A question to consider: “Do we trust enough to truly rest and let go of control to God?” Tune in for a message on finding peace in the chaos. #ChillSeries #SabbathRest IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316  to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).

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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

Oh man, the machine that is Christmas is in FULL force!  Isn’t it?  Trees up, lights out, shopping, treats, parties, year end budget, year end spending, getting your last sales in, I mean it just goes on and on.  

I don’t know if you’re like me, but if you are, Christmas is a mixture of wonderful and frantic craziness all at once.  

We regularly during this time of year will have people invite us to do things and we have to say no because there are Christmas concerts, last games to get out and more.  It’s just chaos all the time.  

Do you feel me on this?  Am I alone?

That’s why I wanted, for the next 3 weeks, to be the one voice in your life that is saying “It’s ok to Slow down”

It’s why we’re doing this series,

Chill- Slowing down when the world wants to go fast.

Everything at this time of year is telling you that you HAVE to be something and be somewhere and I want to pull you out of that paradigm and remind you, it’s not reality – it’s a fake machine.

Your kids will be alright if they don’t get the perfect Christmas

Your friends will be ok if you miss a Christmas party

Your family would prefer to have you over a perfect home

b

It’s ok to chill…

So, today, I want to preach on an idea we don’t talk about too much in Christianity…

Sabbath-ing

What is the Sabbath?

The idea comes from the story of creation… 

listen:

Gen 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Eventually, God will institute for Israel the 4th of the Ten Commandments for His people to keep a Sabbath day

Exodus 20:8-11

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

the original #livingfortheweekend, lol

ILLUSTRATION:

I’m not sure lots of us can understand how much of a gift this was to these people.  If you remember the story of the Exodus, these were a people who were slaves.  They had NEVER known a day without work.  They had NEVER known rest.  God is calling out to them to follow His example and to rest, to remove themselves from any labor.

Ok, Kent, I get it, the Jewish people got a day on the weekends – Saturday.  But what does that have to do with me?

There is something deeper going on under the idea of the Sabbath that facts won’t tell you

b

Sabbath is about belief, not rest…

Your ability to Sabbath will betray how truly you believe that in Christ you have found the Good Life.

Listen, in Hebrews, the author is making this argument from Israel’s past and how all the people were brought out of slavery into the desert, they were promised the land but they wouldn’t enter it, they wouldn’t trust God and walk into the land He had promised them.  And what happened was they did not receive the promise that had been given to them.  

He makes this entire argument that because of that, there still remains a rest that is promised and his argument is that in Jesus that rest is fulfilled:

Hebrews 4:2-3a

² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.  ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest

Why did they not receive it?  Because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed – they didn’t trust.

STORY:

When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He had Caleb & Joshua and 10 other men go into the land to spy out.  When they came back they were like, “there’s no way we can go there, we’ll be destroyed,” Only Caleb and Joshua believed and said “we should go forward…”

The problem was this, the people were believing what they could see and feel over what God had made clear to them.

b

You get it, don’t you?

It’s easy to trust what I can put my hands on, it’s difficult to trust an invisible God.

Listen to what the Author says to us, He’s going to say, there is still  a rest available to those of us who will trust.

Hebrews 4:9-11

⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,^[e] just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

“Let us make every effort to enter into that rest”

See, Sabbath requires something of you…

[put all 3 up together at once]

• Rest requires a degree of being willing to deny your insatiable need to be in control
• It requires you to place yourself in the greater story again and see that the world will operate without your hand on the steering wheel
• It requires you to believe that God is in control, NOT you!

Do you know what the people wanted to do who were with Caleb and Joshua.  They said, “let’s go back to egypt…”  They would prefer to go back into to slavery than to enter the land and the rest God offered.  I feel like I’ve seen this over and over again with people of faith.  They prefer to rather than trusting Jesus and leaning into Him, to walk back into their own life, back to old addictions, old ways of controlling, making the world about them and their pursuit.  I get it.  But that life has no real rest in it

See, Sabbathing or faithful rest, is not God wanting to take something from you, It’s God’s gift TOO you…

[put all 3 up together at once]

• When you can rest in Christ and your Faith in Him, you will find times of refreshing
• When you are willing to disconnect with downtime you’ll find life to be abundant
• When you shut off the distractions and center yourself in Jesus, you find restoration for your soul

3 ways to help you Sabbath this week:

• Pick a time to intentionally disconnect (Sundays?  Put phones in drawers, shut off tv’s, etc)
• Pick things that are rest & worship for you (this is what sabbath is)
• Pick community over isolation (have a family, be together, have friend, go out for a good meal, be together – talk about God)

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

The first time I drove a car that had auto follow built in, I kept hitting the brakes, I didn’t trust it.  This is what it is like for those of us who are used to being in control all the time.  Taking your hands off the steering wheel can be scary.  The good news is this.  You can trust God.  When you take your hands off, He has got you 100% and it’s all for your good only…

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