Sermon Central
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Soak It In Series
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Mar 6, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: When God’s time of refreshing comes we need to sit back like a sponge and soak in His outpouring of refreshment and even His time of cleansing which is also refreshing.
Soak It In!
Thesis: When God’s time of refreshing comes we need to sit back like a sponge and soak in His outpouring of refreshment and even His time of cleansing which is also refreshing.
Illustration: Pour water on the sponge and the duck. Which one soaks up the water?
One is open to receive the other is hard and rejects the water of refreshment. What are you like a sponge, or a hard quacking duck?
* The story of the quacking duck in the morning time when we where walking!
Beginning Texts:
The Holy Bible, New International Version
Zechariah 10:1 (NIV)
1 Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;
it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.
He gives showers of rain to men,
and plants of the field to everyone.
1 Kings 17:1 (NIV)
1Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe£ in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
1 Kings 17:2 (NIV)
2Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
1 Kings 17:3 (NIV)
3“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
1 Kings 17:4 (NIV)
4You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.”
1 Kings 17:5 (NIV)
5So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
1 Kings 17:6 (NIV)
6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
Isaiah 40:28 (NIV)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah 40:29 (NIV)
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Isaiah 40:30 (NIV)
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Introduction: When you are in the shower the water spills out of the faucet onto our bodies and most of it runs off our bodies and down the drain. The water washes us and then flows away with the dirt. But some of the water does soak into our bodies and causes them to be moisturized and I think soothed. I also feel better after I have worked hard and have been all dirty and sweaty and then that shower makes me feel so refreshed and energized. It eases the aching muscles.
I also compare it to times of sitting in a nice warm rain after working in the hot sun all day. I recall a time in Belize when I was on a Missions trip. We had been laying block all day in the hot sun and a rainstorm blew in. It rained for maybe 10 minutes but we just sat in the rain and soaked up the cool rain. After the shower we all felt refreshed and renewed because the rain cooled us down. It was refreshing.
The Bible speaks about times that come and bring refreshment to those who are parched, tired, weak, depressed, overwhelmed and the like. In many of these instances water comes in to play as that element which refreshes. In the KJV version water is used repeatedly as refreshment actually it is used 567 times in the Bible.
The middle east is a dry hot place so it’s natural that water would be the symbol of refreshment. Jesus himself stated in John 7:37-39:
The Holy Bible, New International Version
John 7:37 (NIV)
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
John 7:38 (NIV)
38Whoever believes in me, as£ the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:39 (NIV)
39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Other texts like Isaiah 55:1
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
and Rev. 22:17
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
