Prayer and Fasting

Fall is going to even be busier. So, we're excited about what's coming this fall. Um, we wrapped up a really short minisseries last week on the dangers of cultural Christianity. And, um, one of the reasons we wanted to teach on that is because of where we're moving for our fall.

We're going to be doing an entire campaign this fall focusing on the harvest. And when I speak of harvest, what I'm referring to is we're speaking of um the harvest that God would provide and bring um for our church and for this community from those who yet do not know the gospel. That our church would be used by God through the sharing and the testimonies of his people in our community that they might come to know the truth of the gospel and be saved.

Jesus uh said that we are to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the field. It's not that there's not a a lot of availability within the harvest area of the kingdom. It's that we need workers to be sent out into the fields to reap the harvest. And so that's what we're going to be seeking the Lord uh for this fall.

Starting August the 2nd, um we're inviting all of our church to join together um in 40 days of prayer and fasting. And we're going to be fasting uh because we're really going to be trying to draw near and seek the heart and the will of God for our lives and for our church, especially in relation to um the kingdom work that we are all called by God and we are commissioned by God to take part in.

We know that there are many many people in our own area here in North Texas who do not know the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are very well aware that there are many here in the south who are in a sense deceived in believing they are in Christ just because they believe in God. Or maybe it's just something we do culturally except here in the south. But they are not born again believers in Christ. And so we wanted to cover that the last few weeks to make you aware of what we all are facing and challenged with in this time especially in our location here in the southern part of the United States. It's a very common problem here. I say problem. It is a problem. There's different problems throughout the other parts of our country. But one of the greatest challenges we face here in the south is to share the gospel with people who think they're already right because they believe that God exists. And we know that is a that is our great challenge. But nonetheless, that's why we wanted to share that.

But for the next few weeks, guys, we're going to be learning together what scripture teaches about prayer and fasting. Um, I need to make one quick announcement and then we'll get into that. Um, as soon as our grit camp for men is over, we're going to be starting a new life group on August the 5th, Wednesday night, called bows and bibles. And so it's going to be a men's life group that we gather together. We're going to shoot bows in our archery range out here behind our church, the covered archery range that we are building and preparing. And so, we want to get this completed. So, Thursday of this week, 8:00 on Thursday morning, if you have time and you'd like to come help us complete the archery range, that's finishing the back wall and some things that we need to wrap up there in order that we're able to start this life group. And this is intended for us to invite men uh that don't even attend our church. Many of them, just anyone that we could bring. If you don't even shoot a bow, but you'd like to take part in this, we're going to have some bows for you to come shoot. So, we're going to be aiming at truth and we're going to be looking at what the Bible teaches about the five biblical arrows of manhood. So, anyway, a little information about that Thursday morning 8:00 be here and we're going to try to finish that project.

Let's get back into our study this morning on what the Bible teaches about prayer and fasting. Now, rarely, and I say this, rarely is the dominating desire of your flesh seen more clearly than when you deprive it of its physical desires from a time of fasting. If you want to know how strong your flesh desires to have pre preeminence in your life, just starve it of those things that it wants. And it will rear its head and it will demonstrate to you how very strong our flesh is and how it craves and it desires food and comfort and pleasure and all of those elements. And you're going to learn quickly how dominating this desire is for your flesh to have first place in your life.

But we know that God is to be preeminent in our life. That he is to have first place. When our flesh is fully satisfied, there's a great danger. And we see this really here in the west pertaining to spiritual matters. When you are fully satisfied physically, when you are content and you are comfortable in the physical aspect of your life, one's desire for spiritual things is diminished. The two are tied together in a sense. Why? Because we are one person in three. We talk about this being created in the image and the likeness of God who is one God in three persons. We are one man or one woman in three distinct aspects of our humanity and what makes us human. We have a body which is our flesh. We have a mind or our will, emotion, all of those things. And we also have which is considered our soul. And then we have our spirit as well. And so you can't disconnect one from the other without the others being affected. And when we are completely content physically, like we have plenty to eat, in fact, maybe more than we need to eat. We're very comfortable in our life. We have no needs really that we're asking God for. We're not hungering. We're not thirsting for righteousness. And our flesh's needs are being met. Our our comfort and all that is provided by by meeting what the flesh desires. If we feed that and give it what it wants, you'll find that your desire for spiritual things will be greatly diminished.

Now, in Galatians 5:16-17, we learn that there are these these dominating desires of the flesh. And what we learn in scripture here about what we are to do with the flesh that we don't lose just because we're born again in Christ. You're still going to contend with your flesh. And Paul here writing to the church in Galatia in chapter 5 16-17, he reminds them, he says, "But I say walk in the spirit." That word spirit is capitalized and that's referring to the Holy Spirit who has been given to you as a deposit that guarantees your inheritance. It is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of God who dwells inwardly in every single born-again believer in Christ Jesus by faith. When you're born again, you are filled with the spirit of God. You are born again of the spirit. And Paul says we're to walk according to the spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. And notice he says, "If you do this, you will not gratify the desires of your flesh." Here's the reason this is so important. And we talked about this in the opening statement here. For the desires of the flesh, they are against the desires of the spirit of God. They work in contrast to one another, in opposition to one another. The flesh does not want the things of God. The flesh pertains to the old man in Adam, the things that it desires. Uh, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Those elements are part of our flesh. And just because you're born again does not mean that you will not struggle with your flesh. You will struggle with your flesh to crucify it daily until Christ takes you home to be with him in glory. You will struggle with it. And Paul says that we're to walk by the spirit and in by doing so we won't gratify the desires of the flesh because our flesh has these desires that it craves and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. The two are in opposition to one another for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. In other words, the spirit is working in us in opposition to what the flesh desires that you do. And the flesh is working against in opposition to the spirit against those things the spirit of God desires for you to do in your life.

In Romans 13:14, we learn, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, clothe yourself with Christ like a garment. This is what Paul is teaching here, using a metaphorical example here to help his readers, those in Rome, understand what he's meaning here. Put on Christ literally. [snorts] We are in Christ, but we want to be clothed with Christ Jesus. And he says to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision. In other words, don't leave an allotted opportunity what? for the flesh to gratify its desires.

In Matthew 26:41, Jesus here speaking, he's speaking to his disciples. He says, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." How many of you know that your flesh is weak? Absolutely.

Prayer and fasting, guys, have always played a vital role in the history of God's people all throughout the pages and the history of scripture. Prayer according to prayer and fasting here according to Andrew Murray. Andrew Murray was a great uh Bible teacher and preacher of old. Prayer is reaching out after the unseen. Prayer is reaching out after the unseen. Fasting is letting go of all that is seen. In other words, you could say prayer is reaching out after the spiritual. Whereas the flesh or fasting is letting go of the physical. That's really what he's saying here. Which is which is temporal. By the way, the physical realm in the world we live in, this is a temporal existence for us. We are spirits, if you will, having a physical experience. Our spirit will go on and live forever. Our bodies are temporal in that they are because of sin. They are dying. They are aging. And one day they will cease to house our spirit. We will lay them in the grave. Our spirit will go on to live. For those who are in Christ, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord Jesus Christ, according to what Paul says to the Corinthians. For those who are outside of Christ, their spirit continues to live as well. But their body, their spirit after their body is laid to rest will go to a place called Hades or the hellside of the abode of the dead. And there they will await the judgment of God which will take place after the thousand-year millennial reign of Christ. We talked about that last Sunday. So the spirit we have is immortal. It is going on forever and our bodies are just temporal. Yet the body is very significant to the point that Christ will resurrect. Every righteous and unrighteous person who has ever lived their bodies will be raised from the dead and they'll be joined with their spirit and they will continue on. This is important to know. A body yet that like of Christ is what we will have for all eternity. And uh it's important to know that the body does matter. The the whole problem that we find there's so much of this false teaching out there today and one of the greatest false teachings out there today in our time is this old old teaching coming out of gnostic belief and gnosticism teaches that the flesh is wicked and it's evil and the spirit of a man or a woman is ultimately good. And so what it teaches is the flesh is bad, the spirit is good. Therefore, what we do in the flesh really is inconsequential to the degree that the spirit itself will continue and it's good and it is those things that please the Lord. But we know that is not what scripture teaches at all. It is not true.

We understand here what we're trying to look at in this fasting and in this prayer is that what we're doing is we are depriving the flesh those things that it craves and that it wants. And when you do, I'll use this phrase, your body is going to buck the bridal off. That's what's going to happen. It will not be happy and it will be craving and desiring and you'll have effects from these things because the body is telling you, I want, I want, I want, I want, I want. And what we do in fasting is we are drawing near to God. And we desire to draw close to God for many reasons. Number one to know God more. That's the most important thing. We draw near to God in prayer and fasting, not so that I in my vanity can lose a few pounds. That's not what biblical fasting is all about. It could be though a great benefit of fasting. And we know that even the science community and the health community has already grabbed a hold of the great benefits of fasting and they promote it all the time. But that's not why we fast. We fast in order that we could draw near to God. And when we have specific things that we are seeking God for, we use this as an opportunity for us to deny the flesh and to draw near to God in the spirit. That's what we're after.

Does anybody out there have someone they know or love dearly who is outside of faith in Jesus Christ? Probably all of you know people like that, right? How desperately do you want them to know Christ? See, there's things that we need. There are all kinds of examples that we're going to look at even next Sunday uh about how and why people fasted in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. There were reasons for their fasting. And we're going to learn more about that this coming Sunday. But I I don't want to spend too much time there because we're going to get to that. But what I want you to see here, and Andrew Murray continues, "Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."

2 Corinthians, if you would turn there with me, uh 4:16-18, is a great passage that really reiterates exactly what we've been talking about here in this introduction. 2 Corinthians 4:16 through 18. If you'd like to turn there with me, you sure can. I'd appreciate that. [clears throat] Paul here says we do not lose heart though out our outer self is wasting away. Paul says we don't lose heart as a Christian because we see our outer self wasting away. Our inner self he says is being renewed day by day. That is the spirit within us. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Notice he says here in verse 18, as we look not to the things that are seen, which is the physical things that we see, but to the things that are unseen. In other words, we focus on the spiritual things that are unseen. Why is that? For the things that are seen are transient. Paul means they are passing away. But he says the things that are unseen, the spirit realm, the things of the spirit, they are eternal. They're eternal. Your flesh wants you to focus on the temporal. God in his Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit desires that we focus on not the seen things but the unseen things, the spiritual things, those things that are eternal.

Now the Hebrew word for fast or fasting if you will fast in the Old Testament it is the Greek the Hebrew word sum or ts o m is how you spell it. The pronunciation I believe is is sum. It means to abstain from food. That's what it means. And sometimes it also includes water. There are examples in the Old Testament and the New Testament where someone would refrain from food and water for a short period of time. It means to abstain from f from food. Um the strong Greek lexicon defines sum as a deliberate abstinence from food and occasionally drink undertaken to humble oneself before God, expressing repentance, intensifying prayer, grieving over sin, [snorts] seeking divine intervention. The verb appears 21 times, always portraying fasting as a god-word act that engages the whole person, body, soul, and spirit. [snorts]

The Greek word here for fast in the New Testament is naou. I think that's how you pronounce it. It means the intentional temporary abstinence from food, sometimes drink, for distinctly spiritual needs. I wanted to give you those two examples from the old and the new testament so that when we understand what true biblical fasting is. It is referring to the abstinence or the setting aside of the physical things like food or even water for a season of time in order that we would draw near to God, deliberately abstaining from these things to humble ourselves and to give an example of our extreme dependence and need for God to act and move in our life in a particular circumstance or need.

Now, in [snorts] Leviticus, if you would turn there, go all the way back in your Bibles to the to to Leviticus chapter 23, all the way back to Leviticus chapter 23. And we're going to begin looking at verse 26 in referring to the day of atonement, which was a day uh one time of year where the priests would would make sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. The people of Israel though weren't off the hook. There's something that they were involved in doing in order to consecrate themselves before God in this act whereby God would receive the sacrificial offering of an animal to atone or do away with their sins that they had committed for that year. It didn't do away with all the sin, but it atoned for that in a sense that God would receive that and they would be forgiven. And during this time of uh the day of the atonement, it says here starting in verse 26, "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying," Now on the 10th day of the seventh month," very specific time of the day of atonement. It is the day of atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation. And you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that day, for it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that day shall be cut off from his people. Now the word afflicted there um in its meaning in the Hebrew it means to humble oneself before God by fasting. We're not talking about aesthetic uh deprivation like the monks do where they just go and they put their body through all of these things thinking that somehow it's going to make them closer to God. That's not what we're talking about here. But it is depriving oneself of food in order that we could be consecrated, humble and display dependence upon God. It is getting serious about what God is doing. And we join ourselves to him not only with our hearts but with our minds and with our bodies. We join together to reach to God for those things.

Now, fasting throughout the scriptures, um, as I mentioned to you, is always speaking of food or water, and they're specific. This one here was for a day. There are other examples of fasting like Moses. He fasted for 40 days. You have Christ in the New Testament before he even began his earthly ministry. So significant is fasting that Christ before he ever began his earthly ministry was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days and for 40 nights being tempted by Satan. Fasting is critical in the life of a believer in Christ Jesus.

Now fasting is not about strong-arming God. Some people might think, well, if I do this, God has to do what I ask. No, he does not. No one strong-arms God. So fasting is not about strong-arming God or manipulating him through our physical deprivation from physical food. But rather guys, fasting is an expression of humility and dependence upon God with a desire for drawing near to God. Fasting illustrates that a Christian that as Christians we understand the importance of spiritual matters even over that of our physical matters. We deprive the body of its physical desire for food in order to focus on the things of the spirit of God. And when our flesh is fully satisfied, as I mentioned earlier, the desire for spiritual things diminish.

And Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4, when Satan [snorts] came to him and tempted him after he had fasted for 40 days, Satan comes to him with the first temptation. And here's what Satan was after. For Christ to obey him just like Adam did. And he says, "Hey, if you are the son of God, take that stone right there and turn it into bread." Satan knew Christ was hungry. After 40 days of fasting, Christ was very hungry. And what does Christ say? It is written, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Christ was demonstrating that the physical is one of those things that is necessary for us to live in in our humanity, but we can go without it and deprive ourselves of it. But the most significant thing that what Jesus is teaching is that the spiritual is far superior to the physical. And yet our body wants its physical needs always met. But if we don't starve the body of what it wants, we will never ever grow in our understanding of walking in step with the spirit of God in our life. Why? Because the spiritual is far more significant than the physical. And yet the two are intertwined together. So fasting is very important because it disciplines the body and it tells your flesh one little tiny word that it has to hear every single day. Do you know what that word is? No. It is no. How many times a day as a Christian do you have to tell your flesh no? A lot with your mind, with your eyes, with with with your body, with all of these things. You have to tell the body no over and over and over again. And those those two letters are a word that not only your young children don't like to hear, but I can promise you, your flesh absolutely despises the word no. But what we're doing is we are telling our flesh no. And we are what? Leaning and pressing into God. That's what we're after. Drawing near to God. And when we feel those feelings of hunger or during that time that we might eat that meal or those meals or that day, we with our minds begin to think clearer on the reality of why we're doing what we're doing. And we're seeking and reaching out to God for him to intervene in our life.

And let me tell you what we need in the church. We don't need more programs in the Western church. What we need is we need the power of God being manifested in our lives and in our presence. Because the church in America, frankly, to be honest with you, is doing a lot by its own power. But you can't do any kingdom work without the power of God. It won't happen. What we want as Christians is not what man can do or accomplish because there's a lot of things we can't accomplish. And when it comes to the things of the kingdom, we can't accomplish anything without the power of God. So if you have a loved one or a spouse or a dear friend who does not know Jesus Christ, you can't twist their arm enough. You can't plead with them enough. You can't even You can't do any of that enough to save them. You can't even save them yourself. You must have the power of God working through his gospel drawing them unto salvation. We need desperately in our midst for God to move in power, might, and strength. We need it. And our church is no different than any other church out there today. And it's just getting worse and worse and worse. And churches are becoming so very void of God's presence and God's power moving in their lives and in their midst. And we need it. And we don't even know how badly we need it. We desperately need this.

Now, in Genesis chapter 1, it reveals that man was created in the image and the likeness of God. We are like God, one God in three. I got ahead of myself here, but nonetheless, we are mind, soul, physical, body, and spirit. We are spiritual beings that are having a physical experience, but more often than not, we focus on the physical because it's tangible things that we see, we smell, we we can touch, we hear. All of these physical senses, if you will, are an aspect of why we are so in tune with our surroundings. But did you know those same senses are also part of our spiritual makeup? For example, when you read where Paul, excuse me, where Christ demonstrates the rich man and Lazarus when they are in the abode of the dead, do you remember all of the sensory things that were still available to those men in their spirit? Do you remember that the rich man could see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom? Do you remember that the rich man could remember his brothers on earth and he asked that Abraham would send someone to go and tell his brothers so they wouldn't have to go there? Do you remember that the rich man also was in anguish and in torment? He had physical ability to feel. He could physically see. He could All of those senses are still present in the spirit realm. Do you understand that? And what we need to do is we need to become those whose senses have been trained in the word of God and by the power of the spirit. Spiritually speaking, that's what we're after. Our physical senses are trained. We've got to train the spiritual senses as well.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 4:16-18, we already read that and I'm not going to do it again. But what we're looking at is the spiritual and the physical and how Paul really clearly states you need to be focusing on the spiritual aspect because the dimension between the physical and the spiritual is nothing. You understand that we are three-dimensional beings. That means we have the ability to actually live interact in this world primarily through the physical area of what we see. The third dimension is all we can see. But the dimension of the spirit is right with and by the physical dimension. There is a spiritual element about what is going on in this place in your life. There are spiritual beings that are interacting with your life on a weekly and daily basis. There is a spiritual war that is going on and it's being what? It is being manifested in the physical realm, but it is initiated in the spirit realm. And what we're going to learn about this prayer and fasting is that it it ties these all together as you're going to see in Daniel.

Daniel set out to pray. He knew according to what he read in scripture through Jeremiah that there was only going to be 70 years that Israel was going to be what? That they were going to be exiled, if you will. And that in 70 years God was going to bring them back to the land. And so Daniel perceiving that the time was near, he set out with 21 days of prayer and fasting, praying and asking God to act and move on his behalf. And what happens? 21 days go by and a messenger of God, an angel comes and he speaks with Daniel and he says, "Daniel, from the very moment you set your heart to understand, to seek God, God sent his message to you, but he was detained." The messenger angel was detained by the prince of Persia. That's the the demonic or the fallen angel in Satan's kingdom that is over a certain area. So we have different levels of authority in the spirit realm. And the messenger angel is coming to Daniel to bring the answer from God the moment he set his mind to understand and perceive in prayer and fasting. But yet 21 days continues and he has not yet received or heard from the Lord. And then Michael the archangel of God who is the angel of the people of Israel, the people of God. This angel, powerful archangel comes and he assists this messenger angel. And the messenger angel because of Michael coming in this battle that's going on in the unseen realm that is going on all around us every single day of our life. Every moment of your existence, this realm is right here with you. And the angel comes and brings Daniel the word from God. See, these things are happening even now for you in your life. This is why we must pray. This is why we must fast because we desperately need God to intervene in our lives. We need it desperately.

Now [clears throat] the purpose of fasting and the outcome of fasting is so powerful as I mentioned to you that Christ even fasted before he did his earthly ministry. I want you to think about just the the significance of that. He is God incarnate. And yet God incarnate who is walking in perfect submission to the will of the father to accomplish the plan that was set forth in Christ before the foundation of the world that you and I and all who would believe would be holy and blameless before God by faith in Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished and finished on the cross of Calvary in the shedding of his own blood in the offering of his own body. Jesus Christ fulfilling the will of the father before he began anything in his earthly ministry. He was led by God the spirit into the wilderness to fast and to pray. There's a lot of significance to that. If Jesus Christ did that being God incarnate, do you not realize that it's very significant for you and I to take part in this incredible opportunity of fasting and praying to God? Very much so.

Jesus was questioned about fasting in Mark 2:18-19. John, of course, the predecessor to Christ. Uh John the Baptist, he had disciples that followed him and they were preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is near and they were baptizing people there in the Jordan. Anyway, John has his his um disciples and it was noted something about John's disciples that were different from the disciples of Jesus Christ and I don't want you to misunderstand what's being done here. So, let me explain it to you after I read this. The passage is pretty self-explanatory, but let's look at it. Mark 2:18-19. Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, this is Jesus, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, which was common and ordinary, but your disciples do not fast? There was a distinct difference. And Jesus gave them this answer. This is why he said, "Can the wedding guest fast while the bridegroom is with them?" In other words, Jesus says, "I am the Messiah. I am here and my disciples are here with me." Why would the disciples need to fast if I am here in their presence with them? Why would they need to fast? God incarnate, the eternal son of God is here with them. And the spirit of God was working in Christ and around the apostles. In fact, Jesus would even send them out. And he he he actually made sure that they knew what they were to do as he blew the spirit of God upon them. And the spirit of God was with them as they would go out and these incredible miracles would be done by the hands of the apostles, not because of their own ability, but because of the power of the spirit of God working through them as they went. They had God incarnate with them. Jesus says, "Why would they fast while I'm here?" But notice what he says. As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. And then it goes on and says, "But the time is coming when they will fast." In other words, Jesus says, "When I ascend to the father, after I accomplish the work of the father in redemption, oh, these apostles of mine in my absence, they will be fasting. They'll be fasting." Jesus assumed that fasting would be a normal practice of the followers of Christ.

In fact, in Matthew chapter 6:16-18, if you'd like to turn there with me, let me show you a few things here. Just turn left just a few pages in your Bible and you'll find it. Matthew chapter 6 verse 16-18. That is if you were in Mark. If you weren't in Mark, I don't know which way you need to turn. Excuse me. I'm very excited about what our church what God will do through our church. I believe if we will get serious about about this. I'm very excited. Matthew chapter 6:16-18 Jesus said, "And when you fast, not if you fast." He says, "When you fast," here's a few things. Fasting is not about you. Notice what he says. Do not look gloomy. You know when you haven't eaten for a few days, maybe three or four or five, you're walking around at work shuffling, big old sign on your back, I'm fasting. That's not what fasting is. It is not to draw attention to you. It is for us to take attention off our flesh and to put everything we have to give attention to Jesus Christ. See, here's what he says. When you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites, which the the leaders of Israel, the Jewish leaders, trust me, they made it well known they were fasting. They wanted everybody to know how pious they were, religious people they were. I'm fasting. That's what I'm doing. Jesus says, don't do that. That's hypocritical. For they disfigure their faces and their fasting may be seen by others. The whole purpose of what they're doing is to draw attention unto themselves. Do you see the heart of that and how twisted and how wicked that really is? They're drawing attention to themselves in fasting in order to look religious and pious to others. It's not why we do it. Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." What does that mean? That means when a fellow brother or someone would come up and say, "Oh man, I know it's got to be difficult for you. How hard it must how long you fasting anyway." Wow. You what? Seriously. Wow, man. Brother, you have got some spiritual depth to you. You know what? This is kind of the talk. That was their reward. Whatever they got from a person that told them to make them feel good about what they were doing, Jesus says there's your reward for the hypocrites, that's what they got. He says that but when you fast, he says do the opposite. He says anoint your head and wash your face. In other words, clean up. And probably a lot of you ladies already do this. You put something on your face. Now, I don't put anything on my face, and it's pretty obvious, but nonetheless, he says, "Wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret." In other words, God is he's looking not at the outward act, but the heart of the individual. And God knows your heart. And if you're seeking to draw near to God, what other people think doesn't even matter. Do you see that? Doesn't matter. And then notice this. This is very important for us to get. And your father, God our father, when he sees in secret what you're doing, will reward you. I tell you what, I'd rather have God's reward than the reward of man. >> Wouldn't you? Because what we're after is there's a desperation in our life, in our heart, and we have desperation for God. No man can meet your desperation for God. No man can cleanse your soul. No man can cleanse your mind. No man can give you peace from God. No man can give you joy of the Lord. No man can reach your loved one with the gospel and change and save their life. No man can do any of those things. Only God.

Here Christ makes it clear that fasting is to be a regular practice. Fasting is not to be done to draw attention to oneself but it is a display before God of surrender and dependence upon God. We fast to draw near to God.

Now the benefits of fasting as I mentioned to you are clearly seen in the medical and the physical uh therapy world and all that goes on with that. [snorts] I want to read a quote to you by John Wesley. [snorts] He was a great preacher of old, great evangelist. "Let us beware be let us beware of fancying that we merit anything of God by our fasting." So he's cautioning us on our motive of fasting. He says, 'We cannot be too often warned of this inasmuch as a desire to establish our own righteousness. To procure salvation of debt and not of grace is too deeply rooted in all of our hearts. We all want to earn our salvation, but none no one can. We want to do works to merit God's grace and God's favor, but see, all of our works are simply just works of nothing. They're they're they're filthy rags. According to what Paul says, we cannot do works of righteousness in and of oursel. We know that. Paul says we have to be careful that we I'm excuse me, John here says that we have to be careful that we don't think that fasting somehow is going to give us a good rapport with God and make us more lovable or more likable or more acceptable to God. That's what John Wesley is trying to say. You Christian have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Not of works. [snorts] So no man can boast, but it is a gift of God. That's the beautiful part of salvation. It is a righteousness from God has been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. And by faith in him, we are forgiven and acquitted of all sin, all charges of debt, which is death. And we were what? Joined with Christ. And we have been given his imputed righteousness forever. Thank you, Christ. Thank you, God, for this truth. So, John here is just making it clear. You don't going to you're not going to merit any of this stuff from God. Fasting, he says, is only a way which God hath ordained, wherein we wait for his unmmerited mercy, and wherein without any desert of ours, he hath promised freely to give us his blessing. You know why God does that? >> [snorts] >> Because he is a good good father. He is a good good father. I don't deserve that God would answer me. I don't deserve that God would merit anything according to what I need. And yet God is such a good father that when I come to him, he graciously according to his will whatever I come and need of him. That's how good our father is.

In Mark 9, Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit. The boy's father had brought his son to meet Christ because he'd heard about the miracles that Christ was doing. His son was often attacked by this unclean spirit. By the way, this is still prominent today. People still have these unclean spirits. They're demon possession. This is real today. It still happens. You it is it is it is present in our own culture on our own city. This this is real. This father was desperate for his son because the unclean spirit this this evil spirit would come upon this boy and he would attack this boy. And so the father's going to bring his child to Christ to have his child healed from this this evil spirit. But when he comes to meet Jesus, Jesus is absent at that moment, but his disciples are there. And so he says, "Here, you're the apostles, the followers of Christ. Will you set my son free from this evil spirit?" And the father asked the disciples to cast it out. But here's something interesting. And they were unable to do it. They were unable to do it. Jesus shows up on the scene. Let's pick up the story here in Mark chapter 9:19-29. Let me read this to you. It's interesting here. The very followers, the closest ones to Christ could not deliver this young boy. From the torture that he was having from this possession of these evil spirits or this evil [snorts] spirit. Okay. In verse 19 of chapter nine here, follow along with me. And Jesus said to them, "Oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to Jesus. This is so powerful. When's the last time you've brought something that you were desperate for to Jesus? And when the spirit that is this evil spirit saw Christ immediately it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and he rolled about foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood." From childhood. And it is often, he said, cast him into fire and water. Why? To destroy him. Satan has not come to do anything but kill, steal, and destroy. We would do well as parents to be very careful what gateways we allow our children to open through what they watch and listen to. There's more going on here than meets the physical eye. Christian, be careful what you watch. Much of the Disney stuff out there is full of incantations and spells and magic. That stuff is no joke, folks. It is real. And it's nominalizing those things to your children as if they're somehow okay and innocent and harmless. The nothing could be further from the truth. This was from childhood. But if you can do anything, the father says, "Have compassion on us and help us." In other words, you got to step in here, Christ, we can't do anything about this horrible situation. Can you imagine if this was your child? [snorts] And Jesus said to him, "If you can," exclamation point, "All things are possible for one who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe, but help my unbelief." Anybody ever find yourself there? God, I believe, but Lord, please help my unbelief. Don't you love the honest sincerity of this father? I believe you can, but I think there's still a little doubt in me. So, help my unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, listen to this, you mute and deaf spirit. I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. These are the words of God incarnate, the power of our God that even the principalities and the powers of the air in heavenly places HAVE TO OBEY OUR GOD. Do you understand that they have to? He is sovereign, all powerful, omnipotent. That's who our God is. And after [snorts] crying out and convulsing him terribly, it the evil spirit came out and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples were bewildered. They came to Jesus privately. I'm sure it was a conundrum for them. I mean, they'd already been sent out. These incredible things that have happened. They've seen the miracles. They've experienced incredible things that they were even able to do by the power of the spirit of God. They were bewildered. Why in the world, Jesus, could we not accomplish this task? Look what Jesus says. This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting. Now depending on what translation you have there, your your scriptures might have just the word prayer. [snorts] There are several translations, the King James and others who have in that passage and fasting in there. The reason for that is is because some of the early manuscripts left that out, but many of them have and fasting. Isn't it interesting and how significant it really is that if prayer and fasting is required to just leave out the fasting very important it wasn't done in a wicked way but nonetheless this is important the [snorts] disciples wanted to know he told them this can only happen through prayer and fasting. There are only some things that will be accomplished when the man or woman of God prays and fasts to God.

2 Corinthians 10:4, for the weapons of our warfare, they are not of the flesh. But actually, they have divine power to destroy strongholds. No physical weapon could help that boy. Only the spiritual weaponry that we have been given, that is through faith, that is prayer, that is fasting. All of those elements are spiritual warfare, battle, armory, and gear that we have as Christians. You'll also notice in your Bibles in that passage, if you look down, there'll be a footnote there, and it'll say some uh some translations uh have the word fasting there. Just put that as a note. It will be in your Bible as a footnote. Just for those of you.

that are scratching your head going, "Well, hold on. Why is that not in there?" Well, it will be noted as a notation in a footnote for you there if you'll simply look. And it's that way in many other, not many, but some other passages. Fasting is setting aside the physical to take hold of the spiritual. Fasting is a display of the believer or the Christian's desire to diligently seek after the heart of God. It is an expression to God of our absolute and total surrender and dependence upon God. Hebrews [snorts] 11:6, "And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him." When was the last time you fasted and prayed out of desperation for God to act on your behalf or on the be on behalf of another person? [snorts] As we shall see throughout this short series, prayer and fasting moves God not because he's obligated, but because he is a good and loving father. >> [snorts] >> The Apostle Paul when he encountered Christ on the Damascus road and was stuck struck blind. You remember that encounter for those of you that are familiar with the scriptures. He was struck blind and he was led into the city there to Damascus. And scripture records that he prayed and he fasted for three days. If you were struck blind, you might fast and pray. In which during that time he sees a vision of a man named Ananas that would lay hands on him and restore his sight. And God goes and speaks to this man Anonyas as well as sending him to Paul in Acts chapter 9 1-19. I'm going to read this to you and then we're going to close for today just for the sake of time and then we'll pick up next week. [snorts]

Now this is when the apostle Paul here was actually not a follower of a of Christ but he was a persecutor of the early church. Paul was a Pharisee. He was a devout Jew. And yet he hated Christianity and the message of Christ and his gospel so very much that he would go to the leaders of Israel and he would get permission letters for him to go to different communities to the synagogue with a letter stamped from the very leaders of the nation of Israel. And he would take the letter and he would say, "I have been given permission by the letter of those who are in charge to bring back anybody who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I take them captive and prisoner at this moment and I'm going to take them back to Jerusalem where they will be tried." Let me read it to you. But Saul still breathing threats and murder. This isn't just like, "Hey, I'm going to go ahead and slap your hand for trusting in Jesus." Or maybe a little bit of just verbal persecution like you might receive here in the West. No, he's breathing out murderous threats like, "We're going to kill you. We're going to kill you. Those of you that believe in the way, Christ the truth, the way, and the life, you Jews that believe, even you Gentiles attending synagogue that have believed the gospel, still attending synagogue, we're going to get you. Oh, we're going to get you." And so he went to the high priest and he asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, [snorts] men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus. And suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." He's going to persecute people. But do you know when the people of God are persecuted, Christ is being persecuted. Why? Because people don't like you because you're because they don't like how you look or or or your person, they don't like you, Christian. Because you represent Jesus Christ. That's why they don't like you. Here's my thing. Anytime you see a preacher out there that is loved by the world, you got to ask questions because scripture says that if you love me, the world will hate you. The gospel divides, it separates it. It it is it is not something that that it actually Jesus says, "I've not come to bring peace. I've come to bring a sword." Man, if you're going to share the gospel, don't be surprised if people don't like you if you live for Jesus. And it's not because of who you are. It's because of whose you are and who he is [snorts] here. This is this truth about Paul here. And Christ comes to him and says, "You're persecuting me, Saul. Why are you persecuting me?" Listen to this. [snorts] But rise and enter the city, that is Damascus, and you will be told what to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless. They heard the voice, but they didn't see anyone. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight.

Isn't this the truth of people who are outside of Christ? Their eyes are open, but they can't see Christ. Not until Jesus Christ opens their eyes and their heart to the gospel can they believe and be saved. This is why we pray and fast for people because we know God has the power to salvation for all who will believe in the gospel. Paul here led into the city. He can't see a thing and he's supposed to wait. This is incredible. He's going to wait on God. Christian, you and I have to learn to wait upon the Lord. Wait upon God, upon God's timing, wait upon God's hand. Learn to quietly wait upon the Lord. And that is getting so hard because our minds are being rewired where we can't wait for anything anymore. We can't give our minds, our minds are so sporadic thinking. We can't get quiet before God anymore because our minds can't do that anymore. But we've got to got to we got to break free from that stuff and learn to sit quietly before God and wait upon the Lord. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That's what we need. We need God's strength for this day. I need God's direction for my day. I need God's protection for the day. I need God's provision for my day. I need God to walk with me through my day every day. >> It's what I need. And here Paul goes to the city. And here's Saul, excuse me, goes to the city. I mean, what a conundrum this guy's in. Here he's coming to persecute those who follow Christ. And Christ encounters Paul on the road, knocks him off his horse, and he is blind, and he's speechless. Can you imagine? This must have been one of the most humbling experiences of this prideful Jew thinking he was doing something so great for God and all the while he was persecuting the Messiah. Incredible.

Nonetheless, so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and for three days he was without sight, no food and no water. Now, there was a disciple named Damas in at Damascus named Ananas. Notice what all God's doing here. Paul is praying. He's fasting. And he's waiting upon God. God is now going to Ananas. This is this is incredible. This is God working in ways you and I don't see. And it's happening all around us. God is at work, Christian. Ananas and he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight." Going to give him specific directions. Oh, Paul, there's hunkered up on Straight Street. He went from the crooked path to the straight street there. That's what happened. Say that he found the narrow road that leads to eternal life. And at the house of Judas to look for a man of of Tarsus named Saul, this is what God tells Ananas. For behold, he is praying, [laughter] and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananas come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Paul's not going to have one itty bitty lack of understanding that God is the one he's dealing with because the specifics of the details.

While he's praying, God sends Paul a vision as he's waiting upon God. He's praying and he's fasting. God gives Paul the vision of the very specific things of a man coming to him by the name of Ananas, not Billy, not Herb, Ananas, and that this man would come and lay his hands on Paul and Paul would receive and regain his sight. Once again, this is how detailed our God works. And he tells Ananas to do exactly this very thing. Notice what Ananas says, though. He's heard about Paul or Saul. Lord, I have heard from many about this man. Paul Saul had a reputation and it wasn't a good one among the Christian community. It was one of fear because of what he was doing. He was zealous for this. And Paul never forgot this and called himself the least of all the apostles, the greatest of all sinners. That's what Paul said about himself. Ananas said, 'Lord, I've heard about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. Let that sink in for a minute. This guy's reputation for doing so much evil to the Christians in Jerusalem. We don't even know what all that means, but it was evil. Death and all the persec everything that they encountered, imprisonments and all that. This man here was the result of that. His zealousness and his hatred for Christ, the gospel, thinking it was against God. And here he has authority, already received ears to Ananas. He heard this. He's re received authority from the chief priest um [snorts] in Jerusalem um to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, listen to this, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for my sake and for my name." So Ananas departed and entered the house. And laying hands on him, he said, "Brother Saul, isn't that awesome? Aren't you glad that you can go from a persecutor of Christ to a brother in Christ just by faith in Jesus Christ? He doesn't hold anything against Saul here. He doesn't hold his past or his very present motive of what he came to do. He knew that po Paul or Saul had come to experience and know the true redeemer Jesus Christ. And he says this to him. He lays his hand on him and he says, "Brother Saul or brother Saul, ain't that interesting? Aren't you glad that God washes our sin away that we don't have to be known by who we were as the old man, but now we've been born again by the spirit of God. All things have become new. And you can be known as a child of God, a son of God, daughter of God, and a brother and sister in Christ to all who are in the family." >> Isn't that good news? So good.

He says, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Wow. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized and taking food. He's done fasting. It's time to celebrate and party now. He was strengthened for some days. He was with the disciples in Damascus. What a beautiful story of God's redemptive work in the lives of people. All right, I'm going to have to close today. We'll continue next week as we look at more what scripture teaches about the significance of prayer and fasting. Could you lay pastors please come forward and you elders please? [snorts] Christian, is there anything in your life that you desperately need God for? Is there anything that you know that you are asking God to accomplish in your life or the life of your son or your daughter or your wife or your husband or your relative or a coworker and you desperately are seeking God that he would be a provisionary person, the provisionary one that would come and do this in their life? Do you have a son or a daughter that is astray and not living for the Lord? They're living in sin and they're outside of God. Do you really desperately know the only means of their salvation is truly through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ? You've done everything you can do. You've been praying and you've been asking, but there's not been a change in their life. Maybe you're sick and you're you're struggling with some health issue. I don't know what your issue or your problem may be. Maybe you've just drifted so far away from God and you need to draw near to God. If you do today, I want to invite you as we close in prayer to come forward and to receive prayer this morning and ask and pray and just visit with one of our leaders this morning and have them pray with you about this and let's see what God will do through these situations in your life. If that's you this morning, I want to invite you as we close in prayer to come forward. But I'm going to go ahead and close us in prayer.

If you're here today, listen, you're just a religious person. You came this morning, you weren't even thinking much about it. But God has spoken to your heart just like the the Saul this morning. And he's drawing you to salvation today. Dear sir and ma'am, don't wait. Don't put it off. Today's the day of salvation. If you need someone to talk to about salvation, we are here to do that this morning. Let's close in prayer. And you guys that need to pray, come forward. We want to pray with you. We're going to enter into this time of fasting and prayer starting August 2nd. But I don't want to wait now. Let's start now. Let's start praying now. Let's start seeking the Lord right now as we are here today. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, Lord God, we love you this morning. [snorts] Lord, we are desperate for you, God. We don't even know how desperate we are for you because we become so cold and indifferent, Lord, in so many areas of our life. Oh God, in these days, these last days, these difficult times, Lord, we desperately need you, God, working mightily through our life. God, we all have people that we love and we know and we work with. People that we interact with on a weekly basis that we know, God, are not [snorts] followers of you. Those that are outside of the saving gospel faith, Lord, they've never been born again. They're religious people. They believe in God, many of them, but God, they don't know you. And Lord, we know that God, if they were to die today, Lord, there would never be a second chance for them to come to saving faith. Lord, I pray, God, that you would move and work in power and might, Lord, in those people's lives. And God, [snorts] we need to learn to be still and quiet before you, Lord. God, I thank you for every person that is here this morning, those that are watching, and those that are listening this morning. God, I thank you, Lord, that your Holy Spirit's power is not limited by anything we can, Lord, your word is true and it's living and it's alive, God. And I pray this morning that it will penetrate the hearts of your people and the minds of your people. And if anyone is in this place or listening or watching this morning that doesn't know you, I ask, Lord, God, you'd draw them to salvation today. That they would repent of their sin, they would turn to Christ and believe upon his finished work on the cross of Calvary, Lord. And today they could be born again and saved and brought into those who are of the people of God. Lord, I thank you for that. Lord, you're so good and you're so gracious. Father, we give you thanks. In Jesus name we pray and ask these things. Amen. You all have a wonderful week. If any of you