What Are You Hungry For? | Rev. Jerry Mason

Welcome to the First Apostolic Church Podcast.

Our church mission is to love as God loves, showing compassion

every soul, thus winning those souls and equipping them to be

sent out to plant and to harvest.

Thank you for joining us today and we hope that you're blessed

by today's podcast. Worthy is your name, Jesus.

You deserve the praise. Worthy is your.

Why don't you lift your hands and just sing that to him this

morning? Worthy is your name, Jesus.

You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name.

Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve the praise.

Worthy is your name. How many believe he's worthy

this morning? Let's glorify the name of the

Lord together today. He's a worthy God.

If you have, your Bibles would turn with me this morning to the

book of Exodus, chapter 16. Give honor to our Bishop this

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

morning, our pastor. I know he is not here, but he's

still pastor whether he's in this building or not.

Love and appreciate both of them.

Give honor to our youth pastor this morning.

Appreciate him honor my wife today.

There is a sweet presence of the Holy Ghost that just swept into

this house this morning, Bishop. When I stand before him, I don't

want to be found one. Let's read.

I know you're standing this morning, but I feel I feel

something in my spirit right now.

I don't. I don't.

I don't pretend to know what needs are represented in this

house this morning. But I can tell you this.

We serve the wave maker. We serve the problem solver.

I believe God's going to serve serve up some solutions for

someone today. Exodus chapter 16 and verse #15.

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another

in his manna, for they wished not what it was, Moses said unto

them. This is the bread which the Lord

hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord

has commanded. Gather of it every man according

to his eating, and Omer for every man according to the

number of your persons. Take ye every man for them which

are in his tents. My assignment today is not to

feed the 5000 I want to. I want to just manage

expectations right now. My assignment's not to feed the

5000. That's his job.

My assignment today is just to bring him the bread and the

fish. Let's let's lift our hands right

now and ask the Holy Ghost to minister to us together.

Jesus, God, you know the thought of every need.

I ask you, God, to center every mind and imagination around you

today. Around your word cast down every

imagination in anything that is unclean and unlike you today.

Release your spirit in this house this morning.

Do a work today, God, that only you can do.

No man should glory in your presence.

We give you praise and glory for it today and honor.

In the name of Jesus I pray and the church said Amen.

And Lord bless you. You may be seated.

That is a courtesy, not a command.

I want to talk to you this morning for a few moments on

this subject today. What are you hungry for?

What are you hungry for? And I asked that in question

form an omor of manna, the measurement of an omor.

Is approximately 43 ounces of manna per person per day.

Somebody say that's a lot of bread.

They gathered enough for the number of persons in their tent

by families, but only enough for one day.

They did this every day of the week for five days, and on the

6th day they were commanded by God to gather 2 days worth

because there would be no distribution of manna from

heaven on the Sabbath and there would be no physical labor that

God expected his people to do to gather the manna on the Sabbath.

This supernatural phenomenon occurred 6 days a week for 40

years. It did not stop until they

crossed into the promised land of Canaan.

When you think about when I think about, I'll.

I'll say it this way when I think about eating 43 ounces of.

Bread every day for six days for 40 years.

My taste buds start to get just a little bland.

But let's look at the taste and nutrition of what God supplied

his people. Now the Torah describes the

taste as being similar to that of something that is fried in

oil. And honey, we're off to a pretty

good start. The mana was adapted.

Watch this. Now this is what they say in the

Jewish writings. The mana was adapted to the

taste of each individual, to the adult.

It tasted like the food of an adult, and while it tasted like

breast milk for a baby, by wishing one could taste in the

mana. Whatever they desire, whether it

be beef or fruit or grain. Interestingly, the Israelites

later complained to Moses that they missed the zucchini, the

watermelon, the leeks, the onions and the garlic.

And if the man, it could taste like anything in the world, why

did they miss these specific vegetables?

The Jewish writings of the Talmud explains that since those

vegetables. Could be harmful to lactating

women. God omitted them from the diet

plant. That's what kind of a God we

serve today. Another explanation was that

while it could taste like those foods, it wouldn't take on their

texture as it did with other foods.

Being a heavenly food, the mana contained the nutritious matter

only and was fully absorbed by the body.

And they believe that after consuming this meal, they did

not need to expel any waste products from the body.

God's design. It would take a special appetite

still yet I like my ruts. I I I like my routines.

I know some people don't like routine.

God bless you too. But I I like my routines.

But even after a while, I want something different.

The appetite is a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need.

The factors that affect one's appetite are one's diet, mental

health, depression, eating disorders.

Pregnancy, medication, infection and disease.

There are ways to increase your appetite.

There are several of them, actually.

I was quite astonished at this, but they can all be summarized

down to this one very simple point.

It requires that you actually eat.

You can't think your way into a better appetite.

The person who goes on and on and on and on and on and on and

on and does not eat. They never get an appetite

unless they actually start eating.

It doesn't happen by accident. A person's appetite describes

his or hers desires for whatever it is that they want.

Watch this now what they want to consume.

Several years ago there was an article published.

In the Ann Landers newspaper column, I know that there are

people here today that don't know what that is, but for those

of us that do, we can just smile and say Amen.

But it was titled The New Stress Diet, written by a lady named

Pamela Petler. The New Stress Diet looks

something like this. Maybe you can, Maybe you can.

You can. You can testify to this, I don't

know, breakfast. Half a grapefruit.

One slice. Whole wheat bread. 8 oz Skim

milk lunch. 4 ounces Broiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed

zucchini, one Oreo cookie, 1 cup of herbal tea.

Now we're not off to too bad of a start.

I'm not a dietitian today, but that that don't sound like too

bad of a menu. Oreo cookie might be a bit bit

risky but. Not too bad, right?

Mid afternoon snack, the rest of the package of Oreo cookies, 1

quart rocky road ice cream, one jar hot fudge dinner, 2 loaves

of garlic bread. A large pepperoni pizza, a

pitcher of soda, 3 candy bars, and a frozen cheesecake.

The whole cheesecake. Now, I don't know if this menu

stresses me out or relieves stress.

It might be a momentary relief, but if it's too good to be true.

It is regrettably today this stress diet mirrors a lot of

spiritual appetites. We start off good, we have very

good intentions. But about the time real hunger

starts setting in, we fall off to whatever feels good.

Have a tendency to lean toward everything we don't need, the

author of this stress diet continued in the article by

stating these statements. If no one sees you eat it, it

has no calories. That'd be nice.

If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they will cancel each

other out. I've heard people say that

before. It doesn't work.

Calories don't count if you eat with someone and you both eat

the same thing. Food taken for medicinal

purposes does not count. If you fatten up everyone around

you, you'll look thinner. Snacks consumed in the movie do

not count as they are part of the entertainment.

Pieces of cookies contain no calories.

The process of breaking causes a calorie leakage.

And late night snacks have no calories.

The refrigerator is not strong enough for the light to see

their way into the calorie counter.

Sounds ridiculous, right? Sounds just as ridiculous as

some of our excuses. Righteous living requires a

commitment. You cannot be halfway saved.

You can attend church, and I I didn't come to be offensive

today. You can attend church every

service, or you can at least check in every Sunday.

But the mere act of attendance, as important as I believe it is,

that alone does not save you. You cannot be half human,

therefore you cannot be half spiritual.

You are either saved and redeemed by the blood of

Calvary. So how's your appetite today?

#1 from this list? She said if no one sees you eat

it, it has no calories. I am afraid that some of us have

fallen prey to the lie of the enemy today, that if there are

no witnesses, it's not wrong. Wrong is still wrong in 2023.

We still serve a black and white God.

We still serve a God that believes in in what he wrote.

I know society's getting soft and we're getting all kinds of

of dirty compromise and we're we're too weak today to really

state truth. But God's word does not change.

#5 from the list says if you fatten up everyone around you,

you look thinner. And I'm afraid that we fall and

prey to the enemies work today. That if we just gossip about

those around us and make them look worse than us.

Then I could go home and feel just a little bit better.

We need an appetite today for godly things.

We need an appetite today for godly things because God doesn't

do easy. Now I know the Bible says the

way of a transgressor is hard. That's not what I'm talking

about. But.

Let me tell you something. If we're honest with ourselves,

God doesn't do easy. If you're looking for an easy

path, this isn't it. Really.

Well, then maybe I'm in the wrong church because I don't

want to work that hard. You go live in the world, you'll

still have to work that hard. You still won't have it easy.

If you walk away from God, easy does not exist.

There's a sacrifice that we have to make somewhere.

We either make the sacrifice for righteous living or we make the

sacrifice for sinful living. Easy as a mirage in the desert,

it does not exist. And if you don't have the right

appetite today, you'll coast along on appetizers for a while,

enjoying what you feel in the presence of God.

But eventually you're going to get hungry, you're going to need

some nutrition, and if you haven't developed an appetite

for godly things, you will gravitate to whatever feels

good. God never does what's easy, he

does. What's divine and divine often

seems complicated to us. Why did God choose a barren

woman to birth a prophet? What did God choose a boy to

kill Goliath? What did God send a backslider

to preach to Nineveh? What did God use a century old

man to have? Isaac?

What did God choose a virgin to birth Jesus?

What did God? What did Jesus tell a man whose

hand was withered? Stretch forth your hand.

He could have just healed him. But he required something from

him, who tells a blind man to go wash in a pool so he can see,

and it's a pool he can't even see to get to, Who stands in

front of a tomb and tells a dead man to get up?

That's not easy. God's way can seem so

complicated to us and it can be frustrating to us.

And if you don't have an appetite that allows you to

accept the complicated, you'll miss out on the divine nature of

God in your circumstances. I, I, I read a quote, a man, a

man said the other day said, if we don't know the Bible, if we

don't know doctrine, if we don't know theology, it's virtually

impossible for us to identify false prophets.

I often worry that in the Apostolic Church we are guilty

of wanting to feel so much that we lose the head knowledge of

God. What God wants to impart to us

through His word. We need to know the word.

I I know that there. I know there are places I won't

drop their name today. I'm not trying to be rude, but I

know that there are places where that the man that stands behind

the pulpit will tell people. Don't worry about reading it for

yourself. That's my job.

I know those places exist that don't happen here.

We are constantly telling you, read your Bible, pray, develop a

relationship with God. We are constantly trying to get

you to do for yourself what you need to do for yourself.

Because we recognize today, if we don't have an appetite for

godly things, we will default to believing that attendance to

church on a Sunday and being a good person makes us a

Christian. This is a trap of the enemy

today. Yes, we need to be in the House

of God. Yes, we need to be good people.

Yes, we need to be Christ followers.

But we'll never be any of the above until we fall in love with

this word and fall in love with an appetite for godly things in

my life. I'm not looking to come to

church on a Sunday morning at 1121 Cedar St. just to feel

good. I'm not here today just to check

in and make sure that you know I'm here so my attendance list

has a check mark beside it. I'm not here today for any other

reason than I love Jesus and I'm in love with His word today.

And I know come Monday morning, I'm still going to love him.

I know it's 2023. We cannot we cannot afford to

fall in this trap because if we fall into this trap, we will

find ourselves transitioning to just attending church.

When it fits our schedule, we'll fall out.

We'll find ourselves transitioning to where I'll I'll

pray when I need something because he's there.

We'll we'll find ourselves worshipping only when someone's

watching us, because I want to look good.

I I want to look like a Christian.

So if somebody's watching, I'll worship.

If not, it's optional. We'll defer to saying Amen

somewhat under our breath because we like the fortitude to

say it out loud. And we'll only do this when we

agree with what's being said. You know, there's times I say

Amen because it's not what I agree with, but it's what I

needed. We used two years ago say say

Amen or owe me. If we defer and our walk with

God to only serving him when things are good, we'll never

find him when things are bad. And if we transition to these

things in our walk with God, our next transition will be getting

mad when church don't make me happy, our next transition

because you see it's a it's it's a it's a cause and effect.

Our next transition will be to criticize when the church

doesn't offer the right number of programs and pop culture

niceties. Let me Let me tell you

something. If you're worried about the

number of programs we have, we've got the three best

programs you can ever ask for Sunday morning, Sunday night and

Wednesday night. And if you can't be saved with

those three programs, no clown face is going to save you.

No March rally down down Broadway Street is going to save

you. My God, I feel the Holy Ghost.

If you can't be saved on a Sunday morning and a Sunday

night and a Wednesday night connect group, nothing else is

going to save you. And I'm not against programs.

I'm not against clowns and balloons.

But that's not where my salvation is.

And the next thing that will lead to us is the spirit of

offense that will cause us to hear things that aren't being

said. So I must keep my appetite in

check. I've come today to sound an

alarm. I'm not trying to be in your

face on a Sunday morning this early.

I get it. But I ask God for boldness to

preach His word today. And I've come to tell somebody

today with when church attendance becomes negotiable,

don't be surprised when God becomes negotiable.

When you when you prefer to default to watching online to

versus being in the House of God, you're starting to

negotiate God out of your life. Let me say that differently.

If you won't worship God at church, you sure won't worship

him at all. If you have to ask if church is

necessary, you're already flirting with the wrong

appetite. I I read I mentioned this in our

Connect group Wednesday night, but I read one One of the

pastors, a Bishop in the Indiana district, had put up a post a

few days or weeks ago and he said Sunday morning church is a

Saturday night decision. If you wait till you get up on

Sunday morning to see if you feel good enough to go to church

or not, you're not making the right decision.

And just for clarity, I'm not referring to our elders there

because that may very well be their season.

But I can guarantee you on a Saturday night, they're already

thinking about it. If your children are asking you

if church is necessary, you need an appetite check for your whole

family, because the salvation of your family is your

responsibility. Some dad and some mom needs to

hear this. This morning you are responsible

for saving your children, not the church, David said.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go, and to the House

of the Lord. I know it's not popular today,

but I have to rehearse the words of Joshua.

But As for me in my house, you know why my 24 year old son

married out of the house still serves God?

It's because when he was at home, it wasn't an option.

When he was home, we said we're going to church.

Matter of fact, he knew the lifestyle so much we didn't even

have to talk about it. We didn't have to talk about

Saturday night whether or not we was going to church the next day

because it wasn't optional, he told Mohosata.

We need to serve the Lord. We need to worship the Lord.

We need to worship the Lord. We need to worship the Lord.

I don't worship Him with my my attendance, my presence does not

tell him I think he's good enough.

My body language does. My words do.

My actions do my behavior well, you didn't sing any songs I like

this morning. That's all right.

I sing songs sometimes I don't like, but I still worship him.

My worship him. His worth is not predicated on

which song we sang. His worth is not predicated on

which style of music we play. His worth is not predicated on

whether you like my tie or my socks.

His worth is predicated on the fact that he's the God of the

universe. And he said there's no one

beside me. He said there's no one over

here. There's no one.

I am the only guy and if we'll fall in love with him and get an

appetite for him, we will uphold our covenant relationship with

God. Somebody say whoo God gave

Israel manna for the day, look at your neighbor this morning,

smack him a high five and say for the day.

Now if you just smacked them and didn't give him a high five,

that's not what I told you to do.

Gave them manna for the day. We need to learn to trust God's

portion because He's giving me daily what I need.

He's not giving me what I want. He's not giving me what I think

I need. He's giving me a portion for the

day. That is exactly what I need.

Each day God has a portion. You can't come collect your

portion on Sunday and get a week's worth.

Hear me now? You can't.

It's it's contrary to God's work.

You can't get a week's worth of portion and walk away and be

satiated every day and have your appetite full of God every day,

when all you did was collect once.

Because when the Israelites collected more than a day's

worth, what was good for them became cursed, Had breadworms

and it stank. The Bible said God will give you

on a daily basis what you need, but you've got to collect it on

a daily basis. If you'll start collecting his

portion on a daily basis when you get to Sunday morning,

Sunday church won't will feel quite as foreign to you.

Because you see, what what happens is, is we have to

readjust our appetite every time we come to church.

Because I I ate off of God's portion last Sunday, but ever

since I've not had his portion, so now my taste buds aren't

acclimated to what he's trying to feed me.

So then we want to that don't taste good.

You you can't. You can't dine at Hobbs on a

cheeseburger appetite or cheeseburger cost for that

matter. First time.

First time I had a company meal at a really nice restaurant, I

certainly couldn't afford it. I was glad the company was

paying for it. Brother Malone, the first time I

had a nice meal. And I'm not talking Ponderosa

buffet. First time I had a nice meal,

first time I ate at a Hobbs steakhouse or a Ruth's Chris or

some place like that, that in my natural life I couldn't afford

first couple of bites who they like this.

They paid this much money for this because my appetite wasn't

adjusted to that menu. You'll eat whatever you develop

an appetite for, but if you're not eating off of God's portion

through the week, you spend in the first half of Sunday service

trying to redevelop your appetite.

And by the time your appetite gets adjusted, we're ready to

dismiss you. Miss the menu?

Well, why is he doing daily? Because he gives me a portion

daily today that I might trust him for tomorrow.

I've got to learn. We have to learn.

You have to learn to walk by faith, not by sight.

God's not going to give you portion every day of the week

early. He's going to give it to you as

a daily portion, on a daily basis.

He'll give you today what you need today, so you can trust him

for tomorrow. If you aren't trusting him for

the journey and accepting his daily provision, it will affect

your appetite. And then when you don't get what

you think you should get on a Sunday morning, you don't come

back on a Sunday night. You've got to keep showing up.

You've got to keep eating. You may not always understand

your situation, but keep showing up.

You may not always like your circumstances, but keep showing

up. You may not always feel like it

and I can guarantee you today with 100% confidence, you're not

always going to feel like it, but just keep showing up.

There is power today and just not quitting.

When you don't quit, you're telling God I trust you.

When you don't quit, you're telling your enemy that you have

an appetite for the ways of God and you're not moving until God

moves with you. They didn't like Daniel, so they

put him in a den of lions to shut him up.

Daniel kept his appetite for God, and the lions went on a

fast. Moses approached the Red Sea

with millions of Israelites behind him.

Egypt close to their trail, backed into a corner against the

water Moses. Moses had walked away from the

appetite of Egypt to follow God, and when he thought it was just

about over, God said just lift your hand up over the water.

Jesus was on the cross with those mocking him around, saying

he saved his. He saved others, but himself he

can't save. But Jesus knew on the other side

of sacrifice there was resurrection.

He couldn't allow his appetite for earthly things to blur his

vision of what was yet to come. Whatever you do today, just

don't quit. We need an appetite check.

We We had this, this next statement I'm going to make.

We had this material in our Connect group this past

Wednesday and it spoke to me deeply.

I'll put it in my own words. But basically the writer, pastor

of the book said we'll sit for two hours plus and watch an NFL

game. We'll watch a basketball game or

a golf tournament or a movie. But if we start getting close to

11:30 on Sunday morning, we have to go to lunch.

So we'll skip ultra call and check out early.

Sir, Ma'am, you need an appetite check today if your natural

lunch is more important to you than what God could be stirred

up in your spirit today, you need an appetite check if we're

more moved. And I'm not against the NFL

games, basketball games, golf tournaments, movies.

I watch all of them, but not when it's House of God time.

We're not careful. We'll have an appetite problem.

We'll still attend church. It'll still make us feel better

and we'll be lost. Because God did not call you to

walk through plan of salvation and then just sit.

That's not what His plan was. Watch what happened in the Book

of Acts after they received the Holy Ghost.

They turned around and started prophesying.

If that was to happen in our day today, I don't know what we

would. I don't know if our brains could

comprehend the the power of God. I'm not trying to be rude.

I'm not trying to be controversial.

I'm not trying to upset anyone this morning.

But I have come to boldly sound an alarm today in a question

form because I'm asking you, what are you hungry for today?

Because what you're hungry for determines what you eat.

The book of John, chapter #6 in verse 47 the Bible.

Jesus speaking, says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that

believeth on me hath everlasting life.

I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in

the wilderness, and are dead. This is that bread which cometh

down from heaven. He's referring to himself that a

man may eat thereof and not die. What we have here is not a

contradiction, but a connection. In in the wilderness, God

sustained his people physically. And we have a spiritual

application to that of how God is our daily provision.

But then Jesus comes in to kind of close the deal and say they

had physical provision. But I'm here to give you an

eternal provision. So how's your appetite today?

What are you hungry for today? Let me show you something.

I was, I was, I was very astounded by and something I'd

never read before. But in the Jewish writings about

the the mana in the wilderness, it defines, You know, I think

there's a verse in the Bible that talks about God raining the

bread down from heaven. And I've always, I've always

thought that there was just loaf of bread just raining down from

heaven. And I'm not saying God couldn't

do that, or that he did it. But to provide you with an

alternate perspective of how supernatural this really was,

the Jewish writings define the the reigning of manna from

heaven as the manna being a white crystal.

Just a little crystal. And I told you to take 43 oz for

an Omer. So you can imagine scooping up

those crystals, meeting them, by whatever means.

I don't know. But the Bible says and the

Jewish writing state that before the manna fell, that there was

due from heaven that came down. It was like a cleansing Do came

down and it and it cleaned everything up and and made the

preparation for what was about to happen.

The manna falls. And then after the manna falls,

another dew fell so that the manna was preserved between a

box of dew until they woke for the day and when they got up for

the day, breakfast was served. Now just imagine for me, with me

for just a moment that you're in a tent somewhere out in the

middle of the desert for 40 years, some of y'all, not even

40 years old, You're in the desert.

You've seen miracle after miracle after miracle.

God does this great and wonderful thing for you every

morning, and it's still not good enough and they still have the

audacity to say I want garlic and onions.

The reason why we need to keep our appetite in check is because

if we don't understand what our appetite is for, then even God

himself will never satisfy us and we'll go through life

constantly searching, constantly frustrated, constantly trying to

find an easier route because God himself hasn't been able to feed

me well enough yet. If we can just keep our hunger

for God, Stand with me if you would please.

Musicians can come. What are you hungry for today?

close with this statement this morning.

What you focus on expands. What you ignore shrinks.

Now there's an application to that that we can apply to our

walk with God. Because if I focus, if I focus

on him, then he will expand in my life.

But if I ignore him, if I ignore him, if I walk out of here today

and I ignore him tonight and I ignore him on Wednesdays, the

next Sunday morning, it becomes just a little bit more optional

because I've ignored him all week.

I just don't understand why it's so hard to go to church.

Because you're not, you're not flavoring him through the week.

I told you at the onset of this message this morning that

there's a way to get your appetite up, but it requires you

to eat. Why don't we lift our hands and

just ask God to help us right now?

All over this house this morning, somebody, somebody

talked to the Lord today. This altar is open this morning.

I'm calling on someone today. Who?

Maybe your appetite's fine. That's that's all right.

This alters not just for those that need an appetite check.

Because the way that I keep my appetite in check is I keep it

constant communication with him. Get it in this alter.

Every service is how we seal the deal.

Seal your word in my heart, Lord.

Hide your word in my heart, Lord.

That I might not sin against you.

God, take everything that I've heard today in your word.

Take everything that you've spoken today in this altar

today, God, and absorb it into my appetite.

Help me to have an appetite and a hunger for you.

God, I want to trust you today. Thank you for listening.

If you would like more information about our services

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Thank you and have a blessed day.