SPEAKER_00: Hear the word of God recorded by Mark.
SPEAKER_00: One Sabbath, he, that is Jesus, was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
SPEAKER_00: And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him?
SPEAKER_00: How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat.
SPEAKER_00: And also gave it to those who were with him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: Again he entered a synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand, and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to the man with the withered hand, Come here.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?
SPEAKER_00: To save life or to kill?
SPEAKER_00: They were silent.
SPEAKER_00: And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, Stretch out your hand.
SPEAKER_00: He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him how to destroy him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's powerful, loving, majestic word.
SPEAKER_00: This asked the Spirit's work in us.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for these words of life.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit of God, would you give your life-giving power to us to understand, illuminate our minds, humble our hearts, that we can actually hear what you have to say to be fed.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be your people, we want to be your disciples.
SPEAKER_00: So please do your work.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, he is.
SPEAKER_00: We see all these stories in the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: We're following in the footsteps of Jesus, just as his disciples did.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about that recently in the sermon series.
SPEAKER_00: To be a disciple is to walk in the steps of your master.
SPEAKER_00: Said another way, you can't be a Christian if you're not walking after Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A Christian is a person who walks in the steps of Jesus, follows Jesus, seeks to obey Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we see in the Gospel of Mark, story after story.
SPEAKER_00: On this particular day, Jesus and his followers who were walking with him were hungry.
SPEAKER_00: They saw a grain field.
SPEAKER_00: And so they helped themselves to the grain on the stalks.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they didn't gorge themselves, but in order to satisfy their hunger, they ate.
SPEAKER_00: What are they doing?
SPEAKER_00: How dare they do this?
SPEAKER_00: How dare they break the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the context of this story.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has something to tell them.
SPEAKER_00: Have you never read what David, King David, did when he was in need and was hungry?
SPEAKER_00: He and those who were with him?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what did David do?
SPEAKER_00: What did David and his hungry men do?
SPEAKER_00: They ate something that normally was forbidden to them because this was the show bread in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: This was normally reserved only for the priest to eat.
SPEAKER_00: But because they were hungry, it was permissible to take that bread and eat that bread.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, they didn't break the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to explore that more in a few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Pharisees were experts in making burdens for people, making laws that weren't in the Bible, extra-biblical laws, we find in the Mishnah.
SPEAKER_00: They made up a list of 39 principal works in six different categories, which clearly, in their minds, define violations of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: Things such as on the Sabbath day, you could walk 800 meters, but not 801.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: Counting your steps?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they didn't have their iPhones, they didn't have their fitness trackers.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you had to really pay attention to each step.
SPEAKER_00: How ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: And then he had other rules.
SPEAKER_00: You could untie a knot if you could do it with one hand.
SPEAKER_00: But if it required two hands, you broke the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: Evidently there was too much strenuous effort using that other hand.
SPEAKER_00: How silly.
SPEAKER_00: If a building fell down on the Sabbath, enough debris could be removed to see if there were survivors.
SPEAKER_00: And you could pull them out.
SPEAKER_00: You could exert yourself to pull them out.
SPEAKER_00: But if you found people who had perished, they could not be rescued on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: You had to wait until the next day.
SPEAKER_00: How ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus corrects these Pharisees by appealing again to David himself.
SPEAKER_00: If it was okay for David and his men to eat the consecrated bread in the tabernacle out of need, it was certainly appropriate for Jesus and his disciples to pick the grain to satisfy their hunger that day.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says something to them that really got their attention.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: That is quite a statement to make.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he was saying.
SPEAKER_00: I'm God.
SPEAKER_00: If he wasn't God, he could not have forgiven the sins of the paralytic we saw a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Only God can forgive sins.
SPEAKER_00: Once again we see his deity.
SPEAKER_00: I forgive you your sins.
SPEAKER_00: Here we see his deity.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: I know what the Sabbath is all about.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath was not made to be a burden to us, but rather to be restorative, healing.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees had made these self-imposed rules that could quickly drain the life from anybody.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to address this aspect a little bit more, but this is not the main point that I have this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's our particular problem in our culture today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think most Christians are in danger of these pharisaical rules.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up with some of those.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps it was my generation, perhaps it was my family tradition.
SPEAKER_00: It was probably all mixed in there.
SPEAKER_00: We were, when we played on Sunday, we were supposed to play quietly.
SPEAKER_00: It was okay to, you know, shout out whatever we were doing otherwise, but on Sunday you had to keep your voice very low.
SPEAKER_00: I never understood that.
SPEAKER_00: And in his house, it was forbidden to read the comics on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Now, where do you get that in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's our problem, most of us.
SPEAKER_00: There's two principles I want to give you this morning, and it's going to be a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to just weave them together, but I'll tell you up front what these two principles are.
SPEAKER_00: We must avoid the burdens that rob us of soul rest.
SPEAKER_00: That's clear.
SPEAKER_00: What are the burdens in life that would rob us of soul rest?
SPEAKER_00: But the second point is we need to look to the burden bearer who offers us true soul rest.
SPEAKER_00: And who is that?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is what this sermon is about.
SPEAKER_00: Sabbath rest is not idleness.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean no activity.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, it means a change of activity.
SPEAKER_00: Just like God did.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis tells us that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and he made everything good.
SPEAKER_00: He said, This is good.
SPEAKER_00: I am finished creating.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to rest from creation.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus tells us in John chapter 5, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: He said, My Father yet is at work.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what was the change of activity for the Father?
SPEAKER_00: What do we see in this creation ordinance?
SPEAKER_00: We see that the Father no longer creates, but now he governs his world.
SPEAKER_00: It's the acts of providence.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a change of activity.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: The burden bearer who offers us true soul rest.
SPEAKER_00: The word Sabbath points us to a deep rest.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus said, I am the Lord of the Sabbath, what he's saying is, I am your Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: You don't find rest in a day.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you in a secondary sense, but you don't find your rest in a certain day.
SPEAKER_00: Paul addresses the Colossians in his epistle along those lines.
SPEAKER_00: Don't elevate any particular day or activity above the Lord Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so, we think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we find this promise in Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 4, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just pause for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath is not done with.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the Ten Commandments, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath has not been abrogated because we're in the New Testament, although you wouldn't know that today from many.
SPEAKER_00: There's still a Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
SPEAKER_00: Everything necessary for your salvation has been done.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I've done it all.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing more for you to do except to believe and repent, and you shall be saved.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It's finished.
SPEAKER_00: So we go back and we look at Genesis chapter 2, the first three verses, it says, God rested from all of his works that he had done in creation.
SPEAKER_00: So we see here that the Sabbath is there.
SPEAKER_00: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the Sabbath day did not start on Mount Sinai with Moses as one of the commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath started from the very beginning of creation, where God blessed that day, set that day apart, made it holy.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what the word holy means?
SPEAKER_00: Set apart.
SPEAKER_00: Christian, you have been set apart to God from this world.
SPEAKER_00: So God blessed the day and he made it holy.
SPEAKER_00: So what we're saying is, yes, the Sabbath is a creation ordinance instituted at creation, not Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_00: And so God rested from his work of creation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on the cross rested from his work of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing more to do.
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing more to add.
SPEAKER_00: You know, just like God looked at his work at creation and said, This is good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm finished with this work.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on the cross looked at all of his work for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He said, This is good.
SPEAKER_00: I am finished.
SPEAKER_00: I've done all that's necessary for you to enter into real rest.
SPEAKER_00: It's finished.
SPEAKER_00: Theologian Wayne Muller put it like this: forgetting the Sabbath is like forgetting to unwrap the most beautiful gifts under your Christmas tree.
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
SPEAKER_00: Christians who have not discovered the real meaning of the Sabbath have not opened up some of the best gifts under the tree.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why is the Sabbath such a beautiful gift for us?
SPEAKER_00: Because our creator knows what we need: body, soul, and emotions.
SPEAKER_00: Our creator, our designer who designed us, knows how important it is that we don't run on empty, that we don't run on fumes, that we take a break.
SPEAKER_00: He knows this is his world that he created.
SPEAKER_00: He said, My people need a day of rest, one day out of seven.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He said, My people need rest.
SPEAKER_00: And all that they have needs rest.
SPEAKER_00: The land itself needs rest.
SPEAKER_00: Don't work your fields seven days a week.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna pay for that.
SPEAKER_00: We need rest.
SPEAKER_00: We need weekly rest and we need we need eternal rest, which we talked about in Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: That's the rhythm that God wants us to live in.
SPEAKER_00: For our good.
SPEAKER_00: In the Chinese language, there are there's a pictograph expressed by two characters.
SPEAKER_00: One of those characters is the word for heart.
SPEAKER_00: The other character is the word for killing.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word busy in the Chinese language.
SPEAKER_00: When we are so busy and we're not taking rest, it kills the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us know that.
SPEAKER_00: I remember a time in my ministry many years ago where I needed rest.
SPEAKER_00: I guess I was the last one to know it.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else like that?
SPEAKER_00: And my elders told me just to get away for however long I needed.
SPEAKER_00: So I figured I was gonna go to Phoenix to see my sister.
SPEAKER_00: I'd never been to Arizona before.
SPEAKER_00: And I fell asleep in Houston at the layover.
SPEAKER_00: I missed my flight to Phoenix.
SPEAKER_00: And I got anxious.
SPEAKER_00: I missed my flight.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what's the big deal if I'm going to Phoenix to rest?
SPEAKER_00: It's not like I'm going to some big business meeting.
SPEAKER_00: I got in this conversation with a businessman.
SPEAKER_00: We were waiting in line.
SPEAKER_00: What do you call that?
SPEAKER_00: Sumita, the uh when you're waiting to get the next flight, that we got yeah, yeah, rebook.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to get the next flight.
SPEAKER_00: And we're standing in line with about 20 people, and I'm I'm facing the help desk, and there's this business guy, and we're starting to get to know each other because we're waiting in line.
SPEAKER_00: And it was probably a 20-minute wait.
SPEAKER_00: We got we got to know each other.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I tell him, he says, Why are you going to Phoenix?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, I'm going to rest.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh, really?
SPEAKER_00: And then he he calls me out, my new friend calls me out because he sees that I'm really not listening to him as he talks.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at that help desk.
SPEAKER_00: I want to see where I am in line for standby.
SPEAKER_00: Standby.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking in line for standby.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is funny but sad.
SPEAKER_00: Now he gets my drift, and he literally grabs me by the shoulders, he looks me in the eye, says, he says, Tom, give it up.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I've had I've had five heart attacks.
SPEAKER_00: I've had five heart attacks.
SPEAKER_00: Because I just didn't learn how to stop.
SPEAKER_00: He was preaching to the preacher.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone identify with that?
SPEAKER_00: The pictograph.
SPEAKER_00: Heart killing.
SPEAKER_00: When we don't know how to slow down, we don't know how to stop.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Can we find rest in the finished work of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we carry our own burdens from restless hearts?
SPEAKER_00: God rested from his heart.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Does God get tired?
SPEAKER_00: Did God exhaust himself with the six days of creation and say, oh, I just need a break?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God did not get tired, worn out from creation.
SPEAKER_00: He was done with it.
SPEAKER_00: He could put it down.
SPEAKER_00: You see there where this is going, right?
SPEAKER_00: Can you put your work down?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's not your work, but can you put your family down?
SPEAKER_00: What are you carrying?
SPEAKER_00: That just is heavy and it's heavy and it's heavy, and you're not stopping.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I want to tell you what the Sabbath is for.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath is to stop.
SPEAKER_00: Let your body rest.
SPEAKER_00: Let your soul rest.
SPEAKER_00: Is this good news?
SPEAKER_00: I think so.
SPEAKER_00: Do we need to hear this?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_00: Especially in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: Why can we put down our work?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're not living for the approval of our boss.
SPEAKER_00: Why can we put down our work?
SPEAKER_00: We're not living for the approval of anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: We have received that approval from God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: When you came to Jesus, Jesus said, I have done all the work for you.
SPEAKER_00: I am inviting you into a season, a life of rest.
SPEAKER_00: Now work six days.
SPEAKER_00: Incidentally, the Bible doesn't say work five days.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you have to work at work six days, but it does say you shall do your work in six days, and the seventh day you shall rest.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: How do I put down?
SPEAKER_00: How do you put down the things that are burdens in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: Where we just get off the hamster wheel.
SPEAKER_00: We just get off.
SPEAKER_00: And we say, Lord, I do need rest.
SPEAKER_00: If I were to ask you this morning, what is it that you need rest from?
SPEAKER_00: What would you say?
SPEAKER_00: I don't expect that you would necessarily have an answer right now.
SPEAKER_00: But it might be worth thinking about.
SPEAKER_00: It might be worth getting alone with God and saying, you know, Lord, I heard the sermon tonight.
SPEAKER_00: I'm serious.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I heard the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: What would you have to say to me?
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you want me to put down so that I'm not driven?
SPEAKER_00: And why are we driven?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it for approval?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it for somebody to bless us?
SPEAKER_00: A boss?
SPEAKER_00: A spouse?
SPEAKER_00: It could be anything.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, put it down.
SPEAKER_00: It's really taking a toll on you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not good for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I love you, and I want to call you into my rest.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not calling you away from working hard.
SPEAKER_00: We work hard.
SPEAKER_00: We should work hard.
SPEAKER_00: But not for approval.
SPEAKER_00: Not for somebody's blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And when you know how much God loves you and you know how much Jesus has done to save you, you can put it down.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we need this weekly rest.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we need this eternal rest.
SPEAKER_00: We need these two truths that come together.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, friends, I can assure you that I have struggled with this.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, I know how hard this can be.
SPEAKER_00: I think God has been teaching me over the years.
SPEAKER_00: It could be your studies.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's such a thing as studying too hard.
SPEAKER_00: Do your study, do your work, and put it down one day out of seven.
SPEAKER_00: Put it down.
SPEAKER_00: And say it's good enough.
SPEAKER_00: That could be very liberating for us.
SPEAKER_00: So that we can actually rest.
SPEAKER_00: Six days, pick it up.
SPEAKER_00: One day, put it down.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this change of activity, it's not to be idle on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to be active in worship, in rest for our bodies.
SPEAKER_00: As I close, let me just mention a couple things on this day of activity.
SPEAKER_00: As one commentator put it, three things, very simple, but maybe helpful, to make us more holy.
SPEAKER_00: We have more time to give ourselves to God.
SPEAKER_00: Worship, preaching, teaching, fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, to keep us healthy.
SPEAKER_00: Let the fields rest on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Let your body, let your soul rest.
SPEAKER_00: I think the way God designed it is when you leave worship, when I leave preaching, I should feel more rested.
SPEAKER_00: I'm putting stuff down.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not only putting down my work, I'm putting down my fears, I'm putting down my unbelief, I'm putting down my internal struggles.
SPEAKER_00: That's what worship is for.
SPEAKER_00: Keep us holy, make us holy, keep us healthy, and thirdly, make us more helpful to other people.
SPEAKER_00: This Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Another category, people that like categories, the three works, the three works that God approves of.
SPEAKER_00: Works of necessity for the good of life, preserving life.
SPEAKER_00: Many occupations would be this.
SPEAKER_00: Works of necessity, satisfying hunger.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, works of mercy, like Jesus did with the healing of the man with the withered hand.
SPEAKER_00: Pharisee said, No, unless he's dying, you can't heal him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: This is good.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to heal this man's hand.
SPEAKER_00: Works of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Like our deacons and deaconesses do.
SPEAKER_00: Works of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to work on Sunday in many ways.
SPEAKER_00: If I could just stop and think about all the ways that people have worked in this building already this day.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I take walks early Sunday morning, early Sunday morning, and I see people opening this building up and it's all dark.
SPEAKER_00: There's people that are working to prepare it for you.
SPEAKER_00: There's fellowship teams that are working, making coffee and food and setting up tables.
SPEAKER_00: That's good work.
SPEAKER_00: There are people serving our children.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of children downstairs.
SPEAKER_00: That's good work.
SPEAKER_00: You expect me to work, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's fair.
SPEAKER_00: I work a lot getting ready for Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: I should.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good work, and then the deacons and deaconesses spend hours with people who have tangible needs, who need the love of Jesus expressed in very practical ways.
SPEAKER_00: That's good work.
SPEAKER_00: By claiming authority over the Sabbath, Jesus was again making a claim to his own deity.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Sabbath's Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Who is the Lord of the Sabbath?
SPEAKER_00: Only God.
SPEAKER_00: That's this claim to deity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, I am God.
SPEAKER_00: This is my day.
SPEAKER_00: This is how I want you to use my day.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, it's called the Sabbath day, not the Sabbath hour.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give me one hour.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give me one hour and say, I checked that box.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I want you to give me the day.
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like in your life?
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like in my life?
SPEAKER_00: To receive, to unwrap that gift under the tree.
SPEAKER_00: I can testify to how that has blessed me.
SPEAKER_00: Unwrapping that gift.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a blessing to my life.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a blessing to my family.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a blessing to my body.
SPEAKER_00: It'll bless you.
SPEAKER_00: Open that gift.
SPEAKER_00: On the Sabbath, we not only give ourselves to the Lord, but again, we give ourselves to one another in worship, in service, in fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: So here we are.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has given us something to think about, hasn't he?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, show us what you're asking us to put down so that we may pick up the very things that will restore us, refresh us, and renew us.
SPEAKER_00: Just a moment, we're going to sing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what thou art.
SPEAKER_00: I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart.
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to sing that again.
SPEAKER_00: I sang it in the first service.
SPEAKER_00: It was a beautiful gift.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to sing it again.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, you know the burdens that are weighing us down.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that you're not calling us to pile on more.
SPEAKER_00: Would you show us, Lord, each of us individually, what it is that you're asking us to put down on your holy day.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that we can because we don't have to live for anybody else's approval.
SPEAKER_00: We have received your approval.
SPEAKER_00: We are forgiven people.
SPEAKER_00: We are loved people.
SPEAKER_00: You delight in us.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to put down our burdens.
SPEAKER_00: Most of all, help us to see Jesus as beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to see and to fall more deeply in love with the burden bearer who came to take all those burdens from us.
SPEAKER_00: In his name we come.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.