SPEAKER_02 0:04

Fasting is more than giving up food, it is humbly giving our hearts to God. In Isaiah 58, the Lord calls his people beyond empty religion to joyful surrender and loving others. This Sunday, discover how true fasting moves us from superficial to spiritual.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Good morning, church. Today's scripture reading is taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 58, verses 1 to 14. Isaiah chapter 58. Cry aloud, do not hold back. Lift your voice up like a trumpet. Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. Why have we fasted and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and fight, and to keep with a wicked fist. Fasting yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself. Is it to bow down and his head like a reed and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh. Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily, your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard, then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as the noonday, and the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail, and your ancient ruins shall be revealed, you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, you shall be called the repairer of the bridge, the restorer of the streets to dwell in. If you turn back your fruit from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable, if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you right on the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. This is the word of the God. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

This morning, when you hear the word fast, what comes into your mind? Can anyone shout? Fast, fasting. No food, and then what else? Another one or two shouts. Sorry? Prayer? Okay, anyone? No handphone, yes. Anyone? Okay. Again? Faith. Yeah. So these are the words that come into our head, into our mind when we heard about fasting. And usually we know in our uh this harmonious community we are in, we always celebrate the puasa month, right? The Ramadan month, where our um brothers and sisters in in Muslim they are doing their puasa, their fast. And you will start to think that, oh, this one is belong to them. This we are not a part of it. But take a look at the verse today that the Lord is really taking fast very seriously. Yeah, so when we when we hear the word fasting, we already can be reminded that it is many, many things about fasting, and we're gonna see what is fasting here look like. Okay, so the passage uh the passage in in uh in the Isaiah 58 critiques a form of religion that uses outward acts of devotion, like desperate fasting, to pressure God into acting rather than obeying Him out of genuine faith. So you can see on the first one, two, three, until four, you can see that actually even until the end of the verse 14, we can see that people at that time using fast as a way of pressuring God to do what they want. Yeah, so the next slide, so we can see that this is uh two kind of um uh two kinds of uh action. One is manipulation and the other one is obedience. And then after that, because of that manipulation actually happened because at that time people, the at Israel, Israelites there, there they believe in a Canaanite religion. So they have two segments: one Canaanite religion and the other one is uh Israelites' faith. So the Canaanite religion is seeking to manipulate God into granting rewards through religious right. While Israel faith, like us, you know that faith is a response to the Lord in joyful obedience. Yeah, and then the next uh the the verse 13 and 14, we can see why what is nothing to do with fast and then go to Sabbath, right? Because we are called to be Sabbath people. The true devotion is by keeping Sabbath with genuine delight, serving as a symbol of a heart full of dedication to God rather than mere mechanical observation. So, like you are coming to church, oh, because I'm Christian, I come to church. You know, like has already diluted meaning why we are coming to church, why we are keeping the Sabbath. And sometimes, yeah, we look later down to the line, we can see that what happened when we are fasting and what happened, what we are doing on Sabbath day. And then the next one is faith and social responsibility. So I guess when I was preparing this, somehow it so so fall nicely into the heart of the church today. We among us are at a CG, a connect group leaders uh uh training, and we were we are learned actually the weakest things that our church is doing among us is evangelism, outreach, coming up from our comfort zone and start to pray and to think about those who have not yet known God as their Lord and Savior. So faith and social responsibility has to come hand in hand because authentic religion cannot exist alongside social indifference. True worship demands that a right relationship with God be reflected in how we treat one another. Amen. Yeah, so this passage I use a chaotic structure, you know. Maybe uh some of you are students, all of us have been uh students before, right? So they are when they make poems like A B A B A B A, you know, that kind of patterns. So actually, if you take a look, you study the book of Isaiah 58 here, we can see the pattern is A1, B1, and C, you know, the contrast and B2 and A2. So I want to go through together with you so that we will be able to understand better. So the verse one is the rebuke. That's why they can cry out loud, do not hold back, you know, rebuke. Isaiah rebuking the people at that time. And then B1 and B1 on the first five, if you have the Bible with you, five to two to five, it's the exposing of false fasting. So you've been fasting, you are you are doing your fast already. Maybe all of us has already also been exercising fast, like me. Yeah, so but have I, I am guilty of that also, that my fasting is only inward, have not yet been challenged to go outward. So the two be one B uh exposing false fasting. And then if you see and take a look at the verse 6 to 12, that's where the contrasts, the Lord chosen fast and the blessing. The blessing that God given us, this is not prosperity gospel, but this is the promise that the Lord gave to us. Okay, we can say, Lord, you you heal me, you say you're gonna be with me, you're gonna clear my death, you're gonna heal my sicknesses. But why is not happening? You're gonna answer my prayer because God's promises requires, demand our response. We need to do something, not that because we're bribing God, but because of our faith, our joyful obedience towards Him that caused Him, I cannot help, but to pour this blessing over each and every one of us. That's the C B2 a face with a blessing. So after A1, B1, being contrasted to B2, A2, where actually when you do this, yeah, when you do the true commanded fast, the promise will be given to you. Okay, are you awake here? I know that uh 10 uh 10 to 12, you are you are supposed to write something, you know, three words that you need to for the children, uh three words that you are catching, and then what a true fast means and all so forth. Okay, without further ado, okay, so A1 and A2 is the rebuke versus the blessing, correct? The promise. B1 and P2, which is on the first six, uh uh first two and five, compare with 13 to 14, is a fast without blessing versus feast with a blessing. Okay, so the main point here that we are gonna do today, God chosen fast and the blessing. And our focus will be on that fast and the blessing. Okay. Next, that God exposed people who are seem very religious, isn't it? They fast, they're asking, they're praying. It's just not somebody uh talk about praying in during the fast. Yet they feel empty because God does not answer their fast, right? They become cheatery and angry. The problem is that their religion is not what God requires. It is more like Canaanite religion, you know, where they try to pursue God. You come into fasting because I want this, oh God, you better reply me exactly like this. Okay? Yeah, so then, but God didn't give what they want and they become angry. So, come to the point now. So, what is actually false fasting then? Well, how can it be already fast and you say it's wrong? How can it be already no food, no maybe no drama, no Korean drama, no Chinese drama, no Hong Kong drama, no social media, but yet, Lord, you have not answered me. Because let's take a look at the Canaanites religions, because they put the gods under pressure to do what they want. Yeah, and you can see actually, if you take a look at this verse, is there is an example of using some ritual that are meant to stir Baal. Baal is an idol, it's a false god, into giving fertility and abundance. Yeah, so it could be that your fast might not be directed to the wrong, to the right God. It's actually you are doing it, directed it to Baal, to the wrong God. That's what happened. Okay, so this this is the spirit of the verse three reveals. You can take a look at the verse three, right? The verse three here says that why you why have we fasted and you see it not, and so on and so forth. So the act they act as if that they are a righteous nation. But their real motive is to pursue God into responding exactly what they want. So they are upset, lah, and their painful act, I've been doing this. Their painful act of devotion have received no response from God. And the second one, why it is called false fasting, because when they fast, they seek their own pleasure and oppress their workers, ending in quarrel and fighting. Yeah, so maybe all of us are not boss, everybody. You are don't you don't have your your uh subordinates be below you. But maybe you can see here, like, you know, how you treat your family, how you treat your friends. Yeah, so you've been fasting, but you do it for your own pleasure, that at the end of the day you quarrel and oppress them. So this is why, exactly why the Lord oppose when we are fasting, is first you pressure and direct the Lord to do what we want. And second, because we seek our own pleasure to the disadvantages, to the advantage of others. Yeah, so now we learn. We already usually we learn the I heard in the bang, in order for you to recognize counterfeit, you learn the true notes, right? Yeah. So now we don't need to stay longer on the false fasting. So what is true fasting here? So you can take a look at verse 5. Verse 5 is is such the fast that I choose, a day of a person to humble himself. It is to bow down his head like reed and this and uh to and to spread sock cloth and ashes under him. Will you call this a fast? A day acceptable to God? And for six and for seven, you can take a look at yourself. So the true fast is always or it should lead to justice, meeting people's need and caring for one's own family. This is the one that you always neglect. We've been doing good, good, good, good things for others, but your own family you neglected. And for first seven, the the the next answer for true fasting is that true fast must be lived out immediately in practical care. So, what is this? For example, if somebody clothes, you don't say later, you must you must clothe this person quickly, otherwise you cannot call. And in Indonesian, we call it maso angin. You know, you cannot, you get a call. So it must include those among us as well. So we got to do it and leave it out immediately and in practicality. Now, so now we learn the to. Now, what are the promises? So you don't just rah-rah, but what's your promise, Lord? What's your promise, Lord? But you don't do anything. So you have learned just now a true fast, and this is and these are the blessings. There are two series of blessings, brothers and sisters, if you take a look. It's so wonderful that God is always have the desire to bless us. First, a fresh start in life. Maybe we just go through go through it, okay? I don't have any further explanation. You read it, you get it. Restoration and healing, security, you know, because righteousness goes before us, and the Lord's glory guards them from behind. Just now uh Gisel also read like that, right? Like a like a like a shield around us. Isaiah 53, verse 11 also show that the Lord gives righteousness and believers wear it like armor. Okay, and then the third, the fourth one is close fellowship with the Lord. In the Hebrew meaning of the word has a significance. The close fellowship here has a very significant emphasis. When they call, God answer. When they cry for help, he immediately says, Here I am. So we have learned in the church camp about this widow and the good judge. The good judge reply and and deliver the the needs and answering the the widow's needs because he wants to save himself. But the father, you say, Don't you see? If they call to the father, he will immediately reply to us and deliver us. So, verse 9 to 10, while we you you you have your Bible with you. Fasting must shape our personal conduct as well. It costs more than just meeting basic needs, but requires a sacrificial commitment to care for the needy. So I hope this is this will be our church core commitment together, as we also have an outreach committee among us that we want to have because this will going to be long, brothers and sisters. This is not going to touch and go. This is going to be a long commitment that we need the Lord to help us to care for the needy. So, second series of blessings. Take a look at the verse 10c to 12, the Bible with you. Clear guidance. The Lord gives direction for life, divine supply. These are so miraculous. The Lord provides not only the outward help, but also the inner strength in times of need. Do you realize or not? When you look back, well, how how can I go through that moment in my life? So when you see this, ask because the Lord gives you a divine strength, inward strength within you. The situation might not be changing, brothers and sisters, but you are strengthened to grasp and to understand. Your perspective has been sieved. And that's the work of the divine, the work of God. And fresh resources in the sense that God will bring us new strength and in life. And restoration and continuity. Remember, this is not going to be happen to you. These blessings are going to go down from one generation to another. So there is a continuity in God's promises. So you can rest assured that our children and the children's children and their children's children will receive God's promises and God's blessing. Yeah, then we go to the first, we are going to the last already, yeah. Verse 13 and 14 now is the true Sabbath. So these verses show that true devotion is not only seen in the fasting, okay, but it's also in how God's people honors his holy day. So you're not going to just seclude yourself and fast and pray, but you neglect your gathering together. Maybe this is also a call for all of us and those who are watching live streams. If There is nothing happened to you unless you are on the hospital and lie on the bed. Please come to the church and have fellowship physically with one another. Amen. Okay, are you sleepy? Can you snag one another? Next week, come again, huh? Next week, come again. Come on, come on. I haven't seen you again, okay? Hallelujah. Okay, so first one is that when we have a true Sabbath deal, what happened? We turn from self-centered living. It's all about me and all my needs. Become living in community. We turn from self-living, self-centered living. And then honor the Sabbath as holy. So we treat the Sabbath as the Lord's day, not as an ordinary day for personal convenience. Hey, I've been working from Monday to Friday. Saturday, Sunday is my rest day. I want to do all the things that I like. Yes, you can. But Sabbath day is a day of honoring the Lord. We don't segregate the Lord on certain way or certain department, you know. But it is in all in all. Even when you work on Sunday, on Monday to Friday, when you are in the Lord, you will find rest in your labor. Amen. Amen. So the third one is call the Sabbath a delight because Sabbath cannot be a burden. You come to church, I got to wake up early again in the morning. It must be a joyful thing. Because we're not doing it for anybody. You're not doing it for me. Maybe some here come, oh Sister Danny is preaching. I want to come. Good, good, good. I, whatever reason it is, you are here, I believe it's for the Lord. Amen. So you are doing it not more for not anybody but for the Lord. And we are doing it with joyful because it is opportunity. You don't see my Indonesian brothers and sisters when we're doing like that and I call attack, you know, from the back. Uh boobar, boobar. You know, boobar means like, okay, dismiss, dismiss. You are not supposed to worship. Then you see the brothers and sisters in China, they have underground church, right? So it is privilege, opportunity to be able to sing song to the Lord out loud, to raise your hands, to have air con, to have light, to have technology, to have live stream. What is the problem here, brothers and sisters? Why do I want to come to church and keep the holy God, holy day of the Lord, and keep it holy? So the last one is to receive the promise of blessing. When we delight in the Lord, He promised joy, exaltation, and inheritance promise from Jacob, you know. Jacob and Abraham and to each and every one of us. So, in summary, we're ending already, huh? Happy? Actually, not okay. Through fasting, start with the heart of humility and surrender to God, rule and reign. Because you know when these food are taken from you, what will you do? Hungry, right? Doctors say if you don't eat for three days, no water for three days, you die. May be my information wrong, but I just saying, okay? If you know food, no drink, die. And then these are the things that we want to realize that when you fast, you give a chance your spiritual body to arise and to notice. I depend on you, God. I'm not depending on carnal and natural resources, I'm depending on a divine natural from God. Okay, it shows also that fast must be shown in the way we treat others through justice, meeting people's need, and the most importantly is to carry, to care for your own family. This whom we may easily overlook. You realize that? You know, oh I think can settle themselves. You forget that actually, as we take a look and care for other people, please remember your own family. And then first 14 and 13, 13 and 14, I would no need to elaborate further. Is we have a Sabbath day. We are people of the Sabbath who show our devotion not only through fasting but also in keeping the Sabbath day. Because by doing that, we want to say, Lord, I put you first as my priority. I acknowledge you as my provider, and I want to be with you. So now, what now? Yeah, so I read this if you if you haven't read this book called The Discipline of the Holy Spirit. Fasting is under the disciplines of surrender. So when you fast, you are actually practically the most tangible and practical way to say, Lord, I surrender to you. And allowing the Holy Spirit to have a control over us because we're giving up the food, the very sustenance of life. And during fast, control over our life sifts from myself to the Lord. Right? So God-centered fasting is always have a motif to what? To create an opening for God's revelation and mercy. We've been talking about just the physical, but actually in the spiritual realm, we will receive God's revelation and mercy. It is not to coach God, to make him change his mind. I'm a bit actually uh wary about this word because sometimes when we pray, we want God to do certain things uh according to the way we want it to be done, right? And actually in the Bible, there is uh a prayer of uh Sodom and Gomorrah at that time. He changed the heart of God. But the prayer is not because of anything else, but because he used the reason why Moses are thinking, praying to God to change the mind because Lord, if you have one uh righteous person, can you don't destroy the city? You know, so it's a bit careful in in using this because when we fast, we already know that we are praying according to his will. So it is not whatever that we are doing is not conditioning the way God responds to us. And you know that the the the the what you call it the the desire, the motivation of God, his desire is always to extend mercy and to always have the best for us, even though we don't know. So a couple months ago, uh I have this uh condition that I I when I don't know I cannot say condition, but I I happen when I wake up, I will feel very down, very sad. Like future is not there, how's my kids, how's ministry, very bleak. But because of that, I took time to just give up my food. Yeah, at that time I just fast and pray to the Lord. And until to the point when I say, let's be la. Never mind la. I'm like this, never mind la. You know, because when I'm like this, I'll come down on my knee and pray. Is that what you want, Lord? Is that where you make me feel down, feel sad, feel anxious all the time? Because I'm when I'm having that kind of moment, I'm kneeling down and I pray to the Lord. And yes, after that I will feel so refreshed, and actually I don't feel like I want to eat anymore because I'm like feasting, feasting in the presence of the Lord, you know, that kind of feeling. You know, and I realize that that maybe this is the way God wants me to have, you know. But of course, after that, Lord, if can uh tomorrow I wake up, I want to have a joy in my heart. I want to see the future in the in in the in a in the light of your glory, please, Lord. Then He is, you know, in His time, He answered that prayer, and one day I will just come out from that condition, on from that situation. And this is why, brothers and sisters, I think all of us know, maybe you are facing certain uh situations that you think God has an answer, like Pastor Richard just not mentioned, but don't lose heart. It could be the Lord wants to change certain in your certain things, certain perspective in your life. Yeah, so but because of fast also, according to Arthur Welles on God's chosen fast, he said that how can we expect the flow of power, you know, if you do not prepare the channel. So, my challenge to you today, brothers and sisters, if you are serious about growing in God, if you long for more of the spirit of God's power in your life, and if you desire joy of glorifying the dancing, singing, playing, serving as a host, serving as an usher scripture reading, so on and so forth, you want to find a joy in doing that, we should actually I call this to all of you. Maybe we should thoughtfully and earnestly practice the discipline of fast. Because only then we are like preparing the channel of God's power to be filled. You know, fasting is a God-appointed means for the flowing of his grace and power that we can afford to neglect no more. So we have land fast a few months ago. Uh, our mission trip, we also have a fasting once a week to prepare. It's not because Lord, I fast, so you better listen to us. No, but because we want to come under his protection, we want to come to know what is actually you are doing and you want to do in Kupang or in my life, in my job, in my relationship. We need to know that by fasting. So to conclude in everything is that fasting must be God-centered. Fasting must be must have a purpose in itself to draw us closer to God. And the reward is more of God. Yeah, so all of us are coming with our family. Maybe we can go straight to the to the uh suggestion, practical, okay? So now we are fasting, you you you you think it's just fasting food, but actually if you if you see the the bigger dimension of fasting, it's also talk about self-discipline, it's talk about self-uh refrain from doing something. Because we know that when we fast, it is also that we want to give more space to the Lord. So, what are the spaces that have been filled? The other thing is this. Maybe you are on social media, maybe friend can, you know. So fasting can fast from meeting friends also, because you want to give time more for God. Maybe you are you like you are indulged in buying things, luxury goods, or you eat something nice all the time. Can, please treat yourself with the good things. But remember, let not that filling up the place and the spaces that are supposed to be for God. And then might be you are wondering, so how to fast? So actually, in in very brief, there are three ways of fasting. First is normal fast. Normal fast is you are fasting from food, but no, uh fasting from food, but you still can have water. And usually it can be longer than that. Longer than I mean longer than three days or five days. And the the the second one, if you remember, uh uh uh Esther fast, remember, you remember Ezra fast, you see, and also Moses fast, is very divine because they are not eating and they are not drinking. Like Jesus is actually, even though I checked with Daniel, actually it's not really proven that Jesus was only fast for food but not drink. But we we cannot say what's true, but we can learn that Jesus is also fasting. Daniel was fast, it's called partial fast, where he chooses not to eat certain food, but he's still uh normal food, but maybe don't eat meat. What he didn't eat at that time is meat, wine, and uh and and uh I think some other uh king's uh dishes. The dishes that was offered to the king, he didn't eat. For Esther, it's three days. So absolute fast is supposed to be not longer than four days because no food, no water. Yeah, but Moses, 40 days, 49. No food, no water. Because why? It's supernatural. If you if God didn't lead you into that fast, please don't fast that way. Okay? So then also when you fast, you got to check with your doctor whether you are allowed to fast. Remember, fasting is about about God, about surrendering our life. So if you just fast but you never pray, never read the Bible, it's intermittent. Fast, lah. That one is for exercise, right? 16 hours fast, and the rest of the hours is eating. Yeah, that's not considered, okay? The fast in in the Bible must be focused on prayer, on a quiet time in the Lord's presence, and asking Holy Spirit, what should I do today? So you can read my slides that we when we fast, you know, uh next one. When we fast during the fast, what is what you what would happen? So usually if you like to drink coffee and tea in the morning, you have a little bit of headache. So you just if you are normal fast, you take water. If you have absolute fast, you go into your room and pray to the Lord. So usually when absolute fast is really dedicated time, you really maybe take leave for three days, you know. Instead of going holiday, let's retreat and have time with the Lord. Wow. Isn't it very rewarding? Yeah, more of God. And then what you expect during the fast, you might be attacked by the enemy. Not to scare you, but because we are in the fighting realm. We are always in the situation where the Lord, when the devil will break fast already, I think your stomach cannot tah really quite yeah. So that kind of attack you might be facing. Or suddenly you got to run errand that how come this suddenly comes, or suddenly you sick, you suddenly things happen. That is a spiritual resistance. You have to ask Holy Spirit for strength. Alright. So just now I also give to the children, right? There are habits you need to write down on your water drops. What are the bad habits that you need to script out so that we can have a good habit coming up? So these are the friendly family uh suggestions that I have in mind when I was preparing this. Definitely, if you search in Google, children are not supposed to fast la. But it's okay if, for example, you don't snack, yeah, no chocolate la, no sweet drink la, then there is a there is a there is uh teaching where when you replace something from children, you cannot just take and you do nothing. They call it take and replace. So when you take certain things from your children, like okay, no TV today, no gadget today, no games today, so what are you going to offer to your children? You can have, for example, let's write encouragement notes for auntie next door, or let's pray for your friend in the school who has a problem. Or maybe we should visit those who are in it in your neighborhood. Or you use the money to support mission, you know, so on and so forth. So, children, they are actually very obedient. They want to see us doing this together. So, as you fast from something, let's use that extra time that you have together with your children for something meaningful.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

We pray that you've administered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ish Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.