How To Keep Going,
When You Feel Like Quitting
Faith Factor – part four
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9
QUESTION – how you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like quitting, like throwing up your hands and tossing in the towel and saying; “I can’t do this anymore, I’m done, I quit – it’s over…?
You’re working ON; a project, a relationship, a ministry – on a life… AND – you’ve had just about all that you can take. You’re making little if any progress, you’re spinning your wheels, you’re not getting anywhere… You’re tired, worn out, weary and frustrated… (I don’t know about you BUT – I’ve been there and done that.. a lot).
THIS MORNING – as we continue our message series, ‘The Faith Factor’ – we are going to be looking at yet another Old Testament guy, Jeremiah… The prophet not the bullfrog…
NOW - Jeremiah has been one of my mentors, a person that I have both looked up to and have often felt a kindred spirit with for years. He’s one of my heroes. I MEAN – 4 or 5 times during the last 10 years (when life was kind of tough); I would grab; my pen, my bible, my journal…and crack open words written by this prophet of God over 2,500 years ago. AND – each time God has used Jeremiah to speak straight to my heart.
YOU KNOW – a certain kind of bonding takes place when you go through tough times together… GUYS – who spent some time together in a fox hole are usually friends for life… Jeremiah and I have had quite a few foxhole moments together over the years. I can’t wait to invite Him over, throw some steaks on the grill and chill out with him in heaven…
My goal this morning is two-fold… to lift up God and to give some honor to a dude named Jeremiah (who certainly deserves it). AND – it is my prayer that some thing I share today will help someone out there who feels like quitting.
The first point in your outline is;
Jeremiah Had Many Reasons For Quitting
NOW – before I talk about Jeremiahs reasons for quitting. I think it would be a good idea for me to kind of summarize a little OT history. SO THAT – we will all understand the historical context that Jeremiah is writing from…
Last week we talked about Abraham and how God called him to leave his country and follow Him, and become the Father of a new nation…
Abraham does that… AND - he has a son named Isaac and Isaac has a son named Jacob (remember they all lived in tents for a couple hundred years waiting to get this new land..
During the times of Jacob there is a famine in the land which caused Jacob to take his family to live in Egypt. One of his sons Joseph is second in charge of all of Egypt.
SO - God’s people live in Egypt – and they do pretty God for awhile… BUT - after a brief period of time (a Pharaoh comes onto the scene who does not know Joseph) and he makes the Hebrews slaves… AND – the would be slaves for 400 years. Until Moses (who we talked about 2 weeks ago…remember; be yourself - decide what really matters)… comes along and through the power of God deliverers the people from slavery.
AFTER – Israel leaves Egypt, after they walk through the parted waters of the Red Sea. THEY – camp on the east side of the Jordan River. NOW - God wants the people to go into the promise and take possession of it… BUT – there is a glitch to this plan… the people who live there are huge, the cities well fortified and the people heavy armed… BOTTOM-Line – God’s people chicken out because they have no faith in God… AND – this lack of faith causes them to wander in the desert for 40 years.
40 years later they get another dry… AND – before they go into the land Moses says to them (day 14 summer of one devos…)
"Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. I have commanded you today to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Dt 30:15-20
AFTER – this Joshua takes the baton of leadership from Moses, and crosses the Jordan and in 27 years conquers the promise land… SO – now God’s people are finally living in the land God promises Abraham 600 years earlier.
Eventually in this land they get a king… His name is Saul, Saul starts out good and ends up really bad… And the next king is David (we’re going to talk about him next week). After being king for 40 years David dies and his son Solomon takes the throne… Where David fought and won many battles for the Lord… Solomon builds the Temple of the Lord.
When Solomon dies his son Rheoboam becomes the new king… AND – this is where things for God’s people start to go downhill fast. YOU SEE - right after he became king a bunch of people came to Jerusalem from the north (they were led by a guy named Jeroboam) – and these people come to the new king and tell him… “dude we need a tax cut… your dad’s tax rates are killing us…” Rheoboam gets some bad advice and basically tells them – to stop their whining and get ready because the tax rates are going up.”
WELL – this ticks off the people from the north so they start their own nation and a civil between the north (Israel) and the south (Judah) begins…. Brother fighting brother… NEVER – a good thing. AND – since the people in the north no longer have the Temple… they turn away from God… and start to worship foreign gods. God removes his protection and the Assyrian empire in 722 BC comes in and destroys the northern kingdom (wipes them out, it’s pretty ugly)… THEN - they try to take out the southern kingdom (Judah) as well… BUT – just as they surround the city… God sends an angel to rescue them….
SO – the northern kingdom is gone because of turning away from God… QUESTION – what do you think that the southern kingdom learned from this? NOW – you would hope they learned that it’s not a good idea to turn away from God and worship idols…BUT – they didn’t…
6When Josiah was king, the LORD said: Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees. 7-8I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn’t, so I divorced her and sent her away. Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn’t worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. 9The kingdom of Judah wasn’t sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn’t care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. 10And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. 11Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend. – Jeremiah 3:6-10 (CEV)
THEY - did not take the advise of Moses… THEY – do not choose life… THEY - were drawn away to serve and worship other gods
LISTEN – about the only thing that Judah took away from her sister’s defeat… was that since they had the Temple of God in their city it didn’t matter what they did – God would always protect them, He - would never let them fall…. UNDERSTAND – it was during this time – when God’s people are doing really bad, living totally against God that Jeremiah is born and had his ministry… (and by the way, his dad was a priest so Jeremiah was a PK – he grew in a town 3 miles north of Jerusalem.).
AND FRIENDS – it was a tough ministry and Jeremiah had many reasons to quit – many reasons to give up and throw in the towel… LET ME – quickly share a few with you…
Prayer…
ONE REASON – for wanting to give was;
The People
Like I said these people had totally turned their backs and were ‘two-timing’ God to the max. They worshipped false idols and committed immorality on every hill in Jerusalem, they even sacrifice their own sons and daughters to the flames of their pagan idols…
Of this people God says in Jeremiah chapters 5 and 6…
I fed my people until they were fully satisfied. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the city’s brothels. 8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife… Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. - Jer 5:6-8; 6:15
NOW - I think those would be some pretty hard people to preach to for 50+ years. I MEAN – once when Jeremiah was teaching in the Temple telling them to turn back to God and stop all the sinning… RATHER – then listen they started to chant and drown out Jeremiahs words… (“The Temple Of the Lord..” - 701 club)
9Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!"--only to go right back to all those evils again? 11Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of thieves? I see all the evil going on there, says the LORD. Jer 7:9-11 (NLT)
ANOTHER REASON – for wanting to throw in the towel was…
The Message
UNDERSTAND - Jeremiah had a tough message to preach. It wasn’t fun. It was very unpopular. NO ONE – wanted to hear it.
QUESTION – do you know what the message was? THAT - God was angry at the nation and that their only hope was to surrender to their enemy the Babylononians. If they did things would go well… BUT – if they refused to surrender things would be terrible… They city & temple would be burned to the ground… and many people would die. This message wore Jeremiah out… AND – this week as I read the book of Jeremiah it wore me out…
My heart is broken… and I tremble uncontrollably. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the LORD has spoken against them. – Jer 23:9
I’m sure that – being the prophet of (doom & gloom) AND (death and destruction) was enough to make Jeremiah want to quit.
NEXT – comes…
The Rejection
LISTEN - Jeremiah preached his heart out for 55 years and no one ever listened (it had no impact, changed no lives) … CHECKOUT – this passage…. Jeremiah is talking to God’s people;
This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ’We will not walk in it.’ 17 I appointed watchmen over you and said, ’Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ’We will not listen.’
- Jer 6:16,17
AND – not only did the people reject him… BUT – God rejected his prayers… YOU SEE – Jeremiah loved his people, he didn’t want to see them suffer.. SO – he constantly prayed for them… AND – more than once God has to tell Jeremiah…
"Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress. Jeremiah 11:14
Rejection is enough to make even the strongest person want to quit…
AND – then there was the loneliness…
The Loneliness
LISTEN - if ever a man needed a sympathetic spouse. This prophet surely did. YET – God ordered Jeremiah not to marry (16:2). YOU SEE – the preachers lifestyle must match his message. AND FOR – Jeremiah to marry and have children would be inconsistent with his announcement that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed by the Babylonians… AND – for this very same reason Jeremiah was not even allowed to attend parties and social gathering because there was nothing to celebrate…
OKAY – do you see the picture? FOR – 55 years Jeremiah was all alone preaching a message no one wanted to hear to a people who would not listen…
The Hostility
AND IF – all that other stuff wasn’t bad enough (let’s throw some abuse into this boiling pot of discouragement) …
• Men from his hometown plotted against him… (11:9ff)
• He was put on trail for his life (26:11)
• His first draft of God’s word was burned by the king (36:23)
• He was flogged and put in public stocks for people to mock (20:1)
• He was attacked by the false prophets who spoke another message (28:1-17)
• He was arrested and accused of treason (37:11)
• He was dragged from his prison cell lowered by ropes into an empty well in the prison yard… there was no water in it – but there was a thick layer of mud and Jeremiah sunk down deep into it (38:6)
I don’t know about you… BUT – I think Jeremiah had a lot of reasons to quit…to give up – to throw in the towel… YOU KNOW - Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet… MAYBE – now you have an idea why… LISTEN – to these words from a tired and worn out man…
Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night - Jeremiah 9:1
YES – Jeremiah had many reasons for quitting… AND -
Sometimes Jeremiah Wanted To Quit
NOT – all the time… BUT - there were moments when he had enough. Moments – when he cried out to God…in great frustration and said ‘I can’t take it anymore…’ Have you had any of those moments? Jeremiah did… (let me share with you just a few of those times…)
1You are right, O GOD, and you set things right. I can’t argue with that. But I do have some questions: Why do bad people have it so good? Why do con artists make it big? 2You planted them and they put down roots. They flourished and produced fruit. They talk as if they’re old friends with you, but they couldn’t care less about you. 3Meanwhile, you know me inside and out. You don’t let me get by with a thing! - Jer 12:1-3 (Msg)
Those bad guys get away with everything… AND – here I am you guy, doing your work… and I get nothing… You don’t let me get by with a thing! - Jer 12:1-3 (Msg)
It’s not fair! AND – do you know what God’s answer was to this compliant of Jeremiah…’
"So, Jeremiah, if you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses? And if you can’t keep your wits during times of calm,
what’s going to happen when troubles break loose like the Jordan in flood?”
- Jeremiah 12:5
IN – others words, “look out dude, if you think it’s bad now… get ready - because it’s going to get WORSE!”
Jeremiah – had another moment in chapter 15…
You know where I am, GOD! Remember what I’m doing here! Take my side against my detractors. Don’t stand back while they ruin me. Just look at the abuse I’m taking!... 17I never joined the party crowd in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself. You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething. 18But why, why this chronic pain, this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight? You’re nothing, GOD, but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance--and then nothing! - Jeremiah 15:15-18 (Msg)
“GOD – you were never there for me… you deceived me… You’re nothing, GOD, but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance--and then nothing!
ONE MORE…. Moment from chapter 20;
7You pushed me into this, GOD, and I let you do it. You were too much for me.
And now I’m a public joke. They all poke fun at me. 8Every time I open my mouth
I’m shouting, "Murder!" or "Rape!" And all I get for my GOD-warnings are insults and contempt… 10Then I hear whispering behind my back: "There goes old "Danger--Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!" Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face: "One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!"…
14Curse the day I was born! The day my mother bore me— a curse on it, I say!
15And curse the man who delivered the news to my father: "You’ve got a new baby--a boy baby!" (How happy it made him.) 16Let that birth notice be blacked out, deleted from the records, And the man who brought it haunted to his death
with the bad news he brought. 17He should have killed me before I was born,
with that womb as my tomb, My mother pregnant for the rest of her life
with a baby dead in her womb. 18Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears, and what’s coming is more of the same.
Jeremiah 20:7-18 (Msg)
LISTEN – those are not the words of a man all pumped up and ready to charge a hill or land on the beach… RATHER – they are words of a man ready to cash in his chips and go home…. I MEAN – the towel is in his hand… his arm is drawn back and he’s ready to throw it…
Rejection, hostility, pain, suffering loneliness and an unpopular message for 50+ years… Jeremiah had so many reasons to give up & quit… (AGAIN - at times I can so relate to Jeremiah… He has been with me through so much stuff… I have felt his pain and he has felt mine… We are brothers…)
ALL – these reasons… YET – Jeremiah hangs tough…. Why? How?
Why Jeremiah Didn’t Quit…
THIS WEEK – as I thought about my man Jeremiah and how he hung in there. I asked myself over and over again… How did he do it? How was Jeremiah able to hang in there and not give up…? What kept him going?
AND – I think I found the answer…. IN – our time remaining I want to talk about 3 keys, 3 things that you & I must have if we are going to keep going when we feel like quitting… AND [Tim…] – there will be many times as you live that you will feel like quitting, many times when LIKE Jeremiah (where you will find yourself) surrounded by reason after reason for hanging it up and walking away.
AND – the bottom-line is THIS…. IF – you do not have these 3 things in your life you will most likely DO, just that… Give up! Quit! #1 – Jeremiah;
He Had A Purpose To Live For…
In the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes…
“Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them – not success, wealth, fame or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason. Without a purpose life is trivial, petty and pointless… We were made to have meaning. This is why people try dubious methods, like astrology or psychics, to discover it. When Life has meaning you can bear almost anything; without, nothing is bearable.
UNDERSTAND - Jeremiah had a purpose to live for… AND – as he opens up his book, in the very first chapter he writes;
The LORD gave me a message. He said, 5"I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." 6"O Sovereign LORD," I said, "I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!" 7"Don’t say that," the LORD replied, "for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!" 9Then the LORD touched my mouth and said, "See, I have put my words in your mouth! 10Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them." - Jeremiah 1:4-10
Jeremiah knew his purpose – to speak the words of God…. AND FRIENDS – that purpose helped him to keep going even when he felt like quitting… CHECKOUT – these words…
I am always taking about the message I received from the Lord, but this only brings me insults. The people make fun of me all day long. Sometimes I say to myself, ‘I will forget the Lord. I will not speak anymore in his name.’ But then his message becomes like a burning fire inside me, deep within my bones. I get tired of holding it inside of me and finally, I cannot hold it in. – Jer 20:7-9 (NCV)
UNDERSTAND – when you know the purpose that God has for your life… IT – will burn like a fire in your bones… and it will enable you to keep going… LISTEN – our Lord & Example Jesus, had a purpose burning deep in his bones that took him to the cross…
NEXT …
Jeremiah Had A Hope To Anchor To…
As we saw in our Summer of One Devotional book this week… Hope is essential - if we are going to keep on going when we feel like quitting…
REMEMBER – the 2 sets of laboratory rats that were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!
YOU SEE - those animals believed that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them.
AND – remember the story about the football game at Badger Stadium in Madison Wisconsin in October of 1982… The home team is killed by the Michigan State Spartans. BUT – despite that every now and then you would hear bursts of applause and shouts of joy from the Wisconsin fans. How could they cheer when their team was getting trounced so decisively? It turns out that 70 miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game 3 of the 1982 World Series. Many of the fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to what was going on in another game, in another sport, in another place. There is something to be said for being plugged into what is going on elsewhere.
LISTEN – Jeremiah had hope because like our little swimming rodent friends he was confident that someone (that God) would one day come and rescue him…
For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope… I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land." - Jeremiah 29:11,14
AND ALSO – like those in Wisconsin fans in Badger stadium Jeremiah was tuned into another game… YOU SEE – far beyond the sounds of battle, war, death, famine, sin & destruction… Jeremiah could hear the new thing the God was doing and the new covenant that he was bringing… AND – this gave him hope…
31"The day will come," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife," says the LORD.
33"But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their family, saying, `You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me," says the LORD. "And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins." Jer 31
He Had A ‘Mighty’ God To Trust In…
I just want to read 1 passages here…
"O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you!... You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. - Jer 32:17,20
God you are… my strength and fortress, my refuge
Everything you ever wanted to do – you did (you made the heavens & earth…you delivered your people… AND - everything you ever said would happen – has or will happened…
I put my trust ‘completely’ in you and you alone.. FOR – you are trustworthily..
OKAY – what 3 things keep Jeremiah going when he felt like quitting?
• A purpose to live for….
• A hope to anchor to
• A mighty God to trust in
NOW – I contend that we have those same 3 things to keep us going today…
WE HAVE A…
Purpose to live for….
“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Col 1:16 (Msg)
We have a purpose to live for…
• To know God
• To bring Him pleasure
• To be a part of His family
• To become like Christ and reflect him to this world
• To DO that thing God has uniquely shaped you for
• To bring more & more people to the love of the Father
• To help re-direct the eternity of men & woman..
AND – we have a;
Hope to anchor to….
We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us. 19This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls. In fact, hope reaches behind the curtain and into the most holy place. 20Jesus has gone there ahead of us, and he is our high priest forever, - Heb 6:18-20
Jesus has gone a head of us… He is preparing a place for us… One day he will come and rescue us and take us home – keep swimming… FRIENDS – we need to tune into another game… beyond the noise, concerns and problems of this life we need to hear the new thing that God is doing… SOON – the heavens will be pealed back and the new heaven (our perfect eternal home) will comes down from the sky.
And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."
- Rev 21:5
AND – we have;
A mighty God to trust in…
Paul in was in prison he was there for preaching the gospel…
He knew that at any moment the guards would come and lead him down a dark narrow corridor to his death at the edge of an axe… So he pens some final words to his good friend Timothy… Paul is letting Timothy know that he has no regrets… he says;
I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. - 2 Tim 1:12
The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
- 1 Thessalonians 5:24
God…
Everything you ever wanted to do – you did (you made the heavens & earth…you delivered your people… AND - everything you ever said would happen – has or will happened…
I put my trust ‘completely’ in you and you alone.. FOR – you are trustworthily..
QUESTION – if a purpose to live for, a hope to anchor to and a mighty God to trust in are keys to you & I… hanging in there when we feel like quitting… WHERE – do these three things come from… I MEAN – just where do we get them?
[Tim]… – they only come from one place… AND – that’s what I want to talk about as we wrap up today… UNDERSTAND – if your purpose, hope and trust do not flow from here they will not last, they will not sustain you…
The Most Important Thing…
ARE YOU READY? - right now I am going to tell you the most important thing you to need to have IF you are going to be able to keep going when you feel like quitting… (I’m glad your setting down)… BECAUSE – it will probably shock you….here goes…
A relationship with God!!!!
AGAIN - without a relationship with God any hope, purpose or trust that I have will not endure… (it’s just like taped on fruit)… there is no divine connection to sustain…
SO – how do you get a relationship with God? I MEAN - the kind that keeps you going even when you feel like quitting? The kind of relationship that gives you; a God to trust in, a hope to anchor to and a purpose to live for?
HEY – guess who can give us the answer? Jeremiah… CHECKOUT – these words…
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD…" - Jeremiah 29:13,14
QUESTION – do you see the KEY to finding God, do you see the key to having a relationship with Him? What is it ? Seeking God with all our heart…
CAN – I be honest with you? I’ve been a Christian for almost 25 years… I’ve been a pastor for almost 14 years. AND – what I have observed over the years is that not that many people in the church ‘really’ find God. AT LEAST – not to the degree that God wants them to find Him.
I became a Christian at 19… went to bible college when I was 28. Began full time ministry when I was 31 and it wasn’t until I was about 34 that I really got serious about pursing a relationship with God… YOU SEE – up until then I was more interested in knowing about God THEN knowing Him.
QUESTION - why do so many people not find God… BECAUSE - they are seeking after Him with a divided heart…
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD…" - Jeremiah 29:13,14
LET ME EXPLAIN… UNDERSTAND – there are 2 ways we can do this (seek after God with a divided heart)… and I’ve done both.
The first way happens BECAUSE - we are seeking so many others things in this life (pleasure, possessions, power, popularity, relaitonships..etc) - That when we eventually get around to seeking God there is just not much heart left….
YOU SEE – we are just like the people in Jeremiah’s day…
“My people have done two evils: They have turned from me, the spring of living water. And they have dug their own wells, which are broken wells that cannot hold water.” - Jeremiah 2:13 (NCV)
AND LISTEN – digging those wells… NOT ONLY – leaves us still thirsty but it leaves our heart divided and we can’t find God….
AND the 2nd way we seek God with a divided heart happens because often we come to God seeking something other then him…. NOW – I don’t know about you but sometimes the reason I go to God is not to find God but for God to fix my life, to make it work better….
• To make my problems go away
• To make my (job, health, relationships, finances) better
• To make me feel better about me…
YES – many times I don’t really want God I just want some kind of cosmic fix it man that I can put on my speed dial… when I have problems…
BUT FRIENDS – (our holy, awesome, powerful and mighty) God doesn’t play those games…. UNDERSTAND – there is something about who we are and who God is that we can only find him when we want him more than we want anything else…
AND [Tim…] - it’s when we find him that we find life that is really life (abundant, full, overflowing)… GUYS – I am not talking about whether or not you go to heaven… Jesus took care of that on the cross… UNDERSTAND - your final destination was secured when you as a repentant believer were immersed into Christ.
NO - I’m talking about enjoying the journey… between now and going home.
I’m taking about the joy, peace, power and the presence of Almighty God in our lives…
AND – the only way to ‘really’ have those things is to hang out with God… TO – spend time with Him on a regular basis… (being in prayer, being in the Word – just you and Him)
AGAIN NOT:
• To earn points
• As some legalistic requirement
• To make your life better
• Not for his ‘presents’ … BUT – to bask in his presence…. AND –
• To unleash the springs of living
• water.. so we will never thirst again.
QUESTION – are you tired of being thirsty? Have you found that NOTHING in this world;
No experience, relationship, possession, pleasure, accomplishment or success – is ever enough to satisfy that thirst deep within you…?
Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well there is such a thing as food, A duckling wants to swim: well there is such a thing as water… If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not mean the universe is a fraud. Earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. CS Lewis Mere Christianity
37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7
PAUL – was a man who drank often from the streams of living water that were flowing from within him… AND – that is why he was able to say (what God wants all of us to be able to say)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength. - Phil 4:12,13
Testimony… Ryckie Fernandez
• Luke 14:15-24
Jesus has given us an incredible invitation...
The great tragedy in modern Christianity is that pools of living water are bubbling in the burning sand of our souls and we don’t know it. We haven’t dug deep enough through the debris of our self-deception, through the strategies we carefully follow to make life work, to drink from the divine stream within. We’re drinking polluted water and thinking it’s pure.
- Larry Crabb, ‘The Pressures Off”
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD…" - Jeremiah 29:13,14
