Life Rhythms of Rest and Gifts of Sabbath (Part 2)- Lucy Cantrell

From the beginning the invitation has been to start in the delight of God from a place of rest. In rhythms of rest are blessing. This set apart time is an invitation to encounter the divine.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):

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I just continue in the presence of the Lord as we are gathered together as we've are fellowshipping with one another, as we are getting to meet one another, some for the first time that we just entering together into this place, into this place in the presence of God into the arms of the Father, in the only things that we see the moment that we join into this place together, it's a big sign that it says welcome. You are welcome in displace. You're welcome in the place that you are right now that your soul is right now. And the places that your mind is right now, you just welcome to enter into displays that God Himself has set apart from the foundation of the world, he said, apart this time, a time sanctify blessed by God Himself, where he was inviting us to gather with him to enter to enter into this place. And there's no need to do anything except to enter Sapt to just receive the gift of the time of what he has, in this time for us, individually, and as a family, as a family in the kingdom, in this time, that we are leaving on Earth. So Father, we choosing to enter into this time with you. And this time of season, when we want to our striving to stop the places of chaos that we feel in our mind, in our in our hearts, the struggles that we're feeling where they come and stop, even right now as we enter together, at least for this time, that we're going to experience the peace that surpasses understanding in your presence. I thank You, Lord, that your specialty is entering to places of chaos. So we just welcome you in the places of chaos. So you will come and establish who you are. And establish your peace and establish your kingdom into this place this to be released to be the you will be releasing who you are in the splices Jesus in those places, Father, so we're we're here we are as your children. And we choose him to receive this the gift that you have for us. And this time, Father, we love you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Well, we're going to continue like Pastor Ron was saying, talking about Sabbath. Okay. And for some of you that were not here last week, I'm going to call this Sabbath time. Okay as rhythms of rest. Because I asked this question last week, when you think about Sabbath, what do you think about? What is the first thing that comes to mind? I know that for me personally, when I heard Sabbath, you just had this tone of like religion, this stone of like, only like, tradition that it's kind of like religious and is for the Jews. Okay. That's what he came to mind. For me when I thought about Sabbath. Were actually Sabbath was not and we saw this last week. It was not something that God gave just to the Jewish people. Remember that Israel was not a nation until Abraham, through Abraham, God created a nation, a people as a nation set apart for himself. And then in Exodus. In the book of Exodus, we see that God gives the Sabbath as a command. But the first time that we see Sabbath in the scriptures, we see them in Genesis. Okay, we see it in Genesis two, and we saw this last Last week, and we saw how in the sixth day, God created men in Genesis 2123. And just like Brad was saying, He created men and six day, the first thing the men experience with God was resting with God. And we saw that that word rest means literally to stop in to cease. That's what it means. So the first thing the men experience with God was stopping, what ceasing. And from there, God will invite men to work. So that's the model that God gives from the beginning, he invites them, hey, to, to, to multiply, to multiply and to, to enter into this work in partnership with God, from the place of Sabbath, from the place of delight, because we see that God plays Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eden, in the Hebrew means delight. So that means that the first thing the man the man experience, was stopping and ceasing, resting with God, in the garden of delight. So the invitation was from the beginning to start, in the delight of God from rest, resting with God. Okay, so that's what we were seeing and how this rhythms, because the blessing, we're going to see that it's in the rhythms, not just in times of rest, we have times of rest, and we all have experience, that when we rest, there is a blessing that we receive, or our bodies receive or souls receive it or some blessing, right. But there's something different when we enter through faith into this with the revelation, the Sabbath, it is a time that God set apart, God sanctify it, it says in the scripture in Genesis 2am, blessed it. So why did the blessings that God has in store as we enter into this time that he has sanctified, there is a holiness that God wants us to experience there. And of course, we can experience God's holiness and presence all the time. But when God set up our time specifically, is saying there is something very specific that I'm going to do in this time, because I need to teach you this rhythms, this blessings that are going to come as you enter into this rhythms with me, because Sabbath II was set apart to enter into this times blessed and sanctified by God, so we can enjoy God, so we can learn to enjoy him. So that's kind of like why we went through last week. Okay. And one thing that we read was something that a Jewish rabbi explains about the Sabbath. And it says, As a Sabbath, as if it's a palace in time, the God has built a tent in time, so a tent in time, the God in vices are dimension in which we are at home with the divine. And we talk a little bit about how when we enter into this time, this rhythms of rest, this time, blessings set apart by God, there is an invitation to encounter the Divine is what Paul is saying in officience, when he says that our citizenship is not on this earth, but we come with a reality of what actually really means to be a citizens of the kingdom of heaven, of the spiritual kingdom. So the reality of the Spirit will be able to be open for us even more to be to be able to enter into this divine encounter into the reality of what we will be in eternity. Not just our time here on earth, not just for God to renew our purposes and Collins here. But how these callings and the purposes which God created us here in this earth. They're actually the womb, just as pastor Wright has said many times, our life here is the womb of what we will be in the ages to come. So it's an invitation to come in the glimpses of this reality or what we will be an eternity because God needs to bring us into the truth in the reality of this because I don't know but most of us grew up with the reality that when we think about well, we will be in eternity. We just going to be like in this catatonic state. And with you know this chubby babies with wings And God wants to bring those into the actual reality of the greatness of who he is in how we will rule with Him on Earth, during the millennial reign with Christ, and why we will be in eternity is almost like entering into this time where we can even bring some places of eternity into the reality of where we are now. Wow. I mean, just the thought of that, for me, is just like, Wow, Lord, I just truly one more of this. So one of the things that I was able to share with you, and it was that it's important that we don't see these as religious activity or, okay, I need to do Sabbath so I can do the religious activity that I need to do on the Sabbath is looses its purpose. It's for that, right? It's that gift, is something that we're going to receive is something that we're going to experience and encounter the blessings that are going to be pulled out for us a time to see seen from our own striving. Okay, so that was with what we look last week. Okay. But if we are honest with each other, we can actually say that we don't see time as a gift. Although time is a gift given by God, we don't see it as a gift. We are constantly seeing time as something we need to catch up continually. We see it as something that is escaping from us. Right? Right. Moms will say things like, I don't have time. I don't have time for anything, yet. We are busy with everything. Are we saying time is flying? Where did the time go? All of us have said this at some point in our lives. And the reality is that we tend to value busyness and productivity over our relationship with God, we exchanged are times of intimacy, for times of busyness, without realizing that we place a shipments and productivity as a form of idle in our lives. And the problem is not that we're not going to work that we're not going to be productive. I mean, we see in the guard of that gun, tell Adam to multiply, right? It's not that it's from the place that we're starting the work that we're talking about here. Think, think about it, there are always going to be more things to do in the house, there's going to be one more thing, one more project to do in our jobs. But we don't want to stop being productive if we're honest with each other. Because in reality, part of our identity has been rooted, rooted in activity and accomplishment. This is a completely different concept of what we see. The God brings us in to be fruitful in the kingdom. We see this in John 15. Okay, this is a different reality. Okay. So again, it's not a competition between work and rest is how we start in the beginning where what is the priority that we are giving? Okay, so in John 15, it tells us, this is Jesus speaking, and he says, this is to my father, to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit. So there is a glory that the Father is going to receive as we bear much fruit. He says, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, so that you might go in bear fruit, these rhythms of rest, this Sabbath rest, there is an invitation to really see seen from trying to get our identity or belonging in something else is where we learn these words, that God chose us. We don't need to work from insecurity, we don't need to do things, from this place of striving, of not being good enough. We are, this is the place where we learn that we have been chosen by God, that we are His Beloved. Then it says in John 15, as well. I chose you and appointed you so that you might go in bear fruit, in these times of of rest in this rhythms of rest we learn the Christ is the one who has appointed us, we learn what are the assignments that Christ has appointed us to do, so we don't go and do everything that is out there. But We actually are responding in obedience because we're he has appointed us. It says here that he has appointed us to bear fruit, that means that he will produce the fruit through us. Okay? So through these times of Sabbath, we're learning as well, that we are producing a fruit that will last. That's what it says, and don't 15 fruit that will last any eternal fruit, not just fruit that will perish. But all these come from learning to abide in Him, and that is what these rhythms of rest teaching us to learning to abide in Him. If you remain in me said, Jesus, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. So during this times this rhythms of rest, we are learning to lead the words of Jesus abide in us what he's saying, not only His written Word, but also the words that Remo words, that his Spirit is speaking to us in the moment. So we learning to not only receive those words, but they will remain, we will be able to remain in those words, in those words, in us. And from that place is that we are going to pray, because we are going to have the heart in the will of the Father because we have his words. And then it says whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Do you still say no, I no longer called you serve under the same chapter, I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his masters business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father, have made known to you, this season this rhythms of rest invites us into seeing each others and be able to encounter the friendship of Jesus, when we are not just servants doing and doing and BC and BC even when is the work of God, even when it's the work of the Lord. We It's an invitation to see come, come enjoy the friendship, that it is this this intimate place of friendship that I have in store for you. So we learn this, but also when it says here, when this is Jesus telling this to the disciples for everything, not you Psalm it says here everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you this is the invitation that Jesus is, is given us as well, is given to each one of us. Listen, during this time to I want to make you know, everything. Everything that I learned from my father, and I'm gonna make it known to you. Now we know that Jesus was talking to them to a Jewish audience, right. And for a Jewish audience, that word that he said I wouldn't made it, I will make it known to you. That the word known is not just known as an information, the knowing for a Jewish audience, he will beat this invitation to the unveiling of the reality of this close relationship of Heart to Heart, this intimate relationship that I will know as I experience the reality of what you're saying the reality of God. See God for the Jewish audience is not a concept that you learn through information. They, there are words there are things that you are learning, as in Revelation as God is unveiling himself, for us to experience that is through the experience, not just the knowledge. And we know that all of this is countercultural for us. And many of you share last week and gave your testimony how unhealthy is to work and never rest. Okay? That's why Sabbath Rest is a rhythm that we enter to receive the gift of time from God. And I want to share something with you. One of the things that the Lord said to me this week as I was meditating praying on this once that Lucy Have you notice why the scripture says in First Peter chapter five verse eight be up solver spirit. Okay, we're gonna read that again, Be of sober spirit. Be on alert. Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And Revelation 1212 says, Therefore rejoice, Oh heavens, and you who dwell in them well to the inhabitants of the earth, and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. So translation says that he knows that his time is short, the Lord began to speak to me and said, Do you see the enemy, Satan knows that his time is short. So he will try, just like a scripture saying for speed or five, eight, to steal, kill, and destroy the time that God has given you as a gift. He knows God wants to redeem our times, just like we see in Ephesians 515. And we're going to see it in a few. He hates that he doesn't have time. The his time is short. So he will try anything, anything to distract you from entering into this holy and blessed times. Never realizing the blessings, the supernatural empowerment, that this holy times that God has set a time for us to be with him that we're going to receive. And I know Pastor Raha says something like this, as well. It says, If the enemy can keep us from loving and serving God, he will try everything he can do to bring busyness to the point of extra station of exhaustion. That's a hard word exhaustion, to say for me, always running on low. Because it's such exhaustion, makes reflection and prayer difficult. Think about it. Every time that you're tired, do you insulate the time that you say you feel pumped Are you going to pray more is the time that you feel like empowered that you're going to just seek the Lord. That's the list of the things that you want to do at that time. When you are in times of warfare, it's when you are tired, it is the best time to engage in warfare. So these are part of why the enemy is trying to make us so busy to the point that we're so tired, that it's hard for us to pay attention to what God is saying to what God is doing. And become less attentive to His Presence. There is a major difference when we engage in spiritual warfare, like I said, from a place of rest, than from a place of busyness, abyss of busyness, and feeling tired. When I read part of this book that I'm reading, by the way, I recommend it if you have never read it, it's just really good. Okay, and I'm just reading so many resources right now. And just so many studies of this as we are in this journey. Like I said, last week, I'm sharing from as I'm walking this journey, I'm just sharing with you what are we learning as a family in this journey. So it's a journey that I'm entering into. So he says in this book, in this subversive Sabbath, the author shares how the powers of darkness do not like Sabbath. And I quote, It is fascinating to me the number of times in the gospels, that Jesus encounters a demon on the Sabbath. As Jesus entered the Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath, we see him facing all sorts of things that are at work are the works of the enemy. And I think he says that the enemy will always stand against the healing works of the Lord of the Sabbath, in my experiences as practicing Sabbath, and we also open one will open one up to serious spiritual attacks. Okay, so he's, he's just saying, like, Don't enter the server thinking that everything's going to be just super good. No, be aware that you may experience warfare because the enemy is going to try to fight this. I began, he said, to experience the dark side of work, and adrenaline addiction. When we started it to Sabbath years ago, he says, To this day, around 3pm, on the Sabbath, I bear what I call a Sabbath depression. My brain starts craving the stimulation, in my mind become sad, as my body is not being pumped full of adrenaline. We saw this last week, right? How the constant social media that constant phones is constant technology, we are trapped train or self, to always feel the time that we have available to go from one thing to the other. And we are training ourselves to enter into these going to from one thing to another thing, to the point that our brains never rest are salts never rest. And we're addicted to the dopamine that the electronics bring. We were talking to with Brian about this. And you know, as we have read researchers about this, it's not just social media is the is the technology is the phone, the fact that you look at your phone constantly, even if you're not on social media, right? I have done the whole deleting app, social media and or cried. But I'm learning right now that when I truly put the technology down phone, no whatever electronics I have, because the electronic itself is bringing dopamine in that moment that you just look at it, even if it was not social media, a shot of dopamine got into into your soul. So your body is craving more and more this give me more, give me more of this, give me more of this. Okay. Now I'm going to continue reading a little bit of what he says the author here, when we are silent, he says, our mind have time to examine problems that we have been suppressing all week long. Sabbath allows pain to go to the surface. And we know when God allows pain to come to the surface because he wants to remove it. He wants to deal with it. He wants to heal and he wants to set us free from it. So I want to ask you, as we go through this, I want to just leave a few questions that just encourage you to us something like this or anything that the Lord brings you to mind to ask. And I just read read that I mean, I just wrote this, says Lord, will you show me where I am? am I allowing the enemy or we as a family? Because Sabbath is about families as well. Allowing the enemy to kill, steal, destroy the time they you have set apart from me to spend with you. Father, are we running on low? Are we running from low? Or from or are we running from the overflow? How rest with you looks like for me or for us as a family right now. Because for everybody is going to be different. Can you show me? Where can I start? I think this is part of what he's was sharing the author is I think our rest wakes the devil to action. He does not want us to rest in the presence of God He wants us be see that. That's why prayer needs to be an integral part of Sabbath Keeping. We should not expect Sabbath to be a day free from Devil's attacks. While Jesus did do a good deal of spiritual warfare on various Sabbath days in the gospels, he was keenly aware that alongside doing battle with the enemy, he needed at times of rest with the Father to war against the enemy without rest is something that not even Jesus did. He did not model that for us unless you're trying to shoot if I'm just gonna go there because of time, I'm just gonna Okay, you're just gonna go really just overall over this part in efficient 515 Okay, we see that it tells us look carefully, then how you work, notice us wise but as wise making the best use of the time because the days are evil. The New King James says, Redeeming the time because the days are evil that were redeeming me as I was looking at her in the in the in the original language is to buy up, it means to ransom to rescue from loss to take full advantage fleecing sites in a buying opportunity. Okay. So the Holy Spirit kept saying as I was reading this and I was seeing this what it means that redeeming the redeeming the time. They keep saying this is part of what we are learning in the rhythms of Sabbath rest. To redeem in the time is to learn to buy gold, like he tells us in Revelation 318 So I advise you to buy gold from me. Gold has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also by white garment. from me, so you will not be ashamed, but your nakedness and unknown in augment for your eyes. So, you will be able to see, do you see this this is why we this is what we are doing this is why we get in this is why we buy in, in this times in this rhythms of rest is what a say a 55 one says calm all you who are thirsty, come to the waters and you without money. Without money coming by, and eat, come buy wine and milk. Without money and without cost. I believe that as we enter this holy times of rest, the Lord wants to free us from the deception that we are in control of time. What is his saying here to the Scripture is saying Come and buy everything you need. But everything that you need is already paid for. Just come and receive, just come and receive from it. Also, when we enter this time of rest, I believe it will be a time of rekindle the call God has placed in our lives. We tend as a body of Christ to go and go and go on to we have nothing left until we burned out. And the Lord is is asking you this rhythms is inviting us in this rhythm come so you can be rekindle, then you will know you we only receive reminders, why are we doing what we're doing? Why am I doing this even when you know there are times it may be you know a lot of productivity will be time so we are busy, but the Lord has had come in this rhythms so you can be rekindled with the fire of the fire of my heart of the fire for the people that I have called you with a fire that is in my heart of what I want to do on the earth through you through your family through these generations. And I feel that this is the invitation of this places, okay, places where God is inviting us to appreciate more what we get to do with God, know what we do for God, but why we get to do with him, the striving, not in pride. But in his love, humility and rest. You know, I was just thinking about this about this time I say, Lord, what were you saying to me and I felt like the Lord led me to uptime of repentance. When the some how I have thought in the way that I'm leaving, that I can control my time that I think that I'm in charge of it somehow. Time is a gift in the Lord the same way that He is the Lord of the harvest. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and he is the Lord of time. So I enter into this time, also, you know the questions that we can be asking, as I was sharing with you what are rhythms of rest, that I can enter with you, Father, to buy this refined gold, this wine and milk to just enter and receive Sabbath Sabbath rhythm brings us into the reminder and reality of the grace and delight that we have in God. As we talked at the beginning, you know, the garden of delight when God placed man, so we can delight with him. That's this, this place that we, the Lord invites us all the time, from this place of rest from this place of delight. We were listening to this few years back this this rabbi. And it was just really interesting, because it's the first time that I heard this concept like this Sabbath. And he shared with us the Sturm of 616. And how we don't live that way, we leave six days of five days of work, right? To finally get to the sixth or sixth and seventh day of rest, right? Saturday or Sunday if you work Saturdays, just Sunday, right? So that's that's how we usually see our lives and I trained to leave. And but we see that even in the model of Scripture, Adam and Eve didn't have to earn the rest. Men didn't have to work to enter into the Sabbath. He was placed on the Sabbath, so then he could work. So because when we leave this rhythm of like working, working, working so hard to finally rest, the time or this appointed time so we can rest with God. We're definitely engaged. We talked about this already, when we're tired is hard to engage. We were like, just giving God not that first fruit. But what is leftover if there's anything leftovers at the end of the week. It's hard. That's why we have rhythms of daily rhythms of time. With God that we need, but there also there is weekly rhythm, like like this longer period, because we were seeing reading researchers to that it takes more than just a few hours before all our mind and all of our bodies able to enter into rest. So there's wisdom of why we do this long periods of resting up ceasing up stopping, okay with a 616, right. So if we start or weak in the Sabbath rest, right. And this rhythm of rest, I'm going to call a room of wrath because again, Saba sometimes have to have this connotation in our minds, but rhythms of rest, and we enter this way, and we're starting to see that this is the time when we how we started our week. So we're going to start this way. And then we're going to, from that place, we're gonna be doing what the Lord has called us to do during that week, in our houses, in our jobs, in ministry, all these things right? As we are keeping up our daily rhythms with the Lord, wish the Sabbath rest will be empowering those daily rhythms as we spend time with the Lord. So you see that, okay, we started an arrest, there are this ones are like almost like mini arrests, rhythms. One offer that I was written in one book is like, I call like you said, Sabbath one, then Sabbath two, then Sabbath three, until I get again there, I get to the next Sabbath. So we see that we start this the 616, we start with Sabbath, the rest of the things we do in through this place of, of Resting in God, and with God and enjoying God, and we finish and another Sabbath, no other long period of time, enjoying God and resting in Him. There, the blessing, almost everybody that has that I been just like, learning from, say the same thing. The blessing is in the rhythms. Not just in the few times that we choose to do Sabbath, although those are important in their necessaries, but there is something about this rhythm. And this is where he helped us in this rhythm, where we, where we enter into this completed reality of Christ's words on the crossed, It is finished. That's why during this rhythm of rest, we enter deeper into the gift of grace of everything Christ has already done in purchase for us, as we see in I'm not going to go through that I just don't have time for that. But just if you if you read Hebrews four, three, and four, you're going to see even more than Christ is our Sabbath rest. So through these rhythms, were invited to enter into the finished work of Christ. But we realize in actually, what he is inviting us to receive from his finished work and do everything from that. We also learned to release and while we are learning why we are invited to release that which enslaves us, possessions, productivity, fear, anger, insecurity, unresolved pain, criticism, and many other emotions and habits that want to master us, because whether we realize it or not, if we go go gold, these things are mastering us. Instead, we are invited to experience release from this bonds to step outside slavery and rejoice in freedom. And yes, we have this freedom again in Christ all the time. But we have, if we're honest with ourselves, we have a difficult time experiencing it. And when we become busy, we won't have time enough to notice this areas and receive the healing and freedom necessary. Right as we're going to see later, maybe another in other teachings. Okay, I'm gonna read just a few questions because I think they're important here. If we are called throughout the Bible to be thankful, right? We can we all agree that we're called to be thankful. How can we be thankful if we are not taking the time to notice while we while we have been given the beauty of, you know, the the creation that surrounds us, the food on our table, the people who express love to us, even the good areas of the jobs that we are doing? It takes time and reflection to realize how blessed we are by those gifts. Even more challenging for us is noticing God's hand at work in our lives, and in the world around us, especially as we see things are in the world right now. Am I aware of how God is answering the prayers that I'm praying? The prayers that we all have? We'll start praying. Have I noticed that God has been at work around me how, in order to thank God for how he's working around us, we have to take time to look back and observe what he has been giving us in what he has been doing. How can I notice on a need for how we can notice our need for God, if we don't have time to reflect on the patterns of our lives, unless we stop moving, we will not be able to notice the emptiness inside that can help us perceive our longing for God. I like this one. The Bible supports us to confess our sin First John one nine, we find this. But unless we take time to notice the ways that we fall short on this, we take time to agree with the Holy Spirit, it searches our heart. We don't know what to confess. Over time Sabbath trains us to see the hand of God in our lives constantly in the blessing that we have. Okay. Well, I'm out of time, but I'm just going to choose one here. I thought you want I don't think I'm gonna have time because I don't want to rush through this one. And that's okay. I'm just want to talk about the next one. But there's one thing about salah that has been burning upon my heart. We're not going to get to do this today. I'm actually sad. But it is Sabbath is sending visitation to prepare the bride. I'm telling you, this is just like, had me on the floor. Just like weeping and just seeking more of these. The God is inviting us to prepare us a bride. We're going to so I'm just telling you how not to go through it together this this time. But I do want to because I think that this is partly why are we going to go right now what's important as the foundation. So let's talk a little bit about Sabbath stopping, right those rhythms that we stop, okay? And they keep bringing us into the delight of God and for that we have to see Jesus and the Sabbath. Okay. Jesus and his disciples observe the Sabbath. Okay, Jesus first public appearance recorded in Luke four shows him reading from this column is crolla Visalia, in the synagogue on the Sabbath. That's how Jesus starts his ministry, he decided to start his ministry on the Sabbath day, reading out of the scroll of Isaiah will say the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, who he has called me to preach the good news we all have heard of that scripture. And Luke's report that he was Jesus custom to be at the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Six times we see throughout the Gospels, how Jesus clashes with the Jewish religious leaders over the Sabbath. But we have to notice something he was not saying that the Sabbath was bad, he was not disputing the significance of the Sabbath. Instead, see, he focus on the bigger issue, the question of what the Sabbath reflects about God, to the people who observes in one of these disputes involve the disciples plug in the ears of corn for beaten on the Sabbath, to work on the Sabbath, because they were hungry. We see that in Matthew 12, one through eight. In replying to the Pharisees accusation that his disciples have broken the law. Jesus cited the example of King David in his man who ate forbidden food when they were hungry in First Samuel 20 116. Jesus is saying, feasting, not hunger, wants to come was commanded for the Sabbath. Think about it is like he was saying, you find an about we're in a little bit of core because we're hungry when the command is solid is to feast. This is a you missing the point. Jesus was pointing out the contradiction in the Jewish Sabbath laws of the time. The other five times that we see this conflict between Jesus and the religious leader center around healing. Jesus was teaching through his actions, that the Sabbath is a day of liberation after your freedom. When people return to the joy of the world as God created, where they're born bodies, their lives had the opportunity to return to the way that God has created Jesus as the Jewish religious leaders in Martha before any Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath to save life or to kill? He points out that Jewish law permitted people to take care of animals on the Sabbath if the Jewish are permitted, for you to take care of your animal on the Sabbath hum Much more will God desire that a daughter of Abraham be set free from satan bondage on the Sabbath. This is part of the delight the goddess invites us. There is a delight that we enter in the heart of God when we take time for him to heal our wounds does not nothing there we'll only not only we bring rests to our souls, but we enter into this delight we enter so when God brings up not always is going to be this God is going to bring these issues for healing during Sabbath, but when he does, is because it's invited. So Sinha delight, okay, we cannot be saying or I'm sorry, I think I cannot, you know, because I have read some things that is, oh, well, but you know, you just are not, besides, you should not be dealing with difficult issues. But here I have to go to the Scripture, I have to go to what the scripture says. And while Jesus defined the Sabbath, so when these times of Sabbath come, that is time for healing, God is inviting us into this time that delights the heart of God, when He is a father, I'm going to see my daughter and my son free from bondage free from these things. Jesus in Luke 14, five questions the crowd if an ox or a child fell into a well on the south, wouldn't they pull that child or ox out? God, he says desires mercy, and a sacrifice. For Jesus, the Sabbath was a day to do good show mercy to save a life and free people from bondage. This acts were appointed for the where appropriate for the Sabbath. It spoke of God's nature, a merciful God, the God who heals the God who delivers people from evil. Acts that glorify God can never be a breach of the Sabbath, have a time of rest of rest of those of these rhythms of rest. On the contrary, they are an invitation to enter into the things that delight God's heart, like seeing his children heal free from the oppression in yoke of the devil, in obscene after all, Mark to 27 says that again, the Savile was not made for men. Not not sorry, the Sabbath was made for men, and not men for the Sabbath. Sabbath rest invites us into the heart of compassion of God, so we can receive His compassion in our hearts, to be move to what move his heart. So Sabbath Rest is not and with this, I finish, it's not that, okay, now you have to go and do acts of compassion on the Sabbath. We're missing the point we are trying to do works, because we feel like we need to fulfill something there, we need to do what is we need to be compassionate ourselves. So we're going to do acts of compassion, no. But when we went into the Sabbath, and we enter into the heart of compassion of God, His compassion comes into our hearts. So then our heart of compassion, when we see a need is going to be highlighted. And we're going to do it out of that heart of compassion. And every time that we see in the gospels, that Jesus, not every time, but a lot of times, that we see Jesus healing in the gospels, he says, In he was moved by compassion, and he heals them. When we have the heart of compassion, of God, the power of healing will flow through our lives into the lives of others. It is an invitation to enter into this place of rest of the compassion of heart. So the power of God even be used not only for our lives, but for others. So I'm just gonna finish here, because there's just so much again, and just like we don't have enough time, but I just wanted us to just want us to pray, and just want to finish reading the scripture of Matthew 1828, to 30. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you a rest. Father. Sometimes we don't even know when we don't while we need. We don't even know what we don't have. Lord, but we come in, because you know better the places in our lives that need rest the places in our life that we have a burden that is been heavy yoke in our lives. So we come in more and we give you these things we come so you can release us from the burden from the yoke of our lives right now. So we can find rest for our souls. The rest their souls are crying out, Lord, their lives are crying out, come and B that that friend that follow that is going to remove the heavy yield from our lives. So we can enter into The blessing into the blessing of these appointed times of rest more we just thank you for what are you doing? What are you inviting us to enter? I thank you for the things that you are doing that we don't even know that you did during this time. Thank you, Father for the words that you spoke to my brothers and sisters here that I didn't even spoke, but that you spoke to them. We just thank You, Father, we love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you, Lucy, I'm gonna leave the recording on just for a second. I want to just highlight a couple things. I said this last time Lucy taught on this the commandments, the 10 commandments. They're just kind of like the tip of the iceberg for the kingdom lifestyle. And Jesus illustrates that in the Sermon on the Mount. But every commandment is a doorway. And it's a doorway into a lifestyle. For example, you shall not kill. Well, okay, now I got it. Lord. We're not supposed to kill people, right? But it's a doorway into a lifestyle of being a life giver. And being a person who gives life You shall not steal, will it's a doorway into a lifestyle of becoming a giver, a giver of our hearts, our time our relationships, our money, all these things. So every commandment is a doorway. Most of us as Christians can easily accept nine of the 10 commandments, right? You should not kill, you should not steal, you should not commit adultery, all those things again. Yeah, that I can't say that doesn't apply to me because it's in the Old Testament right now. But when we get to the Sabbath, it's very common for Christians go well, I'm not under the law. Because we're thinking of the Sabbath day and not working like the Jews had this strict law about the Sabbath like we see in the New Testament. But really what you're doing Lucy, I think the Lord is using you to open our minds to see a lifestyle of Sabbath again, remember the Sabbath to keep a holy is a doorway into a lifestyle. And like you said, it's a gift. I appreciate your term, the rhythms of rest, because Sabbath is way more than okay, the for the seven day or the week don't work. It's so much more than that. It's cycles of rest. And it's cycles of connecting with God. And I just thought of this as you were teaching. If you think about it, the nucleus of Sabbath is relationship. It's not about okay, I'm gonna quit doing everything. And I'm just gonna go sit in the woods by myself. That's not what Sabbath was in, in Israel, Sabbath at the nucleus of it. It was relational connection, beginning with relationship with God, and relationship with the people we love. And there's a rest in that, that is a mystery that I believe is interconnected to our physical health, our spiritual health, our mental health, and all of these other things. Now, most of you didn't know me when I was young. Beth's not up here to shake her head. Yes, you guys know. So she can tell you, I'm telling you the truth. But I used to really struggle with God. Why did you create us to sleep eight hours a day? I'm serious. I had struggles with this for a long time. I'm like, Lord, why would you create us to waste 1/3 of our lives on the earth? Anybody ever felt that way? That's why I felt like literally, if you sleep, they tell you, you need eight hours of sleep a day. If you sleep eight hours a day, you literally are wasting 1/3 of your life 1/3 of your life is spent asleep. Doesn't that seem like a waste? I thought man, it seems like I should be doing a lot more things. But what's interesting, they've done many studies about people who don't get enough rest. And all of these problems accumulate in the human body, in the mind, in our mental well being. different cancers are you're a higher risk for certain cancers, you're higher risk for certain heart diseases and all these things if you don't get enough rest. And I think probably what you're showing us here, Lucy, is that actually there's something more important than just eight hours of sleep a day. And that is God is saying, I created you like kind of like Brad shared earlier to enter into communion with me. And you highlighted this last time, and you guys talked about it in the discussion last last week. God works for six days, then he rests on the seventh but then he created us on the sixth day, right? So The first day we enter into as as humans is what? Sabbath. The first fruits are first fruits, like you said, was entering into Sabbath rest. And one of my spiritual fathers used to say it this way, he said, most people in our country, they work to rest. In other words, they work for the weekend, they work, work, work, work, work, so I can go spend my money, and have a good time on the weekend and buy things and all of this. But he said, God created us to rest to work. And then when you go into Hebrews, and you actually look at what work is, the Hebrews writer says, The New Covenant kind of kind of Sabbath is actually a work where we cease from our own work. So we enter into His, which is another whole teaching. But in effect, we're in the first fruits of it. So I wanted to just highlight this because as we do, we start to regain a perspective that Hey, God created us for these, I believe daily Sabbath, which I believe is in the morning, I, I will tell you even in in in the army life of having to show up for work every morning at six o'clock in the morning and work 70 hours a week, I had to have that time in the morning with the Lord and Wayne Cordero in his book leading on empty, which is a bad title, because it's really about leading out of the overflow. He said, You got to learn how to sleep in on the front side. And sleeping in on the front side means go to bed early. And I had to do that, because I needed that time with God. And when we develop these cycles, it's not like you said, it's not like checking the block, you're not checking the block, I probably am going to be correct in saying this, that probably no one here has a checklist at your house to tell you when to eat. Right? You eat in rhythms because you enjoy eating. We love to eat most of us do. I don't over many people don't love to eat. And usually they're lying. No, seriously, we enter into rhythms of eating of breaking bread, because that's the way we're created. And God has a way in your teaching us that we may enter into this way to learn this. And I'm astounded at how many things in our relationships, in our marriages, in our jobs in our relationship with God start getting solved because we're living life God's way. And it's kind of like when we don't we develop cumulative cumulative trauma, cumulative trauma in our marriages, cumulative trauma in our relationships, cumulative trauma, even in our relationship with God, we don't even know it. We don't even know what's going on. All we know is is it doesn't feel right. Something's wrong in this relationship. This doesn't feel right, this is not working. And when we enter into those cycles of Sabbath, it's amazing how God works. I believe daily Sabbath, I believe in weekly Sabbath, Israel had a feasting cycle. And in that feasting cycle, they would have a week or 10 days of feasting, and that was for them to connect in relationship. And so guys, listen, no matter how strong I am, spiritually, I cannot be well, if I try to do this by myself, I can even if I have Sabbath, if I don't have genuine, organic Heart to Heart relationships, not just in my family, but in my spiritual family. I cannot be healthy no matter how strong I am. And I'm not just saying like oh, well I need to go to church. No, that doesn't work. As you might rod you're saying church then go to church doesn't work if you just go and you sit and you listen and you leave unit right? There has to be the family connection, the relational connection that's the nucleus of that Sabbath time. It's kind of like saying, Well if I Sabbath every morning, but I don't connect with God, right like in the morning you guys know my routine. I like to say good. I literally have an intentionality to go Good morning, father. Stop. Good morning, Jesus. Stop. Just think let, let him connect with us. Good morning, Holy Spirit. I am astounded how God begins to connect his heart to hours, and he really reaches out you can feel the touch of the Father, I need that touch. It's not enough for me to just have that touch. In my head. You don't need Sabbath to have a touch in your head. Right? You don't need Sabbath you already know God loves you, right. But you try that in your marriage. I've you know, I've done a lot of marriage counseling over the years and and I was in the wife will say, Well, he never tells me he loves me. And I looked to him and he goes, you already know I Love you. I told you when we got married, well, how does that work out in a marriage? That's not the way it works, right? And it's not enough to just say, I love you, it's to, I love you in my actions. I love you with my time. I love you with my gifts, I love you with what I do for you, I love you. And then still, that's not enough, right? You have to date you have to spend time together, you have to take time with your kids, you got to spend time together. If you're just always working, and you always get your kids work, and you're gonna lack that heart connection you need and when you become when they become teenagers. If you lose their heart, you've lost them. I thought I'd get one Amen. Now that listen, we have to be at the heart connection level with our family with our friends, relationships, our children or our spouses, but we can't do it alone. And so we do it together as a spiritual family. Someone said to me said you guys go and your minister all over the place and you do all these things. Why don't you just go to churches and because we're a spiritual family, we have to know each other. We have to know our hearts know our lives, be there for one another, and that kind of thing. So anyways, that's all I want to say on that. I'm going to turn the recorder off because I know some people don't like to talk to so many people. So we'll go from there and we'll have some sharing. Thank you for joining us today. Aaron ova is raising up spiritual leaders in many nations through our spiritual enrichment events, syndicated NetCast international prayer Council network, and numerous international seminary scholarships. Together, we are lighting the fires of revival, fueling prayer movements and raising up friends of Jesus in the nations. We invite you to partner with us in this extraordinary movement. You can sign up as a prayer and financial partner today by going to era nova.org and clicking give. Please include your email address so that we can send you updates. That's era nova.org. Click give and become a monthly partner today. 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