The emptying of our nest of 4 beautiful children has allowed us to reset our lives by living light for the sake of spreading the Light through the local gospel ministry of the Stillwater Community Chapel. (https://stillwater-chapel.org/) This blog is the musings and ministry of the Wolfgangs as we have gone wherever God leads. May we always live light and in the Light, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline...Matthew 6:16-18...A new part of my life
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My buddy Kim who rode this mountain bike race with me October 2010 saved these race tags. Wow! This brought back the memories of the whole race. We weren't really racing. We were just trying to get to the finish line in one piece. It was December of 2010 that I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. So I didn't know it at the time but I was putting my body through the most grueling bike ride I had ever ridden in with an immune system that was tremendously compromised.
Cancer, chemo, radiation, and surgery altered my life. I have a permanent colostomy bag. The compromised digestive tract has given me times of practicing fasting for health reasons. Sometimes fasting is the only answer to get my system back to semi-normal. In the early days it was not uncommon to go 5 to 7 days with no food. Now I can detect when things aren't quite right and make adjustments that are more like 1 to 2 days. So fasting became a part of my life.
That type of fasting was for physical reasons but Jesus tells us in this passage about fasting for spiritual reasons. The Bible is loaded with examples of individuals and groups fasting as a religious exercise along with the spiritual discipline and religious exercise of prayer. I mention in the sermon these 6 although it is not an exhaustive list.
The worship of God - Anna in the temple
Asking for God's protection - Ezra and group #2 from Babylon to Jerusalem
Before a big decision - Queen Esther before going to the king
Waiting on the Lord - blinded Paul after the Damascus Road conversion
Commissioning spiritual leaders - Paul & Barnabas and elders of churches
A time of mourning - after Jesus ascends from His disciples' presence
Mourning sometimes happens almost naturally in a hospital waiting room. I am with a spouse and their loved one is on an operating table in the O. R. I have been with them many hours and I suggest a walk to the cafeteria for something to eat. Usually the answer is "No, not now. I'm not hungry." This can go on until they actually lay eyes on their loved one in the recovery room. There is something more important than food at the moment. The waiting room is the closest to their spouse and even leaving a place of closeness was out of the question.
How wonderful if we had that type of relationship with God. Food would get in the way and positioning ourselves as close to Him as possible would be our goal. I heard a response from a question to John Piper about coffee in the sanctuary that relates. His response was that he wouldn't because he didn't want anything in the way of his worship of God. A coffee cup would have to be managed and therefore hinder spontaneous raising of his hands to the Lord or from flipping to another passage in His word. It was a fasting in a way of the time we set aside for corporate worship to be fully engaged with no added distractions. This is my recollection of his thoughts on it.
Fasting is a time of not indulging in a life pleasure in a society that is all about over indulging in life pleasures so that we can solely indulge in our Savior which is the greatest pleasure of life. From the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "Q. 1. - What is the chief end of man? A. - Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever."
A lady in the lobby asked me after the sermon, "So fasting is still really a thing to do?" The answer is yes and until we are out of the waiting room of this life and sitting at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs. I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... " I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition. Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia. He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region. The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone. Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins. The summary statement of the letter is found in Galatians 6:15 (LSB) . " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. " Translated another way earlie...
Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass. It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24. We give God all the glory for this happening. So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog. One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service. I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks. I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months. I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years. It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip. No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas. Of course e...
Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel . We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20. It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track. This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together. The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs. Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
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