The Fast That Pleases God

Going to need your help today with this message. I want you to call the home off and say, I can't do my job without you, but I would like your help today on this day of atonement.

Because this is a day that we fast. We don't eat, we don't drink for 24 hours. And we spend time that we perhaps don't normally spend time or seem to have the time to pray, to study, to meditate, and to appreciate this day. Appreciate Jesus Christ, what He did for us as an atoning priest, but also what God has done for calling us out. Now, God, I hope you can see this over there. Yes, you can. Maybe Maurice can't. I'm going to take the happy Sabbath off today. Still want you to have one. But many of you have kept this day before, many times, right? So this would probably be my forty...no, thirty-eighth. Well, no, actually keeping it and being a member. Yes, probably kept this when I was 15 or 16 the very first time. So it's 40 over 40 years.

So let me ask you a simple question. Why do we fast on this day? I'll raise your hand, like some help. I'll write your answer down. No? Okay. Too humble. Everybody agree to that one? There's too humble. Ourselves.

Okay, you had another. To afflict our souls. To afflict ourselves. Okay.

Is there another one? Commanded. We're commanded to keep this day. Command it too. Okay.

Anything else?

To put him first, to become like that one with him. So we put him up there. Okay. All right.

He at one with God. Another one. Anybody? Yes. To show our worthiness. Oh, humble ourselves. Well, he put him on board. Yes. So that kind of goes in first. Wouldn't be yes. That's true. That's true. Okay. Yes, sir. Forgiveness and being reconciled. Okay. Forgiveness and reconciliation. One more. Yes, sir.

Rosh Hashanah. We want to send you the edit in here. We're told in order to the room and cover our eyes that the That's Rosh Hashanah. Yeah, let's feast the trumpets. This day is called Yom Kippur. Awesome day. Yom, forgive. Day of all. The day of all, yes.

You know what? The day of all. On the one hand, he's protecting us in the chamber. On the other, he's taking care of his enemies. Yes, true. It was awesome. It is a day of awesomeness. Okay.

Actually, a day of awe, you see. Thanks. Okay. That's quite a few. I'll take those. You can't read my writing, but then...

My third grade teacher is not here. Yes, that's true. So, I'd like you to go to Leviticus 23, if you will. Leviticus 23, as it talks about the day of atonement here. Okay. And let's see what it says at Leviticus 23 and 27 through 32. And he said, Also, the tenth day of the seventh month, which is today, it shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall... What did we say? Somebody said this. It's holy, but it shall afflict yourself. Right? That's one of the reasons why you're there. An offering made by fire. We just did that, didn't we, when we took up an offering. Okay. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement. So, we're definitely not working. Okay. You shall do no work to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. So, we're talking about repentance. We're talking about forgiveness and renewal. Okay. For any person who is not afflicted of soul, on that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. It's so important that he said, if you don't keep the day, I'm going to cut you off. It's very, very important. You will find people who are of the Jewish religion, one way or the other, might work even on Saturdays, but when it comes to this day of atonement, they will not work. Athletes, the whole nine yards, remember, when I was a kid, Sandy Kofax was Jewish, and World Series was coming in, they were afraid he was going to have to pitch on the atonement. And he said he couldn't do it. I arrived when I was driving yesterday to the hospital. I had a couple radio stations I clicked over, and some of them are DJs or sports guys or whatever, and they were Jewish, but they were saying they wouldn't be here today on the radio. Now they'll work any other day, whatever, but this is the one day that's so important. They will not work because God said he will cut you off. And they believe in the Jewish religion. That's where you come to get your blessing for the next year. And by doing that, you come before God, you're humble, you fasted, and so now, because you're there, he can bless you. Okay? So any person who does any work on that day, that person I will destroy among my people. And it was so important that you kept this day in God's eyes that I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to wipe you out. He was serious about that. You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest. And you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month that evening. From evening to evening, you shall, what does the new King James say? Celebrate. Celebrate the Sabbath. I don't know how many of you about 5 30 this afternoon will go, Oh man, I feel great! Let's celebrate. It's a Sabbath. He's for us that's not used to fasting. It's kind of like, hmm, my tongue is dry. But he said, you, his people, will celebrate this day. Is this something we should look? I'm gonna go, oh no, I don't want to keep this.

There is a fast chapter in the Bible, not one that you can read fast. I guess you can if you're a speed reader. But it's talking about fasting. And I'd like to go there today because that's what we will spend our time there. And of course, that is where? Isaiah 58. 58th chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah 58. Now I think you will find this interesting as Isaiah is writing this because you can read Isaiah 58 1 through 5. And basically, it is saying that the people feel as they bring this charge before to Isaiah. Isaiah is relaying this, that the people feel that their careful attention to this religious fasting has brought them no spiritual favor from God. But you have to realize Isaiah, he was killed when he was 90 and he served for a very long time. He had gone from good king to bad king, the good king, the bad king, and the bad king. Manasseh was at the end, actually killed him. And so what time was this? This was more towards the end of his end of his life of reign, they say, because he covers such a wide variety of time there. So he's seen this and the people are now crying out to him because they were into idolatry, they were into all this stuff, they were as bad as Israel was when God sent Assyria in to take care of Israel. And that's what he's becoming. And Isaiah could see this happening, and he also knew what was going to happen to them after he was long gone. But then God turns around in chapter 58 and says, your fast is only an outward sign, and not an expression of what's inside you and what's in this heart. And I know you're going to say, how many times you have to mention that in a year? Because I do. Because it is. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of God wanting us to have his heart, and he's willing to do whatever.

Why do you discipline your children? Why? Because you want them to be good people. You want them to not only not embarrass you, all right? But more than that, you want them to grow up and be where people look up to them and they have a happy life, and they don't get into trouble, and they don't have these problems. And you want them to be like you. And chances are, as my father says, I don't want you to be like me. I want you to be better than me. And my father tried to put my physical father tried to put me in a position so I could be better than him physically. And also, I realize now why he taught me the way that he did. Because he was a heart guy, wasn't he, Mary? Very big heart. A lot more heart guy than I I have ever aspired to be. And why? It's just him. That's the reason God called him, and that's what he was trying to shape me with. And this is what all God wanted them to do was to take on his nature. Be like God. And when it didn't happen, from here, 500 years later, he sent his son to personify so they could actually see what kind of person he wanted them and us to be. So that's what Christ did. He personified God. He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And that's what God wants us to do here. But he was saying it's a matter of the heart. See, because as he told him, a fast is not an end in itself, but it's intended to result in greater godliness. A reflection on who we are inside is God personified in us. Anything good that we do? Kind of want to give credit to God, don't want anything bad we do? I don't give that to God. I kind of take that on my own self. And I want to do better than this. So I'd like you, if you will, turn to chapter 58, if you haven't turned there yet. Okay.

Because God is in this fast chapter, because that's what it talks about. That's what this is about. It's amazing how many theologians you read. They don't even mention the day of atonement. They don't mention the day of atonement. Okay. But you take different writers, they actually do. The writers actually do here. Talk about that's what this day, and we're about to see that. But in today's modern Christianity, not down in anyone, but in today's modern Christianity, nothing is required, and nothing should be expected of you. And yet God has standards, doesn't He? If He didn't have standard, what would we be doing? Hmm. What would it become? Yes. But God is saying in this 58th chapter in these few verses, He's saying, He's saying, I am showing, have showed, and will show you mercy. All I ask is that you show mercy to others, because it's what He has when He stresses a matter of the heart. It's not just the mind. It's not just knowing what to do. It's actually doing it. And it isn't doing it because we're commanded to, because He did command it. He wants us to do it because we want to do it. We want to please. These children want to please their parents. There's nothing better than doing something in they, you know, and you see your parents and they're, wow.

It's a great feeling, and we need that feeling. We should feel that feeling within each and every one of us. And it isn't because we are afraid what God, what this mighty strong God will do for us, will do to us because we don't. But it gets to where, hmm, I'm going to please this loving, merciful, heavenly Father.

Verse 5 in New King James, and I'll just be using the New King James today. Verse 5 says, is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Well, yes, we just read that in Leviticus 23, didn't we? It is a fast. He did choose it.

But are you going to look like they did at the first of this, at the end of the day, and go, okay, where's my blessings? Because you see, that's kind of what they were doing. Wait a minute, we went through this, and oh, man, we tried, and we wrenched our hands, and we were like, ah, I can't, you know, I just, I'm so humble. I look so humble, and boy, I afflicted. As a matter of fact, I even skipped eating the last meal yesterday, and I did it because you commanded, and yeah, I really want to be close to you, because the closer I get to you, I may get more stuff. No. But you see, these are the questions and answers that they had at that time, and what God had back to them. And it's what we can learn from.

Verse 6 says, Is this not the fast that I have chosen? Did He choose this? It's the only day of the year He commands, He asks us to fast. Now, hopefully you fasted other times during the year. That's between you and your God. That's not my business. I know I have to, but that's between you and Him. But this is the only time, the only time, the year He asks you to fast. It's the only day He has chosen. And why is that? Do we know? Do we really care? Because it is important. You know, it's amazing because Jonah went to Nineveh, and God said He was going to destroy it, and what happened? The city repented. They fasted, except it wasn't what Israel was doing at the time with Isaiah. They weren't doing it because they were trying to draw close to God. They didn't know who God was. But they were commanded to, or they looked at it. They obviously knew some of the commands because how else would they know to fast? It isn't something you just jump up, you can go over here to some other country that goes, oh, well, this is what we need to do. No. So they obviously had some bit of knowledge because then they fasted, and even the king, they even made the animals fast. They were fearful. They believed God, and that was the thing. They believed that God would destroy them. Do we believe God? Do we believe He is who He said He is and can do what He said He can do, and that He does it in our lives? And that's one of the reasons you're here. Well, I would like to, in chapter 58 as we go through this today, God proceeds to give five reasons for today's fast and how that fast pleases Him. It was actually at the heading of my chapter there. It says, the fast that pleases God. Well, isn't that what it's all about? Pleasing God? The fast that pleases God? Because we want to do this to honor Him, to thank Him, and to obey Him. So, I would like today, we have our list of six.

God has His list of five, okay? And we'll write them down, and then we'll actually go through them, because how do they relate to us today? The first one, He says, Loose the bonds of wickedness.

To loose the bonds of wickedness. This is what He said. Do we know what that means? Now that I have written it, do you kind of run it through your mind and say, Okay, loose the bonds of wickedness. Then He proceeds to go to the second one, Undo heavy burdens.

Undo heavy burdens. You know what that means? Run it through your mind. The third, let oppressed go free.

Let the oppressed go free. How does that relate to you? How are we here 2,500 years later, after this was written, find it applicable to us? Can we? Do we? Or is it just, it's an Old Testament thing, and it's not for us, it's for those, you know, it's for those Jewish people.

Number four, break every yoke.

Every yoke.

Break every yoke. And I'm talking about eggs that you will eat tomorrow morning, right? But break every yoke. And then finally, the fifth one, actually brings out is just that share. Share. Okay. Share with the poor. So what are you saying? So these are the five ways in which we please God by our fasting today. Okay? Does anybody want to argue with what the word says? I took it right out of the Bible. You do want to argue. I want to argue what I just want to ask.

Well, I think you'll have to go back and understand what afflict your soul means and what they had as this, because that's been something that's a matter of record if you want to go to all the historic history books or anything else for the last 2000 years. That's pretty much it.

That's why you're doing it. Yes. This helps us too. This is what his purpose is for what is he looking for? It's not just his purpose. What is God looking for? It's not just obedience, but it's a mindset. Okay? He's wanting us not just to because really, basically, you didn't eat last night after you had dinner. And so this morning when you ate breakfast, or you didn't eat breakfast, it was basically 12 hours. Most of us fast 12 hours anyway, don't we? Don't we? Basically, eat dinner, go to bed, get up in the morning, and it's 12 hours from the time we eat to eat. So it's only 12 hours, basically, that we are doing without food and water. Not real major, is it? So it's not just the not feeling right, not feeling as good as you would want to, not being full, but God has and has always had something bigger in mind. It's the changing of the heart. That's why He calls it what? Circumcision of the heart. And this is what we, this is what He's trying to do.

So I want to look at this and go through the very first one. Loose the bonds of wickedness. What's wicked? The world. Okay, and the world is wicked because they what? They don't follow God, right? There's right and there's wrong. God says His way is right, and that that's not His way is wrong. Now the problem is the world wants to kind of bring the two together and make a gray area. Okay? But here He says to loose the bonds of wickedness. It's interesting in Romans 6 and verse 20. He says that we were, the Romans were, before they were called, they were slaves to sin. Slaves to sin. Why? Because their motivation was whatever human nature wanted. You did whatever you wanted to do. You didn't have any rules, no guidelines, no anything. So you just did. So if it felt good, you do it or did it. It's just the way it is. And that's what He says in Romans 6 and verse 20. But it's so interesting in Romans 6 and verse 14. He said, you are no longer slaves to sin, and sin has no dominion over you. That means if you're following God and you're trying this and He's helping, you no longer, it's not going to dominate your world. It's not going to keep you following that. It's not going to rule over you or reign over you. Remember? He goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And when the two boys, Cain and Abel, remember? And all of a sudden, Cain got upset and God said, watch it because it will rule over you. What was He talking about? Sin. Yes, He didn't like the offering, right? His offering wasn't, but He knew that if you follow this path, Cain, it's going to rule over you. And did it? Well, yeah. Yeah, we don't know how long it was, but it didn't take long before He's out with His brother and killed Him.

But when we have this day as it's represented in the Old Testament, you had a priest who went into the Holy of Holies. It's the only day of the year he could go. He could only go in there that one day, but he went in many times. And each time he went, whether it was to light the fire or whether to take the blood in, whatever, all the various things, it was five or six times that he actually went in and came out. And every time he came out, he had to take a bath and change clothes because it pictured this cleansing. He was cleansing himself so that when he came before God, he was clean. And then nothing on the outside dirtied him. And so each time he went before God, he was able to be cleansed, which is an example for us because we no longer have a priest that go into the Holy of Holies. We have a Savior who is a perpetual atoning priest who atoned for our death, and He is there to make an atonement for us whenever we what? Yes! We sin and repent. He's there making intercession for us. As this priest was symbolic of the old, all he did was picture Christ.

And the most beautiful part is we are under grace. And that's what he was explaining in Romans. There was, you could come under grace, which if that door had the title on it, I could write up there, grace. And I could write over there, law. Now, which door do you want to go in? You want to go in where you want to go into that room where you're under grace, which means your sins have already been and be forgiven and Christ took the penalty? Or do you want to be under law? Because law was, if you sin, you die. You're put to death. It's that simple. And so he wants us to understand that we're not under the penalty of sin. The penalty of the law anymore. Because we're under grace because of what Christ did for us. Because he was that atoning sacrifice. He was that sacrifice for us. He did. He did that. Talk about loosening the bonds of wickedness. All that wickedness and sin that could be upon us is now not upon us when we repent.

Yes. Yep. Yes, it's that big. See, Israel had to come to atonement or be cut off. Christ actually died so that we can be come at one with God. Because do we pray to Christ? No. We don't. He instructed us how to pray. He instructed us pray, Father, Father, Father, Father, we pray to God. It's our Father. But because he is our atoning priest, we pray in his name.

So we can, when we repent, be at one with God again. Because we're what? We're cleansed. We're purged of all the sins. Christ's blood takes all that away. Now, we don't stay that way very long, most of us. But you know, this is a unique day. Because we're not caught up in the world. We don't have to do work. It's going to be frustrating. I don't know how many of you are still on your diet? And I talked about Sabbath. I'm still on mine because I blew it the first day. So I'm on day number three. Again, the first day I blew it. I let negativity get to me. But the beautiful thing about this is I can be at one with God as often as I want to be. How about you? You know, as the old saying goes, most people have as much of God as we want or as we choose. Because it's kind of on us, isn't it? But God wants us to come, to repent. And it's not that the sins don't mean anything. They are big, but He just wants to say, oh, let me show you my mercy. Let me show you what mercy is all about. And it's a beautiful thing. That purging and cleansing of sin. Because you see, He wants us to lose the bonds of wickedness because sin is wickedness. You can easily define that. So He wants us to lose those bonds so we don't feel like we're caught up in sin. We shouldn't. And why? Because sin is the because sin is not our master. Sin isn't our master. It shouldn't be, and it cannot be, if we will do our part because God wants to do His. So we're free from sin controlling us. That is loosening the bonds of wickedness. So it's a chance to see that. And when you fast, like today, there's nothing else that should be on your mind. How are you going to become at one with God? If your mind's all over here, oh, oh, oh. Let's see. When do we plan? This is what, Wednesday? Oh, Thursday night football game. When do we plan tomorrow? Oh, wonder what happened on the news last night. We don't have to get involved in any of that. He says, please don't. Spend your time with me. Spend your time becoming at one. And it's like here we have some time afterwards, and that's fine, but I hope you don't stick around here for a long time and go, oh, well, you know, I gotta wait till, let's see, sunset, I'm gonna eat seven. Deerfield Beach last night is 721, so I gotta wait till 719. That's not what this is about. It's not a thing of watching your time. It's a thing about, okay, let me get back to my house. Let me get back to my prayer and study. Let me get close to God. Can you get close to someone without ever talking to him? Hard to, but he wants us. He wants us to. That's why this day, one of the regulations is you don't have a married couple doesn't have relations on this day of fasting. So I wanted to cover the very first one. Loose the bonds of wickedness because wickedness is sin. So we should be, that should be part of our mind. This is the mindset that God wants us to have. Not only it starts in the mind, but then it goes to the heart where it's a part of. We can all know what sin is, but do we put it here to where we actually work on it? Number two, undo heavy burdens. Wow. As we saw in Leviticus 23-29, no one was to work. Any work. It says you work, I'll kill you. Was that serious? Because he set the tone for day, just like he set the tone with the Sabbath. He said, don't do this, don't do this, don't do that. And the next day, the guy went out and picked up sticks on them and said, when he told him not to.

Thankfully, he doesn't kill us when we break the Sabbath.

God was serious about his followers getting right with him. That's part of what this day is about. Shows he's very serious. So you're undo the heavy burdens. You have no work to do. You're not to go to work. Okay? So you can focus on him. He says, come and lay your sins down. Your burden is before me on this day. Do we? Will we? Guess that's the big answer. Will we do it? Will we lay them down? Because we can get caught up in stuff all the time. But this is a day about him. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about him. And he wants to see, is your heart really into me? Or are you kind of like Israel was back here? All right, what am I going to get out of this? I'm doing it. What am I going to get out of this?

It's interesting David wrote in Psalm 38 and verse 4, My sins are like a heavy burden. My sins are like a heavy burden. Think David knew what sin was? If he didn't, all he had to do was read what they wrote about him, what he wrote. He knew what sin was, right?

My sins are like a heavy burden. Have you ever had sins that were heavy burden? Man, how many of us haven't? Boy, we do something and then we may pay for that for a very long time. I remember a guy telling me one time he got a DUI when he was like 18 or 19, and now he was 40-something years old and insurance still was almost double because of this transgression that he had. Had to pay for it. And some of us do have to carry that, and it can definitely be a burden. But sin or a guilty conscience is a heavy thing to carry around. And this is one of the things that he wants us to do about undo the heavy burdens. Are we ready to? Christ said, I have the power to take it up, I have the power to lay it down. We have, brethren, the power to lay it down, to lay those sins down and forget them. Right?

We have the power to not carry around a guilty conscience.

Yet I dare say, all of us in here carry around one for something. And even if you're repented of it and you feel like God's forgiven you of it, which he has, you're the one that keeps bringing it up in your mind. Because maybe the heaviest thing ever is a conscience, a guilty conscience for many people. I have talked to quite a few people that can't get over something. They're carrying this burden of sin. Even though the sin, I know God's forgiven me, but I can't forgive myself. That's what this day is about. This is a mindset that he says, uh-uh, lay it all down. Lay it all down. Put everything into it. Lay it all down. Lay it all before me. Lay it all before your priest, Jesus Christ, in his name.

I had an email not long ago, and this young lady, had a semi-stranged relationship with her father. I had gotten into it over something when she was young. I was a little bit older. And she then began to, I might say grow up, she put it, and began to see that, you know, Dad wasn't that bad a guy. And so she determined in her heart to call him, to make the effort, because she had cut off the communications.

She was going to call him on a Sunday because she didn't work. On a Saturday night, he died of a heart attack.

She has a hard time getting over that. That's one of the reasons she talked to me, because she can't get off of that. It's such a burden, because she said, I created it all. Is she repentant? Very much so. She just would like.

See, we can carry some of those burdens with us. And this is why it's so important that we understand the mindset of God and the fast that pleases Him because He wants us. He wants us not for Him, but for us to be able to unload all those burdens, to let it go.

If we can be humble before God, God can change us, because it's God that changes us. We usually don't do a very good job if we're trying to do it by ourselves. Right? But He wants to say, undo these burdens, because I want to be there for you. I want you to be free. I want you to have my heart. But you can't, because all this thing goes back to, God, I love you. I want to love you, Pete. I want to do this, but I've got this burden. See how this day is important? Anything and everything. You can lay it down. Judas is an example of, he couldn't lay the burden. He couldn't handle it. I've had a few instances where I had a very hard time laying something down. But you see, you do it because even though it may be temporarily, it can become permanent, because God wants you to have that heart. And it starts with unloading. Undo the heavy burdens that are in your life. Let the oppress go free, number three. Well, we don't oppress anyone. What? Now you have to understand, at that time, there was marketing, and you had very poor people when you had this, and people were taking advantage of here, and you would have people loaning money, and even God said, you know, if you loan to someone of the faith or Israel, loan to Israel, you weren't charging many interests. No. No?

Didn't always work that way. Yeah, it's interesting. We go back to Leviticus 25. Go back to Leviticus 25. Another beautiful thing about this day. Leviticus 25 in verses 9 and 10. A hurry from the New King James. He said in verse 9, Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee, we just heard that earlier, to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. What day is that? Today. On the day of atonement, you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land, and you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be Jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his possessions, and each of you shall return to his own family. You were a slave, you were free. Your land would go back to you. All debts would be canceled. Wouldn't it be nice if the bank called you? Wells Fargo called you and said, okay, John! You don't owe anything on your house. You don't owe this. You don't owe that. Everything's free. That's the way it was set up by God. He set that up way back when Moses, Moses gave the instruction. God gave it, said, okay, every fiftieth year you have seven sevens, and then the fiftieth year, you know, it's going to be a Jubilee year. So no matter how bad a debt you got or family, it would be erased, and all the land went back to you. All the debts would be erased, and everybody would start over. That is a beautiful plan. Did it ever work? Not one time can they find in history that Israel or Judah kept the Jubilee year. Not one time.

Something wrong with the plan? No. It's the way it's going to be in the Kingdom of God. You can bet this thing's going to be, because it's a beautiful plan. It is.

Well, you know, it's interesting because all the kings, there were no righteous kings in all of Israel. So the time that they had their kingdom in Israel, nobody kept it because they didn't follow Him. And in Judah, you only had so many righteous kings there, and the longest reign of any king was King Manasseh, and he reigned for 55 years, and almost all of it, except for a few years, was wicked. Solomon reigned for 40 years, but didn't help because the first 20 were really good. The second 20 went all downhill. So they didn't keep this. But this is what this day pictured. It let the oppressed go free. They knew, on atonement. You'd be like, oh, yes, this is when you're free. We have people that we oppress. I don't see anybody's hands volunteering to say, I do. I do. I do. I try not to. Right? You know, the definition of oppression. To oppress means to keep someone subservient. You like to keep somebody subservient? Maybe you had an older sister, an older brother who decided that because they were older, you were subservient to them. Maybe they were bossy. Okay? And so they would make you do something you didn't want to do. I had to think about it the other day as I was putting the sermon together.

Mary wasn't here. And so I was in the kitchen and I was washing a few dishes. I know, it's kind of hard to believe. You didn't use a dishwasher. I actually washed my hand. And as I was doing that, I was going through and I had a flashback. You ever had flashbacks? I had a flashback to when I was like 12 years old, 11, 12 years old. And I had a sister, Bonnie, who is two years older than I am. And we fought like cats and dogs, literally, the entire time, most of the time. Now we get along wonderfully, but at that time we were just so different. And so we would actually have things that we wanted to do or get done, and we would actually swap. Okay. If you'll do this for me, or you'll get mom or dad to do this and let me go here, well, you say, I'll be your slave for a week. Okay? And so you had to do all the chores that that because we had chores in our house that you had to do. And so then if you didn't want to do them, because my parents soon caught on to this because they were going, well, why are you, Chuck, why are you washing the dishes? And eventually they knew we were, I was her slave. Because I wasn't going to just go wash dishes, right? Like that was not my thing, getting my hands in as nasty old water and stuff. I was like, but I knew eventually she would become my slave for something. And I remember making her my slave the very last time. I had to swap. And so her job was I had a out in our field, had this tree. And on it was a basketball goer. And so her job was to spend two hours retrieving the ball for me. So I shot. And after you just bring me the ball, I'll bring it to me for two hours. So I would just, you know, and it was hot. And I kind of wanted to go in because it was getting a little hot, but she was just baking. Baking. And I stayed out so I could keep her out because she was my slave. I was her oppressor. No, I bring that up because I can relate to that, but there's more to it than that. How about someone as this definition says, someone to look down upon. Hmm. Hmm. Let the old press go free. You have people you look down upon? Hmm. Another definition was to keep down someone. Cause someone to feel distressed or uncomfortable. You ever done that before? I'd say most people in here have. Make someone feel distressed or uncomfortable. God is saying, I want you as an oppressor to lay it down and no longer like being the oppressor. It's just, yeah, even God reminded Israel that. You remember? He said, when they went, when the foreigner comes in or when somebody comes in, I want you to treat them good. I don't want you to treat them bad because you know what it was like when you were in Egypt or when people, we came out of Egypt, people would harass you. He said, I want you to have, what, a godly mindset where you don't oppress anybody.

Doesn't happen at school? Hey, you're a schoolteacher. You're a schoolteacher. You know, we got schoolteachers here. Doesn't that happen? Oh, yeah, there's the in crowd and then there's ones you just like to pick on. And what happens? So many kids today, there's at least probably one a month in this country that commits suicide in junior high or high school because they are so picked on. They are so oppressed. They are so, they are so looked down upon, made fun of. I'm too fat. You're too skinny. You're too ugly. You've got the wrong color hair. You've got this, you've got that. And it all starts. We had it when I was in school and I think everybody here has it. Yes, it just, it comes. But why? God says, don't do that. God says, I cannot do that. And I don't want you to be able to do that. I don't want to be in your heart. These are one of the things I want you to lay down about this day. Think about that. You know, in the Caribbean, I've been on cruises, I've been at resorts, I've had conferences, I traveled quite a bit. And they have a name for an oppressor. And that name is, and you've been because you've been on so many cruise lines with your husband and so forth like this, Ugly Americans. Ugly Americans, you've heard it? Okay. You can tell because the American, oh, go get me that. Oh, no, I don't have to. Oh, no. What? The Ugly American, and it's an attitude. Are all Americans that way? Absolutely not. But you see those at, and they stand out because they look down upon anybody. They look down on color, they look down on country, they look down on anyone that's not them.

That's an Ugly American. And I've even gone in when I've set up conferences and feasts, and I actually told them, you're not going to get any Ugly Americans here, because they know exactly what I'm talking about, demanding people, people who put people down. And I said, if it is, and that's the one thing about the feasts, tabernacles, and a coordinator, I have the power to send you home. And send you home, you can't come to this resort. And I make it crystal clear, you're not going to set that example. At this feast, this is God's feast. And I will send you out of this place and make sure security doesn't let you in. That's the way it should be. I haven't had that. I've had to warn a couple of young guys before. In fact, last year at the feast, I did.

But we don't want... God doesn't want that. God wants us to have a heart like His that is full of love. Some people like to keep the poor poor, don't they? Hmm? Yeah, keep the poor poor.

And oppression is when you really don't think someone is as good as you.

They're black. Why they do that? Because they're black. Why do that? Because they're white. I've heard both sides. I've heard all sides from people. God created all the races and He loves everyone and He wants us to. And He says, lay it down. Let the oppression... Brethren, we were set free by Christ. It is time we set people free and make sure that we are not oppressors.

Let the oppressed go free. That means out of our minds, but mostly out of our hearts. I'm so thankful for this congregation. We've got Hispanics, we've got blacks, we've got whites, we've got everybody. And everybody here talks and gets along. Why? Because we see each other as you are. You're God's child. And I love that. But that's not everywhere. Number four. I need to speed this up as we get this done today. Number four says, break every yoke. Break every yoke. You know a yoke was a device attached to the shoulders of an ox.

That is then attached to a plow. I just had this old piece of wood around the house. But a yoke fit on top, the shoulders of an animal. And also had, usually the metal thing came down here that attached. And so you would have holes drilled in this, and it would then have leather straps that attached to a plow. And that animal was under a yoke.

So that animal went wherever you told it to go or made it go. And they did whatever you needed to do. And when I was young, our neighbor had a couple mules that he actually hauled a wagon. And I remember being able to help him hook up that to that yoke for each of those, as those two, they were actually mules. And they hauled this wagon. And you could tell, I mean, they got there and then they put their head down, and then they would pull that wagon until you told them to stop.

And they'd go. And, you know, they just kept their head down, and they were in that yoke. Well, you know what was interesting? When you, at the end of the day, took that yoke off of them, their head picked up. Oh, yes, just like Stephen said, they just, oh, it was like this wonderful freedom that they had.

They weren't under that yoke. They weren't under that burden. Brethren, Satan can have a yoke on us when it comes to certain sins. Can he? And that yoke, he knows exactly where our weakness is. Our weaknesses are, right? He knows. And so he loves to have that yoke on us. So just like the plow, or just like anything else, they'll guide you right over here. And then you come back, but boy, he's got you again.

I've got you right here. This is why I got you there. The beautiful thing about this day is break every yoke. It's time you have time today to meditate and think on those. God says, break every yoke. Why? Because we are Christ. We're not Satan's. We're not under his yoke. Because sin can be a terrible yoke, especially if you're addicted to some sins or you just can't get away from them.

And Satan just seeks to lead you right down there and you can have a great day, but then, we go again. So he says, break that yoke. Feel like those mules. Ah, wow. Why? Because of Matthew 11.30, he says, Christ says, my yoke is what? Easy. My yoke is easy. Why? Because you're getting out from under Satan's yoke and you're putting Christ on and saying, when there's a problem, Christ, you're going to be there. And you'll be there to help me in my yoke. He says, it's easy, and my burden is light. And then, what a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.

Finally, number five. Share. Share. So share with the poor, actually. You can read the rest of it, whether it's food or whatever it is. So what is God wanting us to do? He wants us to get outside ourselves and understand the poor. We don't have anybody in here extremely poor. Okay? Now, we don't have anybody, Bill Gates, either.

We don't have any rich people. Okay? But here's the thing. He wants us to look upon other people's plight. And is there some way we could help them? If we can, I think we should. I think that's what he says. Because without God's blessings, brethren, we would all be poor. We'd all be poor in so many ways. Mentally, spiritually, physically, financially, we would be poor.

And it is by Him that we're able to celebrate the Sabbath. And He wants us to have the mindset, to break that mindset of, I'm okay. I can take care of myself. Because it helps us to relate. It helps us to understand. See, He pours out blessings to see what we will do with them. And yeah, most of the time we just get by, but you know, occasionally we could do things to help people, and it wouldn't hurt us a bit, would it? As our focus becomes off of us and Him. Is God's focus all on Him? No.

It's on us and what He can do for us.

You know those who are extremely poor, and as I touched on that last week, I think I did that on trumpets, I think, about just how poor people are from the state of this world. But the one thing that today helps us to do, helps us to relate to those who hunger and thirst for a meal, doesn't it? Because that's what true poor is. Where you just get Him by. And I guess that's why I was so touched by Haiti. That's poor. Where you spend all day trying to find something to eat for a meal, one meal a day.

And today, we can relate to them. Imagine that today ends and it just starts another fast day. And another. Are we blessed? Boy, we are so blessed. Will we forget? That's what this day is about. Not forgetting what we have and who's given to us, and He wants us to be like Him. He wants us to share. He wants us to share. Now, He wants us to give everything away. Oh, no! Because even Christ said, the poor you shall have with you always.

But He wants us to not neglect the poor. That's why He set up Third Tide. He set up to the fields and leave the fields so people could have something He cared. And that's interesting. The Brookings Institute, which is a thank-tank and survey and so forth like this, they actually did a 40 to 50 year study on tens of thousands of people. And this is in the United States. On poor people, on those who are really poor, and then they stay poor. And I'd like to read you something from their notes there, because they're not left or right. They have no agenda. They just put this out here. But in there, they go, how not to be poor. And they only gave three things on how not to be poor in America. How not to be poor, the first one is graduate high school. Now, that's surprising. I thought they might say college, but they didn't. Just graduate high school. Now, does that mean you're going to be rich? No, but you won't be poor. Graduate high school. The second, and these are thousands of people over the years that they, this is what they all have in common. Okay, and this is, they're wanting to give you three reasons how not to be poor in America. And the second one, don't have a child out of wedlock. And the third one, get a job. Get a job.

So you'd say, well, I'll just keep this note around here, and anybody's poor, I'll just tell them, well, the reason you're poor is this. Is this purpose? No, that's the exact opposite. God wants us to be like Him and have a heart like Him. And think about today as we're doing without food or meal, that there's people that fast. They don't fast because it's over. They fast because they have no food. Your offering today was a perfect part of sharing that you gave. Because we are trying and we're going to make a difference in Haiti. We set up churches, we set up foundations, we set up various things to help people in and out of the church because it's a way of God's mindset. And we not only do it in Haiti, we do it in Africa. You've been to Malawi, you live there and one of the poorest countries in the world. We are doing a tremendous job in Malawi. We're boreholes and we're setting up offices, we're setting up, giving jobs, we're cattle. We're just trying to get and raising people out of extreme poverty. And it's not poverty, it's extreme poverty. India. We're doing in India. David Schreiber. We have the Philippines. David Dobson. The Philippines, there's some very poor people who live in the Philippines. You both have been there. You know. Okay. Now am I saying this to you? No. But this is a part of what we need to be doing. We need to have the mindset of not just, it's about us. Oh, I'm fine. This is what Israel thought. Because we try to have a work of hope. Hope for today and hope for a kingdom tomorrow. The kingdom of God that's coming. So, brethren, I give you five reasons that this fast, pleases God. Fast things not only pleases God, brethren, it shapes us. That's what this day is about, too. When you go to Isaiah 58, it shapes us and helps transform us into God-like beings. That's what being at one with God. God can't come down to our level.

He wants us to come up to His. He made us in His physical image, and now He's trying to make us in His spiritual image. Yes, He's transformed us into God-like beings, which is our destiny. So, brethren, today, celebrate your fast. Think on these things that He said on a fast that pleases God. And remember, it's not about the stomach. It's not about the dry mouth. It's about this little thing about the size of your fist. Transform your heart. Let the Day of Atonement do it.