POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - The River
The River
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“The people who believe in Me, as Scripture has said, out of their hearts will flow the rivers of living water.” John 7:38
“The river of God is full of water … “
Psalms 65:9
Many of our great cities were built near a river. This river gave life to its people and continues to do so. At a certain point in this river, there is a huge pipe. It draws forth the life in this river and brings it through the pipe for many miles. Then it is circulated to several other smaller, but still big, pipes. That pipe carries water great distance. And then there are hundreds and hundreds of smaller pipes branching off of each bigger pipe, finally ending up in people’s homes through thousands of small PVC pipes. On the end of each of these is a faucet. A person turns the faucet on and they have crystal clear water, flowing out of the faucet. Yet, it is not the pipe or the faucet, but what is within that creates the magic.
“For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river.”
Isaiah 66:12
I am a different size than you are. I might be a different gender than you are. I might be a different color than you are. But we are all THE SAME because we have the same Spirit of God inside of us, the Spirit that constantly tells us what we can become; the Spirit that tells us that we can be healthy when we are sick. The Spirit gives us the power inside of us to keep on driving ahead to know that we have inside of us what will help us to be a victor in every situation.
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit an old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee in most cases, just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups … and then began eyeing each other’s cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”
God brews the coffee, not the cups.
“Christ in you, your hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
What is this Christ? When you are aware of the Christ in you, it means you are connected to your source. It means you have more power waiting to come forth. It is to have the assurance, to have the knowledge in your human mind that you are not an island and not all alone. Truly, when you know that, you are not an ordinary pipe with river water in it. You are not an ordinary human being because we all – every human on the planet – has a connection to God and living water. But some just do not know it. It is our awareness that anoints us, that crowns us. That is what Jesus came to tell us.
“Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink, ‘you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10
I am going to read from the Bible in Revelations. Few understand Revelations. Let me read and then explain, exactly, what this means from Revelations 22:1-7: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month: and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night: they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.’ ‘See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.'”
First of all, we have an angel who is showing you the river of life, inside of you. Now, God flows in and through you, like a river.
Recently, I saw on television some workers here when they opened up a huge pipe that was clogged. The water had been stagnant in that pipe for some time. When they opened the pipe, the smell of the stagnant water filled the air. God is not stagnant in you. God is ever fresh, ever renewing. How much of a help that is when you are not feeling up to par, to know God is flowing through you, cleansing you, and making you new. God is flowing through your mind. You are not stagnant in your mind when you go to God.
God is continually bringing ideas to you, flowing through you, always new, always fresh, always a new vision.
How does the angel appear? It is not outside of you. Actually, in this passage, where it says “angel,” it means what is closer to a Divine idea flowing from the throne of God – flowing to your human mind – God into your conscious mind. It is telling you, making you aware of something great happening. Not in some imaginary city, but inside of you. The angel showed me a river of the water of life from the throne of God and of the lamb.
What is the lamb? They are referring to Jesus, here. They called Jesus a sacrificial lamb. In the days when the Bible was written, most religions of that day, in that part of the world, believed that if you were sick, or if you had sinned, or if you had a habit, you could not overcome, the priest would ask you to bring your finest animal – usually it was a lamb. Bring your finest lamb to the altar and through a ceremony, they would place your sin in the lamb. They would place your bad habit in the lamb. They would place your sickness in the lamb. Then, quickly, they would have slaughtered it. The lamb would have died for you. The lamb would have given its life so you could be cleansed. Later on, this is what they called Jesus for dying on the cross – the sacrificial lamb.
This river flows down the middle of the street, right in the center of your mind. It flows into the center of the city. Where is this city? It is your human mind. Think about your human mind – isn’t it like a city? There are huge apartment buildings; all filled with different ideas and concepts, in every apartment, there are different memories. Everyone is occupied. Throughout the city, there are small dwellings, big dwellings, clusters of ideas and concepts– big concepts, and small concepts. This is talking about how God should be the permanent tenant in the middle in every apartment, in every home inside of your mind. When God is in everything, everything changes.
On either side of this river of life inside of you, you have a tree of life, the manifestation of God inside of you. It produces fruit every month. It produces fruit, continually. There are twelve kinds of fruit, often called the gifts and talents of God-whatever you need when you have need of it.
The leaves of the tree are thoughts – thoughts of all the people who have turned to God and truly create healing for all the nations around the world. Nothing accursed will be in the city, then. There will not be anyone in any apartment of any high-rise apartment building in your city who is complaining, having a “woe is me” day, or a worry session. There is no need to worry, because, truly, the kingdom of heaven is within you, the kingdom of bliss, the kingdom of joy and power. How great this is!
You will, also, have God’s name written on your forehead. It is not going to be like a tattoo, GOD, so everybody looks at you and says, “Well, you ARE an ordained man. He has been anointed with the Christ.” Know that name and nature are interchangeable concepts throughout the Bible. You have the nature of God written on your forehead. In other words, you have the nature of God written in your mind, in every concept in your mind. There will be no more night in your life, no more darkness. Truly we live in our minds more than the world we see with our eyes. You will rely solely on the outer light of the lamp or the sun, because your inner light is going to be so strong and so special.
It says this must soon take place. This is saying that if you want your life to be better, do not wait a lifetime to make this happen. It is not giving up anything. It is gaining everything. Why not today?
Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” Jesus comes, continually, when you have the mind in you that Christ Jesus had in Him.
It says in this Bible verse that the spirit of the prophets, of the spirit of Jesus, of the spirit of every great religious holy woman and holy man, had this God-spirit in them. You, today, if you wish, if you choose, can be aware of that which is already in you. All you have to do is choose this river of life.
I now turn to Revelations 21:21-22: “And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”
Transparent as glass means that inside of you is pure. Inside of you are twelve developed gifts of God and each one is like a pearl to be held up with high worth and to be held onto. Truly, as you live life, you will find the ultimate church and the ultimate cathedral is not in these four walls – it is inside of us. Your body is the temple of the living God. That is where you hold religious services, and that is where you pray, continuously, by the way you live life.
Most religions teach this.
In the Tao, it says, “The way that can be told of is not an unvarying way. The way is like an empty vessel that may yet be drawn from without ever needing to be filled, it is bottomless.” This is another way of saying you are like a vessel. You may think you don’t have any power to go to work on Monday, and you don’t have any ideas to tell your boss about this project you are working on. You need to dip in further, and you will find that that which you dip into is inexhaustible. It can never be depleted, and you are connected with it right now.
In Psalms 46:4-5, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.”
I turn to Psalms 1:1-3, “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers: but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”
The “wicked” in this verse means the person who has been led astray, the person who is in error. Have you ever sat in the seat of a scoffer? It is not the high way to go.
I turn to Isaiah 66:12-13, “For thus says the Lord: ‘I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you … ‘”
The river of wholeness, of the Holy Spirit is in you. The Holy Spirit, the “whole spirit” of God, the completeness of God, the fullness of God is in you and it brings health, strength, joy, peace, order, harmony, and light to your mind and body. Consciously, you open yourself to this, to the river of life and allow it to flood your mind. Allow it to wash away any debris, any accumulated thoughts of sickness, lack, and limitation. The river of wholeness rejuvenates you. Every atom and cell in your mind and body will release new energy, setting free the Christ life within you, until your whole-body glows with health.
Have the religion of Jesus. God is accessible to every human being – to those that walk into the doors of our church, AND through the doors of any dwelling on the planet. God is accessible. We are one with God, even right now. To follow Jesus means to follow the example He taught. How great it is to have an example, so we can know what we can do and become. Otherwise, how would we ever know what we could become? It is not enough to sit at the feet of Jesus. We have to take His hand and be lifted up and stand by His side and realize what He taught was for us.
We, too, can have THIS mind inside of us.
There is a legend about a prince who had a crooked back. One day, he said to his most skillful sculptor, “Make a statue of me but with a straight back. I would like to see myself as I might have been.” When the statue was finished, the prince put it in a secret place where only he could see it; and every day, the prince would slip away to look, longingly and earnestly, at the statue.
Months passed and people began to notice that the prince’s back was not as crooked as it used to be. He continued to look at the perfect statue, and each time, the sight of it set his blood tingling and his heart throbbing, until one day, he realized that his back was straight. He had become the man of the statue.
Let me tell you another story before I close. There was a fellow walking down the street, one day. He spied a sign advertising a cat show in a large hotel. He went in and he was very impressed by the variety of the many felines. But what really captured his attention was the whispered worth of the animals. Someone said, “That Persian over there is worth $35,000. That exotic cat over there is worth $50,000. That calico male over there is worth $60,000.” The man immediately left. He went home and he got his old alley cat and brought him to the hotel. An official spotted him and said, “You can’t enter that common cat in this show.”
He replied, “I don’t want to enter him, I just want to take him through the show and inspire him.”
Never think of this Bible as totally as story of someone else. This is a story of YOU – a Human Owner’s Manual. Every page in the Bible is to inspire you. Otherwise, this book would have no worth to you. It is to tell you what you can be, what you can become. This closeness with God, this oneness with God is what we are to realize in this moment. There is never going to be a moment in your lives where you don’t have God with you, and within you, not stagnant, but flowing – ever bringing new life and ideas in and through you.
Let us pray: The spirit of God is active in me now. I partake of living water.
I am healthy, happy, and prosperous. How marvelous to realize that right within me is the Spirit of all power of God! I realize I can constantly draw upon this power and it is never depleted. It is mine to use and to express.
God is omnipresent, always with me. God is omnipotent and omniscient. God’s power and God’s wisdom infill me now. I have all the help I need in any situation. I open my mind to an awareness of the river of life.
I recognize the all-encompassing, all-powerful Spirit of God within me, which does Its perfect work through me.
I have the power, the strength, the intelligence to do whatever I long to do, to be whatever I want to be. The Spirit of God is active in me now. I relax and I let this all-powerful Spirit flow through me, work through me. I am healthy, happy, and prosperous.
In Jesus Christ’s name and nature. Amen.
God bless you!
PRAYER / MEDITATION____________________
Thessalonians 5:17-18, “Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks in all circumstances: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
The river of life is within you. It is the river of God and it is flowing all the time. What goes on in God’s river? Divine love, Divine life, Divine order, Divine imagination, Divine power, Divine judgment, Divine understanding, zeal and faith; Divine wisdom, strength, and elimination of things you no longer wish to be a part of your life flowing within you, as you, all of the time. Thought always creates after its kind. With a startled awareness, you realize God’s river and your human thought stream are one. The ceaseless, endless flow of God thought is the ceaseless prayer stream of your being.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
Day and night, asleep or awake, God is always working, moving, acting, and thinking. You are one with God. Each of us is one with God.
Hold this thought in the silence of prayer …
God, I realize through prayer that you neither slumber nor sleep. Deeply, humbly, you realize the basic reality of your being is always God. Never changing. With utmost devotion, you keep your human thought stream, your life-stream pure, clean, cleansed, just as it flows forth from the great love of God within you.
This is the purpose of prayer and meditation. You think with God, work with God, act with God, and know that your consciousness is completely infilled by God. You choose not to contaminate your thought stream with fear, rage, anger, limitation, or resentment. You know these are lower human habits and there is no place in it for images of misery and doubt, sickness or uncertainty. Time, space, greed, age, density, evaporate completely in the Divine realization you are all one in God and God is all one in you.
The pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God is within you. It is the permanency of your soul. The sovereign, all-creative one God is the tree of life. The leaves, the thoughts, the ideas are for the healing of all nations the world over, all conditions and all people. The fountain of God’s pure love flows through your soul and you are forever bathed in the stream of immortal life.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
We pray, this morning, knowing this is the truth about ourselves, about each other, about all of humanity.
In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen.
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