Eternal Life

Well, man, I hope you guys are having an amazing, amazing day, an amazing weekend so far.

Hope you're not disappointed so far in your day.

It'd be early in the day to be disappointed already, right?

It's funny though, because we we get disappointed pretty often in life.

Disappointment, I would say, is one of the major components to life.

We see disappointment happen all the time, things happen that we don't want to happen.

And we honestly live in a world that causes a lot of disappointment because we live in this world that hypes everything up.

We live in a world where promises are made to us, left and right, and maybe we get excited by those promises, but then when we actually when we actually have something in hand, it's just not quite as good as advertised.

And we've all had that experience.

It happens constantly.

Like you've gone to a restaurant and you've ordered food because the picture you saw on the menu of that food, or maybe on a commercial, looked, it looked amazing, right?

It it looked incredible, it looked something like it's just something out of a movie.

It was it was beautiful, it was perfect, but then whenever the plate was put in front of you, you were like, oh, okay.

This isn't this isn't what the picture looked like, or or maybe it looked good, but then you tasted it and you were like, oh, you know, it's it's okay.

It's all right.

You probably had someone tell you, oh, you've got to go, you've got to go eat here.

This place is unbelievable.

I mean, it's the best place I've ever been, and then you go and you're so excited because you believe the person who told you it was amazing, and then it's just not quite what they hyped it up to be.

That's a normal experience.

We've all seen a movie because the trailer was unbelievable.

Amazing.

Like we see this movie trailer and we go, oh man, I have to see that movie.

That looks so, so good.

And then you go and you get so frustrated because you realize that the person who made the trailer is more talented than the person who made the movie.

And you want to go congratulate that person on one hand, but also you know, punch them because they owe you$20.

You went and you saw this mediocre movie because of this amazing trailer.

We all have those experiences where we receive something and it's just not quite what was promised to us.

When I was in high school, senior, I know I've talked about this before, but I'm an open book.

You guys know embarrassing things about me.

I decided I wanted abs.

I decided it was time to get some some visible definition in my midsection.

I just didn't want to do sit-ups and all the stuff you're supposed to do to get abs, but I saw this commercial for this product where it had a battery pack and it was like a belt, and you wrap it around your waist and you turn it on.

Have you guys seen this?

They still have them.

And it like shocks your abs so that they contract it.

And conceptually it made sense.

I'm like, that when I do a sit-up, that's what happens.

I I contract my abs and I can just sit there and watch TV and eat a Snickers and have that happen.

And that's amazing.

And so I ordered it.

I actually spent money on this and I got it, and I put it on, and it just did not work at all.

It was actually kind of painful.

And and after like a week, I saw no change.

Um, and I had this like hole that burned into my side from the I'm serious.

I was so frustrated because my app my hopes were high.

The guy on the commercial, his abs were awesome.

His abs were amazing.

And I I believed, I guess, somewhere deep down inside that that he must have been a user of the product, but clearly he was not.

We deal with disappointment all the time because we live in this world that's all about hype and marketing and spin.

But every once in a while, every so often, this is a very rare experience, we actually we actually have something.

We actually receive something that is even better than what was promised.

That's even better than advertised.

It doesn't happen very often, but when that happens, that's that's an incredible experience.

When that happens, that's something to stop and and reflect on and appreciate.

It's so rare to actually receive something that's better than what's promised.

We've been going through John chapter 3 all summer long.

John 3 · chapter mention

We're looking at this conversation that Jesus had with a man named Nicodemus.

It happened 2,000 years ago, late one night in Jerusalem.

It's the most important conversation that's ever happened because in this one conversation, Jesus completely and totally changes our whole perception of God.

We would not, we would not know who God is and what God is really like and how we can actually know God if this conversation hadn't taken place.

This conversation, it's it's a foundation of our faith in Jesus.

This conversation changed everything.

It's affected humanity for thousands of years.

And so we've been going through this conversation pretty much verse by verse, just going one step at a time and exploring everything that Jesus said.

And today, today we get to this incredibly important moment.

It's the moment where Jesus makes his offer.

It's the moment where Jesus tells us what it is that he actually offers us.

We're used to that experience.

We're used to being offered something, we're used to being promised something.

And maybe some of those walls go up, some of those natural tendencies for us to self-protect and say, yeah, but is it as good as advertised?

But I believe and have experienced that what Jesus offers us, it's so much more than we even realize.

What Jesus actually offers you in your life today, it's more than maybe you've ever realized it is.

What's this whole snake on a pole thing?

It's a really obscure story from the Old Testament.

Numbers chapter 21, obscure to us, but Nicodemus, the guy who Jesus is talking to, he's like an expert on the Bible up to that point.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

And so he would have known this story, he would have known it well.

It's a story that takes place in Numbers 21.

Ancient Israel, they're kind of in between their time in Egypt where they were slaves, but this is also before they they enter the promised land, so they're nomads in the desert.

Things have not gone very well for them, that they don't have a grateful attitude toward God.

They've kind of rejected God honestly.

And sometimes when you reject God, you also reject some of the benefits that come along with having the favor of God, his protection.

And they've done that.

They've said, Really, we don't want anything to do with you.

And now they've got this problem.

There's all these poisonous snakes that have kind of made their way into the camp.

I guess that's what happens in the desert, and people are getting bit, people are dying, and so all of a sudden they need God again.

And so they go to God and they pray and they say, God help us.

And God has a very strange solution in mind.

He tells Moses to take some bronze and melt it down and then form that bronze into the image of a snake, and then hold that snake up on a pole, and everyone who looks at the snake with faith will be healed if they're bitten, and they'll receive their life back.

Very, very strange thing.

And you know, sometimes if you read the Old Testament, you'll come across these stories that seem like they don't make any sense at all.

Why in the world is this in here?

This is strange, this is odd, and it's amazing how often those are the stories where God is pointing to Jesus in the future.

If you ever do that, if you ever read the Old Testament, you're like, what is this?

Why is this here?

This doesn't make any sense.

This doesn't seem like it fits the picture I have of God.

There's a reason that God is doing that.

There's a reason that grabs your attention, and so often it's it's God foreshadowing what he's going to do at another time.

And Jesus is the one that makes it all make sense.

And so Jesus says, Hey, just like that snake, that bronze snake got lifted up, and the people who looked on it with faith received their life, so the Son of Man, talking about himself, so so must I be lifted up, and he's talking about the cross.

So must I be lifted up, so that everyone who looks on me with faith will receive life.

So we know that thousands of years ago, when God did this whole bronze snake thing, it's just another way to foreshadow Jesus.

And it's interesting, you've probably seen an image of that snake, by the way.

We've probably all seen this image, for example, maybe on the side of an ambulance.

That's the image of the snake on the pole.

That image has forever been associated with healing.

Right?

Now we have the cross to look forward to, to look on with faith, and the promise that when we do that, when we have faith in Jesus, when we put our trust in him, we receive life.

But this isn't just normal life that he's offering, is it?

This is not like the people in Israel who are who are simply getting their life back.

They're not just that they're just getting their life restored.

Jesus is offering something more than just normal life.

I mean, look back in the verse that we looked at, verse 14.

And Moses, as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

So the life that Jesus is offering us, the life that he's offering you, it's eternal life.

That is the offer of Jesus.

Boil it all down, strip it all down to its core.

The offer that Jesus makes to you is eternal life.

And the reality is that this offer, what he's really giving, what we can really have, it is so much greater than what we picture.

See, when we think of eternal life, we tend to get a little bit off track because the first thing we think of naturally is life in heaven forever with God.

Life after this life.

We hear eternal life and we think, okay, yeah, living forever in heaven.

I believe in Jesus, I've accepted Jesus, I have faith that what he did on the cross paid the penalty for my sins, I have faith that he is who he says he is.

I've prayed that prayer, I've been baptized, I've done all that stuff, so I have heaven to look forward to.

And that is absolutely a component of eternal life.

But that is not the whole picture at all.

That's everlasting life.

But eternal life is something more than that.

We tend to think of eternal life only in terms of the quantity of life, but not necessarily the quality of life.

But in reality, we don't just need more life.

We need a different life, we need a better life.

Have you ever had a day that you just need to end?

Maybe you had one of those this week.

I mean, honestly, we have those days where it's like five, six o'clock at night and we're looking at the clock, going, man, when is today going to end?

When can I just hit the pillow and be done?

And if someone came up to you at that moment and said, hey, what if I told you that today could last forever?

You would say, leave.

Turn around and go.

I don't, no, I don't want that.

See, we need more than just additional quantity to life.

We need a whole different kind of life.

And that is what eternal life is.

Eternal life is a new quality of life.

It's it's the life of God in our lives right here, right now.

It's when the eternal God that we serve and that we believe, when that God and his presence and his power and his peace and his love and his joy, it's when that invades our every single day.

You don't have to wait to die to experience eternal life.

You can experience eternal life now.

See, if eternal life was just about going to heaven when you died, Jesus would not have spent so much time talking about life right now.

He constantly pointed to the here and now when he made big promises about God.

For example, in the book of Luke, chapter 17, verse 20 says, Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar, nor when someone says, Look here, or there it is.

Luke 17:20

And why?

He says, because the kingdom of God is already among you.

He says, This life you've been waiting for, this life where what God desires and what God wants to happen can happen, it's already here.

It's standing right in front of you.

That life is right now.

Jesus was not just pointing to some distant future.

He's not saying, Hey, you want the kingdom of God?

Just live your life, and when you breathe your last breath, then you'll have it.

Luke chapter 4, verse 17.

Luke 4:17

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home.

He went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood up to read the scriptures.

The scroll on Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll and he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.

And he rolled up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down.

All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently, and then he began to speak to them.

The scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day.

Jesus is saying, this time that you've been looking forward to, the time of God's favor in this world, it's right now.

Eternal life.

This rich and satisfying life that Jesus promised, like he promised in John chapter 10, verse 10, when he says, I have come to give you a full, abundant life.

John 10:10

Eternal life, it's something we can experience right now.

It's a whole new quality of life.

It's a different life.

It's not one that we've got to wait for.

You can have eternal life today.

You can live and experience it today.

In John chapter 4, the very next chapter from what we've been reading over the course of the summer, Jesus has this amazing interaction with a woman at a well.

John 4 · chapter mention

He and his disciples are traveling around and they're teaching people about God and they're kind of going from place to place.

And we've got this other place they've got to go.

And most of the time, the Jewish people would get to this next destination by taking this scenic route.

They would go around instead of straight through this one area called Samaria, because the Jewish people and the Samaritans did not get along.

From the Jewish people's perspective, the Samaritans were no good.

That's why Jesus' statement, his story on the Good Samaritan, if you've ever heard that, is a parable that he taught.

The whole idea of a good Samaritan would not have registered for the Jewish people.

That would have been an oxymoron.

There's no way a Samaritan can be good.

And so usually the Jewish people would travel and do everything they could to just go around Samaria.

Jesus says, hey, let's just go through Samaria.

Let's take the short route.

Let's just go straight through.

And so they're doing that.

His disciples are like, okay, let's just get through here.

Let's not talk to anybody.

Let's not do anything.

Let's just let's just make our way through.

But Jesus stops.

And he stops at this well.

It's the middle of the day.

It's not a time that most people would go to a well.

Back then, you would go to a well at night when it wasn't blazing hot.

And you would fill up your water that you would need for the next day.

You would take that back home.

But it's middle of the day.

Jesus is at the well, and this woman comes to the well.

And she and Jesus have a conversation, and Jesus teaches her about eternal life.

He's not going to tell her, hey, you've had it rough, but hey, don't worry.

One day your life's gonna end, and then you'll be able to go to heaven.

That's the good news.

That's okay news.

But the good news of Jesus is that you can have the life of God right now, and Jesus is gonna tell her that.

You see, Jesus, he's an amazing teacher, he's an opportunistic teacher.

And so he would see something happen around him, and he would use that as an illustration to tell people who God is.

So if he saw some farmer that was scattering seed to plant, he would say, Hey, the kingdom of heaven, it's kind of like a farmer sowing seed.

Here he is at this well, and this woman comes, and he wants her to know what eternal life is and how she can have it, and he's gonna use this well as an illustration.

It's in Luke chapter 4, or rather John chapter 4, starting in verse 9.

Luke 4 · chapter mention John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus has just asked the woman for a drink, and it says 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?

And Jesus replied, If you only knew the gift God has for you, and who you were speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you the 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?

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.

There's that phrase again, right?

Eternal life.

He says, This living water that I'm talking about, it will give you eternal life.

You'll never be thirsty again.

And at this point, the woman just thinks Jesus is crazy.

She thinks he's actually talking about water.

And so she responds sarcastically, verse 15, Oh, please, sir, give me this water, then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water anymore.

She's saying, Oh, hey, give me this magic water that you're talking about, so I can stop coming here every day in the heat of the day and getting the water.

And if you have magic beans, go ahead and throw those in there too.

I mean, he she's being sarcastic, she's mocking him.

And then Jesus does what Jesus does, and he kind of pulls the rug out from under her, and he shows his hand.

His very next statement, go and get your husband, Jesus told her.

I don't have a husband, the woman replied.

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.

And her response is, Yes, sir, surely you must be a prophet.

So you see, now it all makes sense to this woman.

Jesus is talking about this well.

He's talking about the water.

How people come here every single day to get water, but it doesn't fill them, it doesn't satisfy for long, and so the very next day they have to come back and they have to get more water.

They drink this water, they're thirsty again, they drink the water, they're thirsty again.

It's this never-ending cycle.

Trying to get filled, but ultimately being empty.

And then what does he do?

He connects that to her everyday life.

He says, Look, that's how you live your life.

Every single day of your life, you're looking for something to fill you, you're looking for something to satisfy you.

And you've chosen what many people choose.

You've chosen relationships, you've chosen romance.

And so you've had all these different men in your life, and every single man you've hoped, you've hoped that man will be the one that fills you up.

You've hoped that one will be the one that changes things.

And so you've gone to that man, didn't work out.

You went to the next one, didn't work out.

Now you've got this new guy, you're living with him.

And guess what?

It's it's not gonna work out.

It's not gonna fill you because it's not living water.

You're gonna be just as thirsty and just as hungry and just as empty as you've ever been.

This well, it's it's it's a metaphor for your life.

And see, Jesus, he's not there to condemn her.

He's not there to call her out.

He didn't go through Samaria just so he could tell some Samaritan woman that she's not living life the best way possible.

That's not who Jesus is.

He's in Samaria, Samaria because he loves her.

He's there because he wants to change her life, not in the distant future, not on the other side of this life.

He wants to change her life that day forever.

He wants her to experience eternal life, which, according to Jesus, is a life that is apparently so full and so satisfying that you're not empty anymore.

It's like a bubbling spring inside of you, and you're just constantly full.

You're full of joy, you're full of hope, you're full of peace, you're full of love, you're so full that you don't hunger and thirst for more because you have what you need.

That's what Jesus says eternal life is like.

But how many of us feel like that on a day-to-day basis?

How often?

If I'm being honest with myself, do I do I feel empty?

I'll just be honest, I don't I don't feel day by day like there's this big bubbling spring within me.

Like I'm just walking through life going, man, I'm full today.

Anything else is is icing on the cake, anything else is just bonus.

I I don't I don't need people to be nice to me.

I don't need the the traffic lights to cooperate.

I don't need a bunch of money in my bank account.

I don't need, I don't need, you know, to have a great experience with my kids.

I don't need them to be grateful, I don't need them to be in a good mood.

I don't need my wife to be in a good mood.

I don't need my wife to be in the mood.

I don't need any of these things, right?

All that's just bonus because I'm so full and I'm just I'm so completely filled that I've got what I need.

I'm good.

I don't feel like that.

I read these verses and I'm I'm convicted.

And I wonder what's wrong.

That's a normal feeling that all of us have.

And sometimes we get tempted to think that, hey, maybe this whole Jesus thing, maybe it's like all the other stuff we experience in life, and it's just not as good as advertised.

Maybe this whole living water eternal life business, maybe it's maybe it's just another in the long list of things that have been overhyped, and we've tried it and we've tasted it, and yet we're just we're still kind of empty.

And when you think that way, it actually becomes really tempting to just think of eternal life as heaven because that's a lot easier.

It's a it's kind of a cop-out if we just go, hey, yeah, I've given my life to Jesus, so yeah, this is the way life is now.

It's not great, it's not wonderful, it's not how it should be.

I don't have the joy that I need, but but hey, it's it's all good because one day I'm gonna die and then it's all gonna be great.

It's a lot easier just to believe that.

It's it's challenging to believe that we can have the power and the presence and the joy of God in our life today.

Because if we really believe that, if we actually believe what Jesus is saying, and let's be honest, as Jesus' followers, we've got to decide if we really believe what he says.

Do we really take him in his word?

I mean, he makes big promises all through scripture, and so often from people that claim to follow Jesus, just Don't believe him.

And they live their life in a completely different way than the way he suggests, because deep down inside they just don't think that what he's saying will actually work.

But we've got to decide if we're going to be people who believe the God we claim to follow.

Because if we believe that we can have eternal life now, if we believe that the kingdom of heaven is here, if we believe that the time of God's favor is today, that means we've got to grapple and wrestle with the fact that we may not be experiencing that.

We can't just say, oh, it's going to happen later.

We have to ask ourselves, well, why, why, why don't I feel that?

If that's available, if that's real, why am I not experiencing that?

And here's what I've found for me personally.

And maybe this is true of you, that when I feel empty, when I start going into this cycle that I go through where I don't I don't feel full, I don't feel satisfied, so I start thinking about all these things I need.

I need this.

Oh man, if if I made just a little bit more money, if I made like 10% more, I'd be good.

Then I wouldn't feel this financial stress that we feel, and I wouldn't get to the end of the month and go, oh man, we've eaten out too much.

Now we've got to like change everything and all this kind of stuff.

I wouldn't get upset every time a car breaks down because I just I'd have more, if I just need more money, and then I'd be good.

I start thinking about all these things I need.

I just need this, I need that.

Maybe you've dealt with addiction and you know exactly how that feels.

I was an addict for 10 plus years, and so you think, okay, I I need, I need this, I just need a little bit of this.

This will get me through the day.

We feel empty, and so we start thinking about all the things we need.

And I realize that when I'm in that place, which is pretty normal, it's not that the living water of Jesus has worn off.

It's not that his promise has fallen short, it's that I'm not drinking that water.

I'm not going to Jesus as the source of life in my life.

I'm going to the other well.

I'm like the woman at the well.

I'm going to the wrong well.

I'm not experiencing the eternal life here and now that I've been promised because I'm not drinking living water.

I'm drinking dead, stagnant water.

I'm looking to everything other than God to meet my needs.

I'm looking to the people around me.

I'm looking to silly things like money or my job.

Sometimes I even look to this church.

This amazing, amazing church that we're part of, but sometimes I'll look to that to fill me up, and no offense, it just doesn't.

Because as great as this is, it's still it's still short of Jesus.

That's why we can never stop at church.

We can never settle for less than Jesus Himself and a real relationship with him because he is the only living water that exists.

And if we want to experience eternal life today, we've got to drink the right water.

And so this morning, this is the question I would ask you is are you thirsty?

Are you thirsty in life?

Do you hunger and thirst for more?

You should, by the way.

I hope you do.

Because one of the greatest tragedies of life is settling for less than God has promised us.

Jesus said that you're blessed when you hunger and thirst for righteousness.

He tells us that we are blessed in God's eyes if we are people who say, I would like some more.

I want more out of life.

We might think what will give us more are the things that leave us empty.

And God will deal with that.

But at our core, we should be people who are thirsty.

We should want more.

We should look at our lives and we should say, you know what?

I feel like there's there's more than what I've experienced right now, and I want it.

So if you're thirsty this morning, that's a good thing.

You should be thirsty.

Not just because it's hot in here.

Maybe it's just me and the lights, but it's hot in here.

Are you thirsty?

And and to follow up that question, what water are you drinking in your life?

When you're empty, what are you going to?

Because this world offers us a lot of dead, stagnant water.

It offers us a lot of quick fixes.

It offers us all kinds of things that fill us up for like a minute.

You know, maybe for you it is an addiction.

That's hard.

It's hard to break that.

It's hard for you, it's not hard for God.

Maybe for you it's it's just distractions.

Maybe when you feel empty, you just pour yourself into a new project.

Some new new thing that you can tinker with and work on that just sort of makes you forget about the emptiness that you feel.

Maybe it's stuff, maybe it's possessions, maybe it's maybe it's the car you don't have and the house you don't own.

And you got a dream of that that next step.

And oh, if I had this, if I if my countertops were made of granite, my life would be so different.

If I had a backsplash in my kitchen, just imagine the joy I would feel in my life.

Right?

See what would happen if we put it all on Jesus?

Because most people don't do that.

And I I think I think the calling that God has put on this church in many ways is to be people who settle for nothing less than all of God.

What would it look like if you put it all on Jesus?

That's not what we normally do.

We we put some of it on Jesus.

It's like chips in a poker game.

And we don't always go, hey, it's all on Jesus.

All my hope, all of it's on him.

I'm putting it all on him.

Every single dream that I have, every single desire that I have, every single hope that I have, it's on Jesus.

We put some of it on Jesus, and then we keep some of it for ourselves as a backup plan.

We like to hedge our bets, we self-protect.

But what if we put it all on him?

See, the key, the key to experiencing eternal life right now, it's not, it's not some, just to be practical, it's not some daily action that you take.

It's it's a status of your heart, it's a condition of your heart, it's the way you think.

It's two words, really.

It's it's trust and expectation.

I love the way the message version puts the verses that we we just looked at.

John 3, 14 and 15 says, in the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so the people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up, and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

What do you trust?

What have you placed your trust in?

Maybe it's your job, your career, your title.

None of that stuff matters.

It's good to be aggressive, it's good to go for it.

I had an amazing opportunity this last week to hang out with uh with Robert Bryan.

I think that's Robert sitting over there.

If it's not, you look like Robert Bryan.

It is Robert.

Okay, good.

And Robert's a very successful man in business.

And uh so me and a couple guys were just kind of picking his brain and we're trying to ask him some things that he's learned, we're trying to just learn from him, and and it's funny, he just kept talking about his relationship with his family over and over again.

And he talked about how really, in seasons in life that he'd experienced where where there were big things going on at home, none of the work stuff mattered.

All the things he's worked for and all that kind of stuff, that stuff was just like, he just wanted to put that aside and be there with his family.

Sometimes we we work so hard to achieve things that just don't matter.

Not that we should ever be people that don't strive for the best, but we just got to keep things in perspective.

I was talking to my mom this past week.

My dad was a very successful business person.

Dad, you remember that painting that we had in our house?

I think it was a painting of you, like an oil painting of you that you got as an award for something.

Okay?

This is when I was a little kid.

My dad had this painting, and it was a gift that someone had given him.

He won an award for being like one of the best marketing executives in the country.

And there was a little title on it, I don't remember what the title said, but I remember the painting, and this was like the early 90s, late 80s, or something, and so it had his name, and it said, you know, marketing executive of the year, blah, blah, blah.

That title matters nothing to me.

All that mattered was that was my dad.

That's all that mattered to me.

And see, when we put our hope in a title or a job, we we miss who we are.

We miss what matters most.

We put our trust in money, we put our trust in the way someone else feels about us in this world, something we can't control.

You can't control the way someone feels about you.

Not even the people closest to you.

You can't control the way your kids think about you, you can't control the way a spouse thinks about you, a boyfriend, a girlfriend.

You can't control that.

So if you put your trust, if your hope and your trust is in that, you will not experience eternal life on a day-to-day basis.

Because that's not living water.

So, what are you trusting in your life today?

If you take stock and examine what have you placed your trust in, what about your expectations?

That's that other word, right?

It said trusting and expectant.

What do you expect to change things in your life?

Because we all want to see our lives change.

I don't think there's anyone in this room that just goes, no, I'm good.

I've hit, I've I've hit the peak, it's it's all downhill from here.

I'm just trying to hold on to this.

We want more.

We should be thirsty, but what are you expecting to deliver on the more that you desire?

Is it more money?

More stuff?

Is it more friends on Facebook?

Right?

What do you expect to change things?

You ever noticed how celebrities, whenever they they bottom out, they bottom out hard.

It's kind of crazy, right?

Like every year there'll be some celebrity that'll just like go off the deep end in a way that you don't even understand.

It'll be all over the news.

And it's a very simple reason why.

For us normal people who don't have fame, don't have more money than we know what to do with, we don't have the adoration of thousands of people.

There's always something we can think of that we expect would make life better if we just had more of it.

Man, if I had if I had more people that loved me, that would change things.

I'm expecting that to be the solution.

If I had more money, that would change things.

I expect that to solve my problem.

If I had if I had more whatever, I expect that to solve my problem.

But those celebrities bottom out so hard because they have all the stuff that we think we need to have joy and they don't have joy.

And so, how scary must it be when you have everything that everyone thinks they need and you don't feel any better?

That's that's terrifying.

That's why when they hit bottom, they hit bottom.

Because they put all their expectation and trust on all this stuff and it's left them empty.

I don't want to be empty.

We don't have to be empty.

But we have to drink the living water, the eternal life of Jesus to have that satisfaction that we desire.

Nothing else will satisfy.

Nothing else will satisfy.

Put your trust in Jesus.

Expect Jesus to be the solution to everything you need.

This week, when you start thinking those thoughts, I need this.

Oh man, if I I just need some time to myself.

I just need my children to say thank you once.

I just need, I need some peace and quiet.

I need some, I need some people to recognize the hard work that I'm doing.

I need some people to notice me, I need some people to to appreciate me more.

I need this, I need that, I need this.

We need to stop and say, no, I need Jesus.

I need him in my life.

And if we will stop, and we'll just stop in those moments and go, no, I'm I'm going to the wrong well.

As soon as we start thinking those thoughts, we go, no, no, no.

I'm going to the wrong water.

And if we'll pray, and if we'll just say, Jesus, I need you.

So my hope and my trust and my expectation, it's all on you, Jesus.

I want to see you do something.

I want to see you change my heart.

I want to see you mess with my circumstances.

I want to see you do this.

And I am trusting you, I'm expecting you.

I'm going to you for life.

I'm going to you for the water that I thirst for.

That's how you experience eternal life.

Are you thirsty?

Amen.

Let's drink the living water in our lives.

Let's let's take them in.

Let's grab hold of Jesus.

I'm gonna wrap up and we're gonna finish with worship like we always do.

Hey, Nathan.

How are you?

You like, I don't know why, but I just saw you out of the corner of my eye, and something in me was like, I'm being attacked.

And I just turned, it's all good.

I was listening to a message uh by a pastor in Missouri that I like to listen to, a guy named John Lindell, and uh he was talking about this verse in the Bible where it says, receive the Holy Spirit.

And he said it's interesting because that word receive, the actual Greek word that gets translated receive, it gets translated receive half the times it's used in the Bible, it gets translated take the other half of the times.

You see, so often we're like the woman at the well, and Jesus is telling us about this living water, and he's describing it, and we we're thirsting for it.

We're going, yes, that is what I need.

That is what I need.

I need that living water.

I'm tired of the other stuff, I'm tired of being empty, I'm tired of being thirsty, I'm tired of looking to another relationship or another paycheck or another raise or promotion or whatever it is, another relationship, another boyfriend, another girlfriend.

I'm tired of looking to all these things to fill me up and just feeling empty.

And we sit there and we go, Yeah, I want that, I want that, and and we just don't take it.

You should have to take it.

You can't experience the living water if you don't take it and drink it.

And it's available to you, and it's available right now.

And we're gonna finish with one more song of worship, and you know, I know there's a tendency to want to get up and walk out right now.

I get that.

And I know some of us have to, some of us are volunteering at the second service.

Rock on.

Um, but even if that's you, stay in here for a few minutes.

They can wait.

Because so often we go through our week and we maybe feel like, man, I want I want to take that step with God.

I just don't have time, and the week has not cooperated, and and I'm I'm meant to do it on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday.

I'm meant to do it all week long, and just this happened and that happened.

I got off track, but you're here right now.

I mean, you you woke up this morning and you came here and you're here right now.

And the living water, the eternal life that God offers you, it is available right now.

And you can take it right now.

You can take it for the very first time.

You might be here this morning and you've never stepped into a relationship with Jesus.

It's as simple as realizing what he's offering you and taking it because it belongs to you.

And if that's you, just say in your heart as we sing and as we pray, just say in your heart, Jesus, I'm yours.

I'm gonna go to you.

I'm not going to that old well, I'm going to you now.

And then honestly, when you walk out the door, sign up to get baptized, just go all in.

Get like dunked in the living water.

And if you're here and you already know Jesus, but you've been you've been doing what I do most weeks, you've been going to these other things and drinking stagnant water and wondering why you're just empty and tired and burnt out.

This is a moment to take what's yours.

This is a moment to say in your heart to God, I am yours, I belong to you, I love you.

And this week, from this point on, I want the living water in my life.

I don't want to wait for heaven to experience eternal life.

I want it right now.

And I'm putting it all on you, Jesus.

I'm trusting you and I'm expecting you to be the one that satisfies me.

Let's pray together.

Jesus, thank you so much for being who you are.

Because God, no one else in this world has the authority to offer us what you offer.

Only you, Jesus, can offer us something eternal because you are eternal.

Only you have the authority, Jesus, to give us living water because you're the only living water that exists, Jesus.

You are you are life itself.

If you don't exist, Jesus, there is no life, and there is no love, and there's nothing worth living for.

Except for fleeting things that leave us empty, time and time again.

We are thirsty people, Jesus.

We are thirsty.

And we want more, and we want it right now.

Not because we're greedy, but because you taught us to want it right now.

You told us to expect it right now.

And so we we believe, Lord Jesus, we declare in your name, Jesus, that this moment, that right now as we worship, that this is us drinking the living water, that this is us as your church saying, we want life.

And we don't want normal life, we want eternal life, and we're going to you for it, Jesus.

And we say this all in your name.

In your name, Jesus.

Amen.