00:00Hello everyone, this is William Chambers. It is so good to be with you all once again today
00:05and talk about the goodness of our God. I'm going to need God's help today because I have a lot
00:12I
00:12want to say, but I'm praying that what I'm saying can be understood because I only have like 10
00:17minutes. So I try to cram a lot in 10 minutes. That being said, today, if I had a title,
00:24I would call today's message, Living Dry, the warning of Jeremiah 17. Oh goodness, have you
00:36ever lived dry? And what I mean by living dry is live far away from God or too far away
00:43from God
00:43where things got dry. Even Christians live dry. Actually, most Christians live drier than they
00:51ought to. So let's go to the Word of God. It says, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man
00:58that
00:58trusteth in man and make his flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall
01:03be like the heat in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched
01:09places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. There are many people that are
01:16breathing, working, moving, but spiritually they are dried up inside. No spiritual vitality,
01:25no spiritual death. When you speak with them as a believer, you start to say there's something
01:30missing to your life by just the way you're talking. And let me not go too far into that.
01:36The Bible compares them to a shrub in the desert. Alive, but not living. Alive, but only surviving.
01:47Today we're going to talk about the most dangerous kind of living. One that looks alive, but it's cut
01:54off from God. It looks alive, but it's cut off from spiritual life. Lord help us. So that this text,
02:00it talks about a withered identity. God is comparing the man that lives apart from him
02:06to something that's barely alive. A heath in the desert. It's a shrub that's in the desert that exists,
02:14but does not flourish. It has existence, but it has no fruit. No fruit of the spirit. It has
02:22no fruit. It has no growth and no real purpose. That's what, that's what a shrub does. This is a
02:31man
02:32that trusts in the flesh. The Bible calls him curse. This is a man that trusts in the flesh, but
02:37it's cut
02:37off from all divine supply or divine supply comes from God. Spiritual health comes from God. Spiritual
02:44encouragement comes from God. Spiritual nourishment comes from God. Uh, spiritual vitality comes from
02:51God. Oh, the restoration comes from God. Victory comes from God. But when, if we're cut off from
02:56that, all we have to do is reach out on the flesh and the flesh will let you down. People
03:00will let
03:01you down. Your finances will let you down. When we're cut off from the source of life, of divine
03:06spiritual life, uh, there is no depth in us. Uh, no depth, man. You speak so shallow. There's no
03:13spiritual nourishment. When things go down, when things ain't doing good, are you spiritually nourished?
03:19Ah, it's the word of God that encourages us. That's why we got to stay next to it. There's
03:23no fruit. Ah, no fruit that pleases God. No gentleness, no love, no patience, no growing
03:29of the church, no service to God, no obedience to God. Ah, help us today. There is just survival.
03:37And that is what the man has that, uh, uh, not attached to God. The Bible says that he shall
03:44not see what good coming. Meaning there's a spiritual blind condition. Blessings can
03:51be present in your life and you still not notice them. Ah, God can be near, but you don't recognize
04:00him. Truth can be spoken, but it's rejected. Ah, have you ever seen, uh, blessings close to
04:07a person, but they couldn't see it? They're, have you ever seen opportunities, uh, close
04:13to a person, but they could not see it. They pass right by the Prince of God. They pass right
04:18by God was reaching for them. They did not notice it. God was blessing them. They did not
04:22notice it. They did not recognize what God was trying to do in their life. Oh, help us a
04:28spiritual blindness. They shall not see when good cometh. Help us, O God, to be aligned. We must
04:35learn to be aligned with you. Ah, looking back at my own life, even as a Christian, I see dry
04:42spots,
04:43barren places that I've totally screwed up because I did not know how to keep, I did not know how
04:48to
04:48keep the alignment with God, or I was just too disobedient to keep aligned with God. And we, I can
04:55always, we can always improve that connection. Ah, Lord, to where victory is flowing, to where
05:02vitality and spiritual nourishment is flowing, not meaning that you don't have problems, but meaning
05:07that the Prince of God is in your life helping you. I got to get off that. I'm hoping I'm
05:12making
05:12some sense. The person that lives far from him is not only is cursed because the Bible says that they
05:17inhabit the parched places. Oh, looking for love in all the wrong places, parched places where there is
05:24no love, looking for help in places where there is no help. Have you ever seen somebody looking for
05:29help in a place that you knew was dead? You're only going to be disappointed in looking in that
05:33place. You're only going to be messed up looking in that place. They're going to use you. This is a
05:37world that takes, takes, takes, and don't give. That's a parched place where you're looking for
05:41help in. That's what the person that trusted in man and departs from God does. They look for help in
05:49the, in parched places. The Bible says that they inhabit parched places, meaning they choose parched
05:54places. I want this parched place. I, this is not by accident. I'm seeking this out, meaning that
06:00dryness is normal. I'm inhabiting a dry place, uh, uh, having a dry group of friends. That ain't
06:07gonna help you. That's gonna make you worse. Uh, I'm, I'm inhabiting. Emptiness is familiar.
06:14I like living vain, purposeless, and that's what I'm familiar with. Nothing of spiritual value,
06:21uh, help us. They stop seeking change. They are, uh, used to living distant from God. I'm just
06:29constable away from God. I'm constable with no spiritual life flowing through my life. I'm
06:35constable with no purpose flowing through my life. I'm constable looking to man and looking to money
06:40and looking to things that can't help me for help. Jeremiah warns us about making dryness,
06:46barring places, our home. Help us today. Help us not to live dry. That is the warning here.
06:54So we, I'm hoping I'm making some sense. The Bible goes on and says, uh, they inhabit parched places
07:01in the wilderness and a salt land, not inhabited. In a salt land, nothing can grow there.
07:10Not inhabited. No life remains there. I already said no fruits there. No presence of God's there.
07:18They're in a salt land. Uh, no restoration. Have you ever seen somebody that was always in trouble
07:25for what they were seeking out? Because they were always reaching to man. They were always reaching
07:31to, uh, natural things and not God. Living in a dry land. When we seek out parched lands,
07:40the end result is a path where nothing ever changes. A salt land is a ground that is so corrupt
07:48that it cannot produce life. We're talking about a person that's unfruitful. We're talking about a person
07:57that has no presence of God on the inside of them. They're not dwelling in relationship and drawing from
08:06the presence of God. Ah, Lord. There is no movement in their life, spiritual movement. There's nothing
08:14really going on. It's a salt land, not inhabited. Help us, help us, God, to move away from dry areas,
08:23to move away from barren areas, and not to go and not to live in places where things will not
08:30grow.
08:31We need to be connected to God. These outcomes that I'm talking about right now is outcomes of people
08:38that are separated from God. Ah, are you too far from God? Is things getting a little dry? Are things
08:46turning barren? Is it becoming, have you gone to a place where you will not recover? It's a salt land.
08:52Nothing will ever grow here. Ah, help us, help us, God, to return unto you, because returning to God
09:01is the only path that brings us back to life. Spiritual vitality, spiritual power and understanding,
09:07spiritual movement, where we move in the, where we can serve God in the way that he wants us to
09:12be,
09:12to serve him. Oh, I want to be in a place of spiritual vitality, of purpose, ah, of life.
09:21But you, we must return back to God. Help us to do that, God. In Jesus' name, we pray and
09:26say amen.
09:37Amen.
09:39Amen.
09:42Amen.
09:46Amen.
09:47Amen.
09:47Amen.
09:47Amen.
09:47Amen.
09:48Amen.
09:48Amen.
09:48Amen.
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