Hunger For God

HUNGRY #1: HUNGER FOR GOD

(May 2006 - City Blessing Church Camp)

OPENING: Intro speaker: Brief salvation, call to ministry, Firestorm ministry today, wife & four children!

INTRODUCTION:

Hunger Defined - The discomfort, weakness, or pain caused by a prolonged lack of food; To have a strong desire or craving.

- The greatest problem in the church today is that we have lost our hunger for God!

- My desire is to stir up your hunger for God—that you would seek Him with all your heart!

KEY TEXT:

“(For my determined purpose is) that I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly).” (Phil. 3:10a, Amplified).

“A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.” (Psalm 63:1-3).

- David a was a man after God’s own heart - hungry!

- Sometimes God allows us to go into the wilderness to cause us to hunger & thirst for Him!

1. GOD ALONE CAN SATISFY OUR HUNGER AND THIRST:

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38).

“And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).

QUOTE: "Nothing will supply the needs, and satisfy the desires of a soul, but water out of this rock Jesus…this fountain opened. The pleasures of sense are puddle-water; spiritual delights are rock water, so pure, so clear, and so refreshing -- rivers of pleasure." (Matthew Henry).

2. WE WON’T BE HUNGRY FOR GOD UNTIL WE TASTE HIS GOODNESS!

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Ps. 34:8).

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103).

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:1-3).

- When you know how much God loves you, you will seek Him. We need a revelation of the Father’s heart of love for us.

- Satan distorts our perception of who God is so we won’t seek after Him - this is a barrier to hunger that must be broken by God’s revelation!

- Let Him love you—to transform you and wreck you for everything but His presence.

3. WE’RE TOO EASILY SATISFIED BY WORLDLY THINGS:

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13).

- The opposite of hunger is satisfaction—being full, complacent and lukewarm.

“If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things and there is no room for the great.” (John Piper, A Hunger for God).

ILLUSTRATION: When my two year old daughter Hannah would wake me up at 2:00 am with her bottle and say, “Fill it up, daddy!” She didn’t care what time it was - she wanted her hunger satisfied now! We need to have child like faith. Our prayer: “I’m hungry for more of you, Lord! Fill me up!”

THE CALL TO INTIMACY IN THE SECRET PLACE:

- God longs for relationship!

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6).

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20).

THE SONG OF SOLOMON:

“The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth-- For your love is better than wine. Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you. Draw me away!” (Song 1:1-4).