Happy Are The Hungry - Part 2

Christian physical hunger is a primal instinct, a driving force in your life. Spiritual hunger should be as well, but that's where the similarity ends around 20.0 delivered your marshes and swords. A broad-based types of hunger so radically different as well as a recipe for increasing your spiritual appetite is the conclusion of his message happy, hungry. You long to know more about God, you find yourself well. Feeling a sense of dissatisfaction with where you are in your walk with the Lord Jesus sometimes wonder why you don't want to study the Bible or you don't study the Bible down your heart trouble hundred but you don't do it those feelings.

The Bible says about that. The Bible says your desire to know more of God.

Your desire to understand the Scripture more your desire is blessed and causes you to be a blessed person. The Bible says blessed are those who hunger after righteousness and always thought that Bruce meant. Blessed are those who are righteous, but it doesn't say that since blessed are those who want to be righteous are you want to be. What I hope you are and we can help you today. If you stay with us. When you talk about what Jesus said in the Beatitudes when he said happy or blessed are the hungry, that your paper and your pin in your Bible open heart. Let's learn what it means to be spiritually how many of you totally 100% fully, completely, absolutely satisfied with your spiritual walk notetakers watch this you have a desire to use the vernacular of today to do better you ever get exasperated with how you're doing with God you ever feel a sense of yearning that your relationship was more intimate, more you hear others talk about sensing God's presence at do you ever in your life have this desire to go on with God.

We say to you that if you are a Christian, I can almost promise you that you do because that is one of the greatest evidences that you belong to Christ is put your heart this year. I mean, this desire to know him this insatiable appetite to grow and this frustration sometimes with the fact that things are where you wish they were in your walk with the Lord now, the other side of it is there some Christians who got into Christianity at the entry-level and they haven't had a spiritual thought since that day, they don't really even care.

They say they are Christians, but they don't want to go on with God. They have just locked into a certain level of convenience, don't challenge me to go on with God. Man, I have a hard enough time getting to church for the last service that's all they want. They don't ever think about it they don't have any restlessness in their spirit. They don't care anything more about spiritual things than just kind of showing up at the bottom line, I tell you what if that were my spirit. I'd be worried. One of the truest evidences that I am a child of God, is the realization in my heart that I'm not nearly where I could be in my walk with him, not merely in that every day there is this hungering and thirsting in my life to knowing better somehow get closer to it since his closeness to me, that desire that hunger in my spirit is a testimony that I belong to God, my friend. If you've got that you may feel like that's not a very good indication of spirituality, but if you've got that in your heart.

Praise the Lord for it online and follow that hunger, but praise God that you got it because it's a testimony to the reality of your faith. Second thing about spiritual hunger. I want you to put down in your notebook is the spiritual hunger is not on the reality of your faith. It's the requirement for your growth. You can't go beyond where you want to go.

Remember what I said. We all have about as much of God as we really want to if you want to go on with God. That's the whole thing that will spare you on to discipleship and growth in him that's exactly what happened to the rich young ruler in so many ways came to Jesus by night and he was obviously a very attractive character he could've gotten were you.if you haven't had something going for them. Jesus began to talk to about eternal life. This man talked about how he really wanted God he really wanted God. Jesus said okay if you really want God, let me tell you. Here's what you have to do going take all your assets and liquidate them and give them to the poor and the Bible says the man went away sorrowful, and Jesus wasn't trying to say some folks of talk that what he meant was, in order to get in the kingdom of heaven. You gotta become more get rid of every asset you have known what he was saying is if you don't love me more than you love that, then you cannot get into this thing about discipleship and walking with the Lord Jesus was the only spiritual leader that I ever read about. Honestly, who tried constantly to divide his crowd every time the crowd began to grow in Jesus teaching. He tried to get smaller. I never knew the spiritual leader like that my life whose goal in life was to have smaller crowd, but you remember when the crowds begin to follow Jesus.

One day he stopped and turned around. I can see this visually in my mind. He held up his hands. He says wait a minute before you come with me. Let me tell you what the requirements are. If a man does not love me more than he loves father and mother and sister and brother life cannot be my disciple.

If a man is not willing in his love for me to see that relationship as the goal in the primary purpose in life, so that everything else fades into the oblivious periphery cannot be my disciple was Jesus saying he saying that the only way you go on to discipleship and growth and development in your walk with the Lord is to have a desire for God.

I'm always intrigued by that in the life of the apostle Paul, I have to tell you that in studying the book of Romans. I have gotten so much insight into the life of this great apostle one. An incredible man.

He was, do you know he was one of the most blessed of all of the men of the Bible. Some folks have said that Paul was the most important and influential man who lived on this earth apart from Jesus Christ you know that he had three separate audiences with the Lord.

First of all, he was accosted on the road to Damascus when he was knocked off his horse by the white light of God's righteousness and brought into the kingdom of God and then on another occasion we read about in acts chapter 18 in Corinth, he had a vision of the Lord and then in second Corinthians 12 were told that he was caught up into the third heaven to see things too wonderful to behold, three different times what an incredibly blessed man but you know what, at the end of his life. You know what he wrote at the end of his life. Having accomplished all this and had all this happen. You talk about you have to say he qualifies as a spiritual giant. But here's what he wrote, that I haven't attained I haven't accomplished what I really want to accomplish.

Let me tell you what my heart is. He said that I may know him and the fellowship power that is in him.

Paul had this insatiable hunger to know God and he carried it with him through his life all the way to his death.

That's why he was a great man. He never thought he had arrived.

You know what friends there is no place where you arrive in the Christian walk. If you discover that a lot of folks could get to a certain level, I think, well, this is kind of where I belong. You know, someone told me a long time ago that living the Christian life was like riding a two wheel bicycle you either go forward or you go off there some truth to that which you cannot just stay static. Paul the great Christian leader and writer of the 13 epistles in the New Testament was a man at the end of his life was still hungering for God to know him and his fellowship spiritual hunger is the requirement for your growth and thirdly spiritual hunger is the reason for your failure or at least the lack of it because of failure in our lives as Christians is simply the fact that we don't have desire. We don't desire to know God and so we plateau off we come to a place where we don't grow and then we become susceptible to all of the pressures and the temptations of the world. When asked two questions as we contemplate this thought question number one. How do I know if I'm hungry or not. Let me give you some tests. Here's the first one. Are you satisfied with yourself. The Puritans used to say that he who has the most need of righteousness is the one who least wants it. Do you find yourself happy with where you are you ever feel a sense of unrest in your spirit, because you want to be other than you are.

If you don't have any of that, then you probably don't have spiritual hunger in your life you know I'm looking ask if you do it. What do you desire to read the Bible does it bother you if you don't do you feel guilty when people talk about getting into the word and you know in your heart that you have and it is not just a guilt trip. It's this thing in your heart that you know something's not in sync, and it bothers you. That's true of you.

Praise God. The people I worry about are the folks who can not pick up their Bible from year to year and not even worry about it if you don't have this holy unrest in your heart that you don't have spiritual hunger but it's kind of a backwards complement to say, the realization I have that things aren't where they ought to be all the time is the evidence that I have a hunger for God. You know there are a lot of things that happen to develop spiritual hunger problems can make you hungry when you begin to realize the failures in the world and the emptiness of what the world has to offer.

You can all of a sudden get real hungry for God no I noticed was that sometimes you get next to somebody who is a spiritually hungry person and it rubs off on you. You sense the different quality in their life and theirs, then it develops and you will desire to have that in your life.

Last question that is perhaps the most difficult one is what do I do if I don't have hunger for God, you're a Christian youth accepted the Lord and your living a respectable life and doing all the things that you can outwardly know you got in your heart you know that this quality of wanting to know God is in very high on your list how do you develop spiritual hunger and never forget the impact that this little book had on my life some years ago, written by Sherwood Elliott worked. He wrote a book called a thirst for God is basically a commentary on Psalm 142 and somebody gave me a copy of it. I read it I forgot most of everything else was in the book except this one little thought that forever changed my life which said that one of the problems we have when we talk about spiritual hunger is that we think that spiritual hunger and physical hunger are exactly alike, when in reality he said they are as diverse one from the other as they could be now. He said let me explain. When a person is hungry physically as some of you are now. He continues to be hungry until ultimately, the preacher quits and he gets in the restaurant and you get something to eat and after he chows down his hunger goes away. That's true for normal people.

But the truth in the realm of the spiritual is the exact opposite of that. When a person doesn't eat spiritually. The more he doesn't eat, the more he loses his appetite did you ever think that and that is true. That's why people can come into the faith. At a certain level drop out in terms of spiritual discipline and go for months and sometimes years without ever getting back into the word, or perhaps even have any desire to come to church. They have lost their spiritual appetite by neglecting it see in the physical realm. It's exactly the opposite as it is in the spiritual realm. I watch in the spiritual realm. And in the physical realm. It is also diverse in this way, when a person eats physically after having not eaten for a long time he finishes with his meal and he is satisfied in the spiritual realm.

It's exactly the opposite. The more you eat the hungrier you get. Thank God it's not like that in the physical realm. But in the spiritual realm. It's like that you know that to be true. The more you get into the word of God, the more you want from the word of God, the more you get into the things of the Lord, the hungrier you get for the things of the Lord, you cannot meet the expectations of your spiritual appetite. Once you began to read yourself.

It is the hunger that develops out of eating. It's hard to believe but it's true. That's why when people come to church and they get encouraged by the word of God. They want to go home and get more of the word of God.

Some people come here and ask me questions. What was the point you said there what was the thing you said there I want to go home and study them more on my own. Why, the more you eat the more you want.

Here's a problem friends. If you're in that twilight zone of having lost your spiritual appetite. How in the world do you ever get it back. Because if it's true, the longer you go without eating, the less appetite you have and how in the world do you stop this cycle and get back to a hunger for God will listen up class got this one figured out. I know the answer to that question. It's Jeremiah's lesson number one it isn't in the Bible, but it's true. How do you develop hunger when you don't have it you do it through the program I choose to call force meeting what is that me you don't want to but you do it you set your little self down on the chair put your little feet under the desk set your little large print Bible on the desk. Put your nose down in the book and if you can't stay awake reading silently read it out loud at the top of your lungs and you keep reading it and keep reading it and all of a sudden I'll tell you what'll happen you will read something that'll intersect with your spirit and the fire that's been burning so low down in your soul will flame up and all of a sudden you realize what you been missing and that appetite will be born again and you'll begin to hunger to get more and more of God's word. If you don't follow that program you can get on autopilot for the next 50 years and never ever go anywhere. General, you can just lock in to neutral for the rest of your life. And frankly, that's where a lot of God's people are they, got out of the system and I've told you this before Satan always tells you to lies, he tells you can happen to you and then after does he tells you there's nothing you can do about it. Both of those are wrong wherever you are in this whole matter of hungering for God. You could change you can go on and the Bible says when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, listen to this. We shall be filled. Word means satisfied. It's a word in the Greek language that they use to describe how they fattened up an animal for the slaughter kind of a strange colloquial way to say but basically what is saying is fill right up to the brim with no room for anymore. Totally go to Ernst with the things of God. Satisfied translated into our series happy. You know what I don't know any Christian I've ever met who's in that twilight zone of no appetite for God, whose happy their miserable when you begin the hunger and thirst after God. He puts into your heart, spirit of joy that you cannot describe and it just keeps on getting better and better and better as you walk with him. Let's pray father, thank you for this lesson on spiritual hunger. Thank you that these truths never change. They were true in the day when you spoke to mother today Lord today.

There are some who have kind of walked into that never never land of being a Christian, but no more. Knowing Christ, but that's it, not growing, not going on with God. Lord I pray that you will give to them.

A determination by the grace of God that they shall begin the program of force-feeding this very week and get back into your word and began to let you speak to their heart. Give them a discipline Lord for godliness sake. Father I pray for my friends in this quiet moment who have identified in this passage, and in this truth, acknowledging their need. Father I pray that you will not let anything happen to keep them from taking this step forward. The enemy comes to dissuade and discouraged.

But don't let it happen. May they make sure that they take the initiative to begin again. Lord, I want to thank you so much that you welcome us to come back. Not anyone here was a Christian who was far away enough from you that you don't have your hands open, welcoming them back back to your word back to prayer.

Back to fellowship with you, Lord. Thank you that you are the God of the second chance. I've thank you so many times that your long-suffering God with regard to me. Thank you for being that way. Thank you for always, always encouraging your children to come back and start again and move forward and then father, maybe there's some here who have never ever gone the journey never trusted you as their Savior.

And I pray that you will help them today to realize in their heart that they are incomplete without you that there's a spiritual center that can be filled with no one and nothing else caused them to come to you Lord to give themselves to you and say will give you the price Thanksgiving Jesus name, amen. Reference thank you for meeting this week. I hope you had a good week and the word that you are walking in fellowship with the Lord, and serving him with your whole heart. Whatever you're doing wherever you happen to be God is with you.

The Lord Jesus Christ is in your heart the spirit of God is filling you up everyday so that you can be an influence for the Lord Jesus when these beatitudes become your attitudes. You represent your Savior everyone around you.

I hope that's developing as we study these things together. Have a great weekend Jeremiah. Thanks for listening message you just heard coming from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah seen the apostle is God touching your life is about point PO Box 38, San Diego, CA 92163 visit our website@jeremiah.org/writing real copy of David's Bible study John the divinity of Christ is not of the Jeremiah Bible study.

Susan was a gift of any amount you can also download the free mobile app is not final tablet was searching for the keywords sending point ministries taxes have programs and resources.

Just visit Jeremiah.org/writing the time. I'm very hopefully join us Monday as we continue to be happy.

According to Jesus, that's here on Turning Point for taking time to listen to on tonight from these in question