Sabbath, An Introduction, 3/8/2024

Are for connection the desire for relationship. It makes it possible for us to connect with people in a way that if we didn't have the desire. We just sit at home alone right desire. It's a good thing except desire is one of those things that is insatiable. You can't ever turn off desire. Ecclesiastes 18 says the eye is not satisfied with seeing and the ear is not satisfied with hearing. John Mark Comer asks a question. What would it take for you to feel satisfied? And any answer if you really think about it is everything. Hey there, if we could experience every experience and connect with every person and have everything everywhere. It will not case we might be satisfied. And of course that's impossible. We have limits on our time. We have limits on her money. And so all of our desire ends up. Well, it ends up being poured out in not quite complete ways a guy named Carl Reiner points this out in the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable. We learned that ultimately in this world. There is no finished Symphony. Everything seems to Simply continue on we eat and a little while later. We want to eat again, and we just keep keep that desire moving. We have chronically unsatisfied desires. We're Restless in a way as humans. You might say. Well this is this desire is satisfied, but it's only satisfied for now. And I think the reason is that God designed us. He designed us for infinite life. With him, and there's nothing even if we had all the desires fulfilled we had all the money and all the time to experience everything and everybody we would still be missing something because God designed us for connection with him and nothing but that connection with God can truly satisfy us.

How much of your life is Led on by and pushed by desire? Your desire to experience pleasure and satisfaction or your desire to be loved or your desire to possess your desire to experience a luxurious rest. That the rest industry has grown in a huge way since covid in 2018 and 2019 rather. The cost was 150 billion dollars less than it is today in 2023. The the Sleep industry was 585 billion dollars pillows and mattresses and sleep aids and all of the other things 585 billion dollars in in the most recent 10 years in the United States alone. The insomnia Market dealing with sleep aids his grown by four and a half times. The desire for rest its deep inside us every one of us knows when you haven't slept for a while life is not good. When our innate restlessness collides with the digital age or advertisers are always pushing notifications on us, you know, whether it's in your purse or your pocket or your screen or was something on your computer or whatever it is that advertisers are constantly pushing into our lives interrupting us challenging us, right and that doesn't even include the entertainment that we pursue weather for good reasons or just cuz it's the next thing in the scrolling list and it seems like for 18 hours a day. We have a constant input into our minds. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation 31% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety and depression in their October 2021 study 31% of adults businesses and schools are continually and increasingly recognizing the need for mental health professionals right there in their contacts not somebody out there that they can refer to but somebody that works in the business or is in the school because anxiety and depression is such a big deal in our society today over the last 15 years. We've seen a spike in the incidences of anxiety and depression, especially among young adults Youth and children. Nearly 7% of adults 15% of young adults reported anxiety in 2018 7% of adults, but of just the young adult category 15% but that's 2018 and 2023 the census bureau's household pulse survey found that among adults 18 to 24. That's the young adult category 50% reported anxiety or depression. That's a huge increase in just a what 5 years. Between Netflix and Instagram and tiktok and news apps and YouTube and Amazon shopping and so many other potential experiences in our Digital World more and more people are spending their time with her facing the device and less and less time socially and physically renewing their lives. And this is our current age always on always connected always doing always entertaining always listening or watching or something. Something is always happening and when our brains and our bodies and our relationships don't have time to rest what happens to our our our minds and our bodies what happens to those relationships? We need time and we need space to Simply exist exist in a holistic and renewing space. If we're honest with ourselves that we have to admit that this isn't just a modern problem this is a problem that's been around for well as long as there's been people go back a few hundred years to when we didn't have the digital age and you'll find that people were waking up really early to Milk The Cow, they'd stay up late getting in the firewood or doing whatever was necessary. And sometimes we have these nostalgic ideas to the simple life, but I lived in Bonners Ferry for a little while and I know people who live something like that and it is a lot of work a lot of work and they're physically tired and they're socially disconnected because their work requires so much of them. They don't have time to be with their families and end in that context people needed rest. And it is this isn't a new thing for even people a few hundred years ago. This is a need that God designed into the fabric of our being

Even before we had the necessary work to provide for our families even before there was broken this and sending our world God knew that our bodies and our minds and our relationships needed rest and so he programmed it into the DNA of our world into the rhythm of our lives in the Genesis account of creation. We find that the world that God created took six days to make everything happen in six days and we know this is a literal 6 days because it follows a pattern it says the evening and the morning were the first day the evening in the morning or the second day and these are things that we experienced today, right? We walked through our life and in our day we have an evening it gets it starts with dark according to the text in Genesis. And then we have the daylight time, right and then another evening and then another daylight time and then other evening and another daylight time not just our day goes in and it God used this and in the creation account to show us that this model was something that our life should look like and so 6 days God creates a few do a search in Google about the origin of the 7-Day week. You'll find some interesting stuff. Most people say that it began with the Babylonians. The Babylonians had the seven day cycle and the calendar and all this stuff and then it wasn't until the Romans. They they spread it all around the world that it became a worldwide thing. You had eight day weeks and pain day weeks and all these other different versions of the week in different cultures and religions. But cultures long before the Babylonians were observing a 7 Day cycle. In the Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica, they say when you look up the word week, they say it's a period of seven days a unit of time artificially device with no astronomical basis. Well, if it's not from astronomy the months in the year astronomical, how do we get it they say the week's origin is generally associated with the ancient Jews and the biblical account of the creation According to which God labor for 6 days and rested on the seventh. Evidence indicates they say however that the Jews may have borrowed the idea of the week from Mesopotamia for the Sumerians and the Babylonians divided the year in two weeks of seven days each one of which they just designated as a day of recreation. I think that's fun. Even in a secular Source. They have to recognize the biblical origin at 8. They go away from it as quickly as they can. But the Bible says that God started this 7 Day cycle. There's no other rational reason for it even back into the farthest reaches of recorded history. We find that people were keeping a 7 Day cycle with six days of work and a day of rest. After the 6th day of creation, the Bible says it this way in Genesis to dust the heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them 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 and so God bless the seventh day and made it. Holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. God rested but not because he needed rest he rested because he designed it as a cycle of work and rest for us. He designed it as a gift. Many years later before the Ten Commandments were ever given and God was walking the people of Israel through this experience coming from Egypt to Canaan and a long that process they needed food. And so he promised them that he would give bread from heaven and provide this food for them in the wilderness in and what he did is he he said that they should gather Manna in the morning just enough for that day breakfast lunch and supper if they gathered too much it would spoil the next day. They wouldn't work to save it up. So every single day they had to rely on the fact that God would give them what they needed but on the sixth day, they were supposed to get twice as much and not gather on the 7th day. They're supposed to rest on this 7th day just enough for the day. That's an interesting thought Jesus Echoes this in Matthew 6 and he says therefore don't be anxious about tomorrow let tomorrow be anxious about itself. Because there's plenty of trouble in today. I think there's something about this this need for us to trust today. Today is God's day today is the day he's provided. I trust in God. Day by day Exodus 16. God says to Moses Behold Him about to rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I make test them whether that I'm a testing whether they will walk in my law or not and then a few verses later. He says six days You Shall Gather it but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath and there will be none. God provided just enough for this six days, but on the sixth day, he provided enough for the 7th and I think there's something here when we look at the idea of Sabbath we have to remember that God is saying I'm going to give you in six days. What you need for 7 days? He says he's going to provide enough for us so that we can stop and rest. When God gave them the Ten Commandments just a little while later in Exodus chapter 20. He includes this come in and remember the Sabbath day to keep it. Holy six days you show labor and do all your work but The Seventh-Day 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 livestock or the Sojourner who is within your Gates four and six days the Lord made the heavens the Earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord bless the Sabbath day and made it. Holy. I noticed a few things about this command. First of all, it takes you back to Creation. He says remember this is a reminder of something that we're supposed to look back on the pattern that he created at. The beginning is something that's valuable for us today. Secondly it tells us that God.

He's designed work for our good six days. You should work. He says it's a good thing. We shouldn't be lazy. God hasn't invited us to listen to this but those six days. He says work for those two days. And then the third is that the Sabbath is directional on the seventh day. He says it is a Sabbath to the Lord It's a directional rest. Not just any old rest, not the rest of laziness, but the rest of trust and worship to the Lord. number for you can't be selfish with rest rest is something that God has invited us to give away to others. You can't rest while your children work. That's it's not allowed here. You can't rest while your your your employees or your slaves or your anything anybody that works for you you you have to let them rest, too. Even if they were from a different nationality, even if they've got a different culture a different religion, you need to give them rest too. And in fact not even just the people in your life. You need to rest your animals to give rest away. It's not a selfish thing and then fifth there's a blessing that awaits us when we surrender to the trusting worshipful Sabbath rest. God has designed. Now I know we could get into an interesting discussion about legalism when we talked about the Sabbath and all those laws the Pharisees made to surround the Sabbath and protect it and keep it Sanctified or whatever. It would be easy for us to dive into that particular subject and the Christian church today has largely abandoned a cycle of six days of work and one day of rest that they say the reason is because Jesus he fulfilled the law and its and no longer applies and Jesus sacrifice on the cross does everything and so we don't have to keep any of those fees for holy days or Sabbath's or anyting even the weekly Sabbath that the Jews had back in the day and end the the next step is not to replace Sabbath rest with anything simply to say. Well you can just stay connected to 7 days a week work 7 days a week have responsibilities 7 days a week and just come to church for a couple hours once a week and maybe join a smoker. In the week during the week and you're going to be good. But the reality is we're not good more and more Christians are finding that the Bible has invited us to rest their remains. Therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God Hebrews. 4:9 says there is still a rest for God's people is what that saying of the Barna group. They did a study of pastors and they found that we break the cycle of rest, too often. You know, it's sermon prep and visiting people and administrative stuff and all the things that pastors do during the week. And then on the weekends, we still preach and do member Ministry on that. Seventh day 2. And we can be that always on even in spiritual things and they they say according to the barn a group that without a pattern of rest pastors burn out. They say pastors need a 24-hour. Without work to renew their mind and their body and the relational center of a person allowing them to be more presents during and more productive during the other 6 days. Obviously pastor's need that and so does everybody else in 2005 National Geographic published the findings of a scientific research that they explored. It's called the US National Institute on Aging they traveled around the globe and they learned about the longest living people in the world. And most of these groups were subsets of a of a culture right? They were a 2500 member town in Sardinia and a bunch of centenarians that live there or they were from Okinawa Japan and lots of people that lived past 100 live there, but they they studied another group and it was The Seventh-Day Adventist in the in Loma Linda California and they stretch that since then beyond that space and they found that that the centenarians in that context were a little different than all the others these others are generally They're connected by their jeans and they're connected by location and they're connected closely by lifestyle and some of those things were true of the Seventh-day Adventist, but they were not nearly as homogenous of a group. They were from all different cultures all different walks of life. They didn't all eat the same, you know algae from the Jap Japanese ocean there enough that they didn't have the same stuff but everybody else had but what they did have was rest. These were a group of people that had a regular cycle of spiritual rest one day and 7 another study found that at the average Adventist lived for to 10 years longer than the average Californian and they credited this mostly to the time that they spent resting by recent events local pastors have used these studies and they've said God has given us a pattern of rest. And when we keep that pattern, he gives it back to us see ten years if you take an end live for in a 70 or so years and you rest one day and 7. Well that's about 10 years of your life. And it's as though God is saying here. You've given me that time you've trusted with me with that. I'll give it back to you.

Jesus said it well. Mark chapter 2 the Sabbath was made for man. Not man for the Sabbath the Sabbath was created. It was designed. It was planned as a gift for Humanity. It was a blessing that God gave us from the dawn of Creation in the Ten Commandments. God said remember the Sabbath of creation. It reminds us where we came from and I would argue that if we understood the Sabbath and followed it we wouldn't be struggling with all the interesting identity crisis that we have today because we would know that we were designed by the Creator God with purpose. And for loving relationship and intimacy with him and Deuteronomy Moses pointed out that God gave us the the Sabbath to remind us that he saved the people of Israel from Egypt that you might not be in Egypt in need saving from Egypt. But we all need saving don't we may be the type A personalities Among Us who like to control every facet of their lives would not like to think about this, but the reality is we can't control every aspect of Our Lives do everything that you can to order your life and you're still going to find that you can't control the outcomes of your children as they grow older. But they get to make some of those choices themselves. You can't control your own body, right? You can't make it healthy and you can do some good things to make it healthy. But ultimately your health isn't in your hands. And when we live a life that we can't control. What do we do? How do we how do we handle this? I think God has said that he would give us Deliverance. He would be the healer of our bodies. He would be the one that would solve these problems that are outside of our control and the idea of Sabbath is the idea of resting in God's salvation in Ezekiel, 25 points to the transformative work that the Bible calls sanctification and he says it's more of her I gave them my Sabbath's as a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. The Sabbath is a sign that God created us remembrance that he created us a remembrance that he saves us and a remembrance that he is the one who does the maturing and growing work in our lives rest in God. He created you he saves you he'll grow you. Sabbath rest is a physical manifestation of the spiritual reality that Ephesians 2:8 describes when it says for by Grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast the active rest. Is the act of trust in God?

God designed this pattern of six days where you and I work in that six days. We take ownership of the results of Our Lives the successes the triumphs we provide for our families. We make sure that everything is is good at home. We create we design we decorate we build all the stuff that work entails.

But then God calls us to stop and that's really the meaning of Sabbath to cease to stop. He says stop and rest. We rest our drive to provide and we trust that he will give us all that we need in those six days of work proverb says it this way trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight on translation puts it he will direct your path another one puts it trust in the Lord. This is the meaning of Sabbath Just a couple suggestions about the 24-hour period of rest that one day in seven the first of all stop your regular work turn off all the business stuff the thoughts about the next deal the phone calls the all of the stuff just put it away so I can only turn off the TV in the gaming console in the unplug from entertainment take that stimulation of constantly there the dopamine Rush that we keep getting every time we Chase something down and social media. Just put that to the side let your brain rest and recuperate. And in the moments that we turn that off, I think we're reminding ourselves about what Isaiah says it's in returning and rest that you will be saved in quietness and Trust shall be your strength.

I think another idea that we need to keep in mind on this sabbath. This rest is that we should keep life simple and rejuvenating and worship. Making a a huge complicated me meal where you have to stay all day in the kitchen and slave away at the stove. Keep it simple. He could food. Don't get me wrong, but make it simple. So it doesn't take a lot of efforts take time in your dates actually rest and go to bed early. I wake up late to take a nap. Actually let your body rest also you can spend time with people that matter a lot in your life your family your closest friends invest in those relationships. You can spend time with your kids. You can cuddle with your spouse. You can play with each other laugh with each other talk with each other yummy food with each other enjoy those relationships invest in those relationships also spend time with God in nature, but he created the world he gave you a day to rest might as well. Enjoy what he created for you to enjoy. Also spend time with God's people Exodus 23 tells us that God gave us a Sabbath as a holy convocation a holy getting together get together and spend time with God's people worshipping and singing and eating and serving which brings me to my last Point God designed us with a day of rest not to ignore the needs in our world but to give us time to pay attention sympathizing Minister. God says serve and Isaiah 58, he says it this way isn't this the fast the spiritual religious thing that I've called you to miss the fast that I chose to loose the bonds of wickedness do undo the straps of the yolk to let the oppressed Go free and to break every yolk. These are things that we can of course do any day of the week. But in freeing people from a from oppression and providing clothes for people who need the warmth and feeding the person that's hungry and all the things that Isaiah 58 describes when we do that we clear the way for others to rest because how can you rest when you're cold and hungry. Sometimes we need to give something to somebody else so that they can experience the rest that God has given them as a gift.

Not because the Bible account of creation describes a day as first the evening and then the daytime the tradition has been to follow that pattern for Sabbath. So on Friday evening, when the Sun goes down that would be the beginning of Sabbath and then on Saturday evening when the Sun goes down that would be the end of Sabbath and during that period of time while they're there's a a transition that our bodies and our minds need to make and just want to invite John brunson's Alberto Valenzuela to come forward and hang out with me just for a couple minutes. Could you grab that Mike there and I'll have another one here. There's a transition that we make and there's nothing in the Bible that says we have to do something a certain way but there's a there's a need for us to recognize that something has changed that this is no longer the work week, but this is the rest time and so there's been a lot Different Traditions different ways that people have made that transition between the week and Sabbath. I just want to ask you guys a few questions about that. By the way, John bruntz. You used to be at the Walla Walla University Mike. Is it on make sure your mic is on what sea? There is a visible wall for a long time 2071 to 2002 and you've been retired for a minute or two and had all kinds of rules. Right? But one thing that John is done recently. This is Festival of Sabbath weekend is isn't brand new for us that they've done it back East a couple times and John's been part of a couple of these and so we are grateful to have him come back to his old stomping grounds and share this weekend with us. And tomorrow is going to be sharing the message call open 7th life at church. So we're glad to have you Alberto Valenzuela is the associate director for communication in the Pacific Union. He lives in Thousand Oaks, California, and he's involved in this experience of of the Festival of Sabbath and so I decided to come in and see what we are doing and Thought I'd ask you guys a few questions what kinds of things have you done in the past two were seen done? I I could ask both questions. What have you seen done to make that transition and and to be effective in bringing that Joy of rest in that change in 10 years old and for me the notion of that Savage Race was something totally unique it blew my mind away and coming from some sort of Catholic tradition. We were used to Preparing in advance. Do you know on Friday to have everything ready for us? He was a unique experience in through the years in your life became better acquainted. We were we Adventist believe he became something different but usually when I noticed in other cultures how they related to the Sabbath visit places like India or Africa to see a fellow. I haven't he's also experiencing that I remember that situation in in Peru where I preached at a small Church in the middle of nowhere and then we were invited to a lunch at the pastor's house and they had a chicken prepare for for lunch. And he says what year did the tight from one of our church members that was the way they they were contributing to you know, that's what they have money, but they had chickens so they brought that to the church and being just just has to think about it and it is with me, but I was thinking about you or your family that you were using about how Are you still with darkness and then we turned into light and then we have another evening in and it occurred to me. I'd ever thought about this until just a few minutes ago that that's the way your life and my life began. We were in darkness in the Bellevue from her mother's it was darkness and then we came into life. And the first thing that we did was what we cried was almost like we're here. We wanted people to see the we had arrived and it's kind of like that. The way that we celebrate Shabbat is kind of telling us I'm here make make me unique and special. I was reading the secret was there at the screen in one of the things that they he says that he is in Tradition in different cultures has been 7 days, but it's only in the Bible that is mentioned that were that tarama Sabbath in the way that we understand it as a rest. I hope I didn't get to know you could you mention this idea about celebrating and it sometimes we get this idea and Isaiah 58. He says so you guys they put sackcloth and ashes in a record yourself in sack cloth and put ashes on your head and you lay down and you do this fast and and he's like, I I don't really like that within any made the transition. The religious thing I want you to do is to loose the bonds of people, right? And so Sabbath it's not intended to be a day of depression and an end somberness. It's intended to be a day of rest for celebration, but I'm wondering John. Is there something is there something that prevents us from celebrating and resting something that the obstacle that you've experienced in life that prevents that Well, I think sometimes it's because we think about rules instead of thinking about goals for Sabbath and we'll talk about that a little bit in Sabbath school tomorrow morning. Actually. I also think that sometimes the obstacles are that we don't plan for Seth, you know, it seems to me that you need to plan for a celebration special days. We generally plan for you know, I I don't know what I'm going to do on a specific day in advance, but I know what I'm going to do in my wife's birthday, and I know what I'm going to do on our anniversary because those are special days that I plan for them. And I think that we need to plan for Sabbath what are things we used to do when our kids were small as we had a whole list of things and we went around the circle with four in the family in 4 weeks in a month and each week a different person got to choose what we were going to do for that Sabbath afternoon from the list of things that You know would be nice things to do on Sabbath and so we were looking forward to it then all week. And I think that that kind of planning and making sure that we're looking forward to a celebration instead of just stuff. They don't know it's here. What are we going to do things? Like if this is a day that God has given us as a gift that day of rest that it should be a day that we really want to come and I like the idea of planning for celebration. But I have an interesting question for you Alberto is is there a. Of time that our minds need in order to begin to experience rest and and kind of transition into that rest. What what is that look like that? Yeah, I believe so but building a bit I remember. That was working in Southern Florida and it was staying at a family was provided me lunch. We were working with anybody. At least I could say I knew what they were looking forward to it because that was today. This is Florida to Miami Subs in Miami area Homestead, Florida. So they were looking for a good time to turn on the air-conditioning and now going back to my days of college in Weldon modelo's we would also looking to us to stop at lunch because that was the best meal that we have entire week lunch on Saturday that was going to be meaningful there was going to make us feel comfortable. You know, it was going to be going to be having a great meal. So there's something there that we should be preparing for set a reminder still. I don't get what's going to happen. This weekend. I did. Finally we also have that as a tradition that we do we prepare the best meals, whatever a daughter wanted the better. So but even my wife wanted it was always going to be on the Sabbath something to look forward to with the regular celebration. I got birthdays and anniversaries or Christmas or Friday night the kind of Mark the transition their family would get together and they would make cookies with no cookie dough, but not just like put cookies on a pan. They would fill the bottom of pan with cookie dough and they would cook it like a cake. And then when they get it out, they would put a quart of ice cream on the top of it. And they'd all just eat out of the pan together and they would tell stories and they would talk about what they've done in the past to celebrate Sabbath and what they're looking forward to it. And it seemed like as they were talking about it that that all the best memories that they had were memories on snap and celebration. We we got off on the previous question. I think was worthwhile B it is there a time that our bodies need to transition our minds and our bodies need to transition. How long do you think that that takes in your experience in your life to be able to enter rest? We had I have to usually I'm one of those person that is so listen to go. I kind of find it hard to relax. I have to be doing something. Sometimes it's more than two or three things at the same time and you could come to a point where I have to tell him myself, you know, it's time for a cup of chamomile tea and and just put everything aside and just let your body and not think even because even when I'm trying to rest my money still going and thinking about was going to be having the next and it needs a meal with two little bags and just let my body just flow and is it sometimes you know, it's early in the afternoon or Friday when I have to force myself to do that, you know, I did that before I came here. Where would I did it's kind of like, okay. I'm going to call my son. Honda in Baton Rouge so so that I'm not thinking about it. But what I've been doing I'm the editor of the recorder the union magazine and in April, we do a special issue on each occasion and that's what I've been working all these days. So that's what I was doing yesterday and all day today even as I was here, so I'm like, okay, you know for that I need to just relax and just get my body and my mind in a separate mood and I thought what I need to be in contact with my family, so that's what I did. I'll be in contact with somebody finally went there that David was saying, you know going to the community that you have in your family can help you also to be part of that range that your body and your mind is what about you? How long does it take you if the transition into rest? well You know, it takes a little while. That's certainly true. I do like to start a bit before Sabbath one thing that we did when our kids were small we found that it was hard to transition into Sabbath there was so much to do, you know, I mean our wives were working with several families in our neighborhood that we're Adventist and wives were working and you know, you come home and there's just you got to get ready for Sabbath and it was hard to get it done on time for Sundown. So we decided that it would work better if we made each other accountable and we got together as a group and we met a half an hour before sundown. And we had the kids together and we would just have a simple soup and and bread meal and we sing songs and then light a candle when Sabbath came and we found out that since you don't we we knew we had to be accountable and had to be there a half an hour before Sundown. It started actually getting us ready and that helped a lot different cultures have done this sabbath thing differently if you're in Alaska and it's you know all day long. It's the Sun is up but never goes down then some people they just so you know 6, we'll call that the evening in from 6 to 6. They observe the sabbath or the day of rest. I'm other cultures have a Wii U where in the western culture and we have the clock and we can look online and see when Sunset is and all this kind of stuff and and end so that half hour before the exact time you noticed today. It was 543. Whatever the time was right? I don't know if that was the exact case for today. But don't you know we can we can put that on the time but back in the day the Jewish culture was that when you can see three stars, right when you can see three stars. That's the time of the Sabbath has begun. Of course, if you live in a big city, you might not ever see three stars in or whatever that time is I think the invitation that God gives to us is to enter rest. That's an intentional thing entering and but if you don't mind hanging out with me come over here and where can I buy I would like to add a footnote to talk to you soon as earlier. May I do that? The health study of had been living for 10 years longer. Jerry Frazier who's the head of that study told a group of us something that is kind of Scary actually for people like you out for pastors. Yeah, he said that the strange thing they find just that every brand of Adventist whether they're vegetarian Adventist remediating Adventist or address to eat nuts or Adventist. You don't eat nuts or you know, whatever they are different kinds of bad business except for one group and that's pastors who are right on the average life expectancy and seem to get no extra ears. So it suggests something about Sabbath that's really does. It really does and I would say to your congregation, you know, he's going to live 4 to 10 years less than you do. If you don't make sure that he gets some rest and don't work him too hard all the time I went there.

I work in Southern California, but you know, that's a password for a few years and the job that we had in the past was that we never get to see each other. We saved it for Monday and Joe Lieberman who happens to be or was I don't know he's retired now, I think yeah Joe Lieberman Senator. He's a he's a Jewish background and he wrote a book called The Gift of rest and he describes opening the Sabbath his family and all these beautiful Traditions things that would mentally and physically change what's going on in the home and he said that they love sabbathi looks forward to it is a time of joy and and something that they just really wanted and they did they'd make good food and make sure that food is a big priority. Four generations juice have had Traditions. None of which are required in God's word. There's nothing that commands anything like this but there's there's something that you said that idea preparing for celebration or something. But if that celebration happens every week, sometimes you need a regular patterns to make that preparation reasonable. Otherwise, you're spending all your week trying to prepare for the special day and that's not always practical right until they they would have regular Traditions things that they would transition into and out of the Sabbath with and one of those is particularly valuable for today at what's today, Alberto women's

International women's day and one of the Jewish Traditions is to read proverbs 31 which Sox about The Virtuous Woman and how appropriate that we celebrate the women who give so much to make families work on a day when we invite them to rest. And we can we can do lots of busyness on a Sabbath if we're not careful. I think it's important that we do give rest on that day and an in this proverbs 31, it's also kind of a invitation to see the Sabbath as a virtuous woman who provides all of these good things for us if we will rest in what she the Sabbath provides we're not going to read that tonight. But another another thing that we will do is the candle and the idea with the candle in the Jewish culture was that that this is the presence of God and they would keep that candle burning all throughout the 24-hour. And extinguish it at the end not that the extinguishing the presence of God, but the recognition that this is a special day where God is said I'm going to be with my people. And so the lighting of the candles representing God's presence and then they would they would also have the challah bread and challah bread is is like this celebration of all that God has provided and so tonight. I've got some Halo bread here. I think maybe enough I can give everybody a little piece if you want to come up and see and share it with me. I'm going to I'm going to do this little ceremony with you guys. And and and why don't you come on forward and get a piece of bread and then we're going to sing a song to close called safely through another week. Let's let's do this little ceremony and I'll say a blessing would you and John mines lighting this candle?

Blessed are you God ruler of the universe who sanctifies us and blesses us with this sabbath rest? Come on forward and get up out of your seat. It's nothing special about the the stage here just pretend like you own it. Like like I do come on forward and and I and Isaac we're not going to say a blessing on this bread is come on forward keep coming forward as I as I talk. We remember how God has provided for his people throughout all time. We remember the the food that he gave when he planted the Garden of Eden and we remember the food that he sent from heaven at when the Israelites were going through from Egypt to Canaan. And we remember the food that he's given us throughout this week and so bless you Lord Our God the Creator and ruler of the universe bless you for providing our daily food and forgiving us rest from our work and peace in our homes. Would you help?

Oh, yeah, take a piece.

Yeah. Hey girl, there's another one Alberto. Could you grab that and I will

give everybody a piece. Do you know what hollow bread is it's a yummy sweet bread.

hairy cow

Shakopee super God has provided and he will provide again.

You need more than that. It's a it's a tearing bread. But this one doesn't want to tear. There you go.

grab some

oh, you don't need to be that to that modest. Take a joke.

There you go.