Mother's Day - Forsaken fountains and broken cisterns
Chris Fluitt
Welcome to Redemption Church. We are gathered here in person in the lovely city of Plano, Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt and I am happy to welcome everyone in the room and everyone watching online.
Happy Mother's Day
Today is a special day! Today is Mother's day! Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers joining us today.  
Let's hear for the mom's; join me in clapping our hands and thanking God for our moms.
It is very Biblical to honor your mother & father. In fact it is one of the 10 commandments.  The Apostle Paul points this out about this commandment...
Ephesians 6:2-3(NIV) “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

To honor your mother & your father is the first commandment with a promise. Honoring your parents will bring blessing into your life.
Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day & Father's day can be wonderful days where you remember who brought you into the world; who cared for you when you were most vulnerable, and who raised you - instilling values into your life. Yet, not everyone has great memories of their birth parents. Some people struggle with this day. Some may remember an abusive parent, a destructive parent, a parent who abandoned them...
If this is you today I want to pray for you and encourage you to find a way to honor the person that brought you into this world. At the very least, you had a mother who carried you and gave birth to you. Find a way to honor that gift.
I am not saying that you act like they are representative of the perfect mom. I am saying that you find a way to honor any good she may have done.
Pray
Please turn with me in Scripture to Jeremiah 2.
In preparing for this message there were 2 scriptures I just could not get away from.  Have you ever wanted to do one thing but God insisted you do another? I wanted to give you a nice fluffy pillow sermon about the care of a mother. I do believe there is a time and place for that, but I also feel particularly alarmed at our world and I feel lead to tell you that we really don't need many ‘fluffy’ sermons now days. 
I think we are need of some "sound the alarm" sermons.  I believe we need some "light a fire and be resolute" sermons. And as I prepared this message I could not get away from these strong words from the Lord in Jeremiah 2:12-13.
Jeremiah 1:12-13(NIV) Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

I want to talk to you today about forsaken fountains and broken cisterns.
Forsaken Fountains & Broken Cisterns
There are 2 sins that will cause heaven to be appalled and shudder with great horror.  Doesn't that get your attention? Imagine all of heaven shuddering with horror. What a picture that paints.
What are these 2 sins?
1.	Forsaking God, the spring/fountain/well of living water.
2.	Digging your own broken cisterns.
We likely understand what a well is. A well is a water source straight from the earth. Under the ground there are actually rivers and this is some of the most clean natural water you can find. A well is able to draw water straight from this source.
God is this spring of living water. God is the source of all life.
Isaiah 12 prophecies of Jesus, that He is the well of salvation.
Isaiah 12:3 (NIV)With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Jeremiah 2:13 says that one of the 2 sins that causes heaven to shudder in horror is the rejection of God, the living water.
Jesus tells us in Luke 15:7 that heaven rejoices over 1 sinner who repents. Heaven comes alive with celebration when one person gets ahold of the well of living water, the source of all life, God almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ.
...And here we have a scripture that says heaven shudders when a person rejects, forsakes, walks away from, and willingly disobeys God - the living water.
Lord I do not want to forsake you. I want to embrace you. I want to exalt your name Jesus. You are the living water. You are my source.
The 2nd sin that causes heaven to shudder is believers digging their own cisterns.
Jeremiah 1:12-13(NIV) Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

We need to understand what a cistern is.
Cisterns
A cistern is a receptacle for catching and holding rainwater. The rainwater would collect and the cistern would hold the water so people could draw from the collected water.
A cistern is a temporary water source. It requires water to be placed within it. 
Jeremiah 2 says that they have forsaken God as their source and have instead built their own cisterns, but the cisterns are broken and cannot hold water.
Heaven shudders in horror when we forsake the fount of God, the true source of living water, and instead build broken cisterns in an effort to collect our own life source.

On mother's day 2021, I want to tell you that our world needs mothers who draw from the well of God, and not the broken cisterns of our culture.
Only God is the true source of living water, everything else is a broken cistern.
Materialism is a broken cistern. Our world is over-run with the idea that we are only as valuable as our possessions. This is a broken cistern that does not hold water. How many famous millionaire suicides does it take for you to realize materialism is not the source of life you are looking for?
Riches are broken cisterns.  It is hard to think of anything less certain than the value of a dollar, the stock market, the bit-coin crypto currency... People who pour themselves into the stock market will jump out of the window when the great depression starts.
The ‘social comparison’ trap is a broken cistern.  Taking hours to craft the perfect instagram picture complete with insipid hash tags like #bestlifenow... and then spending the rest of the day following how many likes, shares, and comments you receive.  There is no life in it.  Worrying about what other's think about you will only lead you to more and more worry. It is no source for your life.
Addictions are a broken cistern.  Pour your money and time in... Go ahead a risk your relationships for one more hit... It will not hold water. It will only leave you empty and wanting more.
Politics is a broken cistern. Much of our social justice pursuits are broken cisterns. Politics and the latest social war only seem to divide us more and more. The more you watch the news, the sadder and more anxious you are. It is because political debate is a broken cistern. It does not matter how much you pour into this cistern, it does not hold water.
Religious tradition is a broken cistern. It might surprise you to hear a pastor say that, but I think you know deep down that it is true. The idea that we belong to this group and we will always do things like we have always done... the people across the street are that other group and we can't stand them, because they don't do things just like us... they are obviously wrong and we are obviously right, because... well we need to be right. Church of the sour grapes... Church of the judgmental Pharisee... Church of the bigger & bigger multi-million dollar building... Church of the pat yourself on the back... Church of the broken cistern... Definitely not the church of Living Water - Jesus Christ!  
Human wisdom & human might are broken cisterns. I have seen the healthiest people fall over dead. I have seen the most intelligent make the dumbest mistakes. 
I have been around myself long enough to realize I, too, am a broken cistern. Church does not come to me for the living water. I am not the source.
The worst thing I can do is to minister to you from my cistern...
The worst thing I can do as a husband is to serve my wife from my cistern...
The worst thing I can do as a father is to draw from a broken and dry cistern...

Seek the True Source, not the cistern

I don't want just any water. I want to get living water straight from Its source.
We have been trying to sustain ourselves on polluted puddles, when there is a fountain of living water available to us. 
It is difficult to go a mother's day without mentioning Hannah in 1 Samuel 1.  
Hannah was broken. She was married, but was barren. She could not have any children. No matter how she tried, she was never able to have a child. She felt empty like a broken cistern.
While with her husband to bring sacrifice to the Lord in the city of Shiloh, Hannah stood up and sought the living source.
1 Samuel 1:9-17(NIV)Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
 
Hannah stood up and she approached the house of the Lord. It says that the high priest Eli was at the door post of the Lord's house. No one but a priest (Levites) could have gone past this door post. She went as far as she could go...
Have you gone as far as you can go in seeking God? Are there still some steps you could take go draw nearer? If you are not willing to take those steps, you might forsake the fountain and just build your own cistern to collect the run-off. 
Hannah went all the way to that door-post and she began to pray. It says she was praying with her heart, her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. She was in such a state that although she had something to say, it was in her heart, it was formed by her lips... yet she did not have the strength to utter it with her voice.
The high priest Eli saw this... Did Eli commend her faith? Did Eli encourage her in her search for the source?
NO! Eli misunderstood her. Eli misrepresented her. Eli preached her the wrong sermon and told her to stop ‘hittin' the booze.  
If the high priest of the house of the Lord can misunderstand a person’s sincere search for God, then how much more can we in the Church misunderstand one another?
What Hannah did was unusual to Eli. He was used to people coming just to go through the motions; people drawing from the cistern of tradition.  Hannah sought the SOURCE! Hannah did not dig a cistern; she drew from fountains of living water.  She drew out a living miracle.
1 Samuel 1:9-17(NIV)So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Because Hannah sought the source, her son Samuel also sought the source. Samuel is one of the mightiest servants of God in all of scripture.  He was a judge, a prophet, and a high priest. 
Not only did Samuel seek the source... Samuel became a source for God.  God's Word flowed from Samuel. Miracles flowed from Samuel. Direction & wisdom flowed from Samuel.
Samuel did not just soak up the water... The living water of God flowed through him.
musician
Be a Source, not a cistern

Do more than just quote the latest sermon you heard, let the living Word flow in you & through you.
Do more than attend a church, BE THE CHURCH. Carry that life source wherever you go.
What is so shocking is that God - the source of Living Water, wants his source to flow through you and me.
We are called to be a source... not a cistern.
John 7:38-39(NIV)Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit...

Speaking of that same Living Water that is God, Jesus says it should flow from within you by the Spirit. 
When we are talking about the fountain of living water we are not talking about...
A location...
A tradition...
A denomination...
A building...
A piece of knowledge...

We are talking about God's Spirit living in you. He is the source and when He is in you, the source pours from you.

Mom & dad, may the power of Jesus flow from you...
Young people, may the living water flow from you..
Redemption Church, don't just invite them to a church service, take them some living water... Let it flow. 
Jeremiah 1:12-13(NIV) Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Have you forsaken the fountain?
Have you tried to build your own cisterns?
Is there a Hannah here today? Is there anyone who will go as far as they can go in God today?