This message is Part 1 in the message series “AWAKENING” by Pastor Chuck Bernal. In this message titled, “Awakening To Longing”, Pastor Chuck talks the emptiness we feel in our lives and how we looks to pleasure, possessions and people - but they can never bring ultimate satisfaction because they are temporary in nature. Using the stories of Solomon and the Prodigal Son, he discusses the fact that each of us has a "God-shaped" hole which only God can fill - and that is where we will find our ultimate satisfaction and meaning in life. This message was delivered at LifePointe Church in Crowley, TX on Sunday, April 23, 2017.

2. awakening to longing
(there’s got to be more)

3. the cry of every human being
there’s got to be more to life than this

4. These are the words of the Preacher, the son of
David,
king in Jerusalem. “It is of no use,” says the
Preacher.
“It is of no use! All is for nothing.” What does a

5. People die and people are born, but the earth
stays forever. The sun rises and the sun sets,
and travels
in a hurry to the place where it rises . . . All
things are tiring. Man is not able to tell about

6. The eye never has enough to see, and the ear
is never
filled with what it hears. What has been is what
will be.
And what has been done is what will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there

7. It has already been there since long before us.
No one remembers the things that happened
before.
And no one will remember the things that will
happen
in the future among those who will come later.

8. The Mick Jagger
Syndrome
“I Can’t Get No
Satisfaction”

9. our problem is our
perspective
we view life horizontally

10. I observed everything going on under the sun,
and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the
wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14 – New Living
Translation)

11. But when I surveyed all that my hands had
done,
and what I had worked so hard to achieve,
I realized that it was pointless—a chasing after
wind.
Nothing is to be gained under the sun.

12. I saw something else under the sun: in the place
of justice, there was wickedness; and in the
place of what was right,
there was wickedness again!
(Ecclesiastes 3:16– Common English Bible)

13. Living life horizontally with a
“LHP” (limited human perspective)
creates 3 huge problems:

14. we get
bummed out

15. we get
burned out

16. we get
bored out

17. the preacher’s quest for something
more
(Ecclesiastes)

18. In my opinion, nothing is worthwhile; everything
is futile . . . everything is unutterably weary and
tiresome.
No matter how much we see, we are never
satisfied;
no matter how much we hear, we are not

19. pleasure

20. possessions

21. people

22. But as I looked at everything I had tried,
it was all so useless, a chasing of the wind,
and there was nothing really worthwhile
anywhere. (Ecclesiastes 2:11 – Living Bible)

23. He who loves money shall never have enough.
The foolishness of thinking that wealth brings
happiness! (Ecclesiastes 5:10 – Living Bible)

24. So I came to hate life because everything
done under the sun seemed wrong to me.
Everything was pointless. It was like trying to
catch the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:17 – God’s Word
Translation)

25. In my opinion, nothing is worthwhile; everything
is futile . . . everything is unutterably weary and
tiresome.
No matter how much we see, we are never
satisfied;
no matter how much we hear, we are not

27. the prodigal’s quest for something
more
(Luke 15)

28. A man had two sons. When the younger told his
father, “I want my share of your estate now,
instead of waiting until you die!” His father
agreed to divide his wealth.

29. A few days later this younger son packed all his
belongings
and took a trip to a distant land,
and there wasted all his money on parties and
prostitutes.
(Luke 15:11-13– Living Bible)

30. pleasure

31. possessions

32. people

33. About the time his money was gone a great
famine swept over the land, and he began to
starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him
to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry
that even the pods he was feeding the swine
looked good to him. And no one gave him

34. The problem with everything “under the
sun”,
is that it’s all temporary!

35. Moses chose to be mistreated with God’s
people instead of having the good time that sin
could bring for a little while.
(Hebrews 11:25 – Contemporary English
Version)

36. Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets
eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—
worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in
heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and
burglars. (Matthew 6:19-20 – The Message)

37. where the quest leads
there is a “God-shaped” hole
in each of us

38. What else does this craving and this
helplessness proclaim
but that there was once in man a true
happiness,
of which all that now remains is the empty print
and trace.

39. seeking in things that are not there the help he
cannot find in those that are, though none can
help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only
with an infinite and immutable object;
in other words, by God himself.
(Blaise Pascal, French Mathematician &

40. Lord, you have made us for Yourself,
and our hearts are restless until they find
rest in you. (Augustine)

41. If the meaning to life cannot be found
“under the sun”, then I must look
above it!

42. the preacher’s quest led him
back to the father

43. When all has been heard, the end of the matter
is:
fear God [worship Him with awe-filled
reverence, knowing that He is almighty God]
and keep His commandments,
for this applies to every person.

44. the prodigal’s quest led him
back to the father

45. He got right up and went home to his father.
When he was still a long way off, his father saw
him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced
him, and kissed him.
(Luke 15:20 – The Message)

50. awakening principle 1:

51. i was created to have a
relationship with God

52. and until i do, my life will have no real
meaning, satisfaction or purpose

53. His purpose in all this was that people of every
culture and religion would search for this
ultimate God, grope for Him
in the darkness, as it were, hoping to find Him.
Yet, in truth, God is not far from any of us.
(Acts 17:27 – Voice)

55. God, if you are real, make Yourself real
to me. Awaken in me the ability to see
that
You are what’s missing from my life.