Draw Near to God | Reset: The Power of Prayer & Fasting (Part 1)

Good morning church, good morning church houses, good morning Tipton, we got a reason to rejoice this morning, I don't know what you're carrying right now, I don't know what you're facing but because Jesus is alive we can choose joy and peace and hope and life today, so let's do that as we sing, amen? Come on, sing with me. Can I see? He's saying Oh, a song of praise I'll bring for your joy of bounds and suffering On a mountain high or a valley low, my soul will bless you Lord Oh, I'll rejoice again and again I'll say rejoice Come on, we're choosing faith I'm choosing faith to trust your lead I'm choosing faith to believe your work for good through my adversity I'm choosing hope because you're my key I believe without a doubt you won the victory Oh, a song of praise I'll bring for your joy of bounds and suffering On a mountain high or a valley low, my soul will bless you Lord Oh, I'll rejoice again and again I'll say rejoice Thank you, Jesus Come on, tell your soul to sing To rejoice always We'll rejoice always I got the joy of J崇坦 I got the joy of J崇坦 I got the joy of J崇坦 Everything equals everything. Amen. We're saved by grace through faith, but taking a public profession of faith, making it known that we're going all in with Jesus, that's a big deal. And so we're celebrating the work that God is working in these people's lives this morning. So when they come out of that water, y'all, let them hear you. Let's celebrate. Let's cheer them on in their walk with Christ. And so before we get to witness these people being baptized and continue to worship, I want you to check out just one story of life change right now. I decided it was time for me to be baptized after the third diagnosis with cancer, being a three-time survivor and just knowing that God was there for me. In 2016, I felt something was off and I went to the doctor. Cancer. It was terrifying. We're a year into marriage and we found out I had to do 63 days of chemo, three 21-day cycles. We were just kind of going about life normal. I was getting annual checks, blood work and all that. Something felt off again. Went back to the doctor and they were like, yep, you have cancer again.

This time was a lot different than the first time because we have kids this time. That made it extra scary. This 24 diagnosis didn't spread. And so just a surgery removed it. I was still on a five-year plan from the 2024 diagnosis. January 19th of this year, they found an enlarged lymph node in my back. It was scary, but also I think I felt more calm with this one than any of them, because we knew it was all in God's hands. Angie reached out to IU Health in Indianapolis. They called us Monday, and we were there on a Thursday. Before we went down there, we stopped by the church for prayer. Lance and Derek prayed over me and anointed me with oil. I truly felt God's work within me at that moment. I decided to go all in with Jesus and be baptized. We were both recently baptized on June 28th. I saw him kind of—because his back was to me—I saw him on the screen tearing up, and then I start tearing up, and then we hear that other people in the line are tearing up, and all of our friends and family were there also. We heard they were tearing up, and so it was a really good experience to do that together. This A-Life journey that we kind of started in the middle of, we are living life more abundantly, and especially the way we listen and pray to God. He's answering our prayers, and we can see it more now than I think I could see it before getting baptized. So cool. So cool to see what the Lord is doing in this place. When we look to Him this morning, let's rejoice in all He's doing together. Let's lift this up. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus Because He's never let me down He's faithful through generations So why would He fail? And now He says, I've still got joy and chaos And I've got peace that makes no sense So I won't be going under I'm not held by my own strength

Because I put my life on Jesus And He's never let me down He's faithful in every season So why, so why would He fail? Now He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail Christ is my firm foundation He's the rock The rock on which I stand When everything around is shaking Oh, I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Cause He's never let me down He's made for a generation So why would He fail now? He won't He won't He won't fail He won't He won't fail. He won't. Sing it brother. He won't. He won't fail.

He won't fail. Oh, I put my faith in Jesus. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. He said, if the world came with you, my house was built on it. And I'm safe with you. And I'm gonna make it through. When it came with you, my house was built on it. Thank you, Jesus, that I'm safe with you. And I'm gonna make it through. When it came with you, my house was built on it. And I'm safe with you. And I'm gonna make it through. Yeah, I'm gonna make it through. Because I'm standing strong on you. I'm gonna make it. Yeah, I'm gonna make it through. Because my house is built on it. And Christ is my firm foundation. Yes, he's the rock on which I stand. And everything around me is shaking. Oh, I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. Because he's never let me down. He's prayed for a generation. So why, so why would he fail now? He won't. He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail.

He won't. He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. All my words fall short. I've got nothing new. How could I express all my gratitude? Thank you, Jesus. I could sing these songs as I often do. Every song must end. And you never do. Come on, we express our gratitude today. Come on. So I fold my hands and praise you again and again. Because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, but I've got hills before a king. Except for our hearts singing hallelujah, hallelujah. I've got one response. I've got just one proof. With my heart stretched wide, I will worship you. So I go. I want to hold my hands and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else Except for a king, except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

That's all I have, Lord And we sing, come on, come on, come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy, man, lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lines Get up and praise the Lord Oh, come on, come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy, man, lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lines Get up and praise the Lord Oh, come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy, man, lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lines Get up and praise the Lord Oh, come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy, man, lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of those lines Get up and praise the Lord We praise the Lord Oh, oh, oh, oh So I know I might praise you again Cause all that I have is a heart Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else meant for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah Come on, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Woo! Come on, it doesn't get any better than that, amen? God is on the move and he's just getting started this morning. So thankful. It's gonna be an amazing morning together. Why don't you say hi to someone real quick before you take your seat. Amen. Revival. Now, Webster's Dictionary will tell you it means restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength. Awakening, the act of waking from sleep or a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something. Revival. Awakening. Northampton, Massachusetts, 1730s. Jonathan Edwards begins to preach, followed by George Whitfield. Whitfield spoke to thousands in the open air about the concept of spiritual rebirth. While Edwards warned of sinners in the hands of an angry God. Revival swept the colonies. Countless lives began to change. Churches began to change. And history remembers this as the first great awakening. September 23rd, 1857, at lunchtime in New York City, a layman named Jeremy Lanphier kneels to pray. America was in spiritual, political, and economic decline. There was financial panic and rumors of a civil war,

and so Lanphier invited thousands to a rented hall on Fulton Street to pray. Six people showed up. Just six people. But those six people began to pray. Three weeks later, 40 people were praying. Within six months, 10,000 people were gathered daily for prayer. Over the next two years, over one million Americans out of a total population of 30 million put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. This became known as the Great Awakening. In the early 1970s, the cover of Life magazine featured over 80,000 young people gathering for Jesus at an event in Dallas called Explo 72. A year before, the cover of Time magazine read, The Jesus Revolution, because something undeniable was happening. Something unexplainable was happening. Something was sweeping young people all over America. It became known as the Jesus Movement and accounted for more baptisms in a single year than any other year in the history of the Southern Baptists. 400,000 people were baptized in one year. The First Great Awakening, the Great Prayer Revival, the Jesus Movement. What's the link? What is the common denominator? What is the first step? How do things like this happen? It's prayer. The first step is always prayer. History is clear. The record is undeniable. The blueprint is right in front of us.

Every great move of God begins when his people pray. Not ordinary prayer. Extraordinary prayer. Unified prayer. Desperate prayer. And so it's time. It's time to pray. It's time to pray in repentance. It's time to pray for reconciliation. It's time to pray for personal renewal in our own lives. It's time to beg God for spiritual awakening in our time and in our generation right now. God can do more in a moment than we can ever do in a lifetime. When his people pray. It's time to pray. There's enough power here to go out and change the world. And we pray that this will be the beginning of a spiritual awakening that will sweep the world. For we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord. Amen. Amen. Church, it is time to pray. And that's what we're gonna be talking about this month, the month of August, the time of prayer and fasting as we pray for revival. As God has done it in times past, he is doing it again. And so I want you to open your Bible, please. We begin a new series this month on prayer and fasting. We're gonna be in Ezra chapter eight today. Because there's always this pattern you see in scripture before a great move of God. There is a great move of God's people in prayer and in fasting. And we ain't ready for a revive at the end of this month.

We're gonna try to position our hearts and posture ourselves before God to prepare for what God wants to do in me and you. Ezra chapter eight is about 500 years BC. And Ezra is leading God's people on a journey out of captivity back into the land that God promised would flow with milk and honey. They've been in captivity in the Babylonian city for about 70 years. It's a journey, historically, it's a metaphor of our journey. We're on a two-year discipleship journey called the A-Life, the abundant life. It comes from John 10 and verse 10, Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I've come to give you life, you're gonna have it more abundantly. And so all of us together taking our next steps to pursue the A-Life, the abundant life in Christ. And you understand it's about taking back stolen ground from the enemy. He wants to set us free from the captivity of anxiety and worry and fear. He wants to set us free from the captivity of addiction or depression. And this is what happens in God's presence. And we can see this metaphor here in this history, it really happened. As Ezra is leading this people out of captivity back into the promised land that God promised would flow with milk and honey. Now in Ezra chapter eight, they've started their journey, but they call a reset, a time out. And we're about 18 months into this two-year discipleship journey. August, guess what we're doing? We're calling time out. It's a time of reset before we go any farther. It's a time of prayer and fasting. And that is what Ezra does here in Ezra chapter eight, verse 15, it says, now I gathered them by the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there for three days. They've started their journey, but he says, we're gonna stop right here, we're gonna camp here for three days.

Now church, listen carefully, every time in the Bible you see that phrase, three days or third day, it's there for a reason. It's not coincidental. I'm convinced every word in your Bible is providential because every time you see that phrase Old Testament, New Testament, three days, it should remind you of the greatest event in human history that 2000 years ago, the sinless son of God came like the sons of men so that he could die. for our sin, and three days later, he rose again, and Jesus is alive today. And he did it on the third day. And every time you see that phrase, it should be a reminder that our source of victory is not in ourselves, it's not about how amazing we are or how awesome we are, self-determination, behavior modification, I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna do better. No, our source of victory is in the resurrection. It's in one thing, that Jesus died, but now he is alive. And if the tomb is empty, that means God can do anything. And I'm praying that this month, God would do something indescribable, undeniable for many of us. And that's what we're seeing as we watch what is happening here in Ezra 15. Look, it's not three days, or I should say it's not two days, it's three days. He didn't camp for five days, he camped for three days. God's trying to remind you of your source of victory. Now it says this, when I looked among the people and the priests and found none of the sons of Levi there, then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king saying, the hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him. So Ezra comes to the Persian king, and we know this is real history, it's recorded not just biblically, but in extra-biblical records of the Persians. It was King Artaxerxes of Persia that allowed Ezra to go back with this band of former captives. And he allows them to return. Now, Ezra said, I didn't ask the king for a military escort. This was a long, difficult, and dangerous journey they were taking, about 600 miles, and they're carrying with them very precious gold, silver, elements of worship to go back to the temple as they rebuilt the temple, the place of worship. And what Ezra says is,

I didn't want to ask the king for a military escort. I wanted the king to know that our protector, our provider, we are completely dependent on the God of heaven, that God is enough. And we need to be reminded of that in this modern era. Listen, as a church, you need to recognize something, that we were born out of desperation. Twenty-six years ago, we were born out of very humble beginnings, a little broken-down brick building, a former kingdom hall, with this little band of people, desperately praying for a move of God. Now, here's what I want to warn you about. Twenty-six years later, it's easy for a church to start leaning on the wrong things, the modern machinery of church. Listen, we need a move of God, not the machinery of men. Now, the machinery is not bad. Everybody hates on the machinery today. I'm talking about the technology that allows us to take the gospel around the world. That's the technology, the machinery of modern church. I'm talking about the buildings, and the budgets, and the promotions, and the programming, and the strategic planning. None of that is bad, the machinery of modern church. But listen carefully, the machinery is not enough. We need a move of God. That's what we're praying for. What we're asking God to do cannot be fully explained. If we can explain it, God didn't do it. We're not trying to do anything that can be accomplished by the hand of men. We want to see only what can be accomplished by the hand of God. It can't be humanly engineered. It can't be man-manipulated. We're talking about a move of God, undeniable, but indescribable. And we can see it in times past where even secular historians, not Christian historians, even secular historians look behind them, and they have noted certain times in history that can't fully be explained. You heard in the video about the first great awakening in the 1720s in colonial America where tens of thousands, and thousands, and thousands of people came to faith in Jesus. The second great awakening in the 1840s, tens of thousands, and thousands, and thousands. Revival fire was spreading all over the new America. You heard about the revival in New York City in 1857. How many of you think New York needs a revival today? I'm talking biblical proportions. A move of God. The 1970s saw the Jesus movement, the Jesus revolution. Even Time magazine made a feature article out of it. What is going on in the middle of the sexual revolution? There was a counter-move of God, a spiritual revolution going on in the youngest generation that reshaped civilization, changed the trajectory of an entire generation. Church, God is doing it again, and I'm convinced God wants to do even greater things among us, but the pattern

It's always the same. It's preceded in prayer. A prayer movement precedes a Holy Spirit movement. And this is what Ezra is now doing. Before we take another step, we're gonna stop right here. And we're gonna position ourselves and posture ourselves through prayer and fasting for a move of God in us before God will move then through us. He says this, so we fasted and entreated our God for this and he answered our prayer. This is the pattern I want you to see before every great move of God's Spirit, there is a move of God's people to pray and fast. And I'm calling our church to that very thing. As Ezra called the camp of Israel to a three-day fast, a three-day prayer movement, the month of August is what we're gonna be doing. 2026, August, right now, this month, prayer and fasting in the camp of Abundant Life. Before we take another step in this discipleship journey, before we launch another campus, send another missionary, break new ground in new places, new spaces, to reach new people far from God, we're simply calling for a reset right now as Ezra did in the camp of Israel, time out. We're gonna reset and we're gonna have a time of renewal, personal reflection. We're gonna posture ourselves before our God, the God of heaven. So what that means is we begin a month of prayer and fasting.

I want you to do something. The only time I'm gonna ask you to take out your phone in church. I know a lot of you have your Bible on your phone. When we have a guest speaker, I'm over there on my phone. I promise I'm not texting. All right, I have my Bible on my phone like a lot of you do, okay? So I'm just, this is one time, unless you're reading your Bible in church on your phone, I'm gonna ask you to take it out. Right now, I want you to text pray, P-R-A-Y, pray to 68618. Go ahead, do that right now. Because if you will do that, you're gonna get every day a prayer prompt on your phone. You're gonna get a little text and it's gonna have a prayer prompt and a little devotion every day about how to pray that day and what to pray that day. Now, I want you to picture thousands of us here in this city and around the world through our church houses all praying the same day, all praying the same way. I'm gonna promise you what God is gonna do. God is gonna do something we can't explain if we will begin to pray. There's value in the volume of prayer. There is power when you pray individually, but collectively as a body, there's a move of God gonna happen

when God moves his people to begin to pray. Now, listen carefully. I want you to set a prayer reminder on your phone. At 10 10 a.m., 10 10 p.m., I have a prayer reminder on my phone. 10 10 a.m., 10 10 p.m. Wherever I am, I'm in a meeting, Tuesday mornings at 10 o'clock in the morning. Nobody knows I'm praying, but at 10 10, I get that reminder in the middle of the meeting. My eyes are open, but I'm praying. Yeah, nobody knows. I'm not actually listening right then. Now, it doesn't have to be a long prayer and you're middle of something, but just it always is a reminder. Wherever I'm at in the day, whatever day it is, I see that God, would you bring revival? I just begin to pray. It doesn't have to be a long prayer. Even just a quick, God, would you bring revival? Would you move in my life? Would you move through me? Would you bring revival to those around me? Now, 10 10 a.m., 10 10 p.m. Now, everybody over the age of 40 is going, Phil, I am in bed at 10 10. I mean, I'll sleep by then. Yeah, I know.

If you're under 40, pray at 10 10 p.m. If you're over 40, just pray when you go to bed, okay? Yeah, like 8 30 at night. Sun's not even down yet. There I am, but just pray. Begin to pray. And we're gonna talk about how to pray. A lot of you are new to your Christian faith. Just taking your next steps. And I hear people say, well, Pastor Phil, I don't know how to pray. We're gonna talk about that very thing this month. And the way you learn to pray, I'm gonna teach you how to pray, but the way you really learn to pray is just pray. You're gonna learn you can't mess this up. Now, here's something else we're gonna do. Tuesdays through the month of August is gonna be a day of fasting. Ezra calls for a time of prayer and fasting. And this is probably one of the most lost ancient disciplines of Christianity. At every time in Scripture, you see people as they're making a huge decision or in the middle of a monumental moment, they're always praying and fasting. And I'm gonna talk about this more this month. What is fasting and why do we fast? Now, church, I gotta tell you, I've had to repent. In 26 years of pastoral ministry, I have very few regrets.

I told our staff earlier this year, one of the things I regret is that I have not been more intentional in teaching our church about prayer and fasting. Like, I've actually had to repent of this because this is something I wish I could go back. This is something I would change. And what I mean by that is I'm on this a-life discipleship journey with you. I'm not just your pastor saying, hey, you need to go on this discipleship. journey, go that way. No, I'm like Ezra. Ezra was on this journey with them, and I'm on the same journey you're in. One of the things God has shown in me through the A-Life Disruptive Journey I'm on is I need to be more intentional about prayer, and I need to call our church to be more intentional about prayer. I wish I would have years ago, but I'm doing it now. What I mean by that is my default is to work harder. Now listen, I have worked hard in 26 years of ministry. I don't regret any of that. God blesses hard work. I said God blesses hard work. I don't wish I would have worked less. I just wish I would have prayed more. Now it's not that I haven't prayed at all. I've prayed a lot, 26 years. As a pastor, I mean, I've prayed. I've fasted. It's not that I wish I would have worked less. I wish I would have prayed more, and I wish I would have had our church praying more intentionally. Here's the reason why, because a prayerless life is a powerless life. A prayerful life is a powerful life. Hey, we have seen a move of God in 26 years from those early days in that little broken down brick building and just a little handful of people praying a desperate prayer for God to move. I'm telling you today, the footprint of the gospel and how we have reached the world beginning with our own city, listen, it can't be explained. I will promise we're not that awesome. We're not that good. Only God could have done what's been done in 26 years, but I will always wonder what more God might have done in 26 years had we been more intentional about being prayerful. And I don't know what God might have done behind us that He hasn't wanted to do, hadn't been able to do, but I want to see what might

be possible in front of us if we will be serious about being prayerful and having times like this month of August of prayer and fasting. That's what I'm calling our church to. Now, Ed Newton is going to launch our Revive Week, Wednesday night, August the 26th. Now, we've got three guys coming in. These are my friends, and I'm telling you guys, these are some of the most anointed, gifted Bible preachers anywhere in the world. Now, I can speak to their authenticity. I know them personally. I can speak to their integrity. Ed Newton is a personal friend. He pastors a church in San Antonio, Texas called Community Bible Church. Now, let me tell you, I'm serious about this. They are seeing revival in their city, a move of God that can't be explained. And Ed Newton is the preacher, the pastor of this church, and they've had real revival in San Antonio. I've asked him to come preach and launch our Revive Week on Wednesday night, August the 26th. I don't want you to miss one night of this. If you live in the Kent City area, it's going to be right here in this Lee's Summit Auditorium. If you're in a church house, it's going to be live streamed so you can watch anywhere in North America. Ed Newton, by the way, incidentally, side note, is the chaplain of the San Antonio Spurs. I don't know if that's good news to you or bad news to you. Just a little piece of trivia about Ed Newton. Thursday night is going to be this guy right here, Brian Loritz. He is the teaching pastor at Summit Church in Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. And I hadn't met Brian Loritz until really just recently. I knew of him through some of my pastoral friends. Everybody talked about this guy, man, he can preach. He has anointed the Spirit of God all over this guy. And I'd be like, really? Seriously? And then I heard him preach at a conference. I'm telling you, 10 minutes in, I sat up and said, okay, man, I get it now. You are not going to want to miss the pastor he is and the way the Spirit of God flows through him as he preaches. I'm telling you, Thursday night is going to be powerful. And to set aside Friday night, Clayton Keene is coming back Friday night, August the 28th. Now, Clayton's preached here in the past, guys. He has this gift. It's just a Holy Spirit thing. I can't explain. Clayton sneezes and 100 people get saved. He hiccups and another 100 people get saved. I mean, it's just an anointing he has. I can't explain it. I'm saying, Friday night, bring your one, that person you're praying for far from Jesus. Do whatever it takes to get them here Friday night. If you've got to beg them, plead with them. If you've got to kick them, pinch them.

Whatever you've got to do, get them here, because I'm telling you, people are going to get saved that night. People are going to find Jesus that night. And it's going to be a special night, Friday night, right here. And then on Sunday, August the 30th, you get this guy. It'll be a step down, but he'll do his best, I promise. He'll do his best. What are we doing? Listen very carefully. We are claiming a promise. God's promise is that if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. And nothing stays the same in God's presence. Nobody stays unchanged in God's presence. If we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. What is revival? What does that word even mean? Revival is when there is is a unique move of God that can't fully be explained. Now listen, God is always moving. Jesus is always saving. He's always healing. He's always setting people free. At no time in history has God not been moving, but revival is something that's unique move of God, something that is not normal. And that's what we're praying for. It's a unique outpouring of God's spirit. It's an awakening. It's a shaking. Where things change in a day, things change in a moment that otherwise would have never happened any other way. And that's what happens in God's presence. Here's the promise, James 4, 8. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. That's what we're doing this month. We're drawing near to God because if we do, he will draw near to us. We're calling a timeout, a reset.

We're asking for a renewal, revival. And this is what was happening in the days of Ezra. There was revival breaking out in ancient Israel among God's people. They'd been in captive in Babylon for 70 years. Now they're on their way back to a place of freedom, the promised land that would flow with milk and honey. You understand that's a picture of life abundantly. That's John 10 and verse 10. Jesus wants to set you free from a life of apathy and complacency, if not complete captivity, so that you can live in a way that he already has given you by what he did at Calvary. He wants to give you a life abundantly. And that's the journey that we're on together. And that's why we're asking God to come in a new way. And I want you to see the reality. Prayer is how you talk to God. Fasting is how you submit your flesh to the rule of the Spirit. Now I'm gonna talk this month about prayer and fasting. I don't have time to tell you everything today. It's just kind of a flyover. But this can be intimidating for people, especially if you're new in the faith. Well, I don't know how to pray. I don't know what to say. I'm telling you, you can't mess it up. You talk to God the way you talk to anybody. The way you talk to, well, not anybody.

Yeah, some of you were rude to your husband last night. Don't talk, or yeah, you snap to your wife. Don't do that. But it's just talking to him like you talk to a friend. You don't have to impress God with how much you know theologically. He's not impressed, no matter how much you know. You don't have to impress God with using all this flowery. Have you ever heard somebody praying, and they're praying in the King's English? As if God speaks, you know, the King's English of the King James Version. I mean, yeah. God, we beseech thee, that thou mayest hear thou us, our prayer. If somebody talked to me that way, I'm going, what is wrong with this guy? You don't have to impress God with his flowery speech. We're gonna see sometime, Jesus said, don't pray in vain repetition as the hypocrites do, trying to impress everybody around them. God can see through all that. You simply express your heart to God in the way you'd express it to anyone. Jesus taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer. It's just a pattern, a model. He said, pray our Father who are in heaven. You're praying to the Father.

Listen, nowhere in Scripture are you ever taught to pray to Mary. That was introduced long after Christ and the apostles. It's man's tradition. Nowhere in Scripture are you ever taught to pray to dead saints. Dead people can't help you. It's not in Scripture. That was introduced into the church hundreds of years after the time of Christ. Jesus said to pray to the Father through the Son. Jesus said in John 14, six, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. So you pray to the Father in the name of Jesus the Son. That's how you pray. And you can't mess it up. Just talk to God. Now, fasting, fasting is an ancient discipline that's really been lost to most modern Christians. What you're doing when you fast, and biblical fast, we're gonna be fasting on Tuesdays. I might personally do a three-day fast. I stopped and fasted and prayed for three days. Every week, I'm being led to do a three-day fast. But here, you don't have to. Do a one-day fast, specifically on Tuesday. If this is something new to you, start somewhere. Take a baby step, just a next step. That's what we talk about at Abundant Life.

So maybe just it's one meal. Maybe it's breakfast. Maybe it's lunch. But the idea of fasting is you're praying during that time you normally be eating. And you can fast from a lot of things. I mean, you can fast from social media. Some of us needs to fast from social media. Just don't fast from the Abundant Life social media pages. I promise that's food for the soul. The rest, junk food. Some of us need to fast from the 24-7 news cycle. You'll be amazed how much better you'll feel in three days. You need to detox. But when you talk about a biblical fast, it's always food. It's always food. What you're doing when you fast is you are crucifying the flesh. I talked a week ago about the crucified life, Galatians 2.20. I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. What you're doing is you're consecrating your flesh to the rule of the Spirit. And when you deny your body food, when you start to feel those cravings for food, those hunger pangs, what you're telling your body is you are not in charge. The Spirit of God rules. The Spirit of God is in charge. And this is the process then of getting free. The Bible talks about the lust of the flesh. Your flesh as in your physical body is tied to your flesh as in your fallen sinful nature. And so when you are consecrating your flesh as in your physical body, it does something in the spiritual. It's setting you free from the physical lusts that otherwise might be holding you in captivity. If you begin to fast and pray and fast from food and discipline and subject your body to the rule of the Spirit, He might set you free from some of the other lusts of your flesh that have been keeping you in captivity. I want you to understand there's a chain of command. I told you this. I taught you this hopefully a few weeks ago. We're in Galatians chapter 5. It's about walking in the Spirit. And we talked about the Spirit-filled life. Well, there's a chain of command for everything that God does. You have a body. You have a soul. You have a spirit. As an image-bearer of God, born again in the image of God, as God is one God in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He's a triune being. You're a triune being as a child of God, born again

in the image of God. You have a body. You have a soul. And you have a spirit. Now the Spirit-filled life is when the Spirit is ruling the soul and the soul is ruling the body. The Spirit is ruling my thoughts and emotions, and my body is in subjection to my mind, and my mind is in subjection to the Spirit. Now, most of the time, we invert this chain of command. Where the body is calling the shots, the body is in charge, and the mind obeys, and the Spirit stands oddly by because we're not using the power that God has given us within. So when you fast, what you're doing is you're subjecting your body to your soul, and your soul is subjected to the rule of the Spirit. That's the Spirit-filled life. What you're doing is consecrating your flesh. The flesh is the thin veil that separates you from the spiritual. We are spiritual beings living in a physical reality. Most of the time, all we can see is the physical. We interact in the physical. What you do when you fast, though, is you tear that thin veil between the physical to start interacting increasingly with the spiritual. The power of the Spirit of God begins to then set you free from the physical realities, the lust of the flesh, the alcoholism, the drug addiction, the negative emotions, anxiety, worry, fear, everything that's been holding you in captivity, that's keeping you from living life abundantly. Listen, when you fast, it's like throwing gas on your prayers. We're going to be talking more about that this month. To draw near to God this week, I want you to pray in three ways. As you pray, three ways to pray to position yourself to know the presence of God in your life. Number one is this. Pray, God, make me humble. Pray, God, make me humble. You know why this is important? Because 1 Peter 5 says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. What is humility? Humility is simply confessing your dependency on God. Why don't we pray? Because we're not dependent. See when you know how dependent you are on God, desperate for God, you're driven to prayer. Humility simply confesses, God, I need you. I'm desperate for you. I can't do anything apart from you. Now listen, nobody's normally humble. You're not born this way. You have to choose this every single day. That's why Jesus would say, listen carefully, Matthew 5, 3, blessed are the poor or the humble in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How many of you want to be blessed by God? Yes? Man, I want to be blessed from above. I don't want to live a normal life, a natural life. I want to live a supernatural life, which means it begins with humility.

Man, we're a proud people, an arrogant people. We live in an arrogant civilization, an arrogant society that's increasingly turning from God, distancing ourselves from God. You talk about the arrogance of modern man, but it's all built in. Our hearts are all idol factories. The idolatry within, the desire for self-worship, the desire for self-reliance. And what's happening at the River Ahava, look at what it says in verse 21, then I proclaimed a fast there at the River of Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him the right way for us. And that's what's going to happen this month. You have a decision to make. You're at a monumental moment in your life. And you see this pattern in scripture as people pray and fast. They're seeking God for my next steps. God, what is the right way for us? Says these words. So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and he answered our prayer. We're going to see God answer many, many prayers. There's already dozens of prayer cards on this platform at the other campuses, church houses. We're going to be praying over all these prayer requests this month. And I'm telling you, God is going to be answering some prayers in miraculous, unexplainable ways. He always answers prayer. It's either yes, no, or not yet. But he always hears your prayer as a child of God, and he answers every single one of them. Yes, no. We don't like that answer. Sometimes it's no, because he knows what's best. He's our Father. And sometimes it's just not yet. Wait. When we're praying specifically, and God's going to hear those prayers this month, he's going to answer every one of them. Number two, I want you to pray, God, make me holy. Every day, I'm just asking you to pray this way. God, make me humble, because God draws near to the humble. And then God, make me holy. See, in God's presence, he separates us from sin. Sin is what creates distance between us and him. God will not share space with the proud. He will not share space with sin. So how much do you want him? Do you want him more than you want your sin? Start praying, God, make me holy. It says this in 1 Corinthians 129, no flesh can glory in his presence. God will not share space with our flesh. As you begin to fast, you're consecrating your flesh, you're crucifying your flesh. And as we begin to crucify the flesh, God's presence comes rushing in. And that's when God sets us free from all types of sins, besetting sins, patterns of sin, that's kept us from living the abundant life in Babylon. I want you to see what Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The truth is, none of our hearts are completely pure. All of our hearts are

divided. All of our hearts are duplicitous. And, you know, sometimes, you know, we want God, but we want our sin too. And so what Jesus is teaching, we can't do this for ourselves, no matter how hard you try. It's something God alone can do for you. For by grace are you saved through faith. That was the book of Galatians. We spent three months studying. Every part of your salvation as a Christian is by grace alone through faith alone. We can't do this for yourself. It's something you've got to ask God to do. And by his grace, he begins to do it for you. I want you to see Ezekiel 828, and I said to them, the priests, you are holy to the Lord. The articles are holy also. And the silver and the gold are free will offerings to the Lord God of your fathers. What's happening here? He is preparing the priesthood to go back to Jerusalem as they rebuild the temple, the house of worship, for the priests to begin offering worship. Now check this out. In the New Testament, we're all priests of God. The New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers. Now a lot of you are taught to be a priest. You've got to go to seminary. You've got to get the right degree. And then you've got to wear, you know, special clothing to make you look really holy. Once again, that was all introduced to the church. It's not in the Bible. See, the Old Testament priests were pictures of what God is going to do in the New Testament. We're all priests of God as children of God, bought by the blood of the Son of God to offer up spiritual sacrifices before God. It says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you might shine forth the praises of Him who's called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You as priests of God, what Ezra said to the priests of old, you are holy to the Lord, set apart to the Lord, to offer up spiritual sacrifices before the Lord with a priestly ministry before our high priest and intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12 and verse one, but you are a living sacrifice. Here it is, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable act of worship. We're to offer our lives as a free will offering to God. Holiness to the Lord.

God, we give you freely of ourselves to have your perfect way. My life belongs to you. There's a third saying, it says, pray God, make me hungry, make me hungry. God cannot resist the hunger of his people, the hunger spiritually when we hunger for more of God. I'm gonna tell you why revival tarries. Revival doesn't come. Because quite frankly, most of the time, we are so filled up on the things of this world, we have no space left for the things of God. I mean, think about that a moment. We come to church for an hour and 10 minutes on a Sunday, and we're not really hungry, we're kind of going through the motions, come, sing, sit, and listen, and we're so filled up on all the other things, all week long, on the junk food of this world, the junk food of the soul, that all we really have room for is just a crumb of God's presence, just a crumb. When he's offering us the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, yet we fill up on the temporal tweakies of the world. Not really hungry for God's presence. Would you begin to pray, God, make me hunger for you? That's when revival comes. God cannot resist a people that are hungry, genuinely, spiritually.

And this is what Jesus promised in Matthew 5, 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Here's what it says in Ezra 8, 31. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us. And he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from the ambush along the way. And I'm praying this month, God will deliver you from the hand of your enemy, Satan, the counterfeiter that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, that he deliver you from the hand of your enemy, that captivity to pornography, promiscuity, sensuality, the captivity to fear, anger, anxiety, worry, the captivity to addiction, alcoholism, those negative emotions, that's what happens in times of revival. But it only happens when you begin to hunger more for God and less for the things of this world. Here's what amazes me about this story. When you look at this time in history, Ezra leads a bunch of captives to freedom and liberty, back to the land that God promised. But check this out. Thousands and thousands of Jewish captives chose to stay. They lived in captivity so long, they decided it's okay. They lived in captivity so long,

they entered into a peaceful coalition. When they could have had freedom, they chose slavery. This year, this month, I'm praying that you'll decide it's not okay to stay. I wanna go all the way. I hope you got a prayer card when you came in. This is what we're gonna do right now. I want you to fill this out, a prayer request. And as I pray for these prayer requests, all month long, we're gonna pray together for these prayer requests. In the quietness of this moment, I want you to fill out your prayer request. What are you asking God to do this month? I've got something specific I'm asking God to do. I'm asking now you to decide what are you gonna ask God to do? At some point, I want you to put this on this altar right here, at every campus, at every church house, where we'll see God answer prayer this month. Jesus, I pray for every person. I pray that not one among us would miss the moment. God, make us holy. God, make us humble. God, make us hungry. Would you stand with me right now at every campus, at every church house? I don't know if you've had a time to write down what you're praying for but I pray even now the Spirit of God is

Putting it in your heart If you would just take that card, let's hold up to heaven would you let it begin right now Lord you see these hands in the air These prayer cards Jesus would you hear our prayer? We thank you that you do Or these cards represent the prayers of your people Beginning with God make us humble God make us holy God make us hungry We call a timeout a reset We position our hearts for revival We draw near to you you promised you will draw near to us And I pray great redemption Revival Upon every person under the sound of my voice at every campus across our city church house across the nation We thank you in advance for all that you're about to do in Jesus name Amen, would you give Jesus the glory today, would you? You