Guest Speaker: Jonathan Rivera

Before I start, I just want you to know that this is a special church. Does anybody love their church today? I'll tell a quick story. I remember one time I was at a coffee shop in LA and I'm getting my coffee and there's a man standing next to me and I didn't know him. I get my coffee and I start walking away and all of a sudden people start rushing over to this guy. I didn't know that I was standing next to a famous soccer player and and people are getting his autograph and all these things and I didn't know who he was and so what I'm trying to say is this, if you're not careful in life, you'll treat special things as common. And I want you to know that this is not a commonplace. It's a special place. This isn't a common church. It's a special church. And what I really want to say is this, you don't have common pastors. You have special pastors. Come on, if you love your pastors today, can you make some noise? Can you honor them today? Such a privilege for me and my beautiful wife Caroline to be with Faith Church this morning. Your church has blessed not only our lives, but so many people for decades. And it's just such a privilege to be with you this morning. If you are a guest today, I've got some good news for you. I am NOT the pastor. Which means if you don't like my message, come back. The real pastor will come and fix whatever I broke today, okay? But if you're a guest, come on, can we make some noise for all of our first-time guests in the room today? Come on, can we keep it going for everybody watching online today? Come on, can we keep it going for all of our campuses watching right now? Amen, amen, amen. So excited to preach the word, but before we do that, can you do me a favor? Can you look at your neighbor today? Come on, they got dressed up just for you. Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor. Look at them in the eyes. Say, neighbor, I prayed all morning that God would allow me to sit next to you. Now, I want you to do me a favor. Look at your neighbor that you ignored, your second option. Say, neighbor. Don't be disobedient in God's house. Look at your neighbor. Say, neighbor, I'm so glad you came to church today.

Come on, is anybody ready for the word of God today? Listen, we believe that any time we are in God's house and we open up God's word with God's people, it's an opportunity to have an experience with God. Does anybody believe that with me today? There's a couple things I want you to do this morning. Number one, I want you to take some notes. I hear people take notes at this church. Is that true? I need you to take some notes, write some stuff down, whether it's on a notepad, a notebook, on your iPhone. Now, if you go on Instagram or Facebook, God will punish you. But take some notes, write some stuff down, because you can't remember what God told you if you don't remember what God told you. You're gonna want to go back and remember what God spoke to you today. Somebody say, amen. It's the second thing that I need you to do. I heard at this church, y'all talk back to the preacher. Is that true? I want you to know, we don't do that to make the preacher feel better about himself. We do it as an expression of faith, saying, God, I received that word from my life. Somebody say, amen. And last thing I need you to do is I need you to open up your heart, because I truly believe that today, someone say, today, God has a word that he wants to share with you. If you got a Bible, I want you to turn to the book of Matthew, chapter 5. Jesus, in Matthew 5, is preaching his most important sermon. It's called the Sermon on the Mount, and in it, he begins talking about these things called the Beatitudes. He starts saying all these statements where he says, blessed are the. He's talking about the blessed life. He's talking about the good life. If you're not careful in our American context, we can think a blessed life means a big house, a nice car, a full bank account, a pool in the back. But, but Jesus has a different definition of what it means to be blessed. Someone say, blessed. Jesus says things like, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who are persecuted, like our brother was talking about. Blessed are the meek. But today, I want to talk about Matthew, chapter 5, verse 6, specifically, and here's what it says. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Pause. Isn't it interesting that Jesus connects blessing and hunger? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall. Someone say, they shall. They shall be filled. If you're taking notes today, I would love to speak to you over the next couple of minutes from this thought.

I can't help it. I'm hungry. I can't help it. I'm hungry. Bow your heads. Close your eyes. Let's pray over the preaching of God's word. Lord, we love you. This is your house. We are your people. Now, as we sit in your presence today and open up your word, I pray that you would speak to us through your spirit in the way that only you can. God, don't allow us to leave this place the same way that we came in. And Father, my final prayer, would you allow Columbia to win the World Cup in Jesus' name? And all God's people said. Come on, is there any Columbians in the room today? God bless you. God bless you. Real quick, do me a favor. On the count of three, shout out your World Cup team. Let's have some fun in church today. Ready? One, two, three. There we go. Yeah, you get real loud when we talk about the World Cup, but do you get loud for the Bible? No, I'm just kidding. Let's stop. Let me stop. Let me stop. Which, by the way, I want you to know

that on 4th of July weekend, some heathens don't come to church. But because you did, I want you to know you get a fast pass to heaven. Give yourselves a round of applause for making your way to church today. I'm just kidding. Is anybody ready for the word of God this morning? Amen. There are some things, someone say some things. There are some things that are universal to the human experience. Doesn't matter who you are. Doesn't matter where you come from. Doesn't matter your age, your ethnicity, your socioeconomic status, your height. Doesn't matter any of those things. There are some things that are universal. Someone say universal. And one of the things that is universal to the human experience is hunger. Somebody say hunger. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, we all experience hunger in the human experience. I don't know about you, but I have a problem, and this is my problem. My problem is that I don't just like food. Lord help me, I love food. Is there any food lovers in the room today? Come on, is there any big backs in the room with me today?

I love food. You wanna get me talking, start talking to me about food. You wanna have a conversation with me? Let's talk about million dollar bacon at first watch. Come on. Is there anybody else that you get the desire for a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich on Sunday afternoon? The devil is a liar. I love that they get to go to church, but I wish that they would go to church and then go back to work so I could get my sandwich in the afternoon. Can someone say amen in God's house today? I love food. I have a problem. Someone say pastor has a problem. My problem is that I don't like food, I love food. Like Pastor Marco said, me and my wife Caroline had the privilege of serving as the campus pastors at Southeastern University. We've been there for three years and we're loving our time. And I remember when I first got the job, I wanted to build a relationship with the president. The president is an incredible man, but he's a little bit stoic, he's a little quiet, he's a little reserved. I felt like I just couldn't get to him. So I went to his secretary and I said, Miss Jill, could you tell me what's the secret? What do I need to talk about with the president

so that him and I can have a better relationship? And she said, Jonathan, I'm gonna tell you a secret, but you can't tell nobody else. So please do me a favor and don't tell Miss Jill that I told all of you today. I said, Miss Jill, how do I build a relationship with the president? She said, have you ever heard of crumble cookies? I said, is God good? Is the sky blue? Of course I have. She said, that man loves cookies. You wanna build a relationship with him, get him a box. I just want you to know that me and the president have a great relationship. I love food, do me a favor, look at your neighbor and say, I'm hungry. If you wanna get somebody talking, just start talking about food, just appeal to their hunger. You know what I know about some of you in the room today? As I am currently preaching this sermon, talking about food, you are already making your lunch plans. You are already thinking about what you are going to eat after this service. Shame on you. See, it is human to be hungry. It is part of the human experience. The question is not, are you hungry? We're all hungry. Here's the question that we wanna dive into this morning.

The question is, what are you hungry for? That is the question that will dictate the trajectory of your life because hunger is not just physical. There's all kinds of hunger, there's levels to hunger, there's diversity of hunger, there's physical hunger, there's emotional hunger, there's relational hunger, there's financial hunger, there is sexual hunger, there is spiritual hunger. Someone say hunger. Real quick question, can we be honest in God's? today have you ever seen somebody hungry for attention dress a certain way talk a certain way act a certain way post a certain way because of the way that they wanted to be perceived and the attention that they wanted to receive have you ever seen some I'm gonna help some people today I came to be helpful by the way have you ever seen somebody who was hungry for a relationship I mean I mean just thirst thirstier than a man in a desert I mean just thirsty hungry for a relationship real quick single is there any single people in the room today can you lift your hands if you're single in the room raise it keep it keep it up keep it up keep it up now look around and look at all your options I'm just kidding put your hands down put your hands down single people let me talk to you real quick you've got to be careful that you do not settle for the level of your hunger because here's the thing about hunger when you're hungry you'll need anything have you ever seen someone hungry for a relationship have you ever seen somebody hungry for money so hungry that nothing else matters hungry enough to abandon their family hungry enough to abandon their faith hungry enough to abandon themselves for the sake of the thing that they're trying to get more of have you ever seen somebody who was hungry listen to me for the wrong thing let me ask an even more honest question in God's house today have you ever been hungry for the wrong thing I don't know about you but I know that I have you know why because it is human to be hungry someone say hunger human to be

hungry and the the crisis that many of us fight with is this not only am I hungry for the wrong things but I'm also struggling to be hungry for the right thing I want to ask a question in God's house today what do you do when you are hungry for everything else except God pastor I want to pray but I'm struggling to pray pastor I want to read my Bible but I'm struggling to read my Bible pastor I'm trying to fast but I'm struggling to fast I'm struggling to listen to the messages I'm struggling to worship I'm struggling to live like Christ I'm struggling to give I'm struggling to serve I want to I'm just not hungry have you ever showed up to a family party where they set you up a plate but you ate McDonald's on the way cuz you got hungry and then because you got hungry you missed out on the thing that was waiting for you you couldn't even enjoy it there's some people in the room I'm just not hungry or you used to be hungry and somewhere along the way something shifted something changed something felt different all of us struggle with hunger but hunger within itself is not the problem the question is what are you hungry for the Bible says that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness someone say righteousness what do you do when you don't hunger for righteousness what you hunger for is ratchetness what do you do when you're hungry for the wrong thing here's the question that I want to ask today can I do something about my hunger cuz see all of us though we follow Jesus though the Holy Spirit lives inside of us there is still this constant battle between the flesh and the what the spirit there's this constant fight between my craving my craving for God and my craving for the world my craving for sin my craving for everything that the world has to offer me there's this constant battle and sometimes it feels like the world is winning sometimes it feels like my disordered desires are winning so the question to ask today is this can I do something about the things that I'm hungry for if I'm hungry for the wrong things and I want to be hungry for the right things is there something that I could do about if you came to church today and you've had hunger for the wrong things and you want to hunger for the right things I would love to help

you today because I think there's actually something that we could do about our hunger are you ready to hear what those things are today think the first thing that creates hunger that dictates your hunger that directs your hunger the first thing is your community someone's a community the first thing that dictates your hunger that creates your hunger is your community the people that's So you surround yourself with the friendships, the relationships, the coworkers. You know how we all got that friend that we call every day? Who's that friend? Who are the people, the voices in your life? Now, I am a proud Puerto Rican man. Is there any Puerto Ricans in God's house today? One or two. Proud Puerto Rican man, but God in his infinite wisdom, grace, mercy, and love allowed me to marry a beautiful Colombian queen. Any Colombians in the room today? One or two. Both me and my wife speak Spanish. We're both Latino, but not all Latin countries are the same. There's differences, there's uniqueness. So for example, one constant fight in our marriage, pray for our marriage because we're fighting over the right way to eat a mango. Make some noise if you love mangoes in God's house today. I love me a mango. I believe that in the garden, Eve was not tempted by an apple, it was a mango.

I can't prove it to you theologically. I can't sustain it biblically. I just know that I'm right. I love a good mango, but I believe that there is only one way to eat a mango. I believe there is a correct way to eat it. I even believe it's the Christian way to eat it. The right way to eat a mango is when a mango is red, when it's ripe, and when it's sweet. Somebody say amen in God's house. That is the right way to eat a mango in my personal professional opinion. But there are other people who are still walking in the darkness. They eat their mangoes green. They eat their mangoes sour. They'll put some lime on it. They'll throw some salt on it. They might even put a little bit of tahini on it. At the end of the service today, we're gonna be doing an altar call for you so you can repent of your sins and come to Jesus. What's interesting is that these things are not just personal preferences of me and my wife. The reason why we have these different ways of eating is because our palate has been determined by our community. It's because our hunger has been created by our community. Because what you are around will determine what you're hungry for. So here's the thing today.

If who you are around determines what you're hungry for, are the people that you are around producing hunger for God or producing hunger for something else? This is why the relationships in your life are so important. Your mama said this to you and you probably said it to your kids. Show me your friends and I will show you your future. Today I wanna take it in a different direction. Show me your friends and I will tell you what you're hungry for. I will tell you what your heart desires because your community determines what you're hungry for. If you get around negativity, you'll become negative. If you get around cynicism, you'll become cynical. If you go around faithlessness, you'll become faithless. But here's the good news. If you get around some people with faith, you're gonna get some faith. If you get around people with joy, you're gonna get some joy. If you get around some people with peace, you're gonna get some peace. Not only do you need those people in your life but maybe God's inviting you to be that in somebody else's life. In Acts chapter 16, we find Paul and Silas. Paul is the writer of two thirds of the New Testament. He's one of the most important people in all the Bible. And I love the Bible tells the story of Paul in a prison cell.

He's in a prison cell and the Bible says that at midnight, he begins to praise God. But I can't explain it, I just know it, that part of the reason why he was able to praise is because guess what the Bible says there? Silas was singing too. Man, I don't know about you but I don't know about you but me, I need a Silas in my life. I need some friends in my life that will pray with me and sing with me and walk with me and love me and be there for me. Come on, is anyone thankful for a godly community in their life? This is why the church is so important. I thank God for a mother. Any parents in the room today? Put your hands down. I thank God for a mother that told me we're going to church. I said, I don't want to go to church. She said, you going to church, dead or alive, you're going to church. I will drag your coffin to church but we will go to the house of God. Is there any parents dragging their kids to church? Say, hey, we going to church. Drag your kids, drag your spouse, bring your dog. Don't bring your dog. Pastor John is gonna scream at me. Don't bring your dog to church.

But make the decision. You're gonna get into godly community. You know why? Because what you surround yourself with will determine what you're hungry for. First thing that determines what you're hungry for is your community. Number two is your experience. Someone say experience. Like I mentioned before, I'm a proud Puerto Rican man. And part of Puerto Rican cuisine is a lot of beans. Does anybody love beans in God's house today? I hate beans. But the reason why I hate beans is because I had an experience. Someone say experience. I was raised in the kind of house, maybe you had the same kind of trauma that I did. I was raised in a house by a single Puerto Rican mom and a bunch of my aunts. And whenever you sat at the dinner table, here's what they would tell you. If you don't leave the table, oh, you know, until you finish your plate. Que a uso? And so I would eat everything on the plate except the beans. And then one of these lovely women would come, get a spoonful of beans,

open up my mouth, oh. By force. And most times I would throw up. And after this happened enough times, somebody finally had the sense to say, I don't think he likes beans. Now here's the interesting thing about beans though. Did you know that beans are good for you? Full of fiber, full of nutrients, all kinds of good stuff for your body. But listen to me, because I had a bad experience, I couldn't enjoy a good thing. And I believe that there's people possibly today in God's house that you have had some bad experiences that have allowed you to miss out on good things that God's trying to bring into your life. If you're not careful, you will allow your bad experiences to change the way that you see God. Change the way that you see God's people. Change the way that you see God's church. Because you had a bad experience. Had a bad experience with a pastor. Had a bad experience with a church. Had a bad experience with a leader. Or maybe you had a bad experience with God. You prayed for something. And instead of the situation changing, maybe it even got worse. You had faith for something,

and the situation didn't change. And for some people, they had an experience and they say, maybe God doesn't care. Or even worse, they thought, maybe God's not even there. If you're not careful, you'll allow your bad experiences to change the way that you see God. I had a friend who likes to cook, and he cooks good. And he knows about my current beef with beans. And he said, hey, Jonathan, how about this? I'm gonna bring you over to my house. I'm gonna cook you some arroz con pollo. I'm gonna make you some sweet plantains. I'm gonna make you some tostones. And, oh, I'm gonna put a little avocado. And then I'm gonna make you some beans. And my response was, the devil is a liar. I even say like, the devil's a liar. He's a liar. There's no way, I'm not eating beans. He said, listen to me, I know you had a bad experience, but what if we tried again? What if we gave it another shot? When was the last time you had beans? I said, it's probably been 20 years. He said, what if your palate changed? What if you tried it now, and it could actually be good? See, I came to encourage somebody today. I know you had a bad experience, but what if we try it again? What if we try it again?

What if we try it again? There's some people who are at church this morning here, or in one of our campuses, that today is your first time coming to church in a long time. Could I encourage you, why don't we try again? There's some people, you used to serve at church, but you had a bad experience, and you said, I'll never serve at church again. What if we tried serving again? There's some of us, we haven't prayed and had faith for something for a while, because the last time we prayed. And we had faith for it and nothing changed. What if we tried to pray again? Because see here's the thing Beans aren't bad Your experience was But beans are actually really really good Which by the way, just like you had bad experiences. Did you know that it's also possible for you to have a good one? Because what if you pray and god shows up? And what if you get involved and you find a new community of friends And what if you give god another shot and you're surprised at what he's able to do in your life and your family and your marriage And your business and your heart and your mind what would happen if we gave god the opportunity and we tried again Someone say try again Because beans aren't bad Your experience was Number one Your community determines what you're hungry for Number two your experience determines what you're hungry for last but not least your diet someone say diet I know that no one in this room has ever been in a diet because you're all

young and beautiful But I currently because i'm getting old I gotta take care of myself now and and i've been trying to be mindful of what I eat Did you know that what you eat? determines what you want So if you eat a lot of mcdonald's what are you gonna be hungry for? If you eat a lot of dessert, what are you gonna be hungry for? If you have a lot of sugar, what are you gonna be hungry for? Because what you eat determines what you want We've been talking about hunger today And about being hungry for the right things and not being hungry for the wrong things A question I want to ask you today If you're hungry for the wrong things What you been eating? What have you allowed into your life that has been killing your hunger for god See It's interesting what happens when you start cutting certain things out of your life Did you know? That if you stop eating sugar fruit tastes sweeter Could it be possible That if we cut out certain things or if we cut out the thing because all of us have the thing If we cut certain things out of our life, could it be possible that god could taste sweeter That prayer would taste sweeter that worship would taste sweeter the scripture would taste sweeter Every year we go on a 21-day fast At the beginning of the year It's so interesting how much sweeter god is When I cut certain things out of my life Now see, I don't know if you've ever been on a diet before but it's hard work

Especially if you like to eat like me I like to eat and I don't like to be hungry But the scripture we read earlier says That blessed are those who hunger It's interesting how jesus connects blessing and hunger because in the bible it says Blessed are those who hunger It's interesting how jesus connects blessing and hunger because in my mind hunger feels like lack Hunger feels like loss hunger feels like something is missing but jesus celebrates hunger He highlights hunger, but who wants to be hungry and who would see hunger as a good thing? Here's why hunger might be a good thing Because I would rather be hungry than be filled with the wrong thing Let me encourage somebody today you're better off being single and hungry for god You're better off being broke And hungry for god You're better off being patient And hungry for god you're better off being lonely and hungry for god you're better off being unpopular And hungry for god See Because if you get full on the wrong thing You can miss out on what's on the way Growing up we didn't get to go to nice restaurants, but once in a while we did and whenever We would go to a nice restaurant. This thing would happen. Maybe you have the same trauma that I have They always bring out the bread at the restaurant, right And my mom wouldn't let me eat the bread If I tried to eat the bread they would slap my hand and I said, why can't I eat the bread? I'm hungry and they said cuz we didn't come to the restaurant for bread We came for steak

and If you get full on bread You'll miss out on what's on the way Listen to me we live in a world that will throw you all kinds of bread It's all kind of bread in the world It's all kind of bread in the world All kinds of things that will distract you and destroy you It will fill you with the wrong things and what you have to decide to do is say I don't want to get filled up on bread because I know what's coming See I remember thinking that hunger was punishment But what I realized was this hunger is waiting on a better thing See in the Beatitudes Jesus is inviting us into the good life into the kingdom life To the kingdom way into Jesus's way and he tells us what the stake is Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness For they shall be filled. It's righteousness God's kingdom God's way God's purpose God's plan That's what I want I want that I Want God's way for my family for my marriage for my business for my kids God's way when the world's going this way. I want to go God's way When everyone is choosing their will I want God's will When everyone's choosing their purpose, I want God's purpose When everyone's choosing what they want, I want what God wants Even if it means being hungry for now Even if it means not getting my way right now Even if it means not scratching every itch right now, even if it means say no to myself right now Because I know something Is on the way I

I'm a Florida man Which means that like every good Florida man as he gets older. He has to learn how to play golf I Been trying to get into golf and I was going to a golf tournament It was the Arnold Palmer Invitational and when you go you you can't just dress any kind of way. There's an attire. There's an etiquette so there was this hat that I ordered because I want to look right for the golf tournament and I put in the order and I'm always looking at my porch to see if the hat had arrived and every day I would go Out and I'll look on the porch and I saw no hat And I will look again and I would see but there was no hat and I said the devil's holding my package He's holding it back Eventually, I look on my phone to see where this package that I was waiting for was and it said in transit On the way and He was the thing about it. I was frustrated because I wanted it now. I wanted to touch it I wanted to feel it. I wanted to see it, but I couldn't but here was the good news Even though I couldn't see it and I couldn't touch it and I couldn't feel it and I couldn't wear it The good news was I knew that it was on the way Here's what I came to encourage somebody with in the moments where you can't see God in The moments you can't feel God in the moments. You can't touch God and can't hear God and can't sense God Here's the good news when I put God's purpose God's plan God's kingdom God's will and God's way as the priority of my life Here's what I know. God is always on the way. I can trust him. I can hold on to him I can lean into him. I can put my trust and my hope and my faith in him Because the Bible says that when we hunger and thirst for righteousness We shall be filled