Healthy Disciplines | Wednesday Night Service

Amen. Well, before you're seated, you can take your seat real quick. I'm excited about being able to be. Can we give it up for Thomas and Mary real quick? Good.

Phenomenal job, you guys. Thank you for leading us.

Amen. Well, what up, Refuge family? How are we doing tonight? I've been playing. I just.

I don't know why I was like, I'm going to open up tonight just saying that. So there it goes. All right, so I want to jump right in. You guys know that we've been in a series discussing fasting and praying, and you're like, well, fasting's over. Yes, praise God.

So that means that your amens should be stronger and louder because you got caffeine and sugar in you. Stuff that Daniel couldn't eat, you can eat now. You know what I mean? So there's expectancy kind of just out of me tonight from you. No, I'm just kidding.

I have two assistants that are gonna hand out a sheet of paper for you. Just some questions that I wanna ask you, that I wanna encourage you to be honest with yourself, because I believe that God uses all things. And I feel like, as we've been in this season of praying and fasting, the thing about it for me is that, like, I love praying and fasting. I love. Say that.

Well, I mean, like, after it's over, I say that I love it. But while I'm in it, the struggle's real. Can I get an amen? Okay. Right.

And so sometimes we participate in things like fasting and praying. And then I go, okay, well, what's next? Like, how do we. What's the next step after this? And so tonight I. I was telling Pastor Steph, I feel like if I could kind of like, name this or say kind of what we're doing, I would say that the first three weeks of this series kind of was the meat of it.

And then I feel like this part tonight is kind of like the. The workbook behind. Is that cool? So tonight what I wanna do is I just wanna get in your life. Can I get in your life?

Can I just disciple you? Can I just. Can we just invite Jesus to journey with us? Listen, first and foremost, before I say anything else, it's my friend Scott Farrington's birthday. Can we give it up for him real quick?

Listen, Scott, you're a blessing to so many. Happy birthday. I hope you've had a phenomenal day. I just wanna say this. If you're my friend and I speak, you might get a birthday shout out so just putting it out there if you want to be my friend or not.

Okay. But we love you, Scott Farrington. You're amazing. I'm just kind of buying time by wishing Scott a happy birthday again because they're passing out paper. Who has not got a paper yet?

This. All right, we're going to. We're in it. All right. So as you're waiting for those papers to be passed out, one of the things that kind of I want to share with you as it pertains to Just post Selah, is that we're kind of in a season that I feel like we are now having to faithfully discover the Lord in what I call common hours or common moments.

You know, like, it's. I think sometimes, though, Selah and fasting can be very, very difficult. When you do it as a group, it's not so hard. You know what I'm saying? Like, right, Kenya.

Like, you know, when we fasting, you know, like, we're in it. So, like, it's easy to do it in company. Right? But what happens when we're not in that? Kind of, like, pressing in and Selah and fasting, and you have to find the Lord in common moments.

Like, how do we find the Lord? When you can eat whatever you want, how do you find the Lord? Look at me. When you got to get up to go to work and we don't have Selah prayer points, like, how do we lean into the Lord? How does our prayer life change?

You know what I'm saying? When we. When we're not kind of like really having to physically and spiritually lean in like never before. And I feel like the Lord wants to use something like Selah. Like, I love that we call.

We're having, by the way, this Friday launch, our first launch night. You need to be here. And it's not even that I'm hyping up a service. I am expectant for God to move. I'm telling you, when God.

God loves it. When we're expecting, God loves it. When we come and saying, God, I want you to move, because I'm telling you in the Bible that I read, which is the same Bible you're reading, he loves it. And he shows up like, never before. The Bible says that he looks on the earth to see those that are seeking him.

And that lets me know that he wants to be found. Amen. So you need to come 7 o'. Clock. You don't want to miss it.

Okay. But I feel like I love that we're calling it Launch, right Like, we've had revival services, and it's called launch. Because what we do kind of during this period of fasting and praying is supposed to launch us into having the most fruitful year in the Lord, like, never before. When I was a kid, I lived in California, and we thought that the. Well, the fireworks in the United States are lame.

Okay? You know what I'm saying? That's why some of us, we cross now state lines to go get the subject, the. That goes in the air, all that stuff, right? Like, when I was a kid, we didn't have that.

We had to go to Tijuana, Mexico, to get that stuff. You know what I'm saying? And sometimes those factors in Tijuana weren't the best. So we would light these fireworks, right, my brother, you know what I'm talking about in the back, you know, like, sometimes you would light these fireworks, and because they weren't up to code, sometimes you would light this firework and it would be a dud. And you would light it and you would wait a second, and you would kind of want to get close to it, but not get close to it because, you know, if it, like, went off, you might lose some fingers.

So finally, after, you know, I'm saying, like, lining some of these and they don't go off, you finally get a thing of water and you throw it on there to make sure that it's out and it's safe, right? Here's the thing that I want to see. You're like, why are you talking about fireworks? Because I think in our spiritual walks, you don't want to be a spiritual dud. I want to grow.

I want God to move and to flow in my life like never before. Amen. All right, cool. So this is the intention of us talking about fasting and praying and the post fast. So I've labeled this practical ways of finding him in the common hours post fast.

So I wanna ask you four questions. I'm gonna try to go quickly for the sake of time, but these are questions that are not meant for anybody but you and the Lord. It's a level, a moment where you're able to step back and reflect and go, I. All right. I participated in Selah.

I fasted and prayed. Now I want us to step back and reflect and review. Okay? This is kind of like a test, but not really. Okay, so.

But the answers are just. Are supposed to be met between you and the Lord. I mean, you can share it with your spouse. You know, it's the best up to you. Okay?

Amen. All right, so here's question number one that I want you to answer real quick. Question number one is on that paper and it says, what did the Lord reveal to you during this fast? What did the Lord reveal to you during this fast? I want you to answer that.

And here's the disclaimer that I want you to hear. Don't measure the success of this fast based upon if a miracle happened or not. Based it upon revelation. What I mean by that is this, is that in this fast, I probably personally had the most break like Holy Ghost, late at night, encounter with Jesus, breakthrough, shifting things torn off of me, praise God. But that's not what I feel like is the highlight of this fast for me.

It's the revelation of the delight, my renewed delight in the Lord like never before. Everybody understand what I'm saying to you guys? So I'm saying it to say this. If you didn't experience a miracle or you didn't experience breakthrough, this wasn't a failure. I think sometimes we tend to, like, if we don't see the big miracle thing, we tend to just be like, well, that didn't work.

And we file it into the right, like, because if we're really, really honest, we want to see the fruit of our labor, so to speak. And the reality is this is I want to encourage you and I want to say to you, what did God reveal to you in this fast? What are some things that you're still post that you're just, you've been pondering and thinking about? What are some things that God is just speaking to you about? Some things that maybe are on your heart that, you know, you're supposed to maybe address or research or ask the Lord about.

For me, man, I'm telling you right now, and this is just another disclaimer. I love our reading plan because day one of our Bible reading plan. And I'll talk more about that right as we're reading the Bible for two years. First day of Selah, I open up my Bible and Psalms 1 wreck my life. Read Psalms 1 and I was like, okay.

And Psalms 1, 1, 2, 3 says this. But they delight in the law of the Lord meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit in each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do. That verse right there, guys, and I'm gonna get into it, has wrecked me because I realized that I lost my delight.

And this fast, yes, I had breakthrough. Yes, change. I feel like chains came off My heart. But God was like, you gave your delight away to other places. If you will just renew your delight in me, things will change for you.

Not just for this season, but for the rest of your life. So my question for you is again, what did the Lord reveal to you in this fast? I'm going to give you a minute to answer, so no talking. Front row. Just kidding.

All right, this is good questions for you guys to ask and for you guys to reflect on.

Everybody good? Everybody ready? I feel like sometimes pastors say, I'm gonna give you a minute. And then I feel like it gets awkwardly quiet and I'm like, I feel like I gotta say something, so. All right, you got 30 more seconds.

Okay, in simple terms, just write, what did the Lord reveal to you during this fast? That's question number one.

All right, here we go. Question number two. All right, is this. What is your plan to take care of the areas that God has revealed to you during the fast? What is your plan to take care of the areas that God has revealed to you during the fast?

In other words, and this is a tongue twister, how are you going to be intentional to not redo what he's undone in your life in this season? When. When I was the director of rds, rds, they go on an intense nine month fast where we would ask students to lay certain things down, shut down social media. You know, you can only for the sake of, you know, in this generation, we need clarity. We need to be able to hear the voice of the Lord.

And sometimes when you fast, I don't know about you guys, during this Salah fast, I just felt there was like a lot more clarity from the Lord like never before. So for young adults that are distracted, a lot of time we shut these things off, Right? And how many guys know that when you shut things off for a while and it's intense and intentional, things are gonna. Things sound can overwhelm you when you turn those things on. And the very first thing I would say to them is, I'm like, don't redo what God has undone in your life.

The Bible says it this way. I'm seeing it kind of nice. It's like, don't return to your old vomit for just plain terms like, what has God undone in your life through this fast? And what is the strategy? Are you asking God what the practical strategy is on how to maintain to not like redo what he's freed you from?

What is your plan? Okay, have you asked the Lord for a vision or guidance on how to steward what he has done in you during this Fast, okay? Proverbs 29:18 says this. We've heard it all the time in the niv. It says, where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint, but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom instruction, Right?

We've all heard that. Let me break it down for you real quick. In Proverbs 29:18, revelation can be understood as vision, guidance, or direction from God. When there is no vision or direction to people cast on restraint, in other words, they lose discipline, focus, and self control. So applying this practically to all of us, if you don't have a plan or clear direction, it's much harder to live wisely or to be successful, because discipline usually follows vision.

Everybody with me, the second half of this verse is this, is that it balances it. It balances it all out. Those who heed wisdom's instruction, who listen, plan, and align with God's purpose, you're gonna be blessed. Hey, do you want to be blessed or not? Right?

We can't be people that are just aimlessly swinging at nothing. We have to have targets. Like, what is the practical application? What are ways that God's asking of you? Okay?

I'm going to use myself as an example, right? Like, it's both spiritual and practically, like, for me, like, one of the things that God's challenging me in 2026. Now listen, I'm going to tell some of y', all, I. I'm sharing this, but I don't need everybody to hold me accountable, okay? I'm using this as an example, okay? Because I already feel it in my spirit.

I already see Pastor Cole's mind is turning. You know what I'm saying? Casey's gonna probably come give me some advice. I don't need your advice, okay? The Holy Ghost is my instructor, okay?

In 2026, right? Like, you know what I'm saying? The Bible says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. I'm a megachurch, you know what I'm saying? With a little parsonage, you know what I mean?

And the Lord's like, hey, you gotta get this in order, right? And listen to me. Like, the Salah, a Daniel fast, has been so good for me. I feel much better than I did when I ended the year. I'm sleeping better, I'm drinking more water.

And I think practically for my life, right? I go, this can't just be a 21 day for me. Think for me. I have to be intentional to really be aware of what I'm putting in My body. Everybody understand?

So what that means is practically we're not gonna buy certain things, you know what I'm saying, in our house, because I'm weak in this area. Because I like to keep my megachurch, you know, decorated. Everybody, like, you know, I was meeting with the RDS students today, and I was like, trying to get rid of the. I didn't drink any of it, okay? I had soda in my fridge.

Who wants soda? Get rid of this, right? And they're like, no. I was like, great. I was like, cause I want you.

I said, no. After the day, if I ain't drinking soda, ain't nobody drinking soda, okay? Pray for me. That's how addicted I've been. But God's freed me.

Kenya, you pray for me, okay? And Jesus, like, I know that sometimes I don't want to over spiritualize it, but I'm saying to you, this is a practical step. I'm just not going to buy certain things. There are just certain restaurants that I can't visit. I have to be intentional to look at the healthier options.

And listen to me. Am I starting a gym membership tomorrow? No. Why? No.

I'm going to tell you why. That's step C. And you're like, well, why is it step C? Because I'm hardcore. I will go buy the membership, the shoes, all of it, and I'll go hardcore for about two months. And I'll have this moment in where I'm like, I'm over this and I will stop.

And God is teaching me consistency and longevity and being realistic. Look at me. This applies also as it pertains to what God has freed you from in this fast. Look at it from an aspect of longevity, not just a moment. What is God asking of you?

Okay, here's another way that God totally wrecked my life during this fast. Okay? Is. And again, if you're not on our Bible reading plan, I'm not trying to be a billboard. I'm just saying the Refuge is pretty dope.

You know what I mean? But we're offering some. Like, you're going to know Jesus by knowing his word. And we got to stop being ignorant and allowing culture and opinion to kind of mush that. And that's our interpretation of who God is.

No, we have to have a biblical viewpoint. Do you guys understand what I'm saying to you guys? So for me, like, I'm like, okay, I'm going to be faithful and intentional, not just to read the Word, but something that God just challenged me. And I've like, it's been so good for me is not just reading it, but journaling scripture, going through chapter verse, asking the Holy Spirit, what is this? What are things, God, that you want to specifically say to me?

If there's a verse that I don't understand, writing it out, you know what I mean? Like, this takes time. So what does that mean for Pastor Abe? It means that I got to go to bed early, much earlier than I've planned when I used to just read the Bible. If I know that I'm gonna, like, journal the word of God and really be intentional, I gotta make, you know, the approach.

You know, I have to get up maybe 45 minutes earlier than planned. See, I struggle. I literally researched this, and I just kind of wanna put it out there so that you guys know I suffer. Pray for me from what I call bedtime procrastination. Okay?

Some of y' all know the struggle. Okay? We're gonna be free tonight, James. Okay, for those of you guys, this is a legit thing. Bedtime procrastination is this.

It's delaying sleep, even though you know you'll be tired the next day, often by staying up late, scrolling or watching shows to get some me time. There's usually no outside reason for it, but it leads to sleep loss and negatively affects your mood and health. Listen, we got to stop doing. We got to go to bed.

Listen, it's not spiritual. It's practical. Go to bed. And can we just be real? We're like, oh, you know, for me, my kids are asleep.

Yeah. I get to just. It's me time. And then what ends up happening? Can you know what happens?

We fall asleep on the couch anyway. And then there's a war in our spirits. Like, should I get up and go upstairs, or should I just stay down here? You know what I'm saying? And then when you finally decide to go upstairs, you.

You know what I'm saying? You're wide awake. Go to bed, Pastor Abe. Okay? Pray for me.

Listen to me. What I'm saying to you guys is, this sounds very elementary, but if I was discipling you, I would ask you, what are some practical ways that you can just cultivate the freedom that you found? What are practical ways that you can. What is it again? If you have no vision or revelation or guidance, you'll cast off restraint.

And how many guys know we need our flesh restraint? Our flesh needs to be restrained by the word of God, by his strategies. We need him like never before. Everybody there with me? You guys good?

All right, question number three. All Right. I'm gonna start stepping on some toes here, okay? If you have any complaints about that or whatever, talk to the Lord about it, not me. Question number three is this.

After the fast, ask yourself, are you more religious or are you more in love?

After the fast, are you more religious or are you more in love?

When we get into trying to teach people spiritual disciplines, I think our default system, we kind of default back into working out our own salvation by our own works. And we do that sometimes and intentionally by striving, so we sometimes can have this mindset that I'm involved in. Selah, I'm fasting. And now fasting makes me good enough. Fasting now gives me God's approval.

And I'm here to say to you that's incorrect. It's only the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That makes us enough. That makes us. Gives us his approval.

That and that's it. Period. Everybody there with me. And sometimes I think that when we're in it, because some of you guys are hardcore like me, and we're super disciplined and we're super goal oriented, that sometimes we can miss the fact that he wants to really be found. He wants you to see him in profound ways.

That in our being goal oriented, we can totally miss it and we become more religious than really falling more in love with him. Everybody there with me. And I think it's really good for us to reevaluate our hearts and what we look like post fast. And I wanna say this too. I wanna say that if you did not participate in Selah or you're not fasting, I'm not here to judge you, but I am asking the Lord to stir you.

I'm like, I want the Lord to provoke your heart to jealousy. It's not about a strict, like, you need to fast. I mean, I'll judge you a little bit, but I promise I'll get over it. Okay? I'm just.

That's kind of the joy of the Lord's, our strength. We can laugh. What I'm trying to say to you is what I want to get across is like, there is freedom in fasting, there is freedom in prayer, There is free. All these things that I think sometimes we miss out on because we have a wrong perception of them and view of them. Like, guys, like, I'm telling you, we need to be fasting, not just for Selah.

And I'll talk more about that. So are you more religious after this fast or are you more in love? And I just wanna go back to the Revelation that God's given me. And this is the way that I can break this down for you guys, if you guys gimme a sec. You ready?

And so this is a disclaimer. Young adults, I talked about this a little bit in our last service, but give me an amen still, because the Lord's awesome. So going Back to Psalms 1, 2, 3 says this. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit in each season.

Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Can I break that down real quick? Here's a revelation that God kind of spoke to me. So let's talk about the word delight. In some translation, the word delight translates to a heartful joy or pleasure.

Everybody with me? Awesome. All right, the next word I want to talk about real quick is this. Meditate. Okay.

Those who delight in the law, Lord, meditate on it day and night. Let's talk about meditate. Now. Sometimes when I've read this scripture, you know, I know you're going to be like, you're going to laugh at me. But I will.

When I hear the word meditate, I think of, like, closing your eyes, getting. It's not. Back in the day, before it was PC, I'd say Indian style, you know what I'm saying? But now it's crisscross applesauce. I don't know what it's called.

You know what I mean? You know, I picture, like, someone just sitting down, legs crossed, like fingers like this, and you're just, like, humming something. I don't know. That sometimes is the definition when we get to meditating. But when we really look at meditating and we study it, the word is more.

It's more of an action word than it is just describing something. Everybody with me. So the word meditate in Hebrew is the word hagach. This does not mean sitting silently or thinking in your head. Instead, it refers to quietly speaking, murmuring, or repeating God's teaching, much like reading it aloud to oneself softly or reciting it to break it down.

It's like practicing a long song, A song until it becomes a part of you, not rushing it, not forcing it, resulting or forcing results, but consistently returning to God's instruction day after day. In other words, it's like almost like you ever get a song stuck in your head, like you like the tune and you kind of repeat it over and over. That's what he's saying when he's talking about meditating. It's an action word. You find pleasure and delight in the Lord that every second you get, you're like, mm, I'm just.

God, you are good God, you are awesome. God, you are faithful God, man, you're for me, not against me, man. I'm gonna meditate, God. I just. Thank you, God.

Renew my mind, God. Greater is he that is in me that doesn't know, you know, like, it's that. It's an action word. Okay, and when we do that, right, the next phrase is bearing fruit in each season. This verse just highlights that there is growth happening in every form of season.

It's not limited to one. It's that it's happening all the time. Because this person is like a tree that's planted by the riverbed. A tree that does that is getting nourishment all the time, regardless of the season, regardless of what it's facing. Everybody there with me.

So as I read this verse, I just want to break it down to see. There's a progression here that I read. Delight equals meditation, and meditation equals fruit. Everybody say it with me. Delight.

Come on, say it with me. Say, delight equals meditation, and meditation equals fruit. Now, I'm just here to say a disclaimer. I think that it's our heavenly Father's desire that all of us bear fruit. It's not just God's desire for Pastor J to bear fruit because he's the pastor.

No, it's his desire that everybody bear fruit. Right? Like, he's looking for his purposes to flow out of you like never before. In other words, like he wants to. I believe richly.

Bless you. Because you're flourishing in this thing called Christianity or walking with him. He wants you to walk in the fullness of that. All that he has for you. And I'm here to say to you that if you believe that, it's for everybody else but you, you partnered with a lie that is not God's heart.

Not according to John chapter 15. But I'm not gonna get into that. So you guys see the progression in this verse? Meditation. Excuse me.

Delight equals. We go into meditation, and meditation automatically rec. Going to bear fruit. I want to view it from a different perspective from some of some famous people that we like to call the Pharisees, because the Pharisees were really good at the discipline of meditation, but they never beared any fruit. Okay, everybody with me.

I'm not going to read it right now, but for the sake of. I want to just encourage you guys to read Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew, chapter 22 is intense. It's the words of Jesus and some of the things that he says about the Pharisees. I'm like, lord, help us.

Like, you know, it makes me just go, oh, that's really heavy. Like, one of the verses in there, he's like, man, like, listen to everything that they say, but don't. Don't follow their example. Now, you know, that's hardcore. When Jesus himself says that, listen to everything that I said, but do not follow.

Do not do it the way that they do it, because they've missed it. Okay? The Pharisees, According to Matthew 22 and Jesus words, they were good at the practice of meditation, repeating, studying, and discussing the law. But Jesus shows us something that was missing. What was missing in them was the delight in the Lord himself.

The Pharisees had knowledge without love, practice without joy, obedience without relationship. Instead of delighting in God, they delighted in being seen. They delighted in status and recognition. And they used the fruit of meditation as a burden on other people, not as a gift. Everybody with me?

So if Psalms 1 tells us that delight equals meditation and then there's fruit and there's a progression, then I would say to you that if we are partnering or we're just more religious, you'll get really good at the discipline of meditation. But the progression that you'll operate in is meditation, performance, and then pride. Everybody there with me. So my question again for you is this. Are you more religious after this fast, or has your love for him grown even more?

Because I will make this disclaimer. If your love has not grown, I would say you got to step back and check yourself.

What was meant to be a blessing to the Pharisees became a burden. I'm here to say to you that fasting helps clarify God's character, His love, and his ways, but it does, again, not make us right with God or earn his approval. The blood of Jesus has done that. Everybody there with me. I think we have to ask ourselves, am I more religious or do I love him more?

Because here's the thing about delight. Here's the beauty of delight. Like delight will make you do some crazy stuff. I have found just a renewed delight, just honestly, in God's word that I feel like for me, there is pleasure and joy in just getting up, going to bed a little early, and. And getting up in the morning and going, I know God's going to visit me.

He's going to speak to me through His Word. It's just been renewed in me. And you know what happens when I Know his word. It's a. Again, a progression.

Prayer is not hard for me.

Conviction doesn't look like condemnation. It looks like invitation, like, I'm telling you, you're talking about bearing fruit. When I read in Matthew again that Jesus cursed his tree who was not producing figs, and I had this whole revelation, I was like, oh, my gosh, am I bearing fruit? Because sometimes I think we can lean towards the God loves me, everything is good that I think we forget that he still requires something of us.

So for me, I'm like, I'm not going to sit condemned. I'm going to. Lord, what areas in me are not God, what areas in me are not producing fruit? What areas in me, God, what areas? What.

What is stopping up the flow? Lord God, Lord, is it my delight? Am I being religious here? Lord God, Am I just doing the duty? Listen, here's the thing.

Can I be honest with all of you? Just being transparent for me, like, I. The. The. Am I more religious than more in love?

Is. Can be very difficult for me as a pastor because for lack of better terms, I don't want to say this, but this is. It's like that fine line and that tug, like, this is kind of on my profession, so to speak. It's not. It's my.

I'm called to this. But because I do this all the time, it's easy for me to become religious. Everybody understand what I'm saying, you guys? And I gotta like, die to self to go, mm. I don't wanna stay in this vein because if I stay in this vein, I'll die and I'll kill everybody around me.

So I gotta stay in delight. I gotta like, love you, Lord, right? There's just this renewed like, God, I'm here for you and you alone. And God, I want you to speak God. And my yes is to you and you alone.

I. I want to stay in that vein here. Listen to me. You don't have to be pastor to struggle with this. Like, I'm just. I want to challenge you.

Every husband, every wife, you got to get out of religious. Because if we're not careful and we're more religious in these areas, you'll kill your family, your kids. Look at me. Delight. What?

Right? Delight. Meditation. Fruit. You're supposed to bear fruit.

And guess who eats that fruit? Our kids. They're supposed to taste and see that the Lord is good. Not from our kid. Not from Pastor Aprabhu and his team.

Not from Pastor Clay, from us, mom and dad, everybody there with me. So I think it's important in this fast. Listen to me. I'm so proud of you that if you followed everything to a T and listen to me, I'm not here self righteous or prideful. My wife can tell you.

I annoy my wife during these fasts all the time. Because it's the way that I'm wired, right? Like, babe, do you think we should be eating this? Should we not be eating this? Like, is this good?

Is that not good? Like hardcore, you know? And then honestly, when I operate in that way, I just, I'm over it by day 15, I'm like, okay, I'm over this because it's not practical. Does that make sense? Like, I'll go back to this.

I want to say this to all of you guys. Come on. Can someone give me amen? Because I know some of y' all struggle with this too, okay? In Jesus name.

It ain't just me.

I feel like as it pertains to the word of God. And I really want to just be very vulnerable and honest with you guys sometimes at first, during the salaf fast, when we're in our Bible plan, our guys, listen, get on the Bible plan. It's three chapters. Like, it's really, really not a lot. Okay?

And sometimes I can have that perspective. I'm like, three chapter.

Cause, right. Cause I go into what, Martha mode and I'm like, no, I gotta, like, I gotta kill two books. I'm gonna, you know, Matthew and Luke, I'm gonna read, you know, and like I'm all hardcore and I'm like reading, reading, reading. And after I've done that, I feel accomplished. Check mark.

But I really can't tell you what I read.

So the Lord's like, cool, get on this Bible plan and two chapters and you journal and you find me and mazel tov. It's good. And then digest all day. Digest, meditate all day on what I told you. Meditate on what I'm showing you.

You know, like, let it get in your heart. Like I'm telling you. I can't express to you guys. And I'm not even, I don't even know the fullness of it. I just cannot, I cannot explain to you the revelation that I've had that God has formed me like never before.

And it has not released me to do whatever I want to do. It just had allowed me to walk in freedom like never before. And that has just come by meditation, by reading Job and his busted up friends.

You there with me, so don't feel condemned. I'm not here to point my finger. You're religious. I'm saying to you, like it's a, it's a delight thing. It's a delight thing.

Which then leads to my next question. If your delight's good, the next question. Question number four is this. When's your next fast?

When's your next fast? I'm not, I'm not calling, listen, I'm not calling you, you know what I mean? Unless I mean, Pastor Jay, don't call us to 21 day fast, you know what I'm saying? But we're going to let the Lord decide that. I'm just saying to you, have you asked the Lord, Lord, when's my next fast?

And what are you asking of me? Because if your delight's good, you won't do that with a posture of man, do I gotta do this again? Like, can we just be really honest? Some of us won't even fast until Selah 2027. And that's not okay.

I was thinking about it and I just wrote this statement. A mature disciple isn't driven by events, but by faithful, often flesh killing habits that produce life. So my question for you is, is it time to grow up or is it time to just keep doing what doesn't work? Because a mature disciple doesn't wait till, well, Casey knocked 20, 26, knocked it out of the books. I'm good and I'm going to like wild out, expand my megachurch, you know what I'm saying?

Stay up late, you know what I mean? Watch stuff that I don't even know I'm watching while I'm wrestling if I'm sleeping on the couch or not. And then I'm in the same cycle over and over as an immature disciple. No, I want to mature. Like it's time for us.

Listen to me, church. Like, I think a lot of freedom would really happen if we didn't treat prayer and fasting as a one time event type of thing.

The statement is this. A mature disciple is not driven by events, but by faithful. Often what we would call flesh killing habits that bring life. Fasting is hard. Fasting is not fun, you guys.

But it's what gives us life. Fasting, listen to me, I want to say it again. Reveals not, not this like secret ingredient of like a power source. It just reveals who's inside you and it reveals that, oh my gosh, I've been so distracted by really partnering with the truth and principles of the Kingdom of Heaven. Like I want to.

This is a disclaimer. Like sometimes as a Pastor. And as in ministry before, I've had to go into deliverance sessions where, you know, we're having to come against a demon, oppression, all that stuff. It's real stuff. Like, there is a spiritual atmosphere that we don't see, and people are partnering with stuff that, like, man, not gonna get into that.

What I wanna say to you is, like, we've always said, hey, before you go into these prayer sessions, right, Pastor Steph, let's pray and fast. But we're not praying and fasting because prayer and fasting is the magical solution for deliverance. Prayer and fasting just shuts down all the distractions. It keeps our eyes solely focused on the Lord. And then you go, oh, no.

As I'm like in communion and intimacy with him. Greater is he that is in me. And this demon has no authority whatsoever. Everybody understand? I'm saying to you guys, we sometimes treat, like fasting as a good luck charm.

And that's. And we've missed it. Guys. I'll say this too. Did you guys know that, like, stuff like evangelism, stuff like fasting and praying, communion is things that we're supposed to just practically live out as Christians.

It's supposed to be in our DNA. And I will say this. In the capital C church, especially in America, we live by the buffet system. And I feel like the Lord just wants to come and bring his holy ghost sledgehammer and just smash this buffet system that we live on, that we try to just. It's convenience.

And I'm here to say to you, like, we have to walk in maturity, okay? And fasting is one of those things. So the question is, when is your next fast?

Listen, like, can we be real? Like, you know, unless God's calling you to it? Like, I'm not talking about doing another 21 day fast. I'm just saying to you, how does this rhythm, like, how is the Lord asking you to make fasting a part of your daily rhythm where it's not religious, but you just encounter him? Everybody with me?

All right, here's the next. The next question that ties into number four. Number five, who's your accountability partner?

Some of you are like, can it not be my spouse? Because they're the worst accountability partner ever.

Okay? We need a little grace, but accountability is good for us, you guys. We need people in our lives that are not going to tell us what we want to hear, are not going to tell us what we think. We're not going to tickle our ears, but are going to tell us the truth. You Know what I'm saying?

We need people in our lives that are gonna go, wait a second. Did you say you were fasting today? On this day? So, like, why are we going to, you know, Firehouse Subs right now? That's the only restaurant that popped in my mind.

Firehouse Subs, you know? You know, like, Pastor Jay, I love you. You know what I'm saying? And I enjoy our times where we talk about the Lord and jokes and dad jokes, but I can't drink Dr. Pepper with you no more, okay? I mean, I'm cracking down.

Okay? I mean, if you let me smell it. I'm just kidding. Like, listen to me. Like, look, I'm just saying.

I'm saying to all of you guys, because, look, I'm even, like, very careful about being vulnerable with you guys, because I feel like everybody now is gonna be like, what are you eating? Are you going to bed? That's not what I need, okay? My wife is my accountability partner. And the Holy Ghost.

That's right. But I'm saying to you, look at me, who's your accountability partner? Who's just gonna be honest with you? We need people in our lives. Look, this is a side note about accountability.

I just feel like I wanna say this correctly. There is power in vulnerability. Power in just saying, hey, you know what? I'm not doing good, or, hey, you know what? I'm struggling.

And I'm not talking about. I'm not saying that we need you to grab the mic and tell the whole world that, but you do need to tell a brother or sister to go, hey, you know what? Like, I'm struggling right now. And. And I need you to help me journey through this.

I need you to pray for me. I need you to help me. You know, I'm saying in the midst of my struggle to just keep me accountable, that I am gonna be praying. I am gonna be reading the word of God. I am gonna come to church.

Everybody hear what I'm saying to you guys? Those are the five questions that I think as you answer these questions, Thomas and Mary, can you guys come to the piano? These five questions, look, I don't feel like I'm saying anything profound. I think it's simple. But I think that we.

Because we don't really practice the discipline of fasting, you know what I'm saying? Enough. We have to kind of go back to these simple truths. Because I think that as you answer all these questions, then it will automatically give you practical ways on how to just continue to lean in to know him. In common hours.

When I think about common hours, I was actually thinking about this and I was thinking about when I first got saved and I got radically saved. And it's just even mind blowing to me that I'm even standing before you guys. And my salvation was not like, Jesus loves you. My salvation was like a fire and brimstone, you're going to go to hell brimstone message. And it scared the fire out of me.

Like legit, right? So because of that, like, I just was like scared and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to church Sunday because I don't want to go to hell. That was like legit, my conversion. But if it wasn't for just my youth group, you know, people in the church that just took me under their wing and just began to really show me the love of God. I remember going to, you know, to me it's so precious to me that, you know, my wife and I can sponsor or give towards tuition for someone for camp because I was a camp kid, I was the kid that didn't have the money to go to camp.

So people raised money on my behalf to go. And I remember going to summer camp and I mean, I got filled with the Holy Spirit there. Like I just fell in love with Jesus. I mean, like, I was on fire. Super immature, super zeal, no wisdom, you know what I mean?

But it was awesome. And after like day, day five of camp, I'm like crying like, and everybody's like, are you okay? I was like, I'm fine because I know what I'm going back to.

And I would, I would get home from camp, I would close the door and I would just ball because I'm like, God, where are you? I, I met you on the mountaintop, but I don't know how to meet you here. I think sometimes, like when we kind of get in seasons like Selah, it does feel like a mountaintop. Like, because we're all on one accord, we're all leaning in, you know what I mean? And those moments do feel like God is present because you are practically like laying down food, fasting certain things, you feel him more.

But life sometimes be life and, and, and sometimes work stresses and your kids and diapers and financial issues and responsibilities, it's going to hit. And so how God, the same God that meets you on those mountaintops is the same God that wants to meet you and encounter you when you're at work stressed out.