What’s missing?
What’s missing?
Mankind has and continues to make poor choices and decisions leaving us wanting with empty unfilled lives.
1. As a result many have meaningless pointless lives.
2. There’s no complete or lasting substitute for a personal experience with Jesus
Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
1. In these words, the believer is taught to express his satisfaction in the care of the great God of the universe, the Redeemer and Preserver of men.
2. With confidence and joy he reflects that he has a shepherd, and that shepherd is Our Father
Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Our needs are met and exceeded through our Lord and savior,
God designed us to be totally dependent on Him.
Sin is when we kick God off His rightful place of ruler ship over our lives and replace Him with our own self.
Sin is independence from God. Sin is rebellion against God and going our own way.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
1. The Psalm of faith
2. A Psalm of personal trust in God
3. A Psalm of Serenity of soul
The Lord is my Shepherd gives confidence and hope in life
Different people relate to different human needs.
Physicians relate to our health needs;
Lawyers take care of our legal needs;
Counselors relate to our emotional and relational needs.
A FULFILLED LIFE IS ONLY FOUND IN JESUS!
John 10:10 is clear: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Life apart from Jesus is prey to the enemy who only destroys. Yet, life found in Christ, God in the flesh, is the best life possible
Psalm 16:11
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:25-33
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 'Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
We all have needs in life
1. Food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter are the bare necessities for anyone's survival.
2. Safety and Security.
3. Love and Belonging. Everyone yearns for family and connection.
4. Acceptance. Gaining the respect of others
5. Having a purposeful life
6. Making a difference in life
JESUS RELATES TO HUMAN NEEDS John 5:1-9
The Healing at the Pool
The healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda represents a good example of how Jesus helps people with needs. Look at the Master and His ways of helping.
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
I. JESUS LOOKS WITH COMPASSION.
Jesus went to a Jewish feast in Jerusalem. Near the sheep market, Jesus saw a multitude of people waiting for the moving of the water at the pool of Bethesda.
Within the crowd, Jesus saw a man who had been waiting to be healed for thirty-eight years. “Jesus saw him lie” (v. 6a). It was a look of compassion.
Think about the multitudes of people with their many needs around our church. Jesus still has the look of compassion for hurting people. Do we have that look?
II. JESUS QUESTIONS WITH INTEREST.
Jesus asked the paralyzed man a strange question: “Wilt thou be whole?” (v. 6b). Jesus knew that if the man was healed, he would take on a different life-style. His life would take on larger responsibilities. Though Jesus question was strange, it was relevant.
Jesus still asks, “Do you want to change?” Some people feel comfortable in their life-style. To follow Christ would mean a change.
III. JESUS SPEAKS WITH POWER.
Jesus spoke some words which created a change in the crippled man’s life. “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk” (v. 8). Jesus gave the man a new kind of life.
Jesus has power to give anyone a new kind of life. When a person is willing, the Lord is willing to change.
Having a full spiritual life is more than a physical experience. It’s more than can be seen, purchased and obtained by our own power.
1. Jesus fills in the missing pieces in our lives.
2. Jesus brings meaning, purpose, and importance to our lives
3. It begins when we allow him to be your personal savor.
4. You don’t have to be in wanting, He’s fulfilling.
5. He waiting for us to respond to his tender loving call to you,
