Why Fast?

Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout

Introduction

Fasting has been a spiritual discipline from the inception of religious thought. The Concept has been anchored in religious ceremony. It is connected to morning, suffering and personal and nation loss. but the prophet Isaiah challenged the practice by saying there is a better reason to fast do to trouble or pain only shows our connection to the challenges that life can bring.
have a limited impact on the life of the believer. When things are going well though "Why fast."

People fast for different reasons

What is a fast?

A fast is refraining from eating food

What types of fast are found in the Bible?

There are three types of Fast
++Normal Fast (Food but not water)
++Absolute fast (Food and Water)
++Partial fast (Some foods) Dietary
There are 20 fast noted in scripture. (list in notes)

FASTS

1. Moses’ 40-day fast as he prayed concerning Israel’s sin

Deut. 9:9, 18, 25–29; 10:10

2. David’s fast as he lamented over Saul’s death

2 Sam. 1:12

3. David’s fast as he lamented over Abner’s death

2 Sam. 3:35

4. David’s fast as he lamented over his child’s sickness

2 Sam. 12:16

5. Elijah’s 40-day fast after he fled from Jezebel

1 Kings 19:7–18

6. Ahab’s fast as he humbled himself before God

1 Kings 21:27–29

7. Darius’s fast as he worried over Daniel’s fate

Dan. 6:18–24

8. Daniel’s fast as he read Jeremiah’s prophecy and prayed for Judah’s sins

Dan. 9:1–19

9. Daniel’s fast as he prayed over a mysterious vision God had given him

Dan. 10:3–13

10. Esther’s fast as she sorrowed over Haman’s wicked plot to destroy her people

Esther 4:13–16

11. Ezra’s fast as he wept over the sins of the returning remnant

Ezra 10:6–17

12. Nehemiah’s fast as he wept over the broken-down walls of Jerusalem

Neh. 1:4–2:10

13. The Ninevites’ fast after they heard the preaching of Jonah

Jon. 3

14. Anna’s fast as she awaited the Messiah

Luke 2:37

15. Jesus’ 40-day fast before the temptation

Matt. 4:1–11

16. John’s disciples’ fast

Matt. 9:14–15

17. The elders’ fast in Antioch, prior to the sending out of Paul and Barnabas

Acts 13:1–5

18. Cornelius’s fast as he sought out God’s plan of salvation

Acts 10:30

19. Paul’s three-day fast after his experience on the Damascus Road

Acts 9:9

20. Paul’s 14-day fast while on a sinking ship

Acts 27:33–34

Fast were done
++In times of crisis
++In A national emergency
++When seeking God’s Direction
Isaiah 58:1–11 KJV 1900
1 Cry aloud, spare not, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, And shew my people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, And delight to know my ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And forsook not the ordinance of their God: They ask of me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching to God. 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, And exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, And to smite with the fist of wickedness: Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, To make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thine health shall spring forth speedily: And thy righteousness shall go before thee; The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, The putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul; Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, And thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, And satisfy thy soul in drought, And make fat thy bones: And thou shalt be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

The Purpose of the Text

Isaiah 58:1 KJV 1900
1 Cry aloud, spare not, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, And shew my people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah 58:1 NLT
1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!

This text is about exposing sin

Why would their sin need to be exposed?
Did they not know the wrong they have commited?

We don’t talk about sin much.

Sin is a hard topic
++Sin is the works of the flesh
++Sin is the nature of a fallen
++Sin separates us from God
It is easier to assumed that everyone knows
++What is right and wrong
++Sinful behavior violates God’s commands
Sin is not abated
++We have embraced it
++We call it normal
++We call it being human

No vaccine for sin

Vaccines offer those that receive it
++Protection without action
++I have an internal defence
Worship can have the same effect
++I have did my part
++I came to church
++I gave my tithe
Others would say I am good
++I don’t need to go to church
++I am just as good as they are
++I love God.....
We all still struggle with the effects of sin

He is talking to the believer

Isaiah 58:2 KJV 1900
2 Yet they seek me daily, And delight to know my ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And forsook not the ordinance of their God: They ask of me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching to God.

They were a good church

This people
++Sought God daily
++Delighted to know God’s ways
++As a nation did what was right
++Kept the ordinances of God
They came to God
++They relied on his justice
++They delighted in him

For this church He fasted

Isaiah 58:3 KJV 1900
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, And exact all your labours.
Why Fast?
++When things a good
++When nobody is looking

Worship can never be used to mask sin

Our worship can be about
++Looking the part
++Paying a Penance for our past
++An escape from know realities in life
Sin runs deep in us
++It hold us captive to the expected
++It limits the full release of God
Why do we hide the pain?
++Pride
++Shame
++Fear
John 3:19–20 KJV 1900
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

What was different about Isaiah’s Fast?

Isaiah said is this the fast I has chosen

Isaiah 58:5 KJV 1900
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?
A fast for
++Mourning
++Social change
++National Crisis

He said no

These things
++Are important
++Are concerning issues
++Do weigh on our heart
In the mist of
++Your worship
++Your Daily devotion
++Your coming to God
There is still
++Strife
++Debate
++Fighting

There is a deeper desire of my heart

Isaiah 58:6 KJV 1900
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke?
I desire that
++The bands of wickedness be loosed
++The burdens of life be lifted
++The oppressed go free
++Every yoke be broken
Luke 4:18–19 KJV 1900
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
We fast
++Not for loss
++Not for need
++Not for morning

We fast so that God’s people can be free.

Isaiah 58:8 KJV 1900
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thine health shall spring forth speedily: And thy righteousness shall go before thee; The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
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