God can use us to shape them for years to come for the glory of His name and for the good of His kingdom, and so it got really as exciting. Well, before we turn our attention to the Word this morning, let's take a moment to prayer and pray and prepare our hearts, let's pray. Father, we do thank You that we can come and worship You as a community of people, not as simply a group of individuals, but as a community and a community that contains people who are beyond the prime of life and have been enjoying the fruit of many years of labor and those who are just beginning life in the nursery. And, Lord, we thank You that we can all come together with one heart and one mind to worship You, and we thank You that You draw us together. We thank You that we can serve one another. We thank You for those who have been serving our children and worked so faithfully week after week to teach them what it means to be part of the people of God and what it means to understand Your grace and to live by faith. Lord, we thank You that as they teach and as we are involved with our children that we also learn so much about You, how we too are like children before You, and how we can enjoy You and delight in all that You do for us. Father, now as we turn our attention to Your Word, we pray You would speak to us. We pray that this would be a corrective to us in our busy lives and that it would help us to gain a proper perspective on what it means to live all of life, Your glory. We pray this in Christ name. Amen. A few years ago, a friend of mine was getting married in Tennessee and asked me to perform this wedding. So, Trisha and I drove up to Tennessee on the way there. I somewhere took a wrong turn and got lost. So, we were running late at this point, and that wasn't our only problem. We also had my gas gauge there on the dashboard. The little orange light was starting to glow, indicating that I was running low on fuel. Now, Trisha and I have different perspectives on the orange light. The orange light to her means stop now and get gas. The orange light to me means sometime in the next 50 miles you probably need to do something. And we were running late and I hate being late and she was saying we need to stop and I'm saying no we don't and I'm driving so I win. And so we drive on and of course we made it to the church just fine. I had the rehearsal, did all that, but then we had to go to dinner afterwards at another place in a nearby town. And I'm a little nervous at this point but I'm thinking surely their gas stations along the way. There's one on every corner in Orlando after all. And so we started driving and now we came across the first gas station and it was closed for the evening. And Trisha is now glaring at me. I am beginning to sweat but I'm thinking there'll be another one. And sure enough we came across the second gas station and it was closed for the evening. Trisha is no longer glaring at me. She's not looking at me, she's not speaking to me, which is probably a good thing at this point. The car then begins to sputter and then it stalls and then we're coasting. But as problems would have it we coasted right in to a gas station which of course was closed for the evening. And so not a big problem. There are other people following behind us so we got in the car with them and I'm kind of laughing and making jokes about this. Trisha is not. And they give us a ride to the rehearsal dinner. Go to the dinner and I'm thinking well after dinner we'll just go find a gas station and fill out the car. No you can't. This is a small town in Tennessee. They don't have 24 hour gas stations. I'm going through culture shock and it begins to hit me that every gas station we pass by look just like the one where Goober worked in Mayberry. And they don't have 7-11. They don't have the 24 hour everything like we do here and I think what kind of backwater place is this? I mean we live in a 24-7 world and because we live in a 24-7 world that means you can do anything you want anytime you want. If you want to go shopping at 2 o'clock in the morning you can go shopping at 2 o'clock in the morning. If you want to go grocery shopping at 4am you can do grocery shopping at 4am. If you want to wait to go to Walmart until letter minutes through this monologue you can wait to letter minutes through this monologue and by golly if you want gas you can get it whenever you want it. And that's the way we live. We live in this 24 hour day, 7 day a week world and it's great isn't it? Isn't it? I mean it's convenient and convenience is a good thing. I mean we like convenience but there's a true downside to this 24-7 life that we live. It has a huge negative side to it and sometimes I think there's a part of me that longs for Mayberry. That longs to go back to even like Birmingham and my childhood when all the stores are closed on Sunday where everything rolled up at 6 o'clock in the evening and where just life is kind of stopped at certain points you had periods of work and periods of rest. A number of years ago a Lucent technology came out with this advertisement you see on the screen. It was in the Wall Street Journal and set a formal apology. Since inventing cellular and after introducing digital wireless wireless office systems and cordless phones it seems that anyone can get a hold of you no matter where you are. Sorry, sincerely Lucent technologies. Now we live in a 24-7 world and the result is 24-7 overload. We have pagers, e-mail, fax machines, cell phones, voice mail on all the above and call waiting which means it's an escapeable. You can work anytime you want and the result is because we can do things anytime we want. We typically have a marginless life without any boundaries at all and we're losing the rhythm of life. The Bible talks about having a rhythm to life and we see this in the Sabbath what we're talking about this morning. Six days of work, one day of rest. Six days of work, one day of rest and it's a rhythm and it's the way God wired us to work. And trying to live without that rhythm leads to frustration. Look at the scripture text that we're going to be reading this morning on screen. Read that. It's tough, isn't it? If you take out the spaces, the margins and the punctuations, it's tough to read. Now you can, you can do it. But without the spaces and the margins it becomes very threatening and very tiring, very fatiguing and that's the picture of the way we live now. We live without any breaks at all, constantly running from one thing to the next and it's doable to a point. But after a while, you begin to crash. Instead, turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 12 through 15 and let's look at it as it was meant to be read at least in English. This is God's holy and inspired word. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. Neither you nor your son or daughter nor your man servant or maid servant nor your ox nor your donkey or any of your animals nor the alien within your gates so that your man servant and maid servant may rest as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. This is God's holy and inspired word. Last week we looked at the same command and we looked at an Exodus and here we're looking at Deuteronomy. This is part of the Ten Commandments. This is the 4th of the Ten Commandments and refers to the Sabbath which may be a new concept to many of us. We've all heard the Ten Commandments but the 4th ones the one we tend to forget. And as we looked at this last week, we talked about why we have trouble honoring this commandment. Why we have trouble honoring it because part of our problem is that we live a very heard lifestyle because we can't trust God. We're afraid to trust Him to provide for us. So we're running around trying to make sure that we get everything in our life we need for our happiness, that we need for our security, that we need to have value. And so we run around and we run ourselves ragged because in essence we're trying to provide for ourselves in other words we're trying to be our own gods, our own saviors. And the Sabbath is a review against that and it's a refrain from that. And it's calling us to live a life of faith where we trust God to be our provider. And so this week what we're going to do is we're going to look at the Sabbath command and talk about what does it really mean? What is the gift of the Sabbath and what does God call us to do with it? Now add this disclaimer across the top. Just because I'm teaching on this doesn't mean I've mastered this. In fact the reason I chose to study this over these past couple of weeks is fixing a need in my own life. And seeing how that I live a marginalized life at times and also recognizing if I do it I can project my sin unto you as well. And realizing that many of you do the same thing. And that and sensing the need in my life I thought you know I think this is an epidemic in our culture the way that we live. And so I have not mastered these concepts. Now I've done some study this week that has changed some of my thinking about how we are to keep the Sabbath and what it really means. Some of that's going to be reflected here but I'm just saying this to say I'm on this journey with you. And I'm inviting you to go with me as we seek to have all that God is offering us through this command and this promise. So with that what is the Sabbath? Well what does it require of us? I think there's some key points we're going to look at briefly here to start off. That's a few key points that the Bible talks about in honoring the Sabbath. First of all it's to be a whole day. It's to be a whole day is to be then every seventh day set apart to honor God includes gathering with the sacred assembly and ceasing from work. As you look through the scriptures these all seem to be some of the essential elements to the Sabbath command the gift of the Sabbath that God has given to us. A whole day every seventh day set apart to honor God but we gather with the sacred assembly and we cease from our ordinary work. What we're going to break that into two parts and talk about that we're going to talk about ceasing from our labor and celebrating the Sabbath. So number one ceasing from our labor. The root word for Sabbath the word Sabbath where God says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy the root word means to cease and desist. It means to stop something and ultimately and fundamentally what it seems to be is stopping from your work. It's a day when you stop working and you rest. I have a friend who used to work regularly 100 hour weeks. No lie 100 hour weeks he did this. There's a young man starting out his career and he's a newlywed. His wife would come down to the office just to see him and he was a workaholic. And clearly part of this command is it is a commanding us not to live that sort of lifestyle. But most of us we can say well then 100 hour work weeks of workaholic then I'm not one. And because I work less than that only work 70 and therefore I must not be a workaholic. Well I don't think that's exactly it either as we talk about work and what it means just because we're not working 100 hours does not mean we have a balanced life. There are many people who see the office and see work as the means by which they're going to provide for their happiness that they're going to provide joy. They're seeing work as a means to self fulfillment. And what happens is other areas of life are neglected. There's a woman named Layla Denmark. She's a physician in Georgia and is now 102 years old and she still sees patients. And so she's been around for a while and has some valuable experience here. And she said this. She said this is a selfish world. Parents are working their brains out by nice homes and cars. When I worked in the slums in 1918 that's where all the bad kids were because the parents didn't take care of them. Today you find them in suburban homes of the finest doctors and lawyers. Their kids are gone bad because they have no time for them. And we see that today. We work and we rationalize the work we're saying well I'm doing it for the kids. Let's be honest. No you're not. You're not doing it for the kids. You're doing it for yourself because it's destroying your kids to live a lifestyle where you're working and it's self absorption. Now obviously then one aspect of this command is that we're just spending at least one day in seven. I'm not at work. Not on the job. One day in seven is to be a day of rest. However I don't think that's all the God is saying in this when he says cease from your labor. For most of us the problem is not just work because most Americans still work somewhere between 40 and 50 hours a week. You can easily do that in a five day period. And so work is not the only thing that is keeping us busy. We tend to fill our calendars as full as they can get. The end of the light bulb and the clock have changed the way we live as people because we can work anytime. And now with that technology you can work anytime. You can be busy doing things at any time. You can shop at any time. You can play tennis at any time. You can do anything at any time. And so we tend to think then we have to do something all the time. And so we tend to cram our lives very full with all sorts of things. And so what God is saying here though is simply not ceasing from your job, your vocation, but it's also a command to cease from ordinary activities. For example next to the 16 he says on the seventh day on the Sabbath you're not to go out and collect mana. Going out and picking up mana was not hard work. Yet God says I don't even want you doing that. Later on he says that the Israelites in Exodus 35 were not to even light a fire in their dwelling in the Sabbath. Why? Because they were supposed to be cooking. And in other words it was supposed to be a day of rest from household chores as well. Means no yard work, no cooking, no cleaning up. It's supposed to be a day just of enjoyment of God's provision. And so what the Jews would do is all the food for the Sabbath we prepared the day before. Isaiah 58 says that we're not to go about our normal activities on the Sabbath. And so the Sabbath is supposed to be a clean break from all the rushing around that we do during the week. It's a day when we don't go to work, when we don't do all the activities that fill our lives, all the kids things that so consume us. It's a day where we spend and rest and worship. Now at this point some of you are thinking, now mark this nice. You're quoting Exodus, you're quoting Deuteronomy, you're quoting Leviticus, I mean that's the Old Testament. Isn't this Sabbath an Old Testament commandment where God restricted the Jews? And now we are New Testament believers, we're not bound by the law, we're free from the law. And so we have freedom in Christ. Well as part of that is true, we are free in Christ. But honoring the Sabbath really is honoring that freedom. Look where the Sabbath command is found. It's found in the Ten Commandments. That means it's part of the moral code. And certainly when we say we are free in Christ, we don't say where you're free to lie, or you're free to commit adultery, or you're free to murder, or you're free to steal. And we talk about those things. You're saying no, that's part of the moral code of the up scripture. And so we're not free to just abandon the moral code where we as Christians are called the glorified God through our behavior. And so the Sabbath command is part of that moral code. It's part of the moral dimension of life. Furthermore, the Sabbath did not come with the giving of the law. It's the way God created the universe. And we see this in the Exodus giving of the Ten Commandments. When God says, in six days I made heaven and earth. And on the seventh day he rested, therefore we are to rest on the seventh day. What God is saying is he is built into creation. This pattern of six days work one day of rest. And God didn't do this. You know, God created the world of six days and he rested on the seventh. Why? Was he tired? God said, boy, that took a lot. You know, making those mountains, I mean, boy, by the time I got through with people, I was just worn out. No, God doesn't get tired. He doesn't get fatigued. He rested, sit back and reflect on his work of what he has done. And he created that as a pattern for how we are to live. Before sin entered the world, before anything entered the world, God says six days of work, one day of rest. It's part of the moral code and it's part of the way the universe is made. It's the fabric of creation. And when we resist the rhythm of work, rest, work, rest, it becomes devastating. For example, in 1850 the average American got nine and a half hours of sleep a night. By 1950 that had been reduced to eight hours of sleep a night. Today it is seven hours and declining. And the effects of that health wise are staggering on society. One, according to US News and World Report, is evidence that our lack of rest contributes to the national epidemics such as diabetes and obesity. And also, this is suggested link between the lack of rest and breast cancer and other forms of cancer. Mark Rose, kind of former sleep researcher at NASA says this, quote, the 24-7 society is direct and direct opposition to how we're designed as humans. And he says the effects on children are even more staggering. According to one physician, the problem is, is that he said in the 25 years that he's been in practice, we're trying to squeeze 28 hours of living into 24 hours of today. And the effects on our children are staggering. Working parents eager to spend time with their kids, let the bedtime slide. Some work in after school activities, rev up kids when they should be winding down. Depression in children is soaring. And there's evidence even that some kids are testing as being hyperactive or having ADD. Part of the problem may simply be a lack of rest. We're wearing our kids out. And so it's having a negative impact on us and our health and on our children and on our families. And so the fundamental issue of the Sabbath, the literal meaning of the word is, stop. Seize. This says, quit. One day and seven, stop what you're doing to rest and appreciate what God has done. And here is where I think the Sabbath is a reminder of the gospel. I have a hard time resting. There are some of you here. You go home and else you get home and it's late at night and you just want to sit down on the couch. And then all of a sudden you find yourself. You can sit there. Then all of a sudden you'll be still and you're tired. Lost in the leg. It's going to go into the hand. And also you've got to get up. You look at the dishes and you look at this and you go, I've got a to-do list. I haven't made the lunches for school tomorrow. Oh no, there's this. There's that. And you begin to think of the millions of things that need to be done. And to sit there, you feel guilty. Do you ever feel guilty for not doing anything? Boy, I think that's a common problem. Why? Because we think that our value comes from what we do. And what God says in the Sabbath command, he says, here I want you to understand who you are. Sit down. Be still. Be quiet. Relax. And realize that you don't do anything to earn my love, to earn my favor. You don't do anything to establish your value. You have work. You have value because I am your father. And I sent my son to do all the work to give you value. Jesus did all the work for us on the cross. He went and paid the penalty for our sins. He's the one who makes us adorable before the father, not us. And so when we rest on the Sabbath, we're simply saying, I believe that God's provided for me. It's an appreciation of the gospel that God has given us rest from our work. Well, the Sabbath involves ceasing from our labor. But secondly, the Sabbath also involves celebrating our freedom. Celebrating our freedom. You know, you start talking about the Sabbath. And immediately we start thinking this sounds so legal and realistic. It sounds so confining. Don't work. Don't do this. Don't do that. And we begin to think of the Sabbath command as being restricting. And when we do that, they're really missing the beauty of what God has given here. And I think part of that is because we've never really been able to enjoy it. It is restricting in the sense that God is telling us things that we cannot do. But in truth, it's really a gift. Look at the last verse that we read in Deuteronomy, verse 15. He says, remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand in an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. What is being a slave in Egypt have to do with the Sabbath? Well, several things. One is, part of it is God simply saying because I delivered you, you are to honor me. But there's another aspect to it as well. Slaves don't get a day off. Slaves are not free to stop working. Only a free person can not work. And so part of the Sabbath is recognizing that we are free. And it's celebrating the freedom that we have that Jesus Christ has given us. And so when we celebrate the Sabbath, we're reminding ourselves that we are free in Christ and it's a celebration of our freedom. And so that's why in Leviticus 23-3, we're told that the Sabbath is to be a day of sacred assembly. The reason we get together on the Lord's Day is the worship and the praise God for our freedom. That's why every Sabbath day, every Sunday when we get together to worship, is Easter Sunday. Which every Sunday we get together and we celebrate our freedom because every Sunday, we're reminded that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He's conquered sin on our behalf. And because he is conquered sin and is risen from the dead, we are now free. And so once a week, we have a party to celebrate this. And there are different ways we celebrate in our culture. Sometimes when you get together to celebrate, you have a loud, voice-ress party. And it's lots of fun. Fireworks and noise and all of that. Other times, other celebrations, football games, are loud celebrations. Other celebrations are quiet and somber. Like a wedding. When you come to the wedding, you don't go, go! It's totally inappropriate. I mean, we clap after the kiss sometimes and things like that. But you certainly don't shout anything out like go at that point. It's still a celebration. It's beautiful. It's a time to rejoice. And the same thing on the Lord's Day, we get together and we celebrate in different ways. Sometimes, as the band comes up, they lead us in songs where we're going, go! Other times, we celebrate in a much more somber reflective way. But both are celebrations because we're looking at what God has done and provided for us. And so the part of the Sabbath celebration is always to involve gathering together to worship God with God's people. You can't do it by yourself. You can't have a party all alone except for a pity party. That's the only kind of party you can have by yourself. Any other type of party you have to have people. And so the idea is that the people of God come to celebrate the freedom that God has given. And so that's what we do. And what Sabbath does, then, is it reminds us why we're celebrating and what we're doing. It gives us perspective on life. Do you ever find this that you'll be running so fast that you forget what you're doing? I'll find a time when I'm in a hurry and I go to the grocery store and I'm rushing around, I'll get everything but the main thing I came to get. I've been driving down the road before and changing lanes and weaving out of traffic because I'm late and then miss the exit that I was trying to go to. I mean, you know, because I get such a rush that I forget what things are all about. What the Sabbath does is it gives us a chance to pause and reflect. When we get hyper and hyped up and too much in a hurry, you know, when I was like this little boy my mom always tell me, take three deep breaths, you know, and I go, you know, that wouldn't work. Three slow deep breaths. And there's something about going that just comes you. And the Sabbath is when we run and run all week and then we get to the week and we go. And it helps us remember what life is all about. What we're doing this because we tend to forget why we're living. Why was that in such a hurry anyway? What's the focus of my life? Why am I here? What am I doing? And we list respected that we're here for the glory of God. And when we do that, we do a little purpose of life. A number of years ago I decided to bake trisha a cake for her birthday. She said, you don't need to do that. And I said, no, I'm going to. And I decided I'm going to bake a Boston cream cake which is rather complicated. And so I get it out of the oven. And I start to put on the icing and the cake breaks. I'm frustrated at this point because I want to bake this cake. And so I end up throwing that away in the sink and I have to bake it in the other way. And she's going, really, you don't have to. I said, no, I'm going to. And so we get the next one out of the oven. Same thing happens when I take the pan and I throw it across the kitchen. And she goes, really, I don't need the cake. And I go, I'm baking this cake. I don't care if you want the cake or not. I am baking this cake. I lost sight of what I was doing. I was supposed to be baking the cake to honor my wife. But in the process, I dishonored her. And that's the way we go through life. We get in such a rush and we get so determined. We get so myopic. We get so focused on the task. We forget what we're doing the task we're to begin with. And when we take a Sabbath rest, one day in the week also it gives us perspective. That life is not all about that big project. That's what worked this week. That is a big project. And it's important and you are to do your best to the glory of God. But don't lose sight of the big picture. The big picture is we are here to glorify God and enjoy Him. And we get so caught up in the daily task that we lose sight of that. And we're so running around. Here are soccer practice. There are work. There are this meeting. There are this activity that we have no time to reflect on. Why was I doing all this to begin with? And the Sabbath gives you an opportunity to take that deep breath and realize what God has done for us. And so we need that. We need it every week. And so besides gathering for worship. I think real quickly there are two other points that I think that are happening on celebrating the Sabbath. That the Jews did. Just mention them quickly. The Jews always feasted on the Sabbath. You know, the Sabbath is not supposed to be this dry day where you sit and you stare in your board. It's supposed to be a day of fun. And so they always feasted. They prepared the food the night before. And then the next day they always had a big meal. It's where we get the old Sunday dinner from. And there's something that is lost about that in our culture today. Considering that most families never have any dinners together. But at least here is one day a week when you say, you know what? Every Sunday we're going to have dinner together and it's going to be good. And it's going to be good. We're going to feast together. And it doesn't have to be, you know, the elaborate meal. Because it needs to be something that's easily put out. You know, it doesn't. It can't be slaving all day cooking it or it defeats the whole purpose. But it's kind of like, you know, Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody enjoys Thanksgiving dinner, but the cook. And the Sabbath is not supposed to be that way. It's supposed to be where everybody can give thanks, including those who prepared the meal. And so it's the work done ahead of time. And when you get together and you feast, anytime we celebrate in our culture, there's food. If there's no food, it's not a celebration. I mean, at least in my opinion. And so that's the truth of the Sabbath. And so the Jews regularly did that. The other thing that they always did in the Sabbath was it was never a time to be spent alone. It's the one time we can actually sit down and have conversations with people. So it's always a strong fellowship component. And where you get together with people and you actually have an opportunity to hear what they're saying. You know, one of the interesting things about here on Sunday mornings is you bump into people and you have conversations, but the whole time you're distracted. Because you're thinking, okay, I got to make it down that hall. And somehow I got to dodge the people in between. And I got to get my kids and we got to get here and we've got to get there. And there's never a chance to sit down and say, really, how are you? What's going on? You know, ready to get books lately. What are you enjoying? What's going on in your life? The Sabbath is a day that provides us an opportunity for that. And so it's a time when people can get together. And so those are some ideas of what to do with it. Let me just give you real quickly a few suggestions on what to do with the Sabbath. And I'm encouraging you, and of course God's commanding it, I'm encouraging. I'm encouraging you to make this a part of your life. And here's some ways in which I think suggestions and what you can do that. Number one, Sabbath suggestions is worship. What you're doing now. There's something about when we get together every week and we sing praises to God and we pray. And when we are reminded from the Word of God what life is all about, that it renews us for the week to come. It's a weekly reminder and a weekly celebration. And so we need to gather together weekly like this. And I believe that's what the writer of Hebrews had in mind when he said, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some. And he says, don't forsake it. He says that we are to get together. And I believe he's talking about the corporate worship of the church. How we're to get together for the encouraging one another through worship and praise and study the Word. Secondly, we need to eliminate work and hurry from our Sabbath celebration. This is where we're going to have to be radically counter-cultural. I mean, you know, we need to go watch Cheerioit's a fire or something like that and say, okay, you know, certain things I'm not going to do. I'm going to draw the line here. And we're just going to start saying no. And at first, it's going to be painful. It's kind of like, you know, we've been on this rush drug. And I'll say, you stop taking it. You're going to have withdrawal pains. It will hurt for a while. But once you get it over, get through that. You know, go through the little detox. You'll be all right. You'll enjoy it. And so we have to say, okay, no, I'm not going to work. I'm going to put the computer away. I'm not going to look at my palm pilot. I'm just going to make myself stop all of those things. We're going to cut down the kids' activities. We're going to enjoy being together. Well, to do that takes number three. Planning and preparation. Parkinson's law states that work expands the field of time available. And so what you're doing is you're making one less day available. And at first, that's going to take some work. And here's where your technology can help you schedule in your palm to take this day off. It is an unbreakable appointment. And you block it off. No free time here. And that is one way in which you can help and say, okay, that means then, you're going to have to get everything done for Monday morning on Saturday. It's just a reorientation. It takes work, but it is doable. Fourthly, feast with others. Feast with others is just, again, something about getting together with others is renewing to us. And we have so little time for that during the week that the Sabbath provides us a great opportunity for that. Fifthly, enjoy leisure activities. And by these, I don't mean all the running around that we do. So things such as, take a stroll. Now, what was the last time you actually went for a walk or leisurely bike ride or a Sunday drive? You know, as a kid, I used to hate it. But my parents used to always make us go on Sunday drives. And there's something about that rhythm that I hated it then, but I look back now with just wonderful memories. Because the routine, the rest that it involved, but anything like a read-a-good book, play games for your children where you can interact with them. I have other people over for games. It's an opportunity to build those relationships. Bringing the Sabbath rest into your life will not be easy. But God promises it will be rewarding. Here's what He says in Isaiah 58. If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find joy in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father, Jacob. What a marvelous promise. And it all stems from the fact that the Sabbath is a celebration of faith. And this morning, we'll remind Him once again that it is God who provides for us, and therefore we don't have to stress out about ourselves. And as we come to the Lord's table, the Lord's table is a wonderful reminder of how we can rest in God's provision. When you come this morning and you receive the sacrament of the bread and the juice, what we do to receive God's blessing is simply receive. We take the bread that God gives us. We take the juice that God gives us the same way that we've received Christ by faith. We did not earn it. We did not deserve it. We are sinners who are poor and needy. Who God comes, comes to God, and He feeds us from His hands. And so this morning as we received from Him the gift of the sacrament, let it be a reminder to us of how we can rest in all of His provision for us. Let's pray. Our father, we do thank you and praise you that we can rest in you. But we are busy people. And we stress out about so many things. And we run around and run around. And we forget that life is more than food and clothing. It's more than activities. It's more than bettering ourselves. It's more than all the things that we consume our time with. And we remember that when we reflect on you. And when we pray that even now as we come to the table, that you would bless it and that you would bless us. And may we rest in all that you provided for us in Jesus Christ. We pray this in His name. Amen.