Fast In Secret
Kingdom People: The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Introduction & Review
Introduction & Review
Opening Illustration:
The question that rises out of
is this: How does Jesus call us to practice our righteousness?
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
3 Pillars of Jewish Piety
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
mat 5.
True righteousness that springs from a desire for God to be glorified can only come from a heart that has been born again by faith in Jesus. But there’s another kind of righteousness - a false righteousness - that’s motivated by a desire for our own glory. Until our redemption is complete in heaven or at Jesus’s return, our motivations are going to be a mixed bag. And so, Jesus calls us to beware. Don’t lose the reward, he says!
STRUCTURE: vv2-18 - Jesus illustrates how subtle and deceptive this false kind of righteousness can be, using what some have called the Three Pillars of Jewish piety - giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. EACH - “When you give… when you pray… when you fast…”, NEG example, POS example, PROMISE of reward
And then, in verses 19-25, Jesus gives 3 separate summaries of the teaching here in chapter 6, and each of the summaries is wrapped up in what we value.
This week, we’re going to take a deeper look at the principle and the first of the pillars, giving to the needy.
The question that rises out of
is this: How does Jesus call us to practice our righteousness?
Q. How and why should Christians fast?
Q. How and why should Christians fast?
Q. How and why should Christians fast?
ILLUST:
ORG: We’ll answer the question in four major points: The principle, the problem, the practice, and the promise.
ILLUST:
I. The Principle - Beware how you practice your righteousness! (6:1)
I. The Principle - Beware how you practice your righteousness! (6:1)
<<READ 6:1>>
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
True righteousness that springs from a desire for God to be glorified can only come from a heart that has been born again by faith in Jesus. But there’s another kind of righteousness - a false righteousness - that’s motivated by a desire for our own glory. Until our redemption is complete in heaven or at Jesus’s return, our motivations are going to be a mixed bag. And so, Jesus calls us to beware. Don’t lose the reward, he says!
STRUCTURE: vv2-18 - Jesus illustrates how subtle and deceptive this false kind of righteousness can be, using what some have called the Three Pillars of Jewish piety - giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. EACH - “When you give… when you pray… when you fast…”, NEG example, POS example, PROMISE of reward
And then, in verses 19-25, Jesus gives 3 separate summaries of the teaching here in chapter 6, and each of the summaries is wrapped up in what we value.
This week, we’re going to take a deeper look at the principle and the first of the pillars, giving to the needy.
Three Pillars of Jewish piety - giving, prayer, fasting. All can be done hypocritically
“Greater righteousness” than the scribes & Pharisees, made possible by the work of Christ within us alone (cf. 5:6), contrasts w/ the false righteousness of - practicing before others in order to be seen vs. practicing with the focus entirely on the glory of God
v1 - “Then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven”
But cf. vv19-24 - We ought to desire treasure, just a different kind of treasure. The reward of God’s pleasure & joy in us, and the reward of seeing the “living stones” God used us to place in heaven, eternity with those we labored to see in heaven with us
Review rewards?
Giving & prayer already discussed, now fasting
II. The Problem - Selfish Self-Denial (6:16)
II. The Problem - Selfish Self-Denial (6:16)
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
<<READ 16>>
The problem here is the same one we saw earlier in Chapter 6 - hypocrisy. In Chapter 5, we saw how the Pharisees had taken the Old Testament Law, God’s perfect standard of righteousness, the story and standard of God’s covenant with Israel, which was intended to demonstrate our lack of righteousness and our need for salvation by grace alone, and they added man-made traditions to it until it was emptied of its power and intent. Jesus came not to abolish the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. He filled the Law back up, so we could see self-righteousness for what it is - a mask that hides our sin and our need for God.
WASN’T NEW IN JESUS’ DAY
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 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? 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? 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.
isa 58.3-
A hypocrite is a mask-wearer. Their religion doesn’t rise out of coming to the LORD poor and needy, knowing their only hope is His grace and mercy. But if you asked them, they’d say that it was. But their motives betray what’s really going on. The hypocrite’s religion is virtue signaling. They give, pray, and fast in order to be seen.
A hypocrite is a mask-wearer. Their religion doesn’t rise out of coming to the LORD poor and needy, knowing their only hope is His grace and mercy. But if you asked them, they’d say that it was. But their motives betray what’s really going on. The hypocrite’s religion is virtue signaling. They give, pray, and fast in order to be seen.
Before we get to the heart of the problem, though, we should probably talk about fasting in general.
Presumes we will fast - not “if” but “when,” cf. giving to the poor (6:2) & praying (6:5). Jesus’ original hearers understood that fasting was important, they just often misunderstood its purpose.
emptied
Perhaps you remember, in chapter 5,
the importance of fasting, but often misunderstood its purpose.
Presumes we will fast - not “if” but “when,” cf. giving to the poor (6:2) & praying (6:5). Jesus’ original hearers understood the importance of fasting, but often misunderstood its purpose.
Almost every generation of Christians saw fasting as a normal part of spiritual practice.
The very earliest post-Biblical writers assume Christians will fast in some way. Even the Reformers, fleeing from the unbiblical fasting of Roman Catholicism, didn’t abandon fasting. John Calvin, for example, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion book 4, spends about 3000 words detailing the Biblical nature and purpose of fasting. He was keenly aware of the misunderstandings, superstitions, and errors that kept cropping up throughout church history, but he still fasted, because it’s a biblical spiritual practice.
The Reformers, fleeing from the unbiblical fasting of Roman Catholicism, didn’t abandon fasting.
But didn’t take long for misunderstandings to creep back in. In the Didache, a Christian treatise from the first or second century, the author tells the
John Calvin notes in the Institutes of the Christian Religion that the Catholicism of his day said that repentance was not enough for forgiveness and redemption - in order to be forgiven, one had to repent, but also add “tears, fasting, offerings, and works of charity. With these we must pay our debts to God’s righteousness.” But Calvin says,
Institutes of the Christian Religion 25. General Presentation and Refutation of the Roman Doctrine
Over against such lies I put freely given remission of sins; nothing is more clearly set forth in Scripture
Strangely, only in the modern western world, where hunger is nearly extinct, have Christians almost completely abandoned fasting. We should ask why this is - have we made an idol out of prosperity and comfort?
Actually, before we answer that, we should answer the question, “What’s biblical fasting, anyway?”
Every religion and even modern secularism has some form of fasting, and there’s a clear reason why: It’s an intensified and deliberate version of something that we do naturally in times of serious challenge.
Devote thyself to fasting and prayer, but not beyond measure, lest thou destroy thyself thereby.
ILLUST: When I visit you in the hospital when you have a baby, I’ll probably tell you about how Heather and I accidentally started missing meals when Halina was born. It wasn’t deliberate. Sleep-deprived, every thought is concentrated on how to make this new life work, you might miss a meal or two. We had to remind each other to eat.
Maybe while mourning the loss of a loved one - not felt like eating
Human nature isn’t divided neatly like a cafeteria tray, where body is over here, and spirit is over here, and the mashed potatoes stay separate from the green beans. Our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical states all affect one another
If you don’t believe me, try to have a meaningful conversation with a teenager after a lock-in or a sleep-over and tell me the mind is unaffected by lack of sleep.
Worldly fasting takes that normal, common human tendency to forgo food in times of stress or sorrow and does it on purpose. Some false religions teach that fasting gives extra spiritual power or the ability to convince or manipulate otherwise uncaring gods to do something for you.
In the modern secular religion of Instagram, and dieting, and hipster productivity, fasting is about physical health and usually some kind of pseudo-science. And when the famous people stop doing it, it will be replaced by some other diet and exercise fad.
So the world is fully aware of the idea of deliberately going without food for a specified period of time, but that’s not really the heart of Biblical fasting.
The only repeated, commanded fast for the people of Israel was on the Day of Atonement. In and 23, and , the LORD tells the people of Israel that they must afflict themselves on that day. The word means to humble oneself, to bring oneself low. The Day of Atonement was the holiest day of the year, when the people, the land, and the Temple would be cleansed of their sins in a ceremony that pointed forward to the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ for salvation. On that day, no one was to do any work, and fasting was an outward expression of the seriousness of the day. The seriousness of sin. And the necessity of atonement. To be in right relationship with God is more important than food.
Throughout the Old Testament, fasting is intimately connected to the need for God. And so it’s connected to repentance, worship, and prayer.
When David had sinned so terribly by committing adultery with Bathsheba and then sending her husband to the front lines so that he would die, and Nathan confronted David with the horrific nature of his sin, and told him that his son by Bathsheba would not survive,
16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
In
When Nehemiah, Jewish cupbearer to the king of Persia, learned that despite the fact that a generation had passed since his people had begun returning to Judah from exile, that Jerusalem still lay in ruins, its walls and gates in ruins and its houses destroyed,
4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Even though fasting was only commanded on the Day of Atonement, it was commended whenever sin, or sorrow, or need seemed to threaten to overcome the people.
Why? The clue is found in the word used in - Afflict yourselves. Humble yourselves with fasting. Bring yourself low before God with fasting.
Fasting does not make your prayers more effective. It doesn’t make you more spiritual. It doesn’t put your prayers in a Priority Mail envelope. Fasting is meant to bring your attention to where it’s supposed to be.
When you fast, and you realize just how easy it is for you to get mad when you’re hungry, and how much of your good attitude and Godly behavior is actually just being well-fed, you realize how dependent you are on your daily bread. Fasting shows us how close our sin is to the surface.
When you fast, and you realize just how easy it is for you to get mad when you’re hungry, and how much of your good attitude and Godly behavior is actually just being well-fed, you realize how dependent you are on your daily bread. Fasting shows us how close our sin is to the surface.
We truly are poor in spirit.
So what did a Biblical fast look like? The normal starting point was simply abstaining from food. In , when Daniel realized the end of the exile was approaching, he sought the Lord in prayer, and pleas for mercy, and confession of sin, and it says he fasted with sackcloth and ashes. When the Jewish people were threatened by Haman in , it says they mourned with fasting and weeping and lamenting, many of them in sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth - you can imagine, it’s a rough fabric, uncomfortable. And if you’ve ever cleaned out a fireplace or a grill, you probably know that gross feeling when you get ash on your hands. It’s simply uncomfortable. To wear sackcloth and put ashes on your body were just two ways of intensifying the self-humbling of fasting.
But by the time Jesus began His ministry, fasting - which was supposed to help us approach God in humility - had become a badge of honor. Virtue signaling.
Look at verse 16 with me again:
had become a badge of personal piety. Think about that with me - the contradiction of that. The thing that was supposed to help you express and see your lowliness became a bragging right.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Jesus uses humor to point out the hypocrisy of self-serving self-denial. The words “disfigure” and “seen” are two related words that you could translate: “They hide their faces in order to be seen,” or “they distort their faces so they will be recognized.”
They wear the mask of humility because they want everyone to praise them.
They wear the mask of humility because they want everyone to praise them.
Like a kid who falls and then exaggerates a limp so mom and dad will dote on him, the hypocrite makes sure the anguish and intensity of his fast is known by all. He smears ashes on his face, not to remind himself that he is but dust, utterly dependent on God for every breath and every morsel of bread, but so everyone will think that’s what he’s doing. Jesus says that the response he wants from others is all he gets.
APPLY: Last week, I had lunch with Stephen Kennedy, and he told me about how the culture of fasting in Ethiopia leads to some pretty direct parallels to Pharisee looking gloomy to make sure everyone knows he’s fasting, but this is one that we can appreciate, even if you’re not accustomed to fasting. Self-serving self-denial is like fishing for spiritual compliments.
But the solution Jesus gives is pretty familiar by now in chapter 6:
“
Later in the Old Testament, we see
EXPLAIN Nature of biblical fasting
EXPLAIN Nature of biblical fasting
In NT, associated w/ worship & prayer (lk 2.37, Acts 13.2-3, )
NOTE Irony of “hiding their faces in order to be seen”
Fasting - FIRST going without food for a specific time & for spiritual reasons
Every religion & even secularism has some form of fasting. It’s really an intensified & deliberate version of something that happens naturally in times of serious challenge
Forgetting to eat vs. choosing not to eat (ILLUST: Newborn)
Mystics associated fasting w/ ecstatic visions. False religions taught that fasting would give extra spiritual power / authority / ability to convince uncaring gods to do something for you
Modern secularism - fasting as a physical health practice. “Juice cleanse,” etc. Like every other similar thing, it will fade when famous people stop doing it
Note how people use even secular/unspiritual fasting as a way to create social credit
None of these are Biblical fasting - OT fasting often connected to repentance, always always always intimately connected to prayer & communion with God
Day of Atonement - only mandated ongoing fast
Other OT fasts - “afflict yourselves” or “humble yourselves”
Self-denial meant to remind/demonstrate the fact that we need God more than we need food
Like giving & prayer, Jesus uses the word “when” to indicate that fasting is a normal part of Christian experience.
Strangely, only in the modern western world, where hunger is nearly extinct, have Christians almost completely abandoned fasting. Was common not just in Roman Catholicism but also among Protestant Reformers. So we haven’t turned away from fasting because of its association with Lent but because of our own idolatry of prosperity
III. The Practice - Secret Self-Denial (6:17-18a)
III. The Practice - Secret Self-Denial (6:17-18a)
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Like giving & prayer, Jesus uses the word “when” to indicate that fasting is a normal part of Christian experience. And He says that when we fast, we should do what we can to make it a secret between us and our Father. The solution to self-serving self-denial is secret self-denial.
As we saw with giving and prayer, since the temptation in v1 is to "practice your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them,” secrecy enables us to fast the way we were meant to. To humble ourselves before God.
We saw with prayer that this doesn’t mean there is no place for corporate prayer or corporate fasting. We see churches committing to fasting as a group in and 14. The principle from verse 1 is that we must not fast to be seen and praised by others. Instead, we are to fast for God’s glory.
But before we dig deeper into the how, we should stop and think about why we should fast.
I had a conversation earlier in the week with someone who said that they grew up in a church where fasting was encouraged, but no one ever said why. Like, every Christian should pray, and if you’re really serious you should fast, but that was about it.
On the other hand, growing up in the Episcopal Church, fasting was fairly common in my childhood. Every Lent, we were encouraged to take up some form of temporary self-denial. The idea was that in preparation for Easter, we should pick something that normally would be acceptable, like meat or chocolate or McDonalds, something we were accustomed to enjoying regularly, and we should fast from that thing for the forty days of Lent. The purpose of the fast was to remember the forty days that Christ fasted in the wilderness, and to focus our attention on our own weakness and sinfulness, because Lent is primarily supposed to be a time of repentance. Over the years I’ve been surprised how many people grew up in churches that observed Lent who never learned that you’re not supposed to be fasting on Sundays. So even during Lent, you should eat that chocolate on Sundays.
So the idea seems okay, but for most of the people I knew it ended up either being a meaningless ritual. There wasn’t much spiritual content to it for most people.
I expect one of the reasons we fast so little is because we don’t really know why we ought to. That’s where comes in.
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, it was pretty clear to everyone that His disciples were not regularly fasting.
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Something fundamental to fasting changes with the arrival of Jesus on the scene. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement, with its fasting, pointed forward to the atonement that Jesus provided. But after His crucifixion and resurrection, the purpose of the Day of Atonement was fulfilled and it was set aside. Today, there is no commandment to fast for you and me, period. None. But I hope commandments aren’t the only thing that could motivate you to fast.
The disciples of John the Baptist ask the question - why don’t your disciples fast? And the answer is pretty simple: How can they mourn while I’m with them?
The Savior of the world was present with them, walking with them. Their Redeemer was there with them. Fasting would be totally inappropriate.
But from the Garden of Gethsemane until the return of Jesus, fasting is appropriate and natural. But it’s not for the same reason as the Day of Atonement fasting. No longer do we fast only to humble ourselves and remember that we need God more than we need bread.
Christians fast because the bridegroom is taken away. We fast because we are waiting for His return. When He sets the great wedding feast before us and death is swallowed up forever.
we fas
John Piper says it this way:
“Fasting is a physical exclamation point at the end of the sentences: “I need you! I want you! I long for you! You are my treasure! I want more of you! Oh, for the day when you would return! Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Fasting is a physical exclamation point at the end of the sentences: “I need you! I want you! I long for you! You are my treasure! I want more of you! Oh, for the day when you would return! Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!”
“The heart of it is longing. We are putting our stomach where our heart is to give added intensity and expressiveness to our ache for Jesus.”
The heart of it is longing. We are putting our stomach where our heart is to give added intensity and expressiveness to our ache for Jesus.
When you pray, do you regularly long for Jesus to return? Do you consider all the promises that God has made that cannot be fulfilled until then? Fasting is Jesus’s way of helping us tune our hearts to the prayer “Your Kingdom come.”
regularly consider all the promises that God has made that cannot be fulfilled until Jesus returns? If not,
Your Kingdom come. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Your Kingdom come. He will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Your Kingdom come. Injustice will vanish forever.
Your Kingdom come. No more murder. No more hatred. Every sin in me, and every sin in the world, will be done away with.
Your Kingdom come. We will share in His resurrection, the perishable will put on the imperishable.
Now, between Christ’s ascension and His return, He says, His disciples will fast.
Because we need His righteousness more than we need food. We need His presence more than we need bread.
In OT, , etc
In NT, associated w/ worship & prayer (lk 2.37, , )
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
So, He says, fast in secret. Fast because you know you need Jesus. Fast because you know you don’t feel your need for Him. Do you want to long for Him more than you do. Fast as the physical exclamation point to your prayers.
What actually distinguishes Christian fasting from other forms of fasting - longing for GOD, not longing for spiritual or social credit or physical health
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
Cf. 5:6 - we need righteousness more than we need food (cf. )
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Fasting as a deliberate, voluntary decision to focus one’s affections on God, His promises, and Christ’s return by forgoing something that is good and to be celebrated.
5:6 - we need righteousness more than we need food (cf. )
Cf. 9:14-17 - NT fasting connected w/ fact that we are longing for the return of the Bridegroom
And note how He ends, in verse 18, with the promise:
Fasting as a deliberate, voluntary decision to focus one’s affections on God, His promises, and Christ’s return by forgoing something that is good and to be celebrated.
Specifically food
IV. The Promise - Your Father Will Reward You (6:18)
IV. The Promise - Your Father Will Reward You (6:18)
18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
<<READ 18>>
What is the reward for fasting in secret? In the here-and-now, imagine the blessing of longing for God more than you do. To desire communion with Him, to see your need of Him more and more.
And we’ve talked in recent weeks about the eternal rewards that the LORD has for those who give and pray in secret, the eternal dwelling places that that He is preparing for us.
And in eternity,
I wonder, if you’ve never fasted, if that would motivate you - Jesus says repeatedly in chapter 6 that we should give, and pray, and fast in order to receive an eternal reward from our Father. In the next verses, He says
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Jesus wants you to want heavenly treasure. Have you considered the possibility that you’re missing out on a heavenly reward just because you’ve never tried to fast?
So I want to help you do it. I have two major applications for us.
APPLY:
The first is simply a how-to for first-time fasters.
REMEMBER THE GOAL
Start Small, Specific, Safe, with Scripture
Specific
Small - If you’re unaccustomed to fasting, don’t give up food for 24 hours right away. Try going without lunch one day.
Safe
Or set aside a type of food for your fast. Maybe avoid meat or sugary drinks first.
Specific - Decide in advance what you will fast, and how long. Abstaining from lunch on Fridays for a month, for example.
Safe - Not everyone is able to go without food without experiencing health issues. There is something specific to food that makes it the primary means of fasting in the Bible, but it’s not the only thing. There aren’t many things that compare with hunger as a pointer to the return of Christ. But if you aren’t able to abstain from food for fasting, you might consider a fast from some other good thing that is difficult to go without.
With Scripture. This is very important. Fasting is meant to be the exclamation point on our prayers of longing. As John MacArthur says, You can pray without fasting, but biblically, you can’t fast without praying. John Piper calls fasting “the hungry handmaiden of prayer.” Without prayer, fasting is just going hungry.
So set the Scriptures before you, open to the promises of God that will be fulfilled at Christ’s return. Read the Scriptures, and then contemplate the implications.
But I’ve noticed that without a plan, I’ve often tried to fast, only to
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
I can set this word before me as I fast, and consider - what am I groaning for as I await the return of Christ? Jesus, you’re going to redeem my body. No more chronic pain. No more tinnitus. I won’t be color-blind anymore.
My dad won’t have cancer anymore. Nobody will. Lord, we need you.
Lord, when you return, I get to meet the child we lost in the womb. When you return, my
<<HOW TO GET SCRIPTURE LIST>>
SECOND APPLICATION -
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Fasting connected to mission - Paul & Barnabas
APPLY - Youth Group mission fast - invite Caseys forward
APPLY - Fasting / prayer Scripture list
APPLY - Youth Group mission fast - invite Caseys forward
Note Acts 13:2-3