 Alright, keep your place in Matthew chapter 6. So this evening in the Baptist basic series we're continuing that we're going to talk about the topic of fasting. We're going to talk about the topic of fasting. I don't know that I've actually heard a lot of sermons or maybe you know any full sermons at all on fasting, but fasting is definitely mentioned in the Bible many times and it's a tool that we have that we can use and many people in the Bible. We can't even, there's so many places in the Bible where people fasted, we can't even go through all the places in the Bible that talks about fasting. So I want to explore this idea of fasting this evening to a little bit of a Bible study on on the what the why the how of fasting and you know what it what it means. So look down at Matthew chapter 6 and look at verse number 16. The Bible says moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces and that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you they have the reward, but thou when thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeeth in secret shall reward thee openly. So let's look at this idea of fasting this evening, see what it is, how we do it and what it means. First of all before I get into fasting I want to just give a little bit of you know the Bible actually has a lot to say about food in general you know the Bible has a lot to say on eating on eating food when you should eat what you should eat all these types of things like the Bible covers everything in our lives and I want to just look at a couple Bible verses on eating and food and that will kind of help us understand you know this idea of fasting a little bit more. Turn to Proverbs chapter 23. So before we get to the topic of fasting and we look at what fasting is why people did it in the Bible should we do it now and and how to do it if we should do it. Let's look at that this evening but let's look at at food first. Look at Proverbs chapter 23 and verse number two. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse number two it says I mean I love this verse here. The Bible says and put a knife to thy throat if thou be give a man given to appetite. So I mean the Bible here is saying he's first of all I mean this is the problem today or not okay I shouldn't even say it's the problem today we have plenty of problems okay but this is a big problem today especially in a country like ours where we're just we're blessed with so much abundance you know the there's there's there's not not you know there's not really a lack of food out there you know this is why a lot of Americans are so unhealthy that they're just you know they're unhealthy you know the Bible here is saying though it's such a serious thing it's like put a knife to your throat if you can't stop eating do anything you need to do it's basically saying to stop eating too much turn to Proverbs chapter 25 just a couple chapters over the Bible even speaks against eating too much sugar I mean imagine the specifics of that and look you know like it's birthday night so it's like once a month we actually we're doing birthday nights like every single night of church when we first started and we're just going to do it once a month because you know we want to have you know some control over you know the desserts in our lives right so have a piece of cake tonight okay don't let this sermon like ruin your evening and your your day tomorrow Proverbs 25 look at verse 16 the Bible says hast thou found honey and it says eat so much as is sufficient for thee lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it you know so the Bible here is it's not saying that that honey is bad it's not saying this sugar is bad it's just saying that if you eat too much it will literally make you sick all right and I look I got a funny story here so I was out fishing I was camping with Garrett when he was like I have his permission to tell this story so I was camping with Gary he was like five or six years old I think you're five or six right pretty young and we were out we were paddle fishing I don't know if you know what paddle fishing is but you basically it's where that there's a spot in North Dakota on the Montana North Dakota border where the Yellowstone River and the Missouri River they converge they come together and during a certain time of year paddle fish run up the river and they congregate in the convergence of these two of these two rivers where the rivers converge okay now the way you fish for paddle fish is totally stupid it's not even a sport as you put a like a big lead weight on a on a drop leader and with a with a big treble hook like this big about six inches up from the lead weight and you just throw this thing across the river again and again and again and you just rip this hook with this weight through the river by the time I would be done paddle fishing I would have bruises on both sides of my ribs from just ripping this weight in this treble hook through the water I've never caught a paddle fish in my life and I've gone like three years in a row and I'd be standing next to my sister who is half my size and she's catching 120 pound cat paddle fish every single year she casts half as far and and half as many times as I do I've never caught one it's the most frustrating thing ever I don't even like talking about it but anyway the second year I went Garrett was with me we were camping out and I was catching I was determined to catch a paddle fish okay so I put Garrett on the bank on the river and I'm out standing in the river paddle fishing and he's he's a little kid and I'm just like all right I gave him a bag of licorice and like a bag of cheetos and I'm just like here here you go you know and I went out and I paddle fish Ronald I could have been that long maybe an hour and I wasn't paying a lot of attention to him but he just sat there with this bag of cheetos and bag of licorice the whole time I was out in the river fishing and I turned around and to come out of the river and he's just covered in vomit you know he just he just and I'm like oh I'm the worst dad ever you know it's like one of those moments you know because he just he just sat there and just he just indulged in too much honey right he proverbs 25 16 himself right and I let him do it so the Bible here saying you know control your sugar intake don't eat too much sugar okay turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 10 the Bible even tells you you know when you should eat and why you should eat the Bible says so I mean the Bible tells us you know to not eat too much the Bible tells us to not be a glutton the Bible tells us you know not to eat too much sugar the Bible tells us when we should eat and for what reasons we should eat look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10 in verse number 16 so don't sit down and just eat like a whole bag of cheetos and and top it off with a bag of licorice all right Ecclesiastes chapter 10 in verse number 16 the Bible says woe to thee oh land when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning blessed art thou oh land when thy king is the son of nobles and thy princes eat and do season for strength and not for drunkenness so the Bible here is saying look when when you have these princes that are just eating in the morning is like that you know woe to that land when you have leaders that are just you know they're just eating to eat for pleasure is basically what's going on here the Bible says and it says in the morning because in the morning nobody's done any work in the morning and in verse 17 it says it's a good land or you know it's a blessed land when the princes eat and do season that means they eat after they've they've done work after they've done something okay and why for strength they eat for strength and not for drunkenness look you should eat for strength after you've worked this is talking about how eating should go together with physical activity or physical exercise this is why you eat but look you can train your body to just eat all the time you can train your body to be hungry all the time last year at work this lady started bringing in this big bowl of candy into work and you know I don't know for whatever reason at two o'clock every single day I went and just grabbed a bunch of these little mini candy bars and those are worse than candy bars because you don't know how many you're eating and you know you eat and look you can train yourself and then I would just crave that at two o'clock every day I would just start to crave that those candy bars but you can train your body to to eat like all the time to be hungry all the time we'll talk more on this later but what just I mean just on a personal note you know as I get older I have found that the best way look I exercise look I exercise I work out on a regular basis by the way homeschooling we're homeschooling we're a homeschooling church here you know exercise and training your kids how to exercise should be part of your homeschooling curriculum okay the Bible talks about it eating properly and exercising you know the public school has PE class the public school has organized sports you say we play sports here we do physical activities here but look you should train your kids teach your kids how to have a regular exercise program our kids are required and we after you require it for a while they start to like it and it becomes a lifestyle for them but they exercise and we provide ways for them to exercise so many times a week every single week it's a lifestyle and that's how that's how your homeschooling curriculum should be you should have that in there okay don't leave any gaps in your homeschooling curriculum but look the personally I have found I exercise and you know I try to stay active and exercise is great it's important okay but the only real way that I have found to lose weight or to maintain weight is to stop eating it is that simple I you know during the week you say well you know weekends I give myself a break okay but during the week I eat once a day I eat once a day I do not eat breakfast and I do not eat lunch and you know what you can train your body to do that I don't even get hungry at lunch anymore I don't even get hungry at lunch and look you that you can also stop your sugar intake and stop that craving for sugar the first few days not going to that candy jar at 2 o'clock was rough but after that your body will will come off of it your body will you know and look and then you will just have immediate weight loss when you start doing this you know so look I mean another problem today is is just lack of physical activity on top of all this eating think of the men in the Bible think of the people in the Bible think of the disciples they were walking everywhere I mean they were walking everywhere constant exercise think of just Joshua we talked about on Wednesday I mean he's he's constantly fighting he's constantly serving I mean but look that the one thing that makes the difference for me personally if I want to lose weight is eating eat less lose weight eat more gain weight it's an energy balance it's very simple okay now the Bible talks about eating that's just a little primer what's talk about fasting let's talk about biblical spiritual fasting and then we'll tie these two thoughts together turn to Psalm chapter 35 fasting so fasting is I mean it's all over the Bible it's all over the Bible in the New Testament it's all over the Bible in the Old Testament people are doing it what does it mean turn to Psalm chapter 35 and look at verse number 13 Psalm 35 and verse number 13 and there's a ton of verses on fasting and we're not going to be able to get to them all either but I'll be able to get the point across at least but the Bible says in Psalm 35 13 but as for me when they were sick my clothing was sat cloth I humbled my soul with fasting just that's it right there okay that is the main point of fasting right there and it goes along with the clothing that you see everyone having you know when they're fasting as I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my own bosom so fasting we see here in Psalm 35 is to humble yourself before God and fasting so you're using it to humble yourself before God it's the same thing as the clothing so sat cloth so everyone's in sat cloth and they put ashes on their head but they basically were sat cloth what's that it was like a potato sack think of you know you're basically taking off your nice clothing things that maybe might make you feel proud you know when I put a suit on and I you know it's you kind of feel like okay I'm ready to go somewhere and you know you could feel like you're somebody and all this but you're to humble yourself before God you put a potato sack on and you're like I'm nobody you're humble okay turn to Nehemiah chapter 1 and the main thing here so we see with the sat cloth and the fasting it's to humble your soul to humble yourself before God and then it goes hand in hand with prayer whenever you see somebody in the Bible or most times you see somebody in the Bible that is fasting they are either praying or they are getting ready to pray they're getting ready to go to God with something they're getting ready to you know bring something before the Lord okay there's a couple exceptions I'll bring up one of them a little bit later turn to Nehemiah chapter 1 Nehemiah chapter 1 and look at verse number 4 so Nehemiah fasted he fasted look at verse number 4 it says and it came to pass when I heard these words so Nehemiah he heard the state of Jerusalem he heard that all the walls were torn down and they were burned and that everything was terrible and it was not a good situation and he wanted to do something about it he wanted to do something about it came to pass when I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven again it goes with prayer turn to Psalm chapter 69 turn to Psalm chapter 69 look something was wrong and something was really wrong most of the time that you see people fasting I mean it's a it's a very serious situation and somebody needs to approach God somebody needs to come and ask God something through prayer that's when you'll see fasting come in most of the time in the Bible look at Psalm 69 and verse number 10 the Bible says in Psalm 69 verse number 10 when I wept and chastened my soul with fasting that was to to bring low your soul once again the same thing humbling that was to my reproach I made sackcloth their sackcloth again also my garment and I became a proverb to them that they sit in it they that sit in the gate speak against me and I was the song of the drunkards but as for me my prayer there it is again is unto the award in an acceptable time oh God in the multitude of thy mercy hear me in the truth of thy salvation so fasting is a way to show humility when you come to it to God in a time of prayer so God will hear you so God will answer you in a positive way it's a way to show look it's a way to show your willingness to sacrifice the desires of the flesh it's a demonstration so to speak of your willingness to be obedient so you say I mean she say why why fasting why that one thing there's a lot of things you know in the flesh well first of all you know turn I mean just I don't really have this turn to why fasting research shows that hunger is one of the most powerful one of the most powerful urges that your flesh will ever have turn to Matthew chapter 4 Matthew chapter 4 so I mean it shows it's one of the most powerful human desires this desire of this this feeling of hunger studies have been done in animals that show animals will risk anything in order to you know in order to gain food when they're hungry okay but you know Jesus fasted to did you know that and Jesus fasted for an interesting reason look at Matthew chapter 4 right before right after his baptism and before Jesus was getting ready to go recruit everybody to go on on his on his on his his mission to go and begin his ministry Jesus and Matthew chapter 4 look at verse number one it says then Jesus let up the spirit let up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil this goes to show you the temptation that that feeling of hunger is the Bible says that Jesus went and he fasted 40 days and 40 nights and in Luke chapter 4 look I don't believe this was a supernatural event when Jesus went and fasted I believe that he actually went and fasted 40 days and 40 nights Luke gets more specific and says he ate nothing for 40 days you can go 40 days if you are a healthy individual without eating you can't go without drinking anything that's why I said he ate nothing I believe that this was not a supernatural event this was a that Jesus the man put his body his flesh through this why to be tempted of the devil because Hebrews chapter 4 says that he was that that like as us he was tempted at all things yet without sin so he went to be tempted of the devil to show that in an extreme case before he began his ministry in a very extreme case that he could still go without sin he could still go without sin so all that just to say that hunger is an extreme extreme feeling turn to 2 Kings chapter 6 I mean the Bible Eve's and tells us stories and I'm sure we've heard many stories you know throughout history of horrible situations that demonstrate the same thing that I'm going to show you in 2 Kings chapter 6 but people will literally commit murder over hunger 2 Kings chapter 6 look at verse number 26 the Bible says and as the King of Israel was passing by upon the wall there cried a woman unto him saying help my Lord oh King and he said if the Lord do not help me when shall I help thee out of the barn floor out of the wine press look they were they were in a famine they had no nothing to eat and the King said under her what illithy and she answered this woman said unto me give thy son that we may eat him today and we'll eat my son tomorrow so here here these two ladies they made a deal and this lady came up to this other lady and said let's eat your son today and then when we're done eating your son because we have nothing to eat we'll eat my son I mean they're talking about eating their own children look this is literal here so we boiled my son and did eat him and I said under her on the next day give thy son that we may eat him and she hid her own son so this lady she didn't you know she backed out of the bargain she's like we ate you know we ate your son and so I mean she's coming to the King imagine the situation she's coming to the King like look at this horrible injustice this woman did to us and the Kings like they're eating their children is what the King and it came to pass the King heard these words of the woman he rent his clothes and he passed upon the wall and the people looked and behold he had sackcloth within upon his flesh and he was already fasting because I'm sure they were all starving but people will literally murder over food if they get hungry enough so fasting fasting denying this powerful urge to yourself is a humbling situation it's humbling and it's designed to show God in times of prayer that you are willing to deny your flesh for him turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 it's a good thing to do to just to show God that you know what I'm I'm willing this is how serious I am I'm willing to be obedient I'm willing to deny myself to humble myself I mean the Lord loves the humble he hates the proud 1st Corinthians chapter 9 look at verse 27 you're willing to deny your flesh before you come to the Lord in prayer 1st Corinthians chapter 9 look at verse 27 the Bible says but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached unto others I myself should be a castaway Paul here is talking about the denial of his flesh as a method to keep himself close to God okay he's talking about you know having self-control you know fasting is a demonstration of this it's a demonstration of your self-control to God so look it's a sign of humility and obedience we see that it's an outward demonstration turn to Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6 go back to Matthew chapter 6 it's an outward demonstration of obedience and humility to God but it is not to be and here's the trick and here's kind of the whole point or one of the main themes of Matthew chapter 6 that we just read it is not to be an outward demonstration to man and that's what Jesus was was ripping on in Matthew chapter 6 look at verse number 16 moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for the disfigure their faces they may appear unto men to fast verily I sand you that they have their reward but thou and thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast not unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeeth in secret shall reward thee openly so what are we doing we're praying right we're praying and we're asking God for something right when we're praying and we're in these extreme situations Nehemiah Esther Jehoshaphat you name it people in the Bible David that fasted and prayed and sackcloth they're asking God for something in a time of emergency especially in these cases and look they're asking for God to reward them with a positive answer here and God is saying this is this fasting you're supposed to do it in a way that you're not doing it to be spiritual to other people you're not supposed to come to church and be like you know maybe look fasting is something that people in the Old Testament New Testament it's available to you you should do it you should spiritually fast if you have something that is heavy on your heart a big decision in your life you should fast but I'm not going to come and tell you that you know I've got this big decision in my life and I'm fasting right now like when I was telling you I was fasting that's just that's fasting for health reasons and things like that when I fast spiritually that's between me and God I am not supposed to come to church and be like listen I got this big thing going on and I'm just I'm just I've been fasting for four days and you know you come to church and you're like you know you're like everybody's like what's wrong brother nothing I'm fasting and you know I'm super spiritual you know and you know it's an outward demonstration to men at that point and God says at that point good enough you know you've got your reward because as I come to church and I'm up here and I can hardly preach because I'm just like I'm so much more spiritual than all of you because I've been fasting for five days you know that's my reward because when you all think I'm awesome because of that you won't but when you all think that that's great God's just saying you know that's your reward right there your reward is that you know you went and bragged on how great and spiritual you were that goes for anything by the way you know they're trying to out spiritualize everybody else I mean look there's your reward right there okay I mean that's the whole thing the part of the theme of the beginning of Matthew chapter 6 was just doing all these outward things to be look at how spiritual I am but the Bible is saying that we have this it's something that we should use but keep it between you and God keep it between you and God it's that's what spiritual fasting not you and everyone around you I mean example there's a lot of examples of this today went you know when I was a Lutheran and Catholics the same thing you know it's everybody what did you give up for lent you know and I was just talking about what they gave up for lent and no one ever really gave it up anyway that I ever knew I'm sure some people do but it was just all about telling people what you gave up for lent you know or the oh man I used to work with this Jewish guy and this Jewish guy so you know you know as a as a Jew he became a religious Jew and he can't eat bacon and every single time we went to my wife is laughing because she knows every single time we go to dinner anywhere at any company event anything whatever this guy was just like is there bacon in this you know cuz you know I can't have bacon he just had to announce to everybody at the table that he can't eat bacon he asked one time if there was bacon and mashed potatoes and I'm like man who puts bank I said this I was like who puts banking and mashed potatoes you know Ash Wednesday you know everyone walking around with the cross on their forehead it's the same thing it's the same thing you have your reward you're doing things to be seen of men God's not interested in that God here is giving you some tools he's giving you some tools look prayers a tool that we have we can go in a closet and we can meet with God we only have one mediator Jesus Christ we can go and we can just meet with Jesus anytime we want that's a tool this is like a this is like a bolt-on you know extension of the tool is what it is it's like a it's like a lever you know on the wrench think of it that way but it's between you and God nobody else turn to Isaiah chapter 58 Isaiah chapter 58 and it matters it matters if you do it for the wrong reasons or you do it to be seen of men it's of no effect it's of no benefit to you so why would you do that Isaiah chapter 58 look at verse number three people fasting for the wrong reasons you can see this in the Bible as well Isaiah chapter 58 look at verse number three the Bible says wherefore have we fasted say they and thou see us not wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou take us no knowledge behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors behold you fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness you shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for man to afflict his soul that's he's saying that's what it's for to afflict your soul is it up to bow down his head as a bull rush and to spread sackcloth is it is it to bow down his head as a bull rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him what they'll call this a fast and acceptable day to the Lord is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free that you break every yoke is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and to the bring the poor that are cast out to the house when they'll see us the naked they'll cover him when they'll hide us not thyself from thine own flesh these people are fasting for the wrong reasons here they're doing it the wrong way you know in the day of their flat fast they they find pleasure and in and they're exacting all their labors they're not they're not fasting for the Lord they're fasting for the wrong reasons with the wrong heart so your motives matter and the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6 these people they have the reward they have the reward so you know in conclusion you know tonight you know fasting is biblical it's something that we should do it's something that it's a tool that you should use in your life so you say how do I do it how do I fast well I mean you know let me just give you some examples of spiritual fast turn to Daniel chapter 10 I mean first of all you could just not eat for 24 hours that that's a that's a decent fast not eating anything for 24 hours if you're not used to doing that that will be a challenge for you it will be a sacrifice for you to do that to not eat anything for 24 hours 48 hours it can be done okay I mean so you could I mean but when you when you set a fast to yourself keep it private and follow through on it you know I mean it's I mean think about it you're trying to show your own I mean just think about the silliness of this for a second okay you're trying to and my wife and I kind of you know she she knows when I'm fasting and I know when she's fasting obviously not to to you know impress each other or whatever but because we're living together you know and you know she's cooking the meals and and I'm seeing her and I'm like let's go to dinner and she's like I can I'm like oh man but I mean you know the point is is that it's a it's a challenge it can be a challenge too too fast but just think of the silliness of declaring okay I'm praying about something I have a bad situation in my life or I have a big decision coming up that's another good one I have a big decision I don't want to make the wrong decision okay I need God's help on this so I'm gonna fast I'm gonna fast for 48 hours I'm not gonna eat anything for 48 hours I'm gonna drink water but I'm gonna do that and then you're just like you get like hour 12 and you're like man I need a in and out double double right now and you just go have it okay think of the think of the silliness of that you basically told God that you're gonna show him that you're gonna be obedient and you're gonna come to him with a request you're gonna come to him with a request and then you're just gonna just back out of everything you know of your side of the bargain that you made in that case it doesn't make any sense you would be better off not doing it you would be better off not doing it in Daniel chapter 10 Daniel did a partial food fast okay look at Daniel chapter 10 so you could just not eat anything for a day I mean that that's a that's a decent fast Daniel chapter 10 look at verse number two the Bible says in those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks and I ate no pleasant bread neither came flesh or wine in my mouth neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled so Daniel just he put off in this case he put off you know good food he put off the the king's type food the meat whatever something it was a sacrifice for him and he did it he did that sacrifice for three weeks but look the bottom line is you know make the commitment and follow through on it is the key with fasting okay turn to Esther chapter 4 here's another one it's just a complete fast like eat or drink nothing eat or drink nothing now you make your own you know decisions on on these things but what I'm telling you is you know follow through on the fast that you decide to take Esther chapter 4 she was going to go and she was going to approach the king Esther was going to risk her life for the people okay so she was going to go and she was asking people to pray for her she's like hey pray for me you know go to God for me that I may you know be successful in this case that the king may not kill me look at verse number 16 and she says this she says go gather all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me and neither excuse me neither eat nor drink three days night or day I also in my maidens will fast likewise and so I go in under the king which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish of course this famous verse there but she's saying she's saying have all the people eat or drink nothing for three days now that look that that's an extreme one okay that's an extreme one Paul took the same one in Acts chapter 9 when Paul was blinded in the Bible says he ate or drank nothing for three days I mean I mean imagine I mean he's beseeching God I mean he just he just met Jesus on the side of the road and Jesus blinded him and you know he ate or drank nothing for three days like Paul knew what a fast was he was a religious Jew now I mean you drinking nothing for three days is extreme you ever heard of the rule of three the rule of three like if you ever you know read a survival book or something you know the rule of three is this you can go you know what is it you can go three minutes without air you can go three days without food and you go three weeks without water no I'm sorry you go three days without water and you go three weeks without food but I mean you know and you could go longer than three weeks obviously Jesus went forty days forty nights which is possible but I mean that's a general rule of thumb so three days as Esther did without eating or drinking anything that you know that's extreme okay I wouldn't necessarily recommend that one but the point is you know choose a fast there's lots of different types of fast choose something that is a sacrifice to you and follow through on it here's another thing you can do here's another thing you can do you can fast look you can fast from other things there's there's the Bible talks about in Exodus chapter 19 the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 of fasting from you know fasting from a relationship with your spouse you know the Bible you know talks about you know with consent by the way you know with consent for a time all right but it just it just means what the point is the same is that you are denying the flesh for a certain period of time to humble yourself and to approach God for a request that's what you're doing okay so let me just tie it all together here you know we started out with some biblical advice on food you know but and then we talked about the reasons for spiritual fasting how you could spiritually fast it's something like it's something I we don't talk about it a lot and you know I I don't know if if you all fast or you don't but look you should and and if you're praying and especially if you're praying for something important or you know something coming up you should fast you know you should proclaim a fast to God it's it's available to you okay it's very very biblical it's very biblical but look here's an interesting thing that I just want to close with this evening the rules and the concepts in the Bible as with look they are almost they're always if it's a command in the Bible you say okay these are commands about they're always good for us they're always good for us fasting is a powerful spiritual tool that we can use but it's a way to humble ourselves before God it's an outward demonstration to God it you know and it should be done you know with humility between you and God but look as with all other things just think about fornication and drunkenness and just sin in general if you follow God's commands on these things it's literally good for you physically I mean that's the the beauty of the the body and then you know this is becoming kind of a trendy thing like this intermittent fasting you know he's starting to be the new trendy type of diets you're starting to see it turn to Proverbs chapter 23 but there's a lot of health benefits to you know intermittent fasting which is basically what you know fasting in the Bible is about it's not like you fast forever look at Proverbs chapter 23 in verse 21 the Bible says for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and this is really interesting and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags so the Bible here is comparing somebody who's a glutton because look science will tell you the same thing that somebody who's a glutton you know what they're gonna do they're gonna be tired all the time you know what happens when you eat too much you get tired I mean don't you have that I mean you eat a bunch of turkey at Thanksgiving and you eat way too much food and everyone just takes a nap afterwards everyone falls asleep you know what happens when you fast you know what happens when you stop eating too much you gain energy you gain energy I told my wife when I started doing like that intermittent fasting and I started you I mean I just felt like a different person I mean it was crazy I mean it was a you don't see a lot I mean you know we take vitamins and we do all these things but I haven't done too many things in my life that it made such a big difference as that it's just it was a super big change but look even I looked up health calm here's some here's some scientific things that just eating less intermittent fasting will do for you blood sugar control it'll boost your immune system I mean hello blood pressure it'll fix blood pressure problems heart health heart disease kills I don't know everybody I mean heart disease is a huge problem in the United States it improves brain function I'm still waiting for that one it boosts metabolism like it just makes everything better so not only are you eating less but your metabolism gets gets higher that's why you lose weight so fast and then here's a really I've solved a huge mystery here I've solved a huge mystery look at increases HGH and testosterone like 5x after two days you start inner intermittent fasting and testosterone and HGH human growth hormone increase especially in men after two days I mean this is the main reason I'm convinced of it that men have less testosterone than they did you know if you ever heard the you know read the article you are half the man that your grandpa was I mean literally testosterone is dropping like 1% in men in the United States every single year it's ridiculously scary it's just it's because we don't exercise and we eat garbage that's what it is mystery solved but look this is I mean this is the reason that you know it slows aging it prevents cancer there's a whole slew of other things but I made up one on my own okay I mean I mean I felt so much better I'm gonna continue doing it as long as you know as long as I can but look here's the thing maybe God who designed this thing this body that we're living in was actually on to something when he gave us all this advice on how to eat when to eat what to eat you know how much sugar to eat you know you know what a lot of people in 2020 died from not to get into it but they died from a lifetime of gluttony is what they died from you know mankind I mean I mean just think of the mankind thinks that we can just go through this life and do whatever we want for decades and there's gonna be no consequences I mean it's you know we can live however we want we can deny ourselves nothing whatever I feel at the moment I'm gonna have that that's that's where we're at in this country and there will be no consequences to anything that that's never gonna be true no matter how people think you know it should be true that is never going to be true ever but let me add number you know the what let me add one more at the end of the list it is good for us it is good for us in general to learn to deny the flesh that is good let's say you pray you pray every day but you know every two weeks you have something that you have you know you it's real serious or it's a bigger concern you know if you put in fasting into your you know more serious prayers or however you want to implement in your life look that's gonna be good for you that's gonna be good for you spiritually that's gonna be good for your relationship with the Lord and look that is gonna be good for you physically and it's gonna be good for you spiritually in the sense that it will give you training in denying the flesh that's gonna give you all kinds of training to deny the flesh because look what did Jesus choose what did Jesus choose to be tempted of the devil he chose hunger why did because it's such a powerful feeling it's such a powerful fleshly desire if you can learn to control that one I think you got a chance at controlling sin in your life you're gonna deal with this flesh your whole life on this earth as long as you're living on this earth you're gonna have temptations and these fleshly desires you might as well get good at controlling it and this is a good way to do it it's a good way to do it just it's such a great example of how things in the Bible things that God puts in place for us are just they have so many other benefits that we don't even think about so I mean fasting it's a it's a it's an outward denial of the flesh it humbles us before God when we come to God in prayer but look it's a good thing to do in your life in general and it will just give you so many benefits in your life all right let's have some cake let's pray