thing that they've ever known in their life. Lord Jesus, bring forth the word. We thank you for what we heard this morning. Lord, it was your word coming forth with hope and life. Add to it tonight. Lord Jesus, I need an anointing of your Holy Ghost. I can't preach without you, Lord. I can't preach without the Holy Ghost on me. So come down and shake us, Lord. Make the word alive. Give me a Holy Ghost anointing, Father, in Jesus' name. I take authority, absolute authority over every lying spirit, every demonic spirit, everything that would hinder the free flowing of the Holy Ghost. Lord, let it come forth. The simple word, let it bring life, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Give me just a little more on these monitors, if you will, please. There was a very distraught sister who wrote me a letter this past week, and she said, Mr. Eccleston, I'm absolutely terrified. I think it would be just wonderful if a hydrogen bomb would fall on us, especially my family, and wipe us out. It would all be over for us in such a hurry. We'd be with Jesus. I'm a retired widow with no man in our family. I just got out of the hospital recovering from a broken back. I have two unmarried daughters, one with health problems and another who hasn't worked in two years. We have suffered terribly for the past 16 years. Members of our fellowship that I attend are being persecuted, and my friends are all suffering unmercifully. There's fear and anxiety everywhere, especially my modern life seems to be fear, anxiety, depression. I lost my husband to cancer. We're all hurting, Mr. Wilkerson. And she closed her letter with these words, If there's no hope for the bride of Christ, please answer. My message is the answer to that dear woman. Her letter represents one of thousands that we receive, telling of desperation and hopelessness in these last days. We hear from so many people who love the Lord deeply. It's not a matter of not loving the Lord, but they're living in a situation or condition that's driven them to absolute hopelessness. Many of them write to us about being in a dead-end marriage. They said, My marriage brings no joy to me whatsoever. I don't want to run. I don't want out of it. I don't see any hope. We have so hurt one another. We've said such hurtful things. There's a certain language that you pick up. It's the language of despair, the language of hopelessness. It goes something like this. There's no way out. I brought it on myself. I'm in a prison. I'm stuck for life. God doesn't seem to hear my prayers anymore. Nothing ever changes. And it goes from bad to worse. And then we get this also, time after time. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth living. I wish the Lord would come and get me out of this terrible pit. And then we hear this also. I have a few good days, Mr. Rickerson, but then the feeling and the sadness overwhelms me, and I begin to feel worthless. I feel like I'm doing nothing. You know, I heard a statement recently. There's only one thing worse than insanity, and that's despair. Because if you're insane, you don't know that you're in despair. But praise the Lord. My Bible says we have a God of hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Paul here introduces an incredible phrase, that you may abound in hope. And that word in Greek means enough despair. Overflowing. Excessive. Beyond measure. Think of that for just a minute, what God is saying. Paul says we have a God of hope, and his desire is to fill us with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, that we may abound in hope. In other words, that we may have a hope that's excessive, a hope that we can't even measure. A hope that is overflowing so much for us that we can spill it over onto others all around us. Now a lot of people say, that sounds like God's haunting me or taunting me, because I'm not looking for excessive hope. I want a single ray of hope. I want just one evidence that God's at work. I want to see some movement somewhere. I want to see God just make something happen, because nothing changes, nothing is moving. I'm not even interested in some great big flood of air, just a tiny ray of hope. Now Paul's plan for the people of God was that he would fill you with joy and peace and believing. Brother and sister, that is supposed to be normal Christianity. The majority of Christians today do not enjoy normal Christianity. God's plan is that His people live in constant joy and victory. That doesn't mean you don't have battles or ups and downs, but there is a source that flows from the throne of God of constant joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. That is normal Christianity. God is not mocking us when He says, I desire to fill you with joy and peace, while you're believing or in your believing. He said, I'm ready to flood you with an exceedingly overflowing joy of heaven. Paul said, for we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does he still hope for it? But if we hope for that which we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it. I hear people say, I would hope, I would have hoped, if I could just see a little piece of evidence that God is answering prayer, or He's been at work, and that I don't have to live like I'm living right now the rest of my life. That there was some door of hope, some way out. Now, of course, to abide in hope means to have excessive patience, to wait for the Lord to do it. But I want to take you into the Word of God tonight. The Lord did this for me this past week, and He so filled me with hope, and He showed me something I want to share with you. I'll tell you what, if you get a hold of it tonight, it's so simple that it can be a key that can open up something in your life that no matter Jesus comes, you can have a source of victory and joy in the Holy Ghost, that every lie the devil throws at you, you can withstand it. Every fiery dart, everything people say and do to you, you can stand steadfast in God. Listen, God didn't leave us without hope. He's the God of hope. He's given us a Word of hope. We're the hope in His Word. You say, well, I want to see it. God said, if you see it, that's not hope. Hope is something you can't see. You wait patiently for God to undertake. I want to show you two immutable laws introduced by Jeremiah. Will you go to Jeremiah, the 17th chapter, please? Jeremiah 17. Now, we promised you that we'd try to get some additional lights in this theater. We're hoping this week that the electricians will get started on it, so you can read your Bibles. In the meantime, would you squint with me for a while? I tell you, this is so important, squint real hard, will you? Not because I'm preaching, but I believe God wants to baptize this people with joy tonight and hope. Brother and sister, we live in a hopeless city. We live in a hopeless time. If God's people don't have hope, where is He going to come from? I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let the devil put all that despair on me anymore. I'm going to live in hope. I'm going to live in the joy of the Holy Ghost. And I'm not just shouting off the top of my head. I've got Scripture to prove it. Hallelujah. Go to Jeremiah 17. Let's start reading verse 5. I'm going to introduce to you here now by the prophet two immutable laws. One is the law of despair, the other is the law of hope. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his own, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. He shall be like the heath in the desert, or the shrub in the desert. He shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parts, places of the wilderness, in a salt land not inhabited. Now lift up me please. The prophet Jeremiah has just introduced to us two immutable keys, two immutable laws. Now I want you to listen to it. Hopelessness and despair, listen to me, is the curse of a man or woman who trusts in the eye and the flesh. You are living in feelings brought upon you by what someone else has said and done. When it says leaning on the arm of flesh, it means to be affected by what people say or what people do. You are leaning on the arm of flesh, your own flesh in fact. Sometimes it can be your husband, it can be your wife, it can be your friends, it can be your children. Cursed is the man. That word cursed is utterly, in Hebrew, utterly detestable. This is God speaking. He said the person who will not trust me, the person who gets in a problem and picks up the telephone and leans on a friend instead of me, a person who is affected by what people say and what people do, is depending on the flesh, leaning on the arm of the flesh, affected by the flesh. Cursed is that man. Utterly detestable in my sight is the individual, especially my children. In fact, this chapter begins with these words. The sin of Judah. The sin of God's people. The sin of Judah. The sin of God's people is leaning on the arm of man. Looking for some counselor. Looking for some answer. Looking for some program. Looking for somebody somewhere to open the door and open their eyes. How can you know when you are trusting in the arm of the flesh? When you come apart, when somebody else lets you down. You're leaning on the arm of the flesh. You're leaning on the arm of the flesh when the actions of other people affect your walk with God. You know that nothing anyone says or does would ever affect your walk with God? I don't care if the whole world laughs at you. I don't care if the whole world turns on you. Nothing anybody does would affect your walk with God. Turn those off, okay? Those lights came on accidentally, I think. Those are not the ones I want. Okay. If anybody's going to look you in the eye, it's going to be the Holy Ghost, not those lights. I tell you, you put your trust in man and I guarantee you're going to get hurt. I guarantee you're going to get hurt. The Bible said the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and who can know it? Because you can have somebody that is your absolute best friend and you confide and confide and confide and then someday you find out they've been on the phone telling everybody all about it. You know what I preach when I go to jails? I preach, I'm dear John. And every one of those prisoners will cry because they know what I'm talking about. They've all got dear John letters. They're getting shot dead. And the woman says, I don't care how long you're in jail. I'll be here waiting. I'll be faithful. Two weeks later, she's gone. And those fellows sit in jail, you know, and that's where they sit, right in jail. And they hurt because somebody let them down. They live in absolute depression because they're dependent on the faithfulness of somebody else. And just when you get to think you know somebody, you're in for a shock. Paul said, I don't put any confidence in the flesh. And you'll say, who could have? I didn't know that about them. In a million years, I never thought they'd let me down like they let me down. And then the depression comes because somebody said something, somebody did something, somebody, that's the arm of the flesh. It's a curse. Much of the hurting and the hopeless today is the result of being let down by somebody you trusted, someone that was close to you. You know, I've heard many wives on telephone, when they talk around the country, preachers' wives especially, they say, my husband is one thing in the pulpit. He's another thing at home. My husband can get up and love all the people, but when he's home, he's as mean as a bear. I've had one woman say, my husband, everybody thinks he's as gentle as a lamb, but he slaps me around. You know, we get letters from people, marriage partners, and they say, Ann, if my partner would only change, if I could see my husband become gentle and treat me like a queen, or just be nice to me, and not say those hurtful things. And so, they set a peg out here in the future, and they're so depressed and hurting, till they reach this point, oh God, if I could just get here where he changes. I want to tell you something, if you changed, and God answered your prayer, and he treated you like you wanted to be treated, he said nice things, and you had a new man, it still would not solve your problem. Because you're depending on the flesh. It would not change, there would be something else, someone else will say something, someone else will hurt you, someone else will let you down, you'll be in the same spot. Because you're leaning on the arm of the flesh. I'll tell you what, it's not that somebody else around you needs to change, you need to change, I need to change. Jeremiah said, because you lean on the arm of the flesh, because you don't depend on the Lord, you know these people, they depend on you, if they do, they still pass the night figuring it out. You ever get, it just turns inside, there's a worm inside your belly, there's a big tape, they replace the tape over and over again. And you're going to tell him, you've got a piece of your mind, if I just get, you wait, I'll get him, I'll tell him. Or you were there, and you told him off, and you got home, and you were in with the good things, you forgot to tell him. And that tape worm just turns over and over and over again in your belly. Right or wrong? You bet I'm right. Do you know how many people can't sleep because they're playing and replaying things people have said about them or done to them? They don't take it to God, what they should have done immediately is run to the cross, run to the Lord and say, oh Jesus, seat me in a heavenly place and wipe my mind clean, and let me forgive and let me suffer the hurt, and the Lord would have healed them on the spot. But now that Jesus comes, somebody's going to hurt you. Somebody's going to walk on you. You know what happens then? You become, verse 6, you become like a shrub in the desert, that means fruitless, dry, and empty bush, there's no source of life, there are no leaves, there's no fruit, just a dry, dead shrub, a shrub in the desert, you shall not see when good cometh, you're so wrapped up in your problem now, you're so dry, you're so empty, that when the good comes, you can't even recognize it. You shall not see when good cometh, but you shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness, and the salt land not inhabited. That's loneliness. Loneliness. How many people in this city, listen, I've always believed that New York City was the loneliest place on the planet, for many people. They walk the streets, there are millions around them, and they're lonely, they're little islands, this parched land and the salt land. They're little dry shrubs, all shriveled up, they come to the house of God, they try to worship Him, they're all shriveled up, because they're thinking, I'm in a hopeless situation, and their minds are constantly turning, it's hopeless, the despair keeps rolling in like a flood. Pastor Sibler was telling about a man in the church, a wife who had a husband who was in total depression, a maniac depression, and he couldn't even speak, he'd just stand for hours in front of a wall, right up against the wall, looking at the wall, wouldn't talk, he was speechless, he was out of, just empty, he was just the shell of a man. They took him to a hospital, they were about to give him shock treatments, the pastor called him up and said, don't let them give you shock treatments, but he couldn't answer, he couldn't even talk. And so they sent a young couple to the hospital, to lay hands on him, and the church met, this was I think last Friday night, or Tuesday night, they met Tuesday night, at 7.45, they laid hands on this man, who was so depressed he couldn't even speak, and the whole church stood at 7.45 and prayed, that God would heal him. Went into the hospital, laid hands on this man, who was just a blank stare, been so depressed, he's out of his mind, laid hands on him, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he began to praise the Lord, speak in a heavenly language, and he was healed instantly. We're going to have him in the service this next week, to give his testimony. But you see what happened? How did he get out of that touch dry land? He returned to the Lord! He returned to the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. A dry, parched land, it means you're cut off from all the true supply of happiness and hope. You've neglected the Lord. You're not drawing on the living water. You're becoming like a dead, dry, desert shrub without fruit, and you're dead. Listen, you cannot, I'll say it again, you cannot depend on another human being to give you happiness. You know, marriage, I've heard people say marriage is 50-50. That's a lie from the pit of hell. What are you going to do? You draw a 50% line, and you get that line and say, Hey, 10%, come on, you have 40% to come. Marriage is 100 to 0. 100%. Every one of you. Husband and wife giving you 100%, not caring what the other does, but swallowing the hurt. You know, we get people with a hurting self. I just find somebody to love. We've got single women in this church, and single men in a hurting and lonely self. Oh, I know what will solve my loneliness. I just find somebody to love me. I'll find another human being. I will tell you, you're going to be twice as lonely 10 minutes after you walk down the aisle. That girl can't touch that place in your heart. I told you about a comedian I've met that we've been divorced 10 times, getting married 11 times. He said, I've got a spot in me that no woman can touch, and I walk down the aisle hoping she can scratch that itch in me. I was married to one woman one week, he said. She couldn't make me happy, so I dropped her. There's no human being on earth to make you happy. Not the happiness of the Holy Ghost. Not the joy of the Lord. No way. But you know what's happening? Depression and despair comes when you are cut off from the supply of living water. You become dry because you've been cut off. You know, last week I was in upstate New York, and they have an aqueduct. It's one of the great wonders of America. They brought out armies of immigrants years ago. Many of them Italian. They have bricklayers. And this aqueduct, you can walk through it. It's huge. It's brick lined. Probably 150 miles up to the lakes. Upstate. And this aqueduct. They have pumping stations. Beautiful stone pumping stations. And it's a wonder. It's an incredible wonder. And it pipes water down to New York. Can you imagine what would happen to this city if that aqueduct was exploded five or six places, and it was blocked off, and there was no water coming into the city? This city would become that parched place in the wilderness of salt land not inhabited. We can get along without gasoline, but we can't get along without water. And that's exactly what happens. That's the cause of our depression. That's the cause of our despair. For the Christian. It's being cut off. There's something happening in the aqueduct from the throne of God. That living water is not being pumped in. It's not being drawn upon. And there's an emptiness. And then the field begins to feed on itself. The depression feeds on itself. It has to eat something, and what it does is eat your own flesh. So many have been cut off from the supply of life. And when people lose hope, rather than run to the Lord, there's a tendency to clam up, to turn inward, to curl up inside. Did you see the headlines? Abbie Hoffman died this past week. Abbie Hoffman was a radical in the 60s. When I was a younger preacher, Abbie Hoffman and the others were leading all of the demonstrations and up and down the streets. They were the radicals. And he was a jovial kind of person outwardly, and a very vibrant speaker. But very few people knew that he was a maniac depressive, that he would go home after these mass meetings and curl up in the room. Sometimes for days he couldn't get to sleep. He was all bound up inside. They found him dead this past week, in bed, covered, in a fetal position, with blood running out of his mouth. They couldn't find any other reason. His mother called it a suicide, since she knew that he was so depressed that it would end up that way. You know, this is the condition of many Christians. Spiritually they curl up inside. They know you can tell them, look, you know that if you'll just run to the cross, you know that if you'll get along with the Lord and take your burden, you know that if you'll strengthen yourself in the Word, and as Bob said, encourage yourself in the Lord, if you'll put your trust in Him, if you'll get on your face and carry your burden to Him. Don't take it to a person. Don't get on the telephone. You don't need a counselor right now. You need to be alone with Him. If you would do that, you'll find victory, that they'll look at you and not even hear a word you say. Because already it's set in and it's feeding on itself and they're curling up inside and curling up inside and shriveling. God is saying you're in despair simply because you don't trust Me. You'll turn to others, you'll turn to your medicine, to friends, to doctors. You won't be uplifted by My promises that you'll let what somebody says cast you down. You let the words of others affect you, but you won't let My words affect you. Now, isn't that a terrible thing? Isn't that an offence to a holy God that you'd let people around you affect you and bring you down? And this holy Word won't lift you up? To slap in God's face how it must grieve the Lord over the language of hopelessness that many doubt-cast Christians use. I want you to go to Jeremiah 18. Jeremiah 18 chapter. Look at verse 12. And they said, what? There is no hope. There is no hope. We will walk after our own devices and we will, everyone, do the imagination of his own evil heart. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask ye now among the heathen who hath heard such a thing. The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. You know, God's speaking through the prophet. He's saying, my people are doing a terrible, horrible thing. Horrible thing. In this whole chapter, 17 and 18, God is trying to show them He's a God of hope. But you know what's happening? They're saying, look, there is no hope. There is no hope. Nothing changes. God's left me to do my own thing. That's what it means right there in verse 12. We'll walk after our own device and everyone do the imagination of his own heart. Otherwise, I've prayed, I've asked God, nothing happens. God's left me to work it out by myself. There's just no hope. Ah, the people here tonight, the balcony in here, you wouldn't say it outwardly, but in your heart, you sit here even tonight saying, oh, I've prayed, I've asked God, Lord, I've done everything I know how to do. And I feel like it's just closing in on me. There's no hope. And so what you do, you just watch. I'll do the best I can. I'll grit my teeth. I'll fight it. I'll get a hold of it. Somehow, some way I'll do it. No, it doesn't work that way. That's the person who says there's no hope. He's trying to describe it. Then he said the virgin of Israel, that's his own people. They've done a very horrible thing, verse 14. When a man leaves the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field, and shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken, that my people have forgotten me, burning incense to vanity, they've caused them to stumble in the ways from the ancient paths to walking paths in a way not cast up. Now let me tell you what the prophet's saying. Now look this way, please. He's saying my people are living in a state of hopelessness. I've told them I'm the God of hope. I've given them every promise to deliver them. I've done everything I know how. But my own precious virgin children are doing a horrible thing to me. They're saying that I have forsaken them. And God thinks that it's when you're not forgotten that people who believe God's forgotten them, left them to work out their own problems. The Lord's not doing anything for me. And he said my people are doing a terrible thing. When that happens, when that hopelessness, that despair comes in, you know what they do? They forsake the waters of Lebanon. And it's a picture of the snow on the mountains of Lebanon. And they melt and they come down and they water the fields. Beautiful, clear, crystal water. It's a constant flow that never fails. And the prophet is saying, I'll read it to you again. When a man leaves the snow of Lebanon, in the original Hebrew it says, will the water from Lebanon fail? He said no. Those waters will not fail. Because those waters represent the very essence of God's Spirit. The very essence of who God is. But that water is flowing. But he said you're sitting beside melted snow water. You're sitting right beside the clearest, most refreshing stream known to mankind. It's flowing right up past you. And you're standing there saying, there's no hope. I have to get along. You're forsaking the waters of Lebanon. That's exactly what's happening. There's enough power and glory here tonight to drive out every fear, every despondency in our house. The waters of living water are flowing through this place tonight. Some of you may still sit in despair while those waters flow right by you. He said those waters of Lebanon will not fail. Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from the other place be forsaken? He said without forsaking them, there will always be a supply of water. God says I'll have everything you need at any time, any hour. It's always there. The picture is one of a despairing Christian and because he won't drink that water, won't run to the Lord. This is incredible. I've never been able to figure it out. When people are depressed, when people are down, when people are hurting. Why? I don't understand. Why do they go off off in front of a television set and watch some stupid soap opera, some junk? Why? It only makes them feel worse. Why do some people, women especially, go out and shop and just spend money? As if that's going to... How's a new hat going to take away what's in your heart? I'm not being facetious. I mean it. We try everything. We run, run, run, run. We're trying to run away from ourselves. Why? Why? I don't understand why people won't run to the Lord and get drunk by that stream and start drinking in that light. He said because my people forgot me. You see, we just, we forget. So then we burn incense to vanity. In other words, it means we sit in front of an idol, burn incense to vanity, and then they call for them to stumble in their ways from the ancient past. Do you know the streets out here, the ballrooms are full of people who are trying to get even with somebody, including God? They say, uh, somebody let me down. There's no use. I'll say it. I'll eat my liver with alcohol. I'll blow my bones on crack. It's like the preacher's wife in New Jersey. Don't try to figure out who she is. You wouldn't know if I told you. Trouble in the church. Depression hit her. She gave up on people. Said, how can people be one thing in church and then treat us like that? With despair. Her husband couldn't console her. And I'll tell you, this is the thing that's dangerous about depression. Helplessness and depression is dangerous because it leads to recklessness. And that's what this verse means. My people, forget me. Then they burn incense to vanity. They call for them to stumble in their ways from the ancient past. Then they walk in paths in a way that's not cast out. In other words, in a way they never thought they could ever... They'll do something they thought they were never capable of doing. This woman just one day walks away from her husband and her two children and picks up with some kind of an alcoholic guy in a bar room. And runs off, leaves everybody. You can't talk to that woman right now. She's as hard as nails. That despair turned to recklessness. And that's why I cry out tonight from the depths of my heart that you deal with this in the name of the Holy Spirit tonight. In the name of Lord Jesus. You believe God tonight to set you free because that depression, that despair, if it lingers much longer, can cause you to enter into a reckless path. You will do something stupid. You will do something wild. You will do something unheard of that you never thought yourself capable of. Oh, the whole nation is full of people. All the reckless things that are being done are people in despair trying to get even. Instead they use their own body as a sacrifice. I could write a book of all the tragic tales I've heard from depressed, hopeless people who became abstinent, reckless. Most of the times it's suicide. Suicide. How many a day, how many faces run across my memory right now of those who've taken guns to their heads and their stomachs and pulled the trigger and left notes of despair and hopelessness. And it's that recklessness that also leads to a spiritual laziness. It leads to excuses for doing nothing where people say, just leave me alone. It's because my people have forgotten me because they forgot me. They've burned incense to vanity and caused them to stumble in the worst nation's path. Just leave me alone. Let me work it out for myself. Listen, I'm going to say something and listen closely. I'm going to make a statement and I mean it as much as anything I've ever said with this purpose. When you hurt, if you're a husband, if you're a wife, if you hurt, you have no right to cut your husband or wife out of your problem. You have no right, listen closely now, if you're hurting, you have no right to say, just leave me alone. Just leave me alone. Do you know how many husbands and wives clam up on each other? They don't fight, they just walk away from each other and give the silent treatment. Have you ever had the silent treatment? Did you ever give the silent treatment? I hear somebody say, silence, you hit my wife my way. I didn't say that, I said somebody else. No, I don't have that problem. We don't have that problem. You have no right to cut anyone else, but the problem is we cut the Lord out. We cut him out as if to say, Lord, you feel me, just leave me alone now. It's too far gone. I've come this far without you. Somehow I'm going to make it. We don't say it in so many words, but our actions prove that's exactly what we're thinking, exactly what we're saying. My people forget me, they don't run to me. Hallelujah. Let me summarize this law of despair. It's the depression, dryness, emptiness, hopelessness is the result of being cut off from the daily supply of living water. It's the neglect of faith, neglect of Bible reading, the neglect of prayer, and it brings loneliness, fruitlessness. It's the result of not trusting that God has a flowing supply of life for you. Alright. Now, there's another side. There's another law. It's the law of fruitfulness. It's the law of joy and hope. Glory to God. Back to Jeremiah 17. Here's the good part. I always like to preach about the good part. Verse 7. 17, 7 of Jeremiah. Remember we said, Cursed is the man who trusts the arm of man with flesh. Look at this. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but at least shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Glory be to God. Now here's the secret of living in hope. Full of joy. Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord whose hope the Lord is. This person not hoping in people, not trusting in people. That doesn't mean you don't trust people. That doesn't mean you give back on people. But that's not where your life comes from. But see this person is leaning on the hope that comes from the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted by the water. Now, the Hebrew word that for planted is actually transplanted. Transplanted. You know what it was? God's taken this shrub that's in the desert all shriveled up in depression and this little shrub has heard a message on Sunday night. And this little dry shrub that's been lifeless and dead and cut off from the supply of life suddenly gets faith and hope in God returns and so the Lord Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit puts them up in that desert and tears them right on the brink of the stream of living water and they become a tree that roots go down deep into that water. And the Bible said when the drought comes their leaf is still green. I want to tell you something. I'm getting to a place where if you give me a choice between revival and roots I'll take roots. Let me run that by you again. You give me a choice. I'd rather have a church full of people's roots than people that aren't just sires and blessings. You see, if you've got roots it doesn't matter how dry the church is. It doesn't matter how dry your family is because you're drying water day by day. It doesn't matter what the rest of the world does. You've got roots down in the water. The Lord's been showing me something. Sometimes I'll be praying and it seems like I can't pray through or the heavens have seen brass or something or you just feel physically you feel down. The Lord doesn't want you to have anything to do with those feelings. They're the flesh. You don't lean on the flesh. All you do is stand still and say, Lord, I'm going to drink. And by the power of the Holy Spirit and it's an act of faith you begin to draw on the living water and drag against the floor in your heart. I was sitting in the study the other day feeling a little I didn't feel the life like I wanted to so I just sat back and said, Lord, you planted me. You transplanted me. You put me down to break. I'm one of those trees planted by the water. Isn't that what he said we are? We're trees planted by the water. Been transplanted. Have you been transplanted yet? Are you planted by the living springs? Dig your roots down. You know how you get? That's an act of faith. You say, God, you planted me here. God planted you in this church. God's just blessing all over you tonight with his living word. Drink it. Put your roots down in it. Draw from it. Hallelujah. David said, There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of the people of God. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right only. David said, Lord, you visit the earth and you water it. You greatly enrich it with the river of God which is full of water. And you bless the springs whereof. Hallelujah. Jeremiah 17.8. Look at 17.8 again. He said, Be as a tree planted by the water which spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when he cometh for her leaves shall be green. You know what that means? Your prayers. That has to do with the glory of spiritual life. Oh, I tell you what. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a whole church of people that believed that the very thing I'm reading right now. I'd like to see a green leaf church where people come in with a smile of God on their face. You say, you mean, brother, you believe you should have joy every day, every day of our life? Oh, yes. How long should the despair last? Only till you dig in and start drawing the light. He said, where there's water, there's green leaf, there's fruit. That fruit is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. You know we're living beneath our privileges? I said, we're living beneath our privileges. We're running around downcast and letting the devil defeat us when God says, I want you to be a green tree. I've got big roots for you. I've got more water than you can handle. I want you to be faithful and make your face a green leaf. Hallelujah. That's the look of divine health. What a poor commercial many Christians are for Jesus. I mean, they just, they look awful. I sure wouldn't want you to advertise anything I was selling. I get to wondering all the time we talk about revival, revival. Shouldn't we be living in a place where we have such roots in the Lord that we're drawing that day by day? It doesn't matter whether there's a drought. It doesn't matter whether there's a downpour. It doesn't matter when the wind blows because this tree is a mighty oak planted by the waters, planted by the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. That's what God wants us to become. You know, Ezekiel, would you turn to Ezekiel just one last verse, chapter, and then I'm going to close. Ezekiel 47. There's a river here that's flowing from the throne of God. Did you know that? Ezekiel saw a river issuing out of the sanctuary. Verse 1, Ezekiel 47, verse 1. Afterward he brought me again to the door of the house and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, and the forefront of the house stood forward and east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house to the south side of the house. Look at verse 12. And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat or fruit, whose leaves shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth no fruit according to his months, because the waters they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat and the leaf thereof for medicine. Would you look at verse 9. This is the end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2. Ask that everything that liveth, which moveth with us where the river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish. That means a great harvest. Because these waters shall come further, for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh. Right. In closing, let me show you the picture. Here's what Ezekiel saw. First of all, he saw the great temple, and that's the body of Jesus Christ. And then, he saw coming out of that, living out of the very sanctuary, he saw a stream. And that stream was a trickle at first. And he goes along the bank, and he sees the waters, and they're flowing slowly, and they're up to the ankle. And there's someone says measure it. So he's measuring the intensity. The stream keeps swelling. The further he goes, into time, it keeps swelling. He goes a little distance more into time, and now the waters are up to his knees. He goes a little further, and the waters are up to his knees. He goes a little further, and now the river is swelling so much, the water's to swim in. And it's a picture. Ever since the cross, there came a stream, a living stream of life-giving water. And you know that the early church just had a very small trickle compared to what God has opened to us. I believe that by the Reformation, the waters might have been to the loins. But today we have a fountain opening in the house of David. We've got a fountain flowing that has so swelled in its magnitude that today we have waters to swim in. Waters of living water. Do you know since that happened, you will not hear the Apostle Paul say as David did, Why is my soul cast down within me? Why is my soul in despair? You won't find that. Because the stream of living water had been opened, David could drink in a fountain. And that fountain was open only to those who went to it. But now at the cross, there is a stream that began to flow of living water. And you and I now can jump in. We not only have roots, but we live in that stream. We live in that living water. Hallelujah. The prophets saw in the last days a stream that had so swollen in glory, such life that was coming. We would not be saying that David, Oh, why is my soul cast down? Why is my soul disquieted within me? No, you don't hear that language from Paul. You hear Paul say, Though I'm cast down, I'm not in despair. Not in despair. There was no despair. Paul, you won't find despair from Paul. You won't find it from Peter. You won't find it here because they're drinking this living water. Hallelujah. We should not be talking despair. We should not be living in despair. We should be trusting God tonight before this meeting close. I will not walk out of here as a child of God, as a testimony of dryness and emptiness. I walk out of this place tonight digging down deep. Lord, transport me by faith. Plant me by that stream of living water. Let me draw life. Hallelujah. God, give us life in this church. God, give us life in this choir. God, pour in life, living water. Are you down? You're despairing? Are you in depression? You don't need a doctor. You need Jesus. You don't need some more medicine. You need the living water. You need to run back to His holy presence. Set yourself in it. Say, Lord, I'm not leaving until I get a hold of you. I'm not leaving until I'm drinking that living water. I'm going to go home tonight before I go to bed. One of the great, I'll tell you one of the great times in my life. Now, sometimes we have a few friends up, but even after they're gone, if we don't have friends, I usually go right to my room after service and just drink. Just drink this water to be refreshed. Hallelujah. You know, He wants to refresh you right now. He wants you to walk out of here. I don't care how you came in here. He wants... You heard it this morning. You'll hear it again tonight. He wants to pour in living water, draw it by faith. God must have your confidence. He must have your faith or He can't do it. The Holy Ghost can't work without your confidence, without your faith. Will you stand, please? May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. Abound in hope. I'd like to pray with you. Our counselors would like to pray with you. It's going to take some honesty among some of you. Oh, Jesus. You're a God of hope. You're a Lord of hope. Abounding hope. Lord, drive out all despair. Drive out all depression. Drive out all fear. I'm asking you to let people walk out of the temple of God tonight with an abounding hope. Abounding in hope. Excessive hope. Overflowing hope. Joy and peace and believing. Hallelujah. You said, you said, God wants to make me happy. Oh, yeah, I believe that. He wants to flood you with joy. I've got joy in my heart. I said, I've got joy. Get joy in your heart. You know, that joy ought to keep growing and getting stronger and better and better. Every day it ought to keep abounding. That you may abound in hope. I know I'm screaming at you. But oh, I feel it. That joy. If you're missing it, come on. This is the body of Jesus. We're here to help you. We're here to minister life to you. God bless your heart. Up in the balcony here on the main floor. Come on down here. Let's settle it. Let's believe God tonight. To drive away the lying spirits. To drive away all the depression and fear and bondage and despair. I'm not going to ask any questions. I'm not going to do anything but pray for you. Come on. Father, so that Lord bring, bring to the front here right now those who need a miracle. Those, Lord, who say, Jesus, I've had despair. I've had spirit of bondage, fear, hopelessness. Lord, heal me tonight. Come on. Up in the balcony here on the main floor. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. I Look this way, please Did you hear that song and all my help comes from the throne of God? You're not ready to give up Finding help anywhere else and turn only to him how many ready to turn over to him and say keep your hands Raise both hands right now Jesus I turn to you. You're my only hope you're my only hope you're my help my strength I Need you my hope is in you Jesus I'm not gonna look at people anymore. I'm not care what people say. I don't care people do I look to you Jesus You're my strength You're my hope Only you Jesus only you Lord I Look to you my only source my strength My hope and my life If you don't do it, it can't be done But you promise to do it So hear me Lord I turn to you. I give you my faith I believe You will answer my prayer and break this in me and set me free Right now Now thank him for it. Lord. I thank you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I praise you I praise you Lord. I praise you Lord No whistle Lord I praise you. I praise you Jesus. I Worship you Jesus Will you thank him just stand here? Thank him right now. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness Well, listen, he loves this. Thank you for his love and his concern Lord. You care about us Like we heard you've not forgotten this one. You didn't forget us. You didn't forget us Lord. You've not forgotten us Lord Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name of Jesus Blessed be the name of the Lord Will you sing that raise your hands and say God will lift up my eyes into the You This is the conclusion of the tape