Whatever you want God to do for you in practice, you must be willing to do for others in public. Dr. Tony Evans says that while each of us can't help everybody, each of us can help somebody. That means God can not only work to you, but He can work through me. This is the Alternative Broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Most people think of fasting in terms of what we don't do. which is eat. But the Bible reveals a more active side to fasting, outlining behaviors that demonstrate our sacrifice goes beyond simply giving up a meal. Let's join Dr. Evans as he explains. A number of students at the University of Texas staged a sit-in because of concern about unfair treatment of minorities on the University of Texas campus. They refrained from eating as part of their protest. The president of the university seeing the seriousness of their concerns through the sit-in and the fasting associated with it gave them a hearing. When he gave them a hearing, he determined that their cause was indeed just. Their complaints were, in fact, righteous. And so a number of changes were instituted at the university in response to their sit-in accompanied with fasting. If you have been an observer of the American social scene, You will notice that it is not unusual when people are crying out for righteousness, justice, or liberation, that that is often accompanied by fasting. There is a call that wrong treatment be made right. And there is a desire to give attention and a call to that by the sacrifice of fasting. As I thought about our message today, I was drawn to an aspect of it that may not be readily thought about, but yet jumps from the pages of Scripture, especially the central passage in the whole Bible on fasting, Isaiah 58, and that is fasting for justice, for liberation, for social equity, fasting for others. There are three things that come out of this awesome passage. First of all, I want to address the confusion. the confusion that was associated with fasting for justice or for the welfare of others. There was a confusion among those who were fasting. In fact, the confusion was so great that God has to tell Isaiah to scream. He says in verse 1, cry aloud Do not hold back Raise your voice like a trumpet In other words, this is not supposed to be a quiet sermon He says, bellow it out, preacher Because these people are thoroughly confused They are deranged. They are deluded. They are hypnotized. He says, would you tell my people, verse 1, about their sin? Because obviously they don't know it. Tell the house of Jacob what they're doing wrong. Now, on the outside They were doing everything right According to verse 2 It says they seek me day by day They have regular prayer meetings They delight to know my ways They show up at church and say Pastor, what's the sermon today? As a nation, they have done righteousness They can brag about the good things That they have done They brag about the fact that they keep this law and that law and the other law And then they turn around after giving me this list of things that they have done right And say God render just decisions for me Help me, heal me, deliver me, strengthen me, guide me They say, because of this resume of righteousness, do this for me. The problem occurs in verse 3 when they say, why have we fasted and nothing is happening? We're going along with the program, God, and we are fasting, giving up food, that you might do something for me and nothing is happening. We humble ourselves and God doesn't seem to pay attention. He does not notice. Our desires are not met. What is the problem? The problem is that their theology never affected their sociology. He said it again. Their theology vertical truth about God never affected their sociology their horizontal relationships with others What they amened about God on Sunday never was applied to anybody else on Monday. Religious activity can never substitute for righteous actions. actions. In other words, you can't come to church or go to your fasting closet and ask God to do for you and then leave church or leave your fasting closet and do the very opposite for others. You can't say, Lord, help me while I hurt them. You can't say, Lord, deliver me while I hold them hostage. You can't say, Lord, show me, and you misdirect them. To put it another way, whatever you want God to do for you in private, you must be willing to do for others in public. Or else your private fasting is a shame. Let me read to you from 1 John, which has a thought on this subject. Two verses that come to mind. 1 John chapter 3, verse 17. But whosoever has this world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? The way you make the unseen God seen is through what you do in the scene. Because that means God can not only work to you, but he can work through you. I remember the old schools that I grew up in. They're now modernized and digitized and all of that now, but the way we got warm in the school when I grew up were radiators. Some of you remember that. Lord have mercy in the winter in Baltimore, Maryland, when the radiators weren't working. One day I was talking with one of the janitors, and I always wanted to know what it looked like down there where, you know, the boiler room is what we called it. And one day, one of the janitors let me come down there and see, and there was this huge boiler that boiled water and sent steam up to the radiators, and the radiators got hot, and they warmed the room. I noticed on the side of the boiler was a little glass tube with a line on it with a little water in it. I asked the janitor, what is that? Oh, he says, that indicates how much water is in the big boiler by what you see in the little tube. If the little tube is half full, that means the big boiler is half full. If the little tube is a quarter full, that means the big boiler is a quarter full. In other words, it is a visible indicator of the invisible, unseen amount of water that is located in the boiler. In other words, if I want to know how much water is in the boiler, I don't open the boiler. I look at the indicator. If you want to know how much you love God, who you cannot see, look at the indicator. And if the indicator shows no water in it, then I don't care how good you feel. It is the indicator that lets you know how big your love for God is. Whatever you want God to do to you, make sure he can do through you. These people said I'm not that bad I'm doing good And yet nothing is happening God said something is happening You drive your workers You don't care about those people I'm not talking about complimenting poor performance I'm talking about the fact That they were hard task masters They wanted grace but showed no grace They wanted mercy but showed no mercy And the Bible says, to him who shows no mercy, that one will receive no mercy. So make sure you're not blocking your own answer to your own prayers while you're fasting. They didn't think they were that bad. Dr. Evans will tell us more about the concept of fasting for justice when he returns in a moment. First, though, today's lesson comes from Tony's informative series on fasting. Biblical fasting involves a spiritual focus, and Dr. Evans examines how that focus draws us closer to God as we seek His forgiveness, guidance, and protection. You can receive this entire series for yourself on digital download as well as on either a USB flash drive or CD album. The collection includes 14 full-length messages with extra material we haven't had time to present on the broadcast. We'll send them all to you as our thank you gift when you make a financial contribution to support this ministry. And as an added way of saying thanks, we'll also include our Hope for the Hurting Leader Kit, perfect for both leading a small group study and for your own personal growth. In this Bible study, Dr. Evans offers spiritual principles for facing life's toughest pains and hurts. The Leader Kit not only includes a copy of the Hope for the Hurting book, but also a study guide, printed content for six study sessions, access to teaching videos, and session previews from Dr. Evans, and more. Visit TonyEvans.org for details on this special offer, or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where our resource team members will be happy to assist with your request. Again, that's TonyEvans.org, or by phone any time of the day or night at 1 We hear more from Dr Evans right after this How do you make time for the Bible The Unbound podcast with Dr Tony Evans asks questions like this every week with guests like Rachel Myers. I got very into health a couple of years ago. I found myself on a Saturday morning getting out my calendar and blocking and booking to be at the gym. And I just thought, why am I not doing that for Bible reading because with my workouts, it was a non-negotiable window. Listen now to the Unbound Podcast. You can find the Unbound Podcast on any of the major podcast platforms. Well, let's get back to Dr. Evans now for the second part of today's message. Don't expect God to work to you if he can't work through you. He says then, when it comes to being practical, don't only ask for deliverance, be in the delivering business, verse 6. Is this not the fast which I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness and to undo the band of yoke? People who are oppressed and who see no way out. He says, is it not to divide your bread with the hungry? Isn't that what the widow of Zarephath did? Divided her bread with Elijah. And when she divided her bread with Elijah, God took care of her. If you're going to fast and not eat a meal, why don't you take the meal you were going to eat and let somebody else eat it? Fasting should deal with the sin of selfishness or self-indulgence. It should produce liberation. because God wants to work to me and through me, not just to me. Jesus said, I've come to preach good news to the poor. I've come to set free those who are captive. I've come to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. That's why I've come. I've come for others. Today, we live in a self-absorbed world where we live for me, myself, and I. If you want God to set you free, who are you setting free? If you can hear about hurting people and just not respond at all, ever, something is wrong. Jesus says in Matthew 25, when you do this to the least of these, you've done it unto me. Christians, my brothers and sisters, are conduits for blessing. not simply containers of blessing. And that's where the great passage comes in. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Why is it better to be the giver than to be the receiver? It is better because when you are a giver, you open up room for God to do more for you. Which leads to our final point, the compensation for this kind of fasting. Look at the benefits. God says when you fast for yourself and you're also ministering to somebody else, the homeless poor, he says in verse 7, dividing your bread with the hungry, when you see him who is naked to cover him with clothes, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh, not to hide from other people because you're a person too, and your day will come. Then, then when? Then after you've taken care of verse 6 and 7, then there. Then your light will break out like the dawn. And that's blessing number one. Not only that, he says in the middle of verse 10, then your light will rise in darkness. Not only that, but he says he'll give you physical healing. Verse 8, and your recovery will speedily spring forth. You're sick? Find somebody else suffering with the same thing. even though you don't know them, open the bulletin, you see somebody else is struggling with cancer, and you go minister to them. You go minister to the person that's going through the same thing you're going through, even though you're going through it, then your recovery will speedily come forth. In other words, fasting for others helps heal you. Verse 9, look at it. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. Because when they called, you became a tool to be the answer for their prayer, when you call, God will create a tool to be the answer for your prayer. You will cry and he will say, here am I. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the oppression of others, the disregarding of others, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness, you know, the pointing of the finger, something's wrong with everybody else, nothing's wrong with you. And if you give yourself to the hungry, verse 10, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness. Your gloom will become like midday when the sun is hottest and brightest. You will begin to live again. And the Lord, verse 11, will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places. Now, you know what scorched places, that land has been burnt. You've been burnt? Anybody in here been scorched? Are you crackling with the burns of life? Are you in a scorched place in your experience? Guess what he said? Minister to somebody else. Now, you can't look to your emotions to do this because you don't feel like it. If you've already been burnt, you don't feel like ministry. You feel like being discouraged and depressed and complaining and laying in bed and watching television. If I'm scorched, I don't want to seek an opportunity to minister. God says when you minister I will deal with what has scorched you And look at this next one I like this one And give strength to your bones Give strength to your bones And he says, you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water which waters do not fail. In other words, I'll keep watering you so you can water somebody else. I'll make sure the sprinkler system stays on. And you will become green again. In fact, you'll become so green, verse 12, that those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. I even make up what has already been torn down. Ancient ruins, stuff that's old in your life, stuff you've grown up with and not been able to get over yet. I'll help you with the ancient ruins. Not just what went wrong yesterday, but the stuff you've been battling with for 20 years. I'll go back in time on you with my goodness and will raise up the old foundations. and you will be called the repairer of the breach. I like that. You will be called the repairer of the breach. Who will be called? The people who are fasting for themselves, who've now taken time to minister to somebody else. I'll call you and I'll make sure other folk know you're the repairer of the breach and the restorer of the streets in which to dwell. You will have made your community a better place to live in. Now, if you want to talk about church, this is church. If you want to talk about authentic Christianity, folks, this is authentic Christianity. While you are fasting for yourself, and please make sure you do that, don't miss your neighbor. Now, everybody can't help everybody, but everybody can help somebody. You can't solve all the problems in the world, but you can solve one problem. So this week, turn off the television and find somebody to visit in the hospital. Say, yeah, I don't know you and you don't know me. I saw you struggling with cancer and I wanted to come by to pray for you. Why? Because I need a breakthrough. And so if I give out, then I create an opening for God to give to me. Find a way to minister. And it's not hard. All the brokenness around you and your family and your friends, it's not hard. Dr. Evans will return with a final story to wrap up today's message on fasting for justice in just a moment. Before he does, though, I want to let you know that today's lesson is taken from a powerful sermon series on the subject of biblical fasting. And through tomorrow, we are offering the full-length version of all 14 lessons in this series, along with our Hope for the Hurting Leader Kit, perfect for both group study and for your own personal journey in facing life's pains and hurts with the Lord's peace and comfort. Just contact us at TonyEvans.org to request this special package before time runs out. Or give us a call day or night at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our resource team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at TonyEvans.org. If you feel powerless to resist temptation, Dr. Evans says you might be searching for your overcoming power in the wrong places. Tomorrow, he'll explain how to tap into the victory Christ has already secured for you. Right now, though, he's back with his closing story. In Europe, a European town, there was a statue of Jesus. It was a gorgeous statue. and the hands of the statue reached out and said, come unto me. But in World War II, in the bombing, it got destroyed. But it was so appreciated that they wanted to rebuild the statue. So the sculptor began rebuilding the statue, but he said, what am I going to do with these hands? I want to do something different with the hands. Maybe I should have it carrying a cross or carrying a child or, yeah, I could do come unto me again, but I want to do something different. The day came for the statue to be unveiled. And so the people of the town gathered to see again their beloved statue, and as it was unveiled, the people were horrified. The arms came down, cut off at the wrist And Jesus had no hands What kind of sculptor is this? Who would leave Jesus without hands? Then he pulled the drape off of the base of the statue And the base of the statue simply read Who will be my hands today? who will be my hands to go to the jail to talk to a prisoner who needs to be sexed? Who will be my hands to visit the homeless today to give them an encouraging word? Who will be my hands to pick up an extra bag of groceries today to feed somebody who has no food? Who will be my hands to go through their closet and pick up stuff that they hardly ever wear anyway Make it available to somebody who needs something to wear. Or to change the questions, will you be his hands today? Your light will break forth like the noonday sun. This is fasting for others, which in a way intensifies fasting for yourself. Thank you.
