Fill ‘Er Up
A Look at Hungering and Thirsting for God
2/2/05
I. Introduction
Have ya’ll seen the latest Taco Bell commercials boasting of their new Big Bell Value Menu? The customers who eat there boldly proclaim, “I’m full!”
How many of you can say that about your relationship with God?
“I’m full in my relationship with God. I’m full of His grace and His power. I have everything I want and everything I need.”
Truth be known, probably none of us in here can say that and it ring true. We can say it by faith, we can make it a confession, but is it really happening?
Tonight’s message is “Fill ‘Er Up: A Look at Hungering and Thirsting for God” and we’re going to talk about what it means to hunger and thirst for God and you’ll have a better idea of whether or not you’re doing it. Over the next few weeks we’re going to be going “Back to the Basics.” We’ll be talking about the things we have to have in our Christian walk in order to grow as a believer and it’s going to be a focus on the fundamentals. And tonight, we begin with Fill ‘Er Up.
II. The Hunger
I’m sure many of you have been driving around either with your parents, or on your own, and at some point the gas light comes on that signifies that you’re running low on fuel. At this point, you realize that if you don’t put fuel in your vehicle, it will ultimately chug, chug, clunk, clunk and stop, leaving you stranded and unable to operate your car.
Well, many of us have been spiritually running on empty for too long. Some of us may even be out of fuel completely and we’re left stranded and our faith isn’t working. And you know what, it’s time to fill ‘er up. Everybody say, “Fill ‘er up!”
The thing about your spiritual tank is that you can’t afford to let it get empty. When you go days and weeks without praying or feeding on God’s word, you’ll get spiritually weak and begin to sputter.
We have to realize that we need God’s fuel every day.
Here’s the thing about being full, it begins with a desire, a longing, a hunger for God.
Matthew 5:6 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
When you’re hungry, and I mean, really hungry, you have this NEED for food. Your stomach starts growling and your body gets a little weaker. This is clearly an indication that your body needs food. At this point, the expression is I’m so hungry I could eat a horse – which means you could eat a lot and it doesn’t matter what it is.
Now, Jesus knew what it was like to be hungry – physically and spiritually. And he considered the spiritual hunger to be more important than the physical. Let’s check it out.
Matthew 4:1-4 NIV 1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus hungered more for the Word of God than he did for regular food. He knew that it was mo better for him to be filled with God’s Word.
We need to understand the importance of hungering for the things of God.
Now we know about hunger, but there are also times when you have a craving for a certain kind of food. During these times, you’re hungering FOR something; you’re not just hungry.
1 Peter 2:2 NIV 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Peter said that we need to have a craving for spiritual things, for the things that are going to help us grow in our salvation.
Now, a lot of times we automatically group cravings with pregnant women because they have these weird cravings for like a peanut butter, applesauce, and pickles milkshake or something. But you know, regular people have cravings, too. And when you crave something, it’s like you want it so bad that you have to have it – and you can’t do without it. And that’s what it means to hunger for the things of God.
So, why don’t we?
John Piper put it this way – “The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with other things.”
If you’re stuffed with other things, you’re not hungry, are you?
Let’s go back to the car analogy. If you put something other than gasoline in your gas tank like water, it wouldn’t work properly. It operates on gasoline. Well, your spiritual life operates on faith. So if you stuff yourself with other things, it’s not going to work properly.
III. There Must Be More
There must be more. Have you ever just had a feeling that there’s more out there? That what you’re experiencing now is not all that God has for you? That there’s more in store for you and your life, including your relationship with your Heavenly Father?
The thing about hungering and thirsting for God is that there’s always that desire and that’s how it should be. No matter how much of God’s presence you get or how much of God’s word you soak in, you always want more.
That’s how one particular Baptist kid at NGC was. He absolutely knew there was more out there for him to experience in his relationship with God. He had heard about the BOHS and so during his prayer time one night, he said God, if the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is real and speaking in tongues is from you, then I want it. And immediately God filled him with the Holy Spirit and he began to speak in other tongues. But I’m sure his desire didn’t stop after that experience. He just kept growing and growing in the things of God.
That’s how it is when you hunger and thirst for God. You always want more.
One of the songs we sang tonight was titled Consuming Fire written by Tim Hughes. Let me read the lyrics to you.
There must be more than this
O breath of God, come breathe within
There must be more than this
Spirit of God we wait for You
Fill us anew we pray
Fill us anew we pray
Consuming Fire fan into flame
A passion for your name
Spirit of God, fall in this place
Lord, have your way
Lord, have your way with us
Come like a rushing wind
Clothe us in power from on high
Now set the captives free
Leave us abandoned to your praise
Lord, let your glory fall
Lord, let your glory fall
There must be more. We haven’t experienced all that God has for is. God is a good God and he has MORE in store for us. We shouldn’t ever get satisfied with where we are. We need to make room in our thinking for the great things God wants to do. Our best days are ahead. God wants to do more than we can even ask or think, but remember, it’s according to the power that works in us. We have to stir ourselves up and step out of complacency.
Complacency is being satisfied with where you’re at. If you’re satisfied with where you’re at, you won’t move forward. You won’t grow in the things of God, you won’t experience more.
When you hunger and thirst for God, you always want more. And the Bible promises us that when we hunger and thirst for God, we shall be filled. We’ll be filled with every good thing we need.
(go with the flow)
Let’s pray.
