You Will Never Be Thirsty Again

Have you ever been thirsty?  I mean dry tongue, cottonmouth thirsty?  While in college I spent seven days hiking part of the Appalachian Trail with my mother and sister.  Water for the whole trip could not be packed in with us so we brought one small water filter that had to be pumped by hand.  The water we used came from small streams found along the trail.  One particularly rainy day we ran out of water sooner than expected and the nearest stream was still hours away.  I became so thirsty that I resorted to drinking rainwater that had collected in little holes on boulders we passed.  When we arrived at our campsite for the night we still needed to hike another mile to fill up our bottles at the nearest stream.  The agony of extreme dry mouth with water falling all around you that you are not able to drink and still having to wait for clean water that must be pumped by hand through a very small filter, was overwhelming.  But the feel and taste of clean, cold water running down your throat and quenching your thirst is unexplainable.  One has to go through such a scenario to truly understand its impact.

The Samaritan woman who meets Jesus has no idea her life will be completely changed.  She comes to the well because of her physical thirst, but little does she know Jesus will talk directly to her spiritual thirst.  She does not realize the dryness of her soul and the need for true refreshment at the feet of the Messiah.  She will never be thirsty again.

Join us this week as we study John 4:1-15 together as His people and hear the truth that Jesus gives us living water that quenches our soul’s thirst.  May we be prepared to encounter the gospel message through the words of Christ.

Striving to know Christ and make Him known,

Pastor Mark

Surrendering the Secret

In recent months the media focus on Planned Parenthood and abortion has brought about protests, opinionated blog posts, and caused a heated political issue to become even more so.  But this Sunday our desire at ElmCreek Community Church is to sift through all the heat and get to the crux of the issue for the church of Christ today: the love of Christ to heal from the spiritual and emotional pain abortion leaves in it’s wake. 

The words of David Altrogge speak strongly to this in his article on desiringgod.org.

"We must stop looking the other way when it comes to abortion.  Yes, it's uncomfortable.  Yes, it's awkward.  Yes, people will get mad at us.  But until we start talking about abortion and what it is and who it affects, we will never see change. 

"Until we learn to love the women who choose abortion, and the men who encourage abortion, and the babies who lose their lives to abortion - until we learn to love them the way Jesus loved us, we will never see change. 

"The lives of women and children are at stake.  We cannot remain silent.  We must love with Christ's love, the love we have been shown.  We cannot look the other way."

This coming Sunday we will be having a special guest and special focus.  Karen O’Kane will be giving her testimony and speaking of the healing power of God to overcome the shame, regret, and pain caused by abortion.  Join me in praying for Karen as she speaks of the truth of God’s healing power and may we as His church not only be a place where sin is condemned but points to the power of God to heal through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Striving to know Christ and make Him known,

Pastor Mark

J.C. Ryle: Salvation, Humility, and a Deep Sense of Sin

Ephesians 3:8(ESV)

"To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

"When Paul wrote with his pen, he really felt in his heart.  The language of our text does not stand alone.  It is even exceeded in other places.  To the Philippians he says, 'I have not attained, nor am I already perfect: I follow after.'  To the Corinthians he says, 'I am the least of the apostles, which am not meet to be called an apostle.'  To Timothy he says, 'I am chief of sinners.'  To the Romans he cries, 'Wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Phil. 3:12; 1 Cor. 15:9; 1 Tim. 1:15; Rom. 7:24).  The plain truth is that Paul saw in his own heart of hearts far more defects and infirmities than he saw in anyone else.  The eyes of his understanding were so fully opened by the Holy Spirit of God, that he detected a hundred things wrong in himself, which the dull eyes of other men never observed at all.  In short, possessing great spiritual light, he had great insight into his own natural corruption, and was clothed from head to foot with humility (1 Peter 5:5).

"Now let us clearly understand that humility like Paul's was not a peculiar characteristic of the great apostle of the Gentiles. On the contrary, it is one leading mark of all the most eminent saints of God in every age.  The more real grace men have in their hearts, the deeper is their sense of sin.  The more light the Holy spirit pours into their souls, the more do they discern their own infirmities, defilements and darkness.  The dead soul feels and sees nothing; with life comes clear vision, a tender conscience and spiritual sensibility.  Observe what lowly expressions Abraham and Jacob and Job and David and John the Baptist used about themselves.  Study the biographies of modern saints like Bradford and Hooker and George Herbert and Beverage and Baxter and McCheyne.  Mark how one common feature of character belongs to them all - a very deep sense of sin.

"Superficial and shallow professors in the warmth of their first love may talk, if they will, of 'perfection.'  The great saints, in every era of church history, from Paul down to this day, have always been 'clothed with humility.'

"He that desires to be saved, among the readers of this message, let him know this day that the first steps towards heaven are a deep sense of sin and a lowly estimate of ourselves.  Let him cast away that weak and silly tradition that the beginning of religion is to feel ourselves 'good'  Let him rather grasp that grand scriptural principle, that we must begin by feeling 'bad' and that, until we really feel 'bad' we know nothing of true goodness or saving Christianity.  Happy is he who has learned to draw near to God with the prayer of the tax-collector, 'God be merciful to me a sinner' (Luke 18:13)."  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)

J.C. Ryle: Finding Rest From The Weary Journey

"But have you come to Christ already, and found relief?  Then come nearer, nearer still.  The closer your communion with Christ, the more comfort you will feel.  The more you daily live by the side of the fountain the more you shall feel in yourself 'a well of water springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14).  You shall not only be blessed yourself, but be a source of blessing to others.

"In this evil world you may not perhaps feel all the sensible comfort you could desire.  But remember you cannot have two heavens.  Perfect happiness is yet to come.  The devil is not yet bound.  There is a good time coming for all who feel their sins and come to Christ, and commit their thirsting souls to His keeping.  When He comes again they will be completely satisfied.  They will remember all the way by which they were led, and see the need-be of everything that befell them.  Above all, they will wonder that they could ever live so long without Christ, and hesitate about coming to Him.

"There is a pass in Scotland called Glencoe, which supplies a beautiful illustration of what heaven will be to the souls who come to Christ.  The road through Glencoe carries the traveler up a long and steep ascent, with many a little turn and winding in its course.  But when the top of the pass is reached, a stone is seen by the wayside with these simple words inscribed upon it: 'Rest, and be thankful.'  Those words describe the feelings with which every thirsting one who comes to Christ will enter heaven.  The summit of the narrow way will at length be ours.  We shall cease from our weary journeyings, and sit in the kingdom of God.  We shall look back on all the ways of our lives with thankfulness, and see the perfect wisdom of every step in the steep ascent by which we were led.  We shall forget the toil of the upward journey in the glorious rest.  Here, in this world, our sense of rest in Christ at best is feeble and partial: we hardly seem at times to taste fully the living water.  But when that which is perfect is one, then that which is imperfect shall be done away.  When we awake up after His likeness we shall be satisfied (Ps. 17:15).  We shall drink out of the river of His pleasures and thirst no more!"  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)

J.C. Ryle: Arise, and Come! Before the Fountain is Closed!

"But do you feel anything at this very moment?  Is your conscience awake and working?  Are you sensible of spiritual thirst, and longing for relief?  Then hear the invitation which I bring you in my Master's name this day: 'If any man,' no matter who he may be, 'if any man,' high or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, 'if any man thirst, let him come to Christ and drink.'  Hear and accept that invitation without delay.  Wait for nothing.  Wait for nobody.  Who can tell that you may not wait for 'a convenient season' until it be too late?   The hand of a living Redeemer is now held out from heaven; but it may be withdrawn.  The fountain is open now; but it may soon be closed forever.  'If any man thirst, let him come and drink' without delay.  Though you have been a great sinner, and have resisted warnings, counsel and sermons, yet come.  Though you have sinned against light and knowledge, against a father's advice and a mother's tears, though you have lied for years without a Sabbath and without prayer, yet come.  Say not that you know not how to come, that you do not understand what it is to believe, that you must wait for more light.  Will a tired man say that he is too tired to lie down, or a drowning man, that he knows not how to lay hold on the hand stretched out to help him, or the shipwrecked sailor, with a lifeboat alongside the stranded hulk, that he knows not how to jump in?  Oh, cast away these vain excuses!  Arise, and come!  The door is not shut.  The fountain is not yet closed.  The Lord Jesus invites you.  It is enough that you feel thirsting, and desire to be saved.  Come: come to Christ without delay.  Who ever came to the fountain for sin and found it dry?  Who ever went unsatisfied away?"  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)

J.C. Ryle: Obliged to Hear the Great Awakening

"If anyones thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow form within him."

John 7:37-38

"Do you know anything of spiritual thirst?  Have you ever felt anything of genuine deep concern about  your soul?  I fear that many know nothing about it.  I have learned, by the painful experience of the third of a century, that people may go on for years attending God's house, and yet never feel their sins, or desire to be saved.  The cares of this world, the love of pleasure, the 'lust of other things' choke the good seed every Sunday, and make it unfruitful.  They come to church with hearts as cold as the stone pavement on which they walk.  The go away as thoughtless and moved as the old marble busts which look down on them from the monuments on the walls.  Well, it may be so; but I do not yet despair of anyone, so long as he is alive.  That grand old bell in Paul's Cathedral, London, which has struck the hours for so many years, is seldom heard by many during the business hours of the day.  The roar and din of traffic in the streets have a strange power to deaden its sound, and prevent men hearing it.  But when the daily work is over, and desks are locked, and doors are closed, and books are put away, and quiet reigns in the great city, the case is altered.  As the old bell at night strikes eleven and twelve and one and two and three, thousands hear it who never heard it during the day.  And so I hope it will be with many a one in the matter of his soul.  Now, in the plenitude of health and strength, in the hurry and whirl of business, I fear the voice of your conscience is often stifled, and you cannot hear it.  But the day may come when the great bell of conscience will make itself heard, whether you like it or not.  The time may come when, laid aside in quietness, and obliged by illness to sit still you may be forced to look within, and consider your soul's concerns.  And then, when the great bell of awakened conscience is sounding in your ears, I trust the many a man who reads this message may hear the voice of God and repent, may learn to thrust, and learn to come to Christ for relief.  Yes, I pray God you may yet be taught to feed before it be too late!"  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)

The Joy Found in His Increase

“For many years Sir Walter Scott was the leading literary figure in the British Empire. No one could write as well as he. Then the works of Lord Byron began to appear, and their greatness was immediately evident. Soon an anonymous critic praised his poems in a London Paper. He declared that in the presence of these brilliant works of poetic genius, Scott could no longer be considered the leading poet of England. It was later discovered that the unnamed reviewer had been none other than Sir Walter Scott himself!”  (Dr. Gary Collins in Homemade, July, 1985)

The disciples of John the Baptist became so concerned over the increased popularity and influence of Jesus they feared the ministry of John would be over-shadowed.  In response to this John gives a beautiful reply: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).  John was not about self-exaltation.  He was about exalting the Messiah.

Join us this week as we dive into John 3:22-30 to learn what it means for Jesus to increase in our lives while we willingly and joyfully decrease.  May the Spirit of God guide us into all truth through His Word and may we be prayerfully prepared to encounter the greatness of Jesus our Christ.

Striving to know Christ and make Him known,

Pastor Mark