1. Decision Time The Beatitudes Matthew 5:6
February 13, 2005
Grace Community Church

2. Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
BLESSED
Makarios (blessed) means happy, fortunate, blissful.

4. “To be blessed is not a superficial feeling of well-being based on circumstance, but a deep supernatural experience of contentedness based on the fact that one’s life is right with God.”
~John MacArthur

5. Every believer can experience deeper devotion to God by making
Every believer can experience
deeper devotion to God by making
three decisive decisions of the will. 

6. Decision #1
To decide to seek God above everything else (…those who HUNGER and THIRST… Mt. 5:6)
What does it mean to truly hunger and thirst?
Hunger and thirst are some of the STRONGEST impulses we have
To be hungry and thirsty Is to be absolutely desperate – to be starving – to feel life is ebbing out

7. Decision #1 THE PROBLEM IS: We hunger and thirst not only after food.
We hunger after positions, possessions, pleasures, and person (s)
We must allow a new taste palette to be cultivated

8. Decision #2
To decide to believe God to provide for your deepest need (Righteousness)
What does this righteousness mean and what exactly what am I believing God for?
It does not mean general righteousness; morality or peace

9. Decision #2 THE PROBLEM IS:
“It is a law of righteousness which no child of Adam can possibly obey” – John Stott

10. Decision #2 So what Am I believing God for?
For how we are made right with God – and how we are to live in God.
For those who do not know Christ – this righteousness is available through the blood of Jesus Christ (Justification)
For those who know Christ it is an ability to become increasingly like God (Sanctification)   

11. Decision #3
To decide to trust God to withhold no good thing (for they will be filled)
This is both a present reality and a promise
If you know Christ you are filled –you need not seek it.
We are filled – we are satisfied 
You will increasingly be delivered from the power of sin and it’s pollution
Are we enjoying our Christian experience?
Experienced now – but perfected in eternity.

12. Decision #3
The point is: Are we increasingly receiving more of God and yet secure in our relationship with God?

13.  Every believer can experience deeper devotion to God by making three decisive decisions of the will. 
Decision #1: Decide to seek God above everything else (Hunger and Thirst)
Decision #2: Decide to believe God to provide for your deepest need (Righteousness)
Decision #3: Decide to trust God to withhold no good thing (they will be filled)