Introduction:
Who Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness"? (Matthew 5:6)
Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?
Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
How Do I Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?
Philippians 3:8-12 - ...For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Why Are We Congratulating the Hungry?
How to Grow Your Appetite:
- Taste .
Psalm 34:8 - Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
- Eat .
- Fast .
Psalm 42:1 - As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:05
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Matthew in chapter five.
00:05-00:13
As we continue an eight-week-long congratulations party.
00:15-00:17
Now, who is ready to party?
00:18-00:19
(congregation cheering)
00:21-00:23
Sounds like the back corner's ready to party.
00:24-00:25
You party animals.
00:28-00:29
(congregation laughing)
00:32-00:33
I think some others are catching on.
00:36-00:37
Hopefully you all do.
00:38-00:42
Because we're having the party, we blew up the balloons, right?
00:47-00:49
So, like what's the party all about?
00:50-00:55
I was thinking if like there's a visitor here for the first time right now, you're probably like, what is going on?
00:56-00:56
Here's what's going on.
00:57-00:59
We're having an eight week long congratulations party.
00:59-00:59
Why?
01:00-01:07
Because we're going through the Sermon on the Mount and the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount is a passage that is commonly called the Beatitudes.
01:09-01:16
Now these Beatitudes aren't just like random like grocery list of statements that Jesus kinda like hodgepodge together.
01:16-01:21
There's a spiritually logical flow to the Beatitudes.
01:22-01:25
It's like a ladder or a staircase.
01:25-01:28
Each step sort of leads you to the next one.
01:29-01:32
And in these Beatitudes, we find what Christians are meant to be.
01:33-01:36
We're meant to be all of these.
01:38-01:39
So let's look at the flow here.
01:41-01:58
Again, Matthew 5, verse two, it says, "And 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.
01:59-02:02
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
02:04-02:09
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
02:10-02:14
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
02:15-02:19
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
02:20-02:24
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
02:25-02:32
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
02:34-02:35
See, that's the congratulations.
02:37-02:37
It's the word blessed.
02:38-02:40
A lot of people say, well, blessed, that just means happy.
02:41-02:44
Yeah, it does, but it means more than that.
02:44-02:55
What Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes, He's saying, "Congratulations." If you find yourself in this condition, congratulations, because there's something glorious in store for you.
02:57-02:58
That's why the word blessed is repeated.
03:00-03:05
So before we get this party started, let's just bow our heads for a moment and please pray for me as I will pray for you.
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Pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.
03:10-03:18
I will pray for you and for me to have all of our hearts open to receive what God wants to speak to us today.
03:18-03:19
Let's just take a moment.
03:28-03:37
Father in heaven, open our hearts up to receive what it is you wanna say to us today.
03:42-03:45
Thank you, Father, we praise you in Jesus' name.
03:46-03:49
All of God's people said, amen.
03:49-03:59
So, we wanna wish you a congratulations to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
04:01-04:02
(congregation applauding)
04:09-04:11
Oh, then there's another way, there you go.
04:11-04:13
(congregation applauding)
04:15-04:18
You guys are way readier than the first service was.
04:22-04:24
Who are we congratulating today?
04:24-04:26
Well, who's our Lord congratulating more like?
04:27-04:28
Look at verse six.
04:28-04:29
This is our verse today.
04:30-04:40
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
04:42-04:45
So on your outline, first of all, who are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness?
04:49-04:50
Kind of a weird statement, isn't it?
04:51-04:53
Jesus is like, congratulations to the hungry.
04:53-04:55
Like, who congratulates the hungry?
04:58-04:59
Well, let's look at what our Lord is saying here.
05:00-05:03
First of all, hunger and thirst, hunger and thirst.
05:07-05:08
Everybody hungry for something.
05:10-05:11
Right?
05:12-05:15
For some people, they're hungry for money and stuff.
05:16-05:20
Some people are hungry for success and fame and popularity.
05:20-05:23
And some people are hungry for pleasure.
05:24-05:26
What's going to make me feel good?
05:28-05:32
Jesus says the kingdom people aren't after those things.
05:33-05:36
Here Jesus says kingdom people are hungry for one thing.
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What is it?
05:37-05:38
Bible say?
05:40-05:41
Righteousness.
05:41-05:55
Jesus said, "Disciples of his, followers of Christ, kingdom people are hungry for righteousness." And you go through the flow of these first three, you see this whole staircase idea, right?
05:55-06:02
You see, Jesus says, "It starts with being poor in spirit." You're this guilty, helpless sinner, right?
06:03-06:07
And that makes you mourn over your sinfulness.
06:09-06:11
And then you get to the place where you're meek.
06:11-06:13
You're like, I'm done with myself.
06:13-06:14
I'm done.
06:15-06:20
I'm done constantly trying to assert my self-interest and everything, I'm done with that.
06:21-06:22
That's meekness.
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Pastor Rich talked about that last week.
06:25-06:26
See what the issue is?
06:27-06:29
Sin, sin, sin.
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Do you see that?
06:30-06:31
Sin, sin.
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That's what Jesus is addressing here.
06:34-06:38
And we get to this one, we have to ask, well, what does the sinner need?
06:40-06:42
A sinner needs righteousness.
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That's what a sinner needs.
06:45-06:47
Like, well, what's righteousness?
06:49-07:01
Righteousness is simply being right before God and living right before God.
07:03-07:04
"Oh, but there's a problem.
07:06-07:10
"The problem is people wanna be happy.
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"That's a huge problem." Wait, what?
07:18-07:20
It sounds like he said the problem is people wanna be happy.
07:21-07:22
Yeah, yeah, that's what I said.
07:23-07:24
That is the problem.
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The Bible never tells us to seek happiness.
07:31-08:01
You know why? Because in our flesh we're gonna start looking to things of the world to make us happy. But according to Jesus here, in this statement, happiness results from seeking something else, and that's righteousness. See, that's where the problem comes in.
08:02-08:09
If you put happiness before righteousness, you are going to be absolutely miserable.
08:14-08:16
So hunger and thirst, what's he talking about here?
08:17-08:20
Well, note this, it's a continual action.
08:22-08:23
Hungry and thirsting, it's continual.
08:24-08:31
It's not, yeah, I gave my life to Christ in 1995 and boy, I was hungry for righteousness back then.
08:34-08:38
No, it's not a one-time thing, nor is it like an occasional thing.
08:38-08:43
You know, like a couple times a year, I kind of get a hankering for righteousness.
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No, that's not it either.
08:52-08:56
See, the tense here is I'm always hungry for righteousness.
08:58-09:11
It's the word picture here is like those who hunger thirst for righteousness need that the way a body physically needs food and water, right?
09:12-09:13
Constantly, right?
09:14-09:15
We need it.
09:17-09:22
True Christians hunger and thirst for righteousness.
09:25-09:27
Like, why is that?
09:29-09:32
Because God's Spirit changes your appetite.
09:33-09:34
That's how that works.
09:35-09:40
By nature, you're not naturally hungry for righteousness.
09:40-09:43
You're not naturally hungry for the things of God.
09:43-09:46
By nature, you're hungry for sin, right?
09:46-09:47
You enjoy sin.
09:47-09:49
You indulge in sin.
09:49-09:50
That's what you love.
09:54-09:56
And that doesn't satisfy, by the way.
09:57-09:59
You look at people that are addicted to drugs.
10:00-10:04
I've known many people, unfortunately, that have had addiction problems.
10:04-10:05
It's never enough.
10:06-10:09
It's never like, "Oh, I've done just enough drugs.
10:09-10:11
I'm good now." It's never enough.
10:12-10:12
It doesn't satisfy.
10:13-10:22
There are people that are addicted to physical intimacy with various people, it's never enough.
10:23-10:24
You're never satisfied.
10:26-10:36
People that are addicted to affirmation, constantly wanting, you know, constantly needing applause from people, it's never enough.
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You see, when you come to Christ, the Bible says God's Holy Spirit comes in and dwells you, and he changes you.
10:44-10:51
Don't tell me for a second that the God of the universe who created all things and has infinite wisdom comes and dwells in your heart and you're no different.
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Everything changes, including your appetite.
10:59-11:01
I'm not hungry for sin like I used to be.
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Now I'm hungry for the things of God.
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Yeah, some people come to church hungry.
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Not for righteousness.
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They come to church hungry for a temporary fix.
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Like, man, I'm really out of control in my finances.
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Maybe if I get serious about God, things will get taken care of.
11:24-11:27
Boy, my marriage, my marriage is in a really bad place.
11:27-11:35
So let's go to church and maybe she'll think that I'm serious and sort of patch things over and they're just looking for a quick fix.
11:39-11:50
Not great, because when things start to feel a little better or we get out of crisis mode, we stop coming to church.
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Like, whew, glad that's over.
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That's not hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
11:58-12:01
That's wanting to eliminate the pain, not the problem.
12:03-12:05
That doesn't work physically, does it?
12:06-12:10
Could you imagine if you went to a doctor And you're like, "Doctor, I got these stomach pains.
12:10-12:16
"It feels like there is a knife twisting "in my stomach all the time.
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"I think there's something seriously wrong, doc." What would you think if the doctor said, "Well, take some Tylenol." Like, "Well, is that gonna heal up my stomach?" "Well, it'll mask the pain.
12:30-12:33
"You won't feel what is bad, that's good, right?
12:34-12:40
"You'd wanna see another doctor." Like, no, no, no, you're not addressing the real problem.
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The people that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they have new appetites.
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They're going after the real problem.
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I'm not looking to God just for healing or a quick fix or some gift from God.
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I'm desperately hungry for God.
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not just what I can get from Him, not just giving my get out of hell ticket.
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I want fellowship with God.
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I want for my life what God wants for my life.
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That's the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.
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The hungry and thirsty person desires to be free from sin because I know if I'm gonna be right with God, I gotta be free from sin because sin separates me from God.
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I wanna be free from sin's power.
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I wanna be free from sin's desire, from sin's bondage.
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I wanna be, my sin so dishonors my God.
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I wanna be done with that.
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See, the person that's hungry and thirsty for righteousness, They want God not just to forgive them.
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And listen, the hungry and thirsty person doesn't even just want God to save them.
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The person that's truly hungry and thirsty for righteousness wants God to change them.
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Do you have a desire for God to transform you from the inside out?
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If you don't, then you don't know him.
14:35-14:44
You know, it always strikes me, Psalm 51, you know, David committed all these sins, and Psalm 51's like this psalm of repentance, right?
14:44-15:00
Where he's crying out to the Lord, and you know the verse that really always caught my attention was this one, verse 10, where he says, "Created me a clean heart, O God, "and renew a right spirit within me." Do you see what David's saying?
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He's not just saying, "God, I want to avoid bad consequences.
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"I want to avoid the shame that I'm experiencing now "because of Israel knowing about my sins." And he says, "You know what I want?
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"God, I don't want to be that guy anymore.
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"God, I want you to change me from the inside out." That is the heart cry of the person.
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who is hungry and thirsty for righteousness.
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Not just God save me, but also God change me." That's who we're congratulating.
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You're like, "Well, why are we congratulating those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness?" I'm so glad you asked that because it's on your outline.
15:53-15:57
Because it says, first of all, they.
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Jesus says they.
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I wanna remind you again, in the Greek, that's emphatic.
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That kinda tells you how Jesus said this.
16:08-16:21
He says, "For they will be satisfied," meaning these are the only people that really experience any kind of satisfaction, are the people that hunger and thirst for righteousness.
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Like, all right, well, what does the word satisfied mean?
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Well, actually, that Greek word was used to describe an animal that was filled up.
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Feeding an animal until the animal can't eat anymore.
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That's what it means to satisfy.
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And right away we recognize, I can't satisfy the righteousness hunger on my own.
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That has to come from Jesus.
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See, when I received Jesus Christ, He gives me his righteousness.
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That's called imputed righteousness.
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2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sin, God made him "who knew no sin to become sin, "so that we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus gives us his righteousness.
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He changes me by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Now, because of that, I'm hungering and I'm thirsting.
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So what Jesus is saying here is congratulations to those who have been born again, people that are new creatures in Christ, 'cause they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and they're gonna be satisfied.
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You know, it's a paradoxical statement when you think about it.
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
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How can you be hungry and full at the same time?
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I mean, just taking that statement on its own, how can that be?
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Like, what is Jesus saying?
18:15-18:19
If we're to always be hungry, how can we always be satisfied?
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I think in order for us to understand that, we need to understand the nature of righteousness.
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You ready for a quick systematic theology lesson?
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Oh boy, am I?
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Yes, you am, all right?
18:37-18:57
All right, when it comes to righteousness, holiness, salvation, there's three words you gotta know, three big theological words that describe salvation, righteousness, holiness, and past, present, and future tense.
18:58-19:00
The first word is justification.
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When you receive Christ, your sin is taken away.
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You're justified.
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Second word is sanctification.
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That's the Holy Spirit working in you to make you more mature in Christ, to make you more Christ-like, to grow you as a believer.
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That's sanctification.
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The third one, anybody know what it is?
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Shout it out.
19:20-19:23
Glorification, you've taken this class before, yes.
19:24-19:30
Glorification, that's when you get to heaven and you are actually made perfect.
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We will be like Jesus.
19:35-20:00
So you see, in justification, you say, "I was saved from the penalty of sin." And in sanctification, you say, "I am being saved from the power of sin." And with glorification, you say, "I will be saved from the presence of sin." Now, do you see where the satisfaction comes in?
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I'm satisfied knowing that I've been pronounced righteous in Christ.
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There's a satisfaction that comes from that.
20:12-20:21
To know there's nothing that I can do to save myself, but Jesus Christ and His love and grace and power and wisdom, He has taken away my sin.
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I'm satisfied knowing that I've been pronounced righteous.
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That's justification.
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And you know what?
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I'm satisfied now in pursuing the things of God.
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But ultimately I'm going to be satisfied in heaven when I'm out of this fallen flesh that still craves sin.
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That's when I'm going to experience the fullness of the satisfaction that Jesus promises.
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You're like, "All right, thank you, Pastor Jeff.
20:59-21:02
I learned some great three-syllable words.
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Wait, just...
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No, five-syllable words that I'm sure will razzle-dazzle my friends." So, what does this look like on the day-to-day basis?
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What does it look like?
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Now, I want you to consider a few verses from Philippians chapter 3.
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The apostle Paul wrote this.
21:31-21:45
Leading up to these verses, Paul was sort of bragging about his religious pedigree, his background, his history, his position, he was bragging about all the things that, or he was actually saying all the things he could have been bragging about, right?
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But look at this in verse eight, he says, "Indeed, I count everything," all that stuff I could have bragged about, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth "of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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"For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things "and count them as rubbish." "In order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
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That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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All right, that's a lot.
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But what he's saying is, he is satisfied in his justification because it comes from Christ by faith.
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He knows it's not from him.
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He says that there's the righteousness that comes by faith.
22:51-22:53
But then look at this next verse.
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He says, "Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
23:09-23:16
Do you see this Paul saying, I have a righteousness from Jesus by faith, but I'm not perfect.
23:19-23:20
So I have to press on.
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Listen, this is what the Christian life is really all about.
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The Christian life is becoming what God has already pronounced you to be.
23:37-23:42
You are perfect and becoming perfect at the same time.
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You are righteous and you want to grow in righteousness at the same time.
23:48-23:56
It's a paradoxical thing that somehow we can be satisfied in Christ, yet have this drive to want to know him more.
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So you see, Christians are pronounced sinless, but we don't live sinless, but we should sin less.
24:11-24:14
Wait, sin, sin, okay, thanks, Jay.
24:14-24:15
No, that's right.
24:19-24:36
I live right before God, and at the same time I hunger and thirst for righteousness while I'm satisfied by the presence and promises of God.
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That is why we are congratulating those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
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They're the only ones.
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that have ever and will ever experience true satisfaction.
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Nothing else will do it.
25:05-25:06
So I could stop there.
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But there's somebody asking, all right, how do I hunger and thirst for righteousness?
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Well, everybody hungry for something.
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I just have to ask you, do you really hunger and thirst for righteousness?
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I can't answer that for you.
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I mean, if you're hungry, you know it and God knows it.
25:56-25:57
I can't tell.
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But you have to ask yourself, "Do I really hunger for the things of God?" And honestly, I think in churches, what we experience is a whole lot of people that say, "I know that I need to.
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Yeah, I know that I need to, but I don't as I should." Right?
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I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand.
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Is there something stirring in your heart right now that you're asking yourself, why don't I hunger and thirst for righteousness?
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I knew somebody would be thinking that.
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So you know what I was thinking about this last week?
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Why aren't people hungry?
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And then you know what I got thinking about?
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I got thinking about my dog.
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I think of my dog, Wanda.
27:24-27:27
Like if she's not hungry, why isn't she hungry?
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And I thought, you know, there's three reasons.
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If you've got a dog, right?
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I mean, dogs are dogs.
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If you get a dog and your dog's not hungry, it's gonna be for one of the same three reasons, right?
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If your dog's not eating, why?
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You're like, why is it?
27:51-27:53
You're like, well, maybe she's sick, right?
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Dogs don't eat if they're sick, well, except maybe grass, right?
28:00-28:00
Ain't that a treat?
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Maybe your dog's not eating because she's sick.
28:09-28:12
And I'm like, you know what, another reason your dog might not eat?
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She's distracted.
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Like, what are you talking about?
28:17-28:23
You know, I've never in my life had a play motivated dog until Wanda.
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Anybody else have a play motivated dog?
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Every other dog that I've had has been food motivated.
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I've never had a play motivated dog.
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It's crazy.
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You could put like a bowl of like beef and gravy on the floor and throw a ball and she will chase the ball and leave the food behind 10 out of 10 times.
28:50-28:53
So maybe she's not hungry because she's too distracted.
28:57-29:00
And then I thought, you know why else my dog won't eat?
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Is maybe she's already full.
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Maybe Aaron fed her and I didn't know about it.
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And I thought, you know what, church?
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Maybe it's one of those three reasons that you ain't hungry.
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For some of you, you're not hungry because you're sick.
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And what I mean by that is you're not saved.
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What I mean by that is you're not saved, you've never experienced the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, therefore your appetite was never changed.
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You're still sick in your fallen condition.
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You're like, I've never really been hungry for righteousness.
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then you don't know the Lord, because when you do, you're hungry for Him.
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And some of you are just like the dog, too distracted.
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You're too distracted, just too busy, even with good things.
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But these good things have distracted you from the best thing.
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But you know what I think a lot of it is in the church?
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You know why I think you're not hungry for righteousness?
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Is because you're already full of other stuff.
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You fill up on sin, right?
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You're filling up on sin and you're just constantly consuming sin and you're looking at things on TV that you shouldn't look at and you're looking at things on the internet that you shouldn't look at and you're worried, what's gonna happen?
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What if this happens?
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And you're all worried and you can't get out of your own head and you're gossiping.
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Oh, you just love to tell stories about people and give the latest news and rumors about people and angry, right?
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Just like hair trigger, short fuse, ready to blow.
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And you're constantly looking for something to be angry about and addicted.
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And this chemical or whatever, this habit that's just addictive.
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I gotta have it, gotta have it.
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And you're so full of all of these things.
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Listen, you aren't hungry and thirsty for righteousness for the same reason that a guy who ate a box of Ho-Hos isn't hungry for vegetables.
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You're full of garbage.
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Like, yeah, I'm guilty.
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I haven't been hungry like I need to.
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Like, well, how do I get there?
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Well, let's keep the hunger gimmick going here, right?
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There's three ways to grow your appetite that I can see from Scripture.
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Three ways to grow your appetite.
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Excuse me, I'm gonna go through these quickly.
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Three ways to grow your appetite.
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Number one, taste.
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Taste.
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Psalm 34, verse eight says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." First thing you gotta do is taste.
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You know a day that really changed my life?
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I mean, I'm talking like, a day that set me on a whole new course and I haven't looked back.
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And you're like, oh, the day you received Jesus, that was an awesome day, but that's not the day that I'm talking about.
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And then wait, wait, wait, the day you got married, that was a good day too, but that's not, that's not even what I'm talking about.
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You're like, oh, the day that your kids were born.
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Like, yeah, that was okay.
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But that's not the day, That's not the day that I'm thinking about.
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You know, the day that I'm thinking about is the first time that I ever tried General Tso's chicken.
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Holy moly, amigos, have you tried this?
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Look, I didn't, this was in college, okay?
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I didn't have Chinese food until college.
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Like, how did that happen?
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Look, I grew up in Shakora, okay?
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Not a lot of Chinese restaurants in Shakora.
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Not a lot of any restaurants, actually.
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I think they have one now.
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And a few dollar Generals, but when I was a kid, none of that.
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But I remember when I was in college, this guy was like, "Hey, hey Jeff, you gotta try this." I'm like, "What is that?" He goes, "It's General Tso's chicken." I'm like, "Nah, I don't really want to." "You gotta try it." "No, I don't really want to." "You gotta try it." "No, I don't really want to." And it was one of those things where it's like, it's on the fork and he has it like an inch from my mouth.
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You gotta try this, you gotta try.
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I'm like, I don't wanna try.
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You gotta try this.
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I tried it.
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And I never looked back.
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And I'm like, I don't even know who General So is.
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But I am enlisting in his army.
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And since then, I have eaten a lot of General Tso's chicken.
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You know what changed it for me?
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You know what turned that franchise around?
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I tasted it.
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That's what I love about this verse.
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Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
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Some of you don't have much of an appetite for righteousness because you never really tried it.
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You never really tried spending time in the Word, Like slowing down and it's incredible.
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The wisdom, how can this be so simple and so profound at the same time?
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Some of you have never slowed down to consume it.
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Some of you have never slowed down to really pray, fellowship with God in prayer, like dedicated time alone, privately.
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Some of you have never taken the time to do that.
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Some of you have never trusted God with finance.
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You don't have any wonderful stories about God's provision because you haven't been faithful in giving to him.
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That's why I love this verse.
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He says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." Taste and see.
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It's an invitation to experience.
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I mean, I can tell you.
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I've been a Christian since '95.
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I can tell you some stories about how awesome it's been to follow the Lord.
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It has been incredible.
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I can tell you all about it, but don't take my word for it.
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You taste and see.
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Like that General Tso's chicken, you're not going back when you really taste and see that the Lord is good.
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Now I want General Tso's chicken.
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Number two, how do you grow your appetite?
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Number two, eat.
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Eat.
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You know, I can't make this plant grow.
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I can't.
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I mean, I tried.
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I tried bribing it.
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Like, look, listen, please, if you get a little taller, I'll put you in a nicer place in the house.
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I could try bribing it.
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That didn't work.
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I could try threatening it.
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Like, if you don't grow this week, I'm throwing you into the forest.
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That doesn't do it either.
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Right?
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I could beg it.
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Like, oh, please grow.
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Please, everybody thinks I'm so lame because you're so little.
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Please grow.
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I can't do a thing to grow this plant, can I?
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Do you know what I can do?
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I can put it in a place where it'll grow naturally, right?
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You know what, this is plastic.
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It was never gonna grow anyways.
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It's an illustration, people.
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And I killed all the real plants.
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But look, it's the same for you.
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Look, you can't make yourself grow.
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You can't.
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But you know what you can do?
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You can put yourself in the places where you'll grow naturally.
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That's what you can do.
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Put yourself in situations where you can know Jesus more, where you can experience fellowship more, where you can consume righteousness more. Like get to church, right? And not just show up as a spectator, show up and serve. Get involved in a small group with people who will love you and encourage you and pray for you and keep you accountable. Listen to worship music throughout your week. Listen to biblical sermons and podcasts. Get to where you'll grow. And you're going to find the more you know the Lord, the hungrier you become to know him more. And finally, the last way to grow your appetite is to fast. If you're a believer and you find that you're not hungering and thirsting for righteousness the way that you should, then you need to fast. Like, well, what is fasting? Fasting is stopping the feeding of ourselves with other things to focus on our relationship with God. We stop eating other things because we want to focus our appetites on the Lord.
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Pastor Taylor, do you want to come up here and demonstrate for us what fasting looks like?
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(laughing)
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It's pretty self-explanatory, right?
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Don't eat!
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Right?
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But it's not even just about food.
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You only can consume so much every day.
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And what you do with fasting is you take a season instead of eating, and maybe it's other things, instead of watching TV, instead of scrolling mindlessly on the interwebs, instead of playing video games for hours, if that's your thing, instead of watching every sport on TV, instead of all of that, it's, you know, I'm cutting that out for a season, I'm going to use that time and I'm gonna spend time in the word and in prayer.
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Fasting is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us.
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And I think it's the most underused gift that God has given us.
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Fasting allows you to focus all your appetite just on seeking the Lord.
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So if you're sitting here right now and you're like, man, I'm just, I hear what he's saying, I'm just not very hungry.
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Well, then maybe you need to stop filling yourself up with other things.
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Maybe you say, "I'm skipping lunch every day this week "and I'm gonna spend that lunch hour "just in the Word and in prayer." I'm not being legalistic here.
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You know, figure out how it's gonna work for you.
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Maybe you're gonna say, "I'm gonna go without eating "for the next three days just to focus." I'm gonna, whatever that looks like for you.
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The fasting is I'm cutting other things out to redirect my appetite.
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So you want to watch your appetite for righteousness grow?
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I would encourage you to taste and see that the Lord is good.
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I would encourage you to eat, put yourself in a place where you'll grow and fast.
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Maybe cut some stuff out so you have room for other stuff.
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Our worship team would make their way back up front and join me on the platform.
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You know, everybody hungry for something.
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What are you hungry for?
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Have worldly things lost their appeal to you?
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Are the things of God precious to you?
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Do you find yourself hating sin the way God does?
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Are you becoming more and more dissatisfied with yourself?
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Can you say this with the psalmist?
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As a deer pants for flowing streams, So pants my soul for you, O God.
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Is that the cry of your heart?
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I am desperately hungry for the Lord.
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Is that you?
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Well, if it is, I am pleased to announce on behalf of the leadership of Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North, the elders, ministry team leaders, and nursery workers, we would like to wish you a sincere congratulations.
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[APPLAUSE]
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because if you're hungry, you're gonna be satisfied.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we confess before you that we have stuffed ourselves with so much, and then we wonder why we're not hungrier for you.
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I pray, Father, today, We want nothing more than to be in your presence, to grow in Christ, to not only be satisfied with the salvation he purchased, but to be satisfied in the pursuit of growing in righteousness ourselves.
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I pray, Father, you would lay a heavy conviction on people who haven't been hungry and thirsty for you, and that you would make that the appetite that truly drives everything that they do.
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Glorify your name, Father, we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:6-7 and Philippians 3:8-12
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
How would you respond to someone who says, “I don’t really hunger and thirst for righteousness.”?
What are some practical ways a believer can increase their appetite for spiritual things?
Jesus said the hungry and thirsty will be satisfied. What does this satisfaction actually look like in the life of a believer today?
Breakout
Pray for one another.