We started last week talking about the rivers that flowed
out of one river in Eden. Genesis 2:10
gives this account. The names (Pishon,
Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates) are very
significant. Pishon means increase and
success. Gihon means bursting forth or
giving birth. That same stream was the
one in which Solomon (the king who built the temple) was anointed. The Hebrew word for Tigris
means rapid, active, and especially redeemed
time. Notice that most of the miracles
we need require time. The word for Euphrates means fruitful and prosperous (health, wealth,
peace, joy and being highly favored).
The Hebrew word shalom means peace, nothing missing, nothing
broken.
Psalm 46:4 shows that
God put man at the junction point of the rivers, giving us control of what goes
out into the world. Satan took over and
became the distribution post for what goes out into the world, contaminating or
cutting off the flow of these streams.
Genesis 3:24 we see that when man is driven out of the garden (just the
garden, not Eden), there is a sword placed at
the east (meaning the garden was in the west end of Eden), which guards and seals off the riverhead. Genesis 4:16 shows that when Cain kills his
brother, he left the presence of God, leaves Eden and goes east. In Genesis 13:11, when Abraham and Lot part
ways, Lot goes East to Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham stays in the West. When Lot flees when Sodom
and Gomorrah,
he was told to go to the mountains, but he decides to instead go to Zoar, which
is east and is another problem. Again he
flees east to the mountains of Moab. Some more terrible things happen, resulting
in 2 children born to his daughters, which started the people of Moab. The rivers are supposed to flow from the west
to the east and fix all these things.
Jonah was in the west, and where God wanted him to go (Ninevah) was
east. God wants us moving west, but
wants His message to go east.
Joshua 18 shows that the Hebrews have crossed the Jordan from the
east to the west side into the promised land.
Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of
Manasseh chose to stay on the east side of the river. Their choice did not make them not God’s
people, but they were choosing not to live in the promises God provided. Genesis 49 tells us about the tribe of
Reuben. Reuben is Jacob’s first-born
son. This tribe ends up being overtaken
by nomads and leaving the land. All
those living on the east side still had to fight with the Israelites for the
promised land but then went back to the east side.
The church is supposed to be taking living water and sending
it eastward, but we are to be moving westward.
The further west we travel in our relationship with God, the further
east our influence can go. West is
nearer to God and east is farther from God.
The closer we are to God the more focused and clear our witness can be
to those farthest from Him.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
