Do You Feel Empty Inside Steven Furtick - Steven Furtick

Sometimes I need too much from the wrong place. Sometimes

I'm thirsty because I love God and I know that

he's my shepherd and I'm not supposed to be in

need and I have his spirit. But sometimes I got

to admit to you, I'm kind of thirsty. Look at

your neighbor and ask him, are you thirsty? Not you.

You're filled with the spirit of God. Oh, we get thirsty.

And it's no surprise we get thirsty because we're weak.

He knows our frame. We're made of dust. Came from

the dust. Get thirsty in the dust. Dirty, thirsty people.

I mean, that makes sense.

But for Jesus to say, I thirst and watch this

when he said it, the Bible says they came to him,

those soldiers around the cross. And he said, I thirst.

And there was a jar full of sour wine, cheap stuff.

what the executioners drank while they were waiting on the

person to die. Now see, this was the second drink

that Jesus was offered on the cross, but the first

one he refused when he was on his way to

the cross, when he got to the spot where they

would drop the cross, the vertical beam, and attach to

the horizontal beam because the cross works both ways. I

taught you that two weeks ago. When he got to

that spot, they offered him a drink. This drink was

the Bible says, mixed with myrrh, which was meant to

drug the person going to the cross.

The women would prepare it.

Often as an act of compassion or kindness. And when

they offered him this drink, perhaps in mockery, for he

called himself a king, and they offered him a drink.

Mark tells us in Mark, I think it's.

Like 15, 23, they offered him wine mixed with myrrh,

but he did not take it because maybe he saw

it as a trap. Because he was focused on finishing

what God gave him to do. And when he got

to the cross, he refused the drink and said.

I don't need that. Now, I want you to do

something for me, okay? Everybody do this. Everybody do this.

I want you to get something in your mind that's

trying to keep you from being.

On the path of your purpose.

And when I say three, push it out the way

like Jesus pushed the cup of myrrh and say, I

don't need it. One, two, three, I don't need it.

He said, I'm not drinking that. I'm going somewhere. With

his gaze set on the glory.

Of God, he went toward the cross.

But now it's been six hours since he first got

to Golgotha, and he says, I thirst.

Remember, this is the same.

Voice of God that created the clouds and filled them

with condensation. This is the voice that has the power

to flood the earth. And only Noah and every animal

on the boat gets out of it a lot. And

he thirsts.

So we're surprised by it, or at least we should be.

And we're surprised when they come to him and there's

a jar of sour wine and they offer to the

Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of

the earth. You need to understand that what happened on

the cross didn't start on the cross and it didn't

end on the cross. The cross was pointing at the

prophetic fulfillment of the purpose of God.

That existed before time began. So they take a hyssop branch.

Which was what they used on Passover, back when they

would take the blood of a lamb and put it

on a doorpost, and so they took that branch that

they would put the blood on, and now the Lamb

of God is bleeding. It's not the shadow anymore. It's

the actuality, the revelation of God. The fullness of God

is hanging on a cross in the.

Form of a man, and they give him vinegar to

drink for his thirst.

And they put it to his mouth, the same mouth

that spoke them into existence. And they gave him vinegar

to drink. How could he be thirsty? How could God

struggle with a human sensation like thirst?

Struggle. If you want to write something down, write down struggle.

Because to really understand why he said, I thirst on

the cross. you would have to start really in the

Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane is where he

went out to pray before he drank the cup of suffering.

And it's one thing to come to.

Church and talk about a calling because sometimes a calling

is like a beautiful cup, but what's in it sometimes,

when it comes time to really fulfill your calling, me

break this down because y'all are really looking at me

cross-eyed and stuff. It's one thing to pick out a

name for your baby. It's another thing to have to

raise them in middle school.

It didn't work. It still didn't work.

I'm trying really hard to bring this right where you are.

It is one thing to write down his last name

with your first name and think about how awesome it

would be.

To be Mrs.

So-and-so, but it's another thing to deal with his bad

breath and his bad spending habits and realized that his

mom didn't teach him how to put the seat down

on the toilet after he used it and work out

the mechanics of marriage in the context of the calling,

not just the excitement of.

The concept of something. So sometimes while we.

Are very excited about the concept of being used by God,

stay with me because this sermon is about to do

something in your soul, deep down.

In your soul.

I feel the Spirit of God saying to somebody today,

what will you do the cup because jesus had a

cup that he didn't want to drink and he prayed

in the garden he prayed father if there's any other way.

To get this done.

If there's any other way let this cup pass from

me the cup that was full of the wrath of

god the just punishment that our sin deserved And he

drank it, but he struggled to drink it.

Do you know how I know he struggled?

Because he prayed, if there's any other way, let this

cup pass. But if there's not, if I have to

drink it down. If I have to suffer, if I

have to go to the cross, I'm going to the cross.

If I have to be mocked, I'll be mocked. If

I have to be alone, I'll be alone. If I

have to cry, I'll cry. If I have to struggle,

I'll struggle. Not my will, but yours be done. The

Son of God is thirsty, and he's thirsty because he's trapped.

He's trapped in a place that we're all familiar with.

He's trapped between what he wants and what God wills.

Have you ever been trapped? Three honest people. Three thirsty people.

All the thirsty people make some noise. Just be honest

about it, because remember, it's only those who hunger and

thirst that can be filled. It's only those who know

what it's like. I mean, he got down in that garden,

and he prayed so hard about it, and he heard

so much about it, while Peter, James, and John slept

on the side. But Jesus prayed. The Bible says he

prayed to the point that his sweat.

Was like drops of blood. He struggled. to surrender.

He was trapped in the garden between what God had spoken.

And what his flesh wanted.

I'm thirsty. Of course he's thirsty. When you sweat like that,

you're going to be thirsty. I mean, if the Son

of God sweat like that, what makes you think you're

going to go through life and never break one yourself?

So we think we're just supposed to fulfill our calling

and never.

Drink the cup?

We think we're supposed to have a vision but no vinegar?

I mean, the Son of God is sweating drops of

blood and we're supposed to.

Be able to sleep through life? It's a struggle. He said,

I thirst because he struggled. People, I know he was thirsty.

I mean, he's fully God, yes, but he's also fully man.

In other words, he's trapped.

Because he's God, but he's wrapped in flesh. Because he's glory,

but he's wrapped in frailty. Because he's eternity, but he's

trapped in time. Because he's spirit, but he's trapped in

a body. Sometimes I feel trapped because what I.

Want to do, I can't do. And what I do,

I hate. And what I want to.

Do, I don't have the will to do.

I'm trapped.

Thirsty, tired, I'm weary, and he struggled. See, I'm not

very comfortable with this. I don't like it, because I

don't really want to see a God who struggled like

I struggled. I like that stuff where he opens his

mouth and says, shut up. to the wind and the waves.

I like that because that makes me think he's just

going to walk into my situation. Smooth sailing. But when

he says I thirst, see, now I see him identifying

with my shame, and it causes me to look at

myself not as I wish to be, but as I

really am. Because now I've got to picture him carrying

my shame. Write down shame because shame will make you thirsty.

Shame will make you try to fill something with the

words of people that can really only be fulfilled by

the word of God. Shame will make you forget who

you really are. Of course he was thirsty. He was

carrying your shame. Now, I mean, To an untrained eye,

it looked like he was carrying a beam that weighed

80 pounds.

And he carried it up a hill.

Now, this is from Pilate's palace where Jesus was sentenced

by the Roman prelate. He had already been handed over

by Caiaphas, the high priest. He's been going back and

forth all night. He sweats in the garden. He heads

to the cross. He gets there. They offer him something to.

Numb the pain. He says, no, I'm focused. No, not yet.

He pushes the drink aside, thirsty as he is, carrying

my shame. 80 pounds. You know, it weighs a lot

more than that when it's in your soul. A whole

lot more than 80 pounds. It weighs a whole lot more.

It'll weigh so much you can't even look people in

the eye when it's in your soul. And he carried that.

He carried it. The length of six and a half

football fields from Pilate's palace to Golgotha.

Of course he was thirsty.

Come on, I can't even do a set of kettlebell

swings and not take a sip.

Of course he was thirsty.

Of course he said, I thirst.

And you know what?

This isn't the first time that Jesus said he was

thirsty in John's gospel.

No, it's not, man. Not at all. See, because one time,

can I tell you a story? From the Bible. It's

a Bible story from John chapter four.

And it's interesting because Jesus is going somewhere, but he

goes around to get there. And the place where he

goes is called Samaria. Now, this is not a normal

place for a Jew to go. So the fact that

he went there was kind of surprising, but nobody asked

him why he was doing what he was doing, because

by this time his disciples knew that everything he did,

he did on purpose.

Let me say that again. Everything he did, he did

on purpose.

That's going to come back, and that's going to be

very important when I finish this little sermonette today.

Everything he did, he did on purpose.

So the Bible says he had to go to Samaria.

He had to go. Why?

Why did he have to go to Samaria? Why did

he have to go to the cross? Why would he

go out of his way to Samaria where a Jewish

person would not normally go? Why would God go where

he was least expected? Do you ever wonder why God

would bother with someone like you?

Have you ever asked that question? Why me, God?

Any parents that have ever asked God, why me? Why

would you call me to raise a kid when I

feel like a little boy myself sometimes? See, the interesting

thing to me about this little excursion Jesus takes is

that he's going to Samaria. He sits down when he

gets there. He waits by a well for a woman.

Let me tell you something about this woman. She's coming

out in the middle of the day, and the only

reason you would go to the well in the middle

of the day in a hot climate is so nobody

else would be there because you're ashamed to be seen

by people. She's going out in the middle of the

day to get some water at a time when she

doesn't think anybody else will see her because she's thirsty.

I said she's thirsty. And she's not just thirsty for water.

She's thirsty.

She's thirsty in the Urban Dictionary thirsty kind of way.

So Jesus sits by a well waiting for a woman

and sets a trap for a thirsty woman. Y'all aren't

even helping me preach this sermon I worked so hard on.

That's rude.

So she comes up and says, Oh crap, I thought

nobody would be here.

I don't even know this guy.

Have you noticed how everything we've been studying in the

scriptures is Jesus showing up to people who didn't even

recognize him when he did?

Just showing up. And then he does something unthinkable. Talk

about a thirst trap.

Jesus, the living water, sees this woman coming, knows what

kind of life she's lived, Yet he doesn't say anything

about that.

He says, Hey, girl. Modernization. He said, Look at verse 7.

Give me a drink.

She didn't like that very much, so she got a

real deep look at her. Here's what you do when

God speaks to a Place in your life when when

God starts speaking to you you get theoretical and abstract

because to be specific To really have to deal with

the issue is actually sometimes painful, so she's like hey

How is it that you a Jew asked to drink

for me a woman from Samaria in other words?

I know you're not talking to me That's what the

woman saying.

I know you're not talking to me and You can

feel that way sometimes I mean, some of you sit

here and listen to me preach, and you think it's

for your wife. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you, buddy.

Thirsty self. Everybody in here is thirsty. Everybody in here

is thirsty. Some of y'all get it through sex. Some

of y'all get it through success. Some of y'all get

it through religion. But I got to tell you something.

The person you're sitting next.

To is thirsty. It's not a sin to be thirsty.

It's just where you go to.

Get your fix that determines whether or not your soul

will be satisfied.

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