The Truth Behind The Sermon
Step beyond Sunday morning and dive deeper Behind The Sermon. Each week, Lead Pastor Dr. J Perry Fowler, Student Pastor Ryan Willis, and Technical Director Trayvain Morrell unpack the latest message, exploring the truths of Scripture and how they apply to everyday life.
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“Life Built on Truth.”
The Truth Behind The Sermon
Remember The Sabbath And Keep It Holy
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Your calendar may be full, but that doesn’t mean your soul is healthy. We sit down with Pastor Perry to talk about the Sabbath as God designed it: not a vague self-care idea, not a bonus for people with free time, but a command that protects us from living like we’re still in Egypt. Along the way, we share the real-life ways we rest (golf, long bike rides, disc golf, reading, family time, and yes, watching a heavy rain) and why those moments can open space to hear the Lord more clearly.
We unpack the heart of Shabbat, the Hebrew call to cease, and Perry’s simple framework for keeping Sabbath: rejuvenation, rejoicing, and reflection. We also name the tension a lot of Christians feel, especially in ministry, where Sunday can be the busiest day of the week. That leads to practical ideas for building a Sabbath rhythm on another day, setting expectations with your family, and preparing ahead so your “day off” doesn’t turn into another stressful sprint.
The conversation gets even sharper when we compare Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. One ties Sabbath to creation, the other ties it to freedom from slavery, making rest a weekly act of resistance against hustle culture and a weekly practice of trust in God’s provision. We even talk Chick-fil-A, why closing on Sunday still works, and what you might need to stop doing so you can start living with more peace. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s running on empty, and leave a review with your biggest Sabbath struggle.
Welcome And Rest Favorites
SPEAKER_01This is the Kennesaw First Podcast. Life built on truth.
SPEAKER_02What's up, guys? How are we doing today? There we go. We're back to what's up, guys. Yeah, I'm I'm only doing this to feed it now. You know, like what's the point? And not we're just gonna lean all the way in, right?
SPEAKER_00Thank you. You're welcome. Glad you've accepted who you are.
SPEAKER_02There are certain things you just have to do in life. And if what's up, guy is the guy I have to be, I can be that guy all the way. So, Pastor Perry, we're talking uh on another of the Ten Commandments today, and it's on rest, the idea of a Sabbath. So just to get us kind of moving, what is your favorite way to rest? Like, what's the thing that you do that just lets you turn off, decompress, uh maybe spend some time with the Lord in a way that might not be our, you know, orthodox have your quiet time in the morning kind of thing. But what would that be for you guys?
SPEAKER_00Um, I really enjoy playing golf. Um, it sounds a little counterproductive because you are being active for about four hours or so. And uh or if you have to, yeah, if you have to go search for your ball so much. Um, but it's a good time uh for me to kind of not just turn off my brain, but kind of put it in a different gear and in a different mode. And the decisions, the tiny micro decisions that I'm having to make aren't based on my job or my life or whatever else is going on. It's like, okay, really all I gotta do is just focus on, hey, how am I gonna hit this shot? Where, and then where did it go? Uh over in the woods or in the water. Um, but I really enjoy that. Uh then, you know, it sounds kind of silly too, but you do get out in nature a little bit. You get you get some sun, you get, you know, your body kind of active, and uh, it's good. I always feel really rejuvenated after I play. Um and so that's that's one thing I enjoy doing. Um the other side of things, that's things that I like doing by myself. The other thing is really just spending time with my family, where we find something to go do together and um we intentionally set apart some time to say, hey, we're gonna go do this together. Yeah. Um, and that's that's really been what's keeping me going lately is, you know, we're we're working all the time, there's a lot of things going on. But when we get those times to whether it's just go out to eat at dinner or whether it's going to the park and going on a walk or the playground or something, those are just so rejuvenating. They're great. It uh strengthens our family bond. Uh Caitlin and I get to have uh, you know, intentional conversations. We talk about our day. I just spew all of my ideas that I'm having and and have her kind of be my sounding board. Um and then Olivia is just hilarious all the time. So it's it's always a good time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I love to move. So I like to go uh run. I like to work out, I like to ride my bike, do that a lot. I like to get out on a silver comet trail and hunker down and go several miles. Um, I love to do that, but probably my favorite rest, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I was just gonna say, when you say several miles, you mean like 20. Yeah. Right. Like not like not like a couple mile bike ride. Yeah. Like Perry's gonna go circumnavigate the globe. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Just come back real quick. I did that not long ago with my friend Barry Dollar. And Barry, uh, Barry uh, he smoked me, man. I'm telling you, I was trying to keep up with him, and I'm like, dude, we're supposed to be having fun here. Two middle-aged guys like competing like on the inside, you know. And so uh that's what we were doing. But probably my favorite thing to do is this I love when it rains, and I love to sit on my back porch, uh my screen in back porch, and just sit and watch it rain. I can do that like for literal hours and just sit and just pray it'll come a downpour, you know, this intermittent shower thing. And I just love it, especially when it just like lays it down. So I don't know. I always thought I would be a good recipient of being, you know, maybe exiled to Seattle or something. I would have enjoyed that because I like the rain. I've always enjoyed rain. So that's my thing.
SPEAKER_02So the one time I've ever been to Seattle, it only rained twice the whole week we were there. It was the wildest thing. And then the people there were like, hey, don't tell everybody, but this isn't the most unusual thing. They're like, it definitely rains a lot, but but they were like, we don't want everybody knowing that it doesn't rain as much as you think it rains. Like I was like, well, all right, there you go. So I I am similar to uh to Chaston, uh, except for I don't, I'm terrible at normal golf. Um just not good at it. I can hit the ball really far, but I don't know where it's gonna end up. Um, you know, I might hit it 400 yards, but it's gonna be 200 yards up and 200 yards to the right. Uh, it just screams. Uh, but so I really enjoy playing disc golf. Uh, the neighborhood we live in now has a has an 18-hole disc golf course. Um, and so it just gets you outside, gets you in nature, kind of similar. Let's you turn your brain off uh in a way of like you're not thinking about um strategies and uh the different events that are coming up and what uh what thing didn't get done this week that needs to get done so that the next thing will be successful or anything else. Um but it's also in those moments that like you just get a little bit of clarity from the Lord, you know, when you're able to zoom out and just kind of and not be thinking about it, that you tend to hear from him a little more. Um, so that's one of the things. And then uh love getting to spend time with our family as well. We uh we really enjoy taking the kids to the playground or uh taking them to the uh the park in our neighborhood, you know, all those kinds of things. Um, me and Kara go on a cruise here in a couple days, and so we're super excited about that just to get to get away and sit down and read a book and not have any uh any distractions. We're celebrating 10 years of marriage, so that'll be a fun little time there.
SPEAKER_05Congrats, man. Go stand at the front of the boat when you leave port and just stand there, you know. Uh yeah, exactly. Exactly, but like the Titanic thing. Yeah, uh, but I always think standing there is the perfect thing to do, you know, when you're leaving port, because I don't know what it is. It's like, okay, all the cell coverage is not gonna work.
SPEAKER_02It's gone.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, it's done, it's over several days, yeah, nothing's gonna work. Even if I want to call anybody, I can't. Yeah, so that's that's a good thing. So do that.
SPEAKER_02So I told uh so so what we do, what our process is, and we started this years ago, is that when we get on cruises, basically once we can get into our state room, I turn my phone off and put it in the safe. And it's just there. That's where it rides for the whole week or for however long we're on the boat. And so this is the first time we're going without the kids. And so we got the Wi-Fi package for Kara's phone so that uh my mom can get in touch with her. But beyond that, like that's just kind of a just-in-case thing. But other than that, we're just gonna be disconnected. I'm taking three, three or four books, and we're gonna plant my hiney in a chair next to the pool and uh come back sunburnt, but well educated.
SPEAKER_00Sunburnt and full of ideas.
SPEAKER_05Well, enjoy. That's that's great. I'm excited for you.
SPEAKER_00You said you're celebrating 10 years of marriage. Next time you call me young, just remember that when you were getting married, I was graduating high school.
SPEAKER_02So that's valid. I appreciate that little dagger. Yeah, you know, it didn't hit as hard as me realizing when I was teaching students the other night that uh when I told them I graduated high school 15 years ago, that several of them, multiple grades of them, were not alive. Um that one hurt my heart.
SPEAKER_05This is the I was like this is the beginning of the pain that will come into your life because guess what? When you got married, I'd already been married 30 years.
SPEAKER_04So there you go.
SPEAKER_05So uh, you know, I'm three decades ahead of you, bud. So yeah, our anniversary is we have our 40th this year. So but we got married really young. Yeah, Jan would want me to tell you that. So anyway, she is not 60 yet. So but you are, but uh marrying me a teenager for sure.
SPEAKER_02When he was also very young, that's a disclaimer.
SPEAKER_05I was I was 21. I was 21. I married an 18-year-old. I did.
What Sabbath Really Means
SPEAKER_00Well, guys, I'm not joking. Let's get into this week's content. So uh we're talking about we're talking about the Sabbath. Uh, this is the institution of the Sabbath here in Exodus 20, the fourth commandment that God gives to Moses. And uh, Pastor, you give us three R's that we can remember that will help us keep the Sabbath. Can you explain those?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, um when we look at the Sabbath, the the Bible tells us a slowdown. And when you when you pause and you look at uh this whole picture of the Sabbath and understand that in Jewish mindset, in which that is the context it's written in, it's called Shabbat, which means to cease or to take intermission, to stop work. And it's not something that God uh is saying, you have an option to do this. He's saying, I did this, and I did this at uh at the end of the creation, uh six days I created the seventh, I rested. And it really is a command. He's commanding us to cease, to take an intermission, to stop, and those purposes are for rejuvenation, uh, therefore rejoicing is what I brought up, and also it is for the purpose of reflection. And all three of those are they fit right in with what God's commands are here, and on the Hebrew language that comes out of that particular command. So when we when we pull together this calling and this command of pausing and just spending time to rest, to rejuvenate, and to rejoice, and that would be obviously to worship. God wants that day to be a specific time of worship where we spend some time with Him and then also to reflect. He says, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And the word remember means to stop and recollect and to reflect on this. So when I put together the message, I put it together based upon the Hebrew language that's in this passage. And so easy to see what God is saying here because he chose that language so that in turn it would communicate his heart. And his heart is that we need that. And he said the Sabbath is not for him, it's really for us. It's for made for man because we desperately need that in our world today. We just don't do that very much. I was teasing my wife the other day. I said, you know, I think this is going to be the hardest message to preach because it's probably the one I struggle with the most in the commands, because you know, it feels a little bit hypocritical because it is hard sometimes, even for us in ministry, to have a pause. And I've been praying about that for a while, and and uh somebody said the other day, you know, Jesus healed on the Sabbath. And I'm like, Yeah, ministry is it it takes place on Sabbath, but we as well have to find times where we can take a Sabbath.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And so that's not always easy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a really interesting thought because, like you said, um, yeah, 100 Jesus didn't restrict when he would do his will or the father's will at all. Um, but it's also important to recognize that he did pause. You know, he did retreat, he did take time away, he did make sure that he was um spending time with the father and spending time in rest. You know, now we get a lot of pictures of his active ministry and the things he was doing, but it's so important to not miss that even he did rest. He did.
Ministry Life And Finding Rest
SPEAKER_00So let's let's kind of get this out of the way. Um so what we're saying is Sabbath is not just going to church on Sunday. Um Sabbath takes many different forms. Uh, what are some ways that that y'all uh, you know, because it's it's difficult as ministers because Sunday, which is normally observed as the Sabbath day, um, it's difficult for us to rest. We're literally working. Um I'm up at 4:56 in the morning. That's when my first alarm goes off. And I'm up here at seven, and then here till one, and then we come back for meetings and different things. And so it's difficult for Sundays to be Sabbath. What are some ways that y'all intentionally find ways to observe uh a time of Sabbath?
SPEAKER_05Not an easy answer, really. Not an easy answer because um last Saturday I had a funeral. Um, then I had a funeral on, let's see, I had funeral on Wednesday, funeral on Thursday, and then all the other things that were, I mean, we have a fire that's taking place up here. I've got and and had uh we have a school. So with the school, we have graduation on Friday at 11 o'clock for preschool. And there's a lot of things that we really struggle with, and people people often think, well, people in ministry, what we do is we kind of throw the keys underneath the doormat after church on Sunday, and then we come back the next Sunday and take the keys out from under the doormat. Somehow God downloads all this, and and you know, and we just get up and preach, you know, as if we're lip syncing from heaven or something. But it's beyond that. I mean, every single day, I think that's one thing that people don't understand is ministry is a truly uh it's a it's a calling, and it is more than a full-time job. It's a lifestyle. And in that lifestyle, we have to pause and look and say, where am I gonna fit this in? And it is very, very difficult for me. I have an extremely hard time. And uh Jan and I talk about that quite often. She says, When are you gonna ever rest? Because you're kind of on call 24-7. Um, and we have like 2,500 members on roll here, and not all of them attend on Sunday, obviously, but some of them are, you know, we have a very cross-generational church, and so there's a lot of people that we're ministering to that aren't even physically able to come. So with that, with that, what I often do is is I often say, okay, I'm gonna have to take, even if it's an hour, even if it's a half a day, and just say, okay, this is what I'm going to go do to to really genuinely rejuvenate, rejoice, and to find that rest that God wants me to have. And it's not easy to put that in because there are a lot of things that we're doing. We have family, and we want to participate in a lot of family events and so forth. But I I'll be honest, that has been probably my most difficult thing to deal with in my life. And so you feel a little bit hypocritical sometimes when you when you're called on, you're preaching through the Bible, verse to verse to verse, and you're like, okay, this one's gonna be a hard one because I'm gonna be preaching to myself. And so literally, that's what I see this sermon to be. It's almost a sermon to myself because it's not always easy. What do y'all do?
SPEAKER_02So it's seasonal for me, uh, I think is the is the best way to put it. Um, so I try really hard to have my entire school year calendar done um for like August through July of the next year. Uh, usually try to finish that up by June so that I can part of why is so that I can look at it and see where my busy seasons are and where the moments are that I can take a breath, right? Um, and so part of why me and Kara are going on on our trip uh here coming up is because the summer is gonna be nuts, right? I'm not gonna have a ton of time to rest. There's not gonna be much of an opportunity for Sabbath. I mean, we're doing those mission trips. Yeah, we're doing VBS, two mission trips and camp uh on top of normal stuff. And so uh so finding that time during that season is hard. So making sure that we take the opportunity uh where we see it, where the Lord's given it to us, and rest then. And then, like you said, you know, finding that hour, right? Uh so right now on Friday mornings, uh the boys are in school, and so I can have a couple of minutes at the house. I might go play disc golf by myself. I might cut the grass like it just something that needs to get done, but getting something done is sometimes really restful, is really rejuvenating. You can sit down and uh drink that iced tea after you cut the grass and you're just like, thank you, Lord. Like that needed to get done. I feel better now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I guess the point here is this we're really not that much different than the people that are listening to us today. Yeah. Um, I had a guy sideswipe me when I went actually for a little bit of rest down to the beach a couple of weeks ago with my wife. And anyway, we've had an insurance agent, and I've been kind of working with him, and I'll call and I'll get his answer machine and is answering a voicemail, says this, tells his name, and says, uh, my normal office hours between eight and five, Monday through Friday. Beyond that, you can call this number. And I'm like, okay, this guy ain't normal. This is just not normal. Most of the people that we know in our church and we know in in our friendships and our relationships, busy people. Yeah. Um, some of the people in our church own their own businesses. And that is, I mean, their only day really is Sunday to shift down, and they're coming to church and they're participating in that, and a lot of them are serving. So they experience ministry um in a volunteer way as well during the weeks and so forth. So it is very, very important to God that we find that place to pause. What do you do, Jason?
SPEAKER_00So if I can help it, if I can help it, Friday is my day. It is, if I can help it, I understand things come up. We've got to be.
SPEAKER_05By the way, I need you to be up here tomorrow. I'm just teasing it.
unknownI'm just teasing.
SPEAKER_00If I can help it, and uh my pastor doesn't my pastor doesn't call me up to the to the church on a Friday morning, which I will answer and be there. Uh because work is my favorite. Um and if I can help it, Friday is the day. Um I don't set alarms on Fridays. Uh so I can sleep in until Olivia wakes up. And so it's a little bit later of a start. Uh, it's a slower day. Normally we're getting out, running errands, we're doing things around the house. Sometimes we'll do nothing. Sometimes we'll go down to the aquarium for the day, or we'll uh just spend time together as a family. Um, it's very helpful because for me and also for Caitlin as well, both of us know, like, hey, that day we have set aside it's coming. So we won't get so bogged down in the tiredness that we're feeling with work and keeping up the house and the family. And so not only does that help us in finding that rest, it also helps us on the other side of things where we say, Hey, I know that that Sabbath is coming, that time of rest is coming. So I'm not only just gonna honor God in setting aside this time, I'm gonna also honor God with how I work. And I'm gonna work really, really hard. And I am gonna leave no stone unturned when it comes to my work. I mean, even if you look in the text, it says you should work six days. Yeah, yeah. And there is a heavy emphasis on you should work. Right. We We should, as Christians, be the hardest workers on the planet. And we should, with the way that we work, uh, be a testimony to uh to the God that we serve, but we should also set aside that time. And so there's kind of this give and take, this balance. So that's what I do. It's life. I'm not perfect, we're not perfect. We have things come up, we've got events that are on Fridays, but but we just know, hey, maybe instead of trying to squeeze us in on Tuesday, hey, let's push that till Friday. Let's go and push that till Friday, and we'll make that a more intentional time together.
Rest Is Not Laziness
SPEAKER_05I'm really glad you brought that up because it really is a call. Some people look at the Sabbath or they look at rest and they say, okay, this is this is being lazy. And um honestly, the work ethic that is implied here in the passage is you're gonna work six days and you're gonna give, you know, whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. I mean, that's a strong scripture. So we are supposed to have a strong work ethic, but we're also have we're also supposed to have a a um a very, very pointed moment or day when we pause and we spend time just simply having time with God and having time with family and having time with rest and just spending time to rejuvenate and prepare for those other six days of the week. So, yeah, this is not one of those commands that says, okay, let me give you an out so you can be lazy. This is this is really a call to work hard, but play hard as well.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean your good and your rejuvenation will help you out in the work that you're going to do. You won't get burnt out, you won't get so far beyond your capacity. Um, you know, God didn't create us this way. He didn't act this way, Jesus didn't act this way, you know, where they just are constantly just working. He set up a system for us to have this rejuvenating period of time so that we will be better for our work.
SPEAKER_02And that's important to recognize because God set that up before the fall. Yeah. Right. Before sin entered the world. I think it's really easy for us to get twisted almost, or maybe, maybe get caught up in the wrong thing, right? Where we think, oh, our bodies are weak and frail and they get tired and broken and all these things because of sin. It's like, yes, we do experience pain. Yes, there is sickness, yes, there are a lot of things that were not a part of the design that were twistings and distortions because of sin. Rest and the need for rest ain't one of them. Yeah, God set it up that way. Um, and how much sweeter is our rest when we work hard? You know, like you see the shows or the you hear the phrases like, wow, you really got to go rest from all that rest you've been having, you know, like man, but when when you've worked hard, I'll tell you, one of my favorite days of the year, right? One of my favorite days of the year is Sunday afternoon after Disciple Now weekend, after D now, because I am just gassed. But it's the best tired ever. You know, I know that I gave Jesus everything that I had to give him that weekend. I know that uh he is using it far more to do bigger things in his kingdom than I could ever hope for or imagine. And I'm just exhausted, and that's the best nap that I'm gonna take all year. You know, that nap on the bus on the way back from camp, or really once everybody's back from camp, or that moment of, okay, you made it home from the mission trip, you're no longer responsible for 27 kids who are all at each other's throats because they've been together for too long, you know. Um, and so you get in that car and suddenly you just feel it. And you get to have that moment where you're like, Lord, thank you uh for for what you did, but thank you for this moment to just breathe. How much sweeter is our rest because we worked hard?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think you hit on this, Pastor Perry, but there are two types of rejuvenation that we uh experience when we intentionally take Sabbath. There's a physical rejuvenation, which is much necessary. We should take care of our bodies, but there's also a spiritual rejuvenation as well. And uh you say it recenters our soul. Man, I just love that because we it's easy to talk about the physical rejuvenation, the physical rest that we take. And those are methods by which we receive rest, but also there is we cannot discount the spiritual rest that we need to have and not just spending time with our family, not just spending time on a golf course or on a beach, but spending time with God while we're doing it. And it's it's amazing how much rest He grants you when you just spend time with him.
Seeing Shabbat Up Close In Israel
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think it's great that Jesus himself participated in the Sabbath. He went to the synagogues and he went and spent time uh in worship himself. But as if you go to Israel today, I I love to go and to see what happens. Um because suddenly when you get to Friday night, as soon as the sun goes down, all the shops close. Most of them do anyway. And when they close, um, you know, it's a little hard sometimes for those people to close it. You can tell, just like it's hard for us to close down and shut down because they're, you know, they've got Americans there that are buying their stuff and they're like, it's about to get it's the sun's about to go down, you know, we're gonna have to close, you know. And but they do it anyway, and then the whole day of the Sabbath is is a really, really peaceful time in Israel. And a lot of time I've traveled and we've gone to different biblical sites on the Sabbath, on their Sabbath, on their Saturday. And um anyway, it's it's it's just extremely peaceful. And I think it's because just nationally, for the most part, they do take a Sabbath. It's seen as they see it like a holiday. You know, in America, we're used to seeing holidays, we're like, okay, on holidays, you're gonna sleep in, you're gonna have breakfast, you're gonna have time with family. They see that on a weekly basis. And they do that. And one of the things that I learned when I was studying this is how they conclude uh their Sabbath day when the sun goes down on Sabbath, uh, on Saturday night, they go out and they look up to the sky. And when they do, they look for the first three stars. And uh maybe somebody can send me an email and tell me why it is three stars, but I cannot help but think of the Trinity. When uh when I when I think of that, I'm like, okay, you guys, Jesus is the Son of God. He's that He's that Messiah. But but they look up at three stars and they have a blessing that they say, and it's blessed are you, O eternal God, ruler of the universe, who distinguishes between the sacred and the profane, between the light and the darkness, between your people and the other people of the world, between the seventh day and the sixth days of the week. Blessed are you who distinguishes between the sacred and profane, and then they sing a song. And once that's done, they see that as the they go to work after that, or they can. And so there is there is a very spiritual component to the Sabbath to them, but also a very physical component. And I've seen I've seen a lot of those people, they go out, their their um, their parks and places of recreation are full, and you see people out having picnics, and you see them taking time like that, and they do that on the Sabbath. Matter of fact, it's hard to get a big bus into some of those areas during and on the Sabbath because they're spending time truly connecting to a physical rejuvenation as well as a spiritual rejuvenation, which is what God intended for us on the Sabbath.
Avoiding Legalism With Simple Preparation
SPEAKER_00So that's a fantastic example of how um, you know, some more of the Orthodox people treat the Sabbath. Um so how do we though, and it's very interesting because that's countercultural to us, very much so, yeah. But there is also another side of it where that Sabbath ritual can become just that, just a ritual. How do we, um, as Christians living in America, um, how do we establish a Sabbath without it becoming ritualistic or legalistic?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I think really the way America is set up, we should be able to do that easier. Because the way it's set up, we do take Sunday. Sunday is for most people, uh, you know, is the slowdown day. It's not that there are more businesses closed on Sunday in America than any other day of the week. So it seems it seems to be that way. But I think honestly, making a commitment to spend time in worship and I I think Sunday is a great is a great thing because we can pause, and we know that that's what the early Christians did. They were very counter-cultural in their world because most of the Jews were celebrating the Sabbath per se on Saturday, and then when Jesus rose again from the dead, what we know happened is they shifted. And we know that for certain. I mean, a lot of things happened on the first day of the week. Jesus was raised on the first day of the week. Uh, Jesus met with his disciples after the resurrection on the first day of the week. Uh, Jesus imparted his Holy Spirit on the first day of the week. Jesus commissioned the disciples on the first day of the week, Jesus ascended to heaven on the first day of the week. And so they specifically did something counter-cultural. And I guess to some level, if you think about getting up and going to church and spending the day and spending the afternoon in rest and having those moments, that helps us. I think it can, while that can become a ritual in some people's mindset, I think it also can become a very, very strong commitment as a family is saying, on the first day of the week, we're gonna say who we belong to. We're gonna do this together, we're gonna come and worship, and but we're also going to shift. You know, I'm not mowing the lawn on Sunday. I'm we're gonna we're gonna sit down and instead of doing the yard work and all that, we're gonna sit down, we're gonna have a family dinner. And we're gonna, we're gonna spend an afternoon resting, sometimes taking a nap, you know, sometimes maybe going out and having that picnic or having uh you know just time hanging out at the pool or whatever you wherever you go do. I think that's I think that's possible. I think it's we can we can mix together this spiritual component as well as the physical component and actually plan for it and say this is what we're going to be doing, just like we would at holiday. And I think that would be helpful.
SPEAKER_02I I would just add to that too, that um we can make our Sundays more restful by preparing for them on Saturday. Um, and so we talk about we're talking about trying to keep them from becoming ritualistic, and then some of that is just an intentionality of mindset of like consistently remembering that that Sunday morning is an offering to the Lord, right? Of God, I I want to be with you. I want to be in your presence and I want to be with your people. Um, but what that might mean is like, you know what? What I need to do on Saturday night is I need to lay my kids' clothes out because that's gonna make Sunday morning 10 times easier for me. It's gonna make it less chaotic and more restful, uh, even spiritually. I'm not gonna have the hopefully have the knockdown, drag out fight with my two-year-old or my three-year-old or my five-year-old. Um, because since I am more prepared, I am less stressed. And because I'm less stressed, they're less stressed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's that mindset shift, I think, really, that that kind of shifts things, you know, maybe as you're setting out close or as you are getting things ready. My thing is Saturday nights, I go pick out what I'm gonna wear. I iron it if I need to, I steam it, I do whatever. And while I'm doing that, um, I might be watching a baseball game or something, but I'm also thinking through, okay, what is tomorrow morning gonna be like? And God, I'm I'm kind of just praying as I'm doing things. I'm saying, hey, God, I'm praying over that family that I've been talking to. Yeah. Or, hey, we've got a new person coming and joining us with the worship ministry. God, I'm just so thankful for that. And I pray over that. God, I pray over um simply I pray over Caitlin in the next morning, trying to get Olivia up and to church. And um, you know, she's so good about keeping that intentional and saying, no, we're going to church. And um, you know, just just praying over things and and thinking forward so that when we do wake up, and as soon as I wake up on Sunday morning, it's like, hey, it's go time, we got to turn it on, it's I I'm prepared. Yeah. And so there's uh there's faithfulness in your preparation.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there's biblical connection to that because when the children of Israel that received this commandment, when they were traveling, God set up told them to prepare for the Sabbath. Yeah. He said, Listen, I'm gonna give you, you go out and collect double the manna.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And when they when they when they didn't obey, there were problems that related to that, which is one of the previous sermons. But but he told them to to to prepare and to get two omers of manna on on that day before the Sabbath. So there was preparation for that. One of the neat things in history, uh, that in Jewish history is that when Gabriel, it's tradition, we don't know for certain, but tradition says that when Mary was addressed by Gabriel, that she was at a well in Nazareth. And by the way, that well is still there. You can still go there. Um, but there were there were two possible locations. One was at the well, and the other was in her kitchen at her home. And uh those traditions say that Mary was preparing for the Sabbath. She was going to go get her water, she was going to go get her, you know, to put together her bread and her food. So she prepared her food the night before, and that's what Jews do. They will prepare their food the night before so that on the Sabbath day, it's not a lot of cooking and cleaning and all the et cetera. They could actually sit down and rest and enjoy from the previous days of labor. So I think that's good. I uh maybe it would be good to say we're gonna cook or you know, we'll we'll cook a double meal, you know, so that we can just have leftovers. The Will Eddie's gonna love this. We're gonna have leftovers.
SPEAKER_02Hey, throw it in the crock pot. Yeah, crock pot.
SPEAKER_05But we're not gonna we're not gonna kill ourselves cleaning and cooking on Sunday. We'll get all that done and we'll prepare and maybe letting some things go. What's wrong with that? You know, saying, okay, we're gonna let some stuff go. We'll clean, we'll work on this stuff on Monday, we'll save that, but we're just gonna spend a time resting. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. One thing I've enjoyed doing is um actually having the Willises over to our house every now and then. And uh we just started this. We're gonna be doing like a back and forth every now and then rotation of who's cooking lunches and whose house we go to. But it's really nice to just spend time with them, hear the kids running around, playing with each other. Um, and Caitlin normally cooks just a fantastic meal. She made enchiladas at all.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, enchiladas were Sunday. Oh my goodness. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I need to get some kids so I can come to your group.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, come on, come on. Well, so really we we did it because we were both like, man, we're spending too much money eating out. Yeah, no kidding. But it but I think it's way more restful too to just be able to show up and because you're not chasing the kids around the restaurant and tell them sit down.
SPEAKER_00It's like go color on Asher with marker, and that that legit happened to be a good thing.
SPEAKER_02Mind you, I still haven't gotten all that marker off several showers later, and I'm still scrubbing. But but it's also nice because we get a chance to talk about what the Lord's doing in our ministries that we don't necessarily get to see, you know, and like while it's fresh. Because Monday is not the easiest day in the office. Not that it's bad. I don't want to make it like that. We we all love what we do, and we we all know that we're very blessed that the Lord uses us the way he does. But the unfortunate reality is sometimes Monday is the catch-all day where like anything bad that happened or anything that didn't go off as planned gets spotlighted, whether it's by an email or um just a conversation that has to happen. Like, okay, this we dropped the ball here, we can't let that happen, you know, whatever. So Mondays can be difficult days. So to get to have that time Sunday afternoon to just sit and hear how uh how the Lord has pulled together the worship team and just continued to grow it uh to be able to talk about the the sixth grade boys who might make me want to bash my head up against the wall sometimes, but then last night have a 20-minute long conversation with one of them who's really wrestling with faith and trying to understand, you know. Um God's good. There's just nothing like it. There's nothing like it. And when we give ourselves those times of rest, we get to experience that more. Right.
SPEAKER_00So uh here's something that I stumbled upon. I was listening to a podcast about it, been studying it for like maybe a few hours. So there are a couple of times where uh this law or this commandment is read. The first one is right here in Exodus 20. Uh, I'm just gonna read it and it says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. Now, remember this, remember verse eleven. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Now, this is read again in Deuteronomy chapter five, and it is read by Moses, and it is almost verbatim until you get to uh verse 15. So it says, You know, all of your livestock, sojourner within your gates, your male servant, female servant may rest as well as you. But instead of talking about the creation narrative, he points towards this. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. So the question is why the difference? Everything is verbatim in the in the law until that moment. So it's important to see the context that the Israelites are in in Exodus 20. When they received the law the first time, they are in the context of just being delivered out of Egypt. They are still in that slave mindset, they were under the rule of Egypt and Pharaoh, and they were the slaves. They didn't get arrest, they didn't get Sabbath, they didn't get a day off. The Sabbath was a day for those who were in authority to rest and not for the slaves to rest. So, one, that's important, why it says you and your servants, your workers, um, and and it even goes down to your donkeys and and all of your livestock and everything, you know, let them rest as well, uh, because they use their livestock a lot of times as as tools. So why then do we go from the creation narrative to the The remembrance that God had brought you out of Egypt. Well, the first time he delivers it, they are in a mindset of captivity. The second time he reads it, it's later on. They're in a mindset of they're in control. Come on. So it's a warning. It's a warning to the people to say, don't go back to Egypt. Don't forget. Don't forget it. Don't forget one, just what the Lord has done for you. But second of all, don't start filling up your Sabbath. Don't start filling up your schedule. Don't become just like the slavery you were released from. And this is this is a warning to us too, because the Western culture is pushing out space for Sabbath. And the culture wants to tell you to be guilty if you're taking rest because you're falling behind. Right. Because you've got to keep up, because you've got to keep working and working and working and working so that you can then spend more, so that you can have this, so that you can be better than the other person who's trying to come after the same job that you want. So it's a warning. So for example, um when I was in school, which some will say was not long ago, but still, it was 10 years ago. It was a decade ago. It was understood Wednesday nights, nothing happened. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing happened. Even I would go to my baseball coach and I would be like, Hey, I go to church on Wednesdays. That's what I do. Um, I'm heavily involved. He would stop practice at 5 30, and he would say, All right, church guys, you can go. Yeah. Now we have games. Why? Well, well, we don't have referees, so we're gonna have to push games now to Wednesday. Wednesday has become another slot that we can put stuff in. And some of that is starting to creep up on our Sundays as well. Yeah. And so the there's the first time it's instituted as a rhythm, the second time it's a warning and a call to resistance. Yeah. Saying resist that urge to then keep filling in that time. Yeah. I'm brought to the great Rascal Flat song that says, talking about Mayberry, Sunday was the day of rest. Now it's one more day for progress. Yeah. Now instead of having six days to work, we have one more day. We got one more day. We can get ahead of the next guy. So uh let this be a warning to you. Resist the urge to fill in that space with one more thing to do.
Chick-fil-A And The Economics Of Rest
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I love, I did a little study because you know, Josh Harorton did a thing about uh the Sabbath and um I mentioned that in the sermon. Uh, but I uh it made me kind of start looking into businesses that have chosen not to have business on Sunday, which of course the first one that jumps off the page is Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00And why do you why do you always crave it on Sunday? Uh it sounds so good on marketing. That resisting the urge problem.
SPEAKER_02But you're supposed to go buy double on Saturday. Yeah. Even the Lord's chicken, that's quail, baby.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Man.
SPEAKER_05But God, God is blessed. He has blessed that business. If you pause and you look at it, it looks like because McDonald's, this is one of the things I looked up. McDonald's, uh, every store, uh, if you put it on average at McDonald's, every store averages between$3.7 to$4 million per store per year. That's McDonald's, okay? Which by the way has the per capita the most money because they have more stores. They have tons of stores. Everywhere you go, there's a McDonald's. You know, you just don't have to go far. You've got an exit to get off and go have a Big Mac. But they only produce at the most$4 million per store. Chick-fil-A in six days, McDonald's seven days, gets four million. They have nine point three seven four million dollars per store is the average for Chick-fil-A. I I'm sh I I'm pretty sure that Ackworth is the they must have at least probably double that. Yeah, they bought that average up.
SPEAKER_02You can't have a park there.
SPEAKER_05That's like the number one store in the southeast. But think about that. I mean, four million versus nine point three million, nine point three million six days, four million seven days a week, and I guess 24 hours a day. Yeah. Um, they never close. Yeah. And so, you know, it looks like God has truly blessed Chick-fil-A, the holy chicken. Uh, really, really honestly has. I remember meeting Truett Cathy and I met him one time, and the one thing that struck me the most is he says, a lot of people say we should just, you know, we should open on Sunday. What is the big deal? He's and he brought up this thing about Sabbath, that he wanted his workers to be able to have an opportunity. He says, I don't force my workers to go to church, I don't force them to do anything, but I want to give them every opportunity to be able to make a choice on their own to do the right thing. I was thinking about those slaves that you just mentioned that they had a choice what they're going to do on their day. You know, sometimes people would look at that and they'd say, Well, I got an extra day, maybe I can go get ahead. And I grew up and was born in 1964. 1964, if you did an average study of that, you'd be shocked at how many moms stayed at home back then. But it was actually just prior to that, the war happened and women went to work and so forth. And now we have really the cost of living has gone up because the amount of workforce has increased. And a lot of that is because of that. And uh that'll get me into all kinds of trouble talking about that because it'll be awesome.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you're pulling the pen on a hand.
SPEAKER_05Of course we are, of course we are. But here's the point. The point is, is this what has have we benefited? Really? Have we really benefited? I guess only only God knows what it would be if there would have been a choice to say, you know, we're gonna keep the Sabbath, and you know, also we're gonna have one of the family members, one of the one of the parents at least home taking care of kids. What would America be if that would have happened? We'll never know. Yeah. We will never know. And so it's uh it's a challenge, I think, to look at this thing about another day of progress, like what you mentioned with this song. Um, but what have we gained? And maybe it's time for us to make some personal decisions. I know my son is struggling a little bit because his wife's been teaching school and they're about to lose a whole teacher's salary so she can come home, they're expecting their fourth baby. It's like there's a certain point where, you know, and as we've been talking about that, he's like, you know, it's gonna cost me more for child care than it is for her to go to work.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And um, but um, you know, I that's just one element of that. But what about Sundays? Are we really, or Sabbath day, what are we benefiting by going to work by finding an extra job or whatever it is, or what are we benefiting by going and you know, doing something else that we think is going to be productive for our families and for our lives, by saying, we're gonna work seven, we're gonna go, we're gonna stay on the hamster wheel and we're never gonna stop.
Trusting God With Time And Provision
SPEAKER_02I think the hard thing to get really practical about it is when we when we view life that way, and there are certainly people who are in predicaments that they may have no choice for a season. And so if that's if that's you today, I'm not talking about you at all. Please don't hear it that way. But for the vast majority of us, when we when we have that mentality of just trying to get ahead, it should it shows our lack of trust in God's provision and our desire for our own provision and our own plans. Um, I heard a story one time um of a student who uh was supposed to was involved somehow in their church's revival services, but their softball coach wasn't gonna let them out of practice. Um and, or no, it wasn't so it was a game. She was gonna miss a softball game, and and uh she was worried about not getting scouted anymore after that. And what actually ended up happening was she skipped the game and she still got the scholarship, right? She still got a scholarship to go play college softball. Um that's not a this isn't a prosperity gospel of choose to follow Jesus and He'll bless you and make sure that you get to go do all the things you want to do. But I think we do forget that God is sovereign, right? That He will provide, that He is Jehovah Jirah, that uh, you know, we don't have to have everything figured out for ourselves because He's a good God who loves us and gives us good gifts. And also we don't have to have everything. Correct. It's not always the best. We might think it's the best, but it's not always the best.
SPEAKER_05It's okay if you take a day of Sabbath. I love I love I I know some men that have said I'm shifting. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm traveling all the time, I'm consistently gone. Uh I'm gone 20 days out of the month. And I need to, I need to change careers. Yeah. Because I'm missing so much when it comes to real life. And I know men that have done that. Yeah. And uh men that are making those decisions right now of saying, what do I really want in life? It's kind of like what they say, you you know, sometimes you can spin your life climbing the corporate ladder only to find out that your ladder was on the wrong wall. And so, where are we gonna put our ladder? And maybe that ladder might be a little shorter. Yeah. And it might not be quite what we as men, you know how we are as men. We we're like goal-oriented, we're like, I want to, I want to get to the top, you know. Um, but sometimes what people get when they get to the top, they look down and there's nothing there. Uh they're just at the top. It's like it's like running up a mountain when maybe you should have walked.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Because as you ran up the mountain, you didn't notice all the beautiful things that you see when you go back down. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, Ryan, you really hit on something there too about it being uh an act of trust as well. Uh there's an act of obedience in keeping Sabbath, but also an act of trust. And it does go back to that moment where the where God reigned manna from heaven, yeah, and there were some that went out on the seventh day and it grieved God. And he went to Moses and said, Have I not commanded you to keep my commandments and my my statutes? Have I not commanded you to obey me? And rather than it just simply being disobedience, God was trying to get them to do something more. He was trying to get them to trust in him. The same God that had just led them across the Red Sea. They're like, I don't think he can provide provide us enough food.
SPEAKER_02The same God that gave them manna the other five days or the other six days.
SPEAKER_00And said, Not only am I going to give you the mana, there's gonna be so much that you can gather some for the next day for the next day as well that should get you through. Um, but it it just goes to show our need for the Lord and uh our need to have faith and trust in Him.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think a lot of times we make excuses and we use the excuses that um, oh well, I have to do this or I need to do this, or we begin to kind of in our own mind come up with what we think is a scenario of what life should look like instead of letting God define it. And that's what God was doing with them. He was helping them understand the definitions so that they could put those and they could write the story, and he could write the story of their family and their lives.
Final Challenge And Closing
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, guys, I've enjoyed having this conversation with all of us. I I do kind of find it ironic that the three guys who probably struggle the most with keeping a Sabbath have over an hour of content to talk about.
SPEAKER_02It's because we know what we struggle with.
SPEAKER_00We know what to do. It's like it's like when Paul was like, Why do I do what I don't want to do and not do what I do want to do?
SPEAKER_05I'm glad we have an editor.
SPEAKER_00So uh guys, I've I've had a a good time having this conversation. And uh if you're out there listening to this, um keep the Sabbath, keep it holy, set it apart. And in so, in doing so, you will be set apart as well. You will be counter-cultural, and uh they will they will know you by what you do. So uh hope you guys have a great week, and we will see you next time on the Behind the Sermon podcast.
SPEAKER_02See ya.
SPEAKER_00See you guys.
SPEAKER_01We're glad you joined us for today's segment. We believe a life built on truth is a life that transforms everything. To stay connected, share this message, subscribe, or visit us online at Kennesaw First.church. We'll see you next time. Keep building your life on truth.