Sunday Message (1st service)- Pastor Brad Neuschwander (January 11, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

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see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Be back with you this

morning. It's great to see everybody. Welcome.

Happy New Year. Jenny and I were privileged to

be able to take a couple of weeks off. And honestly,

if you know me at all over these last 25 years,

I'm not a big take time off person. Because there's

so much work that piles up when I get back. But

I didn't really realize how tired I was. I'll

share a little bit of that today. I promised

you that I would share about the riverbank. And

I'm going to try to just do my very best this

morning of kind of giving you a little bit of

a summary on our journey on the riverbank, on

what the Lord spoke to me during, especially

last week when we had just a week of nothingness

and just a wait on the Lord. And then... are

fast. So would you pray with me and just invite

the Spirit of God that I would be able to navigate

as usual. I sent two messages to the, when I

come back after several weeks, I send two never

knowing how much I'll get to and then never getting

to any of it. So hallelujah. So pray for me this

morning. Father, we ask in Jesus' name, Lord,

that you would Lord, you'd help me navigate.

Lord, what needs to be shared today. Lord, the

incredible grace that you've had with us. Lord,

the deepening. Lord, now we stand on the precipice

of some incredible things. But it's not without

faith and it's not without belief and it's not

without obedience. Lord, help us. To really trust

you. Lord I love you. This church loves you.

Lord we move into 2026. The word you gave me.

This year. Was 2026 would be about prevailing.

And I'm asking now. I'm asking for prevailing

grace. I'm asking for prevailing grace. For this

house. For every marriage. Every person's finances,

their children, their jobs, their businesses,

a prevailing grace. So much in the world around

us. But God, we have anchored ourselves in you.

We're asking you to help us see from your perspective,

to call it in, to believe it, and to stand on

your promises. In Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen.

Amen. I first want to remind you, I know we're

going to be doing this, we'll be passing these

out at the end of first service through the double

doors, but what a great booklet. The Prevailing

Church, 21 days, and 21 different little articles

on the theme. Each of the 21 days is broken into

seven weeks. Or seven weeks. It's amazing. 21

days in seven weeks. It's broken into three week,

seven day periods and 21 different authors from

among the church and very proud of the work that

they did here. And Pastor James and Stephanie

with graphics. I wanted to say, I want to give

a special shout out to Pastor James, our creative

pastor over all video graphics. Thank you, James.

He graciously reminded me a couple of times as

I called him throughout the couple of weeks giving

him assignments. He goes, I thought you were

on vacation. I am. This is vacation mode. He

goes, well, try to find another mode. Anyway,

we are excited about that. We'll hand those out

after service. I want to share with you, and

I'll probably... continue on this next week.

But I want to just share with you a little bit

of my journey because I try to do this at the

first of the year, kind of get you into my, kind

of open the doors a little bit on my prayer closet,

just enough, not to reveal everything, but just

the things that God is taking me through that

I have to actually, in many times, I get to be

the first partaker of everything that comes.

from the pulpit, right? That's the wonderful

part of being the lead pastor. It's the horrible

part of being a lead pastor is that whatever

God is speaking and going to lead Life Bible

Church in, I get to be first fruit partaker.

He has to work it in my heart first so that I

can actually preach it, not from a place of not

experiencing it, but a place of having walked

through it with him him touching the heart, touching

the mind, so that I actually can have something

that's anointed. It's not going to the internet

and just getting an AI sermon. It's actually

spending time with him and allowing him to actually

move in and put pressure on me so that I receive

it, so that I can actually then feed it. That's

the hardest. I mean, honestly, if I'm just speaking,

that's the hardest part of senior pastoring.

Of course, it's being with the people and seeing

the levels of brokenness. That's the second hardest

part of walking in and through the valleys of

the shadow of death with people. But probably

the hardest thing for me is when God is dealing

with subjects and always takes that leadership

team usually first. And because we believe in

the now prophetic word, we believe obviously

the scriptures are the boundaries. They are the

prophetic word that's been tried and true and

unalterable. And we live within the banks of

those scriptures. We also believe that God speaks

and quickens his word for us as he's developing

us in the church. So in the midst of the Logos

word, the whole word revealed, God highlights

various parts of the word. He quickens things

through the Holy Spirit and he reveals things

of what he's trying to do in the lives of congregations.

That's why God could speak to seven churches,

not the same word in the book of Revelation.

He could speak specifically to those churches

in those locations under that eldership, the

thing that needed. to take place in that congregation.

And we still believe that God is still doing

that. How many would say, you would raise your

hand, and this is, raise your hand if you believe

we're still in Bible times. Come on. We're still

in Bible times. The Spirit has not lifted. Jesus

Christ has not come back. We're still waiting

for the Lord to return, which means we're still

under the authority of God's Word. And listening

to him as he navigates us through until his coming.

Amen. And so for me, I didn't really realize

how my eldership team did. They were concerned

about me. They're concerned about me a lot though.

Just in the fact of how we do life and that process.

And they're a great team. And I've got a great

staff. We have a great church. This river thing

has bothered me. And I don't talk about it a

lot. I've prayed about it. I've spent hours and

hours and hours in prayer. And I didn't realize

how eroded I had become. I felt like the Lord

spoke to me. He goes, your heart is like the

bank of that river. You've lost significant grace.

and I couldn't hear it. Actually, it took me

a week of being in his presence. The one thing

I did appreciate, and I thank you so much for

giving Jenny and I that space. The last week,

the kids came over for about five days, and then

the last seven days, Jenny and I got to spend

hours with the Lord. She went in one place, and

I went another, and we're kind of... Weird that

way, we love being together, but when it comes

to our prayer time, we don't want anybody in

our space. And so I would just put on my little

noise -canceling headphones, and if she would

knock on the door, I'd be like. And she was in

the living room and under a blanket, and I'd

try to keep a fire going, and I'm in the bedroom

just waiting on God. I actually got to wait sometimes

four or five hours a day. just to wait here.

And the Lord spoke some things to me personally,

just spoke some things. One of the things that

he shared with me and that I'm gonna share with

you, and I believe it was very, very true for

this season. He said, Brad, you're going to have

to learn to steep yourself. And I thought that's

why the word Wes gave was so important this morning.

You're gonna have to steep yourself in my love

and my faithfulness. And as I heard him say that,

of course, I'm not a big tea drinker, but I have

seen people drink tea. And in that process, they

do what? They cause that, and if you're a very

fancy tea drinker, you have the leaves and the

special little grate and you've got all your

little stuff and whatever. But they put it in

the hot water and they let it do what? Just sit.

It sits. What does it do? I love this word. It

amalgamates. It begins to soften that which was

put in there, and in the softening, it does what?

It releases the tea. The leaves that have that

thing that you want to drink cannot actually

get the strength of it unless it stays immersed

or steeped in that hot water. And I was seeing

it as the Lord was saying it to me. And that's

many times how the Lord speaks to me is that

I see it as he says it. He shows me pictures

to reinforce things. And he said, in this season,

you and then the church are going to have to

remember to steep yourselves in my love and in

my faithfulness. And then he began to remind

me of various things. And I'll give you a word

that he spoke to me. about his ability to prevail.

And so that brings us to where I left you off

right at Christmas Eve services. Then Pastor

Scott spoke a word and did a great job on the

28th. And Pastor Trent, yeah, Pastor Scott, thank

you. Pastor Trent. I watched Trent from livestream

and was sending various texts. during the process

and uh he was right he got in trouble uh no no

when Jenny and I when literally we had put it

on the big screen tv and we're watching and she

goes what is wrong with you I don't know why

he said that why did he do that she just sit

down and relax I can't anyways so I went to prayer

and prayed for you greatly. Hallelujah. No, just

kidding. I'm messing with you. I thought you

did a great job. He did. He really did. It was

deep and it was good. So I need to. I thought,

man. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

He's gone over time, just like the senior pastor.

Hallelujah. Anyways, I was giving him a hard

time. I need to bring you up to speed. I want,

before I get into my message today, and there

are two, so just stay with me. My exhortation

is not necessarily a message, but I need to kind

of bring us to what is before us. As of this

morning, last night actually, we've updated our

website. And so that was part of this last week

of things that were being done. You can go to

our Life Bible Church, www .lifebiblechurch .org.

And as you scroll down, you'll see Riverbank

updates. And when you see that Riverbank update,

click on that. It will give you prayer points

and then it will give you the summary, And it's

fairly long, I'm just letting you know. The summary,

my summaries are always fairly long. From 2023

all the way to now. In fact, as we have some

printed at the info counter for you, if you want

a hard copy to be able to share with people,

hey, what's the journey, what's going on? We've

printed those off that you'll have today for

that to be able to share what's before us. That's

available. I don't want to go from 2023 on, but

I do want to just remind you some things that

what we've experienced. For the last two and

a half years, this river process has really changed.

And I don't know why, I don't claim to know why,

but I think just being a good little farm boy

all these years, I kind of... Didn't go to school

for hydraulics or water engineering or any of

that. But what I can tell you is when rock gets

deposited in the middle of the river and they

don't dredge the river and they change the course

of flow, it changes and it's pushed against our

bank. And that's why we've lost almost 50 feet

in some places in two and a half years. We, that's

kind of the story of the two and a half years.

I tell you the story of how we went to the Army

Corps of Engineers, how we tried FEMA, how we've

tried every possible thing we know to do. I wanna

give a big thanks to our County Commissioner

in Lane County, David Loveall. I wanna give thanks

to Will Tucker, our County Commissioner in Linn

County. They have been incredible helping to

connect us with state legislators, senators.

We have sent information. all over the state.

We've sent information even to the White House

and to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Even as I speak, there is a summary that is being

put in front of one of Trump's cabinet even now

this week. Life Bible Church and the various

entities of how we have... shaken the ground

for the last two years trying to get some help.

I try to lay that out in that summary that you'll

read on the website and today. We've had some

incredible people along the journey partner with

us. Unfortunately, many of the things that have

kept us from doing immediate remedy, and that

was our big issue. And so if you remember when

the oak tree fell in the ground in June, and

then we thought we were gonna get a breakthrough

in the meeting in August where we had five, six

agencies and county commissioners on the line

and we were still denied what we had spent and

engineered drawings that they all told us that

they would approve. And so from that point in

August, then you remember God awoke me and I

shared just a little bit about the scarlet cord.

And not only have we taken communion on the riverbank

several times, but we went out and we stretched

that 500 feet plus of cord and we prayed for

it and we've been standing in faith with that.

From that moment on, let me just say that, from

that moment on, not that communion didn't break

through, there was things that happened when

we were taking communion, but from the moment

that the church gathered on that Tuesday and

we stretched that cord, something shifted in

the spirit. And so I'm gonna try to do this without

crying, but here we go. After that, we had an

engineering firm and a gentleman that came to

this church and had been sitting in the church

for a while and came to us and came to me and

then came to the administrator and then we brought

him into the eldership meetings. And he offered

a solution that, We had two or three different

engineering firms could not pinpoint specific

things. It was always, we'll do the drawings.

We know these people. We're connected to the

Corps. We're connected to the Marine Board. Anyway.

Anyways, he said, I think I have a solution.

He said, let's just see. TVP Engineering. And

we began to hear what he was thinking, began

to, what his team had developed, and we really

believed that it was an answer from the Lord.

Because at this point, the Corps, the Army Corps

of Engineers told us we couldn't do anything

on the water's edge. We could not put riprap

in, we could not put rock in. Same with the Oregon

Department of State Lands, DEQ, I mean, you name

it, you name it, everybody, Said no. And we're

watching our property go down the stream. So,

in the process of trying to figure out what is

going on with the bank, it's actually, there

is a silver lining here, but let me just take

you down to where the river is. It's worse than

what you see on the top. And of course, I'm only

looking at things from a topical perspective.

We've had some drones and Nathan Keeney, who's

on our staff, has a little drone. And I'd say,

Nathan, fire up the drone. And he was happy to

do so. And film the bank in that kind of thing.

And they would put, I don't even know what, measure

the bank. And what we have is we've got some

pockets under there that have... are deeper than

others along the river, meaning the river doesn't

just have a steady bank. It's washed out some

places in 10, 12 feet in pockets underneath and

angled at such a rate that's angled back under.

And so you can't see that. And so we were able

to hire a, and the technology today is amazing,

a sonar that would read the ground. push it to

the bank, and show us the images of that which

is concaved, images that are pockets. And what

I thought was our most dangerous area, which

it still is, is the area by the gen church and

by the kitchen area and the motel. Actually,

the biggest underwashing current is right by

the fireplace on the new construction. We thought,

surely that isn't the case, but it was. And so

in this process of evaluating as TVP and the

engineering teams and working with various other

engineering things, I've learned more about engineering

terms than I forget, but I'm glad people have

gone to school for this and know what they're

doing. Because I certainly don't, and you wouldn't

want me building anything. As you realize, we've

lost all the concrete decking around the pool.

The only thing that's left is the pool frame

itself. Everything has been filled in and around

it. As you've noticed, if you actually looked

out there today, and we'll get to this, but right

after Christmas, we started work. And why could

we do that? Well, I shared with you right before

we went on vacation that in six miraculous weeks

since we... Matt started meeting with the eldership,

tried to finalize, tried to get some idea of

what it's gonna be. They submitted the plans

and within six weeks we received plans. Now how

did we receive the go -ahead, the permit? It

was because we bypassed doing something in the

water and we are now trying to do something on

our little land that's left. And I cannot say

this with as much emphasis that you hear me,

we are within a gnat's hair of not being able

to do this. We are right at the moment. We've

received permits. Let's just put it this way.

There is a zone called the riparian zone that

is normally 75 feet from a river. The city has

worked with us and given us approval to work

20 feet from the river. That was what we needed.

And so what you need to understand is we are

working to keep everything within 20 feet. The

machine that we're bringing in, and I'll talk

about that in a bit, is about 275, 300 ,000 pounds.

It's a big boy. it's got to drive 56 feet of

metal into the ground. So we're doing what they

call a Z pile. And what it is, is we're going

to build a wall that goes the 500 feet of our

property distance. And we're getting as close

to the river as we possibly can that they'll

legally allow us and not tear any of our buildings

down to do it. And we're going to drive 56 feet

of Z -piling connected one to another into the

ground to form a river wall. You know how many

feet we have left on the building? On that side,

we have 54 feet, which means that we've got to,

in order to get those pilings in, we've got to

cut a few trees and be able to get the steel

back here. We don't have any room back here on

this side. to even get the steel pilings in.

Everything, so we've had to build a gravel road

and structure to hold the machine and the steel.

That's why you see gravel all the way around

the parking lot, all the way out here, because

that's what we've been doing for the last 10

days. As soon as we got the go -ahead, by faith,

we said, here we go. And so I don't even know

yet, I don't know if we've got all the invoices,

I just keep, in Jesus' name, I just keep. praying

over it, and they keep ordering rock, and Carrie

called me. She goes, I don't want you to look

at anything. Well, that's like saying, here's

a fresh batch of cookies. Don't eat any. What

do you mean? She goes, well, we've had about

50 trucks of rock load, and there's way more

coming in. Just don't worry about it. Ah! Anyway,

so. Lots of time in prayer trying to see it in

the spirit. But anyway, so that's what's happened.

We've removed, in order to get this done, we

could not do any digging. We could not do any

digging in the riverbank. Literally, guys, the

window of opportunity and the, if you want to

call it, the scale of what is being designed

and done, this is our one chance. This is our

one chance to save the property. If we don't

do it this winter, we will lose our structure.

We've lost 40 feet in some places in one year,

50, 55 feet in other places in two years. So

what does that mean? Well, it means we are all

in. It means that we have, by faith, written

checks. And I mean, We've had some to cover it.

By faith, we are stepping out as an eldership,

as a church. We've had to make a decision and

we've prayed about it. I mean, we've had two

years of praying and interceding. We said, Lord,

you've sent somebody that's been a God sent to

us that has brought us palpable solutions that

no one else would offer. Let me just tell you

this. The solution that's being offered is in

many cases. a third of what was being offered

to us by other engineering firms. The project

that we were looking at was between six and $8

million from everybody else. At six to $8 million,

it was impossible. I was getting ready to just

say, Lord, show me where the next piece of property

is. We're gonna let it go. Because folks, we

still owe about 750 ,000 on the original note.

And that we borrowed 3 .5 million when we first

got in here 10 years ago. And so here we were

and I'm like, six million. Lord, I believe you,

but I don't have, I literally said, Lord, I don't

have the faith for six to eight million. I've

lived with three and a half million for 10 years.

We just got it down to about 750 ,000. This is

beyond us. This is beyond us. You've got to do

something else. person we know in state funding,

in private trusts, in private things that give

money as philanthropy, every one of them have

says, we don't do non -profit churches. And we've

been pounding the pavement for a year. I've sent

information out to people that I know are heads

of VPs and national corporations. All of them

do not want to give money to a church. So I said,

Lord, what do we do? And with this solution,

we are right at $2 million. That is a miracle.

You need to thank God for that. That is a miracle.

Now, we'll talk more about this next Sunday as

well. But that, between about 2 .25 to finish

everything up and to put it back to what we think

is normal. But the key is going to be... Construction

started right after Christmas. The machines arrive

on Monday. Monday, they start bringing in their

machines. By the end of the week, we should be

putting steel in the ground. Is that correct?

Yeah, we should be putting steel in the ground.

That's incredible. Let me say this. The eldership

team is an incredible stewardship team. So far,

we have invested $800 ,000 into this project

because for the last two and a half years, we

knew that God was going to do something, but

we didn't know what, and we have done everything

we know to do to tighten everything and to put

everything that we believe was for this. We're

now... We're now at that point where we've got

to do something beyond. And we know that God

is going to meet us because we've been good stewards

of it. We've lived always under our means. And

maybe that's just because I'm a former Mennonite

kid and I was taught you never spend everything

you have, right? And so I have that philosophy

in the church that we don't. ever spend everything

that comes in. Why? Because there's always projects.

There's always needs. There's always things that

we're supposed to do. So you don't eat everything.

You keep some back to sow. And we've been able

to do that. I want you to give God glory for

being able to already sow $800 ,000. That's incredible.

So that's where we're at. Next week we're gonna

talk a little bit about, yes, come on up. In

Jesus' name. Thank you for allowing me the interruption,

but the Spirit of the Lord could not let me just

sit in my chair with you doing this on your own.

I wanna tell you that this morning I read Luke

Luke 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 when the friend's beating on the guy's

door for bread, right? And the word says that

he, just because he's your friend, because he's

in a relationship with you and you know him,

doesn't mean he's gonna get out of bed and give

you bread. your persistence is what makes them

get out of bed. So Carrie and the eldership team

and this pastor and all, none of our relationships

as commissioners and elected officials did really

any good. It just was the persistence of that

spirit of power and authority to command the

solution. So I want you to extend your hands

of grace towards your pastor. I'm going to get

emotional because this is where The Spirit of

the Lord takes men like you and me who hate to

lose. We hate to lose. And we'll lay our neck

on the line for others so that they don't lose

either. And the power of persistence is a gift.

And so, Lord God, I praise you for this man.

I praise you for the leadership. I praise you,

Lord God, for the power of persistence that yields

the power of the glory of who you are and makes

impossible problems. and the solutions come and

the word of the Lord is more powerful than it

ever will be because the faithful few lead the

masses in persistence and power. And I pray that

in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you, sir. Thank

you, Father. Thank you, Father. I'm crying more

than my dad did when I got married. Hallelujah.

Thank God he's gone. No, anyways. I was talking

to Pastor Tim Karskadin this week, last week,

I guess. And he goes, Brad, he goes, he goes,

you know, you guys are getting ready for a breakthrough.

I said, well, I gotta have you pray for me because

I said, I... And that's why I wanted to talk

a little bit about prevailing faith. I said,

my faith feels like it's been eroded over this

last couple years. He goes, well, that's why

you're waiting on the Lord, right? I said, yeah.

He goes, Brad, he said, I really do believe.

He said, I know you need a miracle and you're

facing something you've never faced before. He

says, but I'm telling you, you're gonna watch

this thing and it is going to happen. God's people

are gonna rise up. He said, you know that God

can bring things from other places, but he said,

you've got to go through what you're going through

in order to break you into the other promises

that are all backing up on this situation. And

I believe that. I do believe that. And I'll talk

about, if you're okay with that, I'll talk about

the finances next week a little bit of what we

need to do. I do believe we've settled on a theme

that the Lord has put in our heart out of Nehemiah

chapter two. It's called arise, rise and build.

Arise and build. And the fact is I have it here.

Let me just get to it. Nehemiah 2 .18. Here's

the theme. Raise the wall. Not to sound like

Trump, but anyway, if it works. There's something

about that wall thing. But anyway, raise the

wall, arise and build. Nehemiah 2 .18. So I told

them, the hand of my God, which has been so good

upon me. and also of the king's word that had

spoken to me. So we said, let us raise up and

build. And they set their hands to do this good

work. That is our verse. That is our verse. And

I believe the king that we're talking about is

King Jesus. He's spoken his word to us. He's

spoken to this congregation. He's granted people

that I didn't know were in the congregation that

have been that have come, that have partnered

with us. If I had the engineer come up here and

share, he could take the rest of the time telling

you how many miracles have already taken place

in this process. So I'm standing up here giving

you kind of this last several miracles that we

need out of a list of probably seven or eight

that have already taken place already. And so

when I stand here and say the good word of the

king has gone before us, and I said to the people,

God's good hand has been upon us, I believe that.

We now need to allow the love of God, the trust

to him, and faith, supernatural faith, to come

upon us in this season and prepare ourselves

as we do in this fast, not just alone for the

church and for spiritual, awakening, although

fasting, that's what it does. We need to pray

for supernatural breakthrough that the promises

that were promised, not just to this church,

but to you that have been backlogged, start breaking

through. And I believe that. I believe that.

As I was on the phone with Tim, as he was speaking

to me, he said, Brad, you know, he goes, you've

told me, he says, I'm just to remind you what

you've said. And he said, I'm declaring it. He

said, the Lord said this was the year that things

that have been stalled for two or three years

are going to break through. Now, I didn't get

that type of language from the Lord, but I heard

that things that have been backlogged, I didn't

know the number of years. He had specifically

heard the Lord say, the two to three years worth

that have been stolen and backlogged will break

through in this moment of overcoming. And so

I believe that. And I believe what we have standing

before us as we have machines on the ground that

represent God's answer this coming week. We've

been so grateful for those that have helped out

and different contractors that are helping in

the process. We're now moving to that final stage

to say, okay, God. We're now putting this wall

in the ground that the river will not destroy.

And that's the promise of the scarlet cord will

not destroy what was destined to be destroyed,

but it will be preserved. The bank will be stabilized.

There'll be preservation and ministry will continue

now and for future generations because of it.

And when it's in the ground, and when it's in

the ground, We won't even see it. We'll have

walked through a phase for the last three or

four years, and when that's in the ground, you

probably won't even know it's there except we

put a cyclone fence over the top of it, and you

won't see 56 feet of wall and preservation on

this side. You will see, though, how God chose

in the midst of everything. And this is the crazy

thing. And I can't say everything because I'm

on the internet and I've got to be careful what

we say. But if you knew the people that came

to me and that came to the church and said, forgive

us for not praying for you. City officials, state

officials, various places that have come and

said, this project, everybody knows. And you're

on the map. Everybody is watching you. Now, I

don't want anybody watching us. Right? I don't

like that. But what I'm saying is, we couldn't

do this. God has done this. And now our job is

to partner with him in finishing and seeing what

the Lord would do. Would you agree with that?

All right. Amen. All right. Can I talk to you

a little bit about this fast? Is that all right?

Can we transition just a little bit? Okay. Well,

get that off of here. Our theme is the, oh shoot,

wrong one. Hang on. That's next week's. Hold

on. Where am I at here? That's what happens when

you have a person that doesn't understand his

iPad. Amen. Oh, Jesus, help me. Huh. Huh? Yeah,

I need that. That's where it's at. Yeah, there

it is. Thank you. I'm getting all sorts of help

today. Thank you, David. Thank you, Jackie. Hallelujah.

All right. 21 days of fasting. All right. literally

mentioned fasting out loud. As long as I kept

it in my head, I didn't manifest. As soon as

I said 21 days of fasting, I got hungry and I

got cold. Why would we fast? Well, you might

say, well, I can tell you why you would. But

the principle of why we would fast is spiritually.

Now there are some natural benefits, but spiritually,

we would fast for several things. Always developing

spiritual hunger. Jesus said in the Beatitudes,

right there in his famous Sermon on the Mount,

those who are hungry, And thirsty shall be filled.

You cannot say you're hungry when you're satisfied.

You can't say it. There actually has to be something

on the inside. That hungers. Just like there's

a pain or an uncomfortability of hunger after

a while, there has to be something on the inside

that moves you from status quo, that moves you

from the place of just where you've gotten into

routine, that breaks you into another level that

you are quickened and awakened. Pastor Scott

spoke to this on the 28th. He talked about the

awakening process, that we have to come into

a place where the church needs to be awakened

or we as the church, if we just put it on us,

we need to spiritually be awakened, which means

what? We don't look at other people and go, compared

to everybody else, we're, no, no, no. That's

the problem that needs to be broken off. Because

when we begin to look at others with those filters,

we've already shown ourselves the hard heart

and the plaque that's built up by not actually

just taking inventory in our heart first. And

so fasting is a spiritual practice that helps

create space, margin as we seek God for more

intentionally through prayer. It's not about

perfection or deprivation. It's about turning

our attention toward God in a focused way. Our

shepherding and pastoral teams of Life Bible

Church want to encourage all of us that you would

seek the Lord with us during these 21 days for

direction, for guidance, for provision, for miracles,

and for protection in this new year. Seeking

God is something that he always asks us to do,

right? His heart toward us. is he knows what

level we're at personally. The Bible is filled

with that. I sat down to just write this last

week and waiting on the Lord, and I was just

looking at the number of verses about seeking

God. Let me just give you a couple of them. Psalms

105 .4 says this, Seek the Lord and his strength.

Seek his presence continually. How about Jeremiah

29? We know this. For I know the plans I have

for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness

and not evil. That's what Pastor West was saying

this morning. To give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call on me and come to me and pray

and I will hear you. If you will seek me, you

will find me. When you seek me with all your

heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord.

Notice, when you seek me with all of your heart,

I will be found by you. So the Lord knows what

his plans are for us. He knows what the plans

are for LBC. He knows what the plans are for

you individually. And in order to keep our soul,

our mind from just forming logical. conclusions

about what we think. That's probably our biggest

nemesis in the Christian faith is the longer

you grow as a Christian, you automatically try

to use wisdom gained generically for the circumstance

that faces you right now. And the point is that

you've got to keep sharp and keep awakening.

So that you're both taking the wisdom that you've

received generically from reading the word, praying

and fellowship with Jesus to also his now voice

in your life in what you're facing in this season.

There has to be both. That's why Jesus said what?

A good steward or a good householder takes out

both the old. And the new. Meaning what? You

have to have that which is wisdom. And receive

that. But you've also got to walk in places.

That requires God speaking a now word. And a

good householder. Or what? A righteous householder.

Is drawing from both. That which is the logos.

And that which is hearing the Lord's voice. For

a now season. And by nature. We fill our time.

Our minds. Our appetites. We satisfy our souls.

There's not one person in here that by nature,

that isn't how we live. Now, I'm not saying you

do it in excess. I'm not saying any of us do

it in excess. But what I'm saying is we live

in a place of wanting to be comfortable. There's

nobody in this room that says consistently, I

desire to live. on the edge of uncomfortable

all the time. It's not who we are. Even when

we do great exploits with God in faith that he

helps us do, we pull back from the edge. And

we end up finding ourselves in a place of just

life being comfortable. Nobody wakes up in the

morning and goes, man, I want a turbulent day.

Jesus, please. Release turbulence in my life.

If you're praying that, see Pastor Scott. Because

you need some help. But what prayer does is it,

and fasting does, is it moves us past the crust

of just baseline comfortability where we get

in our routines. And with prayer and fasting,

it brings us into a new dependence on the Lord

for his voice, his words, his faithfulness, his

guidance, his counsel. Remember what Matthew

6 .13 or 33 says? We're gonna know it because

we're starting a new ministry, but 6 .31 starts

it this way. Do not be anxious for what you'll

eat, what you'll drink, what you'll wear, for

the Gentiles seek after all these things and

your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But 6 .33 is what? But seek first the kingdom

of God and his righteousness and all these things

will be added unto you. I've preached this verse

multiple times. Why? It is the key to living

as a disciple of Jesus Christ is that the kingdom

become first. Sometimes we actually cause ourselves

to get into a place to where we... reignite the

passion and allow the Spirit of God to restore

to us the virtue of what we can't do when we're

comfortable. Luke 11. This verse has been in

my heart for weeks and it was sent to me again

this morning from someone else. Luke 11, nine,

I tell you, ask and it shall be given. David

came up with it. Seek and you shall find. Knock

and it shall be opened to you. Everyone who asks

receives and everyone who seeks finds and to

the one who knocks, it will be open. He's telling

us that he's asking us to ask, to seek and to

knock. Those principles of asking, seeking, and

knocking, if I could say it this way, are not

out of comfortability. Let's just think of this

in an illustration. What's the difference of

when your child asks for something when they're

already satisfied and you know there's no depth

there? You hear it. But you kind of just go,

well, we'll see. Is there anybody like me as

that as a parent or am I the only Mennonite parent

in the room here? Okay, I mean, the principle

of when they ask in a complacence of fullness,

Dad, it should be great to have that. But when

all of a sudden it keeps coming around. And there's

explanations. And I can see now the need is beginning

to now, it's the desire for something that will

change their life, that they really have faith

for and believe. That all of a sudden moves me

to a different level as a father. It moves from

something that's complacent to now something

that I sense there's depth. There's passion and

desire for it. It's not just a whim of the wanter.

It's now something that's going to build their

life. That moves me as a natural father into

a realm to bring change. The same is true with

God. It moves us past the level of prayers of

want. And moves us into something that we believe

we actually need. And we persistently begin to

ask. And that kind of asking is not comfortable

asking. Because we are already. in our minds

thinking we've asked for this and it hasn't happened.

It now moves us into a realm where I'm almost

uncomfortable in myself asking, but he's asked

me to do so because he's wanting to know if that

need is something that I believe and that I'm

drawing down on. That's why we could say in John

4, when Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman,

he's saying, listen, you... She said, you Jews

worship on this mountain and we worship on this

mountain. And Jesus stopped. He said, the day

is coming when you neither worship here nor in

Jerusalem. But now those father is looking for

those now who will worship him in spirit and

in truth. Meaning what? He brings the answer.

He'll look for that which is wisdom that has

been said and for now moments of encounter with

him. That's what he says in spirit and in truth.

Why? Because the spirit is going to bring to

mind everything that God has said and he's going

to quicken God's word to you in a now moment

in addition to what you know he's already said

and you have understanding of. Psalms 119 .10

With my whole heart I will seek you. Luke 11

.10 Everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who

seeks, finds. And the one who knocks, it will

be opened. As I was reading those verses afresh,

the pursuit of the Lord through prayer and fasting

unlocks the promise to, the pursuit of the Lord

unlocks his promise to give what? Here's what

he gives in prayer and fasting. He gives answers.

Answers to things that have been locked up that

you don't know how to get around, to go over,

to go under. He gives them. Number two. Prayer

and fasting yields what? It yields insights.

Number three, it gives you strength. Remember,

we talked about it as serving. It's the upside

down kingdom. We think strength comes from eating

and protein and working out and weights, and

that does in the natural, but not in the spiritual.

I'm gonna just drop back here, Jenny. Whoever's

come to the piano, come. As I was waiting on

the Lord this week, I said, Lord, I've lost my

joy. I don't have my joy. I said, this would

be 25 years. I said, this river thing, Lord,

I'm really having to work at joy. And then the

Lord just reminded me of a verse. He said, the

joy of the Lord is your strength. I said, God.

I need my strength back then. Give me joy and

strength back. And that's when he showed me the

picture of the riverbank and he said, that's

been your heart, that's why I called you here.

I will tell you one thing. I started, before

this fast happened, I started actually fasting

for his presence before the 21 days. Because

I knew for me, In order to come to this fast

in 21 days, I was going to have to make sure

that I actually heard God and I was convinced

in both faith and in total belief that what I

would stand up and say, there would not be any

doubt in my heart. I wasn't there a couple of

weeks ago. I wasn't there. We had exhausted all

resources. We had cleared the accounts and I'm

like, Lord, we're down for the count. You got

to do something or something. And what the hardest

thing for me is, and maybe it's because of the

way I was raised or the way I think, I don't

know. I kept looking. What more can I do? What

more can I do? And to where I exhausted everything

I knew to do. Every person, every system, every...

And the thoughts in my mind are, well, what if

they think we haven't been good stewards? What

if they think we haven't turned over every rock?

And finally, the what if they, the Lord said,

how about what I think? Well, that's important.

But you also put me in front of sheep that have

lots of questions. He goes, well, I think you

better be concerned more about what I think right

now. Okay. So I had to do a lot of repenting,

to be honest with you. The first three days were

repenting. It took three days of just steeping

myself in his love and faithfulness to realize

how much of this I took on myself. So much so

that I was having heart pain. Jenny wanted to

schedule me to go into the doctors. And we've

had this before. When we did the last building,

I had a heart attack and I didn't go in. I know,

stupid. But anyway, I'm kind of that way. Stupid.

But when I did go in eventually, they said, yeah,

you had a heart event, but nothing's broken,

nothing's wrong. And I looked at the woman, I

said, you know how much that cost me in deductible?

Anyway. I felt it happen again. I felt it happen

again about a month ago. And I go, Lord, it's

gonna kill me. I can't, I can't, I can't go on.

I can't go through this again. And I finally

just had to get to the place and say, okay, God,

I've done everything I know to do physically

within my power and in the scope of what you've

laid before me. And this last week, I heard the

Lord say, okay, now, you'll stand up. And you'll

declare my words and the people will respond

to me, not to you. And so I said, that's what

I'm going to do. I'm going to walk away from

this Sunday saying what I promised I would give

the congregation and to declare that you are

in this from beginning to end and it's not my

job to make it done. It's yours. And so that's

what fasting does. fasting removes areas that

you don't even see. And for me, it was the burden.

It was the pressure. It was the responsibility.

Yes, I'm still lead pastor. I'm still head of

the eldership team. I'm still responsible for

what God is speaking and leading. But the claws

of the weight that I couldn't see, it took me

in times of getting away and having nothing else

and just. leaning my soul out, not eating what

I wanted to eat, just to eat to exist, to do

what? To hear what was my issue so that I could

hear him better. That's what the Lord wants to

do in all of us. That's what the Lord wants to

do in all of us. Now listen, I got 10 pages of

notes here. I'm not gonna get to them. And I'm

okay with that. Somebody said, well, you better

be because you've been okay with that for the

last 24 years. But anyway, maybe we'll get to

it next week. Maybe not. The reality is that's

what we're entering into. A season to clear out

whatever kind of fast you decide to do. For most

of us, we're going to do what we call a Daniel

fast, which is what? A form of eating, but Not

eating the things that, at least for me, that

I would like. Meaning what? Trying to give up

meat? All sorts of meat? I'm going to give up

desserts. I know. I'm going to. eat some eggs.

I'm going to eat some vegetables. I'm going to

eat some nuts. I'm going to eat like I don't

want to. Let's just put it that way. And I'm

going to do that. Why? And I'm probably going

to miss a meal or two a day in addition. Why?

I'm going to replace. I'm not just going to give

up something. I'm going to then turn that 45

minutes or hour that I would just spend maybe

scrolling through my phone, having my coffee

and breakfast, that's gonna now turn to, because

I have time for prayer, that's gonna turn into

extended time without the other. I'm gonna replace

my lunchtime meals and fellowship with spending

time with the Lord. I'm gonna replace. TV time

or whatever if you have that. I don't normally

have that just because we're so busy. But if

I did, I'm going to replace that with getting

away with the Lord. Not only creating a little

bit of dissatisfaction with my palate and my

stomach, but I'm going to turn that dissatisfaction

into God speak to me. Let me just spend time

in your presence. Let me honor you. Show me where

things That have crept in where I've become complacent.

Or satisfied. And I should still have hunger.

And there should be passion. And there should

be a return of joy. And strength and virtue.

That's what this 21 days is for. In addition.

I'm laying this project before you. And saying

God. We can't do it. Unless you do this. You

do it through people. You bring it through people

some way. It doesn't just fall out of heaven.

It moves through people. You touch hearts. You

touch people I don't know. You take it beyond

these church walls. You do whatever you need

to do, but I trust you to do it. That's what

we're gonna begin to pray for, that God would

move on us and he'd move on others. Can you stand

with me and do that? Can you stand with me and

let's just pray as Pastor Jenny comes? I know

the ushers are getting ready to hand out those

booklets at the end of the service. But let's

pray. Come on. Father, in Jesus' name. Lord,

we stand before you. Lord, as your children.

We have need of you. And Lord, this coming Monday,

we begin to set aside these 21 days before our

life conference. Lord, that you would awaken.

hunger, and thirst in us like never before. God,

we would truly get an impartation of the God

who prevails. The one who prevailed before he

came, the one who prevailed in his coming, and

the one who prevails till eternity. God, I'm

asking for that grace. I'm asking for that joy.

I'm asking, Lord, for your guidance. for your

provision, for your miracles, and Lord, for a

breakthrough 2026. I'm asking it. Go deep in

us. Go deep in us. Remove every hardened place

that our hearts would be alive and awakened to

your voice, your counsel, your wisdom, and your

guidance. In Jesus' name. Amen. Lastly, if you

are in need of prayer send us a text message

at 541 -625 -1365 We would love to pray with

you.