Practicing Sabbath: An Act of Trust and Obedience | September 8, 2024

Thanks, worship team.

I'm on the, uh, tail

end of a cold, so

I'm working on that.

Sexy Barry Manalow

voice, which

is gonna be,

you know what I'm

working on my sexy

Barry Bonds voice

for when I hit

a few home runs.

That's what I'm doing.

I was just trying to

prove I wasn't part of

that generation rusty.

But now, there we go.

I'm very fine if

we just move on.

All right,

there we go.

All right.

All right.

Oh, good stuff.

I love that song.

Uh, I'll make room

for you, Lord, to do

whatever you want to.

What a cool picture

of what it means to

be a follower of Jesus

Christ, that we'll

surrender our will

and our way to him.

You know, there's

a reason we call

Jesus Lord and not

like random guru of

information, right?

Like he is Lord.

And we submit and

we surrender to

his way over ours.

And that's a big

piece of what it means

to be a follower of

Jesus is every day.

Denying ourself,

picking up our

cross, following

him, saying no to us,

saying yes to Jesus.

I'm excited about

where we're headed

in these next few

weeks together as

a church, because I

think this is kind

of the anthem, right?

That we'll make room

for whatever Jesus

wants to do in us

holding to this truth.

The Lord your

way is better.

I wonder if we

believe that, that

your way is better.

'cause there's an

underlying kind

of inference here

in this statement.

Your way, Lord is

better than what you

know than my way.

Right?

Your way is better

than my way.

And I wonder sometimes

as followers of

Jesus, if we really

totally, genuinely

believe that.

I think if you

ask any Christian,

they would say, I'm

sorry, any legit

follower of Jesus.

'cause if I say

Christian, that

might just mean

culturally, right?

But I mean, if you

ask anybody who's

a true follower

of Jesus Christ.

I don't think they'd

argue with you

theologically or on

a big picture sense

that God's way is

better than our way,

but that's not really

where the rub is.

It's in the every

day, every moment

individual situations

where we choose our

way over his way,

where we say, ah,

Lord, I think my

way might be the

best approach here.

Or we just completely

ignore what his

way might be.

Your way is better

than my way.

I love this

phrase your way.

I love the phrase way

such a cool picture

of what it means to be

a follower of Jesus.

Paul, early on in

the Book of Acts

in history, we know

he takes letters to

the synagogues in

Damascus to try to

arrest these men and

women who are quote

followers of the way,

those who belong to.

The way belonging

to the way this was.

This was pre-Christian

terminology, right?

I think it called

These people who

belong to the way get

called Christians in a

place called Antioch.

A little later on.

But right now nobody

knows what to call

these people who

are disciples and

followers of Jesus.

So they just call

'em people who are

following the way

and what a beautiful

picture of what it

means to follow Jesus.

'cause we've turned

salvation and this

Christian experience

into raising our

hand in church and

coming up to an altar

and praying once,

and then just doing

whatever the heck we

want to do our way.

But being a follower

of Jesus Christ is

about choosing his

way, the way to live,

the way to walk,

the way to love.

It's a relationship

that begins with

repentance and

surrender, but

it's a journey.

But.

It's a map,

it's a road.

It's a way, and I

love this picture

that the early church

were people who

belonged to the way.

And maybe a good

question for us

in 2024 is maybe

just simply, do you

belong to the way,

do you belong to

the way of Jesus?

Or maybe what way do

you belong to, right.

Why?

I'm super excited

because over these

next nine weeks

as a church, we're

gonna use this

practicing the way,

um, book by John

Mark Comer as kind

of a springboard into

some conversations

and into some diving

and exploration and

experience on what

it might look like to

be people who belong

to the way, people

who walk in the way.

People who don't

just say they're

part of the way,

but they live.

That they're

part of the way.

This book has a

lot of interesting

stuff in it.

I'd encourage you

to grab a copy of

it and read it.

It, it's pretty

challenging and

inspiring and

encouraging,

and there's a

lot in there.

Uh, and we'll use it

as a reference over

these nine weeks in a

couple different ways.

But at its core, this

book is really about

something called

spiritual formation.

Spiritual Formation,

which is a fancy

theological term,

but formation really

is about being

formed, right?

And spiritual

formation is about our

spiritual life being

formed and molded and

shaped intentionally

in some ways.

And I think it's

interesting to think

about because, um,

our body and our

being and who we

are as a person is a

very complex thing.

It.

And sometimes we do

this thing where we

kind of, uh, segment

and compartmentalize

emotional and physical

and spiritual and

mental components.

And you could, I

mean, you could lose

years spending time

with psychologists

trying to explain the

complexity of humanity

and what it means,

just being right.

What is a person,

what constitutes it?

And, and what's crazy

is we have one body,

but we have all these

complex components

of this body.

And, and I would just

challenge you with

this thought, as you

think about spiritual

formation, we are an

integrated creation

of God where we have

mind, body, spirit.

So like there's all

of this stuff that

we can't separate

and pull it out in a

vacuum and be like,

now I'm gonna do

spiritual formation,

now I'm gonna do

physical stuff.

Now I'm gonna do

emotional stuff.

Now I'm gonna

do mental stuff.

Everything is kind

of integrated.

And so when

we think about

spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation

affects everything

about who we are.

Everything about how

we live, everything

about what we do.

It's one of the

reasons if we have

bad physical habits,

we tend to have bad

spiritual habits.

There's bleed over.

We have disciplined

physical habits.

We see some

more disciplined

spiritual habits.

There is a correlation

because we're not

just four or five

or 10 or one or

three components

of a, of a being.

We're a complex person

that God's created.

But spiritual

formation.

This idea of how

there's spiritual

dimension to us that's

getting formed is

a important maybe

segment to just stop

and look at because

I think we get the

idea that there's

sort of this physical

life and maybe all

of these other pieces

blend together,

but spiritually we

ought to be learning

and growing or

experiencing and,

and here's what's

crazy, our culture.

Is desperate to

learn more about

spiritual stuff.

We live in a super

spiritual culture,

not necessarily

Christian, but people

are desperate for

something spiritual.

That makes sense

because God designed

us as this person to

experience something

spiritual and it's

ultimately found

in our relationship

with Jesus Christ

and walking in

that with him.

But there's a

longing that's there.

And so spiritual

formation is,

is a big thing.

That's a part

of who we are.

And I would share

this thought with you.

You are already,

whether you're doing

it intentionally

or not experiencing

spiritual formation

in your life, you

are already being

spiritually formed

by the things

around you, the

culture around you.

I love this quote

from his book.

He says this, the

question isn't,

am I a disciple?

It's who or what

am I a disciple of?

It's not whether

I'm a disciple,

it's what or who

am I a disciple of?

See, every single day

our culture is sending

us messages, the

people we spend time

with, the things that

we read and watch, the

stories we believe,

the stories we invest

in, the things that

we dream and hope and

pull and plot as goal

and design and future,

like everything

is shaping us.

It's almost like

we're in this

river just flowing.

Right?

And unless

you're paddling,

counterculture,

the culture just

keeps sweeping us

a direction to form

who we are, even in

a spiritual sense.

And a lot of us are

very unintentional

about our spiritual

formation.

A lot of us think we

show up at a church,

we sing some songs,

and now I've been

formed spiritually

into this deep.

Follower of Jesus.

Well, maybe that's

one practice, right?

One of our S practices

that Sunday morning

worship gathering

where we come

together, that's

important, right?

But there's a lot

of practices that

are evident and

that help mold and

shape us towards

spiritual formation.

This idea of being

spiritually formed,

asking the question,

who or what are you

being formed by is

probably a really

important personal

inventory to take.

What is it

that's forming

and shaping me?

What is it that's

forming and shaping

me spiritually into

what I believe,

into how I live?

And I think this

author would ask it

maybe like this, who

are you currently

apprenticing under?

Dax did a great

job last week of

talking about this

idea of disciple

and apprentice, and

did a really good

job distinguishing

that disciples.

Are taught, right?

They're told, and the

onus of discipleship

is on the discipler.

I need more

information.

Your discipleship

program didn't

disciple me enough.

I need to be

discipled more.

And while information

and knowledge and

all those things

are important and

they're good, the

practicality and the

application of that

knowledge gets lost.

Sometimes when we

think of discipleship,

and I love his version

here of Apprentice,

this idea that

apprentices, it's not

that they don't get

information and learn

all those things, but

they practice, right?

There are practices

that apprentices

are involved in

that help them

learn and grow and

experience walking in

a certain way, right?

We're going to be

spending the next

nine weeks looking

at some practices

together as a church

practices that

are gonna help us.

In our space of

abiding and being with

Jesus practices, I

hope that challenge

us to become more like

Jesus and practices

of actually doing

some of the things

that Jesus did.

And in so doing, what

we're really doing

is we're apprenticing

under Jesus.

Were doing

discipleship, but

not information.

Discipleship,

not knowledge,

discipleship.

'cause sometimes we

sit and we learn and

we learn and we learn,

but we never do.

And that's, man,

that's not what

Jesus did with

his own disciples.

He sent them

out to do stuff.

He expected them

to do stuff.

You feed them, you

go, you teach, you

heal, you pray.

You lead this.

Jesus has purpose

for his disciples

not to get to heaven.

Super smart, right?

I mean, not, we

shouldn't get to

heaven, super dumb,

don't get me wrong.

But we're called

to be people who

are impactful in

the world around us

'cause of how we live.

So over the next

nine weeks, we're

gonna be exploring

some of these

practices together.

In our small group

time that you have a

chance to sign up to

be a part of, there's

gonna be space.

Remember how we

talked about that

with our other s

small group, that

sometimes in a big

group setting you get

to hear information,

but in a small group

setting, you get to

ask questions that

maybe you feel feeler,

stupid clarifying

question that you

think maybe everybody

else gets but you.

And then you find out

that no, everybody

else had the same

question, but nobody

had a chance to ask,

or everybody felt

too foolish to ask.

Small groups are an

important place to

unpack some of these.

So each week as we

go through these

practices, your

small group is gonna

have the opportunity

to talk and to dig

and to explore and

to challenge each

other, to try some

of these practices,

to walk in some of

these practices to

understand better some

of these practices.

And you're gonna be

in an environment

that encourages you

to try to walk in

the way more than

just a Sunday morning

to walk in the way.

Sorry, burning man.

A little white here

for just a moment.

Mm.

Today we're gonna

jump in on this first

practice, and we're

gonna follow the

outline in this book,

which is kind of cool.

And here's what's

really cool.

If you read this book,

uh, it won't, it won't

actually, um, just

give you a chapter by

chapter breakdown of

all these practices.

It's just gonna

challenge you to think

about what it means

to become like Jesus,

to be with him, do

what he did, explore

this whole process.

And then he is

gonna throw in

some practices.

Dax said some good

things last Sunday

about sometimes we

put up some different

bullet points, and

then those become

the target, right?

Those become

the destination.

And walking with Jesus

isn't about being a

person who gets it

a hundred percent on

all 10 or nine or four

or three or whatever,

different task lists.

It's instead being

somebody who begins

to look more and

more like Jesus.

That family

resemblance shows

up and living

like Jesus and

impacting like Jesus.

This first

practice we're

gonna talk about.

It is the first one he

lays out in his book.

And I love that he

did this because,

I dunno about you,

but my n my mindset

would normally be

like, all right man,

let's get after it.

Let's take it down.

I'm energized,

I'm ready to go.

Gimme the hard ones.

Let's roll.

This may be one of

the hardest ones

actually, but it's

this practice, it's

the practice of

Sabbath, which is

really an interesting

invitation.

Jesus says, take my

yoke upon you, right?

For my yoke

is easy and my

burden is light.

And this first

practice is a practice

called Sabbath.

Now, in the Hebrew,

which I would

definitely say really

well if my throat,

you know, wasn't sore,

um, actually, what

is this Hebrew word?

Rusty?

Do you know Russell?

You got a shirt on?

What's this

Hebrew word?

Khor.

What's this

Hebrew word?

Come on man.

It was like a chosen,

all they do is say

Shabbat and the

chosen endlessly.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm just checking.

I'll just checking.

Alright, fair enough.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's fair.

Looks like a, yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know what

kind of music sign

that would be like a

harp at the end maybe.

So this Hebrew word,

Shabbat is a word

that if you watch

the chosen, they

use it all the time.

And it's super

complicated in the

Jewish culture.

Maybe to understand

the depth of

what it means.

It's very, uh,

it's a beautiful,

complicated, epically

amazing concept that

has been, uh, covered

with a thousand

ritual and laws and

the Jewish culture.

But it's not that

complicated if

you just pause and

you take a second

to think Shabbat.

In the Hebrew, one

of the beautiful

pictures that

emerges in the Hebrew

language is this

word intermission.

And I love the concept

of intermission.

So don't

overcomplicate the

Sabbath for us.

There's confusion.

Is it a Saturday?

Is it a Sunday?

You know, we

have a weekend.

Is it, is it

worship at church?

That Sabbath?

I mean, what?

What is this thing?

Simplify the whole

thing down to

this intermission.

It's intermission now.

We first hear about

the Sabbath, not back

in the Hebrew law as

it's been given, but

at the very beginning

of all creation,

on the seventh

day, God completed

the work that he

had been doing.

He rested on

the seventh day.

This idea of rest

on the seventh day

is this picture

of intermission

from work, from

all the work he

had undertaken.

God blessed.

The seventh day, made

it holy because on

it, he rested from

all of his creation.

Now, this came long

before God gave all

the Jewish laws and.

Stuff to Moses and,

and long before

the Jews created a

thousand legalistic

structures around

their laws to try

to fence and protect

the sacredness of

the law right here at

the very beginning,

God institutes this

picture of Sabbath.

As the students in

my class asked me

this week, like,

why was there night?

Like, did God

get tired and

need to sleep?

And why was

there a rest day?

Did God get tired?

And as you explore

that, I mean, if

you just think,

can God get tired?

He neither sleeps

nor slumbers.

I mean, no.

So why did he do that?

Well, maybe he

was an accident.

Maybe God tripped

and fell down

and no, God does

things on purpose.

That's all he does.

He gave us night

and day for the

rhythms of day,

and he gave us the

Sabbath as part of the

rhythm of the week.

One seventh of our

week, God said Rest.

He did it with the

year of Jubilee

for the land to

have time to rest.

Right?

God's into

this concept

of this rhythm.

Work hard, rest.

It's important.

Moving on to the 10

Commandments here,

which most of us have

memorized, so I could

just call on somebody

to come up here and

say 'em real quick.

Uh, let's see.

Dawn, do you want

to do the, oh, you

don't, oh, you're

busy taking notes.

That's totally good.

Um,

did you want to, I

saw that hand twice.

We all remember the

10 Commandments,

but we just don't

wanna say it in

front of our friends.

Uh, the 10

Commandments, right?

I mean, these

are big time

principles, right?

Like no other

gods before me.

He shall worship no

other gods before me.

There's no idols, no

idolatry, that there

we're not to misuse

God's name in any

way, shape or form.

Things like honor

your father and

your mother.

Don't murder.

Don't commit adultery.

Don't steal,

don't lie.

Don't envy.

These are core

principles that

God has given his

people to follow.

Now, here's one thing

that we kinda mess up

Sometimes in modern

Christianity, we say,

Jesus, you know, he

came and we're not

under the law anymore.

We're under grace.

And so we don't have

to follow the law.

Like Dax is mad, he

wants to leave 'cause

he wanna follow

the law, right?

The law of sitting

in your church

and being good.

Yeah.

Um, but here's

the thing.

Jesus said, I came to

fulfill the law not

to abolish the law.

And while the

Israelites had

created thousands of

laws and legalistic

structures around

the heart of God's

law, Jesus didn't

come to destroy the

heart of God's law.

He did challenge

some of the way they

were legalistically

trying to live out

the law because they'd

gotten away from the

heart of the law.

But these 10

principles here,

these are pretty key

things that are still

heart of the law.

Which of these did

Jesus come to abolish?

No other gods

before me.

Jesus came.

So now idolatry

is cool.

We're free to

be idolatrous.

It's kind of anti

everything in the

New Testament.

Maybe Jesus came

so that now we can

misuse the name of the

Lord our God, right?

No longer have

to honor father

and mother.

'cause Jesus came.

We're free from that.

Now, Jesus wants us

to murder and commit

adultery and steal

and lie and envy

as good followers

of Jesus, right?

None of us would

say any of that as

followers of Jesus

Christ trying to

walk in the way we

would say, Jesus

upholds every one

of these principles

and he expects us

to live like this.

Right?

And I would

agree with you.

That's why I wanna

take a look at

that list again and

just show you one

thing right there

in the middle.

Verse eight.

Remember the Sabbath

day and keep it holy.

Six days you should

do your labor

and your work.

But on the seventh,

you'll rest.

Just like God did and

what he instituted

long before he gave

Moses all the laws

on the mountain, he

set it in motion.

The first week

of creation.

So the truth is this

guys, these are really

important principles,

but right in the

middle of it is this

one that most of us

somehow, for some

reason, feel like it's

no longer something

God expects of us.

He put it in a list

with all these other

things that are

ridiculously clear

that he expects

his people to do.

And yet, somehow

for us, we feel like

the Sabbath is not

something we're,

I mean, it doesn't

really apply anymore.

You can't do that.

Right?

Which one of those

doesn't apply anymore?

I mean, if you're

gonna start

doing that, then

commit adultery.

'cause it doesn't

matter and

murder somebody.

'cause it

doesn't matter.

It's all part of

the same list and

it's all optional.

Right?

The truth is it's

not optional.

These weren't God's

suggestions to people.

These were his

commandments with the

root word command.

God's people are

commanded to remember

the Sabbath day and

to keep it holy.

And what does

that mean?

Well, remember the

intermission day, the

day one of seven that

is set aside for rest

and keep it holy.

This gets confusing

sometimes that we're

like, keep it sacred.

Like, you know,

only read the

Bible on that day.

Only go to church

on that day.

Only sing on that day.

What?

What are we

talking about?

What?

What's the

clarity here?

Well, what does

the word holy mean?

It means set apart

in its simplest form.

It's not complicated.

It means set apart.

There should be

one day of the week

that's special.

That's different

than every other day

of the week, a day.

That's set aside

for some really

important things.

And don't make the

mistake that the

early Israelites did.

The Sabbath is for us.

It's for us.

It's God's gift to us.

Everybody makes

it some legalistic

structure that we

have to go and do

our due diligence

and do our duty to

God on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is a gift.

What does Jesus

say in Mark 2 27?

He says, the Sabbath

was made for man, not

man for the Sabbath.

The new living

translation says

it even clearer.

The Sabbath was

made to meet the

needs of people and

not people to meet

the requirements

of the Sabbath.

Jesus healed

on the Sabbath.

Jesus did good

on the Sabbath.

Jesus spent time

and walked and went

places with people

on the Sabbath.

The Israelites made

tons of rules about

only taking a certain

number of steps and

only doing a certain

number of things,

and they were trying

hard to protect the

Sabbath as though the

Sabbath was sacred.

Your sacred, you and

I, eternal, and God's

given us this space,

this really special

set apart space called

the Sabbath that

we are supposed to

observe in our life.

God has given us.

I'm gonna sabbath my

voice for a second.

God has given us the

Sabbath and he's given

it to us to rest.

To rest from

our labor.

We stink at this

as a society.

We stink at it.

We don't rest well,

or we go straight to

hardcore laziness.

Self-indulgence,

right?

But God has called

us to have this space

in our week where we

rest, where we shut

off the work and

the pressure and the

weight, and we rest.

I'm gonna give you

a bunch of R words.

So if you're writing

down good luck to

rest and to recover,

to get recovery from

the weight and the

pressure and the

grind of working and

laboring and toiling

in a fallen world

that's messed up by

sin, that's given us

a chance for recovery.

And he's given us a

chance to refresh.

To refresh from

the exhaustion and

fatigue, and to renew.

God has gotta

doing new stuff.

And when we stop and

we sit and we listen

and we abide in him,

and we spend time

with him and with

one another, and

we experience his

renewal in our life.

There's energy and

there's hope, and

there's vision for

what lies before us.

In the next week,

we get replenished.

We reconnect with him,

with others who are

in eternal beings.

When all the weight

and pressure of

work and time and

pull everywhere,

every direction,

distractions of

endless social media

and everything, we

have a chance to

just stop and connect

with what's eternal.

We get recentered

right and recharged,

and God does restoring

work in our soul

In that space,

we get to reset our

focus no matter what

the week's been like.

We get to catch our

breath and reset and

we're reminded of

what's eternal, and

it helps us remain

in him and remain

strong and stand

for the week ahead.

No matter what the

week behind has

brought us, it's

a lot of R words.

You could probably

think of some better

words up there.

I don't know.

That's just a little

picture of why God

gives us this space.

Space.

Space Sabbath

is not neglect.

The Israelis got in

trouble because you

know, hey, Jesus

is healing some

dude on a Sabbath.

What does the

Pharisee say?

Hey, listen man,

there's six days you

could come get healed.

Don't ruin the

Sabbath, and

Jesus is like,

whoa, whoa, whoa.

The Sabbath is about

not, not neglecting

what's most important.

It's about connecting

with what's

most important.

It's not about

legalistic rules,

but it's not

about neglect.

It's not about

laziness.

It's not about,

ha, this is my

Sabbath day.

So family, Jesus,

listen, this is

my day to do what

I want to do.

And shut out the

rest of the world.

That's not really

a picture, right?

It's not about

selfishness,

self-indulgent

self gratification.

I get six days I

gotta work, man,

but that one day is

my day to just do

whatever the heck I

want to do, regardless

of anything else.

It's not a blank

check to do that,

but Sabbath is really

about coming back to

what really matters.

It's really about

being with abiding

in Jesus, being with

our Lord and Savior,

our relationship

with Jesus, our

relationship with

those around us in

family and in our

church, and even

around our world that

are eternal people.

It's really about

refocusing on eternity

one one day a week

in the midst of

all the distraction

that goes around us.

And I also

wanna challenge

you with this.

Sabbath is an

act of faith.

It's an act of faith.

Just like tithing

is an act of faith.

God does not

need your money.

He's doing

great, right?

He needs nothing

financially

from you at all.

So why does he

say, my people will

give 10% of all of

their income to me?

Why?

'cause he knows where

your heart is and what

you love the most.

And if you're not

willing to be obedient

and step out and

trust him, that

90% with God is way

more than a hundred

percent with you.

You're missing it.

Well, don't miss

Sabbath here.

It's the exact same

picture to say, I

will set aside this

time for Sabbath

is an act of faith

as a statement to

yourself that God's

in control, not you.

I wanna just share

just for a second from

my own life experience

here, like I have, uh,

there's a theological

term for this.

I have sucked

at Sabbath.

Most of my adult

life I've made a

confusion of like,

Sunday is Sabbath

day, the day I come

to worship the Lord.

But gotta be

honest with you

guys, Sunday's

one of my busiest,

most exhausting,

fatiguing days.

There is no rest

for me on a Sunday.

Uh, so I've always

been like, well,

maybe it just doesn't

apply to guys like me.

Let's just keep

honoring the Lord,

honoring the Sabbath.

But it's taken me

some years to come to

a place to recognize

that the Sabbath is a

gift God gives to us.

If we will walk

it out correctly,

we'll experience

some amazing things.

I have a really weird

schedule and I don't

wanna bore you with

it and you probably

don't even care.

But, uh, I teach

three days a

week at a school.

Um.

Last year I had

like five classes.

I taught on Tuesday,

five on Wednesday,

five on Thursday.

It's like

five sermons.

Five sermons, five

sermons, right?

Three days in a row.

And then I preach

here usually, and

then there's like

this Monday window to

try to get a bunch of

stuff done and jump

into the week with

all the staff and

get the whole plan

for the week going.

Then jump into

Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, get back at

Friday, Saturday to

gear up for Sunday.

And then we just

keep rolling.

If you thought

about your own

schedule right now,

you're probably

exhausted too, right?

Hearing my schedule,

you're like, oh,

I hate schedules.

I hate how fast paced

we're just careening

in this life, right?

So Jamie and I were

like, you know what?

We have got to three

years ago we said,

we have got to find

Sabbath, or we're

just probably not

gonna make it like

as a couple, we just

can't keep doing this.

This is crazy.

And we don't know

what to say no to in

some of these things.

And we've prayed

that endlessly.

We talked about that.

Our couple's retreat

last year, like

where do we say no?

So instead what

we said was, maybe

God wants us to

take a Sabbath and

make this a focus.

So here's what I did.

We took Friday

and I'm not in the

office on Friday.

I'm not really

available on a Friday.

Uh, sometimes people

have issues come up

and other guys on

the staff or gals

jump in and help.

But I've set aside

this Friday as a day

for me to be with the

Lord, to be with my

family, to breathe in

and out his presence

and just walk in peace

that day with him.

And it doesn't

always end perfectly.

I'm not gonna say

that, but what I have

found is something

crazy for me.

I was terrified to

do that because, I

dunno if you know

how my brain works,

probably nobody does.

I'm a pretty

linear guy, right?

So like, I love it

when God gives us a,

a roadmap of where

we're gonna go on

some Sunday mornings.

But I stress about

this role here to

stand up in front

of you and say, Hey,

thus sayeth the Lord.

That's not an

easy thing to do.

Um, and I feel a ton

of weight with that

responsibility to

be faithful to him

and faithful to you.

And so Monday it'd be

great if I could be

like, all right, Lord,

what are we gonna

preach on Sunday?

Kinda spend the week

building it out.

But I can't do that

'cause I'm already

thinking, well,

Tuesday I gotta

preach five times to

a bunch of teenagers.

Then I gotta do it

again on Wednesday,

a different message

and then Thursday a

different message.

So I gotta get

through those messages

before I can get

my brain working

for the weekend.

So I was like, at

least I got Thursday

and Friday to allow

the Holy Spirit to

really speak into me.

Right?

I'm sorry, Friday

and Saturday, I keep

saying that wrong

Friday and Saturday to

get ready for Sunday.

Uh, the problem is,

is if I take that

Friday now, God,

I got a 24 hour

window to make sure

I'm being faithful

to Sunday morning.

That's not gonna work.

Only loser pastors

wait till Saturday

to prepare a message

that they're gonna

share, right?

It's not true

by the way.

Um.

So I stepped out in

faith in this with

my wife and I was

like, baby, I don't

think this is gonna

work, but let's try

this and just see

what God maybe does.

And it was absolutely

about me not being in

control and trusting

God to meet and make

up the difference.

And let me just

say this, for

the first year

of stepping into

that space, here's

what God did.

Almost every Thursday

between four 30

and six o'clock, he

told me everything

I was supposed

to say on Sunday.

It shouldn't really

make me emotional

except that God's

faithful when we're

obedient to him

and much damaging

to my pride.

People said to

me in the course

of that season.

These are the best

messages you've

ever preached.

So I started

doing the math.

You know, maybe,

maybe me being

faithful to the Lord

and obedient in this

space, God would

make up even more

of the difference.

And he has, and

he continues to.

And I gotta

tell you, like

everybody's schedule,

everybody's world is

challenging, right?

And you're gonna

find yourself saying

what everybody says.

I don't have time.

I just don't

have time.

Sabbath does not work.

Setting aside and

setting apart this

intermission and the

chaos and ness of

my life to stop, to

abide with him, to

be in his presence,

to spend time with

my family, to just

breathe in and out

and trust him to make

up the difference.

I don't have time.

And you don't.

I didn't have time.

I still don't have

time to be honest.

And yet when you

make room and you

say, I will make

room, Lord for what

you want to do in

me, and you begin

to practice Sabbath,

I promise you, God

shows up at your

level of obedience.

I promise you you

can trust him.

And when we say

no to obedience,

what we're really

saying is not God.

Let me think about it.

God, I gotta

process it.

God, I'm not sure.

What we're

saying is, God, I

don't trust you.

I don't trust you.

So I want to

challenge you.

This simple practice

of Sabbath sounded

really easy at

the beginning

of the message,

but it might

be a pretty big

risk for you.

But you've been

given an invitation

to rest in him

and be obedient.

Don't murder, don't

commit adultery, and

don't neglect Sabbath.

He's serious.

And man, I promise

you, like tithing and

God shows up and meets

ridiculously every bit

of faithfulness you

bring to the table.

Watch what he does

with your resource

of time when you

give him your most

precious commodity.

So join with others

in your church family,

stepping out, taking

a risk, and trying

to practice the way

of Jesus together.

Find the space now.

Make the space for

Sabbath and see what

God will do 'cause he

will meet you there.

We're gonna pray

and our worship

team is gonna come

up as we close.

And we're gonna sing

through that last

song about surrender

and making room.

And I want that, I

wanna invite you to

make that your prayer

as we launch into this

nine weeks together

as we explore what

this looks like to

try to walk in some

of the ways of Jesus

being like him, right?

Starting to resemble

him more and more

doing what he did

and the best part

of it all, just

being with him.

'cause here's what

you're gonna find

out, that Jesus is

not an idea and he's

not some doctrine or

theology or religion.

He loves you and

he wants to spend

time with you.

And the more time

you spend with him,

the more it's gonna

transform you and

the more you're gonna

want to spend time

with him as well.

Lord Jesus, thank

you for your word.

Thank you for

your truth.

Thank you for these

friends of mine

who are willing

to just listen

for a few minutes.

Thank for Thank you

for your faithfulness

in my life and

Jamie's life.

And Jed's

and Josiah's.

Thank you for giving

us the courage to

try to do something

that seemed like it

didn't make any sense.

And thank you for

what you've done in

that space for us.

And Lord, I pray over

my friends here and

myself, give us the

courage, Lord, to

trust you more than

we trust, control

of our own life.

Lord, help us to

surrender, to make

room for what you

want to do in us.

Lord, this song

is our prayer.

We surrender.

Do what you want

to do in us.

Lead us.

In your way that we

might experience the

incredible life of an

apprentice of Jesus

and all that you

have in store

for each of us.

Thank you Lord.

Amen.