Blessed Are - Part 4

We're going to be continuing on with our series that we've been in talking about the biatitudes. From the very beginning of Jesus's ministry, he was defining the word blessing in a way that culture just never did. Instead of pointing to power and success, status and comfort, Jesus spoke of things like humility and surrender, mercy and hunger for righteousness and faithfulness, all in the face of opposition. And it was with these words that Jesus wasn't just giving a motivational speech. In fact, he was doing much more than that. He was inviting ordinary people like you and I into this kingdom life, this upside down world where hearts are transformed before lives are. And where posture of the soul matters more than the appearance of strength. And what we've been doing in this series is we've been walking slowly and intentionally through all the biatitudes to see and discover all that Jesus has and what he's trying to reveal to us is more than just a list of virtues. What Jesus was trying to do was show us the value of his kingdom. And again, it went counterculture on what he did. The biatitudes are called that because the each one of them begins with the word blessed from the Latin word biatus meaning divining or excuse me divinely favored and spiritually fortunate. So, what I want us to do tonight, like we've been doing for the past four weeks, is to kind of lean in in this journey of the biatitudes and discover why Jesus started out the most famous message that was ever preached, the sermon on the mount, by talking about these things that are blessed.

I don't know about you, but it's interesting that he didn't start with strength. He didn't start with success. He didn't start with confidence. Instead, he started by pointing out a need. So far, if you're just now joining us, we've talked about the poor in spirit, week number one. Week number two, we talked about those who mourn. Then last Wednesday night, Pastor Wesley talked about meekness is not weakness. Talked about riding a little Shetland pony, I believe, was a story. Something along those lines named, what was it name? Rang or Rowdy. Rowdy the pony. Poor Wesley. Tonight we're going to be talking about the hungry. Can I get a witness? Matthew chapter 5 verse number one says, "And seeing the multitudes, he went up on the mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Hungry. Hunger and thirst. Two of the most basic appetites that we have. I doubt there's a day goes by that each one of us in this room doesn't have a hunger or a thirst for something. Some of you start right off the bat.

Anybody wake up hungry? Anybody hungry throughout the day? Anybody go to bed hungry? Anybody hungry now? Yeah. Thirsty now? Yeah. It's something that's there. And what's interesting about that is it seems to come in varying degrees. And we often express these appetites verbally in ways that are quite interesting. Have you ever said, "Man, I could eat a horse." You think you could really eat a horse? I doubt it. But we we we we're so caught up in the hunger that is there. I'm starved to death. Really, is that the case? Are you starved to death? Or if I don't get something pretty soon, I'm gonna die. or I'm so thirsty my tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth or I'm dying of thirst. We just we and I can go on and on. We we make these statements there, but the reality is for most of us for most of us in the room tonight our hunger has has not been to the point of starvation. We we may have thought that but the the human body can go quite a long time without food and be just fine. You may not be happy about it. You may not want to, but we we can do that. So, we know that we don't really mean these things. What we're trying to say is is because of this appetite, because of this, I have a very strong desire in the moment, and I'm expressing it.

And what I found more often than not is that our lives are governed to a large degree by our appetites. Have you guys figured that out yet? They like to drive the narrative. And God created these to keep our lives in proper order. And they're normal. Most every appetite that we have is a God-given appetite. And it's only when these appetites are fulfilled that with wrong things that we have problems. And there's a variety of appetites that are there. Things like hunger, right? I have an appetite for food or for water or for for air. How many you like like breathing? I'm pretty pretty big fan of breathing. I like that. I like I like air. Ambition, power, love, sex. Sin is nothing more than god-given appetites fulfilled in improper ways. The appetites are there like the appetite for power. God's use for power is for you and I to be servants to help each other. But sinful or improper use of power is directed towards controlling other people towards the narrative that we have in our mind. God's creation and create created appetite for sex is designed for a couple to find joyful fulfillment in the bond of marriage. Sin uses sex, however, outside of marriage and often causes confusion and misalignment with our emotions and attachments outside of God's plan. And I could go through each one of these, but every one of them are a God-given appetite that are there, but are meant to be stuck inside the boundaries and confines of proper use.

Jesus in talking about appetite in the fourth biatitude, he specifies specifically those who hunger and thirst should be satisfied. We are to hunger and thirst for what? What was what was what was listed there? Righteousness. The Bible's going to teach us that we should have a driven driven appetite for God's righteousness that's found only in following after him and seeking after the things he says are right. And only then can we be full of happiness or truly experience being blessed or joyful. As you've heard me say before, we're not trying to get you happy because happy is an emotion. If you're chasing emotions, you're going to be very disappointed in life. If you haven't picked up on that at this point, and I feel like every one of us in the room tonight is old enough to know our emotions are a roller coaster ride. Amen. Well, that was weak. >> We should maybe interject some more emotions. It's an emo. It's a roller coaster ride. Amen. >> There we go. Yeah. So, you were high right there on that moment. Yeah, it is. It's ups and downs and our emotions have misled us many, many, many times. So, we got to be careful about that. what we're what we're facing or what we're wanting is and desiring is to have a full life of joy. Joy and happiness are two different things. So, let's talk about these appetites and desires.

You and I, we are people of many appetites. And we are in a culture driven by desires to fill these many appetites with whatever they can. Now, here's what's interesting. I did a little bit of research and I tried my best to make sure that I was accurate with my research. We are only about 4% of the world's population. Yet the United States produces roughly a quarter of the world's economic output and consumes a massive share of the world's goods and services. You and I living in North America, we live in a culture where almost anything we want can be delivered to our door in two days or less, sometimes in two hours or less. Now, I don't know about you, but there are a lot of those things that I enjoy that when I want something, I can jump on Amazon and usually it's there and often times it has next day delivery. Sometimes it even has same day delivery. Anybody happy about these things? Yeah. Anybody happy about the things like Door Dash? I know you don't like paying the fees, but when you get that late night craving and you don't want to get out in the cold and you want that burrito, that extra-L large burrito with a side of queso and reffried beans and it can be at your house in 25 minutes. You think about it, don't you, Joey?

>> $70 for that burrito. But man, it was so satisfying in the moment, wasn't it? >> Yeah. Yeah. We live in that world where we can have it right there at our fingertips. We are people accustomed to comfort, speed, and convenience. How many of us, and I got my hand already in the air, are guilty about being frustrated in the drive-thru because your food's taking too long. Yeah, they are cooking food for you on the other side of that window. Yet, when we get six minutes in, we're like, "What's wrong with this place?" Like, why? What is it? What is the deal? What are they doing? Did they Did they go out and have to kill the cow outside? What's going on with us? What's going on? Now, where we have to be very, very careful is this consumer mindset somehow finds its way into the back door of the church. Got to be careful because he said we need to hunger and thirst for righteousness. But we got to be careful because sometimes we can slip. In fact, I was having a conversation earlier this week with someone. And I was talking about the consumer mindset that is in the church today. How that we can be in the presence of the almighty God yet find ourselves complaining because we don't like the temperature. We don't like the sound. We don't like the song selection.

We don't like the person sitting beside us. We don't like our shoes. We don't like the parking spot that I got in the parking lot. We don't like the pew I'm sitting on. And the and the entire time the almighty God is walking up and down the aisles and we're not even paying attention to that. We're not hunger and thirst for righteousness. We want comfort and convenience. Maybe like, man, Pastor Kevin, you don't got to step on toes. I know. I know. But I'm guilty as anybody else is to setting back oftent times in church services where I'm not the one speaking and finding myself with a critical spirit. So if I'm not exempt, guess what? you're not either. We got to be careful. We got to balance this out. And that's what Jesus was dealing with as he starts off this this sermon on the mount as he's talking about some things that apply to the kingdom of God. And we need to make sure that we're keeping our appetites in check where they need to be because you and I have been trained in our culture to satisfy our appetites on demand. It doesn't take a genius to notice how our whole culture is always provoking the appetites. How many of you are guilty of watching late night TV and you were not hungry until the Taco Bell commercial came on? You were not even thinking about a hamburger or a pizza until all of a sudden it popped up.

Or you're driving down the interstate minding your own business and there's that big billboard right there and the next thing you know you're pulling over. You're getting off the side of the road. You didn't even know you needed anything till you seen Bies telling you you needed it. Oh, I speak. Did you feel the spirit move right there? I don't know the spirit of God, but there was a spirit that just moved. Yeah. Everything in our culture is geared towards appealing to our appetites and finding a way to satisfy them. Now, I want to I want to show you a video. Some of you have seen this. I want to talk about this, why it's important, because this is this is the marshmallow test. You guys ever seen the marshmallow test? I want you to watch the marshmallow test and see if there's one of these little ones that maybe you identify with. Go ahead and play the video. >> >> Okay. Isn't that your All right. Here's the deal. Marshmallow for you. You can either wait and I'll give you another one if you wait or you can eat it now. When I come back, I'll give you another one. So then you'll have two. But stay in here and stay in the chair till I come back. Okay. All right. >> >> I'm going to go do something and then I'll come back.

>> It smells yummy. >> It smells really good. >> >> All >> >> right. So, it's up to you. You can have it now or you can wait. Okay. I'll be back. Stay in the chair. Okay. Okay. >> >> Heat. Heat. >> >> All right. So, I'm going to leave and then I'll come back. Okay. So, you can either eat it right now or you can wait. Either way. Okay. Okay. >> >> How'd you do? Did you do good? You did. >> Yeah. >> You wanted to eat it, didn't you? Yeah. So, did I tell you to give you another one? Okay. Now, you can have both. You need them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ain't that cute? Those little kids. But how many times in life has our marshmallow changed, but our reactions are still the same? You know, we got it right on our face. Some are like instantaneously like, I'm not waiting on you leave the room, go in there. Is it any wonder that we have a hard time focusing on our lives towards fulfilling spiritual appetites over our natural ones? We struggle with that delayed gratification, don't we? Especially in the culture in which we live in where it's like if you feel it, then go ahead and go for it. If that's what you desire, why would you not have it? Why would you prevent yourself from being satisfied? But the trouble is, and I feel like we all have experienced this, is we've realized by giving into these things, we find oursel being less than satisfied.

We may have a moment of joy, but oftentimes it's filled with a whole lot of regret that follows right after it. Spiritual appetites often take a backseat to our other appetites. We're often too drawn away from God because of the desires that we have in our life that are misplaced. If the truth were known, we should be pushing our spiritual appetites to the forefront of what we're trying to do and be mindful of those things, understanding they have eternal consequences in our life. We should be good stewards of our body. And I think hopefully you're taking care of yourself and your health and you should be. But how much time do you spend focusing on that versus focusing on your walk with God? I think it's important that we pay attention that he says we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness. So, I want to take you to another portion of scripture as I try to unpack this a little bit more for us tonight. It's John chapter 6. And this is a it's a hard read. It would be it's hard for me to read it. I'm sure it's going to be hard for you as I read it the story. And and we're going to start in verse number 47. I'm going to read about 12 verses for us. But imagine for just a minute you being there. These are going to be redlettered words, which means these are the words of Jesus as he's speaking there in a synagogue.

And he says this verse number 47, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the mana in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarred among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the mana and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.

These things he said in the synagogue, as he taught them at Capernium. That's hard, is it? It's hard to read that. It'd be hard to be there in that moment. What was Jesus saying? He's using these concepts and he's talking about appetites, hunger, and thirst. But he often or in this moment he refers to something in a different kind of way. He says he is the bread that it was his body that was given to us to consume that he is the drink. His blood is given for us. He is not promoting cannibalism. No, that's not what he's doing. And this is this is a statement that the Jews were struggling with, but he was trying obviously to not be offensive, but he was speaking figuratively, not literally. What was he saying? He was saying this, that my sacrifice, if accepted and taken in your life, will be ample that he was setting forth that would bring you eternal life. There can be, ladies and gentlemen, no peace without bread and the promise of it. Therefore, Jesus claimed this alone that he was the bread of life. Bread was the centerpiece of the meals in antiquity. And I feel like this is where oftentimes you and I struggle a little bit with even the significance and the weight of this story is oftent times at our house the center part of the meal is is based around meat or some type of protein.

Everything's protein happy now. But for the most part, when we think of of a family meal, whether that's during the holiday seasons or during the week, we usually have a chicken or a roast or a turkey or whatever the narrative may be, but usually it's the meat and then the sides center around it. But not that not so in not so in his time, not so in anti antiqu ant antiquity, that word, it was centered around bread. Bread was a staple. So when he's drawing their attention to bread, he's giving them a representation of something they seen every time they sat down to eat that I am the bread. I am the center. So if you hunger, hunger for me. I satisfy. He was drawing the conclusion in the narrative that he should be the centerpiece. Jesus was offering his body as a sacrifice for our sins. For those who take it in, they will find salvation. They will find peace. they will find most importantly life everlasting with God. Jesus Christ's death gave proof of his love for us. He knew that there's an appetite far greater than a physical hunger and a physical thirst. And that was the hunger and the thirst that's inside the soul. And often times what happens is the we misplace our appetites for other things that never have a way of truly satisfying. Man, if there's a true statement this about the world we live in today is man's search for purpose and meaning and we find all of these things.

We search after whatever the case may be. It could be after job status. It could be after education. It could be after family. It could be after fame. It could be after fortune. And none of those things necessarily are bad inside themselves unless you're trying to fulfill the longing that's hardwired inside of you for a place that only belongs to God. I can tell you that's why there are so many people that are successful and have all of these things in their life that seemingly are important according to their culture, but they are miserable and hollow and shallow and empty inside. Because those things never sustain. Why? Because they were never meant to sustain. You're trying to It's like this. We're most of us are adults in this room. I said tongue and cheek. Most of us should be acting like adults in this room, but we know this. There's been a time that you, if you'll go with me, I just I feel safe in in this example that you've been really hungry and you walked into a place and you seen something that was there that you knew that you could grab instantly and it would satisfy that hunger for a moment, but it left you empty within about 15 minutes. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Whether that was about 75 mini Snickers or it was that donut you or donuts that you had in the moment and for a moment like there's that that that instantaneous satisfaction of chewing.

Now some of you may not want the sweet, maybe you want the salt. Maybe it was that can of Pringles you down and for a moment it takes the edge. You know say it takes the edge off. Let's be honest. All that stuff that we would we would categorize as junk food, it doesn't keep you, does it? What happens in about 20 minutes? Well, you're a little jittery from all the sugar, but besides that, what happens? You're still hungry. In fact, you often times find yourself being more hungry than you initially were because it's not meant to sustain you. That's what happens with what the world offers. That's what Jesus is trying to warn us about that you're going to you're going to be hungry and you're going to be thirsty. Those things are there. They're they're God-given appetites. But what you fill it with makes all the difference in whether or not you're going to be satisfied and it's going to sustain you. It's going to fulfill the long-term goal that you need to have in your life. So Jesus is pointing these things out. He talks about the mana in the wilderness that gave them physical strength to Israel, but all of them died at some point. But he's talking about something new. This new bread, this new mana that will give spiritual strength and they will have the ability to have everlasting life.

Jesus offer was real. He was offering his body as a sacrifice which we know played out at Calvar's heel when he he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross to take our place for the penalty of sin. He was talking about us having to acknowledge the sacrifice that was made and be willing to receive the gift that he gave because that only Jesus Christ can satisfy the real hunger and thirst of the soul. There are no other substitutes that are adequate. There are no other substitutes that are adequate. The worldly stuff may be temporary and pacifying our hunger or even dulling it, but it never satisfies. As I was thinking through this, trying to build this sermon together in a narrative for us, I begin to think about other places in the scripture where it talks about hunger. I want to take you to Isaiah 55. The old prophet writes this in Isaiah 55 verse number one. He says, "Ho everyone that who thirst, come to the waters. Ye who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." So here we see Isaiah and he's calling and issuing out to those who are thirsty and hungry. Sound familiar? This is before Jesus, but we see the same words being used. Hunger and thirst. Thirst and hunger. What can they do? What a call. Especially to anyone who would be hungry.

Now, what he's talking about here in this moment, and you can imagine everybody would be hungry to all the exiles that were there. He's crying out to them and saying, "Listen, if you're hungry, you don't even have to have money. Just come. Come." Here, God's pleading with them, the exiles to come thirsty and hungry for God again. They can be restored. Only when their appetites are correct and fulfilled by the right kind of stuff, do they have the ability to move forward. This is an invitation. Yet, the decision is still theirs. I'm going to say that again. I want you to I want to settle in for just a minute. It was an invitation to come those that are hungry and thirsty. But as God always does, God gives you a choice. What will you choose? That same thing still is played out in 2026 in our lives. We are still people who hunger and thirst. He still has the same offer. Come unto me. Come unto me. Come to me. All that are hungry and thirsty, come to me. But we have to determine if we're going to do that. What choice are we making? Are you still choosing God in your life? Are you still choosing God or things that are more convenient or more easily obtained in your life? I was thinking about this and ran across this story back when the Titanic sank.

I searched this out. There were 11 millionaires that were on the Titanic when it sank. They all end up going to their grave with the exception of one. Some say by best estimates they can get in today's money there was about $200 million in cash and jewels that were actually on the Titanic when it sank. That's 1912 too. There was one man very rich Major Ah Pinion of Toronto who's one of the fortunate survivors only because of a wise last minute decision. As the ship was sinking he had $300,000 in cash on board that ship. He went back to try to get his cash and his jewels. But when he got there he realized he had this little epiphany. All of a sudden it didn't really make sense for him. The money didn't quite have the value. Instead, he took and picked up three oranges and put in his pocket and made it to one of the boats and saved his life. Where are your appetites? What are your decisions that you are making in your life every day? I want you to just to think with me for just a minute through today. Through just today. I'm not going to make you go backwards through from yesterday or any of the years before this. I just want you to think about today since you woke up this morning. What decisions have you made in your life today?

The hunger and the thirst that you had in your life. There's no doubt you were hungry today at some point you were thirsty. What did you do with those? How did you fill those out? What about spiritual matters today? Were you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? And if you were, how did you feel those things? What took the place? Did you make a space for God today? Have you even said anything to him more than just a passing obligatory prayer over that sandwich that you ate? It's uncomfortable in these moments. I know on purpose. For some in the room, you feel pretty good because today was a good day. For some in the room, today maybe was just a normal day. For some in the room, maybe you're maybe you're feeling a little bit guilty because you haven't even really thought about God even since you've been in the room. See, the decision is always ours. Every day. Every day, the decision is ours. Are we choosing to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are we choosing to feed our spiritual appetites with the right kind of nourishment that they need in order to sustain our lives? I as I've said many, many times for those of you who've been around here for a while, every day you're either moving towards God or you're drifting away. You never stay still. And the only way you move towards God is it's a conscious decision when you wake up that today I live for you.

Today you are Lord of my life. Today I'm going to be a living sacrifice, God, that belongs to you. So I ask you again, how has your day been today? How did you handle your appetites? How did you take care of those things? The things we strive for reveal the appetites we have and how we plan to fulfill them. So, what are you striving for in your life? Sin always offers to fulfill our appetites in ungodly ways. When I look back, and I talked about this on Sunday, when Eve took of the fruit, seeing that it looked good and it was desirable for wisdom and knowledge and understanding that was there, she filled her hunger with a wrong choice and it cost the human race ever since. Esau craved stew to the extent that he sold his birthright to satisfy immediate hunger. He said things like I started off this sermon. What good does a birthright do me if I starve to death? Does anybody in this room think that Esau was going to starve to death? But yet he was so caught up in trying to fulfill an appetite in an unnatural way. He was willing to sell off something that should have meant so much to him. But yet in the moment he didn't care. He was just hungry. Ladies and gentlemen, you're going to be hungry. It's a fact of life. But what are you hungry for?

Where are you directing that hunger to? What are you thirsty for? David looked at Ba Sheba and fulfilled a a sexual hunger that should not have been fulfilled by her. And it cost him relationship with his son, the life of another son, the relationship with his daughter, and ultimately it almost cost him the kingdom. The man after God's own heart. Judas craved silver and 30 pieces cost him his soul. King Saul craved personal power and it cost him the anointing in the kingdom. Have you discovered the real source of satisfaction to the hunger and thirst for your soul? And have you made the right decisions to fill them? Where are you at? This is a message that's meant to make you think about the decisions you're making because you're going to face these every day you live. You're going to face these decisions. You have to be good stewards of the choices that you have afforded to you. Are you making good choices in your life? Sir Isaac Newton, the great mathematician and physicist who discovered so many of the great principles in science that we know and we live by. His reply to the question when he asked what was the greatest discovery he has ever made was very interesting. He said this and I quote directly I've made two important discoveries in my life. The one I know I'm a very great sinner.

The other I know Jesus is even greater savior. all the things that he discovered in life, he discovered this reality that he was a sinner and he was pretty good at it, but that Jesus was a better savior. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. This imitation almost has a sense of desperation. As I read Isaiah's words, he says, "Come unto me all you who are thirsty and hungry." These were tired exiles who were craving freedom from home creating fre craving freedom and to go back home. They were now thirsty and hunger for something different. It had been their hunger and thirst for the things of the world that led them into exile to start with. And it was God reminding them, hey, hunger and thirst is a part of life, but make sure you're filling it with the right things. So he reminds them again, come unto me. Come unto me. bring direct the appetite towards me. Direct your desires back to things that matter and have eternal consequences. And don't be so caught up in the moment that you trade off what's important to satisfy. Here's the deal, and we know this. I said it a few minutes ago. You can you can satisfy your hunger, but in a few hours, you're going to be hungry again. Led to many of our discussions. my my beautiful, wonderful wife who's amazing and brilliant and smart and beautiful, but she gets locked up and we have to make a decision on where we're going to eat.

And I just don't understand it, David. I don't I'm like, "Hey, just make a decision. If it's a bad one, we're going to do this again in four hours." That's the thing is the hunger's going to come back. It's going to come back. So why would you not look for something that's going to sustain and fulfill? Why would you be satisfied with something that's less than? You know, we we have this ability that we should mature in life. But some people struggle with maturing. And I say that for this reason. If I was to go over to the kids building and I was to say to them, I'm going to give you an option like the marshmallow test. I'm going to give you an option. You can have this tub of $5 Kroger chocolate ice cream. I give you the whole tub. Or I'll give you two spoons full of this Gdiva chocolate ice cream. Now, Sister Pam even got a hoon at her. She felt the spirit, too. Now, the mature in the room say, "Man, there's a difference in that cheap ice cream and some good ice cream." So maturity says I'll I would I will take less because less is more. But immaturity says why would I take that when I could have a whole bucket. Now we laugh at kids for doing this but we find ourselves in this situation. Would you take the bucket, Gary?

>> It's all sugar. >> It's all sugar. Yeah. Come on, Gary. Why you got to steal my thunder? I'm gonna make you move off the front row. Is there anything that satisfies like Jesus? Is there anything in this world that compares to being in his presence? Is there? Yet we find ourselves more often than not struggling with the decision that we know we know the right answer. be in the moment. In the moment, we find oursel oftentimes drifting towards the wrong instead of leaning on what we know is right. Jesus is warning us this. He says, "You're going to thirst. You're going to get hungry. You're going to do that. But if you need to be that, you need to go for righteousness in your life." Isaiah takes back and gives some direction in verse number two of Isaiah 55. Why do you spend your money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Boy, that sounds like I just preached that. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Notice Isaiah ask, why do you spend your money on what's not bread or your labor on what doesn't satisfy? Why would you do that? Why would you do that? I'm asking you in 2026 center point. Why would you do that? Why would you trade that off? It's a good question.

And it still needs to be asked in our life today. What do you spend your money on? What does your labor go to? Does it go towards things that have spiritual consequences and significance? Or does it just feed the physical cravings and appetites of your flesh? This offer, in my opinion, gives direction for where we need to be going in our life. Because he says this, listen to me and eat what is good for your soul and what will delight you in the richest of affairs. One translation says it also promises in Matthew 5:6, "Hunger and thirst for righteousness because you shall be filled." Did you notice that Jesus says that if you hunger and thirst for those things, you'll be full? You'll be satisfied. One translation says, isn't that what we're looking for? Satisfaction. He promises these. We are to direct our appetites towards righteousness. This is Jesus Christ's righteousness, not our righteousness. This can only be found in a relationship with him. And too many times we have the wrong focus about spiritual food, we we we tend to think in terms of what we lose instead of what we gain. There's been a handful of times in Bible study with people as we talk about not just coming in and God forgiving you of your sins and filling you with his spirit. But now as we start the process of sanctification, the disciplehip walk begins with God.

As I've been saying for a long time now, praying somebody through the Holy Ghost is the easiest thing we do in the absolute world. Baptize them in Jesus name. That's easy. The hard part is walking with him through sanctification because it's in that process all of a sudden the appetites come back and then they begin to question and say, "Well, why do I have to give this up? Why do why why is it that I can't do these things? Why is it pastor that you're saying I have to that I can no longer do that over there?" And what I'm trying to do as as their spiritual mentor in their life is walk them through and and explain to them you're you're you're trading for much better. Don't get so hung up in the temporary of what you don't get to do that you don't realize all the things that have just now been afforded to you as his child. As I've been saying for many months around here, it's just been something that's been resting in my spirit. I don't feel like we fully embrace as much as we should the importance of being obedient. As the old prophet looked at the king and said to him, "You tried to save these sacrificial animals and offer them to God." God didn't ask you to do that. He said, "Kill them all." He said, "Kill the Amalocites and everything lived and breathe." Whether you agreed with it or not, that was God's command.

But I brought these back so that you can sacrifice to your God. And he pointed his finger and said, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." You know why, ladies and gentlemen? Because obedience has been and always will be. Just like I said this past Sunday about trust. Can I trust you? Even when you don't understand, there's going to be times in your life walking with God that you're not going to understand. You're going to be asking God, "Help me understand it." And you're not going to have clarity. And you're going to have a choice because God believes in choice. You're going to have a choice. Either you can walk by faith or you can walk by sight. Faith often times requires you to just take the next step even when it doesn't make sense. Amen. That's good preaching. More often than not in my life, I've come up to crossroads where I didn't know whether to go left or right. I didn't know what to do, but I knew I had to move. So, I prayed and when God began to reveal to me, usually the option was not the option that I wanted to take because I couldn't see my way around the bend. And God said, "I just need you to trust me." And why is it even if God has brought us through so many things in our life, I sit in a room full of testimonies tonight in this room, this is a room full of testimonies where God has proven himself to be faithful time and time again.

Can I get a witness? He's a faithful God. Then then let me say this to the faithful. Then why do we still find oursel at moments still struggling to take a step? I speak to all of us because we all still find opportunities in our life when God we can look back and he's been good. He's he's kept us this far, but yet we we come to another moment where it's a little bit different. I've never faced this mountain before. What are you hungry for? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Because if you do, you will be filled if you seek yourself. Now, how many of us will be honest in the room tonight? Because I believe church is a great place to be honest. that when I tried my own way or I filled my appetite with things that were my choice, it was a mistake. Yeah, we could probably write a book tonight, couldn't we? I probably could make the same statement. I am in a house full of testimonies about things that you should never do. So, let me ask, are we learning from our mistakes? We need to learn to focus our appetites correctly. We must understand what really really satisfies us. Back in 1981 during the Brian Nelson golf tournament in Dallas, it was May 81. A massive tree limb broke off and fell on a spectator who was killed instantly.

It happened near the third hole where Charles Cody was playing at the time. After seeing the tragedy, he was asked to remark on it. He says it was really hard to keep playing because suddenly golf didn't seem to really matter that much anymore in the moment. Life has a way of bringing things back into focus. So as I start around the corner to end my message tonight, let me ask this question. How are you doing with your thirst and your appetite and your hunger? How are you doing? How are you satisfying those things? Are you captivated by the world around us and culture and society that says give in to every whim that you have whose mantra is be true to yourself? Have you become so immersed with having everything the instant you want it that you expect God to instantaneously answer every prayer request and when he doesn't you find yourself being frustrated and looking for ways to solve the problem yourself because if he doesn't show up somebody's got to make a decision. I don't know about you, but when I read through scripture, more often than not, God tends to work like a crockpot. We like the Instapot. God's like a crockpot. He slow cooks things. We don't like that. We want answers. We want them now. God, I'm dealing with this. I need you to answer now. I don't understand. God, you have all power and you have all ability.

you have all this why why is it we can't have things the way we want them now and what I have seen in my own personal life as I've traveled outside the country is more often than not as I go into countries that don't have the conveniences that we have I see deeper moves of God and the miraculous happening all around because there is no other option but you and I living in our culture of convenience ions find ourselves often times struggling to fulfill the hunger with righteousness because we have so many options on the table. Perhaps it might do us some good if we remove some options from the table. I do feel like there's a benefit, ladies and gentlemen, by eliminating some choices in your life. What are you saying, Pastor Kevin? You know, there's a lot of stuff in our world that I don't think is necessarily wrong, but I don't know it's necessarily right either. I feel like oftentimes we find ourselves clouding our judgment because we've allowed too many things to be in front of us. We got too many options on the table. Why not eliminate some of those things? I'm not saying forever, but if you find yourself maybe in a position where you personally are struggling a little bit with this thirsting and hungry for righteousness business, if you're struggling a little bit with it, maybe maybe it's time that you move remove some distractions from the table.

Remove some options that are there. You know, your your life is like going to Cheesecake Factory. It's that novel. You don't know what to order. There's too many options. Maybe you need to narrow it down to where there's just God. When's the last time that you pushed the stuff aside and you said, "God, it's just me and you. It's just me and you." When's the last time that you did that? So that you could really hear his voice. One thing I know about God, he rarely shouts. Very rare. There's been two times in my life, and I cannot verify this because no one else was there, but there's been two times in my life, Randy, I'm convinced God spoke a word to me audibly twice. But the overwhelming majority of the time when God speaks, I have to quiet myself to hear. I have to eliminate the distractions. I have to find my place where all the noise is shut out. And I have to get my mind focused on him. And I just have to be still. And when I do, he speaks. He'll talk. Usually when you struggle to hear him, often times there's still things that you still got some distractions. You not 100%. There there are times I just had this conversation with with someone this week. I there have been a few times in my life when I felt like heaven was shut up and I didn't understand that.

I prayed a lot. It felt like it didn't go anywhere. But I didn't give up on God. And when the time passed and I don't know why there was a period of quiet when it passed, he came rushing back in like a flood into my life. And I remember I remember how broken I was the first time that happened in my life and how thankful I was again that he was speaking to me. I don't know where you are tonight. I don't. Again, I'm not speaking to the students, okay? I'm not speaking to the kids. I'm speaking to the adults in the room, the mature ones, the ones who should own their spiritual walk with God. I'm speaking to you pretty directly. And I'm asking, where are you? Jesus says, "Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." If you find that there's a lot of emptiness in you, you probably been consuming the wrong things. When's the last time you had, for, for lack of a better way to say it, when's the last time that you had a good, steady diet of Jesus? I have found in my life, he never leaves me wanting. He always satisfies. As I wrap this up tonight, how can the hungry or the thirsty be pronounced blessed or happy? When I look at this beatitude, Jesus specifies what brings joy to the hungry or the thirsty.

It's his righteousness. Not our righteousness, but his righteousness. Our spiritual needs or appetites cannot be filled by temporary things. Only Jesus satisfies. So I leave you with this last question. If he says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." I'm asking you this question for you to take home with you tonight. Are you full? When I go over to my mom's house for Thanksgiving or Christmas, my mom, she makes the best dressing. I love my mom's dressing. She usually makes a couple of pans of it. And I always get more than I can eat cuz my eyes are big. And you had that moment, you know what I'm talking about, those meals to where you're full, but then you keep on pushing because you're not a quitter, right? Then you get full. You know what I'm talking about? Like there's there's full and then there's full. I'm asking you tonight, I'm being sincere. Are you full? Because if you're not, it's not his fault. It's not his fault. It's on you. Just like when I leave my mom's house or I go to my my in-laws house for those same holidays. Like if if you leave hungry, something's broken in you. It's not their fault. It's your fault. So, I'm I'm leaving you with this and I'm I'm I'm going to ask you one more time and then we're going to pray.

Are you full? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. If you're not full, you have every opportunity to be full if you will hunger and thirst for righteousness. Will you pray with me? Jesus God, I pray in the world of distraction that we live in and all the noise that's around us every day, so many things vying for our attention, so many things trying to fill the appetite wrongly. I I I pray God that we would be tuned in. We would be good stewards of the choices you you have given to us. That we would make right choices. God, we're going to be hungry. are going to be thirsty. And I pray that we would turn that towards the right things, for righteousness, for your righteousness, to seek after you, to run after you, so that you will fill us with right things, with good things in our life, so that we can live a full and purposeful life according to your plan to be a benefit to you and to your kingdom. God, as we leave this place tonight, I pray you keep us safe in the rain. Bring us back this weekend for all the activities that you have planned. Change our lives for the good. In Jesus name we pray.