Embracing Sabbath: Finding Rest for Our Souls

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "The always-on work culture that says you're never off. You always need to be available for emails and phone calls and texts. The rising cost of living that makes more and more people need to work multiple jobs just to pay the bills and stay afloat. The digital age with the phone that never stops buzzing, the constant stream of notifications. How many of you have turned a bunch of those off? Thank God they put on these things, the ability to turn a bunch of those off. I don't know if I would own one if they did not have that feature." [08:15](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

2. "The more exhausted we are, the more difficult it is to love. The more difficult it actually is to do any of the fruits of the Spirit. Think about it. How can you have love in your life and joy in your life and peace in your life if you're chronically exhausted all the time? It's like the Corrie ten Boom quote. She said, if the devil can't make you sin, he'll just make you busy." [09:42](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

3. "We work more than we ever had before. We have more than we've ever than ever before and we're still not happy. It's Egypt all over again. We're in slavery of our choice. Here's how Mark John Mark Comer says this and I love this rest is an act of resistance." [32:26](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

4. "The marketing departments of these multinational companies know that you want rest in your life. But that most people do not have it. And they want to sell it to you. The problem is you can't buy Sabbath. And you don't need to. To have Sabbath, you don't need to drop $49.99 on a terrycloth bathrobe. Or blow half your paycheck on another night out. The ache that you feel for rest, for deep rest, it feels like a lot of work." [03:23](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

5. "Historians tell a cool story about this group of pioneers that were traveling the Oregon trail. Winter was approaching and they were worried they wouldn't make it before winter. So the group split into two because about half of them. One of them wanted to go seven days a week to try to make it. The other refused to break Sabbath. The group that was practicing the Sabbath arrived first." [18:27](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

### Quotes for Members

1. "Jesus's will for your life is not for you to be chronically exhausted, sleep deprived, unhappy and living with no margin. And the Egyptians, you needed cheap labor to work while those at the top rest. And slaves don't get Sabbath. Slaves are subhuman. They're a commodity to buy and sell. They only have value in what they produce. They work all day, every day, and then they die. So the command is what? Remember, you're not slaves anymore. You're in a new kingdom under a new king. He's nothing like Pharaoh. There's no daily quota. There's no taskmaster over your head." [11:18](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

2. "We don't invite people to attend a church service. We invite people to follow Jesus with us. One of Jesus' most famous invitations is from Matthew chapter 11. We'll read that together. Matthew 11, verse 28 through 30. We've gone over this passage a few times because it's kind of a, if you will, it's like the cornerstone passage. It's the invitation from Jesus to all of us. He says, We spent this sermon series learning this way of Jesus, what it actually means to take that easy yoke of Jesus, what it means to actually follow him. In this text, he calls this life rest for your souls, the easy yoke." [05:49](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

3. "If you will commit to it and if you will work on it and you will practice at it, you will start to see a lot of good things flow from it. Sabbath, like all of the practices, practices is a means to a different end. We've talked about this as we talk about all the spiritual disciplines, right? The, the discipline itself is not the end. It's not to say I Sabbath better than all of you. Oh, I Sabbath hard. I told you how much I like sleep. I could Sabbath for two days and have a great time. That's not the point. And the point is not even to be well rested and happy, although it will help. It's to participate in the love and life of God himself, to center our life around him, to live more deeply in God, not just on the Sabbath, but all week long." [38:51](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

4. "Who am I if I'm not producing? Who am I if I'm not performing? And I believe, honestly believe this is true for some of us. Sabbath, we need it as an act of identity formation. Who are we? Who do we belong to? Sabbath is a weekly reminder. I am loved by God. We remember what, here's something we remember, that life is not a right, it's a gift. We remember that the world is full of evil and justice, yes, but it's also full of goodness and beauty and truth. We remember that we owe God a life of gratitude that's full of joy." [25:02](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

5. "Sabbath is an act of resistance, a line of war, which means if you practice Sabbath, you will feel resistance. I'm warning you, if you try this, just be ready. It's not going to be easy. There is internal and external resistance. The external resistance is the culture all around you that we've been talking about, this restless, rhythmless, hollow-out-your-soul kind of culture. If you're going to Sabbath well, it's going to require intentionality, preparation, and a desire to do something. If you're going to do something well, it's going to require determination to go against the flow of the cultural tide to live differently." [34:49](Download raw clip | Download cropped clip | Download vertical captioned clip)

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