So whether it's Clark Beckham from Nashville to Gary and the Timothy Initiative and churches being planted in India to right here in this room right now, at the 3rd service at Mission Grove Church. One thing we know is true is that God is real And that worship is needed. You see this desire for worship. Leaves us wanting more. And maybe you've had that experience before where in a song or. At a sunset or a mountaintop or. Uh, intimate moment with a loved one or experiencing the beauty of an ocean view. Where you have this almost surreal, supernatural experience that goes beyond just the physical known world. What is that? And why is it that as humans, we long for more? You see, we live in an age where we have more comforts. More technology, more freedoms, more opportunity. Than any previous generation ever, and yet. It feels like we're also surrounded by more distractions. More divisions More anxious moments. And more restlessness than ever before. Why is that? I think the fact that we long for more comes from the idea that God has placed eternity in our hearts, that the ache we have in our soul is really meant to be fulfilled by an eternal, perfect, and holy God. And so we're trying to satisfy a holy eternal desire with temporary earthly things, and we find ourselves longing for more. I want to start and end this morning's message with two separate CS Lewis quotes. The first one is this that human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God with which will make him happy. I think what we know in our gut is true that the achievement. Won't satisfy. The promotion Feels really good for a day. The new house is great until the first mortgage payment. Right It's amazing how quickly the the shininess of new things wears off. The relationship is awesome until you realize that person is just as broken as you are. And we start chasing after this feeling, this emotion, this fulfillment from temporary earthly things. Then in reality, what we're longing for is the God who made us. And the God who saved us and really the God who sustains our everyday existence. You see, we long for more because we've been made for more. We've been made for more than what this world has to offer. The richest, wisest person in world history, a guy named Solomon. Who in Ecclesiastes 1:14 says, that I've experienced the world, and there's nothing new under the sun. That he would later write these words in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 4 verse 11. For God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. Yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. You see, eternity explains the ache. That ultimately achievement fades. Pleasure wears off. And even good things. Can't hold up to the weight of being in the God spot. Writer of Psalm chapter 42 verses 1 and 2, put it this way, that as a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with him? The problem isn't the longing itself. The problem is what we're using to try to satisfy that longing. Imagine going to the beach with friends and enjoying a great day, but when it's time to pack up, you realize that you've run out of gas. But instead of filling your vehicle with gasoline, you're like, well, look around, look, there's plenty of sand, let's just put sand in the gas tank. How's that gonna go for you? Clue, not good. Why? Because the car wasn't meant to run on sand. But so often for us, as crazy as that sounds, we're doing that with our soul. We're taking the temporary grains of earthly achievements and pleasure and materials and things, and we're trying to put it into the gas tank of our soul and wondering why the engine is not performing well. These temporary Pleasures Feel good for a moment But they don't satisfy They don't. But Jesus gives a better way. See, in John chapter 9, he heals a blind man, whose description, his identity was a man born blind. And he heals this man And then the Pharisees get mad because he heals this gentleman and, and claims like, how, what power, what name are you healing him and, and he claims his own authority. And so he goes on to describe his deity, his divinity, in John chapter 10, calling himself the Good Shepherd. Like making reference to Psalm 23, calling himself the door to the sheep, the one who stands guard and protects and saves and serves. And then we have this incredible picture found in John chapter 10 verse 10, that says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I came that they may have life and life abundantly. He also says in there that that the sheep. Would hear his voice and know his name. See, in ancient Near East culture, there are times where multiple shepherds would put their sheep in a similar pen for safety. And so when the shepherd would call the sheep, the sheep would recognize that correct voice and would follow the shepherd out. But in our day, we are surrounded with voices, we are surrounded with noise, we're surrounded with ads and companies and desires and temptations that are calling our name. So do you know the voice of God when he calls? Because the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. But Jesus comes to give us life and life abundantly. What does that mean? Well, the word life there is in Greek is zoe life, which means a life of vitality and fullness. So it does not mean that life is easy or pain-free, or blessed as the world tries to portray it, but rather, Zoe life is a life deeply rooted and unshakable, found in Christ and Christ alone. But he doesn't just say Zoe life, a life of fullness, a life of vitality, a life of meaning. He gives this description of fullness and abundance. And the Greek word there is perissos, which means excessive overflowing and beyond measure. This means that God doesn't want just your life to begin at death, right? Like sometimes I think as Christians, we believe the purpose of Christianity is to arrive safely after death. OK, I prayed a prayer when I was a certain age, and now I just wait. And then someday when I die, I get a cloud and a harp. I don't know when we decided the harp was the instrument of heaven, but we did. I don't even know how to play the harp, but I, I want a cloud and a harp, but apparently like, like what do we do while we wait? But what we learned from Scripture is that there's so much more to life that he promises eternal life tomorrow, but also abundant, meaningful zoe life Perisaus of overflowing abundance right now. And talking with Clark yesterday, uh, we, uh, he quoted the great theologian, uh, Buzz Lightyear, uh, to infinity and beyond, right? That's the goodness of God, to infinity and beyond. It is the fullness of God. There are levels to things. Let me, let me prove it to you. There are levels to eating. Parents in the room, think back to the time when you're teaching your child to eat food for the first time and you got that pureed stuff. And, and, and they start you out with the vegetables, and you're like, here comes the blame and they're like, it's not that bad, it's not that bad, it's not that bad. And then you taste it, and you're like, oh, it is that bad. OK That's technically ED. But now I want you to picture. The greatest feast you've ever experienced. And maybe you haven't had one, think about what could be, right? I think about going to a, a Brazilian steakhouse, right? All you can eat bacon wrapped filet on a sword. I don't know if we're fighting or eating or what, but I'm in for it. You know what I'm talking about? OK. And for not the meat eaters, because, I don't know, like, what do you got like spinach wrapped, kale or I don't, I don't know, I don't know. I'm not in that world, so. I'm not against the salad, it's just there's so much more, OK. Now imagine the best food. With your favorite people, with no deadline, no timeline, no agenda. That's how God describes. Relationship with him as a feast. That's what we long for. And yet we settle. For the pureed baby food of this world. And we're like, yeah, this is great, this is success. We settle. What is eternal life? Jesus in the garden As he's praying to his heavenly Father before he would be arrested and executed, as a sacrifice, sacrificing his life for yours and for mine. is having a conversation with his Heavenly Father, and he straight up tells us what eternal life is. He says this in John 17:3, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God. Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. So to have eternal life, to have the Zoe Parias life, a life of vitality and fullness and abundance is knowing Jesus and being known. Which means we can start today. That the job of the Christian is not simply to safely arrive at death. The job of the Christian is not to live culture up, but to bring heaven down through our worship, through our prayer, through His word, and loving and serving and showing the love of Jesus to everybody around us. Cuz it changes things. What does it promise us? It promises us 4 things. First, Zoey life promises reconciled relationship. Reconciled relationship, we find in Romans 5:1, that therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because we long for a reconciled relationship. Now I can't speak to your earthly relationships, cause I don't know all of the stories here, but I can tell you two things, that our deepest pains will be relational ones. But our, our deepest strength will be from our relationship with God. That whatever you're walking through horizontally. And I don't know what the consequences are going to be. What I can tell you that I know that I know that I know, you can be reconciled with God. Third service, so we get to add some fun stuff here, context, OK, 1 covenant, Old Testament. With um with Abraham. And we got to know what Covenant too, but in the Abraham Covenant, there was this idea of, and it's a little graphic, so we won't go super detailed, but they would literally split animals and this kind of thing. And when you make this legal contract with people, they would, they would walk through, walk literally split down an aisle and say, if I break my promise to you, may I be like these animals. But when Abraham and God make the covenant, Abraham pauses, falls asleep to where he can't, he does not walk through, but rather, God literally think about how this sets up for marriage and how we practice today, that God walks down the aisle. To solidify his covenantal promise and relationship with his people. And because we break our promise, he becomes like the the lamb that was slain, that he gave his life and his penalty and payment, so that we could be reconciled to him. He who knew no sin became sin so that we could receive the righteousness of God. We have reconciled relationships. Second, we have restored identity. Restored identity. And this is so powerful because in Ephesians 1:4 and 5, that he chose us before the foundations of the world to be adopted as sons and daughters of God. When my kids were little and I would tuck them in at night, uh, we, I would, I would say the same thing every night to them. And I'd say if dad could line up all the little children in the world. And he could pick 3 to be his kids, who would he choose? Now, at first they'd be like, oh, no jokes and, and like, you know, they would joke. But eventually, they would get to the answer and now Noah can repeat it. He says, of course, you would, you would choose Jackson, Carter, Chloe, why? Cause Daddy loves us. Right? Our identity is not based on performance. But I'm belonging. The way you have Zoe abundant life is not by upgrading your lifestyle, but rather receiving his life. Third, Zoe Li promises reordered desires. He takes our gifting, our personality, the way we're wired, and directs it for his glory. That we can live in light of his glory, that it says in Psalm 37:4, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. That as you desire him, he says, Here I am. He changes things He tells us what's important. Last thing, Zoe life gives us renewed purpose. Renewed purpose. It says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are his workmanship. Created for good works, that we could live in them. Reconciled relationship, restored identity, reordered desires, renewed purpose, all of this is available to you and to me. And so what we see As CS Lewis puts it in his book, The Weight of Glory is this. That it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. That we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. See, we have been made, we long for more because we've been made for more. Being a pastor, I get to have some unique experiences, a front row to people's highest and lowest points. And Monday was a low point as I got to spend some time with a woman at the end of her life who would pass a few hours later. And we're praying And reading Psalm 23 and praying over her family and, and her niece had flown in. And uh from Houston, and she tells me she was not a good person. It's like, oh, hello. Nice to meet you too. It's like, no, she's, you would not meet somebody further from God. Like she spent a majority of her life. Choosing everything, not God, but. In those final years. She found Jesus. And more importantly, Jesus found her. Didn't give up She gave her life to Jesus, spent those last couple of years, the years that we knew her. Helping kids and families. In the community. And that someone who could not be farther away from God found God. And that the niece, when she went into her apartment, found scripture verses all over the place. And I'm reminded To take hold of this present moment that you're in. But to remember that no one is too far gone from him. That what you're longing for is not this world, but Jesus. Will you pray with me? Dear Heavenly Father. As the deer pants for you, God may our soul cry out and thirst for your goodness. If there's someone in this room walking through hard times. May you strengthen them, give them courage. Help them to remember who you are and what you've done. That our purpose, our love, our joy, our meaning, our abundant life comes from you and you alone. We love you, Jesus, Senor says and we pray.