Get Hungry for God

[0:00] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. It just uplifts our heart. Lord, we pray it will minister. Do a work in our hearts, Lord, each one today. By your spirit's power. In Jesus' name, amen.

[0:14] Amen. My message this morning is get hungry for God. Get hungry for God. Hungry for God. What are you hungry for? We all get hungry. The tummy starts to growl and tells us we need some food.

[0:31] Now, hopefully you're not feeling like that yet. I've still got a bit of time to preach. But you might be thinking about that lunch that's, maybe it's, you're thinking, what am I going to cook today? What am I going to eat today?

[0:42] But we are more than just a body. You are body, soul and spirit. In fact, the Bible puts it the other way. Spirit, soul and body. That's the emphasis is spirit, soul and body.

[0:56] There's more to life than just looking after the body. Now, I know some of our bodies need a bit more looking after than others. Like, I know mine's starting to fall to bits. I've noticed my eyesight's starting to go dim.

[1:10] And, you know, the bones are aching a bit more than they used to. But our person is much more than our body. The body is kind of third on the list.

[1:21] How is your soul today? That's what counts, isn't it? What do you want for your life? The Lord Jesus talks about a special kind of hunger in Matthew 5 verse 6. Matthew 5 verse 6.

[1:35] Get hungry for righteousness. Righteousness. Matthew 5 verse 6, it says, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

[1:52] What is it that motivates you? Is it righteousness? What is that? Right living. Righteousness. It means being right with God. Right with God. Right with our maker.

[2:06] It doesn't mean religion. It doesn't mean good works. Righteousness. It means God has taken your sins away. And He's cleansed your hearts. It means you've found a new way of living.

[2:22] God has cleaned you up on the inside. That's righteousness. Do you long and hunger and yearn to have this kind of relationship with God?

[2:33] What is it that means more to you than anything else? What is it that you must have? It drives your life, your impulses.

[2:45] It consumes your thoughts. Is it a desire for money? Or fame? Or popularity?

[2:58] Maybe even revenge. What drives you today? What is driving you is, in a sense, your God.

[3:13] Small g. Isn't it? What's driving you? That it eats you up on the inside. It dominates your whole thinking, your thought pattern.

[3:23] These things. Money, fame, popularity, you name it. Cannot satisfy your deep down real need.

[3:34] The deep down real need. Are you searching for God's way to live? Life with meaning and faith. Get hungry for God.

[3:45] Hungry for God. The Lord Jesus talked to a woman going from one relationship to another. Filling her life with anything but God.

[3:58] Yet she was really totally empty. John 4. We read of her. Totally empty. This woman.

[4:08] John 4. 13. The woman at the well. The Samaritan woman. Jesus met her there. As she was getting some pots filled with water at the well.

[4:20] And Jesus answered and said unto her. Whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.

[4:35] But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The Lord Jesus pointed her to himself.

[4:48] He was the source of life. And she encountered real hope. And received real fulfilment. In trusting him.

[4:59] In trusting him. In that moment that she trusted him. Everything changed for her. And she went into the city. And told others that she had found the answer.

[5:11] The saviour of the world. She believed and confessed him. The saviour of the world. She went from being totally empty.

[5:23] To being a well of water. Springing up. Into everlasting life. Like someone has said. There's a God shaped hole. A vacuum inside every one of us.

[5:35] An empty space. That only God can fill. I think there's some truth to that. An emptiness. This void. This vacuum within people.

[5:46] This empty space. They try to cram something in. But nothing can fill that emptiness inside. Only Jesus. Only Jesus. Only Jesus can take away the emptiness deep down.

[6:00] Inside of us. And friends. We all experience hunger. Hunger. Hunger. In different kinds of ways. A hunger for food. A hunger for love.

[6:12] A hunger for God. Yet some. Try to black that out. Don't they? They try to block that out. Blank that out. Are you developing.

[6:24] An appetite for righteousness. Are you hungry. Hungry for God. For God. Are you feeding your mind on the junk food. Of the world. Now we can all fill that hunger.

[6:38] That physical hunger with things that may not be really that good for us. And we can do that spiritually too. And feed our soul with that which is not really good for us.

[6:54] Do you want to feed on spiritual food. Spiritual food. The word of God. This book. His words.

[7:04] Are life for us. They're food for us. It says in Psalm 19 verse 10. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea than much fine gold.

[7:15] Sweeter also than honey. And the honeycomb. Don't you just like. Who's eaten some honeycomb. It's just lovely isn't it. You might have eaten it straight out of the high I'd imagine.

[7:30] That would be nice wouldn't it. You know just. We've got a gum tree with bees in it. I think. That gum tree must be just jam packed full of honey.

[7:44] Dripping with honey. And honeycomb. But this book is sweeter than that. Amen. It's sweeter than that. It will feed our soul. More to be desired.

[7:57] Spiritual food. Food for us. Are you hungry for God? Do you want to belong to Jesus? Are you interested in living righteously.

[8:09] Living right with God. Not self righteousness. Now we heard our preacher last week talk about. The righteousness that exceeds. The righteousness that exceeds. The righteousness of the Pharisees.

[8:21] Not self righteousness. That can never measure up. But real. Real righteousness. Getting right with God. Right with God.

[8:32] What are you hungry for? What do you hunger and thirst for? How hungry are you? Someone has said the two biggest sellers in any bookstore are the cookbooks and the diet books.

[8:49] It's a bit weird isn't it? You know. The cookbooks tell us how to prepare the food. And the diet books tell us how not to eat any of it. So.

[9:00] You know. There's that sense where. Food. Is so important. For the body. But what about spiritual food for the soul?

[9:12] That's what really matters isn't it? That's what really matters. Do you want to be a. Righteous. As much as a starving person. Wants to be fed. That's how hungry we should be for God.

[9:24] Amen. That's what I'm talking about here. To get starving hungry. Really looking for that next meal. God says you'll find me if you search for me with all your heart.

[9:39] I love that scripture. Jeremiah 29 13 it says. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

[9:52] Starving hungry. Search for me he says. With all your heart. Let's get that hunger. To develop that appetite. And. When we get an appetite for something.

[10:05] We'll want to feed that appetite won't we. We know. My wife's lovely cooking. She tells me certain things. On the stove getting ready.

[10:16] I think oh yeah I'd like some more of that. And you know. Yeah pile that on the plate. You know. You want to feed the appetite. And do we have an appetite for the spiritual food.

[10:29] We need that don't we. This is sweeter also than honey. And the honeycomb. Let's develop that appetite. And feed that appetite. Every chance we can. Which leads us to.

[10:41] Hungry for fellowship. And spiritual food. In Psalm 84 verse 2. Psalm 84 verse 2. Just flick there if you can. Another. Hunger.

[10:53] That's a good hunger. 84 verse 2. It tells us how amiable are thy tabernacles.

[11:06] O Lord of hosts. In other words. How. How lovely. Are. The dwelling places. The. The. The gathering places.

[11:18] The tabernacles. That place where we gather. How lovely they are. O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth. Yea even fainteth.

[11:28] For the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out. For the living God. My soul longeth. Yea even fainteth. For the courts of the Lord.

[11:40] My heart and my flesh. Crieth out. For the living God. God. And it goes on to say. How the sparrow has found. Her nesting place in the house.

[11:51] It's. It's a. A sense of the gathering place. Of the saints. Are you hungry for fellowship. For fellowship. And when you're truly saved.

[12:04] You'll want to be in the courts of the Lord. As it were. In other words. You'll want to be in church. You'll want to be in fellowship. You'll want to gather.

[12:15] You know. There's some people here. That have just done night shift. And they're here. You know. That. It'd be. Easy for them. And I don't see them nodding off. They stay. Amazingly enough. They stay awake. While I'm preaching.

[12:27] And I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. To.

[12:45] You know, when we love the Lord, we want to be in the courts of the Lord. In other words, in church, it's going to be more important than getting more sleep, than watching TV, than earning overtime in our job, than pretty much anything else.

[13:02] Because we're hungry. We're hungry for God. We're hungry for fellowship, hungry for spiritual food. Psalm 107 verse 9 says, For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

[13:17] Now if we get hungry for God, if there's that soul hunger, he's going to fill your hungry soul, he says. He's going to fill your hungry soul. Do you long to meet with the living God? To get together with God's people.

[13:30] Make time. Take time. Find a way to get there where you can. I've got to confess, I can't always make every meeting. I've got to be honest with you. I'd love to make every meeting.

[13:44] I've got to try harder. Hungry for God. Hungry for God. Do your hunger for more time with the Lord. That holy time. Make a holy time at home.

[13:59] You might not be able to get to the prayer meeting, but you can pray at home. You can be praying where you are. Maybe at that time slot, you can't make the prayer meeting. You can be praying wherever you are.

[14:13] What is it that you care about the most? What takes your devotion and your energy, your commitment? I think it's a sign of those who have got that hunger for God that they'll press in.

[14:27] They'll get together. They'll make the opportunity whenever they can to get some fellowship and to grow in faith. That's why I was saying earlier on, maybe a particular night or time doesn't work for you.

[14:43] Let me know. We'll see what we can do. We can't suit everybody, but we can try to fit the majority. Because fellowship matters.

[14:53] There's times we could juggle the time, make the time more accommodating, more easier to fit with your schedule. Make the time. Take the time.

[15:07] Sometimes we make a point of telling the notices and think, well, some people are only going to be maybe at a Sunday morning and we're not going to see them until the next Sunday morning.

[15:20] That's a reality. For some people, they live far and it's not easy. It's not possible, commitment-wise. But let's see, how can we make it happen? How can we make it happen?

[15:32] God promises to satisfy the longing soul and it's good for us to get some fellowship. We need fellowship. We need to get together. In the early church, they were from house to house.

[15:43] It's like it wasn't a 10am to 11.30 Sunday morning slot. It was open house. Someone was telling me before, just drop in.

[15:56] I've got an invite now to someone's house and I'm going to make a point of following that up. We can't always do that. But you might say to someone here today, maybe there's someone here you...

[16:07] I mean, there's some folk, sadly. I've got to be honest, if you're a Sunday morning only person, you've probably not met some of the Sunday night only people.

[16:17] Some people think, oh, we'll pray for this person who's got an association with someone in the church, but actually that person is a Sunday night only person. You don't realise that because you've never met them.

[16:29] So maybe do some swapping around again, here and there. Be a Sunday night person next week. Make a change. Meet some of these Sunday night people.

[16:40] Likewise, I'd like to exhort them the same. Let's get together where we can. When it's possible. Of course, realistically, we can't always make it.

[16:52] But God promises to satisfy the hungry soul. That's a good thing, isn't it? That deepest need of our heart. And only Jesus, only Jesus can satisfy our soul hunger.

[17:03] The satisfaction from Him can come from no other source. You know, people try to fill that empty space, like I'm saying, maybe with drink, drugs, relationships, religions, sport, whatever it be.

[17:20] Something other than God. But they only end up singing the song, I can't get no satisfaction. But He promises to satisfy the longing soul.

[17:35] Psalm 107, verse 9, For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Some people spend their lives in an elusive search for everything but God.

[17:48] Some people brag on and say, Oh, I don't believe in God. But when you scratch the surface, they're actually a God-hater.

[18:01] That's what happens to them. Because their anti-God attitude devours them, and they become a God-hater. And that becomes their religion, to be anti-God.

[18:17] You know, I heard of a woman who's around 100 years old, and she still turns her back on God, and doesn't want to hear the name of Jesus. That's her religion.

[18:30] Anti-Jesus, anti-God. She's never developed that hunger for real fulfilment and peace with God. Maybe there was bitterness there. Sadly, churches hurt people, don't they?

[18:43] Preachers hurt people. People get hurt, badly hurt. There's some wicked things going on in the name of God. There's people wearing dog collars that are wolves.

[19:00] Evil. Sick. Vile. And they have done much damage. Because people call that the church. It's not the church.

[19:11] It's not the church at all. Nothing to do with the church of God. And this sad woman, she's not got that aching heart to know the Saviour.

[19:23] How sad. How sad that is. I grieve for her. I feel sorry for her. And all like her. Only Jesus can satisfy the hunger, pangs of your soul.

[19:35] Those who hunger and thirst, He promises you, you will be filled. He says, if you'll hunger and thirst after righteousness. The longing soul, God promises to fill.

[19:48] If you hunger, if you long for the courts of the Lord. You long to get together. Hey, I've checked the newsletter, and there's a meeting on tonight.

[20:00] There's a meeting here, there's a meeting there. I'm going to make it. I'm going to drop this other stuff, and make it. Not because I'm browbeaten into it. Not because the pastor puts me on a guilt trip.

[20:12] Not because I'm going to go on church discipline, because I'm not going to enough meetings. Because I want to. Because my heart and my soul long for the living God. Because I've got a hungry soul.

[20:24] Because I'm longing for God. And I want to hear the word. Or we can be as others. Who try to fill the hunger and thirst with a substitute.

[20:41] They settle for emptiness. Or they're like the prodigal son. The prodigal son was so hungry, that he ate the pig's food. He got hungry.

[20:54] Then he realised, No. This pig's food is no comparison with my father's fellowship. This pig's food is no comparison with being with my God.

[21:05] With my father. As the representation of God. The hungry soul. Hungry for God. Hungry. Hungry for righteousness.

[21:16] Hungry for fellowship. Hungry for Jesus. John 6.35 The Lord Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.

[21:27] He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth in me shall never thirst. Jesus is the bread that man really needs.

[21:38] More than anything else on earth. Only he can feed us and meet our need. Without him, there's deep down loneliness. A lack of purpose. A lack of meaning.

[21:49] A lack of life. A restlessness. An emptiness. The Bible says of the wicked in Isaiah 57, But the wicked are like the troubled sea. When it cannot rest, His waters cast up mire and dirt.

[22:04] There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. You know, you hear and see of folk, you know, celebrities and stars of the world.

[22:16] They look like they've got it all easy. They look like they've got it all on a silver platter. They've got it made. They don't have a worry in the world, a care in the world. And then you hear about them committing suicide the next day.

[22:28] You think, wow, what did they really have to end it all like that? Where are they really at? It's a substitute, a counterfeit, an emptiness.

[22:40] They're like the troubled sea. It casts up mire and dirt. There's no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. There's this awful restlessness, this disappointment, as they attempt to replace God with some cheap and empty substitute and miss the real thing.

[23:04] You know, the Word of God tells us in a couple of Gospels, in Matthew 4, verse 4, and Luke 4, verse 4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

[23:23] You know, some people question, why King James? Luke 4, verse 4, if you check in some Bibles, they leave out, but by every word of God.

[23:42] Luke 4, verse 4, I'll put to you there, very important words, Amen? Man shall not live by bread alone. Full stop. No. But by every word of God.

[23:54] That's important, that that's in your Bible. Luke 4, verse 4, because every word of God is important, because man shall not live by bread alone, but by every, every word of God.

[24:11] Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So, if you don't eat, you're going to die. Amen? If you don't develop a hunger for the one who is life, with a capital L, you will die.

[24:25] Jesus says, without me you can do, how much? Nothing. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Zero. Without me you can do nothing.

[24:36] John 15, 5. We need God. We need to get that hunger. Ask for that hunger again. Maybe you're a Christian and you say, I used to be hungry.

[24:50] Pray for that hunger again. Pray that God will give you that hunger again. John 6, 27. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat, that food, which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.

[25:04] For him hath God the Father sealed. Now, we can labor for the meat which perishes, can't we? Life is just one rat race, just constant frantic pace, busyness.

[25:16] I can identify with that. Many here can. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat, that food, which endureth unto everlasting life.

[25:26] Let's get the priorities right. Will we give him our love, our first love, our foremost, primary love, or do we just place our energy and devotion on that which is passing, that which will perish and pass away?

[25:40] Young people, now's the time. Older people, old people like me, now is the time, for all of us it's the time, to decide, to determine, I'm going to get hungry for God.

[25:53] I'm going to get hungry, hungry, hungry for God. And, get that passion renewed, that love, that longing, that zeal, for God.

[26:08] And not place my energy on that which is, going to pass away. Because if we do, we'll end up with nothing, to show for the gift of life, that God has given us.

[26:22] I believe God longs for us, and yearns for us, to come unto him, and receive him. Will we reject him, and turn him away? I pray that we'll get desperately hungry, to find the Lord, to want to fill our life and heart, with Jesus.

[26:37] In Psalm 42, 7 it says, As the heart panteth, after the water brooks, so panteth my soul, after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.

[26:50] When shall I come, and appear before God? Now the Lord wants us to be, Psalm 42, like a deer, looking for the water brooks, looking for the water, searching it out, trying it, trying hard to find it, looking, scouring the horizon, where's that next, pool of water, that I can drink?

[27:10] Can you imagine the picture, in, you know, some continents, where it's very dry, where this deer is, just searching for that water, the water source. We need to be like that, with God, don't we?

[27:21] That we got that hunger for God, that thirst for Him. Does your soul thirst, like that, to find God? And Christian, believer this morning, let's renew that passion, let's renew that thirst, that hunger for God.

[27:39] That our life is consumed, with this, this one goal, this one all important, part of life. because without Christ, we are empty on the inside. And as a Christian, we can make that mistake too, where other things, take His place, His rightful place.

[27:58] Let's learn to develop, that real hunger, that overwhelming desire, to please Him, to want to meet with Him, that thirsting, to drink from His Word, sweeter also than honey.

[28:11] Oh, mmm, that's what we need to be like, don't we? I'm being a bit, so flippant here, but honestly, this is, this is sweeter than honey. Sweeter than honeycomb.

[28:23] That wanting to be with God, because only He can meet that need. Does this occupy our minds? You know, I was talking to someone, of late, and they were saying, how they've got like, a little, um, um, screen saver, on their computer, where a different Bible verse, pops up, and you can get those little apps, as well, for your phones, and things.

[28:47] There's different ways, you can, hey, I'm just gonna, oh, I'm just gonna make a call, if I can find my phone, and, uh, and, oh, that's my memory verse for today, that's my Bible verse for today, you get apps like that, you know, I don't actually have one, on my phone, but, there's different ways you can do, different things, to, prompt yourself to pray, to prompt yourself to, to, to recollect, uh, on your, on your Lord, play some Christian music, or, get some good Christian, audio, that you can play, and, meditate, and, encourage your soul.

[29:25] It's about making time for it, isn't it? That, our thoughts will dwell on things above, that, our affection is on things above, that we don't let the busyness of life, squeeze God out.

[29:37] That's the danger, because we can all get busy. It's like it's, I don't know, for me, for many, I'm sure you can identify, life's just so stretched, I'm just so stretched, I just can't take anymore, I can't fit another bit in.

[29:54] Let's try to put God in first, and then make the rest fit. Amen? That's what we need to do, isn't it? Is hungering for God important?

[30:05] Are you hungry for God? He is our very life. Apart from Him, we can do nothing at all, nothing, without Him.

[30:15] We do not have life. We do not have real life. It says, he that has the Son, has life. He that has the, not the Son, has not seen life.

[30:26] Only in Him, can we find lasting joy. Hope, love, peace, purpose for living. let's make cultivating that appetite for God a priority.

[30:40] You know, it's what we, what we feed, that we want more of, don't we? what we, what we, what we have an appetite for, we want more of.

[30:54] And if we want to have an appetite for God, here will be the top priority. Are you hungry for God today?

[31:05] Hungry for more of God in your life? You know, as a church, we don't really promote the idea of a second blessing or a, you know, a second baptism in the Holy Spirit.

[31:22] Because the Bible says, we're all baptized. 1 Corinthians 12, 13. We're all baptized into the body when we're saved. But the Bible does talk about being filled with the Spirit.

[31:33] It tells us of that. Ephesians 5, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And some could understand it to mean be being filled with the Spirit.

[31:45] It's like the seasons of refreshing. It's like the, the renewal. What does it say? Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[31:57] Sometimes it's about going to the altar, as it were. You know, in many churches they say, come forward and respond. And there's people, often they, there's like a, an altar in some churches, a kind of step here.

[32:12] And there's people there weeping and bowing and praying on their knees, on their faces, recommitting their lives to God. You know, we don't have to make it such a, a public show, as it were, unless the Lord particularly move you that way and there's nothing wrong with that.

[32:32] But, maybe you can do that at home. Where you can say, I'm going to get by the side of my bed and I'm going to recommit my life to God. I'm going to get hungry, hungry, hungry, hungrier.

[32:45] I'm going to have that appetite refreshed and made even stronger than it ever was. Because getting hungry for God is important. And that recommitment, that refreshing, that rededication, that, that refilling, that renewing is important for us.

[33:04] And, it's like, you can't get unborn again. You can't get reborn, born again.

[33:15] But maybe we need to go back to our first love. Maybe we need to think, what was I like when I first got saved? how precious was Jesus to me back then?

[33:27] And what is it now? Maybe it's a little bit ho-hum, a bit routine, a bit jaded, yeah, a little bit going through the motions, church again.

[33:44] Instead, I'm meeting, not coming to a meeting, but I'm meeting with God. That's who I'm here for. Cultivating an appetite for God.

[33:58] How tender is your heart before God? Is that intensity of devotion? Are you eager to worship? Are you eager to pray? You might, I mean, there's some people like this, and they kind of almost buttonhole me and say, pastor, I've got a testimony, I've got to share it, I've got to tell somebody, you know, I've got to tell somebody, rather than me having to grab someone and please, let's get hungry, let's get hungry, so that I want to pray, I want to tell what God has done in my life.

[34:44] Men, women, testify, you might say, preacher, something the Lord has done for me this week, I've just got to tell the goodness of God. That intensity, that appetite, that hunger, and friends, we need that.

[35:01] We need a balanced meal of the word of God, of prayer, of preaching, of fellowship. I pray that we get that here. Pray for me. Speak to me about, hey, preacher, sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't, but when someone says, can you preach on this topic or that?

[35:20] Ultimately, I pray, I trust that what I deliver is meaningful and what God wants for you to hear, but maybe I need a bit of encouragement from you as well, because I'm human.

[35:37] I'm a weak, human vessel with many faults. Ask my wife, she's got a list of them. But honestly, how are your spiritual taste buds today? I pray they've been, poor, let's just fill up, my spiritual taste buds have been tingling a bit this morning.

[35:54] I've been stirred deep down in my spirit. I need more of God. I need to get hungry. I want more of God in my life. So find that fulfillment that only he can bring, only he can satisfy.

[36:08] And sometimes we've got to almost go, not get reborn, born again, as if you've got to get born again and then baptized again, born again, baptized again, I've got it, I've lost it, I've got it, I've lost it.

[36:21] No, you get it once. But sometimes we can fade away a little bit. Sometimes we can get a little bit casual, a little bit careless.

[36:34] and we need to get a bit of a jolt to get more of God, to find that fulfillment only he can bring to the deep down hunger of your soul.

[36:46] So in closing, let me say this, get hungry for God, get hungry for God. This was such an elementary message this morning, it's just so basic, I know this stuff, yeah, you may know it, but are you doing it, are you doing it, honestly, people of God, let's get hungry.

[37:06] Hungry for righteousness, you will be filled. Hungry for fellowship and spiritual food, long desire to be in the courts of the Lord, hungry for Jesus, he is the bread of life, only he can satisfy.

[37:19] And you might say, preacher, I don't know Jesus, I don't know what you're talking about, I know church, Christianity, you know, you might say, I've been confirmed, I've had holy smoke wafted on me, I've had some priest splash water on my face, and I've had this, that and the other religious experience, I've sat at the feet of a guru on some mountain, and I've had some enlightenment, do you know Jesus?

[37:48] That's the question, do you know him? Have you met him? Have you accepted his invitation to come unto him? and please don't reject him, don't make that mistake of any substitute, but Jesus, only Jesus can satisfy, let us pray.

[38:09] Dear Lord, we thank you that on the cross you paid our price, our penalty to bring our pardon, and we receive by faith, each one here I pray would know that pardon, that eternal life that only you can give as the bread of life, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

[38:32] Lord, help us to have a hungry soul, to long for your word, to feed our soul. Let's dig deep in our personal study time when we gather to hear the word, to receive it, to study it, to learn it together.

[38:49] Help us to be a hungry people, Lord, that our hunger won't ever wane, but it will just get more so until we see your face. And Lord, we pray for every believer here that they'll be stirred up to a refreshing.

[39:04] Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Lord, help us to renew our passion, to renew our first love, Lord, to really earnestly seek after you, earnestly seek after you, for what your calling and mission is for our life, for what your giftings and talents that you've given us, how we can use them and employ them.

[39:30] Give us the courage and boldness to speak up and to share the gospel while we can, while we've got breath to breathe, give us a voice to speak, Lord, that we'll share your message with the crying multitudes who are starving and don't even realize it, Lord, that they can know the bread of life.

[39:49] And we pray for everyone here, if there's any yet to trust you, that even this moment, they'll say, Lord Jesus, I trust you now, right now, for my life, for my eternity, I put my faith no longer in me or anything else but you, Lord Jesus.

[40:05] Pray that they'll make that trust today. We pray, Lord, for further fellowship as we continue this morning. Bless each one, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[40:15] Amen. Amen.