I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE

Sermon Transcript

Is you who are speaking. So our collective prayer this morning is, speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now, for all of you who have gathered, who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will, by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen. Amen. Many of us grew up saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Many of us grew up in a school where they'd say, please rise, and we'd place our hand over our heart, and we would start with those three words, and I pledge allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1885. It was ratified in 1892 to commemorate the 400 years since Columbus had come to the New World. And it was during a time where there was factions and disunity so they could bring the nation together and pledge allegiance to shared values, to loyalty and surrounding ideals that everybody would have. And so, as a Christian, it's okay to pledge our allegiance to the nation that God gave us because God placed us in the nations that we're in.

However, we need to understand this. Nations rise and fall. Empires come and go. Our full allegiance can never be to the nation in which we serve. Our full allegiance always has to be to Jesus Christ and his coming kingdom.

Amen. That's where we go. So it's okay to say the Pledge of Allegiance. It's okay to sing the national anthem. It's a good thing to do.

It unites us around a shared set of values. At Brave Academy, I can tell you we do the Pledge of Allegiance every single day. But what's a higher allegiance is our allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we as individuals or when we as a nation experience things in our world that are out of sync or not working right, how do we give more allegiance to Jesus than what we're currently giving to him? As we start 2026 this new year, it's for many of us, a time where we look at, you know, our health or our finances or our relationships, our marriage, our family, and we about goals and what we want to improve on.

And I would tell you all those things are good things, provided that the central part of all that is how do I give my best to the Lord Jesus Christ? And what I want to talk to you about this morning is how do you pledge allegiance to Jesus? How do you not only do it for 2026, how do you do it for the rest of your life? Like, what is it that God requires of you as you're thinking ahead to this year, as you're thinking ahead to all that the Lord has. How do you give your allegiance to Jesus?

When you say, I pledge allegiance, what is it that he wants you to pledge allegiance to? And how is it that he wants you to pledge allegiance? And to answer that question, today we're going to be in the Book of Joel. Joel's an Old Testament book. We're going to be in chapter two, starting in verse 12 and reading through verse 17.

And if you have your Bibles, I'd encourage you to follow along. Joel was written as a prophet to a nation that was in shambles. When you read the Book of Joel, you're going to learn a lot about locusts. I think of locusts. I think of one kind of locust.

But in the Bible, there's many kinds of locusts. There were nine locusts that had eaten everything, and then there were swarming locusts that came, and then there were creeping locusts, and then there were stripping locusts. Basically, the whole nation was eaten bare. They didn't have what they needed, and it was in shambles. And Joel the prophet is calling people back to the Lord.

In case you're wondering if you read through any of the Old Testament prophets, like, what's this about? It's always about imminent judgment and ultimate restoration. It's always about what God is doing to get your attention now, and ultimately what he wants to do to restore his people. And the Book of Joel is no different. And so in this section we're going to look at now is where the prophet is calling the people to return and pledge their allegiance to the Lord.

And here's how he tells them to do it. Joel 2, chapter 12. He says, yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil.

Who knows whether. Whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congreg congregation.

Assemble the elders. Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests of the Lord's ministers weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say, spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations.

Why should they among the people say, where is their God? And here is Joel is exhorting the people of Israel. At the time, we can glean much about how God wants us to come to him afresh every single year, but every single day as well. And I want to talk to you this morning about I pledge allegiance. If we're going to pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, what does he want us to pledge allegiance to?

And how does he want us to pledge that allegiance? And the first way is this. If we're going to pledge allegiance, we need to return with repentance. We need to return with repentance. I have good news for you this morning.

No matter how far you've drifted from the Lord, no matter how bad you think things have been, no matter how far you think you've gone, that he can't extend grace to you or how nominal you've been in your faith, just going through the motions. There's a way back. There's a way back. And the way is to return with repentance amidst all the things that were going wrong in Israel. He starts with these three words, and yet even now, declares the Lord, like, even in the midst of all of this, even in the midst of this disaster, even in the midst of your sin, even in the midst of your malaise, even in the midst of your melancholy, even in the midst of your just going through the motions, here's what the Lord declares.

Return to me with all your heart and with fasting, weeping and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil. Here's why you return because of God's character. You return because of his character. He's slow to anger.

He's loving, kind. I mean, one of the things that the enemy does in the life of a believer when they sin. And I can say this on good authority because I've had many years of experience sinning is when we sin. He tells you what you need to do to improve before you can go to God. Like, if you sin, like, really bad, you better start reading your Bible more, you better start praying more, you better start doing something.

Go to church first. But don't come to God. Just do religious activity. And here's what the Lord says. Return to me.

Like, immediately come to me no matter where you're at, if you're just kind of nominal in your faith right now, or you've drifted so far, you're. You're starting 20, 26 out because you're coming to church and you've never really been. Here's what he says, Come. Like, return. Like, there's an invitation back.

And here's the invitation. The invitation is with repentance. He says, come to me with your whole heart. He even says this. Rend your heart, not your garments.

Israel was known they would. They would rend their garments like, you would see the high priest tear his robe. It was an outward expression of the grief he was feeling on the inside. And here's what he's saying. Rend your heart.

Like, tear your heart, not your. Not your robe. Like, I'm concerned about what's in here. I'm not concerned about the religious activity you're doing. I'm not concerned about your lip service.

I'm not concerned about your promises of how much you're going to attend church anymore. I want your heart. I want all of you. Like, don't be so concerned about changing all the things on the outside. I'm concerned that you let me change what's on the inside.

So here's what he says, come to me. But here's how you're going to return. Return with repentance. Repentance is different than confession. Confession means I've sinned.

And I agree that that sin, that's confession. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Repentance is a whole change of mind. And when your mind has changed, your attitude change, your behavior change, everything changes when you repent. Repentance is not just, oh, yeah, I got caught.

Repentance is, I'm wrong. And I want God to change everything. And I don't care who knows. In Second Corinthians, chapter 7, in verse 10, he says it like this. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

But the sorrow of the world produces death. Worldly sorrow produces death. Worldly sorrow is this. Oh, yeah, I was wrong. Oh, yeah, I got caught.

Oh, yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. Oh, yeah, that was probably pretty bad. That's worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow is, I'm standing before the holiness of God and I'm wrecked and I'm ruined because I realize his standards here, and I've been living here and I'm Feeling the pain of that. And I want Jesus to change me no matter what it takes.

And I don't care what it takes. I just want to have a relationship with God. That's right. Here's how repentance looks different than confession. Repentance is ongoing.

Remember what Jesus said, keep with fruits and bear with fruits. And keeping with repentance, you want to keep on repenting. Let me just tell you something. If I ask you, have you repented? And you take me back to your salvation decision, and that's the last time you ever repented.

You're not repenting enough. Yeah, I repented. I repented when I was 18. I'm in no repentance is this ongoing. I can't change me and God, I need you.

And I don't care who knows. See, churches become this self help, therapeutic TED talk curriculum where we think it's our job to get ourselves right with God. If you could get yourself right with God, then Jesus Christ died for nothing. Jesus Christ not only died so that sinners can be saved, he died so that saints can be made holy. You can't change your bad behavior.

You can't change your bad attitudes. You repent and say, God, I can't change me, but I want you to change me. Would you make me more like you? That's repentance. And when people are truly repentant, here's what you know about them.

They don't care who knows. They do not care who knows as long as God sees their heart. I've seen sin of every kind. I've counseled people in every kind of sin. I've sinned all sorts of different kinds of sins.

But you know when there's a couple that's had an adulterous affair, I mean, you can tell what repentance looks like and what repentance doesn't look like. Cause I know when I'm sitting down with a couple and somebody says, yeah, I was wrong, I probably shouldn't have done that. But she. Or, yeah, I was wrong, shouldn't have done it. But he.

I'm like, there's no repentance here. Cause here's what repentance looks like. I was wrong. It's all me. It's not her or it's all me and it's not him and I gotta change and I'm wrong and I'll do whatever you tell me to do.

And if I lose the relationship, I understand. Cause I'm the one that blew it. I don't care who knows in the church. I don't care who knows anywhere. Just show me how to get right with God.

Because if I have God, I have. I just want to be right with him. That's repentance. And then that gets played out over time where you see that played out over time where that person says, as long as I have Jesus and can walk with him and be obedient, that's what I want. That's repentance.

Somebody's saying they're sorry, I'm repentant. That's not repentance. Repentance is seen over time. Repentance is seen when you see your actions align with your words. So how are we to return to Jesus?

Not with just confessing. Yeah, God, you got me. I probably shouldn't do that this year. Yeah, that's a bad habit. I should probably stop that.

Yeah, I know that's sinful, that I look at porn. I probably shouldn't do that. That's not repentance. Repentance is when you bring all your sin to the foot of the cross and like, lord, this is me. This is what I'm doing.

And I know it doesn't please you. Would you change me? Cause I can't change me. Like, you didn't come to church so you can work on your anger issue. You can't fix it.

If you could, you would have already done it by now. You can't fix your immorality. If you could, you would have already done it by now. You can't fix your bad language. If you could, you would have already done it by now.

God has to change your heart. That's why he's like, rend your heart to me. I mean, the disciples and everybody those days were always worried about what was, you know, what people were saying, what people were doing. And Jesus was like, I'm concerned about the heart. This is where everything happens.

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Every sinful behavior happens here. First, give me your heart. I want your whole heart. I want everything about you.

Not just part of you, not just the profession of your faith, not just your attitude. I want your heart. So when you return to the Lord, not only to begin 2026, but every day of your life going forward, return with repentance. I mean, even when David sinned against Bathsheba and he's crying out to the Lord and asking him to cleanse him and creating him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him, at the very end of that chapter in Psalm 51, verses 16 and 17, he says this for you. Do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it.

You are not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. And in the book of Isaiah, chapter 66, second part of verse 2. But to this one I will look to him who is humble and and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word.

Where does God go to work? God doesn't go to work because you know he's God and because you know he can do things. God goes to work in the heart of the person that's humble before him that says, you can change any part about me. My life is yours. I can't change me.

But I want to be like you. And I want to love what you love and I want to hate what you hate. And I want to walk with you. But God, change me. Make me different, make me new.

That's what church is for. Church is for hearing the Word in such a way that we want to align our lives with who Jesus wants us to be. And so we return. Not with promises, not with commitments that we won't even keep until we get to our car. We return with repentance.

Brokenness. And the Puritans called repentance the gift of tears. It's that area where you realize I can't change me and it breaks me. But it's also so soothing at the same time to know that the Holy Spirit can take every bit of my brokenness and turn me into someone new. Friends, the Christian faith is such great news because it not only saves sinners who couldn't save themselves, but it sanctifies or makes holy people that couldn't make themselves holy.

You don't become holy by commitments. You become holy through repentance. Repentance is a dependency upon the Lord. There's a humility before Him. It's when we talk about returning with repentance, we're talking about we bow without entitlement.

We're not coming back to Jesus because, oh, that's what God does. If you come back, he gives grace. We're not coming back to get something. We're not coming back because he gives grace. We're coming back because his character is graciousness.

That's just who he is. And we just want him. We want to be around Him. Mean. In James, chapter four, we read about how God opposes who?

The proud, but he gives grace to the humble. He wants a humble, contrite, wholeheartedly. Repentance in Our lives. Amen. I mean, it's the story that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector where he said two men went up to pray, one a Pharisee, one a tax collector.

And the Pharisee prayed. He prayed very spiritually, very theologically correct, but he also prayed, lord, I thank you that I'm not like all the rest. I, I fast, I tithe, here's what I do. Let me, let me give you my spiritual resume and thank you that I'm not like other people. But then the tax collector, who knew he was guilty because he spent his life robbing people and extorting them, stood at a distance and beat his chest and said, lord, save me, a sinner.

And what does Jesus say? I tell you the truth. That one went home justified before the Lord. Your lip service and promises and commitments and look at me, does nothing. Your repentance of Lord, I need you afresh again today.

Does everything. And God can tell the difference between a whole heart and a half heart and a little bit of a heart. And only, you know, because we've learned enough Christianese, we can fake it in the church, we can tell people what we're doing and what we've done and how we've done it. Repentance doesn't go out and tell people what they've done. Repentance just gets in front of God and does it.

Now here's some telltale signs you'll see with people that are unrepentant. It's true every single time. You'll see it in unrepentant people. Unrepentant people, when sin gets pointed out to them, they go into what I call face saving mode or image management. Yeah, you're right.

But let me explain some other things. Let me tell you why we ended up this way. Let me tell you how that worked. They'll never just own the sin. And if you continue down a process where you point it out to them, they'll get a little more frustrated with you.

If that sin has some sort of punishment or discipline that comes along with it, they'll say that your punishment or discipline is way too harsh. And if you follow through on that, then they'll live a life of blame. They'll blame you, they'll blame the church, they'll blame your job, they'll blame the teacher, they'll blame the, they'll blame anybody. They live in a sense of blame because they can't own the fact that it's them who is sinning. But repentance doesn't look like that.

Repentance is like, I'm wrong. I know I'm wrong. I don't care who knows. I want God to make me right. And I praise God that he will so return to the Lord with repentance.

Rend your heart, not your garment. Don't come to him with all your spiritual activity in 2026, say, God, I'm committing this year to be in church every Sunday. God, I'm committing this year to being a cadre. God, I'm committing this year to tithe. God, I'm committing.

Forget about your commitments, just tell God this. God, I'm giving you my whole heart and anything in my life that needs to change, I want you to change. You have everything. If there's something I'm blind to, Lord, especially during this next 21 days where I'm gonna spend time praying and fasting as I seek your face, Lord, if there's something I haven't seen in me, speak to me about me. Be gracious to me.

Show me where I've been blind to the things that you've been wanting to change.

I mean, it's symbolic of waving that white flag. Repentance is like surrender, like I'm giving you all authority. You have all authority over my life, Lord, I'm not in charge. I'm not telling you what you need to do. You're in charge of me.

I mean, we see this all throughout the Scriptures. Even the prodigal son, after he goes away, we know that he's repentant because he comes back to his Father. It's not just his three point sermon he rehearsed where he said, I'm gonna go back to my dad and tell him I've sinned against heaven and against earth and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. He gets up and goes, he runs right to the Father. And here's the truth.

No matter who you are and what you think you came to church for today or what's going on in your life, here's the number one thing God wants you to hear. No matter where you are, he wants you to seek him and press into him. He wants more of you. He knows everything about you. He wants you to know everything about him.

So no matter who you are, press more into him and don't come to him with all your platitudes and commitments. Come to him with a postured, humble heart saying, lord, I'm yours afresh again. Show me anything in my life and let me just tell you something. There are seasons in our life. You may be in this season.

Now, during the next 21 days, you're just in a good season. Lord, show me anything in my life that's off. And he's like, got nothing to share with you right now. And if you're having that season, great. Just know it won't stay that way forever.

Because then there'll be another season where the Lord's like, yeah, you weren't ready to hear that yet, but now you are ready to hear that. And here's some other things I need to deal in you in your life right now, Right? And that's what the Lord wants to do. And it's not so that you can commit to making changes yourself. It's so that you'll align yourself with the authority of God and let God make the changes in and through you.

Amen. So if you're going to pledge allegiance to Jesus this year, then return with repentance. That's where you bow without entitlement. Then do the second one. If you're going to pledge allegiance, then do this.

Respond with resolve. Respond with resolve. Now, he ends verse 13 by saying, he's slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil. That word evil. There's calamity or judgment that oftentimes when God sees a humble heart, he.

He doesn't follow through on everything he was going to do. He shows mercy and grace and doesn't. But notice what he says this next. He says, who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him. Like, who knows?

Like, I don't know what God's going to do. Anytime we say we know what God's going to do, we're wrong. Did you know that? We don't know because sometimes we'll tell people, hey, if you repent, God will restore your marriage. Hey, if you repent, then God will bring you the kid that you've been praying for.

Hey, if you repent, you'll get that promotion at work. Hey, if you repent, you'll get. Your health's going to be fine. Hey, not a guarantee. Who knows?

You might repent and do everything right. Your marriage still may break up. You might repent and do everything right. You still may not be able to have kids. You may.

Who knows? Like, don't turn God into a formula just because God's good that he owes you, right? If we're going to bow without entitlement, then to respond with resolve means we obey without guarantees. We don't Obey so that God will bless us. We obey because that's where we're going to experience the greatest joy and give God the greatest glory.

We're going to be obedient because we, we love Jesus. Resolve obeys without certainty, without promises, and it also obeys without delay. It means for some of us here, God's been speaking the same thing to us over and over. And even though I'm preaching from Joel, chapter two, some of you are hearing other verses in your heart because it's what God's been telling you for a long period of time. He's like, this is what I want you to do.

So be obedient. Do what God wants. He's like, who knows what God's going to do? Maybe he'll leave a blessing behind him. He says, even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God.

Now, what he's talking about here, he's not asking for food. The grain offering and the drink offering were a way of worship. Everything was so torn out of the culture. They didn't even have anything to bring to worship. Maybe God will give us enough that we can come worship him.

Wouldn't that be great if we could just come worship the Lord again and give him our whole heart? We've forsaken the gathering. We've forsaken the worship. It'd be so great if we could just return to God with repentance and just resolve to be obedient and God would let us worship him again. Because I know what it's like when I'm fully worshiping the Lord.

With the saints in community, there's a power that takes place, and that's what we want. Like God, we just want to worship you. Lord, I want to resolve this year that when you put things on my heart to do that, I'm going to do them when you tell me to do them. I mean, I pray the same prayer every time before I preach that you would hear the Lord, you'd believe what he says, and you'd put into practice what he shows you. That means go do the work God wants you to do.

Amen. I mean, we see this all throughout the Scriptures. James 1:22 says, but prove yourselves to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers, and delude themselves. It's great that you go to a church that preaches the Word. Always go to a church that preaches the Word.

If they're not preaching the Word, go to another church that preaches the Word. But it's not just so you hear It. It's. So you hear it and you hear Jesus saying, now go do this with what I just showed you. Go put it into practice.

Go, go work on this. Because as you do, that's how you grow in strength in the Lord. It's not just hearing and knowing His Word, that's the start. But now that I know, I'm going to go put it into practice. And that's where faith becomes a reality.

Well, I don't know how that's going to work out, and I don't know how that works. Great. Well, just go be obedient and then you'll learn, right? We always want to know the end, and then we'll take a step of faith. And God's like, no, you heard me.

Faith acts just because God's worthy, not because outcomes are assured. Every good step of faith I've ever taken, it was unassured that it was ever going to happen. Whether it was starting a ministry, starting this church, getting married, whatever. Every step of faith. There's no assurances that if you do this, I promise you, there's none of it.

You take a step of faith and you trust. Right? And when it works out, you praise God. And when it doesn't, you say, was there something I did wrong? Or was this just what you're doing in my life?

Is this a trial? What do I need to know? But I'm going to keep taking steps of faith. And, Lord, I'm going to keep obeying you. And here's the reality.

In our lives, all of us are going to have a choice all the time for what the next step of faith looks like. I mean, we see in the book of Joshua, at the end of his ministry, at the end of his life, as he was talking to all the people in Joshua 24, he said, choose this day whom you will serve. And he goes on to talk about all the different gods of the Amorites and all the others. He said, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You choose who you're going to serve.

You've seen God do all the conquering. You've seen God do all the miracles. But you've got to make a decision. Are you still going to walk with him or not? But it's already been resolved in my heart.

My family and me, we're going to serve Jesus. Amen. Or how about Daniel, when he resolved before the king, he wasn't going to eat all the king's choice foods. He was going to do what the Lord wanted him to do. And he chose that, not knowing what the outcome would be.

Or Abraham, when he obeyed God and went, not knowing where he was going to go. I mean, that's what God is looking for. It's like if you've served in the military, when they give you orders, they don't explain every order. They kind of expect you to know, hey, that's authority. And you go do it.

God is our authority. We're under his authority. When he says, this is what I want you to do. We sometimes learn what that means when we just obey God. I need you explain that to me.

Why? Why can't I be this? Why can't I do? He's not going to explain it to you. He's going to say, because this is for your good.

Like when God sets up rules, they're for our good. They're to keep us from harm. That's what God wants, right? I mean, this is what God is saying here. And notice what he says next.

He says, blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast. Proclaim a solemn assembly. Now, trumpets are used all throughout the Bible. Trumpets warn. Trumpets sound an alarm.

That's why you don't see, hey, play the sax. Because it'd be too soothing. It's blow a trumpet. Like, let them know. I mean, that's why reveille is not played with, you know, a bassoon.

It's played with a trumpet. It alarms. It's sending an alarm. He said, sound the alarm. Let the nation know they're in trouble.

Let people know that have drifted, they're in trouble. It's a big deal. If you don't know Jesus, you're in trouble that you need to repent and believe him. You're also in trouble. If you're a believer, but you're not living a repentant lifestyle and letting God grow you, you're also in trouble.

You're in danger of God becoming stale in your life and stagnant and losing your joy and losing the desire to bring him glory. So sound the alarm. Like, blow the trumpet in Zion. He was saying, blow the trumpet in Jerusalem. Let everybody in the nation of Israel know.

And then he says this. Consecrate a fast. Consecrate a fast. Now, that's the second time in this section we've talked about fasting. Because at the end of verse 12, he said, return to me with all your heart.

And with fasting, weeping and mourning. Now, where's this fasting? He was instructing the nation to come and fast. Nowhere in the New Testament do I See anywhere where a believer is required to fast, where you have to fast, but it's assumed that you will at some point in time. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount doesn't say you have to fast.

He says, when you fast, here's how you should fast. Now, fast is simply this. It is setting aside physical nourishment to seek spiritual nourishment. That's what it is. Some of you, because of your medical condition, you can't set aside food and do that.

I get that. So you set aside something else that's taking your attention to give more focus to Jesus. That's what a fast is. We're setting it aside. And fast is it really a strange word?

It should really be called not fasting, but slowing. Because when you fast, everything slows down. It's really slowing your process. With Jesus, it's being more intentional about coming before the Lord. It's being more intentional in reading the Word and being more intentional in prayer, being more intentional in journaling or being more intentional about the very things that you're asking for.

That's what fasting is. So when we do 21 days of prayer and fasting to start our calendar year here as a church, and there is no mandate, you don't have to go around and, well, I'm doing this and I'm doing, nobody cares. It's between you and the Lord. You, you choose whatever the Lord has, you do. If you've never ever fasted before, would strongly encourage, just pick one meal out of the next 21 days and use that meal.

Instead of eating that meal, use that time to seek the face of the Lord. Now let me tell you something. If you never fasted before, and you do that, you will be famished whatever meal you pick. Okay? I heard about fasting when I was part of a ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ.

When I was in college, they were gonna have a day of fasting. I never had fasted. I didn't even know what fasting was. I didn't even know if it worked. I didn't even know if it was a good thing.

But it was coming the next day. And I asked them, well, what do you do? And they told me this. They said, just skip breakfast, skip lunch. And during breakfast and lunch, just read your Bible and pray and seek the face of the Lord and you'll be so refreshed.

And then just eat dinner. I'm like, it doesn't sound too hard. I Woke up at 7 o'. Clock. I've never been more hungry in my entire life than I was that morning.

I mean, I was famine. I'm not usually hungry in the morning. I was starved. And all I could think about was food. And so I began to read my Bible.

I began to do my devotions. And all I was doing was thinking about smelling bacon and eggs. That's all I thought of. I didn't get anything out of the Word. I tried memorizing scripture, I tried doing some things.

It just wasn't a good experience. Lunch rolled around. All I was trying to do was just fight hunger. I wasn't really see, it didn't feel good. Like they told me it was gonna feel good.

And I remember I was supposed to eat dinner at five. I'm like, forget this. It was like three in the afternoon. I just had cookies and candy. I ate as much as I could.

And I was like, I'm the biggest fasting failure in the world, right? But what I've learned is I just wasn't trained well. What somebody should have told me is, hey, you pick whatever meal you want, just pick one. And maybe instead of eating lunch at noon, eat lunch at 11, but skip breakfast, you're gonna be starved, you're gonna be super hungry. But just devote that time to the Lord and then go do something else.

I just didn't know. Which is why I tell you, if you've never fasted before, do not commit to 21 days. You will not make it right. But I didn't know fasting worked. I mean, I certainly didn't know in college, but I was persuaded.

I was over in Czech Republic in 2003. I told you a story last week about the horrible meal that I had with egg and beer and all that kind of stuff. But that's not why I started fasting. I was over there and I saw a video from Jim Cymbala, who pastors Brooklyn Tabernacle. And it was about a 45 minute video that he did at a conference which was all about prayer and fasting.

And I remember being so moved at what he said that I said, I need to try this again. I need to start fasting. And I was in a season of my life. Just so you know. I graduated from seminary, I went to a church planting residency because I felt like God had called me to plant a church.

Everything fell through, went through a broken engagement. It was totally torn up. I didn't know what the Lord had for my life. And I was praying to the Lord, like, do you want me to stay in ministry? Do you want me to preach?

Do you Want me to go coach football again? Do you want me to get in the business world? I'll do whatever you want, God. You have me, but I don't know what you want me to do. And so I started fasting, asking the Lord, you have to be clear to me if you want me to preach.

You have to be clear to me if you want me to preach. And I was scheduled to preach when I got back home at my pastor's church, Pastor Cal's church, Northwoods Church in Peoria, Illinois. And they teach. And they used to teach more from themes rather than books of the Bible. And there was a theme that they had sent me and said, here's what we want you to preach.

And I prayed about it, and I sent back and said, I'm not preaching that. I'm preaching this because God showed me. Just go preach the gospel. Just make it super clear. Just preach the gospel.

And I was like, okay. I said, God, I'll do whatever you want, but you have to let me know that this is what you want me to do. And if I preach this message and I don't see fruit, I'm not gonna ever preach again. Okay? And so I started fasting and praying.

And I remember rolling into the church, they did Saturday night service and two Sunday morning services, and I'm rolling in on Saturday night, and I heard that voice in my head. You know, the voice that you hear in your head. And the voice was telling me this. Everybody in this church already knows this message. And you're gonna sound like a fool.

Everybody in there is already a Christian. And you're gonna tell people how to become a Christian. You're a fool. This will be the last time you ever preach. But I didn't care because I was like, cool.

Then I'll know I'm not a preacher. No problem. And so I had told the people, I'm going to preach the gospel. They would do things called yes packets. So people said yes, they could get some different materials to help them grow in their faith, similar to what we do.

And so I told them, just have some yes packets ready. And so I preached. It was Saturday night now. I didn't feel any different unction than I normally feel. I didn't feel like the spirit come all over me.

It was the same as I always preach. And I preached and I shared the gospel. And then I invited people to stand, similar to what I do here sometimes. And when I invited people to stand on Saturday night, about 250 people stood to their feet. Now, apparently, it was Pretty cool.

You can clap for that.

So I'm walking off the platform, somebody comes racing around. They're like, hey, we only have 40 yes packets for the whole weekend. Go back out there and explain to people what they just did and all the gospel. And so I did. And they're like, we're going to be doomed tomorrow.

We don't have any more left. So I preached two services the next day, and over 500 people on Sunday came to Christ. So it was nearly 800 people that came to Christ that day. Now when I stepped down off the platform and was talking to people, I had people telling me stuff like this. I'm Lutheran.

I've always been Lutheran. My whole life I've believed in Jesus. I've always known all the facts. But like today, I know that. I know that.

I know that Jesus died for me and Rose. And they started just weeping. They're like, thank you for sharing that. The guy standing there weeping, he said, I was supposed to be a pilot on United Flight 93 that would have flown into the Twin Towers. And I got pulled out that day and somebody else flew that plane.

And I've been wondering why God spared my life. And I've been flying now with this atheist who tells me Jesus is just all made up. And then he just started weeping. He's like, now I know why he didn't have me fly into that tower, because now I know who he is. And I was hearing story after story after story.

And so I'm not a rocket scientist, but I went home, said, okay, you want me to preach, I'll preach, right? But it was fasting. And when I fasted, I didn't feel anything. I will tell you this day, I mean, I listen to a lot of people talk about fasting. A lot of people say, when you're fasting, you're so close with the Lord, you're so intimate.

That's never been my experience. I've had 21 days fasting where I've just done water. I've done one 40 day fast I did in 2013, which I'll never do again unless the Lord asked me to do. I've gone long periods of time, I've stretched myself. And for those of you that have done one day, do two.

Those that have done two, try three. Once you get to three days, it's pretty easy because your body kind of shuts down a little bit. But the whole point is, during the time of my fast, it's rare. It's rare for me that I'm feeling All these good things. It's rare for me that I'm like, oh, Jesus.

And I don't want to end the fast. I don't feel that way. But I have seen fruit of it. A couple years ago, when our school at Brave Academy was going through some massive transition, we were praying and fasting for God to have his hand on the school. And God brought us two different hires that have been super helpful to us and engaging with those that have stayed and multiplying out.

What God's doing is incredible. Last year during this time, I started praying for more campuses. And my prayer was simply this, Lord, how do we expand more campuses without paying millions of dollars every time we go get a campus? And I just kept hearing Matthew 25. I was in prison and you visited me.

I was in prison and you visited me. I'm like, oh, go into the prisons. I got it. I got it, God. And so we started praying specifically, who can God lead us to?

And within a matter of days, we met Pastor How. And we hired him to be our campus pastor of Prison Ministries. And now we're not only in Buena Vista, but by next summer, we could be in six or seven other prisons around our state. It's amazing. Amen.

So when you think about this season of fasting, you can bring to the Lord anything in your heart, anything in your life. Lord, I don't know how we're going to make it financially, Lord, I don't know how I'm going to get through this year with my health, Lord. I don't know how. But, Lord, I'm coming to you because you sustain all these things, and I want you to be the center of all of it. I want you to show me how to live.

I want you to show me what to do. So, Lord, I'm coming to you. And you can do that individually. You can also do it corporately. We closed down our Colorado Springs campus to move it north, but we haven't put a campus in Castle Rock or Parker or wherever.

And we're praying. I'm praying specifically during this 21 days that the Lord gives us land or opportunity or building or something that we know that we know. Like, this is where God's taking us. But that's why we're pausing and fasting. And what are the things as a church he wants us to do?

What are the things individually wants you to do? And so as you fast, you're actually slowing down and saying, okay, Lord, this is what I want to do. Now, when you fast, you'll hear the Voice of the enemy tell you this. What you just did is pointless. It doesn't do anything.

I feel it every single time. But I've seen the results of it too much to know that I know that he's lying to me when I hear that. And so they're telling about blowing a trumpet, warn people, consecrate a fast. And then he talks about proclaiming this solemn assembly, right? I mean, I've seen fasting work so many times.

I'm looking at my wife. I remember when we were, quote, just friends and we were hanging out all the time. I fasted for a week because I was like, lord, what's up with this woman?

And at the end of the. At the end of that week, it was like, that's your wife. And I began to pursue her. I mean, fasting opens up your eyes to things that you can't always see when you're just seeking the Lord in prayer again, there's no mandate. There's no, like, you have to do this.

It's just an invitation to give it a try if you would want to, to grow in another spiritual discipline that the Lord would have. So return with repentance. That's when you bow without entitlement and you respond with resolve. That's when you obey without any guarantees. And then, at least to this final one, this is your lifestyle.

If you're going to pledge allegiance, you need to represent with reverence. You need to represent with reverence. That's where we honor God without expectation. It means that my life wants to be a living example for Jesus, because notice who is supposed to come to this assembly. Notice who they're saying.

Hey, come to the assembly. Gather together. Who's he calling? Gather the people. That's everybody.

Sanctify the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children and the nursing infants. So it's like, get everybody. Like, get the adults, get the elders, get the youngest children, get the children that are still nursing.

Bring everybody in. Then he says this, which I find amazing. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and let the bride out of her bridal chamber. All right? In Israel, when you got married, they gave you a year to enjoy one another before you went back to work, which I think is a pretty good practice, personally.

Right. I think it'd be pretty cool if they did that in our culture. But here's what they're saying. Like, I know you just got married, and I know what you guys are up to, but get out here. We're having church.

Like, we need you here. Like, they'll assemble everybody. There's nothing more important in your life right now than the. Than the Lord. And then it says this.

Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, what are they to do? Weep between the porch and the altar. Now, what we understand through New Testament Testament terminology is that we are all priests of the Lord. We're a kingdom of priests. All of us are ministers of the Lord.

And when they're standing between the porch and the altar, that means they're standing between the people and God. And they're interceding for them and they're praying for one another. And here's what they're praying. Notice what they're praying. And they're saying, spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations.

Why should they among the people say, where is their God? See, our lives are always answering that question. Our lives are answering a question Everybody around us is asking, which is, where is your God? Where is their God? Where's brave church's God?

I mean, that's what they're asking. They want to see it. And so what we're doing is we're praying for all the saints. We're not just praying for the loss. We should pray for the loss that more people come to know Jesus, but we're also praying for the saints.

Lord, don't let us be a reproach to people. I mean, I've heard people say this. Gandhi said this. Many people said this. I would have been a Christian if it weren't for the Christians.

What a terrible testimony. People should want what we have because of how we live. Let your light so shine before men that they would see the works you do and give praise to your Father who's in heaven. It means everywhere you go, you represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere you go, you cannot be a Christian chameleon and act like Jesus over here with your Christian friends.

And then you get over here and act totally different. You need to be who you are all the time and in every area of your life. You're asking the Lord, am I bringing you reverence here? Am I honoring you here? Is this really what you would have for me, Lord?

Is there anything that I need to change so that you look good? Because here's the prayer of the prophet. He wants God to look good. He doesn't want God's inheritance to be a reproach. Here's what they're praying.

God, we want you to look good through us. God, we want to represent you in such a way that gives you honor and reverence. And this is where we honor God without expectation. And that's what God wants more than anything else. Isaiah 42, verse 8 says, I am the Lord.

That is my name. I will not share my glory with another or give my glory to another, or give my praise to idols. I just won't do it. I'm God. I want everything.

I want your full allegiance. It does not mean that you can't enjoy the good things that God gives you. If he gave you a marriage, enjoy it. If he gave you a family, enjoy it. If he gave you good food, enjoy it.

If you like rooting for sports teams, enjoy it. There's nothing wrong. Just don't make it your allegiance. Don't put anything above the Lord. Don't have your whole attention, your whole mindset, your whole emotional bank account be dependent upon something other than Jesus Christ.

Amen. Give him the glory. Live your life in such a way that he gets it. Amen. First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31 says, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

And we do it so that other people see it. Even when Paul's writing Titus, young Titus, he says in Titus 2, 7 and 8, in all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity in doctrine, dignified in sound speech, which is beyond reproach. Why? So that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. What's he saying?

Live your life in such a way that even when people criticize you, they really have nothing bad to say about you because you've been living for the Lord. People can say whatever they want, but don't let anything stick. Be. Be right in the sight of God and of man. Why?

Because we're his ambassadors, as though Christ were making his appeal through us. You represent the King everywhere you go. Amen. And this is what he's telling us. Represent him with reverence.

Like, wherever you work, you don't just work for your boss, you work for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who you serve. If you have employees, you're not just employing them, you're employing them on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you serve. If you're in a marriage, you don't just love your spouse because it's the right thing to do. And Jesus told you, love your spouse because that's showing reverence to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You don't just train up your kids in godliness because it's the right thing. To do. You do it because of reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. See, things get really simple and clear. If my whole life is centered on what makes Jesus happy, what honors Jesus the most?

A lot of the fuzz in my life. Like, I don't know what to choose. I don't know what to do. Ask that question, Jesus, what would you want? He'll make it really clear.

And sometimes if he doesn't, like, you could choose this pass or this path. I mean, God's not up in heaven, like, as a dictator. Like, you have to go this path or you're gonna. That's not God. Sometimes you can choose either way.

Just be honoring me in the way that you go. And that's going to take a step of faith. So that's why I'm not going to tell you which way to go. Take a step of faith, based it on what aligns most with my word, and then choose right. And that's how he wants us to live.

I mean, think about 2026, but think about every day of your life. What would it be in your life individually or our life collectively as saints all around the world, or us as a church at Brave if we all returned with repentance, if we came back to God and said, you have my whole heart and whatever you want to do with my life, it's yours? What would it be like if we said, we're going to respond with resolve and we're going to obey without guarantees, we're going to do whatever you want us to do? What if we said we're going to represent you with reverence and we're going to honor you, Lord, no matter what? What would change in us?

Everything would change. Everything would change. The reason we're starting with 21 days of prayer and fasting is to give you an opportunity to seek the Lord, to honor him, to know him. It's an invitation. There's zero pressure.

Nobody's going to look for you tomorrow morning. Say, where are they? How come they're not serious about prayer like I am? You might pray from your house. Fine.

Right? Nobody needs to hear what you're doing for your fasting. It's okay to talk about with friends. Hey, pray for me. This is what I'm looking to do.

This. That's okay. But you don't need to walk around with gloomy faces and be like, what's going on? Well, I go to Brave and I'm fasting because I'm so spiritual. I mean, that's not what it is, right?

I mean, It's a time for us to seek Jesus. It's a time for us to restore our faith in Him, The One who came for us, the One who's still there for us. Friends, Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the most single important event that happened in the history of the world and his resurrection. That's it for the believer, that's everything we ever need. For the non believer, that's what saves us.

And for the believer, that's what sanctifies us. And that for those of us who are sanctified, that's what's going to glorify us. It's Jesus. He didn't invite you here to make yourself right or get yourself saved. He invited you here today so that he could make you right and that he could save you and that he could set you on a new trajectory.

And if you want Jesus to be at the center of your life now for the rest of 2026 and for the rest of eternity, this is how we do it. Amen. May I invite you to stand. Our Father in heaven, we give you praise, glory and honor for who you are. And Lord, we ask in this moment that you would just do a work among us.

If you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior because you thought it was about religion and not just receiving his grace, here's how you can pray. Lord, save me. I believe you died on the cross for me and rose from the dead right now. I give you all my sin and Lord, I receive all your forgiveness. Forgive me, Lord.

For those of us here, and there's many of us who know you, who definitely love you, but who maybe have wandered into works, righteousness and doing things our way, we repent today and we say, lord, you have my heart afresh. Change this area of my life. I don't even know what to do with it. It's ugly, it's not good, but you can have it. And Lord, if you'll just take it.

Teach me to love what you love. Teach me to hate what you hate and teach me to walk with you. Lord, I want to bring you the most glory and I want to feel your greatest joy. Lord, we trust you to do a work in and through our church during this 21 days of prayer and fasting. And Lord in advance, we're going to give you all the glory, all the honor and all the praise.

And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his word?