Prayer and Fasting

A 5-yr-old said grace at family dinner one night. "Dear God, thank you for these pancakes."

 When he finished his prayer, his parents looked curiously at him and asked him why he thanked God for pancakes when they were having chicken.

 He smiled and said, "I thought I’d see if He was paying attention tonight."

APPLY: There are many prayers recorded in Scripture.

 From Moses to David to Jehoshaphat to Daniel - we’re exposed to powerful, earth shaking prayers, and prayers that show us that God DOES pay attention.

 But here, in Acts 13, we have a unique situation.

We have several leaders fasting and praying and worshipping God, and they have unquestionably gotten God’s attention.

Let’s look to Acts 13 to see a picture of a praying church:

Acts 13: 1-3

1Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers : Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

But, look closely at Acts 13:1-3. What did these men pray?

 It doesn’t tell us what they said, does it?

All we’re told is - that in response to their prayer - the Holy Spirit told them to set aside Barnabas & Paul to set out on an adventure –

 an adventure that would change the face of the world forever.

We don’t know what they prayed, but they got God’s attention.) I want to pray like that.

I. But we’re not told what they prayed.

 The only thing we’re told about their prayer was: they fasted when they prayed.

Usually people fasted for one of several reasons:

People fasted when they were grieving over the death of a loved one

People fasted when they were repenting of their sin or the sin of their nation.

People fasted when they sought protection from forces they couldn’t contend with.

BUT MOST OFTEN people fasted when they were seeking insight.

Now, Antioch was a relatively new congregation, but it had experienced enormous growth.

When the leaders at Jerusalem heard of this situation, they sent Barnabas and Paul to the church to teach these new converts about Christianity.

 For a whole year, Paul & Barnabas taught a great number of people. AND…

 they were so successful that they made a name for the church in area.

Acts 11:26 tells us believers were called Christians 1st at Antioch.

SO – Antioch is a growing church with powerful teachers & all kinds of potential. What could they be fasting and praying about?

Do we believe that prayer and fasting makes a difference in our lives and in the life of the Church?

FASTING A LOST DISCIPLINE:

Moses the lawgiver, King David, Elijah the prophet, Queen Esther, the prophet Daniel, Anna the prophetess, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ.

All of these people in Scripture have one thing in common.

Now I realize that perhaps they have more than one thing, but for our purposes this morning, I am interested in one particular common factor among them.

They practiced a spiritual discipline that we have largely come away from in modern times. I am not sure why.

This is a practice that is purely biblical but no one does it anymore. 

John Wesley said, “Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all scripture and reason, and others have utterly disregarded it.”

Wesley was right  in that some instances people abuse fasting while others don’t practice it at all.

Fasting is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament

We have numerous examples of fasting in the OT:

In Judges 20 Israel fasted before going to war

Israel Again fasted at Mizpah during the war with the Philistines. (I Sam. 7:6)

 David fasted and wept for his son. (II Sam. 12:16-23)

The men of Jabesh Gilead fasted seven days for Saul (I Sam. 31:13; I Chron. 10:12)

David and the people fasted for Saul and Jonathan. (II Sam. 1:12)

Moses fasted forty days because of the sin of Israel. (Deut. 9:15-18)

Ahab fasted to be forgiven.  (I Kings 21:17-29)

Nineveh fasted at the preaching of Jonah. (Jonah 3:4-10)

Daniel fasted as he confessed the sins of Israel. (Dan. 9:3-5)

There was a general fast at the reading of the law, by Ezra.  (Neh. 9:1-3)

The Jews fasted when they heard that Haman had obtained the King’s decree against them. (Esther 4:3)

In the New Testament Christ assumed that we would fast as his followers.

In the Sermon on the Mount we see Jesus say this:

Matthew 6: 16-18

16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret ; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you

Jesus gives details about fasting to his followers.

He thinks so much about it that he tells them how to do it.

Also – it says Whenever you FAST – it assumes that you will actually fast.

But I want you to hear me on this – the Bible never commands you to fast.

You are commanded to give to the church, you are commanded to pray, but you are never commanded to fast.

Fasting comes from your own heart.

It comes from a desire to get close to God- to seek God’s council.

It is not a form of legalism in which you feel like you have to do it.

Fasting is a tool to help you draw closer to God – to help you put God first and rely on Him.

God wants our hearts as well as our heads. 

God wants us to put Him first in all things that we do. 

Fasting was just one way people showed that they had their priorities straight. 

Pliny the Elder, was a Roman writer who lived during the same time period as Jesus. He told a story of the setting of an obelisk, which when erect would stand 99 feet tall.

Twenty thousand workers where chosen to pull on the ropes and activate the hoisting apparatus. There was great responsibility and risk in the operation. Just one error could cause the obelisk to fall, ruining years of work.

 The King demanded one act which insured the complete attention and best direction of the engineer.

He ordered the engineer's own son to be strapped to the apex of the obelisk, so that his heart as well as his head would be given to the task. 

Do you think that the engineer was totally committed to this project?

This is the type of total devotion that we should have to Christ than even Christ comes before the food we put in our mouth.

The early church understood this – they were totally committed to God and wanted to commit all works that they did to His will.

We see that it is not only in Acts 13 that the early church fasts we also see it in Acts 14

Acts 14: 21-23

21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The ordination of elders in churches was accompanied by fasting in prayer.

When the church did things that were very serious it was always accompanied by prayer and fasting. 

WHY DID THEY FAST?

In the summer of 1876, grasshoppers nearly destroyed the crops in Minnesota.

SO in the spring of 1877, farmers were worried.

They believed that the dreadful plague would once again visit them and again destroy the rich wheat crop, bringing ruin to thousands of people.

The situation was so serious that Governor John S. Pillsbury proclaimed April 26 as a day of prayer and fasting He urged every man, woman and child to ask God to prevent the terrible scourge.

On that April day all schools, shops, stores and offices were closed.

There was a reverent, quite hush over all the state.

The next day dawned bright and clear.

Temperature soared to what they ordinary were in midsummer, which was very unusual for April.

Minnesotans were devastated as they discovered billions of grasshopper larvae wiggling to life.

 For 3 days the unusual heat persisted, and the larvae hatched.

 It appeared that it wouldn’t be long before they started feeding and destroying the wheat crop.

On the fourth day, however the temperature suddenly dropped, and that night frost, covered the entire state.

Result - it killed every one of those creeping, crawling pests as surely as if poison or fire had been used, It went down in the history of Minnesota as the day God answered the prayers of the people.

Now that story may sound amazing but the prayer that we find today in our passage is even more amazing.

It is more amazing because this prayer and work of the Church will literally turn the world upside down.

Things will never be the same again – because of this mission journey several things will happen.

1)    Paul and his mission team will plant several Churches

 

2)    The continent of Europe will hear the Gospel.

 

3)    Several books of the bible will be written by Paul to these churches he will plant.

Books like Ephesians will be written to the church that he plants there.

So we will see the very canon of Scripture shaped by this journey of Paul.

But in our story today – why did the leaders at Antioch fast? 

Was it because of a crisis?

Was there a famine or some reason that they had to fast?

No, they sensed that God had a greater call on their church.

Maybe the sensed God’s blessing on their church – God had given them a vibrant ministry in Antioch for that location.

God had sent them leaders like Paul and Barnabas

This is the same church that produced Ananias that preached to Paul

But what about the Great Commission to the church

Matthew 28: 19-20

19"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age."

Did the leaders of this church sense that Jesus was serious when he gave the Church this command?

Discipling the nations, baptizing the world until it was flooded with God’s glory.

Teaching – going out and teaching the world about Christ.

This is exactly what Antioch will do through the power of God – they were fasting and praying about this – because the next thing we see – they are sending out Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.

I also believe this is the Biblical model  for missions.

I firmly believe the Early Church model for missions is a body of believers ruled by elders – sends out a missionary.

This is supremely important because missions need to be overseen so that they will remain sound in teaching and practice.

The New Testament knows nothing of lone ranger missionaries.

Even Paul the Apostle had to have the mandate of a church to be sent out.

Also think of Peter and his preaching to the Gentiles – Peter had to take this matter before the Jerusalem Church to explain his actions

We need to be careful not to allow our independent spirit seep into our Christianity.

We tend to just want to do things our way but we should be subjected to our local Church and the eldership in these matters.

But the main point we need to pick up is that before mission ever started – what did they do?

Prayer and fasting

That is important many times we think that personal evangelism training is what we do first, we learn a bunch and just send out missions.

But missions better be soaked in prayer and fasting before we even think about going about God’s work.

We better be sure that we are doing God’s will and not our own will.

II.  this would be world Changing:

This action of praying and seeking God’s guidance would change world history.

You need to stop and pause and realize that everything, everything would change because of this one congregation.

This small church found in Syria would start and evangelistic program that would change the Roman Empire.

Because of Paul and his missionary journeys churches would be planted all over the Empire and eventually the Gospel will spread to Europe and all over the world.

I believe that part of the reason we’re not told what Antioch’s leaders prayed is because they had no idea what God had in mind.

 They just KNEW there was something else they weren’t involved with yet, something else that God wanted them to do.

BUT when these Leaders prayed and fasted, when they opened themselves up to being used by God anyway He desired, God responded in a BIG WAY.

Did you realize, that when they allowed God’s Spirit to lead & they set apart Barnabas & Paul to be missionaries:

* The world literally was turned upside down

* Antioch became the jumping off point for world wide Gospel preaching

* Nearly a dozen new congregations were established throughout Asia

* Paul began a ministry of writing that resulted in the composition of 1/2 of our New Testament

* And Antioch was established as one of the central hubs of Christianity in the ancient world.

… all because, these men humbled themselves before God to seek His will

III. Like I said, I believe God has more in mind for us than we know how to pray.

So I think we should pray like Antioch did. Not telling Him what we want… but asking Him to use us.

 Lead us. Help us to be more than we can even imagine.

Ephesians 3:20 tells us our God "is able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE ASK OR IMAGINE, according to his power that is at work within us."

But we need to ask the question – Do we really want to allow God to lead us?

I mean, if we pray that prayer are we ready to submit. 

God may have plans for you that will move you out of your comfort zone.

You may have to sacrifice for the cause of Christ.

It is God that can equip us, it is God that can send us – and God has the power to do wonderful things if

We allow him.

ILLUS: Carl Bates once wrote: “There came a time in my life when I earnestly prayed: “God, I want your power!”

 Time wore on and the power did not come.

 One day the burden was more than I could bear. I asked “God, why haven’t you answered that prayer?”

The thought finally hit Bates - “With plans no bigger than mine, I don’t need God’s power.”

I agree with Carl Bates…

If the Church dreamed big for the Lord – dreamed that we could make a difference and then we were willing to let God work we would be amazed.

 EXCEPT I don’t think we can plan big enough to be and do everything God has in store for us.

So, I want to pray the prayer of Antioch.

 I want to pray a prayer that gets God’s attention & leads us to even greater goals than we can envision ourselves.

The type of fast God desires is one that humbles us in His presence.

This is a type of faith that is radical – that sees God as all powerful. 

Let’s pray and fast – requesting that God leads us to where He wants us to go.

CLOSE: The story is told of a strong, broad-shouldered young man that who had just started working at the construction site.

 He was obviously one of the strongest men there and he knew it.

 And he wanted to make sure everyone else knew it too.

So, he began to brag that he could out lift anybody on the site. In his pride, he especially made fun of one of the older workmen.

 After a few minutes, the older worker had had enough.

"Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is," he said.

 "I will bet a week’s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow -over to that building over there - that you won’t be able to wheel back."

 The braggart just laughed - "You’re on, old man," he said "Let’s see what you got."

 The old man reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles.

 Then, nodding to the young man, he said, "All right, get in."

It MIGHT be prideful for us to think we know where God want us to go as a church.

Maybe that is what we have to do as a Church – get in God’s wheelbarrow and let His will be done.

We need to seriously consider as Christians if we are about God’s will for our congregation.

We as a congregation must think differently.

There may be some of you here today that may see yourself as someone that attends here on Sunday morning.

You go to Church – you go to worship every so often or maybe you go to Church every Sunday.

But what about this paradigm shift for you – You are the Church

You are a member of Christ’s body at Mimosa – it is more than just you coming here on Sunday and worshipping.

It is much more that that- your thoughts, desires need to be aligned with the Church.

This should be something you think about every day.

We need a praying Church- Praying for each other,

1)    Prayer Works:

Psalm 37 says that the righteous cry out and the Lord hears them.

Isaiah 43 tells us that you are precious in God’s sight.

God wants you to pray – and if we are praying for our church – if we are praying that the lost will be saved and the church will get stronger – I mean spiritually stronger-

Do you think God wants that to happen?

Imagine if your prayer aligns with God’s will? 

If you are praying for what God wants?

Two problems arise

1)    You and I are not praying- that is a big, big problem

 

2)    We are not praying in God’s will – we are praying for things we don’t need or that God is totally against

WE as a church need to become a praying Church and a Church that is seeking to pray in God’s will.

Your challenge this week – Pray for each other – pray for the Church

Pray for guidance and pray that God will send Lost people to us or send us to the Lost people. 

Do you think God wants to save the lost of the Mimosa Community of Fayetteville-  Are their people going to Hell in our city or our community?

Scripture tells us that there is more rejoicing in Heaven over the repentance of one lost person than over 99 just people.

God has a heart for the Lost and has called us to seek and bring them to salvation.

Praying for the elders, class teachers, the work of our the church- praying that God will use our funds for His purpose.

How many of us have prayed that God would send lost people to our Church?