Why You Still Feel Empty (Even When Life Looks Good)

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, hopeinOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you. Because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

God bless you. Thank you. We said that a lot, right? God bless you. On Mother's Day, right? A prayer for all moms is they want their children to be blessed. But what does that really mean, God bless you? And how do you know if God's blessing you? I mean, on one hand, we say it in a spiritual context. On the other hand, we got a cold and we sneeze and we say, bless you. How did that tradition get started? You know, we crave the blessing. It's hardwired, it's DNA in us. We want a blessed life. And sometimes when we aren't experiencing it, we begin to search for it in the wrong places. And the blessed life that we think that we want in those wrong places slowly begin to break our lives. We are stepping out into the summer of 26, and we're gonna start in Matthew chapter five, so grab your Bible. In Matthew five, six, and seven, what some theologians have simply labeled the Sermon on the Mount, I think it's mislabeled. I really think it's a declaration on the blessed life. And it's not lost on me that many of us, right, the blessed life sometimes can feel absent from our life. We don't feel like it's a blessed life.

We feel like we're in survival mode. Like we're barely hanging on the dark valleys and the stress and the anxiety and the pressure points that come along. We're trying to climb, right? This idea of higher ground, mountaintop, peak living. We're trying to climb, but we're really just trying to catch our breath. Well, what we're gonna discover this morning, I believe is revolutionary in your life. Because some of you, this might be familiar. Some of you, this might be brand new. I think we have grossly misunderstood this portion of the scriptures. Jesus' first sermon. In particular, these verses that we're gonna look at today and next week in the Beatitudes. I think we often look at the Beatitudes as standalone characteristic traits. And you kind of look at it and say, well, I'm kind of good in this one and not so good in that one. But what we're really gonna see is this, is in these next several weeks, that when we look at the Christian life, when Jesus says something like, rejoice when you're betrayed. When someone lies about you and persecuted, rejoice. Like that's counterintuitive to everything. We know the Old Testament would talk about don't murder.

But in these verses, Jesus is gonna say this. Hey, if you're angry, if you're teed off with your neighbor, with your coworker, you're angry with them, it's as if you've already murdered them in your heart. Well, we get it. The Old Testament says something like, don't commit adultery. Physical act between a man and a woman and you commit adultery right in these verses. Jesus says this Hey, if you look at a man, if you look at a woman and lust after them, it's as if you've already committed Adultery and the conclusion the conclusion of this sermon The only conclusion of the sermon is this Christian life. It is Impossible. There is just no way that I can live this out And so Jesus in the verses that were in this morning. He gives us the verdict before the behavior Normally in life, right the behavior comes first and then it's the verdict you acted in a certain way and here's the here's the consequences Here's the reward of your behavior. Jesus does the opposite, but this is the gospel The gospel is opulent Jesus died on the cross while you were still a sinner The verdict that you could be forgiven of your sins was put in play before you ever confessed For Jesus to forgive you of our sins So that's why this week is so important next week so vitally important because these be attitudes the blessed life that we all want I want the blessed life. The question is how do you get it? So many of us are frustrated because we think the blessed life is through the world system the American way this Transactional, but that's why so many feel Scarcity feel fear feel like it's outside of my reach or you're trying for more But you're never really arriving. So you got your Bible. We are in Matthew chapter 5 I'm gonna do two things this morning. One. I'm gonna introduce the text from the NIV version That's the version I read out of and then we're gonna break down each one of these verses from Eugene Peterson's

version the message if you've not Exposed yourself to that particular Bible version I would encourage you it really and you'll see in this study how it really opens up what the scriptures are Are teaching us I know this I know this of you I I know I'm on the dusty trail that you called life Your journey your story that the hopes and the dreams that you have for you and your family and your life your business your careers We crave the life Jesus offers But we avoid the path he walked That's got to change you want the blessed life I want to bless life something has to change if you keep doing what you've always been doing you should be surprised you keep getting the same results Everybody wants to bless life, but few are willing to climb for it. That's why we're going to higher ground Then the next 13 weeks It's all about higher ground climbing higher Because we know that the world is better. Your life is better. Your story is better. Your family is better You are better when we become more like Jesus, so let's jump in verse number one Matthew chapter 5 now when Jesus saw the crowds he's beginning his public ministry. He's healing He's teaching people right think about on social media all of a sudden lots of followers likes kind of momentum It's going viral when Jesus saw the crowds the story of Jesus is going viral He went up on a Mountainside and sat down that's where theologians call this the Sermon on the Mount, but that's the only detail of the Sermon on the Mount That's why this is really better labeled the blessed life how to have the blessed life His disciples came to him And he began to teach them and he said and we're gonna look at the first part of the beatitudes This week and the next week we'll look at the verse 7 through 12 following so he says this Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are those who mourn that these blessings. We want the blessed life, but what does that mean when you? Mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled The Beatitudes aren't Stand-alone sayings their stand up for Jesus truce For us to apply in our life the beatitudes aren't a part of the gospel as you're gonna see They are the posture of the gospel. I firmly believe that many of us in this room I've never tried to question your salvation But I believe in the next two weeks many of you might actually who think you've been following Jesus become born again Because I think we think that The salvation experience is this youth camp moment by a fire. I feel some warm fuzzy emotional in my heart I pray some sinner prayer, I say amen, and then I go on and live my life any way that I want because I've purchased some hell insurance and one day I won't go to hell. You need to know that is not the gospel. What I'm going to show you starting today, the Beatitudes actually are the construct of the gospel. They are going to be building blocks so that when we get to the rest of this Sermon on the Mount, what seems impossible, what seems counterintuitive for you to live out your very best life, you'll begin to see how the gospel gives you the power and the authority to be who God created you to be. Here we go. First step, how to live the best blessed life. You got your journal. I want you to take good notes. This is revolutionary what we're into this morning. This is transformative. Your life will never be the same after today. If you sit there and daydream of whatever you're going to go and do and eat with mom later today, you're going to miss everything. If you're thinking about whatever bill you got to pay, if you're thinking about whoever's

going to win the NBA championship, all the other kind of stuff that's happening in the world, I promise you, you are going to miss out on the blessed life. I want it for you, but I can't do it for you. Get your pen out. Take some notes. If you don't have a journal, you need to get online and buy a journal. Otherwise, just use the cards that are in the seat backs and take some good notes. Here's the first point. It's this. If you want the blessed life, you've got to make an effort to spend time with Jesus. You got to make an effort. Notice again, verses one and two from the message version. When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. See, not everybody heard the Sermon on the Mount that day. A whole lot of people had your mentality, I'll just catch him on the downside. When I'm done at the lake, when I'm done with travel ball, when I'm done with the latest Netflix binge show, when I'm done doing everything that I want to do, I'll catch him on the inside. Oh, I'll just catch him online. I'm grateful for all of our online people, particularly those who are sick or you're literally outside of the region. If you're just like, I'm chilling at the house, listen, following Jesus, you've got to make a decision that you're going to spend time with him. Daily time with Jesus is not optional. It's essential. Many of you are out of breath, and you're fatigued, and you're exhausted, and you're frustrated, and you're irritated in life, and it's got nothing to do with your dog, your cat, your goldfish, or your kids. It's because you're just not spending time with Jesus.

You're claiming to be a Christ follower. No, listen, if you've not made a decision for Jesus yet, I would totally understand the disconnect. My prayer is that today, you will become a follower of Jesus. Most people are searching for the blessing at the bottom of the mountain, and that's not where Jesus is. Everything my mentor, I remember in 1991, I wrote it in my journal, 1991, I heard John Maxwell say for the very first time, everything you want, Mark, is uphill. I've never forgotten that. He said, Mark, everything in life that you want, you want a great marriage, it's going to be uphill. You want great kids, it's going to be uphill. You want to build a business, it's going to be uphill. I mean, Mark, everything that you want in your life, and he said this, nobody drifts into success. You don't listen to a podcast, or you don't read a book about an athlete or an actor. I mean, Kobe Bryant, he drifted into success. He woke up one day and said, oh, wow, I don't know how I got here. No. He woke up earlier than everybody else, and he goes to the gym, and he works it out. You don't drift your way into the blessing. You decide your way into the blessing, and the counter is also true. If the blessing is absent from your life, you decided for the blessing to be absent from your life. God wants to spend time with you. Could you just pause for just a second? God wants to spend time with you. Think about all the people that you would like to spend time with. You have texted this week, and they've ghosted you. They didn't return your text.

They haven't returned your call. They're like, and you're like, I can't believe it. Why would they not want to spend time with me? There are some moms, right? There's a pain point. Some of our grown kids have moved on. They're busy doing something else, and it's like, listen, it's Mom's Day. Can't you spend some time with me? God of the universe says, I want to spend time with you. Here's an important question to write down and wrestle with in your journal this week. Are you ready for it? You're not ready for it. I promise you, the person on your left is not ready for it. Here's the question to write down. Why don't I want to spend time with God? We spend time in our hobbies. It's nothing for me to jump on a bike. We were at Sanibel Island last week, and man, I'm on my bike and riding on that island. I didn't have to think twice about it. I'm getting on that bike and I'm riding. Spending time with your grandkids. Man, you love them grandkids. Man, you want to spend time with them. Whatever the latest show is, everybody's getting excited, kind of waiting for when the next Sheraton Taylor, I think it's the Dutton's, right? Whatever the next show is, you can't wait. It's on your calendar. You got reminders, right?

We spend time in every place else. I think you gotta wrestle with it. You gotta wrestle with, why don't I want to spend time with God? And oh, by the ways, if I don't want to spend time with God now, why would I even be interested in going to heaven one day? Like, you know, hello, hashtag. It's all about Him in heaven. Forever, forever, you'll be spending time with God. I think we need to stop saying, I'll catch you later. I'll catch up with God later. I'll catch you on the way down. I'll catch you, Jesus, in a more convenient time. And we've gotta make an effort, an effort to spend time with Jesus. That's verse one and two. Here's verse three, you ready? To bless life, admit your need for God. When he says pour in spirit, right? Pour in spirit, it's got nothing to do with money. It's the realization you're spiritually bankrupt. Admitting to God that you need him doesn't make you weak, it makes you wise. The foolish person in this gathering is the person who thinks they don't need God. You think you got what it takes. This is why Jesus starts here, because what you're gonna see in the coming weeks, all summer long, is when you look at the blessed life,

you look at following Jesus, not one of us in this space has what it takes to live out the Christian life. So he's building these building blocks. It starts with, you've got to decide, I want to spend time with God. You gotta climb with him. And then secondly, you've got to admit your need for God. The blessed life begins with a broken life. Most church-going folk got that backwards. The blessed life, it begins with a broken life. Here, back to Matthew five and three from the message. You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God. That's what poor in spirit is. When you are at the end of your rope and you're holding on, who, anybody know what I'm talking about? When you're at the end of your rope, you're kind of holding on, anybody ever been there? I mean, right, you're kind of, I'm at the end of my rope, I'm holding on. You'll discover you're not holding on to the rope, God's holding on to you. Amen. He's there, he's with you, he's for you. You know, every miracle, this might surprise you, I'm gonna show you how much of a theologian that I really am, right? Crazy thought, did you realize that every single miracle,

I'm talking about every, I'm not 99.9, 100% of the miracles in the Bible always begin with a problem. Everyone, every single miracle always begins with a problem. When you have a problem, you're blessed, Jesus is saying. Why? Because you're a candidate for a miracle. The only person in this space today, the only person online who doesn't have a problem is the person who thinks they don't have a problem. Because if you don't have a problem, then you're not a candidate for a miracle. But when you have a problem, you and I are a candidate for a miracle. When you have a little problem, you're a candidate for a little miracle. When you have a big problem, you're a big time candidate for a big miracle. When you say you have no problem, you're not a candidate. God ain't showing up. Well, why would God show up? You got it, you're all that in a bag of chips. You got it all figured out. You ain't need no miracle, you got yourself. But what Jesus is teaching us is admitting your need for God. And I hope the light bulbs are beginning to come on because this is the gospel. The gospel starts with you wanting, it's all about Jesus.

I'm making a decision to spend time with Jesus because Jesus is my savior. Now, in Jesus's presence, I'm poor in spirit, I'm bankrupt spiritually. I can't fix me, I'm not good enough. I don't have what it takes. So we need to stop cursing the problem. God might be crafting the miracle. Stop cursing that problem. I'm telling that problem that's right in front of you is God is crafting a miracle. See you for who you are, you are in need of a savior. This is where the pop psychology, when you're supposed to believe in yourself and all the kind, listen, I know who I am. I'm not talking about my identity. My identity, your identity is rooted in Christ. We are created in God's image, but we are spiritually bankrupt. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. I don't have what it takes spiritually to bring to revive this man, Mark Cummins, back. See Jesus for who he is, the Savior. See you for who you are in need of a Savior. You know, we often quote that Tim Tebow verse, Philippians 4.13, do you know that verse? You're gonna say it with me? Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Man, we love us some Tim Tebow, right?

Tim Tebow, back when the Gators were winning. Can we please have those days again? Right, give me some Tim Tebow back. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You know, what we often don't say is the opposite. The opposite of Philippians 4.13 is, I can't do all things except through Jesus Christ. Yeah, I can do all things through Jesus Christ, but I need to remind myself without Jesus Christ, I cannot do all things. Let's go to verse number four. These are building blocks, transforming our lives. We're going to higher ground. We are having the blessed life. We make a decision, I'm gonna spend time. I want to be with Jesus. I'm gonna admit my need. Here's the third, want the blessed life? You want the blessed life? Watch this. Let God love you through your losses. Verse four, the blessed life is when you mourn. What's the Bible talking about that? Again, back to Matthew 5.4 and the message. You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you. Mourn what's lost, not moan. There's way too much moaning going on. Oh man, can't believe this.

This is how it was back in the day. This is now this, and we just moan. We mourn, we don't moan, and we certainly don't move on. This idea of faking it to make it, we're gonna move on to something else. It's not that bad. Oh yes, it is. Well, what we're learning here in the building blocks of the gospels is it is. It is as bad as you think it is. I would actually say it's 10X worse. Our humanity, the despicable, sinful nature of our humanity has separated us from God. We have no hope of life. We have no hope of eternal life. We have no blessed life. We keep trying to get it somewhere somehow, but it's elusive. It's always changing. We want the blessed life. We have to let God love us through our losses. And I would say this. Sometimes the mourning that we're upset about the regret that we're upset about, mourn not because you got busted, mourn because you are busted. This deep emotional loss that only Jesus can comfort, only Jesus can embrace you, not regretting that you got caught, the remorse over the failure, realize that you're lost.

I won't spend a lot of time, but in Luke chapter 15, there's a story. There's actually three stories about loss. There's a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son. The third story, the lost son is a story of this man, this dad who was very successful. The son went to his dad and basically he didn't want to wait till his dad died to get his inheritance. So he basically says, yo, dad, I got nothing really to do with you. I want to do my own thing. I want my inheritance now. In other words, he said to his dad, I wish you were dead. My life would be better if you were dead. I would have your money. I could go live and do whatever I want to do. That is a snapshot of our humanity. That's exactly what happened in the garden, Adam and Eve. That's exactly what arson nature does. And so the father gave him his inheritance and this boy went into the city and he spent it, the Bible says, on riotous and evil living. At some point he becomes broke. And where I show you now in the scriptures where we pick up the story is he is in a pig pen, a Jewish boy, the worst place for a. Jewish boy in those Bible days is in a pig pen. Notice Luke 15 and 17. When he came to his senses, this prodigal, this rebellious boy, when he came to his senses,

let me just pause here for a second. Some of you have a loved one or a friend who's walked away from God, walked away from you, walked away from the family, making choices that are less than best. The best day in your life are those six words. He came to his senses. And the reason some, and I'm not trying to, listen, I know your heart's big. I know you want your loved one to move from a cursed life to the blessed life. I know you don't like seeing them suffer. It's you as a mom, it's you as a dad. You don't want them, as a grandparent, you don't want them to suffer, right? But watch this. Some of our loved ones have walked away from God. They're in the pig pen, but we're literally sending care packages to our loved ones in the pig pen, allowing them to continue in the pig pen. We need to let them come to their senses that this dope, this cocaine, this sex, this whatever, whatever, whatever, it is ruining your life. And until they come to the end of themselves, they will never discover the beginning of God. The dad in this story lets this boy come to his senses. It is love, letting your son, your daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter come to their senses.

When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. He's owning his sin. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and he went to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his daddy saw him and was filled with compassion for him and ran to his son through his arms around him and kissed him. See, sin distorts God's love, but never diminishes it. It'd be easy if you think, well, I've done so much bad against my dad. I can't be a son anymore. So now I guess I'm just going to be a servant. Oh no, no, no, no, no. It's a distorted. The dad said, the Bible says that the dad saw him a far way off and he ran. In other words, the dad was anticipating the day that the boy would come to his senses. Sin always distorts God's love for you. God is never more satisfied than when you come to him in your losses. Your worst day in life is your best day in your life when it brings you to God. Did you catch that?

And if that's not you, maybe it's a loved one. It's somebody, it's their best day, their best day. Their worst, the worst moment you look at them and they're just, you can't even really recognize them as your loved one. You can't even recognize them as your friend. But when they come to that point where they're at the very worst moment and it brings them to God, it is their best day. God does his best work in broken places. You never will find God in your strongest moments. You'll always find him most in your surrendered moments. See these building blocks? They're building, you're taking notes. You're building one upon another. Here's the next, the blessed life in verse five. Live a life of contentment. Your Bible says that the blessed life is the meek. The meek will be blessed. What does that word meek? It's a misunderstanding. I want you to know this. Meekness is certainly not weakness. Meekness, contentment is satisfaction. It's rooted in security. It's absent from the need of chasing more to prove yourself, to accomplish. It's in Christ you are enough. It's the opposite of the American way. The question is often asked,

you know, how much more money do you need to make? And it's always just a little bit more. And when you get to the next box, it's a little bit more. We are a culture of a little bit more. And that's why we're never satisfied. Contentment is not about effort. It's about identity. You see, contentment doesn't mean I'm gonna be apathetic. I won't become lazy. I'll become a couch potato. Oh no, no, no. The Bible says I do all things for the glory of God. That's excellence. I do everything in my life for the excellence of God. This is not me doing less than. This is me understanding that my identity as a adopted son. into the royalty family of God. I am doing it all for the glory of God. Contentment is not about my effort, it's about my identity. Contentment isn't having more, it's trusting more. Look at verse five from the message. You're blessed when you're content with just who you are. See, you think you're content or you would have greater contentment if you had more. That's not the problem because when you get more,

what happens? You want more. You made 30,000 and now you make 50,000. But after so much time, you're like, well, if I made 70,000, right? It's not about you getting more, it's about you being more. That's why when you show up at whatever you thought was more and you still feel discontented, do you know why you're discontented? Because you showed up where you have more. It's not about changing the more, it's about letting God change me. Here's a portion of scripture that I wrote down in my journal in 2008, a very challenging end to that year in my life. And I was somewhat convinced that if I could do more for people, if I would be better, if I would have a better sermon, if I would care for people more, if I would just do more than people would like me more. And then the Holy Spirit gave me Matthew chapter 11 and 28. Are you tired?

Heck yeah. Are you worn out, Mark? Yeah. Mark, are you burned out on religion? Oh yeah. Come to me. Get away with me and you recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything on you, Mark, heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. And I learned three things. I learned when you walk with Jesus, you get to enjoy his presence. You can be a pastor and read the Bible and miss his presence. I can work with Jesus. I accept him as a partner. He's not asked me to do it. He's asked me to trust him. Then I can watch Jesus and I can follow his example. You don't need more stuff. You need more Savior. And here's the last for this week

and then we'll pick up next week. Here's the next building block. And you begin to see them. Write them. Highlight them in your journal. You will see how they are building one on top of the other. They're not standalone personality characteristic traits. So many may have thought that's what the beatitudes. No, no, no. This is the blessed life. He is building the foundation block on block to construct the life that you've dreamed of. The blessed life is when you develop a hunger and thirst for God. What you crave determines what you consume. I don't know if your mom's in heaven or if your mom is in another state outside the region of your mom's locally. And I don't know if your family's taking you out for dinner today. But I know this team Cummins, the mom of our family, Linda. And for whatever reason, Linda is craving Chinese food. So guess what we have in this afternoon?

We ain't having steak and potatoes. We ain't having salmon. We ain't having barbecue ribs. You know what we're having? Chinese. Why? Mama was craving it. I just know this, that what you crave, you consume. Matthew 5 and 6 from the message, you're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink. The best meal you'll ever eat. The emptiness that you feel isn't a problem. It's an invitation to be with Jesus. Maybe you've heard that often when we feel hungry on the inside and so we go to eat, right? We're hungry because we want to, we won't get a meal, right? A lot of times the real problem isn't that we're actually hungry. It's what we are dehydrated. I think the dissatisfaction in a lot of our lives, in a spouse, in our kids, in our neighbors, in a career, in the country, in politics, whatever that is,

it's really just spiritual hunger pains. Get back to hunger and thirst for God. Psalms 34 and 8, the Bible says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge. huge in him. The blessed life is not found at the top of your success. We've got a warped understanding of blessed. We think blessed means comfort and ease. And that's why it's so destructive in our life when, so to speak, the American dream hits a speed bump, a relationship gets disconnected. We kind of throw our hands up and say, wait a second, why am I not being blessed? Because we think that the blessing means everything in the world's going well. If that's true, then God owes a big apology to his son, Jesus. Because Jesus didn't live the blessed life that you think is the blessed life. You don't need to get it together. I used to think I just needed to get it together. Get it together, Cummins, come on. Get in the game. Get it together. What I've learned and what we're gonna see this summer, which is just gonna be so phenomenal, is you don't need to get it together. You need to give it over. I'm glad we're together today in this space.

My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you, because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.