Stay in the River || Victory Church [Book of John #21]

Good morning. How are you? Good to see all of you. Hey, did you know that every week we gather, we have one goal? In fact, I could sum up the goal that we have for you with all of our gatherings, children, youth. We have an amazing young adult ministry in this church. If you're a young adult, aren't you blessed? I know you don't take it for granted because not a lot of churches offer it, but we believe in you and we want to sow into you. That's why we have this. But there's one word to describe it, and that word is transformation. You might not even know the meaning of that, and you know that's a great word. It originates from the Latin word metamorpho, and that means full change of form. It's where we get the word metamorphosis, which we know happens with a caterpillar. The caterpillar begins life just kind of crawling around. Did you know that caterpillars have 16 legs? Man, that's a lot of shoes to buy. You know that that caterpillar is shopping at Payless and not Nordstrom. And that caterpillar undergoes this process where there is a complete change of form, and it goes from slithering around to storing. And I think it's a beautiful imagery of exactly what God has in mind for us. I mean, God blows our mind, doesn't he? He really does. I just wonder, I just wonder, do we really give him credit for the goodness that he is? I hope we discover that today. One of the things that I love that we're doing right now by going through the book of John and just studying through the gospels, man, I want to tell you something because, you know, maybe you are at this place, maybe you're a young believer. I can remember when I was first saved, I had never read the word, and I'm opening up the scriptures. And honestly, coming from a Catholic background, I would say that my relationship with Jesus was very formal. I didn't have a personal relationship. I didn't know he got me, and I didn't know that I really got him. And I certainly didn't see his humanity until I opened up the gospels. And what's so cool about what we're able to do right now as we go through the book of John is we get to watch Jesus. We get to see him in his humanity as God and fully human. And that's what helped me get him. That's what helped me believe that I could actually even please him and that he got me. And so I pray the same is true for you. And so this is our direction today. We are now in chapter 7. And chapter 7 is loaded with life lessons where we get to watch Jesus and how he handled challenges and how he stayed in tune with the Holy Spirit and how he didn't get sidetracked and he didn't get hijacked. And so this is my hope for you and I as well as we jump into this. We find ourselves in chapter 7 understanding that they are celebrating

a feast. It's called the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot. In fact, they still practice it today. And I was speaking with my rabbi. Did you notice how I just dropped that? I have a rabbi. Rabbi Jason Sobel who is a new friend. And so I just asked him, tell me more about this because I want to have a full understanding so that I can share it with you. And one of the things he said is he said, Colleen, it's a time of great joy. It is great joy because they are coming out in the fall equinox. They've done some of their crops. They pulled some of their crops in and they had just come out of a dry season. So the cisterns were low. The water tables were low. But now this marks the beginning of the rainy season. And they're about to gather in some of their remaining crops like their pomegranates. And so the way they look at this, it is a time of physical and spiritual abundance. So they are celebrating. And one of the things that they're doing here is building tabernacles to dwell in. And we'll go into this in just a moment. But I want to pick up the conversation that Jesus has with his brothers in John chapter 7. In verse 3 Jesus's brother said to him leave here and go to Judea Where your followers can see your miracles, you can't become famous if you hide like this Jesus when's the last time you posted a real, you know, you gotta stay in the algorithm. You can't fall out You need to be up there. You need to be out there Jesus For even his brothers Didn't believe in him now It's really odd because it sounds like they did. Well, they believed in the power They believed in the miracles, but they didn't believe in the mission and they didn't believe that he was a Messiah. I Mean, yeah granted sometimes it might be hard for you to believe your brother is the Messiah Some of you think your brother's a devil, but he's not But I Understand where the mentality was now good news is later on James would become a believer and a major part of the church So there's hope for your family members yet But Jesus says this because they're trying to push him and he says now is not the right time for me to go But you can go anytime The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil You go on I'm not going to this festival because my time has not yet come

Interesting because we read this modern Translation of that moment in history and find ourselves very much here today People hate the truth There are people that hate you because you are a Christian who speaks the truth And as you can see you're in good company the same was true from Jesus but Here's what I want us to understand and this is our direction today back to that word Transformation because this is the goal. This is what God wants for our lives And so what I want to dive into is how does transformation? Transformation happen and there's three things that we need to know the first of which is this Transformation happens when we resist the voices of the crowd We have an opportunity we have options the options are to to conform or Transform you see the brothers wanted Jesus to fit the mold They wanted to him to perform to promote to play to the crowd all of that to be famous They wanted him to be an influencer What a sad sad thing to do and Jesus says It's not my time. It's not my way. He does not allow himself to get hijacked You see this pool that same pool against Jesus is on your life now because the enemy wants to conform us to the world, but God wants to Transform us into the image of his dear son Which one is better? I think it's an easy answer, right? you see conforming is pressure from outside in but Transformation is power from the inside out One wants to squeeze you into its shape and its mold and the other wants to change your nature I'd rather have my nature changed Become a new creation in Christ, right? So here's our first life lesson right here Jumping right out at us. Don't allow people who don't understand your calling to determine your direction

And a lot of times it's gonna be family So don't be unkind Jesus wasn't unkind he just didn't listen to him They'll see later You see all through this chapter. We see there's discussion about Jesus was he a fraud was he a good man? You see some loved him because they saw him as a miracle worker and some hated him because they saw him as a Sabbath breaker they just minimize and put you into compartments and decide this is where you live And so Jesus had to learn how to navigate the popular opinion and guess what so do we and it can be done and Here's the second lesson for us when your identity is established before God. You don't need anyone else to determine it That's true confidence. That's staying power confidence So here's the second thing we need to know about transformation Transformation happens when we receive the truth as truth. What do I mean by that? You know, I have a lot of people ask me this question, maybe you've had it posed to you as well. They say, how do I know if the Bible's true? They question the validity of the Bible. I get that. And so they say this to you, how do I know if it's true with our arms crossed? Well, what's interesting here is Jesus is about to show us one of the most important factors that helps us discern truth. And let's see if you can pick it up as we read it. Okay. This is in John chapter seven, verse 16 and 17. My message is not my own. It comes from God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or merely my own. Okay.

I gave you a huge clue up there. Do you see that? What's the answer? How do we know? What's the determining factor? A willing heart. If you have a willing heart, you'll be able to discern truth. This is what we understand. Now I can tell you from the very early days when I became a Christian, I was a Catholic for 25 years. That's all I knew. When I came out of that, my family disowned me. And now I'm by myself, except for my boyfriend, Dennis. He's still my boyfriend, but y'all this, I have been, you know, I was ingrained with all of this religion. And now I'm in this new space and I go into churches where people like you are really weird in lifting their hands. And I was like, okay, I don't know about all of this. And I didn't even know how to pray. But don't you love how the Holy Spirit really does guide you? And he even showed me the simplest prayer to pray. And this was it. I prayed it. I said, okay, Lord, I'm scared. I don't know if this is you or not. I don't know if this is real. But just this one thing, if this is you, take me deeper. And if it's not you, warn me. He never warned me. He always took me deeper.

You see, the Holy Spirit can handle all of your questions and concerns, but you just got to lean on him. That's what he's there for. And I just had a willing heart. And so therefore that was a part of my journey. And even later on, when Dennis and I, we just kind of accidentally fell into ministry, we were ministering to people on the street, alcoholics. And I remember one night after a time of ministry, and I'm washing my makeup off, takes about five hours to get all the makeup off. And I look in the mirror, and I said, you know what, Lord, I don't know if this is my calling or not, but I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to do it. And I will tell you, it's still a part of our calling, but there's something about having a willing heart as you read the word, but it also applies to every single area of your life. Now watch this. I was having a conversation with an ORU grad. She had two options in front of her. She was prayerfully deciding what to do, and she was frustrated because she couldn't hear the Lord. She couldn't figure it out. And so we were talking, and I said, I have a piece of advice to give you that's going to bring clarity. It's very simple. You do this, and you watch and see if God doesn't clarify this for you. I said, you've been asking God, what is it that you want me to do? That's well and good. Nothing wrong with that. But now you take it one step further, and you say this, Lord, whatever it is that you want me to do, I'm willing to do it.

I'm going to do it before I know what it is. I said, when you have that kind of audacious trust in God, you watch and see if he doesn't bring clarity into your life. Lord, hear my, send me. So this applies to you. Some of you are trying to decide about a new business venture. You're trying to decide about this boyfriend or that boyfriend. So many choices. You pray with that level of surrender, and you watch if he doesn't bring you the clarity. I'll give you your money back if it doesn't work, as if you can find me. But here's the thing. This is what I've learned in life lesson number three. God reveals himself more readily to surrendered hearts than he does skeptical minds. So why frustrate? yourself. So let's go back to this festival, because there's a very important thing that's taking place in the festival, it's called the Water Ceremony. As I said, it was a very joyful celebration. They were up all night, they're living in these makeshift tents, and then at the break of dawn, every morning, the priest would go over and get the golden pitcher off of the altar. They would travel down the steps out of the temple, out of the East Gate, to the Gion River, which also flowed into the Pool of Siloam. And then as a procession of priests, and people would be gathering around, they would be waving palm branches, they would be blowing trumpets, they would be singing and shouting. And they would be saying one scripture out of Isaiah, as the priest dipped into the stream. And they would say, with joy, we will draw water from the wells of salvation. They would take the procession of priests, they would take the pitcher, they would walk all the way back up the steps, into the temple, come to the altar, and there is a basin awaiting where they would pour in the water.

So this is like a huge celebratory moment. It goes on for seven days. And now, we see Jesus show up. Jesus did come to the festival on his own time. He didn't perform miracles, but he taught. And now, it's the last day. What's significant about the last day is they did this ceremony seven times, back and forth, the procession of priests, seven times. And they call it the great day. It's in this moment that we see in John chapter 7, on the last day of the great day of the Epiphanies, Jesus stood right in the center of all of it. And he cries out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, there will be springs and rivers of living water will flow from his heart. He shouts this in the midst of the ceremony. Can you imagine the people looking at him? Like, what in the world? You see, what they were commemorating during this time was God's protection and God's provision. Because Moses, remember, he struck the rock and water flowed out, not just any water, but sweet water flowed out. And this is Israel, as they do this water ceremony, is looking back and commemorating what God did. And Jesus is now saying, it's now not about the past. It's about now, I'm the rock, it's flowing from me, I am the one, I am the source of living water that you've needed and wanted all of your life. You're looking at it. He was the fulfillment. This is what he was saying. He is the rock from which living waters flow. And we see another life lesson in here.

Don't become so attached to what God did that you miss what God is doing. He says, behold, I'm doing a new thing. Shall you not see it? Shall it not spring up? We need to be paying attention. We need to be expecting that God is always doing new things. Not a new thing for him, but certainly a new thing for us. I'm tired of the old ways. I want the new thing. I want new wine. How about you? I want the new wine of the spirit. Israel was clutching to a trickle. And some of us are clutching to a trickle when he says, there's an abundance of right now there's a throne room. And at the base of that throne, there is a river that's literally flowing right now. It's available. Let it never be said that our God does not supply, that he is not forever near. You see, God wired us to be thirsty and thirsty for him. God wired us to desire to be cleansed, but not everyone goes to him for cleansing. In fact, it's interesting. There's another festival that takes place every year in India. It's called the Kumbh Mela. It's called the Festival of the Sacred Pitcher. What's interesting is it's one of the largest religious gatherings in the entire world. You're talking about 400 million Hindus who make a pilgrimage to one of four rivers. They go in to the Ganges River because they believe it's a goddess and they're expecting this river to purge them of their sins and bring them salvation. But guess what? This river is loaded with human waste, chemical waste.

It's filthy. It's absolutely disgusting. And guess what? They know it, but they go in anyway. Four hundred million people deceived going into this filth and believing that it cleanses them and heals them and refreshes them. But before we judge them, it's a pretty powerful belief system, isn't it? Even if it's false. But what does that tell us about us? What are you bathing in? What are you using to try to appease your conscience? How are you trying to cleanse those negative thoughts in your mind? What are you using? Because here's the thing. What is the river that he's speaking of? See, God is so practical. The river that he's speaking of is the Word. In fact, Ephesians 5 where Paul is talking to us about the relationship between the husband and wife and he compares it to the relationship of Jesus to the church and it describes how Jesus washes his bride with the water of the Word. Another place, in John chapter 15, Jesus is having some of his last conversations with the disciples and he says this to them, you are already clean through the Word that I've spoken to you. Because it is the Word that cleanses us. It is the Word that changes us. So let's go back to that chant. They're talking about with joy they dip into the wells of salvation. You see, joy is an indicator that you know that you are cleansed and you are in the river. Of all the passages for them to be quoting, they choose that one. Why?

Because you know what I've discovered? Joy is a separating factor in transformation. I want to encourage you if you are fighting oppression, you're fighting depression, that I want to open your eyes to something. That there might be another way for you to win this battle. Because there is something life changing about the transformation process that you need to know about. You see, transformation is based on renewal. Renovation is what happens, but renewing of the mind is the way it happens. And I want to emphasize this. You see, God is not interested in repairing your mind. Have you ever done a home renovation project? Yes, and you survived it, right? Somebody's in the middle one right now. She's looking at her bank account. So you know, you have these grand ideas, right? Usually it's like what? The bathroom, right? We go, this bathroom has got to go. And we go in and we want to do this and this and this, and then we look at the budget and find out, well, looks like I can have enough money to replace the toilet. That's as far as it goes. But see, God is not into renovation. God is into reconstruction, like tear it down, take everything out that needs to go and rebuild. See, we live in a middle of a culture that's deconstructing and God wants to be about reconstructing and it's progressive. It's not instantaneous. It's progressive. It's the opposite of what chap GPT tells you. Chap GPT is a little weird for me.

I use AI, but have you seen how it's setting us up? I mean, I'll put a prompt in, ask for an idea, and before it spits out all the information, it says things like, that's such a marvelous thought. I have best friends. I don't need you. But it's very subtle because it's setting us up to only want to have a relationship with somebody who agrees with us. The process of renewal, the process of transformation is not instantaneous and it's progressive. And so this brings us to our third point. Transformation happens when we remain in the river, remain in the river. Remember when you went to the gym that one time last year? And you came home, you had a really good workout, you came home, you walk in the door and your children came to greet you and subsequently passed out from the fumes emitting off of your body and so you made your way back to the bathroom and you cranked that shower on and you let it get really steamy hot. In fact, the steam was building up and it came out of the bathroom, it rolled through the house, it rolled down the street three blocks and people are like, what is this mist? And you jumped in that shower and you had it so hot and you stood there under that shower and you were like, oh, this is so glorious and your children had breakfast, lunch and dinner and you're still in the shower and they begin decorating for Christmas and you're still in the shower because it just feels so good to be clean, right? And you come out of the shower and you wrap yourself in the towel and what do you do? You go, ah, why do we sigh when we get out of the shower? Because it feels so good to be clean. But then what did you do the next day and the next day? So why is it that you come in here on a weekend and get a shower and expect it to last you all week? Got to stay in the river. What would happen in your life, what would change if you truly saw his word as the river of life?

If you receive the word as truth? I mean, it's no ordinary book. I'm fascinated by the way Jesus describes it in John 6, 63, he says, my words are what? Spirit and they're what? Life. There's an essence to it. So when we read the word of God, we aren't just reading an ordinary book and we're not alone. We're reading the living word, the living water with the spirit of God, working together. And so it's pretty fascinating when you understand that. Here's another life lesson for us. Every time you read God's word, you're depositing truth that the Holy Spirit can bring forth later. You know, here's the thing you have to understand about the Holy Spirit. He has two assignments. His first assignment is to convince us that God's love is for us. And then to convince us, to convict us of what keeps us from the relationship, to convict us of sin. That's how he shows us Jesus, right? And so this is what he's doing all the time. And if we really want this transformation process, we have to let him do his part and we can't be offended by the truth he shares with us. We can't be offended by the spirit of grace. Now here's something that I learned. You know, I used to think early days as a Christian, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to read the word of God and all of this revelation is just going to come pouring forth, right? And I'd read and I'd be like, I got nothing. And I was a little disappointed. But then I began to understand, you know, it's not revelation on demand. It's revelation when you need it.

I mean, here's the thing guys, God is so much more practical than we realize. And so is the Holy Spirit. But sometimes we miss what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives because we over spiritualize it. But he's very practical. It's kind of what I call the right or left moment. Now I want to pull a scripture out of Isaiah and I love Isaiah. What a powerful prophet. I want you to see what he's saying to Israel because this is the way the Holy Spirit works with us. Isaiah 30, 21, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. it Now see this terminology is the imagery of a shepherd because remember a shepherd would walk behind the sheep not in front of the sheep And he'd have the rod and so when the sheep started going over here was dangerous He'd prod them on this side if they walked over here on the cliff. He'd prod them on this side This is how the Holy Spirit does with us. So for example, I may find myself I'm you know, I'm a little bit miffed at my husband every other year that happens and I get a little miffed at him and I'm getting ready to say something snarky to him In my usual, right? But all of a sudden because I've read the word the Holy Spirit gives me another suggestion And I have a choice Am I gonna go to the right? Am I gonna go to the left am I gonna say what he's saying or am I gonna say what I feel like what I normally say you see those are what I call the use it or lose it moments and It makes sense in Luke chapter 8 When you see this scripture to those who listen more understanding will be given but for those who are not listening Even what they think they understand will be taken away so our moments of obedience are

the moments when we can gain our moments when we ignore are the moments that we lose and This is so important because Renewal or regression, which do I want? Okay, obedience is the key when I James says be a doer of the word right when I put it into practice when I take His suggestion because the Holy Spirit is not going to push his Ideas on you. He presents his ideas The enemy will push you but the Holy Spirit presents. So here's the big question. This is the huge question This is the hinge point for our transformation Are we open for correction? Because correction requires me to admit when I'm wrong, I don't like to be wrong It requires me to embrace my sense of failure on my part and We don't like that We don't like that at all, in fact the American religion today is moralistic therapeutic deism Do you know what that is? Basically God just wants me to feel good about myself He just wants me to live my best life now You see That kind of thinking Gets in the way of correction That kind of thinking gets in the way of repentance that kind of thinking gets in the way of obedience in fact Jordan Peterson cites this I want you to put this up on the screen because this is where we are as a society He he cited something called cognitive dissonance, which is also willful blindness Look at this statement those who refuse to alter their thinking because it would force them to acknowledge Acknowledge failure or accept a worldview that is flawed Many people would rather suffer in the security of their old flawed ideas Then dismantle their ego to embrace the truth Wow

So what he's saying is Evidence is presented to individuals, but they still dig down on what they knew Because they refuse to change because of pride. They are not correctable And so this is where we can find ourselves as individuals. You know what? That's called. It's called a stronghold And The only way you can break that thing through is repentance and renewing your mind so Here's what I've learned. Can I be honest with you? I Mean I'm older And I've been in the word a while So here's what I know about myself. Not only do I need to be open to correction. I got to seek it out. I Gotta seek it out because When you've been reading the word a while you can think you know, everything as you get older You can think I know a lot of stuff which is true It's true of you younger people too, by the way, but I'm just talking about me right now So, so it's like I love David's heart because he says, Lord, search my heart. See if there's any evil way in me. See if there's anything about me that offends you. You know, have you noticed how easy it is to get offended these days? Perhaps it would be less easy for us to get offended if we were more concerned about offending him. We have to get pliable in our hearts. We have to learn to trust again. I know leaders have let you down. You've had situations that caused you to distrust, but you've got to put your trust in the rock. You've got to go back to the rock. You've got to get back in the river and don't criticize yourself. Don't scrutinize yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart.

That's the difference maker. Don't beat yourself up. You're not going to get anywhere. Ask the spirit of grace and truth because he says he will and he will show us the path of everlasting life. I love that. You know, the priests, in order to get the water, they had to descend first. Sometimes you and I have to descend. We have to humble ourselves and lower ourselves and say, you know what? The things that I've been believing, I know them to be not true. My identity is not formed on this anymore. I mean, for 25 years as a Catholic, I was taught certain things and I embraced them and I believed them and then I began to question because I saw the truth of the word of God. The truth of the word exposes the lies that you believe. It just happens. Everlasting life, transformation. That's what he wants for us and joy. We were talking about joy. Joy lives inside of truth. The reason you experience the joy is because you embrace and obey the truth and you get that rivers of refreshing water flowing through your soul. Now here's the cool thing. Neuroscience backs up what I'm saying. You see, every time we act and obey on the word, we own it. It gets internalized in us. It's how the word becomes flesh. So they have done studies on the human brain and you know that all those thoughts floating around in your mind, they're not impotent. This is why the Bible tells us to be careful what you think upon, what you meditate on, what you say, what you repeat, what you act on because you own it.

Becomes a part of you. And so what they have learned is they can look at the human brain activity and they can watch thoughts form in the brain. And those thoughts actually create this pathway and they create grooves and form something that's like a tree-like structure in your physical brain. Now the interesting thing is all the negative thoughts that we think, those look like dark scrawny structures that are just sprawling through your brain. No wonder it's hard for us not to think negative thoughts, but here's the good news. There's always good news. The good news is that the way you get rid of those negative thoughts is you starve them and you build a new creation. You build a new structure of the word of God in your brain and those thoughts look different. They're healthy. They're vibrant. They're green. And so the more you focus on the word of God that you speak it, think about it, say it, obey it, guess what's happening over here. This is deconstructing and this is reconstructing and your mind is literally being renewed and you are being transformed into the image of his dear son because the word does not return forward and he watches over to perform it. If you do your part, he will do his part. You got the easy part by the way. Here's our life lessons. They're going to put them all up for us because I want you to see one more. Transformation isn't usually one dramatic moment. It's thousands of surrendered moments. Isn't that good? So those moments are important. You see, when you hear the Spirit of God say, step right, and you step right instead of step left,

you're building a new branch. And you're reinforcing. And when your actions match the thought, you reinforce that new branch. That's reconstruction. That's transformation. So I'm going to close with just a reminder of the three R's. Here they are. If we want transformation, it happens when we resist the voices of the crowd, when we receive the truth as truth within us, embrace it, obey it. And we remain in the river. Let the Word of God abide in us, and us in the Word. Some of you, some of you need to get in the river for the first time. Some of you need to come back to the river. And some of you need to stay in the river. Give yourself patience. You might not be where you want to be. But I guarantee you, you are further along than you were. His Word is having its way in you. His Word is working. So here's what I want to do. I'm particularly interested in those of you who have never had a relationship with Jesus Christ. And you're like I was, just a religious person, checking the boxes. Oh, what life awaits you. So I want us to pray.

In fact, we're all going to pray. And I want to pray what David prayed, Psalm 139. They're going to put it up on the screen. We're going to pray this together. And then for those of you that say, I'm ready. I'm done being my own leader. I need Jesus. I recognize it. The way we do that is we surrender our lives in prayer. And so I'm going to lead us in that prayer. And I'm going to ask all of us to be a part of this. So would you say this with me? Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you. And lead me along the path of everlasting life. Would you say this with me? Heavenly Father, I do believe that you love me. You sent your son Jesus to die in my place for my sins. And the wrath of God has been paid. I confess to you that I am a sinner. I am in need of a Savior. I admit it. I proclaim it. And I know you are the answer. So right now, Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Cleanse me of all of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. From this day forward, I will have a love for your word. I will obey your spirit.

I will obey your truth. And I will live an everlasting life with you. In Jesus' name, amen. Praise God. Praise God. John 15, which records some of the last conversations Jesus had, he makes this statement. He says, I've shared everything I've shared with you that my joy would be in you and remain in you and your joy would be full. Well, you know what? Today, that's the same reason I'm sharing what I'm sharing. I want his joy to be full in you and I want it to remain in you. I want it to be full. And so I think it's time we not just talk about joy, but we sing about it. So would you stand to your feet with me, please? Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you, but we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you're important to us, and we'd love to continue to create. some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon.