01—EXPLORING JESUS AND HIS REALM:  “Thirsty for a cup of tea?” (BY VATINA)  1-OCT-2020
I’m getting my cup of tea set up here. I’ve got my notes, and pen to write down new thoughts. And I’ve got you, sitting there ready to listen—like a tea cup ready to be filled. With my pen I pour out and fill the thirsty, the cold, and the forlorn. I know those are the ones I fill, because the full and the empty who aren’t thirsty or cold or in need don’t want anything I have to offer. 
But you sit there ready to listen. And why do you listen to little, simple, ignorant me, who doesn’t know anything unless I’ve learned it from the Lord? Because you want to “learn of Him” too, just like I have done. 
Matthew 1:29—"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
You can get a lot of these lessons of life for yourself, right from Jesus’ Spirit. You don’t have get these sips from the cup I pour, in the flavour it comes when His hot water is poured into my little humble clay pot, that always needs a refill.  But isn’t it nice that we get to sit together, to sip His tea that will warm us both? It’s pleasant and can fill another need—the need for friendship and togetherness. Right? 
So let’s get started. As you can see I’ve already brought out a lesson from the items here. But there is more I want to explore with you. But before we go on, shall we also share a breath of prayer to Jesus. Why don’t you say something from your heart just to Him, and I’ll do the same. 
(Pause for personal prayer and praise)
Well, now that we’ve touched the King, now let’s see what He might want to show us from this little precious promise: 
Hosea 3:5 — “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”
There has always got to be a returning. “In returning and rest shall ye be saved” it says in Isaiah 30:15.
Here is another passage on “turning” to the Lord. It’s a prayer asking for the Lord to turn us around so we can be facing Him again, and not walking off in to the darkness. 
Psalm 80:7—"Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”
So why do we want to face Him, turn to Him? Right! So we can be saved.
It says it in Revelation 2:5 “and repent, and do the first works”; that is to turn again. To be granted Salvation, that is to be saved in a special way—not just from some mishap while on Earth, but really saved and rescued and saved for God’s use, forever. The people God created need to “repent”. They need to want Jesus more than their old past lives and the sin and darkness. They need Jesus to cast it all away like a stone sinks into the ocean.
Otherwise, you’ll sink into the sea of death. So you want Jesus to pick you up, and save you, like it says in this passage from Psalms:  “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” (Psalm 18:16)
Did you notice a little word within that word “repent” that sounds a bit like “pant”. And that reminds some of you of that lovely description of a person’s earnest desire for the Words of Jesus, like a thirsty hart. It’s spelt differently than a heart that a person has in their soul. This verse is talking about a type of deer with antlers. This is one of those special little puns included in the written Word of the Lord. Be like a thirsty hart. Jesus will satisfy your thirsty heart. 
Psalm 42:1-2—"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
If you hunger and thirst after Jesus’ Words—the Word of God—those “wonderful words of life” that He wants to tell you right now, here and now, even while I’m talking with you, then you will be filled. 
Psalm 143:6—"I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.”
Matthew 5:6—"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
But you have to be thirsty, and you have to be hungry and longing for something other than the froth and silly things this world tries to offer. Those are the ones who truly get filled. 
This cup of tea that you are sharing with me won’t do you a bit of good, unless, as the apostle Paul says, it
“…is received with thanksgiving” and “sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.” (See 1 Timothy 4:4-5)
Think of “sanitize”, cleanse, and that helps you understand “sanctified”. Something that is made clean and special for the Lord to use. He likes His vessels to be clean. And to wash them up sometimes He needs to turn things upside down for a bit.
Oh, did you hear the word “turn”? Does that sound like “return”? Here’s what Jesus said about dishwashing, and how to do it right. He knows how to make things clean. After all, that’s why Jesus was on Earth, so we could all be clean.
2 Kings 21:13— “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down”.
Matthew 23:25-26— “…ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess…. cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
As we just read in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, we see that we can be cleaned through what? 
--Praising God, letting His Word cleanse you, and praying. 
And I’ll give you a tip, when you praise Jesus for His Word, and are really happy to imbibe, or to drink it in, then it does you a whole lot more good. If you want to have something delicious, see what Jesus has to say to you right now. He’ll speak to the hearts and souls that are hungry and thirsty, and clean. 
Sometimes a bit of a scrub with the already recorded and written Word can clear things out; and some good prayer time where you tell Jesus that you want to get back into full and clear communication with Him again. You tell Him that you don’t want to hold on to your bad thoughts any longer. (You know those thoughts that echo in your head telling you how poor things are for you, and how bad everyone around you is being.) You don’t want to dirty your mind and smearing your vision with the dirt and mistakes of others. Tell Jesus that You don’t want to be keeping your eyes on the wrongs. You instead you really want to look at Jesus, and take good clean shower.
Then He comes and talks to you about those things that are troubling you, and He walks you right out of the garden of weeds and into His fruit and berry patch. You sit down for a fresh and fun picnic with Jesus, when He is allowed to speak special words right to you, right then. He’ll “pick” just what is right to share with you. 
Is there another “4:4” numbered first in the Bible that comes to mind when you think of eating, and God’s Word? Did you think of Matthew 4:4 like I did? Let’s read it: "But [Jesus] answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
So the best, ultimate nourishment any of us can take in is the fresh, warming, live-giving Words Jesus wants to speak to our hearts, right here and right now. And since we have to be clean to receive it fresh from Jesus, then we can review or listen to the written words of the Lord first. These act as a good washing agent. That opens up the eyes of your mind to see and hear the latest information, and heart stirring concepts that bring you right up to date and get you active for the Lord. 
The written words of the Lord those He “has spoken” can clean you, as it says here:
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3)
And the new fresh Word of God, spoke by His alive Spirit that is always ready to speak, brings life and joy to us. Here you see in this next passage that it’s talking about the Word of God that will still be spoken to His disciples even after Jesus would ascend up to Heaven. His living words; those that He “speaks”, anytime, all the time.
John 6:62-62—"What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
So keep drinking in the life-giving, heart-warming words from Jesus, today, right now!