Genesis 26 and verse number 12. We have looked at... in the fact that he found himself in a place settled where he shouldn't have been settled at. Yes, he was in the right place, but he shouldn't have settled down there where he was. So, let's pick up there. He's gotten things right. He's confessed it. He's admitted to who he is and who belongs to him. And then in verse number 12 it begins, Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold. and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great. For he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him. For all the whales, which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Giar, and dwelt there. Same word though, he settled in this valley again. And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of springing water. and the herdman of Giard strive with Isaac's herdman, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Essek, which means contention, because they strove with him. And they dug another well and strove for that also, and called the name of it Sitna, which means hatred. And he removed from thence and dug another well, and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth, which means spacious or room. And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up from thence to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared unto him that same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." And notice what he does for the first time in quite some time. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Giar, and Ahuzza, one of his friends, and Phichol, the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they have said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee, and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt. And we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace, thou art now the blessed of the Lord. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up quickly in the morning, and swore one to another. And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said unto him, We have found water. and he called it Sheba therefore the name of the city is Beersheba under this day or that is well of oath as we look at this we pray the Lord tonight will grant unto us an understanding of these things and that we can apply them to our life today we see what happened As we mentioned this morning, Isaac was doing that which was contrary to the will of God. He settled down and God hadn't blessed him. He was blessed in the fact of who he was and what he was about, but yet he was living a deceptive life at that time, and as a result thereof, he was fruitless and he was living in fear, and he settled in that and compromised before the Lord. But when those things were dealt with, and he got that right, God blessed him. And the Scripture says that he sowed in that same year, and he reaped a hundredfold harvest. And God made him great, and he became so great there was a battle between the servants, and he began to uncover some wells. Now why did he have to uncover the well? Because when Abraham died, who actually dug these wells himself, each of these wells, the Bible makes it clear that there were more than just one well that Abraham dug, there were the wells that Abraham's servants had dug, when abraham died and left that area what happened is the philistines went the enemies of god in essence went and took dirt or earth and threw it over the water over the whale so they couldn't access the water but when isaac comes along and god's expanding him in growing him what he would do would go and big are literally uncover a whale that his father had already done this remove the earth off of it and that would be life sustaining water within the well. He did what he was supposed to be doing, providing water for his servants and his family. And that's some things we want to look at tonight as a well digger, as someone who's on mission for God, doing God's work, knowing that God is already at work in the hearts of men. He's already dealing with people. We just come along as well diggers, uncovering what the enemies of this old world we live in have just thrown some dirt on some old wells. It's a great picture of revival. that from church to church that we go to, we see ourselves as well diggers. As a matter of fact, when I pastored Mount Hoare Baptist Church in Meridian, at all on these principles and i'm shovel one of those little bitty shovels y'all promising those little bitty shovel about you a big and i took and i burned on that uh... shovel well diggers and on the back of it i put seven principles of what it means to be a well bigger which we will look at those tonight on the back of that shovel what we did is that we at the back of the door of the church we hung it up right above the door and above it there was a pick i got a small pick about you a b and the pick always stayed there Because the pick always represented the fact that while we had a team out on the mission field, it took people like the rest of us that were left behind to be in prayer for them, because you just don't uncover a well or go dig a well with ease. Well digging's hard work, amen? Now, we don't have big old tractors like David Bryan and can move earth like that. They had to do it by hand in those days. And some of y'all remember digging by hand. Greg, didn't you tell me the other day you used a lever track hoe this past week? Is that what you're saying? Asked me if I've ever seen one before. I said, I don't remember seeing a one lever. He said, yeah, you have. I said, what kind? He said, you know the kind you put down, put your foot on and push in the ground? You know, a shovel, that kind? He dug all for two days with a shovel. He was talking about his hands, how his hands were sore and hurting him from using that shovel. Well digging is a very difficult task, and so is the ministry of doing the mission work that God's called us to do. And we need to be in prayer for one another, breaking up fallow ground, doing what God's called us to do. You got them keys, Stephanie? Bring them over. But this is what we would do. When a mission team would go off, they would take that shovel with them. And while they were on the mission field, whoever was the team leader always kept the shovel with him. And it always represent that we're well diggers on mission uncovering wells for God's glory. And they would reiterate those principles that we're going to look at. And each one of those that went on a mission field, when we commissioned them and sent them out, I gave them one of these little bitty gold shovels here to always remember that they were well diggers. And that well-digging that God's called us to is what a delight it is, but it's also difficult, and it's something that we've got to discipline ourselves for to be well-diggers. So let's look at some of these principles. Number one, if you want to write these down. to be a well digger you gotta have the mind of a well digger the mind of a well digger now what kind of mind do you have to have you and I as well diggers the mind that we have to have is a mind to tap in to a source that is already been dug a source that is already been dug if you notice we have four wells that these cervids uncovered But all they did was tap in, Sandy, to the wells that Abraham's servants had already dug out and prepared. Now, the neat thing about it is that they did not rename any of these wells. The Scripture teaches us that whatever Abraham named them, because Abraham went through the same struggle that Isaac went through, there was contention, there was trouble, there was problems, and they kept spreading out. They finally get to a place that is wide and roomful, and they get to Beersheba to dig that well, and they find that they make a covenant one with another, and it's a well of oath that they make between the Philistines and the people of God. But to have the mind of a well digger is that we're going in to tap into a source that the Father is already at work at. When we go and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we go preach praying that God is already at work in the hearts of the people that we're going to preach to. Amen? That is the objective. That we see it over and over again. How many times when you go out on a visitation, or on a mission field, or at work, or however it is, and you plan on sharing the message of Jesus with somebody, how many of you pray before you go? Goes without question, doesn't it? Why? You're asking God to already be stirring in the hearts and moving people to conviction so that the gospel would have room to work and God would break up fallow ground. Because if God doesn't work, There won't be no work, amen? There won't be anything accomplished. So what we see here in these principles is that this is exactly what Isaac did. He didn't go out and try to reinvent the wheel. All he did was tap into what his father was already doing. And you see, in our culture today, everybody's trying to reinvent the wheel and do things different to appeal to people, trying to preach another gospel, other messages, doing other things, rather than just letting God work, using you to work, and just go uncover. There's some world laid on top of people's lives that God's called you and me to go in and do the difficult work and watch Him remove some of that dirt and tap into a source of life that's already there, that the Spirit of God is already at work in somebody's heart. And we just take part of the harvest that God is doing. Isn't that what Paul said? Some water, some seed, some plant seed, some sow, some water. But he who sows and he who waters, the Bible describes as being what? They're nothing, huh? The God who what? Gives the increase. Amen. Who gives the harvest. God is everything. and he has to be at work as brother Shannon and I was talking when he left is that God's the one has to put the water in the ground, amen? It doesn't matter how far you dig, how deep you dig, where you dig, if there's not a source of life in there, you can dig all day or for months or days and there won't be no water in a well. Now, can you build an area that water can fill up? Yes, you can. But if there's a spring there, if there's a fountain there, God had to put it there, amen? So we tap into the source. That is the mind of a well digger, that we are not in this work by ourselves. Somebody else has done something ahead of us, and somebody's at work before us. All we're doing is going in and participating as co-laborers with the Lord, tapping into a source that He's already at work in, just taking and removing some dirt so that people can be rescued by Him. Amen? There's a few things in the Word of God that talks about wells or fountains. As a matter of fact, turn to Proverbs. Look in Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10, verse 11. Proverbs 10, 11 says, if you're there, say amen. The mouth of the righteous man is what? A fountain or a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. Now, what is the word violence? When you think of the word violence, what does violence normally create? When people are violent, they normally create something. What do they create? They create trouble, no doubt. The idea, when somebody does create trouble, what do they normally, what's the outcome of that trouble? Damage. destruction. So the Bible says in the mouth of the righteous there's a well of life-giving water, something to give away. But on the mouth of the wicked or the ungodly, those who are not belong to the Lord, what's inside of them? What comes off of them? that which is destructive that which is damaging that which is the will harm or trouble or hurt and what we find in that is that this is what happens a lot of times in the people that we're going to we're going to encounter those people who are are nothing but trouble they're nothing but but damaging they destructive i mean if you do he did their cancer that they gave you you had it down the wrong path and then all it's going to do is hurt you but you're gonna come across some people for whom god has already been at work dealing with in their life and there's been something selling them and something water to them but there's been some water there's been some world something dirt has been thrown on a whale and it's you and i don't have to have the discernment how to uncover that whale so for what reason so that that well of life can be released out of him again. You see, that is what revival is. Revival is the removal of that which is causing spiritual death so that the life-giving flow of Christ can be released out of his people. That's the essence of what revival is. So that Christ can be released out of his people. Living water can flow out of his people. And a lot of times we find ourselves with a little dirt on the well. And we need somebody to come along and help get the dirt off, amen? Uncover a well. Look in Proverbs 13, 14. 13, 14 says, the law of the wise is what? A fountain of life. Or we can say that the law of the wise is what? A source of life. A source. to depart from the snares of death." Look at 18.4, Proverbs 18.4. The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. The wellspring of wisdom like a flowing brook. Man, that's pretty good descriptions, isn't it? Look in 16.22. understanding is a wellspring of life to him that have it but the instructions of fools is what? folly so we see that as being righteous belonging to the Lord as a new creature in Christ Jesus there should be life-giving water that's flowing out of us, amen? but when it's not there's a reason we've allowed this old world to throw some dirt on a well and we need it uncovered and we have to have the mindset of a well bigger that wherever we go god's will put us in contact with people who had some covered whales and you and i gotta help them the dirt and tap into the source that we didn't be that i have a father's day We don't get the glory for these things. All we're doing is tapping into the source. Having the mind of a well-doer. Let's look at a couple of New Testament passages. Go to John 4. John 4. The Gospel of John. Chapter number 4. Y'all recall there was a woman who was at the... Where? The woman that was at the well? Look in verse number 13. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water that was at that well shall what? thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst but the water that i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into what everlasting life a life giver amen the source of life go to john seven john seven Look in verse number 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow what? Now we're going from a fountain of a spring to a You see, a fountain or a spring is able to supply water to an individual or to a family or possibly even a community. But a river, my friend, supplies water to a nation or to a country. Amen? You see the significance of how this grows, that when He taps into a well and He digs a well within us and He gives us life-giving water, it's for us and those that immediately surround us. But when we are filled with the Spirit of God, because this is the reference of being filled with the Spirit, notice in verse 39, but this spake he of the Spirit which they had not they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified so just having the very foundation of the life of Christ is the well of life a life spring of water a source of life but having us filled with the Spirit goes way beyond that that we can supply living water to nations and to a country for the glory of God. Boy, you see how we limit ourselves so much, amen, in these days? You see why it's important that we've got to have a mind, the mindset of a well-digger if we're going to accomplish this. We need to know who we are and what's available unto us and our task that is laid before us to actually see these things unfold in our life. On your way back to Genesis, stop in Isaiah 12 in verse number 3. Why is this vital for us? Notice what he says in regards to the day of grace, in which we're talking about here. Isaiah 12, let's just start in verse number 1. Isaiah 12, verse number 1. And in that day, it's a prophetic day, talking about a day of grace a day that is to come vouchsafed say all order are praised the i will praise the though now was angry with me nine anger is turned away and al comforted me behold god is my salvation i will trust and not be afraid for the lord jehovah is my strength and my song he also is become my salvation the watch verse three therefore with joy shall we draw water out of the whales of salvation amen now and who are these whales of salvation we are believers are that's right you're exactly right believers are the whales of salvation and he says that in that day of grace there will be a distinct thing about us that we will draw water from one another's way And if I know that my brother or sister is a believer, but I'm not drawing water from that well, I've got to have the mind of a well digger. I've got to tap into that source. I've got to help remove some dirt. Amen? I've got to help them get some dirt off of their life because they ought to be supplying me with living water. ought to be drinking all for their life. Not the resources of this world, not the thinking of this world, not the elements of this society that we live in that doesn't factor God in it. I'm talking about we should be drinking the very tapped in to the living water of the throne of God. We ought to be hearing from the Lord from one another. Amen? And this applies to every blood-bought, born-again believer. This is not for the Sunday school teachers or the preachers or the missionaries or the evangelists. This is dealing with every living, born-again soul of God who has been made a well of salvation, a source of life, a wellspring of life, that that water wells up within. So if I'm not acting as a well of life, I need some dirt removed off of me, and if my buddy My friend and the Lord, my faithful brethren, are not living water unto me. I know that something's wrong, and I've got to act like old Isaac. I've just got to uncover a well that my Father has already dug. Amen? I don't have to reinvent things. All I've got to do is help them get some dirt off. It's called repentance. Amen? Helping them see the need to turn from sin and turn unto Jesus. Now go back to Genesis, if you would. Genesis 26. So we looked at point number one. What is it? Got to have the mind of a well digger. And what is that mindset? Got to tap into the source that the Father has already dug. Okay. Number two, the ministry of a well digger. What is the ministry of a well digger? It is to touch lives with living water. to touch life. Do you understand, we all understand that we can't live without water, can we? Can't. Physically, you and I cannot live without water. water we must have provision of water and bread food for nourishment and water to sustain life water is such a necessity that you and I can't survive without it neither can the church neither can your family neither can a community survive for the glory of God without The ministry of living water. So the ministry aspect of it, of the well digger, is to touch lives. You've got to understand, I'm tapping into a source, but the reason I'm tapping into that source is to touch lives. And those lives that are intimately in my life. When he tapped into that, what was it for? It was for himself. Not only for himself, but for his wife, Rebecca. Not only for her, but everybody that was with him. The Bible says that Isaac was such a man of great wealth and success that he had many servants. And all these servants had to have water to live on. So you see that as a well digger, with the mind to tap into a source, the ministry of it, the service of it, is to touch lives around you. You're going forth in Jesus' name. You're going on mission to do His work for a purpose. Not for somebody to pat you on the back and say you've done a good deed. Not for somebody to look to you and say, man, you're doing the right thing. It's to impact lives to touch lives for the glory of God. People that you can have an effect on and touch lives for His glory. Amen? The third thing is what I would call the mission of the well digger and that is to transform society. The reason we serve and minister to touch lives for God's glory is so that our society, our communities, our church life can be what? Transformed by this living water. That's our mission. So that God will be exalted in the land and that the nations that belong to him will be one for him. So it goes beyond just those who I can have an influence on, David, or Mr. Ralph. It's so that when I touch that life, that life is able to touch another life, and that life touches another life so that the communities that go beyond us are transformed for God's glory. To be a well digger. I've got to have the mind of the well digger. I have to have that ministry. I know it's to touch and impact lives. It's not for my benefit. It's to benefit other people and for God's glory so that others and beyond us can be transformed. Now, anytime you're doing these things, you'll also see, number four, the mark of a well digger. What's the mark of a well digger? trouble. You're going to find trouble. Not everybody wants their lives touched by Jesus. Amen? Not every community wants to be transformed by the glory of God. And when we go forth as well diggers, there's going to be those around us that's not going to like what we're doing. And the Philistines didn't like what was happening with Isaac. They dug a well and said, that water's ours. You can't be doing it. These folks are ours. This belongs to us. You can't be doing this. And there was what? Contention that come about. Well, they moved on a little bit further and kept going and expanding larger. And they come to another place. And the Philistine says, no, you can't uncover a well. And they call that place hatred because the mark of a well digger is covered. They're being persecuted. They find in trouble everywhere they go. And then they get a little bit farther, and they finally find a place that has some room for him to expand. And they settle down there, but God is not done with them yet, because we're not to settle down in that place. Remember, he was only to spend as a guest there, but Isaac finds himself settled again. And something that we notice in his life, though he is ministering to people, though he is growing and God's blessing him, Isaac hadn't built an altar yet unto the Lord. It's been 15, 20 years now before he built an altar. Remember, he was known like his father to what? Build his altars and pitch his tents. But Isaac is still suffering from the consequences of fear and unbelief and finds himself settled down. And that's where we have to be careful as well. When God's using us to minister to people, and to see missions accomplished and places are transformed and we see that people come against you, society will come against you, you'll find trouble. It's easy to get settled there and think we're doing all that we should be doing and we're accomplishing all that we should be accomplishing and get planted right where we are when God has a vision for us to keep expanding and growing. Amen? It's easy to find yourself there. And God uses those things, and later we see that Abimelech and his administrator comes out and meets with him. He says, Why are you coming out? What's going on here? I haven't caused you no harm. And they come out and make an oath with him at Beersheba, and things expand from there. And it's still called, as what we see in the Word at that day, Beersheba unto that time. So we see these things, that when you're doing God's work, you've got to expect the fact that you're going to be troubled by your employer sometime, by your community-minded folks. And there's nothing wrong with being community-minded, but when your community mind comes over doing what God's called you to do, there's where the problem comes in. Amen? So what we see is the mark of the well digger. He's going to face trouble. The mission of the well digger is to transform society for God's glory. The ministry of the well digger is what? The touch lives and the mind of the well digger is to always tap into the source, where God is at work and what God is doing, what the Father is at work doing. Well, what is the misfortune of the well digger? That's number, what number on? Five, the misfortune of the well digger. Out of all that we've been reading, including this morning, what would you think the misfortune of a well digger is? Time lost. How long was Isaac in Eeyore? A long time. And for that long time that he was there, you know what Isaac did not do? He didn't undercover the first well, did he? Nope. Time lost. That's the misfortune of a well digger, is that time lost. There was a lot of time in his life that was lost because of fear and unbelief. And right now the church in America is in that place of misfortune. She's treading water when she ought to be conquering this old land for the glory of God. Because of fear and unbelief. where we ought to have the ministry to touch lives, a mission to transform our society for God's glory. And this is all in the will of God as far as what God wants us to do. We want to be in God's vision. We don't want to accomplish something that God has for another group of people to do. I can't be Moses and I can't be David and I can't be none of these others. You can't be me and I can't be you. But we can work together and be what God's called us to be. and we don't have to live in lost time and lose time we can be in God's will accomplishing his purposes right now and begin by letting him bless us by getting us right with him so that we can expand and do whatever he wants us to do to tap into his sources so that we can touch lives transform society and know without question that we can't we can't freak out when people trouble us we got to press on and keep doing what God's called us to do amen so that was five how many more did I say we got two more that actually I call the magnitude of the well digger the magnitude of the well digger and we just I use the word triumph we see him triumphal God took that lost time, that time lost, and he turned it in to triumph when he got his life right with the Lord. The magnitude, he just continually grew, and God blessed him. Now, numerically, will many churches grow numerically? You know, you think about out in this community out here, there's not a whole, whole, whole, whole, whole, whole, whole lot of people, amen? I'm willing to say Isaac had more servants than are in this community right now. that worked for him and served him. So what we have to see is, is that God gives us a broader vision that goes beyond the walls and beyond the boundaries of a community to transform lives wherever God wants it to be and that magnitude that we be triumphal right here, right now, this day and walk in obedience with the Lord and wherever He wants to have us touch lives and impact people from around the world or in the state of Mississippi or throughout the United States, we're going to let Him Bring triumph through our life as we follow the leadership of Jesus and we see Isaac the magnitude of the well digger is that he continued the triumph as he walked with the Lord specifically after he built that altar and Pitch that tent you see that God blessed him tremendously from there And that's where even his sons begin to spread out and God launched them out Jacob and Esau and specifically Jacob himself eventually his name turns into what Jacob gets a new name at one point. What's his name? Israel. You see triumph as things continue to spread. We want to be sowing in not only in what is around us, but sowing into our children and our grandchildren and our grandchildren's lives, teaching them to have the mind of a well digger so that God is always leading us in triumph and He's magnifying what He's doing in our life. And I call the last thing the message of the well digger. The message of the well digger is to trust the Lord. To just trust the Lord. He is faithful and it is worth it all to follow his leadership. To trust the Lord. So, what do we have? We've got the message of the well digger which is to trust the Lord no matter what comes against us. No matter what the task is ahead of us. No matter how difficult, no matter how pleasing, no matter how comforting, to trust the Lord in all things. That's the message of the life of the well digger. Trust the Lord. Why? Because he's got the mind of a well digger to do what? To tap into the source that the Father has already at work. What is the ministry of the well digger? To touch lives. The mission of the well digger? Transform society. The mark of the well digger? Trouble will come. The misfortune of the well digger? Time lost. That's a misfortune. Time lost. The magnitude of the well digger? Triumph. And the message? Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Trust and obey. There is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. We seek God's hand all over his life when he is trusted and obeyed. Uncovering wells for the glory of God. Shall join in with us. We'll join in with you to this uncover wells for God's glory and watch him do his work. Amen? Amen. Would you stand with me tonight? Father, we bless you and thank you. Lord, we find ourselves often in that place of misfortune, time lost. And even what the enemy takes away from us, Lord, and we know that you can give back to us. What the enemy stole, you can give back. So we ask you to help us not live in futility, not live fearful, not just waste time and tread ground, but Lord, that we take upon your mind and that we go forth from this place beginning here tonight with the understanding that you've called us to uncover whales and that as a husband my wife ought to be able to drink living water from me and with my wife I want to be able to drink living water from her for my children that belong to you and if I can't Lord we know that they're is dirt upon the whale help us with one another and with our church family and those you put us in contact with on the job on the mission field wherever it may be that when we don't discern out of the life of your people live in water lord help us be used by you to disuncover that whale in jesus name you respond to the lord