Fasting Unto God - Matthew 6:16-19

Well, good morning. My name is Mike.

For any of those of you who I've not met one of the pastors here

and let me just start off here this morning with our our

passage that we are in in Matthew 6 verses 16 through 18,

Matthew 6:16–18

it says and when you fast, do not look gloomy like the

hypocrites, for they just figure their faces that they're fasting

may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you that they

have received their reward, 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.

Now, if you have not been with us for the last couple weeks,

we've been going through these passages in the Sermon on the

Mount where Jesus has been repeatedly hammering home this

idea of doing these different elements of our worship and of

our Christian walk with sincerity and not doing it in a

hypocritical way. He spoke about giving from a

place of genuine generosity. He spoke about prayer, not doing

it in a way that makes us the center of attention, but makes

God the focus of our attention. And today he's telling us not to

fast like hypocrites. So before we dig into the right

and right, excuse me, the right and wrong way to fast unto God,

I think we ought to make sure that we're on the same page

about what it is. So what is fasting all about?

Often if we think about fasting, we think of going without food

for a period of time. Which is pretty accurate, right?

If you were to Google fasting though, you'd find a list of of

different types of fasting and and different reasons why people

fast. Sometimes people do it for

weight loss, sometimes they do it in in preparation for an

upcoming surgery. They do it to detox from from

drugs. We hear about hunger strikes for

political reasons. Even in the correction system,

prisoners will will go without food.

They'll refuse food in protesting the way that they're

treated or or something like that.

But most often when we think of fast, they're they're related to

religious purposes. Muslims have they they fast

intermittently one month a a year when they celebrate

Ramadan. Mormons have a a fast offering

the first Sunday of the month, and Catholics observe Lent.

Lent is a period of fasting and and prayer and repentance

observed prior to Easter weekend, primarily by Catholics,

but also by some Protestants as well.

And it's a it's a liturgical or or a worship tradition, though,

rather than a biblical mandate. And they generally it's done for

40 days to represent the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness

where he fasted and was tempted. Often times, like if you if you,

you might, you might only have experienced this by seeing it

like on TV or something. But often times Catholics might

rub ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead on Ash

Wednesday to observe the beginning of Lent, a sign of

mourning. And most often, the focus of

fasting is on the giving up of food.

But for true biblical fasting, the up of food is only the means

of accomplishing the actual goal, which is aligning

ourselves with the will of God, a way of demonstrating to God

that it is Him alone that we rely on for our needs.

By taking our eyes off of the things of this world, we can

more successfully turn our attention to Jesus.

So while we fast, it should be understood that we would be

devoted though to prayer for that alignment that goes hand in

hand with it. And here's an example of it.

In Judges 20 verses 26 through 27, it says Then all the people

Judges 20:26–27

of Israel, the whole army went up and came to Bethel and wept.

They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until

evening and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings

before the Lord. And the people of Israel

inquired of the Lord. So in this case they were

seeking God's excuse me, they were seeking God's guidance on

whether to to wage a battle or not.

But if, if our if, if our hearts are truly humbled, the prayer

that accompanies fasting would be heartfelt and and and

provocative, right? Praying for praying fervently

for someone else or praying fervently for rescue or for

guidance in a difficult time. Like we see this example here in

in Judges. Biblically there are three types

of fasting that that we that we can look to in in scripture.

Partial fast, a regular fast and an absolute fast.

A partial fast means going out certain types of food and drink.

An example of that is in Daniel chapter 2 and it and it says in

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

those days I, Daniel was mourning for three weeks.

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I

anoint myself at all for the full 3 weeks.

And then there's a regular fast which is going without food or

drink except for water. Now let me just explain that I

can't find any examples of that kind of a fast in scripture.

However, sometimes scholars will point to Luke 4 when Jesus is in

the in the wilderness being tempted because scripture says

that he he went without food and that he was hungry.

It doesn't specifically say he went without water and that he

was thirsty. And so sometimes people will

consider that an example of a of a regular fast of going without

food or drink except for water. The the third one is an absolute

fast which which is going without any food or drink.

An example of that happens in in Ester chapter 4 and it says and

hold the fast on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three

days, night or day, right. And now I don't know if any of

you guys, my son and I, we watch like these survival shows all

the time and that kind of thing. And if you ever watch those,

you'll hear them say that the, you know, human body can go

three days without water, right? And so we kind of know that that

in in this, you know, going three days or nights might be

the extent of how long they could possibly go with an

absolute fast of no food or or drink.

However, in Exodus 34, we see an example of of Moses who fasts

for 40 days with no food or water, which we would know then,

if you pay attention to survival shows is physically impossible.

Meaning that he had some other means of sustenance from

somewhere else. He had a supernatural

sustenance. Now biblical fasting is simply

going without food or drink for the purpose of aligning oneself

with God. But can we?

Can we fast things other than food?

We do see biblical examples of things that people go without in

similar fashion and for similar reasons to husbands and wives

just talking about sex within marriage.

In First Corinthians 7 it says do not deprive one another

except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that you may

devote yourselves to prayer but then come together again so that

Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

So this is very similar to the fasting from food in that the

purpose is to devote yourself to prayer to your relationship with

God. Another example happens in

Daniel 618 where it says that the king fasted and went without

entertainment and sleep. So while these are not, these

two examples here are not a true fast, they, they are perhaps an

alternative for, for, you know, somebody maybe with, with health

issues. I, I, I automatically think of

somebody who's, who's diabetic, right?

Something, something like that. There is still room to give

things up for the purpose of aligning ourselves with God.

That's why I've included that here.

So while biblical fasting is specific to food and drink, each

of those examples of of faster excuse me of of alternative

fasts is going with going without this over here the sake

of reliance on and focus on God. But we don't want to focus on

the what here though and disregard the why.

One of the, I think, I don't think I included this as a, as a

slide in here, but one of the commentaries that I was looking

at and I didn't write down which one it was.

It, it says in addition to abstaining from food, people

were to humble themselves by praying, mourning and wearing

sackcloth. So that's the purpose, right?

The besides the no food thing, this is about praying and

mourning and humbling ourselves before God.

That's the idea. And, and, and so we should know

that there is an expectation that we will fast in that, in

that first verse or the first passage that I read that we're

studying today twice in that Jesus says, when you fast,

right? And then in Matthew 9, verse 14,

Matthew 9:14

it says, then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do

we and the Pharisees fast? But your disciples do not fast.

And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as

the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the

bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast.

So he's clearly saying that after he dies in a sense to

heaven, his disciples will fast in mourning the goal.

And, and what Jesus expects from his followers is, is, is

contrite, humble, broken hearts longing for him and for a

closeness with him. And so our main, our main idea

here today is fasting is something God expects you to do,

not to impress people or to manipulate God, but to align

ourselves with him as we are nourished by him.

But he told us not to do it like the hypocrite.

So let's get into that. That's our our first point here

today is is don't use fasting as a means of looking Christian and

and and back to our verse 16. It says and when you fast, do

not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure

their faces that they're fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

Now, what do I mean by look Christian?

Well, in this context, it's like it's wearing an, an aura sort

of, of, of exhausted service or personal sacrifice for the

purpose of compelling admiration or compassion or, or something

like that. And, and as I was writing this,

I, I was trying to think of an example.

Maybe this will connect with you.

But I, I picture like the like the millionaire politician or

CEO that puts on the hard hat and the brand new leather work

gloves and, and the shiny perfect shovel, right?

And, and they, they go and they take the groundbreaking picture

where they stick it into the ground and they pose, right?

They're not going to do one second of actual labor on that

project, but they want it to here as though they are right.

Sometimes this is the art of, of looking like a victim, looking

like a overburdened servant for the sake of attention.

This is something that we see all over these days the the

hearty embrace of of victimhood. If if we were on a college

campuses talking about that we hear the word intersectionality

or or this like I said, this overburdened servanthood.

And again on a on a college campus, we would hear the word

proletariat, meaning the poor and abused working class right.

These these positions are embraced to engender an

emotional response. Augustine, excuse me, Augustine

said. Vainglory can find a place not

only in the splendor and pomp of worldly wealth, but even in the

sordid garment of sackcloths as well.

It is then all the more dangerous because it is a

deception under the pretense of service to God.

So, you know, today we might, you know, we might call this

person a drama queen or something like that.

But as Augustine said, it's it's actually dangerous because it's

dishonesty in our relationship to God.

Using fasting as a time to promote your, your piety seems

to have been common during biblical times as it is in, you

know, these days as well. A couple weeks ago we saw in

Luke 18, we saw the Pharisee that we referenced about the

wrong way to pray. If you remember that, that

message, this Pharisee that that prays loudly on the street

corner out loud about how he fasts twice a week, right he

was. He was doing that out loud,

talking about his fasting to try to engender a response from the

people who who heard him rather than then then simply speaking

to to God. And we can clearly see that that

God wanted fasting to be done in the right way and for the right

reasons. We see in Isaiah 58 the the the

people are are complaining. They say, why have we fasted?

And you see it not Why have we humbled ourselves?

And you take no knowledge of it. And the response they get from

God is behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own

pleasure and oppress all your workers.

Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a

wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will

not make your voice to be heard on high.

When you fast this way to be noticed by others, Jesus says

you have you have received your reward already.

God doesn't even take notice. It bears no eternal consequence

or or blessing. We've all heard that, you know,

that cliched saying or quip or whatever about material

possessions and the fact that we can't take them with us right

when we when we die. And that's a very good point.

And, and I'll bet that we all probably believe it, but I don't

know that we really apply it to our attitude toward eternity,

Charles Spurgeon said. He said to live for the sake of

growing rich is a gilded death in life.

That could be that could just as easily be said about growing

popular or or being well liked. Now, we've talked about that

dynamic a few times over the last few weeks.

That that when when we do the things that God tells us to do

for the applause and the admiration of people, he says

that's all the reward that we'll ever get.

And that reward doesn't last long.

So it might sound like we're harping on it, but Jesus

repeatedly hits on this on this theme.

So we can assume that that means that it's very important.

Now the non Christian world, would you know, often accuses

Christians of of being hypocrites because they believe

that we're not following through on living out the life that we

call others to live. Jesus doesn't though, often call

his disciples hypocrites. He usually uses that term for

for for the Pharisees and for the religious zealots for his

disciples. Jesus often uses terms like

babes or or sheep, right? Words that carry a certain

connotation of of immaturity and vulnerability and even our

proclivity to wander. So in this verse, a few times in

the Sermon on the Mount and and often elsewhere, Jesus is

telling his disciples not to look like the world.

Don't follow the world's ways. Don't let the culture be your

guiding influence. Jesus doesn't call his beloved

disciples hypocrites, but he certainly warns us not to be

hypocrites. And we need to hear this point

hammered home repeatedly because Jesus.

Jesus was serious about his warning to us on this.

Each of us needs to take this to heart, to look genuinely inward

at our own reasons for why we do the things that we do, to cut

out those worldly and and selfish and entitled motives

that are driving our behaviors and strive diligently to be more

like Jesus every day. We have to call ourselves out

where we are hypocrites and we need to be in close loving

relationship with each other so that we can offer and receive

accountability. That's what discipleship is.

Iron sharpening iron. We hear right from from

scripture. This is why scripture makes it

clear that church isn't optional for us.

Paul called out the In Galatians 2, Paul called out the apostle

Peter for hypocrisy. Can you guys cycle that?

Mine's not working. Paul calls out the apostle Peter

for hypocrisy not because he wanted to humiliate Peter, but

because Paul's heart was inclined more towards Jesus than

to Peter. But he he loved Peter as a

brother Christian enough to speak truth into his his life.

Right. That was up there for a second,

but it's gone in Galatians 2 verses 11 through 14, it says,

Galatians 2:11–14

But when Cephas that's that's Peter, his his other name.

When when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his

face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from

James he was eating with the Gentiles.

But when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing

the circumcision party, and the rest of the Jews acted

hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was was

led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their

conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to

Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a

Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to

live like Jews? To sum that up, Peter believed

and he was a, he was a Christian and he beliefs in a certain way.

But when a certain crowd came around, when, when the public,

when, when, when those outside, you know, people in his life

were around, he changed his, his behavior and he didn't conduct

himself like, like a, like a Christian.

And Paul calls him out on that. We can be hypocrites.

When it's worldly motives that drive our behaviors and we're

hypocrites when we manipulate how and why we fast.

A few minutes ago we saw from Isaiah 58 that God doesn't hear

our prayers when we approach fasting like the world would,

right? So we don't use fasting to

simply look Christian, but we do it to please God and because it

embodies what followers of Christ actually do.

And here's how Isaiah 58 continues with God's response in

verses 6 through 9. This is this is God's response.

Is this not the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of

wickedness to under, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the

oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the

homeless poor into your house when you see the naked, to cover

him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh, continues

on and says, Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily.

Your righteousness shall go before you.

The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry and

and he will say here I am. So if we don't fast to look

Christian and to to use the hardship of it to serve as a

demonstration of our works, then why do people do it?

That's our our second point here today, which is we fast to align

with God through his fulfilling us and our our other two verses

in our passage today, 17 and 18, say, 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.

Again, fasting isn't commanded, but it is something God expects

us to do right here. It says, but when you fast

right, we can see that. So remember, fasting is done to

align ourselves with God, something that His followers

would do by definition, right? That's what Christ's follower

means. So of course He would expect us

as professing believers to fast without having to command it.

Now let me just take a second and step out of here for a

second and say that here in a couple weeks we have the

opportunity to set ourselves up to really get the most, I think,

out of our upcoming sermons. Again, God expects us to fast.

So my suggestion today, it's just a suggestion it to this

church body is that each of us would commit to fasting sometime

before or or right after Thanksgiving to really take the

time to pray and to seek the, the, the face of God in our

lives. Now that could be an absolute

fast. This is why I explained the

different types before. It could be an absolute fast.

It could be a partial fast, but I believe that participating in

a fast will help you have a better perspective of the

blessings of God that we celebrate on Thanksgiving and

the anticipation of the coming Messiah that we'll learn about

all through December leading up to Christmas.

So that's what that's what I guess my challenge is, and my

suggestion is to you is to is to join me in committing to that

sometime before or after Thanksgiving.

And remember, we don't need to make a big deal about it

outwardly, right? Here's what I mean.

This passage goes on and says anoint your head and wash your

face. See, Jesus is telling us that

when we do things to align ourselves with with God, we

should go about it as though it is it it, it's completely

natural, even with even through hardship.

Now this doesn't mean that we can't show signs of hardship,

right? Like emotion and exhaustion.

After all, weariness and and pain and hurt are real and

you're allowed to be human. It just means that we don't wear

the mask of martyrdom in in doing it.

Remember that that word hypocrite in our passage?

Eric talked about this a couple weeks ago.

He broke it down for us and and explained that that word means

an actor in a play. We are supposed to refrain from

acting it up and and making it something that it isn't.

When we do things for other people, serving, giving, helping

them move, we need to avoid projecting our burden onto other

people to evoke their sympathies and compassion and generosities.

We are. When we're asked to serve others

at church, we need to avoid complaining about how much of an

inconvenience it is to you. 470 years ago, two men that were

part of the Reformation, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley,

were arrested for their biblical preaching and sentenced to death

in October 1555. They were tied to a stake and

the fires beneath beneath it were lit and as the flames began

to grow Hugh Latimer spoke to his his Co defendant saying be

of good comfort Master Ridley and play the man.

We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England

as I trust shall never be put out now.

I'm not attempting to make little of the hardships and the

exhaustion and the time that any of you deal with in your service

to each other. But I think we can all admit

that none of us should view our hardships as significant as as

those of like these two men. But we might complain a bit more

than they did, right. I mean, I could kind of imagine

sitting down with Latimer and Ridley one day in eternity.

And as they go to retell this, this story, I'm going to add

something like, yeah, I can relate.

I got asked to serve in kids church twice one month, right?

Like, it's just, it doesn't, it doesn't quite compare.

We, we can, we can do things to grow closer to God and to serve

one another without need to over exaggerate our, our effort or

our burden. Now that isn't all that

different from what we've seen in in the the previous passages

in this chapter either. All right.

First we learned about giving without public applause and then

on praying to God and not in a way to impress people.

And then Paul said something very similar in Colossians 3

Colossians 3:23

verses 23 and 24. He said, whatever you do, work

heartily As for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the

Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ very evident in this sermon on

the mount. But really throughout his

ministry, Jesus reminded his followers to examine their

hearts and their motives right. He said he he he said stuff

like, are you actually following me or just trying to look the

part? He gave them these these lessons

that help them to see that their motives were often aimed at

impressing themselves and other people rather than to glorify

God and to experience the blessing of growing closer to

Jesus. And that goes for us too.

But by anointing our heads and washing our faces, as the

Scripture says we are, we are presenting ourselves as a people

who are not worried about their physical sustainment because our

eyes are locked on Jesus. Anointing your head and washing

your face were were these. They were basic normal practices

of hygiene. He's saying go about your

business as usual. Although we don't see anything

that that forbids fasting still today in the Bible, we certainly

see that if we do it, we are supposed to do it without

drawing attention to ourselves in the process.

Here's what it comes down to. The reason why Christians are

able to avoid focusing on the need for for physical

sustainment is not because they're impervious to hunger or

starvation, but because we know that our ultimate sustenance

comes from Jesus. And I think that's why true

biblical fasting is about food and not some of those other

things that we talked about giving up.

So why is fasting about food? What does food do in our lives

that makes it get in the way of our relationship with God?

Why is food used as a means of, of controlling and, and tempting

people? We see this example throughout

scripture from the very beginning, right?

It was, it was, it was food. It was the, the, the fruit of

the tree of the garden that Eve was tempted with and that Adam

was was tempted with as well, right?

Whether that was an apple or a pear or whatever, we don't know,

but it was a, it was food there in the, in the garden.

When Jesus is in the wilderness and he's tempted by Satan, one

of the ways that Satan tries to tempt him is with food.

Jacob and Esau. Esau gives up his birthright to

his brother for basically a bowl of soup.

And how about in in the the Exodus we see often Israel, who

has been miraculously delivered from from slavery out of the

hands of Egypt over and over and over, miraculously delivered.

And it seems like every time they get hungry, they get ticked

off. They start to moan and groan and

complain and they think about going back into slavery.

The sin of gluttony. Now I know this isn't a sermon

about about gluttony, but the sin of gluttony is often thought

of as excessive eating. But it's it's it's really not

about how much food someone consumes or how big the person

is or how many people. John convinced to bring stuff to

the Christmas party on the 14th of December.

Make sure and sign up in the back.

Gluttony is about seeking ultimate satisfaction in

primarily from food rather than God.

It's often associated in scripture with the sin of

drunkenness, which is which is, you know, often self medicating

through problems rather than trusting Jesus.

Fasting is about food because food is something our natural

bodies demand for survival, whereas sex and entertainment

and rest aren't. We fast.

We fast food because we are intentionally going without

something that we instinctively know that we must have for

survival and forcing ourselves to rely on Jesus who actually

provides us with our sustenance. Last week Eric shared this this

passage. We'll read it again.

It says and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with

man out which you did not know, nor did your father's know that

he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone,

but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the

Lord. See, it's the word of God that

truly sustains the the the ESV church history study Bible

commentary said it's going there to the word of God.

It's going there for food, for life, guidance, for comfort, for

authority, for strength, for all.

In short, that the soul can possibly need from first to

last. Now This is why perhaps maybe

you've heard of of Jesus referred to as the bread of

life, right? Jesus isn't just the bread of

life because it's a catchy thing to say.

He is the bread of life in the sense that he nourishes people

spiritually and satisfy satisfies the deep spiritual

longings of their of their souls.

He is spiritual comfort food now, especially over the last

weeks months, but but you know even even longer than that.

Some of you have told me that you started coming to church or

or that you wanted to to know more about God because you felt

some deep spiritual longing that you wanted to explore right,

that you're that you're hungry for now just before this passage

that I have here on the screen, Jesus, he feeds the 5000 right?

And then the next day these these same people come back to

him seeking more. And and when they come back

seeking more, we see in verse 32.

Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, or I lost my page truly,

truly. I say to you, it was not Moses

who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you

the true bread from heaven for the bread of, of God is he who

comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

And and these people that are standing there talking to him,

they're like, well, give us some of that bread, that true bread

then, right? They they want that.

And Jesus continues on in in verse 35 says Jesus said to

them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not

hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

So we know when we see that, we know that people who trust in

Him will not hunger. That is their spiritual longing

to know. God will be satisfied.

But like Jesus said, not everyone will receive this

message. Not everyone will seek after Him

and therefore many won't find him.

I want you to know today that like John mentioned earlier in

the assurance of pardon verses that he read, if you repent your

sins and trust in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your

sins, He will forgive them. In Luke 11, verse nine through

10 says, and I tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and

you will find knock and it will be opened to you for everyone

who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one

who knocks, it will be open. And guys, as we close here

today, it might be the first time that you've ever heard

that. And if that's the case, then

perhaps today is a is a great day for you to go fast to, to

set aside food for the sake of reliance on Jesus for your

nourishment. And don't just go on a diet, but

pray. Go into it as an act of

contrition, of of remorse for the sinful life that you have

led, and mourn the fact that you have chosen a life of of seeking

after your own interests and ignoring God's will.

But don't rest in that shame. Let the Spirit convict your

heart to change. Trust in the Holy Spirit to

create something new in you. And He is faithful to forgive.

You can experience the grace of God that you've never known.

See, fasting isn't about giving up food.

Fasting is about aligning our will with God's will,

sacrificing the things that in our humanity we find ourselves

so reliant upon so that we remind ourselves that it is

Jesus alone that we actually are nourished and sustained by.

You guys pray with me, Lord, God, I, I stand here, Lord, just

humbled by your goodness and the fact, Lord, that you give us

these ways to, to to reset, to realign our hearts with you.

And Lord, you are so faithful in in that your teaching is good

and it works. And, and so every Time, Lord,

that we listen to you, we, we experience your, your goodness,

not necessarily in, in a tangible way in our, in our life

that we see, but Lord in, in, in becoming new.

We are blessed in the fact that, that your word cuts us so deeply

and that it gets in there and it helps us to, to realign.

And so, Lord, as we, as we contemplate fasting, if we, if

we as a church body can contemplate fasting as we, as we

go into this holiday season, Lord, I just ask that you would

hear our, our contrite and humble prayers, Lord, as we,

maybe we're doing something we've never done before in, in

fasting way. But Lord, we ask that you would

hear our our hearts, that you would hear our prayers and that

and that as we humble ourselves, Lord, that you would be faithful

to to continue to make those those changes in us to help us

to realign to the place where we are, where we are are more

closely following you and glorifying you and emulating you

so that we could share you with with a a, a lost and broken

world. Lord, and and we know that the

the more we come in line with you, Lord, with our hearts, we

know that the the more that the world is is blessed because they

hear your story. And we know that your your your

word doesn't come back void. So, Lord, we just ask that you

would. Do at work in us as we meditate

on your word this week as we as we take to these verses that

we've looked at and we study them and and we and we chew them

up and and and they do the work in our lives and change us.

We hope that this has glorified you Lord, and sing give you this

last song for your glory in Jesus name, Amen.