Know Your Enemy: Remedies Against the Flesh—How to & How Not To Fast (2) | Matthew 6:16-18

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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I wanted to bring up Reformation Month once again today because I posted on our church group an important announcement that I wanted everybody to look at and to sign.

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In light of the fact that we're going to celebrate the Reformation and everything, there's something called the

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Reformation Day Statement and the Reformation Day Declaration that the

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Trinity Foundation put out, which is one of my favorite ministries. I thoroughly enjoy their work, the work of Gordon Clark, John Robbins, and others.

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They are a very, very sound ministry for many things, and they drafted these statements and declarations for the purpose of trying to take a stand for the biblical gospel, which the

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Protestant church has always upheld, and against the ecumenical lies and false gospel of Rome.

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So it's a great document. It's not very long. You can read over them and sign them yourself, and I highly encourage everybody to do that.

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With that being said, last week I mainly was dealing with how we should not fast or improper ways of fasting and how we should also watch what we eat, what we put into our bodies.

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Now, today I want us to continue focusing on how we as God's people primarily should fast now, proper fasting, true fasting, and encourage us to put this into biblical practice so that we can, in our own lives and including in our corporate church fast that we're going to do, that we're going to start today.

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Because the church of Christ must recover the practice of addressing the whole man, the entire man, not just the inner man, not just the spirit, but also the body.

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And what I mean by that, like I mentioned before, is that we must deal with not just sexual sin that affects the body, but also those things which we eat and put into our bodies and which affect our bodies and consequently our flesh and our spirit as well.

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All of this is related and all of this has consequences, what we eat and consume. This is why we need to, as a church, be mindful of our health, our diet, and our food, where it comes from, and all of those things.

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And remember that just because we are saved believers, filled with the

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Holy Ghost now, does not mean that God automatically delivers us from any of the physical and spiritual consequences of eating or drinking the wrong thing, okay?

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And, you know, I mentioned a few, last time, a few things to avoid, but there's several things that you want to be aware of and just avoid.

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Things like soy, and I mentioned monosodium glutamate or MSG, high fructose corn syrup, gluten is another big one, aspartame, these artificial sweeteners and preservatives.

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And you'll see oftentimes that food companies will make you think that something is healthy when it's really not.

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They'll say, oh, sugar -free or fat -free or whatever, but if you look at the back and the ingredients, you will find a different story oftentimes because they'll stuff it with preservatives and fake artificial sweeteners, which are actually, in some cases, worse than just sugar.

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So, those are all things that we need to just be aware of as a church and as individuals and for our family's sake as well, our children too.

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Fasting, then, is a powerful and effective means of disciplining our bodies, among other purposes and benefits, which

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I've mentioned already, and one of the ultimate forms of self -denial when done correctly.

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That's why I'm really excited to get to all of this. I have a brief correction that I wanted to also mention because I said last week that fasting is a means to an end, but I misspoke when

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I said that denying the flesh, mourning, and the health benefits were the means themselves, okay?

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But that's not what I meant. This is actually backwards. Fasting is the means, okay?

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Fasting is the means to the end. The goal or the purpose of fasting are those benefits and rewards which

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God has ordained for our good, like those Reformed authors have said, that I've quoted, and which the

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Lord has also said in this very passage in Matthew 6, 18. So the means is fasting.

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The benefits are better health, mourning, self -denial, all of these things, flesh denial.

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Those things are the goal of fasting. We don't fast just for fasting's sake, just for the sake of it, right?

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And it is one of the most effective biblical solutions to many, if not most, of the problems which plague

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Christians and churches today. So I'm really excited, therefore, to fast together as a church.

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I've never been so excited about this, and I've just learned a lot, and I hope this series has blessed you all as well.

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Last week, I also left us with this thought that we shouldn't guilt trip others when you are fasting or make others feel bad or inferior because you are fasting and they may not be.

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We don't want to be judgmental that way because this is false pharisaic piety, and it, in fact, segues into another important question that we do need to understand and have a biblical answer for.

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Drum roll, please. And that question is, are you allowed to tell people that you are fasting?

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Are you allowed to tell people that you're fasting because this has been the source of a lot of controversy and misunderstanding?

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So I want us to go back and turn to the passage for today in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, in verse 16, where we will find our answer.

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Now, Jesus here, once again, is dealing with the

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Jews and a lot of their objections. So, in Matthew 6, verse 16, we read,

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He's talking about people like the Pharisees, of course. Because it is hypocrisy, right?

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Verse 17, So that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret.

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And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Amen. So, does this mean then that we cannot tell anyone that we are fasting?

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Well, let's think about this for a little bit. Like, what do we do when somebody asks us,

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Hey, let's go eat or let's, you know, let's go get some food or whatever. I mean, what are we supposed to do?

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Are we supposed to, like, lie? Are we supposed to say, no, I'm good. Like, well, why not?

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What's the problem? Like, well, you know, no, just like we don't need to.

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We don't need to make this like difficult or unnecessarily complicated. Right.

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We obviously shouldn't lie about the fact that we're fasting. That's not what we should do.

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Or try to be, you know, how do you say, conspicuous. Because that often makes people want to know more.

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Like, hey, what's going on? Like, why are you, what? You're not eating? Why not? What's going on? So that might even make people more suspicious.

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And so the answer to the question is yes. It is appropriate to tell people that you are fasting.

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It is appropriate. Okay. The issue is how.

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How you say it or how you communicate that. Because otherwise, that would make corporate fasting, like the one we're starting today, impossible.

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Since the whole church would then know whether you were fasting or not. Right. If we're engaging in a corporate fast, then the expectation is that, hey, we're going to be fasting together.

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So there's nothing wrong with that. Right. And again, it's not whether you tell people, it's how you tell it.

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If you're communicating it in a vain manner, in a virtue signaling manner, where, oh, well,

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I'm better than you because I am denying myself and you're just a wretched sinner that has no self -control.

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Right. So not only that, it's actually good to tell your fellow brothers and sisters when you are fasting.

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It's a good thing to tell them that so that they can also intercede in prayer for you.

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Right. That way we can support each other and lift each other up in prayer and intercede for each other during our fast, regardless of what it's for, whether it's for mourning or for self -denial or for whatever it is.

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It is good to encourage each other during our fasting. Right.

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So it also has the other positive effect of encouraging self -reflection for others to determine their own need for a fast.

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Okay. It helps us to kind of check ourselves. Hey, well, okay, this brother's fasting.

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I'll be praying. Well, maybe do I need to go on a fast? Have I been a little bit out of control?

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Have I had a hard time controlling my mouth or my temper or my appetites, what

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I eat or what I see or struggling with sexual sin, whatever it may be? These are really important opportunities for us to go on a fast for, like I've mentioned already.

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So this is good. This is a very good thing to do. As long as we don't do it, like I said, in a self -righteous,

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I am holier than thou manner. Right. We don't want to do it in that way, like the

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Pharisees. And one other obvious thing is that you would have to tell your spouse whether you were fasting.

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You would have to coordinate with that. In fact, you would have to coordinate that with them because of the fact that fasting includes self -denial, including marital intimacy, since fasting will diminish all physical appetites, okay?

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Which includes the desire for marital intimacy. And I'll deal more with this a little bit later.

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So then the main point of Christ's teaching in this passage was in fact to rebuke the false piety and hypocrisy of the

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Pharisees when they fasted, okay? That was the issue. He was rebuking false hypocritical piety when they were fasting to try to make themselves appear better than others, than those around them, okay?

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What this means then is not that we shouldn't tell people that we're fasting, but that we should not nullify or ruin our fast with bad motives for the sake of attention or vainglory or hypocrisy or false piety, right?

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Or this pietism where we try to do these things, you know, because we think they're spiritual when we don't really understand why we're supposed to be doing them.

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Now vainglory, that's an important word that the Bible, that God despises.

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God despises vainglory and vanity in general, right?

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So vainglory means excessive vanity excited by one's own performances, by one's own good works, quote unquote.

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Empty pride. Empty because you have nothing to be prideful about.

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Undue elation of mind. Vain show and boastfulness.

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Boastfulness, right? And Isaiah 58 verse 4 touches on this a little bit where God says, behold, you fast for the wrong reasons, for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.

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You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. In other words, for supplication.

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So we shouldn't fast for the wrong reasons, like I mentioned last week. Okay, so how then should we fast?

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How should we then fast? What is true fasting? What is biblical fasting?

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I think by now we all have a pretty good idea of what it is. But I want to lay out some of these points very clearly for us to follow along in our fast, whenever we fast.

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I appreciate that our confession of faith, the London Baptist Confession of 1689, in chapter 22, which is on religious worship in the

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Sabbath, section 5 says, moreover, solemn humiliation or humility with fastings and thanksgivings upon special occasions ought to be used in a holy and religious manner.

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So like I've established pretty clearly already, in our tradition, in the Reformed faith, the

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Protestant understanding, fasting has been a well -established thing that ought to be done, that we ought to do and recognize because Jesus said, when you fast, when you do fast, do it rightly.

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So I previously covered the major pitfalls of improper or false fasting.

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And that we want to avoid so that we do not cancel out our fast or render it ineffective or unprofitable.

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And always remember that biblical fasting is for our benefit, not for our harm.

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And there are many benefits, like I've mentioned before as well. It is not for asceticism, it is not for self -abasement, and it is not for vainglory, right?

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Like Colossians 2 .18 says, like 1st Timothy 4 says. Because fasting, if you recall, in Greek means to not eat, to not eat nor drink food.

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That is what it means to fast biblically, to not eat or drink food.

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True fasting is when you abstain completely from all food and drink.

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Okay? Now, or another good way to fast is avoid all food, but just drink water.

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Okay, the first one is called a dry fast, where you have neither food nor drink, not even water.

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The other one is called a water fast, where you only drink water and nothing else.

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This is a very good way to fast. Both of them are good, but I would recommend that we try a water fast.

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Okay? And again, you may need to continue your medications, or any supplements that you're on.

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You may need to adjust your medications during your fast. So be careful, right?

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Just be careful, be mindful of these things. But the reality is that fasting, including intermittent fasting, in which you restrict your eating window to only a certain amount of time during the day, may actually boost your health tremendously, and even help you get off your medications.

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So that's why I really want to encourage us to look into this, and to promote it, and to apply it into our lives.

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This is very powerful stuff, but we need to do it properly. And there is no prescribed or predefined number of days that we should fast for.

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Okay? There is no set number of days that we need to do it for. And this is something that I failed to mention when

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I first covered the series on fasting. When I quoted Wilhelmus Abrakel, the

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Dutch Reformed friend of ours and theologian, he actually says that fasting should only be for a single day.

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And this is not correct. This is not right. There's no biblical text or passage or teaching that says you need to do it for only a day.

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That's not right. You need to determine that for yourself. Okay?

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For your particular struggles, for your particular situation. Right?

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When you do fast, make sure then that you do it as long as you need to.

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Okay? Otherwise, you're not going to get the proper effect of the fast. Go as long as you need to.

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And a good recommendation for those of us who are trying to break bad habits or sinful habits is to go on a 21 -day fast.

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Right? But all of this varies, can depend on, again, your situation, your context, your health situation, all of those things.

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So you want to just be aware of that and prepare accordingly. And you will need to do it especially when you know that the flesh has finally broken its grip on you.

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You will feel that tugging, that struggle will subside. And that is when you'll know that you have gained the upper hand over your flesh.

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And it will be easier now to have self -control and to deny yourself because your flesh will no longer try to master you so strongly.

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Even though it always comes back. It will always come back as soon as you start feeding it.

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Even with just normal diet and food. So we always need to keep these things in mind.

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This is the ongoing Christian struggle of flesh versus spirit. Right?

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This is what the Bible repeatedly talks about, what I've preached on for many weeks already. There is the flesh and there is the spirit, and they are at odds.

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They are against one another. The inner man and the outer man.

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The law of my mind versus the law of my body. Right? That is the contrast, the struggle.

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The war against the flesh and the spirit. So this brings me to the next very important takeaway for us and lesson in this, in all of this.

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This is critical to understand, okay? True fasting must also be comprehensive.

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Total, panoramic, all -encompassing, in order to deny the flesh completely.

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Okay? I've already alluded to this before, but we need to really understand. This is one of the most important takeaways from true fasting because otherwise it is not going to help you and it's not going to be effective if we don't do this correctly.

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A biblical fast means that you also stay away from, we abstain from, not just food, not just drink, but also anything else, anything else that will fuel your flesh.

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Okay? And this is where you need to know thyself. Right? Like Calvin wisely says.

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Know thyself, know your weaknesses, and know what activates or what provokes you to sin and what provokes your flesh, what tempts you.

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Right? Stay away from those things. Even if they're good things, it doesn't matter.

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If they're okay things, stay away from them. If they cause you or tempt you to keep from denying yourself in this exercise of fasting.

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Therefore, during our fast, we need to likewise abstain from things like alcohol, entertainment, music,

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TV, movies, social media, etc., and any other distractions in order to instead, so we stay away from those things, to instead fill ourselves and fill our fast to satisfy our souls, rather, with prayer, with biblical meditation, with self -examination and study.

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Right? With reading and studying God's Word. This is what we need to...

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One of the most important takeaways that we need to do. We should abstain from those things which tempt us to sin or to feed our flesh, making it harder for us to deny ourselves, and instead, use this time to fill our souls with the means of grace.

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The means of God's grace. Right? So, it is...

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Even like we read in the question 104 of the Orthodox Catechism, that in short,

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I give up anything rather than go against His will in any way. So, this is sort of a subset of this.

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We understand that denying ourselves means that we need to be comprehensive about this exercise for it to truly work.

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Okay? Okay? We need to do it properly. Very important.

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This is exactly what God's means of grace are for. And remember the six S's, or means of deliverance, that I preached some weeks ago.

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Number one being Scripture. The primary sanctifying light of God's Word and means of our sanctification, of our holiness.

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Our growth in holiness and putting sin consequently to death. Right? Number two is the sound, systematic study and doctrine of Scripture.

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Studying God's Word. Number three are the sacraments.

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Baptism and the Lord's Supper. And of course, it is appropriate to take the Lord's Supper even when you're fasting.

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That is an ordinance of Christ that we do not override simply because we're fasting.

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But, very important. And then number four. Self -awareness and self -denial.

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Which of course includes none other than the F word, right?

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Fasting. I probably shouldn't have said it that way, but... This is a good word, a very good word that we want to embrace in our lives.

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Fasting, of course. Number five also is sage counsel. And that's why

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I want to encourage us to share with each other when we're fasting.

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Say, hey, brother, sister, please keep me on your prayers because I want to try to fast and get myself right before God.

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I have an important decision to make or I lost a loved one.

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I'm mourning. I'm struggling. And I want to just go on a fast and seek the

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Lord, right? So, encourage one another during your fast.

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Let your brothers and sisters know that you're doing it. In order to also engage in spiritual warfare, right?

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That's number six. Remember that fasting is spiritual warfare.

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The kind of demons that Jesus talked about in Mark chapter 9 and in other places in the gospel, he said, this particular kind does not come out but by prayer and by extension fasting.

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It requires a certain dedication and intercessory activity.

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That is what prayer is regarding spiritual warfare and fasting as well.

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What are we denying? What we are denying our worst and most pernicious of all enemies that we face every day.

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That is the flesh, right? That is spiritual warfare. And that is the primary vehicle by which the world and the devil, our other principal enemies, try to attack us.

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It is through our flesh. So fasting is a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare.

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Amen? It's good stuff, really good stuff. So, we must then deprive the flesh of and from all of its fuel, like the great

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Second Helvetic Confession says. Now, I want to go back to our good friend

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Wilhelmus O 'Brockle and his Christian's Reasonable Service, his systematic theology. He has a very good thing to say regarding this matter.

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He says, we must deprive ourselves of all entertainment such as recreational games, taking a walk for the purpose of seeing gardens, ornamental works of art, or plantations, or going out by boat or horse and carriage merely for pleasure.

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Isaiah 58, verse 3 says, Behold, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure.

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God is calling them out because they're not fasting right. You're not supposed to be seeking pleasure when you're fasting, right?

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One must even refrain from marital union, marital intimacy, okay?

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This is very good, and you can see how, my, how the times have changed. What was considered recreational back then has changed in many ways, has it not?

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So much of what we call recreational has been, has just radically changed.

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And the screens, these screens bombard us, and they mess with our heads.

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They mess with our brains. They mess with our flesh. They mess up our ability to control ourselves.

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They are particularly addictive. They are designed to be that way, for you to be glued to them.

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So we need to be careful. Video games, TV, all of these, the screen time, amen?

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And like I said, even if you're not fasting, it's good to take this time to stay away from those things.

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Take some time away from that. Drown out those other voices, the news, the media, everything going on, and just to keep yourself, be still, just to be still before God.

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Now, we, very important, no marital, no marital intimacy as well.

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And if you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 7, verse 5, we'll see why.

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In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 5. Now, here,

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Brother Paul says, the Apostle Paul says, stop depriving one another.

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He's referring to marital intimacy. Except by agreement for a time, for a special particular time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, right?

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And by extension, fasting as well. To prayer and fasting.

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And come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self -control.

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Okay, so this is very important, Paul himself. The Bible, the Word of God is telling us that when we dedicate time to fast and pray, we need to abstain ourselves from these other things, right?

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Let's turn now back to, or forward rather, to 1 Corinthians 9, verse 24, which

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I've read previously as well. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 24.

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Verse 24. Do you not know, beloved, that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize.

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You only get the prize if you run to win. In other words, okay, run in such a way then that you may win.

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That you may win. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self -control in what?

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In all things. All things. Not just some things, but all things.

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They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one.

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Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body and make it my slave.

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Okay, how do we do this? By denying ourselves in all things.

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All things, like Paul says. Like the Word of God says, amen? All things.

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This is how we win. If you want to win, especially in a fast, we must practice self -control and self -denial in all things.

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All of these things. And in fact, this is actually similar going back to the

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Old Testament now, when Daniel had also fasted in this way, but the king of Babylon, even

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King Darius. And Daniel chapter six, verse 18, where it says, then

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King Darius went off to his palace and spent the night fasting and no entertainment was brought before him and his sleep fled from him.

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Right? So he was in a time of despair and he wanted no food and no entertainment.

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So he deprived himself of all of those things. That is similar to how we should practice this ourselves.

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Okay? I want to read now just an amazing quote.

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These Puritans, y 'all have got to get yourself acquainted with these Puritans. These brothers are amazing.

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Not all of them are created equal, of course. Some are better than others. But one such particular

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Puritan that I have recently discovered in light of this study is

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Matthew Barker. Okay, Matthew Barker. And he has some incredibly wise and biblical truths

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I want to lay out before us in a sermon on religious fasting.

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A religious fast is called. A religious fast is the devotion of the whole man, the whole man to a solemn or serious, extraordinary attendance upon God in a particular time separated for that end, for the deprecating of his displeasure.

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Okay, so that we could decrease his displeasure and for the supplicating of his favor to ask for his guidance, his wisdom, his direction.

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Join with an abstinence from bodily food and drink and other bodily delights and entertainments and from secular affairs as much as possible, okay?

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So from other worldly affairs that we don't have to do if we don't need to do them.

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So that he that fasted does for a time separate himself, consecrate himself in a way, in a sense, to God and does voluntarily.

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That's another important key word here, right? We don't do it out of force. We do it voluntarily because we want to and we understand our need to do it.

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Dedicate a part of time to his more solemn service and doth put himself as it were under a religious vow, under a religious vow to abide solemnly with God, with God in the duties of the fast he is engaged in.

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Amen. This is powerful stuff from these Puritans. They are just, and these are reformed.

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These brothers understood fasting better than anybody. As you can tell.

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This is very wise. And I, I never really connected these dots together in, in, in thinking about fasting as a, as a vow.

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Fasting is a, is a type of religious vow because you're saying, but this is something you're doing between before God, between you and God.

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And you say, Lord, I'm going to deny myself. I want to seek your will, your favor, your guidance.

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I want to mourn. I want to try to try to deny myself and my flesh so that I can fight back against the world, the flesh and the devil.

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I want to dedicate myself, consecrate myself unto you for this time and abstain from these things in a fast so that we can run to win.

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Amen. Run the race so that we may win. And this is also very similar to the, the, the, in the reformed understanding, this actually parallels the

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Lord's day, Christian Sabbath, the religious worship on the Lord's day. Okay.

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This is very interesting how there's a parallel to fasting. And chapter 22 of section eight of the, our

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London Baptist confession, which is the same chapter on the religious, on religious worship and the, the, the

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Lord, the, the Sabbath. It describes this. It says the

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Christian Sabbath is kept whole. In other words, the Lord's day, what we are doing right now, when we gather corporately for God's worship publicly, right?

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That is what the publicly and privately that it is the entire day in this understanding of the, in the reformed understanding, the

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Christian Sabbath is kept holy to the Lord. When people first prepare their hearts rightly and manage their everyday activities beforehand.

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So as not to become a distraction, then they observe a holy rest.

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That is what Sabbath means, right? Shabbat rest, a holy rest all day from their own works, their own worldly employments and recreations, works, words, and thoughts regarding these worldly employments and recreations.

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And in addition to that, so it's resting from those things, but also unto spending instead the whole time in public and private acts of worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy, such as providing for the poor or, you know, whether it's police work or things that need to be done in order to maintain society.

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Okay. Acts of necessity and mercy. So this is fascinating how in some ways the

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Lord's day and you only get this from the reformed faith, how the

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Lord's day in this we understand that we set apart the whole day for this special purpose of in a way denying ourselves these recreations and entertainments and employments to set apart the time for the means of grace.

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It's the exact same thing that we do in fasting, pretty much the exact same thing, except of course in the

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Lord's day, you can still eat and everything. You don't necessarily have to fast on the Lord's day, but fasting is a special, it's a special type of vow.

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Now, what else?

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The last major point here is that it is also perfectly good and acceptable to acknowledge and receive the health and healing benefits of fasting, right?

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Reap those benefits, take advantage of all of them, including the health benefits.

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It's a perfectly good thing to fast for health benefits as well because it will help you and it will also help you to control your appetites.

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That's a good thing. It's a good thing to have better health as a result of it, right?

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To have less toxins, less junk in our body that's been accumulated because of all the food, all of the dirty foods that are, practically everything is dirty these days.

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It's hard to find clean food. So it's good to fast and cleanse ourselves.

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Now, 1 Timothy, let's turn to 1 Timothy 4. In verse 7, in 1

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Timothy 4, verse 7, we read

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God's word, but refuse godless myths fit only for old women.

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The LSB has a funny way of rendering this. Another way is old wives' fables, right?

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Old wives' tales and fables. On the other hand, train yourself for the purpose of godliness.

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For bodily training is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

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Okay, so how do we make sense of this? Does this mean that we should not fast or neglect our health or avoid any physical exercise or disregard everything that I've been preaching for the entire series?

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Is that what this verse is telling us? The answer is no. Okay, that is not what this passage teaches.

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Right? That's just your flesh trying to talk you out of it. All right? That's not what this means.

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Amen? We should fast. We should still fast and do these things.

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Okay? But the verse, what this verse is saying is that we primarily, this verse is referring primarily to our priorities.

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Priorities. Because if we prioritize physical exercise above spiritual exercise, then we have become earthly minded and are out of order.

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Okay, that's what this passage is teaching. It's not that we should not practice good health or deny ourselves or fast or anything.

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That's not what this is saying. It's saying, have your priorities straight. Okay? The main priority is spiritual exercise.

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Means of grace, right? Studying the word. Praying. All of those things.

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Participating in public and private worship. All of these things are more important than mere physical exercise.

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So let's not misunderstand this, right? That's how we need to make sure that we have a good understanding.

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In fact, we can be, when we practice these things like fasting, we can be more productive for God and serve

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Him better with a healthy diet and lifestyle that avoids bad foods and denies our flesh.

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And these bad foods, like I mentioned, are often tied to very ungodly agendas. To mind control and to effeminize men.

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To turn men into women and women into men.

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Or get them sick. Get them with tumors and cysts and stuff because of the imbalances that these chemicals often put into our bodies because of these bad foods that were not created by God.

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So the moral of the story is that we must have balance and have the right priorities, right?

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Not to neglect these things of physical exercise or fasting. We should not neglect these things, but we should not prioritize them above spiritual exercise.

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Amen? So now, okay.

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And it'll even give us more energy, more mental clarity, sharper focus, all of these things which help us to engage in spiritual exercise and to worship

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God better. To follow Him and obey Him better. Now, even though dieting, to go on a diet is all well and good, but some diets are better than others.

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Just keep that in mind. One of the most significant ways that you can help and heal your body and as well as your soul is by simply not eating, right?

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Dieting is not fasting. Fasting, remember, is not eating. And not eating has very powerful physical and spiritual effects on us.

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But yeah, like I said, it helps us to physically cleanse out the toxins from our bodies and purify them.

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And there's something called autophagy, which is powerful, because it recycles the dead proteins and the dead buildup in our bodies and it flushes them out when we fast, when we not eat.

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Powerful stuff. And this also happens when we practice intermittent fasting.

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And even folks who are sick, it can help you get better and maintain good health.

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Even like diabetics can do this. So, and like the passage

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I quoted as well in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 9, verse 42, where Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy from his seizures and gave him back to his father.

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Remember, this was the type of demon that the apostles couldn't come out because Jesus said they required prayer and fasting by extension.

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And they were all astonished at the majesty of God, at the majesty of God, because they saw

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Jesus take over authority, spiritual authority over the demons. And that is what happens to us when we fast and deny ourselves.

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We take spiritual authority over and against the flesh and the world and the devil.

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Amen. Now, okay. Let's sum up the whole matter then. What have we learned?

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Do not be afraid to challenge yourself when fasting.

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That's what it's for. It's to challenge ourselves, right? And remember that the

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Lord is with you always. Those of us who trust in him and who believe in him, in the gospel and in Christ alone.

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And so are we as a church. We are all here for each other, right?

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So don't give up. Do not give up on fasting. Even if you break your fast, even if you don't go all the way, keep trying.

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Try again. Be resolute and fast to win.

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Remember, run so as to win. So yeah, we may lose from time to time.

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We may not always get it right, but let's continue to get back on there and race to win.

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To do it right. Be resolute and encourage one another.

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Pray with one another. Intercede for each other in these types of activities like fasting, right?

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Because we are called to a lifestyle of cross -embracing, Christ -following self -denial.

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And remember, Jesus was not referring to denying ourselves in this harmful way of flagellating or the way the

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Romanists do it or false religions do it of harming ourselves. It means flesh denial.

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Flesh denial. We must deny anything and everything that tempts our flesh to oppose

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God, His word, His will, His call for our lives, for our specific situation and circumstance.

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Right? Just like we read in the Catechism today. And thanks be to God.

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We should celebrate and thank God for providing us this blessing of fasting.

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It is something that most of us, if not all of us, can do. It's simple.

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Simple, powerful. Yes, it can be a struggle, especially when we've never done it before.

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But man, it is powerful, effective means to deny our flesh and to draw closer to the

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Lord because fasting is an act of spiritual warfare.

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It is so powerful. And consequently, when you do fast, be sure to do it for the right reasons and do not presume upon God and His will.

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Do not try to look for an answer that you want to get out of your fast.

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Wait upon the Lord and just fast because you want to hear from God Himself and let

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Him guide you in the process. Don't try to look for the answer ahead of time.

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Okay? And do not presume upon God and on His will for your life or assume what

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He will say or do or expect Him to give you what you ask for because you fasted.

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Right? All of which will make you gullible, easy prey for the enemy to take advantage of you.

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This is why it's dangerous and we don't want to do that because the devil will step in there and say, Oh, well, you're trying to fast because of this.

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Well, and then he'll put something in front of you to try to totally derail you and make you think that it's

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God. But in fact, it's actually you and your flesh wanting it. Okay? So, you remember that you will likely face temptation.

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Okay? Before, during, and after your fast. That is why we want to make sure that we don't go on this hyperphagia hibernation fast where we stuff ourselves beforehand or stuff ourselves after the fast and completely cancel them out.

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We want to be careful of those things during, before, and after. And during, consequently, when we fast to also deny ourselves from these other entertainment and those things that tempt our flesh or feed our flesh.

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Be prepared. Okay? Prepare yourselves because your enemies, the world, the flesh, the devil do not want you to fast and will try to cancel it out to render it useless and cause you to stumble.

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Okay? I'm not saying this to scare you but just so that you can be ready.

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Just watch your step and do not mess up your fast by avoiding the common pitfalls that I mentioned last week.

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Okay? And again, even if you do mess up your fast, it's not the end of the world.

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Right? Get up and try again. Simply repent and reconcile if you need to and resolve to try again.

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It's a learning process. Many of us have never done this before. So, it will take, it may take time and practice.

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Remember that the Lord blesses and rewards our fasting when it's done properly. Like that amazing promise that the

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Lord will reward us in secret when we fast properly with the right motives and the right means of self -denial.

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Amazing stuff. So that we can draw closer to God and the benefits.

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I want to repeat the benefits for us just so that we can get a real powerful motivator for us to really engage in this.

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To more willingly, to draw closer to God. Right? To more willingly and easily obey the

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Spirit. Self -control. Growing self -control. Divine guidance.

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A clearer sense of direction in life. Better health and better mood. Deliverance from all our enemies.

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All our mortal enemies. And as an aid to the prayers of the saints.

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And for all virtues. For the betterment of all Christian virtue. And more.

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Amen? So, as I said,

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Pastor David and I have been, we've been discussing this and so we really wanted to invite the entire church to go on this fast together.

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Okay? And we may engage at certain points of the year, times of the year, on corporate fasts.

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Like the Bible says and like the Confession also says that it's good for us to do.

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So, starting today. Starting today, okay beloved? We're going to, let's do this fast together.

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Again, within your limits and your means as you're able to. And now I want to be clear, this fast is optional, okay?

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It's not a requirement. I'm not, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. Though I do encourage all of us, in light of what we learn, to participate as we are able.

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Okay? And remember, even if you can't fast from food, like all the way, remember that we can all fast from something.

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We can all deny ourselves these, all this stuff that we, tends to clog up our flesh.

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Like TV, entertainment, video games, recreational stuff, social media, all of these things that bombard us.

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They bombard our senses and our mind and our flesh. Let's take some time away. Let's take some time away from those things, at the very least.

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And we want to do this corporately as a church. Together. And encourage us in our fast.

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Intercede for each other. Because I mentioned before that I do think most of us, and the

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American church in general, are under -fasted rather than over -fasted. Right?

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So we want to take this on because many of us, if not most of us, have never even fasted biblically before.

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Right? So that's why I wanted to take the time to carefully lay this out so that we get the chance to do it properly and have it truly get the most out of it that we can.

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So let's dedicate. The goal here is to get, we want to dedicate as we are able the entire week, from Sunday to Sunday, from this

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Sunday to next Sunday, to fasting and prayer and the rest of God's means of grace.

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Okay? The entire week. Now, again, as I said, contextualize this for your own situation.

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Okay? You don't necessarily have to do it for the whole week. You can do it for less or for longer as you need to.

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Right? You can try it for one day. You can try it for three days. Maybe it'll be easier for you to do it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, on the weekend.

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Right? Though, again, to be clear, some of us may need to fast for longer as individuals in order to truly break the control that the flesh may have gained over us.

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It may take longer, even up to like 21 days, if you really want to break those bad habits.

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Okay? The point of all of this, in part, again, is to familiarize ourselves with the theology and practice of fasting so that we therefore integrate it into our own personal arsenal and weaponry.

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In the weapons of our warfare that are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds, including the ones that our flesh tries to build up over us.

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Right? 2 Corinthians 10 .4. I hope, then, that we recognize fasting as one of these divinely powerful weapons of our spiritual warfare and to mortify our flesh and strengthen our walk, among other things, to strengthen our sanctification, to more and more die unto sin.

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What better way than to do that? To die unto sin and to consequently live more and more unto holiness and righteousness.

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Right? And this will also, I think, help us to learn to fast and to recognize when we need to do it and practice it as individuals.

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Right? So that we can recognize, hey, I'm starting to get into some... in a bad way here.

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I'm losing my temper too much or I'm losing my self -control, my appetite. They're starting to get the better of me.

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I need to take some time away and put myself on a vow to fast before God.

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Right? And ask God's people. That's what we're here for. We're here to bear each other's burdens and to encourage and build each other up.

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Amen? So, remember to fast both away from all these things that fuel our flesh and towards...

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This is very important. Towards God and His means of grace because it's spiritual warfare and the devil is going to try to tempt you.

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Your flesh will try to tempt you. The world will try to tempt you. So be in prayer. Soak yourself in the word of God to protect yourself and to maintain your fast properly.

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Okay? Now, just for the last thing real quick. I wanted to do a little show and tell and recommend some resources that we can look into during our fast.

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Before, during, and after our fast. Okay? So I have a few things that I wanted to recommend us.

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To look at. That I have found to be very beneficial and helpful.

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The first is this little booklet called Why Should I Fast by Daniel R. Hyde. It's a very helpful little introduction to fasting that I very much have enjoyed.

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And I'm going to be reading as well during this fast. It's got some very good, very helpful wise counsel from other solid men, brothers, teachers from the past, in particular in the

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Reformed tradition. I also wanted to, I don't have a copy of this to my shame, but Will Helmes is a

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Brocco, the Christian's Reasonable Service, which you can also find online for free. There's a, it's just an incredibly thoroughly biblical systematic theology that has a whole section on fasting.

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Very helpful. Right? With the one qualification that he says you should only do it for a day.

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We should disregard that advice. But also, oh,

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I forgot to bring these, but I've mentioned many times before in this series, Owen's Sin Trilogy.

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Right? On the mortification of sin. On temptation and on indwelling sin.

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Powerful works on dealing with our flesh. That's from the Puritan, John Owen.

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And another thing that I've mentioned in the past is I would highly recommend all of us to get a topical

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Bible. This is called Nave's Topical Bible, and it is a very good, very good way to study scripture topically.

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Okay, including fasting. This has a very helpful layout of fasting, of who did fasting, and for how long, and for the occasions for fasting.

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Why? Old Testament fasting, New Testament fasting. This is a very helpful resource. It's also online, but it's also, it's a very good resource to have and to be aware of and to use.

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And to use while we're fasting. To help us look up these scriptures and read all of the cases, the different cases in which people,

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God's people fasted in the Old and New Testaments. Right? So, that's very helpful as well.

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Okay? And I want to encourage us also to look into researching intermittent fasting, including for health reasons.

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Okay? It's something that I think can help most, if not all of us. It is an amazing...

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I have been doing this myself, even as a diabetic, and it has powerfully transformed my health.

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It has really helped me spiritually and physically in getting better sleep and better control of my blood sugar levels.

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It's amazing stuff. Just amazing stuff. Highly recommend it. Now, for my case, because I am going to limit the amount of food that I eat, but I do have to...

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I will have to consume some food because if I go too long without eating,

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I start losing consciousness. So, I have to be careful.

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But I will try to limit my intake to just eating once a day. And I've already been able to do that through this practice of intermittent fasting.

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So, this is just such amazing stuff. And I want to get us... I hope this excites us and this encourages us to really get into this and to just take hold of it because it is going to bless you like nothing else will.

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There is a special kind of blessing that comes with fasting that you don't get from anything else. You just don't.

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Amen? So, I want to close out with a powerful, a very important reminder to put on the full armor of God and of light.

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Amen? From Romans 13, verse 12 -14. The night is almost gone and the day is at hand.

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Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

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Let us walk properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and promiscuity and sensuality, fleshliness, not in strife and jealousy, but instead, put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

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Amen? This is a great way to capstone this series on the world, the devil, and the flesh.

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Put on the whole armor of God, brothers and sisters. Prepare yourselves for spiritual warfare during your fast.

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Put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the

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Spirit, which is the Word of God. Amen? The belt of truth, to tie everything together and to put on our feet the gospel of good news.

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All of these things so that we can withstand the fiery darts of the wicked one.

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Okay? With that in mind, let us go ahead and close out with a word of prayer, and especially intercessory prayer in our fast today.

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Our precious, gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this word that you have delivered for your people.

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Thank you so much, Father, for helping us to get a better understanding of fasting, of how and why and when we should practice it,

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Lord. Help us as a church. We lift up our church to you, Father, ourselves to you, in this special time of fasting and prayer for the week.

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And we ask that you would be with us and you would encourage us and help us, Lord, to avoid these pitfalls from breaking our fast,

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Father, and from helping us to deny ourselves, Lord, to get into this powerful vow of denying ourselves in all of these ways to avoid enticing or tempting our flesh.

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And, Father, help us to be, to grow in holiness and in self -awareness,

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Father, to recognize our need when we need to fast. And we need to consider doing this on our own and to intercede for each other as well,

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Lord, knowing that you have provided us everything that we need, everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him, your blessed

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Son, our all -powerful Lord and Savior, Father, and through the means of grace that you have given us, including fasting and prayer,

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Father. We ask that you help us, Lord, to run this race in our fast so that we may win and that we may be successful and we may truly benefit in the

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Spirit and in denying ourselves and in our flesh. We thank you, Almighty Father.

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We ask these things in Jesus' almighty name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area, or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries, such as Semper Ephraim on the radio and Thorn Crown Network podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.