“The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.” - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (MSG)
…“fear God and do what He says. That’s it!”..
“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” - Proverbs 21:21 (NIV)
A. What keeps you from living hungry for God
1.) We fill up on the wrong things.
“He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” - Hebrews 11:25 (NIV)
“The Lord says, “All you who are thirsty, come and drink.Those of you who do not have money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend your money on something that is not real food? Why work for something that doesn’t really satisfy you? Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good; your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.” - Isaiah 55:1-2 (NCV)
2.) We’ve never experienced the goodness of God.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” - Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
We say everyone do something, not someone do everything.
“You may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” - Ephesians 3:18 - 19 (NIV)
B. How to Pursue Righteousness.
How can I experience this? Pursue.
Righteousness = right standing with God
“The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself—that it begins and ends with faith. As the Scripture says, “But those who are right with God will live by faith.” - Romans 1:17 (NCV)
"For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,” - Romans 3:25 (NLT)
A.) Pursue - Go after with passion!
“And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” - Romans 5:9-11 (NLT)
Being right is through a relationship with God.
2. Right living on earth
"King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done." -1 Kings 11:1-6 (NIV)
“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” - Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)
“But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.” - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (MSG)
FEAR GOD. Do what He says. That’s it!
"In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death." -Proverbs 12:28 (NKJV)
“I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.” - John 4:26 (MSG)
