Think Fast

Last Sunday was Fasting 101. We said that fasting is “abstaining from food (and/or other things) for a measured period of time in order to heighten my hunger for the things of God.”

It’s getting off the table all of the (lesser) stuff that fills my appetites, and focusing solely on my relationship with Jesus Christ.

So what’s this “and/or other things”? For some, traditional fasting may not be physically possible (diabetics, for example). Maybe you need to fast from video games, or Facebook, or even television. The point is this: instead of feeding on the lesser things, I am devoting that time, energy, and appetite capacity to prayer and the Word - focusing on my walk with Jesus.

Try fasting once a day for a few days (skip lunch, for example, to pray instead). Or try a straight 1 day fast, or even work up to a 2-3 day fast if this is new to you. Keep it between you and the Lord. See how differently you focus on Christ during the fast, and afterwards as a result.

When is a good occasion to fast? James MacDonald points out how Isaiah mentions some great reasons and seasons to fast in Isaiah 58. I will go through just 5 of these here to hopefully encourage you to take a season of fasting:

When is a good occasion to fast?

Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

1) When you are stuck in a sinful pattern or feel a heavy spiritual burden. Stuck in a rut? Time to fast and let God get you on track.

Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

2) When you want to give. Are you giving the way you want to? If not, fasting can help get you on track.

Isaiah 58:8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

3) When you need encouragement. Who doesn’t need that reminder of God’s love, presence, and provision? Fasting to focus on our identity in Christ will bring great encouragement.

Isaiah 58:9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

4) When you need an answer to prayer. Fasting and prayer go together like peanut butter and chocolate, like Batman and Robin, like Hydrogen and Oxygen (I think those 3 analogies will cover every demographic). We pray, but do we buckle down and focus on intense, passionate prayer? Fasting helps us do that.

Isaiah 58:10-11 - if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

5) When you need direction. At a crossroads? Need some guidance? Fasting has a way of helping us really listen to the promptings of the Lord.

Let’s call people back to this incredible gift the Lord has given His people!

p.s. - Let's hunger for the things of God.

Let's Talk About You Know What

This is a p.s. to this Sunday’s (4/28) message. You can read it before or after, but this is just a word from the Word that I want to share with the church, but will not be including it in my sermon. That happens sometimes. You could preach about 5 more sermons just with the material I have to cut out for Sunday!

As we talk about all things marriage and physical relations (aka “you know what“, aka YKW), one of the ways we can protect our marriages is by guarding our hearts. 

Proverbs 4:23 says: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

It is sort of an abstract concept. How do I literally guard my heart? Well, he goes on to tell us specifically how to!

First (Proverbs 4:24), put away crooked speech. Lying, deceitful, lustful, angry, sinful… get those words out of your vocabulary. Stop the crass talking about YKW. But let’s hone in on the next 2 verses. Proverbs 4:25 says to let your eyes look directly forward and Proverbs 4:26 says to ponder the path of your feet.

Two words here for you: 1) Watch what you focus on (4:25). My eyes must be on my love and commitment to my own spouse. When you get your eyes off of that, and start looking around, it’s easy to let your heart go astray fantasizing about YKW with another woman. It’s easy to romanticize, ladies, about what it might be like to have a passionate YKW with some other guy. Men tend to be more visually enticed, where woman lean more towards an emotional fixation. Men AND women: Eyes forward! And fix your gaze on what (rather, who) God has provided for you. God meets your needs for YKW with your spouse. Period. Get focused on that.

And 2) Watch where you are going (4:26)! I need to pay attention where I am going. If you are not careful, you can end up on a website you shouldn’t be on (depicting explicit and sinful images of YKW), in a chatroom you have no business entering (talking openly about YKW), or some other compromising situation where temptation to YKW (with someone not named “your spouse“) is pounding down your door. Most sin can be avoided if we sincerely pray, “Lead me not into temptation”, and then follow the Shepherd when He is guiding you away from it. How many tragic stories of life-destroying sin started with, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time”...?

When it comes to maintaining marital faithfulness, this is advice (no, sorry, it‘s a command from God) you must embrace!

The rest is coming this Sunday! I am doing a whole sermon on YKW. Because it's in the Bible. Because God invented it. Because the church is pretty lame about discussing YKW properly. Pray for me.

p.s. - Let's keep You Know What at You Know Where. You Know How and Sunday, You'll Know Why. (When is up to you and your spouse.)

Baptism - What's Trending in Scripture?

This Sunday, we will be discussing baptism. This subject sees a wide spectrum of beliefs, everything from “baptizing babies brings them into the covenant family” to “unless you are baptized you are going to hell“.

As always, we are just going to the Bible for answers. With all due respect to theologians and “church fathers”, their creeds and beliefs are not absolute authority - only the Word of God is.

As a preview, an appetizer, food for thought… get your Bible and check out these passages in Acts. The church came into being in Acts 2, and the book records accounts of people being baptized throughout the rest of its chapters. See if you notice any patterns or recurring themes…

Acts 2:37-41 -

The promised Holy Spirit came down and Peter preaches at Pentecost! Those who believed were baptized, the text seems to indicate it was immediate (v41). 

Acts 8:12 - 

Philip preached, the men and women believed, and they were immediately baptized. 

Acts 8:26-39 -

Philip shares the Good News of Jesus Christ with an Ethiopian Eunuch, and upon belief, he is immediately baptized (v36).

Acts 9:1-19 -

Saul, persecuting the church, encounters Jesus Christ and is blinded for 3 days. God sent Ananias to Saul, who then was filled with Holy Spirit. He regained sight and was baptized immediately (v18).

Acts 10:44-48 -

Peter learns (v34) God shows no partiality - Gentiles included! Cornelius and company listen to Peter preach (v44). They believe and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Then they were, you guessed it, baptized immediately (v47-48).

Acts 16:11-15 -

Paul was preaching at a ladies fellowship (v13), they received the Word and were baptized immediately (v14-15). Then in verses 25-34, Paul and Silas are in prison and having a worship service! An earthquake brought a jailhouse rock. When the jailer is about to commit suicide, Paul stops him, preaches the Word to him, and he is baptized immediately (v32-33).

Acts 18:-1-8 -

Paul is in Corinth, and facing rejection at the synagogue from the Jews. He shook his garments and walked next door and preached to some Corinthians who believed and were baptized immediately (v8).

Did you see the pattern?

The Word preached, person believes, person receives Christ, person immediately responds by being baptized.

Have you been baptized?

Harvest Bible Chapel will be joining North Way (Wexford campus) in a worship / baptism service on Wednesday evening, March 21 at 7:00. Honor the Lord by making this profession of faith! 

p.s. - Need more info about baptism? Come Sunday and hear all about it.

Election / Free-Will: An Answer

Note: I said AN answer. Not THE answer. Not THE PERFECT answer. Not THE BEST answer. Maybe just the best answer I can give. 

It is coming up in the sermon Sunday on Colossians 3:12-17, so I thought I could use the blog as a sort of appendix to discuss the topic.

I get roped into the conversa… ok, debate, all the time. The big question concerning how a saved person came to Christ in the first place. Do we pick God, or did God pick us? The answer is: yes.

For the record, I don’t consider myself a Calvinist. Or an Armenian. Or a Reformed Dispensational Covenant… guy. I am just a follower of Christ. Some people love to wax eloquently about these frameworks some men built around theology. I just don’t care. And I don’t mean that in a mean way. I just literally don’t care. I don’t think about it. I don’t read books about it. And I have never doodled John Calvin’s name on the front of my notebook.

I care about the message of the Bible and presenting it to people that know the Lord and people who don’t. Sometimes the Bible says God chose us. Sometimes it says we are to choose to follow Him. I simply want to preach the message of each passage, and let the Word of God speak for itself. Let the text be the message, let the message reflect the text. Do the homework, yes. Cross reference, yes. Scripture interprets Scripture, yes. Preach theological constructs from men, no. (The real danger in these is going to the extreme on either side, but that is a discussion for another time).

And at the end of the day, whether you are a Calvinist or Armenian, what difference does it make? It doesn’t change anything. I am to love God with all of my heart / soul / mind / strength and my neighbor as myself either way. I am to worship, to witness, and to pray either way.

My preacher friends are aghast that I am not a Calvinist, in the same way my wife would be if I wore skinny jeans. But I want you to think of the guy who comes to church because his life is a wreck. He needs to know the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, Jesus revealed in His Word. His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit indwelling those who believe. I have no interest in introducing him to all this Calvinism / Armenian stuff. Just pursue God, man! Get in the Word and on your knees and revel in the fact that the Holy Sovereign Eternal God loves you and became a man and forgave your sin and gave you eternal life. Then go love people and share that message. "Then what?" Do it again!

The Bible teaches God chose us and we chose Him. At the same time. This makes no sense to us because from the day we were born, we have always ever known 2 things: time and space. We can’t fathom a reality outside of those. But God is not bound by time or space. So whether it is the “who chose who” debate, or the Trinity, or “repentance: a command (Acts 17:30) or something granted by God (2 Timothy 2:25)?”, and many other issues, sometimes we can’t just systematically explain things into a neat and tidy little outline.

These things all make sense to an infinite God. Don’t be shocked that man can’t figure these things out. He is God and we are… not. Is it okay with you that there are things about God that we just don’t understand? Deuteronomy 29:29 says God has some things we don’t know, but He made sure to give us what he wants us to know in His Word.

If using these labels of identification help you, that’s cool, and you are still my brother / sister. Nothing said here was meant to be intentionally offensive, but to share my heart about these things because I am often asked about my position on them. 

So if I have to pick a label, I’ll just go with “clueless but joyful”.

Leave a comment below. I know you want to respond somehow. And we can handle a lively discussion, right?

p.s. - does not wear skinny jeans, for the record