07/01/07        

Sunday School: Proverbs 23:26-35 ‘strong drink and loose women’

Choruses:

• I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me;
• There is a river that flows from deep within;

Scripture Reading: #655           

Vesper’s tonight from 5-6: The Life of Christ

Wednesday evening from 7-8: Integrity – being a whole person without a hidden agenda / Then, hang around for an excellent view of fireworks being launched from the Baum Stadium area. Bring your lawn chairs and soft-drinks.

Refreshing from the Holy: food and healing

(Ezekiel 47.1-12)

1. The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.

3. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist.

5. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross. 6. He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"   Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.

8. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. 9. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.

10. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds--like the fish of the Great Sea. 11. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

The apostle Paul spoke of the temple in two aspects: each of us individually and all of us together as the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The refreshing is to come from the temple…flowing from the temple. Jesus spoke of springs of living water coming out from the innermost being. (John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.")

What’s flowing from the temple?

·        Is it springs of living water?

·        Does it float boats?

·        Is it deep enough to swim in?

·        Does it bring refreshing wherever it goes?

·        Does it bring fruit for food and leaves for healing?

Some people’s ‘springs’ have more sand than water. I have mental pictures of the television ‘western’ where the person lost in the desert crawls to sandy, apparently dry, ‘watering hole’ and has to dig down in the sand until finding enough dampness to squeeze a drop to drink.

Is that the picture of a lot of Christians? If someone ‘digs’ deep enough they might find a level of spirituality that might give a drop of temporary refreshing.

What about that ‘flowing,’ ‘living’ water? Is it springing up within you? Do you have your place in the temple…are you being built – a living temple?