How to Connect with God through Fasting | Landon Schott | Mercy Culture Church

this morning, I'm gonna be teaching on fasting, but I felt that there is individuals that are outside of your or inside your sphere of influence that I would encourage people in this in this auditorium and especially those that are watching online right now to share this message. I sensed this morning in prayer that the Lord was gonna take this message into specific places that people needed to hear this message. So it's gonna go further than the normal sphere of our church. So I encourage you to do that this morning. If you want my notes, you can text notes to the number that comes on the screen. Or you can text grow for the grow guide to continue to steward this message as the week goes on. I mean, ready for the word this morning. Matthew chapter four, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting, someone say fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread. But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on a pinnacle of the temple. He said, if you are the son of God, throw yourselves down for it is written. He said to him, he'll command his angels concerning you on their hands. They will bear you up. Least you strike a foot against the stone. Verse seven, Jesus said, again, it is written. You shall not put the Lord your God to a test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to them, I will give you these. If you fall down and worship me, then Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan, someone say Satan go for it is written. You shall worship the Lord, your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him and behold, the angels came and ministered to him. I came to tell you this morning, you can connect with God through fasting. The title of this message is connect with God in fasting. Let's pray. So father, I thank you that your word is true. Let every man be a liar. I declare your word as a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. We hide your word in our heart. So we will not sit against you. Holy spirit. We ask for you to breathe upon your word. I pray the logos, the word becomes Rayma personal revelation to us today. I pray right now. Would you give us ears to hear hearts to receive minds, to understand what your spirit is saying. Holy spirit. We declare, we don't make room for you, but we give you the entire room. So father, I declare no spirit, but the holy spirit is welcome in this place. I say that Jezebel spirit, you must go spirit of fear. You must go. I declare right now, holy spirit come rule in rain. Father, I thank you. Nobody came

to hear me. We all came to hear you. So together we pray, speak, Lord, your servants listening and all God's people said, amen. And amen. Well, we're stewarding a prophetic word. This is a year of encounters and visitations. This is an Exodus three year. This is a year that we are going to find ourselves on holy ground. Here's what we know that you choose your daily encounter, but the Lord will choose your holy visitation. We're in a series called connect with God. It's part of the vision of our church, teaching people how they connect with God, because there's one way to God. It's through Jesus. Can I get an amen? But in Jesus, there's many ways to connect with him. And this is why people get stunted in their spiritual growth is because you stop connecting with God. And this is why so many people stay at the levels. There are, they never get breakthrough because they don't continue growing in their relationship with God. If you have not yet watched all these messages in this series, where we cover all these different ways, they're on our YouTube, our podcast. You can go watch all of these messages and continue to grow today. I want to talk about fasting. How many ready for this? And I'm excited today because for the first time I'm calling our church to a hundred day liquid fast. I'm just kidding. I'm not calling the church to a hundred day liquid fast. There was two zealots excited. Two SLS students were excited. Everybody else was like, dang, I told you we should to come. Okay. I like teaching on fasting when we're not fasting, teaching on giving when we're not doing a special offering, because I want people to understand what they're doing and spiritually grow by strategic, intentional, spiritual disciplines, not emotion. So today I'm going to teach you on the power of fasting. So let me just ask a question. Who has been on a fast before? Let me see your hands. Okay. No, not embarrassing. If you have not fasted ever in your life, wave your hand at me, wave your hand. Oh, come on. Thank you. One honest. She's pointing to him. Okay. Appreciate you being honest for your friend. This person is on, it's a couple of, okay. Now, this is what's really cool, is I have heard over and over and over, I'm guessing if you raised your hand, you're probably newer to mercy culture. I have heard so many times over the few years,

I never fasted until I got to mercy culture. I have heard that dozens of times, which is wild because it is such a powerful way to spiritually grow. Now, the reason why you are fasting as a part of mercy culture, and two people were excited about 100-day fast, is because we teach on fasting and the benefits of fasting, and we are people that fast. So we have built this church on prayer and fasting because of the results and the powerful things that happen when you prayer and fast. Here's what I wanna tell you today, is that Jesus connected with the Father through fasting, and we can connect with God through fasting as well. Let's define fasting today. Fasting is intentionally denying the flesh so you could hunger for God, you can hear his voice and draw closer to him. My simplified definition would be this, fasting is denying the flesh and feeding the spirit. That's what it is. It's denying the flesh and feeding the spirit. In the Hebrew, we have the word stum. It means no food, to abstain from food. It's used for humility seeking God. We see this with humility, mourning, and repentance, but mainly it's a self-denial before God. In the Greek, we have the word nestuo, which means to abstain from food for spiritual purposes.

I would summarize this to be the intentional denying of flesh for spiritual alignment with God. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that dramatically accelerates spiritual growth. Fasting is intentionally denying the flesh so you could hunger for God, hear his voice, and draw closer to him. You don't fast to get God's attention. You fast to remove distractions to give him your attention. Let me give you some different kinds of fasts that people can participate in their biblical. Number one is a full fast. Full fasts are intense. Full fasts are when you don't eat food and you don't drink water. These take divine guidance to do. We saw Jesus do this in Matthew 4 too. Moses do this in Exodus 34, and then we saw Esther and Israel do this in Esther chapter four, verse 16, where they did it for three days and three nights. Then we have partial fasts. These are what some people call Daniel fasts. We see this with Daniel and his friends. In Daniel 1 and 12, they did this for 10 days. Then in Daniel chapter 10, he did this for three weeks. A Daniel fast is basically no meats and no sweets. It was denying the king's delicacies and focusing on the Lord. Then we have corporate fasts.

This is when the congregation comes together. This is when cities come together. This is when groups of people come together. We see Israel did this in Joel 2. Jehoshaphat and Judah did this in 2 Chronicles. Again, in Judges chapter 20, Israel did it in 1 Samuel 7, 6. So we see these powerful moments where entire people groups or cities, nations, congregations come together and they fast together to see God's move. Then we have what I call a married couples fast. This is when married believers deny sexual relationships for a limited period of time. Can I get an amen on limited? Amen. Now, I just wanna throw this out just for people because we live in a Romans 1 debased mind society. When I say married couples fast, I'm only talking about biblical marriage. That's between one man and one woman, just in case you're not clear, because I just drove by Broadway Baptist this week and they don't understand biblical marriage. I do think it's interesting that their church name is Broadway. Don't call me mean, I didn't name it. I'm just saying, even if your church is on Broadway, I would not call my church Broadway. Maybe Narroway, can I get an amen?

Huh. Now, I would like to also just point out, because people are like, why are you always talking about homosexuality? I'm not, go read my, or go watch the service that we did on do not commit adultery, okay? So heterosexual sinners get equal amount of pastoring, praise the Lord. Okay, so if you are single, you're always doing the married couple fast. You're just permanently fasting until the Lord brings the right one, amen? There wasn't enough amens. There's about as much amens as 100 day fast right there. Just elbow your neighbor, you don't have to look at him, just elbow your neighbor and say, he's talking to you, he's talking to you. Praise the Lord. Rebuke the devil in Jesus name Then we have what we call in anything fast now This is Landon's words, but you see all throughout the scripture different kinds of fasts that that people are denying their flesh Now there's a lot of debate that gets into the Christian world a lot of self-righteousness that comes and some of it has some merit To it but a lot of it is just religious people being religious what I mean by it Anything fast is if you're a pregnant woman you shouldn't be fasting because the baby is not in unity with your fast So when we're doing corporate fasting now I noticed a lot of you young people you you get pregnant in January for some reason there's been this strategic thing. I've seen in Leaders in this church like I can't fast. I'm pregnant again. I'm like again Wow It's interesting

So if you're a pregnant woman and You want to join us on a corporate fast that means you're not eating food that might be that chocolate or that thing that you're the peanut butter mayonnaise sandwich that you're addicted to When Heather was pregnant with Heather with Peyton she would just wanted subway so bad all the time And we were so poor and we're in ministry like youth ministry, and so we're like sweet five dollar footlongs remember those back Then I was like babe. You got as many as you want She's never walked into a subway again, okay So you might have to fast subway if you're pregnant or whatever it is, but there could be something watch that you're craving That your body doesn't need but your flesh wants that you can say no to One time the Lord had me do a talking fast and for a season of time I'd go days on end with not talking and and and that was a very unique experience because when your words are silent your thoughts are blaring and You can start recognizing the difference between your thoughts the enemy's thoughts and the Lord's mind when you're not talking The Lord released me of that. I've been actually asking the Lord for years to send Heather on that fast He hasn't done that yet I'm kind of joking Here's what I want you to hear only religious people Argue about if fasting pleases God or not So if you get online and someone tells you you're not doing it, right? I wouldn't argue with them any time you are saying no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit I believe that is at a potential for you to spiritually grow and It's a potential for you to hear God more clearly now We always want you to grow in your discipline of fasting But I I want to come against that religious spirit that always tells you you're doing it wrong Go read what the Pharisee said to Jesus and his disciples constantly. It was usually always you're doing it wrong and Anytime someone tells you you're doing it wrong when you're trying to follow Jesus. It's usually some sort of self-righteous spirit so now I've met some guys that like are fasting something that's really easy and that doesn't have discipline So I would say hey, I think you can take it to another level

I think you could push yourself a little more but don't have that critical spirit But here's the big deal if you are fasting and you're not praying that it means it's just a diet So what you're doing is you're replacing eating time with prayer time and that's what makes it spiritual are you with me? Okay, so let's talk a little bit about fasting There's over 80 scriptures on fasting about 45 in the Old Testament around 30 in the New Testament Here's what I want you to understand fasting was God's idea. Not your pastor Let me show you Genesis chapter 2 verse 9 on the out of the ground The Lord God gave growth to every tree pleasing to the eye and good for food in the middle The garden was a tree of life the tree of knowledge of good and evil It goes on to say this verse 16 and 17 The Lord God commanded him you may eat freely of every tree in the garden But you must not eat or fast From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in that day if you eat it, you will surely die God said in the garden. There's certain things. I don't want you to eat. I want you to fast He was teaching them how to deny their flesh even in the garden in some of their very first instructions by God and Here's why as a disciple of Jesus you must learn quickly how to deny Your flesh because watch this man's refusal to deny his flesh cost him intimacy with God They used to be able to watch connect with God any time anywhere But they weren't willing to fast they weren't willing to deny and so they lost that appetite Access that they had with the Lord. This is important. You understand this Fasting creates an intimacy and a connection to God that very few other things do Jesus modeled a life of prayer and fasting we see this in Matthew chapter 4 the scripture that I opened up with Fasting is for everyone turn your neighbor and say you Turn the person that didn't clap with a hundred days and tell them you too Matthew 9 14 come on. I got a lot of scripture for you today. I want you to look at this Put it up on the screen. Look at the Word of God It says the disciples came to John asking him why do we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast and Jesus said to them that tenants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them

can they but the day will come will the bridegroom will be taken away and Then they will fast Jesus said I'm gonna leave and when I leave it's time for my disciples to fast now I keep using this word disciples because I want you to be aware what a disciple is a Disciple is somebody that follows Jesus now the whole Concept of a disciple in the Greek is an individual that denies themselves What did Jesus say if anyone wants to come after me? What do they have to first do? Deny themselves pick up the cross and follow me So we have a whole lot of people that want to claim following Jesus, but they do not have the spiritual discipline of self-denial Here's the wild part self-denial of food Reflects the self-denial of every other area in your life It is not a just I have a hard time with Fasting problem the root core issue is you have a self-denial problem and I need you to understand this Fasting is not for the selective few people that maybe are all in at mercy culture and really want to spiritually grow Fasting is for followers of Jesus. If you are a follower Jesus, let me see your hand Then that's how you know that fasting is for you. And now here's where I do want to challenge you I want to address the religious self-righteous spirit that always tells you you're not doing good enough But at the same time I also want to challenge people that may be not challenging yourself Part of being a pastor is to help people go to places that they're not going on their own I say from the pulpit all the time you either have to go or you or grow or you have to Okay, that's what you have to do because if you're gonna be at mercy culture I promise you we're gonna push you to spiritually grow because outside Stewarding the presence of God your spiritual growth is my highest priority. I Obsess about your spiritual growth. I pray about your spiritual growth. I steward how I can help you spiritually grow But here's the wild part. I can't want you to spiritually grow more than you want to spiritually grow So you're gonna have to find what are the things that I have put in my life that have caused me to Put to overvalue something else or to value something else over my spiritual growth Because here's the thing

Fasting is never convenient You're in the gym and you're trying to make gains and all of a sudden you're losing all that work Because you're not eating enough protein or whatever it is or interrupts your you're eating it interrupts your plans. Whatever it is It will create Disruptions in your life when you are not eating But I want to let you know this if you want to spiritually grow It's time to take your fasting to another level. I want to read Isaiah 58 to you Because this is where God is rebuking Israel. I'd encourage you to go read this on your own this week But he's rebuking their fast and here's what he said is such the fast that I have chose you a day For a person to humble himself It is to bow down his head like a reed to spread sathlock sath cloth and ashes around him Will you call this fast a day? Acceptable to the Lord in this scripture. God is rebuking Israel. And what he's saying is this your spiritual wimps Now the self-righteous person will say you are spiritual or you're doing it wrong But the spiritual leader will say stop being wimpy Do you hear the difference? It's not that you're not doing it right or wrong. What I'm challenging you today is the motive of your heart Now at the same time I'm challenging you I want to celebrate you because there are hundreds of leaders that do fast at mercy culture There are thousands of people that have fasted We had hundreds of women this year go to Washington DC Do a 40-day liquid fast and break it in Washington DC praying for our nation nation. This past January, hundreds of women, they packed the Capitol and did a worship service to break their fast in the Capitol. That's them at the prayer house, at the Threshing Fork prayer house. That's amazing. And why I celebrate that, and that's amazing, I do think I've never seen anyone call a men's fast. It's quiet in this spirit-filled church. I don't have any pictures of the men's fast. I can't celebrate the men's fast. Where are the men fasting?

Do you feel it yet? I love women in ministry. I love powerful women. I love bold women. We have women leading all over this organization. And guess what? They're submitted under authority and empowered to do the work of the ministry. It's awesome. But here's the thing is, sometimes the men all of a sudden sit back and like, I guess the girls are doing it. It's time for men to man up. And real spiritual leaders should not need to be prodded. You shouldn't need to be encouraged all the time. And you can do it and pat on the back. Sometimes you just have to man up and do it. I had a friend of mine who's in ministry, awesome guy, man's man, just alpha male. And I was having a conversation with him. And I said, can I ask you a question? He's like, yeah. I said, how are you an alpha male in every area of your life? But then when it comes to spiritual disciplines, you're a wimp. That's how I talk to my real friends. He starts laughing. He's like, bro, I have never looked at it like that. Now I would encourage you men. Why are you so domineering, bold, aggressive in so many areas? But then when it comes to spiritual disciplines, you are a wimp. It should show that there's room for you to spiritually grow in this area. Are you with me? I don't know if you're with me anymore. I don't know if you're with me anymore. I think I lost a lot of you, but that's okay. We'll deal with the spirit of offense in another message. I'm going to give you some practical advice for fasting to help you on your journey. Number one, name your fast. You name your fast by describing what your fast is about. Examples of my fast. I've had an authority fast.

I did a trustworthy fast and recently I did a VP fast. I ended up calling it the VP or next generation fast. I was in Washington, DC and we're driving around and we're looking for a building and we're praying and instantly we're just driving around. I heard the Lord say fast for the vice president. So I made the vice president and his wife and his children. That was the number one thing on my fast list. Then as I was leaning into the fast, I found myself praying for all these next generation leaders. And I felt the Lord say that this fast wasn't just for the vice president. This fast was for all next generation leaders. So I was fasting and praying every day for SLS and I was fasting and praying every day for the kids at our school praying. And that was my target. So the thing that I was praying for, I was targeting by naming it. I think we have a picture of this. Cool. I was at the White House last month and I, for the Easter dinner and I had a chance to share with the vice president that I fasted 40 days for him. And then I got to pray for him and his children every day on these fasts, had this cool conversation with him. You never know the situations or the circumstances that you will find yourself in when you step out in faith and obey God and do what he tells you to do. Number one is name your fast. Number two fast before big life decisions, man. This might be one of the ones of like, Hey, if you hear anything today, hear this. Okay. So before you propose, you should be fasting. Before you take that big next job fasting, before you choose on what college you're going to go to, it's going to try to indoctrinate you fast. Okay. So before you're making these big life decisions, you need a fast.

I remember one of the biggest life decisions I ever had in my entire life was the decision to pastor a church. And I had made an inner vow next week. Do not miss next week. I'm going to be preaching a message that I've been waiting for over a year to preach on inner vows. And, and, and I learned this in this season and an inner vow is when you make a unholy promise against the perfect will of the Lord. And I made an inner vow or I told God I would never pastor. And the reason why I told God I would never pastor is because the hypocrisy dysfunction inside the church and how stinking mean church people are. And so I was like, I don't want to be a part of this, but God spoke to me about it. And so now I'm wrestling in about six months. I was wrestling with this. Now I'm on the verge of, am I going to be disobedient? So I went and I did my very first 40-day fast. This is 2017 because it was the biggest decision of my life. Am I gonna say yes to God and start a church and pastor and do what he told me to do? I would encourage you, before you make the big decision, fast. Number four, three, four, four, four. Don't be weird about it. Can I get an amen? Amen. What do you mean, don't be weird about it? Don't be one of those people, they're like, everybody's like, I'm fasting. You're at a kid's birthday party, they're like, do you want cake? No, I'm in the wilderness. Okay, don't be the weird person.

Then at the same time, when someone's like, do you want cake? And you're like, yes, no, no, yeah, kinda, no. I really, I don't know. Okay, when you're in a community of people that are fasting and everybody's hanging out eating and you're the one person like sitting there with your cup of water, and they're like, you're fasting? You're like, yeah, just say yeah. You don't have to lie, you're fasting. You got so many people, like the moment you tell someone you're fasting, you're like, that's it, you lost your reward. 39th day, it's all gone. The whole 39 days was a waste because you just told some random stranger that you're fasting, okay? Turn to your neighbor and say, don't be weird. Okay, there's enough weirdness when weird people in church don't make this weird. Number five, take vitamins and protein when you're fasting. You can do liquid greens, there's liquid vitamins you can do, bone broths, there's a lot of different things. I go to those, when I'm fasting, I do those. They're drinks for like senior citizens to get all their vitamins. Pastor Charlie, do you know what I'm talking about? We broke through, saints, we broke through. But there's these little drinks

that you can get all these vitamins and protein. What? Ensure, yeah, ensure, that's what I meant. Back at the Costco brand, they're cheaper. And they're horrible, they taste like awful at the end, you know, day 20, 25, they're horrible. You don't wanna drink them, but they keep you going. And number six, take vitamins and protein when you're fasting. You can do liquid greens, you can do bone broth, you can do liquid greens, you can do liquid greens, but they keep protein in your body and keep you functioning while you're fasting, amen. Feel the Lord, who feels the Holy Spirit? Number six, be wise when you're fasting. Be wise. I recommend not doing a prune juice fast. Just use wisdom when you're fasting. Number seven, if you fail, keep going. I can't tell you how many people were doing a 21-day fast and on day seven, pastor, I just failed, and I just get, no, don't give up, wimp. Get back on and start again. Make a note, how long did you go? Why did you break it, what happened, okay? But keep going, amen. Number eight, invite your kids into the fast. This is a really, really important one. Now, what's so cool at Mercy Culture is a lot of times, people don't know

what Mercy Culture is. A lot of times, we have to settle kids down fasting. Pey will come to me and she's like, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, and I'm like, hey, you're doing sports, let's be wise, let's, what does this look like? But we have so many kids that are constantly fasting, and one of the kids that we have is actually here. This is my friend Charlie, she's here in the front row, Charlie Christofferson, and Charlie, I'm so proud of Charlie because Charlie did a pretty significant fast. Was it 21 or 40 days this last year? 21, for the basketball season? So she's doing a 21-day fast during the basketball season, and her coach advised her that that's not smart to do while she's on the basketball team. And Charlie's response was, then I guess I have to quit the basketball team. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. So she text messaged my daughter, and the Lord started prompting her heart to do another 21-day Daniel fast about compassion. Then last week, Pastor Chris came and preached a message of compassion. So we're driving to school on Tuesday or Monday morning, and we get a text from Charlie, and she said, hey, God called me to a 21-day fast, and I wanna invite some other warriors into the fast. So she calls and invites my daughter into the fast. Now we got a group of junior high and high schoolers that are fasting. When no one called them to the fast, but the Holy Spirit. Way to go, Charlie. Now I just caused her to lose her reward by talking about it publicly. Someone say, don't be weird. Okay, pray about where to break your fasts. This is a real fun part of fasting. Can you put the image up? Every one of my 40-day fasts I have broken in a specific spot. The picture on the middle one is my first 40-day fast that I broke in Deer Park, Washington.

That was the fast that I broke about starting the church. Okay, so that one's 37 pounds down. I did one in Redding, California on the year that we prayed for miracles. We've seen tons of reports of miracles that have come out of Bethel and Redding. I felt the Lord say, go and break it in their prayer house there. With the year we started the church, I don't know what's wrong with my face in that one, but it doesn't look like I'm fasting at all, but we broke it in Jerusalem. I swear I fasted 40 days and somehow, I don't know what that is, but I got Steve next to me. Notice that Steve doesn't look like he's fasting in any of those pictures. And then the year that we planted the Dallas campus, we went around Dallas and Heather and I, we went to the courtroom that Roe was handed down, and then we went to every spirit-filled church in Dallas and walked around the church, and then we financially sowed into all of those churches that we walked around, and that's how we broke it. And so there's different kinds of things that you can do. So just ask the Lord how to break the fast. You don't have to make something up. You don't have to come up with anything, but ask the Lord what you're supposed to do when you're breaking the fast.

It's an amazing adventure with the Lord. Number 10, I've said this before. Do not worry about doing it wrong. Focus on pleasing the Lord, amen? Okay, I wanna answer some common questions about fasting that a lot of people have. First question, do I need to consult my doctor before I fast? My answer was in my practical advice, use wisdom. But I would encourage you, if your doctor can't define a wisdom or encourage you to get 16 boosters, probably don't ask him. That's just my advice. I've noticed that carnal, worldly people tend to resist fasting the most. So be careful about who you ask, okay? And this is very interesting because there's a lot of health benefits to fasting that people don't talk about. Fasting promotes fat burning and weight loss, reduces inflammation, improves brain function, supports heart health, cholesterol, blood pressure, to name just a few. There's many health benefits for fasting. So I would encourage you, do not let a physically non-healthy person or a spiritually non-healthy person tell you how to be healthy. You know, it's the person where they're like,

you really shouldn't eat that much fruit, there's too much sugar in it. You know what I'm talking about? Don't ask that person about fasting, okay. Next question, should I take communion when fasting? Yes, that goes into the don't be weird category. So if eating one little piece of wafer that tastes like a tire, cause it, I would say that actually probably gets you out of your flesh, okay. Next question, do I need to hear God personally before I come in unity with the corporate fast? Now this is actually a normal question for people that are still growing in God. And here's how I would answer this. You already came into unity with our church when you became a member of the church and came into the covering of the church. Does that make sense? So if I ask you to do something that's immoral, unethical, or unbiblical, then defy it. But if I'm leading you spiritually, then it's not like God's talking to everyone in mercy culture but you. You know what we call that? Rebellion. When you are defying spiritual authority, and you're like, ah, it's not for me. If that's your demeanor, this church might not be for you. Because what you're saying is you're saying

I'm resisting the spiritual authority and the direction on this house. So you wanna take this into consideration. Because there's a lot of people that are like, oh, I really like the worship of mercy culture, but they're a little too aggressive for me. Well, so is our worship. And that would be like when your kids go to your mom or go to the mom and then go around the back to the dad. You see? And they try to bring division. What do you call that in a child? Rebellion. So you've gotta be careful because these things can get in your heart and they can sound good to you because your flesh is trying to talk you out of being in unity with your spiritual covering. Okay? So I would encourage you, no matter what. I got this message tons over the years where people would say, hey, pastor, this just isn't a way I connect with God. Or I really struggle with this. And here's what I would say. Yes, it is. Because if Jesus connected with the Father through fasting, we can connect with God through fasting. I'm gonna say it again. If Jesus, who is. God connected with the Father. If God needed to fast on the earth, surely those of us who are not

need to follow in his footsteps. Are you with me? Okay. So I have been on a 25 year journey of fasting. I have done 15 to date 40 day fasts. I'm not saying this to brag. I'm not on a, I'm not fasting right now, so I'm not losing my reward. Okay. So I'm not, I'm not saying this to say, Hey, I'm so spiritual. I'm, I'm giving you the information so you can say, Hmm, I think my pastor may know what he's talking about when he's teaching me because look what the Lord has done in mercy culture in seven years, 10 campuses, national influence through the obedience, not just of me. Pastor Jasmine, how many 40 day fasts have you done? 10 ish. Okay. 10, 40 day fast. I think Heather's is around that same amount. I mean, there are so many leaders, pastor Isaac. I don't know how many you have done. Okay. A lot. So it's not just, you got one leader that fasts. You have all of your leaders that are regularly fasting. That's what's brought so much power and influence that have come spiritual authority. That's come to mercy culture. Now here's the wild part is if the leaders do it, what happens when the entire church does it? Are you with me? Okay. Three things that I have learned from 25 years of prayer and fasting. Ready to go. Number one, you will encounter God when you fast. I promise you. Remember, this is the year of holy visitations. This is a year when God is going to visit you. And some of the greatest encounters you will ever have with God happen after a 40 day fast or 21 day fast. I'm going to day fast or 21 day fast. It will happen after your season of fasting. Exodus 34, 28. So he was there. This is Moses with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drink. That's intense. Okay. Then God wrote on the tablet, the words of the covenant of the 10 commandments. I want you to see this. Moses fasted for 40 days. Never done anything like this. Okay. You could die doing this. This has to be God. Don't be weird. Be wise in this one. Okay. 40 days, no food, no water intense. When he's done with his fast, he's sitting with God in glory. God's taking his finger and writing out the 10 commandments in front of him. These are the results. These are the encounters. See what I love about fasting is simply this. I know he's somewhere in the fast. I don't know what day it is. I don't know when it's going to be, but I know there's going to be a side. I've never had him right on a finger in front of me, but I have met him on the trail. I have met him in prayer. I've seen his hand. I've seen his power. I've seen his intervention. I have experienced his deliverance. I'm telling you he is somewhere in the fast. And for some of you that are growing in your fast, there's something significant that happens around day 30. Day 30, something shifts and there's this awareness that comes on you. It's almost like,

you know, the answers to a test you never studied for. There's a wisdom. There's a discerning. There's a mind of Christ that will come on you. I'm telling you it happens in the fast. Something significant begins to take place. And then one of my favorite things about a fast is this. You encounter God because you hear him so clearly. Let me show you this. Acts chapter 13, verse two. Here's what it says. It says, while they were worshiping the Lord and what the next line says this, the Holy Spirit said, when you are fasting, God is speaking. You will hear God more clearly than you've ever heard him. When you're fasting or after your fasting, I promise you, you will encounter God when you fast. Number two, I love this one. When you are fasting, you will spiritually grow. I would even say it like this. Fasting is one of the fastest ways to spiritually grow. I would say this outside of daily encounters. It is the fastest way to spiritually grow because you spiritually grow by weakening your flesh and strengthening your spirit. I'm going to say this again. You spiritually grow when your flesh gets weaker and your spirit, your spirit gets stronger. It is that simple. And only fasting does that happen at the same time. Everything else is denying the flesh and then feeding the spirit. And you do multiple things. You do different things. Fasting, you do them together. That's why it's so significant for your spiritual growth. So when I say you will spiritually grow fasting, I'm telling you, it takes it to another level. Now, when you are spiritually growing, you're weakening your flesh and strengthening your spirit at the same time, because your flesh and the spirit are at war against each other. Put Galatians 516 if you if you texted notes, look at your notes, look at this, says this, but I say walk in the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for those are in opposition or opposed to each other. So the Bible warns your flesh and your spirit are in direct opposition. Give you example, when Moses is in the flesh, he's leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, excuse me, when he's in the spirit, when he's in the flesh, he's hitting rocks, he's disobeying God. When David is in the spirit, he's slaying giants. But when he's in the flesh, he's slaying husbands. So the greatest leaders that you ever look up to have the same battle that you have. How can you be so spiritual, so godly, so in tune with God on one day, and be so struggling in another day? It's because what you're entertaining in that season, the battle between the flesh and spirit is won by the one you feed the most. Now I want I want to show you another verse in Galatians five, I want you to see this verse 19. Because I want you to be aware when I'm talking about this battle, says this, now the works of the flesh are evident, another translation say obvious, look at this, sexual immorality is the flesh, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, anemone, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, division, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and these things alike, I warn you, as I did before, those that do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Notice it said drunkenness. Notice it said those that sow division. Do you know when you go back and forth between family members and gossip, you're sowing division. Proverbs six says he hates it. Do you know when you watch a podcast and the repeat witchcraft

words about a ministry, that's division. These are the things of the flesh. And when you feed the flesh, your flesh gets stronger. When you starve your flesh, your flesh gets weaker. What are you saying, Pastor, I'm telling you, when you fast, you will start having victory in these areas that have you. When you let go of food, these sins of the flesh let go of you. First Peter two eleven beloved, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. Fasting keeps you in or keeps you from your flesh. And the enemy, watch this, feeds on your flesh. I'm gonna show you interesting scripture in Mark chapter one. In Mark chapter one, it's the same scripture of Matthew chapter four. But Mark's gospel, it said the spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. Speaking of Jesus, he was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan. And when he was with the wild animals or the beasts and the angels were ministering to him. It's interesting that Jesus is in the wilderness with beasts, but the beasts were not drawn to Jesus flesh. You ever see a dead animal on the side of the road and you got those vultures that are all around him. If you're walking in the woods at night and there's predators and wild animals, they're drawn to your flesh. See, here's the thing is, there wasn't flesh on Jesus for the beast to be drawn to. This is why we say things like dead men can't be tempted, because when you've already died to your flesh, when you've died to the spirit of the flesh, there is nothing for the enemy's beast to come after you with. See, fasting crucifies the flesh, so the beasts have nothing to feed on in your life. Some of the greatest spiritual leaders in the Bible, watch this, spiritually grew by fasting. I'm gonna show you. 1 Kings chapter 19 says this, you know the scripture, it's about Jezebel. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, may the gods deal with me ever so severely if I do not make your life one of them by this time tomorrow. Look at this, Elijah was afraid, so he rose up and he... Ran for his life. He came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah He left his servant there, but he himself would a day's journey in the wilderness He came down sat under a broom tree and asked God if he might die Hold on a second Elijah just confronted the prophets of Baal God answered by fire from heaven that just happened and one witch Named Jezebel sent him a message biblically speaking Jezebel and Elijah never met She just sent him direct messages One message from Elijah he's running asking God to take his life Does that make sense to you Does fire from falling from heaven and you put 850 false prophets to the sword and then one woman threatens you and you want to kill yourself Does that make sense to you if it doesn't make sense church? It's spiritual He's in a spiritual battle and what does the Bible say go the next verse in 1908 after he had fasted for 40 days He left in strength watch this. He has the spiritual strength to confront Jezebel after his fast This is one of the greatest spiritual leaders who ever walked the face of the earth and He still had spiritual growth to do that only came through fasting I'm telling you there will be some battles that you in your family are supposed to face and you will see the spiritual Authority come on you to defeat those demonic principalities and powers that come through fasting Hmm number three

I've learned fasting today releases miracles tomorrow I'll tell you a cool story It was somewhere somewhere around 2023 2024 I walked on this stage It was 11 o'clock service. The place is packed to the rafters and I feel the tangible presence of God I Feel the glory of God in the room And I stand right here on this stage just right here and the moment I stand on this stage I hear the Holy Spirit whisper to me and he said this is the result of the fast Now when he said it to me What went through my mind or what I interpreted what he said was this You are living in the miracle your miracle today is because the fast of yesterday if You want miracles tomorrow you better fast today What I heard Was everything that we had been stewarding up to that point was because of previous fasts Which means I better be fasting today For what I'm gonna be living in or stewarding and the next 2 5 10 15 20 years. Are you with me? Let me show you a scripture mark chapter 9 and mark chapter 9. It is a story of a demon-possessed boy The disciples are arguing with the Pharisees why they can't cast the demon out Jesus comes takes a spiritual authority and immediately a cast Cast out the demon Once the demon is casted out the disciples go to Jesus and they say this question It says this in verse 28. We had entered the house of disciples asked him privately. Why could we not cast him out? Look what the new key are the King James Version says in verse 29 says and he said to them this kind Only come out by prayer and fasting Now here's what I love about this scripture. Jesus was not fasting when he cast the devil out He already fasted in Matthew chapter 4 He was walking in the power the authority in the miracles that day

Because the fast he did yesterday You need to get this in your spirit Fasting is not a one-time thing that you do So you put it on your belt of your spiritual superiority belt and you let people know. Hey, I climbed this summit I did this fast It's like speaking in tongues. The goal of speaking in tongues is not to speak in tongues on a Wednesday night once a year the goal of speaking in tongues is you pray in the Holy Ghost every day during your daily encounter and your Jude 1 20 building yourself Up the most holy faith and God speaking to you and you're interacting with you or you're praying at all times like Paul says It's not a one-time moment in a counter. Are you following me? It is a lifestyle of your constantly spiritually growing and watch. Now I have the authority for the demon I'm facing today because of my fast of yesterday. Church, there's a spiritual authority that will come upon you for tomorrow when you fast today. Let's close with our story, and you can start playing with me. Matthew four, the story about Jesus fasting and spiritual authority. I love this. Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness. Can I just teach you for a moment? The wilderness is not a season. It's only a season for the disobedient. The wilderness is a pass through. Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days. Children of Israel were supposed to go in a multi-week journey that cost them 40 years because they're disobedient. Anyone that says I'm just in a wilderness season, it means this. You're in a disobedient season because God doesn't bring people into wildernesses. Wilderness are designed to prepare people. There are short, few day, few week period of time for the Lord to prepare you for things he wants to do in you because he wants to do things through you. So Jesus is in this wilderness season. He fasts for 40 days. And after he fasts for 40 days, the father or the enemy comes to tempt him. His flesh is weak, but in this moment, his spirit is very strong. Matthew Henry says the fasting prepares you for spiritual conflict. Let me pass to you today. Do not be a surprise when the enemy comes and attacks you or tempts you when you're on a fast. Fasting is not a season where you're spiritually enlightened and nothing touches you. It's a season where you're absolutely weak, but the spirit of God sustains you. The first attack was on his flesh and hunger. And the next one was on his identity.

Satan himself visits Jesus while he's fasting. And here's what he says. If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. If you are trying to get Jesus to respond in his flesh, like the first Adam did see fasting food is preparation for crucifying the flesh. And Jesus did not have his eyes on bread. Like Adam had his eyes on a fruit, but he had his eyes on a cross. It was preparing him in this season for the next season of a garden that he would face the final test and have a conversation with God before he says yes and goes finally to the cross. And Jesus responds to Satan with the word. And he says, man shall not live on bread alone, but out of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, Satan did not stop. He goes again, brings a second temptation. And now Satan starts quoting scripture. Matthew four, six, he said he will command his angels concerning you. You won't strike your foot. Oh, see, you got to be careful when you see devils that know scripture. I'm reminded of James Telerico, the progressive demonic Christian that's running for office right now, who walks around, calls himself a Christian, says he's been to seminary. He says these things out loud, but nothing out of his life reflects Jesus. In fact, he resisted putting the 10 commandments in school classrooms. And he said, it's an un-Christian thing to do. Something only a devil would say. You say, pastor, is that mean? Is that the fruit of the spirit? Are you being nice? Are you being kind? It's not kind to let rainbow flags and black life matter flags hang in schools, but the 10 commandments that all of the law hang on aren't welcome. It's not kind to pretend that you're a Christian, but everything that you do is to seduce people in immorality. It is not kind to call yourself Broadway Baptist and you deny the authority of the scripture. It is not kind to tell people God loves them, but then not to call out the sin that keeps them in bondage. It is not kind to meet a woman and say, go, no one has condemned you, but make sure you sin no more. It is important that we are telling people the truth of God as we Give them the mercy of God. Pastor, I don't like how you do it, though. I don't like how you don't do it. I don't like how you're soft. I don't like how you're lukewarm. I don't like how you're pretend.

I don't like how to family function. You can't stand up for God's word. I don't like as a business deal. You choose Mammon over God's word. I don't like it. How you're compromised and you sleep with your girlfriend before you married her. I don't like how you're familiar with the things of God. I don't like how you love to feast, but you don't love to pass. I don't like how you're strong in your flesh and weaken your spirit. So there's a lot of things we don't like. Came to provoke you to stop living your lukewarm life. Stop living your pretend Christian life. There's a battle that is waging of war right now. There's a battle between good and evil right and wrong. The prophet said it like this a day is coming where men will call good evil and evil good where it's time for the church to start calling good good and evil evil. We are living in the last days and we need last day Saints to rise up. Jesus responded with the word. Let me challenge the weak lukewarm church. You cannot respond. It is written when you don't know what is written. You're trying to fight spiritual battles with your mental voodoo strategy. You cannot cast out demons with self-help books. This is not about discipline. This is about spiritual strength. The Pharisees had no power. And the disciples had no power.

The one that had the power was the one for 40 days. Who faced Satan? Finally, we get to the real heart of the matter. Satan says, would you just bow down? I will give you everything. Jesus said, silly devil. I already have everything and you forgot where you belong underneath my feet. See fasting is the place where it looks like you have nothing but you have everything because you're connected with God. I came to tell you today that you will connect with God when you fast. It's something when you give up everything when you deny your flesh when you pick up your cross and follow Kim, there's nothing like somebody that is dead to their flesh but alive in Christ. I'm telling you it's time for the church to wake up and find its authority again church. If Jesus connected with the father through fasting, surely you will connecting with God while you fast. You got a prayer language. Just go ahead and pray in the Holy Ghost right now. This is a good time. Ain't nobody prophesying in tongues. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. We're waiting on the Lord. We're waiting on the Lord. We're waiting on the Lord. Come on, He's renewing your strength right now. You walked into a spiritual ambush this morning. I was in here last night.

I walked around this entire sanctuary every single chair in the balcony and on the floor. I felt the fire of God as I prayed. I prayed that you would walk into a spiritual ambush this morning. The Lord would be waiting for you. What I pray. Is that there would be an increase of hunger. A spiritual hunger. Where you hunger and thirst for righteousness. That's your hunger for him drives you. Not a dependence on the flesh. Not a need for sweets. Not a need for comfort. But a need for him. If you want to partner with what God wants to do in this place this morning lift your hands and ask the Lord for hunger right now. Tell the Lord I want a hunger for you. I want a thirst for you. I pray right now. Come on, ask him for it. Come on, tell him right now. Part of that prophetic word was ask him for help. Tell him that you need him. Tell him that you need him. I need a hunger for you. I pray that you would develop father this morning a hunger that's rare. I pray you would give the people of God a hunger like Charlie has a hunger like Peyton has a hunger like these children have. I pray father that you would cause these adults to have hearts like children to desire you more than anything. I pray they would hunger for you like they do business deals. They would hunger for you more than they do success. I pray they would hunger for you more than they're driven by the things that they're pursuing. Father I pray that you would give a new passion. Just breathe in the presence of God all over this place. Lord I pray my hunger but even greater be imparted into them. Lord I believe in impartation.

So I pray only by your spirit like Elisha caught Elijah's mantle lift your hands and catch it. I pray let a new mantle of hunger fall on you today. I pray a passion to deny your flesh and say yes to the spirit. I pray some of the greatest seasons of spiritual growth that you've ever had in your entire life. I pray lies are being broken. Bondages are being broken. Strongholds are being broken. I just had a picture of the enemy holding on to your flesh and as that flesh was denied he had nothing to hold on to. The beast had no place to grab on. So I declare right now enemy get off your families, get off your wombs, get off your finances, get off your minds, get off your emotions, get off your bodies now. I declare the enemy has no place of authority. As the people of God submit themselves to a higher authority. Now breathe in the presence of God all over this place just breathe in the presence of God. I feel like I'm supposed to lovingly rebuke people. That you thought spiritual authority and spiritual strength was for your pastors. I heard the Lord prompt me to correct you. It is just as much if not more for you than it is me. So Lord I pray that a new grace come upon them. A new grace of consecrated lives. I pray over them right now. Fasting is easy. Saying yes to God is easy.

I break the lies. I break the demonic distractions, the manipulation, the intimidation. What Satan did with Adam and Eve, what he tried to do with Jesus. I say we will not serve you. I pray right now let a spiritual strength come upon your people. If you receive it by faith, just say I receive it in Jesus name. Say it, I receive it in Jesus name. Say there's a new grace on me. Say I sense it, I feel it in Jesus name. I receive it in Jesus name. in your spirit, say, by faith, I receive it in Jesus' name. I wanna share a few things and then we're gonna close. I want you to be aware of something. What we just walked into was a result of you pushing in before the sermon. Do you remember that moment we pushed in? Okay, we walked into what we contended for before the sermon. As I was ministering, I felt this sweet grace, this presence of God come, where it wasn't work, I didn't feel effort, it was sweet, it was easy. So watch, 45 minutes ago, we pushed past a spiritual resistance. Now we're abiding in this sweet presence of God because we were willing to do it there. It's not different in your home. It's not different in your workplace. It's the same spiritual loss.

When you feel that resistance, push through. Because when you push through, you have this kind of presence. I wanna give you a prophetic word and I wanna give you a warning. These are good warnings, it's not bad warnings, but they're important warnings. About six months ago, a prophet sent me this word for mercy culture and I haven't released it. But I felt this morning I was supposed to release it. Here's the prophetic word. It's a prophetic word for mercy culture on fasting and feasting. The word says this, I sat down in the back of mercy culture, this was in the spirit. And the Holy Spirit said to me, in this house, it's feast or fast. In America, it's feast or famine. I am instructing and teaching the mercy culture leadership and community how to enjoy the sweet times of fellowship with me and one another while also instructing and teaching them how to fast and pray. This is heaven's rhythm and alignment for them. Times of feasting and times of fasting, hear this, there will be no famine. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's just keep spiritually leading together. The hand clap is nice. But let the response dictate or reflect if you received it or not. When we started the church, the Lord told me the first 10 years of the church, I was to start the year of fasting 40 days. I've called the church into one 40 day fast, but normally we do 21 days. There's a group of warrior women that now do it with me or now I do it with them. This prophet tapped in to the rhythm. When the church taps into it, then you receive the reward that the prophet left. This is the prophet's reward when you receive the word of God, that there will be no famine on your land, on your house. For mercy culture, it is feast or fast, or fast, but there will be no famine.

If you believe it's the word of the Lord, let your response reflect. Amen. thing before I have Pastor Jasmine coming close, I felt the Lord show me a warning. At the beginning of the year, I gave a warning that if it's a year of encounters and visitations, the enemy usually does the opposite, a counterfeit of what the Lord wants to do. I've noticed that pattern. The pattern changed. A few weeks ago, I heard the Lord speak to me and he said, the enemy's strategy is not the counterfeit. The enemy's strategy is to keep them from the daily encounter because you choose your daily encounter and God chooses your holy visitation. And I saw in the spirit, the enemy's plan to keep you from holy visitations was just to keep you out of your daily encounter. I saw people busy. I saw him distracted. I saw him offended and they stopped going in to the secret place. That was the enemy's plan and all over this place. One more time, would you lift your hands? Holy spirit, would you expose every attack of the enemy, every strategy of the enemy? I pray the hunger they just asked for draws them into the secret place this week. After this first quarter has come to an end, I pray an increase of heavenly activity. I pray a sweetness of the spirit of God. Just as we came in here and the holy spirit was waiting for us. I pray that's what happens in your homes. That's what happens in your encounter time. I pray the sweetness of God is waiting for you, is wooing you. Lord, I pray your grace on the people of God and we thank you for your sweet, sweet presence. We acknowledge you. We worship you. Here's how I want to close my section here. Lord, we declare right now. We love you. We love you. We love you. This is where we say you're holy. You're holy. You're holy. This is where we say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And this is where we say, we need you. We need you. We need you speak Lord. Your servants are listening in Jesus name. Amen. Can you just lift your hands again? One second. He literally prayed it, but I felt like we were just supposed to sing it right before we leave. So this is where I tell you, I love you. I love you. I love you. This is where I tell you you're holy.

You're holy. You're holy. This is where I'm telling you thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is where I tell you I need you. I need you. Come on, sing it again. This is where. This is where I tell you I love you. I love you. I love you. This is where I tell you you're holy. You're holy. You're holy. This is where I'm telling you thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is where I tell you I need you. Come on, one more time. Sing it right to them. This is where. This is where I tell you I love you. I love you. I love you. This is where I tell you you're holy. You're holy. You're holy. This is where I'm telling you thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is where I tell you I need you. One more time. Come on, every voice in the room. This is where. This is where I tell you I love you. I love you. I love you. This is where I tell you you're holy. You're holy. You're holy. This is where I'm telling you thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is where I tell you I need you. I need you. Now just say speak Lord. Speak Lord. Speak Lord. Come on, just tell them speak Lord. Tighter six, bigger six. Speak Lord, I'm listening, speak Lord, speak Lord, I'm listening, speak Lord, speak Lord, I'm listening. Why don't we just say we give you permission to speak to us. Oh, we love your voice, Lord. We really love your voice. All week speak to us, lead us, draw us into those daily encounters. Draw us into the holy place. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you for your sweet presence in this room right now. Just thank him for his presence. We thank you for your sweet presence. We love your presence. We love your presence.