How's the level out there, Steve? Are you happy with that? Cool.
Thank you, Steve. Thanks to our AV team, by the way, who problem-solve, troubleshoot, deal with everything.
We had some sound AV kung fu happening this morning. It was a really wonderful thing to see. My name's Aaron, if we haven't met yet. And we're going to get into a lot today. Yeah. So we're going to be talking about fasting today, obviously. Every year as a church, we dedicate these three weeks to a time of prayer and fasting. We call, actually. It's like the church calls. The church calls the church, right? Come fast with us. And some of you, you do this every year. Some of you, a few of you, fasting's a big part of your life. For many of you, fasting might have been an occasional thing. And then there's a whole bunch of other people who have just never done it. And every year, no matter how many times, and I want to preface this by saying, I cannot teach in one message everything there is to know about fasting. That's not possible. But like a dial on a transmitter, what I'm trying to do each year is find a new frequency,
A new people who didn't get it before. Because I want you to get this. There's all kinds of things that I want you to get because I think God wants you to get it. There's all kinds of habits, practices. There's all kinds of things. If you have an opponent, I don't know if you know this. You have an enemy. He hates you. He hates human beings. His name's Satan. Hates you. Despises you. Nothing good. Okay? He's really angry all the time. Because the problem for him is that what happened when it comes to sin is that Jesus Christ, through his life, death, and resurrection, broke the lock on the gate into eternal life. It's open for anyone at any time. And nothing the enemy can do can stop you from going through that gate. Okay? But if he can't stop you from going through that gate, what he'll try to do is make you the most miserable Christian you could possibly be. Because what he would like to do is discourage other people by turning you into a living poster of why not to become a Christian. And so what we do,
In groups of two or more, is we encourage each other into the things that turn us into not amazing human beings, but people who more and more look like the image of Jesus. So that we might profess by our very lives to the world that going through that gate is the best possible decision you could ever make. It doesn't mean life's not hard. It doesn't mean we don't absolutely suck sometimes. But the alternative is much worse. Because the Christian's floor is the non-believer's floor. non-believers' ceilings.
And one of those practices, like if the enemy can keep you from the word, keep you from prayer, keep you from worship, keep you from community, and keep you from fasting, he's removed all the tools in your tool belt. And one of the tools we have in our relationship with God is fasting. And so what I'm going to do today is pretty teaching heavy versus maybe preaching heavy. We'll see if a preach breaks out in the teach. But if you want to get your Bibles open just for your own reference, and there's going to be all kinds of references, but Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapters 8 and 9 for now. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and 9 in your Old Testament. Use the index. Deuteronomy 8 and 9. Your Bible goes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. That's your Bible. It's for you. The Word of God.
And I'm going to give you some background, some pretty helpful background on fasting, and then we'll go from there.
Because I think sometimes we get a little bit confused, especially in the evangelical tradition as to what fasting really is. And, you know, on one hand, on the far end of the kind of hyper charismatic spectrum, you know, health and wealth, prosperity people, it's like fasting is some sort of pry bar to get God to do what you want. That's not it. On the other, you know, hyper conservative end of the spectrum, fasting is something you do because you're bad. You know, it's like, or it's just a habit you have to do to make God happy. It's neither of those. It's neither of those extremes. It's something quite marvelous, actually. And once you get it, you get it. And the hard part for me is every year is I want everyone to get it. And I want you to get it not so that you're better. I want you to get it so that you get what God has for you in fasting. And I don't know what would happen. This is my little, this is a little heart to heart. But every year I think, God, what would you do if everybody in the church participated? Because I don't know. It's never happened. But what might God do? if we all did this together?
We don't know, and that's the point. We don't know because we've never done it. Biblical fasting, and there's only one kind, biblical. If it's not biblical fasting, it's a diet. Biblical fasting has, at its earliest, the root, where it comes from, begins with Moses, the prophet Moses, okay? Now, Moses fasted, it says, bread and water, for 40 days and for 40 nights on Mount Sinai, as God invited him up the mountain. And so he fasted 40 days and 40 nights, bread and water, so that he might prepare himself to receive the tablets of stone. Now, what do we call those two stone tablets? The Ten Commandments, right? Or in theological talk, the Deca-Log, which is ten. But the ten what? What does log mean, or logos? Words. In Hebrew, it's Moses went up the mountain, and he received, prepared himself to receive,
Ten words from the Lord, okay? That's in Deuteronomy 9, verse 9. And it's really interesting that Moses does this for a number of reasons, but it's fascinating that just before Deuteronomy 9, 9, when Moses is fasting, preparing to receive the ten words from the Lord, in Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the people that there's a day coming different than now. See, up until then, the Hebrews had been rescued from Egypt, God brought them out with a mighty hand, but now they've been in the wilderness a while, they've been hungry, they've been thirsty, right? And it's easy to depend on God, or to call out to Him for help when you're starving, and you're dying of thirst, but Moses says there's a day coming when you're going to have all that you need. And that day is the most dangerous day of your life.
It is so easy, Moses tells the people of God, to forget when things, when you have, always have enough, that the only reason you survived the hard times was because of God's direct intervention to provide for you.
We can be tempted, Moses tells the people, you're going to be tempted to think when you have enough, when the fridge is full, and the car is full of gas, and you've got tenure, and you've got a pension, and you've got all this stuff, you're going to be tempted to think that you got that because you're smart, you're pretty, you're hardworking, you had a good plan, you're an excellent strategist.
And this is where Moses tells them, be careful when you're doing well. Remember that the lean times were not an accident, but had a purpose, Deuteronomy 8.3. Moses says, and He, Yahweh, God, humbled you, and He let you hunger. He let you hunger.
And fed you with manna from heaven, which you didn't know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know, that what? Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.
God fed them by manna for a reason. How many people here have ever picked a loaf from a bread tree?
You got a bread tree? You go up, oof, sourdough. Awesome. Marble rye. Oof, I love this. No. What is bread? Bread is manufactured food. He fed you with food that you can't make so that you would know that you do not live by what you can produce, but by what God says. The word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. So they'd gone through the desert, they'd gone through the thirsty ground where there's no water. They'd been in the wilderness where food was scarce. They'd been fed in the wilderness by manna. Moses says, verses 15 and 16 of chapter 8, to do you good in the end. And now in chapter 9 of Deuteronomy, Moses goes up the mountain. He goes up the mountain to receive the word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, taking no bread and water, and he's relying on God to sustain him, to provide for him. This, in many respects, is where fast.
And Sabbath, the notion of Sabbath, have similar DNA. They're cut from the same cloth. So Sabbath, if you don't know, on its face is a day of rest because God rested on the seventh day of creation. Have you heard of that?
But Sabbath is not just a day of rest so that we, like God, will rest from our labors. No, Sabbath is more than that, though that's a part of it. Sabbath is obeying the command of God to not work for one day a week to show that you know where your provision comes from. You have to remember that up until recent history, everybody worked seven days a week. And so by releasing relinquishing a seventh of your production, you could show God, I know where my stuff comes from.
That was Shabbat.
As a side note, other than the Hebrews,
There was no such thing as a weekend until Constantine legalized, legitimized Christianity, I think in the Edict of Milan, 321 or something like that. There was no such thing as a weekend, a regular weekend, ever, until Christianity took over the culture and introduced them to it. So if you like weekends, you're welcome.
But unlike Sabbath, fasting at its origins with Moses and the Exodus, it's about preparing to receive revelation. A word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. And if you're in your small group later on in your own time, take a look at Daniel 9, verse 3. Daniel 9, 3. And what you see is the first instance of fasting in our scripture, and it carries on, is not so much about provision, though it is, its center, its nucleus, is you're preparing to receive something from the Lord. Particularly a word, revelation. Now fasting in the story of God's people eventually becomes codified into law. It becomes part of the law of Moses. And every one of God's people is commanded at least once a year in the law, in the Torah, that they are to fast at least once a year on the day of atonement, Yom Kippur, from morning until evening. So that was a fast by law of food, and interestingly enough, of work. And eventually, in the story, in the story of Israelite religion,
Fasting became both a spiritual habit and they added another dimension. It was not only a spiritual habit, it became an occasional intervention. So what I mean by that is on occasions, such as war or the threat of war, famine, plague, drought, any sort of calamity was at hand. What happened was fasting morphed into a way to intervene or ask God to intervene in the face of this calamity.
Now, that's great. But as we know, with any spiritual habit, religious tradition,
Once something becomes normalized, there's always the danger that in your spiritual life, it can become more ritual than meaning.
It could become a way in which you're doing this thing, this fast, because you're supposed to, or it's good for you, or just because God wants it, or to be good, or something like that. Or even worse, you could do it to be performative.
By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were professional fasters. Like they wore stage makeup. They'd hollow their cheeks out, you know, with a little ash, and just, you know, try to look kind of bad in their Gucci, like fray it, right? And then they'd like, like, oh, how are you doing, Peter, on your fast? You look rather well. Must not be fasting very hard. I can't move this leg because I'm so fasting. You know?
It had become to too many a performative ritual. And by the prophet Isaiah, chapter 58, you go ahead and turn there right now. Let's take a look at that and we'll read it together. Isaiah chapter 58, the prophets doing what prophets do, which is to try to get back to the authentic version of what everybody's doing inauthentically. Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58, and we'll do verses 6 to 11. Isaiah says, Thus says the Lord.
Is this not the fast that I choose? So God chooses a fast, but it's not the one they're doing. I choose the fast that looses the bonds of wickedness, undoes the straps of the yoke, lets the oppressed go free, and breaks every yoke. Is not the fast that God chooses to share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your home, and when you see the naked, to cover them, and to not hide yourself from your weird relatives. That's what that word means. From your own flesh. You know? From Uncle Ricky, who's got some interesting political opinions.
You don't hide yourself from your own... Then, then, when you fasted your preferences, your prerogatives, and your provision, when you fast those things, verse 8, then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily. Your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. And when you call, what? The Lord will answer. You are now prepared to receive, the word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. You will cry out, and God will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as noonday, and the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and make your bones,
And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. You cannot get a biblical background in fasting without three repeating themes over and over, Old to New Testament, bread and water, provision, and revelation. One of my favorites as I prepare to fast each year is Zechariah chapter 7. It's a short, you don't have to go there, but later on, check it out. In Zechariah chapter 7, similarly, the prophet Zechariah says, when the people fast, they're fasting for themselves. When the people feast, they're feasting for themselves. And by celebrating God, but really for you, and by humbling yourself before God, but really just for you, he uses a unique phrase nowhere else in Scripture. By doing performative religious activity, he says, you have made your hearts diamond hard.
And you did it on purpose, Zechariah says. You made your hearts diamond hard so that you would not hear the word of the Lord. This is why, this is why, if you don't mean it, don't do it. If you don't mean it, don't do it. Okay? Pastoral advice, 101. If you don't mean it, don't do it. It's not that just going through the motions is simply wasting your time or spinning your wheels. Performative religious activity without authentic intent is actually taking you backwards and hardening your heart.
The more times you fake a thing, the less likely it is for you to do it for real.
By the time of Jesus, moving forward, because we are definitely going to run out of time.
By the time of Jesus, fasting has become a somewhat normative activity in Israelite religion, especially for the pious or the devout. For example, John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus, John the Baptist's disciples were well known for their fasting. In fact, John, it says, what did John eat in the wilderness where he ministered? Locusts and honey. That's a fast. That's a fast. That's called a Jewish wilderness fast. It's not that you don't eat. It's that you go out into the wilderness and only eat what God provides. You eat no manufactured food or drink.
And so, no surprise, but by the beginning, the initiation of the public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, we find Jesus doing what? Fasting. In the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4. We find Jesus fasting. How long did Jesus fast for?
Gold star, you keeners. Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Why that number?
Moses. Moses. He begins to prepare his ministry of the word that proceeds forth from the mouth of the Lord by fasting. And when the devil tempts him to transform stones into bread, manufactured food, like squared, tell these stones, so Jesus, I tempt you to make your own provision and to, make your own manufactured provision.
What does Jesus quote back at Satan? Deuteronomy. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. In this case, Jesus is not preparing to receive the ten words or preparing to receive the words. Jesus is preparing because He Himself is about to deliver the words from the Lord Himself. He's preparing as revelation, not for revelation, to deliver Himself, the word of the Lord, to the people. He's preparing Himself to preach. Jesus, it says in your Bible over and over, is the Word. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Jesus is also called the what of life. The bread of life. And He says He has unlimited access to give to you the water of life. Bread, water, revelation, fasting.
And as such, as Christians, you need to know that fasting remains a force in relationship with God.
It's important to know that we don't fast anymore by law. We don't fast by law at all. Jesus, in His life, death, and resurrection, met every requirement of the law on our behalf. But what Jesus didn't do was meet every requirement for your relationship with God on your behalf. He doesn't say, I will know the Father for you. I will know the Spirit for you. No, Jesus broke the lock, opened the gate, made the way, and says, come, I will show you how to know God.
Fasting remains a force in our relationship. When Jesus was questioned on fasting, because, you know, He didn't look spiritual enough because it looks really spiritual when you're constantly hungry.
Because, you know, John's disciples fasted like crazy. The Pharisees competitively outdid each other on fasting. Made sure everybody knew it. Jesus was questioned. Well, how come your disciples, Jesus, why don't your disciples fast more? And Jesus says in Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke 5, He says, the day is coming after my death, my resurrection, and my ascension, when my disciples, that's you, will not be able to see me in person, will not be able to hear my voice in the flesh, and on that day, what? They will fast.
Because when Jesus isn't in front of you, multiplying loaves, or speaking the words of the Lord with sound waves into your ear, you will need to fast at times to prepare yourself to receive.
When you can't see where your bread comes from, where your water comes from, where the word comes from,
In the Bible, the link between the reception of revelation and the reception of provision and an earnest acknowledgement of the source of those things cannot be pulled apart. In other words, biblically, hearing from God, receiving what he has for you, is utterly dependent on knowing where it comes from. It's not that God doesn't cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, but when he has a word for you, and you don't know where that word's supposed to come from, you're not going to hear it.
In this way, fasting is like an occasional activity.
Whereas Sabbath is a regular activity. It's this occasion where we reorient, reemphasize, restructure our life. It's like scraping the hull. Get it ready. I don't even know how much slower I've gotten this year till we get into dry dock of fasting and scrape that hull down and go like, oh my gosh, I've been losing like five miles an hour or something. Fasting is an occasion where we reorient, recalibrate, and it's really about resetting the template of fasting. It's a time where we reorient, recalibrate, of our whole life.
Just like Sabbath comes after six days of hard work in order to remember who's really providing for us, fasting should arise most acutely in us when we think that we have enough or all that we need. That should be when the alarm goes off. I have everything, I have managed, I have been promoted, I've got my house in order, my bills are paid, oh God, thank you for making me, so smart that I can do all this. Thank you for making me so strong, so savvy, so wise. Oh, thank you, God. Oh, who does that sound like? Oh, thank you, God, that I am not like other men. But the tax collector who stood afar off, he beat his breast, could not even lift his eyes to heaven. It's a God of mercy on me. Fasting is moving, making sure we're not Pharisees in our worship and moving back to the place of the penitent. All that I have comes from you.
I want to talk, because we're going to do it. We're going to talk about conditional versus contingent or contingent versus conditional in fasting because I want you to, I just hope this lands with somebody to kind of get what the point of fasting is other than, okay, there's a biblical basis, receive revelation, but how does it work? How does it work? And I want to acknowledge to all of you that it's okay to admit that lots of Christian theology and doctrine is confusing. It's confusing. It is, everyone, it is. Okay? If you don't think it is, go explain to the preschool room how the Trinity works. It's like an egg. I hate eggs. You know, like, it's hard sometimes. There are things that are mysteries that we accept without being able to explain.
Right? And one of the difficulties in our Christian doctrine and understanding is that we've got a mix of unconditional attributes of God towards humanity and a mix of conditional attributes and actions of God towards humanity, conditional and unconditional. And so for many, many years, or maybe your church tradition, or maybe I've been guilty of this, maybe you have, but we emphasize to an enormous degree the unconditional nature of God towards humanity and not the conditional nature. Let me tell you what I mean by that. Here's an easy example. John 3, verse 16.
For God so loved the world. Unconditional love of God. The only condition is met by the existence of the cosmos and you being alive. God chose to love the world. Okay?
Conditional. That whomsoever, what? Believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Condition. Condition.
Jesus died for the sins of the world and for you. But that death is not effective without meeting the condition for it to be effective for you. Are you with me? Okay. And it's vital to know that actually the Bible is far more an expression of conditionality than it is unconditionality. Okay? The Bible is over and over repeating the conditions that ought to be met so that God can have the relationship He wants us to have. He wants to have with us. It's full of conditions. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. If my people forgive themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Oh, that's the Old Testament.
Romans 6, verse 23. Wages of sin. Conditional statement with a promise.
2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. Whoever sows sparingly will reap. Whoever sows generously will reap. Condition and promise. 1 John 5, verse 14. If you pray according to the will of God, He will hear you. Luke 11, verse 19. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you. Three conditions. Three responses. It could go on and on and on. The Bible is full of conditional statements and promises.
You know, there's an old joke about... I think it was originally about a Mennonite pastor. But I'm going to make it a Baptist pastor. You know, there's an old joke. The Baptist pastor drives by the... You know, Jim Patterson sign beside the highway. Lotto 649. Ten million dollar jackpot. The minister drives by and goes, Oh God, that would be so great for the church. Just bring us in those winnings. That would be so great. And he drives by, you know, and then a couple weeks go by. He drives by the sign. There's been no winner. Now the jackpot's 20 million dollars. Oh God, I knew you were saving up to bless us even more. Oh God, bring that 20 million to the church. Next week, 30 million. Nobody's won yet. Oh God, you're so generous. I can't believe that we're going to get this. The next week, he finds out somebody else won. And he turns to God, dead. And says, God, I thought you were going to give the church this money for the ministry. And God answers.
You have to buy a ticket.
There is no point desiring something you don't meet the conditions to receive.
So is fasting conditional or contingent which is slightly different?
Fasting in a post-law new covenant context like we are in right now, there are conditional things and there are contingent things about fasting. A conditional promise in Scripture, a conditional activity where God has clearly stated the conditions by which a response will be produced. So for example, a condition with a promise is if you believe, confess, and repent, you will be saved. There isn't a different thing that happens if you believe, confess, and repent. It's not like you can be saved or something else could happen. That's what's going to happen. That's a conditional promise.
Contingent is when God says there will be a result but not a particular result.
Jesus says, when my disciples have a hard time seeing and hearing me, then they will fast. The implication is, the inference is, that we will see him and hear him because of fasting. But he doesn't say what we will see or what we will hear. For example, Moses at Sinai was told, come up the mountain, I'm going to speak to you. So Moses goes up the mountain, he fasts preparing to receive the words from the Lord. But he doesn't know what those words will be. He doesn't know whether they'll be 10 or 5 or 20 or what they will say. You hear me? That's contingent. We can anticipate revelation when we fast. We can anticipate that the word will speak. I think we can anticipate in general God responding but not what that response might be.
So in this way, fasting is contingent. We have met the conditions to be eligible for an outcome contingent on God's sovereign will.
In other words, fasting prepares you to receive what God will or will not give you.
But the fact is you ought to fast. There's my good personal friend who doesn't know I exist. A guy named Cannon J. John. Anyone know Cannon J. John? He's a British evangelist and one of my favorite lines of his is, when I pray, coincidences happen. And when I don't,
If you don't fast, if you don't fast, then if there's something God might do in response to your fast, then you haven't met the conditions for God's contingent activity. Please, somebody be tracking me right now.
But fasting doesn't make it happen. Fasting meets the conditions by which if God's going to do something that he'll only do because I fast, now I'm prepared. Right? Like let's say I want to make toast and I really need my toaster to work. So if I want to make toast, if I want my toaster to work, my house has to be wired correctly. Agreed? Now, I can wire my house so that my toaster should work, but it's, contingent on hydro getting power to my house.
In the same way, fasting, like prayer, like reading the Word, wires the house that if power's going to arrive, you can now receive it. If you don't wire your house, there could be power at the street and nothing in the kitchen. But I don't make the power get sent to my house. I'd wire my house to receive it. That's one of the things that fasting does. God, I don't know what you might do. I don't know whether fasting is what it's going to do in my life. I think it's going to do something. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to wire my house so that if you send something, I'm ready to receive it.
And likewise, as a church, this church, Gateway Church, these people, if there is something God might do because we do a thing, then we're going to do that thing because God might do it. That's how our DNA works here, if you're new. We're going to try it. We're going to hoist the flag, hoist the sail, throw the net on the other side of the boat. Because even though last year's water didn't produce anything for me, what if there's fish over here? I'm not going to get to heaven and spend the first three millennia with Jesus going like, man, you missed a lot of opportunities.
I'd rather get there and he'd be like, yeah, half of that wasn't me. But I love your Peter-like zeal. I didn't tell you to do that, but you were trying.
Like, I'm an A for effort kind of guy, you know?
If I'm coaching a sports team, like, you can get an own goal, but if you did it with passion, I'm on your team, you know?
Because the one thing we know about God in all that he does towards us is he forces us to do nothing in response to him. Because he only loves earnestness.
Nothing performative.
I find it the same way with prayer. We talked about this a couple weeks ago. Paul says, pray without ceasing. Pray for everything. Why? Because if there is a thing God might do because we prayed, then we're going to pray that God might do it.
Okay. That horse is well and truly dead.
That nails right through the boards.
If you've never fasted before, fast with us this year. Who knows what God might do? If you've fasted before and you're just not in the mood this year, fast with us this year. Who knows what God might do?
If you fast on occasion and don't feel like this is the one, fast with us this year. Who knows what God might do? And I'll close with this. And our worship team can come on back up. Fasting is about far. I hope you've learned already. Fasting is about way more than food. Way more than food. So you've got dietary restrictions. If you've got blood sugar that needs to be managed, if you've got a medical condition, if you've got a complicated relationship with food, don't worry about the food part. It's about soul. It's about provision. It's about humility. It's about the things that we think that we produce ourselves, that we just imagine we can't live without. If you're wondering what to fast, we've got fasting guides with all kinds of different ideas, even non-food ideas. We're going to hand you those on the way out the door. You know, I've heard people come up with the most creative things to fast that aren't food. You know, one of my favorite people in the whole world,
It's like what they do is they look at the thing in their life that they think is either part of their personality or they can't live without, and they let that be the little arrow from God. No, I can't live. There's all kinds of things we think we can't live without that we depend on. And we say, God, I'm going to take that out of my life because you're the one I depend on. I want to hear from you. And I don't know what that could be for you, but God's very creative and he speaks really well. So why don't we stand and I want to pray for you that we might hear, A, whether we're to fast, and B, what we're to fast. And two, if you want to bash this around and you don't have that person in your life who might have some insight, then please, like, talk to one of the pastors. Talk to one of our elders. Ask our prayer teams when they're up here after the service. Like, what do you think? What might I do here? Talk to your youth leaders. Talk to whoever. So I'm going to pray, and I can't make you mean it,
But I'm praying for myself, and I'm praying for you, that gracious Heavenly Father, we confess that not all of us, but many of us are in a place where...
You know, the fridge is full. Many of us are in a place where our comforts, our shows, our... Whatever it is. We feel like it's sufficient for us. And many of those things, when we look at them, they seem really like things we did. We made that. We bought that. We earned that. Lord, we don't want to get away from you. And we want... We want... More of what you have for us, not just what we think we make with our hands or our minds. I pray for this congregation, whom you love more than anything in the world, that you would speak to each and every heart that's opened,
That's soft and not hard, and invite them into some kind of a fast with you. Inspire their imagination with you. What might you do?
God, I pray for wisdom and revelation to be given this year. That 2026 would be a year where we really hear your voice.
Feed us with that which we did not know before. Give us what comes only from you and through you and by you. Make us a people that would follow you anywhere without a backpack, knowing you provide each step of the way. Come Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bye. I'm sorry.