4th Word
Notes
Transcript
What do I believe God wants us to know? We are to Sabbath
Why? For rest, rejuvenation, renewal, and liberation
What do I believe God wants us to do? Sabbath
Why? For rest, rejuvenation, renewal, and liberation
ME/WE
Have you ever had a gift and looked at it and thought and wondered is this going to be a good gift?
Or doubted if it is going to be a good gift?
See who gave it to you and that person is a great person but with gift giving it can be really good or not so good.
Today we are moving into the 4th WORD and this WORD is one of the greatest gift God gives us
the good news with God we know He always gives good gifts
But here is the problem: we are been TAUGHT by CULTURE and FLESH and ENEMY that this WORD is not really that GOOD GIFT for us…-
- the enemy and our flesh are like…look at the gift, how can this gift be good???
AND FOR THOSE WHO DON’T OPEN THE GIFT AND USE THE GIFT IT will lead to BURNOUT, EXHAUSTION, HOPELESS and worst case scenario DEPRESSION and ANXIETY (I know for personal experience)
What is the gift? What is the gift put in place that by opening and using the gift will lead to LIFE and RENEWAL and REJUVENATION??
The gift of the Sabbath: Shabbat
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
What is the Sabbath?
Is a day were we come to worship God at church for an a couple hours and then go home and do your household chores???
We came for a couple hours and now we get to go home and do all the household chores???
We get renewed and restored
This is hard and I did this for years!
I know this is challenging for many of us…why? BECAUSE WE HAVE SOME MUCH TO DO
Why is this not a Sabbath??? we are working and what Sabbath…shabbot is is to cease from work…to stop…not just from vocational work but work in the house
But caution let’s not be too legalist
Is the Sabbath a day of CEASING SO THEY CEASED FROM ALOMST ANYTHING....they couldn’t play cards or board games, watch TV, hiking, walking, go out to eat
Anybody grow up in that system???
Is that what Sabbath means to CEASE from things you DELIGHT IN?
This is not too different that from what the religious leaders imposed. They added all these rules and regulations to Sabbath. They had 39 of them, they are not Biblical, but they treated them as Biblical.
One of the more common ones they had was they could only travel a Sabbath’s day journey which is 2/3’s of a mile. If you went further, to them you were breaking the Sabbath.
LET’S NOT GET TO LEGALIST AND IF OUR CAR BREAKS DOWN
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
If these things are not Sabbath....
- worship for a couple hours
nor imposing heavy rules and regulations....then what is Sabbath???
What is SABBATH??? And why is it important
1. CEASING FROM WORK/LABOR
ceases means ceases
6days you shall work…vocational work and home work
2. CEASE: GIVE GLORY TO GOD
Glory to God, Celebration
Praise for what He has done in our life
Praise Him for provision
And it is in the praising that leads to the next point that happens on the Sabbath
3. Renewal
We get this when praise God
You are a GOOD GOOD FATHER
Our souls get renewed
our minds get renewed
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Secular studies over and over say our bodies and our minds need a day off a week
I need to work…those who work 50 are as productive as those who work 70
We see Jesus bring home the point of Renewal in Mark
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.
And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Heal is something to think about too
What day of the week did Jesus do most of His healings?
Sabbath
3. Liberation/resistance
How is it an act of liberation?
Exodus the ten words are rooted in Genesis story....Deuteronomy has a tie to the Exodus
“ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Why does Deut 5 mention them being slaves in the land of Egypt?? What does that have to do with anything?
because if you were a slave, guess what you never got? a day off
Think about that, think about your age, if you are 40 years old, and always a slave you would have been working everyday of you life for at least 30 years! These are long days!
Can you image that?
Can you image how worn down you would feel?
What the Lord is giving to us in SABBATH and saying to us is that the SABBATH IS US SAYING TO THE WORLD I AM NO LONGER A SLAVE TO YOU....I have a different master
This also mean that when we do not practice the Sabbath, we are saying WORLD YOU ARE MY MASTER.
God is saying to us Sabbath is an act of liberation.
Many of
THREE BIG ENEMIES and they are FEARS
1. If I don’t do ____ what will happen???
Who wholes the your world up? is your world
IT IS A BELIEF THAT GOD WILL NOT COME THROUGH FOR YOU
Emails after vacation....it will take days…and
2. FEAR OF NOT HAVING ENOUGH AND NEEDING More (I don’t have enough)…KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
NOT ONLY THAT…what happens to our WEALTH????
Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
HAD THIS HAPPEN TO ME
How much is enough money?? MORE
FOMO
Maybe it’s ok you missed out....it is good to miss out on the ok things to be present for the better things
SPENDING TIME WITH JESUS IS THE BEST THING
Praise God He brings the ultimate SABBATH REST
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,