Come To The Waters | Brian Houston | Hillsong Church Online

come to the waters well when i was a kid and some of you would still know this song to this day there was a song we sang in church there is a river that flows from god above there is a fountain that's filled with god's great love come to the waters there is a vast supply there is a river that never shall run dry come to the waters i've been preaching out of isaiah 55 for quite a few weeks now i started with verses 10 and 11 if you remember and we're speaking there about the metaphor of snow and rain and how that's used for god's word and the way rain and snow water the earth and god's word what is our life and then 10 verses 8 and 9 which is god's thoughts and god's ways higher than our thoughts and our ways and this week i want to go all the way back to verses one and two which incidentally in my bible is subtitled an invitation to abundant life let's read those verses ho everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you have no money come by and eat so isaiah's prophesying something that's free he's saying yes come buy wine and milk without money and without price why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul that's what it's really about let your soul delight itself in abundance i guess we all know especially during a pandemic what comfort eating is right now you don't do that of course uh but people like me what's your evil of choice is it chocolate or an ice cream or is it an ice cream with chocolate dressing or is it ice cream with chocolate dressing and sprinkles or are you a pastry person is it chips or fries or those devilish pringles you know in the round cylinder like potato chips to die for in hotels hotel mini bars i'm sure sometimes many times i've been in the bed in the hotel and i'm telling you the snickers bar inside that little fridge is talking to me yes it is it's talking to me when my kids were small bobby would hide the little chocolate treats she would have to put in their school lunches because she knew that often when everyone else had gone to bed i am raiding all the cupboards and looking for where she hid the kids treats so i could steal them so we all know what come from food is and now cost courtesy of ubereats and others like them food arrives at your door and the thing is it often needs virtually no preparation and there's no cleaning up just throw the wrappers away but it's termed comfort food for a reason it's food that we eat when we want to be comfortable or really more to the point want to feel comforted it can be an attempt to fill a gap and meet an emotional need um and it's an empty it's an empty attempt there's so much stress and anxiety around comfort food can be one of our go-to's in an attempt to master stress levels and to give you that quick boost of good feelings some people's go to is alcohol and for others it's food all i know is this those who are in lockdown right now and throughout this whole crazy pandemic season the summit's very real there's definitely some covered kilos that have been packed on why why is that well stress levels are high it's just a fact and maybe some are dealing with just downright boredom and monotony because of lockdown uh those of you who live in states that aren't locked down you can uh just stay humble please so comfort food may make you feel good in the moment but it's usually not actually good for you we know that and that's why it's called junk food as parents we know how hard it can be to get your kids to choose healthy food over junk food and even keeping ourselves on the straight and narrow eating healthy nutritious food rather than junk food can be a challenge so why is junk food so addictive to be honest it's all the old suspects you know it's full of sugar and fat and artificial chemicals or flavoring it gives you a buzz in so many ways and it's fast and easy to get your hands on you don't have to clean up afterwards as i said it is cheap well relatively cheap there's a reason it's called junk food do you know when our boys were small in particular i guess laura too we would be driving the car and we'd see those golden arches up ahead and bobby and i would be holding our breath hoping the kids wouldn't see them but every single time it never failed you'd hear them even though they could barely read mcdonald's and so i mean i had no choice we had to had to do it for the kids sake yeah look i'm no dietitian clearly but if you compare junk food with healthy food it's not quite the same healthy food is full of nutrition it's balanced and well it might even be organic sometimes it is what it doesn't always do is give you the same buzz or immediate gratification it can take more effort to get more effort to cook and prepare i i do that all the time and of course forgive me lord and of course you have to clean up afterwards plus it can be more expensive to eat healthy so let's go back to isaiah because he isn't talking about literal food but metaphorically he's talking about food for our lives or food for our souls our lives and our souls aren't self-sustaining they don't get by under their own steam they need to feed on something and our isaiah's point is that when it comes to our souls there's healthy life-giving nutritious food but there's also comfort food and junk food listen to it in the message isaiah 55 verses 1 and 2. hey there all who are thirsty come to the water are you penniless come anyway buy and eat come buy your drinks buy wine and milk buy without money everything's free why do you spend your money on junk food there you go it's in the bible your hard-earned cash on cotton candy listen to me listen well eat only the best fill yourself with only the finest so when it comes to yourself when it comes to my soul what's your diet like i wonder what our diet is like in a season the season we find ourselves in with well third waves of coronavirus around the world and now a delta variant which seems almost impossible to control and then the lockdowns everyone understands the lockdown especially if you're in melbourne or if you're in sydney and then there is all this terrible news coming at us from all around the world and to be honest with opposition towards churches and towards christians on the increase too it's so important that you and i we feed our souls on what is healthy in difficult days like these with all the accompanying stresses the things that go with it the temptation can be even greater to go for comfort for the easier option for the quick buzz for things that feel good in the moment but neither nourish or sustain and what do i mean well i'll tell you what i mean as pastors and inheritance of the christian faith we teach people the bible and encourage them towards those things that genuinely nourish the inner life of the soul and your spiritual life and our connection with god obviously we encourage personal disciplines like prayer and bible study and meditation not this is this kind of meditation but david he told us to meditate on the word of god day and night that kind of meditation reflection and things we share in common uh like communion and fellowship and the value of serving others then being uplifted by things like good teaching it's great to listen to good solid bible teaching having authentic spiritual conversations do you have those encouraging one another these are spiritual disciplines i can tell you my wife she is disciplined virtually every morning when she gets up she makes her coffee and does whatever but then very soon she sits down at the little desk she opens her bible and she has a journal and she'll stay there for a long time just reading the bible reflecting meditating on it writing down thoughts in a journal and it's a daily discipline uh my wife is so much more spiritual than me i find empty communion you know the the uh throwaway communion cups that we use i find them often around the house because bobby regular communes with jesus by taking communion and so junk food is a good metaphor for things that are just downright toxic to your soul and your well-being there's those things which may not be bad in themselves but out of balance or out of proportion you can easily allow them to take up the place of healthy soul food and become like junk food for your soul social media is for some people like a chemical buzz in the brain and whether it's increasing toxicity social media it's neither healthy nor nutritious most times you know and i can often find myself passing my time just scrolling endlessly through news and sports feeds and opening links to the news and links to sports i mean when did you last binge on a netflix series or maybe amazon prime or some other thing i mean ted lasso dead lasso yeah there's a little bit of bad language just so you know and because i'm talking about it in church you need to know but i can binge on ted lasso they're only letting one new episode come out a week and the week can't go fast enough he's just the most likable positive guy in every situation if you haven't seen it well i guess i just helped it along greatly and so you know you can be watching something like ted lasso or something on netflix while grazing on actual compass food so no condemnation but a serious question when it comes to your soul what's your diet like do you need to make some adjustments maybe you need a detox a spiritual detox do you need to stop doing some things or bring them under control and start doing other things i'll read again verse 2 isaiah 55 why do you spend money for what is not bred and your wages for what does not satisfy listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance in a hunger and thirst it can cause people to do strange things i mean our bodies apparently are 60 water and you last a few weeks we know without food uh but only a few days without water you can't live at all without hope by the way and so after air water is the most essential resource for our lives and those of us who maybe live in the big cities we can take water for granted we turn on the tap and it just runs out uh you can buy a bottle at the at the local shop when there's no drought or water restrictions you can absolutely spray and soak your lawn with water and well you can flush it down the toilets we know but in mobile times are still today the middle east was and it is a dry climate water scarce and precious in bible times it was often difficult to find and difficult to get your hands on and there was often not a lot of it so in those days you'll find people digging and fighting over wells access to water and keeping water secure was top of the mind in ancient times first and the daily quest for water was something everyone was personally acquainted with it was a way of life which is why thirst and water are used in the bible as metaphors for the soul and its longing for god in verses like psalm 63 verse 1 oh god you are my god early will i seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh longs for you in a dry and a thirsty land where there is no water psalm 42 verses 1 and 2 as the deer pants for the water brook so pants my soul for you oh god my soul thirst for god for the living god when shall i come and appear before god by the way all those verses i know tuned songs that use those words so i always have the songs going through my mind when anyway i'm behaving i'm not singing today i know i know you'll be very sad to know that but hey you ever found yourself thirsting for god like really thirsting for god there's them for connection to something greater than yourself someone greater than yourself thursday for real life and true meaning of a lasting purpose maybe thirsting for love i think there's a lot of people so hungry so thirsty for love or for joy for peace and forgiveness or for answers and all these things and all these things it's a thirst that can only be quenched how by god himself no wonder jesus said to the samaritan woman who was at that local well to draw water and he said john 4 13 and 14 jesus answered and said to her whoever drink to the water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that i shall give them will never thirst but the water that i shall give will become in him a fountain of water springing up a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life this can become well a desperate driver you know early explorers have you ever thought about this they know the value of fresh water have you ever wondered where they got their fresh water from i mean they took on outrageous exploits and journeys of exploration and it's just hard to imagine hard to imagine the wrecks they talk in those rickety old timber boats you can read the stories of incredible adventures and risk taking but they would trek or sail across lands and across seas which were unknown remember they're explorers unknown and often dangerous and you didn't have a gps back then no i don't know hey there are some really harrowing stories like burkham wills who died of thirst and starvation as they lost their way and exhausted all their supplies so many stories describe how their desperate thirst drove them to drink all kinds of poisonous substitutes like seawater or even their own urine urine yeah or in more recent times literally desperate enough to try drinking radiator fluid or petrol uh because no access to water so you got to be desperate to be doing that this incredible thirst can drive desperate people to do desperate things even drinking things that well potentially will kill them or harm them and the same is true for the soul a soul that's desperately thirsty for real life it will seek out all kinds of substitutes for the real water of life but at best those substitutes won't satisfy they won't satisfy a spiritual thirst and at worst they can poison and distort and damage your soul and people get addicted to arranger well false substitutes they become like false gods if you will they can only steal kill and destroy the prophet jeremiah observed a deep spiritual thirst in the people of israel in his time listen to jeremiah 2 verse 13 he said for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and you and themselves systems broken systems that can hold no water well assistant there's a kind of water tank that in days gone by got filled up by rain water or maybe even by water being hauled up from the local well and sometimes the water in them will become stagnant and stale and in contrast god is described as the fountain of living water the fountain of living water living water reflows to flowing water in a stream or a river or a fountain it's moving it's energetic it's full of life i can see that chair moving along there out of the corner of my eye by the way so good that people stay connected and that you we use the chats and of course if you're in church you don't need to use a chat you can just wait for somebody anyway listen to me jeremiah's diagnosis of israel's situation is that they've hurt themselves in two ways well first they forsake god a true water of life the true fountain of life and then if that wasn't bad enough second they've gone after useless substitutes like idols and false gods that contain no life at all so i want to bring us back i want to bring us all the way back to talking about now and us what about you where are you watering your soul during the season perhaps because of challenge and pressure without the regular disciplines that are encouraged by just being in church every week it's so easy to drift let's be honest it's easy to drift drift away from god even just drift away from his house just drift away even from staying connected if you're in a lockdown state and you're caught at home inside your house inside your lga yeah those disciplines become so important it's easier than maybe you even realize maybe you do realize but it's easy to grow a little cold and before you know it you fill your life up with other things disappointments there's so many of them around at the moment or discouragement and despondency or just plain old neglect can lead to that slow slow drift jesus said in john 7 37 second part of the verse and then verse 38 he said if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of their heart will flow rivers of living water rivers of living water i guess we're all thirsty for something we all thirst but no matter what's going on in your world or what life holds for you right now i say come to the source of living water he's an everlasting supply of living water it wells up from within you so no matter where you find yourself and whatever you find yourself facing you need never first again i'll tell you bobby and i are so grateful for so many prayers and so many people who are standing with us and who so evidently showing us love that means the world and encouragement you can never get enough of it but i think what we need to be doing more than any other time is just keep digging deep digging digging deep into that living water that's that's my belief that's where i want to get my sustenance i'll read the verses one more time oh everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you who have no money come by and eat yes come buy wine and milk without money and without price the challenge is to dig deep the challenge is to drink deep i already said the bible the bible world was often a dry whole world apart from maybe intermittent rain the most reliable source of water was a well with the water from the well used in the home into water flocks and herds and everywhere water is needed life actually depended on being near a good well in order to sustain flocks and crops and households during periods of drought it was deep wells that were needed wells that went deep into the earth in a bedrock and deep into the water table i mean went deep deep deep a deep doubt a deep well was a reliable source of life-giving water you know and i know we all face difficult times in life sometimes dry times we're blessing and fruitfulness and well ease it can be hard to come by how do we sustain ourselves in those seasons the answer is digging deep wells digging deep wells into god one time many many years ago i was in sri lanka doing missions work i never forget it because we were in a village not far out from candy and there was no running water so we had to go out into these from memory like rice paddy fields and walk to a whale with buckets you would all be carrying buckets and all i do remember is there was water like dirty water in the in the grooves uh that had been cut into the land and it was absolutely infested with snakes and if i if i got the story right those snakes were bleeders in other words if they bit you uh well you could bleed through the pores of your skin the snakes have got nothing to do with this message but the well has because i just remember it was a long long way down that well to actually reach water and for your bucket to be filled so those wells that go deep down below the surface that go deeply into the things of god and deeply into the bedrock of our own heart or another image psalm 1 describes a righteous person like a tree planted by streams of living water amen just like a tree planted by living water plant yourself in god that's my encouragement plant yourself in god maybe you say what i am so my challenge is let's be digging deeper wells into the things of god into god himself into the living water and then we send our roots down deep deep into his presence deep into his word deep into his love and his grace and deep into his power and his purpose i i love beautiful lawns there's something about a beautiful properly cut don't cut your lawn too short you'll destroy it beautifully cut lawn lush green when bobby and i had a house in a suburb called kings langley many many years ago i used to take such pride in my lawns i had more time back then i'd spend my saturdays mowing the lawns and i'd even i'd even get those lines and the lawn by mowing one way and then mowing back the other way so you could see like sometimes you see on beautiful sports field those lions on the lawn and they were in a perfect angle my lawn went up an embankment i used to sit back looking so impressed at my lawn so i know a little bit about lawns i do know that bindis destroy them and uh not great for your feet either but one thing i know about having a beautiful green and resilient lawn is you've got to water it obviously and not just an occasional little light water like you know when you're able you need to give it a really good soaking so the water penetrates deep below the surface why because in the roots go deeper i go down to where water can be found even when it hasn't for rain for weeks drink deeply like your lawn don't just give your spiritual life an occasional light water soak it in the things of god i want to soak my life in the things of god yeah we need to let the water of god's life penetrate deeply into our heart and into our soul and send those roots down deeply into him so then you can draw on his life-giving living water even in a dry and difficult time how do you dig deep wells into god how do you send roots down deep into him how do i drink deeply of him well here's a few thing number one wait on god you know that's not just an old-fashioned concept but to wait on god you don't content yourself with quick fixes i want to encourage you to wait on god for your soul to find genuine answers in him he has an old-fashioned idea just like the 120 people in an upper room on the day of pentecost where they encountered the holy spirit they encountered him while they were tarrying the scripture says carrying in that upper road up up a room let's try carrying for god if you're not already doing that waiting for god in prayer persistent patient prayer you know phil camden he's a wonderful guy he was pastor of what is our newcastle campus uh before it became part of hillsong and uh he uh he has motor neurons disease has had for years is already outlasting many of the expectations an incredible guy i love phil so much that every single day he's been sending me praying hands and a blue heart that's all my praying hands and a blue heart and he's telling me every day he's praying for me but you know what prayer in our daily lives for other people yes but just tarrying just waiting for god it's powerful in second first waiting for god's second wrestle with god yeah in genesis 32 jacob was the deceiver that's what his name meant and then he would become israel god gave him a new a name change after 20 years wandering about and about to return home he wrestled with a wrestler with an angel russell he wrestled with an angel turned out to be god and they wrestled all night long it makes me smile because we know god could well in the blink of an eye the bible said he was wrestling with god saying i will not let you go until you bless me where was the last time you really wrestled with god when was the last time you had that kind of determination that god would bless you that you would know his presence that you would know his love that you would know his manifest grace at the end of that wrestle just like with jacob god can touch you and touch you very very deeply number three don't take the easy way out that's what our human nature does when facing difficulty or dryness the temptation is always just to cut and run or to go and satisfy your thirst somewhere else but i say instead stand your ground stand on your face and stand on your convictions and keep those spiritual disciplines going stay in fellowship stay connected you know depth of character and depth of purpose and depth of faith the bible says is forged by standing when it would be so much easier to turn away because in order to stand you have to dig deep how everyone who thirsts come to the waters the water of life feast of god is free and it's abundant and it's available to all sometimes just accessing that water might require some effort it might require us to dig those deep wells to send down deep roots in order to think to in order to drink deeply you see we're in a significant season as a church you know that the rebuild is on for our church for churches around the world but we're also facing greater challenge with more lockdowns and increasing opposition and spiritual attack and i pray we can be immovable we all need those deep wells to weather the storm so i said it once but i want to say again i've never needed more to dig deeper wells when it comes to the things of god and those living waters rivers of living waters i i want to tap into those waters amen i believe there's never been a time when our church needed more to dig deeper wells so let's take this word seriously and let's decide and maybe i can finish the way i started by quoting that song there is a river that flows from god above there is a fountain that's filled with his great love come to the waters there is a vast supply there is a river that never shall run dry i couldn't help myself hey listen love your church seriously though let's dig those deeper wells in jesus name father thank you for people your lord your life could be a little bit topsy-turvy right now in many ways we don't know what the future holds but help us lord not to go to all the wrong places to try to find sustenance and try to find fulfillment in life helps to dig those deep wells into into you and your love and your promises lord help us to dig those deep wells this lord create healthy right roots and enable us to go forward in our relationship with you and go forward in the plans of the purpose that you have for us lord i thank you again for every person who's part of the service and i say have your way have your way in their lives thank you for it father and with us people maybe and you've just over a period of time you have just that slow drift has been happening to you what a beautiful day it would be today to pray a prayer inviting jesus right back into your very heart and into the very center of your life that's where our digging those deep wells into living water starts it starts out of a relationship with god have you ever asked jesus into your life have you ever made a decision to live for him are you pursuing that decision are you following christ i'm going to pray a prayer and in this prayer i'm going to lead people in that prayer of salvation inviting jesus christ into your life or believing the people who have drafted will come back to jesus in the center and as i pray this prayer those of you who are in church today all over queensland i think western australia tasmania northern territory uh you guys if you're sitting in one of our buildings or if you're online two things if you're in our building i'm gonna count to three in a minute and on three i'm gonna ask you to raise your hand but then if you're in the chat and you pray this prayer with me in a moment i want to encourage you to write into that chat i prayed that prayer there's always always so many people who do it i prayed that prayer because that's a declaration it's a declaration that you've invited jesus christ into your life to be your lord and savior so father right now i pray you'll move on people's hearts that people will make a decision a choice to send surrender their life to you so on three if you say brian please include me in that prayer and i'd be a church building then on three you lift your hands you won't be the only one there'll be a whole lot of hands and then i'm going to lead everyone in a prayer you ready for it on three get ready to lift that hand one two three i can't see but i'm believing there's many people right now with a hand raised and i know who can answer you your god your lord your savior he can see you and those of you who are in the chat i just again want to encourage you to pray this prayer with me and right into the chat i prayed that prayer whether you're on youtube hillsong church online or i don't know facetime instagram live however you're part of our service right there the music mechanism available right i prayed that prayer let's pray this prayer together dear jesus this is the moment i surrender ownership of my life to you [Music] i recognize my need of you that i'm a sinner and i thank you you forgive sin and you healed me father from my past and those things that perhaps were put in a separation between me and god at this moment lord i believe because of you i'm a child of god my sins are forgiven i'm a new creation a follower of jesus christ thank you for your love thank you for your grace thank you for your forgiveness and your mercy in the name of jesus amen amen amen so well i hope the word spoke life to you today and

Channel: Hillsong Church

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Length: 37min 37sec (2257 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021