A Blessed Hunger

Would turn our attention to the Book of Matthew chapter 5, in verse 6 this morning, says: blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And for the next few minutes I would like to preach on a blessed hunger. A blessed hunger.

Today's text is an excerpt from what would be one of Jesus' greatest teachings, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Jesus gives an in-depth framework of the principles that would govern the way that people would live in the kingdom that he was bringing to the Earth. And in these teachings, the audience then and the audience now are kind of shocked by some of the things that that he would say, some of the statements he would make, such as: you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Or, you have heard that it was said of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her and his heart. And no matter the time, no matter the culture, no matter the people group, these teachings are counter intuitive. They're counter-cultural, counter natural. But Jesus was not coming to to broaden the gates and widen the roads that would lead to everlasting life. He was not concerned with popularity. His mission was to establish the laws that would govern the hearts of men and women women in his kingdom.

And so today our opening text is an excerpt it's a. It's a passage which served as the foundation for the paradigm shift that he was pioneering. It was the Beatitudes, as they are commonly known, what we learned over there in Sunday school. But these Beatitudes would serve as an outline to what would be his message. They are found in Matthew chapter 5 verses 3 and 11. And I just want to read a few of them. Verses 3 and 4 says: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And it's important to note that Jesus chose what would seem to be disparaging terms to launch his kingdom principles. And he really threw off the Jews at that time by saying that these characteristics that they viewed as curses would be blessings. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, even in our minds, there is nothing about being poor, and body or in spirit or or any other way, that's blessed. Or or blessed are those who mourn. And mourning is is is a few steps above having a bad day. You know you're not just, you're not just sad. You don't typically, you know, mourn over spilled ice cream — or what, who wrote that, you know what, you do mourn over spilled ice cream. But you get the point. You know, Jesus was saying that this state of mourning is is is now bliss. And so he was overhauling the mindset of the people by using these strong words this, this strong language, to identify the characteristics of his kingdom. And I would highly encourage you to go and study Matthew chapter chapters five through seven.

By returning to our text in verse 6, it says: blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. There would have been the same mindset when Jesus said blessed are they who hunger and thirst, at first hearing or first glance, so to speak. To be hungry and to be thirsty was anything but a blessed state. If you found yourself hungry, it most likely meant that you didn't have the means to satisfy that hunger. And they were living in a desert region, and so just the thought of being thirsty might send a shiver down their spine. And I'm sure when Jesus even said that, there were a few few hundred people on that hot, hot Middle Eastern day that just picked up their water bottles and began to take a drink, because they didn't want to be in need in this way. They didn't want to be hungry or thirsty. And we understand this today, because even people who want to make a positive impact on the world, people with lofty minds and ideas, philanthropists, on their top 10 list of things that they want to do is is what? Solve world hunger. Eliminate starvation so. So we can understand that: how is this state of hunger blessed? But what we must understand is that the blessing was not on the hunger itself. The blessing is on the object of that hunger. The blessing was just not that you would be hungry for the sake of being hungry. No. Just like the words poor and the words mourn were emotionally charged words, Jesus wanted us to know that there is a power when there is a hunger after him. He is the source of righteousness. So to hunger and to thirst after righteousness is to hunger and to thirst after him. It is it is a blessed hunger.

And so today I have come with a mandate from Heaven to activate a blessed hunger in our hearts and minds this morning. I want to lift my voice and preach to someone who hasn't seen all of God that they want to see yet. And and I've come to preach to someone who's not satisfied with the fullness of your relationship with God in this place. I've come to knock on the heart of it — the door of a heart who isn't filled with your current relationship with all mighty God. It's a blessed hunger. Is there anyone in the house this morning who still believes we should be a group of people who are to experience signs, miracles, and wonders in the house of God? Is there anyone who has a blessed hunger, to be, to see, to do everything that he's called us to do? I want to do it. I wanna do it. Oh.

So I've not come to preach to everyone this morning. But if there's anybody who desires to be woken up in the middle of the night with the spirit of God drawing you to places that you've never been before — is there anyone in this generation who desires to have visions, and who desires to drink dreams? Is there anyone who wants to see the prophecies of old? It's a blessed hunger. Is there anyone, oh, is there anyone who still desires to encounter that man from Galilee whose name is Jesus? I've heard about him, but I've got to experience him. Center Point Apostolic Church, the spirit of God has come to call us today to a blessed hunger.

Let me say it this way this morning: marijuana doesn't have anything on the Holy Ghost, baby. Getting drunk, nightclubs, parties — it doesn't have nothing on the experience of speaking in tongues, at the spirit of God gives the utterance. The world doesn't have nothing that can compare to — he did it. He set me free. He set my feet on the Rock to stay. He did it. I'm talking about a blessed hunger. Oh, come on right now, everyone just needs to lift their voice. I feel is setting in on this place already. We're already getting it this morning. God, we want to be hungry. Give us that blessed hunger.

Come on, come on, come on. Let's push right now. You're not responding to me. You're responding to the move of the spirit right now. Come on, don't focus on me right now. Lift your eyes, lift your hands, lift your voice right now, foreign. I wish I had someone who said, I'm not here for my neighbor today. I'm not here for my spouse today. I'm not here for what you think of me. I've got a blessed hunger. Oh, I want to see him, look upon his face, there to sing forever of his saving grace. Oh, tasted tea that the Lord is good, and blessed is the man that trusteth in him. There are so many things in this life that we don't have control over. There are so many things, even in the kingdom of God, that we don't have any control over. And I feel it happening already. But the spirit is trying to activate something in us that we do have control over. And please, please allow me to say it this way: you might look better than I do, and if I was a betting man I would say you probably do you. You might have a better lineage than I do. You might have more financial affluence. You might have a higher degree, and I'm not knocking any of those tanks. Hear me, I rejoice with you. But there are those that can now preach me. There are thousands that can now talent me. I'll teach me out. Holy me. But there is no one under the sound of my voice that's going to out hunger me. You better believe it this morning. I'm not gonna let anybody get hungrier for God than me. I can control that. You're not gonna out hunger me. You're knocking out hunger me. And I don't ever want to get to a place in my life where I say I've seen it all, and I've done it all, and I've experienced it all. I haven't, but I'm going to, because I've got a bless it hunger.

This isn't just preacher talk this morning. This isn't just youth pastor Yale for you this morning. This is a biblical principle that we can find all throughout scripture. There is an association between hunger and our relationship with God. In the beginning, when God was creating and performing his creative work, the scriptures say that everything God made was good: the sky, the ground, the sun, the moon, the creatures of the earth. Everything that he made was good. And after he had prepared a place, God came down and made man from the dust of the earth. You see, creation was never the focus. Creation was simply to be a habitation for what God was really after, and that was Adam. It was communion. It was relationship. So God made man in his own image, after his own likeness.

And so I would like for us to read a few scriptures together, to see this principle of hunger that I'm preaching about today. Genesis chapter 2, starting in verse 15 — Brother Spencer, would you get me my water in my seat? Verse 15: the Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. So notice that God created man, and then he assigned man a place and a purpose. And you need to know this this morning: our relationship with God is always going to be tied to a place and a purpose. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. If we're going to be in a relationship with him, this is our place and this is our purpose.

So the next few verses, though, or what I really find interesting. Because mind you, God had made all of creation at this point. He had done it all. He had made man. And excuse me — now it came to the place where God was going to give Adam the guidelines for keeping a right relationship with him. And think about all of the different pieces of creation that God could have used uh to write this piece of the story. God's focus was relationship with Adam. This is the most important part of the story: Adam, I'm going to tell you how do you stay in a right relationship with me. Verse 16: and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. So from the beginning of man's relationship with God, God established that in order to be in a right relationship with him, our hunger had to be kept in the right place. God could have said, there is a river I don't want you to wash in. He could have said there's a, there's a portion of the garden that I don't want you to walk in. He could have said, there's an animal that I don't want you to go near. But he used a fruit, and he used the eating of that fruit, by which man would obey or not obey. So not surprising that when the enemy came along to deceive Eve, his mission, his assignment, was to captivate her hunger. It was to get her to a place where she was enticed, and spiritually hungry enough for this wisdom and this state of being like God, so enticed that she would physically eat the fruit.

In Genesis 3 and 6, the woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious — hunger. She wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, to. The enemy of our souls is always on a mission to distract us from feasting on the presence and the promises of God, and to hunger after those things which are forbidden. And I'm here to tell you this morning, the devil is a liar. I'm not gonna let the devil get in my head and talk me out of the greatest saying that I have in my life. When we're tempted, there's three ways that you can handle temptation: you can flirt with it, you can fight with it, or you can flee from it. And hear me this morning, when you're feeling tempted with sin, don't flirt with it in your mind. When you're feeling tempted with sin, by all means don't fight with it by yourself, on your own strength. Don't do that. You flee from it. And the name of the Lord is a strong tower, that's a righteous run into and are safe. You take that temptation to him and say, Jesus, protect me. Flee from it. Give it to Jesus. He can handle it. Don't try to sugarcoat it. Don't try to put something pretty on it. He went to the cross for that sin. He knows what it looks like. Just give it to him.

Since the garden, God wanted a relationship with people who were more hungry for fellowship with his presence than anything else this world had to offer. For Adam and Eve it was a tree and it was a fruit. But for you and I, the list can go on and on. And not everything is a sin. Not not everything is wrong. There are things in my life that God's going to convict me of, that he might not convict you of there. There might be things that aren't a problem for you. But here's the problem: the item becomes a sin when our hunger for it outweighs our hunger for him. And when this happens, the item is promoted into the position of an idol. When our hunger is misappropriately placed, that item, that thing that was simple before, it turns into an idol. And then, baby, we got a problem. Because thou shalt have no other gods before me. I am the Lord your God. I'm talking about a blessed hunger.

And I want to follow along with this principle of hunger, because we see it continued not too many pages later in our Bible, in Genesis chapter 25. Let's read verses 29 through 33 together. It's amazing, when I was practicing preaching this, I didn't lose my voice. I guess there's a difference between practicing and doing. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat, I'm hungry, and some of that red stew, for I am exhausted. Jacob said, tell me your birthright, sell me your birthright, and do it now. Esau said, I'm about to die, what uses this birthright to me? And Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright. Jacob, please hear me this morning. I don't think I can scream this part, but there is a deceptive spirit straight from the pits of hell that's crying to this generation of apostolic believers: sell me your birthright. Sell me who you are. Sell me that power that God gave you when he gave you the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sell me your birthright, and I'll give you what you want. Somebody needs to get mad at the devil for trying to give you a bowl of soup, when God has offered you all authority in heaven and earth. When God said, I'll make you a prince with me, I'll set you on my right hand, someone should get mad at the devil for doing that.

The birthright in this story, it represented position, authority, and inheritance. And at this point, Esau allowed his carnal hunger to override his spiritual hunger. When we when you and I were born again into the kingdom of God, when we were grafted into this beautiful church, and we were born into the family of God, that spiritual birth gave us a spiritual birthright. It gave us a divine position. It gave us divine spiritual authority, that we are no longer called slaves, but we are the sons and daughters of God. And let us not forget the inheritance that is laid up for us in glory. Let us not forget, people, that this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. Oh, I know what you're thinking: but I don't want to be too young to think about heaven, and I don't want to be too middle-aged to think about heaven, and I don't want to be too old to think about heaven. It's my inheritance. It's my inheritance.

As Christians, there's a lot of things that we work to protect. We work to protect our hearts. We try to keep them pure, try to keep them free from bitterness, we forgive — it's so good. We work to protect our minds, and and do the best that we can to keep them stayed on human. And we work to protect our love and, and we work to protect our faith. But I would rise this morning, and I would encourage someone, one of the most important elements to your walk with God that you can protect is your hunger. One of the most important elements of walking with him is to protect our hunger. You have to understand, please understand, that everything that was written in this Bible was pointing to where we were at today. There was not a prophet in the Old Testament who got to experience what we did this morning when we begin to worship and exalt the name of God. There's not one prophet. God doesn't just dwell with promises to one man Abraham, or just covenant plans with one man named Noah. He doesn't just show up to a high priest once a year. He's made my heart his home. He doesn't dwell in tears or tabernacles anymore. He lives in me. And the least I could do is protect my hunger.

Can we lift our voice right now? Come on, can you just lift your voice right now? Come on, this needs to get into somebody's spirit right now. I want it, Lord. If there is a blessed hunger and I don't have it, I want it, Lord. I want it, Lord. Give it to me, Lord. That's it. Come on. I told you, I'm not preaching to everybody this morning. I just need to get one person to get a blessed hunger deep in their spirits. I don't need everybody to respond this morning. If we can get one person to get a blessed hunger down deep on the inside of them, God will be happy with his work today. Come on, come on.

Hallelujah. I had mentioned earlier that the Beatitudes was the outline for this Sermon on the Mount. And if you go study that whole sermon — it really is one of my favorites, obviously — but it was just so masterfully written. And I guess what else would you expect from the architect of life? I guess if he could design the stratosphere and the ecosystem and the water tables, I guess he could probably put together a pretty good sermon. And so Jesus gave us the Beatitudes. But listen, the be attitudes in and of themselves were not instructive on how to fulfill them. There was no instruction in the Beatitudes themselves on how to fulfill what Jesus was commanding. Look at this example in verse 5. It says: blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Well, that's a pretty cool statement. God, so sign me up, you know, I'll inherit the Earth. But okay, so how do I be meek? You know, give me give me an example, give me an object lesson of what you're talking about when you say, uh, you know, to be meek. Don't worry, Jesus has got you covered. In verse 39, he says: but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whoever saw — whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, what do you do? Yeah, you turn that other one. Let him slap you twice. That's pretty meek, pretty counter-American. You know, we want to pull out our pistols and, you know, get our American flag and start waving it around, while like, hold this flag, I'm gonna go slap that guy back. You know, I just want everybody know why I'm doing this. All right. So we got it. So where was our instruction on how to hunger and thirst? So where in the the Sermon on the Mount do we get our instructions on how to fulfill blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness? Put your seat belts on. Here we're gonna go to Matthew chapter six, Sermon on the Mount. We're going to read verse five. And then I'll read verse 16: and when you pray — did prayer become a bad word in the church? I feel like I can't preach on prayer this morning, because I don't want to be shooken up into some bag. But here's the deal: we were called to be a people of prayer. That's what Jesus said. He said, my house is not a house of performance. It's not a house of perfection. It's not a house of anything else. It's a house of prayer. Well, Taylor, we've got prayer rooms in the church. God only lives here because it's where we show up in the week. That's the only reason why God's presence is here. When God said my house should be called a house of prayer, he said Taylor should be called a house of prayer. You should be called a house of prayer. We should be known as a people of prayer.

When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. Verse 16: and when you fast — I don't know what gloomy like the hypocrites, they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen of others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

Here's a truth today, church: wouldn't none of us be here today if it wasn't for someone, somewhere, at some time, who was praying and who was fasting? Oh, no, no, no, I'm here because of Calvary, and I'm here because of God's grace. Yes sir, yes ma'am, you are here because of Calvary, and you are here because of God's grace. But there was someone praying at an altar saying, God, let them see Calvary. God, let them see your grace. God, pull them out from where they're at, so they can see you. It was prayer and it was fasting that got us here. You're sitting on a pew of prayer and fasting of saints from this church that aren't here anymore. You're sitting on their prayers right now. And we've got an obligation to carry it forward. I got an obligation to carry it forward.

If we are a people who are hungry, we are a people who are praying. Praying and fasting is the spiritual engine that fuels our power and our passion. It's the fuel of the Holy Ghost that rests inside of us. And as we pray and fast, it's like the working of that engine. And as we pray, the engine pushes down, and so then we fell led to fast in prayer. And then we go on a fast, and that that that cylinder, the piston, it pushes back up, and now we feel led to go to prayer. And it keeps our hearts on fire for him.

And so if you're saying, Taylor, how do I get this blessed hunger on my own? I would say, start by hungering not to get on any platform, not to get on any ministry team, not to dress the part — oh my gosh, not to look the part — but hunger to get to prayer and fasting. Hey. Hunger is what led the 120 to an upper room, where they prayed for 10 days while they taried for the promise of the spirit.

Allow me say it to this way this morning: we have over spiritualized spirituality. When Jesus said don't pray and fast like the hypocrites, he was saying, don't pray and fast like religious people. Pray and fast like Spirit-filled people. And there's a difference. I can guarantee you, in the upper room — you know, we see these reenactments, we see plays, and you see everybody in the upper room, and they all got their hands raised, and they're all looking to Heaven. Listen, that's not what the upper room look like. Because if you shut me in a room with 120 people for 10 days, I can guarantee you at some snapshot of that 10 days, I wasn't lifting my hands, and I wasn't all seeking God for 10 days. No, there was somebody sleeping on a bench somewhere, and Jimmy was opening up a bag of Funyuns, making the whole room stink. You know what, don't over spiritualize spirituality. Pray and fast.

I sometimes — I pray and Lincoln's screaming in my ear, and Libby's pulling on this ear. And sometimes I'm speaking in tongues while I'm taking the trash out. Because it's not about perfection, and it's not about performance. It's just about a heart that's hungry to see him. That's all it's about. It's about a heart that's hungry, heart is hungry. I'll tell you this, because it's in my notes: I break more fast than I complete. My accountability partner, sitting about on the fifth row on the very left, she can tell you. Maybe I'm going on a fast, 10 minutes later, baby, I'm breaking a fast. Spirituality, it's not about a checklist. It's not about a completion of 10 minutes of prayer and 10 minutes of Bible reading. It's about just get to a place and say, God, I'm just hungry for you right now. God, I i'm just i don't know what to really do, I don't know what to really say, but I can tell you this heart is hungry. It's hungry.

I thought about making my title slide a picture of the chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel, but Mariah said I would lose my job if I did that. Because you really do wonder, how much can you preach about Hunger? Is there more? Yes, there is. Would y'all allow me to teach from one more passage this morning? Because someone's convinced in this place that this blessed hunger is just for those people. You know, this hunger stuff, Taylor, that is great. Taylor, I love seeing you get up there and be on fire. For God, bless your heart, that is so wonderful to watch you do that. But this hunger stuff it's, it's, you know, it's for some, but it's not for everybody. You know, not everybody has to act like that, Taylor. Listen, no, not everybody has to act like that. But let me tell you something: there is more tied to your hunger than what's on surface level. And I'm going to show you in the word of God.

Psalms 81, verse 10. It says: I am the Lord thy God, who did what? Brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will feel it. A few things happening in this verse of scripture. First, there is an identification of authority: I am the Lord God. Let me identify myself to you. I am the Lord. And by the way, I'm not just the Lord, I'm the Lord your God. So I'm not just some Lord out about in heaven, circling around the stars, seeing what's going on. No, no, I'm the Lord your God. He's establishing authority for what his command would be. He's the Lord, and he's my God. But this is what I love about the Lord, and that's what you have to love about the Lord: he gives his relationship credentials. He doesn't just stop with, I'm God, so go do what I say. He didn't stop with just, I'm the Lord, so go do what I say. He said, listen, I brought you out of Egypt. I delivered you from slavery. He's the one who delivered me from addiction. He's the one who saved me from disease. He's the one who kept me from generational curses. He delivered me. He's not just my God. He delivered me. He delivered me. And so he has a right to ask of me what he will. He's not just the Lord. He's not just my God. He delivered me. So God, what what do you command of me? Why do you want — God: open thy mouth wide, and I will feel it.

Now, what does that mean? The psalmist was pinning the words of the Lord in poetic fashion. And in essence, he said: I am the Lord. I am your God. I am the one who delivered you. I am the one who saved you. If you'll open up your mouth wide, if you'll be hungry for me, if you'll have expectation of me, I will feel those expectations. Well, okay, so what happens if I don't? What happens if I don't open my mouth wide? What happens if I'm not hungry? I just don't get to see God like you do i can. I can settle for that. No — much more than that. Verse 13 through 16: oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. Hear me this morning: your hunger is related to the defeat of your adversaries. Your hunger, your spiritual hunger, is related to your spiritual victories. Your spiritual hunger is related to seeing salvation come to your home. And your spiritual hunger is related to seeing the darkness lift off where you've been living. And your spiritual hunger is related to the enemy getting off your finances and getting off your health. It's tied to your hunger. I'm talking about a blessed hunger that releases the God of Angel Armies to conquer my enemies. I want a God like that. I need a God like that. And I'll be hungry for a god like that.

Verse 15 and 16: the haters of the Lord — oh, I love this one, buddy, this is a good one. The haters — see, they see people trying to be talking about haters and stuff. People think they're so original. The Bible's got it all wrapped up before we ever came along onto this planet. God's been talking about haters long before this generation been talking about haters. God said, let me tell you what happens with the haters: the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. I was free. But this is what I want to preach on, verse 16. This is what God would have done if they would have been hungry: he should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. Please don't be mad at me if my life looks blessed. And I'm not saying this with arrogance. I wish I could tell my whole testimony. I wish you could hear my whole story. But please don't be mad at me if my life looks good, or if my life looks right. It's not all perfect. I'm not — it's not what I'm saying. But please don't ever drive away from this church and be like, man, he got some leg up in the kingdom that I didn't get. No, I was hungry for God, and he chose to feed me with the finest of wheat. That's what he chose to do. They chose to feed me with the finest of wheat. He chose to bless my life, and I'm so thankful. But I promise you, it just goes back to a teenager who would get down at an altar and say, God, I'm hungry. I promise you, it goes back to a room with a bed where I didn't have anything, and I would watch sermons on YouTube, and I would cry and say, God, I'm hungry for you. And he chose to give me the finest of wheat. And then he says, with honey — oh buddy, I wish I could preach on this. I wish my voice would come back to me. Y'all pray, Lord, restore his voice. With honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. Well, what in the world does that mean? You ever been in a rock in a hard place? Life was just real difficult, and everything's just pressing against you. God said, I'll make sweetness come out of those situations. I'll cause sweetness to flow to you. When you're up against a rock and a hard place, be hungry for me, and I'll call sweetness to flow to you. For I know that all things work together for the good that love God, and to them who are called according to his purpose. God said, I would have done these things, but you didn't listen to my voice, and you didn't open your mouth wide, so I couldn't feel it.

And listen, I was — I'm a youth pastor. I got a prep for all kinds of things when I go to preach. And I was like, you know, open your mouth wide — that's kind of a silly, a silly statement. That's a silly way to say something. You know, like we just see people like little birds in the nest, like, oh, I'll open their mouth wide. You know, I says, like, God's kind of hard to preach on. Let me just tell you my interpretation of this: you'll look silly for the things you're hungry for. There's a level you'll stop caring about what others perceive you as, when you get a hunger for God. Let me explain a silly kind of hunger. I was here praying at the church Friday night. It was midnight. The winds were blowing off that tin roof over there on that other building. And I was like, you know, I better get out of here. So I get in my car, start driving home. And my hunger said, hey Taylor, you want some chocolate milk and a cherry cheese danish from that gas station? I didn't look at the winds. I didn't look at the rain. I listened to that still small voice. And I pulled over in that gas station at midnight. It's raining. And I said, I'm going to get some chocolate milk and a cherry cheese — that because baby, when I get hungry, don't stop me. Hey, young people, get a hunger for God that you don't care what anybody thinks. It's the greatest battle I know. But get to a place where you're hungry for him past what everyone thinks. It'll bless you.

So I say we just do this together. We're all here. We're a family. Can we just make an agreement that we're okay if we look silly going after God? Come on, can we can we say that? I'm not gonna judge you if you get up here and worship i'm not gonna. I'm not gonna look down on you if you take a lap around this church and we're playing Amazing Grace. I don't care. I don't care. Just be hungry. Boy, I wish I had somebody take a laugh and get this blessed hunger. Come on, you troop, go on Blake, get that blessed hunger. Boy, I wish I had somebody. Come on, come on. I wish I had somebody who said, I don't care, I'll get me to the throne room. Give me to the altar of God, foreign. There you go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. That's it. Oh, God's preparing some weed for someone. God's bringing honey out of that rock for somebody right now. Come on, everybody stand. Everybody stand. Musicians can come on. Intercessors, release that gift of the Holy Ghost right now. Come on, let's work in tandem. Right now, come on, let's let that Spirit flow out of us right now. Come on, God's going to change some destinies right now. Come on, Rebecca, God's giving wheat to you, girl. Let it come, Lord. Let it come, Lord.

Exodus 33:18. Okay, bye here, Exodus 33 and 18. Moses said, please, ah, please show me your glory. Please, please God, show me your glory. Verse 20: but he said, can't see my face, for man can't see my face and live. But here's what I'll do. Here's what I'll do, Moses: can't show you my face and live, but there is a place. I wish everybody say, there is a place. There is a place that I can take you. To tell you what, I wouldn't have ever told anybody about the cleft of the rock until you asked. I would have never told somebody about the places they could go in me until they asked. There are some spiritual gifts that have not been released on the church age yet — yeah, not that, the written gifts of the Spirit, I got you, I can, we can list them all, those are for everybody. But there are certain ways that those gifts are used that have not been released yet. Thank you. Because God is infinite. God will be releasing gifts until he raptures this church out of here.

And while my glory, verse 22, passes by, I'll put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Let me tell you what this moment is: God's offered a position, and God's offered a place, like he did to Moses. It was a cleft in the rock from Moses, but it's an altar and it's a blessed hunger for us today. And if there's somebody under the sound of my voice that says, Lord, show me, please show me your glory, there's a place up here called a blessed hunger waiting for you.

Lord, right now I release you all across this house. Lord, if we just get one person today to get this blessed hunger — God, if we just get one person today to get this inside of them — I know there's gonna be destinies changed. I know there's going to be landscapes changed. Oh, I wouldn't resist the spirit right now. I'm telling you, some of you have been battling things, some of you have been going through some things. And I'm not saying you've not been hungry. But if you'll get up here and you'll submit to this blessed hunger, I assure you in the name of Jesus, by the authority of the word of God, and the power of the Holy Ghost, you're going to go home different, and you're going to see some things change. Say, God, just reignite that hunger in me. Lord, God, just give it to me. Lord, give me that hunger.