And When You Fast | Ezra 8:21-23 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

You see that? Oh. I've been new here to you. I'm 25. 25. These sacred gatherings, the 28-19 Church, a mighty move of God in the earth, where we are serious and striving for the spread of the gospel, for the multiplying of disciples. To all of our digital disciples watching live across the nation and around the world, you are our family. We praise God for you, we love you, we intercede for you. You are our disciples in cities all across America and around the world, holding up the bloodstain, band of the Lord Jesus Christ, standing on God's business and taking territory for the Lord wherever you are. You are part of our family. We love you. We are a global family that goes far beyond the room in the land to the Lord. And if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you are crept in Him on the first Sunday of a new year. Crept into this chat on the first Sunday of a new year. We are thankful that you are here. We recognize you and we honor you. We want you to know that you could belong before you believe and you could be amongst us before you believe in our prayer for you. Is that a moment's notice? The worship is going forward or where the Word is being proclaimed. The Spirit of God will snatch you from the fires of hell and bring you into this covenant of safety with the Lord Jesus Christ before you have drawn your last breath, which could be for you next week, next month, next year. Now, family, we as a church for the last three years have been walking through the book of Matthew and you are aware that we are coming down to the very end of that series. I think you know that. We are just a few messages left in that series. Today, we are going to press pause on our series through the book of Matthew as I want to use this morning, this moment to call us together locally, nationally, globally to a time of holy consecration. So eternal God and of a wise Father, to you when you alone and you only be glory and honor and homage and praise. We are weak and we are frail and we have come before your holy presence, leaning on your strength, leaning on your wisdom, trusting in you. We do not trust in ourselves. We come before you God in this first Sunday of this new year, asking you to minister to our heart to speak to us right where we are, to awaken us right where we are. Minister to us, your sons and daughters and even the atheists under this honor, my voice, ask for help now in the mighty and the majestic and the mattress name of our Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ and all God's people said amen and amen and amen. This morning at 3 a.m. because I was going to start this talk with a little bit more inspiration but this morning at 3 a.m. the Lord violently woke me out of my sleep and as soon as I woke out of my sleep I started seeing visions of a systematic political and then violent take over of the United States by a radical ideology that is spreading across the whole world and has entered into the shores of the United States. I started seeing Christians being persecuted through laws and legislations and then physically by this radical ideology and it was like God was showing me as I'm seeing this in an open vision on the side of my bed in the dark before I could even make it to my prayer room as I'm seeing this imagery in my mind. There was this strong sense as I'm seeing this imagery like we are very close to the end. It was like I could hear an audible voice saying to me, fill up my son, we're very close to the end and as I'm hearing that audible voice I begin to weep and cry right there on the side of my bed. I'm weeping and I'm crying on the side of my bed as I'm thinking about what I'm seeing in my mind and I'm thinking about what I'm hearing in my heart and I'm weeping and I'm crying not only for what I'm seeing but I'm weeping I'm crying over you and I'm weeping and crying over the church in America and I'm crying in that moment because I'm thinking if what I'm hearing is the voice of God in this moment then I'm thinking to myself God if it's true that we're closing in on the end of the age if it's true that we don't have much time left God now I'm thinking about all of us who are Christians who are wasting our time busying ourselves with all of these things that's not going to matter a hundred years ago they may not matter five years from now I thought about all of the activities of Christians who are wasting their time doing things that's not going to matter when they die I thought about all of us who are filled with so much ambition we are building monuments like sandcastles that's going to wash away on the shores of judgment I thought about all the things that we think right now is actually important that does not matter in the sight of God and I thought about oh my God I thought about all of God's children who are running around like blinders on their eyes running in and out of services and my open and Bible for a second during the week and have no idea that we might be at the very end of the church age like I'm hearing this voice like a trumpet blowing in my heart this morning this very morning I'm hearing this and I'm weeping and I'm weeping over you and I'm weeping over me and I'm weeping over my children and I'm wondering like how many of us are really living with this sensitivity to the spirit of where we are on God's prophetic time table I'm wondering about that really I am and I'm seeing all of us running around like hamsters on wheels and we're busy doing this and busy doing that and doing everything other than the things God has called us to do and this is like this is not just me like trying to scare you right this is this is the Holy Spirit this very morning this I was even going to talk to you like this this was the Holy Spirit this very morning sounding a warning in my heart to warn America that if the bride of Christ in America if she does not wake up if she does not pray if she does not repent if she does not stand on business we would be held captive in our own country by a radical ideology we will fall very quickly and our children will suffer this is me warning America I don't know what that was don't laugh whatever that was had to be divine God using a prophet to sound and alarm in America give me the camera God using a prophet to sound and alarm in America that we better wake up the bride in this country we better stand on business and we better pay attention to the people we put in office and we better pay attention to how we pray in the labor and we better pay attention to what we're doing right now this is God sounding an alarm in America for his bride to wake up the sinner cannot see because they're blind the bride of Christ must see and be awake in and today is a good game for me to talk to you like this as we enter into the very first Sunday of a brand new year as we stand on the precipice of a brand new season on the calendar of God's prophetic timetable and while the transition from December to January does not magically erase all of our problems internally and externally this part of the year does offer you every single person an opportunity to reflect an opportunity to recalibrate an opportunity to reorient your mind and your heart and your life around those priorities and those things that matter absolutely the most and as I crawl into my prayer room this morning man I fell out of my face and I wept I wept for my children I pleaded with God God I pleaded for the salvation Lord I don't know I believe but I'm pleading with God for the salvation of my children because that alarm was going off in my spirit I'm pleading with God for the salvation of every friend I know who is not saved I'm pleading with God for everyone under the sound of my voice under the banner of 2018 locally and nationally and globally who is not truly saved doing church but not saved in a chat but not saved I'm trying out to God for the salvation I'm pleading with God I'm in tears this morning literally weeping in tears pleading with God that he would fully form in you and fully form in me the mind and the heart of Christ I'm weeping this morning in tears that God would completely move you away from ambitions that are vain I'm pleading with God in tears that God would deliver you and deliver me from whirliness in our hearts and perversion in our hearts I'm pleading with God this morning in tears on my knees and on my face tears falling on my pipes I'm pleading for you that God would work into your heart a desire for purity and a desire for holiness and he will give you such a hatred for sin that you would think wrong and not tolerate that you will talk wrong and not tolerate that lies will come out your mouth and you'll be grieved in your heart that you will not be able to sin and have peace in your soul I'm pleading with God in tears this morning the scales were fall from your eyes I'm pleading this very morning with God in tears that he would awaken you that he was set you on fire that he was strengthening you we are weak man I'm pleading with God this morning in tears that God would do something so deep on the inside of you and I'm pleading with God this morning that in this very moment he would give all of us the strength that desire to want to bruise this flesh to want to take authority over this flesh to want to subdue this flesh as we pivot and turn towards God towards a solemn week of concentration with this powerful ancient discipline of fasting and prayer what is fasting is not just coming off of social media that's lame that's bottom shelf that's American biblical fasting is the abstinence from food for a period of time to turn once heart fully towards God in prayer and devotion and seeking his face when we fast we take authority over the flesh and we tell the flesh who have no power over me and when we fast we take power over the flesh and denying it what it wants most food and pleasure we tell the we tell the flesh no pleasure for you we tell the flesh for a period of time no food for you we tell the flesh for a period of time you are not stronger than my spirit when we fast we draw closer to God when you fast your body grows weak but your spirit grows strong when you fast you become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit when you fast you have more spiritual clarity people have fasted and seeing God moves mightily in their life people have fasted and heard God speak to them while they were fasting people have fasted and God has intervened in their life or in the life of somebody else people have fasted and seeing God provide for them supernaturally during that fast people I know have fasted and their bodies have been physically healed during their fast people have fasted and been delivered from things that had them bound for years during their fast fasting and prayer is that powerful discipline we use to curb the appetite of the flesh and to draw closer to God for intimacy and to hear his voice and the scriptures are replete with people groups who have fasted corporately to seek God's face I want to remind you of a few of them in Israel chapter 8 for example there was a priest in about the 500 AD he was a scribe and a leader in the Jewish community the people of God are in exile and Ezra is getting ready to lead some thousand Jews out of exile back to Jerusalem the traveling distance from where they are back to Jerusalem is a dangerous path and many people have died along that road and in Ezra chapter 8 we see an example of a corporate fast chapter 21 then I Ezra proclaimed a fast there at the river Hava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek him for a saved journey for ourselves our children and all of our good for I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way since we had told the king the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him so here is Ezra he's about to lead a thousand Jews back to Jerusalem on a pathway that is dangerous because he was bragging on God he said I can't go to the king and ask this man to get involved if God don't get involved nobody is going to get involved verse 23 so we fasted who fasted they did corporately everybody so we fasted corporately and we implored our God that is prayed and watch out God respond and he listened to our win treaty so here is a corporate fast for protection and as the people fasted together God heard their prayer and provided for them their need so here is an example of God meeting a need through corporate fasting let's look at more corporate fasting let's go to Acts chapter 13 crisis crucified crisis resurrected it is the first century AD crisis raised the church is born on the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem the church is growing by the thousands the church undergoes persecution the first Christian martyr is killed his name is Stephen then James is killed then the people of God scatter to other cities Christians end up in a city called Antioch and a new church is formed in an ancient city called Antioch and the believers there don't have guidance for what to do next Acts chapter 13 verse 1 now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simon who was called Niger Lucius of Syrene Munein a lifelong friend of Herod the Tech-Rock and Saul verse 2 while they were worshipping the Lord and what fasting the Holy Spirit said said apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them then they're fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off so here we see a church calling a corporate fast and while they were fasting the Holy Spirit spoke because while you're fasting your spirit is strong your flesh is weak and you set yourself up to hear from God more clearly so we see one group of people in a corporate fast God provides a need we see another group of people in a corporate fast God speaks to them so we see during fasting God provides needs and there are people under the sound of my voice right now you have needs maybe you have a mental need or an emotional need or a spiritual need or a financial need I'm telling you God can meet that need during your fast there are people in this room right now you are going through confusion you need guidance you want God to speak to you should I marry this person should I take this job should I move to Atlanta to join 20 in 19 locally should I fill in the blank where you see darn fasting the Holy Spirit spoke and there's some of us right now we need guidance before you run into the business of a new year before you start building things God didn't tell you to build before you start getting into covenants but God didn't tell you to get into a covenant with that person before you start making all these decisions we need to slow down to watch hear from the one who was the author and the finisher of your faith so we see during fasting God provides needs we see during fasting God speaks and what about all of you under the sound of my voice who feels like pastor I hear you but but I I limped out of 2025 my prayer life is not where supposed to be I haven't opened my Bible in a long time I don't feel confident that if I'm fasting and praying that God is going to listen to me joe chapter 2 the people of God have disobeyed God God sends a plague of locusts on their land and he is ravishing their economy this is so powerful to me God sends a plague of locusts on the land and he's ravishing their economy they're losing money they can't pay their bills they can't buy food because sometimes God will hurt you to get your attention when we love disobedience God and his love would often hurt his children to get their attention he might take something out of your life he might disrupt something that you built God was disrupting their economy to get their attention since you want everything other than me and since you won't come to me let me disrupt your economy so I can get your attention I know if I touch your money I'll have your attention then joe chapter 2 for everybody feels like I don't know if I'm in a position for God to hear me while the people are in disobedience look at the heart of God joe chapter 2 verse 12 while the people are in disobedience look at the heart of God yet even now declares the Lord I love this book return to me come back to me run to me return to me with what all of your heart how do you do that with fasting which is active humility with weeping and with morning this is God trying out to some of you right now I know you're far away I know you haven't been praying I know you haven't been reading I know you've been in sin I know you feel disconnected from me but even in your rebellion return to me I'm calling you my son I'm calling you my daughter even in your sinful state even in your rebellion return to me say to Lord how with humility don't return with pride and arrogance return to me he says how with fasting and with weeping verse 13 ran your hearts that means tear your hearts and not your garments path I don't understand and those times when people were sad they would rip their clothes as a sign of being sad but God says I don't want your outward piety your little church attenders that's not good enough I want you to tear your heart I want you to ring out your sin I want you to come before me broken I want you to crawl into your prayer place broken and wounded run back to me crawl back to me we back to me fast and turn back to me this is God giving some of you an invitation watch to just run into the loving arms of your father and your insecurities return and your rebellion and your weakness return and your rebellion just run back to him he says return to me how with fasting and with weeping and with mourning ran your hearts and not your garments he says again return to the Lord your God for he is what gracious and merciful he is slow to anger and a bounding instead fast love and he relents over disaster this is the Holy Spirit giving someone an invitation right now you are straying but return you feel distant but return you feel far away but return and as there is no excuse for anyone to not fast and pray the invitation goes on to all the invitation to the holy consecration goes on to all and maybe there's an outlier in the room maybe there's an outlier watching me across the camera say passes y'all y'all can go ahead and fast this week and y'all can do what y'all gotta do I'm gonna be on the outside watching y'all I'm not doing seven days of fasting that's not me maybe maybe there's somebody out there feel like that's not for you that's for the spiritually elite did the Jesus call his followers to fasting and prayer is there is there is there any record of the Lord calling us to this discipline and his most famous sermon this sermon on the mount Matthew chapter six beginning in verse five the Lord said to you his follower his disciple his son his daughter verse five and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they lumped the stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners that they may be seen by others truly I say to you they have received their reward but when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who is in secret will reward you I want you to see twice the Lord said to you my brother my sister and when you pray that is a presupposition in the word of God meaning the Lord expects for you to pray he'd never said if you pray the Lord said to you twice when you pray so this is not just for the spiritual elite this is for everyone who calls themselves a follower of God the Lord calls you to pray and to do it in secret and to come find them in that private place and he says if you pray to me in secret I will reward you now I love the fact he made it new on he never tells us what the reward is so you don't limit your mind and what God can do as you pray and talk to him I know from 21 years of praying I've seen great rewards for my prayer probably the greatest reward you will have in prayer is not anything you can touch Lord help us probably the greatest reward you will ever have in prayer is intimacy with Christ the Lord has healed my heart in prayer the Lord has given me peace in times of trauma in prayer the Lord has given me guidance in times of in times of clarity when I need a clarity in prayer the Lord has helped me lead our church through some of the most difficult and darkest season through prayer and I'm telling you the Lord does his best work in your life in that secret place when you're just sitting in his presence in prayer but he didn't he didn't stop there he didn't just call you to pray no he didn't just stop there family he went just a little bit further in verse 16 and he says and when you fast there it is do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they distigate their faces that their fasting may be seen by others truly I say to you they have received their reward he says that when you fast don't go around holding your stomach and going into a job is saying people say oh what's wrong with you all my church got me fast in this week and he said don't do that don't be bragging every time you bump into somebody oh why you look like that you know I'm fast and I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I Take a shower get dressed put on your colony of perfume put your heel your baby here nice Get him get the toothbrush make it look nice and pretty on the side Make sure your bundle is sewn in tight Iron your clothes look presentable Walk with your shoulders up Go to work get your work done come home hand to your business You Well when you fast Annoying your head wash your face That's your faster may not be seen by others but by your father who was in secret and your father who was in secret he will reward you Look at the promise he says if you pray he will promise reward you and look at the other promise and if you fast He will reward you again the reward is nuanced. I love that it does not tell us exactly what the reward is so that our minds Is not limit what God can do as we fast? I? Want you to see in the text that during corporate fasting God provided for a group of people during corporate fasting The Holy Spirit spoke I want you to see that God invites people to fast and pray even when they are in a season of rebellion When they're hurting when they're going through when you're in a weak place He still invites you to come so there really is no excuse not to go I Want you to see that God calls his people to pray So everybody is called to pray I want you to see that the Lord calls everyone to fast. He did not say if you pray he said when he did not say if you fast He said when and If there's ever a good time for us to pray and fast as now at the beginning of the year Before we start making decisions before we get married Before we start businesses before we shake hands with shady people Before we start things that God did not tell us to start before we give birth to isht smells Before we start doing all these things this year that you put on your vision board some of you got a whole vision board I've everything you want to do that you didn't even run by God I already know because we're in America I already know it's probably 80% of you right now got a whole vision board I've everything all of your goals and everything you want to do that you never even prayed about You got things on there that's outside of his will and so when it doesn't come to pass you'll be hurt at the end of the year Maybe you rewrite your vision board after seven days from now Yeah, that I your pastor and calling you to seven days of prayer and fasting Beginning tomorrow Monday morning until Sunday when we come again into this holy gathering and we break the fast together with communion I am calling us to a corporate fast of seven days of prayer and fasting and seeking God's face Of going after God with our whole heart Of curbing the flesh and running after Christ with our whole heart And I give you two options to do that Okay, they're biblically there are only two kinds of fast the first is a total fast That is we abstain from all food until we have communion next week that's for the gangsters that's not for everybody You You should not do that probably if you're pregnant if you work a manual labor job if you're taking certain medication If you need to see a doctor you see a doctor you do that if you feel led by the spirit Let the spirit guide you in which fast you choose For myself and other gangsters we will not see food again until we have communion next Sunday Let the spirit of God lead you in what concentration you choose And for those of us who will not do a total fast there is a partial fast total is what Jesus did in the wilderness No food no stimulus no playing around I'm not talking about this little whack American fast Where you say I'm gonna stop watching TV for a week that ain't fasting Look at me if it don't hurt your flesh it's not a fast You gorging yourself on fast food all week while you're not watching TV and calling that a fast that's American that's not bivocal You Second option is what Daniel did Partial fast Where he just abstained from me to a vegetables and drank water why is fast? This is I will abstain from fools that are delicacies to me I might just do salads or we can maybe a fish at the end of the week. This is just you abstain Or maybe you say I just do one meal a day or maybe I fast from son up to son down And I have dinner at night you choose whatever the Holy Spirit lead you to do Okay, but I'm calling everybody in our church everybody under the banner of 2019 our entire family local Our entire family national our whole global family. I dare I say I'm calling America the whole bride I To slow down And to not try to build into a year with pride and arrogance what we think the yes is supposed to be and to take the first week of the year These next seven days Ami to tell your flesh you have no authority over me I'm serious. I'm not playing with you To tell that thing that you're wrapped in that brings you pain and hardship Say you have no authority over me. I will consecrate I will fast I will pray I will seek the face not the hand the face of my savior And we stay away from everything from Isaiah 58 when the prophet warns us if we fast with impure motives God will not listen Now look at me You know what's impure you spend in this week complaining about what you can't eat Oh, I passed the put us on a fast so we can't eat and I can't do that or you can do whatever you want You The minute you start talking about what you can't do you've drifted into legalism At that point it's just a hunger strike It's not pleasing to God and then please into you minus we'll go ahead and break your fast and just eat Maturity says we're not gonna spend this week complaining about what we can't do We can't eat and we can't do this that's immature And it does not please God Instead you should focus this week on what you can do you know what you can do you can't get closer to Christ this week You can discipline your flesh this week You can hear from God this week you can be healed in your body this week You Can save a marriage this week you can lay hands on somebody sick this week you can see a miracle this week you can be delivered this week For some of you maybe this is the week you have no sex this week You can be delivered from addictions to sinful behaviors this week Maybe say no cigarettes this week no weed this week no sex this week Maybe you come out this week on the other side saying I don't need that anymore Don't need the new parts anymore don't need the weed anymore. I might just stay celibate. I get married Maybe this is the week you get delivered from pornography And you realize your wife is enough You have no idea You can't even imagine When God would do with a person who turns their plate down That says God for you I will I will discipline this flesh Your word will be my food My prayer time will be my food For some of you you know what you can read the New Testament this week You can listen to the Bible this week you can finish the whole New Testament in your hands this week I challenge some of you just get a small letter in the New Testament Ephesians, Philippians Colossians first or second Testelonians first second third John get a small one and read that this week Come up for and tell me does it sound like American preaching You can get a blueprint this week that changed the whole cause of your life You can come up for medication this week You can't get delivered from overeating this week you have no idea what God will do with a surrendered body For seven days the number of perfection you have no idea what you will do This week call one another And text one another and the coverage one another say girl what is God saying to you My brother what is God saying to you what are you reading What are you listening to what chapter you in call us to Encourage each other this week And share scriptures with each other this week So girl I was reading this in first John and share with somebody this week How you uh the first three days you you might start feeling dizzy you might start feeling weak By day four you're gonna be cruising by day five you're gonna be so close to God you're not gonna want food You I'm calling us To seven days of consecration You Turn your plate down however the spirit leads you Turn your sin down Turn down your plate and turn down your sin Carry yourself in the scriptures go take trail walks Listen to worship as you walk Take off ungodly music Listen to praise and worship when you're drive to work Put the Bible on when you're cleaning your house you're doing dishes and you got the Bible playing in the background You're in the shower and the word of God is playing a show I mean gorge yourself on the word and gorge yourself in the presence of God the Everybody Consecrate at some level However the spirit lead you This is also the church Putting God first Who's with me I Just want to know who's with me Like Lord we're gonna seek you this week Well we coming after you this week we coming after your face we coming after your heart we coming after your will We coming after your word we want all of Jesus this week more of him and less of you In powerful days of Consecration all of him and less of you who's with me for that It's so far than the name of Yeshua I pray right now over my brothers and sisters That you would give us the grace the strength to consecrate To fast and to pray we pray Monday morning comes We will feel an anointing to seek you Anointing to curb the flesh an anointing to fast and pray We pray about tomorrow morning God we will feel strength and desire To run after you with our whole heart's Lord we pray your word will be our food Speak to us this week Heal us this week Deliver us this week Move on our behalf this week Bring clarity this week Break strong holes in the minds of men this week Destroyed chains and bondages this week That captive's free this week Change a marriage this week Change a woman this week Change a man this week change A child this week Move mightily on our behalf Across the nation around the world God we pray you would pour our just spirit upon us for seven days Give us dreams and visions Speak to us in the stillness of the night Let us find great delight in your words and in worship and in your presence Give us the grace to consecrate father ask In the mighty And the majestic And the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen And all praise to the Lord most high All praise to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ Hiking of heaven My king forever All praise to the Lord most high All praise to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ Hiking of heaven My king forever All praise All praise to the Lord most high All praise to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ My king of heaven My king forever All praise to the Lord most high Give us praise to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ Hiking of heaven My king forever All praise to the Lord most high Hiking of heaven I wish to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Hiking of heaven Your working career For it is your place All praise to the Lord most Hiking of heaven I wish to the one who saved my life Hiking of heaven My king forever All praise to the Lord most high All praise to the one who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ Hiking of heaven My king forever Now if you receive that put your hands together