Leadership Lesson #5 - Understanding Fasting
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29htZSEBfCE
Video ID: 29htZSEBfCE
YouTube upload date: 2024-10-01
Video duration: 01:59:05
Transcription: Faster-Whisper small.en (automatic; timestamped)
Note: Automatic transcription; review against the audio before quotation or publication.

[00:00:30] We're going to welcome everyone to Byron Gray School of Ministry today.
[00:00:35] This is leadership.
[00:00:36] We're going to cover today the topic of fasting.
[00:00:40] So I've entitled this understanding fasting.
[00:00:44] So students, we do have some students in here with us today.
[00:00:49] And so you can take your Bibles or however you're going to do this, but we got a lot
[00:00:53] of scriptures to go through today.
[00:00:56] So we're going to start on the subject of fasting.
[00:00:59] We are not in the book of Job.
[00:01:02] Now, the reason I felt it was important to go back to the book of Job is because most
[00:01:08] Bible scholars believe that Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible, that it probably
[00:01:13] predates even the writings of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.
[00:01:21] And so it's very important that we get ahold of that.
[00:01:24] Now we're going to read something here because we know Job was in the midst of a trial.
[00:01:29] Job was allowing him to be tested.
[00:01:32] Satan, God allowed Satan to attack his family, his children, his income, his livestock, everything,
[00:01:41] and then even his health.
[00:01:43] And he couldn't understand it because Job was a righteous man.
[00:01:48] He loved the Lord with all of his heart.
[00:01:50] He feared the Lord.
[00:01:53] He was a godly man.
[00:01:54] He was one of the most godly men ever.
[00:01:56] In fact, God mentions him through other prophets, saying Job and Daniel were special people.
[00:02:06] So Job was very special, but he's in the midst of this trial.
[00:02:10] And I think God allowed it because, you know, he's going to allow us to go through difficult
[00:02:15] times, satanic attacks, friends not understanding what we're going through or where we are
[00:02:23] or what we're learning or what God is trying to teach us.
[00:02:26] And so, anyway, this is just a very important passage.
[00:02:30] Let's read Job.
[00:02:31] This is Job 23, and we're just going to read 8 through 14.
[00:02:34] You can read the whole chapter as you so desire, but I figured here was a good place to start.
[00:02:40] Verse 8.
[00:02:41] So Job 23 verse 8, Behold, I go forward, but he is not there and backward, but I cannot
[00:02:48] perceive him.
[00:02:50] On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself
[00:02:55] on the right hand that I cannot see him.
[00:02:57] Boy, how many Christians feel like this sometimes?
[00:03:01] I'm seeking the Lord, but I can't seem to find him.
[00:03:04] He seems so far away.
[00:03:06] You know, we love the times when we feel his presence and he feels close and we feel that
[00:03:10] peace, his peace, his joy, his strength.
[00:03:14] But there are times that God will hide himself or make himself where we don't perceive him.
[00:03:20] And so Job was saying in the midst of this trial, not only am I being attacked on every
[00:03:25] side, not only am I going through all this, but I can't seem to find the Lord in all of
[00:03:30] this.
[00:03:31] And so this is when we walk by faith and not by sight.
[00:03:34] But he goes on to say this, he said, though I can't perceive him, I can't feel him and
[00:03:39] all this stuff.
[00:03:40] Verse 10, he says, but he knoweth the way that I take.
[00:03:45] So he says the Lord knows that I'm going to follow him.
[00:03:48] And when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
[00:03:52] My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined.
[00:03:58] Now listen to this.
[00:03:59] Verse 12.
[00:04:00] Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.
[00:04:03] I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
[00:04:09] Now, this is something I want you to really get a hold of, is that it's obvious that
[00:04:15] Job, going way, way back, understood the principle of fasting.
[00:04:22] And fasting is really one of the first principles you need to get in it is Job
[00:04:26] talks about I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
[00:04:31] When you love God and you love his word, I'm going to tell you, you should find
[00:04:36] times that you're praying or studying or seeking him and that his word and his presence
[00:04:45] and his revelation and that process of seeking him becomes more important to you
[00:04:49] than even eating.
[00:04:50] I know that there have been times where I've been studying all day seeking God
[00:04:55] and it wasn't that I was trying to fast not eat, but it was just that his word
[00:05:01] and time with him, I just got lost in it and realized, you know, after a whole
[00:05:06] day had passed, I wonder why I was feeling kind of hungry.
[00:05:10] And then all of a sudden I realized I haven't eaten all day.
[00:05:15] I think Job is sharing that, but I think he's also sharing how that there should
[00:05:20] be seasons that seeking him, seeking his word, seeking time with him and seeking
[00:05:26] to know him better should become more important to us than our regular schedule
[00:05:33] of three meals a day and snacks in between, right?
[00:05:37] Living, you know, again, we live, so sometimes I get tired of having to eat.
[00:05:44] You know, sometimes it's like, Lord, why didn't you make us where we have to eat
[00:05:46] so often, you know, I get like, you know, the body gets tired, it gets hungry,
[00:05:52] it gets feeling weak and weird.
[00:05:53] It's like, I got to go eat something.
[00:05:55] You know, I mean, so we live around that.
[00:05:57] So fasting is really, really the main purpose is breaking free from
[00:06:05] constantly having to take care of the needs of the flesh and our regular
[00:06:11] routine and really that interruption.
[00:06:13] And that's what Job is really expressing here.
[00:06:16] He's like, I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
[00:06:22] But anyway, I bring this up because it's very important to know that for somehow,
[00:06:26] even though we don't have much revelation on it,
[00:06:31] even in Genesis and other places, it's obvious that God
[00:06:36] maybe through Adam and Eve, maybe through Enoch,
[00:06:41] maybe through Methuselah, maybe through Noah.
[00:06:44] But it's pretty obvious that going way, way back,
[00:06:48] they understood how important it was to fast and to seek God
[00:06:54] with seasons of not just prayer, but also fasting,
[00:06:57] especially in times of trial or crisis or attack
[00:07:03] when you're under attack, spiritual warfare.
[00:07:06] But anyway, let's continue here.
[00:07:08] So just showing you some of these things,
[00:07:11] going back into the Old Testament, just pulled up,
[00:07:13] you know, typed in, fasted, just the word.
[00:07:16] And you see going all the way back to the days of the judges.
[00:07:19] It says here, then all the children of Israel,
[00:07:22] this is Judges 2026,
[00:07:23] then all the children of Israel and all the people
[00:07:25] went up and came into the house of God and wept
[00:07:29] and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until even
[00:07:34] and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
[00:07:36] before the Lord.
[00:07:38] So again, this was a season of them being in trouble.
[00:07:41] And what did they do?
[00:07:42] They came seeking the Lord with fasting.
[00:07:45] That's all the way back in the book of Judges.
[00:07:46] Then in the book of Samuel, they gathered together
[00:07:49] to Mitzvah and they drew water and poured it out
[00:07:51] before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there,
[00:07:55] we have sinned against the Lord.
[00:07:56] And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mitzvah.
[00:07:59] So fasting was connected to repentance
[00:08:03] and humbling yourself and admitting where you've sinned
[00:08:06] or you've made a mistake or maybe you've just become fleshly.
[00:08:11] So fasting is connected with actually humbling yourself
[00:08:14] and dealing with sin, dealing with the sins of the flesh.
[00:08:22] Samuel 31, 13 here, they took their bones
[00:08:24] and buried them under a tree and Jabesh and fasted seven days.
[00:08:28] This is when Saul and Jonathan died
[00:08:31] and they fasted and mourned because they understood
[00:08:34] that there was the judgment of God was taking place
[00:08:38] and it wasn't good.
[00:08:40] So they fasted.
[00:08:41] So fasting is connected with mourning.
[00:08:44] It's connected with repentance, humbling yourself,
[00:08:47] chastening yourself before God.
[00:08:51] Here's a few more verses.
[00:08:52] You go into the Kings and it came to pass.
[00:08:56] This is 1 Kings 21, 27.
[00:08:58] It came to pass when Ahab heard those words
[00:09:00] that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh
[00:09:03] and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly.
[00:09:06] These were words of judgment that came to him from Elijah,
[00:09:08] the prophet Elijah.
[00:09:10] And even the wicked King Ahab humbled himself
[00:09:15] and fasted and sought God's mercy
[00:09:17] and God had mercy on him.
[00:09:19] If you read this story, you'll say God had mercy
[00:09:21] and delayed his wrath and judgment upon Ahab,
[00:09:24] he said, because Ahab humbled himself with fasting.
[00:09:30] I say this about fasting.
[00:09:31] Fasting is a way to demonstrate your faith
[00:09:36] in the fact that you need to deal with your flesh, okay?
[00:09:41] That you need to stop and recognize, wait a minute,
[00:09:46] I've been getting a little too,
[00:09:50] so for some people it may be sin, sinful things,
[00:09:54] or some people it just might be just fleshly things
[00:09:57] that are maybe not so much sin,
[00:09:58] but they're just distractions.
[00:10:00] And sometimes we just neglect the Lord
[00:10:04] because of distractions.
[00:10:06] But anyway, fasting is a good way to do that.
[00:10:10] Of course Ezra, when they were seeking God's wisdom
[00:10:12] and direction and his help in the midst of all of that
[00:10:15] going on and rebuilding the temple
[00:10:17] and returning from Babylonian captivity
[00:10:20] and all the challenges that they face
[00:10:21] being surrounded by enemies and internal problems,
[00:10:25] that's what Ezra says, 823.
[00:10:27] So we fasted and besought our God for this,
[00:10:30] and he was entreated of us, meaning that as a group,
[00:10:34] and let me just say this too,
[00:10:35] there's public fasting where God's people
[00:10:39] are called collectively to fast together by leaders.
[00:10:44] That fast, there's no way to hide the fact
[00:10:47] you're fasting there, everybody knows you're fasting.
[00:10:49] And then Jesus talked about when you fast,
[00:10:51] about hiding yourself and not making it known,
[00:10:54] that's private when you're doing it privately.
[00:10:58] You can't hide it if you're doing it with a group, right?
[00:11:01] But anyway, I notice it says we fasted and besought God
[00:11:04] and he was entreated of us, so they received their answer.
[00:11:08] God intervened for them, but it was fasting and prayer.
[00:11:13] So this is in the book of Ezra.
[00:11:14] Nehemiah, when he heard that Jerusalem
[00:11:16] was still in ruin and desolation,
[00:11:19] it says, and it came to pass when I heard these words,
[00:11:22] that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days,
[00:11:26] plural, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
[00:11:29] And then God moved and had the king ask him,
[00:11:32] why are you sat?
[00:11:34] And the door opened up for Nehemiah
[00:11:38] to tell him what was on his heart
[00:11:40] and provision came forth and the king made the decree
[00:11:43] and Nehemiah was able to come back with a blank check
[00:11:47] and all the supplies he needed
[00:11:49] and start rebuilding Jerusalem,
[00:11:50] rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
[00:11:53] So fasting and prayer gives you favor.
[00:11:58] God moves through that over and over and over again.
[00:12:03] The book of Joel, we're still back in the Old Testament.
[00:12:07] And again, it seems like the people in the Old Testament,
[00:12:12] the Old Testament people of God,
[00:12:16] and even the wicked, some of the wicked understood
[00:12:19] the importance of fasting and seeking God.
[00:12:25] You think about Jonah, you think about the Ninevites fasting.
[00:12:28] I mean, did Jonah go?
[00:12:30] The prophet tell them, y'all need to fast.
[00:12:32] Maybe God will forgive you.
[00:12:33] No, there was none of that.
[00:12:35] You know, 40 days in the Ninevites destroyed
[00:12:37] and the wicked Ninevites fasted.
[00:12:40] They wouldn't even let the animals eat for three days.
[00:12:43] So it's obvious that they understood
[00:12:46] if you wanna humble yourself before God
[00:12:48] and you wanna really show God
[00:12:51] that you're serious, fasting's part of that.
[00:12:55] It's not everything.
[00:12:56] There's a lot of people that fast
[00:12:57] and a lot of religions that fast,
[00:12:58] but they're not seeking God correctly.
[00:13:02] But Joel 2, 12 through 18 says here,
[00:13:06] and this is an instruction that he gave
[00:13:08] the children of Israel.
[00:13:09] Therefore also now sayeth the Lord,
[00:13:11] turn ye even to me with all your heart
[00:13:15] and with fasting and with weeping
[00:13:18] and with mourning.
[00:13:19] So this is a command.
[00:13:21] This is not a suggestion.
[00:13:23] It's like you see and if you go back and you read Joel,
[00:13:27] he said you guys are under judgment.
[00:13:28] The cankerworm, the locust,
[00:13:31] these things have come in and destroyed things
[00:13:33] and you wanna know what's going on.
[00:13:34] Here's what you need to do.
[00:13:36] Seek the Lord, turn even to me with all of your heart
[00:13:40] and with fasting and weeping and with mourning
[00:13:44] and rend your heart and not your garments
[00:13:46] and turn unto the Lord your God
[00:13:48] for he is gracious and merciful,
[00:13:50] slow to anger and of great kindness
[00:13:52] and repenteth him of the evil.
[00:13:54] Now this is the King James way of saying,
[00:13:55] get him to turn away from the evil
[00:13:58] that he's already determined to do.
[00:14:00] The judgment, the wrath, the punishment,
[00:14:01] the correction, the chastening.
[00:14:05] He's saying if you'll do this,
[00:14:06] you might get him to not do what he's about to do, right?
[00:14:11] Pretty serious.
[00:14:13] He says, who knoweth if he will return to repent?
[00:14:16] Now, I wanna add this right here
[00:14:18] and I'm gonna show you this more in a minute.
[00:14:20] Fasting is not a way to manipulate God.
[00:14:22] It's not like, well, I'm gonna fast
[00:14:24] and God will definitely do this.
[00:14:26] That's why he says maybe.
[00:14:29] He's basically saying maybe his.
[00:14:30] He says, who knoweth if he will return and repent?
[00:14:35] Fasting is not about manipulating God.
[00:14:37] It's about you humbling yourself.
[00:14:39] The rest is God's decision
[00:14:42] and he knows whether it's real or not.
[00:14:45] And sometimes he says no.
[00:14:48] And the judgment and the chastening
[00:14:51] and the correction continues regardless of your fasting.
[00:14:55] But then he's gonna find out,
[00:14:57] are you going to continue to stay humble and seek him
[00:15:02] in spite of the correction, the chastening,
[00:15:04] the rebuke, the trial continuing.
[00:15:07] But anyway, he says, who knoweth if he will return
[00:15:10] to repent and leave a blessing behind him,
[00:15:12] even a meat offering and a drink offering
[00:15:14] unto the Lord your God.
[00:15:15] Blow ye the trumpet in Zion.
[00:15:18] Sanctify a fast.
[00:15:20] Call a solemn assembly.
[00:15:22] Gather the people.
[00:15:23] Sanctify the congregation.
[00:15:25] Assemble the elders.
[00:15:26] Gather the children and those that suck the breast.
[00:15:28] Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber
[00:15:30] and the bride out of her closet.
[00:15:32] Let the priest and the ministers of the Lord
[00:15:34] weep between the porch of the altar
[00:15:36] and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord.
[00:15:39] And give not thine heritage to reproach
[00:15:41] that the heathen should rule over them.
[00:15:44] Wherefore should they say among the people,
[00:15:46] where is their God?
[00:15:48] Then, have we learned what then means?
[00:15:51] My students should be.
[00:15:52] After that, after you've really done this,
[00:15:58] then will the Lord be jealous for his land
[00:16:00] and pity his people.
[00:16:02] So God says when you're, when we're in trouble,
[00:16:04] listen, when we're in trouble, nine times out of 10,
[00:16:08] when we're in trouble, it's because of our own doings.
[00:16:13] Right?
[00:16:14] We get our own selves in a mess.
[00:16:17] The church does this collectively.
[00:16:18] Israel did it collectively as well.
[00:16:21] They would get themselves in trouble.
[00:16:22] They would sin.
[00:16:23] They would get into idolatry.
[00:16:25] They would get away from God.
[00:16:27] And then God would allow enemies to come in,
[00:16:29] other nations to come in.
[00:16:31] And basically, they would open a doorway
[00:16:33] for the enemy to attack them.
[00:16:35] And the Lord would say, look,
[00:16:37] you wanna know how to fix this?
[00:16:40] Seek me with all your heart,
[00:16:41] with prayer, with fasting, with mourning, with weeping.
[00:16:46] Let your priests, let your leaders intercede.
[00:16:48] Call the people together.
[00:16:50] All men, women and children sanctify fast.
[00:16:55] Everybody fast and seek the Lord.
[00:16:58] Maybe he will turn this evil away from us.
[00:17:02] Maybe he will push the enemy back.
[00:17:03] Maybe he will have mercy on us and pity us.
[00:17:08] That's why it's important.
[00:17:10] And it's obvious, again, it's obvious,
[00:17:12] this is going way back.
[00:17:13] I mean, this is around 75800 BC.
[00:17:17] They understood the principle of fasting, how important.
[00:17:23] Matthew 6, this is where Jesus mentioned fasting,
[00:17:28] one of those places.
[00:17:29] And I just wanted to point out,
[00:17:30] let's read this right here, Matthew 6, 16 through 21.
[00:17:35] He says, moreover, when you fast.
[00:17:37] Now, let me just put that,
[00:17:39] he didn't say if you fast.
[00:17:42] He'd say, well, you know,
[00:17:43] might be a good idea for you to do this once in a while.
[00:17:46] It's so obvious.
[00:17:48] And again, I didn't cover everything down
[00:17:49] through the Old Testament.
[00:17:50] We're gonna go back and cover some of that.
[00:17:52] But the point is, is that the children of Israel,
[00:17:55] especially, they went to synagogue regularly
[00:17:59] and they went through the Old Testament.
[00:18:01] They would understand the importance of fasting.
[00:18:03] So when Jesus says this here,
[00:18:05] he's trying to deal with hypocritical fasting
[00:18:08] and religious pretension, which the Pharisees were into.
[00:18:12] But just the fact that he says, when you fast.
[00:18:15] I've heard Christians actually say,
[00:18:17] well, Christians, now that we're saved,
[00:18:19] now that we're born again and we have Jesus living in us,
[00:18:22] we don't need to fast.
[00:18:25] It's not what Jesus taught.
[00:18:26] Jesus said, when you do this, right?
[00:18:28] So not if.
[00:18:30] He said, moreover, when you fast,
[00:18:32] be not as the hypocrites.
[00:18:34] What's a hypocrite?
[00:18:34] Someone who pretends to be something
[00:18:36] that they're really not.
[00:18:38] He says, don't be as the hypocrites
[00:18:39] of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces
[00:18:42] that they may appear and amend to fast.
[00:18:44] Rarely I send you, they have their reward,
[00:18:46] but when thou fastest, anoint thine head
[00:18:49] and wash thy face, that thou appear not undomend to fast,
[00:18:52] but unto thy father, which is in secret
[00:18:54] and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
[00:18:58] Now, before we read the rest of this,
[00:19:01] I just want to say that we shouldn't ever
[00:19:05] be wanting to make a show, an outward show of our fasting.
[00:19:08] Again, there's sometimes, especially when you live
[00:19:11] with people or you're around people
[00:19:13] like our church and students,
[00:19:17] we always love going out to eat, right?
[00:19:19] So it's kind of hard to hide it.
[00:19:22] It's not about that you've got to be able somehow
[00:19:24] to be a super spy and not let anybody know
[00:19:29] that you're fasting.
[00:19:31] It's just, don't make it a show.
[00:19:33] It should never be the purpose I want people
[00:19:36] to see that I am spiritual.
[00:19:40] See me fasting.
[00:19:42] If that becomes the motive, then he says,
[00:19:47] what does the Lord say?
[00:19:48] Then you got your reward.
[00:19:51] If that's what you're looking at,
[00:19:52] wanting people to think you're spiritual or super spiritual,
[00:19:56] then that's your reward.
[00:19:58] Let me tell you, that's not the reward I want from fasting.
[00:20:01] Right?
[00:20:03] And that's why, and I think it's interesting here
[00:20:05] where Jesus is talking about fasting and prayer
[00:20:08] in Matthew 6 here.
[00:20:10] He says in verse 19,
[00:20:14] lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth
[00:20:17] where moth and rust doth corrupt
[00:20:19] and where thieves break through and steal,
[00:20:22] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
[00:20:24] where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt
[00:20:26] and where thieves do not break through and steal
[00:20:28] for where your treasure is,
[00:20:30] there your heart will be also.
[00:20:32] Can I say this?
[00:20:33] I think in the context, and this is just me,
[00:20:35] but I think in the context of this chapter
[00:20:38] where Jesus is taught on the outline of how to pray,
[00:20:41] the Lord's Prayer, then he's taught on prayer
[00:20:44] and then he teaches on fasting.
[00:20:47] And then he says,
[00:20:48] don't lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth.
[00:20:50] I think he's talking about prayer and fasting.
[00:20:53] Seeking God is laying up treasures in heaven.
[00:20:56] You are storing up in heaven.
[00:20:59] And let me just say this,
[00:21:00] the things that you're gonna need,
[00:21:03] because what happens is God provides for you later on
[00:21:08] out of seasons, like say for instance,
[00:21:10] you have seasons of maybe a lot of prayer
[00:21:14] and a lot of fasting
[00:21:16] and you're storing up those treasures in heaven.
[00:21:18] Let me tell you later on when you need stuff,
[00:21:21] when you need favor or God's intervention or whatever,
[00:21:26] that's where it's gonna come out of that storehouse.
[00:21:30] I'll give you for instance,
[00:21:32] Jesus fasted 40 days before he started his ministry.
[00:21:35] We're gonna get into that.
[00:21:36] Nobody should fast 40 days.
[00:21:39] We'll get into that in a minute.
[00:21:40] But he fasted 40 days, that was a special thing.
[00:21:45] But you don't see him doing that again
[00:21:48] in his ministry time.
[00:21:50] In fact, he was accused of being a glutton
[00:21:54] because they didn't see him fasting all the time.
[00:21:57] Well, Jesus basically did his fasting
[00:21:59] before he started his ministry.
[00:22:01] And that 40 day period, he stored up the treasures
[00:22:04] he needed to do his ministry.
[00:22:05] And I saw this many years ago.
[00:22:08] There was a time that I went through where, okay,
[00:22:11] when I was younger and say I wasn't pastoring a church,
[00:22:15] I wasn't even a youth pastor at the time,
[00:22:17] but I was seeking God
[00:22:19] and I was spending entire days in prayer.
[00:22:22] I was spending many, many, many days.
[00:22:26] Like I fasted 21 days.
[00:22:28] We're gonna talk about that.
[00:22:29] That's the longest I ever fasted.
[00:22:30] No food, 21 days.
[00:22:33] And I think that's about the limit.
[00:22:35] Anybody should go and I'll explain that to you
[00:22:37] why in a minute.
[00:22:39] But during that time period,
[00:22:40] sometimes I'd fast three days,
[00:22:42] sometimes I'd fast five days,
[00:22:43] sometimes I'd fast seven days.
[00:22:45] But I went through like a two or three year period
[00:22:48] where I did a lot of prayer and intercession
[00:22:52] and spiritual warfare and fasting.
[00:22:54] And I wanna tell you, I can look back on that.
[00:22:56] And when I came out of that time,
[00:22:58] oh man, people were getting saved all.
[00:23:01] I mean, the power of God was flowing.
[00:23:04] That's when I saw the deaf woman healed,
[00:23:07] the crippled woman walk.
[00:23:08] I mean, it was like for a number of years,
[00:23:12] I knew just, I just knew from the Holy Spirit
[00:23:15] that I was kind of living off of that time period.
[00:23:20] Not that I wasn't still praying
[00:23:21] and fasting every so often,
[00:23:23] but that was a special time.
[00:23:25] And it was like I had stored up some stuff in heaven.
[00:23:29] And as time went on, it was,
[00:23:35] stuff was coming, power of God
[00:23:36] was coming out of that storehouse.
[00:23:39] So I think that that's what the Lord's talking about.
[00:23:43] And you wanna think about your,
[00:23:44] kind of like a bank account.
[00:23:45] What have you deposited?
[00:23:47] What have you saved?
[00:23:50] You need to have something in your bank account
[00:23:52] because you're gonna run into a time maybe
[00:23:55] where you're not able to fast and pray,
[00:23:57] or you're in a crisis and you're gonna need,
[00:24:00] or you're gonna run into somebody who has a tremendous need
[00:24:03] and you're not gonna be able to say,
[00:24:04] well, hold on, I can't cast the demons out of you
[00:24:06] because I haven't had a season of fasting.
[00:24:09] You're gonna have to be prepared.
[00:24:11] So I would say this, that if you,
[00:24:15] there's a lot of people,
[00:24:16] okay, there's a lot of people like students.
[00:24:19] You got a hunger and a desire to do the ministry,
[00:24:23] to be in full-time ministry.
[00:24:24] Let me just tell you something.
[00:24:26] It's not all it's cracked up to be.
[00:24:29] Let me tell you the most important thing you can do
[00:24:31] when you don't have a bunch of speaking engagements
[00:24:33] or you're not pastoring a church
[00:24:34] or you're not leading a Bible study.
[00:24:37] You need to count those times as special
[00:24:40] as the times that you're doing public ministry
[00:24:42] because that's really the time you need to be
[00:24:45] spending extended seasons in fasting and prayer.
[00:24:48] That's really what prepares you for the ministry
[00:24:51] and for public ministry.
[00:24:53] Because let me just say this,
[00:24:55] public ministry actually can't,
[00:25:00] it will deplete you of your spiritual strength,
[00:25:03] power, virtue, whatever you wanna call it, very quickly.
[00:25:07] All right?
[00:25:09] I remember when, let me just put it this way.
[00:25:10] I remember when I was a young man,
[00:25:12] I thought I wanted to preach all the time.
[00:25:15] I thought, and then I started going to Brownsville revival
[00:25:18] and I'd see Steve Hill preaching six days a week
[00:25:21] or five days a week and I'd be like,
[00:25:22] I wanna do that, I wanna preach every day.
[00:25:25] Let me tell you, be careful what you wish for, right?
[00:25:29] I realize, I look back on that and I go, wow,
[00:25:31] how on earth did he do that?
[00:25:36] The man would get up at five or six in the morning,
[00:25:39] pray, seek God, prepare his message for that night,
[00:25:45] have counseling and ministry
[00:25:47] and sometimes preach during the day,
[00:25:49] then go to the service, the revival service,
[00:25:52] preach that night, the service would go from seven o'clock,
[00:25:55] sometimes to two in the morning
[00:25:57] because then when he finished preaching in altar calls,
[00:25:59] he would pray for thousands of people.
[00:26:01] He said they would leave the revival
[00:26:03] at two or three in the morning,
[00:26:05] knowing he's gonna be getting up
[00:26:07] at five or six in the morning
[00:26:08] and then saying to the staff
[00:26:10] and the other ministers on staff, see you today.
[00:26:15] That was never see you tomorrow,
[00:26:17] see you a little way later today, right?
[00:26:20] And they did that for five years.
[00:26:24] You know, that was the grace and power of God
[00:26:29] enabling them to do that.
[00:26:30] And some people think, oh, I could do that,
[00:26:33] though you better be careful
[00:26:35] because I know Steve Hill spent many years,
[00:26:40] he spent years in David Wilkerson's ministry school,
[00:26:43] he learned about prayer and fasting from Leonard Ravenhill
[00:26:46] and then he spent many years serving down in Argentina.
[00:26:52] And what I'm saying is he can just jump out of,
[00:26:56] you know, I'm saved, I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit
[00:26:58] and I'm spending a year in ministry school
[00:27:00] and I'm gonna preach every day
[00:27:02] or I'm gonna pray for people every day.
[00:27:03] No, you have to have stored up something
[00:27:06] in the season of fasting and prayer.
[00:27:08] I got to tell this,
[00:27:09] I'll tell this little story I've told it before,
[00:27:11] but it's true because, you know,
[00:27:15] the Lord, I wanted to go in those early years
[00:27:18] when I came back in 1987
[00:27:20] and I came back here from Arkansas.
[00:27:22] You know, and I've told the story
[00:27:23] how I led my best friend Craig to Jesus and Billy
[00:27:26] and of course led my brother Allen and other people
[00:27:29] and led them to the Lord,
[00:27:30] led them to the baptism of the Holy Spirit
[00:27:32] and the gifts of the Holy Spirit
[00:27:33] and we would have Bible studies
[00:27:35] and we would have prayer meetings
[00:27:38] and we would go out and I'd take them out on the streets,
[00:27:41] I'd take them to the mall
[00:27:42] and out witnessing and stuff.
[00:27:43] Many of them, their first time
[00:27:44] I ever out preaching on the street
[00:27:46] and talking to people, I took them.
[00:27:49] And then the Lord sent me back to Arkansas
[00:27:51] and Oklahoma for a season.
[00:27:54] And then my friends, Craig and Billy
[00:27:58] and even my brother Allen felt like
[00:28:00] they were supposed to go to Bible school.
[00:28:02] So they ended up going to Southeastern,
[00:28:06] the assemblies, one of the assemblies of God's school,
[00:28:08] Southeastern Seminary down in Florida.
[00:28:11] I can't remember where it is in Florida.
[00:28:13] But anyway, they went down there
[00:28:14] and so there was like a,
[00:28:16] I don't know, there was probably like six months or so
[00:28:18] or longer or it may have even been about a year.
[00:28:21] I didn't really see them
[00:28:22] because they were in Florida and I'm here in Alabama
[00:28:24] and the Lord told me you're not going to Bible schools
[00:28:26] because the Lord told me earlier on,
[00:28:28] I'm teaching you my way.
[00:28:29] I'm not, you're not gonna learn from them.
[00:28:31] And so it's funny, so we,
[00:28:33] long story short, they come home from,
[00:28:36] you know, I guess on summer break or whatever
[00:28:39] and we get together again
[00:28:41] and me and Craig are hanging out
[00:28:42] and Craig, and again, I remember Craig was like
[00:28:44] my best friend from elementary school.
[00:28:46] And so he's been sitting in Bible school
[00:28:50] and really a worldly Bible school.
[00:28:52] But what have I been doing the whole time he's been gone?
[00:28:55] Fasting and praying, spending days and days and days
[00:28:58] and fasting and praying
[00:29:00] and doing spiritual warfare and going out on the street.
[00:29:03] So it wasn't that, you know,
[00:29:05] I was trying to be super spiritual or anything
[00:29:07] but this was hilarious.
[00:29:09] So we meet and we pray at his house.
[00:29:13] We were met and pray together
[00:29:15] and we were gonna go out and talk.
[00:29:16] I think we're gonna go out witnessing.
[00:29:18] So we're praying and in the prayer time,
[00:29:21] I started binding the principalities and powers
[00:29:24] over Auburn and Opelika here.
[00:29:26] And I had become well acquainted with them,
[00:29:29] fighting them, right?
[00:29:31] And so I started binding them in Jesus name.
[00:29:34] So he decided he was going to join in
[00:29:36] and bind them as well.
[00:29:37] Now this is his testimony, not mine.
[00:29:41] He said that as he started binding them,
[00:29:44] he saw them.
[00:29:45] God gave him a vision.
[00:29:46] Let him see these two,
[00:29:48] the one over the main principality over Auburn
[00:29:51] and the one over Opelika.
[00:29:53] And Craig's binding them in Jesus name.
[00:29:56] And he said, this is Craig's word.
[00:29:58] He said, they looked at him and they said,
[00:30:03] who are you?
[00:30:05] And then he said, they pointed at me and said,
[00:30:07] him we know, we don't know you.
[00:30:12] And he was like, it shook him.
[00:30:16] And I realized that the reason they knew me
[00:30:20] is because I'd been spending time in fasting and prayer,
[00:30:23] not playing around at Bible school,
[00:30:27] you know, playing basketball and chasing girls.
[00:30:31] Okay.
[00:30:31] And listening to professors teach false doctrine.
[00:30:34] So there was a difference.
[00:30:35] It wasn't that we, I was better than him.
[00:30:37] We had just been doing different things.
[00:30:39] We'd been storing up different things.
[00:30:41] And my authority in the spirit realm against the enemy
[00:30:44] had been growing because of fasting and prayer
[00:30:48] and enduring their attacks.
[00:30:50] I hadn't been goofing off.
[00:30:53] You know what I'm saying?
[00:30:54] I mean, cause Craig went down there and played,
[00:30:56] I mean, he played basketball for the college,
[00:30:58] for the team and not saying any of that's wrong.
[00:31:01] It's just, we were focused on different things.
[00:31:05] All right.
[00:31:06] And when you, what you put in your bank accounts,
[00:31:09] what you get out, you put in marbles,
[00:31:11] you get marbles, you put in money, you get money, right?
[00:31:15] All right, let's keep going here.
[00:31:17] I probably spent too much time on that,
[00:31:20] but it's a good point.
[00:31:21] The word fasting in the old Testament is,
[00:31:26] let's see if I could say this right.
[00:31:28] Basically it's som, I guess, something like that.
[00:31:31] But it means to abstain from food, to cover the mouth.
[00:31:39] Let me ask you something.
[00:31:40] If you cover your mouth, can you put food in it?
[00:31:44] Let me tell you something.
[00:31:46] There are no fasts where you still eat, okay?
[00:31:51] That's like an Obama-ism or a Clinton-ism, right?
[00:31:55] Fasting means you don't eat food, all right?
[00:32:01] I mean, it's really wild.
[00:32:02] It's just, people make up stuff.
[00:32:04] And we're gonna talk about the so-called Daniel fast
[00:32:07] in a minute.
[00:32:09] But fasting means you don't eat.
[00:32:12] You abstain.
[00:32:14] And last time I checked, the word abstain means
[00:32:17] to refrain from something, to not do something.
[00:32:22] So, of course, the outline of biblical usage here
[00:32:25] says to abstain from food, to cover the mouth, to fast.
[00:32:32] And this right here, it says,
[00:32:33] the Jacinius Hebrew Cal D lexicon says,
[00:32:37] the primary idea lies in the mouth being shut.
[00:32:40] I like that.
[00:32:43] Not open stuffing it and chewing, even if it's carrots.
[00:32:48] All right, let's keep going.
[00:32:51] Here is the Greek word for fasting or fast, nes-tia.
[00:32:58] Abstinence from lack of food, voluntary or religious.
[00:33:03] Notice that the outline, it means to basically not eat.
[00:33:08] All right, abstinence from food, the Thayer says.
[00:33:14] I love that, it's pretty clear, definition, right?
[00:33:18] Even Google understands what fasting is.
[00:33:22] Abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink,
[00:33:25] especially as religious observance.
[00:33:27] Of course, they had to throw that in or some kind.
[00:33:31] No, all, all food.
[00:33:34] Refrain from eating, it says, deny oneself food,
[00:33:37] go without food, go hungry, eat nothing.
[00:33:43] All right, but it means to abstain from food.
[00:33:46] Now, here's what Jesus said.
[00:33:47] Here's how they use the term fasting.
[00:33:50] This is Matthew 1532.
[00:33:52] Just so you know, they understood fasting
[00:33:54] mean to eat nothing, right?
[00:33:56] So then Jesus called his disciples and him and said,
[00:33:58] I have compassion on the multitude
[00:34:01] because they continued with me now three days
[00:34:04] and have nothing to eat.
[00:34:07] Somebody say nothing, nothing to eat.
[00:34:14] And he said, I will not send them away fasting.
[00:34:18] Oh, he related having nothing to eat as fasting.
[00:34:23] And Jesus didn't want them to faint in the way
[00:34:25] because they had been with him there for three days,
[00:34:29] listening to his teaching.
[00:34:31] And so that's when he fed the 5,000
[00:34:33] with the five loaves and the two fish.
[00:34:35] Here's another place where Paul was on the ship.
[00:34:39] And, you know, they'd been in a storm,
[00:34:42] basically a hurricane, typhoon, and it'd been pretty bad.
[00:34:46] And they were just trying to survive.
[00:34:48] And so they had not been trying to fast on purpose,
[00:34:51] but they've been 14 days without eating.
[00:34:54] But notice what Paul says here.
[00:34:55] And while the day was coming on,
[00:34:57] Paul besought them all to take meat,
[00:34:59] saying this is the 14th day
[00:35:02] that you have tarried and continued fasting,
[00:35:06] having taken nothing.
[00:35:08] 14 days, they didn't eat anything
[00:35:10] because they were just trying to keep the ship
[00:35:12] from breaking apart.
[00:35:13] They were trying to survive.
[00:35:15] So pretty serious there.
[00:35:18] But notice again that eating nothing,
[00:35:21] taking nothing is defined in the Bible
[00:35:27] by Paul here as fasting.
[00:35:30] I think fasting is related to the not eating food.
[00:35:35] It's because the first sin of mankind
[00:35:40] was eating something that was forbidden.
[00:35:43] It had to do with food.
[00:35:45] It had to do with sticking something in their mouth
[00:35:46] that they didn't need to eat,
[00:35:48] that God told them not to eat.
[00:35:50] So it's interesting, fasting is when you choose
[00:35:53] not to eat what you are allowed to eat.
[00:35:56] It is the opposite.
[00:35:58] So whenever you're fast,
[00:35:59] really you should realize you're reversing
[00:36:03] what happened in the Garden of Eden.
[00:36:05] You're doing the opposite.
[00:36:06] You're reversing that.
[00:36:10] Of course, we know the story.
[00:36:12] When they ate of the fruit of the knowledge
[00:36:14] of the good and evil, Genesis three, one through five,
[00:36:16] I won't go through all that.
[00:36:17] But God said you can eat of every tree in the garden,
[00:36:20] but don't eat of this one.
[00:36:22] And so sin entered in by that disobedience
[00:36:26] of eating something.
[00:36:29] It's not the serpent, seed, it's not sex.
[00:36:33] How you turn this into sex, you gotta be a twisted mind.
[00:36:36] I don't mind saying that
[00:36:37] because somebody's messed up in the head, right?
[00:36:41] Mr. Zane Garcia being one of them.
[00:36:44] So eating that forbidden food in the Garden of Eden
[00:36:46] created the sin nature of the flesh.
[00:36:50] Now this is very important.
[00:36:51] Remember, there was no sin.
[00:36:53] Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were sinless creatures.
[00:36:56] They were perfect.
[00:36:58] They were in a perfect environment.
[00:37:00] Well, I guess somebody could argue that,
[00:37:02] but near perfect environment, right?
[00:37:05] As perfect as we will see until Jesus comes back,
[00:37:08] right, until we see heaven.
[00:37:11] But that's what created the sin nature.
[00:37:12] Now there are people that argue
[00:37:13] that human beings don't have a sin nature.
[00:37:19] Well, I guess they can argue it all they want to,
[00:37:21] but the Bible says it exists.
[00:37:24] I'm gonna show you some verses.
[00:37:25] We need to talk about this.
[00:37:28] The sin nature of the flesh,
[00:37:31] which means the evil desires of the flesh.
[00:37:33] Well, people say, well, now Eve decided to eat that
[00:37:38] because of the evil desires of her flesh,
[00:37:40] but not necessarily.
[00:37:42] It wasn't that she was evil or had sin in her at that point.
[00:37:46] She was just tricked into it.
[00:37:48] She was tricked into it.
[00:37:50] She was convinced that it was something good.
[00:37:53] Okay, so it was more of a trick.
[00:37:55] She was deceived.
[00:37:57] All right, it didn't have to do with her sin nature,
[00:38:01] but the moment they partake of it,
[00:38:03] it says here in this verse is Romans 5.19.
[00:38:07] And you can read the whole chapter.
[00:38:08] It goes into a lot of detail,
[00:38:10] but this verse kind of sums up the chapter when he says,
[00:38:14] for as by one man's disobedience,
[00:38:17] many were made sinners.
[00:38:19] So by the obedience of one,
[00:38:21] shall many be made righteous.
[00:38:23] So if because of Adam's sin,
[00:38:26] we all become sinners,
[00:38:28] then there had to be a sin nature created in Adam
[00:38:32] when he sinned and then passed on
[00:38:36] as we're all descendants of him.
[00:38:39] So for by as far as one man's obedience,
[00:38:42] many were made sinners.
[00:38:43] So by the obedience of one shall all be made righteous
[00:38:47] or notice he says many.
[00:38:50] Now that's important too,
[00:38:51] because you got the universal salvation people saying Jesus
[00:38:54] took on the sins of everyone.
[00:38:55] So everyone's gonna ultimately be saved
[00:38:57] whether they believe or not.
[00:38:58] That's a lie.
[00:38:59] That's a deception.
[00:39:00] Meaning the reason he says,
[00:39:02] because he says in a few verses there
[00:39:04] that the provision through Jesus' righteousness,
[00:39:08] his obedience in keeping the law perfectly
[00:39:11] and then dying as a sacrifice for our sins
[00:39:15] that all can be made righteous.
[00:39:18] It's available for all,
[00:39:19] but only many will be made righteous,
[00:39:22] meaning not all, okay?
[00:39:24] And that's important to point out.
[00:39:26] But this tells you that there's a sin nature
[00:39:28] that we inherit from Adam, all right?
[00:39:32] A fleshly nature.
[00:39:35] Romans tells us this,
[00:39:37] it's just a Romans six.
[00:39:39] And I wanna say this,
[00:39:40] the reason I'm bringing this up
[00:39:41] is because fasting is one of the tools
[00:39:45] and it's one of the main tools
[00:39:47] that's gonna help you keep the flesh
[00:39:51] and the sin nature of the flesh
[00:39:53] from reigning or ruling over you, dominating you.
[00:39:57] Now, you're not gonna get rid of it.
[00:39:58] We're gonna talk about that today.
[00:40:00] No one, nobody can say that I have not sinned
[00:40:05] or I never sin or ever will sin again.
[00:40:08] All that is nonsense, okay?
[00:40:11] But that sin should never have dominion rule over us
[00:40:15] and that's very important.
[00:40:16] So let's just read this.
[00:40:17] He says, now if we be dead with Christ,
[00:40:21] we believe that we shall also live with him,
[00:40:23] knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
[00:40:25] dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him,
[00:40:28] for in that he died, he died unto sin once,
[00:40:31] but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
[00:40:34] Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
[00:40:37] to be dead indeed to sin,
[00:40:38] but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:40:41] So first, reckon means to account something.
[00:40:45] So it means you believe Jesus paid the price for your sin,
[00:40:49] you couldn't pay the price for your sin.
[00:40:51] And so you reckon yourself dead to sin through Jesus,
[00:40:55] through what he did for you, okay?
[00:40:58] That you are dead to sin, you hate sin,
[00:41:00] you don't wanna live in sin,
[00:41:02] and you understand the price that it took
[00:41:05] to deal with the sin nature, all right?
[00:41:08] But then he adds this, he says in verse 12,
[00:41:11] let not sin, therefore reign, rule,
[00:41:16] dominate in your mortal body
[00:41:18] that you should obey it in the lust thereof,
[00:41:20] neither yield your members as instruments
[00:41:23] of unrighteousness unto sin,
[00:41:25] but yield yourselves unto God
[00:41:26] as those that are alive from the dead,
[00:41:28] and your members as instruments unto,
[00:41:32] of righteousness unto God.
[00:41:34] So he's saying here,
[00:41:36] don't let sin, the sin nature reign over you.
[00:41:40] Now, because we have Jesus in us,
[00:41:42] we do have his grace, his power, his strength,
[00:41:46] but why would he say if he's gonna just do it for us,
[00:41:50] why would he say let not, you, he's talking to us,
[00:41:55] let not sin, reign, or rule you?
[00:41:59] Because there's stuff we have to do.
[00:42:01] And the person who will not do
[00:42:05] the things that are going to subdue the flesh,
[00:42:09] i.e. prayer, fasting, Bible study,
[00:42:14] just flat staying away from places or people
[00:42:17] or situations that will tempt you
[00:42:20] if you won't do those things,
[00:42:22] then sin will reign, that's why he's saying
[00:42:24] you gotta not let it.
[00:42:26] You have Jesus, you have forgiveness,
[00:42:29] you have his spirit to help you,
[00:42:32] but you still have to choose
[00:42:34] because you're still gonna have to fight this thing,
[00:42:36] still in you, all right?
[00:42:38] And that's what we find out in Romans 7.
[00:42:40] The apostle Paul talked about this sin nature.
[00:42:43] Let's read it, Romans 7, 14 through 21 here.
[00:42:47] He says, for we know that the law,
[00:42:49] basically God's commands, God's righteous commands,
[00:42:54] is spiritual, but I am carnal,
[00:42:56] I am fleshly, sold under sin.
[00:42:59] Now this is a believer writing this.
[00:43:02] This is a born again, a Holy Spirit believer,
[00:43:04] and he's saying I'm still sold under sin,
[00:43:06] meaning I'm still have a problem.
[00:43:09] I'm still in a sinful body of Adam
[00:43:12] that hasn't been redeemed yet.
[00:43:14] He says, and then he complains.
[00:43:16] Here's Paul complaining, but he's admitting,
[00:43:18] for that which I do, I allow not.
[00:43:21] Basically he says, there's things I do,
[00:43:23] I tell others not to do, right?
[00:43:28] For what I would, that do I not?
[00:43:31] So there's things I wanna do, but I don't do them.
[00:43:34] How many times people say I wanna pray,
[00:43:35] but then they don't.
[00:43:39] But what I hate, that do I.
[00:43:42] If then I do that, which I would not,
[00:43:44] I consent unto the law that is good.
[00:43:46] So what he's saying is if I do things I shouldn't do,
[00:43:49] I consent to the law, meaning I admit that it's wrong.
[00:43:52] A lot of people won't even admit things are wrong anymore.
[00:43:56] But he said, basically he's saying there
[00:43:58] is I admit that the law of God is right,
[00:44:00] the word of God is right, his standard is right.
[00:44:03] And so if I do something that's wrong,
[00:44:06] I admit it, I consent to, I say admit the law is right,
[00:44:10] I'm wrong.
[00:44:12] And again, I'm talking about law in the context
[00:44:14] of New Covenant, New Testament law,
[00:44:15] not Old Covenant law.
[00:44:17] Now, now then it is no more I that do it,
[00:44:21] but sin that dwelleth in me.
[00:44:25] So he's talking about, I don't wanna do these things
[00:44:29] that I shouldn't do, but they're sin dwelling in me.
[00:44:32] So this is again the admission of the sin nature
[00:44:36] that Christians still live with every day, okay?
[00:44:41] He goes on to say, for I know that in me
[00:44:44] that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
[00:44:49] Oh my goodness.
[00:44:51] For to will is present with me,
[00:44:53] meaning I want to do what's right and holy and righteous
[00:44:57] and be obedient to God.
[00:44:59] But how to perform that always, what?
[00:45:03] But how to perform that which is good I find not.
[00:45:06] For the good that I would or that I want to do, I do not.
[00:45:11] But the evil which I would not that I do.
[00:45:14] Now if I do that that I would not is no more I that do it,
[00:45:19] but sin that dwelleth in me.
[00:45:20] I find then a law that when I would do good,
[00:45:23] evil is present with me.
[00:45:25] He is stuck, this battle is in you constantly.
[00:45:29] Fasting is one of the absolute necessary tools
[00:45:36] to help control the evil that dwells in your flesh.
[00:45:43] The flesh, your flesh.
[00:45:44] Listen, I don't care how spiritual, how righteous,
[00:45:47] how much you love God, how strong of a Christian you are,
[00:45:50] how holy spirit filled, how anointed you are,
[00:45:53] how gifted you are, all of us still have flesh.
[00:45:57] And that means according to this,
[00:45:58] we all still have sin that dwells in us.
[00:46:01] We all still have evil that dwells with us.
[00:46:04] We have something constantly warring against our minds
[00:46:10] that has nothing to do with the devil.
[00:46:12] We have a traitor called the flesh.
[00:46:17] The flesh, the sin nature.
[00:46:19] The devil simply and demons tap into that
[00:46:23] and they use that.
[00:46:24] They got an accomplice, right?
[00:46:28] They are at work constantly.
[00:46:31] And what does he say?
[00:46:33] He said, and usually this battles in the will,
[00:46:36] in the mind.
[00:46:39] He continues, Romans 7, 22 through 25,
[00:46:42] he says, for I delight in the law of God
[00:46:45] after the inward man.
[00:46:46] This can't be, again, I've heard people
[00:46:48] with all kind of excuses say,
[00:46:49] well, this is Paul talking before he was saved.
[00:46:53] But wicked people don't delight in the law of God.
[00:46:57] It's a burden to them.
[00:46:59] Obeying God, God's morality, God's standard,
[00:47:02] God's rules, all that's a burden to them.
[00:47:06] But Paul said, I delight in the law of God
[00:47:08] after the inward man.
[00:47:09] But listen to this, this verse right here.
[00:47:11] But I see another law in my members, my physical body
[00:47:16] warring against the law of my mind
[00:47:19] and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
[00:47:22] which is in my members.
[00:47:25] Sin is in your members.
[00:47:27] It's in your body.
[00:47:28] It wants to sin.
[00:47:30] It wants to fulfill its evil desires all the time.
[00:47:37] He said, oh, wretched man that I am,
[00:47:38] who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
[00:47:40] I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:47:43] Now, what he's saying is that it had not Jesus come
[00:47:47] and died for my sin.
[00:47:48] I would never be able.
[00:47:51] I would never be able to conquer this or overcome this
[00:47:54] or even get rid of it.
[00:47:56] There's no way I would be delivered
[00:47:58] from the body of this death, this sin nature.
[00:48:02] And then he says, but thank God Jesus came in the flesh,
[00:48:06] lived the sinless life and died in my place.
[00:48:11] Thank God for that, there's no hope.
[00:48:14] See, there's a lot of people out in the world
[00:48:15] think, well, I'll just be good person.
[00:48:18] Good luck with that, right?
[00:48:20] No one can be good.
[00:48:21] That's why he says there is none good, no, not one.
[00:48:24] Not even Christians, all Christians,
[00:48:25] oh, I'm good, no you're not.
[00:48:28] You might be a little gooder, as they say.
[00:48:32] So you might not be doing what you used to do fully
[00:48:35] and you shouldn't, but to say you are good
[00:48:39] compared to the only one who was truly good and perfect.
[00:48:44] No, there is none good, no, not one.
[00:48:47] We look to Jesus for our righteousness
[00:48:49] and then he adds this, he said,
[00:48:51] so then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God,
[00:48:58] but with the flesh, the law of sin.
[00:49:01] So he's saying in the mind, in the soul,
[00:49:03] I desire and I'm trying to serve God with all I can,
[00:49:06] but my body, my flesh is still trying to serve sin.
[00:49:09] This is the war that you are in.
[00:49:12] And if you don't become a person who regularly fast,
[00:49:17] if that's not incorporated into your walk with God,
[00:49:20] you're going to see the sin nature,
[00:49:23] the flesh sin nature gets stronger and stronger.
[00:49:28] This is just, and I've walked through this for 32 years now,
[00:49:32] I fully understand this.
[00:49:35] You let your guard down,
[00:49:38] you're not fasting and praying and staying in the word,
[00:49:42] you're feeding the flesh, other things,
[00:49:44] even distracting things.
[00:49:47] You will, you let your mind, the sinful,
[00:49:50] the carnal mind run wild, then guess what?
[00:49:54] You're going down and it's not a blaze of glory,
[00:49:58] it's a blaze of sin, you're going down.
[00:50:03] This war, you got to fight and you got to fight it
[00:50:06] with fasting, see?
[00:50:08] First John is real clear here.
[00:50:09] If we say, first John 1.8,
[00:50:12] if we say that we have no sin,
[00:50:13] we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
[00:50:17] So Paul was really admitting, yes, sin dwells in me,
[00:50:20] it dwells in my flesh.
[00:50:21] It's warring against the law of my mind constantly.
[00:50:25] I have to fight this, I have to let it not reign.
[00:50:29] Sin cannot reign, I will not let sin reign
[00:50:34] in my mortal body, I will not let it rule me.
[00:50:37] So many Christians don't get this.
[00:50:39] You know that that's why I've been so adamant
[00:50:41] over the years against the false doctrine
[00:50:42] of once saved, always saved,
[00:50:43] because once saved, always saved basically says,
[00:50:45] well, you're eternally secure no matter what
[00:50:48] and so what ends up happening is Christians
[00:50:51] begin to ease up and understanding this fight
[00:50:54] and they begin to just give into it,
[00:50:55] well, my sins washed away and God understands.
[00:50:59] No, you better reread.
[00:51:02] Let not sin reign, rule, dominate, control
[00:51:10] because you have a wicked evil traitor
[00:51:14] that you live with every day, your own flesh.
[00:51:20] So no one can walk around, we got people walking around
[00:51:22] and saying, I don't have a sin nature anymore
[00:51:24] because I'm born again.
[00:51:27] That's what Joseph Preach's preaches.
[00:51:30] He's one of the biggest false teachers out there.
[00:51:33] No, no, no, Apostle Paul said we have it.
[00:51:36] John said we have it, we have it
[00:51:43] and you better get control of it
[00:51:44] because listen, where you end up in this battle
[00:51:48] is gonna determine heaven or hell.
[00:51:51] It really is, it can determine that.
[00:51:54] At minimum, maybe let's say you do have seasons
[00:51:59] where you totally give in and submit to the flesh
[00:52:02] and the sins of the flesh and the lust of the flesh.
[00:52:05] You better get out of it
[00:52:08] because when you die or when Jesus comes,
[00:52:10] you better be living in a place
[00:52:13] where sin does not have dominion over you.
[00:52:15] Not talking about you have no sin
[00:52:17] but that it doesn't have dominion over you.
[00:52:21] This is important.
[00:52:22] How did I know Pastor Dean if it has dominion over me?
[00:52:25] Do you live in it habitually?
[00:52:28] Do you practice it?
[00:52:29] Is it a continual ongoing thing in your life?
[00:52:34] I mean, there's a lot of people that think,
[00:52:35] well, they're in adulterous affairs.
[00:52:37] They're in adultery, they're living in it.
[00:52:39] They constantly, they're hooking up
[00:52:43] with their adulterous or the adulterer or whatever
[00:52:47] and they're doing this constantly
[00:52:48] but then they're saying, well, I'm a Christian
[00:52:50] and I confess and say, God, forgive me
[00:52:52] but they keep living in it, all right?
[00:52:55] Well, if they keep living in it,
[00:52:56] then it's ruling them.
[00:52:59] It's raining in them, all right?
[00:53:03] Now, there's a Christian that may commit adultery
[00:53:07] and then they repent and get out of it like King David did
[00:53:12] and yeah, it's gonna cost them.
[00:53:14] They're gonna, you reap what you sow
[00:53:16] and sin has consequences always
[00:53:20] but it's different and if they repent and stop,
[00:53:25] it's not raining, it's not ruling them, all right?
[00:53:29] And I've made this point many times
[00:53:32] but listen, fasting, I can just tell you
[00:53:36] if you're gonna get through this life,
[00:53:37] if you're gonna have any kind of a strong Christian walk
[00:53:40] where sin, the sin nature doesn't control you completely,
[00:53:44] you're gonna be somebody who regularly
[00:53:47] and has incorporated fasting into their life.
[00:53:51] You're just not gonna win.
[00:53:53] Psalm 19, more about the sin nature.
[00:53:56] David was very honest.
[00:53:59] David said here, he starts talking about,
[00:54:03] really, Psalm 19 is the Roman seven of the Old Testament,
[00:54:08] all right, because this is what he says.
[00:54:09] The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
[00:54:12] The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
[00:54:15] The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
[00:54:17] The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
[00:54:20] The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
[00:54:21] The judgments of the Lord are true
[00:54:23] and righteous altogether.
[00:54:25] More to be desired than gold,
[00:54:27] yay, much, yay than much fine gold.
[00:54:31] Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
[00:54:34] Mover by them is thy servant warned by God's word,
[00:54:37] his standard, his righteousness, his law, his commandments.
[00:54:40] Mover by them is thy servant warned
[00:54:42] and in keeping them there is great reward.
[00:54:43] But then he says this,
[00:54:45] and he was known as the man after God's own heart,
[00:54:47] and he said, who can understand his errors?
[00:54:51] Cleanse me, thou from secret faults.
[00:54:54] What does that mean?
[00:54:56] It means really stuff no one sees,
[00:54:58] but still is sin, is evil, wicked, secret things,
[00:55:00] hidden things, cleanse me, who?
[00:55:05] Basically David was saying, I love God's word.
[00:55:08] I love God, I love God's presence.
[00:55:11] I love God's holiness.
[00:55:12] I wanna be righteous and holy.
[00:55:14] Why do I have these problems still in me?
[00:55:19] All right, and then he cries out and he says,
[00:55:21] keep back thy servant from presumptuous sin.
[00:55:25] What is presumptuous sin?
[00:55:26] Presumptuous is when you basically you're saying,
[00:55:29] you know what, I can do what I want.
[00:55:34] Don't let that happen to me,
[00:55:35] or I can do what I want and get away with it.
[00:55:36] That's being presumptuous.
[00:55:39] Oh, I can get away with it.
[00:55:42] And he was crying out, don't let that happen to me.
[00:55:44] If you even, if you look up the Hebrew here,
[00:55:45] it means like boiling,
[00:55:46] like you're cooking a pot or something,
[00:55:48] and all of a sudden it starts boiling over.
[00:55:50] Oh, he didn't want his struggles with the flesh
[00:55:54] to become something that boiled over and made a big mess.
[00:55:57] Even though, guess what?
[00:56:00] It did happen with David.
[00:56:02] He said, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.
[00:56:05] Look what he says, very similar to Romans six.
[00:56:08] Let them not have dominion over me.
[00:56:13] David said, look, I struggle with the flesh.
[00:56:15] I'm struggling with sin here,
[00:56:17] but I don't wanna get to the point
[00:56:18] where I think I can just do whatever I want.
[00:56:20] Don't let that happen to me.
[00:56:21] And then he says, don't let these sins
[00:56:23] have dominion over me.
[00:56:25] Then I shall be upright.
[00:56:26] I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
[00:56:29] What is the great transgression?
[00:56:31] The great transgression is when you fully
[00:56:33] just depart from God and just live in it.
[00:56:38] Believe me, I know Christians who just left God
[00:56:41] and live in their sin.
[00:56:43] They have embraced it.
[00:56:45] They don't fight it anymore.
[00:56:47] They don't resist anymore.
[00:56:48] They don't care anymore.
[00:56:53] Yes, that'd be the question
[00:56:57] in case you didn't hear it on the mic.
[00:56:59] One of our students here asked,
[00:57:01] could that be someone who's become a reprobate?
[00:57:03] Yes, it could be.
[00:57:05] You get to the point where you're so bound up,
[00:57:09] like there's a guy that,
[00:57:10] well, there's a guy I was talking to yesterday
[00:57:13] or the day before,
[00:57:14] and he was talking about a friend of his
[00:57:16] that is so locked into the once saved,
[00:57:19] always saved doctrine, the hyper grace idea.
[00:57:23] He said he lives with his girlfriend,
[00:57:24] so he's living in constant fornication.
[00:57:26] He drinks and gets drunk all the time.
[00:57:28] He's smoking weed all the time,
[00:57:29] but he is absolutely convinced he's saved
[00:57:33] and he's all right.
[00:57:35] He is committing the great transgression.
[00:57:37] He is completely away from God,
[00:57:39] departing from God and convinced that he's okay.
[00:57:43] This is one of the greatest deceptions there is,
[00:57:46] to think that you can live like that,
[00:57:48] a habitual fornicator, a habitual drunkard,
[00:57:52] and that I'm all right.
[00:57:56] God loves me, he understands.
[00:57:58] I can't tell you how many times
[00:57:59] I've heard that over the years.
[00:58:01] God loves me, he understands, he knows my heart.
[00:58:05] Yeah, he knows it's wicked and evil and deceived.
[00:58:10] Yeah, he knows.
[00:58:17] Yeah, and we all know he knows,
[00:58:18] so why are you telling me?
[00:58:22] See, the man after God's own heart still had us in nature.
[00:58:26] We all know what this was about, right?
[00:58:29] Now look, this is important.
[00:58:31] I know y'all think I'm going down a rabbit trail,
[00:58:34] but I really haven't, all right?
[00:58:37] Because let's look at these Galatians.
[00:58:38] We go to Galatians five,
[00:58:42] and this really picks up in the same place
[00:58:44] where Romans six and seven and eight's talking about,
[00:58:50] because he says this, and I'm going to show you,
[00:58:51] he says, this I say then, walk in the spirit
[00:58:57] and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[00:59:00] Then he tells you again, for the flesh lusteth
[00:59:02] against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh,
[00:59:04] and these are contrary one to another,
[00:59:06] so that you cannot do the things that you would.
[00:59:09] But, this is a good but right here,
[00:59:12] but if you be led of the spirit,
[00:59:16] you're not under the law.
[00:59:17] Now led of the spirit, is it so interesting?
[00:59:22] Just keep that in mind.
[00:59:23] Remember, walk in the spirit, this right here,
[00:59:25] here's your secret, the secret to victory,
[00:59:30] the secret to sin not having dominion over you.
[00:59:33] Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill
[00:59:37] the lust of the flesh.
[00:59:38] Doesn't mean the flesh won't lust,
[00:59:40] or the flesh won't desire to do bad,
[00:59:43] but you won't fulfill it, you won't go complete.
[00:59:46] Being tempted is not sin.
[00:59:49] So when you fulfill it, the temptation, okay?
[00:59:54] I got a lot of people think, oh, I'm struggling,
[00:59:57] I'm being tempted, well, join the crowd.
[01:00:03] Good for you, that means you're on the right side.
[01:00:07] Being tempted is not sin, it's normal.
[01:00:11] The flesh wants to sin, Satan comes along,
[01:00:14] demons come along and try to pull us into it,
[01:00:16] tempt us, put thoughts on our mind,
[01:00:18] give us feelings, give us dreams,
[01:00:19] give us all these weird feelings and things,
[01:00:22] but the secret to not fulfilling it
[01:00:25] or bringing that temptation and it becoming sin
[01:00:29] and the fulfilling of the lust of the flesh
[01:00:31] is you walk in the spirit, all right?
[01:00:34] Now he goes on to, let's look at the works of the flesh.
[01:00:37] So here's what the flesh wants to do.
[01:00:39] Now the works of the flesh are manifest
[01:00:41] which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
[01:00:45] lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
[01:00:48] variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies,
[01:00:52] enemies, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like,
[01:00:56] of the which I tell you before,
[01:00:57] as I've also told you in times past,
[01:00:59] that they which do such things
[01:01:01] shall not inherit the kingdom of God,
[01:01:03] do, Greek word prasso, practice habitually.
[01:01:07] He's saying real plainly here,
[01:01:09] if you practice these things.
[01:01:11] So he's clearly shown here again,
[01:01:15] the flesh nature, if you're gonna not let it
[01:01:18] have dominion over you,
[01:01:20] how do you know it's not having dominion over you?
[01:01:22] You're not practicing these things habitually.
[01:01:26] If you're practicing any of these things
[01:01:27] or more than one of these things, habitually,
[01:01:30] you're actually doing them,
[01:01:33] then you're not winning, you're losing.
[01:01:38] And we're like Trump around here, we like to win.
[01:01:41] Winning's good.
[01:01:44] This battles for your eternal life, your eternal soul.
[01:01:48] So it's important to win this one.
[01:01:50] We must be overcomers.
[01:01:51] But just remember this,
[01:01:53] walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill
[01:01:54] the lust of the flesh.
[01:01:55] But if you're led by the spirit,
[01:01:57] you're not under the law.
[01:01:59] So led by the Holy Spirit,
[01:02:01] that's important, walking in the spirit.
[01:02:03] What does that mean?
[01:02:05] How do we do that?
[01:02:07] How do we walk in the spirit?
[01:02:09] How are we led by the spirit?
[01:02:10] Well, let me show you something.
[01:02:12] Oh, well, I must read this.
[01:02:13] The fruit of the spirit's love, joy, peace,
[01:02:16] long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
[01:02:18] uniqueness, temperance, which is self-control,
[01:02:20] controlling the flesh,
[01:02:21] against such there is no law.
[01:02:23] They that are Christ have crucified the flesh
[01:02:25] with affections of lust.
[01:02:26] We live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.
[01:02:29] All right, let's look at this.
[01:02:31] Again, it repeats it.
[01:02:32] So Jesus comes in the flesh.
[01:02:35] Now this is puzzling to me.
[01:02:37] This is something you have to consider.
[01:02:39] That Jesus came in,
[01:02:41] he was fully God, fully a man,
[01:02:46] but because of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary
[01:02:51] and the supernatural aspect of the virgin,
[01:02:55] you know, birth and the conception,
[01:02:59] what happened there is God bypassed
[01:03:04] the sin nature of Adam by doing that, all right?
[01:03:12] And Mary was basically just becomes the vessel
[01:03:16] for the flesh, all right?
[01:03:18] But he bypasses the seed of Adam, all right?
[01:03:25] And so Jesus has a human body
[01:03:29] that does not have the sin nature of Adam.
[01:03:33] That's why he's called the second Adam.
[01:03:35] Because Adam, when he was created, had no sin nature.
[01:03:38] He's called the second Adam.
[01:03:40] However, it's obvious that Jesus could have sinned.
[01:03:48] Say, how is that?
[01:03:49] Well, if he couldn't have, then the temptation was not real.
[01:03:56] He had to be tempted in all points like we are.
[01:03:58] Well, how can it be a temptation if you can't do something?
[01:04:03] Well, let's say I was completely paralyzed, right?
[01:04:06] And I couldn't get up and go anywhere and do anything,
[01:04:09] right?
[01:04:11] I'm not really gonna be tempted
[01:04:12] to go down to the strip club, right?
[01:04:16] You get what I'm saying?
[01:04:17] I can't, it's not a temptation
[01:04:19] because, and I'm saying nobody's around
[01:04:21] to help me or anything.
[01:04:22] I can't do it.
[01:04:24] So it's not, the temptation is not real.
[01:04:28] It's only real if I can do it.
[01:04:30] So, you know, now some people may argue with that,
[01:04:32] but I mean, it must have been possible.
[01:04:35] Now he didn't do it.
[01:04:36] Jesus never sinned.
[01:04:38] He overcame the temptation.
[01:04:41] And maybe he was able to overcome the temptation
[01:04:43] because remember, he says he laid aside his godhood
[01:04:47] in the sense of using his power, his divinity to do this.
[01:04:52] I think it was because he didn't have a sin nature
[01:04:56] and because he was led by the spirit into the wilderness.
[01:05:04] And before he was to do anything,
[01:05:07] Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost,
[01:05:09] remember he obeyed, he was led by the Holy Spirit
[01:05:11] to submit to John the Baptist and be baptized.
[01:05:15] And he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
[01:05:19] And it says he returned from Jordan and was,
[01:05:22] everybody say this, led by the spirit into the wilderness.
[01:05:29] Led by the spirit in the Holy Spirit
[01:05:32] took him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
[01:05:37] So the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness
[01:05:41] to be tempted of the devil for 40 days.
[01:05:43] And it says, and in those days he did eat nothing.
[01:05:49] The Holy Spirit led Jesus into this time
[01:05:54] to allow the temptation of Satan.
[01:05:56] But how did he handle that temptation by fasting?
[01:06:02] Oh, if this doesn't seal it for us, nothing will, right?
[01:06:07] Being led by the spirit.
[01:06:08] If you are led by the spirit, listen to me real close here.
[01:06:12] If you are being led by the Holy Spirit,
[01:06:15] you are being led to pray, fast, study,
[01:06:24] take time with God.
[01:06:26] If you're not doing those things, you're resisting him
[01:06:29] because he is, I promise you, trying to lead you into
[01:06:34] what's gonna protect you from the temptation.
[01:06:39] But if you won't do those things,
[01:06:41] you're not being led by the spirit.
[01:06:42] And if you're not walking in the spirit, what will you do?
[01:06:45] If you're not walking in the spirit,
[01:06:47] you will fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[01:06:52] So basically, if you refuse to spend time praying,
[01:06:56] fasting, studying, meditating in God's word,
[01:07:03] putting the flesh under, if you don't do that,
[01:07:07] remember, let's back up to our verse here, hold on.
[01:07:10] In Galatians 5, 16,
[01:07:12] for this I say then, walk in the spirit
[01:07:17] and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[01:07:20] If you're walking in the spirit, you will be praying.
[01:07:26] You will be fasting.
[01:07:29] You will be doing the things
[01:07:32] that the spirit wants you to do.
[01:07:34] See, it's really, real simple.
[01:07:36] For instance, if I was an alcoholic, all right,
[01:07:40] if I was saved but I had been a severe alcoholic,
[01:07:43] say I only been saved a few days, all right,
[01:07:48] the Holy Spirit's not gonna lead me to walk
[01:07:50] into the liquor store to talk to my buddy.
[01:07:53] He's not leading me that direction, right?
[01:07:56] It's real clear he would be leading me
[01:07:58] to get away from that.
[01:08:01] So our problem, listen, our problem,
[01:08:04] 99 times out of 100 is we just aren't walking in the spirit
[01:08:08] because we are refusing to do what he's leading us to do.
[01:08:14] Well, I need to go in here and talk to my buddy.
[01:08:16] He owes me 10 bucks.
[01:08:17] No, you don't.
[01:08:18] Don't go in the liquor store
[01:08:20] if you're just a brand new Christian
[01:08:21] who was an alcoholic.
[01:08:26] You understand?
[01:08:28] It's not, people say,
[01:08:30] I wanna be led by the spirit, Pastor Dean.
[01:08:31] How am I led by the spirit?
[01:08:36] I can tell you some places he's leading you already.
[01:08:40] He's leading you away from the strip club.
[01:08:42] He's leading you away from the liquor store.
[01:08:44] He's leading you away from friends who are bad influence.
[01:08:50] He's leading you away from your honey.
[01:08:56] He's leading you away from homosexuality.
[01:09:00] He's leading you away from pornography.
[01:09:03] Those are easy.
[01:09:05] If you'll listen and do those things,
[01:09:09] you're walking in the spirit
[01:09:12] and you will not fulfill the lust and the flesh.
[01:09:14] And then you can be in a place
[01:09:16] when the Holy Spirit says, hey, take this week
[01:09:21] and I want you to fast for seven days
[01:09:23] and spend time, extra time with me.
[01:09:26] Then you can be in that place where you can hear him say,
[01:09:29] I want this special time with you.
[01:09:31] See, the thing with Jesus here,
[01:09:33] that was a special time.
[01:09:35] Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness
[01:09:37] to be tempted for 40 days.
[01:09:38] He did eat nothing.
[01:09:40] He went on a Daniel fast.
[01:09:44] He ate nothing.
[01:09:46] All right?
[01:09:47] He was a bad, and Jesus came out of it,
[01:09:52] and here's what's beautiful.
[01:09:54] Jesus came out of that time
[01:09:57] and the power of the Holy Spirit was on him.
[01:10:01] If you read the gospel, and I almost put this up,
[01:10:02] and I'm like, if I keep going,
[01:10:04] it's gonna be three hours long.
[01:10:07] But he comes out of, if you read the gospel of Mark,
[01:10:10] I love how Mark chapter one,
[01:10:11] Mark chapter one marks a more succinct gospel.
[01:10:15] It's just like it jumps right into it.
[01:10:17] And he comes out of the wilderness and the temptation
[01:10:20] and immediately the demons are crying out
[01:10:22] in the synagogue every time he walks in.
[01:10:25] You wanna be anointed and powerful for God,
[01:10:29] you gotta have those times where you've listened
[01:10:32] to the Holy Spirit and let him lead you
[01:10:33] in times of intercession and prayer and fasting
[01:10:39] because it's out of those times
[01:10:41] that you're gonna come forth with a greater anointing
[01:10:43] and you're gonna come forth
[01:10:44] with what you need to help people.
[01:10:48] You're gonna come forth with power to heal people,
[01:10:50] come forth with power to cast demons out of people,
[01:10:52] come forth with a greater anointing
[01:10:54] on your preaching and teaching so that it impacts people.
[01:11:01] I remember people used to ask me,
[01:11:03] it's like when I was in my 20s,
[01:11:05] they would ask me, how do you have this revelation?
[01:11:07] How do you preach like you do?
[01:11:09] How do you cast demons out of people?
[01:11:12] We've got people in our church,
[01:11:14] they've been saved 30 years
[01:11:15] and they never cast demons out of me.
[01:11:17] And I can all point back to them and say,
[01:11:19] look, I know it's because I spent time with God.
[01:11:23] I spent time fasting and praying and seeking God.
[01:11:25] I spent time asking him for that anointing
[01:11:28] and that power and that authority.
[01:11:30] I spent time doing what I needed to do to get it.
[01:11:36] That's what it's all about.
[01:11:38] You cannot give what you don't have,
[01:11:44] but you can get it if you spend that time with the Lord.
[01:11:50] And I'm gonna tell you, there's something,
[01:11:51] and this brings me to this point right here.
[01:11:53] Fasting is definitely connected to having power
[01:11:57] against Satan and demon spirit.
[01:12:00] You saw it with Jesus in the wilderness.
[01:12:02] He's dealing with satanic temptation and attack
[01:12:08] so bad that angels had to come minister to him and help him.
[01:12:14] And he's fasting the whole time.
[01:12:17] I can tell you, I believe this.
[01:12:19] If he had to have been fasting,
[01:12:21] would he have won that battle?
[01:12:25] Pretty serious.
[01:12:28] Let's read this, this Matthew 17,
[01:12:31] verses 15 through 21.
[01:12:34] Now they had, this man had brought his son
[01:12:37] who was clearly demon possessed.
[01:12:39] Here it says he's lunatic,
[01:12:40] but he was demon possessed with a deaf and dumb spirit.
[01:12:44] And the spirit was also trying to kill the boy,
[01:12:46] throw him in the water and the fire.
[01:12:49] So this Israelite man had a demon possessed child,
[01:12:52] wigging out, freaking out, flipping out.
[01:12:57] And so Jesus had been, where?
[01:12:59] He'd been up praying.
[01:13:02] And the disciples were trying to deal with the situation.
[01:13:05] And he had already given them the anointing
[01:13:07] and they'd already been healing the sick
[01:13:08] and casting out demons.
[01:13:09] And so it says, Lord have mercy on my son.
[01:13:14] Cause they had brought the,
[01:13:15] this man brought the son to the disciples
[01:13:17] and they couldn't cast him out and says,
[01:13:19] Lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic
[01:13:22] and sore vex for oft times he falleth into the fire
[01:13:24] and often to the water.
[01:13:26] And I brought him to thy disciples
[01:13:28] and they could not cure him.
[01:13:30] Then Jesus answered and said, oh,
[01:13:34] I know he did just like that.
[01:13:35] Oh, faithless and perverse generation.
[01:13:38] How long shall I be with you?
[01:13:40] How long shall I suffer you bring him to me?
[01:13:46] We don't think about that, but really,
[01:13:47] he was like, Father help him please.
[01:13:51] I can't deal with it much longer.
[01:13:52] Ah, Jesus rebuked the devil and departed out of him
[01:13:58] and the child was cured from that very hour.
[01:14:00] Then came the disciples to Jesus apart
[01:14:02] said, why could we not cast him out?
[01:14:04] And Jesus said, because of your unbelief,
[01:14:08] for verily I say unto you,
[01:14:09] if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
[01:14:10] you shall say to this mountain,
[01:14:12] remove and hence to yonder place and it shall remove
[01:14:15] and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
[01:14:18] How be it this kind goeth not out,
[01:14:21] but by prayer and fasting.
[01:14:23] So basically what Jesus connected this to is
[01:14:26] you have basically run out of the power
[01:14:30] that you'd been living off of.
[01:14:33] See, Jesus had anointed them.
[01:14:35] If you go back to Matthew 10,
[01:14:36] he had given them an anointing and sent them
[01:14:38] to cast out demons and heal the sick.
[01:14:40] Remember, he sent out the 70 in the 12 or part of that.
[01:14:43] He sends them out.
[01:14:44] They go out two by two and they cast out demons
[01:14:46] and heal the sick.
[01:14:48] But what they didn't understand,
[01:14:49] and this is the lesson Jesus was teaching them.
[01:14:51] You can't receive an anointing
[01:14:53] and a commission from the Lord.
[01:14:54] You can go forth.
[01:14:55] You can cast out demons, heal the sick,
[01:14:57] preach the gospel, see people saved.
[01:14:59] And if you think you're gonna live on that anointing
[01:15:02] and that's that amount of storage
[01:15:04] that you have forever, you're mistaken.
[01:15:07] You leak.
[01:15:09] Jesus talked about virtue leaving him.
[01:15:12] Remember the woman touched him.
[01:15:13] He said, I felt the virtue leave me.
[01:15:15] Let me tell you, there's something about the anointing.
[01:15:17] It's like a power plant.
[01:15:20] If the power plant's not running,
[01:15:21] let's say it's a power plant powered by a river,
[01:15:24] by the water movement.
[01:15:26] If the water stops,
[01:15:27] the power plant will run for a little while
[01:15:29] on its stored energy that it has.
[01:15:32] But after the little while,
[01:15:33] guess what?
[01:15:37] It's gonna stop.
[01:15:38] It's the same in a car.
[01:15:40] You're pressing the gas pedal in the car
[01:15:43] and it's continuing, it's pushing,
[01:15:44] the engine's moving, everything's pushing it forward.
[01:15:47] You take your foot off the gas, guess what?
[01:15:50] It'll coast for a little while.
[01:15:51] It'll still appear that it's moving.
[01:15:54] But it'll start slowing down
[01:15:56] and come to a stop, why?
[01:15:58] Because you gotta put your foot,
[01:15:59] you gotta put more fuel through the carburetor
[01:16:03] or the jets and you gotta get it going again.
[01:16:06] It's the same way with us.
[01:16:07] We need refueling, all right?
[01:16:13] You don't live off of one anointing, one season, forever.
[01:16:17] And the disciples had to learn this lesson the hard way.
[01:16:21] Okay, Lord.
[01:16:23] And what happened was,
[01:16:24] their lack of prayer and fasting
[01:16:26] also affected their level of faith.
[01:16:30] It weakened their faith.
[01:16:33] They were unable to hear
[01:16:35] what the Holy Spirit was wanting to say
[01:16:37] because the problem was the unbelief of the Father,
[01:16:40] Mark nine deals with that.
[01:16:42] And Jesus told them, said, look,
[01:16:44] if you wanna be full of the authority
[01:16:47] of the anointing the power
[01:16:48] to help people who are this demon possessed
[01:16:53] and in need of healing and deliverance,
[01:16:56] you're gonna have to not think you can live off
[01:16:58] of little prayer and little fasting.
[01:17:03] And you know what happened, listen,
[01:17:06] this wasn't so much their fault as,
[01:17:10] remember, and I think it's,
[01:17:13] you might can look this up for me,
[01:17:16] where it said they had,
[01:17:17] you just look at the word leisure.
[01:17:21] Jesus' ministry and the disciples with him was so busy.
[01:17:28] There were always people coming and going.
[01:17:30] I mean, it was always someone,
[01:17:33] and listen, we're at that point.
[01:17:36] I mean, it's unbelievable
[01:17:39] the amount of need that exists.
[01:17:44] Mark 631, yeah, can we put it up?
[01:17:48] And we can come back to this in a second.
[01:17:50] But Mark 631, just that whole passage there
[01:17:55] where he tells them, and I'll give you a minute,
[01:17:59] but basically it was busy.
[01:18:01] The ministry was busy.
[01:18:06] And can I say this?
[01:18:08] Busyness and even ministry busyness,
[01:18:11] even though it's good to try to minister
[01:18:14] to people and as many people as you possibly can,
[01:18:16] you try to help as many people as you possibly can
[01:18:19] as ministers and listen to me, students,
[01:18:21] you got to be careful
[01:18:24] that the busyness of the ministry doesn't come
[01:18:28] to the point where it weakens you
[01:18:32] to where you get to a point you can't help anybody.
[01:18:36] All right, this right here,
[01:18:39] Jesus was telling them they needed to come apart
[01:18:43] and said, he said to them,
[01:18:44] come yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while.
[01:18:49] For there are many coming and going
[01:18:50] and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
[01:18:53] I mean, that's how busy it was for them at that moment.
[01:18:55] So maybe the disciples were not necessarily
[01:18:58] trying to neglect their prayer time or their fasting.
[01:19:01] They were just so busy trying to keep up
[01:19:03] with all the ministry problems.
[01:19:06] And you think about it.
[01:19:08] Here's 12 guys trying to deal day by day
[01:19:11] with thousands of people.
[01:19:15] They could go into a city and Jesus is mobbed
[01:19:17] and they're trying to manage all this.
[01:19:20] And they're trying to counsel people and pray for people
[01:19:23] and minister to people and intercede
[01:19:24] between Jesus and people.
[01:19:26] You remember Philip or somebody,
[01:19:29] Andrew, what I'm saying,
[01:19:30] there are people looking for you, Lord.
[01:19:32] People want to talk to you, Lord.
[01:19:36] And so what I'm saying is,
[01:19:37] and this is something that I've learned.
[01:19:42] When people recognize you have something,
[01:19:49] they want it.
[01:19:51] Not in a bad way.
[01:19:52] I'm saying, and this is the, how do I put it?
[01:19:55] This is the two-edged sword of ministry.
[01:20:02] If they find, it's just like, okay,
[01:20:04] I've seen a lot of this.
[01:20:05] And Nancy could testify to this too.
[01:20:08] We've seen a lot of this.
[01:20:09] It's like when people see there's a ministry
[01:20:11] that actually teaches the Bible
[01:20:15] and believes in healing and casting out demons
[01:20:17] and they know that they need healing
[01:20:20] or they need deliverance
[01:20:20] or they need counsel in some situation.
[01:20:24] And they know, they find someone who has it
[01:20:27] or someone they feel they can trust.
[01:20:30] That's where they're coming.
[01:20:33] Okay.
[01:20:35] And yeah, or Skype or,
[01:20:44] and that's what I'm getting at is that it's wonderful.
[01:20:49] Brownsville revival, other revivals.
[01:20:51] In fact, one of the things you learn
[01:20:53] if you study the history of revival and revivalist
[01:20:56] are even some of the great healing ministries
[01:20:58] like A.A. Allen and some of the others
[01:21:01] back in the forties and the fifties.
[01:21:05] A lot of them crashed and burned
[01:21:08] simply because they got worn out.
[01:21:11] And the reason they got worn out
[01:21:13] is because they just gave and gave and gave and gave
[01:21:15] and never took time away to really rest,
[01:21:21] to rest physically and to spend time with the Lord
[01:21:28] and recharge the spiritual batteries.
[01:21:31] I went through this, I'll say going back to,
[01:21:35] what was it, 19, oh, it was 1991
[01:21:38] because I remember it was during the Gulf War.
[01:21:40] And during the Gulf War time period,
[01:21:44] so late 90s, early 91,
[01:21:47] I had, God had opened the door for me
[01:21:49] to start teaching deliverance for Christians
[01:21:52] and how Christians need deliverance
[01:21:54] and God opened a big door for me
[01:21:55] to start preaching that in a very large church
[01:21:58] in Montgomery, Alabama, right?
[01:22:00] About 2000 member church and plus really
[01:22:02] just teaching it all over the city on the radio there.
[01:22:05] So guess what?
[01:22:08] I was about the only one doing deliverance ministry.
[01:22:10] So all these people started saying,
[01:22:12] I need deliverance, help me, help me, right?
[01:22:16] And that was good and there's great testimonies
[01:22:19] and great stories from that time.
[01:22:20] But I was also working full-time.
[01:22:24] I was also going to the federal prison,
[01:22:26] Maxwell Federal Prison on the Air Force Base
[01:22:29] every Monday night, preaching there for,
[01:22:33] I would preach for an hour and then pray for the guys.
[01:22:36] And sometimes we do deliverance to them.
[01:22:37] Sometimes I'd be there four or five hours, all right?
[01:22:41] Leave soaking wet with sweat.
[01:22:44] I mean, my clothes soaked through from sweat.
[01:22:47] But during that time, I was doing so many,
[01:22:49] I was fasting so much that,
[01:22:52] and then I was so busy that,
[01:22:55] and I wasn't resting at all.
[01:22:58] And I was in my 20s, so I'm like, I can do this.
[01:23:02] But let me tell you, six months of doing that every week,
[01:23:07] multiple deliverances a week,
[01:23:09] multiple preaching, teaching a week,
[01:23:12] fasting, trying to stay prepared for people.
[01:23:16] Believe it or not, I know no one will ever believe this.
[01:23:20] But I think at that time,
[01:23:21] I got down to weighing 160 pounds.
[01:23:27] Not a good weight for me, all right?
[01:23:30] I'm good 200 and up, all right?
[01:23:33] And I mean, I wasn't healthy.
[01:23:35] And I remember I developed a protein deficiency
[01:23:38] and some other things.
[01:23:39] And I mean, I started getting sick week.
[01:23:43] And the Lord was like, you need to stop.
[01:23:48] And so he made me leave Montgomery,
[01:23:51] come here to my aunt's
[01:23:52] because he knew she'd feed me good food.
[01:23:55] And then me and my cousin, Todd,
[01:23:57] we had the house that's outside out next door to us
[01:23:59] that used to be fine.
[01:24:00] We had weights and we had all kinds of stuff out there.
[01:24:04] So he and I started eating good,
[01:24:08] went and bought a bunch of protein amino acids
[01:24:11] and started taking those.
[01:24:13] And I started lifting weights
[01:24:14] and I took the next six months to,
[01:24:18] not that I didn't do any ministry because I did,
[01:24:21] but I cut way back and had to build my health back up.
[01:24:25] Now, when you're in your twenties
[01:24:27] and you break your health down, your body down,
[01:24:30] I learned, and that brings me to another point here.
[01:24:32] Let me say this about, we can go back to the PowerPoint.
[01:24:35] Let me say this about fasting.
[01:24:37] Fasting is not, God does not want you fasting
[01:24:41] to the point you're breaking your body down
[01:24:43] or you're harming yourself.
[01:24:45] There are people who have tried to fast way too much
[01:24:50] or tried 40 day fast, who have died, pastors, ministers.
[01:24:56] And that is not God's will.
[01:24:58] Now, let me just say this.
[01:24:59] Yes, Jesus fasted 40 days.
[01:25:01] Oh yes, there was a time Elijah fasted 40 days.
[01:25:05] There was time Moses was on the mountain for 40 days
[01:25:08] and didn't eat.
[01:25:09] Those are very unique situations.
[01:25:12] Let me just tell you this.
[01:25:13] If you're meeting with God on a mountain
[01:25:15] and the glory of God's there and the mountain's on fire
[01:25:17] and God's talking to you face to face,
[01:25:22] then maybe you can go without food for 40 days.
[01:25:26] But you need to understand 40 days without food
[01:25:29] takes you to the brink of starvation.
[01:25:32] Human beings starts to die from starvation
[01:25:35] about six weeks.
[01:25:38] That's it, you die.
[01:25:42] Then if you have any weakness,
[01:25:43] if you're not a strong, healthy person,
[01:25:47] it could be less than that.
[01:25:50] This is not God's will.
[01:25:51] So no one should be fasting for 40 days.
[01:25:54] Jesus' situation was special.
[01:25:56] He had angels there minister to him.
[01:25:59] Elijah had eaten food from heaven
[01:26:02] and went in the strength of that meat for 40 days.
[01:26:04] It was very special situation.
[01:26:07] I don't see unless angels are meeting with you
[01:26:09] and giving you special food.
[01:26:12] Maybe you can go for 40 days.
[01:26:13] Other than that, you don't do it.
[01:26:16] The longest that I see anyone fasted in the Bible
[01:26:19] without food was 21 days.
[01:26:22] And you see that in Daniel, we'll get there in a second.
[01:26:25] But he was at the point that he was so weak,
[01:26:29] he couldn't stand.
[01:26:30] I did 21 days, no food.
[01:26:32] I was at the point, I was so weak.
[01:26:34] I was so weak that it was hard to even move.
[01:26:37] Now I drink, I didn't just do water.
[01:26:39] That's another thing.
[01:26:41] People out there think,
[01:26:42] well, when I fast, you're only supposed to do water.
[01:26:43] You better not do that kind of fast.
[01:26:45] And the water only,
[01:26:47] you should only do that three days, no more.
[01:26:49] Bible, if you wanna stick with Bible,
[01:26:51] Esther, by the time you see water only,
[01:26:54] Esther, three days, that was it.
[01:26:58] The human body needs more than water.
[01:26:59] You need electric lights.
[01:27:00] So you're going along fast like 21 days,
[01:27:02] 14 days, seven days, eight days, whatever it is.
[01:27:06] You need juice, milk, you need liquids
[01:27:11] other than water to sustain you,
[01:27:14] to keep you from throwing your electrolytes off.
[01:27:16] You can throw your electrolytes off bad enough
[01:27:18] through fasting that your heart,
[01:27:20] you throw your heart out of whack, out of sink,
[01:27:23] and you can die, okay?
[01:27:25] So this is, we're not to be stupid, right?
[01:27:30] Let's say this about fasting.
[01:27:31] Don't be stupid, right?
[01:27:35] God's purpose is not to break your health down, okay?
[01:27:40] It's just to keep your flesh under control.
[01:27:43] Kenneth Hagin, though I disagree with him on this,
[01:27:46] I can say at least the man had a revelation
[01:27:49] of how not to break his body down,
[01:27:51] but he said he never fasted more than three days ever,
[01:27:56] okay?
[01:27:57] But he said he did that regularly.
[01:28:00] So that's a different way.
[01:28:02] He had his way, he felt like God led him to approach it.
[01:28:05] But I'm not saying that God will never lead you to fast
[01:28:08] more than three days.
[01:28:09] He's led me.
[01:28:10] God has spoken to me on more than one occasion.
[01:28:12] One time he said seven days.
[01:28:15] One time he told me 10 days.
[01:28:17] One time he told me 14 days.
[01:28:18] One time he told me 21 days, all right?
[01:28:22] I've had everything from one to 21
[01:28:25] that the Lord's had me fast.
[01:28:29] But again, be smart.
[01:28:32] When I was on a 14 day fast,
[01:28:34] I was working construction in the heat.
[01:28:38] Guess what?
[01:28:40] You can't be stupid.
[01:28:42] I drank a lot of, you know,
[01:28:44] like Powerade, Gatorade type drinks.
[01:28:46] I drank in the middle of the day.
[01:28:50] Some of those like, what do they call them?
[01:28:52] Instant breakfast type things to give me some calories
[01:28:56] and to give me something to burn
[01:28:58] and to protect me in the heat.
[01:28:59] I would have made it 14 days on water,
[01:29:02] doing construction in Alabama summertime.
[01:29:05] I would have been dead man, right?
[01:29:09] So you gotta use some common sense.
[01:29:13] Again, fasting is not about breaking down your health, okay?
[01:29:18] And if you do have health problems,
[01:29:19] there are people out there that have diabetes,
[01:29:22] they have other health problems.
[01:29:25] So you should probably be very, very careful
[01:29:28] about fasting long periods of time, two, three days.
[01:29:34] For some people, especially some people have diabetes.
[01:29:36] I mean, that could be very dangerous,
[01:29:40] unless again, you're drinking some orange juice
[01:29:42] or some other things to kind of balance out
[01:29:44] your sugar levels.
[01:29:47] So what I'm saying is don't hurt yourself.
[01:29:50] That's what, you should never do that.
[01:29:53] And if anybody, I see any of our students
[01:29:55] trying to do 40 days, I am going to rebuke you.
[01:29:58] And if you don't repent, I'm gonna disown you.
[01:30:00] Because I'm not gonna be responsible
[01:30:01] for you dying and being stupid.
[01:30:03] So that's why too, I'm glad this is going on record here.
[01:30:07] Well, Jesus did it.
[01:30:08] Well, you know, Jesus raised the dead.
[01:30:10] So why don't you raise somebody from the dead?
[01:30:11] Maybe we'll talk about you fasting 40 days, okay?
[01:30:14] All right, just wisdom, all right?
[01:30:18] So let's keep going here.
[01:30:20] But you wanna cast out demons and heal the sick,
[01:30:23] you're gonna have to have fasting and prayer
[01:30:25] in your life.
[01:30:26] I'll say this, another time for fasting and corporate fasting
[01:30:29] is when you're going through a season of attack.
[01:30:34] We see this, I'm just gonna give you these passages
[01:30:36] because they're good.
[01:30:37] Second Chronicles 20, the story of Jehoshaphat is wonderful.
[01:30:42] Really, Jehoshaphat had disobeyed the Lord
[01:30:44] and God didn't want him associating with Ahab
[01:30:47] and in the previous chapters,
[01:30:48] he had associated with Ahab.
[01:30:50] And so God basically was like, all right,
[01:30:52] you're gonna disobey me, associate with my enemy.
[01:30:56] I'm gonna back off and let the devil come.
[01:30:59] So God backs away and here come all these armies.
[01:31:01] So it says it came to pass after this
[01:31:04] that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon
[01:31:07] and beside them the Ammonites
[01:31:09] came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
[01:31:10] So even though this in the Old Testament,
[01:31:13] this was a real battle.
[01:31:14] These Ammonites, of course, some of them were Nephilim.
[01:31:16] So they were descendants of the fallen angels
[01:31:19] and the human women, the giants.
[01:31:22] But this is spiritual warfare.
[01:31:26] And so this multitude came against him.
[01:31:29] And look at verse three.
[01:31:30] It says, Jehoshaphat feared and set himself
[01:31:32] to seek the Lord and what?
[01:31:35] Proclaim to fast throughout all Judah
[01:31:37] and Judah gathered themselves together
[01:31:38] and asked help of the Lord,
[01:31:39] even out of all the cities of Judah,
[01:31:41] they came to seek the Lord.
[01:31:43] Now here's what happened.
[01:31:44] They came and sought the Lord and they fasted.
[01:31:48] And it was a corporate fast.
[01:31:49] And what happened?
[01:31:50] God speaks finally to one of the prophets
[01:31:54] and the prophet tells him,
[01:31:55] here's what you do to get out of this problem.
[01:31:59] And guess what?
[01:32:00] They did what the prophet said to do.
[01:32:02] They got out of the problem.
[01:32:04] But why did God intervene?
[01:32:05] Because they humbled themselves.
[01:32:08] They humbled themselves.
[01:32:10] They set themselves to praying and fasting.
[01:32:14] And then they said,
[01:32:15] I love the part where Jehoshaphat says,
[01:32:17] Lord, we don't know what to do.
[01:32:22] Look right here, verse 12.
[01:32:23] Oh God, wilt thou not judge them
[01:32:24] for we have no might against this great company
[01:32:26] that cometh against us.
[01:32:28] Neither know we what to do,
[01:32:31] but our eyes are upon you.
[01:32:35] Well, I tell you what,
[01:32:36] I remember one of my pastors preaching
[01:32:38] what to do when you don't know what to do.
[01:32:41] Dr. Larry Lee, I'll never forget it.
[01:32:42] What to do when you don't know what to do.
[01:32:46] Praying fast, that's what you do.
[01:32:48] Repent of your sin and your stupidity.
[01:32:52] Jehoshaphat had to repent of hanging out with Ahab.
[01:32:55] He starts confessing all their sins.
[01:32:57] Lord, we've been sinful.
[01:32:59] We've been stupid.
[01:32:59] We haven't obeyed, forgive us,
[01:33:02] have mercy on us with prayer and fasting.
[01:33:06] And we need says any humbles himself and say,
[01:33:08] God, we don't know what to do.
[01:33:10] If you don't intervene, it's over for us.
[01:33:15] And God intervened, miraculously intervened.
[01:33:19] He even turned those armies against each other.
[01:33:21] And Israel went out and he says,
[01:33:24] took them days to gather up all the spoil.
[01:33:28] All right, so let's just keep going here.
[01:33:29] We got so much to cover.
[01:33:31] Let me get through this.
[01:33:33] Now, Esther, here's another time of crisis.
[01:33:38] And you think about it.
[01:33:39] This is when Haman had made his plot
[01:33:42] and convinced the king of Persia to sign an order
[01:33:46] to kill all the Jews throughout all the provinces.
[01:33:51] This was serious.
[01:33:53] And it says here, look at this.
[01:33:54] They begin to, they just couldn't believe what happened.
[01:33:58] But look in the Esther, I love this.
[01:34:00] The people knew.
[01:34:03] He says when Mordecai perceived
[01:34:04] all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes,
[01:34:06] put on sackcloth and ashes,
[01:34:07] and went into the midst of the city
[01:34:09] and cried with a loud and bitter cry.
[01:34:11] It came even before the king's gate
[01:34:14] for none might enter into the king's gate
[01:34:16] closed sackcloth.
[01:34:17] And in every province, with or so ever,
[01:34:19] the king's commandment and his decree came,
[01:34:21] there was a great morning among the Jews and what?
[01:34:25] Fasting and weeping and wailing.
[01:34:29] And many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
[01:34:32] So you see, even when it came time for Esther
[01:34:39] to intercede before the king,
[01:34:41] what does she ask them to do?
[01:34:44] Go gather together all the Jews.
[01:34:45] Look at verse 16.
[01:34:46] This is Esther 4.16.
[01:34:47] Go gather together all the Jews
[01:34:49] that are present in Shushan
[01:34:50] and fast ye for me and neither eat nor drink
[01:34:53] three days, night or day.
[01:34:54] That's right, they didn't even drink.
[01:34:56] So three days, no more than that.
[01:34:58] Well, that was rough right there,
[01:35:00] not eating or drinking.
[01:35:01] And also my maidens will fast likewise
[01:35:04] and so will I go unto the king,
[01:35:06] which is not according to the law
[01:35:07] and if I perish, I perish.
[01:35:10] Of course, we know Queen Esther and the Jews
[01:35:12] were saved from Haman's plot,
[01:35:14] but fasting and praying was part of that.
[01:35:18] King David fasted for his dying son.
[01:35:20] Now remember, this was after he had committed adultery
[01:35:25] with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed, right?
[01:35:30] Not good.
[01:35:31] I can't even fathom this.
[01:35:34] I mean, it's easier to fathom the adultery,
[01:35:37] but the murder of her husband.
[01:35:40] Oh, not good, right?
[01:35:45] Terrible.
[01:35:47] Finally, Nathan the prophet comes and confronts David
[01:35:50] after he is taken Bathsheba to be his wife
[01:35:52] and she's pregnant.
[01:35:54] And the prophet Nathan rebuked him.
[01:35:57] And anyway, David said to Nathan,
[01:35:59] I have sinned against the Lord.
[01:36:01] And Nathan said unto David,
[01:36:02] the Lord has also put away thy sin
[01:36:04] and thou shalt not die.
[01:36:06] How be it because by this deed thou has given
[01:36:08] great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme,
[01:36:11] the child also that is born into thee shall surely die.
[01:36:14] And Nathan departed unto his house
[01:36:16] and the Lord struck the child
[01:36:17] that Uriah's wife barren to David and it was very sick.
[01:36:21] This throws out a lot of health
[01:36:24] and wealth prosperity theology right here.
[01:36:28] David therefore, besought God for the child
[01:36:31] and David fasted and went in
[01:36:32] and lay all night upon the earth
[01:36:35] and the elders of the house went to him
[01:36:36] to raise him up from the earth,
[01:36:37] but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
[01:36:40] And it came to pass on the seventh day
[01:36:42] that the child died and the servants of David
[01:36:44] feared to tell him that the child was dead.
[01:36:46] For they said, behold, while the child was yet alive,
[01:36:48] we spoken to him and he would not harken into our voice.
[01:36:51] How will then he vex himself
[01:36:52] when we tell him the child is dead?
[01:36:55] Says, but when David saw his servants whisper,
[01:36:57] David perceived that the child was dead.
[01:36:59] Therefore, David said unto his servant,
[01:37:01] is the child dead?
[01:37:02] And they said, he is dead.
[01:37:03] Then David arose from the earth and washed
[01:37:05] and anointed himself and changed his apparel
[01:37:07] and came into the house of the Lord of worship.
[01:37:09] Then he came into his own house
[01:37:11] and when he required and they set bread before him
[01:37:14] and he did eat.
[01:37:17] Then said his servants unto him,
[01:37:18] what thing is this that thou hast done?
[01:37:20] Thou did fast and weep for the child
[01:37:22] while it was yet alive.
[01:37:24] But when the child was dead,
[01:37:25] thou didst rise and eat bread.
[01:37:26] And he said, while the child was yet alive,
[01:37:28] I fasted and wept for I said,
[01:37:29] who can tell whether God will be gracious unto me
[01:37:32] that the child may live?
[01:37:34] But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?
[01:37:36] Can I bring him back again?
[01:37:38] I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
[01:37:41] Now we all know the child went to heaven.
[01:37:43] That's why David said, I will go to him.
[01:37:45] He will not return to me.
[01:37:48] But this is important
[01:37:50] because I wanted you to see
[01:37:53] that even though David admitted he had sinned
[01:37:56] and confessed his sin finally to Nathan.
[01:37:59] Yes, I've sinned against the Lord
[01:38:01] and I've sinned against all Israel.
[01:38:05] And he fasted for the child to live
[01:38:12] and God didn't answer his prayer, did he?
[01:38:16] Now, why is that?
[01:38:17] Well, the wages of sin is death.
[01:38:20] David had not only committed adultery,
[01:38:22] but he had murdered a man.
[01:38:25] And so you reap what you sow.
[01:38:28] Now the good news, the child went to heaven.
[01:38:30] The child's fine.
[01:38:31] The child went to heaven
[01:38:32] and didn't have to live in David's troubled household
[01:38:34] from that point on
[01:38:35] because he was very troubled after that.
[01:38:38] That's another thing, David's sin of adultery and murder.
[01:38:41] He said, your sin will be forgiven,
[01:38:43] but the sword will never leave your house.
[01:38:45] And it never did.
[01:38:46] But I want you to see that again,
[01:38:48] fasting is not some way we manipulate God
[01:38:50] when we get in trouble either.
[01:38:53] Sometimes we have to go on and take the medicine,
[01:38:57] the punishment, the correction, suffer the loss.
[01:39:02] See, the real question is
[01:39:03] you find out if the fasting is legit
[01:39:06] is when God says no,
[01:39:08] and he doesn't change the situation.
[01:39:09] He doesn't do the miracle.
[01:39:11] He doesn't stop the judgment or the trial.
[01:39:15] And yet David, what did he do after that?
[01:39:16] He worshiped the Lord.
[01:39:17] He didn't turn against the Lord.
[01:39:19] He understood it was his fault and he accepted that.
[01:39:24] But he said, it was worth a try.
[01:39:28] I thought maybe the Lord might be gracious
[01:39:31] unto me in this situation,
[01:39:32] but the Lord chose not to be.
[01:39:34] And again, what was the Lord teaching David through that?
[01:39:38] He was teaching David.
[01:39:39] Number one, you can't just manipulate me.
[01:39:42] Number two, your sin affects your house.
[01:39:48] Your sin affects your children.
[01:39:50] So you want things to go well, don't be doing this stuff.
[01:39:57] But this one was very important
[01:39:59] because fasting is not about manipulating God
[01:40:01] and getting what you want.
[01:40:03] In fact, Isaiah 58 says that.
[01:40:05] Talks about fasting to get what you want.
[01:40:08] New, that is not the purpose of fasting.
[01:40:12] All right, all right.
[01:40:16] Daniel nine, let's deal with this real quick.
[01:40:18] We're gonna come to a close here.
[01:40:20] Daniel set himself, and this is another thing.
[01:40:23] Like for instance, we come to critical points as a nation,
[01:40:27] maybe or as a church, as a state.
[01:40:29] Let me tell you something's going on in our state right now.
[01:40:31] They're trying to pass a bill to force vaccinations,
[01:40:35] secretly found out from the Colonel last night.
[01:40:41] We need to be praying against that.
[01:40:43] And there's some evil Republicans
[01:40:44] probably taking some money from somebody.
[01:40:48] Again, they're trying to sneak this in
[01:40:50] in one of the most conservative states in the country,
[01:40:52] trying to sneak it through.
[01:40:54] But we need to be praying against that.
[01:40:55] But Daniel here, he says this, verse two will read,
[01:40:59] in the first year of his reign,
[01:41:01] I Daniel understood by books,
[01:41:03] the number of the years
[01:41:05] wherever the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,
[01:41:06] the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years
[01:41:09] in the desolations of Jerusalem.
[01:41:11] And I set my face into the Lord
[01:41:12] to seek by prayer and supplications
[01:41:15] with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
[01:41:17] So Daniel was reading Jeremiah and realized,
[01:41:21] oh, we're at the time where God's about to move.
[01:41:26] He said, we're only going to be here for 70 years.
[01:41:28] Something's about to change.
[01:41:29] He was coming to a critical mass, critical time.
[01:41:34] And I love this, even though Daniel knew
[01:41:36] the prophecy was good that they would be released
[01:41:39] from Babylonian captivity and be allowed to go back.
[01:41:42] Daniel had enough wisdom to know,
[01:41:44] that doesn't mean everything's going to go smoothly.
[01:41:47] That doesn't mean everything's going to be easy.
[01:41:49] So I'm going to set myself to prayer and fasting
[01:41:53] and seeking God and humbling myself
[01:41:55] and repenting for our God.
[01:41:57] Daniel, that's why Daniel,
[01:41:58] that's why the Lord said Daniel was one of his
[01:42:01] greatly beloved because he understood,
[01:42:05] don't take anything for granted.
[01:42:10] And Daniel prayed through this.
[01:42:11] Now, of course, after that season of prayer and fasting,
[01:42:16] Gabriel shows up and gives Daniel a full revelation
[01:42:19] of what's going to happen in the last days.
[01:42:20] It's awesome.
[01:42:21] We don't have time for that.
[01:42:23] But here we get, and of course,
[01:42:28] I don't know churches do this.
[01:42:29] There's churches, there's these mega churches.
[01:42:31] Oh, I'm going to drink some coffee every year in January.
[01:42:40] These mega churches do a 21 day.
[01:42:43] And they say, you can do a Daniel's fast for 21 days.
[01:42:45] You just eat vegetables and pulse, right?
[01:42:51] Okay, I'm going to say it again.
[01:42:53] Fasting means not eating.
[01:42:57] There's no such thing as a fast where you eat.
[01:42:59] All right, please understand that.
[01:43:04] And referring to what Daniel did in Daniel three
[01:43:07] with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
[01:43:09] when they said that we're not going to eat the king's meat.
[01:43:12] It was nothing about being vegetarians nonsense.
[01:43:16] It was nothing about,
[01:43:18] it wasn't a partial fast.
[01:43:20] It was they were not going to contaminate themselves
[01:43:22] with meat that was been sacrificed to idols.
[01:43:24] And they were,
[01:43:25] they were putting a difference between them
[01:43:28] and the other Babylonian,
[01:43:30] Calvian wise men and children that were in training, right?
[01:43:35] So that again, it's not a fast.
[01:43:37] These people have turned this so-called Daniel's fast.
[01:43:40] It's really a diet.
[01:43:42] And it also pushes veganism, which is not biblical.
[01:43:44] Veganism is not biblical.
[01:43:47] I'm gonna say that again.
[01:43:49] God in this time period, we are not vegetarians.
[01:43:55] God, I mean, I remember the Passover,
[01:43:59] they were to kill a lamb and he said,
[01:44:01] eat all of it before morning.
[01:44:04] The Passover was all about eating meat.
[01:44:07] God had the ravens bring prophet Elijah meat,
[01:44:11] the flesh, right?
[01:44:14] Abraham loved venison, right?
[01:44:18] I mean, we could go down the list.
[01:44:20] We know Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples,
[01:44:23] and we know he ate fish.
[01:44:25] Jesus ate meat.
[01:44:26] The Bible says that false religions and cults
[01:44:29] will command you to abstain from meat.
[01:44:31] It's not complicated.
[01:44:33] Now, even science is agreeing that you need fat,
[01:44:37] meat, fat in your brain for it to work right.
[01:44:40] This is why all these false demonic religions
[01:44:43] and all this error about this,
[01:44:45] they don't want you to eat meat
[01:44:46] because they want to be able to control your brain,
[01:44:50] but I'm gonna get more on that later.
[01:44:52] But, so a fasting Daniel here, people said,
[01:44:56] well he says, in those days, Daniel,
[01:44:58] I was mourning full three weeks.
[01:45:00] I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh
[01:45:03] nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all
[01:45:05] till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
[01:45:09] Folks, when he says fasting, right?
[01:45:13] When he says mourning there,
[01:45:15] mourning was always related to fasting.
[01:45:17] When he says I ate no pleasant bread,
[01:45:18] what did we find out last night?
[01:45:21] That just means he didn't eat food.
[01:45:24] Food is looked at as wonderful.
[01:45:26] Yes, it's wonderful to eat.
[01:45:28] It's pleasant to eat.
[01:45:29] Isn't it good when you get hungry and you get to eat?
[01:45:31] That's pleasant.
[01:45:32] It's in talking about eating.
[01:45:33] People make up stuff that does not exist.
[01:45:35] Oh, that just means you shouldn't eat cake and sweets.
[01:45:38] Where are you getting that from?
[01:45:40] It doesn't say that.
[01:45:43] And people are like, oh, it's a Daniel fast,
[01:45:45] so I eat no pleasant food.
[01:45:50] But you're stuffing yourself with beans and carrots
[01:45:52] and potatoes and yeah, it becomes all focused on
[01:45:58] what you can eat.
[01:46:01] What can I eat?
[01:46:02] That's not a fast.
[01:46:05] You're not mourning.
[01:46:06] You're trying to figure out what you can eat.
[01:46:10] Let me tell you the reason I know this was a fast.
[01:46:12] Because by the end of it, Daniel was so weak
[01:46:16] that he couldn't stand.
[01:46:18] That's 21 day fast.
[01:46:19] I can tell you that right now.
[01:46:22] I've done it and I've been there.
[01:46:24] So he says there, verse eight,
[01:46:27] therefore I was left alone, saw this great vision
[01:46:30] and there remained no strength in me
[01:46:32] for my comingness was turned into corruption
[01:46:34] and I retain no strength.
[01:46:36] Now I'll tell you, there was some neat things
[01:46:37] and you know, of course, Gabriel appears
[01:46:40] and Daniel's trembling and he's weak,
[01:46:43] but God starts giving him revelation and understanding.
[01:46:46] I'll share this.
[01:46:48] This is really cool.
[01:46:51] When I was on the 21 day fast,
[01:46:54] and I remember the first like 10 days was amazing.
[01:47:00] I couldn't believe how good I felt on day eight.
[01:47:04] And it was on day eight that, and this is true.
[01:47:07] If you're fasting for the right reason,
[01:47:09] you're obeying the Lord.
[01:47:11] And this was a specific called,
[01:47:13] God called me on this fast.
[01:47:16] But on day eight, this is what's wild.
[01:47:18] I'm fasting and the Lord begins to speak to me
[01:47:22] and show me, y'all seen the message
[01:47:26] that I've done on the 10 virgins, right?
[01:47:29] All right, the 10 virgins and the parable of the talents.
[01:47:32] And I wrote about them in grace abuse,
[01:47:33] but that whole revelation came.
[01:47:36] I'm sitting in a chair just by myself on day eight.
[01:47:40] And this whole revelation of what these parables mean
[01:47:43] and how to break them down and how to teach them
[01:47:44] comes to me.
[01:47:46] And I write it all down and the Lord says to me,
[01:47:50] you're going to preach these messages
[01:47:52] in a particular church.
[01:47:53] Now, I was in Montgomery at the time.
[01:47:56] You're going to preach these at a church in Montgomery
[01:47:58] that I had never even, I mean,
[01:47:59] here in Auburn at the time,
[01:48:01] that I had never even set foot in.
[01:48:03] I didn't know the pastor.
[01:48:05] I didn't know anybody that went to the church,
[01:48:06] but I knew of the church and the Lord said,
[01:48:08] you're going to preach this message in that church.
[01:48:13] I'm like, okay, wrote that down.
[01:48:19] So go on through the fast and whatever and get done.
[01:48:21] At the end of the fast, right?
[01:48:24] We're still doing Bible studies here and there.
[01:48:26] People are getting saved.
[01:48:27] I come back here, people getting saved all over the place.
[01:48:31] So I get a phone call from the pastor of that church
[01:48:36] asking me to come and preach there
[01:48:39] because they're looking for a youth pastor
[01:48:40] and to come try out as the youth pastor.
[01:48:42] So I went at the very end of that fast,
[01:48:45] the Lord said, go do that.
[01:48:47] So I went and I didn't preach it at that initial thing.
[01:48:52] But then they asked me to be the youth pastor.
[01:48:53] Well, long story short, I was only there for two months
[01:48:55] before God showed me everything that was going on there.
[01:48:57] It was for another reason.
[01:48:59] But during that two months,
[01:49:01] the youth group went from like 12 to over 60.
[01:49:03] I mean, kids were getting saved like crazy.
[01:49:05] Parents were telling me, my children asked me,
[01:49:08] how do I get saved?
[01:49:08] How do I, what do I do?
[01:49:11] I mean, kids were being coming under conviction.
[01:49:13] I mean, it was just a powerful time.
[01:49:15] It was during that time that, you know,
[01:49:19] I was baptizing kids and I left and right
[01:49:22] and it was just, it was wonderful.
[01:49:24] It was a revival time, really was, right?
[01:49:27] So something happened.
[01:49:29] I remember the pastor was not gonna be there or whatever.
[01:49:32] So he asked me to preach on a Sunday morning.
[01:49:36] And by this time, because they had heard
[01:49:38] what was going on with the youth group,
[01:49:39] a lot more people started coming.
[01:49:40] So there's about 150 people
[01:49:42] that showed up that Sunday morning.
[01:49:44] It was packed out.
[01:49:46] And I remember the Lord said,
[01:49:48] I want you to preach on the 10 virgins
[01:49:52] and the parable of talent.
[01:49:54] The very message he told me,
[01:49:55] you're gonna preach in that church.
[01:49:57] That's the only Sunday service I preach.
[01:49:59] Gave an altar call.
[01:50:00] All these people came for weeping, crying.
[01:50:03] But that was the service and the woman in that service,
[01:50:07] her and her husband got saved, the one that was deaf
[01:50:09] and she's the one that got healed.
[01:50:13] And of course, then the Lord had me leave
[01:50:15] and get out of there
[01:50:15] because the leaders were wolves in sheep's clothing,
[01:50:18] but that's another story.
[01:50:20] But this is something else to understand.
[01:50:23] Extended fast are if, again,
[01:50:26] if you're obeying the Lord are gonna be seasons
[01:50:30] where either God's gonna intervene in a situation
[01:50:36] that he needs to intervene like he did
[01:50:37] with Jehoshaphat, with Esther.
[01:50:42] For instance, so the Lord had me,
[01:50:43] I'll tell you this story.
[01:50:44] I remember the Lord told me like this was like in 90,
[01:50:48] maybe 98, 99, I'd have to go back and look.
[01:50:51] But I remember the Lord said,
[01:50:52] I want you to fast for 10 days.
[01:50:54] And this is when I was going
[01:50:55] to the Brownsville Revival regularly.
[01:50:58] And in fact, I was scheduled to go down during my fast.
[01:51:01] So like on day seven, I think of my fast,
[01:51:04] I went to, no, no, it was like day five.
[01:51:10] I went, it was a weekend and I went
[01:51:12] to the Brownsville Revival.
[01:51:14] And when I got there,
[01:51:15] I found out that John Kilpatrick had been,
[01:51:18] he was in the process of building a house in Pensacola.
[01:51:22] He's the pastor of the church during the revival.
[01:51:25] And he was walking on some unfinished building
[01:51:30] that at this point had a spot
[01:51:32] that was like three floors up.
[01:51:35] He fell and broke his hip.
[01:51:39] And I mean, he ruptured.
[01:51:41] I think he ruptured.
[01:51:43] I don't know, he messed himself up.
[01:51:45] I mean, he was, and I remember the Lord telling me
[01:51:50] that I was in the middle of that fast
[01:51:54] that I had you fasting for him
[01:51:57] because I knew that the Lord was like,
[01:51:59] the devil was going to try to take him out.
[01:52:01] And though he still fell and was messed up for a while,
[01:52:07] he didn't die.
[01:52:07] And it was the plan was for him to die.
[01:52:10] And the Lord showed me, said you,
[01:52:11] I had you fasting for him.
[01:52:13] And I didn't know that, that wasn't planned.
[01:52:15] So what I'm saying is the Lord,
[01:52:17] when he tells you to go on a fast,
[01:52:19] a lot of times it's to intervene in a situation.
[01:52:21] Also though, I came back from Brownsville
[01:52:25] and it was like I had tried,
[01:52:26] the Lord had told me to write grace abuse
[01:52:28] and I was really having a struggle,
[01:52:29] even trying to get started.
[01:52:32] And I would sit down and try
[01:52:33] and it was like I had this weird block.
[01:52:36] But on day seven, didn't plan it.
[01:52:40] It was like this breakthrough.
[01:52:42] I sat down and typed out the first three chapters
[01:52:44] like it was nothing.
[01:52:45] And it was like from then on, I could do it.
[01:52:48] And that actually set the precedent on how I write books,
[01:52:52] the way God showed me that works for me.
[01:52:55] So that was a good thing.
[01:52:59] I was able to obey the Lord out of that.
[01:53:00] So I wanna say this, the Lord told me another time,
[01:53:03] like I want you to fast seven days.
[01:53:05] There's something I wanna show you.
[01:53:08] So I was obeying him and on the fifth day
[01:53:10] is when God said to me, read Matthew 24.
[01:53:15] You've heard me tell the story many times.
[01:53:17] Read Matthew, read it five times.
[01:53:19] And finally, the revelation clicked, I understood.
[01:53:22] The rapture is at the end, not the beginning
[01:53:24] of the last seven years, the tribulation period.
[01:53:28] And that was the beginning of that.
[01:53:29] And so what I'm saying is,
[01:53:30] it's like you will break through darkness.
[01:53:34] You'll break through things that you may not have
[01:53:37] understanding of, that God wants to give you understanding.
[01:53:39] There's just so many things that comes with fasting.
[01:53:43] And sometimes you won't always know the purpose
[01:53:46] of why God wants you to fast.
[01:53:49] Like a lot of times it is just to get the flesh
[01:53:50] under control.
[01:53:52] But there's times of crisis or there's times,
[01:53:55] there's crisis that are coming
[01:53:57] that you need to be prepared for.
[01:54:01] But also it just opens the door for revelation
[01:54:05] and understanding from God about things.
[01:54:07] So anyway, we gotta hurry.
[01:54:13] These are just more verses.
[01:54:14] I'm gonna go through this right here.
[01:54:17] Y'all can read all those later.
[01:54:20] Of course, they were sending out Paul and Barnabas
[01:54:22] as they ministered to the Lord and fasted,
[01:54:23] the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Paul and Barnabas.
[01:54:25] So prayer and fasting is also how you find
[01:54:29] the will of God, seasons of prayer, fasting.
[01:54:31] And God will speak to you about his will
[01:54:33] and direction for your life.
[01:54:36] And when they had fasted and prayed,
[01:54:37] they laid hands on them and sent them out.
[01:54:39] Here Paul, he says, giving no offense in anything
[01:54:42] that the ministry be not blamed,
[01:54:44] but in all things, approving ourselves as ministers of God
[01:54:47] in much patience and afflictions and necessities
[01:54:49] and distresses and stripes and imprisonments
[01:54:52] and tumult, labors and watchings in fasting.
[01:54:56] You're not gonna prove yourself as a minister of God
[01:55:00] unless you are one that fast.
[01:55:03] Harry talks about it.
[01:55:04] He goes, he was being accused
[01:55:07] of not being a true man of God.
[01:55:08] And he said, are they ministers of Christ?
[01:55:11] I speak as a fool, I am more.
[01:55:13] Imagine if I said that, I'd be in so much trouble.
[01:55:15] I'd get so much hate mail.
[01:55:17] And labors more abundant and stripes above measure
[01:55:20] and prisons more frequent and deaths off of the Jews.
[01:55:22] Five times I received 40 stripes, save one.
[01:55:25] I mean, he goes down through it all
[01:55:26] and then he says in weariness, verse 27,
[01:55:28] painfulness and watchings often in hunger and thirst
[01:55:31] in fasting often.
[01:55:35] I mean, he wasn't talking about hunger and thirst
[01:55:36] was another thing.
[01:55:37] Hunger and thirst is when you want food, but there is none.
[01:55:40] Fasting is when you choose not to eat, right?
[01:55:44] And he said fasting often.
[01:55:46] A lot of people say, Paul didn't talk about fasting.
[01:55:49] Why should he have to?
[01:55:52] He said, I do it often.
[01:55:54] It was pretty well understood from the Old Testament
[01:55:57] to the New Testament, how important it was, right?
[01:56:01] And that's it.
[01:56:02] I've already given you the practical guidelines.
[01:56:04] No 40 days, drink something.
[01:56:09] I wouldn't even do the three days, no watering, no drink.
[01:56:12] I mean, no food, that's pretty rough on your body.
[01:56:16] Unless God specifically said it
[01:56:18] and you knew for sure it was him.
[01:56:20] But you should fast from time to time.
[01:56:23] Listen, and don't think,
[01:56:25] some people get into the mistake of thinking, okay, well,
[01:56:28] I'm only gonna fast if God tells me to.
[01:56:31] No, you need to choose to fast sometimes, all right?
[01:56:35] But there will be seasons where he will tell you
[01:56:38] to go on specific fast.
[01:56:39] You need to do both.
[01:56:41] All right, so do that.
[01:56:42] And the fruit of it, listen,
[01:56:46] the fruit of it will be evident in your life.
[01:56:48] It really will.
[01:56:49] You will store up some things in heaven
[01:56:52] that you will get to cash out and use.
[01:56:56] And it'll be because of fasting and prayer
[01:57:00] and because you obeyed, okay?
[01:57:04] All right, so I'm gonna quit now.
[01:57:06] How long was that?
[01:57:08] Two hours, I figured it would be.
[01:57:12] All right, well, let's pray.
[01:57:12] I wanna pray for you guys.
[01:57:13] Father in heaven, I pray right now for our students.
[01:57:16] I thank you for our students
[01:57:19] in Fire and Grace School of Ministry.
[01:57:20] I thank you for what you've done in their lives already
[01:57:24] and God, what you're going to do.
[01:57:26] Make them men and women of God
[01:57:28] who understand the importance of fasting and prayer
[01:57:31] and seeking you and obeying you
[01:57:33] and bringing the flesh under control
[01:57:34] and not letting the flesh overwhelm them and defeat them.
[01:57:40] Lord, they truly, they would be people
[01:57:41] who the sins of the flesh and the desires
[01:57:45] and lusts of the flesh would not reign over them.
[01:57:48] Lord, that they would be people
[01:57:49] who would be prepared for specific battles
[01:57:52] the devil wants to bring, attacks,
[01:57:55] that they would already be prepared
[01:57:57] by listening to you and fasting and praying.
[01:58:00] And Lord, I know that you're gonna do
[01:58:01] great and mighty things with this.
[01:58:03] Lord, I ask you to move upon our students
[01:58:06] and move them to fast and pray more
[01:58:09] the rest of this semester and the rest of this year
[01:58:12] and especially as we approach the conference
[01:58:15] and the graduation in the summer
[01:58:17] and the conference in the fall
[01:58:19] to be fasting and praying for this ministry,
[01:58:22] this church, for me, for our staff
[01:58:26] and our church family so that your anointing
[01:58:30] and power will continue to flow
[01:58:32] and your strength will continue to flow.
[01:58:34] And Lord, bless them in a mighty way,
[01:58:37] use them in a mighty way.
[01:58:39] And I pray it all in Jesus' name, amen.
[01:58:43] All right, God bless.