Rest Up

- On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

The Sabbath is a day of rest. When God finished his work of creation He rested. It must be clearly understood, God didn’t rest because He was tired, He rested because He was creating the first blueprint for His children to follow. We learn best by example, by what’s modeled before us and too often now, we don’t model the Sabbath.

Peter Scazzero in his book, The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World, defines the Sabbath as “a twenty-four-hour period in every seven day period in which we cease all work in order to rest and delight in God’s gifts.

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World (p. 1). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. defines the Sabbath as “a twenty-four-hour period in which we cease all work in order to rest and delight in God’s gifts.”

I want to speak to the leaders today as my husband and I are on vacation. You probably hear the fountain in the background as I sit on our patio recording this message.

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World (p. 140). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Pastors so often don’t get or don’t take the opportunity to observe a Sabbath. It’s important to note, your 24-hour period may note come on a Sunday, especially for a pastor. We work on Sundays delivering God’s Word to God’s people and we do it gladly, but it takes a lot out of us and so we pastors must take care to set aside a day of Sabbath for ourselves.

That could be from 3:00 Sunday afternoon to 3:00 Monday afternoon if that’s what you choose. Just carve out one 24-hour period each week for your rest, relaxation, rejuvenation and reconnecting with God.

You’ll see in , Paul is not so much concerned with what day you take your rest, just that you do. Jesus came to free us from the bonds of law and tradition. The Sabbath day can be different for everyone.

If you must work on Sunday but you are free Wednesday evening and your church has a Wednesday night service, incorporate that into your Sabbath, give your tithe and offering there and let that be you time of reflection with the Lord.

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World (p. 145). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

As my husband and I enjoy this week off, and this just happens to be Pastor’s Appreciation month, if you are in leadership at your church, and your pastor works hard taking care of the needs of the people, consider their health, both physical and mental and ensure they are taken care of. It’s not just about money.

There are pastors suffering from depression, exhaustion, fear of failure and a myriad of other ailments all because they don’t take the time for a weekly Sabbath. There are pastor’s families that are literally falling apart because they are doing “God’s will”, but they’re missing their first ministry, the ministry to their families, they’re missing their first responsibility and far too often “the church” is content to stand by and watch it happen, for reasons too numerous to name.

I know this isn’t a normal message, but I’m on vacation and I just wanted to check in today, since we are away relaxing and say thank you for those who normally tune it each Sunday and Lord saying the same, we’ll be back next Sunday and hope that you will tune in.

Also, if you live in the Douglasville area, we will be celebrating our 6th church anniversary on the first Sunday in November, that’s Nov 4th and we’d love for you to join us. The celebration will begin at 3:00 pm and we’re located at 3755 Kings Hwy, Douglasville, 30135.

God bless you, and remember to carve out your Sabbath, be intentional about it, protect it, cherish it and learn to cherish God and your family through it.

See you next week