The Thirst Trap

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message.

We're excited because write this down. Favor flows from strange places, it really does. One time the children of Israel were in the desert and water came out of a rock.

That's weird.

Yeah, God do something for you, but not through the person that you expected him to do it through. You ever had God be good to you through somebody that you weren't even good to, and then somebody you were good to wasn't good to you, And it's almost like God, it's almost like he wants to challenge your attachments, so He'll keep on moving around his supply and springing up from different places so that you don't camp out where he.

Called you to pass through.

And that's why sometimes you get frustrated.

But favor can flow from frustration.

Sometimes you have to get down to the bottom of something to find God there. And you know my study has been like that. It was kind of weird. Can I tell y'all something that I didn't tell any of the other experiences. I did not want to do a seven mile Miracle series. I preached this bad Boy. I

You don't even know all that, but we had them pay.

The church, and they wanted to put out a book. And I didn't want to write a book about seven mile Miracle because I typically like to preach something and move on.

As a matter of fact, this is probably dysfunctional.

But before I came out to preach to you, I was writing my sermon for the end of April because it started coming to me and I know what it is telling you, because then you would skip. And but the way it flows to me, I've had to learn to get in the flow with God touch somebody say get in the flow, get in the flow, Get in the flow, because for me, creativity and insforration doesn't always flow.

It's not always dependable.

When songwriter said that creativity is like building your house, from the sky down, especially when you're depending on God to give it to you. So you feel kind of vulnerable when you're waiting on God to give you something. So it flows in strange places. Sometimes I get sermons off of gatoraded commercials.

And I just have to do it anywhere I can.

And this year has been interesting because God took some things that I studied years ago, like this seven mile walk on the Amaeis Road, and we taught an Easter sermon on it, and then a whole series and a book flowed out of it. But I was kind of done with it, and God took something that I was done with, like a seed that I thought was gone, but it really wasn't gone. It was in the ground.

So it started to challenge.

The way I saw faith, because I thought faith meant that I would know why I was going through everything I went through while I went through it. Now I'm thinking, maybe faith means not knowing why I'm going through it, but trusting the one who makes a way where there is no way to feed me what I need for the season that I'm in, because He's God, and he

The bread represents the word of God.

And each week I've been giving you a little peace, and I'm taking it from the last sayings.

That Jesus spoke on the cross.

There are seven Seven is the number of completion in the scripture and so when we say seven, we're eventually getting to resurrection, but to get there, we're going through crucifixion.

We're eventually getting.

To glory, but to get there we have to go through the sufferings of this present time and believe that they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. But it's in the ground right now. It's on Saturday that our faith is proven, waiting for Sunday.

In the aftershock of Friday.

Now, we walked through a couple of different sayings, and one was, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That one challenged me because it is the exact opposite of how I think when somebody disappoints me or offends me. See, you're different, You're more sanctified than me, and you've arrived. But when somebody breaks my heart, I don't say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what

But I'm challenged because, well.

Jesus says to a thief, he says.

Today you will be with me in paradise. Now I don't think like that.

I think if the guy is going to be in paradise, he needs to do some good deeds that help some old ladies across the street, and take a little membership class and get baptized at our Concord campus, then he can be in paradise. He didn't do any of that. Jesus just saved him just because he asks. And now I'm thinking, this must be a gift that you can't earn. It must not have to do with my works at all. It must be something that God gives, not something.

That I get about to do his receiver.

Then I'm a little convicted how he's on the cross and he's thinking about his mom on the cross, because I don't think about others while I'm going through good times, let alone hard times. I don't even like to let people merge in traffic on four eighty five because I'm.

In a hurry.

Here's Jesus dying and thinking about somebody else. So all of this has been challenging me. Wade gets up and says that God was forsaken by God the Son, by the Father, so that we would never have to be abandoned. And then I'll come to this little phrase, and I don't know what to do with it, because Jesus now says one of his last sayings on the cross of this is mile five, commonly known as the word of distress.

It's called the word of distress.

But after today you're going to see that it's actually the word of destiny. I'm gonna show you because he says something strange. Let's look at it together.

Are you ready?

Say?

I'm ready?

You got your yeasyesweight laced up and ready to run.

What So.

He's been mocked, he's been flogged, he's been sentenced, handed over to die. He's bleeding, he's suffocating, and he's hanging there after this, John says John nineteen twenty eight. Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, finality, achievement would be the original language that all was achieved, that he was to do his assignment was achieved. Now that he knew that, he said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst, which.

Is ironic because this is the same voice that spoke.

The season too existence, and now he needs water.

You ever think about this?

How how the same voice that told the Red Sea to part now needs a drink? How can the voice that could command the sea peace be still, and it had to shut up so he could get some sleep.

How could that same.

God, Because the Bible says that he is the one Colossians tells us by whom, for whom and through whom all things were created. That were created in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

That's Jesus. Now he's wrapped in flesh, dying.

At the hands of sinful men, a criminal's death, and he says, I thirst He's the one who said he was living water. How can living water be thirsty? He is the one who was Jacob's well. How can Jacob's well be dry?

Do you see?

What I'm saying is just strange to me. And on top of the fact that it's kind of crazy that the one who called the seas to be gathered together so the dry land could appear, the one whose voice is above the waters, the one who separated the water above the firmament the water below the firmament, the one who has a throne in heaven by the way in the Book of Revelation that he sits on where the streams of water flow and make glad the city of God,

And it's.

Tough for me to meet this. But I am a server's worst nightmare. And it's not because I'm rude. It's not because I'm rude, and I'm not rude because I'm Southern. So since I'm Southern, if I'm gonna be.

Rude to you, I'm going to do it behind your back.

I watch people from other parts of the country who are so direct, and it's weird to me because I can feel my mom putting soap in my mouth because you we just weren't that direct. I watched somebody in a restaurant. They're done. They just go check, like one word. That's not how you. I can't do it like that. I wish I could. I think it'd be cool just holler check. I see it in the movies, and uh, I'm gonna try sometime.

And I'm not rude like that. I'm not rude. I'm not. I'm not even really that picky in a restaurant. I'm really not. I'm simple. I'm basic. I like what I like, but it's not that hard to fix it like I like it.

I'm not.

Here's what I say. I'm not Chunk's Corbett.

Chunk's Corbett is the most embarrassing person to be in a restaurant with because of the specificity with which he demands his food be prepared and his wife.

Is nodding while I'm preaching this. He'll He'll walk in a restaurant. I want a bloom an onion, but no onion, and can you make it in the shape of an eight because that's my favorite number.

And when I was here to play baseball, he says, got the craziest stuff.

So I'm not really like that.

But my thing is if you can keep up with me on the drinks, because I drink diet coke. Like I just said, I shoot up heroin, you judgmental demon. People will do it. Every time I say that, they'll send me a link about aspartame.

But it's all right. I already read about it. And I want to.

Go to heaven and I'm kind of in a hurry to get there. I'm at peace with my mortal nature and I want to sip a diet coke.

On the journey. So so my thing is, I tip great.

I tip great, especially if you bring me an Elevation Church stolen ten to sign.

The tip with. That'll be our thing. I'll bump it up at least three percent. It's just read the word.

But my thing is keeping my drink ful is kind of hard because I'll drink five, six, seven.

Eight, nine, ten, eleven.

I've been to twelve class is before uh in a in a long meal, so I know it's horrible. But one time this server came over and she was kind of giggling about how many drinks I was drinking.

This has been years ago, and she.

Was probably she looked she looked like she was too young to be legally uh, working at a restaurant.

And she comes over to.

The table and she's kind of giggling and uh, and and I'm apologizing. I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm drinking so many drinks. I'd just like to drink a lot of that coke. I'm sorry about that. And I promise I'll tip you good and just thank you for trying to keep up with me.

And she goes, and she goes, and Holly, Holly, feeling the need to apologize, Holly goes, He's just a thirsty man.

And she started laughing when Holly said that, but she was laughing a little too hard. You know how people can laugh a little too hard for what you said, and you know that they took something different out of what you said. And so she's laughing, just laughing, laughing, And I said, what what what was funny about that? And and she said, you wife just said you're thirsty And I said.

Yeah, I am.

You've seen it today night here in the restaurant.

I like to drink. She said, no, no, you don't know what thirsty means to you.

And I said, no, but tell me what thirsty means to you, I need to know.

She said, you don't want to know this.

You're a preacher. She said, you don't. I said, no, tell me. She said, well, it's kind of something we would say. Younger people would say, say maybe if a guy is a little too desperate, we would look at him and maybe roll our eyes and say thirsty.

So now I knew she was laughing.

She said, we even when people post something on social media where they want to get attention and they try a little too hard, we call that a thirst trap. I want to appreach to you today about the thirst trap, and I want.

To go show my title, show my time.

I want to go all the way back from Bonefish Grill to John nineteen.

And see if I can work it together.

Because I gotta admit sometimes I'm thirsty. Sometimes I'm thirsty like the guy who sends twelve text messages and none of them get responded to those long text messes. Sometimes I need too much from the wrong place. Sometimes I'm thirsty because I love God and I know that he's my shepherd and I'm not supposed to be in need, and I.

Have his spirit.

But sometimes I gotta admit to you I'm I'm kind of thirsty. Look at your neighbor and ask him, are you thirsty?

Not you You're you're filled with the spirit of God. Oh, we get thirsty. And it's no.

Surprise we get thirsty because we're week. He knows our friend, we're made of dust, came from the dust. Get thirsty in the dust, dirty thirsty people. I mean that makes sense. But for Jesus to say I thirst and watch this when he said it, The Bible says, they came to him, those soldiers around the cross, and he said, I thirst.

And there was a jar full of sour wine, cheap stuff.

What the executioners drank while they were waiting on the person to die. Now, see, this was the second drink that Jesus was offered on the cross, but the first one he refused. When he was on his way to the cross, when he got to the spot where they would drop the cross the vertical beam and attach to the horizontal beam because the cross works both ways. I taught you that two weeks ago. When he got to

The women would prepare it, often as an act.

Of compassion or kindness, and when they offered him this drink, perhaps in mockery, before he called himself a king and they offered him a drink, Mark tells us in Mark, I think it's like fifteen twenty three. They offered him wine mixed with merv but he did not take it because maybe he saw it as a trap, because he was focused on finishing what God gave him to do. And when he got to the cross, he refused to drink and said, I don't need that. Now I want

And when I say three.

Push it out the way like Jesus pushed the cup of Myrrh and say I don't need it. One, two, three, I don't need it. He said, I'm not drinking that. I'm going somewhere.

With his gaze set on the glory of God, he went toward the cross.

But now it's been six hours since he first got to Gugatha, and he says, I thirst Remember, this is the same voice of God that created the clouds.

And filled them with condensation.

This is the voice that has the power to flood the earth and only Noah and every animal on the boat gets out of it alive, and he thirst. So we're surprised by it, or at least we should be. And we're surprised when they come to him and there's a jar of sour wine and they offer to the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the earth. You need to understand that what happened on the cross didn't start on the cross, and it didn't end on the cross.

The cross was pointing.

At the prophetic fulfillment of the purpose of God that existed before time began.

So they take a hiss up branch, which was what they used on.

Passover back when they would take the blood of a lamb and put it on a door post. And so they took that branch they would put the blood on. And now the Lamb of God is bleeding. It is not the shadow anymore. It's the actuality, the revelation of God. The fullness of God is hanging on a cross in the form of a man, and they give him vinegar to drink for his thirst, and they put it to his mouth, the same mouth that spoke them into existence, and they gave him vinegar to drink. How could he

But what's in it? Sometimes when it.

Comes time to really fulfill your calling, let me break this down, because y'all are really looking at me cross eyed and stuff. It's one thing to pick out a name for your baby. It's another thing to have to raise them in middle school.

It didn't work. It still didn't work.

I'm trying really hard to bring this right where you are. It is one thing to write down his last name with your first name and think about how awesome it would be to be missus so and so.

But it's another thing to.

Deal with his bad breath and his bad spending habits and realize that his mom didn't teach him how to put the seat down on the toilet after he used it, and work out the mechanics of marriage in the context of the calling, not just the excitement of the concept of something. So sometimes why we are very excited about the concept of being used by God. Stay with me because this sermon is about to do something.

In your soul. Deep down in your soul.

I feel the spirit of God saying to somebody today, what will you do.

With the cup?

Because Jesus had a cup that he didn't want to drink, and he prayed in the garden. He prayed, Father, if there's any other way to get this done, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me, the cup that was full of the wrath of God, the just punishment that our sin deserved.

And he drank it. But he struggled to drink it.

Do you know how I know he struggled because he prayed, if there's any other way, let this cup pass. But if there's not, if I have to drink it down, if I have to suffer, you have to go to the cross. I'm going to the cross. If I have to be mocked, I'll be mocked. If I have to be alone, I'll be alone.

If I have to cry, I'll cry. If I have to struggle, I'll struggle.

Not my will, but yours be gone. So the Son of God is thirsty, and he's thirsty because he's trapped. He's trapped in a place that we're all familiar with. He's trapped between what he wants and what God wills.

Have you ever been trapped?

Three honest people, three thirsty people. All the thirsty people make some noise, just be honest about it, because remember, it's only those who and thirst that can be filled.

It's only those who know what it's like. I mean, he got.

Down in that garden and he prayed so hard about it, and he heard so much about it while Peter.

James and John slept on the side. But Jesus prayed.

The Bible says he prayed to the point that his sweat was like drops of blood struggle to surrender, and he was. He was trapped in the garden between what God had spoken and what his flesh wanted. I'm thirsty, of course, he's thirsty. When you sweat like that, you're going to be thirsty. I mean, if the Son of God sweat like that, what makes you think you're going to go through life and never break one yourself?

So we think we're just.

Supposed to fulfill our call and never drink the cup. We think we're supposed to have a vision, but no, vinegar. I mean, the son of God is sweating drops of blood and we're supposed to be able to sleep through. Life is a struggle, he said, I thirst because he struggled people.

I know he was thirsty.

I mean he's fully God, yes, but he's also fully man.

In other words, he's trapped.

Because he's God, but he's wrapped in flesh because he's glory. But he's wrapped in frailty because he's eternity. But he's trapped in time because he's spirit, but he's trapped in a body. Sometimes I feel trapped because what I want to do I can't do, and what I do I hate, and what I want to.

Do I don't have the will to do. I'm trapped.

Thirsty, Hi, I'm wearying, And he struggled, And see, I'm not very comfortable with this.

I don't like it because I don't want to.

I don't really want to see a god who struggled like I struggle. I like that stuff where he opens his mouth and says shut up to the wind and the waves. I like that because that makes me think he's just gonna walk into my situation smooth sailing.

But when he says I thirst.

See, now I see him identifying with my shame, and it causes me to look at myself, not as I wish to be, but as I really am, Because now I've got to picture him carrying my shame right down. Shame, because shame will make you thirsty. Shame will make you try to fill something with the words of people that can really only be fulfilled by the word of God. Shame will make you forget who you really are. Of

He pushes the.

Drink aside, thirsty as he is carrying my shame eighty pounds. You know, it weighs a lot more than that when it's in your soul, a whole lot more than eighty pounds.

It weighs a whole lot more.

It'll weigh so much you can't even look people in the eye when it's in your soul.

And he carried that, He carried it the length of.

Six and a half football fields from Pilot's palace to Galgata.

Of course he was thirsty.

Come on, I can't even do a set of kettlebell swings and not take a sip.

Of course he was thirsty.

Of course he said, I thirst And you know what, this isn't the first time that Jesus said he was thirsty in John's gospel. No, it's not man, not at all. See, because one time, can I tell you a story from the Bible. It's a Bible story from John chapter four, And it's interesting because Jesus is going somewhere, but he goes around to get there, and the place where he goes is called Samaria. Now this is not a normal place for a Jew to go, so the fact that.

He went there was kind of surprising.

But nobody asked him why he was doing what he was doing, because by this time his disciples knew that everything he did he did on purpose. Let me say that again, everything he did he did on purpose. That's going to come back, and that's going to be very important when I finished this little sermonette today. Everything he did he did on purpose. So the Bible says he had to go to Samaria, he had to go. Why why did he have to go to Samaria? Why did

Have you ever asked that question? Why me? God? Any parents that have ever asked God? Why me? Why would you call me to raise a kid?

When I feel like a little boy myself? Sometimes See the interesting thing to me about this little excursion Jesus takes is that he's going to Samaria. He sits down when he gets there, and he waits by a well for a woman. Now, let me tell you something about this woman, because she's coming out in the middle of the day. And the only reason that you would go to the well in the middle of the day in a hot climate is so nobody else would be there,

Y'all aren't even helping me appreciate this sermon. I work so hard. All that's rude.

So she comes up says, oh, crap, I thought nobody would be here.

I don't even know this.

God, have you noticed how everything we've been studying and in the scripture says Jesus showing up to people who didn't even recognize him when he did, just showing up. And then he does something unthinkable. Okay, talk about a thirst trap. Jesus the Living Water sees this woman come in, knows what kind of life she's lived, and yet he doesn't say anything about that. He says, hey girl, modernization. But he said, give me look at for seven, give me a drink. She didn't like that very much, so

A woman from Samaria? In other words, I know you're not talking to me. That's what I want to saying. I know you're not talking to me. And you can feel that way sometimes.

I mean, some of you sit here and listen to me preach and you think it's for your wife.

I'm talking to you.

I'm talking to you, buddy, thirsty self.

So everybody in here is thirsty.

Everybody in here is thirsty.

Some of y'all get it through sex, some of.

Y'all get it through success, some of y'all get.

It through religion. But I got to tell you something.

The person you're sitting now is thirsty.

It's not a sin to be thirsty.

It's just where you go to get your fixed that determines whether or not.

Your soul will be satisfied. Because I found out there's only one while that hasslewater, I need.

We talk about the satisfaction, the satisfaction. Jesus says, hey, I need a drink.

And the woman thinks he's talking about.

Water, but he's not talking about water. And the woman is perhaps a shamed and offended, and so she goes to push him away because see.

That's what she's learned how to do. She's thirsty.

So she's learned how to get what she needs from who she thinks can give it. But none of it lasts. She's learned, give me your phone. She's learned how to get what she needs. So she wakes up in the morning thirsty. Did they like my picture? Did they come in on my posts? Did they frame me back? Did they follow me back?

Thirsty?

Somebody shall thirsty thirsty acting like that that's gonna fill you.

It might for a minute, but there's one problem with this. Well, Jesus said, if you.

Drink of this water, woman, you're gonna stay thirsty. And I want you to know that if you put your validation in other people's hands, you will have to go back to them for it, and you can't. Don't make me throw his phone, so Jesus, he just lays it out there.

Oh yeah, I will make a work a while to come to church today.

So Jesus is like, hey, you know everyone who drinks of this water, everyone who drinks of this water, I ain't a gout on Facebook. Yeah, but why do you go to the mall. Everybody drinks somewhere. Why do you eat the ritos everybody drinks somewhere. Why you put so much pressure on your kids to do what you never did. Everybody drinks somewhere. Why are you texting her back? You

He says bye. Well, and he's like, now, I gotta be honest.

On the surface, it sounds like a pickup line, but we know it's not because Jesus, he's not. He's not thirsty like Dad. He's trying to get her something, got it, He's not. He's not trying to receive something from her. He's trying to release something to her because he knows she's thirsty. So he's like, Hey, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.

But he said he thirsted on the cross.

But I noticed how he didn't say, you'll never feel thirsty again. He said you'll never be He didn't say you will never thirst again. You're see, you're gonna thirst. You're gonna have days that you feel discouraged. If you weren't, God wouldn't tell you not to be terrified or discouraged, if you were naturally going to always be encouraged, if you were never going to be discouraged and dehydrated.

That's what the water is for.

So what he's saying is you'll always have somewhere to drink from, not that you'll never have a need, but that I will meet all of your needs according to my glorious richest.

That's the promise.

So he tells the woman, I got something for you. That's what he tells the woman. I got something for you. And it's not like what you've been drinking. Because watch this. He traps this woman. He totally traps this woman. Jesus all through his ministry, people were trying to trap Jesus. The Sadducees and the Pharisees and Judas trapped him in the garden and the Roman official stuff. They had him trapped on the cross, but Jesus was always the one.

And he is the water.

You know, I'm telling myself right now, focus verdict. You've got to finish. These people have a life. They don't want to be here with you for three more hours. Give me ten minutes. The woman said, sir, if there's some kind of water, if there's some bottomless well, if there's free refills, somebody shout free refills, give me this water so I won't have to be so I won't have to be trapped, so I won't have to keep

Thirsty.

And now Jesus, he's got her, all right, got her. He came to some area and sat by the well. And now she's trapped.

Watch us.

Hee goes, all right, go get your husband. And she says what had happened was I don't have a husband, which is true, but it's not the total truth.

You know how you do.

Like right, I have no husband. Jesus said, you're right and saying I have no husband, for you've had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband. What you've said is true. And you're thirsty, thirsty, and you're trapped. And when I asked you for water, I was trying to release you from having to go all around to people and things and stuff that doesn't satisfy. I want to give you something that comes from within.

No matter how the biopsy comes back.

I want to give you something that you can live off of, something that only gets stronger in your struggle I want to give you a limited supply, And she said, sir, I think you're onto something. She goes back to Samaria carrying living water that she didn't even expect to get, comes back to Jesus, and the Bible says that many and some are belief because of her testimony. See it, it was a trap. Jesus used a thirsty woman to

You've been coming here a long time. Have I ever preached stronger than I'm preaching right now?

I'm not even done yet, So sit back and let me give you my fourth point. I want to talk about the setup, because that's what it was.

It was a setup.

That's why you went through Samaria. He was setting this woman up. That's why he asked for a drink because she was thirsty. That's why you went to the cross a pill six and fifty the arts.

That's why he said, I thirst.

And I'm gonna tell you how I found out because I thought about that thing so long. I thought, Okay, how can living water be thirsty?

How can I well need water?

How can the one that spoke the oceans into existence, now need water from the very same source that he created. How could God, who rains above the waters, need water. How could it be possible that God could come down condescend to the form of human man. How could Christ be made flesh? How could he die and suffer like that? How can it be that there are seasons in my life when I call him him and nothing happens. How can it be that I have divinity but I'm trapped

So I had to read again. I read that.

Verse like like twenty times in John nineteen twenty eight. And I don't read Greek, although I took Greek. I don't read Hebrew although I took Hebrew. I was not very effective in my language studies. And I don't even read Aramaic, which is what Jesus was probably speaking in at the moment when he said I thirst.

But what I do read really.

Well is English, and I know my punctuation marks. So when I read John nineteen twenty eight, have y'all got like seven minutes for me to tie this up? Seven minutes, seven minute miracle, and so it said that after this, after all you've been through, after all they've accused you off, after all the people who walked away who should have been there. After this, after they counted you out and

Released for rabbis, after this.

After the cock crow and Peter denied him thrice. After this, knowing that now all things were finished, Jesus had one more thing to say, one thing to do, because there are three hundred prophecies, and he was on two ninety nine. And see everybody standing around that day thought that death.

Had trapped Jesus.

Right, And the cross was a setup, But it wasn't set up by Judas, and it wasn't set up by the Sadducees, and it wasn't set up by the Pharisees, and it wasn't set up by Herod.

It was set up by Heaven.

Listen to me preach this sermon. Listen to me preach this sermon. Listen to me preach on the parentheses. In John nineteen twenty eight. I preached on a lot of things in my little tenure preaching, but I've never preached on a punctuation mark until today.

After this, knowing that all things.

Had been fulfilled, knowing that he had drank down the full cup of the wrath of God so that you would never have to After knowing that he suffered like a criminal, so that he could reign like a king, after humbling himself, being obedient even to the point of death on the cross.

And it was then Jesus said parentheses to fulfill the scripture.

Huh. I wonder why John put it in parentheses. Probably because he didn't know. That's why it was happening at the time. See, when Jesus said I thirst, they thought he wanted water, so they gave him vinegar to mock him. And the thing they used to mock him was actually the thing that he used to finish the work God gave him to do.

The thing that they put on a sponge to shame him was that. See, because listen, I got to tell you something. Stand up so I'll finish this sermon. Please. Oh, I got to show you one more thing. See, because.

When Jesus said I thirst, to fulfill the scripture parentheses.

Have you ever had to live in the parentheses?

I mean, like not understanding why you were going through what you were going through.

Please be real with me. I cannot preach this sermon to close hearts.

I'm trying to give you water today for your thirsty soul. But sometimes you're in a wilderness and you don't know why. And sometimes you're looking at a red sea and you feel trapped. And Jesus looked trapped up there on that cross, but John said no, he wasn't trapped.

Death didn't trap Jesus. Jesus trapped death.

No, Now I know why, he said.

I thirst.

Now I know why why the lips that spoke the waters into their place on the earth set I thirst to fulfill the scripture.

God has a purpose.

For every thurst in your lives. Death didn't trap Jesus. Jesus trapped Dad.

So one time David felt trapped in the Psalms and then Psalm sixteen. He describes it in vivid detail. He goes, the deep waters have engulfed me. I'm surrounded by enemies. They hurl their insults at me. Does this sound familiar? By the way, It's a messianic song. It's describing centuries before the cross, what the cross would be like for Jesus. It is David. Jesus is called the son of David.

I was trapped. I was trapped. I was trapped.

He said, I got to the point where I asked my friends for food. Go to the next verse, and they gave me poison for food. The people who were supposed to.

Help me hurt me. They gave me poison for food.

I was thirsty, But for my thirst, they gave me sour wine to drink. And now I understand why Jesus set I thirst. Go back to my scripture. It was to fulfill the scripture. It wasn't about water. Jesus was setting the trap for death. This was the last thing he had to do before the spirit could be released.

It's a setup.

It's a set up.

If he didn't suffer, salvation could not spring up like a well. If he did not suffer, it could not flow forth. If he did not die, he could not rise. Somebody shout, it's a setup.

It's not the end. It's in the parentheses. It's in the parentheses.

Sometimes you gotta trust God in the parentheses, in the type places when it looks like your trap, to know that the very red sea that feels like it's gonna kill you, it's.

Gonna drown your enemies behind you.

Somebody shot it staring the shouting. He said, I thirsted, and they gave me vinegar. But watch this, David praying. This is what I'm praying over your life today. Every evil thing that the enemy has done to you, and every trial that feels like is sweeping over you. And for everybody who feels trapped. Listen what he prayed. Let their own table before them, the thing that they brought to destroy me. Let their own table become a snare.

He thought it was over, just.

When he thought we got rid of that one, just when he thought it was the end, just when they rolled the snow become.

I'm trapped, God said, I got you.

Set the trap. He set the trap. He set the trap.

So God brought you here into this garden so you could sweat out your insecurities.

God brought you here into.

This type place so that your dots could die and your faith could live, and you will never curse.

Again.

He said, I thirst and they brought him vinegar. And he said, good, I need that. I needed that vinegar. I needed that trial. Sometimes victory doesn't look like victory. Sometimes victory doesn't taste sweet.

And when he said, I.

Thirst, and they gave him the vinegar for water. After that, after he had received the sour wine, after he had set the trap on death, hell and the grave, I promise you we're gonna have the best Easter ever this year.

I feel like Easter came early today. I really do. I really do.

I really feel like resurrection came in an unexpected time for somebody who thought, you are trapped.

Here the word of the Lord.

It's not a trap, as the triumph.

Shall I the God.

So Friday's trap was Sunday's triumph.

He set up, first, set the trap, and after he had received the sour he.

Said, is finished. It's finished.

The trap became the triumph. God's gonna take the thing that looks. Ask the children of Israel. They thought the red Seed was gonna be the end of them. It was the end of their enemies. You're not trapped the devil is You're not trapped, You're.

Not touch Somebody say, I'm not trapped. Come on, I'm not trapped, and.

I'm not your sea who the sun sets free? How many believe that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed.

How many believe Christ is in you? The humble glory? Come on, shot like you believe that shot like you. I'm on casting, So.

I'm gonna tell you one more thing, and I promise I'm gonna walk off this stage while I'm saying it. I love to preach the word to you, not because I like to hear myself talk.

I love to preach the.

Word of God to you because I know what this seed is going to do if you get it down in your heart.

And I watched this favorite flows from unexpected places.

Do you remember when we were writing the song Resurrecting And it took about nine months to write the song, and everybody on the team contributes in different ways. My thing is, I like, I always like to write. And Chris can tell you this because we've been knowing each other forever, and you'll give it up for Chris Brown. This man is a great man of God. Well, I'm kind of weird because I like it. When the song seems like it should be over, I always like to put another verse.

It's true, right.

So we wrote the song and it was kind of done, not really done. We thought it was done and we finished the songwrit anything, and I started.

Thinking, I wanted to write this fourth verse for this song.

And you know, Chris is kind of laid because he's a worship leader and uh no, I'm just kidding. He's the hardest working man in the praise biz. But so.

It took six months to get the verse right.

But we ended up writing a declaration for our church, lift your hands, whatever's got your trap today. We ended up writing this verse to let you know that what looks like it's got you locked in.

Is going to be the place. See, that's what the grave was.

The grave of Jesus Christ was a garden in disguise. That's what your trials are, That's what your weakness is. So I want you to sing this fourth verse because just when it seems like the song should be over, just when it seems like your hope is gone, just when it seems like the devil has dehydrated your.

Dream the solous. So they thought they had him right, so they posted the guard right there.

And now if he robbed the grave of its power, if the guards couldn't keep his body at come on, church, come on, I'm talking about.

You, Rivers. I'm living water you never nurse again.

Would you get this spirit feed and the same spirit He's body and.

Rags some the You're got a.

Stake wa God has robbed.

Got up should dame?

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