Fasting // Communion with God

Coming soon!

Hey, listen, before we get into today's message, I have a testimony I want to read to you. This is from one of our longtime members, Herman Cubillos. I don't think I saw him this morning. I texted him like, "I'm reading your thing today," which I'm excited.

 This is what Herman said. He said, "Good morning.

 I give thanks to God for allowing me to express what I've learned during the times of fasting throughout several years of my relationship with Him. I've learned that we can fast in different ways. It can involve food, habits, or simply everyday behaviors that do not build our lives up, like television programs, social medias, conversations, jokes that do not edify, but instead tear down among others." And that only distracts what is truly important. Replacing these times and dedicating them to having a closer and more intimate relationship with God has led me to ask Him to sharpen my hearing and remove the noise that can distract me from listening to His voice within me and to receive answers to the requests I bring to Him, always trying to do what pleases Him.

Through these fasts, God has taught me to reaffirm who I am in His eyes and to enter confidently into His presence, knowing that I am His child and that He loves me just as I am with my flaws. At the same time, through the Holy Spirit, He allows me to recognize everything that is not right, things I mistakenly do thinking they are acceptable because most people accept Him. Yet, as the Word says, it is these little foxes that keep us from becoming more holy each day in His sight.

Fasting and communication with the Holy Spirit have taught me to break sinful habits and generational curses by identifying them clearly, from the simplest to the most complex, bad temper, careless words and thoughts, being disrespectful towards my family and the people around me in my daily life, alcohol, cigarettes, business dealings with unlawful commission, and lack of forgiveness, loving those who hurt me, rob me, or speak badly of me, among many others. I have learned to identify my priorities, God, family, church, and work, and to understand that everything written in His Word is true and is fulfilled, that with my weakness and strengths I can be His instrument if I allow Him and in His hands to serve the Kingdom of God. Each day I can see how He humbles my spirit and allows me to be more humble and merciful. Most importantly, I see how His love causes me to grow each day and depend on Him at all times and in every place. My life will be nothing without Him, His favor and His mercy. Herman Cabillos.

Man, isn't that awesome? Listen, yeah. Give a round of applause.

I am so encouraged every time I get to read or listen or have conversations around what God is doing, not just around fasting, but around our church community and what's going on within our church. And so, man, I just love it. I just wanted to share that with you this morning. I'm thankful for Herman for sharing that with me. Do this for me. Go ahead and stand to your feet.

 I want to read today's key verse.

 I'm going to read today's key verse here.

 And then we're going to get into today's message.

 So this is found in John, chapter , and it says this.

 Verse  says, "Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.

 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

 Father God, we just welcome you into this place.

 Lord, we are hungry for you today.

 May our hearts and our minds become one as your spirit moves in this place and communicates exactly what we need today.

 It's in your holy name we pray. Amen and amen. All right, you may be seated. You may be seated. Hey, we are in our fasting series. We are continuing our fasting. We have this week and one more week as we continue fasting. So next week we'll wrap the series up. Last week we had Pastor Isaiah. I didn't pastor Isaiah. I did an awesome job last week. Man, it was so good. It was so good. I enjoyed it very much.

 So today it's—I say it'll be a little different. It is a little different, but I think it'll encourage you this morning.

 And I wrestled with this a little bit, several aspects of today's message because I just wanted to make sure that I was doing it with the right heart and the right intention.

 And so there's a couple things we're going to cover. And I want to share with you guys a little bit about a personal fasting experience that I had very recently. So I've talked to you guys throughout this series that I've been making rhythmic fasting on and off through different seasons for the last couple years, part of my routine, and taking one day at a time, so  hours, which I didn't eat sometimes one day a week, occasionally two days a week, but mostly just one day a week.

 But in the preparation for some of the series in this process, God started stirring my heart about taking a slightly longer fast than just one day. And so I want to share with you the experience that I had and some of the reflections and some of the knowledge that God shared with me as a result of this fast. And like I was originally intending to fast for seven days. I didn't go seven days. I ended up going three days, and I'll talk about that as well, and some of the different pieces in there. And just sharing some of the things that happened. But before I specifically talk about some of the spiritual things that God was revealing to me and some of the connection and the context that I think He wanted me to be able to share with you in our church, I also felt led this morning to talk a little bit about some of the physical things that happen when we fast, whether that's for one day or an extended fast. And here's the thing, fasting has become pretty culturally popular in the fasting or longer fast. That's a thing that is happening, and you hear more and more about it. And there's a lot of science that's coming around it. And I hesitated because I don't ever want to take the thing that fasting is and limit it to just this physical thing that's happening in your body. But because that is not the only thing that's happening. We're not just fasting because there's these physical benefits. But I also would be remiss if I didn't teach some of you and then stretch some of you on what is happening in your body because although you are not just a body, your body is part of you, like we talked about. And that there's things happening in your spirit during a fast, but there's things that are happening in your body during a fast. And it is not—they are connected in many different ways. And most importantly, the one who designed your body, the one who created your body, the one who authored your faith and the one who communicates with your spirit, it is no surprise to him that when you fast, your body does some really incredible things. And your body experiences some really incredible things because he designed you in an incredible way. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made and have been put in with such beautiful things inside of them. And so I wanted to talk just a little bit about some of the physical things, the scientific, physical things that happen. And then we're going to look at how these things correspond and relate to our body's physical today. And I'll be sharing a little bit about my fast process throughout this. So here's what happens. I'm going to walk you through just a really simple timeline. And some of you guys know this. Some of you guys have studied this on your own. And there's extra. I'm kind of sticking to like the really top level, highest level things, not even like this is like stuff that has tons and tons of data backing up these things. There's a lot of different things that they're exploring about potential ideas of what happens in fast. We're not even going to get into those things. We're just going to get into the very specific things. So here's what happened. So from the time you eat, so in the thought of a fast, like your last meal for four hours, from zero hour to four hour after your last meal, okay, your body is what's considered in the fed state, right? You have a full belly. And I'm not going to lie, that's a great feeling. You got a full belly. You ate. And you are good. And four of those, like again, zero to four hours. And by the way, one last disclaimer. Remember, this is like general terms. Everyone's body is different. Everyone's processed your metabolism, your digestion, your age, your gender, like point of light, all these things matter. So these are very general terms and they'll generally happen to you, but everyone's a little different. Okay. And so just take this with that grain of salt. So somewhere over that zero to four hours, you are in what's considered the fed state. And your primary body's fuel is glucose from your last meal. Your body takes all that food, specifically carbs, converts it into glucose, and your body is using that as the fuel to burn for your whole system.

 As a result of that, you have this like rise and insulin in your body. It begins to store up excess glucose and convert it into glycogen. If you don't know what glycogen is, like this is a great example. Like glucose is the money that you have in your wallet, and glycogen is the money that you have in your bank account. One is stored for later, one you're using right now, right? And so glycogen is stored in your body, primary your liver, but also your muscles. And during this time, your fat burning is almost shut off. Not fully, depending on your person, but it's almost shut off because it doesn't need that source of fuel. It has a lot of fuel going on in your body, and so that's what's happening. Now, when you get past the four hours, so between the four and hour phase,

 you're in what's considered the postabsorbative phase, right? So food is no longer entering the bloodstream, and your body begins to tap into stored energy. So I talked about that glycogen, so your body starts to tap into your liver to access some of those glycogen. So it's still burning carbs to maintain your blood sugar in a certain place. Your fat burning maybe starts to go up a little bit, but it's pretty limited still at this point, and you're largely running on those storedup carbohydrates. Typically, most people, they enter this phase, this four to hour phase overnight when you sleep, except for you midnight snackers. I know some of you wake up two in the morning, and you go in the fridge, no guilt or condemnation, but I know who you are. Actually, I don't know who you are. That used to be me. I get up just a little quick cookie at two in the morning. No big deal.

 But so this happens. So usually, you go to bed, you eat dinner, you go to bed, you've got this four to hour period. Most people have that. Now, again, we're in this fasting mindset, not a normal, because most of you or some of you wake up, you eat breakfast, and of course, that ends and restarts the cycle. But when you go from  to  hours, so we've gone past this phase, amen,

 and we get into this, I know, see, that's what your soul does when you get to  to  hours. That right there is exactly what your fat noise is, is what your soul does the moment you get into this phase. So this is what they would consider early fat burning. So what happens at this point? Your blood glucose, your glucose is gone. You've burnt through all of that. Your glycogen is in the process of becoming less and less prevalent in your system. You've almost burnt through it. And so as a result, your body starts to shift into burning stored fat that you have within your body. And so that begins to go through. Also, it's usually at this point that your body releases a hormone called garylline, which spikes in waves. You ever feel like you get waves of hunger? That's because that's how your body works. It's not your mind. It's not a joke. There's a reason where you're like, there's a moment where you feel like you're about to like pass out, and then all of a sudden you feel good a minute, and you're like, "Oh, I feel good." And then like  minutes later, you're like, "Oh, I'm faint."

 It's like your body's actually doing it. It's not psychosomatic. You have hormones and things that are being produced, and as a result, those things are happening in your body. But so you begin to do this. So there's this thing. You're starting to shift into burning fat, stored fat, as a result, instead of either glucose or glycogen. So that's what's happening.

 This hunger is starting to move forward, and you're starting to get there. Now, when you get to  to  hours, okay, your glycogen is almost gone with the exception of what's stored in like deep muscle tissue, which we're not going to get into that, but that's happening. Okay? And you start to approach in this  to hour, really big metabolic change, right? Your insulin levels in your body drop to almost nonexistent at this point because there's nothing in your bloodstream to process. And sometimes there's a lot of confusion around insulin and blood sugar and different things.

 Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm almost an expert at this point because with Felix being type , I get to be a pancreas and a liver and a manager of all sorts of things. And so a lot of times people say, "Hey, I took my blood sugar, and my blood sugar was great. I can eat whatever I want because I took my blood sugar, and it stays low, so I'm good." That's only half of the story that you have to understand in your body because you may eat a lot of carbs and the result have your blood sugar stay, but my blood sugar stays the same. What you don't know is that your pancreas is having to churn out an excessive amount of insulin within your body to keep your blood sugar at that level. And over time, that can cause problems with both insulin resistance and different things, and that's a whole different thing because the insulin is what pushes the sugars into your muscles to form energy. If you don't have that, then you go into an issue because what's happening at this point, you don't have insulin in your system because there's no sugar to process, and you begin to start burning what are called ketones. Your liver starts to produce ketones, which is what is like a symbol, like an outward showing within your body that your body is burning fat primarily instead of sugar, right? So your body starts to produce ketones. And someone who has type  diabetes, for example, my son, the reason we found out is because he went into a state which is called diabetic ketoacidosis, which means that even though there were carbs and sugar present within his blood stream, in fact, it was very high, his blood sugar was over , which is crazy if you don't know that, as a result of that, there's no insulin to press that and convert that into energy. So as a result of that, your body goes into ketosis, which means it starts burning all of your fat while simultaneously freaking out because your blood sugar is too high. And so what they do is they begin to just shed weight like crazy. So he lost % of his weight in one week. And he was . That wasn't good, right? And he couldn't stop shedding weight because his body could not produce anything. He couldn't eat enough to keep up what was going on. And so that's like a whole different thing. But if you're someone who doesn't have diabetes, entering ketosis is actually a very safe thing. What that basically means is there's no very little sugar in your system, ensure your body begins to burn fat as a store. That's what the whole like keto or paleo diet, that's like the whole system within this. You're trying to get your body in ketosis to burn fat, right? Now, this is like a lot similar, like whatever. But here's what really is amazing. Once you get past the hour mark, right? So your body's now burning primarily fats. You're getting this thing. Something amazing happens in your body. And this is called autophagy, autophagy, which we talked about this last week in our class at my table. It was great. So autophagy comes from the Greek and means selfeating, which sounds wild, right? But at  hours, your body literally begins to do cell cleanup. And it begins to go through and to eat and destroy different cells within your body that are damaged or old or in need of repair. Some doctors will actually call these zombie cells. It goes around looking for cells that are broken and it begins to get rid of the broken and dead things in your body so that whenever nutrients are reintraced, your body can start producing new and renewed and rejuvenated cells. So at the hour mark, your body begins to go through this autophagy and it starts clearing out these cells and recycling dysfunctional mitochondria. For those of you like the powerhouse of the cell. They're being recycled. Some of you remember that's the only thing you remember, right? River, thank you. Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell.

 That's all I remember.

 And it begins to improve this, okay? Like so you're happening. And at  hours, this is very important for the men, women, you may be important to you, but like at  hours, your body starts to improve production of HGH naturally, human growth hormone. It's coming. By the way, spoiler alert, by day three, your human growth hormone levels are five times higher than normal. Now that doesn't mean you're going to start looking like Arnold out here. That's not what I'm saying. There's a reason it happens. But this thing is happening. Your body, all that your body is doing. And you know what you have to do to make your body do this?

 Nothing, except not eat.

 Except not eat?

 It's like God knew there may be times where one would be without food and that your body could do something incredible. So, okay, now  to  hours, you're fully burning ketones at this point. Your brain fuel has shifted. A lot of people actually feel really invigorated mentally at this point because they say that you're like, that like the ketones burn cleaner than carbs and has to do with this whole oxygen. I have a fan. That's crazy. I don't understand. That's crazy, right? And at this point, you're just keeping going. Same thing all the way up to  hours. You have these ketone surge, fat breakdown is high. All these things kind of enter into repair mode in your body.

 When you get up to that  hours, you again, you start to hit what I talked about, these high levels of HGH. Your adrenaline naturally rises and keeps you alert. Your hunger drops significantly when you get past day two, so  hours, somewhere in there. Your hunger pains begin to alleviate yourself.

 You continue to go through this cellular clean out. Things continue to move forward. Sometimes you begin to start producing less of a thing called IGF, which is associated with like longevity pathways and the ability for your body to create restorative things within your body. And then we get to the end of that  hours of this process. A lot of people report mental sharpness, emotional steadiness, reduced appetite, greater discipline around food, and sometimes they feel like it's physiological or psychological or spiritual clarity that comes around this process. So this is just within a threeday period,  hours of what's going on. Your body is internally doing all these things and creating all this restorative things, creating new pathways, new things. The reason that your body produces more HGH in those things is a lot of people, I've heard people say, "I'm worried if I go on a fast, especially the longer than a day, like I'm going to burn, like my body's going to eat my muscle."

 Have you ever heard that someone say, "I'm going to eat my muscle." That actually doesn't happen. Not within a threeday. Now, if you start going like, you know, to the big boy fasts,  days,  days, that's something different, like I'll tell you. But the reason your body produces HGH, your HGH goes specifically to those muscles to keep your muscle mass intact during the extent of this. So in three days, most people lose no muscle mass. In fact, some people actually gain some muscle for a whole different thing during this time because of the HGH that's created in your body. So your body knows how to protect what's important within it. And so that's what's going on. So that's just a little science. That's some science. That's what's going on. That is how God designed your body. Now, we live in the most foodsecure place in the world.

 Most of the people in this room, you don't worry about where you're going to eat or what your next meal is. Really, the only thing you worry about is like what restaurant you're going to afterwards.

 Right? Like we don't have to worry about our next meal. There may be some people in the room that that's not the case. That food insecurity is an issue. But for the vast majority of you, that's not an issue. But historically speaking, historically speaking, everyone went through food insecurity. Read the Bible. How many times was there food insecurity? How many times were there famine? How many times were there shortage? How many times? Like that is just a whole idea of like you go without lack. Like that is a whole part of what happens. There are seasons and times where there may be a day or two or three or maybe longer where you don't get to eat. And God did not design your body. We're like, oh, you didn't eat for four hours. You'll probably die.

 He designed the body to be robust that in fact, in the moment where it's like, man, I'm at three or four days where it's like, I need to eat something quick. That actually they talk about like in that moment, your body and your senses is the most in tune. And if you think about like back in the day when people actually had to hunt your food, you know what? You need to be in tune.

 Hunger drives you.

 They talk about Americans are the only one who hunts on a full stomach.

 Right? It's different. It's different when it's like, if I don't get it today, we don't eat.

 And God designed your body to be in tune and to be alert and to be hearing. This is like a whole different thing. There have been people who have practiced fasting. In fact, a lot of Greek philosophers used to practice fasting for three to seven days regularly whenever they wanted to write or think because they had an extra level of mental clarity that they felt came from this idea. Like that was like a thing. Authors do it today where they do this. But so here's the thing.

 I want to tell you a little bit about my journey when I did this threeday fast. Again, I originally attended to seven days and God spoke to me before and he gave me a few specific things for me. Again, this is for me. I'm not saying this is for you. This is what he wanted me to experience in this thing. First of all, he told me something that I didn't want to hear and I asked like seven times and I put up  fleeces and he was very clear and he told me I wasn't supposed to drink coffee. And it was really the worst.

 And it was like the flood. He promised me he'll never do that again.

 No, he didn't. I lied. He may do it again, but it felt like the flood.

 And so as a result of that, I tried to actually, so I actually went five days without coffee, three days with food because I tried to get myself an extra couple of days to get away from this caffeine addiction that I have.

 Spoiler alert, it didn't work.

 Okay, so I just go ahead and start out there. So he told me to stop having coffee. Some people ask, "Can I have coffee? Can I let this between you and God?" Okay, coffee is fine as long as you don't put creamer in it and that you shouldn't be doing that anyways. That's a sin. So you're fine.

 It's fine. Okay, all right? So then second thing, second thing he told me that was specifically for me, right, is he told me that I was supposed to live my life normal. That I was supposed to live my life normal, meaning I'm still going to go grocery shopping with the kids. I predominantly do most of the cooking, not all of it, but I do most of it. So I do breakfasts and school lunches and dinner. Like that's just what I love serving my family that way. I love cooking for my family. Vivi's a better cook than I am, but I like am more organized. So like I just get the things going, right? But when she cooks, it's always better.

 And so like we just were a great team.

 The best is when she cooks and I'm the sous chef.

 And man, I just get around there and I'm cleaning and I'm doing stuff and putting things up and it's just awesome. It's the best. Okay, so I love to like, but so it's like keep doing that, right? Keep serving your family in the way that you're doing. Keep serving the church. Don't change your schedule. Don't tell the whole staff, "Hey, I'm not coming in guys this week because I'm fasting. I can't meet any of you because you'll put me in a bad mood."

 So I was still fasting. I was sorry. I was still working. I was still coming to the office. I'm coaching two different sports teams right now. I'm still going to coach. And he's saying like all that stuff was still happening, right? He gave me a few things I'm specifically supposed to be praying for and believing. And that was kind of like the things within this thing. And he told me also that he wanted me to keep kind of a journal and to experience and to write down everything that I feel and what I experienced because it was going to be important.

 So I said, "Okay, great."

 So came to church on Sunday. Drank my last cup of coffee in the lobby. I wept.

 Had normal Sabbath like normal and then ate Sunday dinner like normal. And then Monday began my fast, right? And Monday was okay. Monday was great. Monday was fine because Monday was like still within that hour mark. I do hour fast regularly. Again, like anything, any kind of practice you become more used to. When I first started  hours, I never thought that day would end. But after a couple of years of doing it intermittently, it's been very it has become much more easy to walk through a oneday fast. Like my body was used to it. I still went to work. I still did the kids. No problem. I still worked out that afternoon like normal because I usually work out fasted on Mondays when I do it. Like everything was great. So I go through my day dinner. No problem. I'm like, "Yeah, day one in the back." Okay, no problem. Now then we got past my normal thing.

 And we got into day two. What's up great that night? Tuesday, I decided to go to the office and I was like, "Okay."

 At this point, I'm really missing coffee.

 The caffeine headache was pretty intense. And I was not feeling great. I was just like, "I know one sip would fix it. Just a sip. That's all I need, God."

 And he said, "No."

 So I kept going. Went to the office.

 Decided I was going to go to the gym, take it easy. What I thought taking it easy turned out to be way less easy than I thought. Had to take it even easier than what was easy. And then finally I just quit and went home. And I was like, "This is, at this point, embarrassing." I then began what in the afternoon when I had to go to soccer practice to realize it's freezing outside.

 And I am freezing.

 My body was so cold.

 Like because nothing's burning in your body at this point, you've got to know there's no fuel in the fire. The fire dies. And I was so cold. I was at soccer practice. And it wasn't even that cold. To put it in perspective, all my boys that were playing for me were shirtless. And I was literally like with snow gloves on, my beanie cap on, my winter parka. And they're like, "Coach, are you okay?" I'm like, "I'm fine. Great. Why would you ask that?" And they're like, "Well, you're dressed like it's the Arctic." And I'm like, "Don't worry about me. Just practice.

 Run around."

 So I was out there. Day two, came home. I was feeling tired, still a headache. By that night, I started having some low back pain. And I was like, "I don't know what's going on with my back, but it's like burning. Like it's spasming." Went to bed, slept okay. The morning of day three that starts to go, I have just like very little energy. And all this time, I'm praying, I'm seeking God. I'm not having any major revelation. I feel His presence sustaining me. I feel like His closeness. But I'm just kind of in this kind of fog.

 Honestly, I just don't have any energy to do a lot. I go to do my normal stuff. I'm kind of going around about my day. And I decide I'm not going to the gym because I'd be foolish.

 And I'm like, "This is it." And it's at this point, we start to realize that that giant snowstorm was coming. And as a church, we're needing to like make some plans. Like, are we going to have trouble living or not? Like we're trying to figure it out. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, God, I just have no energy. If you make it snow, and I have to shovel one scoop of snow, I will die in the snow."

 I just walked up my stairs and had to go take a minute nap.

 I am tired, Lord.

 So go to practice, do this stuff, realize, "Hey, we're going to record a service early so that we can have church." And the worship team came out the next night. So I ended up Wednesday night staying home from church, which was unusual. And I wrote the sermon for Thursday night and started working through that. And my clarity was very good. I was able to sit there and do, but like just again, very low energy. Every night I was going to bed early. I mean, it was like . and I was like, "Good night, everyone." Right? I was like, "See you guys later." That night, Wednesday into Thursday, really, I mean, lots of pain. Every time I sat down, my back burned. Every time I laid down, my back burned. Like, but when I stood up, I was okay. But I was so tired I didn't want to stand up. It felt like a joke.

 I was uncomfortable.

 I was hurting. I still was dealing with a caffeine headache five days in, and I wanted it so bad. Everyone on the internet is like, "After three days, it's gone." They lied.

 Or they're not as serious as I am.

 So Thursday night, past dinner time, this is three days, came up to the church, recorded the sermon for the winter service that we had, and we were in here. The heat wasn't on.

 It was like  degrees in here, and we recorded it, and I was literally, I thought it was going to, I was so cold. The entire time I was preaching, I was so cold. At one point, I don't know if you noticed, I put my hands in my pockets because my hands were like icicles. And I was like, "Oh, God, I don't know if I'm going to make it off this stage."

 I finished that, and I came home, and I was so tired. I was so white.

 But I also, I mean, this whole time, I don't want to sound negative. Like physically, I'm experiencing all this. I had no desire to do anything. I had no burn. I was like, I was good. I wasn't sad. I wasn't angry. I just was there. I was like, "Existing." And I'm like, "God, I kept inviting God. Do you have anything you want to share to me?" And it was just nothing.

 Just nothing. Preached that sermon. I thought I'd do a good job if I do say so myself. And then came home, and I told Bibi, I said, "Babe, this storm's coming in this weekend. We got all this stuff, like the kids and school, and I got all these extra things I got to do. I know I had originally intended to do seven days. I don't think I can, like, I don't think I can keep going. The food's not the problem at this point. Like, I don't think if I don't get a cup of coffee by tomorrow morning, I don't know if I'm going to make it."

 The Lord has removed his presence from me.

 And she's like, "Hey, maybe you should just break your fast tonight.

 Maybe you should break your fast tonight." And by the way, just to also back up, when I told her I was going to do a sevenday fast, she said, "I think you should do a threeday fast." And I said, "I don't think you know what you're talking about.

 But when life hears from God." So I said, "Okay." So I broke my fast with communion, and then afterwards ate a lot of stuff.

 Doesn't matter what it was, okay? But it was holy.

 It was holy. And remember, at this point, I couldn't sit down all day, couldn't lay down my back, this back spasm thing again. I don't know if it was like muscular fascia that was getting tired or if my kidneys were doing some kind of cleansing process. I don't know what the answer is, right? But it was hurting. I ate, and like within  minutes, all that pain went away.

 Gone.

 All my mental clarity came back. So I go to bed that night, slept like a baby.

 Woke up the next morning giddy because I was about to have coffee.

 I got up, had coffee.

 Totally, like I was like the world was so bright. The world was so good. I got up, I ate a little granola bar, and I went about, this was Friday, I went and decided to go to the gym after I took the boys. And I said, "I'm going to take it easy because, you know, I'm like, I was so weak yesterday, I'll just take it easy." And I did my first set, and then I was like, I'm not taking it easy. This is the greatest day of my life.

 I never had more. I texted Vivian the moment I went to work out. I could run a marathon today right now. No training. I could do it. That's how much energy I have. I went in there. I was like PRing all over the place. No one could get in my way. I felt so good. And at the end of this workout, I sat down and God shared with me a couple of things. And there's that moment that I was able to stop because He allowed me to experience something so He could share these things and so I could share them with you. He said this.

 He said, "The way that you felt with no foot in your body, no desire, no energy, just kind of a little aimless, is the same way our spirit feels without the bread of life.

 People in the world are walking around dead in sin when the blood in the body can offer life to the fullest.

 The way I was feeling physically is how people apart from Christ are feeling spiritually when they haven't been able to consume the body of Jesus.

 That you're there and you're just aimless.

 Cold, without drive, without purpose,

 not you can't do things but there's nothing there, like they're apart. But then he took it further. He said, "Our spirits get the same way when we fast or go without time in His presence.

 Our spirits become lethargic. They lack. They have no energy or power and they have inexplicable pains.

 The very position that is supposed to bring rest, like sitting or lying, becomes the position and the place of most discomfort.

 Some of you I know struggle with sleep and with Sabbath and with rest because it's when you're quiet and when you're still and when you sit down, that is when all your anxieties and your pains and your hurts and your back, like it becomes this whole thing.

 The position that's supposed to bring rest becomes the place of most discomfort. And it says, "Instead of rest producing trust and the provider,

 rest produces lack awareness and inner pain."

 This is the life without feeding on the bread of life.

 And I don't have time to go fully into it, but I do want to touch on it. John chapter , like all of a sudden, was like illuminated to me. John chapter  is the beginning. First of all, he starts off by feeding the , and he gives them bread. And then all of a sudden he leaves. This is right about the Passover. They wanted to make him king and he left. And the next day they were searching for him. And this is after Jesus walked in the water and he calmed the storm for the disciples. And then they came back and all of a sudden he's with all these people again. And they're asking him like, "Hey, we're here. We've followed Jesus." And like this is what Jesus says in verse . He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves. You don't want me. You just want free food."

 It must have been some good bread. I know it was good bread. You know it was good bread if Jesus like multiplied it himself.

 Want those loaves.

 It says, "Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal." And they said, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered him, "This is the work of God that you believe in Him who He has sent. Believe in Jesus." And then they said, "Can you give us a sign like our fathers when they got bread in the wilderness? They're still back to the bread. Can you? I live in you. Can you give me more bread?" And he's like, he says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they said, this is like a joke, they said, "Yeah, sir, give us that bread always." Like, bro, there's three times the vast more bread now.

 And Jesus is like, "I don't think you get it." He says, "I am the bread of life.

 Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger.

 Whoever believes in Me shall never thirst."

 I love never thirst. Two chapters before was when he was with women at the well. And he says, "I have water that will make you never thirst again.

 I have bread that will make you never hunger again."

 I'll tell you what, my entire, after three days, my entire empathy for people who don't have food changed.

 It's no longer like, man, I feel bad for them.

 It's like, I feel for them.

 Like, I want to help them.

 Beyond what their physical need is, I want to help them for their spiritual need.

 And then this, and this is wild, I wish I could get into this more, it says,

 I'm going to actually just jump down to verse , because he talks about seeing and not believing, and he talks about this whole thing, and in verse  it says, "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day." Now you could read that and be like, "Yeah, yeah, we look to Jesus." Listen, we've already set the stage. They already said, "Hey, what about manna?" And he said, "There's this other thing." Remember, the manna is whenever the stuff fell on the ground, and they would collect it, and they'd grind it, and they'd make bread, and that happened for  years when they were in the wilderness. There's this wilderness mentality that's already going on, of things that were happening in the wilderness, the provision that happened in the wilderness. But when he says, "When you see the Son of Man, you will be saved." Like, there's this whole thing. We are supposed to, as good little Bible nerds, as people who study the Bible, we're supposed to be transported to the story in numbers whenever the people of Israel were in the wilderness, and they had sins, and God sent snakes around to go bite people. Do you remember that story? All those snakes were coming, and it's like, "My wife's worst nightmare." Snakes are going everywhere, and they're biting people, and they're like, "Save us, Moses!" And Moses is like, "Okay, God, what do we do?" And he says, "Take some of this stuff that you already took as plunder from Egypt, and create a serpent, and put it up on a pole, and hold it up on the pole, and everyone who looks on the pole will be saved."

 But if you don't look on the pole, you won't be saved, and people died, because they wouldn't look.

 Jesus said, "Just like the serpent was raised up on the pole in the wilderness, I will be raised up on the cross, and everyone who looks to me and sees me

 will be saved, and I will raise them up on the last day."

 And at this point, people are like, "Wait a minute. I don't believe in any of this." You're saying, "No, you're saying you came from heaven. You're saying you're a god. Isn't your mom marrying a son? There's no way."

 And verse  says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life, and I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died.

 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that you may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the world is my flesh." And I said, "This is when they get weird. How can we eat its flesh?"

 It says, "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat this flesh and drink this blood, you'll have no life. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, for my flesh is true blood, and my blood is true drink." And this is getting weird. "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him.

 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he will also live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that our fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." Remember, the beginning of this chapter, it said that the people loved him so much, that they didn't want to make him their bread, that they wanted to make him their king.

 And at this point, it says, "He starts talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and they all left." And said he was crazy.

 Except for the disciples.

 That's where Peter gets his like one good line. It's like, "Will you guys leave too?" And Peter's like, "Where else will we go?"

 And they were freaked out, because they were like, "What is this guy talking about?

 You and I get the benefit of knowing that in just a few short chapters later, this was the time of Passover, and about one year later, at Passover, with those same  disciples,

 he would take that bread, and he would say, "This is my body that's broken for you." And he'd take that cup and say, "This is my blood that's poured out for you, and I want you to do this for all time, and often to remember me, to remember me, something physical that you can eat with your mouth and drink with your mouth, that you can remind your body, that your body is more than just a body, that your body is also a spirit, and that there's moments in time where you will have surplus, and there's moments of time where you will have lack. But no matter what you experience, the body of Christ that you can hold onto is the thing that produces eternal life, and you in your body can have no food and yet can be sustained by the very person of God, because there is health that is fine on the body, there is forgiveness of sins that creates the quenching of all sin and desire in your life that comes from the blood of God. You are able to be purified forever by the work of Jesus Christ by partaking in the thing that goes through your mouth.

 Communion.

 Communion.

 And you know, the very purpose of all these spiritual practices is communion with God.

 Communion is not the term, it is the goal, to be one with Him,

 to experience His presence,

 to have His Spirit transform you.

 So church, today,

 the way we're going to end service is with communion.

 It's with communion.

 And listen,

 I'm going to ask the ushers to go ahead and pass it out.

 I know that this bread is not good.

 Nobody is going to ask Jesus for this bread three times.

 I know that this grape juice is the worst.

 It's not Welch's, I can tell you that.

 And for those of you who wish it was wine, it's definitely not that.

 This is more than a ritual.

 This is more than a routine.

 This is life for your physical body.

 This is life for your spiritual man and woman.

 This quenches the thirst. This is the thing that sustains you. This is the thing that gives your Spirit the drive. Communion with Christ is the thing that allows you to live in a way in which you know the purpose and the plans that He has for you. You are no longer walking around this world cold and without direction. It doesn't mean that you are free from all sin and all sickness and all disease. It means that the one who will never leave you nor forsake you is beside you. He's with you. And as close as this bread and juice is in your hand right now, that is how close His Spirit is. And when you eat it, He is inside of you. He was with you. He is there in the very midst of your pain and your suffering.

 He is the thing that can keep you from being drawn against your will to the enemy's darkness. You can walk and light with Him because He is with you. And you can stand firm in the calling that He has for you.

 He said, "Do it often, do it often, do it often. Remember, remember, remember, remember you have the mind of Christ. Remember you're free from the power of sin. Remember you were bought by His blood. Remember that there's grace even when you fall short. Remember that you're called with a purpose. Remember that you stand in the gap for your family. Remember that you are the one who can love your spouse the way that Christ loved the church. Remember that you can pray for those children and raise them up and they will not go a direction that is apart from God. Remember that you can speak blessing and that you can break curses through the power of the blood of Jesus. Remember that you have a purpose. Remember that even when your body feels weak and without direction, the very Spirit of God can come, and through the very communion with God, you can be reinvigorated and you can go from a place of brokenness to a place of full energy within moments because the Spirit does it. And you know what? This isn't just something Jesus preached. This is something Jesus did.

 I mentioned in chapter , "Remember when He was with that woman? It said that He arrived at that well, and He was tired, and He was worn out, and His disciples gave Him food because He had nothing, and then He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to that woman, and He got her saved, and He told her everything, and all of a sudden she ran off to go tell everybody that this guy loved me so much. He told me all of my sins that I'm experiencing, and all of a sudden when His disciples came back, they said, "We brought you food," and He said, "I'm not hungry anymore. I have food that you don't know about."

 And Jesus was in power.

 It gives Jesus life to bring life to your body.

 You don't wear Jesus out.

 He brings life to our bodies.

 So we do this church, will you stay with me?

 We're going to take communion.

 This is the Lord's feast.

 Not this, but the person of Jesus.

 It's the thing that reminds that our spirit is nourished and fed by the person of Jesus, and He will meet us right where we're at.

 We've talked about fasting, but let me tell you something.

 There's so much power in communion, and I've gone through seasons, and I know I've talked to my dad, and he's gone through, he said, "Listen, there's some people in this room that you may not need to practice fasting for whatever reason, but you may need to practice taking communion every night at your bedside,

 and you better be taking that bread, and you better be taking that cup, and you better be taking that cup." And he said, "This is my provision.

 This is my medicine. This is my health. This is my healing. This is my forgiveness. This is my restoration. This is who it is because that is who Jesus is to you.

 That is who Jesus is to you." And some of you may say, "You may be driven into a commission."

 Yes, you can take communion on your own. You know why? Because it says that you, once you receive Jesus, have been made a king priest in the order of Melchizedek through the very person of Jesus Christ. You do not need a mediator to stand before you. I will lead this in communion today because we're here today, and this is the place. But you can leave this place and lead your family and lead yourself because the very spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, and if he leads you to take communion every day to remind your body that you were bought with a price and that there's healing in your body, then you go to that nightstand and you get yourself a Ritz cracker and some real good Welch's grape juice, and you drink that every night, and you say, "You are what I live on. I hunger and thirst for you more than anything this world has to offer."

 And you convert your body not by what you don't eat, but by you doing.

 The Spirit of God leads you.

 The Spirit of God may lead you on a fast to reveal to you truth,

 to bring a closeness, to bring your assurance, to bring many things.

 The Spirit of God may lead you to a feast. He may lead you to communion because it is the communion of your hearts that he desires.

 So today, just like Jesus did, when he took that bread and he broke it, and he gave thanks to his Father, and he said to his disciples, "Take, eat. This is my body that's broken for you. Do this often in remembrance of me. Let's take the bread together."

 It's not just wholeness and completeness in our body. The Bible actually says that it's also unity in the body, the body of Christ.

 That even in communion, we can create unity in the body, among the body,

 which brings God glory and praise.

 Then he took the cup, and he raised it up, and he said,

 "Thanks to his Father," and then told his disciples, "Take, drink. This is my blood that's poured out for the forgiveness of sin. Do this often in remembrance of me. Let's take the cup together."

 Lord, you are good, and your mercy endures forever.

 How faithful are you to remove our sins as far as the East is from the West?

 Thank you that you're with us when we eat and when we don't eat, when we rise and when we sleep. There's nowhere that we can go

 where we're removed from your presence. When I climb the highest mountain, you are there. When I find myself in the depths of Sheol, you are there.

 When I find myself full, you are there. And when I find myself hungry, you are there. In surplus and in lack, you are there.

 My very present help in time of trouble, so I will fear not

 because you are with me,

 preparing a feast before me, even in the midst of my enemies.

 You are here. You are here in this place.

 Lord, I pray that your spirit will do a much better job

 of bringing revelation to the bread of life than I have today.

 That is what your spirit does, bringing all things to our remembrance at the exact time that we need them, to bring wonder working power in our lives.

 We thank you, Jesus, for whatever we need, healing, forgiveness, miracles, provision, even for a baby to go head down so that we can have a baby this week.

 You are here working in the midst of us.

 It is in Jesus' holy name, we pray. Amen, amen. Hey, listen, church, one thing before we are dismissed, I know I have kept you a little late.

 Originally, we were supposed to actually do a second offering today because I got a really exciting update and opportunity for our kids' classes that I have been hinting at for a couple of weeks that I was supposed to share today, but time kind of got away from it. So here is what I am going to tell you. Next week, we are going to collect a special offering for DK. We are going to raise $, to completely transform and finish our DK building. It is going to be awesome. I will tell you a little bit more about it next week, but this week, just be praying, what we have got to have you give, whatever it would be, and next week we will collect that and we will celebrate because it is going to be an awesome project when it is done. But listen, we love you. You are blessed. Have a great rest of your day. Enjoy your Sunday, and we will see you next week or Wednesday at the Fasting Prayer.