The Danger of Spiritual Hunger: Why Effort Cannot Replace Grace

• Spiritual Hunger and Thirst 00:43:33 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses rhetorical questions to challenge the congregation's expectations and internal state, asking if they came with hope, hunger, or thirst for God.
• Divine Misery 00:49:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines 'divine misery' as a state of exhaustion with the status quo and spiritual dissatisfaction that drives one to cry out for more of God.
• God's Desire for Growth 00:51:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that it is God's heart to give Himself fully to believers and that everyone is destined to grow in Him, requiring the acknowledgement of God.
• Divine Promise and Assurance 01:05:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that God's promise to fill those who hunger is emphatic and guaranteed, not conditional on doubt or partial effort.
• Living Water and Revival 01:06:31 ▶️ 📄
  > Using the analogy of mountain runoff, the pastor illustrates how God's living water flows from the throne to bring life and revival to the believer's inner being.
• Divine Provision and Wealth 01:11:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that God provides 'riches in glory' and 'extravagant' wealth to meet needs, using the example of Joseph and Mary in Egypt, to demonstrate that God's provision is abundant and not merely sufficient for survival.
• Obedience and Hearing God's Voice 01:16:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that believers must be positioned in 'hunger and thirsting for righteousness' to hear Jesus' voice and must move in obedience even when instructions seem 'crazy,' citing Peter finding coins in a fish's mouth as an example.

• Sermon Illustration 00:44:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his mother's corned beef hash, explaining how his intense dislike for it led him to choose baby calf's liver instead, illustrating that even good things can be rejected due to personal preference.
• Sermon Illustration 00:45:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story about his children refusing to eat corn pudding casserole, resulting in one son stuffing both plates in his mouth and spitting it out, illustrating how people may reject healthy or right things because they do not align with their immediate desires.
• Sermon Illustration 00:52:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes his wife Mary Ann's diligent exercise routine on a treadmill in their bedroom while he remained complacent, eating cookies and eventually gaining weight, illustrating how complacency leads to spiritual and physical unhealthiness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:52:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his wife Mary Ann's fitness routine versus his own complacency, using it to illustrate how spiritual satisfaction can lead to unhealthy stagnation.
• Sermon Illustration 00:59:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of his father, who was 'hangry' (hungry and angry) if not fed within 30 minutes of waking, using this to argue that believers should be 'hangry for righteousness.'
• Sermon Illustration 01:06:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the 'runoff' in Montana, where melting snow creates overflowing rivers that turn brown landscapes green, as an analogy for the living water from God that brings life and revival.
• Sermon Illustration 01:09:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of the wise men visiting Jesus in a home (not a stable) and Joseph's dream leading to the flight to Egypt to protect the child from Herod.
• Sermon Illustration 01:09:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the biblical story of the wise men bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus, which allowed Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt and survive, illustrating God's supernatural provision of resources for His people's needs.
• Sermon Illustration 01:15:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus instructing Peter to retrieve coins from a fish's mouth to pay taxes, illustrating that God provides specific, sometimes unusual, means for meeting needs when believers obey His voice.

• Pastoral Charge 00:49:20 ▶️ 📄
  > Look at the neighbor and verbally ask if they are spiritually hungry and thirsty.
• Pastoral Charge 00:57:04 ▶️ 📄
  > Internally affirm the desire for more of God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:01:06 ▶️ 📄
  > Cultivate a state of spiritual desperation and dependence on God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:03:07 ▶️ 📄
  > Walk in humility, boldness, fear of the Lord, love, and guard the intimacy of the relationship with God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:19:34 ▶️ 📄
  > Raise hand to indicate a desire for more of God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:19:42 ▶️ 📄
  > Raise hand to indicate a desire for more of God.
• Pastoral Charge 01:20:57 ▶️ 📄
  > Sign up for the upcoming women's retreat online.
• Pastoral Charge 01:21:08 ▶️ 📄
  > Mark the calendar for the men's conference on August 20th and sign up online.
• Pastoral Charge 01:21:42 ▶️ 📄
  > Stop outside to receive a gift.
• Pastoral Charge 01:22:26 ▶️ 📄
  > Invite someone to church next week.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:11:41] As you're seated, my name is Cade. It's a privilege to welcome all of our first-time guests. So if this is your first time here today, or maybe it's your first time in a long time, we just want to say welcome to Multiply Church. Church family, can we give it up for all of our first-time guests? So if you're new here, we have a card in the seat in front of you. If you can fill that out, and then after service, bring it outside to the courtyard, you will see some
[00:15:51] tents that say new here we just want to greet you and exchange that card for a gift to say thank you for uh just being with us today one more time can we give it up for all of our first time guests
[00:16:03] at this time we are now going into our tithes and offerings so if you're giving this morning there are three ways that you can give one you could scan the qr code up on the screen to give
[00:16:19] online to you could text the words multiply lake norman to the number 77977 or as the ushers pass by you can just drop it in there so let's pray lord thank you for this day that you blessed us
[00:16:35] with thank you uh just for this gathering and i pray uh that you would just bless this offering today that you would multiply it uh so it would be used uh just to minister to this community
[00:16:44] I pray, Lord, that you would just continue to walk among us, continue to work in hearts, and that you would just prepare us for the work we have this week.
[00:16:56] In your name we pray. Amen.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:59] Would you all please stand as we continue to worship the Lord this morning.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:54] We exalt you, we exalt you, we adore you, hallelujah, the one, my God, righteous and He's all righteous, except for...
[00:30:48] Come on, sing it out.
[00:30:56] For my soul, oh don't you get shy of me.
[00:31:01] Lift up your song, cause you got a lion inside of those lungs.
[00:31:08] Oh don't you get shy...
[00:31:18] Thanksgiving and praise.

[00:34:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:34:11] We have offered up to you the sacrifice of praise.
[00:34:17] And your word declares that you inhabit the praises of your people.
[00:34:23] We're here.
[00:34:23] More and more gathered together in my name.
[00:34:27] There am I in the midst of them.
[00:34:32] We are here in the name of Jesus.
[00:34:35] The name of every name.
[00:34:37] Above every name.
[00:34:39] The name, God, in which we exalt, in which we extol, hallelujah, in which we adore.
[00:34:45] God, your name declares that you are Jehovah Rapha, the God that heals us.
[00:34:51] Your name declares that you are Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace, hallelujah.
[00:34:57] the peace that passes all understanding your name declares God that you are Jehovah Jireh the God that provides every need hallelujah and today Lord we stand upon the name hallelujah that is above every name the name
[00:35:15] of Jesus the name of Adonai the name of Elohim the name of Yahweh the name that is I am that I am the great I am and we know that you're in our midst to perform God's great and mighty deeds, to perform great and mighty miracles according to the
[00:35:36] need of your people. Hallelujah. So God, we raise up our need. Hallelujah. Before you, those of you that need physical healing, I want you to ask God for it right now. Those of you that have a habit
[00:35:49] that need breaking, I want you to ask God to break it right now because he is the power and the authority that breaks every chain and every bondage in jesus name those of you that need
[00:36:02] peace hallelujah god's order in your situation call on that name hallelujah and know that it is coming if you need wisdom this morning the bible says ask god for wisdom and he give it to
[00:36:15] all men liberally and abradeth not ask in faith knowing that you have received because you ask hallelujah oh father in the name of jesus thank you that healing is flowing in this building right now hallelujah those that need healing are being healed god in the name of jesus those that need
[00:36:36] an answer god you are the answer you are the direction you are god hallelujah speaking to them right now in wisdom and in provision god hallelujah oh father i thank you this morning god that you are ever
[00:36:52] present God there's someone waiting before you with hands open waiting for you to meet a need God I see a mighty vessel hallelujah God and this looks like a picture being with something being poured out God and I see
[00:37:12] God in my in my spirit hallelujah God a great pouring out God a great provision for every need God that has been raised to you hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah church begin to give thanks, hallelujah begin to give thanks to God
[00:37:28] hallelujah, begin to give praise to God, begin to give honor to God, thank him for meeting the needs, hallelujah, thank you for healing bodies, thank you for strength, thank you for life and life abundant, oh God
[00:37:42] thank you for every provision we give you praise for it in Jesus name with thanksgiving church don't forget the bible says prayer and supplication with thanksgiving hallelujah will you give him thanks one more time hallelujah will you verbalize thanks will
[00:38:04] you verbalize praise will you verbalize thanks unto the lord praise the lord good morning and for all of you who this is fitting to you happy father's day we are glad you're here let's watch

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:38:25] this video. What makes your dad happy? Hugs and kisses from me. That I love him. His family.
[00:38:38] Jesus. Um, well, bowling. I think that would help. What makes your dad sad? If I don't obey him.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:38:50] When I splash all the water around. What is your dad's favorite thing to do? Go to Starbucks.

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:38:56] play pillow fight if we go like somewhere special like disneyland or something how old is your dad um three five sixty eight how tall is your dad well i'll go with like eight foot tall or something
[00:39:14] um 20 inches what does your dad do for a job my dad's a police officer he protects people She works hard so that way we can get money to buy toys for our birthday.

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:28] What do you and your dad do together?

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:39:30] Sometimes we would have like a date together.
[00:39:32] We fight and wrestle.
[00:39:35] Snuggle when it's nighttime.

[00:39:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:37] What's your dad really good at?

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:39:39] Like a Star Wars.
[00:39:41] Cooking.
[00:39:42] Tickling me because he's like so good I can almost throw up.

[00:39:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:47] In what ways are your dad and God the same?

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:39:51] My dad and dad love me and they're perfect.
[00:39:57] God helps me make the right choices and daddy helps me make the right choices sometimes too.
[00:40:05] Because he gives me a warning.

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:40:09] How do you know that your dad loves you?

[00:40:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:40:12] He tells me.
[00:40:13] It's because he's been with me all my days and he never left me.
[00:40:19] Sometimes he hugs me and kisses me.
[00:40:22] Sometimes he says it to me.
[00:40:24] He's honest with me.
[00:40:27] He's more I can tell that he really loves me.
[00:40:31] I love you, Daddy.
[00:40:32] Happy Father's Day.

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:40:35] I ask all the dads to stand.
[00:40:42] If you're a dad and you're here, would you stand?
[00:40:49] Father, I want to pray a prayer of blessing on every dad.
[00:40:53] As you, God, are so important as Father in our lives.
[00:41:01] the all-important Father to each and every one of us.
[00:41:06] Each of these men exemplify you, your love, your truth, the fact that you're always there, your patience, your self-control, your kindness, and so much more.
[00:41:27] They exemplify to their children and to their families and to all who look on.
[00:41:33] so I pray a prayer of anointing upon them I pray the revelation of the word of God and the truth of God in their life I pray God that you would open doors of understanding for them
[00:41:51] I pray Lord that as they sacrifice and give us they do so wonderfully God that you God would bless that I pray Lord the prayer of J-Paz over their life, that you would enlarge their tents, bless them, cause them, God, to walk in righteousness
[00:42:18] in such a way that their life never causes pain, but rather brings glory and honor to you and blessing to all that look on. I pray peace. I pray healing. I pray, Lord, for some of them
[00:42:35] that are looking for a new job, open doors for a new job.
[00:42:39] Some of them that are looking for promotion, I pray promotion.
[00:42:43] Some of them that are looking for, God, a financial blessing, I pray financial blessing.
[00:42:49] For some of them, Lord Jesus, that are just seeking you for your will, open their eyes to see and their ears to hear and their heart to receive and speak clearly that they know.
[00:43:02] Father, we thank you for these men.
[00:43:04] we pray blessing on them in Jesus name and everyone said amen and amen give all the dads a good hand clap letting them know how much we love them as you leave today dads there's a gift for you
[00:43:20] that will be distributed to you as you go and we hope that the gift that you receive you will use it in such a way that it just blesses your life I hope you came expecting
[00:43:33] this morning Did you come expecting God to do something in your life this morning, or did you just come to church?
[00:43:43] I hope you came expecting.
[00:43:46] Did you come with hope in your heart?
[00:43:50] Did you come with a growling and a grumbling in the innermost being for more?
[00:43:58] Did you come with a hunger?
[00:44:00] Did you come with a thirst?
[00:44:03] Have you ever heard the growling and the grumbling of your stomach because you were so hungry you could not wait to eat or you were so thirsty that you could not wait to drink. I've heard it said I'm so hungry I could eat a moose or maybe you've heard it said I'm so
[00:44:24] hungry I could eat a horse, so hungry I could eat a cow. On the other side of that I've personally had the situation in my own life where I was so hungry yet when I went to the table and saw what
[00:44:40] my mom had fixed to eat, I didn't like it. I could not stand beef hash. So you know what?
[00:44:52] I hated beef hash so much that every single time my mom made corned beef hash, I asked her to make baby calf's liver for me. And some of you go, are you serious? You eat that stuff? I love calf's
[00:45:06] liver, grilled onions, gravy. It is amazing. It's wonderful. Builds up the iron. It's a great food.
[00:45:19] It should be a food group of its own. Well, I really like that. But I would sit there, and when I was so hungry, and I sit there and looked at that corned beef hash, I would just
[00:45:32] decide that I wasn't hungry anymore. So was I really hungry. I remember the time that Marianne cooked a corn pudding casserole. Now, we had three kids, and we have three kids, and our daughter's here from Montana. Her name is Ashley. If you haven't met her, you can meet her afterwards.
[00:45:59] She's right down here by Marianne. Anyway, two of my grandkids are over across there, and but Marian made this corn casserole, and if I'm remembering correctly, at the end of the meal, because we had this rule at our house that you eat a little bit of everything that's put on your
[00:46:17] plate, and you have to eat it. Anybody raised with that rule? Whatever's on your plate, you have to eat. Well, yeah, it was like that at my house growing up, and so it was like that at my house
[00:46:29] with my kids. So at the end of the meal, Marianne and I and Ashley had eaten our corn pudding.
[00:46:37] And so at the end, the boys, neither one of them had bothered to eat theirs. So I said to them, you're not getting up until you eat your corn pudding. So they sat there and they sat there
[00:46:49] and we had cleaned up the table all around them. We had everything and they were sitting there with their corn pudding. Well, somehow my oldest son convinced my younger son for him to consume all
[00:47:02] of it at one time, both of their amounts of corn pudding, and you only have to swallow it one time.
[00:47:10] My youngest son got almost all the corn pudding off of both plates, stuffed in his mouth with his jaw swollen out, full of corn pudding, and could not bring himself to swallow. So the next
[00:47:25] thing I know, corn pudding is flying all over the room. All over the room. Nonetheless, that recipe was never used again. But the fact of the matter is, my boys were not so hungry that they had to
[00:47:42] eat the corn pudding or wanted the corn pudding. Sometimes even good and healthy things do not taste good to us and we end up spitting them out instead of partaking. Sometimes the right things are passed by us at our own choosing because it's not what I like. Matthew the fifth chapter of the
[00:48:09] sixth verse said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. In other words, experiencing the good life and this ultimate satisfaction belongs to those who have an intense, unwavering desire for God's righteousness. I desire righteousness over
[00:48:34] my own likes, over my own dislikes. I choose righteousness over my own pleasures and over the pleasures of this world. If this morning you're tired of the way things are right now, if you feel like you're dying of spiritual thirst and need to be refreshed, then you're right where
[00:48:56] you need to be this morning. Because Jesus clearly promises in this verse, the prerequisite to be filled requires one to be spiritually hungry and thirsty. Look at the person next to you and say, are you hungry? Are you thirsty? It's not that this place of spiritual hunger and thirst
[00:49:20] is a comfortable place to be in. It's normal for it to be a place of some misery where you're tired of doing spiritual life the way you've been doing it. And you're exhausted. You're tired of the
[00:49:37] status quo that surrounds you. You're in this place where you're saying and you're crying out, God, I want more. Nothing seems to satisfy. Nothing seems to be fulfilling. Find yourself in a place of what I call divine misery. You're being driven into a place of dissatisfaction
[00:50:02] and you feel as if you can't go on any further. Anybody ever felt like that? Anybody ever felt like you're at the end. So what do you need? You need a touch from God this morning. How many of
[00:50:16] you want a touch from God this morning? You want God to meet you where you are. You want God to do something in your life. Know this this morning, the place it begins with is understanding the
[00:50:29] divine misery that you're facing. When one is spiritually hungry, you are completely exhausted with business as usual.
[00:50:39] Nothing in the world seems to satisfy.
[00:50:42] You keep finding yourself looking for the next thing and looking for the next thing and trying to find the next thing that is going to make life different for you.
[00:50:52] You find yourself feeling driven, driven to a point where you desperately cry out for more of God or more of God's Spirit or for God to do something.
[00:51:05] Take heart this morning.
[00:51:07] The place of divine misery is what brings you to a certain position before God.
[00:51:13] It's the position where you can be filled by God.
[00:51:17] And God sees your posture.
[00:51:20] And He sees that you're ready for Him to renew you with the power of His Holy Spirit.
[00:51:25] And when that new flow of the Spirit comes, it is literally as if rivers of living water float through your very being, float through your mind, and float through your heart.
[00:51:36] flow through your soul and flow through your spirit literally flows through your body regenerating you completely you find yourself refreshed and restored restored in spirit soul and body everyone is destined to grow in god it is the heart of god to give himself to you in
[00:51:56] fullness it is the heart of god to give you himself to you so that you have understanding God says, if you lack wisdom, ask of God, and he gives it to all men liberally.
[00:52:10] God says, don't lean onto your own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all your heart.
[00:52:15] Acknowledge him in all your ways.
[00:52:17] So wherever you are today, wherever you are, whatever you're facing this morning, it takes the acknowledgement of God to recognize where you are, what you're going through, and what you're facing.
[00:52:28] And when we do, know this, God has you destined to grow in him.
[00:52:33] as we grow in Him, sometimes we become complacent. Anybody ever become complacent?
[00:52:45] Let me relate to that something. Mary Ann used to work. She used to get on the treadmill.
[00:52:53] We lived in Winston-Salem. She'd get on the treadmill. The treadmill was in our bedroom.
[00:52:58] She'd get on the treadmill. She was always the person working out. She took vitamins.
[00:53:06] She was always reading what to eat, all this kind of stuff.
[00:53:09] She did all that.
[00:53:11] I was the person who was complacent.
[00:53:15] I sat on the bed and washed her and ate cookies while she was on the treadmill.
[00:53:22] Years later, I'm the person having to work off the weight to get healthy while she's never had to do that.
[00:53:31] To relate it to a physical sense, sometimes we get complacent with where we're at and we're just satisfied, but where we're at is not healthy. And it takes a form of dissatisfaction to form deep within our
[00:53:48] spirit, to rise up within our thinking, to rise up within our soul and in our will and cause us to say, I want more. I don't want it like it was yesterday. I don't want it like it is today.
[00:54:03] I want something new for tomorrow. I desire God to do something in me. I desire God to awaken me.
[00:54:12] I desire God to bring revelation to me. It all begins because I find a place of needing and desiring more in my spiritual life. It's not that there's something wrong with me. It's not that I look at myself and say, what's wrong with you? Have you just lost it with God? It's not that.
[00:54:33] it's that growing thing within. It's that grumbling within. It's that growling within the deep depth place in my inner spirit that says to me, I want you to hunger for more of me. And that's
[00:54:45] what God is saying to you this morning. God desires that we hunger for more of him. Why?
[00:54:52] Because he's ready to give himself to you. He's ready to bring you to a higher level. He's ready to release new gifts and new talents and new understandings and new opportunities for the building of the kingdom of God in you and through you. This morning, we should consider ourselves
[00:55:10] a people who are blessed. Our spiritual hunger and our thirst has positioned us on a path that leads us to a new encounter with God. As you yield to this encounter, God fills you. As I said,
[00:55:27] everyone is destined to grow in God. Look at that person next to you and say, you're destined to grow in God. Everyone is eventually brought to a place of dissatisfaction.
[00:55:40] You're not, there's not something wrong with you if you're in that place of dissatisfaction right now. If you're in that place of hunger and thirst, there's nothing wrong with you. It's where God wants you to be because He wants you to desire more of Him. Be careful with the hunger and the
[00:56:00] thirst. It can be rejected. It can be deadened. And if you reject that hunger and thirst, if you deaden that conviction for more, if you constantly replace it looking for things through your own self-centeredness and your self-centered satisfactions. If you find yourself looking for
[00:56:25] worldly fulfillment over spiritual fulfillment, and you find yourself growing cold to God, find yourself being deceived by the world's satisfactions, it's because that dissatisfaction has come to you. You have turned to the wrong thing for fulfillment, and you need to return
[00:56:46] to that place of turning to God.
[00:56:50] We should respond to the hunger and thirst for righteousness with, I want more.
[00:57:01] Say that within yourself.
[00:57:04] I want more.
[00:57:06] And as it comes screaming out of your hunger, driving you to call on God, driving you to search and seek, driving you to give it all of your heart, You'll find yourself in the place where you'll have a call to give honor,
[00:57:25] where you'll have a place and a call to give obedience to God.
[00:57:31] Jeremiah 29, 13 says, You will seek me and you will find me.
[00:57:36] When? Where?
[00:57:38] When you seek me with all your heart.
[00:57:42] God's not looking for half a heart.
[00:57:45] God's not looking for a corner of your heart.
[00:57:48] God's not looking for your heart today and gone tomorrow.
[00:57:52] God is looking for all your heart 24-7.
[00:57:56] This is the point where a new level of intimacy with God begins.
[00:58:02] Amazingly, it is a state of spiritual hunger and thirst, state of spiritual misery or great need that drives a person, that drives you, that drives me to a position where God can reveal himself in a very much stronger, meaningful, personal, and powerful way.
[00:58:26] We must respond to hunger and thirst.
[00:58:32] The original Greek means more than I am hungry or I am a little thirsty.
[00:58:42] It denotes literal starving, painful longing for something to drink.
[00:58:49] That is the picture.
[00:58:55] that is being painted here by the words Jesus said of people who are literally starving painfully longing for something my dad is one of my heroes Ashley asked me this morning how long has it been
[00:59:22] since he went to be with Jesus and it was nine years this past February my dad was very calm very controlled soft spoken yet he was very strong. He knew how to walk away from conflict. He didn't let anybody,
[00:59:46] including my mother, get him caught up in arguments and bickerings. He understood stressful situations and acknowledged the need for resolve, but you couldn't get him involved in arguments.
[01:00:05] One thing about my dad is that he had to be fed. When my dad woke up, within 30 minutes if breakfast wasn't on the table and he wasn't eating he became what I call hangry
[01:00:23] he wasn't just hungry he was hunger under angry my dad had to be fed he went all the way past hunger he became hangry some of us need to become hangry for God some of us need to become
[01:00:45] hangry for righteousness we need to have that demand within ourselves within our spirit, within our soul, within our will, within our mind, that I want more.
[01:01:06] We need to be those who cannot survive without a fresh touch from God, those who are starving and thirsting. You know, I grew up attending a Methodist church, and I probably grew up with more of a traditional mindset of church and God. I grew up with the mindset of going to church
[01:01:36] every single Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night. I grew up with the mindset that it was the right thing to do, but I didn't necessarily grow up with the mindset of reading the Bible every day and praying every day and seeking the Lord every day. I didn't grow up with that mindset.
[01:01:56] I grew up with the mindset that prayer every day was at the table.
[01:02:03] And at night it was, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
[01:02:09] If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
[01:02:13] But I didn't grow up with that passion for more of God, to know God, until I had my own experience at 13, but then walked away from that experience until I was 17.
[01:02:27] until I had my own experience with God I didn't have that hunger and that thirst that drove me we need to be those people who get up from the table who do not get up from the table of the Lord
[01:02:44] until we are filled and overflowing by the promise of God we don't need to be the ones banging on the table like a spoiled child trying to get their way but we do need to be persistently determined
[01:03:02] with our eyes set upon the prize.
[01:03:07] We do need to be the humble who come before God in humility.
[01:03:14] We need to be the ones who boldly approach the throne of God.
[01:03:19] We need to be walking in the fear of the Lord.
[01:03:25] We need to be walking in love and respect and honor, embracing the intimacy of the relationship that we have with God.
[01:03:32] And we need to be about guarding that relationship relationship so strongly that nothing comes in the way of stilling that intimacy we have with God.
[01:03:44] God, who is our Father, with Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, with the empowering Holy Spirit, we must be persistent. Matthew 7, 7 through 11 asks, and it will be given to you.
[01:03:59] Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. I want you to hear this. This isn't if I ask, I might receive. For everyone who asks
[01:04:18] receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
[01:04:32] Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children,
[01:04:45] how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
[01:04:54] I want you to understand as a child of God where you are positioned. I want you to understand as a child of God that you don't ask in doubt. You don't ask in maybe or might, but you ask in the
[01:05:11] affirmative that if I ask, I receive. If I seek, I find. If I knock, it will be open to me. I want you to understand the fact of the matter is that the answer is emphatic. It's very emphatic.
[01:05:36] We can expect God to honor his word because he is the word. We are talking holy hunger here.
[01:05:45] It's not about dissatisfaction. It's an inner drive that brings you to refusing to settle for ordinary faith. I want all God has to give. I want all God has to give. So there must be
[01:06:03] an embracing the promise. In our text, Jesus plainly promises that those who possess this intense craving shall be filled. When you reach the point of desperation, God meets you and refreshes you with the rivers of living water.
[01:06:31] We lived in Montana for about 14 years.
[01:06:35] And every single spring, you had what was known as the runoff.
[01:06:39] In other words, all that snow that had packed itself up on the mountains when the sun began to get hot and the warm winds began to blow over the mountains and it began to cause the snow to melt.
[01:06:52] All of a sudden, the water began to run off.
[01:06:56] and sometimes the rivers were so full that they overflowed and literally flooded some small communities it was a living water flowing from the mountain down into the plains that brought and turned everything from brown to green those who had cattle those who grew hay
[01:07:21] those who grew alfalfa and the other things they grew to be able to feed cattle and to sell it they couldn't wait for the runoff they were excited of how much snow they'd had so they had
[01:07:33] a great runoff because the irrigation is what caused everything to grow caused everything to turn green this morning there's a river of living water from the throne of god himself and that river of living living water flows out of heaven to your innermost being and it turns what feels
[01:07:53] like death into life this morning. It literally sets you into the fullness of life within, from within. It's not of man. It's of God. It is of God. It is a divine guarantee, not a maybe.
[01:08:17] For those who seek God and his word over the things of this world, there is a guarantee for all of God.
[01:08:28] The problem often is that we want God to be a part but not our all.
[01:08:36] We're called to embrace God in fullness.
[01:08:41] The promise is the continual life, the fulfilling of the Holy Spirit, the promise is empowerment, the promise is overcoming, the promise is more than conquerors under His provision and under that living water that flows.
[01:09:01] There's a continual state of revival that God has for us.
[01:09:06] A continual state of being revived by the Spirit of the Lord.
[01:09:11] A continued state of revival that amplifies your ever-growing relationship with God.
[01:09:19] Powering you to walk in spiritual authority.
[01:09:22] It's been given to every believer by Jesus Christ.
[01:09:26] It is the provision, all that you have need.
[01:09:31] as you walk out the life and the will of God.
[01:09:37] Remember the story of the wise men?
[01:09:40] The wise men came to see Jesus.
[01:09:43] When they came to see him, Jesus was not in a stable.
[01:09:46] We put him in a stable.
[01:09:47] We put the wise men in a stable.
[01:09:49] But Jesus, when the wise men got there, he was out of the stable.
[01:09:52] He was in a home.
[01:09:54] It was sometime afterwards.
[01:09:56] When they came, they brought gifts.
[01:09:58] Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
[01:10:01] Gifts of wealth.
[01:10:02] it's about that time that Joseph had a dream the dream was from God and God told him to take the mother and the child and flee to Egypt now for those of you that don't know Egypt at that time
[01:10:19] was one of the wealthiest cities and probably one of the most expensive places to live God sends Joseph and Mary along with baby Jesus to Egypt to protect them from Herod who sends soldiers into
[01:10:33] Bethlehem and kills all the babies, two years of age and under, all the baby boys. It's just like God to provide for needs in an amazing, miraculous way. You think Joseph was sitting there saying to
[01:10:52] God, well, God, when you send wise men to my house with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, then I will no it's time for me to to go somewhere no it was God's plan God started the plan when he brought
[01:11:09] revelation to the wise men to the magi in another country and they made the trek all the way to worship Jesus Christ and they made the decision there to bring gifts to honor Jesus Christ and
[01:11:24] given to him and God provided the need that Joseph would have the need that Mary would have the need that baby Jesus with that. And he didn't just barely provide it. He provided it with great
[01:11:37] wealth, everything that they have need of. How wonderful is the timing of God who supernaturally orchestrates events in our lives. He supernaturally orchestrates events of bringing the resources that are needed to meet the need, just like you did for Joseph. Paul wrote in Philippians 4.19,
[01:12:02] but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
[01:12:10] This morning, do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Your God shall supply your needs.
[01:12:24] You know, the Greek word for supply in that scripture means to make full, to fill completely.
[01:12:32] In other words, there's no space for any more.
[01:12:34] It's overflowing.
[01:12:39] Absolutely overflowing.
[01:12:49] God, this morning, will meet your every need, any deficit you have.
[01:12:58] Whatever true deficiency we may be experiencing, God wants to meet it.
[01:13:05] The word riches there has everything to do with wealth.
[01:13:09] It is a wealth so great that it cannot be tabulated.
[01:13:13] If you look it up in the Greek, it's what it means.
[01:13:15] it means abundant extreme vast riches opulence and wealth this word in Paul writing it tells us that God wants to extravagantly meet the needs of his people but hear me this morning God doesn't want to meet the needs to make you lazy God doesn't want to meet the needs just to make to
[01:13:43] make you rich God doesn't want the meats to make you spoil God doesn't meet the needs to make you rich, but literally to meet your need and that you might be a blessing for the building of the
[01:13:55] kingdom of God. This is what God is all about. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, God.
[01:14:04] Listen to this interpretation of Philippians 4.19. But my God shall supply your needs so completely that he will eliminate all your deficiencies. He will meet all your physical and tangible needs until you are so full that you have no more capacity to hold anything else.
[01:14:22] He will supply all your needs until you are totally filled, packed full, and overflowing to the point of bursting at the seams and spilling over.
[01:14:33] This morning, we as God's people, we need to upgrade what we think about God meeting our needs.
[01:14:41] He does not want to give enough for you only to skimp along in life, but he wants to surprise you by lavishly meeting all your needs until they are totally filled, packed full, and overflowing to the point of bursting at the seams and spilling over.
[01:14:58] Not to be consumed for worldly pleasure, but for kingdom business.
[01:15:05] The kind of need meeting is demonstrated in the way God extravagantly met the needs of Jesus' parents.
[01:15:12] but there's also another way god met a need do you remember peter needing to pay taxes jesus is with him and jesus tells peter peter go take the coins out of the fish's mouth so you can pay taxes can i tell you something if peter had not obeyed if peter said jesus
[01:15:34] jesus come on coins in a fish's mouth and if he had sat there and refused to get up and had an argument with jesus you gotta be kidding me i don't want to look foolish going
[01:15:50] opening a fish's mouth looking for coins instead peter did what jesus called him to do he moved in obedience to hearing the voice of jesus himself and he went and he opened the mouth and there were the coins that he took out and those coins that he took out were enough one
[01:16:09] coin was enough for four days wages two coins were enough for almost two weeks wages that he had enough to go and pay the taxes that needed to be paid what are you saying to us pastor
[01:16:22] i'm saying you must be positioned to hear the voice of jesus you must be positioned in hunger and thirsting for righteousness to hear the voice of jesus and when you are positioned and when you
[01:16:36] are hearing the voice of jesus you must move in obedience to what he says even if it sounds crazy to you you must move in that obedience you must be willing to lay down your
[01:16:50] life pick up the fullness of what he has called you to do to be what he's called you to be we all want provision however do we give obedience do we hunger and thirst for righteousness
[01:17:13] in closing if you will listen to the Lord and follow his instructions carefully he can and He will provide for you more than your mind can fathom, more than you can imagine.
[01:17:35] For our God does exceedingly abundantly above all we ever believed, all we could imagine.
[01:17:42] That's who He is.
[01:17:45] Mary and Joseph did not expect three wives.
[01:17:48] Peter did not expect coins and a fish's mouth.
[01:17:52] But God, but God.
[01:17:57] The same is true for you this morning.
[01:17:59] In fact, I'm sure that much of what you need right now will be discovered when you obey the Lord's explicit directions to you.
[01:18:11] This morning, God is asking, what do you hunger for?
[01:18:16] What are you thirsting for?
[01:18:19] Is it righteousness?
[01:18:21] If it is, you shall be filled.
[01:18:26] Let's pray.
[01:18:30] This morning, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, ask God to search your heart.
[01:18:37] God am I hungering and thirsting for righteousness above all things have I come to you poor in spirit that is humble before you have I come with sorrow my heart for my sin have I mourned before you
[01:18:58] am I walking in the fullness of meekness am I hungry and am I thirsting for righteousness search me oh God and know my heart know my heart this morning as you search your heart if you would say to God, God, I'm in a place of probably definable divine misery, and I want more.
[01:19:34] If that's you, would you just raise your hand and keep it up? I want more. I want more, God.
[01:19:42] I want more. I'm not satisfied where I am. I want more. I want more, God. It's not saying you're not saved is saying i want more i want more god you see the hands that are raised god you see those
[01:20:02] lord jesus that have raised their hand with the desire a hunger of thirst saying i want more i want more god so god i ask that as they have raised their hand and they call upon you
[01:20:20] recognizing the need for more flood them God let the rivers of living water flood them right now in the name of Jesus God we praise you and we thank you for this in Jesus name and everyone
[01:20:38] said amen and amen this morning before you're leaving let me remind you ladies that there is a women's retreat that is coming need to make sure that you get the information go online you can sign
[01:20:57] up for the women's retreat there are limited spaces but we will work to make sure all of you are able to go there's a great speaker I happen to know her personally she's going to be sharing
[01:21:08] the word and teaching I think you will be unbelievably blessed by what God is going to do there men I want you to also mark your calendar for the month of August because August the 20th, this man is coming to speak to us, an amazing man that is used by the National
[01:21:28] Office of the Assemblies of God to speak in men's conferences all over the United States. He's a phenomenal speaker. You'll want to be there, so mark your calendar, plan to be there as well.
[01:21:42] You'll be able to sign up online for that also. Men, do not forget as you leave today, stop and get your gift outside and we appreciate you being here I'm going to tell you how does the church grow
[01:21:56] because the pastor makes it grow it grows when sheep beget sheep who are the sheep if you're sitting out there raise your hand you are the sheep so when sheep bring in sheep that's how the church grows
[01:22:17] church let's fulfill what God has called us to do let's build the church amen Sheep beget sheep.
[01:22:26] Bring somebody with you next week.
[01:22:28] God bless you.
[01:22:29] Have a great week.