Here's what the Lord wants to challenge us about today: Some of us have stopped seeing Jesus as the bread of life, and we're choosing other things instead. We're hungry for something, but we're filling ourselves with the wrong thing. And so we remain unsatisfied.

I'm here to present to you, or remind you, that Jesus will always be the reason for your satisfaction. Nothing else will satisfy your soul but him.

The Blessing Is in How You Finish

Recently, I've been pondering something I discovered when reading the epistles of the apostles: the blessing is not about how you start, but how you finish. The Lord isn't concerned with how you begin your Christian journey. He's concerned with how you complete it.

The blessing isn't in just activity alone. It's in longevity.

Many of us start off well. We begin with zeal, with prayer, with fasting. But when difficult seasons come, we stop praying. We stop fasting. We stop going to our communities. We stop doing what the Lord asked us to do. And do you know why? Because you were never really feeding on the bread of life. Or perhaps you ate for a while, but then you stopped.

This sermon is a midyear review. God wants to check your heart posture. He wants to expose the things you've been questioning about your faithfulness toward him.

The Question of Regret

How often do we regret the life of suffering with Christ and long for the life of suffering with sin? Many of us, when times get tough, think: "Oh, I wish I was back in those days where pornography wasn't sin. Where I could drink my sorrows away." But we don't want to relive the actual realities of what suffering in sin cost us.

This actually stops us from living in the realities of Christ being our daily bread.

Bread is meant to nourish you. But if you don't eat it, you're starving yourself. Hear me: anything that you do other than Christ is not nourishing you. It's starving you.

You can do all the activity in the world. You can lift your hands up in worship. You can sit and meditate. But if you're not truly eating of the bread of life, you're starving yourself.

When pain, disappointment, and sorrow come, the answer isn't sin or anger. The answer is the manna that comes from heaven. He is the eternal solution, the true giver of nourishment, the true giver of peace and joy.

How to Stay Loyal to Christ and Change Your Appetite

So the question becomes: How do I stay loyal to Christ and change my appetite? I'm going to give you three practical ways.

Point One: Kill Your Old Cravings

The problem with many of us is that we don't actually kill our old desires—we try to manage them. We think the Christian lifestyle is sin management. But that's not it at all.

Sin died on the cross. You live in the reality that you're more than a conqueror. Yet some of us try Jesus and other things at the same time. And when the going gets tough, we get confused: "Why am I falling into the same old habits?" The answer is simple: you never killed those habits. You just managed them.

There's a saying that when you study Exodus, you realize that the people of Israel left Egypt, but Egypt never left them. I think that's really apparent in our generation. Many of us believe that Christ has done all the good work and that we left our sin, but our sin nature is still inside us. The desires for old things are still inside us.

The Israelites were grumbling, even wishing they could go back to slavery. And the main reason for their grumble was hunger. But what God showed them is that it's not the pots and things of Egypt that will satisfy you. The only thing that will satisfy you is the manna from heaven.

I'm here to remind you: the manna in Exodus was a foreshadowing of the bread from heaven, which is Jesus Christ. He is the bread of life.

Please hear me: Stop living this Christian walk with one foot in the world and one foot with Jesus. You're eating the word and eating sin. You're watching sermons and watching things that don't glorify God.

If you don't kill your old desires, your old desires will kill you.

We need to stop believing the enemy's lies that Christ and other things can satisfy you together. That's simply not true.

Examples of Cravings to Kill

The desire to be seen. There are too many people desiring to be seen. Galatians 2:20 says:

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but it's Christ that lives within me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."

You don't need a platform to glorify the Lord. You don't need to sit in front to glorify the Lord. You don't need to be all over social media to glorify the Lord. Kill that desire to be seen because the reality of our Christian walk is we're not supposed to be seen. He's supposed to be seen through us.

If someone has an encounter with you and they can't testify about Jesus, you've gone wrong. We're not the way. We're pointers to the way. Some of us have warped our thinking, believing that we are the way to Christ. No. He is the way. He is the path to eternal life, not you. You're just a watchman saying, "Hey, this is the way to go."

The desire to be heard. James 1:19 says:

"Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."

Too many of us want to be heard. Enough is enough. It's actually okay not to speak. The blessings are in hearing. When you get a word, relax with it. When you hear things from the Lord, you sit with it, and the Lord gives you instructions on how to articulate the word. That's how you become someone with whom the Lord is pleased with your giftings.

The desire to feel good. Genesis 3:6 says:

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired, and to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate."

The original sin was this desire to feel good. Life isn't about feeling good. Life is about holiness. Sometimes the right road is a difficult road.

There's no glory without suffering. Some of us want glory without suffering. You're joking. In the silence, you're building your stamina. In the pain, you're building your endurance. That's how you see the glory at the end. Remember: it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

Point Two: Maintain Your New Diet

God has given us new bread—one that satisfies. Our problem is that we try to add new food to our diet and ruin our appetite.

The Bible tells us in Exodus 16 that for 40 years the Israelites ate manna. During those 40 years, we see many victories. It wasn't that the Lord gave them manna one year and someone else another year. It was manna throughout, and that's how they saw the promised land.

What does that teach us? Heaven's answer will always trump the best of earth. Heaven's answer will always trump the best thing that earth can offer you.

My encouragement to you today is this: You've given your life to Christ, or you're striving and working hard with the Lord. Good. Continue to read the word. Continue to be faithful to the word. Continue to be faithful to this life. Because trust and believe that if you try to add something new—a new ideology, a new system—everything's going to crumble.

Be very intentional to choose the bread of life in all circumstances. There's no one like him.

Matthew 8:27 asks:

"What sort of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him?"

He is the bread of life. He is the one that truly satisfies. He is the one that everyone is subjected to.

So how do you maintain this new diet? There are three ways:

Have a Regular Routine

If you only eat once a day, you're not going to grow properly. Matthew 6:11 says:

"Give us this day our daily bread."

If you want to grow in your walk with the Lord, stop reading the Bible only on Sundays. Meditate on the word day and night. Pray constantly. Read your Bible daily. Have a routine.

Let me share my personal routine so it might help you. Every morning, I study the word. I read one chapter a day. Before I read the Bible, I ask the Lord to speak to me. As I listen to the word and read it, whatever I feel is placed on my heart, I screenshot that verse or passage. Throughout the day, I meditate on that scripture. Every day, throughout the day, I'm asking the Lord to make this practical in my life.

Many people have asked me, "Pastor Ro, how do you memorize the word? How are you so good at studying the word?" I take my time and I study it daily. Daily.

Pace Yourself

You'll never grow if you eat small portions, but you'll never grow if you eat too much either. So many of us are trying to cram the Bible in ten days. Calm down. Seriously, calm down. I've been reading one chapter a day since I was 19. Why? Because I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Genuinely, I just knew that the only way I would maintain this information is if I spend time studying this one thing.

If I'm preparing for something else, maybe in a night, I might do my own deep Bible study. But generally, my day-to-day is one chapter a day. Thankfully, I've read the Bible twice. I don't feel like that's an accomplishment. I'm behind other people. This is my personal relationship with Christ. I want to grow daily.

So I pace myself. I'm not looking at other people. Don't say, "I need to read so much." Take your time. But also, if I miss one day, I don't just move on. No. I'm going to read those missed chapters because I understand that there was food on that day that I missed out on.

There's food on that day that I missed. If I miss breakfast, I make sure I have a good lunch. The nourishment in the morning—I need to fill it up still. You don't grow with small portions. You don't grow with eating too much. The key is balance.

Remember Your Goal

Constantly remember your goal. Why do you study the word?

My wife recently did the 75 challenge. There were times when she was getting tempted to eat certain things. I told her, "Hey, that's not part of your goal." I had to remind her of her why—that she was trying to achieve something. She wasn't starving herself for no reason. There was a goal at the end of the day.

Please hear me: Our goal isn't self-improvement. Our goal is transformation.

I don't read the word to be a better person. I read the word to be like Christ. We're not trying to be better people. People don't get saved that way. We're trying to be like Jesus because he is the bread of life.

You constantly have to remind yourself: I'm not reading the Bible because my pastor said so. I'm not reading the Bible because my friends are doing it. I'm not reading the Bible because it's cool. I'm reading the Bible because there's someone who I want to be like. I have a goal in mind.

You need to make sure that people recognize and understand that I was once one way, and now I'm another way. Not because I'm doing so many things, but because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's prideful to think that there isn't an enemy out here pursuing your appetite and your attention. If he can get you to think, "Oh yeah, be a good person. That's enough," that's enough for you to actually desire your old ways. But if you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and say, "I need to be like Christ," that's the way you actually grow. That's the way he actually changes your appetite.

In John chapter 4, Jesus says:

"My nourishment, my food is doing the will of the one who sent me."

Point Three: Don't Eat Alone

Do not eat alone. God fed an entire community. Jesus broke bread with his twelve disciples. Jesus fed the 5,000.

I think many people struggle with choosing Christ above all things because of isolation and the wrong crowd. The reason your appetite is full of Christ and the world is because you don't have anyone else encouraging you. You're so isolated—whether it's pride or fear, it doesn't matter. You're so proud or so isolated, thinking, "I can do this life without anyone else." And so when the going gets tough, no one's there to tell you, "Hey, choose Christ." No one's there to warn you, "Hey, the way you're going, you're going to fall back. You're going to slip up."

That's the problem.

It's so important that we're not afraid of accountability. Let me say that again: Accountability was never a punishment. Accountability was protection.

I want to say it one more time: Accountability is not punishment. Accountability is protection. And if you still think that accountability is a punishment, you will never grow in this walk. If you still think accountability is punishment, you'll never look more like Christ. Your appetite will never be hungry for him. You will hunger and thirst for all other manner of things.

There are three ways that you can eat with people:

Fellowship

There are too many people who tell me, "Pastor Ro, I want to grow in the Lord. I want to have a hunger for the word. I want to have a hunger for fasting. I want to have a hunger for prayer." And I ask them, "Do you go to fellowships?" They say, "No, but I'm busy with this." I tell them the truth: Go and read Acts chapter 2.

If you want to see how the Lord moved in the early church, it wasn't by one man. It was by a community. Growth comes through fellowship. They devoted themselves to fellowship. And the Bible says:

"And the Lord added to them daily those who were being saved."

It wasn't one man going to one man's house. It wasn't one person doing isolated things. True growth comes from a community.

So please, if you're a member of this church, go to brotherhood. Go to Sisters Keeper. Go to AC Connect. Go to AC Reach. Go to Intimate Nights. These are ways that you can grow. These are ways that you feel the hunger for the Lord stirred. It's done through fellowships.

Accountability Partners

Everyone should have an accountability partner. Find one. In the moments when you're struggling, go to your accountability partner. When you haven't been praying, tell them. Ask them to pray with you.

These are ways that you can stay loyal to Christ. Trust and believe, the enemy will catch you. But that's why the Bible says in Ecclesiastes: it's better when two people are together because if one of them falls, someone can help them up.

You may fall. I'm not deceiving you and saying that you won't. There will come a time where you might fall. You may fall. But let it be said that you had a brother and a sister there to lift you back up.

Leaders

Stop running away from your leaders. Let me say it again: Stop running away from your leaders. We are here to help you. We are here to encourage you, but we're also here to rebuke you.

Many people misrepresent the gospel and misrepresent Christ because they do it alone. But it's so important that you find guidance from your leaders who help you and keep you in check, saying, "Hey, when was the last time you prayed? When was the last time you read your Bible? When was the last time you prayed and fasted?"

All of this is so important. Your leaders are here to help you.

The Gospel: Jesus Is the Bread of Life

I really do hope that you've been challenged. I really do hope that you've also been encouraged. And let this serve as a reminder: we're not preaching new philosophies. We're preaching Christ and him crucified.

I don't have anything else to give you this year, but Christ and him crucified. You want to grow in your prayer life? Seek Jesus. You want to grow in the word? Seek Jesus. He is the bread of life. He is the one that satisfies your soul.

The Altar Call

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to give anyone in the room or watching online the opportunity to receive the bread of life.

Perhaps you're here and you've recognized that you've chosen other things. You've chosen sin. You've chosen to satisfy your flesh. I'm here to let you know that that way of living leads to eternal separation from God, which is hell—where you pay the punishment of your sin.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death. But it doesn't end there:

"But the free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ."

You're here right now and you feel like you've been eating so many different things. You're trying so many different things, and there's a hole in your heart. Nothing's satisfying your soul. You feel the pain of your past. You feel the pain of your future. You're worried. You're anxious. You don't know what to do.

Can I present to you the only answer, which is Jesus Christ?

How do I know that he is the answer? This is the gospel: Yes, while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. He died on the cross. He paid the price of your sin. He bought your freedom and your forgiveness.

Now you can have the opportunity to have relationship back with the Father. You're no longer a sinner, but you're a saved saint. Now you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. And you get to live the life that he's called you to live—a life full of purpose, a life full of peace, and a life filled with forgiveness.

So if there's anyone here right now who would like to give their life to Christ, surrender their life to Christ, say, "Jesus, I've done this life for myself and I've destroyed my life. I'm giving it to you so you can give me eternal life"—if that's you, then as a sign of surrender, just raise your hand to Jesus.

Just raise your hand right now to the Lord. He sees you and he's calling to you. He's knocking on the door of your heart. Raise your hand right now as a sign of surrender.

If you're watching online, raise your hand as well. The Lord sees you.

If there's anyone here who would like to receive the free gift of eternal life and forgiveness from Jesus Christ, please repeat this prayer after me:

Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you. I admit that I'm a sinner, but I believe you died and you rose again. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for forgiving me. Holy Spirit, come into my life today. Transform me from the inside and out, and may I live a life that is pleasing to you.

In Jesus' name we have prayed. Amen.