The Family Sabbath

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Take your Bible and turn it to Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

I give you my acrostic early.

This is the second one in about 10 years, so I don't know what the Lord's doing with my brain, but anyway, I used to think that kind of stuff was cheesy until it was mine, and now it's cool.

The acrostic for the Sabbath for rest today.

Reflect.

Letter R.

E.

Exalt S and stay and P tranquility.

So Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

It's been a good week.

I hope that you've enjoyed the week.

I want to say a special word of congratulations to Nathan Polk and Kelsey Moore.

Would y'all raise your hand?

Are y'all in here?

I saw you.

Alright, I see Kelsey.

Nathan was saying he played guitar.

They were engaged last weekend.

Can y'all give it up for them?

There he is, there's Nathan.

I said the other week, if you're single, why are you waiting?

Get married.

And so Nathan took that to heart.

I appreciate that.

For the rest of you out there, that's the way to do it.

Family matters.

So let's jump in.

Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

First one is a time for reflection this morning.

And I want you to see, we're going to go back and forth through verses 12 through 15, but I want you to see here it says, and remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Pray with me.

Father, this is your house.

These are your people, and we want what you want today to come from this place.

So, God, anything that's on our agenda that doesn't meet with you, Lord, I pray that you would unpack it now.

And God, I pray that just for the next few moments you would meet with us.

Share from your word, your book, your love letter what you want for us to hear.

And Lord, get everything else just out of the way.

Lord, I pray that we would leave here having met with you.

We love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

A time for reflection, reflection, or contemplation, meditation, deliberation.

You can use these words.

2 Corinthians 13, 5 says this, to examine yourselves.

Whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.

So I want you to understand the Sabbath, a part of a reflection, is a time for an examination.

You're here today.

And part of what you're here to do is to reflect on your week.

What are you doing?

What have you been doing?

I know I come into a lot of Sundays, and I can say this as truth.

I can barely remember last Sunday.

Anyone with me?

The week goes by and it's like it seems like it was really fast, but it was a hundred years ago in my mind.

And so why are we doing what we're doing?

Well, he tells us in verse 15, remember what you used to be.

I want you to think for a second here.

And maybe even praise God in your mind.

Remember what you used to be.

He told him, remember, you used to be slaves in the land of Egypt.

And so the Sabbath is a time for reflection.

Letter A.

It's a one-week assessment of God's work.

It's a chance for us to remember what God has done in our life.

Every week we come in, and it's to remember.

It's not some pointless religious ceremony every week that we meet.

It's not just some happenstance.

It's a plan from God that we will remember.

That same word, that same word for remember here in Deuteronomy is used in Joshua 1.8.

Here's how it goes.

He says, Joshua 1.8, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but meditate.

It's that same word there, meditate day and night.

The word meditate in Joshua 1.8 is the word hogg.

And hogg means to murmur, to make noise because of musing.

I want you to think about this.

You ever met anybody who kind of made noise when they talked or had some noise?

Heather had her Mimi was the sweetest little lady.

Mimi.

I love Mimi.

Heather loved Mimi.

Mimi was blind when I met her.

Okay, but she loved everyone.

And I have to think, because of her blindness, maybe she compensated with other senses that she had.

You walk up to Mimi and she'd hold your hand just as long as you'd let her hold it.

She'd keep that there and she'd rub your hand.

And something that I loved about Mimi is when she talked, or you talked to her, Mimi had a sweet little hum.

She said, Oh, Heather, Heather, hey, Rick.

And she had this sweet little hum about her.

And that sound, she was, I think, I want to think, she was just taking everything in.

She was taking in the things all around because she couldn't see.

Listen, church, I wish that all of us maybe for a time could be given the blessing of physical blindness.

So that maybe we would take in all the goodness of all the moments that are around us.

And we would go, hmm, God is good.

Close your eyes for a second and think and worship.

Scripture says, oh, taste.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Mmm.

Isn't He good?

Would you take in that laughter, that moment just a little bit longer ago?

Ah, mmm.

It's good.

That person next to you, won't you look at them for a second and think, man, it's good.

It's good.

Mmm.

Scripture says it's like a murmur, a making noise because you're musing, you're thinking.

I need to give a word today to somebody here today about the busyness of life.

And the word is stop.

The word is stop.

You're here and you're listening, but your list is filling up.

Stop.

You're here and you feel overwhelmed.

Stop.

I was reminded of 2020.

God in the midst of a calamity called the coronavirus.

Said like this everybody's sports, everybody's schedule, everybody's work, everybody's everything is going to stop at my snap.

And he hit the pause button for all of us.

We had the blessings of a Psalms 46:10.

Psalms 46:10

He said, Be still and know that I am God.

And this world system you think is something is really fragile.

And I can go like this.

And we had the blessing of watching people walk around the neighborhood hand in hand, going, hmm, boy, it smells good outside.

And I'll tell you what, everybody's yard sure looked good.

They had the blessing of going out and working, enjoying their flowers, enjoying their family.

Why?

Because we stopped.

He said, Be still, because you can miss it.

God is good church, but you can miss it.

It could be right here.

And you can miss it.

Be still, he said.

Well, three years ago, I'm gonna try something.

I did something three years ago, and uh the Lord put on my heart.

I don't know if I'm crazy, uh, but I tried something with this church, and uh I heard a preacher say once, I'm preaching better than you're responding.

Y'all understand what I'm saying here?

A lot riding on what happens here, how I feel.

I may never do this again.

I want you to understand, I gave the church my complete rapping ability.

Okay?

And I haven't done it since.

Y'all feeling me?

You know why I'm saying that?

Okay?

I will no longer, if this doesn't go well, I will no longer tell my kids to refer to me as the notorious RIC.

I won't.

So I'm gonna give you this, and if you don't, look, if I'm still speaking better than your respondent, then we're done, alright?

God gave me this.

It's called Don't Miss a Sunset.

All right, are you ready?

Okay.

Don't miss a sunset, don't miss the next step.

Look at what you've got left.

It's not everything to be set.

Don't miss the rain, just get wet.

Don't waste the pain with regret.

Living in vain with big frets, upset, making missteps, just forgive and forget.

So you can live in drips wet.

Don't lose sleep, get rest and reset.

Don't need to weep, you're here, and God's not finished yet.

Somebody.

You might get a you might get a second one.

That was a lot.

I'm telling you, last one.

I I went home and cried.

The Sabbath is a review of God's goodness.

It's His goodness.

Don't miss the sunset.

Don't miss the rain.

Don't miss what God is doing.

Work hard.

Don't lose sleep.

Get rest.

Reset.

Well, it's an assessment of God's work.

The second thing it is, it's a one-week aspiration check of our work.

I've got a picture I want you to see of some stickers.

If y'all recognize these stickers, anybody recognize those?

Anyone out here?

Anyone?

Wow.

I am.

Okay, I got one.

You might see them on the back of a piece of furniture on occasion.

These are inventory stickers.

When I worked for Delaware Moving Storage long ago, we would have to go, if you were bringing your stuff into storage, we would sticker every piece of furniture on the back.

And my job, this was a good part of the job.

Everybody else was moving heavy things and packing stuff.

And when I had to do inventory, like you had to be a smart person to be able to do it, and I don't know how I got it, but I was.

And so I would be stickering furniture, and they had a list, and there were all these little abbreviations.

You had to find something wrong with every piece of furniture.

Nobody in history ever had a perfect piece of furniture.

One of the abbreviations was R U.

That stood for rubbed.

Like you had to write down if it was rubbed.

If you had it, if it was touched, then it was rubbed.

And I had to do R-U 10, that was rubbed top.

R U eight and nine, rubbed right and left.

And scratches, if there was just a little bitty of scratch, we had to take an inventory of all these things.

And we had to find things wrong with your furniture so that when you came and picked it back up, if you took it from the storage, you wouldn't say, There's a brand new scratch on my thing.

You know, and we were finding every little thing.

And so when I was thinking about a one-week check of our work, you're here today.

It's a chance for you to have a personal inventory.

Don't miss what church is for.

It's a chance for you.

Sunday is a chance, a once over.

What did I do right?

What could be better in my week?

When I think about my week, do I owe any apologies to anyone for the week I've had?

Why would I wait on that?

What can be done differently in the week to come?

What are my goals?

You know, Philippians 1 6 said, being confident in this very thing, he which hath begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

God wants to complete his work in you, but what needs to be different?

You have to have a time to reflect.

Hear me, church.

You have to have a time.

Don't miss this chance here today and tonight.

What happens is we go from week to week to week to week, and a month is gone, and two months is gone, and a year is gone, and we go, I don't even know what's happening.

And my head is spinning.

And we need decompression.

You need thought time.

You can't go, go, go without rest.

And it's biblical.

God's plan, He created in six days.

And you know what He did on day seven?

God, who didn't need a rest?

You know why?

The work was complete.

Hear me, there has to be a time for you that the work is complete.

You can't take it everywhere with you.

You have to have a time of completion.

And God said, On six days I created all this, and then it's done.

I don't need a rest, but I'm taking a rest.

And on day seven, there was rest.

It was for more than just laying around, but we're gonna get into that.

But you need rest.

Heather was pregnant, and I would do a lot of things for some extra money back in those days.

And uh a school named Earlham College called me.

I used to drive, I was CDL driver, and they called and wanted to know if I would drive a bus for their college to Chicago, to the Museum of Natural History.

And um I said, okay, that sounds like a good idea.

They told me what they were paying.

$100.

A four and a half hour drive from Connorsville, Indiana to where we were going.

We met at the school at 5 a.m.

I took my pregnant wife with me to Chicago.

Chicago is very cold.

No matter what the temperature is where you're at, it's colder.

She had a zip-up sweat jacket.

And you know what the plan for the day was?

We didn't have extra transportation.

We had a bus.

So I parked and we went to the museum for 12 hours.

I took my wife to a museum.

Talk about awesome.

We made it to lunch and we were done with the museum, and it was like, what are we going to do?

The next day was Sunday, and I had to work on Sundays.

We arrived back at Earlham College by 12 a.m.

Sunday morning, right?

Two free tickets to a museum and a hundred bucks.

That's what I did to my pregnant wife and myself.

Money is not worth it.

Y'all hearing me?

Some things, it's not worth it.

It's not worth her rest.

It wasn't worth my rest.

The next day of church, I don't remember.

I'm sure it was bad.

I cut myself from all of that rest for$100.

This is interesting.

You'll like this statistic.

I was looking up some things this week.

There are in the nation, okay, as of this uh this fact, 2,837 Chick-fil-A's, okay, in this nation.

$13,337 McDonald's.

All right, almost seven times.

52 more days a year on average, a year, McDonald's is open.

Let me tell you what they make per store, the differences.

Average McDonald's makes$2.7 million.

The average Chick-fil-A makes$2.3 million.

Why do you think Chick-fil-A is so successful?

I'm gonna tell you why I think.

There's some Christian values that say all my employees for 52 days are going to be able to observe the Sabbath.

Man, I think that's awesome.

Someone believed the Sabbath was more important than the wallet.

Well, that takes us to the second point this morning.

Point number two, letter E.

It's a time to exalt.

It's a time to exalt God.

2 Corinthians 10 verse 5 says that we are to cast down every argument and every thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity.

2 Corinthians 10:5

It's a time for us to exalt God.

You see, worship requires a worshiper.

And this is one thing that I can see by the nature of God that God cannot do, He or He will not allow Himself to do.

To be worshiped, something has to be greater than yourself.

And so we get the privilege and opportunity to worship that which cannot do it for itself, because nothing is greater than He.

And so we have the opportunity to come in and exalt, and we can worship.

Now, listen, Scripture says that the rocks will cry out.

There came a song that was made about that.

Ain't no rock, gonna take my place.

And so we have this privilege and honor to do something that God doesn't do for himself.

To exalt.

Scripture says the heavens declare it, they'll show his glory.

Well, I asked if Benji would come and uh we got a little sorry.

I want us together, I want you to stand with us.

I want to take a moment just to exalt.

There's a line in this song that I need you to hear, and then we're gonna jump back.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to my wheels take your key, and may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your I love the line in that song that says, May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

We get to do something for the Almighty Creator of all things.

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine it does something for God to hear your worship?

I want you to think about that.

All of the things that he's done, all that he is, and it matters to him to hear from you.

It matters.

I want you to go back, chapter uh 5, verse 12.

It's important to note, verse 12 says this observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you.

The Sabbath day is the Lord's Sabbath.

It's not your Sabbath, it's the Lord's Sabbath.

And so, if you're cutting into the Sabbath, then you're cutting away from him.

You're cutting away from yourself as well, but it belongs to him.

It's his day, it's his exaltation.

And so we take this day to reflect, but then we take this day to exalt God, to recenter and realize who he is.

Well, letter A is this.

Worship relieves weariness.

Got your Bibles there.

I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles.

Just for a moment.

2 Chronicles chapter 20, worship relieves weariness.

2 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

And I want to read a few verses.

We'll skip a couple, but 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 15.

2 Chronicles 20:15

We're gonna look at 17, 19, 21, 22.

Let's just see what happens here.

There's a battle about to come against Jehoshaphat and the people, and he says, Listen, all you Judah, verse 15, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat.

Thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude.

For the battle, somebody needs to hear this today, is not yours, but God's.

Look at verse 17.

You will not need to fight in this battle.

Position yourselves, that's important.

Posture yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem.

Do not fear or be dismayed.

Tomorrow go out against him, for the Lord is with you.

Look at verse 19.

Then the Levites of the children of the Korthites and of the children of the Korthites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud.

How shall we praise?

Loud and high.

Verse 21.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness, and they went out before the army and were saying, Praise the Lord.

His mercy endures forever.

Look at verse 22.

Here's where it is.

And now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Amnon.

Listen to me, church.

When we exalt God, he says, We don't need to fear.

When we exalt God, we don't need to fight.

He said, just position, posture yourself before the Lord.

Hands open, hands raised, knees bent, however your posture is before the Lord.

And he said, stand in praise.

And when they sang, it says, God sent an ambush.

Your worship is a weapon against the enemy.

Let me tell you what happens.

He said, They sent an ambush.

And that sounds awesome.

I don't know what it looked like that day.

I wish I could have seen it.

But God sent an ambush.

When I started playing a song, hear me, what a miracle.

Listen, worship is a weapon against your enemy.

Why is it so important that you're here?

So that you can fill back up in the worship of God.

Your enemy cannot stand the presence of God.

You, in you, near you.

Psalms 22:3 says that the that God inhabits the praise of his people and it drives Satan mad.

Psalms 22:3

It says that in James.

Draw an eye to God and flee from Satan, or draw an eye to God, and he'll resist you.

Flee from him.

I don't know who here today has had the enemy at your door, but the Sabbath is an opportunity for you to relieve that fight.

You can praise Him today.

It's a weapon against your enemy.

I want you to turn over quickly to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Just got two verses to read there.

Hebrews 4, 9 through 11.

Look what it says about Sabbath.

There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God.

For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedient.

Hear me.

This scripture in this passage is talking about saved persons.

According to Hebrews, if you know the Lord today, you entered into a rest that is unlike any other kind of rest.

There are lost people today.

There are people here today that are unsaved, and you cannot feel the same kind of rest.

Saved persons experience eternal peace, but we can experience a peace on earth.

By the way, the kingdom of heaven will be a place of continuous worship.

The closer we get to that here on earth, the more we're going to feel a place like we belong.

But a lost person today, you're void of that peace.

Lost person today has anger that resides in this chest.

They're at unrest here in this place.

And you're empty.

Maybe you're here today, you say, Man, Pastor, that's me.

I feel so empty.

I feel so tired.

Let me tell you the words of an old hymn from God to you.

There's a hymn called Softly and Tenderly.

It says, Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading?

He's pleading for you and for me.

Why should we linger and heed not his mercies?

Mercies for you and for me.

You who are weary, come home.

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling.

He's calling.

Oh sinner, come home.

Scripture says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and faith.

God doesn't want you to pass through this life staying weary.

And the weariest thing that you can be is without a relationship and walk with Him.

You'll go through this life as background music, you'll end this life, and it will have been a tug of war in your spirit all of your days.

It's unrest.

Peace is knowing Jesus' Savior.

Worship relieves weariness, but it also relieves woriness.

Pastor Eli pointed out to me this week that this was not a word.

I left it in there anyway.

So I know some of you that aggravates.

But if you can find a word better for worriness, then tell me.

Worship relieves worriedness.

It went with weariness.

Well, think about this.

I thought about all kinds of scripture about worry and what we do and what our worship does.

It says in Romans 12, 2, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Our mind, 1 Peter 5, 7 says, Cast all your cares upon him.

He cares for you.

He cares for you.

Isaiah 40, 31 says, But they that wait upon the Lord, they will renew their strength.

Philippians 4, 6 through 8 tells us, be anxious for nothing.

But with prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God.

And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart and minds through Christ Jesus.

And it gives us a whole list of things to think on, how to get this place right.

And it starts with you being here, getting a place of rest.

Isaiah 26, 3 says, He whose mind is stayed on thee has perfect peace.

Psalms 119, 165 says, Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.

You want peace today?

You're in the right place for us.

Romans 8.28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purposes.

Do you want peace?

It's all through these pages.

It relieves that woriness.

Matthew 6 is committed to one glaring message in most of the chapter, and it's this don't worry.

Don't worry.

In fact, it's like the old godly hymn says.

You guys got that hymn to pull up?

Would you play that?

The old godly hymn.

In every life we have some trouble.

But when you worry, you make it double.

Don't worry.

Be happy.

Don't worry.

Be happy now.

Hey, that's about as spiritual advice as I can find on Google about don't worry.

Don't worry.

Bobby McFerrin, in case you're wondering.

Don't worry.

He says, Don't worry.

And the Sabbath gives you a chance through exalting God to get your mind back right.

That takes us to the third thing.

Letter S is this a time to stay together.

Verse 14, I want you to see this back in Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, hear all these, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your calves, nor your stranger who's within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

He said, Your son and your daughter and your employees and your dog and your cat and your visitors all need to rest.

Everyone needs a time of rest.

And it's a time to be together.

I said last week to our parents about the children, their greatest need, their greatest need is you.

When are they gonna have you?

What other tell me, just tell me through us what other days of the week are there?

When are they gonna have you?

Now I know they get a few hours at night, but what day?

It's a day to stay together.

And it's a time during that day.

I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 1 real quick.

Proverbs 1 · chapter mention

A time during that day for teaching.

Staying together.

Scripture says, Oh, come let us worship together, your family corporately.

Proverbs 1, 7 through 9 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Here, look, my son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be graceful ornament on your head and chains about our neck.

When do you have time for teaching?

It's a time for teaching.

The beginning, Proverbs says, the Genesis, the start of people being wise is respect for the Lord, fear the Lord.

How can we possibly show respect for the Lord by disrespecting his day?

Look, I'm not being legalistic here.

Hear me.

I'm gonna talk about this for a second, but the Pharisees came to Jesus and said, He said, if your ox is in a ditch, should you just leave it there?

He said, No, get it out of the ditch.

They came to him talking about him working and healing people on the Sabbath, and he healed.

That's not what I'm saying.

That is work.

I'm not saying on occasion things don't come up.

By the way, I work on Sunday.

I do also worship on Sunday.

I religiously rest on Friday.

I told you all that a couple of weeks ago.

Friday's date day.

I'm with that lady Friday.

People call me different things.

I'm on my way somewhere with Heather Friday during the day, and at night it's my date with my kids.

By the way, not all rest is a nap.

Okay?

I'm not legalistic.

Not all rest is a nap.

I go to the gym most days, and for an hour a day, I don't think.

I don't know what I look like to people, but my brain is not really connected.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Okay?

And every now and then I get convicted because there's people and I go, I should probably talk to humans.

You know, like they need Jesus, so you know.

Every now and then my mind starts working again, but for the most part, I'm resting.

That sounds crazy, right?

You're doing work, but you're resting.

And so you we all get rest in kind of different ways.

Some people fish, amen.

I thought that would be more than that, but okay.

Some people watch football, college football, amen.

Some ladies have a Starbucks run, amen.

One lady, wow.

I don't know what y'all do for rest.

I do know this.

You need to give your bodies physical opportunities too.

Your body needs time to slow down, sit down, be still.

But what are you just being taught?

You're being taught.

That's what happens on the Sabbath day.

We're here to be taught.

Take time with your family to teach.

Let it be as this is a time for tightening.

When you can reflect on your week and all the things, and you and your wife could talk together about what's going on with this kid and that kid or your marriage, and you have a time and a chance to reflect, then it's a time to tighten up on those things.

What do we need to do different in the week to come?

How do we need to communicate?

What needs to happen better, different?

Psalms 133 says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.

God wants for you to be unified in your purpose, moving forth in unity.

I read this this week: seven quick things, how to get a tighter family.

Number one, number one on the list, go to church.

Love it.

Go to church with your family.

Number two, serve others together with your family.

Love that.

Serve with your family.

I take my boys often on visitation.

We do a lot of things in the church, and you do too, man.

That's a beautiful picture.

Serve together with your family.

Number three, it said, say I love you to your family.

I don't know what your upbringing brought to you.

There's some people that have a real struggle with that.

Say it.

Say it.

Don't miss this chance.

Tell them you love them.

Tell them often.

Say I love you.

Number four was pray as a family together.

I'm not talking about just bless the meal.

I'm talking about pray together.

I love to pray with my kids over people's needs and then go back and share with them what God did so they can know this is real.

God healed that person, God met that need.

God did it.

And we prayed.

Not that it was because we did it, but He did it.

And we were apart.

So pray as a family.

Five, eat meals at a table.

Eat together.

Acts 2 42.

And they broke bread.

Eat together.

Six, make your own traditions, it said.

And seven, never stop learning about each other.

Keep asking questions.

Things change.

Times change.

People differ.

Keep asking.

Be in quiz.

Care enough.

Time for tightening.

The fourth thing this morning is this letter T, a time for tranquility.

Again, he says, seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord.

Do not work, but rest.

He says that keep it holy.

Rest.

It's a time for tranquility.

It's a break from busyness.

Hear this, Exodus 14, 14 says, the Lord will fight for you.

Comma, you need only to be silent.

He will fight for you, but you need to slow down.

You need to be still and let him fight for you.

You quit fighting for you.

He will fight for you, but you got to stop being so busy and spend some time.

Maybe praise him, exalt him, call on him.

A break from busyness.

Now, don't hear me wrong, because he says in here, people are gonna go home and say, Pastor Rick said we need naps, we need siestas, we're all uh we're all gonna get to bed at six o'clock tonight.

That's what that's what I'm saying.

In fact, the opposite.

He says work six days.

Don't miss that.

If you want to succeed in this life, here's my formula Zig Ziggler, work.

Like you gotta work.

If you want to have the competitive advantage, work harder and work more.

Get up earlier.

Some of you need to get up.

Like some people here, you just need to, you got, you got it's time to man up, start getting up earlier.

All right.

I love listen, I love work.

I feel so accomplished.

This is silly.

I feel so accomplished when I mow my lawn.

It is an immediate reward.

I went out, it looked like trash, I mowed it.

Look at me.

Look at what I did.

I worked and it's pretty again.

That was me.

If I paint something, listen, I love the result of work.

I'm self-motivated.

I love that stuff.

Don't leave here saying, Pastor Rick said, honey, we gotta go on a vacation.

We're gonna have to spend that savings because we we got that's not what I'm saying.

He said, work six days.

And by the way, church, it's your Christian testimony.

Hear me.

The way that you work is your testimony.

Everybody here, we ought to outwork the rest.

I'm telling you why.

We ought to be the ones getting promotions.

Everybody here ought to be the ones getting promotion.

Why?

Because you work heartily as unto the Lord, not for man and not for money.

You're worshiping him with your work, and so you ought to work hard.

It ought to be known of every Christian that said, man, them people, I don't know what's happening.

They're all prospering.

It should be.

Work is a part of our worship.

Kids, teens, do you like money?

Work.

Alright.

And when you're done, all of that work, and when it's completed, you need a break.

I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 real quick.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

I want you to see verse 16 through 18 here.

Says, therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but as the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So we fix our eyes, church, not on what has seen.

All week it's been about what is seen.

So on the Sabbath, we need Sunday to refocus on what has not been seen.

The work of God in our life.

Have you ever had your eyes diluted?

You ever had this happen?

I had this happen one time.

Once.

Look, I've been to the eye doctor once, and I went there.

I was 15 or I think I was 16 because I was driving.

And they put the stuff in my eyes, and they made me blind.

Y'all know I'm talking about?

That's the first, that's they said, we're gonna put this stuff in there.

I didn't know I was gonna go blind.

They put all this stuff in there, and they I was getting ready to leave, and the lady said, Do you want your glasses?

And I said, They said I had good eyes that I didn't need glasses.

She didn't understand what I was talking about.

She said, Okay.

And I went out the door and I got in my car and it was real sunny.

And if you drive after they put that stuff in your eyes and it's real sunny, I'm looking and I can't see nothing.

I'm like, what have these people done to me?

I want to hear from help, and they have blinded me.

And I got home and I'm like, Mom, what is going on?

And it started wearing off, and my mom was laughing.

She was like, You're supposed to wear those glasses.

You're supposed to take those things.

I said, the lady asked me if I need a glass.

I told her I passed the test, I didn't need them.

Listen to me.

I was never so glad to have my vision back.

Every Sabbath is a chance for you to regain your vision.

Get it back to work.

Week has been busy and it's been hectic, and everything that's been unseen or that's been seen has been hitting you.

But what about what hasn't been seen?

Man, I come in here and I want to refocus and recharge.

I went out to the garage the other day to get my electric blower, and I'm whistling and excited.

I'm not really whistling, it just sounds good.

So I'm out there and I'm getting ready to blow off the grass that's on the driveway, and I I get going and it putters out, and I'm like, Come on! I gotta look at the driveway like this, and I'm frustrated.

Why?

Because I hadn't charged the battery, everything would have gotten clean and everything would have been its best, but I tried to get by without a recharge.

And you know what?

It had nothing left.

I think there's many people that come in today.

Look, you got nothing left.

If you don't make it here, you're gonna try to charge through the week and you're running on fumes.

There's some people here, you you get running on fumes in the regular work week in the regular world.

And when you get like that, you lash out.

I don't know about you, I lash out at my kids.

I'm aggravated because I'm tired and I don't have a lot left, and I'm aggravated, and I'm and I'm saying stuff to my wife that I shouldn't say, and I'm irritated, even the dog gets kicked.

Why?

Because God says you need a break.

And I'm running, running, running.

And people run ragged and they're choosing not to worship.

Running their families into a mess.

All while you got the wheel running it.

Some of y'all just need a little carry underwood in your life and need to let Jesus take the wheel.

Can you hear me?

Need to rest.

Last thing, I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Matthew 11.

Look at verse 28 through 30.

Tranquility comes knowing a burden that is better.

What's that mean, Pastor?

There's a better burden out there.

Matthew 28 or 11, 28 through 30 says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The word come there is the Yatu, come at the beginning of the scripture, come to me.

It gets the force of an interjection.

He says, Come and come now.

Come to me, Jesus is saying today, and come now.

Don't wait another day.

Come and come to me now.

And he says, and I will give you rest.

The word rest there is Anna Pow.

Anna is in the midst.

The pre of the word says, in the midst.

He will come, come now, and in the midst, Pow is to cease.

In the midst of all of it, it'll cease.

In the midst of your struggle, it'll cease.

That is, he will give you an exemption in the midst of your doings, a restraint.

He'll give you a pause, a refresh in the midst of it.

But he says, Come and come now.

He says, Take my yoke upon you.

Again, it doesn't mean to never work.

In fact, it means instead of taking a three-day nap, he says, Take my yoke.

What's that mean?

A yoke is laid upon the neck like an oxen.

He says, Come, all you that labor and are heavy laden, your burden, with a pain in the neck.

And he says, Take my yoke.

He doesn't say life's going to be without trial or without storm or without struggle.

In fact, the opposite is true in John 16.

It says, In this world you will have tribulations.

He said, Be of good cheer, have overcome that.

He says, But take my yoke.

What does that mean, Pastor?

It means my purpose.

Take on my purpose for your life.

Take on my plan for your life.

And if you'll take on my plan and my purpose, then you will worship me.

You will exalt me.

You will find me because you're living my purpose for your life.

You're going to make a priority of Sabbath in your life.

And so you'll worship me.

And your world that's full of unsettlement will have refocus that's full of tension and deadlines and worry and exhaustion and meetings and tired in the world, you'll have tribulation.

He says, if you take my yoke right in the midst of it, maybe on a Sunday, I'll give you a pause.

Right in the midst of it, I'll take it away.

Right in the midst of your burden, if you'll join me in my plan for your life, right in the midst of your hard time, maybe you'll find that I'm going to carry you.

In the midst of your darkness, you're going to find out that I love you.

And it'll be like it ceased.

He said, It was like it ceased.

And a pal, it ceased.

Right in the midst of the ever been in the middle of a struggle?

Right in the middle of it, you were like, I don't know how, but I got peace.

I don't know what happened because I was frazzled.

I was everywhere in this middle, and the grace of God just hit me.

I've heard so many people say that.

In funerals, in all kinds of struggles with cancer, different things.

I felt all the weight, and then it was like the grace of God.

Right in the midst of it.

I believe those are people living out God's plan.

They had his yoke.

Not that it's gonna be struggle-free, but in the struggle, there can be relief.

Callie got a splinter when she was little, and she was jumping around and she was making a fuss, and I you could tell it hurt her, and she had tears in her eyes, and I said, Come to me.

And I held her finger, and I got some tweezers, and that really set her off.

She yanked back, looking at, what is that tool?

What are you doing?

She yanked back her finger and I said, Come here.

And I looked at her and her little eyes and I said, I want to help you.

Do you believe daddy wants to help you?

And she sniffed, I said, Okay, Daddy's gonna fix this.

I held her hand.

I was calming her.

I said, I'm gonna fix this, but you have to be still and trust me.

Tears in her eyes, I took tweezers and she grimaced, and I went like this.

And she embraced Daddy because his word was true and her pain was gone.

But she had to trust.

She had to trust.

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