You're listening to Mountain View Church Audio, Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City, Whitehorse, UConn. Here's this week's message. Hello, my name is Jim. Welcome to Mountain View Church. We are a group of people that share faith in Jesus and work together to follow his teachings. We strive to be an authentic and vibrant group that wants to serve and reach the city of Whitehorse. We'd love to connect with you. For those attending online, you can click the Connect link or text Connect to the number on the screen. For those attending in-house, you can fill out a Connect QR card under the seat in front of you and hand it into the welcome desk.
If you'd like to dig a little deeper, leaving no stone unturned, and learn more about Mountain View, there will be a Next Steps class beginning on January 14th. This is a chance to learn more about Mountain View Church, looking at the core beliefs, the history of the church, and how we can support each other. Thank you for being a part of our gathering today. Now here's today's Base Camp Kids Minute with Megan. Hi, my name is Megan, and I would love to share with you what we will be talking about in base camp this week. This is very fitting as we enter into a new year. Is anyone entering this year with goals of maybe, say, being stronger or fitter or healthier? Or maybe you've heard your parents talk about this. So with those goals, there will be plans on how to achieve them. Something like going to the gym, walking more, cut out candy or dessert. Whatever it may be, you or your parents are working to reach a goal. And this is great. But did you know the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4, verse 8,
Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. So I want to challenge you. Let's not only train physically this year, but let's train spiritually. Check out this week's lesson to find out just how you can do that. If you've made your way to our building, we offer base camp during both gatherings downstairs. Also, you can find the material on our website, mountainview.church. I hope you all make a goal to spiritually train and get closer to God. Have a great week. We were broken, sinful, and wretched.
A stain soaked deep into the fabric of humanity. Consumed by death. Covered in darkness. Lost in the wilderness. Set adrift in the vastness. But God, he was consumed too. Unwilling to watch his creation wander endlessly. Unable to sit by as we dove deeper into the abyss. He was overcome by love. By grace. By mercy. He took our pieces and gave them purpose. He took our shattered spirit and gave it hope.
He took our destiny and reshaped it. Though we were unworthy, he counted us worthwhile. We were broken, but in the hands of God, we've been made whole. Well, here we are. Week one into the new year. How are those resolutions going? If you made a few New Year's resolutions, they were likely physical. To lose weight or start a new workout routine. Or perhaps they were mental or emotional. To relax more, start a hobby, or get more sleep during work days.
Those are all beneficial aspirations, and I hope you're able to fulfill every goal that you've set for yourself. However, you might have missed the most important aspect of who you are. You were created by God as a physical, mental, and emotional being, but more importantly, you were created as a spiritual being. You were created to be in relationship with Him. We're all made up of mind, body, and soul. Most of us ignore the soul component during our resolutions, focusing entirely on our minds and bodies. This is a crucial mistake. According to research, most of our resolutions will have faded or completely disappeared by February. Sorry to break it to you. But within the human condition, spiritual brokenness can be a root cause, although completely ignored. This year, we're going to reverse that trend and place our primary focus on spiritual health. Today, we begin a new teaching series titled Not Quickly Broken, Building Spiritual Resiliency.
This year, we're going to seek God's power to heal our brokenness and build within us a spiritual resilience as we enter into a new year. We'll set holistic goals and aspirations and maybe even a few resolutions. Over the next four weeks, we're going to embrace four spiritual practices that can heal our brokenness and strengthen our souls. Starting today, we'll uncover the ability to seek and how fasting increases the frequency of our prayer. Next week, we'll gain the ability to start and how commitment builds the momentum of our faith. In week three, we'll learn the ability to shift and how adaptation supports the elevation of our growth. In our final week, we'll discover the ability to stop and how Sabbath enables the restoration of our presence with God and with the people we love. Our very first step in building spiritual resilience so that we're not quickly broken is to obtain the ability to seek, to seek out God's voice and provision, and specifically how fasting increases the frequency of our seeking of our prayer.
If you've ever wanted God to answer your big questions, or if you have needs that require his blessing, this message is for you. We're going to take a deep dive into the connection between prayer in the spiritual realm and fasting in the physical realm, how they connect. In Western society, we have great freedom and prosperity compared to the rest of the world. And in Western Christianity, fasting can be ignored as a spiritual practice. It's the way it is.
Perhaps it's related to our lack of need, or often even our lack of want. That being said, fasting is a biblically-based discipline that shouldn't be ignored. It amplifies the frequency of our prayers, cultivating the strength to seek God more earnestly. Fasting promotes focus and heightened awareness within our prayer. It deepens our connection with the Holy Spirit through intensified meditation and reflection. And as a side benefit, fasting can help us detach from worldly distractions while cultivating a sense of gratitude, what we've been given, and empathy for those who have less than us, who are less fortunate.
But maybe you think fasting is some archaic practice for monks or uber-religious people. Maybe you're wondering, does fasting still matter in our modern world, in our modern time? The short answer is yes, but don't take my word for it. We're going to see what Jesus has to say about it. Recorded in Luke chapter 5, there were religious leaders who were questioning Jesus about fasting. Here's what it says.
And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. Fasting was a common religious practice associated with repentance and seeking God's guidance. Jesus responds to the religious leaders with a metaphor of a wedding feast. He compares himself to a bridegroom, suggesting that it is inappropriate for the friends of the bridegroom
his disciples in this case, to fast while he is still present with him. Instead, the time for fasting will come when the bridegroom is taken away, which is a reference to the time after Jesus has departed, which very much would include our current modern era, in which we, the church, the bride of Christ, we await the return of our groom, who is Jesus. So according to Jesus, now is the time to pray and fast. But maybe you still have questions. Maybe you're wondering, how does fasting help me pray? How does that work? Well, later on in Jesus' ministry, prayer and fasting comes up again.
If you move ahead in Luke's gospel to chapter 18, consider Jesus teaching there. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.
And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
In this parable, Jesus contrasts an unrighteous judge who lacks concern for God, seemingly not caring for what is just or compassionate at all. The widow represents a person in need, seeking justice against her adversary. Despite the unjust judge's initial refusal, the widow persists in her requests, and eventually the judge grants her justice to avoid being worn out by her constant appeals. The main point of the parable is to encourage believers to be persistent in prayer and not lose heart. This is where the contrast comes in.
If an unjust judge can respond to persistent requests, how much more will our loving and just God respond to the prayers of his people, to you and I? You see, the parable emphasizes the importance of faith and persistence in prayer, trusting that God will ultimately bring justice for those who seek him diligently. And this is where fasting connects. Although Jesus doesn't directly mention fasting, you see, when we fast, it provides a constant physical, mental, and emotional urge to eat, which is normal. But in turn, when we have that urge, we don't eat, and it serves as a reminder to pray.
It pushes us towards the spiritual. Fasting increases the frequency of our prayer, which according to Jesus' parable makes a huge difference. According to Jesus, praying more often has a greater impact. And if fasting helps us pray more often, then fasting gives prayer a greater impact within the spiritual realm. It's worth it. As always, Jesus rarely gives a parable without highlighting the heart of the matter. If we continue in Luke 18, the heart condition of prayer and fasting is called into account. We read starting verse nine.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
In this parable, Jesus contrasts two individuals who go to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. Now, in case you don't know this about these two characters, Pharisees were known for their strict adherence to religious laws. The Pharisee enters into prayer and fasting with a sense of self-righteousness, listing his virtues and expressing contempt for others. He sees himself as morally superior. On the other hand, the tax collector at that time, who was often considered a sinner and collaborator with the corrupt Roman authorities, he humbly acknowledges his sinfulness. He stands at a distance, unable to even lift his eyes to heaven, and beats his chest as a gesture of deep remorse. His prayer is a simple plea for God's mercy. Jesus concludes the parable by stating that it is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, not the religious leader, who goes home justified and declared righteous before God. The lesson for us should be clear here. God values humility in our prayer and fasting. Moreover, he recognizes true repentance.
If we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. We should recognize our own need for mercy and approach God with humble and repentant hearts whenever we pray. According to Jesus, if we take this seriously, our heart condition matters. If we're going to enter into prayer and fasting with a self-righteous heart, it will be a futile fool's errand. At this point, some of you are convinced that your soul could use an increase of prayer and fasting. That's amazing. But maybe you're unsure how to get started.
I have some good news. Mountain View Church is going to embark on a 21-day fast and prayer. 21 days of prayer and fasting. And maybe you're thinking, wait a second, wait a second. Did he just say 21 days? Yes, I did. But hear me out before you jump to any conclusions. Depending on your experience with fasting, some of you might feel empowered to take on the fast completely, depending solely on liquids for the next 21 days. This has been done before, and it is possible, especially if you have a more sedentary form of employment.
Now, if your work is more active, especially in the trades with tools and machinery, you may want to modify your fast. And speaking of modified fasting, this is also a great option for those who are just starting to add fasting to your prayer life or who have never fasted for this long before. We have some tools to help you attach to this video. Also, you'll see them on our social platforms, and we'll send it out to our email distribution list. We've included some downloadable resources, including this printable card that I have right here, which can also be saved as individual files, three of them on your phone for easy access, whatever you find most easy. And so on it, you'll see three lists. One, listing vegetables and fruits. The other, listing out some whole foods. And the third, listing a list of foods that you might want to avoid.
Now, please note that your fast can follow all of this or none of this or portions of this. You can pick and choose how you want to complete your full fast, modified fast, whatever you want. And you can use these resources to guide you. That being said. If you look at this list and you're saying to yourself, this looks like a difficult diet to follow. This excludes all my favorite foods. If you're saying that, that's kind of the point. You see, remember, by removing the foods that we crave the most, or foods we most regularly eat, we're brought into a place of want. That's the point. Because in turn, this reminds us to pray. And then we seek God's provision at that moment. As well as we start praying for the greater request during the 21-day fasting period. Now you might be wondering,
What should I pray for? How will I keep track? How will I ever remember all my prayer requests? These are important questions. Now, if you're a pen and paper person, that's amazing. I would suggest start carrying a small journal to record your prayer requests and requests of others. Then make sure you record God's answers and provision as you witness him respond to your prayer and fasting. If you prefer using your phone, use a notes app, like a digital journal, following the same process as a physical prayer journal.
Now, if you're really tech savvy, like I am, I love my phone, you could download a prayer app. There's lots out there. Just go in your app store and search pray or prayer. And what you'll find is a variety of options, all sorts of them. Some are better than others. Look at star ratings and reviews. But I've been using the PrayerMate app for a few years now. It's helpful and easy to use. It provides optional categories and scheduling, or you can set your own at your own pace. If you're already using a different prayer app, keep going with that. PrayerMate is just the one that I use and I've settled on. But the goal is the same, to pray more often and to remember who and what we're praying for. We all have the same goal.
Before we close out this message, I realized that there might be someone watching or listening right now who is new to Christianity as a whole. Nevermind this whole concept of prayer and fasting, just the concept of being a Christian or church or Jesus, that's all new. So your starting point is receiving God's spirit. You see, when we're born, we're fallen and we have sin. We have a sin problem and our sin separates us from a holy God. Thankfully, God loved us enough to send Jesus. And on the cross, Jesus took our sin from us. He died and was buried. But three days later, God raised him from the dead and conquered sin and death.
And soon after, he ascended to heaven with the promise that he would return for those that would follow him. God has given you Jesus to place your trust into, to follow him. And when we choose Jesus or choose to accept God's son, we're filled with God's spirit, the Holy Spirit. If you would like to place your trust in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit today, you can. In this moment, you can begin your spiritual journey, the spiritual journey that God created you for. You can pray and receive Jesus.
Receive the Holy Spirit in this moment right now. You can either pray along with me the same words that I pray. You can whisper it. You can think it. Whatever you want to do, wherever you're at. There's no special formula. Again, coming back to our message, it's heart condition. God's watching you. He wants a relationship with you and he knows what you're thinking. He knows what you're praying. He knows your motive. And so apart from prayer and fasting, which is a beautiful thing and a beautiful spiritual discipline, let's get you settled in God's spirit first and then we can go forward with the rest. Pray with me now. Dear Father, I know that I'm a sinner. I do wrong. I think wrong. I say wrong things.
And that sin has separated me from you. I believe that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin. I believe that he was buried, but that you rose him from the dead and that he has conquered sin and death and that he ascended to heaven to prepare a place for me and others who believe. I commit to you that I will want to place my trust in your son, Jesus, and follow him the rest of my days. Please send your Holy Spirit into my life that I may begin these spiritual practices like prayer and fasting and worship and scripture reading and so many more things that will come with my relationship with you.
Today I choose to follow Jesus. Send your spirit in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for being part of our Mountain View Church community today. If you have any questions, would like to learn more about the church, what we believe, or how you can be more involved, or if you would like prayer, go to mountainview.church and click Connect. You can also text Connect to the number on the screen or fill out a Connect card.
If you are interested in learning more about the church, there will be a Next Steps course beginning on January 14th. You can sign up for this at the Welcome Desk. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the history of Mountain View Church as well as where we are heading. We want to extend a special thank you to those who financially support our church community. Giving to the church is completely voluntary and we thank everyone for giving what they can.
To continue that support or to make a one-time tax-deductible donation, simply click give at mountainview.church or text give to the number on the screen. For those of you attending one of our physical gatherings, feel free to use a donation envelope found under the seats in front of you, then drop it into the donation box located at the back of the auditorium. Now before you go, we have a few updates and announcements followed by this week's discussion and prayer focus. Hey everyone, big news. There's been a lot of talk about boxes of light over the last month and we are finally, officially less than a week out from our big packing day. Yes, January 13th is the day. So now's your big shot. If you're in the building today, stop in at the table at the back and sign yourself up to help. If you're online, but you'd like to help out, send me an email at elijah at mountainview.church and I will slot you in. I also want to encourage you to invite a friend or maybe a family member who isn't connected with our church to help out.
You don't have to sign them up or anything. Don't worry about that. Just bring them along if you can. You know, like, make it a date. Go for coffee, hang out, complain about how cold it is, and then when you're done, stop in and pack some jars or boxes afterwards. It is a great way to introduce someone to our community here at Mountain View, and it can be far less intimidating than coming in on a Sunday morning. Either way, whatever you do, do it fast, because this week is your only chance to get on the list. And now, junior youth! What's up, you hooligans? I'm doing these updates a little bit different now, and I'm actually going to be talking about what we're doing tonight rather than what we're doing next week, because I know that we all have very short memories. So, here's the scoop.
Tonight, when we meet up, we're going to have a whole evening of an old favorite, Infection. I feel like we haven't played Infection in months, and so that's what we'll do. And Dathan will jump out of dark corners and scream at the top of his lungs and scare us all. It will be great. We all love being terrified by Dathan, don't we? And also, I have something to show you. Hold on, hold on.
I told you I had the giant Bible Project book, even though a few of you totally did not believe me. Well, boom, I totally do. So you can check it out later. And for our lesson at the end of the night, we're going to take a big kind of bird's eye view look of the book of Genesis as presented by our friends at the Bible Project. We're going to check out the videos, though, and then just chat about the book here. It's just for show and disciplinary purposes. Right. So watch yourselves. See you tonight.
Before we leave you, we have our discussion and prayer focus. At Mountain View Church, we don't just want it to be about content consumption. That's the easy way, I understand, and it is a way we grow by you listening to the expansion of the Bible and biblical principle. It's all a beautiful thing, but you can dive deeper. You can grow spiritually to a deeper level if you talk about it, if you hash it out, and if we pray about it, as we talked about today. So that's what we want to do. We always want to give you a discussion question for you to comment below or talk about with friends, family, whoever you're watching with or listening with, and then give you a prayer focus just to end this time together with a prayer focus. All right, so here we go.
Discussion question for today or for this week is, what's your plan? What's your plan to incorporate fasting into your prayer life to deepen your connection with God this year? What's your plan to incorporate fasting into your prayer life to deepen your connection with God this year? Make some goals, make some objectives, resolutions. Okay, once you've hashed that out or shared a little bit, take some time to pray. Pray for the strength and discipline to engage in intentional fasting for spiritual resilience this month. As we go through this 21-day fast,
pray for the strength and discipline to engage in intentional fasting, full or modified, however you settle on it. And we want to do that so that we are building that spiritual resiliency this month. Plan on joining us next Sunday for week two of our Not Quickly Broken series as we continue this process of building spiritual resilience. Our goal next week will be to obtain the ability to start. We're going to learn how a commitment can build momentum that impacts our faith as a whole. Hope to see you there.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse UConn.