A Better Way Wk2: Justin Huibregtse | September 20th, 2026 |

Good morning, Easterge.

My name is Justin.

I'm the senior pastor here.

And if you brought your Bible this morning, we're going to be opening up to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

The book of Romans is the first book in the New Testament that Paul writes in the order, not uh maybe not chronologically, but but in the order of uh of our you know Paul's writings.

So there is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and let me get some audience participation.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Very good.

You guys are good at this.

But we can probably get louder.

So we'll have a chance to do that.

So Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible with you, that is a-okay.

We will have one for you.

Uh, and this week we're gonna be uh we're building actually an Amazon list of like, hey, what Bible do you guys use?

What do you recommend?

Where do you where do you suggest we go to you know get some further uh further ideas or how to study the Bible and things like that?

So uh we have that coming for you this week.

Uh look for our social media, all that fun stuff going on.

So Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I'm gonna start you know this morning by just letting God's work speak before I say anything else about you know the message that we're getting into today, about a better way.

So here it says here in Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 12, so then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die by the flesh.

But if you if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

And there's a phrase in here that Paul is writing, that Paul the Apostle is writing, that I want you to notice.

It says, By the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body.

Paul describes a battle that is happening inside every single follower of Jesus, every single Christian.

There is the flesh, that that pull that is inside of us toward our own desires, our own comfort, our own control, our own way.

And then there is the Spirit of God forming us increasingly into the likeness of Jesus.

And uh Paul does not say, try really hard, okay?

I want you to try really hard to defeat the flesh.

He says, by the Spirit.

That distinction has been really convicting me all week because as I was preparing this message, I was like, you know what, this week I really need, since we're talking about fasting, I should probably fast.

So, you know, and and it was, it became really difficult for me to do so.

So I had to, you know, as I was thinking about it on Monday and starting it, I I got into just a theological investigation of, okay, so it tells I'm I want to fast, but you know, I have I also would like coffee.

And there's no calories in coffee uh unless you know you have a lot of espresso.

Amen.

So, you know, and then you know, I so I'm having you know my coffee, but I I don't, you know, Jesus isn't calling me to suffer more, so I want some creamer in there.

So do I have to start a little bit?

Do I have to start you know adding adding a start over again?

Do I have to start my my fast again?

And then I, you know, see that my kids are not finishing their meal, and I'm like, I'm letting all that food go to waste.

And then I have to start over again, and then uh and then you know, snack time comes around.

It's like, you know what?

I just let me just start all the way over, okay?

And so, you know, I have it was I've been thinking about you know surrender, I've been thinking about uh uh fasting, and I've been uh preparing to teach about fasting this week, and I've discovered that I'm not really good at it, okay?

I'll just admit it.

It was not because I didn't have an opportunity, it wasn't because there was some giant obstacle that kept me from doing it, it was because somewhere along the way I started to get really legalistic about it.

And legalism is trying to earn God's favor just through following rules.

And I started thinking, how should I fast?

Does this count?

If I eat this, did I ruin it?

If if uh if I don't make this fast long enough, um, you know, did I fail?

Should I just start over tomorrow?

And suddenly something that was supposed to help me surrender to God became another thing I was trying to perform for God.

And we can turn almost anything that we hold spiritual into just a spiritual scoreboard, you know, uh Bible reading, prayer, attendance, uh, you know, giving, serving, fasting.

You can take something God intended as a gift and turn it into another way of deciding whether you are doing well enough.

And I realized I was trying so hard to fast correctly that I was missing why I was fasting in the first place.

So you can practice a spiritual discipline like fasting and still completely miss the spirit.

Legalism honestly can look an awful lot like devotion because you can be doing all the right, you know, Christian following Jesus things while your heart is quietly saying, God, look how serious I am.

But fasting was never intended to make God impressed with you.

Fasting is supposed to remind you how desperately you need a savior.

And I think that the Lord was reminding me, you know, Justin, that's not the point.

The point is not the fast, the point is getting closer to Jesus.

So that changed the whole message for me.

I thought I was preparing a message about surrender and fasting, and then God showed me another thing I needed to surrender.

My need to get surrender right.

So sometimes sometimes the thing I need to surrender is my need to prove that I'm surrendered.

What I mean by that is, you know, we we uh we often you know have a lot of noise in our life.

Amen.

There's a lot of things going on.

And and have you ever noticed that if you're sitting in a in your living room watching TV, um, there's a lot of noise around you.

And it it's you know, there's kids uh going around, uh, someone is always talking, your phone is buzzing, uh, you know, your child probably wants a snack, and uh somebody has uh apparently lost the remote, even though that it's sitting right there in front of them.

That happened last night, of course it did.

So, and then someone says, Did you hear what I just said?

And you say, Absolutely.

But really, you had no idea what was said.

You heard the sound of their voice, but you did not receive the message.

Sometimes our spiritual lives are like that.

God is not silent, but our lives are loud.

Our schedules are loud.

Our appetites, our physical hunger appetites are loud, our fears are loud, our phones are loud, our opinions are loud, and our flesh is loud.

So sometimes we come to God asking, Lord, why don't I hear you?

Why can't I hear what you're telling trying to tell me?

But the better question might be, Lord, what in me is making it difficult to listen?

Sometimes we uh you know we need to understand that fasting is not about making God pay attention to us.

Fasting is about helping us pay attention to God.

And so, you know, back to Romans 8, when it's talking about, uh, you know, when it says that we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, you know, the flesh that the Bible is talking about is uh is not simply talking about your physical body.

You know, your body is not bad.

God created your body.

Jesus took on a human body.

The flesh, though, that it talks about is the part of us that says, I want what I want.

I want to be in control.

I want something and I want it right now.

I want to be comfortable, I want to be noticed, I want to be right, I want God to bless my plan.

The flesh is the part of us that wants to be the king of the kingdom that God never gave us.

And the flesh is not always dramatic.

Sometimes it is, it's not always dramatic, though.

Sometimes it looks obvious like sin.

But more often it looks like a very respectable Christian, a follower of Jesus who is simply convinced that God should run the universe according to their calendar.

We can baptize our preferences, we can put Christian language around our control, we can say, I'm just being reasonable.

When what we really mean is I refuse to trust God unless I can manage every possible outcome.

I want to be in control.

I want to be in control of what he knows about me.

And sometimes the flesh even says, I want to be really, really good at Christianity.

I want to be so good at it that, and that one is sneaky because now I'm not rebelling against God by running away from him and doing things that are against him.

I'm trying to use spiritual performance to control my relationship with him.

If I read enough, God will be happy.

If I pray enough, God will answer.

If I fast correctly, God will speak.

If I serve enough, God will bless me.

It sounds spiritual, but underneath it can still be control.

Legalism tries to control God through obedience, while surrender trusts God through obedience.

So let me ask you a question.

Where are you most tempted to say, my way, my timing, my reputation, my control?

Wherever you are insisting on being in charge in your life, surrender is being invited.

So we're also gonna be in the book of Luke.

So I'm gonna do it again.

Matthew, Mark, you're louder than that.

This is 11.

Matthew, Mark, very good.

And John, so Matthew, Mark, Luke.

So we're gonna be in Luke 9, 23.

Luke is a doctor, uh, and he also uh has a ton of quotes by Jesus.

I mean, I mean, Jesus is quoted a lot in his gospel.

So in Luke 9, 23, it says this Jesus is talking to everyone when he says this.

And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Jesus here is not saying, if anyone would come after me, let him improve himself.

He says, Let him deny himself.

That does not mean to deny your value or hate yourself or pretend that your needs don't matter.

It means that you stop treating your desires as the highest authority in your life.

Self-denial says, I may want this, but Jesus is Lord.

I may feel this, but Jesus is Lord.

I may prefer this, but Jesus is Lord.

I may be afraid, but Jesus is Lord.

I may not understand, but Jesus is Lord.

And some of you who have young children are thinking, you know, Justin, I have denied myself for years.

I have eaten cold chicken nuggets.

I have watched the same animated movie for 47 times in a row, and I have surrendered my body to the Lego kingdom.

Amen?

Anyone else, right?

That is real.

Okay?

But Christian surrender, if you follow Jesus and you surrender to him, it goes deeper than inconvenience.

It means surrendering the right to make your life revolve around you.

Following Jesus means I no longer ask, how can God fit into my life?

Instead, it asks, how does my life fit under the Lordship of Jesus?

So, and now we're gonna get into scriptures that actually talks about fasting.

You know, we've talked about surrender, we've talked about what it looks like.

So fasting, uh Matthew 6, Jesus is talking.

I'm gonna say it again.

It's what's the first book of the Gospels?

It is Matthew, very that was louder that time.

Good job.

Matthew 6, Jesus has uh the Sermon on the Mount.

He's talking to a whole bunch of people, and it's a it's a it's a big message.

And he says in verse, starting in verse 16 of chapter 6, he says, And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret.

And your father who sees in secret will reward you.

Notice the first words that uh that that Jesus says.

He says, When you when you fast, when you fast, Jesus uh seems to assume that fasting will have a place in the lives of people who follow him.

So it's already a habit.

It's a when you fast, not not you you must do it, but when, it's assumed.

But the first thing that he addresses is motive.

Because human beings have always been capable of taking something designed to draw us toward God and turn it into a way to impress other people.

The hypocrites wanted everyone to know that they were fasting.

And Jesus says, in essence, stop the performance.

Your father knows, your father sees, and your father is enough.

Fasting is not, look what I gave up.

It is, Jesus, remind me that you are better.

It is not, look how disciplined I am.

Look how long I fasted, look what I have given up.

It is God exposed how dependent I really am.

It's not, God, now you owe me.

I gave up that meal, God, now you owe me some explanation.

You owe me, you owe me some clarity, you owe me some vision, you owe me some wisdom.

No, it is God, I belong to you.

Fasting does not put God in our debt.

Fasting reminds us that every breath puts us in his.

So we, you know, we hit we look at all these things that that that uh that control us a little bit, you know.

But we think of it, food is not evil.

Coffee is not evil, social media is not automatically evil.

Your favorite snack is not evil, but good things can become ruling things.

So there's a couple of images behind me that I want to show you that can tend to rule us.

That we and I don't want to I don't want to put the real thing out there because it might trigger you, okay?

I'm not about that.

So we have these appetites of saying, I want this thing, I want to control this, I want to, uh, you know, I I need to, instead of, instead of actually feeling good about myself, I'm going to, and going to the word, I'm gonna go shopping, I'm going to buy this for myself, I'm gonna get involved and do all these things that just add to more noise in our life.

More and more noise.

Our appetites are loud, our phones are loud, our schedules are loud, our anxiety is loud, our desire to control be uh outcomes is loud, and sometimes our own thoughts are incredibly loud.

Fasting then creates interruptions, and those interruptions can become invitations.

So every hunger pain can become a prayer.

Jesus, you are what my soul needs most.

We wake up and we reach for the phone.

We we drive with noise, we work with noise, we exercise with noise, we eat with noise, we fall asleep with noise.

Then we say, God, I wish I could hear you.

Maybe one of the most spiritual things you can do this week is leave a little room to listen, to be quiet.

Fasting does not make God speak louder, it helps expose everything competing for our attention.

So why do we fast?

Fasting changes our posture towards God, it exposes our attachments, it reminds us that we are dependent.

Fasting helps us practice saying no to lesser things so we can say yes to the greater thing.

It helps us get out of the way.

Think of a radio.

The station is already broadcasting.

Fasting does not increase the power of the broadcast, it helps turn down the static.

Many of you young people don't know what a radio is.

So let me let me let me use this analogy, then it said.

Think of a window, okay?

A window.

Cleaning the window does not make the sun shine brighter.

It simply clears away what is blocking the light.

Fasting helps that window get a little bit more clean so we can see the light.

The goal of fasting is not to get God to agree with me, it is becoming willing to agree with God.

But if I if I come up here though and tell you to, you know, fast more, fast better, uh, pray harder, surrender, you know, control your flesh, then I then send you home.

I have just handed you one more thing to keep score of.

That is not how you follow Jesus.

Christianity and following Jesus and committing your life to him is not try harder, eat less, pray more, and become a better person.

The gospel is not that Jesus came to help good people become really impressive Christians.

The gospel is that Jesus came to rescue sinners who could never save themselves.

Jesus perfectly surrendered to the Father in the garden facing the cross.

He prayed, nevertheless, not my will, but yours.

That was surrender under complete pressure.

Jesus knew the betrayal, he knew the rejection, he knew the nails, he knew the judgment that would be coming for him, he knew the weight of our sin, and still he surrendered to the Father.

Then Jesus went to the cross.

He did not merely deny himself a meal, he gave his life, he took the judgment our sin deserved.

He died in our place, he rose from the grave.

And because he rose, sin does not have the final word.

Death does not have the final word.

Your shame does not have the final word.

Your failure does not have the final word because Jesus has already won.

The Christian life following Jesus does not begin with what you surrender to Jesus.

It begins with what Jesus surrendered for you.

We do not surrender in order to make Jesus love us more.

We surrender because Jesus has already loved us so much that we can.

We do not deny our flesh to earn salvation, to earn eternity with him.

We deny the flesh because Jesus has saved us, and his spirit is now at work in us.

So maybe today you are exhausted.

You're tired from trying to be good enough.

Maybe even your following Jesus has become exhausting of, you know, the do better, try harder, fix yourself, clean this up, stop doing this, start doing that.

And underneath it all is the question is God finally pleased with me?

The gospel gives you a completely different foundation.

Jesus died for sinners.

Jesus rose from the dead.

Salvation is offered as a gift to everyone who turns from sin and trusts in him.

You do not clean yourself up and then approach Jesus.

You come to Jesus because you cannot clean yourself up.

Stop trusting their performance.

Stop trusting your morality.

Stop trusting your religion.

Trust Jesus.

Receive his grace.

Come under his lordship.

And then from that place of grace, learn to surrender one day at a time.

We do not surrender to earn the victory.

We surrender because Jesus has already won the victory.

Amen.

Right?

So you know, my struggle with fasting this last week did not convince me that fasting is unimportant.

In fact, it did the opposite of that.

It showed me why I need it more.

But I want to approach it differently.

Instead of asking how successfully did I fast?

You know, I'm not up here to give you a report card on how my fasting went this week.

It would be bad, by the way.

Okay.

I want to ask what did fasting reveal about me?

Did it reveal impatience?

Dependence on comfort?

A need for distraction, control.

Anxiety, legalism, pride, whatever surfaces, do not turn that into another opportunity to condemn yourself.

Bring it to Jesus.

So this week there's four practices of fasting that I want you to follow.

Okay, so choose number one, practice number one.

Choose one intentional fast.

Choose a reasonable period this week that you excuse yourself from maybe one meal.

If it's your birthday this week, that's okay.

You can have a cake.

I don't want to dismiss that for you, okay?

But but really, you know, take one meal.

Maybe it's breakfast through dinner, maybe it's social media for an entire day.

Maybe another legitimate comfort you instinctively reach for and say, no, I don't need it.

And if fasting from food is not wise for you because of health or medication or pregnancy or another concern, choose another form of fasting.

The point is not to oppress God.

The point is to create a moment when you can say, Jesus, you are more important than this.

So practice too.

Replace, do not just remove.

A fast without a prayer is just a really great diet.

Okay?

That's how it works.

A fast without scripture can become a productivity challenge.

A fast without surrender can become another way to feel spiritually impressive and show people what you're doing.

So when you remove something, replace it.

Replace it with prayer.

Instead of scrolling, read a psalm.

Instead of snacking, pray for your family.

Instead of filling every quiet moment that feels a little bit uncomfortable, sit before the Lord and listen.

The goal is not an empty space.

The goal is a Godword space.

Practice three.

Do a little self-evaluation this week.

Might be kind of difficult for you.

What am I trying to control?

And so when you ask that question, it's hard to be like, well, I don't think I'm trying to control anything.

What are you most worried about?

What's keeping you up awake at night?

Maybe it's your child, your marriage, your finances, your health, a decision, something you cannot fix.

Then pray, Jesus, I acknowledge that you are in control.

I am not.

I surrender this to you.

Show me what obedience looks like today.

Surrender does not mean you need to be passive about this.

You still make wise decisions.

Surrender means that you stop pretending that you are God.

You do what obedience requires and trust God with what only He can control.

Then the practice four, obey the next clear thing.

A lot of times we want five years down the road.

A lot of times we desire to know what is going to be happening way further down, and God wants us to just stay in the next five minutes.

Take that next best step.

It could be just the next clear thing in your life.

That apology, that phone call, opening your Bible, asking for help.

Stop hiding.

Set the boundaries, serve your family, love your neighbor.

Come to Christ.

You do not need a five-year revelation to obey the next clear command.

And if you mess up the fast, guess what?

Jesus still loves you.

Do not spend the next six hours beating yourself up because of something that you failed at once again.

You're not earning points.

You're not earning righteousness.

Just return to Jesus.

He'll still meet you there.

When fasting becomes another reason to condemn yourself, you've forgotten the grace that makes fasting even possible.

And this weekend, we're celebrating communion together, which is the perfect place for this message to land because what do we hold in our hands at communion?

It's not evidence of what we have done for God, it's evidence of what Christ has done for us.

It's not about food, it's about the relationship.

The bread reminds us of the body of Christ given for us.

The cup reminds us of the blood shed for us.

And communion destroys legalism because nobody comes to the table saying, Look what I have accomplished.

Let's celebrate the gospel together.

Look what I have done.

We come saying, Jesus, I need what you accomplished.

We don't come to the table because we have surrendered perfectly.

We come to this table because Jesus surrendered completely.

Here at Eastridge, we celebrate what's called open communion.

That means that if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, whether Eastridge is your home or you're visiting with us, you are invited to participate with us.

This table belongs to Jesus.

If you have not yet trusted in Christ or you're not ready to take communion today, there's no pressure to participate.

You can simply let these elements be here and receive a blessing as we go on.

But before we receive the bride and the cup, take a quiet moment before the Lord and ask, what am I still trying to control?

What am I trying to prove?

Where am I performing instead of trusting?

Where do I need to surrender?

And then bring it to Jesus.

Empty hands, open hands, receiving grace.

Our board's gonna come up here and we'll distribute the elements.

Uh, and you can come up once they're up here, and then we'll take them together in a moment.