Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ tells this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool:
During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch.
With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large.
- The field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest in the United States
In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
And Mr. Yates owned it all.
The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief.
A multimillionaire living in poverty.
The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it.
- Wellspring – Source or fountainhead
- The supply considered inexhaustible
- It's not conjured up by yourself
- It's not hording in reserve the dribbles & splashes the trickles of joy that this life gives
Philippians 1:6 (AV)
6 Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Israel Discovered the Wellspring
Deuteronomy 8:3–4 (AV)
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Deuteronomy 8:6–9 (AV)
6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
- We can be absolutely assured of His Grace
- Today for ourselves it began at the cross
- Taking the penalty of sin – DEATH
Discover the Wellspring
- v.9 – "And this I pray"
- "Hey get this"
- This is the "Wellspring"
- When at wits end
- Prayer is something that compels us
- The deepest longings of your heart will come out in your prayers.
- So often prayer is about you
-- YOUR
• Needs
• Problems
• Questions
- If you pray -- VERY
• Infrequently
• Briefly
- It means that you have a cold heart
- What is the best thing to pray for?
- Here are some principles laid out for prayer
- He prays that you would discover the Wellspring
- Build upon one another
That Your LOVE May Abound
- Can you think of any greater joy?
- "ABOUND" (flourish, overflow)
- A flood of love
- 1 Co 13:2 .... If I have not love I am Nothing
- ABCNews reports - NJ Toms River resident Bill Bresnan, 74, has written 10,000 love letters every day to Kirsten Bresnan, 74, his wife for almost 40 years,
- There are more than 10,000 of them filed chronologically in 25 boxes in their attic home.
- Multiply the plans of an engaged couple
Amos 3:3 (AV)
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
v.9 Philippians 1:9 (AV)
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
- Wellspring of Joy that your love may abound
- This is knowing the truth
- Judgment - Then understanding the truth
In Knowledge and in all Judgment
- v.9 In Knowledge = practical truth
- Difference between a road map & GPS:
- To be able to put the knowledge to use
• Shows Routes Road map will show you how to get there
• Where Am I? You have to figure out where you are first and then decide your best route
GPS
• It will take you turn by turn with audio
• You know where you are every step of the way
Knowledge - Practical Truth
Colossians 1:9 (AV)
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
- There is no guessing
- A good synonym for love is forgiveness
• First know where and then decide your best route
• GPS you turn on and then plug in the address
- In Judgment
- Insight, Understanding – To discern
• Back to the travel plans with the GPS
• You weigh in other factors
• Fastest way, Most use of freeways, Lest use of freeways
• Weather – Best time to travel
• What to avoid
• Does this route take us through large cities at rush hour
Ephesians 5:17 (AV)
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
- Christ Gives Us His GPS Through His Word
- Look at the next verse
Philippians 1:10 (AV)
10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; ....
- "That ye may approve"
• To see clearly
• See the difference
• Understand what really matters
- What is God teaching in this passage about myself, Himself and life,
- How should this cause me to live?
