61. Those who were fasting were faced with extreme circumstances of impending death or God’s imminent judgment. Greatly distressed and conscious of their utter helplessness, they suspended their normal eating habits in an urgent, extraordinary seeking of God who alone could deliver them from their distress.
62. In other words, their fasting naturally flowed from profound spiritual urgency. It was not the product of schedule spiritual practice. It expressed deep dependence on God in times of uncommon suffering.
64. Fasting was an outward expression of the inward reality of a shattered heart. It was an urgent response of repentance and great humility. It was the seeking of deliverance from a cordial God in intensely distressed situations.
65.
66. Do you turn to God in your trials or surrender to fear and grumbling? Maybe you should ask how do I? What do I do in these times?
83. Literally means to crush over. It's used of an outward anointing of the body. In this case with olive oil,
84. It was used of washing someone. It's used of pouring oil over someone's head, or pouring oil over their feet, rubbing them with oil.
85. The root of it is lipos which means grease. It's not a ceremonial word. All uses of the ceremonial anointing use the verb chrio, and every time you see aleiphoit has to do with that applying oil to someone. People did it after a bath. In fact, oil was the base of soap.
86. It was used with wine, in Luke 10:34, the good Samaritan put wine and oil on the man?
87. The wine, of course, because it fermented and had alcohol cleansed the wounds. And then the oil soothed him. It only was good for a topical or external application.
88. Athletes were often rubbed down with oil because of the soreness of their muscles.
89. And sometimes oil, often oil, was perfumed with a fragrance. It is still used in the Middle East.
90. Now to say to oil someone literally meant if you had a believer coming in weak and weary and wounded and crushed and broken in the battle and maybe that person had literally been persecuted by their employer or by someone who hated Christ and they came in with a wound, they would literally pour oil on that wound.
91. And I want to say to you that as pastor and elder here and I say this on behalf of the rest of us that
92.
93. It's a general element of fellowship. It's a marvelous thing.