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Sermon of the Week 
Wednesday, August 25 2021

As followers of Christ, we come to understand that whatever gifts we may have in our lives, are not just given to us, but they are also given through us. The gifts are about manifesting God’s abilities and desires through us.….They operate as He desires to operate them. God is actually giving these gifts to others but they pass through us. We become the delivery system, so that others may receive, glorify Him and invite Him into their lives or make a deeper commitment to Him.

1 Corinthians 12:4 “There are different kinds of gifts. But they are allgiven to believers by the same Spirit. v5 There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. v6 There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. v7 The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all".

There are two major, well known bodies of water in Israel. One is the sea of Galilee and the other is the Dead sea. 

The Dead sea is fed by the Jordon River, and is the lowest land based elevation on the earth. It’s surface is 1,412 feet below sea level and it is 997 feet deep. It is 31 miles long and 9 miles wide and It is the saltiest body of water on earth, with water that is 9.6 times saltier than the ocean. Nothing can grow around it, and even though the life giving water of the Jordon flows into it, there is nothing that flows out of it, so it gives nothing, but it only receives. The rate of evaporation is so high, that the Dead Sea loses more water through evaporation than the Jordon pours into it and is shrinking every year. 

The Sea of Galilee is also fed by the Jordon river. It is the larger of the two at 33 miles long and 13 miles wide. But it’s waters are only 141 feet deep at it’s deepest point. It’s banks and it’s waters are filled with life which flourishes within and around it. You see, it gives out as much water as it takes in. Jordon doesn’t just flow into it, but Jordon flows through it and keeps it flourishing vibrant, alive and sustained. Everything God has given you should not stop with you, but flow through you to bless all you come in contact with….

Jesus said to the woman at the well John 14:14 “ But whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give will become an endless fount of water springing up to eternal life.” To his disciples Jesus said                              John 7:37 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”                                                                                                                       Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who is working in you, both to will and to work his good pleasure”.                                           

Jesus is reminding us that our belly or our center, should be a place where rivers of what we have received of Him are flowing out of us. He has rivers to pour into us, but He has chosen for those rivers to flow through us….This principle is not about your potential, we all have great potential. But it is about using your capacity and increasing that capacity by how much you allow God to pour into you and out of you….

PLACE YOUR HANDS ON YOUR BELLY AND SAY “Into my inner most being, rivers are waiting to flow and I determine how much will flow out through me to increase my capacity” The more you allow, the greater your capacity….

We are ordained to be channels of blessing to others. We are not called to live only for ourselves, or to disregard the needs of others….

A guy went into the store for just a few minutes. When he came out there was a policeman writing a parking ticket for being in a handicap spot. So he went up to the policeman and said, "Come on, buddy, how about giving a guy a break?"

He ignored him and continued writing the ticket. So he called the policeman a pencil-necked ticket abuser. He glared at the giu and started writing another ticket for worn tires!

So the guy asked him if his psychiatrist makes him lie face down on the couch cause he's so ugly.

He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket!

This went on until he had placed 5 tickets on the windshield... the more he insulted the ticket writer, the more tickets he wrote. But the guy didn't care. His car was parked around the corner. We can’t ignore the needs of other people….This guy cared only for himself….

What’s flowing out of us to our spouse, our children, our neighbors and others in the community…. What do they see….

The only time that rivers stop flowing, is when there is a drought, a dry season, or a famine. Or something has blocked them and stopped the flow, And that should never be the case with those who are the recipient of His rivers. The river of God overwhelms any obstacle.

His rivers of the Spirit never run dry, and they are always flowing, no matter what is happening around us. They are able to overwhelm any barrier that stands in their way. Jesus is calling us to let His rivers flow in all the dry places of life, to all who have a dry season in their lives….

Matthew 10:8 “Freely give, even as you have freely received.”                               Oh, Yes, Let it flow through you….

After writing an entire chapter on the resurrection, Paul doesn’t’ tell us to hang on till Jesus comes, or store up everything for the end times, or separate ourselves from the world and just worry about “Your’s truly”…..no, look at it….

1 Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmovable, as you continue to always abound in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor (your giving and good works) is not in vain in the Lord”.                            It may not happen right away, but you can believe the God of covenant, that it will happen!

We give the things we cannot keep, to keep what we cannot lose….                                                                                          Believe, and Let it flow…

After receiving so much from the Lord, we don’t want to stand one day as an empty shell, having no reward, but just getting in by the skin of our teeth… 

There was a minister who was attempting to console the widow of an eccentric millionaire who had just died. Standing before the casket, the pastor who meant well, said, “I realize this must be a very hard time for you, Mrs. Smith. Just try to remember that what we see before us is only the husk, it is just the shell of your dear husband– the nut has gone to heaven.”

We don’t want to stand before God, an empty shell with nothing to show for the life we have lived….

Stop Forcing, and Start flowing

The key to the principle we’re talking about today, is to struggle less and surrender more… Jesus said “out of your inner most being shall flow (please get that word..) FLOW…rivers of living water”…

I have never seen a fruit tree straining and struggling to bear fruit. Or stressed out because it had to produce.. It knows that there is a law of productivity. Apple trees produce apples, peach trees produce peaches, and so on…. 

It is in surrender to their purpose, that trees, vines, animals, fish and birds, reproduce and flourish. It is in surrender that they fulfill their purpose. We hear a lot about “surrender” but what does that really mean? Well, there is no one-step way to surrender to God, it’s a daily, moment by moment choice to give it to God. Let’s look at some ways that we can surrender to God spiritually…                                                                                                              Spending time in prayer is about intentionally giving our plans and desires to God, and opening ourselves to His intentions and plans for us. You never really pray without surrender.Scripture shows us that this is the way Jesus began and ended every day… He shifted the focus from himself and toward the Father. He said “Whatever the Father tells me is what I do. Whatever the Father says is what I say. I do nothing except what the Father tells me.

Now that doesn’t happen in a day or a week, it’s a life pattern you begin to develop, because of a deep desire to do the Father’s will…We will all continue to be God’s unfinished projects, until that which is perfect is come.. You and I will not continue to do something or be consistent about something that has no value to us or importance in our lives .                                                                     Newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ in his late 50’s. Why would they carry a story about someone coming to Christ? What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old, but was never caught. Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense. Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money! He surrendered his desires to the Father’s desires and plans.

David wrote in Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Word is within my heart.”

Perhaps many Christians fail in getting to know the word of God, and becoming familiar with the bible, because they fail to see it as            the God breathed, God inspired letter from home that it is. If you view heaven as your permanent home, and this world as a temporary place you are just passing through, then every scripture is a precious message from home, sent from the Father.  

It’s a connection to the Father, sending His love, His resources, His desires, and His thoughts and intentions. 

Fasting is really a form of more intense surrender to the Father. It’s an important tool in opening our Spirit and bringing our soul and our flesh into submission. All through the bible we see breakthrough which is brought about by fasting and prayer. 

Moses fasted and brought the commandments down from Sinai, written by the finger of God. Jesus initiated His ministry with 40 days of fasting. Fasting is an opportunity to increase our spiritual capacity…                             Our flesh is the enemy in surrendering to God more fully, and the purpose in fasting is to diminish the pull and power of the flesh and empower the influence of the Spirit. 

In a time when everything is too convenient, we must choose to deny ourselves, of food, of pleasures, and all that distracts from our greater need, that I decrease so He may increase in me… Our bodies were fashioned to need seasons of famine and seasons of feasting… Christians are called to live a fasted life.  We put aside other things so we can give our time, our finances, and our priorities to greater purpose  We feast to celebrate but we fast to transform….

Matthew 6.33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

If this were a French movie, you could just write your own ending, but it’s not, and that ending has already been written. Fasting is part of God’s surrender package, which taps into the supernatural. 

Fasting sensitizes my Spirit to hear the voice of God. When we are at a crossroads and don’t know which way to turn, fasting helps us to hear God’s direction. When we are facing a difficult decision, or when there are too many voices in our heads, when like Job, our friends are encouraging us in the wrong direction… we need to put it all aside and get a bead on the most important voice of all, and let God speak. 

Fasting establishes our priorities….We come to places where what used to satisfy us doesn’t satisfy us any more. More food, more clothes, more television, more trips, more stuff, doesn’t do it anymore! We’re at a new place and we need a new plan. Our spirit is telling us something, it’s time to listen…When nothing else works, it’s time to fast!

As we surrender it creates an environment for miracles to flow. We come under God’s power and authority. An atmosphere is created for heaven to touch the earth and transform our circumstances of lack, chaos, and fear into God’s opportunity to usher in His peace, to supply our needs and saturate the atmosphere with faith for others as well.

Our Spirit becomes starved and weak, when we fail to nourish it with prayer and God’s word. Just as we need to nourish our bodies, we need to supply our Spirit and Soul with much-needed sustenance and nutrients that it desperately needs. When we allow our Spirit to reign, then the power of God within us, will create opportunities and transform circumstances so that He accomplishes what we never could. 

An important key to surrender is alignment. I can’t get to Virginia beach if I get on a plane going to Hartford, Connecticut. I can’t order a meal at Outback, if I’m looking at a menu at Denny’s. I can’t expect a paycheck at Publix if I’m working at Winn-Dixie…. There has to be alignment. Let me show you a scripture on alignment…                                                                                                                 1 John 5:14 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him."                                                                                                                Forgiveness is an important alignment tool that we have been given. God’s word clearly tells us that we will be judged, if we don’t forgive. It’s like drinking poison and expecting the other guy to drop dead. Why would anyone allow the person who victimized you to keep victimizing you by letting them control you emotionally and spiritually. Unforgiveness is Satan’s way of holding you hostage. Unforgiveness is agreement with the Devil to let him hold you hostage.                                          Matthew 7:2 For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?

When you surrender in forgiveness, You bring yourself into alignment with freedom, healing, and breakthrough!

Let me add one more alignment tool, and that is Repentance. Repentance is a powerful tool for alignment. If Christ forgives you, then you need to forgive yourself. Christ didn’t save us to leave us where we were. He loves us enough to not leave us where He found us. Salvation is a package deal for body, soul, and Spirit. If we put our faith in Christ, received His salvation, and declared His Lordship, but we’re not following Him, we need the alignment that comes through repentance.

Luke 9:23 “And Jesus said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.

Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and be converted (ep-ee-stref'-o)”…           This Greek word, connected to repentance, means “return to the obedience of God”….”To turn around and come back”…. This is spoken as a command and not just a suggestion… If someone you loved was about to get hit by a car, you would not make a suggestion. You would immediately be in a command mode… “Turn around and come back, now”…

There is an urgency here, that there is danger, that the alignment is urgently needed… “REPENT AND BE CONVERTED”….(or be aligned) There is an urgency from the Holy Spirit… There is too much that hangs in the balances, we may not see it, but He does….

There is a town in the remote portion of Canada called Wabush. It was completely isolated for a long time. But a road was cut through the wilderness to reach it. Wabush now has a road leading into it, and, only one road leading out of it. (A lot like Key West) If someone traveled the road for six to eight hours to get into Wabush, there is only one way he or she could leave.

Each of us, before Christ, found ourselves in a place of disobedience. And just like Wabush, there is only one way out—and that road was built by God himself. But in order to take that road, one must first turn around. That complete about face is what the Bible calls conversion, and without it, there's no way out of the town of disobedience.

I find it interesting that scripture requires both Repentance and conversion. Repentance is not enough if conversion doesn’t take place as well. Someone may feel the need to repent, but never take the next step to turn around and begin the journey that goesthe other way….

Alignment is what takes place as conversion begins. 

Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and be converted”.                                              So we surrender and come into Alignment because we value God’s presence, His plan and His purpose in our lives and we desire His anointing, His power, and His desires to flow through us, that many may know and follow Him…. 

Lord, help us to stop the struggle and start the flow….let it flow through us, so that others may know…

Posted by: AT 12:40 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
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