How we doing, Crossing? Woo. It is good to see all of you. Shout out to everybody at all the sites and everybody that's watching online. If I haven't had the chance to meet you, I'm Will Coleman. I'm the pastor of Chazón Church here in the St. Louis area, and if you've never heard of that word, Chazón is a Hebrew word that means a dream, a revelation, a vision from God. And it is good to be back at The Crossing. I want to clear something up though, because the last few times I've come here, I have said that I'm your cousin from North County, but I come to realize something. I am not your cousin. No. I'm your brother in Christ. And you all are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and it's really good to hang out with you all today. If you're in the St. Louis area, you all know this, it's been hot. It's been hotter than fish grease. It's been hot, hot. And so I thought to start off this message, I would just get us talking to one another. But before we talk, my friend and my brother from another mother, David Hawkins, was here last week. Was anybody here for that? So then you know what these are, right? I brought them back. We're not going to spend a whole lot of time because you had a week of practice, so let's try right now. Amen. All right. There we go. There we go. We good now. We good. So I don't need to hold these up. You know what to do now. Okay, so here's a question that I have for you. I want us to take just about one minute. I want you to talk to this about two or three people around you in one minute. What is the most refreshing drink that you have when you are really, really thirsty? You all ready? Talk to your friends around you. What's the most refreshing drink? Okay. All right. Hopefully you got to talk to your neighbors. If you're at any of the sites, I want you to start yelling at the screen for me. But what are some of you all's favorite drinks? Shout them out to me. Sweet tea. Sweet tea. Cold water. Cold water. I like that. Lemonade. Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper. Monster Energy. Monster Energy. I love it. Arnold Palmer. An Arnold Palmer. Ooh, that's good right there. That's good. One more. Gatorade. Gatorade. My man. I don't know who said that. We on the same page. Sprite. All of those drinks. Sprite's really good. Listen, let me tell you something. I don't know about you all, but there is nothing like a fountain drink. There's something different about, whether you're at a restaurant or something, but it's different when it comes from the fountain than it does in the plastic. Is it? Does anybody? It's just more refreshing when it comes out of the fountain. Like for me, my favorite drink when I'm really, really thirsty is to get one of those extra large cups from QuikTrip, get the little crushed ice in there, and then get some Gatorade. Woo-hoo. I might get one of those when I leave here today. You just never know. But here's the thing about all of those drinks, except for one. Somebody did say water. All of those drinks that you mentioned, except for water, you're still going to be thirsty. I can drink Gatorade all day long. At some point, my body's going to say, "Uh, can we get some water?" You can drink an Arnold Palmer, you can drink Dr. Pepper, you can drink a Monster Energy drink. At some point, you're going to say your body just knows what it needs. It needs water at some point. Jesus actually tells us this. Our souls are the same way. Our souls work the same way. Maybe not literally, but figuratively, we need water. We need water. And we're going to talk about this. We're going to look at the Gospel of John when Jesus talks about this. But before we get there, one of the things I love about Jesus is that he's constantly inviting people to him, different groups of people. If you look in the gospels, these little kids want to come to Jesus, and the disciples are like, "Man, y'all get up out of here." And Jesus scolds his disciples and says, "No, no, no. Let the children come to me." Amen. Then he invites anyone that is hurting, broken, tired, weary, exhausted. He says, "If that's you, come to me." Jesus is consistently telling different groups of people to come close to him. Next week, you all are actually going to start a message series called Closer, because all of us need to receive and accept the invitation of coming closer to Jesus. And today, we're going to look at another invitation that Jesus makes, but this time he's making it to people who know what it feels like to be thirsty, who knows that you need something more in this life. So I want to talk to you all from this title of Come Thirsty, because you're going to find out that every single one of us in here, we are either thirsty right now or we've been thirsty. So we look at John 7:37-39. It says, "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.' When he said water, he was speaking of the Holy Spirit." Now, we're going to come back to this because I just need you to know Jesus just doesn't do things randomly. He didn't just wake up that day and go, "Y'all thirsty? Come to me." There was something that was happening that made what Jesus said so powerful. It was actually one of the biggest Jewish festivals at the time. But before we get to that, let's go back to what he said there. He said, "Anyone who is thirsty." Notice what Jesus says. Anyone who is thirsty. Jesus assumes people are thirsty, because he doesn't say right here hungry. He doesn't say anybody who has it all figured out. He says anyone who is thirsty. And the Greek word for thirsty right there is the Greek word dipsasó, which means to thirst, to suffer from thirst, to have a strong desire for something. It can describe physical thirst, like your body's craving for water. But Jesus is using it to paint this picture to point to something different, because they all would've been able to connect with physical thirst just like you all were. But now he wants to go a little bit deeper, a spiritual longing, a spiritual desire. So when we're talking about thirst today, I want to make sure that we're all on the same page. We're not talking about what you need after a hard workout. We're not talking about relational thirst. You're so thirsty for that guy, or you're so thirsty for that girl, that you start posting thirst traps. We're not talking about that type of thirst. And if you don't know what a thirst trap is, nudge a Millennial or a Gen Z-er next to you and ask them, "What is that?" But I do want you to know, just ask them, don't Google it. And they'll tell you why you shouldn't Google it, okay? Just ask them. So we're not talking about that. We're talking about spiritual thirst. Jesus says, "Anyone who is thirsty," because every human is searching for something. All of us are thirsty for something. Peace. How many of y'all could use some peace in your life right now? Amen. We're searching for it. Others of us, it's purpose. We're searching for purpose. Others of you in here, it's love. You just need love in your life. You're searching everywhere, high and low, for love. Others, it's identity. Others of us, it's escape or comfort. Your soul will always search for something to satisfy it There's actually language that the Bible gives us for this. It says in Ecclesiastes 3, chapter 3 verse 11. Solomon is writing this toward the end of his life. He says that, "God has planted eternity in the human heart." What is he talking about? There's a longing inside all of us that earthly things can never fully satisfy because he's placed something eternal in us, and we're all looking for it, but many of us don't look towards the eternal for it, we look for it in earthly things. We try to quench our thirst with earthly things. That's why many people can make lots and lots and lots of money, more than they could ever spend, and still feel empty. It's why you can find the man of your dreams or the woman of your dreams, and still at some point in that relationship, you feel alone and empty. You can have all of these achievements and promotion after promotion and still want more. Why? Because the soul was created for something deeper than temporary satisfaction. Temporary. We search for it, then we want some more. Just not too long ago, if you're a teacher in here or a student in here, you couldn't wait for the end of the school year, and now the new school year is back. And now you're saying, "If I can just make it to Labor Day." And then Labor Day is going to come and you're going to say, "If I can just make it to fall break." We get there, and then we're still wanting more. Scripture even gives us other language like this because maybe it's not school for you, maybe it's something else, but you're searching and searching and searching, and you're looking everywhere but to the only one that can truly quench your thirst. Scripture tells us this in Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13. God is speaking to Jeremiah when he says, "My people have done two evil things." Two evil things. Number one, "They've abandoned me," God said. The fountain of living water. You abandoned him. And number two, "They have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water." What is he saying? "You thought I wasn't enough," God said. So then you went and dug for yourself broken wells that will never fill you. And all of us do this still today. We keep running to broken wells. Success, relationships. You go from relationship to relationship. Money, attention. Remember I mentioned those thirst traps. Again, don't Google it, but you're wanting more eyes on you. You can't get enough attention. Social media, achievement, pornography, comfort, busyness. I heard somebody say, if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. You're just busy. How you doing? Busy. Busy. Busy. We think that a full calendar is going to give us the validation or the lifestyle that we want, and we're still wanting more. We're trying to satisfy thirsty souls with things that were never designed to fill them. It wasn't. Because anything that you run to more than Jesus eventually leaves you thirsty again. It will. He won't, but anything but him will leave you thirsty again and again. And if anybody in here thinks, man, this is really for my spouse, and you try to think about them and nudge them, or you think about your kids that need to hear, or your neighbor or coworker that should've been at church today with you. No, this isn't for them. This is for you. Amen. And all of us here today. We need to hear this. We all have done that. Again, I'll go back to it. Some people, they run to distraction. Anything that just gets your mind off of life. Escape. Some run to work. You're a workaholic. You just keep working and working and working and working because at least there you know what the goal is, and you feel like those attaboys and attagirls are validating you, and you still are searching for more and more and more. Some people run to validation. Some run to relationship. Some run to anger. You just got to get it out. Somebody's got to feel the pain, the wrath. But then tomorrow, somebody else has got to feel it. Others of you, you run to isolation. You've isolated yourself because now you're embarrassed about something in your life, and you think that isolation is going to provide you what you need, but yet you're still thirsty, looking for something to quench it. All of us are tempted to drink from something other than Jesus. All of us. Some of us have recognized it. Others of us, you are wrestling in your seat right now. That's why it's so quiet in here, at Grants Trail, at Fenton, and at Mid Rivers. I bet you could hear a pin drop because we're wrestling with this. You're not alone. Jesus actually talked about it. There is in John chapter 4, there's a woman that he meets at a well, Samaritan woman. He asked her if she could get him some water. And then he starts telling her things about her life, saying that, "Listen, you're here to get water, but really, I'm here to give you something much greater than the physical water that you can give." And what he noticed in this woman was he called out the things in her life, that she had been married multiple times, and the man that she was living with at the time wasn't even her husband. And you can only imagine, she's never met this man, and he tells her everything about her life, and she's sitting there like, "Who are you?" But Jesus wasn't telling her those things to shame her. I'm not here to shame you into change. No. Jesus was there to invite her into a relationship with him, saying, "You are trying to quench your thirst. You've been digging broken wells." For her, it was relationships. For you, you know what it is. And he says you're not going to find it there, but you can find it if you will come to Jesus and come thirsty, willingly admitting, I am thirsty. All of us need this, and this here is what makes what Jesus says so powerful back in John chapter 7. Let's go back to the beginning of the chapter. I told you he didn't just say this randomly. Let's go to John 7:1-2, and it says, "After Jesus traveled around Galilee, he wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters or the Feast of Tabernacles." So this moment where Jesus stands up is at the Feast of Tabernacles. And what was happening at the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of Shelters? For seven days, the priests would publicly pour out water, so people were constantly watching this happening. Water's being poured out. And why was this happening? It was to remember that God provided water in the wilderness way back, if you go back into Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, way back then. It was to remember what God had done for them. They were pouring out water just as a reminder for all the prayers that they had prayed for rain. They were pouring out water because there was a longing for spiritual renewal, so they were doing this almost ritual every year to remind themselves. And listen, those were good things. We need to be reminded of the things that God has done in our lives, the prayers that he's answered. We need to remember that he's the only one that can renew us and refresh us, so they're pouring all of this out. People are watching water being poured out, and then on the last day, the greatest day of the festival, let's go back to verse 37, that's when Jesus stands up. It says, "On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted," as they had been watching water poured out, "Anyone who is thirsty, come to me." "Anyone who believes in me," he said, "may come and drink. As the scriptures declare, rivers of living water will flow from his heart." He was talking about the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not entered into his eternal glory. He said, "Anyone who is thirsty may come to me." What he was saying is you don't need to just watch water being poured out. You need life flowing through you. This is also important because in the Old Testament, Jeremiah, God said that he was the fountain of living water. Now, Jesus is saying if you come to him, you will receive living water. He's the living water. Jesus is also declaring, "I am God in your life. I am God, period." And you don't need just this ritual of water being poured out. You need it flowing through your life. He was saying this because, listen, religious activity can surround you with water, and your soul can still be thirsty. Amen. That's why you can attend church 52 Sundays out of the year and still be thirsty, because you're checking a box. You're just doing it because, "This is what I'm supposed to do." You can use all of the Christian religious language to sound deep and intellectual, the sanctification of the eschatological, of the numerical, and you're just using all of this stuff, which listen, not a bad thing. It's good to know some of those terms. It's good to understand that. But if you're just using that to sound You can still be thirsty, though. You can sound good and not know Jesus. You could serve, which I pray all of you do. You can register and attend all the classes this fall, which I hope that you do. Please do. But don't just do it to check the box, because you can do all of that and still be thirsty. You can get on social media right after this service and post the scriptures that we talked about today. And then tomorrow, you can post some more scriptures, and post some more scriptures, and you can still be thirsty because you're doing it for a look versus the relationship with Jesus. Jesus did not come merely to improve your religious behavior so you can just look the part. He came to satisfy your soul. He wants you to know him deeply. Who does Jesus invite? Does he say anyone who is worthy? Does he say anyone who has it all figured out? Does he say only the people that showed up to church on time today? He says anyone. And who is anyone? Anyone. Look around you. That's anyone. Look at yourself in the mirror. You're somebody. You're anyone, too. All of us. He says anyone who is thirsty. People that will say, "Listen, I know I need more. I'm searching." That's who he's inviting to him. Jesus says when you come to him, rivers of living water will flow from your heart. So Jesus, what he doesn't do, remember, that's the Holy Spirit. He doesn't say, "Come to me, and I'll give you a better version of all the stuff you've been looking for instead of me." He doesn't say, "I'm going to give you a better version of the isolation you've been in." He doesn't say, "Ooh, I'm going to give you a better version of the lust you've been going after." He doesn't say, "I'm going to give you a better version of busyness." He actually says you will get the Holy Spirit. You will get God. He gives you himself to start flowing through you. And what kind of water is it? I love the imagery. Is it stagnant water? He doesn't say, "Ooh, if you come to me, your soul will be a swamp." "You're going to be a swampy soul if you come to me." Stagnant, nasty. Stuff's hidden in swamps. No, he says moving, flowing, rivers of living water. It's constantly flowing, constantly moving because Jesus doesn't just want to refresh you privately. You're supposed to get him so he can flow through you, and others experience the life-changing power of a satisfied soul that you found in Jesus. Because there are many people that will only receive that through your life. They may never walk in these doors, but they will see your life, the Lord flowing through you. The goal was never stagnation. It was always movement. Because what often flows out of you reveals what's filling you. Because here's the thing. People around you notice what's flowing out of you. You may try to hide it, but they notice. But the deeper thing is you know. So listen, if anger is constantly flowing out of you, that's what's filling you. If fear is constantly flowing out of you, then you're tapping to the wrong source. If bitterness is constantly flowing out of you, if negativity is constantly flowing out of you, if comparison and lust, if those are the things that are constantly flowing out of you, it might not be a behavior issue. You keep trying to change the behavior. It's a source issue. You're connected to the wrong source. That's why Jesus says, "I see you. You're thirsty. Come to me." He says, "Come to me." Because the world is going to tell you to keep consuming more. Keep buying more. Watch more. Escape more. Do whatever makes you happy. As long as you're happy, who cares what anybody else says or thinks? And yet, you're still thirsty because the happiness goes away, so you run back to it. All of us are drinking from something, and Jesus says instead of buying more, instead of running after that more, he says, "Come to me." Because he knows every one of us is drinking from something. I had some friends help me today. We got some drinks up here. Not those types of drinks. Okay? We got some good drinks up here. And all of them represent what we run to. Some of us, we try to quench our thirst with distraction. What do you do when you get home? Ah. Let me doom scroll. Ah. And it's sweet. It's just a sweet escape. Hours go by, and you don't even realize you're like this. Then you go back to work. Then on your break time, what's the first thing you do? Need a little bit more of escape. And we keep running to it. We're all drinking from something. Then some of us, it's approval because approval is sweet. Too much of it is a little bit sour, though. But we don't mind it. Mm. They like me. They really like me. So I got to do more of that, mm, so they'll like me. I'm a people pleaser. Mm But you're going to be thirsty, because this is good. It's real good. I mean, real good. But you'll still be thirsty. Others of us, you know what we run to? Relationships. Guys, you find you that that woman, you've got to shake it up a little bit. You've got to shake things up sometimes. Right? You find that woman, ooh, guess what? First time, early on, she real sweet, ain't she? Mm. She is so sweet. Ladies, he's so sweet, isn't he? And then eventually... Not as sweet as it used to be. So you keep running back to, "Oh, that one didn't work out, let me find somebody else." And you first get with them, and guess what? They're sweet at first, too. Mm. But every time, you end up more thirsty. Others of us, we need something with a little bit of energy. Mm. And let me tell you something. We run to this. Whoa, I like this Monster right here. Mm-hmm. Punk Punch. Hey, this is real good. Shout out to Monster for this one. I like this one. Really good. But I think we all also know, while this is really good, if you've never had this flavor, it's really good. What are the monsters in your life that you're running to to quench your thirst? For some of you, I said it earlier, maybe for you it's pornography. Mm, that's sweet. But you don't want people to know, so you don't-- like the other ones, you'll drink out in front of everybody, but not this one. You like this. "Hey, what you doing?" "Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing, just you know, good." Maybe for you, that's not what it is. Maybe it's not pornography. Maybe it's another Monster that you don't want people to know. And again, listen, this is not about this particular drink of Monster. I'm not talking about this company. I'm talking about the things in your life you don't want people to know about. And guess what? It's energizing you. But any of these things, too much of any of this is not good for you. Eventually, you drink too much of it. Some of you like that. And it's not just that. It could be this, too. Back to the distractions. All of them will leave you thirsty. But Jesus says, "If you come to me," this is the only thing, I'm not more thirsty when I drink water, because it quenches. It's what I needed. It's what my body needs. And Jesus says, "You need me." Everything else, you've got to keep running back to it. You get you some of this, you're good. Headache's gone. I've never seen anybody like that with this. Never. I've seen it with the other ones. And so this is what Jesus is saying, "You're running to other wells. Come to me." Yeah. I've got to get some more of this, because those were all really good drinks, but this, I'm good to go. So my question for everybody here today is, what have you been drinking from lately? Because you cannot satisfy spiritual thirst with temporary things. You can't. It will constantly leave you thirsty. So what are you drinking from today? Not literally. It has nothing to do with those branded drinks. Nothing to do with those. It has everything to do with your spirit, your soul. What are you drinking from lately? Where do you run when you are stressed, when you are tired, when you are lonely, when you are overwhelmed and overstimulated? Where do you run when you are insecure? Because we've got to run to Jesus. It's not Jesus and, it's Jesus. Are you running to this first thing in the morning? You misplace it for 10 seconds, your life's over. "Where's my phone? Where's my phone?" Because anything that you run to more than Jesus shows us what's filling you. For some of you, where are you running to? Are you running to the Chardonnay because you just need to take the edge off after a long day? Not everything that you're running to is a bad thing. But if you're going to it before Jesus, that's what we're talking about. That's good. Where have you been drinking from lately? Your habits reveal your thirst. Can I help somebody today? Before you run to whatever you normally run to, come to Jesus first. Before you scroll, before you binge-watch, before you shut down emotionally, before you run to the wine in the cabinet, before you call him up or her up, before you impulse buy something, what if we said this, we paused, and we said, "Jesus, my soul is thirsty again. Help me to come to you first. You are what I need. I want to rely on you." It sounds simple, but it's deeply spiritual. It's you and I saying, "God, I accept your invitation. I know I'm thirsty, so I'm coming to you." I want to challenge you this week to do that. Don't run to the broken wells. Don't run to the broken wells. What you run to first reveals what you trust the most and who you trust the most. What I love about Jesus is that he is worthy of not just our praise, but our lives, because Jesus doesn't just say something. Many times, he shows us something as well. Because he says anyone who's thirsty may come to him, and what I love about Jesus is on the cross, he experienced thirst. If you go 12 chapters ahead in John chapter 19, Jesus is hanging on the cross, and he says, "I am thirsty." Think about that. The one who said, "If you are thirsty, come to me," hangs on the cross thirsty because he knows that we are thirsty. The one who called himself living water experienced thirst and entered into our dryness. So listen, if you're searching and you're not sure about this whole Jesus thing, this is why we follow him. Because he didn't just say something, he showed us something. Amen. The one who satisfies thirsty souls experienced thirst. Why? So that you can receive the life of God. Amen. So that you can be filled. He was empty, he was thirsty, so that you could be filled That's the God that we serve. That's the gospel. He took our sin. He took our emptiness. He took our separation. He took our spiritual dryness. He became the broken wells that we run to so that we could be close to God. He became empty so that we could be filled through Him, and that is why we stop running to broken wells. That's why we go to Jesus first, because He says, "If you come to me, I will fill you with rivers of living water, and it's not just for you, it's for others around you as well." Stop trying to satisfy your soul with temporary things. Come thirsty. Come to Jesus. Let Him renew and refresh you and satisfy your soul. Let's pray. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Before I pray, though, I want to know if there will be some honest people in this room today. If you're in here, and you will be honest to say, "I've been digging broken wells, trying to satisfy my soul's thirst with things other than Jesus," will you be bold and courageous enough, with every head bowed, every eye closed, to raise your hand if that's been you? If you will, you say, "I know I've been searching elsewhere," raise it up high. Not halfway, raise it up high. Pastors at all the sites, will you open your eyes and look up, because I want you to see your church. These are bold people saying, "You know what? I've been looking everywhere but to Jesus." And I wanted your pastors to see this so they can be praying with you and for you. You can go ahead and put your hands down right now. In a moment, I'm going to pray, but I'm going to ask you, all those of you that lifted your hand, I'm going to ask you to do one more bold, courageous thing here today. One more. There were those of you that lifted your hand. I'm going to ask you to do this. Before you leave here today, I want you to find your pastors, your leaders at your sites. Go to them. Say, "Listen, I lifted my hand. I've been running to broken wells," because here's the thing you need to know. The rivers of living water flow through us. You've got pastors, you've got leaders, you've got people around you that God wants to flow through them to help you because you cannot do this alone. You need community. You need people to help hold you accountable. You need people to pray with you and for you so that you can stay connected to the source, so that you don't go back to digging broken wells. So connect with your pastors right after service. Now, I know many of you will go, "Well, what if there's a line?" Listen, okay? Maybe you can't get to a pastor, but I want you to at least try. But if you can't, I want you to do this. Email your pastors at pastors@thecrossing.church. You don't have to give them a long-- All you have to do in that email is just say this, "I raised my hand today." And there will be a pastor that will reach out to you, connect with you, and pray with you, and walk alongside you. pastors@thecrossing.church. Just tell them, "I raised my hand." But many of you, connect with them right after service today. Father, I thank you for everybody that's in this room, whether they lifted their hand, whether they did not. God, I thank you for who you are. I thank you, Lord, that you invite us to come to you. We are thirsty. We are admitting that we are thirsty. God, forgive us for abandoning you, the fountain of living water. Forgive us for running and digging broken wells in our lives to try to find things to satisfy our spiritual thirst, Father, but we now know that it can only be found in you. Everyone here knows what their thing is. For those that lifted their hands, God, give them strength, God. Thank you for that bold step that they took, and the other bold step that they're going to take in just a few minutes, Lord. But God, I pray that they experience your refreshing like never before. Help them to come out of cycles of running to broken wells. And today, let this be a turning point in their lives, God, that they will come to you first. And God, as they say yes to that invitation, God, your word says if we draw close to you, you will come close to us. I pray that they receive the rivers of living water that only come through you. May we experience transformation this week. We love you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, everybody said amen. You all have a great week. Thank you.