Leaks, Lids & Lesser Things

So, with all that said, let's jump into what we're going to talk about this morning.

We started a series last, well, I guess two weeks ago, because we weren't here last week, called A Really Good Year.

We want to have a really good year, at least I do.

I don't know about you.

I don't know anyone that's going for a mediocre year, a subpar year, maybe a horrible year.

I don't know.

I doubt it.

I'm guessing all of us at this point in the year early on say, man, I really want to have a truly good year.

But as we talked about a few weeks ago, that word good can be a little bit misleading.

In fact, once someone came to Jesus and called him good teacher.

And in Mark chapter 10, Jesus responds by saying, Why do you call me good?

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Only God is truly good.

And Jesus is getting at something really amazing and simple and yet complex at the same time, is that our definition of good is often very different than God's.

And many of us have lived a lot of life, a lot of years pursuing our version of good, working really hard for what we would consider a good life, a good relationship, a good job, a good whatever.

Only to find that our version of good was maybe a little bit flawed.

God has a very different version of good.

And we read this a few weeks ago.

Romans chapter 12 says, Don't copy the behavior and the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think, and then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

God's will is good, pleasing, and perfect.

So we want to discover and pursue God's version of good.

His will, what he wants, is good and pleasing and perfect.

So a few weeks ago, we we were all challenged and encouraged to pursue that, to go to God and to ask him to define good for us.

Not to let the world, not to let our culture define what is good for us, because very often it's upside down.

But instead, at the beginning of our year, to surrender and say, Lord, I want your good, and I'm gonna seek that.

Now, we're not completely blind as to what God's version of good might actually look like.

There's a lot of scripture that helps us understand what God definitely says, this is good.

This is good.

And so for the next few weeks, we're going to explore some of those things that God reveals to us in Scripture, that God says, hey, my good, this is what it looks like.

If we're gonna have a really good year, we need to have a year that's defined by some of these things.

So we began by surrendering our good and saying, God, I want yours, not mine.

And today we're gonna, and for the next few weeks, we're gonna explore what that good maybe look like.

And I want to start with one simple word today.

It's the word full.

Full.

That's why we did donuts.

We didn't want anyone uh hungry, no hanger in the room today.

No, full.

God promises a full life to those who follow him.

When I was in college, I remember reading a quote by uh a man who was a missionary who had actually died on the mission field in the 1950s.

His name was Jim Elliott.

In fact, there's a really interesting movie.

Uh, it's not an easy watch.

It was made probably 20 years ago or so, called End of the Spear, about his life and some of the other missionaries that he worked with.

They were killed in South America as they were bringing the news of Jesus to a tribe that had never heard about it, a very violent tribe, and it's an incredible story.

They were killed, but then that tribe, like wholesale, began to follow Jesus in the aftermath of that.

Very interesting story.

Jim Elliott, who died before he was 30, he wrote, I have the quote right here, I seek not a long life, but a full one.

Like you, Lord Jesus.

I seek not a long life, but a full one.

Just like Jesus.

I read that when I was probably 19 years old and it resonated with me deeply.

But I want a life that is full.

Jesus, in terms of his human life, he's alive, but in terms of his life on this earth, it was only 33 years.

Think about what Jesus accomplished and what he did and the lives that he touched.

Jesus lived a full life.

Not a long one, but a full one.

And I think ideally all of us would say, I'll take both.

Lord, could I have both a long and full life?

And for the most part, we will.

But the more important of those two is to have a life that's full.

Because actually, a a long, empty life is a very sad thing.

And Jesus, he promises to fill us.

We're told in Scripture over and over again that Jesus will fill us.

In fact, in John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking to a woman at a well, and he uses the well as an analogy for what he can provide in life, and he says, Those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again.

John 4 · chapter mention

It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.

Jesus says, I will give you a kind of life that is that is truly alive.

It's like a bubbling spring within you.

It fills you.

You don't have to keep coming back to it and getting more and getting filled up just a little bit more, only to be drained later.

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 17, the Apostle Paul wrote, I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all of the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Ephesians 3:17

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, that you would be filled with the fullness of God.

Just think about that statement for a second.

Filled with the fullness of God.

What does that even look like?

What does that mean?

Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

We are promised by Jesus fullness.

That God wants to fill our lives.

He wants us to be filled with all of his fullness.

And yet, most of us know intimately what it feels like to live life on empty, to live drained.

We have all types of words for it.

We're drained, we're we're burnt out, we're tapped out, we're over it.

We all know what it's like to be on empty.

In fact, quick show of hands, how many of you have ever been in a vehicle that has run out of gas?

You've been in a okay.

Uh that's an interesting experience, right?

I've never I've never been in a car that's been out of gas, but I have once been on a boat that ran out of gas.

Which is, I will tell you, Megan and I were talking about it yesterday.

When you're in a car and you run out of gas, it's not fun.

But there's options.

You pull over to the side of the road, you make a phone call, you know, usually there's a gas station close by.

Uh you you have, you can just call a tow truck, right?

When you're on a boat and you run out of gas, and let's say hypothetically that, uh, or not hypothetically, that it's it's you and your wife and and your four kids along with another couple and their four children, and you run out of gas in the middle of a very large lake, what do you do?

Like that's a question I'd never thought about before.

But here's what my friend and I attempted to do.

Um, it was a very dead day on the lake.

There was no one there.

It wasn't like we could wave someone down and we're just looking, it's just us.

And so we uh tied ropes to ourselves, jumped in the water, and attempted two men to swim and tow a boat behind us.

I will say it was the manliest thing I've ever attempted in my life.

I mean, we were giving it everything we had.

We had life jackets on, we were being, you know, safe, but we're just just swimming, looking at each other, like, I think it's moving a little bit.

Yeah, we're good.

You know, at this rate, three hours from now, we'll be at the dock and we'll die.

Like, that's what it felt like.

And I finally a boat saw two dudes, you know, trying to pull.

And that's kind of a humiliating experience.

Part of me wanted to be like, nah, it's just a workout thing that we're doing, you know, it's just like we're getting ripped.

But uh, no, he's like, You guys need help?

Yes, we do, and we were able to be towed to our dock.

But that was an interesting experience.

Truth is, living on empty is it's exhausting, it's depressing, it's it's the worst.

We live in a world that drains us.

We live in a world we're surrounded by people and situations and circumstances that that just sometimes suck the life out of us, and we find ourselves very often running on fumes or just flat out empty.

But Jesus promises to fill us.

And so I want to explore this morning a few different things.

A, why is it if we are following Jesus and He promises to fill us, why is it that we're not full all the time?

Why don't we walk around being like, I am just filled to the brim with joy and energy and passion for life and wisdom and all these.

Why are we not full?

And then what is the solution to being full?

Because this year, I promise you, God wants you to have a full life.

He wants you to have a year that is full of what he wants and who he is.

So, in terms of not being full, I've got three words.

And this is sort of something I actually taught on once before, years ago.

Um, it's something that the Lord, I think, has just taught me bit by bit as I have looked at my life and been, man, why am I in the state that I'm in?

Three words, and it's leaks, lids, and lesser things.

Leaks, lids, and lesser things.

We are very often living life on empty, so to speak, because we either have leaks, we have lids, or lesser things getting in the way.

Let me explain.

Leaks.

We'll start there.

It's very easy to live life kind of leaky.

And here's what I mean by that.

Sometimes things happen to us.

People do things to us.

It's not always even in our control.

It can be something completely outside of our control, but stuff happens and there's trauma and there's pain, and it's like someone came along and just ripped open a hole inside of us.

And when that happens, we we have a leak.

And I've experienced this in many different ways.

Obviously, personally, I've I've had this happen in my life where something's happened, and maybe it even happened years ago, and for whatever reason, it affects me.

And so, like joy and confidence and and whatever else it might be just sort of leaks out of me.

And when you're leaky, you tend to lash out.

It's one of the signs of, not the only sign, but it's one of the signs of having a leak, is you tend to lash out.

And very often when you have a leak, you look at other people around you and feel like they ought to be doing more.

Because you feel empty, and so the easiest thing is like, well, if if my spouse or if my parents or if my kids, my friends, if my boss, if my church was just doing more, then I wouldn't feel like this.

It's on them.

But the problem is if you have a leak, it doesn't matter what anyone says to you or does for you, even if you're filled temporarily, it's all gonna come leaking out.

You have to address that.

I'll give you an example from scripture.

Uh, there's a king in the Old Testament named Saul, and he's the king right before a more famous king named David, and Saul has a major leak.

We see it show up uh very often in 1 Samuel chapter 19, verse 9.

1 Samuel 19:9

David is playing the harp.

And he's playing the harp, he's playing music to soothe Saul because Saul was having a bad day, Saul was prone to a horrible temper.

And it said, as David played his harp, Saul hurled his spear at David.

But David dodged out of the way, leaving the spear stuck in the wall.

He fled and escaped into the night.

Again, in 1 Samuel 18, David was playing the harp as he did each day.

But Saul had a spear in his hand and he suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall, but David escaped him twice.

It's the second time.

1 Samuel 20.

Uh Saul is having a meal, and he's invited a bunch of people, including his son Jonathan, who's very good friends with David, but David doesn't show up to the meal.

Saul wanted David to come to the meal so he could, again, throw a spear at him.

And Jonathan and Saul get in kind of an argument, and basically Jonathan says, What's the problem you have with David?

He's great.

And Saul says, As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you, Jonathan, will never be king.

Now go and get him so I can kill him.

But why should he be put to death?

Jonathan asked his father.

What has he done?

And then Saul hurled his spirit Jonathan, intending to kill him.

So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.

Okay, so uh few takeaways.

Saul needs to pick a different weapon.

First and foremost, he's not practice, something.

But you see in Saul, you see this constant lashing out, this explosion happening at the people around him, this deep anger.

He has a leak in his life.

There's something missing.

He's the king, and at this point in time, his kingdom is incredibly successful.

They're having victory over their enemies.

He ought to be filled with joy.

He ought to be satisfied, like no one else in the land, and yet he's angry and he's lashing out.

We get a taste of why in 1 Samuel chapter 18.

1 Samuel 18 · chapter mention

It says that whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully.

So Saul made him commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul's officers alike.

And when the victorious Israelite army was returning after David had killed the Philistine, this is talking about the battle of uh with um with the giant, if you never, you know, David and Goliath, that story.

It says, Women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul, and they sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals, and this was their song.

Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.

Saul didn't like that.

Saul didn't like that David got 10,000 and he only got 1,000.

He should have been thrilled, right?

He's the king, he's having victory, he's the first king.

Israel is growing stronger, and he's got this superstar in David that is winning battles, and he doesn't have to go fight the battles.

That's great.

But he can't handle his jealousy, his insecurity.

It's this leak in his life, and he'll never be satisfied as long as David is celebrated.

And so he lashes out with anger.

Now that's obviously an extreme example.

I doubt many of us have been throwing spears at the people around us lately.

But man, when it comes to the things that come out of our mouth, the things that we say either to people or about people, if you find yourself very often lashing out, losing your temper, if you find yourself thinking, you know, other people ought to be doing more for me.

Pause.

Because while that may be true, what may also be true is that you have some type of trauma, some type of wounding, and you're stuck on something, maybe something that even happened to you a long time ago, and it's created a leak in your life.

And if that leak is not addressed and healed, it doesn't matter what those people do, you will always lash out.

You will always feel empty.

It didn't matter what David did, it didn't matter if he played the harp, if he won a victory, if he didn't show up to dinner.

Until Saul dealt with his issues, his jealousy, his insecurities, he was always gonna lash out at David.

And so if you feel empty, and if you feel like others ought to be doing more, before you go down that path too far, pause and stop and say, Lord, do I have a leak?

Is there something going on in my life that needs to be addressed?

And here's the challenge is that it may be something you're not even familiar with.

It may be something that you haven't even been conscious of, and you need the Lord to reveal it to you, but that's the beauty of God, is that He knows us, He knows everything about us, and He can reveal things to us that we don't even know.

That's why following Jesus is such a special thing, because we have a God who knows all.

Jesus did that left and right.

He would look at people and talk to people and he could identify their thing.

Not so that he not because he was trying to bring them shame or like rub salt in a wound.

It was because Jesus is saying, that's what you need to fix.

That's what I can help you with.

If you have a leak, it has to be identified and addressed.

And if it's not, it doesn't matter what good things come into your life that'll all just leak out.

That's the first one.

Number two, we often find ourselves running on empty because we have lids.

When you have a lid, nothing can even get in.

So you're empty, not because there aren't good things happening to you or around you, or people even attempting to bless you, or God attempting to bless you, but it just can't get in at all because there's a lid.

You're closed off.

Let's look at an example from Scripture.

In Mark chapter 6, it says that Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

They asked, Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?

Then they scoffed.

He's just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and his sisters live right here among us.

They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

And so by this time, Jesus has become pretty famous.

Word about him has spread, he's doing miracles, he's teaching, he's blowing people away with his incredible insights, and he goes back to his hometown, it's a very small town called Nazareth.

And he teaches there.

But it says that at first they're amazed, like, whoa, where did he learn all this?

Definitely not here in Nazareth, where we grew up.

But instead of being blessed, instead of honestly being sort of touched by the fact that one of their own was the Messiah, the people of Nazareth says are offended.

They're offended.

Because Jesus is, he's just sort of outgrown them, I guess.

But they're offended.

Offense becomes a lid in our lives.

When we live and we carry offenses, when we hold on to things that have been done to us or done to those that we love, that we're close to, even when those things are legitimate, even when those things were absolutely wrong, but when we hold on to offense, it becomes a lid in our lives.

And we miss out on so many of the good blessings and the joy that God wants to give us because that offense that we're holding on to, it closes us off.

It says in Proverbs chapter 19 that sensible people control their temper and they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.

Proverbs 19 · chapter mention

It's really hard to do.

It's really hard to do.

Like when people wrong you, like it sticks with you.

When people wrong people you love, ooh.

When people wrong your children, those of you who have kids, like, is there anything worse than someone who messes with one of your kids?

I don't think there is.

This is a dumb story.

Uh, but I'm filled with those.

So uh I'm full of that.

Years ago, uh, many of you don't know this, but I have a son who plays basketball.

And uh actually I have two of them, and soon three.

But uh, in fact, Judah, my my eight-year-old, five and oh on the season, we're undefeated, so you know we're gonna keep that going.

Yeah, yeah.

Third grade basketball is very important, very important thing.

No technical fouls.

That's huge.

All right.

Yeah, if you know my story, all right.

When when my oldest Liam was in sixth grade, we were playing in this tournament locally, and it was just one of those games.

Those of you who have kids who play youth sports, you know that um sometimes adults act like I mean, it's insane the way that they will act in a youth sporting event.

Like behavior that doesn't make any sense.

And I I film everything, like I'm a video guy.

And actually, filming helps me not be as involved in the game.

I'm like a layer removed, and so I'm always filming stuff.

And in this game, uh, I like it got chippy.

Like our team and the other fans, it was it was whew, it was an intense environment.

And at one point I saw my son look up into the crowd at this parent on the other side and shush the guy.

Like he hit a shot and then he went.

And I was like, that's not okay.

I haven't taught him that.

But then I saw the footage, and there were words exchanged.

I guess it was one of the worst environments I've ever been in in life, and I could go on and on about it.

But like there, it was awful.

Afterwards, I watched the footage and I see that this dad in the stands on the other team was like standing up and pointing at my son and saying all these things to him, multiple points in the game, like leaning over the rail and just like that.

You know, my son's in sixth grade at the time, and this guy's a grown adult, and it bothered me like tremendously.

And so I made a little video highlight of it.

And I posted it.

Hold on, hold on.

I posted it as a private video on this YouTube channel that uh I have stuff.

I put private, never made it public, but would occasionally watch it for five years.

Every once in a while, for whatever reason, I would just be like in a mood, and I'm like, you know, I remember that guy, and I pull up this video, and I in the video I like slowed it down where he's pointing, and then I had it been like next play, and then like Liam hits a shot and he's like, Show I'm like, that's right.

I made a video about it.

And then I saw that guy at a gas station.

And it was it was like in that moment, I saw him, and it just hit me.

It's just a dad.

Like me.

Like it's just it's just a human being that got caught up in a game.

And like, what am I doing?

Like I had built this guy up to be this villain in my mind.

He's evil.

He's the most evil person in Cherokee County.

For sure.

I'm not saying like the world.

That'd be stupid, but definitely there's not a worse.

I knew his name.

Like.

And I had I had watched this video just occasionally as a weird comfort to the worst parts of me.

Like sometimes we actually seek things out and do things that comfort the worst parts of us, right?

That feed those parts of us.

And I'd watch this video over and over for years.

I got home and I deleted it.

It's gone forever.

Like I can't watch it if I want to.

I mean I can replay it in my mind very clearly.

But because I realized in that I was holding on to an offense that was so stupid.

Who cares?

Like who cares?

Like if you're in a trauma group and everyone's going around and sharing their trauma and it gets to you, and you're like, well, when my son was in the sixth grade, another dad pointed at him and said something mean to him in the stance.

Oh, I'm sorry, did your son fall apart and like quit basketball?

Actually, no, he responded really well, hit a big shot.

It was pretty cool, actually.

It's like, what are you why?

Like, what are you holding on to this for?

I was holding on to the dumbest thing.

Who cares?

People or people.

He's pro honestly, he's probably like a really great dad.

Maybe not.

I know I'm just joking.

No, he probably is.

And so I deleted that video because I said to myself, I'm not going to relive this offense anymore.

I've got to move past this.

I have to.

And I'll even share another little detail there because it just makes the story better.

I brought it up to my son shortly before I bumped into that guy.

And my son was like, Dad, you gotta let that go.

I was in like sixth grade.

When your own children are more mature than you, it's good.

We've all been wronged, we've all been hurt, and some of us have been hurt in very intense ways.

So I'm not making light of the offenses, and obviously the one I'm using is purposefully silly and lighthearted, but some of the offenses that have happened to us or those that we love are severe and serious.

But if you hold on to the offense, it will hurt you.

It will keep hurting you.

And it will become a lid where you can't experience the good that God is doing in your life because that offense keeps you closed off.

That's one type of lid.

Another type of lid would be pride.

Sometimes pride and arrogance can swell up inside of us, and we're not open to what God might want to do in our lives, maybe through other people, because we're too prideful to experience it.

Pharisees would be a classic example there from scripture.

They saw Jesus do miracles.

Like they saw that they were people who were trained in the scriptures.

They should have been the ones who recognized the Messiah first, like Jesus clearly was the Messiah.

And they should have been like him, oh him, he's the one we've been waiting for.

I can't believe we're alive.

But they were so prideful and so convinced that I think God was going to work specifically through them, that when some outsider that they weren't expecting shows up and is doing all the things that they wish they could do, rather than just receive him and worship him and serve him and follow him, they fought him.

Like they fought against the very Messiah that they were expecting because they were so filled with pride.

That's like a lid in life.

And we have to take that lid off.

If we ever think that we are better than other people because we are more educated, because of our views about the world or our status or our success level, or you name it, pride is a lid, and it will keep you from experiencing the good that God has for you.

You'll be empty because of that lid.

So you've got to take that off.

You've got to remove it.

And what's the solution for each of those, whether it's offense or pride or something else, it's humility.

It's humility.

You gotta say, Lord, I've held on to this, I've had this attitude in my heart, I recognize it, and I'm letting it go.

I'm humbling myself before you.

Take it away, because I want to be open to receive from you, and I just can't be as long as I've got this lid on.

So we've got leaks, we've got lids, and finally, lesser things.

Lesser things.

I mentioned Jesus having a conversation with a woman at a well in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

It's honestly probably in my top five favorite stories of Jesus.

I go to it very often.

I think we all can relate to the woman at the well.

She's a woman who is, like many of us, just a person lost, has tried their best to live a life that would bless them, but it just hasn't worked out, and they find themselves sort of addicted to certain behaviors.

They repeat the same cycles and patterns over and over again, telling themselves, this will be the last time.

I swear this is the last time.

I'm sure many of us have had those conversations in our mind, I'll never do it again, this is the last time.

And so she encounters Jesus at this well, and he promises her that fresh bubbling water.

We read it earlier, anyone who drinks this water will have eternal life.

And in John 4, verses 15 through 18.

John 4:15–18

When Jesus says this, she says, probably somewhat sarcastically, please, sir, give me this water, and then I'll never be thirsty again.

I won't have to come here to get water.

So Jesus responds, Go and get your husband.

And she says, I don't have a husband.

Jesus said, You're right, you don't have a husband, for you've had five husbands, and you're not even married to the man that you're living with now.

You certainly spoke the truth.

Now, like I said, on one hand, it can look in this moment like Jesus is pouring shame on this person.

He's not, and if you keep reading the story, that becomes immediately clear.

What he's saying is, is lady, you've been trying to live a filled life.

You've been trying to fill yourself and fill the emptiness that's inside of you with guy after guy after guy, and it hasn't worked.

And I'm telling you that I offer you something different.

And in this moment, like she's struck with awe, and she actually runs back to her town and she tells everyone that he's the Messiah because her words are, like, come and hear this man, he told me everything I ever did.

He's looking at her, he's saying, I love you.

And and look, you're empty, and you're trying to fill your life with just romantic partner after romantic partner, and it's not working, it hasn't worked, it won't work.

You need something different.

We all do.

Because our world is filled with lesser things.

This woman, instead of having the life that God offers, she was trying to fill her life with lesser things, and it left her completely unsatisfied.

Our world is full of lesser things.

That is why, by the way, we can have very busy calendars and simultaneously be bored in life.

Like we can just be bored.

My kids come to me very often to tell me that they're bored.

I don't know if any of you who have kids.

Does anyone else have that?

Like parents of kids, like very often, I'm bored.

I don't know how you guys respond, but I just don't care.

Like, I'm being honest.

When when my like my job as a dad is to love you, teach you, guide you, teach you about the Lord, feed you, protect you, provide for you.

It is not to entertain you.

Right?

And you have you have toys and video games, you have more stuff than like any kids have ever had.

And so if you can't figure out how to have fun right now, you know, that's not my problem.

That's how I feel.

I'm out of compassion for boredom.

Um, but then sometimes I'm like my kids.

I don't quite go to God and be like, God, I'm bored.

But but I find myself bored.

And my life is jam-packed with stuff.

I have so many things going on, and so many meetings and events, and my kids' calendars fill up my calendar and obviously the church, and it's like I can have a lot happening, and then still somewhere in my mind, I'm like, just nothing happened right now.

What is that?

Well, that's a sign that we're maybe getting our value or we're relying on lesser things to fill us fully.

Our world is full of lesser things.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.

And he who has no money, come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk with without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant.

My steadfast, sure love for David.

And David is sort of a stand-in in this scripture for God's people.

Why do you spend your money on things that don't satisfy?

Why do the Lord might look at us and say, Well, you guys are chasing a lot of things.

You're filling your life with a lot of stuff.

Is it really valuable?

Is it really going to satisfy you?

Or is it just lesser things?

It's lesser things.

Proverbs chapter 23, verses 4 and 5 say, Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich.

Proverbs 23:4

Be wise enough to know when to quit.

Because in the blink of an eye, wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

Money, like romance, accomplishment, success.

In the world's eyes, that's what everyone's trying to fill their lives with.

That's what everyone's chasing, and it does not satisfy.

It's just lesser things.

It's lesser things.

That is why, by the way, we we have this phenomenon, we've seen it in our culture thousands of times, where someone can be incredibly famous and wealthy, and then their life can have an absolute breakdown.

We see this, like every year there'll be a few celebrities who life, their lives come crashing down.

You're like, how?

You have more money than I would even know what to do with.

You are you're famous.

Millions of people celebrate you and like you, and you have all this stuff, and it's like, yeah, their life is filled with lesser things.

Completely filled, and yet there's this emptiness, and that must be the most terrifying thing in the world when you have all the money in the world and everyone loves you and all this stuff and you still don't feel satisfied.

Like, at least for most of us, we can at least be fooled into think, well, yeah, I just need more whatever.

But more of a lesser thing is not the answer.

You need something of real substance.

You need something in your life that is so powerful, so real, so genuine, so true and beautiful and good that you are fully satisfied.

The things of this world, it's just lesser things.

It's lesser things.

And you've got to avoid you.

Look, okay, it's dumb dumb example.

Uh anybody ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse before?

You know what I'm talking about?

One of those places where they just any vegetarians in the room before I talk about this?

Okay.

If you are, I'm I'm sorry.

I'm gonna.

It's just a restaurant where you put a little card on a table and they just keep bringing you meat.

We took our kids to one, uh, we were on vacation years ago in, I think, Gatlinburg, and there was a Brazilian steakhouse.

And I was a part of like, Brazilian steakhouse in Gatlinburg?

I don't know.

Oh, let's try it.

It was pretty good.

And so we went and our kids were blown away, right?

They're like turning their card over.

If you've never been to one, it's it's an incredible experience.

I'll never forget it because my daughter uh just ate everything, and she's like, This is so good.

And at one point in time, she was maybe seven.

She was like, What was that one that I liked that she described it?

Like, oh, that was lamb.

And she just, her blood drained from her face.

And she said, I ate a lamb.

And we went, Yeah.

And then, no, I'm not exaggerating.

She went, I'm a monster.

She said that.

You know, like, well, it was good.

If you ever go to a place like that, you have some options, okay?

Because they always have this very tempting salad bar.

You know what I'm talking about?

You go, and it's like, no, don't go there.

That's not what you paid the money for.

You didn't you didn't pay the money.

You don't eat lettuce here?

No.

And it's in the salad bar, it's like they work really hard because they want you to eat that.

They they, of course, they're trying to maximize their profits, right?

So if you get there and you fill up on lettuce, which is essentially garbage, uh, I'm sorry.

If you fill up on lettuce, and then by the time the meat starts coming, you're kind of full, that that's how they win.

So you go, you're like, you stay strong.

You say, I will not touch that salad bar.

I don't want bread, I don't want lettuce, I'm here for the meat, and you just you eat meat until your body essentially like revolts against you.

Like that's what you do.

Because you don't fill up on the lesser things.

But that's again, dumb analogy, but that's what we often do in life.

So we fill our lives with lesser things, and we leave less room for what's more meaningful.

And worship team, you guys can make your way out as we as we wrap up.

The solution to having a full life this year.

It's to identify the leaks, remove the lids, and by the way, I'm identifying the leaks, I probably shouldn't have mentioned this.

Usually it ends in forgiveness.

A lot of these do, by the way.

Forgiveness.

Identify the leaks, remove the lids.

Get rid of the lesser things.

Don't fill your life to the brim with that stuff.

It doesn't satisfy.

But instead, fill yourself with, I'm not trying to be cliched, with God.

In Exodus chapter 33, God is speaking to Moses, and Moses at this point in time is like, there's never been someone like Moses at this point in history.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

He walks with God in a way no one else ever has.

He's seen God act directly, do miracles.

He talks to God, he has conversations with God.

He goes up to mountaintops, and he and God hang out and meet.

God spoke to him through the burning bush, and he's just lived this close life with God.

And in Exodus 33, Moses is asking if God's going to go with him on this next phase of their journey.

And the Lord replied, I will personally go with you, Moses.

I'll give you rest.

Everything will be fine for you.

And then Moses said, Well, if you don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place.

How will anyone know that you look favorably on me, on me, and on your people if you don't go with us?

For your presence among us sets your people apart, and me apart from all other people on the earth.

And the Lord replied to Moses, I will indeed do what you have asked, for I do look favorably upon you, and I know you by name.

And Moses responded, Then show me your glorious presence.

Like, show me more.

I want you just to think about this for a second as we wrap up, because here's Moses, and he's this man who's experienced so much of God, and yet he wants more.

The man who's experienced more of God than anyone else alive at this time has experienced isn't satisfied with what he's experienced of God.

He wants more.

He's like, He's seen God do miracles, he's experienced God's presence, and he's sitting there like, yeah, but you know what I haven't seen?

And really, he's saying, I want to see you face to face.

He's like, I want to see your face.

I haven't seen that.

And God, I'm not satisfied until I see that.

Now, there's part of us that could look at Moses and say, dude, be content.

You have experienced more of God than most people could ever dream of, but there's something in Moses that says, No, I want more.

And God does not chastise him for that.

In fact, God, God actually says, If you saw my face, you'd die.

Literally, he's like, You would just fall down dead.

So I don't want to kill you.

So I'll tell you what I'll do.

And he goes and he puts Moses in this, kind of in between two rocks, and he passes over Moses, and he's like, I'll just let you catch a glimpse of me passing by.

And that blows Moses away.

There's another man later, excuse me, in scripture named Elisha.

And Elisha is the protege of Elisha, another prophet, and Elisha is like the greatest prophet of all time at this point in history.

And he's doing things with God, and God's doing things through him that no one's ever seen before.

And he's about to die.

And he looks at Elisha, his protege, and he's like, hey, ask, ask for whatever you want.

God's going to give it to you.

And Elisha says, I want double the portion of God's spirit that you had.

I want twice as much.

And Elisha's like, Whew, that's okay.

That's a tall order, but God does it.

And again, you can look at Elisha and be like, dude, you're being a little greedy.

That's ridiculous.

Elijah is Elijah.

You want double?

But he's like, if I can have it, why not?

What I'm saying is that we see in scripture time and time again, people who are close to God who say, Lord, if there's more of you that I can experience and have, I want it.

And God gives them more.

Psalm 63, David wrote, You God are my God, earnestly I seek you, I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

In Psalm 84, he says, How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty.

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

If we will be people that just desperately hunger for more of God.

If we'll say, Hey, I got a lot of 2025 left, and there's a lot of lesser things I could fill my life with, or I might miss out on things because I've got a leak or a lid.

I'm gonna get rid of all of that stuff because what I want is more of God.

I want a closer relationship with God.

I want to know him better.

I want to open up the Bible and just eat up his truth.

I want to learn things that I've never learned before.

I want to see him in ways I've never seen before.

I want him to be closer to me.

I want to experience something I've never experienced before.

I want a fresh encounter with the living God.

If that would be the desire of our heart, I promise you God will fill that because Jesus makes that promise.

He says, Whoever seeks will find, whoever asks, it will be given to you.

He said that my father will not deny the Holy Spirit from those who ask.

So if you, no matter if you're someone who's new to the whole God thing and you're like, I'm just starting out, ask for more.

Hunger for more, ask for more of God, seek more of God.

Surround yourself with people who can teach you about that.

Be around people who inspire you to go after God more passionately.

If you're someone who's been following Jesus for 60, 70 years, great, there's more.

Ask him for it.

Say, Lord, I want to experience you in a way this year I've never experienced before.

If we would be a church full of people who just say, I just want more of God.

I don't want more of the lesser things.

And I'm not gonna hold on to offenses and I'm gonna take pride away and I'm gonna address the leaks so that I don't have any of what God wants to give me come leaking out.

I just want more of God.

I don't want to be empty, I want to be filled.

God will fill you, He will fill you, and it will satisfy you.

It's kind of ironic that we started off our morning eating donuts, which are like the food equivalent of as lesser of a thing as you can have, you know?

Like you can eat 20 donuts and still be hungry.

It's weird.

Maybe not 20.

Although, speaking of, we have plenty left, and I'm sure you can attempt it if you want to.

Go for it.

I don't want to live my life this year, like on junk food, so to speak.

I don't want to live my life this year empty.

If I have leaks, I need to find them, I address it.

If I've got lids, I need to remove them.

And if I've left less room for God because I've stuffed my life with so many lesser things, that's gotta stop.

I want more of God.

And he promises to fill us.

So let's go for it.

Let's hunger for him.

Let's pursue him.

Let's let's have a ravenous appetite for God this year.

And say, I want as much of you as I can handle, and then be ready for whatever he gives.

And don't lose sight of that.

We're gonna take Lord's Supper as we close.

And it's uh, by the way, if you're new, we've got these little cups on the back tables.

You can always go grab one now if you forgot or didn't see them.

So this is about the smallest meal you could have in terms of size, on the tail end of a message about being filled.

But if you know what this really means and what this is really about, this represents what Paul talked about in Ephesians 3, the fullness of God.

Jesus gave everything for us.

This bread represents his body, this juice represents his blood.

He gave his whole life for you.

He held nothing back.

I want you to think about that.

He held nothing back.

So why would we hold back when it comes to asking for more of him?

Why would we as people hold back in any way from pursuing a deeper relationship with God, a closer connection with him, a more meaningful relationship, whatever that looks like, an experience that we just need to know him in a deeper way.

Why would we pull back when we have a God who doesn't hold back?

God does not hold back on his people, he does not deny his presence to his people.

And this meal it proves that because Jesus held nothing back, he gave it all so that we could have all of God.

And so let's take this together with that in mind.

Father, we thank you for this piece of bread, for what it represents.

This is your body.

Jesus, this is your body broken on the cross.

Sacrifice.

You gave everything, you held nothing back.

So, Lord, give us a hunger for you where we don't hold back in our own hearts when it comes to how much of you we want.

Fill us with that as we take in this bread.

Let's eat the bread.

Father, we thank you for this juice.

This is your blood, Jesus, shed on the cross.

And this cleanses us.

This purchased total forgiveness for us, and now we've been declared righteous in the eyes of our Father.

And our hearts are open to be filled by your Spirit.

So as we take this in, Lord, we thank you for giving everything for us.

And we're asking to be filled with everything that you have.

Let's take the juice.