What are you hungry and thirsty for?

Steve Brown:
What are you hungry and thirsty for? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the main guy behind ThriveFullyAlive.com

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Matt.

Matt Heard: Hey Steve.

Steve Brown:
I got, I’m surrounded by Matthews, but it’s kind of nice. If you’re just joining us, that’s Matt Heard. And if you want to know something about a wonderful ministry Thrive it’ll blow you away. Go to the website. It’s ThriveFullyAlive.com Matt is a consultant. He works with all kinds of Christian organizations and churches. He’s a preacher and he preaches at a lot of conferences and churches. And he’s a teacher and he’s also a voice of Key Life and he’s with us this week as we talk about Thanksgiving but in a different way. We’re talking about Thanksgiving surrounding the gospel. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, sometimes you’re laughing, and sometimes you’re crying. And at Thanksgiving, if you’re on the dark side of it, it’s kind of hard. But all of us at Thanksgiving, when we get what this thing is all about, know the place where we should be the most thankful is right at the gospel.

Matt Heard: Love that. How are you today?

Steve Brown:
I’m doing good. How are you doing?

Matt Heard: Ready for a big meal tomorrow?

Steve Brown:
Yes.

Matt Heard: So, everybody is, that’s the big deal about Thanksgiving. Let’s see the eating and the drinking and looking forward to all of that. And related to what we’re talking about this week, C.S. Lewis one time, he said.

Just because a man is hungry, doesn’t guarantee that he’ll get food. But it does guarantee that he was created for things such as food.

And so, we’re all born, yes, with those, that physical hunger, but I think it’d be pretty cool. Let’s talk a little bit about going deeper for that, a hunger and a thirst for this Zoe life of God that we’re lacking.

Steve Brown:
Explain Zoe again, because we have people that join us in the middle of the week and some that may have missed it. So, tell us what Zoe is and then we’ll proceed from there.

Matt Heard: So, when Jesus says.

I’m the way, the truth, and the life.

He’s saying, this is who I am. When John, at the beginning of his gospel says.

In him was life.

The Greek word that’s being used in all of those instances is the word Zoe. Now, there are a couple other Greek words that we translate in English life. There’s Bios and Psychē and others, Bios referring to the biological that physical existence, Psychē the consciousness of life. And to understand the gospel is to say, it realizes more than just a bunch of propositions. It’s a plot where we were alive in the garden, Bios physically, Psychē consciously, we were conscious, but we also had Zoe, the life of God. Now, I’ve got to think Adam and Eve after they sinned, they kind of looked at each other just for a second. You know, they said, well, maybe the serpent was right because the serpent said, you shall not surely die. God said, you disobey me, you’ll die. And maybe just for a moment, they thought we didn’t die, but we know very quickly they realized something was tragically wrong. And the shame came because they had lost the Zoe. They’re banished from the tree of life. We don’t see it again until, end of Revelation now. And so, this whole notion of being born as an image bearer, still capable of wonderful things, but also not so wonderful things. But we’re born dead in our transgressions and sin, as Paul talks about, but we’re born thirsty. We’re born hungry. Basically we’re spending our whole lives trying to find the meal that will address that deep hunger and that deep thirst.

Steve Brown:
And when you said before that the gospel is not just propositions, the propositions won’t feed you. And the propositions won’t give you water when you’re thirsty. Only Jesus does that.

Matt Heard: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he comes along and you know, you see him proclaiming anybody’s thirsty, come to me and drink. The woman at the well, been married five times. She’s now living with a guy that’s not, it’s not 21st century Hollywood, that’s First century Palestine. She’s got something that it’s incredible how diligent we can be to try to quench our thirst. Now, for her, we don’t know all the cultural stuff about why she’d gone from husband to husband, did they discard her? Had they died? Did they divorce her? Did whatever, but bottom line, Jesus knows this is a woman who really is sensing that what’s going to satisfy her in this moment is men, marriage perhaps. And he tells her in John 4, he says, I think it’s a verse 10, he says.

If you knew the gift of God, if you knew who you’re talking to, who it is is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

Kind of, you know, the Hebrews would refer to that as Mayim, this living water. He goes on to say a couple of

Steve Brown:
You’ll never thirst.

Matt Heard: sentences later, yeah. He says, listen, if you’re really wanting to understand what I’m up to in your life, you’ll grasp my eternal life, that’s what you’re thirsty for.

Steve Brown:
And you’ll never thirst again. That’s at Thanksgiving, a good theme to think about. Never hungry and thirsty again, because what you desired when you were hungry and thirsty was Him.

Thou hast created us for thyself, and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in the thee.

Matt Heard: Yeah, I love that, you know, do you remember, goodness, this was maybe ten years ago, there was a, in Arizona some folks were at a shopping, one of these shopping centers, these strip mall places where it’s just tons of parking lot and about 30 brown pelicans crash landed in the parking lot right in front of everybody. I mean, it’s middle of the day and people watching this and saying, Oh, you know, pelicans, they don’t land too gracefully when they’re landing on water, but on an asphalt parking lot.

Steve Brown:
It could be disastrous.

Matt Heard: It was, and it was, I mean, people started running up to these pelicans. They were all bruised. And I think a couple of them ended up succumbing to their wounds, but people were so confused. So, the department of wildlife got involved and they nursed these pelicans back to life, but they’re trying to figure out why, and they were tagged. They had a little tag on all of them and they were from California. Now, that’s not the reason that they did what they did, from California.

Steve Brown:
But I can think, never mind. Go ahead.

Matt Heard: Yeah. Don’t say it. So, but there was a drought going on in California and what they put together was these pelicans needed water and they’re headed east and they get to the desert. And when it’s really hot and you’re looking at asphalt on a long highway, what do you see? It’s a mirage. You’re looking at water. So, these pelicans are landing on what they think will be what they need.

Steve Brown:
Quench their thirst.

Matt Heard: You know, we talked about you giving me an honorary doctorate early in the week. I’ve got a doctorate in that and so to all of us, as fallen human beings, we’re born without the Zoe life of God. We’re thirsty for it, but we try to find it in other places.

Steve Brown:
Thousand different places.

Matt Heard: And it causes, ends up causing us more pain then it brings any type of fulfillment. And so, we do the hunger and thirst thing after the stuff that will not satisfy. You know, it’s what the statement of, you know, you go after stuff that will not satisfy you, but we do it over and it’s the deceitfulness of sin. It’s always bringing up the mirage.

Steve Brown:
It really is. And you know, especially at Thanksgiving as we gather around the Thanksgiving table. And when we’re believers and we remember this, that becomes the first on the list of the things for which we’re thankful. We’re eating food and we’re thankful for that. And we’re drinking and we’re thankful for that at the Thanksgiving table. But we have a thirst quenched and a hunger satisfied by Jesus that nobody can ever take from us.

Matt Heard: And that was the passion that David had when he writes in the Psalms, he says.

Earnestly I seek you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

And I, I mean, I’ve lived long enough, of course, not nearly as long as you, but let’s not go there. But to know that I’m not always earnest in my pursuit of God, but I have grown and lived long enough to realize when I’m not earnest and intense in my pursuit of God, there’s a deeper cause and it’s because I’ve started taking the lie that I don’t live in a dry and weary land where there is no other water. I can think there are some other water fountains that will address my soul’s thirst besides God. And that’s the deceit again that’s coming into play.

Steve Brown:
That’s what Thanksgiving is about. It’s about just what you’ve been talking about. Boy, when we started this week, I wasn’t sure where it was going to go, but this may be the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever broadcast. When you think about it, gather around your table and be glad for friends and family and for the food and the blessings that God has given. But make sure you stop and remember a different kind of food and water. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Matt. I don’t know about you, but I am really enjoying this teaching series called Thankful for the Gospel. And great news, we still have one more day to enjoy with Steve and Matt. So tomorrow, whether before Thanksgiving dinner or after maybe during, I don’t know, hope you will join us. Keylife.org of course, as you know, that is our website, our digital tree house, but I want to point out two features on the website that you may have missed. First, just below every article is a section called Related Resources. It’s a curated collection of articles and books related to the topic you were just reading about. It’s a fantastic way to dive even deeper into what interests you most. Also check out the middle of the left hand menu and click on Topics. That will help you find even more relevant articles. Career and Retirement, Assurance of Salvation, Forgiveness. It’s another way to easily find exactly what you’re looking for. And, of course, all of our website content is still free thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, just call 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Or e-mail [email protected] you can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, now you can give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter, just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.