Centre Church

Just sitting in a green room in Michigan today and I happened to stumble across an old “Last Days Newsletter” dated June 1980. The newsletter began in 1978 almost taking the form of a small monthly flyer, but by the mid 1980′s its circulation was well over 500,000 and often included articles by classic Christian authors and leading theologians.

This particular issue contains an article written by Keith Green which I have read before, and it served today to remind me of the awesomeness that was Keith Green:

A dear friend of Centre Church just lost his son.

A mentor to the church lies in traction in Florida with a spinal tear.

My nephew called last night from St. Croix in the USVI to ask for prayer as the latest hurricane bears down on his family and their home.

Over 100,000 of our PA friends and relatives have been displaced from their homes by record flooding.

We experienced an earthquake.  In State College.

New York is under new terroristic threats on the anniversary of 9/11.

Another election year is approaching.

And this fasting thing that we’re doing… it’s no picnic either. It’s hard to deny the flesh when we don’t have to.

So why do it? Why fast? Why pray for revival? Why pray for anything at all? It’s kind of all been predetermined and set into motion anyhow, right? We know how the book ends.

So did Jesus. Jesus knew long before he stepped into the Jordan River to begin His public ministry that he would go to the cross. He knew about the whips and the spear in his side and the nails in his hands. Still, for three years he went about his Dad’s business.

He preached the Word.
He healed the sick.

As we’ve been going through the book of Mark in our Discipleship Culture groups, this is what stands out to me as the remarkable element of Jesus’ early ministry. Talk about keeping the cookies on a low shelf so that everyone can understand!  I am floored every day by the simplicity of Jesus’ work. Travel around. Tell people that they are being rescued. Heal people who have been imprisoned for years by disease.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17

Why fast and pray? I don’t know about you, but I look around me and I see no shortage of people who need rescue. I see no shortage of people whom Jesus has come to call – the sick, lonely, broken, and desperate. That would be you. That would be me.

There is a lot of buzz out there about all of these crazy weather happenings, the climate of our political health as a nation, and other signs of a “change in the times” as well. Is it the end of the world as we know it? Absolutely. Every single day is. Each day is one step closer to Jesus’ return and the fulfillment of his promise that all of this disease and chaos will dissipate forever.

What should we do as we see the inevitable approaching? Exactly what Jesus did:

Go about your business.
Preach God’s Word.
Heal the sick.

Three great ideas for a fasting focus!