My Pulpit Message - notes Fasting that moves God
My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 22nd May 2022. Preacher: Pastor Elijah Mokaya. Scripture: Isaiah 58. Topic: Fasting that moves God - Fasting is a focus for prayer. It focuses us so that we may be able to What a safe place this is to be tucked in between the righteousness of pray. So when you feel the hunger pangs, you are reminded, let me pray. When Christ and the glory of God. What a glorious thing this is. I pray that you may you have been craving for something and you have abstained for a while then it be firmly guarded in God. reminds you to commune with your God and your Father. John Piper describes fasting as, ‘a physical expression of our heart’s de- 3. A response from God. Isaiah 58:9-10 “Then you will call, and the Lord sire for God.’ will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away Rev. Dr. Tony Evans describes it as, ‘abstaining from a physical craving with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 in order to feed a spiritual blessing.’ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the Imagine getting to the end of fasting days and after self denial and af- oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become fliction only for you to discover it was all wasted. That the going without food, like the noonday.” the dedicated moments of prayers, the physical strain was all for nothing. That it did not move God. That is was not recognised by Him, let alone accepted. What a sweet thing it is to be heard by God. What a glorious thing for That would be a sad affair. Him to answer us when we call on Him. How amazing it is that the Almighty The house of Jacob found themselves in this situation. They fasted and God, Creator of heaven and earth, the Majestic One who looks after the affairs humbled themselves before God, yet He did not see it nor take notice of it. They of the whole universe would pay attention to you and to me. Would pay attenasked and did not receive, they sought and did not find, they knocked and the tion to our cry, when you call Him, that He will respond and say “Here I am”. door was not opened for them. That is what we read in Isaiah 58. So what can we learning from their situation so that we do not find The most exciting thing about the response, “Here I am”, because it is ourselves in a similar spiritual quagmire? Paul declares in Romans 15:4 “For said by the great I Am, could easily be replace by, I Am, is here. everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through When the great I Am is here, all things are possible. This is the hope the endurance taught in the Scriptures of a response from God that when you and the encouragement they provide we call on Him, when you cry to Him, He This is our hope. That when we engage in true fasting, God will respond and say, ‘Here I am.” May might have hope.” So the reason we are receive a response from the LORD. will grant us reprieve from all our troubles. That God will you reading Isaiah’s prophecy to the children May you hear Him say, I am here my guard us with His righteousness and radiance. That God son/daughter. May you be assured of of Israel today is that it was written to teach us so that we might have hope. His response that I Am is here. Our fasting ought not to be fu- will respond to us as the Great I Am. That God will refresh The great I Am, is none tile. and restore us. That is the fasting that moves God. That is other than Jesus Christ. In the book of John are the great I Am statements so true fasting. Fasting that moves God that there is no situation/trouble/circumstance that I Am will not appear/ True fasting moves God. be present. Do you have a hunger that nothing can satisfy? He says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will This is sermon is about hope and never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35) Are you in some sort of darkness, you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel? He declares, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.(John 8:12) 1. Reprieve: Isaiah 58:8 Are you wondering how to enter the kingdom of God? He says, Reprieve is an escape from a bad situation, or experience. So after God “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and had spoken to the children of Israel about true fasting He goes ahead and says, go out and find pasture. (John 10:9). then, (after true fasting,) “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and Do you feel helpless and harassed by the vagaries of life? He your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, says, “I am the good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” sheep. (John 10:11) Do you have fear of death? “I am the resurrection and the life. God promises there is hope for reprieve if we truly fast. May the LORD He who believes in Me will live even though he dies. And whoever believes in grant you reprieve during the period of true fasting. May He grant you reprieve Me will never die. (John 11:25. from that disease, or of a loved one. May God grant you reprieve from that fiAre you lost and confused. He says, “I am the way, the truth and nancial trouble, from that difficult relational crisis. the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6) May this reprieve come quickly as it says, “Then your light will break Do you desire to live and lead a fruitful life? He says, “I am the forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear.” It will not delay/tar- true Vine and my Father is the Gardener. (John 15:1) ry. I pray that the reprieve of God will abound in your life as has been promised in the Scripture. This is the first hope that I see. 4. Refreshing. Isaiah 58:11 “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.You will be 2. Righteousness and radiance. Isaiah 58:8b “then your righteous- like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” - If you are feeling dry and weary. If your have a season of dryness/wilderness may the great I Am refresh you. May you indeed be a well watered garden, a Is there a sin that has been besetting you? I pray that in the period of spring of water. fasting your righteousness will go before you. This is the good news brothers and sisters that for us who are believers we do not have a righteousness that is of our own, but that Jesus is our righteousness and so may His righteousness go before you and that the glory of the LORD be our rear guard.
The hope of true fasting. (Isaiah 58:8-12)
TT 153 | May 24th - May 30th| 2022
