SPEAKER_01: Fasting is basically where we say no to the physical to say yes to the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: And fasting is where we say, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to eat this day because I want to focus and think about spiritual things, not just physical things.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the other thing.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible calls us to fasting and feasting.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting and feasting.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is a great example.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fasted.
SPEAKER_01: He one time he fasted for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: And then I love the Bible says, and Jesus was hungry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Doug, go figure.
SPEAKER_01: But he also enjoyed food and wine so much that people called him a glutton and a wine bibber.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen, church.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Lord Jesus, we here to confess that when we say you brought us back to life, you didn't come to make bad people good people or good people better people.
SPEAKER_01: You came to make dead people alive people.
SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And so all glory goes to God who had mercy because you're rich in mercy, and you saw us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, incapable of doing anything to change our status and standing before God.
SPEAKER_01: And you poured out mercy on us.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why we say, just like Lazarus, we're not over-exaggerating.
SPEAKER_01: We're magnifying your glory today, God.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, that you're you're rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_01: So there's no one in this room who has sinned so much that God cannot and will not forgive them.
SPEAKER_01: That's a lie.
SPEAKER_01: And so today, the Holy Spirit is just walking up and down these roads saying, Ollie, Ollie and free.
SPEAKER_01: Come out, come out wherever you are.
SPEAKER_01: Because this God is rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, let your mercy find us today and unwind us, illuminate the text today, Lord, as we alter and affect what we do with our body because we want to posture and position ourselves to hear and taste and see that the Lord is good.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Holy Spirit, speak now.
SPEAKER_01: We ask it in Jesus' name when all God's people said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, we're preaching to the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we've been in chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: This will be now our third week.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to talk to you today about the freedom of fasting.
SPEAKER_01: The freedom of fasting.
SPEAKER_01: And just put my cards on the table.
SPEAKER_01: We have a churchwide fast on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: It's not mandatory, it's optional.
SPEAKER_01: You can fast for a meal, two meals the whole day.
SPEAKER_01: That's between you and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but this is where we are in Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and let me just say a couple things about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, fasting is basically where we say no to the physical to say yes to the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: And fasting is where we say, you know what, I'm not gonna eat this day because I want to focus and think about spiritual things, not just physical things.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the other thing the Bible calls us to fasting and feasting.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting and feasting.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is a great example.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus fasted, he one time he fasted for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and and then I love the Bible says, and Jesus was hungry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Doug, go figure.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but he also enjoyed food and wine so much that people called him a glutton and a wine bibber.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be a person who fasts and feasts.
SPEAKER_01: I want people before you die to go, man, there's something about you that's really powerful, and you have a conversation about fasting, but I also want you to enjoy food and wine so much that people call you a glutton and a wine bibber.
SPEAKER_01: There you go, there's your assignment.
SPEAKER_01: Now you've got your goal in life, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now I just want to read and I'm gonna just point to what the text says.
SPEAKER_01: So, uh Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse uh 16.
SPEAKER_01: And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, they've received their reward.
SPEAKER_01: But 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, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we'll get to that part in just a little bit, because somebody stopped me last week and they said, Hey, for two weeks you've talked about that, you've read it, you didn't talk about it, how God will reward us, God will reward us.
SPEAKER_01: How does God reward us?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'll tell you next Sunday, one of the ways God rewards.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's not our motivation, but it is our understanding.
SPEAKER_01: But one of the ways that God rewards you when you fast, we'll get we'll end on that today.
SPEAKER_01: But I just want to talk about the freedom of fasting.
SPEAKER_01: The first thing I want you to see in the text is number one, is it is assumed that Christians fast.
SPEAKER_01: It is assumed that Christians fast.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying if you don't fast, you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Some people can't fast for medical reasons, or I take medication, or I'm diabetic, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to put you back under the law with that statement.
SPEAKER_01: So let me clarify.
SPEAKER_01: The goal of any spiritual discipline is more freedom.
SPEAKER_01: The goal of any spiritual discipline is that you come out of that just understanding your freedom in Christ a little more than you did before.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so you what do you mean it's assumed that Christians fast?
SPEAKER_01: Three times in Matthew 6, Jesus says, and win and win and win.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, and if, uh, and if you want the Texans to win today, you should fast on Saturday.
SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: I saw somebody, no names, Kovak wearing his throwback JJ Watt jersey.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, newsflash, JJ doesn't play for the Texans anymore.
SPEAKER_01: But I digress.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, yeah, yeah, see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not careful, fasting can get twisted.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of where we think we can manipulate God into doing what we want God to do.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to say it's assumed that Christians will fast.
SPEAKER_01: And there's three behaviors, I call it the assumed life.
SPEAKER_01: Three behaviors in Matthew 60 says, when you give to the needy, what's that big pile of clothes out there that is men in our church they're saying, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: These are just the crumbs that have fallen from a rich man's table.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need these anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Thank God for GLP.
SPEAKER_01: I've shrunk down, I can't wear these anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever your motivation is, it's piling up.
SPEAKER_01: We've taken two loads, we'll take another load this week.
SPEAKER_01: Next week is the last Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but when you give to the needy, when you pray and when you fast, it is assumed that these are behaviors that Christians engage in.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a couple things about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, we fast to nourish our hunger for God and to reduce our hunger for the world.
SPEAKER_01: We fast to nourish our hunger for God and reduce our hunger for the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because our hunger for the world, it is pumped and promoted at us in advertising all day, every day, 24-7.
SPEAKER_01: You ever notice you search for something on your phone and then 30 minutes later you get an ad about that same product?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: They they are you they are hardwired, and you are hardwired uh to increase your hunger for the world.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing I would say about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: We fast because our physical appetites are so intense that they threaten to overwhelm our hunger for God.
SPEAKER_01: Our physical appetites, like you want to have an interesting lunch conversation?
SPEAKER_01: Ask somebody this.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, do you have any physical appetites that concern you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any physical appetites that are so big, so deeply ingrained in you by your behavior that, man, I should be a little concerned about this.
SPEAKER_01: My posture towards food is not healthy.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: That means you don't just, you know, I'm hungry, I eat.
SPEAKER_01: I'm lonely, I'm sad, I eat.
SPEAKER_01: That's comfort-based behavior, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing, and this may be a little abstract to some of you.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting allows you to take control of your physical appetite, which allows you to then take control of your emotional appetite.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting allows you to take control of your physical appetite, so you can then take control of your emotional appetite.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of what we do in the physical is really a response to what we don't understand about our emotions.
SPEAKER_01: They drive us.
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's why if you go to counseling or therapy, you get asked a lot, well, how'd that make you feel?
SPEAKER_01: How'd that make you feel?
SPEAKER_01: And at some point you're like, I didn't pay$175, you'd asked me the same question 50 times.
SPEAKER_01: What they're trying to get you to do is say, hey, get out of the physical and get into the emotional.
SPEAKER_01: And when you fast, it allows you to take control of the physical appetite, which allows you to then take control of your emotional appetite.
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of times what we do in the physical is driven by our emotions.
SPEAKER_01: Even if we can't access or get in touch with those emotions, they have incredibly power over our behavior.
SPEAKER_01: I love what John Piper said in his book, The A Hunger for God.
SPEAKER_01: He said, the greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.
SPEAKER_01: It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetites for heaven, but mindless nibbling at the table of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that last part.
SPEAKER_01: Mindless nibbling at the table of the world.
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like?
SPEAKER_01: It looks like this.
SPEAKER_01: For hours.
SPEAKER_01: When you work somewhere and you're on your phone, instead of giving me customer service, you're just nibbling at the table of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, the world is hardwired to inform and influence your appetites.
SPEAKER_01: This is why fasting is such a powerful reality.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what I also know.
SPEAKER_01: I'm probably not going to say anything to any of you today that's going to make you go, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to fast on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: I've never done it before, but that teaching was so powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, it's typically an experience and not a teaching that changes your mind or makes your mind up about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: For me, it happened in uh June of 1991.
SPEAKER_01: I'm at a youth camp in Florida, uh, and and they said, Hey, you're speaking at night, and then uh our kids are in Bible study tracks in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: Would you speak to our youth workers?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: What do you want me to talk about?
SPEAKER_01: They said, anything.
SPEAKER_01: So I prayed.
SPEAKER_01: One of the mornings, I very clearly heard the Lord say, I want you to talk to him about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's not very sexy.
SPEAKER_01: And these are youth workers.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta pump them up and tell them, hey, you're you're shape of the next generation.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit's like, nope, talk about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: So that morning I talked about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: After it was over, Sam, the worship leader, said, Hey, you want to go for a walk?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: We're walking, we walk out of the camp ground down this down this road, uh, and there's a trailer park right there.
SPEAKER_01: And you never see movement out of the corner of your eye, and right when you see it, you're like, there's something different about that.
SPEAKER_01: That ain't right, that ain't normal.
SPEAKER_01: On this day, it was that's headed for me.
SPEAKER_01: And what was headed for me was an old woman in a snap-up moo moo, she got at Walmart for like$6.97, and she was hunched over like a question mark with feet, and she had the angle on us.
SPEAKER_01: She had us cut off, and we're on the left side of the road, just kind of walking out of the campground out into the world, and I see her, and I'm kind of like, I'm gonna give her some room and hey, let's just cross over.
SPEAKER_01: And we crossed over, and she just flattened out her route and went on a deep, skinny post to the end zone.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, she is coming for us, and we're having a conversation, and my friend Sam's like, hey, I never heard anybody talking about fasting at a youth camp.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I don't think I've ever heard any sermon about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: So we're talking about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, hey man, this is I I don't know how to describe her other than she was like someone's gypsy grandma.
SPEAKER_01: Wrinkled up, about 110 years old, very, very beautiful, dark olive complexion.
SPEAKER_01: And she she's walking and she, and I'm like, just pick up the pace, and he's like, oh dude.
SPEAKER_01: And finally she cuts us off and she just looks up.
SPEAKER_01: Never seen this woman in my she looks up and said, fasting is where God releases his power and walked off.
SPEAKER_01: And my friend Sam grabbed my arm and he went, What?
SPEAKER_01: What just happened?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I think that's confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I was teaching, I was like, they don't care about this.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they want me to tell them how to be better youth workers.
SPEAKER_01: And she just walked off, and I was like, I opened my mouth to say something, nothing came out.
SPEAKER_01: And she's walking off, and she looks back over her shoulder and goes.
SPEAKER_01: And like, I want whatever she's drinking, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That was June of 1991.
SPEAKER_01: I've never thought the same about fasting since then.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what you should pray, uh ideally, teaching does it, uh, but but usually it's an experience.
SPEAKER_01: Have you had an experience in and around fasting that has forever changed the way you think about it?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing I want you to see in the text.
SPEAKER_01: Facts fasting is for God.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting is for God.
SPEAKER_01: He said, When you fast, so soon behavior, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you mean fasting is for God?
SPEAKER_01: Hear that part again.
SPEAKER_01: They disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, they become unrecognizable so that somebody will recognize them.
SPEAKER_01: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_01: They become unrecognized.
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
SPEAKER_01: They wouldn't fix their hair, the hair would be messed up, their clothes would be all tattered, uh, they'd look sad, neglected, they put ashes, smear ashes on their face, or put dirt on their head.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like you don't walk into work on Thursday and you're just like, Bob, sorry, I'm a little bit late.
SPEAKER_01: I'm fasting today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a little peckish.
SPEAKER_01: Bear down and pray for me.
SPEAKER_01: Can I get wheelchair assists, get to my office?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I can make it.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, but this is what people did because they wanted everyone to know what they were doing.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting for them was to manage people's impression of them.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says fasting, when we fast, it is for God.
SPEAKER_01: We're saying, hey, I got some hungers in me that only God understands and only God can speak to.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm saying no to the physical to say yes to the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what I mean when I say fasting is for God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is easy to say to hard to do because it's increasingly difficult for this to be a behavior that is between Christians and their God because our culture has discovered this thing called intermittent fasting.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now stay with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people in our church are doing it, a lot of people in our church have lost a lot of weight, feel better.
SPEAKER_01: A man stopped me this morning and said, I've been doing it for eight years.
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk to you about it sometime.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I can't hear another talk about it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I know all about it.
SPEAKER_01: Intermittent fasting is where you you you you you don't eat all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, does anybody eat all the time?
SPEAKER_01: But we'll stop there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you don't eat, and so your bodies are hardwired by God to for the molecular structure to rid your cells of the toxins, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: My favorite is somebody in our church told me, was tell me about intermittent fasting.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I think it's great.
SPEAKER_01: You lost weight.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Yeah, I'm killing two birds with one stone.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Because I'm full of hope, not really.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Intermittent fasting is for you.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting that the Bible talks about is for God.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing wrong with intermittent fasting.
SPEAKER_01: But you can't say, hey, I'm down 47 pounds, and God, break me off a blessing, reward me because I'm fasting.
SPEAKER_01: I lost you right there.
SPEAKER_01: Did you feel it?
SPEAKER_01: Marco.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, where'd you go?
SPEAKER_01: Again, nothing wrong with intermittent fasting.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the kind of fasting the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: It's a different motive.
SPEAKER_01: This fasting is for God.
SPEAKER_01: So when people talk to me about the cell structure and how the cells are wired by God to cleanse the body of the other toxins, I'm not listening.
SPEAKER_01: All I hear and see in my spirit is this old gypsy grandma sinking up on me and going, fasting is where God releases his power.
SPEAKER_01: She might as well spit in my hair and walked off.
SPEAKER_01: It so dysregulated me.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, you are crazy, and I want to have lunch with you, lady.
SPEAKER_01: When we embrace the simple truth that fasting is for God, two things happen.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it eliminates anybody having to know.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody has to know about this part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_01: In this social media culture, how much of your life remains hidden?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody knows about.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean in a bad way, I mean in a good way.
SPEAKER_01: Like I did a good thing and I didn't put it on social media.
SPEAKER_01: I did the right thing and I didn't tell anybody.
SPEAKER_01: See, that that's not the way we are.
SPEAKER_01: We are a publicity uh uh culture.
SPEAKER_01: And so when you embrace the truth that fasting is for God, two things happen.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it eliminates anybody having to know.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it affects what I do while I fast.
SPEAKER_01: It affects what I do while I fast because there's fasting and there's what you do on that day while you fast.
SPEAKER_01: Because historically in the Bible and in history, people have done the right things for the wrong reasons, and it has no record, God has no record of He didn't even recognize it.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: I'll show you two examples in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: People have historically and for a long time done the right things for the wrong reason, for the wrong motive, and God does not even recognize it.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: This is from Zachariah, Old Testament, chapter 7, in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kizlev.
SPEAKER_01: Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharesar and Regamelech and their men to entreat the favor of the Lord, saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month as I've done for so many years?
SPEAKER_01: Now, stop right there, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You hear what they're saying?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the Bible talks in a way it's kind of like I'm trying to follow what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, they said, We've been weeping, we've been sad, and we have been abstaining, we've been fasting in this fifth month for years.
SPEAKER_01: Should we keep doing what we're doing?
SPEAKER_01: And here's why they're asking that.
SPEAKER_01: They're starting to wonder, hey God, is this making any kind of difference to anybody but us?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're weeping and fasting and eating cough drops and all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And they just said, Hey, would you guys go ask God, you prophets, you preachers to hear from God, go ask God if this is moving the needle at all?
SPEAKER_01: And this is what God says.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me to say, say to all the people of the land and the priest, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh month for these 70 years, stop.
SPEAKER_01: Seventy years.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you in this room have been doing the right thing for the wrong reasons for so long.
SPEAKER_01: You've you're you're tempted to quit.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not, hey, stop doing this.
SPEAKER_01: It's get below behavior to motive.
SPEAKER_01: Why am I doing this?
SPEAKER_01: He said, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh for these 70 years, was it for me that you fasted?
SPEAKER_01: And when you eat and when you drink, did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
SPEAKER_01: See, when I say fasting is for God, it's because the Old Testament is full of examples of people.
SPEAKER_01: It was for them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing this for me.
SPEAKER_01: This distinguishes me from all the other people that aren't as spiritual as I am.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another example, Isaiah 58.
SPEAKER_01: He that the people ask this question why have we fasted and you see it not?
SPEAKER_01: Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it?
SPEAKER_01: Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and you oppress all your workers.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with the wicked with a wicked fist.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you fast, your body is physically a little bit peckish and you can get hangry real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Like I have a friend when he fasts, he's not around anybody.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Why not?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Because I'm really critical.
SPEAKER_01: I'm short-tempered.
SPEAKER_01: He said, My wife caught on to it before anybody else did.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Why don't you be alone when you fast?
SPEAKER_01: He said, And if I do a protracted fast, I'm almost unbearable.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, That's not the kind of fast that God desires.
SPEAKER_01: But look at what they said.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Um, you fast only to quarrel and fight and to hit with a wicked fist.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting like yours, this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that again.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting like your fasting this day will not make your voice be heard on high.
SPEAKER_01: Is such the fast that I choose?
SPEAKER_01: A day for a person to humble himself?
SPEAKER_01: Is it to bow down his head like a reed and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
SPEAKER_01: Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: It's that last sentence.
SPEAKER_01: Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: When you fast on Thursday when we fast, it's not just that we're not eating, it's what are we doing with the day?
SPEAKER_01: You have to keep those two connected.
SPEAKER_01: Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Anytime you fast, that's that's in the context of the day.
SPEAKER_01: Make sure, be mindful of what you do with the day.
SPEAKER_01: Not just at mealtime when I don't eat.
SPEAKER_01: But oh, it's a fast and a day that is acceptable to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing about fasting.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting is in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting is in is in secret.
SPEAKER_01: It's verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: Hear this part.
SPEAKER_01: He says, But you when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who's in secret.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees in secret will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: Now hear that part.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Now that cuts both ways for the Christian and the non-Christian in the room.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here this morning, listen carefully, and you've never trusted Christ, maybe you're just exploring Christianity, maybe you had a bad experience, you're jaded, you're cynical, you're an atheist, you're an agnostic, and you're like, I don't know about any of this.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing when the Bible says, and your father who sees in secret, what that means is that God sees and knows everything about you that nobody else knows and can know.
SPEAKER_01: And not only do you have to, hey, I gotta take credit for my life, but you've got to come up with a way to get forgiveness for all those things that you keep on the down low.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense to anybody but me?
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're here, and I'm glad you're here, I want to be your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I want to take you to coffee, I want to buy you breakfast, buy you lunch, have you in my home for dinner.
SPEAKER_01: Because I I think we take.
SPEAKER_01: Oh well, I mean, I got things out here no one knows about, and I'm a self-made man.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: But self-made man, how are you gonna get forgiveness?
SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna reconcile these things that are in secret that no one knows about?
SPEAKER_01: That you've worked your whole life to keep all the down low.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible comes along and in one sentence blows it up.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees in secret.
SPEAKER_01: This week it came out that Philip Yancey, very popular Christian writer, has been having an affair for the past eight years.
SPEAKER_01: My phone started blowing up.
SPEAKER_01: People are like, Oh my gosh, what do you think about this?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, is this not devastating?
SPEAKER_01: Not if you got your eyes on God, not man, it's not devastating at all.
SPEAKER_01: One of my friends, like, hey, I want to have a conversation.
SPEAKER_01: I wrote back, can't talk.
SPEAKER_01: I'm busy.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote back, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I wrote back, like you, I pastor a church.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote back, you got time for a phone call.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, I'm busy.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Fantasizing about hurting you.
SPEAKER_01: When can you talk?
SPEAKER_01: After five.
SPEAKER_01: Why after five?
SPEAKER_01: Because I work too.
SPEAKER_01: Then he calls me, 501.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, bro, this is like, this is like devastating.
SPEAKER_01: I've read all his books and I just said, hey, listen, if this devastates you, that a man that you don't know who's, I mean, he's a believer, but for eight years, that's not in the fair, that's a double life.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're not bothered by that?
SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
SPEAKER_01: You can be somebody in the religious subculture and be nobody in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You should be leery of anybody that everyone loves, buys tickets to go hear them preach or sing or lead worship, and nobody knows.
SPEAKER_01: That's what caused you to be a little like, mmm, I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't hate on that brother.
SPEAKER_01: But it's just like, and he goes, Well, I mean, if you had to boil it down, okay, if I had to boil it down, here's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: This is for all of us in this room.
SPEAKER_01: God sees in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that you cover, God's gonna uncover.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that you uncover, God will cover with his grace and the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing, there's nothing.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't fear secrecy.
SPEAKER_01: And then the guy goes, Well, it's been a tough year for people in ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the guy from DC talk and these preachers in Dallas, and I said, Hey, he said, Why does this not bother you?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Because I'm talking about this Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: The Father sees in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Well, where's that in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: You pastor a church?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so I don't want to just run by that phrase.
SPEAKER_01: I want to just stop and say, hey, by the way, that cuts both ways.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a Christian, you should take great comfort that you don't have to sound a trumpet when you do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're not a Christian, or you're a Christian and you're living in sin, you think you got it on the download, nobody knows?
SPEAKER_01: The Father sees in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting is in secret.
SPEAKER_01: God is in secret because he wants to be found in the right places by the right means for the right reasons.
SPEAKER_01: If you structure your life where you get from people all that you need, then you'll never get to this place of secrecy.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never know the reality of reward.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Again, we don't fast for a reward.
SPEAKER_01: He says right here, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: You do not want to come up with what that is.
SPEAKER_01: And so the guy that I speak is like, man, it's talked about reward.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't talked about it.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what.
SPEAKER_01: Again, uh, reward is our understanding, it's not our motivation.
SPEAKER_01: But I'll just say this: one of the ways that God rewards uh you when you fast is that you begin to get freedom from habitual sins.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's your assignment.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have time to go into this today, or the voice, but read Isaiah 58, where God says, Is this the kind of fast that I've chosen?
SPEAKER_01: And then he describes these nine parts of a fast that God has chosen.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things God says that this is what happens when the fast guy is chosen.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I will break off of you this yoke.
SPEAKER_01: This yoke.
SPEAKER_01: A yoke is like a wooden, looks like two wooden arches that put over the back of this oxen and it locked them in and paired them up together.
SPEAKER_01: And they just, but for some of you, that's what habitual sin is like.
SPEAKER_01: You get up every day and you just say, I'm just yoked to this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so when you fast, one of the rewards you get is that all of a sudden you begin to see progress when it comes to habitual sin.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What do you mean, habitual sin?
SPEAKER_01: These are things that you can't stop despite your best efforts, willpower, podcast, self-hatred, all that.
SPEAKER_01: These are habitual sins.
SPEAKER_01: And there's four thoughts that accompany habitual sins.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the first one: God is blank.
SPEAKER_01: Just fill it in with the most negative thing about you.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: God is tired of hearing me confess this.
SPEAKER_01: God is disappointed, God is mad.
SPEAKER_01: God, I asked a guy recently, I said, Hey, what do you think God believes about this?
SPEAKER_01: Because, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: In order for the enemy to get you separated from the will of God, there's two things that happen.
SPEAKER_01: You believe lies.
SPEAKER_01: The first lie you believe is about God, just like in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: The first lie you believe is about God.
SPEAKER_01: The second lie you believe is about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: That's why when the enemy came to Adam and Eve in the garden and he said, Surely did God say?
SPEAKER_01: God didn't really say that.
SPEAKER_01: He lies about God and he gets you to believe a lie about God.
SPEAKER_01: And then he lies to you about you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you will surely not die.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be crazy here.
SPEAKER_01: God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_01: And so, four thoughts that accompany habitual sin.
SPEAKER_01: God is blank.
SPEAKER_01: Fill it in with the most negative thing you can think of.
SPEAKER_01: God is never gonna give you a good girl.
SPEAKER_01: I asked the guy, I said, What do you think God?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what are some beliefs that you've come to have about God?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, and I quote, I think God cannot wait to throw me in hell on judgment day.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Wow, he's pretty disappointed with you.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, How could he not be?
SPEAKER_01: This is this is how crafty the enemy is.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thought that accompanies habitual sin.
SPEAKER_01: There's no use.
SPEAKER_01: He just shrugged, you're like, Man, I've done 12-step, five-step, three-step, two-step.
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's no use.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, there's no stopping.
SPEAKER_01: There's no stopping.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I tried.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, and this is this is this is a dangerous one.
SPEAKER_01: There's no hope.
SPEAKER_01: The enemy comes and he just convinces you because of uh of habitual sin, there's no hope.
SPEAKER_01: Again, the first lie that you believe is about God.
SPEAKER_01: The second lie that you believe is about yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: He has to convince you uh that something which keeps you from God is true.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: He has to convince you that something that you believe about God or yourself is true.
SPEAKER_01: This is what keeps you yoked to habitual sin.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you say, What's this got to do with fasting?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you two things in fasting, then we'll read a Bible verse and be done.
SPEAKER_01: You still let me say amen.
SPEAKER_01: When in fasting, two things happen.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, you see yourself clearly.
SPEAKER_01: You see yourself clearly.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: You strip away all your comforts, all your creature comforts.
SPEAKER_01: Like I have a friend that takes men, and sometimes men and their sons on these backpacking excursions up in Colorado and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about it.
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about it, and he says things like this yeah, we don't bathe for like five days, and we sleep outside, and we pack all our gear in, and with every sentence, I'm just wincing and then I'm like, hey, is there a Starbucks on the trail?
SPEAKER_01: No, there's no Starbucks.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and then he has the audacity to go, when are you gonna go on one of these?
SPEAKER_01: Never.
SPEAKER_01: You're talking about, and we catch our own, and he shows me videos, and there's trout swimming in these mountain ponds, and I'm like, that is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: I can feel the flames of hell lapping at my lower extremities.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, because I'm a shallow person, I'm like, there's more than not just you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I could take my smell after a couple days.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so all these men don't bathe.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can bathe in the river if you want.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing when you strip away all your creature, here's why that's powerful.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, if you want to go, I'll give you his name.
SPEAKER_01: He's probably taking a group sometime this next year.
SPEAKER_01: I will not be among you.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be at whatever the coffee shop is right here, reading a book, sipping a latte.
SPEAKER_01: But look at me.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to see yourself clearly, strip away your creature comforts.
SPEAKER_01: Get rid of all the pacifiers.
SPEAKER_01: Remember when you weaned your kids off a pacifier?
SPEAKER_01: It was hard when I first born.
SPEAKER_01: She would come out in the morning, one in her mouth, and two in each hand.
SPEAKER_01: And I say, Master, spit that out.
SPEAKER_01: Pua.
SPEAKER_01: And she'd pick up the and she'd come walking in.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you're laughing, but that's you.
SPEAKER_01: That's why, ladies, when last guy broke up with you, you you you were on some website immediately.
SPEAKER_01: You're just looking for a pacifier.
SPEAKER_01: I just oh, there it is.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: But when you when you strip away your creature comforts, when you fast, you see yourself clearly, and look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, you hear God clearly.
SPEAKER_01: You see yourself clearly and you hear God clearly.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I'll close with this.
SPEAKER_01: This is Nehemiah chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: It says, now, now, by the way, they found the book of the law, the the Bible, the Old Testament, and they they hadn't had it forever.
SPEAKER_01: And they built a platform, and a guy got up on it, and they read from the Bible for like half a day.
SPEAKER_01: And the people were like, oh my gosh, we are more screwed up than I realized.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what happened.
SPEAKER_01: Now, on the 24th day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and then sackcloth.
SPEAKER_01: Sackcloth is like a burlap bag.
SPEAKER_01: It's like it's not your best.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting and then sackcloth and with earth on their heads.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: They would take dirt, ladies, and just put it on their hair, on top of their head.
SPEAKER_01: And it just all fell down in their ears.
SPEAKER_01: And it was just like, oh God, this is, we want to look outwardly like we feel inwardly.
SPEAKER_01: We feel like I'm not doing my hair.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a good hair today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even doing my hair today.
SPEAKER_01: They were assembled with fasting and sackcloth and with earth on their heads.
SPEAKER_01: And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
SPEAKER_01: They see themselves clearly and they hear God clearly.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Two things.
SPEAKER_01: He says they confess their sins and the iniquity of their fathers.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference in sin and iniquity.
SPEAKER_01: Sin is what you do, it's external behavior that misses the mark.
SPEAKER_01: Iniquity is why you do it.
SPEAKER_01: Iniquity is that thing in your bones that when you when you're like, hey, I've had two, I should be done.
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
SPEAKER_01: And then two hours later, you're a drunk fool.
SPEAKER_01: That's iniquity.
SPEAKER_01: And they said they confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
SPEAKER_01: You should ask yourself, am I struggling with my sin?
SPEAKER_01: Or is this the iniquity of my fathers that's been passed down from generation to generation to generation?
SPEAKER_01: I hear men say to me in counsel, yeah, I got too much on my granddaddy in me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my granddaddy, he was a flander.
SPEAKER_01: My dad kind of cheated on my mom, and you know, I just can't be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, That's not that's not a true statement.
SPEAKER_01: This is generational sin.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not your granddaddy, it's iniquity.
SPEAKER_01: It's this thing in your bones that kind of says, Well, this is all I'm capable of.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you men, listen to me, some of you men in this room are gonna be the person that breaks generational sin out of your family forever.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be the one.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta fast, you gotta pray.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Beat your body and make it your slave.
SPEAKER_01: Stop being boys when your family, the generations that come after you, need a man, not a boy, who's like, well, you know, we she gave me the look, and I gave her the look, and we're like, hey, hey, you, you what grow up.
SPEAKER_01: When you go outside of your home, you're not accomplishing anything, you're confessing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not good at this, but I want to go feel good at this.
SPEAKER_01: God is calling some of you in this room to be the man that breaks generational sin.
SPEAKER_01: Your sons won't have it, your grandchildren won't have it, and it'll be hard when you first start breaking that.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: look at me.
SPEAKER_01: When you're a grandpa, and some of you like, dude, I'm talking, some of you aren't even married yet.
SPEAKER_01: You're not even married yet.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to you about your grandkids.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you should see your sin through the lens of your generational responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm talking as a man who's the only man in his family who's still married to his first wife, who's never cheated on his wife.
SPEAKER_01: And that means I'm better than all the other men in my family.
SPEAKER_01: I just looked around and thought, my God, have we destroyed ourselves enough with this?
SPEAKER_01: And I remember I was 19.
SPEAKER_01: I'd been a Christian maybe a year.
SPEAKER_01: And I just kept hearing the Lord say, break the chain, break the chain, break the chain.
SPEAKER_01: And I was being disciple by an old God and blamed.
SPEAKER_01: I went to him and I said, Hey, and he he had these two bonfires for eyes, and he'd kind of look at me kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And he'd like, What do you what do you sense the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: How do you sense the Lord leading you these days, Neil?
SPEAKER_01: Not to come meet with you anymore, you crazy old man.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I don't, I don't know, but it's like every time I pray, I hear the Lord say, Break the chain.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know what that's all about.
SPEAKER_01: I I I think it's like a residue from all the weed I smoked in high school.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked up and he had tears pouring down.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I I hey man, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: I I and he turned in his Bible to Exodus 34.
SPEAKER_01: It talks about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the third and fourth generation.
SPEAKER_01: And he got up and he put his hands on my shoulders and he put my face in his hands.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Look at me, son.
SPEAKER_01: God's called you to be a chainbreaker.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, God's called you to turn a little my face.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he had my face like this, he's held like this.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, And I mean, he is standing up and he's got me by the face, and he said, God's called you to be a chainbreaker.
SPEAKER_01: What are the generational sins in your family?
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
SPEAKER_01: Changed my life.
SPEAKER_01: I have the marriage I have because Blaine Parsons looked into me when I was 19 and saw my children.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So when he says, hey, when they confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers, you're not blaming your dad and your grandpa, you're not blaming people back there.
SPEAKER_01: You're just saying, hey, you know what, God?
SPEAKER_01: I see myself clearly and I hear you clearly.
SPEAKER_01: This is the intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me and I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: This is the intimacy and the vulnerability of fasting.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why our church on the regular we fast.
SPEAKER_01: You can fast all day, one meal, you can fast a week.
SPEAKER_01: That's between you and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But look at me.
SPEAKER_01: There's a freedom that comes from fasting that you don't find anywhere else.
SPEAKER_01: Not as a goal, it is the byproduct.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Then we give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: That's for your consideration, contemplation, but just ask the Lord, hey, some of you men, you're like God's yep, the Father sees it in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Men, you wouldn't wish this on your sons or your grandsons.
SPEAKER_01: So why wish it on them by letting it just perpetuate in you?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are gonna be the person it ends with.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I I I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I that's not pressure, that's invitation.
SPEAKER_01: Because God says, I'll do the heavy lifting.
SPEAKER_01: You just obey.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just be still and you be with the Lord right now.
SPEAKER_01: God, the Bible is very clear that you're in secret and you see in secret.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh let that inform our choices this week and for all the weeks to come.
SPEAKER_01: And uh that you're a God that rewards people that do it right.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to pick, we don't want to define what that looks like because it would be too small in comparison to what you have in mind.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, it's not just for us right now in this life.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's what you do in us, it's for our kids and our grandkids and our great-grandkids, and that's enough for us.
SPEAKER_01: So we're aware of our own sins and our generational iniquity, the sins of our father, the iniquity of our fathers.
SPEAKER_01: And so we just send that away in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: We say we don't receive that, that's not just who I am.
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna end right here.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, thank you that that's possible because of the blood you shed on the cross in our place and for our sins and for the iniquity of our fathers.
SPEAKER_01: So we appropriate that over that.
SPEAKER_01: And we say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We say thank you in Jesus' name, and all God's people said Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to give us a five star rating and review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our circling back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.