Compass 3 - Dr Charles Wesley Knight

good evening everyone I'd like to thank our friends from newbould sharing and we share our greetings from Oakwood University we are sister institutions so we praise God for you all and send our greetings to you tonight we've got just a short amount of time I wanted to share a few principles and concepts with you from my book thirst quenching your deepest desire and I want to we actually don't have I don't really have enough time to try to do is justice fully but I'm gonna do my best within a short amount of time that we have what I want to do is basically just give you a spiritual and theological basis for for the book as we study the connection the interconnection between spirituality and sexuality in the 80s in 1980s in that decade in that period of time in the u.s. was the time of the Reagan administration and at that time drugs drugs have been around of course forever but there was a proliferation particularly of cocaine and then crack cocaine in the black areas in black neighborhoods in the US and Nancy Reagan who was the first lady the president's wife shared or started this campaign just say no just say no and her idea was that being tempted by drugs all one has to do is just simply say no just simply say no it's just that simple history has shown that the campaign was quite unsuccessful because it is one thing to just say no to use your willpower to turn a temptation down but until one understands why you are tempted then just saying no will never be enough and so when it comes to sexual temptation it's something that we're kind of it's kind of awkward to talk about in church it's something that we don't really talk about we don't talk about for several reasons but but we have to talk about it because the Bible talks about it and we have to talk about it because it is temptation that we face in diverse and and different ways we are bombarded by it in our music in our social media in the movies that we watch it is everywhere and so I want to give you a scriptural basis and a theological understanding very quickly and very briefly and then hopefully if you're able to get the book you're able to get all of the other things that you need with this we always go to the Bible to the Word of God so I want to turn you I'm gonna hang out in the Gospel of John we were in John chapter 5 this morning we're gonna be in John chapter 4 so we're gonna go one chapter back and I want to look at this very familiar story of John chapter 4 and I've treated this story before in a similar fashion but God has revealed some things through study in prayer that I know will be helpful for you today John chapter 4 and I'm just going to read verse 13 in your hearing 13 and 14 if you already say yes all right John 4 verse 13 14 here's what says jesus answered and said to her whoever drinks of this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life let's pray father we will not ask for you to bless your word because it's already blessed what we need you to bless God is our minds so that we might understand so that we will hear your word and then do your word so bless us we pray in Jesus name Amen very famous and well-known art um author named Max Lucado in America his pastor in San Antonio Texas and has written several wonderful devotional books told a true account of one day when he was at his desk typing away creating one of his most powerful books and as he was there typing at his desk he saw outside of his window perched on a branch a beautiful brilliant red bird it caught his attention because of the brilliance of the red in its feathers and he looked in amazement as that beautiful bird took off at full speed towards the window that was right by his desk BAM hit the window this bird slipped down the window and this bird shook itself off he saw him shake his bird hand and then he flew right back up to the perch where he was before and then he watched just a little bit longer as the bird looked at the window as if he was studying something took off at full speed again BAM hit the window slid down he saw this bird kind of shake itself and go right back to the same perch and then he watched an amazement as a third time the bird did the same thing took off at full speed towards the window BAM slid down his head went right back and he watched as the bird did it over and over again and he was wondering is this bird suicidal is does this bird have a death wish why is this birds this a stupid bird why would this bird keep hurting itself until he realized what was happening the bird saw an image of itself a reflection of itself in the mirror in the window thought it was another bird like him that he could mate with went after it got hurt in the process didn't learn his lesson went back to the same perch and did it all over again we might not be red birds but we do the same thing because we go after what we think we want and get hurt in the process come with me to John chapter four if you're still with me say yes in John chapter four is this woman she's known as the woman at the well we don't know her name we don't need to know her name but we do know that she's on her way to a well and the Bible says that she has this water jar we'll call it we call it where I'm from a bucket it's a container where she can get the water she can contain the water and this this woman is carrying this water jar and she's going to the well the Bible says it's around noontime she comes at this time because she does not expect anybody else to be there for who would go to the well at that part of the world in need at the noon time most people would go in the morning and and so she goes there to be alone and as she's carrying her water jar she's going to the well now remember this woman is on her way to the well and the well is what she's going to get what she's after what is she after she's after water she's after water because everyone needs water I mean you need water to bathe you need water to drink you need water to cook you need caught her water to clean everyone needs water so she's on her way to the place where she will get her needs met and what is that place it is a well and that well as a man made well it's Jacob's Well it's created so that one can reach in get what one needs and carry it in the container this woman comes to the well she comes to be alone she comes with her bucket and as she gets there she finds that a man is already there now she doesn't know it's Jesus but Jesus is already there before she gets there cuz that's how Jesus is he's always there before you get there Jesus is waiting on her and Jesus is waiting on her and the and the woman gets there and Jesus asks will you please give me a drink of water now the woman says why would you ask me for a drink of water I'm a Samaritan you're a Jew we don't talk to each other we have racial tension with one another why would you be talking to me and then Jesus turns it around I love the way Jesus talks he turns it around he said if you only knew who you were talking to you would have asked me and I would have given you living water now the woman doesn't understand what Jesus is talking about and so she says well I don't see you have a bucket you don't have a container how will you get this water and Jesus says oh you you must not understand every time you come to this well you'll always go back thirsty but if you would allow me I will put something in you where you will no longer have to keep coming back here to get your needs met now this woman doesn't fully understand what Jesus is saying but she does something is stirring up inside of her and she wants she desires she's curious she wants to see what is Jesus talking about so she says please sir give me this thing because I'm tired of lugging this heavy water jar down through the city of sidecar to this well to get my needs met please give it to me and Jesus then says this go get your husband now it is interesting it seems as if Jesus is changing the subject right I mean they were just talking about water and wells now Jesus is bringing up husbands why would Jesus do this because Jesus is trying to get to the essence of this woman's problem stay with me watch what Jesus does go get your husband the woman now kind of takes a deep breath and takes a big gulp and then answers I don't have a husband and Jesus says I know I knew when I asked you the question I know you don't have one you've had five and the one you are with here it is does not belong to you it is here that Jesus makes a very powerful connection between two things that we have come to divorce from one another it is here that Jesus when he was talking about the water he was really talking about the spirit the girl the lady did not understand and but he was talking about spiritual blessing and when she asks for it Jesus says well before we do that let's talk about your husband I don't have one I know you don't have one you've had five the one you're now with does not belong to you here's the 2017 version or translation of what Jesus said let's talk about who you're sleeping with let's talk about it now can you just imagine the woman is very uncomfortable just like some people might be a little uncomfortable here right now but Jesus says no let's talk about that why would Jesus bring up her relationship why would Jesus bring up who she's sleeping with in relationship to the blessing that he wants to give her let me clarify it is not because Jesus is saying that she has to clean up her act as a prerequisite to get the blessing but he tells her this because her live her lifestyle stay with me her lifestyle was a symptom of her spiritual problem the reason why Jesus brings up who she's sleeping with is is because he wants her to confront the reality of what's going on inside spiritually because here it is whatever's going on spiritually will come out physically the problem with us is that we have separated sexuality from its origin so quickly I don't have a whole lot of time so let me do this very quickly when you understand well you got to go back to Genesis 1 through 3 and you'll discover that sexuality is a creation that sex is a creation of God not of the devil God created sex and gave it embedded it in the wonderful covenant relationship of marriage and he did it because that wonderful covenant of marriage is when to pee Oh two distinct people come together and become one and the way that they become one and reinstate and reinvigorate their love for one another one of the most powerful ways is the sexual act now if you're still with me shout yes you must understand that God not only created Adam and Eve he created marriage and then he creates sex and he says this to these two shall become one flesh and it is God not Satan it is God it is God who commands in fact orchestrates the very first sexual act the very first sexual act was actually the result of obedience to God God says be fruitful Adam and Eve and multiply God brings Adam and he brings Eve and he brings them together and he tells them to go into this process and he tells them to do this because the way he created it was that set speaks to the three levels of the human experience physical mental and spiritual it is physically pleasurable we'll get back to that in a minute it is mentally it has great mental effects it can calm one it reassures one and then it is spiritually binding God creates it this way and it creates it so that every time a man and woman who are married in that covenant relationship that every time they come together it reinforces what God intended from the very beginning now remember I told you let's go back to this woman and then we'll come back we're gonna go back between Genesis in John 4 remember I told you this woman had a bucket and she's on her way to this well the bucket Rama wrote the bucket helps her to get what she wants the bucket is the container that she uses to get what she wants what does she want she wants water everyone needs water the water in the text really represents for us today the spiritual things that we me we all need love we all need acceptance we all need to feel valued we all need to feel secure so what's the bucket that she's caring for many of us today the bucket that we use to get the water our souls need often too many times it's the bucket of amor amoral sexuality we don't have sex we use sex we use it to get what we want now I want you to stay with me because the things that we are after the things that we're really after beyond the pleasure of it the things that we're really after are spiritual things they're good things were after love were after acceptance we're after security the problem is is that we're using a bucket the bucket of immoral sexuality and the thing about the bucket is it has a limited capacity which means you will if you engage in that you will feel loved for a while but it does not last it always runs out that you'll feel secure for a while but it will always run out because the bucket has a very limited capacity and what's the well in the story where the well represents where you get your love from who meets those needs for you if you were to pick out your cell phone and look at the people on there you say you're a single person you look on the people on there the people that you reach out to every now and again to get your needs met they are just a well created by men that they are man-made situations where you try to take care of your own needs and the reason the reason why I chose this passage John chapter 4 is because Jesus confronts this woman about her not just relationship but who's she's sleeping with because he wants her to know that that she does not have to keep meeting trying to meet her own needs because you must understand that that sexual temptation is not about the physical or pleasure it's primarily spiritual if you are spiritually thirsty if you don't go to God you will go to other Wells to get your needs met and the problem with with affairs in marriage or sexual immoral situations that we get ourselves into as singles is not because you're nasty it's just because you're needy it's not because you're depraved you're just deprived because everyone needs love everyone needs the water but if you don't get the water from the right place you'll end up going to Wells and Wells eventually run dry let me say this to you so that you understand the nature of sex in the very beginning go back to Genesis in the very beginning when God brought them together and gave Adam and Eve this great gift there was somebody else in the garden he was watching do you not understand that Satan was in the garden and he watched the very first act you thought porn just started Satan was the first person to watch two other people have sex he watched as Adam and Eve engaged in this process he watched with with amazement that after they engaged in it for several times months went by and something was happening to Eve he watched as her belly grew larger he wondered if she had eaten too many fruits from the tree but but then she really realized that it got larger and larger and it could not be attributed to her eating habits he realized it was you gonna get this in a minute a result of the act and then when the baby was born he realized that the baby looked like them and they reminded him of him and the enemy at that moment decided to corrupt sex why I hope you get this because the first reason why he decided to corrupt sex is because sex in that wonderful institution of marriage the product of that process was the image of God that when they went through that process see you gotta understand Satan hates God tried to try to destroy him in heaven lost so he said the next best thing I'll do is come against the image so he hates the process that God allowed human beings to have to reproduce the image of God so he said if I can't destroy God I'll go after the process that reproduces his image sentient reason why he corrupted sex is because remember I told you sex is pleasurable sex is pleasurable and that's not something that the enemy did it's something God did God did that he didn't have to do it but he did he made it pleasurable and why one of the main reasons spiritually he makes it pleasurable is remember the first sexual act was done under the obedience of God don't miss this so that God wanted you to know that obedience feels good that was God's original intention for you to understand the obedience feels good but when Satan now snatches and corrupt sex and takes it out of the context of our understanding and relationship to God watch what happens now even though sex is ripped out of its original institution and people have sex outside of marriage that does not take away the pleasure that's in it so that now the enemy is embedding in your mind disobedience feels good that's why we have our concept that if you are going to serve God then it won't feel good and if you and if you do the wrong thing it feels good and then the third reason why he corrupted sex is because sex was to be two people becoming one it was supposed to replicate the the unity of God Father Son and spirit three distinct persons of the Godhead who interplay and intertwine are and they are one so if the enemy can corrupt the process he can corrupt your idea and now today we have whole churches that are wrecked because of sexual sin and we don't preach about it and we don't talk about it we speak about it in hushed tones you don't even hear people say sex in church almost like it's a bad word almost as if we've allowed the enemy to steal what God gave to his children this is why Jesus confronts her he says I want to do something for you but your lifestyle is showing me that there's something going on in your spirit you keep going to the wrong Wells I know you need water but if you keep drinking of this water that's what Jesus says you'll be thirsty again because the water always runs out let me say one last thing and then I'll try to bring this to a close so that you can just again understand it I'm trying to edit as I'm talking to make sure I give you just a snippet but but you must understand that embedded in God's intention for sexuality is that it communicates the virtues of marriage but it is not the substance of it what do you mean preacher I'm glad you asked that when a man and woman have sex God created it so that it communicates unconditional love it communicates security it communicates all these things but it's not the substance of it that's why it's supposed to be tied to marriage because marriage the marriage institution is where you covenant with each other and with God and that is the substance when you when a man and woman have sex it gives the communication you belong to me and I belong to you so think about that when you take it outside of marriage you are actually lying to yourself because the actual process is communicating you have sex with that person that you barely know the process the interaction intercourse it says you belong to me and I belong to you but you barely know the person so in a real sense you're lying to you so let me illustrate back in the day back in the day you could write checks at a restaurant after you you know to pay to pay for your meal they don't do that anymore at least not in the United States you can't do that but back in the day you could and not at the time I was at seminary I was dating my wife and I took her out to his very nice restaurant I didn't have cash on me nor card so I said I'm gonna write a check so I wrote a check and I gave it to the waitress and you always know you're in trouble when the waitress comes back too quickly gave it to him they came back within 30 seconds and said I'm sorry sir but this is not going to do the check bounced so what do you mean the check bounced she said well I don't know if anyone explained to you what it means to for a check to bounce but it means that you don't have the money in the account to cover this check I said well how do you know that she said well we have a machine back there we ran it through and the money's not there and then she said this she said you you do understand that a check is just a promissory note that is based on the fact that there is the real money somewhere so that this is just a promise but the treasure is somewhere else and whenever we have sex outside of marriage we're making a promise with our body that our spirit can't cash there's no marriage covenant behind it to substantiate what you're saying with your body and so Jesus sees this woman and he knows why she's so tired and he knows why she wants this water that she doesn't even know about he says let's talk about your husband and then the woman does what most of us do when we when God confronts us because see you cannot conquer what you're not willing to confront Jesus says yeah the one you're with is not then she changes the subject she said you know what we worship on this mountain and you Jews you worship on that mountain so now she wants to change the subject from her relationship to worship and she doesn't understand she stepped right into where Jesus was going and Jesus says no we're not gonna change the subject well let's talk about worship don't you know that God is a spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth what was Jesus doing what was she doing she was trying to put God in a box she was basically let me have my relationships and my worship life will be separate God says no God is a spirit he's not confined to a temple he's not confined to a building in fact Paul comes around and says you are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and when Paul says it in 1st Corinthians 6 it is interesting when we hear this text ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost I've almost always heard this in conjunction with the health message right what you put into your body what you eat what you drink but the reality is is that text has nothing to do with diet or nutrition that text has nothing to do with what you eat or what you drink read the text carefully your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost the context of that is sexuality I think the reason why we like to marry that with diet and nutrition is because it's easier to stop eating meat than it is to stop having sex with people you have no business having sex with so we rip it out of context cuz it's it's easier to stop eating shrimp than it is to stop looking at that website but Jesus says I will not be confined to a temple in fact you are not my temple which means I want to live inside of you which means everything you do is an act of worship so that if you do something with your body that is not according to my will that in a reality that is false worship so what do we do this woman is standing in front of Jesus Jesus has confronted her outed her about her lifestyle and here's the end here's what happens notice in the text Jesus never condemns her never read the story he he never condemns her he never condemns her in fact in fact after she is done with this whole thing of worship Jesus she says you know you sound like a prophet and there's a messiah coming and when he comes he's going to tell us all things and Jesus reveals to her he says I am he I'm the one you're talking about I'm the one you're thinking about I'm the one you looking forward to and when that happens something remarkable happens the woman realizes that she's talking to the Messiah and that the Messiah knows everything about her and the Messiah has the right in fact according to Levitical law he's supposed to stone her because he knows she sin sexually that's what it says in Leviticus but the grace of God in the story is right here he knows everything about her and he's still talking to her and is at this moment the Bible says is in this very obscure text most of you who've read the story you might not have paid attention to it but the Bible says that when she discovers that she is fully known and yet Jesus is still speaking to her the Bible says she drops her waterpot now remember the bottom of the bucket the water pot was what she used to get what she wants but now she doesn't need it anymore because now her thirst has been quenched by a water that is far greater than the water she's been getting from those temporary wells and she runs and she goes she says come see a man come meet a man who knew everything about me do you not know that he knows everything about you yet he still woke you up this morning everything I'm talking about everything I mean everything he knows the texts you delete it he knows the history on your websites that you cleared he knows the dark places he knows how many times he knows with who he knows where you were he knows everything and yet he's still talking to you he still woke you up this morning he still loves you for nothing shall separate us from the love of God you see just like and this is how I know the Spirit was working both with me and pastor asscherick he said it last night at the end to be fully known and fully loved is what transforms you it is not behavior modification because Jesus did not come to save you from your sinning he came to save you from sin in other words he didn't come to primarily change your lifestyle he came to change your life knowing that if he changes your life your lifestyle will follow problem with the church is that we're busy trying to get people to give up the symptoms but only Jesus can get rid of the sickness when she knew she was fully loved she put a water pot down she ran she said come meet a man who knew every thing about me yet still talk to me now one final thing there's one thing missing in this story that should disturb you there's one thing missing in the story that should have caught your attention I don't know if you saw it but did you notice that Jesus never told her to go home and get rid of that man Jesus never told her to change her behavior this morning in John chapter 5 we saw Jesus circled back to the paralytic right and he told him now go and don't do this same sin anymore so why is it that in John 4 Jesus does not give this woman instruction he specifically knows she's living in a bad lifestyle yet Jesus does not give her instruction on how to change why it's because of this Jesus trusts his spirit more than the church does we are obsessed with people changing their behavior Jesus is not he knows if he gets his spirit inside of you everything that needs to change will change we are all thirsty for love acceptance to be valued to belong the problem is is we're going to the wrong well it is Jesus intention to place his spirit inside of you so that you will not have to depend on somebody outside of you you could reach into your own spiritual experience with God and he will meet your every need that is how we saw sexual temptation not by trying harder not by just not listening to certain music all those things are helpful but the most important thing is when Jesus quenches your desire from the inside then you don't need anybody on the outside to do what only God can do we're thirsty but he came to quench our thirst father in just a few short moments we've come to understand that sexuality is primarily spiritual not physical and the problem is we've been we've been trying to meet spiritual needs with physical experiences trying to trying to get love trying to get acceptance because we might be lonely or because we need to feel more like a man or like a woman these these needs o God that we have are natural but the ways that we go about meeting them are are not spiritual and by and father we read in your word where it says that that we are drawn away by our own lusts our own desire might we say our own thirsts father I pray for each and every person here whether married or single that you will fill our spirit with your Holy Spirit so that our relationships will only be supplemental to what you are doing in our lives father there are many people who are here who are tired of carrying their bucket they're tired of going to wells that eventually run drei I pray God that what she promised for that woman you will do for us and put inside of us your spirit everything we need everything our soul desires and Father we're grateful we're grateful that you met that woman that day we're grateful that you met us here today we're thirsty here's our cup Lord we lift it up come and quench the thirst Ongina stain let everybody say Amen and amen

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Length: 36min 1sec (2161 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 13 2017