user`s manual 2014:
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1. for all of us as a church Fasting in this season is a natural fit as spiritual disciplines go Though fasting in any fashion and we ll talk about some options in a minute is by definition hard it s actually meant to be a joyous opportunity Suddenly we re really serious about something with God we re really expecting him to come through we aren t just playing around That can often be exhilarating What are options for fasting Well first off fasting often involves abstention from food in some way In short er fasts that can be a total abstention from food These are usually called water fasts because water is the only thing going into us Don t fast too long of course a day or two or three if you re in good health but talk to a doctor or someone with a little experience if you get very ambitious on this kind of fasting Also WE DO NOT RECOMMEND WATER FASTS IF YOU VE EVER SUFFERED FROM ANY EATING DISORDER Forgive the stern words and printing but this is a biggie Those in our midst who ve suffered from eating disorders historically have a difficult time separating this sort of fasting from the very motivation that drove them to the disorder and thereby risk serious health problems So if you ve been in this situation or to be honest if the idea of a water fast is in any measure sending your mind toward thoughts about weight loss or body image can we ask that you d pur sue one of the other gre2. LEAP OF FAITH a 40 day prayer experiment for Lent from E9 brown line vineyard user s manual 2014 Gross VOUr moat to more excitement amp more God We re excited We re excited to launch our Leap of Faith prayer experiment to mark the historic church season of Lent the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday not counting Sundays You re probably wondering why all the excitement Well the rhythm of setting aside the 40 days of Lent every year is a way to remind us to recall and re engage the power of God shown in Jesus death and resurrection If the death of this Jesus of Nazareth really truly did accomplish what he claimed and if he really truly was raised and is alive available in a spiritual sense even today to any who seeks to pray to him or follow his model then we re talking about some significant power That potential for power is why we re excited What s the goal for Leap of Faith The goal for Leap of Faith is that all of us risk whatever necessary to put ourselves in position to tangibly experience God s power We want to be able to tell amazing stories of an active Living God A chat with one of you recently comes to mind We had a couple from out of town as guests at one of BLV s Sunday services They had reached a point of real discour agement as they d been trying to get pregnant for a long while to no avail They were prayed for during our service and it was an emotional yet r
3. Let us run just a few psalms by you that make this point Psalm 107 2 Has the Lord redeemed done something good for you Then speak out Tell others he has saved you from your enemies Psalm 71 15 16 All day long I will proclaim your saving power for am overwhelmed by how much you have done for me will praise your mighty deeds O Sovereign Lord I will tell everyone that you alone are just and good Psalm 40 10 I have not kept this good news hidden in my heart have talked about your faithful ness and your saving power have told everyone in the great assembly of your un failing love and faithfulness The psalms also teach us that if we don t speak out about actual things God does for us then those things will fade in our memory So whenever God does something wonderful for you always tell all your friends and always tell us 2 Cross the moat FIRST INDIVIDUALLY BY BLOWING SOME MONEY OR TIME ON ONE OF MY 6 Here s the idea which we think will be a ton of fun prayerfully figure out some way during these 40 days to generously give something to one of your 6 that might re ally bless them Maybe it s gift certificate to a restaurant with an offer to babysit Or tickets to a Hawks game or a concert Maybe it s having them over for a meal Shov eling their driveway A nice chocolate bar A fresh baked loaf of bread A new car An autographed picture from your celebrity 2nd cousin once remo
4. ans we ll look to other sources to give us those things And even if we manage to get some neat things when we haven t looked to God to give them to us those neat things rarely pan out with the kind of joy and life we were hoping for from them God likes to be the giver of all good things When we learn how to take him up on that offer it seems that he doesn t only give us those gifts he also fills the gifts themselves with this sort of hyper life those things just work out great and they bring joy and encouragement with them Why not take these six weeks to see if that can be your experience on some key things you d like to see happen in your life Ask God for something specific and concrete that he d like to do for you to make your life better So here you re looking for some circumstance about your life that you d love it if God would address For example Vince once prayed for a 40 day stretch that he d somehow come up with 500 to cover all the costs of a trip to Boston for a confer ence he really wanted to make it to That s what we re talking about something specific that if God would do it for you you d be jazzed It could be something that you hope to have answered by the end of the six weeks of Lent or it could be something with a longer time frame but hopefully you d see some encouraging signs during Lent Now why on earth do this First off what if it doesn t happen If it s actually some t
5. at fasts below Other food abstention fasts involve imposing some sort of conditions on our eating over a period of time This can involve anything from giving up some beloved food item for a time desserts being a popular favorite to something more challenging like the so called Daniel fast which involves as it did for Daniel in the biblical book bearing his name abstaining from everything but vegetables People sometimes pursue liquid fasts Again this would customarily apply to shorter fasts but it s just like a water fast except you re avoiding solid foods while drinking juices etc Are there any non food related options You bet Fasting from technology is a popular choice for folks who aren t fasting from food These can really involve under God s direction doing without anything that feels costly to give up for a season People have fasted from criticizing or non essential shopping or texting or Facebook or video games and on and on So how long might it take to do this stuff each day We of course coudn t really say not being you Our guess is that these spiritual ex ercises could take as little as half an hour each day though it may certainly exceed that if you re experiencing a lot of life from it So that s some real time But as we said Lent is a unique season to lean into spiritual exercises with extra zeal Could you possibly summarize all this so that can like post it on my refrig
6. by no means have to We don t need that stranger to be our friend we have friends and they re all on our island Jesus and essentially the entire Biblical story seem to make the case that a good deal of the meaning of life an irreplaceable component of what will fulfill us comes as we cross over the moat in his name For instance in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says quite intensely If you love only those who love you what good is that Even corrupt tax collectors do that much If you are kind only to your friends how are you different from anyone else Even pagans do that Matthew 5 46 47 NLT We don t think he s saying here that we shouldn t love those who are on our island We think he s saying that of course we love those people But perhaps the real power comes as we start to notice and love people who are over the moat who are optional whom we don t need So how do participate What you have before you are four action steps to be a part of this prayer experi ment Our hope is that they ll get you more excitement and more God 1 Pray daily FIRST FOR MY BIG ASK A heck of a lot of what we re hoping will happen in our lives can t happen unless God gives it to us We all need to learn what it looks like to look to God to give us the things we really need in life If we don t directly and consciously look to him in such a way that we ll know he did it when the thing actually happens that me
7. d where prayers can be answered but we also live ina world where many prayers aren t answered This helps a lot of people to pray with faith and keep praying but also to not be devastated if prayers aren t answered But maybe you re not so helped By no means is there a perfect answer In the end most everyone us included struggle with this kind of prayer because it isn t a way to control anything and control is often what we want All of this means that MY BIG ASK will be a risk Yes you might be disappointed But nothing ventured nothing gained f your main goal is to protect yourself from being disappointed don t do this But if you want to grow in risking taking faith why not try If it always worked it wouldn t be much of leap of faith would it Not even a little one So there you have it our best non answer to why on earth do this So before we go on if you re up for it let s do it What good gift do you think God would like to give you before these six weeks are done If you ve been asking him and don t have a clear sense you may have to punt to option number 2 and write down what all things being equal you d like him to do for you Write that here SECOND FOR MY 6 The thought here is that each person in our church knows at least 6 local people who as best as we can tell aren t experiencing much from God These for the most part will be people over the moat people we ch
8. eally encouraging expe rience in the moment but more than that about a month later we heard from them that they were expecting Or there s an experience one of you told us about having on BLV s winter retreat This person had recently felt in prayer an encouragement to take a major Seemingly foolish financial risk as God was promising provision beyond what could ordinarily be pulled off Unsure about the riskiness this person set the last night of the retreat as God s cut off to back up his promise in some tangible way With the night having come and then almost over it seemed best to ask for prayer one last time that God would make himself clear And a remarkable thing happened Someone else in the room had been praying and feeling like God was saying Il want you to cover the cost of this specific expense for so and so Literally 5 minutes later though oblivi ous to what the other had been praying about the two were together and marveling at the timing of what had just happened Could these just be coincidences or strokes of luck Sure there s of course no way to prove for certain they re in any way miraculous That s just the point of miracles isn t it They re by definition not traceable repeatable things But even if we do happen to be wrong sometimes chalking up certain changes in circumstance to God s miraculous intervention suppose with us for a moment that there is a powerful Living God behind some t
9. erator and be sure to do it everyday Consider it done We have the four action steps available on a single half sheet And there you have it BLV s Leap of Faith 40 day prayer experiment for Lent 2014 May you throroughly enjoy crossing your moat to more excitement and more God Your pastors Kyle amp Vince Vince Brackett co lead pastor Kyle Hanawalt co lead pastor vince brownlinevineyard org kyle brownlinevineyard org 773 644 1680 direct 773 669 6816 direct www brownlinevineyard org
10. hing you really care about you re risking major disappointment But risking being disappointed is a hallmark of actual faith Isn t the point of faith that we take real things we actually care about to God things we don t claim to be able to pull off on our own The reason is to put yourself in a position to see that God is actually alive he actually listens to your prayers and he cares about you Now again that s no guarantee of anything God can do anything he wants But he does like it when we ask him for things So we need to figure out how to ask in faith and as Jesus teaches in Matthew 7 7 keep asking Prayer is not magic magic being a way to control your environment you do the ritu al right and the effect is generated at least that s the theory What is prayer or at least what is this type of asking God to do things for us prayer We might consider the way Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven his name for the reality we sometimes experience where prayer has power and miraculous part of something bigger things happen He told people that the Kingdom had come near to them we can experience God s power today in the form of miracles or answered prayers But notably he also often spoke of the Kingdom a different way that it is delayed or not yet here in fullness This complexity in Jesus grid for the availability of God s power makes sense in a lot of ways we live in a worl
11. hings in our lives How much could your own tangible experiences of God s power increase your sense of being loved and cared for and considered by a Being bigger and more resourced than you are How much could they dial back the anxieties and fears in your life How much could they increase your faith When we really feel the backing of a God with power who wants to show us his goodness and love we start to experience life differently What s with the Cross your moat title for Leap of Faith This is the risking whatever necessary part of our goal for Leap of Faith Surprise we have to actually eap otherwise we won t ever be in position to see if this sup posedly Living God has anything more to offer us than we have to offer ourselves Our theme for Leap of Faith will help us do that The theme is actually one of the major themes carrying through the entire Bible and particularly through the life of Jesus A pastor friend of ours explains the theme with a really helpful image suppose if you will each person on earth lives on an island And let s say this island is sur rounded by a moat On our island is everyone we relate to our family and friends maybe people in our church maybe some really close friends from work Over the moat is the entire rest of the world These are people who are as it were optional for us We could take the initiative say to meet that person who lives two houses down from us but we
12. n his goodness and power Now what First off congratulations You ve done a key thing you ve crystallized in your heart and on paper what you want God to do for you Having done that can we encourage you the following ways to help you take full advantage of this first action step of Leap of Faith First ask God for these things every day during the Leap of Faith As you ask he might speak to you about what you re asking for Obviously pay attention to that But mainly just keep on asking him for them Second tell someone else best case scenario your spouse if you have one and or someone in your small group if you have one what you wrote down and ask them to pray for you about those things too And it would be neighborly of you if you prayed about their things Jesus says he s uniquely present and at work when two or more people come before him with things Your chances of seeing something hap pen go way up when someone else is praying too and they might even have more faith than you do so you can leech off of them Third when you see answers to prayers tell us Send an email with your story to brownlinevineyard gmail com e Or go to our website brownlinevineyard org and click on Tell us your Leap of Faith story e Or just tell Kyle or Vince in person This is a Super powerful and often overlooked spiritual principle when God answers our prayers the proper response is to tell as many people as we can
13. njoy a poker night or a house concert or acommunity dinner or something like that this is your chance o Take daily advantage of the Luke Bible Guide Another pastor friend of ours who is nothing short of a Bible expert has written up a 40 day Bible guide that will take us through the Gospel of Luke one of the biog raphies of Jesus This is an awesome opportunity to read through one of the most engaging books of the Bible with the help of a master tour guide to give you the background context and nuance we all need to get the most out of the Bible We have high hopes that you ll love this part of Leap of Faith You can access the Luke Bible guide which will be updated for you each morning of the 40 days of Lent by e Subscribing to receive the day s reading in your email inbox each morning You will receive an email this first Sunday asking if you d like to subscribe e Clicking on Luke Bible Guide from our website brownlinevineyard org e Asking for a printed version just send an email to brownlinevineyard gmail com 4 Consider fasting You may know that when people really wanted something from God in the Bible or in church history they almost always fasted What does fasting do Fasting tells God and our own spirits that we really are eager for God to meet some need or hope that we have As you ve picked up during Leap of Faith we re re ally hoping for God to do a lot for you personally for your 6 and
14. oose to pray for and love as best we can who are not in our inner circle A neighbor Your mechanic Someone at your work or school or gym The person who cuts your hair Someone you always talk to at the store or coffee shop You get the idea That said if your best friend fits this profile go for it Put them on your list of 6 The goal pray for these folks that they would experience good things from God and perhaps even stumble upon a great community of faith do you know any Our theory is if your impression is that they aren t experiencing much from God most likely they have no one or very few people praying for them Perhaps you can offer them that great gift So who are your 6 Write their names down here ow Sf eS P S THIRD FOR BLV We have a BIG ASK for our whole church as well We re asking God to grow BLV that knowledge that our community exists spreads far and wide and that new people would come join us We re also asking God to miraculously arrange for us to part time salary our pastors in a way that make us say Wow Isn t God some thing That would indeed be miraculous because we ll have to probably double our current regular donation income Keep in mind we re not asking for you to give us that money go right ahead if you d like to or particularly if you feel God tells you to we re asking God to arrange for this to happen in a way that excites us and increases our faith i
15. ved It doesn t really matter how big or small the gift is or how much it costs you in terms of money or time What matters is that you do it prayerfully with love and no strings attached a simple expression of God s goodness and love Maybe even ask God to give you some kind of aha moment about a great gift to give or thing to do It can be fun to NOT do this anonymously Not because you want the credit but because maybe it could open the door to even better relationship and isn t that what love is all about in the long run Of course if an anonymous gift would be bet ter received for some reason or if you feel that s what Jesus is leading you to do by all means go for it Let the golden rule do to others as you would have them do to you be your guide SECOND WITH BLV BY HELPING ONE OF OUR SMALL GROUPS THROW A PARTY OR FUN GATHERING FOR PEOPLE OUTSIDE OUR COMMUNITY If you re not a part of one of BLV s small groups can we encourage you to join up with one even if it s just for the 40 Days of Lent Seriously feel free just to join in for 6 weeks if that s what would work best for you We think you will not regret it Especially because beyond the fun weekly gatherings for prayer and reflection at some point during these six weeks each of our weeknight small group will be planning some sort of fun event to invite everyone s neighbors and wider circles of friends to If you re looking for an excuse to e
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