A funny think happened on the way to church this Sunday morning. Actually, it was Sunday afternoon, and it wasn't my church I was headed to. I was on the way to Pleasant Grove CME curch in Troy, AL. I was to preach the message for a service in honor of Pastor Carlton Pickett's 5th year as their pastor.
I'd driven to this church at least twice before, and I had written directions. But I was exhausted so my wife drove and I went to sleep. When I woke up we were 25 miles past where we should have turned.
Now, there was nothing wrong with the written directions. They were correct and clear. The assigned driver fully intended to reach the right destination. The problem was, their pastor, their shepherd, the one who most intimately understood the way, was asleep. So the flock went astray.
We made it to the service---- 40 minutes late. The title of my sermon was: "Thank God for Pastors Who Are Awake and Have Your Back."
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
It would be easy for preachers, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and other leaders in the church to say (correctly) that the same Holy Spirit in us is in our students; and to then say (incorrectly) that whether we do our jobs or not the people will get what they need from the Lord.
Each Christian has a calling, not necessarily a calling to the pulpit, but a calling to some area(s) of ministry. We each have a responsibility, a responsibility to fulfill our calling correctly, consistently, and courageously, fully aware (awake) that we must answer to God for whether or not we do.
1 Peter 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
Ezekiel 33: 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
I know that we get tired, and we shouldn't always be the one in the driver's seat. But we must make sure that before we fold our hands in sleep, we have properly expounded the written Word and prepared the assigned under-shepherd so that our flock does not go astray.
Isaiah 30: 20, 21 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” …
Monday, May 18, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
WHAT KIND OF PARENT GETS BLESSED?
Because of what I see in the trailers for "Angels and Demons," I'm not going to see it in the theaters and I'm not going to rent it. Not because the trailers make it seem blasphemous, but because the trailer make it seem boring.
However the release of the latest installment of "The DaVinci Code" does evoke some thought on the past wrongs of "the church." Setting aside Dan Brown's fictional (We do all remember that these books and movies are made-up stories, right?) conspiracies, there are some actual areas in which our forefathers and we have dropped the ball.
One's the way we used to, and in some cases still do, deal with unwed parents. Consider 2 Kings 4: 8-17.
2 Kings 4: 8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.
9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.
10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
A financially well-to-do, married, upstanding lady becomes the prophet's benefactor. She and her older husband build him a mini-parsonage and support his ministry. God rewards her with a son (verse 16 & 17). The child tragically dies (verse 19 & 20). But God through Elisha revives the child and returns him to the arms of his righteous and upstanding mother.
Beautiful, simple, and fair. She's a good person who does good things and has lived the right way. Therefore, she deserved this miracle. Right?
Consider 1 Kings 17.
1 Kings 17: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Elijah, Elisha's mentor, is directed by God to leave a place of divine provision and to seek support from this widow lady. But this sister is not like the other.
She's a widow = single mother.
She's so poor (1 Kings 17: 12) that she's about to cook her and her son's last meal before they starve to death.
And, she has a questionable past.
We know this because in verse 17, she refers to her past sins that may be a reason for the tragedy she's experiencing.
So a poor, single, mother with a questionable past comes in contact with the prophet Elijah. She doesn't have any means, but God miraculously provides for her (verses 14-16) and she becomes Elijah's benefactress.
And, her son tragically dies (1 Kings 17: 17). But God through Elijah revives the child and returns him to the arms of his mother (verses 19-23).
The miracle of physical resuccitation is not promised (see Jesus' comments in Luke 4: 25, 26) in every case of physical illness, but these scriptures point to the equally powerful, and longer lasting miracle of spiritual resurrection.
So, what's the connection? These two mothers have nothing in common socially, yet each experiences God's miraculous provision and the deliverance of their children.
Therefore, we conclude that it is not Mama's (or Daddy's) social status, marital status, or past that determines their ability to bring blessings upon their family. But it is their present standing with God.
Receiving the prophet into their homes represents receiving the Holy Spirit that empowers the prophet. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the mark of salvation (Ephesians 1: 13).
However a parent comes to have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them, the power of the Holy Spirit which comes with Salvation in Jesus Christ, is the only things that can deliver a family in distress.
Some mamas and daddies come to this place because they were raised the right way. Some mamas and daddies come to this place out of the desperation and despair of living the wrong way.
By no means does the Scripture compromise in its call for sexual purity and neither should we, the Bible-believing church. By no means does Scripture negate the fact that our past choices have consequences for our present and future lives and those of our children. By no means does Scripture imply that the God designed sequence of marriage-then sex within the marriage-then babies is no longer valid. But I hope that we have realized that it is the pre-marital/ extra-marital sex that is the sin, not the pregnancy and not the child.
The church has the responsibility of going to parents and offering Christ and the fellowship of believers, whether the trip takes us to the home of a "notable woman" or to the squalid dwelling of some poor single parent with a questionable past.
If they will hear the Word, receive Jesus, and walk in the leading of Holy Spirit, miracles can still happen. God loves these parents. So must we.
However the release of the latest installment of "The DaVinci Code" does evoke some thought on the past wrongs of "the church." Setting aside Dan Brown's fictional (We do all remember that these books and movies are made-up stories, right?) conspiracies, there are some actual areas in which our forefathers and we have dropped the ball.
One's the way we used to, and in some cases still do, deal with unwed parents. Consider 2 Kings 4: 8-17.
2 Kings 4: 8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.
9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.
10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
A financially well-to-do, married, upstanding lady becomes the prophet's benefactor. She and her older husband build him a mini-parsonage and support his ministry. God rewards her with a son (verse 16 & 17). The child tragically dies (verse 19 & 20). But God through Elisha revives the child and returns him to the arms of his righteous and upstanding mother.
Beautiful, simple, and fair. She's a good person who does good things and has lived the right way. Therefore, she deserved this miracle. Right?
Consider 1 Kings 17.
1 Kings 17: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Elijah, Elisha's mentor, is directed by God to leave a place of divine provision and to seek support from this widow lady. But this sister is not like the other.
She's a widow = single mother.
She's so poor (1 Kings 17: 12) that she's about to cook her and her son's last meal before they starve to death.
And, she has a questionable past.
We know this because in verse 17, she refers to her past sins that may be a reason for the tragedy she's experiencing.
So a poor, single, mother with a questionable past comes in contact with the prophet Elijah. She doesn't have any means, but God miraculously provides for her (verses 14-16) and she becomes Elijah's benefactress.
And, her son tragically dies (1 Kings 17: 17). But God through Elijah revives the child and returns him to the arms of his mother (verses 19-23).
The miracle of physical resuccitation is not promised (see Jesus' comments in Luke 4: 25, 26) in every case of physical illness, but these scriptures point to the equally powerful, and longer lasting miracle of spiritual resurrection.
So, what's the connection? These two mothers have nothing in common socially, yet each experiences God's miraculous provision and the deliverance of their children.
Therefore, we conclude that it is not Mama's (or Daddy's) social status, marital status, or past that determines their ability to bring blessings upon their family. But it is their present standing with God.
Receiving the prophet into their homes represents receiving the Holy Spirit that empowers the prophet. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the mark of salvation (Ephesians 1: 13).
However a parent comes to have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them, the power of the Holy Spirit which comes with Salvation in Jesus Christ, is the only things that can deliver a family in distress.
Some mamas and daddies come to this place because they were raised the right way. Some mamas and daddies come to this place out of the desperation and despair of living the wrong way.
By no means does the Scripture compromise in its call for sexual purity and neither should we, the Bible-believing church. By no means does Scripture negate the fact that our past choices have consequences for our present and future lives and those of our children. By no means does Scripture imply that the God designed sequence of marriage-then sex within the marriage-then babies is no longer valid. But I hope that we have realized that it is the pre-marital/ extra-marital sex that is the sin, not the pregnancy and not the child.
The church has the responsibility of going to parents and offering Christ and the fellowship of believers, whether the trip takes us to the home of a "notable woman" or to the squalid dwelling of some poor single parent with a questionable past.
If they will hear the Word, receive Jesus, and walk in the leading of Holy Spirit, miracles can still happen. God loves these parents. So must we.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
SOWING ACROSS GENERATIONS
A few months back my wife realized that many sermons and Bible lessons make references to sowing and reaping (planting and harvesting), but many of our children and young people have no understanding of these terms.
They’ve never dug up the ground and laid seeds in it. They’ve never tended growing crops and battled weeds and insects on their behalf. They’ve never prayed for rain to come or for the rain to stop so that their work would not be in vain. Many members of our congregations, adults included, have never picked from a bush, plucked from a branch, cropped from a plant, or cut from a stem any of the fruits or vegetables they consume.
The Lord had given Brother Charles Moore, our chief steward much the same realization. So this Saturday we planted our first church garden. We’ll use the fresh vegetables in our church kitchen and share them with the community.
Bro. Moore tilled up the ground in a corner of the church yard a few weeks back. On May 2nd, he taught our first gardening class. The kids, and some adults, came out to learn the proper way to plant tomatoes, okra, corn, and squash. They used the tools and handled the seedlings and the seeds. They even helped with the tiller. (A tiller’s a machine that break’s up the ground. It looks like the miniature offspring of a push lawn mower and a tractor that has some egg-beater genes.)
Everybody got dirty, my wife “supervised”, and those of us who grew up on farms reminisced. It was great.
But, the best thing about it was seeing the kids so excited.
Excited about the prospect of growing something with their own hands.
Excited about the feel and promise of farming.
And excited to be learning from the elders of our church.
Our children are not doomed to the intellectual imprisonment of computer and tv screens. Their knowledge of how to survive in the word does not have to be confined to the environs of school hallways and virtual landscapes. Our elders and the skills they’ve acquired over a lifetime are not obsolete.
We are all responsible for remembering that and for facilitating a tradition we’ve generally strayed from: the tradition of the elders passing on their stories and their knowledge to the children.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be a lecture.
It can be as simple as, “Drop these seeds here. Now pull the dirt over them and go get some water.”
When we connect the elders and the children we plant something old and eternal, something Biblical; something that is steeped in love and knowledge, connection and expansion.
And you know what the Good Book says, “You reap what you sow.”
They’ve never dug up the ground and laid seeds in it. They’ve never tended growing crops and battled weeds and insects on their behalf. They’ve never prayed for rain to come or for the rain to stop so that their work would not be in vain. Many members of our congregations, adults included, have never picked from a bush, plucked from a branch, cropped from a plant, or cut from a stem any of the fruits or vegetables they consume.
The Lord had given Brother Charles Moore, our chief steward much the same realization. So this Saturday we planted our first church garden. We’ll use the fresh vegetables in our church kitchen and share them with the community.
Bro. Moore tilled up the ground in a corner of the church yard a few weeks back. On May 2nd, he taught our first gardening class. The kids, and some adults, came out to learn the proper way to plant tomatoes, okra, corn, and squash. They used the tools and handled the seedlings and the seeds. They even helped with the tiller. (A tiller’s a machine that break’s up the ground. It looks like the miniature offspring of a push lawn mower and a tractor that has some egg-beater genes.)
Everybody got dirty, my wife “supervised”, and those of us who grew up on farms reminisced. It was great.
But, the best thing about it was seeing the kids so excited.
Excited about the prospect of growing something with their own hands.
Excited about the feel and promise of farming.
And excited to be learning from the elders of our church.
Our children are not doomed to the intellectual imprisonment of computer and tv screens. Their knowledge of how to survive in the word does not have to be confined to the environs of school hallways and virtual landscapes. Our elders and the skills they’ve acquired over a lifetime are not obsolete.
We are all responsible for remembering that and for facilitating a tradition we’ve generally strayed from: the tradition of the elders passing on their stories and their knowledge to the children.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be a lecture.
It can be as simple as, “Drop these seeds here. Now pull the dirt over them and go get some water.”
When we connect the elders and the children we plant something old and eternal, something Biblical; something that is steeped in love and knowledge, connection and expansion.
And you know what the Good Book says, “You reap what you sow.”
Friday, April 24, 2009
THOUGHTS ON A DEATH IN THE FAMILY
I know that as a preacher I'm expected to be stoic and "spiritual" about a death in our church family. I have no doubts about Bro. Bickerstaff's salvation. I believe that even now he is with our Lord in Paradise. I believe, I know that all the pains and discomforts typical of an older Black man in the South (diabetes, hypertension, arthritis) are gone for him now. I know that our brother is truly, infinitely, totally happy, healthy, and whole now.
But, I'm sorry, it still hurts.
This Sunday School, the teacher won't be interrupted by a question that always begins "What then..." and always somehow transitions into a story about when he was in the army or when he was at Tuskegee Institute.
This worship service , I'll not hear a raspy baritone (just a few beats ahead or behind everybody else) ring out over the rest of the congregation when we sing.
This Sunday when we're all shaking hands and exchanging hugs after the benediction I won't get an impromptu history lesson that connects any location or event you can think of to a cousin in the Bickerstaff family.
I will miss it, and the anticipation of those missed moments hurts.
But the pain does not rise to despair. The hurt does not dissolve into hopelessness. Because I do believe that there is more to this life than this life. Because I do know that a faith relationship with Jesus Christ delivers us from eternal death. Because I am secure in the promise of resurrection and reunion, I miss my brother, but I look forward to hearing his raspy baritone singing out someday future. I look forward to hearing him interrupt some prophet from ancient days or some great Bible teacher yet unknown as they talk on the lawn of New Jerusalem. I expect even greater stories about the time in Paradise I missed.
I look forward to all that, and the hope of those promised moments comforts.
It really does.
Hear the eulogy at http://hallmemorialcmechurch.podbean.com/
But, I'm sorry, it still hurts.
This Sunday School, the teacher won't be interrupted by a question that always begins "What then..." and always somehow transitions into a story about when he was in the army or when he was at Tuskegee Institute.
This worship service , I'll not hear a raspy baritone (just a few beats ahead or behind everybody else) ring out over the rest of the congregation when we sing.
This Sunday when we're all shaking hands and exchanging hugs after the benediction I won't get an impromptu history lesson that connects any location or event you can think of to a cousin in the Bickerstaff family.
I will miss it, and the anticipation of those missed moments hurts.
But the pain does not rise to despair. The hurt does not dissolve into hopelessness. Because I do believe that there is more to this life than this life. Because I do know that a faith relationship with Jesus Christ delivers us from eternal death. Because I am secure in the promise of resurrection and reunion, I miss my brother, but I look forward to hearing his raspy baritone singing out someday future. I look forward to hearing him interrupt some prophet from ancient days or some great Bible teacher yet unknown as they talk on the lawn of New Jerusalem. I expect even greater stories about the time in Paradise I missed.
I look forward to all that, and the hope of those promised moments comforts.
It really does.
Hear the eulogy at http://hallmemorialcmechurch.podbean.com/
OBITUARY
Mr. George W. Bickerstaff
was born July 3, 1930 in Montgomery County, Alabama. He was the firstborn of the late Mr. George Walter Bickerstaff, Sr. and the late Mrs. Martha Gardner Bickerstaff. George graduated from Jimmy Lowes high School and obtained an Associates Degree in dietetics from Tuskegee Institute.
He served with distinction in the Korean Conflict and received an honorable discharge.
He was married to the late Mary Addison Bickerstaff. To their union were born four children: Johnny Addison, LaJuliet Bickerstaff, Kenneth Bickerstaff, and Lillian Bickerstaff (preceded in death).
For many years, he worked in civil service until his retirement from Maxwell Air Force Base in 1989. He was a long time member of Hall Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church where he served as a member of the steward board.
Brother Bickerstaff is survived by his children: Johnny Addison, LaJuliet Bickerstaff, and Kenneth Bickerstaf; one sister, Ernestine Bickerstaff-Daniels; three brothers: Bernard Bickerstaff (Susie), Alonzo Bickerstaff (Patricia), Clark H. Bickerstaff (Mary); uncles and aunts: patsy Rodgers, Sylvia Foster, Jessie (Mack) Crum, Celestine (Oscar) Henderson, Samuel Gardner, Elliot (Sharon) Gardner, Rosie (Charles) Scott; and a host of relatives and friends.
Monday, April 13, 2009
EASTER'S OVER. NOW WHAT?
Consider the following verse:
New Revised Standard Version
Matthew 28: 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.
New King James Version
Matthew 28: 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Linguistically and grammatically speaking, both of the above translations are accurate, but this post isn’t about grammar or Greek-to-English linguistics.
It’s about our mindset toward the resurrection. There is a temptation now that Easter is past to “move on”. The ecstasy of Resurrection morning seems too magnificent, too heart-wrenching to continue in past the day. But if we just file Easter away we lose something vital. Something that is so essential to our faith that the moment had to be hidden for us to see it.
Think about it. Mary was aware of the immaculate conception. The birth of Jesus occurred with family and probably a few strangers around. Christ’s life, ministry, and miracles—His baptism, His transfiguration, His triumphant entry on Palm Sunday---all happened where others could see. The ascension was witnessed by hundreds. The charisma of the Holy Spirit was publicly displayed on Pentecost. But no human eyes saw the Resurrection. Even the guards at the tomb were unconscious when it happened.
The Resurrection, the very moment of Christ’s victory over death has human witnesses only to its aftermath.
Why? I wonder why such an important—the most important--- moment in the history of God’s relationship to humanity would not be sealed by the irrefutable observations of scores of eyewitnesses.
I think the answer is in the subtle difference between the NRSV’s technically correct phrasing and King James’s more poetic rendering of the angel’s declaration at the empty tomb.
Jesus was born.
Jesus preached.
Jesus died.
But ….
Jesus is risen!
Easter is not just about an event 2,000 years in the past. Nor is it about a service last Sunday.
Easter, the Resurrection, is about who and how Christ is now.
Christ is risen. No one needed to see Him get up, because the getting up from the grave wasn’t the main point. The main point of the Resurrection is that Jesus is not now in the grave.
In John chapter 11, Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus; but eventually Lazarus died again.
Jesus is risen from the dead never to die again.
Because the Resurrection is a present truth, we in this moment have hope of our resurrection one day, if we are in Christ (Romans 10: 9; Colossians 2: 12).
Because the Resurrection is an eternal reality, Jesus declared even before He entered Jerusalem to be betrayed and crucified that “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11: 25).
Christians serve Jesus Christ not for who He was but for who He is. He is “I am,” Yahweh, Jehovah, Lord, God. It is in relationship with Jesus, present and eternal, that we find hope, peace, promise, and purpose. We pray, study, praise, evangelize, proselytize, and minister to needs because Jesus is.
After all the eggs have been hunted, after the baskets have been emptied, after the new clothes have grown old, remember ---whatever translation of the Bible you use--- that
He Is Risen!
New Revised Standard Version
Matthew 28: 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.
New King James Version
Matthew 28: 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Linguistically and grammatically speaking, both of the above translations are accurate, but this post isn’t about grammar or Greek-to-English linguistics.
It’s about our mindset toward the resurrection. There is a temptation now that Easter is past to “move on”. The ecstasy of Resurrection morning seems too magnificent, too heart-wrenching to continue in past the day. But if we just file Easter away we lose something vital. Something that is so essential to our faith that the moment had to be hidden for us to see it.
Think about it. Mary was aware of the immaculate conception. The birth of Jesus occurred with family and probably a few strangers around. Christ’s life, ministry, and miracles—His baptism, His transfiguration, His triumphant entry on Palm Sunday---all happened where others could see. The ascension was witnessed by hundreds. The charisma of the Holy Spirit was publicly displayed on Pentecost. But no human eyes saw the Resurrection. Even the guards at the tomb were unconscious when it happened.
The Resurrection, the very moment of Christ’s victory over death has human witnesses only to its aftermath.
Why? I wonder why such an important—the most important--- moment in the history of God’s relationship to humanity would not be sealed by the irrefutable observations of scores of eyewitnesses.
I think the answer is in the subtle difference between the NRSV’s technically correct phrasing and King James’s more poetic rendering of the angel’s declaration at the empty tomb.
Jesus was born.
Jesus preached.
Jesus died.
But ….
Jesus is risen!
Easter is not just about an event 2,000 years in the past. Nor is it about a service last Sunday.
Easter, the Resurrection, is about who and how Christ is now.
Christ is risen. No one needed to see Him get up, because the getting up from the grave wasn’t the main point. The main point of the Resurrection is that Jesus is not now in the grave.
In John chapter 11, Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus; but eventually Lazarus died again.
Jesus is risen from the dead never to die again.
Because the Resurrection is a present truth, we in this moment have hope of our resurrection one day, if we are in Christ (Romans 10: 9; Colossians 2: 12).
Because the Resurrection is an eternal reality, Jesus declared even before He entered Jerusalem to be betrayed and crucified that “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11: 25).
Christians serve Jesus Christ not for who He was but for who He is. He is “I am,” Yahweh, Jehovah, Lord, God. It is in relationship with Jesus, present and eternal, that we find hope, peace, promise, and purpose. We pray, study, praise, evangelize, proselytize, and minister to needs because Jesus is.
After all the eggs have been hunted, after the baskets have been emptied, after the new clothes have grown old, remember ---whatever translation of the Bible you use--- that
He Is Risen!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
FASTING BACKWARDS
Romans 8: 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Matthew 17: 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Amos 8: 11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
We fast by abstaining from food or from certain foods for a period of time. The basic idea is that by deliberately denying our physical needs for a time we become more attuned to spiritual things. By ignoring the voice of our bellies we are able to more clearly hear the voice of God. It works.
Jesus attested to the power of fasting in Matthew 17: 21 and Mark 9: 29 (some new Bible versions leave out these verses) when He explained why they were unable to confront certain kinds of spiritual opposition. In Matthew 9: 15, Jesus made it clear that His followers would practice fasting after His resurrection and ascension.
Fasting works. But, it works both ways.
A fast from physical nourishment weakens the physical body and nourishes a spiritual mindset.
Reciprocally, a fast from spiritual nourishment weakens the spirit and reinforces a worldly/ carnal mindset.
Romans 8: 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Think about it.
When you spend a day or so abstaining from prayer, when you fail to feed your soul on the Word of God, when you go for extended periods without one-on-one time with God you have put yourself into a fast of the spirit, a fast from spiritual nourishment.
The result is predictable. When we abstain from the spiritual disciplines our spirits grow weaker and our carnal/ fleshly/ natural/ bodily urges and tendencies grow stronger. Sin gets easier. Living holy gets harder.
The old-school advice of parents and Sunday school teachers is still valid. Read your Bible every day. Pray constantly. MAKE TIME daily to sit alone and commune with God.
I post this on a Sunday evening. Probably most of you have been spiritually fed in church today. Nevertheless, I hope you won’t go to bed hungry; and when you wake I hope you break-fast in more ways than one.
Psalm 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Matthew 17: 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Amos 8: 11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
We fast by abstaining from food or from certain foods for a period of time. The basic idea is that by deliberately denying our physical needs for a time we become more attuned to spiritual things. By ignoring the voice of our bellies we are able to more clearly hear the voice of God. It works.
Jesus attested to the power of fasting in Matthew 17: 21 and Mark 9: 29 (some new Bible versions leave out these verses) when He explained why they were unable to confront certain kinds of spiritual opposition. In Matthew 9: 15, Jesus made it clear that His followers would practice fasting after His resurrection and ascension.
Fasting works. But, it works both ways.
A fast from physical nourishment weakens the physical body and nourishes a spiritual mindset.
Reciprocally, a fast from spiritual nourishment weakens the spirit and reinforces a worldly/ carnal mindset.
Romans 8: 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Think about it.
When you spend a day or so abstaining from prayer, when you fail to feed your soul on the Word of God, when you go for extended periods without one-on-one time with God you have put yourself into a fast of the spirit, a fast from spiritual nourishment.
The result is predictable. When we abstain from the spiritual disciplines our spirits grow weaker and our carnal/ fleshly/ natural/ bodily urges and tendencies grow stronger. Sin gets easier. Living holy gets harder.
The old-school advice of parents and Sunday school teachers is still valid. Read your Bible every day. Pray constantly. MAKE TIME daily to sit alone and commune with God.
I post this on a Sunday evening. Probably most of you have been spiritually fed in church today. Nevertheless, I hope you won’t go to bed hungry; and when you wake I hope you break-fast in more ways than one.
Psalm 34: 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
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