Good evening and
welcome to A Sharper Focus.
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My name is Jill Morikone,
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we're so glad that you
have joined us this evening,
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this Wednesday evening, midweek,
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and so glad that
each one of you are here.
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Our Thompsonville Seventh-day
Adventist Church family
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and we have
Iada sitting out here
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and she's in for camp meeting.
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So that is very
exciting when we have people
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who come in
special for camp meeting
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and we're getting ready.
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The crew's working hard,
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we're getting
ready for camp meeting
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but it's a blessing midweek,
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no matter what we're
doing during the week,
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to open up God's word
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and to spend some
time studying His Word.
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We want to encourage
you to check out the website
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ASF.3ABN.org
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again that's ASF.3ABN.org.
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You'll find all of the
videos for the Sharper Focus
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on that website as
well as many study guides.
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So before we open up
God's Word this evening,
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let's go to the Lord in prayer.
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Father, we come
before You right now
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in the name of Jesus, I
ask that You would hide me,
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God that You could
be seen and lifted up.
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We pray Father, we thank
You that Your Word is anointed
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and we ask that
it would go forth
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and it would accomplish
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what you have set it
forth to accomplish tonight.
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Give us ears to hear,
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give us a heart
that's open and willing
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to accept what you
want to show us in Your Word
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and we thank You
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in the precious and
the holy name of Jesus.
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Amen.
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Tonight we're talking
about, Watered by the Spirit.
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Our opening
scripture is Isaiah 43.
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If you want to
open up your Bibles,
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we are going to Isaiah 43.
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Last summer, Greg and
I took a trip out west,
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3ABN went out to ASI,
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it's held in
different parts of the country,
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you know every year
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and this year it was
in Spokane, Washington.
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So we flew into Seattle.
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How many here have
been to Seattle before?
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That's almost the whole group.
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Almost
everybody's been to Seattle.
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Now Seattle it rains
a lot, would you agree,
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misty, it rains a lot.
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In fact they say if you have
seasonal effective disorder,
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then you would not
want to live in Seattle
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because you might get depressed
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because it rains
a lot in Seattle.
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But one of the byproducts
of all that rain in Seattle
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is what?
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It's green, it's beautiful.
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They have a lot of
evergreens out there.
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We flew into Seattle, we
drove to the Puget Sound,
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which is just
off the coast there.
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My great aunt Ruth
lives there and we visited her
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and then we rented a car
and we drove from Seattle
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on interstate 90
across to Spokane.
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Now you come up over
the Cascade Mountains
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and just as you come
up over the mountains,
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those beautiful evergreen trees,
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you know what happens?
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They start to disappear
and then just a few miles more,
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what happens, it's dry, desert,
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it's barren, desert,
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just the few
miles over the mountains
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and it turns into desert.
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Why?
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Because all the rain
drops on the western side right,
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on the western
side of the Cascades,
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all the rain drops
there, and on the eastern side,
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they don't get as
much water and it's brown.
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It's beautiful but it's brown.
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So if you want a green
lawn, you have to irrigate.
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If you want crops,
you have to irrigate.
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They have vineyards
there, they have some orchids,
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you have to irrigate
in order to get the green.
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So our scripture has
something to do with that,
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Isaiah 43 we're
in verses 18 and 19,
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Isaiah 43:18 and 19,
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the Bible says, "Do not
remember the former things,
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nor consider the things of old.
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Behold, I will do a new thing,
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now it shall spring
forth, shall you not know it?
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I will even make a
road in the wilderness
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and rivers in the desert."
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If you have rivers in
the desert, what happens?
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It ceases to be a desert,
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at least in that part
where the river is, right?
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You have
fruitfulness and abundance
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where you have the water.
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You feel like tonight,
maybe you're walking in a desert
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or maybe you're home, feel
like I'm walking in a desert.
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My soul, my spirit is dry
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and parched, cracked, barren.
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Sometimes we walk in a desert
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because of other
people's choices.
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Would you say that's accurate?
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Maybe your best
friend was driving a car
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and they got hit
by a drunk driver,
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now was that their
choice they got hit.
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No, the desert of
maybe they were paraplegic,
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maybe they lost their life,
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maybe they were
injured in some way,
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the desert of that pain
had nothing to do with them.
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It's the result of
someone else's choice.
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Sometimes we walk in a desert
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because of
someone else's choice,
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whether it's like
that, maybe abuse.
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Sometimes we walk in a
desert of our own choosing.
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I've been
there, I've been there,
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walked in a desert
of my own choosing.
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Think of Samson in the Bible,
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remember he was
the strongest man
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who ever lived
and what happened?
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He grew up, he was
supposed to be a Nazarite,
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he was supposed to be dedicated
to the Lord from his birth,
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follow God in all things
and then all of a sudden,
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he fell in love.
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And remember he
did not fall in love
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with the woman of Israel.
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He fell in love with
a Philistine, a heathen.
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Now part of what
they were supposed to do
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was to worship God
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and to marry someone who
loved and worshiped God too.
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And he fell in
love with someone else
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and the Bible says,
he told his parents,
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"Get her for me,"
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remember that verse,
"for she pleases me well."
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Get her for me, I
want her, it feels good.
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So he walked in a
desert of his own choosing
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because some not so
good consequences happened
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as a result of that.
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And then
several, many years later,
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he fell in love again
with the woman named Delilah,
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remember that and
the consequences of that
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were even stronger
than the first one.
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His eyes were put
out, he was a slave, right,
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made to grind round
and round like an animal
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and eventually he lost his life.
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Now God forgave him and
that's a beautiful thing,
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but he was walking in
the desert, the dryness,
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the crackness of
his own choosing.
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But the thing is
our scripture text here
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Isaiah 43,
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whether someone else
caused the desert in our lives
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or whether we caused it
by our own choices, God says,
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I can make
rivers, rivers of water
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flow in that dry and
barren and cracked place.
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How does God bring about
fruitfulness in our lives?
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Now in the physical world,
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it comes as a
result of water, right.
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Water brings about
fruitfulness and the spiritual,
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what brings fruit in
our lives as Christians?
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Galatians 5:22,
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"The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace,
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longsuffering or
patience, gentleness,
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goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance."
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If we want
fruitfulness, abundance,
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lush vegetation in our lives
instead of the dry, cracked,
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barren thing that we
feel, the Holy Spirit,
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the Holy Spirit is gonna
bring us that fruitfulness.
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Now in the Bible we often
think of the Holy Spirit as oil,
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the Holy Spirit is
represented by oil in the Bible.
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Remember the ten virgins
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carried their
little clay lamps of oil,
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representative of the
Holy Spirit in their lives.
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We think of the
Holy Spirit as fire.
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The disciples, remember,
in the upper room praying
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for the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit,
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this is after Jesus
ascended, after the resurrection
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and what happened?
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The Holy Spirit
descended as tongues of fire,
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that's right, Yannick,
tongues of fire on their head,
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so there is
different representations
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of the Holy Spirit in scripture.
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But tonight, we're gonna
look at the Holy Spirit as dew,
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as that water, as that dew.
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Turn with me to Hosea 14.
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Tonight we're gonna talk
about waiting for the dew,
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watered by the dew and
equipping through the dew,
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but before we
get to any of that,
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we want to lay a couple
of foundational scriptures,
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so we're in Hosea 14.
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I really like the Book of Hosea.
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God asked the prophet Hosea
to do some incredible things,
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would you agree?
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He was a living object lesson
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of the love God had
for His people Israel,
00:10:02.60\00:10:06.10
even when His
people wandered away,
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did their own thing,
didn't want to follow God,
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what did He say?
00:10:12.74\00:10:14.08
I love you still.
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Remember he told Hosea
to go out and marry whom?
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A prostitute, a
woman of harlotry.
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And what happened?
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They had a child
together, they had another,
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what happened?
00:10:28.32\00:10:29.66
She was
unfaithful, she wandered off,
00:10:29.69\00:10:34.53
did her own thing
and God told Hosea,
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this gets me, buy her back,
the woman who ran out on you,
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what would we say?
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Stone her, right,
we say get rid of her,
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we'd say, I, you know--
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Buy her back because why?
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It was an object lesson
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of the love God had
for His people Israel.
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They had
"committed fornication,"
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they had wandered away from God,
00:11:01.99\00:11:04.09
they served other idols.
00:11:04.13\00:11:06.43
They said God, "We
don't want to follow you,
00:11:06.46\00:11:08.36
we don't want to serve you,
we want to do our own thing,
00:11:08.40\00:11:12.90
we want to do our own thing,"
and so they served idols,
00:11:12.93\00:11:16.50
and God said, "I created
you, I'm gonna buy you back,
00:11:16.54\00:11:21.14
I'm gonna redeem you."
00:11:21.18\00:11:22.51
So I just love
the Book of Hosea.
00:11:22.54\00:11:23.91
But we're in Hosea
14, looking at dew.
00:11:23.95\00:11:26.65
Hosea 14:4 and
5, the Bible says,
00:11:26.68\00:11:32.75
''I will heal
their backsliding."
00:11:32.79\00:11:35.52
This is what
we're talking about,
00:11:35.56\00:11:36.89
the love of God for the people
who even turned against Him.
00:11:36.93\00:11:40.30
"I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely,
00:11:40.33\00:11:44.93
for my anger has
turned away from them."
00:11:44.97\00:11:48.84
Here's our word.
00:11:48.87\00:11:50.21
"I will be like
the dew to Israel.
00:11:50.24\00:11:54.74
He shall grow like the lily,
00:11:54.78\00:11:56.34
and lengthen his
roots like Lebanon,"
00:11:56.38\00:11:57.91
and it goes on,
00:11:57.95\00:11:59.38
agricultural
terms with the branches
00:11:59.41\00:12:01.52
and the trees, but
it's talking about,
00:12:01.55\00:12:05.19
he's gonna be the dew,
00:12:05.22\00:12:07.12
the water that
will bring fruitfulness
00:12:07.16\00:12:09.92
and abundance to
the nation of Israel.
00:12:09.96\00:12:13.09
There's one more scripture
00:12:13.13\00:12:14.83
that we want to
look at is Titus 3,
00:12:14.86\00:12:18.17
and then we'll really
jump into our message.
00:12:18.20\00:12:20.00
Titus 3, and as
you are turning there,
00:12:20.04\00:12:25.61
you know dew is pretty important
00:12:25.64\00:12:26.98
in the physical world.
00:12:27.01\00:12:30.18
If you're in a place
that has a lot of rain,
00:12:30.21\00:12:31.95
they say it's not as important,
but if you're in the desert,
00:12:31.98\00:12:35.58
dew is extremely important.
00:12:35.62\00:12:38.82
In the Negev, I hope
I'm saying that right,
00:12:38.85\00:12:41.36
the Negev desert in Israel,
00:12:41.39\00:12:43.49
which is the
southern portion of Israel,
00:12:43.53\00:12:46.13
it is dry, it's
our verse in Isaiah,
00:12:46.16\00:12:49.53
dry, dusty,
cracked, barren, it's dry.
00:12:49.56\00:12:54.27
They have no rain between
the months of June and October,
00:12:54.30\00:12:59.11
it's a long time, desert.
00:12:59.14\00:13:01.38
They say in that desert,
00:13:01.41\00:13:03.71
dew accounts for half the water
that the plants receive, half.
00:13:03.75\00:13:09.72
Now we think, well,
dew is inconsequential,
00:13:09.75\00:13:11.72
dew doesn't make
such a big difference,
00:13:11.75\00:13:13.82
but in this case, it accounts
00:13:13.86\00:13:15.39
for half the amount of water.
00:13:15.42\00:13:18.59
So we're in Titus, Titus 3,
00:13:18.63\00:13:21.20
talking about the
work of the Holy Spirit.
00:13:21.23\00:13:23.26
Titus 3:4-6,
00:13:23.30\00:13:28.14
Titus 3:4-6,
"But when the kindness
00:13:28.17\00:13:31.77
and love of God our
Savior toward man appeared,
00:13:31.81\00:13:36.58
not by works of righteousness
which we have done."
00:13:36.61\00:13:40.45
For we know we
could never save our self.
00:13:40.48\00:13:42.32
We're saved by
grace through faith.
00:13:42.35\00:13:44.85
It's a gift of God, it's not us,
00:13:44.89\00:13:46.69
so he says it's not
of works of righteousness
00:13:46.72\00:13:48.92
which we have done but
according to His mercy,
00:13:48.96\00:13:53.19
that's right,
His mercy he saved us
00:13:53.23\00:13:56.50
to the washing of regeneration,
00:13:56.53\00:13:58.30
and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
00:13:58.33\00:14:03.20
and he poured
out on us abundantly
00:14:03.24\00:14:05.51
through Jesus Christ our Savior.
00:14:05.54\00:14:09.78
As the dew bathes the
earth, so God wants to renew us,
00:14:09.81\00:14:15.48
our dry, barren,
cracked and dusty hearts.
00:14:15.52\00:14:18.82
He says I want to renew them.
00:14:18.85\00:14:22.96
We're gonna talk tonight about
the work of the Holy Spirit
00:14:22.99\00:14:24.96
as dew in our lives,
and if you're taking notes,
00:14:24.99\00:14:28.46
number one is
waiting for the dew,
00:14:28.50\00:14:30.97
then we're gonna
look at four keys
00:14:31.00\00:14:32.63
to being watered by the dew,
00:14:32.67\00:14:35.07
and finally we look at
equipping through the dew,
00:14:35.10\00:14:37.61
but first waiting for the dew.
00:14:37.64\00:14:40.14
Now in the natural world
00:14:40.18\00:14:41.64
what would be your
requirement for forming dew?
00:14:41.68\00:14:46.35
Does dew form in
a heat of the day?
00:14:46.38\00:14:50.85
No, it takes quietness,
00:14:50.89\00:14:55.06
stillness, night time usually,
00:14:55.09\00:14:58.66
now this is
depending on the dew point,
00:14:58.69\00:15:00.16
the humidity and all that stuff,
00:15:00.20\00:15:01.56
but usually dew forms at night.
00:15:01.60\00:15:07.37
They say if
there is heat or wind,
00:15:07.40\00:15:09.30
dew does not form very well.
00:15:09.34\00:15:11.21
So it requires stillness,
no wind, it requires coolness,
00:15:11.24\00:15:15.81
if you have a cool night,
clear, you gonna get more dew.
00:15:15.84\00:15:19.85
It also requires waiting--
00:15:19.88\00:15:22.38
time.
00:15:22.42\00:15:23.75
I don't know in your life,
00:15:25.92\00:15:28.06
but in my life I don't
like to wait very much.
00:15:28.09\00:15:32.26
Would you all
say that's accurate,
00:15:32.29\00:15:33.63
maybe for you?
00:15:33.66\00:15:35.00
I don't like to wait very much.
00:15:35.03\00:15:36.40
My sister and her
husband have four boys
00:15:36.43\00:15:39.60
and they are right now
00:15:39.63\00:15:41.74
Jonathan,
Steven, Caleb and Joshua
00:15:41.77\00:15:44.61
and they are 9, 7, 5 and 3.
00:15:44.64\00:15:49.14
So this happened,
maybe a year and a half ago,
00:15:49.18\00:15:51.65
and Steven, he's
the second oldest,
00:15:51.68\00:15:53.92
Steven turned six.
00:15:53.95\00:15:56.38
So it was his
birthday and I asked my sister
00:15:56.42\00:15:58.59
what does Steven
want for his birthday?
00:15:58.62\00:16:01.49
And so she told me,
so I went to Walmart
00:16:01.52\00:16:03.63
and I picked up what he
wanted for his birthday.
00:16:03.66\00:16:06.93
He wanted Matchbox cars,
it's a good six year old kid,
00:16:06.96\00:16:10.67
you know a little
boy, Matchbox cars,
00:16:10.70\00:16:14.07
he wanted a monster
truck, a monster truck,
00:16:14.10\00:16:18.91
we got him a frog
puzzle, you know, big pieces,
00:16:18.94\00:16:21.74
then you kind of put it together
00:16:21.78\00:16:23.35
and he likes Lightning McQueen,
00:16:23.38\00:16:25.58
so we got him a gift bag
that was Lightning McQueen
00:16:25.61\00:16:28.88
and put everything in,
00:16:28.92\00:16:30.25
put it in its
package, sealed it up.
00:16:30.29\00:16:34.26
Now at the same time,
00:16:34.29\00:16:35.62
my husband Greg,
his dad had a birthday
00:16:35.66\00:16:38.69
and actually we
were little delayed
00:16:38.73\00:16:41.23
in getting his present,
00:16:41.26\00:16:42.60
but we purchased his
stuff at the same time.
00:16:42.63\00:16:44.47
And to be honest,
00:16:44.50\00:16:45.83
I can't
remember what we got him,
00:16:45.87\00:16:47.20
I don't know if it was socks,
00:16:47.24\00:16:48.57
which is kind of a
Morikone family tradition,
00:16:48.60\00:16:50.51
we give socks, it's
kind of a fun thing for us,
00:16:50.54\00:16:53.58
whether, he's a pastor,
00:16:53.61\00:16:54.94
maybe we got him
something for that,
00:16:54.98\00:16:56.41
I don't remember but it
was adult stuff, not kid stuff.
00:16:56.44\00:17:00.45
So we packaged
up Steven's package,
00:17:00.48\00:17:02.95
he is six, then we packaged
up dad Morikone's package,
00:17:02.98\00:17:07.49
he is a little older than six.
00:17:07.52\00:17:10.83
The Holy Spirit gave
me a little prompting
00:17:10.86\00:17:12.83
in the back of my
mind and it went like this,
00:17:12.86\00:17:17.47
now tell which
box is which Jill,
00:17:17.50\00:17:20.17
figure out which box is which,
00:17:20.20\00:17:23.34
'cause when you mail
him, you gonna want to know.
00:17:23.37\00:17:24.91
No, I know which box is which.
00:17:24.94\00:17:27.08
Well Greg mailed the packages,
00:17:27.11\00:17:29.44
he took them to the
post office and he said,
00:17:29.48\00:17:31.45
we're going to
send them Priority Mail,
00:17:31.48\00:17:34.75
it's good, we've
got to get it there.
00:17:34.78\00:17:37.29
He thought, I know,
which is which package,
00:17:37.32\00:17:40.12
so he mailed them.
00:17:40.16\00:17:41.49
A few days later, we got a text,
00:17:41.52\00:17:44.36
Greg got a text from his
dad and I actually found it
00:17:44.39\00:17:48.46
and I wrote it down, I'm
gonna read it to you here,
00:17:48.50\00:17:50.63
it says, thanks
for the hot wheels
00:17:50.67\00:17:54.47
and the frog puzzle.
00:17:54.50\00:17:56.44
I was just at Walmart this week
00:17:56.47\00:17:59.04
and I walked by the hot
wheels and I thought, how fun.
00:17:59.07\00:18:04.08
As soon as we got that text,
I knew we've done it, right.
00:18:04.11\00:18:09.28
We sent dad's
package to little Steven
00:18:09.32\00:18:13.15
and we sent little
Steven's package to dad,
00:18:13.19\00:18:17.76
so that night my
sister called me and she said,
00:18:17.79\00:18:20.50
guess what happened to
dad, I said I already know,
00:18:20.53\00:18:22.26
you don't have to tell me.
00:18:22.30\00:18:23.63
I got the text, I
already know what happened.
00:18:23.67\00:18:25.73
She said, well let me
tell you, Steven's excited,
00:18:25.77\00:18:27.60
he likes presents,
he is a gift child,
00:18:27.64\00:18:30.11
you know how some people
are into gifts, he loves gifts.
00:18:30.14\00:18:32.91
He went to the
mailbox so excited,
00:18:32.94\00:18:35.08
this is my package from
Aunty Jill and Uncle Greg.
00:18:35.11\00:18:39.38
Oh, he ran home,
ripped it open, what is it?
00:18:39.41\00:18:43.52
Socks. You got it, Cynthia.
00:18:43.55\00:18:45.49
Socks and
something for an adult.
00:18:45.52\00:18:49.12
She said, he threw
himself on the floor
00:18:49.16\00:18:52.63
and kicked his
little legs and hands,
00:18:52.66\00:18:55.13
what would we call that?
00:18:55.16\00:18:56.83
A tantrum, you got
it Mitch, a tantrum.
00:18:56.87\00:19:00.40
So we kind of
laugh and we think, well,
00:19:00.44\00:19:03.10
he couldn't wait for his package
00:19:03.14\00:19:04.51
and he got all disappointed,
but as adults, you know,
00:19:04.54\00:19:07.34
we don't really like waiting
either, at least I don't.
00:19:07.38\00:19:10.05
If I go to Kroger or
Walmart and get my groceries,
00:19:10.08\00:19:13.52
I stand in the
line and I'll tell Greg,
00:19:13.55\00:19:17.09
I think that
line is moving faster,
00:19:17.12\00:19:18.95
we should move from
number five to number six,
00:19:18.99\00:19:21.12
and he always says, Jilly,
00:19:21.16\00:19:22.79
by the time we
move to number six,
00:19:22.82\00:19:24.39
you know what's gonna happen,
00:19:24.43\00:19:25.79
probably it's gonna, you
know, it never works out.
00:19:25.83\00:19:28.76
You try this to move
00:19:28.80\00:19:30.13
and then the original
line moves actually faster.
00:19:30.17\00:19:32.87
But I don't like waiting,
or if you're at the light
00:19:32.90\00:19:36.40
and it turns green,
the person in front of you,
00:19:36.44\00:19:39.57
he sits there, and I
want to go, hurry up,
00:19:39.61\00:19:43.21
but of course Christians
don't honk their horn.
00:19:43.24\00:19:46.11
So I sit there, hurry
up, I don't like to wait.
00:19:46.15\00:19:50.99
They say, in your lifetime,
this is an average life span,
00:19:51.02\00:19:54.66
we would spend six
months waiting in line,
00:19:54.69\00:20:00.86
six months,
00:20:00.90\00:20:02.56
twenty weeks on
hold, I can believe that,
00:20:02.60\00:20:08.20
I just dropped my glass,
00:20:08.24\00:20:10.11
seven years
lying awake at night,
00:20:10.14\00:20:16.24
four years spent
on the phone at work,
00:20:16.28\00:20:19.71
five years on line, waiting,
00:20:19.75\00:20:25.35
but yet for the dew to form,
00:20:25.39\00:20:27.86
for the Holy Spirit
to form in our lives,
00:20:27.89\00:20:31.16
it requires waiting.
00:20:31.19\00:20:35.16
God calls us to wait.
00:20:35.20\00:20:38.13
Many times, what happens,
we wake up in the morning,
00:20:38.17\00:20:41.27
maybe our busy
schedule, schedules, commitments
00:20:41.30\00:20:45.87
can get in the way
of waiting before God.
00:20:45.91\00:20:49.38
We get up in the morning,
00:20:49.41\00:20:50.75
John 3:16, "For
God so loved the world
00:20:50.78\00:20:52.11
that He gave His
only begotten Son."
00:20:52.15\00:20:53.48
I got it, got him
good, I have to get to work,
00:20:53.52\00:20:56.32
my boss wouldn't
want me to be late.
00:20:56.35\00:20:58.19
God says, wait,
savor my presence,
00:20:58.22\00:21:03.43
spend time with me,
spend time in prayer,
00:21:03.46\00:21:08.13
spend time in the Word of
God, wait, be still before him.
00:21:08.16\00:21:14.64
Sometimes, we
need to prioritize,
00:21:14.67\00:21:19.37
prioritize our
schedule, our family commitment,
00:21:19.41\00:21:22.98
our job, even ministry.
00:21:23.01\00:21:25.98
We're here at 3ABN and we think,
00:21:26.01\00:21:28.15
oh, I'm in
ministry, that means nothing
00:21:28.18\00:21:32.85
if we don't wait.
00:21:32.89\00:21:34.26
If we don't spend
time in God's Word,
00:21:34.29\00:21:37.16
if we're not connected
00:21:37.19\00:21:38.79
in receiving the
dew of the Holy Spirit,
00:21:38.83\00:21:41.26
it means nothing
'cause how can we minister
00:21:41.30\00:21:44.53
if we're not
connected to the Lord Jesus.
00:21:44.57\00:21:47.27
So God calls us to
prioritize our time.
00:21:47.30\00:21:50.84
Sometimes things
need to be cut out,
00:21:50.87\00:21:53.31
have you experienced that?
00:21:53.34\00:21:55.61
Greg and I tried a fast.
00:21:55.64\00:21:57.58
Now this is not
a fast, a food fast
00:21:57.61\00:22:00.15
though I've done those,
00:22:00.18\00:22:01.52
but this is a
fast, a media fast.
00:22:01.55\00:22:05.09
Media intrudes on our life,
would you say that's accurate?
00:22:05.12\00:22:08.62
Before the
advent of cell phones,
00:22:08.66\00:22:12.53
we're connected, right.
00:22:12.56\00:22:14.33
We think we're connected
00:22:14.36\00:22:15.70
but we're almost
more disconnected.
00:22:15.73\00:22:17.57
I was at a airport
recently and every one,
00:22:17.60\00:22:20.77
you know people just traveling,
00:22:20.80\00:22:22.40
moving, sitting, they were all--
00:22:22.44\00:22:26.68
right, you can't
even make a conversation
00:22:26.71\00:22:28.94
with the person
next to you, right,
00:22:28.98\00:22:30.45
'cause we're so
connected with that.
00:22:30.48\00:22:32.61
God calls us to reprioritize.
00:22:32.65\00:22:35.58
So Greg and I decided to fast,
00:22:35.62\00:22:37.49
something that
was media related.
00:22:37.52\00:22:39.79
Now some people
do entire media fast
00:22:39.82\00:22:41.86
for certain length of a time,
just to get still before God.
00:22:41.89\00:22:45.09
For me I chose
the radio in the car,
00:22:45.13\00:22:47.83
I like to listen to
the radio in the car or CD,
00:22:47.86\00:22:52.03
I love to listen to
music while I travel
00:22:52.07\00:22:54.27
or I like to listen
to Christian talk radio
00:22:54.30\00:22:58.51
or even MPR or something, news.
00:22:58.54\00:23:01.58
But I said, okay God,
00:23:01.61\00:23:03.51
for one week I won'
listen to the radio in the car
00:23:03.55\00:23:07.42
and then I replaced
that time with prayer.
00:23:07.45\00:23:11.29
Now you can't study God's
Word while you're driving,
00:23:11.32\00:23:13.09
that is not a very safe venture,
00:23:13.12\00:23:15.26
but you can drive
and talk to God, wait,
00:23:15.29\00:23:20.26
be saturated with the
dew, spend time with him.
00:23:20.30\00:23:24.37
Greg likes baseball,
00:23:24.40\00:23:26.37
so he chose to fast
looking at any scores,
00:23:26.40\00:23:29.20
you know, you can
look at them online
00:23:29.24\00:23:30.57
or following any of that,
00:23:30.61\00:23:31.94
and the time he
would have spent in that,
00:23:31.97\00:23:33.68
he said, I'll devote that
to spending time in prayer.
00:23:33.71\00:23:38.38
Reprioritize,
there's a poem I love.
00:23:38.41\00:23:41.65
It says, I got
up early one morning
00:23:41.68\00:23:44.29
and rushed right into the
day, I had so much to accomplish
00:23:44.32\00:23:48.62
that I didn't have time to pray.
00:23:48.66\00:23:52.26
Problems just tumbled about me,
00:23:52.29\00:23:54.33
and heavier came each task.
00:23:54.36\00:23:56.90
Why doesn't God help me?
00:23:56.93\00:23:59.10
I wondered.
00:23:59.13\00:24:00.70
He answered, You didn't ask.
00:24:00.74\00:24:03.44
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
00:24:03.47\00:24:05.64
but the day toiled
on, gray and bleak,
00:24:05.67\00:24:10.05
I wondered why doesn't
God help me, but he said,
00:24:10.08\00:24:14.45
You didn't seek.
00:24:14.48\00:24:16.89
I wanted to come
into God's presence,
00:24:16.92\00:24:19.05
I tried all my keys at the lock.
00:24:19.09\00:24:21.96
God gently and lovingly chided,
00:24:21.99\00:24:24.73
but my child, you didn't knock.
00:24:24.76\00:24:30.63
I woke up early this morning,
00:24:30.67\00:24:32.33
and paused
before entering the day,
00:24:32.37\00:24:34.57
I had so much to accomplish
00:24:34.60\00:24:36.77
that I had to take time to pray.
00:24:36.81\00:24:40.84
Wait before God.
00:24:40.88\00:24:43.21
Reprioritize, spend
that time, wait before God.
00:24:43.24\00:24:48.12
Not only is it
important for dew to form,
00:24:48.15\00:24:51.62
to wait, for the dew to form,
00:24:51.65\00:24:53.76
it also
requires what did we say?
00:24:53.79\00:24:55.49
No heat or wind, right.
00:24:55.52\00:24:56.86
So it requires
stillness and quietness.
00:24:56.89\00:25:01.26
We need to be still in
order for the dew to form,
00:25:01.30\00:25:03.73
likewise haste prevents
saturation with the Spirit.
00:25:03.77\00:25:08.74
Turn with me to
Psalm 46, Psalm 46,
00:25:08.77\00:25:13.24
we're gonna look at verse 10.
00:25:13.27\00:25:15.18
Psalm 46:10, the Bible says,
00:25:20.62\00:25:26.19
"Be still, and
know that I am God,
00:25:26.22\00:25:30.46
I will be exalted
among the nations,
00:25:30.49\00:25:33.03
I will be
exalted among the earth.
00:25:33.06\00:25:36.80
Be still, and
know that he is God."
00:25:36.83\00:25:39.67
If you look at the
Hebrew word for no.
00:25:39.70\00:25:42.50
Old testament is
written in Hebrew,
00:25:42.54\00:25:44.41
if you look at the
Hebrew word for no, it is yara,
00:25:44.44\00:25:48.84
and it means to
ascertain by seeing.
00:25:48.88\00:25:54.88
If I had just met
Celestine, maybe I just met her
00:25:54.92\00:25:59.05
and then I hadn't
seen her for six months,
00:25:59.09\00:26:01.39
now she's member of our
church, our church secretary.
00:26:01.42\00:26:03.96
But what if had just met
her, just once say at Walmart
00:26:03.99\00:26:07.26
and then I didn't
see her for six months,
00:26:07.30\00:26:09.23
and if I saw her
again, you know what happen?
00:26:09.26\00:26:11.77
I'd say, could you
remind me where we met before?
00:26:11.80\00:26:15.57
Does that ever happen to you?
00:26:15.60\00:26:16.94
You meet people and you
think, now did we meet at ASI?
00:26:16.97\00:26:20.08
Did we meet here at
church? Was it at 3ABN?
00:26:20.11\00:26:22.88
Was it someplace
where we traveled?
00:26:22.91\00:26:25.05
Even we go on
Monday nights to the jail,
00:26:25.08\00:26:27.68
maybe it's one of
the girls from jail
00:26:27.72\00:26:29.35
and they get out and
they wear different clothes
00:26:29.38\00:26:30.95
and they look different.
00:26:30.99\00:26:32.55
And I think where
have I met you before?
00:26:32.59\00:26:34.82
I know you're from somewhere.
00:26:34.86\00:26:38.76
This is not the know
that God's talking about here.
00:26:38.79\00:26:42.10
Where we would just
glance and then we say,
00:26:42.13\00:26:44.73
what was your name again?
00:26:44.77\00:26:46.57
Oh, that's right,
you're the creator.
00:26:46.60\00:26:48.87
Oh, that's right, I've
read about you in the Bible.
00:26:48.90\00:26:51.91
No, if we
ascertain someone by seeing,
00:26:51.94\00:26:55.44
we know him intimately.
00:26:55.48\00:26:58.25
We spend time with
him. We know who he is.
00:26:58.28\00:27:01.58
I would recognize
him instantly, to know.
00:27:01.62\00:27:07.79
When we are still
before God, we know God,
00:27:07.82\00:27:13.03
we discover who He is.
00:27:13.06\00:27:14.73
Our hearts
become more like Jesus,
00:27:14.76\00:27:17.37
we are refreshed.
God shows us our hearts.
00:27:17.40\00:27:22.00
We're more quiet,
we can listen better.
00:27:22.04\00:27:25.17
My office at work is noisy.
00:27:25.21\00:27:29.24
Those of you, who know
it here at 3ABN, it's noisy.
00:27:29.28\00:27:31.78
We've got four
of us in the office
00:27:31.81\00:27:33.95
and you get four
women in any office
00:27:33.98\00:27:36.12
and we're--
00:27:36.15\00:27:37.49
you know on the
phones, someone's talking,
00:27:37.52\00:27:39.22
someone's this,
people, production,
00:27:39.25\00:27:41.49
always in and out,
questions and whenever people,
00:27:41.52\00:27:45.76
you know it's just noisy.
00:27:45.79\00:27:47.43
And so if I'm really
trying to concentrate,
00:27:47.46\00:27:51.17
I get on my cell
phone, put in my head phones
00:27:51.20\00:27:54.67
and turn the music up.
00:27:54.70\00:27:56.57
I always like piano
music if I'm trying to work,
00:27:56.60\00:27:58.91
just quiet.
00:27:58.94\00:28:00.28
And so, I can try
to block out the noise,
00:28:00.31\00:28:03.21
so I can focus on
what I'm trying to do
00:28:03.24\00:28:05.68
at work.
00:28:05.71\00:28:08.58
It's noisy, but if it's
quiet, if all of a sudden,
00:28:08.62\00:28:13.69
say someone's
praying with someone
00:28:13.72\00:28:15.12
and we notice that,
00:28:15.16\00:28:16.49
oh, be quiet, be
quiet, they're praying.
00:28:16.52\00:28:19.29
Then all of a
sudden you can hear.
00:28:19.33\00:28:21.46
You've ever noticed
that, you're in a crowded room
00:28:21.50\00:28:23.70
and if it's noisy,
you can't hear anything,
00:28:23.73\00:28:25.53
but all of a
sudden it gets quiet
00:28:25.57\00:28:28.64
and then say
Cynthia were to speak,
00:28:28.67\00:28:30.57
everybody would hear her, right?
00:28:30.61\00:28:32.17
Because of the
contrast between that.
00:28:32.21\00:28:35.41
If we're quiet
and still before God,
00:28:35.44\00:28:37.98
we hear His voice
better, when He speaks to us,
00:28:38.01\00:28:42.58
we hear Him better, we're quiet.
00:28:42.62\00:28:45.55
Spiritual dew comes
from quietly lingering
00:28:45.59\00:28:48.26
in the Master's
presence, get still before Him,
00:28:48.29\00:28:52.09
for haste will prevent
you from receiving the dew.
00:28:52.13\00:28:57.00
Wait before God, I
love this sentence,
00:28:57.03\00:28:59.43
wait before God until you feel
saturated with His presence.
00:28:59.47\00:29:04.64
So we talked about
waiting for the dew.
00:29:04.67\00:29:06.91
What about number
two? Watering by the dew.
00:29:06.94\00:29:11.15
How do we get watered?
00:29:11.18\00:29:12.51
What are the four
keys to being watered?
00:29:12.55\00:29:14.58
And number one, we've
been talking about here,
00:29:14.62\00:29:16.58
so we won't spend a
lot of time on that.
00:29:16.62\00:29:18.55
Number two, to
being watered by the dew
00:29:18.59\00:29:21.16
is to understand
the process takes time.
00:29:21.19\00:29:25.39
The process takes
time, that's number one,
00:29:25.43\00:29:29.06
it takes time.
00:29:29.10\00:29:30.43
We talked about being
still and waiting before God.
00:29:30.47\00:29:33.84
It takes time for the
dew to form on plants,
00:29:33.87\00:29:35.70
likewise it takes time,
much time in God's Word.
00:29:35.74\00:29:40.08
Being still and
waiting before Him
00:29:40.11\00:29:42.21
to receive more of His presence.
00:29:42.24\00:29:46.05
Number two,
00:29:46.08\00:29:47.42
key to being watered by the dew,
00:29:47.45\00:29:49.58
to ask for His spirit.
00:29:49.62\00:29:52.89
Ask for the dew,
ask for the watering.
00:29:52.92\00:29:55.89
I think we ask
for the outpouring
00:29:55.92\00:29:57.46
of the Holy Spirit and
the other thing I ask for,
00:29:57.49\00:30:00.13
is to ask for an
open receptive heart
00:30:00.16\00:30:04.50
to receive the Holy Spirit.
00:30:04.53\00:30:06.57
Turn with me to Luke, Luke 11,
00:30:06.60\00:30:10.07
we're looking at verse 9-13.
00:30:10.11\00:30:15.68
Luke 11:9-14,
00:30:15.71\00:30:20.72
we'll look at
these four verses here.
00:30:20.75\00:30:23.55
Jesus is
speaking, "So I say to you,
00:30:23.59\00:30:27.92
ask, and it will be given
you, seek, and you will find,
00:30:27.96\00:30:34.00
knock, and it
will be opened to you."
00:30:34.03\00:30:37.33
We can spend the rest
of the time on that verse,
00:30:37.37\00:30:39.00
but that's not our point,
00:30:39.03\00:30:40.37
we're getting
into the Holy Spirit.
00:30:40.40\00:30:41.94
"For every one
who asks receives,
00:30:41.97\00:30:45.27
and he who seeks finds,
00:30:45.31\00:30:47.44
and to him who
knocks it will be opened.
00:30:47.48\00:30:51.58
If a son asks for bread
from any father among you,
00:30:51.61\00:30:55.68
will he give him a stone?
00:30:55.72\00:30:57.72
Or if he asks for a fish,
00:30:57.75\00:31:00.32
will he give him a
serpent instead of a fish?
00:31:00.36\00:31:04.46
Or if he asks for an egg,
will he offer him a scorpion?"
00:31:04.49\00:31:09.70
Verse 13, "If
you then, being evil,
00:31:09.73\00:31:13.84
know how to give good
gifts to your children,
00:31:13.87\00:31:17.77
how much more fully
your heavenly Father
00:31:17.81\00:31:21.41
give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him."
00:31:21.44\00:31:26.92
Ask, ask for the Holy Spirit.
00:31:26.95\00:31:31.79
We had a prayer
group at our church here
00:31:31.82\00:31:33.59
for a couple of years
00:31:33.62\00:31:35.06
and then I switched over
and Lauren Lank leads it.
00:31:35.09\00:31:39.49
Women meeting,
00:31:39.53\00:31:40.86
asking for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
00:31:40.90\00:31:43.97
asking for God to
change our hearts and lives.
00:31:44.00\00:31:48.70
Asking for
revival and reformation.
00:31:48.74\00:31:52.87
Asking to be transformed
into the image of Jesus,
00:31:52.91\00:31:55.98
you know, they have the revival
and reformation initiative
00:31:56.01\00:31:59.01
from the general conference.
00:31:59.05\00:32:00.75
It's incredible,
they have prayer,
00:32:00.78\00:32:03.39
7 o'clock in the morning
and 7 o'clock in the evening.
00:32:03.42\00:32:08.36
What are they praying for?
00:32:08.39\00:32:10.19
The outpouring
of the Holy Spirit,
00:32:10.23\00:32:12.36
praying for
revival and reformation.
00:32:12.39\00:32:14.40
In fact, we just got a letter
from a prisoner in the office,
00:32:14.43\00:32:17.33
and he sent it to Danny
and he said different things
00:32:17.37\00:32:20.64
but one sentence
in there, he said,
00:32:20.67\00:32:23.07
I'm joining in the 7-7-7 prayer.
00:32:23.10\00:32:26.51
I'm praying at 7 in the morning,
00:32:26.54\00:32:28.58
7 in the evening,
everyday in my prison cell.
00:32:28.61\00:32:32.81
Praying for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
00:32:32.85\00:32:35.88
That's a beautiful thing.
00:32:35.92\00:32:37.39
We think Daniel
prayed three times a day
00:32:37.42\00:32:39.75
and I've just
been convicted of that.
00:32:39.79\00:32:41.96
Greg and I always pray
in the morning and at night,
00:32:41.99\00:32:44.03
but in the midst of the day,
just being honest, it's busy,
00:32:44.06\00:32:47.26
and here you're
working, you're running
00:32:47.30\00:32:50.57
and it's easy to let
God slip from your mind,
00:32:50.60\00:32:53.57
instead of keeping
your mind and your heart
00:32:53.60\00:32:55.90
in that
attitude of prayer, pray.
00:32:55.94\00:32:59.84
James 4:3 says,
00:32:59.87\00:33:01.44
"You have not
because you ask not."
00:33:01.48\00:33:07.65
So ask and seek and find.
00:33:07.68\00:33:11.55
And every time I
read that I think,
00:33:11.59\00:33:12.92
what if God wanted to
give me more of His Spirit,
00:33:12.95\00:33:15.92
more blessings,
more transformation,
00:33:15.96\00:33:19.83
more souls for His kingdom.
00:33:19.86\00:33:22.56
But I didn't ask, I didn't ask,
we have not because we ask not.
00:33:22.60\00:33:27.34
So ask for His
Spirit. That's number two.
00:33:27.37\00:33:30.01
First, understand
the process takes time.
00:33:30.04\00:33:32.64
Second, ask for His Spirit.
00:33:32.67\00:33:34.61
Number three is
let Him fill you.
00:33:34.64\00:33:38.35
Allow it, let Him fill you.
00:33:38.38\00:33:41.58
Our scripture for
this is Ephesians 5.
00:33:41.62\00:33:44.12
If you want to
turn with me there,
00:33:44.15\00:33:45.89
Ephesians 5:18.
00:33:45.92\00:33:52.89
Ephesians 5:18, the Bible says,
00:33:52.93\00:33:59.23
"Do not be drunk with
wine, and which is dissipation,
00:33:59.27\00:34:03.51
the next part, but be
filled with the Spirit."
00:34:03.54\00:34:07.71
Now in the Greek,
the word for filled,
00:34:07.74\00:34:09.84
is in a continuous action verb,
00:34:09.88\00:34:12.81
it's not like I get
filled once and then I'm done.
00:34:12.85\00:34:16.72
I got a cup here,
00:34:16.75\00:34:18.09
this is the one
I dropped earlier,
00:34:18.12\00:34:20.16
so what if I come
to God, and I say,
00:34:20.19\00:34:23.76
can you see the way
I'm holding this cup?
00:34:23.79\00:34:25.83
I say, God please fill
me. I want to be filled.
00:34:25.86\00:34:29.06
God fill me.
00:34:29.10\00:34:30.77
What's gonna
happen? Nothing, why?
00:34:30.80\00:34:35.27
I didn't turn it
right side up, right.
00:34:35.30\00:34:37.31
It's just pouring over.
00:34:37.34\00:34:38.77
I think sometimes we come to God
00:34:38.81\00:34:40.14
and we say change me.
00:34:40.18\00:34:41.51
I want Your Spirit,
give me of your dew.
00:34:41.54\00:34:44.35
God, change me,
God, work in my life,
00:34:44.38\00:34:47.38
I need You, and then we say,
but I don't really mean that,
00:34:47.42\00:34:52.59
but I want to do my own thing.
00:34:52.62\00:34:54.32
But I don't want, I really,
I really don't want You, God,
00:34:54.36\00:34:57.96
I'm just kind of saying that.
00:34:57.99\00:35:00.60
We have to let Him
allow, let Him fill us,
00:35:00.63\00:35:05.87
turn the glass right side up,
00:35:05.90\00:35:07.47
allow Him to fill
us with His Spirit.
00:35:07.50\00:35:12.04
Continuous, we
don't just ask once
00:35:12.07\00:35:13.98
and then say I'm
good, I can go 40 years
00:35:14.01\00:35:16.44
on that little bit of
Holy Spirit I just got.
00:35:16.48\00:35:19.25
Everyday, moment by
moment, throughout the day,
00:35:19.28\00:35:22.92
ask for the
infilling of the Holy Spirit.
00:35:22.95\00:35:26.39
Number four is,
walk in obedience.
00:35:26.42\00:35:30.66
Acts 5:32, Jump back a
couple of books with me,
00:35:30.69\00:35:35.00
this is Acts 5:32.
00:35:35.03\00:35:36.83
Now remember the disciples,
00:35:36.87\00:35:40.94
you could say they
were a little fearful,
00:35:40.97\00:35:44.21
would you say that?
00:35:44.24\00:35:45.64
Remember when Jesus was
in the Garden of Gethsemane
00:35:45.67\00:35:48.34
and then Judas came and
betrayed him with a kiss,
00:35:48.38\00:35:51.28
and the soldiers
came to arrest Him,
00:35:51.31\00:35:53.05
what happened to the disciples?
00:35:53.08\00:35:56.18
They ran away,
that's right, they all,
00:35:56.22\00:35:59.19
from the Bible of King
James, forsook him and fled,
00:35:59.22\00:36:01.89
they turned and ran
because they were afraid.
00:36:01.92\00:36:05.19
Now, after the Holy Spirit
00:36:05.23\00:36:06.96
came into their
lives at Pentecost,
00:36:07.00\00:36:08.80
we see very different
disciples show up here.
00:36:08.83\00:36:11.30
We're in Acts 5, we're
gonna look at verse 32.
00:36:11.33\00:36:16.17
Now just before this
the apostles are in trial
00:36:16.20\00:36:18.77
and you know, they
are before the Sanhedrin
00:36:18.81\00:36:21.54
and they're saying you
need to stop preaching Jesus
00:36:21.58\00:36:24.61
and Him crucified.
00:36:24.65\00:36:26.51
Stop that and they said,
00:36:26.55\00:36:28.48
"We ought to obey
God rather than men."
00:36:28.52\00:36:30.69
These are not men who are
running scared with their tails
00:36:30.72\00:36:33.09
plucked between their
legs, like they were before.
00:36:33.12\00:36:35.86
They're bold for
Jesus and then verse 32,
00:36:35.89\00:36:38.73
is the verse we're looking at.
00:36:38.76\00:36:40.10
We're talking
about walk in obedience,
00:36:40.13\00:36:42.03
that number four.
00:36:42.06\00:36:43.50
It says, and we are
also, and we are his witnesses,
00:36:43.53\00:36:46.63
excuse me, "And we are
his witnesses to these things,
00:36:46.67\00:36:50.61
and so also is the Holy Spirit,
00:36:50.64\00:36:55.41
whom God has given
00:36:55.44\00:36:57.45
to those whom obey him."
00:36:57.48\00:37:02.68
Now to me obedience is
not a complicated subject.
00:37:02.72\00:37:06.79
We know we're saved
by grace through faith
00:37:06.82\00:37:09.22
and that not of
ourselves, it's the gift of God.
00:37:09.26\00:37:11.03
We're not saved by obedience,
00:37:11.06\00:37:12.73
we're not saying
that here tonight.
00:37:12.76\00:37:14.53
However, if we love Jesus,
00:37:14.56\00:37:19.00
if we are in a saving
relationship with Him,
00:37:19.03\00:37:22.94
what happens?
00:37:22.97\00:37:24.31
When He calls to my heart,
I'm gonna say yes to Jesus.
00:37:24.34\00:37:28.84
I've said this before.
00:37:28.88\00:37:30.21
To me obedience is
simply saying, yes to Jesus.
00:37:30.25\00:37:34.62
When I'm faced with a decision,
00:37:34.65\00:37:36.55
when something's going
on in my life, what do I do?
00:37:36.58\00:37:38.82
I say, yes to Jesus.
00:37:38.85\00:37:41.29
He says, Jill, go
and apologize to Mitch
00:37:41.32\00:37:43.46
because you just said
something that was offensive.
00:37:43.49\00:37:46.46
And I can say,
no, I don't want to
00:37:46.49\00:37:47.90
because that might be painful.
00:37:47.93\00:37:49.46
That means I
have to humble myself,
00:37:49.50\00:37:51.13
that means I, I might
look bad in front of Mitch
00:37:51.17\00:37:54.24
and I want him
to think well of me.
00:37:54.27\00:37:56.64
So I could say,
no, God, what is that?
00:37:56.67\00:37:58.97
I'm saying, no to Jesus,
00:37:59.01\00:38:01.11
that's choosing not
to walk in obedience.
00:38:01.14\00:38:03.68
At the same time,
00:38:03.71\00:38:05.05
if I'm praying for the infilling
00:38:05.08\00:38:06.41
of the Holy Spirit,
00:38:06.45\00:38:07.78
he says, boy,
you're upside down.
00:38:07.82\00:38:09.85
If you would just
walk in obedience,
00:38:09.88\00:38:12.65
if you would say yes
to me, I could fill you.
00:38:12.69\00:38:15.42
I could fill you.
00:38:15.46\00:38:18.79
It was one of those
hot, lazy days of summer
00:38:18.83\00:38:21.70
and Greg and I had
come home from work,
00:38:21.73\00:38:24.53
eaten a quick bite to eat
00:38:24.57\00:38:25.90
and we were running out
to visit some church members.
00:38:25.93\00:38:29.34
I opened up the
door to the garage
00:38:29.37\00:38:31.27
and the heat just
hit me in the face,
00:38:31.31\00:38:34.18
right at the side of the garage,
00:38:34.21\00:38:36.71
right there when you come out.
00:38:36.75\00:38:38.08
It's the garage door opener
and it has a temperature gauge,
00:38:38.11\00:38:41.02
and it said 100 degrees.
00:38:41.05\00:38:43.95
Now in Southern Illinois,
00:38:43.99\00:38:45.35
you know a 100 degrees
is not like Phoenix, Arizona
00:38:45.39\00:38:47.82
and it's just
kind of a dry a 100,
00:38:47.86\00:38:49.76
we're talking humid, a 100.
00:38:49.79\00:38:51.73
So I walked out and
I thought oh, it's hot,
00:38:51.76\00:38:54.36
good thing we're
getting in the car
00:38:54.40\00:38:55.73
and it has air-conditioning.
00:38:55.76\00:38:57.10
I punched the button on the side
00:38:57.13\00:38:58.47
for the garage door to go up,
00:38:58.50\00:38:59.83
that would let
a little heat out.
00:38:59.87\00:39:01.27
I was just about
ready to get in the car
00:39:01.30\00:39:03.64
and Greg said, hey
Jilly, look at this,
00:39:03.67\00:39:05.81
so I looked up and
there was a hummingbird,
00:39:05.84\00:39:09.68
itty-bitty hummingbird,
00:39:09.71\00:39:12.21
at the peak of the roof
just beating its little wings,
00:39:12.25\00:39:16.95
trying to get out.
00:39:16.99\00:39:18.35
And I said, honey, just
come right down out this door.
00:39:18.39\00:39:22.12
Would he do it?
00:39:22.16\00:39:24.39
I went outside, I
didn't know what to do?
00:39:24.43\00:39:26.93
I went outside and I
got our hummingbird feeder
00:39:26.96\00:39:29.63
which is red and I went
in and held it up and I said,
00:39:29.66\00:39:32.43
come down and
drink, but of course no,
00:39:32.47\00:39:34.47
he's not gonna do that.
00:39:34.50\00:39:35.90
Greg said, we
don't have time for that.
00:39:35.94\00:39:37.47
If it's a hundred
where we are here,
00:39:37.51\00:39:39.24
you know it's hotter
at the peak of the roof.
00:39:39.27\00:39:42.14
It's hotter up there.
00:39:42.18\00:39:44.18
So he got the step ladder,
he pulled on some old gloves
00:39:44.21\00:39:48.58
and he climbed up the ladder
00:39:48.62\00:39:51.25
and then you get to
the top of the ladder
00:39:51.29\00:39:53.02
and he stepped on to
the trusses, you know,
00:39:53.05\00:39:54.86
the bottom of the truss
is that what you'd call it,
00:39:54.89\00:39:56.93
and he stepped
from truss to truss
00:39:56.96\00:40:00.10
and I held my breath
because I wanted him to be okay.
00:40:00.13\00:40:03.40
And then he
came right underneath
00:40:03.43\00:40:04.90
to where the hummingbird was.
00:40:04.93\00:40:07.30
He reached up his hands
and she was pretty weak,
00:40:07.34\00:40:10.11
I don't know if it's she or he.
00:40:10.14\00:40:11.47
I don't remember
if it was red or not.
00:40:11.51\00:40:13.34
Pretty weak, he
grabbed his gloved hands
00:40:13.38\00:40:15.71
and he actually grabbed it
00:40:15.74\00:40:17.31
and then he
stepped from truss to truss
00:40:17.35\00:40:21.98
and then started to
descend down the ladder.
00:40:22.02\00:40:24.55
Now the hummingbird
squawked in a fashion,
00:40:24.59\00:40:26.65
I have never heard
from a hummingbird before.
00:40:26.69\00:40:29.22
I know they
chirp, I've heard them,
00:40:29.26\00:40:30.93
I've heard them fight
at our hummingbird feeder.
00:40:30.96\00:40:33.40
I've even seen some, you
know, they do their little phoo,
00:40:33.43\00:40:35.80
and they do this
and they come back
00:40:35.83\00:40:37.17
and they kind of
sing to each other.
00:40:37.20\00:40:38.53
This was
something totally different.
00:40:38.57\00:40:40.24
It's squawking,
came down and I thought,
00:40:40.27\00:40:43.61
oh, is he
hurting the hummingbird.
00:40:43.64\00:40:45.41
But it was just
wasn't happy I guess,
00:40:45.44\00:40:47.34
so we went outside,
shut the garage door
00:40:47.38\00:40:49.81
and I have the
hummingbird feeder here,
00:40:49.84\00:40:51.38
and I'm just holding it,
he opens up his gloved hands
00:40:51.41\00:40:56.08
and the hummingbird's too
weak to fly at this point,
00:40:56.12\00:40:58.35
it just lay there,
00:40:58.39\00:40:59.72
and pretty soon it
picked up its beak and it went
00:40:59.75\00:41:03.49
and it started drinking.
00:41:03.53\00:41:06.49
And I just watched in wonder,
00:41:06.53\00:41:07.86
I mean, how often do you get
to see a hummingbird like that?
00:41:07.90\00:41:10.73
And then pretty soon
it got enough nourishment
00:41:10.77\00:41:13.64
and it just lifted
off and it was gone.
00:41:13.67\00:41:17.64
So Greg and I got in the
car, 'cause we're supposed to be
00:41:17.67\00:41:19.77
going to visit
some church people.
00:41:19.81\00:41:21.48
We got in the
car and as we drove,
00:41:21.51\00:41:25.71
I thought about how
many times had I wandered
00:41:25.75\00:41:29.72
where it was unsafe,
00:41:29.75\00:41:32.09
like the hummingbird,
in the top of my garage?
00:41:32.12\00:41:35.92
Thinking I could get
out of that temptation
00:41:35.96\00:41:38.59
any moment I chose.
00:41:38.63\00:41:41.46
How many times that
I've refused the open door,
00:41:41.50\00:41:43.77
like we had the
garage door open?
00:41:43.80\00:41:45.40
How many times had I
refused the open door?
00:41:45.43\00:41:48.64
They're easy way
home back to God.
00:41:48.67\00:41:51.64
How often had my
Savior climbed the ladder
00:41:51.67\00:41:55.18
of my own
stubbornness and pride?
00:41:55.21\00:41:59.35
Reaching out
scarred hands to pick me up.
00:41:59.38\00:42:03.42
Exhausted from the struggle,
desperate for a way out.
00:42:03.45\00:42:09.26
And yet, my precious
father, after rescuing me,
00:42:09.29\00:42:14.33
giving me
strength to walk again.
00:42:14.36\00:42:17.37
He opened his hands
00:42:17.40\00:42:18.73
and he released me
again, free to choose again.
00:42:18.77\00:42:24.47
God gives us that
freedom of choice.
00:42:24.51\00:42:27.71
You can choose to say
yes and walk in obedience.
00:42:27.74\00:42:30.21
We can choose to say
no and do our own thing.
00:42:30.25\00:42:33.75
We're free, free to choose.
00:42:33.78\00:42:38.12
What is the cost of obedience?
00:42:38.15\00:42:41.22
I can tell you,
everyday it's what,
00:42:41.26\00:42:43.06
denial of self, that's for sure.
00:42:43.09\00:42:46.09
It cuts across what
the human heart wants,
00:42:46.13\00:42:49.66
to choose to do it
God's way sometimes.
00:42:49.70\00:42:52.60
For some people,
it might be ridicule
00:42:52.63\00:42:54.30
or even a
strange men from family,
00:42:54.34\00:42:56.00
some people maybe
tonight, you're saying,
00:42:56.04\00:42:58.17
I just convicted of
the truth of the Sabbath,
00:42:58.21\00:43:00.44
and I can't
walk out and do that,
00:43:00.48\00:43:03.18
I cannot step out
in obedience right now,
00:43:03.21\00:43:05.78
because my
family would leave me,
00:43:05.81\00:43:09.12
because I might lose my job.
00:43:09.15\00:43:11.05
You know, we're
faced with those decisions.
00:43:11.09\00:43:13.76
Are we gonna walk in
obedience to God or not?
00:43:13.79\00:43:16.99
I'm here to tell you tonight,
00:43:17.03\00:43:19.06
the blessings of
walking with Jesus
00:43:19.09\00:43:22.66
far outweigh any
other glitter that glits,
00:43:22.70\00:43:26.33
what Satan has to
offer in his world.
00:43:26.37\00:43:31.67
I remember when I
was, late teens I guess,
00:43:31.71\00:43:35.48
ready to go to college.
00:43:35.51\00:43:36.95
We're having a
Sabbath school class
00:43:36.98\00:43:38.31
and a lady, her
name is Diane Albert,
00:43:38.35\00:43:40.88
precious, I thought she was old,
00:43:40.92\00:43:42.52
but she was
probably 50 at that time,
00:43:42.55\00:43:44.89
which is very young and so,
00:43:44.92\00:43:48.59
we were having this
discussion and someone said,
00:43:48.62\00:43:51.86
if there was no heaven,
if there was no here after,
00:43:51.89\00:43:56.16
would you still follow Jesus?
00:43:56.20\00:43:58.17
Now I'm a teenager, I
was like absolutely not.
00:43:58.20\00:44:01.54
The only reason,
I'm even doing anything
00:44:01.57\00:44:03.97
that seems Christian is because
I think, there's a reward.
00:44:04.01\00:44:08.48
There's something coming after.
00:44:08.51\00:44:11.68
She said, I have a
different perspective,
00:44:11.71\00:44:14.85
if there was no heaven,
00:44:14.88\00:44:16.32
if there was no
hope of life hereafter,
00:44:16.35\00:44:19.39
I would still follow Jesus
00:44:19.42\00:44:23.39
because of the
peace that He gives me
00:44:23.43\00:44:26.13
here in this world,
00:44:26.16\00:44:27.70
because of the joy that I
have when I walk with Him,
00:44:27.73\00:44:32.90
because of the grace He gives me
00:44:32.93\00:44:35.04
to make it through trials,
00:44:35.07\00:44:37.47
because of the
fruits of the Spirit
00:44:37.51\00:44:39.44
that He so freely bestows,
00:44:39.47\00:44:41.91
because that we
have the privilege
00:44:41.94\00:44:43.88
of witnessing for
Him and working for Him.
00:44:43.91\00:44:46.51
She said, the joy
of walking with Jesus
00:44:46.55\00:44:49.55
far surpasses anything
that this world has to offer.
00:44:49.58\00:44:54.42
Amen. That's
right, Mr. Dan, amen.
00:44:54.46\00:44:57.33
It took me years to learn that,
00:44:57.36\00:44:59.73
to realize what Satan
has to offer is nothing.
00:44:59.76\00:45:04.33
So every time when God
calls us to walk in obedience,
00:45:04.37\00:45:07.54
say yes, say yes to Jesus.
00:45:07.57\00:45:11.27
Finally we talked
about waiting for the dew,
00:45:11.31\00:45:13.27
watering by the dew, we're
on the last one, equipping,
00:45:13.31\00:45:16.85
equipping through the dew.
00:45:16.88\00:45:19.58
What are the results of
being filled with the Spirit?
00:45:19.61\00:45:22.85
If we wait, if we spend time,
if we allow him to fill us,
00:45:22.88\00:45:25.95
if we say yes to Jesus
00:45:25.99\00:45:28.16
and we have that
saturation with the Holy Spirit.
00:45:28.19\00:45:33.46
What are the results of
being filled with the Spirit?
00:45:33.50\00:45:37.33
We have six here,
00:45:37.37\00:45:38.70
I hope we're gonna get
through this in our time.
00:45:38.73\00:45:40.44
So we will move quickly,
John 16, John 16:7 and 8.
00:45:40.47\00:45:46.74
Number one, "The Holy
Spirit convicts us of sin."
00:45:46.78\00:45:50.91
The Holy Spirit
convicts us of sin,
00:45:50.95\00:45:53.48
brings us to repentance.
00:45:53.52\00:45:57.35
John 16:7, 8,
00:45:57.39\00:46:01.92
"Nevertheless I
tell you the truth,
00:46:01.96\00:46:04.83
It is to your
advantage that I go away."
00:46:04.86\00:46:06.70
Jesus is telling His disciples,
00:46:06.73\00:46:08.06
it's to your
advantage that I go away,
00:46:08.10\00:46:10.80
for if I do not go away,
00:46:10.83\00:46:12.17
the Helper or the
Comforter will not come to you,
00:46:12.20\00:46:15.40
the Holy Spirit
will not come to you,
00:46:15.44\00:46:17.21
but if I depart, I
will send him to you.
00:46:17.24\00:46:19.54
And when he is come, he
will convict the world of sin,
00:46:19.57\00:46:22.01
of
righteousness, and of judgment."
00:46:22.04\00:46:24.41
Wow.
00:46:24.45\00:46:25.78
The Holy Spirit convicts us,
00:46:25.81\00:46:27.28
when we're not walking with God,
00:46:27.32\00:46:29.78
when I just told
a lie and God says,
00:46:29.82\00:46:32.95
my daughter is always honest,
go back and tell the truth.
00:46:32.99\00:46:36.09
That is the work
of the Holy Spirit
00:46:36.12\00:46:39.29
in our lives.
00:46:39.33\00:46:40.66
The Holy Spirit convicts us.
00:46:40.70\00:46:42.03
Number two, the Holy
Spirit teaches us about Jesus.
00:46:42.06\00:46:44.57
Two chapters back, John 14,
00:46:44.60\00:46:47.57
John 14:26,
00:46:47.60\00:46:51.77
"But the helper, the Holy Spirit
00:46:51.81\00:46:53.31
whom the father
will send in my name,
00:46:53.34\00:46:55.31
he will teach you all things,
00:46:55.34\00:46:58.48
and bring to your remembrance
all things that I said to you."
00:46:58.51\00:47:01.38
If you want to
learn, you feel like,
00:47:01.42\00:47:02.92
oh, I don't know enough
of God's Word, I need wisdom,
00:47:02.95\00:47:05.92
I'm like a child, I can't even--
00:47:05.95\00:47:08.42
like someone will
say, go out or come in,
00:47:08.46\00:47:10.89
ask for the Holy Spirit.
00:47:10.93\00:47:12.59
The Holy Spirit
teaches us about Jesus.
00:47:12.63\00:47:15.63
Number three, the Holy
Spirit intercedes for us,
00:47:15.66\00:47:19.13
we won't look this
up, but it's Romans 8,
00:47:19.17\00:47:21.27
if you're taking
notes, Romans 8:26.
00:47:21.30\00:47:24.04
This is likewise the Spirit
also helps our weaknesses.
00:47:24.07\00:47:28.28
The Spirit himself
makes intercession for us.
00:47:28.31\00:47:32.25
We've groanings
that cannot be uttered.
00:47:32.28\00:47:35.02
Boy, do you ever come before God
00:47:35.05\00:47:38.05
or pray for someone else,
00:47:38.09\00:47:39.95
and say, I don't even
know what to pray for?
00:47:39.99\00:47:42.32
Wow, I don't know what to
pray for in this situation.
00:47:42.36\00:47:45.73
The Holy Spirit
intercedes for us.
00:47:45.76\00:47:50.13
Number four, the Holy
Spirit transforms our lives.
00:47:50.17\00:47:54.80
He delivers us
from the power of sin,
00:47:54.84\00:47:56.64
that's Romans 8:2,
00:47:56.67\00:47:58.24
"For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
00:47:58.27\00:48:00.41
has made me free from
the law of sin and death.
00:48:00.44\00:48:04.78
The Holy Spirit sets
us free, he transforms us.
00:48:04.81\00:48:09.15
Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 3,
00:48:09.18\00:48:11.99
he writes God's
law in our hearts,
00:48:12.02\00:48:13.76
2 Corinthians 3:3,
00:48:13.79\00:48:19.13
this I think is one
of my favorite scriptures
00:48:19.16\00:48:21.13
and I know I say
this all the time,
00:48:21.16\00:48:22.50
'cause I have many
00:48:22.53\00:48:23.87
but I really
like this scripture,
00:48:23.90\00:48:25.23
2 Corinthians 3:3.
00:48:25.27\00:48:28.50
Let's start at verse
2, I'm sorry 2 and 3.
00:48:28.54\00:48:31.47
"You are our epistle
written in our hearts,
00:48:31.51\00:48:36.34
known and read by all men,
00:48:36.38\00:48:38.68
clearly you are an epistle
of Christ ministered by us,
00:48:38.71\00:48:43.28
written not with ink
00:48:43.32\00:48:44.75
but by the Spirit
of the living God,
00:48:44.79\00:48:47.39
on tablets of stone,
not on tablets of stone
00:48:47.42\00:48:51.33
but on tablets of
flesh that is of the heart."
00:48:51.36\00:48:55.20
The same passage
in the NIV says this,
00:48:55.23\00:48:58.33
"You show that you
are a letter, from Christ,
00:48:58.37\00:49:03.17
the result of our
ministry written not with ink
00:49:03.20\00:49:06.41
but with the
Spirit of the living God,
00:49:06.44\00:49:08.88
not on tablets of stone
00:49:08.91\00:49:10.58
but on tablets of human hearts."
00:49:10.61\00:49:13.42
I have here three
letters that came from Greg.
00:49:13.45\00:49:16.45
I'm going through our
closet and straightening it up
00:49:16.48\00:49:19.92
which is usually
a good thing to do
00:49:19.95\00:49:21.99
and I found my little bundle
of precious letters from Greg.
00:49:22.02\00:49:26.63
We had an old fashioned
relationship you can say
00:49:26.66\00:49:29.66
because we were long distance.
00:49:29.70\00:49:31.60
We didn't see each
other and we wrote letters
00:49:31.63\00:49:33.97
the old fashioned way.
00:49:34.00\00:49:36.20
This first one is dated
1999, that is 17 years ago.
00:49:36.24\00:49:41.98
This was actually
before we were friends,
00:49:42.01\00:49:45.81
but not
officially going together,
00:49:45.85\00:49:47.45
so the initial greeting,
the salutation as they say,
00:49:47.48\00:49:52.05
says this, Dear
Jill, we're friends.
00:49:52.09\00:49:56.66
This is a
letter from Greg, 1999.
00:49:56.69\00:49:59.59
This next letter,
the postmark says 2001,
00:49:59.63\00:50:03.67
by this time we
are in a relationship,
00:50:03.70\00:50:07.47
and this letter begins this way,
00:50:07.50\00:50:09.57
to my dear Jilly,
that's nice, okay.
00:50:09.60\00:50:16.24
Now, just a few months
later is this little missive
00:50:16.28\00:50:20.25
and it has a little
heart sticker on the back.
00:50:20.28\00:50:24.29
It's dated February 2002
and we got married that year,
00:50:24.32\00:50:30.39
to my one and only,
00:50:30.43\00:50:35.70
that's even more precious
than my dear Jilly, right.
00:50:35.73\00:50:38.67
So you see the progression,
dear Jill, my dear Jilly,
00:50:38.70\00:50:44.14
to my one and only.
00:50:44.17\00:50:47.44
What a letter show?
They show who you are.
00:50:47.48\00:50:52.01
I fell in love with
Greg through his letters,
00:50:52.05\00:50:54.02
fell in love with
the person who he is.
00:50:54.05\00:50:58.52
And of course,
there were other things,
00:50:58.55\00:50:59.89
not just the
letters, I'm not saying that
00:50:59.92\00:51:01.29
but the letters played a
big part in that, who he is.
00:51:01.32\00:51:04.93
What's God saying here?
00:51:04.96\00:51:06.70
You and I, each one of
us are a letter from Christ,
00:51:06.73\00:51:12.97
it's not written
His character, His--
00:51:13.00\00:51:16.77
the fruits of the Spirit
00:51:16.81\00:51:18.14
are not written
in tablets of stone,
00:51:18.17\00:51:20.54
He wrote it on our heart.
00:51:20.58\00:51:23.18
Why?
00:51:23.21\00:51:24.55
Because we are His witnesses
and He calls each one of us
00:51:24.58\00:51:27.98
to stand up as in a letter,
and someone else can read
00:51:28.02\00:51:31.15
and say, wow, that
person has been with Jesus.
00:51:31.19\00:51:36.86
You ever met someone like that?
00:51:36.89\00:51:38.53
You spend time in their presence
00:51:38.56\00:51:40.20
and you think, wow,
they have been with Jesus.
00:51:40.23\00:51:45.03
So the Holy
Spirit transforms us,
00:51:45.07\00:51:47.44
so more and more, day by day,
00:51:47.47\00:51:50.97
we look and talk and act
00:51:51.01\00:51:55.01
like people who
have been with Jesus.
00:51:55.04\00:51:58.28
Number five, the Holy Spirit
endows us with spiritual gifts.
00:51:58.31\00:52:02.98
We won't look that up but you
can see those spiritual gifts
00:52:03.02\00:52:04.99
listed in 1 Corinthians 12.
00:52:05.02\00:52:06.86
Holy Spirit gives
us spiritual gifts
00:52:06.89\00:52:09.36
for the work of the church
00:52:09.39\00:52:11.99
and the
community and evangelism.
00:52:12.03\00:52:14.36
He gives each one of us gifts
to share Jesus with others.
00:52:14.40\00:52:18.53
And number six, the
Holy Spirit produces fruit.
00:52:18.57\00:52:21.27
We use the
scripture at the beginning,
00:52:21.30\00:52:22.70
Galatians 5:22 and 23,
00:52:22.74\00:52:24.97
"The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace,
00:52:25.01\00:52:27.38
patience, gentleness, goodness,
00:52:27.41\00:52:30.35
meekness, faith, temperance,"
the fruits of the Spirit.
00:52:30.38\00:52:35.18
I want to close
tonight with a song,
00:52:35.22\00:52:37.89
I'm not gonna sing,
00:52:37.92\00:52:39.25
so I will spare you
all of this evening.
00:52:39.29\00:52:41.22
But a song that
Neville Peter wrote
00:52:41.26\00:52:45.36
and I like his music
00:52:45.39\00:52:46.73
and this particular song
has well, when I read it,
00:52:46.76\00:52:51.57
it would take us all the way
back to our opening scripture
00:52:51.60\00:52:54.14
Isaiah 43,
remember, the dry, the dusty,
00:52:54.17\00:52:58.27
the desert and how God wants
to put His Spirit in our hearts
00:52:58.31\00:53:04.45
and cause
fruitfulness, abundance,
00:53:04.48\00:53:07.32
life to spring up again.
00:53:07.35\00:53:10.75
It's called, Let it rain.
00:53:10.79\00:53:13.76
Let it rain, let it pour
00:53:13.79\00:53:16.89
I'm longing for your
presence, to deliver and restore
00:53:16.93\00:53:22.20
Let your love, wash over me
00:53:22.23\00:53:25.77
For where your
spirit is I am free,
00:53:25.80\00:53:28.54
to bless your holy name
00:53:28.57\00:53:31.54
Let it rain Lord, Let it rain
00:53:31.57\00:53:35.08
Renew my heart again,
I'm longing for your hand
00:53:35.11\00:53:41.78
Quench my thirsty soul,
in this dry and barren land
00:53:41.82\00:53:48.02
The latter rain it must fall,
in these last and evil days
00:53:48.06\00:53:53.33
And I know, it
will cause me pain,
00:53:53.36\00:53:57.27
when I bless your name
00:53:57.30\00:53:59.73
Let it rain Lord, let it rain
00:53:59.77\00:54:02.54
I'm longing for your
presence, to deliver and restore
00:54:02.57\00:54:06.37
Let your love, wash over me
00:54:06.41\00:54:09.58
For where your
spirit is I am free,
00:54:09.61\00:54:12.78
to bless your holy name
00:54:12.81\00:54:15.58
Let it rain Lord, let it rain
00:54:15.62\00:54:19.12
Even if it causes pain
00:54:19.15\00:54:22.49
Lord if it
causes pain, let it rain
00:54:22.52\00:54:27.80
The latter rain it must fall,
in these last and evil days
00:54:27.83\00:54:31.73
And I know, it
will cause me pain,
00:54:31.77\00:54:33.60
when I bless your name
00:54:33.64\00:54:36.07
Let it rain Lord
00:54:36.10\00:54:37.57
Let it rain down in my life
00:54:37.61\00:54:39.71
Let it rain down in my soul
00:54:39.74\00:54:41.88
Let it rain.
00:54:41.91\00:54:46.21
The Holy Spirit
brings peace, yes,
00:54:46.25\00:54:49.42
sometimes when we
walk through that dry
00:54:49.45\00:54:53.25
and barren place, there's pain,
00:54:53.29\00:54:57.33
I'm thinking in our
circle, just here tonight,
00:54:57.36\00:55:00.56
two of our precious
church members here,
00:55:00.60\00:55:04.03
recently lost their spouse.
00:55:04.07\00:55:06.77
I don't know what
you're dealing with at home,
00:55:06.80\00:55:08.77
what pain, dry,
barren, cracked soil,
00:55:08.80\00:55:13.74
you feel like is going
on in your life and say,
00:55:13.78\00:55:16.11
God, it's causing pain
and God I'm struggling.
00:55:16.14\00:55:19.61
Open up your heart to
receive the Lord Jesus.
00:55:19.65\00:55:24.82
Let it rain, even
if the rain hurts,
00:55:24.85\00:55:28.02
even if the rain says,
00:55:28.06\00:55:29.86
Jill, I want you to
walk in obedience right here,
00:55:29.89\00:55:33.73
and I say, God, but
that hurts, I don't want to,
00:55:33.76\00:55:36.97
I want to do my own
thing, I want to go my own way
00:55:37.00\00:55:42.40
and He says, you can,
00:55:42.44\00:55:44.17
we're free like the hummingbird,
00:55:44.21\00:55:46.68
free to choose, but He
says, if you choose My way,
00:55:46.71\00:55:53.45
if you allow Me to fill
you, I'm gonna fill you,
00:55:53.48\00:55:59.59
I'm gonna change you,
I'm gonna transform you,
00:55:59.62\00:56:03.19
I'm gonna have that
dew saturate your life.
00:56:03.22\00:56:08.33
What a beautiful
thing God wants to do.
00:56:08.36\00:56:11.57
Our God is so good.
00:56:11.60\00:56:13.50
What He wants to do in
our hearts and our lives.
00:56:13.54\00:56:16.64
He says, wait before Me,
allow, be still before Me.
00:56:16.67\00:56:22.04
Wait, allow time,
allow yourself to be watered,
00:56:22.08\00:56:28.45
open up, ask
for the Holy Spirit,
00:56:28.48\00:56:31.12
open up your heart to
receive the Holy Spirit.
00:56:31.15\00:56:34.62
Choose to walk in obedience.
00:56:34.66\00:56:38.36
Say yes to Jesus and
then allow the Holy Spirit
00:56:38.39\00:56:41.26
to equip you, to
convict you of sin.
00:56:41.30\00:56:44.40
Let him do his
work, don't fight him,
00:56:44.43\00:56:47.17
allow him to equip you,
allow him to convict you
00:56:47.20\00:56:50.04
and to teach you about
Jesus, allow him to intercede
00:56:50.07\00:56:53.94
and to transform your life,
00:56:53.98\00:56:56.54
allow him to endow
you with spiritual gifts
00:56:56.58\00:56:59.05
for the
betterment of the kingdom
00:56:59.08\00:57:00.52
and to produce
fruit in your life.
00:57:00.55\00:57:04.85
We're gonna end
tonight with prayer.
00:57:04.89\00:57:08.22
Because I think God
wants to do a new thing,
00:57:08.26\00:57:10.63
that was our scripture
verse, Isaiah 43:18 and 19,
00:57:10.66\00:57:14.30
"Behold, I will do a new thing,
now it shall spring forth,
00:57:14.33\00:57:17.53
you need a new
thing in your life.
00:57:17.57\00:57:19.90
Do you need something new?
00:57:19.93\00:57:21.27
God says, allow me
to let it spring forth.
00:57:21.30\00:57:24.44
Shall you not know it?
00:57:24.47\00:57:25.81
I will even make a
way in the wilderness,
00:57:25.84\00:57:28.38
a road in the wilderness.
00:57:28.41\00:57:30.11
When you think
there is no way out,
00:57:30.15\00:57:31.95
I will make a
road in the wilderness
00:57:31.98\00:57:34.02
and streams of
abundance in the desert."
00:57:34.05\00:57:38.12
Let's pray.
Father, we come before You.
00:57:38.15\00:57:41.79
God, we just ask right
now, I pray in my own life,
00:57:41.82\00:57:44.89
that You would let it
rain even if it causes pain.
00:57:44.93\00:57:48.30
Lord Jesus, I want to
be made into Your image.
00:57:48.33\00:57:51.53
I pray for my
brothers and sisters here,
00:57:51.57\00:57:54.00
and those who are
at home right now,
00:57:54.04\00:57:56.77
Lord, that You could change us
00:57:56.81\00:57:58.17
and make us into
the image of Jesus.
00:57:58.21\00:58:00.54
We thank You in the precious
and holy name of Jesus, amen.
00:58:00.58\00:58:05.58