Please be in prayer for our Officer Retreat this weekend.  Our guest speaker for the retreat and this Sunday will be Rev. Todd Pruitt of Covenant PCA in Harrisonburg, VA.  Todd has been the Pastor of Covenant since 2013.  Originally from Houston, he was raised Southern Baptist.  He’s a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and has served churches in Oklahoma, Kansas and Philadelphia.  Over a period of time he came to embrace the Reformed faith and has been a (mostly) happy Presbyterian ever since.  In his free time, Todd is a cohost of “The Mortification of Spin” podcast with Carl Trueman (https://www.reformation21.org/columns/mortification-of-spin) and writes for the 1517 blog (https://www.reformation21.org/columns/1517).  Since 1990, Todd has been married to Karen and they have three children and an internet loving dog named Jake.

Todd will be preaching on “If Anyone Thirsts” from John 7:37-39.  In this passage we’re told, “On the last day of the feast, the great day.”  Now to fully understand this passage, it’s necessary to understand what happens on the last and greatest day of the Feast.  The Feast of Tabernacles was a feast of thanksgiving to God for His provision for Israel while they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  Each day of the festival a priest took a great golden pitcher … went down to the pool of Siloam … and filled it with water.  He carried it back into the Temple through the Water Gate while all the people chanted Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”  The water was carried up to the great altar and poured out as an offering to God.  This was done over and over until the water overflowed from around the altar and ran out until it reached the people who surrounded the altar. 

The whole dramatic ceremony was a vivid thanksgiving for God’s good gifts of water in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 when the water sprang from the rock while Israel was traveling through the wilderness.  It was a reminder of their dependence on God … as well as serving to remind them that God would pour out His Spirit at the time of the Messiah!  This is the backdrop that Jesus uses in this passage.  I look forward to having Todd open it up for us this Sunday.  In turn, we will be taking time to pray for his ministry and his church as well.  It should be a great day, I’ll see you there, Dr. Dave