Fasting: A Private Devotion to God
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "You know, when I was younger, when you asked me when I was 18, 19, 20, when my wife and I were dating and all that, and, you know, like, you know, how your kid's going to be and all that, I had in mind exactly what my life was going to be like. You want to know something? Nothing went according to plan. I mean, I'm not saying things went bad. They did it. But I'm just saying what I experienced. I had a vision in my mind of where I wanted to be at that point. You know, I wanted this. I wanted to have this and this and this, and maybe I'll have two boys and two girls or whatever, you know, and we'll do that. Or maybe I'll, you know, have the house with the white picket fence or whatever, and the little dog that's perfect in the yard and all that. And all this other great stuff. You know, life just be great and not have a worry in the world or a care in the world. But I found out that life doesn't work that way." [21:37]
2. "I look back now and I think, God, you've been so good to me. Girls that love the Lord. Girls that desire to live for God. A wife that desires to live for God. We've been married, I don't even know how many years anymore. It just changes every year. I wonder how many. We don't even keep track anymore. All I know is we're past 25. Thank you. But, you know, when I think about this, nothing went according to my plan. But the older I got and the closer I got to the Lord, the more He changed. He changed my wills and my desires. So, therefore, when God rewards me openly, it was rewarding me in ways that was conformed to His will. And coming to find out, that is better than anything I could have planned." [23:18]
3. "You know, we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The three make one. Now, the concept is there. And the people say, well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. And you are absolutely right. But the concept... The concept of the Trinity is. All right? The principle of it is in the Bible. And, you know, so we say God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three into one. Now, I myself, like I said, we can't completely understand it completely until we get to heaven. And then it will all become clear to us. But me as a person, first of all, I am a husband. Right? I sure am. I'm also a father. I'm also a pastor. Three things, three different roles, but I'm still one person. All right? Still one person." [08:20]
4. "You don't have to go to a person to go to God. You have direct access to him. Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord. You don't have to go tell somebody and say, hey, listen, would you pray for me? As a Christian, you have direct access to God. You got Jesus on line one constantly every moment of the day. Praise the Lord for that. Jesus is on the main line. Amen." [28:23]
### Quotes for Members
1. "And what God was telling, or Jesus was telling us here and His disciples, His followers here, He's saying, listen, listen, I will reward thee openly, just do it privately. People don't need to know. Now, there's things we ought to brag about. I brag about God all the time, how good God is. Now, I make sure that I don't brag about myself while I'm bragging about God. I try not to anyways. Like, oh, God's been so good to me. I did this, and I did that, and I did that, right?" [24:08]
2. "So, just because someone's fasting, you're going to look at them and go, wow, that person's spiritual. That's not what the Bible is saying here. In fact, if you see somebody, they're telling you they're fasting, then you know they're not biblically fasting. Because that's not doing it the way the Bible here is telling us how to do it. But by doing this, we know he will reward. He will reward you openly and us greatly. So, we see this. So, we see Jesus fast. So, look at Matthew chapter number 4, verses 1 and 2. First of all, Jesus is a great example to follow." [07:35]
3. "He had the flesh side of him, and he was fully God, fully man. He had that flesh side of him. So before he chose his 12, he spent the night in Luke chapter number 6 fasting and in prayer. So biblical fasting, you're not just going without eating. You're actually praying. You're praying. You're saying, God, help me choose the right. Lord, I'm going to choose the right. Lord, help me choose the right people. Help me choose the right ones here. And he's a great biblical principle to follow here. So this shows us and shows me the importance of seeking God. You know, before you make a decision in your life, have you sought God?" [16:46]
4. "Hey, maybe pray to God. Say, God, should I fast to help me get through this? Another thing here, fasting demonstrated Jesus' dependence on God for strength. What did he do when Jesus was tempted? He had to depend on God for his strength. Listen, you want to lose, you're going to lose battle after battle after battle in your life unless you depend on God, the Father, for strength. My own strength, I will fail. I will fail in my own strength. You can't fight a spiritual battle with physical strength. You can only fight a spiritual. So who's the best person to fight spiritually with you? God himself. That's why Jesus himself, being the son of God, he seeked for God's dependence for this." [12:50]
5. "We see also when... The church fasted there, all right? So we do see some instances of the church fasting, but it was probably something where God was telling each person in the church to fast, all right? Tell them to do that, but the church did it then. And when the work was beginning for the Lord again at the church of Antioch, they did it again. The church of Galatia as well, when they were selecting and appointing elders in the church, they fasted to make sure they were following God's will. Because what you're doing is you're removing that... That pesky flesh out of the way, and you're just seeking God. Have you ever, at a time in your life, you said, boy, I have to get away somewhere from people, or go into a mountain somewhere, or get away in the woods somewhere so I can clear my mind and think clearly? That, in a sense, is what fasting's doing, except you're not clearing your mind, you're filling it with the things of God." [32:14]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "You know, when I was younger, when you asked me when I was 18, 19, 20, when my wife and I were dating and all that, and, you know, like, you know, how your kid's going to be and all that, I had in mind exactly what my life was going to be like. You want to know something? Nothing went according to plan. I mean, I'm not saying things went bad. They did it. But I'm just saying what I experienced. I had a vision in my mind of where I wanted to be at that point. You know, I wanted this. I wanted to have this and this and this, and maybe I'll have two boys and two girls or whatever, you know, and we'll do that. Or maybe I'll, you know, have the house with the white picket fence or whatever, and the little dog that's perfect in the yard and all that. And all this other great stuff. You know, life just be great and not have a worry in the world or a care in the world. But I found out that life doesn't work that way." [21:37]
2. "I look back now and I think, God, you've been so good to me. Girls that love the Lord. Girls that desire to live for God. A wife that desires to live for God. We've been married, I don't even know how many years anymore. It just changes every year. I wonder how many. We don't even keep track anymore. All I know is we're past 25. Thank you. But, you know, when I think about this, nothing went according to my plan. But the older I got and the closer I got to the Lord, the more He changed. He changed my wills and my desires. So, therefore, when God rewards me openly, it was rewarding me in ways that was conformed to His will. And coming to find out, that is better than anything I could have planned." [23:18]
3. "You know, we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The three make one. Now, the concept is there. And the people say, well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. And you are absolutely right. But the concept... The concept of the Trinity is. All right? The principle of it is in the Bible. And, you know, so we say God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three into one. Now, I myself, like I said, we can't completely understand it completely until we get to heaven. And then it will all become clear to us. But me as a person, first of all, I am a husband. Right? I sure am. I'm also a father. I'm also a pastor. Three things, three different roles, but I'm still one person. All right? Still one person." [08:20]
4. "You don't have to go to a person to go to God. You have direct access to him. Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord. You don't have to go tell somebody and say, hey, listen, would you pray for me? As a Christian, you have direct access to God. You got Jesus on line one constantly every moment of the day. Praise the Lord for that. Jesus is on the main line. Amen." [28:23]
### Quotes for Members
1. "And what God was telling, or Jesus was telling us here and His disciples, His followers here, He's saying, listen, listen, I will reward thee openly, just do it privately. People don't need to know. Now, there's things we ought to brag about. I brag about God all the time, how good God is. Now, I make sure that I don't brag about myself while I'm bragging about God. I try not to anyways. Like, oh, God's been so good to me. I did this, and I did that, and I did that, right?" [24:08]
2. "So, just because someone's fasting, you're going to look at them and go, wow, that person's spiritual. That's not what the Bible is saying here. In fact, if you see somebody, they're telling you they're fasting, then you know they're not biblically fasting. Because that's not doing it the way the Bible here is telling us how to do it. But by doing this, we know he will reward. He will reward you openly and us greatly. So, we see this. So, we see Jesus fast. So, look at Matthew chapter number 4, verses 1 and 2. First of all, Jesus is a great example to follow." [07:35]
3. "He had the flesh side of him, and he was fully God, fully man. He had that flesh side of him. So before he chose his 12, he spent the night in Luke chapter number 6 fasting and in prayer. So biblical fasting, you're not just going without eating. You're actually praying. You're praying. You're saying, God, help me choose the right. Lord, I'm going to choose the right. Lord, help me choose the right people. Help me choose the right ones here. And he's a great biblical principle to follow here. So this shows us and shows me the importance of seeking God. You know, before you make a decision in your life, have you sought God?" [16:46]
4. "Hey, maybe pray to God. Say, God, should I fast to help me get through this? Another thing here, fasting demonstrated Jesus' dependence on God for strength. What did he do when Jesus was tempted? He had to depend on God for his strength. Listen, you want to lose, you're going to lose battle after battle after battle in your life unless you depend on God, the Father, for strength. My own strength, I will fail. I will fail in my own strength. You can't fight a spiritual battle with physical strength. You can only fight a spiritual. So who's the best person to fight spiritually with you? God himself. That's why Jesus himself, being the son of God, he seeked for God's dependence for this." [12:50]
5. "We see also when... The church fasted there, all right? So we do see some instances of the church fasting, but it was probably something where God was telling each person in the church to fast, all right? Tell them to do that, but the church did it then. And when the work was beginning for the Lord again at the church of Antioch, they did it again. The church of Galatia as well, when they were selecting and appointing elders in the church, they fasted to make sure they were following God's will. Because what you're doing is you're removing that... That pesky flesh out of the way, and you're just seeking God. Have you ever, at a time in your life, you said, boy, I have to get away somewhere from people, or go into a mountain somewhere, or get away in the woods somewhere so I can clear my mind and think clearly? That, in a sense, is what fasting's doing, except you're not clearing your mind, you're filling it with the things of God." [32:14]
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