I'm so excited about today. This is our last day of Pursuit
21 and we are standing in faith and just believing that God is
going to continue to give us breakthrough and and show up in
miraculous ways. And this is our final message of
the series that we've called hunger and thirst.
And we've been looking at this verse every week.
These are Jesus's words found in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6.
I want us to read this together. Let's go ahead and put that on
the screen and let's read together what Jesus said.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be filled. Jesus says that we're blessed
when we hunger and when we thirst for the things of God
because He's going to fill us up.
How many of you with a show of hands would say over these 21
days you have felt the infilling and the satisfaction that comes
from God alone when we hunger? Come on, so many of you.
Well, I'm believing that no matter where you came in today
that God has even more for us today.
I highlighted the word thirst within that because Jesus said
blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Because that's a little bit of what I want to talk to you
about. Have you ever been in a moment
in life where you were hot and thirsty?
Come on, Southwest Florida. I know it's cold today, but that
is not normal. We usually have a hot and a
thirst moment. Maybe you're playing with your
kids out in the yard and they're like, come on, one more.
And you're like, I can't, I am going to die.
How do you still have energy? They're sweating and having a
blast, right? And you're like, no.
Or maybe you're in construction and you're working outside.
Come on, those roofers. God bless you.
I don't know how you stay up there on a blacktop roof, but
you do. But you understand, right?
This idea of being hot and tired and sweaty and just wondering,
can I keep going? Well, that was me in Israel
about 3 1/2 years ago. We were going to visit and Getty
and I was promised it was going to be amazing.
But what I feel like the tour guide underestimated was just
how out of shape some of us were.
I mean, so we get there and it's this mountainous terrain that we
have to walk through, walk around.
This is just one aspect of it. You would get up 1 portion of
the hill and then there would be stairs and then there would be
more terrain. And I was so hot.
I was like, I know you all said this is going to be amazing, but
I'm not sure I can keep going. Any of you ever feel that way in
your life? Like the terrain of life is just
wearing you out and you're hot and you're just wondering, can I
go on? Maybe for some of us, it's this
expectation. I've been believing for healing.
I've been praying for this and God, I have to.
I rounded a corner and it's just desert like again, there's,
there's more heat, there's more pressure.
Maybe you're believing for a breakthrough in your marriage or
in your kids lives and you haven't quite seen it yet.
And you're like, I don't know if I can keep going on.
I'm battling. I'm I'm trying to keep my
thoughts pure, but man, God, this is hard.
And you reach that place of desperation.
You're like, I don't know if I can keep going.
Well, that was me that day. I was like, I'm not sure that I
can actually get to the destination.
I'm more trained and for treadmill and air conditioning,
everybody, I was not trained for this moment.
And then the answer came in the form of a tree.
And we found this tree and I was like that, let's go there.
And we sat under the tree. Those who are more trained kept
going and some of us just sat under this tree, got our water
out because we are so hot and we are so thirsty.
And we took that big drink of water and then we were able to
finish what we needed to finish. And that day in Israel, I
realized it wasn't that I couldn't go on.
It was just that I was thirsty and I needed some water.
And so that's the title of my message today.
If you're taking notes, the title of the message that God
has given me today is not empty, just thirsty.
Not empty, just thirsty. And I believe no matter how
you've come in today, how full you are or how thirsty you are,
that God wants to pour out his Spirit on us on this 21st day of
prayer. He's going to meet us right
where we are. So will you just join me in
prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you.
Jesus, Holy Spirit, would you come and would you pour out your
spirit on us? God, give us ears to hear what
you're saying to us. The church, we're listening.
We pray in Jesus name. And everyone who agreed said
Amen and Amen. So if you have your Bible, you
can go ahead and turn to First Samuel 23.
If not, don't worry, the verses will be on the screen for you.
But I want to give us some context for those of you who are
maybe new to following Jesus or new to Bible study.
Let me give you some context because we're going to be
looking at David's life. And David was an anointed man of
God who was a young man who Samuel, the prophet of the day,
anoints as Israel's future king. And so there's this anointing
service. You're going to be king.
It's going to be amazing. God's hand is on you, David.
But Saul, King Saul was still on the throne.
And so David becomes the target of Saul's jealousy and Saul's
anger, and he just randomly starts to try and kill David.
And David's like, what did I do? Like, I'm just serving you.
David always had a heart after God.
He always had a heart to just serve the king, and yet the king
had it out for him. So he's forced to flee and he
has to leave Israel. And David lived as a fugitive in
the caves and in wilderness places.
So by First Samuel 23, he's hiding in the wilderness of
Judah, and Saul is straight up hunting him down.
He wants him dead First. Samuel 20, three verse 14
records. David stayed in the wilderness
strongholds and in the hills of the desert of Ziff.
Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David
into his hands. While David was at Horace in the
desert of Ziff, he learned that Saul had come out to take his
life. So David is in the wilderness.
He's in the desert. You see, deserts are physically
rough places, and this is where David was.
He was in a dry and dangerous place because Saul was
aggressively chasing after him. So this is a picture of a little
bit of what the Judean Desert would have looked like for David
and his men who found themselves on the run from King Saul.
But what I want us to understand is that the Judean Desert was
actually around 500 square miles.
In other words, no matter where David went in the wilderness,
all he could see was desert. You see deserts.
The thing about deserts are that they're hard to navigate.
You can tell there are no roads. If you're in the middle of the
desert, you don't know how you're going to get out.
The desert makes your eyes dry and your mouth dry and your body
dusty. The desert feels like there is
no end and you see church, family, desert and wilderness.
Seasons are a metaphor of what we can often feel like in our
lives. Have you ever had a desert
season, a desert situation, A desert season maybe where
there's infertility and it's not just six months of that
pregnancy test saying negative, negative.
It's years upon years and it's a desert season.
Maybe it's a a loss of someone or something.
And that season of grief just continues on.
It feels like we're in a desert desert season where we're
praying and believing for that miracle, but we haven't seen it
happen. And so it becomes the season.
But there's also just desert situations.
Sometimes it's elongated, but sometimes it's just situational.
Someone betrays you, someone walks out on your in your life
and all of a sudden you feel like you are in a desert moment.
You feel like something happens to you.
Maybe you lose your job. And I didn't do anything to
deserve this. And all of the sudden I'm in a
desert situation. But there can also be desert
moments. Or maybe it doesn't feel like an
elongated season or a situation, but a moment that you walk into
the room and you've prayed, you've spent some time with
Jesus and you walk into that business meeting, or you walk
into the school. Something happens and you feel
darkness, you feel opposition. And all of a sudden the light
you thought you were bringing starts to dim because you find
yourself in this desert moment. And in those moments, we can
have this reaction, the reaction that we can have because it
feels dry and because we feel dusty.
All of a sudden, we can have this reaction where the enemy
tries to get us to believe in those desert situations.
In those desert seasons, those desert moments, the enemy starts
to lie to us and we can feel empty.
We feel empty on the inside. We feel empty of promises.
They can make you feel empty, but don't miss this.
Deserts also have natural hiding places.
In every desert there are moments in hiding places like
caves and hills of protection. And this is where David was,
both in a physical desert but also finding hiding places where
it says that God would not allow the enemy to take out David and
the anointing that was on his life.
So let's pick back up into the situation.
First Samuel 23 he records in verse 24.
Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of
Mayon in the Araba Valley South of Deshemin.
When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him,
he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock,
and he remained there in the wilderness of Mayon.
But Saul kept after him in the wilderness.
So David, he's on the run, he's in the wilderness.
And then the Scripture records that not only was there not a
way out, but he had to go even further, even further into the
wilderness. He has this moment where he's
not leaving to go back to Israel, where it's going to be
bright and sunny and everything's going to be OK.
He actually is in a desert and in a wilderness.
And it is hard. And it feels like there's no
end. And somebody's on the run to
come and get him. And then he has to go even
further. Have you ever been there where
it's a situation you're going through or a season you're going
through and you're like, this is so hard.
This is this is hard to keep the faith.
This is hard to keep praying and and it's hard to keep believing
and and you think it can't get any worse and then it does.
I know I've been there moments where I think surely the answer
is right on the other side and instead I have to go further
into the wilderness. This is where David was.
He goes even further. But what I want us to understand
is that in First Samuel we get to see, We get a glimpse to see
what was happening to David. But the Psalms are prayers and
journals to God. They also allow us to see how
David was processing it with God because all around him was
wilderness. And even though he was in this
place, he never forgot who God was.
He never forgot the promises that God has spoken over him.
He never forgot the God that he served.
And so we see throughout the songs that there are these
moments where David would cry out to God.
What a glimpse you see. There is what you see, but there
is always who you can't see. And in every desert situation
there is what you see. In every desert moment there is
what is happening around you. In every desert season there are
things that start to compile and add up, and yes, that is what
you see. But who you can't see is God,
who is with you and for you and surrounding you.
Right in the middle of that. Who you can't see are Angel
armies that in a moment can be dispatched on your behalf.
Who you can't see is Jesus Christ, who already paid the
price, the Holy Spirit who is within us, that with one cry, in
one moment, we can have answers in the midst of the wilderness.
You see, when we're in a wilderness of any kind, the
enemy wants us to think that we are empty.
He'll lie to us and go. You are empty.
You're empty of promises, you're empty of solutions.
You're empty of answers. You are empty.
You're not enough and he wants you to look on and try and fill
them with things to make that void go away.
Who convinced us we need to turn to pornography or go get drunk
to just numb the pain away or turn to drugs?
Or maybe it's just turning to that person.
Maybe it's turning to gossip. Maybe it it's just it's getting
angry around a certain situation and what's happening is we're
trying to fill the void because we feel we feel empty.
But I want to tell us, church, today, you are not empty, you're
just thirsty. In those desert situations, in
those desert seasons, in those moments, we have to understand
what's happening. The enemy will try and convince
us that we're empty, but we're really just thirsty.
So what do we do? How do we respond when we
recognize, oh, I'm just thirsty? So we're going to look at Psalm,
Psalm 63, because this Psalm was recorded when David was in the
desert. So David's in the middle of the
desert. He's in the middle of this
situation in the Judean desert. And this is the Psalm that is
recorded by him. He says in Psalm 63, one, you,
God are my God. Earnestly, I seek you.
I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you.
In a dry and parched land where there is no water.
See, there's no water around him.
It's dry. It's a wilderness place.
But #1 we see that David was able to turn to God first.
He knew who was for him. He never forgot the God that he
could not see. And he turns to him first.
And he cries out to God. Oh God, you're my God.
And in this moment of desperation, and in this moment
of a dry and parched land where it feels like there's no water,
I am thirsty. But God, I'm thirsty for you.
You see, it's so easy, church family, when we get that phone
call or we hear that news, it's so easy to want to just pick up
the phone and call someone or start researching all of the
answers or try and figure it out on our own or, or, or start to
tell someone else about the situation.
Not in the form of a prayer request, but in the form of
gossip and fear and anger and all of the things.
And so it is. It's so essential that we
understand that that is the tactic of the enemy to try and
get us to spiral, to try and get us out of faith, to try and get
us knocked down, to try and get us anxious or afraid, to try and
get us to search, chat, ChatGPT surely for the answer.
But could we church family be a church?
How many of you would say I want to be a son or daughter of God?
That turns to God first. The minute we feel that we are
thirsty, I'm going to turn to him.
I'm going to turn to him. I'm going to recognize I'm
thirsty, which means I need him. David goes on and he says I have
seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your
glory, because now he explains why your love is better than
life. My lips will glorify you.
How do we respond when we're thirsty #2 We need to recognize
God's love and power. God has love for us and He has
power in the Holy Spirit that He wants to give us.
When we are in these desert situations, when we face a
desert kind of moment, when we're in a desert season and the
enemy tries to get us to feel empty.
No, no, no, we're just thirsty. And what we're really thirsty
for is His love and His power. You see, every time we're in a
moment like this, the enemy will try and put a spirit of fear on
us. He'll try and convince us that
we're abandoned, that we're left alone, that God doesn't care
about us. I mean, imagine how David must
have felt. It's easy to read this because
we know the ending. We know Jesus comes through the
line of David and but in this moment, he didn't know how it
ended. He's crying out for God.
And he says, I've seen you in the sanctuary and I've beheld
your power and your glory because your love, oh God, your
love is better than my life. He says, you see, his love is
better. And the New Testament says that
perfect love, it casts out all of that fear.
So when the enemy's trying to put fear on us, God's like, I
got something for you to cast all of that out.
You don't need to turn to pornography.
My love is better than pornography.
My love is better than what that person can tell you.
My love is better than your life.
My love is better than you getting angry if you would just
turn to me and recognize that he's got love.
He's got love for us and he's got power because God has not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.
So he's got power. He wants to deliver to us to get
us through the wilderness, but we have to exercise that when we
receive his love. Now we've got our power back.
And this is what David was praying.
Verse four, he goes on. He says, I will praise you as
long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods.
Now pause. Remember he's in the desert.
There is no rich food in this desert.
So he is in this place. Not only is he thirsty, but he's
hungry. And he's probably just imagining
what he wishes he could eat. Come on, 21 days.
Some of you are like, that's me. Tomorrow, I'm going to eat the
bread and the cheese and the chocolate.
And that's me. That's just me.
That's what's on my list for tomorrow, right?
So David, he's in this desert and he's saying, God, I'm
imagining, I'm just imagining that he's thinking about this
kind of food that would be amazing if he could have a table
and he could eat up. But he says no, no, I will be
fully satisfied as with as if I had rich food.
I'm going to be satisfied with you, God.
And then he says with singing lips.
My mouth will praise you on my bed.
I remember you. I think of you through the
watches of the night. Now what were the watches of the
night? You see, during that time when
there was an enemy that was coming against them, they would
take different watches. They would take 3 hours at a
time. There were three different
watches through the night. So that they were very aware of
what the enemy was trying to do. So some would be awake and they
would be looking out for what the enemy was doing, while the
others could sleep. Come on, that's a good friend
praying for you. Some of you, you've been waking
up in the middle of the night. You've been wondering why?
Because God's calling you to intercede and pray.
It's the watch of the night. So he says through the watches
of the night, even while in the physical, I'm looking out for
the enemy. Oh God, my thoughts are on you.
And that's how we can be #3 how do we respond?
We've got to praise him non-stop.
Praise him non-stop. I love this because David was a
worshipper. He was a worshipper and he makes
a decision. As long as I.
Live and remember he knew this Saul might kill him any day.
And he says as long as I live, I will worship you.
As long as I live, I will praise you.
As long as I'm looking out. Yeah, for what the enemy might
be trying to do to me. My thoughts are on you.
This is who you are. He said in the good, in the bad,
in the ugly, in the desert, in the in the in the palace, no
matter where. God, I'm going to praise you.
I'm going to praise you. Could we be a church who says
I'm going to praise him non-stop?
No matter what we are going through, I'm going to worship.
I'm going to worship you. You see, in these seasons, in
these situations, in these moments when it feels like we're
dry and we are weary, can I encourage you?
We need water and worship can be our water.
That's what David was doing. Some of us, we are running
through life. We are running through life and
we feel so dry and we feel so weary.
Can I encourage you? It's because you're thirsty.
Marathon runners understand this.
Come on. If you are a marathon runner, we
want to celebrate you today. Would you just raise your hand
if you've ever run a marathon? Come on.
Yeah, that's awesome. Come on.
Give them a hand. My hand's not up.
I was just encouraging them. Marathon runners understand
this. Marathons are 26.2 miles.
That's a lot of running. But they would tell you they
can't do it without a water stop.
Every marathon has between 12 and 20 options for a water aid
station where during the run of the marathon, they have to stop
and drink the water. Why?
Because if you're in the middle of the marathon, you're going to
be convinced that you can't keep going.
You can keep going. You just need a water stop.
And some of us, this is how we're running through life.
We are running and running and running and we are weary and
we're trying to figure it how. And we feel dry and we feel
empty and we're convinced that God's not for us.
And we are running and running and running.
Can I tell you, you just need a stop where you can get some
water. Every single time you feel like
you're empty, just think in your mind and in your heart, I just
need water. And instead of running and
running and running and trying to figure it all out on your own
and wearing yourself out, you just need to run to the Father.
You need to run to the to the feet of Jesus.
You need the Holy Spirit and you need to say, Oh God, in this dry
land, I am thirsty. Would you fill me up?
And the great part is when we bring our empty cup, he's like,
of course I'm going to fill you up because you think you're
empty. You're really just thirsty.
His refreshing rain will come in any moment if we stop running
and just receive the water that he wants to give us.
When we start worshipping, we start praising.
And this is what David did #7 he says, because you are my help.
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you. Your right hand upholds me.
Church family, what do we do when we're thirsty?
We're going to turn to God first.
We're going to receive his love and power.
We're going to praise him non-stop.
And that we're going to remember He's holding you.
Our granddaughter Esther is 7
1/2 months old. And got to spend some time with
her yesterday. And I've just been reminded
because, of course, my two boys are adults and grown.
And I've been reminded what it is to hold a baby and have one
arm get a lot stronger than the other.
Come on, parents, you know what I'm talking about.
Like, my left arm's so weak. And then I'm like, yeah, so this
is me with Esther, right? Because I'm.
I'm holding her and being able to hold her and realize what it
is to hold on to her. It's just amazing.
But we captured this picture at Christmas time and this is a
picture of of us with our Esther.
Jane, what I want you to see is that yes, I'm holding her, but
also she is clinging to me. Yesterday I was getting my nails
done and I had already written this part of the message, but
God spoke to me through the nail tech.
Come on, somebody that's good. I told her that I was going to
spend some time with Esther that day.
And she said, oh, how old is she?
7 1/2 months? And she said, does does she
still like being held? And I said, Oh yeah, she is a
cuddler. And she said, oh, good, 'cause
sometimes kids reach that age and they paint outgrown it and
they don't want to be held anymore.
And I felt the Holy Spirit say, Sarah, that is some of my sons
and daughters that you're going to be talking to.
I'm strong enough for them. I am holding them.
I want to hold them, but they're not clinging to me.
They're fighting it off and they're thinking they've got to
have it all together. Can I just remind you he loves
you. He's a good father.
His wings are big and they are soft, and he's got arms that are
broad enough to hold you, and we just get to cling to him.
So this is how David responds when he's thirsty and in the
desert. Let's look at what God does for
him. First Samuel 2326 records.
Saul and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain.
Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his
men, an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were
raiding Israel again. So there's one mountain, David
and his men on one side, Saul on the other side.
They are coming in to close on him.
Verse 28. So Saul quit chasing David and
return to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place
where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape.
I love this because God uses the enemy army in the in the form of
the Philistines to actually be David's answer.
Do you know that God, if you are called according to his purpose
and walking in his favor, God will turn all things together
for good. He even used the enemy to be
David's escape. That is how good our God is.
And it says that there was a rock of escape, that this place
where God showed up for him was called the rock of escape.
And I just want to prophecy to some of you today.
You've been thinking you're empty.
You've been thinking this is the end.
You've been thinking it is over. It is not over.
This is not the end. God will always find a rock of
escape for us as his children. He will come through, He will
come through and we'll always have kind of this place here on
earth where we are thirsty and we are hungry.
There's actually a, a part of Revelation that talks about
this. This is a vision where John sees
a great multitude of believers in Jesus who are wearing white
robes. And then it says in Revelation
715, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him
day and night and in his temple. And he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
Verse 16 never again will they hunger.
Never again will they thirst always here on earth.
We're going to have these desert season situations moments, But
when we reach heaven, oh, his presence is going to cover us.
We're never going to thirst again.
We're never going to hunger again.
The satisfaction of Jesus will be our covering.
We're not empty church family. We're just thirsty, going to
enter into a time of prayer and worship in a moment.
But before we do, I just want to give us an opportunity.
If you don't know Jesus is your savior, Maybe you feel empty and
you're like, I've felt this way my whole life.
I've felt that void my whole life.
You've been turned into everything and everyone to try
and fill that void. Can I just tell you God loves
you? Jesus is your answer.
He wants to come in and be that water of life.
Revelation 2217 says come, Let the one who is thirsty come and
let the one who wishes to take the free gift of the water of
life. That is who Jesus is for you.
And if you've never said yes to Jesus, I want to give you that
opportunity. It's as simple as admitting that
you're a Sinner. I've done some things that
aren't right. I've been going my own way and
just believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died
on a cross for your sins. He was placed in a grave, but he
resurrected from that grave. He's in heaven.
You can follow Him as your Savior, and you can just confess
that with your mouth and with one confession.
He's going to come in and be your Savior.
You're going to know that heaven is your home and you can walk
with Jesus. He's going to fill up that place
of emptiness. So with every head bowed and all
of our eyes closed, just for the privacy of this moment, if
you've never said yes to Jesus, I want to give you the chance to
do that across all of our locations and online.
Just begin to in the on the count of three, just raise your
hand. And that's just you saying, I
confess, I want to know that Jesus is my Savior.
I want to follow him. 123 Raise your hand up high so we can see
it at all the locations. I see those hands.
God sees your hand.
I see that hand over in this section.
Yes, I see that hand. God sees you too.
Come on all of our locations online.
You can put it in the chat. If that's you and you have your
hand up, go ahead and just put that hand on your heart.
That's just representing that as I pray you're receiving this for
yourself. Jesus, I thank you that you are
the Son of God. I admit that I'm a Sinner.
Would you wash my sin Jesus? Would you place me into your
family? I believe that you died and you
rose again. God, I want to know you as
Father. Send the Holy Spirit in Jesus
name. I want to follow you all of the
days of my life. Amen.
If that was you, before you
leave the property today, we want to put one of these Bibles
in your hand to just continue to help you with the decision you
made today as you walk with Jesus.
Just head to the Next Steps area and we're going to give you this
gift. But we're not finished yet.
We've built in some time in our service here to just allow the
reign of the Spirit to fill us up where we're thirsty, where
you stand, every location, Cape Coral East family, downtown here
in Fort Myers. I want us to do what David did
and just begin to worship. Begin to allow the rain of the
Spirit to come into any dry place.
Begin to just open up your hands and your heart.
He wants to meet you right where you're at.
Come on, let's see. Let's see.
When your glory fall down, fall light dream, Holy Spirit, fall
light rain, Holy Spirit, have your way.
When your glory fall down. The.
I don't know what moments you've been facing, what situation you
may be in, what season you're going through, but I just want
to proclaim it's not the end and we're going to do what David
did. We're going to pray the same
prayer did David prayed. And so I want you to repeat
after me, but get that situation, get that season, get
that thing in your mind. And I believe that God is going
to come in every place and every crevice where the enemy's been
trying to get you to think that you're empty to realize, oh, I'm
just thirsty. Repeat after me.
You God are my God. I earnestly seek you.
I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you in
a dry and parched land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary, and behold your power
and glory, because your love. Is better than my life, my lips.
Will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I
live, and in your name I will. Lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods, my
see my lips. Will sing to you.
I will praise you on my bed. I will remember you.
Oh God, you are your help, God which you come through right
now. God, I pray Father people, I
feel this shadow of your wings covering them right now.
God be the presence and the power.
Shower over God and we make a decision to worship.
Let's worship. And let's watch.
The. Thank you on this 21st day of
fasting and prayer. We thank you God.
We thank you for answered prayers.
We thank you God for prayers yet to be answered.
We stand in faith God, that you are good and you will continue
to satisfy us. God, your love is better than
life. So I pray blessing, I, I pray
favor, I pray protection against the evil one in the name of
Jesus. Would you continue to be the
rock of escape? God, every time the enemy tries
to tell us we're empty, oh God, would you fill us up as we
hunger and thirst for you. We pray in Jesus name.
And everyone who agreed said Amen, come on, let's praise God.