Spiritual Water for the Soul...Sermons and Commentaries: Volume 1

By Rev. Ruth Saunders

This book and the series to follow reveal who God is through biblical and personal references, in response to a question posed by my deacon friend: Who is God? After a brief pause, my response was, How much time do you have? I knew he wanted a deeper answer than the typical: He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and The Great I Am. These writings are an attempt to provide simplified answers to the very complex question: Who is God?

God is revealed in his written Word, the Bible, through his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and through the lives of believers. God is in his Word and he is in his works, but God is spirit and he can only be discerned spiritually. We cannot see him with the natural eye.

You will find a blessing within these pages just for you. I not only dare you, but invite you to consume, digest, and ingest the messages contained within the covers of this book.

--Samuel B. McKinney D Min, DD, DHL Pastor Emeritus, Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle, Washington

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490861258

Rev. Ruth Saunders

Rev. Ruth Saunders is founder of It Takes a Village Ministry, an associate pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington, and co-host with Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney of The Truth Radio Broadcast Ministry aired on Sundays over ztwins.com radio stations.

Book preview

SPIRITUAL

WATER FOR

THE SOUL…

SERMONS AND

COMMENTARIES

Volume 1

Rev. Ruth Saunders

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Copyright © 2014 Rev. Ruth Saunders.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6125-8 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/26/2014

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Purpose

Epigraph

Foreword

Word Of The Lord

Jesus Of Nazareth: Fulfillment Of Prophecy

Christmas: The Birth Of Jesus

The Importance Of Training: The Story Of Daniel

Education: The Key To Ending Poverty

Humility: The Key To God’s Blessings

Betrayal

After The Resurrection Of Jesus

True Love And Forgiveness

Baptism With The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit

Benediction

About The Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my husband, John; my children, John and Valyncia; my granddaughter, Tre; my niece, Malika Bennett; my cousin Priscilla Hailey; my friends Naomi Peete and Theresa Taylor; and all who have encouraged me to write and publish books. Thank you so much for your prayers. I pray this genesis is the beginning of a series of books I have been called by God to write. May God richly bless each of you and keep you in perfect peace always.

This book is also dedicated posthumously to my mother, Willie Mae Anderson, my sister, Connie Bennett-Cameron, my mother-in-law, Louise Crawford Jones, and my deacon friend, Royce Rice, who inspired me to answer the question: Who is God?

My mother and sister, in particular, were huge proponents of education and service to those in need in our communities. Therefore, the proceeds from the sale of this book will support the purchase of materials and resources for the education, training and development of disadvantaged and underserved youth, and to assist disadvantaged and underserved senior citizens.

INTRODUCTION

This is the first of what is to be a series of books consisting of a compilation of sermons, commentary and prophecies of God’s written and spoken word.

All Biblical material is taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated. Readers are encouraged to cross reference using other versions of the Bible for greater clarity and understanding of the scriptures. Sermons and commentary are taken from those delivered in person or as a part of The Truth radio broadcast, which airs on Sunday mornings on the Heaven Bound Train over AM Radio stations: KRIZ/KZIZ/KYIZ (1420/1620/1560, Renton/Seattle/Tacoma, WA, respectively) and KBMS (1480, Portland, OR). It also is streamed on the web at ztwins.com.

The rainbow on the cover of this book represents God’s visible sign of his covenant with Noah never to destroy the earth by water again. The rainbow symbolizes God’s never-ending love for humankind. God is love and His love endures forever. Like the rainbow, God is glorious, amazing and altogether magnificent, and like the rainbow God has no beginning or end. He just IS, has been and will be forever!

Please take your time; pray, read, pray some more, meditate and enjoy! To God be the glory!

PURPOSE

The purpose of this book and the series to follow is to show who God is through Biblical and personal references in response to the question posed by my deacon friend who asked me at a prayer meeting once, Who is God? After a brief pause, my response was, How much time do you have? I knew he wanted a deeper answer than the typical: He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and The Great I Am. These writings are an attempt to provide simplified answers to the very complex question: Who is God?

God is revealed in His written Word, The Bible, through his only begotten Son, Jesus, Christ, and through the lives of believers. I invite you to see God as you read his Word. God is in his Word and he is in his works, but God is spirit and he can only be discerned spiritually. We cannot see him with the natural eye. God is like the wind in that we cannot see him but we can see and feel what he does. Unlike the wind, God can move through physical walls and barriers. We can take shelter to get away from the wind but we cannot get away from God. God sees. God hears. God knows.

Rev. 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev. 22: 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

References: All scriptures, except where the New International Version (NIV) is noted are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible from Bible Gateway.

Read more at https://www.biblegateway.com

EPIGRAPH

"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? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, where is thy God?" Psalm 42

Psalm 42 describes the soul’s need for Spiritual Water. The Word of God is holy and powerful. It is both food and water for the soul. Just as the natural body needs natural water to function and sustain life so does the soul need spiritual water to function and thrive. God made humans a little lower than angels giving us body and soul. Our all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present Father, God, made us wonderfully and wondrously.

The Word of God is to the soul what natural water is to the body. Like the natural body thirsts for water so does the soul thirst for the Word of God, which satisfies that thirst and refreshes, cleanses, purifies and restores the soul for optimum performance. This spiritual water comes through God’s written and spoken Word. It fills us and cleanses and purifies our souls as we learn to give and receive love, forgiveness, grace, mercy and justice. As we consume his Word through prayer, preaching, teaching and studying the Holy Bible, we grow closer to God and our souls are filled with his Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Water for The Soul is a series of expositions of God’s Word through commentary and sermons, which are interchangeable as one or the other and designed to engage the reader in prayer and a fervent study of God’s Word.

My prayer is that those who read this series will find themselves on a spiritual retreat where the mind, body and soul will be refreshed, renewed, strengthened and ready to serve.

FOREWORD

In the past almost ten years the Reverend Fannie Ruth Saunders and I have jointly produced the weekly program known as "The