Advent Week 3: God Is Good So We Can Find Joy In Our Life
For hundreds of years, the church has anticipated the coming of Jesus during the season of Advent. Into this space, this void, the angels announced to the shepherds the good news of Jesus that would bring great joy to all people.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar continues the Advent Series as he looks at the truth that God is good so we can find satisfaction and joy. Believing that God always does what is good, right, and perfect will change how you view everything and everyone in your life!
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The third of four eternal truths about God that transforms us. (The 4 G’s)
- Why we search for satisfaction and joy to fill the “hunger” in our lives.
- How Jesus is the better fulfillment of all your hunger and lack of joy!
- How to find the unbelief and actions that are keeping you from finding joy.
From this episode:
“God created us with hunger for our own Good. God isn’t manipulating us, but sustaining us – keeping us alive. The very fact that we are the ‘created’ and He is the ‘Creator’ proves that we need him – we wouldn’t exist without him – He is the source of all life. God is the greatest and most glorious being that exists, and he created us as an expression of who he is. Our hunger is a continual reminder that this is all about him and not us – our ongoing need reminds us that God is the one we turn to for life.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Free Discipleship and Missional Resources
Transcript
Who or what do you look to most in your life for satisfaction?
Caesar Kalinowski:In what areas of your life are you saying right now, When I have this, then everything will be awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:If I only had that, or if this person was only more like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what's that producing in you?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, how's that ultimately making you feel?
Caesar Kalinowski:Does that bring in great joy and satisfaction to your life?
Caesar Kalinowski:And what are we saying about God in that moment?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, when we look at, like, our spouse, or our kids, or the people in our church, Or this house that we actually own a home.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's amazing, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or this apartment or whatever we have, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, and you know, this isn't, you know, we complain about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like what are we saying about God?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like God, you're not that good.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're just not that good.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, sometimes we go after stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:We try to fill those needs ourself.
Caesar Kalinowski:We find temporary satisfaction, ultimately followed by deep dissatisfaction.
Heath Hollensbe:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with.
Heath Hollensbe:greater intentionality, and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Heath Hollensbe:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Heath Hollensbe:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Heath Hollensbe:And now, here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, alright, here we are.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope you're having a good week.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope it's, uh, been a good beginning of the holiday.
Caesar Kalinowski:Kind of past that, that initial tipping point of Thanksgiving.
Caesar Kalinowski:Ours was awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope yours was too.
Caesar Kalinowski:But now we're deep into it.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can see Christmas looming and, and we're celebrating Advent together and all that, and getting the shopping done, all that stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, , again, I think I said this maybe on the last.
Caesar Kalinowski:episode.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm really feeling the spirit and kind of into it early this year.
Caesar Kalinowski:And maybe it's because I've been prepping up these, , Advent messages and, , talks on the show here, but I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, before we get going today, , I want to invite you to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode at whatever platform you're on.
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Caesar Kalinowski:Well, hey, as a reminder, this year, uh, I decided to join this Advent celebration on the podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so for four weeks, this is our third, the four weeks of Advent, , I'm sharing my thoughts.
Caesar Kalinowski:Looking at these sort of classic movements of hope, peace, joy, and love through the lens of the four Gs, these four life changing truths about God and how they speak into our lives in this season and every day, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:So we started out with God is great.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we have hope.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, , last week we talked God is glorious.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's the most glorious one.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we can live in peace with others in ourselves.
Caesar Kalinowski:Today, we're going to talk about God is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we find satisfaction and joy in our lives.
Caesar Kalinowski:We don't have to look elsewhere.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's going to be powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that comes, that comes right out of all that stuff we've learned from Tim Chester over the years.
Caesar Kalinowski:I got to just say, thanks again, Tim.
Caesar Kalinowski:This has been life changing for us.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, let's get started on this.
Caesar Kalinowski:the statement, God is good, has this corresponding statement with it.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I don't have to look elsewhere for my satisfaction.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and here at Advent, we're saying God is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we find satisfaction and joy in our lives.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can actually have it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, do you believe that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you believe God is good?
Caesar Kalinowski:So we can find and have satisfaction and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you believe that God's good?
Caesar Kalinowski:He's a good God, that he always does what is good and right and perfect.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what the word holy means.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good, right, and perfect.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like he's the only one who always does what is good, right, and perfect.
Caesar Kalinowski:If we believe that it changes so much of our life and we're going to see today how it can bring us great joy and satisfy our, what we long for.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so as we celebrate Advent in participation of Jesus birth this Christmas, let me ask you this question.
Caesar Kalinowski:Who or what are you looking to for your joy, for satisfaction, to fill your needs and hungers that you have in your, in your heart, in your life?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a good question to contemplate, not only in the holidays, but I think all the time and, and as, especially as we dive into this a little bit deeper together.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right, well, as I often like to do, let's go right back to the beginning of the story of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:We see in scripture, we see God establish a pattern of Him creating a need and then providing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Have you ever noticed this pattern, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:But, but, like we see God created space, and, you know, the Bible says, foundations of the earth were laid, and everything was formless and void, and then he filled this space with good things, with all of creation, beauty and texture and color and animals and foliage and fruit and vegetables, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like the space was hungry for God's goodness, and he filled it, and he said, this is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:Remember, he only does what is good, right, and perfect.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's how he created everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then he created the first humans, Adam and Eve.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he said, it is very good.
Caesar Kalinowski:And God created humanity, that includes you and I, with continual reminders of our need for him.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the ongoing provision from his hand to take care of that need.
Caesar Kalinowski:Things like sleep, And water and food.
Caesar Kalinowski:Ever wonder why you get hungry?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, why do we get hungry, let's say on the average, three times a day to eat?
Caesar Kalinowski:Why didn't God just create the world where when we breathed from the air, that's where our nutrition came from?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, He could've, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:So it could've been like, Wow, I'm stuffed, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:But, see, He creates us to need, to have need.
Caesar Kalinowski:We have need for, for love and for relationship and intimacy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and I really believe that God created us with hunger and need for our own good.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you might hear this, you might think, well, it seems that Creating a world with an ongoing hunger is some sort of kind of maybe divine manipulation tactic, but God's not manipulating us.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's sustaining us.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's keeping us alive.
Caesar Kalinowski:The very fact that we are the created and he's the creator shows us that we need him.
Caesar Kalinowski:We wouldn't exist without or apart from Him.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's the source of all life.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we could say with some level of certainty, I believe, that God created us to be hungry as a way to continually remind us that to try, you know, to try and find life and satisfaction outside of God is to choose death, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Choose life apart from Him, the source of our life.
Caesar Kalinowski:He wants us to live, and our hunger is a regular reminder that in so living, we need him to keep living.
Caesar Kalinowski:Does that make sense?
Caesar Kalinowski:That hunger reminds us like I have need outside myself.
Caesar Kalinowski:And there again, we're using food as an analogy there, but it's also hunger for rest and hunger for, for, you know, purpose and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we need things physically.
Caesar Kalinowski:We need God physically.
Caesar Kalinowski:He created us and we need him to meet those needs.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that hopefully causes us to have great thankfulness.
Caesar Kalinowski:But our physical needs also point to spiritual needs.
Caesar Kalinowski:We need God spiritually, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Most of our physical needs, by the way, point to deeper spiritual realities in our lives, too.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if you've ever noticed that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Every physical need you have is a picture of a spiritual need.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, our bodies need rest, your soul needs rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like deep down in we need to, like rest, like really rest from all the freaking out and labor and all right, like your body is thirsty Your soul thirsts, your body's hungry, your soul is hungry, your body needs love and intimacy Your soul needs love and intimacy and connection And God in his goodness meets the needs of your body and God in his goodness is the only one who ultimately meets the needs of our souls So, don't miss that pattern.
Caesar Kalinowski:God creates the need and He designed us for Him to be the one who fills it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Don't miss that, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's going to be so big to where we're going here.
Caesar Kalinowski:God creates need.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's loving.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because He knows He will be the one to fill it and He's created us for that to be the case.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, as we kind of start to head towards, okay, how does this fit into Advent and all that?
Caesar Kalinowski:For hundreds of years, the church has anticipated the coming of Jesus during the season of Advent.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what we do during Advent.
Caesar Kalinowski:We kind of re, right, we re sort of anticipate Jesus coming, but like originally Jesus arrived after a period of 400 years of silence.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, like Israel was rejecting God, like completely holy, even after all kinds of turmoil and warnings and reminders from the prophets, and there was 400 years of silence and confusion and longing for the Jewish people.
Caesar Kalinowski:And into that space, into that void, the angels announced to the shepherds the good news of Jesus and that he would bring great joy to all his people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what we celebrate on this third week of.
Caesar Kalinowski:Advent, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, today I wanna, I wanna go a little bit deeper into the narrative, into the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's take a look at that well known and beautiful narrative of Mary and Joseph and others that are connected to Jesus birth, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm gonna read a little bit from Luke, stick with me, I know you've heard this a million times, but some stuff's gonna pop out of this today in connection to God's goodness and our joy and satisfaction.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think you're gonna go, wow, never saw it before.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I picked this story, this narrative up in Luke 1, verse 26, and I'm gonna go from there, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:So in the sixth month, it says, of Elizabeth's pregnancy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, Elizabeth was one of Mary's relatives.
Caesar Kalinowski:It says a relative of hers, maybe an aunt or a cousin, something like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll hear more about her in a minute.
Caesar Kalinowski:God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David's.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now David, by the way, was a direct descendant of Abraham's.
Caesar Kalinowski:That might ring some bells for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:The virgin's name was Mary.
Caesar Kalinowski:The angel went to her and said, Greetings!
Caesar Kalinowski:You who are highly favored, the Lord is with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
Caesar Kalinowski:But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is often what angels seem to have to say to people.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hear, I see it over and over in scripture when the angels show up.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do not be afraid, Mary.
Caesar Kalinowski:You have found favor with God.
Caesar Kalinowski:You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you're to call him Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:He'll be great, and he'll be called the Son.
Caesar Kalinowski:of the Most High, the Son of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:The Lord God will give him the throne.
Caesar Kalinowski:of his father David.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's referring back to King David, who the prophets had said when this Messiah came, would, would be the new king, like in the place of David, and reign forever.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's what goes on here in verse 33, and he says, And he will reign over Jacob's, that's Israel's descendants, and his kingdom will never end.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, how will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I'm a virgin.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the angel answered, The Holy Spirit of God will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Caesar Kalinowski:So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age.
Caesar Kalinowski:And she, who was said to be unable to conceive, is already in her sixth month.
Caesar Kalinowski:For no word from God will ever fail.
Caesar Kalinowski:At that time, Mary got ready, it says, and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea where she entered Zechariah's home, who was the husband of Elizabeth, and greeted Elizabeth.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, let me just pause for a second.
Caesar Kalinowski:So the angel comes and tells Mary, you're a virgin, but you're going to become pregnant with God's own son.
Caesar Kalinowski:The Spirit of God's going to do that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he says, even Elizabeth, your relative, who's way too old and barren and not able to conceive, by the way, she's already in her sixth month, she's having a baby too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it says that Mary.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hurry, like she split like what?
Caesar Kalinowski:I have to go see this.
Caesar Kalinowski:And she goes and greets Elizabeth, picking it up in 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her, in her womb leaped.
Caesar Kalinowski:And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Caesar Kalinowski:In a loud voice, she exclaimed.
Caesar Kalinowski:Blessed are you among women.
Caesar Kalinowski:And blessed is the child you will bear.
Caesar Kalinowski:But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what she's wondering because she already knows what's going on as well with Mary.
Caesar Kalinowski:As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:By the way, her baby is John the Baptist, Jesus cousin.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep, that's who he'll be.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we see here, the joy begins with two women in seemingly impossible circumstances, both of them becoming miraculously pregnant.
Caesar Kalinowski:One was barren and way past her childbearing years, and like Abraham's wife Sarah back in the Old Testament, God provides them with a child despite the supposed impossible limitations.
Caesar Kalinowski:And Elizabeth's child, John the Baptist, would be the last of the Old Covenant style prophets who's heralding and announcing the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Messiah, a forever king who would save and lead his people.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the other, Mary, was a virgin.
Caesar Kalinowski:Virgins don't have babies, if you've been paying attention, right, in biology class.
Caesar Kalinowski:And at the beginning of her childbearing years, right, she wasn't even getting started, so she's on opposite ends of the spectrum here with Elizabeth.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yet God conceived in her a child without the help of a man.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, wow, that still is mind blowing, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And the child would be the initiation and the fulfillment of a new covenant.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what Jesus came to bring, this new covenant, the Messiah that God had long ago promised.
Caesar Kalinowski:Both pregnancies, they were impossible, and they were both like miracles.
Caesar Kalinowski:And both were part of God's plan of salvation.
Caesar Kalinowski:And both brought, among all kinds of other emotions, joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:to their recipients.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I hope you're catching the connection here leading up to Jesus birth between Abraham and Sarah back in the Old Testament, Abraham was who God came to and initially gave this covenant promise.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll make you a great nation.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll make you the father of many.
Caesar Kalinowski:And through your line, I will bring one who will save the world, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That was Abraham and Sarah was also barren.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you're catching this connection.
Caesar Kalinowski:That was the beginning of God's initial covenant.
Caesar Kalinowski:To bless the whole world.
Caesar Kalinowski:And now we see kind of that same thing happening again with Elizabeth.
Caesar Kalinowski:But Mary now is also having a baby.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow, but she's, it's God's own son.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's amazing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you're catching that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's this, there's this, even in the announcement here and, and what's going on with Mary's relative there, Elizabeth, there's this connecting of the dots between the old covenant, the original covenant, and this long promised new covenant between God and mankind.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, I'll continue the story briefly, picking up the narrative in Luke 2.
Caesar Kalinowski:It says, verse 1, In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
Caesar Kalinowski:This was the first census that took place, right, during their lives, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, everyone went to their own town where, like, they were born to register.
Caesar Kalinowski:So Joseph also went up to the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, Okay, all these different sectors, right, to the town of David.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what they actually called that.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's because it's David's hometown, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
Caesar Kalinowski:He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're not even married yet, but was expecting a child.
Caesar Kalinowski:This child that the angel promised, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now while they were there, the time for the baby came to be born.
Caesar Kalinowski:And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is Jesus, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's like a food trough for animals out in a barn because there was no guest room available for them.
Caesar Kalinowski:They couldn't find a place to stay.
Caesar Kalinowski:So many people were in town for this census, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:So they're just like, well, uh, can we stay out in the barn?
Caesar Kalinowski:Because my wife's having a baby.
Caesar Kalinowski:So they did, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And the baby Jesus was born, as we know, in a manger.
Caesar Kalinowski:This feeding trough.
Caesar Kalinowski:And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
Caesar Kalinowski:An angel of the Lord appeared to them.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and again, they're all terrified.
Caesar Kalinowski:But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid.
Caesar Kalinowski:Check this out.
Caesar Kalinowski:He goes, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.
Caesar Kalinowski:He is the Messiah, the Lord.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you're catching this.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's like, I'm bringing you what?
Caesar Kalinowski:Good news.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's the same phrase.
Caesar Kalinowski:translated that we get the gospel, the word gospel from.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's going to bring you what?
Caesar Kalinowski:Great joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:For who?
Caesar Kalinowski:For all the people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Matthew says the same thing in 2.
Caesar Kalinowski:10 verses 2.
Caesar Kalinowski:10.
Caesar Kalinowski:When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Bible tells us when these wise men see the star announcing the coming of the Messiah, they were filled with joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:You see, all of creation's been waiting for this since that moment when Adam and Eve Distrusted God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Caesar Kalinowski:Believing that God was holding something back from them and that, that they, they knew what would be best.
Caesar Kalinowski:What would be good or gooder, good for them, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And that didn't work out so well for them or for all of humanity ever since.
Caesar Kalinowski:But Jesus came to satisfy our hunger and bring us joy, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Even in, in Mary's song, she sings of God filling the hungry with good things, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Luke 1 53, she says, and she's got this song, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:She says, he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:He's filling up the world with hunger.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, filling up our hunger with joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's why he came.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you're catching this connection.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really, really deep.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is why Jesus came.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is all part of that connection.
Caesar Kalinowski:God's, God creates needs that he alone is the ultimate fulfillment for, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:And now we're hearing Mary proclaiming that as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, let me ask you this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Who or what do you look to most in your life for satisfaction?
Caesar Kalinowski:In what areas of your life are you saying right now, when I have this, then everything will be awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:If I only had that, or if this person was only more like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what's that producing in you?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, how's that ultimately making you feel?
Caesar Kalinowski:That does that bring in great joy and satisfaction to your life?
Caesar Kalinowski:And what are we saying about God in that moment?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like when we look at like our spouse or our kids or the people in our church or this house that we actually own a home, it's amazing, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or this apartment or whatever we have, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, and you know, this isn't, you know, we complain about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, what are we saying about God?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, God, you're not that good, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You're just not that good.
Caesar Kalinowski:See, sometimes we go after stuff, we try to fill those needs ourself, we find temporary satisfaction, ultimately followed by deep dissatisfaction, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, think about Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened, it says, and then they covered themselves and hid in shame and guilt, right, after eating the fruit, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Nothing but God deeply satisfies in an everlasting way.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if we're looking for satisfaction or fulfillment or joy, meaning or our identity anywhere other than in God, I'm telling you, you're going to end up ultimately being left empty and probably hiding or blaming others.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's where it leads.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's no different than in the garden with Adam and Eve.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, you might experience momentary pleasure or refreshment, but it'll be fleeting, and you'll find yourself back in want, and this is kind of progressive, like, it just, it grows, we get into that cycle of life, the longer you try to satisfy your hunger with something other than God and His provision, living in His ways, the more desperate your hunger will become, and your dissatisfaction, and this is why some of us are in extreme debt, Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we just piling up debt.
Caesar Kalinowski:We keep thinking that if we had this house or this car or these clothes or maybe that video game unit or whatever, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:We'd be satisfied.
Caesar Kalinowski:Then, when it doesn't deeply satisfy because we're still, there's still that longing that only God can fill and bring and fill with joy, we're on to the next purchase.
Caesar Kalinowski:Going way beyond our means that God has given us in his goodness to live with.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or maybe Maybe you change careers really often thinking now this job will do it or you know if I had this going on or if I got that promotion or I had that title or maybe you engage in overeating or under eating or over drinking or sometimes those those longings were trying to fill lead to sexual immorality and addictions to pornography, things like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's a diagnostic.
Caesar Kalinowski:What, what are you often complaining about in your life?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, you know, just not that great.
Caesar Kalinowski:You don't have gratitude around.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you believe God's just not that good in that area.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, you know, thanks God, but you know, I'd probably be gooder.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:We keep thinking, you know, if I, if I just had the right boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife, then I'd be satisfied.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or if my wife was just this way, or, you know, if the people in my church or on my board would stop, if they were like, and we're just.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're just basically, we're just gonna keep piling it up and go further down that rabbit hole.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's as if we think, you know, I know better.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know good and evil better.
Caesar Kalinowski:What would be good for me?
Caesar Kalinowski:Does that sound familiar?
Caesar Kalinowski:And you know, maybe, maybe we just need a rewiring of our understanding of good and bad or good and evil.
Caesar Kalinowski:Remember, we weren't created to manage that.
Caesar Kalinowski:God warned Adam and Eve, warned us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, the day you try to manage that for yourself, Basically, be your own provision, you will surely die.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because, like, why do we, why do we call stuff bad but God's given it to us?
Caesar Kalinowski:But, He says He's done all these things for our good and ultimately for His glory.
Caesar Kalinowski:That we would know His goodness and know what He's really ultimately like.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if we believe that God is good, that he always does what is good, right, and perfect, then we can look at the situations or Circumstances or people and things in our life through a new lens and perspective, you know I'm over here complaining about this person or that but what if What if they're exactly what I need to become more like Jesus?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or, you know, man, if we only had a bigger house, bigger living room, we could have a lot more people in here and do a lot better ministry.
Caesar Kalinowski:What if God's wanting you exactly where you are, and He's teaching you and training you something, and there's people in proximity to you that He wants you to love Him so badly, and it's going to change you, and it's going to bring Him glory and you joy?
Caesar Kalinowski:and, and others, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, maybe we need to rewire that and, and start to say, wait a minute, if, if all things come from God and he only does what is good and right and perfect, then where's the good in it, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's a quote, maybe you've heard it before, uh, by C.
Caesar Kalinowski:S.
Caesar Kalinowski:Lewis in his book, The Weight of Glory, and it's famous.
Caesar Kalinowski:You've probably, I love it, but it's kind of ouchy.
Caesar Kalinowski:He says, we are half hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex.
Caesar Kalinowski:an ambition when infinite joy is offered us.
Caesar Kalinowski: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.
Caesar Kalinowski:We are far too easily pleased.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, we are.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's, that's like kind of ouch, but that's true.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we don't have to look elsewhere for our satisfaction and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we don't have to try to manufacture it up, or kill ourselves to get it, or over expect from others.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is good, so we don't have to look outside or anywhere else for our satisfaction and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Think about what you crave.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you looking for, or what you're going to over and over for satisfaction?
Caesar Kalinowski:Let me just tell you, Jesus is the greater.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's the better and the best.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you like the woman at the well?
Caesar Kalinowski:You remember that story?
Caesar Kalinowski:Looking for meaning and love and fulfillment from relationships over and over?
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus gives himself and his perfect unending love to you completely.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is what gives our lives eternal meaning and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or maybe you're looking for some good in material things, in more stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:Stuff that will ultimately perish and rust away.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus, who is God, took on flesh, he became physical, living as a perfect human, who enables all, everybody, all who trust in him to have new, eternal bodies and a new earth to enjoy that will never fail, or fall apart, or fade away.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're trying to fill your hunger and find joy with lust, or food, or experiences, fill in the blank.
Caesar Kalinowski:I just want to encourage you, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
Caesar Kalinowski:You've probably heard that.
Caesar Kalinowski:He is the way to the Father who created life, and he is saving us from our own destruction, and gives us abundance in eternal life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Humanity was hungry.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus came to satisfy our hunger, and all of our dissatisfactions, and meet our needs, and bring us joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:I want you to believe that I want that to be true for me, for my family, for you and yours, for your community, for your church this, this season.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let that be our focus.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, in closing, I was reminded of when our heavenly father spoke aloud.
Caesar Kalinowski:This statement over Jesus at his baptism, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:His cousin, John the Baptist, that one who leapt in his mother's womb, is baptizing Jesus, and he comes up out of the water, Mark 1, 11, and says, this is God the Father, he says, You are my dearly loved son, and you bring me great joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus brings joy even to his Father, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Our Father as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's amazing.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he wants to bring you great joy today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Look to him for your joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you don't have to look elsewhere.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:As always, I want to wrap things up with our big three takeaways from today's topic.
Caesar Kalinowski:So if nothing else, you don't want to miss these and you can get a printable PDF of this in case you're driving or don't want to try to write this all down or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can get a printable PDF of the big three as a, as a free download by going to everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com forward slash big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:Easy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:So here's the big three for this week.
Caesar Kalinowski:First, God created us with hunger for our own good.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's not manipulating us, but sustaining us and keeping us alive.
Caesar Kalinowski:The very fact that we are the created and He's the creator proves that we need Him.
Caesar Kalinowski:We wouldn't exist without Him or apart from Him.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's the source of all life.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is the greatest and most glorious being that exists, and He created us as an expression of who He is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Our hunger is a continual reminder that this is all about Him, and not us.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's about His glory, not ours.
Caesar Kalinowski:Our ongoing needs remind us that God is the one we turn to for life, life itself.
Caesar Kalinowski:Second, the big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus is the better fulfillment of all your hunger.
Caesar Kalinowski:and any lack of joy in your life.
Caesar Kalinowski:How good is Jesus?
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's a small list.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's good enough to satisfy the righteousness of God by being our righteousness.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's good enough to satisfy the wrath of God by being our substitute.
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus is good enough to satisfy the justice of God by paying our penalties for our sin and our choices.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's good enough to satisfy the holiness of God By removing our sin and guilt from us.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's removed.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's over.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's finished.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's good enough to overcome the curse of sin by overcoming death through his resurrection.
Caesar Kalinowski:That we might now also have life, eternal, and he's good enough to be our continual advocate before the father, keeping us secure by his work and ongoing intercessions.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow, if he's doing all that, what do you, what do you want or lack now?
Caesar Kalinowski:Just ask him for it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And third, what are you feasting on in your search for satisfaction and joy?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit of the tree because it was pleasing to their eye in the moment.
Caesar Kalinowski:It appeared to be good, but ultimately they died.
Caesar Kalinowski:Their desire to be their own provision brought death into the world, and we're no different.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're just the same.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mary praised God because he sent his son Jesus into the world to fill the hungry with good food.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's the tree of life, and the fruit of his life, death and resurrection, is our eternal food that gives life everlasting.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, it's so good news.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now and all year.
Caesar Kalinowski:God created us to be hungry as a way to continually remind us that to try and find life outside of God is to choose death.
Caesar Kalinowski:So this Christmas and every day, which tree will you go to?
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's go to the tree of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:God is good.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we don't have to look elsewhere for our satisfaction and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's thick, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's deep.
Caesar Kalinowski:You might need to re listen to parts of that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I want to also ask you, would you share this with others?
Caesar Kalinowski:Would you share this episode?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, let them know about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can, you know, go on to the everydaydisciple.
Caesar Kalinowski:com site, find it, send the link to it, whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or if you see it in your Facebook feed, just forward that through your Facebook page.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think a lot of us I know I certainly did.
Caesar Kalinowski:I need to be reminded God is good, so I don't need to look elsewhere for my satisfaction and joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, that's about it today.
Caesar Kalinowski:I want to invite you to join me next week as we wrap up part four of this Advent series, as we'll see that God is gracious, so we can experience love in the deepest ways.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you'll join me for that, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:And Merry Christmas!
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll talk to you soon.
Heath Hollensbe:Thanks for joining us today.
Heath Hollensbe:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday disciple.com and remember, you really can live with a spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.