[Mr. Mark Welch]: Brethren, the world has gotten a little bit more frightening in some respects. In fact, in many respects, I’m confident that at least some of us feel a little bit powerless during this COVID-19 situation. We know that God is all-powerful, but we also know that God is allowing humankind to reap what they’ve been sowing. And frankly, I look at this as just another wake-up call. It’s another sign of the times. I don’t believe we’re in the throes of Jacob’s trouble just yet, because it’s going to get a lot worse than what we’re experiencing right now.

But let us talk and reason together this afternoon about two very powerful spiritual tools. When combined on a regular basis, these vital tools become very, very powerful, and effective in our own individual lives, and can even make a real difference, collectively, in all of our local congregations around the world. Spiritually, I believe we’re crying out to utilize these tools more often. Spiritually, we want to, but physically, we often find it difficult, even though these tools are readily at our disposal, at everyone’s disposal. The Bible reveals just how robust and powerful these tools are, yet very few Christians, I believe, derive the kind of benefit that they could. I include myself in this. I believe I could do better when it comes to this. Because most of us just don’t get around to combining these two tools in a very powerful way, the way we really could, if we would humble ourselves and yield ourselves more fully to God.

Now, Christ’s disciples had seen many marvelous miracles and healings. They had seen or heard about Jesus changing water to wine. No one can do that today. They had seen Him repeatedly heal the sick, He healed the crippled, He healed the lame, the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed, He healed those with epilepsy, He also healed the lepers. He fed 5,000 at one time. Actually, that was more like 15,000 because 5,000 was just men, and then another time 4,000 just men, so probably between 15,000 and 20,000 people at a time, with just a few fish and a little bread. Nobody does that. Jesus did, and His disciples saw Him do it. They had even seen Him cast out demons. They’d seen Him raise the dead to life. They’d seen Him walk on water. And He even allowed Peter or gave Peter the power to walk on water for a short time.

In addition, Jesus sent out His 12 disciples to preach the gospel of the Kingdom and also to heal the sick. He gave them power to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out demons. Therefore, they went and did likewise. I believe that was certainly the case. It doesn’t say a whole lot about that. So, I don’t know how long that lasted and I don’t know how prevalent it was. But certainly, the Bible does speak of that. Moreover, He sent out 70 others, and they also performed miracles, and healed the sick.

However, there was at least once when His disciples hit a brick wall. Do you know what I’m talking about? They hit a brick wall. We find out about this in Matthew 17. So, let’s turn over there to Matthew 17. And we’re going to start reading in verse 14.

Matthew 17:14-19 It says here, “And when they had come through the multitude, a man came to Him, came to Christ, kneeling down to Him and saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic, and suffer severely for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Oh, faithless and perverse generation.’” You know, I suppose He was including His disciples in that. “‘How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’”

Now, evidently, they had healed people of sicknesses and other such things or they wouldn’t be surprised why they couldn’t take care of this problem. “Why could we not cast it out?”

Matthew 17:21 “So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief. For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’” And notice also what He said. “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Prayer and fasting, those are the two spiritual tools, the powerful tools that I’m talking about today. Clearly, the disciples were very frustrated that they were not able to heal this young boy. They were not availing themselves of two very powerful spiritual tools in combination with one another. No doubt they were praying to God the Father, but they really hadn’t been fasting. In fact, John’s disciples came and asked Christ, “Why aren’t your disciples fasting?” He said, “It’s because the bridegroom is with them. But they will fast. When the time comes, they will fast.”

So, brethren, are you availing yourself of these two very powerful spiritual tools in combination with one another? Have you been praying and fasting for spiritual strength and power? How regularly have you been applying yourself in this way? What common denominators or characteristics do we see from biblical accounts of prayer and fasting? How may you gain more from fasting in the future? And what’s the best way to fast? How should we be fasting? So we’re going to talk about these issues today. I believe they’re very important for all of us. Let’s begin in 1 Samuel 7, 1 Samuel 7, we’ll go back to the Old Testament.

Now, this is at the end of the period of the judges. And Samuel is a prophet here. He’s a judge. And God, we will see is going to intervene for Samuel and the Israelites against their longtime enemies, the Philistines, because you see, the Philistines had been harassing them a great deal during the period of the Judges up until this time, very interesting account in Chapter 5, 6, and 7 about the Ark of the Covenant, and Dagon, and the situation with the Ark of the Covenant, and Dagon, and how the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant, and how finally it was brought back to Kiriath Jearim but through, I think it was Beth Shemesh, or, yeah, I think it was Beth Shemesh, and that was a very interesting account of what was going on there. But the Philistines were really a thorn in the flesh of the Israelites.

So let’s continue to read here. Well, let’s begin reading in verse 3 because as I said, the Ark had been in Kiriath Jearim. And then that was about 20 years that that was happening. And then it says in verse 2.

1 Samuel 7:2-3 That, “And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.” They were mourning. They were sorrowful. The Philistines, again, were troubling them. They were afraid. “Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel saying, ‘If you returned to the Eternal, the Lord with all of your hearts, then put away the foreign gods, and the Astraeus,” these pagan idols, these gods, “put them away from among you and prepare your heart for the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.’” Because they had given some attention to the Eternal but they were also worshipping these other gods. And God is a jealous God in the right sense. He wants us to worship only Him.

1 Samuel 7:5-6 “And Samuel said, ‘Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Eternal for you.’ So they gathered together at Mizpah, they drew water and they poured it out before the Eternal. And they fasted that day and said there, ‘We have sinned against the Eternal.’”

So, pay close attention to this account, because we’re going to ask about the denominators or the characteristics, what was going on in this period of fasting, this biblical account.

1 Samuel 7:6-8 “We’ve sinned against the Eternal. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.” He considered their spiritual condition. “Now, when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel.” They thought this was an opportune time to attack Israel. They were all together. And they were weaker than the Philistines. So, a wonderful opportunity for them. “And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.” They were fearful. “So the children of Israel said to Samuel, ‘Do not cease to cry out to the Eternal our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.’”

So, they were looking to a leader, to lead them, to guide them, to lead the way. And that, of course, was Samuel.

1 Samuel 7:9 “So, Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Eternal.”

Now, we don’t offer physical sacrifices these days. We know that Jesus Christ is the one and only real sacrifice that we need to look to. He died for us, He paid the penalty for us, for our sins. But in those days, Samuel did offer up a lamb as a whole burnt offering to the Eternal.

1 Samuel 7:9-13 “And Samuel cried out to the Eternal for Israel and the Eternal answered him.” God heard, God listened, God intervened. “Now, when Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but the Eternal thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone. He set it up between Mizpah, he called it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far, the Eternal has helped us.’”

So, God certainly did intervene, God did help them, God did deliver them, God did take care of them, He rescued them. You know, back in those days, people were in some ways more warlike. You know, it seems like they’re always having skirmishes, always fighting, battling physically. We have our problems today but, thankfully, we don’t have to worry about some group in Loveland coming over the hill to try to, you know, take us out. Again, we have other issues that we have to battle, but they were a more warlike people in many ways, not as civilized in some respects. So let’s consider some of the denominators, some of the characteristics in this account. What was going on? First of all, oftentimes, people don’t pray until there’s some kind of real danger. Have you noticed that? This was a physical danger. It was a very real danger. The Philistines were a powerful people. And they had harassed the Israelites for years and years and put them in subjection to the Philistines.

The second thing is we do see some humility here. Thankfully, we see sinners seeking help. These were Israelites. They were sinners. They were seeking help. They were humbling themselves. They were admitting their sins. We just read that. So, there was a certain amount of repentance that was going on here. And that repentance was shown by their fruits, by their actions. They put away the Astraeus. They put away those pagan gods. They listened to Samuel. They did what they were told to do. And they were diligent in seeking God. They fasted. They prayed. They sought God’s will. They sought His deliverance, and they turned to God only with wholeheartedness and single-mindedness.

The fourth characteristic was fervent prayer, not just by themselves, by the Israelites, no doubt they were also praying to God for help and deliverance, but Samuel, a righteous leader who was leading the way. Number five, another characteristic is faith. So first was physical danger, in this case. We’ll see that oftentimes we now fast because of spiritual danger, maybe not so much physical, sometimes physical. Secondly was humility. They had humility. They were repentant. They had fervent prayers. They were faithful. They were looking to God for answers and deliverance. They were believing in God. And they were also unified. They were united together. They came together at Mizpah to seek God’s deliverance. They were fasting together, number seven.

Number eight was a sacrifice. This time a physical sacrifice was given. Now, we know that today we’re to be living sacrifices. So we’ll see some of that as we go on in this sermon. And a ninth characteristic or denominator was answered prayer. God did answer their prayers. God did respect their fasting. It did make a difference. God intervened and God delivered them. So that’s the first biblical account. Let’s go to a second one. This time in 2 Chronicles 20, 2 Chronicles 20, and I think King Jehoshaphat was a friend of God. There weren’t a lot of good kings in Judah. There were no really good kings in Israel. They were from Judah, the good kings and there weren’t many of them comparatively. So in 2 Chronicles 20, we find that there are three worrying people that are rising up against the Israelites, the people of Ammon, the people of Moab, and of Mount Seir. Jehoshaphat heard that there was a great multitude coming up against them in verse 2 of Chapter 20.

2 Chronicles 20:3-9 It says, “Jehoshaphat feared.” You know, fear isn’t all bad. You know, sometimes it’s good to have a healthy type of fear, as long as we don’t let it control us or get out of hand, and as long as we seek God, and we seek His help and deliverance. “And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Eternal and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.” So, here’s a strong leader, a powerful leader who proclaimed this fast. He’d seen that Israel could be severely damaged, hurt, possibly wiped out by these three warring factions, all combining together against the Israelites. Actually, not just all of the Israelites, but the tribe of Judah. “So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Eternal and from all the cities of Judah and they came to seek the Lord.” I think Benjamin was a part of this too, and there were some others no doubt that were a part of this amalgamation of Judah. “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, ‘O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven?’” So now we’re going to see a similar prayer as to what Mr. Nitzberg referred to in regard to Abraham, Sodom, and Gomorrah.

Jehoshaphat says to God, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand, is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever?” So, he’s asking God this, “God, I know who you are. I know you’re powerful. “And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple and in your presence, for your name is in this temple,’ this was God’s temple, the Eternal’s temple, ‘and we’ll cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’”

So, he is reminding God of this covenant, of God’s protection, a promise to them. Of course, they were to be an obedient people. And thankfully, for the most part, they were, you know, not usually, but this was a time when they were more obedient.

2 Chronicles 20:10-12 “And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out from the land of Egypt.” I thought this was pretty interesting how he throws this out. He’s saying, “God, you know, there was a time where we could have taken these people. You know, we were coming out of... We had come out of Egypt, we were going into the land here. But you told us not to. “When they came out of the land of Egypt, But they turned from them and did not destroy them.” The Israelites did not destroy them at that time. “Here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.” God, this is our land. So, Jehoshaphat was showing some initiative. He was showing that he was willing to go to God, to reason with God, to talk with God. “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us.”

You know, I believe God wants all of us to do this. God wants us to just open our hearts to Him, you know, to cry out to Him, to ask Him for help, for guidance, for direction. He wants us to just surrender ourselves to Him. And that was in many ways the kind of king that Jehoshaphat was. He says, “We don’t know what to do...”

2 Chronicles 20:12-18 He says, “We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us.” He was humble about that. He didn’t look to his own strength or to the strength of the Israelites. He says, “We don’t have any strength against this great multitude.” He says, “Our eyes are upon you.” We’re looking to you, God, we’re looking to you for help and deliverance here.” “Now all Judah with their little ones, their wives, and their children stood before the Lord.” Again, we see great unity here. “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon, Jahaziel, the son of Zachariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel,” My apologies to those who are interpreting and signing to the deaf. These are hard words and I’m going rather fast. So, I’m sorry about that.

“The son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly, and he said, ‘Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but it is God’s battle.’“ God is going to fight this battle for you. “Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Eternal who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Eternal, the Lord is with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Eternal, worshipping the Lord.”

They were worshipping God. They were praising God. They were just communicating with Him and showing them their deference toward Him. They were humbling themselves before God.

2 Chronicles 20:19-20 “And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Eternal God of Israel with voices loud and high.” So, they were singing loud, they were making a joyful noise to God, “God, we know You’re going to deliver us, and we’re praising You, we’re worshiping You.” “So they rose early in the morning, and they went out to the Wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. You shall be established if you believe in the eternal God, believe His prophets.’”

You know, God does have servants that He does send. You know, God has sent many servants. Moses was a great servant of God, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, so many servants, Daniel. I could name many, and you could as well.

2 Chronicles 20:20-23 “Believe His prophets and you shall prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying, ‘Praise the Eternal, for His mercy endures forever.’ Now, when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir.’” Remember, they were not going to have to fight this battle. They had come up against Judah, “and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill them.”

So, they turned on Mount Seir first, and then they turned on each other. You know, they had joined together to destroy Israel. And then before you know it, they’re killing each other. That was all God’s doing. That was not planned. God put it in their heads and it happened. You know, God has all power. He can do as He chooses to do. “So they destroyed one another,” verse 25. By the way, there were lots of dead bodies around in verse 24.

2 Chronicles 20:25 “When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables.”

There was a lot of valuables that three days I think it was that they carried off spoil. You know, God blessed them in so many ways. And the tables were certainly turned against the enemies of the Israelites and those who would rise up against God’s people. So I find that very interesting. And if you notice, what is it?

2 Chronicles 20:27-30 “Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Eternal had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord, to the temple. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Eternal had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.”

So, peace came upon Jehoshaphat, and upon the people of Israel, because they trusted in God, and they looked to Him. So we see a lot of the same common denominators here that we saw in the first biblical account. We see that there was physical danger. The Israelites were being attacked. We see humility, sinners seeking help, humbling themselves, admitting their sins, repentant people showing by fruits, by action, and diligence, turning to God with wholeheartedness and with single-mindedness, praying fervently, having faith, trusting in God, looking to Him for answers and deliverance, believing that He would do as He said He would. They were unified together. There was great unity among the people. They fasted together.

And here we see it doesn’t mention a physical sacrifice that was necessarily made here but certainly, fasting is a spiritual sacrifice. Anytime we give up food and water, which we all seem to love quite a bit, that is a sacrifice. So we are giving a certain sacrifice in that respect. There was answered prayer. God intervened and delivered them. And an added dimension here is that they praised and worshipped God, they sang songs to God, they gave Thanksgiving. They offered Thanksgiving. An offering of Thanksgiving was given as well, a sacrifice of thanksgiving. So, they were very grateful. They sang these hymns to God. They rejoiced, knowing that God delivered them and gave them victory. So, it’s important to realize, again, some things happen only by prayer and fasting. Do you think this would have happened if they hadn’t prayed and fasted? If they hadn’t come together with great unity, do you think the outcome would have been the same? No, God heard their prayers. God saw their fasting. It made a difference. All right. Now in Ezra, we find another account just a few verses in Ezra 8. And I’m not going to all the accounts, obviously. We could go to Nehemiah, where there’s an excellent account of fasting by the cupbearer. Nehemiah and Chapter 1, but we don’t have time to cover all this. So, we’re going to go to Ezra 8:21.

Ezra 8:21-23 Ezra says, “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava.” Ezra was returning to Jerusalem with a contingent of people. Things had been worked out with Artaxerxes. They had been given permission to go. “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” They were concerned about their families. You know, they fasted, they prayed, they went to God. They wanted help. They wanted deliverance. “For I was ashamed to request the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road.” They were taking a long journey back to the Land of Israel, back to Jerusalem. “Because we had spoken to the king, saying, ‘The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.’ So we fasted and entreated our God for this and He answered our prayer.’“

So, short but sweet. You know, Ezra told the king that God would be there to protect them, to take care of them, to deliver them, that God was on their side. He was honoring God. You should go back and read the letter that Artaxerxes wrote in great respect toward the great God of heaven and earth. And so, here we see, again, some characteristics, some common characteristics, some common denominators. Was there physical danger? Sure, there were thieves out there. There were thugs. There were marauders and murderers. They could have attacked some of the group. They could have killed some of the group. So there was some danger. So, a powerful leader, Ezra, in this case, sought God, he brought the people together in humility. They clearly showed that they needed God’s help. They humbled themselves before God. No doubt they admitted their sins that, you know, they weren’t perfect. None of us are perfect. We all have to admit we’re sinners. We need God’s help. We need His forgiveness. We need His blessings.

So, they repented. And it was shown by their fruits, by their actions. They were going back to Jerusalem, God was taking them back. They faithfully were going back to the land of Israel. They were diligent. They were turning to God with wholeheartedness and with single-mindedness. There was fervent prayer, again, by righteous leaders, and by the Israelites themselves, those headed back. There was faith. They trusted God to deliver them, to bring them back. There was unity. They were working together. They were praying together for one another. They were fasting. They were making these spiritual sacrifices going to God for deliverance. God answered their prayer, God intervened, God delivered them. God took care of them. And no doubt they were very grateful. No doubt they were very thankful. They may have... No doubt they sang praises to God and gave God, you know, deference all along the way to Jerusalem. The Bible doesn’t record everything, but I have a good feel that they were truly grateful, and thankful, and expressing that to God.

Now, let’s go to Daniel 9, where we find a very interesting account. Daniel was truly a man of God. He was a prophet of God and he was very heartfelt. He loved the people. He truly loved God and he truly loved the people. In the Book of Daniel 9, we’re going to start there. Daniel 9, we’ll start in verse 3. And this is a very amazing book, the Book of Daniel. And I read it recently. It’s very inspiring. So much packed into this little book.

Daniel 9:3-5 He says, “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Eternal my God and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, 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 and we have committed iniquity.’”

See, he’s not just talking about himself here. No, he is going to God himself. But he’s bringing the children of Israel in. He’s bringing his loved ones in. He’s including them. He says, “We have sinned and committed iniquity.”

Daniel was a very fine person. He was a very righteous man, but he wasn’t perfect. He too was a sinner. And certainly, there were other sinners that he was praying for here, some much greater, you know, more wicked than Daniel, for sure.

Daniel 9:5-7 He said, “‘We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. Neither have we heeded your servants, the prophets.’” We didn’t listen to your prophets. They came... You know, we wouldn’t have had to go into captivity had we listened. No, had we just humbled ourselves, and yielded ourselves, and surrendered ourselves, we wouldn’t have had to go through such a horrible trial and captivity. “Neither have we heeded your servants, the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers, and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us, shame of face, as it is this day.”

He was ashamed. There are times when I’ve been ashamed of my conduct. You know, we all need to go to God when we’re ashamed, ask Him for forgiveness, pray that He will have mercy on us, and forgive us, and restore us. Grant us repentance.

Daniel 9:7-12 “To the man of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those near and those far off, and all the countries to which you have driven them, you scattered them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you. O Lord, to us, belong shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord, our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” You know, he’s very straightforward about this. We have rebelled against Him, we have transgressed, we have broken the law of Moses. You know, he goes on and talks about breaking the commandments of God. And he says, “By bringing upon us a great disaster, You have judged us.” By bringing upon us a great disaster.

Now, brethren, I would say that the Church of God, frankly, you know, we’ve brought upon ourselves some disasters over the years. The modern Church of God for the last 70 years, you know, if you look at our history, we’re the ones that are guilty. We’re the ones that should be ashamed because, collectively, we have brought disaster upon ourselves. We’ve been scattered like these people. Could we have not done better had we all fasted and prayed more faithfully? If every one of us, you know, besought God daily, you know, not fasting every single day, but beseeching God daily and fasting regularly, would not our outcome be different? Would we not be a stronger people, a more populous people?

Instead, we are scattered. I think there’s some repentance that needs to go on from all of us. You know, if we’ve shared in that in any way, then we do need to ask God to forgive us and we need to go forward in faith, never doing it again. Never doing it again, but showing our love, our faithfulness, our confidence in God, doing all of these things that we’re going through, these different characteristics. So, there was disaster that came upon these people. He said, “Look, I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed that we’ve had this disaster come upon us. Please, grant us forgiveness. Send us back to the land. Restore us.” Now, I’m going to drop down to verse 16.

Daniel 9:16-18 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us.” I think some people have held us in derision. Have they not? I think there’s some similarities. “Now, therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake, cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our supplications before You.”

Why do you think Ezra and Nehemiah were allowed to go back? Prayers like this. Beseeching God, wanting to be restored, wanting to be far more faithful to God. And then let’s see. I’m want to go down to verse... Where are we? Well, let’s continue reading here. e

Daniel 9:17-19 “Now, therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake, cause your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

And we brethren, are the people of God. We are His children. This is the Church of God, the Church of the Living God. We are the pillar and ground of the truth of God. We have a high and a holy calling, a wonderful calling, a tremendous future ahead of us. God is merciful. God is gracious, but we do need to go to Him in repentance, humbling ourselves before God, more often, more frequently, more faithfully, more single-mindedly, more wholeheartedly.

Daniel 9:20-23 “While I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin,” I’m in verse 20, “and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, who was an angel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me, and he talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out,’” at the very beginning. Now, God knows the heart. God looks at the heart. At the very beginning of his supplications, God answered, God intervened. “And I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved.”

God greatly beloved His servants. He truly loves all of us, the more diligently and the more faithfully we seek Him. You know, He loves us so much, but He does want to see that heart, the heart of Jesus Christ, having the mind of His Son, Jesus Christ within us. So the 70 Weeks Prophecy is revealed, the coming of the Messiah, what a wonderful prophecy. That’s the result of this, you know, as well as being able to go back to Israel, sending people back. So, again, what are the common denominators here? What kind of danger was there? Daniel was speaking of... He was speaking in captivity. He realized that the enemy was himself. It was the other people. It was their carnality. It was their rebellion, their rebellious nature, their stiff-necked approach.

And there were other enemies as well. Satan certainly was an enemy. Satan sent enemies continually against God’s people and has and still does. So, we see humility, we see repentance, we see fervent prayer, we see faith. In this account, we see unity. Again, Daniel confessing and repenting on behalf of all the children of Israel, we see fasting, we see these spiritual sacrifices going forth toward God. Wholeheartedness, you know, turning to God with all of our might, their soul, with the love that we have for God. We see God intervening. We see Him revealing truth. And again, no doubt, Daniel was so grateful and thankful for all of this and for what God had done.

Now, I do want to go to an example in the New Testament. I think we see many common denominators, things that are happening every time we go to God in prayer, and in fasting. It’s a powerful, powerful formula, a powerful tool. In Acts 10, in the New Testament, we find a gentleman named Cornelius. Acts 10. Cornelius was a God fear. He was one who believed in God. He was not a Jew. But he feared God, and he looked to God, and he was a wonderful example.

Acts 10:1-5 “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius. He was a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment. He was a devout man and one who feared God with all of his household, who gave alms generously to the people. And he prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day, around 3 p.m., he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God, coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’“ God sends an angel to this gentile, to this Roman Centurion. But he was a God fear. And he was a very dedicated man. “And when he observed Him, he was afraid and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ So He said to him, ‘Your prayers and your alms.’“ You know, he was a very generous giving person. He gave to the poor. This is another element that we’ll see shortly. He gave to the poor. “And it has come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.”

So God’s going to bring Peter into this equation because God’s going to open up salvation to the gentiles. He’s going to do it through this man, Cornelius, who was fasting and praying. Do you think there’s a correlation here as to why this was the man that God chose to give His Spirit to, this gentile? And then we don’t have time to go through Peter’s vision. We don’t need to go through all of this. It explains that God was going to open up salvation to the gentiles. And so, an amazing story of how God’s working behind the scenes to bring them all together. So, in this account, we see that Cornelius understands his frailty. Even though he was a Roman soldier, even though Rome had conquered much of the world, at that time, he saw his frailty. That’s why he humbled himself before God. He was humble. He was repentant. He prayed fervently. He had great faith.

Again, we see the unity of God working with Peter and others, and Cornelius working with them all together. They were fasting. This was a common practice for those who were true God-fears. Sacrificed, again, spiritual sacrifices, Romans 12:1, we’re to become living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God. It’s our reasonable service. That’s what God expects of us. It’s reasonable. To have such a high and holy calling, it’s very reasonable to expect great things from His people. And with God behind us, we can deliver great things. God is our strength. God is our power. We don’t look to ourselves. We look beyond this frailty, this flesh, this carnality. And we look to God who has called us, and sanctified us, and set us apart for a holy purpose, to represent Him, to be ambassadors of His son. We are called to do a great work. God will do a great work. That time is coming. We’re doing a great work already. We’re not reaching a ton of people yet, but God is behind the scenes. And we’re working... And God is working with us, returning to Him with greater faithfulness and humility as a people. God sees that. God’s more and more pleased, as He sees us turn to Him.

All right. Let’s go to Isaiah 58. I want to go there, Isaiah 58, because this talks about the right type of fast, which we’ve already covered, to a large extent, what this is all about. The proper type of fast, going to God in faith, Isaiah 58, first of all, it says, “To cry aloud and spare not, and lift up your voice like a trumpet.” Now, we’re not afraid of this COVID-19. No, we’re not running in fear of this thing. We’re trying to be prudent. We’re trying to care for those who might be more susceptible, that could perhaps have their lives cut short. Make no mistake of that. We believe in God. We have faith in God. We trust Him for His deliverance. His will is perfect. And we look to Him for His will to be done.

Isaiah 58:1-3 “So lift up your voice, show my people their transgression, show the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness.” See, God’s being facetious. Now, He’s saying that you claim... You’re not crying aloud. You know, you’re not really trumpeting out to the people and the people aren’t listening. And they have an outward show. “They seem to delight to know my ways, a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinance of justice. They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen? Why? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice?’”

They were blaming God. Brethren, we must never, ever blame God. The fault is our own. God is perfect. God is righteous.

Isaiah 58:3-5 “In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate.” Have we seen any strife or debate in the Church of God over the years, or have we humbled ourselves immediately and not get involved in that? “Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, an acceptable day of the Lord?”

He’s talking about a fast, far different from the fast we already heard about in the Bible. These were true fast. These were godly fast. But the people, you know, didn’t learn their lessons. You know, they didn’t turn to God. They were further scattered. We know the story, the sad story.

Isaiah 58:6 He says, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?”

You know, Christ said He came to heal the brokenhearted, to set us free, to set us at liberty. And we should care for all of our brethren, for all of our members of God around this world, praying for them faithfully, and fervently, and looking to everyone whom God has created in His image, reaching out to help the poor, to help the needy, to get involved. This is what God wants to see from His people.

Isaiah 58:7 He says, “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry”’ Perhaps we could find a good cause that we know where most of the money goes to and helps people. Maybe we could do more. Maybe we could reach out and do more. I think we’re fat and sassy in many respects. You know, we have a lot to learn. We have some humbling. You know, I include myself in this. “And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out. When you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh.”

You know, some people neglect their own families. It’s not right. And we need to turn to God and be righteous.

Isaiah 58:8-9 “That your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily.” Yes, God answers the right type of fasting. “Healing shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. God will be with you to protect you. You shall call and the Lord, the Eternal will answer. You shall cry and He will say, ‘Here I am.’”

For we know that God will never leave us and God will never forsake us. That was a promise that was made to Joshua and that was repeated in the New Testament in the Book of Hebrews. God will never leave nor forsake His people. We can count on Him. The problem is our own. We’re the ones who need to seek Him with greater faithfulness. He goes on to say in verse 11.

Isaiah 58:11 “The Lord will guide you continually. He will satisfy your soul in drought. He will strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden.”

You can reach out in faith. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to live forever in the flesh, right? You know, we’re all going to get sick and die if Christ doesn’t return or we’re all going to die of old age. We’re not going to live forever, not in the flesh, surely. So, you know, it’s just an awesome Chapter here, 58, it goes on to talk about the Sabbath, and how we’re to honor God on this day, this wonderful day. And we are assembling on this day as God’s people, thousands of us assembling together. This is important to us. We wouldn’t take our Saturday afternoon. It’s a beautiful day out. We’d be out planting flowers and doing other things. Not today. This is God’s day. This is His holy Sabbath day. So brethren, there’s much more that could be said. I do want to go to Joel 1 as we get close to a conclusion here, Joel 1:13. Joel 1, now this is going to be about the last days, the End Times. Joel is a prophet. Yes, there’s been duality, a former fulfillment. There’s a latter fulfillment yet to come.

Joel 1:13-15 “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests. Wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, lie, all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God. For the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.” Things were being neglected, even by the leaders, by the priests, by the ones that should have been setting the example and leading the way. “Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord, your God, and cry out to the Eternal. Alas for the day. For the day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.”

There will be no mistake when that day begins. It’s going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen, brethren. These are the beginning of sorrows. We’re not there yet. We have lessons to be learned. God is merciful. God is faithful. God’s giving us time to wake up, to turn to Him with greater faithfulness and fervency. He says, “It’s not the food cut off before our eyes?” We don’t see that, even though...you know, it was toilet paper. It wasn’t food. And even then, I don’t think most of us really ran out of toilet paper even. But the food’s going to be cut off and then we’re going to see how people really behave. You know, then we’re going to see human nature. We’ve been relatively good through all this. It hasn’t been that bad.

But He goes on to talk about the siege shriveling up, you know, there’s famine, pestilence, disease, real disease killing millions and even hundreds of millions before it’s all over. Are we afraid of this? I hope not. You know, we have to run with a horseman, right? We have to prepare ourselves now. We have to be ready. One way to be ready is to fast and pray more frequently, to go to God for His help and His strength. So, let’s go to verse 12 of Chapter 2.

Joel 2:12-13 “Now, therefore, says the Lord, ‘Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. So rend your heart and not your garments.” God’s not so concerned about the outward show. Rend your hearts. Turn your hearts to Him. “Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious. He is merciful. He is slow to anger. He’s of great kindness.” You know, God is slow to anger, very merciful.

Joel 2:15-16 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, set them apart, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babes.”

God’s going to protect them all. God’s going to take care of us. We need not worry. We just need to be right with God. God will take care of us. God will give us the victory. God will give us eternal life if we keep our eyes on His Kingdom.

Joel 2:17 “Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach that the nation should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

We need to bring glory to God. We need to bring honor to God by humbling ourselves and setting the right example as God’s people as never before.

Joel 2:19 “The Lord will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil and you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.’”

God will exalt His people in due time if we turn to Him.

Joel 2:26-27 “You shall eat in plenty and you shall be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, I am the Lord your God. And there is no other.”

There’s one God family, Father, and Son, and we can be a part of that family. We can be children of that family, born into the very family of God, living forever with God, becoming as God. No longer sinning. What a future we have ahead of us. Brethren, we have so much to be grateful for, so much to live for.

Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord,” whoever calls. God is not a respecter of persons. We must be careful that we do not judge others harshly. God is the judge, He says, “It shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

May God be praised. May God be praised. He is the God of all of our salvation. So, brethren, again, we could go through all these common denominators. I think you see them all here in Joel. There are many good reasons why we ought to fast more often. Christ said His disciples would fast. And I don’t think you can fast without praying. I mean, why fast if you’re not going to pray, right? I mean, you spend much of your time praying, reading the Bible, but praying to God and beseeching Him. No, Christ said His disciples would fast. We are to fast, not just on the Day of Atonement. He wouldn’t have said that if it was just the Day of Atonement. We’re to fast, you know, unless you have some health reason that would prohibit you, and even then, perhaps you could fast some part of the day. Do your best.

You know, it’s between you and God. God is the judge. You work that out in your heart with God, you trust Him, you look to Him. We don’t judge any of that. You know, God is the judge. We look upon Him. He looks on our heart. The early Christians fasted often. Paul fasted often. We are all sinners. We all need to also be overcomers. We need to fast properly. It will make a huge difference. Righteousness does matter. Fasting is a powerful, powerful tool. It will clean you up spiritually. God will strengthen you. God will help you. Go to Him. Let’s all go to God together. Let’s humble ourselves. There’s a couple of sermons that I gave on this topic, that the second one goes into some more detail on fasting and, you know, how to fast and things. You might want to look it up.

There’s probably, I don’t know how many different sermons on fasting, many, many wonderful sermons on this topic. If you want to learn more, go dig deeper. Do you want to change spiritually? Sometimes change doesn’t take place, except by prayer and fasting. Do you really want to change or do you want to stay the same? I don’t want to stay the same. I want to grow. I want to get better. I want to overcome. I want to be more pleasing to God. Do you want to be stronger spiritually? You know, I know you do. I know all of us do. We want to be more pleasing to God as we unite together as His people. We want to see growth take place here in Cincinnati. We want to see growth take place around the world. God will give us growth once we learn to humble ourselves more fully, more faithfully, and more completely. Remember, brethren, some things happen only by prayer and fasting.