The Reward of Fasting in the Secret Place

This is a very interesting message tonight. I fought it all week, and I'm still fighting it now. The title is, The Reward of Fasting in the Secret Place.

Preparing for More of the Book of Acts. So let me kind of give you a little bit of backdrop to this. This is not a topic I would have chosen on my own.

There's no desire to go here at all. But I spent some time up in a cabin. Many of you saw on Facebook and different things for a few days, just with the Lord and some water, a little bit of juice.

It was challenging, but just the time of doing that, once you get that breakthrough, you either break out and drive home or you have a breakthrough. Those are kind of the options. And God just, I began writing all kinds of things down and referencing Scripture, all based in Scripture.

And this message came out of that. And so did Sunday's message. And what I began to realize, I've got the Book of Acts open there, and I love it when you don't have to be anywhere, and you've got the whole day.

You see the high Sierra Mountains and worship on it, and you can just really, I want to encourage you to do that if you can. Moms, have your dads watch the kids and drive to the beach. It's okay to do that and get out of town or maybe find your prayer closet alone at home.

But what I began to realize is so much is going to go on in the Book of Acts as we go into chapters, I think we're at seven, we're going to eight, we're going to nine. We're talking about demoniacs being delivered, sorcerers being set free, people being healed. And I began to realize, like many of you, it's like we sure don't see a lot of that.

And I don't know if people are open for that. And I began to see the parallel with where we're at in our society and wanting to see that miraculous move of the Holy Spirit or be drawn closer to God and experience that deeper life. That's why many of you are here.

Many of you want that. You want that deeper relationship with the Lord. But throughout church history, there have been different struggles.

Like in the first century, persecution. Probably for the first couple of 300 years. And then Constantine, when he became supposedly a Christian in the Roman Empire there changed.

And then the Dark Ages, and there was Augustine and Ignatius and Irenaeus. And you read the different councils that happened. And Christians struggled through different things.

Poverty, persecution, affluence, wealth. And we're at a very critical time, I believe, right now. And the reason I can preach on this topic and know a little bit about what I'm talking about is because I'm a fellow struggler.

Throughout church history, there are different struggles. And this one right now, where the church as a whole in America is, I don't even know how to word it correctly without offending, but gluttony. I mean, just is everywhere.

And you know, you come in, if you just had a big dinner, you come in heavy. I went to a little country church, 40 people there on Sunday. And I couldn't stop worshiping and weeping.

Just I'm like, what's going on? And hungry, of course, but just there's something deep that happens in your heart when you begin to control the flesh instead of allowing it to control you. So I think many times we come in weighed down. That's why church isn't too exciting.

That's why many of us, we look like we're lethargic. We're just, I just can't wait to get home and put it on YouTube. Because I'm, and just that abundance of food, that abundance of consumption will really dull your spiritual weapons.

And I just couldn't stop putting this all together. Not only that, prayer and fasting and worship and the Word have made the biggest difference in my own personal life as well. So these are the things that are hard to hear, but they're important to hear.

And that's what this type of message is. I argued, as of this morning, I wasn't gonna preach it. I'm like, no, they don't wanna hear it.

And I don't wanna preach it. But the more time you begin to seek the heart of the Lord and say, God, okay, what do You want me to say and why am I avoiding it? Why did You pour all this into my heart? And then I wanna shy away from it. And again, this sermon would be non-existent.

So would the one on Sunday, had it not been for that time with the Lord. And what a pastor's calling, what we're supposed to do is we position our heart correctly with God, we pray, we read His Word, we worship, of course, we fast. And then we share out of the abundance, out of the reservoir of the heart, out of what God deposited in, we come and we share that, not share like a conversation.

We have the Word of God and we share what the Word of God has done in our own hearts and where He's directing us today. And Sunday, if this one isn't convicting, Sunday might be. Right now, the title is A Prisoner of Appetite, Food Drunkenness Blocks Heavenly Power.

I don't know, do we have the image for that one? We might. It might be back towards the end, the last slide. And again, these are not something I would just come up with on my own.

I don't want to, but I feel the desperate need to do it. Probably also because I've seen the major breakthroughs in my own life. And you know it wears us down when we're gluttony is actually a sin.

Why don't we talk about it ever? The temple is polluted. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we can easily become polluted. Let me, I'm going to quote Gordon Kovalot.

I've read from his book this week on fasting. The tragedy, he said this, the tragedy is that so many Christians just for the pleasure of continually eating will continue in their powerless spiritual condition. And again, I'm not trying to upset, I'm not coming up here arrogantly pointing my finger.

I'm a fellow struggler. A close survey of the Scriptures, a close survey of the Scriptures indicates that the deeply spiritual men and women who obtain things in answer to prayer always come to God on an empty stomach or either completely fasting or else living by a word that's hard to pronounce. But it basically means in moderation.

They live in moderation. So here's the call. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but we're going to put Matthew 6 up here.

So Jesus said, if you fast, oh, wait a minute. How many of you caught that? Oh, that sneaky little word when. So if I tell my kids, when you take out the trash, that means they'll probably be taking out the trash as long as they're under our roof.

This was a spiritual discipline from early church history. The reason the Bible talks about it a lot is because it was a spiritual discipline. It's assumed.

Jesus said, when you fast, it's assumed. So put oil on your head. In other words, back then it would make them look fresh and not like they're in a season of mourning and they would wash their face and it was not going to be obvious to other people that they were fasting because it was something to be done in secret.

And so anytime I talk about this, I get, of course, the pushback. Then you shouldn't be talking about your fast or a corporate fast. Well, when Jesus said that, it's an issue of the heart.

It always has to do with the heart. Don't go and brag and be super spiritual. If we're not supposed to talk about it, how do we know that Jesus fasted? He told somebody.

Ezra told somebody, Nehemiah told somebody, David told somebody, all throughout the church history. As long as the heart is right, it's good to do that. But your Father, so when you fast, if you do it unto the Lord, your Father, who is unseen as we know, He sees what is done in secret and He will reward you.

So when you deny the flesh to pursue God, there is a reward. That word means to give or to restore. Could it be that that relationship with the Lord could be restored through fasting? And if you're like me, if there's not seasons of fasting, it's constant consumption.

Isn't there, get up in the morning, throughout the day, snacks, this, and we've, how many of you are old enough to remember there wasn't snacks? There was breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then the snack food industry. So it's just constant filling of the flesh.

And again, I can tell you, the more you just, it's a wonderful thing to eat. God designed us to eat. Thank God for it, but He also designed us to be consumed in moderation.

Not only that, let's not even get into the chemicals and the processed foods that is so highly addictive that you're actually like a strung out addict coming off of it. That's how powerful these things are. So there will be the reward.

And the first mention of fasting is Moses receiving the law up on the mountain. And it's a reward of spiritual disciplines. So when we do something, and this isn't out of just, it's not really out of obligation, and I did my checklist, it's because of pursuit.

Pursuit, we want to pursue God. And the more you tell the flesh no, the stronger you become. And do you know that when you do hard things, you actually build discipline? Many of you follow probably Huberman, and he's done interviews, he's a brain neuroscientist.

It talks about this big word I can't pronounce, but it has to do, it's right here in the hypothalamus, I believe, in the front of the brain, and it grows the more you do harder things, the willpower. And there's a lot of benefits, but it decreases the more we get into lazy mode. And it's just a way that God designed us.

Scripture gives three illustrations of great joy. The joy of a new mother, the joy of a prosperous farmer, and the joy of a successful soldier. But it costs the mother great pain, the farmer many months of back-breaking labor, and the soldier grave peril before the joy comes.

Christian, we've got to get that in our hearts, that Christian life is a life of discipline. This sermon isn't going to be one of the top 10 on YouTube. I understand that.

Because we want to sit back in our lazy chair and just hear things that don't challenge, don't change us from the inside out. To pursue holiness, we must focus on a relationship and pursuit of God, not defeating sin. Focus on Him.

So the call is to fast, but let's look at the fight. 1 Peter 2.11, 1 Peter 2.11, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners, in other words, you're just passing through this earth right now. I beg you, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Now, those can be different things. Lusts can be mentally lusts, and of course, a sexual lust, and things like that. But one of the greatest lusts is the lust of the flesh to consume.

How many of you remember when God sent a whole bunch of quail and they ate so much it was coming out of their nose or something, I don't know. But it's actually called the graves of the lusters where they were buried. It's this war against the soul.

These fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And it's a struggle. That's why it is so important to build that self-discipline.

And here's what happens. It sounds hard and it is hard, but the joy that comes from it, the joy that follows, because I was either walking around miserable all the time because I couldn't bring my flesh under submission, it was submitting me. And so you walk around pretty lethargic, pretty miserable.

We get to church, we have a hard time worshiping. I definitely don't want to hear this kind of message. And we just get back home and the cycle never ends.

And we're dull spiritually. How many can relate to that? That's the life we live. The Christian life is demanding.

This is from David R. Smith in the 1950s. The Christian life is demanding. A Christian is in the continuous process of denying himself.

This isn't a Joel Osteen sermon today, guys. Isn't that true though? The Christian life is demanding. It's a life of continual process of denying self.

Now, I don't want to paint the image of this, woe is me, sackcloth and ashes. There's no fun, there's no joy. That's not the picture I'm trying to present.

But if it's all focused on the comfort and not the discipline, we will become off balanced. Self-denial is important to the Christian life because it is character forming. Instead of being, we become solid instead of sloppy.

Steadfast instead of disloyal and committed to God instead of wavering. It's hard to get this area under control, isn't it? How many of you know one of the top drugs in our nation right now? Oh, come on, you know it. Starts with an O, ozempic.

What does it do? It eliminates my cravings. How's this tie in? This is so applicable, guys. So applicable.

Now again, on things like this, I know there's people here that take it. I know people that take it. Take it to the Lord.

I think there's a place for pharmaceuticals. I've never, oh no, never, never, never. Testosterone replacement therapy, estrogen replacement therapy, serotonin uptake inhibitors for people.

There's a time and a place for things, but they have to be the last resort, not the first. And the problem with something like this, it's actually called a glucagon-like peptide. And what it does, it's a strand of amino acids, and it really raises glucagon, which is a hunger-suppressing hormone.

And it also slows down the digestion of food. It also works in the hypothalamus. And so the long-term effects are not going to be good, I don't think.

Somebody should do it short-term. They have to stay on for the rest of their life. What happens if they get off? Well, they've already lost 10, 15 pounds of muscle.

They start eating like they once had. Now they're gonna gain the weight back and even more. That's what happens.

So we have to use wisdom and say, Lord, who is influencing me? Fasting shapes character as we humble ourselves. It's a surefire way to quench the passions of the flesh in exchange for the fire of the Spirit. I'm not just up here reading something.

I've lived this enough to know. I'm either quenching the flesh and igniting the fire of the Spirit, or I'm feeding the flesh and it quenches the fire of the Spirit. Now, there's nothing wrong with dinner before church.

Of course, but you know I'm talking about when it becomes a continual pattern of over-consumption. Anybody cope with life with food or just me? Will, you too? Okay, two of us? I know, there's a lot more. How important a topic this is.

How frustrating can it be sometimes with our passions? But I mentioned, you know, up at that small country church and this and that, and I tried to eat. I was doing great today until I got to church. And the stress hits and I grab a chocolate bar and I grab some nuts and I can tell it dulled down.

It dulled down my passion this evening. Now, we don't weigh things like that and get legalistic about it, but there's something to caving into the flesh, being bound by the flesh, being a prisoner of our appetite and subduing it versus it subduing us. But of course, you get back on track.

You fall forward. You say, Lord, help me. I need to learn from this.

But the Old Testament saints also fasted for direction and protection. The flesh has influence, so they starved it to seek God's will and to hear His voice. How about Acts 13 that we'll be coming up to soon? While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Now, let me tell you something here. I've proven this to be true many times. It's hard to worship and be full.

I've never been able to do it. At Run the Heavens, I try to come empty. Sundays, I try to come empty.

There's something that you'll never see worshiping the Lord at a big, huge feast because it weighs us down. It's the fullness of the flesh which is appropriate at times, but the time when not to do it is not when we're worshiping. So I want to encourage you, try Sunday, instead of a big, huge breakfast and a big cup of Christian crack, have a little bit of Christian crack so you don't have a headache.

If you don't know what that is, ask me later. And then try, you know what Lord, maybe if you have a little juice or something, but just try to come Sunday, you in charge instead of your flesh in charge. Can the scrambled eggs and bacon wait? Can the pancakes wait? Waffles? Can they wait? Try it.

You'll be amazed at the difference because everything has its place and it's hard to worship God when I'm full. Why we never have a service after Thanksgiving dinner. Try it this November.

Try, you know what, after Thanksgiving dinner, I'm going to go in my room, I'm going to worship and I'm going to pray. No, you're not. You're going to lay down on the couch and put on the Oklahoma Sooners.

College football game. Oh yeah, you won't. Okay.

Zachariah 7 and Isaiah 58 both tell us that fasting is of no value unless all other proper duties accompany it. Such as prayer, almsgiving, charity. In other words, don't just go fast and be a Pharisee.

When we fast, we're just supposed to be gentle, loving to others, to give, to care, to have compassion. This is a time to where we step up our game, spiritually speaking. And the Lord comes alongside and blesses that.

And you can read Zachariah 7. God actually said, when you fasted, was it for me? For me? Look at all these things you did. Look at how you treated people. Isaiah 58.

Is this not the fast that I've chosen? You need to let the captives go free. You need to help those who are poor. I'm not gonna listen to this kind of fast.

So it has to be done with the right heart. And I believe it's one of the biggest things missing in the Christian. Can you imagine if we all came Sunday with a little bit of a growling? Because we want more of God? Try it.

It's amazing how that appetite went suppressed to focus on God. What it is, it's an exchange. You're exchanging one appetite for a greater appetite.

And you're putting it in its proper perspective. Lukewarm never gets hot enough to be refined. Our abundance has led to physical fullness at the expense of spiritual barrenness.

Guys, we were not created to have a full pantry and a full refrigerator to where every time we felt that there's a rush we just go and consume and consume and consume and consume. Am I trying to grow the church with this type of message? Probably won't come back Sunday now. The point is to help though.

Of all the emails we've received over the years, many of them have to do with this topic. I heard the teaching on fasting and it's changed my life. I do this all the time.

Mike, correct? Same with you. Just this week I saw on Facebook. 18 days, I've never felt better, I'm doing great.

It's like, exactly. But if people would just, that's what I'm saying, that the testimonies outweigh the criticism. And it's biblical.

It's biblical. I mean, I have notes of church fathers. How many of you have heard of the didache or didachte? It's early church writings that said you're to fast a couple days before your baptism.

And even offered on Mondays and Fridays. Not to get legalistic, John Wesley wouldn't ordain people unless they fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays. See, it's not this ritualistic, legalistic, it's a discipline that starves the flesh.

Because here's the thing, if you're not disciplined to starve the flesh, I can guarantee you're falling in other areas of life. Those who are addicted to porn, they're not fasting. Those addicted to whatever, fasting is not part of their lifestyle.

Because fasting strengthens you, you can say no, much easier. It calms all those fleshly appetites. And it was, the irony is when I got into, really understood fasting, first I was convicted like many of you.

It's like, no, no, no. Because I came out of the, many of you know my story, I came out of the weightlifting world, the bodybuilding world and steroids and eating. How many of you guys know six meals a day, right? Every couple hours, you gotta keep the metabolic rate up.

Pronteus and synesthesia, you break down the muscle, you gotta repair it, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. Fasting, that's like gonna lose muscle. Oh, oh, I can't do that.

That's what they did way back, and that must be a Roman Catholic thing. Unless Jesus was Roman Catholic. No, of course not.

And I would read, like David Brainerd, have you ever heard of him? He was in the 1700s, he would minister to the Native Americans in Navajo and I don't know if Navajo was back then, but whoever's on the East Coast, whatever Indians were over there, and he spent all day in prayer and fasting. Like, ooh, that guy, wow. George Whitefield and Wesley in their journals, I spent the day on horseback going from city to city and I just fasted unto the Lord.

Whoa, these guys, they don't know. They don't know like I know. That wasn't good for them.

Come to find out what's the big craze right now. Fasting. One meal a day, intermittent fasting, two fives, 800 calories, 200 calories, Buckenheimer fasting, Dr. Alan Goldhammer, all these, and now it's a craze.

Autophagy, telomeres on the end of your DNA are growing, brain-derived neurotropic factor for Alzheimer's disease. Oh, now it's a big craze. It's biblical.

It's biblical. They're finding out that overconsumption is killing us. Another reason I didn't want to fast and still have a hard time is because as I get older, especially, I don't want to lose muscle.

That's not a good thing. But is that a right motive? Lord, I'm not going to fast and seek you because I don't want to lose my muscle. Nevermind the fact studies show that whatever you lose is gained back pretty quickly because of protein synthesis, muscle memory.

The fat stays gone if you do it right. If you do it right, but it has to be a lifestyle. I get into dialogue all the time with people.

I tried this diet, I tried that, it doesn't work. No, nothing works. Lifestyle works.

That's the only thing that works. How can I go on a diet to change a lifetime struggle? Now, they might help get you going, but it's got to be that disciplined lifestyle. And trust me, guys, I'm not painting this picture of oh, this like, you know, rigid, hard, it's no fun, I don't like this.

You know, sackcloth and ashes, you get the idea of the pilgrims and the Puritans and walk around in black all the time. No, there's tremendous joy from it as well. Isn't there joy when you're in control instead of your appetites controlling you? The most joy anybody has ever had usually as a Christian is when they bring the flesh into submission.

No temptation is overtaking you, but what is common to man. And as soon as you walk, have you ever walked away from that temptation? Thank You, Lord. And here comes the joy.

But back then it wasn't easy. Back then you wanted to cave in. And you cave in, oh, it feels good for about an hour or 30 minutes.

It's tough, I know it's tough. The other day I walked into my kitchen at four in the morning with freshly cooked chocolate banana muffins. Aubrey, don't do that, you gotta warn me next time.

In the flesh, feed me. But I can't have a bite, can you have a bite? No, no, no, three muffins later. Because if you don't struggle, praise God, but most people, the flesh is feed me, feed me, feed me until I destroy you.

That's what the flesh does. If it was just given ultimate control, I've talked about this before. If I, when I leave here tonight, the flesh rules.

Okay, well, I'm stopping by Western Bacon Double Cheeseburger and I'm getting Panda Express, and then I'm gonna stop by Rite Aid and get a chocolate bar. And then I'm gonna probably watch Netflix till one in the morning, sleep in till 12 in the afternoon, then get up and start it all over again if the flesh is in control. There always has to be a point where you say, no, enough is enough.

Not engaging in the spiritual discipline of fasting pays out a dividend as well. Remember, we get a reward. There's a reward in fasting, but not engaging in it pays us out in a negative way.

Overfed physically, but malnourished spiritually. We are overfed, when you're overfed physically, whether it's alcohol, food, I mean, whatever it is, if there's an abundance there, you're malnourished spiritually. You can't receive the fullness of the Spirit while at the same time satisfying the flesh, the appetites of the flesh on a daily basis.

They're competing appetites. And let's not forget, food is primarily for fuel and nutrition. Now, why do we crave all these bad things? Because it's the chemicals.

It's the addiction in it. We've got to really break free of those as well. And again, this topic, I will not apologize.

Christianity is warfare. Christianity is warfare. It's a heavy cross we carry.

It's a narrow road we walk. And it's death to self. Here's some things the Scriptures say.

I don't know if we have these bullet points, but the Scriptures tell us, here's what the Bible says, restrain passions. Don't give in to them. Crucify the flesh.

Don't feed it. Break the power of sin. Don't continue in it.

Deny harmful appetites. Put to death the deeds of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit.

Embrace discipline. These are all Bible verses. But I narrowed it down to just these main points.

And I've quoted him a lot, but it's so important right now. Oswald Chambers, God doesn't give us overcoming life. He gives us life as we overcome.

So many people are saying, Lord, give me this overcoming life to say no. No, first, sometimes you have to say no, and then you receive the overcoming life. Have you done that before? Have you seen that? God wants you to also take the initiative many times.

Step out in faith. Turn from temptation. And then you'll realize that the overcoming life has come upon you.

We rest in God. Thank God for that. We rest in Him, but we should not neglect working out our salvation.

Philippians 2.12 says we need to work out our salvation. You don't work for it. This doesn't save you.

But you work out your salvation. And when we don't fast, we're basically in neutral. And I don't know about you, but when my car's in neutral, it rolls backward if it's on a hill.

Neutral is not, that's why many times I try to be so delicate in my words, but that's why so many people are lethargic at church across our nation. They're in neutral. That sword of the Spirit is not sharp.

Can you imagine? Maybe try it next Wednesday. Let's try it Sunday and Wednesday. How's that? Next Wednesday, don't have dinner first.

Come a little bit hungry. Last meal at lunch, 12 o'clock. You're not gonna die.

Do you know that you were created with some spare gas in the engine? I can go 40 days and not die. We've got overconsumption and it dulls us spiritually speaking. Psalm 35.13, but as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.

I humbled myself with fasting and I prayed with my head, bowed on my chest. This is praying for healing. They're praying for healing in this.

Psalm 109, my knees are weak through fasting. This is David. And my flesh felleth of fatness.

In other words, there was a prolonged period of fasting and prayer. The offering such as fasting has to cost us something. Because in the Bible many times they would offer, when God said bring your best to the offering, what would they bring? The blind, the lame, the sick.

Have you read that in the Bible? Like they knew they had to give one of their sheep to the Lord. Okay, this one's kind of dying of cancer anyway. Let's get, they've got a big tumor right here.

Let's give this one to the Lord. And it's the same with us. We've got to give our best.

It's got to cost something. It's got to cost something. How many remember the story I told a few years ago? The farmer, the cow gave birth to two, what do they call them, calves? And the farmer said to his wife, he goes, honey, this is awesome.

One is ours and the other is the Lord's. Praise God, how cool is that? And a couple weeks went by and one of the little calves died. And the farmer came back into the house.

He went to his wife and she said, what's wrong? He goes, the Lord's calf died. But we need to break out of that spiritual apathy. Again, the offering of fasting has to cost us something.

Now I'm going to put something up here. It's already up there. Read it over twice so you get it right.

We don't have to pray when we've been instructed to obey. I talk to people all the time. Man, have you considered fasting? Oh, I need to pray about that.

No, actually you don't. You don't need to pray about it. Husbands, have you considered loving your wife as Christ? I'm going to pray about that.

No, you don't have to pray about that. There are certain things that we are called to obey. But I'm guilty to let me pray about it means nope, I'm not going to do it.

And the Bible says, when you fast. Now it's between you and the Lord, what that looks like. But I have found that it is a lifestyle because if I'm just waiting until January 1st and I pig out the other 11 months and one week, that's not really a fasted lifestyle.

And you don't walk around fasting all like, oh, I can't eat this, I can't do that. You enjoy life. You go to potlucks.

But there's seasons where you say nope. I think it was Tozer who said, A.W. Tozer said, I fast just enough to let my flesh know who's in control. Beautiful words.

Beautiful words. Gordon Cove again. I think he wrote this book in the 1950s.

Gluttony is one of the greatest destroyers of faith and power. When long continued, it will kill all spiritual anointing. Many ministers and great men of God who used to be on fire for Jesus have unknowingly become food drunkards and gluttons.

Dealing with the flesh takes work. We become comfortable and we become compliant. Now on Sunday, I'm gonna offer, I'm gonna give a little bit more tips on exactly if people are, you know, what do I need to do? What I've done is my books are out there.

You can take them for free. They're available as free downloads. You already know this.

What to eat, how to often eat. I answer all those questions, so I don't wanna do it here. But you need to get with the Lord and you need to figure out what works for you.

How can fasting become a fasted lifestyle? In what way, in what shape, in what form? Maybe not every day, maybe not every, maybe you take it to the Lord, but there's gotta be something that we do in order to restrain the fullness of the flesh. I don't think we have this up here, so you don't have to try to find it. But I'm gonna read this.

It's very brief. It's called the Three Edwards. The Three Edwards, and it's about the life of Rinald III.

He was a 14th century duke in what is now Belgium. He was very obese and he was commonly called Crassus by his Latin nickname. After a violent quarrel, Rinald's younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him.

Edward captured Rinald, but he did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Rinald in the castle and promised he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near normal size, and none of that was locked or barred.

The problem was, again, that Rinald, his size, to regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight to be able to fit through the door passage. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent him a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Rinald grew more obese.

And when Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer. My brother is not a prisoner. He is free to leave whenever he wills.

Rinald stayed in that room for 10 more years and wasn't released until after Edward died in battle. By then, his health was so ruined that he died within a year, a prisoner of his own appetite. And that's what I want to talk about more on Sunday.

A prisoner of appetite. Food drunkenness blocks heavenly power. Guys, think how important this is.

This is something that will block the fullness of the Spirit. It will quench the fullness of the Spirit. It will make you spiritually dull.

This is a big deal. That we're talking about the fullness of the Spirit. As we go into the book of Acts, many times we read about these things like, oh, that would have been cool to live back then.

How do you know God doesn't want to do it now? But the disciples in the upper room, the disciples doing ministry, they were prepared, men and women. They disciplined the flesh. They put the flesh into submission.

And I want to remind you, there are lots of verses about this. Because we think, well, I've got freedom in Christ. Yes, we do, but we also have discipline in the Spirit.

We have to balance those two things. And I would have to say, again, it's one of the most important topics, even in my own life, where once God began to teach me and the church this back in Lancaster, it's a game changer because it's hard to really put it in words. It submits or breaks down or conquers, I guess it would be, it conquers the flesh in order to be more full of the Spirit.

Because it's hard to be full of the Spirit and pray and seek the heart of the Lord and worship when we're consuming too much. Because you either give fuel to the flesh or the filling of the Spirit. I've never been able to master both of them.

Now granted, I can fellowship, have a big meal with friends, and it's great, it's wonderful, isn't it? The Spirit's there, it's a time of refreshment. It's incredible. But if that's where I stay, oh, dinner was good, let me go for the half chocolate cake.

Oh, let me get up and get this. And I stay there, I stay on this side, I'll never experience more of the fullness of the Spirit. And so I want to leave you with this thought, if this is an irritating message or convicts you, take it to the Lord.

Why is that happening? What in this? Everything is biblical. Everything I just said is biblical. Jesus fasted.

Hello? Have you ever thought, why did He fast? I mean, there's lots of speculation. I mean, my own personal opinion, just reading the Gospels, is it prepared Him for ministry. There's no other reason.

Because it says He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. He went 40 days, not eating anything. And look it up yourself.

He came out in the fullness of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit. I don't know, it could have been a time to... I mean, you try going 40 days with just water. Not too many people have ever done that.

Not encouraging you to do that. I would actually say don't do that unless you know what you're doing, you have a medical professional. But there's any time you're going into another season of life, any time you're going through challenges, or it's good to take that season of prayer and fasting and break that stronghold of flesh.

Because I don't know about you, but the flesh will get a stronghold, won't it? I'm already wondering where she hid those muffins. I'm going to look tonight. I know they're all gone.

But right, it's always looking to get you. That pull of the flesh. And again, this topic, if a person begins to really pray and fast with the right heart, the right motives, they will see more breakthrough than they ever have in their life.

I'm not talking about name and claim and blessings bently in your driveway, but the fullness of the Spirit, where there is joy. And maybe the gifts will come alive in your heart. You can't wait to get to church.

Worship sounds sweet because the voice of the flesh has been silenced. Because doesn't it grow? It grows. Feed me.

Cave into that. Feed the lust. Feed the desires.

Feed that pride. Freed that anger. Feed that sexual lust.

Feed that temptation. Feed more food, more. And the wrong kind of food.

Why do we never pig out on broccoli? I realize I don't think I've ever ate too much salad. Think about it. Grilled brussel sprouts, asparagus.

I don't think I've ever pigged out. I'm like, I'm good. Because it's God food, God's way, with the right nutrition that will increase natural society.

You're satisfied. But when you take in all the chemicals in the other foods, it's a drug. I need more red food coloring and dye and monosodium glutamate.

And I need all these, I need partial hydrogen oil. Why is there 52 chemicals in an In-N-Out burger? Or Chick-fil-A? 52. They're scientists who sit in their little white coats.

I know Chick-fil-A's a Christian company and I know In-N-Out Burger is too. I don't care. You need to know.

And their job is to make these things, like I can taste the Chick-fil-A sandwich right now. Like it's been a while, but I can't wait to have that. Grass-fed burger at home, plain.

What's the difference? The chemicals. The additives. The salt.

All those things. They make it taste a Krispy Kreme donut. Oh my Lord! Who invented that thing? So see, all this food.

Watch out for labeling. Watch out who's influencing you. Think about this.

The biggest problem in our nation right now that's growing is health issues. The disease epidemic. And everybody's so excited that R.J.K. got them to remove... He had to do that in order for them to remove harmful dyes.

We're consuming things other countries won't even consume. You know that? Our food companies have to change the ingredients before they send it to France. Like a certain bread in France, five ingredients, in America, 22.

We are lambs being led to the slaughter in that regard. We've got to wake up to this issue. We've got to take back our control.

Not only that, it will make you a better father, men. Are you a better father when you're in control of the flesh? When you're in submission, when you're disciplined? Are you better wives? Are you better spouse? Are you better moms? Are you better to your kids? Instead of snapping, kicking, throwing, yelling all the time. Leave me, don't talk to me until I've had my cup of coffee.

Leave me alone. That Starbucks line better not be too long. And we throw a tenter tamper, and if it is, it's controlling us.

I mean, most churches don't talk about this. I'm well aware of that. And I wouldn't blame the pastors.

They're just not, they have different callings and they don't have a background in it. They don't realize how important it is. How important it is.

And it breaks my heart, like that's one reason we can't serve tons of donuts and stuff to everybody walking in with type two diabetes because I feel like I'm contributing to their health problem. It absolutely is without a shadow of a doubt. Eating junk food, and it hurts kids.

Why are kids so sick? Have you thought about that?