Thirsting for the Spirit Rather Than the World I thought of putting a picture up here of just stacks and stacks of cases of soda pop of all kinds just stashed up, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Coke, and you could name for a long time, then put another picture up, of a beautiful mountain stream of just clear water, river of clear water, and a deer and a fawn standing at the edge of the water taking a drink, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, am I thirsty this morning, do I long for and desire the anointing of God and the baptism of the Holy Ghost of God in my life more than anything else, you know why often we're not thirsty or hungry, for the real good stuff, it's because we're feeding on something that is of lesser value, something that has lesser nutrition, something that just sort of gives a short high, you know, that jolt drink or whatever it is, and it gives a short jolt and maybe we feel better for a little bit, but then it lets us down, what are you drinking from, oh drinking from the streams of living water, happy now am I, my soul is satisfied, drinking from the streams of living water, a bountiful and wonderful supply, I butchered a little there at the end, but a bountiful and wonderful supply, the promise of the Father for the anointed life and the spirit -filled life has one requirement, to those that are thirsty, he was hiking down into a deep canyon and all by himself and he had with him a little canteen of water because he was going to hike down and hike right back up the same day, but as he was hiking down that canyon, he slipped on a rock and fell and broke his femur off the beaten path, down over the edge of the trail, lying there in pain and unable to walk, unable to get himself up, barely able to roll over on his back and try to prop his leg up a little bit for a little bit of relief from the extreme exasperating pain, thankfully his arm wasn't broke, he could still reach back and get his canteen of water, that was supposed to last him for that day, every now and then when you hear a little noise, he'd cry out, it got hotter and hotter in that canyon, it reached a hundred and ten degrees and thirst was so strong, but he thought I don't know how long I'll be here, I those canyons, those arid desert canyons can get cold at night, it dawned on a second day and it got hot again and his water supply was very small and every now and then he'd cry for help, when his water was gone and hope beginning to fade, he realized my situation is getting grave, I need someone to find me and help me and the thirst became almost unbearable in the heat, brother, sister, are you thirsty for God, am I thirsty for God like that, you see God is not going to pour out his Holy Spirit upon a casual drinker, who's drinking the soda pops of the world and being refreshed in those and then oh yes I need a little bit of God over here, let me get a little five dollars worth of God, but that's enough, I don't need much, I really love my soda pop, you know I don't want to park there very long, I want to I want to take us on to the goodness of our Heavenly Father, to the promise of our Heavenly Father, but here's a question, the reason that you might be experiencing less of God than you would desire and less than you see your brother or sister have and you see them walking and leaping and praising God and full of the joy of the Lord and you wish you could have what they have, ask them, ask them for their testimony, ask them, oh I remember those days I looked with longing at some other Christians who were full of grace and love and joy and I knew, I knew that brother, that sister, they've got something I don't have, I believe I'm born again, I believe I'm saved, but they've got something I don't have and so to be theologically correct this morning, that you don't throw out my message because you say it's off doctrinally, I don't believe you can be born again without being born of the Spirit, Romans 8 13, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his, so to be born again, you are born of the Spirit, Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born of the Spirit and so to be a Christian, you must be born of the Spirit, but I also believe this, ah yeah Ephesians, be filled with the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit, well now why if we're born of the Spirit, do we need to be filled with the Spirit, think about it, think about that for a moment, be filled with the Spirit, in the book of Acts chapter 4, I believe about verse 32, it says that they were all together again in one accord praying after Acts chapter 2, the first outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost and in Acts chapter 4, they're together praying, they're saying oh God have mercy on us, stretch forth your hand that your holy child Jesus may be seen in us and the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they went out with the anointing and power of the Spirit and God with them bearing witness, oh glory to God, do I believe in a second work of grace, I believe in a second and a third and a fourth and a fifth, I believe in being continually filled with the Spirit of God, be ye filled with the Spirit of God, I'll not share too much of my testimony because I see my time is fast running out but I leave us with this question for now, are you thirsty, are you thirsty that it drives you to push away the soda pop, the counterfeit of the world that gives a little pleasure, a little bit of high for a moment, a little sugar high, a little caffeine high and then it lets you down, do you want the real thing, are you thirsty, God promises to those that thirst, turn now to John 7 37, a very familiar scripture where in that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, John 7 37, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink and he that believeth on me as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, how shall this be Lord Jesus, I'll tell you Jesus said, he said this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, the promise of the Father, if any man, if any woman thirst, any man, this is not just for the preacher, this isn't just for dad, this is for you son, this is for you youth, this is for the sons and the daughters, this is for the handmaidens of the Lord, this is for the young people, the youth, yes, this is for you, if any man thirst, I urge you today, seek for a personal encounter with God, may I be so bold as to say a personal Pentecost because God wants to meet you there, long, earnestly, fondly for that river of life that Jesus promised, he that believeth on me as the scripture I said, out of his belly or almost innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, are you tired of trying to pump it up, are you tired of trying to manufacture it over the little one -room school right next to our house, they had one of those old pumps there, you know, with a big long handle and boy, you had to pump that thing and you had to pump maybe about six strokes before any water came out, well I encourage you today, God wants to give you something better than an old pump that you're just pumping yourself and try to work up the Christian life, but God wants to give a well within you that shall flow out of you a river of living water by the Holy Ghost of God indwelling you and quickening you, yes, well, are you thirsty, I believe our relationship, I believe it's a direct correlation between whether we are filled with the Spirit of God continually in relation to our thirst, I really believe it, it's taught so much in the scripture, the promise of the Father, the promise of the Father, it's not God's will that we be living a defeated, deflated, miserable existence as a child of God, just barely scraping along, Jesus said, I have come to give you life and to give it more abundantly, I want you just to listen to this, Jesus used a story, you know, Jesus often told stories, he illustrated truth by stories and in Luke 11 he gave a story, he said, you know, which of you, if you have a friend coming to you and your friend is needy, he comes at a bit of an odd hour, he comes at midnight and he's hungry and you need something to give him, but you don't have what he takes, so you go over to your friend and you say to him, a friend on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him, and so your friend from inside the house at midnight is sorry to be awakened from his sleep and disturbed and he says, oh please let me alone, go away, don't you know it's time to be sleeping, besides if you don't soon be quiet, you'll get my children awake, my children are with me in bed and we're all asleep here, don't trouble me, the door is now shut, I cannot rise and give thee, so Jesus gave that as a story to get the people's attention and then he said, I say unto you that though this man won't rise and give him because he's his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth, because of his importunity, because of his unabashed, unashamed continuing to knock, continue to bother and disturb his friend's sleep, saying I really need it, I mean I am desperate, I need it, how much thirst do you have today, do you feel that compelling need, I need the power of the Holy Ghost in my life, I am sick and tired of living a defeated Christian life, I know I'm a child of God, but I need the power of the Holy Spirit in my life, I am ashamed that I don't testify of Jesus, Jesus on my lips, I'm ashamed that the weak low life I'm living, I need the power of the Holy Ghost, now listen to the heart of the Father, this is so beautiful and I just want to bring this to a close with this, this is so lovely, because of his importunity, his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth, what do you need today, how many loaves do you need, how much grace do you need, how much victory do you need, how much deliverance do you need, he'll rise and give him as many as he needeth, so I say to you, ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you, for everyone, you should underline that in your Bible if you're okay to do that, for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened, everyone, everyone, oh the goodness of our Heavenly Father, oh the provision of our Heavenly Father, now he says okay, just in case you still need a little more affirmation, let me give you another example, we'll illustrate it this way, you have a son, you love your son and your son is hungry and he says, dad I'm hungry, please give me something to eat, please give me some bread, I'm hungry, dad would you make me an egg with the bread, how about we do, how about we do a breakfast menu, some bread and some egg and dad, I'm really hungry, how about some of that dried fish that's hanging back there, put a little bit of that dried fish in there, Jesus says, if you who have a sinful nature, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him, for me it was quite a journey because I was wrestling between that baptism of fire, I wanted the baptism of the Holy Ghost but oh not the fire, oh Lord the fire and to me the fire was, trust me with your life, surrender all to me, you see my dad said something to me when I was about 12 years old, he said, you know son, I'm not sure exact words but he said, you know someday you're going to preach the Word of God, that frightened me down to my toes, I was like terrified, pop why did you say that and from then on I began running from God, Lord I'll do anything for you, I'll do anything except preach because I can't Lord and it's true, I was so bound by fear and gripped that when I get in front of a crowd and even just half a dozen people or a dozen people, I would choke up, I couldn't say anything, sometimes I would actually get so paralyzed by fear that it would just grit me in my throat and just like get a hold of me and squeeze me until I actually puked in front of the people and was made totally ashamed and a fool of myself and I said to Janice, I'm sorry, I'm not going, I'm not going, I'm not going to that family gathering, I'm not going to that youth group thing because they're going to want to play volleyball or do something and they're going to want to engage me and then I'll make a fool of myself, I needed a Savior, I needed deliverance, I needed a baptism of fire, I said Lord, I see this Christian over here who's full of joy and has the life of Christ abundantly flowing out of him, I want that.