 Church, I would like to share with you a message today. They will be called God's Chosen Fast. As with all of our messages, the notes for messages are on your YouVersion Bible app that you can just download straight into your computer or they will be available in whatever people will be consuming and re-watching that. If you have your Bible, let's go to Isaiah chapter 58 and verse three. Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls and you did not take notice? And if we go a little bit further, we see that in fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and you exploit all of your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strive and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. And then God begins to kind of again correct the issue of fasting. So I'm gonna share with you today about the way God sees a fast. I will be very honest, my first confession will be this, is that I avoided this chapter. I did not like this chapter when I was fasting because it almost felt like God was dissing on fasting. The same way as this quote that is going around, if you're fasting and gossiping, then go ahead and eat. And of course that quote is said by people who are not fasting and anybody who shares it usually doesn't fast. So just, so you know, when you hear stuff like that, you're like, for those of you who are not fasting, yeah, that's right, all of you fasting people, you just punch a religious war, you know, like crazy people. And so when I read this, I'll be honest with you. I was like, it's almost like God is like, you know, you're fasting, I don't care about it because you're not good enough. That's how I've read it before. And so today what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna, as I've been reading for the last few weeks during this fast, I'm actually gonna dive into the context of what this means. I have two short points. One will be about the requirement of God's fast and the other one will be about the reward of God's fast. But before we dive into that, God rebukes Israel and he says, you're saying we fasted and you didn't hear us. We fasted, you did not notice us. And God responds and he's like, you're right. So that tells us not every fast is created equal. Can I say that again? Put the people in the back. Not every fast is created equal. That means that just because you forego food and the church is doing it, it does not mean that it actually pleases God. Now it's not wrong. God is not gonna strike you or punish you for that. You might lose some pounds and actually feel better afterwards. There's health benefits, but the fast that God expects or God honors is the fast that has to honor God. God ignores the fast that ignores him. Now the Israel was given only one fast to do a year. It was on Yom Kippur. So at the end of September, beginning of October, this fast, it was recorded. I'm gonna read to you one verse about this fast. It's in Leviticus, chapter 16, verse 29. It says the following, this shall be a statue for you forever. In the seventh month, so that's at the end of September, on the 10th day of the month, you shall afflict your souls. That's what we've been doing for the last seven days. But this is what God says, and do not work at all. Whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells with you. So God had two requirements for the Old Testament believers during a fast that he commanded only one fast a year and only one day a year to fast. Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, pretty much where the priests killed two goats, one goat was sent out as a goat of scapegoat. It pretty much represented Israel's sin being separated and the other goat was killed and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat and this symbolized your sins are paid for. And God says, when this procession is happening, when your sins are being atoned, covered, I want you on that day to afflict your soul. Now in the original language, it simply means, and as Israel practiced it for 3,500 years, is to fast. This was a fast of walking in brokenness before God and part of this fast, God commanded Israel to do this. Do not work, okay? So in Isaiah 58, have you noticed, God is coming in and rebuking Israel and he's saying this, on the day of fasting, he's like, I've chosen that day, but he said, you are working. And on the top of that, he says, all of the people under you are working. You're making people pull in double shifts and he's like, you're exploiting your workers. So God is coming in and saying, he's like, that's not what I asked you. I asked you very clearly on the day of Atonement, do not work. So the problem with Israel was that they were disobeying God while fasting. So anytime that we disobey God while fasting, well, that fast is not going to bring the results that God wants us to bring. So the goal is not to stop fasting. The goal is to stop disobeying God. Come on somebody, all right? So now for us as Christians, that is not the requirement. There's nowhere in the Bible, in the New Testament where the scripture tells us that if you are fasting, stop working. So that doesn't apply to us and Jesus' blood covered our sin. We no longer have priests bringing once a year to goats killing one and sending one into the wilderness. So that is done and completed in Jesus Christ. To receive salvation, you don't have to fast but you still have to humble yourself. Come on somebody. To receive the gift of eternal life, you don't have to mourn and walk afflicting your soul but you do have to surrender your soul. You're with me. Now, when it comes to Christian fasting, which is different than the Old Testament fasting, we don't have to stop working. We're not doing it on the day of Atonement. We don't have the day of Atonement. We have the day of salvation. And the day of salvation could be any day for anybody. The rest of the principles will still apply to us. Now I want you to notice five things got correct. So five things he requires during his fast that will still apply to us even in the New Testament. And now this is what I'm going to agree with the quote that if you're fasting and gossiping, well, go ahead and start eating. I would like to say go ahead and just stop gossiping. But let me highlight five things in the scripture that God says he requires on his kind of a fast. And we will take the verses. So I'm going to do a little bit of reading. So for those of you who brought your Bible or you have your Bible right in front of you, follow me through. This is Sunday morning. This is a church time and this is time for the Bible. In verse six of 58, it says the following. Is this not a fast that I have chosen to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke. So the first thing that God expects us during a fast is while we're fasting, if we've been doing this before fasting or we're still doing that, this has to stop. And that we have to stop hurting other people. It's plain and clear. Now none of us in here have slaves. If you still have slaves somewhere in your basement, stop it. Like that's illegal. But that's wrong. But since we don't have slavery, that's been abolished, praise God. And we no longer have whole people in slavery who owe us money. We simply report them to collections and then the other people deal with them, lawyers deal with them and everything. We still as Christians are possible to hold people hostage and hurt people with our words and with our behavior. In other words, if you are fasting and you're holding unforgiveness or bitterness or offense towards somebody, God is saying, hey, this is a good time to let go of that offense, let go of that hate that you have toward that person. This is a good moment. When you're fasting, it's a good moment to examine your heart, make sure your heart, fasting has to lead to forgiveness. Come on, somebody. Fasting has to lead to forgiveness. Maybe it's your ex, maybe they, you are right to be angry at them. Maybe you honestly, they deserve to burn in hell. But you are not the judge. You have to release them. And God says this, is this not a fast I have called? And he says, hey, stop binding people. Stop putting unnecessary restrictions, bondages on people's lives that's not supposed to be there. Don't make people's life a living hell because you're so self-righteous. Guys like, let go of that. Stop doing that, come on, somebody. Number two, I want you to notice, and it's verse seven, is it not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked that you cover him, the second one is God is saying, when you're fasting, start helping people. So the first one is stop hurting people and the second one is start helping people. During a fast, it's normal for the Lord to lead you to someone you can help. It could be financially, it could be with an advice, it could be with a contract, it could be with a good deed, it could be with a good word. Pay attention to those promptings, why? Because God is far more interested, not only in the food not coming into our mouth, but also things exiting our heart, like love, charity, peace, and joy. Many times during the fast, so this is called the sin of omission. Sin of omission simply means it's when you have the opportunity to do something good and you choose not to do that. The sin of commission, it's the other one where we mentioned where you're not supposed to do something and you are doing that. And so it may seem like, well, I'm fasting already, everybody leave me alone. See, but God looks at fasting and he's like, I want you to help the poor. I want the church to help the poor. I want the Christians to help the poor. Now it's easy to tell, eh, you know what? They made poor financial decisions, it's their problem. I'm gonna go ahead and pay taxes and let the government help the poor. There's a welfare program, there's homeless shelters, it is not my job. But my friends, when you are beginning to draw closer to the Lord, you have to submit yourself to God's requirements. And God is saying, I hold you accountable to help the poor. I want you to help the poor. The number three, I want you to notice what the Lord says. If we further into verse seven, it says, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh. Number three means don't avoid your physical and your spiritual family. Do not hide yourself from your own flesh. That simply means don't run from your family. Now it's easy to run from your family because sometimes you're sick of them. You didn't choose them. It's like God in heaven chose you, put you into them. And the moment you hit 18, you got your college, you know, you're going to college. And after that, you're like, you know what, I still at least, I'm gonna see you at Christmas and Thanksgiving. And I'm not even sure about the Thanksgiving at Christmas because none of you are vaccinated or maybe you're not vaccinated so they're not inviting you. And so you're like, you know what, I'm gonna see you later. I'm gonna send you a few emojis every few weeks. And so you're beginning to avoid your family. Maybe for some of you, your family is a place of pain. It's a place of hurt. It's a place of disappointment. It's a place of they rejected you, they called you with names and everything. But you guys, that's still your family. Even if it's dysfunctional, it's still your family. Maybe your family member is in jail and you're like, man, I disowned my family. Christian, as a Christian, how could you? Did God ever disown you when you hit into trouble? Come on somebody. Well, my family doesn't serve God. So what, they're still your family. Do not turn your back on your family. It's part of the fast. God is coming in and saying, he says, and you pretty much avoided your flesh and blood. And it also means your spiritual family. You know, some of us are really good with the physical family, but we sure do not like other Christians or be close to them. We're like, I just wanna come to church. And then honestly, the moment I'm doing an altar call, you're hitting the road. You're like, I don't wanna talk to anybody. I don't want nobody to talk to me. And the last thing I need to do is go to a small group on Tuesday night. And somebody to ask me, so how do you feel about that? No, I'm not going there. And so you're avoiding your spiritual family. I wanna challenge you this season. Stop running from your physical and your spiritual family. Come on somebody, drop that fire emoji in the chat if you're receiving this right now. Number four, Isaiah 58, verse nine. And this says the following, the last, the latter part of verse nine. If you take away the yoke from your midst, as we mentioned, not to do bad stuff, but listen to this. The pointing of the finger. Now I'm pretty sure it's not talking about the middle finger because at this time, this was not the practice of the middle thing. This is talking about a person who is in self-judging, self-righteous, condemning way points the finger at other people. Whether it's at the ungodly or at godly people. In other words, the Lord is saying, remember, when you're pointing a finger, you got three ones pointing back at you. So stop pointing your finger at other people. Stop judging other people. That does not mean that if your brother or sister sins that you cannot come alongside and bring correction, but you need to pray for them first and then you speak truth in love. There's a difference between speaking the truth in love and the pointing of a finger. The pointing of the finger, some people have a gift. They think they have a gift of the Holy Ghost. And some of them today, it's pretty obvious, online especially, all they have is internet connection. And they think that because they have an internet connection it entitles them to be an internet police. And everybody's live shim and they're doing videos about how this man is wrong. That man is wrong. This person is wrong. They're doing absolutely nothing with their life. All they're doing is pointing a finger. And God's like, if you're fasting listen, stop pointing a finger. Come on, fasting is the time to repent. Fasting is not a time to begin to point fingers at other people. Are you with me? Number five, if we read that verse further, it says the following, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, speaking wickedness. Amplified Bible says speaking harsh, speaking wicked words. And so what this means is that God is saying as the food is not going in, the Hebrew word for fasting is close your mouth. That's fasting. And we're doing, it's easier to close your mouth with food. It's way harder to close your mouth with gossip. Come on. I know it's early in Sunday morning, talk to me. Malice, evil speaking, judging another person, condemning, oh, did you see her? Did you see him? God is saying I want you to not just close your mouth to food, I want you to close your mouth to malice, evil speaking, gossip, and wrong things. Come on, Subah. So the fast that God has chosen requires five things. We stop hurting, we start helping. And then it says, don't avoid your family. Stop pointing fingers and stop spreading rumors. Stop gossiping. The church is supposed to be united. The church cannot be united if we backbite everybody. A fasting is a beautiful time to repent of our speech sins, of our vocal sins. And we can build with our hands and destroy with our mouth. With our mouth we can speak things about other brother, other sisters. We can speak against the pastors. We can speak against other leaders. We can constantly judge and spread that. And I just wanna encourage you, if you're one of those people that it seems like everything that is wrong in the family or in the business or in the church comes to you and it seems like all of the people trust you because you're such a godly person. It seems like all the wounded people come to you. I wanna ask you a question. Is it because you're also wounded? And what are you doing with that? Are you helping to fend the flame of gossip? Mal is speaking. Or are you simply bringing water buckets every time somebody's bringing fire and saying, you know what, we shouldn't talk about like this. If you can't talk to their face, don't talk behind their back. If you've never talked to them, you shouldn't talk behind their back. Why? Because sooner or later, whatever you hear about somebody else, that person, mark my word, three months, four months, six months, will have exactly same conversation about you to somebody else. Some people just have that gift of walking around and gossiping, walking around and spreading rumors. And it divides the body of Christ. We are gonna be a united church here, hungry Jen. We're gonna speak love. We are going to speak peace toward each other. Come on, somebody, those of you on live stream, drop that, I don't know the emoji for stop gossiping, but I'm pretty sure somebody can figure out an emoji for stop gossiping. But we are not going to gossip. We are going to pray for people instead. And we are going to, if you have a really a big problem, we're gonna speak to them, not about them. Come on. That's the requirement of the fast that God has chosen. And the Lord says, if we correct these behaviors, if we change these behaviors, He promises us few things. And so this is now, I'm going to go into the seven rewards of this fast. If we do it the right way. The seven rewards of God's chosen fast. The seven rewards of God's chosen fast. And let's look into the first one. And that is verse eight. So I'm still in the same chapter, verse eight. Then your light will break forth like the morning. And later on, God said the similar thing. Then your light shall dawn in verse 10. Your light shall dawn in the darkness. And your darkness will be like a noon day. So this simply means that your light will break through. And your darkness will become like a noon day. So the Lord is saying, when I and you, us as believers, we're fasting in God's way. He promises this. Your light will break through. God doesn't say you will get the light. That means as a Christian, you already have the light, but this light will break through. How many of you notice that about, you know, first week of fasting or something, your spiritual sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is greater than before? Have you noticed that as you're beginning to fast, your prayer life goes to another level? Something about this shell life, something about this flesh, something about these carnal desires. I'm not saying that they're gone, but they seem to kind of fade away and the light seems to shine brighter that's inside of you. I'm not talking about the new age way where, you know, everybody kind of has their light and they're trying to keep that light. I'm talking about the light of the world, Jesus Christ shining brighter. The Lord's saying, when you're fasting the right way, I will cause your light not to get brighter. I will just cause it to break through because all these restrictions of the flesh and the soul and other things will begin to fade away. In fact, I will cause your darkness because everybody who has light also has some parts in their life that are dark, where we delete things that nobody, hope nobody will see it, or we simply, oh Lord, I'm sorry, I did it again, kind of a stuff, or maybe certain behaviors, attitudes, maybe some people live in having addictions. The Lord is saying, I will turn your darkness into a noon day. I will turn your addiction and I will turn it into something else. I will take your bad habits and I will turn it to something else. I will take your darkness and turn it into a noon day. I will take your weakness and I will give my strength in that weakness. I will bring revival to your problems and your inner struggles. Somebody give God some praise right now. The second thing I want you to notice, he says in verse eight, your healing will spring forth speedily. And if you go a little bit later in verse 11, the similar thing the Lord says, and he says the following in there, he says, he will strengthen your bones. So twice God says, when you're fasting the right way, not only your light will break through, meaning there will be a spiritual breakthrough, but he's saying there will be healing to your body. That's incredible. This has spoken hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ, that's over 2,500 years from now. There is a lot of scientific data that has been done and released already on the power of intermittent fasting. The fasting is actually pretty popular in our culture today, especially the small fastings and the intermittent fasting. There's a lot of science that is behind that and I'm gonna read to you just few of the things that fasting does to your body. Fasting promotes blood sugar control by reducing insulin resistance. Fasting promotes better health by fighting inflammation. Fasting may enhance heart health by improving blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Fasting may boost brain function and prevent neurodegenerative disorders. Fasting aids weight loss and boosts metabolism. Fasting increases a growth hormone which is vital for metabolism. Fasting could delay aging and extend longevity. There's been a science, it's not as much science as the one that I've just read from mainly the smaller fasts, but there are clinics and I watched few of the doctors this week, some of them are in Germany, some of them here in the States, videos that get millions of views on YouTube and these are legitimate doctors. There's not just people who bought their degree on eBay. These are legitimate doctors who, for example, in Germany, they have a clinic where they host people, I think it's over 30 years, host people for extended fastings in the clinic and they do studies on them. They've released a lot of studies, but because it's not a lot of people doing this, they cannot necessarily say, well, this is it, but studies have been done on people who fast for 21 days, including 40 days, just on water. The improvements in their health is remarkable. Like I've read some testimonies and these are not Christian doctors, these are not Christian people fasting. These are people who are simply fighting depression, fighting some other things, fighting, taking 20, 30 medications and they're giving 21 days, they're locking themselves in this clinic, the doctor is watching their vitals and they're drinking a little bit of broth during the lunch, they're still exercising, you see all of their regime or what they do throughout the day and these testimonies are incredible of what is happening with these people. God is promising this in His word. If we're fasting the right way, your healing will spring forth. Your bones will be made stronger. Why? Because first few days when you're fasting, your body is getting rid of all the toxins, that's why you feel sicker, that's why you feel dizzy a little bit, that's why you have bad breath for the remaining of the fast, but that's why all of these things are happening, why? Because the body is like, finally, you stopped eating. Finally, we can focus all the energy on repairing the rest of the stuff you've damaged. And the body is removing all of those toxins and finally, and you're like, oh, but I'm gonna die, no, no, no, listen to me very carefully. There's a difference between hunger and craving. Hunger goes away after three days. Why? Because the body begins to eat off of the rest of the cells that, not the good cells, don't worry, they're not eating the good stuff, plus we don't have much good left anyway. Okay, so because of the sin and the curse, a lot of our stuff is already damaged, but the body begins to eat the extra fats. Therefore, your body is fine, but the craving is here. Ask any person who went on a 21 day or 40 day water fast, they'll tell you one thing. After three days, no problem. All the craving you get is right here. Why? Because you're used to eating. Food, for us, is a source of pleasure, it's a source of comfort, and it's a source of community. Like, I miss those moments, you know, where we get a chance to chew on something that's not water, you know? You're like, something is missing in my life, and you know, it's a fast, but life is so slow. You're like, it's still two o'clock, and it's still only the fifth day. It seems like I've been fasting already for three years, and it's only one day and a half, because everything slows down. Why? Because the body is working on the inside supernaturally by God to repair certain things, to restore certain things. Now, of course, if you're pregnant, you're nursing mom, or if you are maybe on some medications and you're facing terminal illnesses, of course, we discourage you highly. Please do not fast. You will hurt yourself, and you will hurt the baby. But those of you who are healthy, hey, jump on. Let's do it. Two weeks left, let's do it. Those of you online, and you're just watching right now, join us for this fast. It's, when you're fasting in the first year, in the first month of the year, you're tithing your time. Not just your money, you're tithing your time. Even if you do three days, and then take a break and do another day, or do some kind of a fast in the next 14 days, I believe God will bless it. Let's go further. Benefit number three. The Bible says in here that your righteousness will go before you in verse eight. Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. I love this. It says this. Your righteousness? Now, it does not mean that if you and I are fasting, that God's gonna make us more righteous. We are righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. Righteousness is a gift from God. But righteous living is we work out what God has worked in. And this is what God is saying. As you're going into this year, I want your righteousness to go before you, and my glory to go behind you. That means that you and I are gonna be surrounded. Your righteousness, meaning the right living, pursuing the Lord, doing what is right before God, not just before the society, not just being politically correct, not just doing what everybody's doing, but doing something that you know is right before God. God's like, your righteousness, that means you're not gonna be a person of compromise. Your compromise is not gonna go before you. Your righteousness will go before you. Because God is gonna conquer your compromise. God's gonna conquer your weaknesses. I'm not saying you'll be perfect, but God is saying there will be righteousness about you. And God's like, when your righteousness goes before you, my glory will go behind you. Come on, somebody. Not the devil, not your ex, not your past sins, not the pharaoh trying to hunt you down. God's like, my glory, the same way as it happened with Israel, will go behind you. I will protect you behind you. And your righteousness will protect you in front of you. A lot of people adventure into businesses, into families, but because they have a lot of hidden sin, what happens is the sooner or later people find out those sins and everything falls apart. But this year, as you let God's righteousness and your righteous living go before you and God's glory go behind you, I believe somebody's gonna be hashtag protected. Come on. Number four. I want you to see in verse 11 and verse 12, the Lord will guide you continually. No, verse nine, I apologize, verse nine. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. I want you to notice twice, he says, then. So when we do the fast in God's way, then he says, your light, your righteousness, my glory. And then he says in here, then you will call and I will answer. I love this because God pretty much guarantees a quick answers to prayer. I wonder if lack of fasting and fasting in a way that pleases God is one of the hindrances for answered prayer. God promises, then you will call and then you will cry, I will answer. Maybe you're tired of living life praying and not seeing answers. I wanna encourage you to fast because the reward of fasting is you will call, I will answer. And sometimes you're not gonna call because it will be an emergency, so you will cry. God help! And God's like, I'll get that, I'll pick that up. I'll answer that, come on somebody. Number five, and that is in verse 11 now, he says the following, the Lord will guide you continually. I believe that for our church and I wanna speak that to every person for this year. Not only God answering our prayer, not only our righteousness going before us, not only the light breaking through, not only our healing springing forth, but God saying, I will guide you continually. It might be a conversation you will have with somebody. It will be a random email that you might get. It might be the shower thought. Have you ever had those shower thoughts? Like the changes to trajectory of your life? It could be a message that you'll receive. It could be somebody will say something behind this pulpit and that will have nothing to do with what the Holy Spirit will use it to spark in your heart. But the Lord is saying, I will guide you and I love this word continually. So not just one time, I will guide you continually. A testimony that I have last year when we did the fast. And one of the things that I prayed and as I'm praying for this year and I'm praying for all of us as well is the Lord guide each one of our people individually and continually. Isaiah Saldivar was in my house, he was here speaking and then we went after the service to my house. We were just chatting, eating and Isaiah starts unloading me about how important for me, he talks about himself first and he's like how important it is to be on YouTube, how many people it can impact. And I'm listening at first, I'm very defensive. I'm like, bro, you're not a pastor. We have a local church. I got a lot of stuff to do. I don't have this thing to be, to do this thing that you're doing. And he keeps, you know, he's persistent. So he keeps on going and going and going and going. And then came a point where something just switched. My heart caught fire. I mean, literally, I'm like burning on the inside. That this, this is it. So I drop him off at the hotel. I'm going to sleep. I can't sleep at night. I'm tossing back and forth. And I'm literally getting this like, like, that's it. God is like speaking to me. So wake up very early, like three or four. I'll run to church. I'm praying and like, I'm literally like on fire. Like I need a fire truck to put the fire out. And I'm texting Isaiah. I'm like, Isaiah, something happened to me. Something happened to me. You know, I fasted three months before for God to lead me. It was a casual conversation on Wednesday night at my house. But see, God knows, listen to me. Once he decides to lead you, you won't miss it. You won't miss it. You will know. You will plan not to come to hungry Jen, but God knows that's what you're supposed to be. And he will bring you here. That's where you'll find your wife. You just won't miss it. It will be that one decision. It will be that one call. And he was just like, man, so much of my life changed by one thing. But please understand, God will guide you continually. Hey. So three weeks later, you know, on Thursday night, I launched in my basement, start streaming. Everything changed. We started to see now, this week, I think I broke 220,000 subscribers on YouTube. The amount of testimonies that I get today, the amount of people that come to our church because of that, it's incredible. I look back, I was in the morning today, in the early morning prayer, and I was kind of reflecting and praying for the church, touching the pews, praying for people who will sit here, praying for people online. And I was remembering, then I said, Lord, that's incredible. You never showed that to me during a fast. But I know that you were planning for that. I could have missed it. But God's like, no, you won't. Because once I decide to lead your life, you won't miss it. It will be clear. Your heart will catch fire. All of your cylinders are gonna be... Waaah! Or sometimes there's a still small voice. You just know that you know that you know that you know. This is God. You won't miss it, my friend. Are you with me? Two more. The Bible says in here, he will satisfy the afflicted soul. So not only the Lord will guide you, he will satisfy your afflicted soul. That means that when there is another translation says, he will satisfy your soul in the land of desert or in a parched place. That means that if you're going through this year, through a parched place, through a dry place, the Lord promises this, that he will still satisfy your soul. Now this doesn't mean that everything in your life might be all right, but he says you will be all right. Yesterday we had a volcano in the ocean. There's waves hitting our shores in Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, and California. Just yesterday one guy came in and tried to take out a Jewish synagogue in Texas. Thankfully he was, everybody was safe and the shooter and that person was taken out. There's a winter blaze heading east coast. We're in the highest rate right now of COVID infections in our region. I'm gonna tell you one thing. This year, the world is only gonna get crazier. Our politics are gonna get more divisive. There's no going back. The world is just getting crazier. There's gonna be more misinformation online. There's gonna be more lying, more political control online, and not just online, but in the world. Everybody's gonna try to control your life and God is not saying that your world is going to be wet. Sometimes the world will be dry. He says, I'll satisfy you in the midst of it. I'll satisfy your soul. I'll satisfy your heart. I'll satisfy your family. I will take care of you. I will help you even in the parched ground. You may say, but I will lose my job. You won't lose God's provision. God will satisfy you. Come on, somebody. I want you to rise to your feet. Those of you online, I want you to get ready to pray with us right now. I'm gonna read to you the last thing. And he says the following. You shall be like a watered garden. Come on, touch your neighbor. I'm like a garden. You're sitting next to a garden. And he said, you shall be like a spring of water. Those of you online, drop that in the chat. I will be like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build all waste places. You shall rise up the foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of streets to dwell in. The last thing, God is promising if you fast the right way, I'll make you a blessing. The first six things I mentioned how God will bless you. But the last thing God is saying, I'll make you a blessing. Two things I want you to watch. He's saying, first, I'll make you a garden. You go to a garden to get food. The second thing he says, I'll make you a spring of river. No, no, I'm not talking about glass of water. A spring of river. And then he says this, some of you guys are going to rebuild the foundations for future generations. That means that in your family, nobody believed God, you're the first one. In your family, nobody had a successful marriage, you're the first one. In your family, nobody was there who did not battle with illness. You will lay a foundation for future generations. I don't know who I'm speaking to. And then he says in here, he says, you will restore the ruins of old cities. That means that in our city, we will make an impact for the kingdom of God. That means in San Antonio, we will make an impact for the kingdom of God. That means the devil, the racism, drug dealers, listen, pedophiles, rapists, all of those bad people. Whatever they've ruined in our city, maybe some bad pastors or bad Christians who ruined faith for other people, God is saying, I'll watch that you will restore the ruins of an Asian city. That's our church. That's you and I, come on somebody. That is Hungarian family. We will repair the ruins of our city. Hallelujah. The last thing that he said there is he said, and you shall be called the repairer and the restoreer. That means the people will start calling you by a different name. You'll be known for, not for what you've been known for, but for what God is gonna be doing through your life. You'll be known with a different name because of what God is about to do in your life. I wanna stand in agreement right now with each and every one of you for these rewards. I'm praying for these rewards for your life. I'm praying for these rewards for my life and for our church. Lord, may your light spring forth. Lord, may healing spring forth. Those of you with diabetes, those of you with problem with insulin in your body, but those of you who have problem with maybe memory already, or you have problem with different challenges in your health. Lord, we're believing for total healing in Jesus' name. For those people who feel like everywhere they go, their past hunts them. Lord, may righteousness go before them and your glory go behind them. For those people who feel like, man, I feel stuck in my life. Man, what am I supposed to do? And you constantly live your life in reaction to everybody's problems instead of in response to your purpose. God is saying, I will guide you continually. For those of us in here today who maybe feel dry and this economy and this political time, as well as in this pandemic has really brought your faith down. And you really just, honestly, you're just tired. You're afraid. You're afraid of building. You're afraid of having children. You're afraid of dreaming because you're like, I don't know what the next guy's gonna come in and what he's going to do. The world is so crazy. God is saying, I wanna satisfy you in the partial place. Even in tri-cities, the desert, I will satisfy you. Come on, somebody, whatever you are at right now, you may be in the poor country. You might not have access to education. You might not even have access to living, to water. God is saying, I wanna satisfy your soul in the desert. But I believe this is what for everybody. God is saying, I wanna make you a blessing this year. I wanna make your home to be an open door for other people to be a disciple. I want your finances to be a blessing to other people. Some of you this year, you will go on the mission trips. Some of you, you're gonna participate in healing and deliverance services. Some of you will go out and evangelize on the streets. Some of you are gonna join the intercession. Why? Because God has called you to be a garden and God has called you to be a spring of water. Come on, lift those hands right now. I want us to begin to pray right now just for that. Begin to intercede right now just for that. Begin to ask the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, let these rewards fall upon me. Let your light break through. Come on, pray through these seven rewards right now. Those of you online, I want you to pray through these seven rewards right now over your life. Place your hand up on yourself, one hand up to God. Those of you on Zoom, raise your hands right now. Pray over these seven rewards over your life. May this be the year. Father, we ask you, Lord, that this would be the year, Lord, where things will break, Father. We ask you, Father, that this will be the year, Lord, where financial burdens, Lord. Financial curses over our life will break, Father. We ask you, Lord, for the things that you have asked us to receive from you, Lord. We ask you, Lord, that you would allow this year, Lord, to break, Lord, the things off of our life that has caused stagnation, Father. We ask you, Lord, that your word is true and evident in our life. We ask you, Father, that you would, Lord, break the curse, Lord, of what you have. Father, I pray that blessing over every person online and those in person. May your light break forth. May your healing break forth. Lord, I ask you in Jesus' name, when we call, may you answer us. Lead us this year into prosperity. Lead us this year into breakthrough. Lead us into wisdom. I pray for those that are overwhelmed with their prosperity, that you will give them wisdom. Lord, God, let supernatural leading happen this year. Father, I pray for those that you will let their righteousness and the glory of God follow them in Jesus' name. Lord, for those that are in the dry season or maybe things are gonna get harder for their life, I pray that their soul is gonna be satisfied. And Lord, I pray that each and every one of us that this year we will be a blessing, that we will be like a garden and like a spring of water, that we will rebuild ruins, that we will lay foundation for future generations and that we will be known not by our wealth, but by our generosity, but by our giving, by the people we're helping. Lord, we choose to fast your way. We choose to repent. We repent of gossip. We repent of rumor spreading and malice. Lord, we repent of hurting people. We release forgiveness. Lord, we choose to help the poor. Lord God, we are not going to point our fingers at other people. We're gonna examine our own heart in repentance. Lord, we're not going to avoid our family and our spiritual family. We're not gonna run. We're going to run to them, Lord, in Jesus' name. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video. It costs you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance, and so many other things, go to HungryGen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.