Hunger and Thirst

Is it afternoon? No, it's good morning. I'm sorry, I'm still on Jamaican time. I'm trying to adjust. I'm going through some announcements first. I do want to thank Steve for his incredible work he did this week. What did he do? Leave already? He says, he went home. There he is. Yes, he helped us so much. He was such an asset to the camp. I don't know what we'd done without him. It was a wonderful experience for Mary and myself. We have been working camps for the last 10 years, I guess, nine or ten years. We started out and we didn't really want to do it. It felt like it was a job, a duty, and then it became something that you just get tied up with the kids. And you really see that you can make a difference, maybe a small one, maybe a big one, in young people's lives, as so many things they struggle with. And since my heart is in the Caribbean, makes it very easy for me to go and try to serve and help those kids there. So, yes, it was special. I'm not as young as I used to be in 20-hour days. 18 to 20-hour days gets kind of long with the kids. A few hours sleep and they're energized and ready to go again. So, we got eight hours last night. Boy, that seems like a miracle. So, getting there. So, if I say something or just said something to Juan earlier, my mind just went off somewhere, so hopefully I can get through this. But I do have a very happy announcement to make today. Mrs. Rivera is 80 years old today. Happy birthday!

When I said that, I think she thought I was dyslexic because she said, I know, I'm 8, not 8-0. So, I'm glad she has that young heart. And we're glad to have her here. Housing prices in the feast for sure are good through July 31st only. They're only allowing us those prices, and then they will go up. So, if you have not made your festival reservations, you may want to do it before the end of this month.

It will help you save you some money. I'd also like you to pray this week for the work of Mr. and Mrs. Laguer. Juan is doing a work for God, helping me, assisting me, and thankfully he's taking the lead here on this with a service to some prisoners. And it started with Juan, and now it just keeps growing. And so, we need to be able to assist or help anyway we can. And he has stepped to the plate and it's worked out very well being I do not speak Spanish, and most of them do.

So, hopefully he can continue that work, and we're going to see where that takes us. But we will do God's work. Thankfully, I have people willing to help us here. So, I ask that you pray, being they will be continuing to do work, both of them. So, ask that you add that to your prayer list. Okay, before we start the sermon, and I tell you one thing, it's good to be back.

As much as I love the Caribbean, it's good to be back home. It's good to put your foot on the good U.S. OUSA. And I'm looking forward to being here a little bit longer. I think I only have one other trip planned in the near future, and that's to Freeport, Bahamas. So, I will be closer to home. Remember to call me if you need me. I'm here 24-7. So, anyway, I can help. You give me a call, and we'll try to be your servant or whatever you need.

So, I just want to remind you, I do want to take a vote. It's getting close to November, where there's going to be a big vote. We're going to have a big vote today. Okay? The vote is that we are going to change things a little bit. I'll give you a reason for it. It's my reason. And so, it will be through the feast, and then we'll we'll look at this after the feast also. We are going to change and have snacks and drinks either once a month or twice a month.

So, that is the vote you're going to give me today by raising your hands. It's your church. I'm responsible for it, but it's your church. These things are what you need to make the decision on, since you will be the ones involved. The reason I'm changing it through either once or twice a month is I would like this church to start after services, inviting people over to your homes and fellowshipping.

Go out for lunch. Spend time studying and praying more. As we draw closer to the fall holy days, I'd like to see us more spiritually furnished, more spiritually filled. And I'd like you to spend more time building an iron sharpening iron. And I would like to have more people. Mary and I would.

Get this schedule done so that we can have you over, so we can eat a meal, spend a little time, spend three or four hours until you either get tired of us or we get tired of you or we both really find that we really like being around each other. And that's what I'd like to see. We want to build the church from inside out with God at the forefront. And so a lot of us work, and I know so many of you work. You work hard, you work long, you're so tied up, and you need time with your family.

But the Sabbath, I hope we can spend more time with each other and in fellowship and prayer and study and that. So with that said, I'd like you to raise your hands if you would like to have it once a month. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven, eight. Okay. Those that would like to have it twice a month.

One, two, two, three, four, five.

Okay. And some of you just don't care like me. Don't care either way. I can always eat, as you can look at me and tell. So it is then once a month that we will have that. And then we'll revisit this after the feast. But hopefully we will be able to spend some more time together with each other. So if you don't have some food for a while, well, come and see me. We'll make sure we get you some food if you're going to starve to death on the Sabbath during those three weeks. But we'll try to set a schedule so that way everybody knows so we can have extra time on that day and we can spend more time just really fellowshiping here. And maybe that one time during the month, make it a something to remember and something to really fill you up on. So okay. With that, no other announcements? You look at my watch. Stay on time today. And we will launch into the sermon.

Down here. And then, oh yes, then we do, we are going to have some snacks afterwards. And then we're going to take, you know, it'll be a short break, maybe 30 minutes to have some snacks. And then after that, we're going to have a Bible study, about 45-minute Bible study, unless you guys really get to talking a lot, and it might go longer. But it's an interactive Bible study, okay, where I will have some questions. So that way you can go ahead and think of them, because we're actually going to go into the Ten Commandments, which I hope everybody knows, even though the little guy in the back there, I know he knows some of the Ten Commandments, right? Oh, he's looking like, are you going to call on me? Yes, he knows them. Yes. So we are going to look at the aspect, and I would like you, as most of us know, the Ten Commandments. You know what they mean, this book tells what they mean, but what is the spirit of the law? Because Christ came and magnified, or say, filled them up. Fill it to the full, as Scripture says. The spirit of the law. And I hope you can tell me, I hope we can share with each other the spirit of the law, the spirit of the Ten Commandments. So we will do that after, for the Bible study, so I hope everyone will stay. I think you will enjoy it, and we will make it fast and furious, so you can enjoy it and take something home. With that said, we will start the sermon. I have to tell you at the first, it is not my intention today to offend anyone. It's not my intention, but it is my intention to stir us up. This is a very strong, as a matter of fact, I have on my sheet here, because I wrote this sermon about six or seven years ago, maybe eight, and I wrote strong meat on it, because I will write even on some of my sermons at the top of the page, milk. I even wrote skim milk on one before. Two percent milk, then there's meat, and then there's strong meat. Today is strong meat. Okay? So am I pointing at any one person out here, other than myself? No. But this is something that I feel like the church needs to grow spiritually stronger, and this is all part of it. So hopefully you are ready for some a big thick 18-ounce filet mignon, and I've never eaten an 18-ounce filet mignon, but we're going to try to try that today. So with that said, the visitor that also was with us in Florida, oh, in Jamaica last week, he heard the first part of the sermon. This is the second part, so she'll feel like, well, have I heard that one before? No, you haven't. So with that, the title is hunger and thirst. How do I do that? Hunger and thirst. How do I do that? Of course, the main scripture here is Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount to Beatitudes.

Chapter 5 and verse 6 says, Rest of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Contemporary English version states that God blesses those people who want to obey Him more than to eat or drink. How about us? A lot of us may forget to study the Bible in a day, but very few of us remember, oh, wait a minute, I forgot to eat today. Doesn't happen very often, does it? But sometimes we forget to study, okay? Don't we? Hmm.

As a statement was made, most of us have as much of God in our lives as we choose. Most of us have as much of God in our life as we choose. There's another translation of Matthew 5 and verse 6. It talks about the Scripture being having a constant craving, a constant craving for God's truth in God's way. Do we? Do we have a constant craving or do we just get that craving fatty-night? And then the fatty-night, that's something that we're going to send down tonight? Okay, I'm done. I have no more craving.

Well, what this verse is telling us is, can you do away with food, too? Would you just forget to eat and say, okay, I've done that for a week, I don't need to do it again? With God. Do we do that? Do we do that? This constant craving. There is a constant craving in each side of us. K.D. Lang had a song many, many years ago for any of you might remember her only big hit she really had was called, constant craving. And then some of the words was, it's always been there. There's always been a constant craving. Well, God has built in us a need to crave something to fill the hole that's in all of us that is made to only be filled by the spiritual things of God. But so many people feel that hole and have that constant craving with sex, sports, love, power, money, prestige, and yes, even food. Do you have it?

Is God first? And if not, what do you have a constant craving for? How do you create a zeal for God? A constant craving? A hunger and thirst for God? Because this Christ is talking to His followers, not only all those years ago, but also to us today as His followers. Why the Beatitudes are so relevant today. It's about people who want to follow God. The Beatitudes, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is not a sermon for the world. Hope we realize that. But just for those who want to follow Christ, because there's a lot of meaty stuff in there. Strong meat! That's why I wanted to give it today.

Do your prayer, but not passionately.

You see, because I ask that question because God can make you. God can make you pray passionately. I hope you always will remember that He can get you on your knees quickly and for a very long time. He has a power.

By the study, your duty or your passion? Because you talk to many people. Someone who studied the Bible for years. One, studied the Bible for years.

It can change you. Strong Bible study, reading the Word of God. Not just reading it, but studying it can change your life.

It can motivate you. Empower you. Is there a fire in your belly, brethren? Brethren, is there a fire in your belly, a passion to hunger and thirst? A quest to hunger and thirst?

According to this book, zeal is a must. Zeal is a must with God. Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Verses 139 through 140. I'll paraphrase it. You can go back and read it later on today.

It says, My zeal has consumed me. Your servant loves your words. The writer of that talks about, we need zeal for God. And his word. Do we have it?

I'd like you to turn to John, though. Gospel of John. John 2.

Incredible event that takes place. John 2.

Starting with verse 13.

It says, Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and devs, and money changers doing business. Doing business. When he made a rip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the table. And he said to those who sold devs, Take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, Zola for your house has eaten me up.

Why did he do that? Why he went and saw that these money changers as a Passover was coming, and they were coming in and they just brought money, and so they needed these animals to sacrifice. And these money changers were charging two or three times, extorting people, taking advantage of them, literally stealing from these people trying to come in and worship God. And he couldn't stand it! He could not stand that happening in his father's house in the temple.

And so he took matters into his own hands. And he ran them out. Isn't it interesting that when he was put to death, they never brought that one up, did they? Something he could have done. They knew they were crooks.

And even the priest, they got a cut out of it. That's why they let him come in there and sell those things, because they got a portion of it. They were just about there. They were thieves just like them.

And they there wouldn't want to brought that up, because they were afraid that Christ might tell the truth, and the whole world would know they were thieves. Expose them.

That verse, zero for God's house, has eaten me up. Came from the psalm. David wrote it. Psalm 69.9. But I must ask you, Christ drove out the impure from his temple. He dragged him out. He wanted his father's house or his father's temple to be as pure as it could be.

Do we drive out, or are we wanting to drive out the impure in us? With that said, I'd like you to go to 1 Corinthians. You know it. 1 Corinthians 3. Why don't you think about this? 1 Corinthians 3. Who's he talking to? The Corinthians. What was it called? The corrupt city. They were a city so wicked and bad that it was known even in other books, other reference books, that even people at their time, if you wanted to go, have a life of debauchery and sin, sex, they would say, I'm going to... Well, you're acting like a Corinthian. Because that's where you want to have this fun, they would call it. This sin. They were most corrupt cities in all of the land at that time. So what did it do? It rubbed off on the church. It rubbed off on the church, and the church was very worldly in 1 Corinthians. That's what Paul was having to tell them about. Motivate them. Well, guess what? Watch the news or read the paper. We live in a very corrupt society in South Florida.

I passed two or three gentlemen's clubs on the road off the interstate getting here. I had it named Gentleman's Club.

Why do they call it that? Makes it better if you tell your wife, why I went to a gentleman's club.

1 Corinthians 3, verse 16. Paul is telling him, Do you not know, these are the Corinthians, do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? In you. If anyone defies the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. That's us. We are the temple of God.

He was telling Corinthians, here you're dealing with all these problems, you must understand, you are the temple of God. He made us of it. You're in 1 Corinthians 3. Turn to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. He said, Or do you not know that your body is a temple? He's being redundant for a reason.

Now, I want you to get it.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you? Whom you have from God? And you are not your own? For you are bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You are the temple of God.

What about us? Are we working at driving sin out of our life? Driving sin out of our temple? Hmm.

Bought at a price, and what a price. Christ paid for us. Now, can you see? That zeal that Christ had? He did how important that temple was. The zeal for God's house has eaten me up. When is it time for each one of us to tell God, I want that zeal.

Because we all have a little cleaning to do. We all need to focus on the things up there, not here. That's what he says. Focus on the things above, not on the things of the earth.

I know a story of David. The Ark of the Covenant was finally brought back.

And he was so excited about it because they were actually going to bring it back home. And he was so juiced, so full of zeal, that when they were bringing it, he just had a little covering on it like a loincloth. It was lemon, befod, but it just covered just enough the way the commentators tell. But then, as he saw this was finally coming home, he knew he wanted to bear it. The temple of God. He knew he was going to bear this ark, a house, a home, and God would be there. And this was the first part. And he was so juiced, so pumped up that he started singing and dancing. As this thing was coming here, these men are carrying it like this. They've just been killed for doing it wrong. And so the men were actually carrying it the way they were supposed to up here. And here, there's music playing as they were bringing it in. This was something great and triumphant. And here was King, the King, the top man. And he was dancing the entire time, dancing around like a little child, so full of zeal. Because he felt it. He felt this was such a part of God's plan.

Could you remember his wife, Micah? Micah? Micah? He walked in and he was pumped up. You can even read it from the text. You know, he thought she would be excited, and all she did was chastising. But she looked like a fool. Look at you. You're the King and you're pranced around. Half naked. You're an embarrassment.

She didn't get it. She didn't get it. And why did he choose David? He was a man after God's own heart. Why did he choose so many of us? Are we great? Are we rich? Are we powerful? Are we strong? Are we just no! The majority of the reason he chose us is our hearts!

That's what's important. So, and one of the translations says, when he was dancing, he danced with all of his might.

While the kids were at camp, we saw a few of them dancing. Some of them danced with all their might. And I danced.

They didn't see me dancing with all my might. For one thing, I can't dance. And the other, I didn't want to make sure I didn't throw my back out or anything else. Not be able to work for two weeks. But David did this with all his might. Have you seen people that way? That their eyes light up when they talk about the truth. They get excited, they're real for them and eating them up. Wow! That's the kind of church. That's the kind of church God wants us to have. So I ask you, would David feel at home in this church?

If David came in here and you carried on a conversation with him, and he was just David with everything he did when he talked, would you look at David and be embarrassed? Oh, he needs to calm it down a little bit.

Now, my talking is funny because I was talking to some of the girls from Jamaica. They were talking about the different churches. Matter of fact, I called Anony on the phone.

I was trying to get her van to pick her up, and she was on a bus, public bus, in Kingston or Spanish town, one of them. It was irritating me because we couldn't hardly even talk. So finally, I said, Anony, have you got a radio on? And she said, no. And I said, I can barely hear you. There's this loud sound coming behind you that's stronger than your voice. And she said, no, that's a preacher that got on a public bus, and he's preaching.

I mean, you're screaming, the truth! The whole conversation! She said, he just gets on the bus just so he can have a group to preach to.

That's not the zeal I'm talking about. It's not a zeal that's out of control. It's not one that's done for effect. No, one that just, oh, well, we need to have the Spirit. We need to do this. I've dealt with Pentecostals many times, and they tell the same thing time and time again. No, I'm talking about true zeal that comes from God. I know you have to be running around, and you're just like, oh, and you're energetic, and you're, no, there's people with zeal who are quiet people. But you start talking about God, and it's the things that God, that zeal comes out. It's in their eyes. It's in their voice. It's in the way they live their lives. That's the zeal that needs to eat us up. That's what I want to see here. Remember, the movie came out probably 10 or 15 years ago. Jack Nicholson, Colonel Nathan Jessup. Tom Cruise was in the movie called A Few Good Men. And it brings down to this one end of the movie, and he brings this line that says, can you handle the truth? You can't handle the truth, as was quoted in the movie. Really, can you handle the truth? Do you want the truth? The truth is, the church as a whole needs to be jerked up and infused with passion. We have a work to do. We have a powerful work to do. We need to be injected with passion, possessed with passion for God's way, for God's truth. However many years we have left, if we have 2, 3, 5, 10, whatever it takes. That's what I love working with these kids. And in Jamaica, you saw that passion.

You had 11-year-old boys giving sermonettes, four-minute sermonettes. You had 12- and 13-year-old boys and girls studying and cramming for job interviews. Because I gave them their interviews, and I wasn't the least bit jovial. Wasn't the least bit funny. It was all straight, serious. Put them on the spot interview, because my job was to make them better than they were. Prepare them for success. Build them for success. Not only physically, but we try to do it spiritually. Brethren, that's what this church must do. That's what we must do, not only for the young people, for the entire church.

And as I look across the United States, it makes me realize I know so many people.

We may have to start it here.

And I'm not afraid to do that, are you? Having a church that's full of people with passion, a gapé, love for each other, but a passion for the truth, the passion for the things of God.

And the people know a difference when they walk in that door.

I didn't come here. I didn't move away from my home. I moved away from my family to come down here to play church.

I want to make this something that God can be proud of. I want to make this church so that He can send people to a church that's strong, to a church that's wanting to obey God and put God first. Was David a man after God's own mind? No. He was a man after His heart. Does that mean I'm standing up here condemning my church that I work for, that I attend? No. I'm not. Not at all. I just think we're not there yet.

And if I thought that our leadership thought we were there yet, and this is all there was, yes, I would. Because we can't do that. We can't stay complacent. We can't have apathy. We must have zero. We're preparing for the Kingdom of God. We're preparing to live, as Peter said, with a divine nature, the very nature of God. You think God's going to give you and let you live forever for eternity, without passion? Without passion? For His way? No way. He's promised a great reward. He's serious. But one of the things that we have to do, we have to make sure that if there's worldly stuff in us, we must have us out and God in. Us out. God in. That's what's important. The kids and stuff in this world, they can't be a part of our life. It's so interesting we were there at the house. It's a very nice house. It's run down. The pictures looked actually, you know, I mean, the house they'd been taken care of, but we got a very good deal on it, so it wasn't like, well, look at all the money they spent. Well, as I explained to the kids in Jamaica, guess what? They got people here who took off time, use their vacation time. United Church of God, we applied for this money for a camp for them. I said, it's an investment. It's a serious investment. I even told them how much money all of us spent there. Because I said, you're worth it. You're worth the investment. Well, God has told his church his way. He gave you his Holy Spirit. He gives you his Holy Spirit. Why? Because we're worth it. Right. He's making that investment in us. Brother, we must take advantage of it. We must do that.

Is worldly stuff eating us up? Isn't this so interesting? We were so busy, and we didn't have TVs there. Our, I never, not a TV was turned on. Radio really wasn't turned on until after camp. So he didn't get a lot of worldly stuff. Kind of reminded you of small feast sites. Not a lot of worldly stuff came into the camp, came into our place.

So that's what made me last night want to choose this sermon. And I realized, the farther we get away from worldly stuff, the more we can get to the good stuff, to the godly stuff. Psalm 42 and verse 1. Psalm 42 and verse 1. We have a song about this in our song, but I like that song.

Psalm 42, verse 1 and 2.

As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, my soul pants for God.

When's the last time you panted for God? Have you ever seen it? Throughout, grew up in the country, the yearls live out where we did.

Even at another camp, you would see these deer, beautiful deer. If you've ever seen a deer, especially towards the fall, when they're running, and they'll be running, and they'll just be jumping across a field. And if you've ever been able to see one, just run and run and run. And then they run with such intensity, such zeal, such passion, and they're so fast. But finally, when they get to the tide, and they're running for water, and they get to the water, and they look around first, and then they want that water, but they look around first, and then you can see them just... They're panting for the water. They want it so much, you might see a dog panting for water. We used to have a dog that'd go out and run with us on the road. And by the time we got done, he was kind of fat, and she was kind of fat, and so she just kind of... And before they even got to the house, they knew that water, they'd go... And then when they got there, they'd go... Panting! It was something they had there. It was an obsession. The deer is obsessed with water. Are we? Do we pant for God? Do we pant for His Word? Do we pant for everything about God?

My soul thirsts for God. Can we say that?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled. Brethren, we must stir it up. Stir up.

It comes from the Spirit.

And Spirit comes from God.

When was the last time you stirred up your spirit?

I mean, really stirred it up. Really spent intense time and study. Something that you were really passionate about. It's interesting when I was teaching the young guys how to give sermonettes. One of the things that we wanted, just a four-minute sermonette. One scripture, one verse. Okay? And they were saying, how do we do this? How do we choose? I said, only speak about something you're passionate about. And that's where it starts.

Two or three of them had already written their thing. Oh, yeah, that'd be a lot easier. So they tear up their notes and go back into something they were passionate about. It got a lot easier. For us, you want to stir it up, read something you're passionate about. Study it, take it apart.

Yeah, it's interesting. We can go through this life.

Really caring, or not caring. We can go through this life, apathetic. Or we can go through it, passionate.

It's interesting, any of you are car fans? I'm not a big car fan, but I just enjoy reading and I read so much. I always like, yes, he is. Well, yeah, I should know, Matthew would be.

That's so interesting. As I studied, one of the books that I read was, read actually two on Lee Iacocca. And in his very first autobiography, talked about him and John Shelby inventing the Mustang. They were engineers and they basically designed the Mustang in 64 that became so famous, a 64-65 Mustang. And it's so interesting because everybody, they didn't know it was going to be a success. They just wanted to make something a little sleek or something.

And so, what was interesting is, most people did not realize when this car came out and everybody was going, Ah, man, look at that. And then it started selling and it just took off. And all they did, that the majority of the parts in that car came from a 1964 Falcon, the same as a Falcon. Nobody was getting excited about a Falcon. But they used so many parts, they just made it look a little better on the outside.

When we're first called into God's truth, we're kind of like that Falcon. Not anything people are going to get too excited about. But then we kind of start to change on the outside a little bit. As God's working with us, when we put away foul language, we start dressing and carrying ourselves a little bit better. We kind of look a little bit better as God works with us. But then there's this dramatic change as I think about the Mustang.

Because something happened, I think it's 1967. They decided to make the Mustang just a little bit sleeker here. And they got a fastback. And then John Shelby decided, well, wait a minute. Let's make this something that people will remember.

And he invented the Shelby Mustang, as was known. Because what he did, he took that old Falcon body, and they had this nice little sleek outside that they put on it. But then he decided instead of that little six-cylinder motor that they had, he would drop a big V8 428 engine, 335 horsepower into that car. And then it became a muscle car. And it became so powerful, people really wanted that. And now they are so rare, they're worth a whole lot of money.

Because they're unlike anything else. They're unlike any other Mustang. Because they have power. Power, unbelievable power.

Defy logic. They even struggled because they weren't sure when it really hit its top speed if it could stay on the road.

Brethren, for God expects us when we receive His Holy Spirit, He gives us incredible power.

And sometimes I think He hopes we can't keep it on the road, that we will turn it up so fast. We will be so possessed with that power to do His will and to do His good works on this earth that He wants to see us do that. Hmm. Guess that's why in 1 Thessalonians 5.19 He said, He told the church, Do not quench the Spirit! Do not quench that Spirit! Is that important? Hmm.

Can we give it up? Can we give up the worldly stuff? How about TV? Okay. How about TV? I'm going to go, as I say now, I'm going to go in the medley. Okay.

I've watched a lot of TV in my life. Got a little bit from it. Majority of my time was wasted time, though. And now you turn on TV while we're in and there's nothing. There's only junk on these days.

Huh.

Dr. Phil.

All these various... I switched it on one day and just went through. I had a bunch of emails to email back people and put their... put their... and just did those flip channels. You know how many pop psychologists there are out there? And I said, I listened to about 10 minutes, there were a couple of them going, this guy must be crazy.

And then I look at myself, what are you doing watching? I'm the stupidest one, because I'm watching that junk. You know?

I thought it was funny when they made this big announcement, they ended CSI Miami. After 10 years. How many dead bodies you're going to have, after 10 years? I mean, what's going... You know, come on.

Radio. Three of Good and Evil. Has to be. I was listening to radio and I have... I have mostly CDs that I listen to, sermons or educational stuff I try to in the car. But occasionally, you know, I'm just... Okay, I want to wind down and you're that way too. You may want to put on a station and, you know, you're flipping channels. My wife always says I flip so much, you know.

I don't hear that. I don't hear that. And I get that look from her like... So I try to leave it.

And then there's laughing, maybe. Matthew's the same one. But it's so funny. Because here I heard a flip champ and here it was a song. I can only imagine. I don't know who sang it. But it's about Jesus Christ returning. I can only imagine. You may have heard it. Yes. Most people heard it. Yes, very good. You know, I... Amen. It's like, oh, wow. Yeah, I hadn't heard it in a long time. And it just kind of... You know, I've been studying science. Wow. Now that's a powerful song. How Jesus Christ returning. I feel him. So, oh, I can't believe it. You know, I'll leave it here.

And then the very next song they play is from Black Eyed Peas. My hulk, my hulk, my little lady lump, and all that kind of garbage. You know?

And I'm going, how can I focus on God and keep my mind pure and keep the temple pure if I allow too much of that stuff going in there? And you've got to work on it. What about friends? Who are your friends? Those two can not walk together, lest they agree.

How about work? When you go to work, people know who you are. Who you really are.

Psalm 119. Turn there. I want to see if it's the one verse I did not check last night. So hopefully we'll both end up at the same place. Psalm 119.

Something I always tell people not to do, check every scripture. But after seven years, I didn't.

This is from another translation. Psalm 119, verse 39, says, Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. Do we do that?

Do you, brethren, hunger and thirst for righteousness? As a dying man wants a drink. As a hungry man wants food. Are we hungry and thirsting for righteousness? Hmm.

You know, Christ does bless those who are passionate about things of God. Drive through the New Testament. Turn to Psalm 63, verse 1. Psalm 63, verse 1. It says, Oh God, you are my God. Early! Early! What did he say? Early! You got it? Early in the morning, I will seek you. What about your prayer?

See, that's why we tried to start a Christian living class. First thing before we ever did anything at Camp Jamaica. But the first thing I had to do, we had camp early. We had long hours, kids. Okay, but I had to get up. He had to get up. We had to get up and pray and get a little study done before the day even started. Why? Because that's what we do.

Because some of those kids got up at 435. 435. Thirty. Way before we met, wake up call. What would you want them to be seeing you doing? What example would you want to be sitting?

Early, I will seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land. And brethren, step out this door. It's a dry and thirsty land.

Where there is no water.

The world, we have to get out of it. This world is against death.

I read a book, it's probably been four or five years ago, by Jonathan Kirsch called God versus the Gods. And it was a trial getting through that book. It's a historical book, but also he was making the point that the world would have been better off with a polytheistic society than a monotheistic society. He was making the case, and he went down through history saying the world was better off when there were multiple gods and people just worshiped all these gods, and all these things went on, and he conveniently left out how many people died in all these wars and so forth like this. But he came back, and in the book he completely blamed all those who worshiped God, the Judeo-Christian God, for all the problems in the world.

Because they killed more people than all the other people. And if everybody could just worship all the kind of gods, if you wanted to worship a stone pillar over here, or you wanted to worship a stick over here, or you wanted to worship anything you wanted to worship, what's wrong with that? Because everybody would just be doing their own thing.

And his whole book. That's what he went through. Now, it was a very frustrating book for me to get through, but I got through it and realized, man, that's a warped mind.

What about us? It says, the carnal mind is emmity against God, for it is not subject to the law, nor indeed can be. Romans 8-7. Right?

You know, it makes God sick to look at this world, and he's going to take care of it. He's going to be taken care of. It's coming. Well, you know, I laugh. I laugh because somebody said something a couple of weeks ago in our condo complex, and they said something about, well, you know, elections will be here soon. Elections will be here soon. November, aren't you excited? About what? I don't care who's elected. The whole thing is this. Pray for those so that the work may continue, so that you may be able to worship at peace. But I don't care who gets in, because God's going to put them in. Yeah, this person, they want to stand there for 15-20 minutes, telling me their side. I didn't care. We don't need to care. That's a big world. God says He puts in the kings, the queens, the leaders. He's going to put in whoever He wants, so that His work will be done, and however it needs to be done. If we're finished, we're finished. If not, we have to carry on. Wait till that last minute. People getting on. I know I'm sure. I don't want to, but this is not going to be, you're not going to put this out there anyway. So, I'm going to be here. A few years ago, I had a minister that sent me to this church with the intention, because the church was divided because of the election. I don't know. It's been quite a few years ago. They were divided because, yeah, these are here, Republicans, these are here, Democrats. And Dad actually stopped talking to me, because it was the election time. They brought stuff in the world into the church, and they controlled the church. I thought that was... So I could go and talk to this group, and really tell them how stupid they were, and then go to this group and tell them how stupid they were. But getting involved with the worldly stuff and bringing it into the church. And they eventually came back together. I don't know what happened after the election. But there wasn't any of this big problem. But they got all carried away with this. All physical stuff! I love the people, but I just couldn't believe they had gotten so far away from the Word, and got so stuck into the world. That's what we've done. Word, Word! Word, Word! Go with the Word! That's what we're called to. Come out of this one and get into this one. That's what it's about. I just thought of that, because I'm going, man, I forgot about those people. In that little church, there was only about 30 people. We had 15 over here and 15 over here. They were zealous, but they forgot to be zealous about God, and they were zealous about two kind of people. Amazing. Psalm 73 and verse 25 says, There's nothing on this earth I desire. Is that your feelings?

Isaiah 26 says, We have waited for you, the desire of our soul. We desire you in the night. Do we do that? Do we desire God in the night? Hmm. In your baptismal covenant, you promised God would be first. Is He? Is His way of life first? Brethren, I ask you today, where's your zeal? Is it for something of the world? Is it for something that is in the Word? My friend here has stopped over, spent a weekend, well, if you can't, Clark Earle. He's a passionate man. He's a passionate man. He's even trying to change me to give up my football team I like and come to the Dallas Cowboys. And David Lynn trying to double-team me at camp about, I need to go for the Dallas Cowboys. They're passionate about it, but it's not their world. But I know people who are. I know people back home, since they tightened, I know they're passionate about it, but I know people who are. I know people back home, since they tightened, they couldn't talk about anything else. Their world began and ended with a stupid football team. I like to watch football games. I like to see football. I like strategy. I like this. I like everything. But it's not my world. My Monday and Tuesday are not going to be ruined because somebody beat my team. Okay? Yeah, it happens that. Don't you know people that way? I used to work for a boss way back when I was younger, and he was a Tennessee Volunteers fan. And they'd go up and watch Tennessee Vols during their play. And you know, we knew, oh man, it was going to be a terrible Monday if they lost. Because he'd just come in, he was just irritable, he was, you know, I don't know what to do. Just go do this, go do that. You know, that's sad, but he's in the world, so I can expect that. You can too. But it shouldn't be with us. Our stuff should be about God. So let your zeal for God's house, brethren, eat you up. Let it eat you up. Let's see some of that passion that David had for his truth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. If you want it, you can have it. If you want to be filled, he will fill you with the Holy Spirit. But you have to want it. He's not going to cram it down your throat. And you can't quench the Spirit for what the book says.

So blessed are those who hunger and thirst for his righteousness. I want to be filled. I want this church filled, not only with people, but most importantly, I want them filled with the Holy Spirit. I'd rather have 30 people who are filled with the Holy Spirit than 150. That's just half there.

Go! Hunger and thirst.