The Overflowing Life — John Van Gelderen

The Presence of God and the Overflowing Life

John chapter 7, in the Word of God tonight, you know there is a spiritual tasting, there's a spiritual hearing, there's a spiritual touch and thus feel, that's not physical, it's spiritual, and a spiritual scene, as my wife just sang about, and it is dealing with the presence of the Lord, and that is the very heart of the outpouring of the Spirit, it's the manifestation of the presence of God, and so to know the presence of the Lord, that is our need.

That song by the way is on that revival CD that I mentioned earlier, but that is, I trust, the heart cry of all of our hearts, to know the presence of the Lord. Well before we continue further, let me just say, it's been a joy to be back here at Fellowship Baptist Church, and I can't believe we're to Friday night, but we are, and it has been a blessing to have hungry hearts in the audience, night after night after night, and that speaks well to the ongoing ministry that's taking place here, and I'll be honest with you, as we have the privilege of coming back, you can see that God is maturing a people, and there is growth in the Lord, and it's very apparent, and it's just a wonderful thing, and I will say that your pastor is just a deep blessing for me to be around, you know when somebody is hungry for revival, and evangelists just get spurred on, I'm telling you, and just have conversations like we have during the day, and just passion for revival, it's just been a blessing to me.

You know you can go to some audiences and you can still preach the truth, but you know it's bouncing off the back wall or whatever, but when there is hungry hearts, and a pastor who's leading the way with a passion for revival, it is a deep blessing, and I thank God for what He's doing here, and God is working, there's no doubt about it, it's very very apparent, I could tell it on Sunday, and God answering your prayers, and it's just been a privilege to be back here, I appreciate Brother John helping with the music for Mary Lynn, and I appreciate many of you have been here every night, others every night that you possibly could, and we thank the Lord for this church, and for what He's doing here.

As the Lord does bring us to mind, we do appreciate your prayer, I'll be headed out to Lord willing to the St. Louis area tomorrow, and on with the schedule here this fall, but we certainly do appreciate the privilege of being here in these days.

Corporate Prayer and Awareness of God's Presence

Well last night we focused on a symphony of prayer, which really deals with the presence of God in the corporate prayer meeting, because it said, there am I in the midst of them. I was delighted last night to hear reference among several, that you recognize that God was here.

God wants us to recognize Him. He was here last night, and He's been here night after night, but in that prayer meeting it was apparent that He was here. Now there can be greater measures of intensity and all those kinds of things, but we need to acknowledge when God moves, and He's been moving, and so that's a wonderful thing, and I am thrilled that God is raising up an awareness of His presence, and a need for more of His presence, that is the need of our land.

Revival History and the Need for Spiritual Renewal

And I was reading an account by the historian J. Edwin Orr, who wrote the song, Search Me O God, that we sing, it's in our hymnals. Revival historian from the 20th century, now with the Lord. He has written several tremendous accounts of revival, he goes into the origins as well, but when he talked about the 1857 -58 revival here in America, often known for what it did to the big cities, and it was massive in what God did in New York City, and Philadelphia, and Chicago, and Atlanta, and Denver, and across the nation, but he goes into detail and didn't just touch the cities, it touched the towns, it touched the villages.

He said, yea, the country hamlets, all across the nation there was an awareness of the presence of God. Now friends, that is our need, and God is raising up prayer groups. I mentioned that earlier this week, and prayer groups within churches, just like this, as well as prayer groups between churches and preachers in various parts of the country, and I trust that where God burdens you, find others of like burden, and have symphonies, and let's look to the Lord to meet the need of our land.

We are in definite need. And sometimes when God sends big revival, it changes everything even politically. Other times it prepares the people of God for persecution. There was massive revival in the 30s and 40s in China, preparing them for 1950, and that church has mushroomed as a result of that, even under the oppression and persecution of the last 60 years.

In fact, there are more believers in China than there are in the USA because of that. But the bottom line is, we need the reviving presence of God. Now when you have special touches, like we have even last night, there is sometimes a desire to stay on the mountaintop and build three tabernacles.

And yes, we need repeated visitations from the Lord, no doubt about that. But there is a truth that we're going to look at tonight that is necessary for the whole thing to fit together and then to be repeated over and over again as seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

Jesus' Invitation to the Thirsty

So let's look tonight at John chapter 7, as we'll focus in on an aspect of the truth, a facet of the diamond that we have not yet focused on thus far. John 7, verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, I'll let him come unto me and drink, he that believeth on me.

As the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.

From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. The title of the message tonight is The Overflowing Life. Shall we bow our heads? Will you join me in asking the Spirit of God to open our understanding tonight?

Prayer for Understanding and Spiritual Protection

Blessed Holy Spirit, we do thank you for what you've been doing. We thank you for lifting up Jesus and taking of what is his and showing him unto us in these days. Oh, Lord, tonight, would you meet with us once again?

Lord, tonight, would you open our eyes to the grand reality of truth, the privilege, and the responsibility of this text? Lord, would you give us understanding to this overflowing life? And Lord, tonight, may it become the experience of our lives over and over again.

Lord, I plead the blood, would you protect us from the enemy who seeks again to hinder us in this, to thwart us, to hide this powerful truth? So, Lord Jesus, I claim our position in you at the throne, far above all principality and power, and I claim our protection in you there, and hold up your blood, and in your name, exercise your authority over the powers of darkness that would seek to hinder tonight, trusting you that that simply not be allowed.

Lord Jesus, may you be manifested to our hearts tonight. May you be honored. May we properly respond in faith and in absolute surrender. We trust you for this, and Lord, we thank you for it in Jesus' name.

The Wilderness Journey and the Provision of Water

Amen. When I was 15 years of age, my father took me on one of his trips to the Bible lands. What an amazing thing for a 15-year-old to walk where Jesus walked, even in his physical body. But the first part of that trip was fascinating.

We went to the land of Egypt. That's one of the Bible lands. And it was fascinating to look at the pyramids and see sights that Moses saw. Now, that's going back a few millenniums. That's amazing. Absolutely amazing.

We even went to the museum in Cairo, and while there, there's a particular room where they don't just have mummies, it's the mummies of the pharaohs. And my father had to pay a little extra money, but he got me into that room.

My father knew the history, and they have these pharaohs in incubators, and they have, many of them, their faces are uncovered, sometimes their feet. And my father took me to the pharaoh that he believed was the pharaoh of the Exodus.

And I'm looking at him. That's amazing. And you know, his neck was still hard. But at any rate, we finished our time in Egypt, and we began to make our way across the Sinai Peninsula over to Israel. And we stopped at a given point there on the Sinai Peninsula where there was the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel in the book of Numbers.

Christ as the Spiritual Rock

And they took us to a spot where there's a rock that is split, and out of that split flows to this day pure water. Now, I don't know if it's the spot where Moses struck the rock and water came, but it could be.

It very well could be. The water is still clean, very pure. We all bent over, or most of us did, and took a drink. Fascinating. You know, in 1 Corinthians 10, you have some references to the wilderness wanderings, and we're told there that they, the children of Israel, drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

So, the actual water from the rock was a picture of the much greater truth of Jesus. That's why Moses wasn't supposed to strike the rock twice. Jesus was smitten once at the cross, and so forth. But there's that beautiful imagery.

The Feast of Tabernacles as the Backdrop to Jesus' Invitation

Now, that is what is referred to in a part of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is taking place in John chapter 7. In the wilderness, they dwelt in tents. The Feast of Tents, the Feast of Tabernacles. Sometimes the word booth is used, but I don't like the sound of that when you pluralize it.

The Feast of Booths. Sounds too close to the Feast of Booths. So, we won't say it that way. It's the Feast of Tabernacles, the tents, reminding them of what happened there in the wilderness. But a part of what took place in that feast was they would have a ceremony where water was poured out, commemorating very specifically the provision of water that God gave His children in the wilderness.

Now, that's the backdrop to our text. On the last day, it says there in verse 37, that great day. This was the special day of the feast. Jesus stands up, and He lifts His voice, and He cries out, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me.

See, He's the spiritual rock. There it is. It's all coming together. That's what the whole thing was picturing. Let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The Spirit-Filled Life for Holiness and Service

But this spake he of the Spirit. Now, when we talk about the Spirit-filled life, often you'll find in Revival literature, the Spirit-filled life for holiness and service. Now, what is meant by that is the Spirit-filled for being right, holiness, and the Spirit-filled life for doing right, service.

Okay. When it comes to being right, we have the provision of Christ in us. We focused on this a bit on Tuesday night, on the way of escape, and we have His divine life in us, which we can take. We don't have to ask for it.

It already is. We have to take it by faith because it's a fact. It's a reality. It's not a potentiality. It's a reality. Christ lives in every one of His children. Depend on it. Take it by faith, and you'll find His life to be imparted to you, and His victorious life will be the life that you will experience.

That's holiness. But the verses of Scripture that use the future tense, such as our text, shall flow, rivers of living water, are going beyond the limit.