We are embarking on a journey towards a greater reach. Your reach will become part of the greater reach that God is going to accomplish through The Rock Church and World Outreach Center. Everything we have done up to this point has built us up to “reach.” Three years ago, our goal was to love people more and do church better. Two years ago, we were building a passionate house. Last year, we all made the decision to grow in our giving, relationships, outreach, and worship. We haven’t stopped doing any of these things. They have built us strong so that we can reach.
To start this journey and our year off right, we are calling our members to participate in a fast for 21 days in January. Formally, the fast will start on January 6 & 7 (Depending on whether you go to church on Saturday or Sunday) and will end on January 27 & 28. We will break the fast in our morning church services by receiving communion.
Be sure to choose a fast ahead of time that works for your health and life. I would suggest if this is your first time fasting that you choose a type of food or a meal that you will fast. You could try skipping lunch or fasting after 7 pm. It doesn’t sound hard until you try it! Some people choose to do what is called a Daniel Fast: they don’t eat any meat or anything ‘pleasing to the eye’. In other words, if it looks like something you would want to eat pass and pray and eat something you don’t like instead. Whatever the fast you choose just make sure that when your body starts hungering that you go to prayer. If you accidentally mess up on the fast don’t worry, pray, and then get right back to it.
We have created a daily devotional to help you. This daily devotional is designed to guide you through the fast. Each week has a theme from the Vision Weekend 2018 message Reach. Week 1 is all about reaching up and connecting with God. Week 2 focus into internally reaching in to ourselves and to our church community. Week 3 drives us from that place of strength to reach out. Each individual day has a scripture, a thought, and a place to pray and write what you believe the Lord is speaking to you. This will be a great reminder throughout the year when the journey gets tough and the stretch to reach starts to hurt!
I believe that as we take the time to fast and pray that in our devotional times with the Lord, He will reveal Himself to us and meet us. Take the time to reach up and as you draw near to Him He will draw near to you. The Holy Spirit will show you a beautiful vision of the year to come and how your personal reach should look. He will also stretch you in some areas for a greater reach.
I am looking forward to the year ahead,
Pastor Dan Roth
