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January 22, 2022 · 25 min · Featured Sermons
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Awakened To Grace is the Teaching Ministry of Pastor Chad Roberts and Preaching Christ Church. Through his own physical blindness, Pastor Chad is helping people see and trust a God they cannot see.
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In this video 0:20 Fasting for Holiness and Others
Fasting for Holiness and Others 0:20 Today on Awaken to Grace, we are in Isaiah chapter 58, and we're talking about fasting. Today, we're gonna talk about how to fast toward personal holiness, how to fast toward the0:31 needs of others, and ultimately how to fast toward the spiritual breakthrough that we need in our lives. But we can't get this order reversed. Most of us fast for our own0:43 wants or needs or desires, but God says the fast that pleases him is the fast that puts others first and the fast that creates holiness in our lives. I hope you0:55 enjoy today's edition of Awakened to1:04 Grace. So today, I want us to carefully go through Isaiah 58. We're calling today fasting,1:16 a hunger for God. And I want us to explore how we can create a deeper craving for the Lord in our life. Begin with me in1:28 verse number 1. God is going to instruct Isaiah. And as a matter of fact, before you read verse number 1, actually go to the last verse of Isaiah1:40 58 because I think it's worth noting. Isaiah is going to tell the reader throughout all generations, and he's gonna tell us in our generation, these things1:52 are spoken from the mouth of God. Can we receive it as that today? My words mean nothing today. It is the mouth of God that I want to know2:04 from. It is the thoughts of God. It is the words of God that I want to know. And God is not gonna hold back, and he's not gonna shy back, and he's gonna tell us crystal clear2:16 with incredible clarity. We're gonna go through Isaiah 58, and he's gonna show us exactly what God wants from his people, as well as what he doesn't want. So how are you gonna
2:27 receive it today? Are you gonna receive it as something from the mouth of God as we study these words? Isaiah 50 eight:one, God is gonna
2:39 instruct his prophet, Isaiah. And he says, cry out and do not hold back. Spare not. Lift up your voice like a
2:51 trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Now notice right off the bat, God isn't talking to crazy lost
3:03 people. He's not talking to people who have no regard for God and people who don't care what God thinks and people who could care less what God thinks about their life or their lifestyle. No. Who is God speaking
3:14 to? His own people, us. And He's gonna begin by saying, lift up your voice, cry aloud, don't hold back, lift it like a
3:26 trumpet and tell my people their transgression. Are you willing to see your transgression today? Am I willing to evaluate my life? Am I willing to step back
3:38 and say, God, you show me exactly what you want me to see? Are you willing to do that? Are you here for the coffee today? Are you
3:50 here for the good music? Are you here to meet someone? What what's your purpose today in being here? Oh, I hope that
4:02 we can be so transparent with the Lord that we say, God, show us our transgression, and show us where we're failing. And, God, show us the right things to do, and, God, we will
4:14 do it. So watch what God says. It's fascinating to me. God is literally gonna give an indictment to his people. I mean, God is gonna lay out to his people exactly what he
4:26 thinks. That's what he says. For my people, listen, he says, they seek me daily. They delight to
4:37 know my ways. They act as though they are a nation of a righteousness doing righteous deeds that they forsaken the law. They ask me for
4:49 righteous counsel, and they delight in drawing near to me. I don't know about you, but I'm saying, what's the problem?
5:02 As a pastor, if someone come up to me and said, let me tell you, Chad. Let me tell you a little bit about your church. I mean, your people are seeking God daily, and they're delighting to know God's ways. And they're
5:13 asking God for his righteous counsel in their life, and they're delighting and drawing themselves near to God. I'm gonna go, oh, praise God. That's what I want. So what's the
5:25 problem? What has God upset with his people? Where is the transgression? Where are the sins of his house? He's gonna tell us.
5:37 If you continue following with me, he's gonna begin to lay out, this is the type of fast that you have chosen. You do it to be seen by others,
5:49 And yet while you fast, in other words, while you exercise your religious life, while you go to church, while
6:01 you claim my name and you do all these religion You may do morning devotions. I mean, you you right now, you may be in a dilemma in life where you're asking God his counsel. That's what it means to We ask of
6:13 his righteous judgments and and and you may be doing all of these things, but there's a phrase here that to me has been jumping out to me and that God has been convicting me deeply
6:25 over. And watch what God says, you do it all to your pleasure. And I'm preaching very personal today today. I
6:37 I'm I'm talking to myself today, and God is asking me, Chad, the things that you love, the things like spiritual growth
6:49 and even things like fasting and things like seeking me daily and things like delighting to know my ways, are they ultimately for my glory or are they for your pleasure?
7:02 God's been asking me a question. Do do I really love God today, or do I love loving God?
7:15 If you took our music out of here today, and you put a totally different style up here, could I still love God and worship him? Or would I sit back and go, well, that don't sound good.
7:29 If you took a different preacher up here today who preached in a totally different style than what I do, could we receive the biblical instruction today? Or would we go, well, you
7:41 don't sound like Chad. God's challenging me. Do I really love God? Or do I love the atmosphere
7:55 of loving God? That if it's not my favorite music, or if it's not my favorite style of teaching, or it's not And let's boil it down to what we're talking about,
8:07 consumerism. I don't like that. Am I preaching the truth right now? Amen. Amen.
8:21 It's consumerism. And it's crept into the church. And I would bet that you and I have been swept down the current of
8:32 consumerism without many of us really realizing it. And as we love God in 20 20, as we go forward in this new year, as we go forward in this new decade,
8:44 do we really love God or do we love loving God in the atmospheres that we like? God indicts his people. He says, you seek
8:56 me daily. You delight in knowing my ways. You ask my righteous judgments. You delight in drawing yourself near to me, and yet, you're doing it all wrong, God says.
9:09 Would God say the same in your life and my life? Would he say the same over this body? God says, your fasting, the kind of fasting that you do will not cause your voice to be
9:21 heard on high. Do some of you feel that way today? That your voice is never heard by God? Could it
9:32 be that we're doing this thing wrong? If you're gonna take notes today, I want you to write this down first. We're gonna see 3 purposes to fasting today.
9:45 And this is gonna be number 1, fasting toward personal holiness. Fasting toward personal holiness. This is what God's
9:57 dealing with me about. Not fasting to get what I want, not fasting to get what I desire, but to fast toward personal holiness.
10:11 I'm turned around, aren't I? Oh my goodness. You didn't tell me. I'm getting too excited. That's the problem with having a round table, I can't tell where I'm
10:22 at. Fasting toward personal holiness. What does that mean? Let me tell you what God's
10:34 dealing with me about right now. I sense the Lord asking me to evaluate my life and say, Chad, are you willing to give up the things that do not
10:47 grow holiness in your life? Okay, Lord. What do you mean by that? This is what the Lord's telling me. Are there things in my life that move me closer to the
10:59 Lord? And are there things in my life that move me away from the Lord? That's what the Lord wants me to walk away from. If there are things in my
11:11 life that are moving me away from God, I wanna cut that out. I want to eliminate that. I want to fast from that. I want to walk away from
11:23 that. And listen, I'm looking in my life right now and saying, God, what does that look like? For some people, listen, listen, I don't wanna be
11:35 too harsh in this way, so please hear my heart. But how many of you know, there are just some people that they are just negative as all get out. You ever been around people like that? They
11:47 zap every bit of energy you have. They're always complaining. They're never happy. They're always filled with unbelief and they never have faith
11:59 and they're just not a good influence. Listen, I'm not saying be mean to people like that and say, listen, Pastor Chad told me to cut you out of my life and I am eliminating you and I'm not saying that,
12:11 okay? But let me tell you, I'm not gonna spend time with people like that, not quality time. You understand what I'm saying? Some of you got people in your life,
12:22 they're so worldly, Come on now, don't shy back right now. They are moving you away from God, not moving you toward Him.
12:38 The bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2, the bible says that we are not to be conformed to the image of this world. Do you know what the actual Greek word is for that, for being conformed? The word
12:50 picture is actually of wax being molded. I mean, if you can just get that image in your head, wax, you know, it just it's soft and you can shape and you can mold and you can
13:02 conform it to whatever. And that's what the Bible is saying. Don't be a soft individual to where people can influence you negatively. People can influence you
13:14 worldly. People can influence you to not, you know, to not have strong faith and not believe God and not follow God. Don't be a soft person in that way. Don't be conformed to the image of this
13:25 world. Whereas, you know what the Bible says in Proverbs? That when you get around godly people, it's like iron sharpening iron. Oh, what a difference in the 2 analogies. I don't wanna be
13:37 this soft person that, you know, I just, you know, I just blend to whoever I'm around. I conform to whoever if someone's negative, I get negative. If someone's worldly, I get worldly. If someone is, you know, out of step
13:49 with God, I'm out of step. No. No. No. No. I wanna be someone who's sharp. I wanna be around men. I wanna be around women who sharpen me toward Christ likeness. You understand what I'm saying? Do you have those
14:01 people in your life? We're getting ready to open up a major avenue and it's called small groups. And we're getting ready to open up on ramps called
14:13 small groups where you can get involved in a group and you can begin to form Christ like relationships. There were about 10 men
14:25 last year in 20 19 that I walked through life with, that I poured myself into them, they poured themselves into me, and we developed each other. We challenged each other.
14:37 It was like iron sharpening iron. You have that in your life? Personal holiness, are there
14:48 people that they lead you away from God? They move you further away from God rather than toward God.
15:03 He says religious exercises like seeking God and fasting and drawing listen. None of that matters if it is ultimately for
15:14 yourself pleasure. God is challenging me, Chad. Will you seek your own pleasure in 20 20,
15:26 or are you gonna seek personal holiness? Which will it be? And I wanna challenge you the same today. Will you ask Christ to form Christ likeness
15:38 in you as never before? I don't wanna pursue self. I wanna pursue Christ. Number 2,
15:50 Not only are we to fast toward personal holiness. Not only are we to pursue personal holiness in our life. Number 2. We are to fast toward the needs of others.
16:03 Now notice what he says beginning in verse 6. And actually, I actually almost forgot this in the 9 AM service as well. Look at verse 5. Fasting
16:16 is to produce humility. He says, is this not the fasting to be humble, to bow your head like a reed, to
16:28 spread sackcloth and ashes? In other words, is the fast that you choose, will it humble you? And that's why, again, I want to encourage you. Don't skip a meal only to
16:40 gorge on the next meal. And what have you truly accomplished?
16:56 Just You don't need to go to work and say, well, let me tell you what I'm doing for the Lord. You'll lose your reward.
17:09 Quiet. And ask the Lord, how will you deepen the humility in my life by what you lead me to give up over these next 21, maybe 22
17:21 days? Number 2, we're to fast toward the needs of others. Now, what does it mean to fast toward the needs of others? The Lord is gonna tell us. Watch what he says in verse number
17:32 6. Is not this the fast I have chosen? This is the Lord speaking. Is not this the fast that I choose? To loose the bands of
17:44 wickedness, to undo the straps of the heavy burden, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke? Now say
17:56 amen if you're with me right now because I wanna talk to us as a church. I'm gonna tell you the direction we're moving as a church. I want the fasting of my life to help
18:07 produce freedom in other people's life. This is what God's telling us. God is saying, the fasting that I choose ought to produce freedom in the life of other people. And this is what it looks
18:19 like. Every yoke breaks. Some of you have got family members that they are so bound up in sin. Some of you have got coworkers so bound up in sin. Some of you
18:31 have past friends. You've got loved ones. You've got your own children, for crying out loud, who are bound up in these bonds of wickedness. Have you ever fasted for their freedom?
18:43 Have you ever fasted for their spiritual breakthrough? I see so many parents of grown children that their children have walked away from God. And what has the parents done
18:54 rather than fasting and calling on the name of the Lord? They've signed a peace treaty with the devil, And they just try to keep peace. No, my friend, you go to war
19:06 for your children spiritually. Go to war for them. Beginning this Tuesday, every single Tuesday of the month of January is praying for prodigals. And if you have prodigals in your
19:18 life, if your children, if your grandchildren, if your parents are prodigals, you need to be here every Tuesday night in January calling on the name of the Lord on behalf of the
19:30 prodigals in your life. And do even more than that, fast on their behalf. Loose the bands of wickedness. Who in your life is just strapped with
19:41 wickedness? Who in your life is just bound up by the enemy? Fast on their behalf. And look what he says. He's gonna go even deeper.
19:54 Not only does it produce freedom in people's lives, but look what it says next. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? And you see the
20:06 homeless to invite them into the home? When you see the naked, is it not to cover them? I wanna see our
20:17 church fast toward the needs of other people. If you skip down, I think it's verse 9, 10, and 11, then he's gonna go on and instruct us. And he said, if you will
20:29 put away the yoke out of your midst I mean, if we'll get ourselves free and nothing is binding us up and anger is out of our heart and greed is out of our heart, and jealousy is out of our heart, and
20:41 guilt is out of our heart, lust is out of our heart. All this junk is out of our lives. If you'll remove the yoke out of your midst, if you'll take the pointing of the finger away, he said, if you'll stop speaking
20:53 wickedness, then breakthrough will come to your life. And he said, if you will pour out yourselves and satisfy the
21:04 needs of the afflicted, Glory to God. Is that the is that the direction our church will go? All of us probably are aware
21:17 that homelessness is increasing exponentially in our city. Is that right or wrong? Many of you don't know our background with homeless. Many of you don't know
21:28 for 10 consecutive years, we did Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving night every year for the homeless of our city. Many of you don't know that every Friday night, we opened up our church and
21:40 we put on a great movie on the big screens and we fed a meal to the homeless. Many of you don't know that we were so ingrained at Hope Haven. At 1 point, Hope
21:52 Haven asked us to install showers so that we could be a branch of them and house men here at the church because we were so deeply ingrained. Many of you don't know that we
22:03 go the second Thursday of every month to preach at Hope Haven and to try to serve their needs. But listen, the issue of homelessness is growing exponentially.
22:16 And let me be very clear, Our church and no church has the final answer and solution to this homeless problem. I mean, don't get me wrong. We can say Jesus is the
22:28 answer, and that's true. But you know what I'm saying. Logistically, economically, socially, No 1 organization has the entire answer.
22:41 It's gonna take everyone working together. It's gonna take the beautiful ministries of our city like friends and neighbors, like The Oasis,
22:53 like KCMC, like Shades of Grace, like Hunger First, and all of these wonderful Geraldine Swagger. I mean, all these incredible ministries that the Lord
23:05 has right here in our downtown area. No 1 has the 1 solution. So you say, well, Chad, then then what are you saying? Listen very closely to what I'm saying.
23:18 When it comes to the needs of the afflicted, when it comes to the homeless, when it comes to the poor and the needy, the people that God expects us to share our bread with, the people that God
23:29 expects us to notice and not just drive by, the ones that God expects us to welcome into our church. When it comes to that, here is what I want you to understand. We
23:41 are not responsible for what we cannot do, but we are responsible for what we can do.
24:00 Thank you so much for listening to our broadcast today. I did wanna take just a moment and mention our store. If you go to our website, awakenedtograce dot com, just navigate to the store page and
24:12 you're gonna find music by all of our awakened artists and plenty of books by pastor Chad. Also, while you're on the website, you can view pastor Chad's story about his blindness and what the Lord is
24:24 doing through him through Awakened to Grace and through our church, Preaching Christ Church. Thank you so much for joining us today on Awakened to Grace.
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