← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
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Y' all ready for the Word? Let's go. Let's go. Go to Ezra, chapter eight. Ezra, chapter eight.
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Whoo.
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Come on. We always shout for the first scripture in service. It's like our first touchdown. I really feel like this year, God wants all of us in this room to win. I think God wants you to have a winning year, A year of victory, a year where you see goals achieved, where you step into a new you, a stronger you, a you that is fully surrendered to Jesus. And here's what I know. If you have your best year spiritually, you will have your best year financially, you'll have your best year relationally, you'll have your best year emotionally if you get Jesus. Like, if Jesus is leading you this year, you're gonna win in every other area of your life. But if he's not leading you, you can win in all the other areas, but be losing actually in your soul. The Bible says, what profit is it to gain the whole world, but to lose your soul in the process? You can get all the money, the big house, the nice cars, go on all the vacations and still feel miserable. But if you got Jesus leading you, if you got Jesus in the driver's seat directing your life this year, if you have a strong spiritual year, I'm telling you, no matter what may come, you're gonna have a winning year. A year of victory, a year on purpose, a year, a year of your best days yet. And here's where I think it starts. Ezra, chapter 8, verse 21. And Ezra is one of those books where you don't hear about it a lot in church. It's kind of like a hidden gem in the Bible. But it's a book about building. It's a book about foundations of faith. It's a book about the children of God rediscovering where their power comes from. Rediscovering that no matter what they do as a nation, no matter how big they get, if God is not in charge, if they are not surrendered to God, they're gonna lo. And so Ezra points the people back to the Lord, and here's what he does. In verse 21, he says, I proclaimed a fast. It just got really quiet in this charismatic church. You're like, oh, snap, I'm leaving. I don't want to hear about a fast. Can I tell you something? Fasting is not just about giving up food. Fasting is about stirring up spiritual hunger. A fast is not just like. And when we think about the word fast, some of you, you didn't Grow up in church. So you're like, what is a fast? Does that mean to run faster or something? No, no, no. A fast is getting you in alignment with God. A fast is about getting you in a place of sensitivity to the Lord. It's giving up something you crave. Now, you could fast certain foods. We're going to hear about this in Ezra's book. There was a time throughout, throughout the Bible where men and women of God went on a fast. Jesus, before he started his ministry, went on a 40 day fast with no food. That's kind of crazy, y'.
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All.
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Like he owned. Like he didn't have any food. Jesus was out in the wilderness. First temptation had to do with food, right? And this is what I want to talk about to you this year. I want to title this message. If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. Title, the message is fix your feed. Fix your feed. What are you feeding yourself this year? Because what you feed on will determine what your future looks like. What your feed looks like will determine what your future looks like. There's this phrase that says, show me your friends and I'll show your future. I think there's another truth to this, and that's, show me your feedback and I'll show you your future. What does your feed look like? What's coming in? You've heard the phrase garbage in, garbage out. What you consume, what you feed on, what you focus on, where your attention goes, where your energy is spent, what you dwell on, what you meditate on, what you scroll on, what your feed looks like will determine what your future looks like. So first thing Ezra does to get his people ready for what God has for their lives for this year, he says, I proclaimed a fast. Everybody say a fast. He was telling the children of God, he said, I want you to give up something that your flesh craves. It's time to get the remote control back. This last week, our family, we were sitting down on the couch and the kids wanted to watch different stuff. Like each kid has their own desire of what they want to watch. And I don't know if I've told you this lately, but I have five kids. Ashlyn and I, we have five kids. We have a 12 year old as of today. Happy birthday, Liam. We have a 10 year old. We have a 7 year old.
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And.
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And also, happy birthday to Daniel Henshaw. Happy 40th birthday to my best friend Daniel over here. But Daniel's not one of my kids. So we got Liam, we got Benny, we got Mac, we got Ellie, we got Gianna, we got five kids. And they all have different desires of what they wanna watch on tv. And I came in there and I was like, I really wanted to watch a football game, but different ones had different stuff that they wanted to watch and different things. And I was like, I need to get that remote control back. I need to pry it out of my daughter's hands. I got it. And she's like, give me the remote control. And I. And sometimes this is what our flesh is doing. Our flesh is trying to hold onto the control of our lives. And here's what a fast does. A fast unhinges that remote control. It pulls out, it says, flesh, you don't own me this year. Cravings of the flesh, sinful things, things that have controlled me in the past. A fast is to say, I'm in control. I got the remote control back. Here's what Ezra was doing. He was saying, we got to get the control back. So we're gonna go on a fast. And here's what our fast is all about. Our fast is not just about losing weight. If you go on a fast to lose weight, y', all, there are way easier ways to lose weight than to just stop eating. You're like, tell me, what are the secrets? I'm not here to teach that. I'm here to talk about you growing spiritually.
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Okay?
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A fast is not about losing weight. A fast is about drawing near to God. James, chapter four, New Testament. For all the grace preachers in the room. I love grace, but grace is not an excuse not to pursue God. Grace is not a license to live however you want to live and go, well, I'm already close to God. No, no, no. The Bible actually says you can draw closer to God. James chapter four says, draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. How do you draw near to God? This is what Ezra's doing. He's saying, here's what we're going to do. Go Back to Ezra 8:21. He says, we're going to fast because we need to humble ourselves. The biggest thing that needs to change in you this year is your ego. The biggest thing that needs to change. If you fix your feet, if you fix the pride that you've been feeding yourself, like the internal feelings of, I'm a self made success story. Like, this is what Ezra was saying. He was saying, no, no, no, we need to humble ourselves. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. How many of y' all want to have your best year yet. This year, most of us in the room. The other ones, I don't know if you're awake. We just need to wait. We need to help fix your feed for a second. Lift up your faces. All right, here we go. How many want to have your best year yet this year? A better year than last year. A better year than 20. Like, whatever the last 10, 15, 30, 40 years. Okay. I want to have my best year yet. To do that, I want to start this year off by shocking my body. I want to shock. I need to send a shock on the inside. By saying, flesh, you're not in control. Ego, you're not on the throne of my heart. Pride, you're not going to win this year. God opposes the proud. But if I will humble myself. God exalts the humble, but he humbles those who exalt themselves. So here's what Ezra says. He says, we're gonna fast, and here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna humble ourselves before our God. And here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna seek. Everybody say seek. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added to you. We're gonna seek him. We're gonna seek him first. We're gonna set aside time to hear from God so that we can know. I love this right here, to know the right way. I want to be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people this year. Listen, you can get stronger physically and actually get weaker spiritually. You can get stronger financially and actually get weaker spiritually. But when you get stronger spiritually, all the other categories start to follow in line. If I can get in alignment with God's will, God's way. Everybody say God's way. So here's what Ezra's doing. He's fixing the feed for the Israelites. He's saying, listen, I'm calling all of us to feed, fix what we feed on this year. We're going to feed on the word of God, the presence of God, the power of God, not just for us. I love this next part. He says, for us and our little ones. How many? All got some little ones at home. Anybody got children? All right, so what Ezra's saying here, he's saying, your fast doesn't just affect you. Your feed doesn't just affect you. It affects your children. It affects your children. What you feed on is not just. It's not just affecting your life. It's affecting your kids lives. My dad, he was such a great pioneer and leader of our church. And my mom and dad, oftentimes I would hear them just praying in the spirit. I remember many times we would just be like on a walk or we'd be in the living room and my dad would just start praying. I'd be like, what are you praying for? What are you praying about? And he'd say, I'm just praying. I'm just stirring up my spirit, man. I'm just praying for you guys. I'm praying. Sometimes I don't know what to pray, so I pray in the spirit. You're like, paul, that's weird. I invited new people to church today.
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Good.
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They need to hear our spiritual language. They need to know we got something different than what the world's got. Come on. There's people sitting in the bar that hear all kinds of weird language. This isn't weird. This is what the holy, like, God wants you to be led by the spirit. This year when I fast, I get in alignment to hear the voice of God. To be led by God not just for my life, but for my children, for my children and for my possessions. God, I want to hear your voice on how I'm supposed to lead our church, on how I'm supposed to lead in my house with my kids, how I'm supposed to lead in my marriage, how I'm supposed to be a better husband, better. Like I want to be better this year than I was last year as a husband to Ashley, as a dad to my kids, as a pastor, to victory, most importantly, as a child of God, I want to walk in greater obedience. That should be everyone's desire. So go to verse 23. Watch this. Two verses later, he says, so we fasted. I love this. So we did what I asked our people to do. He said, we fasted, we prayed, we entreated our God. That just means we pursued our God. We talked to our God, we listened to our God. We sat in a place of stillness. And this is so hard for our fast paced, busy society, right? We live so busy, busy, busy. I look at the screen behind me and there's apps at the bottom of that screen. And so many. How many of you all have a smartphone in the room? And yeah, most of us in this room have a smartphone. How many? Y' all don't have a smartphone? You have a dumb phone. How many of you know your smartphone sometimes is a dumb phone too? You know what I'm talking about. You're like, it's so dumb. Okay, the truth is, we have a lot going on. We have way too many apps open. You have way too many tabs open. My son, the other night, he was like, dad, mom still has, like, 400 tabs open that she's never closed on her phone. No wonder her battery is draining. And I don't mean to throw my wife under the bus, okay? We've all been there before. Like, I've been there before where I got too much stuff open, and it's draining my battery. And I hear the Lord saying, it's draining your spiritual battery, too. You got too much stuff going on. Clutter. Clutter. Right after Christmas, there were presents all over the floor, right? There was trash. And I couldn't wait to get the trash bag to be that dad that walks through the living room and, like, throwing everything away. I was already ready to give the toys away, too. I was like, just get all the stuff. How many? All. Ever walk into a room that's cluttered, and you're just like, I need to get this stuff out of here. You know what I'm talking about? Clutter in your car, clutter in the living room, clutter in certain game room. Like, whatever the room is. You're like, I just want to declutter this space. I hear the Holy Spirit saying, a fast is what's going to declutter your life of all of this stuff. A fast. Declutters. You fix your feed. Here's the truth. It's a new year, but it's the same you. You go with you into every year. You go into. And when you go on vacation, you go with yourself on vacation. You know what I'm saying? So if you are depressed here, you carry that depression there. Even though you might be on a beach, you still bring depressed you onto that beach. If you're negative and miserable in 2025 and you don't change something about yourself, you bring that negativity into 2026, even though it's a new year. But it's the same you. Everybody say, new year, new year, same me, same me. Unless. Now, this is the question we need to answer today. Unless something changes. What needs to change in your life this year? And you might be thinking, well, maybe I need to change my weight. I need to lose some weight. Maybe I need to change my diet. Maybe I need to stop eating so many fried foods. Maybe I need to stop drinking pop. Hello. You know, like, that's my struggle, y'. All. That's my vice, Mountain Dew. I'm just being honest. Just Telling you from the stage, I struggle with Mountain Dew, okay? But here's the point, here's the point. No matter what you change out here, if something doesn't change spiritually, it doesn't fix anything. And this is what the Lord began to stir in my heart for our church this year is to fix your feed. So I was talking to our kids this last week about fasting. Astro and I, we were talking to them and they understood what it was. They understood to a degree. Our son Mack, he was like, I think I know what fasting is. He's seven years old. We were like, what is it? He goes, well, I think I would like to fast school. Can I fast school? He's like, like, I can fast things I don't like. Like, can I fast water and just drink Coca Cola and chocolate milk and pop? We're like, no, Mac, that's not a fast. A fast is not giving up something you don't even want to do anyways. A fast is giving up something you crave. He was like, eh, I don't know about that. He's like, should I fast, my friends? And we were like, no, no, no, you don't have to fast. He's like, maybe I'll fast talkies, you know? And we were like, that's a good fast for you because he does love Takis Benaiah. He was like, you know, he said, you guys put me on a forced fast this last week. We forced Benny to fast playing Fortnite on the Nintendo. He's like, I actually think it worked. It broke my addiction. I love that my 10 year old is talking about breaking the addiction from the Nintendo. He's like, but also it did help having an alternative to play Madden a little bit on the iPad. You know, I was just, what's going on in the Dardy house? Okay, all right, everybody say, fix your feed. Fix your feed. So we're talking about really fixing. What are you consuming this year? I want to go to Daniel, chapter one. Daniel, Chapter one. There's a moment where Daniel has been led into captivity. Him and all the Hebrew children. And they're living in the Babylonian empire, right? And it's this empire that's ruled by godless kings, godless people, major perversion in the land, all kinds of idolatry and anything goes. It's a culture where there's really no laws, there's no rules. It's kind of anything goes in Babylon. Like whatever you want to do, you do it. However your flesh feels, whatever your flesh craves, just go for it. Can I tell you? One of the worst things that God can do for you is to give you what your flesh craves. There's a scary scripture in Psalm 106 where it says God gave them what they craved and they were emptier afterwards. I was reading Leviticus 26, 26, it said. Because I was looking at all the 26s in the Bible, I was like, what's God speaking for 26? That's what I want to hear is, what is God speaking for 20, 26? And it says, when the supply of bread has been cut off, you will bake your own bread and you will eat it. But you will never be satisfied eating, but never satisfied. When you don't feed on the right stuff, the wrong stuff never fills you. So you can have all the Internet junk you want to feast your eyes on, feast your ears on. And the eyes. And the ears are important gates to our body. What goes in the gate? Back in the old times in the Bible, the gate was the most important part of the city because the gate determined what comes in and what goes out, and they had to guard their gates. I was with our kids a year ago. We were watching this movie in the theater. It was called Dora the Explorer. And there's this moment in Dora the Explorer where this guy's like, we're guarding the gates. We're guarding the gates. We're guarding the gates. And I got that stuck in my head that this is a year to guard your gates, guard your feed, Guard what's coming into your eyes on that iPhone screen. Guard what's coming into your ears from the music you listen to. Guard what's coming into your spirit. So Daniel, chapter one. He's got this feast in front of him. The king puts out a table, and he puts out all kinds of food. He puts out bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon. He puts out chicken. He puts out steak. He puts out raw meats. He puts out cooked. He puts out everything. He puts out all kinds of food. And just because you can eat it doesn't mean you should. So Daniel's looking at it, and the king and everyone in the palace is like, this is what we're gonna eat. Because everybody's eating this. That's called the herd mentality, doing whatever the herd is doing, following wherever the herd is going. But you and I, we are set apart. We're a royal priesthood. We're a chosen generation. And listen, you can either follow what everyone else is feeding on, or you could choose your feed. And so this is what Daniel decided. He says, no, no, no. I'm not gonna eat what everyone else is eating. I'm not gonna feed on whatever's coming at my screen. I'm gonna curate. If you don't change your feed, your feed will change you. If you don't curate your feed, your feed will begin to curate your character. If I could take your feed, your social media feed, what's coming up on your phone, and put it on the big screen. Y' all are like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that, Paul. It's rated R for some of y' all in the room. You're like, that's why I'm here, Paul. I'm trying to clean up my feet. Okay, all right. But the truth is, I don't have to put your feet on the big screen to see it. Your feed goes with you everywhere you go. I see your feed in everything you do. Your feed is in what you wear. Your feed is how you talk out of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks. I know what your feed is. You could say, well, my feed is really positive. But all the time, you're negative. The glass is always half empty. Your feed is full of negativity. You could say, well, my feed is really filled with Jesus. Except for the rest of your life outside of church is not filled with Jesus. I know what's in your feed, right? So Daniel looks at the table, he looks at what's being fed to everybody else, and he says, permission to choose my own feed. Permission to change what I'm going to eat. Friends, this is a year. If you fix your feed, you can fix your year. If you fix your feed, you can fix your future. If you fix. You've heard the term, show me your friends and I'll show your future. Show me your feed and I'll show your future. If you will feed on the word of God, on the presence of God, on the things of God, if you will feed on the convictions of God, if you will let God write your story this year, if this will be your feed, I promise you, you can have your best year yet. So Daniel says this. It says he purposed in his heart. Daniel 1, verse 8. He purposed in his heart. In other words, he was intentional. He decided on the inside. The decision starts on the inside before it comes on of the outside. Daniel decided on the inside. I'm not going to eat this. I'm not going to consume this. I'm not watching these videos. I'm not listening to this music. I'm not Going to feed. I'm not going to meditate on this. This will not be in my house. He decided, I will not defile myself by what everyone else is doing, what everyone else is consuming. I'm going to feed on something different. He requested. He said, I want to have something different. I'd like to have a different diet. I'd like to change what I'm consuming. I want to consume healthy stuff, so I produce healthy stuff. I want good fruit out of my life this year. I want to walk in self control this year, so I'm not going to bow down to the cravings of my flesh. I want to be led by the spirit. I want gentleness to flow in my tone this year. So I'm not going to watch shows where every time the parents are talking, they're screaming at each other, arguing with each other, kids are disobeying their parents. Rebellious. Fix your feed, my friends. Fix your feed. Fix your darn feed. I'm keeping it G rated for you today. You know what I'm saying? Because if you don't, it starts to affect your family, start to affect your little ones. It starts to affect you. I remember this one guy, he came up to me and he was trying to be funny. He was like, hey, you should follow this account. It's like this. It was like making fun of pastors and churches. And it was. It was like. At first it seemed kind of like not. Not super critical. It was kind of funny. And he showed me this one video. I was like, oh, that's kind of funny. And I clicked follow. And I immediately regretted it because within a week, the videos that started stirring up in my algorithm were more critical videos and pictures and memes about churches and pastors. And I found myself. It was affecting my sermons, it was affecting my conversations. It was affecting my confidence. It was affecting my inner man. And I thought, is this healthy for my soul? Should I be consuming criticism about the very thing that Jesus died for? Absolutely not. So I clicked a big unfollow. I'm done following anything that's messing with my spirit. I'm done subscribing to anything that's breaking my confidence in God and what. God loves friends, he loves his church. And if you're consuming a whole lot of crud about stuff that God actually cares about, I'm telling you, if you want to have a different year this year, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again and expecting different results. Husbands, wives, moms, dads, sons, daughters, all of us. You're like, why are you coming for me? I'm coming for all of us, including me. Because I'm a work in progress. Anyone else, a work in progress. Like the streets of Oklahoma under construction. Till death do us part. My son's like, you always use that joke. Cause it's true. Every street I drive down is under construction. Or it needs to be under construction. Okay? So Daniel understood where he came from, and he asked for something different. I want to give you six ways to fix your feed this year. Six ways to fix your feed. Daniel had a different diet. He said, and before I give you these six ways, let me go to Daniel 1, verse 13. Because at first the guy looks at Daniel and he says, listen, the king is not gonna allow you to eat whatever you wanna eat. You need to eat what he puts in front of you. But Daniel said, I want you to test us for 10 days. We're gonna go on our own fast. And he says, and at the end of those 10 days, I want you to examine us. And if the appearance of the guys who eat whatever the king serves them looks better, if they feel fit, if they're healthier than us, then we'll follow what you're telling us to eat. But if we look different, in verse 14 and 15, he says, if we look different, test us. He says, if there is a difference in us, then at the end of this, let the king allow us to eat what we believe is the right conviction for us. Not only did they pass the test as the healthier ones out of the king's servants, but the king recognized they were like 10 times healthier, 10 times stronger, 10 times more sharp, more brilliant. I was talking with my mom not too long ago. She said, can you fix something on my phone? I looked at her phone and y', all, my mom's phone was, like, going crazy. It was like. It was like going berserks, you know, There was notifications and apps and tabs, and it was blinking and it was like this phone was like screaming, sos, like, emergency fix me. And I was like, mom, you got way too much stuff. She goes, I don't know what happened. It's like hacked or bugged or something. And I was like, I think we need to delete a lot of this stuff. I think we need to remove a lot. We need to declutter. This is what a fast does. It declutters. Not just your phone, but your spirit. Some of you have way too much stuff going on in your life. And you go, why don't I have time to hear from God. Why don't I have time to read my Bible, to pray? Why do I have a hard time being still during those worship moments where it's an opportunity to. To listen to God? Why do I feel like I always got to have noise in my ears? There's a movie I watched when I was in high school called. I think it was called like the Perfect Game or something. And there's this moment where the pitcher, it was a baseball movie. The pitcher, he does this something. He goes, clear the mechanism. And all the noise of the fans that are screaming and shouting, they're like, you stink.
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Boo.
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They're shouting at him. They're trying to get in his head. They're trying to distract him from the game. All of a sudden he goes, clear the mechanism. All the voices disappear and he's focused on his assignment. That's what fasting does. It clears the mechanism. It focuses you on what really matters. Six ways to fix your feed this year. Number one, have daily time in your Bible. We have a Bible reading plan. As a church, at the end of your rows, there's a Bible reading plan. I want to pass these down. Take one with you. I know it's paper and some of you don't keep paper. You're like, can I get it on my phone? Yes. That's another way to fix your feed. Get the Victory app on your phone. It's free. You can download it. And there's a Bible reading plan. I'm going to be preaching on a weekly basis, oftentimes from the very week that we are in. Reading through. Right now, we're reading through the book of Matthew. I just shared Matthew chapter six today. You'll read that on Tuesday, January 6th. But here's the point. If you will read the Bible this year, if you will feed on God's word, taste and see that the Lord is good. I know what's in your feed based on what's coming out of your mouth. And if I'll get in God's word. God's word starts coming out of my mouth. So when I'm in a crisis, you squeeze a lemon. What comes out? Right? The juice from that lemon comes out. You squeeze a Christian. What should come out, what they've been consuming. The word of God. Fix your darn feed this year. Get in the word of God. Get in the word of God and let the word of God get in you. Read through the scriptures. If I could just say when I look through the scriptures from Genesis, by the way, this is a Genesis moment for us as a church. I was reading through Genesis this week and I love in the beginning of the Genesis it says in the beginning God created. And I was like, oh, I love that in the beginning, the Spirit of God was hovering over the chaos, hovering over what was yet to be. I feel the Lord just saying he's hovering over your year this year. He's asking you to let him speak into your year this year. Let there be light. And there was light. God saw it in here and he released it out here from his mouth. God began to fix the feet of the earth. He began to set and curate what he wanted to see. I want to see fish, I want to see trees. I want to see life. I want to see animals. And ultimately God said, let us make man in our own image. God began to fix the feed of the earth, of what he would look at. And his desire was that mankind would have relationship with him, that he would have communion with people, that there would be this ongoing conversation between him and Adam and Eve. And it was sin that broke that communion. But I'm so thankful in the New Testament that Jesus reestablished the communion between between us and God. Jesus fixed what was broken in the Garden of Eden so that you and I can hear God's voice and have communion with God. Which leads me to my second way to fix your feed this year. Spend daily time in prayer. Prayer is not just a one way conversation. It's back and forth, it's talking to God, listening to God every single day. You want to fix your feed this year. You want to have your best year yet. Spend time in prayer. Spend time in prayer. Number three, commit to being planted in church. Now, this is super practical, but right now you got perfect church attendance. Let's keep it going. Get planted this year. Get in the house of God. There's something about being surrounded with the people that are going after God. Number four, surround yourself with people that are on the same mission as you. Stop surrounding yourself with people who aren't going where you're going. Can I tell you the difference between eagles and chickens? Not only do eagles fly on a higher level, they eat on a higher level. Chickens eat whatever is on the ground. Chickens eat chicken crud. You know what I'm talking about. They just eat junk. Eagles, they curate their meals. They know what they're going to feed on. They're spying it high in the sky. They're like, that's it. That's what I'm going for. Eagles are specific about their meals. They're intentional. I was talking to a guy in our church who does, you know, all kinds of fitness stuff. And he said one of the most important things is having a meal plan before the day begins. He said, I like to write down on Sunday night what I'm gonna eat on Wednesday and Thursday. I gotta be intentional about my meals. Because if you go into a day with no plan. Listen, if you don't plan your year this year, this year is going to go by, and you will miss out on the momentum of a new year year. You want to have your best year yet. Be intentional this year. Here's number five. Be intentional about your feed every day. Every day. Be intentional about your feed. Fix your feed on faith over fear. Fix your feed on being focused on what God has in front of you instead of dwelling on what's behind you. Yesterday I was getting a haircut by my friend Tony. Tony pop up here. Tony cuts my hair probably like once a month. This guy's a sharp dude right here. Every three weeks, okay? And we try to, like, sing while he's doing, like, the fade. He's doing the fade on the hair. And so I said, what are we gonna sing this year? He's like, we gotta sing something. It's a new year, new season. You want to sing something for him right now? Barbershop right here in the church. I'm not going back.
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Moving ahead I'm here to dig My.
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Past is over in you all things are made new Surrender my life to Christ I'm moving, moving forward.
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And you make.
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I'm not ready for that. Come on, give Tony a big hand. Everybody say fix your bead. So we're sitting there, we're singing, and I was thinking about that whole song. I'm moving forward Fix your feed forward Too many of us, we have our feed set on what's behind us. You can't grab hold of your future if you're still holding on to your past. Like in the Bible, when people fasted, when Jesus fasted before he started his ministry, and even when Jehoshaphat fasted to see a victory in his life, oftentimes when they would fast and pray, there was this intentionality of what's in front of us that we need to see God do through us what's in front of us. Fix your feed forward Fix your feet on faith over fear if you're. If you've been battling with depression in the last year, Fix your feet on joy this year. If you've been battling with anxiety Fix your feet on peace Unfollow every account. That's stirring up comparison, that's stirring up anxiety, that's stirring up fear. You need to unsubscribe to everything that's messing with your spirit, that. See, some of us, we are not intentional with our feed like we should be. And it's been ruining, if you will have a good day and then another good day and another good day. And you do that for 365 days, you'll have a great year. And here's how you have a good day. Fix your feed. What are you feeding on? One day at a time. What conversation? I was talking with a group of pastors during the break and they were here at the altar and we were talking after one of the services. They were in town from their different cities and they said, how did your series go at the end of the year? I said, it's been going good. We've been doing a series on worship. And one of them said, man, I find myself really distracted halfway through the week when I'm preparing my sermon going into Sunday, I find myself Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, just being overly accessible. And honestly, I could relate to them. I was like, I've been there before where I just opened up, like all the gates were open and I let all kinds of conversations happen and I was opening apps and I was reading news stories and it was affecting what I was supposed to be focusing on to preach to you. And I had to repent because I thought, God, I need to guard my feed because my feed dictates my theology, my feed dictates even my confidence, my self worth, my understanding of what God sees in me. If I'm like consuming all kinds of different voices and podcasts and tweets and Instagram and TikTok and all this stuff, and I'm reading people's anger and this is going on and these people feel this way towards President Trump and these people feel that way and this person is mad about it. All of that starts to affect your spirit and you find yourself filled with turmoil and you're going, what's going on? Fix your feed. Fix your feed number six. And I want the band to come up. Join us on this 2026 fast. Do a fast of some kind. Maybe fast social media for three weeks, maybe fast social media for one week and then fast a certain kind of food for another week. Like, there's all kinds of different ways to approach this fast. And don't let religious people make you feel like you're not on a real fast just because you're not Doing it the way that they think you should do it. Like, there's all kinds of ways to fast. I'm not fasting for you. I'm fasting for me. Like, I'm not fasting to impress the Pharisees in the room. I'm fasting because I want to get in alignment with God. Okay? So there could be a Pharisee that's like, it's not a real fast. You just. Because you gave up social media, if you crave something, if you crave your phone and you give it up for a week, that's a good thing for you. That's building up a no in your spirit to say no to things of this world and yes to God, whatever it is that your flesh craves. And it doesn't have to be bad stuff. It could be just stuff that's hindering your focus on God. Draw near to God. This year, I want to go to one more passage, and it's an interesting passage, but it's a passage that I think can help you go into this year the right direction. It's in Second Kings, chapter seven. Two Kings, chapter seven. And I want to go to verse one. Holy Spirit, I just pray right now that you would help this message close out the way you want it to close out in Jesus name. Second Kings, chapter seven. Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord. This is what God says about this time tomorrow. A sea of fine flour will be sold for a shekel and two seas of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. At the gate. At the gate. Here's what had happened in Samaria. They were in a severe famine because they weren't guarding their gates. They had been besieged in every direction by enemies that had cut off the food supply. And the food supply that was the right food that was supposed to be coming into the. The city was cut off. If you were to read 2 Kings 6, and I don't have time to read all the scriptures, but there's one scripture where it says people had become so hungry, so desperate for food because they had no good food, that they started eating the heads of their donkeys. That a head of a donkey was sold for 80 shekels of silver. And people were fighting over pulling the skin off the donkey to eat that skin. Donkey Kong. And then people were eating the dung of doves. We're talking about poop, y'.
- [34:39]
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All.
- [34:41]
A
Sorry. Cut that from the tapes. Okay? We don't do tapes. Cut that from YouTube. Okay, here's the point. When you don't eat the right stuff, you start settling for all the wrong stuff. When you don't feed on what you should be feeding on, you start consuming all kinds of crap from this. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. All kinds of crud. You start consuming stuff that you used to have. Boundaries. You used to go, no, I would never consume that. They started settling to eat food that they never would have eaten because they didn't eat the right stuff and they didn't guard their gates. And Elisha says things are about to change. Food's about to come into this city. The right kind of food. You guys have been starving.
- [35:24]
B
They.
- [35:25]
A
This is crazy. In second Kings 6, they started eating each other's children. Two moms got into an argument. In second Kings 6, one mom said, we'll eat my kid tonight and we'll eat your kid tomorrow. How crazy is that? The mom that ate one kid one night decided not to feed her kid the next night, and there was an argument. I know. It's crazy, right? The Bible is wild. You should read the Bible. It's better than any show or movie you've ever seen. It's just filled with all kinds of craziness. But it's awesome because there's revelatory words in there. So I was looking at this. I was like, severe famine, fighting over food that wasn't even healthy for them. People are fighting on Facebook all the time, fighting on Instagram, fighting in the comments, fighting on the news stories. While God is moving in the earth. God is up to something. Church. He's moving in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He's moving in the United States of America. He's moving in Venezuela. He's moving in Brazil. He's moving in China. He's moving in Israel. He's moving in Russia. He's moving in England. He's moving across the earth. God is up to something. Church. The question is not, is God speaking? The question is, are you listening? Elisha was the only one who was close enough to the ear of God, to the mouth of God, to speak and to commune and have this relationship. No one else was seeking God but Elisha. He had this prophetic understanding. God is speaking. Food is about to come. And this one guy, out of doubt and a cynical spirit. You could tell this guy's feed because his feed flowed out of his mouth. Watch what this guy says. The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates, you can almost feel the tone in his voice. You can read his feed based on the way he speaks. I know what your feed is. It comes out of your mouth. If your feed is filled with all kinds of sexual perversion, it's gonna show up in your relationships, it's gonna show up in your language. If your feed is filled with all kinds of negativity, no wonder you got a sour face. It's cause all you think about is all the negative stuff going on. Fix your feed. It'll fix your face. It'll fit. If you. Sorry, that's mean. You're like, why is he so mean? Okay, I'm not mean. Listen, I've had a bad face too. I've had some negative faces. All right, back to this. This guy goes, look, even if God, he's so critical, he's so cynical. Even if God opened the floodgates of heaven, could this really happen? Doubt, fear, skepticism. Elisha says, you will see it, but you will not eat any of it because your feed has been on the wrong stuff. You're going to miss out on the right stuff. I love this next part. Now, there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. Leprosy was a disease that started on the inside, moved on the outside, caused them to separate from society. They felt alone, they felt isolated. And here they are on the outside of the city and they say to each other, why should we stay here until we die? Let's go into the city. The famine is there. And if we go into the city where the famine is, we'll die because they don't have any food. And if we stay here, we'll die because we don't have any food. But if we go over to the camp of those Arameans, if we go over to the camp, that cut off the food supply, where all the food is at. And if we surrender, they might spare us and we'll live. But if they don't spare us, they'll kill us and we'll die. This guy's got a college degree. He's so smart. It's like, we stay, we die, we go, we die. Whatever we do. We might die, but we might live. Okay, at dusk, verse five, they got up. It was hunger that drove them. There are some things that won't happen in your life this year until you get hungry. Spiritually, hunger drove them to make a decision. I feel the Lord just stirring up an appetite for more of him this year. A hunger. You know, there's a scientific term for hunger in the body. The body actually has a hunger Hormone. It's called ghrelin. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Ghrelin. It triggers something in your brain that starts triggering something in your stomach, and it starts making noises when you're hungry. Some of you, we've been hearing your noises all service. You're like, dude, I need snacks right now. The service is too long. Okay, I'm about to. I'm about to let you all out to go eat. But let me say this. No matter what you consume out there, it will never be enough if you don't consume the right stuff in here. Ghrelin stirs up this sound, and it's like, have you ever heard the sound of hunger in your belly? You're like, my belly's talking. You know what I'm talking about. Your stomach starts talking to you. That's where these guys were at. But there was such a deep hunger. It was a desperation to say, I've got to go do something with my life. Even if I die, I think God wants to stir up a desperate hunger to say, God, I can't have another year like last year. I can't go another day living without your presence, living without obedience to you. God, I want to be close to your voice. God, I want to be more hungry for you the way you're hungry for snacks. Some of y' all get hangry for snacks and food. You're like, I get angry when I don't eat. I hear God saying, would you get that hungry for my word? Would you get that hungry for my presence? Would you get that hungry for a move of God in your life? Would you shock your body long enough to say body? You are not in control of my future spirit. Man is going to get shot stronger this year. Flesh, listen. Starve the flesh, feed the spirit. I want you to stand your feet all over this place. I want to end today in a moment of surrender. And as we start this fast, you can join us. You don't have to, but I'm inviting you. I was talking to this pastor, and he told me. He said, interesting story. This guy came to our church a couple years ago on a Wednesday night. A guy that we had been trying to invite. We all knew who he was. He used to go to our church, but he had left. And we finally got him to come back. He came back on a Wednesday night. It was really interesting. He said it was a low night, but the presence of God was so strong in the room. And he said afterwards, the guy came and he told us. He said, man, I really need to get back in church. I really need to get back in the Bible. I really need to get my life back right with God. I've been hanging out with people I shouldn't be with. I've been doing things I shouldn't do. Pastor said, hey, we're glad you showed up on this Wednesday night. And he said, I really need to surrender my life to the Lord this year, and I need to start reading my Bible. He said, I haven't read my Bible in years. I need to get back in my Bible. This word. Jesus said, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word from God. It feeds you. Feeds you. Something had happened during his time hanging out with these guys that weren't great. He was living in a house, kind of a bachelor house, with like, four guys, and he didn't trust them. Some of them had stolen from people, had done some stuff they shouldn't do, and he had $2,000 of cash laid out around. And this was like, during. Not when he was living for God, not when he had started going back to church. He didn't know what to do with these $2,000. He thought someone in his house was going to steal his money. So he hid it in a place where he thought no one would ever look. He actually hid it in his Bible on a shelf. And he had forgotten about it. And so when he started going back to church, he couldn't find his Bible. And he also was searching for this money. He actually called this pastor, said, hey, I really need some help. I need you to help me come and look for my money. And this pastor was a good friend of his. And so he went over to his house, started helping him look for these $2,000. They couldn't find it. And he was so bummed, he said, man, I actually need that cash. And the pastor said, let's just pray that God's gonna help you find it. So that next week, he was walking through his house, and he looked up at the top of the shelf, he saw this big Bible. And he still didn't remember the money was in there. But he thought, you know, I need to get back in the Bible. I've been going to church, but I haven't been reading my Bible. He opens up his Bible and out falls the $2,000. And he starts laughing that his treasure was there all along. He had just forgotten where it was. I wonder what treasures God has this year for you, if you'll open up your Bible. Some of you forgot what's in your Bible. You forgot what's in your Bible, your provision this year, your protection this year, your deliverance this year. And I want us just to close our eyes all over this place. Holy Spirit, I just pray right now, God, that you would stir up in us an appetite for your presence. I pray, God, that we would not be so antsy and in a hurry to rush wherever the herd is going, wherever everyone else is going, whatever everyone else is eating. But Lord, I pray this year we would be intentional about the feedback that our eyes, our ears, our mind, our heart is consuming the conversations. We're allowing the accessibility of our lives. I pray this year we would know the difference between what's urgent and what's important. The constant texting and notifications on our phone that we would just silence it. You know, every time I come into service, I do something on my phone, I click this one button. It just says focus. Underneath it, it says do not disturb. I click that button and the rest of the service, I only look at my phone. If I'm pulling up a scripture that I'm looking for. I only open my phone. I'm intentional about what I'm using it for. Don't let your phone rule you this year. You rule the phone. Don't let culture shape you this year. You shape the culture. Don't let the other people's feed determine your future. This year. You determine the future by changing your feed this year. Feeding on God's word, his presence with heads bowed, eyes closed. If you're here right now and the Holy Spirit is stirring in you, just a conviction to have a different year than you had last year, a better year, a year with more growth, more fruit, genuine fruit in your life, fruit of the Holy Spirit. And you're going, man. I want to get stronger in my spirit. Spirit band. This year I want to learn to say no to my flesh on a greater level. This year, I want to draw closer to God. I know God's with me. I know God is for me. But I want to draw near. Like James talked about, I want to draw near this year I want to be more sensitive and tender to the voice of God. I want to care less about the opinions of people. I want to be less distracted by the comparison trap on the social media. I want to be less distracted by negative voices trying to pull my spirit down. Anxiety, fear, discouragement, depression. This year I don't want to entertain those feelings of temptation and sin. I want to stir up an appetite for more of God in my life. Who am I talking to right now? I think the Lord is speaking to at least 10 men in the room. There's at least 10 husbands, 10 dads that you're going, man, I need to have a better year this year with the Lord so I can be a better husband, better dad. I think I'm speaking to 10 moms, 10 wives, 10 women in the room. You're going, God, change me, change what I've been feeding on, Lord, change my spirit, change my attitude this year. God have control of my life. I think I'm talking to 10 high schoolers, 10 middle schoolers right now, 10 college students. There's a percentage in the room. I don't know if it's everyone, but I do know there is a percentage in the room. You are literally at a point where you are stirred with a desperation saying, I want to be hungry for God this year. I want to stop running out of church as fast as I can to go eat food that leaves me still hungry. And I want to find feast more on God's word, God's presence, the community of believers, Holy Spirit, change me, make me more like you, God, If that's you and you want to join me on this fast, you want to join me in this moment of just whatever it looks like for you in January. This is your genesis month. This is your let there be light month. This is God's creative work in you month. He's like, let me start something new in you this year. Let me start something new in your relationships. Let me start something fresh in your mindset. Let me reset your spirit. Let me reset what's going on. Let me shock you a little bit, Surprise you with a better year. God saying, would you hand me the remote control? Would you hand me that control? If that's you, I want you to just raise your hand across this room. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'. Am. Yeah, from the front to the back, the very back row. I see you back there. Yeah. You're saying, God, I give you this year, I give you my heart, give you my life. If you raised your hand or you wanted to raise your hand, I want you to leave your seat as an act of surrender and join me at this altar. We're going to humble ourselves before the Lord right now. And it will might be a humbling thing for you to leave your seat and come to this altar. But I promise you, God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Let this be your most grace filled year. Let this be the year you shake shame off, you shake regret off. You stop looking backwards, you start looking forwards, you start getting in Alignment with what God has in store for you. Just join us at the altar. This is an altar Sunday. Altar Sunday for believers. And even if you're an unbeliever in the room, come and join us. Put your faith in God this year. Put your trust in God this year. Join us, believers at this altar to say, I want to get my heart in alignment with God's plan for my life. We're just going to worship. Go ahead, Virginia. Just lead us in that worship song.
- [49:00]
B
So draw me close to you.
- [49:04]
A
Yes, Lord. Draw me close to you, God.
- [49:09]
B
Let me go.
- [49:12]
A
God, I surrender to you. Renew me, Lord. Reset me, Jesus, I lay it down.
- [49:22]
B
To hear you say that I'm with you. You are my desire, God, you're my desire.
- [49:34]
A
You're what I'm going after. You're what I'm hungry for, Lord. No one and nothing else can prepare you. Just talk to God. Talk to him. Yes, Holy Spirit.
- [49:51]
B
Feel the warmth of your embrace, O Lord. Help me find a way. Bring me back to you.
- [50:07]
A
You're all I want, Lord, you're all I.
- [50:13]
B
You're all I want. You're all I've ever needed. You're all I want, Lord, I know Lord, I know you are here. You're all I want. You're all I want. One. You're all I've ever needed. You're all of the one, Lord, I know you are here we say you're all I want. Say you're all I want. You're all I've ever needed. You're all I want, Lord, I know you are. I need you Lord, I need you. In every hour I need you.
- [51:57]
A
My one defense, my righteousness O God, how I need you Lord, I need you.
- [52:11]
B
I need. Every hour of my life, every day, Lord, I need you. I depend upon you. My one defense, my righteous righteousness. Oh God, oh God, how I need you Lord, I need you. I need you Lord, I need you. Every hour I need you. So set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. Yes, I want more of you. I want more of it. Set up fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you, God, I want more. Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I I want more of you, God, I want more of you, God. Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you, God, I.
- [54:02]
A
Want more, Lord, that's the cry of our hearts, to know you more, God, to let your spirit lead us this year, guide us. I hear the Lord just saying, many of you in this room, you've tasted what the world has to offer and you're not satisfied. That's why you've come to the fountain of living water. Jesus says, some of you have tasted what this world has to offer. All the different things, all the different ways, the lifestyles. And he says, it's empty. And I forgive you as you've repented for your sins. Jesus says, I have forgiven you, but now it's time to taste what he has to offer. Jesus says, no more going back to those old broken sisters that can't even hold water at all, that you try to lower down your bucket to get water and they can't even give you half a bucket full of water. Jesus says, come to the fountain of living water. Come to the river of living water. This is a year to just tap into a source that is sustainable. God says, I want you to overflow this year with more joy, more patience, more peace. I want you to get your laughter back. I want you to get that childlike faith and wonder back where you're just. You're less on your phone screen and you're more just in that feed of God's word. And you're amazed by him. You're amazed. You're living with more gratitude, more hope, more excitement about life. I hear the Lord saying, I'm going to break depression off you this year. I'm going to break the bondages of addictions and bad habits that you've been stuck in. The only way to get unstuck from that rut you've been stuck in is hunger. Hunger is going to break you out of that place you've been stuck in and a desperation from that fast. It's going to stir in you, a rumbling in your stomach to say, I want more. I want more of God. I need more of God. Just pray this with me. Say, Jesus, thank you for your holy Spirit, for filling me with more of you. I repent of all of my sins, all the bad things that I've done, and I receive your forgiveness, Jesus. Thank you for cleansing me, making me pure. Thank you for a new year. Thank you for a gentleman work in my life, start new things in my mind, in my heart. For your glory, Holy Spirit, I surrender. I choose your will, your way. God, I'm seeking you first. And I'm trusting you that all these other things, things you're going to take care of. Have your way in my life. I give you this year in Jesus name. Amen. And Amen. Come on. I love you.