living water – Emmanuel Pentecostal Church Gateshead Resources

MONDAY 3^rd

John 7

NIV (vv37-38) – ‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’

ESV (vv37-38) – ‘On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’

One of the features of the British summer is the plethora of music festivals that take place around the country, venues which become mass gatherings for music lovers, obviously Covid-19 has prevented them from taking place this year, and for the record, no, I have no personal interest in ever attending one! But, can you imagine one of these festivals taking place, and toward the end, someone stands up and cries out with a loud voice ‘If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ I am sure there would be a fair few open-mouthed folk gawping and thinking ‘what on earth is he on about’, there would be those who would perhaps mock or laugh. Now I know that the situation in John’s gospel, was different, it was a religious festival, not a music festival, but the crowd in that time had the same need as the crowds who fill the festivals in the UK, many of them would have gawped open-mouthed, some would have mocked and laughed, but the festival goers then and also today, like us have the same need of the Lord Jesus Christ, they like us need to know what it is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ so that from out of our inner most being, rivers of living water will flow.

After Jesus had stood up and cried out, it caused division, see this in verses 40-52 and the same response happens today as we declare Jesus, who he is and what he has said about himself and all that he offers to those who believe, but we must never allow the risk of opposition to shut us up and prevent us from declaring the good news concerning Jesus. Just as Jesus stood up in the festival, we need man and women who are willing to stand up in this crowded world, a world crowded with opinion, crowded with prejudice, crowded with useless gods, crowded with secularism and plurality to declare the good news of the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The fact that (Covid-19 aside) the festivals are crowded, that the shopping malls are crowded, that the pleasure and sporting facilities of this world are crowded (more often on a Sunday, when Churches are struggling to be filled) etc. indicates that people are hungering and thirsting, they are seeking ways and means of getting satisfaction, but looking in the wrong place. There is nothing wrong with a (decent) festival, shopping mall, pleasure, or sporting facility, but when they become the means through which people try to get lasting satisfaction and to meet the inner longings of the heart then they become a problem, for they will keep men and women from coming to the only one who can satisfy the inner eternal longing of the heart.

May God help us who know Jesus and who are the representatives for Jesus today to become bold and courageous to stand up in the crowd and to declare the good news of the gospel.

WEDNESDAY 29th

Acts 3 and 4 – Rivers of Living Water

The ministries or the work of the Holy Spirit within our lives are many and varied. He not only helps us in spiritual ministries, but he helps us in our everyday living, he enables us to walk in his ways rather than in the ways and the desires of the flesh. (our subject in the devotion on April 2nd)

Within the scope of the Church the Holy Spirit not only empowers us and anoints us, he also equips us. He gives us the grace and the strength in our work and service for the Lord.

There is another area that we come to in today’s reading, and perhaps we overlook this when we look at this portion of Scripture, and it is this; I believe that the Holy Spirit makes us more aware of the needs of those who are around us, he sensitizes us to becoming more compassionate toward the less fortunate or those in need. In a sense it is the Holy Spirit working in our lives to make us more like what Jesus was like – it says in Matthew 9:36 that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’

Jesus was a man who was moved with compassion. Today we are seeing all around us folk who are harassed and helpless, the easiest thing to do is to pass by them, to ignore them and think to ourselves, ‘someone else can see to them.’

In Acts 3, Peter and John were making their way up to the temple at the hour of prayer. On the journey was a man who was less fortunate than they were, a man who was harassed and helpless, a man who spent his day sitting and begging just to try and get by. He had been lamed from birth.

I think that the first thing that was triggered in the hearts of the two men was a supernatural compassion for the man. It would have been so easy to just walk by him. But he had a need and they could do something about it. But what they were about to do was something extraordinary. They couldn’t help him out financially , their pockets were empty, but because of the encounter that they had had in the ‘Upper Room’ they had something even more important to offer, something that would end the man’s hopelessness, and mean he would vacate the place where he had been sitting every day and do something that he had never experienced before, to walk and jump and to leap about. They had the Power of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives, they had the ‘faith to believe that something extraordinary could happen’ They had authority to minister ‘in the name of Jesus’ and so they spoke to the man (v6) and took the man by the right hand and ‘immediately his feet and ankles were made strong’ This in itself is amazing, but let’s not miss a major point, the healing was wonderful but through it they introduced the man to Jesus.

Now, I am not suggesting that we should go to every person we see begging in the streets, and begin to do this, what I am suggesting is that when we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit we will know and recognise the sensitivity of the leading of the Holy Spirit to go to those who he wants us to go to. It will not always be necessarily to go to someone in the streets, it can be anywhere, for the helpless and the harassed are found in our neighbourhoods, maybe in our families and maybe even within the community of the Church.

At first, this narrative does not seem to end too well for the disciples, they are arrested and put into custody! But it gives them a great opportunity to share the gospel again(4:7-12) and the verdict given was two-fold, 1) The authorities knew something spectacular had happened (4:13-14) 2) They forbade them from speaking or teaching any more in the name of Jesus. Then they were released.

But immediately the disciples were released from custody they reported back to the Church and they have a prayer meeting about the situation and God releases yet again another spectacular outpouring of the Holy Spirt. V31 ‘And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirt and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.’

Hang on, ‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ I thought that that had happened on the day of Pentecost? How come they were filled again? Well, can I suggest that the disciples who had been filled on the day of Pentecost had also been giving out as they had moved under the power of the Holy Spirit. They had received and they had also been giving, and (hopefully not to sound to disrespectful about spiritual things), they needed topping up again! In John 7:37-38, Jesus cried out ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’, Jesus said that we need to drink so that out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water, ‘this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’ (V39) This tells us, that for the rivers of living water to be flowing out they first need to be flowing in! We continually need to ‘drink’, to know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that he can overflow out through our lives as rivers of living water towards others.

Going back to where we started, as you picture Peter and John speaking to the lame man, allow your mind’s eye to look deeper, first see Peter and John before they make the journey, drinking the living water, they are filled with the Spirit and as they begin to speak to the lame man, in the Name of Jesus, the rivers of living water are flowing out and a need is met and God is glorified.

I am a big tea and coffee drinker, probably drink far too much and guess what, what goes in needs to eventually come out! The more I drink the more . . .!

Paul says in Ephesians 5:18 ‘. . . but be filled with the Spirit . . .’ Scholars tell us that it should read ‘Keep on being filled with the Spirit’ Keep drinking in the water Jesus offers, keep drinking, drinking and drinking, because, you’ve guessed it, the more you drink the more the rivers of living water will flow!

Rivers of living water,

Rivers that flow from the throne,

Rivers o’erflowing with blessing,

Coming from Jesus alone.

Rivers of living water,

Rivers of life so free,

Flowing from Thee, my Savior,

Send now the rivers through me.

Whoso is thirsty come hither,

Here is abundant supply;

Water transparent as crystal,

Come without money and buy.

Cleanse me, oh, cleanse me, my Savior,

Make me a channel today;

Empty me, fill me and use me,

Teach me to trust and obey.

Then, and then only, Lord Jesus,

Through me the rivers can flow;

Thus and thus only will others

Learn Thy great fulness to know.

Now I surrender to Jesus,

Here I lay all at His feet;

Anything, anywhere only,

Just for His service made meet!

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