Fullness| "A Life That Flows" | Week 4 | Pastor Kevin Kringel |
Fullness
Week 4
"A life That Flows"
Today I have a treat for you, Calvary. Today I will take a simple concept and make it complicated. Today I want to move us beyond simply listening for more information. I want us to begin looking at the Scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to give us revelation. The Bible is not simply a book of facts and truths; it is God’s inspired and living word, revealing Himself to us. His ways, His thoughts, His heart, His purpose. The Bible is God communicating to us in ways we can perceive and receive. Therefore, the Scriptures are as simple, eternally rich, and complex as we can submit ourselves to receive, as His Spirit reveals things to us. Today I want you to see a thread, a story, not simply the one truth in the message today. Are you ready to begin?
John 7:37-39 – out of YOUR belly will flow RIVERS (The Holy Spirit flowing through you towards others).
Acts 1:8- Power/Ability (toward you and through you; see spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14); we see this filling and flowing!
Let’s talk about rivers.
1. Access to rivers was a large contributor to the rise and success of ancient kingdoms. (Egypt, Mesopotamia)
-Reliable water sources meant they could stop wandering looking for water. Life requires water to exist. In other words, people could put down roots and build a civilization.
-Reliable water meant fruitful soil (food) and transportation and trade (places beyond your reach and back home).
-Even some of our modern cities rose to success largely because of access to a river source (Chicago, New York).
With constant access to your source, you can stop spending your life searching for it. You can do more with your source than survive.
2. The Bible begins with a river.
Genesis 2:8-14
One river from God’s garden and presence splits into four (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates) to carry water and life to land beyond Eden.
-Sourced in Eden to the world.
3. The Bible ends with a River
Revelation 22:1-2 Then the Angel of the Lord showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Psalms 46:1-4 The earth may give way, but there is a river…
4. Jesus promises God’s river of life to flow out of you. John 7:37-39
-A constant source of life
-What could we do with our lives if we stopped having to search for a source to sustain us?
We could live from fullness instead of living to fill an unsatisfiable emptiness.
-Achievements, approval, relationships, money, attention, success, pleasure, and status will never work as our source for life.
Remember Jesus words: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…” John 7:37
We will continue to have thirst, but now we have the right source to stay connected to that satisfies; it sounds like abiding (remaining). When we learn to remain, as Pastor Maria taught last week, we will find our lives begin to build, expand, reach beyond survival, and impact the world and people around us.
5. Flow- Ezekial 47:1-12.
“So, where the river flows, everything will live.” - verse 9 (that’s us now; can you see it?)
-What’s with all these river images, PK? I’m lost in it all. These visions and realities of heaven and earth are all meant to show us something. What is that something that ties them all together?
Life flows from God’s throne. That life is sourced in God. The river in Eden (the place where God’s presence and mankind walked together) was meant to carry life from Eden to the world around it. Jesus came to bring people back into that relationship with God through the Holy Spirit's work in salvation. The river of life is now flowing out of us as it did from Eden. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was for us, but it was also meant to work through us into a dead world, bringing that river of life wherever we go.
Week 4
"A life That Flows"
Today I have a treat for you, Calvary. Today I will take a simple concept and make it complicated. Today I want to move us beyond simply listening for more information. I want us to begin looking at the Scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to give us revelation. The Bible is not simply a book of facts and truths; it is God’s inspired and living word, revealing Himself to us. His ways, His thoughts, His heart, His purpose. The Bible is God communicating to us in ways we can perceive and receive. Therefore, the Scriptures are as simple, eternally rich, and complex as we can submit ourselves to receive, as His Spirit reveals things to us. Today I want you to see a thread, a story, not simply the one truth in the message today. Are you ready to begin?
John 7:37-39 – out of YOUR belly will flow RIVERS (The Holy Spirit flowing through you towards others).
Acts 1:8- Power/Ability (toward you and through you; see spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14); we see this filling and flowing!
Let’s talk about rivers.
1. Access to rivers was a large contributor to the rise and success of ancient kingdoms. (Egypt, Mesopotamia)
-Reliable water sources meant they could stop wandering looking for water. Life requires water to exist. In other words, people could put down roots and build a civilization.
-Reliable water meant fruitful soil (food) and transportation and trade (places beyond your reach and back home).
-Even some of our modern cities rose to success largely because of access to a river source (Chicago, New York).
With constant access to your source, you can stop spending your life searching for it. You can do more with your source than survive.
2. The Bible begins with a river.
Genesis 2:8-14
One river from God’s garden and presence splits into four (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates) to carry water and life to land beyond Eden.
-Sourced in Eden to the world.
3. The Bible ends with a River
Revelation 22:1-2 Then the Angel of the Lord showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Psalms 46:1-4 The earth may give way, but there is a river…
4. Jesus promises God’s river of life to flow out of you. John 7:37-39
-A constant source of life
-What could we do with our lives if we stopped having to search for a source to sustain us?
We could live from fullness instead of living to fill an unsatisfiable emptiness.
-Achievements, approval, relationships, money, attention, success, pleasure, and status will never work as our source for life.
Remember Jesus words: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…” John 7:37
We will continue to have thirst, but now we have the right source to stay connected to that satisfies; it sounds like abiding (remaining). When we learn to remain, as Pastor Maria taught last week, we will find our lives begin to build, expand, reach beyond survival, and impact the world and people around us.
5. Flow- Ezekial 47:1-12.
“So, where the river flows, everything will live.” - verse 9 (that’s us now; can you see it?)
-What’s with all these river images, PK? I’m lost in it all. These visions and realities of heaven and earth are all meant to show us something. What is that something that ties them all together?
Life flows from God’s throne. That life is sourced in God. The river in Eden (the place where God’s presence and mankind walked together) was meant to carry life from Eden to the world around it. Jesus came to bring people back into that relationship with God through the Holy Spirit's work in salvation. The river of life is now flowing out of us as it did from Eden. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was for us, but it was also meant to work through us into a dead world, bringing that river of life wherever we go.