What's up next level church? Hey, I want to say welcome to
all of our locations today. We are a multi site church,
which means we are one house with many rooms.
And so that means there's a whole bunch of us worshipping
Jesus all across Southwest Florida right now.
So I actually want to say a quick welcome to our E location,
downtown location, Cape Coral here Fort Myers if you're an
additional seating. Also, I want to welcome so many
of you who are listening to me right now in Espanol via
Veniros. Yes, and so church family.
Let me just remind us at all four of our locations that we
have Spanish translation of the message UN Mensahe every single
weekend, Todos fiende Semana. And so church family, if you see
someone with headphones in, they're not listening to the
newest and latest thing on Spotify.
They're listening to me in or one or whoever's our teaching
team, they're listening to us in Spanish.
So come on one more time. Just welcome everybody who's
listening in Spanish. We're so thankful for you and
fam, let me say this, if you've got friends or family members,
maybe coworkers who Spanish is their heart language or is their
preferred language, don't be afraid to invite them to church.
Just stop at our welcome center on the way into church and our
team will do the rest and help them hook up their headphones
and listen to us in Spanish. So we're so thankful that we can
serve our Spanish speaking family.
Also want to say real quick, welcome to all of our our ladies
from Saint Matthew's House at our downtown location.
Yeah, Church. I was able to go down to our
downtown location because this past week we celebrated one year
of our Saint Matthew's House women and children's shelter and
listen to this church, fam, just in the first year of that
ministry, our partnership with Saint Matthew's House, an
incredible ministry. They they have.
We have served together over 340 women and 142 children through
our women and children's shelter.
Yes. So ladies, welcome want you to
know we love you. We're so thankful for you.
Ophelia, I see you. I'm so thankful for the
conversation we got to have this week.
You mean the world to us ladies? And we are covering you in
prayer. Well, hey, Speaking of prayer,
we are in the middle. We're on day 7.
Come on. See that Day seven.
I'll get there. I'll get there. 7 something Day
7. We're in day seven of our 21
days of prayer and fasting. And can I just tell you how
thankful I am for all of you that just hundreds and hundreds
of you who are diving in and just going hard for God.
The church, between our four locations yesterday and our
Saturday morning 8:00 AM prayer meeting, we had over 400 people
in the house praying. Yeah, come on, let's celebrate
that. That's awesome.
And but here's what I know. What I know is all of us are 7
days in and we're going OK, this is good.
But like, what else? Like am I missing something like
is there is like, like what else do I need to be doing?
So today what I want to talk about for the next few minutes
is how to increase our hunger for God.
Maybe we want to write some things down.
Maybe we want to take some notes.
I want to talk about how we increase our hunger for God
because I get it. I've been there in seasons in
the past where I've, where I've, I've looked on, I've went, OK
God, I'm praying, I'm fasting, I'm turning down the noise of
the world turning down, you know, so many desires of the
flesh and I'm, I'm trying to turn you up.
But but how do we increase that? How do we, how do we do that?
How do we increase our hunger for God?
That's what I want to talk about one more time before we turn to
God's word. Let's pray.
Father, I thank you, thank you for your Holy Spirit.
We ask you like the song fall like rain, fall like rain.
Even in the midst of these consecrated 21 days, Jesus, fall
like rain. We pray.
We give you permission to speak. Your sons and daughters are
listening. And everyone who agreed with
that prayer said Amen, Amen, Amen.
So as many of you know, last August and September, Pastor
Sarah, my wife and I, we took 50 day sabbatical.
Every seven years we take a sabbatical in leadership and
just are able to disconnect and get away and just focus on Jesus
and just rest and hear from him. And it was such a such a
powerful time when we started our time in Europe, as most of
you have heard us talk about. Well, the last three days we
were in Europe, we were in Paris.
And so one of the days that we were in Paris, we were we were
on this guided tour, walking tour and seeing the different
sites of Paris. And so as we're walking, all of
a sudden our tour guide stops and he goes, oh, and hey, by the
way, I want all of you to see this.
And, and while we were approaching this window of this
storefront, not only are we hearing our guides say, I want
you to see and experience something, but we started
smelling what I can only describe as the fragrance of
heaven because he was walking us up to the window of a bakery.
And in the window of this Parisian bakery, we saw this.
That, my friends, is what I would call the world's.
Or at least biggest mats. Ever seen croissant in the
world? OK, this is a normal pastry down
here. Look, this is the these are the
handheld ones you and I are used to in our life.
Us plebs, right? Us.
Right. This.
OK? These are the ones we're used
to. Look at this thing.
I know what you're thinking, Pastor Matt.
We can barely see that. OK.
I got you. And now you're thinking, what
are you doing to us? We're trying to fast.
OK, €37. By the way, did you buy it?
We did not, no, because we wanted to pay our mortgage at
the end of the month. That is pretty much actual size.
I mean, that thing was probably 20 to 24 inches, 2/3 of a meter
wide. So we so, so our tour guide kind
of walks up, shows us this and is like, yeah, yeah, so and just
keeps right on walking. And I'm like, that's it.
Like we don't get to like we don't get to go in and like
sample some pastries. Like what are we all of a
sudden? Sure enough, there were several
of our people on our tour who like 3 minutes later, started to
lag behind and then about 8 minutes later showed up with a
handful of pastry. Right.
Why? Because something had gotten
awakened. A hunger had gotten awakened in
them. And here's what I think, Church,
I think that this week, these first seven days of our 21 days
of prayer and fasting, for many of us, something is getting
awakened. Can you get rid of the picture,
please? Pastor, I got you.
Let's do that. Something has gotten awakened in
US and what I want to do today is I want to see if we can't
take that to the next level. Anybody ready?
So let's ask and answer the question.
How do you and I increase our hunger for God?
Let me give you 4 thoughts. And again, maybe we want to
write some of these down. Here's the first thought.
Number one, we have to examine what we're eating.
Everyone say that with me. Examine what we're eating.
Anybody grow up with a mom or a teacher or a gym coach somewhere
in your life who used to tell you you are what you eat?
Anybody heard that phrase, right?
Here's another one I remember from childhood.
Garbage in, garbage out, right? And listen, that's true,
obviously, in terms of our nutrition and our bodies.
But church family, here's where I want to go today.
I want us to slow down for a couple minutes because that you
are what you eat and garbage in, garbage out is true on a soul
level as well. In church.
I'm I'm so burdened for us and I'm so thankful for my wife,
Pastor Sarah's message last weekend.
And we heard from so many of you about how that was, as she
prayed at the beginning of her message, an awakening moment for
us that we we cannot, I'm we're where's your pastors?
We're so burdened right now by by by the content that is
contaminating our souls. It's not neutral social media,
the news, the alerts that you get that we get on our phone,
although I've minimized most all of them, the hate, the division.
Here's my wife and I, we find ourselves saying now to the
young generation, and if you're under the age of 30, hear me,
'cause we used to, we, we used to find ourselves saying this to
the young generation. It didn't used to be like this.
It didn't used to be the vitriol, the hate, the division
of our culture, the fear. It didn't used to be this way.
And so church, listen, when we eat this stuff consistently, we
have to not be naive to think that it is not absolutely
affecting us at a soul level. As all of you know, we have not
only we lead next level church here in Southwest Florida, but
we also lead the next level relational network of churches.
And so we have a whole network of churches, 192 churches now
across the United States, Canada, over 20 churches now in
Europe. Come on, somebody.
And one of our pastors from Europe is actually right here in
the service I'm in from Zurich. They're planting the church.
Come on, somebody. That's awesome.
Welcome. We're glad you're here.
I don't know that language, Spanish.
I'm working on that one. I got nothing.
OK, here's here's the deal though.
I I lead a brotherhood group in our we have brotherhood and
sisterhood groups for pastors as well.
And so in my brotherhood group, we have one of our pastors in
Phoenix, AZ. His name is Pastor Justin
Hamilton. And in December, we were talking
about this subject about how what we eat at a soul level,
what we're consuming, it does affect us.
And he said, he talked in our group and he said, I, I have, I
just preached about this. And the message he preached was
a revelation from God's. I watched it, I listened to it.
And he in it, he had this quote. I want you to see this quote.
We will eventually be consumed by what we consistently consume.
I want us to get that. I actually quoted a version of
that in week 1 of this series. Some of you caught it.
I wanted to say it again. We will eventually be consumed
by what we consistently consume in church family.
The Bible has a ton to say about this.
Let me show us. The Apostle John said it this
way. He said do not love the world or
anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, look
at this. Love for the Father is not in
them, for everything in the world.
The lust of the flesh. Should I hold it up or did you
get the point? The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, the pride of life. Look at this comes not from the
Father, but from the world. James, the half brother of Jesus
takes it up another notch. He says this.
You adulterers, you cheaters, don't you realize that
friendship with the world makes you look at this an enemy of
God? I say it again.
He's like, maybe you didn't hear me the first time.
Let me say it a different way. Look, if you want to be a friend
of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
Now, church, I'm not telling us to give up all social media.
Never be. I'm not telling you to go join a
commune. What I'm telling us is we have
to be aware of what we're eating.
So what's the remedy? Well, Paul gives us the remedy
in Romans chapter 12. He says this, well, here's what
we got to do then, in light of what is coming at us, do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be, look, a whole
different word, transformed. There is a way to be in the
world, not of the world. That's what we're gonna talk
about next Sunday, by the way, be in the house.
Come on, somebody, do not be conformed to the pattern of this
world. Instead, be transformed.
Live different, live higher, live better.
How? By the renewing of your mind.
Then you'll be able to test and approve.
In other words, you're gonna know what God's will is, His
good, pleasing and perfect will. Church, we have to examine what
we're eating. OK, so how do we increase our
hunger for God? Number one, we got to, we got to
examine what we're eating #2 we got to examine why we're eating
it. We got to examine why we're
eating it. Of in different seasons of my
life, I've seen a, a mental health therapist, a counselor,
which by the way, counselors aren't for crazy people, they're
for normal people. So you and I all qualify.
We got to take that stigma out. So for several years after we
moved here 24 years ago, I, I saw a counselor once a month.
And man, oh man, it was just the best money I could spend, best
investment in me and just loved it.
And my counselor would say to me often when I start to describe
something, oh God, why do I do this?
You know, whatever, help me, man.
And he would, he would always say to me, He'd always say,
Matt, every action in your life is linked to something deeper
within you. And I remember, like, being in
my late 20s at the time and like, hearing that and being,
like, really like everyone. I even asked him that a couple
times, like, really like, like, like everyone.
Well, now at 50, looking back on five decades of life, yeah, he
was right. He was right.
See church family. If we're going to increase our
hunger for God, we have to examine what we're eating.
But secondly, we have to examine why we're eating it.
Here's why. Because everything we consume is
motivated by something. And we have to slow down and ask
the question, why am I consuming this?
Why am I? Why am I eating this?
Why am I putting this in my mind, my body, my soul, my
spirit? Everything we consume is
motivated by something. Am I avoiding something with the
scroll? Some of us are medicating pain
and it's time we get honest about it.
Some of us, we are addicted to it.
We crave the dopamine hit of it. We got to get honest because
everything we consume is motivated by some, by something.
Some of us. We, we, the reason we scroll
like we do, the reason we engage with all of that like we do, is
because we're trying to find people who agree with our point
of view to fuel something in us. Some of us, we're, we're trying
to fuel our anger toward the others, whoever they are who
aren't like us, who don't believe like us, who don't think
like us, who don't see the world like us, who don't vote like us.
And we're, we're engaging, we're eating this, we're consuming
this to fuel. So we got to examine what we're
eating, but we got to examine why we're eating it.
Some of us, it's just to distract ourselves.
We don't know how to be quiet anymore.
We don't know how to be still and know like we talked about in
week one, that he is God Church. When was the last time we asked
ourself why am I consuming this from food and junk food?
And all the nutritionists in the room said Amen to social media
and news headlines because everything we consume is
motivated by something. In my prayer for these 21 days
is God open our eyes to why we're doing what we're doing.
Let me show you scripturally. Proverbs 16 verse 2 says this
all a person's ways seem pure to them.
Here's what I know because I've preached on social media before.
Here's what I know. The vast majority of us
listening to me right now are a Manning on the outside and on
the inside going. That's so good for them and we
have a picture of whoever they are.
We don't think we have the problem.
I can't tell you how many older generation people I talk to who
go, yeah, that's right, those young people.
And I can't tell you how many young people I talk to who go,
yeah, wow, those old people in their Facebook.
Thank God I'm in the middle. So it's clearly it's not me.
And all the Gen. X said it's never been us.
All a person's ways seem pure to them.
But look at this. But motives are weighed by the
Lord. In other words, the Bible says
we don't even know our own motives.
What if this 21 days church, we said, God show me my motives.
Stop texting me. Some of you are like, oh, watch
this. You're blowing up my phone man.
I live on do not disturb. Just so you know, God, show us
our motives. The Lord says the motives are
weighed by the Lord, which means what do we have to do?
We have to pray. Psalm 139.
Search me, God, know my heart. Church, I challenge you to pray
this prayer. Search me, God, test me.
Know my anxious thoughts. No, God, reveal to me why I'm so
anxious. God, show me what's going on in
me. You are what you eat.
See if there's any offensive way in the church.
Jesus is going to return one day.
We believe soon and he's coming back for a pure and spotless
bride. That's my heart's desire that we
as next level church and we'll talk more about this in March.
Don't miss he's coming back for for purity any offensive way in
me and then he says, and then leave me in a different way.
Is it possible the way we've been doing, it's not working.
Let me read it like I wrote it and you receive it.
We're not mindless animals who don't have the ability to
control our impulses. We can and must examine our why.
Well, it's just how it is. Well, everybody's on social
media. No, they're not.
Well, everybody spent two hours
and 20 minutes a day is the new average for Americans on social
media. And again, right now you're
hearing that going, well, that's not me, OK?
On the count of three, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to turn to the person sitting next to you, look him
straight in the face. Just choose one, it's fine.
And just tell him, wow, that's intense.
Ready, 123. Go.
Now look at the other person and say, wow, that was a lot, 123-GO
and a collective deep breath. Ready 123.
All right, let's move on #3 How do we increase our hunger for
God? We got to examine what we're
eating #2 we got to examine why we're eating and #3 let's have a
little fun. We got to pray around the
fridge. Come on, say it with me.
We got to pray around the Now here's what I'm not telling you
to do. Some of you're like, OK, first
the croissants, now you're telling me I have to go pray
around my fridge? You're killing me, Smalls.
Right, OK, here's, here's here's I'm not telling you to go do
prayer walks around your refrigerator in, in your, in
your, your kitchen. OK, But if the Lord leads you
that way, do whatever you want, do whatever he says actually,
But here's here's what I'm talking about, K.
So you'll notice that it's, it's this.
So in June of last year, I woke up 1 morning and, and this
happens often to me. I woke up and the first thought
I had was I heard what I believe the Holy Spirit said Matt pray
the fridge. And I saw the word fridge in my
mind FRIDGE. And I just got up and I went out
to my living room and I started to pray and I'm like, Lord, what
does that mean? And the Lord started to break
down for me the acronym of fridge.
And so this is just how my brain works.
It's a gift. You're welcome.
So here's here's what I want to do.
I want to help you for the next couple of minutes because some
of you we're we're always looking for new ways to stir up
this prayer thing in US. And maybe even though you go
over these first seven days, you've been like, I want to fast
and pray, but got it. Got a latest tool?
I do. It's called the fridge.
Ready. Here you go.
So let's break it down. So the F is forgive.
Everyone say forgive. So watch this every day ask this
question Lord, who do I need to forgive from yesterday?
Bible says keep short accounts. Can I just tell you this is so
important. You know why 'cause there's so
much to be offended by. Every day I'm amazed that when I
pray the fridge it literally I'm like F forgive.
Who do I need to forgive from yesterday?
And like, just kidding, but there's usually several.
Here's the R repent, everyone say repent.
So we're going to start, Lord, where do I need to?
Who do I need to forgive yesterday from yesterday?
Repent though, says where do I need to repent from yesterday?
This is a moment for us to just pause in His presence and
examine our own hearts. Say God, search me, is there
anything in me? God forgive me when I lost my
cool yesterday, God forgive me. When I misspoke yesterday.
God forgive me. When I exaggerated the truth
yesterday. God forgive me when I lied to my
spouse yesterday. God, is there anything in me?
God forgive me. This is where we repent.
Then the eye is invite. Everyone say invite.
Now we turn it to today. What do I need to invite God
into today? So now watch this forgive from
yesterday, repent from yesterday.
Now we turn it forward and we say, God, in terms of today, we
start to zoom forward and we say, where do I need to invite
God into today? God, I've got this lunch meeting
today and it's with a client and it's really, really important.
And so God, I invite you into that.
Lord, would you move on their heart?
God, would you touch them? God, I've got this meeting today
with my boss, this presentation. Would you help me with that?
God, I'm, I'm meeting with someone.
So God, my wife and I are headed out on a date night tonight.
God, would you be with us and be in the middle of our marriage
because a three stranded cord is not easily broken.
We invite God into our day. Then D is discern.
Everyone say discern. And here's the question we ask,
Where do I need God's wisdom and discernment today?
So we forgive, we repent, we invite, but then watch we go.
God, I'm facing this decision today.
Give me your wisdom beyond myself.
God, business leaders, this is for you, for you, God, give me
wisdom on this. Parents, I've got this situation
with my teenager, with my preteen.
God, I need your wisdom. God, I need your discernment.
Where do I need God's wisdom and discernment today?
Then the G is gratitude. Who and what am I thankful for
today? So watch.
We forgive, we repent, we invite, we discern, then we
praise God. God, I thank you for my family.
God, I thank you for my wayward teenager that you're bringing
them back. God, I thank you for my
marriage. God that it is blessed in you
and it is holy before you got to thank you for my job.
God, I thank you for my car. It gets me back and forth even
if I don't have air conditioning.
Got to thank you for do you see it?
We move to gratitude. Then lastly is encounter.
So forgive, repent, invite, discern, praise him gratitude,
and then just pause. Here's what I encourage you to
do church family, just pause in God's presence and just say,
God, I need to encounter you right now.
How do you how do you want me to encounter you?
Maybe you just need to encounter his love.
Maybe you just need to encounter his peace and his hope.
God, I want to encounter you. Do you see it?
Is that helpful, everybody? Did you take a picture of it?
Did you get it? Because it's going to be gone in
a second fridge. Forgive, repent, invite, discern
gratitude, encounter. Since last June, I've been
praying this way often. And man, it's been so helpful.
It's just brought a new freshness to my prayer life.
So I hope that helps you today. See, it wasn't all intense.
There you go #4 I want to say #4 how do we increase our hunger
for God? We have to examine what we're
eating, examine why we're eating it.
We got to pray around the fridge.
And then #4 we have to ask God to make us hungry for better
things. Everyone say better things.
I'm invite the worship team to come back before we move on with
our time together today. There's a story in John chapter
4 where Jesus has this encounter.
He's in Samaria, just the wrong side of the tracks.
And he's has this encounter with this woman at the well, a lot of
us know the story and they have this incredible conversation and
she tries to pin him on some stuff.
And he obviously being God, you know, knows better and
eventually reveals that he himself is the Messiah, that
he's the chosen, He's the savior of the world.
Well, this woman is overcome by this.
And so the Bible tells us in John four that she runs into
town and she essentially tells the whole town the Savior of the
world is at the well, you got to come and talk to him.
So the whole town starts to come out and Jesus is there.
Well, what I failed to tell you was the beginning of the story.
Jesus sent his disciples into town to get some lunch.
So now this whole crowd is back and the disciples come back to
Jesus and they see him just ministering.
And clearly this is, we've gone through the lunch hour here and
these guys are not OK. And in verse 31, look at what
they say to Jesus. They looked at Jesus and they
said, meanwhile, his disciples urged him, rabbi or teacher, eat
something. But he said to them, I have food
to eat that you know nothing about.
Look at his disciples love this. Then his disciples said to each
other, did somebody bring him Taco Bell?
Guys, you so are missing the point.
Jesus says I'm on a different wavelength.
You're looking at things on this level.
I'm up here church, can I just tell you I want to be on that
wavelength. That's what I want for these 21
days. That's what these are all about.
So I just want to encourage you today, fast food this week, not
go get fast food, fast food. And of course, as always,
consult your medical professional, of course, fast
food this week and pray instead. Fast social media in the news
and pray instead. Several weeks ago I was praying
and the Lord said to me, Matt the faith of your 40s isn't
going to be enough for your 50s and church.
Can I tell you what I've been praying since I heard the Lord
speak that to my heart. God increased my faith.
God put me on a new level. God take me higher.
God, I don't want to settle as and we sang this in the song a
minute ago that fall like rain song.
I don't want to settle for lesser things when you have
better things. So my challenge question for you
this week is this. What better thing should you be
after rather than a lesser thing?
This week, what better thing should you be after instead of
chasing the scroll or chasing a headline and following it down
some rabbit trail? That's a lesser thing.
Let's be about a better thing. Amen.
Can we stand together at every
location, examine what we're eating, why we're eating it,
pray the fridge, Ask God to make you hungry.
That's how we increase our hunger for God.
Here's what I want to do. I want us before we move on
together. We're not anywhere close to
being done. You're fine.
You don't have to rush out. God wants to speak.
I believe God wants to speak to every single one of us.
For some of you, the closest thing you get to stillness is
when you attend Next Level Church every Sunday.
And that's OK. We're happy to provide that for
you. Let's make the most of it then,
shall we? Maybe you just want to open your
hands in front of you like this, just as a posture and symbol of
openness, readiness to receive from the Lord.
So, Father, right now we just thank you for your word.
We thank you, Lord God, but you want us to increase our hunger
for righteousness, our hunger for you.
And so, Lord, right now we just pause in this moment.
We don't mind taking time, God, we're just going to pause in
this moment and just give you space to speak.
The Holy Spirit, would you turn on your Searchlight in our heart
and in our mind? Would you show us with the
precision that only your Holy Spirit can give to us when
you're doing that, when you're engaging, that when you're
reading that son, daughter, it doesn't please me.
that we might be consumed. Filled is Matthew 5-6 word
filled with better things. God, would you fill us as we
hunger and thirst for you this week we pray, staying in this
atmosphere of prayer right now. You can just keep listening to
Jesus, to Jesus as he's the Spirit speaking to your heart.
If you're in one of our locations today, our online
family, you 2 and you're not in relationship with Jesus, I want
to give you an opportunity to do that right now.
It's as simple as acknowledging you're a Sinner, believing that
what Jesus did on the cross was payment for your sin, and then
confessing on the outside. So with every head bowed, every
eye closed, nobody's looking around.
It's just between me, you and Jesus.
If you every location, if you're ready to surrender your life to
Jesus. You've never said yes to Jesus,
but you're ready to go his way. You've tried everything else,
but you want to go God's way. I'm going to count the three.
And when I hit the three, when I hit 3 in just a moment, would
you throw your hand up whatever room you're in right now?
123, Pastor Matthews, Me. Awesome.
Thank you. Yeah, thank you.
Keep it up, just for a second. Yeah.
That's it all over the room, young and old, front to back,
it's happening. That's it.
Pastor Matt. Thank you.
Pastor Matt. That's me.
I'm ready to surrender my life to Jesus.
I want to say yes to him. Awesome.
You can put your hands down. Listen, for the sake of those
who lifted their hand, can we all repeat this prayer after me
just to make them feel comfortable?
And if you raise your hand, I want you to pray this prayer
from your heart. And God's going to hear and come
in and and begin to transform your life from the inside out.
Come on, let's pray. Say, dear Jesus, thanks for
loving me and bringing me here today.
I acknowledge that I'm a Sinner, that I've missed the mark and I
need a Savior. Thank you Jesus for dying on the
cross from my sin. I receive you now and right now
I surrender my life to you. Help me to go your way because
it is the best way for all of my days.
In Jesus name I pray Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen wow wow wow, wow hey
listen, if you just pray that prayer with me, raise your hand
and that you know we want to we want to help you don't leave
your location today. Just go out to the welcome
center and at your next steps area at your location, we have a
Bible we want to give you for free and inside this Bible
there's AQR code that in my wife pastor Sarah and I have recorded
videos to help you take your next steps in this new
relationship with Jesus. So don't leave your location
today without grabbing this free gift.
Amen. Hey, let me pray one more prayer
over his Father. I thank you.
Let your word God continue to come alive in our hearts this
week. Lord, as we hunger and thirst,
as we fast and pray for more of you.
I bless your people today in Jesus name.
And everyone who agreed to that prayer said Amen.
Come on, let's give God praise.