THE SECRET LIFE: FASTING| SUNDAY 6TH APRIL | PS PAUL MILLER

how good is it church how good why don't

you grab a seat

there while

I very delicately dry my eyes and

pretend I wasn't crying at

all you know I've never once cried when

I've uh broken my collarbone smashed

four

ribs dislocated my my

ankle snapped my thing i've cut my

finger completely

off never once

cried coming to worship oh I'm a mess so

manually isn't it it's all good i uh I

am so glad you guys are here today i I

if you guys don't know what we're

preaching on it's uh it's pretty cool uh

I I am like the rest of us parents here

who want to be in the next room uh who

with our kids because they are feasting

over there and uh as a church uh we're

going to be talking about fasting in

here so it's just so it's okay parents

if you need to check on your kid this

morning it's all right i I encourage you

guys it's going to be so cool out there

super Sunday i know Hannah and the team

have just uh done a phenomenal job there

i know your kids will come back

hopefully absolutely i'm going to pro

proclaim this full of sugar full of full

of just a joy and there's an excitement

about how fun church can be and all that

sort of stuff so it is so good to have

you guys along here nathan can I D can I

have a crunchy is there a crunchy now we

had uh we had a we had the men's golf

day yesterday guys i think there's some

photos going to come up here now if you

guys haven't heard the newsletter I

won I won a prize

i won a prize for losing the most golf

balls and poor we've got to give it up

for a young man in this church who is

not a great youth leader he is an extra

extraordinarily extraordinarily patient

young man who knows how to play golf and

was doing his best to try to try help me

with my game i literally lost three

balls in the first hole i I I think I it

wasn't my worst game i only lost 10

balls in this game so it it's it's I'm

getting better i am getting better last

time I played was 15 so I am getting

better but uh we've got to give it up

for uh Reese where's Reese over here

reese is just fantastic he uh he is uh

he is the next Tiger Woods in my book he

was he was so patient he was trying to

teach me he's like further back closer

in out open left right he's like He

tried to use building analogies and

nothing worked he was he got Adam from

from lower to higher i don't No I just I

seem to be like just tanking the whole

game but it was such a fun day uh that

for Eley and Malcolm and Tony they did a

fantastic job hosting us it was so cool

now I know you guys all want to get on

it next year so next year we will be

making this an annual thing it was

absolutely beautiful day of just lots of

fun and guys being guys there was not

one single piece of lettuce to be found

uh in our steak sandwiches there was

just carbs and protein so it was a great

day and so yes uh if you have uh if

you're new here hey welcome it's so good

to have you guys along here to to Elim

Church and if you are returning you've

been away for holiday or something like

this we um as a church we are going

through Lent and Lent is a is a season

of time 40 days before Easter 46

actually 40 days before Easter uh where

we we give up something in our lives

maybe it's food maybe it's social media

maybe it's alcohol something like we

give up something and we we pick up some

some more time with God we are real

intentional with our time with God so as

a church we've been going through this

Lent season and who's you don't enjoy

Lent let's be honest who's getting

something out of Lent though i think you

know you guys can get some cool hands

that's that's fantastic guys and for

those who who aren't on the bandwagon

it's okay it's like sometimes when you

give up something it just makes you

angry and and all that sort of stuff i

get it i do get it so but as a as a

church it's not too late you've got one

more week two more weeks before Easter

so feel free to enter into this weekend

hey we've been centering uh these sort

of practices or that the that the the

secret life that Jess started four or so

weeks ago around Matthew 6 if you guys

have got your Bibles why don't you turn

to Matthew 6 that would be fantastic and

I'm just going to quickly go through so

we've had uh Jess kicked us off with the

the the the secret life which is so

beautiful her her sermon uh and then we

had uh Pastor Aaron who has been uh who

is uh sort of taking us through the

first part which is sort of giving to

the needy it's the giving of arms and it

says but but when you give to the needy

do do not let your left hand know what

your right hand is doing and so that

what you are giving may be in secret

then your father who sees what is in

secret we reward you then in prayer

Aaron last week sort of shared through

this and what a great message it was

it's all available on YouTube too for

those who are missing and for those that

are online uh under toaim church but you

go prayer when it says in verse I think

it's uh six it goes when you pray go

into your room close the door and pray

to your father who is unseen then your

father who sees what is done in secret

will reward you and I I we come to the

last part of this and if you don't know

Matthew 6 is one of them uh sort of uh

only times Jesus gets very practical

with his uh teaching on disciplehip and

how you do a lot of the time Jesus used

illustrations or parables or uh sort of

other ways but this is a very practical

teaching Jesus does in sort of Matthew

456 and we come here to our verse this

morning which is Matthew chapter

Matthew 6:16

6 verse 16 hopefully you guys have got

Bibles or an app or something like that

open that would be fantastic because you

never know if I've copied and pasted

correctly behind

us you guys are good you got you guys

got it i know you're probably reading

this this the screen behind me that's

okay but it's good to have them in front

of you so that you can highlight or

screenshot or whatever you guys are

going to do because this is this is the

words of Jesus in verse 16 when you fast

do not look somber as the hypocrites do

for they disfigure their faces to show

others they are fasting truly I tell you

they have received their full reward but

when you fast put oil on your head and

wash your face so that it will not not

be obvious to others that you are

fasting but only to your father who is

unseen and your father or who is unseen

and your father who sees what is done in

secret will reward you i don't know

about you i don't know what your

experience with fasting is maybe you

hate it maybe you uh uh just don't want

to go there maybe you're like me looking

for a loophole in the system uh maybe

you uh have tried it once and it made

you more angry than you ever want to be

in your life maybe your family has

stopped you fasting because you become

horrible to be around i I don't know

your your your experience of fasting but

I would just say to to this morning can

you just open your hearts and sort of uh

put those feelings or those experiences

aside and see what and I want to take us

through what the Bible should do in our

lives when we go into fasting so that'll

be cool so my fasting journey uh I think

the first time I sort of really got

serious around fasting was when I was 18

years old i was in a second year

apprentice builder I think I was and I I

was a youth leader at my church and I

was I was in some in some sense I was

doing well in life but I just had this

internal frustration with my life and

where I was I I I don't know how to

describe it i I I I guess Romans or

Paul's words were I was doing what I

don't want to do and I wasn't doing what

I wanted to do do you know what I mean

those words there and I had this

frustration and I was I was finding

things in my heart that were not only my

sinful nature but there was there was

hints of arrogance seeping into my life

there was hints of being angry or uh

being mean or or there were things like

I was treating people poorly who I

should not be treating poorly and there

were look there was a myriad of other

things we could be forever in my heart

but I I just found in my life and and 18

years old I was like I'm just frustrated

because I want to be who God tells me to

be but I feel like I'm stuck where I am

because of what my what's going on in my

heart and I I I I don't know about you

but I thought pray like fasting was like

Monopoly get out of jail free card you

know it's like when you get stuck in

jail you can throw this bad boy down and

you can get out of there free you don't

have to pay the $200 or whatever it is

to get out of jail or it's like katan

who's my katan you guys play guitar out

there there's that car that goes you can

move the robber so you can move when you

when you get stuck there's that's what I

sort of thought fasting was for a little

bit it was like this in case of

emergency break the glass when all

hell's going wrong that's what you do

you add fasting to your life and somehow

miraculously things just work out but

let's be honest that's not how it sort

of started i mean how it really was so

in my heart I said I'm going to start

I'm going to do 6:00 Thursday night to

Friday Friday Friday 6:00 so I'm going

to do 24 hours cuz I was the

man some of you are laughing because it

is I remember the first day the first

day I did this the tempter the devil

comes at smoke time 10:00 bringing and

guess who guess who my tempter was she

doesn't even know this i don't even know

if she knows this the tempter was

actually Darwin Miller down here she was

you can't believe it though her smile

her radiance her love her ability to

worship but that day she was the

temptation of the devil she brought in

halfway through my first far my first

fast when as you build it like you're

you're calorie deficient man i was

lifting jib all day and I was sweating

and drinking warm tap water it's just

you know headachy no energy you just

want to like you just want to curl up

into a ball and Hawan comes in from the

bakery you guys you got to understand

this like I had not eaten for 12 hours

she comes in with the bakery with not

just anything but the greatest

donuts soft

warm smelling like cinnamon donuts and

she walks in and and she had enough for

all the six or so guys that were there

and at that moment I was like "Father

forgive me." It's like and I I I I

actually sort of forgot because it was

so good the temptation was so good i

lifted the donut got it to my hand got

it to my mouth and I stopped and I

realized what I was doing and uh I put

the donut down i said "Daran you better

buy me another one another day but not

today." And it's funny that isn't it

it's you take a step of faith your

beautiful sister-in-law uh brings on

something delicious

and uh can I just say I probably should

say this is what define what what actual

biblical fasting is it is abstaining

from uh food and sometimes water for a

period of time for the reason of drawing

closer to God i know as Christians we

love to change things and we're fasting

social media and we're fasting Tik Tok

and we're fasting you know but I don't

mean to those are really good things to

to to not do but I think sometimes when

we change these words we we diminish the

true meaning of them uh see see we even

call it the Daniel fast and there's

actually no definition in Daniel of him

fasting he was just abstaining from

eating the rich food it was actually an

abstination not a fast so every of the

30 times that fasting is is talked about

every single time is about food every

single time it's fully giving food up

and so so sometimes we can we make it

easy it's nice it's like we I'm going to

fast my co-workers i don't know i'm

going to fast watching TV all those are

very good things but that is not what a

biblical fast is and so I just want to

remind those things are very good to

abstain from like let's be honest the

talks aren't that good and all that sort

of stuff so let's just focus on what

we're doing here today

so um so every Thursday Friday well the

first Thursday Friday and I I I did this

for actually for I I thought honestly in

my life I thought two to three times

easy I'm going to nail this this is

going to be so easy like cuz I was so ha

and uh so I did it two to three times

turned into

weeks weeks turn into

months and I I actually f by the time I

sort of felt like I was finished it was

almost a

of every Thursday night every Friday i

did skip a few because there was events

and I'm not going to go to a party and

or be weird and what sort of stuff but I

I but I I know what I'm not this is not

a humble brag at all this is a to

explain to you the journey that I had to

go

on when I thought fasting was just to

break in cases of emergency and or add

some supernatural flavor or some credit

to my account and the journey I went on

through those weeks and those months and

and close to a year and since then we've

added longer periods in in our lives and

the worst one I've ever done is actually

I fasted coffee day three there was some

shakes there was there was pounding

migraines i was regretting every life

choice that had led me up to that moment

but sorry I I get distracted

the journey took so long because on

reflection the journey was from my

brokenness to wholeness took a long time

from feeling distant from God to feeling

close to God was a long way to go from

what I perceived as my arrogance to

humility was a long journey from my

being mean to other people people around

me to being kind to those around

me and from being lukewarm in my

Christianity to being hot was a long

journey of a lot of things that had to

come off my life i I must admit when I

started I don't know about you guys I

was very focus driven i was I want

this God take this away uh you need to

do this in my life i'm fasting you have

to do this i was very focus driven and

and on what I needed in my life and it

turned into something so beautiful that

I I want to talk to us again around here

prayer giving fasting all in secret all

not for others approval but for our

father who rewards

if we look here it says when when we

fast when you fast this is Jesus' word

there was no if there was no when you

feel like it's just a when you

fast he just gives some practical things

there is this is not can I say this is

not a commandment this is an

invitation this is not the 11th

commandment guys don't feel if you

haven't fasted it's all right don't

stress enjoy those steak belong enjoy

them it's okay there is no commandment

for us to fast this is not the 11th

commandment but Jesus had an expectation

that if you followed him you would

fast can I say this fasting is actually

mentioned 77 times in the Bible and is

mentioned more than

baptism so fasting is not more important

but it is mentioned a lot in the Bible

and it is mentioned more than baptism

and yet a lot of us think baptism is

more important just throwing it out

there the early church they got this the

early church understood this in Acts

Acts 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13 they here it was in in Acts

Acts 13:2

13:2 they says "While they were

worshiping the Lord," this is only a few

years after Jesus has um died on the

cross and risen and given them the Holy

Spirit a few years later while they're

worshiping the Lord and fasting they got

it straight away they weren't waiting

for hundreds of years they weren't

waiting for everything to go wrong they

the Holy Spirit said to them "Set apart

Barnabas and Saul for the work which I

have called them." And so after they had

finished fasting and praying they placed

their hands on them and they sent them

off it is actually recorded the early

church this is going to scare the be

Jesus out of some of you that they

fasted every Wednesday and Friday holy

heck let's Where's the the exit door

this is not for me they the early church

for thousands or for hundreds of years

fasted every Wednesday and every

Friday from sun up to sun down and here

we

are and and the stats can I can I be

pretty scary out here uh this is uh if I

won't dude don't put your hands up if if

I was to raise get you to raise your

hands in in here and ask who has

actually done a fast this year full full

food fast this year the stats on the low

end and everyone's got their head down

because they don't want to acknowledge

it is that we would be less than one in

five people that have done that this

year in in in our church and and and the

scary thing is it actually gets even

worse it says less than 2% of any

evangelical church fast

regularly and you're like "Wow this is

this is crazy sort of stuff." John

Wesley uh guy that sort of helped with

the with a great move of God that was in

the sort of 1700s in England he was he

wouldn't let pastors he wouldn't ordain

a pastor unless they were fasting twice

a week i wouldn't have made it i

wouldn't have made the cut and he was he

was so concerned at the end of his

tenure as he was sort of handing he was

like this is one of his greatest concern

he goes I am so concerned that the

church was slipping in their f he goes I

am a ghast or the worst thing he could

imagine is that the church would only be

fasting twice a month he's like that was

the worst thing he could imagine was the

church fasting twice a month and yet

here we are

today there is Jesus gave no

stipulations around fasting he just

simply said when you fast no time frame

no framework around them other than that

when you fast don't do it for others do

it for your father who rewards you no

why behind it just that you should fast

here we go we're going to quickly go

through John Mark Comr gives us five

clear reasons why we should practice

fasting i'm not going to go into them

very much i'm just going to quickly go

through them because it's not what I

want to sort of spend my time on this

morning

number one one of the reasons we should

fast as Christians was we are offering

ourselves to Jesus our hangry grumpy

weak haelves sometimes but we're

offering ourselves our bodies to God

number two growing in holiness when you

fast you become more like Jesus number

three we are amplifying our prayer no

this is not like a magic trick but it is

as if God will suddenly hear us if we

don't fast but it focuses our prayers

with intentionality because we're adding

fasting to it number four standing with

the poor we remember those who don't

have what we have when we fast number

five focusing on discernment we seek God

for guidance for him to speak to our

lives that's what we car and I do quite

a lot when we're thinking about things

we we fast and we go God help us with

this sort of thing all right couple of

things this is from my life fasting is

not some people love uh like this

fasting is not a way to suffer for God

he doesn't just ask you to give up

something just for the sake of you

suffering it's not true at all number

two a spiritual practice that

demonstrates how devote you are or how

better you are than your friends around

you

he made it very clear when Jesus said

"It's not for others it's just for you

and your father." Something number three

something that gets us right with God

fasting is not something that gets us

right with God it's not like repentance

or we're like adding credit to our score

it's not that at all number four the

fourth thing I think a way this is not

what fasting is a way of trying really

hard spiritually that God will respond

to that's not what fasting is if I miss

a midday meal or or delicious steak

dinner I don't expect to earn a special

response from God as a reward it's not

what fasting is here we go most fasts in

the Bible are in three categories sorry

I've just got to fly through this

because I want to get to what I really

want to talk to you this morning number

one is an encounter with

God we look at uh Moses we look at

Elijah we look at Jesus those are the

three that I want to start with all did

40-day fasts and before you get crazy

don't go doing 40-day fasts unless it is

a clear clear mandate from God because

it will wreck you up um these three here

all of them Moses fasted when he was

getting the the the uh word of God he

was getting the tablets from from from

God on in sort of uh what is it first

Exodus

24 the there was nothing he was doing he

was just fasting because he was getting

Elijah after a great victory on Mount

Carmel with the destroying of the Bal

and worship in Israel he runs away and

he does a 40-day fast because he's had a

a phenomenal victory and he and he's

wrestling with this so after a great

victory Elijah fasted for 40 days jesus

gets baptized in the Jordan River by

John the

Baptist and straight away he goes and

fast for 40 days these three gentlemen

in the Bible have an encounter with God

that so rocked their lives that their

initial response come on their initial

response to their encounter with God was

to fast for 40 days what an encounter

that must have been right what a

lifehaping encounter that must have been

and if we stop here we could ask ask the

question were they fasting to get

anything from

God the answer for those three instances

is probably not you don't hear of Moses

asking for anything or for a particular

reason we don't see Elijah sort of

wanting anything from God jesus

definitely doesn't go into the desert

asking for anything he just follows an

encounter with God and goes and fast so

we could cuz I always thought fasting

was I'm going to get something from God

i'm going to ask something from God but

here we have an example of it's not that

but they did get something while

fasting number

two number two it's the third thing that

most people fast for is a realization of

sin samuel 13 I think it is when when

Israel sort of realized they stuffed up

they they do a fast and God tells them

how to do it we have Jonah we have uh uh

we have Jonah who Nineveh it's right the

city of Nineveh they they realize God's

going to destroy them so they fast and

sackcloth and ashes and God spares them

and we have Ezra uh who comes back from

uh Babylonia Babylon and sees that the

Israel is the nation's doing wrong so

they do a fast and they get restored

that sort of stuff so a realization of

sin is a is another great reason to fast

and the last one I have here is a

looming threat a lot of the fasts to be

honest are are in these two categories

in the Bible sort of 27 out of the 30

are in these two categories they realize

they've done wrong or they there's

something coming there's an enemy coming

there's this great sickness on the

nation all these sorts of things and we

can see even in in and I won't go into

more detail but and we can see in our

our day well our day some of our

grandparents days uh World War II we

have Dunkirk that that great movie that

um what's director Nolan whatever his

name is anyway Harry Styles was in

it dunkirk is it Dunkirk yeah yeah so

Dunkirk if you don't know uh King George

the fourth sixth seventh eighth whatever

he was

they mystery is not my strength

right their entire English army was

surrounded by a massive German force

they had been retreating for weeks they

come to a town that was so close to the

to the British shores but they had no

way of getting home the German force

were just with their massive Panza tanks

were just absolutely destroying the

British army and if had they he had lost

all of those soldiers the ar the war

would have been lost for England king

George declares a day of prayer and

fasting for his nation he asks his

nation pray for one day fast for one day

that God would step in miraculously God

does for some reason Hitler stops his

advance on that town which is the

weirdest thing he he had the British

army on the back foot so he tells all of

his armies all his tanks everything to

stop what they're doing hold the line

number two there was a thick fog that

came over that city of Dunkirk I think

it was and so the German planes could

not attack the guys that are on the

beach because the thick fog number three

another great miracle this just keeps

going for once the English Channel was

clear and calm and were able to actually

sail across without losing your lunch so

we had the Germans for some reason

stopped we had a fog that the the

aircraft would wouldn't be able to

attack them and we had clear weather

because and what happened is all these

people took their fishing boats in a

sense over over to France got 338

soldiers safely back to England within

one or two days I think it was or three

days across and they were able to rescue

all of the soldiers and continue the

battle against the Nazis all simply

because one day the nation prayed and

fasted and that's what we do when we

come we come and pray for a looming

threat

so you have me here 18 starting my

fasting results orientated always

wanting to do things and slowly things

began to shift in my life as I placed

myself what my needs my heart softened I

shifted my focus off myself through the

weeks and my my focus shifted onto God

it shifted from my problems onto his

grace his mercy his loving kindness his

power his wisdom and that's when things

started to ramp up in my life i remember

halfway through this I started to get

other guys around me i started to get

like like the youth group 30 there was

guys around me we started fasting every

all of us on Friday we started to do a

midweek prayer meeting we started to do

we started memorizing scription things

started happening in my life because of

what I was

experiencing in fasting and and when I

learned this truth that when I was

laying something down that was good food

is good guys if you don't do food well

food is delicious food is amazing oh

it's carbs it's meat it's salad it's

delicious I won't go into it too much

longer but it is a good thing when I was

laying something good down i was

learning to pick up something that was

even

better it so dramatically shifted in

this time my hunger for the word of God

in this period shifted so much this is

what I want to quickly talk about i went

from reading the Bible and let the Bible

influence me as a person and let my life

be you know sort of my I would let the

Bible sort of filter my life kind of

thing to a state of being where I was

like "No the Bible is the foundation of

my life to the Bible not just letting

the Bible sort of change me but I was

filtering my life through the word of

God." And this is what happened when I

when I was in the later parts of this

fasting and we look here when Jesus was

tested in the wilderness in Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 he was Jesus was led by the

spirit into the wilderness to be tempted

by the devil after fasting for 40 days

and nights he was hungry it's very very

true i used to read this test or read

this this sort of um sort of thing that

fasting made Jesus weak so he could be

tempted i used to think fasting the goal

of fasting was to make me weak

he was hungry jesus after 40 days was

hungry fasting was to make him weak and

yet I read that now as I see fasting

prepared

him fasting prepared him for his

trial fasting is not a way we Christians

become weak for no reason and fasting

prepares us and gets our life our body

in line with the fact that we need him

and we need the word of God in our lives

because you look at what the response of

Jesus when he was prepared for 40 days

and fasting in weakness he finally come

not finally he comes to a point what

does he do and before I say this is is

you got to understand here it wasn't

just Jesus and the 40 guys he was

finishing something that started back in

the garden of Eden cuz some scholars

think the first fast ever recorded in

the Bible was in a garden when God told

Adam and Eve do not eat from this single

tree fast and what happens is what Eve

does is what is Eve she sees she goes

the tree when she finally gets to see

from the devil goes when the woman saw

that the fruit was of this tree here it

is was good for food pleasing to the eye

and desirable for gaining wisdom we

stuffed up in the garden because we

broke a fast and we thought it's good

it's pleasing to the eye it's desirable

for life so we come to first John uh

2:16 I'm going to get excited here guys

he he describes it so well he goes the

world the devil will give you these

three things it is the lust of the flesh

the lust of the eyes and the pride of

life and so we come to Jesus because he

goes "Those things are not from the

father." But we come to Jesus in his

temptation after fasting to preparing

for his trial on behalf of us because we

stuffed up in the garden he comes to him

what what happens the tempter comes to

him and he said "If you are the son of

God tell these stones to become bread."

Oh here it is good for food the lust of

the flesh and and the and so what

happens is what does God do he's broken

by the word of God this is what Jesus

says it is written "Man shall not live

by bread alone but by every word that

comes out of the mouth of God." This

curse from the garden was broken from

fasting and the word of

God we come to the second one what does

what does the devil try again he goes um

he goes Jesus uh he goes uh if then the

devil took him to the holy city and he

had him stand there on the highest point

of the temple if you are the son of God

he said throw yourself down for it is

written he will command the angels

concerning you that they will lift you

up and you shall not strike your feet he

goes make a spectacle be the center of

attention the angels are going to save

you make sure everyone sees it you will

be the the pleasing to the eye the lust

the lust of the lust of the eyes broken

by what the word of God jesus answered

him "It is written do not put the Lord

your God to

test what we stuffed up in the garden,"

Jesus finished with the word of God what

is the last one here he goes "This again

the devil took him to a very high

mountain and showed him all the kingdoms

of the world and their splendor all this

I will give you he said if you bow down

and worship me." Desirable for gaining

wisdom the pride of life broken what by

the word of God jesus said "Away from me

Satan for it is written "Worship the

Lord your God and serve him

only." Where we stuff up in our own

strength where we give into what looks

good in our life what we want in our

flesh and what we think is going to make

us wise Jesus reminds us after 40 years

of fasting it is not found in what we

think and what we see what we do it is

found in the word of God

when you lay something down in fasting

when you lay something so good as

delicious food you are starting to

desire a hunger in you for what the word

of God is it is more man does not live

by bread alone but by every word that

comes from the from the mouth of God

moses 40 years of fasting he was

receiving the written word of God elijah

when he was fasting he was receiving the

spoken word of God we see here in Jesus

he is the incarnation of the word of God

and we've got to understand something

fasting is not something that is a just

a throwaway thing fasting is something

that prepares us for a life that is

dependent on God a life that doesn't

just look at our bank account or our

health or what we have around us it

tells us that we are more than that and

I remember when I was going through all

of this uh

uh it it changed who I was and and if

you're here this morning as I

close if you've been listening to what

I've been saying and go that is

something I want i am frustrated with my

life i I I I want this active real

relationship with Jesus that you speak

of fasting can I say fasting is not the

goal jesus

is don't leave this place thinking I

need to fast no think just leave this

place thinking I need Jesus

fasting is is just if you just do

fasting because it's the good thing to

do you're just going hungry for no

reason fasting to get closer to Jesus

now that's a big

difference it's not just an

understanding it's not just a feeling

but it's a body mind and soul

revelation i came to realize that Jesus

is who he is he is the written word

becoming flesh he is the hope of the

world he is the savior of the world he

is our ever present help and with every

eye closed with every head bowed as we

finish this talk on on fasting one of

the weirdest things would be to sort of

challenge you along those lines but I

just feel to do it if you're in this

place and you are listening to my words

maybe you're online as well and you want

this strength in your life this clarity

in your life you want to overcome things

that you find in your life can I say

this it starts with Jesus it starts with

a real active relationship with Jesus

jesus says this in Revelation 3:20 here

Revelation 3:20

I am i stand at the door and knock if

anyone hears my voice and opens the door

I will come in and I will eat with that

person and they with me if it is your

time this morning for you to be all in

for Jesus to not be ashamed to lay down

your well-meaning good life whatever you

think it is and even the uh no matter

how you see your life the Apostle Paul

calls our best is filthy rags to that to

the life of Jesus i I I this morning

Jesus wants to wash all the filth all

the hurt all the pain all the

frustration off your life and he wants

you to come and follow him this morning

so if you're in this place and you want

to take this first step can I say the

first step to following Jesus is to put

your hand up in a situation and go God I

surrender my whole life to you i give

you my body my spirit my my my life i

give everything to you and it starts at

a place where you acknowledge that you

are wrong that your life is wrong that

you're heading in the wrong direction

and that you turn your life around and

you look to Jesus and go "Help me and

save me." And it starts there and then

what happens is Jesus will begin to lead

you in through green pastures and still

waters and he will prepare tables in the

presence of your enemies he will lead

you through the valley of the shadow of

death because when it start it starts

with Jesus and he leads us and he's

calling us to follow him this morning so

you're in this place with every head

bowed because it is not between you and

your neighbor it's not between you and

the person to your left or to your right

it is between you and God because the

God rewards those who seek him in secret

with every head bowed with every eye

closed if that's you this morning you

would like to follow Jesus for the first

time or you want to give your life back

to God why don't we just lift their

hands in this place come on Holy Spirit

thank you Jesus there's anyone in this

place just as we close would like to

give their lives to Jesus in this place

thank you Jesus thank you Lord God

doesn't matter if there's no one i'm not

too stressed by that i just wanted to

give this opportunity as we close holy

Spirit we just release lies you to set

anything free that's blocking people

from responding holy Spirit thank you

Lord God we thank you for that Lord God

and Father as we close this

morning as we've just been talking about

fasting and giving our lives to you

Father we just like Romans we we offer

our bodies as a living sacrifice to you

this morning as we

finish father as a church as we lean

into prayer presence and mission we just

offer our bodies as a living sacrifice

to to what's going to that that sort of

looks like as a church and Father we

pray this morning as we leave this

morning Lord we would leave knowing that

you are for us you're not against us

Lord and that you are going to champion

what we're going to do Lord in Jesus

mighty name amen amen amen let's hand it

over to Pastor Aaron

[Applause]