Day 334: The Meaning of Fasting (2024)
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Hamiltons father, my chance, and you're listening to the bible in a year podcast where we encounter god voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The bible in a year podcast is right to you by ascension using the great adventure vivo time and and will read all the way from genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of solvent and folds. And now we fit.

And that that, sorry, today IT is very gets so excited. why? Because they stay three hundred and thirty four around the last page.

I know i've been building this up for the last three days or how long it's been, but you guys, it's kind of significant. And anyways, that's IT. That's all i'm saying.

It's significant. Well done. congratulations. Day three thirty four reading axy postles chapter thirteen, reading six polls. First letter to the Quentin chapters seven and eight, as well as the book of proverbs por twenty eight versus four through six as always, the babel translation on reading from is the revised every version second cap edition I am using the great adventure rebel from ascension. Do you want to download your own bible in the year reading plan? And if you did, you know that Brown the last sheet at home, and you can visit the tension pressed to coms lash bible in the year.

You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on, subscribe, receiving daily epo des and updates stays three hundred and thirty four reading actually impossible chapter thirteen, first twenty nine, chapter seven and eight and well as per char twenty eight person four, three, six the acts of the apostles les chapter thirteen Barnes and soul commissioned now in the church at anti oc, there were profits and teachers bof, Simon, who is called niger lucius of siren manian, a member of the court of, heard the tech ork and saw while they were worshipping the lord and fasting. The holy spirit said, set apart for me barn of us, and saw for the work to which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and send them off.

The apostles preach in cyprus. So being sent out by the holy spirit, they went down to su sia. And from there they sail to cyprus.

When they arrived at selling us, they proclaimed the word of god in the cinna's gues of the jews. And they had john to a system when they had gone through the whole island. As far as path fos, they came upon a certain magician, a jewish false profit named bar jesus.

He was with the pro council surge's police, a man of intelligence who summed, born of us and soul and sought to hear the word of god, but is the magician for that is the meaning of his name, withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. But so who is also called paul, filled with the holy spirit, looked intently at him. Instead, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all the seat and villain, will you not stop making, cooked the straight pads of the lord.

And now behold, the hand of the lord is upon you, and you shall be blind and unable to see the sun for a time immediately missed. And darkness fill upon him. And he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the lord paul and barnabas in antioch of peetie. Now paul, in his company, set sale from paths and came to parga in pama. Hillier and john left them and returned to jerusalem.

But they passed on from parga and came to anti oc of pila. And on the seventh day they went into the cinna's g and SAT down. After the reading of the law and the profits, the rulers of the cinna's g sent to them saying, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say IT.

So paul stood up and motioning with his hand. He said, men of israel, I knew that fear. God, listen, the god of this people, israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of egypt.

And with uplifted ARM, he LED them out of IT. And for about forty years he bore with them in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of canine, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years.

And after that he gave them judges until Samuel, the profit. Then they asked for a king, and god gave them sol, the son of kish, a man of the tribal of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be the king of whom he testified and said, I have found and David, the sun of Jessie, a man after my heart, who will do all my will of this man's posterity.

God has brought to israel as savior jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, john had preached, adapt sm of repentance to all the people of israel. And as john was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am? I am not he, no. But after me, one is coming. The sand nels of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.

Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you that fear god to us, has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in jerusalem and the rulers, because they did not recognize him or understand the other ancient, the profits, which are read every sabbath, fulfill these by condemning him, though they could charge with nothing deserving death. Yet they asked pilot to have him killed. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tumor.

But god raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from galaxy to jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what god promised to the father's, this he has a filled to us, their children, by raising jesus, has also IT is written in the second song, you are my son today, I have begotten you.

And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke in this way, I will give you the holy ensure blessings of David. Therefore, he says also in another song, you will not let your holy one see corruption for David, after he had served the council of god in his own generation, fell asleep and was late with his fathers and saw corruption. But he, whom god raised up, sono corruption, let IT be known to you.

Therefore, brethren that throw this man forgiveness of since is proclaimed to you and by him, everyone that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of moses. Be weird. Therefore less they're come upon you.

What is said in the profits? Behold, you scoffers and wonder and perish. But I do indeed, in your days I did. You will never believe if one declare IT to you. As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next ABS.

And when the meeting of the cinnabar broke up, many jews and devote convert to judy ism followed paul and barnabas, who spoke to them and urge them to continue in the Grace of god. The next ebit, almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of god. But when the jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted what was spoken by paul and revealed him in.

Paul in barna spoke up boldly, saying, IT was necessary that the word of god should be spoken first to you. Since you've thrust IT from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, return to the gentiles for so the lord has commanded us saying, I have set you to be a light for the gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the other most parts of the earth. And when the gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of god, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

And the word of the lord spread throughout all the region. But the jews incited the doubt, women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and start up persecution against paulin barnabas and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them. I went to iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the holy spirit.

The first letter of paul to the clinton's chapter seven concerning marriage now concerning the matters about what you wrote IT is, well, for a man not to touch a woman, but because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman, her own husband, the husband should give to his wife for congal rights, and likewise, the wife to her husband, for the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does likewise. The husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does do not refuse one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a season that you may devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again, less attempt to you through lack of self control. I say this by way of concession, not of command.

I wish that all were as I myself am, but each has his own special gift from god, one of one kind and one of another to the unmarried and the windows. I say that IT is well for them to remain single as I do, but if they cannot exercise self control, they should marry for IT is Better to marry than to be a flame with passion to the married. I gave charge, not I, but the lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband, but if he does, that her remained single or also be reconciled to her husband, and that the husband should not divorce his wife to the rest.

I say not the lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to life with her, he should not divorce him, for the unbelieving husband is concentrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is concentrated through her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean.

But as IT is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let IT be so. In such a case, the brother or sister is not bound for god has called us to peace.

Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife? Leading the life the lord has assigned only let everyone lead the life which the lord has assigned to him and in which god has called him.

This is my rule. And all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the Marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call, uncircumcised, that have not seek circumcision, for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of god, everyone should remain in the state in which he was called, where he was slave, when called, never mind.

But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity for he who is called in the lord as a slave, is a freed man of the lord. Likewise, he who was free when called, is a slave of Christ. He were bought with a Price.

Do not become slaves of men. So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, let him remain with god more concerning marriage now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the lord, but I give my opinion as one who buy the lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in the view of ending distress, IT is well for a person to remain as he is.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free? Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage.

But if you marry, you do not sin. And if a girl marries, he does not sin yet, those who marry will have world's troubles. And I would spare you that, I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown IT very short from now on. Let those who have wives live as though they had done, and those who mourn as though they were not morning, and those who rejoiced as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with IT for the form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties.

The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the lord, how to please the lord, but the myriad man is animals about world's affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided, and the unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the affairs of the lord, how to be wholly in body and spirit, but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the lord. If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly towards ds, his patrol ved, if his passions are strong and he has to be, let him do as he wishes.

Let him marry IT is no sin, but whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under known necessity, but having his desire under control, and as determined this in his heart to keep her as he beats rolled, he will do well so that he who marries betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do Better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, SHE is free to be married to whom he wishes only in the lord.

But in my judgment, SHE is happier if he remains as SHE is. And I think that I have the spirit of god. Chapter eight, food offered to idols.

Now, concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us posses knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagined that he knows something he does not yet know, as he ought to know. But if one loves god, one is known by him.

Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idle has no real existence, and that there is no god, but one for, although there may be so called god's in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one god, the father from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one lord jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all posted this knowledge, but some through being until now, accustomed to idols eat food as really offered IT to an idle and their conscience. Being weak is to filed food will not commend us to god, we are no worse off if we do not eat.

We are no Better off if we do only take care less. This liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the week. Or if anyone sees you amount of knowledge at table in an idle temple, might he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak? Deead food offered titles.

And so by your knowledge, this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Chris died, thus singing against your brothers n and wounding their conscience. When IT is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's fAiling, I will never eat less.

I caused my brother to fall. The book proverb chapter twenty eight versus four, three, six those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keeps the law strive against them. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the lord understand IT completely Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a richman who is perverse in his ways.

Rather than heaven, we give you praise and and glory. We thank you so much for this day. Thank you for this opportunity once again to hear your word proclaimed to be able to come to faith and just come to say, okay, where we trust in you and we can see your mighty works.

Thank you for letting us to live in this time that is called the age of the church. Thank you for giving us the holy spirit that we can not just hear about and read about the stories of people like paul and barnabas, but also we can participate in your story that you continue to write. Lord god, as you sent out paul in Barnes, please send us out to proclaim your truth, your existence, your love, to people who long to hear about your truth in your existence and your love.

We ask this in jesus, his name, a men and the name of the father and of the sun and the holy spirit men. So in the actually puzzles, we have a couple of things. Well, one is selling bar of this, our commission, the church and anti ac.

This is, I think I went to highlight this, is that that they were worshipping in the lord and fasting, and then the holy spirit had set apart sol m. Bar of this for a work and called them to. And this says, then after fasting and praying, they lay their hands on them and sent them off.

A couple of things about this is that fasting a company's prr, this is standard for Christians fasting a company's prr and um fasting yes, I know there are many people who have issues when IT comes to food in their life. They have a broken relationship or a wounded relationship with food. And so fasting does not need to necessarily always involve fasting from food.

That's kind of the the Normal way faster can be in anything faster from any kind of thing that we rely upon for comfort, any of thing that even we rely upon to to function. I mean, we would not meant to hurt our bodies, but fasting from the snoozed button is a real thing. Fasting from coffee is a real thing.

Fasting from alcohol is a real thing. That's called abstaining. But still, you get i'm saying the idea behind this is here are the early Christians here and they're gathered and IT seems very, very Normal for them to fast and pray.

So it's that they're not just praying. They're also sting. And god doing something in that is not like fasting.

Course is god is to doing something like we just going to pray and he doesn't listen thing you fast also and he really listens. That's not the case. But when we fast, we're doing something really important in aligning our bodies with our spirits.

We need god so much. And yet sometimes when our bodies are full, uh, we kind of don't feel that need. But when we empty yourself, when we fast, when we deny ourselves sometimes to be, even bodies feel the spiritual need.

In fact, IT sometimes even opens us up even more what god has in sofa. So I just wanted highlight that, because this is a common Christian practice going all way back to jewish times. Member, that disciples of john was fast and the cycles of jesus didn't fast.

And jesus said, when asked why, he said, when the bragg p is with them, I know fast, but the days are coming when the braga is taken from them, and then they will fast. And so keep that in mind that that's a Normal part of our existence. Again, if you have a wounded relationship with food, doesn't have to be fasting from food that can be anything else other other than that.

Be moving on. This also, chapter thirteen is the first time that we heard of a gun, paul. Up until now we've called him soul. And now he's, I was going to paul. I heard people say that saw, you know, what would be his heir name, and paul paulo would be more of long cline of his like roman name, or is named with that as he goes to the gentiles in this kind of Marks that that moment here, even though Peter has already gone to the details, and even though we ve already had some of these snapshots, IT seems like in an antec in psychic pollen.

Barnabas are saying very clearly that from now on we'll be going to the greeks or will be going to the gentle and um that's not like they are exclusive to the gentiles because the next chapter they go to the jewish nagur again in iconium and so it's not like they're abandoning the mission to the juice. That's not at all what they did. But the switch from soul to poll is also kind of a indication of this this new eventually isc outreach this new eventualities outreach that brings the gospel to those who are not raised jewish but to those who um yeah I went not part of the confident and so that we got today today also in first grinds we have jepps seven and eight and concerning marriage, hopefully this is an encouraging word.

Here's what I think is what same paul is really getting at. When he's writing to the printings es about marriage, he's saying two things. I think I think he saying one is, be faithful.

So if you're married, be faithful. If you're unmarried, be faithful and whatever state you're in. If you are not a slave realized that you are a slave of Christ.

If you're at a slave realized that you're free in Christ. So just be faithful to your your current state. Be faithful to the promises you've made.

Now another piece of this is I think it's almost like think pausing. There's no silver bullet or no magic bullet. Maybe silver bullet the wrong thing. I think it's pervs.

But the magic bullet would be that the I think the thing the lot of us are working looking for is the thing just around the corner on the other side of the fence. Okay, i'm struggling to follow the lord right now. I'm struggling to really find this, this meaning of my life.

If I could just get married you, then that be great. Or if I could just get free that be great, or I could be unmarried that be great. No, I think a lot of times we look at our in life, we say, we look the people around us. We are in different states of life.

And we say, oh, if I could just be at where they are, or if I could just be in that other state of life and in so many ways here's paul saying, no, just wherever you're at, just stay there and he made to clear when he's talking about this is from the lord and this is just my opinion. But sometimes it's a little next of both because I think that the overarching theme in some ways in these chapters has been this has been there is no magic bullet. There is no secret formula.

There is no special location that you'll be exceptionally holy. Maybe you're married to a believer. That's wonderful.

That's great. Continue to strive and in love each other. Well, maybe you're married to someone who's not a believer.

Well, you can stay married to them. Maybe, who knows? Maybe the lord will save them through through your laugh them. But this idea that I have to go be somewhere else is how gash that IT afflicts so many of us. I have to go be somewhere else because I am somewhere else.

Then i'll be holy, then i'll be long to the lord, then i'll be able to be the kind of person that god has called me to be. And I think that if there's one thing that same polis is really capturing, here I meet to all the other things he's saying. This is saying some important things.

One thing is saying is the universe seventeen of chapter seven, let every everyone lead the life which of the lord has assigned to him and in which god has called him. And that, I think that offers us an insight into what holiness holding this is simply saying yes to god, and is never seeing to say yes. And so again, that everyone lead the life which a lord has assigned to him and which god has called him.

And yeah, they did not seek that magic bullet or that that secret sauce. Last thing i'll say is chapter eight. It's a very brief chapters, only maybe thirteen verses, but in the same, paul addresses food offered to idols.

And we talked about this a little bit before because same problem saying that, uh, yeah, you know you're of the temple. You offer your animal as a sacrifice. There's the middle part which remember culture, prostitution and at the end you'd have the restaurant of the back of the temple and tempo just go there as a restaurant.

But the word they get the meat for, the restaurant they got the meat, was from the sacrifice offered to idles, offered to false gods. And so the big issue is, what can you go to those restaurants and ultimately, the same policies. You know, IT doesn't really matter feet that meat, because those gods don't exist.

I mean, there is not like it's cursed meat kind of a situation. You can do that. But he says there are people around you who will see you eat that meat.

And because their faith is weak, they would say, wait, there is someone saw this Christian who is eating the meat offered to idols here. Maybe they are even eating at the restaurant, which are connected to this temple, prostitution, which are connected to this worship of a false god here in this temple. And so maybe they think what that Christians do with the Christians can just, they put foot back and forth between worshipping god and worshipping affordable.

And if that's going to lead someone to sin, then you do IT. You can eat me, because no big deal. Whatever that the idols don't exist, there is, there are no lord.

There are no god. There's one lord, there's one god. But if you're eating that meat causes someone else to send, then do not do IT.

This is what this called, we talked about before, the same of scandal and IT goes to the heart of the fact that we are, we are connected to each other. And that I could say, well, that's it's my life. Get to do what I want.

And the same policy says, okay, yeah you're right and a certain sense, but in another sense you are also giving witness and you're bearing witness to something, bring witness to someone. You either helping people around you know and love god Better or we're hindering the people around us from knowing and loving got Better. And so yes, well knew, it's not your responsibility to make sure they have faith.

You and I belong to each other. And so we need to watch how we act that basically what they say hopely, that that makes sense because when I do belong to each other. And so we pray for each other.

I am paying for you. Please pray for me. My name's father, mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Go bless.