Students heard from Teaching Pastor at Saddleback Church Reward Sibanda Feb. 14 in the Vines Center, after the Feb. 12 Convocation, which would have featured NFL running back Ashton Jeanty, was cancelled due to winter weather.
Friday’s Convocation kicked off with an intense sword fighting showcase for the currently running “The Three Musketeers” production, playing in the Tower Theater Feb. 14 through Feb. 23. After the exciting display, Josh Rutledge, the vice president of Spiritual Development, announced the speakers who will fill in the “TBDs” for the semester’s Convocation schedule. Rutledge said the Director of Liberty University’s Center for Apologetics & Cultural Engagement Kevin Richard, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Wesley Hough, apologist and assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, will be taking the stage in the coming weeks.
After the announcements, Sibanda greeted the audience and began his message about the vitality of biblical fasting. Sibanda recently wrote his first book about his fasting journey called, “How to Fast.” He said God called him to start fasting and proceeded to explain the wisdom and importance of the practice.
“I wrote the type of book which I would have loved to have when God had called me to an extended water fast,” Sibanda said. “I believe it’s unique because I structured it to speak to the tripartite or the three-part makeup of man, because man is spirit, man is soul and man is body.”
Sibanda shared five Scriptures with the students to help address the importance of fasting. He started with Isaiah 61:1-3, asking students to stand and repeat some of the verses with him.
“I want you to personalize it … because the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells on the inside of us,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda continued by asking students to also read Acts 1:8 with him. He then shared Mark 16:15-20 and led students in corporate prayer.
Sibanda additionally spoke about finding purpose and love within God, detailing how if one’s purpose is not known, then abuse is unavoidable.
“See, if you do not know the purpose of a thing, by the very definition of purpose and abuse, you will normally use it, and therefore by extension, abuse what it is,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda referred to Genesis 1:26, expounding on the creation of man and how God is the cause and humans are the effect, implying that humanity mirrors the cause. He said humanity finds expression and purpose through love and community. He noted that because God is love, Christians should emulate his love through community.
Sibanda also referenced Romans 1:16, which states that Christian’s should strive to minister to others by confidently preaching the gospel.
Sibanda shared the next set of verses he wanted to teach to the students, which was Matthew 17:14-21. He discussed how Jesus helped a demon-possessed boy by casting the evil spirit from him. Sibanda emphasized the part of the passage where Jesus tells the disciples that they must have more faith and that their lack thereof impeded their ability to help the possessed boy.
“Unbelief is not the lack of faith — that’s what doubt is. Unbelief is a perverted type of faith. It is considerable and consistent belief that what you want will not happen,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda closed by preaching about overcoming the demons in our mind with prayer. He used those five verses to connect with the topic of fasting and prayer to help with the struggles of humanity’s unfaithfulness and learning to spread the gospel. He said that fasting helps to humble any feelings of unbelief.
Junior Olivia Baker said she enjoyed Sibanda’s enthusiasm during his presentation and his emphasis on the significance of fasting.
“I thought it was really good, he talked about fasting and the importance of fasting, and I thought it was really awesome,” Baker said.
Simpson is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.