
Big Idea
The biggest breakthroughs often require the boldest acts of faith. Fasting is your step towards God's power.
Sermon Synopsis
In this sermon, Pastor Ken emphasizes the transformative power of fasting as a means of centering our lives on God. Drawing from Ezra 8, he highlights the importance of humbling ourselves, seeking God’s guidance, and realigning our spiritual focus through fasting. By fasting, we acknowledge our dependence on God and invite Him to work mightily in our lives. Pastor Ken calls on the church to fast together, encouraging members to approach major life decisions and challenges with prayer and fasting, trusting in God for breakthroughs and spiritual renewal.
Main Passage
Ezra 8:21-23
Small Group Questions:
START TALKING
If you had to give up one thing for a week (besides food), what would be the hardest thing to let go of?
What’s your go-to comfort food or activity when you’re feeling stressed?
Have you ever tried a new habit or challenge, like a workout routine or digital detox? How did it go?
What’s the noisiest or most distracting thing in your daily life right now?
START THINKING
Read Ezra 8:21-23. Why do you think Ezra saw fasting as necessary before their dangerous journey?
In Isaiah 58, fasting is connected to justice and compassion. How might fasting prepare us not only for personal breakthroughs but also to bless others?
How does fasting “turn down the noise” in our lives, and why is that important for hearing from God?
START SHARING
Share a time when you needed clarity or direction from God. How did you seek His guidance? Did fasting play a role?
What are some distractions in your life that might keep you from hearing God?
Where in your life are you relying more on your own strength than God’s? How can fasting help shift your focus?
START PRAYING
Group Prayer Prompt: Pray that God would help each person trust Him fully, silence distractions, and step out in faith through fasting.
Personal Prayer Prompt: Invite God to reveal areas of life where He wants to take control. Pray for boldness to surrender those areas through fasting.
There's a big connection between breakthroughs and fasting. What are some big things that you would want people to fast and pray for?
START DOING
Commit to Fast: Did you participate in the church wide fast or are you in the middle of it? Either way see if your group would be willing to choose a specific fast as a group (e.g., one meal, media, or something else significant) and support each other. It could be this week or next.
Prayer Focus: During your fast, take time to pray over one key area where you need breakthrough (e.g., a relationship, decision, or habit).
Noise Inventory: List distractions in your life and commit to reducing or eliminating one to create more space for God.
DIG DEEPER (Optional)
Explore Scripture: Read Joel 2:12-13, Daniel 10:2-3, and Acts 13:2-3 to see how fasting is used in different contexts.
Reflection Question: How does fasting prepare your heart to trust God and rely on His strength?
Challenge: Write down what you’re seeking from God during this fast and journal how He moves in response.
Transcript:
We, again, just want to be a church that prays often. We don’t pray just because we feel like we have to; it’s that we want to, and we pray with expectation. We pray boldly. We don’t pray because it’s a religious thing that we do. We pray because we want to. We believe that God is a God of miracles. Amen? Amen.
So with that, if you have your Bibles, I would love for you to turn to Ezra. Ezra. Ezra is in the Old Testament. It’s kind of halfway in the Old Testament. It’s a small little book. It is after the Kings and Chronicles. It’s okay, we’ll take some time to turn there. We’re going to be in Ezra 8. As you’re turning there, one thing that I just want to always center ourselves around is scripture. It’s always the Word. Why? Because I’m just a man. I’m just a man, right? So we want to study the Bible. We want to teach you how to grow in Jesus.
For those of you who are new here, I know this can be weird. You might be like, "Man, you just prayed over pregnant ladies, and now what are we doing?" Thank you for being here. Just know, if you’re new here, if you’re new to Jesus, new to all this stuff, know that the presence of God is here already. We want to start with the Word of God in Ezra 8.
If you are there, say, “I’m there.”“I’m there, I’m there.”If you’re not, say, “I’m not.”Oh, okay, good. That’s a pop quiz. That was good, that was good. If you were going to say no, we would have paused a little bit. It’s okay, it’s alright.
So Ezra, we are in Ezra 8, verse 21. A couple of chapters later, Ezra 8 in verse 21. Ezra. It says this:
"There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and for our children with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’ So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer."
I love this next section here. It says, “and he answered our prayer.” Can you guys repeat that with me? “And he did what? He answered our prayer.” Sorry, a little off rhythm there. Let’s try that one more time. “And he did what? He answered our prayer.” We can expect that when we pray. Expect that when we fast. Expect that when we come before the Lord, that he answered our prayer. That is a declaration that I just want to say among all the prayers that we have. This is the Word of God. Thanks be to God.
Let’s pray right now. God, we are just thankful for what you are doing here, thankful for the people here ready to learn through scripture, to learn in your Word. God, as always, we just pray that you soften hearts, open ears. God, we know that you’re going to be doing incredible things. So, Lord, Heavenly Father, I just pray that your words are powerful. God, that the words even that I’m speaking are not words from me but words from you. Lord God, we know your presence is here. Knock down barriers, open hearts, open ears. Allow us to grow in you, in your love. Lord God, for those who may not even know you, convict them. Allow them to see you so clearly today. Lord Heavenly Father, we pray this in your precious name of Jesus. Everybody says, “Amen, amen, amen.”
We are again in the middle of a series called Don’t Put Jesus First. I know that’s always a shocking thing because, as we’re leading up to Launch Sunday, we want to say, “Hey, don’t put Jesus first as a checklist. Put Jesus at the center of everything.” Not just a checkmark like, “I prayed. Alright, I put Jesus there. Alright, Jesus, I’m going to put you on the back burner now. Get out of the way; I’m going to do my own thing.” We want to put Jesus in the center of everything.
With that, I just want to ask you something: Where is your faith right now with God? Where is your faith with God? I don’t mean how often you come to church. I don’t mean how good you look as you’re coming here, right? You guys all look beautiful. Yeah, you look great, you look great. But really, what I mean is, where is your heart when it comes to your relationship with God? Are you on fire for Him, or has the fire kind of faded through time? You know, they say time always heals, but I feel like sometimes, if you’re not intentional about it, time also fades.
One of my favorite things I used to receive—so I encourage you all to do this more often—is every time before I preach, people would always text me, knowing I was going to preach on Sunday. They would text me personally and say, “Hey, Pastor, bring the Word, bring the Word,” and it would just be fire emojis. Just fire, just fire, right? It’s just amazing. It’s pretty much saying, “Set hearts on fire. Bring the Word, bring the fire, bring the Word.” Just the fire. That’s the power that’s in Jesus. Fire.
But sometimes, the fire in our faith has faded. There are moments where it seems like you’re on fire for God, and other times where you feel like it’s just... it’s stopped. It’s dim. At the same time, when the light is dim, it’s often when we feel like we need Him the most, where we need Him to be the loudest, but it seems like He’s the most quiet.
Life gets busy. Life gets loud. Not only loud on the outside—with the kids running around, or maybe you’re constantly scrolling on your phones just to pass the time, just to no longer be stressed about life—but also loud inside. You start asking yourself the questions that keep you up at night, things like, “Am I doing okay? Am I good enough? Because I don’t feel good enough. Am I making the right decisions? What’s going to happen next for me? How am I going to fix this?”
I think, when we need God the most, there are times when God feels distant because it’s a heart check. I think, oftentimes, we put Him just on the first day of the week—Sunday—and then the other five, six days, we’re kind of saying, “Okay, God, I worshiped You on Sunday. Why are You not here?”
Again, that’s why we say, “Center our lives around Jesus.” When we’re disconnected from Him, the truth is this: It’s not God that isn’t speaking; it’s the constant noise in our lives that’s drowning Him out.
So, this is important as we go into what we’re talking about today—how to re-center ourselves, how to put Jesus at the center. Last week, we said this illustration of a tire or a wheel, if you weren’t here. What it means is this: on a bicycle, there’s the tire on the outside. But the flimsy tire doesn’t work if it’s just a tire on the outside. There are actually two other things that you need. You need the spokes, and then you need the center of the wheel.
What we’re trying to do is kind of flip the script a little bit, saying, “Hey, listen, instead of building from the outside in—‘God, I need you because of the problems, because of the bumps in the road, because of all that’—I want to help you build from Jesus at the center out.” Starting with Jesus at the center.
With Jesus at the center of your hearts, the spokes are what connect the real world to you. The spokes are your spiritual disciplines. These are called spiritual disciplines. A lot of times, when we hear spiritual disciplines, I know it sounds like a big word. It’s like, “Okay, we read the Bible, we pray, we go to church,” which is so important, right? I think we feel the presence of God when we’re in a community of believers just worshiping together.
But I think there is a lost art or a lost discipline that we don’t necessarily do anymore. It’s this thing called fasting. It’s fasting.
So, we’re going to be talking about fasting today. I’m going to challenge you, as we’re going to be going into a church-wide fast starting tonight till Tuesday night. We’re going to break our fast together if you’re going to be there for Hope Partner Night, where we talk about vision and where we’re going as a church. It’ll be a fun potluck and everything at 6:00 PM here. We’d love for you, especially if you’re a partner here, to come join us. We’re going to break our fast with communion.
Here’s the big idea for today. If you don’t remember anything else, just remember this:
The biggest breakthroughs often require the boldest acts of faith.
What I’m saying is this: maybe you’re hitting a wall. Maybe you’ve been praying and nothing’s been happening. You need God to break through in your situation. The biggest breakthroughs often require the boldest acts of faith.
There’s another part of this, and it says this:
Fasting is your step toward God’s power.
Fasting is your step toward God’s power. If you want to see a breakthrough, don’t just pray—we want you to fast. If you want to see God do miracles in your life, don’t just pray and read the Bible—we want you to fast. If you want to set your hearts on fire for God again, maybe we all need to fast.
So, I want to dive into Ezra. Ezra is a man who wasn’t just any man. Ezra is a guy who was called by God to lead the Jewish people, the Israelites, back home to Jerusalem.
What happened? Well, if you remember, if you’re a church person, there are three names that always go together: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I feel like there’s a song that goes with it. Is there a song that goes with it? There is? Okay. Is it by VeggieTales? Is it a VeggieTales song? Alright. A confession for all the church people here: I didn’t grow up with VeggieTales. I don’t know the song. If I did, I would sing it, right? I would sing it. But it’s also not written by Lin-Manuel, so I didn’t sing it.
The only reason I mention Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is that they were actually taken by Babylon and tossed into the fire. This empire took over the Jewish people and forced them out of their city. They took over by force and said, “You are no longer Israelites. You’re going to be Babylonians, and you’re going to bow down to us or you’re going to die.”
That’s what happened. This is history for us. It just so happens that we live in a great country right now, in a time of peace for us. But this is history for the rest of the world: empires coming in and out all the time.
So, here are the Jewish people. They were captured by the Babylonians. They were forced to bow down and strip themselves of all their religion, of all their beliefs in God. Then finally, another empire took over. Another king was established, and the king said, “Hey, you can go back.”
They were taken from Jerusalem on a 900-mile journey to Babylon. 900 miles. That’s a lot, even for a car, right? Imagine just walking 900 miles. Ezra is now saying, “I’m called in these short chapters here by God, after it’s only been 70 years—but it was a lifetime—to go back to Jerusalem because the king allowed it.”
That’s what’s happening in the context here.
So, I want to read this, and let’s read this together. Ezra 8:15 says:
"I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there."
There’s no Levites. You’re like, “What are Levites?” Levites were people that wear Levi’s, right? No. Levites were actually from the tribe of Levi. And you’re like, “Okay, why do I care? We’re talking about Ezra, right?” Because Ezra is taking account of everybody, and all of a sudden, there are no Levites.
Why were the Levites so important? Because Ezra was taking them back to rebuild the Temple, where God would be worshiped. What they’re saying is, “There’s no Levites.” They were about to take everybody back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, and the Levites weren’t there because the Levites served the church. They were the caretakers of the church.
I want to bring this home to you and how that relates: We can’t do church without you. We can’t do it without you. We can’t.
Throughout scripture, the idea isn’t, “Hey Pastor, we tithe; we pay your salary. Good job, right? You feed your kids; that’s good. It’s your job.” No. We see throughout scripture, time and time again, that this isn’t Pastor Ken’s church. This is our church together.
Because a church without community isn’t church. A church without Levites isn’t church. A church without people who step up and serve isn’t church.
You are the Levites. You are the ones that are called to carry His presence. The Levites were actually the worship leaders, the worship volunteers. They were the ones who assisted the priests. They were the ones who carried the Tabernacle. They were the ones who took care of the temple.
Why do I say that? Quick plug: We’re moving to two services in two weeks, which means we have to double our efforts. It’s a big launch Sunday. We’re trying to say, “Hey, we’re going to launch! Invite your friends, your family. It’s going to be incredible; it’s going to be powerful. We believe that God is doing something so good and so beautiful here.” Amen? Amen.
But we can’t do it without people stepping up. Our children’s ministry—I was talking to Becca—she said, “I just need two more people to step up and serve just once a month for one service. That’s all we need.”
Why do we do that? Because our heart is to say, “Hey, we care about the next generation.” Right? It’s not about us. Notice in scripture it says, “We’re praying and fasting for God, not just for us but also for our children.”
We care about the future of our church. Sometimes there are people who come in here whose children only hear about God when they’re at church. You have the opportunity to plant seeds.
We also always need more technicians, more production people, because what do they do? They amplify the Word. I know I’m loud already without a microphone, but Aunt Becky can’t hear us without the microphone.
There’s something amazing—it takes the Word and takes our worship and amplifies it. Many of you checked out our church online before you stepped in, just watching our streams and everything.
We also need greeters. I understand, yeah, we’re a friendly church, but we also need greeters who are there to look out for people and just smile. If you don’t have the joy of Jesus with you, don’t be a greeter, alright? Okay? We don’t need just a warm body; we need smiles to welcome and share the heart of Jesus.
Of course, we also need people who have the gift of generosity as well. These are people that step up to serve.
We’re thankful for the staff, thankful for the volunteers, thankful for all of you who step up. Actually, can we just celebrate that right now? Let’s just celebrate everybody.
All that is a guilt trip for you guys to serve, alright? We believe that it’s important to serve. That’s one of our values—the importance of serving others. We definitely believe that as you serve others, you’re sharing the gospel. You’re evangelizing through your gifts and talents.
If you want to serve, if you have a heart for something or someone, will you be willing to just talk to us at the welcome tent or fill out a card or go to our website, newhopegilbert.com/serve. There are so many opportunities to serve.
Why do I say this? Because Ezra, now if we go back to scripture, Ezra then did what I just did there, right? He recruited. He trained.
Here’s what happened. Ezra 8:20 says this:"They also brought 220 of the temple servants—a body that David and the officials had established to assist the Levites. All were registered by name."
They were all like, “Oh yeah, I filled out a connection card. I’m ready to serve.” That’s what they did. They didn’t have QR codes back then. They were like, “Okay, fine, I’ll walk the 900 miles. We’ll go together.”
But that wasn’t enough. That wasn’t enough.
Imagine that—they have a team together, 220 people, willing enough to travel to rebuild the Temple. Then Ezra is saying, “Hold on, hold on. That’s not enough.”
I just want to say this, because he’s preparing everything physically. He’s making the preparations, putting together the business plans, doing the fundraising, organizing everything physically. But it wasn’t enough.
I just want to warn you all and say this: Maybe that’s why you’re struggling. Maybe you prepared everything physically. You put together all the plans, invested all that time in that relationship. You’ve bought the gifts, opened every single door. You’re being the gentleman, holding open the car door, pulling down the seatbelt for your girlfriend, buying flowers at every moment. But the relationship still doesn’t seem to be working.
Maybe for some of you, you have a bad habit you’re trying to kick. You have accountability partners. You pay the psychologist. You still can’t kick whatever it is you’re struggling with. You’re trying to stop drinking, stop smoking, whatever it may be. Yet again, you can’t stop binging.
Why? Because you’ve spent all your time on the physical things, the physical preparations, but not enough time on the spiritual side. All your time is on the physical, not the spiritual.
You try to take care of it on your own without God.
Even Ephesians 6 says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” You think it’s about flesh and blood—it’s not. What is it? Our struggles are against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We’re trying to fight the spiritual world with physical acts, and it just doesn’t work. It only gives more people book sales and more podcast views, but it doesn’t actually change you.
We spend so much time, so much money, so much energy on the physical world, but not on the spiritual world.
Ezra knew this. See where I’m getting here? They’re trying to travel 900 miles. They’re probably preparing everything, probably stretching, doing yoga, whatever it is to get ready for this 900-mile hike back. But then, all of a sudden, Ezra realizes, “Wait. This isn’t enough.”
Ezra wasn’t just carrying volunteers or Levites. They were also carrying gold, silver, and copper. You see that in the section there. In fact, they carried so much—it was worth about $251 million worth of treasures on this 900-mile hike.
Some of you have no money in your bank account, yet you still lock your wallet in the car when you go hiking because you don’t want to lose it. This is $251 million, and they have to travel, not just through Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood but sometimes through the hood. You know what I’m talking about.
This is what Ezra says in 8:22:"I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’"
He already told the king he could have asked for protection, for soldiers. He says, “I was ashamed to ask for that protection because I already declared this: The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to Him.”
He’s saying, “I don’t need the protection of soldiers or guards. I need the gracious hand of God. We’ve prepared everything physically, but now I need everyone to be prepared spiritually.”
This is what he did, in verse 21:"There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions."
He’s saying, “We’ve got to transform our physical needs into something spiritual. We need to stop thinking it’s in our power. We need to stop being religious and just focus and center on God.”
Fasting does that. It humbles us.
Fasting humbles us before God. This is what fasting is:
Fasting is the intentional act of humbling ourselves before God, acknowledging our dependence on Him, and seeking His guidance, provision, and protection.
Fasting isn’t just, “Oh, great, I could lose a few pounds.” Right? It’s not that. Fasting is to free up your time. It’s to remind you. It’s to supercharge your prayers into something even more powerful.
In fact, fasting is the physical expression of spiritual dependence.
It’s a way to transform our physical wants and needs into something spiritual. That’s what Ezra understood. He understood that fasting wasn’t just about giving something up. It wasn’t about religious sacrifice. It was about putting God in His rightful place—not first, but at the center of everything.
Ezra was saying, “I made the preparations physically, but we really need to fast to prepare spiritually.” All their plans, all their efforts, all their strategies were worthless if God wasn’t at the center of it all.
The same thing applies to us. All your relationships, all your plans, all the things you’re trying to get done, the hills you’re trying to climb—they will not happen unless you center your life around God. God will not give you those things if you are dependent on the physical world because why would God want to drive you apart from Him? He wants you to depend on Him.
Now, I do believe there’s a byproduct of putting Jesus at the center. The byproduct is answered prayers, miracles, healthier marriages, healthier relationships. It’s the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
But all of that cannot happen without God at the center. That’s what fasting does.
God doesn’t just want to be in your life; He wants to be the center of your life.
So, a couple of things. You want to make sure the person you’re dating is worthy enough for marriage? That’s a big decision, isn’t it? Married people, is that a big decision? Yeah, it’s a big decision. Don’t you think you should fast about that? Don’t you think you should fast about that?
Don’t you think you should be praying before you pop that question, to seek God and make sure He’s at the center of your relationship?
Maybe you have the opportunity to buy a home right now. That’s a big decision. You don’t know where things are going. You’re making a big financial decision. Don’t you think you should fast together as a family?
I think so. Instead of just saying, “I’m going to look at 30 years of interest rates and try to predict the next presidency,” how about we fast and pray about that?
Maybe your marriage needs healing. You’re sick of the fighting, the arguing, the lack of love. You’ve gone through counselors. You’re saying, “Okay, we’re going to go on dates and all this stuff.” How about you fast and pray together and allow God to work in that relationship again?
It supercharges your prayers because it humbles us. It says, “Enough of the physical world; it’s about the spiritual world.” Amen? Amen.
Here are a couple of things we know about fasting. I just want to quickly go through this.
There’s a fasting guide in your weekly bulletin, and we’re asking you to fast. Here are some things to pray for as we’re fasting together. We prepared everything for our two services, but I want to declare a fast to be praying for that.
We want to pray for those two services. We want to pray for lost people to be found, for the blind to see. We want to see people’s lives changed for Jesus. That’s what we want to see.
We can’t do it—no matter how much we study the Bible and pray—without God. Amen? We can’t.
That’s why we want to fast. It’s simple. Some churches do 21 days of fasting. We’re just doing three days of fasting. Sunday night to Tuesday night—that’s just two days.
So here are some things we learn about fasting. You can write this down in your notes.
I call fasting a lost art or a lost discipline because, in scripture, as we see throughout the Old and New Testament, fasting is not optional. It’s actually an expectation for believers.
Matthew 6 says this. Jesus says, “When you fast...” Notice, it doesn’t say, “If you fast.” It says, “When you fast.”
Everybody understood at that time that fasting was a spiritual discipline. Somehow, over the centuries, we’ve lost this practice. But here, Jesus says, “When you fast...” So I think it’s important to fast.
It transitions our focus from the physical realm to the spiritual realm.
By the way, did you know this? Jesus fasted. Jesus fasted before a big, major decision. Before He went into ministry, He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.
So that’s why I think it’s important when it says, “When you fast...” Fasting is not optional; it’s an expectation for believers.
If you want to help transform your prayers, if you want to set your hearts on fire for God, then it’s when you fast. You’re going to see breakthroughs happen. You’re going to see transformations in your life. When you fast, you’re going to re-center yourself.
I think we center our lives enough around food, don’t we?
We wake up and think, “I’ve got to have breakfast.” Around noon, we say, “I’ve got to have lunch.” Dinner’s at 6 PM, and now we’re really hungry. And remember, we’re just sitting in front of computers all day. We’re not farmers out there working the fields.
Fasting says, “Let’s stop centering our lives around food and start centering our lives around God.” That’s what fasting does.
Fasting is not optional; it’s an expectation.
Here’s the second thing: Hunger is not the goal. It’s the reminder.
Hunger is not the goal; it’s the reminder.
When you’re fasting and you feel hungry, it’s just an alarm clock for prayer.
My kids said something funny when I told them we were going to fast. They said, “Mom and Dad, can you not yell at us when you’re fasting?” I said, “What are you talking about?” They said, “You’re mean when you’re hungry.”
Don’t be angry when you fast, alright? If you’re hungry, use that as a reminder to focus on prayer, not as an excuse to yell at your kids!
Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
That’s what fasting does. It reminds us that we don’t live on food alone.
If you look at the guide online, you’ll see that fasting doesn’t have to be food if you have dietary restrictions. You can fast from other things, like social media. But personally, I prefer fasting from food because I love food.
I also like the physical pain of hunger when fasting because it’s a strong reminder to pray. That’s something you don’t necessarily get from a social media fast.
Here’s the third thing: Fasting is often paired with prayer and can lead to spiritual breakthroughs.
Matthew 17:21 says this. Jesus says, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Jesus was talking about demons in this passage. His disciples were trying to cast out demons through prayer, but they couldn’t. Jesus told them, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
I think Jesus takes fasting pretty seriously.
And lastly, fasting can lead to revival.
You want to set your heart on fire, right? I want us to be a church that not only prays but also fasts together. A church that believes in the power of prayer. A church that expects God to answer those prayers.
There’s a great story about revival in Nineveh. You may know the story of Jonah and Nineveh. Jonah ran away from the city because Nineveh was so wicked. Jonah was a prophet, and God told him to go to Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t want to bring revival to that city. He thought, “They’re wicked people. I don’t want to go.”
So, Jonah ran away, and that’s where we get the story of Jonah being swallowed by the big fish. After that, he was forced to go back to Nineveh.
The city was so wicked, but when Jonah hesitantly shared the gospel, shared the good news of God, Nineveh had a heart change.
It says the entire city fasted.
They fasted. They put aside everything. They said, “God, we need You. We need You right now.” They fasted and prayed because they needed demons to be driven out, relationships to be healed, and revival to happen—not just in their city but in their hearts.
When they fasted, the whole city, which was headed for destruction, was saved. God lifted His hand of judgment and showed them grace and love because they returned to Him.
All through the power of fasting. Isn’t that incredible?
So, I want to just close by saying again, I pray that you all, that we all, are able to fast together, to pray together. Join us on this fast. If you don’t make it for this specific fast, that’s okay—you can still come join us on Tuesday night. It’ll be totally fine.
But we just want to have that heart of prayer, that heart of fasting for you. We truly believe that breakthroughs will happen.
Let’s pray right now.
Lord Heavenly Father, we lift You up. God, we know that You’re going to be doing incredible things in this time of prayer and fasting. This challenge for our church to fast, to see people redeemed, to see relationships healed, to see breakthroughs happen. God, we want to see miracles that could only happen when we humble ourselves before You.
God, help us to embrace this discipline of fasting and prayer, to put everything else aside and say, “God, we need You in this moment. We need You at the center of it all.” Lord Heavenly Father, we lift up every heart here, every person who’s hearing this. God, let Your Spirit work powerfully in their lives. Knock down barriers. Break chains. Bring clarity where there’s confusion, bring healing where there’s pain, and bring light where there’s darkness.
Lord, we thank You for Your presence here. We know You’re already moving, and we’re expectant for what You’re going to do. Lord, we love You. We honor You. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Amen. Amen.
*This transcript has been prepared to enhance readability and accessibility. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, some errors or discrepancies may remain. For the most precise representation, please refer to the original video.
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