Lee Street Church
Notes of Meeting 12th June 2022
Worship led by Ken Cowell
Psalm 146.1-2: 1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. 2 I will praise the Lord all of my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
What does it show when a command is repeated straight after each other? That it is important. It also could be because we don’t listen to it the first time. That is a problem I have many times when Chris speaks to me. I ask her to repeat it because I don’t give her my full attention from the beginning. God’s command is to “Praise Him.” It’s important because that is one reason why I was set free from sin. God’s command to Moses when he appeared before Pharaoh was, “Let my people go so that they may worship me in the desert.” My first priority after being saved is to praise and worship God. It is not just praise with our lips but also with our souls which is from our hearts and innermost being. It is not just a one off occurrence but “all my life” that would include every day. It is also until I die, “as long as I live.” Praise is to be a very important part of my life. In our first song it speaks of our praising the Lord when the new day dawns, when the evening comes, throughout life keeping on singing for God’s goodness and in the end when our life finishes on earth. But that isn’t the end for we will still be singing God’s praise for all eternity. So praising the Lord must be very important.
2231 Bless the Lord O my soul; 279 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live;
Psalm 146.3-6 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope in the Lord his God, 6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them—the Lord, who remains faithful for ever.
Why do we praise the Lord? It is because His in the only power in which we can trust. Man and his resources along with his plans come to nothing. We praise God for he created the heaven and the earth has all power. As we wait on him in faith we too can experience his power in our lives. He is our help for the present and our hope for the future.
2034 Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord 1501 Praise him you heavens
We praise Him also because He remains faithful for ever. His faithfulness doesn’t depend on our being faithful. The Bible says, “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.” (2 Timothy 2.13) Let’s keep our seats as we praise him for his faithfulness.
894 Lord I come before your throne of grace
Psalm 146 7-10 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoner free. 8 The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The Lord reigns for ever, your God, O Zion for all generations. Praise the Lord.
We praise Him for all His works on behalf of mankind. He shows his love and goodness in so many ways particularly to those who are forgotten such as the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the depressed, the fatherless and the widow. We are also reminded that, “the Lord reigns for ever.” May we too, allow the Lord to reign in our lives. Let’s close with these two songs. We’ll keep seated for the first one but stand for the last one.
1244 God is good all the time 1498 Over all the earth you reign on high
Malcolm Cameron’s Message
Thanks for having me. it’s always a blessing to be asked back and to be here with you.
I missed seeing some of you early easter morning. Which is always such a great way to start on Easter Sunday, but we were away this year so joined in on YouTube with Crawley Community Church. And we bring greetings from them.
Welcome if you are online this morning, glad you are here
Thank you, Lord, for technology and the ability we have to continue meeting. I’m so glad we can meet together and online .
Slide 1
Got a couple of Jugs of water and some glasses
If you would like some feel free just came and grab some.
And if your on zoom you could grab a glass of water as well
Slide 2
You may have guessed that water will play a part in this message this morning. We will be looking at how water is used to help understand different things and also descriptive of the Holy Spirit…
And the question is Are we thirsty?
We will dip in and out John 4 this morning if you want to find that but hopefully, we can get it on the screen as well.
Slide 3 John 4 v4 -8
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
So we have Jesus sitting outside the town disciples go in to get food and this Samaritan woman comes along to get water in the hottest part of the day so we already know that’s not the normal. And Jesus asking for a drink its hot He’s parched needs a drink doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary. Except it wouldn’t happen we read that later in the chapter
Have you ever been really parched? I remember years ago being in the desert outside of San Diego driving to Palm Springs and being so thirsty I felt ill, and Nicky got heat stroke. our bodies are somewhere between 55 -60 % water and we are supposed to consume 2.5 – 3.5 litres a day minimum.
Slide 4
Water is vital. It helps with our mood, brain function enables us to regulate our body temperature, lubricates our joints and I really need that. Keeps our kidneys working and helps us rehydrate. So not a bad thing to ask for some water.
Is Jesus asking for a drink or is it something else. Personally, I think Jesus was actually asking for a drink of water, but we see Jesus also has a much better plan as well.
Slide 5 John 4 v9 -12
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
This Samaritan women is almost indignant “How can you ask me for a drink” sometimes I think that’s how we are with Jesus “ How dare you ask me to do that “ “you must be kidding I’m not going to talk to them” or is it just “ I can’t”
In these verses Jesus has moved away from physical water and talking about “Living water” is this something more than drinking water….
Slide 6 John 4 13-14
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Verse 13 “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. Physically we need to refill replenish have a drink. But Jesus goes on to describe this living water that will never let us go thirsty again. And will well up inside us as a spring of eternal life. When we go to Jesus and ask him for living water its salvation eternal life. life changing that will never run dry, in fact it will become a living spring pouring out it is life changing. It’s the Holy Spirit living in us.
Water is such a powerful picture throughout scripture
Let’s have a quick look at some scriptures relating to water
Slide 7
Hebrews 10 v 22
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Cleansing Isaiah 12 v3
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Salvation – ( Read Isaiah 12 it’s awesome)
Isaiah 44 v3
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.
New Growth, Blessing for you and your descendants
Matthew 3 v 11
11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire
Repentance, baptism
Psalms 23 v 3
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
Refreshing, calmness, rest, its peace. And I know many need that right now
Psalms 63 v 1
1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
Seeking Him out when its dry and we are thirsty
This is just a few verses where water is used in different ways in picture form
Cleansing, salvation, new growth, repentance, blessing, baptism, seeking. where ever you are at today there is fresh water fresh blessing for you.
I found this on google
“The Symbolism of water in the Bible is a significant part of our Christian walk. It has symbolized the Spirit of God, cleansing and sanctification, God’s Word and so much more.
Water is so important in God’s Word that it is mentioned 722 times in the Bible, more often than faith, hope, prayer, and worship. Of course, it is also an important part of our physical life as we need water to survive. “
I would like to suggest we need Jesus to survive we need the Holy Spirit, and we need this Living Water. We need to be saved
11 or 12 years ago I wasn’t in a good place I was withdrawn and on the inside dry and withered up. I could say all the right things and act in the right way, but my life was a bit of a mess. To be honest I’m not sure I was very aware of it and how low I had become. But God was gracious, and I received fresh water, refreshing from the Holy Spirit and new growth and healing. All I had to do was ask.
We have a beautiful plant in our kitchen and the other day it was looking really shrivelled up and sad, Nicky said have you watered it and I said no have you. You can guess that we hadn’t. Its amazing what a bit of water can do for a plant.
I find it amazing that water is not stagnant its being poured out it’s rivers flowing fresh blessing. in Isaiah 44 its pouring out of the Holy Spirt
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
The Holy Spirit isn’t still or stagnant the Holy Spirit flows and brings refreshing and anointing. When we only concentrate on the water in John 4 we can miss the essential part that the water moves us and changes us. That’s the part the Holy Spirit dose. He changes us and refreshes us. At the point of salvation we have the Holy Spirit that is in us and it needs to well up and flow out . we will never loose our salvation but if we don’t refill get refreshed, we get stagnant and dry. Sometimes even to the point that we don’t feel thirsty anymore. It may have been such a long time since you experienced the Holy Spirit or maybe it’s the living water you need for salvation. Both are promised for you - all you need do is ask and take a drink.
Slide 8 Ask yourself this question am I thirsty?
You may need to ask a different question Lord please make me thirsty. I didn’t know I was running on empty and dried up all we need to do is ask
Slide 9
No matter where you are at today This is for you.
- we need water “physically” we need refreshing
- we need water “spiritually” we always need refreshing
- we need Living water- Salvation
- we need the Holy Spirit poured out again and again
we have seen how important water is physical and it is as
important spiritually
I have had water here in front of me come and get some
Come and get refreshed and we will pray with you or get the person next to you to pray with you for refreshing.
Are you saved do you need Jesus today – God Thank you for loving me, Lord Jesus I’m sorry for all the stuff I have done wrong. Thank you for going to the cross for me and pouring out your forgiveness your living water. Help me Lord as I turn to you and live my life for you. Amen
Do you need to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit let us pray for you. We are going to sing this short chorus Fill me anew and we can use that to pray as we close. Both Nick or I and others are only too willing to pray with you. so as we sing come and get refreshed.
SONG: 510 Spirit of the living God
NOTICES
- Wednesday at 10.30am – Coffee Morning.
- 7.30pm on Wednesday - Zoom Bible Study and Prayer time