FAST 2019 | Jentezen Franklin

[Applause] Jesus the center of our lives the center of our focus lord I give you a new year's first friend praise [Music] worship you I praise you Jesus name of we give you honor we believe or in you Q's for your goodness and you embarrassing that that enters into a new year with us you're abiding presence Thank You Jean thank you Jesus thank you Jesus are you glad to be in church today happy new year everybody want to welcome all of our campuses we're so glad you're there we're coming in live this morning also into Orange County and we're also live right there in Midtown can we give them a big welcome this morning Gwinnett and Buford of course Spartanburg we love you guys turn around to two or three people and tell them you are in for a great year in Jesus name let them know it's gonna be the best the best well welcome all of you streaming then those of you watching by television around the world we're so delighted that you're joining us and I am aware that there are tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people our our numbers go crazy even on the internet and stuff and we've had years where it would peak at a million people visiting the website and during the fast and it's just an amazing thing that people from all over the world that we truly are talking to an international army of believers who are fasting and praying for the next 21 days I believe I believe we could experience a jaw chapter 2 revival where God pours out his spirit on all flesh including 1.2 billion Muslims who need to know who Jesus Christ is a thousand times more than we are today it's what we're praying for that's in Deuteronomy one in eleven well I'm ready to preach today and I'm gonna take just a few moments I am aware that there are many hundreds in overflow and we're thankful that you're there God is the same right there where you are as he is wherever I am and at all of our campuses look with me in Luke chapter 4 I want to go to Luke chapter four and I want you to see some familiar scriptures and you can just kind of open your Bible leave it there and I'll highlight some but Jesus in Luke chapter four is fasting for forty days he has just been baptized in water the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and then he goes into the wilderness being led of that spirit the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for forty days because Jesus understood that fasting produced a dimension of power that he could not have in his ministry any other way if it was not necessary then Jesus our example would have not modeled what we are to do to prepare us for ministry and Jesus was my modeling that it was necessary fasting was necessary to produce the dimension of power in his ministry that he could not get any other way but through fasting and through prayer Jesus in Luke chapter 4 fast for 40 days and we'll talk about that but once many people miss is Luke 4 is connected to Luke 5 because in Luke chapter 5 the subject of fasting comes back up and in verse 33 it says that they said to him Jesus why do the disciples of John fast and all you do and your people do is eat and it looks like y'all are eating and drinking and having a good time and Jesus said can you make the Friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and in those days then will they fast this is so important this is a major revelation this is something that I personally have never seen in this text before that the Holy Spirit showed me this week Jesus when he said when I am with them in physical presence they will not need to fast they have everything they need in me but there will come a day when I my bodily presence will be taken away from them and then they will fast and what he's implying in that powerful statement is Jesus is implying that through his bodily presence being gone away through fasting they would regain what they lost in his bodily presence being gone away what they lost in that they would regain through fasting that as they would long as the disciples would long for those days when he was here in physical presence with them eating and living for four three and a half years with them as they begin to long that they would so miss him and so long for him that they would begin to fasts and they would begin to pray and Jesus said that as you fast and pray listen to this that the same physical sense of the presence of God let me put it this way the same sense of God's presence that they felt when he was their bodily you will begin to feel again in your own life the presence of God you will become more aware of his presence he's always here his spirit is here but fasting is not just trying to get more of God fasting is God getting more of you and and and it's like the story in second Kings chapter 4 when the all the miracle of the all pouring from the vessel and the woman had to run out and fill the house with every vessel that she could borrow from her neighbor's you remember that story and the Bible said that as long as there listen as long as there were empty vessels the all kept pouring heaven has no shortage of all the Holy Spirit has no shortage of the anointing and miracles and healing and blessing and dreams and visions there always there's always all pouring from heaven but earth has a shortage of vessels that are empty to receive fresh and so what we see is it's not trying to get more of God God's always trying to give us more it's us giving God more of us in fasting fasting is a spiritual discipline for those who want to be empowered in a new year by the Holy Spirit if you want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for a new year if your heart is crying I am depending on you like I really need you the real reason I fast to be quite honest is I feel every year this sense of my own inability this sense of my own inadequacy the sense of my own lack of whatever I need to to do what God is to call me to do I have some gifts and I have some talents but they mean nothing if God doesn't touch them and so really when I'm fasting on I'm recognizing my dependence on God for a new year I really need you I really don't want to try to do what I'm doing in the flesh I need the anointing then in Luke chapter 5 Jesus continues immediately out of that little teaching and he goes into a whole different subject that is connected to fasting and he says no one no one when they are sewing to piece of cloth together when they're sewing they don't take old cloth and new clothes and sew them together because the material in the old cloth has already been washed and it shrunk and it's changed like it's going to change but the new stuff is still very much going to be moving and shrinking and when you wash it and so what will happen is the clothes will tear apart and then he gives Jesus so practical and he said no one listened to this no one takes new wine jesus said and pours it into an old wine skin if you won't new wine you need new wine skins now the reason it's new wine is because it's fermenting it's fermenting it's it's it's it's still active and if you want activity of the Holy Spirit in a new way if you don't want to go off the old wine of last year and you won't the Holy Spirit which is the new wine active in your life in a new year then you must give him new skin you must say I'm going to deny the flesh I'm gonna deal with the skin I'm gonna present him a new sacrifice of my body which is my skin so that he can pour new wine in for a new year in Luke 4 Jesus is fasting and he's giving listen carefully extra time to prayer extra time forty days for Jesus extra time for prayer extra time for reading the Word of God he was studying the Word of God I know he was reading the Word of God he was the Word of God and yet he was he was he was thinking on the Word of God how do you know that because Jesus while he fasted was given incredible authority to use the scriptures the Bible is never more alive than when you fast and it's not that when you're fasting the Bible is more anointed because the Bible is not more anointed but you become more anointed to hear it you become more anointed to read it when you fast you become more anointed to use it against the enemy and you become more anointed to believe it it's something about fasting that you can read it when you're not fasting is bla bla bla bla but when you're fasting and the Holy Spirit highlights something in there that's why when the devil came to Jesus on the fast he said it is written he had a very special incredible anointing to use the word of God in three times he used it against Satan when he came against him so as we study the Word of God and we fast and we pray and we read the word something begins to happen as we suppress the flesh and the sense of taste other senses that we have particularly the sense of hearing becomes more activated did you know that it's a medical fact and you can see some of this and research it yourself but it's a fact that when a person loses their sight and they become blind and they've been blind for years that they're hearing makes up for their blindness and they're hearing becomes more heightened and they can hear things that the normal person cannot hear this is a fact as a matter of fact they have videos and things that you can look up and and they have a blind they'll have a blind person let me just say it to it like this illustration a blind person could come into your living room and and and even though they've never seen your living room they could sit there and they hear the sound reverb the the sound Reaver being and the words coming off they hear the reverberations of sounds coming off of the walls and they could tell you this and I'm actually seeing videos of them doing this they would say there is a curtain over on the wall that is to my right and there's a window and a curtain over it but behind me there is a window but no curtain on it and there's a couch directly in front of me and oh by the way there's a half wall over to my left that has a bar where people sit with stools how can they know that and they're blind because their hearing has become so heightened when they suppress one of the senses it calls the other ability to really focus in and hear things that other people cannot hear the same is true spiritually when you begin to deny the flesh when you begin to suppress the the sense of taste your spiritual hearing becomes more in tune to the dimension of God's voice and God's plan and God's purpose and God's strategy for your life and suddenly you have ears to hear my sheep know my voice and when you fast and you pray and you read the word God gives you the ability to hear what you previously could not hear to see what you previously could not see to feel what you see when you start fasting you'll feel the praise it's not just praising up there you feel that song you feel that Bible you feel this relationship between you and Jesus and you feel things that previously you could not feel one of the major movies is out on Netflix called bird box and and it's about people it's a it's a made-up story but it's an interesting story and it's and they have to where they can't see if they if they can't look and they have to go by their hearing and only the birds can tell them when bad things are about to well I got a bird called the Holy Spirit he's a dove and the more I fast and the more I pray my ears get tuned in not to what man says but to what God says and God doesn't say you're a failure and God doesn't say you're gonna have a year of disaster and God doesn't say you're going under not over God says I'm gonna bless you in spite of what's happened to you I'm gonna bless you a thousand times more than you are today quit weeping over the past behold I do a new thing now it shall spring forth can you hear what I hear give the Lord a mighty praise if you believe did you know did you know that the only part of your body that doesn't stop growing until the day you die is your ear the older you get the bigger your ear gets it's a medical fact turn to somebody and say my my my how big your ears are Chuck come on tell them what big ears you have something's wrong if you've been walking with the Lord a long time and your hearing is not getting developed spiritually and you're confused and you don't know what in the world you're gonna do you don't have to live in this new year a confused life what should I do God says I've know the plans I have for you they're plans of good and not evil to give you hope and give you a future and if you'll tune your ears in suppress your flesh in tune your ears in I'm gonna give you remarkable authority to hear and to believe my nail word for your life amen that's a big deal when you fast you want to give extra time to the word and to prayer fasting without prayer is just a diet and a religious ritual if you don't if you fast without the word and without prayer fasting without the word is just a diet a cruel mean diet you have to fast with prayer and with the word everybody say extra time extra time special special attention to the Word of God what I want you to see is fasting heightened Jesus awareness of his identity and purpose if the devil came to Jesus in the wilderness and he did and he attacked the identity and purpose for which Christ came don't you think he's going to attack your identity and your purpose and your calling and your mission in life did you think it was just gonna be an easy walk Jesus the Son of God had Satan come to him and say if you are the son of God what was he doing he was attacking his identity he was attacking his purpose and three times Jesus hit him back with remarkable authority in the word it is written it is written it is written and he defeated Satan but when we fast we have a heightened awareness of our identity who we are in Christ I don't have to I don't have to wonder who I am I don't have to hope that I'm saved I Know Who I am in Jesus Christ and I have a purpose when you deny the flesh the Bible said that in Luke chapter 4 Jesus returned from the fast catch this in the power of the spirit everybody say that with me he returned in the power of the spirit no catch this this is so important when Jesus went into the fast he he went into it with internal things he had the anointing it was in him he had purpose it was in him he had a vision and dream of reaching the world it was in him but when you fast he went into the fast with internal power but when he came out of the fast he returned in the power of the Spirit meaning he he went in with internal power but he came out of the fast with external power now that which had been hidden on the inside of him and tucked away for thirty years after he fasted the internal power began to manifest with external power he walks down the road he goes into the synagogue he picks up the Book of Isaiah is supposed to be a normal day of reading the scripture he opens it up to Isaiah 61 and he says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel the good news he sent me to heal the brokenhearted he sent me to set the captives free and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and when he did that the Bible said they were astonished that he spoke with such authority I'm preaching to you today that you going into this fast with internal promises and power internal dreams missions purposes and callings of God but when you come out of this fast 21 days from now what was internal it's going to begin to be external and you're going to return in the power of the Holy Spirit making the internal external how many of you believe that if you've got a how many of you've got it somebody in your family you want to see set free it's internal but now it's about to be external some of you need a blessing financially and you carrying it and praying about it internally but when you come out of this fast you not come and crawl it out you're not coming begging out you're not coming depressed and beat up you're coming walking out in the power of the Spirit what was internal will become external and everybody's going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living somebody give him a mighty praise if you believe it come on let's just praise the Lord just a minute I feel this thing [Applause] in John four 431 the disciples entreated Jesus say rabbi master eat and I fully warn you that somewhere in your commitment to God when you're really hungry somebody is going to come along and say eat it don't take all that eat you're turning into a religious fanatic eat but rabbi jesus said I have meat I have food that you know not of my meat is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work I have not come this far to fizzle out I have not common we as a church have not come this far we are positioned as a church to see a thousand times more than we are today God is about to sin rain on the earth the rain of the Holy Spirit and we are a chosen vessel free chapel we're a chosen vessel don't make me proud it makes me want to fall on my face in total dependency my meat my meat for the next few days for the next twenty-one days my bread not sugar I have meat and bread and sugar you don't know us and it's to do the wheel of my father who sent me and to finish the work Jesus is coming again you better get holy again you better get some separation from the world again some of you have less stuff in your temple and it's so full of Filth it's so full of ungodliness is so full of the world that you don't have any room for new wine fasting is emptying out so he can pour it in and pour it in there was a church historian by the name of Tertullian he was a historian of the 1st century Church meaning he firsthand followed and watched the Apostles Matthew Mark Luke John Peter Paul he watched them he made notes personal notes dates of things that he personally witnessed and he said concerning fasting that Jesus disciples I have noticed fast often and then he made the statement fasting is used by these apostles to fight against he called it this the more fierce demons then he went on to say is surprising that the Holy Spirit is led in by the same measure that the evil spirits are sent out in other words he said I've noticed these apostles that when the demon possessed you remember earlier in mark chapter 9 when Jesus was with them and they cat Jesus cast out a devil and they tried to and couldn't and they came to Jesus and they said master why could we not cast that spirit out these more fierce demons why could we not cast them out and Jesus said because of your unbelief and then he made this statement howbeit this kind what kind more fierce demons this a generation that's dealing with more fierce demons I'm gonna preach just a minute pastor Franklin do you believe there are demons absolutely I don't believe it I know it yes there are demons yes there is a demonic realm it's very real it's very scary and you must be very careful you can open yourself up to the demonic or you can shut yourself off from the demonic a lot of people in this generation have opened themselves up to the demonic and anytime that demons are part of our entertainment it's a slippery slope when you have to get high to feel like you want to leave it's a slippery slope I don't care what laws they pass if you have to get drunk to feel like you're alive it's a slippery slope you're opening up yourself to the power of Satan the number one I believe demonic I'm gonna call him what a years I know his name fierce the more fierce demons is the one that is manifesting through pornography on this generation and even believers and even Christians are finding themselves totally totally in a stronghold in their mind with the power of the enemy the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes as overtaking them and they're trying to shout over it and they're trying to preach over and they're trying to sing over it and the truth is it cannot be done this kind the kind of demons that are killing our teenager seventy thousand young people dying of opioids a year with prescription drugs and shooting up and hanging themselves and overdosing more fierce demons they will not respond to religiosity but they will respond to a disciple who fast and pray and say you get out and Holy Spirit you come in somebody praise God because we're gonna see that kind of deliverance the next 21 days we're talking about your soul Betty we're talking about eternity we're talking about your marriage we're talking about your family we're talking about your ministry we're talking about your character we're talking about your integrity and if you don't get the evil out the Holy Spirit won't come in Christians being entertained by demonic activity Ouija boards and fortune tellers and palm reading and Shamas and spirit guides and voodoo and witchcraft this kind you get more than you bargained for if you play with that stuff you gone off to college and act like you're smarter than the Word of God in the Bible and every preacher you've ever heard you gone and get around the new professor that's telling you something crazy and asking you to take this and that and hold on to that rock or take that crystal and come to it you know what you might pick up more than a hum you might pick up a little spirit in your life but it's alright you're in the right place right now somebody's listening to me and I'm here right now to cast those spirits you can be free let's quit playin Church and let's get broken before God please let me finish I'm almost finished let's see Jesus the Bible said when Jesus told him that when an unclean spirit leaves he leaves that vessel that temple listen to it empty and clean and that demon goes and finds seven more spirits and he comes back with seven times the power that he had saying you thought you were free but we're gonna take you so low this time that we're gonna kill him but when the unclean spirit is going out it goes out and it leaves that place empty and clean and another spirit through fasting in prayer it goes out it exits but another spirit wants to fill it that's why you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit need to have a prayer language you need to get so full of the Holy Ghost that you don't live by bread alone but by by a connection and empowerment and and in the communion of the Holy Spirit when that thing comes back oh it's not empty the Holy Spirit is in there and he may have seven times more but you got a thousand times more when you got the Holy Spirit inside of you would anybody like to have a thousand times more of the Holy Spirit to open the door when seven times more demons come knocking whoa I feel like shouting [Applause] so it's time to quit talking about it it's time to do it you don't know how to fast we've got so much material just get educated but this church is going on the Daniel Fast many will go for three days on just juice and water and then convert over to the Daniel Fast you'll be led you know your life you know your schedule doesn't matter it's not about the details we're not legalist I like to get ahead everybody this is my third day I feel amazing had a headache yesterday had a headache the day before when you're really hungry turned that hunger toward God turn that hunger toward praise because there will be moments where you feel like I am about I walked in the first night after being in my office all day I walked in and came in and in 8 8 o'clock or 8:30 and there were some pecans demonic pecans that were in the little fruit bowl and I'm telling you everything in my head nobody was there Charisse was to sleep on the couch so if the devil said you can cheat and nobody will know it and I'm the preacher and I'm going through this stuff I can't imagine what y'all go through it and my hand wanted to grant I just said to myself if I could just have a handful of pecans and I felt weak I did but something in me rose up and said no that's not it this is this thing you need to you need to be led by the spirit push it down I'm telling you a little while later I was listening to something on my phone with headphones the presence of God came so strong the Lord said teach people that when the hunger is strong turn don't talk about for you don't talk about what you can't eat don't talk about this I'm fasting don't talk we don't care God don't care turn the focus off the hunger on to him I don't know who I'm preaching to today and yet I do every one of you if you call this church your church home if you feel like this is your church this is not optional this is for you and I had that headache and I wanted to take that close that a lot of people take I have a health issue and therefore and I understand that I'm not making light of that and if you do have health issues check with the doctor or you know figure out what you can fast God understands all that we got you covered but you're still part of it you're giving up something but a headache is not a health issue it's a headache the headache is the toxins the sugar you know all those cakes and pies you ate over the holidays it's all that sugar saying we don't want to leave but they're going out of your body you're getting help for you again you're getting trim again you're getting clean again you're after about the second day I tell you that last of yesterday was so precious and today I feel amazing just been drinking water a lot of water and ate nothing just just fasting because I like to feel it but I'm not fasting for more of God I'm fasting that God will have more of me and I'm fasting that the fierce demons the more fierce demons will be cast out and the door will open through the same means that they go out the Holy Spirit comes in anybody ready for visitation of new get up on your feet everywhere you are at the campus throw up your hands and open up your mouth I want them to sing this song and we're gonna pray at the end I got one powerful thing to tell you and we're gonna leave but I want you to lift your hands I want you to begin to sing this song and let you begin come on [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] with every head bound at every campus there is no doubt in my mind Cherise and I went saw movie this past week what's the girl's name Julie Roberts and it's called Ben's back it's about a young boy this hooked on drugs and she's his mother there's one of the most moving movies I've ever seen in my life and it's so puts its finger on what's happening in this generation and I think I saw that movie and it affected me about these more fierce demons and I have faith today to believe on the first day of this fast that if you're dealing with a more fierce demon you got to get honest and broken before God you don't have to tell me what it is ain't nobody's business but if it's alcoholism drug addiction any of the other things some issue in your life that's out of control you would like to see the evil spirits exit the Holy Spirit inner you're willing to give him your life today this is your moment this is your hour you can be delivered many of you're gonna be delivered from nicotine that's killing you I'm not illegal is I'm not just up here people call this legalism no it's not it's called freedom it's called life more abundantly it's called life a thousand times more when you don't have to get drunk or high to fill a lie if you're here today every head bowed every eye closed at every campus if you're here today and you'd say pastor Jensen I need a change in my life I cannot have another year like I had last year I need God to get me past all of that I need a new beginning in a new year you have preached to me and pastor it's not up to me to set me free Jesus is the one who promises freedom and I want it I want it I want it I want it I'm just willing to reach for it today I'm so desperate I'm so I'm so needful then I'll reach for it today if that's you and you know you're not right with God and you want to get everything right with God right where you're standing raise your hand as high as you can raise it wherever you are hands all over this room every room every room in the overflow raise the hand every one of you to have your hand up get out of your seat and come down to the front as quick as you can come real quick real quick we're gonna let you go you go in just a minute but come on there's something about steppin in there a physical response that release spiritual come on come on [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I want want everybody in this altar I'm gonna pray with you in just a moment I want everybody on this altar to lift your hands up toward heaven you have just made the greatest move of your life stretch your hand this way everybody in this room at every campus and let's pray this prayer out loud say these words Lord Jesus I put my life in your hands I was hold nothing I present to you my body as a living sacrifice I want you to clean it out I want every unclean thing every unclean habit every unclean ritual every unclean spirit every unclean connection every connection to the stark spirit world I want it broken with just as much force come Holy Spirit come and feel me through me through thee I say I am forgiven now Delacroix is and plays [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and I tell you on the authority of God's Word that as you join us on this fast the Daniel fast is no meat no sweets or sugar unless it's fruit you can eat some fruit and no bread God will honor you will not recognize yourself spend extra time in the word extra time in church gonna have a prayer meeting everyday from 12:00 to 1:00 o'clock in the chapel old-fashioned prayer maybe first-come first-serve if he gets packed out we'll have overflow in the big building we're gonna have an old-fashioned prayer meeting every day at noon for the next 21 days every day from noon to 1:00 you can be a part of it lift your hand up I'm gonna bless you those of you prayed this prayer on the authority of God's Word you are forgiven you are cleanse the evils the evil spirits are gone the more fierce ones are gone and the more powerful one the Holy Spirit is in you and greater is He that's in you than he's us in the world you're forgiven and you're free you're a child of the Most High God don't you forget it now give God these first days of this new year and he'll bless you in miraculous ways you ready for the blessing y'all ready to do this we're count your own fast you figure it out but don't don't see how it goes I'm tell you how it's gonna go hungry so don't do that trash just make up your mind this is what I'm gonna do you might want to write it down because you may need to remind yourself at about 8:30 tonight but write down what you can do and then God will honor make a vow and keep it you ready and now may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face shine on you may the Lord be gracious unto you may he lift up his countenance upon you may he give you peace and may he give you a thousand times more of his presence than you are today in Jesus mighty name I can't wait for next Sunday next Sunday I'm gonna preach on Deuteronomy 1 in 11 the thousand times more anointing it's in the Bible and it's gonna blow your mind don't miss next Sunday god bless you we'll see I'll see you Wednesday night old-fashioned prayer meeting right here 1 our prayer meetings from 7 to 8 Wednesday night we're gonna come in worship and pray it's gonna be powerful don't miss it we love you so much be blessed everybody as we leave here today I want to fight you into this journey that we are doing collectively as a church this 21-day fast all the resources information that you would need to help equip you to have an incredible fasting turning is available at free chapel dot o-r-g as well as Jenson Franklin oh aren't you so any questions any prayer requests that you can have you can post them on the different social media outlets Instagram Facebook even YouTube live let us know how we can pray for you throughout this journey we hope that you enjoy this as well every single day this 21-day fast well - 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or if you are able to make it to one of our physical locations we would love to have you here's a host you as you join us in this fast together but we love you so much run through that you join us here today a free chapel [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 152,536

Rating: 4.8702292 out of 5

Keywords: Jentezen Franklin, Fasting, 21 Day Fast

Id: 87K5P1PULYU

Length: 48min 47sec (2927 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 06 2019