Title
FLOW 流动
Date
11/16/2025
Description
John 7:37,38: On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
约翰福音 7:37,38: 节期最后一天，也是整个节期的高潮，耶稣站起来高声说：“人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝。 正如圣经所言，信我的人，‘从他里面要流出活水的江河来’。” (page 1732)
Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..."
路加福音 4:18:“主的灵在我身上，因为他膏我去传福音给贫穷的人，差遣我去宣告被掳的得释放，瞎眼的得看见，受压制的得自由，(pg 1664)
Psalm 147:3: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
诗篇 147:3: 祂医治心灵破碎的人，包扎他们的创伤。(page 1029)
2 Cor 3:4,5: We carry this confidence in our hearts because of our union with Christ before God. Yet we don’t see ourselves as capable enough to do anything in our own strength, for our true competence flows from God’s empowering presence.
歌 林 多 後 書 3:4,5: 通过基督，我们在上帝面前有这样的信心作这样的声明。 我们的意思并不是说我们凭自己能做任何好事，是上帝使我们能够做到我们所做的 (page 1872)
Psalm 1:3: That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
诗篇 1:3: 他就像溪水旁的树木——按时结果子，
叶子也不凋零。他必凡事亨通。 (page 881)
约翰福音 7:37,38: 节期最后一天，也是整个节期的高潮，耶稣站起来高声说：“人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝。 正如圣经所言，信我的人，‘从他里面要流出活水的江河来’。” (page 1732)
Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..."
路加福音 4:18:“主的灵在我身上，因为他膏我去传福音给贫穷的人，差遣我去宣告被掳的得释放，瞎眼的得看见，受压制的得自由，(pg 1664)
Psalm 147:3: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
诗篇 147:3: 祂医治心灵破碎的人，包扎他们的创伤。(page 1029)
2 Cor 3:4,5: We carry this confidence in our hearts because of our union with Christ before God. Yet we don’t see ourselves as capable enough to do anything in our own strength, for our true competence flows from God’s empowering presence.
歌 林 多 後 書 3:4,5: 通过基督，我们在上帝面前有这样的信心作这样的声明。 我们的意思并不是说我们凭自己能做任何好事，是上帝使我们能够做到我们所做的 (page 1872)
Psalm 1:3: That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
诗篇 1:3: 他就像溪水旁的树木——按时结果子，
叶子也不凋零。他必凡事亨通。 (page 881)
Creator
Pastor: Mike Koger
Contributor
Hillside United Methodist Church
3737 US 80
Phenix City AL 36870
United States
3737 US 80
Phenix City AL 36870
United States
Transcription
The Flow of Life: From Stagnation to Overflow
John 7:38
25 years ago our family experienced three out of four seasons in New England (we only missed the summer)
Last week, we stood beside a frozen lake - still, silent, unmoving. The surface was hard and lifeless, though beneath it, the water still existed.
…But when spring comes, something quiet, yet miraculous happens.
The ice doesn't shatter - it softens. The gentle warmth of the sun accomplishes what brute force cannot. Slowly, cracks begin to echo across the surface. Water starts to run. The frozen stillness gives way to flow again.
Holy Spirit whispers to our hearts today: "When the heart grows soft, the life begins to flow."
Jesus : Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..."
This is why Jesus began His ministry with these words - because the thaw of our heart (repentance in its truest sense) stands at the very center of His anointing:
Psalm 147:3 affirms: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
Jesus came to heal - to thaw - the brokenhearted.
That is the miracle that happens when grace melts what human striving never could - everything that was once stuck begins to move – to flow - again.
“flow”
We know Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5).
In the imagery of the river - He is the Source - we are His streams of life, flowing from Him.
Without the Source, there is nothing to flow. (2 Cor 3:5 read)
Jesus declared in John 7:38, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
Notice the abundance in His promise - not trickles, not drops, but rivers.
This flow is not something we generate through effort; it's something we release by surrender. It flows from Him through us.
We've already explored the transformative power of Beholding in this series, and then examined the dangers of a hardened heart.
Today, we turn to the blessings of a softened - thawed - heart.
The Normal Christian Life reveals this truth: "God's purpose is not that we should live for Him, but that Christ should live in us and through us."
As Galatians 2:20 declares, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Why would we cling to our frozen, hard-hearted state when a Springtime thaw stands ready to restore us back to life - beginning this very moment?
When the heart is soft, Christ's life flows effortlessly.
When it's hard or self-reliant, that flow becomes blocked.
The Christian life was never meant to be a dam - it's meant to be a riverbed, as Psalm 1:3 describes the righteous: "That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."
Sometimes the blockage in our hearts comes from self-effort - trying to produce what only grace can release.
Sometimes it's unforgiveness - holding on to hurts that keep the water trapped.
Matthew 6:14-15 reminds us, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Sometimes it's fear - tightening control (fist) instead of trusting the current, forgetting 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
Watchman Nee wisely noted, "The life of the Spirit is the spontaneous life of liberty."
Jesus reminds us in Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Freedom is not the reward of trying harder - it's the natural state of a heart no longer frozen. The free-flowing Life of Christ through us
Romans 8:6 teaches, "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."
We can respond to the Holy Spirit and see the ice begin to melt
When the heart thaws, the first sound is cracking. It's uncomfortable - the sound of things breaking open. But then comes the rush.
Step 1 - Let light in. Psalm 36:9 reminds us, "In Your light, we see light." When God's truth touches what was hidden, life begins to move.
John 8:32 promises, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Step 2 - Let go. As the ice breaks, the old layers drift away.
Release what God is surfacing - bitterness, regret, control. (fist)
(fist) The tightly closed heart may block the pain – but it also blocks the joy
Step 3 - Let flow. "Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!" (John 7:38).
The rivers don't come from your effort; they come from His presence.
As Isaiah 58:11 promises, "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Step 4 - Let overflow. Once the river moves freely, it naturally begins to bless others - love, prayer, compassion all overflow without strain.
“Blessed to BE a Blessing”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reminds us, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
"My cup overflows"
(Psalm 23:5) becomes not just a scripture but a living reality.
The melting usually starts gradually…
Maybe even now you're already sensing a small current within - a prayer you didn't force, a tenderness you thought you had lost. That's how it begins.
Don't rush the river; let it find its way.
• When life flows again, you don't have to force worship - it rises naturally.
You don't have to manufacture peace - it dwells within you.
You don't have to pretend joy - it bubbles up from the spring within.
Transformation happens because the current carries you.
"The Christian life is not our struggling to live for Christ, but letting Christ live in us."
That is The Normal Christian Life - not striving to serve, but abiding to flow.
John 15:4-5 captures this beautifully: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
Galatians 5:22-23 describes this fruit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." VINE
Notice these are not produced by effort but grown by connection.
Possibly even last week your heart began to thaw, and today you sense something stirring - …movement, renewal, life returning.
Don't rush it. Don't try to control it.
Just remain under the warmth of His presence.
Let Him do the melting.
Let the living water find its course through you.
Because when the heart is open, His life flows - not only to you, but through you, and beyond you - carrying healing wherever it goes.
Jesus: "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)
The flow of His Life begins once more to be released in your life, and everything begins to be changed... refreshed... renewed.
New Life.
God doesn't just repair... He restores and resurrects.
As Isaiah 43:19 declares, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
"HE restores my soul" (Psalm 23:3)
We are changed not by trying harder, but by beholding Him - and when we behold, His life begins to flow.
2 Cor 3:18 confirms, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Prayer: Lord, let Your life flow freely in me again. Break every dam of fear, every wall of control. Melt what has grown cold, and move what has become stagnant. Teach me to live not by striving, but by flowing. May Your Spirit turn every stagnant place into a river of life. As Ezekiel 47:9 promises, "where the river flows everything will live." Amen.
Jesus says to us today, "Believe in Me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!"
Let the river flow, let the river flow;
Holy spirit come, move in power.
Acts 3:20: Times of refreshing
John 7:38
25 years ago our family experienced three out of four seasons in New England (we only missed the summer)
Last week, we stood beside a frozen lake - still, silent, unmoving. The surface was hard and lifeless, though beneath it, the water still existed.
…But when spring comes, something quiet, yet miraculous happens.
The ice doesn't shatter - it softens. The gentle warmth of the sun accomplishes what brute force cannot. Slowly, cracks begin to echo across the surface. Water starts to run. The frozen stillness gives way to flow again.
Holy Spirit whispers to our hearts today: "When the heart grows soft, the life begins to flow."
Jesus : Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..."
This is why Jesus began His ministry with these words - because the thaw of our heart (repentance in its truest sense) stands at the very center of His anointing:
Psalm 147:3 affirms: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
Jesus came to heal - to thaw - the brokenhearted.
That is the miracle that happens when grace melts what human striving never could - everything that was once stuck begins to move – to flow - again.
“flow”
We know Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5).
In the imagery of the river - He is the Source - we are His streams of life, flowing from Him.
Without the Source, there is nothing to flow. (2 Cor 3:5 read)
Jesus declared in John 7:38, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
Notice the abundance in His promise - not trickles, not drops, but rivers.
This flow is not something we generate through effort; it's something we release by surrender. It flows from Him through us.
We've already explored the transformative power of Beholding in this series, and then examined the dangers of a hardened heart.
Today, we turn to the blessings of a softened - thawed - heart.
The Normal Christian Life reveals this truth: "God's purpose is not that we should live for Him, but that Christ should live in us and through us."
As Galatians 2:20 declares, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Why would we cling to our frozen, hard-hearted state when a Springtime thaw stands ready to restore us back to life - beginning this very moment?
When the heart is soft, Christ's life flows effortlessly.
When it's hard or self-reliant, that flow becomes blocked.
The Christian life was never meant to be a dam - it's meant to be a riverbed, as Psalm 1:3 describes the righteous: "That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."
Sometimes the blockage in our hearts comes from self-effort - trying to produce what only grace can release.
Sometimes it's unforgiveness - holding on to hurts that keep the water trapped.
Matthew 6:14-15 reminds us, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Sometimes it's fear - tightening control (fist) instead of trusting the current, forgetting 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
Watchman Nee wisely noted, "The life of the Spirit is the spontaneous life of liberty."
Jesus reminds us in Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Freedom is not the reward of trying harder - it's the natural state of a heart no longer frozen. The free-flowing Life of Christ through us
Romans 8:6 teaches, "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."
We can respond to the Holy Spirit and see the ice begin to melt
When the heart thaws, the first sound is cracking. It's uncomfortable - the sound of things breaking open. But then comes the rush.
Step 1 - Let light in. Psalm 36:9 reminds us, "In Your light, we see light." When God's truth touches what was hidden, life begins to move.
John 8:32 promises, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Step 2 - Let go. As the ice breaks, the old layers drift away.
Release what God is surfacing - bitterness, regret, control. (fist)
(fist) The tightly closed heart may block the pain – but it also blocks the joy
Step 3 - Let flow. "Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!" (John 7:38).
The rivers don't come from your effort; they come from His presence.
As Isaiah 58:11 promises, "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Step 4 - Let overflow. Once the river moves freely, it naturally begins to bless others - love, prayer, compassion all overflow without strain.
“Blessed to BE a Blessing”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reminds us, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
"My cup overflows"
(Psalm 23:5) becomes not just a scripture but a living reality.
The melting usually starts gradually…
Maybe even now you're already sensing a small current within - a prayer you didn't force, a tenderness you thought you had lost. That's how it begins.
Don't rush the river; let it find its way.
• When life flows again, you don't have to force worship - it rises naturally.
You don't have to manufacture peace - it dwells within you.
You don't have to pretend joy - it bubbles up from the spring within.
Transformation happens because the current carries you.
"The Christian life is not our struggling to live for Christ, but letting Christ live in us."
That is The Normal Christian Life - not striving to serve, but abiding to flow.
John 15:4-5 captures this beautifully: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
Galatians 5:22-23 describes this fruit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." VINE
Notice these are not produced by effort but grown by connection.
Possibly even last week your heart began to thaw, and today you sense something stirring - …movement, renewal, life returning.
Don't rush it. Don't try to control it.
Just remain under the warmth of His presence.
Let Him do the melting.
Let the living water find its course through you.
Because when the heart is open, His life flows - not only to you, but through you, and beyond you - carrying healing wherever it goes.
Jesus: "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)
The flow of His Life begins once more to be released in your life, and everything begins to be changed... refreshed... renewed.
New Life.
God doesn't just repair... He restores and resurrects.
As Isaiah 43:19 declares, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
"HE restores my soul" (Psalm 23:3)
We are changed not by trying harder, but by beholding Him - and when we behold, His life begins to flow.
2 Cor 3:18 confirms, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Prayer: Lord, let Your life flow freely in me again. Break every dam of fear, every wall of control. Melt what has grown cold, and move what has become stagnant. Teach me to live not by striving, but by flowing. May Your Spirit turn every stagnant place into a river of life. As Ezekiel 47:9 promises, "where the river flows everything will live." Amen.
Jesus says to us today, "Believe in Me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!"
Let the river flow, let the river flow;
Holy spirit come, move in power.
Acts 3:20: Times of refreshing