Fasting Today to Honor God Forever

Well, this afternoon I'd like to speak to the cause for us being here beyond the Sabbath, is that the Council of Elders some months ago called for a churchwide fast on this day for United Church of God members and those that are friends and associated with the United Church of God. And I didn't want this time to go by without some serious reflection on my own part, Susan's yours as we are fasting around the world to our same common father. I have been looking forward to this fast. I do look forward to eating, but I also look I was been looking forward to this fast. I felt that personally that I needed it. It's given me time to pause and to consider, and I want to share some of my reflections with you as we go through this time together. I'd like to begin by sharing a story that we will build upon here that I think is very important, and perhaps in a sense this story is related to why this fast was called. This fast has been called for every member of the church, whether they be council member, whether they be pastor, whether they be elder, whether they be church member, whether they be teenager. We are all members before our common heavenly father. But I want to start with this story. Susan acquainted me with a book here. It's called Relentless, and it's by a gentleman named John Bevere. It's very interesting, and I'd like to just draw on a story here from the first chapter, and then we'll build upon that and we'll go to the Bible. But Mr. Bevere, who's a Christian writer, thought out this dream that he had, and he wanted to share it, and it's actually the basis of the whole story. And I'd like to just share it with you for a moment, and I want you and I want myself to be able to see ourselves in this story for a moment. It said that there was a man that was rowing a boat against the river's strong currents.

He was straining hard to advance against the flow of the water. It was a tough task, but it was doable.

Other boats, bigger and luxurious and containing parties of people, frequently passed. Frequently passed him flowing downstream. The boat, the people on these boats, were laughing, and they were drinking, and they were at ease. And occasionally they would look over at the man battling the current, and they would mock him. They had to fight for every inch of progress, while they did very little to absolute nothing for theirs. After a while, the man grew weary of pressing against the current. He became tired and discouraged, and he put up the oars. For a few minutes, he continued to drift upstream from the momentum, but soon came to a standstill. Then something sad and terrible happened. Though still pointed upstream, his rowboat began to drift downstream with the current. Soon the man noticed another party boat. This one was different from the other party boats, for, like his own rowboat, this party boat also was pointed upstream, yet was flying downstream with the current. This boat also carried people who were laughing and socializing and at ease, and since it was pointed upstream, the direction the man had wanted to go, he decided to hop on and join with them. They had now become a close-knit group. Unlike the other party boats that faced and traveled downstream, this boat pointed upstream, but sadly it continued flowing downstream with the current. So far so good, are we following the story?

I'm skipping a part of the story and going towards the end of it. Once the man quit rowing, the boat continues moving forward is the observation that Mr. Bevere had upstream.

For a short time, by its sheer momentum. And this is where the deception crept in.

He still saw himself with fruit in his life, this man that was rowing, even though what produced is no longer propelling him forward. He erroneously thinks he can live at ease, no longer alert and or vigilant, and still lead a successful Christian life. Finally, the boat comes to a standstill, and then it begins to drift backward downstream, slowly at first, but eventually at the same speed as the current. Here's the telling part of the vision. While his boat is still pointed upstream, he drifts backward with the current.

He now has the appearance of Christianity. You can talk the talk, sing the songs, the mannerisms of the kingdom. But in reality, it is conforming to the ways of this world.

Eventually, our protagonist spots another boat, a party of other quote-unquote believers like him. And they all consider themselves a part of the church, because they too are pointed upstream. They know the talk. They know the songs. They know the mannerisms. However, they are at ease because they've settled for a fruitless Christian life and are under the sway of the evil one who controls the current. Those in this Christianity boat are no longer persecuted or mocked by an unbelieving world. In fact, they are accepted and sometimes hailed by the world's influencers. They no longer press, press, press, forward as the Apostle Paul encouraged every Christian to do.

Then he quotes the Apostle Paul out of Philippians 3.14, I press towards the goal for the price of the upward call of God, in Christ Jesus. In fact, these drifting believers have little or no resistance to the ways of this world. I wanted to start with that story. I thought it was relevant for considering the fast that we're going through to give us a warning, perhaps, and ask you to personally ask yourself, because you alone can do this, you may feel as if your boat is pointed upstream. But just simply having your boat pointed upstream does not mean that Jesus Christ is alive and well in us.

And that we, while it might be pointed, we may just be gliding and we cannot stand still because ultimately that will take us back in the currents of this world. For we that are in Southern California, allow me to use another analogy.

People like stories and they like to see themselves in it, so I'm going to put you in it, because all of us here in San Diego have either been to Coronado Beach or Del Mar or whatever. And you know how you put your blanket out? Put out your blanket there, get your blanket out there close to the ocean just so it's nice, and then you'll be out there. You'll be out in the ocean.

You'll be out in the ocean. You're having a good time, but you kind of know where your blanket is. And after a while, you think you're right in front of that blanket, don't you? You think you're right in front of that blanket. And we're not talking about even a riptide. We're not talking about riptide. That's a whole other sermon. But you're in front of that blanket, but you know after about 15 or 20 minutes and you're up jumping up and down and doing your body surfing or going whatever, all of a sudden you look back and you know what?

You've drifted. You've drifted. You've gone basically south. And you may be a full 100 to 200 feet away from where you really were, but just 15 or 20 minutes ago. I think that's why God has inspired this fast for all of us, brethren, to consider as to whether or not just simply having our boat—that really means our life—pointed upstream. But somehow we feel that is enough, and we are not pressing forward the way that God Almighty would want us to. My sermon today is not to overly correct you. I'm sorry. I'm not going to do that. This fast has been called for different reasons, and we're actually going to talk about two of them.

I'll bring that out in a moment. Correction is good for the soul. This fast is not being called, per se, because of our brethren having not done enough. Our brethren around the United Church of God, around the world, are fantastic and incredible people. They come to services. They give of themselves. They pray for others. They are so generous in their ties and their offerings. They come to the feast. They come through the door. They share their heart out. But at the same time, there are things that we need to speak about on this day.

I'm going to speak to you to begin with individually. Then we'll move to the greater needs of the church and how we can pray for that. But what do we want to understand today? I want you to go to 1 Corinthians 10, because you might already say, well, you know, interesting story, Mr. Weber, but that's not me. I'd like you to go to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12, and notice what it says here. Therefore, let him and or in this day and age, we can add, her, let him or her who thinks they stand, take heed lest they fall.

Pointing your boat upstream, being like a salmon, going upstream, while everybody else is going downstream like a trout. We think that's us. We think that is still us. But that's why we fast to contemplate and to understand where our strength comes from and to draw upon the Spirit of God. He that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Remember ancient Israel? It says, we've just gone through the days of 11 bread and perhaps read that scripture, and it says, and Israel went out of Egypt with a high hand.

With a high hand! They were excited. They were pressing forward. They were moving out of slavery. Moses had said that his God, the I AM, had promised them a land of milk and honey.

You can bet they were at full steam. That is for a while. But they weren't drawing on the power of God. They were drawing on the power of themselves. So we need to understand that. We need to have a vision of what God is intending. I remember about, let's see, 20 years ago now? No. Oh my. 30 years ago now when Suze and I were, along with her father, building a building behind us. We were building an addition about a thousand square feet, two stories, in our place in Monrovia.

And I remember the first day, once we kind of laid out what we were going to do, and I'll never forget this, I'm not very good with my hands, except in sports. That's why I have this knee.

But that I was not a natural mechanic. My father-in-law, Suze's dad, is an incredible tradesman. And so I kind of felt sometimes when I've been around him, confession is good for the soul. I have felt inadequate. So, but I know what I can do. I can't do plumbing and I can't do electricity, but you know, you put a shovel in my hand, I am an energizer bunny. And so he said, I think he was trying to get rid of me for a moment. He said, Robin, we're going to need to do this drain over here. And so I want you to start digging. You're going to dig this far down, and it's going to be this wide. You know, I kind of got it. I got it. Thank you. Okay. So I'm there, you know, I'm like this, thinking, little Germanic, you know, just like this. Boom, boom, boom. And I know what my father-in-law was doing, because I would look over at him when he didn't think I was looking at him. Being the older gentleman, just kind of going, this is not going to last. See, I thought this was going to go up, like, in about three months. And her father, Russ, knew it was going to take us about a year and two-thirds to build it. Every Saturday night, all through Sunday, Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, sometimes Susan and I got so tired, we were just praying that his little Volkswagen bug would not show up at six at night, and knowing that we were going to have to work for the next four hours.

I didn't understand that building is not just simply an event, it's an experience, and it takes time. And it's not how you begin, but it's how you finish that really counts. Join me, if you would, in Ecclesiastes 7. In Ecclesiastes 7, a book of wisdom, let's notice what God says in this regard. Ecclesiastes 7.

And let's pick up the thought in, if we could, in verse 8. In Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 8, the end of a thing is better than is the beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud, the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. And we need to understand that. That's why we're fasting today. Fasting is a humbling exercise, humanly speaking.

It takes a lot out of us, but we need to do that. In a sense, just to be very frank, whether we be man or woman, it pops our human bubble and makes us really recognize where our strength comes from, which is so important. Let me give just a couple verses to make a foundation here. 2 Chronicles 7. Join me, if you would, there in 2 Chronicles 7. In 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, notice what it says. My people who are called by my name, if they will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that is made in this place.

For now I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be here forever and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. Now that's spoken back when there was the tabernacle in the wilderness. God's building a different tabernacle, inhabiting a different tabernacle, building a different temple today. This points to what God is doing today, that we are the temple of God. We are that tabernacle of God. Our heart is that tabernacle and He is open to us. When I read this story of relentless, I had to measure myself and say, am I just gliding? Am I going upstream? Am I just kind of gliding on my own power? Because we can all do that. We can all do that.

Humanity is humanity.

And to recognize that to continue this journey of going upstream against everybody going downstream in the world to the high calling that God has given us. It takes more than me. It takes more than you. We have seen too many people over the years, brethren, at times give up the journey.

Didn't look like it because I've often found that pastor work and church work normally takes about people about two years to decide that they're going to leave this way of life. About two years.

Interesting. That's kind of the glide. That's kind of their own momentum. It's the cultural impact. They don't want to disappoint anybody. So they're kind of moving forward, but it's on their own.

They've stopped asking God to give them the answers. They're looking at people rather than God. Looking at issues rather than solutions. Join me, if you would, in Isaiah 57.15.

Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Notice what it says here.

For thus says the high and the lofty one, who inhabits eternity, and whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and the holy place. But who does he dwell with? With him who has a contrite and a humble spirit.

To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

God loves to have people around him who understand what they are and understand what only he has to give.

Have you ever thought of God being surrounded by a bunch of prideful people? He can't. Did you know that? He can't. You know why? Because God can't use pride.

God cannot use pride and arrogance, no matter how great. He just can't use it.

You ladies, when you're baking, have you ever had just a piece of bad dough? And you know it is? You've been working with that little puppy as much as you can? It's a bad dough.

Not going to work at it. Not going to do that. Not going to do that anymore. I could have used that one.

But God can take humility.

He can take one, somebody who knows that apart from himself, he is nothing.

And can make everything out of that. That's what he's saying here. Absolutely.

So today, the title of this message is going to get right into it. It's just the foundation. It's simply this. Fasting today. We are fasting today.

Fasting today to honor God forever. That's the title. Fasting today.

You might say, and I've heard it from some people, well, why is that council calling this fast?

Why is the council calling this fast? Should have had it before Passover.

I'm sure nobody has heard that at all from any of you.

Letters come up. Why is the council doing this? The council is doing it, brethren, because the council is the spiritual edge of this church. They are the leadership. And it was inspired that we might have this fast.

And whether, if even all of our reasons might be totally inspired, God works beyond man to inspire us to humble ourselves together, together, here in the month of April.

Not to learn a lesson about Robin Weber, to learn a lesson about Dr. Ward, or to learn a lesson about something just happening back in Cincinnati, but to start with the basics, starting with ourselves, to learn about ourselves, how much we need our God. Psalm 86, verse 10. Join me if you would there for a moment. Psalm 86, verse 10. I'm going to point this out to you. Beautiful verse.

Let me read it to you.

For you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God.

Here on a day where we get a little weak around the knees, where our blood sugar is going down, where our eyelids might start to droop in, this is a time for praise. This is a time for acknowledgment. For you are great. And you, not a man, not a pastor, not an administration figure, but you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God. Then notice what it says with that praise up. Teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. And then this is the most beautiful line. I've never read through this before until this morning. Notice this. Unite my heart.

Unite my heart to fear your name. I want to be linked to you. Unite my heart to fear your name.

And I'll praise you. O Lord my God, notice with all of my heart. And I will glorify your name forever, for your great. For great is your mercy toward me. And you have delivered me from the depths of my soul, from the depths of Sheol. There's two things here. You might want to jot it down. You say, because again, we're fasting today. This fast will come and it will go. You will have your bowl of Cheerios tonight. That's supposed to make you laugh. Sorry. But you'll eat something by tonight.

You will eat. But this is what you want to take. This is the message. You want to unite your heart with God. Number two, as you unite your heart with God, you want to give God all of your heart.

All of your heart. We want to be in all of our heart, Christian.

We don't want to have one foot in the world and one foot in this way of life.

We want to be enthusiastic. We want to be driven by God's Spirit, not by our own steam, not just having a knowledge of God, a knowledge of the kingdom, knowing that the Sabbath is on Saturday.

That almost doesn't take revelation. That just takes numbering, doesn't it?

Being a cultural Christian, just being along like a rowboat tied to a yacht behind, does not make you the yacht. It doesn't take you somewhere. We've got to own it. God wants us to own it.

And He wants us to utilize His Spirit, not to move forward, either individually or collectively as a church in what we do. He wants us to know that it's all about Him. That's what is so important.

So let's talk about this. What's the two focus? Number one, that we unite our heart with Him.

Unite our heart with Him. We're bound. We are in. You cannot take a razor blade. You cannot take a knife. You cannot put anything between us and God in His ways. And number two, then, as we're stuck with Him, united with Him, that we never, ever stop giving our all to our God. So let's talk about this. You ready to talk about it? Let's talk about it, number one, at an individual level.

I'm on the council. I was one that raised my hand to have this fast. But I didn't look at it when I raised my hand just simply to focus on the needs of the church worldwide. That will come up in this message. I look at it as a time of personal, self, spiritual exploration for everybody.

The members around that table, the administration, and every man and woman in this church. Let's talk about what can we learn from this fast today. Let's go to Daniel 9. In Daniel 9, it's the incredible, beautiful prayer of Daniel that he mentions. He's praying for his people.

Daniel 9, let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 3. Notice what it says. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made confession.

And I said, O Lord God, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments, we have sinned. We have committed iniquity.

We have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. Neither have we heeded your servants to prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes to our father and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame a face as it is this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far in all the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you.

The reason I mention this, brethren, is Daniel could have been so much on his own pedestal.

He could have been on his own rock all up of Moses coming down Mount Sinai and said, You and you and you, you need this, you need this, you've sinned, you've done that.

Did you notice the pronoun inclusion? He brought himself into it. That's why I bring myself into this today. I bring every member of the body of Christ into this today. We are all challenged on this day to take stock of our desire to be united with God and to give them all of our heart, not half of our heart, not half heartedly, not a quarter of a heart, but all of our heart and all of our being. To stop, stand still, and know that God alone is God. Here is Daniel, and he puts himself into it. He's one of our champions, isn't he? Daniel is a champion of the Bible. Whoa, it's Daniel, Mr. Godman!

But there's a reason why.

We. He saw himself as needing correction from God. He himself saw himself a part of the people, not above the people, not away from the people. He was people. And he needed God to be guiding his boat, even though it was moving upstream and pointed upstream. He recognized it up and by himself.

Unless he took stock, unless he recognized that apart from God, he would be like his fellow countrymen. And thus he prayed, and thus he passed it.

If we are to repent, then what are we to do? Revelation 2 and verse 5. Join me if you would, please. In Revelation 2 and verse 5, let's notice what it says. This is the message to the church at Ephesus. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Remember, when you were full steam ahead, you remember that when God called you in 1962, 72, 82, 92. Do I hear a 2002?

Whenever he called you and he tapped you on the gill, he says, Bob Gartenhier! Now you know that he was talking to Bob. Bob, I don't want you to be a trout anymore.

You're not going to go downstream with the rest of the school. Bob says, I'm too young to die.

He says, no, no, you're going to become a salmon. You're going to go upstream. You're going to go upstream. But what about those rocks? Now you know all the conversation that Bob had. Not really.

Bob says, well, what about all those rocks? I'm too young to die.

God says, it's not by your might. It's not by your power. But it's by my spirit, says the Eternal. So we have to go back to the first works. We have to be cognizant of it. We have to consider repentance. That means change. That means change. We have to consider belief. Remember when Jesus came into the Galilee, it says he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and telling people to repent and to believe. Those are the first works to repent and to believe. That's not just an event. That's an ongoing experience. Absolutely. You know, when you think about it here, why do we need to do that? Why do we need to recall the first works? Because of the sheer gravity of human nature. The sheer gravity of human nature. Just like ancient Israel, there they were on the threshold of the promised land, but in their hearts, in their hearts, they wanted to go back to Egypt. Where is it easier?

Where they thought they had it made? They were slaves! They were slaves to Pharaoh for 250 years. They did not have their own life. And yet, they wanted to go back to that. Do you know why?

Because they began to hear the murmuring and the rumblings in the crowd. That boat that was going downstream, the party boat. They hopped on board, and more hopped on board, and more hopped on board.

And there were only a few that had their boat pointed upstream and giving it to God. Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb.

Everybody else wanted to hop on the boat and go, you know, God had opened up the Red Sea. Now they wanted to go back on the boat. Go back to where they were. Why? Because that's what they were used to, and they were secure in their insecurity, just like a comfortable old shoe. Brethren, God has not called us to return from whence His graceful call came to us. Ephesians 2, 15. Join me if you would, please. Ephesians 2, 15. Let's notice what it says here. In Ephesians 2, 15, where he says, 14, for He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Here he's speaking of the Jew and the Gentile, but He is our peace. He's brought us all together, and that He might reconcile them both to God and one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. And He came and He preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. We've been called to peace. We've been given a wonderful revelation. It begins with one person at a time. I want to show you something. Maybe you've never noticed it before. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27. 1 Corinthians 12, 27. This kind of puts it all together.

Notice what it says here. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 27. Now you are the body of Christ.

Mr. Smith mentioned that in the opening prayer.

With that said, I put a smile on my face. That's more than meets the eye, but we'll talk about that in a few minutes. But then notice what it says here. And members individually. Did you get that? God begins His call to us on a one-by-one basis. He calls us individually. We're individually wrapped.

We are members individually, and He calls us and begins to work with our mind.

Here's one thing I want to share with all of you.

Is that honoring God and staying true to that calling that He gave us is normally individual work.

Christ, to a great degree, had to work it out here below individually.

Nobody climbed up on the cross with Him and bore the nails.

Being a follower of God the Father and Jesus Christ is an individual calling at first.

One-on-one. United in heart, with all of our heart. You go down the line. Stephen, the deacon.

Acts 6, Acts 7, that was one-on-one. You think of Paul at the end of his life when he had preached the gospel to so many people through Achaia and through Asia Minor, through the land now called Israel, that out of the Scriptures comes that voice of His where He says, I was alone and no one stood with me. No one stood with me at all. In another verse, he says, only Luke is with me. He didn't climb on the other boat of convenience going downstream.

He knew that was set before Him and would have been offered Him the opportunity to be an immortal child before God the Father, with Jesus Christ at the right hand, and to be with them for all eternity, and to know them, and to be with them, and to be united in heart as they had given all of their heart that we give our heart. It was worth it. It was worth it.

Now, you and I know that intellectually, but sometimes, can I say something? We get distracted.

And sometimes we don't recognize that the water is rising in the household of our life, and we don't recognize how much it has soaked in this world that is around us, so that we want to kind of, you know, one foot here, one foot there, one foot here, and one foot there. And you keep on going out. You know what happens if we kept going? I will scream. But beyond that, sooner or later, you fall. As it says in the Scripture, a house divided cannot stand. You can't have one foot there and one foot here. You can have placed both feet on the kingdom of God and its values, and know that God the Father and Jesus Christ are your strength and dwell in you.

You've got to be on this rock and this rock alone, if you are going to be God's servant. But He has not taken us out of this world, but you've got to stand on that rock. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 6. This is a verse that comes to us on this day of fasting, and I think it's very important. I'm actually going to read it out of the living translation, because I think it's much more poignant. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 5. Listen to the words of God through the Apostle Paul, For you are all children of the light and of the day.

We don't belong to darkness and the night. We don't belong on that party boat going downstream, brethren, as inviting and as tantalizing as it looks. So be on your guard. Never sleep like others. Stay alert. And be sober.

Night is the time for sleep and the time when people get drunk. But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected by the army armor of faith and love and wearing our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

I believe that this fast has been called, brethren, that we might be sober, that we might be alert. That is so important. 1 Corinthians 15. 15. 1 Corinthians 15.58. Join me if you would there, please.

Notice what it says. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

As our tummies are growling, as our blood sugar is going down, you're not the one speaking. I am. This is a time when we draw the strength of God individually.

As a congregation. As an organization. And also to reach out to others that are in that the body of Christ, which God alone knows that are His.

Always abounding in the work of the Lord. What is the work of the Lord that He's assigned us? Where do we go from here on this fast day? Well, join me over in John 17. I mentioned Mr. Smith. I don't know if I gave this message or not here, but I want to take a few points from it anyway. A message that I gave recently. I can find the other page here.

It's not here. One second, please. There it is.

I like this to be our focus as a San Diego congregation as we move away from this fast. But our focus, first and foremost, is individuals. We've got to start with individuals.

Our individuality must be our prayer and our desire and our effort as we humble ourselves is to, just think of it, so graphic, to unite our heart with the heart of God. Biggest sign.

Going to be working on that one the rest of our life, aren't we? To unite our heart.

But once it is united, then we take the second step and go into the second gear. Then, then, then we need to give God all of our heart. Give God all of our heart. Okay, if I'm going to unite my heart with God, I'm going to give him all of my heart, then what does God want me to do with that? In his last prayer, Jesus gave us some identifying signs as to what we can do and how to do that, which is very important. I'd like you to look at John 7 where he says in verse 9, I pray for them. And then notice what he says here. Notice what he says here in verse 9.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for them who have you have given me, for they are yours. Now, notice what it says here, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. He says, now I'm no longer going to be in the world, but these are in the world. Notice, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. Jesus' prayer on the last night of his life. Here's our focus in San Diego. Are you with me? This is where I will be guiding you this coming year, that we have a spirit of unity, a spirit of unity before God the Father and Jesus Christ, and with one another.

Now, you just don't get unity like making a goose fat, just putting a bunch of feed, you know, like this, maybe they're from the farm. You don't get unity that way. We will achieve unity the way God desires us to achieve unity when we have forethought, when we pray, when we fast, I speak to myself, and when we come into disunity, and yet rise above that by grace, by manner, by thought, by tongue, by motive. The unity that God desires, yes, his spirit will help us, but he's going to put us into the arena of life to show him that we understand, and that even when in a disunited atmosphere, our heart is linked with his, and we're going to give all of our heart to promote unity. This is what's on Jesus' mind. How united are you, brethren? We live in a world today, our country is, I don't have three hours to talk about it, disunited, becoming tribal in nature, becoming apart from one another, no longer Epler plus Unum from anyone, the United States of America. Every man is doing that which is right in his own eyes. Brethren, that's kind of what can soak up against our waste, that's kind of what can soak into our skin, and then we can become, yes, God wants us to be an individual, please understand, but he also wants us to be linked with others that are in the body of Christ. Unity is going to be an important goal. Let's make that our goal. That's what Jesus prayed for and continues to pray for. I believe that he prayed this on the night that he was betrayed. He continues to pray as our heavenly high priest above, that his spiritual body might be united. He's praying for you. He's praying for me, that we walk together. Let's notice something else that he mentioned in verse 10. Not 10, pardon me. In verse 10 and 12. While I was with them, 12, I kept them in your name, those whom you have given me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now, verse 13, I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I share with you on this day of fasting that we need to have more than ever the joy of Jesus Christ in our lives. Recognizing that that is not meaning party time. That's not happiness. Happiness comes from happenstance outside of us.

Things are happy here, so we're happy. I get this, I get that. You scratch my back, you scratch, I scratch your back. That's not what joy is. Joy is having the deep, abiding sense, brethren. I say this with all of my heart, that God Almighty, through Jesus Christ, has granted us salvation.

Salvation. To be with Him forever. And it's not an easy road. Jesus said, if anyone's going to follow me, that they will have to bear their cross.

Before you bear a crown, we will bear a cross. The joy that is being talked about here is that deep understanding. Stay with me. That is deep down in our hearts, that are united with God, that we've given fully to God. It is a joy that recognizes that we will never be left alone, that He will never forsake us, that what we experience in any given moment is going to be far greater than recognizing what is ahead of us, if we will hold on to that. It's a joy that is so deep in our heart that neither man or tribulation can touch it. It can know where it is, but it can't touch it. It can try to get to it, but it can't touch it because it comes from God. Let's notice what it says here in verse 15. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. On that last night, Jesus prayed that the body of Christ might be protected down through the ages. Brethren, I sincerely believe that more than ever we sincerely need to pray for the protection of God's people, to protect their minds, to protect their hearts. There is a lion that is out there, and we need to ask for God's protection spiritually. I know we oftentimes ask for God's protection for His servants and His people when they're traveling during the day. No, brethren, let's lift that up. Let's get real.

We need to pray that Satan be kept at bay, that the minds and that the hearts of our people will be protected from His barbs and from His wavelength, and that on this day of fasting, that our people can be revived. They can experience spiritual revival. They can say, yeah, I was kind of, you know, the boat's pointed upstream, but I'm really going downstream, and I'm just going through the paces. Have you ever seen anybody tread water?

I don't care how good a tread water or earth you are. If you never touch the side, sooner or later you're going to wear out, right? You're going to wear out. You're going to go to the bottom, like moving deck.

Brethren, some of us out here are cultural Christians that have never fully embraced the loving, living God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ. We go through the paces, we show the church. Some of us, some of us, are still too high-minded about our own ability. I speak of myself.

Some of us are too proud. Some of us have pride in us.

All of us need to take stock of ourselves on a daily basis, and ask for God's mercy.

Ask for God's forgiveness. Ask for God's help. And recognize that today, this day of fasting, we fast today, that we might honor God forever. That this day is the first day of the rest of your life in walking with Jesus Christ towards the kingdom of His Father. Let's see what else Jesus asked us to pray for. Notice what it says here. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake, I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified by the truth. One thing that God was, that Jesus prayed for us tonight, is that He prayed that we might be a holy people. Not a congregation full of holes. Not an organization full of holes, but a holy people. That's very important.

You know, we just came through the days of Unleavened Bread, in which we emptied our homes of bread and yeast. I want to show you a scripture in Ezekiel 44, 23. Ezekiel 44, 23.

Speaking of tomorrow in the future, and our calling to be a kingdom of priests before our God.

And what He will expect of His priests and what their responsibilities will be. Notice what it says. And they, they as you and me one day, when Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom, and they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy, they shall stand as judges and judge it according to my judgments, and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed meetings, and they shall hallow my sapice. But the bottom line is they, they will be able to discern between the profane and the holy, that which will go with the dustbin of history, and that which will remain. As a people, brethren, as New Covenant Christians that keep the biblical food laws, and also keep the biblical festival of the days of Unleavened Bread, there is of no value at all of separating food off your plate, and taking yeast and crumbs and bread out of your shelves. If you are not doing that in your own life, it is in vain. It's in vain if you do that.

What we do is we separate the food on our plates and in our diet. Or what we do during the days of Unleavened Bread, these are object lessons, and these we ought to do. But we are, of all people, most miserable if we are not rooting ourselves and moving out the world out of our lives, and moving the unholy out of our lives. It's an exercise in futility. If you do not understand the spiritual sense of it, the bread will come and go. What God wants is our heart, but God wants is our entire being. That's what He wants. He wants us to be a holy people. All of this is building up for a reason. Then notice what it says in verse 26. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them. He prayed that we would be a loving people. I think San Diego is a pretty loving congregation, but you know what? I think it can be more loving. I think Redlands is a loving congregation, warm and fuzzy up there, knowing Redlands. But they can be an even more loving congregation. Now, why did Jesus Christ ask us to do all of this? Why did He ask us to work on unity, to establish God's joy in us, to be a holy people, to have this kind of love? Because that when God does bring people along and brings them, and finally they have the courage and the bravado to cross that threshold, God does not hatch little chicks to put them in a freezer. Those that God calls, those that are newborns, those that are coming our way, must be in this kind of an environment. Whether it's a church or when Skip, Suzanne, or Paul, or Jackie, or Bob, or whoever out there invites somebody over, that they know that they are experiencing... Yeah, they're laughing. They're having fun. They're telling jokes. Please understand. Can't always be uptight church all the time. But they understand that here is a holy, loving, fun, exciting couple, and they know that Jesus Christ is the head of that family. They know that His Spirit is there. They sense that they feel it. There is something different. They are the light of the world. We are the light of the world. And, brethren, if my voice is going up, it's not out of condemnation. It's out of excitement for what we can be. Because we're all moving through this together. That when somebody sees us, they see, in that sense, Jesus. Not that we can be Jesus. You understand that. But they see the Spirit of Christ living in us. There's something different. There's something magnetic. There's something that is drawing them to you as an individual or drawing them to this congregation. And they say that there is something here that is extraordinary. It is not just simply of this world. It is not just simply of this world. It is not just simply about truth. It is a Spirit. John 4, 23-24, Jesus himself saying that there will come a time that we will neither worship on this mountain or that mountain, but those that follow will worship in Spirit and in truth. We have cultural Christians throughout our congregations that keep on coming, just like good Catholics, just like good Baptists come to their churches, out of culture, out of family rhythms.

God wants us individually. He doesn't want us just simply to know the truth. He wants us to experience the truth that God the Father, Spirit, and Jesus Christ are living in us.

And thus, we unite our heart with them and give them our entire heart.

I'm just going to go five more minutes. Never know how these sermons will go.

But I do want to talk about the needs of the church as a whole.

Remember what I said in 1 Corinthians 12, 27?

That we are called individually, but then we're placed into a body.

And there is a body of Christ. It's incredible. I'd like you to go home, maybe this afternoon, go ahead and read through Ephesians 2, 20 through 27. That'll describe the body of Christ.

We also have instruments within that body of Christ. One of them is the the United Church of God. And, brethren, more than ever, we have a job ahead of us as an instrument.

But here's the point I want to get to you.

That instrument is not just simply Mr. Petty or Mr. McNeely or Mr. Myers. That's my Mr. Myers app. Mr. Myers, not just them on television. It's not just about Ashley, what the good news of the Beyonce magazine. That spearhead that we have. Have you ever seen a mosaic?

You say, well, that's a beautiful mosaic, right? That's a beautiful mosaic.

But that little mosaic has all those little itsy-bitty, kinky, weeny, polka-dotted pieces of tile. We thought I was going to go back to the 60s. It has all those little tiles. We are all a part of that.

We are all a part of the whole. We do not operate separately. So that when Mr. Myers is preaching, or I write an article in the Beyond Today magazine, or Mr. Ashley is editing something, or Mr. Cupid is making a decision to use this tithe when you're this offering for that. We're all a part of that. We're all a part of that because, ultimately, as God uses that, that comes into, ultimately, our congregation. Somebody will come because of the work of all of us together. Our prayers, our fasting, our tithing, our donations, being united.

Brethren, we've got to continue this. And it's an awesome, awesome situation today as to how to preach the gospel. I'd like to just read one thing here if I can find it in my notes. I had down here. Pardon me.

Yeah. This comes from the guiding principles.

In speaking about preaching the gospel, therefore, in order to maximize the effectiveness of the gospel message, we endeavor to reach all people in a way that they can understand with a combination of doctrine, prophecy, and Christian living, recognizing that any lasting fruit, any lasting fruit, is produced by the power of God's Holy Spirit. It's not about us, brethren. We have a role. We have a part. Like David, we pick up those five stones, 1 Samuel 1740. We are to do our part, but the battle is the Lord's. The work is that of God, that there might be lasting fruit.

We know the parable about the seeds. We know about how they fall on the rock. We know how they fall on the ground. And out of all of that, only a portion actually takes root.

We believe humanity is in urgent need of the gospel message in advance of the events surrounding Christ's return. We believe that Jesus Christ commissioned his church to declare what is to come and to wonder the consequences of sin, too. Notice, preach repentance, but also, hear me, proclaim hope. There are times, brethren, over the years when people have just simply centered on what somebody is doing wrong, rather than giving them the hope of the calling of God the Father, of the love and the embrace of Jesus Christ, that no matter what they have done, no matter what they have done, they have a home with them. They have a home with us. We don't ask questions when people come through our doors. Our doors are open.

We receive that which God has inspired to come our way. Because we were them one time. Can I tell you a quick story? Had a lady call me—you'll love this—had a lady call me today from Las Vegas when it says 702 Skip, that's Las Vegas. They're spending far much too time in Las Vegas. Oh, I'm sending them over. Anyway, what happens is that this lady calls me and says, God's Spirit just testified to me, and I've come to understand the Sabbath day.

She said, that's good. And then she said, I can't be with you today, but I'm going to have to go back to my whole church, and I'm going to have to tell them they're all wrong. I said, well, let me share something with you. The understanding of the Sabbath really comes by God's Spirit. I was trying to keep her away from whatever. She said, you really remind me of my mother about 57 years ago when she talked—you heard me talk about her talking about the Reverend Michke. That one didn't work too well, either. But she said, I've got to do it. I said, well, I'm not going to stop you. I'm just giving you a word of warning. She says, is there somebody that I can fellowship with today? I can't go to church at one o'clock, but is there somebody that believes in the Sabbath that I can fellowship with today? Well, we have 18 people in four states that go to Las Vegas, so that was not possible. I said, I'm going to call you back on Tuesday.

Do you remember what it was like going upstream when you first heard the calling of God? And how excited you were, and that it was that pearl of great price in which you were willing to throw overboard and give all, just like a brahm moving out of earth? That's why we have this fast today, brethren. It's not just institutional. It's personal, because the church is made up of people. It's made up of hearts. It's made up of us working together. It's made of us praying that the council, praying that Mr. Kubik, praying that Mr. Ashley, praying that the presenters, praying all the support team in the home office and those that are not in the home office, praying for our elders, praying for our pastors, and praying for our members. If you would pray this one prayer with me tonight, and I will pray it if you will pray it. I'm going to pray it whether you pray it or not, but I'm going to pray it. You can join me. Remember that verse I shared in other Psalms? Father, above, as we come off this fast day, allow your people more than ever to have the desire to unite their heart with you.

And understanding what your heart is and what their heart is apart from you, I pray today that the entire body of Christ will unite their heart, no matter who they are, no matter what condition they are. And, number two, that as they unite it, they will not hold back like Achan. They will not bury that treasure underneath the carpet, but that they will give you their whole heart. If we want to see others come into our fellowship, they can read about things on the Internet. They can hear even the truth that we proclaim by different peoples, different persons, different writings. That isn't enough. When they come amongst us, they must sense that God is amongst us. By what we say, how we say it, that we promote unity, that we have peace, even though we have our opinions, even though we have our dynamic thoughts, we have peace, and we have a joy. We are unmoved by this world around us, knowing that we look forward to a better world to come, and that we have the love of God in us. If you pray that prayer, let's understand that God is going down. I'm looking down the bowling alley here. I'm looking down the alley. God will send us some unloving people at first to test whether or not we have prayed for the love of God in us. A fast, proclaimed, or individually done is a terrible thing to waste.

I know that sometimes on a fast day I say, okay, God, when's it going to come? Okay, when's it going to come? I'm not feeling like an energized bunny right now, or howdy-doody on steroids. When's it going to come? What's the big answer?

The answer does not always come on the day of the fast. It comes as we walk away from the day of the fast with the lessons of the fast upon us, and to go out and meet that fast and give them the same answers as God would. I've shared my heart with you today. That's where I'm coming from.

That's what I try to share when I go back to Cincinnati. That's what I try to share with every human being that I come into contact with as a Christian and as a pastor. Brethren, as your tummies get emptier and emptier in the remaining hours, let's fill up with the fullness of God's kingdom.