Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 16 NLT
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. … 16 Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.”
Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 16 NLT
Hidden
Interest
Negatively
Diverting
Expected
Results
Evading
Detection
Unrealized goals are difficult to manage. Plans that we make are often thwarted by things in our lives that we fail to recognize. I’m not talking about sin. Sometimes, we have motivations that are outside our conscious realization. The most devastating part of the process in dealing with unfulfilled goals is digging through the pile of broken dreams to discover what hindered their fulfillment. Hidden Interest Negatively Diverting Expected Results Evading Detection.
The Spirit of God desires to be an active participant in every area of our lives, but He cannot act without invitation. We believe we want to hear from God. We follow all the prescribed steps, but when we hear His voice, we are somehow hindered. The question we face today is, what hidden interest lies within us that is negatively diverting expected results and evading detection?
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22, 24-25 NLT
18 “You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. …22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. … 24-25 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!” Hebrews 12:18-19, 22, 24-25 NLT
What are the results you’re looking for in your family, church, community and job? I’ve been teaching in some capacity or another since 1992. I’ve been a credentialed minister since 1996 and happily married to my beautiful wife for 26 years and counting. Every aspect of my life has been filled with expectations and agendas.
My life has been lived leading, guiding, directing, and managing people, events and situations. One thing I’ve learned through it all is that human beings are a stubborn lot. We each have some type of hidden agenda, or interest that may be so deeply buried in our subconscious that we ourselves are unaware it even exists. Yet, when our desired outcome is not in line with God’s plan, we quickly allow our interests to divert the godly results we are expecting. How do we draw these thoughts, attitudes and actions out into the light? How can we stop ourselves from being diverted and evading detection?
The Israelites were literally up close and personal with God, but His presence was so unnerving to them that they begged Him to stop speaking. How often have we done the same, perhaps not in words, but in our actions?
How many of us are “filled with the Holy Spirit”?
God is waiting to move through a willing people. He has promised and in fact has “poured out His Spirit”, but do we act according to His direction or beg Him to stop speaking?
Ezekiel 47:1-12 NLT (emphasis added)
“In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.””
Ezekiel 47:1-12 NLT
Hidden Interest Negatively Diverting Expected Results Evading Detection. What is God saying in Ezekiel’s vision? How does his vision apply to us?
The Spirit of God is represented in scripture as water. Many of us just love to splash around in the puddles. Those are the waters that are “ankle deep”. Some of us wade out a little bit deeper into the “waist deep” waters. Still fewer of us have gotten into the “waters to swim in”. God has promised an outpouring of His Spirit in the “last days”! Those are the days in which we live. Moving in the Spirit calls us to get into the “waters to swim in”.
Please don’t take that statement to mean anything goes in terms of, jumping shouting, and going wild in the name of a Pentecostal revival. Scripture is very clear. There is an order. There are God instituted standards, but we’ve stopped teaching on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. The “river” that flows from the Temple is the Spirit of God. Everywhere the Spirit of God goes, there is life and healing. The angel in the vision asks, “Have you been watching, son of man?”
Did you notice, there are fishermen on both sides of the river? When Jesus called the original disciples, they were fishermen. The “fish of every kind”, in Ezekiel’s vision, represents people from every nation.
Mark 1:17 KJV
“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”
Mark 1:17 KJV
During the festival of shelters, Jesus was teaching in the Temple. He promised “living water” which was an introduction to the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit flows through us if we’re thirsty, and open to His leading.
John 7:37-38 NLT
“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’””
John 7:37-38 NLT
Hidden Interest Negatively Diverting Expected Results Evading Detection. Before reading the next passage of scripture, call back to your mind Ezekiel’s vision.
Revelation 22:1-3, 5-6 NLT
“Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything. … 5 For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever. Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.””
Revelation 22:1-3, 5-6 NLT
John’s vision in Revelation 22, gives us a glimpse into future events. This is a picture of how the world will be when Crist returns to reign. The River of Life flows from His throne and everywhere the Spirit goes life flourishes. From the River of Life comes the medicine to heal the nations. God has spoken His word through prophecy that there will be an undeniable move of His Spirit in our time and from this area. This is not an exclusive message. This message is for all who will hear and respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We began today with a passage from Deuteronomy, chapter 10:16. I cannot say how that verse affects your life, but it hits me hard every time. “Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.”
When Jesus was speaking to the women at the well she didn’t recognize Him until He identified Himself. How often do we fail to recognize what God desires to do simply because we don’t ask?
John 4:10, 14 NLT
“Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” … 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.””
John 4:10, 14 NLT
God has a gift for you. That gift is the Holy Spirit. We will experience everything God has promised when we yield our individual and collective wills to the Lordship of Christ. We are the temple and the Holy Spirit flows from the throne of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT
“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT
If Christ is seated on the throne of our heart, His Spirit will flow through us. We will experience the miraculous when we surrender the Hidden Interest Negatively Diverting Expected Results Evading Detection.
Acts 2:1, 4 KJV
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Acts 2:1, 4 KJV
I cannot apologize for the length of this message. All I can do is close it for today with this scripture as a final prayer.
Psalm 139:23-24 KJV
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23-24 KJV
