Let’s jump on into the message at this time. As, of course, our theme is living water, we go to our theme, scripture, that kind of we launched from and look at how living water can change our lives. In John 7:38, it says, Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, Rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this, he meant the Spirit. Who knows who believed in him were later to receive.
So as it says, as the scripture says, we’ve been talking about this a while. What does that mean? It gives us a door of understanding where we’re going to look for living water throughout the whole Bible this year. That’s what we’re going to do. But I really see there’s a pattern of faith displayed throughout the Bible, and that pattern is one of God’s children are against the odds.
Or maybe God’s family, maybe the whole Israel nation is up against the odds, if you notice that. And I think that’s what he means by that belief. That’s that faith you need when you find yourself up against the odds. It’s kind of like Gideon. Remember when Gideon and judges, he didn’t really want to go up against the multitudes.
But the army has a bad dream, basically. And all of a sudden it comes true. And 300 people take out a big army. That’s crazy. But they were against the odds.
Same thing with Joshua, where they marched around the city. The walls of Jericho come down, all because a bunch of people shout and the worship teams trumpet player has a good day. I mean, that’s crazy, too. The walls come down, but yet they were against the odds. They couldn’t go through that wall, but God did it.
Jehosophat. Remember him, the King. He got the whole nation fasting because a vast army that he couldn’t take on was coming and once again, the worship team. Isn’t the worship team awesome?
I mean, the worship team, they sing a song and God takes out the whole army. That’s what it is all about. Weapons of war. Samson took a donkey bone and took out a bunch of men single handedly. I mean, if you were going to choose the weapon of war, would you choose a donkey’s jaw?
I mean, no, but God can work through the jaw or even David with a smooth stone with Goliath. We see it over and over. And it’s so easy to read these stories, even as I recount some of them and say that that was amazing. But what about your life? What’s your smooth stone?
What are you going to use when you’re faced in those odds, when God got you in that faithful situation where you need the Holy Spirit to flow, and you got to figure out, what am I going to do? This passage says that those who believe, like those guys in the Old Testament, like the scriptures, they’ll have Rivers flowing, Rivers flowing through them that will be able to make an amazing difference. But I don’t know about you. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have Rivers. Are you with me?
Matter of fact, I don’t think I have Rivers. I don’t think I have a river. Let’s get serious. Sometimes it’s just a trickle. You know, you feel like it’s not so much going on here. Lord, Lord, is that it?
Can you give me a river? Can we flow some of the spirit, but, you know, they all felt the same way in that situation. And that’s what we’re going to look at because it says here Rivers of living water would flow. A river flowing is a promise of God. When we get to those places where we don’t feel like God’s presence is with us, we got to realize we have a promise.
And this is one of the promises right here, the promise of a solution that will overcome the odds. A promise of a river that has a current. You ever jumped into a river and start swimming, you feel the current. If it’s a strong current, it’s hard to swim upstream. It takes you.
But that’s what we’ve got to feel, that that is flowing in our lives, and it’s powerful. And what does that spirit do? It calls us to go against the flow of the world. It’s like in Matthew seven where it says, Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction. And many enter through it.
But small is the gate, narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. We’ve got to be countercultural. We have the current of the world coming at us. But, yeah, we’ve got to go the opposite direction with the living waters flowing. Amen.
And that’s what living waters do. And that’s why we’re studying this out. Why? Because those living waters can flow and change our situation.
And as you notice, as I shared before, when we’ve got to come up with solutions, when we got to flow over a situation, how do you like our new stage? We got a new style, don’t we? Isn’t it awesome. Well, the Rivers were flowing this morning. I have to say that. Jeff said we’re setting up two TVs, so that’s what we’re going to do today.
And because we have to we have one right down here that we got. So that’s one. That’s two right here. And usually we have four. I think we had four TVs.
We’re doing two today. It’s okay. Well, let’s change it up. Let’s get creative. Let’s figure out what God is going to do.
We don’t have as many people. And, you know, it’s not a bad solution. It’s a little different feel. Got a nice little table here. Wendy made sure we got a little something on here. We need the sisters every now and then to show us.
But in life, we’ve got to be willing to change. We’ve got to get creative. Even with our small groups, we’re asking everyone to get those Rivers flowing, the creative juices just so that God can show us a way out. And he puts us in these faithful situations where we look around and when we say it’s difficult, Lord. Are you there right now? People on Zoom, are you there right now?
Has it been difficult? Some of you trying to recover from COVID and trying to know if you have COVID nowadays you don’t know and it’s always there and you’re making decisions and, you know, life can be difficult, but God puts us in some difficult situations so that he can do amazing things. And you may feel like it’s hopeless. I’m at the end of my rope. God, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. I am this age now, and I should have been making this and this shouldn’t have happened and this thing should have gone this way.
Why is it this way? And you may feel like I’m at the end Lord. You know what God wants you to do with that rope? Make it into a swing. He says, swing on it. I’ll catapult you somewhere.
I’ll show you what I want to do. He wants to create a living, water flowing situation from the throne of God so that you can be faithful. You can see God move, and that faithful situation will take you to a new place. Amen? He’ll get you to be creative to overcome your problems.
And, you know, when I get to heaven, I really want to Fellowship with some people. Are you that way, too? You read the Bible. Wouldn’t it be great to fellowship with some of these faithful people who got in those situations? And today, you know who we’re going to be looking at today?
We’re going to go to Exodus eventually, but we’re going to look at Moses’ mother and father. There’s some faithful people. And, you know, it’s pretty rough because I want tp Fellowship with them. I don’t even know their names. The Bibles didn’t say anything about their names.
We’re going to just read a little bit about what happened there. I’m going to give a little background to it. And parents, we can understand that because once you have kids, you no longer have a name. I’m actually Brandon’s father, I’m Bianca’s father. You go to the school, they don’t even know your name. They know your last name, but you’re somebody’s father or mother, so I get that.
But I’d like to fellowship with them because I like the way it’s described here. You can turn to act seven in verse 17 to 19. It tells us a little background of the story about what’s going on in Egypt at the time, he says in verse 17, but when the time of the Promised drew near, which God has sworn to Abraham, the people grew, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt until another King of Rose, who did not know Joseph.
This man dealt treacherously with other people and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies so that they might not live. What was going on in that time? The Israelites are multiplying into a nation, and the Pharaoh wants to slow that process down. And the way that he planned to do that was to take the males out when they were young as babies. It continues in Acts seven.
It says at this time Moses was born. It was well pleasing to God. He was brought up in his father’s house for three months. But when he was set out, Pharoah’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words indeed.
You know, it says right here that his parents and his mother was in that faithful situation odds against them, and she was so faithful she was able to set him out and allow God to come on in. So let’s just take a deeper dive into the story. Let’s go back to Exodus and let’s look at the account there, and we’re going to be looking for how she overcame and how they overcame here. And we know the story. But it says here in Exodus two, one through two, and a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
So the woman conceived and bore son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. So I don’t know about you, but I think my kids are beautiful. But they put that in, he was a beautiful every parent thinks their kids are beautiful.
I don’t care how they look, even when they first come out and look a little funny. They are beautiful, aren’t they? Parents understand that. But it says here that Moses was like this. So what’s going on?
Well, it first says that she was able here to hide him for three months. You know how hard it is to hide a three month old. All right, baby, just stay in the closet. Shh. How did she do that? All right.
They know you’re going to have to check the closet next time. And I don’t know if they checked the house when the father was out working and they were slaves and maybe she was home on leave, I don’t know. But she was able for three months to avoid the soldiers and avoid the situation. It was under her control.
She was able to hide them, hide Moses rather, and get away with it. And basically it was in her control. When we faced tough situations, we like to think our way out of it. And as long as we can think our way out of it, we’re fine. But then she got to the end of her rope, didn’t she?
She got to where she couldn’t hide them, and it wasn’t any more new places. And she got here. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes from him, daubed it with asphalt in pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the River Bank. And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him. Now, that was the faithful situation, because at that point, she knew, I can’t take this into my own hands.
And sometimes we get in situations where we cannot take it into our own hands, and that’s when God can refine us. That’s when we grow the most, when we reach the place to where God, this is out of our control. I don’t know what’s going on in your life. Maybe there’s a financial crisis that’s going on right now that’s out of your control. And if you’re in that place, well, you know what?
That’s okay. God will take you out of it. Maybe it’s a health crisis. Maybe you have some relational problems, or maybe you’re disjointed and all kinds of different things in your relationships in your world, that could be a crisis. And what she does is she gets creative, doesn’t she?
See, she had an amazing quiet time, and she read the story of Noah’s Ark. This is what happened. I’m just telling you. No? That can’t happen, huh, jason, there’s no way that could have happened.
She couldn’t have read because the guy that was going to write the first five books is Moses right there. So she couldn’t he had no reference. So when did she come up with this idea? This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to make a basket.
I’m going to waterproof it. I’m going to put my baby in it. And that’s it. That was from God. That was total trust.
And that’s why I want to talk to her when we get to heaven. Wow. Amazing faith. And you know what? It’s amazing to see that she was able to put her son into the flow of the Nile, which is crazy.
Would you want to put your kid even into one of the retention ponds around your house? Say, Lord, that is amazing to have that kind of faith. She was in a tough place, but yet she grew, and she even sent her daughter to go and watch. And I think she might have did that because she probably couldn’t just watch. She’s like, baby, you have to go out there. I am not going to be able to handle this.
You come back, you tell me. I’m going to put the baby down, tell me what happens. It’s in the Lord’s hands. It’s amazing to see the faith. And I think this is true. What looks like the end is often the beginning of our faithful story.
I think we’ve got to get down to the place to where we understand. And when you’re in a tough situation, that might just be the beginning, even though it feels like the end. When you’re up against the odds, when you feel like, I don’t know what’s going to happen. And I can totally relate to this because I just feel that way. But even making goals this year, remember earlier in the year we did a lesson about what we’re going to do as the north region and just sharing about what we’re going to do to be able to get a building.
Amen. We’re still praying for that Church. This is a plug so we don’t have to set up. And we want to be said, let’s put it in Lake Mary. And then we looked at where everybody lives in our region and we only have one person living there.
But I think God can do something. And every year for years I’ve been here, I’ve been saying we’re going to go to the campus, we’re going to get a campus Ministry going in the north. Amen. Can I get an Amen? And I said, Amen is really like, Lord, that’s a trickle.
But, Lord, please, can you change this lord? You hear us talk about just my daughter with MS. That’s a mountain. We pray, I pray.
I hope you pray that she’ll be healed. And I know that that’s never happened before, but it can. What I’m talking about, those odds come and I got to believe that this is the faithful story that God’s going to do, that God’s going to do amazing things. He’s going to do some great things, and it’s not the end. And when she put that baby down, it was the beginning.
What we’re going to do right now is I’m going to show a little scene from the Prince of Egypt. So kids, you can take a look at the screen. If you’re home on Zoom, get your kids into the room. This is the best part of the service to them right now for sure. Okay.
And for us, I’m going to show a little clip here. And I really like this clip because it kind of shows speculation, but pretty risky, what she did. Let’s just watch this. Are we ready to go? Make that switch over. Ready to go? Let’s do it.
Do you have any volume? Want me to go back? Yeah. Okay. No problem.
Good. Yeah.
(Singing) Hush now, my baby, be still now don’t cry. Sleep as you’re rocked by the stream. Sleep and Remember my last lullaby so I’ll be with you when you dream. River, oh river, flow gently for me such precious cargo you bear. Do you know somewhere where he can be free? River deliver him there. Brother, you’re safe now and safe may you stay. For I have a prayer just for you. Grow baby brother. Come back some day.
Come and deliver us, too. Come Ramses, we will show Pharaoh your new baby brother, Moses.
All right. You know, when Moses’ mother placed that baby in the Nile, now, I know that they definitely maybe added a few things of how dangerous it was, but no, there were a lot of those animals in that Nile. I thought they did a great job to show that it was God, to show that even though she thought it was the end, it was the beginning, that God was starting something through the flow of the Nile, that he could have directed that basket through that current and with the wind blowing it. And I’m sure that she didn’t live right next to the palace.
It was a little journey. At least I know that’s true. There had to be a journey for the basket to go. And I think so often when we are coming up with creative things, Lord, deliver me from this, so help me with that. We often are just so thinking about that moment, God’s just getting started.
So then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river and her maidens walked along the Riverside. And when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. When she opened it, she saw the child. And behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew children.
I mean, right there, there was a bond. I like the way that they showed it there. He wasn’t weeping. He was actually saying, hey, mom, take me off or whatever there in the little video. But you know what? God moved in her heart. And his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. So the maiden went and called the child’s mother.
This is amazing. She said to her maiden, she didn’t say that to Moses’ sister, she said, go with this little girl and let her find. And it doesn’t say here, but I said, Go find the mother. What a turnaround. And now we see her feeling like she’d never see Moses again.
Moses mother, I’d probably never see this baby again. And look at all that’s happening. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, I already had that right. All right. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you wages.
So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, Because I drew him out of water, isn’t this amazing? So the maiden goes back with a little sister. They go get mum.
Mum goes to the palace. And now all of a sudden, Moses, he gets a new name because he’s drawn out. But yet he gets a full ride scholarship to go to the best schools in Egypt. And not only that, the parents get money to raise them. Wouldn’t you like someone to give you money to raise your kids?
Don’t go put your kid in the retention pond. It might not work, but I’m just telling you, but isn’t it great that man, this thing turned around to the point where she didn’t have to hide them anymore. She had the seal of the Palace. Pharaohs out trying to destroy everything. And now he’s raising the answer.
He’s raising what’s going to deliver them. And that’s how our God moves. From making a new ark from doing these things. And we’ve got to believe he’s the same God today. He hasn’t changed. He does the same things.
He starts with a new beginning if we’re willing to be creative and willing to think outside of it. Gave him a new name. He was set out by faith by her for God to draw her out. For God to say, I’m just getting started. I don’t know about you brothers and sisters, but we’ve got to get to a point where we don’t feel like we’re in a comfort zone of it’s over. Nobody. God’s just getting started.
And we’ve got to be able to pray against the odds and know that God is going to give us a faith that’s going to flow and do amazing things. I really appreciate the small group leaders. And last week, what we did was we prayed. Remember? We had a prayer time so that god could just show us the flow, the living water that will come, that will be able to flow in our lives so that God can do amazing things that we can set out and faithfully see the living waters flow.
Michelle and I got a chance last week, something we thought Michelle came up with this idea we should go and pray in those areas where we know that only God can do it. And those are the goals that we shared. Let’s go to Lake Mary. And we went on to the campus. We said, okay, we’re going to pray on the campus.
And we drove around the campus. And Michelle went to that campus. She’s a graduate of Seminole State and then went to UCF. But you know what? We went around there and all of a sudden it was new.
It was like a whole new place. They had all kinds of parking. They are growing. It looked like, wow, this is a University. God is doing a lot.
Wow, this is a lot. And we drove and then we prayed faithfully. God, I think we have one student there right now. God do amazing things. Then we went down on Lake Mary Boulevard.
Little area right there. I think that’s where the sign that I showed right there, right there is where there’s some lights there. And the city hall was there. And we went and walked around there and said, look at this place. There’s so many people.
God, give us a location somewhere here. Remember, Gary Simmons shared and Jake shared that $1 they got a building. Give us the $1 building. Amen.
We need that $1 building, Lord, show us what it is. Then we even went to another neighborhood, went to Heathrow. We have no one living in Heathrow. And we drove up there and we couldn’t even get in because they got a gated community. We looked at those gates.
He said, God, open these gates, do amazing things. And I want us as a region to get on that level of faith to know that God can do amazing things, that there’s a current of his spirit that’s flowing right here in the north region, Amen? That we can do amazing things. Let me ask you this question. What does the St. John’s river, which is in our region, Amen, flows through and the Nile River have in common?
Who has the answer to this one? Who has the answer to this one? And we got one, two, three. This is for $10 million. Who has the answer?
No, I don’t have $10 million. All right. Anyway, shout it out. What is similar about the two Rivers?
They have water. Good. But that will not get you the 10 million that will get you only $100. Anyone else? That’s it.
They’re the only two Rivers that flow north. Isn’t that amazing? We have a Nile right here. I don’t know what we got to do. I don’t know if we all need to go down there and pray.
I don’t know if I need to make a big basket and all of us jump in it and we go down, let the current flow or whatever. I don’t know. We got to do something. We got to figure out what is God going to do. We got to get creative, gang.
We’ve got to feel like God. We’re going to lay it out there and we’re going to watch you be able to take us on that current that’s right here. You’re going to move in a spiritual way right here in the north region and show us what you want to do. It’s time for amazing things to happen. And as we go into Communion right now, I want us to all whether you’re on Zoom or in the room right here, let us just think and dream about how God’s going to take us through the faithful situations and that the Rivers are going to flow.
In john 14 is the promise right here, verse twelve. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the work I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. Jesus said you’re going to do greater things. Jesus said, if you believe in me, it’s the same thing like as the scriptures. So let us believe.
And as we take the Communion, let us know that the power of the cross of Jesus dying and that amazing power of his resurrection can do the same thing in all the things we dream of today. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you gave us a promise, that Rivers of living water will flow through us. Lord, as we take the Communion, let us feel the current of your Holy Spirit. As we break the bread, let us know that Jesus gave his body to the plan.
As we drink the fruit of the vine, we know that this blood is what sanctifies us. Father, you raise him on the third day. No one could ever even dream up what you have done, what Jesus did on the cross. But only you. Let us find the power and the strength strength from the same story to do all that you want us to do right here we pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.