All right, we're here in Matthew chapter 6, and of course we're going verse by verse
through the Sermon on the Mount, and you know, one thing that I really like about
going verse by verse through the Bible is you cover basically everything, right?
And the reason why I say that is when you're preaching sermons, certain topics
are interesting to you or they come to your mind, and certain topics you just kind
of wouldn't preach on.
We're preaching on fasting today, and honestly, if we weren't going by verse by verse, I
just don't think this would be a sermon that would come to my mind, but there is a
lot of great information that we can learn. Now last week, of course, we talked
about prayer, and in the Bible, prayer and fasting are very connected with one
another, but there are different things, so we're going to have one specific
sermon for the topic of fasting. Now let me say this, that when it comes to
fasting, you know, when it comes to doing fasting for a short period of
time, I do not think this is something that is unhealthy for you. I don't think
God's saying, well, you know what, I think that you should consider fasting,
and it's going to damage your health. Obviously, you know what, if you have
health problems already, if you're pregnant or something like that, fasting
might not be the smartest idea, but short-term fasting is not something
that's unhealthy to your body. Let me also say, when we're talking about
fasting, I'm not talking about, like, for physical reasons. People might ask me
about, what about for weight loss, doing, like, intermittent fasting and
things like that. In the Bible, what we're looking at is, for spiritual
reasons, what is the purpose of the fast, okay? It says here in verse
number 16, moreover, when ye fast. Now notice, it does not say,
if ye fast. And when it's saying, when ye fast, the implication is,
this is something that should be part of our lives from time to time.
Now, as I said, if you have health problems, then it wouldn't make the most
sense, you know, to be going on fast. But if you're able-bodied,
this is actually something that can be very good for you.
It's something the Bible mentions. Now, go to Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3. And you might wonder, as we're starting here
in the introduction, you know, what is really the purpose of fasting?
And let me tell you what, it's not. Because I think a lot of us probably
have the wrong idea of fasting. And I think people kind of get this idea,
well, you know what, I really want to get, like, a new job,
and I'm praying about it, and I really want to show that I mean it
to God, and he's not giving me the job, so let me just go on a fast
to try to change the mind of God to give me what I want.
And that's not really the purpose that you find of fasting in the Bible.
It's not about trying to get God to change his mind where God's like,
I'm not going to give this to you, but if you go on a fast,
then all of a sudden I'm going to give you what you want.
It's not really what you find in the Word of God, okay?
Now, to understand this, we're going to have a healthy introduction.
Notice what it says in Philippians 3, verse 18.
For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Now, when the Bible speaks about people that are children of the devil
and people that are reprobates, what it says here is,
their God is their belly.
You say, what does that mean, their God is their belly?
In the Bible, your belly represents your fleshly or lustful desires, okay?
Now, the reason why God uses the word belly is because everybody can relate to this.
So, for example, the most common New Year's resolution is associated with what?
Dieting, right?
Now, look, it is not wrong to eat sugar.
It's not wrong to eat junk food.
It's not a sin to eat at McDonald's.
But I would say that probably all of us have tried to eat healthy before
and make some changes.
And there's times where you're sitting there and you're like,
I shouldn't eat that cookie, but it looks good, it's going to be tasty,
and then you give in to what your belly wants, right?
Now, is it a sin to eat that cookie?
Well, no, I mean, I do believe there's a line where your body's a temple of the Holy Ghost,
but you don't have to have a perfect diet or you're in sin.
The Bible doesn't teach that, but all of us can relate to the fact
that sometimes we try to eat healthy, there's something we should not eat,
we know it's not going to be good for us,
you're going to be tired afterwards, you're not going to feel well,
and yet it's just so tempting that you eat it, right?
You know, just one more piece of crispy pata or lechon or whatever it is,
and it's like you really don't need it, it's probably not good for you,
you don't want to eat it, but what happens?
You give in to what your belly wants.
Now, with the reprobate, they don't just do this on some things,
they do this on everything.
They are filled with all unrighteousness and fornication and wickedness
and all of those things, but we can relate to the fact
that on something that is not sinful, our belly wants something
and sometimes we give in, right?
I've actually preached on health a lot and it's very interesting to me
and I try to be healthy, but it's like, you know what,
the unhealthy food is always calling to you, it's like it looks so good,
it looks so tasty, and it's hard to resist the desire
that your stomach has, isn't it?
Go in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 6.
1 Corinthians 6.
Now look, of course it's not a sin to eat french fries or eat junk food
or eat something that's not the healthiest,
right, in the Old Testament they were not allowed to eat pig meat,
now we are allowed, it's not a sin, it's not wrong,
but it's not the healthiest thing and I think we're all aware of that
and there are times when maybe we're like, I probably should eat this,
I probably should order the salad or chicken,
but then you go for something that's unhealthy and your belly wants it
but your mind's like, I shouldn't do this,
and you do it anyway, you say, why?
Because you have that desire that you kind of give in to, right?
Now notice what it says here in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12,
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Now what does this verse mean here in 1 Corinthians 6-12?
What Paul is saying is, I can do whatever I want and I will go to heaven.
Right, the Bible says when you're saved, I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish.
He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life.
Period. End of story.
It's not conditional life, it's not temporary, but you're saved forever.
And Paul's like, all things are lawful unto me
and you have free will to do whatever you want,
but all things are not expedient.
All things are not good for you.
All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under the power of any.
What he's saying is, I'm not going to let sin reign in my body
and control what I do.
Yeah, I can do whatever I want,
but I'm not going to give in to the lust of the eyes
or the lust of the flesh or the things that are wrong.
And then he uses an example in verse 13
that could be very confusing if you don't understand the context
of the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians.
He says, meats for the belly and the belly for meats,
but God shall destroy both it and them.
Now the body is not for fornication,
but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.
Now in the Bible, the word meat is not carne, chicken, pork.
It's referring to food in general, okay?
The word flesh is used specifically to refer to meat.
So he's saying, meats for the belly and the belly for meats,
that includes bread, fruit, or whatever
that you would put inside your system.
And he's saying, you know what,
the belly is designed to eat food,
and food is designed to be eaten,
and that includes meat and all foods that God has created.
Meats for the belly and the belly for meats,
but God shall destroy both it and them.
Why is that?
Because this is a desire we have now,
but there's going to come a day
where you're not fighting against your flesh
to eat something unhealthy,
where we're going to have the glorified body,
where we're going to be in heaven,
and that desire for that,
that temptation is going to be gone.
It's going to die out.
It's something we have now,
but one day that will be destroyed.
Well, here's the thing when he says,
now the body is not for fornication.
It's not trying to say your desire to eat a food
is like just as bad as fornication.
What he's saying is,
how much more will that sinful desire of fornication be destroyed
if God's going to destroy that desire for something that is not sinful?
Okay?
Because look, eating food is part of our everyday life.
It's something we need to do, right?
I mean, Job spoke about the necessary food that we eat,
and unless you are fasting,
you're going to be eating every single day.
You need it for energy.
If you're not eating healthy,
if you're not getting nutrition,
you're going to start to get a headache.
You're going to start to feel weak.
I mean, food is a normal and natural part of our diets and our bodies.
Go to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5.
But see, in 1 Corinthians 6,
he compares that to fornication.
Fornication is basically a physical relationship
with someone you're not married to,
so outside of the bonds of marriage.
Now, is that okay or is that sinful?
That is a big sin.
I mean, people are killed in the Bible for the sin of fornication.
And look, I'm not really preaching on fornication,
but hey, young kids, listen up.
You are held accountable when you know what the Bible says.
And God said He killed 23,000 people in one day
for the sin of fornication.
And we are meant...
And I think Brother Marlin preached on it recently
when he was preaching in the sermon,
and I've given the statistics before.
That it is a major, major sin here in the Philippines.
It's not a joke.
It's not a laughing matter.
It is a major thing.
And you want to know how these kids
keep themselves clean?
By hearing the Word of God, hearing it preached,
reading their Bibles,
because it is a wicked and a sinful world
that kids are growing up in.
I'll tell you what, it's a scary world
that kids are growing up in.
I mean, it is a scary place in 2024.
And I'll tell you what,
we need this kind of preaching now more now than ever.
You say, why?
Because sin is so rampant here in the Philippines
and around the world.
But what the Bible's doing by comparing
your physical food to something that's a sin,
and what He's trying to show you is this.
If you can learn to control your desire
for something that is not sinful
and deny what the flesh wants,
it's going to help train you
to deny what your flesh wants in a sinful area.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Because when it comes to eating food,
it's something that's really hard.
I mean, it's 11.30 and my stomach's like,
I am ready to eat.
It wants food.
And it is hard to resist, right?
Or sometimes you're waiting for dinner
and it's like, man, it's only 4 p.m.
It's like, ah, I'm so hungry.
I can't wait for the food.
Especially as a guy, we feel this.
It's like, man, I'm hungry.
I want food.
I want to eat.
And then you start snacking on whatever
because your belly's ready to eat.
And here's what I'm saying.
If we can learn to control the desire
for something that is not sinful,
it's going to help exercise your body
onto godliness to control something
that is sinful like fornication
or something that is sinful
like watching the wrong movies
or whatever the case may be.
And so fasting is a way to train your body
to deny the flesh on something that is not sinful
and it can help you deny the flesh
for things that are sinful.
That is one of the main purposes
you see in the Word of God for fasting.
And here's the truth.
Our fleshly desires are hard to fight against.
When you think of the belly and it wants something,
you just immediately eat pretty much.
Right?
It basically can, your mind's like,
I shouldn't eat this, but your belly says yes
and you just eat it immediately.
That's generally the way that we are.
But if we can learn to fight against
that fleshly desire on something that is not sinful,
it can help you fight against things
that you are struggling to overcome.
The Bible says in Galatians 5 verse 16,
This I say then, walk in the Spirit
and ye should not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit
and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary to the one to the other
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law.
Oftentimes in life, there's like two choices.
And the flesh wants something, what's wrong?
And your spirit's like, I shouldn't do this.
And then they're fighting against one another.
They're contrary to one another.
The Bible says if you walk in the Spirit,
you're not gonna fulfill the lust of the flesh.
This is why also you will often see in the Bible
that fasting is associated with prayer
because as you're depriving your body of a necessary need
for a short period of time where it is not unhealthy,
you're devoting yourself to praying to God,
to reading the Bible, and drawing close to God.
And as you're denying your flesh
in something that's not sinful,
it's helping you deny your flesh
in things that are sinful,
and you're spending extra time in God's word.
What's taking place is it draws you close to God.
You turn in your Bible to Ephesians 4.
So I don't think it's the right idea
of fasting to think, man, I want something from God.
I prayed about it.
He hasn't given it to me.
Let me just go on a two-day fast
to see if God gives me what I want.
That's not really the way we're meant
to look at fasting in the Bible.
With fasting, what you're doing is denying your flesh
and drawing close to God.
Another thing about fasting is this.
It's not about changing the mind of God.
Guess who it's about changing?
It's about changing you.
Fasting is not gonna change the mind of God.
We're gonna see that in the story very clearly later on.
Fasting is about changing you.
Fasting is about getting you to be spiritual,
you walking in the spirit.
Fasting is about denying what you want
and saying, not my will,
but the will of the Lord be done.
It's meant to draw close to God.
Ephesians chapter four, verse number 22,
that you put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt,
according to the deceitful lust,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Look, when it comes to us getting saved,
that is a one-time thing.
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you're saved, you have eternal life,
and nothing can ever change that.
But when it comes to walking in the spirit
and walking in the new man,
this is not a one-time thing.
Every single day, you have to decide
to just wake up and deny the flesh.
Anyway, I've heard of people doing
some pretty extreme things to train their body,
and I'm not against these things.
I haven't done this,
but I've heard of people that wake up in the morning,
first thing they do is go underneath a cold shower
on the coldest setting,
and it's like they're training their body, deny my flesh.
I mean, even athletes will do things like this
to basically deny your flesh what it wants,
and it's a way they do
to basically just walk in the spirit.
Now, I'm not telling you to do that.
Don't take a clip of this sermon.
Pastor Stuckey said you have to be
underneath the cold shower.
But I've heard people that do that,
and basically what you're doing
is you're training your body to deny the flesh,
because here's the thing,
putting off the old man and putting on the new man,
you need to do that every single day.
Bible doesn't say,
hear from the word of God once a week
or from time to time.
No, the Bible says every single day read the word of God.
Read therein all the days of thy life.
And here's the truth,
when you wake up in the morning,
part of you wants to just get on Facebook
or watch whatever or do whatever that your flesh likes,
and then there's part of you,
at least I hope there is,
that says, hey, I want to read the Bible.
Is it always easy to just read the Bible
and deny what your flesh wants?
Not always,
because sometimes something's very tempting.
You're very curious about something.
And normally maybe you'd read the Bible,
but you're just like, man, I just got to check this out.
And then all of a sudden, an hour and a half later,
oh, I'm late for work.
I didn't read my Bible.
We need to learn to just deny our flesh.
And what the Bible's showing is
one way you can do that
to basically train your body is by fasting.
Now turn your Bible to James 4.
James chapter 4.
And the Bible says here in James 4, verse number 7,
James 4, verse 7, the Bible says,
Submit yourselves therefore to God,
resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
You know, when you think about people
resisting the devil in the Word of God,
what's the famous example that comes to your mind
of resisting the devil?
You think of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.
And here's the thing, was Jesus going to sin?
Of course not.
In him is no sin.
He's perfect.
But you know what you also see with Jesus?
One thing he's doing is fasting.
And you're seeing that resisting the devil
when he's in that temptation, what is he doing?
He's fasting.
And see, one thing about fasting is
when you need to be spiritually strong,
when you need to have boldness,
when you need to be close to God,
one thing you can do is fast
and that can make you spiritually strong
to fight against the wiles of the devil.
It says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Doesn't say the devil might flee.
It says he will flee.
Now, here's the thing about this.
If you get the devil to flee by resisting him,
that's not a one-time permanent thing
where he never bothers you again.
That's something that's gonna be taking place
every single day where he's fighting against you.
But the Bible promises, hey, resist that temptation,
fight against it, and guess what?
The devil is going to flee.
Turn your Bible to Matthew 17, Matthew chapter 17.
And let me just show you a story in the Bible
that relates to fasting
and I think people could be confused on.
Matthew chapter 17, verse 14.
Matthew 17, verse 14.
And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him
and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son
for he is lunatic and sorvexed,
for oft times he falleth into the fire
and oft into the water.
And this man says, you know what?
My son, you know, he's basically just acting insane.
He's acting ballyu.
He's acting like a lunatic.
And what he's doing is he's literally
trying to commit suicide.
He's throwing himself in the fire,
throwing himself in the water, trying to drown himself.
And look, I don't believe this is always the case
with people that are suicidal.
But you know what the world tries to do?
They believe everything can be explained
by just an imbalance in the chemicals in your body.
Just take this pill and it's gonna fix everything.
It doesn't work that way.
Because look, in 2024,
people still get possessed by devils.
It's not just something that took place 2,000 years ago
and now nobody is ever possessed.
And look, I think that if you're a soul winner
and you have your eyes open,
you've seen people that are possessed before,
people that are acting insane,
people that are acting crazy.
And this person, he's intentionally trying to kill himself.
Verse number 16,
and I brought him to the disciples
and they could not cure him.
Then Jesus answered and said,
oh, faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him hither to me.
And Jesus says, you know,
basically you're a generation with very little faith.
He says, oh, faithless and perverse generation.
Verse number 18,
and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him
and the child was cured from that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said,
why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief.
Now let me ask you a question.
Does Jesus want this person to be healed?
Absolutely.
I mean, Jesus heals them
right after they failed to heal them.
Then it says this, for verily I say unto you,
if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye shall say unto this mountain,
remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove
and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Look, they didn't need to do prayer and fasting
to change the mind of God
where God would wanna heal this person.
Because God wanted to heal that person, right?
God did heal that person.
So the prayer and fasting was not about,
hey, I need to change the mind of God
so he's gonna heal this person.
No, no, the prayer and fasting
is about drawing close to God
and being filled with the spirits.
It's not about changing the mind of God.
So in the Bible, fasting is about drawing close to God.
And here's the thing about prayer and fasting.
When you are praying and when you're fasting
and you're saying, thy will be done,
you're basically saying, you know what,
regardless of what I want, it's what God wants.
What you're basically doing
is aligning yourself to what God's desires are
rather than trying to get God
to line up with your desires.
Now, it's true that if you ask something from God,
then he might give it to you,
and receive not, you know, you ask him this.
But oftentimes the problem is
you're not even asking for it.
But it's not about changing the mind of God
when you're fasting.
It's about drawing close to God
and being filled with the Spirit.
Now turn in your Bible to Matthew 6.
Matthew chapter 6.
One wrong purpose of fasting is to be seen of man.
That's the context of Matthew chapter 6.
He brings us up again.
Notice what it says in Matthew 6 verse 16.
Moreover, when ye fast,
be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance,
for they disfigure their faces
that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
The Bible's referring to people
that would go on a fast and go days without eating,
and then what do they do?
Instead of trying to make themselves look normal,
they do the opposite.
They disfigure their faces.
They make it a point to show the world I'm fasting.
So instead of trying to look normal
and just make it look like everything's going okay,
they try to make themselves look sickly.
You say, what are you talking about?
I'm saying they put ash on their head.
Look at this.
I'm fasting.
I'm in Lynn, and I've got ash on my head.
Look at me.
They disfigure their faces.
Make it obvious to everybody.
Look, I remember before I was homeschooled,
I was in elementary school growing up,
and I remember when I first experienced
Ash or Trash Wednesday,
and I had never heard of it,
and I remember going to school,
and I remember seeing somebody
that had this on their head,
and I was looking like,
and I was very confused,
and I almost was gonna ask that person about it,
but then I saw a bunch of people
that had ash on their heads,
and I was like, am I in the twilight zone?
What's going on?
Am I dreaming?
Wake up.
Pinch myself,
and then all of a sudden,
I found out it's Ash Wednesday.
It's like, what's Ash Wednesday?
Oh, we put ash on her head.
I'm like, what?
It still doesn't make any sense,
but this is what the Bible says.
I mean, people,
that you're going through a fast,
you're giving stuff up,
and yet you're letting all the world know about it.
This is what it says here
about Lent and Ash Wednesday.
On this day, all the faithful,
according to ancient custom,
are exhorted to approach the altar
before the beginning of mass,
and there the priest,
dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed,
marks upon the forehead,
or in the case of clerics,
upon the place of the tonsure.
Of each the sign of the cross,
saying the words,
remember, man,
that thou art dust,
and unto dust shalt thou return.
The ashes used in the ceremony
are made by burning the remains
of the palms blessed
in the Palm Sunday of the previous year.
In the blessing of the ashes,
four prayers are used,
all of them ancient,
and the ashes are sprinkled with holy water
and fumigated with incense.
Look, you can sprinkle with holy water,
but when it's ashes,
I mean, you still got a dirty head, my friend.
It's like, I don't care how holy that water is, right?
Look, this is bizarre.
This is weird.
And look, I didn't grow up Catholic,
so maybe it seems normal to you.
Let me explain.
It's not normal to put ash on your head
to let everybody know,
look at what I'm doing.
You say, but Pastor, everybody's doing it.
Doesn't make it normal.
There's coming a day when there's gonna be
a lot more guys wearing dresses.
That doesn't make it normal.
It's strange.
It's bizarre.
And look, a lot of the religious customs
you see in this world are just bizarre.
It's strange.
Look, if you're over in India,
it's completely normal to bow down before a cow.
I mean, it's common, I should say,
but does that make it normal?
Does that mean that that's something you should do?
It's like, what are they doing?
It's bizarre.
And putting ash on your head,
I don't care if one billion people on the planet do it.
It's strange.
It's weird.
And you're certainly not gonna point to a verse
in the Bible that tells you to do this.
Verse number 17.
But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head and wash thy face,
that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy Father which is in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.
So the Bible says, look, if you decide to fast,
don't make it obvious to people.
Don't walk into church with a shirt that says,
I am in the middle of a fast, right?
You walk into church, you're like,
man, what's wrong, brother?
Are you okay?
I'm just in a fast.
And you make it a point to let everybody know,
I'm fasting, look at me.
You're doing it to be seen a man.
Now, outside of Catholicism,
what's the big religion
where people do this to be seen a man?
What's the holiday we have on Wednesday?
It's the end of Ramadan.
Now, I don't understand why Catholic countries
celebrate every Muslim holiday,
but we do in the Philippines.
And pastor, how do you know,
how do you know that it's the end of Ramadan
where Muslims are in a fast?
Because they let the whole world know.
Everybody knows.
Everybody knows it's like you got this,
what is it, 40-day fast or whatever during Ramadan
where you don't eat from sunrise to sunset.
I mean, every NBA season,
they'll talk about the Muslim basketball players.
Man, he scored 25 points,
and he didn't even eat lunch.
I remember when I was a kid, it was Hakeem Olajuwon.
Hakeem Olajuwon was the big Muslim basketball player,
and they'd always talk about,
look at him, he's fasting, he's fasting.
Now it's the flat earth guy, Kyrie Irving.
And look, hey, I'm glad Kyrie Irving
got one thing right when it came to COVID
and the vaccines, at least in my opinion,
but that doesn't mean that all of his beliefs
are correct and accurate.
And it's always like, Kyrie Irving,
look at this Muslim, look at him.
And it's like, I'm sorry,
but I don't really see this person
as being that spiritual, Kyrie Irving.
I don't see it.
And a lot of celebrities today in the US,
they convert to Islam.
A lot of these athletes convert to Islam, right?
But with Muslims, they let everybody know.
Here's what it says about Ramadan.
It says, during the holy month of Ramadan,
the ninth month in the Islamic calendar,
Muslims are expected to fast from dawn to dusk,
while there are exceptions made
for the sick, elderly, and pregnant,
all are expected to refrain from eating
and drinking during daylight hours.
So basically, you eat one large meal a day
and you don't eat from sun up to sun down, right?
Turn your Bible to Esther chapter four.
Esther four.
You say, pastor, are you down on fasting?
I'm not down on fasting.
I think it's a good thing.
I think it can help train your body
to deny your flesh in sinful ways.
Here's what I'm saying.
If you decide to go on a fast,
don't tell me about it.
You say what?
Because you're gonna lose your rewards
that you're gonna get.
The only exception I would say
if you're gonna go on a fast
where you should let somebody know
is if you're married.
In fact, the Bible speaks about that.
You don't have to turn there in 1 Corinthians,
but it speaks about you do this for a time period.
You're devoting to prayer and fasting.
And obviously, you know what?
Look, if you're married, you're a guy.
This sermon touches your heart.
You say, you know what?
I need to learn to deny my flesh,
so I'm gonna stop eating for a couple days.
I'm gonna go on a fast.
And then all of a sudden,
your wife makes you a really nice dinner,
and then you're like, I'm fasting.
I can't eat it.
Probably not the smartest thing.
And when you get married, you are one flesh.
You're together as one.
And so these are things that you share together.
So obviously, you need to let your spouse
know about it ahead of time, right?
But outside of that,
you don't tell other people at church about it.
And look, I've heard of cases in the US
of people that go on fast,
and they let everybody know about what they're doing.
You know, there's a Baptist pastor
who's relatively famous in the US,
and he was gonna go on a 40-day fast.
Let me say this on a side point.
If you're gonna go on a fast, don't go for 40 days.
You're not trying to beat the record
of Jesus or something.
And then once you get to Jesus,
let me beat the record of Gandhi.
And then let me beat the record
of those Janus people that just
starve themselves to death.
They go like 90 days without eating
or something like that.
That's not the purpose of fasting.
But this pastor, he went on this fast,
and I guess he told everybody about it,
and he was an avid exerciser.
He liked to run.
And he was on a 40-day fast,
and he was running every day.
Look, if you go on a fast,
I'm just trying to help you out,
use some wisdom.
I love to exercise too,
but if I'm gonna go on a fast,
I'm not gonna be exercising during those days.
You say, why?
Because obviously, if you're burning up
a lot of energy,
and you're not filling it with calories,
it's probably not the safest
and smartest thing to do.
But look, when you do go on a fast,
or if you go on a fast,
don't do it to be seen of man.
Don't go around telling people
because you're gonna lose your rewards.
And what I would say is,
if you're going on a fast for the first time,
just skip lunch.
If you're used to eating three meals,
say, okay, I'm just gonna skip lunch.
I'm gonna have breakfast and dinner,
and just try to deny the desires of my flesh,
and spend that 30 minutes reading the Bible,
and in prayer.
I mean, if you've never done it before,
it makes sense to kind of slowly work your way up.
Another thing about fasting is this.
It's not about harming your body.
It's not the purpose of fasting.
And the reason why I bring that up is,
in Eastern religions,
they have ascetic practices, asceticism.
You say, what is asceticism?
It's severe self-discipline
and avoidance of all forms of indulgence,
typically for religious reasons.
And when you look at religions like Jainism and Buddhism,
the reason why they have
a lot of these bizarre suicide rituals
where they basically slowly starve themselves to death
is because what they teach
is they need to reach a point
where their body no longer has any desires to this world.
And they literally will go so extreme
in some of these religions,
these people will go without wearing clothes.
Like the Jain monks, they're against using toilets.
They're against brushing their teeth.
I mean, I'm not joking.
It's bizarre.
I mean, they literally,
like we're so detached from the world,
we don't even need clothing.
And then literally they have these practices
where they'll starve themselves to death for months
until they die because they've reached a point
where they no longer need anything from this world.
Look, in the Bible, we are meant to deny our flesh,
meaning to deny sinful desires.
Now, what fasting does is it can train your body
in something that is not sinful,
but we're talking about something that is not unhealthy.
The Bible does not tell you to harm your body
and put your life on the line or something like that.
You know, in Pampanga and in other parts of the Philippines,
they practice, you know, Magda Ramay,
where they're beating themselves.
They're literally crucifying themselves.
Now, look, I used to believe
that this was some small thing that very few people did.
It's not a small thing.
I can tell you, we went to San Fernando for soul-winning,
and there were a lot of people with their shirts off
and their back scarred just beating themselves
on the streets, just walking down the street
and just beating themselves.
I mean, it's shocking if you've never seen it.
God does not ask you to harm your body.
God does not tell you to practice ascetic practices.
No, we're meant to take care of our bodies.
You say, why?
Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
So we're not talking about something
that is sinful or wrong.
We're talking about something that done in the right way
and for a short amount of time
can help train your body
to draw close to God and deny the flesh.
Look, you know, here in April, this year,
it has gotten very hot in the Philippines.
It's gotten especially hot.
Look, I would say this, that if you're planning to fast,
probably pick a time during the week
where you're not going soul-winning
during those couple days,
because if you're outside in the sun
and you're burning calories, you also need food, right?
Here's what it says in Esther chapter four, verse 13.
Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther,
Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape
in the king's house more than all the Jews.
For if thou all together holdest thy peace at this time,
then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise
to the Jews from another place,
but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed.
And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom
for such a time as this?
And Mordecai's saying, you know what?
I'm confident that we're gonna be delivered
and God is gonna protect us,
but he's trying to motivate Esther to do what's right.
And Esther here is putting her life on the line
and here's the thing, she's having trouble
having the boldness to do what's right.
She's having trouble getting filled with the spirit
to do what's right.
And this is what it says here in verse number 15.
Then Esther bade them, return Mordecai this answer,
go gather together all the Jews
that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me
and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day.
I also, 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.
And so what she says is I want you to fast for me
to get the boldness to do what's right
and I will also do the same.
Now I would say this personally
that I wouldn't recommend telling people
not to drink for three days.
That's what she does.
It doesn't mean it was a command from God.
That's what she chose to do.
I think the fasting was a good idea,
but I would say this.
You know what?
If you go a day without drinking water,
I've never gone a day without drinking water,
but I've gone like eight hours or so.
You know, you go longer than you realize
and your head starts to hurt sometimes.
You get a little bit dizzy.
You feel weak.
It's not a lack of calories.
It's a lack of water, right?
And so I would not personally recommend someone.
I mean, look, if you hear this sermon
and you say, pastor, I'm gonna go on a fast,
I would just personally recommend you
not to fast water from your system.
You can do whatever you want,
but especially if you're not used to doing this,
I would just say fast for a short term,
cut out some food, and kind of work your way up
because honestly, going without water
is generally not gonna be the fastest thing
or healthiest thing to do.
But she says, fast for me, why is she doing this?
Because she needs the boldness to do what's right.
And she's having trouble having the confidence
to do what's right, and she's afraid,
and then she says, hey, if I perish, I perish.
And so look, when it comes to fasting,
the idea of fasting is not about
changing the mind of God.
You don't really find that in the Bible.
It's not about I want something from God
and I don't have it.
What can I do?
I've prayed to God about it.
He hasn't given me it.
I'll just fast until God gives me what I want, right?
It's not really what you see in the Bible.
I think that's the misconception
that a lot of people have.
What fasting is doing is, number one,
you're basically training your body,
you're exercising yourself on the godliness,
as the Bible says, where you're basically
training yourself to deny your fleshly desires,
deny the desires of the belly,
and it can help train you to deny things
that are sinful, things that are wrong.
So look, maybe there's a sin you've been trying
to get rid of for a long time
and you're struggling with it.
Maybe by practicing a little bit of fasting,
it might help you learn to overcome that sin, right?
But another thing what it's doing is
it's really aligning yourself with God's will
where basically you deny your flesh,
the will of the Lord be done,
and it's helping you draw close to God.
It's not about harming your body.
It's not about giving God what you want.
It's about drawing close to God.
And look, as I said, the Bible does say,
moreover, when ye fast.
This is something that I do believe
should be part of our lives from time to time.
But look, if you're gonna go on a fast,
don't tell people about it.
You're gonna lose all of your rewards.
And I personally, I like food.
If I'm gonna go without food,
I don't wanna lose all the rewards I'm getting
for going without food, right?
So if you're gonna go on a fast,
don't tell people about it.
Do not disfigure your face.
Certainly don't put ash on your head.
We're not a Catholic church or whatever.
It's like, make yourself look normal
where people don't even realize.
Do it with wisdom.
I would not recommend going without water.
But it is something you can do to help learn
to deny the flesh and draw close to God.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today
and just getting to see what the Bible says
in this topic of fasting.
And I ask you to help all of us to understand
what is the purpose of fasting.
And if we do have the health to do it, God,
help it to be something that we do have
as part of our lives from time to time.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, for our last song, let's start.