Fasting // Slaughter and Seek

Coming soon!

Good morning, everyone. I'm glad you guys are here today. Before he runs off stage, I just want to say thank you, Pastor Jonathan, for the opportunity. I'm speaking this morning. I know it's weird. It's like I'm the worship pastor, if we've never met.

But I wasn't a worship, and he's the lead pastor. He's usually teaching, but he's not teaching today, and he's in the worship team. A little confusing, not normal, but I just wanted to say thank you.

I know this is, you don't, I don't take this lightly, and especially in the formation series, like it's a big honor that you would ask me to do this. And so I just wanted to say thank you. So can you give it up for your lead pastor?

 I love that we get to serve God in a multitude of ways.

I do want to address the elephant in the room, and it's my luscious locks that I've been growing. I've been getting lots of comments and concerns and questions and stuff. Yes, I am growing it out. I don't know how long.

 People are like, "Are you jealous of Charlie's hair?" No, I am not.

 But I do it for a couple of reasons. One, to help me keep warm in the winter.

 Two, it's my annual checkin just to see how old I'm getting.

 I was just like, "Is it coming in as thick as it once was?" You know? The answer is yes.

 Two, I always want to know how many new gray hairs do I have this year? I usually average about two new gray hairs a year. This year, I had more. I usually average just like Easter and Christmas. That's where my stress levels rise. I was like, "Why do I have more?" Then I realized I had a daughter this year, and that just elevates. The boys just throw them to the wolves, but I had a daughter, and it's like, "I'm ready to fight somebody. I got my shotgun ready." This is a true story. I have gray hairs in my nose.

 Too much information? Well, I'm just trying to be honest. If we can't be honest from the pulpit, where can we be honest from? Right?

 So I just think, you know, true wisdom comes from within.

 So why don't you go ahead and stand up on your feet. I just love making you laugh before I kind of jump into the sermon.

 We're going to read a scripture today that I'm going to kind of base my message off of. It comes from Matthew  starting in verse . Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me." And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

 And he said to Peter, "So you could not watch with me one hour. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

 Why don't we go ahead and pray and then we'll jump into the message. God, we just thank you for your truth. We thank you for your presence. We thank you for your hand. We thank you for your voice.

 And I just ask and I pray that all of those would be present here today.

 Holy Spirit, as we sung, you are welcome in this place.

 And as my words go out of my mouth, let them be your words that you are putting into my heart.

 And let the hearts receive them, softened hearts. Let eyes be open. Let people be encouraged. Let people hear the truth all because of you and not me. And we just thank you for an awesome time getting to hear about your truth today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. And amen. You can go ahead and sit down.

 We are continuing in the fasting series.

 Did anyone enjoy the panel last week? Can you give it up for the panelists?

 I have heard pretty much nothing but good things, like % of good things. I know you're probably wondering what's the %. It's me. I hated it.

 I'll tell you why, okay? Jonathan asked me to preach and I was like, all right, I'll pray about it. All right, I'm preaching. Then I started going through my notes and I had like basically a whole sermon that God had taught me on fasting a few years ago. I was like, I am ready to go. The only thing is when you're teaching on something about fasting, you're not going to be doing like a week sermon series on it. It's a little bit limited, right? And so every week when Jonathan was preaching, I was like, oh, please don't take my content. Please don't take my content. And I made it through all three weeks of him preaching. I was like, I am clear. I get to go. And then I was going to speak and then the snowstorm hit. So they pushed me and I thought I was preaching the next week, ready to go again. They were like, oh, no, the panelists. And so I was very confused. And then the panelists come up and they took my whole message, guys.

 I was real mad. I think even I was talking with Jamie Van, who was one of the panelists, and she was saying she kind of felt the same way because she was like, you know, God had kind of given her revelation about fasting and the truth. And then Jonathan was preaching for like the first three weeks and she was like, hey, that's the revelation God gave to me. What are you doing sharing it from the pulpit? Right? And so I was kind of like, I was kind of bummed. I was like, this was like my revelation to share with the church. But then at the end of the day, I was encouraged because scripture says that the spirit of truth will lead you and guide you into all truth. And if we are not ending up at the same truth, we are being led by the wrong spirit or by our flesh.

 And so from Jonathan or Andrew or Charlie or Vivi or myself or the panelists or whoever speaks, we need to be encouraged that we need to hear his voice, not whoever is standing here. Right? We need him. All my single ladies in the room, you don't need a man. You need him.

 My businessmen, you don't need more revenue. You need him. And so I just come to encourage you with the truth that we are here to hear the truth of God. And I hope that you hear him speaking through me today. I'm not changing my message.

 It's going to be reiterating some of the stuff, but I'm going to give a lot more scriptural context to what some of the concepts that were spoken about last week through people's experiences. And I love it. You guys ready?

 All right. The title of my message is "Slaughter and Seek."

 I was kind of cracking up because like Pastor Jonathan's like sermons were like so beautiful. It was like, you know, God is beautiful and like your body is like as a temple and I was like slaughter and seek. But the other option was shut up and seek. But you know, we'll go with that. So I would be remiss if I assumed that everyone here had been here the whole time during the series or that there's someone here that's like new and maybe not a Christian or stuff. And so point number one is for those people. Point number one, I have five points for you today.

 Fasting is not salvation. Fasting is not salvation. When we are talking about fasting, we are talking about setting aside food in pursuit of God.

 And you might think I am trying to earn something here. No.

 Fasting has nothing to do with salvation. It has everything to do with sanctification. And sanctification is the process in which we are becoming more and more like Jesus.

 My wife sent me a podcast a couple of weeks ago and it's something that I usually listen to, but I hadn't heard this one. It's like the Perrys, Jackie Hill Perry. She's awesome, Preston Perry. And she said this phrase and she said, "God is never going to change His mind about wanting you to change."

 God is never going to change His mind about wanting you to change. He is always going to be pushing you in the process to becoming more and more like Jesus. And it doesn't matter if you've been following God for a year or for . There are still parts of us that need to become more and more like Jesus. Amen.

 So it has nothing to do with our salvation. God does not love you anymore. If you fast, He does not love you any less. If you do not fast. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Doesn't matter if we all had a negative on our accounts, right?

 Doesn't matter if it was a negative $ or negative $ million. If we did a little bad or a lot of bad, we all had debts we could not pay and Jesus paid for our debts. And He brought us into His family. This is the gospel, right? But now that we are in His family, we have to learn what His family is all about and try to fit in with His family, which is why in Philippians   Paul says this, "Work out your salvation, your own salvation with fear and trembling." With all in respect to who God is, you have to allow the process of what Jesus paid for to have a work in your heart. So that way every single day you are becoming more and more like Jesus to where there is an accurate representation of who Jesus is being experienced through you, through your words, through your actions. So point number two, fasting is serious.

 Fasting is serious. And I want to kind of talk about just the intention of fasting because if we're not doing it with the right intention and the right motives, then why are we doing it? There's a story. There's a couple stories that we're going to look out today that aren't typically talked about when talking about fasting. One of them is found in  Kings chapter . And we're not going to read the story. I'm just going to highlight it because I have a lot of notes to get through and I'm going to try to get through them all.

 So it is  Kings chapter . There's a story about Jezebel, Ahab and Naboth. If you don't know who these people are, maybe you've heard of the standoff between Elijah and Jezebel and Ahab, you know, where they're calling down fire from heaven. That happened a few chapters before this. And then, you know, Jezebel runs Elijah off and we don't see him again, I think, until this chapter. But basically, here's the gist of it. Ahab is the king of Israel. Next to his palace, there's a vineyard and it's Naboth's vineyard. And he says, "Hey, I want to buy your vineyard." And Naboth says, "Over my dead body." So Ahab killed him. End of story.

 That's the whole gist of it. Now, the reason I bring up this story is there are three, and I'm going to put these in quotations, fasts that happen within this chapter. Okay? So Ahab comes to Naboth and says, "Hey, I want to buy your vineyard." Naboth says, "Hey, no, it's an inheritance from God, an inheritance from my family. I cannot give it to you." So Ahab gets sad and he goes away and he says he does not eat. Doesn't say he fasted. Says he does not eat simply because he was sad. Doesn't call it a fast. He was just not eating because he was sad. So then Jezebel comes and says, "Hey, I'm going to get that vineyard for you." So she writes a letter in his name to the leaders of the city and says, "Hey, call for a fast from everyone. Bring them together. Then we're going to bring Naboth there and we're going to pay off people to lie against them. Say that he cursed God and the king and we're going to stone him." And that's exactly what happened. So there's fast number two. It's done with the wrong intentions. It's not calling for a fast to believe that God would move. No, it's called for a fast, fast, because they simply wanted to get the people together so they could stone Naboth. So fast number three. Elijah shows up with a word from God and says, "Ahab, you have been so wicked that God is going to destroy your house. He's going to destroy you. You are going to die and your blood is going to be looked up by dogs. Jezebel is going to be eaten by dogs. Everyone in your house is going to be eaten by dogs." And it's like, "God, why are you so consumed with dogs right now?" Okay, this is weird.

 And so it says that after that, Naboth—no, no, sorry, he's dead. Ahab goes away and it says that he put on sackcloth and he fasted. And then the Lord comes back to Elijah and says, "Go back," and says, "I have seen the way Ahab has humbled himself.

 He has humbled himself. And because of that, I will not bring this punishment on him, but it will come to his kids." Now, he still died in battle a few years later, but it's this verbiage, right? He humbled himself. There was just not eating in the beginning. Then there was fasting with the wrong intention. And then at the end, God actually responds to the one that was a true fast, which is him humbling himself. It has everything to do with the intention, not just the action. God is much more after your heart than just your food, okay? He is much more after your heart. It is all about the posture of the heart. And we are becoming more and more like Jesus, right? Which is beautiful because in Philippians , , he's talking about Jesus. "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And that's the goal, to become more and more like him. If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will heal their land, right? God is after your heart, and in that place is where he responds. Now, let's talk about the goals of fasting.

 Point number three, fasting is a slaughter.

 Fasting is a slaughter.

 Galatians ,  says this, "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want."

 There's a term in business that we use here at, it's a process, I guess, a way of thinking that we use here at church. Pastor Andrew brought it into our church, and it's how we evaluate everything. It's called zerosum leadership. Zerosum leadership. It is the process of seeing your resources and your time and success and everything as a limited fixed pie.

 And it means that you only have so much time in the day, you only have so much consumption, you only have so many resources, and you have to be really careful how you allocate those resources because they're limited. And this is the way that we have to think, okay, about ourselves. We have flesh and we have spirit. And if we are investing our time and our energy and our consumption into our flesh, then that means something else is suffering, which is your spirit. And vice versa, if we are investing in our spirit, that means our flesh is suffering. And we are limited with our time and with our attention, with all of our resources, that we have to be careful with what we do with everything. Galatians , , "Whoever sows to please their flesh will, from the flesh, will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life." Now, let's dive back into the Garden of Gethsemane. I think it's important that we look at this because in the sleepy days, Jesus drops this line that basically defines all of humanity. Am I right? He's just like, "Oh, yeah, I'm just going to throw out this line." And I'm like, "This is my entire life." The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

 The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. In the pursuit of God, the flesh will always be weak, which is why I wanted to bring this to your attention because there might be people in the room, it's like, "Yeah, I've heard you guys talking about fasting. That's fine. I'm going to do it like when I'm a stronger Christian, when I've been following the Lord for a long time, when I have more time on my hands, when all this stuff." And fasting is not for the strong.

 Fasting is for the weak.

 And if you have flesh, do you got flesh, Thomas?

 Yeah, I got flesh. You got flesh, Jeremy? I got flesh. You got flesh? You got flesh? You got flesh? Which means you have a weakness. And if we are weak, we have to learn to put it to death because in pursuit of God, it is always going to be a hindrance to us. There is always going to be a hindrance in this process. And the funny thing is, if you look at the Garden of Gethsemane, if you backtrack it from the cross to that time, it was like  p.m. to  a.m. in the garden is when Jesus is this is happening, right? Now, I don't know about you. About ?

 I'm done. All right. Like there's times we're watching a show. Depending on the day, it might be . And then we're like watching a comedy. And I'm like dozing off. And then I hear like something funny happen and then Hannah's laughing. So then I'm like, but I was like, I was out cold, you know. So  p.m. to  a.m. like it's  a.m. in the morning. They're in the middle of nowhere. Pure darkness may be a fire. No phones, no air pods, no nothing. And Jesus says, would you stay awake with me for an hour? Bro, you kidding me?

 You kidding me right now, Jesus? Here's my point. Just because your flesh has a reason to act the way it wants to doesn't mean you have to let it.

 Just because your flesh has a reason to act the way it wants to doesn't mean you have to let it. Just because the kids broke a vase and you have a reason to be so angry doesn't mean you have to let that anger overtake you. Just because that person is wearing something scandalous and you want to look doesn't mean you have to let it. Because you have a reason does not mean you have to let your flesh be in control.

 Fasting is a way that we get to be dependent on God and his strength and not dependent on our own.

 In this process, Jesus says that he will always be with us and the Holy Spirit is here with us. And I love this scripture.  Corinthians , , he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, in all the areas where I have an opportunity for my flesh to act the way it wants to. I delight there because if I learn to put it in control when I am weak, then I can rely on the strength of God. Amen? All right, here it is. The goal of fasting, and dare I say a lot of Christianity or most of the practice that we're doing is tied up in this, is to kill your flesh and pursue God.

 Those two things. Kill your flesh and pursue God.

 Pastor Jonathan has said this, the panelists said this,

 like fasting is not supposed to just be physical dieting. It's supposed to be a spiritual consumption replacement. Spiritual consumption replacement.

 I am married, coming up on  years this year, to my amazing, beautiful, awesome wife, Hannah, over there. Hannah Joy, heyo. I had to leave early this morning, and normally I help her get the kids up, but I was gone. And of course, I wake up super early, and both babies woke up as I was leaving, and I was like, "I'm sorry, I gotta go."

 So I'm married, and imagine, there's a couple times a year where I love to do this because I will take maybe a random, if I have a vacation day, it'll be a random Monday or random Thursday, I'll take it off, and she'll forget, or I won't tell her. And so I'll just be doing stuff around the kitchen, and she looks at the time, and she's like, "Don't you gotta go to work?" And I say, "Girl, I'm off today." And she's like, "Ooh, you are?" And she just gets so happy, and she's like, "So you're gonna spend all day with me?" And I'm like, "Yeah."

 Now, what if that happened, and she's like, "Don't you gotta go to work?" And I'm like, "Yes, I gotta go to work." Or, "No, I took the day off." And she's like, "Wow, so excited." And I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm going golfing with Micah."

 And then I'm gonna probably go get some lunch, and then I'll probably go walk around Shields for like three hours. So I'll be back around the normal time. How would she feel?

 Not great, right? And this is exactly what happens sometimes when we are fasting. We're supposed to be setting aside something so we can focus on God. And he's like, "I am so excited to speak to you today, to be with you today." And it's like, "Yeah, but I'm still gonna be on my phone. I'm still gonna watch TV. I'm still gonna listen to the news. I'm still gonna do all this stuff that can still feed my flesh, even though I'm giving up food."

 It's supposed to be a spiritual consumption replacement in seeking God. The goal is not to satiate your flesh. It's to strangle it.

 Not to satiate it, because we can... And I'm gonna be talking about, "This is just me." Can I just be honest? Okay? Like, if we're in this pursuit, especially if you guys are taking the class and stuff, they talk specifically about fasting, and then they will talk about abstaining, right?

 And I kind of lump them together. That's just me. The class doesn't. But I'm going to. And I'll explain why later. But for the sake of it now, I'm just gonna talk about it, because God will maybe ask you to abstain from something, right? And it's like, "Hey, I'm not gonna be on social media." Great. Fantastic. But then you need to be social with the creator of the universe. Get it?

 Like, you can say, "Okay, I'm gonna do a Daniel fast, and I'm not gonna be doing meat." But then you go to Chipotle and eat the fake meat that tastes just like meat.

 You're satiating your flesh. You're not strangling it.

 There's this tension that needs to happen where your flesh starts to rise up, and you need to make sure that you're saying, "No, you're dying right now. Okay, bye." And the scripture that I'm basing this off of is Matthew , . "Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone, anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

 Deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Like, selfdenial is hard. Can we just be real? It's hard to just be like, "I want that. I have the ability and the resources to do that, but I'm gonna say no." That is hard. Why? Because you are trying to put your flesh to death. The reason why fasting can be so hard, and you're like, "Oh, I get irritable, and I get angry, and then I have all this. I get sad and low energy and all this stuff." It's not just because, like, the enemy is really fighting me on this fast, guys. No, it's because you're literally trying to strangle your flesh, and your flesh is like, "Nah, bro. Let me up. I need to live. Your flesh is fighting for its life." And we're like, "The enemy is really coming at me, chirping in my ear." "No, bro. You just want Twinkies, right?"

 That's what happens.

 We need to be focusing on the underlying goal of this, and the underlying goal is to kill our flesh, and not just refrain from eating. And if that's the truth, then that means it's not the only way to kill it, which means it's also not the only way to feed it, okay? If we focus on the goal, kill your flesh. It doesn't say, "If anyone comes after me, you need to fast, and you need to pray, and you need to be in community." No. The underlying goal, deny yourself.

 Pick up your cross.

 Follow me. And I would argue that all of the practices that we are walking through in this journey can be tied back to these, right? As I am praying and seeking God's face, I am putting myself and my heart on the altar and God saying, "God, this is my desire, but if it's not your will, let it be put to death, and I want to pursue who you are. I want to follow you," right? Community, which we're going to be jumping into next, but it's like I am following Jesus. You look at someone next to you, you're following Jesus? You want to follow Jesus together? Let's do it. Community, right? Generosity, I have money. You need money? Okay, I'm going to deny myself this money and give you money. Generosity, like this is what it is. Denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following Jesus. So fasting is not a requirement, but it is a tool to accomplish what is a requirement.

 Selfdenial, picking up your cross and following Him.

 I know some people might think like, "Hey, Jesus just said, "Love people," right?

 Love God, love people, then I'm good."

 The opposite of love is selfishness. So if you cannot deny yourself, how can you properly love?

 Right?

 If you can't deny your belly, how can you deny your sex drive? If you can't deny your belly, how can you deny when God asks you to give up something from your wallet?

 We are supposed to be loving people, and if we are selfish,

 we cannot love to the best of our ability.

 Galatians  jumps into the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Now the works of the flesh are evidence, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and eating oranges.

 My kids are in the room. They don't even know about stuff, you know?

 There'sthis is what we are called to put to death. And I know some of us might look at this and think, "Well, I'm not like an adulterer or I'm not doing sorcery."

 You know, which, by the way, side note real quick, if you're jumping into like sage and crystals and stuff, that's witchcraft. All right, throw it away, burn it. You are not getting rid of darkness, you are inviting it into your home. Get rid of it, okay?

 But if you are looking at this and thinking, "Okay, I'm not like into sorcery. I'm not eating oranges," all this stuff, but simply in our hearts,

 we have to realize that there is still weakness.

 Now when you are looking at someone and it's like, "See, they don't deserve that husband. They're not even treating them right," I would take care of that husband way better than she does. I'd do his laundry and love him till the day he died in your heart. "Well, I know my shoes aren't that bad, but I do probably need another just because like I need more." Like you're fighting this place where you're not content.

 And so simply, we can be in a place where we look at all these lists and think, "Man, I'm not all of that bad, and yet there is still weakness in our flesh."

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol. Against these things, there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have pacified their flesh? No, crucified it with its passions and desires. Now I think it's important that we look and see the works of the flesh

 and the fruit of the Spirit.

 Can you hear me? The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. One is something I do. One is something that is done through me.

 The flesh can always just operate on its own, but the Spirit needs to be clung to God in order to operate in its full potential.

 We need to be reliant on God and not on ourself.

 I know there are times when God will speak to you and say, "Don't do that.

 Don't go to that bar. Don't text him. Don't watch that movie." And you're like, "Yeah." Your Spirit's like, "That's a good idea."

 Holy Spirit, I think that's a good idea. And then your flesh is like, "I'm weak."

 This is the struggle that we're in, right? The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

 And we have the opportunity to say, "Shut up. Shut up." Whenever your hungers are going, whenever you're fasting, it's the opportunity to say, "Shut up." So that way when you're outside of a fast and you hear that same voice and that same selfdesire for something else, you can say, "Shut up.

 You are not the voice that controls me. I am following a different voice, and that voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit. Amen?"

 Point number four, and this is my favorite point of the five. Fasting is seeking. How am I doing on time? Good. Fasting is seeking. Remember, in the beginning, we are not earning anything. So fasting is not earning, it is yearning. See what I did there? One letter. Boom. Point.

 Jesus' disciples did not fast. There was someone that came and was like, "Hey, why don't your disciples fast?"

 And he says, "Hey, the bridegroom is with them at a time when I'm gone. They will fast." Why? Think about this. When we are fasting, we are trying to pursue God. We are trying to hear His voice clearly. We are trying to get wisdom. We are trying to get direction. We are wanting to be in His presence, feel loved by Him, see His hand, have miracles happen in our life. We are believing for something. Now, what were the disciples?

 Literally, in His presence, hearing His voice, having His direction, seeing His hand move, experiencing miracles. That's why they were like, "Well, yeah, we don't need to fast because all the things that you are trying to seek after during a fast, we have in the person of Jesus." Right? And so, we are going to look at a story about fasting and a story about feasting in Matthew . It's the story of the feeding of the , plus women and children. I'm just going to say , plus because it could be ,. It could be , because it's , men plus women and children. If you read your Bible, that's what it says. So, we don't know. It could be ,. We don't know. It's , plus. Okay?

 So, Jesus is sitting on a hill and people find Him. They always find Jesus. They start bringing all their sick and then bringing their lame and bringing their blind and just starts healing them and word just gets out. Now, a crowd shows up. They're there. And this is where the story picks up in Matthew , . "Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have something to eat, nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. And the disciples said to Him, Where are we going to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed a great crowd?" Now, if you know the rest of the story, they gather some fish and loaves and they break it apart. Everyone eats. They have extra. That's not what I'm focused on today, which is a great story.

 But I love bringing stories to life.

 And as I look at this story, one, I am trying to figure out what is more mind boggling. One, Jesus being able to feed the , plus or the fact that parents showed up and stay there for three days with not having snacks for their kids. Okay.

 Okay. I have four kids. I have a oneyearold who gets very angry. We have to load up on snacks on the way to Costco to buy snacks. You know what I mean? And these people are just out here in a desolate place with no food for your children. Like my oneyearold would be losing his mind just pointing somewhere. He doesn't know, but he's just like, I am hungry. I need you now. And as soon as he gets angry, we just throw, you know, a little fruit bar in his mouth, and he's like, he's happy. He runs off.

 And yet there's these people, thousands and thousands of people who chose to go without food by choice.

 They could have left. They stay there for three days, and they could have left. Now, it makes me think, I normally intermittent fast, so I do, you know, no breakfast just on a normal basis, just to keep my calories down. That's fine. And I'm a morning workerouter, so I'll work out in the morning. I will go play basketball in the morning.

 No, you know, no food. I'm fine. No protein shake afterwards. I'm fine. Like I'm not fainting. On the days where I do my regular fast and I fast breakfast and lunch, at the end of the day, you know, maybe I'm a little, like, tired, like, and low on energy when I get home and stuff, but I'm not fainting, which leads me to believe that these people had been without food at least two meals, okay? They were choosing to stay there even if they didn't have food. Now, if we were there and we started to run out of food, as soon as we ate the last food, I'd be like, Hannah, we had a good run. We need to go home because our kids are going to start losing their minds if we don't have any chicken nuggets, okay?

 And these people decided to stay.

 It's one of the greatest stories of fasting that you have never seen in the Bible before because you're so focused on the feasting, but the people decided to go without food in pursuit of God.

 It's beautiful. They desired God more than they desired bread, and because of that, God gave them both.

 Don't miss it. Don't miss it. They gave up something natural in pursuit of something spiritual, and God provided both.

 Matthew , "Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles, seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom," just like all these thousands of people were doing, "of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

 They were giving up something natural in pursuit of something spiritual, and they got both.

 Now, God taught me something a few years ago about seeking,

 and, you know, "seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open."

 And I remember it was one of those times where, you know, it's just kind of like the pivotal moment in your walk with the Lord, and He was just saying, like, "Isaiah, like, people seek me for salvation,

 and then normally they will not seek me unless there's an emergency after that."

 He's like, "But what you need to understand is the more, like, seek and you will find, yes, but the more you seek, the more you will find.

 Because He is an unlimited God, we will never come to the end of His heart. We will never come to the end of discovering things about who our God is and what He can do. So the more we seek, the more we find."

 Now, think about this. There's ,plus people there. If they started to leave, this great story of feeding the ,plus would not have happened.

 If those people did not seek, we would not have this story.

 It would be maybe the feeding of the , which is really impressive.

 But maybe it's the feeding of the , which is not really impressive, or just the feeding of the four, which is, that's just a piece of bread.

 Do you understand what I am saying?

 The more we seek, the more we will find.

 God is not a God of numbers. He is a God of sufficiency.

 And so as we are seeking God, as we can just put Him first, He will take care of everything else.

 But if we do this collectively, I promise you, we will see Him move in our community, in our hearts, in our families more than we ever have.

 And I love it. God is not a God of numbers. He is a God of sufficiency.

 Now imagine these thousands of people saying, "No, I don't need food. I need Him."

 Like, "I don't need food. I need a miracle from Him. I need to hear His voice.

 I need to see Him move. I need to be in His presence. I just need to touch the hem of His garment. I need wisdom. I need something.

 I just need Him."

 And if we can get to this place, I promise you, He will respond.

 He will respond. God always, always, always responds when you seek Him.

 Matthew , , "But when you fast, when you anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Now why? That's the question. When we're reading through Scripture, why? Why are we getting rewarded for not eating au croissant? Doesn't make any sense.

 And we were talking about this, right? During staff meeting, Guyana was like, "Is it like a reward, like a reward, you know, ChickfilA type of thing? Or is it just Him?" You know, people were like, "Well, no, the reward is just God, and you just have to be all right with that." It was like, "Bro, but I need a job, you know?"

 And so I took it to prayer, and I said, "God, what is the reward?"

 And he took me on this journey. He says, "Isiah does fasting require faith?" I said, "Yes." Okay, so let's go to Hebrews , "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

 Fasting is diligently seeking Him. And so I was like, "God, what is this reward?" And then he took me to the Scripture, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." And he said so clearly, he said, "Isaiah, everything belongs to me, and I can do with it whatever I want to do. So I will reward you with whatever I want to, but make no mistake, it will always be what you need and not what you want.

 Always be what you need and not what you want."

 Now, thousands of people on the hill,

 I promise you, Bill? Jeremy?

 I promise you with all those people

 that someone did not like fish, okay? If I was on that hill, I'd be like, "Bro, what is this?" Imagine being up there, right? You're just like chilling, you're talking about all the crazy things. It's like, "Bro, did you hear about Mahershala's son? He grew a foot." And you're like, "What? He grew a foot taller? That's crazy." No, like his foot was gone. He grew a foot. It was crazy. It's crazy, bro. And then there's this comment, "Oh, oh, oh, what? You're feeding us too? Thank you so much. What have we got? Some bread and fish? You got like a chicken or beef option?"

 And how many times does this happen in our life where God is providing you what you need? It's like, "But do you have like another option though? Because it's not what I want."

 Is this ringing true for anyone? Because it's ringing true for me, bro. How many times does he speak and you're like, "That's not what I want to hear." How many times does he make a way and it's like, "I want it a different way or ChickfilA

 or something else, subway, something. I did not want this, okay? I didn't want to be single, right, Yana?" No, I'm just kidding.

 Hey.

 God has a plan for you, Yana. You know that?

 He's telling me to stop everything to say that he has a plan for you.

 And he knows you are going through so much. No, no, no, hold on. He knows you are going through so much and he hears your cries and he says, "Stay steadfast, for I will make a way.

 You will make a way."

 You don't need to know her story, but God is on your side.

 He is on your side.

 In this process, we need to be serious about seeking him. It is not just a magic trick we are seeking after God. And the beautiful thing is, the beautiful thing is, God longs for you more than you will ever long for him.

 Do you understand this?

 Because sometimes in relationships it's like, "Oh, I don't know. Should I text her? Should I, you know, ask this person out? Should I ask this friend to lunch? Because I don't know if they want to be with me." And I promise you, God longs to be with you more than you could ever want to be with him. So any step taken in his direction will automatically be responded with an overwhelming response back.

 He's that person that will answer on the first call. First ring, "Hello?" It's like, "Oh, did you have your phone to your face already? Because why did you answer that fast?" He's that friend because he longs to be with you, which leads me. Oh, hello.

 The point number five, and I'll be done.

 Fasting is to be spiritled.

 Right after the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit comes Galatians , .

 "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit."

 It is supposed to be Holy Spirit led for the purpose of giving our spirit life.

 And this is a beautiful thing, especially for the people that are in a season where they can't, right? And I think Pastor Jonathan mentioned this. We mentioned it in the panel, different stuff. So if you are a season where your health is in a place where you can't fast, if you are breastfeeding or pregnant or have eating disorders or whatever it may be, and we start to kind of dissect and it's like, which is why I don't really kind of focus on like this class where it's talking about fasting and abstinence, because abstinence in the hands of the Holy Spirit is way better than fasting in your room.

 And if we just submit to the will of God and say, "God, what is a weakness in me and how can I kill my flesh?"

 Now, there are seasons that I go through fasting. I usually do a normal, regular fast. I will do some longer fasts, you know, when I'm coming up to maybe Easter or big events or whatever it may be.

 But then there's times where God calls me to a season of abstinence and it sounds silly to you, but he's like, "Hey, Isaiah, I need you to give up candy.

 If you know me, I love candy."

 And not for like a week, not for like a month, not for like three months, but like longer and longer than that. And it's happened multiple times. And it's a real hype because when these moments when I am stressed automatically keep a bag like Christmas time, Christmas production season, bro, I got bags on bags of candy in my office drawer because it's like, "Ooh, I'm stressed." Boom, boom. And he's like, "No, I need you to be dependent on me and not that bag of candy."

 And it sounds so silly, but it's a real example of what God can walk you through of maybe you, maybe it's soda, maybe it's TV, maybe it's video games, maybe it's whatever, fill in the blank.

 But allowing God into the process to say, "How can I kill my flesh and how can I follow you better?"

 That's the journey that we're on. It's the heart of it all.

 And I think most of us might hear all of this. For the last few weeks, Pastor Jonathan did such a good job and the panelists did a good job. And you might be looking at it or listening to it and it's like, "But that's hard. I don't want to do that." Right?

 Which makes me think of the Israelites in the wilderness. They send out  people to represent each tribe into the Promised Land to spy it out. And they come back, they have lots of fruit, and they got pomegranates and grapes and all this stuff. And two of them, Caleb and Joshua, is like, "It's awesome. It's right for the taken. We should do this." And the other  are like, "But there's like strong people over there that we're going to have to fight." And there's like giants and stuff, so we should not do this. And then they started going to all the people of Israel and it's like, "Hey, nope, we're not doing this. We should go back to Israel because we're going to be in a fight. There's battling. People are going to lose their lives. We should not do this. We should go back." And God's like, "Uh, sorry, you ten." They literally died.

 And the only people of those  that got to go into the Promised Land were Caleb and Joshua.

 What am I trying to say? The fruit is worth the fight.

 The people that were scared of the fight never got to experience the fruit.

 And there is fruit that God is wanting to blossom in your heart and blossom in your marriage and blossom in your mind and in your parenting and in your job. But if you are too scared to crucify your flesh and follow Him, you will never see it come to fruition.

 We have to be willing to give it all, right?

 It's what He's asking, but I promise you what He gives back will be so much better than what you are holding onto.

 So much better. Why don't you do this? Why don't you go ahead and stand up?

 We are going to read a scripture together, everyone, and we're going to make it our prayer. And then I'll pray and we will be dismissed and you can go and start preparing your dips for the Super Bowl.

 Whatever you want to do, pick up your chicken wings.

 But it's Psalm ,  and . Can we get it on the screen, please?

 Okay, let's read this together and let's do it with a posture of heart,

 focusing on who God is and asking Him to do this. You guys ready? All right. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

 Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

 So God, we just ask you that you would point out anything in us that is not like you, that is offensive to you, that is not like the kingdom of light. God, in our weakness, you are made strong, but help us to realize where our weaknesses are and to be fully dependent on you. God, in these practices that we would dive deep and fight our flesh and put it to death so we can experience the fruit that you have for us.

 God, I just thank you for your truth and for the sacrifice that you gave to us.

 And whatever we have to do to respond to you accordingly, God, let it be so. Let our hearts be humble in pursuit of you. And in the end, we will look back and see your faithfulness. We will see the fruit that you produce in us. And we can tell other people of who you are because of what you have done in us and through us. And that's why we thank you. And that's why we praise you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Come on. Can we give God a shout of praise for Thanksgiving for his truth? He's so good. He is so good. Well, next week I think we have another one last special surprise that might be happening next week and we'll wrap up the fasting series and stuff.

 But I hope you guys at least were encouraged or learned something.

 But we are so thankful for you. I personally am thankful for this community from the young to the old to everywhere in between.

 And we just want to let you know that we love you guys. Have an awesome Super Bowl or if you don't want to watch the Super Bowl, then go outside. Is it pretty outside? I don't know. Is it? I showed up this morning. I watched my car yesterday and then it started raining. And I was like, this is messed up, you know. But we love you guys. We will see you next week. Go Seahawks.