"Restoring Rest”

Hebrews 4:8-11

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For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

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There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

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For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.

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Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

Isaiah 30:15

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,

Genesis 2:1-3

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

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And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.

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Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

I heard the Lord say, "What the world needs is a restoration of Sabbath. You will learn it and reveal its beauty to them."

We live in a world addicted to action. From the moment we awake until the moment we go to sleep our lives are often filled with the chaos of busyness. Our culture tells us we must work harder, accomplish more, generate more money, and on and on. Even the "church" has its own flavor of this lifestyle. But is this the way of God?

St Augustine once famously said, "You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you."

Friends, as followers of Messiah we are not exempt from this pressure to conform to the patterns of this world. But the Father gave us an incredible gift to help preserve us from falling victim to our culture of anxiety and stress.

This gift is called The Sabbath.

For many Christians, the Sabbath is a commandment which has been utterly lost. Some even falsely claim it has been done away with like the rest of Gods Law.

May it never be so!

I submit to you, God would not "do away with" something which possesses the ability to bring healing and restoration to His children. The Sabbath is not a burden but a gift.

It is a day set aside for the worship of God alone and for fellowship with the saints. It is a day God commands us NOT to work.

Listen to Gods strong words in Isaiah 58:13. As it is written,

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“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,

from doing your pleasure

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on my holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of Yahweh honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure,

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or talking idly;

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then you shall take delight in Yahweh,

and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;

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I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Friends, God set apart the Seventh Day as a gift for you and I. Yeshua kept the Sabbath according to the heart and will of the Father and so should we. There is another great mystery built into the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is one day designed to teach us how to "rest in God." But it serves as a type and a shadow for a much higher calling.

The weekly Sabbath is meant to teach us how to walk in "Sabbath" daily!

God's desire for His Last Days Remnant is for us to learn the art of Sabbath. He is teaching us this not so we can legalistically obey a stated doctrine, but so that the proper rhythms of life could be restored to His children.

Author John Mark Comer writes in his stellar book "Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,"

“Many have noted that the modern world is a virtual conspiracy against the interior life.”

He goes on to say, "Corrie ten Boom once said that if the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. There’s truth in that. Both sin and busyness have the exact same effect—they cut off your connection to God, to other people, and even to your own soul.”

He writes, "“To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it.”

Friends, When we walk in "perfect rest" moment by moment, we will reveal the Presence of God to a people spinning out of control bound by their addiction to busyness. The Sabbath holds a precious key to the restoration of all things. For the one who finds Sabbath will find the true nature of God.

And that the Scripture is true when it says, "In quietness and trust is your strength."

Friends, as you fast mediate on the call to Sabbath. Ask the Father to restore its beauty in your eyes and pursue its mystery with all your heart.

And one day you too will stand up on stormy seas and declare, "Peace be still" and just as it was in the time of Yeshua, the wind and waves will obey.

Our Prayer

Father, we confess we have been addicted to busyness. We admit we have sought to fill every waking moment with work and have often ignored your Spirits call for us to "slow down." We repent and return to you now, in quietness and trust. Father, take us from the chaos of two hour commutes and place us at your feet. Teach us the beautiful art of Sabbath. Help us to honor this set apart day, not because the day itself is the highest aim, but because to be like Yeshua is our highest aim and He is Lord of the Sabbath. Fill us with the Presence of your Son that we might walk in a state of Sabbath 24x7x365. We want to honor you in everything, in our action and in our rest. Correct us and discipline us as you see fit. We give you permission. Restore the rhythms within us which you designed so that we might bear your image in the earth. For the glory of Yeshua. Amen.

A Word from Our Father

My child, your time in a modern day Babylonian exile is ending. I am calling you to leave Babylon and return to Zion. And as you pursue this path on your way to rebuild my Temple, you must encounter the Holy practice of Sabbath. My desire is not for the focus to be on a particular day, but that it might be focused on a state of heart. You have been busy and anxious for some time. You have a hard time embracing the silent moments I have given you. Lets work together to change this. I am inviting you into the beauty of Sabbath. I am restoring all things, including my desecrated temple. And you are my Temple. By my Spirit we are tearing down the idols made to busyness and anxious pursuits. And in there place we are building an altar to the "victory which is attained by rest." Rest in me my child, and everything you think you need to anxiously work for will be delivered unto you. Today I will give you a heart of Sabbath. Receive this gift now. It was destined for you in this moment. I have spoken.

Devotional Song

Friends, as we sit in the Fathers Presence this morning, Let us respond to His call for Sabbath. Its time for us to move from anxiousness and busyness and into quietness and rest. Its time for us to SLOW DOWN. Thank you Father for this precious gift!