Fast Your Way To Health - September 7, 2026

This morning I'm going to give a message to you.

I've titled Fast Your Way to Health.

Fast Your Way to Health.

Now, fasting is a biblical doctrine whereby you don't eat food.

Turn me down a little bit.

I'm kind of the mic is doing something funny.

Thank you.

Isaiah chapter 58, fast your way to health.

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

Question, question, question.

What did Satan use to get to Adam and Eve?

Food.

Food.

The reason why so many people die young, they're so stressed out, they've got heart and blood issues, and the reason there's so many cancer issues, and there's so many addiction issues has a lot to do with our inability to say no to ourselves.

To say no to our flesh.

And I want to show you today, I'm going to give you ten reasons why you should pick up the Bible doctrine of fasting.

And so turn to your Bible, let's let's build a foundation here, Isaiah 58.

And look what it says here in verse number six.

It says, Is not this the fast that I have chosen?

To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?

When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy what's that word say?

Thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee.

The glory of the Lord shall be thy rear reward.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer.

Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.

If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of thy finger, and the speaking of vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shalt thou thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places.

Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths to dwell in.

Here we see a great passage in the Bible about the benefits of fasting.

Now, just in case you're new to the doctrine, fasting means you're not gonna eat food.

Um and there's different types of fasts in the Bible, right?

There's there's uh vegetable fast, there's water-only fast, there's um no food, no water fasts.

Now, I know what we do a lot of times, we say, okay, I'm just gonna go off of technology, I'm gonna go off my phone, I'm gonna fast for this for a little bit.

Uh, but we want to see what the Bible uh talks about with fasting.

And I want you to draw a connection here that when you fast, when you're disciplining yourself, so you're not eating food, you're giving yourself over to God.

And you're asking him, please, God, you be my nourishment, you be my provider.

Um look at Isaiah chapter 55.

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

Look at Isaiah 55.

Stay with me, Salm Booth K, Isaiah 55.

And look what he says in verse number one.

He says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat.

Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not.

Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Incline your ear and come unto me, and hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

Here's what I want to tell you.

Like, like God has an ability to nourish us with things that that uh that you don't purchase with money.

And what we want to do is we want to follow the Jesus example.

Go over to Matthew chapter number four, Matthew chapter four, as we lay this doctrine out a little bit about uh the importance of fasting and the importance of the word of God, Matthew chapter four.

I want to tell you, some of you guys could probably lose to drop about 20, 30 pounds.

Some of you could probably uh uh drop maybe another 40 or 50 pounds, right?

And uh a lot of that has to do with an ability to say no to yourself.

And uh I found this to be true.

A lot of times people they don't understand why they should fast.

They just look at it and think, what, no eating?

It's not about just no eating, it's about getting closer to God, it's about afflicting the flesh, it's about getting your soul clean, it's about getting your blood clean, it's about thinking clearly, it's about the ability to build your power to say no.

There's there's just so many benefits.

It's about if there's something wrong inside your body, like cancer cells, when you fast, your body turns into a self-cleaning station.

The life of the flesh is in the blood, and if you want to have power in your life, you've got to clean the blood.

And if you're always putting all kinds of junk into your system, then your body's never cleaning itself.

And that's why there's so many problems that we have.

And so there's so many benefits to fasting that God actually will help you to be able to heal and to have more power.

Look what it says in Matthew chapter number four, Matthew chapter four.

Say amen if you're there.

It says, Then was Jesus led up of the what's it say?

He's led of the spirit.

Another passage in the harmony of the gospel says it talks about the spirit drove him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward and hungered.

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

And he answered and said, It's not, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Hey, listen, you do need bread to live, right?

You do need nourishment to live.

Because if you don't eat food, you're eventually going to die.

You know, I can tell you this last week, these last seven days, I dropped almost 20 pounds of just no eating and uh and just uh water.

And of course, you know, I'm a workout freak, and so I didn't lift any heavy weights.

There was no, you know, deadlifting 500 pounds or benching, you know, a lot of weight, but it was riding on the bike because I want the body to flow and I want the healing, and I'm praying, God, please uh give my intestines a break.

Give my uh if there's any fatty tissues around the liver and around the kidneys, please eat it up, let the body go in and heal itself.

And of course, I'm a surfer too.

You heard about that when you're when you're stupid, you gotta be tough.

And I went out and I surfed each day and and uh worked out there.

Of course, I didn't have a lot of energy, a lot of lightheadedness.

And uh, but still just kind of asking the Lord, please help me.

Help me clean the body and heal the body and help me to get close to you.

Well, you do need bread to live, but man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

That's why I always challenge you.

Hey, grab that that 90-day Bible reading challenge and read through the Bible.

You need every word of the Bible.

You don't need just a devotional, you don't need just a supplement, you don't just need a sermonette, you don't just need another reel.

You need the whole Bible, the whole thing, from Genesis to Revelation.

You need to esteem the word of God more than your necessary food.

More than you go breakfast, lunch, and dinner, uh first snack, second snack, third snack, first uh dessert, second dessert.

More than you need all that.

You need the Bible.

And we can say amen, but listen, we have to look and say, Am I actively engaging into the Bible?

More than anything, we need we need the Bible.

Because the Bible is gonna guide your path, it's gonna show you what to do, it's gonna show you what's right, what's wrong, it's gonna help you to make good choices.

And the Bible teaches Jesus is fasting here, right?

He was fasting.

So, question.

If Jesus is fasting and he is your God and you call yourself a Christian, which means little Christ, a Christ follower, should you be fasting?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

See, don't come to church and act like you're a Christian and then not do the things that Jesus says.

That's called hypocrisy, that's called self-delusion.

There's a lot of people living in deception and they don't even realize it.

They just come to church, they check it off a box, and they think, oh, that was a pretty good little uh message.

I'm gonna go out and do the same thing over and over.

No, we need to be people of the book that say, okay, God change me, mold me, shape me.

I want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

You say, okay, what else did Jesus say on fasting?

Go over to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention Matthew 6 · chapter mention

He says this in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

He says in verse number 16, moreover, when ye fast, when ye fast, not if you fast, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.

Verily I say unto you, they have the reward, but thou when thou fastest, anoint thine head, wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

He basically says, I don't want you to tell everybody about it.

You say, You just did.

Well, we're the body of Christ.

When I fast, my left hand knows that my right hand is fasting.

Right?

When I fast, my wife knows I'm fasting.

But why?

Because we're one.

See, there's certain things that as a body, as a corporate body, as a church, and as a marriage, you need to have a communication together.

In fact, you know there's some things you shouldn't be doing when you're fasting.

Go over to your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter number 7.

You should not be having sex when you are fasting.

You say, why are you gonna say that right here in the middle of church?

Because it's the Bible.

We need to know the Bible, right?

You're supposed to be giving yourself completely over to God.

And I'm not gonna be bashful or shy away from what the Word of God says.

Amen.

We need to know what the Bible says.

Look what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter number seven.

1 Corinthians chapter number 7.

Look what it says here.

It says this, it says in verse 3, it says, Let the husband render unto the wife, do benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

The wife hath not power over her own body but the husband, likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife.

Defraud ye not one another, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves a fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinencies.

Here's what he's basically saying.

My body as a husband doesn't just belong to me, it belongs to my wife.

I cannot just remove my body from my wife without her consent.

And vice versa, she cannot just remove her body from me without my consent.

Why?

Because we are one, we're in this together, we we're we have a holy matrimony, it's a covenant.

What we do, we do together.

If there's a preaching trip I've got I'm thinking about, I talk to my wife about it.

If there's an event that she wants to go, she talks to me about this.

Everything is communication and collaboration and unity and oneness.

Why?

Because we are one.

And so if I'm gonna give myself to fasting, I have to come to my sweetheart and say, sweetheart, listen, this means there's no intimacy during this time.

She'd be like, no, honey, no.

Not again.

How long?

What you say, why is there no intimacy during that time?

Because you're giving yourself to affliction.

You're not giving yourself to pleasure.

See, the problem with many of us is we give ourselves to pleasure too much.

And then we come to church, we think, oh, I don't really like that message.

Well, it's not all about your pleasure.

You have to learn to be able to deny yourself and pick up your cross and and follow Jesus.

You have to be willing to say, okay, I don't like this.

This is afflicting me.

But listen, all the things that are that that afflict us may not always be bad for us.

There's some things that afflict us that are good for us.

Look over in your Bible.

Where are we going, Lord?

Go over to James chapter number four.

James chapter four.

Look what he says here in James 4.

He says this.

He says in verse number nine, be afflicted and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.

You know, there's a time for you to be afflicted, and it's a choice for you to afflict yourself.

Listen, every day, many times the only way I start feeling like a normal person is after I've tortured myself in the gym for like three hours.

You know, where I'm just like, and then I feel like uh like I'm I'm I'm a normal human being.

I feel like sometimes I'm a pit bull that's just like caged up.

You gotta run that sucker until his energy is like a calm person once again.

And then I can go out and be calm and sweet and nice.

But I want to tell you something like there's it, there's scriptures here that talk about be afflicted, mourn, and weep.

That's why you look at Brother Jeremy's testimony when I got up here and weeped.

That was awesome, wasn't it?

I'll take a man who's broken and humble and contrite and real over somebody who is eloquent all day long who has no heart closeness with God.

I'm not interested in just somebody who can say all the right things and check the boxes and do religion.

I'm interested in the heart for God.

And so he says, there's a time you need to let your laughter be turned to mourning.

There's a time that you need to let your joy be turned to heaviness.

It says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.

Which means this.

There's some times we gotta be able to say, hey, listen, I can't go to the party tonight.

I can't go and and and everybody's eating.

I'm not gonna be eating tonight.

I'm gonna, I need to, I need to spend more time with God.

I need to I need to afflict the flesh.

I need to make sure that I'm not saying yes to every dessert and every piece of food and everything.

I gotta learn how to say no.

And so I want you to see how important it is to say no.

Look what it says in Romans chapter number 13, Romans 13.

And with your other hand, I want you to pick up Jeremiah 17.

Aren't you glad to be able to get in the Bible this morning?

Amen.

I love the Bible.

Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

I want you to see this in here.

Romans chapter 13, look what it says in verse number 14, Romans 13, 14, Romans 13, 14.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

And with your other hand, you're gonna pick up Jeremiah 17.

If you have a phone, just do Romans 13 for now.

Romans 13, look what it says in verse 14.

Romans 13, 14.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.

Hey, you know, there's some sits some things in your life, you need to get it out of your pantry, you need to get it out of your cupboard, you need to get it out of your life.

If you're an alcoholic and you're struggling to kick the alcohol, one of the best things you could do is get that junk out of your house.

If you're struggling with pills, you're struggling with pornography, you're struggling with dope, whatever it is, get it away from you.

Make it so challenging and so difficult that you can't, you won't easily stumble into it.

And make the things that are good and right and lovely easier for you.

And so he says, put on the Lord and make no provision for the flesh.

And so there's times you've got to be able to say, I'm not gonna put myself in a situation where I'm gonna be tempted.

I'm not gonna go to that place, I'm not gonna go with that person, no, because I don't want to get into sin, I don't want to feed the flesh.

Go over in your Bible, Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah 17.

And in Jeremiah 17, look what it says here in verse number nine.

It says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

Do you understand there's the the whole worldly agenda is listen to your heart and what it's telling you.

Listen, your heart is wicked.

Your heart is evil.

You have an old nature heart and a new nature heart.

You have two natures if you're born again.

Now, if you're lost, dead in trespasses and sins in here, you've never been saved.

You just have a wicked heart.

But if you're saved by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit has has quickened you, and you have a new nature, and you've been raised to walk in the newness of life, you have a new nature heart.

Your old nature heart has been circumcised, has been crucified, and you're to put off the deeds of the flesh.

You're to put off the old nature, and you're to walk in Christ and put on Christ and walk in that new nature heart, which is created after God and righteousness and true holiness, and you're supposed to know the difference between the two.

Well, your old nature heart, according to the text there, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

I of the Lord search the heart.

I try the reign to even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

So you shouldn't always just give yourself into what you want.

Listen, let me tell you something.

Sex feels good.

Drugs feel good.

Uh getting drunk feels good.

All that stuff feels good.

But how many of y'all, there were some consequences.

Come on, in your life, there were some consequences.

When it was done in the wrong way.

Now, listen, sex is to be confined in marriage where there's commitment, where there's vows, where it says, listen, till death do us part, I'm all the way in.

But I gotta tell you something.

There's a lot of times when we get into the flesh and we just start chasing the next physical high.

And we don't realize that, man, this this alcohol is leading to drunkenness, and many people are messed up in their world today because of drunkenness.

Many people are chasing after pleasure because they're listening to their heart.

And you have to be able to tell your heart no.

You have to be able to say, no, flesh, I'm not listening to you.

Yes, I I I hear you, stomach.

Yes, you're grumbling.

Shut up.

Shut up.

We're afflicting the flesh.

You have to be willing to tell yourself no.

And then listen, you have to be able to command yourself.

Get your butt out of bed and go work out.

Get yourself over there and buy those flowers.

Get yourself over there and make that visit.

You have to, your soul has to command your body.

You have to command it.

Because if you don't learn how to command it, the spirit leading the soul, the soul leading the body, it's gonna reverse the order, and you're not gonna, you're not gonna, you, you're not gonna know what you're doing.

You're gonna be terrible, terribly confused.

I want to have you go over to Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention Matthew 17 · chapter mention

I believe there's many of us, we want success, we want health, we want the blessing, we want to see good promotion in our life.

And many of us are like, man, preacher, why am I not seeing the success, the health, the power in my life?

Why do I keep hitting hitting walls?

Why am I why am I not uh moving forward?

Matthew chapter 17, verse number 14.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

Matthew 17, 14, Matthew 17, 14.

Look what it says here in Matthew 17, 14.

And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic.

Anybody got any lunatic kids out there?

Anybody got any little kids that are all over the place?

Hey, listen, join the club.

There looks like this guy has one too.

He's a lunatic and sore vexed.

Kid's pretty messed up.

And you know how this is?

A lot of parents think, oh, that's my little angel.

And then they're like little demons sometimes.

And they, it's like parental blindness.

It's like, no, listen, that child needs something, okay?

And the parents just like, oh, it's the cutest little thing.

Have you ever seen those newborn babies?

And the mom is like, oh, it's the most beautiful thing.

You're like, are we looking at the same picture here?

I mean, I'm not gonna say anything out loud, but that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

Now praise the Lord, it's a baby.

Praise the Lord, it's a human life, but wow, let's give it a little time, okay?

Don't tell me you don't think these thoughts, too.

Okay?

It's not just me.

Okay?

I'm just the only one that has the courage to say it out loud.

Look what he says, the kid's a lunatic and sore vex, or oftentimes he falls in the fire and often in the water.

And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

And Jesus answered and said, Oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I suffer you?

Bring him hither to me.

And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour.

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could we not cast him out?

And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief.

For verily I say unto you, if you have faith the grain of a mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to a yonder place and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Verse 21, if you have a King James Bible, if you have an NIV or other versions, it won't be there.

But in the King James in verse 21, it says, Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by what?

Yeah, you want spiritual power in your life?

You've got to be willing to consecrate, you've got to be willing to sacrifice, you've got to be willing to say no to food, you've got to be willing to put yourself in check.

But listen, if if if you're starting to see no results in your life and you're stuck, you should ask yourself, Am I practicing the Bible doctrine of fasting?

And if you do start practicing the Bible doctrine of fasting, you know what's gonna happen?

Your flesh is gonna hate it.

Your flesh is absolutely gonna hate it.

It's gonna be hard, it's gonna be difficult, it's gonna be trying and challenging.

The moment you say, I'm gonna fast today, one of your best friends will be like, hey, you wanna go over to Texas Roadhouse?

Wanna get one of those fully loaded?

Anybody had Texas Roadhouse, that fully loaded sweet potato?

Woo!

Plus the prime rib, and get that 16 ounce, that thick sucker with a little bit of mushrooms and onions on it.

I put all kinds of salt and pepper on that thing.

You know what I'm saying?

Dip that thing right in that au jus sauce or whatever that is.

Oh, yeah, what about those rolls?

Yeah, those rolls are so plus that butter.

Woo! I don't know about you guys, but I love butter on everything.

Thick, cold butter if I can get it too.

I don't know how I got on food, but but he says, listen, if if you want this kind of power to break your unbelief, you need to get into some fasting.

You need to be able to get into fast.

Now you say, preacher, how do I get into fasting?

Well, first of all, you have to understand if you're when you go into fasting, if you're not praying when it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner time, you're just starving yourself.

So, for example, if let's say you start off with a one day fast, okay?

And I I wouldn't suggest you do a 40 day if you haven't if you haven't done a three day, right?

I would say listen.

And it's like lifting weights.

If you can't, if you haven't lifted 140 pounds, don't try to do 225.

A lot of times, I'm gonna go 225.

You haven't even you have no chest muscles yet, okay?

You got you got moobs right now, okay?

Those moobs are right there.

You gotta kind of tighten up a little bit.

And you gotta slowly kind of build the strength.

Let's do 140 first, let's kind of maybe 125 first, and then kind of build it up.

Same thing with fasting.

You gotta try to build that strength up and that resolve up and that dependence up, but it's in a spiritual way.

And so as you're you start with one day, you say, okay, for this time, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, when when my wife or my kids or my son or my daughter or my family's going to eat, I'm gonna go to the car.

I'm gonna go over to the bathroom.

I'm gonna go uh over here a little bit, and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna consecrate myself to get close to God during that time.

You say, What do you pray?

Lord Jesus, I'm so hungry right now.

I'm so weak, I got a headache, I'm lightheaded.

I sure would like that food, but God, I'm choosing you right now.

Strengthen me, heal me, cleanse me, give me discernment, help me, oh God.

I need this bill paid.

Sister so-and-so's got cancer, heal her, and you just start getting into the prayer closet.

And before you know it, the Holy Ghost of God starts channeling energy through you.

And before you know it, man, all kinds of power surges upon you.

And when you come out of the prayer closet, you'll be like Moses coming down the mountain.

Remember when Moses came down the mountain, his face was shining because he had been with God.

And so maybe you start with one day.

Maybe you can't make it through the night.

Maybe you just go sun up to sun down.

After you get to one day, maybe you try three days.

After you get three days, uh, then maybe you go five days.

After you go five days, and don't do it back to back to back.

Give yourself some time to heal.

You know when we're lifting weights, we get all kinds of right?

Got to be careful there, right?

Anybody ever blow the backside of their back out, you know, a little bit with their pants?

Doing some lifting?

Yeah, I've done that before.

But you gotta be careful.

You gotta be careful.

And then after you break the body down, you need to give it some time to build back up again.

Right?

Because when you when you go into a fast, your whole digestive system, it gets a break, it gets healing.

You think about this every day, hopefully you're going number two, right?

For some of us who are regular, for other of us, you're like you're praying to God, you can get more regular.

You know, it's two, three days, the system's kind of backed up.

There's no shame in my game.

I'll bring it all out today, friend.

I'll bring it all out.

I don't care.

I don't care.

Some of you guys are so spiritual and think you don't even talk about this kind of stuff.

But your your whole intestines and your digestive system, the longer you go, the more it goes kind of, it gets a break.

It can go to sleep.

And so you have to you have to be mindful when you're waking it back up, what you're putting in and how you're doing it.

But it's good because it can get some healing, it can get some break.

And then when it comes back alive again, you build back up again.

And here's what I'm saying, you can sequentially grow your prayer and fasting.

Listen, if you're running with the footman and they're wearing you, don't try to contend with the horses.

Don't try to get up here if you haven't done this yet.

Like, don't think you're gonna play with the big league pros if you can't even hit the ball off the T yet.

A lot of times people come to church and like, man, preacher, I want to do this, this, and this.

Okay, why don't we just start right here first?

Here's what I'm saying, we're not all at the same level.

That's what I'm saying.

We may, the ground may be even at the foot of the cross, but not all of us have walked with Christ the same amount for the same duration of time.

Some of us are a little further down the trail than others.

And for those of us who are further down the trail, we have a job to teach the younger generation.

And the younger generation is not just in age.

Some as far as like maybe they're four, they're they're 10 or 12 years old.

Some of you guys are 50, 60 years old and you still don't even know about tithing.

You still don't even know about how to soul win.

You've never led a soul to Christ.

You would still be considered, in my eyes, a baby.

Because you don't you don't know how to handle the word of God.

So you need a teacher to teach you through that stuff.

And so fasting, fasting is a Bible doctrine that we don't want to neglect.

So you say, preacher, give me the ten the ten reasons why I should fast.

Number one, number one, if you're taking notes, so you can draw closer to God.

That's number one.

Draw closer to God.

How many of you guys want to get closer to God?

Does anybody out there want to get closer to God?

That's why we're here today.

Well, you say, preacher, why is it that that when we fast, we're able to get closer to God?

It's like it's like your flesh is getting turned down.

You're and your spirit is getting turned up.

You guys know how in Galatians 5 it talks about if you uh if you walk in the spirit, uh, if you feed the spirit, you'll be able to walk in the spirit.

But if you feed the flesh, you'll you'll walk in the flesh.

So when you're fasting, you're basically crucifying the flesh and you're feeding, you're feeding the spirit.

And the more you feed the spirit, the more sensitive you're gonna become to the Holy Ghost of God.

And so the first reason you want to uh fast is you want to get closer to God.

In Joel chapter 2, verse 12, it says, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning.

Joel 2:12

See, this whole rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub.

I went to church, I said a little prayer, or I missed some prayer, and you think God's just gonna bless your life with uh massive blessings because you said one little prayer?

You put no skin in the game, you put no sacrifice in it.

Listen, it's like it's like trying to go become great at something.

If you don't put anything into it, you can't expect yourself to become great at it.

You've got to be willing to say, God, you are my all in all.

I'm giving you my mind, my will, my emotion.

I'm asking you to rip my flesh off and help me to get closer to you.

I'm gonna weep and mourn.

God, please, I want you to have all of me.

That's a whole different player than somebody that just, well, I went to church today.

Okay, great.

You gotta start somewhere.

Sometimes you have to empty yourself of the physical to become more sensitive to the spiritual.

Number two, the reason you should fast.

Break fleshly strongholds.

Break fleshly strongholds.

How many of y'all, you got some stuff in your life you're kind of battling with?

You got a stronghold.

Maybe you got a bad mouth, maybe you're taking God's name in vain, maybe you're saying the F-ball, maybe you're looking at things you shouldn't be doing.

Maybe you're, maybe, how about this?

Maybe even in the recesses of your mind, there's covetousness, there's lying, there's there's gossip, there's all these things.

And by the way, you know what the Holy Spirit did for me on this last fast?

It was like he walked me through the compartments in my room in the house of my heart.

And he said, Look, look, Jason, that's that's jealousy.

Clean it out.

So we go in, okay, God, please break it, clean it.

I'd take it out to the dung gate and throw it out.

And he, let's go a little further, Jason.

Look in that one right there.

Look right there, Jason.

Look at the lust in that room right there that you have in your heart.

Okay, Lord, okay, let's go.

And he would walk me through room by room by room in my heart, in my mind.

See, if you're not walking with God, then you're never gonna do that.

Here's what will happen: you'll look at everybody else and see all their problems, but you're never looking inside yourself.

And you need the Holy Ghost of God to open the eyes of your understanding to enlighten for you what's happening on the inside of your heart.

And so the fasting is like what the Holy Spirit is walking you through your house.

It's like him having doing surgery on you in your mind.

See, many of us we're walking in darkness and we don't even realize it.

We're on autopilot, and we have no idea why we habitually keep living the same life the same day over and over again.

It's because you haven't taken the time to get spiritual awareness on the inside.

You know, I did a word study on this.

Look in your Bible real quick over at 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

I thought it was very interesting.

The word castaway and reprobate, they're the same word.

1 Corinthians chapter number 9.

And with your other hand, pick up Titus.

If you're on your phone, uh just do 1 Corinthians 9.

If you've got both, do both.

If you got the hard copy Bible.

Okay, so Titus chapter number 1.

Titus chapter number 1.

And look, look at what it says here in 1 Corinthians 9.

1 Corinthians 9.

He says this in verse 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the price, so run that you may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run not as uh not as uncertainty, so fight I not as one that beateth the air.

Slow down a little bit, look at verse 27.

But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a what?

Okay, here's what he's saying.

You can go and preach all you want, go to church all you want, but if you're not taking care of your body and keeping yourself in subjection, you're a castaway.

You're a reprobate, you're useless.

You know any fake phony Christians out there that maybe they go to church and they, but they're there's no pop in their step, there's no giddy up in their soul, there's no authority in what they're doing.

You know, I've been watching the show at home.

I binged the whole thing, man.

I loved it.

Okay, it's called uh no, not hoarders, I watched hoarders before.

This one was called squatters.

Squatters.

Okay, and so this guy named Flash, he's called the squatter hunter.

And you know, these squatters, they'll basically take over houses and they'll they'll take it over and they're like, well, we live here.

And if you live in a blue state, then what happens a lot of times is they have these squatter rights, and you can't, the owner can't legally go in and kick them out.

And so what the squatter hunter will do is he'll have the owner of the house sign him a lease, a construction lease, so that he is now a co-tenant with that squatter.

He moves in with them and out squats the squatter.

And he says, Hello, Rumi, it's me, I'm here with you.

And he basically just makes their life a living hell.

He really does.

Loud music, chainsaws, all kinds of stuff, it's fantastic.

And when the person realizes they've been outwit by him, eventually they leave.

But uh, the show I was watching last night, there was this lady, she was a pastor.

There's a problem right there.

If it's a woman and she's a pastor, that's not biblical.

1 Timothy chapter 3, Titus chapter number 1.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Uh, I'm telling you right now, a pastor, a bishop is supposed to be uh the husband of one wife.

And so when you look at this, she's she starts using all this spiritual jargon.

This is why I don't listen, I just don't, just because somebody names the name of Christ, if they don't depart from iniquity, listen, I'm not giving you any authority or entrance into my life.

Well, the squatter hunter's talking to this lady and she's like, I'm a minister, how dare you do this?

Listen, she's stealing.

She's in there stealing from this 97-year-old woman, her house, and she's squatting there.

And she's like, Well, I don't have, I'm I'm a minister.

And he's like, So you being a minister lets you be a thief and rob somebody else's property?

And she says, I'm going before the Lord God Almighty.

You're blah, blah.

He's like, I don't care what you do, you're wrong.

Listen, don't don't let somebody's spiritual language and Christian language deceive you when they're doing wrong.

Right?

I mean, that's what that that and so, long story short, he ends up kicking this lady out.

He puts cameras up, he blasts this music, and she's just freaking out.

Eventually, she packs herself and leaves.

Pretty cool.

See, if if we don't learn to make sure that we're living right and doing right, we're a castaway.

The word castaway is it means reprobate.

I'll show you two other places.

You guys over in your Bible, go over to uh Titus chapter number one, Titus chapter number one, Titus one.

Look what he says in verse 16, Titus 1.

They profess that they know God.

How many all know that there's people that they profess to know God?

They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient in every good work.

What's that word say?

So it's a castaway.

So just because somebody says, Well, I know God, if they're disobedient, if God says, hey, no sex unless you're married, if God says, I don't want you talking that way, if God says, I want you getting baptized, if they do the opposite of what God tells them to do, they are deceiving themselves.

Yes?

And so we, I want you to understand this.

There's a lot of reprobates out there.

There's a lot of castaways out there, there's a lot of people living in deception, thinking that they're right with God and thinking that God's good with it.

Listen, God is not good when his people say that they're right and they live in sin.

He's just not.

And so he says they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him.

Meaning, in works, they don't give, they don't soul win, they don't go to life group, they don't, they don't connect into spiritual things, they don't maintain good works, they don't pray, they don't fast, they don't do these things.

Let me tell you what that is.

That's called somebody who is deceived.

And that's a reprobate.

I want to show you another place in the Bible.

Go over to, I think it's 2 Corinthians chapter 13.

2 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 13.

2 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Look what he says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse number 5.

2 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Ooh, this is so good.

Man, I feel good.

Ooh, careful on the feet.

Look what he says in verse number number five.

Examine.

What's the next words?

What's it say?

Okay, I have to examine me.

You have to examine you, right?

And it says, examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith.

Prove your own selves.

Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.

See, when the Holy Spirit is inside of you, he'll convict you.

Right?

He'll be like, hey, you shouldn't do that.

Hey, you need to get this right.

Anybody ever known anybody that says, you know what, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but they never fix it.

Oh, oh, it's like I've been watching that show Squatters, right?

And it's like, oh, okay, yeah, we're gonna leave, we're gonna leave.

Okay, give me, give me 30 days, give me 60 days, give me this.

You give them 30 days, you give them 60 days, they're liars.

They're liars.

And if you don't hold liars accountable, they just keep lying and deceiving.

And that's I think what happens with a lot of people is we just start lying to ourselves.

You know, look what it says over in the book of James, and I'm gonna get back to fasting here in a minute.

I just love getting into the Bible.

Look at look what it says in the book of James.

Where are you at, James?

Okay, okay, I see you.

James.

Okay, look at look at James chapter number, James chapter number four, James chapter four, verse 17, James 4, 17.

James 4, 17.

Okay, look what it says here.

Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, what is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

So if I know I'm supposed to do something and I do the opposite, what is it?

Yeah.

A lot of people know what to do, but they do the opposite.

And then they'll say, Well, God's okay with it.

No, God's not okay with sin.

God's not okay with sin.

And I want you to see, look over at James chapter number one now.

James chapter number one, verse number 22.

There's a lot of a lot of times people are living in self-deception.

James chapter 1, verse number 17.

James 1 · chapter mention

Look what he says here.

He's uh not 17, James chapter 1, verse number 22.

James 1 · chapter mention

Be doers of the word, not hearers only.

What's the next few words say?

Please speak into my good ear.

I'm getting older.

What is it?

Deceive yourself.

Listen, the first person you deceive is yourself.

If God tells you to do something and you're not doing it, you're deceiving yourself.

You're hardening your heart.

And so he says, if if any be a hearer of the word, not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

He's basically saying, if you look in the mirror and you see problems and you don't fix it, then you got the problem.

But if you see the issue and you fix it, then you're gonna be blessed in your deed.

A lot of times when we come to church, when you come to church, when I come to church, if you hear something in the Bible and you're a Christian, you want to align your life with what the Bible says.

The Bible is the perfect law of liberty.

This is why when I got saved, I remember they told me right away, listen, the Great Commission, go into all the world, preach the gospel, right?

And it talks about uh getting baptized.

I remember reading it and I get it.

Okay, he said, get baptized, let's get baptized.

It said, go soul winning, I go soul winning.

Why?

Because I'm not gonna try to outwit God, I'm just gonna do what God said.

Now I understand that we have a human nature.

How many of you guys, you're battling with some stuff in your life?

You want to do right, but you're battling.

Your flesh is holding you down.

Anybody out there?

Okay, listen, that's all of us in some way, shape, or form.

Look over in your Bible.

The Apostle Paul dealt with this.

Look at Romans chapter number seven.

Romans chapter seven.

Man, I told myself I wasn't gonna hurt myself while I was preaching.

Help me, Lord.

Okay, Romans chapter seven.

The apostle Paul was struggling with his flesh.

And he says this in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Where are you at?

Where are you at?

Okay, look what he says here.

Romans chapter 7, verse 15.

Romans 7:15

For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that do I not.

But what I hate, that do I.

If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that is good, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would, I do not.

How many all got some stuff that you want to do and you know it's right and it's good, but you you keep self-sabotaging.

That's what he's saying.

Man, I want to do right, but I keep messing up.

He says in 21, he says, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

You say, What's the evil?

It's your flesh, it's your old nature.

You say, I'm a saved Christian, I'm born again, hallelujah, glory to God.

Yeah, but listen, you still have an old nature.

That's how the apostle Paul says, I'm the chiefest of sinners.

See, if you listen to some people on social media, they'll be like, I'm a saint, I don't sin anymore, and they act as if they don't have no sin nature.

If we say we have no sin according to 1 John, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

And so here we see he's talking about the old nature, new nature, and then he says this in verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.

So my spirit is is being guided by God, but I must put my flesh in subjection.

I cannot just say, you know what, because I'm saved, I can I can uh get drunk, I can uh cuss up a storm, I can do it and just pretend like it's okay.

No, no, no.

That's not what grace does for you.

Look in your Bible, go over to Titus now, chapter number two.

Titus chapter number two.

Titus chapter number two, look what he says here.

He says in verse number 11, Titus 2.11, Titus 2.11, don't worry about the clock, I'm watching it.

I'm watching it pass, so you don't have to worry about it.

Titus chapter 2, verse number 11.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

It says, For the grace of God that it brings salvation hath appeared to all men.

Okay, what does the grace of God teach us, preacher?

Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live.

What's that word say?

What's that word say?

Soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all.

What's that word say?

Oh, you guys aren't even with me in the back.

Titus chapter 2, verse number 14.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

There you go.

I'm so much faster than you guys in the back.

So much faster.

Come on, bring it, son.

Let's go.

Titus chapter 2, verse 14.

Titus 2:14

Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of what?

Zealous of good works.

Now, listen, you know what iniquity does to your good works?

Iniquity, it it how do I put this, Lord?

Let's just use the Bible.

Let's use the Bible.

Okay, go over now.

Where is it, Lord?

Where is it?

It's somewhere in Titus, I think.

I'm trying to think here.

Well, I'll just explain it.

No.

I would rather you see it in the Bible.

I'm not finding it right now, that's okay.

Here's what iniquity does it hardens your heart, it feeds your flesh, and it closes your ability to have a sensitive conscience.

Right?

And when your heart gets hard because of iniquity, because you're giving yourself over to sin, it quenches the spirit.

So now you you don't have that sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

So here's what fasting does.

Fasting says, I'm not gonna live in iniquity.

Fasting says I'm not gonna live in the flesh.

Fasting says I'm gonna crucify the old nature.

Fasting says, I want to be zealous of good works.

Listen, if you're in here today and you used to be a soul winner, but you haven't led a soul to Christ in a long time, you need some fasting.

If you're in here today and you haven't you used to go do soul winning, you used to go on missions trip, you used to have a prayer closet, you used to read through your Bible, used to love go to church.

Listen, and now you're just here Sunday morning only, you need fasting.

You need to afflict the flesh.

Because as long as you're feeding that flesh, you're not gonna be able to overcome.

And so you say, preacher, how do we fast our way to health?

Number one, draw it, it draws us closer to God.

Number two, break flesh uh fleshly strongholds.

Number three, number three, here's what fasting does a reason to fast.

It resets and strengthens your body.

The life of the flesh is in the blood.

And so if you want to have clarity, how many does anybody in here have have brain fog?

You get some brain fog, you can't think straight, maybe you're forgetting things.

Okay, here's what fasting does.

Fasting will help clean the blood.

It'll help you to be able to think clearer.

Does anybody in here get a little like anxious and emotional and like a little bit feisty?

Fasting helps you slow all the way down.

Number four, here's what fasting will do for you.

It'll help you face hard battles.

Anyone got any battles in here?

Yeah?

Okay, so if you get into fasting, I'm telling you, here's what it does.

Number five, number five, it's it's it'll slow you down so you can seek God.

I I like to put it this way.

I like to put it this way.

Has anybody ever seen um the movie The Matrix?

Okay, you remember when Neo he finally realizes he's the one, and at first he's he's doing all that stuff and he's like, he's dodging all the bullets, and then he realizes he's the one, he just like he's not even trying to dodge anymore.

He could just When you're fasting, it's it's like it's like everything begins to go in slow motion.

People's attitudes, their emotions, the little pieces that is coming around, somehow, some way, because your body's not trying to break down the food, because your blood goes to breaking down your food when you're eating, right?

But when you're fasting, because the blood's getting clean, the mind is getting clear, when you're dealing with issues, it's almost like things begin to slow down.

And now when you're being attacked or things are happening, I'm not saying for every situation, because sometimes you're still battling with your flesh because you're hungry, but I'm saying there is moments in there where you're like, I can see through people.

Not physically.

I can see through people emotionally, I can see three through people mentally, I can see through people spiritually.

You begin to see, oh, they don't even realize they have a blind spot there.

And then when you see, you because you're seeing at a deeper level, when you go to enter in, you can find out if if they're willing to change, or if they they bulk up or harden up against their their with their flesh.

You can see if people want to change or not.

I'm just gonna rattle these next ones off.

Number six, here's what fasting will do, here's why you should do it.

It'll strengthen your power to say no.

Any people pleasers out there?

You always say yes to everybody?

You have a hard time saying no?

When you fast, it'll give you the ability to say, no, can't do it.

Every disciplined no strengthens your ability to say yes to what matters most.

If you don't learn the power of no, you'll say yes to everything.

I believe there's a lot of people in this room, you're poor today because you don't know how to say no.

You don't have any money at the end of the month, you're in credit card debt, you're overweight, you're out of shape, because you don't know how to say no to yourself.

Did I just get real?

See, just because you want something doesn't mean you should have it.

Just because you have the capacity with a credit card or just because you you can put it in your belly doesn't mean you should say yes to yourself.

See, the the the fruit of the spirit is self-control, it's temperance.

And temperance helps you to be able to have restriction.

Temperance helps you to be able to have frugality.

Temperance helps you to be able to say, you know what, just because I can doesn't mean I should.

And when you get so full of the Holy Spirit and you're full of temperance, it strengthens your power to say no.

I want that, uh, but I can't afford it.

I want that, but that's gonna put me in unhealth.

I want that, but that's gonna be sin.

I want that, but no.

The more you can put yourself in check and say no, here's what happens: you you're conserving yourself on the straight and narrow way.

And so just because all of your friends are doing certain things, every no you say is building up your power for a greater yes for God.

And if you do this and you stack days and weeks and months and years and decades together, it may not look like much right now, but I promise you this.

You start saying no, let's say you're 50 pounds overweight, and you start saying no to the breads and to the sweets and to everything.

May not look like much right now, but you give it a week, you give it a month, you give it three months, you give it six months, you give it a year.

Before you know it, your body starts getting healthier and healthier.

It was all because you learned how to say no.

But the way you get to the power of saying no, listen to this, you have to have a greater burning yes inside.

The burning yes has to empower the burning no.

See, I have to say I want God, I want health, I want power, I want God more than I want the food, more than I want the this over here.

It's the burning yes for God that helps you to be able to say no to the other things.

And the reason some of us we we start down the track of being able to have the power to say no, but then I sabotage is because you don't realize you have to have a deeper burning yes inside.

You have to have a bigger reason on the inside for why to lose the weight and why to cut the debt and why to be able to do to go this way.

If it's always no, no, no, you're never gonna get there.

But you have to have, I'm saying no to, listen, I'm saying no to this so I can say yes to this.

Many times when the kids were little, we would we would say no to a lot of things so we could say yes to a family vacation.

And then we'd come back and be like, how come you always get to go to Hawaii?

How come you get to do this?

Well, we didn't waste all of our money on a thousand dollar car payment every week or every month.

We didn't say yes to going out gambling and smoking dope and getting drunk all the time and buying, you know,$300 worth of cigarettes.

We weren't going gambling and we weren't doing all these stupid things.

We said no, no, no, no, no, so we could say yes to a family vacation.

So the reason we had power to say no is because we wanted a certain yes.

And when you have that vision in your life, everything changes.

I think I'm gonna stop right there.

And here's how I'd like to close this.

This is not fasting, it is not something that you master.

It's not something like, oh, I checked it off the box and I'm I've achieved it.

It's like prayer.

Is anybody in here you've mastered prayer?

Anybody?

Is anybody in here say, well, I've mastered giving?

I've mastered soul winning.

It's not something you master, it's someone that masters you.

Can you see it?

And so all of these benefits, I want to get closer to God, I want my body to be clean and healthy, I want to be able to say no to wickedness, I want to say, be able to say yes, I want to see God heal me and help me, I want to see great spiritual victories.

If you can understand this as a Bible doctrine, you just start practicing it.

And maybe, maybe, maybe, uh, like maybe for uh lunch today or dinner tomorrow, you don't have to go right away and I'm just gonna do it right now because the pastor said to do it.

Listen, if you have lunch plans today, don't be like, well, I'm gonna fast.

Don't mess everybody else's worlds up, unless the Holy Spirit directly tells you.

But here's what I'm saying to you give yourself some time to pray over it.

Lord, um, I want to fast.

Now, if you're married, who else has to be in that conversation?

Yeah, the spouse has to be in the conversation.

And you also want to be strategic with, okay, if I'm gonna go one, three, five, ten, fourteen days, you want to look at the calendar and think, okay, what other obligations do I have?

Because if I'm already committed to some things and I enter into this, I don't want to sabotage somebody else just yet.

I'd rather strategically place it in a spot where I'm setting myself up for success and I have all the accountability to help me be successful.

So you're looking at it.

When I did my 40-day fast, I prayed up for a long time and I bulked up like a ton of weight because I'm already thinner as it is.

And so I looked at the calendar and I and I pray, God, please show me, show me, show me when, when.

And I looked at the calendar and God began to lead me right here on this date.

I had all of my the important people in my life that needed to know praying for me.

So that by the time I got to 30, 35, 38, 39 days, and I look like a cancer patient, I look like somebody sucked in, everybody knew that was important to me what I was doing.

And they were helping me, they were encouraging me.

If you're doing a three-day or you're doing a seven-day fast, let some people know they're important.

You say, Well, I know, preacher, the Bible says don't let, don't, you're not doing it to be a braggadocious person.

You're doing it because it's a sacrifice and you're gonna need the prayer support.

So this last week when I was fasting, I messaged a few people, hey, pray for me.

I'm entering into a season of sacrifice.

It's gonna be very challenging, and I need the extra prayer.

Here's what that teaches you.

You don't sacrifice alone, you get other people on your team, and the value of that is when you're one, three, five, whatever day in, hey, how you doing?

I'm praying for you.

Ooh, let me go a step further with this.

If you want to be successful with it, get a partner.

Get a partner.

You know, when when Pastor Skelly was here, we were talking about fasting.

And uh I was talking about, he was talking about it in the last night of the revival meeting.

He says, I I'd like to fast.

I said, I'm gonna fast too.

He goes, let's do a three-day.

I said, All right.

I said, when do you think we should do it?

He says, let's start right now.

And I thought, I don't want to start right now.

It's a terrible idea.

But we had just eaten and I looked at the calendar and I looked at it, I thought, uh okay.

And so we went from that Wednesday night to the Saturday night, and we were texting each other throughout throughout the days.

You're you're helping each other be successful.

Can you see it?

The Christian journey is not supposed to be where you're just, I went to church, I checked it off the box, and there's no Holy Spirit connection.

And and how about this?

The further you go in the heart of the sacrifice, the more high-quality people you should have with you to help kind of like strengthen you in what you're doing.

Which means this for those of you who are like private people, you don't want people to know your life, you're gonna have to get over yourself.

And you're gonna have to be able to like let people in and let them help you.

The more people you can let in to help carry your burden, and how about this?

The more people that can partner with you, the easier and sweeter it's gonna be.

Because you're not gonna feel like you're alone.

Yes, you're gonna have the Holy Spirit with you, but you know how encouraging it was for me to have, I had Jeremy Axleson with me this week, had Anthony Breeze with me this week, I had Michael Fisher with me this week, I had several other people jumping in for a day, jumping in for two days, jumping in for three days.

And if you find yourself where you're not strong on your own to do something by yourself, find a leader that's already doing it.

And then just jump in a little bit with them.

Even if you can't lift the same weight as them, just I can jump in for one day.

I can jump in for three days.

You just jump in with the lead the spiritual leader who's already going that direction.

And let me say this to you guys don't sabotage that leader pulling them off into something into vain jangling.

Jump in and follow that leader, and that's how you'll grow as a Christian following a great spiritual leader.