0927 Fasting
“More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us… Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we realize that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us.” - Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
09-27-15: Jamie George
Let Us Run: Fasting APPETIZER: Prop-Closet EXTENDED! It’s not too late to donate! www.thepropcloset.com SUNDAY: 10.04.15 TIME: 8AM -‐ 2PM BLDG 12 -‐ Old Flower Shop facing the roundabout
DINE-IN: Man Does Not Live on Bread Alone Every action for the LORD is a deposit into the eternal. Question: Is God allowing this pain, or causing this pain? BETTER Question: Is God good? A good father both causes & allows pain in the lives of his children. Parents are not meant to protect children from danger, but to curate the danger in their lives. God allows the Israelites to feel hunger for the experience… •
• •
It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. - Immanuel Kant The only source of knowledge is experience. - Albert Einstein Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. - John Keats
Without depravation, we lack a sense of appreciation.
The pain of fasting confronts us with who we really are. Where do I place my trust? Power, comfort, approval? When our motives are exposed, either: 1. We deal with it (confess & repent) 2. We close it off & run (try to erase the image humility revealed) “Running” from your sin nature is like running from the flames of your own burning clothes… it just makes it worse. Practical steps: • Choose a day • Cancel breakfast & lunch meetings • Spend eating times in prayer & meditation • Drink at least 8-‐10, 8-‐oz glasses of water (minimize headaches) • As much as possible, tell no one • If you have any medical issues, consult your physician
TAKE-OUT: 1. Pick a day this week to fast from food. Notice what is revealed, & how you need God. If one day isn’t enough, fast two or three (whatever it takes)!
2. Don’t forget to pray. Bring God your joys, sorrows, & frustrations. Talk through what is revealed from fasting. Don’t get bogged down in shame, but allow the Spirit of God to bring peace, mercy, & forgiveness.
Village Conversation HANGOUT (Warm-up)
1. What day will you (or have you) be fasting food? Keep each other accountable. The challenge is good. Humility isn’t easy.
HEAR (Listen to God through scripture) 2. Read the following scripture aloud twice: John 15:1-17 3. Before responding to it, take 2-‐3 minutes of silence to let the words sink in. a. What verse(s) stands out to you? What do you notice? b. If God is the gardener, what is his motivation for pruning the branches? c. Is pruning necessary? What does it accomplish? d. What is the difference between pruned branches & branches thrown away in the story? e. In this analogy, is it “bad” to be pruned? If you are being pruned, what are the positive implications? f. What makes the one command of Jesus so difficult? a. How can fasting food help us be healthy branches?
HUDDLE (Making it Personal & Praying together) 2. What part(s) of your life does God want to prune? What parts are “bearing fruit”? 3. Describe a time when you were being pruned. 4. Which alternative “vine” do you typically grasp for: Power, Comfort, or Approval? 5. Spend some time in prayer – either for each other, or just over everyone.
QUOTES/SCRIPTURE… …train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. - I Timothy 4:7-8
Consumerism is a narcotic that dulls the awareness that we are in need. By buying what we need, we assume control of our lives. We replace a sense of need with a sense of ownership, and our sense of neediness recedes. – Eugene Peterson It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. - Immanuel Kant The only source of knowledge is experience. - Albert Einstein Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. - John Keats More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us... Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we realize that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. - Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. - John 15:1-17
09-27-15: Jamie George
Let Us Run: Fasting APPETIZER: Prop-Closet EXTENDED! It’s not too late to donate! www.thepropcloset.com SUNDAY: 10.04.15 TIME: 8AM -‐ 2PM BLDG 12 -‐ Old Flower Shop facing the roundabout
DINE-IN: Man Does Not Live on Bread Alone Every action for the LORD is a deposit into the eternal. Question: Is God allowing this pain, or causing this pain? BETTER Question: Is God good? A good father both causes & allows pain in the lives of his children. Parents are not meant to protect children from danger, but to curate the danger in their lives. God allows the Israelites to feel hunger for the experience… •
• •
It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. - Immanuel Kant The only source of knowledge is experience. - Albert Einstein Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. - John Keats
Without depravation, we lack a sense of appreciation.
The pain of fasting confronts us with who we really are. Where do I place my trust? Power, comfort, approval? When our motives are exposed, either: 1. We deal with it (confess & repent) 2. We close it off & run (try to erase the image humility revealed) “Running” from your sin nature is like running from the flames of your own burning clothes… it just makes it worse. Practical steps: • Choose a day • Cancel breakfast & lunch meetings • Spend eating times in prayer & meditation • Drink at least 8-‐10, 8-‐oz glasses of water (minimize headaches) • As much as possible, tell no one • If you have any medical issues, consult your physician
TAKE-OUT: 1. Pick a day this week to fast from food. Notice what is revealed, & how you need God. If one day isn’t enough, fast two or three (whatever it takes)!
2. Don’t forget to pray. Bring God your joys, sorrows, & frustrations. Talk through what is revealed from fasting. Don’t get bogged down in shame, but allow the Spirit of God to bring peace, mercy, & forgiveness.
Village Conversation HANGOUT (Warm-up)
1. What day will you (or have you) be fasting food? Keep each other accountable. The challenge is good. Humility isn’t easy.
HEAR (Listen to God through scripture) 2. Read the following scripture aloud twice: John 15:1-17 3. Before responding to it, take 2-‐3 minutes of silence to let the words sink in. a. What verse(s) stands out to you? What do you notice? b. If God is the gardener, what is his motivation for pruning the branches? c. Is pruning necessary? What does it accomplish? d. What is the difference between pruned branches & branches thrown away in the story? e. In this analogy, is it “bad” to be pruned? If you are being pruned, what are the positive implications? f. What makes the one command of Jesus so difficult? a. How can fasting food help us be healthy branches?
HUDDLE (Making it Personal & Praying together) 2. What part(s) of your life does God want to prune? What parts are “bearing fruit”? 3. Describe a time when you were being pruned. 4. Which alternative “vine” do you typically grasp for: Power, Comfort, or Approval? 5. Spend some time in prayer – either for each other, or just over everyone.
QUOTES/SCRIPTURE… …train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. - I Timothy 4:7-8
Consumerism is a narcotic that dulls the awareness that we are in need. By buying what we need, we assume control of our lives. We replace a sense of need with a sense of ownership, and our sense of neediness recedes. – Eugene Peterson It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. - Immanuel Kant The only source of knowledge is experience. - Albert Einstein Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. - John Keats More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us... Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we realize that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. - Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. - John 15:1-17
