Sermon Central
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Why We Can't Get No Satisfaction"
Contributed by Steve Malone on Jun 6, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: TODAY – we are going to answer 2 very important questions. #1 – Why we can’t get no satisfaction and #2 – How we can get some satisfaction…
Why We Can’t Get No Satisfaction
SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDES…
[Haggai 1:2-6,9; Eccl 1:2; 2:22,23; 5:10; 6:7; Jn 4:13; Is 9:20; 55:2, 29:8 – then play Rolling Stones song satifaction]
Sometimes that it the way life is - we just can’t get no satisfaction....even though we try & we try & we try….
A pilot always looked down intently on a certain valley in the Appalachians. “What’s so interesting about that spot?” Asked a fellow pilot. “See that stream? Well, when I was a kid I used to sit down there on a log and fish. Every time an airplane flew over, I would look up and wish I were flying... Now I look down and wish I were fishing.
That is pretty well the way it is, isn’t it? - sometimes even though we do get what we want - we still can’t get no satisfaction. Everybody wants more, a little child wants more toys and more TV time; A Teenager wants more clothes, more freedom, more popularity. Most adults want more to; a nicer house, a newer car a better job, more prestige.....
And often we do get more – we get a new car, and we are content..... for awhile..... We buy a new home - it’s the home of our dreams, - and we are content....... for awhile..... The job we always wanted comes knocking at our door - great pay, incredible benefits - and we are content......... for awhile..... One of God’s prophets wrote the following words to God’s people about 2,500 years ago; (they were on the screen just a moment ago…
You have planted much but have harvested little. You eat, but you do not become full. You drink, but you are still thirsty. You put on clothes but you are not warm enough. You earn money, but then you lose it all as if you had put it into a purse full of holes...You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.”
NOW - that’s a pretty graphic picture of a dissatisfied life. No matter how much they ate, drank, put on or earned - it was never enough - they were never content. LISTEN - whenever they expected something to give them what they needed, they always came up short...
I think that for the most part our world is filled with discontented people. Even most churches are filled with discontented people... It is my guess that there are a number of people here today - who if asked, would say; that they are NOT content with their life. That they are still hungry…that they are still thirsty… that they still can’t get no satisfaction – though they try & they try & they try…
QUESTION – how satisfying are you finding live right now…? [1-10]
TODAY – we are going to answer 2 very important questions. #1 – Why we can’t get no satisfaction and #2 – How we can get some satisfaction…
NOW – I know that I had planned on kicking off our new sermon series “When The Church Prays” today… BUT – I’m postponing it for 2 reasons. #1 – because I really felt God leading me to talk about this topic of satisfaction today – and # 2 Next weekend my family and I will be out of town…
PRAYER
Why Can’t We Get No Satisfaction?
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN REAL THIRSTY? NOT JUST A LITTLE THIRSTY, I MEAN THE TONGUE DRAGGING, MOUTH HANGING KIND OF THIRST?
WHAT ACTIVITY DO YOU DO THAT CREATES THE GREATEST THIRST?
WHEN YOU’RE REAL THIRSTY WHAT DO YOU GRAB TO QUENCH IT? WATER, GATOR-AIDE, POWER-AID A DEW?
HAVE YOU EVER FOUND YOURSELF LIKE THE GUY IN THE PEPSI COMMERCIAL, YOU KNOW THE ONE WHERE HE KEEPS FEEDING HIS DOLLAR BILL INTO THE PEPSI MACHINE AND THE MACHINE KEEPS SENDING IT BACK? (I THINK OUR MACHINES DO THAT SOMETIMES). IT’S FRUSTRATING IT IS TO BE SO CLOSE TO A DRINK WHEN YOU ARE THIRSTY...BUT TO NOT BE ABLE TO GET IT.
WE, YOU - ALL OF MANKIND ARE THIRSTY. AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT A PHYSICAL THIRST....
I’M TALKING ABOUT A SPIRITUAL THIRST - A STRONG, CONSUMING AND DEEP DESIRE IN OUR SOULS.
WE ARE ALL THIRSTY FOR SOMETHING GREATER THAN OURSELVES, FOR SOMETHING MORE THAN WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE. WE ARE THIRSTY FOR SOMETHING THAT WE FEEL IS MISSING....
GOD TELLS US IN ECCELASTES 3:11, THAT HE HAS SET ETERNITY IN THE HEARTS OF MEN....LISTEN - GOD HAS PLACED WITHIN THE HEART OF EVERY HUMAN BEING A DEEP DESIRE, A POWERFUL THIRST THAT SCREAMS TO BE SATISFIED… A THIRST FOR RELATIONSHIP, MEANING, PURPOSE, LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, SIGNIFICANCE, PEACE AND CONTENTMENT.....
QUESTION - DO YOU THIRST FOR A RELATIONSHIP THAT WILL TRULY AND ALWAYS SATISFY? DO THIRST FOR MEANING, LOVE , PEACE, CONTENTMENT AND PURPOSE IN YOUR LIFE?
