Winning the Battle of the Mind Pt 1

Verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to the well. He said to her, go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have correctly said, I have no husband. For you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband.

This you have said truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive you that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. And you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, I have no husband. The woman said to her, woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father.

Verse 22, you worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth. For such people, the father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know.

I know that Messiah is coming. He is called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare all things to us. Jesus said to her, I, who I, who speak to you and he at this point, his disciples came back and they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, what do you seek or why do you speak with her? So the woman left her water pot and went into the city and said to the men, come see a man who told me all the things that I have done.

This is not the. This is not the word of Christ, is it? They went out of the city and they were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying to one another, no one brought him any brought him anything to eat. Did he? Jesus said to them, my food is to do with the will of him who sent me in to accomplish his work.

Do you not say that there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you. Lift up your eyes and look on the fields that there are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal for life eternal, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, saying is true. One sows, another reaps.

I sent you to reap for that for which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Heavenly Father, I ask that you just. Soften our hearts. God, that no matter what we're dealing with right now in our life, whatever we're struggling with. Lord, that you'll just put that aside for right now. God, that we can focus on what John has to teach us.

Lord, that you can just break down those walls. Speak to us. God, I said we can just go out of these walls after tonight, just being a stronger believer. Lord, that we can take that gospel and share it with as many people that we see. And we interact with. Give us a strength. Give us the power. Lord, we love you. Continue to bless Calvary Chapel. Lord, as we are a beacon here in our city.

We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Good story. A lot we're going to unpack. All right. If you're reading through the Bible consistently, it might not be obvious to you of how much the Bible talks about food. I take account to it. I really am a big fan. And I appreciate that Jesus spends a lot of time on food. But he also talks about fasting. And that's not something that a lot of churches cover.

And in the past few weeks, we had a really good conversation or a small group. And Rick Hawkins was there and he was visiting with us. And we're talking about fasting. And we had really good conversations about it. And when we brought up the word fasting, it was silent at first. What does it mean? What do you do? Is it during a certain month? How do you go about it?

And it was a really great conversation. And we were able to just really discuss and understand the importance of it and whether it's practiced today or not. And of course, Rick just dropped the hammer at the end of the night saying, this is what it means. And this is what you should be doing. And we're like, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. He was like the Bible answer that helped us out.

So it was great. It was great. But when you gather the scriptures together, there really is quite an amount of biblical information on this subject. Look at verses three through eight. Let's go back through there real quick. But he left Judea and went again. Into Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.

And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus began. Jesus being weary from his journey was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. So if you can understand what just took place. There's two stories going on. First, you have the intertwined accounts of Jesus and the woman at the well.

And second, you have the disciples and their food. I'm on the disciple side right now. Versus verse six explains how the band of travelers fell. They wanted some rest. They're parched mouths. They're tired. They're weary. They just took a long travel. They have sweaty clothes. They're sore. Well, I mean, what would you have been thinking? I need some water.

I need some food. They just traveled from Jerusalem to Samaria, which is about 30. Three to five miles. If I walk a half a mile, I'm falling over with a heart attack. So you can understand why I'm standing with the disciples saying, all right, Jesus, we made our destination. We're going to go get some water, some Fiji water, and we're going to stop by the restaurant.

And then we're going to come back and have this conversation with you. And Jesus is like, well, I'm going to hang here for a second. The reference to Jesus being weary from his journey underscores his full humanity. Jesus' human nature could be weak and tired, though his divine nature was omnipotent. I find. It's quite interesting of how many people I've read through commentaries or even just

on the internet, how they blast Jesus saying he never understood what we went through. How could he? He's God. He doesn't go through the same pain and suffering that we do. Well, right here in the scripture, it tells us he took the same journey as the disciples. He was tired. He was weary. But the difference is Jesus' focus was somewhere else. The disciples were heading to Starbucks.

So there was a problem there. The sixth hour refers to noon. That's midday. And so you can understand in that nature, in that demographic area, it's very hot, sandy. It's, you know, rocky. They were walking far. This is the hottest part of the day. And Jesus meets a woman at the well. And there's a reason why this is specifically this woman there. Normally, women would come draw water in the morning or evening when it was cooler.

The immoral woman would come during the time that no one else would be at the well. So we see a Samaritan who is considered by. The Jews to not be clean. She's there. Noon six hour. Look at verse seven and eight. Says there came a woman Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Where disciples go to get food.

Jesus knows that he's got an opportunity right here to minister to this woman. Now, remember, there's a Jew and a Samaritan. This is not common practice to have these two together. Same place. In fact, I have. A man and a woman in public talking. Let alone they're at a well. So you have a predicament here. Yeah, I love how God set this opportunity up for Jesus to preach the gospel.

I love how Jesus knew this woman would be at the well at this moment. And he's got his shot. Most Jews consider Samaritans to be a continuing state of uncleansiness. They would have thought that drinking water from this woman's water jar would make a person ceremony unclean. Now, just a little backdrop. The disciples. The disciples were preoccupied with food.

Now, once again, remember, I'm on side with disciples. I would have struggled. I would have gone in town and grabbed some food and some water. I hear them. In Matthew 12, one, I'll give you a couple of verses you can look through later. They were walking through a grain field and got into trouble with the Pharisees because disciples start snacking on the grain of stock.

Can't blame them. I would have been, too. It's so easy because you're walking through. I'm not a farmer, but you're walking through. I'm just envisioning your stuff in your pockets or they were wearing robes, but your stuff in your pockets in the front of your robe and you're gathering all this food. I would have done the same thing. The problem is they have a history of being distracted.

Later in Luke 12, 23, Jesus rebuked them and said, for life is more than food. In Matthew 4, 14, 15, they came to Jesus when he was teaching and said, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves, which is another way of saying we're hungry. Jesus, send them away. Come on. Let us have some R&R time. Let us sit and relax. Let's have some food.

It's been a long day. Jesus said it's after five o'clock time to go home. I find it amazing how the disciples miss an opportunity to see Jesus in action for sharing the gospel, yet they're focused on other ideas. I brought up our small group because we're actually having a community event here in a few weeks. I'm really, really excited for it because we're going to have some food that we're going to grill out, some drinks for little kids, and it's going to be a really good time.

Some inflatables. We're going to play some games and just get to know the people around in this community. And so one of the really cool things we brought up is like, what do we talk about? Well, you know, silent. Well, I mean, we could get to know each other. Okay. So are we going to try to share the gospel with them? Yeah, let's do it. What do we say? Silent again.

And it's just interesting because it's like really cool idea. Let's do it. But then what do we do with this opportunity? And so as we started talking through, it's like, listen, if an opportunity presents itself where we could share the gospel, do it. If you're not comfortable or you're not familiar with sharing the gospel, maybe you've never done it. We start throwing ideas.

Hey, do the Romans road. Go through these verses. You know what? Practice on your kids. That's a great example. And so it was really neat how we're going through all these opportunities of saying, listen, how can we make an impact on the neighborhood here on church? I say that because we want to be extremely focused. We have an opportunity in front of us. We want to be focused during this during this opportunity.

So that way, if someone is needing to hear the gospel, we're going to be ready. We're going to be prepared. And so I bring up two main points for the story. One understanding living water. Number two, fasting from what controls us so we can constantly be serving Christ with the right attitude. So point number one, understanding living water. What does that mean?

When Jesus was having this conversation with the Samaritan woman, he kept bringing up living water. What does that mean? Why would he do that? What is the parallel? Well, look at verse seven. We're gonna go back. Listen to there came a woman of Samaria to draw Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink for disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Therefore, a Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you being a Jew asked me for a drink since I'm a Samaritan woman for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus said to her, if you knew the gift of God, you knew who says to you, give me a drink. You would have asked him. He would have given it given you living water. She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with.

And the well is deep. Where do you get your living? So you can see she's not comprehending. She's not fully understand what Jesus is talking about with this living water.

You are not greater than her father. Jacob. Are you for who gave us this well and drink of himself and his sons and his cattle? Jesus answered her and said, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water spring up eternal life.

We'll go verse by verse. Looking back through verse 10 says, if you knew the gift of God, who and who it is, who says to you, give me a drink. Jesus drew the woman into a conversation by making her curious about several things. One, he made her curious about the things of God. If you knew the gift of God. Number two, he made her curious about who Jesus is, who it is, who says to you.

And number three, he made her curious about who, excuse me, made curious about what he could give her. He would have given you living water. Is that not the gospel? And we, we understand that we see the parallel. We see the symbolism here. Is that not the gospel wrapped up right there? One, if you knew the gift of God, the gift that God sent his son to die on the cross.

So we have an opportunity to have that personal relationship so we can spend eternity in heaven, glorifying God. Who is it who says to you, Jesus Christ, you come to have that relationship with Jesus. And third, he would have given you living. Water. Why? Because the gift of God was for all mankind. And so essentially right there, Jesus shared the gospel with this woman and she had no idea.

She's like, okay, where's living water? What do you mean? There's a principle connected with the words. If you knew you would have asked him. If you knew more, you would pray more. Why? Because we understand that all source of love and understanding wisdom comes from God. And so she knew that. Then she would have been. She would have been praying more. She would have understood more.

There's another principle at work. Jesus often speaks to us as if we're more spiritual or understanding than we actually are. I really appreciate that he does that. Let me say it one more time. There's another principle at work. Jesus often speaks to us as if we are more spiritual or understanding than we actually are. He does this on purpose. Why would he take a woman in this situation where she didn't understand the gospel at all?

She doesn't understand living water and what Jesus is referring to. Why would he talk to her in a more of a theological sense? Why would he break down the gospel in that way? And I believe it's because she's going to ask more questions in which she does here in the text. She continues to ask more and more questions. He would have given you living water. In ancient times, they called spring water living water because it seemed alive as it bubbled up from the ground.

At first glance, it might seem that Jesus told this woman about. About a nearby act of spring. So when she hears, oh, living water, where I'll go there instead. That's not what she's referring to. But Jesus made a play in the words of the phrase living water because he meant the spiritual water that quenches spiritual thirst and gives life. Verse 11, you have nothing to draw with.

So we have to understand. She's like, hang on, Jesus. So you come to this. Well, you're thirsty. You had a long journey. You're at the well, but where's your bucket? Right? It's not. Nowadays, where you just turn on the sweet faucet, grab our Fiji water and then go ahead and drink. You had to grab it from a well. What if Jesus didn't have a bucket or a tool or anything to grab that water?

Then why is he at the well? Like, it's not adding up what's happening. So you can see the Samaritan's woman's mind is starting. The hamster wheel is turning. She's starting to put some of these things together. It's not. It's not adding up. So she says, you have nothing to draw with. The disciples going in town. They probably took with them their leather pouch and uses a bucket to draw water.

Are you greater than her father, Jacob? It's hard to see. I love reading scripture and kind of put a little context or a little tone behind it. Because in this passage, are you greater than her father, Jacob? You know, was that a dig or was she just being genuine and asking the sincere question? Was she a cynical critic? It all depended on obviously on her tone or voice.

But the fact that she came to believe at the end. Of her encounter with Jesus, it suggests that it was an honest question. What's wrong with this? Well, Jesus, it's interesting. Verses 13 through 15. Jesus describes the effect of the living water he offers. Jesus answered him and said to her, verse 13, whoever drinks of the water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of this water that I shall give him will never thirst.

But the water that I shall give him will become in a fountain of water spring up in everlasting life. The woman said to him. Sir, give me water so I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Jesus knew that this woman, everyone in the village had to come to this well daily to satisfy their thirst. Jesus used the thirst as a picture of a spiritual need and longing that everyone has.

And so this lady, she's like, OK, so you came to a long journey. It's a six hour. Why are you here midday? Why are you a Jew talking to a Samaritan? You're at the well, you're thirsty, but you don't have a bucket to grab the water. And now you're talking about living water. I am very confused. It's amazing because now the hamster wheel is turning. You know, you can start to see the gospel unravel here.

The key is to drink of the water that Jesus shall give. Why? Because only Jesus can satisfy. So often we try to substitute Jesus for our personal gain, our personal sins. We hope, well, if I do this, I'm going to feel better about myself. Well, it's not what happens. If I make more money, if I buy this house, if I do this, if I have this accolade, it doesn't ever satisfy enough.

And so we continue to seek more and more. And Jesus is like, listen, I'm right here. I am living water. I'll give it to you. It's for you. It's a gift. It's common for people to try to satisfy their God creator. God created inner thirst through many things or through anything except what Jesus gives. People are thirsty. They want, they long, they search, they reach.

But only what Jesus gives satisfies the deepest levels of the man's soul and spirit. Drinking and thirst are common pictures of God's supply and man's spiritual needs. Drinking is an action, obviously, but it's an action of receiving like faith is doing something, but it's not a merit earning work in itself. What does a thirsty man do to get rid of his thirst?

He drinks. Perhaps there. There's no better representation of faith in all the word of God than that. And so I find it really, really amazing to see the symbolism between just something, something so easy, like drinking water and the gospel. And it makes me think it's like, man, how could these disciples have missed the mark? They're so fixated on drinking.

They want to go get some food. They want to put their feet up and relax in the market. And they miss an opportunity to see Jesus share the gospel. It's amazing. I mean, we can read about it, but if how many of us would have loved to have been there, you know, that fly on the wall and listen to this conversation, because I would have loved to have seen it.

A man's faith, excuse me, to drink is to receive, take in refreshing, draw, draw. And that is all. A man's face may be unwashed, but yet he can drink. He may be very unworthy character, but yet a drought of water will remove his thirst. Drinking is such a remarkably easy thing is even more simple than eating. Someone might object, why drink what Jesus offers and I feel thirsty and empty again.

The answer is simple. Drink again. It isn't one time sip of Jesus that satisfies forever. Now, let me be very clear. When we decide to put our faith and trust in Jesus, that is a one time. And from there, we start that relationship with Jesus. We don't just start and stop our relationship with Jesus. On Wednesdays and Sundays, we start our relationship from the day that we choose to put our faith and trust in Jesus.

And it's an everyday relationship. But I'm afraid in our society, we don't make it that way. It's more. That's a Sunday and Wednesday thing. I have my life on the other days. That's where we start to fall. That's where we miss the mark. And we've got to understand that that relationship is continuous. I think I can speak on behalf of all the men. If we make a mistake, because we know that 99.9% of all mistakes in marriage is a man's fault, right?

So what do we do? We go to our wife and we say, my fault. This is what I did. This is what I need to do better. And then we ask for forgiveness and we move on. We don't go back to our wife and say, I messed up. I'm going to divorce you and we're going to remarry because we're going to start this all over again tomorrow. No. That makes no sense. So why would you do the same thing with Jesus?

It's a relationship. We're going to make mistakes. But the beauty of it is that Jesus Christ has grace. He forgives us every time. But we have to put in the work of that relationship. She says, sir, give me this water. The response of the Samaritan woman was logical, yet not spiritual. Why? Because she says, Jesus, listen, I'll give you water. But you're talking.

I'm talking about this living water that is endless. Like, I'm never going to have to thirst again. Great. Where is that? Because I'm getting tired of walking to this well. She's still not comprehending. She's not there yet. She's getting so close. Sir, give me this water. It was a logical conversation. It wasn't spiritual. She wanted to avoid the work of coming to the well every day.

It was as if she responded, Jesus, if you want to make my life easier and more convenient, then I'm all in. Give it to me. But as Christians, we know that our walk is not always easy or convenient. And for those who preach the gospel saying it is easy and convenient, shame on you because we find out that as a Christian, we are to live like Christ. That means above reproach.

That means to love those who don't like us. That means to do the right thing when it's that much more work. And it's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. It's harder. We transform by our words, our hearts, spiritually, emotionally, physically. Verses 16 through 19, Jesus speaks of her sinful life.

Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, well, excuse me, you have well said, I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one whom now have is not your husband in that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you have no husband. I perceive that you are a prophet.

Go call your husband and come here. This is not a strange request. Not at all. And this, remember what I said earlier is, uh, for, for a man and for a woman, especially of a Jew in the Samaritan was not common. It was not practiced to be talking in public. Jesus was strained the boundaries of cultural propriety. Excuse me. The conversation would be more culturally appropriate if the woman's husband was present.

She says, well, I have no husband. You've had five husbands. The woman claimed to have no husband, which was technically true, but Jesus knew supernaturally that there was much more to the story than what she was saying. How many times in, in situations in our life where we, we explain something, but we don't give the full truth. We don't share truly what's going on.

Why? Because there's a story, there's a context to it. It's going to hurt. It's down to the core. What does that all mean? I'm going to have to put myself in a vulnerable position. And that's extreme. Extremely hard to do Spurgeon. He said this, and I found it really interesting. I had to chew on it for quite some time. Christ has different doors for entering into different people's souls into some.

He enters by understanding and to many by affections to some, he comes by the way of fear to another, by that of hope. And to this woman, he came by the way of her conscience. So what does that mean? It's when Christ, when we choose to have that relationship, with Jesus Christ, our testimony is, is, is now formed. And now we can have an amazing story to go tell other people, maybe people who can even

struggle with the same things we do. I don't know how many times when I, when I was a youth pastor, I'd hear kids and I can't share the gospel. I'm, I'm too messed up. I've done too many bad things. I can't do that. There's nobody else like me. I bet you there is. And we're all different. We're all unique. And what's amazing is that reflects also our testimony.

That we can take our testimony and go have those difficult conversations. Say, man, you struggle with that. So did I. But the difference is I didn't stay stuck in that mud. I didn't continue to turn to sin. I turned to that living water and that was Jesus Christ. Because only that can give me eternal separation from sin, where I can have a desire to follow Jesus and understand my purpose in life.

Verse 18. And the one whom you. Now have is not your husband. Jesus brought up this embarrassing issue because her sinful life had been confronted. The woman had to decide what she loved more, her sin or the Messiah. When Jesus said to the man, excuse me, when Jesus said that the man she lived with was not your husband, Jesus showed that living together in marriage are not the same thing.

Jesus showed that living together in marriage are not the same thing. Jesus. Jesus also showed us that just because someone. Calls a relationship a marriage, it does not mean that Jesus considers it a marriage. My goodness, as I go against today's beliefs. This is meant to be sacred, that relationship, the husband and the wife coming together. It's the same as Jesus and his bride as a church, and he takes that serious.

And we have demoted that to the lowest level possible. That's something that Jesus obviously cherishes. And our society. Our generation, previous generations, we have continued to kick that down. That is not the same thing. Jesus does not agree with that. Just because a man and woman together that are living together are married. They are not. It would be viewed by Jesus only.

He would agree that going about it in the way marriage was intended to be a sacrifice to each other, to resemble Jesus in the church. And that brings me to point number two, what fasting reveals. So we talked about the living water, the conversation that Jesus had with the woman at the well. And now we're going to get to what fasting reveals, especially with the disciples, because the whole time we're talking about Jesus and this woman, where were the disciples?

Once again, I am guilty by association. I would have been with them and hanging out with them. I would have been having that food. So now the disciples, they've come back from Wendy's. They supersized. This is a meal. They got the French fries. They got their sweet, amazing Wendy's barbecue sauce. I love it. They're back urging him saying, Rabbi, eat. In verse 31, look at Jesus' response to his food-focused disciples.

But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. I love to have these little conversations with myself. I'm thinking, if I was a disciple, I'd be like, where? Where did he hide that food? We went to go get him food. Where did he put that food that he has? I didn't know he had it. Did you know he had it? No. I find it amazing. They're probably having that conversation like, Jesus, we walked all the way for here

because you said, and then we went into town because we're tired. We were thinking about you, and we fed ourselves, and we got some water, but we did kind of bring you food back. You could have said you had food. We didn't have to carry it back. Jesus had food that they knew nothing about. The disciples didn't get it. The disciples just don't see the big picture.

They're more focused on the journey. They're more focused on the journey that they just finished. Right now, their focus is getting that food and that water to feel replenished. And so we're looking at the discipline of fasting, and in particular, the power of our physical hunger that has over us. Look at verse 32. Jesus tells the disciples he eats food they don't know about, and they still don't get

it. Finally, verse 34, Jesus spells it out for them. I mean, I can just see it right now. Jesus is shelling out the attitude because he's so furious with them. He's so angry. He's so frustrated. Like, you guys, I've been traveling you since Matthew. What are we struggling with? You've been caught three or four times. You continue to eat. I need you to stay focused, and yet you're snacking.

He had to have felt like a babysitter with a bunch of four-year-olds running around. Because right now, I experienced that. My little guy, Oliver, he is snacking constantly. We're walking through the kitchen. He's like, I mean, he does get that from me. Let me be honest, full disclosure. But it's like, come on, dude, stay focused. Let's just get from one room to the other without grabbing snacks.

And the disciples are doing the same thing. Some of you parents, you can probably relate to this, is whenever you go on a road trip, how many of you pack your own meals? We do, right? And of course, you go shopping what you think your kids are going to eat. You pack your breakfast items. You pack your lunch items. And then the Rizzios will typically spurge on the dinner.

Sometimes lunch. Just depends how the drive is going, right? So my kids are like, all right, you're hungry? You want some breakfast? Yeah, they eat their breakfast. Comes around to lunchtime. It's like 10 a.m. They're like, hey, I'm hungry. We have to go to the store. We have two more hours of driving. Can we wait till 12? Oh, fine. But I'm really hungry. Okay.

So we get them their lunch. Guess what time it is? Lunchtime. What do they say? Well, I'm hungry. Well, we ran out of food because you ate two hours early. Was there any snacks? No. Are we there yet? No. And then that question doesn't stop. And that's what I like. I'm thinking right now, Jesus is walking around. It's like, you guys are killing me. Stop focusing on eating.

Because what happens? Because you just miss an opportunity to talk to a Samaritan woman and share the gospel with her. I can say that in my life, by far, the most satisfying things that have ever happened to me are those moments when I sense I had done as the Lord wanted me to do. When I attempt to satisfy myself apart from doing the will of God is inevitably not just a frustrating empty thing, but even very discouraging.

When you try to satisfy yourself, your own needs, your own desires, you can see that. You can see that you do not feel fulfilled for very long or at all. But when we choose to satisfy the gospel, when we choose to put our focus and our attention and glorify God, that satisfaction does not go away. I want to draw your attention to Deuteronomy 32, 15. You don't have to turn there.

But Jeshuron, Jeshuron is a term that means the people of the law. It was like a nickname for the nation of Israel. This is God's people. But Jeshuron grew fat and kicked. Then he forsook and God made him and made him and scoffed, scoffed at the rock of salvation. There's a sense that physically satisfying myself in some way keeps me from needing to find satisfaction in God.

So we're left with this question. Am I satisfying myself with that which is not bread and that which is not meat as well as other things that don't fill my soul? And this is part of the fasting is where you can take the time to truly understand God. I need to focus on what is distracting me from you. What do I need to eliminate or what do I need to decrease?

What is distracting me from gaining a stronger, more personal relationship with you? I want to be very clear. I don't think the disciples were treating idol or food as an idol. I think they were genuinely hungry. They were thirsty. They just walked three to five miles. Like I said, if I walked a half mile, I'd been croaked. I would have been dead. You had called an ambulance.

They come pick me up. I'm on the side of the road. I'm out. I don't blame them for wanting to get food. Food and water. The difference is you can see this repetitiveness with the disciples that they're just focused on the food and the water. And this whole time, it's like you guys are walking with Jesus Christ. Stay focused on the mission and see a lot of us are like, well, yeah, that happened then.

That's really easy. It's different now. It's not different because one, we have the word of God here. We can read about it. We can study it. We can understand where the disciples fell. But we need to say just as focused today as they were back then. We need to stay focused on the gospel and what we should be doing with it. Because like I said earlier, too often we show up here on Sundays and Wednesdays and that's it.

That's our time with God.

First Peter 2 11 says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. When we fast enslavement to things of the flesh. The flesh is broken and we are free to focus on our hunger upon what we really need. That's where we have to change our mentality. We shouldn't be focusing on what we want because obviously what the flesh wants is not what God desires.

We need to focus on what we need. What is our souls need? And that's to be having that daily conversation, that daily walk with Jesus. It humbles us and shows us our true selves. I went in. With these three points, I believe, Isaac, you have them up here. Number one, fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God. King David said, I humbled myself with fasting in Psalm 35.

Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God. Why? Because it takes you to a point of vulnerability. You say, what God? I know, for instance, food is something that we are. We have to have. In order to. Continue to survive. But if I can fast from food, God, if I can take that out of the equation for a day or for however long and say, I'm going to take food out and I'm going to continue to put you in.

I'm going to focus on where am I struggling in my life? What do I need to remove? Because I am distracted and I'm not spending time with you. I'm not in the word of God. I'm not praying as much as I should because I'm doing this because I'm playing video games because I'm distracted hanging out with my friends because I'm too busy with the things around the house.

I'm working too much because I'm trying to make it. I'm trying to make that money. I'm trying to obtain those accolades, whatever it may be. Humble yourself in the sight of God. Number two, fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance and transform life. When you're in the midst of fasting, when you're truly vulnerable and you realize I have been messing up, I am falling short right here.

This is where you feel that brokenness. You repent because of that brokenness. And now you continue that transformed life. Is that not the gospel in itself? You are sinner. You don't believe in Jesus. You accept the gospel because you understand you're broken. You repent because of what you did as a sinner. And therefore, your life has now transformed. Why?

Because you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And now you begin that relationship with him. Number three, your confidence and faith in God will be strengthened. Why? Because you'll feel mentally, spiritually and physically refreshed. Having that relationship and being right with God can refresh your body, can refresh your soul. But if you choose not to put yourself in that vulnerable position, choose to say, I'm going to take food out because I know it has control over me because my brain thinks I need it.

It is true. You do need it. But can you separate yourself so that way the next time sin comes about, you would have the strength to say, you know what? I'm not going to partake in that. I'm not going to partake in that. I don't need that. What I do need is Jesus Christ right now to help me. I want to end with this. It's important to understand that fasting is not a way to get better response to prayer.

Rather, true fasting is a means of fostering a better, humbler approach to prayer. Fasting is a way God's people have humbled themselves before him for more than 3000 years. Jesus, David and many others have gone without food for a little while so they could worship and pray to the one who supplies. Most importantly, all of our needs. So I want to encourage you.

If you've never taken part of fasting, if you're still unsure, talk to Pastor Ryan, talk to Pastor Allen, talk to them and say, how can I become closer? What is fasting? Rick Hawkins and talk to him. I mean, he's got a wealth of knowledge also about this topic. Put yourself in a vulnerable position between you and God and ask yourself, what is holding me back from growing closer to God?

Is it my friends? Is it my social life? Is it my drinking? Is it my cussing? Is it my partying? Whatever it is. Put yourself in a position where you can evaluate. And so you can have that one on one time with Jesus and improve your relationship with him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you so much. Thank you so much for Calvary Chapel. We come here. We can worship you, God.

We can just gain more knowledge within the scripture. Lord, I ask that you just you tear down these walls, Lord, that if anyone's encouraged. Or feel that they would want to fast or just even come to know you, God, that they would just have the strength to get up and and make that happen. Lord, I say to you, Pastor Ryan, just continue to fulfill him. Give him the strength because he's such a huge encouragement to not only this church, but the city.

Lord, that we can just continue to be a beacon. We can shine your light on our city that we can see more people come to know who your son is. We love you and give you all the praise and glory. Jesus name. Amen. Have a good night. Amen.