Personal Notes Taken from Sundays Message Entitled; "Thirsty Yet?"

“Thirsty Yet?”

Water draws us. In fact water has scriptural significance. The Jewish culture is full of symbolism. Its religious forms were to reveal a truth. They had purpose but sometimes we can become so steeped in them that how we do them begins to occlude why we do them. Here we become hung up on religious form. (It has lost its purpose). The Israelites were practicing thankfulness for past blessings and anticipation of future ones through their form. The hope of Israel was to be unbound from tradition and legalism. The pouring out of water was in the mind of the Old Testament Jewish believer, a reference to a future blessing of God’s Spirit being poured out. Jesus came on the scene and referred to Himself as this water. This would have immediately registered with the then Jewish hearers. Moses gave water; Jesus the Living Water. Moses and manna: Jesus the Bread of Life. These truths produced a paradigm shift for the Israelite in how they worshiped God. Jesus appealed directly to this historical religious Jewish mindset to reveal God’s purpose for the religious form; Jesus, the fulfillment of the law. In fact He was connecting the dots to Himself the realization of the truths these forms represented.

How does this relate to us today? This same spiritual water is our drink for today. Life is not possible without water and neither is spiritual life possible without relationship with Jesus. Are we substituting relationship with God with other activities? Have we desensitized ourselves to our need of this spiritual water? Have we settled into a life that that exists on past glories; living on former drinks from this well or have we now digressed to taking only sips occasionally?

The prophets foretold of the day when God would pour out His Spirit. Jesus declared that the Spirit would come and dwell within the hearts of believers. Living Water would then flow from within each believer outwardly to impact the lives of others. That was the point. Not to bottle it up but to see it released and flowing out of our lives. Water that no longer flows becomes stagnant and lifeless. Are we a stagnant pond of spiritual water? There may be large sections of the church that could be diagnosed with a type of spiritual narcissism. Everything is centered around them. Their whole thinking and even their perspective of the scriptures revolves around what God has for them. We have forgotten this spiritual water was meant to flow out of us for others. This serves God’s intention to save and redeem all who would come to Him. All who would partake of this Living Water. We must let these blessing that flow to us, flow out of us to others. Not all Jewish believers could accept what Jesus was saying. Many New Testament believers have lost their mission in life. It has become all about them. Jesus said :I have come to do the will of My Father in heaven…”

Questions to Ponder:
1. Where are we in terms of thirst?
2. Are we thirsty for a deeper relationship with God?
3. Is our relationship with God on plateau?
4. Do we need to move away from an ‘its all about me’ focus?
5. Do we allow the Living Water to flow out to others?