Phil is one of our 8:08 Small Group Leaders. These are some thoughts that God has stirred in his heart during a season of fasting.

Well, as some of you may know, I have been fasting for a little while. I just want to premise this all by saying that in fasting, we don’t earn wages by laboring for our Boss, but rather, it is a prescription from the Great Physician (credit to John Piper). God is free to do what he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. But, particularly in Isaiah 58:3-8, God gives us a prescription for change through fasting.

Now, to many, especially in the Western church in the 21st century, fasting is not only rarely thought about, but even seen as extremist and fanatical by many. In speaking about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “And when you fast…” Like praying, Jesus assumes his followers will be doing it. I’m not here to argue that everyone should be fasting, but just pointing out that’s it not abnormal, and our Master expected it.

God laid it on my heart to fast for a specific amount of time for a specific people group. During my fast, however, my focus has been enlarged to the entire city of Omaha. Omaha is a dark place, though, with many idols: sex, partying, and money just to name a few. The fast that God finds desirable are for these causes: “to loose the bonds of wickedness,” “undo the straps of the yoke,” “share your bread with the hungry,” “bring the homeless poor into your house” (Isaiah 58:6-7). My stomach yearns to see self-appointed, hand-selected bondages be cut! I long to the name of Jesus loved, revered, honored, and exalted in every corner of the city–rich and poor. In verse 8, Isaiah goes on to say, “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn.” May the Church’s–the universal Body of Christ, every saint bought buy Christ’s blood–may the Church’s light shine in this city. I think of Psalm 37:6, where it says, “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” In Omaha, it is definitely midnight. May that change! O God, make it as bright as noon!

Honestly, looking back before I started fasting, my passion was, meh, so so. I didn’t even really notice it either. School and work and relationships just were in constant motion. I was always, minus Sundays, busy doing stuff; and good stuff too! Since, I have been denying the most instinctual, basic function of any animal, things are different. I am not slowing down (besides on Sundays) by any means, but I feel electrified really, like the power has been turned up. Everything in my walk has been intensified 4x or 5x.

“This, O Lord, is how hungry I am for you,” I say. And indeed, I am filled me! At the same time, I hunger for more of Jesus! It’s a weird but wonderful mixture of being totally satisfied yet burning for me. My prayers are charged with more intense passion. My audible worship through music is more frequent and joy-filled. God is speaking to me and leading me in very specific ways, when normally I can’t discern between God’s voice and my own thoughts. The Holy Spirit convicts me of sin almost instantaneously.

There is a certain, indescribable satisfaction that fills every cell in your body when Jesus is truly elevated above everything else. Before my fast, I would wondered, why is it that this intense euphoria comes and goes? Why can’t it just be constant? Well, God answered my question. It’s embarrassingly obvious. Sin. When I am not totally and completely satisfied with Jesus, something else is occupying my mind, and I am looking to that to satisfy. Recent examples are playing soccer, FIFA 2010 for Xbox 360, a touchscreen mp3 player, and the list goes on and on. The Holy Spirit told me, “You need to repent of your idolatry as soon as it starts to happen, and then you will be constantly satisfied with me.” So, I asked him to convict me every time it starts to happen. And he does. And overall, I have been walking and driving around, intensely satisfied with my great God: Jesus.

And then I think, “Man, what if…” What if the Church was as hungry for Jesus as I am right now? I am no one special, either. I’m not super spiritual. I don’t have a secret. I’m just a young, sometimes cowardly, ex-pothead who was saved by grace. I don’t control my body’s cravings: physical or spiritual. My body tells me when I’m hungry for food, and God tells me when I’m hungry for Jesus. Fasting is just a prescription written by the Doctor of doctors when you see the symptom: “Why am I not that hungry for Jesus?” Fasting, with the right attitude and heart, is one remedy. Honestly, I can’t even imagine what God would do through us. Paul says that God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). If the Church really started craving for Jesus with the frequency, normalcy, and the precedence that we crave for food. . .

Hey everybody we had a great time experiencing God on the Fall Retreat this year. We went to Hidden Acres camp in Iowa for the weekend to hear Ed Noble speak with the Salt Company college ministry from Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. Ed spoke about a series of stories centering around the life of Elijah. One in particular is from 1st Kings 19 where Elijah hears from God in a cave inside a mountain. The Bible says that Elijah heard a violent wind that tore rocks from the mountain, saw an earthquake and a fire, but the Lord was not in any of these. Instead the Lord spoke in a gentle whisper and said, “What are you doing here?” It strikes us as an odd question considering God had sent him there(See 1st Kings 19:1-9), and he certainly knew the answer Elijah would speak. However, I believe there is a deeper meaning as to why God asked such a question. It is said of Elijah that he was a man that lived in the ‘Face of God.’ Yet, I think if we are honest many of don’t live in the face of God; we put on faces when we come before God. We put on the face of bible knowledge, or the face of excuses, or the face of choosing to be ignorant. We think if we use some spiritual jargon, or quote something out of a book then somehow our prayers will be heard in a more eloquent light. If you do not think this is true, then the next time you pray in a group watch how many times you listen to people and how many times you try to conjure up a clever prayer that everyone will say ‘amen’ to while somebody else is praying. The point of God’s question to Elijah is for him to open up his heart and be brutally honest. Sometimes being honest doesn’t sound right or is messy, but God is more interested in changing your heart than turning you into some great speaker of prayers. Now I’m not saying it is appropriate to go bleed on everyone with problems, but I think it is very valuable to not only be honest with God but to have people in your life as well that you are honest with. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.” That means giving every piece of what you consider to be God, all your hurts-every single one of them, and then waking up the next day to repeat the measure. Perhaps a good way to answer the question, “What are you doing here?” is by saying, “I am here because…God now you fill in the blank.”
For Further reading check out 1st Kings 19:10-17

Perhaps the most famous story about revenge is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. In the story we see the main character Edmund Dantes carry out his revenge against those who had put him in prison and taken away his fiancée. Dantes actually considers himself to be an agent of God’s revenge against injustice at the beginning of the story, but as his schemes begin to unravel he begins to see he is not in control and more than just his enemies are hurt. In 1st Samuel we see how David was positioned to defeat his enemy King Saul twice, but choose not to because he considered God’s anointing of Saul more important than his own kingship. Instead, David spares Saul’s life and in doing so shows Saul that he is in fact not his enemy. For many of us the seemingly right thing to do in the face of injustice is to scheme revenge. We wonder like an envious younger brother or sister that if God gets to take revenge, then why don’t we? A simple answer is that we are not God. However, an honest answer says that if we seek revenge we are saying that the salvation provided in the forgiveness of Jesus is not good enough. In David’s life we see that he considered God’s plan for the nation of Israel more important than his own plans for being King. In contrast, we see Dantes thinking that his plan of revenge is more important than anyone he happens to hurt along the way. One important distinction to make is that God does not simply ignore sin or injustice, but rather he took care of it by pouring out punishment on Jesus instead of us. When Jesus comes back he will ultimately set right what has gone wrong. One thing that remains clear is that we are to fight injustice with the forgiveness spelled out in the cross. This involves picking up our own cross and dying to our selves and our ideas of wanting to take revenge. What makes you want to take out revenge? Maybe it is the guy in your traffic lane who does not know how to drive. Maybe it is the girl who spread rumors about you, or the roommate who destroyed something of value, or maybe it is a controlling parent or boss. Is there someone in your life that you just can’t bring yourself to forgive? Is that someone you? Forgiveness is not simply assuming that everything goes back to normal or that there is no relational boundaries set up. Forgiveness is allowing grace into your own heart and trusting that God’s plan of forgiveness is enough. Forgiveness is not simply something to do when someone says, “I’m sorry.” Forgiveness is a way of constantly living in light of what Jesus did for you and treating other people that way.

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This Thursday (Oct. 1) is your last chance to sign up for the Fall Retreat. We’re joining our friends at the Salt Company in Ames, IA again this year. Every year God does awesome stuff in students’ lives at the retreat! I’m especially excited about our speaker this year, Ed Noble. He’s an awesome teaching pastor out of the San Diego area who is sure to deliver some insightful and challenging talks. The retreat is at the Hidden Acres Camp in Dayton, IA and registration is $50. Sign up Thursday!

In 1st Samuel, we find that Saul and David took very different paths. Saul went down a path filled with partial obedience, excuses for his actions, jealousy, and busyness that ultimately hardened his heart towards God. Saul did not lose his kingship over night, but rather he developed a pattern in his life that cut God out of the picture. In 1st Samuel 13, Saul was confronted about making a sacrifice without Samuel, and instead of repenting Saul justified his actions with religious jargon and placed blame on Samuel. In Samuel 16, Saul was allowed to experience anguish for his sin, but instead of repenting he tried to block out the anguish with David’s music on the harp. However, David did not become King overnight either. David took a path filled with time with God, seeking humility, and repentance when he had sinned. In 1st Samuel 16, David was anointed by Samuel, but he did not become King right away. He developed habits that would bring him closer to God so that he could reflect the character of God. What path are you taking? Are you taking the path of Saul by making excuses for your actions and blocking out the voice of God with constant noise? Are you taking the path of David by carving out time to spend with Jesus so that you may become more like him? We are not saved by developing good habits, but we are made like Christ by spending time with him in his word and prayer. The Poet Robert Frost has a poem called The Road Not Taken and the last part of the poem says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” What road or path are you on today? Who are you becoming? You are becoming somebody. Chase after Jesus so that you may become like him and you will find he is the one chasing after you.
For further reading check out 1st Samuel 13:1-14 and 1st Samuel 16

We had an awesome time Saturday hanging out on a hay ride, watching fireworks, and trying to start a bonfire several times. The highlight was watching Stephan set the bottle of gasoline on fire and then proceed to run with it still clutched in his hands.

Dear blog readers,

Christ Community Church has a new website. Hopefully you will find www.cccomaha.org to be useful for all things up and coming at CCC. One of the necessary changes was to move this blog. To continue to receive updates, please subscribe using the following link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/cccomaha/college

Thank you,

Greg Nunamaker
Web Manager
Christ Community Church

It was great to be back together for the 8:08 Fall Kickoff. Sometimes I go through 8:08 withdrawals when we take a few weeks off of Big Group. Props to everyone who was inviting new students to the kickoff event. I think about 1/3 of the people there were 1st timers at Big Group. I think the cereal and milk was a hit. Well, at least with Alex…

This Thursday, August 27th, 8:08 is starting off the fall semester right with some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Come on out at 7:30 p.m. for a bowl of cereal and then stay for worship at 8:08 p.m. as we see Jesus lead us as a people of love, joy, peace and hope.