WEBVTT 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.959 So I'm going to start this morning where we normally end the service. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:09.519 And that's in Numbers chapter 6. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:10.960 If you want to turn there, that's great. 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:13.519 You can look on the screen behind me. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:15.519 Numbers chapter 6. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:27.600 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:32.799 You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:39.759 The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:44.960 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:53.920 So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:56.799 Lord, thank you so much for your word. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.840 We thank you so much for your heart of blessing. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:10.079 Thank you that we see here, Lord, a little picture of who you are and what your motivation is for us, Lord. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:22.480 Lord, I'm going to ask you this morning that you would highlight just one thing in this service, Lord, that you want us to hear individually, whatever you're speaking to each one of us, Lord. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:30.879 And give us grace not only to hear it, but give us grace also to do it, Lord, to be hearers and doers of your word. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:34.239 Open our eyes, Lord, by your spirit. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.879 We're hungry for you, Lord. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.120 So teach us in Jesus' name. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:40.000 Amen. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:41.439 Amen. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.680 Okay, so the Lord give you peace. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:46.799 Peace. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.200 This word peace is the word shalom. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:52.319 It's a really uh an untranslatable word. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:58.560 It's one of those words in Hebrew which can't be really translated into English in one word. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:02.079 It's peace, yeah, but it's a whole lot more than just peace. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:10.080 It's really well-being, it's wholeness, it's completeness, it's like a restored state of being. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:20.080 It's like a vision of a world that's been put back together in perfect harmony with God, with God's purpose, with each other. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:26.240 It's perfect health in all the areas of your life and your relationships. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:31.039 And so it's a picture of the heart of God for us, even in a broken world. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:37.759 It's, I think the point I want to make this morning, the big point, is that God wants us healthy. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:39.840 He wants us healthy. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.280 That's his heart. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:49.199 Not that we would be sick or frazzled or anxious, but that we would have shalom, y'all. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.639 That we would have peace. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.080 And theologians and rabbis have wrestled with his word. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:57.039 What in the world? 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:02.000 How you even make meaning of this word, especially in English. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:13.840 Sometimes they've defined it as the webbing together of God and humans and all of creation in justice and fulfillment and delight. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:18.719 It's like a tapestry of health from chaos. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.240 So here's a picture for you. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:31.759 You think about our lives in a world are often like scattered threads in this broken world that we're in, just thrown upon a table, right? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:34.479 Frayed and broken and disconnected. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.000 There's a lot of potential there for beauty, right? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.759 Um, but it's it's kind of brokenness. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:48.719 We've experienced broken relationships and chaotic circumstances, and inside of us, there's kind of this turmoil. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.680 I mean, life is beautiful, but life is hard. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.280 It's both. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:03.599 And I'm and I know that in my life, in seasons of my life, I have experienced these periods of chaos and brokenness. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.240 For me, there's serious, there's seasons when the world just kind of rubs off on me. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.719 And I think you're probably the same. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:26.000 It's hard to face sickness and death and heartbreaking situations and relationships, and finances are tight, and expectations from people are unrealistic, and we're trying to like live up to them. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.959 And my own soul is being constantly drained, and my fillers are less than my drainers. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:34.079 You know what I mean? 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:42.399 I'm like being drained, and I'm not being filled, and I find myself spiritually empty and kind of carrying this burden all by myself. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.639 It's like feels like it's all on my shoulders. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:45.839 Anyone else? 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:51.920 You know, I feel like maybe some of you woke up this morning and saying, God, I just need you to help me. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.759 I just need you to give me some kind of a word. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.000 I think he has a word this morning. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.199 Uh, in the midst of all this stuff, you kind of lose your joy. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:05.040 Sometimes you're just doing the next thing, you're just surviving. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:12.560 And in those times, I can begin to question my own identity, my own purpose, my own significance. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.720 What's my life even for? 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.680 And my fears go in many directions. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:25.439 I can fear myself because I know my frailties, and I doubt my abilities. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.000 I can fear other people. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:32.160 I give too much weight to what you think about me. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:38.560 I can fear circumstances because things are unsure, unstable. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:40.800 You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:42.160 It's unpredictable. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:49.279 And then, as a pastor, me personally, um, the church doesn't expect me to be weak. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:55.680 You know, it doesn't expect me to get tempted or be discouraged or get lazy. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:10.879 It expects me to be joyful and be a model Christian and a model father and a model husband and be uh content with my pay and all of that, right? 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.120 I'm not saying anything. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:17.920 I'm just saying, it's just this is like, you know, I'm not supposed to feel this way. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.199 I'm a pastor, right? 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.120 I'm supposed to be strong. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:32.079 And all this stuff can beat you down, and your resistance wears down, and you get sick, like sick in your soul, sometimes sick in your body, too, sick in your spirit, weak in your spirit. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.199 So we feel all these brokennesses, right? 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:44.160 Some seasons are particularly hard, harder than harder than others, but shalom is the presence of God in the midst of that chaos. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:48.560 It's peace, and God is speaking peace over his people. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:53.680 He says to Aaron and the and the priests, give them my peace. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:07:03.199 And God brings wholeness out of chaos, and God can weave those scattered threads into a beautiful garment, like this one. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:07.199 Can you imagine? 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:11.680 He can pull all those threads together and he can make something beautiful out of it. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:29.279 And I was thinking about Jesus when he gathered his terrified disciples together after the resurrection, that they didn't know what was going on, but he breathed on them and he said, Shalom be with you, peace be with you. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:46.959 He wasn't just giving them like a little temporary relief, he was re-weaving their scattered world, their threads of their life into uh like a tapestry of wholeness. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:52.560 He was bringing health, he was saying, shalom on you. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.079 Because God wants us healthy. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:14.079 And this gift of shalom really is Jesus stepping into the middle of our chaos and our threads and weaving this fabric uh of his perfect purpose and uh his beauty into our lives. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:25.120 So the passage we read this morning and that we speak over you every week is called the Aaronic Blessing, because God told Aaron to put this blessing on the people. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:31.120 It's commonly used in Judaism, by the way, which is where our roots of our faith come from. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.960 But it's also used in Catholicism, it's used in Anglican churches, it's used in Protestant churches like ours. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:46.320 And it's interesting because in it we receive a blessing, but the whole focus is the Lord. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.759 God originates the blessing. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.159 God clearly shows his heart for his chosen people. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.879 He wants us to live in peace and wholeness. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:58.879 He God wants you healthy. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.279 May the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.919 That is God's loving protection. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.519 May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.840 That's God's smile and his favor. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:16.159 The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:17.279 Shalom. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:28.720 That's God's attention on you, on us as his people, and give you deep peace, his presence, his wholeness, his health, a sense of rest. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.320 And that kind of blessing is an echo throughout the entire scripture. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:40.639 I mean, you think of Psalm 1, and it says, the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, he's like a man planted by the river, right? 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:47.440 The river, his roots run deep, the river is there, there's this life that's in him all the time. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:10:02.799 In the beginning, very beginning, Genesis, we see in the Garden of Eden, we see this garden, this beauty, this fruit, this uh nourishment, and this river that flows out of the garden. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:12.159 And in the end, in Revelation, we see a river coming from the throne and a tree and the fruit that bears all the time is fruitfulness. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:18.879 And we see that Jesus said, I've come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:21.039 It's abundant life. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:28.639 And John later on would write in his letter, I want you to prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:29.759 This is the heart of God. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.879 God wants us healthy. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:32.399 That's top point, right? 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:38.559 But here's the problem: we're like, we're made in the image of God, and yet we're also like dust. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.600 We're just dust that he breathed into, right? 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:42.720 We're fragile. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:46.240 So, what means does God give us to be healthy? 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:48.240 That's what I want to talk about this morning. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:57.919 So, for pastor's choice, I would like to give you a gift out of my life and my experience that that really God has given to me. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:17.440 And he has shown me four gifts that he gives to me to be healthy, four four means, four ways that he makes me healthy and he brings healing into my life and strength into my life and restoration and and reorders and re-tapestries my life. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.440 And it's like an antidote in a broken world. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:23.759 So if you can visit Dr. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:38.720 Jehovah and tell him what your problem is, and he could call you in a prescription down to CVS, and you go by and pick it up, and you could take it, and you knew that if you took this thing regularly, you would be healthy. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:39.600 Would you do it? 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:42.960 Would you? 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:45.200 Would you, really? 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.720 Okay, and I'm gonna ask you that again later on, okay? 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:50.720 All right, I heard you. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:58.159 I heard you, and I think I think you I believe you, but you can pick up these meds and you can take them, okay? 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:03.200 So four gifts that God gives us to keep us healthy. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.360 That's what I want to talk about this morning. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:08.960 And the first gift is the gift of the gospel. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:11.200 The gospel. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.279 Let me read this to you from Colossians 1, 5 and 6. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:32.159 Paul says, the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world, is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:38.720 The gospel came, the gospel was planted, the gospel bore fruit, it continues to bear fruit. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:42.799 It always bears fruit in your life, Paul is saying. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:51.679 Okay, this is this is uh the gift, the first gift, like the source of all health for us is this gift of the gospel. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:13:05.600 And yes, it's the gospel, the simple gospel, the simple gospel message that most of us understand that God created us in fellowship with him, but sin separates us from that fellowship. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:22.480 But God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to live the life that we couldn't live, a life of perfect obedience to his commands, and to die the death that I should have died because I didn't obey his commands. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:33.200 And because of that, by faith, as God raised him from the dead, and by faith in what Jesus has done, God raises me back up with him, and I'm back in fellowship with him. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.080 That's the gospel. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:35.679 It's the simple message of the gospel. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.039 It's beautiful. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:40.000 And most of us agree and believe that, right? 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.279 But there's so much more as you read the scripture. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:48.960 Uh, the gospel is like the deeper you go, it's like the mother load of the gifts of God. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:52.000 The deeper you go, the more gold you get out of it. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:56.879 You understand there's many things that that the gospel contains in it. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:03.600 For example, it's he God regenerates us, he makes us alive from the dead. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:07.360 We were dead in our sins, but God has made us alive in Christ. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:12.799 And so He we're born again into a new hope, a living hope, he says. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.519 So God makes me spiritually alive. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.320 And second, God justifies me. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:31.919 In other words, God, the righteous judge, who always judges correctly, has looked at me and declared me not guilty through the work of his son. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.440 God says, I'm not guilty. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.440 He makes me right with him. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:38.879 That's good news. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:53.279 And then we're accepted in the beloved one, in Jesus Christ, not just um, not just asserted, not just welcomed, not just um tolerated, but welcomed into his family, a relationship with God. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:59.600 So he not only takes my sin away, but he gives me his righteousness and accepts me fully. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:05.519 And even further than that, he adopted us, he adopted me and you as sons and daughters. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:11.279 He didn't just want servants, he wante sons and daughters. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.759 And so he's adopted us into his family. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:16.960 And so we have a place at his table. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:22.320 And you don't have to bring anything to the table to have a place at the table. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:24.799 That's the grace of God. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:26.000 That's beautiful. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:32.639 And then he sanctifies us, which means we can enjoy freedom from the power of sin in our lives every day. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.360 He breaks the power of sin in my life. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:48.159 And then there's a glorious future where there's not going to be any more death and any more sin, any more separation, no pain, no tears, a brand new body. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:56.320 He will fully restore our lives to what they were originally meant to be, reversing the effects of sin forever and ever. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.519 This is good news. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:02.080 All of that, or there's more too, but that's that's the gospel. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.000 Now, so what I want you to see though is that God has given me a gift. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.480 It's like he called in the prescription. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.000 I got to go down to CVS and pick it up. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:14.240 And I got to take it every day. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.000 I need to take the gospel and apply it to my life every day. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:19.519 I have to take it regularly. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:26.240 My understanding and my application of the gospel makes all the difference in my everyday life. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.679 It makes me healthy. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:36.080 For example, I could understand the basics of salvation through Christ and still live a life of condemnation. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:47.039 You can feel condemned because you don't, you've kind of attached your security to your own performance and not to the performance of Jesus. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:53.600 So you have this nagging little voice of condemnation that guy that kind of fills your life. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:17:01.200 I could understand the basics of salvation, and I can live my life bound by the approval of others. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:10.480 The fear of man, because I don't understand that I'm completely accepted by God, reconciled to him through Christ. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.559 I need to grow in the gospel. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:19.119 I could understand the basics of salvation, but I can live in fear of being abandoned by God. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:26.400 I can live like an orphan still in my mind, because I don't understand that I'm adopted into the family through the work of Jesus. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:27.920 I need to grow in the gospel. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.640 Day by day, I need to grow in the gospel. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:38.640 And I have learned that the most influential person in my life is me. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.559 Because nobody talks to me more than me. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:45.119 You know what I mean? 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.640 And what I say to me is sometimes not what God is saying to me. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.559 I can say things to me that God is not saying to me. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.079 So I can beat myself down and condemn myself. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.160 I need to grow in the gospel. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.680 Or I can tell myself I'm not the problem. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.640 And I can make excuses, I can build arguments about my own righteousness. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.640 That's not the gospel either. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.200 I need to understand, I need to take that prescription every day. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:21.920 So God makes me healthy and keeps me healthy through the finished work of Jesus, my Savior. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.359 And this is the source of our health. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:26.799 It's the source of it. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.839 And we have to fight. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.559 I have to fight to keep the gospel the center of my life. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:51.359 Because if I don't, I begin to look for my hope or my security or my identity in people or in positions or in circumstances when I've already been given all these things in Christ. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.759 I already have them. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:56.799 God has given me all things in Christ. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.839 I don't have to look other places for them. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:10.160 And the gospel helps me finally be anchored in the understanding that Jesus is my never-ending source for everything that I need. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:13.359 And the gospel's a gift that keeps me healthy. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:14.960 God wants me healthy. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:16.559 The gospel's the way he does it. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:17.440 Second gift. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:18.640 Second gift. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.000 Sabbath. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:22.720 The gift of Sabbath. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.880 Hebrews 4, verses 10 and 11. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:31.279 So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:37.440 For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:47.200 Therefore, let us strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:49.680 Okay, Sabbath. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:59.039 It's interesting to me when you look at that, those two ver two chapters there, chapter four and chapter three, written to Hebrew Christians. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.200 These were people who were believers. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:08.160 It seems strange to me that Paul has to tell these believers to consider Jesus. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:10.480 Think about Jesus. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:11.440 Remember Jesus. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:17.440 He's pulling them back into alignment with what God's done for us through Christ. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.640 And he also says we have to work hard at entering into a rest. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:24.960 Strive to enter into the rest. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.319 It's kind of weird, isn't it? 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:28.160 Work hard at resting. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:30.240 It's a little bit weird. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:32.880 Why would he say this to these believers? 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:41.200 I think because it's our tendency to default to the works of man rather than to the rest of God. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.640 And the Sabbath is God's gift that teaches me to rest. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:21:00.160 So a simple way to understand the biblical Sabbath is Sabbath is a literal 24-hour period where I stop working and I delight in God and God's gifts to me. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.680 Jewish people do it from sundown to sundown. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:06.319 Friday, sundown to Saturday sundown. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.839 24 hours. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.400 Every week. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:33.519 Two general ways that Christians approach the Sabbath. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.400 It's like either you think, oh, wait a minute, that's Old Testament. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.079 That's not really for us today. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:39.599 We don't really need that today. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:40.960 That's under the law. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:42.880 So they disregard it. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:50.079 Um and others legalistically observe it on a certain day in a certain way. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:57.279 And in that way they kind of exchange the life of the Sabbath, the meaning of what it's supposed to be, for law and for bondage. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.759 So there's two extremes, but neither one of those. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.640 Or Jesus' idea about it. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:05.119 Sabbath is a whole lot more than law. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.039 In fact, it predates the law. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.279 Sabbath happened way before the law. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:13.200 Sabbath happened on the seventh day. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.799 Because God created on the six days. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:20.240 And on the seventh day, he rested. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:23.839 God rested. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:25.759 Was God tired? 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:32.319 No, he who keeps Israel never sleeps or slumbers. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.240 God does not grow weary. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:36.079 He doesn't get tired. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:38.000 He didn't rest because he's tired. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.039 He rests because he's a rester. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.799 He's a creator, but he's also a restor. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:51.839 He actually is a person, a being who is, not just a being who does. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.839 He's not the great I do. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:58.400 He's the great I am. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:01.200 That's a revelation for you. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.319 He does, but he is. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.759 And so part of who he is is he's a rester. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.880 In his nature, he rests. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:18.480 And so if we're going to be like him, as he and also he commanded us to rest, if we're going to obey him, we have to do it. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:19.759 We have to rest. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:24.319 So we don't need to do it as law, though. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:25.839 We're not a slave to the Sabbath. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:27.039 Jesus said this. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.839 And Jesus said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:34.480 The Sabbath was made for you. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:36.079 You weren't made for the Sabbath. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:37.440 You don't serve the Sabbath. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:42.880 The Sabbath is a gift because God wants you healthy. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:45.920 He wants you to rest. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.319 He wants you to learn to rest. 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.640 And we have to learn to rest. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.119 We have to work at resting. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:55.599 We have to. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:13.119 Sabbath serves us by giving rest to our bodies and our minds and our spirits and refreshment and revelation about God. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:21.359 So when I practice Sabbath, I rest or I play and I tap into the joy of God. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:25.359 So how's your joy level? 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:30.559 You can there's joy in resting in God. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.279 At his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:41.920 And when I practice Sabbath, I let go of control and I trust in God's sovereignty. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:43.440 Okay. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:45.359 Just like when you go to sleep. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.680 You know you can't go to sleep if you're worrying so much about stuff. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:56.079 If you're carrying burdens and you're you're anxious and you feel like you, I mean, you can't sleep. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.480 If you go to sleep, the world's gonna fall apart. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.680 How many of you slept last night? 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:05.680 Okay. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.640 How many of you are just not gonna raise your hand no matter what I say? 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:11.599 I see that hand. 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:19.680 We all slept, I think we all slept last night, and we all woke up this morning and the world was still here, right? 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:21.359 It was still okay, all right. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:22.960 So everything was okay. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:24.720 I mean, I mean, it was all right. 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:27.680 If you checked out for seven or eight hours, it was all right. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:33.200 You can't sleep though until you really until you get in your head that the world's gonna be okay. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:36.880 My world's gonna be fine if I check out for a few hours. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:38.720 It's the same way with Sabbath. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:41.200 We relinquish our control. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:50.160 And honestly, our anxiety comes from our desire to control, or our feel like we need to control. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:55.200 That if I don't hold it together, it's gonna come apart. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.519 And that's a lot of pressure. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.240 It's pressure we weren't meant to bear. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:05.359 When I practice Sabbath, it breaks my addiction to activity and to work. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:12.319 And I understand my worth as a human being is in God's love alone. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.119 He loves me, it's not in my performance. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:22.319 So in Christ, I'm good enough, I'm loved enough, I'm safe enough, I can rest. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:25.759 Sabbath is a gift for us. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:27.039 And I and you know what? 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:29.680 When I practice Sabbath, I can love other people too. 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:34.000 The best way to love other people is to give them the best version of you. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:40.319 So when you when you're when you're healthy, you that's the best way to love people. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:45.359 No, Mark, I can't do this. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.880 That's not even realistic. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:48.559 24 hours? 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:50.799 Are you serious? 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:56.160 My work, my family, my season of life will not allow it. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.759 I ain't got time to be healthy. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:59.039 That's what you're saying, really. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:01.440 I ain't got time to be healthy. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:09.599 If just go down to CVS and pick up the pick up the prescription and take it, man. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.599 Take this gift of God. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:21.519 Believe me, I understand busyness, I understand busy seasons, but I'm asking you this morning to see the heart of God. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.200 He wants you healthy, he wants you to live in his shalom. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:28.799 He wants all those threads to come together like a tapestry. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.200 And he gives you these gifts, and he's given you a gift of Sabbath. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:36.799 And maybe you're gonna have to just take a step of faith. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:40.559 I mean, 24 hours. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.839 Okay, I mean, eight of those probably are sleeping. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:45.759 So let's say 16 hours, okay? 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:55.200 16, 17 hours, you can give out out of 168, I can't give 16, 17 hours to God to rest. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:58.480 I just can't do it because my my life will fall apart. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:02.000 And I understand we've got kids to feed, I understand all that. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:08.079 But what I'm saying is you take a step toward integrating rest into your life. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:11.759 And if you take a step, I think God will give you a window. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.640 I think he'll show you how to do it. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:15.759 I think he will. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:23.359 If you just move toward it and believe that God will honor your effort and receive his gift. 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:25.839 Lord, by faith, I'm gonna try to do this. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.039 I'll just, I'll just say, let's start with 12 hours, okay? 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:30.400 That'll be all right. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:31.759 Let's do it. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:41.839 Um sometimes we use activities to push down and to numb the pain that God wants to remove through Sabbath rest. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:53.920 Sometimes we feel our schedules to overflowing, trying to meet our own needs and the needs of those around us in our own power, feeling like we have to hold it all together. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:29:02.799 If God himself rested, not because he was tired, but because it's part of his nature, Sabbath is like a call to imitate God. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.079 God rested and then God said, I want you to do the same. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:09.200 It's like he is saying, imitate me. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:19.119 And I would say you can think of it this way: Sabbath is imitating God in rest so that we try we stop trying to be God. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.079 Imitating God so we stop trying to be God. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:27.599 God wants you healthy. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:34.559 Well, so um, there's a couple of uh Chinese characters I'm gonna put up here on the screen. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.559 And this is a Chinese word. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:41.839 It's the word for busyness, not busyness, but busyness, like being busy, right? 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:44.799 And one of these characters is two characters together. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:51.519 One character means heart, like your heart, the core of who you are, and the other character means killing. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:57.200 So the way the Chinese express busyness is killing your heart. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:01.359 I think they got it. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:04.160 I think they got it. 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:08.000 It makes us stop caring for the things that we care about. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:12.240 It makes us stop being healthy. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:21.279 But killing busyness requires us to review our our day, our week, our yearly schedule, and to build Sabbath into it. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:36.400 And you know, sometimes if you if you think I can't do this, and you you go 24-7, seven days a week, and you don't do a Sabbath and you do that for four or five weeks, you know what's gonna happen? 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.279 Your body's gonna go, we're done. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:43.680 We're done, and you're gonna be sick for four days. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:48.640 Those four days that you should have taken a Sabbath, you're probably gonna take a Sabbath. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:55.680 You could take it as you go, like maintenance, or you can just run yourself to death and then be sick. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:30:59.759 Your body knows you need it for sure. 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:02.559 So maybe our minds need to catch up with our bodies. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:07.759 So God makes me healthy and keeps me healthy through Sabbath rest. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:12.319 This is the space of health, the space of health. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:21.920 And for some of you, God's just calling, he's called in this prescription that's waiting for you, and you're just gonna have to go pick it up and take it. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:23.519 Are you willing to do that? 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:24.880 All right. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.160 You told me you were. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:29.680 So I'm I'm I'm taking you at your word. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:34.400 Number three, the gift that makes me healthy is the gift of spiritual disciplines. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:38.799 1 Timothy 4, 7, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:46.319 Spiritual disciplines are practical habits of Christ followers that have been practiced by God's people since biblical times. 00:31:46.400 --> 00:32:00.640 We're talking about time in the Word of God, worship, prayer, meditation, silence, Sabbath, um, relationships, fellowship, service, all of these things. 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:14.400 Okay, but you know, when we think of these things, kind of our default tends to be condemnation, like I am not doing that enough, I'm not praying enough, I'm not wording enough, I'm not worshiping enough, I'm not quiet long enough, I'm just not enough. 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:15.759 I'm not enough. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.720 And so a lot of times we shy away from these things because it's a it's a law thing to us, it's a duty thing to us. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:24.720