Nightlife at Bethany

Last Sunday at Nightlife we talked about 1 Samuel 13:1-15 and how Saul chose expedience (what appeared best to him) rather than obedience (what was best as dictated by God). As examples on the positive side of that equation, people who have chosen obedience over expedience, I mentioned William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as well as Eric Metaxas who has written biographies on both of them. On February 2, 2012 at a National Prayer Breakfast attended by about 3,500 people including President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Representative Nancy Pelosi, Metaxas delivered what I think was a courageous speech in which he demonstrated through story and through his own conviction what it means to choose obedience over expedience. Check out this article about his speech (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/290393/president-prophet-obama-s-unusual-encounter-eric-metaxas-mark-joseph) and then go watch for yourself (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/NationalPrayerBreak). His speech begins about 35min in so you can skip ahead to it. It is definitely worth your time.

I am so thankful for everyone who came out on Saturday night to help with TrueFeast.  We had a great evening serving “the least of these.”  We brought more than 50 people over from the Worthington St. shelter.  We treated them as our honored guests as they ate, listened to Jazz provided by Vincent Cassota and Joe Wilson, heard Crystal Morris give her testimony, and learned that The Time is Right for them to receive Jesus.  We had so many wonderful volunteers who demonstrated the love of Christ through service.  We pray it had as great an impact on the hearts of our guests as it had on ours.  I look forward to more ministry opportunities like this in the future! Thank you!

By this time in the fast, you have probably begun to get used to the fast (or not). You probably don’t feel as hungry, the caffeine headaches ended a long time ago, you don’t constantly feel tired…except for the occasional craving for chocolate and a cup of coffee, you almost forgot you were fasting. This is the point of the fast where we really need to persevere in the commitment we made not just to abstain from certain foods, but to seek God.
You may also be feeling discouraged about the results of your fast. Maybe you haven’t had any epiphanies yet and you are wondering when the fire of God is going to fall. Let me encourage you to pray and never give up!
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a woman and a dishonest judge; because the woman kept bringing her case before the dishonest judge, he eventually gave her justice just because he was annoyed. Now, the point of this parable was not that God is slow to answer prayer or that our prayers are annoyances to God that he will eventually give into. Rather, Jesus said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge thought. Won’t God give his chosen people justice when they cry out to him for help day and night? Is he slow to help them?” The answer is a resounding “No!”
You may not have experienced the answer to your prayer yet, but God does hear when you pray. Also, remember that the point of this fast was not so much that you would get your way, but that God would have His way in you. Keep presenting yourself to Him and seeking Him. Finally, many of the things that we have been praying for are intangible. We simply cannot know yet what God is doing, and if we stop praying, we may never know what He would have done had we persevered.
So, persevere; don’t be discouraged; know that your brothers and sisters are praying with you. We are in this together, believing that God is going to come through in big ways, because He promised He would.

Today, pray that God would strengthen those that are fasting along with you. Pray that they would have perseverance and a continual desire to seek God. Pray that this desire would spread to others and would continue throughout this year. You may not be able to see the results of this prayer immediately, but it could have profound effects in the future.

Yesterday in the morning service, Pastor Adams spoke about fault finding. He took us to Matthew 9 and pointed out how in the various situations Jesus was in, there was usually some group of people that complained, tried to find faults in what He was doing, and were generally antagonistic to Jesus. He also pointed out that in spite of all the opposition and fault-finding Jesus continued to do what He knew He was supposed to be doing. Pastor drew our attention to Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked generation, among whom you shine as light in the world.”
It can be very easy to become critical and complain, critical of the people in your life, of your boss, of your church…however, when you become a critic, you waste your energy and accomplish nothing. On the other hand, if you are the one being criticized, allowing the nay-sayers and fault-finders to dictate how you act and react can stifle your life and the work that God has you doing.
So, as we continue to fast food, let’s follow Pastor’s lead and continue to fast complaining as well. Let’s move from being nay-sayers to being encouragers. Let’s not allow God’s way and work in our lives to be derailed by fault finders.

Today, let’s pray that God will help us to be encouragers and empowerers rather than fault-finders and let’s pray for the courage and commitment to continue His work in spite of nay-sayers. Also, continue to pray for TrueFeast this weekend. We want to be a blessing to the people who will be our guests and we want Jesus to impact their lives through us!

Today I was thinking about how the whole idea of TrueFast, which in some ways led to this Daniel Fast and to the TrueFeast we will be doing at the end, got started. It came about as the result of a sermon series we were doing through Isaiah. When we got to Isaiah 58, we read this:
“Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:5-8 ESV)
So, fasting is not only about humbling ourselves, it is also about doing justice to others. This is why we wanted to incorporate TrueFeast as part of our fasting. So, I would encourage you to make volunteering for TrueFeast a part of your fast.
Today, let’s pray that God will help us to do justice and to love the poor and weak. Ask Him to reveal how you can share your money, food, clothing, or home to bless someone who is in need. Also, pray for TrueFeast. Ask that God would help the right people to be there, that we would be a blessing to them, that people would be changed by the gospel, and that we would understand God’s heart better when we are done.

In John chapter 4, after Jesus gets done talking to the woman at the well, Jesus’ disciples were urging Him to eat.  His response to them was, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  He went on to say, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”  The work that Jesus was doing at the time was changing not only one woman’s life, but the lives of many people from her town.
As we fast and pray over the coming weeks, let’s have the same attitude that Jesus had.  When your stomach growls or your head aches or you just can’t eat enough rice and beans to make you feel full, remember that there is another, even more important sustenance for our lives: doing God’s will. Concentrate on being a person who is more concerned with God’s will than anything else.
In light of this passage, I would like for us to pray today that God’s will will be done in our cities. Just as Jesus said to His disciples concerning Samaria, there is a harvest of people in our region who need to hear the good news that Jesus came to rescue them!  Let’s pray that God’s Spirit will be at work drawing people to Christ, empowering His Church to be a witness, and guiding our church and us to be the laborers He desires for the harvest.

I have learned from experience that fasting is like a drudge report on your life. It seems that any issue that could surface will surface while you are fasting. When you deny yourself those things that you normally rely on for comfort and satisfaction, you may notice that your mind turns to searching for other ways to find those things; sometimes the things that it turns to are not good. Fasting can also reveal sinful attitudes such as anger and impatience. These seem to surface during times a self-denial because our normal energy levels are thrown off and common comforts stripped away. We can become irritable and excuse sinful attitudes as insignificant in comparison to our supposed incredible sacrifice for the Lord. The Lord also seems to take the opportunity to uncover seemingly unrelated sins in our lives while we are fasting. This probably comes about as a result of the greater dependency on God that is fostered by fasting.
Let me encourage you in two ways as you go through this somewhat unsettling experience. First, don’t short circuit this period of growth by making excuses for your sin. Spend time in prayer confessing your sin and ask God to cleanse you and free you from these sinful influences. In my experience, the things that God brings up during times of fasting are not simply minor issues, but deep seated attitudes that need to be adjusted so that you can continue to grow.
Second, don’t be discouraged. Discouragement can come very easily when you feel tired and then you are forced to confront your own failure. Understand that this takes place for everyone who fasts and prays. Also know that scripture teaches that the Lord’s discipline is a necessary part of your growth and is actually a sign that you are God’s child. “My son (or daughter), do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons (or daughters). Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:5-11, ESV)

Prayer Direction
Fasting frequently occurs in scripture during times of repentance. When people recognized their sinfulness, they sometimes fasted as a sign of their grief over their sin and the sins of God’s people. In Nehemiah 9:1-2, the Israelites who had returned from exile have recognized the sin they committed in inter-marrying with other races who were turning their attention away from God. So, they fasted, prayed, put away their foreign wives, and made a commitment to stop inter-marrying. In Daniel 9:1-19, Daniel recognized the sin of his people and took it upon himself to fast and pray for forgiveness and mercy. As you pray today, take time to confess any sin that fasting has brought to the surface. Also, intercede for the sin of God’s people at Bethany and Nightlife asking Him to have mercy, convict, and purify His church.

I hope that your first day of the Daniel Fast went well. I wanted to encourage everyone who is participating to stick with it and not to feel discouraged if you are feeling, hungry, cold, tired, or have a headache. Those things are normal during a fast and (some of them) will subside as you continue. I also want to encourage you to use those inconveniences as reminders of why you are fasting. Fasting is a discipline of self-denial and you should not expect it to be easy. When you start to feel the hunger pangs, don’t just look for the quickest way to satisfy them, let them remind you of your even bigger need for God. Part of the reason for fasting is to take some of the energy that you normally expend on your own satisfaction and spend it on God. Rather than focusing so much on your physical needs, fasting helps you to recognize your need for God.
Fasting must also be tied closely with prayer. If you abstain from certain kinds of foods but do not focus your attention on prayer, then you are not fasting, you are on a diet. In Daniel 10, Daniel was fasting delicacies, meat, and wine for three weeks (10:3). The purpose of this fast was so that he could gain insight into a vision that God had given him. What Daniel did not realize at the time was that his prayers were being answered even though there was a delay (10:13-14).
So, while you fast and pray, don’t be discouraged; know that the answer to your prayers is on the way, even if it is delayed. Be persistent in your prayers.

For the first day of this fast, I would like us to focus on God’s desires for Bethany and Nightlife in the coming year. Pray that God will give the leadership of Bethany wisdom and an understanding of His will. Pray that there will be a unity among God’s people at Bethany and Nightlife in understanding God’s will and obeying it. Pray that the people of Bethany will be filled with “the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:9-10)

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From January 2-22, some Nightlifers will be participating in a Daniel Fast.  Click here to find out more and see how you can be involved.