God Can Do More In A Moment Than You Can In A Lifetime - Dr. Ronnie Floyd

Wow, what a powerful, powerful worship.

Let's give God the praise for that worship experience today.

Wow, this place is alive and exciting and so grateful to God for the story the Lord is creating in each of you and with all of you together here at United City Church.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Pastor Chris, for your ministry, your life, for asking me to be a part of today.

So, Pastor, great to be with you.

I was looking for you.

You moved on me.

But you made a good move.

You got by Hillary.

That's always a better move.

And so uh love you both.

Great to be with you last night, and a real honor to be in this church today.

And I'm also with a friend of mine, two friends of mine.

We saw them grow up.

We saw them fall in love.

I heard they kissed in the parking lot for the first time of the church.

But Dave and Emily Kenny, uh, we love them much, and uh Emily is almost perfect.

Dave has got a way to go.

But hey, I'm so thankful to God for them, and I tell you, we go way back, and uh I told the first service, and I mean it.

Everything you love about Dave Kenning, it came from us.

The things you don't love about Dave Kenning, he got those somewhere else.

But I'm so thankful for you guys and love you and your folks, and just so grateful to be a part of this church.

You know, and I really mean this, Chris.

I want you to know it.

I'm not blowing smoke.

God is here.

The Lord is at work in United City Church.

And don't ever take that for granted.

Don't ever forget the power of the hand of God upon the people of God, especially when we open up the book of God and let the God of heaven speak to us.

Are you ready for that to happen?

Let's commit it to Him in prayer today.

Lord, we pray that all this has been glory to you.

Thank you for that worship team.

All the preparation and graphics to music to vision for today.

Pray the hand of the Lord and the favor of God to be upon Pastor Chris and all of the team here.

Now, Lord, we come to you today because only you can bring about what we pray will happen this week.

So give us ears to hear.

Thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin and the power of the Holy Spirit that is able to repeatedly and continually fill us with his presence.

And so help us to hear what God wants us to hear today.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want to speak to you this morning on a powerful subject that God taught me about in nineteen ninety-five.

God can do more in a moment than you can ever do in a lifetime.

I believe God is able to do anything at any time with any one.

And that includes you today.

That's right, you.

You thought everybody gave up on you, but I'm telling you, that includes you.

That includes your marriage, that includes your family, that includes this church, that includes our nation, and it includes the entire world.

I'm convinced today.

And I hope you leave convinced today that we serve a God who can do more in a moment than you can ever do in a lifetime.

You can try and try and try.

I'm not talking today about trying.

I'm talking about the power of God.

You see, I believe personally that the gateway, the entry point into the supernatural power is through prayer and fasting.

I believed this for a long time.

I believe that there are possibly other ways all that can be experienced.

But what I do know is that the scripture does some unusual supernatural things when God's people pray, and when God's people at times join that with fasting.

Now, for us to be on the same wave today and stream and channel, what is prayer?

Prayer is a conversation with God.

It is you speaking to him, and it is God speaking to you.

Don't make it hard and don't complicate it in your mind that you could never talk to God.

That is totally false.

That is a lie of the enemy.

Prayer is you talking to God and Him talking to you.

And let me tell you how he talks to you.

It's through His Word, His Bible.

This week, as you walk with the Lord and you try to go to a different level in your life that your pastors challenge you to go to spiritually, you had better live as much as possible this week in the Word of the Living God.

It becomes a lamp under your feet and a light for your path.

But what is fasting?

Let me define it for you clearly.

Fasting is abstinence from food with a spiritual goal in mind.

I'm going to show you that even here this morning in the text.

It's you abstaining from the natural the most natural thing you get to do in your life, which is eat.

And everybody that likes to eat, say amen.

We all like to eat.

All right?

Nothing's wrong with eating.

God made us that way.

But periodically, at times in your life, for various reasons, the Lord wants us to lay aside some of that, if at all possible, and pursue the God of heaven to do something in your life that you cannot do.

Prayer and fasting is not a hoop you jump through to get the pleasure of God.

Oh, God's going to do this if I do this.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We come to Jesus by grace.

And we talk to Jesus by grace.

But there are times God wants us to go to a different level with Him.

Now many people in the church, they would they would look at fasting or they think about fasting.

They don't know a lot about it.

They've never been taught that, and I don't know how that's possible because the scripture is full of it.

You say, is it really?

I've only read it a little bit.

Well, if you've ever read the Bible through, it talks about it regularly.

In fact, to be quite honest, the word fasting or the word fasting, they are referenced in 57 verses of the Bible.

And it's used 69 different times in those verses.

And they're all references to the abstinence of food.

Now, I've written on this subject, I have tried to live this subject, and I got a long way to go.

But I'm often asked, how do I know that God is inviting me to fast?

That's a great question.

Is it because Pastor Chris has challenged you?

Well, that's a good reason to listen.

He's your pastor.

But how do you know that?

Well, you know, there are times in your life where God creates a burden.

Any of y'all have a burden in your life?

Oh, if you're honest, most of us have a burden in our life.

You say, well, I don't understand what a burden is.

A burden is something you get up with in the morning, you carry it throughout the day, and you go to bed with it at night.

You can't get it off of you.

And I'm not talking about your spouse, by the way.

But I'm talking about a burden.

When that happens, God might be inviting you.

He did that with Nehemiah.

And he rebuilt an entire city wall because of a burden God gave him, and he dealt with it through prayer and fasting.

It's all in the scripture.

Nehemiah chapter 1.

Nehemiah 1 · chapter mention

And also we know that the Lord uses restlessness in our lives.

There are times when we get restless, we get uneasy, we're not content, and we need to still our soul before God.

See what God is doing.

Sometimes we get in a midst of desperation.

Have y'all, any, any of you ever had desperation?

I need God to do something new in my life.

I'm stale, I've lost some things.

I want to come back with God the way He wants me to.

Or maybe you're in trouble, maybe you have an issue, you have a problem, you are confronting a real challenge in your life and you're desperate for something to happen.

That could be God inviting you.

And then sometimes we just have a simple, clear need in EED, just a need.

And we need to talk to God about it in a special way.

And we're always making decisions.

You make a lot of decisions every day.

But some of those decisions are King Kong decisions, they're big decisions.

Where am I going to go to college?

Who am I going to marry?

Where am I going to live?

Will I take this new opportunity that's going to move my family to Dallas or to Minnesota?

Or to New York City.

You have to understand.

I mean, there are major decisions we encounter, and when we face those decisions, God may be inviting us to pray and fast.

Now, today, what I'm going to do is that I'm going to speak to you for a moment on an Old Testament story from the book of Ezra.

Ezra.

Some of you may have never heard of that book.

It's in the Old Testament.

You can look it up in the table of contents if you happen to not know where it is.

And many of us may not, so just go ahead and look it up.

And when you find it, you need to look with me to Ezra chapter 8, because in a moment I'm going to read from that verse, but I've got to explain a few things to you before I do that.

Ezra 8 · chapter mention

You say, Well, I've never heard of Ezra, I've never read that book.

Well, it's one of the 66 books of the Bible, and I would encourage you to read it before you die and go to heaven.

In case you see Ezra there in heaven, he might ask you, what you think of his book?

All right.

So you need to say, Man, that was an amazing book, Ezra.

God really used it in my life.

In Ezra, the Bible says in the eighth chapter that God is in the process of taking Ezra and the people back to Jerusalem.

He had enormous favor with the king of Persia, and he permitted him to go and to take the people back to Jerusalem.

But what happens is a crisis emerged.

Ezra had bragged and bragged and bragged to God about how great God was.

But Ezra, the king asked him if he wanted anybody to escort him, a cavalry or something.

Oh no, God's got it.

But then he gets in the midst of the moment with the people at a place called Ahava.

And if they continued to go to Jerusalem, they were going to go through enemy territory.

So would he call the king and say, I'm sorry what I said ago, King?

No, I need you to come on over and help me usher me through.

But that's not what Ezra did.

Ezra chose to lead the people into a few days of prayer and fasting.

Ezra chapter 8, verse 21.

Ezra 8:21

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahaba, to do what?

Humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

Now notice verse 22, for I was ashamed to request from the king, from the king's troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we said to the king, the hand of our God is favorably disposed to all who seek him, but his power and his anger are against all those who abandon him.

Now look what they did in verse 23.

So, okay, they had a problem, they had a deed, and he said, So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter.

What matter?

They needed safety through enemy territory.

That was the specific matter.

And he listened to our pleading.

That's God.

He listened to our pleading, our prayer, our calling out to him.

Post fast, three days have ended.

Now look what happens.

Ezra 8, 31.

Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the 12th of the first month to go to Jerusalem.

And the hand of our God was upon us.

And he rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the road.

So on this journey, Ezra halted the people at the place called Ahava.

He said, We're in a crisis.

And he made a decision that God wants us to pray and fast.

Now listen, I've studied this subject for years.

I have already written a couple of books on the subject of prayer and fasting, and I have a new one coming out next year at this time.

That doesn't make me anything.

But I have studied it and I've tried to live it out, and I'm still trying to live it out.

This is real stuff I'm about to teach you.

And this is real stuff that the pastor wants you to grab a hold of.

So listen carefully.

Out of all the passages in the scripture, this one is so easy for us to comprehend and to get.

Because in any fasting decision, you're going to make five decisions.

Alright?

Are you ready?

I want to give them to you.

First decision, you find it here in Ezra, eight.

It will be a spiritual decision.

Then I proclaimed a fast.

That's what Ezra said.

Right?

Come on now.

Are you with me?

That's what Ezra said.

He made a spiritual decision.

He had a physical problem.

He had a need, a material need.

He had a deep conviction that he could not go to the king, nor did he need to go to the king.

He was going to go to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

I need you to help.

So he made it a spiritual decision.

Now, I think it's very important to point out what he didn't do.

He didn't tell the people, listen, we're going to appoint a task force.

We're going to take six months, we're going to study this, whether or not we're going to be able to make it.

And they're going to come back and we're going to all vote on it.

See, y'all get ready.

So and so, you're going to be on the task force.

That's not what he did.

He did not call the local denomination and say, What would you recommend me to do?

Oh no, he didn't do that.

He didn't even ask the United States government about it or their government.

You know what he did?

He made a spiritual decision.

We have a great need, and we're going to talk to the only one who can do anything about it.

So we're going to pray and we're going to fast and we're going to see what God does.

Now listen, your pastor has made a spiritual decision this week to ask all of you to go on this journey.

Every one of you, doesn't matter if you're a teenager or whether you're 105.

You can find a way to go on this journey.

In fact, he's already referred to you a card, a way you can sign up, where you can sign up online.

And a commitment is valuable.

I wanted you to encourage you to do that and make a decision, a spiritual decision.

I'm going to do that this week.

You say, well, I can't do all that, just do one.

Write on there what you can do.

Let's have 100% participation of at least people praying, at least seeking God.

And prayerfully, most of you find some level of fasting in your life.

Now, there's another decision.

Decision number two.

It's a humble decision.

Notice what they did.

He proclaimed a fast.

Why were they going to proclaim a fast?

To humble ourselves.

That's what it says in the scripture.

Now, the word humble means to lay flat before God.

It means to be totally absent of yourself and your power and your leaning on the world.

Now, the scripture here teaches us in the Old and the New Testament, there is a correlation between humbling ourselves to God and fasting.

There's a correlation throughout the text.

You say, What do you mean?

Let me give you a couple of examples.

For example, in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 6, he says, humble yourselves.

1 Peter 5:6

People always say, Well, you better be careful.

God will humble you.

Well, absolutely, God can humble all of us, right?

He can do that, like really easy.

All right?

He's God.

We're just people.

But that's not really what God wills to do.

God wills for us to take the initiative to humble ourselves.

And when you fast and pray, you are humbling yourself because you are saying, I can't do this without you, Lord, and I want you to be dominant in this situation.

The Bible also tells us over in Psalm 35, 13, the powerful King David said, I humbled myself with fasting.

Decision number one, it was a spiritual decision.

Decision number two, it was a humble decision.

Decision number three, it's a specific decision.

A specific decision.

Now notice what the specific decision is.

It's on the screen for you.

To seek from him a safe journey for us.

That's straight from the scripture.

The thing I want you to really understand in this Ezra passage is that it's not me, you know, giving my opinion.

It's not me saying, yeah, you know, I think this is what you ought to do.

I didn't do that.

This is straight from God's word.

And when God speaks, let me tell you something.

It's right.

Whenever the Bible speaks, God speaks.

And that's what the Bible says here.

And so the Bible says it is a specific decision.

We want safety as we walk through enemy territory.

Now, this is such a very, very important principle and decision as you enter this week.

Very important.

And let me tell you why it's important.

Because every one of you need to find a specific thing.

One, two, three, or four things you're asking God for this week as you seek Him in this season as a church.

Find what that is in your personal life.

What's interesting here, this decision is specific.

And I think it's clear.

Boy, when you see something clear in the scripture, we need to follow it.

And you need to, you need to, whatever you write out, and you need to write it out.

Put it on your smartphone, write it out on a piece of paper.

Every time you even think about getting hungry, if you're fasting, call out, pull out that list and you talk to God about what you're talking to him about.

But listen, it's very important we get this.

And it's so compelling.

Think about how compelling this is.

We need a safe journey, and God, I can't do this.

Would you please take care of this?

That's what real prayer and real faith does.

It leans on God to do what we cannot do, right?

And how much we need God, don't we?

I'm on the tail end of a long fast since January 1.

And if you were to look at it, I'll end it tomorrow or tonight.

And I just want to tell you, there are four things I'm asking God for.

Four.

Four.

Wrote them down day one.

And I felt the leadership of the Holy Spirit in doing it.

And I've been calling them out every day, every night, all throughout the day.

Are y'all with me?

Come on now.

That's what you gotta get.

It's a specific decision.

But there's another decision you're gonna make anytime you fast and pray.

And boy, this text points it out, and I want to bring it, point it out to you.

It's a trusting decision.

Notice what God's word says.

So we fasted and sought our God.

Remember?

There's a need.

Can't talk to the king about it.

We're gonna talk to the king of kings about it.

So we fasted and prayed.

Are you with me?

That's what happened.

And so we're gonna talk to God about things that only God can do.

And guess what?

We're gonna trust him.

That's right.

We're gonna say, we're gonna trust God for this, and then we're gonna fast, and we're gonna pray, and we're gonna seek the hand of God.

And that is trusting.

Believing, that's what trusting means.

Believing God.

I had someone tell me as a boy one time this about faith.

Listen very carefully.

Faith is believing it to be so, even when it's not so, in order for it to be so, because God said so.

You say, would you repeat that again?

I'll try.

Faith is believing it is so, even when it's not so, in order for it to be so, because God said so.

All right?

Trusting.

Oh boy.

And then look at this final decision.

It was a powerful decision.

What do you mean, Ronnie?

Let me tell you what it means.

What the scripture says.

Look at the two passages.

This is found in the third verse I read, and then the ver the final verse.

He listened to our pleading, and he rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes along the way.

That was a powerful move of God.

And they testified about it.

And they experienced the supernatural power of prayer and fasting.

This is why I told you early when I stood up that I believe the gateway, the entry point for the supernatural power of God is through prayer and fasting.

Now, time will not permit me to go into great detail.

But I can tell you that I could talk at least two hours today with you about what some of the things God has done in my life and through my life because of prayer and fasting.

I began prayer and fasting when I was in college.

I didn't know what I was doing, but I read it and I believed God wanted me to do it, and I tried it.

And I continued to do it for the next number of years about a lot of things in my life.

And then 1990 came in my life as a young adult.

And my wife was diagnosed with cancer.

Surgery, supporting surgeries, six months of radiation, six months of chemotherapy, didn't have a hair on her head.

But when that journey started, the Spirit of God told me to fast and pray for my wife's health.

For God to heal her.

And I did it one day every week for 52 weeks.

And God gave me a verse of promise: Isaiah 43, 1, 2, and 3.

And I called it out to God.

Every time I was sitting in that hospital with her and I was scared to death, we had two little boys, and I didn't know what was happening.

But God prevailed.

Last week my wife celebrated thirty-four years of being cancer free to the glory of God.

When my boys were growing up, there were at least two years I prayed and fasted for each one of my boys every week.

Once a week.

Asking God to give them a heart for Christ, a heart for the church, and a love to tell the world about Christ.

I have one son who's a head football coach of a large 7A high school in Birmingham, Alabama.

I have another son who succeeded me as the pastor of Cross Church.

They both love Jesus, their families love Jesus, their families love the church, they all love the Great Commission telling the world about Christ.

God answers prayer.

I can tell you how in 1995 God transformed my life from the inside out.

And how he propelled our church to be what it is today and is still propelling our church.

And a lot of it goes back to those 40 days with the Lord.

I can assure you, time and time again, I let our church through days of fasting.

Weeks of days in fasting.

And I can tell you, and Dave Kinney would tell you this, and his wife would tell you this.

We fasted for souls to come to Christ.

We fasted for resources.

We fasted for property.

We walked on property, claiming it for God and asking God for it.

We asked God for events that God would come down, souls would be saved, people's lives would be changed.

We prayed for the future of the church and the future generation in that church.

And look what God has done today.

It is an amazing story to the glory of God.

And I want to tell you why.

Because God answers prayer.

And Jesus said it over in Matthew 17, 21.

He said, But this kind of faith does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

Listen carefully, friend.

They could not cast the demon out.

But Jesus told them what the secret was.

The supernatural power of prayer and fasting.

I wrap it up with this today.

And listen clearly.

Many of you are concerned, what's going to happen to me when I pray and fast?

If I really do this, if I test this and I check it out, what's going to happen to me?

I'll tell you one thing that's going to happen to you.

God's going to change you from the inside out.

Some of you are trying to change yourselves from the outside in.

Give it up, dude.

God can do more in a moment than you can ever do in a lifetime.

Let him change you from the inside out.

He will also prepare you for the future, whatever the future is.

What is the future?

I don't have a clue.

But I know I'm ready.

Yes, sir.

I'm ready.

I'm report.

Ready.

Whatever you will, I do.

Wherever I go, or you want me to go, I'll go.

Whatever you want me to do, I'm in, God.

I'm in.

Amen.

I'm ready.

Are you ready?

You got to get ready.

Then God will increase your expectations.

Man, you fast and pray, your expectations are going to grow.

You can't wait to see what God's going to do.

And let me tell you something.

Man, if all of you in this room fasted and prayed at whatever level this week, even if it's just one meal or one day, whatever it is, you find your level.

God's going to create an anticipation.

I'm not about to miss church next week.

I can't wait to see what God does when we get together.

Just imagine the fervor, the excitement of expecting God.

It's one thing to come to church.

It's another thing to come expecting God to move in the place and move in your life.

Oh, I'll tell you another thing God will do.

God will fulfill his promises.

He always fulfills his promises.

And the last thing God will do?

He will answer your prayer.

That's right.

He'll answer it.

Are you telling me if I pray and fast, he's going to give me what I want?

I didn't say he's going to give you what you want.

I said he's going to answer your prayer.

And he will answer your prayer in one of two ways.

He will answer your prayer by accomplishing what you've asked him for.

Or he's going to answer your prayer by you just being accepting to whatever the Lord's will is.

Whatever it is.

Well, will he do it in one week?

Oh, listen.

I've seen prayers answered in times of fasting years later that I did not see in the week of, or the two weeks of, or whatever the length of the fast may have been.

I've seen God do it later.

Even Daniel did a 21-day fast, and God showed up three days later following the fast.

Wow.

So I just want to tell you today, God wants you to make a spiritual decision this week.

And here's your spiritual decision today.

I'm going to complete that form online or with me.

And I'm going to make some kind of commitment before this day is over.

I can do it online or I'm going to do it now.

Whatever that is, make it.

Alright?

Complete it and make it.

That's a spiritual decision.

I can't make that for you.

Pastor can't make that for you.

But you make it.

Will you do that?

And in a moment when we have a public invitation, briefly, I'm going to ask you as soon as we stand, many of you that are going to do that at whatever level this week, I'm going to ask you to come forward and kneel and pray, or simply stand here and say, God, this is yours.

You don't have to stay about, you know, a minute and say, God, I commit this to you.

I've told you I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it, but I cannot do it without you.

And you just tell him, Lord, I surrender.

I'm ready for the ride.

Whatever the ride is, I want you to speak to me and do something in my life.

And some of you may be making the spiritual decision to give your life to Christ.

And many of you in this room, you've never met Christ as Lord and Savior.

There's never been a time, there's never been a place where you've knowingly and willingly given your life to Jesus.

Many of you who are watching and streaming this today are going to get it later on demand.

You don't know the Lord, but you're at least interested.

Whatever you've done, it can be forgiven.

Jesus forgives all sin.

There is a way, and God can make a way, and you can give your life to Jesus Christ.

You know, people ask me all the time, they say, Well, you know, I cannot remember the day or the time that I gave my life to Christ.

You think I know Christ?

Let me tell you what I know.

You may not remember the exact day or the exact time you gave your life to Christ.

But if you've truly given your life to Christ, let me tell you something you will never forget.

Where you were when you gave your life to Christ.

Where were you when you gave your life to Christ?

Those of you that are watching, where are you?

Can you tell me where you were?

Well, if you cannot tell us where you were, why don't you do this?

Why don't you make where you are today the place you give your life to Jesus Christ?

In a moment, I'm going to show you how to do that.

Others of you need to come and talk to one of our pastors about being a part of this church, or maybe you need to be baptized like you saw today in the service, or maybe God could be calling some of you into missions, calling some of you into the ministry of the gospel, some special call in your life.

I pray you'll begin to come and pray about that in your life.

Now, Father, we ask in Jesus' name that you speak to us in these last few minutes of this worship service, and we ask for the power of the Lord to show his hand forth among the people of God.

Now, those of you that have never given your life to Christ, you cannot say when it was, you cannot even say where it was.

Would you make today wherever you are and give your life to Christ right now?

Would you do that?

In this room, there are many.

Online, there are many, many more.

So you just say this to God, meaning it in your heart, and Christ will come into your life.

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner.

I believe Jesus died for my sin.

I believe Jesus died in my place.

So I open my heart today, and I ask you, come into my life right now.

Take away my sin.

Come and live with me, and take me to heaven when I die.

By faith, I receive Jesus in my life.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving me.

If that was you, and you're in this room, I want you to come in a moment and talk to one of our pastors.

If that was you online, you find a way to tell us that this has happened today.

Now remember, we're making a spiritual decision today.

Many of you, I want you to lead the way and come and pray and commit this week to God.

God, I'm all in.

Speak to me, answer my prayer, get me through it.

May I be focused.

As we stand all over the room and we begin to sing, you stand and you begin to come right now.

All of us across the room, let's stand together.

And as we do it, would you come today?

Make that commitment to Christ.

Whatever it is, you make your way and come now.

As we sing,

Let's continue to sing the same, let's continue to play the same.

What the fuck can you do?

Just let the way the blow.

There's some heavy, heavy, heavy burdens in this place.

Some of you have got family members who have walked away from the Lord.

Some of you have got unexpected financial concerns.

Some of you are dealing with cancer diagnosis.

Some of you just feel like you're in a rut.

You just feel stuck and you don't know what to do.

Father in heaven, I come before you and I ask in the name of Jesus for you to move in our church.

Father, I ask that you would bring healing to this place.

Father, I pray that you would change our circumstances or you would change us to accept the circumstances that aren't going to change.

Father, I pray that hope would reign over fear.

Father, I pray that we would be a church that is known to go after those who are not yet here.

Father, I pray you'd use us.

You'd use our families.

You'd use our workplaces, you'd use our schools, you'd use our areas of influence to make much of you.

Father, we thank you that we're not just going through an exercise this week or we're just trying to make it hard by not eating.

But Father, you are faithful.

You can do more in a moment than we could do in a lifetime.

Father, I pray we would believe that this week.

That we would walk in such faith that we are radically different.

Father, I thank you in advance for what you're gonna do.

I thank you, Lord, for the push that many people in this room and those online already feel.

Father, I pray they would not resist the Holy Spirit's in their life, but Father, I pray that they instead would submit and they would yield to your leading in their life.

And that God, as a result, we could see you move.

We could see you work.

We could see you get all the glory in this place in our lives.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen and amen.

Hey, you can go ahead and make it back to your seat.

Do me a quick favor before you leave.

Everybody sit down.

Give me two minutes, please.

Just two minutes.

I want to pull the cards back out to you.

And I want to ask that you fill this out.

You can do it digitally.

You can just take a the QR code and you can take a look at that and you can fill it out digitally.

Or you can fill out the actual card and you can leave it in your seat.

What we ask you to do is commit.

There's a couple of different ways that you can fast.

A complete fast that's a liquid-only fast that starts tonight at sundown all the way through sunup next week.

Let me just encourage you, for many of you, this if unless you're physically unable to do so, let me encourage you to consider doing this one.

I promise you, I know what you're thinking, because I did the very first time.

I'm gonna die on Wednesday.

Like there's no way.

You're gonna love it on Monday, you're gonna have a headache on Tuesday, and Wednesday, you're gonna think it's the dumbest thing you've ever decided to do.

And on Thursday, you're gonna feel fine.

I'm telling you, you're gonna feel fine.

And you're gonna begin to push the way all of these hunger pains.

And as Dr.

Floyd said, every time those things come up, you just begin to speak to the Lord.

This is an encouraging thing for you to do, is not only commit to something, but that you would also commit to what are you gonna do instead of eating.

Some of you are like, Well, it's gonna be awkward.

Uh we went to dinner last night.

Hey, we're not eating.

It was fine, it was totally fine.

Let me just encourage you to consider to this.

Maybe for some of you it's not realistically possible.

Maybe you need to do a one-meal fast, a one-day fast, maybe a Daniel fast.

We've got some information online that you can read about that.

I would encourage almost all of us, we need to consider a media fast this week.

Where we just take all of the distractions of the world and we allow the Spirit of God to speak.

At the bottom there, you can write out, What are you asking God for?

Please fill this form out, leave it in the chairs.

Uh I am, man, I I am I'm asking the Lord to move in our church in such a way this week where you hear his voice.

God is moving, he is doing unbelievable things in the life of our church.

But let me just tell you, I believe wholeheartedly this is the tip of the iceberg.

But it's not gonna come by us having flashier stuff, it's not gonna be from us building new additions to our building, which we are planning on doing in 2024.

It's gonna come when his people get before him, seek his face, and say, God, we need you.

Will you lead us?

And I firmly believe that the story that we saw of a of a girl getting saved in her school can only be the first of so many stories just like that.

But it could be in your workplace, it could be in your neighborhood, it could be on your baseball team, it could be in your office, it could be wherever God has you.

If we truly seek his face and say, God, out of all the noises that are out there, I want to hear your voice.

And I want you to lead me, and I want you to guide me.

I'm gonna ask you to do one last thing.

I know we're running late, that's okay.

Put your hands out like this.

I want to pray a prayer blessing over you.

Father in heaven, I come before you and I ask that you would move in the lives of every single person in this room and online.

God, would you speak to them?

Father, as they read your word, as they seek you in prayer, as they put aside the things of the flesh and they receive the things of the spirit, Father.

I pray that you would do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or even think.

With all of the faith in this room, think about what the Lord could do.

Father, I pray that you would bring blessing, I pray that you would bring clarity, I pray that you would bring guidance, I pray that you would bring provision.

I pray, God, most importantly, that we would be a people who meet with you this week and we never, ever, ever get over it.

God, thank you.

As we head into this week, we give it to you for your glory and for your name.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

See you next week.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

And so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed a note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's gonna be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye bye.