1. Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

2. A reminder to consider others Please:
Turn off your cell phone or set to vibrate only
Use the nursery or cry room if your child is fussy
Get up during the preaching only if absolutely necessary (please sit in back if you must leave early)

3. Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Matthew 5:6

4. Hunger for the World
Because man is sinful by nature, he hungers for sin and can easily pervert what is legitimate to desire

5. Physical Pleasure
God made man with five senses each of which can bring pleasure when pursued and fulfilled properly
Smell - John 12:3
Taste - Proverbs 24:13
Sight - Psalm 34
Hearing - 1 Chron. 15:16, Prov. 25:25

6. Physical Pleasure
Intimacy in marriage - Song of Solomon, Proverbs 5:18-19
Man perverts physical pleasure into the “lust of the flesh” (1 John 2:16) - gluttony, immorality
Confusing a physical relationship with love distorts both and trades a beautiful gift from God for a facade

7. Physical Pleasure
Scripture warns the fornicator, adulterer and sexually perverse - Leviticus 18; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
God tells us to flee youthful lust & immorality and instead pursue righteousness (1 Cor. 6:18; 2 Tim. 2:22)

8. Materialism
Job, Abraham and David were all very godly men who were extremely wealthy in their time
Proverbs 13:22 commends those who leave an inheritance to their grandchildren
Love of money, not money itself, is the root of all sorts of evil - 1 Timothy 6:10

9. Materialism
Life is not a game, your stuff will own you, and you leave your toys behind when you die
It will all burn (2 Peter 3:10-12), so lay up your treasures in heaven instead of on earth (Matthew 6:20)

10. Power
Parents (Prov. 19:18), government (Rom. 13:4) & church leaders 1 Pet. 5:2) each have a proper authority
Pride motivates the quest for power and control so that life will be good and fulfilling
People tend to rise to their level of incompetence & and at best positions are only held a short time

11. Power
God resists the proud - Nebuchadnezzar - but gives grace to the humble
When the world does not satisfy, many people turn to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain
Proverbs 31 - alcohol and drugs pervert judgment, they are for those who have no hope

12. Caution Hebrews 12:1-2
We are to lay aside both sin and anything that encumbers us in the race of life & faith
Ephesians 5:16 - redeem the time in making your short life count for the cause of Christ

13. The Pursuit of Happiness
Happiness is like a rainbow - you can only enjoy it while it is there, & it moves farther away if you pursue it
Ecclesiastes 1 & 2 - Solomon understood by experience the futility of pursuing pleasure
Blessedness cannot be pursued for it is the by product of having particular character traits

14. Hunger for Righteousness Matthew 5:6
Righteousness is the motivation and objective of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ
The righteousness cannot be attained by lineage, works or deeds - Isaiah 64:6
Righteousness is conformity with God’s moral law of being holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16)

15. Hunger for Righteousness Matthew 5:6
Jesus is the example of righteousness - John 14:9; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3
Hungering and thirsting with the intensity of one who is starving and dehydrated
It is the logical response to being poor in spirit, mourning over sin and being meek

16. Five Marks of Hungering & Thirsting for Righteousness
Dissatisfaction with self
Freedom from dependence on external things for satisfaction
A craving for the Word of God and to be in prayer

17. Five Marks of Hungering & Thirsting for Righteousness
Finding pleasure in the things of God in all circumstances
Unconditional desire for righteousness

18. Being Filled with Righteousness
Hebrews 12:14 - without holiness, no man shall see the Lord
Only God can make you holy, and that is what He does through Jesus Christ
We confess and believe in Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10), and become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21)

19. Being Filled with Righteousness
Salvation is by God’s grace through faith as a gift of God - but it only the humble will receive the gift
It continues in sanctification throughout life in the desire ever more be like Jesus
Its ultimate fulfillment will be at glorification when become like Christ (1 John 3:2)

20. Grace Bible Church Glorifying God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ