Are You Spiritually Starving or Just Grazing? | Matthew 5:6

Rundown In this episode, we dive into Matthew 5:6 and ask a blunt question: Are you actually hungry for God, or are you just surviving on spiritual snacks? We look at how easily our minds lock onto the “if I could just…” trap—believing that the right job, a swollen bank account, or that perfect purchase will finally bring peace. But chasing earthly appetites is like trying to get your nutrition by staring at the sun: it leaves you completely empty and even thirstier than before. We explore why true satisfaction only comes when we pursue Christ with the same tenacity we use to track down our next meal, and why meeting physical needs in our community is the first step to sharing that truth.

The Challenge When Jesus says to "hunger and thirst for righteousness," He isn’t talking about the mild discomfort of skipping breakfast or missing out on your morning Little Bites. He’s talking about a deep, wilderness-level desperation. The challenge today is to look honestly at your daily diet. Are you surviving on the spiritual equivalent of fast food and endless algorithmic doom-scrolling? Or are you actively seeking the living water that never runs dry?

Action Step Take the 20-Minute Challenge: Every single day this week, carve out 20 uninterrupted minutes to intentionally hunger for Jesus. Read the Word, listen to a solid theological podcast, watch a sermon, or dive into a Christian book. Next Saturday night, sit down and write out how your habits, stress levels, and mindset have shifted.

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Transcript

Hunger Vs Real Starving

Josh 0:01

Well, good morning. As we jump in this morning, I'm gonna start with a question that may sound weird but answered honestly. Is anybody in here hungry?

unknown 0:10

Yes, always.

Josh 0:11

Okay, I hear always, I hear yes, I am. Um I woke up this morning and remembered we did not go to the store yesterday, so I did not have my little bites this morning. Um so I tried to replace that with a cookie. Apparently, there's more little bites in a bag than one cookie gives me. So, yeah, I get it. We we get hungry, right? And and let me ask though, is there anyone in here who's like my stomach is absolutely killing me I haven't ate in days? So none of us, right? Like, I mean, we can look around and we can tell most of us in here generally look pretty healthy. Um remember, if you do need emergency food, there is no shame. We have the sharing center, right? Um, but most of us in here mistake uh starving and seeking for food as hungry. And I'll tell you, I'm I'm probably more guilty of it than most people because I will use that I'm starving term very, very loosely throughout my day, especially if it's been longer than like half an hour or so since I've had something to eat. Um, but someone who's really starving, like someone who's really hungry, have you ever seen the lengths that certain people will go to to make sure that they are fed? Like, like, have you ever seen someone that is crawling through a dumpster looking for lightly, you know, abused food? Like, have you ever seen an inside of a dumpster? Like, is that something any of us in this room would jump into and go, hey, like this is how hungry I am? Well, as we move through this today, keep in mind that is what Jesus is talking about, that level of hunger. Sitting here going, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that I eat. And that is our big question and our big idea today is that, are we hungry? Like, or are we really just kind of snacking and grazing as we go through this Christian walk? So I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump in. Father, I thank you so much for your word, and I ask and I pray, God, that this morning as we go through it, it is just that your word. That God, it is your powerful word that transforms us from the inside out. I ask and I pray, God, that as we leave here today, we do so looking more like Jesus, that that Father, we are transformed by the renewing of our mind and that that change just flows through us. Father, I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright,

Matthew 5:6 And True Satisfaction

Josh 2:43

so today we are looking at Matthew 5, 6 that says this: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. I remember years ago, I don't remember the exact show, but it was one of those stupid reality shows that I didn't watch. But if I just happened to walk through the room and Debbie was like really intently into it, I would stop because it's my wife and I want to spend time with her and watch whatever dumb show she's watching. But there's this lady on there who, and I am not making this up, ate the sun. So she would go out like every morning and she would stand as the sun was rising, and she would just kind of stand in the yard or or sit down and she would meditate, and as the sun would come up, that was her nutrition. That is what she would eat. And and don't get me wrong, you guys do know that being outside, you do absorb vitamin D, right? The sunlight hitting your skin is where we can get vitamins from, and that's why unfortunately kids today have such great vitamin D deficiencies because they don't spend enough time outside, right? Because you don't get it in your room. Now, that being said, though, I tried this one day. I was at work and I worked construction and the sun was coming up and I was hungry, and I went, I want to see if this lady like even felt anything. And so I got out and I stood on a curb, and the sun's coming up, and I like kind of close my eyes, and I'm like, and unlike Superman who gets stronger under a yellow sun, I got absolutely nothing. It didn't feed me. I wasn't more satisfied when I got done. In fact, I would argue I was actually more thirsty because I sweat profusely in a very little bit of heat. And so I went, this is utter garbage. It just left me going, now I'm wanting more than when I even started. Because now I need something to drink. And yet most of us we live our lives in this same kind of pattern.

The Lie Of Earthly Appetites

Josh 4:56

We live our lives being hungry for the wrong things in life. See, because we all search for things, we all try to grab on to things, and we have all believed the lie that if I could just have this. Like if I even if I had the money, which I don't, but if you guys want to give, um I'll take you out for free. But I would be so afraid to do anything on this boat because with that much money, like, would you want to bring a bloody Mahi on deck on that? Like, I I wouldn't. I'd be like, hey, hey, uh-uh, take your shoes off before you get in the boat. Like, like it would be that kind of thing. And even if I had this boat, it wouldn't even be a boat I would use. Because I've never captained a boat that big. I've never I wouldn't even know what to do. I've only been out like in the ocean ocean like twice in my entire lifetime. Like I wouldn't even know where to go. But in my mind, I do believe that if I had this, I would finally be happy. And you could replace that boat with anything that you find in life. Because I get it, not everybody in here is sitting here going, hey, I need a boat and I need to be out fishing. This is why you are miserable, just so you know. However, you can replace it with anything. If I could just find the right spouse, if I could just find the right job, if I could just find the right house, if I could, if my kids would just act right, like if if if this, if this, if this, if this, then I'll be happy. And the Bible has a special way of talking about this. It's called chasing down the wrong things, trying to fill our stomachs. Paul talks about it in Philippians 3. In verse 19, he says, this their end is destruction. Their God is their what? Belly. And they glory in their shame with minds set on what? Earthly things. Here's the thing: the greatest thing here. Anything. For you it may be a car, for me it's a boat, for someone else it may be, I don't, I don't even know what else people search for because my mind kind of just is in that one lane. Piece of equipment. But honestly, how much of our life is set on earthly things? On things that Jesus later on in Matthew are gonna say, rust and the moth devour. Like, again, my boat's my prized possession as I've been working on it all week. You know how many things on it have rusted in just three short years? I mean, everything I touch on there seems to just be like breaking more and more because salt water is so corrosive. And yet, this is what my mind is set on. My mind is so set on it that even in our morning prayer, what was my prayer request? Hey, my boat. See, then you see how easy it is for our minds to set on that. And then we start thinking through it, and then we start focusing on it, and then everything in our life becomes wrapped up in it as we try to fill our stomach and our appetites. And for some of us it may be food, but understand this is metaphorically speaking. And see, and this is how that most of us really live our life. And we wonder why we're constantly behind on everything, and we wonder why we're constantly unhappy, and why we're constantly unsatisfied. I'm not sure if that's a word, dissatisfied. And we wonder why we're constantly miserable. Because what we're hungering for, what we're thirsting for, first of all, is temporary and was never meant to satisfy the eternal. In Ecclesiastes, uh Solomon writes that God has put eternity into the heart of every man. What you're longing for cannot be filled here. I don't care if you go, no, no, no, you don't understand. If my bank account was swollen up, I could be happy. And I and I hear you. And everyone in here believes that, right? Hence why we have the saying, money can't buy. See, we we know it up here, but yet we chase it everywhere, right? Because how much of our lives are tied up in money? How many times a week do you have a conversation with someone where you're complaining about how expensive your last grocery trip was? And how, you know, just five years ago, I hear it from JT all the time. All of a sudden, JT, for whatever reason, is into the housing market and he's trying to explain to me like how what really happened in 2008. And I'm like, really, dude, you were like four months old. Like, you really want to, like, as someone who lived through it, here. It would be like me, like, and I don't know anyone that's old enough, trying to explain the Great Depression and going, oh, you don't get it. Like, here's what actually happened. And they would probably look at me and go, yeah, but as someone who lived through it, here's what actually happened. Because I really don't care what happened in New York on Wall Street, here's how it affected me here. See, and and we set our minds on this and we chase after this, and we live that if I could just mentality. Listen, one of the greatest shows to ever make it to TV was The Lottery Changed My Life. Because what you see is 99% of people who get everything they've ever wanted wind up broke and miserable still. Because you cannot find, we looked at this the other day, or the other day, a couple weeks ago now, you cannot find happiness in the external. Happiness does not come from out here to in here. Happiness comes from in here to out here. Joy and contentment and blessedness, like Jesus is talking about, does not come from the outside, but yet we try to gain satisfaction from everything in the world. And we wonder why this doesn't work. Because we sit here and go, if I could just get the right job, I'll be satisfied. If I could just have the right bank account, I'll be satisfied. If I could just meet the right spouse, I'll be satisfied. If I could just have the right house, the right degree, the right fish, the right vacation, the right kids, the right TV, the right car, then I can be satisfied. And then when we get these things, do we ever get there? Like, regardless of your house, do you ever wake up in the morning and go, thank you, Jesus? I don't live in the woods in a tent? Most of us don't because we just take for granted the fact we have a home. Like, really, think through your past week. When was the last time you thanked Jesus that you got to sleep in a house? There are people that don't. How many of us, like, seriously, take prayer before food seriously? Or is it just like what a habit we get into? Some of us, I'm sure, don't even pray before we eat. Why are we not being gratifying? Why are we not gratified? Thank you, thank you. Going, Jesus, thank you for just providing this food for me. Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread. Because it's a little thing that we overlook until we're hungry, right? And what happens when you're hungry? All of a sudden, food becomes elevated. Some of us, right now, I know you're sitting in here going, I skipped breakfast, and it's really starting to hit me. And what's that cause us to do? Set our mind on food.

Set Your Mind On Jesus

Josh 13:21

And this is why Jesus is sitting here going, hunger and thirst for righteousness. Because when we do that, what does it cause us to set our minds on? Jesus. And when I set my mind on Jesus, big things can happen. See, the problem is, is most of us, our minds are just set on the earthly, on the temporary, on the things I need right now. And if we're honest with ourselves, most of us, our minds are just set on the negative things that are happening in my life. Because if I could just have the negative things stop happening, bless you. Then I'll be happy. How many of us, like when things seem to be snowballing in your life? Things seem to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and you're running into problem after problem after problem after problem. How many of us are still thankful for what we have? And how many of us are sitting here focusing on the snowball that's about to hit us? And listen, it becomes a vicious cycle. Whatever it is you set your mind on, it becomes a vicious cycle. Because the more you start setting your mind on that, the deeper you're gonna go into that, and then the more you're gonna start setting your mind on it. And this is why, after weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, you're sitting here going, I can't do this anymore. You're sitting here going, I can't keep going like this. Everything in my life is just the worst. Because we never stop and go, okay, but what about the good things that are going on? Like what if we focus on that instead of focusing on every single thing in our life that needs to change? Because listen, you don't eat an elephant in one bite, do you? In fact, I hate that saying. Let's let's reword this, okay? You don't eat a manatee in one bite, do you? Let's make it, yes, let's make it more local for Florida. I actually ran in, this has nothing to do with my sermon. At the barbecue in Winter Springs at our competition, we actually ran into someone who claimed they ate a manatee. He said they were delicious. Oh, no, it's not legal, especially here in Florida, they're endangered. Like But see, that's what happens. Jesus sits here and he goes, Blessed are those who seek righteousness. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Because what he's doing is he's flipping our idea of the world upside down. Instead of sitting here and going, I need these earthly things, I need these temporary things, he's sitting here going, No, hunger and thirst for me, and you will be satisfied. Happy, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Christ. You know why? Because he's a fount that never runs dry. And Jesus, when he says hunger and thirst for righteousness, this isn't that same, hey, I skipped lunch today and I'm hungry. Because again, I could skip a meal here and there. And yes, I'll get hungry, my stomach will grow, but it's not like if I miss lunch, all of a sudden I'm going and robbing publics because I just can't wait to eat again. This is that I fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, kind of hunger. This is that I haven't eaten in weeks, kind of hunger. This is that hunger that no matter what, nothing is going to stop me. I'm going to go find food. And I and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, no one in this room has ever actually experienced that kind of hunger. Where you're just sitting here going, you don't understand, like my belly hurts so much. This is what Jesus is talking about. In

Fasting And The First Temptation

Josh 17:17

Matthew 4:4, we see where Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. And what wound up happening? What was the first temptation the devil hits him with? Food. Turn these stones into bread. Use your deity for things that your deity was not given to you for. Make these stones food. Why? Because our physical need. And understand, when Jesus took on flesh, he became just like every single one of us in this room. And his physical needs are elevated at that point. And when your physical needs, okay, anybody in here you ever heard of Maslow? Maslow hierarchy, the pyramid of hierarchy, right? The very bottom of the pyramid that the rest of your life is built on is your physical needs. Because again, if you're hungry, you're not sitting here going, hey, let's have this lofty theological debate. Because the only thing going through your mind is, I need to eat. This is why, honestly, we have the sharing center.

Serving Physical Needs With Love

Josh 18:22

This is why the church comes together and goes, hey, we're gonna feed the community. Because if you want to talk to them about Jesus and they're just sitting here going, hey, all I need is something to eat, they don't care how much God loves them if God is not going to feed them. This is why in Matthew 25, Jesus says, When you did it for the least of these, you did it for me. Because if we want to earn the right to tell people who Jesus is, if we want to earn the right to be able to enter into a conversation with someone and go, hey, the way you're living needs to change, then we need to be able to earn that right. And that the sharing center is one of the easiest ways for us to do that. For us to sit here and go, yes, we love our community. We love you so much that we're willing to spend our money to put our money where your mouth is. That should be the slogan. Here's food. And I'll tell you right now, if you're not serving in that area, it is an area that has been picking up quite a lot lately. I think this month alone we've had more, no, well, not this month, June, so last month, we had more families in June than I think we've had the entire time it's been open. And there's been a lot of conversation that's been able to come from that. And there's been a lot of tears that were shed because of that. Because a lot of these people, when they walk in, they're sitting here going, I had nowhere else to go. I can't believe you guys would do this. And they're ashamed, and they have all of those things that come with going, hey, I need help. And yet they just break down in tears. And that's why we do stuff like that. That's why the church exists. Because we have to fill that physical need before we can get to that spiritual need. Before Jesus preaches to the 5,000, what's he do? He feeds them. He takes two fish and five loaves of bread. And understand it's 5,000 men, so it's probably closer to 20,000 people. And Jesus does the same thing right next door. He takes the little bit we have in there and he stretches it. And he goes, feed them. Because when you feed them, then you can sit there and tell them who I am. And what's more valuable than that? What's more valuable than one person going, I see the Son of God? And what Jesus' response to the devil, when the devil goes, hey, turn these stones into bread, here's that physical need, Jesus goes, man does not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word out of the mouth of God. And some of you in here, you're like, man, I've been hungry before, and I and I started reading the Bible, and I wasn't sitting there going, ooh, I feel fool now. Another thing I'm gonna say, or this is just me taking an educated guess, most of us in here don't fast. Most of us in here don't don't, and when I say fast, I don't mean like you're on that new trend where it's like, oh, I do, what's it called? Intermittent fasting. I'm not talking about that kind. I'm talking about fasting where, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna purposely give up this to seek Jesus. Because every time my stomach growls, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take time and I'm gonna pray. And I'm gonna I'm gonna be with Christ. Because most of us we don't believe that man doesn't live by bread alone. We very much believe that man lives by bread alone. How do we know? Well, look at our lives. What are our lives built around? Anybody? Food. Right? Sustenance. Things. This is what builds our life. I'll tell you right now, here's a day in our life, in our household. What's for breakfast? What are we doing for lunch? We could be eating lunch, and this has happened more than once this week alone, and I go, hey, what are you thinking for dinner tonight? As we're eating lunch. And it's not because, oh, food is so amazing. Most of it is I want to be able to plan and make sure we have what we're going to do. But even then, it's still the same thing. And what Jesus is showing us, and sitting here going, hey, I fasted, I'm hungry, but but man doesn't live by bread alone. Jesus is showing us that deep longing and hunger we have, it can only be filled by Him. You crave the eternal, and therefore the temporary will never fulfill what the eternal means. You sit here and go, there's more. Anybody in here? You went to a buffet, bless you. You went to why is everyone sneezing on this side of the room? We're gonna come over here. We're coming over here. I'm not trying to get sick. We sit here and go. Anybody in here ever you ever been to a buffet?

unknown 23:33

Yes.

Josh 23:34

Right? They're coming far and few between now, aren't they? Like it ain't like it used to be. However, anyone in here, you like me, and you left the buffet, you had to like loosen up the belt, maybe undo the pants. Maybe you were smart enough to wear sweatpants when you went. Oh, okay, so it's just me. Cool. I'm game for it. But the next morning, were you still hungry?

unknown 23:58

Yes.

Josh 23:59

Yeah. You went home, you evacuated your body, and then you took a shower and went to bed, and the next morning you were like, what's for breakfast? And that's what when we set our minds on the things of here, that's what we see. But Jesus, on the other hand, he's showing us this tenacity. He's sitting here going, it's not just food, it's not just the things of here that I need to be filled. He's sitting here going, it's the word of God. And that is the tenacity we should have when it comes to seeking Jesus' righteousness. Because again, think if you went 40 days and 40 nights without eating, what would stop you from eating? At that point, when it's like, okay, the fast is done, I can eat now. What's gonna stop you? You guys that are like me in here and you're sitting here going, yeah, I get starving. What stops you? What do you do when it's like, I am starving and I need to eat? If food is the object of your hunger, how do you find it? Is that a truck question? Where? You seek, you look for, where guys, where do you go? You go to the store. You go to Publix, or Aldi or where at Walmart or wherever it is you get your groceries from, right? And you go, hey, I want this. And so you get your little buggy or cart, because we're not in England, although, whatever, and you start putting food in it. And then you go up to the little, now it's self-checkout. It used to be these things called cashiers for you young people in here, where they literally paid someone to ring your stuff up and make conversation that you never wanted to have. And then you make you pay for it, you go home, and then you make food. Some of you, you may be like, and I'm not gonna call anyone's name out in here, but someone I go grocery shopping with a lot, they buy food, like, and it comes in a package, and they open it up in the grocery store, and they start eating as we're in the grocery store, and they go, it's fine, we're gonna pay for it. And I'm like, that's stealing. Like, you haven't paid for that yet.

unknown 26:09

That's not stealing.

Josh 26:11

You gave yourself away.

unknown 26:13

100%.

Josh 26:15

And I sit here and I go, like, some of us, that's what we do, right? We go to the grocery store. What if, what if it and maybe your family works a little bit like mine, and you're like, well, I'm tired of eating the same things every night. What do you do? You change it. How do you change? How do you know what to change? YouTube is an amazing thing, right? Like TikTok, like whatever it is you use. I'll tell you right now, Joe's cooked some amazing like things for lunches during barbecues that he was like, hey, I saw a video for this this week. We're good, we're just gonna give it a try. And he made this like candied bacon with jalapenos and red pepper like on it, like, and it was like, man, this is delicious. Where did where did you learn how to make this? And he's like, saw a video for it. Does your tummy need a timeout? Like, you know, and we go. And see, and we have no problem going and finding new recipes. What about like some of you like you remember like growing up that one dish? And so you pick up the phone and you're like, hey mom, or hey dad. That one thing you used to make. Chicken spaghetti. How do you make that? Like, how'd you do that? Like, what do you add to it? Saturday Night Chicken. Mmm. What all was in it? And and and you ask. You read blogs, right? You go on food blogs and you're like, oh, that sounds good. Let me try that. Okay, here's the list. Like, here's all of the ingredients I need. Now I'm gonna go back to the store. You listen to podcast. I've I've run out of time of how many times Debbie has come to me and been like, hey, I was listening to this podcast, and this guy said we should never eat whatever the new food is, because now it's terrible for me. Because it does this and this and this, and I'm like, but it tastes delicious. Let's go. We do all of these things to figure it out. And what would happen? Because

Practical Ways To Seek Righteousness

Josh 28:15

the rightful question should be how how do I seek? If I'm hungry and thirsty for Jesus, how do I seek that? Well, if I replaced food with Jesus in our little experiment there, what would we do? Well, if I want to find food, I have to go to the store. If I want to find Jesus, this is a good place to do it, right? You you make it a point to be at service. You go, no, I can't just miss service because the World Cup is on. No, I'm not gonna forsake the assembly as Hebrews would say, because I had a late Saturday night. I had a late Saturday night last night. Y'all watch Conor McGregor's amazing return to UFC? All three seconds of it? Dude threw one kick and was done. Blew out his knee. Because when you get to be our age, you don't need to be jumping in the cage with people, right? You don't take five years off and go, hey, I'm gonna go compete at the elite level now. But see, it's not, I had a late last night, so I can't make it to service. It's not, well, I mean, it, and and I'm not worried about it now because it's July. So the next two months here in Florida, I mean, it ain't gonna be, oh, the weather was perfect. It's hot. Like you could, you we're out when we fish, we're out before the sun comes up, and it's still hot. Like, you're still sweating. And then next thing you know, you see that little light break over the horizon, and you're like, oh, here it comes. Time to head home. But you make it a point to be at service. And just like you would look up recipes to find for food that you've never tasted, you would read the Bible. Because, see, if you're hunger and you're thirsting for righteousness, how do you know what righteousness is? God gave us his word. He went, hey, here is everything you could possibly want to know about me. Here. And again, it's not, hey, here's the magic spell, right? I don't know what the name of a book is. Like, I don't, I'm not into all of that kind of movies, but I'm sure there's a book in Harry Potter that has spells in it. It's not that. It is literally God sitting here going, I want you to know me, so here. Here's everything you could possibly know about me. This is why anytime you come talk to me about something, what is my first question to you? But what does the Bible say? Because I don't care what some TikTok pastor said. I don't care what that your favorite pastor that you listen to, that's not me, said. I don't care what you're sharing that week because this short was just so amazing. What does the Bible actually say? What do God's own words actually say? So we we we come to service, we read the Bible, we watch videos about Jesus. How many of us, like you spend time on TikTok and YouTube and Disney, well, hopefully not Disney Plus, but I don't know, Disney, whatever. We'll come back to that later. Netflix, Facebook, like you spend time on all these things, right? I will tell you, like, if I'm planning a fishing trip, I'm gonna spend time researching. I'm gonna spend time going, what's the tide look like? What way is the wind blowing in? Should I expect thunderstorms? Like, I need to know all of these things, right? I may even go through and read other people and see what they've caught, what they'd catch it on, where did they catch it? Like, I am that guy that looks at the background of your picture. I don't even care about the fish you're like holding. Because I am familiar enough with the northern end of Mosquito Lagoon that if you put up a picture of a mangrove line, I'm pretty good at going, I know exactly where that is. And see, but how many of us we spend that same amount of time hungering for Jesus? How many of us do we spend that same amount of time going, hey, these are the podcasts I'm gonna listen to? These are the YouTube videos I'm gonna watch. This is what I'm gonna follow. And and I keep saying TikTok, get off of TikTok, first of all. If you hunger and thirst for Jesus, you should not be on TikTok. Okay, let's go with that first. Because listen, you cannot understand a deep theological context in a minute or less video. I don't even care. I know YouTube Shorts is up to like three minutes now. Guess what? You're still not gonna understand Jesus in a three-minute clip. I hate going through and making clips in my sermons. Because I sit here and go, I'm taking this one little thing out here. But if you didn't get this and you didn't get this, guess what? This one little thing, it may sound cool online, but it really isn't driving you to the cross. We read books. How many of us in here actually read books? I know you do. My mom, every Christmas, every birthday, and every Mother's Day gets an Apple like gift card just so she can buy book after book after book. I remember growing up, like she it was the most amazing thing to see. I have seen my mom start a book in the morning and then have to go buy another book in the evening in the evening. And when I say books, I'm not talking about like my kind of books, you know, that are actually called magazines. I'm talking about like books. And it was like, what? I tried to get her, I remember like when I was younger, I would try to get her to like read a book for me and then we could have a conversation about it so I could write my book report. It never worked, and neither did Cliff Notes, but just take my C and move on. But I go, how many of us do that? How many of us are carving time out of our schedule to go, hey, I'm gonna read this book? This is why we have a library back here. This is why I went, hey, take a book, go home and read it. Take notes, don't mark up the book, and then bring the book back for someone else to take it home and read. Because I went, I'm telling you, the books that are back here, not so much the new ones, because I haven't read those, but the ones we started with, those were books that I'm that made a profound impact in my life. And some of them, yeah, are a little harder to read than others. And when they're harder to read, guess what you should be doing? What? Asking questions. This is why I don't care when people interrupt me while I am preaching, because I would rather you go, hey, real quick, what you just said, can you clarify that for me? Because this isn't meant to be a monologue. You aren't meant to be a consumer. This is not, I'm gonna stand up here and entertain you for 30 to 45 minutes, or lately it's been like 55 to an hour. My bad. Just have a lot to say. That's not what this is supposed to be. You are supposed to be leaving here going, hey, I have things now throughout the week that I need to be working on. So if you grab the book and you're like, hey, I was reading this book and I came across this, can we sit down and talk about this? A hundred percent yes. Anyone in here who has ever done that, do I ever go, no, no, that's not interesting enough for me to sit down and talk about? Or do I actually talk to you longer than you thought the conversation was gonna go because you didn't think the question was that like confusing? And I'm like, yeah, but you gotta understand this too. And you gotta understand this too, and this over here, this plays into this too. Because the whole point is that we leave here, you hear it in my prayer every week, looking more like Jesus when you leave than when you came in. Because otherwise, you are literally just wasting your time. And there are so many better things you could have done this morning. Like sleep, go fish, not the card game, actual fishing. Make breakfast. Like there's a million things I could come up with. If your point and your goal is not to look more like Jesus, this is why we have a challenge every single week. Because I go, if you're not changing, then you are not going through the process of sanctification, which is a lifelong process of looking more like Jesus. And understand, it's lifelong because you will never get there this side of glory. Should you be closer today than you were yesterday? 100%. But are you going to fully get there? No. And if you go, yes, I can, work on humility. That's the gift right there. Because listen

Living Water And Deeper Relationship

Josh 36:56

to how Jesus describes this water that we should be thirsting for. In John 4.13, Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. Does anybody know who Jesus is talking about right here? The woman at the well in Samaria, right? And there's a lot we could go into. I've done a whole sermon series off of this. However, he's sitting here, this lady looks at the well that they're sitting in front of in this hot afternoon, and she goes, Our father dug this well. Our father Jacob dug this well. And Jesus looks at her and he's using everyday things. This is a whole nother message I could do. Everyday things, and Jesus starts this gospel conversation with her, and he goes, Yep, you're right. And whoever drinks that water, they're gonna be thirsty again. Just like every solution you've come up to in your life for every problem you've thought about in your life, you've had to come up with another solution. Why? Because you're always gonna thirst again. It's never gonna fully satisfy. And then Jesus goes on, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him what? A spring of water welling up to eternal life. Anybody in here you spend time at the springs? One of my favorite things is to like swim right over like the head, and like you don't even have to swim anymore because like the water's just pushing you up. Feels so cool when you start to like dive down into the like the boils, because then like you could feel the immense amount of water. I mean, you were talking about millions and millions on in Blue Springs of gallons of water a day, and it just never runs dry. And Jesus, he's foreshadowing what we see in Revelation. When we see the new heaven and the new earth and this river flowing from it, Ezekiel had the same vision. He saw the temple, and from the temple there was just like this little trickle of water. And then it turns into this raging river. See, when you first come to know Jesus, it's that little trickle. You you got this idea. But the longer you do this, the more it should be coming like a raging river where you just have this stuff welling up. Because the longer you do this, the more in love with Christ you should be. I don't know about you and how your relationships work, but I'm telling you, after 22, 25 years of being with Debbie, I love her more today than I did when I went. Yes, I'll take care of her, I guess. Why? Because I've got to know her. We've experienced things together, we've grown deeper together, we've had to lean on each other through a lot. And so now I can look at her and I can go, not only like do I think you're hot, but you're my best friend. You're the first one I'm gonna go to outside of my mom.

unknown 39:59

Love you, Jesus.

Josh 40:04

And I'm gonna sit here and love her more and more and more. Your relationship with Jesus should look the same. Because when you first meet him, he's just filling this one need: your need for eternal life. But then the longer you walk with him, the more you should be sitting here going, I want more of him. You can ask any one of my kids after service what their biggest complaint about me and Debbie is. It is what?

unknown 40:33

You guys talk too much.

Josh 40:35

You guys just talk. Yeah, she's my favorite, second favorite person to talk to, mom. It's hard preaching when you got your wife and your mom in the room. Because one of them are gonna get their feelings hurt. Both of them. Now, that being said, is that how we treat our relationship with Jesus? Like, would anyone look at your relationship with Christ and go, you talk to him too much? You look for him too much? You read him too much? You have a relationship with him too much? You watch too it used to be a joke we used to have years ago. If I wanted people to leave my house, all I would do is open up YouTube and put on a sermon. And I'm telling you, you'd be you'd be shocked at how many people all of a sudden clear out of the house. Oh, alright, it's getting late, I gotta go. Okay. And I go, and then we've had people that are like, is this all you watch? And I'm like, for the most part. Why? Because I had this hunger. I went, man, I just need more of this. So let me ask you, because this is the first challenge we're gonna get to here, are you hungry and thirsty for Jesus? Or if you're honest with yourself, is this all the Jesus you're getting this week? Is this it? Because if it is, and I need you guys to be honest, because I have no problem going, okay, we're gonna stretch this one out then. We can be here until six. Like, we have the building now. We don't have to be out of here at a certain time anymore. I'm I'm all for it. David Platt used to do 12-hour sermons. I think I can rise to that challenge. There's cookies over there, you guys are more than welcome. But is this all the Jesus you're gonna get this week? Because for some of us it is. And if you're honest with yourself, that that's a terrible thing. Because if I only talked to Debbie for an hour a week, our relationship would not be very strong. We would really have two separate lives. And that's how most Christians' walk with Christ is. Is you have this one life where it's perfect and everything's great, and you're blessed and highly favored, and then you have Monday through Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Because for most Christians, this is just a part of our walk with Jesus. How is that hungering and thirsting for him? Really? That's not. That's a habit I have. Where I feel like I have to go. Because if I don't, like, I don't know, maybe Jesus takes attendance, and when I get to heaven, he's gonna be like, you weren't there, you know, 80% of the time, so I can't be here 100% of the time now. Isn't that what it is for schools? Can I do 80% of the 180 days? See, think about it are the things you eat and drink during the week. Jesus? Or are they really just filler food? And for those of you that don't know what filler food is, here it is. You ready? Waffle House, McDonald's, Five Guys Subway, Public Subs, like those things that really just they're gonna get me through to the next meal. In fact, just the other day we went to Five Guys, and as we're getting out of the car, I went, hey, you don't need to order a lot. This is just to get us to dinner. It was a late lunch. And everyone in the family understood that except for JT. And he still late dinner. I was very proud of him. But again, is it just filler food throughout your week? Is it just these little escapes that I need to run to? What's the latest conspiracy theory? What's the latest thing? Oh, let me just doom scroll my algorithm. It knows what I like. And it does. It knows everything about you. It knows you far more than you know yourself. Which is why you just seem to really click with these videos. How often do you find yourself pushing more into Jesus? And how often do you find yourself just trying to kill time? Like, how often are we actually going, hey, you know what? I need to deepen this relationship. And how often am I like, Jesus, I'll think about them again Sunday when I get back there? Maybe Saturday night, because sometimes you'll plan your Saturday night because of your Sunday morning. Let me tell you how Moses told the Israelites this should go. In Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 9, we have what's called the Shema. This would have been something they would have said every morning as they woke up. And at the end, Moses says, And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. Diligent means more than just like talking, right? It's deep. You should teach them diligently to your children. And you shall talk of them when? When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on your doorpost of your house and on your gates. When should you talk about Jesus? All the time. When should you seek Jesus? All the time. When should you be filling your mind with Jesus? All the time. The problem is, is we don't. The problem is we have these little g gods that we hunger and thirst for more than we hunger and thirst for Jesus. But here's the thing: Jesus says if you hunger and thirst for his righteousness, you will be satisfied. Some of us, have you ever read that that one verse? And all of a sudden, after 30 years of walking with Christ, you went, Oh, I actually see that now. That actually clicked for me now. I've had conversations with elderly people. And in the conversation, they go, I've never seen it like that. I never thought of it like that. There are times that that I sit here and I go, like, I read a new book and it was like, whoa, like, I've been doing this a long time. And I study a lot. And I go, man, I never even. I'll tell you right now, a couple weeks ago when we first started the Beatitudes, that was the first time I ever knew that the word blessed it meant happy. It was a word I've used in church I don't know how many times. But it's just one of those Christian words that we say. And for those of you that don't realize this, because I'll tell a little tidbit about me, I am not a person who is easily satisfied. Like the great theologian Tim McGraw wrote this song called The Cowboy and Me. And the first time Debbie heard it, she liked texted me and she was like, Oh my God, this is your song. And he has one line in there in which he says, The me that's never satisfied. And she went, That is you to a T. And in certain things, it's a great thing, right? Because it constantly pushes you forward. For your wife, it can be a very heavy thing because no matter what she does, I'm never going to be satisfied with it. But the same is true for myself. However, there have been times when I'm sitting there and I'm prayer, you know, prepping for my sermon, and it just sits right. And I'm listening to music and I'm reading through scripture and I'm reading all of these other dead people who have come before me, and how they viewed this and how this has been taught through church history and how all of this stuff interconnects. And I go, man, this world just makes sense. This is where it is. And this is what Jesus is talking about when you get to that deep concept that's never made sense. And all of a sudden it does. And the Spirit just illuminates that in us. Or maybe it's that thing that you've been struggling with, and you just never seem to be able to break that chain. And all of a sudden, those chains fall, and you weren't even struggling to get out. But Jesus just went, nah, I got you. See, when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, this is when we get to that point where we hear, Well done, good and faithful servant. You sought me. In James 4.8, and it's not going to be up on screen, the Bible tells us this: draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. See, when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus becomes your prize. There's a parable that Jesus says in Matthew about a man who found a great treasure in a field. And so he buries the treasure. He goes and sells everything he owns, so he buys the field because he knows that treasure is now going to be his. How many of us look at Jesus as that treasure? Or how many of us look at Jesus and go, it's just what I can get from him? But see, Jesus should be our reward. Just like when I do things for Debbie, she is my reward. And I don't mean that in a chauvinistic way. But I don't have a problem cooking and cleaning for her. Because then I get to see her smile. Then I get to hear, oh, this food is so good. Because when Debbie cooks, it's kind of like, I mean, we ate dinner. There's no passion with it anymore. She used to make amazing garnachas and empanados, and we haven't had those in years. Your mind literally transforms and you understand. And Jesus no longer competes with the world for your attention. So you this hunger, just like the vicious cycle, when I set my mind on this and I seek this, fulfills and leads me where? Right back to Jesus. And it becomes something I just want more and more and more of.

The 20-Minute Daily Challenge

Josh 51:32

So as we close this morning, are you hungry? Are you sitting here going, I need more Jesus in my life? Well, the Bible already tells us those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be satisfied. So here's our challenge this week. Every single day this week, take 20 minutes out of your day. Carve 20 minutes out of, I'm sure, your hectic and busy day that you never have any downtime for. And go, I'm gonna hunger and I'm gonna thirst for Jesus now. I'm gonna hunger for Jesus. I'm gonna read the Bible. I'm gonna watch videos. I'm gonna listen to a podcast. I'll give you a hint. If you head over to missionscent.org and go to Mission Media, all of that stuff exists right there. And if you run through all of that, let me know. Because I have no problem going, oh, here, here's more videos you can watch, here's more podcasts you can listen to. Here's like people who actually know what they're talking about, not just some like person with a camera on a YouTube channel. Because understand, not everyone who preaches Jesus is talking about the same Jesus. But do it every single day. And then next Saturday night, sit down and write how your habits have started shifting. It's gonna be awkward at first, and you're gonna have to force yourself to do some of this stuff. Because you already have routines built in your life. But as you start to force yourself into that, as you start to fight those other things competing for your attention, and you start to focus more on Jesus, those habits become more easily attainable. And eventually what you're gonna see is 20 minutes just isn't enough. It'll go up to 30 and 50 in uh in two hours because you'll start to hunger and thirst for righteousness. And as always, if you need to, oh, so Saturday, write them down. And then Sunday bring them in. And let's pin it to our amazing grace wall. You guys see how much all of that stuff is growing? And hopefully that wasn't just like, you know, because you see this with kids a lot, right? I learned my spelling words this week. I took my test. Do I need to remember those spelling words? Test is done. I'm right. I'll move on to next week's spelling words. This is why I can't spell today, by the way. I can spell the word today, but I can't, like today, like present time. It's T-W-O-D-A-Y, right? But see, we continually build and continually build, and we change one thing a week, and at the end of the year, it's 52 things we've changed. You think you're a different person at that point? Absolutely. If you're changing the right things for the right way, you think you look more like Jesus at that point? Absolutely. And I guarantee you will be more satisfied and happy.

Final Prayer And Keep Going

Josh 54:37

So, Father, I ask and I pray that as we move from this moment, that God, we do so, hungering and thirsting for you. That we do so going, hey, I need to fill more Jesus in here. I need to set my mind on more Jesus, I need to stop looking at the here and now, and I need to start looking at the throne that you sit on. Father, we thank you for calling us to yourself, for wooing us to yourself. And I just ask and I pray, God, that as our relationship continue to grow, that we mature into believers that need meat instead of milk. And I pray, God, that we just dive deeper and we hunger and we thirst for righteousness for you. I pray that you become our reward. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.