Is Your Fountain of Living Water Clogged? — Shane Idleman

Silence in Heaven and the Great Tribulation

What do you do when heaven is silent? When God is silent, we're in trouble, right? At least we think we are. But often God is doing some incredible things. And I was gonna get through Revelation eight, but I stopped in verse one.

It says when heaven was silent, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. And I wanted to expound upon that this morning. But let's pick up in chapter seven, verse 14 through 17, where we left off a few weeks ago.

These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation. And again, there seems to be a time coming where it's gonna be a great tribulation, not just normal tribulation, but something where God's wrath is poured out.

And these people that John saw in heaven, they came out of the great tribulations. It makes you think that obviously people can become Christians during the tribulation because of certain things. I think it was John MacArthur caught a lot of heat because he said something along the lines of people can repent even after taking the mark of the beast.

And the reason he said that is because the Bible doesn't say one way or the other. Now, I probably wouldn't make that statement because it's a little like, whoa, the whole point of the mark is you're accepting allegiance away from God.

But it does go on to say there are people saved in the great tribulation. And these are them that John saw up in heaven, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. And I talked about putting the blood on it.

Put the blood on it. And the Christian religion, it's not a religion, it's a relationship, but we make a lot to do about the blood because that's what saves us. How precious is that blood? What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And therefore, they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in the temple. And he also sits on the throne, and he will dwell among them. Talking about Jesus.

They shall never hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore, and the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And if you didn't hear the message a couple weeks ago, make sure you listen to that one because I talked about the living fountains of water. And I truly believe that apart from salvation, the second most important topic in the church today is these rivers of living water.

The Holy Spirit as Living Water

You could say it another way, the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through your life. Salvation, of course, is the primary, right? We gotta have salvation saved for eternity. But second to that is the work of the Holy Spirit, I believe, because that is where you can pray for people and they would be healed or set free.

Bondage is broken. Do you know what God wants to do in your life? Because the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit, you have a boldness about you, a boldness to testify. It's the Holy Spirit working in and through you.

And so when we pray, or actually sing songs like that, let it rain, what we're asking for, what? Is to let the power and presence of God's Spirit into our hearts in a mighty and profound way. Lord, let it rain, come down and drench me with those living waters.

And that's why we read in the heavens, it's based on Isaiah 64. Oh God, would you rip open the heavens, rip them open and come down and visit your people. And I often get the question, and rightly so, I think it's a good question, especially if you're new to the faith or maybe, yeah, new to the faith or maybe not even a believer.

But there is, God is everywhere, correct? There's no guesswork about that. David even said, where can I go to flee your presence? You know, wherever I go, you are there. But there is something, and you can, we could go back to the Old Testament, we could go back into church history, we could go into a place called the upper room where God's manifest presence is very profound, very real.

And I don't know, if we would have camped out at that song for another half hour, we might have experienced that power and presence. Amen, Bill? Just so you know, the whole time I'm praying, Lord, do you want me to go up there?

Can we just do worship this morning? But then I struggle, because I know he's giving me a message that helps people, too, and leads them to repentance, and so it's that struggle. And we have just went into worship before, and we will pray about that.

Possibly it ran the heavens, too, and so we're not shying away from that. We also feel we have a responsibility to preach and trying to find where God wants us to be. But that profound presence of God, they used to experience that in the temple.

Did you know that? Read the Old Testament. When they would prepare the sacrifice, and the priests, even after Solomon prayed, the smoke, it would say, of God's presence filled the entire temple. So the priests had to come out.

They couldn't even minister there. They would call it like the Shekinah glory of God's presence. These are just biblical terms. And unfortunately, people get kind of weirded out, because, oh, you're talking about the Holy Spirit and Shekinah glory?

I'm just talking about the Bible. And so as believers, as believers now, you can experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart and in your life. Rivers of living water flowing out of you.

Jesus' Promise of Rivers of Living Water

I didn't say it, Jesus did. If you believe on me, as the scriptures say, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And I always ask this question. Maybe I will again this morning to convict some people.

But where are these rivers of living water? If this whole church, our believers, if all of us are believers, balcony, you too can't get out of this one. And we have the Holy Spirit, where are the rivers of living water flowing out of us?

How many of us wanna keep worshiping, find our face on this altar? How many of us can't wait to go out and witness? How many of us just want to pray for someone and watch them healed and I need to minister?

Where's these rivers of living water, church? Where is it? Jesus said it. His word is in my heart like a burning fire, it's shut up in my bones. And I just have a concern that the enemy has many of us handcuffed.

I'm not talking about expression, I'm just talking about going out and that fire of the Spirit has been quenched and grieved, often by besetting sin. Often by a critical heart, an arrogant heart. Those who don't want more of God probably don't get more of God.

I'm just thinking out loud here, all this, you know, there's this talk of this conference coming to LA that's gonna spend $300 and tell you about how the Holy Spirit doesn't operate anymore in the supernatural gifts.

Like what a waste of time and money. And there's this resentment towards more of God and pressing in, these are biblical terms, pressing in, travail, perseverance, pulling down heaven. These are times where early believers would just seek God like never before.

And I only say that because it's a good opportunity to open our hearts and say, Lord, what is clogging up that fountain? That might be a sermon title in the future. I might preach that when it ran the heavens.

There's something clogging up the fountains of living water, right? And I know, and my heart is for all of you, I know some of you want that, you yearn for that, you desire that, but something is clogging that up.

Repentance and Removing Spiritual Obstructions

I know over the years, and again, I hate to tell stories that people have already heard and things, but they're so profound in my life, where I became very knowledgeable in the Bible. I have a good memory, so I can quote John Calvin and the Puritans and all these theology terms, and I'm just so smart in the Bible now, Mom.

But I was a jerk, critical heart, right straight as a gun barrel, but empty. And people would get excited about the Holy Spirit and people, it's about healing, and they're like, ah, I don't know if he does that anymore.

You know, you guys are kind of weird. And just quenching the Spirit, never seeing the fire of God's Spirit. And other things happened in my life as well that just brought me to my knees and just fully, Lord, I want all of you.

I don't care if people mock me or not, I want all of your fullness, I want all of your power, I want all of your presence. And we're not talking about weirdness, because I don't like weirdness. I like boldness, and I like genuine feelings and genuine emotions, and the only explanation is the fountains of living water are clogged up in the lives of many people.

That's the only explanation. Number one, if they're not believers, well, hello, ding, ding, ding, we know that one. Number two is, remember I pray that, Lord, take this sermon any other direction you want.

So you might have to go listen to the first service, because it's already way different, this message is. But the fountains of living water, so it depends what age you are, of course, but you're on fire for the Lord, you've given your life to Christ.

Remember when the Bible will come alive? And worship, and you're just, where does that go? I believe the number one target of the enemy is to plug up that fountain of living water. He does that in my life as well.

Spiritual Warfare and the Enemy's Tactics

If I can just get them inactive, if I can just get them doing nothing, sure, they can have their own little Bible study, whatever, but they're not influencing their family, they're not leading people to the Lord, they're not taking authority.

And again, these are biblical terms. Paul said we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, we are wrestling against what? Principalities against powers, and therefore the weapons of our warfare are not physical, they are spiritual, pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bold preaching, compassionate ministry, spirit-filled words going into the lives of others and leading them to repentance.

Can you imagine? So the enemy has to clog up that line, quench and grieve the spirit. The DMV will give you a certificate of non-operation, so will the enemy. Did you know that? You can have a car parked in your driveway for years.

You don't have to register, just go to the DMV and get a certificate of non-operation. There it is, it's sitting in the driveway for five years. Does nothing, goes nowhere. And I only tell you that because that is what the enemy wants to do in our lives.

Because it's from that spring of life that you give life to others. Is that true? How are you gonna give life to your kids, or your grandkids, or your spouse, or your immediate family, your business partners, or at work where you're at, or life in general, or shopping at Trader Joe's, or Sprouts?

How do you give life, spiritual life to those people? I get convicted myself sometimes. Like, why did I go into Sprouts? Didn't even ask anybody if they wanna be prayed for or need anything. Gosh, Lord.

Because I can become dull. Normally for me it's in a hurry, right? You know, I gotta get in and out, got stuff to do. And the rivers of living water should flow out into all areas that we live in. And that's how lives are changed and impacted.

And so it makes sense that the enemy wants to clog up those lines. It's like the story, you know, I told you, it was so cute though. My little son, back then he was little, and had the water on full blast in the backyard.

And any of you had that water pressure where it's really good? Like, I don't know, 100 PSI or something? You can't even hold that hose, it's just, I just love the high pressure. And so it wasn't on, it was just like a little tiny drips.

And what we started to do is backtrack the hose. Right? Let's move that kink. Let's remove that kink. Let's remove that kink. One more, boom! It's all, it's hitting him in the face, he's crying, and you know, it's like the water's everywhere.

What was the problem? Not the pressure, not the valve. It was shut off. The power was crimped. It was shut off. There's nothing could be done other than loosening those up and letting the free flowing of that water.

It's interesting, the Holy Spirit is often referred to as that living water, that life-sustaining living water. So folks, we need to really look at this topic. If you are dead and barren, it could be that something is clogging up those fountains of living water.

Don't raise your hand, but isn't that true? If you're caught in sin, you don't want that living water to be coming out. I mean, you want it, but you're living in shame and guilt and failure and frustration.

When God Is Silent

I just can't get over this. I can't just get victory in this area. And we live in this state, and the rivers of living water are cut off. Matthew said this could, Matthew Henry, could be a silence of expectation.

As we continue to read what's gonna be poured out in chapter eight when the seventh seal is broken, it could be a hush silence. Was it an actual 30 minutes? Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Will you keep silent and afflict us beyond measure? And they were experiencing a little bit of what happened in Israel with Hamas. How can you allow these things to happen? Will you restrain yourself?

Will you keep silent and allow these things to happen? In Psalm 28, O Lord, O Lord, I called my rock. My rock, do not be deaf to me, for if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.

What do you do when God is silent? What do you do when God is silent? And this is so important because so many people, you've heard about people kind of walk away from the faith, I mean, especially a lot recently.

And you hear me say sometimes become bitter or better. You know, there's a choice. And so many people, when God is silent, they end up going in a not in a healthy direction. Maybe frustration comes in.

But what you have to remember is don't turn to other voices when God is silent. Don't turn to other voices when God is silent. There's no such thing as unmotivated people, just those who listen to the wrong voice, the wrong influence.

Distress, Unfaithfulness, and Trusting God

I think we have 2 Chronicles available too. In time of his distress, in the time of his distress, King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord. Did you know that can happen? In the time of distress, we either can become, again, bitter or better.

When the stress hits us, that's what distress, distress is more stress than I want. And when that hits us, we can become unfaithful to the Lord because we want to fix the problem ourself. Anyone been there?

I'm dealing with a lot of stress. I'm gonna fix this problem myself. And oftentimes, we'll lash out in anger. We'll react in anger instead of respond the right way that God wants us to respond.