We’ve had a great start to our new season as Living Water Uniting Church! But I’d like to go back to our series called ‘Living Water’. We started with John 4 and the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, where he said, “If you drink from this living water, you will never thirst again”.

We then went to John 7 where Jesus was in the temple – during a festival – with lots of competing voices – he calls out in large voice – “if anyone is thirsty come to me and drink – for as the scriptures say – streams of living water will flow from you”. By streams of living water – John adds in commentary – Jesus meant the Holy Spirit which hadn’t been given yet.

This led us to investigate what Jesus meant by “as the scriptures say”. We started with Isaiah 55:1-13 and the invitation for everyone to come to God and receive his abundant grace without cost or price…it’s a passage that encourages us to turn from our sinful ways and promises restoration and transformation for those who do.

We’ve looked at Isaiah 44:1-5, that  gave us a promise that God would pour out his spirit onto his people, bringing blessing and protection. This mirrored the well-known passage from Joel 2:28-32, that Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost: that God would pour out his spirit on all people. We also looked at the images of being planted by streams of living water in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:5-8 – that those who wait on God – who listen to him and respond to his lead will be blessed.

We then went to Ezekiel’s vision  of a miraculous flow of water that starts in the temple and flows out bring healing and restoration wherever it goes (Ezekiel 47:112) – especially when it flows to the Dead Sea – the lowest and deadest water on earth – and turns the salty water into fresh water and brings it back to life. What an amazing image of God’s healing power to restore even the most hopeless of situations.

Then we looked at God’s rescue – from Isaiah 49:8-15 – about God’s promise to bring his people back and restore the blessings of the covenant – but it was also a declaration that no matter what your situation, God has not forgotten us and has the desire and capacity to rescue us and restore us and to put us back on the path that leads to life.

These are all relevant messages to us – both on a personal level and on a corporate level. And following on we now look at Zechariah 14:8-9. Up to this point we have been reflecting on the living water (Holy Spirit) flowing into us and the transformation that we encounter when we repent of our sins and come back to God. God brings healing, wholeness, restores our life, revives us, renews us…brings life. But if we go back to Jesus’ words in John 7 – Jeus said – that streams of living water will flow out of you. It cannot be contained. We are not meant to be a reservoir or a dam, but a stream…that is constantly flowing somewhere and is constantly being renewed. But where are we meant to flow? Zechariah 14 gives us an indication. After the image of the water flowing out from the temple, the prophet declares that “the Lord will be king over all the Earth!”

Zechariah’s name meant “the Lord remembers.” He was born in exile, but his message to the Jews returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and restore the centrepiece of their faith was a message of hope – that God remembers his covenant with his people and his chosen one, the Messiah – is coming. Zechariah challenges us to repent and get things right with God and to have faith because God has not forgotten us and will be faithful to us. Even when times look the darkest – God’s light will illuminate the our path.

When  Jesus came, he made this clear to his followers that they were to take his message of forgiveness, grace, love and hope to everyone – to make disciples of nations – in Jerusalem – Judea – Samaria and all the Earth. The living water brings restoration to us – but in Jesus’ words it is meant to flow through us and onto others. When the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives – we are constantly being renewed and restored, which brings you closer to God and gives you God’s heart for others.

Jesus gave a commission to his followers to go and preach the gospel, everywhere, and make disciples of nations. His living water is not meant to be contained but rather allowed to flow onto others and that’s a responsibility we all share, no matter who we are. If you want to see more of this message, follow the link to our YouTube channel.