"Passionately Seeking & Speaking the Love of Jesus"
Dateline: Phillips West
Recently I have been preaching the book of Jonah on Sunday night at church. The last sermon I preached covered the fasting and repentance of the people of Nineveh as they responded to Jonah's message. When I was preparing this sermon I learned quite a bit about fasting. Fasting is an action by people in contrast to the original sin in the Garden of Eden. Instead of eating what is forbidden, we refrain from eating what is allowed. Fasting is frequently mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Fasting is done three ways in the Bible- 1) an absolute fast (no food or water). 2) a normal fast (no solid food). 3) a partial fast (refraining from certain foods). The only time I could find in which fasting was pardoned was when Jesus walked the earth. As soon as Jesus ascended into heaven, the church began to practice fasting again.
I announced to the church that I would begin a FFF (triple F) fast in April 2012. FFF stands for "Final Friday Fast." Every last Friday of the month I will be fasting (the first FFF will be Friday April 27, 2012). I even went as far as to order a sackcloth to wear on that day, too. You need not join me in sackcloth but each of us can participate by fasting in one of the three Biblical ways mentioned earlier.
I am not the king of Nineveh or one of his nobles but I am declaring a fast. Because I am just a man who loves the Lord and wants to do all I can to obey Him.
