God’s Chosen Fast
By Jerry Brandt
Few chapters in the Bible reflect more the passion of God’s call for true and pure religion than that of Isaiah 58.
I was in meetings with Portland four-square church with Dr. Allan Hamilton. I had already been with him two times before and taken his great church to the streets of Portland for an outreach with the homeless. I recall the exciting experiences we had at the park along the river. We had made preparations for the homeless to receive food and clothing and a lot of love. The scene was unusual as over 500 men, women and children sat on the inclined grass bank that faced the river. Nike had given us 500 pairs of beautiful white sport stockings. What a joy to watch 500 people putting on clean white stockings all at the same time. We had worship and testimonies of God’s saving grace. Many received Christ into their heart. Dr. Hamilton liked what he saw at this “Project Light”. We called our outreaches “Project Light” based on Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your father in heaven”. The world, who knows not Jesus Christ, wlll even glorify our God when we, the church, are doing acts of love and kindness. Reaching out to the homeless became a way of life for our ministry.
It all started in the fall of 1985. I was hosting a nightly television program in Concord California called “California Tonight”. This night the owner of the TV station was out of town and had asked me to be the host. The first guest on our program was “Mom Taylor”. She was affectionately called “Mom Taylor” by the thousands of lives she touched in Southern California through her ministry “Pass it On”. The homeless daily came to her house to receive assistance. God had so blessed her that she actually had a warehouse and several trucks to both gather and scatter. Julia “Mom” Taylor shared on the TV program that night something that changed the course of my life and ministry. At that point I had never ministered on the streets to the homeless. Like most evangelists, I had preached on the streets but very occasionally. This night things changed forever! Mom Taylor shared how that God poured out His abundance on her through the Central California farmers in some of the most rich farm land in America. How literal truck loads of food would come to her warehouse. She just passed it on to the needy. In fact nothing stuck with “Mom”. She gave away her furniture on a rotation basis each 6 months. Everything in her life was just “passed on” to someone else that had a need.
As I prepared to leave the television studio that night she boldly stood at the door of the studio. To be truthful, I was a little bit anxious about that night’s show and my exit would be welcomed. Mom Taylor made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. Action Evangelism, the name of my ministry, had not done much with the homeless. In fact, really nothing up to this point. I was busy doing what most evangelists do well, preach in churches across the nation and hold meetings for the saints hoping that they will invite people to be saved. I had been fairly effective and seen many come to Christ. But going to the streets had never been my method of operation. I had failed to see the very basic ministry style of Jesus the evangelist. Mom boldly stood at the door of that TV studio and said, “Jerry, God showed me you are supposed to start going to the streets and helping the poor and needy and homeless and I am going to lay hands on you and pray down a blessing and anointing to do this”. I could see she was quite serious about this matter. So I agreed. She laid hands on me and it was like heaven came down. I could very seriously feel the presence of God.
Three weeks later I was heading to San Francisco for our first outreach with the homeless. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I was obeying the heavenly call to go. I had announced the outreach on my nightly television program, but wondered if anyone would really show up. I announced a church location right in downtown San Francisco and just told people to come with food and clothing to hand out. To my amazement there were over 150 people waiting at the church from all over Northern California. I was surprised. Something lit up inside of me. I realized that people were hungry to come and reach out to the homeless and needy of the city. At that time there were around 8,000 homeless living on the streets of San Francisco.
This began the season of 9 years of regular outreaches which we eventually called “San Francisco Invasions”. We were invading the city with prayer, worship, and spiritual warfare ministry to the homeless and needy and of course the love of God. I found myself absolutely enjoying and experiencing the most wonderful presence of God I had ever felt. I could feel Jesus right at our side each outreach. Things began to happen that I only dreamed about. The book of Acts of the Holy Spirit came alive right on the streets. It was then I received the revelation about the truth of Jesus street ministry. The greatest miracles didn’t happen in the Synagogue. If you read the bible you would find Jesus regularly attended the Synagogue, but the miracles and action part of Jesus ministry was all on the streets. It was then I realized the awesome power of God available to those who would step out of the boat and walk on water. Going out of our comfort zone and exposing ourselves to the unknown, but trusting God.
I had already been in full time evangelism since 1965. So I had ministered for 20 years as an evangelist before I went to the streets to help the homeless and minister to the poor. As I reflect back now over the years of ministry, I frankly can’t remember much about the first 20 years. But these last 20 have been significant. It has been a modern book of acts of the Holy Spirit. Miracles, signs and wonders prevailed. I will share some of these experiences with you as I break down this powerful chapter of the bible Isaiah 58.
Before I began in Isaiah 58, I must share a story. Dr. Hamilton from Portland 4-square church had recommended me to a great church in Everett Washington. This pastor had never had an evangelist in his church. In fact, as I understood at the time he didn’t much appreciate evangelists. His church of several thousand had grown through his excellent bible teaching and community in the church. So when Dr. Hamilton called him he was somewhat hesitant. He told Dr. Hamilton he would think about it. That weekend’s church services would change all that.
At the end of his morning message, Tom, the pastor at Everett, stood at the platform talking to several people. Then a man came up to him and said, “I have come as a messenger to you to tell you something that is going to happen. A man is going to call you and tell you that his ministry is based on Isaiah 58. Receive both the man and his message”. Tom was a bit taken back by the boldness and directness of this individual. He graciously nodded but didn’t discuss it any further. The man just walked off. Tom and his wife began to leave the church and went to their car. Strangely they saw this man walking around the outside of the church. They felt a bit uncomfortable so they drove in their car over to the man and asked him if everything was ok. They said, “Is there anything we can help you with?” The man leaned down and looked piercingly into the eyes of both Tom and his wife and said, “I told you I am not from here”.
Tom drove off and said nothing to his wife. They both were taken back by the piercing eyes of the man and the directness with which he spoke. Right before Tom pulled into his driveway his wife finally spoke up. “Honey, we have just been visited by an angel”. Tom agreed.
Dr Hamilton had felt that Monday morning after the weekend outreach at Portland 4-Square church, he should call Tom just one more time. I was ready to leave Portland and go back to my home in Cameron Park, California. Dr. Allen invited me into his office and picked up the phone. On the other end of the line was Pastor Tom. “Tom, I want to introduce you to Jerry Brandt. He has just led our church in a great outreach and preached in our church this last week. I highly recommend him to you”.
He handed me the phone and Pastor Tom said, “Jerry, tell me a little about your ministry”. The first words out of my mouth were, “Well, it is really based on Isaiah 58”. Tom was taken back remembering the words of the person that had just talked to him the day before. “Can you come up tomorrow and tell me more?” was his response. I agreed and drove up to Everett, Washington to meet with Tom and his staff. We scheduled a “Project Light” for the future. I have to tell you that reflecting back on that outreach, it was one of the most powerful and awesome times of ministry I have ever experienced. Tom followed our pastors manual for “Project Light” to the tee. Right down to sending out 40 teams of intercessors to the streets for 8 weeks and praying territorially over the city just prior to the outreach. We had awesome results with over 200 people receiving Christ in the park and many more at a downtown bus station. The youth were powerful as they put on a modern day drama of the crucifixion wearing silver space suites. They had prepared a creative, powerful drama from their college department. The worship was total! After performing in the park with the drama they asked if they could go down to the bus station and do the drama there. Many of the cities youth hung out there with their skateboards. Of course I agreed. Let me share just one incident from that experience. While the team was setting up their sound system several of the teens went into the bars and invited the people to the streets to see and hear the musical drama and presentation of Jesus. When these two teenagesr entered a biker’s bar they were not received well. In fact, after a few curse words and expressions of rejection from the bar owner, they were more or less told to leave. On the way out they stood at the doorpost and laid hands on it and prayed over the bar, that God would bring people out to the streets. This bar was different in that it had a sold granite top and was quite substantial. The street drama started, but suddenly the people in the bar began running out into the streets shouting, “earthquake, earthquake”. Evidently the huge granite bar began to shake and shake. It frightened everyone, so the owner told everyone to get out. The only quake felt was inside the bar. Who knows, it could have been the same angel that appeared to Tom months before to introduce my ministry. By this time we were fairly comfortable working with angels and had seen them appear with us several times in San Francisco. When you do street ministry you need angels! I now expect them to assist us. The bottom line was one biker got saved. These teens prayer was powerful! God was with them.
I called Tom three years after the outreach just to say hello. It was a God timed thing because Tom was elated to tell me something. “Jerry thanks for the call, but you won’t believe who is sitting in my office with me right when you called.” I, of course, asked him who it was. “Jerry, sitting here with me was the former town drunk. This man was picked up almost nightly and taken to jail for drunkenness and trouble. He came to the park the day of our outreach and got saved. He really found Jesus. He is now up for election as a deacon in our church and I am presently counseling him for his marriage. He is marrying a lovely woman who is an attorney”.
I thought to myself, this is just too much fun. Seeing what God can do with a church that is willing to get out of their comfort zone, step out of the boat and walk on water!
Now back to Isaiah 58. I love this chapter. It holds the key to all blessing in our life! In fact, I am going to show you nine specific blessings that will come to you if you obey and follow it. It is the surest performance of God’s nature and character in our lives that I can find in the bible.
Imagine a guarantee of 9 different blessing that will come to our lives if we obey God’s chosen fast.
If I can take the liberty to use a bit of slang, God’s chosen fast ain’t about food as you will see, it is a lifestyle of caring and compassion.
Let just jump into this marvelous chapter.
GOD IS SERIOUS ABOUT THIS
Isaiah is told to cry allowed and make the message clearly heard.
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins”. Verse 1
It is quite clear God is upset. He is tired of a form of godliness without the fruits. This message was not to be given timidly. God told Isaiah not to hold anything back. It reminds me of Jesus teaching when the writers say “Again Jesus said unto the disciple”. As a parent I use this with my kids, “Haven’t I told you this before?” This is more than just a friendly reminder. Cry aloud cry like a trumpet. This is one of the loudest instruments in the band. There is time to raise our voice about some things and this is one of those times.
Then to our amazement God lists six of the most unusual sins ever listed in the bible. These are sins most pastors would like their people to perform. When I first read this I could hardly believe it. Was God really listing these things as terrible sins? He surely was. Take a look.
Sin number one. “They seek me daily”. What in the world is wrong with seeking God daily? Hello up there. Are you serious God about this sin?
Sin number two. “They delight to know my ways”. This seems to be getting worse. I thought I was supposed to delight to know God’s ways. What are you up to here God?