ISAIAH 11-122007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 11-12

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007. As a nation and as a blessed people of God, and that is going to happen. As we look at chapters 11 and 12 this evening, we'll be looking at really the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth.

We'll be looking at eight aspects of this millennial kingdom that we can learn from chapters 11 and 12 here. And there's a lot of portions of scripture like this in the Old Testament. They are looking forward to the kingdom that will be established, this time of prosperity, this time of peace, this wonderful time that is promised. And you'll see some of those things.

And this is why the Jews were waiting for their Messiah so anxiously at the time of Christ. They were waiting for their Messiah because they knew that it would be the overthrow of the government that currently bound them, which was the Roman Empire, that they would be establishing their kingdom, that it would be a time of blessing.

And who doesn't want a time of blessing? And so they were looking forward to their Messiah. They were expecting their Messiah to fulfill these passages and many more when he would come. But what they did not understand is that there would be two times that the Messiah would come to earth.

The scriptures speak of the millennial kingdom, the reign of Christ, the kingdom that will be blessed and established. But the scriptures also teach about the suffering servant and how the Messiah would suffer and be cut off on behalf of the people. And so they didn't...

understand or they didn't reconcile those two different types of passages, not recognizing there's two separate comings of the Messiah. They skipped the first coming in their mind and just were waiting for that second coming of Jesus Christ when he will set up his kingdom. That's why when the disciples were there with Jesus before he ascended to the Father in Acts chapter 1,

They had asked this already, but they ask it again. As the disciples are gathered together, they ask Him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Is it time now, Lord? Are you going to establish your kingdom? Now you've resurrected from the dead. The work on the cross has been finished. So is this the time now that you throw off the Roman rule and establish your kingdom? Is it right now? Are you going to do this right now? And Jesus told them,

Hey, it's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But instead, it's not for you to know those things. It's not for you to be concerned about those things. But instead, what it is...

for you to be concerned about and to be involved in. He says, "...but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." The point being, we are still looking towards the Second Coming. That hasn't happened yet. That hasn't taken place yet.

And we're not to be necessarily concerned and caught up about and consumed with that. But instead, we're to be consumed and filled with the Holy Spirit.

And being about the Lord's work, being His witnesses here in this life. Just like the Jews were expecting that and they neglected the former, there's a danger of us looking forward and becoming so consumed with everything else that is to come and we forget to live each day filled with the Holy Spirit. Walking with God and allowing Him to use us as His witnesses wherever we may go.

As we look through and continue our study through the book of Isaiah, some of the passages that we'll see in the coming weeks about the Messiah are already fulfilled. When Jesus was born, when he walked the earth, when he died upon the cross, he fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies.

But some of the passages, like the ones we will be looking at tonight, will be fulfilled later at the second coming of Jesus Christ. As you came in this evening, there was given to you a piece of paper titled, Eschatology Overview, or the study of end times is what eschatology means. And so it's an overview of just the things that are to come. And you'll notice the first one there on the list is the rapture of the church.

This is when the church is caught up in the air to be with the Lord. It's not the second coming. That comes later. And the rapture of the church is the only thing that has to happen next. There's some other prophecies that could be fulfilled, but there's nothing else that has to be fulfilled before the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And it's why it's so important for us

to be about His business, to be His witnesses because we don't know. It's like a thief in the night. We don't know how much time we have left. And so I want to encourage you, even as we study these things, they're awesome and they're great to look forward to, but let's continue

To look for Jesus' coming. Let's continue not to be concerned about the times or seasons necessarily, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be witnesses to Jesus Christ wherever we go. In Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, which we already read, we see the first characteristic that we'll look at tonight, or the first aspect of the millennial kingdom. And first things first, here's what we need to know. It's all about Jesus.

The millennial kingdom is all about Jesus Christ. It's all about Him, His rule, His reign, His righteousness, His work. The entire thousand years is about Jesus. Now, these first few verses, the first two that we just read,

I believe they can be applied both to the first coming when Jesus was born of Mary and as well the second coming of Jesus Christ because it's the same person who is coming back and it's the same Jesus who will be coming again. We know that Isaiah is referring to the Messiah and God has already announced that the Messiah would come through David in 2 Samuel chapter 7. The Lord told him that.

Here in verse 1, it talks about there will be a rod that comes from the stem of Jesse. Jesse is David's father. And so God is just making it clear there's going to be a rod. This is a way to speak of Jesus. They talk about the Messiah as the rod or the branch that will bud, that will come forth. The Messiah will come from the line of David through Jesse, through David, and all the way down.

Through Jesus Christ. Through Mary to Jesus Christ. It's a reminder of Jesus' humanity and birth. That he has a lineage. He has a genealogy. He was born of Mary. Now, this is so important because we need to know that although Jesus is God, he became a man. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul details this for us. Sharing with us that

Although he was equal with God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. And he emptied himself and became obedient to the form of death. To the point of death, rather. He emptied himself of his rights and his privileges as God. He emptied himself of his position. He became a man. And why that's so important for you and I...

It's because in becoming a man, it means that everything that he did, every miracle that took place, and all of the things that he accomplished, and the messages that he preached, and all of the things that he endured, he did so not on his own strength, but relying upon the Holy Spirit for everything he did. And that's why verse 2 says,

It says, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Jesus Christ came. He was born of a virgin. He became a man and his entire ministry was accomplished because the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him, because he relied upon the Holy Spirit to work through him.

In John 1, verse 32, John the Baptist is speaking. And he's sharing with the people, hey, I didn't know who the Messiah was. I didn't know ahead of time, but now I know. Because God told me what to look for. He told me to look and see. When I see the Spirit descending upon a person and remaining upon him, then I will know. And in John 1, verse 32, it says that he bore witness saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained upon him.

There at Jesus' baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon him and remained. And he accomplished the work of the ministry through the Holy Spirit, through the power of his Spirit. Now again, this is so important for us to recognize because as Jesus was able to fulfill all that God had called him to do by relying upon the Holy Spirit, Jesus, when he was going away, said, Hey, I'm not going to leave you as orphans, but I'm going to send to you a helper.

The same strength, the same wisdom and counsel that he received through the Holy Spirit, he now extends to you and I as believers in Jesus Christ that we might be able to fulfill and complete all that God calls us to do. None of us is lacking. None of us is without the resources to do what God calls us to do. We have everything we need for obedience. We have everything we need to...

fulfill the calling in our life and use the gifts that God has given to us and reach out and minister to the world around us. We have everything we need. We don't lack anything because Jesus has given to us the Holy Spirit to fill us, to come upon us, to work through us. And so as we begin looking at these things of the millennial period, I want to first remind you of our need for the power of the Holy Spirit.

Have you been refreshed lately? Have you been filled lately? Have you asked God to pour out His Spirit in your life? In everything that you do, do you rely upon His strength and not your own? Hey, it's not for you to know times and seasons, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It's where God calls us to be, walking in the Spirit.

that we would be victorious, and that we would be able to complete all the things that He calls us to do. So first of all, we see that it's all about Jesus. The Messiah will come, which is Jesus Christ. So come from the line of David through the line of Jesse. The branch shall grow, and the Holy Spirit will be upon Him. He will have wisdom and understanding and counsel and might. He will have knowledge in the fear of the Lord.

He will be the central point of the millennial kingdom. He'll be the headline, the topic. He'll be the content. He'll be everything about it. It'll all be about Jesus Christ. Going on in verses 3 through 5, it says this,

His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist."

The second aspect of the millennial kingdom that we see tonight is that it will be a kingdom of righteousness. It's going to be a kingdom of righteousness. All of the injustice that we see today, all of the wrongdoing, all of the things that we cry out about that bring us turmoil within our hearts, those will not be in place in the millennial kingdom. It's going to be ruled by Jesus Christ in righteousness. There's going to be righteous judgment today.

and righteous rule. Jesus' first coming was about salvation. John 3.17, Jesus says, hey, I didn't come to judge this time. There will be the time that He comes. Paul warns Timothy of that in 2 Timothy 4.1, telling us that God, or Jesus Christ, will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and at His kingdom. When He comes back, He is going to judge.

And here's the thing. His judgment will not be based upon man's opinion. It won't be by popular votes or what man can see, but his judgment will be based upon the heart. His righteousness is not based upon the outward and what's visible, but his judgment is upon, or his righteousness is based upon what is within the heart, the status of a person's heart.

and where they stand in right relationship with God or not. In 1 Samuel 16, you remember Samuel is there and he's about ready to anoint the next king after Saul. And he goes to Jesse's house and he says, hey, God wants one of your sons to be king. And so he starts lining them up and he sees the first one, the oldest. Wow, this is a good looking guy. He looks like a king. And

God tells Samuel, hey, don't look at his appearance. Don't look at how tall he is because I haven't chosen him. He tells Samuel, the Lord does not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. The Gospel of John tells us in the life of Jesus that he didn't need anybody to tell him about a person because he knew what was in a man. God looks at your heart.

He doesn't look at the outward actions, the physical things, the show that we can put on. He looks at the status, the condition, the state of our heart. I would ask you this evening, what does God see when He looks at you, if He sees your heart? What kind of things does He see when He looks at your heart? See, we look, and we could try to judge by what we see on the outside.

Well, this person, you know, they've been coming to church, so, you know, they're probably doing pretty good. They've been faithful and it seems like, you know, they're walking right and it seems like they've been reading the Bible and it seems like things have been going good for them and so they're probably doing pretty good. And on the other side, we could say, well, man, I wonder where this person is. You know, they haven't really been around and maybe they're not walking with the Lord. We would judge based upon what we see, the outward appearance and what looks like. It's all guesses. It's all guesses.

But God knows the truth. He knows what's really going on within a heart. He knows what's really going on within your heart. The millennial kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness, but it's a kingdom that God desires to have right now within you. That you would be right with Him in righteousness. That you would walk uprightly with Him and be obedient to Him.

During that time, there's not going to be the ability to rebel against God. It will be a time of forced righteousness as the saints will be ruling and reigning with him. You know, whatever you're thinking in your heart right now, God would be correcting you. He'd be sending Richard over to take care of it. Hey, stop that thinking in your heart. It's a kingdom of righteousness.

The millennial kingdom will be a time of righteousness, of righteous judgment, of righteous rule, of righteousness within the hearts. Going on in verses 6-9.

Another aspect of the millennial kingdom we see, it says, "...the wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den."

The third aspect of the millennial kingdom that we see this evening is that creation will be restored. Creation will be restored. Now this might be one of the reasons why the disciples were so anxious for Jesus to set up his kingdom.

Like, come on, do it now. I want to experience this. I want to be able to wrestle a lion and not have to fear for my life. I want to be able to play with vipers and handle them. Can you imagine? The zoo, you know, no cages. Just free reign. The animals are not harmful. You don't have to worry. It describes a little baby playing with the cobras and the vipers.

I'm sure the moms, you know, just kind of take a quick breath and go, no way. I don't care if it's the millennial kingdom. I won't let my kid do that. But it'll be a time of creation being restored. When Adam sinned in the garden, when he rebelled against God by partaking of the fruit, his sin affected all of creation. Paul tells us this in Romans chapter 8, verses 19 and 20.

He tells us that all creation was subjected to futility. It wasn't willingly, but it was because of sin. It was devastation. But during this time, during this kingdom, creation will then be restored to what it was like in the garden. There won't be predators. The wolf and the lamb, they will be hanging out together, grubbing down together. No threat, no fear. The leopard and the goat,

They'll be spending time together. The child's going to be among them. There's not going to be any predators. The calf and the lion, they're going to be best friends. There's not going to be any more meat eaters. The lion shall eat straw like an ox, it says. So they're going to...

Become vegetarians. God's going to do that. It's hard to imagine in picture, but this is what God says. There's not going to be poisonous animals, the vipers and the cobras. There'll be no threat to a child, to the smallest of children. There's going to be a great restoration of creation, a protection in a time of peace. The fourth thing we see in verse 10 says,

It says, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious. Here we see that the millennial kingdom, the fourth aspect, is that it will be a time of seeking the Lord. It will be a time where all nations and all people seek God, the true God, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.

It won't be a time where just people are spiritual and they all have their own gods. But it will be a time where people, the whole world, all the inhabitants, will seek after God. Jesus Christ is the person that's being talked about here, the root of Jesse. Again, the Messiah descending from the line of Jesse through the line of David and then on to Jesus Christ through Mary.

In Revelation 22, Jesus says, I am the root and the offspring of David. I am this one that was promised. I am this one that was to come. I am the Messiah. And so during the millennial kingdom, Jesus will establish his kingdom and all the world will seek him. It says, for the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious. We saw this back in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3.

Where it says that many people will come and say, Hey, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. He will teach us His ways and we shall walk in His paths. There will be a desire and earnestness for the things of God. Can you imagine a world in which every nation seeks after God? In which every household seeks after God? Which every person desires to know God and to draw close to God and to follow His ways and

Keep His commands. It's going to be an incredible place. There's going to be righteousness. Crime rate is going to be way down. There's not going to be the threat of crime like there is today. You don't have to worry about walking the streets at night. You don't have to worry about being broken into. You don't have to worry about those things. There'll be righteousness. You don't have to worry about animals or any type of threat in that way. The creation itself is going to be restored.

The people around you are going to seek the Lord. Now, I'm speaking to you, but this is going to be after we're gone as the church. We'll be raptured out of here. We'll come back in our glorified bodies, ruling and reigning in Christ. But this is what it's going to be like for the inhabitants during the millennial kingdom. The whole world desiring to please God, seeking after Him, wanting to follow His ways. We find the fifth thing in verses 11 and 12.

Isaiah says, Verse 12.

The fifth aspect of the millennial kingdom that we see this evening is it will be a regathering of Israel. Israel will be gathered back together, back into the promised land, the land that God had promised to them through Abraham back in the book of Genesis. Now it says in verse 11, "...the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left."

The people of Israel, although there is the state of Israel currently, there is the nation of Israel currently, the Jewish people are still spread out through all the world. It was a result of something that began back when Isaiah lived. As the northern kingdom, the nation of Israel was conquered and dispersed by the Assyrian Empire. And then...

Several years after that, when the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah, was conquered, they were dispersed by the kingdom of Babylon. And from there, and ever since then, there has been a dispersion of the Jewish people. And so they're in all different parts of the earth. God's people are spread out through the earth. There's some who have gone back. There's some who've been regathered there. And what we are experiencing now with the establishing of the nation of Israel...

50 years ago or so, is the first gathering. Notice he says the second time. The first gathering of Israel is what's taking place right now. It's the preparation for the purging and judgment really

You see that in Ezekiel 22, verses 17-22, where God is bringing back His people to the land, to the promised land, but the tribulation period is coming. It's a gathering that takes place before the tribulation period, before God's wrath and judgment is poured out upon this earth, which Israel is going to endure because they do not receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, as their Messiah.

Although He is, they don't receive that and so they will be experiencing the tribulation period along with everyone else who does not receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. But this will be the second gathering after the tribulation and God's judgment is poured out. Jesus Christ will come back

The second coming of Jesus Christ, he will establish his kingdom. And once again, from all the nations, from every corner of the earth, God will be drawing his people back. It will be a regathering of the nation of Israel. All of Israel will return to the land. Now, last week we were able to go down to San Diego to the museum that has on exhibit right now the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And part of that exhibit, as you go through, they give the background and history of the nation of Israel. And one of the things that was really interesting was they had a video display of a map of Israel. And then they showed a timeline for the past thousand years of all the different nations that have ruled and reigned there, the land of Israel.

You had the kingdom of Israel under Saul and David and Solomon, and then it was divided. But there was the Assyrian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, there was the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, there was the Ottomans, and on and on and on it goes. And I think it's about 40 different nations that have had control of the land of Israel in the past several thousand years.

It's just incredible. Time after time as they overlap and conquer. And Israel has changed hands so many times. But during this thousand year reign of Christ, there will be the regathering. There won't be war. There won't be the threat of others taking over. But Jesus Christ will be established there in the land. And God's people will be gathered back to himself in the land that he promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Going on, verses 13 and 14.

He says also,

of the Millennial Kingdom is that there will be peace within Israel. There will be peace. Again, as many nations as have conquered them before and all the threats that they've experienced in the past, there will not be those threats. There will be peace. The other nations will be obedient to them and surrendered to them. And not only that, but there's going to be peace from within Israel because there's always been a division between

Within Israel, there's always been somewhat of a civil war going on. The northern part of Israel, the southern part of Israel, even before their kingdom was divided under the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon's son, there was contention between them. If you remember, David was king over Judah for seven years before he became king over all of Israel. There was always this contention, this division between them.

But God says that's not going to be the case anymore. They're not going to have the threats of surrounding areas and regions like they've always had, even they have currently today. Nor are they going to have the division between them like they used to have between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom or the northern people and the southern people. But there's going to be peace established there in Israel. Peace in Israel. It's something that will not take place until this time.

The world will try and they'll have many roadmaps to peace there in the Middle East. But it will not take place. There will always be war. There will always be those who are unsettled, the devastation that will take place. Until this time, until God establishes His kingdom.

There will be peace in Israel. Verses 15 and 16, again we see the regathering of Israel. It says,

Here God is saying, just like He did in Egypt. Remember when Moses is leading the people out and they come to the Red Sea and God says, no problem, I got this. Hold your staff out. He parts the sea, they cross over on dry land. What God is saying is, just like it happened when they were coming up from the land of Egypt, there's going to be those miracles taking place. As my people come back from

To the land that was promised to them. All the obstacles that would keep people from returning, all the obstacles that would keep the Israelites from going back to the land, they will be removed and there will be a highway for the people. God's going to part rivers and seas. He's going to make a path for His people to return to Israel.

And so there's going to be that regathering that takes place. God drawing his people back. It's really God's kingdom there in the millennial period, what he intended for the earth, what he intended for life to be like, what he intended for the world to be like. It's going to all be about Jesus.

And it's going to be a kingdom of righteousness. And creation is going to be restored. And people are going to seek the Lord. And Israel is going to be gathered there back in the land that God had promised to them. And there's going to be peace there within Israel. And you could picture all of these things and put them all together and have this incredible vision of what is going to take place. This time that is coming that God has promised.

And so, Isaiah chapter 12 now is really an exclamation of praise that will take place during that time because it's going to be an incredible and awesome time. Aspect number 7 we find in chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. It says, "...and in that day you will say, O Lord, I praise you, I will praise you. Though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you comfort me."

Aspect number seven of the Millennial Kingdom is that we will praise the Lord. They will praise the Lord for salvation.

They're going to praise God. It's going to be a time when the world praises God. In that day, when Israel is restored. In that day, when Jesus has returned. In that day, when He reigns in righteousness. We'll be praising the Lord for salvation. Now, the great thing for you and I as Christians is that these are things we can say now. Because we have received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Because he desires to establish the kingdom of God, not just physically on this earth, but in our hearts and in our lives. These are things that we as Christians can say now.

Thank you, God. Praise the Lord for his salvation. We can drink from the well of salvation with great joy. We can say, behold, God is my salvation. We can say, I will trust and I will not be afraid because God is my strength. The Lord, Yahweh, he is my song and he's become my salvation. These are things that you and I can praise God with, that we can exclaim to him.

Because salvation is found through Jesus Christ. We can drink from the well of salvation. Remember John chapter 7 verses 37 and 38 where Jesus says, Hey, if anyone's thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. Talking about the Holy Spirit. Drink of the well of salvation and receive the filling of the Holy Spirit. Are you thirsty this evening? Do you need to be refreshed? Let's praise the Lord. Let's drink of the well of salvation.

Let's drink of the well of the Holy Spirit and allow God to do that refreshing, that joyful work in our hearts. Going on in verses 4 through 6, we find the second thing,

Verse 4 says,

The final aspect we see tonight is that they will be praising the Lord for excellent things, for His wonderful works, for how great He is. And again, this is a song, this is a praise that we can sing today, that we can shout and exclaim today, God has done great things.

Oh yes, there's fires. Oh yes, there's difficulties. Oh yes, there's things that we face in life. But God has done great things. And so, the song that they will sing is, Declare His deeds among the peoples. Make mention that His name is exalted. Again, it's all about Jesus. The focus is on Jesus. It's all about God and what He has done and what He is doing and who He is. How great and mighty and awesome He is.

The Millennial Kingdom will be a time where the people praise the Lord for the excellent things that God has done. But for you and I as believers in Jesus Christ, will you let this take place in your heart and in your life today? Will you praise God for the excellent things? Will you praise God for who He is and what He has done? Will you praise Him for salvation and receive wholeheartedly?

The salvation, the filling of the Spirit, the work that He wants to do. And notice the progression here. As Jesus shared with His disciples again in Acts chapter 1. They came together. Lord, is it right now? Are you going to establish your kingdom now? He said, it's not for you to know. But here is what is for you. You will be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the result of that filling is that you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Witnesses to me. Here the second half of the praise is sharing, declaring to the nations what God has done. Here's what you and I need to know as believers in Jesus Christ. We could be like the disciples. Lord, I can't wait. I want to be in eternity. I want to be with you. Lord, when's everything going to be okay? When are we going to be through with all of this mess and all of this difficulty? Lord, when are we going to be finished?

with these Romans ruling over us and these debt collectors calling us and the difficulties that we face, when are we going to be finished with all this, Lord? And God would say to you this evening, hey, don't worry about those times and seasons. Your job right now is to be a witness to me. And so praise the Lord for His salvation. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Drink water from the wells of salvation. Be filled and refreshed by God.

Not necessarily because things have gotten better or things were okay, but be filled and refreshed because of God who is our salvation. Because of who He is. How great He is. And let that be such a filling that not only are you satisfied, but you're overflowing and that now you declare to the nations His excellent things. Who He is and what He has done. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me to all the earth.

This is what God desires from us. The millennial kingdom, it's going to be awesome for those who are there, for those who experience it. It's going to be the ideal and perfect environment all about Jesus with His righteousness and His righteous judgment, creation being restored and the entire world seeking the Lord as Israel is regathered and there's peace there. They'll be praising the Lord for salvation and praising the Lord for the excellent things. But for you and I,

We don't have to wait till then. God gives us this opportunity today and tomorrow and the next day to praise Him now for His salvation. I challenge you, I exhort you, receive wholeheartedly what God has done for you. Ask Him, seek Him, rely upon Him for His Holy Spirit. Drink deeply of the wells. If you're thirsty, come to Him to drink and then be His witness. Proclaim His great works, the excellent things that He does to all the world.

Amen.