Fasting with a Purpose

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 14:19-23

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

Preparing for Next Year

We are a replant church

This means that this was a struggling church that was committed to staying in this area and in this community

But the church knew that a change had to be made

So the church voted to merge with New Day Church which was a replant in and of itself and has a heart to help other churchs’

2023 was this church’ first full year as New Day Pasadena

Our purpose is to glorify God, become more in his likeness, and to help the real people meet the real Jesus

And so in 2023 we wanted to focus on church health

Many of the decisions that were made had to answer the question, does this help with our focus of spiritual health?

Focusing on keeping everything gospel centered

Focusing on creating a family feel

Focusing on having love and unity

Focusing on outreach

Focusing on discipleship

And so systems and processes have been put into place as building blocks for us to build upon

We have family friendly classrooms and classes on Sunday Mornings for families to be plugged into

We have two community groups that people can be a part of

We have a Bible Reading Plan

We have a kids team, a greet team, and a production team

We have our connect card system

We have our own Pasadena New Day News

Our church has been putting in the work to bring a New Day to this church and bring a New Day to this community

When people come to New Day Church they will have a New Day Experience that is rooted in the love of Jesus

And so we are looking forward to building upon this next year

Next week we will have Vision Sunday where we will cast vision as to how we plan to build in 2024

Please come and hear

Caution

Continued Health

As we cast vision - we are not abandoning church health

It is vital that we continue in church health and it will be evalutated

We are going to continue to encourage everyone to continue to start their day with God, strive to never miss church, and to continue to share Jesus every week

Continued Gospel

We are committed to the gospel of Jesus and it is because of this gospel that we meet

We have purpose because of Jesus and do not want to be distracted from that purpose

Because he gives us purpose, we want to be purposeful in everything that we do

And as we continue to make a stand in this community there is one that will continue to try to opposse

And if you do not see him attacking, I want to encourage you to stay on guard and to be discerning

Satan wants to take us out individually and as a church

Satan is not concerned with the lost in this world, he is concerned with those bringing honor and glory to God

In my prayers - I say it all the time - that all the honor, glory, and praise belongs to God

And while that is the true intent - it is also a slap in the face to the enemy who seeks the glory for himself

Background in Lystra

In our text today, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas are in Lystra

and in Lystra there was a crippled man who heard them preaching the gospel of Jesus

And through the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul saw that the crippled man had faith

And told him to stand up

The crippled man did stand up and he walked

And as this deed that was done was seen by others the crowds viewed Paul and Barnabas as Greek Gods who came down to be among the people

And so the people bring before them sacrifices

And so Paul and Barnabas stricken with grief that the people would view them as gods

They tore their clothes and point them to the God of creation

That it is God who brings the rain and brings them good things

They should turn to Yaweh as their Lord

And it tells us that the people barely listened

As a matter of fact, something bad happens

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

Acts 14:19-23

19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When 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 that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

This is the Word of the Lord - You may now be seated

Persecution

Evil

What we immediately find in this text that there are some unhappy Jews

These Jewish people were ones that were still rejecting Jesus and opposing the apostles

And when they heard what had happened they persuaded the crowd to stone Paul and leave him out for dead

Before, the crowd was just ignoring Paul

But it wasnt enough for Paul to just be ignored, evil crept in and wanted him taken out

This is the same evil that was in Paul before his conversion when he approved of the stoning of Stephen

Evil wants and revels in death

And while we are here on earth - we will never fully comprehend or understand the problem and nature of evil

But scripture does tell us what we need to know and tells us how to wrestle with it

And we first need to recognize that evil is real

It is not made up, it is not man made, and ptretending that it isnt real or that it doesnt exist is not the right response

But becuase it is real, it is something we need to wrestle with

Evil is real and evil will happen to others

Evil may happen to you

And when it is displayed - we tend to want to investigate it, we want figure out why

This is a natural emotion and a natural tendency we have as people

And I dont believe that that is wrong

But is there a better response we can have?

Fulfillment

More often than not, people do not find the answer, they do not find out the why, and if they do find out why -

They are not satisfied with the answer given

And so what often happens when the response to evil is investigation - what is found is unfulfillment

And when a person is or feels unfulfilled - they go down a slippery slop of playing the blame game and searching for things to find fulfillment

So the question for us is, is there a response we can have that brings fulfillmnet

What if - What if the response we had to evil was that of trust and belief in God

And this sounds like a coppout on the surface - but hear me out

This past year there were a lot of messages on God’s sovereignty, his divinity, his power, and his purpose

We have talked about heaven/hell

We have talked about the soul

We have looked at key accounts in the books of Genesis and Matthew

And in everything that we have read and talked through we can find a common theme

No matter what - God is in control and God has a plan

We looked at Joseph’s life and how his brothers sold him into slavery, he was wrongly accused about potiphers wife, he was forgotten in prison - and by trusting in God and using the gifts that God gave him

Joseph was made second in command over all of Egypt - he saved his brothers and family - thus ensuring the line and tribe of Judah continues

And Joseph says this in Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The people in our text today intended evil to stone Paul and to kill him

But by God’s grace the disciples find him, take him in, help to restore him

He goes with Barnabus to Derbe - and even though there was evil done to him -

He doesn’t sit in questioning why, he doesn’t try to find fulfillment in answers

But by continued faith, trust, and belief in who God is - he finds fullfillment in Christ

And because he is fulfilled and satisfied in Jesus - he is focused to stay on mission - to live out his purpose in life

Purpose

21 When 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 that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Paul preaches the gospel - Paul makes disciples - and then he goes back to the cities whose citizens stoned him

And of course others would be fearful to go and spread the gospel there

Paul encourages them to continue in the faith

Paul has to be committed to his purpose and calling to not only go back to these cities

But to bring others along with him

Paul did have a special calling on his life as an aposlte- but I want to focus on the purpose he has that is shared

Paul is committed to bearing the image of Christ and to the Great Comission

Do not let evil stop you

Do not get discouraged with the things of this world

Rather, as you trust and have faith in God - stay committed to your purpose

Which means that you are not guaranteed an easy peasy life

But that you will encounter evil - you will encounter pushback

And you are not alone in it - because you will enter the kingdom of God

God is with us in spirit and in truth

Actions

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

As Paul made disciples and planted churchs’ in these cities - there were elders appointed to lead

But as they were committed - there was prayer and fasting being done for the elders

And I want to talk a little about prayer and fasting

Historically in the old testament fasting was used to repent, show grief, to seek victory, deliverance, (consecration)

However, God only commanded for it to be done once a year

Over time, fasting became abused and was used to show spirituality rather than to fast for spiritual reasons

Now Jesus has come and Jesus has died for our sins, Jesus consecrates so now we don’t have to fast to repent.

We don’t have to do anything physically in order to ask for forgiveness or repent. Jesus practiced fasting while on earth Matthew 4:1-2 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Jesus was fasting to be filled with the spirit and when temptation came, full of the sprit, Jesus resisted even though his flesh was weak.

Jesus also taught about fasting

And in todays text we see Paul continuing the practice of fasting

When we fast, we should be praying and meditating on God’s word.

We take our focus off of food and dedicate that time to being with the Lord.

Every time your stomach grumbles let it be a reminder to pray and focus on God.

It is in that prayer that you contend to God; it is in that time that you make requests known and your saying God I know and believe that you can do this.

When you are close to God you can hear him better, you can experience him in a mighty way, and you can glorify him.

We do not fast to hold God hostage or to manipulate.

We do not fast to guarantee breakthroughs.

We need to stay disciplined

Application

God has won the victory over evil

Gospel message

Evil does not take away from God’s goodness

God doesn’t change nor does his attributes - nothing can change him

Evil should not distract us from God’s purpose for us

As we continue to build and cast vision for next year

I want us to take time to be in prayer and next week I am going to call on us to do 21 days of prayer of fasting

You see, I do believe that we are being faithful and that God is being faithful

And we need to stay committed to our purpose

There is evil around us and it will try to take us away from our purpose

But being rooted in God - by trusting - having faith in him - we will not be overcome

And in obedience we will walk in our purpose

To stay committed to glorifying God

To stay committed to being obedient

To stay committed to sharing the gospel with others

Announcements

1. Connect Card (What is your next step?) (Poinsettia take home, pick up memory pamphlet)

2. Over half way to our 35K goal, Encourage everyone to be cheerful in giving

4. Vision Sunday, January 7th, everything resumes (Sunday School, Kids Church) and it will be BIG