So God, all of our attention is to you this morning, God, for you are worthy.
And God, worthy of our praise and our admiration and worthy of our adoration. God, you're worthy of our attention and our focus, so we give it all to you.
And God, we thank you for you sent Jesus to pay the price and penalty for our sin, and we thank you, God, for salvation.
But God, we thank you because you're not just our Savior, but you're our healer.
And so even this morning, God, we declare there's healing happening in our bodies and in our hearts and in our minds, in our emotions.
God, not only are you our healer, but you're also our provider, God, and we thank you for you are the one that brings provision.
Father, you are our banner and our defender, and we thank you, God, for in this morning, even if things of the enemy have come against us and voices and words and accusations and allegations, God, you're our defender.
And God, this morning, we thank you for in the midst of whatever we're facing, we can walk in peace because you're Jehovah Shalom, our peace.
And Father, as the psalmist wrote in Psalm 91, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
God, we thank you for we're under your shadow and under your protection.
We will say of the Lord, he is my strength.
And God, this morning, I pray with those that are in the sanctuary, God, dealing through trials, tribulation, hurts, pain, we thank you, God, for you're our strength.
Lord, as we deal with loss and grief, you're with discomfort and situations, you're our strength.
God, I thank you for what the prophet Isaiah writes, that you have us carved in the palm of your hand.
We make the choice to exalt you.
God, even as we declared that verse, as we were singing earlier, saying, "As for me in my house," Lord, I declare it over my house, God, over my wife and my children, we choose to serve you.
Come on, all around this sanctuary, make that choice. Tell them right there, it's you and God said, I choose you.
Me and my house will serve you.
Some of you perhaps are saying, well, I'm not married. I don't have kids.
You're already declaring my house will serve you.
My spouse will serve you.
My children will serve you.
My grandchildren will serve you.
My great-grandchildren will serve you, should you tarry, God?
And you never forsake us.
And this morning, we thank you, God, for you're in this place.
We thank you for this visitation.
And God, I thank you for when we gather corporately, you show up.
But God, I thank you that when I intentionally set aside time to seek you, you show up too.
Vice President Harris, Scott, as their term is coming to a close.
And President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance as their term starts.
And Father, I pray for these four, for every person that is going into office this week.
And God, we pray for the senators and the representatives in the House to encounter you.
We pray for the Supreme Court justices to encounter you.
And God, we pray that revival would happen in this country as men and women repent and humbly go before you and turn from wickedness.
God, we pray your protection in your hand.
Nation, you would hear the cry of your church that says you are holy.
God, I pray that as your people, we would keep our eyes always turned to you and that you would have your way in our lives and in everywhere that we go and everything we touch in Jesus' name.
Church, if you can agree with that, can you give God a shout of praise this morning?
Go ahead and say good morning to somebody that's around you.
Tell them good morning.
It's good to see you.
Good, and God is faithful and God is just and God is merciful and he never leaves us and he never forsakes us.
And sometimes we put our eyes on the wrong thing.
We can take our eyes off of what we need to have it on.
Of Jesus, how many of you know we begin to drown?
We begin to sink.
And so first and foremost, if you're here this morning, I commend you.
You made a choice on a Sunday morning to say I'm going to go gather with other believers and worship.
It's a choice.
I'm sure every single person in this sanctuary this morning could have said five more minutes.
It's been a long week.
God, you understand.
But you made a choice.
Our vision as a church, our why, we say it week after week and you can help me with it.
Come on.
We exist to get people to a place where they will acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily.
We daily need to encounter him.
And we daily need to pursue him.
And as we daily pursue him, he ministers to our hearts.
And the power that we feel in a collective gathering like this this morning, we can also feel individually in our car and in our home and have those moments where we cry out to him.
The intentionality of pursuing him.
And so I encourage you, just like you did today, tomorrow, get up a little earlier, spend some time with God.
Tuesday, get up a little earlier, spend some time with God.
And as you intentionally seek him, he will be found.
Amen.
Can you give God one more hand of praise this morning?
Amen.
Amen.
Hey, if you're here for the first time, we welcome you.
If you're streaming today for the first time, my name is David.
I'm the lead pastor here at 3W Church.
I just shared our vision.
We exist to get people to a place where they can find God.
We lead people to a place where they will acknowledge us and lean on God daily.
And I encourage you to do the same thing and encounter him every single day.
Amen.
Let's jump into the word this morning.
I know worship, it didn't feel like it went long.
I just looked up at the clock and I was like, wow, thank you, Jesus, for your presence.
2025, this is the third Sunday of the year.
Crazy to think that we are already 19 days into a new year.
And the word that God gave us this morning, the word that God gave for our church this year is the word anchored, to be tied to God who is our anchor.
And we've been saying it since that first Sunday of the month that we need to be tied to God and he is the anchor we need to be tied to.
Some of us have tied ourselves to different anchors, to the wrong anchors.
And the only anchor big enough and strong enough to hold our life, our family, our calling, our purpose, it's God.
Now, an anchor, it holds us securely in place.
That's what an anchor does.
If you've ever gone on a boat or on a ship or used an anchor, the anchor is tossed into the water to hold you in place.
It's not only tossed into the water when the water is calm and it's not only tossed into the water if the water is turbulent or if there's a big current.
It's tossed in the water when you want to stay in place.
And church, in our country and in this world, in this nation, there's been a lot of turbulence.
Only God can we be held to hold us in place.
And when things are calm and things are okay, it's only God who we need to be tied to to hold us in place.
But an anchor is only good if it's tied to the ship.
An anchor that doesn't have a chain holding it to the boat serves no purpose.
And so last Sunday, we started a series titled Links in which we're going to be talking about the different links on this chain.
And I'm letting you know, this is not an exhaustive list as we go through this series.
It's not like these are the five things, and if you do these five things, you've got it.
There's a lot of other ones, but these are the ones that God has impressed on our heart to really hardcore talk about.
Last week, we talked about Sabbath, to cease one day a week, cease, cease, stop work, whatever is your work, and devote time to God to refill, to allow him to refresh you.
God modeled this at creation.
Six days he created, and on the seventh day he rested.
And it's an imperative thing, and it's something that's difficult for us because it requires a lot of trust for us to Sabbath.
Trusting in God, trusting that God's in control.
And we're so connected now.
We can get emails, text messages, videos, all kinds of different things from our work at all day, all time.
There's always a connection point.
For crying out loud, school now is extended because the teachers will tell you, yeah, yeah, here's your thing.
Used to be you had to turn it in.
Now it's like you have till 11:59 to turn it in.
So you just can't keep going and going.
We're just always connected.
And we have to learn to trust God and stay connected to him as we Sabbath.
And today I want to talk about another link on this chain, and I'm going to be dead honest with you, and that's one of our church values is authenticity.
This one's a hard one.
It's tough.
I don't enjoy it, and I don't like it.
And it's that fasting is a link that keeps us tied to God.
Fasting.
I like food.
I like to eat.
I mean, I tell you guys all the time, my wife gets on my case because I can have just finished eating a big meal and plan my next one.
And she's like, how?
Why?
She's like, I don't need to eat for the rest of the day.
I was like, if I don't go to sleep then within the next two hours, you know I'm going to be hungry again.
So fasting is hard because here's the reality.
Fasting is sacrificial.
It's a sacrifice.
What does it mean to fast?
To fast means this, to abstain from a certain food or drink for a portion of time.
And especially in this religious circle, if you would, right?
Like that's where we're talking about the observance and connecting to God, abstaining from all or some kind of food or drink with the purpose of connecting to God.
And why do we find it so difficult to fast for our spirit man but yet so easy to obey the doctor when he tells us to fast?
Watch.
If you've got to go draw blood work on Tuesday morning, you have to go in fasting so they can check if your sugar levels and your thing, all the different stuff is out of whack or if it's right.
If you got a procedure in the morning, they'll go ahead, put a sign at the hospital in front of your door, NPO, non-paroral, nothing.
You can't eat, you can't drink, nothing because you're going to have a procedure.
You're going to go in for some type of drink.
It's like you can't eat anything.
And so we do that.
We'll be like, oh, the doctor said I can't, the doctor said I can't, and I need to be able to do this.
And as a matter of fact, what do we call the first meal of the day?
Break fast.
We didn't eat while we were sleeping.
I mean, at least, I mean, I love to eat, but I haven't figured out how to eat while I'm sleeping.
And that extended time as you wake up, you're like, oh, I need to eat.
I need to eat.
I need to wake up in the morning and you're hungry because you went X amount of hours without eating.
And so you go break the fast.
And so let's talk about this link, this spiritual link connecting us to God of fasting.
Again, and then I just said it a minute ago, fasting is sacrificial.
It's sacrificial.
It costs something.
It's difficult.
It's not easy.
And it should cost you something.
Watch this.
So what do I mean by sacrificial?
It's got to hurt some.
So for example, if right now you are a person who loves seafood and you tell me, hey, pastor, I'm going to fast seafood.
That's all I eat.
I don't eat meat.
I don't eat ham.
I don't eat poultry.
I don't eat fish.
And I'm going to fast fish.
Will you fast with me?
I'll say, absolutely.
No problem.
I got you.
How long do you want to fast that fish?
I will fast that fish with you till the end of time.
You know why?
I don't eat fish.
I don't like seafood.
Got it.
I don't like seafood.
So if John's fasting seafood, I'm going to say, sure, man, I will fast with you.
It didn't cost me anything.
Now you go up and tell me, man, I felt from God that I need to fast meat.
Pastor, will you fast with me?
I'm going to say, sure, man, I will fast with you.
Will you fast with me?
I need to pray.
Because, bro, churrasco, picanha, canasada.
Right, come on, you know what I'm talking about.
Some of y'all are like, pastor, why are you talking about food?
Somebody told me in between service, you talk so much about fasting, I got hungry.
I had to go buy food.
It's a sacrifice.
And I firmly believe that all believers should fast, have periods of fasting.
All believers should have periods of fasting.
All believers should have periods of fasting.
If you go with me for a moment to the book of Matthew, go to Matthew chapter number 16.
No, sorry, chapter number six, verse 16.
Matthew 6, 16.
This is during the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus is talking to everybody who's there, not just the 12 disciples.
He's talking to hundreds and hundreds of people there in this Sermon on the Mount.
And he says in verse 16, I'm going to start reading.
Moreover, if you fast, if you feel obliged to.
It's not what Jesus said.
He actually said, moreover, when you fast.
Jesus is telling you, it is an expectation that you will fast.
When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces while fasting.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
And there it is again.
Look at verse 17.
But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place.
And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Church, fasting is to be seen by God and it strengthens our walk with him.
Fasting is to be seen by God.
But like I said a minute ago, I believe that all believers should have periods of fasting.
We see fasting throughout all of scripture.
We see Moses fast for 40 days before going up the mountain and getting the tablet from God.
Jesus fasted for 40 days out in the wilderness and was tempted.
Elijah fasted for 40 days out in the wilderness and was tempted 20 days after destroying or killing the prophets of Baal.
We see shorter fasts.
We see 21 days of fasting where Daniel is fasting for three weeks.
21 days where he says that he doesn't eat any meat or pleasant foods while he's waiting to hear the voice of God.
We also see Daniel in chapter number one of the book of Daniel, where for 10 days, when they wanted him, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to eat all of the different foods of the king, they said, no, we're not going to defile ourselves.
The guy's like, you're going to make me get in trouble.
He says, give me 10 days of only vegetables and fruits.
And you know what happened?
10 days later, they were stronger in appearance than everyone else.
Watch.
When I skip a meal, I get hangry.
When I fast, I don't.
Because there's a supernatural element of God when you are intentionally abstaining from food in order to get closer to him.
Intentional.
Intentional.
Why do I keep saying intentional?
If you got so tied up at work that you skipped lunch, has that happened to anybody?
That happens to me.
You can't do it retroactive.
Well, I guess I was fasting today, God.
Does it count?
Nope.
Don't count.
You skipped a meal.
Because what would have happened if the office didn't get busy?
You would have had lunch.
What would have happened if you didn't have the emergency?
You would have had the lunch.
So you didn't intentionally abstain.
You walked into it.
And so when we are saying we're fasting for God, it is an intentional thing.
I am laying aside this food with the purpose of connecting to God.
Pastor, why are you saying food, food, food?
Can't they fast by giving up social media for the next...
We're trying to make it so easy for everyone.
We want everybody to be so comfortable.
Now, pick up your cross and follow Jesus.
It's sacrificial.
And don't get me started on the, I'm going on a 40-day social media fast, so I announce to all my Instagram followers, I won't be on here for the next 40 days.
Jesus said, anoint your head and don't tell everybody what you're doing.
Now, maybe you're thinking, and we'll talk about it for a second.
I'm out of place on my notes.
That doesn't matter.
I have a medical condition.
I'm diabetic.
I can't go more than X amount of hours without eating food because my insulin goes out of whack in this different situation.
Okay.
If there is a legitimate medical condition that you may have, you can still fast.
You don't have to go gorge yourself on churrasco, rice, and beans.
You can say, I'm going to eat every whatever amount of times it has to be.
Again, I'm using the example of diabetic.
My dad's diabetic, so I know how it works with him.
So he might say, okay, I'm going to have just a small little sandwich to keep me going.
I'm going to have just fruits and vegetables.
I'm going to do something.
But many times we want to just pick things that don't cost us anything or things that the doctor already told us we shouldn't do.
Watch, the doctor already told you you need to cut back on your caffeine.
You can't have caffeine.
Coffee is killing you, whatever.
Okay, I'm going to fast coffee.
No, man, the doctor already told you you had to stop it.
It's sacrificial.
So what should I fast?
Whatever you talk to God about.
You can do a partial fast.
We see that in scripture.
As a matter of fact, one of the most common fasts that you see in scripture is a one-day fast.
In the Jewish faith, most of their fasts start at 6 p.m. in the evening until the next day at 6 p.m.
Because in the Jewish faith and tradition, and even you see it scripturally, the evening is what is considered the start of the day.
As a matter of fact, at creation, you see all the time God say, and the night and the day was day one and day two.
God always started with the night.
So that's one of the things that we always tell you.
If you control your night, you'll have control of your day.
Many of you say things like, oh, I don't know why I can't wake up in the morning to seek God.
I can't get up on time to go work out before I go to work or all these things.
Well, if you're going to sleep at 11, 12, one in the morning, you're going to have a hard time waking up a little earlier.
If you control your night, you will control your day.
In scripture, we see one-day fast.
We see a multiple-day fast, three-day fast.
We see Ezra call a three-day fast.
We see Esther call a three-day fast.
We see Nehemiah call a three-day fast.
These are all different fasts that were three days.
David had a seven-day fast.
When David, doesn't mess up, y'all remember?
Saw Bathsheba was in the place he wasn't supposed to be.
And the baby was born and got sick.
And for seven days, he fasted.
He did not eat.
He did not bathe.
He did not do anything.
Praying and pleading for the baby.
And the baby died.
As a matter of fact, all of David's people, you can read this in the book of Samuel.
They're like, how do we go tell him the baby's dead?
If he was like this when the baby was alive, what's he going to do now?
You know what happened the minute they told David?
He got back up, he washed, and he went and ate food.
He said, okay, my fast is done.
I didn't get what I was praying for, and I'm going to keep going forward.
Again, Elijah, Moses, Jesus fasted 40 days, different lengths.
Now, I want to talk about two different types of fasts.
There's personal, and there's corporate fasting.
Personal fasting and corporate fasting.
As believers, I believe we should all live a life of personal fasting.
With what frequency?
Whatever you talk about with God.
Maybe God puts it in your heart to fast once a week, and once a week, you fast two meals or one meal or a whole day.
You and God.
And that's where we get into the verse that we just read in Matthew.
Anoint your head.
Don't go tell the world.
Don't walk into work, hey, just letting you know, if you hear my stomach grumble, it's because I'm fasting.
Like, don't go in announcing it.
Is it wrong to share it?
No.
I have on my devotional plan that I write out, I write down my personal rhythm of fasting, and I submit it to my pastor.
My pastor knows what is the Bible reading plan I'm doing this year.
What books I want to read for my personal growth, my goals with my family.
There's things I write down, because if you don't have goals, you're not going to get there, right?
And I submit it to him, because I need accountability too.
Everyone needs to be pastored.
I'm going to say that again.
Everyone needs to be pastored, including pastors.
If you ever get to a place where you think you don't need pastoring anymore, bro, repent and really seek the face of God.
Because Paul, who would arguably be one of the, quote unquote, greatest apostles, he wrote in the scripture, and we see where he writes it.
It's not that I've attained it, man.
I press on towards the goal.
I don't got it all figured out.
It's why I've messed up, I mess up, and it's why I use the words, I'm sorry.
If I walked by you and didn't say hi, hey man, I'm sorry.
If I did something that hurt, I'm sorry.
Like, I'm not perfect.
And so we need accountability.
That's personal fasting.
If I define personal fasting, it's this way.
An individual, or someone is fasting individually, personally.
Someone is fasting personally.
And corporate fasting is a call to collectively fast, a call to collectively fast.
So when you look at that Jesus says in Matthew, don't announce it to the world, there's a slight difference when we're corporately fasting, right?
Because when we are corporately fasting, we all know that we are fasting.
We don't necessarily know what we're fasting, but we're all fasting.
We have called a corporate fast.
And in scripture, you see tons of personal fasts, and you also see corporate fasts.
In the book of Esther, you see when they have devised this plot to kill all the Jews, and Mordecai comes and tells Esther, go talk to the king.
She says, the king hasn't called me.
This thing popped off again, sorry.
The king hasn't called me, and if I go before him...
If I go before him without being called, off with my head.
So she says to Mordecai, I'm going to fast for three days with all of my staff, all of my maidservants.
So go proclaim a fast to all of Israel, so that at the end of the third day, I will go before the king.
That's a corporate fast.
We see, and I'm going to read in a second, Ezra.
He calls a corporate fast for God's protection.
In Jonah chapter three, y'all remember the story of Jonah?
He's the guy that God says, I want you to go to Nineveh and preach the gospel.
So he books a one-way ticket in the opposite direction.
The storm goes really bad.
Jonah says, it's my fault.
And they get Jonah, and they toss him in the sea.
And a big giant Uber in the shape of a fish comes and picks him up.
And he's in the fish for three days.
And he repents, and he says, God, I'll go.
So the Uber drops him off, and he goes to Nineveh, and he preaches the gospel, or the message, proclaims, judgment is coming.
And in Jonah chapter three, it says that the king, the person in charge, proclaimed a fast to all of Israel.
Fast nationwide and repented.
It's why Jonah then gets mad and says, you see, God, that's why I didn't want to go, because I knew they would repent, and you would forgive them.
It was a repentance thing, and they fasted.
That's corporate fasting.
So again, personal fasting.
We don't announce it to the world that we're fasting.
We just, we're fasting.
And a corporate fast, we all know, but we don't necessarily know what each specific person is fasting.
Maybe you decide to do a full water-only fast, because God puts that in your heart, and you've prepared your body for it.
Maybe you're doing a partial fast, or you're fasting a specific thing, like again, what we would call the Daniel fast, where you're only eating fruits and vegetables and grains and things of that nature.
Or maybe you're doing a liquid-only fast.
So I may not know what it is you're fasting, and you don't know what I'm fasting, but I know we're corporately fasting.
So there's a difference.
Now, we fast for different things.
Again, this is not an exhaustive list, but I want to talk about a few things of reasons why we fast.
Number one, we fast for direction.
We fast for direction.
If you go to the book of Acts, if you can get with me, please.
You've missed the last four.
If you go with me to the book of Acts, chapter number 13, starting in verse number one.
Now, in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate me to Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
Verse three, Church, we pray for direction.
If you are making a big choice, especially a big choice, a life-altering choice, decision, fast.
Ask God, is this what he has for you?
Is this what he has for you?
Is this what he wants for you?
Fast.
Too many times, we just make decisions on things that are good, but not God, because we didn't fast to hear his voice.
So if you're seeking clarity on something, fast.
Lord, I have this decision to make.
Should I start this business?
Or Lord, is this what you have?
Is it fast?
How long?
Ask him, and whatever that sacrifice he puts in your heart, you fast.
Personally, that's personally, right?
We fast for direction.
Number two, we fast for consecration.
Consecrate in Luke chapter four, verse two, and in Matthew chapter four, it talks about Jesus fasting for 40 days.
He set himself apart.
He went into the wilderness and he was fasting for 40 days, consecrating himself before entering the ministry.
So what it says, being tempted 40 days by the devil.
In those days he ate nothing, and afterward he ended, and he was hungry.
This is the temptation that we hear him say.
The devil comes to Jesus and says, hey, if you truly are the Son of God, go ahead and turn these stones into bread.
He says, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
And he combats temptation even though he was weak physically, he was full spiritually.
So we fast for direction, clarity.
We fast for consecration.
Number three, we fast for protection.
We fast for protection.
You can write down the reference in Ezra chapter number eight.
In Ezra chapter number eight, verse number 21, this is when he has received from the king the monies and the stuff to go back and build.
And he says, I proclaim there a fast at the river of Ahava that we might humble ourselves before God, seek from him the right way for us.
Again, there's direction and our little ones and all our possessions.
And the next verse says that I couldn't ask the king to guard us when I told him God told us, right?
So protection fast over your family, over your children, over your journey.
We fast for God's protection.
Again, this is not an exhaustive list.
These are just some of the different things we fast for.
Direction, consecration, protection.
We fast for protection.
We fast to break strongholds.
We fast to break strongholds.
What's a stronghold?
Something that no matter how hard you've tried, you haven't been able to overcome yet.
We see the story when the disciples prayed over a young man and the demon didn't come out.
And the father comes to Jesus and says, your disciples prayed and nothing.
So Jesus casts out the demon.
Then the disciples say, why couldn't we do it?
It's in Matthew chapter number 17.
Jesus says this kind only comes out but by prayer and fasting.
Now what does this kind mean?
There's different theological interpretations out there.
It could be this kind referring to that specific demon.
That's what some theological interpretations say.
Other theological interpretations is that the unbelief part.
Because here's what happens.
If you don't believe it's going to happen, it won't.
Belief and faith go hand in hand.
That's why Jesus time and time again says if you tell this mountain to be moved and cast into the sea and do not doubt in your heart.
We see belief with the woman with the issue of blood.
She said to herself, if I only touch, and she went and touched and she received the healing.
It's when we see Jairus tell him, if you come, I know she'll be made well.
Jesus comes, he meets us at our belief.
But if we don't have belief, we'll never encounter it.
So whether you believe the theological side that it was a specific demon or you believe the theological side that it was the unbelief, we can totally understand that prayer and fasting breaks strongholds.
Addictions, no matter how hard I tried, I can't break free.
And I want to go beyond just alcohol addiction and drug addiction.
There are people that are sitting here or listening online and they're like, oh, I don't have any addictions.
But if your phone is nowhere near you, your finger still goes like this.
It's an obsession.
So if there is something that you say no matter what you're doing, you're not going to be able to, I always come back to it.
I'm stuck.
I can't break free.
I can't break free.
That's a stronghold.
And a stronghold will be broken through fasting, intentional fasting.
Pastor, I came today to be uplifted.
This is the most uplifting thing.
When you intentionally spend a time, set a time, when you intentionally set aside time to fast and pray and spend it with God, you will walk in freedom, in liberty, in health, in healing of your mind, of your emotions, of your body.
We fast.
And so I said it earlier, I believe all believers should live a life of fasting at different periods of their time.
So I would challenge you today, ask God how often he wants you to fast personally.
Not if, because Jesus didn't say if you fast twice.
He said when you fast.
So that's the first thing I challenge you with.
The second thing is we are entering a corporate fast as a church.
We announced it on the first Sunday of 2025.
God put in our heart we are going to do three seven-day fasts, and the first one starts this Tuesday.
We're calling a corporate fast.
Now I'm going to be very, very specific, very, very raw, very, very direct.
If you heard from God that 3W Church is your church, this is the church where you are planted, where you receive, and you feel that I am called to be your pastor, it's not a matter of if you should be part of the corporate fast.
It's what will you fast for those seven days?
Because we're calling for a corporate fast.
So what, Lord, do I fast while we are corporately?
The leadership of the church is leading us.
Again, Esther told Mordecai, tell the whole nation, fast for three days.
Their lives depended on it.
They told all of Nineveh, repent.
They came part of the corporate fast.
So I urge you, you pray what.
Now there's a QR code on the screen that takes you to the registration tab on our church center app to register for the fast.
Why do we have a registration tab?
Well, there's a few things.
Number one, accountability.
Although you're not going to have anything on there asking you what are you fasting, that is not one of the things, okay?
You don't need to tell me what it is you're fasting.
That's you and God.
But what is taking place during our corporate fast?
When you register, you're going to get an email a couple of minutes later that tells you a few things.
Number one, it has an attachment that has the seven specific topics that we're going to be fasting for throughout those seven days.
So for example, on Tuesday morning when this fast starts, that day we are fasting specifically praying that we receive a clean heart.
Many of us, we have this thing we hear what the world says, follow your heart.
I remember when Pastor Christina preached Mother's Day this past year, and she said, you know, she said, I can't say it like she says it, but she was like, everybody says follow your heart, you do you, boo, whatever.
But that's not scriptural.
That's not a scriptural thing.
The Bible says the heart is deceitful.
So we need, Lord, create in me a clean heart.
That's day one.
So you're going to receive an attachment that has all seven days what we are fasting about each of those days and what verse you can pray and quote throughout that day as you're standing and fasting.
The second thing you're going to see on that email, it's going to let you know what we have every single Tuesday at 6 a.m., which is corporate prayer.
Every Tuesday, 6 a.m., rain or shine, cold or hot, we open up the sanctuary and we pray here at the church.
So we invite you to come on out this week during the fast.
We're also going to have a corporate prayer gathering on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
So I would encourage you, come on out on Friday night, 7:30 p.m., come pray together with us.
And additionally to that, and this is all on that email, we're going to open a Zoom all seven days at seven in the morning where a different one of our church leaders will be there guiding and praying for half an hour.
It's going to be open where you can join in and pray with us together from wherever you are in the city, 7 to 7:30 in the morning and at night, 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Do I have to join them all?
If you can, you're more than welcome to.
If you can't, it's okay, connect with God.
But we wanted to give you ample opportunities.
We've never done this before.
We've never done having a Zoom time.
We fasted as a church corporately numerous times, but God put this in our heart.
We needed to have corporate time with it.
So we're having the two corporate encounters during this prayer of fasting, and we're also having this digital remote access where maybe you're already at work and you can join in or you're driving to work and you just put it in there and listen and pray with us.
And we're going to fast for that topic of the day.
Again, you're going to get the attachment.
If you do not have access to a printer, we have hard copies in the lobby.
If you have access to a printer, if you have, you'd rather have it digitally, don't worry about it.
You can just have it.
There is a topic for each day.
So we're going to fast for a clean heart.
Day two, intimacy with God.
Day three, clear vision.
We need vision, clear vision of what God wants us to do.
Day four, we're going to fast for the salvation of the lost.
Raise your hand if you have a family member or co-worker, somebody that doesn't know Jesus.
Do you know it's God's desire for all men to be saved?
We need to fast.
Lord, send workers, send people to encounter them.
We're going to fast for the next generation.
Many of us complain, oh, these kids are lost.
This world is heading down the wrong thing.
Let's fast and pray for the next generation, that they will encounter Jesus.
We're going to fast and pray for our church, our leadership, that we would store well what God has entrusted us with.
And we're going to close out this week by fasting for revival.
Repentance will bring forth revival, awakening.
And so we're doing that as a church.
Pastor, I thought you said, don't let the world know what you're doing.
I'm not telling you, go tell the world what you're fasting, but I'm asking you, ask God and commit with him.
You may want to share with your spouse or with a person that is like an accountability partner.
Hey man, just so you know, this is what I'm fasting.
Can you pray with me?
I'm going to give you, these are some little practical, tangible things.
If you feel from God to do a juice fast, you're only going to have liquid.
You're only going to have juices.
Make sure you go to the grocery store today or at the very latest tomorrow and buy what you need.
Because if you wait till Tuesday afternoon and your stomach is whatever, and you're going to say, I was like, oh, I'm not going to Publix at this time.
Are you going to walk through Publix?
And you got to walk through so many aisles to get to the produce.
Something's going to be grabbed.
Go buy it today.
If you said, I'm going to do the Daniel fast, I'm not going to eat meats and poultry.
I'm going to do vegetables and grains, rice, all these different things.
Make sure you buy those today and don't buy the meat.
Because if it's in the freezer right now, you're...
It's very, it's practical.
That's not, I'm not quoting from scripture.
I'm just giving you some practical advice.
I want to learn how to fast, pastor.
Okay, here it is.
Ask God, hear God, obey God.
And if God told you and you're going to juice fast, get the stuff you need so that it's easier.
Prepare your body for it.
Listen, God puts it in your heart to do a seven-day liquid diet, a liquid fast.
When you go to break the fast next week on Tuesday, don't break it at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
You will have massive stomach issues.
This is practical.
This is practical stuff.
You're going to do a solid only water fast for a couple of the days.
Eat light tomorrow.
Because if you gorge yourself and then go to the next day, your body's going to have a shock moment.
Those are little practical things.
But what's the most important spiritual part?
Ask God and then obey God.
Ask God and obey God.
As we're corporately fasting, I would also challenge you.
If there's something in your life that you haven't been able to overcome, pray about that.
Say, God, not only am I fasting for this corporately as a church, I'm lifting up this stronghold, this issue, this situation in my marriage or in my children or grandchildren or the health.
Lay it before me.
Lay it before me.
Lay it before me.
Lay it before me.
Lay it before me.
As we then seek him, and I guarantee you, worship team, start coming to the altar.
The link of fasting is not the end-all, be-all.
Every link is important.
What's the saying?
Can you help me with the saying?
You're only as strong as your weakest link.
So there are tons of links that keep us tied to God.
We talked about Sabbath.
Now we're talking about fasting.
There's a whole lot of links that keep us tied to God.
We talked about fasting.
Now we're talking about the whole slew of them.
And some of us are saying, man, I've been a Christian for X amount of time.
I just can't get over this.
I can't do this.
I can't do that.
Fast, fast.
I guarantee you, it'll revolutionize your life.
It'll wreck you in such a way, in a good way.
When you make the active choice, this is what we're doing.
So I'm going to invite you to stand to your feet.
We're going to pray together and give this to God.
And as the worship team then begins to lead us into worship, what I'm going to challenge you to do is ask God, what does he want you to fast?
You're going to ask him, Lord, what do you want me to fast?
We're going to ask him for strength.
Listen, if you're a parent, it's tough sometimes because I may be fasting, but I still got to feed my children.
And it's not like, I'm like, hey, if I'm fasting, you fasting.
No, I'm going to feed my seven-year-old.
You know what I'm saying?
And we have a family thing.
We sit and have dinner and we talk about our day.
So while I'm fasting this week, I'm going to sit at dinner and tell me about your day.
And I'm going to say, Lord, give me strength.
And so, Lord, right now, together, corporately, as a body, we dedicate this fast that we are entering to you.
And, Father, not only the topics that we are praying for specifically are we going to hear come to pass in our lives, but, God, I declare in the name of Jesus, as men and women are fasting throughout this week, there is deliverance that's going to happen.
There is going to be restoration of broken relationships.
There's going to be healing and provision and miracles that take place.
And so, Lord, I pray, give us strength throughout these seven days of fasting.
In our body, physically, and in our mind and emotionally.
Give us strength.
And, Lord, I pray that we would all hear you as to what you want us to fast for these seven days.
And, Father, that we would then, for as we seek you, we will encounter you.
And you, God, our anchor, will hold us securely in place.
In Jesus' name.
on Jan 19, 2025
