Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This week, prayer will be held at the Browns home. 

On Sunday we will have two groups meeting on Sunday – one in Ridgecrest with Scott and Jason and the other in Wake Forest at the Hope Baptist building with Dan and Mike.  Our scripture focus in Wake Forest will be Isaiah 58:6-7. Dan will be preaching in Wake Forest and Scott will be preaching in Ridgecrest.

Isaiah 58 represents two views of God that can be seen in the church pews. One contends that God wants to deprive you and that obedience to Him is a burden to be avoided. The other is that God wants to bless you and obedience is a gateway for delight. One views holiness as taking away something good from you. The other views holiness as the greatest blessing in the world. Isaiah is contending that the people of Judah thought fasting was to abuse  and hardship. They thought that fasting was restriction, deprivation and beating yourself. On the contrary, Isaiah 58:6-7 makes it clear that fasting was actually designed to be a fountain of blessing by teaching you to love your neighbor, to diminish your love for this world and to spread the love of God. Here is the essence of it: God wants you to obey because His desires are always the most delightful. He does not want your fasting to be unhappy, but rather an act of love and true delight in blessing the souls who are needy. His kind of fast is not focused on beating yourself, afflicting your soul and putting on a sad face… Nor does He not want your Sabbath keeping to be drudgery, but rather a delight. The point in Isaiah 58 is that the only way to experience that delight is to obey His commands for the Sabbath. As you read these two verses, notice how many of the words are connected to the stories and teachings of Jesus in the gospels and the work of Jesus Christ, who came to loosen bonds, undo burdens, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke, share bread, as poor yet making many rich, clothing the hungry, covering the unclothed and caring for the family. These words are explicitly fulfilled by Christ… and they are ours to emulate – “You shall be holy for I am Holy.”

The songs we are singing on Sunday are

• I Sing the Mighty Power of God
• I Love Thy Kingdom Lord
• How Deep the Father’s Love For Us
• Be Thou My Vision
• Behold the Lamb