Water in the Desert Adapted from a Paul Searight sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=127372

1. Adapted from a Paul Searight sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=12737
2

2. ESV

8. How good are you at sharing your faith? How
often does your conversation include
discussion about Jesus Christ?
For some it’s really easy and speaking up is
very natural.
But for others, we find it very difficult.
We get tongue-tied and nervous.
We even worry that we might say the wrong
thing, yet we know we should say something.

9. We want to share Christ with others because
we know what the benefits are, we want to
speak up because we love those of our
extended family or those we come into contact
with on a regular basis enough to want them to
share eternity with us in Heaven.
But more often than not we convince ourselves
that it isn’t the right moment or I can’t talk
about that again because they are fed up with
me bleating on about their salvation.

10. There can be some truth in that.
Bible bashing people call it.
But I want us to think about how we reach out,
when we speak up and how often we should
return to that conversation with those we see
regularly.
These are really important questions and it
would be easy for me to stand here and give
you the easy answer to them.

11. The problem with me saying you need to tell
everyone you meet about Christ, that you need
to use every conversation to extend Gods love
to someone, that you need to tell them
unflinchingly they are eternally lost, is on the
surface absolutely correct…but I know if that’s
what I encouraged you to do that you probably
wouldn’t do it and I wonder how successful a
strategy that might be anyway.

14. Some people are the exception actively
searching and finding it for themselves after
maybe years of checking out places that
promised water but were only a mirage, they
looked right on the surface but didn’t lead to
Christ.
In such an ungodly and inhospitable
environment we need to be guides.
We need to demonstrate in how we live that
we have something that is far better than what
this world offers.
We need to lead people to the water and help
them quench their thirst.

15. In our reading Peter and John are brought in
difficult circumstances before the Sanhedrin.
‘The priests and the captain of the temple
guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter
and John while they were speaking to the
people.
They were greatly disturbed because the
apostles were teaching the people and
proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the
dead.
They seized Peter and John, and because it
was evening, they put them in jail until the next
day.’

16. The next day when they are questioned in
public tells us that they were filled with the
Holy Spirit and therefore had the confidence to
explain that they had healed a man in an act of
kindness and in the name of the risen Christ,
the very one they had rejected.

17. tells us that When they saw the courage of
Peter and John and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men, they were
astonished and they took note that these men
had been with Jesus.
But since they could see the man who had
been healed standing there with them, there
was nothing they could say.

18. But they decide they didn’t want this message
spreading and ordered them to stop speaking
about the risen Jesus.
Their wonderful reply is in

19. Our second reading tells us what happened
when they were released…they went back to
the faithful to the church and they prayed
together – what for?
ESV

20. ESV
Again – it would be easy for me to simply
suggest that this should embolden us in every
situation that their example teaches us what
we need to know in our encounters with others
and our attempts to speak up about Jesus.

21. But two things make that not so straightforward
– firstly the situation was life threatening, it was
an extreme situation.
I think as, I’m sure you do also, if I were in
such a situation I would find the courage, the
faith, the boldness to defend my faith.
That kind of situation is truly terrible but it is
black and white, the options are presented to
you – defend or deny.

22. Everyday encounters don’t often put us in a
situation where we are being asked to overtly
defend of reject our faith.
In fact the choices we make on a daily basis
have the ingredients of that situation but are
presented to us in much more subtle ways.
We all face situations, maybe daily, where our
choices, our actions even our words or attitude
towards others constitute a defense or
rejection of Christ.

23. It’s just that we don’t often enough read those
situations that way and therefore don’t make
the right choice or don’t make enough of them
when we do choose right.

24. Someone might also say that because the
nature of the work of the Holy Spirit at the time
of the apostles was different than now, maybe
the boldness afforded to Peter and John was
particular to their time and situation.
We accept that the Holy Spirit worked in
different ways in the time of the apostles, God
permitted them to heal and perform miracles in
order to establish the Church, Spirit enabled
events that do not occur today.

25. But let me be very clear here, we do receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit when we repent of our
sins, confess his name and are baptized for
the forgiveness of our wrongdoings. ( )
That gift is called a helper in scripture, the Holy
Spirit is expressed as an active, not passive
force, living in us and working through us to
further Christ’s kingdom.
And that gift is given precisely for the situations
we are looking at this morning.

26. ESV

29. That couldn’t be clearer could it?
ESV
That passage goes on to teach us the Holy
Spirit living in us will help us put to death the
deeds of the body – will help us conquer sin
and situations where our natural, fleshly, bodily
response would be to sin.

30. So how do we put it into action?
How do we accomplish the work that He has
called us to do?
How do we ensure the Holy Spirit rises to the
surface in what we do in order that we can
continue the apostles work of spreading the
gospel to all mankind?

31. First I want to suggest that we need to listen,
we need to be attentive.
Do you believe that God works actively in the
world we live in?
The scriptures assure us He does and if so He
is presenting us with situations so we can
further His kingdom.
Just how often do we think about how much
God is orchestrating our lives, giving us
opportunity after opportunity – and our minds
are closed to his intervention?

32. Sometimes God does use dramatic things to
get our attention – He spoke to Moses from a
burning bush, He spoke to a guy named
Balaam through is donkey and He spoke to
Mary through angels.
But, more often than not, they are the
exceptions and instead, God speaks to us in
quiet and simple ways.

33. There is a great story in about a
prophet named Elijah who is on a mountain top
waiting for God to come so that they could
speak and a “mighty windstorm hits the
mountain” but yet God was not in the storm.
After that there was an earthquake, but again
God was not in the earthquake.
After that there was fire but again, no God in
the flames.
Finally, there was a gentle whisper and at that
Elijah came out of the cave where he’d been
waiting and spoke to God.

34. I think God most often speaks to us in very
simple ways – through His words of the Bible,
through other people, everyday situations,
through nature, our conscience, His is a soft
voice – but yet we are all too often looking for
the big, huge message or for him to speak to
us when we need Him, not when he needs us
when in fact he is already talking and we just
aren’t listening. We do plenty of asking don’t
we?
Our prayers are full of asking – we need to
listen too.

35. It’s really important that we are ready to
acknowledge and accept God’s intervention in
everyday situations and respond appropriately.
You know when Daniel and his three friends
were captured and taken as slaves to
Babylon? ESV
Why, why had God blessed them with
intelligence, good looks, ( ) wisdom?

36. So that they could work effectively in the
situation they found themselves in – it gave
them access to the King and the royal
household and through them God would work
to further His kingdom.
Did they miss that?
Did they reject or ignore their blessing?
Did they conform to the situation they were in?

37. No – they used what God had given them and
responded appropriately, they acknowledged
God and they used the fact that they were
respected by those around them to good
effect.
Why would it be any different for us?
If we have been blessed with success, or
knowledge or wealth – what does God want us
to do with it?
If I am respected by my peers then isn’t it
much more likely that they will listen to what I
have to say?

38. It’s up to me to respond and if I’m listening, if
I’m being attentive then I will recognize the
situations that God is presenting to me.
And on seeing them I shouldn’t be timid or
worried that I’ll get it wrong – the Holy Spirit will
help me sow the seed and help me deal with
my timidity.
Unfortunately I think the thing that most often
prevents us from listening to God is because
we simply don’t want to because it puts us in
awkward or embarrassing situations.

39. Right throughout the book of Acts we see how
God has orchestrated the church to move out
of Jerusalem.
Persecution of the believers in Jerusalem, and
more specifically, the martyrdom of Stephen,
has caused them to scatter out into the
countryside and cities of Palestine. Now all of
Judea, Samaria, and Galilee are hearing the
good news about what Jesus has done as the
Messiah.

40. They are hearing about His deliberate
sacrificial death, that He went to the cross on
purpose in order to demonstrate His love and
to save humanity from their sin.
They are hearing about His utter defeat of
death by doing the impossible – rising from the
dead.
They are hearing from many people about how
Jesus fulfilled His promise to send the Holy
Spirit and the new life He now brings. This
message was spreading like wildfire.

41. Philip had been doing great evangelistic work
in Samaria bringing the gospel to the
Samaritans.
ESV
Philip has been having great success and
when one is having success, I think it is pretty
natural to try to stick with it.

42. That certainly would have been the temptation
here, but Philip’s response teaches us an
important lesson, which was not to ponder the
idea, not to pray to God to see if this really is
His will.
He just went into this hot barren region and of
course found an African man in a literal and
spiritual desert.
Phillip was the water in that desert and was
sent by God into that situation.

43. You know what he did when he saw that train
of camels and carriages on the road – he
realized that this was an opportunity presented
to him by God – was he timid?
The passage in said he RAN,
He RAN up to the carriage.
What faith.
We know the outcome…

44. Having Listened and responded to Gods
direction in our everyday situations we are
called to SPEAK – not think about it, not
deviate from the truth, not put it off – just pray
for the right words and speak.
Use your voice – having been attentive to the
situation you are in or listened to the people
you encounter regularly, God will help you find
a way to steer the conversation in the right
direction.

45. Doc Dunning said something to the effect of,
“You can tell you’re talking to Godly people
when all conversation, no matter the topic, will
involve talking about God in some aspect.”
“Bring God up” in conversation.
“Bring God up.”
Jesus was always doing this with those He
encountered.
He was the master evangelist.

46. In He took a conversation about a cup
of water and transformed it into a spiritual
conversation telling the woman at the well that
He was the living water and that if she partook
then she would never thirst again.
Jesus calls us to bring it up with those we
know who don’t know Jesus.

47. There are different ways to do that.
We can Look for natural opportunities in
everyday conversations.
If you are talking about family, talk about your
blessings, talk about your Christian family.
When people ask, “How ya doin?” a great reply
is simply, “Great, God has blessed me!”

48. BOOM!
You’ve got your opening to elaborate on God’s
blessings & His place in your life.
There is what you might call a “fork in the road
moment” something that occurs in many
conversations where you can turn it toward
Jesus.
How many times have I let the conversation
pass that point without turning us down that
road…?

49. You might use a direct question like, “Where
Do you go to church?”
And then just listen to them.
Don’t shake your head and say, “Sorry if you’re
a Free Presbyterian you’re going straight to
hell.”
We need to be careful how we proceed in our
conversation – we shouldn’t judge people or
get immediately in to doctrinal debate.

50. In the past all that did was make us seem
condescending, judgmental, narrow minded.
The time for substantial of teaching, the urging
of people to follow God’s instructions and be
baptized for the forgiveness of sin is not in our
first conversation.
Show them Christ’s influence on our lives,
show them Christ.
What kind of Gospel did Christ preach, a
gospel of love a message of forgiveness, a
gospel of grace.

51. ESV
ESV
That isn’t an excuse to tolerate all men’s
beliefs and be silent.
But if we are to present the gospel message
powerfully we need to do it with love and we
need it to be borne out by our own actions and
our own attitude.

52. What position has God placed us in which we
need to speak up, but we continue to be silent.
Are we afraid of losing a friendship, a job, a
position?
Are we afraid of ridicule and rejection?
Ultimately whether or not we speak up, will be
dependent on just how much we trust God to
handle our lives after we are faithful to him.
It will be dependent on our living life accepting
that if we belong to Him then Christ lives in us,
that the Holy spirit will help us to find the right
opportunities to speak, to find the right words
to say.

53. Paul had dinner in the hotel with Peter, one of
the other speakers at the conference he was
at. Peter was from Los Angeles and Paul made
a fairly instant judgement about him when he
ordered a beer and then went outside to
smoke while he waited on his food.
In the course of the evening Paul told him of
his plans after the conference that he’d be
going to Nevada and Nashville and peter told
him that he was considering going to Ohio to
see his mother and brother but couldn’t face it
so probably would stay in Boston.

54. Paul didn’t pursue it and didn’t take the fork in
the road during their conversation. The next
morning He was having breakfast when Peter
came and joined him. He told him he had a
strange experience after he left him. He’d went
outside for a cigarette before bedtime and a
tramp approached him and said he didn’t want
any money he just wanted to talk to someone.

55. Peter told him he talked to the man about how
he had ended up on the street and the
conversation led to his brother in Ohio, an
alcoholic and drug addict who had just fallen of
the wagon and was in re-hab.
Peter didn’t want to go there to face that
situation – one he’d faced numerous times
before. He then told Paul that he was going to
go because the man told him something he
had experience of. He said he couldn’t help his
brother but he could be THERE for him and
that would in the long term make a real
difference to his brother's life.

56. He told Paul over breakfast that he felt that if
ever God had sent an angel to him he had sent
one that night. What was God saying to Paul –
that faced with his reluctance to speak up God
used a down and out tramp to prick that man's
heart?
That morning God was presenting Paul with
the opportunity he had missed the previous
evening and he felt so strongly that God had
just told him that he needs to have more grace,
more faith and more courage to speak when
He presents him with an opportunity.

57. We here this morning are a people who have
recognized our thirst and found it quenched in
Jesus.
So we come to this table, formerly thirsty
people, wandering in the desert without
direction, without a guide, without a
destination.

58. Someone listened, someone we knew or met
or a member of our family heard us, noticed us
and responded and when they spoke in word
and in deed they planted a seed of hope in us
that ultimately led us here this morning.
Most of us here are no longer thirsty or lost but
we’re surrounded by people who are.

59. talks of the faithful standing before
God’s throne in heaven and tells us that –
ESV

60. Take a moment this afternoon to think about
who you might reach out to.
Pray earnestly for the right opportunity and
listen out for it this week – when you recognize
it, don’t be silent – speak, and help someone
else find water in the desert.