Pastor Gail – welcome and prayer
1. Good morning to you. I’m telling you the room looks great. I pray and I’m believing that we will look like this every week. I just declare for our Swedes, all of you, America, whatever country you are seeds in the land, for God to do something great. Would you stand with me, let’s welcome Him with a song.
2. Hallelujah, hallelujah, would you remain standing. We want to read from the Word. We encourage people to read from a paper Bible, and the reason why, is we discovered, that even people who had been reading the Bible for years, having switched to their phone, they got lost as to where the chapters were and the names of the books. Oh, my goodness. So, we decided that we need to go back to a paper Bible.
3. Acts 2:14-18, it’s in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’”
4. Can we pray together, and just exalt the Lord, thank Him that we live in those days, that we will be His witnesses as we give Him all the glory. Father in heaven, we lift up our voices. We give You glory and honor Lord. Oh Lord, Your Spirit has been poured out and has been poured out upon us, Lord, to be Your witnesses. We thank You for the Miracles God, that You have done, but the many more, the many more that You are going to do, because You are the Lord, God of miracles. There is no limit, to what You can do and who You are. You are the Lord God of the impossible, we exalt Your name. We give You all the glory, all the praise and all the honor, in name of Jesus. Let’s bless the Lord.
5. We are here to worship the Lord today, and almost always, I think, we come to the house of God, there are needs in our hearts, things to pray about. So, wherever you’re standing right now, we want to agree in prayer with you. I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand so that we can see that you want us to agree with you.
6. Before church this morning, we have a little boy who is getting ready to have brain surgery. Yesterday, we learned of a pastor, who in the floods of America, lost 13 members of his family that we know they all died in the flood. We heard of another person that’s sick, maybe you need help with your economics, and maybe you’ve never asked Jesus to come into your life. But He is here. And as we pray right now, all you have to say to Him is, ‘I give you, my life.’
7. So, if you have a prayer request would you raise your hand right now. It’s good to see the hands, Amen. Let’s agree together, let’s pray one for another. Father in the name of the Lord Jesus, right now, we thank You Lord God. You are the God of comfort. You’re the God of presence. You’re the Lord God who meets every need, as we trust You God, and wait on You, God, because You always answer right on time. We pray oh God, for comfort for the broken hearted, who have lost family, we pray oh God for healing. You are the God that heals. There is absolutely nothing too hard for You, Oh God.
8. Lord, we pray for financial needs, oh God, You are the Lord that meets every need, oh God. We pray for a great awakening in Greece Oh God. We’re believing, God for Your visitation. Lord, we thank You God, Lord we want to love You more. We pray oh God and for everyone who is here today, that has not yet invited You into their life, that they would invite You in today, Amen, Lord Jesus.
9. Before you’re seated, say hello to somebody you don’t know, and greet them with the love of the Lord. Amen, praise the Lord. Well, we want you to know that you’ll have time after church today, to meet new people, because we have coffee hour after church, and you can stay as long as you like. Some of us are going up to Mars Hill and to pray over this city, but we want to just thank all of you that decided to visit Glyfada Christian Center. Are we happy?
Pastor Gail – Announcements
1. Let me just make a few quick announcements, before we get ready to give to the Lord our tithe and offerings. So, this Thursday night, miss Kitty, raise your hand. There will be a ladies evening at Kitty’s house and it’s very unique. You’ll have a blast, ladies. If you need details, please see Leto or myself later today. Young men will be meeting at 5 o’clock with Michael. Michael is one of my heroes. He’s always back there helping with the children. Ray, oh hallelujah, men that serve they’re the best.
2. Please mark on your calendars that Sunday 1st December, we’re going to have church thanksgiving celebration, lunch. I’m going to tell you why we’re doing it December 1st, because people have asked me if they could come to my house on thanksgiving evening, and my house is too small for all of you. I think it’s the best holiday in America, really except for Easter and Christmas. So, we’re going to celebrate thankfulness here December 1st.
3. This Friday night, starting at 7:30, we’ll be having just a worship and praise evening, we’ll be coming together to worship and praise the Lord. And of course, our Wednesday night prayer and Bible Study.
4. We have the privilege of giving to the Lord our tithe and offering, and it is a privilege. In a world that there are so many needs, I believe the Word of God is true. We will bring our offerings and our tithes to the Lord, He will open the windows of heaven, and He will enable us to bless many people around the world, amen.
5. I’m going to tell you, I know we have many needs here, but I’m kind of looking to sending an offering to South Sudan, the poorest country in the world. Stavro will pray for our offering and tithe.
6. I would like everybody from the team from North Carolina, and Virginia, would you stand or wave your hand, whatever you’re most comfortable with. Praise God, welcome, welcome, welcome. They’re very excited. They’re going to do 2 days of walking where Paul walked, but the rest of the days they’re going to be doing ministry here. Praise God.
7. Then we also have a team from Sweden, all the Swedes would you wave your hands. I don’t know how to say hello in Swedish. ‘Hey’ that’s simple. Well, we’re glad you’re here. I do believe and I must apologize, that the chairman of ‘Interact’, it’s a beautiful organization that covers many churches in Sweden. He’s with us today and I’d like for him to come up and address the church if you wouldn’t mind, please for us. Thank you. His name is Erik.
Eric from Interact Sweden.
1. Ok, we’re a group from Northern Sweden, and we are supporting Billy and Eva-Lena here, in Greece. We are here for 5 days, to see the work they are doing here. And we want to be a blessing for you, we want to pray for you. So, I know that some of us have helped to prepare a song, so, please come forward. I’m not going to sing, because my song teacher, he told me that I was the worst child to sing that he ever heard, so I will be quiet.
Pastor Gail introducing pastor Mike Abbott
1. We have this wonderful privilege of worshipping you. There really is no one like You. And we just want to pour our love on You today. Lord, we thank You for the Word that pastor Mike Abbott will bring today. We believe it will be Your Word to us. Give us ears to hear, hearts that are open and eyes to see you as never before, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
2. You may be seated. We want to welcome pastor Michael Abbott from Silver, North Carolina, Amen. He and his wife Sonja have been friends of Brian and myself for many years and it is a privilege to have him with us.
Pastor Michael Abbott – Main Message
1. Good morning. I am so excited to be here. It is such an honor and such a privilege, to share the Word of God with you this morning. But I need to be honest with you, I’m a little disappointed, because I always look forward to pastor Gail and pastor Brian speak. And if you’ve had the privilege of hearing them minister, you understand the anointing that’s on this house. Amen, can we give the Lord a praise this morning. So, I’m a little bit nervous to speak in front of them. But there’s this beautiful story in the Old Testament, where God Himself speaks through a donkey, so, I have hope today that God can speak through me. And if He doesn’t, it must have been lost through translation.
2. I do want to take a moment to honor my wonderful wife. The greatest gift that God ever gave me, is Jesus. But the second greatest, is this lady. In just a moment, I’m going to ask her to come and pray for us. Before we get into the message, I believe that the Lord spoke something during worship. Pastor Gail and Leto read from the book of Acts, and when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church, the apostle Peter shared these Words from the book of Joel, “Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.” Acts 2:17. And some of us in the room today, have children who are not following the Lord Jesus. They’ve lost their way and lost their faith. And if you are a mother or a father who has a prodigal out there, you know the burden that’s in your heart. And I believe that today the Holy Spirit said this, ‘that those sons and those daughters, they will prophesy.’ So, before I ask my wife to come up, is there anyone here who has a prodigal? Ok, perfect, so I did hear from Jesus. Sonja, please. My wife is a prayer warrior and she’s going to pray for our kids. Amen, let’s raise our hands.
3. Lord, I just thank you for sharing with Michael about praying for prodigals, because before he spoke to me, You spoke to me, that today is the day to pray for them. And God, I ask that You would surround those prodigals with Your truth, God that You can do all things, and God, You can find them wherever they are. They cannot hide from You. God, we ask for You to heal them, heal all their hurts, God, heal all the things that are twisted in their minds, and God, we ask for changed children and changed family and changed friends, and God, that we would carry the burden, to stand in faith, for what You can and will do. Lord, in Jesus’ name, amen.
4. Yesterday, when we arrived in Athens, we had the opportunity to go down and spend time on the coast, and I was absolutely amazed with the beauty. The water was so many brilliant colors, and I saw some houses, right there by the water and I said, ‘Lord, I can live there. I volunteer.’ You know, water is life. Without water there is no life. You know, studies have shown us that we can live about 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. So, there are things in life that are necessary, and water is one of those things.
5. Today I want to talk about ‘Living Water’ specifically. The phrase, ‘Living Water’ is found in both the Old and the New Testament. In the prophet Jeremiah, God refers to Himself twice, as the Living Water. (Jeremiah 2:9-13; 17:12-14). In Zechariah 14:8, God declares, “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem.” And that He will be King over all the earth.
6. In Revelation 22:1-2, we have this picture of the throne of God, and the river of life flowing, with the tree of life on either side providing for the nations. I want to read from Revelation 7:17 which I believe is a refence to Psalm 23. After we go ‘through the valley of the shadow of death’, we come to a place of ‘Calm Waters.’
7. Revelation 7:17 says this, “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” Amen. Of course, in the Gospel of John:4, we have an account of Jesus speaking with a woman at the well, and Jesus tells her that He is thirsty and He asks her for a drink, but His true desire is to give her water. Let’s read from John 4:13, “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
8. And in John 7, Jesus clarifies what ‘Living Water’ really is. In John 7:37-39, “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.” (That means the, ‘Living Water’ is inside of us.) “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
9. We need water for life, but we need ‘Living Water’ for spiritual life. And Jesus is very clear, that ‘Living Water’ is the Holy Spirit. And so, today what I want to do is talk about that living water and I want to use the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt into Israel. The journey of the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, is the story our salvation.
10. The New Testament teaches us that there are multiple baptisms. Where do you baptize people here pastor Gail? In the sea, hallelujah. The Beautiful Aegean sea. How wonderful, that’s got to be almost as good as the Jordan. So many Americans who travel to Israel, they want to be baptized in the Jordan. Because that must make you holier. But it’s not the water that washes away our sins. It’s the Living Water that we need. All of us need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
11. So, we know about John’s baptism, when we’re baptized in water, in repentance. But John told us that there’s another baptism, and there was another Baptizer. His name is Jesus. And that’s what we read about in Acts 2, that God gave us the Living Water. And His promise is that our children would drink of that as well.
12. The third baptism, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, into the Church, where God plunges us into the body of Christ and we become part of His family. And so, as the Israelites were delivered out of slavery, the first baptism they experienced was crossing the Red Sea. The Egyptian army was encroaching, they were behind them. The people were terrified, they thought they would die, but God made a way for them, where there was no way. And God does the same thing for us. There was no way for us to get to heaven, but God made a way, and He parted the sea, and the Israelites walked through on dry ground and they were delivered from slavery to freedom – from death to life – from hopelessness to hope. And as the enemy chased after them, as the last Israelite stepped onto the shore, the waters came back together and destroyed all the Egyptians.
13. What a beautiful picture of our salvation. That our sins are forever behind us. The devil has been drowned and there’s nothing in our past that can destroy us. But immediately the Israelites found themselves in the desert and if you’ve ever been in the desert, you know what it’s like to be thirsty.
14. I used to camp every year in the desert in California, in a place called death valley. They’ve recorded temperatures as high as 140 degrees Fahrenheit or 60 degrees Celsius. You can put a pan out on the ground, and cook an egg with no fire. And that’s where my parents used to take me on vacation. I may need some prayer. So, I know what it’s like to be thirsty. And so the Israelites are in the desert, and they are free; they are no longer slaves, but they are dying of thirst.
15. And so, what does the Lord do? He speaks to Moses, and miraculously brings Living Water out of a rock. Could that perhaps be a picture of Jesus? That He Himself is not only the source of our salvation, but He is the sustainer of our life. It’s incredible when we start looking at this picture. If the Red Sea was a baptism of repentance, the rock represents God’s supernatural provision.
16. Jesus is not just the event of salvation, He’s also the process. It is where we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We begin to think like God thinks. We begin to desire what God desires. We begin to believe what God believes. You see, we are transformed by that Living Water. We begin to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I love that word ‘Fruit’, which is accurately translated like the fruit that we eat, but that word also means ‘The Fruit of the Children that we bear’.
17. We are not just the sweet food, of the Holy spirit, but we are the sons and the daughters, we are the fruit of God. It’s not just something that we have, it’s who we are becoming. I don’t just have patience, I am patience. I don’t just have faithfulness, because He lives in me, I am faithfulness. Love and joy and peace, if you know the Lord, when you walk into a room, love has arrived. When pastor Gail walks into a room, you know that joy has arrived, peace has arrived, gentleness has arrived. It’s who we are, because it’s who He is. Amen.
18. See, as they walked through the wilderness, they took their eyes off of the Lord, and every time things got difficult, they wanted to go back. And how many believers, who are genuinely saved, keep looking back, instead of pressing ahead.
19. There was the guy in the Bible, his name was Paul. I think you may know him; he may have spent some time in this region, he said, ‘This one thing I do, I forget what’s behind, and I press forward to what’s ahead.’ (Philippians 3:13-14). What’s ahead for us Church? There’s more healing. There’s more freedom. There’s more wisdom. There’s more anointing. There are more miracles. There’s more ministry. But if we keep looking behind, we’re going to miss what’s ahead.
20. See, when we have a slave mentality, always looking back, but never remembering. Like, let’s go back to Egypt. We had fish and garlic, and onions, and probably bad breath. Forget the slave drivers, forget the oppression, forget all those horrible things. Because they lost sight of what was ahead. And we’ve got to keep our eyes. There was a generation who died wandering in the wilderness. Did you know that as a Christian, you can be saved, and die wandering in the wilderness. You’re going to heaven, you’re going to spend forever with Jesus, but you can miss the fullness, of what God has for you, right here, right now.
21. God has a plan for our lives, and because of their unbelief, an entire generation died in the desert. And it was God’s plan for them to possess the Promised Land. But they kept looking back, they lost the opportunity. So, God raised another generation.
22. So, I want to talk about the third baptism. Often, we talk about it as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Biblically, it’s the baptism of Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. The baptism of John was in water, the baptism of Jesus is in the Holy Spirit. And when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, people get saved. Lives get changed. Miracles start happening, and that’s what we need. As a matter of fact, the last thing Jesus said after spending three and a half years training the apostles, after resurrecting from the grave and appearing to people, the last thing He said was, ‘Wait here, you are not ready,’ because you need the Holy Spirit.
23. And so, some people were gathered together in an upper room, it’s OK that we’re in the lower room, God can still come here, and I believe today He’s going to do that. And they were praying, they were together in unity and they were crying out, ‘Fill us Jesus! Pour out the Living Water.’ And all of a sudden, this sound of a storm came, a mighty rushing wind. Thank God for air conditioning. And the Holy Spirit entered the building, and nothing was ever the same.
24. Did you know that the same God that did that 2000 years ago, can do that today. You know what was interesting in that moment, people were gathered from many different nations, and God said, ‘Now!’ I’m looking around this room, and there are so many nations. If God were to pour out His Spirit today like that, how many nations would be changed?
25. See, I believe when they crossed the Jordan, it was representative of that third baptism, they came into their inheritance to possess the Promised Land. And I know a lot of good Christians, who believe that that represents death. That we’re just waiting around to die, and then we get all the good things. But if that was the plan, that this life was just a waiting game, that’s really kind of mean. Because if God really loved us, and that’s all He had for us, then the moment that we receive Jesus, the ‘kind’ thing would be for us to die. Or maybe Enoch, or Elijah, chariots of fire, but no. We are in this world, but we are not of this world. We live in Countries, but we are citizens of the Kingdom, because God has a plan for our lives. And that plan is to pour Living Water into you, that will become rivers that flow through you and touch those lives around you.
26. Jesus said that when you receive the Living Water, then you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8). And this morning I believe that Jesus wants to pour our Living Water, that He wants to fill us, to overflowing.
27. I heard a pastor say this, ‘The book of Acts, is a record of the exploits of the Holy Spirit’. Everything that happened in between prayer meetings and I believe if we will pray today, and out of desperation ask for Living Water, that God will answer from heaven. Throughout the book of Acts, one of the questions the disciples and the apostles asked, ‘Have you received the Holy Spirit?’ In a sense have you drank in the Living Water, and so many people said, ‘We didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit.’
28. I grew up in a church, that didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit. We would sing hymns and we would sing the first, second and fourth stanza. For my American friends, any of you remember you always left out the third chorus. Anybody remember that? Do you know why? Because the third chorus always talks about the Holy Spirit. Father, Son and, quietly, Holy Spirit. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the … Why? The Holy Spirit is our source of life. Jesus said that we were powerless without Him. The early church was dependent on the Holy Spirit.
29. Read the book of Acts. They were filled and refilled, and refilled, and so, this morning, for six more minutes it’s still morning, we can be filled for the very first time. If you’ve never asked God for the Living Water, today you can receive the baptism of Jesus. And if you’ve experienced the Living Water before, Jesus has a fresh bottle waiting for you.
30. And so, I want you to understand, Living Water is not a ‘what’ it’s a ‘Who.’ The Living Water we need is the Holy Spirit. I want to read from John 3:5-8 and then we’re going to pray. “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
31. This morning, I believe we have an opportunity to have a fresh drink. (Pastor Michael drinks from a bottle of water.) Do you want a little bit of the Holy Spirit or do you want all of Him? I’m going to ask the folks I’m travelling with from Virginia, North Carolina to come forward. If you want prayer this morning for a drink of Living Water, we want to pray for you. For any of the Leaders, Gail, Brian if you have any instructions. You don’t need more information; you need an impartation of the Holy Spirit. I’ve said a lot of words today, but one touch from God can change everything. So, I just want to invite you, if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, if you want to drink of Living Water, I just want to invite you to come forward, and to allow some of these folks to pray with you. Thank you so much.