WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.520 Going to jump into this series we're going to do all through the month of January. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:08.640 When I say series, it's a collected collection of messages, and we're calling it foundations. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:23.280 We're going to be looking at some foundational concepts in the Bible and really maybe taking a fresh look at them and make sure that we're doing not only the right thing, but the right thing for the right reason, and that we're getting the most out of these things the Bible teaches us. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:27.280 You know, a moment ago we just did communion, and what did we do? 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:34.880 We we sat down or we stood up and we took the juice, which is is a symbol, it represents the blood of Jesus. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.479 And we took the wafer, which represents the body of Jesus, and we ingested those things. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.840 We ate them. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.560 And when you ingest, you know the process your body goes through of digestion. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.560 And when you digest something, whatever it is, right, you are what you eat. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.159 Whatever you eat becomes you. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:53.520 That Cheeto just became you. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.759 That's not a Cheeto anymore, it's now you. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.320 And so the the uh juice and the bread became us. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:04.159 And when we you know think about the symbol, what does it mean? 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:05.439 What does the blood of Jesus mean? 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:11.280 We're looking at concepts like grace and the forgiveness and the love of God and what Jesus did on the cross. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:16.000 It's the same process of ingestion, but also digestion. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:29.280 How does that act not just become a spiritual, religious ritual, but it becomes something that changes me, who I am, how I think, and it goes beyond just this room into my entire life. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:31.599 And so we're looking at some of those foundational things. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:35.920 We're gonna start uh actually at the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:43.680 And uh I kind of want to uh set this up a little bit, giving you a very brief um kind of summary of Genesis 1. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.200 So if you look at Genesis 1, it's in it's it's the foundational story. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.680 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:57.040 And what you'll notice, it's written kind of poetically, and you'll see a few things, uh refrains that are repeated. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:01.519 And there's two things you're gonna see repeated six times in Genesis 1. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:13.520 The first, and we'll just go ahead and go through it quick, guys, behind me, but um Genesis 1.5, um, we see this refrain of there was evening and there was morning the first day, right? 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:15.599 So it mentions evening, morning, day one. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.240 Genesis 1.8, there was evening and morning day two. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.599 Genesis 13, there was evening, there was morning day three. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:26.879 Uh Genesis 1.19, there was evening and there was morning on the fourth day. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.400 Genesis 1.23, there was evening and there was morning on the fifth day. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:37.360 Genesis 1.31, God saw all he made, and that it was very good, and there was evening and there was mourning the sixth day. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.879 So this evening-morning refrain happens six times. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:49.120 And then also what we just saw there in in verse 31 that God sees the goodness of creation. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:55.599 That God sees it was good, he thought it was good, he calls it good, and so that happens six times as well. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:00.960 Every time God completes a day of creation, he looks at his work and he likes it. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:02.560 It's like, oh, that's that's good. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:03.919 I like what I did there. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:09.759 And he does that six times, and then what's supposed to really stick out is when he creates human beings. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.560 When he creates humans, he says, Ooh, that is my crown jewel. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.479 That is not just good, that is very good. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:30.400 Then you flip to Genesis 2, and something very interesting, it says, Genesis 2, 1 says, So the So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:37.199 On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:44.240 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy because it was a day when he rested from all his work of creation. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:55.039 Um, uh for us to get the full impact of what's being delivered here, we have to look at who this is being written to initially. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.599 So the book of Genesis was written about 1400 BC. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.039 It was written by Moses, who was the deliverer. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.439 He led the children of Israel out of bondage. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:13.599 He wrote this, okay, he cobbled together years of oral history and some things that have been scribbled down and he pulls it all together. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:20.959 And it's who he wrote it to and when they received it that really makes this come alive. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:22.959 So who's he writing to? 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.720 He's writing to the children of Israel, to the nation of Israel. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.360 And when is he when is this being delivered? 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:30.879 When are they hearing this? 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:38.480 They're hearing it at Mount Sinai about two to three months after they've been delivered from Egypt. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:40.560 So think about this now. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:46.240 You are one of those uh Jews at Mount Sinai. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:53.279 You have now, you have lived for 430 years as an Egyptian slave. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.560 430 years. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:58.560 That means it was you, it was your parents, it was your grandparents, it was your great-grandparents. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:13.439 And so we have been, for generations, 430 years, we have culturally been ingrained in not just Egyptian mindset, but Egyptian slave mindset. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:15.279 What would that have been like? 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.079 Well, we learn a little bit about it in Exodus 1, 11 through 14. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.800 It said the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.519 They appointed brutal slave drivers. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:32.560 So there was there was no hospitality here, there was no kindness here, this was demoralizing, oppressive. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.759 They brute, they appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.360 They forced them to build the cities of Pitham and Ramses as supply centers for the king. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:46.319 Whose king? 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:47.199 Pharaoh. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.480 In that culture, Pharaoh, the king, was identified not just as a king, but like as deity. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:12.560 So their view of God at this point, two months out of uh Egyptian slavery, having been in Egyptian slavery for 430 years, their theology or their view of God was largely impacted by their view of Pharaoh. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:20.800 Because they knew traditionally about Yahweh, they knew that Yahweh was was the God of gods. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:31.279 But if you've been in Egyptian slavery for 430 years, who would you think felt more real as a god? 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:42.240 Yahweh, who your parents told you about, or the guy who really feels omnipotent, which is Pharaoh, who has you under his thumb. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:54.079 And so it says that you know he used them to build these cities, but the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.240 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:05.600 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.439 They were ruthless in all their demands. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:17.120 So they they, as a Hebrew slave, your entire life revolved around making bricks. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:28.079 If you're a Hebrew slave and you're under the oppressive Egyptians, how many days a week do you think you work? 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:30.800 Seven days a week. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.199 There is no PTO. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:44.879 There is no 401k, there is no 403B, there is no dress down Fridays, there is no work from homes, there's none of that. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:49.600 Nobody is sitting around going, how do we make this a more desirable work environment? 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.000 Nobody's having that conversation. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:55.519 It's seven days a week, 365 days a year. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.839 What do you think are your hours as an Egyptian slave? 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:04.639 Sun up to sundown for 430 years. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.240 So you now, you and you you might know the story, right? 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:14.319 Moses leads them out miraculously, the Red Sea parts. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:19.519 They walk across, their enemies are drowned, and they are now in freedom. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:21.680 They're in the wilderness, but they're in freedom. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.120 They can go any way they want. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.759 They go to Mount Sinai in about two, three months. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:34.000 So this when they're hearing this, okay, from Moses, they're only a few months out of 430 years of slavery. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:35.600 Are you getting the context? 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:46.159 So when you see this in that context, the message being sent here from God through Moses are two big things. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:50.080 The first one is that God calls them good. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:52.480 Very good. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:56.799 You are made in my image, it says in Genesis. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.039 That he made man and woman in his image. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:17.039 So when you have been demoralized and degraded to the place that your entire value is simply sun up to sundown, 365 days a year, being ground into the ground to build somebody else's supply center. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.799 You don't think you're good, you don't think you're valuable. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:25.360 Your whole image, your whole self-worth, your whole value is wrapped up in brickmaking. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.039 Um, well, let me throw this up. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:30.000 This is, you know, Abraham Maslow, a hundred years ago, right? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.960 Famous psychologist came up with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.559 All right, so go ahead and bring this up. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:40.720 The first the first is physiological needs, all right, is the first thing, which is like air, food, water, right? 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.240 These are your foundational needs. 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:45.120 Okay, you get up and you get it up into self-esteem and stuff like that. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:48.080 But you think it all starts with your foundational needs of air. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.080 If somebody has you in a headlock and you can't breathe, you don't really think about how cool you look. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.720 At the end of the day, it's like, all right, I gotta get breath. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.960 Okay, water, food, air, that's the stuff that matters. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:05.360 If you're dehydrated, okay, you're not self-conscious, except uh in terms of how you look, what you want to do is just get water by any means necessary. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.600 So you have your physiological needs, then you have your personal security, right? 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.480 Your employment, your resources, health, food, property. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.039 Can I keep food uh on the table? 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:17.759 Take care of my family, okay, basic needs. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:21.600 Then above that, if I got those met, then it's like love and belonging. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:29.039 Now I care about you know the depth of my relationships with friendship and intimacy and family and having a sense of connection. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.639 After that, you have your esteem, which is respect, self-esteem, status. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.159 Where do I fit in the world? 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:41.919 Am I being recognized, acknowledged for my work, strength, freedom, okay, these type of things. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:47.200 Once you have that established, now your self-actualization, which is the best version of you you can be. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.919 If you're a Hebrew slave 430 years, okay, self-actualization is off the table. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.879 I'm not even, I'm so restricted by the system. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.279 I there is no self-actualization. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:08.320 But everything under that, from esteem, like how you fit in among your peers, is all about how fast, how how many bricks you can make. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:17.440 How hard, how hard you can work, all the way down to your physiological needs, which is if you don't make bricks, guess what they do with slaves that don't make bricks? 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:18.720 You're dead. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.159 You don't live through that. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.799 They don't feed slave mouths that don't work. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:30.720 And if I and if you and if I can't work and my body breaks down, or I decide I don't want to work anymore, what happens to my wife? 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.559 What happens to my kids? 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:40.399 So everything from esteem to physiological instincts are all met right here. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:47.440 My ability to make bricks, and it's 430 years of daily reinforcement. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:55.039 And then we get to Mount Sinai, two months out of this, and none of us know how to act. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:00.320 And Moses says, now's the time, God wants to hit the reset button. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:04.799 And as God hits a reset button, he says, Here's what I want you to know. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:15.919 First of all, I want you to know God, when He made up did all of His work, He did good work, and He said, It's good and it's good and it's good, and then He made us and He said, Oh, it's very good. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:25.360 So I know Pharaoh has been making you think something about yourself, but God today resets it in that you are very good. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:33.200 But the second thing he wants you to know is that on the seventh day he wants you to stop. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:36.000 Look at this. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:42.559 Genesis 2, 1, it says, So the So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:49.600 On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all of his work. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:58.159 Verse 3, God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:08.639 This is massive when you're thinking about the context of these people who 430 years of brick making and everything from my physiological to my esteemed needs come from this. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.279 That God says, here's what I need you to know. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.480 And here's what I want you to know for your sake. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:22.399 Your value has nothing to do with how many bricks you can make. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:35.600 Your value, your physiological esteem, self-actualization, whatever you want to call it, your personal view in my eyes, you are the crown jewel of my creation. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:36.960 I declare you very good. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:37.919 That's where you get it. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.799 Now, we live in an Egyptian type culture. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:42.159 We got to make bricks, dude. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:48.000 You gotta make bricks to feed your family, you gotta make bricks to pay rent, you gotta make bricks to do the things you need to do. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:49.440 So there is work to be done. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.840 This isn't a don't work message. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:14:02.720 It's putting a work in context message, which what he does is helps them set up a ritual which creates consistency, which eventually is called Sabbath. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:10.000 When the law is being created in Exodus, he says, remember the Sabbath, right? 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:15.039 What the Jewish people would call Shabbat, which is every seven days you stop. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.080 And I need you to learn how to rest, and I need you to learn how to take a break. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.080 Let's talk about rituals for a second. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:28.559 I mentioned a second ago, rituals are valuable because they create consistency. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:38.799 Rituals are good because they create consistency, but rituals are only as effective as the impact that they have on our minds and hearts. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:42.720 They're only as effective as the impact that they have on our minds and hearts. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.679 So, you know, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:51.279 And we get together here in service, and we have people that watch online, or people go to church all the time. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:57.840 So that's a good start because it's a ritual every seven days, but it's not just what you do, it's how you do it. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:14:59.840 So let me give you an example. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.039 Maybe you set up a ritual. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:09.200 Let's say we set up a ritual in a family, we're like, hey, you know what, every every Wednesday night we all get together for dinner, and we're gonna be legalistic about it. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:10.720 We're gonna be, we're gonna honor it. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:19.360 So it doesn't matter what you're doing, everybody, every Wednesday night, we're all going a thousand different directions, we're all gonna come around the same table. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:21.679 Well, why would you establish that ritual? 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.279 Because we're a family and we all have separate lives, but we are a family. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:29.600 We come together and we're gonna bond and connect and we're gonna go deep in relationship. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:34.639 We're gonna make sure that we don't let life go by so fast that we lose our connection. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.799 So let's say you the ritual you came up with was Wednesday night dinner. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:41.279 Great, it's consistency. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.600 Does it mean that it has the desired effect? 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.480 It only depends on what it does to your mind and heart. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:57.759 So, for example, we could get the family together every every night, every Wednesday night until we die, but we could all sit together around the table and have no bond. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.559 We sit and we stare at the plate. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.639 We stare at our phone. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.320 Even worse, we get in a big fight. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:13.120 What if Wednesday night, the night we all get together and eat, was the night we always get in a big fight? 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:21.440 We all start picking at each other, we start criticizing each other, we start making fun of each other, we all start getting defensive with one another, we start attacking each other. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:25.600 So now this ritual designed to bring the family together actually drives the family apart. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:30.000 Now we had consistency, we just didn't do it the right way. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.720 How do we do this the right way? 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:34.639 We come we come together. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:35.600 What is the point? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:56.159 What one of the big points, one of the main points, maybe the primary point of this whole experience is for you to be reminded, for you to set your mind and heart to be reminded that your value before God is in your identity of what He gave you. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.600 And what He gave you was the label, the identity. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.559 You are in my image, and you are very good, and that's what I think about you. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:14.000 And to be reminded that your value in God's eyes has nothing to do with brickmaking. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.039 This is a massive point. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:21.599 I'll prove it to you through Jesus' life. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:23.440 Mark chapter 2. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.440 Jesus is violating the law of the Sabbath. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:28.319 Okay? 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:31.200 So what happens after Genesis 2? 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:37.759 After Genesis 2, they make it a law because they go, We need this, we need this rule, we need this law, we need this ritual. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:47.359 And the ritual turned into, you know, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, that it was simply about just honoring God. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.519 And so they created all these rules of what it meant to honor God. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:58.160 But if you read Mark 2, Jesus is out with his friends and they're hungry and he starts basically harvesting. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:04.720 And people go, oh, see, see, Jesus, he's violating the Sabbath. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:09.599 He's breaking the rules of the Sabbath, he's dishonoring God. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:19.599 And Jesus says in Mark chapter 2, verse 27-28, he says, you guys don't know what this, you've totally lost track of what the Sabbath is about. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:24.720 He says, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:31.359 And he says, the Son of Man himself is Lord of the Sabbath, even over the Sabbath. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:41.680 In other words, the point is, he wants you to know, God's not calling you to his house because he's bored or he's insecure, and he just he needs you to notice him. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:43.680 And he's, you see what I'm saying? 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.680 He's he brought you here for you. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.640 He brought you here for you. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:19:03.759 Because he needs you to know, and you, because you need you to know that this Egyptian mindset, that that it's all being, your everything from your physiological to your esteem to your self-actualization does not come from your bricks. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:06.640 It comes from the fact that he declares you very good. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.559 It's what he gave you that no one can take away. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:19.519 So he said, I want you to do that every seven days because it's a crazy world, and there's a lot of deadlines, and there's a lot of goals, and there are a lot of taskmasters out there. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.440 And I want you to have a time you set that aside and you come. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:27.119 So I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you two rituals. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:35.759 One is the first one is a weekly ritual, and the weekly ritual is Sabbath. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:37.599 Okay? 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:50.000 And the key to the Sabbath is at some point you have to let full integration, full digestion in your mind and heart that your identity, your value is not in how many bricks you can make. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:56.480 Some point that's gotta click, it's gotta connect, and you need to find rest in that thought. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:01.200 It's important that this environment be that, by the way. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:03.599 I mentioned family dinner. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:13.119 Okay, depending on the family, and I'm not trying to bag on anyone's family, I'm not trying to create any uncomfortable dinners from here on out, but here's what I'm gonna say: not all family dinners are created equal. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:14.960 Some families are a bit dysfunctional. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:18.079 Some family dinners you walk away going, I'm exhausted. 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.359 Some family dinners you walk away feeling shame. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.480 Let's just imagine certain families, certain types of families. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.240 Imagine you show up to a family dinner you hadn't been there in a while. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:35.519 You come walking in the door, and people in the family go, oh, look what the cat drug in. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.079 Oh, look who decided to grace us with their presence. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.799 I don't want to go to that. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.519 That's why I'll never stand up here and shame you for not being here. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:57.680 What I want to do is create an environment where you and God connect. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:20:59.359 Because it's like this. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.240 You ever go you go to family function? 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:06.400 Stand back and watch the people people gravitate to. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:12.400 Even in a large family, you'll notice certain people, what room they're in, everybody ends up in there. 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:13.759 You ever notice that? 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.759 What is it about those people? 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.319 How do you think about God? 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:32.559 Because we sometimes attribute the dysfunctional behaviors of people within our own family, like the one who gets ticked off at you because you you don't show up enough, or when you show up, you didn't pay them enough attention. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:35.200 Oh, you were there and you didn't even talk to me. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:37.200 Well, there's a reason for that. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:40.240 How do you think about God? 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.599 How do you think about God? 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:45.440 Do you think God is the one when when when the bricks are not going so well? 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.440 I don't know what's gonna happen with this bricks. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.000 I'm feeling scared at a physiological level. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:57.519 I'm being scared about air and water and food and shelter, and I'm being scared on esteem, and I'm being scared on conditional love. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.680 Is is is God the family member? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:06.319 That you walk in and go, I gravitate there because that's the one who loves me, even if the business doesn't work out. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.599 He's the one who loves me. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.000 I mean, they look at the story of the prodigal. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.559 The son comes home thinking he's got to be in shame. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.920 He learns something about his dad who runs to him at his lowest moment. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.559 My point is, how do you think about this experience? 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:26.000 If you want to get the most out of Sabbath, you have to have the right image of God in your mind. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:31.359 And so God establishes this at the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:52.079 You can, you, you, you put down your bricks and you push them aside, and you take a day and you Sabbath and you think about, you think about the fact that you are loved, that you are valuable to God, no matter how many bricks you make or don't make. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.720 I'm gonna give you a second one, which is a daily. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:00.240 Daily doesn't have an E, right? 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.039 I got a friend last name Daly and has an E. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:03.759 Okay. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:16.000 Let's go back to Genesis 1 and the the the first refrain that I put up there. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.440 Let's just put up Genesis 1.5. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:21.599 But I already showed it to you. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:22.799 This happened six times. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:26.880 It says there was evening and there was morning the first day. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.359 Evening and morning, first day, evening and morning, second day, evening, morning, third day. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.319 Anything weird about that? 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:39.200 When you think about that, evening it says there was evening and then there was morning. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:41.839 It was evening and then there was morning. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:45.920 Doesn't that seem backwards? 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.440 Don't you think it would say then there was morning and then there was evening? 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:56.079 Like if I asked you, hey, tell me about your routines for starting your day. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.200 You would tell me about your morning routine. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:02.960 When I wake up, I take a cold plunge or whatever. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:04.880 If you're one of those people. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:07.920 When I wake up, I drink my coffee. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:09.680 When I wake up, I have this for breakfast. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:11.200 When I wake up, I think about this. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:12.720 I listen to this, I do this. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:19.680 If I asked you what your how you start your day, what's your routine to start your day, you would tell me all about the morning. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:24.480 But Genesis 1 sets a different paradigm. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.920 In the Jewish culture, days start when the sun goes down. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:35.839 So in the Jewish culture, Sabbath is sun-down Friday. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:38.480 It's a sun-down Saturday. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.559 Now think about that. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:48.319 What it's doing is it's setting the tone that your day starts with sleep. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:50.880 You ever thought about that? 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:51.920 That's what it says there. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:54.559 That's why that's instituted culturally. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.000 What is it doing? 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.079 Well, it's the same concept as Sabbath. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:02.000 My value isn't in my productivity, my brick making. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:06.720 I have 430 years of Egypt in my head. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.119 I have 430 years of Pharaoh in my head. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:18.960 I have 430 years of a visceral feeling that if I don't make enough bricks, I'm at risk, my family's at risk, my respect is at risk, my whole value is at risk. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:21.279 That is deeply ingrained in me. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.799 And so I need constant reminders. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:29.680 I need a weekly, full 24-hour day that I push things aside. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:35.200 And I have nothing, no productivity, just to be reminded that it's not about my productivity. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:36.799 But I need a daily as well. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:44.319 And the daily is that my whole day starts by going to sleep. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:51.200 So that I'm reminded that the beginning of my day, I'm in a catatonic state. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:58.079 And in that catatonic state where I'm offering nobody anything, I'm totally unproductive. 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:03.039 That I'm valued by God, I'm loved by God. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:13.200 Your day this year starts when the sun goes down. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.960 Maybe this is why we have a hard time sleeping. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:21.440 Because we bring our bricks to bed with us. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:34.880 Somebody pray for this cot. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:45.519 Now I lay me down to sleep. 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.119 Pray the Lord my soul to keep. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:55.440 If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.640 Have you ever had a hard time sleeping? 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:05.839 This isn't very comfortable. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:09.119 Honey, you you okay? 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:09.680 Yeah? 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:10.319 What's wrong? 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:12.240 I'm thinking about my bricks. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:17.039 You ever feel like you're laying your head on a brick at night while you can't sleep? 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.519 Can't rest, I can't fall asleep. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:21.119 My body's tired. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.440 But my mind, will, and emotions are out of control. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.240 So the quieter it gets, the louder my mind gets. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:35.519 Because I think that my day starts when I wake up, so actually I start thinking about what I'm gonna do when I wake up. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:40.559 So I'm operating in a place that I think if I work hard enough, then I'll earn rest. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:47.039 Instead of starting from a place that rest is something God gives me, and that's what I start my day with. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:56.079 So I'm laying here crushed by the weight of my work and my bricks, and I can find no rest. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:07.440 What if you added a routine not only of a Sabbath, but you started thinking about your day beginning when the sun goes down and you start kicking your bricks out of your bed? 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:16.720 And instead of laying there thinking about all my bricks, I lay there thinking about, I've never been more loved than I am right now. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:18.960 Wasn't holding you up. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:24.319 So there's nothing I can do to let you down. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.480 Is the auto-tune on, or did they not? 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:50.240 Maybe this is why Jesus says in Matthew, come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy bricks and burdens, and I will give you rest. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.200 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, he said. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:57.039 Learn from me. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:58.400 Learn what? 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:03.920 Learn that your value is not based on your brickmaking. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:08.240 Learn to set it aside. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:12.160 We go, I can't rest because my work's not done. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:19.119 I know that's how it is now, but Jesus is trying to teach us something that God tried to teach us all the way back in Genesis 1 and 2. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:25.359 That at some point you have to formulate your mindset around that your value is not about your bricks. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:26.720 You've got to be able to set them aside. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:32.960 And you have to every night realize that your day begins with rest. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:55.440 And if you'll do that, you'll get out of the mindset that if I do good enough, hard enough work, that I can earn my sleep, and you'll start receiving rest as a gift from God, and instead of working to earn your rest, you'll operate from a place of rest. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:00.559 I wonder how creative you would be if you operated from a place of rest. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:08.000 I wonder, I wonder what kind of leader you would be, what kind of co-worker you would be. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.839 I wonder what kind of work you would do. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:18.079 I wonder what the life experience of your work, instead of being something you dread and something that keeps you up at night, into something that brings you fulfillment. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:22.000 Because you learned how to not take the bricks into bed with you. 00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:27.279 You learned a daily ritual that life and my day begins with rest. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:41.200 And so now I can operate from a place of rest, not trying to earn it through my hard work, but my work being good work coming from a place of rest. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:45.920 I'll end with this. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:49.359 Genesis 2, 1 through 3. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:53.920 It says, so the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:55.759 Right? 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:58.079 So God creates the heavens and the earth. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:30:59.599 That's Genesis 1. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:00.799 Genesis 2 begins. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.680 So Genesis 2, 1, the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:10.480 Well, let's think about what that actually says and what that's meaning. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:13.440 Does it mean that God's work was done? 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:15.680 No. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:19.839 That's the first chapter of the Bible. 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:26.400 There's 1,188 more chapters to be read and written. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:28.880 God had a ton of work ahead of him. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:42.400 Like dealing with Adam and Eve's sin, like dealing with Cain and Abel, like dealing with Noah in the flood, like dealing with rebuilding after the flood, like dealing with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and this messed up family and this challenging nation. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:44.079 There were wars to be fought. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:54.400 There were Amalekites and Jebusites and there were Philistines and there were Assyrians and there were Babylonians and there were horrible kings and there were good kings and there were judges. 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:58.720 There was going to be a bunch of days that God was going to be involved with. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:16.000 And friend, I'm going to tell you, if you don't take your cue from God, and the way he set this up in Genesis 1 and 2, there's always going to be some Jebusites. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.480 There's always going to be a war to be fought. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:20.160 There's always going to be work to do. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:33.119 It's going to be, there's going to be something tomorrow, but at some point, if you're going to be able to operate from a place of rest and energize the way you're supposed to be, you're going to have to do something that Egypt will not teach you. 00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:36.960 Egypt will try to bury you under bricks. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:39.519 At some point, you've got to take control of your life. 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:43.599 Say, I'm a free will human being that's going to operate according to God's word. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:53.200 And the way I do that is I am going to have weekly routines where I don't work and I step aside, and it's more than just a day off. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.839 I'm going to put a habit in place that's more than a ritual. 00:32:55.920 --> 00:33:00.880 The ritual brings consistency, but the effectiveness will be the impact that happens in my mind and heart. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:03.519 So I'm going to be reminded this is not my productivity. 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:04.640 And I'm going to have urges. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:09.519 Some of you, you're going to be, you know, you're going to be like, your phone. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.680 Your phone, oh, I got to answer. 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:12.319 Oh, let me check it. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:13.839 I'm just going to check my email when I've got it. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:15.680 No, dude, put the stupid thing aside. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:16.960 Put it aside. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:18.240 Shut it off. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:28.640 Do what you have to do mentally, emotionally, spiritually, to be reminded, I am not in Egypt anymore. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.480