0:00 Let's start with a short prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you for this evening, this time you've given us once again to meet together and meditate on your word. 0:22 Lord, we come to you with so much need in our hearts and in our lives. We pray that you'll speak to each one of us. We want to listen to what you want to speak to us, Lord, and speak right into our heart and give us the strength and grace to obey whatever we hear. 0:40 Speak, Lord, your servants are listening. We ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen. It's nice to be together at the Lord's feet and meditate on God's word. Praise God for every opportunity he gives us to meet like this. 1:00 The past few sessions, we were meditating on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5. So we did a few of those. And today I thought of one more. That is in Matthew 5 verse 6, he says, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, they shall be satisfied. 1:27 And so when I was getting ready for this meeting, I said, Lord, I really want to hunger and thirst after righteousness. I want to hunger and thirst after you make this real in my life. So I came to the Lord with so much need and I want that hunger which God started in my life to continue all through my days. 1:51 I don't want to take it for granted. Those of us who are mothers can think of one, something which I want to share. Think of the days when our first child was born, the day or night when the child was born, the newborn baby was brought into our hands. 2:13 And that baby was screaming and his lungs out, but was brought and kept in our hands after we got a little time to get over our tiredness and pain. The baby was brought out. And then as soon as the baby nestled into our hands, the screaming became so happy, almost as if the baby knew. 2:39 I know this person who was holding me. She's my mom. And then the baby stops yelling. It becomes a purring kind of sound. And then baby started drinking your milk. Oh, what a satisfaction that baby has when it drinks that milk. 2:59 As little as it can hold. And that's enough to satisfy that baby. In 1 Peter 2, there is this wonderful verse. Like newborn babes desire the milk. Of the Lord. Let me read that verse. 3:25 1 Peter 2, verse 2. Verse 2. 2 Peter 2, verse 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. If so, be ye may have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 3:50 We are all amateurs and newborn babes. Just like that baby longs for the mother's milk and they are so satisfied that this verse, hunger and thirst after righteousness reminds me of that experience when we have our newborn and we come as newborn babes into the Lord's presence and drink of him, of the word of God. 4:13 And we are so satisfied and we are so satisfied. And there's another verse, similar verse in Matthew 6, verse 31. It says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. 4:30 Seek, here again, hunger and thirst after righteousness, seeking after righteousness. The same word comes and all these things, all the things that we need will be added to us. Praise God that if we seek after righteousness, everything that we need. 4:49 Now, the first word, all these verses, first word begins with blessed and I want to remind you of what we have said about blessed. It says, those who are, who obeyed these things and who have this virtue, they are happy, supremely happy and joyous and spiritually prosperous and they'll have satisfaction in life regardless of our outward circumstance. 5:21 That will be the state of those who have this hunger and thirst after righteousness. I praise God that we can and what do people of this world seek after? People of this world seek after, I mean, young girls seek after a good friend, friendship, seek after comfort, seek after good food. 5:51 And as we grow older, seek after wealth, the glory of this world, honor of this world and pleasure. And all those are the things which we seek after, people of this world seek after. But they're all empty. 6:11 Like it says in Jeremiah 2, 13, they're like broken cisterns, which hold no water. They'll fail us. We know how it is. When in our school days, we had a friend and we thought she was the best friend we would ever have. And then we realized that she has changed and she is a friend of somebody else. 6:33 And we begin to be disappointed. And it's like that as we grow older. And then we think of marriage. We think that, oh, if I could marry this person, I'll be the happiest person. And then we find that that person has married someone else. 6:52 But all the earthly things are like that. We can't depend on anything. It's only the Lord who can give us the true satisfaction. And we find our satisfaction in Him. We are truly blessed, as the Lord says. All the earthly things. 7:08 We think of riches, people who are rich in this world. The film actresses and Hollywood stars and the big shots in this world. They make a lot of money. Do you think they're really happy? If you see many of them, they're frustrated. 7:25 The wealth doesn't make them happy. They always feel like someday the wealth may, they may become poor and lose that wealth. And they've poured that wealth. They don't know how to share. There's no joy in their lives. And they become frustrated. 7:41 Some of them turn to drugs. Some of them end up suicide. We know those stories. So all the wealth in the world, nothing can satisfy. It's only the Lord who can satisfy. And the Lord wants us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. 7:57 Then we will be really satisfied. And there's this verse in Psalm 16, verse 11. It says, In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand pleasures forevermore. Lasting pleasure and joy is only in the Lord's presence and with the Lord. 8:21 So the Lord wants us to come to him and have that experience and have that joy of finding the true lasting joy in his presence. Now, I want us to meditate a little bit on the temptations which Jesus faced. 8:45 He too must have faced that temptation which the devil brought to him to find satisfaction on some earthly thing. Because he came as a human being, he came like us, was tempted like us in all points, yet he overcame. He didn't sin even once. 9:03 After his baptism, the Holy Spirit let Jesus into the wilderness to be tested and he fasted there for 40 days. Can you imagine how it must have been at the end of 40 days? He was physically exhausted, but spiritually he was strong. 9:21 He was victorious and he knew how to handle that temptation which the devil brought. You know, I think of the time when we as mothers, we are exhausted and we have done a lot of work and maybe in the times of when we are pregnant or something and not able to retain any food. 9:47 And then somebody brings a bowl of soup or something, how much we relish that and that's the very thing which can satisfy us. So when Jesus was in the wilderness fasting for 40 days, the devil brought this temptation to him. 10:06 Look at these stones, you've got the power, you can make that into bread, at least a morsel of bread to satisfy your hunger. But Jesus knew the same devil who brought a temptation to Eve and told her, eat this fruit, it's so tasty, you'll become wise, you'll be like God. 10:27 The same, this is the same tactic the devil has brought me and he said, no. Man, and you know how he defeated, he made this devil stop his mouth. He said, man, it is written, God has said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. 10:48 I don't need this bread right now. Jesus had the power to make bread, multiply bread for thousands of people and feed them. But he said, I'm not going to use that power for myself. I, this is the time God has told me, the spirit has led me here to be, to fast here for 40 days. 11:12 And I put aside my hunger and all my earthly feelings and I want to live on the word of God. And that's the answer that the Lord gave. That desire to be satisfied with food. The Lord said, I'll overcome that desire. The next temptation the devil brought to Jesus was, he said, he took him to the top of the pinnacle of the temple and he said, just jump down from here and you will get all the honor and the appreciation of the people. 11:47 People are just waiting for the Messiah to come. And they see this person coming down without getting hurt and come and they'll surely think this is the Messiah and you're going to get the glory of this world and people are going to honor you in glory. 12:05 And Jesus said, it's not, I mean, you know the answer that the, he said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. 12:25 Yeah. He said, this is not the time for me to test God and see what, whether I should, I'll break my bones or what. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And the Lord give the right answer. And sometimes when we are tempted to get the glory of this world, honor of this world and reputation, 12:47 that we are a good sister or we are good at this or good cook or hospitable and that desire, carnal desire comes that we can think of the way Jesus overcame and said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. And the third temptation the devil brought was, you know, he showed him all the kingdoms of this world and he said, you just bow down to me and I'll give you all this kingdom, all the wealth, everything will be yours. 13:19 But then also Jesus said, get behind me, we shall worship only the Lord your God. The Lord showed, Jesus showed when he came as a man, we can overcome all these temptations to, for the glory of man and to satisfy our pleasures and anything. 13:41 All those temptations we can overcome and God, the Lord Jesus is there to help us to overcome. And when Jesus left, was leaving this earth, he said, I'm leaving you, but I'll send the Holy Spirit to be with you, will dwell inside you and he will teach you of righteousness. 14:04 We read that in John 16, verses 7 to 11, John 16, he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world, he will dwell within us and he will convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. There again we see the word righteousness. 14:26 When the Holy, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, he was, he showed what was true righteousness. I'll tell you in a minute about the righteousness. But when, when he left, he said, I'll send the Holy Spirit and he'll dwell within us, he'll dwell in our hearts and he'll show us the true righteousness. 14:47 This is the way, right thing to do, which is pleasing, righteous before God. Now, when we think of righteousness, different people have different values, even in homes, different homes have different standards of righteousness. 15:04 Like in some homes, at dinner time, people sit and, they sit and talk about other people and what happened and they pass judgment on, on people. And I, I, I, I want to say it's a, it's gossip, but they don't think of it as anything wrong. 15:25 They think like, oh, let our children be open to all different people and let them know how to deal with people. And that is their standard of righteousness. But in some, other homes, we say, no talking ill of anyone. We don't want to educate our children in this wrong way. 15:45 And their standard of righteousness is different. No speaking ill of anyone. Like that, different families have different standards of righteousness and each one may think that theirs is the best. Different countries have different standards of righteousness, like in some countries, if you don't follow their religion, it's okay for them to kill that person. 16:09 We know Sadhu Sundar Singh, he, when he became a Christian, his, his own family members tried to poison him and put him to death. In some countries, it's, they think that's okay if you, if you change your religion and you become a Christian, they, they feel that they're doing the right thing to put that person to death. 16:32 They don't think of it as murder. So different people have different standards of righteousness and the Pharisees had their own standard of righteousness, which Jesus spoke against. He said, the Pharisees, their standard of righteousness, all outward, they want to get a good name. 16:51 They want to be seen and noticed. If they give money, they want others to know. Here, here, I'm giving thousand dollars or thousand shekels for this person. I'm helping this world. And if they pray, they want to stand in the marketplace in the middle where everybody can see that and they stand there and pray. 17:13 If they, everything was outwardly. And then their clothing also, they dress in such a way that they say, oh, here's a Pharisee. He's a holy man. They have these tassels of prayer and they hold on to those tassels and they say, oh, he's a prayerful person. 17:31 He's praying all the time. So the Pharisees, their standard of righteousness was outward and Jesus spoke against it. He said, you're all hypocrites, you speak, your standard of righteousness is to be seen of people, to be honoured by people and you want to get honour of people. 17:50 That is your righteousness. And the people, the Israelites who lived at that time, their standard, they thought, oh, the Pharisees, the way they live and they do things, that is the true righteousness. And they admired them and they didn't see it was all empty and hollow. 18:11 They were like whitewashed sepulchres, as Jesus said. But Jesus came and exposed all that. Don't do all these things for just getting a praise of people, the honour of people and to be noticed by people, to be admired by people. 18:29 And when the Lord searches us, he can show, he looks into our heart and he shows us, if we ask him, he'll show us, yes, you're doing this to get a little honour of somebody. You're dressing in this way, in this particular way, maybe to get some honour from someone. 18:48 Or you're talking in this way, or your hospitality, you want to be known as a good, hospitable person. It's all good things that we do. But we say, Lord, I don't want to do anything for my own honour, people to admire me. 19:06 I want to do everything I do for your honour and for your glory. Then it's acceptable to you. It's acceptable sacrifice that I'm giving you. So it doesn't mean that we stop doing good. We do good, but we say, Lord, purify it, make it acceptable to you. 19:26 I want to put this to death, the desire for honour for myself. I want to put to death the desire for popularity. Righteousness should be hidden. People need not see that we have been upright. If we give something, it should not lead to get a certificate that we have been, we made a donation. 19:52 It should be in secret. Giving, praying, everything should be in secret. The righteousness of God, I really, I want to know more and more of that righteousness. It says, thirst and hunger and thirst after that righteousness. 20:15 Then seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's God's righteousness that I must have. Not the earthly righteousness which people think, this is the best way to do, this is the righteous thing. And so we come to the Lord and say, Lord, what is true righteousness which is godly righteousness? 20:38 And then I think of when Jesus came on earth, His righteousness was covered with love. When the adulterous woman caught in adultery was brought to Him, she was a sinner and she was exposed. But His, and He didn't stop being righteous. 21:00 He covered His righteousness with love. And we, all of us deserve death because we all are sinned and come short of the glory of God. But God didn't deal with us as sinners, what we deserve. All of us deserve punishment, death for the sins that we have done. 21:23 But God solved that problem of, and by His righteousness, by sending Jesus to die for our sins. He said, let Jesus take the punishment for the sins of the whole world. My, the righteousness which I desire is fulfilled and that debt is all cancelled by the death of Jesus. 21:49 So the true righteousness which God wants us to have is, is always covered with love. It's not like a full pointing a finger or a stick at somebody and saying, you did wrong, you shouldn't be punished. But there's always a love and gentleness in that righteousness. 22:09 And, and that's what we need. And we need to learn it from Him. But thank God, the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts, He'll teach us. He, He says, when the Spirit of, when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict us of righteousness. 22:29 He'll say, yes, this is your, this is the way to do things. This is the righteousness that we need, and this is the godly way to deal. We need that. We need that, learn that every day. That's why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. 22:44 We need the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Just like the newborn baby, He, He doesn't just drink one sip of milk and stop. Every three hours, the baby is crying out for milk. And I want that milk to nourish me. And the Lord is gracious, it says in 1 Peter. 23:03 He's so gracious to give us that. And so we come to Him often, frequently and say, Lord, I'm hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Please give it. It's like, not just three meals a day, but every moment I need the Holy Spirit's power. 23:21 I need, I don't want to live without that power to live a righteous life. Now, I want to say a little bit about hungering and thirsting after righteousness. We read in, you know, it's so nice that I discovered in John chapter 6, Jesus speaks about the bread of life. 23:47 That if we hunger, we'll get the bread of life. In John chapter 7, He says, we'll get the water of life. It's so wonderful that just one chapter, one, the next page almost we can say, if you're hungry, you can feed on me. 24:05 If you're thirsty, the next chapter, you don't have to go far. You can drink of me. And hunger and thirsting after righteousness, hunger, I want to talk about. In John chapter 6, Jesus says, John chapter 6, verses 51 to 57. 24:22 If you get time, you can read it later. And Jesus said, I am the true bread which comes from heaven. He said, you remember, your father's ancestors ate manna. That was the bread from, which came down from heaven, true. But they ate that bread and they still hungered. 24:44 And many of them who ate that bread, they perished because of unbelief or because of disobedience, because of their murmuring. And they perished even though they ate that bread, which was sent from heaven. But Jesus said, here I am. 24:59 I have come from heaven and I am the bread of life. If you eat of me, you will never die. And many people couldn't understand what is that. And people, they got hurt by that. They got offended and many of them stopped in John chapter 6. 25:17 They stopped following Him. It all started in John 6, the first few verses. It was when He fed the multitude. He multiplied the loaves and the bread, the loaves and fed the multitude. And they were so satisfied and they were following Him. 25:33 And Jesus said, you are following me because of the bread. But don't follow, don't seek after the bread which is perishing. I am the true bread which comes, who has come from heaven. You feed of me and you live forever. 25:49 They couldn't understand. But we, through the Holy Spirit, God has shown us little more. It's not actually eating. Some groups of Christians, they believe that if they take part of the bread and wine, at the Lord's Supper, they are actually eating the flesh of Jesus. 26:07 It's not really that. It's like in a spiritual way, we eat. We open our lives to Him. Open our hearts to Him. Like it says in Revelation 3.20, If you, I stand at the door, I knock. If you open the door and let me come in, we'll have a feast. 26:26 You can eat of me. I'll impart myself to you. I'll come and dwell in your heart. You'll dwell in me and I'll dwell in you. You will become part of me. That's the eating which the Lord wants us to have. It's so wonderful when the Lord opens our eyes to see when we feast of Him. 26:46 When we die to ourselves. This Lord is not me. I don't want to live for myself anymore. I want you to live in me. The life that I live should be your life, Lord. Here's my body. I offer it to you. You dwell in me. This is your body, Lord. 27:06 As long as I live, my body belongs to you. Whether I'm sick, whether I'm old, whether I'm ugly or whatever it is, Lord, this body belongs to you. You dwell in it. It's yours, Lord. And you can do whatever you want. In 2 Corinthians 5, 15, it says, 27:26 Though He died for all, so that those who live should not henceforth live for themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. And Romans 12, it says, offer yourself as a living sacrifice, living, because we are not dead. 27:42 We are still alive, but your bodies are a living sacrifice. And say, Lord, please take this body. It belongs to you. You live in it. And there's so much more partaking of the Lord, and He comes and dwells in us, and we become part of Him. 28:02 And the Holy Spirit helps us to understand. So the Jews, the people living in Jesus' time, because the Holy Spirit hadn't been poured into their hearts and into this world, He hadn't come down, they couldn't understand. 28:18 They said, this is a hard sting. What is this cannibalism, eating a person's body? They could just think of it like that. But Jesus meant it's a spiritual feast that He wants us to have. A banquet. It's like a buffet set. 28:35 You can eat as much as you want. There's no shortage at my Father's table. Just feast on me. I'll impart to you all my virtues, everything I have will belong to you, if you give yourself to me. It's so wonderful when we think of it like that. 28:51 It's so beautiful that the Lord has those wonderful things for us. And we can say, if you are hungry, come to me. All of you who are hungry, come to me and feast on me. I'm the true bread. It's not the bread manner which your Father said. 29:10 I am the true bread, bread will come and I am here for you. Praise God. Praise God that He has given Himself for us. And we can receive Him, feast on Him. It's true, the Word of God, the Word of God is the bread that we need. 29:28 And we should not neglect reading God's Word. We get instruction and nourishment from God's Word. But Jesus said in John 1, it says, the Word became flesh. When Jesus came to this Word, that Word of God, which was in print and written on paper, 29:49 He became flesh and came down to us. And He lives in us. And we partake of that and we experience more and more of Him. I think it's A.B. Simpson, or I'm not very sure, who wrote these words, something like this. 30:10 I couldn't get the exact words, but it says, there was a time in my life when I said, I want some of self, Lord. No, some of, all of myself and little bit of you. All of self and some of you, Lord. 30:32 No, no, the first one was, none, none of you, Lord, and I want all of myself. That's the first stage when we come to the Lord and we are so full of ourselves and we say, none of you, Lord, I don't want nothing to do with you. 30:48 I want myself only, self, self, self, all of myself. And then we come closer to the Lord and then the second stage we come and say, okay, Lord, some of self and some of you, I'll give you a little bit as long as I can have some of me also. 31:06 I want to do my own will. I want to do something which I like to do. I want to eat what I like and when I like. And that's the second stage. And then the Lord leads us to the next stage when we surrender ourselves more and more to the Lord and say, 31:24 Lord, I don't want this life, half of me and half of you, sometimes living for the world, sometimes living for myself and a little bit, I give myself to you on Sundays or when I feel like it. Lord, I abandon myself totally to you. 31:42 Let it be all of you, Lord Jesus, and none of self. The Lord wants us to come to that stage and says, Lord, all of you, Jesus, and none of myself. Praise God, it is possible. It's not like a theory. Those of us who have come into the new covenant and heard these things, 32:02 we know little by little the Lord is showing us, yeah, this is self. I don't like this nature in you. If you allow me, I'll take it away and replace it with something of me. something divine in your life. And we surrender to the Lord and we find that the anger which ruled us so many years, 32:26 the Lord takes it away and it's not so bad. And as days go by, the anger is in our heart but not outside. And the Lord says, if you allow me and take it from your heart also, so that you don't feel, get that irritable, you don't get irritated for every small thing. 32:44 And we surrender more. And so the Lord says, I'll bring you to the place where you won't get angry. And then the Lord says, I'll bring you further, one step further when you say, instead of anger, I'll put love in your heart to that person. 33:02 And some of us have experienced that. I know I have experienced, there were times when I couldn't get over some of the things which some people have done to me, not in the church but outside. And I would think like, how would they do such a thing to me? 33:20 And praise God over the years, the Lord has replaced that hurt feeling and given me love. And I pray for them, I pray Lord, you're the same God, you love me a sinner and you love them with the same love. Please change them. 33:39 So it's possible, the Lord can change us and praise God, this wonderful life is ours. All that we have to do is come to Him, partake of Him, feast on Him, eat of His flesh. That means, eat of His nature. His nature will be part of us. 33:58 So praise God for that. And then we come to the next stage. It says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. We turn the page to John chapter 7. Now, before that, John chapter 4, Jesus was sitting at the well in the Samaritan village, 34:20 on the way to the village. We know that story, how the Samaritan woman, who was ashamed to come in the morning, she came at noontime, thinking that nobody would be there, and she came for water. And Jesus knew, there is some thirsty person here who I need to meet. 34:39 And he, even though it was hot, he sat there at the well. And this woman comes there, and he asked her, can you give me a drink of water? And she says, how can you, a Jew, ask of me, a Samaritan? And you know the rest of that. 34:56 And he says, woman, you don't know, if you, you don't know whom you are talking this to. I am the one who, if you drink the water which I give you, you will never thirst again. And that was the way he used to bring that need in her life. 35:17 And you know the rest of the story, how she's convicted of her, and Jesus tells about her past life, and she, God, Jesus used her to bring the whole village to him, just by talking about the living water which he had to give. 35:32 That was just an introduction. Then we come to John chapter 7, Jesus says, on the great day of the feast, this is the final day, important day of the feast, all the Jews were there at the temple. And he said, he felt that this is the time they need to hear of the living water, 35:52 which I've been telling them about, and time is very short. So he said it with a loud voice, so all could hear. And he said, in John 7, verses 35, 37, all those verses, he says with a loud voice, he says, if anyone is thirsty, come to me, and you drink of me, you'll never thirst again. 36:17 And he said that, and people were amazed, they couldn't understand. But he was speaking about the Holy Spirit, that's why they couldn't understand. But he had to say it, because there'd be a time when they would come to him, and they'd drink of him, 36:33 and their thirst will be satisfied. So praise and thank God, we are living in these days, when we can, our thirst will be quenched and satisfied. Now I want to say something, which I heard my husband say, it's not from me. 36:49 He says, he said, there are three levels of thirst. You must have heard it in the last conference. He said, when we come to the Lord, we are thirsty, and we drink of him. It's like a cup of water, a cup of salvation. And that's in Psalm 16, verse 13. 37:13 It says, I will receive the cup of salvation with joy. So when we come to the Lord, and we accept the Lord, it's just a sip, just a cup of salvation that we get. Cup of that water, which the Lord wants us to give. It satisfies our thirst. 37:33 We are really thirsty, because we've been living in sin, been defeated, and we come to him with remorse and repentance. And we come to him, and he offers us that cup of salvation, and we are satisfied. And said, wait, wait, your cup is not enough. 37:50 This cup is just temporary. If you come to me, there's a well of salvation. That we read in Isaiah 12, verse 3, it says, drink of the well of salvation with joy. That well is more than a cup. We can keep drawing from that well. 38:10 It's enough for our family's needs, enough, plenty of water. That well will never run dry, because it's from the Lord. And we keep drinking, and we share it with our family. There's plenty of water for us, and we think, oh, what a wonderful thing. 38:29 The sweet water for our family is just enough. We don't be, we can share it with others, and we can bathe, and we can drink, and everything is there. It's such good water. It's not polluted water, no chemicals in it, no danger. 38:46 It's pure water for us. And the Lord says, wait, wait, there's more for you. John 7, it says, the rivers of living water. John 7, verse 37. Come to me, and I'll give you rivers of living water. Isn't that true, how the Lord says, if you are thirsty, and you come to Him, the rivers of living water will come. 39:13 And not only you will be satisfied, but from your innermost being, the fresh water will come out of you. It will bless many people, wherever you go, in your home, in your workplace, in your church, in your family, wherever you go, that living water will come out of you. 39:40 Effortless, it's just gushing out of you. And praise God for the Holy Spirit. He spoke that of the Holy Spirit. That's why we should never say, oh, the Holy Spirit is not, I'm afraid of that. It's for the first century. 39:54 I'm done with it. I have salvation, cup of salvation, that's enough for me. I'm saved, I'm going to be in heaven. The Lord says, there's more for you. If you're satisfied with the cup, it's okay, there's a place in heaven for you, if you're satisfied. 40:09 But the Lord says, there's more. There's rivers of living water and we take a step forward and we get closer to the Lord and the Lord fills us. The Holy Spirit pours into our heart and it's an experience. And it's not a one-time experience. 40:26 We think, oh yeah, 20 years back I got the Baptist Mother's Holy Spirit. No, it's a freshness. Every day we come to Him and we come to that river and we drink of it. And out of our innermost being, water flows to bless others. 40:46 I think in Ezekiel it says how the, I mean that's another, how the water comes up from the level of the ankle to the knees. And then we swim in that water and there's abundance of that freshness and the Holy Spirit waiting for us. 41:05 So our time is running out, but I want to say some of the lessons we can learn from that, from this thirsting and we can learn from that, from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from that, from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting, and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting. 41:34 We can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting. 41:53 What we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting and that's what we can learn from this thirsting. 42:10 any place you've been to, but get satisfaction from the Lord. Don't get satisfaction from the comfort or the wealth, good clothes, friendship, anything in this world. We can name it, but don't get satisfaction in that. Some of us who come from poorer countries and we come to a richer land and we think, 42:32 this is heaven for me. No, this is not heaven. There's a heaven for us waiting. This is all temporary. The people who are living in the poorer country are more fortunate for us than us because they're depending on the Lord. We have plenty and we're forgetting the Lord. 42:51 So let's not glory in any of the earthly things. And it says, we have to seek for righteousness. It's not something that God is going to give to us if we just sit back. Say, Lord, I'm hungry. I want that righteousness. I'm thirsty, Lord. Just like that newborn babe. 43:13 Lord, I want it at any cost. I'm hungry and thirsty. And we have to, in the beginning, we just, it might be just like an empty repetition. But as we grow closer and closer to the Lord and the Lord shows our need and the blackness in our hearts. 43:31 And he says, then we cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, I need, I need more of that. I need more of the Holy Spirit. I need more of you, Lord. I need to eat of you. I need to drink of your, the living water. I need it, Lord. 43:47 I need it. And becomes more and more desperate. That's why the Lord says, come to me, all you who are thirsty and hungering after righteousness. And you'll never thirst again. You'll never be hungry. I'm the living bread which comes. 44:04 I'll bring life into you, not the dead manna. After one day, it would stink. But here's the living bread. You can feast on me and you'll get, you'll get, you'll grow just like the newborn baby. You'll grow. You'll be happy. 44:20 You'll be nourished. Praise and thank God for that. And our righteousness is, as I said, it's not earthly standards of righteousness. People have different standards of righteousness, but God's standard is different. And we need to, even I can't say, this is God's standard of righteousness. 44:39 And I, for me, the Lord may show, do this, do that. But for you, the Lord will show you, this is the standard for you in your home. This is the standard of righteousness I want you to have. So we need to change our earthly values of righteousness and learn from the Lord. 45:01 And the righteousness is in, in a private, in our private life, in little things. It's in every, he said, the Lord says, if you are not faithful in little, you won't be faithful in much. Who will trust you with big things if you are not faithful in little things? 45:20 The little minutes that we have, the little money that we have, the little leftover food that we have, or especially in India, there are so many, there's so many, sometimes in the evening, there's some food leftover and there'd be somebody, poor woman knocking at the gate 45:39 and say, Ma, is there any food? My children are starving. Is there any food? And we, and that cry comes out to our heart and say, Lord, please, this woman has come to my gate and her children are starving. Thank God I have this. 45:56 I don't have to keep this in the fridge for tomorrow. I can give it all to her and say, take it, take it and feed your children with this. So, righteousness standards are different and the Lord will show us, this is the thing 46:09 for you to do, share it with others what you have. And then we have to choose righteousness. We have to say, Lord, I want it. I want to make that choice and I forget about what the others are doing, but I want to make the choice and long for it desperately and cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, give me that 46:32 divine righteousness. And we should all, we must always remember that is not by our strength, that righteousness which we get. We should not think like, oh, I'm a strong person. I can be righteous in any, in this situation I can manage. 46:47 No, without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. The Lord said, Lord, help me to depend on the Holy Spirit's power to, to get that righteousness. And we have to do all that it takes to get that righteousness and die to ourself. 47:10 Pay the price. Whatever price the Lord says, pay the price to get that divine righteousness and pray constantly. Say, Lord, I'm a needy person and need that divine righteousness in my life. As you said, I want to hunger and thirst and I want to, and it says about Jesus, he, his, he delighted to do God's will. 47:35 He said, that was his standard of righteousness, not my will, I delight to do. And so Lord, let me also be like that, to delight to do, to do your will. Jesus said, my, my meat, my meat, my food is to do the Father's will. 47:52 That was his food. And for me also, Lord, I want to have that food, that desire more than my earthly food. I want that desire to do your will, your will, not my will in my life. So those are some of the things we can learn. 48:14 Our time has run past, but there I want to add one more thing. When Jesus comes to set his kingdom on earth, it will be a kingdom of righteousness and peace. The whole earth will be ruled by the Lord, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 48:34 He is going to be the ruler of this whole earth, new earth, and his standards are righteousness. Isn't it wonderful that we, while we are on earth, we can learn a little bit of that heavenly righteousness while we are on earth. 48:52 The Lord wants us to learn that. He says, I've chosen you, you are my child. I want to teach you that divine righteousness. So when you come to live in that new earth, you won't be a foreigner there. You'll know my standards. 49:06 Maybe he'll use us in some small way because he planted that divine righteousness in our heart. We won't have a culture shock when Jesus comes into, into, to rule this earth and say, yes, Lord, on earth, I got a fragment of, I got a little bit of understanding. 49:25 Now I can understand fully, but I got a taste of it while I was on earth, when I cried out to you and I asked you, and I was hungering and thirsting after righteousness. So if you put a little bit of that, you put a little bit of that, now I thank you, I can understand that fully. 49:43 So praise and thank God for all these wonderful things the Lord has in store for us. Let's not be afraid of that divine righteousness, but say, Lord, I want to welcome you. I want more of that divine righteousness. I want to hunger and thirst after you. 50:00 I want to hunger and thirst after divine righteousness. Amen. So shall we just say a close in prayer? Heavenly Father, our hearts are filled with joy when we think of all the wonderful things you have for us. We have only begun to taste a cup of, a few drops of that salvation, Lord. 50:23 Help us to, while we are on earth, receive everything that you have for us, Lord. Fill our hearts with that, what you want us to give, the power of the Holy Spirit. Fill our hearts with the Holy Spirit, Lord. We open our hearts to you. 50:40 Fill us with overflowing, so that out of our innermost being, spontaneously will come rivers of living water, fresh water, which will be fresh in our lives, and freshness in the lives of our families, our children, and all those whom we meet. 50:59 We thank you, Lord. There's so much you have to give us. We want to receive all that, Lord. We want to open ourselves. Please cleanse us. Wash us in your precious blood. Forgive our sins, Lord, and for us not to have any bad attitude to anyone, 51:15 and help us to receive all the goodness that you want to give us. We ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
