Week 7 - Fasting

I have a bunch of books here. I don't know if I'm going to read from any of them. But I have ideas. We'll see where this goes to see today. We're talking about fasting. So I figured if I go well into your lunch time. It's just fitting right we'll see how this all goes because fasting is Big there's a lot more to it than we think I often times. It's more than just giving up food. It's a lot more than just that it does something and I'm not I'm barely going to be able to touch on what fasting is today, but we are going to talk about is how fasting fits into what we're talking about. Of course our theme participating in the Divine Life. We are looking at the spiritual disciplines as those things which helped us become like Christ again our our theme verse 2nd Peter 1 verse for that. He has given us these things that we might become partakers and His divine nature we move into that we press in towards that he is giving us things to help us along to move us along and speaking of moving along. There's a theme that we've been I don't know if you caught on to it, but it's it's present in our study of this this direction. How did we get to fasting? Why am I talking about fasting here? Because we've seen a movement from one thing to another within in the introductory sermon we talked about waiting, you know that we talked about why we do what was its Divine life is what the spiritual life is expectation is why we have these things from God to participate in and we talked about the very beginning that we begin by waiting. We have to set some time aside to draw deeper to God. We don't get closer to God by accident and I are walking around one day shopping in the grocery stores like oh, hey, look, I'm more like Christ. No, it's it's intentional. It's something that we do that we participate in with Christ as he transforms us. And so we talked about waiting and have taken it to enter into his presence. And then with that we went into prayer I have this waiting on the Lord led to naturally to prayer to this communicating to the communing with the Lord and then we talked about how that is the way that we really bring ourselves to God, but he reveals himself does he speaks to us through his word? And so we talked about study at that point and then in our study on on our study on study in our study on reading scripture we took from that practice of lexio Divina the fourfold of reading your reading God's word and just reading it intentionally and letting the Holy Spirit give you something from that a word or phrase of versed for you to meditate on the second part in it from that reading comes at meditation you meditate on what he is given to you and that turns very nice. Bleach a prayer and then prayer turns into a time that you set aside for contemplation for the centering into God's presence and and letting him speak to you a meeting a deep meeting with God and that flows right into what we talked about last week with worship. And what worship is. No not not just singing But singing Praise is an outflow of the worship that we do this laying ourselves at Jesus's feet. And so with this we see this transformation beginning and if you're practicing these things perhaps in your life, you can see the transformation beginning as you're focused gets changed. And so with this we see that the disciplines are moving from an inward thing something that we do with God and it starts bubbling out. It can do no other when you draw near to God and he transforms your life when you start looking More like Jesus you start doing the things that he does and so from here with the beginning with worship that that overflow and it's a day with fasting or talk about service. And then what we do as a as a community of Believers, we begin to see how this transformation that he have conferences in US Works itself out how it begins to change us how we begin to look like Jesus, which is the goal that Conformity Romans chapter 8 being conformed to His Image. We begin to look like rice and still that works its way out and one of the things that he did one of the ways we can look by Jesus is fasting but to transition into to come into fasting I want to just very naturally come from worship and going to fasting with the first we talked about last week in Romans chapter 12 1 through 2 that the two verses He says therefore, I urge you Brothers in by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You remember worship is not just singing songs, but it is that is that acknowledgement of who God is and then and all I can ultimate of who we are and then giving to God what is do which is us that line for that. My friend said worship is the complete and lifelong dedication of one's essential self to the object of worship. And so we place ourselves as a sacrifice that is our spiritual service of worship, but then he goes right on into this and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So you see right here Romans 12:1 and to we see this act of worship flow naturally. To action do not be conformed to this world. And so we see this that the goal of this all the goal of the Christian Life the goal of our very existence transformation. And here we see that happening as well as Romans 8:29. He says For Those whom he foreknew. He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son. That's the Romans 8 I mentioned a minute ago. So he predestined us for something. It's not we don't believe in the calvinist sense where he has chosen who goes to heaven and he has chosen who goes to hell do we have been predestined but not predestined in that sense. He says we have been predestined to become conformed. That is our predestination. We are predestined for a purpose in Ephesians 2 89 talk about the same thing. I will actually the first 10 but that we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works and we have been predestined to become conformed. To the image of his son. So there are there in Romans 8:29 Romans 12:2 talk to you said do not be conformed to this world. Do not look like this world. We're to be different do not be like this world and its expectations. You don't have to be like what the world expects us to be do not be conformed to that as you know, you may know the JB Phillips paraphrase of the New Testament. He uses the words do not let the world squeeze you into its mold. See you again. You have that the transformation we are nowhere to be transformed into the image of Christ for the world wants to transform us into its mold wants us to look like the world and so we're going to talk about fasting because all of this that we talked about drives us to action worship that that first outpouring of real encounter brought by being in God's word. I saw all of this drives us to action because a transformed Hearts results in a transformed life. And that's what we're looking for. Is that transforming power of Christ? I see what this includes is purification As we sing about a word that you may not be familiar with but purgation being purged of our selfish desires of being purged of the old man that we once were but we have it. We are new man in Christ purification purgation. Where'd you for news before? I've explained it. We're going to eat only use it a few times today cuz it's important as keesus the Greek word. Ask Isa switch we get asceticism from if you remember that training athletes do a ski sizes. They don't eat the wrong things. They eat the right things and they train themselves. I think that's why Paul uses so many sports analogies in his letters because because your life is about this training this asceticism and it's purgation up from this book here, which I'm really glad I rediscovered this book. I highly recommend the time I've always shown to you. Celebration of discipline by Foster, but this was for my spiritual formation class is Nazarene Bible College invitation to a journey by Robert Mulholland Revisited this probably since my undergrad days, but I got all of my my books on on spiritual practices disciplines and this is really good. So you want to take a look at it? You can borrow it. But he says in here purgation this purging I talk about is the process of bringing our Behavior or attitudes and our desires to into increasing harmony with our growing perception of what the Christ like life is all about purgation. So is is bringing our behaviors attitudes and desires into harmony. With what it is to be christ-like and there's really no other discipline. I don't think maybe debatable but I was going to say it. I don't think there's any other discipline that helps us with this as much as fast. So now that we are going along this path and being transformed we're going to look up at the the change that ensues this purgation that it talks about the Romans 12:2 that we go through this being rid of sin. And so first of all, we see that fasting purification predation asceticism. We see that it is freedom. It is being free from our old lusts Romans 6 11 through 14 says this even so consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your body so that you obey its lost the hold on to that phrase. We received a few times do not let it reign in your mortal body so that you will be it's lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments your body as an instrument of righteousness to God for sin shall not be Master over you for you not are not under law, but you're under grace is he? So once we begin this purgation this being rid of the sinful desires We are set free and it is for this of course Galatians 5:1. It was for Freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery this process this asceticism this fasting process that helps us be rid of our sinful desires. It is freedom. It is not a restriction but it is freedom the problem The Cure and then the practice the practice being fasting now, we're going to be talked to like I said, there's a lot I can talk about fasting. I'll have some verses up for you at the end that you can take a look at a chapter Isaiah 58 that is wonderful instruction on fasting so I can spend again to three weeks telling you what fasting Is How We Do fasting give you examples from scripture about The different things that fasting is for and if you're interested if you want to know more about fasting I have a lot of other notes in there. One of the page of notes is in fact. Actually I have it here is Nope, I don't whole list of fasting about what it is 4 in different ways different reasons people fast. So I'm not going to be able to do is remain focused on our purpose. Our purpose is participating in the Divine life being transformed into the image of Christ. So we're going to talk about fasting as it fits within that perspective. So one of our texts and we're going to be doing a lot but first Thessalonians 4:1 through 8, if you want to turn there with me, it's right before 2nd Thessalonians if that helps anybody before I read this while you're flipping there. I want us to remember the call of God either we read in Peter and 1st Peter 1 verse 16 as he Exodus has he Echoes Leviticus that we are called to be. Holy be. Holy as I am. Holy be holy for I am Holy God says and so we have received this. Call here in this is we'll see he says that this is the will of God that we be made holy our sanctification and then he'll talk about ways to move us toward this this purpose. So 1st Thessalonians 4:1 read 1 through 5. Finally then brother when we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you received from us instruction as how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk that you Excel still more at something. I love III between is balance of being content which we should be but also being discontented with where we are so that we are always striving Paul here gives a great balance some, you know, just as you ought to walk and please God as you do but that you Excel still more keep going first who he says for you know, what commandment we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God okay time out pause. Are you ready for this? We had this question people always ask Leslie Young Folks, which are our whole section of Youth is gone today. I don't know what's up with that. But especially youths and I think we still struggle with this question. What is the will of God for my life, right? That question that we always wonder what does God want from me? What does he what is his will for my life? Bingo right here guys. If you want to know other things, you know, what do you want me to do for a career etcetera etcetera start with what you know, and he'll make the rest clear and what you know, is this for this is the will of God your sanctification and then explains it that is that you abstain from sexual immorality the each of you know how to possess his own vessel your body that you know how to possess it and sanctification and an honor not in lustful passions like the Gentiles who do not know God. So again, I told you to hold on to that Romans 6 verse that says do not let sin reign in your body that you obey it's lust and there it is on the bottom 2nd Peter 1:4 are our kind of our theme verse it was he's giving us these great and precious promises. So that buy them you might become partakers in the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lost. We're getting this this thing here going on right these bodily lusts these desires and hear back in 1st Thessalonians 4:1 through 8. We have two things to do in a do not do walk and please God sanctification possessing yourself and sanctification and honor and the Do Not is not participate in sexual immorality or indulge the lustful passions like the Gentiles who do not know God and so the last will Passions Right there at the top that is a neat phrase because the word passion half. They is a theme that the bear from the very beginning of monasticism they pick up on and it is about purging oneself of the passions and we were a healthy passion to my wife. I have a healthy passion for books might not be so healthy. I don't have skins on the wallet, right? I could have a past sheet Pat a healthy passion for motorcycles if they're held in their proper place, right, but those things can begin to overtake me to where they no longer become healthy passions, but they would come lustful passion passion is not the good kind we're talking about the bad kind of the overwhelming desires and focuses on different things. So the problem then Here's your first thing to problem are disordered loves that's what the passions are. These lustful passions. They are loves that are disordered and see the problem is that we were once ordered perfectly to God Adam and Eve not not me personally not. We personally we are born bent but we were once rightly or we had that relationship in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve, but we are no longer. Beset by temptations that we indulge in James 1:14 to put this up here for you. There you go. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust is he guys we are disordered. We're just ordered and this is the problem and the problem started with with the one who was to take the praise of creation Lucifer was it take the praise of creation and offer worship to God is to take the praise of creation and give it to God, but he removed himself from the right order from the right hierarchy and he wanted to pick play some self above guy. He wanted the praise he wanted that and so he became bent S C S Lewis plus it in his book out of the Silent Planet talks about Satan as the bent one because he became disorder. He wanted to take that prays to himself. We're going to talk more about this in our Old Testament study at the time of the fall. But so this bent one Augustine described it became incurvatus and say became curved in upon himself. That's what Augustine described. Sin, as being curved and upon yourself and so he did that and he removed himself from the proper order and then he refusing to give this is where we get this phrase refusing to give rice praise Orthodoxy refusing to give right praise. He wanted to receive it to himself as of this problem was passed on then to man through our Disobedience where we remove ourselves from right ordered praise to do what to lust after our own sinful desires becoming as Satan was introduced in say curved in upon our cell phones. They they disable our progress from moving in closer to God because we turn here you go. We turn from our love of God to love of other things. This is why we must be rid of these simple lustful passions and one of my professors at Notre Dame. He has a book that I in there that other I love it's it's incredible. But any rain here a few things today, but he says that the passions are disordered love love that lacks appropriate hierarchy. Do we did it? We do the same thing as Satan. We do the same thing that he did we turn ourselves away from God and want to adopt the praise that belongs to him and put it on ourselves. And until these passions arrest and stop our progression towards God holding us captive Tamir created things. There you go Romans 1 or in one or beginning of to loving the creature rather than the Creator loving the created thing rather than the Creator. So it doesn't allow us to eat to take our eyes off of ourselves and put it to God we where is dead tribute upon ourselves. So continuing to see what the next light is. Yes continuing back in 1st Thessalonians verse 6 He says so to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor not in lustful passion and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the Avenger in all these things just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you for 7 for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity button sanctification. Holy convocation is being made. Holy is called us for that purpose verse 8, so he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but rejecting the God who gives his holy spirit to you. So this is what he has called us to but says it's it's an invitation it invitation to a journey it it says that it's an invitation we have the option. Whether we're going to participate or not that we might become as as he commanded that we become wholly. So God has called me into this Divine Life of participation. Jesus Christ has enabled at the sacrifice on the cross has enabled it and the Holy Spirit the continued Ministry of the holy spirit is given so that we might continue participating in this Divine Life Father Son and Holy Spirit. It's all trinitarian. It's God is involved in every bit of it. And so this is accomplished through God's grace and God's grace alone. Now if I had the time and I might I think I'm going to risk it cuz you got to risk it to get the biscuit. So I'm going to go ahead and read a little bit from CS Lewis's great divorce briefly. Some people are allowed from a version of purgatory that CS Lewis even acknowledge is not real. He's just using this as an example it as something to set his stage, but these people are abroad Burgatory into heaven to experience Heaven very short of it just the very smallest entry level in it back in the back. You see mountains. You see it's it's bigger and bigger did the further in the bigger it gets and so they're experiencing having their experiencing grass the grass of Heaven hurts them because it is what is real we in our physical bodies are so not Heavenly that we are but Phantoms there and a very grass hurts their feet. And so you have a lot of stories a lot of Encounters of these people that were on this bus ride to heaven. Will there's one guy he's talking with an angel and he turns back to go back to the bus he wants to go up but but he doesn't feel that he can The angel says off so soon. He says yes, I'm off. Thank you for all your hospitality, but it's no good. You see I told this little Chap and here he indicated a red lizard on his shoulder. I told this little chap that he'd have to be quiet if he came which he insisted on doing a bit, of course his stuff won't do there. I realize that but he won't stop and I guess I have to go home. Well, would you like me to make him quiet said the Flaming Spirit an angel as he understands? Of course, I would said The Ghost and the ghost is the man that has come up there. Will then I will kill him the angel says and state takes a step forward and the man he Retreat says you're burning me keep away. Tidbit don't you want him killed? Well, I didn't say anything about killing him. I mean, I hardly meant to bother you with anything. So drastic is that but it's the only way said the angel whose burning hands were not very close to the lizard shall I kill it? Because the pier it was just so embarrassing. May I kill it? I love that. The guys is battling on the angel. May I kill it? What will their time to discuss that later? There is no time. May I kill it up, please? I know I never meant to be such a nuisance really. Don't bother it. It's look it's going to sleep if it's on a cord, and I'm sure it'll be. Alright nothing. Thank you. Thank you so very much. May I kill it? Well, honestly, I don't think there's the slightest necessity for that. I mean I should be able to keep it in order now. I think the gradual process right would be better than just killing it. The gradual process is of no use at all. The guy guns on with more excuses. And you said some other day perhaps the angel says there is no other days all days are present now get back. You're burning me. How can I tell you to kill you? Kill me if you if you did it is not so you're hurting me now. I never said it wouldn't hurt you. I said it wouldn't kill you. And so he goes on a few more with his permission and he gets his permission and goes on for another page. May I have your permission? I know it will kill me. It won't. And then what he does see he grabs at the next moment the ghost gave a scream of Agony such as I have never heard on Earth the burning one closed his Crimson grip on reptile Twisted it while it bit and rise and then flung it broken backed onto the turf. And so this is the idea of purgation. We have the sinful lust the rest on our shoulders and we live with them we continue on with them. And we tell God I never said anything about killing it. Just let me keep it under control. That's what he talked about Ryan about silencing. Let me a look. It's asleep now. To sleep. Now. I'm not wrestling with that might look what that my life right now. There's no need to kill it. But the Lord asks is the Angel. May I kill it? But here's what I love. Okay. I love about that story. You should read this his his very good stuff. He goes on to talk about what happens there. But what it is guys is a participation. He just does not come he's a gentleman so he does not come and Rule your life for you. He does not come and say you will be rid of this and you have no choice. It is not come to destroy your computer for looking at things. You should not he does not come destroy your liquor cabinet. He does not come to destroy that which controls you he asks you May I kill it and we reply and this is our participation and this is the cure you see I'm going to read a few quotes for my my professor here says the passions are disordered love love that it lacks appropriate hierarchy and S keesus this training is training for loved correctly oriented and properly intense you see in this is a not about cleaning up your life on your own. This is not about doing all the right Christian things and it's hard. It is about love and is about right ordered love not loving things of this creation, but loving the Creator And it is a participation button-up participation. All it really is is a surrender a surrender of giving things up, but we are been so that the cure to fix this disordered this bent penis the process of up writing this past year is called asceticism to release from the bondage was accomplished at the cross see the Cure begins at the cross and our appropriation of it so that we are no longer slaves to sin. We accept Christ and what he has done for us and what we still might do some simple things. That was John warns us. You don't continue in that. There's no one who is born of God walks in sin, but when we mess up we have power now guys, we have power from sin. It does not it cannot control US unless we let it Romans 6:22 but now having been freed from sin and enslave to God you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life. We now have the ability through the cross to walk free from sin and this begins the process of sanctification of being conformed to His Image, but we we must partner with us. We must allow him to do that cleansing work to get that passion off of our shoulders out of our mind and most importantly to root it out of our heart and yeah, Time is it hurts purification refiners. Fire fire is not cool. Fire remains hot whether it's destroying something or purifying something. It is still can be painful but it is a fire that refines us. That creates in US Purity. It takes away the impurities and everything that is left is pure. And so I'm going to read one more quotes to be righteous. The lover must come to love the right object with the right measure that means for all of us loving some things less than we love them now and loving God more than we love him now. So the Cure again friends is yes. It's a set of some is practicing the spiritual disciplines, but the Cure is love and write ordered love Augustine says in the city of God that we must we must choose between two Alternatives and he says this we must choose between love of self until God is forgotten. Or love of God until self is forgotten. And so this purification is disordered of love. So we might not objects. My no longer be loved in the wrong measure and then we are set right we no longer are bent and disordered but our love is straight to God. Our love is write the order we talked about in our time of Thomas scripture 1st. Thessalonians 1st Thessalonians 1st, Timothy, 3:16 the 1st, Timothy 3:16. I get my Timothy's mixed up but all scripture is inspired by God right and profitable for teaching for rebuking for teaching rebuking for correcting and training in righteousness. If you remember what was the correct the Greek word was at the North though. If an orthocenter Ortho Orthopedics, it means to set something in the right order. That's literally what Orthopedics is. And so this correction that scripture gives us it is that being set right because our appetites have been misdirected at so we're hungry like to talk about before and I'll never win but we talked about being hungry for the wrong things and when we're hungry for what is not good for us, it ruins our appetite and so we never get filled because we're hungry we're thirsty and we're striving after the wrong things filling our lives with emptiness. And so We attack it. This is the part of the Cure and this is where fasting comes in we attack it and at the place that is nearest to our hearts. Are stomach we attack it in our stomach? And this is what one of the many benefits one of the many reasons for fasting but within our perspective here, this is why we're talking about fasting now because this is the process of loving some things less in order to focus on and to love God more now that we should be fasting is clear from scripture. I wearied of the practice throughout scripture Matthew 9 and then you put this up here for you Matthew 9:14 through 15, John and his disciples John's disciples. Come to Jesus say why don't want your guys fast and Jesus says they cannot fast when the bridegroom is with them, right good because it it's not a time for mourning is not a time for that yet. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away just come about himself and then they will Fast he expects his disciples to fast Matthew 6 16 through 18. The place you want to know more about fasting go read here. Cuz Jesus gives us up when to do it how to do it you instructions, but he does in the instructions. He assumes will do this. He says when you fast and here's that here's an interesting thing. You might not have thought of this is right with When you pray go into your closet, right? There's nothing when you give do not your light in your left hand know what your right hand is doing when you fast fasting is as expected of us as giving and a prayer. do we fast this is something to be thinking about and so

fasting then is giving up something so you can take up something else this giving up food for a while. So you can focus on God in prayer and prayer will always goes side by side with fasting but it's giving up something else to take up something to take up time with God but also. Isaiah 58 to take up giving to the poor taking care of the poor in the outcast. This is a to be a part of fasting as well as a time for us to put our eyes on God instead of ourselves because now we're moving you notice what we did here very subtle we moved from giving up bad things. We should not be encumbered by the lusts of the flesh, right? And he said he put it to a real quick.

The abstain from sexual immorality. Okay. That's right. You should be doing that. We should be laying aside those lust but now what we have taken it to we're not look no longer talking about putting aside bad things which you should that is our duty we have to and I were talking about putting aside good things when Jesus went out into the Wilderness to be tempted. He did not set aside bread and water because they're bad. So when we fast we set these things aside, we wean ourselves and our appetite from things on this Earth. So that way we become hungry and thirsty for the things of heaven. We could become we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We become thirsty for the experience of God and by this we retrain our appetites. Wera trainer appetite so we're no longer thirsty and hungry for the things of this Earth will be long for the things of Heaven as some of you may know about. Maybe I'll have you know, I started participating in a few years ago and what I love what I found about it, this is just a by-product. I did not know to expect and it it happened whenever I am fasting and that off 40 day fast setting aside something that is in and of itself good but I set it aside so that I might pick something up and take him a devotional and focus on God and an increase almsgiving to the poor. This is what you do, but I found that in setting aside something That is naturally good and so K. I had more willpower to resist sin because my eyes were somewhere else if I could set this aside if I can set aside something good then when Temptation when evil came to my doorstep it was so much easier to say no. I don't need that. I don't need this. I sure don't need this. No, I don't need that right now know that is not mine. I do not belong there that is not that is not belong to me. That is not a part. So when we begin to break ourselves from the desires for things of this world that are candy good coffee chocolate Mountain Dew, whatever it be your resistance to that which is bad is increased. And so this is a reminder fasting as a reminder that we are fed. We are sustained not by bread alone, right but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God that is our systems. That is what we hunger for food does not. Sustain us God sustains us. And there's one more for you. These are the couple you can look at Mark. I'm at 9:14 Matthew 6 has a 58 for prayer for fasting. I'm sorry, but the clothes on to take one more look at a different scripture John 4:32 through 34. I'll read it quickly talk about it quickly and then we'll close. Here it says meanwhile, the disciples were urging him. This is that when he's meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well, and she goes into town and they are going to town to get some food to bring it out. He's been talking with her revealing himself to her as the Messiah and so they were urging him saying Rabbi eat, but he said to them I have food to eat that you don't even know about until the Disciples. Of course, they're saying they want another one brought him anything to eat today. Did you guys just sneaking out something and Jesus said to them guys my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. So Jesus he was being nourished and sustained by the work of God by the will of God. Nourished by the word of God. So fasting than guys fasting is not just walk around being hungry fasting is feasting and this is why he tells you when you fast walk around all miserable don't walk around like you're all sad and because it's not we're not when we fast we're not miserable. We are feeding on being sustained by the word of God and so in light of Jesus Temptation neither Brother bread nor the Stone from which it or made would have been simple but only doing something outside of the father's will that's why he didn't turn the stone into bread cuz his food is to do the father's will So are asceticism then are fasting consists of restructuring our appetites after Christ the way that heated after the son who had only one desire to do the will of the father. So do you desire to do the will of God? What is the will of God again your sanctification? That should be our desire his appetite becomes our appetite and it purifies us. So fasting then is not so much about not eating not consuming but being consumed. Passing is about being consumed by the love of God having our love set rightly and I don't have the quote here. But it I remember this is from that the book again that sweet things in themselves are not wrong, but we have wronged them by loving them in the wrong measure wheel of things in the wrong measure. And so then fasting is about that right ordered love that right relationship with creation or we don't love them in the wrong measure. And so fasting is not to weaken the flesh but to strengthen the spirit to strengthen the resolve of the spirit and to be transformed by God and so it is very much a ski training discipline. It's a spiritual discipline it is that by which we are transformed into Christ. He did it and he gave up food to minister because his food was to do the will of the father. Where do our appetites lie where do our loves and our lusts lie? Put them aside for a while. Now. They're bad lost it there if they're sinful put them aside forever. But if you lost too much for a thing of this world fast set it aside for a while television video games. I'm looking over here, but I'm looking at you Brendan my first lent setting aside that which threatens to control me. Good things but our loves our Disorder, so that's the problem The Cure is to order them a right and one great way to do it is through fasting. So as we close by talking about fasting we are now going to Feast we are now going to eat. We are going to eat bread and drink the cup that he gave us is he because he again is our sustenance. He is our strength we can fast but feed on him this morning as we receive the elements first hand them out prepare your hearts. We should be prepared are preparing our hearts to receive so great a gift the gift of himself that he gives us and sustains us so is as we hang up the elements do business with God prepare your hearts to meet with him and think on these things meditate. So the deacons will come forward let us begin to enter into this time. in prayer