Thank you.
And that everything that's said and done tonight would bring honor and glory to your Son Jesus Christ, for it's in His name we pray, Amen.
411
4090 is next.
Hymn number 411, hold the fort, number 411,
411
O my comrades, sing a single wave in the sky.
Reinforcements thou of hearing, victory is nigh.
O good Lord, for I am Godly.
Jesus, ain't no still.
Waverly enter back to heaven, by thy grace be well.
See the mighty, most advancing, saved and leading on.
Mighty man, the roundless, falling, courage almost gone.
Hold the form, for I am coming.
Jesus, ain't no still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace be well.
See the glorious, then awaiting, hear the trumpet call.
In our leader's name, we'll triumph call for every call.
Hold the form, for I am coming.
Jesus, ain't no still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace be well.
Fierce and long, the battle rages, but our help is near.
On where comes our great commander cheer, my comrades cheer.
Hold the form, for I am coming.
Jesus, ain't no still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace be well.
Good singing.
And this time we're going to go with the bulletin.
So if you need a bulletin, please raise your hand if you need a bulletin,
and the ushers will come by and get you a bulletin.
So if you have your bulletin, please open it up.
Upper left-hand corner is our church service times.
Right below that, soul winning times.
At the very bottom, salvations and baptisms for the year.
On the right-hand corner, once again, the donuts for those that are having a birthday in the month of July,
and the wedding anniversaries for those that are having an anniversary in the month of July as well.
On the back of your bulletin, thank you once again to those who participated in the Hope of Your Salvation mission trip.
We have ten soul winners and five salvations, and we are also continuing the mega conference.
And today we do have Pastor Jonathan Shelley, and he will be preaching tonight.
Please pray for the expecting ladies, and when you get a chance, look at the upcoming events.
They're right there at the very bottom of the back page.
Now let's go over souls.
So if you've got some souls saved on Thursday, you know, the 30th, please raise your hand.
I'll start with this side.
Any salvations for Thursday?
Three.
Any other salvations for Thursday?
Friday.
Any salvations for Friday?
I see one over there.
Any other salvations?
Saturday.
Any salvations for Saturday?
Any more salvations?
And today?
We got four.
Any more salvations?
Three.
Any more?
We got four right here.
I see four down there.
And any other salvations for today?
That is it for announcements.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand.
Three.
Any more salvations for Friday?
Friday.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
Any more salvations for Friday?
No.
I See.
I see at the operating...
While, pass and the offering plates, please turn your Bibles to Numbers chapter number
20.
Numbers chapter number 20.
Numbers chapter 20, the Bible reads,
Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation into the desert of Zin
in the first month and the people abode in Kadesh and Miriam died there and was buried there.
And there was no water for the congregation and they gathered themselves together against Moses
and against Aaron. And the people chowed with Moses and spake saying, would God that we had
died when our brethren died before the Lord. And why have you brought up the congregation of the
Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have you made us
to come up out of Egypt to bring us in under this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or
vines or of pomegranates neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from
the presence of the assembly under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and they fell
upon their faces and the glory of the Lord appeared under them. And the Lord spake unto
Moses saying, take the rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother and
speak ye unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth his water and thou shalt bring
forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he was as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron
gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them, here now ye rebels
must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he
smote the rock twice. And the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their
beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron because he believed me not to sanctify me
in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the
land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah because the children of Israel strove
with the Lord and he was sanctified in them. And Moses sent messages from Kadesh under the
king of Edom thus saith thy brother Israel thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us.
How our fathers went down into Egypt and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time and the Egyptians
vexed us and our fathers. And when we cried under the Lord he heard our voice and sent an angel
and hath brought us forth out of Egypt and behold we are in Kadesh a city in the uttermost of thy
border. Let us pass I pray thee through thy country we will not pass through the fields or
through the vineyards neither will we drink of the waters of the water of the wells we will go
by the king's highway we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed
thy borders. And Edom said unto him thou shalt not pass by me lest I come out against thee with the
sword. And the children of Israel said unto him we will go by the highway and if I and my cattle
drink of thy water then I will pay for it I will only without doing anything else go through on my
feet. And he said thou shalt not go through and Edom came out against him with much people and
with a strong hand thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border wherefore Israel
turned away from him. And the children of Israel even the whole congregation journeyed from Kadesh
and came unto Mount Hor. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron and Mount Hor by the coast
of the land of Edom saying Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the
land which I have given unto the children of Israel because he rebelled against my word at
the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up unto Mount Hor and strip
Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar his son and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people
and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded and they went up into Mount Hor in the
sight of all the congregation and Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar
his son and Aaron died there in the top of the mount and Moses and Eleazar came down from the
mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead they mourned for Aaron 30 days
even all the house of Israel. Dear Father in heaven please fill pastor Shelley with your
spirit and please give us all used to hear or see wisdom from the sermon if you think pray in
Jesus name. Let's go ahead and look at verse number seven the bible says and the Lord spake
unto Moses saying take the rod and gather thou the assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother
and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth his water and thou shalt bring
forth to them water out of the rock so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded them and Moses and Aaron gathered
the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them here now ye rebels must we fetch
you water out of this rock and Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he smote the rock twice
and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also. So
we have a really interesting story here when the children of Israel are wandering through the
wilderness it's very hot obviously it kind of makes me think of going solo any today
it's very hot it's arid it's a desert and you know obviously it could be easy to complain
about the conditions outside and of course they're very thirsty in this type of environment
and because they're complaining it kind of comes into the ears of Moses and ultimately in the
ears of the Lord and that's kind of where we we came into our verse here in verse number seven
where the Lord is telling Moses what to do now obviously the Lord doesn't want the children
of Israel to just die in the wilderness because they don't have any water and if you don't have
any water and you're out in the hot heat I mean you could die very quickly so it's a very dangerous
situation so of course the Lord wants to give them water now he gives Moses some really specific
instructions here he said that he's supposed to take his rod gather everybody but in verse number
eight he said speak ye unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth his water
notice it does not say for him to take the rod and to strike the rock that is not what the
what God instructed him to do that's what Moses did so we have to understand that there's a
difference between sometimes what God commands people to do in the Bible and then what they
actually did and why that's important is you you read so much in the Old Testament especially
leading up to the book of Numbers if you read Exodus God gives like all these instructions
like in 20 like 20 it's all the way like 32 approximately he's just like giving you all
these instructions then you get like a little bit of story and you're like this is kind of nice
and then it goes back to like everything he told them but it's what they did and what's really
important about that is even though it's the exact same it's teaching you a lesson that God wants you
to do things exactly like he said and Moses often throughout the Bible did exactly what God
instructed him and that's why God is very pleased with Moses and was still allowing to lead the
children of Israel through the wilderness and of course God wants us to obey him perfectly
he wants us to obey him exactly as instructed and while we may go through difficulties and struggles
and things may not be ideal God still expects us to follow his commandments no matter how difficult
they become walking through the wilderness being in this area is not necessarily the most enjoyable
it would be more enjoyable to you know float down a lazy river or something to the promised
land or to take horseback or to you know go down a water slide or something you know but they have
to go through the wilderness and it leaves them dry and thirsty dry and thirsty and this is kind
of a phrase you see in the Bible in a few places and that's the title of my sermon this evening is
dry and thirsty and what you have to understand about the children of Israel and kind of their
entire journey is it's a picture of the Christian life so you have the Passover which symbolizes
salvation you get the blood put on the doorpost and the death angel Passover and you've been
passed from death and alive you're saved then the next step in the Christian life is get baptized
which is symbolized to them walking through the wilderness or walking to the red sea walking
through that and they were baptized because they had water on the left and the right and they
cloud over top so you have your baptism the wilderness is your life as a Christian between
baptism and death death is where you enter in the promised land okay this is when you go to heaven
so everything in the wilderness is an admonition is written unto us about temptations trials and
events that we're going to go through and in the Christian life while serving God there can be
moments in our life where we're a little dry and thirsty as it were and we kind of have to
understand you know how to approach these situations appropriately often the children
of Israel they complained they displeased the Lord they rebelled they they struggled to follow
God's commandments all kinds of different issues and we see the consequences to those sins we see
the consequence of these actions and I want to that's the theme of my sermon but there's a lot
of symbolism here too and I want to first explain all the symbolism and then kind of bring back this
thought but I want to get that play in your mind that sometimes they're going to go through life
and it's going to be a little dry and thirsty and and we need that water and that water here is a
picture of salvation too even though the old testament kind of has this overarching picture
of the Christian life you're going to see gospel and salvation messages all throughout your Bible
every single chapter virtually they're always constantly bringing up Christ they're always
constantly bringing up the gospel they're always constantly bringing up salvation by faith
being a free gift eternal life all these concepts are just woven into the scripture consistently
and this is no different when we think about this particular passage because this particular passage
really delineates the difference between work salvation and salvation by faith it really
delineates these two and Moses often throughout the Bible is going to represent for you the law
okay now what does the rock picture the rock is going to consistently picture the Christ
throughout your Bible and if I want salvation how do I get that well I simply call upon the
name of the Lord and he gives me salvation isn't it all I have to do is call upon the
name of the Lord in faith and he just gives me that water of life freely I get saved in that
moment what does someone that doesn't believe in salvation by faith believe works and it doesn't
matter if you're talking about a Catholic a Mormon it doesn't Jehovah's Witness I mean it
doesn't matter Presbyterian Methodist Episcopalian Church of Christ Church of Satan I mean it does
it's like all the same sometimes and and really it does not matter they all believe in a works
base salvation now it's not a coincidence that when Moses is having to do this for them look
what he said in verse number 10 he said must we fetch you water out now again what does Moses
represent the law so what are they trying to do they're trying to get salvation through the law
they're trying to fetch out eternal life through the commandments through the working of the flesh
but here's a problem that is not going to give you real salvation that is not going to give you
eternal life and because of this God punished Moses and Aaron now in this chapter we already
read about how Aaron was not allowed to enter in the promised land because of this particular
issue the same is for Moses keep your finger I don't know if you don't keep your finger it's fine
just go if you would to Deuteronomy 32 for a moment go to Deuteronomy chapter 32
so flip over to the right the same is with Moses Moses is not allowed
to enter into the promised land due to this very specific event and it's going to make
sense when we kind of study more of the scripture why but look at what it says in Deuteronomy 32
verse 48 and the Lord spake unto Moses that self same day saying get thee up into this mountain
abarim unto mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab that is over against Jericho and behold the
land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for possession and die in the mount whether
thou goest up and be gathered unto thy people as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor and was
gathered unto his people because he trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the
waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin because he sanctified me not in the midst of the
children of Israel yet thou shalt see the land before thee but thou shalt not go thither
unto the land which I have give to the children of Israel so Moses was rejected from entering the
promised land Aaron was rejected from ending the promised land as well as that entire generation
and specifically Aaron and Moses it's because they trespassed at the waters of Meribah where
they smote the rock and they did not speak unto the rock now this is why go to Romans chapter
number 10 go to Romans chapter number 10 why is that well because first of all God
he can do whatever he wants okay but God doesn't do things just for no reason and a lot of the
pictures in your Bible a lot of the events that happen in your Bible are to picture very important
symbols of doctrine and consistently Moses is a picture of the law when we think about the Bible
when we think about salvation now here's the thing salvation's not of the law salvation's
not of the works of the flesh but at the same time we understand that the law has its place
and there's nothing wrong with the law theoretically in the sense that the law if you
follow the law perfectly you would be righteous you would have a form of righteousness okay
and if you think about the children of Israel technically if they never rebelled against the
Lord and they did everything perfect wouldn't they have gotten in the promised land yeah
so theoretically what if what if a person was born and never sinned and they were perfectly
righteous wouldn't they theoretically go to heaven because how can they go to hell they don't have
any sin that's going to keep them out of hell or keep them out of heaven that would put them
into hell but here's the problem for all the sin that comes short of the glory of God and here's
another problem you're not going to walk through the wilderness and not screw up I mean you're
going to have some kind of issue that was going to keep you from falling short and not getting in
there and so we have to understand that righteousness there is a righteousness that
comes from the law but the problem is we're not good enough to keep that law that's why it says
in Romans chapter number 10 look what it says in verse 3 for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
themselves in the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth for Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man
which doeth those things shall live by them but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on
this wise so in Romans 10 it's contrasting two forms of righteousness there is a righteousness
of the law and there's a righteousness which is of faith and our salvation our righteousness is
not found in the law our righteousness is found in faith in Jesus Christ that's what gives us
justification that's what gives us salvation that's what takes us to heaven not what we do
whereas the Jews they didn't want to get to heaven through faith they wanted to get to heaven or the
children of Israel through their own works through their own righteousness so this is them in a
picture trying to fetch out that water through the rock by their own means but the problem is
is you're never going to get salvation by trying to fetch it out yourself there is a form of
righteousness that you can achieve but you'll never truly get it and of course if you've tried
to follow the commandments perfectly and you tried to seem really righteous it would kind of
give you a glimpse or a picture of what real righteousness is like but you never get to truly
have it just like Moses gets to walk all the way up to the edge and he kind of gets to peek over
and see what it's like but he doesn't ever truly get to enter in and that's the same you know you
look at Mormons and and honestly there are pretty separated people I mean they they don't even drink
coca-cola they don't even drink coffee I mean these people I mean I don't think I've ever seen
a Mormon chick wear anything other than a dress and they always look like women the men are
typically wearing nice clothing they always seem to be smiling whether they hate you or not inside
doesn't matter but they always seem to be smiling and they're always you know friendly I mean
doesn't it kind of just give you a glimpse from the outside of kind of what righteousness looks
like but here's the thing we all know that they're wicked on the inside just like every
other person and even though they get a chance to kind of look in they can kind of appear righteous
or think of the righteous you just can't ever get there through works alone and the truly righteous
people are not just trying to follow a list of commandments they have faith in their heart
that's what's really going to make you righteous that's what's going to really give you true
righteousness in this life and specifically the next so there's a problem with the law
go backwards two chapters to Romans chapter number eight chapter number eight and look what it says
in verse number three Romans eight verse three for what the law could not do and that it was weak
through the flesh God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not
after the flesh but after the spirit now this is an important phrase what the law could not do
here's the thing the law cannot save you
it's impossible the law doesn't save the law condemns this should be really easy
when you understand in a modern vernacular you know the law doesn't benefit me in America
it only condemns me I only get speeding tickets you can only potentially get arrested you can
only potentially get thrown in jail you can only but like only like bad things happen to you
when you break the law okay that's how you have to understand when it comes to God's law
God's law is there to of course show you what righteousness is like but ultimately it condemns
you ultimately it makes it manifest that you've fallen short you cannot achieve true righteousness
on your own we are not like God God is truly the only one that's good a lot of people I'm good no
you're not no one's good none none there's none good no not one there's none righteous so what we
really have to understand here is that you cannot get into the promised land through the law just
like Moses could not drag the children of Israel into the promised land now here's the thing was
it was the problem Moses no the problem was them just like there's technically nothing wrong with
God's law the problem is that we are too weak we're too sinful we could never truly follow
God's commandments because think about it when God created mankind and he gave commandments unto man
what if we never sinned we wouldn't even need the gospel we wouldn't have needed Jesus Christ
to redeem us because we would have just been perfectly following the law but here's the problem
for all of sin and come sure the glory of God here's a problem there's something the law can't
do because we have sinful flesh we're weak and we've chosen to rebel against the Lord so therefore
we need a savior we need salvation that's why you have two diametrically opposed figures Moses and
Joshua Moses he drags them all the way up to the edge but he can't get there Joshua gives them the
victory Joshua gives them the salvation because Joshua is like a messiah figure that is going to
take you into the promised land just like Jesus Christ gives us that salvation that we didn't
deserve we didn't earn we couldn't do on our own and and Joshua leads them in there and then of
course God makes it clear because there's another angel there that's like hey you're actually on my
team buddy and I'm the one that's really leading you in there because it was truly Jesus even then
that was leading it Joshua wasn't special it was always Jesus Christ that got them in there
and gave them that salvation so we have a picture here when it comes to this rock
if they had just spoken to the rock they would have gotten the waters out
and they would have been able to you know Moses and Aaron would have been able to enter in the
promised land theoretically but because they tried to do it by their own effort by their own works
they ended up getting rejected and we kind of have a symbolism of the fact that the children
of Israel they strive to have salvation through their own works but ultimately they're going to
be rejected now there's another picture here though go if you went to Matthew chapter 26
Matthew chapter number 26 because Moses also just represents the children of Israel now their
salvation was available for them all they had to do is just call upon the name of the Lord and they
would have been saved but what did they do when their salvation came they smote it didn't they
Matthew 26 look at verse 31 then say Jesus unto them all you shall be offended because of me this
night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad so what did the children of Israel do unto their rock they didn't speak unto it they smote it
they smote it by putting it on the cross didn't they and they crucified their savior
they destroyed their savior and of course though by that destruction what happened
what gushed out was that water still which is a picture of the gospel message we got the gospel
message by them smiting their rock by you know is essentially hitting the rock as it were go
to john chapter 7 john chapter 7 now in isaiah 53 it also says surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows yet we did a seamen stricken smitten of god and afflicted but he
was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed so according to the bible we needed that rock to
get smitten so that we could have that true salvation of course it's a picture of how
god the father himself laid all of our sins all of our iniquities on christ and we get that
salvation through him being smitten as opposed to us getting that smiting but what happens with
christ is what ushers out is that water of life and we all have to drink from that rock
the problem is that those people did not drink of that rock by faith they did it by works because
you think like well they still drank the water though pastor shelley but here's the thing they
did not drink that water of faith they drank it by force they forced the water out and drank that
water so that water didn't benefit them it wasn't that everlasting water and they all died went to
hell a lot of them a lot of those people that were with moses died and went to hell because they
didn't believe in christ now of course there was still some there that were saved and the next
generation by and large a lot of them were saved but many of these people were rejecting the lord
rebelled against the lord did not believe in the lord and they rejected salvation then when christ
was even there they crucified the lord i mean they were partakers in the gospel physically
think about it they physically were responsible for having delivered jesus under the romans they
witnessed the death burn resurrection and yet they still weren't saved why even though they
were a physical participant they didn't believe it and just because you show up at church and just
because you read the bible and just because you go with someone up preaching the gospel if you
don't believe it you're not saved you could you could even mouth the words of salvation but if you
don't believe it it profits you nothing that's why often when i go out soul winning before i
pray with someone i say this hey if i prayed this but i don't believe it will i be saved
and they're like no and it's like right i said hey if i pray this but i believe the wrong thing
would i if i believe in works is that gonna save me no i say hey if i pray this think i'm gonna
lose my salvation if i screw up or do something bad is that gonna save me and i have them say no
because i want them to understand it's not saying words that saves me it's the faith in my heart
coming out of my mouth that's going to save me that's what's going to truly save me and really
when it comes to christ you know just crucifying him doesn't save you just like smoking the rock
and getting that water out wasn't going to save them it wasn't going to drive them into the
promised land they still died in the wilderness they still didn't get to enter in because they
didn't have the faith in speaking to the rock obeying god's commandments and doing it properly
john chapter 7 verse 38 the bible says he that believeth on me as the scripture has said out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this he's this spake he of the spirit which they
that believe on him should receive for the holy ghost was not yet given because that jesus was
not yet glorified so notice something special happened you get this flowing river of water
when you do something is it when you smite a rock well yeah you could physically but notice
you get this when you believe in him you get this flowing of waters that's going to just
change your entire life okay and it flows out it says the spirit it says which they that believe
on him should receive for the holy ghost was not yet given because that jesus was not yet glorified
there is a gushing water that comes to you spiritually when you believe on the lord jesus
christ and of course us in the new testament when we believe on the lord jesus christ we literally
have the indwelling of the holy ghost come inside of us and what gives us that life you know to just
every single day we don't walk by sight but we walk by faith and we're supposed to constantly
walk in the spirit and not walk in the flesh if you don't drink water you won't walk anywhere
you'll fall over and die if you go outside and you just walk and then never drink any
water you'll fall over and die pretty quick and here's the thing in the christian life if you
just go and you don't drink any of the spiritual water you'll just perish you'll dry up you will
your fruit will wither you won't have any kind of benefit in this life from a spiritual perspective
you need to make sure that you're constantly drinking that spiritual water because it's going
to sometimes be a little dry and thirsty out there and we need that spiritual water to keep taking
steps now go if you would to revelation chapter 21 go to revelation chapter 21 i want to show
you a few more verses on this look in phoenix this is easy for y'all to understand it's dry
out there and you're going to get thirsty physically speaking but even beyond that
the christian life is going to have its moments where you're dry and thirsty now i've mentioned
a lot of this in context of salvation and this is very true if you're unsaved you're parched
i mean you're you're you're dying you have you have nothing and you're just you're you're wanting
any kind of drink and of course we want to go out there and we want to preach the gospel to people
so they can speak to the rock and they can get a drink of that water and it'll give them that that
life okay it'll give them that newness of life it'll give them that that spirit they'll be saved
they have the holy ghost now they have joy they have all the all the blessings that come with
salvation so many things happen at the moment of salvation and that's one application that
we can take out of this but we have to realize that there's not just one time that you need to
get water in your life right obviously we only need it once to go to heaven we only need salvation
once but we also need a daily drinking of water in our physical life to sustain ourselves and the
same is in a spiritual life as a christian you need to be constantly drinking the spiritual
waters that are coming from the bible and the bible constantly refers to itself as water
in a lot of different contexts look at revelation 21 verse 6 and he said unto me it is done i am
alpha and omega the beginning and the end i will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely so notice christ wants to give us water of life freely go if you would
back to john go back to john i'll read for you another place the bible says in the spirit the
bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever
will let him take the water of life freely so again we need to realize that salvation
is is free as that is and is as great as that is unto our soul there is also another application
that in your life your personal life you're gonna have moments where you're dry and thirsty
and the only the only satisfaction comes from god the only satisfaction the only real
drink that will satisfy is the word of god is is the bible is christianity you know there's
a lot of cheap substitutes out there for water like gatorade lemonade tea tea is gross i'm sorry
you know where i'm from tea's so gross they have to put a bunch of sugar in it they call it sweet
tea you know here i guess people haven't figured that out yet because you get like my wife every
time we go to a restaurant here they don't have sweet tea it's like peach tea or something you
know but you know if you go to texas you'll find out about sweet tea it's like about 90 sugar
a little bit of dirt for the tea and then some water and you know the thing is about all these
beverages and the thing about every beverage other than water is you can drink way more of
it than water right i mean it doesn't matter what beverage it is you're going to consume a lot more
of it than you are just water why because water satisfies way different than any other kind of
beverage and truly there's often not really any satisfaction with a sugary beverage it'll often
even make you thirstier than you were before you know if i drink like a lemonade and it's a real
strong lemonade i often feel thirstier after having drunk any of that than i would if i had
drunk nothing because it just pretty much doesn't satisfy and the way you have to understand this
world it's offering you all these beverages except for the water that's this the word of god
and so you're going to constantly be thirstier and thirstier and drier and drier
as you try to get satisfaction and joy in this life from anything other than god
you know we all have moments and and parts of our life where we're going to have sadness
we may feel feelings of even depression at times or grief or sorrow or frustration or anger
and you got to realize you know if you're walking out in the heat and you have no water what kind
of emotions are you going to feel anger sadness and then eventually it all leads to depression
because you're just like man what am i going to ever get anything to drink and it just like every
negative emotion you can feel if you're in intense heat and you have no water i mean this is going to
be the epitome of just like every negative emotion and so people are constantly trying
to satisfy those feelings of thirst through artificial means through means of the flesh
as opposed through means of the spirit we're not supposed to walk according the flesh we're supposed
to walk according to the spirit now i had to turn back to john chapter 4 look at verse 14 the bible
says this but whoso drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst but the water
that i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life
i don't want you to misunderstand me i'm not saying that you have to keep drinking water
spiritually or physically to go to heaven i mean the one time you drink
of the water of the fountain of life you're saved forever but at the same time you know
the christian life is more than just believing in christ one time the christian life is continually
growing in faith continually walking in the spirit and continually drinking from this
water fountain right here you know you only need john 3 16 to get saved but there's a lot of other
verses in here and i'm going to tell you something your life you're going to have moments where it's
really dry and thirsty and the only way you're going to get any kind of satisfaction is from
drinking from this faucet you need to constantly be drinking from the word of god and getting
spiritual things in your life go to psalms 63 psalm 63 now when i think about this this passage
we read in numbers 20 a lot of applications we can take first application we can understand
okay the law can't get you saved only faith can second application is we see the picture of how
the israelites you know they crucified their own savior they struck the rock and they didn't speak
under the rock they didn't you know obey him and so we kind of see you know the picture of
replacement theology even in that portion of scripture how the jews are going to be rejected
and replaced what were they replaced with the next generation just like the jews are replaced with
the christians which are the next generation which have faith and they're going to enter into the
promised land and is it any coincidence that the next generation is all uncircumcised when they
enter into the promised land picturing what again the gentiles which are uncircumcised and they're
going to enter in the promised land and when they enter the promised land they all have to
circumcise them because that circumcision is a spiritual circumcision not a physical circumcision
okay so there's a lot of applications we can take from all this here's another application though
we can have a tendency to want to do things or solve problems in our life by our own strength
or in our own timing rather than just obeying what god told us to do because notice moses instead of
just waiting and just speaking to the rock and letting god do his thing i'm going to fetch it
out i'm going to hit the rock i'm going to kind of solve my problem and i find that christians
today often want to try and solve their own problems or they get too hasty with the things
of god and they're trying to do it by their own means rather than just trusting in the lord and
just allowing him to sustain us give us that drink that we it's not like god was going to let them die
in the wilderness from thirst i didn't read a single person in the bible that just they just
you know turned into a raisin and just this is like and just died no water it never happened
so it's an irrational fear it's an irrational thought that god's just not going to sustain them
and christians sometimes have irrational thoughts or irrational fears not thinking that god is going
to provide for them or satisfy them when they put him first you know the bible says in matthew
chapter number six see first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall
be added unto you so all the things that you need all the things that are going to keep you sustained
in this life god will provide for you when you keep him first and when you're dry and thirsty
in this life you need to seek christ first and this sermon is for you know it's a sunday night
crowd we're doing a little bible study the sermon's a little bit drier and you know for
for the for the crowd but you know why it's driers because you guys are thirsty for the word of god
all right but it's really aimed or geared at any of you right now that just feel a little bit dry
and thirsty in your spiritual life you see i'm just like a little bit frustrated or i'm a little
bit bored or i'm a little bit complaining or i'm a little bit you know just i i was like really
had a lot of zeal for church but lately it's just kind of dried up a little bit
or i had a little zeal for soul winning but it's kind of just dried up a little bit or you know
my prayer life was going well but i've noticed my prayer life is kind of drying up a little bit
lately or i've noticed that my marriage seems to be drying up a little bit lately or i notice you
know some area in your life is just kind of starting to dry up a little bit or you're a little
thirsty or you're a little wanting or you're not really satisfied or you're having problems
or you're having struggles. You know, here's the question. What do I do? What do I do when
I have hardship? What do I do when I'm drying up a little bit? What do I do when it's not
going the way that I expected? What do I do when I'm wanting water right now and I don't
have it? Well, look at Psalm 63 verse 1. Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee.
My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no
water is. You know, in this life I get frustrated because it seems like things are drying up.
Like, you know, your bank account. I mean, the gas prices go up but your bank account
goes down. Right? I mean, it's starting to feel like I'm in California or something.
When I made the foolish mistake, one time I got to preach for Pastor Mejia when I was
living here and I was driving and I was getting really close to the border and I thought,
you know what? I'm going to wait until I cross the border. I just want to get across the
border and then I'll buy gas. I was like, what kind of a dumb idea was that? It was
like literally a dollar fifty more just by stepping ten feet across the border. You know,
it was like four or five dollars. Now that's like the standard. You know, it's like four
or five dollars, like the cheapest you can find in the country. And it just keeps going
higher and higher. Everything just kind of has gotten worse. You know, COVID just made
everything worse. Customer service is just gone. Who's like, who's experienced this?
Okay, yeah, every hand. It's just like nobody cares. Nobody wants to work. Nobody, they
can't hire anyone virtually anywhere. And the people that are working are way less skilled.
They are on more drugs. I mean, when I go to Oklahoma, all I see on the billboards is
just casinos and drugs. Like, you know, pot or whatever. And then you go to the town and
it's like that's all the people do. I mean, everyone is high and everyone is on drugs.
And everything is just becoming so derelict. Everything's getting run into the ground.
I mean, every wall is littered with graffiti. We don't see city workers going up and down
spraying up the streets. There's just trash littered everywhere, more homeless people
everywhere. The dollar is just getting crushed every single day by inflation, by sending
money to Ukraine, you know, by doing all these stupid policies, which seem to be on purpose,
to dry out the economy, dry out the middle class. You know, it used to be in America,
if you were middle class, I mean, you had it made. I mean, you had everything you could
need, everything you could want. I mean, it was just basically, you didn't have to
care about prices really much. Everybody was just making a fortune. Everybody's 401k was
going up. Everybody had it good. But, you know, as time's gone on, our government is
just trying to shrink and shrivel up the middle class and try to just dry it out and just
squeeze it out and just get every drop from that sponge. And, you know, you just keep
going through this life and everything just keeps in my opinion just waxing worse. Football.
You know, the NFL, I used to love the NFL. Okay. I'm just confessing to you. All right.
I liked it. The Carolina Panthers, they recently put a tranny on the cheerleaders and squad.
I'm thinking like, what in the world? Like, you know, obviously as a godly Christian,
you're not trying to look at the cheerleaders. I don't even have to worry about wanting to
look anymore. I was like, problem solved. It's like, hey, God, take away my desire.
Oh, wow. Now, he really took away my desire. I want to look at the cheerleaders now. But
I'm just like, and, you know, TV. It used to be that TV was a big temptation for me,
like in the sense that I loved watching TV. I love watching movies. But now they're just
all trash. There's not even a plot line. There's not even a story. It's just like how much
transgender crap can we shove into a film? How much environmentalism can we put in a
film? How much feminism can we put in a film? And it used to be it was subtle. Now it's
just blatantly obvious. Now it's like the Ghostbusters are chicks, you know. The men
in black are women in black. You know, you're like, what is this junk? You know, any kind
of good music or movies, they're always playing stuff from the 90s or the early 2000s when
people were actually creative, when they actually made decent material still, or stuff
even further back when it was actually pretty good. I mean, there's a reason why the Star
Wars franchise, which, when did that first come out? Was it the 80s? 77, okay. So like
1977, that movie, I guarantee at the movie theater if they said, hey, we're going to
bring out the episode, was it three or four or something, sorry, I'm hurting somebody's
feelings out here. It's episode four was the first one they released, right? If they
said we're going to release this, more people would go see that than Lightyear. It's like
how is a movie from 1977 going to outperform a movie made in 2022 with all the technology,
all of the graphics. I mean, the graphics have gotten so much better these days as far
as their capability, CGI and all the money that they can spend on these films. But the
movies just are terrible. Everything's just drying up. Music is just turning into trash.
Nobody, I mean, anytime I go to a store, they're not playing in the modern music. They're playing
music when I was a kid. Why? Because all the music now has just turned into just nonsense.
It's just deteriorating. The police departments, they're deteriorating. I mean, every police
department's understaffed. Everything's just getting, is waxing worse and worse. Our military,
I mean, now to be a part of the Navy, you have to figure out which pronoun your little
special cadet or whatever needs to hear. It's like, we don't want people's feelings to get
hurt in the military. I thought they called you like whatever terrible name they just
made up of five seconds ago. You know, I thought, I thought if they were mad at you, they would
just call you a fag or something just to get you all riled up. Now you call them a fag
and they're like, oh, I'm offended. It's like everything's so gross. Look, Austin,
Texas used to be an awesome place. Like it used to be super cool. I mean, this was the
state capital. It had the greatest university of Texas, University of Texas, the Longhorns,
great tradition. I mean, all kinds of cool history, all kinds of cool things. Now it's
just littered with faggots and trannies everywhere. It's so gross. I mean, I went there for a
vacation and it was so vexing because I kid you not, every restaurant I go in, it's like
no one there. And so I'm just like, okay, we'll sit over here by ourselves. A tranny
comes and sits right next to me. And I'm like, are you kidding? Where are these people coming
from? It's just everywhere. And then like almost every server is like, you're not sure
if it's a dyke or what it is, if it's a dude. I mean, any, any kind of restaurant out here,
it's just all gone to just complete garbage. I mean, it's just, everything's just waxing
worse and worse and worse. And it just seems like our society is just denigrating itself
just so fast and so quick. I mean, it's the consequences of allowing reprobate to just
walk up and down the streets unchecked. No one is going to say that our society as a
whole is getting better. It's waxing worse and worse and just things are deteriorating.
Now in the midst of that, though, here's the truth. You can still flourish in the desert.
You know, when you come to Phoenix, there is vegetation that's flourishing, the cactus
and you know, the palm tree and you know, a handful of things. But there's lots of other
stuff that's just dying and just being destroyed. And the sun is just, just massacring and just
melting and it's just, you know, all kinds of stuff looks really bad. But then there's
some things, there's a little plant and it's just like having a good old time. You know,
some shrub out here that just loves the heat and whatever, sucking up all the water. And
here's the reality. Us as Christians, we can be that little palm tree that lives in Phoenix.
We can be that little shrub that you're thinking like, how is that thing not dying? How did
that just flower? And it's because you're constantly drinking from the well of Jesus
Christ and that's where you're getting your satisfaction, not from the things of this
world, not from the things of this life. And notice in Psalm 63 he says, hey, my soul thirsted
for thee. I'm not worried about the things of this life. I'm not worried about the carnal
things in this life. No, no, no. I get my satisfaction. I get my joy from the Lord Jesus
Christ, from the Bible, from the things of God. You know, when I think about this world,
how do they get their satisfaction? They get it from drugs. You know, it's not a coincidence
that Oklahoma is just getting high every single second. It's because they're so depressed.
It's because they feel like they have no purpose in their life. It's because their parents
didn't love them enough to spank them. It's because their parents didn't love them enough
to educate them. They just shipped them off to the public full system and the public full
system lied to them about everything and then the government flatters and lies to its voters
about everything and takes advantage of them and rips them off and tries to give them this
entitled attitude that's going to get them nowhere in life. And so they find themselves
working at Pizza Hut or something. They find themselves working at some jack in the box
or whatever down the street making $8 an hour, having no career, no future. They're
on birth control. They have STDs and it's like their life just sucks. Their life is
just really just going down the toilet because they don't understand that there's no satisfaction
in this world. This world is going to dry you up. It's not going to give you any kind
of real water. It's not going to give you any real kind of satisfaction. It only comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Alcohol will dry you up. Sports will dry you up. You know sports
is never enough. You know these guys, they win a national championship. They win the
World Series. They win whatever and it's just like, well we better win next year. Well we
better hopefully we do good in the off season and hopefully make trades or whatever. It's
never enough. No one's like virtually never. They win and then they are good. Like why
I won, I'm done. You know usually even the greatest, they win and win and win until they
can't win and then they're just washed up, washed up, washed up and quit. They usually
almost never go out on a high note. I'm sure there's exceptions to that rule. But they
pretty much just, they wanted to keep doing it but then they just couldn't do it anymore
and they just eventually wash up and even the sports, they just keep getting weirder
and weirder. I mean think about all the women in sports these days. They've got to be really
taken on the chin with these dudes coming out there and competing against them. I thought
y'all wanted equality. Here's your chance at equality. You know, why don't we just eliminate
women's sports altogether? Oh because then women would never compete in a sport ever
again. That's why. Oh they're the same. No they're not. That's foolishness. And people,
they put all their effort and energy in something that's going to make them thirstier than before
because you know I've known people like where I grew up, sports was like the biggest thing
ever and their kids, you know soccer was a big thing and girls basketball was a big thing
and they could not play enough of this stuff. Like they would put their kid in like the
summer league and like the indoor soccer and the outdoor soccer and then they're playing
on club soccer and then they've got like the high school soccer and then they've got like
the regional soccer and then they get to play pickup games and it's just like these parents
are just driving their kids everywhere. Every game and every practice and all these trips.
I remember they'd be like you want to hang out this weekend? No we've got to take our
kids to this soccer tournament or this soccer place. It's just like what is your life?
It's just driving your kids to soccer practice and games for your entire life? And then these
kids they grow up and they go to college and one of them they make it into you know university
soccer. Well then they just get drunk and play beer pong and fail every single class
and then quit playing soccer and now they're just fat and have no job prospects and all
those soccer practices they drug their kid to are meaningless. Has no impact. I mean
you couldn't tell this person ran even five feet anymore. And in soccer I mean you'll
get thin quick because it's a lot of running. I mean you're in really good shape when you
play soccer. But you know what's the problem with some of these sports? If you play that
much soccer you know you'll end up getting a really bad habit of eating a lot of food.
Because when you're exporting that much energy and that much calories as a young man you'll
get used to eating a four and five thousand calorie diet. And you know what happens when
you turn 25 and get a desk job? All of a sudden your four and five thousand calorie diet doesn't
go away it packs on the pounds fast. Really fast. And you'll see guys they're buffed and
ripped and skinny and then all of a sudden they get the office job or they get whatever
and they're giant. Whereas people that didn't even play sports they don't get that big and
you're thinking like how come? It's because they never got this bad habit of eating that
much food where they were just exporting that much kind of energy. It's not a sustaining
life model. And people keep putting all of their effort all of their energy and all these
things that eventually just dry up and give you no satisfaction no real joy no real blessing
in this life. And people are constantly wondering like why am I so sad all the time? Oh I guess
I need prescription drugs. Or oh no I need more sports. I mean or I need more alcohol
or I need more money. And they're constantly trying to load themselves with all this junk
and it never gives you any satisfaction. I mean our country has become just a country
of excess. Everything in excess. I mean you could watch sports any sport all day every
day. They have the NFL Network. It is a TV channel dedicated to just watching NFL all
day. They have ESPN the Ocho. You know they have you could watch NASCAR all day long.
I mean baseball games there's like 150 baseball games per team every year. I mean times however
many baseball teams there are. I mean you could just watch baseball. You can't even
watch all of the baseball games. It's not even like humanly possible virtually to watch
like every game go to every sporting event. You could you could go to every sports bar
and they have every kind of sports team sporting event all kinds of things. But you know why
do people just keep going there and keep wasting all their money and keep getting drunk
because it never satisfies. It's literally like LSD. It's just a quick fix a quick high
and as soon as it's over where's the next one. Give me another one. Give me another
one. Give me another one. And I'm telling you this life has nothing to satisfy you in.
The only thing that will satisfy you is this book. The only thing that will satisfy you
is Christianity. The only thing that will satisfy you is singing the hymns, reading
the Psalms, the spiritual truths of the Bible, soul winning church services, helping a brother
in Christ, getting on your knees and praying to God. And when you are having emotional
difficulty in your life and you start seeking all these other alternatives you're going
to stay thirsty and you're going to stay dry. Say I don't enjoy this life. I'm having
a hard time Pastor Shelley. I'm struggling. I don't I don't I don't enjoy life. Well you
know what get spiritual because you will never enjoy life not being spiritual. Life is not
enjoyable without water. It's you need water in order to survive. You need water in order
to survive. And I'm telling you in this life we need the water that's coming from the Word
of God. And I challenge you if you're not satisfied right now, if you're feeling discontent
with your life right now, get more spiritual. Because just like Phoenix where it seems like
nothing could potentially live somehow things are living. And this world it's confusing
why anybody would be happy. I mean the devil is trying to make everyone as unhappy as humanly
possible. And I'll tell you sometimes I'm not as good at this as other people. Sometimes
I'm always confused at how happy Pastor Anderson is. Because I'm just thinking like he could
be having like the worst week of his life. And you like call him you talk to him and
he's just so happy and he's like smiling. And he's like I mean if there's one thing
that I would like love to import from Pastor Anderson it's just how much joy he seems to
have just like every day. No matter what is happening. No matter what evil is befalling.
I mean if you ran into Pastor Anderson on any day of his life you wouldn't even know
what's really going on because you have no idea. And it's like how is this guy so happy?
How is this guy I mean does he not have like eleven kids? Twelve? Twelve kids? It can't
even count. It's so high. He's got a dozen kids. I mean doesn't he have like three hundred
church members that complain? Yes he does probably. I mean doesn't he has he ever had
anybody like stab him in the back or anything? Or has he ever had any conflict? Has he ever
had anything canceled? Has he ever had any problems? And you know it's like you would
almost think like how is this guy so happy? Let me tell you something. He's drinking from
this fountain every single day. You can tell. You can just see a man that's thriving in
the desert and it's like how is this guy thriving in the desert? Because he has a water source.
That's coming directly to him. And I'm telling you something you can have that same joy in
your life no matter what is happening. You know it's like his favorite meme. I like this
meme too but it's like the whole world's on fire. And it's like this little dog and he's
just like this is fine. It's like he doesn't care. It's like just turn up the heat. You
know it doesn't matter to me. It makes me think of Bermuda grass. Now where I'm from
Bermuda grass would probably die because grass here and the heat just don't mix. But Bermuda
it does like heat. It doesn't like the surface of the sun. But it does you know but it does
like you know hundred degree weather and stuff like that. And the beauty about Bermuda grass
is if you're watering it it'll choke everything else out. Like you don't really have to worry
about weeds as much because Bermuda will just you know literally it'll thrive in the heat
and as long as it's giving enough water all the other plants it'll just knock them out
and just dry them up and knock them over and take them out and stuff like that. And it's
like that's what Christiana needs to be. Where we're like this Bermuda grass where it doesn't
matter how hot it gets. In fact the hotter it gets the better we are and the happier
we are and the more joy that we have. And I think it's so easy in 2022 America to keep
looking at the world getting worse and keep getting angrier. Getting more depressed. Feeling
like there's no purpose in life or you don't have anything to do. But I'm telling you if
you get more spiritual you'll start thriving like you never have before. If you don't go
to Wednesday night service show up at Wednesday night service this week. If this is your first
time to come to Sunday night come again. If you don't come to church every single time
the doors are open start coming to church every single time the doors are open and tell
me if your attitude is better or worse. Well I read the Bible occasionally. Okay well read
the Bible every day. Get a plan. Start reading the Bible every single day and say hey after
one week tell me if you're feeling any better or not. In fact let me tell you something
when I don't feel good like when I'm upset or depressed or mad or sad or all of those
emotions sometimes it's at the same time. You know what I do? This is what I do. I just
open my Bible to Psalms chapter one and I just start reading. And I guarantee once you
get to Psalm ten then check and tell me how you feel. And you know Psalms one through
ten it's real short. I mean we're only talking like a page and a half here or something.
I mean it's real it's a real easy read but it's just going to cover so many different
things like all the things that are bothering you are just going to start just melting away
just instantly as you just start reading Psalms one and then Psalms two and then Psalms three
and you start realizing like people had it worse than you. Look at Psalms chapter three
and I'm telling you it's just going to bring water in your life. Look at Psalms three verse
one. Lord how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many
there be would say of my soul there is no help for him and God Selah. That that just
resonates with my soul. I'll just tell you what. But thou O Lord are to shield for me
my glory and the lifter up of mine head. I cried to the Lord my voice and he heard me
out of his holy hill Selah. I laid me down and slept. I awake for the Lord sustain me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round
about. That's pretty encouraging. Arise O Lord save me O my God for thou has smitten
all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou has broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people Selah. Now I you know I would love
to just see some of my enemies just like God just give an uppercut. You know just man just
get all those teeth out right? Or a nice little spiritual curb check or something but if you
know what I'm saying. But but here's the thing. Everybody eventually loses their teeth anyways.
All these people are going to get destroyed. I mean no one everyone gets old. Everyone
eventually sees corruption. Everyone finally denigrates. No one's just the champion forever.
Even the greatest boxer. Even the greatest wrestler. The greatest person in the military.
I mean eventually they get to a point where a baby could beat them. They eventually wither
into nothing. They will eventually be destroyed. God will have his day and I shouldn't be afraid
of ten thousand. I mean I'm not afraid of all the people in Congress. I'm not afraid
of Biden. I'm not afraid of Kamala Harris. I'm not afraid of Nancy Pelosi. I'm not afraid
of all these people. The FBI. The CIA. I'm not afraid of ten thousands of people that
say I'm going to destroy you. Why? Because I have the Lord on my side. Because I'm drinking
from the fountain. And I might be in a dry and thirsty land. America might be drying
up all around me. But you know what? As long as I got this book. As long as I got Christ
in my heart. You know what? I can thrive personally. I can have joy that sustains me every single
moment of my life. And the Christians that dry up is because they're not seeking the
Lord. If you seek the Lord. If you put more effort. You say hey I don't go soul winning.
And I'm really having a hard time struggling with what the purpose of my life is. Go soul
winning. If you go soul winning a little bit. Go soul winning more. If you show up at church
but you don't sing the psalms. Start singing the psalms. Start singing the hymns. Start
learning them and memorizing them. Because you know what? When you learn the hymns. When
you sing them at church. You know what you're going to do? You're going to sing it tomorrow
whether you like it or not. You're going to hum it whether you like it or not. It doesn't
matter what song. I can think of a worldly song and I'm not going to do this to you okay.
I can think of a worldly song and sing it right now and all of you will be singing it
tomorrow and you'll be mad at me. Why? Because no matter what you do. Whatever you think
of. Whatever you sing. It's going to keep permeating in your life. And if you're constantly
getting this water of life flowing. If you're singing the hymns. If you're reading the bible.
If you're showing up at church. You know maybe you could just help some other person in your
life. You often think well how can I make myself happier? Why don't you help some other
person? Why don't you find someone else in church that needs something and do something
for them. Give them a ride somewhere. Buy them a meal. Fill up their tank with gas.
Bless one of the poorer brethren in the church. Or drag them out soul winning. Or go and visit
them. Or take them to dinner. Or call them. Or pray for them. And you know what you'll
start realizing I have a purpose in my life. Because you know I looked at my church and
I know that this person needs prayer for their marriage. I know this person needs prayer
for their children. I know this person needs prayer for their welfare. I know this person's
mom needs prayer. Hey I know this person needs to get saved. And you start praying. You say
you know what? I need to exist in this life just so I can pray for all these people for
all their needs. And you start realizing the purpose you have in your life. And I'm telling
you something. When you start walking by the spirit. You start realizing you have something
valuable to do with your life. And you can start having true joy. Instead of just being
the children of Israel just walking through the wilderness complaining about every bad
thing that happens to you. Every negative thing. Gas went up again. Biden's elected
again. You know. I don't know how I voted for Biden but somehow I voted. I didn't even
vote but I voted for Biden 67,000 times. You know. And it was the most fair election ever.
Free and fair. There's no fraud. There's no issues. You know. It doesn't matter. You can
have all of those things crumbling around you and you just keep serving God and you're
just like nuts to it all. It's going to burn anyways. It's meaningless anyways. Instead
of walking around complaining all day long you could be singing the hymns all day long.
You could be praising God all day long. You could be showing people how to speak to the
rock and get the water of life flowing freely in their life. And I challenge you be more
spiritual in 2022 than you were in 2021. And then in 2023 tell me which year was better.
Tell me which year was better. Because the years are getting worse but I've noticed some
people that say hey the last year was the best year of my life. People that start like
they move and they start going to church or they come to church more or they start going
so many more or they start following God's commandments. They'll have literally it'll
be like the worst year of our life as far as America is concerned but then they're like
it was my best life. It was like my best. I got married. I got a kid. I got people saved.
I went on so many missions trip. I you know got a better job because I actually work hard
and I'm not a lazy bum. You know there's all kinds of things you can have a successful
life while everyone else is just has nothing. Don't think like well this world just this
sucks. I'm done. I'm going to quit on church. I'm going to I'm going to try and have some
joy on my own. I don't want to waste time in Sunday night church. I'm going to go get
a boat or something or. There's no water anywhere. OK. The best day in a boat owner's
life is the day he sells it. OK. To some sucker. You know. Just like a timeshare. You know.
Don't ever buy a timeshare. Is this the worst thing you could do. And don't walk through
this life trying to satisfy yourself with this world. It will never happen. Realize
you will never be happy with this life. You'll only be happy with the word of God. You'll
only be happy with the spiritual things. Get more spiritual. Let's go to prayer. Thank
Heavenly Father so much for the word of God. Thank you for giving us water even though
we walk through a dry and thirsty land. Even though this world may wax worse and it may
become more wicked and may become more dark and we understand that eventually the Antichrist
will come. But I pray that we wouldn't keep our sights on the things of the flesh. We
wouldn't walk in the flesh. We'd walk in the spirit. That we constantly seek for the
water that comes from the rock which is Jesus Christ. That we constantly renew ourselves
and refresh ourselves with the word of God. That we would be more spiritual in 2022 than
we were last year. That we would draw closer unto you and you would draw closer unto us.
And I pray that you would just help people in this room find purpose. You'd help them
find vision. You'd give them zeal. You'd give them energy. You'd give them just satisfaction
from the word of God. From the water that flows freely. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Let's take our hymnals please. Let's go to hymn number 102. 102 he hideth my soul.
Hymn number 102. It begins the wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord. Let's sing it out together
on this verse. Hymn number 102. On this verse let's lift your voices together now. A wonderful
savior is Jesus my Lord. A wonderful savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the
rock. Where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. As shadows
of dry thirst be bled. He hideth my soul in the depths of his love. And covers me there with his
hand. And covers me there with his hand. A wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord. He taketh
my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved. He given me strength as my day.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. As shadows of dry thirst be bled. He hideth my life
in the depths of his love. And covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand.
With numberless blessings each moment he crowns. And filled with his fullness he buys. I sing in my
rapture all glory to God for such a redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock.
As shadows of dry thirst be bled. He hideth my life in the depths of his love. And covers me there with his hand.
And covers me there with his hand. When cold in his brightness. Transported I rise to be given clouds of the sky.
With perfect salvation his wonderful love. I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock.
As shadows of dry thirst be bled. He hideth my life in the depths of his love. And covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand.
Amen. Good to see you.