Thanksgiving is a time of the year when we celebrate the bounty of God’s blessings.
God has been so good to His people. In many ways, Thanksgiving is similar in concept to the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering.
During this season, many families gather around the table and enjoy the fruits of many hours of cooking and preparations. We definitely want to give thanks to God for the bounty of His blessings. We give Him thanks for every gift we receive from His bounty, through Christ, our Lord.
I am sure many of us have sat around family tables at Thanksgiving and enjoyed Mom’s turkey and dressing. Your uncle brought a huge ham and someone else brought that sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole. There was corn and jalapeño casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy. One of your sisters brought cranberry salad and cucumber and tomato salad. There was a large bowl of fresh fruit salad and cream whip. Sitting over on the table in the corner were pecan, pumpkin and chocolate pies, and carrot and red velvet cakes. Sitting on another table was two large sheets of your aunt’s chocolate brownies. Everyone had filled their plate to the full and you all sat there and enjoyed the bounty of the blessing of the food and family fellowship. Often as we sit around the table, someone will say, “I just have to have more.”
Many times in the fellowship with Jesus Christ, we recognize the need to have more. We need more of His blessing and favor. We need more of His help and strength. We need more of Him in our lives.
We are going to look at four people who were not satisfied with their lives. The events of their lives left them unsatisfied and their souls empty. Most of us have had those times when we experienced a hunger down deep that was not satisfied. In these people’s lives, Jesus was able to satisfy the deep hunger and need.
When they met Jesus, they had to have more.
In John 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus.
Although Nicodemus was one of the rulers of the Jews, he was needing answers that only Jesus could give. Regardless of status, education or position in life, we all have times when we need answers that only Jesus can give. Nicodemus was trained in scripture and was familiar with law. He enjoyed great status in his religion, but he needed more.
As a seeker, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. It appears that his faith in Jesus was new and developing. His Orthodox religion did not satisfy the real need and hunger in his soul. When he came to Jesus Christ the Son of God, he needed more in his life.
This happens in many people. They have been in church all their life, but still need more. Religion has not satisfied the deep hunger in their soul.Things are not going the way they expected in life. They have been blessed in the past, but they just need more.
Nicodemus needed more than what he had. He had a great standing with others, but it was not a true standing with God.
Nicodemus’ position with men didn’t matter anymore, so he came looking for more from Jesus! If you are like Nicodemus, you know that your standing with friends, family and the community is not enough. Just going to church is not enough.
Religion alone does not satisfy because – knowing things in your head isn’t like having Christ in your heart. For Nicodemus it had become stale. He was tired of getting up in the morning and doing the same things. He had his religious practices down. He ran in the same religious circles, but he was feeling empty inside.
Jesus gave him more.
In John 3:7 NIV84 Jesus told him, “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”
Nicodemus needed a new life, a new birth, and a new beginning. When you get tired of your old life, you need to come to Jesus. He is able to make all things new. Before you walk out on your family and relationships, you need to come to Jesus. Before you give up on God, you need to come to Jesus and tell Him, “I need more!”
Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed life in the Spirit, not just the life of the flesh. Our souls will never be satisfied if all we feed ourselves is the things of this world. What Jesus gave him satisfied the deep need of the soul. What Jesus gave is the gospel of good news.
You can be born again. Everyone who is born of the Spirit finds this to be true.
At the end of His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus gave the real answer for every hungry soul.
John 3:16 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Everyone who truly puts their trust in Him can have this new life.
In John 4, the Samaritan woman at the well needed more.
Sometimes we just don’t realize how much we really need. Have you ever felt like something is missing, but you did not know what it was? You looked high and low for something that would satisfy.
This Samaritan woman had tried many things in life, but was still searching for something to satisfy. She thought she was just coming to get some water from the well. Many people are just like this Samaritan woman. They have been through many things in life and it seems they are trapped in the mundane routine of life. Every day they follow the same routine and have no real joy or peace in their life. They want more, but don’t know where to find it.
When she met Jesus, she thought He needed something she had.She could tell that He was weary from His journey and was sitting by the well with nothing to draw water. She had a lot of experience with men and thought she could help Him. Many people go through life thinking they have everything they need, but don’t realize how empty and hungry they really are. They may fill their lives with a multitude of things that never really satisfy their souls. They get all pumped up about things that leave them empty and unsatisfied.
Jesus offered her living water that never runs dry. He said this living water that He gave would satisfy her soul forever.
Here is a truth none of us can afford to miss. You can keep going to the old wells and never find true satisfaction.
John 4:14 NLT Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.
After Jesus told her this, she said, “I must have more.” She had spent her life in bad relationships and nothing she had tried satisfied her soul. Relationships are good, but they cannot provide the water of life that Jesus gives. There are many blessings in good relationships. God has placed His blessing on the relationship of marriage.
This woman was being called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. She was at a new juncture in life and the old well she had been drawing from could not satisfy.Her soul was hungry and dry.Hermany relationships had brought her much pain, rejection, and fear. She needed something that would satisfy.
Many negative things were attached to her old way of living. Jesus gave her more than she knew was possible. He gave her forgiveness of sins and a new purpose in life.He gave living water and heavenly food that satisfied the deep thirst and hunger of her soul.
Here is the good news.
You have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
She had to tell everyone in town about Jesus Christ. He transformed her life and gave living water that satisfies the soul. If you are thirsty and your soul is not satisfied, Jesus can fill you to overflowing.
Regardless of how low you are, Jesus will lift you up. Jesus reached down to her level, and changed her life.
God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
In Luke 19 we find a story of a rich and famous man named Zacchaeus who came to Jesus Christ.
You may have never thought of Zacchaeus like this before. He was probably one of the richest men in town. His reputation went all of the way to Rome, which was at that time the center of the world. He was a tax collector for Rome.
Most of us grew up with a different opinion of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus.
Zacchaeus may have been short, but he was a man to be reckoned with. He had everything the world could offer. He successfully climbed the corporate and political ladder. He was wealthy and well known, but he was a sinner. Success in this life does not mean a person has real joy and peace in their heart. We hear of people like this all of the time.
Zacchaeus needed more.
Success and the pleasures of this life had not satisfied. You can go everywhere there is to go and satisfy every desire that is on your bucket list, and still feel empty and lost. You can chase the wind to the four corners of the globe, and still be empty.
The Bible says: “What does it profit, if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul?” Zacchaeus’ story is a sad tale of riches, fame, fortune, and emptiness.
All of the wealth and fame of the world cannot satisfy an empty soul. Many of us have heard of people who had great fame but have died in disaster. Zacchaeus is a reminder that the things of this life cannot save the soul. When he climbed the sycamore tree, Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus.
Jesus gave Zacchaeus more. In one conversation and encounter, Jesus gave him more than the world gave in a lifetime. Jesus gives what no one else can give.
God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you want real life, you need to find Jesus. Only Jesus can satisfy your soul.
Twelve ordinary men were called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.
- Jesus met the first four of the group by the sea of Galilee. Matthew 4:18-22 tells us, Peter, Andrew, James and John were busy mending their nets when they were called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
- He met Matthew at the tax office and called him to follow Him, (Matthew 9:9).
- Philip and Nathanael were called from Bethsaida in Galilee.
- In another place the Gospel tells us that Jesus called them all from among the group of people that followed Him.
Luke 6:12-13 NKJV Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve …
All twelve of them were willing to walk away from what they had worked so hard to attain in life. Think about it for a minute.They had businesses, families, positions and fortunes.
Being called into the fellowship of God’s Son gave them something that nothing else in the world could give.
Mark 3:14-15 tells us, Jesus called them so they may be with Him and He sent them to preach the good news and He gave them power to heal the sick and cast out demons.
They were called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus gives more!
Jesus gave them more than what worldly positions could give. Jesus Christ gave them a chance to make a difference in the lives of other people. He gave them a bigger purpose than they had before. He gave them the kingdom and hope. He gave them a vision for reaching a world that is lost.
Today, there is more.
When we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ gives more.
He gives living water and forgiveness of sins. Jesus gives real peace, joy, and love.
- Like Nicodemus, do you need more than religion?
- Like the Samaritan woman, do you need more than another relationship?
- Like Zacchaeus, you don’t need more things, or money, you need Jesus.
- Like the 12 disciples, you need to be in the fellowship of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.
My soul is hungry for something that only Jesus Christ can give.
I must have more.
