At the end of the day, we are not fasting for anybody else, but for God.
Sermon Title: INVITATION TO FAST
Sermon Text: MATTHEW 6:16-18 NIV
By: PTR NIC SY
Sermon Notes:
MATTHEW 6:16-18 NIV
16 When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The words “fast” and “fasting” are mentioned 75x in the Bible, 44x in the Old Testament and 31x in the New Testament.
FASTING IS OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S INVITATION
Public Fasts
A. In National emergencies (Joel 2:12-13)
B. To discover God’s will (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)
C. In times of repentance (Jonah 3:5-9)
D. As part of worship (Acts 13:1-3)
E. In appointing leaders (Acts 14:23)
Private Fasts
A. Personal petition (2 Samuel 12:16)
B. In response to bad news (Nehemiah 1:4)
C. In seeking for mercy (Daniel 9:3)
Because we have heard the call of Christ, we simply respond in obedience.
FASTING FOR THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
At the end of the day, we are not fasting for anybody else, but for God.
ZECHARIAH 7:5 NIV
5 Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?
FASTING FOR THE RIGHT REWARD
MATTHEW 6:33 NIV
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
When we fast, we are demonstrating that the Giver is more satisfying than the gift.
“Christian fasting at its root is the hunger of a homesickness for God.”
John Piper
Types of Fasts
Full Fast
Liquid Fast
Partial Fast
Object Fast
JOEL 2:18-20 NIV
18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. 19 The LORD will reply to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.
20 I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise. Surely he has done great things.
JOEL 2:25 NIV
25 I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm-- my great army that I sent among you.
JOEL 2:12 NIV
12 Even now, declares the LORD, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
JOEL 2:12 NLT
12 That is why the LORD says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”