{"id":11148,"date":"2016-08-17T01:26:34","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/fasting-and-feasting\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:26:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:26:34","slug":"fasting-and-feasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/fasting-and-feasting\/","title":{"rendered":"FASTING AND FEASTING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>LUKE 5:33\u201339<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Jesus answered, \u201cCan you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(Luke 5:34)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>After Matthew had become Jesus\u2019 disciple, he threw a feast for all his tax collector friends in order to introduce Jesus to them. The Pharisees were very offended that Jesus would attend this feast. One of the objections they threw at Him was this, \u201cJohn\u2019s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking\u201d (Luke 5:33).<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Jesus answered that while He was with them, His disciples could only feast. \u201cBut the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.\u201d In other words, Jesus was saying, \u201cLook, you\u2019ve been fasting for hundreds of years waiting for the Messiah, the Heavenly Bridegroom, to appear. Here I am. So this is not the time to fast. But soon I shall leave, and then once again there will be reason to fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>What about fasting? In the biblical world, fasting was an important religious exercise. When God instituted the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in Leviticus 16, He commanded all of Israel to fast during that day. Fasting was also practiced in times of mourning, as well as in times of national calamity. Additionally, a person would enter into a fast to show personal repentance.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>During the centuries immediately before Christ, however, fasting turned into an external ritual (Zechariah 7). Ideas developed that a person could accrue merit in the sight of God by practicing fasting. Instead of doing it as a spiritual discipline, it became a perverse kind of piety by which people hoped to earn favor with God. Some of the Jews and Pharisees made a big outward show of fasting, and Jesus repudiated this kind of showy fasting. But Jesus never repudiated the value of voluntary fasting as a spiritual discipline, as a devotional expression. In fact, He stated that after He ascended into heaven, the church would practice fasting as she awaited His return.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Joshua 9\u201310<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Luke 3<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Joshua 11\u201315<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Luke 4<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'>The   church fathers forbad fasting on the Lord\u2019s Day, because in worship we meet   with our Heavenly Bridegroom, but the church has always encouraged the   discipline of fasting at other times. If you do not know how to fast, talk   with your pastor and learn about this spiritual discipline.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: Isaiah 58; Matthew 6:16\u201318<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LUKE 5:33\u201339 Jesus answered, \u201cCan you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?\u201d (Luke 5:34). After Matthew had become Jesus\u2019 disciple, he threw a feast for all his tax collector friends in order to introduce Jesus to them. The Pharisees were very offended that Jesus would attend this feast. One &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/fasting-and-feasting\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;FASTING AND FEASTING&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}