Fulfilling the Christian Calling

The basic thing is, that's the thing about leaving him a little water, but you can't make him to drink. If he's not thirsty, forget it. Forget it. Because all you're going to do is have an exercise in futility. And I guess you could force his nose down in the water, but all you're going to do is drown him. Have you ever tried to feed someone who is not hungry? Have you ever seen somebody sit down at the table? It might have been your kid. And you had a bountiful meal made. I mean, you'd spent a tremendous amount of time in the kitchen, really prepared a wonderful meal. But the person sitting there is not hungry. And they pick at their food, and they move it around, and they shift it, and they pick at it, and they kind of nibble at it.

Well, if you tried to feed your child when they weren't hungry at all, and wouldn't eat, and you knew they needed to eat, and you kept trying to get them to eat, whoever it is, it's a very frustrating experience, isn't it? Force feeding someone with no appetite just doesn't seem worth it. And usually, after a while, you give up on it. Matthew 5, verse 6. Matthew 5, verse 6. Blessed are they which do hunger, and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the hungry and the thirsty. They that have an appetite for it, for they shall be filled, because appetite is a motivator. Now, when our kids were growing up, same as when I was a kid growing up, Mom, how much longer is it going to be until we can eat? I am starving! Now, you weren't starving, but you felt like you were. You were hungry. And it's like, okay, well, if you'll get out of the kitchen and leave me alone, it'll be ready sooner. Because there's such a vast difference when there's appetite, and they're hungry, and they're thirsty. See, feeding the hungry is a very successful, productive activity, because it's automatic that they will be filled. You don't have to prompt. You don't have to push. You don't have to cajole. You don't have to coax. You don't have to bribe. Well, if you'll eat your food, you can have some ice cream later. If you'll eat your food, then we'll do this for you. When you are hungry, you pursue what you are hungry for. And that's an interesting thing, too. Have you ever had a physical hunger for something, and you didn't know quite what it was, but you felt a craving? And what am I craving? And you open the fridge door, and you look at everything. No, that's not it. That's not it. That's not it. But you finally figure out what it is you want, and you eat that, and it satisfies that particular craving. How we do pursue, though, just in general, how we do pursue physical food and drink. And for me, for most of us, one of the things I'm very thankful for is I still have a great appetite. And I can eat full meals. I don't have to nibble on stuff all through the day here and there, five or six little tiny meals. I can eat a full meal. I'm blessed with that after my surgery and all. But when you're hungry, you pursue what you're hungry for. And generally, we don't have any problem pursuing physical food and drink, do we? So here's the question. How's your appetite for the righteousness of God? Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst who have appetite for righteousness. The righteousness of God. Do we really hunger for that righteousness? Do we thirst for it? Are we really hungry and thirsty for it?

Because if we are, we're going to grow in it. And what happens when you grow in it? Eventually, you're filled with it. That's why it says they shall be filled. Well, guess what? The opposite just is true. If you're not hungry and you're not thirsty for God's righteousness, you won't be filled with it. You won't be partaking of it. We'll come to no fruition.

So again, how's your appetite? Do you have an appetite? Are you hungry and thirsty? You have to notate that for yourself. Here's the problem with not being hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Here's the bottom line problem. You cannot fulfill your Christian calling without it. It's not possible. It's impossible. I knew a member in the church, a long-time member, who said, I have no interest in reading the Bible.

And that person gave a sad commentary. When that person said, I have no interest in reading the Bible. The Word of God, they can't be broken. That tells us about righteousness. That person was saying, and could have used the words, I have no appetite for the Word of God. And I won't detail out anything else other than to say, that person was not being filled with the righteousness of God. I knew the situation enough to know that that person was failing. That fulfilling the Christian calling wasn't occurring in that person. No, that is so bottom line. Because without it, you cannot fulfill your Christian calling.

Because without the righteousness of God, you can never be Christ-like. Christ is the fullness of God. He's the fullness of the Godhead. He's the fullness of the righteousness of God. And we can never be Christ-like without that hunger and that thirst, that appetite. People don't pursue what they have no appetite for. Try to get them to pursue that which they have no appetite for.

That's why in fulfilling the Christian calling that God has called us to, somehow, someway, along the way, we have to develop a true, bonafide appetite for the righteousness of God. And when it's developed, we have to make sure we never lose it. Because we don't pursue what we have no appetite for. And we don't become filled with what we don't eat and drink. It's that simple. So Matthew 5 and verse 6 is absolutely essential for the true Christian. For the individual on a personal mission to become Christ-like. See, I didn't do an account of how many of us are in here, but I do know this. Each one of us who responds to God's calling is on a personal, personal mission to become Christ-like.

And one person's appetite cannot stand in for another. If one person has no appetite and another person is just loaded with appetite, the person loaded with appetite can't say, look, I'll stand alongside you and by some process of osmosis, some of my appetite will automatically spill over to you, and then you'll be hungry for the righteousness of God.

Now, we can be a positive influence to people. An asset, or we can be a negative influence, we can be a liability. Yes, I understand that. But there has to be personal appetite. And that's why it is so strongly included in this specific set of instructions. Here, in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we have a specific set of instructions defining the Christian calling. Because that's what Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is about, the Christian calling.

And that's what God calls us to. When He calls us, what He's calling us to is what we could call the Christian calling, which is laid out here in these three chapters. It's a how-to. If somebody said, well, okay, what's God calling me to? What is He looking for? What is the criteria? What are the instructions? How do I know if I'm fulfilling my calling or not? Well, really do a study of Matthew 5, 6, and 7, because this is where the how-to on how to become like Christ and take on His righteousness. This is where you find the most condensed and yet thorough, concise and yet thorough outline of that. So again, I go back to that question, how's your appetite?

Because it's crucial to you fulfilling your Christian calling. So obviously, you already know that this is another one in the series that I'm giving, titled, Fulfilling Your Christian Calling. And this is part 2.

Fulfilling Your Christian Calling, part 2.

Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is a specific set of scriptures detailing this calling, and it gives a point-by-point definition.

Okay, you take what's laid out here just in verses 3 through 9, for instance.

Can we say, well, I will take this one on.

I will try to take this one on, but I won't take that one on.

I'll do 50% of them, or, no, I'll do a third of them, or, no, one's good enough.

Of course, it would kind of be hard to do one truly thoroughly, and it not pull the others into play, because these all interrelate, and they mutually support each other if you really think about them to their depth.

There's overlap, there's intertwining, there's blending.

But it's a point-by-point.

Let's go to that first one.

Verse 3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, just as far as a little recap from two weeks ago, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who see they have need, and they go about, because they see they have need, they go about addressing that need, they go about attending to it, those who are poor in spirit and remain poor in spirit.

I was a runner in college, primarily cross-country.

There's what's called slow twitch muscle and fast twitch.

Sprinters, top sprinters, are primarily fast twitch. They have fast twitch muscle.

Distance runners, for the most part, I'm talking about top-notch distance runners, have slow twitch. Those who can sprint and run cross-country distances, count up a blend of the two, have a blend of the slow twitch, fast twitch. I had the blend of slow twitch, fast twitch. I was a fast sprinter. I wasn't fast enough to win, but I was fast, and I was a good distance runner, and I wasn't good enough to win when I say get number one, but I could place.

Every runner knows how you come out of the blocks or how you start off is crucial, but that's not the end of the race. You've got a race to run. If it's a sprint, it's pretty quick.

If it's distance, obviously it's going to take a while, but a person doesn't come out of the blocks and knows that he has a great coming out of the blocks. Start, and then pull up and say, well, I really started off great as he looks at the backs of everybody in front of him, fading away in the distance. Sorry, Charlie, no laurels for you. No spiritual laurels either for us starting off poor in spirit if we don't remain poor in spirit.

Go through the years. You have these opportunities. You make these growths.

You have these responsibilities. And then one day something's happening to you that maybe it snuck up on you, but it's still deadly. You begin to get vain and you begin to get proud and you begin to lose your poor in spirit. And as I said, pride is the great destroyer.

Know it's those who are poor in spirit and who remain poor in spirit who never outgrow their need, who never outgrow their need for the truth. There are people who leave the truth, but if you ask them, have you left the truth, they say, no, I've just come to greater truth.

You haven't left the truth. You gave this up and you gave that up. Yeah, but that wasn't necessary. I have greater truth now. I've had to deal with some of those.

They outgrow their need for the church. Why aren't you in assembly when you can be?

Because there are reasons why people can't be. But when you can be, it's within your power and you're not. Why aren't you? Well, I don't need that. Me and God assemble together, not just every Sabbath in my own privacy, but we assemble together every day of the week so it doesn't matter. I don't need the church. I don't need a body of people to meet with.

They outgrow their need for the ministry. I don't need a pastor. I don't need elders. I don't need guides. I just don't need that. I've grown to a point where I don't need that. Or ministry that doesn't need the ministry. Ministry that doesn't need the ministry. I don't need to be set in the midst of checks and balances. I don't need to be set in the midst of a multitude of counselors. I don't need fellow ministers that will call my hand if I preach something I shouldn't, because me and the Lord. God inspires me. And I know what I'm supposed to speak, and maybe God hasn't given them to see that, and they're going to try to correct me on truth that I have that I know God's given me. Oh, we deal with those too. Independence. They outgrow their need for the truth, the church, the ministry. And in a very true sense, in a way that they don't really realize it, they outgrow their need for God, really. They don't realize that that's what they're doing.

And then you look at verse 4. Blessed are they that mourn. That mourn. Because of your poor in spirit, it's easier to mourn. But also, if you're one that hasn't generally mourned, you're going to learn how. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. They that mourn. Those that can feel with others. Those that can feel for others. You know, there's this famous picture. I don't remember if his life magazine, I think it was a life magazine photographer that just happened to capture this picture.

People were starving, and I believe it was Somalia, if I remember my facts properly.

And this photographer saw this little child all bowed over, down on the ground, just sitting there hunched, all bowed over because he was starving to death.

And just a few feet behind him, set a vulture, just waiting for death.

And the photographer took that picture, and it's one of the classic famous photographs that's been taken in our day and time.

And you see that picture, and you don't have to be part of God's call to ache and to hurt.

For all that portrays, for a world that has so much tragedy and sadness to deal with, they that mourn, those that feel with and for others, that can feel for brothers and sisters when they're hurting and they're in pain, those that can grieve for the atrocities that are done.

You know, what people suffer because of the atrocities of their leaders.

It's just like what Hamas did. They don't care about anybody that's Jewish.

They don't care about their fellow Palestinians.

They care about bloodlust and satisfying their hatred and whatever the casualties are. They would not allow, to the best that they could stop them, their fellow Palestinians to leave Gaza. They tried to keep them there as human shields. They don't care.

But do you grieve, and do I grieve, for the atrocities that we see being done in this world? And that mourning, as I covered it two weeks ago, mourning, which entails also that kind of aching and that yearning for a better day. That better day is coming. And the better day is coming. 2024 will come.

And the years will keep clicking along until the time of the Great Tribulation, and then the Day of the Lord during that time, that last year, and that seventh trumpet eventually, and Christ coming back, and all of a sudden a better day will begin. And there will be some, it probably won't be all, of those that are currently part of the Church of God because that's just sadly the realities. But there will be those of the Church of God who have been faithful with God, who will either come out of the grave, or if they're still on their feet, will be changed to rise into the air, because they're not mortal anymore.

And they'll meet the returning Christ, and they'll be with Him when He comes on down to this earth and literally begins to rule this planet. They that mourn, they shall be comforted because they're going to wind up being spirit beings with Christ who are going to be able to bring comfort to this world.

And they're going to be comforted because what they have ached and yearned for, that better day, they're now part of it. And the meek, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, the meek. And as I said two weeks ago, I believe I said this, one person told me one time, said, I saw the poor in spirit, and then I saw the meek, and I thought, well, that's the same thing, so why is it mentioned twice?

And it's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. The poor in spirit, which is where it starts and begins, is seeing that you have need and yielding to the fulfilling of that need. And meek here is connected with power, inherit the earth, rulership of the earth. And the meek here, as we went through and explained, has to do with mildness, gentleness. Those of a soothing nature. A soothing nature. Not a weak nature, but a soothing nature, mild and gentle.

You know, there are men that could put a velvet glove on their hand. And you touch the hand with the velvet glove on, and the glove is soft. It's a soft touch. And you shake hands with them, with that velvet glove on, and it's a soft feel. It belies the strength that's inside that glove, because it's a soft touch. But if they need to squeeze down with that hand, the strength starts coming through. And that's the way Christ is, a soothing disposition. Powerful strength behind it. Same with every resurrected son or daughter of God at that time. But all of us are a soothing nature, whom Christ will choose to assist Him with power and rulership over this earth.

And then, of course, as we're dealing with right now, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Those with strong, healthy appetite, who have pursued the righteousness of God and fed on it, and because they fed on it, they have become full. In my personal ministry that God gave me over half a century ago, I have made a mistake, which I feel is probably common to every minister at one time or another.

That mistake has been, over that period of time, I have found myself trying to force people to eat who are not hungry. Probably every true shepherd who has a shepherd's heart, probably has been probably at one time or another guilty of that. Trying to force people to eat who are not hungry, trying to force people to drink who are not thirsty. I have to admit, and it's just part of my record, and God knows it, I have chased people who had no appetite. I have no way of counting up how many hours or days, how much time would have been invested in chasing after people who had no appetite.

If God kept record of that, only God truly knows. But I know that I did a lot of it. I'll just put it that way. People who either never truly had any to begin with, or who starve themselves spiritually until it shuts down. That's an interesting thing about appetite. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Have you ever noticed that? We're made to where our stomachs can expand. When I asked the surgeon, how much of my stomach did you have to take out, he said only 15%.

So, I still had 85% of my stomach. Now, that trigger that's in the stomach, I say it's in the stomach, it's nerve, it's a nerve or whatever. When you start eating, it's going to take at least 20 minutes before your stomach can signal your brain, or your brain can signal your stomach or however it works back and forth, that you're full. So, at 20 minutes, I get no signal. At 30 minutes, I get no signal. Whenever I tell myself, oh boy, that's enough, you know, there's more food later, you can call it quips right now, I'm still getting no signals.

So, I accuse him of having cut out the part of the stomach that was involved in the signaling, whatever it is, however it is. But in general, appetite is such that the more you tend to exercise it, the stronger it gets, but then the reverse is also just as true. The more you neglect your appetite, the weaker it grows, the more it starts shutting down.

And just like the stomach, if you eat more, it can stretch, and it can be where you need more and more. But then on the other hand, if you eat less and less, it'll tend to shrink, and you can get by with less and less. But the more it's neglected, the weaker it grows and can start shutting down.

I think we're all familiar with the fact that when a person who was lost in the wilderness and they were starving to death, and they'd been out there quite a while, and maybe they could get water, but they were starving to death, and when they're found, that very little food is given to them, initially, because that whole mechanism has declined and diminished and shut down to a degree, that it can be very unhealthy and even dangerous to give them too much, to eat too soon.

Because that mechanism has to be reactivated to a degree. It's got to kind of come up to par. And the same thing when a person has almost died of thirst. Yeah, they've got to have water, but you just can't give them water and let them just gulp it down. You've got to feed it to them slowly and let their body, once again, kind of adjust and come up to par.

But the entire appetite-making-ism can completely and totally shut down. And when a person gets to a certain point of starvation, it does completely and totally shut down. And doesn't operate at all. It no longer works. The person no longer feels hunger. People who have gotten hypothermia, people who were literally freezing to death, and if they'd just been a little more time with them, they would have died, who have been rescued.

We'll talk about how they got to a point. They're freezing to death. And they get to a point to where they no longer feel cold. And they actually can have a certain sensation of warmth, even though there's no warmth. And they're in the process of becoming frozen. But the making-ism that tells them they're cold shuts down completely. And they lose all feeling of coldness. Like I said, maybe even a sensation of warmth, even as they're about to turn to a chunk of ice. Interesting how that works.

So anyhow, a number of years ago, I came to a certain resolution as a minister. I'm no longer going to make any effort at force-feeding. I don't force-feed. There's no redeeming value in it. I'm not going to chase and waste, or there's no appetite. Because it's just chasing and wasting, or there's no appetite. I'm going to spend my time working with the hungry and the thirsty. I made that resolution to myself years ago, and I've done my best since then to live by that.

To spend my time with the hungry. To spend my time with the thirsty. Not to waste time force-feeding or trying to force-feed, trying to feed where there's no appetite. I'm going to spend my time and energies where it counts with those that have appetite for the righteousness of God.

And like my son told me the other day, he said, Dad, the clock is ticking. I knew what he meant. God's given me an extension of time. But I don't know how long that is. I pray that it can be a decade or longer, but only God knows.

I do know that in the meantime, as far as the physical, I have to do what I can in terms of keeping my health up, my immune system up, avoiding those things that weaken me that could allow the cancer to show up again. Because like the surgeon said, I said, there's no more surgery, is there? He said, no. He said, there's no more surgery. He said, that's it. So from that standpoint of wanting to be here for Angela and be her caregiver, and not fall upon Jonathan and Bridget and Leigh Ann, and wanting to have more time to live and learn and grow and develop and overcome, and also to be able to continue to serve you and Gaston and Chattanooga and the greater Church of God to whatever degree that I would be able to do that, I want to spend my time and energies where they count.

I'm going to be careful, and again, I'm more resolved to do this now than ever, but I made this resolution quite a few years ago, that I'm going to be careful that I'm not working with a goat when I should be working with sheep. So here's the thing, I don't need to neglect the sheep in order to work with the goats. Why should I take away time and energy from the sheep to work with goats? If I may substitute the word in for duck and say, if it looks like a goat, if it acts like a goat, if it walks like a goat and it smells like a goat, that must be a goat.

What else am I to conclude? Somebody might throw at me. Well, Christ said, the ninety-nine and the one, you leave the ninety-nine sheep and you go after the one. I say, you are right. Sheep. Sheep. He didn't say the ninety-nine goats and the one goat, and you leave the ninety-nine goats to go after the one goat. He said, sheep. But sometimes people mix up goats and sheep. Anyway, and again, believe me, in my half century of ministry, I've done my fair share of goat chasing. Consider this, just food for thought.

And this is not a negative reflection on you or me, any of us here. It's just something to consider. It's not uncommon in the congregation that Psalms sometimes ask themselves these questions. Now, I won't ask for a show of hands because I don't want to show of hands. But I guarantee, if I were to ask for a show of hands, and some of you were honest about it, you would raise your hand.

We don't need any hands raised because it's not that uncommon in a congregation or in the congregation of God that Psalms sometimes ask themselves these questions. Am I a tear among the wheat? Have you ever wondered, and again, no show of hands, but have you ever asked yourself, am I a tear among the wheat? Or have you ever asked yourself the question, am I a goat among the sheep? I mean, you read in the Bible about tares and goats and all, and you think, oh boy, I hope I'm not a tear. Oh boy, I hope I'm not a goat. And maybe one that would be asked maybe a little more often by a little bit greater number, am I a laodicean among Philadelphians?

And again, maybe most of us at one time or another have asked ourselves these questions and wondered simply because we know that there will be tares among the wheat, we know there will be goats among the sheep, and we know, again from Scripture, that there will be laodiceans among Philadelphians. And I think that if we're, think about it, if I think that if we're truly and sincerely and conscientiously concerned for our personal spiritual status before God, that it's only natural that we may sometimes muse, have thoughts along those lines. Now, with those questions in mind, I think I can put some minds at ease.

And by putting some minds at ease, I might worry others. Because I'll give us some barometers to go by that we can check ourselves by. See, I don't want to check others. I don't want to examine others. I'll examine myself. But I want as much as I can, as a pastor with pastoral responsibility, lay out criteria that you and I, tools that you and I can take and do honest, accurate assessments with ourselves.

So, I think I can put some minds at ease, but in so doing, I might put others a little bit of concern in some cases. But those barometers to think about, again, let's go back to one of the original questions. How's the appetite? How is the appetite for the righteousness of God? You know, and nobody has to tell you, if you have appetite for the righteousness of God, for the things of God, for His ways, for His Word, for some appreciable and important time with Him. How's the appetite for the righteousness of God?

Is it strong? Is it fair? Is it weak? Is it non-existent? Just like the person who said, I have no interest in reading the Bible. And probably, the person didn't add this, but probably didn't have really any interest in spending any time with God. And again, that's a sad situation. How hungry and thirsty are we for the spiritual things of God? To see things done right. That's part of the appetite. You have a real interest in appetite in wanting to see things done right, to see that things are done right, and also, ourself, to do things right.

How strongly do we want to do things right? And also, how bothered are we by seeing things not being done right? Now, tares. You think about tares. One of the things about tares is they have no true appetite for the spiritual things of God. A tare looks like wheat, but unlike wheat, there's nothing to harvest. When wheat are ready to harvest, there is fruit, there is grain, there is something to harvest.

Tares can look like wheat, and they can stand there like wheat. But at harvest time, there's nothing to harvest. They're not filled out with good fruit like the wheat is. And on the spiritual basis, again, when we're told, appetite is necessary for being filled, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

There's appetite for it, and therefore, they're filled, and there's something to harvest. The hungry and the thirsty will be filled, and therefore, something to harvest when Christ returns. The tares have nothing, there's nothing to harvest. And with goats, well, it's about the same difference. True appetite is not there, and what is there, guess what? Goats can be pretty picky and choosy. And spiritual goats, when we're talking about that analogy that's made, and there's more reasons why goats are different than sheep, with goats, true appetite is not there.

What is there is oftentimes very picky and very choosy. And with layer descends, appetite simply is not there strongly enough. It's there, but not nearly strongly enough. Some appetite, yes, but it's lacking, and therefore, the righteousness of God goes lacking in them. Now, again, a lot of times I just simply... I've said this before, I have no interest in controlling anybody else's life. I've got enough challenge controlling mine. But as the pastor, I have a responsibility to lay out the things that we all can use and go by the tools and the criteria that if we will exercise ourselves in those things, we can be spiritually successful. And like on this, giving this for the sake of us monitoring ourselves in light of the issue of fulfilling our Christian calling.

Doesn't it go without saying, but I should say it, that if a person has no appetite, it should scare them? If I could acknowledge to myself that I have no appetite for righteousness, that should scare, as we say, the daylights out of me. But I don't have the daylights scared out of me because I know that I have appetite for God, His truth, His Word.

Now, I will say this, I feel like I have a healthy appetite. But that doesn't mean I don't want to increase the appetite. I want the appetite to grow. If one has no appetite, it should scare them. And if their appetite is not strong enough, and they know it, it should give them cause for concern. Because, again, right here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, in chapter 6, the number one priority of our life, of our existence, is laid out in verse 33.

Again, in this section, it has to do with fulfilling our Christian calling. Verse 33, chapter 6, it's spelled out plainly and clearly, but seek you first, the kingdom of God. Now, we don't generally stop. Well, we usually read the whole verse. But in our minds, as far as what we tend to highlight and emphasize is this first part, seek you first, the kingdom of God. How do you seek it? Well, the second part there tells you how you seek it. You seek it by seeking His righteousness, because without His righteousness, you won't be in the kingdom of God.

A person could say, I'm seeking the kingdom of God. Well, why are you living such a crooked life? Why are you living such a corrupt life? Well, I know I'm really all-faced on a lot of things, and I'm not really doing like I should, but I'm seeking the kingdom. No, you're not, sir. No, you're not. You're pitting yourself. You're in denial. How do you seek the kingdom of God when you don't simultaneously seek His righteousness? Without His righteousness, you cannot be and will not be in the kingdom of God. So, to seek His righteousness, blessed are those who hunger and thirst. To seek His righteousness means you're also seeking automatically the kingdom of God. You're putting that at the top of your life's list.

And then, of course, in the other place that's this given, Matthew 22.37, and we all, I think, recognize that, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, might, soul, being. That's what you're doing when you do hunger and thirst after His righteousness, which is part of the criteria, obviously, for Him being able to place you in His kingdom. Here's the thing. How many of us, growing up as kids, and I would think that this wouldn't apply to any of us in here, but it might. And I would hope that it doesn't cause to be sad if it did.

How many of us as kids, Mom, will suffer going to be ready? Sorry, son. We don't have any supper. But I'm hungry. Well, I figure you are, because we didn't have any lunch, and we didn't have any breakfast, and there's no food. Hopefully tomorrow will be different. We'll have to see. That would be a sad, sad situation, wouldn't it? To be hungry and not to be able to feed, or to have a mean mama who said, Well, you had breakfast, you had lunch, that's it, till tomorrow.

Well, we're out of food. No, we're not out of food, but you're not getting anything. You're going to go to bed hungry tonight. I'm not feeding you. And there are some people that are mean like that.

God, if we're hungry and we're thirsty and we're seeking after righteousness, God is true and faithful and loving to feed the hungry, to supply drink to the thirsty, even in the midst of our troubles. Back in that Psalm that you used so many times at funerals, and quoted, Psalm 23, and specifically, in this case, verse 5, Psalm 23, and specifically verse 5, you, the faithful Father, the faithful elder brother, the Father in Jesus Christ, God, you prepare a table before Me in the presence of My enemies.

You prepare a table before Me. You prepare a table. What's a table for? For food, to set food on. You prepare a table. You set the table. You set the food on it before Me in the presence of My enemies. Come by spiritual food, nourishment. What are enemies sometimes in one stance or can be allowed to have the effect of enemies? Trials, tests, troubles, tribulation. You know, the hungry aren't driven further from God during these times. They're driven closer, aren't they? I look for appetite. It's a distinguishing mark, a trademark of those in earnest pursuit of the righteousness of God.

It's a trademark of those who will fulfill their Christian calling because they won't turn loose. They'll keep coming to the table. The God will see as that. The hungry can be helped. The hungry can be fed. Because appetite is part of their motivational makeup, appetite is a motivator. It's a mover. It moves people. It moves you.

It is crucial for spiritual momentum, for maintaining our momentum. How much mud, knee-deep, hip-deep, whatever, how much mud would you wade through to get to the food? There's a table over there. It's loaded with delicious food. Your way over here, there's a whole distance of mud. Ankle-deep, knee-deep, hip-deep, whatever, between here and the food.

How much mud would you wade through to get to that food? Well, I'll tell you. Know what the answer is. That depends on how hungry you are. If you're hungry enough, you'll wade through whatever distance of mud you have to wade through to get to that table. It's all related to the size of your appetite.

You're thirsty, and there is clear, cold, spring water, that oasis over yonder. How much heat will you endure to get to the drink? Again, it relates the same way. It depends on how thirsty you are, the size of your thirst. See, in a healthy mechanism, effort and heat only increase the hunger and the thirst. The appetite grows stronger. Go with me back to Matthew 5. When we talk about mud, and we talk about heat, in Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12, chapter 5, Blessed are they which are persecuted, that's heat, and it can be mighty, for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven, because they don't stop, they keep going. Their appetite, if they're hungry enough, if they're thirsty enough for the righteousness of God, they don't let heat and mud stop them. Blessed are you when men shall revile you, which doesn't feel good. The heat's turned up. Mud is flung. And persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

But that doesn't stop you. You'll wade the mud. You'll endure the heat. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted are they the prophets, which you know are going to be in the kingdom. Their hunger and their thirst carried them through the mud, carried them through the heat, they endured. Those who came before you, the mud and the heat don't stop you. They don't shut you down. And yes, sometimes that will or may include members of one's own family. And you've got a whole section, not the only one, but you've got a section in Matthew 10. But Matthew 10, verses 34 through 39, about when family turns the heat up. When family slings the mud, you have to wade through mud and heat.

And what is it that carries you through appetite, hunger and thirst for God's righteousness and not turning it loose? See, the pursuit of the righteousness of God, the calling to become Christ-like, to be like Christ, the personal mission that we're called to fulfill, lays along a trail that entails some suffering.

That's why 10 through 12 is put in there. And it takes a hunger and a thirst to pull us through, an appetite that God supplies and nourishes. He will supply that appetite. He will feed us. We've got to exercise appetite. He will nourish us. And as that true righteousness begins to fill in, because it will, as that true righteousness begins to fill in, you know what begins to form?

What comes next? A merciful mind. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. A merciful mind begins to form. Because in God's true righteousness, that is a part of God's true righteousness. God is fully righteous, and He is extremely merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. As you begin to truly grasp the tremendous personal mercy of God, that He's shown you, that He shall me, you begin to extend mercy to others.

But what happens when that occurs or is occurring? Guess what? You're not prone the same way to revenge. You're not prone the same way to retaliation. You're not prone the same way to vindictiveness and condemnation. You begin to be freed from those things. You begin to be less manipulatable by others through those things.

You begin to have more control over your moods and your attitudes and your actions and your responses and your feelings. Revenge, retaliation, vindictiveness, condemnation of the things that this world operates by, and that the devil knows this world operates by, and uses those things every chance he gets. Those begin to fade from the picture. And again, in the process that's flowing and moving, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Your motives become pure. Blessed are the pure in heart, pure in their motivations. The double dealing dies. You don't have to double deal and steal and cheat to make sure that you get looked after. And if you have to pay a price for suffering, some unfairness, or whatever, that's okay. God can right all wrongs someday, but you don't have to fall prey to the double dealing, the knifing in the back, and all that kind of garbage that is so often exercised by the world.

Pure in heart, the double dealing dies. It ceases to be less and less a part of your makeup. There's more and more hatred against that kind of stuff because it doesn't fit. It's impure. You become more and more pure in heart. All two of your motives move out. You're up front. You stand clean and simple of heart before God. And so now you begin to see even more so eye to eye with God. That's why it says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

We're on the same page. We can ID. And all of this producing a peacemaking spirit in us. Verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Interesting. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God because God's family is a family of peace.

It's not a family of war. God didn't generate war. God didn't create war. And when war was generated and created by Lucifer and a third of the angels, God did appoint Michael, a fellow archangel who stayed faithful, and the holy angels to meet the ascending Lucifer and those fallen angels.

And there was war. God didn't let Lucifer just have his way. And God is working towards a point in time in which eventually there will be no warring elements anywhere in existence, period, universe, anywhere. And God's family, a family of peace, will live peace for eternity. And only since it's a family of peace, only peacemakers will be made a part of it. That's why it says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. It's easy to see how these initial things in verses 3-9, pour in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, they which hunger in thirst, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, all tied together.

Somebody says, what's the Christian calling? Well, in a nutshell, in the most simple nutshell, you've got it right there. In a little bit of expanded nutshell, you've got all three of these chapters. But it's a packet. It's a definition. It's an outline. It's a how-to. It's a framework of and for the Christian calling. It's a spiritual directive. And if I violate those things, I will not be in the family of God.

I want to be in the family of God. So, I want to get in line with those things. Absolutely, as much as I can. And hopefully every year that I live, I'm more in line with it than it was the previous year. And again, it starts with poor in spirit. Seeing one's need, and it winds up where? As a product of peace, a peacemaker. You think about that.

It starts poor in spirit, and with that maintained, it winds up as a product of peace. You start out poor in spirit, and you maintain it, and you wind up as a product of peace, a peacemaker. And right smack, notice, right smack down in the middle of these seven elements, or these things of God. Right smack in the middle, like a hinge point, like a pivot point, is the hunger and thirst for righteousness. The appetite that seeks fulfillment. The appetite that feeds on the nourishment of God's righteousness. The appetite that pursues the likeness of Christ.

The appetite that results in the fulfilling of one's Christian calling. And this appetite becomes a permanent part of our makeup. And that allows one to sit at and feed at God's table for eternity.