Filling the Void in Our Lives

We know we've come out of the days of Unleavened Bread. We've learned a lot of lessons about that. The other thing I should mention is if anyone needs an updated Holy Day calendar, I laid some of the extra ones back on the desk there. Feel free to take those, and if we need extra, I can get more of those as well. But we've come out of the days of Unleavened Bread. We've learned a lot of lessons, and we have a lot of things to do as we march forward in our lives. And the rest of our lives, you know, we are going to be marching toward what God has called us to. We're going to let Him, I hope, through His Holy Spirit, perfect us and get us ready for His Kingdom in the return of Jesus Christ. And as we look at our lives, and we look at what God has done with us, we marvel. We marvel, right? And we can marvel at the things that happen around us. You know, David mused back in the Psalms about how wonderful and how wonderfully and fearfully made we are. And all of us have all the elements of human, the human being, the bodies that we have, that God has built into us, not the least of which is the mind that He has given us. And the human mind is capable of so many things. You know, we look around us and we see the wonders that man has been able to do on this earth with the Spirit and man that God placed in him. I won't turn to 1 Corinthians 2.11, but you know, Paul asks there, what does man know except for the Spirit of man that God placed in him? And when God created man, He created every single man with all the capabilities, all the senses that we have, the ability to do things, the ability in our minds to think, reason, have logic, do things that are really unthinkable, you know, when you think about it. And we live in a place and they set his testament to that. I remember one of the ministers of old, he would always talk about man is able to do all of these things. He's able to send man to the moon. He's able to create, you know, then telephones, televisions, radio, that we could that we could sit and watch and talk to each other from across the world. Today we have the internet. Today we have all these things that we're capable of doing because man has used that Spirit and man that God has given him and he is able to do wondrous things. And yet man can't find peace on earth. Yet man cannot do the things that that we all want. They can't find true joy. They can't find true satisfaction. They can't find anything along that way. And God built all those things in the man that he could physically do things. And there's one more thing that he built in the man that we see down through the history of man. Let's turn over to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 3.

Ecclesiastes 3 is known for, you know, there is a time. There's a time for every purpose under heaven, a time for war, a time for peace, a time for love, a time for not loving, a time for this and that. But often we may not read the rest of that chapter because it's so poetic, the first verses of Ecclesiastes there. But let's look at some of the verses after Ecclesiastes 3, or after that first part of Ecclesiastes 3. If I can find Ecclesiastes in my Bible here. Ecclesiastes 3.

And let's begin in verse 10. Solomon. Solomon, you remember, the wisest man outside of Jesus Christ who ever lived. When he was made king, he asked God, let me be able to have the wisdom that I can judge your people well. And God gave him that wisdom. And here, at the end of his life, you know, he muses over what his life has been. Here in verse 10 of Ecclesiastes 3, he says, I've seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He's made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts. Eternity in their hearts.

Except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. No man can find out what God is doing, what the purpose of man is. That's not something that God put in every single man. He has given that to those of us whose minds he's opened. And when the Spirit of God is put in us, we can understand what God is doing from beginning to end. We can understand why there is man on earth. We can understand what this earth is for. We can understand some of the verses in Hebrews 2 that talks about man has been made a little lower than the angels now, but in the future man will be above the angels. We know what God is working and what he has planned when he opens his mind. And when we have his Holy Spirit, he gives us understanding not all at once, but as we go through our lives and as we yield to him and as we allow that Holy Spirit to teach us, lead us, correct us, guide us, instruct us, we understand more and more. And every time we go through the Holy Day seasons and we understand God's plan more, it's something that should warm us, that should inspire us and help us to go. But God says he's put eternity in their hearts. All of mankind wants to know what happens after this. What's happening? What is going on after this? After we live our 70, 80, 90, or 100 years, he's put eternity in their hearts. But no one, they can't find out without God, without the Spirit of God what that work is that God does from beginning to end. Let's look at verse 12. I know that nothing is better for them to then to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all of his labor. It's the gift of God. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it that men should fear before him, and then he uses that which has already been, and what is to be has already been, and God requires an account of what is past. He puts eternity in their minds. Man can't add to what God's purpose is. He can't take away from it. What God has said is going to happen? It's going to happen. Whether we like it or not, whether we yield to him or not, whether we accept it or not, or whether we reject it, it will happen.

But you know, down through the ages, if we go all the way back to Adam and Eve, we see where God has put something in the spirit of man where he's looking for eternity, that he knew that there was something above him that was ordering the universe, something to him that he should look at. And we look at Adam and Eve when they were put out of the Garden of Eden, and we look at the mankind that has grown through them, and they were looking at other gods. Pagan gods came into being. Some of the stories we hear of what people believed in the past. You know, we were in Greece for the peace last year, and you hear the stories of what people believe because they knew it wasn't just about man. They knew it wasn't just about these 70, 80, 90, or 100 years we're out here on earth. There's eternity that they knew is something there, and they search for it, and they long for it, and they can't find it. And so they create stories, and they create all these gods. Egypt had all the gods that God had exactly judgment on during the days of Unleavened Bread when he brought Israel out of Egypt. Greece, you know, they now look at that, and I still think some of the people over there believe in those gods, but they concoct these stories, and to them it makes sense. Ah, this is what it's about. This is who's ordering the universe. But it's a very tough thing to be in the universe and not have any of those questions, any of those questions answered, and to have that lingering thing in us that man has always had. There has to be something above us. Mankind, physical mankind, isn't the end all and be all. God put it in their hearts. And yet, so much of mankind.

You know, who desires and has the need to worship something.

And that something can even be themselves, right? Today we have movements out there that, you know, spiritualism is in ourselves and all this stuff. You know, we have people who are the atheists and who worship Satan. They have to worship something. We all have, or mankind has, gods. And even atheists who say, I have no god, they have god. They have a god because they worship something above them. It's just something that God created in them. And they have no idea what joy and what peace and what fulfillment there is in knowing what is the truth of God.

What is it that God has put in the hearts of man that we understand that as well? Because just like mankind, we understand God has put eternity in their hearts. And He's put eternity in our hearts, but He's given us the knowledge. Because mankind, as we read back in 1 Corinthians 2, I won't turn there. When God gives us His Holy Spirit, then we become complete people. Then we have the whole method or the whole plan of what God is and what He is working out here below.

I want to give you a quote. And it's a pretty complicated quote here. And in some it's pretty well known on the internet. And when you look at something on the internet, sometimes you've got to go back and see what were the original words that the author wrote. And if you go online, you can put in a man by the name of Blaise, V-L-A-I-S-E, Pascal, P-A-S-C-A-L. He lived in the 1600s. He was a philosopher. He was a mathematician. And he wrote a book called, I don't speak French well, but I guess it's Pensei, P-E-N-S-E-E-S, published by Penguin Books in 1966.

And he made this quote. And it's been altered, and sometimes you read on the internet what it is. This is what he said, and I'm going to take it slow. And I thought about having the screen put up today for people to see it and read it, but I didn't want to mess with that. Here's what he wrote, as he thought and used about what mankind is. And it relates to Ecclesiastes 3, verse 10. The eternity in their heart. He goes, what else? And he's talking about mankind as he's using and thinking about what is man doing here? What is his status?

What is his condition? What is it about him? And he says, what else does this craving and this helplessness proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? Let me read that again, because the wording is a little tricky. What else is this craving? Because he says a man is always searching for something.

He's always looking for something. He's not satisfied. He just keeps looking and craving. What else is this craving? This helplessness proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace. There's more of it, but you know what? At one time, man was perfectly happy. Man was perfectly joyous. When Adam and Eve were in the garden with God, they were at one with God, with creation and nature.

There was that point in time where everyone's everything and everyone was unified. And then sin entered in. Then another God was followed. Another God was chosen by Adam and Eve. We won't follow this God who's given us all this and put us in this perfect place of creation.

We're going to choose this other God and follow what he said. And everything and all the purpose and all the reason and all the happiness and all the joy and life departed at that time. But as he wrote that, he said, there was at one time man knew. Man had this ability or he knew what it was, what this truth was. He goes on and he says, this, this he tries in vain to fill with everything around him. Seeking in things that are not there, the help that he cannot find in those that are. Though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object, in other words, by God himself.

Let me read that. Let me read that again. This, this searching for unity, this searching for oneness with your creator, this searching of what true happiness is and what true fulfillment is, this he tries, this longing that he has in him, this he tries in vain to fill with everything around him. Whether it be material goods, whether it be entertainment, whether it be whatever it is, right? Whatever it will take, because you know if I try this, that'll make me happy. If I do this, this will make me feel fulfilled. And so we have mankind try all these things and society tries all these things and young people sometimes think they have to try everything in the world, that this will make them happy. This is the answer to the things. That's not at all. This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there, okay? Seeking in things that are not there, creating gods that are not there, following things that are better and more eternal than him, things that are not there to help he can't find in those that are. Though none can help.

Since this infinite abyss, this hole that's in man, this empty vacuum that he longs to fill and he spends his life looking to fill, can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object, in other words, by God himself. It's kind of a meaningful quote when you think about it.

And it goes along, goes along with what the Bible has says. Mankind searches for meaning.

Mankind searches for purpose. Mankind searches for immortality. God has put that in their hearts.

There's only one answer to all those questions that we have. It's completely natural to feel this hole. Every man feels it. And most of mankind dies without having had that hole, that void filled in him. Young or old, we can all fill, we can all find that hole. I hope every, or we we all have that need, that fulfillment, the need for fulfillment. I hope everyone in this room has found something that you never found in the world around you. And before you became, became aware, and God opened your mind to the truth. Because filling that void with the right things, with the right knowledge, that's the key to a life that God wants us to have.

You know, Solomon is a man. Solomon, we could say, grew up in a church household, right? His dad was David, the king of Israel, a man after God's own heart. He grew up as someone who knew the truth of God, and when he became king after David died, he had the right attitude. He didn't look for anything for himself. When God said, just whatever you want, Solomon, I'll give it to you.

I'll give it to you. And he didn't ask for anything for himself. He said, just give me the wisdom that you have that I may judge this people well, that I may, that I may be what they need me to be. Solomon started off very right in life. But along the way, he lost his way.

He lost his way. He became enamored with what, who he was, with the things around him. Because along with the wisdom that God gave him, he said, Solomon, because you asked for not something for yourself, I'm going to give you wealth. You're going to be a wealthy man, more wealthy than anyone on earth. And during the time that Solomon was king, Israel was a wealthy, wealthy nation. And Solomon had the opportunity to do anything in the world that he wanted to do. Money was no object. Nothing was off limits to him. He could do it all. And he did it. And he did it. And as he did it, he came, he drifted farther and farther away from God. Let's look at something here in Solomon, Ecclesiastes 1. Ecclesiastes 1 and verse 12.

It says, I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that's done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised. I was sought out to say, What is the truth of God? What is it that God has put me for? God has given us that we may be exercised, that we may think, What does the future? Why are we here?

What is it that God is working out? He says in verse 14, I've seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. People do all these things, and it's all futile. They don't get what they're looking for. They're not finding any satisfaction in what they do.

They're not getting what it is that they're there for. All is vanity and grasping for the wind. They try this, they try that, they go from here, they go to there. They try money, they try sex, they try another God, they try another religion. They try all these things. They try drugs, they try alcohol, they try shopping, they try whatever it is. Grasping for the wind, looking for the answers. What is crooked, he says, cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

I communed with my heart, saying, Look, I've attained greatness. I've gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge. God gifted him with that. And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is grasping for the wind. I started looking for everything in the world around me. And if you read about Solomon, as you go through the book here, you see that everything, he had animals brought in, he searched the world over, he was able to do all these things, and he said, You know, even all this wisdom of the world, it was okay, but it didn't make him happy.

It didn't fulfill him. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. The more he learned, the more he understood, he didn't understand. He wasn't finding what he was looking for. All the knowledge of the world, all the physical world didn't provide what he was looking for.

In verse chapter 2, verse 1, I said in my heart, Come now, I'll test you with mirth. Maybe that's the answer. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. But surely this also was vanity, or this was futile. I said of laughter, madness, and of mirth, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

I'd made my works great. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I was able to do all these things. I thought they would make me happy, that they would find, and I would fill that hole, fill that void, fill that longing within me. I made myself water pools, from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house.

Yes, I had greater possessions of perfards and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered for myself silver and gold, and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. He also had 700 wives and 300 cockubines, or maybe vice versa, right? He did it all. He looked for everything in every order of the physical universe to try to find what he was looking for, the same thing the world looks for and that we search for.

So I became great, he says, and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom remained with me. I didn't forget it all, didn't bring me any satisfaction, didn't fill that hole that mankind is looking for, didn't give him the or fill that void that was in his life. Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them.

I didn't withhold my heart from any pleasure, from my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward from all my labor. I looked on all the works that my hands had done. Remember, he's writing this in his life. I looked back on my life and I thought, I did all these things. I should feel satisfied, I should feel happy, I should feel fulfilled, I should say, hey, it was a life well lived.

It didn't. I looked on all the works my hands had done and all the labor in which I had toiled, and indeed all was vanity. It was all futile and grasping for the wind. There was no profit.

There was no profit under the sun. My life was empty. I couldn't find what it was I was looking for. I felt unsettled. I felt incomplete. I felt restless. You know, people today, they try so many things, you know. We find people trying to fill the void with drugs, alcohol, all the addictions that are on life. People are searching. They're looking for something to ease that pain they feel, that need they feel. We see people who are depressed.

We see people who are despondent. We see people who are looking to fill something in that life because they just don't feel right. And that might be some of us, right? Some of us might feel that. Something's just not right.

There's something that's missing in my life. What is it? What is it that I'm missing? Why don't I feel complete? Why don't I feel that I'm... why don't I feel the satisfaction? There was an old rock song when I was looking over my nose this morning. Remember the Rolling Stones? I Can't Get No Satisfaction?

That's kind of the theme song of the world, right? I Can't Get No Satisfaction. Shouldn't be our theme song. We should know what satisfaction is and where it comes from, but Solomon and the world around us, they can't find it. And it leaves people down awful paths. They'll do anything to find it and to satisfy themselves. Some are so despondent that they will actually take their lives because they just can't get that feeling of emptiness away from them. Now, remember, sometimes you see sports stars, you see people who seem to have it all, lots of money, fame, and they commit suicide.

And you think, what is it? Why would they commit suicide? They seem to have everything going for them, but there was this gnawing at them that they just can't find. They just can't find the answer because the answer isn't in the world around us. The answer isn't in how much we have. The answer isn't in what we do physically. The answer isn't in the world. The answer isn't in the spirit and man. The need is in the spirit and man. The search is for the spirit and man, but the answer is only with God. The answer is only with God.

There's only one way to get satisfaction, and that is through God. Let's look a few chapters ahead. Ecclesiastes 5. Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 10. He who loves silver, Solomon says, he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver. He'll think that's what he wants. He thinks he wants that great house. He thinks he wants that fine automobile. He's willing to sacrifice whatever it takes for it. It's not going to satisfy him.

Nor he who loves abundance with increase. Not wrong to work hard, not wrong to have the benefits and blessings of life, but that's not going to be the answer. That's not going to fill that void. He says this also. This also is futility, vanity, verse 10. Chapter 6 verse 7.

All the labor of man is for his mouth. Everything he does, he's looking to satisfy the flesh. He works hard to beat himself. He works hard to make sure he's got good shelter, provide for his family. He does all those things for his mouth. Yet the soul is not satisfied.

And yet there's this longing. And yes, this is empty place. And yet there's this hole that Mr. Pachel's das Kelle rightly concluded when he looked at it. It can only be filled by an infinite Creator God. He didn't know the truth, but when he came to that new in Solomon at the end of his life. Let's go back to Ecclesiastes 12. Verse 9. After he did all this soul searching, when he looked at his life and said, it was all for nothing. What did I accomplish? I did all these things, yet I don't feel like my life has been worth anything. He says, moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many Proverbs. And he wrote, I think it says here, some 3,000 Proverbs that he wrote. He still had wisdom. He wasn't able to put it in practice in his life. The preacher sought to find acceptable words. And what was written was upright. Words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. And further, my son, he says, be admonished by these. Listen to the words of God. Listen to the wisdom of God. Look at the words that are there. If you're looking for fulfillment, they're in the Bible on your lap. They're in walking with God. They're in the Spirit of God, which completes us.

Further, my son, be admonished by these, of making many books. There is no end. Now, much study is wearies unto the flesh. Let's hear the conclusion of the whole manner.

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. That's what's going to bring satisfaction. At the end of his life, Solomon got it. Whether he repented and turned to God, that's between him and God. But he understood why he lived a life that was unsatisfied.

Why he lived a life that when he came to the conclusion, he did it all. But he didn't do the one thing that would have brought him what he was looking for. The one thing that God, only God, can bring us, and that the world continues to look for. And so it searches it in all the wrong places, as another song goes, right? Looking for something, love, yeah, love in all the wrong places. And they're looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places.

But the search will go on until Jesus Christ returns, or until God opens their minds, to understand the truth of God. You know, there's words in the Bible that I think only, well, I know, that only people of God can understand. People who truly have the spirit of God. Words like love. The world has its concept of love and agape love, but only people who have God's Holy Spirit truly understand what love, agape love is. It's the fruit of the spirit. It's not a fruit of the world. It's not something that we can develop on our own. It's the fruit of the spirit, God says. Joy. The world may think they know what joy is, but only people with God's spirit understand really what joy is. When you read what Jesus Christ said on that, as he was being crucified, and that he was doing it, and he had peace, another word, that only people of God understand, that he did all that for the joy that was set before him. And as he sat there, and as he was there, dying, he told the disciples, or he was about to die, my joy. I want my joy to be in you.

I want the peace I feel to be in you. And they didn't understand that at that time. We understand what he was saying. The disciples later would understand that. There's another word, satisfaction.

People don't understand what satisfaction really is. You and I should understand what it means to be satisfied, to have that be part of who we are. We're not going to find it in the world.

Let's go back to Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27 and verse 20. It says, hell and destruction. The things that Satan brings upon us, right? Hell, the grave. Hell and destruction are never full. They never are satisfied. The way of life that leads to death, the way of life that is apart from God. Hell and destruction are never full. And when people go down that path, what does it say? The eyes of man are never satisfied. They can't get it.

We can't get satisfaction. We don't know what satisfaction is until we yield to God, until we allow him to live in us, until we yield to him, until we seek him, until we do the things that God wants us to do. And until we do that, there won't be the happiness. There won't be the peace. There won't be the things that we search for. It just won't happen.

So, what do we do? What do we do if we're feeling empty? What if we do if we're feeling despondent, depressed, disconnected? That there's a little bit of a hole in our lives and it's just not as exciting as it was before. That life just isn't worth living like it was before. That we don't feel that first love that it talks about in Revelation 2 when Christ is talking to the church at Ephesus. We just don't feel the same commitment to God. It just doesn't mean the same to us as it before. How do we get to that point? What do we do? What do we do to return to God and have him come to us? Well, I'm going to give you four points today that we can look at here.

First, we turn to God. We don't turn to the world. Solomon turned to the world. So many people turned to the world. Even people who have been to the church and once enlightened, they'll turn to the world and say, I'm going to fill this void by what the world has. I'm going to take their answers.

They said, do this. I'm going to do this instead. Or the Bible says, do this instead. I'm going to turn to the world and they're going to be able to fill this void. Solomon didn't fill the void by anything in the world and he had access to everything. What he learned at the end of time is I only fill that void by turning to God with all my heart and soul and living the life that he has called me to. Let's go back to Isaiah 55, a verse I read yesterday, but I think it bears reading again here in this context. Isaiah 55 verse 1, Ho! Isaiah writes, under inspiration of God, ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. If you're feeling empty, if you're feeling unsatisfied, if you're feeling life has more to offer and you're just not feeling it anymore, if you're feeling depressed, if you're feeling despondent, if you're feeling separate, if you're feeling that all you want to do is go out and do the things of the world or find the things of the world, if you're inordinately determined to make all the money in the world, have the nicest house, and those have become the things that are more important to you than the things of God. Jesus Christ says, if you're not feeling satisfied, if you don't feel that inner peace, if you don't feel that inner connection anymore, if you don't feel what I wanted you to feel, the love, the joy, the peace, the satisfaction, everyone who thirsts, if that's what you're looking for, if that's how empty you feel, come to the waters. You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without price. I'm not selling it. I'm willing to give it to you, God says, if you'll come to me, if you'll follow me. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Why do you do that? Why are you wasting your time and money on that?

It's not the things of the world. Solomon proved that. We've all proved that. It's not the things that money can buy that's going to bring you satisfaction. It's the things of God. And he freely gives. He freely gives to those who seek him. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. One of the lessons of the days of unleavened bread. One of the things Jesus Christ said. If you want eternal life, eat of this bread, the bread that God has sent down from heaven.

Speaking of his body, following his way, doing his things. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Look for those things. Do those things that will bring that abundance into your life. The abundance of energy, the abundance of zeal, the abundance of commitment, the abundance of what God has called us to be.

Incline your ear, he says in verse 3, and come to me. Here, and your soul shall live, and it will live abundantly. Jesus Christ said in John 10, I haven't come that you would have nothing. I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. There's one way to that. Come to him. Look to him. That's where the answers are. They're not out there in the world around us. Yes, we make our way. Yes, we work hard. Yes, we do the things of God. But the answers to satisfaction and fulfillment aren't there.

He says, I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Let's come, let's drop down to verse 6. Seek the eternal. Seek him while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to God, and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Scott, Scott who's going to provide the satisfaction, we return to him and we look to him. And when we're looking to fill that void and you find yourself thinking, if I could just do this, if I just owned this, if I just took this medicine, this anti-depressant or whatever it is, if I just did those things, maybe we look to God and we look to see what we're doing.

And remember from where we've fallen it, it says in Revelation 2 verse 1, and turn back to him and let him satisfy. Back in Psalm, Psalm 107, a very helpful Psalm when we may be feeling down and out and separate. And we all feel that. We all have to catch ourselves and come back to God.

Let's read the first several verses here of Psalm 107. I'm just going to kind of read through them. I'm not going to pause too many times as I read through this Psalm 107 verse 1. Oh, give thanks to the eternal, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the eternal say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

That's the people of God, the one who he has called, the people who have responded, the people who come to him. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the land from the east, the west, the north, and the south.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. What did they do? They cried out to the eternal in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

And he led them forth by the right way, that they may go to a city for a dwelling place. Oh, that men would give thanks to the eternal for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he satisfies the longing soul, and he fills the hungry soul with goodness. It's him! That's where the answers are. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons because they rebelled against the word of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High.

Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord. They finally figured that out. Go to God! Come to me, God says. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. And they cried out to God in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

For he has broken the gates of bonds, and cut the bars of iron in two. Verse 17, fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. They brought it upon themselves. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near the gates of death. Then, in that state, finally, when there was nothing else to be done, they stopped looking to the world for satisfaction. They stopped looking, and they thought, I've got to look to God. He's got the answers. He can make all this happen.

He's the one. Their soul abhorred all manner of flow. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. Verse 19, and he saved them out of their distress. He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the eternal for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. Let them do that. Let them sacrifice to him and do the things that God would have us do. Well, there's many sacrifices that we give to God. We can sacrifice our time. We can sacrifice our lives. Romans 12, verses 1, it says, give your body a living sacrifice to God. Yield to him. Let him work his purpose and will in you. And their sacrifices that we make as part of being in the church, and we realize that we're not here just to satisfy self. We're here for each other as well, right? So certainly, as we turn to God, we read, we study, we meditate, we fast. We look into his word because, you know, sometimes when you just feel despondent, if you just pick up the word of God and read it, you find yourself feeling buoyant again. You find yourself with joy returning to your heart. You find yourself that the depression, the despondency may lift. Maybe not the first time, but don't give up. Keep going back to it. Keep going back to it. The answer is not in the world. The answer to a life that's fulfilled and satisfied is in God. Let's go back to 1 John. We run to God. We turn to God in those times. We develop a relationship with him or repair our relationship with him. In 1 John 1, John the apostle who walked with Christ for three and a half years, who remained faithful until the end of his life, following what Jesus Christ had taught and still preaching what Jesus Christ had taught, exactly what Jesus Christ commissioned his church to do. He says this in 1 John 1, a book that was written some 60 years after Jesus Christ was resurrected and then taken up to heaven. 1 John 1, verse 3, says, That which we have seen, and heard, we declare to you. We've seen it. We're preaching to you what Jesus Christ told us, that you may also have fellowship with us. We want you to be one with us. So we tell you what Jesus Christ and what the Bible says and what the truth is, that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son. They're the ones, or God is the one who's called us out of the world. He's the one who's made us, all of us here in Jacksonville and Orlando and the other places where his people are gathered together before him today and were during the days of Unleavened Bread. He's the one who called us out and made us part of his family, put us in his body when we yielded, when we accepted, when we committed to him. And he says our fellowship was with them, with God the Father and Son, Jesus Christ, but our fellowship is also with each other. And the second thing that we can do as we're turning to God and we're looking for satisfaction is not ignore this. We must have fellowship and build community with each other. We must become one body united under God, looking out for each other, helping each other, encouraging each other, becoming a body that exhorts each other just the way God had designed it to be. We look to him, he guides us, he puts his Holy Spirit, his body, his Spirit unites us. At Passover, I'm sure when Mr. Went was here, he talked about one of the reasons we take that bread of the Passover is we eat one bread that unifies us and unifies us with God. One with God, Jesus Christ said, one with God, one with each other, just as he and the Father are one. That's what his will is for us, to be one with each other and one with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

You know, in Acts 2, Acts 2 and verse 46, as we have left the days of Unleavened Bread and as we, the next holy day will be the day of Pentecost, and that will come here in about six weeks.

One of the verses will read that day as the apostles began to preach the truth of God as the Holy Spirit came upon them. And you remember, after they did that, three thousand souls were added to them in one day as they understood who Jesus Christ was, as God opened their minds.

And we read at the end of Acts 2, after Paul gave his tremendous sermon in Acts 2, and many were baptized, we read about what the church was like at that time, that body that was coming out of the world and that was uniting with God. And we don't advocate, and Jesus Christ said, I don't want to take them out of the world. They have to learn to live in the world, but at this point in time, what they did was come out and they were living together. In verse 46 it says of Acts 2, continuing daily with one accord in the temple. They were united. They believed the same thing. They were united by God's Spirit and their beliefs, continuing daily with one accord in the temple. And breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

They were with each other. Not just on the Sabbath day. They were taking opportunities to see each other through the week. They wanted to be with people of like mind. They wanted to have that opportunity to have that fellowship and that togetherness. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having faith with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Now it says in verse 42, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the baking of bread and in prayers.

So God says He wants us to be, know each other. He put us in a body. He didn't call us to be solo acts because none of us can do anything without Jesus Christ. He called us to be together, to get to know each other, that we become one body under Him and allow Him to develop what He wants in us individually and us as a congregation as well. Let's go back to Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes 4 in verse 9.

Solomon writes, 2. 2 are better than 1 because they have a good reward for their labor.

It's better! Now God said in Genesis, well, it's not good for man to be alone. He was talking about that of her husband and wife and that he ordained marriage in the way that he ordained it. But it's not good for man to be alone. 2 are better than 1 because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

That spiritually applies to us too, right? If someone falls, if someone's down, if someone's despondent, they should be able to come to the body of Christ and feel that they're lifted up a little. Now Hebrews 10 verse 24 is a very salient point when it says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some. And it says, come together that you may exhort one another, that you lift each other up, that if someone's failing down, if they're going through hard times, they can feel the love of each other in addition to the love of God. It wasn't just us. Certainly God is the primary one to who we go to.

But the congregation that we're in, the body that we're in, should provide benefit to us. And we all have a responsibility of that. We all have that need at some times. And we all have a responsibility to be who each other need us, who we have a responsibility to be, who each of us need us to be in the context of what God has called us to be as well. Let's go on. Woe to him, verse 10, woe to him who is alone when he falls. Because Satan loves that time, he can use despondency, he can use depression.

If he can get that one sheep away from all the rest of the flock, he can devour them. He can devour them. That's what it says in 1 Peter 5, right? Satan goes to buy us a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour in one of the ways that lions are able to get their praise.

That he can get one separate from the flock. If they don't have that flock to protect them anymore, they can get them. He can nab them. Jesus Christ says, don't separate yourself. Get to know each other. Be part of the community that God has had. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they'll keep warm. But how can one be warm alone?

We need each other, just like we need God. He called us to be part of who he put us in a body, that he may grow us and perfect us individually and together as he builds that temple in us individually and collectively. Verse 12, though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Sometimes when we go through things in our lives and we think, I don't get this, I don't understand that, I just don't feel it, I don't have... Sometimes it's a member, a fellow member who we talk with, that can help put us back on the track. Yes, God can, but there are times when he looks for us to help each other. And how can we help each other? If we don't know each other, if we don't know what each other are going through, and if we can't see the signs in someone's face what's going on, that only happens as we have time with one another.

Only happens as we have time with one another, and as we take the opportunities to be with one another. Yes, we're commanded. It's a commanded assembly every Sabbath. Yes, it's a commanded assembly on all the seven days. But you know, we try to have other opportunities for the people to be together. You know, we should all be together on the Sabbath day. God commanded it.

We should be all together on the Holy Days. God commanded it. But we do other things as well. You know, we have Bible studies, we have socials, we have potlucks, we have the things where we have the opportunity to be together. Do we forsake those? What's more important? Now, I understand work, you know, comes into play there, and if we have work responsibilities, yes, that, I would say you should be at work and not take time off for that. But we have nothing else to do. Why aren't we together?

Why aren't we taking the opportunity to build those bonds? Why aren't we taking the opportunity to come and get to know each other and learn to have fun with one another and be the body that God wants us to be? Because He calls us all children.

That means we're all spiritual relatives. We're all part of what God has called us to be. But we have to take the opportunity. We have to take the opportunity if we bypass the opportunities that God gives us, and then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Let me read you a quote here by a lady by the name of Roberta Hestanese. I didn't write down the name of the book here. Here's what she said. She's not in the Church of God, but she is a religious author.

She says, The Christian life is not a solitary journey. It is a pilgrimage made in the company of the committed. And she goes on to say that spiritual nurturing takes place in the fellowship.

Yes, we remain committed and connected to God, as it says in John 15. But the nurturing happens in the fellowship of others and in the community that God has put us in, and not by individual, independent endeavors. Yes, we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

God has called us to be part of a body. Don't forsake that. Don't forsake the opportunities to be together. God says that's one of the ways that we can find dissatisfaction as we walk with Him. Third way, serve. Serve. Take the opportunity to serve each other. You know, we have opportunities, and sometimes we just pass them by. But let's go back to Leviticus 23. Because again, as we look through up forward to the Day of Pentecost in the future, as we read about the Day of Pentecost, Leviticus 23, where all of God's holy days are listed, we find this after God says how we identify the holy day called the Day of Pentecost. After He talks about it in verse 21 of Leviticus 23, He says, it's a statute forever, forever being the Greek, the Hebrew word, Olam, O-L-A-M, as long as there is heaven and earth. As far into the future as you can see, it's a statute forever that you should keep this. In verse 22, He adds a verse in there, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaming from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. God is very aware that others have needs, and He tells us here in the context, leave something for them. Pay attention to their needs. Just don't gather it all for yourselves and leave nothing behind for anyone else. When you gather your field, you make sure that you're looking for what the people, other people, need.

Be attention. How many times have you read in the Bible where God condemned the nations, and about that they didn't pay any attention to the needs of the poor and needy, that they just kind of overlooked them? Life went on and they didn't pay attention to those needs, because He's looking to see where is our heart? What is it that we are doing? Paul, Paul in Galatians 2, says the same thing. He continued what he had been taught by Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2, you know, we're all called to serve. Jesus Christ said He didn't come to be served. He came to serve, and He set the example for all of us. And there are always areas that we can serve in, maybe not just in physical needs, but there's areas that we can serve. It's a service when we call someone that we haven't seen for a while. When we email someone, when we have someone over for lunch or have someone over for dinner, when we sit at the table with them and mix up the people that we talk with at potlucks and the other times we have social occasions, we can serve in a number of ways. Not just by money, not just by writing a check, not just by the physical things we do. Those are all good. And as we have those needs and people find those needs, we need to share those with each other so they can be fulfilled. But there are other ways we serve each other. You can spend some time thinking about that. But here in Galatians 2, in verse 10, you know, in verse chapter 2, Paul is talking about he went through Jerusalem after he had been taught by Jesus Christ. He conferred with the apostles that were there in Jerusalem, and they found they had no differences of opinion, no differences in doctrine. They were united. It was Jesus Christ who had taught the apostles in Jerusalem. It was Jesus Christ who had taught Paul independently, and he was the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, let's just go ahead and pick it up in verse 7 instead of just going to verse 10.

On the contrary, says, and you can see right there in verse 6, those who seemed to be something added nothing to mean, meaning they, you know, they were able to see eye to eye. On the contrary, when they, the apostles in Jerusalem, saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised, that's the gospel for the Gentiles, had been committed to Paul as the gospel for the circumcised, that's the Jews, was the Peter for he who worked effectively, and Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised, also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles, Paul says. And when James and Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship. You are brothers. We believe the same thing. It's the same spirit leading us, they knew. They gave Paul the right hand of fellowship that we might go to the Gentiles, and they go preach the gospel to the Jews. They desired only that we should remember the poor.

Teach what you need to do, but don't forget the poor. Don't forget those who need help.

And Paul says the very thing which I also was eager to do. I knew that God had set the poor among us and the things that people who need service, and that doesn't just mean poor and money. People who need help, people who need propping up, people who need our support, people who need our encouragement, people who need us to be what they need us to be, and God will lead us to be what they need us to be. They, of course, have to also be looking to God and looking to that and realizing what they've been called to serve one another.

You can look at 2 Corinthians 8. You can see that Paul was working with the church there about the service project that they had. And it would be good for us to have a service project, if anyone has something. Something that we could all work together in and serve God in that way. We have old, we have young, something that we could all do or that some of us could do. Because sometimes when we work together and we have a common purpose of something we're accomplishing, you know what? It binds people together. It's great to have potlucks, great to have social activities. You know what? But sometimes when you work together and you got a purpose of something you're trying to accomplish, like the church in the Corinthian church there in chapter 8, it helps us bond together more. If anyone has any ideas on that, we are absolutely willing to hear them. Let's go back to 1 John again. 1 John 3.

And verse 14.

John addresses this issue as well. If we want to find satisfaction in life, we turn to God.

We're part of the community that He placed us in, and we become one body as Jesus Christ prayed that we would all become. We learn to serve one another and look out for each other's needs, as it says many times in the Bible. Verse 14 and 1 John 3. We know, John writes, that we have passed from death to life. We've come out of the way that leads to death, and we now are living the way that leads to eternal life, because we love—that's the word of God, baby—because we love the brethren. He does not love His brother, abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this verse 16, we know love. We know the agape love that is the fruit of the Spirit, because Christ laid down His life for us. And we also ought to, let's just put it in, be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren.

We're not going to be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren if we don't know them.

If we don't love them, as Jesus Christ loved us, and if that doesn't happen over the course of our lives, that we grow in love and the bonds that God wants us to have with Him and with each other, it's not going to happen if we're just kind of shifts passing in the night.

Verse 17, whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and chuffs up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? When we see those needs, it's our responsibility to fulfill them, to serve. And maybe we don't have the physical capacity to do that, but we can bring it to the attention of someone else and say, you know, we know that this is a problem over here. Can the church help? Can anyone help them this way? And, you know, we do that. We've been talking about a church bulletin board that a few are working on here, and it will come to pass. We can put some of those things up for people to do, and we can use that for many things. But, you know, you can always pick up the phone. You can always call an email. You can call me. You can call the Shivers. You can call the Jones. You can call the Dales. You can call anyone. Just let someone know if you know a need of something. And don't assume that we all need it. You may know something because we all practice, and we may not be able to fill that need physically. At that time, you personally can't, but someone can. But we have to be aware of it. Verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So be aware. And one of the things we can do is learn to serve one another, look out for each other's needs, and more than just the physical things we can serve in many ways. Finally, number four, and you can add many more to these as you do, learn to be content with what you have. Let's go back to Philippians 4.

Learn to be content with what you have. You know, if there's one thing about Solomon who we've read, and we see the world around us always striving, they're never content with what they have. If I just have that nicer car, if I just have that bigger house, if I just have whatever it is, that'll make me happy. And they keep trying, and they're trying and trying. But God says, be content with what you have. He knows, he knows, and he provides what we need. Philippians 4 is a very, a very, the wrong book, Philippians 4, a very good chapter to read. And let's just read through it here in conclusion.

Chapter 1, because he comes to that conclusion as well, you know, be content, Paul. You know, Paul, if you remember Paul, he was sent all over the world. He says in 1 Corinthians, you know, I don't have the opportunity to have wife. I didn't have the opportunity to have all the fine things in life. I don't have a home I'm going to every day. I'm on a ship going here. I spend 18 months here. I spend a few months here. I go here and there and whatever.

But he was content. He was content, he says, when he had plenty. And he was consensed when he had little, because he was doing God's will. And he had God's spirit, and he was, and he was feeling fulfilled and satisfied with what God had given him to do. Chapter 4, verse 1, therefore, my beloved and long for brethren, my joy and crown. See where his joy was? Certainly it was Jesus Christ, but he found joy in being with the people of God. My joy and crown stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore you, Odea, and I implore St. Tychee, to be of the same mind of the Lord. Be united. Get together. If there's differences, forgive one another. Talk it out. Be reconciled, just as Jesus Christ took the first step in reconciling man to him. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.

Help. Look and serve. Be aware of what others' needs are. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. Be gentle. Don't be mean. Don't be vicious. Don't eat the unleavened bread of malice and wickedness. Display the love of Christ. Let your gentleness, let your meekness be known to all men. Let your of a gentle spirit let you stand for the Word of God.

The Lord is at hand. Meaning, Jesus Christ is returning soon. Be anxious for nothing.

Don't worry. Don't fret over those things. God knows it. Don't worry. What does it say in Matthew 6? Don't worry. Today, what's going to happen tomorrow? Sufficient for the day is the trouble thereof. Put your cares and put your trust in Him. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Be sure you're thankful to Him for whatever situation you're in because whatever how desperate your straights are, there is something we should be thankful to God for. And certainly one of them is that He has opened our minds to truth and that we have the opportunity to be truly satisfied where the rest of the world doesn't know what it is. We just have to sometimes find our way back to it and then maintain that and increase it as we go through life. Be thankful to Him and let your requests be made known to God. Talk to Him. Tell Him what you're feeling. Don't hide it from Him. He knows what's in our hearts, but tell Him He's a friend. He's your Father. He can provide. And He says, with the peace of God, another one of those words the world can't understand, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good reports, if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Don't fill your mind with the thing of the world. Don't just spend all your time reading the things of the world, looking on the internet, watching the TV shows. Fill your mind with things that are going to uplift you that draw you closer to God, that allow His Holy Spirit to be stirred up in us, that we can be motivated. Verse 9, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, Paul says, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul was very aware of what his example was. He didn't want anyone to be offended because of him. He was willing to do without anything. He says, back in 1 Corinthians, you know, to the weak, I become as weak. To the strong, I become as strong. To the Jew, I'm as Jew. To the Greek, I'm as Greek. I will understand where they're coming from. I will seek to know them and then I will reach them on their level because he had only one goal and that was to bring them to Jesus Christ and the understanding. And he was willing to do all that in the context of what God would have him do. We need to understand each other. We need to understand each other's backgrounds and if we're going to help each other, to get to know each other in that way. Verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

Now Paul did without a lot, a lot of the time, and began to say, you know what, they want to serve me. And even though he's saying, no, no, you don't need to, you don't need to, he realized I got to give him the opportunity. They have to have the opportunity to serve me as well. Not that I speak in regard to need, he says, for I've learned in whatever state I am to be content. Boy, there is peace. Boy, there is fulfillment. Boy, there is the, the, a nice feeling of satisfaction when you're just content with what God has given you and you're not striving for something else. Just let God direct your life and let him grow you and develop you and follow him and he'll take care of the rest.

Verse 12, he says, I know how to be a based and I know how to abound. Everywhere in and all things I've learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He was okay with all of it and he was happy through all of it. He had joy through all of it. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we can do all things. We can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us. Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now, you Philippians know also that at the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia to church, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only. That church was aware of their need. They wanted to do the things to serve. Or even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift. He wasn't looking for it. He wasn't asking for it. But I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. He knew they needed the opportunity to give to him and all of us need to be aware of that as well. We all need the opportunities that God gives us, however they come, to serve. And Paul was serving in that way to those. He wasn't looking to benefit himself, but he was looking to serve them because he knew they needed the opportunity to express that love and what God was leading them to do. Indeed, he says, I have all and abound. I am full. I am full. He was a perfectly satisfied human being. His life was full. The hole that was in Paul before God called him, at the end of his life, he was completely satisfied. He was willing to end his life and allow God to take it because he was full. I hope all of us come to the point that we're there today, that our lives can be full, that we will let God fill that void in us. And when we feel that there's a little hole there that we will remember what God says, turn to him. Turn to each other. Be part of the community. Learn how to serve one another.

And be aware of whatever everyone's doing, and be content with what he gives us.

God is the one who will give us satisfaction, true satisfaction, if we let him.