The Notes

This coming Wednesday night, September 2, 2026, we conclude our "Wacky Worship" message series with a look at the topic - Honey from the Rock.  This is a Biblical principle of God's provision and promise to His people, and it's going to be a sweet message you don't want to miss!  Join us at 6:00 p.m. to understand the biblical truth from this saying, and be drawn closer to our extraordinary God.  It's a little wacky, but a whole lot of positive, uplifting, & encouraging truth!

If you can't join us in person, you can always participate through our Facebook page.  We go "live" at 6:00 p.m., and you will have a front row seat.  If you can't join us live, there are 3 ways to watch the message later - on Facebook, on YouTube, or here on our website. (the "Past & Future Messages" page).  Watch anytime!  

This week, August 26, 2026, we continued our message series called, "Wacky Worship."  It's wacky ideas that use ordinary things to connect us to our amazing and extraordinary God.  

Our topic this week was Flowing Rivers.

Rivers are common sights, and after this week's message, we hope you see a river and have a different thought . . . that you will be reminded of some of these five Biblical truths. 

1 - Receiving Jesus means we have a constant spiritual source that can quench the thirst in our lives.  This principle comes from Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan Woman at a well (John 4). 

Jesus told the woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.  But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.  The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The woman was speaking of physical water from a well, but Jesus spoke of the spiritual water that He offers . . . the water that quenches the thirsting of our souls.  Jesus fully satisfies the deepest need of people because in Him we’re fully known, fully loved.  Because of Him, we are forgiven, we receive mercy and grace, and we matter.   Through Jesus Christ, we’re reconciled with God so we can live with God throughout eternity in peace, love, and joy.   Jesus offers us contentment when we surrender our lives to Him.  Jesus said we will have a "fount of water springing up" inside us.  That means we have a constant spiritual source in our lives.  That Source reminds us we have a purpose, that life has meaning.   We matter in this world and have a place, but we also have an eternal home and destination where there is a place at the table reserved for us.  Jesus has gone to prepare that place for us, so there is no need to continue searching for salvation, meaning, or purpose apart from Him – it’s all found in Jesus.

2 -  The "fount" - just another word for "spring" - doesn’t sit still and is not stagnant.  A fount is alive; it bubbles up and moves continuously.  That spring represents the Holy Spirit who lives in us.    The Holy Spirit is active and alive in us, constantly at work in us.  The Spirit speaks to us, prompting us to do good deeds, to reach out to others and share the love of love.  The Spirit is communicating with us directly from God, showing us the way to go and what to say and do.  The Holy Spirit gives us the words to say and empowers us to make a difference in the lives of others.  The Spirit is alive in all believers.

3 -  The Fount doesn’t run dry.  We find one of God’s promises to His people given in Isaiah 58:11 – “The LORD will always guide you and provide good things to eat when you are in the desert. He will make you healthy. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water or like a stream that never runs dry.”  Just like the rivers continue to flow, God's love for us never runs dry.  His grace & mercy cannot be exhausted.  His patience is unending; He never grows weary.  It's interesting that Jesus said that the water He gives will become "a fount of water springing up to eternal life."  “Fount" comes from the Latin word fons, which means a spring or well.  The fount doesn’t run dry because it’s connected to the person who gives everlasting life.   The spring is connected to eternity.

4 - What Jesus offers us is "Living Water."  John 7:37-38 tells us - “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

Did you get that?  Streams of living water will flow from believers.  What Jesus is saying is that the Spirit flows into us, and then flows through us and into others.  That water is never in short supply, but is continuous.  Ecclesiastes 1:7 - “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.”  The living water from Jesus is moving, alive with oxygen, the breath of God into our lives.  Consider that stagnant water has stopped flowing . . . it's lost oxygen . . . and it becomes contaminated with harmful bacteria.  Our lives without Jesus are stagnant.  The question for all of us is  – is the spring that feeds your soul alive? Or is it stagnant?

If the answer is stagnant, the solution to that problem is in desire. What do you want?   If you want to be alive . . . go to the river!  Psalm 42:1-2 says – “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. . . .”  A deer living in a dry land desperately searches for water because it cannot survive without it.  Jesus is the living water for us because we cannot survive without Him.  We can’t spend eternity in Heaven without Him. The image of a deer panting for water portrays more than casual desire.  It's a necessity.  And because Jesus is the living water for us, we ought to be more than casual in our desire and pursuit of Him.  A deer doesn’t just drink once, it drinks every day, and many times throughout the day.  We need the same. . . to be replenished spiritually, over & over.  We need our thirst quenched continuously as we live in this dry, parched land.  Jesus cures the soul’s thirst.

The way we love, work, and serve Him all begins with a desire for God. . . for Him to guide us as our Good Shepherd… to “lead us beside quiet waters" and restore our soul.  May you go to the river often, and let it flow through you!