How much do you want?

As Pentecost Sunday approaches, I’m finding myself meditating more and more on the Holy Spirit and what He desires to do among us. In the book of Acts, the believers are gathered together worshiping and praying as a very persecuted, confused, and introverted group of people. They went from being viewed as Jesus-Christ-superstar’s entourage to being Jesus-criminal-crucified’s foolish band of rejects. But as they continued to worship Jesus, He poured out the promise of the Holy Spirit on them. In that supernatural moment, the Holy Spirit empowered them and brought the church from the womb out into the public space and into their divine inheritance of influence. I believe this coming Pentecost Sunday the Holy Spirit wants to once again call the church out of the hiding place and into the spotlight. But Jesus is asking each of us, how much do you want?

There are basically three kinds of people: those who refuse to confess their thirst, those who are willing to admit their thirst and walk around with a cup looking to find refreshment, and those who become the source of rivers. As a church, we realize that some people are in adamant denial of their spiritually parched condition. We do our best to love them, pray for them, and serve them, hoping that their pride will eventually come down and their eyes will be opened to the the fact that they were made to be Spirit filled vessels. Those who will admit their thirst are on the first step to recognizing their created design, and we want to pastor them and teach them the truth of Jesus. We provide for them cups of experience in the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit, believing that as they taste the Spirit they’ll long for more and grow in their belief in Jesus, His provision, and His calling upon their lives. Then we have the true believers.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” – John 7:37b-38

Jesus goes on to say that the living water is the Holy Spirit; therefore, we know that Jesus is the spring of the Spirit, the source. Jesus provides the Holy Spirit for all who are thirsty to come and drink. If we truly believe in Jesus, we invite Him to take up residence in our hearts. Our created design and purpose is to hold within us the very source of the living water, Jesus. When He is positioned within us, rivers of the Spirit flow from us. We become the spiritual irrigation system for the world. We make the world around us a green garden.

Unfortunately, many churches either don’t embrace the Holy Spirit or they think that people were made to live from cup to cup. In rejecting the Holy Spirit, churches become religious institutions as dry as the world around them. If they have a cup to cup faith, each week the congregants come together like prisoners banging their cups on the bars of their cages, demanding another weekly experience. Insecure leaders sustain this kind of co-dependent culture, telling their congregants that they have to come back next week for another cup. The believing church is a united torrent of flowing rivers of the Spirit, a meeting of living wellsprings. Shouldn’t the church look less like a lecture hall and more like a pool party?

It’s one thing to accept and admit that you’re thirsty. It’s another to believe and receive in your heart the deep, inexhaustible reservoir of divine and eternal life from Jesus Christ. Do you want a cup of the Holy Spirit or do you want to become an overflowing source of the Holy Spirit’s torrential, transformative power in the world around you?

Let’s grow together!
Matt

Matt Neese
Wellspring.Live

Part 2 of Final Judgement
& The End of a Series

Click on the image above to watch the second part go Final Judgement. We wrapped up our previous lesson with the Judgement Seat of Christ, and in this lesson we’ll discuss the remaining two seats of judgement: the Throne of Christ’s Glory and the Great White Throne. This is our final video in the Building Blocks series, the six elementary principles of Christ and foundation of our faith as listed in Hebrews 6. The entire series is available on Wellspring’s website, Youtube, Facebook, and app. It’s also on Matt Neese’s Instagram page and will be available soon on Wellspring’s Instagram page. We’d love to get your feedback on the series.

• 5/20 Numbers 24, Psalms 141, II Kings 15, John 7:32-53
• 5/21 Numbers 25, Psalms 142, II Kings 16, John 8:1-20
• 5/22 Numbers 26, Psalms 143, II Kings 17, John 8:21-36
• 5/23 Numbers 27, Psalms 144, II Kings 18, John 8:37-59
• 5/24 Numbers 28, Psalms 145, II Kings 19, John 9:1-23
• 5/25 Numbers 29, Psalms 146, II Kings 20, John 9:24-41
• 5/26 Numbers 30, Psalms 147, II Kings 21, John 10:1-21
• 5/27 Numbers 31, Psalms 148, II Kings 22, John 10:22-42

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