“I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” by Ernest Randolph What does the Devil say will satisfy us? Romans 1:28-32 “28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” This World and the Devil are constantly pulling at us and knocking us down. We break the 10 commandments. Exodus 20:13 1. We put things before God. 2. We worship the earth and the human body. 3. We constantly curse God or we say that God stands for things he doesn’t stand for. 4. We don’t rest one day a week. 5. We rebel against and mock the ways of our parents. 6. We kill with our hatred. 7. We lust and or commit adultery. 8. We take from each other and the government. 9. We tell lies so that we can get ahead. 10. We are discontent, always wanting something new or more, especially if someone we know has it. No wonder we can’t get no satisfaction.
We also break the greatest commandment. We don’t love. Jesus was asked in Mathew 22:36-40 “36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." “ Why don’t we love? We’re short on time. We’re out of money. We’re too empty to love. We’re not at peace. We have no patience. We find it hard to be kind. We can’t be good. We struggle at being faithful. We fail to be gentle. We lose control. The passage this list was taken from has an answer. Gal 5:16-18 “16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Jesus presents us with this amazing love that we can have for one another which comes by living by the Spirit.
It isn’t just a love for our families, but a love for everyone, even our enemies. Jesus said in: Matt 5:44 “44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” And in John 13:34-35 he says: “34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."” And in John 15:9 he says: “9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.” John 14:15-17 “15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth.”
I John 3:23-24
”23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. “
This great love only comes by being filled with the Spirit. Jesus makes this amazing comment to the woman at the well regarding his living water. John 4:13-14 “13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."” I don’t know about you, but most of the time I feel like my faucet is a slow drip. How do we turn the spigot on? Die to our selfish sinful ways? Being filled could mean that you wait for God to dump the Spirit into you. Or it could mean that you give your life to God’s ways so that His ways and his Spirit fill you. I think it might be a combination of both. Matt 16:24-26 “24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
There is a struggle between setting our selfish desires aside and trusting God to fill us. Matt 10:39 “39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Do you want to get satisfaction? Listen to what Paul says in Romans 5:5 “5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Satisfaction will come by being filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit will show itself by you loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving one another with God’s love. In the movie “Fighting the Giants”, a man tells a story about two farmers. It didn’t rain for a long time so both farmers prayed for rain. One farmer prepared his field for rain and the other farmer didn’t. Which farmer do you think believed God would bring rain? Your ability to love selflessly will come only through God’s spirit. But, lets prepare our fields. The main way to prepare your field is to set your selfish desire aside and seek God’s desires. Our selfishness will block God’s Spirit from filling our lives. Pray with me. God set our selfishness aside and fill us with Your Spirit.
Let me give you some more practical was to prepare your fields for the Spirit. What would loving God look like? · Loving one another in the Church · Loving people outside the Church · Giving money · Giving time · Worship, prayer, singing, dancing, and shouting. · Studying about God and learning His Word. · Journaling to God. · Seeking to follow God with our lives. Daily asking what God wants us to do, looking for His prompting and guidance. What would loving our neighbors look like? · Be willing to be wrong and wronged · Understand that God is in control, It is about God’s purpose not yours · Make others important. · Be willing to lose. · Be willing to give and not receive. · Covenant with God to not take revenge or gossip. · Forgive · Be slow to anger · Covenant with God to not hurt others. Satan and this world want you to think satisfaction comes from someplace else. Don’t be tricked, true satisfaction will only come through loving God and one another; which comes from preparing our fields and being filled with His Spirit. | 
