======================================================================== THE SCENT OF WATER by Sandeep Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of finding the 'water source,' symbolizing the love of God, to thrive in the midst of life's deserts and challenges. It highlights the need to continuously seek and abide in God's love, demonstrated through Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, as the foundational source of strength, rest, and victory over sin. The key message is to focus on connecting with the love of God as the primary solution to all life's struggles and to bear fruit in every season. Duration: 13:56 Topics: "God's Love", "Spiritual Sustenance" Scripture References: Jeremiah 17:7, Job 14:9, John 4:14, John 15:9, Psalm 1:3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The sermon emphasizes the importance of finding the 'water source,' symbolizing the love of God, to thrive in the midst of life's deserts and challenges. It highlights the need to continuously seek and abide in God's love, demonstrated through Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, as the foundational source of strength, rest, and victory over sin. The key message is to focus on connecting with the love of God as the primary solution to all life's struggles and to bear fruit in every season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want to show you a picture. I want you to take a look at this picture and it's a picture of a desert. I'm going to show you two pictures. This is a picture of a desert. I'm going to show you two pictures of a desert and this may be your situations. This may be a statement of your life and there's a weird prettiness about it but if you use the words of fruit and life and vibrancy, those are not words that tend to be associated with this picture. This is the desert. As I said, it could be a reflection of our lives, it could be a reflection of our situations. I'm going to show you another picture of a desert. I mean, you may have seen this picture before. This is also a picture of a desert. These are both true pictures. These are not photoshopped pictures and this picture has really blessed me. You heard about Jeremiah 17 verse 7 and 8. It talks about a tree that is planted by the river but it says in Jeremiah 17 verse 7 and 8 that the one who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord is like a tree planted by the river. It is not a tree planted by the river. It is like a tree planted by the river but where the tree is planted is where the heat is strong in verse 8 of Jeremiah chapter 17 and where there is drought for a year. That is the scene of Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 7 and 8. It will not be anxious in the year of drought and it will not fear when the heat comes. Now, what made this tree be like this is the key question. I am not here to debate whether your life looks like this desert or the other desert. We're all living in relative pictures of deserts. The question I have is and God's question to us is can this kind of tree exist in the desert? That's the question. That's the only question that one has when one looks at a picture of the desert. Can a vibrant leafy green tree exist in the desert? Let's not debate whether your life is a desert or not, whether your circumstances are desert. The only question that God asks you is can you have a tree that is leafy green in its leaves and bearing fruit in all seasons when the sun is bearing down in its heat and it's the year of drought. This is not a year of drought. This is centuries of drought. If you look at this desert, what has this tree found? What has allowed this tree to exist? This is a fundamental big question that we have to answer because it has spiritual implications. What this tree has found is it has found a water source and so there is no difference now whether this tree is planted in the middle of the desert or if it is planted by a river. It has found the river to be planted nearby and in this particular case this tree has probably found roots deep underneath anything you can see beneath anything you can imagine its roots has found water. This dear brothers and sisters is the difference between a thriving Christian life and everything else is a tree whose roots has found a water source. This is what everything else flows out of. So when we think about our defeated lives, when we think about our difficult trials, when we think about our ups and downs, when we think about all the challenges in our lives, it is so easy and it is so normal and the vast majority of us will start analyzing the leaves and the branches and the soil and the stems and the seeds. But the one thing that is very difficult for us to do is to do one simple thing is go and find your water source. Go and find the source of water. It says in Job, I can't remember the chapter, Job somewhere between 1 and 20, somewhere in there it says a tree can be chopped down so small but at the scent of water it will spring back up. It's a beautiful expression at the scent of water. Does water have a scent? Roots know that smell and the DNA of that seed has that root that says I've got to smell for only one thing. You can bring me Coca-Cola, you can bring me any orange soda, you can bring me the most tasty drink of it. I don't smell that at all. I have a smell for only one thing which is water and it has a scent and this tree, the roots of it had a smell for water. You look at it and be like there's no water anywhere close by. This tree had a scent, the seed had a scent for it, the roots had a scent for it and went going going going going deeper and deeper, found it. So that even though it's external circumstances and external life is horrible, it's a thriving tree. Dear brothers and sisters, do you have a challenge in your life? Do you have a problem in your life? Do you have lives that look like the desert on the outside but not the thriving tree? The question is what's my solution? The solution is go find the water source and the water source is the love of God. The love of God especially demonstrated on Calvary. That's the water source, the love of God and especially demonstrated on Calvary. That's when Christ showed his love for us in massive and complete extent. That is when God said I can now be your father. That is when everything changed because of Calvary and the challenge is to constantly find that as the water source. So if you see this tree not existent in your life, you don't have to worry about the fruit or the leaves or the stem or the branches or many other things. You just have to find the water source and your roots have to find this water source and keep sticking to that water source. Then you respond to that. Do we not have a devotion to God like we should? Go find the water source. Do you not have victory over sin like you should? Go find the water source. Should you have gone further in the Christian life than you should have? Go find your water source. It's one simple answer for all of your problems. Go again, dear brother and sister, and find the water source. Well, I need a second thing to do after that. No, there's no second thing to do. That is the only thing that you're going to need to do for the rest of your life. Stick with the water source and the tree will just happen and the leaves will just happen and the fruits will just happen. You want a second and a third and a new thing and a fresh thing and a fresh revelation and a new word? No, you don't. We just need a water source. We just need the water source we love because God first loved us. You just need to stick with that water source. That's why our message is an old, old story, but it's over and over again, the love of God demonstrated on Calvary should be ever new. That is the only fuel. That is the only water source that will let this tree live. It's the only water source that allowed Jesus to die to himself, to never do his own will. It's because the father loved him. It's so redeeming. It's so relieving. Come to me and I'll give you rest. It is such a place of perpetual rest when Jesus opens our eyes to that's the only thing you lack. Not two things, not three things. The one thing you lack is to go and find that water source again today, again, two hours later, again, 15 minutes later is to go back and find the water source of when you first believed and when the father first accepted you that was at Calvary. To go back and keep replaying that, that is the challenge before us. And if we do that, then we can be like a tree planted by the river. Our leaves will always be green. We will bear fruit in the year of drought and we will be at a place of rest. There'll be a Sabbath rest that is there all the way along. And victory over sin, it will happen. Just like green leaves happen when you sow a seed. Tomorrow, I don't know. Four years from now, I don't know, but it will happen. It will happen. And you know, I mean, you know, when we think about everything else, it all makes sense in the context of the river source. It's as we find the river source of the love of God that we will prepare our soil and our soil will not be worried about the external circumstances. Our soil will be humbled and floored and grateful because of the love of God. And we'll be willing to stand up for him and do anything for him because of the love of God. It's really, dear brothers and sisters, it is that simple. And I don't know any other message to preach. But to me, I feel like, I don't know, if God has told me that's the one thing, why do you need a second thing? And there's no second thing. I found this to be a perpetual fuel for my life. Every day of my life. And it's such a beautiful message. It's not discouraging. I'm not saying don't take the yellow leaves and the bad fruit, rotten fruit, seriously. No, I'm saying take it very seriously. The problem is what do you do about it? Go say sorry. Good. Go and say sorry. Feel that you want to do better. Sure. Feel that you want to do better. But then what do you want to do? Go find the water source. Go find the water source. That's the root problem. And as we live in the love of God, these things will change over time. Yes, control your tongue. Yes, control your eyes. You know this, that we preach about it. Come and look at my life. You'll see a man who's controlling his eyes and controlling his tongues and controlling his feelings. I believe all of that. I believe all of that. 200%. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is I want to stick my life on the water source. That is why I receive mercy from God when I slip up. That is why I can live a life where I don't get discouraged day after day or spend a day of discouragement. Because my only question is, Sadiq, have you found the water source? Are you going finding the water source? That's your one goal in life. It's your one definition of success is have you been finding the water source lately? That's all. Oh, but you slipped up there. You said this, you did that. I know, but you were sorry. And you went back and found the water source. Your success rate is going up. How often are you sticking to finding the water source? Watch what will happen in your life as we find the water source, which is the love of God. We'll be easier on other people. We'll be kind to other people. Our words will be kinder because we'll find our water source and that trees will be green. We will have fruit in any season. Every season. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the gospel. Good news. Be excited about it. Make a decision. Do what you can. Write it on your phone. Put it on your wall. Do it wherever you need to do. Make it a daily reminder to go and find the water source, which is the love of God. Abide in my love. Abide in me and you will bear much fruit. Abide in me and you'll have confidence when he appears. Abide in him. Abide in his love. It's nothing more complicated than that. Let's close in prayer. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Xz6_t7Yfl-I.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/the-scent-of-water/ ========================================================================