Song: First Love Knowing God through Prayer Part 2 Going Deeper January 14, 2018 If you have your bible turn with me to Ezekiel 47. We are on day 7 of our 17 day Prayer Journey as a church. This past week more than 70 Pastors and Christian leaders met for a morning of prayer. More than 20 different churches and ministries were represented. There was a wonderful sense of unity in the room as we prayed for each other, our churches and our community. I think I have a brief video that was shot that morning where we are gathered in a circle, joining hands in prayer. SLIDE- Video: Pastor s Prayer morning. (30 sec.) Isn t that great? There is something really great that happens when brothers and sisters join together in unity. The bible says, that s where God s blessing flows. Amen? SLIDE- Well Last Sunday, I shared from Ezekiel 47. Where God gives this vision to Ezekiel about a river that flows from the temple of God. And in his vision God leads Ezekiel on a journey along the path where the river is allowed to flow. And it s a river that only starts out as a trickle, only ankle deep. But then as he walks in the river it becomes knee deep and as he walks a little further it becomes waste deep and then it becomes so high and strong that he can t cross over, lest he be swept away. 1
Then he is lead to the bank of the river and he watches what happens as the river is allowed to flow freely throughout the land. Wherever the river flows it brings renewal When it flows to the Dead Sea the water turns from bitter to fresh. When it flows through the land all sorts of fruit trees grow up and their leaves serve as healing for the nations. This is meant to serve a wonderful picture of renewal and Hope when people turn to God and walk in His ways. And as a result healing and freshness and fruitfulness come. And I mentioned last Sunday that As I ve thought and prayed about this I m wondering if perhaps this could be a prophetic picture that God wants to share with Evangel Church for 2018 and beyond. Could it be that this picture of the water that flows from the temple is meant to be a picture of what can happen when Spirit of God is allowed to completely fill and flow through the lives of His holy people? We know that water is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit. IN John 7 Jesus said, Out of your innermost beings shall flow rivers of living water by which He meant, the Holy Spirit whom those who believed in Him would later receive. We ALSO know that The Spirit of God is THE SOURCE of the RIVER that flows from the THRONE of God! 2
And we ALSO KNOW THAT AS the Spirit of God is allowed to flow with freedom throughout the land that wherever it flows there is blessing and fruitfulness and harvest! Places where there had only been dryness now there is life! Places where there had only been bitterness now there is freshness! Places where there had only been sickness, now there is health! Places where there had only been despair, now there is hope! Could it be that God is speaking to us these days about what could happen, in our lives and our community, if we allowed God to take us to a deeper place with Him? I believe that s exactly what He is saying. God wants to take us to a deeper place in our walk with Him and the outflow of that relationship will bring Blessing and Harvest. But if that is going to happen we need to make a choice! We need to be willing to get out of the kiddie end of the pool and take a plunge into the deep end of God s plan for our lives. You know, I think there are so many Christian people who are satisfied to live in the shallow end of the river. I mean, let s be honest It doesn t take much faith to live in the shallow end. It doesn t take much trust when you feel like you can touch the bottom of the river with your feet. 3
It takes a lot more trust and faith to wade out deeper into the water, especially when it seems that we can t touch the bottom anymore. But that s where God wants to take us. He wants to take us to a deeper level of relationship with Him. One of ways to get to those deeper places with God will come through Fasting and Prayer. I want to talk about FASTING this morning. I admit that I do not come to this topic as an expert. Some of you here today could teach me a lot about this topic because you have more experience than me with fasting. BUT God has been speaking to me about this topic for past two years. And I have been starting to practice fasting in more own life on a more regular basis. And it has helped me to go deeper in my relationship with God. And I feel like now is the time to get it back on our radar as a church. If we want to go deeper with God and start to experience some of the blessings that Ezekiel 47 is talking about. The Bible actually has quite a bit to say about fasting But I ll just touch on a few things for the sake of time. SLIDE- From a biblical point of view, Fasting refers to abstaining from something for spiritual purposes. (we will talk about the 4
purpose of fasting in a moment) But basically fasting is being willing to give up something so that we can get more of something else. For Ex. We give up food so we can feed more on Jesus who is the bread of life. SLIDE- Illus. I love what our kids ministry is doing this month For the older kids they are handing our these Popcorn boxes What are you willing to give up? What are you willing to fill up? In essence they are teaching our kids about the importance of fasting. Being willing to take away something so I can fill up on something better. Although, not all the kids were getting it One smart aleck kid said, Is it ok if I give up doing homework? Or my chores? NO! But Fasting refers to abstaining from something for spiritual purposes. Now, Normally refers to abstaining from food.. Although it could refer to fasting from other things, like media, for example. Illus. In fact, I ve said before, that I believe that for the younger generation, going on a media fast would be much more difficult that going on a food fast. Because we ve become so dependant upon media that going without it even for a day would be hard. 5
Bible talks about Different types of fasts (Some of them are listed on this fasting information sheet in your bulletin) SLIDE - Partial fast, which has sometimes become known as the Daniel Fast. This is take from the example of life of Daniel in Babylon. Where it wasn t a complete fast from food. But it was a 10-day fast where Daniel only ate certain kids of foods. SLIDE - Absolute fast Abstaining from food or water for a period of time. This seems to be the most common type of fast. (Esther 4:16 or Acts 9:9) In most cases, the bible seems to indicate that fasting is meant to be a private matter between a person and God. (That s why Jesus says, When you fast don t go telling everyone that you are fasting) SLIDE- However, there are occasions when a time of corporate fasting is required. When the people of God are called together to join forces because of a national emergency or a time of crisis. Read the Book of Esther. This incredible story of how the Jewish people were going to be wiped off the face of the earth by a cruel dictator. And God raises up this Jewish girl by the name of Esther to become the queen in order to save her people. BUT before that happened there was a time period when things were looking very bad for the Jewish people and so Esther calls 6
her people to fast and pray for 3 days, to go without food and water. And that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel s back. And the king relented and the people were saved. Illus. IN 1756 the King of Britain called for a solemn day of prayer and fasting because there was a threat of invasion by the armies of France. SLIDE - Listen to what John Wesley had to say about this event This was from his journal on February 6 th of that year The fast was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God has heard our prayer, and there will be yet a lengthening of our tranquility. A few days later in his journal he wrote these words Humility was turned into rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted. (Praise the Lord) Folks, there is power when people come together to pray and fast. Let s take for a few moments and talk about The Purpose of Fasting SLIDE - 1. Fasting shows God that we are serious about going deeper with Him. 7
That s what we are talking about this morning Going Deeper in our relationship with God. Taking our relationship with God to another level. Fasting actually shows God that we are serious about stepping out of the shallow end of our faith. SLIDE- 2. Fasting helps us to keep our focus on God. Often times, people feel like they need to fast because they are looking for some kind of a breakthrough in their life. Maybe they need a breakthrough in their marriage or in their family. Maybe they need to be healed and so they fast. And there is nothing wrong with that. But one thing we need to remember is this that fasting is not just going without, so that we can twist God s arms to get what we want. Fasting must always centre on God FIRST. In other words The main purpose of fasting is so that we would actually draw closer to God! Illus. I was talking to a lady this week that told me about two different occasions when she fasted that produced tow different results. She said, the first time I went on a fast I did it with the wrong motives. She said, I went on a fast and I said to myself oh, 8
won t this be good I ll get closer to God and I ll lose some weight. She said, I think the losing weight part clouded out the getting closer to God part. She said, I lost some weight but I didn t get any closer to God. She said, the second time my motive was completely different. She said, God, I m desperate to hear your voice, and so I m going to fast until I hear you speaking. And so that s what she did, and it wasn t long into her fast that God showed up and spoke to her and drew her close to Himself. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why we should fast to draw closer to God and to feed on Jesus who is the bread of life. Illus. I was thinking about this What if one day I come home from work and I m famished. But I ve got 45 minutes before meal time. What if I go into the cupboard and load up on snacks. What s going to happen when mealtime comes? I m not going to be hungry and I will miss out on this wonderful meal Wendy has put together, because I snacked on other stuff. I think our spiritual life can be like that If we are always snacking on other things we are not going to be hungry for the main meal which is God Himself. You know what happens when we fast? We actually make a decision that we are not going to snack before the big meal. 9
When we fast we are saying I am going to take some time away from the snacks so that I can focus on feeding on Jesus who is my bread and my life. One of the other reasons WHY we need to fast is SLIDE- 3. Fasting also reveals things that control us. Like food or media. When we start to go without food or media or coffee it gets uncomfortable doesn t it? That s why the first few days fasting are always the hardest. When you are fasting from food, you feel the hunger pains and the discomfort. Right? Why is that? Well, it sn not that you are starving! It s because our bodies have been conditioned through the years to give into those hunger signals and so, we eat to make us more comfortable. We even have a new term for this we call it comfort food. We use food to comfort us. We use Coffee to comfort us. We use media to comfort us. That s the new 23 rd Psalm The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want My food and my coffee and my Iphone they comfort me. Well, One of the benefits of fasting is that fasting reveals those 10
things in our life that have too much control over us. Going deeper with God means that ONLY THING I want to control my life is Jesus. Fasting has a way of putting Jesus back in His rightful place thet He deserves in my life. It s one of the important reasons why we fast. SLIDE - 4. Of course another reason why we fast is because there are certain things that can only come about by fasting and prayer. IN Mark 9 we are told the story about a demon possessed boy who is brought to Jesus disciples so that he could be healed. And the disciples couldn t do anything. Finally Jesus comes on the scene and takes charge and heals the boy. And when he s alone with his disciples, they ask him, Why couldn t we drive this thing out? And Jesus responds by saying, This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. You see there are some things that can only come about by prayer AND fasting. Illus. Story of Alan and Pauline Slater Guatemala. Facing so much opposition for years. Every week they spent a day in fasting and prayer. That s how the breakthrough came. The Centre in Guatemala came about because somebody 11
was committed to fast and pray until the answer came. There are certain miracles that can only take place by prayer and fasting. There are certain bondages that can only be broken by prayer and fasting. There are certain depths of relationship with God that can only be reached through prayer and fasting. And so the question this morning is Do we want to go deeper with God? Do we want to begin to see answers to prayer in a manner like we haven t experienced for a long time? Do we want to see our lives transformed by God s power? Do we want to see God s glory come to our church and our community? THEN, What price are we willing to pay in order to see this happen? What are we willing to give up in order to fill ourselves up with God and His presence in our life? Could it be that FASTING is A WAY to show God that we are serious about going deeper with Him? 12
IS this something that we need to consider more deeply? This week on Wednesday we are asking our church family to consider taking some time to fast. It doesn t have to be Wednesday. It could be a different day for you. Maybe a whole day isn t practical for you. Maybe you want to take several days, fasting one meal each day. I ll leave that between you and God. But I want to challenge you consider taking your prayer life to a new level by adding fasting to your prayer. And Let s see what God does in response to our faith and obedience. Let s pray I m going to invite those who are going to be serving us communion to slip out and prepare for that at this time. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Lord, thank you for that promise, that you are the bread of life. You are all we need. Lord, forgive us for those times when we have lost sight of the fact that you are all we need. 13
Forgive us for spending too much time eating the snacks of this world when a full feast of heaven is sitting right in front of us. Thank you for providing disciplines like prayer and fasting to help get our hearts and minds back into the place where they should be Focused on you! Help us to be willing to do whatever it takes, to remind ourselves that You are all we need. Lord, speak to us this morning about the next steps of obedience that we need to take to go deeper in our relationship with you. We don t want to live in the shallow end We want to go deeper with you. So speak to us about what we need to do. Thank you now, for a time to gather around your table to be reminded once again of all you have done for us and all you have provided for us. My we cherish this time as we feed our souls with the bread of life. In Jesus name we pray, amen! Songs: 14
9am: #241 I Come to the garden alone 10am Thank you Jesus. Communion: When Jesus said, I am the bread of life The word he had in mind for bread was the Hebrew word Lechem. It was a word that it doesn t just refer Bread alone but it represents ALL that was provided in a meal, as people sat down to eat. And so when He said, I am the bread of life. What He was saying was, I am every thing you need. Whatever you are looking for to be satisfied You will find it right here with me! And that s why he said, When you feed on me you will never be hungry or thirsty again. And so as we partake of this bread today and drink of this cup may we be reminded of Jesus the living bread. The One who satisfies completely! Let s partake together. 15