| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Delight Yourself in the Lord
00:05:08
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| The secret weapon against temptation, could you go over that again? | |
| People need to know how to just stop this thing. | |
| Yeah, well, the secret weapon, as I was talking about earlier, is delight yourself in the Lord. | |
| And so it's that analogy that I was using earlier where when you're full, when you're satisfied, then other things don't appeal to you. | |
| But the thing is, if you are hungry, this is really what you have to understand, that if there is that emptiness on the inside of you, if there is that void on the inside of you and it's not filled by satisfaction with the presence of Jesus, you are going to find yourself like the story of the prodigal son. | |
| The Bible says that he longed to fill himself with the pig's food. | |
| See, he was so hungry in that pig sty that he was literally willing to eat anything, even the most dirty, disgusting, repulsive things. | |
| And this is why, you know, when you look at the world, I just want to talk for a moment to those of you that are Christians, you look at the world, you see all these people doing all these wicked things, and it makes you cringe, and you say, what's wrong with these people? | |
| Listen, those people are hurting. | |
| Those people are empty. | |
| Those people are looking for something that will satisfy their hearts and they can't find it in this world. | |
| And the more that they try to satisfy themselves, the hungrier that they get. | |
| And soon they just begin doing things that to you and I look crazy. | |
| What do they need? | |
| We know what they need. | |
| They need Jesus. | |
| They need to be satisfied with his presence. | |
| Who was it that said, I think it was C.S. Lewis, that says, if I find within me a longing that nothing in this world can fill, that is evidence that I was created for another world. | |
| And for people that are looking for something to satisfy them, they can't find anything in this world. | |
| The reason is because the only thing that will fit that, you know, cliché, God-shaped hole on the inside of you, the only thing that can fit that is God's presence in your life. | |
| And so the same is also true for Christians. | |
| I think sometimes we think that once we pray a prayer, we raise our hand, we go down to an altar, and now we're never going to be tempted again. | |
| We're never going to have problems again. | |
| And you only have to be saved for about 24 hours to realize that that's not the way it works. | |
| The very same thing that is the key for salvation, which is Jesus, is the key to walking out the Christian life. | |
| We have to continually and daily satisfy ourselves in the presence of the Lord. | |
| So what does that mean? | |
| Well, in a very practical sense, I think one of the great biblical examples of this is Mary of Bethany. | |
| Remember that story that, you know, Jesus was very good friends with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. | |
| And Jesus would often go to their village and sometimes stay in their home, apparently. | |
| And so Jesus was there teaching, and Mary was sitting at his feet. | |
| Martha was working in the kitchen. | |
| And finally, Martha came in and rebuked Mary and said, Jesus, why don't you tell her to get up and help me in the kitchen? | |
| You know the story. | |
| And Jesus said, Mary has chosen the better part, and that will not be taken away from her. | |
| And then Jesus said this amazing thing. | |
| Only one thing is needed. | |
| Jesus was unwilling to turn Mary into a Martha. | |
| Now look, a lot of us, I think even for myself, we tend toward the Martha side of our personalities. | |
| We want to do something for God. | |
| But listen, God, Jesus didn't die to get workers. | |
| He died to get lovers. | |
| He didn't die for employees. | |
| He died for a bride. | |
| And so what Jesus wants more than all of our industry, all of our creativity, all of our hard work, all of our sweat and blood and tears, what he really wants first and foremost is our love. | |
| He wants us to come sit at his feet. | |
| I would ask this question, when is the last time that you blocked out an hour of your day just to sit quietly before the Lord, maybe with your Bible on your lap, and just say, Jesus, I love you. | |
| I love your presence. | |
| I love everything about you. | |
| When's the last time you just, with no other agenda, you weren't trying to get some teaching for your Sunday school class, you weren't trying to, you know, fill some religious duty, you just sat with him in love and let him satisfy you with the beautiful presence that he loves to give. | |
| If it's been a long time, I would encourage you to do that. | |
| And if you have not been with Jesus for a while and you find you're tempted by all kinds of things, I can tell you there's a good reason for that. | |
| Your soul, your spirit is starving for spiritual nourishment. | |
| And I think a lot of Christians, we only get fed one day a week, and that's Sunday. | |
| Nowadays with the pandemic, a lot of people aren't even going to church on Sunday. | |
| Maybe you only get fed when you watch this television show and thank God for this television program. | |
| But you need to have a personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus that's not just one time a week or twice a week, but every single day. | |
| Imagine what would happen to your physical man if you only ate once a week. | |
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Key To Fulfillment
00:00:17
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| Well, the same thing is happening to your spiritual man when you're not eating. | |
| And what is that food? | |
| Jesus said, I have food that you do not know of. | |
| My food is to do the will of him that sent me. | |
| He found his satisfaction. | |
| He found his fulfillment in God himself. | |
| And that is also the key for all of us. | |