If you need a handout sheet, just lift your hand right up, and the ushers will see that you received one. It should be entitled, Prayer and Fasting, Lesson 10, Part 2. Part 1, of course, was last week, and just really laying the biblical foundation that fasting is in the Bible and something to be practiced by all believers, not just an Old Testament truth, but a Christian truth. And let me just say as we begin, and you want to turn in your Bibles to Esther chapter 4, we're going to be looking at several of these as we begin, using Matthew chapter 6, of course, as our springboard. In Matthew chapter 6, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, by way of review from last week, we see that Jesus addresses the giving of believers, and how He talks about almsgiving in verse 1, and then you get into verse 5 and following, He talks about when a believer prays, and then He takes for granted in verse 16, He says, moreover, when ye fast. And so yes, Christians ought to give. Yes, Christians ought to pray. But yes, Christians also ought to be practicing fasting. And so that's what these lessons are all about. It's not a popular doctrine today, because especially in our materialistic society, we don't want to deny ourselves of anything. We want to just sort of, you know, whatever our eyes see, we want, we go and we get. Easy credit. But God doesn't work off of a system like that. and so we need to understand the biblical teaching regarding fasting. Let me also encourage you to do something. I know there was a popular philosophy several years ago about what would Jesus do and they had bracelets and necklaces and you know all kind of bumper stickers and things of that nature. I want you to really get in the habit of saying what does the Bible say? You know, you say, well, what's wrong with saying, what would Jesus do? Well, nothing in and of itself, except for I think there's a subtle thing that we do when we ask that question, what would Jesus do? And one of those things is we sort of say, well, how would He react to this? And we more or less put it on a human plane. We think more from the basis of our thinking. How would Jesus think? And He must think like I do. If He were in this particular situation, what would His opinion be? How would He act and react to this? And we ought to be concerned about the opinion of Jesus. We ought to be concerned of how He would act and react. But I think because we have the mind of Christ and the Word of God, it might be better for us to say, what does the Bible say? because the Bible thoroughly furnishes us unto all good works. And so the Bible also says that we have the mind of Christ in the scriptures. So I like what my mom always used to drill into me when I was growing up after they got saved, is we got into a good, sound Bible-preaching church And whenever I'd be saying something or wanting to do something with my friends as I was growing up and, you know, getting to be a teenager and all that, and I'd say, well, I think we ought to do this, and I think it's okay for me to do that. My friends do it, and it's okay for me to do it. And they claim to be saved and all this. And she would say, Mike, chapter and verse, chapter and verse. chapter and verse, and I know under my breath I'd say, chapter, verse, chapter, verse, chapter, verse, you know. But at the same time, there was something that really began to click in my mind, and that is, hey, you know, there must be a chapter, there must be a verse. And so I would try to go in and find that chapter and verse that would justify what I wanted to do. You know how that goes sometimes. And then you get shown otherwise. But by the same token, I want to encourage you to get in the habit of saying, what does the Bible say? What does God say? What does the Bible say about this? And begin that process and that search of the Scriptures. And you cannot go wrong by getting into the Word of God. I've talked to many people through the years, and we have been disagreeing in regards to a Bible topic. And I'd say, do you believe the Bible? And they'd say, yes. And I'd say, well, are you willing to do whatever the Bible says to do, no matter what? And they'd say, yes. And I'd say, well, so am I. So let's keep coming. Let's keep looking in the Scriptures. And let's let God settle all these details out. And you know what? It's an amazing thing. When everybody agrees on doing what God says to do, there's your unity. Unity is not picking up the carpet and just sweeping it under there, all of our differences and all of our, you know, disagreements and just pretending like they don't exist. You know what you do when you do that? You get lumps in the carpet. And you don't have unity when you try to do that theologically. The basis for true unity is common belief founded upon the Word of God. That's true unity. And so that's what, as we study the Scriptures, we need to say, you know, as Bible believers and Bible practicers, let's find out what the Bible says and let's line our lives up to it. So it's not a matter of me being better than you. It's not a matter of me knowing more than you. It's just a matter of, hey, let's, as God gives us light, get in there and get the job done and align our lives up accordingly. Fasting, we see on your study sheet, is imperative. Now, As Dr. Burge was in his commencement address on Sunday night, he says, who's the Greek teacher here? And I said, King James Bible, you know. And I think everybody got the message about that. And at the same time, I'm not afraid to go to the Greek. I just don't think you need to go to the Greek to do that. But when you look at explanations and you use the term imperative, many times since the Bible was written in the Koine Greek in those early days of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was the common Greek of the day, you have classical Greek, you have the common man Greek, the Koine Greek, and that's what the Bible is. It was written for the common man. And we see though that imperatives in the Greek language were commands. They were the have-tos. They were, you know, the commands to do it, and you've got to do this. And when you look at these words here, it's not just suggestions. You know, like we'll say if somebody's going through a deep valley, hey, maybe you ought to take some extra time and pray. No, Jesus was telling His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, and those listening, He says, you pray. He says, and you give. and then he turns around and says, and moreover, you fast. That's what he was saying. And so we need to find out what the Bible has to say in regards to this discipline of fasting. Number one, we have the different types of fast. Letter A, we have the public and the private fast mentioned in the scriptures. Number one under letter A is the public fast. The public fast, I would almost say this would almost be on the same line as a national day of fasting. A public fast refers to any public call to fasting and prayer. As you know the nation of Israel was being oppressed and we have Esther that was taken, and was going to be a wife here. And I'm just going to jump into Esther chapter 4. I don't want to preach on the whole account of Esther. It's interesting, though, that God is not mentioned in the book of Esther at all. But we see Him working mildly in it. But it says here in verse 15, Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer. Let me jump up to verse 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape from the king's house more than all the Jews. Haman had worked a diabolical work in trying to see that all the Jews were exterminated. And so Mordecai knew that, you know, here's Esther the queen and she's being really insulated from all the bulk of the everyday problem of the Jew because of her position. And so he sends a message and says, here, don't think that you're going to be absolved from this or that the death sentence won't reach you. It will, because you are a Jew. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. Oh, this is, I mean, I could stop right here and preach a message, because this is powerful truth. You see, God was given in His grace an opportunity for Esther to be used by Him in a great work and in a great way. And Mordecai said, you know, he says, if you don't grab hold of this opportunity, deliverance is going to come from another source. He knew his Bible. He knew that God would protect the Jew. And so he says, you know, you've got an opportunity, Esther, to really make an impact. And yet if you don't do it, God will choose some other way. He says, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. He says, if you miss this opportunity, you're going to die. He says, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. He just throws this out, Mordecai does to Esther and says, who knows, this could be the very reason why you were created in the first place. At this particular time in human history, you may have come on the scene so that you could be used by God to deliver His people. I mean, and so we have to start thinking biblically and seeing a big picture here as far as our own personal lives. There are no uh-ohs with God. There are no mistakes. You're not a mistake. You know, I cringe sometimes when I hear couples talking about maybe their children. I heard somebody recently who was talking about their last child that was born, and they said, oh, she was an accident. And I cringe when I hear that kind of stuff, because I don't believe in that. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. I don't believe God in heaven says, you know, I will give them an accident. I don't believe that. The Bible says in Psalm 127 that children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. It doesn't say, you know, I think I'll just make a mistake and send them. Oh, I sent them to the wrong address. No, he sends the stork to the right place. Okay? All right? He says, but, you know, whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this, verse 15, then Esther bade them return more to Chai, this answer, go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan. Now, she's got the right idea here. She understands the gravity of the situation and says, look, gather all the people together and fast ye for me. She says, fast ye for me. and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish." You see, she could not just go into the presence of the king. The Persian king had to, as he sat there with his scepter in his hand, if someone would come into his presence, if he did not extend the scepter to them, they would be taken out and killed. And so she couldn't just waltz in because she was the queen and say, hey, I want to talk to you, buddy. You know, it's not like in our North American context in a marriage situation. It wasn't like that at all. And so she was concerned, you know, like if I just go walking in there and I haven't been invited into his presence, this could cost me my life. So you fast for me and I'll fast. You see, she wasn't asking them to do something that she wasn't going to do. That's leadership. And then it says here, so Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. That's interesting to me, how that he's sending messages this way, and all of a sudden she turns around and actually operates in the direction that he wants and what he was trying to get her to do, but yet he goes out and obeys and says, let's fast. So we see here that this is probably one of the most famous fasts. So, number one, the public fast. A public fast refers to any public call to fasting and prayer. Any public call to fasting and prayer. Letter A, probably the most famous public fast was Queen Esther's call to all the Jews to join her in three days of fasting and prayer. Three days. okay letter B the second most famous public fast was called by the pagan king of Nineveh in response to the preaching of God's prophet in his prophet Jonah in Jonah chapter 3 as you know Jonah is one of the shortest books of the Bible it's four chapters in length and you get a great revival takes place here and Jonah is pretty upset about it And it says here in verse 5, we'll pick up there, so the people of Nineveh believed God. See, and I think that's a critical thing. You know, we see the, yes, a pagan king called this, but yet he was responding to the preaching of repentance that Jonah proclaimed. And that's why Jonah had such a problem. because Jonah knew that if God was calling him to preach to the city of Nineveh, that God was going to do a good work there. And he hated the Ninevites. They were barbarians. It is said that outside of Nineveh, that the skulls that were taken, the bodies that were taken, the enemy that was taken, which were the Jews, they were decapitated and then the skulls were piled up outside the city gates as a testimony to their victory. These were barbarians if there ever was a barbarian. And Jonah said, I want to see them all die and go to hell. I don't want to see them saved. And yet the Lord says, I want you to go and cry against Nineveh. And so that's why Jonah headed out. You know, he was called to go actually northeast, and instead he ran southwest. See, he ran into the Mediterranean, and we find God doing a work. He gets swallowed by the great fish. He gets vomited out on the shore, and he heads there, and he preaches. He did what he was supposed to do, but with the wrong spirit. But God still honored His Word. That's another truth we need to pay attention to. Sometimes in the scope of Christianity, we see people doing things and we say, well, how could they be so off in this area and yet it seems like God's hand of blessing is so right in this area? God may not be blessing the individual, but He is honoring His Word. And I think you need to understand that God will not allow His Word to return unto Him void. And so that's why you can have people doing wicked things, and yet out of that wickedness, out of that compromising situation, because the Word has been presented in whatever form, sometimes good comes of it. And you scratch your head and say, you know, if that's so wrong, then why does it seem like something good comes out of it? Because God's honoring His Word. But you and I should not think that you can violate Scripture and somehow arrive at God's blessing in our life. It's one thing, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, that he did some things ignorantly in unbelief. It's one thing when you do it ignorantly in unbelief, ignorantly without the knowledge, that's what ignorance is, and it's another thing to go ahead and violate scriptural principles that you know about or often know about it because you've been taught better, but yet you've not heeded it and think that somehow God's going to bless that. He won't do it. but he will honor his word. And that's what we find happening here. And it says here, so the people of Nineveh believe God. So the answer here is they believe God. Okay? It wasn't that all of a sudden he's going to, you know, God's just going to spare this city from being destroyed because, you know, they did this. They fasted. They prayed. They talked to God. No, they believed God. You see, how do you get saved? By belief. It's not in what you do. The Ninevites should have been destroyed for what they did, just as you and I should be destroyed for our sin. And it says here, So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. In other words, everyone did this. He says, For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. I mean, this is such a picture of humility. And if you look at the base meaning definition of being humble, it means to make yourself low. And one of the aspects of humbling yourself is doing away with even some of the physical necessities and luxuries of life, which much of our eating is that, doing away with that and saying, look, I'm willing to lay all that aside and humble myself under God so that He can see I'm serious about this. The people of Nineveh were serious about humbling themselves before the God of Israel. And it says here in verse 7, And He caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. I mean, this went, they were so serious about it, they said, Not only are we not going to eat, we're not going to feed our animals either. We want God to know we're serious about this. We want to get a hold of Him. We want him to see how sincere we are about answering our prayer and not killing us. And he says, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mildly unto God. Can you imagine the sense? You know how it is when cattle get hungry? Man, they cry. I mean, you know, I'm a sick cow, but, you know, there's some real good cows out there. And, you know, but they, I mean, they can really make a lot of noise. Can you imagine? Here's feed time and they don't have their feed. I mean, dogs, when they're not fed, boy, they just howl and bark and carry on cats and meow. Can you imagine the, I mean, the choir that went up and they're all crying. And the king said, I'm doing this because I want God to know we're serious about this. We're not eating. We're not drinking. We want God to hear us. Pay attention to us. He says, Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. In other words, cleanse your hands, ye sinners. James chapter 4, verses 7 and 8. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. It says, who can tell? See, it's still up to God, isn't it? See, and this is something that here, this new king, I say new king, new as far as his submission to the God of heaven. He says, who can tell if God will turn and repent? Repent means a change of mind that leads to a change of action. So that's why when it says God repents, you say, boy, God doesn't do anything wrong. How in the world could he repent? Well, he can change his mind. He can change his mind and then determine not to do what he was going to do. And exactly if you think he was going to pass judgment, which he was going to do to Nineveh, he decided he wasn't going to pass judgment. He changed his mind because he saw the Ninevites humbling themselves. I mean, that means you can get God to change his mind towards you. And it says here, it says, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way and God repented. He changed. It says God repented of the evil. That doesn't mean evil wickedness. That means what we would determine or say is the bad that he was going to do. I would say that if I was getting ready to get killed, that'd be bad news. That means somebody's trying to get ready to do evil on me. You see, don't read more in the scriptures than what's there. Keep it in its context. Let the Bible explain itself. Oh, you know, he's going to do evil. God does evil. God doesn't do evil. He only does good. He is just. He is pure. He is holy. He is love. And it says here, And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not. That's repentance right there. That's a change of mind that leads to a change of action. So when we talk about biblical repentance, that's what we're talking about. Okay, so here we see that the second most famous public fast was called by the pagan king of Nineveh in response to the preaching of God's prophet Jonah. And then number two under Roman numeral number one, letter A, you have the private fast. The private fast. And the private fast can be a personal, even secret, fast or a privately called group or church fast. And we have listed here Matthew chapter 6 verses 16 through 18, and of course that's what we read just a moment ago. Let's go to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, this is referenced as the sending out of the first missionaries on the first missionary journey, Acts chapter 13. And it says, Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manon, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. Now notice, some people will only get serious about serving God when there's a problem. But here we find a church just seeking to be vibrant for the cause of Christ, and they practice fasting. They were serious about getting a hold of God so that they could do more. You see, and it says here, as they minister to the Lord. Now, the thing we need to understand, they were serving in the context of the local church, verse 1, but it says that in the course of doing the work of the ministry, of interacting with other Christians and seeking to reach people for Christ, it says that they minister to the Lord. When you and I practice biblical truth and flesh it out day by day. We are not just ministering to one another. We are ministering to the Lord. And that's the focus we have to keep in whatever we do. When Anna sang, and she did a great job singing, what she sang a while ago, she was ministering to us, but she was also ministering to the Lord. When the musicians play the instruments, they're not just playing so that we're blessed, even though we're blessed, but they're ministering to the Lord. When I preach, I ought to, at the end of the message, be able to go to my office or some quiet place or in my heart and say, Jesus, were you pleased with that? Because that was for you, you see. And so we ought to be keeping that in mind that here they were in this local church and they said, as they ministered to the Lord, notice what it says, and fasted. and fasted. Very interesting, isn't it? It says here, the Holy Ghost said, separate me. Barnabas and Saul for the work, whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted, talk about the church, and prayed. Notice the fast came before the praying here. The job of a pastor, according to Acts chapter 6, is to pray and have the ministry of the Word. OK, you notice how fasting came before prayer. Fasting prepares your heart because you are humbling yourself. So God hears the cry of the humble, does he not? And so if you try to exalt yourself, hey, he'll, he resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And so it says here, and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they, the church, sent them away. Okay, so here we see that the private fast can be personal, even a secret fast, or a privately called group or church fast. And then the point underneath, number two, says the concern is with the motivation of our fasting. Are we fasting to be seen of men or to set ourselves apart for the secret notice of God? Let me read that again. The concern is with the motivation of our fasting. Are we fasting to be seen of men or to set ourselves apart for the secret notice of God? I think with all that we do, we have to be careful of this. Because sometimes you may see someone doing something, if you're not careful as you think in a carnal way, you'd say, oh, I know why they're doing that. They're doing that for the praise of man, or they're doing that because they love to be seen of man, or they like people to notice them, and so on. You have to be careful about judging people's motives. You know, you can have two people doing the same thing, and God is pleased with one and not with the other, because of the motive of the heart. That's why the Word of God is so important, because according to Hebrews 4, verse 12, it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of our heart. Jeremiah says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't even know the depravity, the wickedness of our own heart. So we can go and say, you know, I just really felt this is the thing to do. God knows my heart. Yes, God does know your heart, but the Word of God exposes the motivation of your heart. And that's how you can tell whether you're on track or not. That's how you can tell whether, hey, you're doing what you're doing for the right reason. So yeah, teach Sunday school, but do it for the right reason. Come to church, but come for the right reason. You know, there were many times when I was growing up and I was a teenager that I didn't want to come to church, but I came because Dad made me come to church. It was never up for discussion. You know, and if I was too sick to come to church, then I was too sick to go play football. You know, if I was too sick to do something spiritual, I was too sick to go do something physical. See, and I think we have to get back to doing what we're doing for the right motivation, and the Word of God will help us in that. It will expose to us, hey, why am I doing what I'm doing? And it doesn't just expose us so that we can, you know, it cuts us open, it lays us bare, and then we die there on the battlefield. No, the Word of God does that so that we can get it right. He doesn't say, hey look, you may have been teaching Sunday school for all the wrong reasons, you may have been singing in the choir for all the wrong reasons, playing the instruments for all the wrong reasons, but now since God has cut through with His Word to your heart and exposed your wicked, carnal motivation, why you've been doing that, now get it right and then sing in the choir, play the instrument, teach the Sunday school class for the right reason, the right motivation. Okay, so the concern here though with the fasting is with the motivation of our fasting. Are we doing it to be seen of men? Or are we doing it to set ourselves apart for the secret notice of God? Now there are three kinds of fasts here, letter B. Number one is the typical fast. The typical fast. The Bible teaches that normal fasting means totally refraining from solid food. The typical fast mentioned in the Bible did not involve abstinence from liquids. Now, We had the lesson last week. We have the lesson this week. We have a lot of scriptural basis for that. You're going to have to look at some of these things. And I'm just going to give you the various kinds of fasts. We're going to look at the length of fast in just a moment, as well as some of the reasons for it and why we ought to fast. You have the typical fast, number one. Number two, we have the complete fast. We just had an illustration of that, okay? And here it says, the complete fast, also called the absolute fast, involves no food or water. In Acts chapter 9 and verse 9, you have the passage of Scripture, those first 18 verses, where the Apostle Paul, at that time his name was Saul, he got saved on the road to Damascus. The people led him as he was blinded by the light, the Lord Jesus Christ, they led him into Simon's house, and he was there three days. blinded and he never ate food and never drank water. So there was an absolute fast, Acts 9.9. If a person, now here's something you need to be careful of because I remember as a Bible college student wanting to be used by God and called to preach. Boy, I'd read a biography and I'd read where some guy stayed up three quarters of the night walking with God. Then I'd read another biography, the guy's got up every day at three, four o'clock in the morning and walked with God. And you know what? You've got to sleep sometimes. And if you're not careful, you will look at certain things and get all excited and not look at it in a balanced way, and you're going to end up doing something stupid and out of balance. And you can't all of a sudden say, hey, you know, I've been living this way all these years, and now all of a sudden I'm going to go on a 40-day fast. Your body will react to that. There's a whole lot of things that will react to that. Funeral homes, You've got to be careful about that. If you have health issues, you know one thing I would encourage you to do is go get a physical. Go get yourself a physical and just find out what your body can handle. And the Lord knows your heart. You don't think He'd be honored if you picked up the telephone and called the doctor's office and said, I need to schedule a physical. And in your heart you're saying, God, I'm doing this because I want to walk with You. And I want you to know that I'm serious. And I'm not doing this so that I can break my health. I'm doing this so that I can walk with you. And I need you in my life in a real way. And I need you to act. And I've got this special burden I'm carrying. Or, hey, I want to be used by you. Or I need direction in my life. And so, Lord, I'm doing this because I want you to know I'm serious about serving you. And I'll be honest with you, I'm impressed with a lot of folks here because I think in all the midst of our carnality and the problems and hassles and problems we deal with, I really think that there are a lot of people here who are serious about wanting to serve God. And I believe that from the top of my head to the sole of my foot. I really do believe that there's many of you that you have a heart for God. And I think God is honored by that. Keep that up. Keep being serious. Get more serious about God and for God. And so you see here, it says, if a person has a serious health problem, he should consult his physician before engaging in a complete fast. And then number three, you have a partial fast. The partial fast has several applications and is distinguished by the things that can be eaten and the frequency of eating. And here we have some examples given to you. Letter A involves abstaining from certain foods. It gives the example of Daniel in chapter 1 and verse 12 where you know he was made a eunuch after the manner of men. A eunuch is one who could not bear children. And so as many of the opposing countries would take a country, they would take some of the choice men, the smart men, the learned men, the educated men, and they would make them eunuchs. They would take their ability, their manhood away from them. They could not reproduce. And so they were made eunuchs. So if any man had a right to be bitter, you would think it would be Daniel. And yet Daniel said, look, I'm not going to defile myself with the king's meat. I'm going to keep serving God. So even though he had his manhood, so to speak, taken from him in the physical sense, we find he didn't get bitter against God. He said, look, I'm going to walk with God and I'm not going to defile myself with the worldly ways. And so here he says, look, I want you to feed us ten days with pulse and water and then check us out to see if we're not in better condition than those you give the king's diet to. And of course God honored that. That's a particular kind of fast, that's abstaining from certain foods. It involves abstaining from foods for a specific time period, as is illustrated by Daniel 1.12. And then letter C, it says it could involve abstinence from sexual relationships between the husband and wife. If you have your pen, write down 1 Corinthians chapter 7. And there it's listed for you as a married couple, the only time that it's biblically acceptable for you two to withhold yourselves from the pleasures of married life. It's not because you're mad at each other. It's not because you're trying to bargain with each other. We call that prostitution. What it is designed for is for a holy reason. And the Bible says that you come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency, realizing that that's one of the most powerful drives in the human body. And so you have to be careful how you approach this. And so he lays that down in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. So it could involve abstinence from sexual relationships between husband and wife. That's the partial fast. Okay, number two, and let me just say this, it's the husband and wife have to agree to it. That's where it says, do not defraud ye one another except it be consent for a time. That means cheat. Okay? And so then you have the length of a fast. I am going to run out of time, dear folks. Roman numeral number two. The main thing to keep in mind is that the Lord was led up of the Spirit to fast And we too must be led in the matter of the number of days we fast. In Matthew chapter 4, we have the baptism in chapter 3 of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 4, the first 11 verses, you'll find this also in Luke 4. And then in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus, it says, was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. And He was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. You know in biblical numerology, 40 is the number of testing. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days, 40 nights. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, 40 days, 40 nights. It's the number of testings or trials, okay? And so we see where He was Spirit-led to do this. You and I better make sure that when we're led to do something, that it's God, the Holy Spirit, indwelling us, leading us to do it, and not just some whim or fancy, or, I think this is something novel to do. God's not impressed by novelty. Okay? And so here we find that Jesus was led of the Holy Spirit. Now, the length of the fast, letter A, is a one-day fast. A one-day fast. And number one under that, they fasted in connection with repentance for their national sin. There's nothing wrong with the leadership calling and saying, look, we have been a wicked and perverse people. We have sinned greatly and taken on the evil perversions and sins of the heathen around us. We've grabbed that as our own and we need to repent before God. So they do that. Number two, they were moved as a nation to a one-day fast when disillusioned after a stinging defeat. After a stinging defeat. You know, it's amazing how we get serious about God when things go wrong. All of a sudden, I want to pray. All of a sudden, I want to say, OK, is my life in order? That might be a proper thing to do when things are going wrong, but at the same time, that might not be the only time we're doing things right or trying to get right. Amen? Number three, the children of Israel were called to a one-day public fast to mourn bereavement. 2 Samuel 3, verses 31 to 35. Notice the point under number three. We observe that generally, nations are called to a one-day public fast to address a matter of consequence to the entire nation. However, any of the above may provide occasion for an individual to set aside a day for fasting and prayer. Keen awareness A personal sin might move you to a one-day fast. So you may get so heavy and so burdened for your own depravity, your own sin, that you just say, you know, I need to humble myself. I'm going to fast over my own sin. And then letter B, you have the three-day fast. You have the three-day fast. And of course we read this in Esther chapter 4. Queen Esther's call to her nation to join her in a three-day fast. Letter C is the seven-day fast in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verses 15 to 21. Sometimes we set ourselves apart to fast and pray until God gives us His final answer. And during that time, God faithfully prepares us for it. This is where I think we miss it as believers, even in our prayer life. You see, because we expect God to answer right now. I drive through service, I've placed my order, and by the time I get up there, I expect them to be putting that Tim Hortons right on out there in my hand, and we're going on down the road, leave my penny behind, you've got my buck fifty. Okay? I mean, we want it quick. And that's the way we approach God. And yet, that's what happens many times. You say, well, you know, I really believe this is what God wants. But many times we don't stay in our closet long enough to really know that that's what God wants. It could very well be that's what we want. But the longer we stay on our knees praying for something, if it's not the will of God, and we want God's will more than we want our answer to our agenda and our prayer, then what happens is He begins to do a change in our mind and heart. He begins to change our want to. You know, you trust in Him, you walk with Him, you wait upon Him, and He gives you the desires of your heart. It doesn't mean that I like that Cadillac out in the parking lot, and so, hey, He's going to give me my desire. No, as I pant, as the heart panteth after the water brooks, and my soul pants after God, then He is honored by that, and He will give me a thirst for what I ought to be thirsty for. And so then I will want what He wants. See? And so then, He will give me the desires of my heart. In other words, it's not the Cadillac that He wants me to want. It's Him. That in all things, Colossians 1, He might have the preeminence. You see, and when I get to the point in my life where I want Him more than I want things and stuff, then whoo! Man, that's something. That's the answer we're looking for. Amen? And that's when He moves on our behalf. And you remember, in that same Sermon on the Mount, in the latter part of chapter 6, after He talks about fasting, then He talks about all the things that we're usually concerned about. All the unsaved are concerned about. What you're going to wear. Where you're going to sleep. What you're going to eat. You know, he says, don't worry about that. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be given unto you. It's going to be done for you. So he doesn't want you focused on the prosperity gospel, giving so a thousand dollar seed gift and you're going to get this and that and the other thing. That's carnality. That's man-based theology. We ought to be after God, searching for God. And fasting gets us in tune with God. Okay? And so there's the, where am I? It's the seven-day fast. Okay? But God faithfully prepares us for it. He begins to do a work of grace in our heart and life, changing our mind, our wills, to align with His. That's powerful. I mean, can you imagine when you want what God wants, you know what's going to happen? You're going to get it. You're going to have it. That's the key, see. Alright, then letter D, you have the 21-day fast. We learn, number one under that, that fasting helps us in the ongoing struggle of spiritual warfare. If you are in intense warfare where you feel the pressure, the imps of hell pressing on you, Or maybe you're going through some unbelievable circumstances where you sometimes even feel like you could cut the presence of evil in your room with a knife. Then there may be that aspect where you say, God, I need you and I'm going to set aside the plate. I'm going to set aside the glass and I'm just going to walk with you. I need you to break this spiritual stronghold that it seems to have been placed against me. We learn that fasting helps us in the ongoing struggle of spiritual warfare. Number two, sometimes fasting and prayer are required together to search out some of those things the Lord has concealed from us. People say, well, isn't God playing with us? No, He wants to know how serious you are. Why do you think He goes to Proverbs and He says, if you want wisdom, you search for wisdom as you would for hidden treasure. Boy, if I said that there was a million dollars on the 8.6 acres, seven miles north of Morden, you know what would happen? I imagine the big lights would be coming on. I imagine the front end loaders, and you'd call your buddies with the trucks and everything, and you'd be digging up my yard. You'd be hitting the pasture, no doubt, trying to dig for that hidden treasure. You'd be searching for it. And that's the way we ought to be after God. He says, you want the wisdom of God, you search as you would for His treasure. You know what we want to do? We want to come and say, well, you know, this is a great smorgasbord. I think I'll take a spoonful of this. I'll take a little of that. I'll munch around a little bit. Oh, you know, I don't really like this. And so let's just set the plate over here. I'll get me a fresh plate. And I'll go and fill it over here with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a whole lot of this. And that's the way we treat God. And that's why we're in such a mess. and that's why we say well you know you christianity god just doesn't work for me no he doesn't that's the point he doesn't work for us he is god amen he is god alright so with the search out sometimes we pass it lord i need your mind on this thing and sometimes he wants is waiting we say what You know, I've got this offer here and I've got this here and I can go do this and I can do that. You know, what should I do? And I've only got to this day to do it. Well, if that day comes and goes and you have no clear direction from God, bye-bye, it goes. You see? What you do is you just say, I want to fast and pray, God, if you want me out of this where you got me, then you give me clarity of direction. If he doesn't give it, it's not that he's shut up the windows of heaven and not answering your prayer. He's giving you your answer. He's not told you to move. But see, he came to Abraham in Genesis 12 and says, I want you to pick up and go. You leave family, you leave lands, and you go to a land that I will show you. He had clear direction. He said clear direction. He didn't know where he was going. He had clear direction. He was supposed to pack up and go by faith. And each step of the way, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Amen. The thing he was supposed to do was get going. And as he got going, then he found out where he was supposed to go. Amen. And so we see the 40-day fast. Oh my. Okay, the 40-day fast. Only three men are named in the Bible who fasted 40 days. I think it's significant. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Christ. Okay, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Christ. And you have the verses of Scripture there. Those are the only three names of men mentioned who fasted 40 days. These three are also noteworthy as the most spiritually powerful personalities who ever walked on the earth. I think that's significant. And then the next point, only by a supernatural sustenance of the Lord was it possible for them to survive such a fast. You know, the thing we have to be careful of is just because Elijah fasted 40 days and 40 nights, it doesn't mean that you and I are supposed to, hey, you know what, I want to be like Elijah. I'm going to fast 40 days and 40 nights. Err, wrong motive. It's man-centered. I don't want to be like Elijah. I want to be like Jesus. See? And so, don't get into the saying, well, I want to be like so-and-so, so I want to do that too. You know, my daughter has been given a gift by God. She's not in here, is she? Yes, she is too. Oh, yeah. She can get on the piano. She can play. And I just go, Oh God, help her. But you know what? I could go on the piano. And I could practice till the cows came home and they'd be crying, believe me. But I could practice. And you know what? It wouldn't work for me. It wouldn't work for me. Quit trying to be like somebody else. Okay? Walk with God. God has a special plan and purpose for your life. I'll never play the piano like she. Never. Hopefully she'll never preach like me. Okay, we'll talk about it later. Alright, so if we expect our ministry to impact our communities, we are going to have to pray and fast. In your notes it says fast and pray. Okay, and then lastly, we'll end with this for this week. Here, letter F, you have the 80-day fast. 80 days. Moses is the only one who ever fasted like this. Okay, now, here's the extent of the invitation. The invitation I want us to see through these two lessons is that God wants us and commands us to fast. It is a mark of spiritual humility, humbling ourself before our God. God may be impressing upon your heart because of some situations you're going through that you need to practice fasting and prayer. Let me encourage you to do that. And you say, well, you know, I don't know if I have the right words or if I do it exactly the right way. You know what? You get along with God and you say, God, I don't know all the ins and outs about it. I don't understand it. But Lord, I want to walk with You. God, You know what I'm going through. I've got a great need. I've got bondage in my life. I need it broken. God, I'm carrying a burden for a loved one. And I need You to help. I see spiritual warfare that's just gripping a certain situation or individual or my life. I'm going to fast and pray. Lord, please break this. You get serious about that. And just watch the work that God does in your life. But you seek to get serious with God and see if He won't be serious about you. Amen? Let's all stand with our heads down and our eyes closed, please. As soon as the musicians are ready to play, they can begin playing. Before they even hit a note, if you feel led to come, let me encourage you to come. You can just leave the place where you're standing, make your way to the front. This is serious business. We need to be serious about our walk with God. We need to be serious about our answers with God. This could very well be what God has been waiting to take place in your life. Let me encourage you. And you know, it's like the Lord said in one particular part of the Scriptures. He doesn't want you to get a sad countenance on your face and put ashes on your forehead and try to impress people that you're fasting. Your Father which seeth in secret will reward you openly. Why don't you just determine in your mind and heart that whatever price you have to pay, you're going to fast. You're going to pay the price so that you can walk with God. If you're here tonight without Jesus, He loves you. And before He ever started His public ministry, the Spirit led Him in the wilderness to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He fasted to be an effective servant for His Father. And also that we could know the truth that He's been touched. He knows what we've been through. Dear friend, without Jesus, He knows what you're fighting with. He's been tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He didn't know sin in His life. But the devil tried to work on Him. Just as the devil's trying to keep you in his grasp and say, Oh, don't you become a Christian? Don't you try to walk with God? If you're here today without Christ, why don't you determine, I'm going to follow Christ. I'm going to receive Him as my Savior. Just come. Just come. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? you you Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for Your love for us. We thank You for Your patience. Lord, You're so good to give us everything we need in Your Word. Lord, You set a rich table for us tonight. Lord, a lot of food, a lot of meat, a lot of direction. Lord, I pray that You'd help those who made decisions in regards to this matter of fasting and prayer. Lord, I pray that as we know, there are some folks walking through some deep valleys. They've got some things they're dealing with. And others, Lord, are needing direction. And Lord, we pray for them. Lord, I pray that if this is the direction that You want for them to take, that You'd impress it upon their hearts. Lord, thank You that You love us enough to tell us things that in this day and time are even unpopular. Lord, I just pray that those who made decisions tonight, that Lord, as they begin this walk with Thee and to practice fasting, that Lord, they'd be able to give testimony of your great working and Lord, we pray that you'd receive all the honor and glory and praise. Lord, we want to thank you for not giving up on us. Even after we get saved, we are met face to face with our inadequacy and we're reminded that without you, we can do nothing. Or we couldn't do anything, as I mentioned to a couple this afternoon. We couldn't do anything to get saved. And after we're saved, we still can't do anything without You. And Lord, we just thank You that You'll never leave us. You'll never forsake us. And even in the midst of our failures and weaknesses, You're thrilled to have us walk with You and talk with You. And Lord, to just continue to develop a relationship with You. And Lord, I pray You'd help each and every one of us in this room to just continue to be serious about You. And Lord, I pray we'd be even more serious about You. In Jesus' name I pray and all God's people said, Amen. You're dismissed.