Aunt Brenda Sunday School 7/3/11

Aunt Brenda Sunday School 7/3/11

Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

Hunger and thirst are the two strongest desires that we have.  We all know how hunger and thirst feel.  We want to have that strong hunger and thirst for righteousness and the good things of God. 

We want to be as the hart that thirsts after water brooks.  The deer will run to the river to protect himself from the hounds and his scent.  The river of life is a safety to us.  Get close to God and the safety of the river of life.  We never know when a crisis will hit in our life and when the attack of the enemy will come.

Ps 41:6 God is our refuge and strength.

We want to allow God to work in our life and you don’t want to allow whatever works in your life to draw you away from God.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.  A healthy baby, right after it is born, has a hunger and a desire to suck and nurse.  We need to pray for the newborn babes spiritually that they will hunger and thirst after God.

David was a man that hungered and thirsted after God.  He did fail and he repented.  All in all he loved God and thirsted after God.  From a child he was chosen to be a servant of God. 

Psalms 63 was written when he was in the wilderness and he was separated from tabernacle worship and he longed for it.  When we must be away from church, we long for that fellowship and worship that we should have.

Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together and the more so as you see the day approaching.

We must be in the service of God.  The saints know that nothing outside of God can satisfy the desire of his immortal soul.  True happiness will only come through Jesus Christ.  We trust that the prodigals will not become satisfied out in the world and come to the awareness that they are in the hog pen. 

Psa 63:1  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

“Oh God, thou art my God.” These two ‘God’s have a different meaning, the first is of Gen 1 where God created heaven and earth.  The second one is of a strong and mighty God.  David called on God for strength and we need to do the same.  He referred to Him as Almighty.  God is still the Almighty God.  Whatever the mountain and need in our life, He is still the Almighty God, the source of strength and help.  He is the only one that can keep us and help us to remain holy and righteous.

We want to seek God early in our life, early in every situation in life.  We need to consider God in every decision that we make.  It is awesome that we can have the Almighty God help us make decisions in life.

Albert Barnes - The word used here has reference to the early dawn, or the morning; and the noun which is derived from the verb, means the aurora, the dawn, the morning. The meaning here is, that he would seek God as the first thing in the day; first in his plans and purposes; first in all things. He would seek God before other things came in to distract and divert his attention; he would seek God when he formed his plans for the day, and before other influences came in, to control and direct him. The favor of God was the supreme desire of his heart, and that desire would be indicated by his making him the earliest - the first - object of his search. His first thoughts - his best thoughts - therefore, he resolved should be given to God. A desire to seek God as the first object in life - in youth - in each returning day - at the beginning of each year, season, month, week - in all our plans and enterprises - is one of the most certain evidences of true piety; and religion flourishes most in the soul, and flourishes only in the soul, when we make God the first object of our affections and desires.

I want God to be like this, I want to seek Him early.

Psa 63:2  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Psa 63:3  Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Psa 63:4  Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

Psa 63:5  My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

God satisfies.  We continually hunger after God; He fills us and still we hunger.  He satisfies and we hunger again.  It is a continual thing.

When once we see His power and His glory, we will never be satisfied with anything less.  We cannot be satisfied with anything less.  What a privilege to ever see His power and glory. 

Psa 63:6  When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Psa 63:7  Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Psa 63:8  My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.

Psa 63:9  But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

Psa 63:10  They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

Psa 63:11  But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

Psa 84:1  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

Psa 84:2  My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

This is well said.  We want to be like this; let us examine ourselves.  Amiable means lovely.  Do we feel that the tabernacles are lovely?  I want to be in church, serving God, and getting my soul fed.  Making heaven my home is the most important thing in my life.  It is refreshing to me to see the saints sacrifice to be in church. 

If we will hunger and make sure we are in the Church of God and get our soul fed, God is going to help us through. 

Bro Bill – when I first got saved, I hungered after God.  I went to Bro Gary’s house to visit and asked him, “Bro Gary would you preach to me.”  I hungered to hear of God.  After Jesus had healed the man of Bethesda then Jesus found him in the temple.  There is a natural hunger for God when a person gets their heart right before God.  When people get away from that hunger then they open the door to trouble in their life.  My heart is not satisfied with just reading and praying in the morning and night.  I hunger for more of God.

God satisfies.  When we are hungry spiritually don’t just starve yourself; go to the Source and He will always satisfy the hunger.

As popular as Jesus was with the people, He sought to be alone with God.  The instruction for us is to do the same; get into the closet, and get alone with God.

Mat 14:15  And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

Mat 14:16  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

Mat 14:17  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

Mat 14:18  He said, Bring them hither to me.

Jesus didn’t just feel like he had to get out of the crowd; he fulfilled their needs first.  He cared and took care of the multitudes.

Mat 14:19  And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Mat 14:20  And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

Mat 14:21  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Mat 14:22  And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

Mat 14:23  And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

He desired to be alone with His heavenly father.

Luk 6:12  And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Even Jesus drew strength from His father.  There is so much good in us finding a place where we can get alone with God.  It may be harder for us to get alone, but we need to work for that.  With Bob home and retired it is harder for me now to get alone with God.  When he goes out to take care of the cows then I take time to be alone with God and I thank Him for a time of being alone with God. 

Bro Bill – When we take that extra time then I always feel that “It was good for me to have done that.”  As Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration, “It is good for us to be here.”

Sis Dorothy – In the next verse it shows that after Jesus prayed all night here,  Jesus chose his twelve disciples.  We need to spend time when we make decisions to get before God and have Him help us.

Matt 5:6 hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Pro 16:31  The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

Pro 12:28  In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

The white hair is a crown of glory if it is found in righteousness.  I pray that God will help me to be a righteous old saint.   I want to be kept clear to the end.  I don’t want to be grumpy.

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Psa 107:9  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Psa 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Luk 1:53  He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Mary the mother of Jesus said this.  It is beautiful for the mother of Jesus to say this.

Isa 41:17  When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.