Episode 3

Hunger & Thirst For Righteousness (North OC)

What are you craving to eat and drink? If we have a crave for what's holy then God's blessings come in abundance. Check out the latest sermon from our series "The Upside-down Blessings" on how those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed by God.

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Speaker:

Good morning.

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I have one question for you.

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Do you guys realize that

you've been changed?

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Do you?

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Okay, that was the question.

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My name is Kenny Barber.

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I've been a part of this church.

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My journey started 29 years ago.

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I've been married 28 years.

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And I've been in California 27 years.

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So a lot's happened those three years.

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I have two daughters.

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Uh, one, my oldest daughter is Courtney.

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She's here.

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Um, A.

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K.

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A.

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Um, Gooders, is what we call her.

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And, um, Kelsey, my daughter Kelsey,

Uh, she's in Baltimore, but actually

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she's listening online here.

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Um, and we call her Scooters.

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So, they don't like that name, but

that's something I've had since

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they were like eight years old.

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Um, my wife and kids, Keena right

now serving, serving the kids.

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Uh, so, um, that's our family.

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Um, we have someone living with us,

Hannah, she's trying to adopt her, but she

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lives with us now, she's a campus student.

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You know, so she's kind of semi part

of the, um, Barbara family as well.

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Uh, so we're talking about, we've been

going through the upside down blessings.

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And, um, what's unique about

these blessings is that they

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are, um, illogical, right?

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You know, we've talked about, actually

I missed some of the services, I've

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been away, but we've talked about, um,

you're blessed if you're born, you know,

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you're blessed, um, if you're poor.

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And so some of those, like,

scriptures, when I read it,

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it just doesn't seem logical.

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Maybe it's just me.

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It doesn't seem logical.

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So, I immediately just

make that best practice.

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You know what I mean by best practice?

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That's something good to do, but

really, can I really, really be that?

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So, I, I categorize that.

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Some people categorize that as conviction.

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You know, I have conviction for this or

that, but you never hear anybody say,

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I have conviction for the beatitudes.

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I got conviction for the mourning part.

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I'm conviction for the poor.

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You never hear nobody say

conviction about that.

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It's something else.

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No one has convictions about that part.

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And so, you know, you look at

that, uh, and it tells me that the

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Beatitudes are all about, it's not

logical, it's all about spiritual.

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Spiritual is not logical.

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In the spiritual world, one

plus one does not equal two.

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And so, God says, I frustrate the

wise because that doesn't make sense.

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There's no way that this could happen.

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You know, in my family, you

know, we had, uh, we was going

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through a lot of challenges.

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Um, something that happened, I

told, I talked to my daughter, I

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said is it okay if I bring this up?

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She says yeah.

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Um, that um, you know, she, she has had

surgery uh, at John Hopkins University

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and the most unique thing happened to

her is that when I heard it, um, I was

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in the gym and I couldn't hear my wife

and she says, hey, a tree fell on Kelsey.

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And I was like, what?

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I was like, maybe I'm

not hearing you right.

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You know, so I, you know, got out

of the gym and she says, yeah,

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a tree fell on your daughter.

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And I'm like, my first thought was, you're

coming home right now, you're coming home.

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You know, but it's, and so

this thing is just, something

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like this is just illogical.

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That does not happen to anyone.

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And so as going through these

Beatitudes, I'm thinking, you know,

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that, um, Hmm, that's something that's

unique, that's something illogical.

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You know, I think what, I think the

spiritual aspect of that is that there's

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something unique about this tree and you.

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It was meant for you.

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And so, and that sounds, to hear

it sounds weird, it's like, what?

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This tree, and I'm thinking,

and I'm not, I'm going deep.

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Like, this tree, you are 20 years

old, and so this tree was sitting

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there, and it was growing through the

last, you know, 19 years, growing,

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growing, growing, this was your tree.

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It's growing, it's growing, that

limb is getting loose, it's for you.

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You're going, you're living your life

here, here, here, here, there, but,

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like, okay, here's your time, I'm

walking with my, okay, it's ready, that

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is yours, boom, that was your tree.

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Didn't kill you, blessed, but is

it going to make you stronger,

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or is it going to tear you apart?

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Blessing or curse?

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So I say, and so I'm like, that's

what the gratitude is about!

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I talk to her, and so she's

like, Dad, I want to go.

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I want to get off the phone.

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I don't want to talk to you anymore.

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I was like, what?

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This is good stuff.

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She's like, you are so inconsiderate.

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And I was like, okay.

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It took me like a day to process that.

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I was like, you know, I'm sorry.

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I think it was inconsiderate.

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You know, so I was like,

there's some consideration as

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we listen to the gratitude.

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It's just, it's practical, but it's just,

I had to learn that consideration as well.

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So today we're talking about, um,

excuse this, right, is Matthew 5, 6.

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Blessed are those who hunger,

oh, right here, and thirst for

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righteousness, for they will be filled.

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And hunger and thirst, for us, it's

about, filling is meeting needs, right?

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We have needs, and we have wants.

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Now, as we get older and mature, we

gotta figure out what's more important.

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Now, in general, what's more important?

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Needs or wants, in general?

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Not a trick question, huh?

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Yeah, sometimes we realize the needs are

a little more important than the wants.

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And so we have all these, these needs.

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Some of the needs are physical, right?

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Water, food, we keep our bellies fed.

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Um, some of it's, some of it's,

uh, emotional needs, right?

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Okay, what age you are, you start to

realize, I got some emotional needs.

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That I have to deal with.

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So, that's the part of being filled.

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And we all try to fill that

in some way we have to.

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And sometimes it's temporary, sometimes

it's not, you know, sometimes we've got to

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be figuring out how to meet these needs.

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And we can meet them, and

it's temporary sometimes.

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But we've got to meet it again.

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It's like thirst.

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I drink, okay, I get thirsty again.

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If I don't keep drinking, hunger as well.

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Amen?

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So, and so somebody's got to figure

out what the needs and the wants.

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And so, my wife is really

good at that with me.

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She always says, okay, I want

to, I want to do something.

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She says, Kenny, alright.

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Oh, she says honey sometimes,

depends on what she relates to me.

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She says, do you really want to do this?

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Think about it, do you really,

really want to do this?

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I go, man, do I want this?

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Maybe, I don't know.

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Did you consider all the other

options, your opportunity cost?

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Ah, I thought about it too

much, maybe I don't, you know.

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And so, we went on this trip with,

um, with Corey to see his family.

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Uh, road trip, great trip,

more about that later.

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We go down the road, and then

we see this, we're on the 99,

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I believe, and we see this...

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It's this bright, shiny object.

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It says Ghirardelli

chocolate and ice cream.

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Out of nowhere, we're in the middle

of farmland and we see this store.

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It's like bright and shiny.

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I was like, guys, we got to do this.

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It's vacation, right?

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So we roll up in there and we

got this like 50 foot um, RV.

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It sounded like 50, but it's huge.

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You know, try to get in there.

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You know, Ghirardelli's ice cream.

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And we get in there and I was

like, okay, you know, it was great.

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And, um, and I see this,

um, what do they have?

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A banana split.

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I haven't had those since

I was like 20, right?

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And so, I see the banana split

and I was like, I gotta have it.

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And I was telling, and it was like,

I gotta have this banana split.

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I haven't had it, it's vacation.

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But I hear this voice in my head,

Kenny, do you really want this?

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And I was telling the guys too, I

was like, I can hear my wife saying,

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oh yeah, do you, do you really feel

like you have to have this right now?

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And so I was trying to fizzle

out and I was thinking, yes!

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I do.

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I'm going to have this ice,

but I regret it after I had it.

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So sometimes we have those

conversations about needs and wants.

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So that's what it's all about.

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It's about being filled, but

with the righteousness I was

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talking about here, it's like,

sometimes we have to make choices.

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We have needs and wants, and they've

got to prioritize it through life.

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This is a more important

need and how to meet this.

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But this is a common thread that

goes underneath all of that,

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is what we're talking about.

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It's a depth.

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of righteousness that it's

saying to always pursue.

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And so, I want to talk about, we're

talking about hunger and thirst,

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but from a spiritual perspective.

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Okay?

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Now, hunger versus thirst.

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You have to go, here's the challenge.

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Three weeks.

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Without.

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Would you rather go through this without

water, or three weeks without food,

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or would you like to shoot me down?

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You know, take me out.

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So, out of those two, raise your hand.

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Would you rather go without

water for three weeks?

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Raise your hand.

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Okay, without food for three weeks?

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Raise your hand.

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You gotta choose one, Jacob.

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Gotta choose one.

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Okay.

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Right!

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So, out of the, out of those two,

he's like, I think thirst is a

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little more intense than hunger.

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But this says, this says those who thirst,

who thirst, it doesn't say or hunger.

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It says what?

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Both.

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Combine those two together.

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That's what it's talking about.

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That's intense.

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And so, now we move to the next slide.

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Alright, spiritual hunger.

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That girl's towing down

right now, right there.

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Now, we've seen that before

in ourselves and someone else.

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Spiritual thirst is like,

I can't wait for the cup.

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Give it to me.

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Right?

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And so, but first of all, before we

decide what this is about, the scripture.

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What is thirst?

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We all have an idea of that

through our normal day to day life.

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What is it?

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Jesus gives a great example.

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Matthew 4, verse 1 5 Then Jesus

was led by the Spirit into the

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wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

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After fasting 40 days and

40 nights, he was hungry.

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The tempter came to him and said,

If you are the Son of God, tell

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these stones to become bread.

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Jesus answered, It is written,

Man shall not live on bread alone,

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but on every word that comes.

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From the mouth of God.

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And so, Jesus, he's fasting, he's

obviously hungry, and thirsty.

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That's our immediate need, right?

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I've gotta feel that.

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But he says, no.

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I don't want to indulge that, because

there's something deeper that I need.

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It's righteousness.

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It's, um, God's word.

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It's what I really, really

want to pursue right now.

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That's gonna help my physical,

that's gonna help my physical needs.

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Um, that is what I'm going to pursue.

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That's the example he has for us.

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We have these things, these

needs, you know, my, you know,

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I have a, I have a house that...

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You know, my plumbing broke down, and so

there's water coming through the ceiling.

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I have my daughter who's having surgery.

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We have so many needs, we say

there's an underlying thing that

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I want you to continue to pursue

that will help to fill everything.

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Amen?

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So moving to spiritual thirst, we've

got to understand what does that

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mean from a spiritual perspective.

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Psalms 42.

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1.

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2.

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It says, As a deer pants

for streams of water.

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So my soul pants for you, my God.

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My soul thirsts for

God, for the living God.

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Where can I go meet with God?

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Soul panting.

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Soul is the deepest part of you.

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Soul is a part of your, your, your mind.

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It's a part of your heart.

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It's the core of who you are.

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It's hard to bear your soul.

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Some of you guys want to keep

it, keep it close, but he says

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that part of me Thirst for you.

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It thirsts so bad, I can't

see you, I can't touch you,

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but I want to meet with you.

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That's illogical.

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How are you going to meet

with someone you can't see?

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Doesn't make sense.

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A spiritual thirst.

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Psalm 63 says, You are my God, are my God.

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Conceptually, I know that.

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Earnestly, I seek you.

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There it is again.

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I'm trying to find you.

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I can't see you, I can't touch you.

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But I am going to try to find you.

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I thirst for you.

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Here's that thirst again.

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I thirst.

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My whole being, that's my whole

soul, longs for this connection.

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Thirst.

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Hunger.

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Isaiah 69, 26, 29.

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My soul, here we go again,

my deepest part, yearns.

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In the night, when I should be sleeping.

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In the morning, longs for you.

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My spirit, my core, wants you.

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Psalm 119 says, Consumed.

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How many of you guys have ever

been consumed by something?

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What does consumed mean?

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It means I can't get

my, my mind off of you.

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Maybe a love interest, maybe

a TikTok videos or something.

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It's like, I just can't get my mind.

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I am so consumed.

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Somebody help me.

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That's what it is.

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You know, so yearning eight four, yearning

to the point where I'm crying out my

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flesh, I'm crying out for the connection.

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That's the definition of,

that's what we're talking about.

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It's a deep part of it, of ourselves.

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Spiritual thirst defines

your walk with God.

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Simple as that.

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If someone says, Hey,

how's your walk with God?

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Oh, it's great.

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Is it defined around thirst really?

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I mean, not, not belittling it, but

I'm saying you really got to question

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yourself, it's like, spiritual, that's

my walk with God, my spiritual thirst.

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What keeps me coming back, what keeps

me coming there, what drives me.

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It's not conceptual.

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Meaning that, you know, we all walk with

God, we all, you know, it's not, it's

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not conceptual, it's a personal thing.

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That defines your walk with God,

is the thirst that you maintain.

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Righteousness.

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What are we thirsting for?

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Is it me, my ice cream?

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I mean, it's real thirst.

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Ice cream?

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When I have this ice cream, I don't know

if you guys tried it, it's Haagen Dazs.

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Um, it's, um, it's white

chocolate raspberry Haagen Dazs.

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Have you guys ever had that?

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I'm serious, man, when I have

that, it's just like, I'm like,

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Julie, that, um, I feel like.

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That just, it just makes me happy.

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I am, I'm serious.

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I am, it makes me happy.

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I can do that.

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I watch a nice TV show.

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I have it.

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It's magic.

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It just makes me happy.

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Happy thinking about it.

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Happy me eating it.

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It's just, that's something for me.

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You guys may have something

like that for you.

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I'm sure it's something that

just, it just makes me happy.

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But righteousness is like, what is right?

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Justice.

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The act of doing what is in agreement

with God's standard, the state of

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being in proper relationship with God.

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So we gotta understand, what

is it that we're pursuing?

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The thirst is.

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Really understand that.

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This is my perspective of it.

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And as we grow in our Christianity, in our

spirituality, it's all about perspectives.

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There is no, I'm learning

there is no right or wrong.

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You should do it this way,

you should do it that way.

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You know, it's about.

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God shapes perspectives

throughout your life.

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This is my perspective.

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It may change in another

six months, I don't know.

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But, thirst and hunger, there's

a level of righteousness, right?

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It's split into three.

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There's a part of it, it's about God.

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It's God's righteousness.

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Then there's a part, okay, something

that permeates from that, is

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about personal righteousness.

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And then our part of that is

like, the personal righteousness,

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it extends outwardly now to the

church, to the people around me.

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I think that's how God set it up.

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Part of the God's righteousness,

there's a term, justification.

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Justification means that

something is given to you.

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We have to work for it.

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It's like, by default, it's yours.

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That's awesome.

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I love, I love the giving stuff.

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I appreciate even, um, Karina just,

um, this announcement about me coming

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up, and I was really encouraged

to hear that, what she said.

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I think you got two out of three right,

but, you know, it was like, it was cool

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just hearing that, you know, as well, but.

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So Matthew 6.

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33, this is scriptures that kind of

shapes it to what righteousness really is.

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We got, we have to understand it

before we can even apply it, right?

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It can't be conceptual.

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Matthew 6.

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33 says, but seek first his

kingdom and his righteousness.

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All these things will be given to you.

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It's all about His, not mine.

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What does He say about it?

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Romans 3.

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22 says it's right.

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It's given through faith in Jesus Christ.

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So, there's a point you have

right, this, this, this, um,

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justification, righteousness.

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I see it as, um, 1 Corinthians

says, God made Him who had no sin

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to be sin for us, so that in Him

we might become the righteousness.

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At least I say righteousness

is what I have become.

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It's who I am.

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It's not what I do.

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It's who I am, it's given

to me, and it's His.

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Something He gave to me through Christ.

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So the question is, do

you want to embrace it?

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Or do you leave it as a concept?

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Oh yeah, Jesus died for

all of everybody, all sins.

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So, yeah, or do you embrace it?

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It's something that's given.

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I see it as, um, you look at, the

way I view it is, Matthew 7, 14, I'm

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gonna turn there, but it says, um, the

road to destruction is broad, right?

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It says the road to life is narrow.

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The way I see it with the justification

is like, is saying, okay, justification

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means God says you come, you're saved.

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Some of it's like, how justification is.

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The thirst is, I want to be saved.

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So, there's one side of that.

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And so I will thirst to be saved,

to, um, um, to seek God with all

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my heart, to be saved, that faith.

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And then, once you are saved,

it's like now I am put on

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that narrow road by default.

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I want to be on that narrow road,

is what you say, what we say.

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Because the narrow road leads to where?

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Where?

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You guys know.

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Heaven!

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Everybody wants to be

there, mostly, right?

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So, I want to be on that road.

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So by default, that

justification, you're on the road.

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That feels good to be on

that road, doesn't it?

413

:

So, that's what it's all about.

414

:

But, do you recognize you're on the road?

415

:

Do you wake up tomorrow and say,

You know what, I am on that road.

416

:

Paul refers to it as a race.

417

:

Do you realize you're in the race?

418

:

I went, I went, I went I was

in a marathon a long time ago.

419

:

Right, trained, trained a lot.

420

:

And, I got this called the San Diego

San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon.

421

:

And, this was a fabulous event.

422

:

Every mile was music.

423

:

So, give me something to look forward to.

424

:

A different music, different,

you know, so, really cool.

425

:

It was about, I signed up late, and

so it, it's probably about, I remember

426

:

like 20, 000 people signed up for

this event, so I was like number 18,

427

:

000, something like that, and so I had

to wait my turn to even get started.

428

:

Alright, so, I remember, I trained really

well, but I remember like a mile, like

429

:

8 or 9, it was, Crazy because everybody

was walking and so I had to get around

430

:

excuse me excuse me because like that's

just crazy It's like so many people

431

:

are just walking on this road didn't

respect it the marathon is like I just

432

:

want to be here because It's fabulous.

433

:

It's an event.

434

:

It's like see I did it.

435

:

It's spectacular people were wearing

like crazy outfits and stuff, too

436

:

They're running gear like, you know

Costumes and all that, but they

437

:

were the ones walking on mile five.

438

:

I was like, are you taking this seriously?

439

:

The road to heaven, that

narrow, you're on the road.

440

:

Do you embrace it or not?

441

:

Justification is, it's

placed outside of you.

442

:

Puts us there and it feels good, right?

443

:

But first of all, we got to realize

God has given, placed it there.

444

:

So God sees me in a certain way

that maybe I don't see myself.

445

:

You know, sometimes it's easy to

go, like, I'm just the worst sinner.

446

:

It's easy to say because Paul said that.

447

:

I can say that to you,

I'm the worst sinner.

448

:

So, I'm always going to fail,

I'm always going to struggle.

449

:

Accept that.

450

:

I ain't Jesus.

451

:

I've heard that before.

452

:

I ain't Jesus.

453

:

That's Jesus.

454

:

I ain't Jesus.

455

:

So you can't expect all that from me.

456

:

But God's view is so important.

457

:

It's God's view.

458

:

It's like to sit on that and

to be on that road for God's

459

:

justification is to understand.

460

:

God sees me as righteous.

461

:

I'm, I'm running.

462

:

I got a, I got a shirt.

463

:

I got a shirt that says rice

on the back on this road.

464

:

I'm just righteous

because I'm on the road.

465

:

I am salt.

466

:

Who likes salt in their food?

467

:

Food without salt is what?

468

:

It's just like, man, yeah.

469

:

Healthy, yeah.

470

:

But God said, he sees You

and I, we are the salt.

471

:

Do you see yourself

through God's perspective?

472

:

Light of the world.

473

:

It's dark out here, but when I

come around, that light's shining.

474

:

When I'm around, the light shines.

475

:

When you're around, the light shines.

476

:

I'm different.

477

:

I'm set apart.

478

:

I'm different.

479

:

In a good way.

480

:

Precious.

481

:

That's probably hard

to touch, but precious.

482

:

Can you sit on that?

483

:

Can you sit on God delighting?

484

:

That his eyes are on you?

485

:

All the time.

486

:

It's easy to say, oh man, he's

disappointed in me because I'm

487

:

doing, messing up, messing up.

488

:

How could he?

489

:

I did this last night.

490

:

Or could you reflect

that he's smiling at me.

491

:

He's delighting.

492

:

Even when I mess up, he's delighting.

493

:

That's the God we serve.

494

:

In order to stay here,

there's justification.

495

:

You gotta look at God's perspective.

496

:

What God's given to me.

497

:

Do I embrace it?

498

:

Sometimes you gotta go back.

499

:

You gotta go back and remember it

and remember it and then move out.

500

:

On that, if you start forgetting

it, go back, touch it, touch it,

501

:

touch it, and then move out again.

502

:

Does that make sense?

503

:

Can I go on?

504

:

You guys good?

505

:

Now, it's, God's righteousness is the

thirst to, first of all, if you're

506

:

not saved, the thirst to be saved.

507

:

Or, it's to experience Christ.

508

:

Um, to embrace God as he sees you.

509

:

And so, you gotta, it's

to examine your desires.

510

:

It's like, to be honest,

I don't have this thirst.

511

:

I don't.

512

:

Be honest with yourself.

513

:

I don't have this thirst for that.

514

:

Other things.

515

:

And to, and so now you gotta

ask yourself, why don't I?

516

:

I'm, I'm, in my, um, my profession,

I'm in IT, and we're always

517

:

trying to make processes better.

518

:

And we have this process, it's

called, um, the five whys.

519

:

Anybody know what the five whys is?

520

:

Okay, cool.

521

:

Yeah, yeah.

522

:

It's five whys.

523

:

And so it's, it's, it's

concept of root cause analysis.

524

:

And so, to get to the root cause.

525

:

And I love it because it's so spiritual.

526

:

It's like getting, that gets to the heart.

527

:

So ask yourself, why don't

I want to stay on this road?

528

:

Why don't I want to come to church?

529

:

Why don't I want to pray?

530

:

Why don't I, I don't have my quiet time?

531

:

Why don't I want to have quiet time?

532

:

And so it's like, ask

yourself that five times.

533

:

Why don't I have quiet times?

534

:

Because I don't have time.

535

:

Why don't you have time?

536

:

Because, you know, I get up too late.

537

:

Why do you get up so late?

538

:

You know?

539

:

So you keep asking until

you get to the root cause.

540

:

That's how you get to the heart.

541

:

You realize, okay, that's the reason why

I don't have quiet times, to be honest.

542

:

I don't want to, because something

in the past affected me or whatever.

543

:

So it's like, examine it

to get back on the road.

544

:

The second part is personal righteousness,

and that's sanctification, right?

545

:

He says in Titus 2, where it gets to

the last part, it says, it teaches, it

546

:

teaches us to say no to ungodliness, to

worldly passion, to live self controlled.

547

:

and upright and godly lives.

548

:

So, 1 Peter says, pretty much,

be holy because I'm holy.

549

:

So, the way I see this is that

God's righteousness puts you

550

:

on the road, and then personal

righteousness is like, now walk.

551

:

Or, you get in a race, Paul says, now run!

552

:

Or you're playing basketball,

you're on the bench.

553

:

You know, it's like, I want you to

want, put me in the game, coach.

554

:

Get in the game, play.

555

:

That's personal righteousness.

556

:

Uh, very, it's very clear.

557

:

And it's something that

happens inside of us.

558

:

It's something I have to do personally.

559

:

Paul talks about it, you know,

it's like working out your

560

:

salvation with fear and trembling.

561

:

It's the working out.

562

:

Spending the rest of

your life working out.

563

:

It's easy to say, you know what,

today I ain't going to run.

564

:

You know what, I don't even

want to be in a race this month.

565

:

I don't got time for no race.

566

:

To be honest with ourselves, I don't

want this spiritual perspective.

567

:

I don't have time for that.

568

:

Obedience is a part of this.

569

:

It's like, do I have a thirst to obey, or

am I thirsty to just do it on my own way?

570

:

But directly, the scripture says,

if you love me, you will do what?

571

:

Obey me.

572

:

Point blank.

573

:

We can say, you know what?

574

:

I love God.

575

:

Oh, I love God.

576

:

I feel it.

577

:

I feel it.

578

:

I feel it.

579

:

I sing.

580

:

The guy's like, do you obey what I say?

581

:

Do you do it?

582

:

I don't, what?

583

:

It's like, that's it, black and white.

584

:

Sink the fake Christian

righteousness is a statement of love.

585

:

It could be all about faith, and

no, you're not supposed to do

586

:

anything when you're a Christian.

587

:

You know, it's, it's all

about, not about works.

588

:

He's like, surely you love me.

589

:

I love it when Paul, when, when,

when, um, when he questioned

590

:

Peter after Peter denied himself.

591

:

Says three times.

592

:

Do you love me?

593

:

You know, of course, I love you.

594

:

I've been around you feelings.

595

:

Feed my sheep.

596

:

You know, I said three times.

597

:

Can you obey me?

598

:

Show me.

599

:

You guys aren't showing me.

600

:

I don't got to show you guys.

601

:

He's like, you show me.

602

:

Why don't you want to obey me?

603

:

So ask this question.

604

:

Why?

605

:

Sanctification is like, you obey

me, things happen automatically.

606

:

You start changing.

607

:

You start to look like me.

608

:

You don't gotta decide that.

609

:

You obey me, all of a

sudden, things happen.

610

:

You light your salt, these things

just start boom, boom, boom.

611

:

That's how God works.

612

:

Cause you're my child.

613

:

You can put a stop to it all.

614

:

I ain't gonna change.

615

:

I don't got time for this.

616

:

There's fruit because of that.

617

:

It's surrendering.

618

:

So it's like longing to, um, first

of all, like the longing for personal

619

:

righteousness is Sometimes it's

really, we look into my Bible family

620

:

group, we're learning this together.

621

:

It's like putting it

into the first person.

622

:

When you read the Bible, have

God speak to you directly.

623

:

So when you read, it's like,

okay, God wants all of us.

624

:

God wants me to do what?

625

:

Do what?

626

:

See what he wants you to

do from the Word of God.

627

:

It's repentance and victories.

628

:

I want to change, I want

to see the victories.

629

:

Change and victories.

630

:

That's how change happens.

631

:

Both sides.

632

:

It's, perspective is like, I gotta

see God, he's good in everything.

633

:

So when I read his word,

there's goodness there.

634

:

It's not doom and destruction.

635

:

Every scripture, there's some

good that's being produced.

636

:

It's all good.

637

:

Um, watch, pray, and fight.

638

:

Some of it's like, do the

things you did at first.

639

:

What did I do at first when

I was on the road, fired up?

640

:

Do what you did at first.

641

:

Carrying the cross, uh, moving on.

642

:

The other part is about, for the

personal righteousness, um, you're

643

:

walking the road, you're, um,

you're on a race, then you look

644

:

around, there's people around you.

645

:

I remember I was running a marathon, had

a lot of, um, physical issues along the

646

:

way, but, you know, finally got along,

you know, once I got rid of my, my cramps

647

:

and stuff, I had some major cramps.

648

:

Um, that's another story.

649

:

It's got to go ahead by now.

650

:

I'll tell you later.

651

:

And so I had some cramps, and then

um, and I had some people, and I

652

:

finally, when I got, you know, kind of

a good rhythm, I saw people around me.

653

:

And so, and I can start to encourage them,

encourage me, and so, it's about that.

654

:

It's like, you look around, you got

people all around you on this road.

655

:

And so, I don't necessarily, my personal

righteousness is important, but now, I

656

:

care about the community righteousness.

657

:

I care about my brothers and

sisters righteousness now.

658

:

It works that way.

659

:

It can't do the other way around.

660

:

It's hard to say, I care about

the community, but my social

661

:

righteousness is like, crazy.

662

:

But I can help.

663

:

It's like, it doesn't work that way.

664

:

It's confusing, it's

like, it's like, it can't.

665

:

It's, um, and so, it's like,

Mark 3 5 16, Let's shine, the

666

:

light shine before others.

667

:

I have the light, and now I'm

going to include other people.

668

:

Along, help them along the road,

because this road is just not easy.

669

:

This sanctification is easy, right?

670

:

So you guys still with me?

671

:

Okay.

672

:

Uh, St.

673

:

Corinthians 5.

674

:

20 it says, um, God Christ's

ambassador because God was

675

:

making His appeal through us.

676

:

Ezra on the road, God is

making His appeal through us.

677

:

Because the righteousness is in us.

678

:

And so, um, you know collectively,

in the, um, in the community, in

679

:

the church, that's our perspective.

680

:

So it's righteous, this is

the righteousness in others.

681

:

So the first one is righteousness

in God, the second one is

682

:

righteousness in ourselves, this

is righteousness in other people.

683

:

Learn, uh, the longing to help

others in the church grow, too.

684

:

Longing for the community.

685

:

Now we went out, um, in the community

before, before, um, we, we met

686

:

here, and that's something I had to

really pray for as well is that not

687

:

so much, you know, going door to

door could be a little weird, right?

688

:

And so I got to fight.

689

:

Not Jehovah Witness is a bad term,

but you know, I just, the feeling of

690

:

being like a Jehovah Witness and um,

you know, people like don't want to

691

:

open their doors and all that stuff.

692

:

And so I'll put on a suit on purpose.

693

:

I'm kidding.

694

:

Yeah.

695

:

And so, but the feeling, but I had

to realize that helped me to long to

696

:

just want the community field, right?

697

:

That's what drives me,

relationships and all that.

698

:

So, um, and so this demonstrates

our love for other people.

699

:

through our righteousness.

700

:

And moving on to, um, and

that's, it's a picture here.

701

:

This is Cory and his family.

702

:

And why I brought this up is, you

know, we went on this road trip

703

:

and, um, the road trip was to,

um, where did we go, Cory, again?

704

:

Um, yeah, um, so we went to Berry

Creek area, um, and Oroville, which I

705

:

had no idea where that was on the map.

706

:

Um, actually I didn't.

707

:

And so, what, what amazes me is that,

uh, Cory brought it up months ago, that

708

:

he, he hadn't seen his family in a while.

709

:

And so, Tuan says, Hey, where

would you want to go on vacation?

710

:

He says, Uh, if I was the one

who would have said Hawaii,

711

:

somebody would have said Orville.

712

:

Then Tuan says, Okay, we'll go there.

713

:

And, and he's like, Okay.

714

:

And then he said, Want to come, Kenny?

715

:

I was like, Sure.

716

:

So this trip was about to encourage

Cory to connect with his family, who

717

:

hasn't seen him in, I think, 19 years.

718

:

And so, what I brought this

up is that this was such an

719

:

incredible trip to see his family.

720

:

Reconnect with him and the fears that

I had going up I had expressed with his

721

:

family is that okay Three of us are going,

you know, I am a tall black man Twan is

722

:

a medium sized for Asian Asian And then,

and then Tuan, I mean, and then um, Corey.

723

:

So we're all coming up, and I'm like,

what are they going to see, first of all?

724

:

And then we're in the backwoods of, I

don't know where, Northern California, so.

725

:

And then, yeah, so that was like,

I'll have some, I was kind of

726

:

anxious about that, so that's

going to be weird, you know, too.

727

:

And they had the same

views of us as well, so.

728

:

So, we got there, they pulled us in,

we met so many of his aunts and uncles

729

:

and cousins, and it was amazing,

this connection, it was amazing

730

:

to see the love of their family.

731

:

And they pulled us in

as family immediately.

732

:

And we were leaving, we dropped Cory

off, and then Tom was like, you know

733

:

what, I so needed this, to see this

love, you know, from this community.

734

:

I was like, you know what, me too.

735

:

I didn't know, I need that, but I

need to see that, I need to feel that.

736

:

That genuine love.

737

:

So it's about the community,

uh, is so important.

738

:

So this is my own thoughts here.

739

:

So, you know, um, I work with a lot

of presentations, so sorry if it's

740

:

a little complex, but we have this,

so it's a hunger and thirst for

741

:

righteousness, but then see how this

plays into his greatest command.

742

:

Right?

743

:

He says, this is the greatest command.

744

:

Love the Lord with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind.

745

:

This is the first and greatest

commandment, and the second is like it.

746

:

Love your neighbor as yourself.

747

:

And you can see that loving yourself

is a part of the equation, too.

748

:

I gotta love me.

749

:

I can't do this without loving me.

750

:

Right?

751

:

But I can love me through Christ.

752

:

How he sees me helps me to love me.

753

:

So, that's the God's part.

754

:

I gotta see how God sees me first.

755

:

And it says, love the

Lord with all your heart.

756

:

Personal sanctification is

like, you obey me, you love me.

757

:

That's the love part.

758

:

Then it goes to the community part.

759

:

It's like, and then

you love your neighbor.

760

:

As yourself.

761

:

It all, Christ just fits

into his commandments.

762

:

Says how important.

763

:

And critical, righteousness is,

but there's a thirst behind it.

764

:

Develop it, why it's not there,

cultivate it, um, as well.

765

:

So the promise is like field.

766

:

Um, the last scripture, Ephesians 3, 17,

it says, I pray that out of his glory

767

:

and riches, that he may strengthen you

with his power through the spirit in

768

:

your inner being, so that Christ may

dwell in your hearts through faith.

769

:

And I pray that you being

rooted and established in love.

770

:

May have power together with

all God's Holy Spirit people to

771

:

grasp how wide and long and high

and deep is the love of Christ.

772

:

And you know this love that surpasses

knowledge that you may be filled to

773

:

the measure of all the fullness of God.

774

:

Being filled means strengthened.

775

:

Being filled means power.

776

:

Being filled means purpose and root.

777

:

Being filled means I understand and

I can touch this love of Christ.

778

:

Being filled means I can be full.

779

:

Uh, as I mentioned here, security,

uh, wisdom comes from this as well.

780

:

Um, uh, and it's fulfilling

his greatest commandment.

781

:

So some action steps is just to write

down some things, uh, some areas in

782

:

your life that God has changed you.

783

:

How has God sanctified me?

784

:

We all are evidence of that.

785

:

Think about that and write it down.

786

:

How has God changed me?

787

:

And so those areas, how, how did

I show my thirst for those areas?

788

:

Maybe I, you know, I had some

McQuin talk Quiet times, hasn't

789

:

McQuin talks about people.

790

:

I had to wrestle here.

791

:

And that changed.

792

:

How did you've, you've demonstrated

that, if not now, in parts of your

793

:

life, looking at that and touching

it, and I wanna recreate that.

794

:

And so as this time, we're gonna take

communion and I really wanna focus on

795

:

the first aspect of the righteousness.

796

:

God's righteousness,

what's been given to us.

797

:

And we can look at the cross.

798

:

And as we close our eyes and reflect

on Christ, just think about, um, and,

799

:

and so I know a lot of times we, we

focus on where I went wrong and, you

800

:

know, where, you know, how I want

to change, but we can really look

801

:

at the fact of like how good He is.

802

:

Uh, what is the, um, how does He see me?

803

:

You know, what's the opportunities

I'll have once I open up my eyes

804

:

again after I see the cross?

805

:

What opportunities do I have?

806

:

What good can I produce?

807

:

Amen?

808

:

Let's pray.

809

:

Heavenly Father, God, thank you for

just allowing us to come together,

810

:

to be here, to worship you.

811

:

Father, you are our focus.

812

:

Father, you are our desire.

813

:

Father, we're open to learn

from you, to be taught from you.

814

:

Father, thank you for the cross, thank you

for Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice.

815

:

Thank you for just putting

us on the road to heaven.

816

:

Uh, father, we thank you for the

way that you, you call us higher,

817

:

uh, to thank you for family.

818

:

Uh, God.

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