1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,320 Hello Go Church family, I'm Lara and I'm here with Pastor Matt Hatubah, and Gilbert. 2 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,240 Hello everyone. 3 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,520 We're so excited to be back here for week two of The Fasted Life. 4 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:24,840 Has it been fun so far? 5 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:25,840 I'm enjoying it. 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,720 Yes, very much. 7 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:32,880 It's an amazing subject and it's like everything else, I always say this, but it's so applicable. 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:39,360 I mean, it's something that we can always apply and use and allow it to really enhance 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,240 our walk with the Lord. 10 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,880 I'm glad that we talked about the meaning of fasting, that we spent some time in our 11 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:55,200 grow groups really digging into the discussion last week about Jesus and the temptation of 12 00:00:55,200 --> 00:01:03,000 Jesus and how fasting played a part in these exchanges between him and the devil. 13 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:10,640 I find it really interesting that the fasting was such a big component. 14 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:16,820 Well, notice we didn't talk about this in the podcast, but probably you got into it 15 00:01:16,820 --> 00:01:17,820 in your grow groups. 16 00:01:17,820 --> 00:01:28,800 You see, the challenge of the temptation was all about identity. 17 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:39,080 Fasting put Jesus in a place to respond to temptation from his true identity, not be 18 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:46,760 drawn into the natural, which is something that you said that very well last week. 19 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:54,360 I would say that the same thing is true for us as we turn the voice of our flesh down, 20 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,760 as we turn the voice of this world down. 21 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:02,100 I love that verse in first John of love, not the world or the things of this world. 22 00:02:02,100 --> 00:02:05,960 We change and we move our focus on to his things. 23 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:14,480 We can respond to the events of life from a place of our identity, our second Corinthians 24 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:20,640 521 identity, our second Corinthians 517 identity. 25 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:27,920 If you don't know what those verses say, look them up, read them for yourself because you 26 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:30,080 need that as your identity. 27 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:36,640 Those should be your identity cards, second Corinthians 517, second Corinthians 521. 28 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:40,880 Yeah, that's really good. 29 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:46,840 Like we talked about last week, those things are already done for you. 30 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:48,720 These are already finished works. 31 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:50,400 Jesus already paid the price. 32 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:57,480 Jesus already took his blood up into heaven, into the most holy place. 33 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:02,080 He finished all his work and sat down at the right hand of God. 34 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:10,120 The fact is everything else is now our responsibility to walk in and to know and to grow in. 35 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,240 Everything helps us grow into these things. 36 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:23,680 A couple of months ago, Pastor Tokes was with us from Abuja, Nigeria and he is the director 37 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,200 of REMA in Nigeria. 38 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:27,760 He made a comment to me. 39 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:43,240 He said, there is no one more blessed in the earth today than someone in Christ. 40 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:44,240 That's true. 41 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:45,240 Yeah. 42 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,120 That is what the Bible says. 43 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:54,680 Ephesians chapter one verse three says, I have been blessed with all spiritual blessings 44 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,500 in heavenly places in Christ. 45 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:04,720 There is no one more blessed than anyone in Christ. 46 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:05,960 Amen. 47 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:06,960 That's right. 48 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:08,360 That's good, isn't it? 49 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:09,360 That's amazing. 50 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:11,520 He is such a blessing. 51 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:13,880 Praise the Lord. 52 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:15,880 So let me read out the purpose of this series. 53 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,560 I think it's important that we visit it every once in a while and remember what we want 54 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:25,220 to get out of this series and the word of God in this series. 55 00:04:25,220 --> 00:04:28,840 So Laura, could you read the purpose for them all? 56 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:30,660 Yes, sir. 57 00:04:30,660 --> 00:04:35,640 We want the Go Church family to understand the power and place of fasting in their lives 58 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,720 and to recognize that we live a fasted life before God as a church. 59 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:41,720 That's so good. 60 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:43,440 Praise the Lord. 61 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:49,260 So we want to develop and we want to be able to live a fasted life before God. 62 00:04:49,260 --> 00:04:53,360 So this is not something that we want to do once, we want to do in January, we're going 63 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,920 to try to do for a month if we fail two weeks in. 64 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,600 We're not talking about fasting as a New Year's resolution. 65 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,440 We're talking about fasting as a lifestyle. 66 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:10,560 A lifestyle that we can grow in from now and practice from now and keep exercising so that 67 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:18,560 we see the fruit, the rewards of our lifestyle that we chose to commit to the Lord. 68 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:23,560 So last week we talked about the meaning of fasting. 69 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,120 In week two we're going to talk about the method of fasting. 70 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:33,040 And the reason we want to talk about it is because I'm sure many of us still have many 71 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:38,840 questions about what it looks like, when do I do it, how do I do it, am I doing it wrong, 72 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:43,300 can I do it wrong or am I doing it right? 73 00:05:43,300 --> 00:05:46,400 Can I do this again another time if this works well? 74 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:51,560 Like I'm sure we have tons of questions about this and hopefully today we get to answer 75 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:57,660 some of those questions and maybe give you some practical application points about how 76 00:05:57,660 --> 00:05:59,360 you can pick it up right now. 77 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:00,360 Yeah. 78 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:12,080 I think one point that I want to make is the internet is largely beneficial or at least 79 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:20,760 it could be, but there are some things on the internet that I don't think are very helpful. 80 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:26,140 But the one thing that I could say is the internet is not the Bible. 81 00:06:26,140 --> 00:06:35,760 And so what we know or what we practice about fasting should come from the word of God and 82 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:41,320 not from something.com. 83 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,560 And here's what I mean by that. 84 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:52,700 There you might find someone that is teaching, well, if you want direction, then you need 85 00:06:52,700 --> 00:06:55,140 to do this kind of fast. 86 00:06:55,140 --> 00:07:01,700 If you want to have victory in your life over bad habits, then you need to do this kind 87 00:07:01,700 --> 00:07:03,060 of fast. 88 00:07:03,060 --> 00:07:13,280 And here's the reality is everything that God did in Christ, he did by grace. 89 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:19,760 And if I'm going to receive what he has done for me in Christ, then I'm going to receive 90 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,300 it by faith, not by fasting. 91 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:30,960 So like that's what we talked about last week, fasting doesn't earn me something from him, 92 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:36,400 but fasting does help me change me. 93 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,580 It is one of these good works. 94 00:07:38,580 --> 00:07:45,840 It is one of these godly things that I can do that has a reward for me. 95 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:53,840 And in the break, we were talking just among the three of us and Laura, you mentioned a 96 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,160 little bit about fasting. 97 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,240 You made a comment that was kind of funny. 98 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:05,440 You said, it seems like maybe sometimes when I thought I was fasting, I wasn't, it was 99 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:06,600 just dieting. 100 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:12,280 And I think that that's an important point to make because that's true. 101 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:18,640 If we're talking a little bit last week, especially we talked a little bit about what fasting 102 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:23,760 meant and we talked about saying no to things, but it needs to be replaced with something 103 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,200 else and it needs to be replaced with something spiritual. 104 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,280 Yeah. 105 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,880 So Laura, how about you share what you were mentioning? 106 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:34,960 Because I think there's two sides to the story. 107 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:40,680 And on one side you said like that there are things that you thought you were doing that 108 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:44,800 were fasting that were not, but then you realize on the flip side that there are things that 109 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,280 you were doing, but you didn't realize that that was fasting. 110 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:48,280 Right. 111 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,480 So why don't you share a little bit? 112 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,440 First of all, I love fasting helps me change me. 113 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:55,440 Yeah. 114 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:56,840 That's amazing. 115 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:06,560 So yes, looking back, I've started fasts and like called them out as fasting, but looking 116 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:11,440 back now they were just diets because I didn't finish them first. 117 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:17,440 Second, I wasn't like replacing anything, just cutting off food and there was no prayer 118 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:18,440 involved. 119 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,040 So that's a no-no. 120 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:31,640 But again, last year I can say that I have replaced a lot of bad habits and things that 121 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:36,760 took me away from the Lord and replaced them with fasting, like, sorry, with praying and 122 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:43,160 meditating on the word, spending time, learning more, getting to know God more, growing in 123 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,280 my relationship with the Lord. 124 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,440 But I didn't call it fasting at the time. 125 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:54,720 Now I'm like listening to you and learning through the Grow Group and this series that 126 00:09:54,720 --> 00:10:00,400 now I fasted, so I know what to do now and call it fasting. 127 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:01,400 Praise God. 128 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,280 And the reward was there was a change in me. 129 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:05,280 Yeah. 130 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:06,280 That's pretty good. 131 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:07,280 Yeah. 132 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:08,280 That's awesome. 133 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:09,280 Praise God. 134 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:10,280 And I love that. 135 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,080 I love that you shared that. 136 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:20,240 There's a great friend to Go Church Beirut and to all of us, his name is Pastor Tom Cromwell. 137 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:25,640 I know that you got to meet the Cromwells when we were in Turkey last year. 138 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:27,000 Pastor Tom made a comment. 139 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,200 It was very profound. 140 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:35,760 He said, if you want to be spiritually healthy, do spiritual things today. 141 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:40,020 Do spiritually healthy things today. 142 00:10:40,020 --> 00:10:45,760 Last week we were talking about documentaries about mountains, Gilbert's Netflix habit. 143 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,080 And I'm joking. 144 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,080 I know. 145 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:51,080 I wasn't so. 146 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:59,160 I noticed though, if you watch, I'm not a mountain climber, but if you watch these shows 147 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,240 about mountain climbers, all of them start at the bottom. 148 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:04,920 It's true. 149 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,900 Which is like obvious, but kind of profound. 150 00:11:09,900 --> 00:11:12,300 Because they have a pretty clear goal. 151 00:11:12,300 --> 00:11:19,640 The goal is to reach the summit and they start at the opposite of the summit. 152 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:25,040 But all of them that keep going, make it. 153 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,280 And if they don't keep going, maybe something prevents them. 154 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:33,640 Like in the case of a mountain, it's a weather storm or whatever that makes for an interesting 155 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:34,640 documentary. 156 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:42,080 The formula for success for mountain climbing is keep going higher. 157 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,560 And spiritually, it's that same way. 158 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:54,660 Fasting helps me change me by making room in my life for more spiritual things. 159 00:11:54,660 --> 00:12:04,480 So if I say no to my flesh on a given thing, let's say cookies. 160 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:05,480 Because I like cookies. 161 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:06,480 I thought it was going to be gelato. 162 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:07,480 I'm so disappointed. 163 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:08,480 Okay, let's say gelato. 164 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:14,320 Gelato is easy to say no to in January though, because it's closed. 165 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:21,880 But if I tell myself no, if I tell my flesh no, I abstain from something and then I do 166 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,640 what Laura said, I replace it with a spiritual practice. 167 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:27,680 What am I doing? 168 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:34,880 I'm taking steps that are moving me toward my goal, and I may have not arrived there 169 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:39,600 at the ultimate goal today, but I am on my way. 170 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,520 If I want to be spiritually healthy, I need to do spiritually healthy things today. 171 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:45,520 Today. 172 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:46,520 That's so good. 173 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:47,520 Praise the Lord. 174 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:54,960 You know, I like something that you were mentioning at the beginning about not applying certain 175 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:56,600 formulas in this thing. 176 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:58,680 And I agree with that. 177 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:06,480 And it makes so much sense to me because the way God created us is he created individuals, 178 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,040 you know, with individual, I don't say strengths and weaknesses. 179 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,320 He never designed for us to have weaknesses. 180 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,920 He designed to fill all those gaps, you know? 181 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,480 But the fact is we learn to like things. 182 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,080 We learn to focus on things. 183 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:26,160 We learn to hide when things get tough in certain ways and hide behind things. 184 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,040 In certain ways. 185 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:29,600 And the reality, we're all individuals. 186 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:39,600 And what I need to absolutely say no to, so what seems like crucifying the flesh for someone 187 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,120 else is just like, oh, I actually enjoy salad. 188 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:49,160 So this is, you know, this is not really me cutting out, like me fasting, me, you know, 189 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,480 specifically abstaining from something and seeking the Lord in it. 190 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,120 It's just, it doesn't work the same way. 191 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:02,960 And the fact is I have certain tendencies that would require a lot more fasting, which 192 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,360 like I mentioned last week, I would really need to cut things out for the sake of my 193 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,600 soul or the sake of my emotions or the sake of where my mind takes me. 194 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:20,440 And that these are things that are a lot more of a negative influence in my life that would 195 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:26,800 easily draw me away from the truth of God's word or from, you know, from spending time 196 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,540 in His plan and His purpose for my life. 197 00:14:29,540 --> 00:14:32,960 So as individuals, we require different things. 198 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:40,640 So it almost doesn't, you know, it's not logical that we would just subscribe to a formula 199 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:42,000 or what someone else did. 200 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,120 I will do the same thing. 201 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,080 It doesn't work because you need specific things. 202 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:52,120 So let's go a little bit further in the method of fasting. 203 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:53,780 And let me ask this question. 204 00:14:53,780 --> 00:14:57,360 How are we supposed to fast? 205 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:08,320 Well, I would say I'll pick up on something that we said last week, and that is we choose 206 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:16,640 something, we choose something that ministers to our flesh specifically. 207 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:21,280 When I say flesh, you know, you're saying soul. 208 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:35,200 It's this part of ourselves that is yet unrenewed and needs to be put under and so that we become 209 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:36,800 spirit dominant. 210 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:44,960 And so I would say the first thing that we would want to look at is, and what I'm doing, 211 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,840 making me more spiritually aware. 212 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,400 Is it making me more aware of the things of God? 213 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:59,440 Is it making me more focused and concentrated on what the Lord's telling me to do? 214 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:07,440 Or the Lord is instructing me to have Lord's instructing me to act or to put it in Paul's 215 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:08,680 words. 216 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,080 Is this making me walk worthy of His calling? 217 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,880 Yeah, that's really good. 218 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:25,200 I want to go to a scripture in Matthew chapter 6 verses 16 through to 18, which is actually 219 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:32,400 the scripture that we're going to talk about in our Bible Bible illustration or discussion 220 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,880 during our grow groups this week. 221 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,520 And I'm not going to read the whole the whole passage right now, because we'll get back 222 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,600 to it towards the end. 223 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:50,200 But the first three words, Jesus says, when you fast, and then he starts giving instructions, 224 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:56,600 but he doesn't really give instructions about fasting or what you're supposed to fast on 225 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:01,680 or how long you're supposed to fast or, you know, he gives instructions about how you're 226 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:08,360 supposed to handle yourself, especially in front of others while you are fasting. 227 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:12,920 And there are things that you can pick up from what Jesus says, and there are things 228 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,640 you pick up from what he doesn't say. 229 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:21,180 And the fact is, he says when you fast, and he's expecting us to fast, he's expecting 230 00:17:21,180 --> 00:17:24,000 us not to make this a one time event. 231 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,120 He's not saying when you fast at the beginning of the year or the end of the year, but he 232 00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:33,400 says when you fast, this is something that we're supposed to do frequently, regularly. 233 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:38,640 It's something that we're not really supposed to disconnect from. 234 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:47,360 And there is no hard and fast rule about what we're supposed to fast on, how long we're 235 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:49,320 supposed to fast. 236 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,400 You know, obviously, these are things that the Lord will lead us into. 237 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,320 But ultimately, we are supposed to fast. 238 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,160 Yeah, let's look at that a little more detail. 239 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:13,000 In Matthew 6, there are three things specifically that Jesus opens up to us with this phrase, 240 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:14,000 when you. 241 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:23,800 You know, so it starts in verse 1 and 2, when you give. 242 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:31,040 Verse 5, when you pray, and then verse 16, when you fast. 243 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:37,640 Because there's not a specific fast that is mandated in the New Testament. 244 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:39,800 What do I mean? 245 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:45,240 There's not a thing that says on the eighth Tuesday of every quarter, you should fast 246 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:46,240 lunch. 247 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:47,240 Okay. 248 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:53,120 So that, because that rule is not there, some people have gotten the idea that fasting is 249 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:56,480 for some people, it's not really for me. 250 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:57,880 I have low blood sugar. 251 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,400 I have to eat all the time. 252 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:06,480 That's probably why you have low blood sugar. 253 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:13,600 But actually, fasting is included with giving, which is very godly and very much part of 254 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:14,880 the Christian life. 255 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:15,880 Yay. 256 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:16,880 Say amen. 257 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:17,880 Amen. 258 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:19,160 And prayer. 259 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,240 And prayer is a godly thing. 260 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,160 We should pray. 261 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,000 It's not like, well, praying is for somebody. 262 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,480 You know, people like Laura, they're called to pray. 263 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,640 Me, I don't know, not so much. 264 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:36,640 No. 265 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,920 Prayer is something that every Christ follower should do. 266 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,740 Give is something that every Christ follower should do. 267 00:19:45,740 --> 00:19:50,360 And fast is something that every Christ follower should do. 268 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:51,360 When? 269 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:59,280 Well, Jesus presents it as it is part of our life. 270 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:06,920 So his instruction is not when to do it, but when you do it, do it like this. 271 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,360 Don't do it like this. 272 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:10,680 The same thing with giving. 273 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:12,800 When you do it, do it like this. 274 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:13,800 Don't do it like this. 275 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:15,460 When you pray, do it like this. 276 00:20:15,460 --> 00:20:17,200 Don't do it like this. 277 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:24,160 So the implication is it should be happening all the time. 278 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:30,560 And because it's happening all the time, make sure you're not doing it like this. 279 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:36,000 It's something that will happen naturally in our lifestyle as believers. 280 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,040 Right, which is something that you were saying. 281 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:42,360 Like you didn't take time to call a fast. 282 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:48,440 You didn't even necessarily recognize that what you were doing was fasting, but you see 283 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:53,400 now in the light of this study, it's what you were doing. 284 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,720 And it's something you would want to do. 285 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,720 It's not forced. 286 00:20:58,720 --> 00:20:59,720 Yeah. 287 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:06,400 I like that Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 14, that whatever you do that is not 288 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,320 of faith is sin. 289 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:14,440 And the reality is that we're supposed to fast in faith. 290 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:21,720 We're supposed to believe that this is something that at this point is standing, or this is 291 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:28,560 an aspect of my flesh or an aspect of my soul, which is now superseding the things of the 292 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:29,840 spirit. 293 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:37,860 And I am deliberately demoting these things today because I want my spirit to supersede 294 00:21:37,860 --> 00:21:39,360 these other things. 295 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:44,480 And so it's not, like I mentioned, it's not limited to food. 296 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,960 And in my case, it's not like food is my stumbling block. 297 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:55,980 I mean, it's not like if I go, I've done keto and I've done no sugar and it doesn't make 298 00:21:55,980 --> 00:21:56,980 me feel spiritual. 299 00:21:56,980 --> 00:22:00,760 It makes me feel miserable, is what it is. 300 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:06,900 And the reality is like those were diets. 301 00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:08,500 Those were not done in faith. 302 00:22:08,500 --> 00:22:15,640 And I will go a step further and say that in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through to 303 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:20,760 3 Paul says this, now the spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart 304 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:25,920 from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and 305 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:31,400 hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding 306 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:37,360 to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who 307 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:40,600 believe and know the truth. 308 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,440 Now I'm not going to try to make this say what I wanted to say. 309 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:50,880 I'm going to apply some context to this and say that, you know, there are doctrines which 310 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,560 will just prevent you from eating. 311 00:22:53,560 --> 00:23:00,960 And I'm not saying that Paul is referring to specific things in our current day, but 312 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:09,040 he was referring to religious banning of foods that were coming up during his time. 313 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:16,920 And there were things like asceticism and things like, you know, different sects that 314 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:23,160 were saying that if you want to be spiritual, you cannot entertain the enjoyment of your 315 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:24,160 flesh. 316 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,800 This is not fasting. 317 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,000 This is religion. 318 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,720 This is just following a blind rule. 319 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:37,340 And this is not what we are talking about and this is not how we are supposed to fast. 320 00:23:37,340 --> 00:23:43,560 We are supposed to fast by, you know, making this a faith-filled personal conviction. 321 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,340 We should be willingly doing this. 322 00:23:46,340 --> 00:23:48,120 You know, we should do this in faith. 323 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:53,560 We should go in in faith knowing that we're going to come out different. 324 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,920 And that is really the basis of how we are supposed to fast. 325 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,040 You know, it's not necessarily about food. 326 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:06,080 I mean, you know, you can abstain from food and that can be fasting. 327 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,800 You can abstain from food and that can just be religious tradition. 328 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:15,520 They both look the same from the outside, but they're both very different when it comes 329 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:20,680 to your faith walk. 330 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:28,160 Another thing I will say is that the Lord can definitely guide us into the things that 331 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:29,560 we ought to do. 332 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:35,080 You know, just like a loving parent would guide their child and say, hey, you know, 333 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,840 this is you shouldn't be playing video games till three in the morning. 334 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:45,760 You know, hey, I think you're you know, your ice cream habits are replacing your actual 335 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,360 healthy meals at this point. 336 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:51,560 Hey, like and I'm not I'm not saying again, I'm not trying to turn this into a natural 337 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:58,760 thing, but there is you know, your parents will open your eyes to things that are affecting 338 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:06,000 your life or your ability to grow or your ability to move forward in life. 339 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,480 And that is something that the Lord does more often than not. 340 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:17,240 I mean, in in in scripture, you know, in Proverbs chapter three says that, you know, we are 341 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:23,400 to not lean on our own understanding, but we are to follow the direction of the wisdom 342 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,240 of God and the Lord will reveal his wisdom. 343 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:32,240 And you know, his wisdom is always different to earthly wisdom, sensual wisdom, natural 344 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:37,180 wisdom and his wisdom will guide us. 345 00:25:37,180 --> 00:25:43,800 Out of things, so hence fasting, he guides us out of focus points that we are too focused 346 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:48,040 on so that we can grow in spiritual points. 347 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:54,560 So we're talking about method and these are these are important points you made a comment 348 00:25:54,560 --> 00:26:01,120 that I just want to highlight that this it cannot become about rules. 349 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:04,440 It can't be about ritual observance. 350 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:09,440 That is that's the thing I want us to steer away from. 351 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:21,560 And there's a passage in Colossians chapter two, it says, let no man beguile you of your 352 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:30,600 reward in voluntary humility and worshiping of angels intruding into things that they 353 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:36,360 have not seen vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind. 354 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:45,680 There's a temptation to take something very natural and try to apply spiritual meaning 355 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,240 to it. 356 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:55,840 And inside of that is that that word beguile just means to deceive, but no one deceive 357 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:57,520 you. 358 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:06,160 And so I don't want I don't want anyone to get off track in the fasted life by saying, 359 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:14,640 well, I observe this particular kind of fast or I observe this particular. 360 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,400 No, ritual observance is not what we're talking about. 361 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,880 Jesus said, when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites. 362 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:30,920 I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but there's some there's some necessity that we keep the 363 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,320 focus. 364 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:39,960 We keep our focus on what you just said there, and that is following the Lord for ourselves. 365 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:49,520 So I'm not so concerned if if what I'm doing is fasting before the Lord fits your model 366 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:50,920 for it. 367 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:56,760 I know that my flesh is crying out for this thing that I have told it no to. 368 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,480 So I know I'm fasting. 369 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,280 I know it's it's I am I am hungry for that. 370 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:03,280 And that's OK. 371 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,240 I'm just telling it no. 372 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:11,320 And in place of that, I'm doing this I'm doing this spiritually healthy habit. 373 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:17,240 In every instance, whether it's specifically the Lord leading us or it is us recognizing 374 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:24,120 a screaming flesh or a screaming part of our right, we initiate the fast. 375 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:25,880 So we take the decision. 376 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,040 We go into it saying this is what needs to happen coming up. 377 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:37,040 Now, it's so important that we just we don't make it about rules, but we make it about 378 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:41,840 focus and about growth and about change. 379 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:48,800 I want to read this passage of scripture, which we actually referred to this. 380 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:54,840 I believe it was in our prayer series a couple of months ago in Luke, Chapter 18, verses 381 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:56,640 nine through to 14. 382 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,680 And so let me read that of the Pharisee who prayed with himself. 383 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,080 Yeah, absolutely. 384 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,340 So verse nine, also. 385 00:29:04,340 --> 00:29:09,440 So he, Jesus, spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous 386 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,720 and despised others. 387 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:17,280 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 388 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:23,560 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other 389 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:30,180 men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax as this tax collector. 390 00:29:30,180 --> 00:29:32,160 I fast twice a week. 391 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,020 I give tithes of all that I possess. 392 00:29:35,020 --> 00:29:40,040 And the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but 393 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,680 beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me as sinner. 394 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:51,000 I tell you this, sorry, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than 395 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,600 the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself 396 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:58,680 will be exalted. 397 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,360 So the message is pretty clear. 398 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:02,840 Motives matter. 399 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:04,200 Absolutely. 400 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:11,760 Actions are just that and they perish with the doing, but motives last. 401 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:20,360 Motives define and motives are what determine if the action that we're doing, specifically 402 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:26,480 we're talking about fasting, qualifies us for the reward that goes with fasting. 403 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,080 Yeah. 404 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:33,900 What stands out to me is in verse 14, he says that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled 405 00:30:33,900 --> 00:30:36,320 and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 406 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,640 Actually fasting is a form of humility. 407 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:49,280 I mean, fasting, so Lard put this verse in our notes, which is in Psalm 35 verse 13, 408 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:55,000 and it talks about humbling ourselves with fasting. 409 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:05,580 And the fact is when we choose to say no to what our body or our mind is screaming for, 410 00:31:05,580 --> 00:31:11,440 we choose to humble ourselves and say, listen, I'm not picking, I'm not my God, but God is 411 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,960 my God. 412 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,200 I'm not going to choose what I'm going to do right now. 413 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:21,560 I'm going to like, God help me see what is important for me right now. 414 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:27,600 And the fact is the Pharisee was fasting twice a week, but he was not humbling himself in 415 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:28,600 it. 416 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,940 He was looking at himself, boasting about this is what I do. 417 00:31:31,940 --> 00:31:33,140 This is my lifestyle. 418 00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:34,320 This is who I am. 419 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:35,320 Look at me. 420 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:43,080 It's not, he wasn't doing it to get to come out of it with, you know, so what Jesus says, 421 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,040 you know, I tell you, they have their reward. 422 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:46,260 I mean, he has his reward. 423 00:31:46,260 --> 00:31:47,260 There you go. 424 00:31:47,260 --> 00:31:50,560 Everyone perceives him as a spiritual man. 425 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:55,020 You know, he has a certain position among his community, but that's all he's getting. 426 00:31:55,020 --> 00:31:56,680 And those are natural things. 427 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,340 Those are not spiritual rewards. 428 00:31:59,340 --> 00:32:01,840 Those are not everlasting rewards. 429 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:12,780 And the fact is the tax collector who lived his whole life according to his flesh, lived 430 00:32:12,780 --> 00:32:20,560 his whole life according to his, you know, worldly nature and desires, chose to bow 431 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:25,480 his head down to the Lord and say, Lord, what does he say right here? 432 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,600 You know, God be merciful to me as a sinner. 433 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:36,040 This is a man truly in repentance and fasting is a form of repentance because you're turning 434 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:37,160 away from your flesh. 435 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,320 You're turning away from your desires and you're turning to the Lord. 436 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:47,000 So this man in his action and prayer did more fasting than the Pharisee did. 437 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:52,520 I think that the truth about humility is an important one that we look at. 438 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:59,120 David made the statement, King David, in the old covenant, he said, I will keep myself 439 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,320 lowly in my own eyes. 440 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,040 Everyone saw the king. 441 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,880 Everyone saw the conqueror. 442 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,040 Everyone saw the one that never lost a battle. 443 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:17,040 David said, I'm going to keep myself low in my own eyes. 444 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:22,000 Fasting helps us keep ourselves low. 445 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,800 So how can I take this and practically apply it to my life? 446 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:32,800 So I think that there are some very key steps, very, let's say some very easy steps that 447 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:33,800 we can follow. 448 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:41,240 We'll talk more about this in our grow groups, but the first is something that we do every 449 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,800 time we get on the podcast, we talk about our purpose. 450 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,200 What's the purpose of our message series? 451 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,600 What's the purpose of this discussion? 452 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,760 What's the purpose? 453 00:33:53,760 --> 00:34:01,120 Fasting, if we want to really get the most out of it, we need to do it on purpose, decide 454 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,160 what is the purpose of this? 455 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:09,480 I'm going to take some time to fast and I'm doing it for this reason. 456 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,800 I'm doing it for this purpose. 457 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:19,200 And it's not important that you tell all of Facebook what that purpose is, but you should 458 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:20,400 know. 459 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,120 I should know. 460 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,080 You should. 461 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:33,520 And you can tell the Lord, Lord, I'm going to tell myself, no, this thing, I'm putting 462 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,200 my hand on this thing in my life. 463 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,680 I'm going to tell myself, no, I'm not going to do this. 464 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:44,240 I'm going to fast this for this purpose and for this period of time. 465 00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:50,080 And then we're, you know, we've, we haven't read the whole verse yet, but Matthew six 466 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:55,680 18 says that there's a reward for fasting. 467 00:34:55,680 --> 00:35:03,400 We can believe we receive that reward by faith because this is a spiritual practice. 468 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:12,400 And then we take time to minister to the Lord, thank him for that reward and use the time 469 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,980 while we're fasting to minister to others as well. 470 00:35:15,980 --> 00:35:18,480 It can't just be all self-focused. 471 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:25,440 We need to be constantly outward facing as believers, as followers of Jesus. 472 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:33,480 When I say outward facing, I mean, looking toward that, which captures the heart of Jesus. 473 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:43,040 And that is those who have not yet heard the good news, those who are the precious fruit 474 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,000 of the earth. 475 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:51,760 And then we need to expect that God's going to help us. 476 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:56,720 We can expect divine help through the period of fasting. 477 00:35:56,720 --> 00:36:02,800 Shouldn't be something that I just do all on my own because then I just get the, you 478 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,160 know, pat on the back. 479 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:05,160 Good job. 480 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:06,960 No, I expect him to help me. 481 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,760 Yeah, it's really good. 482 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,080 That's really good. 483 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:20,960 If I look at the way, you know, if I want to really assess what is something that is 484 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:28,360 taking a hold of me, I do what I would do with my iPhone, which is, you know, I open 485 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,440 an app called the Screen Time app. 486 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,040 And you start looking at how much have I actually used my phone. 487 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,280 I don't like that app. 488 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:37,920 Yeah, I don't like that app either. 489 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,560 That's why I use it. 490 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:46,320 And the fact is it tells you like every single day how much you use WhatsApp, how much you've 491 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:52,000 used Instagram, how much you've used your Bible app and how much you've used some different 492 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000 things. 493 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,520 And you start realizing where is my attention going? 494 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,640 Where is my focus going? 495 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:04,100 I'm not suggesting that, you know, you only focus on your phone. 496 00:37:04,100 --> 00:37:10,920 What I am suggesting is you take a screen time snapshot of yourself. 497 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,640 You know, you take a screen time snapshot of yourself and you say, where is my focus 498 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:15,680 going right now? 499 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,780 You know, where is my attention going right now? 500 00:37:18,780 --> 00:37:21,120 Is it really to the things of God? 501 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,560 Is it really to the things that I know that God wants me to be doing? 502 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,880 Or is it my things, my focus? 503 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:30,640 Is it what my mind wants? 504 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:31,960 What my flesh wants? 505 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:36,040 What I feel like doing and what I don't feel like doing. 506 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,180 And that is a good place to start. 507 00:37:38,180 --> 00:37:45,460 That is a good place to see where your flesh or your soul really are taking a hold of you 508 00:37:45,460 --> 00:37:51,160 and really strangling you from going further. 509 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,680 Strangling you from going further is well said. 510 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:54,960 All right, praise God. 511 00:37:54,960 --> 00:38:02,200 So let's read Matthew chapter 6 verses 16 through to 18 and we'll leave the rest of 512 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:06,360 the discussion for our grow groups. 513 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,600 All right, so Matthew chapter 6 verse 16. 514 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:18,280 Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they 515 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:22,600 disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. 516 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,920 Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 517 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:32,720 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to 518 00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:37,680 men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. 519 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,520 And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 520 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,680 Praise God. 521 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:46,780 That's good news. 522 00:38:46,780 --> 00:38:48,640 That's great news. 523 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:52,920 And that's true about the Go Church family. 524 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:54,920 Do you know that? 525 00:38:54,920 --> 00:39:01,800 The Father who sees in secret is rewarding the Go Church family openly. 526 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:02,800 That's right. 527 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,880 That's happening in these days. 528 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:06,320 Yes. 529 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:07,320 Glory to God. 530 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:08,440 Praise the Lord. 531 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:15,120 It's very clear, Jesus gives us some very clear method of fasting, and that is, wash 532 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:16,440 your face. 533 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:21,240 Please, put on some perfume, the Amplified Bible says. 534 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:23,960 The message must say brush your teeth, probably. 535 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:34,480 But the Bible tells us, here Jesus said, don't make it here to men that you fast, the other 536 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,360 people that you're fasting. 537 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:42,080 And Gilbert, you made a comment when we were talking about this, don't put the weight of 538 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:46,120 the fast on someone else. 539 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:53,480 This is something that I'm doing to change me. 540 00:39:53,480 --> 00:40:01,440 I'm making a change in me to go up the mountain with the Lord. 541 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:06,360 And so I'm not going to saddle you with that. 542 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,400 I'm going to carry it. 543 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,840 And so Jesus gives us a clear instruction. 544 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:13,480 Don't be like an actor. 545 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:19,840 That word hypocrite literally means one who acts. 546 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:20,960 Don't be like that. 547 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:31,720 So instead of replace the, oh, you know, sorry, today I'm fasting, so I can't have any of 548 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:34,440 the biscuits that you've put out for me. 549 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,720 Sorry, you know, fasting. 550 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:41,520 I've been fasting all week, actually, down two kilos. 551 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:42,800 You have your reward. 552 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:44,440 That's what Jesus said. 553 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:45,440 Enjoy it. 554 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:53,120 Enjoy the two kilos down and enjoy the recognition of whoever you're telling, wow, look how spiritual 555 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,320 this person is that they're willing to fast. 556 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:03,120 No, instead, just keep your mouth shut. 557 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:07,400 And you don't have to share everything. 558 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:12,000 It'll help you. 559 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:19,400 But the part that I want to draw our attention to there is the father who sees. 560 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:24,120 He will, he will, he will reward you. 561 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,120 And that's what we're going to talk about next week. 562 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:31,120 And I'm excited about that. 563 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:32,120 We want to say we love you. 564 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:33,120 We're praying for you. 565 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:34,120 And we'll do that next time. 566 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:35,120 Thank you for listening to this message. 567 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:36,120 We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God. 568 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:43,120 Growing his love and go with his love to the rest of their world. 569 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:49,120 We invite you to connect with us at one of our groups for our next gathering. 570 00:41:49,120 --> 00:42:08,120 And if no one told you yet today, we love you and believe God's very best for you.