The Essentials: Completely Full

Does anybody like Cheetos?

I know that's a weird question to start with.

Anyone like Cheetos?

Any Cheetos people?

Don't be ashamed, I love Cheetos.

You know, that's right.

Jalapeno Cheetos, spicy, there's a lot of different types of Cheetos.

It's funny, like Cheetos, we know what they are, right?

They're nothing.

Cheetos are essentially styrofoam.

You can choose do you want crunchy or puffy, but it's styrofoam.

And then they're gonna cover it with like an orange dust, and you're supposed to pretend that that's cheese.

Because you know all that all that orange cheese that you eat, right?

Like we've all had Cheetos.

At some point in time, we've all had Cheeto dust on our hands.

We've done the whole, like, I guess I'll just wipe this on my jeans and clean it later thing.

That's that's what Cheetos are all about.

My daughter Lily, she loves Cheetos.

She doesn't like Cheetos, she loves Cheetos.

If that's all that there was to eat, she would be in heaven.

She eats Cheetos all day long.

Like it's it's kind of a problem, and we recognize that.

My daughter has actually eaten Cheetos in her sleep.

And I'm not exaggerating, and I have it on video.

Now, before I show you this, I want to say a few things.

If you were here last week, I began the message by showing a cute video of my child, my other child, one of my other children, I've got a bunch, uh, of Judah.

And uh, and I know that I'm kind of going to the same well, I'm doing the same shtick this week.

And in part, it's because if you show a video of a cute kid, everyone goes on, they laugh, and then I've gotcha.

Um not really.

But but no, here's the deal.

My kids give me a lot of material, and I have to give a message like every week.

And so I'm grateful when they give me material, and I know that the window of opportunity that I have to show this stuff without them being upset is shrinking.

The older they get, the less okay they're gonna be with me being like, hey, look at my kids.

They're gonna have friends, they're gonna make fun.

I won't be able to do it.

So I've got to do it now, okay?

It's now or never.

So let me set this up for you.

A few months ago, I was picking my son up from the bus stop, and Lily was in the backseat.

And she had Cheetos, as she does.

And while we were waiting for Liam to get off the bus, she fell asleep with her hand in the Cheeto bag, which I thought was adorable.

I thought that was like the cutest thing because it's so her.

And so I pulled out my phone and I began to record the moment so I could send it to Megan, like, hey, look, Lily fell asleep eating Cheetos.

How awesome is this?

And while I was recording, I got a shot of her eating a Cheeto while being 100% asleep.

Not half asleep, not falling asleep.

In her sleep, her love for Cheetos is so deep that in her sleep she attempted to eat a Cheeto.

Check this out.

This is awesome.

Come on, how great is that?

That is love, ladies and gentlemen.

That's passion.

She loves Cheetos.

The problem with Lily is she doesn't love much other than Cheetos.

And so if we don't put a plate full of Cheetos in front of her for dinner, she's fighting us.

And that's really hard because we we love her and we want her to be happy, but we also want her to be healthy and have functioning organs inside of her body.

And we don't think Cheetos is the recipe for that.

So we try to feed her nutritious food and we try our best to make it good, to make it taste good.

I say we as if I'm involved in that process at all, which I'm not.

So Megan does that.

And you know how kids are?

Sometimes they decide they don't like something before they've even tried it.

They just make that decision.

And so Lily struggles, we struggle to get her to eat dinner, to get her to eat breakfast.

It's a fight, and most days we stick to our guns.

Most days we we really make sure that she eats what she needs to eat, but not all the time.

There's just certain days where we're like, you know, whatever, and and we let her be more self-guided in her diet, and those are the days that all she eats is Cheetos.

And those days always end the same way.

The exact same way is at the end of the night, when it's time to go to bed, she tells us, I'm hungry.

I'm hungry.

And we're like, well, yeah, but you didn't eat what we made.

We prepared food for you.

We put it on a plate, we gave it to you, it was right in front of you.

But you said no, you fought that, and instead you ate Cheetos, and now you're hungry.

Because Cheetos are nothing.

They're just nothing with dust on it.

That's all that they are, and if you fill yourself with nothing, you're empty, you're hungry.

It's a constant thing in our house.

And I'm so grateful for my kids because, number one, they're cute and I love them and I love being a dad, but they also teach me things.

And I'm grateful that I have these children because God shows me things through them that I need to learn for myself.

And I've learned through Lily and Cheetos that there's a big difference between filling yourself and being filled.

There is a huge difference between filling yourself and actually being filled.

And today we're talking about being filled.

If you're just joining us, we're in a series right now called The Essentials.

We're actually wrapping it up today.

We've been looking at the second half of Ephesians chapter one.

Ephesians chapter one is something we've been in since April, but in the second half, we've been focusing on these essentials that the author, Paul, tells us that we need to experience in our faith.

Paul is the most influential follower of Jesus ever, and he shares with us in Ephesians chapter one what he prays for regarding other Jesus followers.

So if you're here and you follow Jesus, if you've made that decision, Paul is saying, this is what I want you to experience.

And he describes what he prays that we would understand, and in that we see these five essential things that in Paul's mind, it's like, we've got to have this.

We've got to get this.

And so let's just go ahead and read this together.

We've done it most weeks, but but I think it's so important we can't overdo it.

Here's what he says: Ephesians 1:15.

Ephesians 1:15

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you.

I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

Essential number one was spiritual insight.

He says, I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called.

That was essential number two, confident hope.

His holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Two weeks ago we talked about essential number three, the glorious inheritance that we have and that we are.

Verse 19, he says, I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him.

This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms.

That was last week.

Essential number four, mighty power.

Verse 21, he says, Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.

God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

And the church is his body, it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

That's essential number five.

Complete fullness.

I want you to know at the outset today that God wants you to be filled.

That God wants to fill you full.

God wants to fill you.

And what's really cool is he doesn't even want to fill you to your capacity.

He wants to fill you beyond your capacity.

He says in Ephesians chapter 3, this is him talking through Paul again.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

He says, I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

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

I love that wording.

We talked about this back in January.

He doesn't say, I pray that you're filled to your capacity.

Because you and I, we might have different capacities for different things.

Sometimes because of our experiences, we might have a smaller or a larger capacity to experience something than someone right next to us.

But God does not say that he wants to fill you to your capacity.

He says that he wants to fill you to his capacity, to fill you with the fullness of God.

That's awesome.

That sounds really, really good to be filled with all the fullness of God.

But it doesn't really sound like life.

You know, it sounds wonderful, it sounds sweet.

I want to be filled with God's fullness.

But that doesn't sound like real life.

Because real life, it doesn't always feel very full.

There's this word that we often chase, fulfillment.

Like, I just want fulfillment.

How can I feel fulfilled?

And try to say feel fulfilled a bunch of different times.

Like that's really hard.

I'm glad that came out right.

It's hard to feel fulfilled, but the reality is you cannot be fulfilled if you're not filled full.

Won't work.

I'm not gonna try to say that again.

Like it's not gonna happen if you're not filled fully.

It won't happen.

But it's hard for us to experience fulfillment because life is draining.

It's just draining, even when it's going really well.

Have you ever noticed that?

That even when your life is awesome, you still get tired, you still run out of steam, you still run out of patience.

I wake up every morning in love with my children.

Every morning.

I love them.

And every night.

It's not that I don't love them as much.

That's not true.

I do.

It's just different.

The love has changed, you know?

Like right now, life is going really well for me and my family.

And there's different seasons, and I know that there will be hardships.

There have been in the past, there will be in the future.

But right now, we're in this really cool spot.

We've got these four kids, and they're healthy, and that's a blessing because that's not the reality for everyone.

But they're healthy, and so we're blessed by that.

And our church, our church is like, guys, God's doing things right now, and I've never been as confident that we are exactly where God wants us as I am right now, ever.

And so this church is awesome, and I'm so excited about what he's doing here, and it's great, and things are happening, and people's lives are changing, and it's all really good, but it's draining.

Sunday is the end of my week.

I cannot see the week as complete until Sunday's done, because this is kind of the big task on my to-do list every week.

And that's one of the things about working at a church.

I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me because it's awesome.

Like 100% of the people I work with are people who love Jesus.

That is not the real world.

I get that.

The hard thing about working in a church is that you can't push the deadline back.

You know?

There's never a week where we're like, we're gonna push Sunday to Monday.

Um, a lot of things happened, it's been crazy, so we're just gonna push Sunday back a day.

Nope, Sunday's gonna happen on Sunday.

And so I better be ready on Sunday.

And sometimes, even when the week goes great, even when our church is doing great, I sort of like get to Sunday dragging because it's draining even when it's going well.

And if it's not going well, even more so.

Life is draining, and the reality is anything that drains long enough will become empty.

That is true of bathtubs, gas tanks, bank accounts, and human beings.

Anything that drains long enough will become empty.

And emptiness is normal.

Emptiness is an epidemic in our world.

Like it's everywhere.

We see it all the time.

It feels like every year for the last several years, there's been some high-profile celebrity that has everything in the world we can imagine, has more money than we would even know what to do with, that can travel the whole world and see all the amazing things that this world has to offer, that has fame, adoration, and yet we find out that apparently they were so empty that they don't even want to live.

And in those moments, we're like, how?

Like, how could you not have a reason to live?

You have everything that the world offers.

And that seems crazy to us, but it wouldn't have seemed crazy to Jesus because Jesus said it very clearly in Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Is anything worth more than your soul?

And those people would say no, because they would give everything they have to have a wholeness in their soul.

I don't look at those people and judge them because I have to look in the mirror and ask myself, how many times have I believed that I'm I'm one purchase away from happiness?

How many times have I believed that I'm one earthly experience away from fulfillment?

That happens all the time.

It's really normal for there to be this one thing that I'm like, if I had that, if that was in place, if that was in my life, then I'd be full.

For years it was a man cave.

I wanted a man cave so bad.

And we bought a house that had this room in the basement that was like, it just it screamed man cave.

It was ugly, it was like, it was literally like a cave.

It didn't have any windows at all, there's concrete walls, and I'm like, this is my man cave.

I didn't have the stuff to make it a man cave, but but I felt like I deserved it, you know?

Because I'm a guy.

And yeah, there's more guys in our house than girls.

We outnumber Megan and Lily significantly, and yes, she's the one who's been pregnant four times and and given birth four times, and yes, she's the one who can't use the restroom without being interrupted, but I need a space of my own, right?

Even though I get to go to work and and be with adults all day long, and she's at home and she's taking care of the kids.

Like, I think when I get home, I need a space for me.

That makes sense.

And so for years I pursued this man cave and I got it.

Piece by piece, I got all the components.

I got a TV.

It was awesome.

I got it on the wall, I just admired it.

I got all this other stuff.

I got a I got a couch, it's like a faux leather couch, but it it reclines automatically, electronically.

You push a button and you hear it like, yeah.

And it has cup holders with LED lights on the bottom of them.

Why?

Cause.

You know?

Because like, men, back me up.

Is there anything more exciting than unnecessary technology?

You know?

Something that just does it because it can.

A comedian once talked about the fact that we we we put a car on the moon, you know, we went up to the moon and we drove a car around.

Like, why?

What's the point of driving a car on the moon?

Why not?

We're on the moon.

Let's drive, let's let's feel the wind in our hair or over our helmets or whatever that would be, you know?

Because as men, we don't ask why.

We just do it and then make up a reason for why.

And so I had this man cave and I put it all together, and I've got the lights, and I've got the the faux leather couch and I've got the TV.

And when it was all assembled, when it was all ready, I sat in in the man cave for the first time, and I shut the door and I turned on my TV, and 20 minutes later, I was bored out of my mind.

And I heard my children playing on the other side of the door, and I was like, oh man, this isn't, I don't know.

And so I opened up the door, and the man cave, it's not a man cave anymore.

It's it's Lily's playroom mainly.

Like Lily goes there to watch really girly princess shows.

Um, it is useful to us in that when we have a child who is vomiting, which with four children is pretty often, um, because it's faux leather, we're not worried about the vomit getting on the seat because we can clean it.

And so if any of our kids are throwing up, that's the quarantine room.

It was supposed to be my man cave, now it's like Princess Vomit Castle.

Like that's what the room is.

And uh, but one day I will reclaim it.

You know, one day I'll convince myself that I need it again.

But the reality is, for years, I thought that was the missing thing.

If I had a man cave, then I'd be I'd be full.

And I think we've all had that experience.

We all know what it's like to believe that there's this one thing of this world that's it's missing, and if we had it, well then we'd be we'd be filled.

A very well-known Christian author and theologian once said this In each of us, there is a nameless, unsatisfied longing.

This vague discontent, this something lacking, this frustration.

Part of the human situation is that we cannot find happiness out of the things that the human situation has to offer.

Less academic translation.

Life is draining, and we often feel empty, and there's nothing in this world that will fix it.

Yay, let's end now.

Like that's a really good note to end on.

Like, worship team, come on.

Yay, we're doomed.

No, the the world doesn't have the solution.

If it did, if an extra zero on the end of your paycheck would make you happy, then wealthy people would never suffer from depression.

Yet, statistically speaking, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to develop depression.

Because Jesus knew what he was talking about.

If you gain the world but lose your soul, you're empty.

And emptiness, it's normal, it's an epidemic, and so what do we do when we feel empty?

We hate it, and we should.

Like you should hate feeling empty because you weren't created to be empty.

You were created to be filled.

And when you feel empty, what do you do?

You you fill.

And that makes sense.

That's natural.

We fill, but the problem is we're really bad at filling.

We suck at it.

Because we eat Cheetos, people.

Like we eat Cheetos.

Think about that.

Knowing all that we know about nutrition, knowing all that we know about the way our body works, we look at things like Cheetos and we go, yeah, I'll put that in me.

And at this point in the message, Cheetos have become a metaphor.

I just want to make sure we're all clear.

In a variety of different ways, we eat Cheetos.

And then at the end of our day, no matter how much we've filled, no matter how hard we've tried to fill, we go, Why am I empty?

Why am I hungry?

We're not good at filling, and here's why.

We're not supposed to be the ones who fill.

That's God.

Like we're the ones who need to be filled.

God is the one who fills.

And God, He looks at us when we're empty.

He looks at us when we have that longing and his heart breaks because that's not his will for us.

That's not his desire for you.

He loves you.

In the Old Testament, through the prophet Isaiah, God talked to his people.

Isaiah 55, verse 1.

Isaiah 55:1

He says, Is anyone thirsty?

Come and drink, even if you have no money.

Come, take your choice of wine or milk.

It's all free.

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?

Cheetos.

Why pay for food that does you no good?

Again, Cheetos.

He says, Listen to me and you will eat what is good.

You will enjoy the finest food.

Come to me with your ears wide open.

Listen and you will find life.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

See, God wants you to be full.

And only God has what you need to be full.

The world cannot offer.

It cannot offer something truly filling.

But Jesus can.

Only Jesus can, and the reason is because only Jesus can fill us.

Go back to Ephesians 1.23.

And the church is his body, it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

That's really interesting, right?

In this verse, who's the one that fills?

Jesus.

Jesus is the one doing the filling.

And what is he filling with?

Jesus.

So Jesus is going to fill us with Jesus.

That's kind of a weird concept, but it's super consistent with what Jesus taught.

In John chapter 4, Jesus has an interaction with a woman from Samaria, and he has this interaction at a well.

John 4 · chapter mention

It's one of his most famous conversations.

It begins in verse 7.

Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Please give me a drink.

He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans.

She said to Jesus, You're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan woman.

Why are you asking me for a drink?

Jesus replied, If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you're speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water.

But, sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket, she said, and this well is very deep.

Where would you get this living water?

And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well?

The answer is yes.

How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?

And Jesus replied, Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.

But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.

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

Jesus says, He is living water.

And if you would be filled with him, you would come to life in a way you never have before.

If you're filled with Jesus, it's like a fresh bubbling spring within you.

It changes everything.

The Bible says that anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation.

The old is gone.

Behold, a new life has begun.

Because Jesus is living water.

This is language that he used pretty often.

He had a variety of ways of expressing it.

In John chapter 6, verse 35, Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

John 6:35

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.

Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Jesus called himself the vine, said, We're the branches.

And if you take a branch away from a vine, it can't even survive.

He says, Apart from me, you can do nothing, but with me, anything is possible.

Jesus called himself the light of the world.

He said that without him, we're stumbling around in the dark, doing our best to feel our way through, but with him we can see.

With him, all things become clear.

Jesus basically says, I am the answer.

The answer is not, it's not like love.

Love is awesome, and Jesus is love.

God is love.

First John 4 8.

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

But the answer is not, I just need more love in my life.

You need more Jesus.

Because Jesus is love.

Jesus is the answer.

It's not that I need more truth in my life.

Yeah, I need more truth so I can perceive what's real and what's fake.

But I don't just need more truth.

I need more Jesus.

Because Jesus is the truth.

He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

There's one thing that we need more of, and it's Him.

We need more Jesus because Jesus fills.

And when Jesus fills you, he fills you full.

And he

Fills you full of love and hope and grace and passion.

Like, are you passionate about your life?

Do you wake up in the morning going, yes?

Yes, another day.

Yes.

Jesus passion for life.

And he will fill you with that because that's who he is.

That's what he is.

The word passion didn't even exist in language until Jesus.

Study the word passion, it traces back to Jesus.

You ever heard of the phrase the passion of the Christ?

That's where it comes from.

Because the idea of loving something so much that you would die for it, that's what passion is.

That's what Jesus did.

He did it for you.

So if you want to be full, there's one source, there's one person, there's one hope.

Here's the beautiful thing.

He's given himself to you.

You don't have to earn it.

You don't have to win it.

If you've already given your life to Jesus, you don't have to win it again.

You don't have to earn it again.

You don't begin every day at zero.

I gotta do the thing so that I can have more Jesus in my life.

It's yours.

Like you want him.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, blessed is anyone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for they will be filled.

If you hunger for God, he will fill you.

The question that we have to ask ourselves this morning is are we living life filling ourselves?

Are we being filled?

What would happen if we if we took all that energy and time and thought that we spend into dreaming of the next thing that we could have that would hopefully make us feel better, hopefully make us feel less empty.

If instead of that, we just put our eyes on Jesus and we said, I'm tired of filling myself, you feel me.

I want to be filled.

I'm tired of settling for feeling less empty.

God does not want you to feel a little less empty today.

God wants you to be full.

Jesus fills.

If you're here today and you haven't given your life to Jesus, my prayers that you would because He is He is everything.

He is everything.

He fills all things everywhere with Himself.

When you know Jesus, you have a fullness of life that doesn't make sense if you don't have it.

It's like I can't I couldn't even go back to the version of me that didn't know Jesus and begin to explain the difference.

It's a love and a peace and a joy that I can't even express.

It's just good and it's real.

And if you do know Jesus, then keep your eyes on him and keep going to him and keep relying on him to fill you.

Don't don't convince yourself or allow yourself to be convinced that something else in this world is gonna fill you.

Because that's the constant temptation, right?

Like when you get stressed, even if you're a Jesus follower, he gets stressed, it's so easy to take your eyes off Jesus and go, whoa, whoa, what can help me?

What can help me?

What can help me?

Oh, you, you, you can help me.

I did that yesterday with my wife.

I had a opportunity in the morning yesterday.

We'll just say that.

I had a way that I started the morning that should have been different.

Because I got super stressed out.

I had a really stressful week.

And I'm always the author of my own stress.

So like that's that's that's on me.

But but I woke up yesterday morning and I for some reason like a flip a switch flipped in my head, almost at a flip switched, and that's switched.

Uh a switch flipped.

And for some reason I woke up and I was like, You you are the one who will fill me today.

So, Megan, could you please let me sleep in a little bit longer?

Could you keep the kids away for a little bit so I can get some more rest?

Megan, would you mind doing this?

Megan, um, if you could just really do this, it would really bless me.

Like I said that a lot, because you know how you can use Christian language to make someone feel guilty for not serving you?

You know, like it would it would just bless me so much as your loving husband, it would bless my soul if you would you know hang out with me or whatever, you know, or pretend like that's what I asked for.

Um but like I just instead of having my eyes on Jesus, I pivoted and I looked to my wife and I basically said, You be Jesus.

Fill me.

Give me what I need to feel full.

I feel empty, I feel stressed.

You feel me?

That doesn't work.

And then I had to go drive, wait with a little flight, um, you know, that happens, and and she said, Go collect your thoughts.

And I was like, fine.

And so I did.

And it's funny because I'm I'm I'm always I always hate it when I have a bad day on a Saturday because then Sunday comes, you know, it never can't push it back.

And I'm like, I have to go preach a message tomorrow, and I'm so mad right now.

And then God's like, hey, what are you talking about tomorrow?

I'm like, you know, being oh dang it.

Um, you know, like come on.

And I had to stop, like I literally had to stop and and flat out repent and say, Lord, I have looked to something other than you to fill me.

And I I've become angry at that other person that they haven't given me what I need.

And the person I shouldn't be angry with is me.

Because I took my eyes off of you and I asked something far, far less than you to fill me up.

Jesus fills, He will fill you fully, but you gotta keep your eyes on him.

And that's the beautiful thing about us when we get together on Sunday mornings.

We get to we get to do that, we get to refocus.

In fact, we're gonna do something right now that we normally do in the middle of the morning, but it was important for us today to do it now, and that's to take Lord's Supper.

And so on the sides of the room we have we have bread and juice and worship team.

If you guys want to make your way out, here's what I want us to do.

If you're brand new, by the way, I'll do this pilot if you're brand new.

Uh we do this almost every week because Jesus asked us to.

He said, When you get together, do this in remembrance of me.

And this is for everybody.

You're not compelled to do this.

If you don't want to, you don't have to, but everyone's invited to.

And so if you guys, if you guys want to stand up, we've got bread and juice on the sides of the room.

Go grab some and then make your way back, and we're gonna get filled up.

I put some Cheetos, like a few, to test you, to be like, are you gonna choose the cheetah?

You know, gotcha.

Um, but I didn't do that.

So I said earlier that my daughter goes to bed at night hungry sometimes, and like, by the way, we feed her, okay?

So don't go calling anybody.

We feed her.

Um, but she often feels empty, and the frustration that we have as a parent is that we put a meal in front of you, and you just you just needed to take it.

And what's so cool is that Jesus is the meal put before us.

He once said in his ministry, anyone who wants to be my disciple must eat my flesh and drink my blood.

And then a lot of people freaked out and were like, that's weird, and they went the other way, and he's like, it was a metaphor, um, you know.

But he said that.

Like, like Jesus talked about himself as something that we need to take in.

He's living water, that he's the bread of life.

And we need to receive from Jesus.

And we need him.

And so in Mark chapter 14, Jesus is having a meal with his disciples, and it's right before he goes to the cross.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

It says, as they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it.

And then he broke it in pieces and he gave it to the disciples, saying, Take it, for this is my body.

And he took a cup of wine and he gave thanks to God for it.

He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

And he said to them, This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people.

It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.

So Jesus gave us himself.

And for the last 2,000 plus years, countless times, millions, billions probably of times, Jesus' followers have gathered together to remember what Jesus did.

And they've they've they've eaten bread and they've drank wine or or juice as a way of remembering, as a way of refocusing and saying, My eyes are on you, Jesus.

Like it's almost lunchtime, and most of us are gonna leave from here, and we're gonna go have a meal, and we're probably gonna have a really good one.

But I want us to remember that the meal that we really need is this one.

Because whatever you eat in 20 minutes, it could be the best meal you've ever had in your life, it could be the best food you've ever eaten, and three hours later you're gonna be hungry again.

But this meal and what it symbolizes, it's living water, it is a fresh bubbling spring within you.

Jesus, he's the meal presented before us, he is what fills us, and we're gonna remember that together.

And so, if you're holding a piece of bread, just pray with me.

Jesus, thank you that you gave your body.

Thank you, Jesus, that you gave all of yourself for us, that you allowed yourself to be broken, that you set your power aside, and you allowed yourself to be nailed to a cross, to be bruised, to be beaten on our behalf because you love us.

Because you love us, Jesus.

As we eat this bread, we remember you, and we are acknowledging that we need you, Jesus.

So fill us with yourself.

Let's eat the bread.

This cup of juice represents Jesus' blood.

And we still have phrases that we say in our world today, like, I put my blood, sweat, and tears in it.

You know that if you bleed for it, it means you love it.

And Jesus bled for us.

In his blood, it brings new life to us.

That's what blood does, it brings life.

And so when Jesus shed his blood for you, it was so that you could have new life.

The kind of life he described to that woman at the well, the kind of life that is totally filled.

You're not hungry anymore, you're not thirsty anymore, you're not longing for fulfillment because Jesus is filling you.

As we drink this juice, we're gonna remember that.

So pray with me.

Jesus, thank you for your blood.

Thank you that you poured it out on our behalf.

Thank you, Jesus, that you didn't spare anything, that you didn't hold anything back, that you gave it all.

And as we drink this juice, Jesus, we're just saying that we recognize that without you, without what you gave, without what you sacrificed, we would have no hope.

We would be totally empty, Lord.

We're grateful.

Drink the juice.

At some point in the next week, maybe even today, whatever your version of Cheetos is, is gonna come to mind.

And look, there's no guilt, there's no shame.

This isn't religion, so it's not about like, don't do these things.

That's not the point of any mourning that we have.

The point is, don't settle for anything less than Jesus.

Don't settle for religion, don't settle for church, don't settle for anything less than Jesus Himself.

Because he belongs to you, and he belongs to you because he gave himself to you.

So have a heart that's receptive.

And as we leave this place today, I pray that we recognize that he is what we need.

Let's not be people that fill ourselves.

Let's stop putting energy and time into filling up and let's start letting him fill us.

Let's be filled.

Let's be filled.

Now, normally Lord's Supper is kind of a somber thing, but this is celebratory.

This is exciting because our God has given us what we need.

And so we're gonna worship him with that mindset.

We're gonna worship him with that heart, that our God has given us what we need, and because of Jesus, we are filled.

So let's stand up together.

Let's stand up and let's worship our God.

Thank you, Jesus, for all you've done for us.

Thank you, Jesus, for filling us.

And we are sitting right now as your church, as your people, that we're looking to you, that we're listening to you, that we're relying on you, so it's you who fills us, Jesus.

Fill us up, fill us full.

We hunger and we thirst for you, and we know that when we come to you, we hunger and we thirst no more.

We love you, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.