Wasting Time With God | Pastor Bryan Jarrett | Northplace Church

Hello, my name is Brian Jarrett, and my wife Haley and I have had the privilege of pastoring North Place Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for almost 20 years. We're one church that meets in multiple locations, even on multiple continents, and today you are one of those locations. The church is not about buildings, it is about people, and we have the privilege today of sharing the hope of the gospel with you right where you are. There is no way I can know exactly what you're going through or dealing with right now, but for almost 30 years I have preached about a God who I know, I am confident, knows you, your struggles, knows the very hairs on your head and the thoughts that you think before you think them, and He is passionately in love with you. And our prayer today is that in our time together you feel our love for you and His presence. And we pray that this time together gives you hope. Thank you for joining us. North Place Church, come on, let's say it together. We're here to worship the Lord this morning. Amen. First Sunday of the year. Come on, let's praise it together. He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah, He speaks into nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. In darkness goes running, He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah, Come on, call His name. He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah, He speaks into nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. In darkness goes running, He goes by the name of Jehovah, Jehovah, Come on, call His name. He's fighting for Zion, oh, there's no other God like Jehovah, Jehovah. His arms never tire, and His eyes are like fire. There's no other God like Jehovah, Jehovah. Call the name, call the name, oh, call the name Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise, belongs to Him. All our praise belongs to You, Lord.

Jehovah needs to fight to battle, yeah, come on. Jehovah Jireh meets Your knee. Jehovah Rapha hears Your body. Jehovah Shalom meets Your peace. Jehovah needs to fight to battle. Jehovah Jireh meets Your knee. Jehovah Rapha hears Your body. Jehovah Shalom meets Your peace. Jehovah needs to fight to battle. Jehovah Jireh meets Your knee. Jehovah Rapha hears Your body. Jehovah Shalom meets Your peace. Call the name, oh, call the name, call the name Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise, belongs to Him. Call the name, call the name, call the name Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise, belongs to Him. ♪ My praise belongs to You, yeah ♪ Come on, can we just sing that bridge together one more time? Sing. ♪ Jehovah needs to fight your battles ♪ ♪ Jehovah, Jireh needs your knee ♪ ♪ Jehovah, Rapha heals your body ♪ ♪ Jehovah shall be of peace and call the name ♪ ♪ So call the name, call the name, call the name Jehovah ♪ ♪ And all our praise, all our praise, all our praise ♪ ♪ Belongs to Him ♪ And I don't know if you're stepping into 2026 with excitement or fear or nervousness, but can we today declare the name of Jesus

over this next year, knowing that He is in control, that He is sovereign, that He is the one who is seated on the throne and that no matter what may come our way in this year, we can call upon the name of Jesus. I was thinking about a couple of months ago, I was on my way home and I had one of the worst anxiety attacks that I think I've ever had. And I remember calling my dad, I didn't know what to do, I couldn't say anything, I couldn't breathe, and my dad just spoke over me, said, just speak the name of Jesus, speak the name of Jesus, speak the name of Jesus. And it was the only thing that I could do that I could muster up in myself to do was speak the name of Jesus. And so whatever you are walking in this year with, whether it's expectancy, excitement, fear, anxiety, if you need healing in your body, today, can we speak the name of Jesus over our families, over our jobs, over this nation? God, right now, collectively as a church, we speak the name of Jesus today. We call upon the name that is above every other name, the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. We thank you because there is power in the name today. We speak the name of Jesus today. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. ♪ There's no other name I can name ♪

♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Till every dark addiction starts to break ♪ ♪ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ Come on, will you join me today in singing? ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is love, we remind ourselves ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over fear and all anxiety ♪ ♪ To every soiled captive by depression ♪ ♪ Right now I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is love ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ We sing your name. ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is love ♪ ♪ Fire ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains ♪ ♪ And Jesus in the streets ♪

♪ Jesus in the darkness over every enemy ♪ ♪ And Jesus for my family ♪ ♪ I speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains ♪ ♪ And Jesus in the streets ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus for my family ♪ ♪ I speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Word by fire ♪ ♪ We sing your name, your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is healing, your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Word by fire ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ Right there where you are, can you just begin to speak his name today? Jesus, Jesus. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's nothing like the name of Jesus.

Shout Jesus from the mountains. In Jesus' name. Come on, this is your song today. Jesus in the name. Jesus from my family. Shout Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains. In Jesus' name. Jesus in the tree. For every enemy. Jesus for my family. I sing the holy name. Jesus. Shout Jesus. Shout Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the tree. Jesus in the darkness. For every enemy. Jesus for my family. I speak the holy name. Jesus. I speak the holy name of Jesus. I speak the holy name of Jesus. Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. ♪ The savior that cursed the tree ♪ ♪ His body bound entrenched in tears ♪ ♪ And they laid him down ♪ ♪ In Joseph's tomb, the entrance here by heavy stone ♪

♪ Messiah's still in all alone ♪ ♪ And oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ And on the third I pray, God of God ♪ ♪ The Son of Heaven rose again ♪ ♪ Oh, tremble, death, where is your sting? ♪ ♪ Oh, for Christ the King ♪ ♪ And oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ And shall I return in rows of white ♪ ♪ The blazing sun shall pierce the night ♪ ♪ And I will rise among the saints ♪ ♪ My gaze transfers on Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, we wanna see what a day that will be, Jesus ♪ ♪ What a day that will be, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, we wanna see Your glory, God, in heaven ♪ ♪ Oh, how glorious will be Your glory, Jesus ♪ Come on, every voice in the room, can we sing, oh, praise the name. ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪

♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ From our campus families and our online community, men and women from correctional facilities today, I just wanna, yeah, welcome them here. Make sure they hear you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Henry Nowlin, a well-known theologian and devotional writer, once sought out Mother Teresa because he was burdened, he was overwhelmed. He, in his own ministry, in his personal life, and when he finally got an audience with her, he poured out his heart, and Mother Teresa gave him one simple counsel. She said this, if you'll spend one hour a day in adoration of your Lord and never do anything you know is wrong, you'll be fine. Later, a reporter asked her, what does an hour of adoration with God actually look like? And she smiled and said, it looks like wasting time with God. And that's what I wanna challenge all of us to do more of in 2026. We need to waste more time with God. To the outside observer

and to even a lot of. Christians, prayer feels like it's wasted time, but it only looks like wasting time to those who don't understand what it means to have a close friendship with God. Think about it. When a group of close friends get together, they don't sit down with an agenda, they're not there to measure productivity, they're just hanging out. They laugh together, they linger, they enjoy each other's company. A busy outsider looking in on that gathering may look on it as if nothing meaningful is happening in that group, but no one inside that circle of friends believes that they're wasting their time. They know it's a relational investment that is enriching their life. You may be the busiest person in the room today. You're probably not, but our egos like to think we're busier than we are and busier than everybody else, and we always use that as an excuse of why we can't do a lot of other more important things, but let's just say you're right. Let's say, let's assume you really are the busiest person listening to me right now. Even so, if you're serious about your relationship with God, you're gonna have to block time on a consistent basis

to prioritize simply being with Jesus, no agenda, no performance, no outcomes to measure. The goal is not efficiency. The goal is connection, shared presence. It's about friendship, not Him being your genie, not Him being your cosmic concierge, not Him being your divine Santa Claus. It's about friendship with God, and out of that relationship will flow life and wisdom and blessing that will spill into every other area of your life. I recently read about a foreign president who showed up early for a meeting that he had with a South Korean pastor, and to the president's frustration, the pastor's assistant made him wait while the pastor finished his hour of uninterrupted midday prayer. The assistant had been given strict instructions, nothing was to interrupt the pastor's time with God. And eventually, the president snapped and said, do you know who I am? And the assistant calmly replied, do you know who he's talking to? For a lot of people, time with God looks like wasted time. Very few people see prayer the way this pastor and his assistant see prayer. But when prayer becomes the prioritized rhythm of your life, your friendship with God will become your greatest source of joy and wisdom and life.

We live in a culture that is obsessed with productivity and performance and outcomes. But the first call of a follower of Jesus is a call away from the idol of busyness and productivity. Following Jesus has never been about performance. It's never been about hitting spiritual targets. In Mark 3, 14, it says Jesus appointed the 12 that they might be with him. The primary purpose wasn't for ministry. It wasn't for impact. It wasn't for changing the world. The primary purpose was presence, connection, relationship. And because they were faithful to keep the main thing, the main thing, they ended up changing the world. But that was not the goal. The goal was to be with Jesus. And from the overflow of being with Jesus, they ultimately changed the world. In Matthew 3, before Jesus ever healed anybody, before he fed the 5,000, before he performed any miracle, before the cross, the father declared this. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3, 17. God's delight in Jesus came before Jesus accomplished anything, which means God's not waiting for us to hit some moral target on a religious to-do list before he delights in us. He delights in us because we are his sons and daughters, and he longs to develop a close friendship with us.

In the Christian life, friendship with God precedes any meaningful impact that your life is gonna have. Listen to that again. Friendship precedes impact. The Christian life is a friendship-first journey. It has to start. with your friendship with God. Jesus went from town to town, sitting around campfires and walking dusty roads, sharing meals. You read the New Testament. It's about Jesus making friends with ordinary people. And through those friendships, he turned the world upside down without ever leaving a small geographic area. In the same way, our own effectiveness is designed to flow out of our friendship with God. Jesus said it plainly in John 15, five, abide in me and you will bear fruit. Friendship with God precedes any impact your life might have. You see that pattern all through scripture. You see it with David, with Moses, with Abraham. These are three of the greatest leaders in the Bible, but they are not honored in scripture for their accomplishments. They are honored because they were friends with God. Of David, it says that he was a man after God's own heart, 1 Samuel 13. Of Moses, the scripture says the Lord spoke to Moses

as one who speaks to a friend, Exodus 33. Of Abraham, it says he was called God's friend in James 2, 23. Friendship came first. And you see this in the earliest pages of scripture. After sin shattered humanity's friendship with God, there was separation and distance because of sin. There was a long silence between Adam and Eve walking with God in the garden in the cool of the day and this next deep picture. I mean, between them, literally, were seven generations between Adam and Eve walking, sin coming in the world before you read anything about a close, intimate friendship with God again. And it's not until several generations later that Genesis says Enoch walked with God. Enoch's friendship with God was the beginning of the restoration of what Adam and Eve had lost. But ultimately, Jesus is the one who came to fully restore that Eden walk, that intimate inviting us, walking freely with us without shame as friends in the presence of our creator again. Every time one of us, as a follower of Jesus, wastes time with God, we're restoring a little Eden back to earth. Heaven comes to earth again. It's the kingdom of God refreshing us and then flowing through us to the world around us.

And as a result of that relationship, there is an otherworldly joy. It is a joy that enables us to live and love and lead in a combative, volatile world that can only be described as a war zone. Now, here's where this gets fascinating. The University of California, Berkeley conducted extensive studies on the effects of awe on the human brain, particularly spiritual awe, what scripture would call the joy of the Lord. When people experience transcendent awe, synapses fire in your brain differently than with other things. And the results are measurable. People become more humble, more patient, more kind, more generous, more connected to others. They experience better moods, increased critical thinking, decreased materialism. It's as if awe and prayer and worship literally produces the fruit of the spirit in us. Science is confirming what scripture has said all along, but slowing down to waste time with God may be one of the hardest things a 21st century American Christian can do because we idolize productivity, we idolize busyness. We have time for everything, but slowing down to pray. And that's why scripture calls it a sacrifice of praise. That old hymn, In the Garden, is the title of the hymn. And it's often now reserved for funeral services, it says this, and the joy we share as we tarry there,

none other has ever known. Because friendship with God requires lingering, tarrying, time spent together. And friendship with Jesus is the foundation of what it means to live the Christian life. If you want the abundant life he came to give you, you're gonna have to learn the secret of wasting time with him. Here's the real obstacle to your meaningful prayer life, control. If we believe we're the ones that are in control, prayer is gonna feel unnecessary and inefficient. Because in our heart, we feel like we could be accomplishing so much more if we were up doing something rather than sitting around here wasting time talking to God. That's why. Prayer at its core is an act of surrender. Prayer is giving control back to the one who's had control all along. We're gonna have to learn from the powerful words of missionary statesman, Hudson Taylor, who says, when we work, we work. When we pray, God works. Here's the thing. Prayer was never meant to feel like a duty, a burden, or an obligation. Prayer can move from duty to a real delight in your life. Philosopher James K.A. Smith reminds us that humans have always, through the years, learned to love the rituals that we practice.

The people with the richest prayer lives in the world today were not born loving prayer. They learned to love it. Psychologist Daniel Kyneman explains why. In his blockbuster book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Kyneman details two primary mental states for us as human beings, two ways we experience the world. The first is our fast-thinking state. That's our default mode. It's the state where we're always thinking quickly. We don't have time to slow down and reflect. We're just basically responding to stimuli that's all around us. And in our fast-paced world, this is where we spend most of our time, in this mental state. It is our default mode. But here's the thing. Our fast-thinking, the place that we live every day, in our default mode, it is informed by the second state. The second state is the slow-thinking state. This is where you stop, you reflect. This is where you think about problems, or you sit with your thoughts, or you look and reflect on your life as a whole. People don't do this because it's uncomfortable. It takes time and effort and intentionality, but strategy and life-changing decisions and analysis and reflection, they're all done in the slow-thinking state. The real revelation of Kahneman's book

is that when we are in the slow-thinking state, we're actually forming and shaping how we will think or react when we're in our fast-thinking state of mind, which means when you slow down enough to develop a meaningful prayer life, you're forming and shaping how you will respond at work and at home and in every other area of your life. Let me give you an example. Haley pointed this out to me, and I've been working on it, but in my excitement during conversation, I often jump in and interrupt and I step on the other person's thoughts. Now, she knows my heart. She knows I'm just so excited about something that they have said that I wanna acknowledge it before I forget, and I'm getting older, and if I don't acknowledge it before I forget it, you'll never know the thought that I had by the time we get to the end of the conversation. My mind is moving so fast. If I don't say it when I think it, I'll forget, but to the other person in the conversation, it's devaluing, and it makes me look prideful and arrogant. That's not my intent at all. They've just said something that excited me, and it triggered all these words and ideas, and I've gotta deposit it in this meaningful conversation before it gets lost forever, but I heard her. It does make me look selfish,

and it is devaluing to the person that is talking at that moment. So now, I'm training myself to take notes, whether I'm actually physically in a place where I can write them down, or I'm trying to learn some mental markers where I can hold onto those things and still fully listen and then respond when the other person is finished talking. I'm working on those things in what Kahneman would call my slow thinking reflection. I call it my prayer and devotional life, and eventually, my slow thinking, my prayer life is gonna impact the way I react in conversations. There are volumes of neuroscience behind this phenomenon. Slow thinking taps into a whole different section of our brain, and the research has proven that prayer is the most powerful form of slow thinking practice. You see it play out perfectly in the life of Jesus when he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was dead four days by the time Jesus arrived at his home, and having seen the miracles that Jesus had done, the crowd that gathered at Lazarus' house was a little frustrated with Jesus that he delayed his arrival and allowed Lazarus to die. They said in John 11, verse 37, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?

They thought if Jesus had showed up on time, things might have turned out differently for Lazarus, but even before Jesus arrived at the house. He was already fulfilling a promise that he had given them from earlier in the chapter. Way, all the way earlier in John 11, in verse four, it says, when Jesus heard that, they just told him that Lazarus was sick and it was serious. When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Jesus had already been spending extended times in prayer about Lazarus and his situation before he ever got to Lazarus' house. We know that because of what Jesus said when he approached the tomb of Lazarus. Listen to what he says in John 11, verse 41. Then they took the stone away from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And then he simply commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave. He didn't pray, he didn't ask God for anything in that moment, he just started thanking God for hearing him, which means he had been spending time in reflection and deep, meaningful prayer for Lazarus long before he ever got to the tomb. Don't miss what I'm pointing out in scripture right now.

The miracle of Lazarus' resurrection did not happen because of an eloquent prayer Jesus prayed at the tomb. It happened because of the prayers he had been praying long before he ever got there, and Jesus knew the Father had already heard those prayers. How we prepare ourselves in prayer will determine how we show up in our world. How you reflect on your life in the slow thinking moments will determine how you react in your real world situations. And I promise you, your family and your coworkers need somebody in their life who can show up, pray it up, and say, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. If it becomes a prioritized rhythm of your life, eventually, prayer will move from a habit to the formation of our identity. There's a difference between someone who golfs occasionally and someone who is a golfer. People often ask me if I'm a golfer. My answer is no, I own golf clubs. There is a big difference, I promise, between me and someone who is a golfer. In the same way, there is a big difference between someone who complains occasionally and someone who is a complainer. One is a habit, the other is an identity. For the good or the bad, through repetition, the things that we do will eventually become our identity. For example, in Psalm 109, four, David's habit of praying to God transforms him

from someone who occasionally prays to a person described as a man of prayer. He was a man that prayed so regularly that prayer became a part of his identity. And that concept is baked into the Greek language, the language of the New Testament. When the Greek describes someone as doing something, the Greek would say that person is literally that thing. If they habitually do it, they are literally that thing. It's an identity for them. So instead of saying, like, for example, let's use the golf thing. Instead of saying she golfs, the Greek would say she is golf. Our English translation, she is a golfer. That's the way we would say it. Luke uses this idea, obviously he's writing it originally in the Greek, about Jesus's prayer life. Our English translation says this, Luke 5, 16, but Jesus himself would often slip away, often, slip away to the wilderness and pray. Literally, in the Greek, it's referenced that Jesus did this so much that it became a part of who he was. Literally, it could be translated, Jesus was a slip-away prayer. It was not a habit for him. It had become his identity. So Jesus wasn't a leader who prayed occasionally.

He was a praying leader, not a habit, a part of his identity. And what we have to do as the church, as followers of Jesus in a world that needs praying Christians, we have to mature from Christians who pray occasionally to the place we become praying Christians. Here's scientific evidence to give you a little more extra motivation. Listen to this carefully, because this is incredible coming from a brilliant man who's not really sure whether he believes in God or not. Andrew Neuberg is an agnostic neuroscientist at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He's celebrated as one of the 30 most influential neuroscientists. He's written seven books, including How God Changes Your Brain. And he's done extensive research scientifically documenting the effects of prayer on the human brain. And in a medical journal, he wrote this, biologically regular extended prayer over an eight week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan. Another neuroscientist, Richard Davidson said, you can sculpt your brain just as you would sculpt muscles if you went to the gym. Our brains are continuously being sculpted, whether you like it or not, wittingly or unwittingly. If you wanna be good at crossword puzzles,

you can practice them and get better at crossword puzzles, but it doesn't make you good at other things. But prayer seems to have the same effect weightlifting has for your body in that it allows you to do other sports activities and motions better as you get larger muscles. In other words, of all the mindfulness techniques being taught today and all the reflective practices out there, prayer is the only scientifically documented one that has positive impacts in every other area of your life. So even from a scientific perspective, wasting time with God is not wasted time at all. Let me point out one more thing that will literally add fuel to your prayer life. And this needs to be its own sermon, but today I'm just combining it with this sermon on prayer. Jesus assumed certain rhythms that were a given in the life of one of his followers. In Matthew 6, in his famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, he said this, verse three, but when you give. Verse five, but when you pray. And he talked about prayer. And then verse 16, when you fast. And he talked about fasting. He didn't say if, he said when. When you give, when you pray, when you fast, you're not exceeding the standard or getting any stickers by your name in heaven. You're fulfilling the basic expectations

of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. When it comes to fasting, church father Tertullian told us, feed prayers on fasting. In other words, when we combine fasting with our praying, we are literally fueling our prayer lives. We are literally throwing gasoline on the fires of the prayers that we pray. Jesus alluded to this. When he was coaching his disciples about an evil spirit they couldn't overcome, he told them that certain powers of evil can only be confronted and overcome with prayer and fasting, prayer combined with fasting. Matthew 17, he said, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. In another place in Matthew's gospel in chapter four, Jesus is preparing for that great temptation in his life in the wilderness. And to do that, he goes on an extended fast. And that prayer and fasting prepared him to face evil. It strengthened him spiritually. The enemy kept coming and offering him the world. And everything the enemy offered him, Jesus said, no, and he quoted scripture. And just these two examples in the life of Jesus from Matthew's gospel alone, you see two things about fasting. First, fasting when combined with prayer empowers our no muscles.

It strengthens us to stand against temptation, to say no to the things that displease God and that destroy us. If you're having a problem in your life saying no to something you know that is not pleasing to God, combine fasting with prayer and it empowers your no muscles. It did for Jesus. And two, fasting is the key to tapping into a whole other level of supernatural power. There are certain battles we're gonna face in our life, spiritually, physically, emotionally, certain battles that will only be overcome through prayer and fasting. If you had a chance to travel the world and meet your brothers and sisters from the global church, you would quickly see that the prayer lives of the rest of the world's Christians are far more mature and developed than most American Christians prayer lives. And you would see that believers in the rest of the world usually fast for extended periods of time. And it's no wonder that missionaries come from foreign fields, telling us stories of the supernatural power of God that manifest in these places. It's because there is this environment of continual prayer and fasting. I sat down for the last several days heading into this message this week

and just started thinking about my greatest encounters in life. The greatest answers to prayer I'd ever seen, miracles, literally, in our own life and family, from provision to healing to just undeniable interventions of God in our life. And as I started chronicling those things, almost every single one of the biggest breakthroughs in our life came either during a fast, an extended fast, or right on the heels of a time that God had called us into a fast. I was, again, overwhelmed and amazed at how it made me think, why don't I do more of this? Because I can chronicle it in my own life. I don't know why, I can't explain it. I don't know if it's just because it's an act of obedience because he told us to. I don't know if it's because I'm dying to flesh when I fast and I'm feeding my spirit. I can't explain it all. I just, I'm a living testimony to the fact some things happen by fasting combined with prayer that won't happen any other way. And I wanna invite you to join us. Beginning tomorrow for 21 days, we are entering into a 21 day season of prayer and fasting from January the 5th until Sunday, January the 25th. And I wanna invite you to be a part of that with us. It may look different for everybody, but I would encourage you to begin to think about

if you haven't already what you're gonna do over the next three weeks that is going to position your heart to decrease, like John the Baptist said in John 3.30, so that Christ may increase in you. For me in scripture, I mean, fasting is going without food. That's what it is. It's sometimes it may be a meal, sometimes it may be a day, it may be three days, 10 days, 21 days, three times in my life, I've done 40 days. And I know we've made it easier in America and we do social media and we do TV and we do ice cream and we do other kinds of stuff. And look, I get it. Some people have physical reasons why they can't do food for an extended period of time. Most people don't just cause it's hard and hard isn't an excuse. So you need to start somewhere. Is it you're gonna fast a meal a day? Maybe if it's never happened to you, pick one meal one day during the next three weeks, every Wednesday at noon. I just challenge you to do something here's the thing. If you're don't, the way Isaiah says it, when Isaiah 58 talks about, this is the fast the Lord has chosen. When you're not eating,

you fill the time you would be eating with prayer and communion with God. If you don't eat and you work more, you're just gonna start a starvation diet. That's not fasting. You've got to set aside that what you're doing is you're making space in your life for God. That's why you fast. And Isaiah even says, when you don't eat, take the money that you're not spending on food and give it to the poor. That's the kind of fast God has chosen. It's about changing your heart and transforming who you are. I just wanna invite you to join us on this. Every Wednesday night, beginning this Wednesday night at Sachse campus, all of our campuses are gonna come together. We're gonna have a meaningful time of prayer. It's seven o'clock to eight o'clock in this room here. Every Wednesday night for the next three Wednesday nights during the fast, something powerful has happened every year when hundreds of us have gathered for prayer meetings like this. I just have the highest expectation I have ever had in my life coming into a season of prayer of what God's gonna do in our lives,

my life, my family, your life, what he can do in our church. And I wanna invite you to be a part of that. You can drop kids off at youth and still have time to get here. We'll be done by eight. You can get back and get them. However it works for you, seven to eight, the next three Wednesday nights. If you want a resource to help you, like you're intrigued by what I'm talking about today and you wanna read more about it, I would encourage you. One of the best books I've read recently on prayer is called Lead with Prayer by Ryan Skoog. It's an incredible book on the practical aspects of prayer, the science behind prayer. It has motivated my faith in my prayer life more than ever. It's made me wanna pray, not out of duty, but out of friendship with God. And I believe it can encourage you as well. Would you stand with me all across this room and all across our campus family? I'm out of time, but I'm trying to decide whether to say this or not. Haley and I have been trying to figure out how to handle this. And I'm gonna trust you with something and ask for your help.

This is why I'm leaning in more than ever to prayer and fasting. Okay, so just pray with us and let me coach you a little bit. We are very private people. We don't talk openly about it. about our own struggles. I hint that we're having them because I want you to know we're real, but I never give you the details. We can't hide this one. Haley was diagnosed with cancer before Christmas. It's a melanoma in her face. We meet with more surgeons next week. She has multiple surgeries the week of the 12th. They will remove the cancer and they have to reconstruct her jaw, her face. Obviously, we're concerned about the cancer and you ladies understand when they start cutting on your face. Haley's like, I don't wanna feel vain, but I'm worried about, she's young. And so we decided if we could get by without saying anything except just a few private prayer partners, we wouldn't, but there's no way we're gonna be able to hide it. And I text her this morning. I said, do you care if I say something, if it's right? But can I ask you a favor? The reason we would not say something is we have PTSD. When a pastor struggles publicly, especially physically,

we've had a son in the cancer ward. My oldest was in the cancer ward for a number of years from 10 on. And you can't imagine the number of emails we get or phone calls or conversations we've had that tell us what to eat, what to buy, what vitamins we need to take. Everybody means well, but we get overwhelmed with hundreds of people. I mean, we had people tell us what we did wrong, why our son was sick and we'd have had enough faith or we hadn't done this. So as a pastor of a large church, there's some PTSD when you talk about these things publicly. So intercede with us. We're gonna pray about that on Wednesday night for your miracles, our miracle, but give us the space. You let us know you're praying great, but please understand my heart. We have a lot of people advising us that we trust. And so hold your advice if you don't mind, because we're getting a lot of it. You understand, you hear my heart in that? We need you on our prayer side. And I just told Haley, we can't hide it when you walk in with bandages all over. So I tell you that to let you know, in spite of that, because of that, I have greater expectation about what God's gonna do in this season of fasting and prayer.

And there is no opportunity for a miracle until impossibility is staring you face to face, okay? I'm gonna ask our prayer team to come. And if they would position themselves to serve you today, and maybe you have needs in your own life, I believe God is able, as we intercede for our own lives, we can pray in empathy that God can do the work in yours. Father, I pray today that you fill this room with a new sense of faith and a new sense of urgency and a belief that fasting fuels and feeds our prayer lives. Over the next three weeks, will you transform our church and transform us as individuals and our families, make us more like you, Jesus? That's really what we want. And let these altars be riddled with the supernatural hand of God, we pray. Lord, will you bless them and keep them? Would you make your face shine down upon them? Would you be gracious to them? Would you turn your countenance their direction and would you grant them peace? In Jesus' name, amen and amen. God bless you, happy new year. Hey friends, I just wanted to spend a second with you at the end of this message today and just encourage you if in some way you've made a spiritual decision, maybe you've given your life to Christ today, you've recently given your life to Christ, you wanna talk to somebody about giving your life to Christ,

our team would love to help you. We're on the Pando app and have several ministries into various prisons because God has called us to you. We have a heart for forgotten people and forgotten places and that means we serve widows and we serve orphans and we serve special needs kids and God has given us a heart for men and women in the prison system because I believe Jesus died for you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and we wanna help you know that and discover that. There is an address on the screen that you can communicate with us. We have a team of people that would love to hear from you, especially if you've made a decision to follow Jesus so that we can resource you and point you to tools that can help you grow. Just know that we're praying over you and we're genuinely honored that you've taken time to watch our channel and these messages from North Place Church.