Follow the River of Living Water that Flows from Within Me (John 7:37-44)

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. May the blessing of God will be upon all the individuals and families who are worshiping in the church, outdoors, and in their homes. The title of today’s message is, “Follow the Stream of Living Waters that Flows from Me.” May your life be one that follows the river of living water that flows from Jesus Christ.

Main

1. World – Answer
   The world nowadays is a very thirsty field.

1) Thirsty Field
Yes, there are some people who are physically thirsty because they don’t have water, but everyone is spiritually thirsty because they don’t have the living water. The Israelites were created to live to follow the spirit of God and the life of God and the river of life. But they lived for the physical things, and in Isaiah 55:2, it says they are spending their money and labor on things that do not satisfy. In other words, as a result of not knowing the life that comes from the river of living water, we end up wasting our lives on useless things.

In Lamentations 4:2, it says we are like infants who are so thirsty that our tongues stick to the roofs of our mouths, and we beg for bread but there is no one to give it to us. It is talking about the Israelites living in the biblical times. We’re created to go into the blessings of God, but because we are devoid of that, we are living a thirsty life.

Matthew 12:42 says that an evil spirit will leave a person and go through arid and dry lands. What does it meant that the evil spirit is roaming around dry and arid lands? It means that the evil spirit is roaming around places that do not have Jesus Christ. It means that, when we are living our lives separated from the true life of Jesus Christ and we live for physical things instead, then the evil spirits follow us around and work on us.

In the age of Egypt, the Israelites did whatever they wanted to do in Egypt, living their lives, but Exodus 2:23 says they are crying out for help. This is the life that follows us whenever we escape from the flow of life.

2) World
The problem of this world is not a lack of rice, grain, food, and water. The real problem of mankind is found in Ephesians 2:1. Every single human born after Adam and Eve are dead in their transgressions and sins. Because they are spiritually dead, Ephesians 2:2 says that they have no choice but to live according to the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air. As a result of living our lives, following the ways of the world, we are by nature objects of wrath.

Looking at Acts 13, these people are those who try to gain political power through demon-possession and otherworldly powers. People actually have no choice but to live that way because they do not have the true life of God. In Acts 16, you’re able to see a field where people are going to a demon-possessed fortune teller to try to gain advice for their life and business decisions. In Acts 19, you’re able to see the town of Ephesus which was a town that built great, large idols and begged to them to get some kind of blessing for themselves and their family.

The field of America today is exactly the same. When we talk about idolatry, now we’re talking about scientific and academic advances that everyone relies on. Even now, people are focusing and staking their lives on scientific advancements, thinking that enough scientific advancement will cure mankind’s thirst. But the more we do anything, the more we enter into spiritual suffering, mental and physical suffering, and emotional suffering.

For people who are emotionally suffering from mental disorders, you should never listen to the words of people; you should listen to the words of God, and then slowly, little by little, you’ll receive healing.

When people’s mental disorders become severe enough, it becomes a physical problem that you can see with your eyes. That actually flows through your entire family, and we have no choice but to go into the eternal suffering of hell.

3) Anyone
In this kind of field, Jesus Christ goes to them and says in John 7:37, “If anyone is thirsty, let them come to Me and drink.” There is no condition as to who can drink Jesus’ water. Whether you’re successful or a failure or old or young or healthy or sick, everyone must come and drink of Jesus Christ’s water. If people understand these words, they will become so spiritually thirsty that people die. When you’re so thirsty, you’ll think, “Even if I get a drop of water, that would be great,” but because people don’t know the solution, they have no choice but to live in suffering.

Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, you who have no money, come buy and eat.” He says, “buy,” and this means it’s a blessing that you can never buy with the money and power of man. Only the people who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the grace of God, who decide to follow after Jesus Christ, can go to Jesus and drink the living water.

2. Jesus Christ
   In Matthew 11:28, Jesus Christ says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” From the moment we are born from our mother’s wombs, we live our lives with these heavy burdens. Even as you get older, you have to compete with other people to live and survive; it’s all a heavy burden. Then, when you go into school, you have to worry about finances. It’s all difficult. After you graduate college, you have to get a job in society and it’s all a burden.

We think if we get a better job, it will be okay, but we have to survive there, too, so that is a burden. Then, when we get married, we have an even greater burden, and then when we have a child, it’s an even greater burden. As you get older, you’ll have even more burdens because of your health, and then you’re so worried, “How am I going to live?” and that’s how you get another burden. But Jesus Christ says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” People think that they can live their own life with their own mental fortitude or physical strength, but when He says, “Come to me, all you,” it means that every single person needs the power of Christ.

1) Whoever Believes
Anybody who believes that on the cross, Jesus Christ destroyed all our problems of sin, Satan who destroys us, and hell, and He is with us in life, that is the one who can become a child of God. In Romans 8:2, it says that those people have been set free from the law of sin and death and have been moved into the spirit of life. Why? That is true because in John 7:37-39, the spirit is the one that teaches us, the river of life talks about the Spirit, “For anyone who is remaining within the law of the spirit of life, that is where the river of living water will flow from.”

Because we do not listen when God tells us nicely, He has to discipline us to bring us back to the light. I have a child and she is so stubborn, so if she does things that aren’t good for her, I have to discipline her. It’s in the Bible. So now, because of the American laws, I don’t hit her, but I make her do 200 pushups. Whether I do this or that, it’s all suffering. I’m only disciplining her so she will break free from her limited stubbornness and go into the words that her father is giving her.

We need to be broken free of our stubbornness so we can go into the river of life, but we keep trying to run away. Whenever we face a problem, we fall right into that problem. If someone tells me any words, I fall right into their words. Then, what does it mean to go into the words of living water?

If you do not have that, if you are not within the river of living water, you have only your thoughts to guide you through your problems, but you were born in sin. The more deeply you try to think and strategize, the further away you’ll be from God, so quickly pray, holding onto the words of Jesus Christ, so that you’ll know God’s answer for you.

The more deeply you try to think and strategize, the further away you’ll be from God, so quickly pray, holding onto the words of Jesus Christ, so that you’ll know God’s answer for you.

Whatever situation you are in, you have to consider the problem, yourself, and God. You have to consider these three points of intersection. That’s what it means to drink the living water and to ride the flow of the river of life. That’s why He says, “Do not be afraid,” because the One who is the source of the living water is guiding you along. The more you are stubborn, the more you escape from Him.

The only stubbornness you should have is a stubbornness to hold onto the word of God. But if you hold onto the stubbornness that comes from your ego, from Genesis 3, from sin, and from Satan, the more you will suffer.

2) Holy Spirit
John 14:17 says that if you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will be with you forever. John 14:26-27 says that the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, will teach you and remind you of everything that Jesus said. That means there is an answer to every problem. Even in the future, we have to live in the future, so God has an answer for that, so do not be afraid of anything in the future, but receive the answer for the future through God’s Word.

John 14:27 says, “I will give you peace.” David confessed, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.” There are some people who are filled with such panic attacks and are afraid. Rightfully, they have panic attacks because there are things that humans cannot overcome, so I pray that you will depend and rely upon the spirit of Christ.

Then, in John 16:24, Jesus Christ said, “Until now, you have not received anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” This is what it means to ride the flow of the living water. As you are riding along this river of living water, there is a point where the Holy Spirit works with great, tremendous power. That is not our strength or ability at all, but there is a time schedule of God where we go into the Word with the power of God.

3) Mission – Filling of the Holy Spirit
When is that time schedule? The moment you discover the mission that Jesus Christ has specifically given you, the power of God will follow you around. When Joseph was young, he grew up listening to the words of the covenant from his father. When he was so young, his mother passed away and he was in a great crisis. He prayed to God regarding his problem, and God gave him the answer and mission that the sun, moon, and eleven stars would bow down to him. From the moment that Joseph held onto the mission that God gave him to evangelize Egypt and all the world, it says in Genesis 41:38 that the Pharaoh had never seen anyone who was filled with the spirit of God like Joseph.

3. Only the Holy Spirit
   God’s mission is fulfilled by God, so that’s why God is with you through the filling of the Holy Spirit, and He fulfills it. In 1 Samuel 16:13, Samuel gives a mission to David that he will become the king of Israel, and the moment he received that mission, it says that the Holy Spirit came upon him in power.

Elijah raised up a disciple, Elisha. Elisha was following Elijah around as a disciple, and Elijah asked, “What do you want?” Elisha responds, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” For the people who have received the mission from God, the Spirit of God follows them around, working on them and interceding on their behalf.

For 80 years, Moses lived his life without any power. Even though he lived in a palace and enjoyed success for 40 years, God did not use Moses. Then for the next 40 years, Moses lived with no name in the desert wilderness, and God was still silent. Sure, he believed in God and followed, but he didn’t do anything big. However, in Exodus 3:18, God gives him a mission to bring God’s people out of Egypt, and the moment Moses received that mission from God, God told him to throw his staff onto the ground and it became a snake. When Moses went to pick it up again, it became a staff again.

That person will be okay no matter where they are thrown into. If you train a soldier, you should be able to deploy them anywhere so that they can live, survive, and win. Not only do you have to survive in any environment, but you must be victorious. That is how Christ is leading us from within us. One day, the moment I received the mission of God, the explosive power of the Holy Spirit came upon me.

1) Jesus Christ – Temple
Ezekiel 47 shows an example of how the Holy Spirit’s explosive power comes upon you. Here, we see water flowing from the temple. This doesn’t mean that the temple was leaking and flowing water; it is talking about the spirit of life. If you look in Ezekiel 47:3, they are measuring the water and the spirit of God led him into the water and it was ankle deep. He went another 1000 cubits and the water went up to his knees. He measured off another 1000 cubits, and it went up to his waist. Then he went another 1000 cubits and he couldn’t stand; he was submerged.

What does this mean? The temple is talking about Jesus Christ, and measuring these cubits reflects how accurately you know Christ. The more you know the depth, the width, and the height of Jesus Christ, the more the Holy Spirit works upon you. Christ is the solution to every problem, and no matter what circumstance you are in, Jesus Christ is the only solution. The more you know this fact, the more your life is finished.

Now, the person received their mission from God, and that is why the Holy Spirit completely captures them. You have to completely let yourself go to the big river in which you are flowing. I grew up next to a river when I was young, so I like oceans. Every Monday, I go to the beach because Monday is the pastor’s weekend, and I go to restore my physical state.

When I was in elementary school, I lived in a river with a very strong current, and I challenged myself to swim against the current. When you’re young like that, you have a desire to prove yourself, and even though I was trying to swim upstream, I couldn’t overpower the current, so I lost all my strength and thought, “I’m going to die,” because death would be just a momentary thing.

At that time, I thought I could save myself from drowning, “Instead of keep trying to swim upstream, why don’t I follow the current down and come onto the land where the current is slower?” I think God saved me at that moment so that I could become a pastor. At that time, if I were only looking at myself and the water, I would become frantic; there would be no solution, and I would drown.

If you want to go into the flow of the Spirit of life, you have to let go of all of your strength. The more deeply you try to think, the more you cannot go into the working of the Holy Spirit. The more you assert your own experiences, the more you cannot go into the river of Christ. If you look in the subsequent verses, the more this water flowed from the temple, everything around it came to life, whether it was plants or creatures. Every single thing came to life.

Then, what is the problem of this world? It means there is no Christ, and there is no working of the Holy Spirit. What is the problem in the churches? They’re doing everything so diligently except this. The problem of the church is that they’re falling into legalism, mysticism, humanism, and prosperity-based gospels. Only Christ is enough, and you need to drink that living water, and you have to ride the flow of that life.

If you ride your own flow, you have no choice but to follow your family background. Nobody can escape from their background. I can only escape from that and see the work of God when I ride the river of living water of Christ who is within me.

There is a flow in my family line. After a man turns over 50 in my family, they become pitiful. I saw with my own eyes, my father and uncle turned pitiful and weak after they turned 50. My older brother is only 5 years older than me, but he is a complete grandpa who always needs to drink cans of soju and he’s always drinking, inside and outside the house. He doesn’t eat side dishes; he only eats salt. He can’t escape from that, and I should have ended up in the same flow, but because I gained Christ, I escaped from that flow.

Every single man, when they turn 50, they become weak and pathetic, and they’ll be weak and pathetic until the day they die. That is the flow of my family background. What about me? I’m over 50 and the older I get, the more lively I get. I know myself, I know how strong my family flow is, and if it weren’t for the word of Christ, I would always be lying down. I might be strong and tall, but that’s irrelevant. Only when you go into the river of the life of Christ can you come to life.

13 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors said she was going to die. But she went into the flow of the life of Jesus Christ, and ever since then, she’s been healthier, she’s running around very fine. I’m a witness myself. When I look at all my friends’ grandparents in Korea, all their faces are so turned and twisted because they’re trying to control the flow of life by themselves; they have no choice but to have a very twisted life. You have to change your flow to ride the river of the spirit. If you want to ride in a very large river, you just have to hold on and flow in that, letting go of your strength.

Acts 1:8, the Early Church discovered Jesus Christ and held onto the mission. When they held onto that mission in prayer, the Holy Spirit worked upon them in power.

3) Prayer, Evangelism
Now that the coronavirus pandemic has begun, all the businesses and economics of the world is changing. We didn’t predict this with our plans; however, the people who received guidance from the Lord are different, why? Because God continues to give us His answers and plans in advance, why? Because we need to save this world.

2 Timothy 3 says that the closer we get to the end of the world, the more the world will be filled with suffering. Matthew 24 says that the disasters and confusion of the world will continue to increase until the end of the world. Revelation 2 says the confusion and disasters will only accelerate, there will be famines and wars, but the Lord responds so simply. Anyone who rides the river of the Spirit through Jesus Christ has no worries.

God is inside of us as Jesus Christ and will guide us in the rivers of flowing water as the spirit, and everywhere I go, everything will be revived. That is why in Acts 1:8, the works will begin in Jerusalem. Wherever you are is where the works will begin. From Jerusalem to Judea, the works will flow, and the flow of the spirit will go into the land of Samaria, the place where nobody ever wants to go, all the way until the ends of the earth. God has given you a mission and guides you with the Holy Spirit go to and proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, to the 237 nations and the 5000 unreached tribes. That means there is nothing for you to worry about, nothing for you to be anxious about.

God, within us, will guide us in rivers of flowing water as the Spirit, and everywhere I go, everything will be revived.

The fact that you are worried means that you have escaped from God’s flow. Guys who pretend to be strong only do so to hide their weaknesses. On the outside, they package themselves so nicely with success, transcendental meditation, and mental fortitude, but on the inside, it is fear and thirst. However, anyone who is riding within the river of the living water that flows from you will come to life through you.
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Conclusion: Time for Myself

1. Jesus Christ – Faith
   Believing in Jesus Christ is no ordinary thing. If you want to go to Harvard, all you have to do is study very diligently, but you cannot believe in Jesus Christ by studying very diligently. You can only believe in Jesus Christ when grace comes to you from heaven, because it is impossible by human ability. The fact that you have become a child of God means that the grace of heaven has come upon you. It means also that the work of God is beginning from within you and is being carried out.

2. Discover My Mission
   Whenever I hold onto the mission that God gave me and move according to that, God is bound to work upon me with power. Whether this happens or that happens, really, none of that matters because I believe God is absolutely working according to His words.

These words, those words, they only test me and they’re not the truth. The words of the government are not the words of God and they’re not the words of truth; they are only words to reveal the weaknesses of man. However, for the children of God, I believe that until the day we go to heaven, God is protecting us and fulfilling our mission with us and through us.

3. Saving Lives through the Working of the Holy Spirit
   This week may you not lose hold of this faith and be the ones who save.

Message Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word that God has given us today. God, allow me to ride the river of living water through faith in Jesus Christ, and may I save all the individual problems in my life, my family problems, and my region. Please guide me into the flow to save all the 237 nations of the world and the 5000 unreached tribes. Let us pray.