Can we thank the Lord one more time for Chris and his family, an incredible ministry here at Cross Assembly. One of my other favorite stories about Pastor Chris, you know, Amy and you met Al, her father.
They're a very quiet, dignified, subdued family. And when Chris was dating them, he kind of comes in like a whirlwind and he gets his courage up and he asks the father, Al, may I have your daughter's hand in marriage? And he said, let me think about it.
And he made him wait two weeks and finally came back and said, yeah, I guess. But we thank the Lord for Chris. Make sure you go by and see he and Amy and Isaac today as well. Great, great ministry. Well, church, good morning to you. And can we say hello to our brothers and sisters over at North Riley as well? Good to see you guys. Hey, when I get through here this morning, I'll be out by the fountain. If you're a guest, come by and see me.
If you're just a member, want to come by and see me, I'll be out there at the fountain. Come by and see me today and be here Wednesday night. We got a problem Wednesday night. I never thought I'd say this. We are out of parking space on Wednesday night.
We ain't got any parking spaces yet. So come out on Wednesday. We've been talking about prayer and I'm not going to tell you where I'm going this Wednesday. But there is a prayer principle that I have rediscovered. It's revolutionized my prayer life. And so we're going to really dig into the word on Wednesday. But be here for that. Our youth ministry is going full bore.
Our kids ministry on Wednesday night is an incredible, incredible thing. Hey, unless I've got to apologize. When I was walking in here today, I came in like a whirlwind because I was late.
I always had to meet with the team before service and I was late for the meeting. And so I ignored some of you all because I was walking in so fast. But pray for me. I came under severe satanic attack this morning. How many of you know if Satan is going to attack a pastor, it's going to be on Sunday morning.
And here's my attack. My coffee grinder broke this morning. And I spent 30 minutes fixing that thing. But how do you know one of the greatest gifts Jesus ever gave the human race is duct tape.
So it's done. But at any rate, that's why I'm sorry I went in so fast. But you know, Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation. And I experienced that this morning. You know, manufacturer's instructions exist for a reason.
It's not to make your life harder. I got this off the Apple website on top of the iPhone. It said, quote, to prevent liquid damage, avoid these. Swimming or bathing with your iPhone, using your iPhone in a sauna or a steam room, or intentionally submerging your iPhone in water. Now, what if you said, I know better than Apple how to treat my iPhone.
And you decide to go swimming with your iPhone. You're going to destroy it. Here's another manufacturer's instruction for my truck.
It says, I got this off the website. Toyota recommends changing your 2014 Toyota Tacoma oil and filter every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Now, what if I said, that doesn't apply to me. I'm going to change my oil every 150,000 miles. What's going to happen? Your engine's going to break down.
Let me give you another manufacturer's instruction. Six days shall you do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest. Exodus 23, 12.
What happens when we ignore that manufacturer's instruction? Would you agree he made us? Would you agree he knows better than anybody else how to run our lives? He says very clearly in his word, work hard six days and rest one day. And so as we're going through the Gospel of Mark, we're now at the discussion question, what do we do about the Sabbath day? So turn to Mark 2, if you would. Mark chapter 2, verse 23. We're going slowly through the Gospel of Mark.
Be patient. Like I said before, we'll either get this done here or during the millennial reign of Jesus, but we're going to get through the Gospel of Mark. So Mark chapter 2, verse 23, and it says, Now it happened that he went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisee said to him, Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
But he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest and ate the shewbread which is not lawful to eat except for the priest and also gave some to those who were with him? And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.
Now let me explain this passage. Genesis 2, 3 says God worked for six days creating everything, and I believe it was six literal 24 hour days creating everything, and on the seventh day he rested. And because God set that pattern, Genesis 2, 3 says, Now we are to do that as well. It says, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. Now the word Sabbath comes from the word sabbaton, which literally means just to cease, just to stop. And so the day of rest is precisely that.
We are to do two things. We are to rest and we are to worship. That's what the Sabbath is about, rest and worship.
And it's very interesting. In the Old Testament there's not a lot of specifics. Okay, now here's how you rest, here's how you worship.
No, no, no. It just basically says rest and worship and maybe don't start a fire on the Sabbath because, you know, fire represents worship and cooking and that type of thing. Rest and worship.
But here's what happened. The Jewish leaders in Jesus' day had taken that simple principle, rest and worship on the Sabbath, and they went absolutely crazy with that. In fact, there's some Jewish writing that's called the Talmud.
It's from a little bit later from Christ, but it reflects the thinking during the time of Christ. The Talmud actually has 24 chapters just on the Sabbath law. And let me give you some things that you could or could not do on the Sabbath. It says, look, if you threw an object in the air and caught it with the other hand, that's sin, that's work.
If you threw it up in the air and caught it with the same hand, that's not sin, that's not work. You've not violated the Sabbath. That's not in the Bible. That's traditions that was added on to the Sabbath. A person could not wear false teeth on the Sabbath because if your false teeth fell out and you picked it up, now you've carried a burden and you violated the Sabbath. Women couldn't look in a mirror or they might find a white hair and be tempted to pluck it out, which is working on the Sabbath. Women couldn't wear jewelry that weighs more than a dried fig, otherwise they're carrying a burden on the Sabbath. A radish couldn't be left in salt because it might pickle, and pickling is work you have worked on the Sabbath. Today, in Israel, I'm going to take a group in a couple weeks, on the Sabbath day, you can't even push the button. They actually have a Sabbath elevator where all the buttons are already pushed and you have to stop at every floor because pushing a button is working on the Sabbath.
In fact, they have taken this prohibition against lighting a fire and modern Orthodox Judaism says you can't even make an espresso on the Sabbath because you're lighting a fire. How many of you know God did not ever make us to not go without caffeine? That's not the way God designed us. That violates God's natural law.
So here's what I'm trying to say. There's all kinds of crazy man-made laws that have been built onto this thing. Again, the Old Testament just said you rest, you worship, that's it. And so these Pharisees come up to Jesus and they're upset because Jesus' disciples, they're walking through a grain field, they're hungry, they just pick some grain, eat a little grain and Deuteronomy 23, 25, I think it is, says that that's lawful.
Did you know that? That it says in Deuteronomy that if you're walking through a neighbor's grain field and you're hungry, it says in the Old Testament you're allowed to eat some grain. But they're saying, no, no, this is too much like work on the Sabbath and they chew Jesus out and they chew his disciples out over this. Again, they have not violated anything in the Bible.
You understand, Jesus has violated man-made rules, but he has not violated Scripture. And so Jesus responds by reminding them of 1 Samuel 21. In 1 Samuel 21, King David and his men are fleeing Saul, they're hungry, they get to the tabernacle, and once a week they get the special bread that's offered to God and they take the old bread out on the Sabbath and the priest put fresh bread in. What happens to the old bread? It says priests and priests only can eat that old bread. They come there to the tabernacle and they've just taken out on the Sabbath the old bread. They're going to put some new bread in. David says, look, we're trying to get away from this mad man. We're starving.
Can we eat some of that? And the priest says, you know what, I'm going to let you eat that old bread. And what Jesus is saying is, look, if King David could be allowed by a priest to violate a divine symbol on a Sabbath, then the disciples could be allowed by the Son of God to violate an unbiblical regulation on the Sabbath. That's what Jesus is arguing. And then Jesus says something, y'all missed it, but Jesus says something pretty radical in verse 28.
It's like he takes the pen out of the grenade and kind of rolls it in the room here. He says, therefore the Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Son of Man is a messianic title. He's saying, I am the Messiah. And he's also saying, I am the sovereign ruler over the Sabbath. I designed this day because I am the creator of the universe.
So this is powerful. And, of course, the Pharisees lost their ever-loving mind. Now, before we talk about Sabbath and resting one day, because I really do believe this. This is an area, I've said this before, if you all want to go to a church where a pastor already has it all together and he's kind of lecturing you on how to, you're at the wrong place. I'm growing right along with you.
And this is one of those areas where I'm trying to grow. Before we talk about the Sabbath for just a second, I've got to hit this because the Jewish Sabbath day, the seventh day, what day is that? That's Saturday. We worship on Sunday.
And so the question is, why do we worship on Sunday when in the Old Testament the Sabbath day is the seventh day, Saturday? And I deal with this. Now, look, this kind of goes in about an every two-year cycle. I've not had to deal with this for about a year and a half. So in about six months, I have to deal with this again. We'll get emails into the church office, and the secretary will pass this on to me.
An email starts like this. They always compliment me. I love Cross Assembly. Great churches bless me and our family. Okay, great, great. But as a follower of Yeshua, oh, here we go. And look, I get it, Yeshua is Jesus' Hebrew name. I get it, I got it, whatever. Then they'll say this, I would like to meet with you because I have some questions about worship at Cross Assembly.
And I know what this is. It's somebody that's read some Jewish Roots thing online. They've gone to YouTube and found some video on Jewish Roots, and now they're wanting us as a church to start worshiping on Saturday instead of Sunday. And many times they followed up with, and we need to make sure all of our men are circumcised.
Not sure how you enforce that. What, next membership meeting? All right, fellas, pull them out, guys. I mean, what do you do?
So let me hit this thing real quickly. Why do we worship and rest on Sunday instead of Saturday? In other words, is the principle what we have to live by? One day out of seven, you rest?
It's the principle? Or is it, no, no, no, no, it's the particular day. We need to worship on Saturday instead of Sunday. And so here's why we worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. Number one, the Bible teaches that the church gathered on Sunday to worship.
That's Acts 20, verse 7. We celebrate the day of the week where our Savior rose out of the grave, crushed the head of the serpent, rose up victorious as the Lord of light. That was on a Sunday. That's why we worship on Sunday. Number two, the early church fathers taught that the Old Testament Sabbath was for the Jews and that Christians worshiped on Sunday. And this pre...
I don't want to get too much in the weeds. This precedes Constantine because some people will say, no, Constantine started this in the 5th century and, you know, he was turning a pagan day into a Christian day. This precedes Constantine by many, many years. The early church fathers said, no, Jews worship on Saturday and the New Covenant people worship on Sunday. Number three, nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to observe a Saturday Sabbath.
Did you know that? Nowhere in the New Testament. Number four, before the law was given to Israel at Mount Sinai, there's no evidence of anyone ever keeping a Sabbath. That started with the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. The Bible specifically says, number five, that Saturday, or Sabbath law, was an Old Covenant sign for Israel. The Old Testament's clear about this. Part of being part of the Covenant community is if you are a Jew, if you are an Israelite, the Sabbath is for you. That's an Old Covenant sign. Hebrews 8 says you and I are under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant. Number... where am I at here?
Number six. The sixth reason we worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Gentile nations are expected to observe Saturday Sabbath. The Gentile nations are never condemned for not worshiping on Saturday.
Have you read the Old Testament? And there's some in the New Testament as well, where God is condemning the Gentile nations for murder, sexual immorality, social injustice and all that. He's condemning the Gentile nations for all of that. God never condemns the Gentile nations because you don't worship on Saturday.
That's very strange if God expected that for all nations. Number seven. The New Testament warns us against all kinds of sins, but it never warns us against breaking the Sabbath or worshiping on Saturday instead of Sunday.
Never warns us against that. Number eight. Paul taught that keeping the Sabbath was a matter of Christian liberty, Romans 14.5.
And then number nine. Paul rebuked Christians for arguing over which day should be observed, Galatians 4, 10 through 11 and Colossians 2, 16. Paul actually says, this is in your Bible, I'm going to say it again, you actually read this book because this book actually says, don't argue about which day. Is it Sunday?
Is it Saturday? Paul says, don't send Pastor Chad emails about why do you all worship on Sunday. Paul says that you're not going to argue about that. I don't know how much more clear the Bible can get on this. But I do believe this. I do believe that principle of work hard six days and rest one day, that is still in place. And that's for us.
Let me read this thing again. Jesus says in verse 27, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Hey, here's what Jesus is saying. Follow the principle. And I'm telling you, doing it for you, don't do it for me.
Jesus is saying, I want you to follow the principle of work hard six days and rest one day, and I'm saying do it for you. Why don't you listen to me? As a society, we are dealing with burnout, stress, and anxiety at unprecedented levels.
Do you know that? I've said this before, if I were to ask you all, what's the biggest thing you're dealing with right now? You know the number one thing y'all are dealing with right now? If y'all, just the conversation that I've had, I'm stressed all the time.
I get worried and fearful all the time. That's not just in this church. Our society is collapsing under this weight of stress, worry, and anxiety.
And I know the causes of that are multi-tactorial, but I wonder this. I wonder if there's any coincidence that as a society, as we have pushed down the necessity of resting one day, we have stopped honoring Sunday as a body of Christ. I wonder if it's a coincidence that as we begin to neglect that commandment, our stress and anxiety is going up.
Because Jesus said right here, this is something God did for you. This is for your benefit. Philosophy H.H. Farmer said this, if you go against the grain of the universe, you're going to get splinters. And God says, I know how to design your body.
I know how to design this thing to work. If you go against it, you're going to pay the price. In fact, y'all have heard of the French Revolution back, what was that, 1780 something?
The French Revolution, they wanted to get rid of all vestiges of God. And so they said, we're going to do something totally different. We're going to get rid of the seven-day week. We are now going to have ten-day weeks.
Because, you know, I just wish everybody would talk American and keep time American and have the same measurements as Americans. They decided to give that whole decimal system thing. And so what they said is, we're going to have ten-day weeks. Did you know they tried that for a couple weeks and their whole society broke down and they went back with a seven-day week? Maybe there was some divine wisdom in these things.
Have you thought about this as well? We can explain why we have 24-hour days astronomically. Astronomy tells us why we have 24-hour days. We can explain why there's, you know, 365 days in a year. We can explain that with astronomy. Do you know there's nothing in nature that says you need to have a seven-day week? There's nothing in nature. And yet that's observed across cultures, Christian, Jewish, and non-Christians. It's very interesting, isn't it? God says, I know how I wired you all.
I know how I constructed you. Work six days and rest one day. John Mark Comer in his book has a great chapter on the Sabbath. And I don't agree with everything John Mark Comer says. He throws a lot of social justice stuff in there because if you're going to be a cool evangelical, you've got to be into social justice stuff. But at any rate, he does point out that the creation story in Genesis specifically says God blessed three things. Number one, he blessed the animal kingdom, Genesis chapter 1, verse 22. And when he blesses it, he says, now go create life.
Be fruitful and multiply. The second thing it specifically says God blesses in the creation story was he blessed the human race, Genesis 1.28. It says he blesses them and says now go create life. There's only one other thing that specifically says God blesses in the creation story.
Do you know what that is? It's the Sabbath day, Genesis 2.3. Implication, just like animals can produce life because they're blessed by God, just like humans can produce life because they're blessed by God, the Sabbath day has the potential to create life and energy if you'll honor it. He also points out in his book a study that was done that says some of the healthiest people on the face of the earth are seventh-day Adventists. Seventh-day Adventists are passionate about resting on the Sabbath. Seventh-day Adventists take this really literally.
We are going to totally rest on one day. And according to this one study, if you're to believe this study, seventh-day Adventists live ten years longer than the average American. Now if you do the math, you rest one day out of seven over a lifetime. That one day over a lifetime adds up to ten years. Is it any coincidence that people who rest one day and work six live ten years longer? I don't think it's a coincidence. I think God is saying, again, I created the Sabbath for you to bless you.
I don't know, I'm wrestling with this thing, and I really feel like God is calling me and us as a church to go back to this, to start resting on the Sabbath. Look, for my birthday, I got a crossbow. You all know what a crossbow is? This is a nice crossbow.
And a young fellow here at our church sold it to me, did a great job. And this crossbow, you crank it up, and you crank it all the way up, and that thing is just poised and ready to go. It's cocked. It's got so much tension behind that thing. And the instructions specifically say, you can only keep it cocked under that kind of tension for a couple hours.
You can't do it indefinitely, or the thing is going to crack and break apart. And that's the prophetic picture I have for some of you all. You all are so tight, so cranked up.
You've got so much stress going on, and you never stop, and something's going to break down. I just think God's telling us to go back to Sabbath. It's interesting. I don't know if I have time to share this.
I'm going to do it real quickly. Forty years later, God's people are about to enter the Promised Land, so the Sabbath law was given, and Moses says because God rested one day out of seven, you rest one day out of seven. That command is repeated 40 years later, after they've been brought out of bondage to the Egyptians. They're about to go into the Promised Land again, and Moses repeats the same commandment. When you get in the Promised Land, you rest one day out of seven, and then he says something different, not because God rested for one day.
Here's what he says. Here's what I want you to rest, and remember that you are a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by the mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Something changes. First time you keep one day out of seven, it's because God rested one day out of seven.
Now he changes. Rest one day out of seven also because at one time you were slaves in that land, and you never got a day off, and now you are free men and women. To honor that, take one day out of seven. Implication, we are slaves to an unhealthy culture. This unhealthy culture keeps us wired all the time, texting all the time, emailing all the time, running around all the time. We are slaves to an unhealthy culture, and God is saying to us today, I want you all to be counterculture and stop being slaves to this crazy culture, and one way you do that is it flies in the face of our culture.
You rest one day out of seven. So how do we do this? I'm going to look. Some of you all are going to say, well, my pastors, my family, I get to run my family. Well, you tell me how to run my family.
I'm not telling you how to run your family. I'm just the UPS guy. I'm delivering the package.
If you want to open the package, you can open it. If you don't, that's fine. But let me kind of give you some help here on how to begin honoring this thing of rest one day and work hard six days.
Let me give you a couple of things here. Number one, run everything through the filter. Run everything through the matrix of rest and worship. If it's not rest and it's not worship, don't do it. And don't redefine rest and worship. Because some of you all are going to say, well, you know, to me mowing the grass is very restful. You understand you're redefining rest, right? You know, when I clean the house, that's my act of worship that God is, I'm going to clean the house on Sunday.
Don't redefine that. Now, I'll say this. There's a lot of you all volunteering here on Sunday morning, and you're like, well, wait a second. Then if we're supposed to rest and worship, why are you all putting me to work? Here's the answer.
You ready for the answer? When you work in that parking lot, that's part of worship here. You're getting everybody ready for worship. When you're running the lights, that's helping us for worship. And Jesus specifically says, Jesus got you covered. Matthew chapter 12, verse 5, he says, hey, the priests, the laborers work on the Sabbath for worship. And if the priests are laboring for worship, Jesus says that's not violating the law. So don't quit on me. Because if you're working for worship, you're good.
Number two, here's the second thing to help us. Understand the Sabbath is not a day off. See, day off and Sabbath are two different things. On your day off, you can still work around the house. On your day off, you can go grocery shopping.
You go to the gym. That's not Sabbath. Day off, do whatever you have to do on the day off. Sabbath is different. You worship and you rest. Here's another one.
Number three, prepare ahead of time for the Sabbath. It's kind of interesting. When you go to Israel, the Jews are very intentional. I think they go overboard. But in Israel, the Jews, now I'm going to tell you how intent they are on preparing for the Sabbath.
They don't just kind of shoot from the hip. They say, it's Friday. Tomorrow is the Sabbath. And so, so that we're not flipping light switches because that's work.
That's just what they say. We're going to put everything on a timer so that tomorrow we don't flip a light switch. We're going to go ahead and cook our food ahead of time so that tomorrow we're not cooking, we're not violating the Sabbath.
There's some preparation involved. I want you to listen to me. We talk about how we're Christians. We're counterculture. We're going against the culture.
It sounds really good and go get them. And usually when you hear me say, let's be counterculture, you hear, you know, vote a certain way. You understand how counterculture this is to say to a society, we're not playing your stupid game. We're not going to wear ourselves out. We're taking one day out of six.
That's actually very counterculture. And you've got to prepare ahead of time for that. Number four, y'all ready for this one? I said to Darla, do I add this one? And she says, well, just be nice, okay?
So I'm going to be nice on this. How do we honor the Sabbath? How do we make Sunday a day of rest as people of the new covenant? Decide what to do about sports. I'm going to tell you the biggest challenge to the Sabbath, the biggest challenge to a day of rest in the body of Christ is sports. Christianity is not the national religion of America. Sports is the national religion of America. I'll hear people tell me this.
You actually have people say this? Yes, pasture is soccer season, and we're getting geared up for soccer season, so don't be upset. You probably won't see us around here on Sundays for the next couple months.
Okay, if you're going to do that, just don't come and tell me that, okay? Well, pasture, that's our day of rest. That's how we as a family rest. Not getting in your business.
I'm just kind of sitting back here and saying, you get up at 7 o'clock in the morning, you drag your kids to a soccer field, you stand out there in 90 degree weather for hours as they run up and down the field, you go out and get ice cream afterward, come back home at 7 o'clock at night, and you just tell me you've had a day of rest? I don't think so. You're going to have to figure out what to do about this thing. Again, I'm just saying, counterculture Christianity sounds really good until you have to make some kind of sacrifice. And I don't know what, look, you do what you're going to do, you're born again, Jesus still loves you, you're still going to heaven, you're still a child of God. I'm not doubting any of that.
All that is true. But God might be saying to y'all, you're wearing yourself down in the name of sports. In fact, I remember back in college, I can't remember the name of this evangelist. There's a young kind of real quiet evangelist that was in high demand because he had this prophetic edge. And he's down in South Carolina.
And he went, I wish I could remember the guy's name. He went to a church, because they wanted to do revival service. And it was Sunday night, they're going to kick off revival. And the pastor said, you're going to be here for weeks, it's going to be great, we're so excited. Hey, before you preach tonight, our church won our softball championship for church league. Can we just take a few minutes and honor our guys from the team?
I guess. And so, pastor got up after the singing and said, in just a second, I'm so excited about him being here tonight. But before we do that, we brought home the trophy, guys. And the church clapped, they cheered. And they brought up the softball trophy and they put it on the podium there. And we wanted the coach to come up. Guys, we did it again. All I can say is we're going to do it again next year.
The whole church clapped. The most valuable player, come on up here. He held up the trophy.
Man, this is great. It's wonderful to bring home the trophy. It's been three years since we brought home the trophy. But we did it, guys. And for 20 or 30 minutes, they did that. And then it was the evangelist turned to preach. And all he did is he went up to that pulpit, he picked up that softball trophy, and he said to the church, behold thy God, and put it down and walked out. And sometimes I feel like that. I'm not saying don't watch sports, don't go to sporty. I'm just saying, church, you may have to make some sacrifices if you take this Sabbath thing seriously.
Is this microphone on? I was going to say turn down the air because I'm getting hot, but all of a sudden it got real cold up here, so I think I'm all right. Number five, how do we honor the Sabbath again? How do we honor that one day off? How do we as the people of the New Covenant honor Sunday? Here's another one, enjoy the Sabbath.
I'm going to tell you, this is not a law to make your life miserable. I'm going to read it again. Here's what Jesus said, if I'm finding my notes here. Jesus said, the Sabbath was not made for man, man was not made for the Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man. Enjoy it.
I did something, it's been about a year and a half, two years ago now. I said to the front office folks, I said, y'all work so much overtime, particularly on Wednesday nights to getting ready for our Wednesday night services. I said, let's do this. I want all of our administrator, administrative help, all that, I want everybody to take Monday off. We're going to shut the offices down on Monday. That's why sometimes when y'all calling, nobody answers on Monday, because I said, we're working these people too hard. I want them to stay home on Monday. When I did that, not one of them said, what a jerk, I can't believe that. If I want to work on Monday, I'm going to work on Monday.
Who does he think he's got? Not one of them said that. Every one of them said, I get a day off, thank you. I think God is saying, why are y'all mad at me? I'm telling y'all, as the God of the universe, I give you a day off. What's going to happen to my promotion? I'll take care of your promotion.
How are my kids going to go to college on a soccer scholarship or a baseball scholarship if we don't play sports on Sunday? I think God is saying two things. Number one, I love your kids, but they're not going to make it. Don't worry about that. Number two, I'm God. I'll take care of them.
You trust me enough to take care of them? I don't know, whatever. Enjoy the Sabbath. Enjoy the day off. Where are we at?
Number six, I keep losing track here. Number six, how do we honor the Sabbath as God's people? How do we honor Sunday as God's people?
I'm going to give you something radical. Live a Sabbath lifestyle. This isn't just something for one day a week. I think God's people ought to live with a calmness and a peace and a confidence that this world can explain.
It's not just one day. It's all a lifestyle. In this crazy world that's losing its mind, Jesus says, hey, come to me, you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus says, I want y'all to live totally countercultural in a society that is losing its mind.
Y'all just rest in me. Listen to this. Internist Dr. Susan Coven wrote in the Boston Globe, quote, in the past few years, I have observed an epidemic of sorts, patient after patient suffering from the same condition. The symptoms of this condition include fatigue, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, heartburn, bowel disturbances, back pain, and weight gain.
There are no blood tests or X-rays to diagnose this condition, and it's very easy to recognize. The condition is excessive busyness. That's our society. In the middle of all that, Jesus just comes and says, just slow down. Y'all live differently. Rest in me.
We go 100 miles an hour. It doesn't make any sense to me. Y'all believe Jesus is in charge? You believe he's coming back again one day?
You believe your sins, past, present, future, have been forgiven if you're a child of God? He's taking care of everything. Why are you so stressed out?
Slow down and live this wonderful Sabbath lifestyle. I heard an author, I think it's Barbara Taylor, years ago, she said she had a friend coming to visit her, and on the way to visit her, her friend got lost, and she wasn't paying attention because she's so panicked. I've got to get to my friend's house, I've got to get there, that she started speeding. She got a speeding ticket. The officer comes to the window, taps it, she rolls it down, and she tried to explain to the officer, she said, officer, I'm sorry I was speeding, but I got lost.
I love the officer's response. Man, I'm sorry to hear that, but what made you think that going faster would help you find your way? What makes y'all think burning the candle at both ends, biting your fingernails to the quick, living as hectic as that crazy world out there lives, what makes you think you're going to find your way? Jesus says, come to me, and I will give you rest. So I want you to do something right now.
Can we just stand in the presence of the Lord? I have no agenda right now. I'm not going to ask you to pray for anything.
I'm not going to ask you to do anything. I'm going to ask you to do 50% of what we're supposed to do on a day like this, and that's just worship God. Can we do that? Can you slow down for just a few moments, not think about the deadline you have next week, the paper you got to turn into the professor this week, the crazy meetings you're going to have?
Can we forget about that for just a second? Can we lift up holy hands, and right now there's not 1,000 people in this room. It's just you and God right now. Can you just start worshiping the Lord, worshiping Him for who He is, the sovereign God of the universe, who at His word created all things?
Worship God the Son, the One who died on the cross for your sins, who is coming back again one day. For the next few moments, let's just rest, and let's just worship. Let's step off this crazy merry-go-round.
Let's get off this hamster wheel. Just right now, worship the Lord. Your own words.
I'm serious. Y'all can pray out loud. We'll let you pray out loud here. Just pray out loud. Thank Him for saving your soul. Thank Him for what He's done for you. Just bless the Lord right now. Bless you.
Let's not rush this. Let's be still and know that He is God. Just worship Him. You want to kneel down where you're at? Just kneel down where you're at. If you need to sit in His presence, sit in His presence. Just worship the Lord right now.
The Word says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth.
Let's worship Him right now. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Yes, You are. You are, Lord.
Full from You are all things. And You are all things. For You deserve the glory. For You deserve the glory, Lord. All the honor and all the saints and angels. They bow before Your throne. And all the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb.
Oh, come and see. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Full from You are all things. And You are all things.
You deserve the glory. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Full from You are all things. And You are all things.
You deserve the glory. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Full from You are all things. And You are all things. You deserve the glory. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all, Lord. Full from You are all things. And You are all things.
You deserve the glory. Amen. Amen. Amen. And the people of God said, Amen. When you leave here today, goodbye and see Chris.
Yes, I'll be out over here as well. Would you leave with this thought? God is for you. If God be for you, He wouldn't be against you. I don't want you to leave here with guilt today that, well, we don't honor the Son. I want you to understand, God is for you.
If God be for you, He wouldn't be against you. Are y'all with me that this crazy society is getting crazier and crazier? Y'all believe that? But in the midst of this craziness, there's a radical counterculture group of people who throw their shoulders back. They lift up their heads. They walk with boldness, and they walk with confidence, and they're not afraid, and they push back the kingdom of darkness, and they expand the kingdom of light.
Y'all part of that army. I want you to receive this Hebrew blessing that God spoke to His people for millennia, and He speaks it to you now. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and the Lord turn His countenance to you and give you shalom, peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we pray, amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. You should change this world for Jesus Christ.
