Many people are satisfied to come to church to read from the menu, to have somebody describe the menu. And then goal. Dr. Tony Evans says that's a recipe for spiritual malnutrition. How do you know the soul is starving to death because you're living a dissatisfied life?
This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Spiritually speaking, if your life isn't full, it may be because your stomach isn't empty. Today, Dr. Evans talks about the benefits of being spiritually famished.
Let's join him in Matthew 5, verse 6. We live in a day when most of us don't have to worry about Being hungry for very long. The access to food in the Western world. is replete. Not so in biblical days when there were no freezers and refrigerators.
And you had to hustle after your food day by day. Because it couldn't be preserved typically for extended periods of time. We've all seen third world countries with babies with bloated bellies. hungering and thirsty. passionately desiring to be fed.
By life's sustenance. of food and water. Those folk are different than we are today, or where we live. Because They're desperate. We may be inconvenienced.
by the time it takes to get in our car and go to McDonald's. Those folk are desperate. Their longing is much deeper than You and I have to deal with it. But even still, we all know what it is to be hungry. To have gone an extended amount of time.
Without the nourishment we feel we need, many know what it is to wake up in the middle of the night and go prancing. to the refrigerator or to the pantry. Because hunger pains have Set in. Blessed are those, he says. Yeah.
Passionately Pursuing. God. who are desperately desiring. hunger and thirst. Him.
The psalmist says, David says in Psalm 119, verse 20: My soul is crushed. with longing after you at all times. He says in Psalm 42, verse 1, as the deer. Pants. After the water broke.
So pants my soul after thee, O God. Again, he says in Psalm sixty three, verse one. My soul thirsts for God earnestly. and yearns for him. Isaiah put it this way in Isaiah 26, verses 8 and 9: My spirit seeks thee earnestly.
Paul says in Philippians three that I might know him. Moses says in Exodus 33, Show me your glory. There is one great. Trait. That is always seen among the great people of scripture.
And that is their hunger and thirst after God. Passionate pursuit. For him. They are on the right. fire to find him at the deeper level.
One of the reasons that so many of us experience so little of God. It's so many of us. are not hungry. Hungry people are going to pursue food.
Well thirsty people are going to pursue drink. They're desperate for it. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. This is. Passionate pursuit.
of God. In the very same way. That the physical man needs food. To make it. The spiritual man needs righteousness to make it.
This is not just a desire, it is a necessity. You must eat to live. Righteousness is God's menu for the soul. It is living in accordance with God's will. That's righteousness.
So many people, in spite of the fact they go to church, In spite of the fact they are religious. Are starving spiritually. Because they're not hungering and thirsting after the right thing that the soul is requiring. Because the soul, in order to flourish, requires Righteousness or Seeking to align oneself in accordance with The will of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
for they will be satisfied.
Now we have the compensation. The payoff. For those who are hungering and thirsting after the right thing. Jesus said in John 10:10, I have come to give you life. and to give it to you more abundantly.
Psalm 107, verse 9 says, He satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good things. Psalm 34:10 says, Those who seek The Lord Shall not lack any good thing. The issue is. Hungering and thirsting. Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
Jesus told the woman at the well. I am going to give you water that will spring up. The everlasting life it's going to satisfy. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
They're going after it. God says, I will supply. The birds in the air. Food. The Bible says he feeds the birds.
Now, you will never see a bird standing on a limb with its beak open. Toward heaven, waiting for God to drop worms. They're not going to do that. They're going to go worm looking. But guess what?
they're going to find it. Why? Because God has structured things. Where there are enough worms to go around. He's got every bird covered for the span of its lifetime to take care of its burnetts.
It's chicks. Because God has so arranged things that satisfaction worms are built into the system. But the birds got to go get it. Bird doesn't extend on limbs that you promised. He's got to go get it.
But the reason why it says that birds don't worry is because birds know. That it's there. They got to go get it, but they know that it's there. Satisfaction is there. But you got to go get it.
How do you get it? You go get righteousness. You seek to conform to the will of God. Much of our misery, in whatever classification you find it, particularly if it's ongoing day after day, month after month, week after week, is tied. To famish souls.
Coming to church to hear a sermon has its place. To enjoy worship has its place. But it's not enough. It's not enough. If I told you, I'm going to feed you physically after church today.
Do the best you can until next week. That's not going to work for you. Because of the nature of the body. The body demands. Feeding two and three.
And they tell me, tell me the best way to eat is. four or five small meals a day. to keep the metabolism working. They are in hot pursuit after righteousness. When you go.
to a restaurant. They give you a menu. And the menu says, this is what we are offering at this location. You can read a menu and get real hungry. You were hungry when you came in.
That's why you wanted to go eat. But you can go, you can salivate out of menu. That menu gets, ooh, that looks good. That looks good. I don't know what I want.
This all looks good because the menu is so inviting. Then you have somebody who comes and proclaims the menu to you. A waiter or waitresses, they exegete the menu. They expound on the menu. They take you through the menu.
They describe the menu. Then they have a QA session. Can I answer any questions? How about the menu?
So you've Reddit? You've heard it. You then do not say amen and go home. He'll say, boy. Boy, what a great.
I loved reading the menu today. And boy, that waiter or waitresses, boy, they know how to tell it. They sure know how to tell it. Good job. Good job.
You don't need to get your coat and go home. Because that's not why you came. You didn't come to read about it. Nor did you come to just hear somebody describe it. You came to experience it.
So until you've eaten, you're not through. Many people are satisfied to come to church. to read from the menu. To have somebody describe the menu. And then go home.
Never knowing that Until you eat You still hungry. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. But for something, they want to experience something, they want to go after something, that which is right or in conformity to the will of God. Because they, here's a great promise, they're going to be satisfied. Dr.
Evans will return with more on developing a healthy spiritual appetite in just a moment. But first, I want to let you know about a special offer that can help you go deeper in your study of the Beatitudes. Right now, when you support the Ministry of the Alternative, We'll send you Tony's complete 10-part audio series, How to Be Truly Blessed. This powerful collection walks you through each of the Beatitudes, showing how living in alignment with Christ brings real lasting joy. And for a limited time, you'll also receive Dr.
Evans' book, Praying Through the Names of Jesus. In it, you'll discover the meaning behind the many ways the Lord is described in Scripture, learn how to bring those names into your prayer life, and experience greater confidence and assurance as you draw near to Him. Take advantage of this special double offer by visiting tonyevans.org. or by calling 1-800-800-3222, where our resource team is ready to assist you day and night. Again, that's tonyevans.org.
or by phone at 1-800-800-3222.
Well, let's return now to hear more from doctor Evans. God wants you to stop dining on donuts. As pleasant as they may taste. and start dining on something that has nutrition tied to it.
So that raises one other question. How do I get hungry? and thirsty.
Now, some already are.
Some already are. You're here. And you have this passionate pursuit of God through His Word, and you can't get enough. You want more and more, you want to understand more, you want to know more. You know, there will be passionate pursuit of the football game.
This will not be casual, it's too big a game, it's too important. There will be passionate pursuit. Can I get a witness in the house? Is there a witness in the house? Because It's too important, it's too big, it's too dominating.
To be Casual about it. You won't get up except maybe at half time to take a break because. You don't want to miss anything. You know why? Because you're hungry.
You're hungry. If the physical man needs to eat numerous times a day, for the body to function as it was designed. then how much more does the spiritual man not need to eat regularly because the soul is starving to death? And how do you know the soul is starving to death? Because you're living a dissatisfied life.
Yes, there may be other problems out there. Making it worse. But where are you in your own satisfaction?
So, how do you cultivate this hunger?
Some of you already have it, and that's good. You're in the process of feeding it, and all Sunday is the big meal to launch you into the week of addressing the hunger pains. Others have lost their hunger. Used to be hungry. Not hungry anymore.
That's because something's wrong. The first thing you need to do to work your way toward verse 6 is to start off with verse 3. Because all these are progressive. Blessed are those who are poor. Poor in spirit.
Declare your spiritual bankruptcy. Declare the fact I can't fix this problem. It's too deep for me. Because then heaven will rule. Then you must mourn.
Over your sin, that which is in your life. That is not in conformity to the will of God, you must. Lay down your bankruptcy. in the sorrow that comes. With the displeasure of God in your soul.
Then blessed are the meek or the gentle. You must say, all that I am, I yield to your control.
So that what you have for me can come to me. I can get my inheritance.
Now we can get to blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Because when you declare spiritual bankruptcy, mourn over sin. Place yourself under divine authority, you're going to feel your hunger pains return. For righteousness. If you really want to get hungry so you can become satisfied.
Hang out! around good cooking. Because you know when you're around good cooking, even if you're not hungry, it'll make you hungry. Yeah. You know, you're going to Boy, that sure smells every time I ride by Kentucky fried chicken, I'm...
If they're cooking that thing, and I can smell that thing.
Something is drawing me. Maybe I didn't plan to eat chicken, but the smell. The smell, the smell says, Evans, Evans, I'm calling you. It's calling me. Why?
Because the The smell. is attracting me. Hang out where you can get fed. See, if you're listening to K104 all the time. He listens to 94.5 all the time.
And there's no feeding of the soul. There's nothing day by day that you're not hanging out where the cooking is. You must start with the recognition that you need righteousness. Paul said, O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from the body of this death?
Who's gonna get this monkey off my back? Because if you don't recognize you sick, you're not likely to go to a doctor. You say, but I just can't take in much.
Okay. Eat a little often. If you can't eat a lot yet. Eat a little often. Watch this now.
Even if initially you have to force feed. See, when a person's real sick, And loses their appetite. and therefore has to be put in the hospital. They do not accept the fact. that he doesn't want to eat so let's not give him anything to eat They don't accept that.
Because they know that it's the sickness causing the loss of appetite.
So, what they're going to do is they're going to put a tube and they're going to force feed you until your natural appetite kicks in.
So, if you are not naturally wanting to go into God's presence, naturally wanting to spend time with God, naturally wanting to get into the word, naturally wanting, if that's, then position yourself for false feeding. Hang out with somebody who's gonna feed you whether you want to eat or not. Read something that's going to put spiritual input. Whether you feel like reading it or not, it may be only good for one page right now, but force feeding sets you up. For regular eating.
But if you don't position yourself to be Force fan, If there is no appetite, then you won't eat at all. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And they will be satisfied. Reject. Illegitimate sources.
of nutrition. Don't leave here today saying, I'm hungry. Let me go eat 10 donuts. Because that's not designed to address what the body is calling for. Which is why the Bible says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
For if a man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. He's not experiencing the satisfaction of God because you're asking something not designed to satisfy the soul to satisfy it. All of us would say that about a drug addict, wouldn't we? We would say, I don't care how good that makes you feel. That's not in the best interest of your body.
We would say that to a drug addict. Why? Because it makes them feel good. It satisfies them for a while, but it's really not what the body is asking for. It's illegitimate sustenance.
And therefore, it's killing. what they think it's making feel better. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. For they shall be satisfied. I have a habit of running on empty.
Anybody know what I'm talking about? You wait. till you can smell the fumes. before you pull into a gas station. But there are others of you.
Who don't let it get that far? Yeah. When you see it hanging. Left. Yeah.
You know it's time to go in and say fill her out. Because you don't let it get that far.
Some of us have been away so long. That we're running on fumes. And so we face our emergencies, and we go in to the station, and we say, fill her up. But as soon as we drive off. It's eating away at what we just received.
No matter how full the great song about trusting in the Lord was, or how meaningful the sermon was, there is a system out there that's going to burn. What was put in your tank today? The moment you are someone, you are not. gonna make it to your car before you see full go to half. Because somebody's gonna cut you off, your family gonna irritate you, your wife is gonna say the wrong thing, your children gonna make too much noise, and you're gonna leave full, and then they're gonna go boom!
And you wonder, how can I lose that much fuel in that short a time? The system out there is designed. to pull away your righteousness.
So, hunger and thirst.
So that you stay in close proximity. To your refueling station.
So she don't even let it get down that far. Because the promise is Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. will be satisfied. Dr. Tony Evans.
with a spiritual guarantee we can count on.
Now, before we go, I want to let you know that today's message is called Blessed are the Spiritually Famished. If you'd like to hear the full-length version, including additional content we couldn't bring you on the air, you can get your copy when you visit Tonyevans.org. And while you're there, don't forget to take advantage of our special double offer. The complete 10-part audio series, How to Be Truly Blessed. along with Dr.
Evans' insightful book, Praying Through the Names of Jesus. Together, these resources will help you grow in your understanding of the Beatitudes, experience true spiritual joy. and deepen your prayer life by connecting with the Lord in fresh and meaningful ways. Request your copy today at tonyevans.org. or call 1-800-800-3222 to speak with one of our helpful resource team members any time of the day or night.
That's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. When the sin in our life has us backed against the wall, we don't need sympathy or understanding. We need mercy. And on Monday, Dr. Evans will explain how we can find it.
Be sure to join us.
