All right, good morning again, and I want to invite you to turn with me in a Bible to Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6. I'll read verses 5 through 18 here in just a few moments while you're Turning there. I just want to once again extend a welcome to any guests with us this morning We really want you to know that we're glad you're here We hope you feel welcome and wanted because you are and that we would love for you to get more involved in our church God's doing a lot of cool things here, and we would love for you to be a part of that so we're glad you're here and I also want to tell you that our time in the word this morning be a little different than normal normally We do what's called expository preaching. That's where we kind of work our way through a book passage after passage after passage And we will be in an expository series starting next week We'll be working through the book of Ephesians and excited about that And so we'll we'll start that up again next week But this morning we're we're focusing on more of a topic and really more of an invitation Going to be as we're beginning 2020 together here I'm going to be inviting all of us to Some prayer and some fasting and so I want to explain why we're inviting all of us why we're all invited to involve ourselves in some prayer and fasting then we'll talk a little bit about what the Bible says about Prayer and fasting and then I'm going to talk about the plan What is the plan for us to do some prayer and fasting together? So hold your Bible there for a second Because I want to talk about the fact that for a number of months now I've been feeling the Lord Leading me to lead us as a church to imagine reaching more of the unchurched people in our side of east Orlando here of which there are many And I've been I've been feeling that he's been leading me to lead us as a church to really Imagine what it would be like if we began to really reach more people in this area see more people come to Christ see more people baptized as new believers If you remember back in November we saw three new believers baptized One Sunday it was just fantastic I feel he wants us to be imagining what would that be like if we saw more and more people Coming to know Christ and having their lives transformed and becoming part of our body here And as I've been feeling led to get our eyes focused on that I've been thinking that the year 2020 will be an important part Of that in that regard So let me give you a little background back in December the pastors and I were prayerfully making some plans for the new year And pastor Steve said something like this, you know, what if We invited the whole church to do some prayer and fasting together at the beginning of the year asking God to bless us and Really increase our ability to reach more people in this area And I said Steve That's a great idea and It is a great idea and that's what we're thinking about and what you're being invited to today And so what happened is you know, we put this plan together which I'll talk about in a little bit For the church to do some prayer and fasting together and then what happened was a series of things three things happen That just Let me to believe yes. This is where God wants our eyes. He wants us to be thinking about reaching more people in our city here for Christ and here are the three things that that happened One one of the things that happened is we had our Christmas offering our annual Christmas offering in mid-December and If you remember we set a goal of $75,000, okay, which is no small amount and I'm excited to tell you that we didn't reach $75,000. We exceeded it By $6,000. So praise the Lord. We exceeded the the the amount we were hoping to have yes You can clap for that even Presbyterians can clap every once in a while But that's really good news because that is you know What happened when we had our Christmas offering goal actually exceeded is that really helps us be in good financial situation to move forward with The things that God is leading us to so I want to thank each and every one of you for praying about it and then giving and we thank God for providing in such an amazing way So just over $81,000 which I think is a record. I think that might be our biggest Christmas offering yet So that's amazing so that happened And then now if you remember one of the things that we talked about when we were talking about the Christmas offering Was that we were hoping if we if we exceeded 75,000 got all the way up to 90,000 Then we would build a shade structure out in front of our worship center here Because you know one of the things about our building here is the the lobby or the foyer or the narthex or whatever you want to call it is kind of small Um, and that's only a problem because we kind of like each other and we like spending time together And so it's hard We don't have a lot of space for us to be together on Sundays before and after the services or During the week to kind of build community and have fellowship with one another So we started thinking if we were if we reached 90,000 we could build this shade structure Right outside here because most of the year it's actually really nice, you know We happened to live in tropical paradise and by the way You know people have to live in a tropical paradise So it's not our fault that it's so wonderful here, right? With somebody's got to live here. This has to be inhabited and it's and it's us So we thought what it how amazing would it be if we could build this shade structure out there That would allow us to place before and after services and other times during the week to get together To enjoy the beautiful weather to talk to build community And so but we didn't get to 90,000 So we don't get that okay moving on um no No actually this is okay So we received and a surprise unexpected gift That had nothing to do with the Christmas offering Uh for the for the amount that we need to build the shade structure okay There is there was an organization actually who wanted to do something nice for us And they asked what we need and we told that's what we were thinking and that's done So that's going to be built by the time you leave today just kidding That'd be amazing No sometime hopefully in the next few weeks we got to you know do the pesky permit stuff and whatever And then we're going to build it and it's going to be great In fact, I saw a shade structure yesterday Uh and I was like I wonder if this is what we're going to have and I got really excited um So that happened Okay so So we have this you know god blesses us with this really great offering that we needed Then now he's blessing us with this shade structure that's going to be a place for building more community And then third on January 4th and we knew this was going to happen on January 4th our Lake known a campus you PC lake known a became Lake known a Presbyterian church okay, so we they were particularized They became a fully autonomous self-funding self-governed PCA church okay And we can praise god for that too, okay, we just planted a church first thing we did First thing god did through us in this year uh is he he launched a new church In Lake known and that's really exciting it was exciting to be there That night and see that church being born so We're kicking off 2020 on the heels of a really great Christmas offering And uh this surprise gift of more space for being together and building community and with uh the Exciting thing to know that we have now planted our second church and you know I was thinking about that and it's like this stuff, you know, it's It's amazing the way god is at work what he's doing and and these things really kind of preach the gospel to us Because if you think about it the Christmas offering is a reminder of the way the Lord provides right the Lord provided More than we needed just like the Lord always provides for what we truly need and obviously the ultimate example That is the Lord Jesus Christ himself I mean the god has provided for you and I who could never reconcile ourselves to god We could never make up for our sins and failures, but god in his mercy has sent his son he has provided And he did that by his son coming and making this offering right he offered up himself to die in the cross to pay for our sins And to give us his righteousness and to give us eternal life all through faith alone in him This is why we worship him And it's really Christ's offering ultimate offering that's the reason that we can and we do worship our god And therefore this the Christmas offering should really be a reminder of God's provision for us and the true offering We needed in Christ Well, what about the shade structure Well one of the things that we get to experience Because of what Jesus has done for us is the genuine community that can and should be felt among a body of believers The one another ring the way we're meant to love one another and care for one another And here we get this now this shade structure that's a place for us to continue to build community And that is an exciting thing as well just reminds us of that community that god wants us to have with one another And then third This new church is just a great reminder of our eternally significant mission Of making more disciples and ultimately when you make more disciples in one area you plant a church So we really a big part of our mission is planting more churches And god has blessed us then And shown us the importance of our mission and that we get to be excited in this mission expanding to other areas And so we can be excited about that and just shows that god is at work in us and through us And all this and we're like not even through January yet So so as we are beginning this year together and as we Already see that god is showing us that he wants to do things in our worship He wants to do things and building more community. He wants to do things in our mission to make more disciples We want to invite you we want to invite ourselves together. We believe god is inviting us To do some something together to pray and to fast together So let me tell you a little bit. Let's look at the passage now I want to I want to talk about a few things about prayer and fasting and then I'm going to lay out this plan For us to do some prayer and fasting together. So look at Matthew six Five through 18 here now gods holy true and life giving word Jesus said and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues And at the street corners that they may be seen by others Truly, I say to you they have received their reward But when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret And your father who sees in secret will reward you And when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do For they think that they will be heard for their many words do not be like them For your father knows what you need before you ask them pray them like this Our father in heaven how would be your name Your kingdom come Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts As we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not the temptation but deliver us from evil For if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you But if you do not forgive others your their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses And when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces that their fasting might be seen by others Truly, I say to you they have received their reward But when you fast to know at your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others But by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you this is the word of the Lord Let's pray together Our father we do praise you and thank you for all these things that you have done for us In these recent days the fantastic christmas offering the gift of the shade structure the planting of a church
And so I pray now that as we Talk about prayer and fasting And then set out to do it together as a family as a church family Lord. Would you bless us richly powerfully And use us in a mighty way As we continue our mission to make disciples. I pray in Jesus name amen All right, so there's a ton of things I would love to unpack from this passage But I really want to spend just a few moments focusing on one word In this passage, okay This word appears five times in these 13 verses so scan back over the passage and see if you can notice one word that appears five times and here's a hint It's not the word prayer that appears six times A word that appears five times
Okay, I'm gonna tell you what it is The word that appears five times is the word when
So it's in Verse five and six and seven Jesus says when you pray When you pray when you pray and it's also in verses 16 and 17 Jesus says when you fast When you fast So he's saying when you pray when you fast and here's the point Jesus expects those of us Who believe in him and who consider ourselves to be his disciples or his followers he expects us to pray He expects us to fast This is why he's saying when you pray when you fast Okay, so we want to establish that right there that Jesus does expect you and I who believe in him who believe he's our Savior He's redeemed us through the cross He expects us to pray he expects us to fast why Why does he expect us to fast and why does he also expect us to pray Well, let's talk about another word that appears a few times in this passage and I'll just tell you what it is this time Okay, and that word is reward
Notice it in verse five and six and 16 and 18
He says that your heavenly Father will reward you will give you your reward Okay If you've never been motivated to pray Or to fast before allow the king of kings And the one who has authority over all things say to you that when you pray, there's a reward When you fast There's a reward That's pretty Amazing allow Jesus this morning to give us this amazing Incentive there are rewards now. Let's be clear This doesn't mean that the reward is if you pray you get exactly what you wanted Okay, that's not the way it works And and definitely Jesus is not teaching us here that the reward of our us praying and us fasting is our salvation No, absolutely not we know that we talk about it every single week. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ faith alone He's not talking about our salvation
But he is saying very clearly that there are rewards when we pray There are rewards when we fast and what are those? Well, they are various ways that God blesses us in response to our prayer in response to our fasting And we can be sure of that that there are these rewards we don't know exactly how they come or what they are But we can be sure that God wants us to pray Jesus expects us to pray because he knows that when we pray when we fast there are ways in which God rewards us And ultimately one of the things that we can be sure about is he rewards us through growing us spiritually through these things
When we engage in any of the spiritual disciplines as we call them The ones that are biblically directed We we grow spiritually we grow and our understanding of who God is we grow in our understanding of his power His love for us his grace for us we grow in our understanding of our need for him So in in a big way what we can understand is the reason that Jesus calls us to pray expects us to pray expects us to fast Is so that we will grow spiritually in the same way like when you go to your doctor and your doctor tells you that you should eat right and you should exercise It's not so What is the reason for that why is the doctor telling you to eat right and exercise so that you will be physically in greater health right that makes sense God wants us To be involved in the spiritual disciplines what we're talking about this morning is prayer and fasting so that we will have greater spiritual health and whenever we become more spiritually healthy We we do more of what we're designed to do what we are made to do which is to glorify and enjoy God Like we want to be more spiritually healthy. That means we're going to be more spiritually happy more truly happy The thing is Jesus teaches us. That's that's why he's saying when you pray when you fast there are things that we do that help us grow spiritually just like there are things that help us grow physically like if you go to the gym I think I've told you this before of it so Most awkward moment of being at the gym in my life A couple years ago I was going to do some benching and Because people could see me I put on more weight than I can actually lift and So then I tried and I got this large amount of weight up a couple times and then I couldn't move it It was stuck on my chest and so I you know could have just said a little help and somebody would run over But then people would have seen that I couldn't do this So that was not an option so then I just kind of sat there for a little or laid there for a little while And I thought I'll get strength and then I'm gonna get this thing out here And I waited a minute or two and I took a deep breath and I could not move it at all So again, I should just call for help but instead I realized well if I just roll it down my stomach And get it to my hip. I'll like get out from underneath it And I did and it was successful and I got up and I put the thing back up on there and I look around and everybody's watching And that's why it's one of my most awkward moments at the gym but You know again, why do we do that right? Why do we put ourselves through that because we want to be physically healthy So why would Jesus call us teach us To do these things to pray to fast because he wants us to be spiritually healthy He wants us to know him more he wants us To experience him more And he wants us to have more joy in Christ Okay, so he expects us to pray expects us to fast So let me say a couple things about prayer and fasting from this passage And then I'm gonna lay out the plan for you and I together as a church family to do some prayer and fasting, okay Um, a couple things about prayer first Prayer is about building our relationship with God It's not about building our reputation That's what he's getting at in verse 5 where he's talking about those who are praying in public so that people see them and so that they look good We want to realize no prayer is about building our relationship with God talking to God building our relationship with him It's not about building our reputation so we don't want to do this to look good. We want to pray to build our relationship with God second What makes prayer pleasing to God is not a bunch of fancy words But rather the honest expression of our needs And that's what we see in 7 and 8 he says don't throw up a bunch of words like the Gentiles do And they says your father knows what you need before you ask in other words Our father in heaven. She simply wants to hear us ask for what we need I've heard a number of people say I don't know I'm afraid to pray because I don't I don't know all the big words and whatever and Jesus is saying He doesn't want the big words. He wants the heart words Right how liberating is that he just wants us to express our heart what do we need what are we longing for And then number three the Lord's Prayer is really a pattern for prayer Okay, this is one of the reasons that we pray the Lord's Prayer every week not just we don't just pray it just to pray it We pray it so we have it memorized Because if you have the Lord's Prayer memorized then wherever you are where whatever you're doing at any moment You can stop and if you ever said I don't know what to pray you would remember that the King said pray then like this Our father who isn't heaven Not amazing And you can actually take the Lord's Prayer and you can see it as examples of what kinds of things to pray for and you can use it as a guide to fill out A big list of prayer, but at the very least Jesus has taught us a prayer that we can carry with us at all times Okay, so it's about building our relationship with God. It's not about fancy words It's about honest expression of our need and he's actually given us the words to say when we don't know what else to say so pretty amazing about prayer now Let's talk a couple things about fasting and then I'll lay out a plan for us, okay Fasting is definitely one of the less understood and less utilized spiritual disciplines Richard Foster defines fasting as the voluntary denial of normal function For the sake of intense spiritual activity You know here's another way to say that Fasting is when we give up something we normally do But we don't need to live like don't fast from breathing okay We don't just stop breathing, but we give up something that we normally do For a purpose in order to feel the lack of that thing and allow that feeling of lack to drive us to God To remind us of how much we need him as well as how much he is there for us. So you give something up for a period of time And all the fasting in the Bible is from food, but a lot of theologians agree you can give up other things to get kind of a similar effect But that's what it is. It's giving up something For a period of time just to feel Life without it and allow that feeling to draw us into deeper relationship With God now here's something also that we really need to understand about fasting from the scriptures Jesus doesn't want us to fast just to fast
Okay I think a lot of times when we think I should fast why well because we're supposed to No Every time you see God's people fasting in the scriptures. There's a distinct purpose They're fasting for a purpose in his book spiritual disciplines for the Christian life Don Whitney says There's at least 10 different purposes different purposes for which you see God's people fasting The list includes fasting to to receive guidance from God fasting to express grief Fasting to humble oneself before God So there's a there's a number of Biblical reasons or purposes for fasting. Here's the purpose for the fast that we're going to be involved in here in the next week, okay um The purpose for which we will fast is to strengthen our prayer John Calvin said this Whenever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter It would be expedient to a point fasting Along with prayer Okay, let me read this too Don Whitney talks about how this happens in the book of Ezra He says when Ezra was about to lead a group of exiles back to Jerusalem He proclaimed a fast in order for the people to seek the Lord earnestly for safe passage They were faced to face with many dangers without military protection during their 900 mile journey This was not no ordinary matter to be brought to God so in Ezra a 23 It says so we fasted and petitioned our God about this and he answered our prayer In other words one of the purposes for which people fast give something up for a period of time Is they do it to strengthen and we do it to strengthen our prayer To say we are really serious we really want this We see fasting and praying together Fasting strengthening prayer. We see it in the MIO chapter one Daniel chapter nine jolt chapter two act chapter 13 so this is not some One-time thing in scripture. We see this throughout the scriptures So there's a number of purposes for fasting but in this coming week and this plan. I'm gonna lay out here in a moment We want to fast to strengthen our prayer or what are we praying for okay? Well Ultimately what we want to be praying about is the three things that we're always thinking about always seeking to do together One we worship so we want to be praying this coming week and really this year But it's specifically this coming week We'd love a lot of prayer for our worship time together to for God to be here to transform us to help us understand The gospel more deeply to really change who we are from the inside out by the power of his word and spirit within us So we want to be praying about worship Number two, we want to be praying about building community a lot of people have a really a lot of good relationships with People in this church, but there are some people who don't have really good relationships yet In the church we want to build community We want to pray that God would give us even more genuine community with one another And then as I mentioned in the beginning we want to pray that we'll be more fruitful right? We want to pray that God will lead us and give us a ways to reach more Churched people in this city and even among the nations some more fruitful in mission So be praying we want to be praying every day for worship here and community here and mission here And then here's the plan okay, it's very simple For the for the next five days so Monday through Friday You're going to get an email in the morning Okay early in the morning So if you're not signed up for our weekly newsletter now is the time to sign up You just go to your PC or Atlanta or slash weekly dash newsletter and sign up And that'll get you signed up for the weekly email But this week each morning early in the morning you're going to get an email And that email is going to have two things one. It's going to have a list of things for you to pray about throughout that day In line with what we're talking about this morning And we're going to ask you to find time during that day to spend time in earnest prayer to the Lord for these things Okay, and then it's also going to have a list of things from which you can fast or give up for the day Okay, now again normally fasting in the Bible is with food But you we really think there's ways you can give up other things as well So we're going to be asking you to think consider giving up for a day TV and movies Or maybe social media. He didn't He did Okay, and just so you know that's what Hannah and I have already decided on Monday for sure No social media. So if you see either of us on Facebook or Twitter You got to call us and be like what are you doing So we're just going without that for the day and so here's what happens So when you do that when you give up something that you normally do and when it's time or when you have that normal urge to do that thing But you remember you're not doing it. Oh, guess what you do instead You pray And you remember oh god is so good God help our church grow as we worship you in spiritually just transform our lives God help our church grow in our community with one another God help our church grow and reaching more people
Okay, and so that's all it's gonna take is Each day you'll each day Monday through Friday you're gonna get this email early It's gonna have a list of things from which you can Fast and it's also gonna have a list of things you can pray for then on Thursday On Thursday for everybody who's physically able if you're not physically able to safely fast from food Then choose something else or you can just sit this one out. It's okay But for those who are able to fast from food We're going to ask that Thursday as a church. We all fast Okay, but we're going to do what's called a partial fast Which is where you skip breakfast and lunch and then you do eat dinner Okay, and you can eat dinner that night like you can really eat dinner um But we'll go that day and just know that hundreds of people will be Spread around the city But together we're not eating breakfast and we're not eating lunch and we're feeling our need We're feeling our finitude. We're feeling our desperate need for God to provide and then when we eat dinner Oh, man feast Okay, maybe even community groups getting together. Maybe invite friends just feast like crazy and let that be the reminder of the way God does Provide You know some of us when we grew up It was exciting when Parents would say like we're going to do this as a family right as a family That's what this is about this you and I you and I together as a family, okay? and um And again, the hope is that we grow spiritually and we also see God respond to The prayer and the seriousness of the prayer strengthen by fasting and And maybe we see God Work in more powerful ways than than we have in a while What if he does respond in that way? Because it's amazing when you see God demonstrate his power and that's what we're really asking for I'll tell you one thing I um Couple years ago a friend was going to be test driving a really fast car a Tesla And he said hey, I'm on test drive. I'm not going to buy it but I'm a test driver and I'll come pick you up And I said yes, please And so he picked me up and I got in this car and it was the one they have different speeds There was like insane mode and there's ludicrous speed I think I think now there's plaid because that what the next one is from space balls anyway so the We get in the car and he hits the button And we're we're waiting at a stoplight and Just disclaimer everything we did was legal um And so we're there and we're sitting there and neither of us know us about to happen And the light turns green and he hits the Electricity And wow, man, we're like suddenly going You know having to hit the brake because you're going so fast immediately and it was like oh man It's felt like it's on a roller coaster. It was absolutely amazing and I just you know just like stunned by wow this thing has unbelievable power okay
Let's ask God To stun us this year with his unbelievable power Okay, and let's ask him in prayer and let's strengthen that prayer with fasting So if you're not signed up for the email get signed up and every day this week together as a family We're gonna pray we're gonna fast and then we're gonna see How God wants to demonstrate his power in us and through us this year. Let's pray Father, thanks for Your word through which you revealed to us That you're gracious and you're kind and you're loving and you're forgiving and you're faithful Thank you for revealing to us in your son that you have reconciled us to you Through what Jesus has done for us on the cross Thank you for speaking to us through your word and spirit so that we might know How we can continue to grow in our relationship with you and we pray that you will bless our prayer and fasting together as a church family In these next five days and would you please Lord Respond by pouring out your power on us and do mighty things through us things that make us say wow He is so powerful And then may we all turn and give you all the praise and glory and credit because we know that all things are from you And so we praise you now and forever in Jesus name amen