Articles & Info
As I have been reading the book of Acts, one thing that really stands out as a theme is prayer. God established his early church in Jerusalem through the faithful practice of prayer. The early church was established through devotion to prayer, which inevitably leads to the question: Are we devoted to prayer?
“Family worship at home” sometimes get a bad rap because people use it as an excuse to…well, not worship at home with their family. But when done right, it can be a profound time of connection with God and with those closest in your life. Here are some ideas on how to worship at home with your family!
A few years ago, one of our Covenant Members participated in a church-wide fast for the first time in his life. His experience was powerful and life-transforming. Below is an email that he sent to the elders of the church (shared with permission). Our hope in sharing this is that those of you who are nervous or apprehensive about fasting would be encouraged to participate in this important spiritual discipline.
Above all things, pray. Talk to your father who loves you. Pray about your fast, pray about your plan, and pray when you’re hungry. Pray about your motives and be honest, pray about your limitations, and remember that God won’t be impressed if your fast is more difficult. He’s already fully pleased with you because of Jesus, so fast in whichever way you choose and praise God that you don’t have to earn his favor through misery! For all these reasons, we can rejoice as we fast.
Fasting is an awesome gift. And like all gifts, it can be misconstrued, misused, and abused. We run the risk of ending up bitterly disappointed, not to mention very, very hungry. Now that we know what fasting is and why we fast, let’s consider what fasting is not and why we so often fail to practice this spiritual discipline.
As we enter 2016, we mark the beginning of our second year together as Sound City Bible Church. We’ve all worked hard to re-launch this church in way that would be honoring to God, and in his grace to us, we’ve had a lot of gospel wins to celebrate together in our first year as a church family. God has been good to us, and in 2015 he has used the people of Sound City mightily to glorify himself. Go has healed us, grown us, challenged us, and encouraged us.
