Happy New Year GoChurch Beirut

Hey, Go Church Family, Pastor Julie here with Pastor Matt.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Yeah, Happy New Year.

So we wanted to record a short message that just says Happy New Year and lets you know

that we're praying for you, we love you.

We say that all the time, but we don't just say it, we do it.

We mean it.

Yeah.

And we wanted to, this is an exceptional Sunday, not just because it's a holiday, but because

it comes between two series.

And so our regular podcast will be back next week.

But I wanted to just share this quick message and talk about the new year and talk about

change.

This is a time of year where change comes up.

We get to focus on that.

And Julie, will you read 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 16 through 18 for us?

2 Corinthians 4:16–18

Absolutely.

So, just to give you a chance to find it if you're looking it up yourself, it's 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:16–18

chapter 4 verses 16 through 18.

And it says, for this cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the

inward man is renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding

and external weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,

for the things which are seen are temporal, or they change, but the things which are not

seen are eternal.

I love that verse.

There's so much in it.

I especially love that phrase, weight of glory.

Yes.

And there's a lot we can talk about there.

But that passage of scripture is about change and the focus that is necessary for change.

And if we focus on outward things, then we're watching things that actually are passing

away.

But we can choose to put our focus on spiritual things.

And in January of this year, as a church, I want us to on purpose put our focus on spiritual

things, eternal things.

If you think about like a car, there's a device in a car that allows the car to change directions.

It's the steering wheel.

And you can get in the car and decide, I want to go to this place.

I want to go to this market.

I want to go to my friend's house.

But at some point, you have to turn the wheel.

And you turn the wheel the direction you want to go.

That's right.

It's something that happens before you arrive.

And so for us, that has to do with changing our focus, which is obviously something that

we can talk about, but also changing habits.

And January is an excellent opportunity for us to look at how we're spending our time,

how we're spending our focus, what we look at.

And because of that, we want to look at the subject of fasting as a church in January

from a biblical perspective.

But I don't want to just study it.

I want us as a church to do it.

I want to challenge everyone to fast in January.

I didn't say I want everyone to not eat for the month of January.

But I think that this is a subject that we need to look at from the scripture.

And we need to address from a place of faith.

And we need to do from a place of faith.

And faith comes by hearing God's word.

That's right.

But before we get into any of that in the actual podcast and in our in our grow group

study, I wanted to bring it up today.

And I want to read from Matthew, chapter six.

I'll start reading in verse 16.

Jesus said, Do not act like the hypocrites when you fast.

You know what that word hypocrite means?

Everyone, I suppose, knows what a hypocrite is.

It's someone that says one thing and does another or acts like one way when they're

around everyone else.

But then they act a different way when they think no one's watching the Greek word.

I'm not a Greek scholar, but this was actually the same word that was used to describe an

actor.

So if you went to a movie or if you went to a play, the cast of that play are in Greek

hypocrites.

And Jesus said, We should not be like actors when we fast.

So this tells us right away, this has to be something that we do genuinely and from the

heart.

That means not because I said we should do it on the podcast that everyone should fast.

If we keep reading verse 16, Jesus goes on and says, they who's they they those hypocrites,

they make it clear to everyone they are fasting.

Now, I mean, can you can you think of someone that kind of made it clear to everyone around

them?

Hey, I'm fasting.

Hey, hey, everyone, I'm fasting.

I was discussing this series with Gilbert and he made a comment that I really liked.

He said we shouldn't put the weight of fasting on others.

Yeah.

So if I make the decision to fast, it's for me.

That's right.

It's and it's as soon as I as soon as I put the weight of my fast on you.

Now I've I'm not doing biblical spiritual fasting anymore.

You're not doing it by faith.

Jesus goes on.

He says, I tell you the truth.

The praise they the hypocrites seek from others when they tell people about their fast is

the only reward they will receive.

And this is what I want to hone in on.

There is a reward for fasting.

In the Old Testament, there are fasts that are described in the New Testament.

Fasting is mentioned is talked about, but there's nowhere in the Bible where it tells

us we need to fast for this long in this way, for this reason.

In fact, everything that we see people fasting for in the Old Testament, we actually have

received in Jesus in our redemption.

But there is a reward in fasting, and I want you to receive that reward.

Now I'm going to go back to this subject of change as we finish.

Everybody wants to see change.

But how many of us are willing to do change in in November of this year?

I started thinking about this series, and so I decided that this is already in the past.

This isn't what I'm doing now.

So I'm not telling you, not bragging about my fast, but I decided that I would just not

eat anything cooked, which was a challenge for Julie because Julie's a great cook.

But I decided that for a period of time, not the whole month, but for a period of time

in November, that I was just going to tell my body no and only eat raw vegetables.

Now, if you know me, you know that Matt loves broccoli and cauliflower.

I should have given them some cucumbers.

It would have been good for him.

That is all I ate for about three weeks.

And that's OK.

You know, nothing bad happened.

That's right.

And the exercise of doing that was just simply to remind the flesh that the spirit man, the

real you remember we've talked about this in Trails of Thought, the series we did, Real

You, and then the series that Pastor Matt Beamer did called House Hunters.

You can go back on YouTube and watch all of those.

The real me can tell the outward part of me no.

And that verse that Julie read, the outward part is perishing.

It's already passing away.

So it shouldn't be in charge.

That's right.

And what I want to challenge you to do is look at things, not bad things.

I don't want you to fast unforgiveness.

You should just stop that altogether.

Yeah, I don't want you to fast pride that that's something you should just deal with

and not allow.

But look at things that are not bad.

Things that you like.

Yeah, you know, it's something people often think that fasting is only food, but you can

fast social media.

You can fast watching television.

You can fast your favorite series on TV for a month.

There are so many things that you can fast that take attention away from the things that

God has for you that if you will just give them up for a moment, you'll recognize the

position that you give them in your life.

Yeah, that's really good.

And we can we'll talk more about different kinds of fasting.

But you know, Julie mentioned social media and television.

There was a there's an he's in heaven now.

It was an international internationally known evangelist.

And when he was not internationally known, he wasn't even really, you know, known much

outside of his family.

He made a decision that he was going to give the Lord 10 percent of his time every day.

He wanted to give the Lord a tithe of his time.

So two hours and 40 minutes, at least every day.

He wanted to to spend time praying and and meditating, giving himself to the word and

study.

Well, he quickly realized he didn't have an extra two hours and 40 minutes because he

was married and he had children and responsibilities.

And he thought, well, how am I going to do this?

And then he realized, oh, wait, I do have that time because that's the time I sit in

front of the television.

And so he just shut his TV off and he he went and he took that time and he he didn't fill

it with something else that was natural.

He filled it with time spent with God.

And as a result, in his generation, he was one of the most effective evangelists in his

day.

And there is a direct connection between what he chose to focus on and the result or the

destination that he arrived at.

We all want to see big changes.

But those big changes are the result of little focus changes.

That's right.

And they show up when we tell our body no, when we tell our soul no, when we say, you

know, hey, I like doing this.

Hey, I want this.

No.

You know, I I jokingly say sometimes that there are some people, it seems like they've

never heard the word no.

Yeah.

But it's actually a good thing for you for you to tell you, no, that's right.

No, we're not going to think about that.

No, we're not going to have that attitude.

No, we're not going to have our little pity party.

Yeah.

And if we want to do those that have that kind of control and see these big changes

in our life, it needs to start somewhere small.

That's right.

And so this month in January, we're going to talk about fasting next week in our podcast.

You're going to hear more about that.

We'll get into the scripture on it.

But I want to encourage you with this message to look at your life, look at the way you

spend your time on a daily basis and pick something.

Yeah.

And I'm not asking you to, you know, post it on social media, let everyone know, hey,

listen, everyone, I'm going to fast.

Don't in other words, don't put the weight of it on others.

Just you tell you no.

Why?

Because there is a reward.

There's a reward for you.

And I want you to get everything that Jesus has for you.

That's right.

Not just in 2024, but everything that you've received in him.

I don't want you to miss out on any of it.

And that's our prayer for you.

That's right.

And so I know that I know that you've heard me say it before, but I'm going to say it

again.

We we love you.

Yes.

We're we're praying God's richest and best for you.

We're praying that you see and walk in everything that Jesus has put on the inside of you.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year, you guys.

We love you so much.

Bless you.

Thank you for listening to this message.

We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God, growing his love and go with

his love to the rest of their world.

We invite you to connect with us at one of our groups for our next gathering.

And if no one told you yet today, we love you and believe God's very best for you.