Lent 2003 How God will Restore 03.03.09AM

Lent 2003 How God will Restore!

By Dr. Joseph B. Fuiten

Cedar Park Assembly of God

March 9, 2003

(The President has announced a 10 day window for Saddam Hussein to disarm or there will be war. The outcome of this latest test appears to be like all the rest and war seems quite imminent as we meet today.)

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 58:3-12 (page 526 in the pew Bible)

3 `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

On the 16^th of this month, we will be praying for people who need freedom. If you are addicted to drugs, we want to pray for you to be free. If you are addicted to cigarettes, chewing tobacco, or any other form of tobacco, we want to pray for you to be free. If you depend upon alcohol or are an alcoholic, we want to pray for your freedom. Maybe your addiction is to an excessive amount of food, or to an excessively small weight. We want to pray for your freedom. If could be that you are addicted to sleep, or to action. Maybe its the TV, radio, or the internet. We will pray for your freedom. If your life is being run by anything other than your Spirit under God’s control, you need prayer.

The Lenton season is about re-adjusting the balance of our physical and spiritual lives so the spiritual wins. Even if war breaks out, we will continue with this emphasis, even though it might not take up all the time in the service.

I would like to ask you to engage in spiritual disciplines with me between now and Easter. In particular, I ask you to watch and pray for one hour each day. If you are able to fast, I ask you to fast as well.

There are three expected outcomes of this period of time. First, God will use this to humble us. Second, the poor will be blessed. This year, I want to bless Iraqis coming out of the war situation. Third, God will bless us with restoration and rebuilding. I would like to look in more detail with you about these three areas.

First, God will use our fasting and prayer to humble us. We fast during this time because fasting is the only way that the Bible identifies as “humbling.” Ezra said, “…I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God…”[1] God said as much in Isaiah 58 “Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?”[2] David also said it in Psalm 35, “…I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.”[3]

It is much better for us to humble ourselves so God does not have to humble us himself. This world does not admire fasting and prayer. It admires power. Our country speaks of “shock and awe” with regard to its military power. I am here to tell you that fasting and prayer are greater forces than all the military might of the world combined. There is a very fine line that we must walk. There is a place for military power and diplomatic strategy.

Second, the poor will be blessed. There should always be a secondary aspect to prayer and fasting. This is made quite clear in the text. God intends that spiritual exercise and activity should be firmly planted in the practical as well as the spiritual. In particular God says in verse 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

This year, I would like our Lenten almsgiving to go to feed and clothe people displaced by the imminent war in Iraq. This has been on my heart for several weeks now and the mechanism for doing this has come together.

Thursday evening, Ralph Devin and I had a completely unexpected meeting with two key players in helping us to accomplish this goal. One man is the President of a group that has the ability to ship a container full of relief supplies including food and clothing to refugees coming out of Iraq. The other man is a Palestinian who once served with Arafat in Ramallah. He has become a Christian and has been ministering in Arab countries. He has the system in place to work with refugees coming out of Iraq. For $6,000 we can put one cargo container of food and supplies into an Arab country to be used for ministering to those who will be in need following the war.

I knew one of the men, and sat down at the table to be able to talk to him about this very issue. I did not know the role the other man played in the Arab world. Somehow I felt that God was giving me the opportunity.

Doing this answers several questions. It is a blessing to the poor which is the essential requirement. Beyond that, as Luke 6:35 says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” By doing good to those with whom we are enemies, we can glorify God in a special way.

I think it needs to be said that neither point one or two can exist or succeed without the other one. In the last one hundred years in Christianity, we have emphasized one or the other but seldom both. We need both humbling of our souls and blessing the poor to work together. When they work together it is powerful.

Third, God will bless us with restoration and rebuilding. If we do one and two…. “…then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

This is a fabulous promise. These are the blessings that Jesus referred to in the Sermon on the Mount when he preached on this subject. He said the Heavenly Father would bless us when we gave to the poor, fasted, and prayed. Even though we are experiencing a difficult economy and job loss, God can still bless us. God vision of blessing is quite simple. He will build up the ancient foundations, repair what is broken, and restore streets with dwellings. This is the dream of virtually every person. People just want their own place for their own little family. God wants that as well. The irony is that it comes to us, not when it is our first goal, but in response to these other things.

If you think about it, you might discover parallels between what is happening with Irag, what is happening in the church, and what is happening in your life. What America needs to do is what each of us needs to do. We need to humble ourselves with prayer and fasting. We need to work on being a blessing rather than on being blessed. When we choose to be a blessing, we get blessed.