August 28 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon Week 6 of 6: You’ve Taken Your First Fast into a Larger World

Fasting to seek God’s glory in Columbus and beyond


Call to Worship: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee #13
Prayer Response: Thou Art Worthy #23
My Response to God: We Will Glorify #22
Worship 1: I Sing Praises to Your Name #17
Worship 2: Be Exalted O God #19
Worship 3: Glorify Thy Name #18
Benediction: Great and Mighty #20

August 27 / Outcry / Romans 6:15-23 / The wages of sin is death…

August 21 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon Week 5 of 6: You Will Never Find a More Wretched Heart of Scum and Villainy.

Fasting can help reveal and destroy strongholds of our old nature.

Call to Worship:  Holy Spirit Rain Down #335
Prayer Response:  Hungry
My Response to God:  Just As I Am (I Come Broken)
Worship 1:  Break Thou the Bread of Life #407
Worship 2:  Enough #114
Worship 3:  You Are My All in All #143
Benediction:  Praise You #146

August 20 / Outcry / Romans 10:1-13 / If you declare with your mouth…

Romans 10Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation! 2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down7 or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. 8 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: 9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. 11 Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, 12 for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

August 14 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon Week 4 of 6: If Props Is All that You Love, Then THAT’s what You’ll Receive

There are a number of ways to do fasting WRONG. These include doing fasting with an eye toward impressing people and receiving props for how spiritual we are.

Matthew 6:16-18Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

How to Fast

16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, 18 so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Other ways to fast wrong:

"Fasting" a meal only to be gluttonous at the next one.

Skipping food, but failing to draw nearer to God in any way.

Allowing hunger to drive you to mistreat others.

Worship Prep team: What are other ways?

August 13 / Outcry / 2 Timothy 3:10-17 / All Scripture is God-breathed…

10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Life as a Christian is hard! The Bible is God's gift to help us through it!

August 7 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon Week 3 of 6: Hokey Religions and Ancient Weapons are no Match for a Good Bible at Your Side, Kid

In order to pursue fasting, we have to get past our rationalistic, mechanistic view of walking with Christ. We may feel, "If I'm reading my Bible, studying my Bible, memorizing my Bible, and applying my Bible...what does not eating have to do with anything? Why would I need to fast?"

1. Our nature is Spiritual.
2. Our warfare is Spiritual.
3. The kingdom is Spiritual.

Worship Leader:  Allison Slocum

Call to Worship:  My Life is in You Lord #518
Prayer Response:  Draw Me Close #482
My Response to God: Breathe #481
Worship 1: As the Deer #554
Worship 2: In Christ Alone #506
Worship 3: Take My Life, Lead Me Lord #540
Benediction: The Greatest Thing #527

August 6 / Outcry / Acts 1:4-8 / You will receive power…

Acts 1:4-8

4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

July 31 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon week 2 of 6: May the Fast Be with You

Is fasting an Old Testament practice only? Does the coming of Christ negate the need or benefit of fasting in this age of grace and Holy Spirit indwelling?

Jesus, our example, fasted when He began His ministry.

In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus indicates that after He leaves, His disciples WILL fast.

The book of Acts shows that Christians DID fast.

Grace has come, but human nature has not fundamentally changed. In order to pursue things of the Spirit, we have to turn away from things of the flesh. We have to beat our bodies into submission. We have to draw near to God. All of this points to fasting as still relevant, even significant for today.

You don't need to learn about fasting, unless...

you ever feel like you aren't as close to God as you should be.

you ever wrestle with sin.

you ever need God's guidance.

you ever need power to do ministry. 

 

 

July 30 / Outcry / Genesis 1:1-2:3 / In the beginning God...

Genesis 1:1-2:3Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

The Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

27 So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

2 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.

I'll start with the story of Viggo Olsen, from Lee Strobel's The Case for a Creator. Olsen  and his wife searched for scientific errors in the Bible and ended up trusting in Christ as Savior and serving Him in Bangladesh as medical missionaries.

I believe without any hesitation that Genesis 1:1-2:3 tell the true story of how the world came to be. But let's look at the spiritual lessons we can learn from this intro to the Bible whether we believe it or not.

Whether this story is poetry or prose...
God made us. He's all wise, all powerful, and bigger than we can imagine.
God is the source of reality and truth; we are ultimately responsible to Him.
God is good. He's the giver of life and life, the maker of good things and the blesser of His creation


Incomplete song set:
Cry Out to Jesus
Holy Spirit
Lord, I Need You
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
Open Up the Heavens
The Stand
This I Believe (the Creed)
Build Your Kingdom Here

July 24 / Reason Together / Elegant Weapon week 1 of 6: A New Trope

A trope is a story-telling device.

The trope of the ancient weapon which allows the hero to fulfill destiny can be viewed as a parable of fasting, which is an ancient weapon in our spiritual warfare that we wield far too infrequently.

The reason for the Star Wars theme is that we are viewing fasting as a weapon in our spiritual warfare, a weapon that we don't take up often enough in our modern American church. There is a theme in many of the great epics of literature that the hero on his/her quest will be given a special weapon that helps to fulfill prophecy and defeat evil. Beowulf had a sword forged by giants that helped him defeat the mother of the demon he had previously killed. The children in Narnia are given weapons by Father Christmas which are instrumental in their defense against the White Witch. Bilbo finds an Elfin blade which he uses in Tolkien's The Hobbit. Other examples abound. In Star Wars, Luke is given a light saber, described as his father's, which helps him in becoming all that he is destined to be. We as Christians are called to take the Gospel to the farthest reaches of the globe, to do greater works than Jesus did, to walk in the power and presence of Christ. Yet much of the church is apathetic, listless, powerless. I believe taking up the spiritual weapon of fasting can help us to fulfill our destiny (calling) as the Church of the Living God! So that's the connection for the theme. We're not teaching "from" Star Wars, just sprinkling on a little bit of the flavor, but teaching from Scripture, and from the life and history of the people of God.

So, what are some of the prophecies that we want to see fulfilled in our midst?

John 14:12 I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Acts 2:17-18 And it will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.

I will even pour out My Spirit
on My male and female slaves in those days,
and they will prophesy.

What are some others?

Leslie:

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

- Isaiah 44:3

But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

- Isaiah 49:25

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...

- Malachi 4:6

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

- Galatians 6:9

Worship Leader:  Allison Slocum

Call to Worship:  Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

Prayer Response:  Spirit of the Living God #330

My Response to God:  Seek Ye First #524

Worship 1:  Open the Eyes of My Heart #66

Worship 2:  Speak to My Heart #428

Worship 3:  Open Our Eyes Lord #426

Benediction:  O How He Loves You and Me #170