Sermon Tone Analysis

- Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

Remember the Sabbath

This morning were going to talk about something I haven’t heard preached much in a way I haven’t heard it preached, even here at Love Christian Center.

We’re going to talk about the Sabbath.

When I came up, I always heard remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, which meant, Sunday dinner was cooked on Saturday, you go to church on Sunday and you stay there all day.

In the Baptist Church the day began with Sunday School, then church, then you go home where mama heats up the dinner she cooked on Saturday, you eat, then go back to church for Baptist Training Union, that’s what BTU stands for and then evening service.

And at the end of the day you were exhausted from being at church all day.

Can I blow your mind a little bit right here?

That’s not what God intended when He created the Sabbath.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was observed on Saturday.

It was observed on Saturday because that’s the day the Bible says God rested.

“So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.

On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.

And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”

Sunday is the first day of the week and Saturday is the seventh day.

The New Testament church goes to church and uses Sunday as it’s Sabbath because when Jesus was crucified he rose on Sunday.

“Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance; 14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there.

It was Jesus.”

We celebrate the fact that Jesus rose on Sunday so we worship on Sunday, not Saturday, but that’s worship.

So let’s say you have to work on Sunday and you aren’t able to come to church, but you’re off on Wed night; well we have Bible Study on Wed night, Wednesday becomes your day of Worship.

You come to Bible study, the order of service is a little different but, Bible study is a Worship service.

We come together, we pray, we have a lesson from the Bible, you can give your tithe and offering if you want and we can even open the doors of the church if you are currently a visitor.

We must stop getting so hung up on the “method” that we miss “message”.

The message is to make disciples and teach them to observe what Jesus has commanded not what we traditionally do in church.

Wow isn’t that freeing?

We have to get this, the Gospel message is not just about coming to church and doing things in the church and programs in the church and services in the church.

The Gospel is about winning souls for the Kingdom of God and the souls that need to be saved are not going to be found sitting in this building.

We have to go out into the highways and byways and the hedges and bring people to Christ, we have to leave these four walls to tell a dying world about a man who came to save their soul from a burning hell and…

sometimes that message must begin in our own home

sometimes that message must begin with our own family

sometimes that message must begin with our own friends

sometimes that message must begin with our own acquaintances

sometimes that message must begin with our own coworkers

While there is a natural flow, where you begin is not as important as beginning.

Start with somebody, start with anybody, but start.

While there is a natural flow, says, “… and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Jerusalem is your Douglasville, Judea is your Atlanta, Samaria is your Georgia and the uttermost part of the earth is just that.

But can I tell you, where you begin is not as important as beginning.

Start with somebody, somewhere; start with anybody, anytime, but start.

Now back to the Sabbath, when God finished making everything the Scripture said he rested on the seventh day.

Church, God didn’t rest because he was tired, this rest was to take a step back and enjoy what he had created.

Have you seen people who work and work and work, they make a lot of money, but they are working so much they never enjoy the fruits of their labor.

God took a minute to enjoy the fruit of his labor and he has given us that same command.

Now in the Old Testament, those who failed to observe the Sabbath were put to death, today if you fail to enjoy a Sabbath, the same thing happens, but you are doing it to yourself.

Everything has cycles, the earth, the weather, the stock market, the housing industry and your body is no different.

Your body must have its time to cycle through all of its functions.

Ok, let’s do a short biology lesson.

The body has three cycles known as circadian rhythms and it performs certain functions during each cycle.

There is the:

1) Elimination cycle which is the body getting rid of wastes and food debris.

This typically happens between 4 a.m. - 12 noon.

This is the stage where your body is releasing toxins so you may find yourself waking up sweaty, with a headache or bad breath, this is your body detoxing, it’s your body getting rid of what it doesn’t need.

2) Appropriation cycle - this typically takes place between noon and 8 p.m. You’re wide awake and most active during this time, so this is when you’re eating and digesting your food.

We need to get back to the habits we had as babies, babies only eat when they’re hungry and they don’t wait so that they end up overeating by eating too fast and missing the relay from the stomach to the brain that says I’m full stop eating.

Slow down, take your time and relax as you eat.

3) Assimilation cycle - this typically takes place from 8 p.m.- 4 a.m.

This is the time you are most likely to be relaxed or sleeping.

This is the time when your body is absorbing the nutrients and minerals from your food and transporting it to your organs, bones and cells through the blood.

It’s when all the rebuilding, renewing and healing takes place.

Because of this, you should eat dinner early, so the foods you eat are digested and out of the stomach to prepare for this phase.

As all the goodness gets drawn from the food to strengthen you, the remains get ready for Elimination, and the cycle starts all over again.

The body must have its time of rest, it must have time to rejuvenate, repair and restore itself.

So with that there are stages of sleep

Stage 1: Your eyes are closed, but it's easy to wake you up.

Stage 2: You are in light sleep.

Your heart rate slows and your body temperature drops.

Your body is getting ready for deep sleep.

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Stages 3: Is the deep sleep stage.

It's harder to wake you up during this stage, if someone woke you up, you would feel disoriented for a few minutes.

During the deep stages of sleep, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system.

Do you find yourself being sick a lot, weak, with no energy, it’s not only about what you eat, how are you sleeping.

We’re working our way to the Sabbath.

We can get mixed up when it comes to what it means to observe the Sabbath and thinking there is just one day it can be observed, which is Sunday.

First, what does Jesus say about the Sabbath?

Our text says, “Then Jesus said to them,” who was Jesus talking to and why was there a need to talk about this?

The answer starts in verse 23.

Jesus and his disciples were walking through some cornfields, they were hungry so they picked some corn and started to eat.

Now how many of you know, there will always be someone watching what you’re doing not to praise or emulate you, but to find fault.

Be prepared, and know, not everyone wants you to do well.

Not everyone will rejoice in your new found freedom, not everyone will rejoice in your salvation.

But guess what, you’re not here for their pleasure, in fact Paul said in , “Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

God is at work in you, so you can work for his good pleasure.

You’re not working for man, you’re working for God and your only desire should be to please him so you can hear, well done though good and faithful servant.

Don’t look for the praise of man here on this earth, if you’re looking for man’s praise the Bible says you have your reward.

Store up treasures in heaven where they won’t rust and the moths won’t destroy them.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to show appreciation for your fellow man and woman, it’s good to be appreciated by your fellow man and woman, but that’s not why you work, that’s not why you do what you do in the house of the Lord.

Now Jesus and his disciples are walking through the cornfields and the Pharisees began to question Jesus about why they were breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.

There are a couple of things to note here.

First, for the Pharisees to have seen this, they had to be following them.

What were they looking for and why were they following them through a cornfield.

Has anyone ever walked through or seen a cornfield?

You may or may not know cornstalks can average about 8 feet tall and the world record is 30 feet.

So let’s say these cornfield was average and the stalks were about eight feet high, how did the Pharisees see what they were doing?

I always feel like somebody’s watching me

There are people who’s aim and goal in life is to catch you doing something they can criticize you for.

Second, they exaggerated the facts.

There is a huge difference between picking some corn and eating it as you walk and harvesting.

Did you know that to exaggerate is to lie?