Week 3 Fast Guide

Good morning everyone!  I want to apologize for not having posted the first two weeks worth of Fasting Guides here on the blog.  Each week, from now till the end of our fast, we will begin posting those guides at the start of each week.  Below is Week 3's guide as well as the intro piece on what fasting is and why we as a church are engaging in this important spiritual practice.  Thanks everyone!  Have a great week.

-Pastor Patrick

The Fast: Losing to Find 

            Be honest.  How many of you cringed when you saw the word fast, visions of your favorite foods racing through your brain in fearful anticipation of what it would be like to not enjoy them for days on end?  For most of us, those are the images that first come to mind when we hear someone talk about fasting as a spiritual discipline.  “I’m not going to be able to eat.  How will I survive?”  The problem with this is it is only half the truth about fasting.  Yes, fasting is giving up something.  But, the point of fasting is that you give something up in the hope of finding something else, namely God.

            We are on the cusp of an exciting new chapter of ministry here at Antioch Baptist Church.  A team of people will soon begin the process of helping us seek God’s vision and direction for the future of our church.  As we move into this time of vision and discernment together, I am calling our church into a 7 week fast.  7 weeks?  Yes, 7 weeks.  It’s a nice, holy number!  The hope is that as we spend each week fasting from something, it will draw us as a church family together toward something bigger.

            Here’s how it’s going to work.  Each week, you will be called to fast from something.  It could be TV.   It could be food.  It could be gossip.  You’ll just have to wait and see!  But as you are fasting from something, you are also going to be challenged to try and gain something bigger.  Along the way we will be providing you with many helpful resources.  One of the most important will be our online blog in which you will find daily meditations and prayers as well as testimonies from your fellow church members on where they are finding God along the way.  You can find the blog at www.antiochasitis.blogspot.com. (To submit testimonies, please email them to office@antiochweb.org.  We want to hear where you are finding God along the journey!)

            Another helpful resource will be our weekly Gathering Place prayer times.  Each Tuesday evening from 6-8 p.m. we will open up the sanctuary here at the church for a time of prayer.  It will be a time of guided prayer that you can participate in as individuals or families and will be come and go as it fits your schedule.

            Each week will center on a portion of the Lord’s Prayer.  You will focus on that theme during the week.  Then, as we gather together to celebrate the risen Christ each Sunday, we will focus our services around that theme and learn how it can and will impact the body of Christ, us!

            Will every week touch you in the same as it will others?  Probably not.  But our hope is, over the course of the 7 weeks, we will all join together, united in our pursuit of God’s presence and leadership in the life of our church.  So come and join the fast!  Let’s see what we might find together by losing ourselves in the light of Christ.

Week 3

Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

Last week, you were challenged to fast from your hurried life.  Did you find a way to make the focus of your day something or someone other than yourself or your schedule?  Did God begin to become the center of your day?  I hope so!

I want to tell you a quick truth about growing up a city boy.  I didn’t grow up in what I’d call a big city.  Waco was not and still is not the size of a Dallas or Houston, or even Raleigh.  It’s not even close.  But it’s still plenty big enough.  Growing up in a city has its perks, but it also has its downside. 

One of the downsides to living in a big city is very rarely do you actually get to know your neighbors.  When Courtney and I were living in Houston it took me almost 6 months to actually have a normal conversation with the people who lived just across the landing from us at our apartment.

You don’t have to live in a big city to know what it’s like to live in isolation.  You may know the people you work with or go to church with, or you might even know most of your neighbors.  But how many of those you don’t know are you trying share the love of Christ with by taking time to actually meet them?  We live in more isolation in our lives than we care to admit.  So that’s our challenge this week.   We are going to give up living in isolation so as to invite others to share in the richness of God’s table of grace.

Week 3 Fast: Isolation

   Fast Challenge:  This week, challenge yourself to meet someone new, talk to someone you haven’t ever talked to, share the love of Christ with someone you would not normally spend time with.  When we gather together next Sunday, we will be doing so around the Lord’s Table.  There is always room at God’s table.  Who might need to find their seat there this week?

   Prayer Focus: Each day of our fast you will be challenged to pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).  Each week there will be a different emphasis of prayer.  This week, pray that God might empower you with courage and strength to live out the Gospel to the world around you, especially the parts of the world in which you might normally not spend time.