There are a number of things that need to be expanded in our thinking. The terminology we use doesn’t always mean the same thing to everybody. For example, salvation to many Christians means doing the best you can and when you die you will go to heaven. When we speak of salvation, though, we are speaking of far more than just having forgiveness for sins. What does being filled with the Spirit mean? To a Fundamentalist it means being saved. To a Pentecostal or a Charismatic Christian it means you have received at least one spiritual gift such as tongues or prophecy. To a more mature Christian it would mean more than that. What about a living Word? To some reading Scripture would be speaking a living Word. To someone else a prophecy would be counted as a living Word or a sermon involving types and prophetic symbols. What really is a living Word? The living Word is Christ! Our experiences and spiritual growth has determined the meaning of our terminology. Thus, our thinking on these things needs to expand. Actually, none of us can claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit when we have received so little. To label the little we have received as His fullness reveals our immaturity.
I remember one church that I came in contact with during the youth of my experience. They talked a lot about the kingdom of God and the manifestation of His sons. They had some terrific revelation beyond where I was at the time. I was very excited about it, but over the next couple of years the Lord led me in a different direction. Five or six years later I came back and visited the church that had meant so much to me. They were still getting excited over the same scriptures, talking about the same thing, but there had been very little spiritual growth if any at all.
We want to receive a living Word that will bring change to our lives, a Word that will create us. Not only that but we want to become channels for the living Word. We want the Lord Himself ministering through us. In Colossians 1:27 the Apostle Paul said “Christ in you is the hope of glory.” Then John 7:37-39 said that Jesus will be glorified when the Holy Spirit (living water) is flowing through us. II Thessalonians 1:10 said that Jesus Christ will be glorified when He comes forth in His saints. Thus, we understand that Jesus Christ will be glorified and admired in us when He is functioning through us. Listen, that is more than just being saved; it is more than receiving the Holy Spirit and moving in a few gifts of the Spirit!
John 5:1-3 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda [house of mercy], having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water.
Now the rest of the story talks about how at a certain season an angel would come down and trouble the waters. The first ones into the water would find the deliverance or the healing they needed. Throughout history there have been certain messengers of God who have troubled the waters, stirring the waters of life. Water that is moving has a cleansing effect. We do not want the water of life to merely pool in us; we want it to flow through us bringing the cleansing that we really need.
A multitude of impotent folk are gathered around this pool waiting for the troubling of the waters, waiting for them to become living waters. History has known some messengers such as Hus, Zwingli, Luther, Wesley, etc., to have troubled the waters at different seasons. Do you think we can become stirrers of the waters, too? It really is time for the Word of God to become living waters.
There are many pools of water in the Christian world – pool after pool after pool. They are labeled churches, and there are a lot of impotent folk around those pools of water. Someone needs to stir those waters and make them living. All those impotent folk around those pools are waiting for the troubling of the waters; they are waiting for living waters. That’s our job! It’s nice to be gathered here like this to drink of the water of life, but it is nothing more than the hope of glory until those waters are flowing through us (Colossians 1:27).
Do you realize that very few of the multitude of people that Jesus ministered ever really walked with Him? Very few of them became messengers of God that could also trouble the waters. That is what Jesus was doing. He was troubling the waters; He was the angel sent to stir the waters. The waters of Judaism had become like the Dead Sea. Jesus stirred the waters. Then He told His disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). We must become stirrers of the waters, too!
There is a lot of dead-letter water coming from many pulpits today. We have been most fortunate, a blessed people, because of the living Word we have received, but that living Word will become stagnate if it does not flow through us to others. We must be ministers of that which we have received. Paul talking to Timothy in his epistle said, “The word that you have received from me, minister to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” That has to be continued. The whole purpose for you being here is not just to receive ministry that is good and is a blessing to you, but that you may go out and stir the waters for someone else.
Do you remember when Paul was ministering all night and a man fell out of the window? He fell out three stories up and it killed him! Paul had to go down and bring the man back to life again. Let’s read it. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together … that’s what we are doing here, coming together… to break bread,…feeding upon the Word… Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber. Acts 20:7-8. It doesn’t mean they had many lamps in the house. There were many lights. You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). We have many lights in here. As the living Word comes forth in you, you are becoming many lights. When you leave here what are you supposed to do? Let your light shine! That is the same thing as saying, “All right, you are being filled with the water of life, now let it flow right on through you to someone else.” This is what it is all about – being a ministry of His life.
Jesus walked up to the impotent man lying at the pool and said, “Would you like to be whole?” “Well, I have no one to help me in and when the water is troubled, someone gets in ahead of me.” Jesus said, “Take up your bed and walk.” You can do that, too! Speak a living Word to them. Tell them to get off their bed of ease and walk! Tell them to walk with God! Speak it! Christ is in you; turn Him loose. There are many impotent folk out there. Stir the waters; speak life to them! Stir those waters!
Copyright © 2007 by Henry DuBose