Let the river flow from the "southside"!

Ezekiel 47

Do you see the river flowing? v1,2

¹ The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. ² He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the 

south side.

As I was preparing to speak this week, I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time with 7 baptismal candidates, but still felt strongly led that I needed to still speak and God reminded of the vision of Ezekiel in chapter 47.  I was familiar with how the prophet was led to get into river flowing from the temple but what I needed to be reminded of was found in verse 2.

I have been serving here at Southside for close to 9 years and one of my greatest joys has been the growing tradition of Easter Sunday baptisms.  I felt like I needed to share something very fresh at this service and God showed up!  First the testimonies of our candidates were incredibly powerful and the last testimony shared by Jordan B was so illustrative of the process the prophet went though from first coming to the river to experience God to moving to the place where he was immersed in the river.

The source of the river is the sanctuary of God. When we follow Jesus and our redeemed by Him we come to the place where we learn what surrender means, we submit to Him and He breathes His Holy Spirit into us.  We see in Scripture as well that water is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.

Prior to coming to Southside, it had been prophesied over me that I would bring springs of living water to a dry and weary land.  I have always taken great encouragement in that sense of calling as there have definitely been times where it has felt dry and weary, the road has been difficult and it has felt like a desert.  You can imagine the joy and the smile that came across my faith as I read this passage again this week and being reminded that the water from the temple was flowing from the south side.  I circled south side and laughed and told God, You are good!  It was like He was saying, "Hey Jack, I'm alive and well in this place and my Spirit is flowing and moving.”  It was a wonderful moment of reaffirmation for me.

Be immersed in the Spirit of God v3-6

the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. ⁶ He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"

 For me the journey into the deeper things of the Spirit of God has been one where He truly has taken me from being in ankle-deep, to my knees, to my waist and I trust I will continually turn over this church to the control of the Spirit where I can’t touch with my feet and where I am controlled by the current and flow of the Holy Spirit!

This is the call for all of us that we get to the place where we as the people of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, allow His streams of living water flow through us.

Don’t get swamped by what consumes your world. v11

 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

There are always things that will grieve as well as quench the flow of the Spirit in our lives and we have to first recognize these distractions and not allow them to consume us to the point where we stagnate the work of the Spirit in our lives.  The Spirit’s work is to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  John 16:8   We are then called  to walk in the Spirit and when we do that we will not be as easily drawn into fulfilling our selfish desires as we see in Galatians 5:16 

When we walk away from God and refuse the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are like the swamps and mashes. No life will flow from us and everything we touch does not bring life and draw others to God.  There is power in the flow of the river. The force of the river brings life. The amount of flow will depend on how much we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

(from sermonalive.com)

The healing power of the River of God v9,12

 ⁹ Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live  ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the

We move from the work of the Spirit to being led by the Spirit to ultimately the place where we bear the fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives.  We flow to a place where the very fruit of our lives show up and reveals that the Spirit of God is living and active and producing the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control in our lives and by God’s Holy Spirit and grace flowing into the lives of others.

We become “medicine” for others who needed a helping hand, a listening ear, and a shoulder to cry on. As we help the poor and needy, we bring healing to their souls through our kindness, love, compassion. They will see God and the goodness of God through you.

(from sermonalive.com)