Go To The River
John Young
10-06-02

Scripture: Psalm 1:1-6

I.  In my youth I enjoyed searching for anything that was alive.

    a.  Often I would search the woods for critters, mostly lizards or
snakes, and the occasional turtle.

    b. My favorite place to hunt was my grandparents place, out in the
country.  They had a great woods that was fun to explore in, especially the
small pond that was deep in those woods.

    c. The pond had a little ecosystem all it's own and I would just explore
and search for new things by the hour.  I loved anything that lived in the
water.

II.  I have always enjoyed collecting water life, especially fish.

    a. I know most people think that fish are for eating, but I would rather
watch them in an aquarium over eating them any day!

    b. I would find baby game fish or craw dads and put them in one of my
tanks and just get lost in how they lived and and ate, etc..

    c. Out of that early fascination with fish grew a life long enjoyment of
collecting and breeding tropical fish.

III.  About the time I was 11 years old, we moved.

    a. The year we moved was a tough one because I had to leave all my
lifelong friends behind and begin a new chapter of my, as yet, very young
life.

    b. The one thing that made the move bearable that year was the fact that
our new home was located right on the banks of a large river.  I could go
down to the river whenever I wanted to go.

    c. I found new life on that river, including huge turtles, large bass and
catfish, and even muskrats!  Living on the river was a wonderful new thing
for me and I found that it was also a place that I could go to find peace.

IV.  Why would a 12 year old boy need to find peace?

    a.  We all need to find a peaceful place in our lives, no matter what our
age.  I found that just going down to the river and climbing one of the trees
along it's banks gave me a place and a time to reflect.

    b. It didn't matter what season it was either, summer or winter, the
river was a great place to be.  It was my place, or at least I thought it
was, and it gave me comfort.

    c. After I left home and went to college in south Florida, I discovered
the ocean.  What a great discovery that was, all the tropical fish I could
catch!  But as much as I loved to dive in that clear, warm water off Miami,
that old river back home was still mine and the place I would remember to
bring me peace whenever I wanted it.

    d. In fact, it was on the bank of that river that I proposed to my wife
nearly 30 years ago.  She probably had no idea how important that location
was for me then, and still is today.

V.  All of us need to find a river that can give us peace, no matter what is
going on around us.

    a. Not every boy or girl can have the opportunity to grow up along the
banks of a river, to discover their own special place to be.

    b. Even the children search for places to go and find peace and quiet,
and that search does not end as we become adults, does it?

    c. Physical places like my river or a meadow, or a home or wherever it
might be for you, are good for a season, but we all desire something more
than a season of peace.

    d. What happens when that Walden's pond you love so much is turned into
the newest sub division in town?
Or what if a natural event like a hurricane or tornado destroys your
childhood home?

Physical places of comfort are important, but they are physical, which means
that they are temporary at best.

VI.  There is a river that we can go to that will always be there, always
ready to give us comfort and peace.

    a. I know, we have all heard it before, but that doesn't make it any less
true or valid.  It's important that we remind ourselves of these simple
truths of our faith.

    b. The fact is, God's word gives example after example of ways in which
we can see how the spiritual power of water used to describe our hope in His
power over us, even in this physical existence.

    c. Christ is our river of living water, the way to life everlasting, free
from thirst evermore.

VII. The miracles of Jesus even began using water as the main ingredient!

    a. In John 2:1 we see how Jesus used water to perform His first miracle
by changing it into the best wine.

    b. Why would Jesus use water as His first tool?  I believe He wanted us
to see the connection between simple H2O and everlasting life.  Do you see
it?

    c. In a nutshell, we are all toast without water after just a few short
days.  Nothing will stop any of us from dying if we have no water.

    d. Water is something that the span of time will never change.  It is as
important to life today as it was 2000 years ago, and Christ knew it would
be.

VIII.  Water symbolizes many things in the life of a Christian.

    a. A great river flowed through the garden in Eden, sustaining life
throughout the garden.

    b. The Israelites, when they had been in the desert many days, became
thirsty, and complained to Moses about it.

God provided them plenty of water in the miracle of the stone flowing with it
after Moses struck it as he was commanded.  God gave them bread from heaven
and now water out of a rock.

    c. It is water which symbolizes our burial and cleansing when we are
baptized.  In fact, Jesus Himself tells us that this water baptism is very
important if we desire to enter into His kingdom.  John 3:1-8

"unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God"

We must be buried under the water of baptism and have God's Holy Spirit
within us to be Christian.

IX.  God is trying to tell us that His mercy and grace are as boundless as a
flowing river.

    a. In the story of the woman at the well in John 4:10 we begin to see
what this river of life truly means.

    b. Jesus makes the most incredible statement of all time when He said
that we will never thirst again when we draw from His well.

    c. Like I said earlier, if we are depending on those things that are
physical in our lives, we will soon become disappointed in them.  People will
fail us, our jobs will fail us, our pleasures and past times will fail us.

Even my river from my youth will fail me.  It might over flow and flood many
homes, it might take a life or it might become so polluted that I would not
want to visit it any more.

    d. But the river that Jesus promises will never fail us.  His is a river
that flows out more than just water, in fact it began as a river of blood.