Kenny Hibbard

Why are we having a Cookout to break the fast?

The main reason for eating together has nothing to do with food…it is about celebrating together. After a time of worship, communion and an inspirational devotional….we will eat together. There is something special about fasting together and then at the same time breaking the fast!As you eat and talk….you will know that everyone around you has spent the last two weeks fasting, praying and seeking God.

It is about a celebration of Oneness that is the greatest part. It is a celebration of mutual sacrifice and a common vision. It is a culmination of two weeks where we as individuals prayed and sought the Lord.  It is a time for kids to enjoy the new playground and adults to hang out and talk.

The Cookout is a time to come together as Team Church.  I hope you have registered for this great event and will plan to stay with us after the time of worship.  Of Course, you could take off after the worship concert and go to your favorite restaurant.  You could rush home with just a few of your best friends and then eat your favorite food at your home.    You could do this…….but the meaning of the fast is to realize that a lifestyle of holiness in mind, body and soul…..is not just about you!  Fasting as a church and seeking God for what He wants US to do as church in not about just you. Being a great church that impacts our city and world is definitely not just about you!  We must function as one beating heart all focused on the same One Purpose!

We realize not everyone will want to eat a lot or they may be craving something different from what we are offering. However, the meal has been planned to be family friendly, inexpensive and feel like a family cookout.  Please make plans to be here at 5pm for the Worship Concert and then stay for the Cookout.

Moreover, the cookout will be a catered meal of great summer time food: Hamburgers (real beef not frozen patties made of partial beef and soy bean) Hot-Dogs, potato salad, baked beans and an assortment of chips. We are going to have the Brewster’s Ice-Cream truck here! The best part for you….you don’t have to do fix anything and it is free.

If you have not registered………..please do so ASAP on line.

If you are participating in our Daniel Fast……we are more than half-way home!  As I said on Sunday……I hope this week we all begin to really focus on what it is God would like to share with us. What it is that He wants you to know or understand? Does he want you to do something or stop doing something?

I have heard about marriages that have had a break through, prayers that have been answered and questions that have become clearer.  I want to encourage you to keep up the fast….stand firm and endure. Seek God like you have never done in the past and I bet you will discover things you have never known. Be sure to encourage your Team Church friends who are on the fast with us…..you may be the voice they need to hear today!

As a church we need to make sure we all come together as individuals next Sunday at the worship concert and communion to begin the process of being a unified force to impact this area for Christ this fall. As summer will soon draw to a close….we have a vision to do great things over the next few months. I hope you are “training” yourself in mind, body and soul to be a special part of it!

Also, today, be sure to pray for Julie Clark. She is the wife of  KC Clark, our worship pastor, and of course sings most Sunday mornings. She has been diagnosed with  C. Difficile Toxin. It is a bacteria of some kind and she has been in the hospital since Wednesday and may be there a few more days.

Today’s reading in our Daniel Fast Journal talked about giving up ourselves.  During this fast we are giving up things we LOVE to eat. This spiritual exercise can help remind us what Christ gave up for us on the cross…..His very life.  We too are called to give our lives away. We are to die to our self so that we can live for Christ.

This biblical truth goes against our cultural motto of “Do what YOU want!”  “YOU can be ANYTHING YOU want to be and it is all about YOU!”

Who or what do you live for each day, week, month and year?  What personal desires have you given up so that you can be all that God wants you to be?  For many…..giving back to in our Time (serve) and our Money (give) as He has asked us to do is a form of NOT giving up your personal wants so that you can give to God what is best and in the long run is actually best for us too!

For others we don’t give ourselves away as we fail to Share our faith with those who need to hear about God. Of course, still others of us……we simply don’t Love others the way Christ commands us to……because we are more worried about ourselves.

As you FAST…….think about our Shared Responsibilities as a church.  LOVE    SERVE    GIVE   SHARE     Which of these do you know God is asking you to be more willing to die to self so that you may live for Him?  May be one….may be all four!

See you Sunday…….we will have snacks in the Cafe that are Fast friendly!