Dear SFN Church Family,

Tonight marks the official beginning of one of the most exciting seasons on the christian calendar – Lent! A lot of people are confused by this simple four letter word, but don’t be. It simply represents the six weeks leading up to the celebration of resurrection Sunday, better known as Easter.

It begins with a special Ash Wednesday service tonight at 6:30 PM and we want EVERYONE to be a part of this important moment in the life of our faith community. This is a significant time in the life and history of the church. We use this time for introspection, prayer, and fasting. We do these things in order to purge our lives of anything that has crept into our lives that is robbing us from the full joy of the salvation we have in Christ.

Hebrews 12:1-2 serves as our theme this year which states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

That is the goal of our church-wide fast! That we would throw off everything that hinders our walk with Christ, especially sin that so easily creeps into our lives and trips us up in our relationship with Him.

This past Sunday I spoke about why we pray and fast during the season of Lent and you can hear that message in it’s entirety here. We have also made a Prayer & Fasting Guide available to you for this journey. It includes tips for how you can engage in prayer and fasting, scripture readings, and links to our online Lenten Devotionals. This guide is available online at sfnchurch.com/lent and we will have printed versions available at tonight’s service that include space for you to journal during your 40-day journey.

As I said Sunday, you will get out of this journey what you put into it. God promises us in His word that if we will seek him with all our hearts, we will find him. He promises that if we will draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. All God’s promises are true and all God’s promises never expire. Trust in his promises these next forty days. Seek Him with all your heart and God will reward you with nothing less than Himself.

Your Fellow Partner in the Journey,
-Pastor Brandin Melton