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But we're gonna go to Romans 12. Romans 12 is where we've been going to is where we've been looking at, and Romans 12 is where we'll continue to kind of uh continue our day today, okay? Uh we're talking on this topic of still transforming, talking about the transformation of the life through the renewing of the mind, the changing of our lives through the changing of the way we think, because transformation never ends, transformation is continuous in our lives. God is still transforming us, working in us, and our desire is for our mind to be renewed so that transformation can take place in our life. I've been reading this verse to you in about six different translations. I'm gonna shorten it to three today, and then I got another verse I want to take you to. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Next translation. That's the New King James we're in the voice Bible. Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image, instead be transformed from the inside outs by renewing your mind. Very important to be transformed from the inside outs by renewing your mind. As a result, you'll be able to discern what God's will and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete. Last one is new translation, I believe. Yeah, new living translation. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. I think we're on, we've been looking into this thought of transformation, this idea of transformation since the beginning of the year, and we're gonna go. I've been telling you we're gonna go until the Lord says we're done. So we're in part 13 of this idea of transformation and transforming. Now, I didn't bring the old school whiteboard up here today as they have the past few weeks. I'm gonna go ahead and kind of show you some digital images because I just want to just touch on this real quick this morning. We've been talking about the mind. In order to get to the mind, to renew the mind, we have to understand the spirit, the soul, and the body. You are a spirit, you have a soul, you live in a body. As the image shows, the spirit is your center part, it's it's you, it's the deepest part of you. It's what we're calling our inner man, our body, the outer part or the physical part, the part where we react or interact with the material world or through our five senses, it's how we we move, we move along, we get along with our hands, with our mouth, with our voices. It's it's the body, the the earth suit that we have that inhouses all these all these attributes of the spirit in the soul. It's our earth suit here, our body, and within the body, unfortunately, is this thing called the flesh. The body's not bad, it's the flesh. The flesh that causes problems, as we've been talking about the past couple weeks. Now go to the next image. Within the soul, you have the mind. The mind is our thinking, our imaginations, our reasoning. The mind is where we process, where we hear something, we process it. We see something, we process it. It's where we begin to gather our thoughts, and those thoughts will eventually be produced because lifestyles will first begin with thoughts, which I'll talk about later on. That mind relies within the soul, the soul that you have. The mind is present there with your will and your emotions. And I've been trying to explain to you the past few weeks since we started this next image that your body pours into the soul. Everything you take in from the world, the things of the world, the things that are ungodly, things that unfortunately that you are uh you have seen with your eyes, heard with your ears, that you heard as a child, they are poured in through the body, and that pours into your soul. The body pours into the soul. But then we talked about last week, which if you weren't here, just go back and see our archive. You find out that the spirit also pours into the soul, that the spirit receives as well, and the spirit will pour back into the soul. That is the mind, and the spirit will help train the mind. Just the way the body pours into the soul, and the mind begins to think on things it probably shouldn't think because of what the world pours into the body. The spirit receives from God, receives the word through intimacy with God and fellowship with God. The spirit receives and pours back into the soul, back into the mind to help you think differently, think according to the word, think according to God's desire, think according to God's purpose. That's a quick recap of what we're kind of been learning here in these past two or three weeks as we've kind of started turning our focus to this idea of renewing the mind as we move through Romans 12 and in this verse that we're in. So let me take you to this verse in Ephesians, and I'm gonna show you this verse in Ephesians that will kind of help begin to uh just kind of set us up for where we're going. I mentioned this last week, and I kind of want to dive a little further into it, and this is regarding the spirit part, the spirit that you are, the spirit, that inner man that you are, that you have. And you were dead, this is you and I, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins, verse two, and the sins in which you once walked, you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. This was us, verse three, among whom we all, I highlighted this because I hope to get back to it later on, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, same minds, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. This was us. Go back real quick, sorry. This that was us. One through three, you may think, I don't know, Pastor, I wasn't really that bad. That was still you. You may think I was a good person, I wasn't this horrible kid, I wasn't this troublemaker, but nonetheless, one through three, that's us. But good news. Verse four comes. And in verse four, but God, say, just say amen to that. But God. How many are glad that you see a but God, right? But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. For it has been by grace that you have been saved. Can we give the Lord a hand clap and thank him? Thank him that we were once dead and now we're alive in Christ. Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, you're alive, man. You're alive. Tell the other one, even if they don't look like it, you're alive too, man. See some of y'all this morning, huh? You're alive too, man. You're alive in Christ. That's so exciting, isn't it? That we're alive in Christ. Once dead and now alive in Christ. Before I show you nothing, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. According to Acts 2 42, your word is received gladly. According to Acts 19.20, your word will prevail. I pray now, Father, that even as I stand here, the Spirit of my Father speak through me, according to Matthew 10.20. I ask you now to use these lips of clay to speak your word without error and with excellence according to your desire. For we gather to hear the truth of your word and not the opinion of man. And Father, as the San Antonio Spurs get ready to play this afternoon, you know I don't like them, so Father, whatever happens, happens. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. I got you, I got you, right? I got you. Sit down, sir, don't leave. Church is still going. I want to remind you of something I said last week. Put on the board. When your spirit came alive, renewing the mind became possible. Renewing the mind became possible. And hear me. I've heard plenty of stories, and they're good stories. Of people who have changes in their life. You know, there were maybe people that were doing things they shouldn't do, people who've had uh, you know, a background of stories of just they were this and this and they've changed their life, and those are wonderful stories to hear. But the only thing I say to that is this I have been made alive in Christ, not so that I can just think well or think good. I've been made alive in Christ so I can think godly. There's a difference between living a good life and living a godly life. There's lots of people, and God bless them, who are living good lives. But I'm telling you now, and unfortunately, we all know, or maybe you don't know, and it's your first time hearing it, good people will still not make it to heaven. There's only one way to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ. So good people, amen. God bless, and it is important even after you're saved. Like I pray people look at you and say you're a good person, but the only reason you're good is because Christ is inside of you. That's why you're good. Why do you call me good? They asked Jesus. He Jesus asked them, Why do you call me good? Jesus knew the only reason I am good is because you see my father in me. And I tell you today that when I think about this idea of I came alive, I'm now alive in Christ. And when I talk about renewing the mind, that it became possible, hear me. I just don't want you to think of a better way of thinking. I want you to remind yourself this is about a thinking in a godly way, in a godly manner, and having a godly mindset, or as even Philippians says, to have the mind of Christ. That's our desire. And I show you image number three one more time. It's the next image there. And this part of the spirit pouring into the soul where the mind is, that's what's so vital today, and it's so important today. I told you last week how how the spirit receives, and then the spirit pours back out. The spirit takes in, and then the spirit floods the soul, it floods the mind with truth and with the godly way of thinking, with the what satisfies the spirit, the spirit now desires for that to satisfy the mind and to begin to change the way one would think and the one way perceives, which will thus change the way one can live. And so I want us to understand something today as we read in Ephesians. If this spirit, if this inner man, if this deep center part of us is now alive, if it is alive through Christ Jesus, we are saved by grace, we were once dead, but now we are alive. Here's what I know is a basic fact or truth of life. That which is alive will have cravings. That which is alive has cravings. Even if some of you are sitting here now, you're already craving whatever it is you want to eat after church. You're thinking about it right now. Some of you talked about it before you got here. I feel like having a, you know, like your crave it, and you crave it maybe. I don't, if you don't know this about me, I have the biggest sweet tooth of anybody you'll ever meet. I have a big it's it's very though, it's very bad. Like it's bad. Like you need to pray for me. It's bad. People ask me, what kind of candy you like? All of it. All of it. Have you ever tried this? I'll try it now. Give it to me. Like a good thing I wasn't into other things. You know, but but like I'm just like, I have a bad I like and I'll crave it. I'll crave these sweet things, and my wife is learning that she has to pull them away or throw them away sometimes. Like, I'll crave them. Um, we we have a dog, the dog's name's Willow, a three-year-old golden retriever. And Willow will sit by the bowl and she'll just stare at the bowl and there's nothing in it sometimes, and then she'll lay by the bowl. And I'm like, I'm guessing you're hungry. Like, why? Because she's craving food herself. She she's alive, she's a dog, she's alive, she's craving food. Any of y'all have plants, any green thumb people? I know David is some other people. You know, you can tell when plants are craving water, they'll start to, they don't look right, they look funny. They're not why they're craving water, they're craving nutrients, they're they're craving sustenance. So, what you gotta what? Pour the water in because that which is alive, and for that moment, still, the plant is still alive, and it's craving. Humans crave, animals crave, plants crave. Hear me, the spirit has cravings. Your spirit is alive, and and like in a human, like an animal, like a plant. Your spirit, because there is life now through Jesus Christ, life now together with Christ, it has cravings. I'll say it like this your spirit is hungry, man. Your spirit, put on the board, desires food. We know how to fill our stomachs, we know how to fill our bellies, we know how to drink water, we know that if we're craving, we know that we need to pour into our physical body. But I have to let you know today that your spirit also wants to eat. And your spirit, my spirit, the spirit that we are, desires food. It craves. And it craves intimacy with God. I told you last week, it craves fellowship with God, it desires time with God, it desires the word, it desires prayer time, it desires to worship. The things that will sustain your spirit, they are spiritual things that you connect with God, and that begins to satisfy your spirit. That if you ever go on a fast and if you've ever fasted, you learn very quickly that though you be hungry, but you spend time in the presence of God, suddenly the hunger isn't as strong anymore, or it isn't as present anymore. Like you start to think, like I haven't eaten all day, but for some reason I don't feel tired, I don't feel weak. Why? Because what you should be doing during that time is feeding your spirit. And you know what your spirit is so powerful that you feed your spirit, and your spirit is being full and nurtured and taken care of that your spirit even begins to not just affect your mind, but it even begins to energize your body, it begins to give strength from the inside out, it begins to help you get through your day to where you don't even think anymore, I'm not even really hungry anymore. It's amazing to me. And I tell you today that unfortunately we do live in a world, and sometimes we have this problem in church that we're listening more to the physical than we are the spiritual. That we think about what we need on the outside more than what we need on the inside. That we think more about the desires of my body than what my spirit is crying out for. And this was an issue all the way back to the wilderness when Moses tried to travel with the Israelites to the promised land. In Deuteronomy 8, he's having a talk with them, and he tells the people of Israel, Remember how the Lord you God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to humble and test you. So he's telling the people, God was humbling and testing you as you walk through the wilderness, humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, and then feeding you, and then feeding you with manna. So there's the food, the physical bread, which neither you nor your ancestors had known. And why? Why did he do this? To teach you that. Let's read this together on the board. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. That's the goal. That's what he's trying to teach the people of Israel as they wander through the desert. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The people of Israel got hungry in the desert. They begin to be even maybe starving in the desert, and they complained. They started to get grumpy and complain. I'm hungry. We haven't eaten. When is our next meal coming from? When are we gonna eat? And they would complain and complain. So God miraculously sends manna, that is bread from heaven, and feeds an entire nation. Miraculously. And God, God here, God heard them, God knew they were hungry. And it's funny to me that these people, as they're making the journey to this promised land, you know how quickly they forget all that God has done and how God has prevailed on their behalf, and suddenly now they're in the desert, and some of them start to think, I guess God brought us this far to die. That God miraculously delivers us out of slavery, miraculously parts a Red Sea, does all these signs, wonders, and miracles in our eyes, and I guess we're gonna die out here in the desert because we're hungry. And God is making it clear I'm not gonna let you die of hunger. I'm gonna feed you here. Here's the bread from heaven, here's miraculous food, but here's also where we have an issue, and I'll put on the board for you. God did not want Israel's journey to the promised land to be a story of how he fed their stomachs. That was not the goal here, even though it's miraculous, even though it's incredible, even though it's mind-blowing, even though it's it's amazing to see God providing bread from heaven and God saying, but but that's that's not that's not the goal here. That's that's not the purpose behind all this. God satisfied their physical hunger, but hear me. He also wanted the people of Israel to learn don't take your eyes off me. Don't forget that I am your God. I want relationship with you, I want fellowship with you, I want communion with you, I want time with you, I want you to obey me, I want you to hear my word and have faith. I want you to know that I am never gonna leave you nor forsake you. Believe in me, rely on me, depend on me. Because God is not just thinking about physical needs. Hear me, God is thinking about what they need on the inside. And I think to myself that God did not want Israel's journey to the promised land to be a story of how he fed their stomach. Instead, I submit to you, he wanted it to be a testimony of how he keeps his promise. That God took us out of bondage and promised us he's gonna get us to the promised land. And I don't know how that's gonna work along the way. I'm not sure what all is gonna happen, but all I know is God made us a promise and we're gonna get there. See, hear me. God wasn't worried about filling their bellies with food. God was concerned with filling their spirit with faith. He wanted faith to be stored in them. He wanted them to have faith in his word and faith in his promises and faith in what he's spoken and faith what he said, all the way back to Father Abraham. That this is a promise, this land shall be yours, so that when they move through the wilderness, they're not moving there complaining, thinking, I'm so hungry. When I'm gonna eat, oh god, I'm so starving. That would have been me, probably. I got just when's our next meal. God was hoping and his desire was that they believed everything he said. And although we are hungry, we know we can trust God. Although that we don't see the food, we know God will provide. Oh, that although it's not present amongst us, God, we have so much faith in our spirit. We know that you are not gonna lead us here to die. You will provide somehow, one way or another. And God wanted this faith to fill their hearts, to begin to fill their spirit. Why? Hear me? Because once that faith would fill their spirit, they would keep walking in obedience, they would keep following the ways of God. God, I don't I don't know when you're gonna come through, but I'm gonna serve you. God, I don't know how it's gonna happen, but I'm gonna follow you. His desire was to see faith grow inside of them, and as this faith filled their spirit, it pours into their mind. It begins to flood their mind. We shall not, we are not gonna walk by sight, we're gonna walk by faith. We're gonna live by faith, we're gonna trust the Lord so that as their spirit be filled, then their minds begin to realize even though we're hungry, it's okay. Let's keep trusting God. But they failed, and they had trouble seeing it. And this is why now Moses, for after 40 years, has to tell them God was trying to show you. You don't live based on having, you don't live based on having your physical needs met. You're gonna live based on having what your spirit needs met. I'm gonna say it again. You don't live based on having your physical needs met, you're gonna live based on having your spiritual needs met. And that's what God was trying to show them. That God was not just trying to satisfy their physical body, it was more important that they would learn. He's gonna provide for you what you need in your spirit. Why? Put on the board, because we aren't designed to truly live on the physical things of this world. We're designed to truly live on every word from God. Hear me. This is living from the inside out. This is a life of spirit, you're fed first. I had somebody, this is years ago. I had an older gentleman, this is back when I was youth pastoring. He said, if I don't have my breakfast, my whole day is thrown off. And I was like, man, well, just try reading the scripture in the morning then, you know? Try spending time with God then in the morning a little bit. But isn't that true that that can be the way of life sometimes? Then get my coffee, don't talk to me. Haven't eaten, don't talk to me. Traffic was horrible, don't talk to me. I'm in a bad mood now. I've learned and I've had to learn the hard way, and I'm still learning. The day always goes better when you start by feeding your spirit. Always goes better. The day always goes better when your spirit is fed first. And I don't know for you if that's at least trying to spend 10-15 minutes in prayer, trying to open up your devotional, trying to get back to the passage of verses you've been reading lately. But I'm telling you today, your day goes better when you start by speeding by feeding your spirit first. If you don't believe me, try it. And if you try it as a work, come back to me. I'll give you a refund. I'll just tell you here. My bad. But I am confident. I am confident. The day goes better when you feed your spirit first. Why? Because man shall not live by bread alone. You will truly live when you are feasting on the word of God above all. On his presence, on communion with him, on fellowship with him. This isn't just a wilderness, this isn't just a desert uh people traveling through the desert lesson. Jesus knew this. Jesus exercised this. Matthew 4, he's being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. And during that time, as Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, during that time the devil came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread. But Jesus told him, No. The scriptures say, people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Even Jesus believed this. And he tells Satan as he tempts him, Satan, you want me to satisfy my physical hunger, but Satan, here's what I know is that my spirit is more important than my physical body. That even my spirit has more value. My spirit has more power. My spirit is more important than the physical nature that I possess. And Jesus makes it clear to the enemy. I care about my spirit. I want to nurture my spirit. I want to feed my spirit. I want to take care of my spirit. I want to make sure my spirit gets what it needs. I want my spirit to feast. I want it to eat. I want it to enjoy. I want it to know God. I want my spirit to have pleasure in the presence of God, to have pleasure fellowshipping with God, to enjoy communion with God. Enemy, the spirit is more important than my physical body. It's here within me first that I am very much conscientious of. And you know what Jesus showed us? That when you have this kind of mindset, you know what Jesus demonstrated when he stood his ground and made it clear how important the spirit was? Jesus demonstrated on the board that the enemy would be defeated by a spirit that was fed with the word of God, not by a physical body satisfied with the things of this world. And this is a statement here, it's wording, it's lengthy, but I pray we can get it into our minds because I am learning even more and more that even within the church, even within the body of Christ, sometimes we just take pleasure in seeing God bless our lives and we spend no time with him. We see pleasure in God protecting us and watching over us and taking care of my kids, and those are all great things. But hear me, your spirit still wants to eat. Your spirit still wants food. Your spirit still wants communion with God. Your spirit still wants fellowship with the Lord. And I think to myself that even Jesus was making it clear to the enemy, enemy, I'm gonna defeat you. But it's not because I'm more stronger than you physically or more powerful than you physically. Enemy, I'm gonna defeat you because my spirit is ready to take on anything you have to throw my way. And sometimes we fall, hear me, you fall not because you're weak, you fall simply because your spirit isn't prepared. We fall short of the glory of God many times just simply because the inner man isn't prepared for the battle. The inner man isn't ready to take on the enemy in the wilderness. But hear me, praise be to God. You feed that inner man, you let that inner man feast, you let that spirit that craving it has for the word, you satisfy it with the word, satisfy it with prayer, satisfy it with worship, and let that inner man grow stronger and stronger and stronger. Not only do you become a threat to the enemy, you're able to defeat the enemy every single day. Even the days that don't feel like a win, they're still a win because you're still declaring faith and still speaking the word of God and still speaking truth. Why? Because maybe physically your body took a hit, but oh man, your spirit is alive and strong. Your spirit is ready for the battle. Your spirit's ready to take on any lie that the enemy has to say. So hear me. Again, I tell you, what's more important? Preparing your physical body or making sure your spirit is ready to take on anything coming your way. And it's a challenge. Look at your neighbor and says, Pastor loves you. Tell them right now, Pastor loves you. Now tell your neighbor again, and I and I love him too. Say it. Say it. But let's be honest with ourselves. We're good at satisfying this body, man. We're good at it. We're good at giving this body what it wants very often. We're good at it. Don't eat those Oreos. I'm gonna eat them. Don't touch that big red. I'm gonna touch it and drink it and smile. Don't go eat that fast food. I'm hungry. I'm gonna hurry. I gotta go. We're so good at it. And oh, how our spirit cries out. Our spirit cries out and just says, man, if if you would just listen to the yearnings of my uh of what I am, what I have, my yearnings, if you just listen to my my desires that we be quick to feed the spirit. And Jesus is helping us see here that we're gonna be challenged. The enemy's gonna confront us. Is your spirit ready? Is your inner man prepared? And and this is not just the principle now of people wandering the desert or Jesus in a wilderness fasting. Later, Jesus feeds five thousand men, and not including the women and children. If you don't know the story, he feeds five thousand men, add-on women and children. We don't know the total count, some estimate maybe like 10,000, like it's just thousands of people he feeds with five loaves and two fish. That's how he feeds them. Sorry. For some reason, every time I mention this story, I start thinking about Long John Silvers again, and I don't know why. Anyways, um still tastes the same. You haven't been in a while, it tastes exactly the same. But he feeds them with five loaves and two fish. And there's something that happens though with these people later, right afterwards, if you don't realize it. Their story actually doesn't end there. In John 6, I'm gonna read it to you in the Living Bible, there's a conversation that follows up the next day with these people that he fed. And this conversation to me is so interesting. And Jesus, he's having a conversation, and here's what Jesus begins to tell these people. He replied, John 6, uh 26. Let's read a little bit. The truth of the matter, listen, is that you want to be with me. Jesus is saying, the truth of the matter is you want to follow me. Hear me, because I fed you. Five loaves, two fish, feed five thousand people. You want to follow me because I fed you. Not because you believe in me. And look at this is Jesus. But you shouldn't be so concerned about perishable things like food. No, spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Messiah, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for this very purpose. They replied to Jesus, What should we do to satisfy God? Jesus told them, This is the will of God, that you believe in the one He has sent, and that is Jesus. And then in verse 30, they replied, Well, Jesus, show us more miracles if you want us to believe that you're the Messiah. This guy has some audacity. Look at this. Give us free bread every day, like our fathers had while they journeyed through the wilderness. As the scriptures say, Jesus, Moses, gave them bread from heaven, freeze. Do you see the mentality of this person? Or really this group? It's very clear. Jesus, meet our physical need and we'll follow you. Jesus, take care of what we naturally need. Show us more that we can do that we can benefit from and we'll follow you. Jesus, just do a few more miracles that leave me feeling pretty good. And we'll believe. This guy has some nerf. I wish I was one of the disciples at this point. I would have told him, hey man, you know what else you can do? You can leave. But even the disciples sometimes have trouble with this. And my heart goes out even though in the end, because I'm thinking to myself, look at me. I'm chastising that man, but I'm gonna be honest with you. Sometimes that man can be me. I can be that guy. God, will you do this for me? God, I need your help right now. God, if you get this done, oh my lord, I will be so grateful. Manual, do you live for God because of what you want to get from him, or do you just live for God because he is your God? Do you follow God because well you need to, or do you just follow God because you're trying to get something from him? And I think to myself, I'm not careful, that this can be me here, if I'm not watchful. And then in verse 32, Jesus starts off with kind of a little poke back at the guy. Jesus said, first of all, Moses didn't give him the bread. My father did. First thing. And now, sir, he offers you true bread from heaven. And the true bread is a person, the one sent by God from heaven, and he gives life to the world. Sir, they said to Jesus, give us that bread every day of our lives. And Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. It is me that I am speaking of. Now, hear me. Jesus is trying to let these people know you're so concerned with your physical needs. You're so concerned with having your flesh and your physical body satisfied to the point where you will just follow me because I meet the needs of your body or meet the needs of this physical world that you live in. You're so caught up with that, and little do you realize that what stands in front of you is the bread that you truly need. The bread that will satisfy you beyond your physical needs, the bread that will that your spirit needs and it craves. Your spirit craves this bread. Your spirit wants this bread. Your spirit is yearning for this bread. What I'm trying to say is simply this your spirit wants Jesus, time with Jesus, fellowship with Jesus, relationship with Jesus. That's what your spirit is crying out for. Your spirit doesn't want physical bread, it wants the bread of life. So I tell you today, he's trying to let these people know, and I'll put it on the board like this that Jesus does not want followers because they meet, because they need their natural needs met. How many of you, your spirit cannot live without Jesus? Everybody should raise their hand. I can't live without Jesus. This spirit is dead without him. I can't live truly without him. This spirit is nothing without him. He wants them to realize that this bread of life, that your spirit that's alive, this is the bread of life that your spirit is saying, feed me. Well, I fed you yesterday, feed me again. I fed you this morning, feed me again. I fed you an hour ago, feed me again. I said you 10 minutes ago. I want some more. That's the spirit that we have. You thought your kids ate a lot. Your spirit will eat all day and every day. Your spirit's desiring and wanted and wants the bread of life. Hear me. I'll sum it up like this. If Jesus met every need that you have in this world, if you had all the riches of this world, would your spirit be truly satisfied? If you had all the riches this world had to offer, would your spirit that is alive really be jumping for joy? It's a question I don't think we ask ourselves enough. And I'll answer it for you. It won't. What's it worth for a man to gain the whole world and still lose his own soul? What's it like to be blessed beyond measure in this world and still stand before God one day and have to hear, depart from me, I never knew you. We can have all the riches of this world, and our spirit still cries out, I want more of Jesus. I want more of the bread of life. I may not have fame, but I have the bread of life. I'm gonna be okay. Your spirit wants you to understand. You may not have all the money, but we have the bread of life, we're gonna be okay. The doctor gave us a bad report. We have the bread of life, we're gonna be okay. They walked out on me again. We have the bread of life, we're gonna be okay. I'm 35 and still not married. You have the bread of life, you're still gonna be okay. I'm waiting for a new job. It's hard to get that job. You have the bread of life, you are going to be okay. What I'm trying to remind everyone here today is this: do not wake up in the morning and lack joy because you don't have this need meant or that need meant. Child, you have Jesus Christ, the bread of life. You have joy, you have peace, you have hope, you have strength, you have power, you have anointing, you have what you need when you have the bread of life, you have what your spirit desires when you have the bread of life. I'm lacking a lot, but if I have the bread of life, I'm gonna be okay. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. And I think to myself that Jesus is saying, Hey, I'm looking to satisfy you so that you will understand you don't have to depend on the physical, temporal things of this world to sustain you. Instead, live relying on that which satisfies your spirit. A lot of physical and temporal things, but you live off of what the word of God says. You live off the bread of life. And let me tell you something. Let's wrap this up. It can be hard, man. Just to live off that bread of life sometimes. Let me be honest with you. It can be a little hard. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you know. Oh, we sang it earlier. Uh, what did it say?

SPEAKER_00 39:17

I'll take you at your word. Say it I believe it. See how good it worked. Started you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Do you hear those words you're saying? I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. What? I seen how good it works. How many have seen how good God's word is in your life? I seen how good it works. You said it, you'll complete it? I'll just take you at your word. Dion, who here knows what it is that you're simply going just because you're holding on to a promise that God's given you, man? That that all you have, that that who knows what it is, that you just have a promise from God that you are relying on. That that that promise, hear me, that is the bread of life, that that's the reason you're still able to get up. That's the reason you're still able to keep going. That's the reason you're still smiling. That's the reason you still have joy. That's the reason that you haven't gone crazy in your head. That's the reason you're still able to keep walking and moving and being friendly to others and loving people. Not because of what you have, it's just because there's a promise inside of my spirit that the bread of life is giving me, and all I have right now is a word from God to hold on to. Well, child, congratulations. That word is never gonna fail you in the name of Jesus. That word's never gonna leave you hanging in the name of Jesus. Who here knows what it is that you all that's left, all that's left is God, it's your word. That's all I got left right now. They can't do nothing, they can't say anything, nothing, they say nothing's gonna change. I see with my eyes what's going on. If I'm being honest, I'm lacking hope, I'm lacking some things right now that I need as resources, but my God, I still have your word, I have the bread of life, and Lord, that's what's sustaining me. That's what's keeping me. That's why I am still here, not because of what man said, because I got a promise from you, God. And then in the end, if you give me a promise to hold on to, then dear Lord, I am gonna hold on to it with all that I got. Because if all I have is a word from you, then I will stand on that word all the days of my life. I will keep on holding on to it. Lift up your hands. Some of you, you have a word you're waiting to see come to pass. You have a promise you're waiting to see come to pass. You're hoping in what God said, you're believing in what God said, you're trusting in what God has said. I know what his word declared, I know what his word promised, I know what you said in this word, my God. And if that's all I have, if that bread is the only bread I have, then spirit be satisfied, mind be joyful, be hopeful, be at peace. Because we're gonna see the promise of God come to pass in the name of Jesus. If you believe it, give him a hand clap this morning. Thank you, Lord.