Transcription
Every time that we're gathered, worship with us today as we lift up the name of Jesus.
[Music] [Music] [Music] Here I am, praise [Music] [Music] to the Lord. You may not feel like praising. He has a power won't be changed. [Music] [Music] I found it again. Jesus. You can return to your seats. Where and you can be seated. We're honored that all of our visitors are here and uh, what a mighty host of fresh faces that were in this building today. I encourage you to make a connection with someone. Be the difference maker that draws them in, gives them a personable relationship not just with God, which is where we're leading to, but let yourself be the bridge that bridges the gap and speaks to them in their flesh that draws them into the spirit today.
Our children are having Power Hour in the building next door and uh, mighty things happen in that building. And sometimes we take for granted and think we're just telling stories and seeing puppets, but there's a Holy Ghost happens in that building. A lot of them young people pray through. Let's say a prayer real quick. God, in Jesus name, moving this building, Lord. Let the Holy Ghost move in our young people. God, let the power of God reach into that building. Lord God, touch them and use them to draw people into the kingdom. Lord God, we need you today. Worship with us tonight.
[Music] And I've tried so hard to see him. Took me so long to believe it. You choose someone like me. Carry your victory. Affection could never earn it. Give what we don't deserve. In and you take the broken things and raise them to glory. Glory. And you are my champion. Giants fall when you stand undefeated. Every battle you've won. And I am who you say I am. You crown me with confidence. I am seated in the heavenly place, undefeated with the one who has conquered it all.
[Music] And now I can finally see it. Teaching me how to receive it. So let all this drive and see this is this is. [Music] Undefeated. Every battle you've won. I am who you say I am. Crown me with confidence. I am seated in the heavenly place, undefeated with the one who has conquered it all. When I live my voice and shout, every wall comes crashing down. I have the earth already that Jesus has given me. When I open and I recall star breaking out, I have the earth. [Music] Has given me. And you are my champion. Giants fall when you stand undefeated. Every battle you've won. I am who you say I am. You crown me with confidence. I am seated in the heavenly place, undefeated, but with the one who has conquered it all.
[Music] Hallelujah. If you return to your seats, remain standing. If I could get some ushers, we're going to receive an offering. And what an opportunity it is for blessing to come to my house. Amen. Be a blessed into the kingdom and it comes back and returns on your family. Lord, bless this offering in Jesus name. God, use it for the furtherance of the kingdom. Help us to build buildings and churches and in places, Lord, that we may not be able to go ourselves. Lord, help it to go further than just our flesh can reach, but reach into the spirit. In Jesus name. Worship with us today.
[Music] Thank you. [Music] [Music] Open the eyes in the earth. [Music] [Music] My heart. I wanna see you. Yes, I wanna see you. Oh, open the eyes, my heart. Open the eyes, my heart. I wanna see you. Oh, I gotta see you. Lift it up. [Music] Your glory. Pour out your power and love. Sing Holy, Holy, Holy. Your soul. We cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. You're so holy. Holy, Holy. I've got to see you. Oh, your soul. You're so holy. Holy, Holy. I want to see you. Oh, he's so holy. Oh, you're so holy. Holy, Holy. We cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. I wanna see you. See you highly shining in the light of your glory. Pour out to please. [Music] We sing Holy, Holy. Always. [Music] You can return to your seats. We're so honored today to have Brother Caleb Smith with us today, and he's a great evangelist. You can be seated. He is a great evangelist and a friend to this church and a friend of young people. And uh, I'm honored that he's here. We want to ask him to come and say a word, and we're honored that you're here, Brother Smith. Thank you for being my friend, and thank you for being a friend of Pentecost. God bless you. Aren't you glad to be in the house of the Lord today?
[Music] It's an honor to be here. I give honor to your wonderful pastor. Love and appreciate him so very much, and I'm thankful for what's going on here at Pine Grove. Praise God. And I texted Brother Brister the other day. I said, "Man, how many has gotten the Holy Ghost?" And he gave me the number, and I showed up today. He said, "Man, people got the Holy Ghost again today." And I'm thankful to be in the house of God that's not just about a number, it's not just about a show, but it's interested in adding to the kingdom. And I believe that this is only the beginning for what God has in store. I believe there's revival in the land, and I believe you're going to build another building. I believe God's gonna do bigger and better things. I believe he's going to blow your mind on what he's going to do in this house and the next house to come. I believe God's got big things for this church. It's good to be here. Let's give the Lord a good hand clap of praise.
[Music] Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And I'm honored again to introduce our pastor to this pulpit. Thank you for being the greatest teacher, mentor, preacher. What a man of God we have. It's an honor today, it's his birthday, that he'd get up and teach us the word. God bless you. Aren't you glad to be in the house of the Lord? Let's go.
[Music] Thank the Lord. I got spoiled this hands-free mic and I, man, I like it. Why don't you shake somebody's hand? Welcome into the house of the Lord. There's a guest around you. There's somebody that needs to feel welcome today. Good to have Brother Smith with us.
[Music] I want to, I want to welcome all of our guests to God's house. And uh, I want to go to Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 6. Matthew the fifth chapter and the sixth verse. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6 for your consideration for a few minutes today. Matthew chapter 5, verse 6. Welcome to every guest that's here. We want our guests to know we're thankful that they're here. Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 6 says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." God bless you. You may be seated. I want to talk to you for a few minutes from one word. I'm doing a series of one-word titles. I want to talk to you about Hunger. Hunger. Now, I'm, I'm doing a, I taught this series, I believe, about a year and a half ago, and uh, we're back doing it again because I feel like it's necessary ever so often to repeat teaching. Now, I want to take just a moment to thank you for the wonderful birthday card and gift that you gave me today, and then all who participated. I had a wonderful uh, paleo meal in my office prepared by people in this church. I mean, it was, it was phenomenal. Thank you so much to everyone that worked hard to prepare that meal. Thank you. It was so very good, and I deeply, deeply appreciate it. And I mean, lemon cake and and brisket and and potatoes and just all kind of stuff, chicken chili soup, and my goodness, lemon. Did I mention that lemon cake? I just want to make sure. All right.
Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 6. What a, what a great title to fit in with what I'm talking about. Hunger. It's important. It's important what you're hungry for. It is important what you're hungering after. And hunger is a very deceitful thing. Most people think that hunger is directly related to not eating. But the truth of the matter is, is it's really not. Hunger is directly related to what you've been eating. What you're hungry for is dictated by what you have been eating. Because you can't crave what you haven't tasted. You can't be hungry for something that you've never experienced. And so, hunger is not the result of not eating alone, even though that will produce hunger. But the feeling of hunger pains is directly related to you wanting something that you're used to getting. You're used to receiving. The Oxford dictionary says that hunger means to have a strong desire or craving. And again, how can you crave what you've never tasted? How in the world can you say, "Boy, I'm telling you, I'm just hungry for possum," if you've never ate possum? There's only one way you could be hungry for it. You know, the, the, to the person that's sitting in this building tonight that's never experienced drugs, you can't have a craving for it. You have to have experienced it to have a hunger. Now, the Bible says, "He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness." The Oxford Dictionary says that righteousness is justification in God's sight. The Greek version says it's justification also. So, righteousness is justification, or being found just in God's sight. Now, here's what he said, "Blessed." There is a blessing that it is attached to people that their hunger, their craving, is to be found just in the sight of God. So, maybe there's someone here sitting here today saying, "Man, I'd like to have, I'd like to be blessed. I'd like to have the blessing of God on my life." Well, this verse tells you how to have blessing, and that is for your number one hunger to be found justified, righteous, and just in God's sight. So, when you get up in the morning, you say, "Man, I'm craving to be found right in God's sight." And when you go to bed at night, your last prayer is, "God, let me be found righteous in your sight." And when you get up the next morning, your prayer is, "God, today I want to, I want to do just by everybody I come in contact with. I want to treat everybody right. I want to do right. I want to be found just in the sight of God." You know, people that claim to be Christians but don't want to be just in God's sight, always ask the wrong question. There's a, there is a question that always reveals that someone is hungry for the wrong things. And that question is, "Well, is this a sin?" "Well, what's wrong with me doing this?" "Well, what's the difference in this and this?" And what they're doing is they're trying to play spiritual attorney and figure out that what they're hungry for is okay. Well, I've got a question: Why are you hungry for that anyway?
[Applause] What, what is wrong with you that your hunger is for something other than righteousness? Now, here's what I got to tell you. You are never a victim to hunger. You're never a victim to hunger. Whatever you're hungry for, you created that craving. Hunger. Hunger. Boy, you got, you got to get a hold of this. Hunger is not a thermostat. Hunger is a thermometer. Hunger does not control your temperature of your environment. It reveals it. If you're hungry for the wrong things, it's because you've been tasting the wrong stuff. If you're hungry for the world, it's because you've been tasting the world. If you're hungry for Hollywood, you, there's only one way you can be hungry for Hollywood. You've been taste testing. There's only one reason that you'd be hungry for for rock music. You've been taste testing. Only one reason why you'd be hungry for for country and western. Only one reason why that's what you want to listen to while you're riding down the road. You've been, boy, that one, that one really got a lot of silence. And if you think it's cute or funny, you're wrong. More marriages that run on the rocks because of Hank Williams than anything else. Because your environment is going to become what you're listening to. And if you, you listen to "Who's Cheating Who" and "Who's Being True" and "Who Don't Really Care Anymore," it's hard to really appreciate your wife and want to stay with her when that's what you're consuming. You can't listen to "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" and then come, "Whoa, glory to the Lord, I think I feel tongues and interpretation." Bitter and sweet water don't come out of the same well. Now, I'm not trying to make fun and be funny. Everything of this world is driven by a spirit. You can't listen to "Lying Here We'll End on My Mind." You know, "I'm lying here beside you, but I got Linda on my mind." And say, "Oh, well, that just reminds me of a scripture in the Bible." I just felt the Lord come on me in that song. It's an antithesis of everything this Bible and this book's about. You know, you, we wonder why there's carnality and ungodliness and ungodly thoughts in the church and all that kind of stuff. And you listening to women singing about "Key in his truck" and "Because he's cheating on me" and all that kind of stuff. And and then wonder why that you don't have a deep relationship with the Lord. I'm just telling you, the two, here's the way the Lord said it. He said, "How can two walk together except they agree?" What, what fellowship has light with darkness? You know, you say, "Well, Brother Copeland, you, you want to preach in such a way that just makes everything wrong, and you want to live in such a way that makes everything right." And the truth of the matter is, is this is a relationship. This is a, this is, this is a relationship. And and the Lord laid out the parameters of this relationship. And without me taking time to go there because I'm sidetracking, he said he wants all or nothing. He wants all of you or none of you. He wants a hundred percent involvement. And he wants to be, you to be in this world but not of the world. And there are just certain things that you cannot participate in and have a clear conscience before the Lord. And and, you know, I don't, I don't know about all this stuff because I listen to country music. I know about all this stuff because I'm 56 years old and I've been in and out of stores and restaurants and all that. But how in the world can can you come to church and worship and pull up in the park and let listen to "The Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On"? Boy, I saw her walking down the street. She got them blue jeans on. And then coming here, uh, you know, here's the deal. If you, here's, here's, here's what Jesus said. He said, "If you're going to be of the world, go be of the world. But if you're going to, if you're going to be of me, touch not the unclean thing. Come out and separate yourself from that. Be separate." And somebody said, "Well, Brother Copeland, obviously you, you know about all that stuff." You, you repeating all these songs that you've heard. Yeah, yeah, I've been places where I've heard it. But that's a lot different than me turning it on in my truck or vehicle and having a constant indoctrination into lying and cheating and running with other people's spouses and other people's wives. And you know, what, what Apostolic needs to be listening to? I saw this man over there and boy, I think I'm attracted to him. So I think I'm going to slip this little rock off. And what, what Apostolic needs to be listening to stuff like that? If you're, if you want to be in an Apostolic frame of mind, and you want to be saved, and you want to be full of the Holy Ghost, you want to have a relationship with the Lord, it seems like you would be listening to praise and worship. It seems like you'd be listening to the things of God. So my question is, what, what are you hungry for? What is it, what, what, where are your, when you crave, what do you crave? Well, there's a good way to know because when you get home in the evenings and and work's over and things slow down and you finally get to sit down in your recliner, do you pick up your Bible or Facebook? Because that's directly related to a craving. When you ride down the road in your car and you decide that that you want to listen to something and you turn on XM Radio, do you turn it to Hank's place or praise and worship? What are you hungry for? What, what, what, what cravings are hitting you? You got to ask yourself, what, what is it, where are my hungers? Because your hungers are taking you somewhere. Because here's, here's what the saying is in in the worldwide community: "You are what you eat." You're going to become what you're consuming. So if you're listening to cheating and boot scooting, you're going to become a boot scootin' cheater. That's what you're going to turn into. If you're listening to praise and worship, guess what you're going to turn into? You're going to turn into a worshiper. But so, so someone said, "Well, I'm just going to have to control my cravings." No, you're not. Because the con, the cravings are, they're a thermometer, not a thermostat. You, you don't, you don't work on, "Well, I think I'll try to slack off on that. I think I'll try to, you know, balance that out and listen, you know, listen to some." I'm gonna try to control those cravings. Don't know what you do is you quit spending time in relationship in the wrong places, and your hungers change. If you'll start spending time in the word, if you'll start start spending time worshiping, if you'll start spending time in prayer, then your cravings, your hunger will turn toward God. You go, the, the thermostat that controls the temperature in the room is related to relationship. When you spend time around worldliness, you're going to be hungry for the things of the world. But when you spend time with the Lord, you're going to get hungry for the things of God.
[Applause] So, could you put it on the screen, please? The Bible says there is a blessing attached to proper hunger. He says, "They that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they're blessed." You want the blessing of God. You're not going to get it listening to Willie's Place. You're gonna get it creating a hunger for righteousness. Um, you, you got to get a hold of what I'm saying. Somebody said, "I want to live the blessed life." I want to be there. It is, "Blessed are they that create a hunger for righteousness. Blessed are they that live in such a way that their hunger is directed toward justification in the sight of God. They're going to be blessed." Then here's the other one. There's a second promise. Can you believe there's two promises in one verse? First of all, they're going to be blessed. And secondly, they're going to be filled. Everything else is letting your bucket down into an empty well. Brother, brother, brother, brother Brewster had no idea what I was going to preach today. And he said, "This, every other thing that you go after has an expiration date. There's going to come a day that that well is going to run dry. There's going to come a day that's going to offer you emptiness." Do you know why that this, this entire world is having a suicide problem right now? This entire world is having a suicide problem because people are putting all their money. You know that there was only one other time that the death rate and the suicide rate was probably greater than it is right now, and it was during the Gold Rush. More people committed suicide and lost their lives during the Gold Rush because they bought shacks. They put their family on wagons. They shipped from other countries. They came across the country. Many men got on on wagons, and by the time they got to California, they were the only one left alive. They had scattered children and a wife across this continent, burying them in separate states, trying to get to the, to the Gold Rush. They took off from North Carolina headed for California, and so to speak, they buried one child in Louisiana, and another one in Texas, and his wife in Arizona, and another baby before they crossed into California. And when he got to California, all he had was his own life. And when he laid, took everything he had and bought a stake, got dug that gold mine, and got into that gold mine and found out there was no gold. He had bought an empty claim. He would take his own life because he put everything he had on the fact that there was going to be a payoff. And people are doing the same thing today. No, they're not going to California to a gold stake, but they look at themselves one day and they say, "I've lost my wife, I've lost my marriage, I've lost my children, I've lost everything. And this crystal meth ain't doing me any good anymore. These pills are an empty well. And I believe I put everything on the line of trying to get another bottle of pills. I've lost my job, I've lost my marriage, I've lost my children, I've lost my family, self-respect, me, and I've lost my own self-respect. And now all I can do is crawl around in the streets trying to find another bottle of pills." There's men that's left everything for a woman, lose their whole life, lose their marriage, decency, their respect to their family, respect to their children, only to find out once he, he gets her, that she ain't what he wants anyway. They lose it, lay everything on the line in a gambling casino and gamble everything away until there's nothing left. And I could go on and on and on. There's traps and pitfalls to everything in life until people look up one day and say, "I put everything in this stake, and the well ran dry, and it always will." Are you listening to me? There's only one thing that if you're hungry for it, you'll find fulfillment. The promise is there. He just says it's this simple: If you'll hunger for righteousness, there is fulfillment in righteousness. There is fulfillment in being hungry for right. So, I got to ask you today, what are you hungry for? What is it that you're hungry for? And there are people today, the reason I'm teaching this today, because, and I'm almost done, but there are people in this building, you are wrestling with with hungers that are doing you no good. See, you gotta, you gotta quit viewing this thing that Brother Copeland preaches against movies, and Brother Copeland preaches against Hollywood, and Brother Copeland preaches against some worldly music, Brother Copeland preaches against stress in this way, and Brother Copeland preaches against going someplace that you, you got to turn that thing around. It's not that Brother Copeland preaches against all that stuff, that's not the deal. The deal is, I'm asking you, why are you hungry for that when you can look around and see that no one is fulfilled by it? There's no one out there that's finding fulfillment in it. It's an empty well. It's letting your bucket down into an empty well. Show me one person that's been fulfilled by the things that this world has to offer. Oh, it's not that I'm preaching against it. He said, "I'm telling you, there's no use in it. The well is empty. It's fool's gold. It is fool's gold." And there's demonic hecklers. See, that's, that's what that's what happened in the Gold Rush. The reason so many people got cheated in the Gold Rush. Do you know where the, do you know where the term "greenhorn" came from? The term "greenhorn" has its origin in the in the Gold Rush. That's what they called them. There were people that made millions selling false claims. That was their business. They knew all these people were coming. Some were coming from Ireland, they were coming from England, they were coming from Scotland, they were coming from the northern part of the United States. They were headed for California. Listen to me. So many, so many ships docked in San Francisco Bay and were just abandoned and stuff for the San Francisco Bay that they couldn't even get shipments, shipments into the port anymore. And so many people came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush that they ran out of land to sell them, and they started selling them water. People bought acres of water in San Francisco Bay. When they got to San Francisco Bay, they didn't ever plan to leave. Now listen to me. You, you are, you are, you are hearing what I'm telling you right now. They brought ships into San Francisco Bay, got off the ship, never intending to get back on that ship. You know why? Because they say, "If I find gold, I'm gonna be a millionaire. If I don't, I'm gonna be dead." Hmm. Yeah. They gave, they committed their life to it. And they tied their ship up or dropped an anchor in San Francisco Bay, swam for land, and abandoned their ship. No, no. Listen what I'm telling you right now. San Francisco decided, "We got an issue. We got a problem with this harbor. We got a thousand ships in San Francisco Bay, and we can't get any, we can't get any shipments in here." So people came to buy land or buy property, and they said, "We can't sell you property, but I'll tell you what we can do. We can sell you this piece right right here where it connects to the to the bank right here. We can sell you that square of land." And what you do is you go out there and get one of those ships and pull it in here and build you a row to it, and you can make you a house or an apartment or a store or a bar or whatever you want to do. And that's exactly how all the piers in San Francisco began. Those piers went out to ships. And so you knew the, the bar rooms were on this pier, and apartments were on this pier. It was ships that they pulled into harbor, tied them off, built ramps to them, and made them places of business and apartments. And somewhere around the turn of the century, San Francisco burned, and all those ships burned down to the water level. And so they just took bulldozers and took the hills down and just filled all those ships in and around the ships in with dirt. And the business district of San Francisco is built on top of abandoned ships.
That's how many people lost their lives in empty gold mines. They got there and dug and dug and dug and dug and dug. And the biggest majority of them never found anything. Come on. They committed their life to it and let their buckets down into empty wells. That's the ones that came ashore that direction. Then what about all the ones that came across land and suffered across the Arizona desert to get to California? And so what would happen? Well, somewhere on the edge of California and Arizona and Nevada and all that, you had these mountains, and had men out there that would send their kids out. Anybody ever heard the term "There's gold in them there hills"? Anybody ever heard that term? You know where it came from? Came from hecklers in the Gold Rush. They were lying. There was no gold. Daddy was in there digging with a pick, making a big show because they saw a wagon coming. And the kids ran out and said, "There's gold! There's gold! There's gold!" Come on, bro. Look at these men. They were, they were right for a mirage. They got 1500 miles behind them in a wagon. They're setting ducks for this lie. They want to believe it worse than the people that's telling it. One of them do, because they want to stop. They're tired. They're weary. They've had enough. You know what their problem is? They're hungry for gold. Their hunger is about to destroy them. Many of them. Listen, this is so important. Many of them started out with Grandma's dresser, great-grandma's china, Grandpa's bureau. And along the way, the, the wagon was just too heavy. They threw away family heirlooms. They burned 200-year-old antiques when it got cold at night and they couldn't find wood because survival became more important than Grandma's Hope Chest. Are y'all listening to me? They've gave everything. And then a heckler says, "There's gold! There's gold! There's gold!" And Daddy says, "We, we finally got here, Mama. We buried two of our children from pneumonia along the way, but we made it. We're gonna be rich." And they take the last little bit of money they got. And the guy says, "Well, $500 is all you got? I can't sell you this gold mine for $500." And he says, "Well, here, take my wagon. Take my cattle, my oxen that's pulling my wagon. You, you have my horses and everything." So now they're stranded in this gold mine with no food, no water, and no gold. And the man takes their everything they got and leaves with it. And that is why when you read of those that go west, listen, when you read of those that go west, they say they, that in the late 1800s, after the Gold Rush, it was common to find in our family's bones bleached in the paths and in the caves into the mountains along the way. Because they gave everything because they had heard there was gold. "It's gold in those hills." And somebody says, "Well, why, man, why didn't the word get around? Why didn't people keep going?" I mean, two or three times of that, why didn't people stop? Listen to me. Thousands went in search because everybody thought they were the ones. They were the ones that was going to beat the odds. They were going to hit the motherload. They were going to strike it rich. You said, "How foolish." Well, let me just ask you, what's going on today? There's still people taking their first hit of fentanyl right now today. Today, thousands took their first hit of fentanyl. They know everybody's dying from it. Today, somebody's taking their first hit of crystal meth when they know that everybody's lost their teeth and their hair and their life and their career and their business and everything. And somebody's taking their first hit. Somebody knows that everybody that gets on pills and narcotics and winds up in trouble and loses their job and their respect, but somebody is taking their first pill knowing, "I really don't need this, but I need some relief." Somebody's taking their first risk today, right now. What are you, what are you teaching today, Brother Copeland? It's five, I got five minutes, I'm gonna be done. I'm teaching to you that right here is a promise that if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, the fulfillment that this entire world is wanting in music and movies and sports and entertainment and all the things that this world has to offer, that only winds up with emptiness. Name one thing that gives fulfillment. The movie stars commit suicide and overdose. The rock stars commit suicide and overdose. The sports figures wind up in prison from drugs and and sex and rape and theft. Listen, many of them are on contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and they still go to prison for robbery. Why would they need more? Because the well's empty. Are you listening to me? They get to the bottom of the well, and the well is empty. It does not satisfy. There is no fulfillment. But here I have a promise for you, that if you'll get your hunger right, if you'll be hungry for the right thing, not only will you be blessed, you know why I love this scripture? You know why I love this scripture? Because it's the, write this down. Write this in your Bible. Write it down in your Bible. Circle this passage. It's one of the only scriptures in the Bible that are, that are, that are bookended front and back with a blessing. It opens with a blessing and it ends with a blessing. "Blessed is the man or woman that hungers and thirsts after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Or you can add to it, "fulfilled." Righteousness and the hunger for righteousness is the only thing that fulfills you. It will satisfy. That's why Jesus could say, "If you'll drink from this well that I want to give you a drink of, you will never thirst again." It will bring fulfillment. It will bring peace. And you know why this church is growing like it's growing? Because there is fulfillment here. There is hope here. There is joy here. There is blessing here. "Blessed are they that do hunger." You can be seated. I'm done. But please be seated one last time. And then the Bible is never phrased in the way it's phrased for no reason. It says, "they which do." "They which do." Why would it be phrased that way? Why wouldn't it say, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness?" Why does the word "do"? Why is it shoehorned in there? "They that do." I'm going to tell you why. Because most people don't. Laughs. Most people don't. It's a reason why. Because most people have no hunger for righteousness. Their hunger is toward carnality. They'd rather look at, they'd rather look at Facebook and feel themselves full of envy, jealousy, hatred, strife, looking at Facebook, than they had opened their Bible and filled themselves full of hope and promise and joy and peace. They'd rather get on Instagram and look at everybody else's lies than they had open a Bible that his word is truth and everything else shall pass away, but his word shall stand when the world burns. But they'd rather consume themselves with Instagram. So here's the deal. "They that do hunger." If you can figure out a way, if you can figure out a way that when when you get hungry, when your, your spiritual gut gets to knowing it's for the things of God, not only are you going to incur blessing, but you're going to be filled. You're going to be satisfied. When you get done, you're going to be satisfied. Oh, my Lord have mercy. Don't you hate to eat and eat and eat and you can't get fulfilled? You, you just, you're still hungry. You somehow, you're just not satisfied. Isn't that a miserable feeling? Well, I'm going to tell you, that's the way people are in the world. See, that's why they keep going back. They don't, they don't keep going back to your drugs because drugs satisfy. They keep going back because it don't. Right. Um, they don't get hooked because porn satisfies. They get hooked because it doesn't. It's a bottomless well that the more you lower your bucket, the more you can't find water. They don't throw themselves after sports because sports satisfies. They keep going because it doesn't. They're ever chasing that hit, that first hit, that [Music] um, they're chasing something they can't ever retrieve. That next hit. It's going to be the good one. It's going to be the good one. It's that next hit, that next drug, that next pill, that, that next game, that next sporting event, that, that next movie, and they keep walking away disappointed. I'm closing with this. Somebody said, "Well, I, I wish I could get hungry for God's word. I wish I could change my hunger from from things of this world to to the word of God." Here's the key. Don't work on hunger. Work on relationship. If you get hungry, you're gonna still, you're gonna still keep. If you work on hunger, you're still going to keep chasing things that's not there. Just spend, start spending time with God. If you're hungry for the world, you're probably not coming to church enough. If you're hungry for the world, you're not coming to prayer enough. If you're hungry for the world, you're not reading your Bible enough. Build relationship, and hunger will follow. Whatever you've been consuming, brother, it's called an acquired taste. Come on, somebody. It's called an acquired taste. Stand together. Jesus, dear Lord, thank you so much for this service. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for this great host of people. Thank you for this time to spend in your presence. We love you. We lift you up. We magnify your name. Bless these people as they go away from this building. Let the blessing of God be on them and put a hunger in their heart for the things of God. You know what you need to do before you leave. You need to lift your hands and just ask God, "God, make me hungry for you. Make me hungry for your word. Put a hunger in me for the things of God." Please don't forget Tuesday night service. Tuesday night church. Wednesday night family prayer. God bless you. Hey, hey. Thank you to the teachers that are teaching on Tuesday nights. Thank you, first of all, for doing an excellent job. Thank you for honoring the time element. You guys are doing a great job. Don't you appreciate these teachers that are teaching on Tuesday nights? Or Wednesday nights, I'm sorry, Wednesday nights at prayer meeting. God bless you. You just missed in Jesus name.