There Is A River

Acts 1:8 you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

Luke 24:49 but tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.

The number one need of the church today and the individual believer is the power of the Holy Ghost.

The number one prerequisite for this power is hunger.

Mt 5:6 Blessed are they, which do hunger, and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The most dangerous thing that can happen to a believer is to lose their hunger and their passion and their desire for the presence and the power of God.

Ezekiel 47:1-9 shows us a picture of the mighty river of God =(the Holy Ghost -- the anointing) it is ever deepening and widening.

Psalms 46:4 there is a river, the streams where of shall make glad the city of God.

(We have to come to the door) -- (Jesus)

This does not mean just a come to Jesus as a point of access, but it means fellowship, communion, relationship.

John 7:37 if any man thirst let him come to me a drink, and he that believeth upon me as the Scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Thus spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.

This is speaking of an abiding life, a life lived in connection and in communion with Jesus Christ.

John 15 speaks of the abiding life by using an illustration of the vine and the branches.

Jesus said I am the vine ye are the branches if ye abide in me and my words abide in you you shall bring forth much fruit.

But he also said if you abide not in me you will be cast forth like a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

The secret then to abundant life, overflowing life, and anointed life, is a life lived in fellowship with Jesus.

Our goal then is not to have the power of God but to have the presence of Jesus, we do not seek for the power of God we seek for the presence of God in other words for relationship with Jesus.

Through this relationship with Jesus the life of God flows through us just as the life of the vine flows into the branch and it produces fruit.

This river comes from the house, or issues out from the house. We are the house of God collectively and individually.

This river flows out because #1 we have come to the door,

#2 We have come to the altar.

The altar: is a place of death, it is where sin and self are crucified, it speaks of a lifestyle of prayer and sanctification and holiness before God.

Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

This river is symbolic of the life and the flow Of the Holy Spirit.

We see Ezekiel who represents the believer in the spirit life moving progressively from shallow ankle deep water to a place over his head out of his control.

This river comes out full flow from the very beginning which tells us when we received the Holy Ghost he came in his fullness.

But we are the ones who must progress and mature in the anointing.

These waters were flowing with the purpose.

(It was power with purpose)

Lu 4:18-19 Jesus said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him.

The Holy Ghost is here with the purpose.

He came to empower us to carry on the Jesus ministry.

He came to anoint us the same as he anointed Jesus to destroy the works of the devil.

He came to set us on fire:

Heb. 1:7 Who maketh his angels ministering spirits and his ministers flames of fire.

He came to set us free: where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

He came to reveal Jesus to us.

This river had miracle transforming power, it had saving and healing power.

This river brought life, healing, restoration, wherever it went.