Fresh Fire, Part 5: Hungry For God

Type: Sunday Morning Service

Series: Fresh Fire

Sermon: Part 5: Hungry For God

🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen

Spiritual hunger is awakened when we willingly set aside physical comfort to pursue a deeper connection with God. Choosing to fast sharpens our ability to hear God’s voice, realigns our priorities, and exposes areas that need repentance and healing. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled, because God rewards hearts that earnestly seek Him.

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Additional Info

The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.

Hunger That Leads to Fulfillment

Many people are full but still unsatisfied because spiritual hunger has been replaced with distractions that cannot nourish the soul. When appetite is shaped only by comfort and convenience, sensitivity to God’s voice fades. True fulfillment begins when desire is redirected toward righteousness.

What It Means to Fast

Fasting is the intentional choice to abstain from food for spiritual purposes. It is not a diet, detox, or performance for others, but a private act of devotion meant to draw the heart closer to God. Scripture presents fasting as a normal rhythm of spiritual life alongside giving and prayer.

Why Fasting Matters

Throughout Scripture, fasting precedes moments of breakthrough, clarity, and deliverance. It humbles the soul, strengthens prayer, and heightens spiritual awareness. Fasting does not force God’s hand; it positions the believer to hear Him more clearly.

The Inner Battle and the Greater Reward

Physical discomfort reveals emotional and spiritual realities already present within us. As reliance on food decreases, dependence on God increases. Those who persevere discover that spiritual nourishment far outweighs temporary hunger.

God’s Promise to the Hungry

God sees what is done in secret and promises to reward those who seek Him sincerely. When hunger for righteousness grows stronger than hunger for comfort, transformation follows. Spiritual hunger ultimately leads to spiritual fullness.

• Discussion Guide

  Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.

  • Begin by discussing what people typically turn to for comfort or fulfillment when life feels overwhelming.

  • Read Matthew 5:6 and Matthew 6:16–18 together, then talk about why fasting has become less common in modern faith practice.

  • Discuss how fasting can help reveal spiritual, emotional, or relational issues that might otherwise remain hidden.

  • Share any fears or hesitations about fasting and how community support can help.

  • Close by praying together for increased hunger for righteousness.

  Action Step: Commit to a specific time of prayer this week to seek God intentionally, and make a fasting plan.

• Historical Context

  Matthew 5:6 comes from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus redefined blessing not as external success but as inner transformation. Hunger and thirst were powerful metaphors in a culture where food scarcity was common, making the promise of being “filled” deeply meaningful.

  Matthew 6:16–18 addresses fasting as a well-established Jewish practice. In first-century Judaism, fasting often accompanied repentance, mourning, or seeking God’s guidance. Jesus corrected the misuse of fasting as a public display and restored it as a private act of devotion focused on God alone.

• Kids Lesson

  Introduction: Talk about how our bodies feel when we are hungry and how our hearts can feel hungry for God.

  Scripture: Matthew 5:6 (read together).

  Craft: Make a paper plate with the words “God Fills My Heart” and decorate it.

  Game: Play a short waiting game where kids practice patience before receiving a small snack.

  Discussion Questions:

  • What does it mean to be hungry for God?

  • How can we listen to God better?

  Wrap-Up Prayer: Thank God for caring about our hearts and ask Him to help us want Him more every day.

• Full Transcript

  If you believe prayer changes everything, would you say amen? Yeah, well I think it changes everything. I hope we're not having light problems again. Wow, if you were here last week, we had some some fireworks at the end of the service, literally speaking. Uh I I w do we live in Florida? And and the reason why I'm asking that is because I got on my weather app this morning and it's I'm from Aberdeen, South Dakota, way up north, and it is 10 degrees warmer in Aberdeen, South Dakota than in Oxford, Florida. And so I thought I was getting away from all of that stuff. And uh this morning it was cold. Has it ever been this cold before? Yes, no, maybe. It's a cold one. Well, uh thank you for uh Coming out anyway. Thank you for being here because today's message, I believe, is really, really important. I think it's crucial to where we're going as a church. Because today I am calling you to 72 hours of prayer and fasting. Today I'm asking you to spend uh Three days in uh seeking the Lord's will and seeking his way in your life. And uh I want you to know that fasting is not a diet. How many of you have gone on a diet? Come on, let me see your hands. You've been on a diet before. Raise your hand, okay. I I think most of us have gone on some kind of diet. I heard two ladies were talking and and one said, I heard you're on a diet, the other one said yes. The first one said, how long have you been on the diet? And the second one responded for two weeks. So her friend said, well, what have you lost so far? And she sighed and said, mostly just my will to live. We live in a culture obsessed with food I mean we've got the golden arches, we have got uh the Burger King, we have got uh uh fast food restaurants, formal restaurants on every corner, especially in this area. We have entire television networks dedicated to us watching them cook something that we can't even smell. And yet we watch those things and look for what our next meal is going to be. But today I want to talk to you about Being hungry, not physically hungry. Jesus speaks in his Sermon on the Mount and Matthew chapter 5, verse 6. And this is what he says: Blessed are those who hunger and Thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I want to encourage you that if you're willing to join us for the next three days, that God will Fill you, that's the promise of Jesus Christ who can say amen. He will give you something. Unfortunately, a lot of people are already full. And I don't mean physically speaking. I I mean spiritually. We're filled up on the on the junk food of the world. We're filled up on the on the cotton candy of television and social media and and video games and all of these things that fill our spirits and there's almost nothing left over for God himself. So today I want to talk to you about Fasting, choosing to be physically hungry so that you can awaken your spiritual hunger. It's telling your stomach to shut up so that you can literally hear the voice. of God. If you've got your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew chapter 6. We're going to look at a couple of verses beginning in verse 16. This is what it says. When you fast. Do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others that they're fasting. Truly I tell you, they've received their reward in full But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen. Let me give you a couple of things to consider over the next three days as I hope you enter into this spirit and this attitude of fasting. Number one is this Fasting is an important part of the Christian experience. It is so important that Jesus makes it a part of his trilogy of to-dos in his Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 6, Jesus begins by saying, When you give. Then when you pray, and then when you fast. Now, if I were to ask you, do you ever give I bet you everyone here would say yes. You give of your time, you give of your money, uh you give to the church sometimes, to the American Red Cross, you you give blood when the blood mobile comes, that that that you're giving on a on a regular basis. If I were to ask you, do you pray? We know that you're gonna say yes to that. Remember, I said this a couple of weeks ago. 20% of atheists admit to praying just in case. Almost everybody gives, almost everyone prays. I can't say the same when it comes to fasting. Very few people, even Christians, have the discipline of fasting in their lives. I believe fasting is the neglected discipline. But when you look at verse 16 in chapter 6, Jesus assumes that you're going to fast. He says, when you fast. He expects that fasting is a normal part of your Christian life. And when I say normal, not not once in your lifetime. We give regularly, we pray daily. Fasting should be more practiced in the Christian church than it is. Jesus expected us to fast. Jesus modeled the life of fasting. You read in Matthew chapter 4 that he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And then the scripture says he was hungry. I hope so. I I I mean he was a physical man just like you and I. That might be the understatement in the the entire Bible. But here's what we need to understand: Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. That the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords felt it necessary to fast. He wasn't just being an example, although that is what he was doing. He felt it necessary. He felt it important. He needed to fast. Jesus did this before a major shift in his life. And you will find when you read the Old Testament especially that the children of Israel oftentimes fasted when they were confronted by something big. When there was an enemy coming, when there was no crops in the land, when when something tragic was taking place, they would turn to God in prayer and in fasting. So the question is, why is there so little emphasis on fasting in the church today? I think it's possible that we have too much material wealth. I think it's possible that there is an affluence barrier in our society. Fasting. might actually be harder to do than giving, harder to do than praying, because we're so used to getting things instantaneously That we want and hope that our Christianity will work the same way. We want drive-through Christianity. We want things to happen fast at the speed of a microwave. But fasting takes time. Fasting takes practice. I know some of you are thinking right now, Pastor, I do a partial fast every day from midnight to 6 a. m. That's called sleeping, just so you know. That is not a a true biblical holy fast And Jesus assumes that you are fasting. The problem in Jesus' day wasn't that people weren't fasting. A lot of the religious people were fasting. Jesus warned them that something might be wrong with their motives, like giving and like praying. Fasting is really a heart issue. Jesus warned us not to be somber like the hypocrites. In other words, some of these guys were disfiguring their face so that you would know their fasting. They wanted you to really feel sorry for them. They wanted you to know what they were doing. And so I started thinking, what does that look like today? What does that look like in the 21st century? So this is what I wrote Today that might like look like posting a selfie with a sad filter And a caption that says day three of my fast, pray for me. Hashtag so holy. Hashtag starving for Jesus. No, a fast isn't something that you personally announce. Now let's differentiate between what I'm doing and what you hopefully do over the next three days. A fast oftentimes was called in the Old Testament by a spiritual leader. In the book of Joel, chapter 1, verse 14, this is what it says, declare a holy fast. There's a difference between fasting because you want to lose weight and fasting because you want to get closer to God. There's a difference between fasting because you're trying to detox your your physical body and you're fasting a holy fast because you want to detox your your spiritual soul. Who can say amen? And it goes on to say, and call a sacred assembly. This is what we're doing. We're declaring a fast. We want it to start today after lunch. Okay? After lunch. So feel free to go get your lunch in, but don't eat tonight. And don't eat Monday, don't eat Tuesday, don't eat Wednesday. And when you come back to church Wednesday night, we're gonna break the fast with communion, and then we're heading out to the fellowship hall and we're gonna literally have bacon and eggs and we're gonna have a breakfast by breaking the fast. Let's go. That's what we're doing. As a family, we're doing this together. So, fasting isn't about impressing people, it's about getting closer and closer to God. It was such a part of the culture in Jesus' day. I want you to think about this. That he spends a whole bunch of verses teaching them how to pray, but he doesn't teach them how to fast. They all know what this means. It means we are not going to eat. Not a single amen. So so listen. So across the country I see churches doing fasts. But they're not really doing biblical fasts. Because what they're saying is stuff like this. You can fast television. You can fast social media. You can fast uh whatever it is that that you don't want to do and spend that time with the Lord. And and although that's well and good, I'm not saying it's wrong to do any of that stuff. When Jesus is talking about fasting, he's talking about not eating food. From anywhere from one meal to 120 meals. One day to 40 days. And let me tell you, it is going to affect you, body, soul, and spirit. Isaiah chapter 48 verse 3. Listen, this is what it says. Why should we fast if the Lord never notices? So, you know what's going on here? People started fasting for maybe one or two or three or four days, and they didn't get what they wanted from God, so they start complaining. Oh, this fasting stuff doesn't work. Why should we go without food if he pays no attention? They're whining because they're not eating, because they Think they're going to move God's hand, that's not what fasting is all about. It's about you moving closer to God. The scripture says the Lord says to them, the truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interest and oppress your workers. So listen, listen. One of the things that we do when we fast is we take the money that we would have spent on that food and we give it away. They're actually oppressing their workers. They're making it harder on them rather than easier on them. Listen, fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. You're not gonna eat for spiritual purposes. You're not gonna eat because you're gonna move closer to God. You're gonna focus on God. You're gonna worship God. Luke chapter 2 verse 37, she, Anna, was now an 84-year-old widow. She never left the temple area, but worshipped God with fasting and prayer night and day. Did you get that? She worshiped God with fasting and prayer night and day I'm thinking about this woman, and uh it it it seems to be implying here that she's been a widow for a long, long time. And one of the things she's decided to do is she's gonna honor God. She's gonna follow focus on God. She's going to worship God. And one of the ways she does that is by coming to the temple area, the place to worship, and she's not going to eat. She's just gonna wait on God and the scripture tells us she's waiting on Jesus too. Waiting on God and waiting on Jesus And Jesus did not disappoint. Jesus came into her life. Who can say amen? He won't disappoint you either There is a reward waiting for those who fast because they want to get closer to God. She understood that you forego a physical meal to enjoy the delicacies. of heaven. You and I do this all the time. I mean I've gone without buying myself a new outfit so that my kids could get new clothes for for school I've gone without buying myself a car, even though I needed a new car so that my kids could go to college and I paid for their university education. I've taken sack lunches to work so that I could buy my wife an anniversary present. We do this in our human relationships. It's worth doing it with God also. that we will sacrifice for him for him to get just a little closer, a hint as to a deeper relationship with him. This is how I see prayer fasting. It's a prayer booster. I wrote this down. It's like a Wi-Fi booster. You need a Wi-Fi booster when you need more clarity and you need more connection. You need a prayer booster like fasting when you need more clarity and you need more connection. It reminds me of the the high jump versus the pole vault. The high jump on my own strength, I can jump about, not me, I'm talking about Olympic athletes, all right? They can jump about eight feet The pole vault they can go over 20 feet. That pole gets them more than twice as high. Fasting will get you more than twice as high when it comes to hearing the voice of God. I look at the at the Old Testament and I see the prayer of repentance. The Holy Spirit actually said, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. Humility almost was always associated with fasting. If we will humble ourselves, fast. and pray he will hear from heaven. He will forgive our sins. He will heal our land. We need to understand that there is the the prayer of repentance that is seen over and over again, especially in the Psalms. I don't know about you, but I'm declaring over the next three days a hunger strike against hell in Jesus' name. No more sin. No more tolerating sin. We're going to be a holy people in the name of Jesus Christ. Jehoshaphat was fasting for deliverance. Ezra was fasting for protection. Nehemiah was was fasting for the Work of God to move forward. That's going to be one of our primary emphases over the next three days. Is what does God want us to do as a church as we move forward? The work of God. He's got a wall that needs to be built and he wants us building it. A prayer for guidance, a prayer for direction. These are all things that fasting can help you with. It doesn't make God hear you better. It makes you hear God better. But number three, get ready for a fight. This is not for the uh the the spiritually weak. And you might say, Pastor, I am spiritually weak. Well, it you're gonna be in boot camp then. Because this is this is the beginning of a a new emphasis in your life, a new spiritual discipline that can make all the difference between you understanding what's going on around you and you not understanding what's going on around you. But please make no mistake about it. If you engage in a fast, you're engaging in spiritual warfare. It's going to be challenging and your body might throw a tantrum. It might not like what you're doing. There's going to be a physical challenge. Like I said earlier, everyone needs to go to lunch today and start your fast tonight. And if you do this, you'll be hungry tonight. Or at least your body will tell you you're hungry. You're not really hungry. Just so you know, you're not really hungry. You and me, I'm just as guilty. I've trained myself to eat throughout the day. Sometimes that's two meals, sometimes that's three meals, sometimes that's three meals and seven snacks in between. But I can eat, I can they they call it grazing, all right. I I can graze from the moment I get up until I go to bed at night. And when you go three or four hours and you're used to grazing, all of a sudden your stomach is going to start grumbling just a little bit. but you're not really hungry. In the morning that grumble will become a roar. Your stomach will sound like a big blue whale in the middle of the ocean. I'm just letting you know it's gonna be yelling at you, shouting at you People at work will be saying, what is wrong? Did you not eat this morning? And the temptation will be to say, oh, I'm fasting. Aren't I so spiritual? The Bible says don't let anybody know. Wash your face. Oh, no, no, no, I I I'm just spending time with the Lord. Just spending time with the Lord, we need to ignore our stomachs. Drink lots and lots of water. Because that will at least temporarily fill the void. You might get a weird coating in your mouth. You might get bad breath. My recommendation is brush your teeth. And bring your toothbrush with you throughout the day. Because if you don't know this, food actually masks your breath. And so you need to keep your mouth fresh. Don't watch television. Because you will learn that half the commercials are food commercials. You will be hungry for things you've never eaten in your life. There will be an advertisement on the TV and you'll be going, man, I don't even like Taco Bell, but it sure looks good today. Stay away from television. Lightheadedness might start. Some people will have hallucinations. You'll think they're visions and they're not. Here's what I'm telling you. Fasting is a humbling situation because you will recognize how weak you really are. I can't believe that I got a headache just because I didn't have a cup of coffee today. I can't believe that my head is hurting because I haven't had a diet coke in the last 24 hours. But you will reveal things about you that you need to know. And God doesn't, he's not going to be mean to you. He wants you to persevere through through that and get to the other side because the physical struggle is just the beginning. There's also an emotional struggle that's going to take place. And the reason I say this is because eating is actually probably more emotional than it is physical for us. We celebrate by eating. We reward ourselves with eating. We drown our sorrows by eating. We eat when we're bored. We eat when we're excited. We eat when we're with family and friends. And if you dive into this fast, taking away food, some some negative emotions might rise to the surface. Number one is anger. Watch this commercial. Marcia, what happened? Peter hit me in the nose with a football. I can't go with a dance like this. Well, I'm sure it was an accident, sweetheart. An eye for an eye. That's what Dad always says. Never said that, honey. Shut up! Time to teach Peter a lesson. Marsha, eat a Snickers. Why? You get a little hostile when you're hungry. Better? Better? Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! Jan, this isn't about you. It never is! So Snickers has tied into something, haven't they? This whole hangry concept. It was never even an idea. idea before they did this about 10 or 12 years ago. This was one of the first commercials and you've seen others just as funnier or maybe even funnier. But there's some reality behind it. Things do come out when you get hungry. Listen to what Isaiah says again in verse 4 of chapter 58. When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting. You hit one another with your fists. That is an evil thing to do. The way you are now fasting keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven. Isaiah 58 is a great chapter for you to read and study and contemplate during a fast because it tells you how you shouldn't behave and how you should behave. Now remember, fasting doesn't create the anger. It reveals things that are already in there. Or if you are a novice to fasting, you just aren't ready for the things that are gonna happen to you, and you might respond. In anger. Normal, natural. The more you practice, the better you get. So my suggestion is as you start today Surrender your feelings to God. Say, God, I I give you all my fears. I give you my hesitations. I give you my worries. I give you my anger, Father God, and I pray that you'll Fill me with the fruit of the Spirit in Jesus' name. Can I hear people say amen? Then there's the spiritual battle. Do you think it's a coincidence that the first sin was over food? Have you ever thought about it? The very first sin was they saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye and good to Eat the very first sin. Adam and Eve chose food over God's word and God's presence Esau chose food over God's way. Hebrew 12, 16 says this: See that no one is like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. For one meal. I just I want to challenge you. He didn't value God's blessing enough to forego one meal. Are you willing to? Are you willing to go one meal, maybe up to nine meals, to get a breakthrough from God? God has a Breakthrough for anyone who needs one. God promises a reward. Matthew chapter 6, verse 18. Your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you, the scripture says. The more empty your stomach becomes, oftentimes the more sensitive your spirit becomes. Fasting can become feasting in the spirit realm. The early desert fathers believed full stomachs actually spoiled our appetite for God. Fasting can become a form of feeding on God, on his word, on the bread of life. That's why the psalmist says, taste and see that the Lord is good. And as you walk down this path over the next three days, you will begin to change. I guarantee you. There will be a spiritual cleanse. Repentance is one of the first things that begins to overwhelm our soul. We just recognize that we're not holy. God's holy and we're not. And we have an Isaiah type reaction. Woe is me! I'm a man of unclean lips. And repentance begins. To flow. Forgive me, Lord. Take that away and take that away and take that away. This is a good place to be. As we give up those negative emotions, they're replaced by the garment of praise in Jesus' name. I said it in the first service. I read this story about a man by the name of Jensen, and he was in his late 80s. lived up in Ohio and uh he wasn't able to come to church like he used to. He was he's kind of a shut in. And so his pastor showed up one day and said Jensen how you doing and Jensen said I I'm doing great Pastor said, what are you doing? And he goes, well, I I'm gonna be uh I've been fasting two meals a day. And the pastor said, what are you fasting for? And he said, Well, I'm I'm fasting for Anthony's salvation. That was someone that they they both knew. And he said, Well, how long have you been fasting? And Jensen said, I've been fasting for 40 days. And uh the pastor goes, wow, uh, that's quite a long time. How long are you going to fast? And Jensen said, as long as it takes. Here's what's amazing. Eleven days later, Anthony gave his life to Jesus Christ. Listen, listen, listen. Fasting moves things in the spirit realm. Fasting shaken it shakes the foundation. It pushes the darkness back and lets the light in. Jehoshaphat received a victory because they fasted. Hannah got pregnant because they fasted. Isaiah talks about healing, and the Bible talks about all kinds of spiritual breakthroughs. So the question isn't should you fast over the next three days? The question is what breakthrough are you hungry for? What are you hungry for? What do you want God to do in your life? I think he's saying, I'm available. If you take a little extra time with me. Whether it's one meal, five meals, nine meals. If you spend that time, think about it. Just one meal we prepare for. We think about, we get our plates out, we cook, we clean up. At a minimum, that's an extra hour. Three meals a day, it's an extra three hours. In three days, that's an extra nine hours minimum that you can spend with God What do you think is going to happen? So let me give you five closing things that you need to do this week. Number one, determine why you want to fast. Now you might This might be a normal part of your life. If it is, then you're fasting just because it's a normal part of your Christian walk. You're fasting because you want to get closer to God. Maybe you're fasting though for the salvation of someone in your family, just like Jensen. Maybe you're fasting for a healing in your body. Maybe you're you're fasting for a financial breakthrough of some kind. But determine in advance. Today Maybe over lunch, what are we going to be fasting for? Maybe you're fasting for the future of Oxford Assembly of God Church. I hope that's a part of everyone's three days praying for us to to determine where and what is God calling us to do. Number two, decide in advance on the details of your fast. The reason I say this is because earlier I said fasting is all about food. Okay? But we know that some people have medical conditions that keep them from being able to totally fast. And so this is not about living. legalism and it's not about guilt or condemnation. This is about giving up something that we enjoy so that we can enjoy God even more. And so if you physically are unable to fast, then what I recommend is that you give up something that that is really a joy in your life. in the eating category. Whether that's coffee, whether that's meat, whether that's desserts, or or maybe you can fast one meal a day or two meals a day and still eat that one meal to keep the blood sugar levels where they're supposed to be and everything like that. So I need you to understand that you can prepare, you can enter the spirit of the fast, even if you're physically unable to go completely without food. But the rest of us, we need to make a determination as to how serious are we going to take this? Are we going to take it You know, one meal, and we're gonna fast this one meal, and we're gonna spend two hours Monday morning, or maybe it's two hours Wednesday afternoon, and we're gonna pray. for those two hours because it's the only meal I can fast. Maybe your job is so labor-intensive that that physically, if you go three days without food, you couldn't even do it on the third day. But maybe you can fast one entire day or maybe one meal each day. Robin and I have already decided it I I think aren't aren't we fasting all nine meals? Yes? Okay. We're fasting all nine meals. Um some people will do a Daniel type fast. That means they eliminate all the fun things and just eat fruits and vegetables. I personally think it's easier to eat nothing than to eat just fruits and vegetables. But that's just me. Number three, make sure you pray. Here's one. Number four, embrace the pain. Now, this sounds weird, okay? But but please don't be surprised when you get uncomfortable. And rather than whine about it or complain about it You can flip it on its head by doing this. God, as much as I want stake and shake right now. Can you turn that in my life where I want you even more? Can you remind me through my physical hunger that I need to be that hungry for you on a regular and consistent basis. And if you're able to do that, it's going to be a huge victory in terms of embracing the pain. And finally, this is important, enjoyment comes as you practice fasting So this is not going to be the only fast I ever call. This will be done a minimum of once a year as long as I'm here, okay? And it'll be varying Amounts. Sometimes it'll be three days, sometimes it'll be seven days, sometimes it'll be ten days, sometimes it'll be twenty-one days. We'll do different things. But I think it's that important. But listen to what I did 20 some years ago. I was just reading about fasting. And uh I was a brand new senior pastor, so I was, you know, like 25 years ago or something like that. And uh I was all excited about we're gonna do a 21-day Daniel fast. And so Robin and I bought a bunch of strawberries and bananas and beans and and lettuce and all kinds of stuff. And after about 10 days, I thought I was gonna die. I I'm not kidding. I I thought I was gonna die. And and I was like, I I thought this would be different, and and I wasn't hearing from God. It was like All I could think of was food the entire time. And I'm like, I I thought this was about hearing from God. It's not working. On day 17, my my son had a football game 300 and some miles away. And so we drive to this football game 300 and some miles away, and it's about as cold as it is right now, except it's raining and snowing at the same time. It is miserable. I am hungry. I am cold. I am angry. And I went and got myself a hamburger. And I came back Sunday and I repented to the church. I said, I failed. I said I only made it 17 days and I know I called everyone to twenty-one days and and after service I got fa the best reactions to a sermon I've ever gotten in my entire life. Most of them said, thank you, Pastor. I go, what do you mean? They said, well, first of all, we only made it one day, so you made it 17. And then they said, thank you for your honesty. We thought that we were not being spiritual because we only made it one day or six days or ten days. But you oh you made it you didn't make the whole thing either. And I said, you know what I've I'm learning? I'm learning that you have to learn to fast. That it's not normal, it's not natural, and it's not easy. And so you start small. It's better to say I'm going to fast one day and get through all three meals than to say I'm going to fast three days and only get through one meal. Now again, if you say three days and you go two, have you ever done two before? So this isn't about Failing in the fast. It's about starting a new discipline in your life that God can use to draw him closer to himself. Who can say amen? So this is a no-legalistic zone and a guilt-free zone. I want you to understand that. I believe God wants us to literally hear his voice. So would you stand with me please? If there are some prayer partners here, I'd like to ask you to come forward and as As is our custom, uh the altars will be available for those who who want to pray. They'll also have prayer partners here if you need someone to pray with you about anything, about any of the issues that you're even gonna fast about. You might want To tell them, you know what, I'm gonna fast for the next three days for healing in my body, and and they will agree with you. I'm gonna fast for the next three days for a financial breakthrough and they're gonna pray with you. But we're just gonna sing a couple of songs. songs here and uh please if you need prayer come on forward. If I don't see you today, I hope to see you Wednesday night where we'll have a beautiful service and we'll break the fast with breakfast out in the fellowship hall. God bless you.