14 living water

SINGING TO BRING WATER
By: Opoku Onyinah

On the way to Canaan, the Lord gave many prophetic pictures of water and rock to the Israelites. The rock represented Christ and water had diverse lessons to teach us. First, the people of Israel drank from the water that came from the rock, symbolizing the pierced Christ. Second, they drank from the water that came from the rock which was spoken to, which represented the risen Christ.

Third, in Numbers 21:16–18, the leaders of Israel sang and used their staffs to dig a well. This well was a picture of the Spirit, who was to be poured out after the glorification of Jesus. Jesus would no longer be there in the form of a rock, but in the form of the Spirit, who would be working as His people came together to sing His praises.

Jesus attributed this Scripture to Himself in John 7:37-38: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Here, Jesus could be referring to this incident of the digging of the well by the leaders of Israel.

Jesus was giving a picture of springs of living water coming out from the souls of His disciples. He wanted them to move out from the rituals of drawing water from Siloam, which was the tradition during the Feast of Tabernacles, to the reality of receiving the Spirit through Him and speaking in tongues. The One to whom the people of Israel drank during the wilderness experience was there in person.

Shall we, His disciples, like the elders of Israel, sing this song: “Spring up, O well, within my soul"? Shall we stir the gifts in us? We must allow the Spirit to gush out from within our souls so that we can sing praises to the glory of the Almighty God! When we obey the Lord, we no longer strike the rock two times, neither do we keep on speaking and speaking; now we shall sing to His glory.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 ESV

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

ACTIVATION

What song is in your heart today? Sing it out loud to the Lord.

Bring your difficult situations to the Lord and praise Him for what He is doing in the middle of those circumstances. Sing over those situations, proclaiming the goodness of God and His promises to you.

Sing a new song of praise from your heart, especially when you least feel like praising.

The Gospel saves every situation

The Gospel Saves In Every Situation

Romans 1:16
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes… 

Each time you hear the gospel of Christ, you are hearing God’s good news for you. And the Bible tells us that the gospel of Christ — the good news that God wants all men to hear — is the very power of God for your salvation, not just from hell, but also from illnesses, financial lack, harm, a failing marriage — every aspect of your life that needs saving! 

You may say, “ I’ve heard the gospel of Christ, but it seems like I am one of those whom the power of God has missed.” My friend, when you hear the gospel of Christ, do you really believe it? You cannot just understand it in your mind. You must know and believe the good news in your heart, and then you will see that it is the power of God for your salvation. 

But what is the good news that God wants you to know in your heart, which will release the power and salvation of God into your situation? 

“For in it [the good news] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…” (Romans 1:17) The good news is that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, which you receive from faith to faith. 

This means that this righteousness comes because you have faith in His blood, not your good behavior, to make you righteous. It is from faith to faith, not faith to works, or works to works.

The good news is not preached to show you what is wrong with you. It is preached to show you what is right with you because of Jesus’ work at Calvary, in spite of what is wrong with you! 

There is nothing left for you to do to earn God’s blessings for your life. You only need to hear and believe the all-encompassing saving power of the gospel of Christ to heal you of diseases, preserve you from danger, bless your finances and bring well-being to your family. 

The world may say that the good news is too good to be true. But for those of us who are the righteousness of God in Christ, the good news is so good because it is indeed true!

Thought For The Day 
Hearing and believing the good news will release the power of God into your situation. 

Hillsong leaving assemblies of God ???

Hillsong Church🇦🇺 Has Outgrown Its Denomination

By

 Megan Briggs

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Hillsong Church has pulled out from under its denomination in order to create its own denomination. In a letter to Australian Christian Churches (ACC), pastor Brian Houston cites the increasingly global “footprint” of Hillsong as the reason the multi-national church is leaving.

“As Hillsong Church has continued to grow, we no longer see ourselves as an Australian Churchwith a global footprint, but rather a Global church with an Australian base,” Houston writes in the letter. 

Since its inception in 1983, Hillsong has been under the covering of ACC, the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God denomination🇦🇺. Houston himself has held his credentials as a pastor through ACC for almost 40 years now.

The decision to leave comes after two years of “prayerful discussion” on Hillsong’s Australian and global boards.

The Reasons Hillsong Church Is Leaving the ACC 🇦🇺🇦🇺

In the letter to ACC, Houston articulates the church’s reasons for leaving.

First of all, he highlights the global reach of Hillsong, citing the following facts:

Two-thirds of the people attending Hillsong live in countries beyond Australia;
The church has staff in 24 nations;
123 campuses and locations;
263 different church services on any given weekend.

Houston describes Hillsong as “One House, with many rooms.”

With such a global reach, that is continuing to grow, Houston writes:

It has become clear to us that we need to be able to credential our own pastors and restructure our church in a way that enables us to give due diligence to governance, risk, church health, safe church and many other policies that are crucial to the future progress of Hillsong, globally.

Houston writes the church has taken the necessary steps to register Hillsong with the Australian Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages so they can now credential pastors “in our own right.”

Houston explained his reasoning for wanting Hillsong to be able to credential pastors through a hypothetical situation.

This recognition alleviates the issues that would occur if, for example, a concern arises that affects the credential of a Hillsong Church youth pastor in one of our campuses in Europe. The Australian ACC cannot be expected to have adequate information to address this issue or even know who the person is, let alone the resources to appropriately deal with the issue on a personal or pastoral level.

Looking to the future, Houston wishes for Hillsong to remain a part of the ACC, but with a different role. He indicated the church is working with the ACC National Executive to define this role as an “associate church.” Houston wants to “continue to lean into the ACC” and support initiatives such as the denomination’s conferences, missions, and Alphacrucis, a Bible college located in Sydney, Australia affiliated with the denomination.

Wayne Alcorn, the President of ACC, agrees this “change in relationship” between the ACC and Hillsong is not due to a disagreement. “May I emphasise that the relationship between Hillsong Church and ACC is strong. The change in relationship has been facilitated by Hillsong’s global growth, rather than any disagreement,” he said. Further, he likened the change in relationship to a “child who has grown up and now has a larger life outside the family home.”

Hillsong has several churches in the United States. Locations include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Phoenix.