Fasting In Secret

Apr 26, 2026

Linked Podcast - After The Amen - Ep. 27

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SPEAKER_00 0:52

Well, I have a growing family, and I am learning more and more each day that a growing family means growing appetites, especially because I have three boys. My word, boys eat so much food. It's crazy. Anybody else experiencing, you know, on the struggle bus with all that? There was a day when feeding my family was easy because we had all the portions dialed in perfectly, right? You make dinner, you know how much to make. Those days are long gone. There have been plenty of days where we've we've had a hard time figuring this out. There's a supply and a demand issue in the Berkemean household right now. And so one example would be just this past week, I wanted to make dinner for the family. I spent time making a pretty good meal, I thought. We served dinner, and we got to the end of dinner, and there was not enough food for everybody. And when there's not enough food, guess who goes hungry? This guy right here. My wife and I are the ones who go hungry. We don't, we're not gonna let the kids go hungry. That's what my wife tells me at least. So we were hungry after dinner. And I would say over the course of the last couple months, there have been numerous times where Allie and I we had dinner, we served dinner, everybody ate, but we were still hungry. We don't mean to do that. That's not the goal. It just happens sometimes. We're in a season of life, we're figuring out how much food we need, we're trying to dial that in still. It happens. However, I want to suggest to you that this morning, perhaps there should be times where intentionally followers of Jesus should consider going hungry. What I mean by that is perhaps there are times where as followers of Jesus we should consider the spiritual discipline of fasting. Jesus certainly seems to think so. He actually talks about it more than once in the Bible, the importance of fasting. And so this morning, if you want to hear what Jesus has to say about the topic of fasting, I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six is where we're at this morning. If you brought a Bible, awesome. We open our Bibles every Sunday here. If you didn't, we got you covered. There's a Bible in front of you. Uh if you don't own a Bible, that Bible is yours to take home. And if you're looking for the book of Matthew, it's in the New Testament. So three-quarters of the way into your Bible, you get to the end of the Old Testament, ends with Malachi. Then you have Matthew. If you hit Mark, you went too far. Matthew 6 is where we're at. And as you're turning there, again, I'm Joe. Uh thankful that you're here today. We're wrapping up a sermon series that we began a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago, and it's called Secret Service. And this is a sermon series that really uh delves into the importance of examining our motivations as we live out the Christian life, uh, specifically as we engage in spiritual activities. And over the last couple weeks, we've looked at different spiritual activities and we've seen what Jesus has to say about the topic of giving. Last week we saw what Jesus has to say about the topic of prayer. And today, as I mentioned, we're talking about fasting. Now, if you've been with us, you know that there's a principle at play throughout this whole section. In fact, verse one of Matthew chapter six, uh, Jesus unveils the principle to us. It's all about the way that we do things, right? We're not to do things to be seen, but we're to do things quietly, and our Father who sees us in secret will reward us. This is the principle that Jesus unpacks in verse one. And what we've seen is he's applied these to two scenarios. He's applied it already to giving and to prayer, and now today fasting, but that doesn't mean that's the only way we can apply it. What I mean is, as Christians, we should be doing all sorts of activities. There are more than just three. For example, reading your Bible. That's a spiritual discipline. It's good to read scripture. Uh, meditating on the word is important. You know, in the East, uh, people think about meditation as emptying your mind. As Christians, we should fill our minds with the truths of God's word and think about those things. Uh, memorizing scripture, like those are all ones related to scripture, serving. That's another act of righteousness that we should engage in. There are all sorts of ways that we can live out our faith. And Jesus wants to apply this principle that we see to all of them. He's just given us three examples. He's not being exhaustive. And so, as we kind of wrap up the series this morning, what I want to do is I want to drive the principle home, if I can. I want to make sure that this is not lost on any of us, that we all understand what Jesus is trying to say here. Because what Jesus explains is that our motivations matter. There are all sorts of things that you can choose to do that are good things in the Christian life. But if you have the wrong motivations, then it's ultimately not that good of a thing. Jesus wants to make this clear. So the question you should ask yourself as you engage in these spiritual activities is who am I trying to please? Who am I doing this for? If Jesus were preaching the Sermon on the Mount today, I actually think that he might, if he was preaching it to us to a new audience, he might take different illustrations and apply them in different ways. So let me just give you maybe one example of a thought of something Jesus might say if you were preaching this all over again. So there may be some people who they don't necessarily read their Bible that often, but when they do, they have this desire deep down to post a picture about it. You know what I'm talking about?

unknown 6:12

Right?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

So, like you gotta make sure you pick a page in your Bible that's really highlighted, right? So you get all those highlights there, and you get a nice fancy cup of coffee in the picture, you know, you can get a mug from Magnolia or something, and then you get it curated perfectly, right? You take a picture, make sure you put on the right filter, and we post it. Anybody catching what I'm putting down, right? It sounds like I'm being mean, I'm just keeping it real. We do that. We all do that. That's what our culture is built on. More likes, more followers, more subscribers. That fuels so much of what we do. Now, I mentioned in the first week, I am not exempt from this. I'm not standing on the platform here wagging my finger at all you sinners. Well, I got my life figured out. I'm in the same boat as you are. I do things to be seen. We all do. There's this craving deep down that we have, what we want to be noticed. Jesus is not addressing an archaic issue, he's addressing something that that resonates with every single person throughout the course of time. This is a timeless truth that he's trying to show us. We have a tendency to try to do things to be seen. And when that desire rises up, it can hijack the way that we live out our faith. And Jesus wants to warn us don't do things in order to be seen, don't practice your righteousness for others. Do it quietly, and your father who sees you in secret will reward you. That's the principle. You got that? We good? All right, you guys ready to jump into scripture now? All right, let's dive in. So we're gonna jump in, we're gonna see Jesus take this principle. He's going to apply it to the topic of fasting today. So if you guys are ready, the first section I want to look at, number one, it's the time for fasting. The time for fasting. So notice what Jesus says here in chapter six, beginning in verse 16. I just want to look at the first four words. He says, This, and when you fast. Now let's stop. If you've been with us so far in the series, we've stopped every week after the first four words. I'm stopping here because I want you to notice that Jesus does not say, and if you fast, Jesus says, and when you fast. So the assumption of Jesus is that his people, his followers, his disciples are people who periodically engage in fasting. That's an expectation of Jesus. Now, I'm not going to actually have you do this, okay? So do not respond by raising your hand with what I'm about to say. But if I were to ask a question about Christians and say, like, hey, if you've never fasted, raise your hand. If I were to do that, I'm willing to bet that a bunch of hands would go up. Because the truth is, in our culture today and in the West, fasting is something that's fallen out of fashion. As Christians, we often don't do that. Many people are like, you know, I've been a Christian my whole life and I've never really fasted. Or you get the other piece, right? You have sometimes people say, Oh, I've fasted before, but what they're talking about is engaging in some like new weight loss routine. All right. If the reason that you're fasting is because bathing suit season is upon us, we're talking about two different things. Biblical fasting is the temporary abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose. So it's a posture that you take when what you do is you carve out time. You set aside time and you set aside time and make it holy. You consecrate it. And the intention for that time where you abstain from food is what you're doing, is you're surrendering your body to the Lord and saying, God, I know that you can provide and I want you to meet my needs in this moment. There's whatever it is you're fasting for, you're taking those appetites and you're turning them toward the Lord. It's not a weight loss strategy we're talking about. It's a spiritual discipline and it's a practice that people engage in for a spiritual purpose. And there are all sorts of purposes that might prompt someone to fast. I'll talk about those more later. But for now, I just want to let you know that fasting is something that Jesus expects. He believes that his disciples will fast. Now, the other piece of clarity that I need to bring is there are numerous mentions of fasting in the Bible, and not all of those are directly related to not eating food. There are other ways you can fast. We have other appetites, bodily appetites, that we can abstain from from a season. And so there are examples of that in scripture. That's good news for some of us, especially if you have dietary reasons, medical reasons why you can't fast. Also, you can do partial fasts. There are many ways you can do this. But by and large, the majority of biblical fasts are about abstaining from food. And this is what Jesus has in view when he's talking here. Jesus expects that his disciples will fast. It's not an if thing, it's a when thing. Now, as I'm sharing that, some of you may say, All right, Pastor Joe, I think you're overreading into the text, right? Semantics, Jesus says when, but he doesn't say like this is something I expect of you. So maybe you're overreading this. Or maybe you might even say, Pastor Joe, what if he's just talking to the first century people, right? He climbed up a mountain, a bunch of people heard Jesus talk. What if he was just talking to them and not to us? Well, let's press into this a little bit deeper, shall we? If you'd like, you can turn in your Bibles three chapters ahead to Matthew chapter nine. In Matthew chapter nine, once again, the topic of fasting gets raised to Jesus, and he talks about fasting. Let me set the scene here. So Jesus has been traveling around with his disciples, and they've been hanging out with people, and they've been enjoying good food together. In fact, he's been eating with sinners and tax collectors, and people have taken notice of this. And all of a sudden, these disciples of John the Baptist they show up to Jesus and they say, Jesus, wait a second. Why is it that we, the disciples of John, are fasting? Why is it that we look at the Pharisees and they fast often? But every time we see you, you're having a good meal at a party. What's going on, Jesus? What are you doing here? What's up with that? Now, let me also clarify: it's not that Jesus never fasts in the Bible. He does. Matthew chapter 4, we see that Jesus goes out into the wilderness. What is he doing? He's rehearsing Israel's history. Remember the story of Israel? They went in the wilderness for 40 years and they were tested. Jesus went in the wilderness for 40 days and he fasted for 40 days. He was tested, and where Israel failed, Jesus prevailed. And so Jesus does fast in the Bible, but by and large, when we see Jesus, he's not fasting, he's feasting. In fact, if you were to read Luke's gospel, you'll see he goes from place to place eating meals. And a lot of his teaching happens on the way to someone's house for a party to eat a meal or at their house. And so Jesus frequently gathers with his disciples and they enjoy good food and they enjoy good company. And the disciples of John are seeing this and are saying, Jesus, what gives? We fast, you feast. Why is this happening? And notice how Jesus responds. In verse 15, he says, And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Now, in Scripture, Jesus is often referred to as the groom, and we Christians, the church, are called the bride of Christ. The Bible uses this language because our relationship with Jesus is a covenant relationship, just like marriage. But it's the new covenant in the blood of Jesus. And so we're joined to Jesus in this amazing covenant relationship. And Jesus is a good husband. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He doesn't leave his bride. And so the Bible describes Jesus often as the groom. And what Jesus is saying here is that when he's with his disciples face to face, it's party time. It's like going to a wedding. If you go to a wedding, nobody should be fasting at a wedding. You should be feasting at a wedding. And so when the bride and groom are together on their wedding day, it's party time. It's time to feast, and all the guests should participate in that feasting because it's time to celebrate. And so Jesus says, Hey, I'm with you. I'm with my disciples. We're going to celebrate. But notice what he says at the end of this. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. What's Jesus saying? Well, he's describing what's soon going to happen. We know if we continue reading our Bibles that eventually Jesus is going to be arrested. And he's going to be crucified. He doesn't do anything wrong, but he's crucified for our sin. And then Jesus is buried, and then he rises from the dead, and then he's for 40 days traveling around, appearing to people, and then he ascends back into heaven. The groom, the bridegroom, is taken away. And so, Jesus being the groom, he has been taken away from us. He's no longer with us physically, he is now in heaven. And because the groom has been taken away, now is the time for fasting. I believe that Jesus is speaking about me and you when he says these words. Then they will fast. We are the people who are they here. The people who are alive know that the groom has been taken. I believe that now is the time for fasting. Not always, not every day, but there should be moments and seasons as followers of Jesus where we do fast. So that's where I want to begin. Number one, the time for fasting, I want to suggest to you that it's here and now. It's here and now. And as Jesus begins to teach on this, the next thing he wants to unpack for us is what I'm calling number two the temptation with fasting. He's going to show us one of the challenges here that can happen when we fast. So notice what he says in verse 16. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. Now, notice the principle we talked about. Remember that principle about practicing your righteousness in secret? And your father who sees you in secret will reward you. He's now beginning to apply this to the topic of fasting. And just like all the other examples we saw with giving and prayer, he's going to begin to talk about the hypocrites here. Now we've talked about who the hypocrites are, right? These are people who pretend they're inauthentic, they're acting here. They look one way outwardly, but when you remove the mask, there's somebody else underneath that's totally different. Jesus does not tell us exactly who the hypocrites are, he just uses this word. That's good news. You want to know why? Because when he talks about this, we can all apply this to our own life. There are times in my life where I'm a hypocrite, and you probably are too. And so Jesus uses this broad term. Now, I think if you really dissect this further, you see that he has in view primarily a group of people in the first century who acted really religious because they were self-righteous. They were trying to promote their own righteousness, but inwardly they were corrupt. And that was a group of people who were the religious leaders in Israel, in particular the Pharisees. Now, in the law of Moses, which was given to the people of Israel, there was a command that one day every year God's people should fast. That took place on the Day of Atonement. But the Pharisees were experts at the law, and they like to make extra rules and then heap them on the people. And one of the extra rules of the Pharisees was that the people should actually fast twice a week. That was their rule. And so if you were a Pharisee, you were somebody who prided yourself that you fasted twice a week. We see this in Luke 18. It's the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Remember that? The Pharisee stands up and he prays and he thanks the Lord that he's not like the tax collector, a sinner like him, and he talks about how great he is. And one of the things he says is, Lord, I fast two days a week. And so for the Pharisees, fasting was a sign of religious zeal. It was like their way of, it was a flex of the ancient world, right? If you fasted twice a week, it looks super impressive. And so these hypocrites are going to great lengths to try to show people that they're fasting, right? They're disfiguring their faces, they're sucking in their cheeks. They begin to look disheveled and gloomy, right? They're walking around like, oh, I'm exhausted, you know, I'm on this fast. They're trying to be super dramatic. And what Jesus says here is you're not fasting for the Lord when you do this, you're not fasting for a spiritual purpose, you're fasting to be seen. Notice how it's the motivation. That's the problem. What we see here is actually somebody who they don't have an overwhelming appetite for food. They have an overwhelming appetite for praise. Their greatest hunger is centered on bringing glory to themselves. And what's ironic about this whole passage is this hypocrite is giving up food. Why? To feed his ego. It's not truly righteousness that they're practicing, they're performing out of self-righteousness. There's a problem with that. And so once again, Jesus says, hey, if the goal of your fasting is to look really spiritual in the eyes of others, well, if they see you and they praise you, congratulations. That's all that your fasting will amount to. And honestly, it's tragic when you think about it because what Jesus is going to talk about is when you do that, you exchange something eternal for something temporary. You exchange something that lasts for something that's so shallow and vain. You trade a reward of your father for the recognition of man. And as I said, even though we might not resonate with this example here with fasting, because this isn't a common practice for our culture, the temptation behind it we all resonate with. We feel the pull. We want to be noticed, we want to be affirmed, we want to be thought well of. Jesus warns us about this. It is so dangerous to walk around and try to impress people. Can I challenge you in the room, especially for you young people in the room? You don't need to chase the approval of people. That is a dangerous game to play when you're constantly going around and chasing the approval of others. No, what does the gospel declare to us? That because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and was buried and rose from the dead, that through faith in him we now have the approval of the Father, because Jesus died for us, he was buried, he rose from the dead, and through our faith in that, trusting in Jesus Christ, we get adopted into the family of God, which means now we are the beloved children of our Father. He loves us, he delights in us, and we are fully accepted in Christ by our Father. Our Father sees us and he loves us and he accepts us. You don't have to chase approval of other people. Know who you are deep down, know your identity. You are loved by your Father. That's good news, and that should fill our tank. It should be enough for us, but often it isn't. And so our life or activity should be for the advancement of his glory and not our own. This is the warning that Jesus gives us. So now that we've seen, number one, the time for fasting, which I would say is here and now. Now that we've seen this temptation, right, doing spiritual things to try to be seen. What Jesus does next is he begins to hone in on the focus here. Number three, let's look at the target of fasting, the target, the aim, the goal of fasting. So picking up in verse 17, notice what he says. But when you fast, notice the word when again, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. Now, in this passage, once again, Jesus is advocating for secret service. We should all be secret service agents. We shouldn't just do things to be noticed. We should do things quietly for the glory of the Lord. And Jesus says here, so when you fast, act normal. That's basically what he's saying. Don't go out of your way to try to draw attention, just do normal things because it's It's not about other people knowing that you're fasting. Your fasting isn't for them, it's for the Lord. And that really leans us now into you know, I talked about this is a spiritual purpose behind our fasting. I mentioned I would talk about that. Can we begin to unpack some of the spiritual reasons why perhaps you might consider fasting in your life? Let me give you some examples. Uh, first of all, let me remind you: fasting is about taking, channeling those appetites we have that are earthly and turning them upward. A fasting is all about taking earthly appetites and directing them toward our Father. And there might be reasons why we want to do that. So in the Bible, for example, sometimes people fast when they're seeking guidance from the Lord. They're trying to figure out the road ahead. They don't know what their future should hold, they don't know which direction to go. And so sometimes people fast and they turn their gaze toward the Lord and they're fasting to try to get clarity. There are other examples in scripture of someone who's grieving over something. Now, I've mentioned this before in previous messages, but you ever go through something really hard and you lose your appetite? Sometimes that's a natural cue in your body that maybe you should pursue fasting. Because sometimes there are things that are weighty and difficult that are maybe a struggle for you. You're grieving or mourning over something, and it's an opportunity to take your affections in that moment and to turn them to the Lord and trust. Sometimes people fast when they're looking for deliverance or protection over something. Sometimes people fast when they're humbling themselves before the Lord. Sometimes people fast when they're repenting of sin. The point here is fasting is always for the Lord, it's always directed to Him. And throughout the Bible, one of the things that's really cool is we often see, almost always, we see that fasting is accompanied by prayer. John Piper says that fasting is a prayer intensifier. I like to say that fasting and prayer are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. The two spiritual practices that you should pair together often. In fact, practically speaking, if you've never fasted, one of the cool things about fasting and prayer is that when you say, okay, I'm going to fast for this purpose, I'm going to carve out time in my life to abstain from eating for a season because of this situation in my life. When you do that, the moment you begin to feel hungry, what is your body naturally doing? It's reminding you of your appetite, and what you can do is lean into that greater appetite, whatever that longing or desire is for your prayer, and you can fix your attention heavenward. Your body naturally tells you, hey, remember to pray, remember to pray, remember to pray. And so every craving is a bodily cue to seek the Lord. Instead of reaching for food, you reach for the Lord. Instead of satisfying the urge to eat, you let that urge compel you to drive you toward the Lord. It's a way of saying, God, I want you, God, I need you, God, I'm looking to you in this situation. And so when we do this, when we fast with the right motivation for the Lord, not to be seen, our Father in heaven, He sees. He sees what we do in secret. He knows and He loves us. And that now leads to our final section. So now that we've seen number one, the time for fasting, it's here and now. Now that we've seen the temptation with fasting, that we're doing things to be seen. Now that we've seen the target of fasting, that whatever you're fasting for, it's for the Lord. And there are certain reasons in your life where maybe you would pursue a fast. I want to land on this last section, number four, the treasure in fasting. The treasure. Notice what Jesus says next. It's the same thing he says with all the other passages. He says these words. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Notice here how Jesus is making a promise about the future. He will reward you. You see, the way that we live here today, it produces heavenly dividends. And so instead of seeking praise as an immediate and temporary reward today, we practice our righteousness quietly for the Lord, and we await a future reward from the Father in glory. This is what Jesus is telling us. He's having us fix our attention forward. Now we've seen Jesus talk about this, this is the third time, but as we're fixing our attention forward, as we're thinking about these heavenly treasures and rewards he has for us, I want us to pause for a moment and think about something. I asked a question this week of myself, and then I walked around the office and I asked this same question to some people who are around me, just because I was wondering what they thought. So it's a weird question, but let me ask you this question today. Do you think that when we get to heaven, do you think that we will fast? Do you think that fasting is something that we're gonna do in heaven? I don't think so. And the reason I don't think so is because of what I just talked about in Matthew chapter 9. The groom has been taken away, and so because of that, now we're gonna fast. But one day Jesus is coming back. Amen. Jesus will return. And when we are reunited with the groom, when we see Jesus face to face, I do not believe it's a time to fast any longer. I think it's a time to feast. I think it's party time when Jesus returns.

unknown 27:07

Right?

SPEAKER_00 27:08

When a bride gets ready for her wedding, she might avoid eating certain things, right, for the big day coming up. But on her wedding day, which bride is not going to eat cake, right? You're gonna eat cake. It's your wedding day. You're gonna celebrate, right? Our future with Jesus. It's all about feasting, not fasting, because in the age to come, there's no more longing, there's no more hungering for things. As we look to the future, we can say with confidence that there's fullness of joy in the presence of God. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. We want for nothing in the age to come. We long for nothing. Fasting is temporary, feasting is eternal. That's what God has in store for us. In fact, that's why Jesus, when he begins this sermon on the mount, he makes a promise in the Beatitudes. He says, These words, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. There's coming a day when we're not going to have to fast. We won't have to fast in the age to come, but until that day comes, Jesus makes it clear. We are people who will fast. So where does that leave us this morning? I started this message by talking about my growing family and their growing appetite, and at times my wife and I serving dinner and still being hungry. We didn't do that intentionally, right? We just didn't have enough. It's a season. According to Jesus, there may be times and seasons in our life where intentionally we should go hungry. There are good reasons for us to fast today. So let me ask you one more really big question. This is my big question for the day, and it's this What are you really hungry for? Now, I was gonna just put what are you hungry for, but I want to emphasize the word really here because we all have appetites, right? We're humans. We all have appetites, but I'm willing to bet that there are certain things in your life, appetites that you have, a hunger that you have that supersedes your hunger even for food. So what are you really hungry for? That's the question. Think about it. We we live in a broken world. So what are you really hungry for? Do you have a hunger for your heart to grow in holiness? Do you have a hunger for your wayward child to return? Do you have a hunger for the Lord to give you clarity about a situation where you don't know where to go? Do you have a hunger for your broken relationship with your sibling to be healed? Do you have a hunger for your unbelieving spouse to be saved? Do you have a hunger to be free from the addictions that you're facing today? Do you have a hunger for peace in the midst of so much anxiety going on in your life? Do you have a hunger for God to move in your family? Do you have a hunger for revival in the church? Do you have a hunger to see the church multiplied? Do you have a hunger to see the gospel reach the ends of the earth? Do you have a hunger for Jesus to return and fix all the brokenness that we see? What are you really hungry for? Because this is the question that should lead us to a place of fasting. Fasting won't be around forever. It won't. Because one day all the brokenness will be restored. Life is hard today, though, because we're not there yet. But amazingly, when we read scripture, the apostle Paul says the things that you're going through right now that are deep and difficult, he calls them light and momentary afflictions. How could he call the things that you're facing today light and momentary? Well, he goes on to say that these things are preparing for you an eternal weight of glory that's beyond comparison. What we await is far greater, so much beyond comparison to things we're facing today. The truth is, as we look toward the future, one day our hunger will be gone. We will sit at the banqueting table. Right at the end of the Bible, there's the wedding supper of the Lamb. We're gonna sit with the groom forever and ever, and we're gonna feast on that day, and we will be totally and completely satisfied. But until that day comes, don't ignore your hunger. Don't misdirect your hunger. Let your hunger ultimately lead you to the Lord. Let's pray. God, you are good. We need you this morning, Lord. Some people are desperate today. There's so much that they're longing for and yearning for. And Father, instead of just filling their bellies and trying to ignore that craving they have deep down for you to move and work, I pray that they would yield their appetite for what's earthly and crave something far better, far greater, and they would seek your face. Lord, I thank you that we can turn to you, that you are the God who can be trusted. Father, I praise you for the opportunity through these disciplines to engage in practices where we can have an encounter with you, connect with you. Prayer and fasting is an opportunity to connect with our Father who loves us, to turn our appetites upward. And so, Lord, I pray that for those of us who are in the room, if we do engage in the practice of fasting, perhaps for the first time, that you would give us clarity, guidance, that we would pursue that with wisdom. But Lord, that this would be a sweet experience of dependence upon you, total surrender to you for whatever we're craving. So, Father, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for this amazing truth that we have in Scripture. I pray that we would not live for the applause of man, but we would be satisfied and content with the approval that we have from you, our Father, because we're found in Christ, fully accepted by you. We are your beloved children. We thank you for that tremendous gift. So, Lord, again, we give this time to you for your glory, for the good of your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.