Wednesday night (3)

5/24/23

John 7:37-39 “37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By 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.”

What is your favorite thing to drink?

coke? Water? Tea? coffee?

What is the one thing that will quench your thirst?

Water!

Did you know that soft drink companies intentionally make their drinks to taste good and to prevent your thirst from being quenched?

That’s the marketing campaign right there!

They want you to drink their product because it tastes good.

But they also want you to buy more of it, so they prevent it from quenching your thirst.

This guys is a false identity…

How many things are we living for as middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults that are not satisfying us?

How many things are we seeking to fill us up, but really they are just making us happy for a short time?

This is an identity crisis.

We are drinking cokes all the time when we need water.

Your true identity, the only thing that can quench this desire in you to be loved is the living water that Jesus offers.

Read John 7:37-38 “37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.””

We need our identity to be rooted in Christ!

SO

Who are you?

Some of you may find great success in sports, some of you not so much.

Is that who you are?

Is that really your identity?

In the deepest core of your being, begin someone who is good at sports

or

being someone who is not as good at sports.

How much does that really matter in eternity?

I know it may feel like it matters a lot now.

I’m not saying you should quit sports if you are involved.

But I am saying, that’s not your identity.

Don’t base who you are on that feeling.

When I was 17, I was about to graduate high school.

I played varsity soccer for Southside Christian School in Greenville.

We were in the upper state playoffs.

We lost.

In literally one moment my entire soccer career went from being part of who I was, to now being over.

Literally at the blowing of a whistle it was all over.

For everyone in this room, one day school will be over forever, sports will be over forever, trying to achieve scholarships will be over… all good things, but they will be over.

Then you step into this world of being an adult.

You have bills.

You have suffering and hardships.

Who are you then?

Well… You’re the same person you are now.

Yet so many people look around at that 18-25 year old stage and all of a sudden they realize they were lost.

Why?

Because of Psalm 25:5 and 7.

Psalm 19:14 “14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

John 1:12-13 “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Going back to this too,

If you are a child, what does that assume?

It assumes you have a mom and a dad.

God is our Father.

Have you ever considered the depth of that?

That God willingly refers to himself in that way?

We often consider what it means that we are God’s children, but do you ever stop and consider how insanely incredible it is that God calls himself our Father!?

After all we’ve done to slap him in the face and reject His love, He still says, Yeah… I’m their Dad.

That we are His children and He is our Father.

That’s who we are.

That right there.

Being loved by the God of the universe, being His child.

Trusting Him in all time sin all situations.

Rejecting and rebelling against all that the world says is successful and instead running as hard as I can to what He calls a W and what HE calls successful.

Wew…

May that be the meditation of my heart always.