Auburn SDA Church
Less is More
  • Sweet Hour of Prayer

      • Matthew 4:2ESV

  • As you can see,
    I’ve been gaining weight lately.
    As much as I desire
    the concepts of health
    I haven’t been living them
    to their fullest.
    Lately,
    I’ve been trapped
    in a cycles of eating junk food.
    I have also been
    trapped in a cycle of
    too much media consumption.
    Maybe you have
    found yourself in as
    similar cycle as myself.
    We could define this as
    the cycle of over-stimulation.
    What comes with this
    cycle of over-stimulation?
    Addictive patterns
    brain fog
    extremes in
    blood sugar
    blood pressure
    sleep patterns.
    But the other piece
    that many do not realize
    blunted spirituality.
    Today,
    I want to talk about
    prayer and fasting.
    I believe that fasting
    is the solution to
    over-stimulation cycle.
    Pond Water:
    Imagine you have a
    beautiful crystal cup,
    but it is completely filled
    to the brim with cheap,
    stagnant pond water.
    If someone offers to
    pour the purest, most refreshing
    mountain spring water
    into your cup, they can't.
    Not because they lack the water,
    but because your cup has no room.
    We have to pour out
    the pond water first.
    Many of us are coming to church
    asking God for the
    fresh water of revival,
    but our souls are already
    filled to the brim with
    the cheap things of this world
    entertainment,
    social media,
    comfort,
    junk food
    and constant noise.
    Fasting is not a punishment.
    Fasting is simply
    tipping our cup over.
    It is emptying ourselves
    of the world so that God
    can finally fill us with His Spirit."

    What Fasting Is NOT

    I acknowledge that
    fasting sounds intimidating
    to many Christians.
    Let’s first explain
    what fasting is not...
    Fasting Is NOT:
    Spiritual hunger strike
    A Weight-loss Plan
    A Badge of Holiness
    A Punishment from God
    Only for Spiritual Giants
    A Way to Earn God's Favor
    Merely Skipping Food
    Fasting Is NOT:
    Spiritual hunger strike
    Isaiah 58:3 ESV
    ‘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.
    The Truth:
    You cannot force God's hand
    through self-inflicted deprivation.
    We are not
    stopping eating so
    God will give me
    what I want.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    A Weight-loss Plan
    We are fasting
    for spiritual purposes.
    If you want to fast
    for health purposes
    that is fine.
    But I recommend
    not doing it at the same time.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    A Badge of Holiness
    Jesus said:
    Matthew 6:16 ESV
    “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
    Fasting is not meant
    to draw attention to self.
    It’s entire purpose
    is to draw attention
    away from self.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    A Punishment from God
    Nobody is force to fast.
    We do it by choice
    to reap the benefits
    of the spiritual discipline.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    Only for Spiritual Giants
    Matthew 6:16 ESV
    “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
    Notice the passage says:
    WHEN you fast.
    not
    IF you fast.
    Fasting is meant for
    all of Jesus disciples
    who are well enough
    to do so.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    A Way to Earn God's Favor
    We are credited nothing
    through fasting alone.
    Fasting Is NOT:
    Merely Skipping Food
    Jeremiah 14:12 ESV
    Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
    The OT Jews
    were fasting and praying
    but God said He would not listen?
    Because they were
    just going through the motions
    not doing the spiritual part.
    Spiritual Part
    Confession
    Surrender
    Seeking Revival
    Obedience.
    The Tuning Fork: In music, if you have a grand piano that is out of tune, you do not change the pitch of the orchestra to match the piano. Instead, the musician strikes a perfectly calibrated tuning fork. The piano strings must be tightened or loosened until they vibrate at the exact frequency of the fork.
    Application: "A major misconception is that fasting is a spiritual lever to force God to change His mind or move according to our schedule. That is a spiritual hunger strike. Fasting is actually God’s tuning fork. When we pray and fast, the Holy Spirit tightens the slack strings of our hearts. It removes the background static of our physical desires until our spirits are perfectly tuned to the frequency of heaven."

    What Fasting Is

    Taking a break from
    the over-stimulation of the world.
    Seeking God more earnestly.
    We have all had,
    hunger pains
    desire to eat
    hangry.
    Fasting is about
    feeing the spirit
    instead of the body.
    We need to
    hunger
    thirst
    after God.
    Psalm 63:1 ESV
    O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
    You know what it feels like
    to be really thirsty.
    Hot day
    long exercise
    dying for water.
    God desire for us
    to have this earnest passion
    for Him spiritually.
    Job 23:12 ESV
    I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
    Job is clear,
    God Word is more important
    than the meals for today.
    Psalm 63:5 ESV
    My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
    Instead of over-stimulation
    of rich food
    media.
    We must seek
    richness of God in our life.
    Jesus went long periods
    without food.
    Sometimes His disciples wondered
    what was sustaining Him.
    John 4:32–34 ESV
    But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    Fasting for Revival

    Revival does not
    come to the curious;
    it comes to
    the desperate.
    Fasting is how we
    stop playing church
    and start crying out
    for God's living presence.
    Joel 2 is about
    last great revival
    at the end of time
    before Jesus comes.
    The Awakening
    Joel 2:12 ESV
    “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    The greatest problem
    with modern Christianity is
    "Autopilot Christianity"
    "Autopilot Christianity" is:
    praying without weeping,
    attending without encountering.
    One the primary purposes
    for Fasting is a intentional,
    disruptive jolt to
    our spiritual numbness.
    When we deny our flesh,
    we shake ourselves awake.
    We are telling our hearts,
    "Wake up.”
    “It is time to be serious.”
    Question
    When was the last time
    your faith cost you something?
    When was the last time
    you felt a holy ache for God?

    Rending the Heart

    The next verse
    goes on to say:
    Joel 2:13 ESV
    and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
    In the Old Testament,
    people tore their clothes
    to show grief.
    God says,
    "I don't want
    an outward show.
    I want your heart broken open."
    Earnest prayer and fasting
    are about vulnerability.
    It is about
    recognizing our spiritual need.
    Fasting doesn't
    change God's mind.
    It softens our stubborn hearts
    so God can remold them.
    The first step in fasting
    is personal repentance.
    We must ask God
    to break our hearts
    for what breaks His.
    Yet,
    fasting and prayer
    is not only for
    private benefit.
    The Story (The Welsh Pit Ponies):
    In 1904, a massive spiritual awakening swept through Wales, sparked by a young 26-year-old former coal miner named Evan Roberts. Before the revival broke out, Roberts spent 13 years in intense, earnest prayer and fasting, begging God to bend his heart and the hearts of his people. He realized that revival could not be forced by a religious routine; it required total, raw inner surrender.
    When God finally answered, the transformation was so visceral that it literally paralyzed the local economy—specifically the coal mines. In those days, horses known as "pit ponies" were used deep underground to haul the heavy carts of coal. The miners had spent years training these horses using terrible profanity, vulgarity, and harsh curses to make them move.But as the spirit of repentance swept through the mines, thousands of rough, hardened miners fell to their knees, weeping over their sins. They stopped swearing. When they went back down into the dark shafts to work, they spoke to their horses with kindness, love, and clean language. The story goes that the coal mines ground to a complete halt because the pit ponies no longer understood how to move. The animals were waiting for the curses, but the miners were only offering praises.
    The Sermon Tie-in: "Do you see? Those miners didn't fast and pray to change the economic structure of Wales or force God's hand. They humbled themselves until the Holy Spirit completely transformed who they were at their core. Fasting isn't a outward performance to show how holy you are; it is a heart-bending surrender that cleanses your speech, alters your habits, and alters the very atmosphere of your life."

    Blow the Trumpet

    Joel 2:15–16 ESV
    Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
    Numerous passages
    speak about calling a
    corporate day of fasting!
    This spark that starts
    in personal repentance
    spreads like wildfire.
    Corporate fasting leads to
    a community unified in desperation.
    corporate cry for revival.
    There is a level of spiritual breakthrough
    that only comes through
    unified,
    earnest
    prayer and fasting.
    “The promise is made on condition that the united prayers of God's people are offered, and in answer to these prayers there may be expected a power greater than that which comes in answer to private prayer. The power given will be proportionate to the unity of the members and their love for God and for one another.” - Pastoral Ministry, p. 183
    Our
    families
    nation
    church
    evangelism
    doesn’t need another program!
    We need an
    outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
    The Story (The Two Sisters of the Hebrides): In 1949, on the remote, icy Island of Lewis off the coast of Scotland, the churches had grown completely empty, spiritually dry, and cold. Christian youth had completely abandoned the faith. But in a tiny, primitive thatched cottage, lived two elderly sisters: Peggy and Christine Smith. Peggy was 84 and completely blind; Christine was 82 and bent double with severe arthritis.They could not attend church services, but they carried a crushing, agonizing burden for their community. These two frail women resolved to enter into a covenant of unified, earnest prayer and fasting. Two to three nights a week, they knelt on their cold cottage floor and cried out to God from 10:00 PM until 3:00 AM. Weeks turned into months. They fasted from comfort, they fasted from sleep, and they held fast to God's promises.One night, as they were praying, the Holy Spirit gave Peggy a sudden vision of their local church packed to the doors with young people. She sent for her local minister and told him, "We have prayed through. You must call the church to gather for unified prayer."The elders and the pastor met in a nearby barn to join the fast. At midnight, a young deacon stood up, read from the Psalms, and prayed a desperate, raw prayer. Suddenly, the literal presence of God descended upon the island. Without a single human program or advertisement, a supernatural conviction swept through the entire region. At 4:00 AM, hundreds of people woke up out of their sleep, driven by an overwhelming urge to repent. They walked out of their homes in the freezing night, down the roads, and knelt in the ditches crying out for God's mercy. The revival lasted for two years, and over 90 percent of the island was swept into the kingdom of God.
    The Sermon Tie-in: "It did not start with an army of preachers or a massive budget. It started with two frail, old women in a tiny cottage who refused to accept a dry, dead church. If a blind woman and an arthritic woman can shake an entire nation through unified, desperate prayer and fasting, what excuse does this church have? When we join our voices in holy, desperate unison, heaven answers."

    Appeal

    Stay for 2nd Service
    A service of
    united prayer
    and fast.

      • Isaiah 58:3ESV

      • Matthew 6:16ESV

      • Matthew 6:16ESV

      • Jeremiah 14:12ESV

      • Psalm 63:1ESV

      • Job 23:12ESV

      • Psalm 63:5ESV

      • John 4:32–34ESV

      • Joel 2:12ESV

      • Joel 2:13ESV

      • Joel 2:15–16ESV

  • Live Out Thy Life Within Me

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 3:1–9NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 1:9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:3–18NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 4:8–9NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • Matthew 21:42–44NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • Matthew 21:42–44NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • Matthew 21:42–44NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • Matthew 21:42–44NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:1–15NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:16–21NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:16–21NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 5:16–21NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:19–23NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:13–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:1–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:1–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:1–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:1–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:1–10NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 7:2–16NIV2011

  • Draw Me Nearer
  • Sweet Hour of Prayer

      • 1 Samuel 1:10-11ESV

  • I Surrender All

      • 2 Chronicles 7:14ESV

      • Ephesians 3:14-17ESV

      • Ephesians 3:18-20ESV

      • Ephesians 3:21ESV

  • Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior

      • Acts 4:29-30ESV

      • Acts 4:31ESV

  • Fill My Cup Lord

      • Colossians 4:2-5ESV

      • Colossians 4:6ESV

  • As We Come to You in Prayer
Auburn SDA Church
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