Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000144A
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00:19 Good evening and welcome to A Sharper Focus.
00:22 My name is Jill Morikone, 00:23 we're so glad that you have joined us this evening, 00:27 this Wednesday evening, midweek, 00:28 and so glad that each one of you are here. 00:31 Our Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church family 00:33 and we have Iada sitting out here 00:36 and she's in for camp meeting. 00:38 So that is very exciting when we have people 00:40 who come in special for camp meeting 00:43 and we're getting ready. 00:44 The crew's working hard, 00:45 we're getting ready for camp meeting 00:47 but it's a blessing midweek, 00:48 no matter what we're doing during the week, 00:51 to open up God's word 00:52 and to spend some time studying His Word. 00:55 We want to encourage you to check out the website 00:58 ASF.3ABN.org 01:03 again that's ASF.3ABN.org. 01:07 You'll find all of the videos for the Sharper Focus 01:10 on that website as well as many study guides. 01:13 So before we open up God's Word this evening, 01:16 let's go to the Lord in prayer. 01:18 Father, we come before You right now 01:20 in the name of Jesus, I ask that You would hide me, 01:25 God that You could be seen and lifted up. 01:29 We pray Father, we thank You that Your Word is anointed 01:33 and we ask that it would go forth 01:35 and it would accomplish 01:36 what you have set it forth to accomplish tonight. 01:39 Give us ears to hear, 01:41 give us a heart that's open and willing 01:44 to accept what you want to show us in Your Word 01:47 and we thank You 01:48 in the precious and the holy name of Jesus. 01:51 Amen. 01:52 Tonight we're talking about, Watered by the Spirit. 01:57 Our opening scripture is Isaiah 43. 02:00 If you want to open up your Bibles, 02:01 we are going to Isaiah 43. 02:05 Last summer, Greg and I took a trip out west, 02:10 3ABN went out to ASI, 02:13 it's held in different parts of the country, 02:15 you know every year 02:17 and this year it was in Spokane, Washington. 02:20 So we flew into Seattle. 02:22 How many here have been to Seattle before? 02:24 That's almost the whole group. 02:26 Almost everybody's been to Seattle. 02:27 Now Seattle it rains a lot, would you agree, 02:30 misty, it rains a lot. 02:33 In fact they say if you have seasonal effective disorder, 02:36 then you would not want to live in Seattle 02:38 because you might get depressed 02:41 because it rains a lot in Seattle. 02:43 But one of the byproducts of all that rain in Seattle 02:46 is what? 02:48 It's green, it's beautiful. 02:51 They have a lot of evergreens out there. 02:54 We flew into Seattle, we drove to the Puget Sound, 02:56 which is just off the coast there. 02:59 My great aunt Ruth lives there and we visited her 03:02 and then we rented a car and we drove from Seattle 03:06 on interstate 90 across to Spokane. 03:11 Now you come up over the Cascade Mountains 03:14 and just as you come up over the mountains, 03:17 those beautiful evergreen trees, 03:19 you know what happens? 03:21 They start to disappear and then just a few miles more, 03:25 what happens, it's dry, desert, 03:29 it's barren, desert, 03:32 just the few miles over the mountains 03:34 and it turns into desert. 03:36 Why? 03:37 Because all the rain drops on the western side right, 03:39 on the western side of the Cascades, 03:41 all the rain drops there, and on the eastern side, 03:43 they don't get as much water and it's brown. 03:47 It's beautiful but it's brown. 03:49 So if you want a green lawn, you have to irrigate. 03:55 If you want crops, you have to irrigate. 04:01 They have vineyards there, they have some orchids, 04:03 you have to irrigate in order to get the green. 04:06 So our scripture has something to do with that, 04:07 Isaiah 43 we're in verses 18 and 19, 04:11 Isaiah 43:18 and 19, 04:14 the Bible says, "Do not remember the former things, 04:19 nor consider the things of old. 04:23 Behold, I will do a new thing, 04:26 now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? 04:30 I will even make a road in the wilderness 04:34 and rivers in the desert." 04:38 If you have rivers in the desert, what happens? 04:44 It ceases to be a desert, 04:45 at least in that part where the river is, right? 04:48 You have fruitfulness and abundance 04:51 where you have the water. 04:55 You feel like tonight, maybe you're walking in a desert 05:00 or maybe you're home, feel like I'm walking in a desert. 05:05 My soul, my spirit is dry 05:08 and parched, cracked, barren. 05:13 Sometimes we walk in a desert 05:14 because of other people's choices. 05:16 Would you say that's accurate? 05:18 Maybe your best friend was driving a car 05:21 and they got hit by a drunk driver, 05:24 now was that their choice they got hit. 05:26 No, the desert of maybe they were paraplegic, 05:31 maybe they lost their life, 05:33 maybe they were injured in some way, 05:35 the desert of that pain had nothing to do with them. 05:38 It's the result of someone else's choice. 05:41 Sometimes we walk in a desert 05:44 because of someone else's choice, 05:46 whether it's like that, maybe abuse. 05:49 Sometimes we walk in a desert of our own choosing. 05:55 I've been there, I've been there, 05:57 walked in a desert of my own choosing. 06:01 Think of Samson in the Bible, 06:03 remember he was the strongest man 06:05 who ever lived and what happened? 06:10 He grew up, he was supposed to be a Nazarite, 06:13 he was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord from his birth, 06:17 follow God in all things and then all of a sudden, 06:20 he fell in love. 06:22 And remember he did not fall in love 06:24 with the woman of Israel. 06:27 He fell in love with a Philistine, a heathen. 06:33 Now part of what they were supposed to do 06:35 was to worship God 06:38 and to marry someone who loved and worshiped God too. 06:42 And he fell in love with someone else 06:43 and the Bible says, he told his parents, 06:47 "Get her for me," 06:49 remember that verse, "for she pleases me well." 06:53 Get her for me, I want her, it feels good. 06:56 So he walked in a desert of his own choosing 06:59 because some not so good consequences happened 07:01 as a result of that. 07:03 And then several, many years later, 07:05 he fell in love again with the woman named Delilah, 07:08 remember that and the consequences of that 07:10 were even stronger than the first one. 07:13 His eyes were put out, he was a slave, right, 07:18 made to grind round and round like an animal 07:21 and eventually he lost his life. 07:23 Now God forgave him and that's a beautiful thing, 07:25 but he was walking in the desert, the dryness, 07:28 the crackness of his own choosing. 07:30 But the thing is our scripture text here 07:33 Isaiah 43, 07:35 whether someone else caused the desert in our lives 07:39 or whether we caused it by our own choices, God says, 07:43 I can make rivers, rivers of water 07:49 flow in that dry and barren and cracked place. 07:54 How does God bring about fruitfulness in our lives? 07:59 Now in the physical world, 08:01 it comes as a result of water, right. 08:02 Water brings about fruitfulness and the spiritual, 08:06 what brings fruit in our lives as Christians? 08:09 Galatians 5:22, 08:11 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 08:17 longsuffering or patience, gentleness, 08:23 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 08:28 If we want fruitfulness, abundance, 08:31 lush vegetation in our lives instead of the dry, cracked, 08:35 barren thing that we feel, the Holy Spirit, 08:39 the Holy Spirit is gonna bring us that fruitfulness. 08:43 Now in the Bible we often think of the Holy Spirit as oil, 08:48 the Holy Spirit is represented by oil in the Bible. 08:51 Remember the ten virgins 08:52 carried their little clay lamps of oil, 08:55 representative of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 08:58 We think of the Holy Spirit as fire. 09:00 The disciples, remember, in the upper room praying 09:04 for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 09:06 this is after Jesus ascended, after the resurrection 09:09 and what happened? 09:10 The Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire, 09:14 that's right, Yannick, tongues of fire on their head, 09:17 so there is different representations 09:18 of the Holy Spirit in scripture. 09:20 But tonight, we're gonna look at the Holy Spirit as dew, 09:25 as that water, as that dew. 09:27 Turn with me to Hosea 14. 09:30 Tonight we're gonna talk about waiting for the dew, 09:33 watered by the dew and equipping through the dew, 09:38 but before we get to any of that, 09:40 we want to lay a couple of foundational scriptures, 09:42 so we're in Hosea 14. 09:47 I really like the Book of Hosea. 09:50 God asked the prophet Hosea to do some incredible things, 09:57 would you agree? 09:58 He was a living object lesson 10:02 of the love God had for His people Israel, 10:06 even when His people wandered away, 10:08 did their own thing, didn't want to follow God, 10:12 what did He say? 10:14 I love you still. 10:15 Remember he told Hosea to go out and marry whom? 10:19 A prostitute, a woman of harlotry. 10:24 And what happened? 10:25 They had a child together, they had another, 10:28 what happened? 10:29 She was unfaithful, she wandered off, 10:34 did her own thing and God told Hosea, 10:37 this gets me, buy her back, the woman who ran out on you, 10:44 what would we say? 10:45 Stone her, right, we say get rid of her, 10:47 we'd say, I, you know-- 10:50 Buy her back because why? 10:54 It was an object lesson 10:56 of the love God had for His people Israel. 10:59 They had "committed fornication," 11:01 they had wandered away from God, 11:04 they served other idols. 11:06 They said God, "We don't want to follow you, 11:08 we don't want to serve you, we want to do our own thing, 11:12 we want to do our own thing," and so they served idols, 11:16 and God said, "I created you, I'm gonna buy you back, 11:21 I'm gonna redeem you." 11:22 So I just love the Book of Hosea. 11:23 But we're in Hosea 14, looking at dew. 11:26 Hosea 14:4 and 5, the Bible says, 11:32 ''I will heal their backsliding." 11:35 This is what we're talking about, 11:36 the love of God for the people who even turned against Him. 11:40 "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, 11:44 for my anger has turned away from them." 11:48 Here's our word. 11:50 "I will be like the dew to Israel. 11:54 He shall grow like the lily, 11:56 and lengthen his roots like Lebanon," 11:57 and it goes on, 11:59 agricultural terms with the branches 12:01 and the trees, but it's talking about, 12:05 he's gonna be the dew, 12:07 the water that will bring fruitfulness 12:09 and abundance to the nation of Israel. 12:13 There's one more scripture 12:14 that we want to look at is Titus 3, 12:18 and then we'll really jump into our message. 12:20 Titus 3, and as you are turning there, 12:25 you know dew is pretty important 12:27 in the physical world. 12:30 If you're in a place that has a lot of rain, 12:31 they say it's not as important, but if you're in the desert, 12:35 dew is extremely important. 12:38 In the Negev, I hope I'm saying that right, 12:41 the Negev desert in Israel, 12:43 which is the southern portion of Israel, 12:46 it is dry, it's our verse in Isaiah, 12:49 dry, dusty, cracked, barren, it's dry. 12:54 They have no rain between the months of June and October, 12:59 it's a long time, desert. 13:01 They say in that desert, 13:03 dew accounts for half the water that the plants receive, half. 13:09 Now we think, well, dew is inconsequential, 13:11 dew doesn't make such a big difference, 13:13 but in this case, it accounts 13:15 for half the amount of water. 13:18 So we're in Titus, Titus 3, 13:21 talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. 13:23 Titus 3:4-6, 13:28 Titus 3:4-6, "But when the kindness 13:31 and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 13:36 not by works of righteousness which we have done." 13:40 For we know we could never save our self. 13:42 We're saved by grace through faith. 13:44 It's a gift of God, it's not us, 13:46 so he says it's not of works of righteousness 13:48 which we have done but according to His mercy, 13:53 that's right, His mercy he saved us 13:56 to the washing of regeneration, 13:58 and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 14:03 and he poured out on us abundantly 14:05 through Jesus Christ our Savior. 14:09 As the dew bathes the earth, so God wants to renew us, 14:15 our dry, barren, cracked and dusty hearts. 14:18 He says I want to renew them. 14:22 We're gonna talk tonight about the work of the Holy Spirit 14:24 as dew in our lives, and if you're taking notes, 14:28 number one is waiting for the dew, 14:31 then we're gonna look at four keys 14:32 to being watered by the dew, 14:35 and finally we look at equipping through the dew, 14:37 but first waiting for the dew. 14:40 Now in the natural world 14:41 what would be your requirement for forming dew? 14:46 Does dew form in a heat of the day? 14:50 No, it takes quietness, 14:55 stillness, night time usually, 14:58 now this is depending on the dew point, 15:00 the humidity and all that stuff, 15:01 but usually dew forms at night. 15:07 They say if there is heat or wind, 15:09 dew does not form very well. 15:11 So it requires stillness, no wind, it requires coolness, 15:15 if you have a cool night, clear, you gonna get more dew. 15:19 It also requires waiting-- 15:22 time. 15:25 I don't know in your life, 15:28 but in my life I don't like to wait very much. 15:32 Would you all say that's accurate, 15:33 maybe for you? 15:35 I don't like to wait very much. 15:36 My sister and her husband have four boys 15:39 and they are right now 15:41 Jonathan, Steven, Caleb and Joshua 15:44 and they are 9, 7, 5 and 3. 15:49 So this happened, maybe a year and a half ago, 15:51 and Steven, he's the second oldest, 15:53 Steven turned six. 15:56 So it was his birthday and I asked my sister 15:58 what does Steven want for his birthday? 16:01 And so she told me, so I went to Walmart 16:03 and I picked up what he wanted for his birthday. 16:06 He wanted Matchbox cars, it's a good six year old kid, 16:10 you know a little boy, Matchbox cars, 16:14 he wanted a monster truck, a monster truck, 16:18 we got him a frog puzzle, you know, big pieces, 16:21 then you kind of put it together 16:23 and he likes Lightning McQueen, 16:25 so we got him a gift bag that was Lightning McQueen 16:28 and put everything in, 16:30 put it in its package, sealed it up. 16:34 Now at the same time, 16:35 my husband Greg, his dad had a birthday 16:38 and actually we were little delayed 16:41 in getting his present, 16:42 but we purchased his stuff at the same time. 16:44 And to be honest, 16:45 I can't remember what we got him, 16:47 I don't know if it was socks, 16:48 which is kind of a Morikone family tradition, 16:50 we give socks, it's kind of a fun thing for us, 16:53 whether, he's a pastor, 16:54 maybe we got him something for that, 16:56 I don't remember but it was adult stuff, not kid stuff. 17:00 So we packaged up Steven's package, 17:02 he is six, then we packaged up dad Morikone's package, 17:07 he is a little older than six. 17:10 The Holy Spirit gave me a little prompting 17:12 in the back of my mind and it went like this, 17:17 now tell which box is which Jill, 17:20 figure out which box is which, 17:23 'cause when you mail him, you gonna want to know. 17:24 No, I know which box is which. 17:27 Well Greg mailed the packages, 17:29 he took them to the post office and he said, 17:31 we're going to send them Priority Mail, 17:34 it's good, we've got to get it there. 17:37 He thought, I know, which is which package, 17:40 so he mailed them. 17:41 A few days later, we got a text, 17:44 Greg got a text from his dad and I actually found it 17:48 and I wrote it down, I'm gonna read it to you here, 17:50 it says, thanks for the hot wheels 17:54 and the frog puzzle. 17:56 I was just at Walmart this week 17:59 and I walked by the hot wheels and I thought, how fun. 18:04 As soon as we got that text, I knew we've done it, right. 18:09 We sent dad's package to little Steven 18:13 and we sent little Steven's package to dad, 18:17 so that night my sister called me and she said, 18:20 guess what happened to dad, I said I already know, 18:22 you don't have to tell me. 18:23 I got the text, I already know what happened. 18:25 She said, well let me tell you, Steven's excited, 18:27 he likes presents, he is a gift child, 18:30 you know how some people are into gifts, he loves gifts. 18:32 He went to the mailbox so excited, 18:35 this is my package from Aunty Jill and Uncle Greg. 18:39 Oh, he ran home, ripped it open, what is it? 18:43 Socks. You got it, Cynthia. 18:45 Socks and something for an adult. 18:49 She said, he threw himself on the floor 18:52 and kicked his little legs and hands, 18:55 what would we call that? 18:56 A tantrum, you got it Mitch, a tantrum. 19:00 So we kind of laugh and we think, well, 19:03 he couldn't wait for his package 19:04 and he got all disappointed, but as adults, you know, 19:07 we don't really like waiting either, at least I don't. 19:10 If I go to Kroger or Walmart and get my groceries, 19:13 I stand in the line and I'll tell Greg, 19:17 I think that line is moving faster, 19:18 we should move from number five to number six, 19:21 and he always says, Jilly, 19:22 by the time we move to number six, 19:24 you know what's gonna happen, 19:25 probably it's gonna, you know, it never works out. 19:28 You try this to move 19:30 and then the original line moves actually faster. 19:32 But I don't like waiting, or if you're at the light 19:36 and it turns green, the person in front of you, 19:39 he sits there, and I want to go, hurry up, 19:43 but of course Christians don't honk their horn. 19:46 So I sit there, hurry up, I don't like to wait. 19:51 They say, in your lifetime, this is an average life span, 19:54 we would spend six months waiting in line, 20:00 six months, 20:02 twenty weeks on hold, I can believe that, 20:08 I just dropped my glass, 20:10 seven years lying awake at night, 20:16 four years spent on the phone at work, 20:19 five years on line, waiting, 20:25 but yet for the dew to form, 20:27 for the Holy Spirit to form in our lives, 20:31 it requires waiting. 20:35 God calls us to wait. 20:38 Many times, what happens, we wake up in the morning, 20:41 maybe our busy schedule, schedules, commitments 20:45 can get in the way of waiting before God. 20:49 We get up in the morning, 20:50 John 3:16, "For God so loved the world 20:52 that He gave His only begotten Son." 20:53 I got it, got him good, I have to get to work, 20:56 my boss wouldn't want me to be late. 20:58 God says, wait, savor my presence, 21:03 spend time with me, spend time in prayer, 21:08 spend time in the Word of God, wait, be still before him. 21:14 Sometimes, we need to prioritize, 21:19 prioritize our schedule, our family commitment, 21:23 our job, even ministry. 21:26 We're here at 3ABN and we think, 21:28 oh, I'm in ministry, that means nothing 21:32 if we don't wait. 21:34 If we don't spend time in God's Word, 21:37 if we're not connected 21:38 in receiving the dew of the Holy Spirit, 21:41 it means nothing 'cause how can we minister 21:44 if we're not connected to the Lord Jesus. 21:47 So God calls us to prioritize our time. 21:50 Sometimes things need to be cut out, 21:53 have you experienced that? 21:55 Greg and I tried a fast. 21:57 Now this is not a fast, a food fast 22:00 though I've done those, 22:01 but this is a fast, a media fast. 22:05 Media intrudes on our life, would you say that's accurate? 22:08 Before the advent of cell phones, 22:12 we're connected, right. 22:14 We think we're connected 22:15 but we're almost more disconnected. 22:17 I was at a airport recently and every one, 22:20 you know people just traveling, 22:22 moving, sitting, they were all-- 22:26 right, you can't even make a conversation 22:28 with the person next to you, right, 22:30 'cause we're so connected with that. 22:32 God calls us to reprioritize. 22:35 So Greg and I decided to fast, 22:37 something that was media related. 22:39 Now some people do entire media fast 22:41 for certain length of a time, just to get still before God. 22:45 For me I chose the radio in the car, 22:47 I like to listen to the radio in the car or CD, 22:52 I love to listen to music while I travel 22:54 or I like to listen to Christian talk radio 22:58 or even MPR or something, news. 23:01 But I said, okay God, 23:03 for one week I won' listen to the radio in the car 23:07 and then I replaced that time with prayer. 23:11 Now you can't study God's Word while you're driving, 23:13 that is not a very safe venture, 23:15 but you can drive and talk to God, wait, 23:20 be saturated with the dew, spend time with him. 23:24 Greg likes baseball, 23:26 so he chose to fast looking at any scores, 23:29 you know, you can look at them online 23:30 or following any of that, 23:31 and the time he would have spent in that, 23:33 he said, I'll devote that to spending time in prayer. 23:38 Reprioritize, there's a poem I love. 23:41 It says, I got up early one morning 23:44 and rushed right into the day, I had so much to accomplish 23:48 that I didn't have time to pray. 23:52 Problems just tumbled about me, 23:54 and heavier came each task. 23:56 Why doesn't God help me? 23:59 I wondered. 24:00 He answered, You didn't ask. 24:03 I wanted to see joy and beauty, 24:05 but the day toiled on, gray and bleak, 24:10 I wondered why doesn't God help me, but he said, 24:14 You didn't seek. 24:16 I wanted to come into God's presence, 24:19 I tried all my keys at the lock. 24:21 God gently and lovingly chided, 24:24 but my child, you didn't knock. 24:30 I woke up early this morning, 24:32 and paused before entering the day, 24:34 I had so much to accomplish 24:36 that I had to take time to pray. 24:40 Wait before God. 24:43 Reprioritize, spend that time, wait before God. 24:48 Not only is it important for dew to form, 24:51 to wait, for the dew to form, 24:53 it also requires what did we say? 24:55 No heat or wind, right. 24:56 So it requires stillness and quietness. 25:01 We need to be still in order for the dew to form, 25:03 likewise haste prevents saturation with the Spirit. 25:08 Turn with me to Psalm 46, Psalm 46, 25:13 we're gonna look at verse 10. 25:20 Psalm 46:10, the Bible says, 25:26 "Be still, and know that I am God, 25:30 I will be exalted among the nations, 25:33 I will be exalted among the earth. 25:36 Be still, and know that he is God." 25:39 If you look at the Hebrew word for no. 25:42 Old testament is written in Hebrew, 25:44 if you look at the Hebrew word for no, it is yara, 25:48 and it means to ascertain by seeing. 25:54 If I had just met Celestine, maybe I just met her 25:59 and then I hadn't seen her for six months, 26:01 now she's member of our church, our church secretary. 26:03 But what if had just met her, just once say at Walmart 26:07 and then I didn't see her for six months, 26:09 and if I saw her again, you know what happen? 26:11 I'd say, could you remind me where we met before? 26:15 Does that ever happen to you? 26:16 You meet people and you think, now did we meet at ASI? 26:20 Did we meet here at church? Was it at 3ABN? 26:22 Was it someplace where we traveled? 26:25 Even we go on Monday nights to the jail, 26:27 maybe it's one of the girls from jail 26:29 and they get out and they wear different clothes 26:30 and they look different. 26:32 And I think where have I met you before? 26:34 I know you're from somewhere. 26:38 This is not the know that God's talking about here. 26:42 Where we would just glance and then we say, 26:44 what was your name again? 26:46 Oh, that's right, you're the creator. 26:48 Oh, that's right, I've read about you in the Bible. 26:51 No, if we ascertain someone by seeing, 26:55 we know him intimately. 26:58 We spend time with him. We know who he is. 27:01 I would recognize him instantly, to know. 27:07 When we are still before God, we know God, 27:13 we discover who He is. 27:14 Our hearts become more like Jesus, 27:17 we are refreshed. God shows us our hearts. 27:22 We're more quiet, we can listen better. 27:25 My office at work is noisy. 27:29 Those of you, who know it here at 3ABN, it's noisy. 27:31 We've got four of us in the office 27:33 and you get four women in any office 27:36 and we're-- 27:37 you know on the phones, someone's talking, 27:39 someone's this, people, production, 27:41 always in and out, questions and whenever people, 27:45 you know it's just noisy. 27:47 And so if I'm really trying to concentrate, 27:51 I get on my cell phone, put in my head phones 27:54 and turn the music up. 27:56 I always like piano music if I'm trying to work, 27:58 just quiet. 28:00 And so, I can try to block out the noise, 28:03 so I can focus on what I'm trying to do 28:05 at work. 28:08 It's noisy, but if it's quiet, if all of a sudden, 28:13 say someone's praying with someone 28:15 and we notice that, 28:16 oh, be quiet, be quiet, they're praying. 28:19 Then all of a sudden you can hear. 28:21 You've ever noticed that, you're in a crowded room 28:23 and if it's noisy, you can't hear anything, 28:25 but all of a sudden it gets quiet 28:28 and then say Cynthia were to speak, 28:30 everybody would hear her, right? 28:32 Because of the contrast between that. 28:35 If we're quiet and still before God, 28:38 we hear His voice better, when He speaks to us, 28:42 we hear Him better, we're quiet. 28:45 Spiritual dew comes from quietly lingering 28:48 in the Master's presence, get still before Him, 28:52 for haste will prevent you from receiving the dew. 28:57 Wait before God, I love this sentence, 28:59 wait before God until you feel saturated with His presence. 29:04 So we talked about waiting for the dew. 29:06 What about number two? Watering by the dew. 29:11 How do we get watered? 29:12 What are the four keys to being watered? 29:14 And number one, we've been talking about here, 29:16 so we won't spend a lot of time on that. 29:18 Number two, to being watered by the dew 29:21 is to understand the process takes time. 29:25 The process takes time, that's number one, 29:29 it takes time. 29:30 We talked about being still and waiting before God. 29:33 It takes time for the dew to form on plants, 29:35 likewise it takes time, much time in God's Word. 29:40 Being still and waiting before Him 29:42 to receive more of His presence. 29:46 Number two, 29:47 key to being watered by the dew, 29:49 to ask for His spirit. 29:52 Ask for the dew, ask for the watering. 29:55 I think we ask for the outpouring 29:57 of the Holy Spirit and the other thing I ask for, 30:00 is to ask for an open receptive heart 30:04 to receive the Holy Spirit. 30:06 Turn with me to Luke, Luke 11, 30:10 we're looking at verse 9-13. 30:15 Luke 11:9-14, 30:20 we'll look at these four verses here. 30:23 Jesus is speaking, "So I say to you, 30:27 ask, and it will be given you, seek, and you will find, 30:34 knock, and it will be opened to you." 30:37 We can spend the rest of the time on that verse, 30:39 but that's not our point, 30:40 we're getting into the Holy Spirit. 30:41 "For every one who asks receives, 30:45 and he who seeks finds, 30:47 and to him who knocks it will be opened. 30:51 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, 30:55 will he give him a stone? 30:57 Or if he asks for a fish, 31:00 will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 31:04 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" 31:09 Verse 13, "If you then, being evil, 31:13 know how to give good gifts to your children, 31:17 how much more fully your heavenly Father 31:21 give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him." 31:26 Ask, ask for the Holy Spirit. 31:31 We had a prayer group at our church here 31:33 for a couple of years 31:35 and then I switched over and Lauren Lank leads it. 31:39 Women meeting, 31:40 asking for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 31:44 asking for God to change our hearts and lives. 31:48 Asking for revival and reformation. 31:52 Asking to be transformed into the image of Jesus, 31:56 you know, they have the revival and reformation initiative 31:59 from the general conference. 32:00 It's incredible, they have prayer, 32:03 7 o'clock in the morning and 7 o'clock in the evening. 32:08 What are they praying for? 32:10 The outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 32:12 praying for revival and reformation. 32:14 In fact, we just got a letter from a prisoner in the office, 32:17 and he sent it to Danny and he said different things 32:20 but one sentence in there, he said, 32:23 I'm joining in the 7-7-7 prayer. 32:26 I'm praying at 7 in the morning, 32:28 7 in the evening, everyday in my prison cell. 32:32 Praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 32:35 That's a beautiful thing. 32:37 We think Daniel prayed three times a day 32:39 and I've just been convicted of that. 32:41 Greg and I always pray in the morning and at night, 32:44 but in the midst of the day, just being honest, it's busy, 32:47 and here you're working, you're running 32:50 and it's easy to let God slip from your mind, 32:53 instead of keeping your mind and your heart 32:55 in that attitude of prayer, pray. 32:59 James 4:3 says, 33:01 "You have not because you ask not." 33:07 So ask and seek and find. 33:11 And every time I read that I think, 33:12 what if God wanted to give me more of His Spirit, 33:15 more blessings, more transformation, 33:19 more souls for His kingdom. 33:22 But I didn't ask, I didn't ask, we have not because we ask not. 33:27 So ask for His Spirit. That's number two. 33:30 First, understand the process takes time. 33:32 Second, ask for His Spirit. 33:34 Number three is let Him fill you. 33:38 Allow it, let Him fill you. 33:41 Our scripture for this is Ephesians 5. 33:44 If you want to turn with me there, 33:45 Ephesians 5:18. 33:52 Ephesians 5:18, the Bible says, 33:59 "Do not be drunk with wine, and which is dissipation, 34:03 the next part, but be filled with the Spirit." 34:07 Now in the Greek, the word for filled, 34:09 is in a continuous action verb, 34:12 it's not like I get filled once and then I'm done. 34:16 I got a cup here, 34:18 this is the one I dropped earlier, 34:20 so what if I come to God, and I say, 34:23 can you see the way I'm holding this cup? 34:25 I say, God please fill me. I want to be filled. 34:29 God fill me. 34:30 What's gonna happen? Nothing, why? 34:35 I didn't turn it right side up, right. 34:37 It's just pouring over. 34:38 I think sometimes we come to God 34:40 and we say change me. 34:41 I want Your Spirit, give me of your dew. 34:44 God, change me, God, work in my life, 34:47 I need You, and then we say, but I don't really mean that, 34:52 but I want to do my own thing. 34:54 But I don't want, I really, I really don't want You, God, 34:57 I'm just kind of saying that. 35:00 We have to let Him allow, let Him fill us, 35:05 turn the glass right side up, 35:07 allow Him to fill us with His Spirit. 35:12 Continuous, we don't just ask once 35:14 and then say I'm good, I can go 40 years 35:16 on that little bit of Holy Spirit I just got. 35:19 Everyday, moment by moment, throughout the day, 35:22 ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. 35:26 Number four is, walk in obedience. 35:30 Acts 5:32, Jump back a couple of books with me, 35:35 this is Acts 5:32. 35:36 Now remember the disciples, 35:40 you could say they were a little fearful, 35:44 would you say that? 35:45 Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane 35:48 and then Judas came and betrayed him with a kiss, 35:51 and the soldiers came to arrest Him, 35:53 what happened to the disciples? 35:56 They ran away, that's right, they all, 35:59 from the Bible of King James, forsook him and fled, 36:01 they turned and ran because they were afraid. 36:05 Now, after the Holy Spirit 36:07 came into their lives at Pentecost, 36:08 we see very different disciples show up here. 36:11 We're in Acts 5, we're gonna look at verse 32. 36:16 Now just before this the apostles are in trial 36:18 and you know, they are before the Sanhedrin 36:21 and they're saying you need to stop preaching Jesus 36:24 and Him crucified. 36:26 Stop that and they said, 36:28 "We ought to obey God rather than men." 36:30 These are not men who are running scared with their tails 36:33 plucked between their legs, like they were before. 36:35 They're bold for Jesus and then verse 32, 36:38 is the verse we're looking at. 36:40 We're talking about walk in obedience, 36:42 that number four. 36:43 It says, and we are also, and we are his witnesses, 36:46 excuse me, "And we are his witnesses to these things, 36:50 and so also is the Holy Spirit, 36:55 whom God has given 36:57 to those whom obey him." 37:02 Now to me obedience is not a complicated subject. 37:06 We know we're saved by grace through faith 37:09 and that not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. 37:11 We're not saved by obedience, 37:12 we're not saying that here tonight. 37:14 However, if we love Jesus, 37:19 if we are in a saving relationship with Him, 37:22 what happens? 37:24 When He calls to my heart, I'm gonna say yes to Jesus. 37:28 I've said this before. 37:30 To me obedience is simply saying, yes to Jesus. 37:34 When I'm faced with a decision, 37:36 when something's going on in my life, what do I do? 37:38 I say, yes to Jesus. 37:41 He says, Jill, go and apologize to Mitch 37:43 because you just said something that was offensive. 37:46 And I can say, no, I don't want to 37:47 because that might be painful. 37:49 That means I have to humble myself, 37:51 that means I, I might look bad in front of Mitch 37:54 and I want him to think well of me. 37:56 So I could say, no, God, what is that? 37:59 I'm saying, no to Jesus, 38:01 that's choosing not to walk in obedience. 38:03 At the same time, 38:05 if I'm praying for the infilling 38:06 of the Holy Spirit, 38:07 he says, boy, you're upside down. 38:09 If you would just walk in obedience, 38:12 if you would say yes to me, I could fill you. 38:15 I could fill you. 38:18 It was one of those hot, lazy days of summer 38:21 and Greg and I had come home from work, 38:24 eaten a quick bite to eat 38:25 and we were running out to visit some church members. 38:29 I opened up the door to the garage 38:31 and the heat just hit me in the face, 38:34 right at the side of the garage, 38:36 right there when you come out. 38:38 It's the garage door opener and it has a temperature gauge, 38:41 and it said 100 degrees. 38:43 Now in Southern Illinois, 38:45 you know a 100 degrees is not like Phoenix, Arizona 38:47 and it's just kind of a dry a 100, 38:49 we're talking humid, a 100. 38:51 So I walked out and I thought oh, it's hot, 38:54 good thing we're getting in the car 38:55 and it has air-conditioning. 38:57 I punched the button on the side 38:58 for the garage door to go up, 38:59 that would let a little heat out. 39:01 I was just about ready to get in the car 39:03 and Greg said, hey Jilly, look at this, 39:05 so I looked up and there was a hummingbird, 39:09 itty-bitty hummingbird, 39:12 at the peak of the roof just beating its little wings, 39:16 trying to get out. 39:18 And I said, honey, just come right down out this door. 39:22 Would he do it? 39:24 I went outside, I didn't know what to do? 39:26 I went outside and I got our hummingbird feeder 39:29 which is red and I went in and held it up and I said, 39:32 come down and drink, but of course no, 39:34 he's not gonna do that. 39:35 Greg said, we don't have time for that. 39:37 If it's a hundred where we are here, 39:39 you know it's hotter at the peak of the roof. 39:42 It's hotter up there. 39:44 So he got the step ladder, he pulled on some old gloves 39:48 and he climbed up the ladder 39:51 and then you get to the top of the ladder 39:53 and he stepped on to the trusses, you know, 39:54 the bottom of the truss is that what you'd call it, 39:56 and he stepped from truss to truss 40:00 and I held my breath because I wanted him to be okay. 40:03 And then he came right underneath 40:04 to where the hummingbird was. 40:07 He reached up his hands and she was pretty weak, 40:10 I don't know if it's she or he. 40:11 I don't remember if it was red or not. 40:13 Pretty weak, he grabbed his gloved hands 40:15 and he actually grabbed it 40:17 and then he stepped from truss to truss 40:22 and then started to descend down the ladder. 40:24 Now the hummingbird squawked in a fashion, 40:26 I have never heard from a hummingbird before. 40:29 I know they chirp, I've heard them, 40:30 I've heard them fight at our hummingbird feeder. 40:33 I've even seen some, you know, they do their little phoo, 40:35 and they do this and they come back 40:37 and they kind of sing to each other. 40:38 This was something totally different. 40:40 It's squawking, came down and I thought, 40:43 oh, is he hurting the hummingbird. 40:45 But it was just wasn't happy I guess, 40:47 so we went outside, shut the garage door 40:49 and I have the hummingbird feeder here, 40:51 and I'm just holding it, he opens up his gloved hands 40:56 and the hummingbird's too weak to fly at this point, 40:58 it just lay there, 40:59 and pretty soon it picked up its beak and it went 41:03 and it started drinking. 41:06 And I just watched in wonder, 41:07 I mean, how often do you get to see a hummingbird like that? 41:10 And then pretty soon it got enough nourishment 41:13 and it just lifted off and it was gone. 41:17 So Greg and I got in the car, 'cause we're supposed to be 41:19 going to visit some church people. 41:21 We got in the car and as we drove, 41:25 I thought about how many times had I wandered 41:29 where it was unsafe, 41:32 like the hummingbird, in the top of my garage? 41:35 Thinking I could get out of that temptation 41:38 any moment I chose. 41:41 How many times that I've refused the open door, 41:43 like we had the garage door open? 41:45 How many times had I refused the open door? 41:48 They're easy way home back to God. 41:51 How often had my Savior climbed the ladder 41:55 of my own stubbornness and pride? 41:59 Reaching out scarred hands to pick me up. 42:03 Exhausted from the struggle, desperate for a way out. 42:09 And yet, my precious father, after rescuing me, 42:14 giving me strength to walk again. 42:17 He opened his hands 42:18 and he released me again, free to choose again. 42:24 God gives us that freedom of choice. 42:27 You can choose to say yes and walk in obedience. 42:30 We can choose to say no and do our own thing. 42:33 We're free, free to choose. 42:38 What is the cost of obedience? 42:41 I can tell you, everyday it's what, 42:43 denial of self, that's for sure. 42:46 It cuts across what the human heart wants, 42:49 to choose to do it God's way sometimes. 42:52 For some people, it might be ridicule 42:54 or even a strange men from family, 42:56 some people maybe tonight, you're saying, 42:58 I just convicted of the truth of the Sabbath, 43:00 and I can't walk out and do that, 43:03 I cannot step out in obedience right now, 43:05 because my family would leave me, 43:09 because I might lose my job. 43:11 You know, we're faced with those decisions. 43:13 Are we gonna walk in obedience to God or not? 43:17 I'm here to tell you tonight, 43:19 the blessings of walking with Jesus 43:22 far outweigh any other glitter that glits, 43:26 what Satan has to offer in his world. 43:31 I remember when I was, late teens I guess, 43:35 ready to go to college. 43:36 We're having a Sabbath school class 43:38 and a lady, her name is Diane Albert, 43:40 precious, I thought she was old, 43:42 but she was probably 50 at that time, 43:44 which is very young and so, 43:48 we were having this discussion and someone said, 43:51 if there was no heaven, if there was no here after, 43:56 would you still follow Jesus? 43:58 Now I'm a teenager, I was like absolutely not. 44:01 The only reason, I'm even doing anything 44:04 that seems Christian is because I think, there's a reward. 44:08 There's something coming after. 44:11 She said, I have a different perspective, 44:14 if there was no heaven, 44:16 if there was no hope of life hereafter, 44:19 I would still follow Jesus 44:23 because of the peace that He gives me 44:26 here in this world, 44:27 because of the joy that I have when I walk with Him, 44:32 because of the grace He gives me 44:35 to make it through trials, 44:37 because of the fruits of the Spirit 44:39 that He so freely bestows, 44:41 because that we have the privilege 44:43 of witnessing for Him and working for Him. 44:46 She said, the joy of walking with Jesus 44:49 far surpasses anything that this world has to offer. 44:54 Amen. That's right, Mr. Dan, amen. 44:57 It took me years to learn that, 44:59 to realize what Satan has to offer is nothing. 45:04 So every time when God calls us to walk in obedience, 45:07 say yes, say yes to Jesus. 45:11 Finally we talked about waiting for the dew, 45:13 watering by the dew, we're on the last one, equipping, 45:16 equipping through the dew. 45:19 What are the results of being filled with the Spirit? 45:22 If we wait, if we spend time, if we allow him to fill us, 45:25 if we say yes to Jesus 45:28 and we have that saturation with the Holy Spirit. 45:33 What are the results of being filled with the Spirit? 45:37 We have six here, 45:38 I hope we're gonna get through this in our time. 45:40 So we will move quickly, John 16, John 16:7 and 8. 45:46 Number one, "The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin." 45:50 The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, 45:53 brings us to repentance. 45:57 John 16:7, 8, 46:01 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth, 46:04 It is to your advantage that I go away." 46:06 Jesus is telling His disciples, 46:08 it's to your advantage that I go away, 46:10 for if I do not go away, 46:12 the Helper or the Comforter will not come to you, 46:15 the Holy Spirit will not come to you, 46:17 but if I depart, I will send him to you. 46:19 And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, 46:22 of righteousness, and of judgment." 46:24 Wow. 46:25 The Holy Spirit convicts us, 46:27 when we're not walking with God, 46:29 when I just told a lie and God says, 46:32 my daughter is always honest, go back and tell the truth. 46:36 That is the work of the Holy Spirit 46:39 in our lives. 46:40 The Holy Spirit convicts us. 46:42 Number two, the Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus. 46:44 Two chapters back, John 14, 46:47 John 14:26, 46:51 "But the helper, the Holy Spirit 46:53 whom the father will send in my name, 46:55 he will teach you all things, 46:58 and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." 47:01 If you want to learn, you feel like, 47:02 oh, I don't know enough of God's Word, I need wisdom, 47:05 I'm like a child, I can't even-- 47:08 like someone will say, go out or come in, 47:10 ask for the Holy Spirit. 47:12 The Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus. 47:15 Number three, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, 47:19 we won't look this up, but it's Romans 8, 47:21 if you're taking notes, Romans 8:26. 47:24 This is likewise the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. 47:28 The Spirit himself makes intercession for us. 47:32 We've groanings that cannot be uttered. 47:35 Boy, do you ever come before God 47:38 or pray for someone else, 47:39 and say, I don't even know what to pray for? 47:42 Wow, I don't know what to pray for in this situation. 47:45 The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. 47:50 Number four, the Holy Spirit transforms our lives. 47:54 He delivers us from the power of sin, 47:56 that's Romans 8:2, 47:58 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 48:00 has made me free from the law of sin and death. 48:04 The Holy Spirit sets us free, he transforms us. 48:09 Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 3, 48:12 he writes God's law in our hearts, 48:13 2 Corinthians 3:3, 48:19 this I think is one of my favorite scriptures 48:21 and I know I say this all the time, 48:22 'cause I have many 48:23 but I really like this scripture, 48:25 2 Corinthians 3:3. 48:28 Let's start at verse 2, I'm sorry 2 and 3. 48:31 "You are our epistle written in our hearts, 48:36 known and read by all men, 48:38 clearly you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us, 48:43 written not with ink 48:44 but by the Spirit of the living God, 48:47 on tablets of stone, not on tablets of stone 48:51 but on tablets of flesh that is of the heart." 48:55 The same passage in the NIV says this, 48:58 "You show that you are a letter, from Christ, 49:03 the result of our ministry written not with ink 49:06 but with the Spirit of the living God, 49:08 not on tablets of stone 49:10 but on tablets of human hearts." 49:13 I have here three letters that came from Greg. 49:16 I'm going through our closet and straightening it up 49:19 which is usually a good thing to do 49:22 and I found my little bundle of precious letters from Greg. 49:26 We had an old fashioned relationship you can say 49:29 because we were long distance. 49:31 We didn't see each other and we wrote letters 49:34 the old fashioned way. 49:36 This first one is dated 1999, that is 17 years ago. 49:42 This was actually before we were friends, 49:45 but not officially going together, 49:47 so the initial greeting, the salutation as they say, 49:52 says this, Dear Jill, we're friends. 49:56 This is a letter from Greg, 1999. 49:59 This next letter, the postmark says 2001, 50:03 by this time we are in a relationship, 50:07 and this letter begins this way, 50:09 to my dear Jilly, that's nice, okay. 50:16 Now, just a few months later is this little missive 50:20 and it has a little heart sticker on the back. 50:24 It's dated February 2002 and we got married that year, 50:30 to my one and only, 50:35 that's even more precious than my dear Jilly, right. 50:38 So you see the progression, dear Jill, my dear Jilly, 50:44 to my one and only. 50:47 What a letter show? They show who you are. 50:52 I fell in love with Greg through his letters, 50:54 fell in love with the person who he is. 50:58 And of course, there were other things, 50:59 not just the letters, I'm not saying that 51:01 but the letters played a big part in that, who he is. 51:04 What's God saying here? 51:06 You and I, each one of us are a letter from Christ, 51:13 it's not written His character, His-- 51:16 the fruits of the Spirit 51:18 are not written in tablets of stone, 51:20 He wrote it on our heart. 51:23 Why? 51:24 Because we are His witnesses and He calls each one of us 51:28 to stand up as in a letter, and someone else can read 51:31 and say, wow, that person has been with Jesus. 51:36 You ever met someone like that? 51:38 You spend time in their presence 51:40 and you think, wow, they have been with Jesus. 51:45 So the Holy Spirit transforms us, 51:47 so more and more, day by day, 51:51 we look and talk and act 51:55 like people who have been with Jesus. 51:58 Number five, the Holy Spirit endows us with spiritual gifts. 52:03 We won't look that up but you can see those spiritual gifts 52:05 listed in 1 Corinthians 12. 52:06 Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts 52:09 for the work of the church 52:12 and the community and evangelism. 52:14 He gives each one of us gifts to share Jesus with others. 52:18 And number six, the Holy Spirit produces fruit. 52:21 We use the scripture at the beginning, 52:22 Galatians 5:22 and 23, 52:25 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 52:27 patience, gentleness, goodness, 52:30 meekness, faith, temperance," the fruits of the Spirit. 52:35 I want to close tonight with a song, 52:37 I'm not gonna sing, 52:39 so I will spare you all of this evening. 52:41 But a song that Neville Peter wrote 52:45 and I like his music 52:46 and this particular song has well, when I read it, 52:51 it would take us all the way back to our opening scripture 52:54 Isaiah 43, remember, the dry, the dusty, 52:58 the desert and how God wants to put His Spirit in our hearts 53:04 and cause fruitfulness, abundance, 53:07 life to spring up again. 53:10 It's called, Let it rain. 53:13 Let it rain, let it pour 53:16 I'm longing for your presence, to deliver and restore 53:22 Let your love, wash over me 53:25 For where your spirit is I am free, 53:28 to bless your holy name 53:31 Let it rain Lord, Let it rain 53:35 Renew my heart again, I'm longing for your hand 53:41 Quench my thirsty soul, in this dry and barren land 53:48 The latter rain it must fall, in these last and evil days 53:53 And I know, it will cause me pain, 53:57 when I bless your name 53:59 Let it rain Lord, let it rain 54:02 I'm longing for your presence, to deliver and restore 54:06 Let your love, wash over me 54:09 For where your spirit is I am free, 54:12 to bless your holy name 54:15 Let it rain Lord, let it rain 54:19 Even if it causes pain 54:22 Lord if it causes pain, let it rain 54:27 The latter rain it must fall, in these last and evil days 54:31 And I know, it will cause me pain, 54:33 when I bless your name 54:36 Let it rain Lord 54:37 Let it rain down in my life 54:39 Let it rain down in my soul 54:41 Let it rain. 54:46 The Holy Spirit brings peace, yes, 54:49 sometimes when we walk through that dry 54:53 and barren place, there's pain, 54:57 I'm thinking in our circle, just here tonight, 55:00 two of our precious church members here, 55:04 recently lost their spouse. 55:06 I don't know what you're dealing with at home, 55:08 what pain, dry, barren, cracked soil, 55:13 you feel like is going on in your life and say, 55:16 God, it's causing pain and God I'm struggling. 55:19 Open up your heart to receive the Lord Jesus. 55:24 Let it rain, even if the rain hurts, 55:28 even if the rain says, 55:29 Jill, I want you to walk in obedience right here, 55:33 and I say, God, but that hurts, I don't want to, 55:37 I want to do my own thing, I want to go my own way 55:42 and He says, you can, 55:44 we're free like the hummingbird, 55:46 free to choose, but He says, if you choose My way, 55:53 if you allow Me to fill you, I'm gonna fill you, 55:59 I'm gonna change you, I'm gonna transform you, 56:03 I'm gonna have that dew saturate your life. 56:08 What a beautiful thing God wants to do. 56:11 Our God is so good. 56:13 What He wants to do in our hearts and our lives. 56:16 He says, wait before Me, allow, be still before Me. 56:22 Wait, allow time, allow yourself to be watered, 56:28 open up, ask for the Holy Spirit, 56:31 open up your heart to receive the Holy Spirit. 56:34 Choose to walk in obedience. 56:38 Say yes to Jesus and then allow the Holy Spirit 56:41 to equip you, to convict you of sin. 56:44 Let him do his work, don't fight him, 56:47 allow him to equip you, allow him to convict you 56:50 and to teach you about Jesus, allow him to intercede 56:53 and to transform your life, 56:56 allow him to endow you with spiritual gifts 56:59 for the betterment of the kingdom 57:00 and to produce fruit in your life. 57:04 We're gonna end tonight with prayer. 57:08 Because I think God wants to do a new thing, 57:10 that was our scripture verse, Isaiah 43:18 and 19, 57:14 "Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth, 57:17 you need a new thing in your life. 57:19 Do you need something new? 57:21 God says, allow me to let it spring forth. 57:24 Shall you not know it? 57:25 I will even make a way in the wilderness, 57:28 a road in the wilderness. 57:30 When you think there is no way out, 57:31 I will make a road in the wilderness 57:34 and streams of abundance in the desert." 57:38 Let's pray. Father, we come before You. 57:41 God, we just ask right now, I pray in my own life, 57:44 that You would let it rain even if it causes pain. 57:48 Lord Jesus, I want to be made into Your image. 57:51 I pray for my brothers and sisters here, 57:54 and those who are at home right now, 57:56 Lord, that You could change us 57:58 and make us into the image of Jesus. 58:00 We thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus, amen. |
Revised 2016-07-28