1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:04,500 So Pastor Josh today is going to be wrapping up our series on 2 00:00:04,500 --> 00:00:07,000 reimagining rest. I wish it could last forever 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,100 because it's been so great. And so this morning's reading 4 00:00:11,100 --> 00:00:16,600 comes from Isaiah 58. 13 through 14, it's in your hand out if you 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,600 keep your feet from breaking, the Sabbath and from doing as 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,900 you please on my holy day if you call the Sabbath a delight and 7 00:00:23,900 --> 00:00:27,100 the Lord's holy day. Honorable and if you honor it 8 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:30,700 by, not going your own way and not doing as You please or 9 00:00:30,700 --> 00:00:34,900 speaking Idle Words, then you will find the joy in the Lord 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,500 and I will cause you to ride and Triumph on the heights of the 11 00:00:38,500 --> 00:00:41,300 land and feast on the inheritance of your father. 12 00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:44,200 Jacob for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 13 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:50,500 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks Becky. 14 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,100 Hey everybody. Welcome again to reality. 15 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,300 Gonna get myself situated here. If we have not met, my name is 16 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:06,000 Josh, I'm one of the pastor's here, our communities are just 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:11,000 over a month into merging. We had two churches the table 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,500 and reality which have come together. 19 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:15,600 So lots of people that I'm still getting to know if I don't know 20 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,500 you yet. I'd like to we Endeavor to be a 21 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:22,900 family that can really journey together through the highs and 22 00:01:22,900 --> 00:01:25,700 the lows that can can share and learn. 23 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,400 Practice the presence of Jesus together. 24 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,500 And so if if you aren't connected here, whether you're 25 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:36,600 an OG been here since day one, or this is your first time, we 26 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,700 just want to say, welcome, we'd love to help you get plugged in 27 00:01:39,700 --> 00:01:43,700 and connected well. So come grab me after the 28 00:01:43,700 --> 00:01:46,700 service is what I'm trying to say as as backyard. 29 00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:49,500 He said this morning we are wrapping up a series on 30 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:52,900 reimagining rest. We have officially made it to 31 00:01:52,900 --> 00:01:56,500 summer in Boston, as you can feel very Clearly in this 32 00:01:56,500 --> 00:01:58,900 Auditorium right now, it is starting to get warm and 33 00:01:58,900 --> 00:02:02,900 starting it muggy out there and school is out. 34 00:02:02,900 --> 00:02:06,100 You know, many of us are shifting or downshifting or at 35 00:02:06,100 --> 00:02:09,000 least adjusting into a new phase in a season. 36 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,000 And so we've been looking at scripture to tell us both about 37 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,200 rest in general and also about Sabbath in particular to really 38 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,300 look at and consider the scriptural practice of Sabbath 39 00:02:22,300 --> 00:02:26,500 to see how it informs what it looks like for us to In the way 40 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:28,800 of Jesus. Now I know that Sabbath isn't 41 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,800 something that is familiar to all of us. 42 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:34,900 It's not something that I grew up practicing, even even as a 43 00:02:34,900 --> 00:02:37,300 Christian. So to put it simply Sabbath, is 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,900 it's a day of rest. It's a 24-hour period, each week 45 00:02:40,900 --> 00:02:47,300 that set aside to stop to rest, connect and worship for the 46 00:02:47,300 --> 00:02:51,100 Jewish people in the Hebrew Bible, Sabbath was a command, 47 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:55,600 but for us, it's an invitation, an invitation that helps us. 48 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,100 To resist the defaults of our culture and live more fully into 49 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:02,400 the way of Jesus. And, and this morning, as we 50 00:03:02,500 --> 00:03:04,900 wrap up this series, in particular, I want to invite us 51 00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:10,500 to consider what it looks like to practice Sabbath as Delight 52 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:12,900 to practice Sabbath as the light. 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,600 But before we turn our attention to that, I have an exercise for 54 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,400 you all, we're going to do some reflection this morning. 55 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:24,500 So if you have a journal and pain gold star for you, pull 56 00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:27,400 that out right now. If like most of you you don't 57 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,200 the notes app on your on your phone should work, just fine. 58 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,400 Pull that out. You can feel like I'm is this 59 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,100 literally, it's attached to my shoes. 60 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:36,300 I'm taking this thing off. Okay. 61 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,400 I was like why is this chord following me? 62 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,500 Um, but go ahead and grab something to journal with, to 63 00:03:42,500 --> 00:03:45,900 reflect with the the backside of the Liturgy handout works fine 64 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,100 or worst case you can make a mental note, but I'm going to 65 00:03:50,100 --> 00:03:52,700 ask a series of questions and you won't have time. 66 00:03:52,700 --> 00:03:54,100 We're going to go through and pretty quick, you won't have 67 00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:57,300 time to actually write them down, but just consider them in 68 00:03:57,308 --> 00:03:59,400 your mind. And then make a note, you may, 69 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,400 you may just jot down a single word, that cues something for 70 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:03,100 you. We're just kind of doing a 71 00:04:03,108 --> 00:04:05,800 mental inventory, this morning around rest. 72 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,400 So, first question for you, is this what addressed look like in 73 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,500 your family growing up, what address look like in your 74 00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:24,600 family, growing up? Where their physical space is 75 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,800 dedicated to connection and conversation for you. 76 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:32,600 Maybe around the dinner table, a fire pit or a front porch where 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,700 there any physical spaces that were really dedicated to 78 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:38,300 connection and conversation in your family? 79 00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:52,900 And where there are certain times when work or distractions 80 00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:58,200 were out of balance spaces, when the TV was off, phones were 81 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,100 away. This was a dedicated time. 82 00:05:14,900 --> 00:05:17,900 Were there any rituals that were part of rest for you? 83 00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:21,200 Maybe it was a place, you'd go a tradition of some kind in your 84 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,700 family or even a meal that you would share together. 85 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:27,500 That symbolize or indicated. Hey, this is a, this is 86 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:29,400 distinct. This is different from our usual 87 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,000 Cadence. This is a moment of rest. 88 00:05:48,700 --> 00:05:51,500 And how often did you rest growing up? 89 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,300 Was it every evening just on weekends, maybe every few 90 00:05:56,300 --> 00:05:58,800 months. Maybe it all came to one 91 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,100 vacation that happened once a year. 92 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,100 What was the Cadence of rest for you? 93 00:06:22,500 --> 00:06:27,400 Who did you rest with did rest look like time alone or with 94 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,300 others and and if with others who was present for that was it 95 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:35,200 just you know your immediate nuclear family did extended 96 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,300 family, participate. Was there an auntie or an uncle 97 00:06:38,300 --> 00:06:41,500 or a grandma or a grandpa who is regularly part of that was your 98 00:06:41,500 --> 00:06:43,700 church Community part of your rhythms of rest. 99 00:06:43,700 --> 00:06:47,200 And anyway who was who was invited, who went on vacation 100 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:51,400 with you, who participated in your your times of rest 101 00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:11,400 And what did these times away? Look like, where they slow and 102 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,700 quiet or filled to the brim with Adventure and experiences. 103 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:18,900 Or was it just normal routines with dad's sending emails from 104 00:07:18,900 --> 00:07:23,100 somewhere else, right? What did what did these times of 105 00:07:23,100 --> 00:07:24,100 rest? Look like 106 00:07:38,300 --> 00:07:40,500 Last question. How about now? 107 00:07:41,900 --> 00:07:45,500 what does rest look like for you today in this, in this moment, 108 00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:49,700 the season this year and where do you notice parallels between, 109 00:07:49,900 --> 00:07:54,300 how you rested growing up your family culture and what your 110 00:07:54,300 --> 00:08:16,800 current practices are All right, group time. 111 00:08:17,300 --> 00:08:19,800 So everybody turn to a neighbor, some of you who are sitting by 112 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:24,100 yourself and have to slide, but grab somebody else nearby and 113 00:08:24,100 --> 00:08:26,500 we're going to take one minute to share. 114 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,600 One thing that you're noticing about how you rest, okay? 115 00:08:30,700 --> 00:08:33,799 So turn to a neighbor and share. One thing that you're noticing 116 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:36,200 about how you rest. We're going to take one minute. 117 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,299 So groups of two or preferred 3 & A Pinch will do. 118 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:43,200 But one thing that you're noticing about how you rest will 119 00:08:43,200 --> 00:09:15,000 take one minute, We're halfway through so second 120 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,400 person, if you haven't started already. 121 00:09:43,900 --> 00:09:50,900 Okay, five seconds. And I'm going to start talking 122 00:09:50,900 --> 00:09:54,200 again. So everybody, thanks for thanks 123 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,000 for taking just a minute to reflect, you know, it's 124 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,100 interesting. I think so often. 125 00:09:58,100 --> 00:10:02,100 We're not actually aware of our culture of some of our values of 126 00:10:02,108 --> 00:10:04,800 our rhythms until we take a moment to step back and actually 127 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,700 reflect. It's so interesting to notice 128 00:10:07,700 --> 00:10:11,700 the ways that the things have lived just under the surface up 129 00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:13,700 until we take a chance to look at them. 130 00:10:15,300 --> 00:10:18,800 When I did this reflection, it was striking to me how little 131 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,700 rest as part of my family culture. 132 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,300 Candidly, I don't think that I'm particularly good at rest. 133 00:10:24,300 --> 00:10:26,900 I'm still working on this. This is something I'm figuring 134 00:10:26,900 --> 00:10:29,700 out. My typical practice has been to 135 00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:34,800 work furiously, right up until whatever that break is. 136 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,300 That is scheduled, in fact, sometimes I think I work extra 137 00:10:38,300 --> 00:10:42,000 hard because I know I have a break coming and so I'll go 138 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,100 flying up into it and then just crash into it, totally depleted 139 00:10:46,100 --> 00:10:48,500 and exhausted. In fact, sometimes this has been 140 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:51,700 bad enough that Actually like day one of vacation, I will get 141 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:53,800 sick. This was a joke for a little 142 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,100 while, not a very funny joke because it happened like two or 143 00:10:57,100 --> 00:10:59,900 three years in a row and it was like, wow. 144 00:10:59,900 --> 00:11:04,400 Okay, I'm really like, I'm waiting for vacation and just 145 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,600 trying to get there and then slamming because anybody else 146 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:08,900 had any experience like this just me, okay. 147 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:10,200 See you in a few hands out there. 148 00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:14,600 You know, another thing that I noticed about how I rest is I 149 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:18,700 considered this is that I'm I'm a maximizer because like I want 150 00:11:18,700 --> 00:11:22,100 to Um, eyes all the time. I want to make it as meaningful 151 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:25,100 as possible. Which for me means having as 152 00:11:25,100 --> 00:11:28,600 many experiences with the people, I'm with, as we can 153 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,900 possibly Jam in, this was showing up. 154 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:35,400 Unfortunately, on my recent family trip to spend time with 155 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,900 my family in Atlanta Allie and I and Ava went down to be with my 156 00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:43,300 parents and my brother and his family and you know, I was the 157 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:48,200 stand or the Taskmaster, I don't know, for doing all the things 158 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:49,700 right. It was like Okay, let's go to 159 00:11:49,700 --> 00:11:51,500 the pool. Let's take the kids to an indoor 160 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:53,200 play Space. Let's, let's go to the park. 161 00:11:53,300 --> 00:11:54,300 Oh, it's nap time. Great! 162 00:11:54,300 --> 00:11:56,700 Let's get in a board game. Let's, let's have Mom, share, 163 00:11:56,700 --> 00:11:59,800 like, her whole life story. Let's, let's do all the things 164 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,300 and at one point my Dad pulled me aside and he's like, hey, I 165 00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:06,100 don't know if you know this, but your brother's annoyed with you 166 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:10,400 right now, maybe it hadn't occurred to you, but we're like 167 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,500 supposed to be on vacation and you're rushing everyone all the 168 00:12:13,500 --> 00:12:15,000 time. Like this is not, this is not 169 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,900 fun for the rest of it. Could you like chill out a 170 00:12:16,908 --> 00:12:20,500 little bit? Oops, you know it was it was it 171 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:23,700 was another another reminder of what it looks like when my 172 00:12:23,700 --> 00:12:29,100 defaults are on autopilot and my, you know, my intentions were 173 00:12:29,100 --> 00:12:30,900 good. I wanted us to spend meaningful 174 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:36,300 quality family time together, but I wasn't creating what I 175 00:12:36,300 --> 00:12:38,100 wanted. I was just going with the 176 00:12:38,100 --> 00:12:43,000 defaults of my wiring and and I would even say of our culture 177 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,400 Because, you know, as I look around, we live in a hustle 178 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,200 culture, do we not, you know, it's kind of as kind of a Wiz 179 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,900 Khalifa Work Hard Play Hard kind of a thing, right? 180 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,300 It's we go hard hard at work, and then we go hard hard at 181 00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:01,300 play. And this, this works for me 182 00:13:01,300 --> 00:13:05,800 naturally because this is my natural wiring, but, but it gets 183 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,600 tiring. I mean, Boston is an ambitious 184 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,300 striving, hurry place. If you're from here, you may not 185 00:13:11,300 --> 00:13:13,700 even realize that fully until you go. 186 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,000 Go somewhere else, but we fill our lives up, we serve on boards 187 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,800 in our free time and take night classes to get another degree. 188 00:13:22,100 --> 00:13:25,200 You know, we have our kids enrolled in 17 different 189 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,600 programs so that every free minute is scheduled, we're going 190 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,700 and going so fast. And then when we get to 191 00:13:32,708 --> 00:13:36,800 vacation, we go hard with vacation to our lives are full 192 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,200 of good things but they're they're overfull packed to the 193 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,700 brim and overflowing In Christian tradition, playing 194 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:49,500 hard has another name. Gluttony. 195 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,600 In the 4th Century, evagrius of pontus was a Christian monk from 196 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,800 modern-day turkey, who was a student of scripture and people 197 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:02,000 and he was, he was really reflecting on observing human 198 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,600 Tendencies and behaviors and both in himself and his others 199 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,500 and he began to catalog. And categorize some of the 200 00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:12,500 disorder desires that he saw in scripture, and playing out all 201 00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:15,200 around him. And, and one of these impulses, 202 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,200 that if a griest noted was gluttony, Now, when I hear the 203 00:14:19,208 --> 00:14:21,300 word go out the I just think about overeating. 204 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,700 But for evagrius gluttony wasn't just or maybe even primarily 205 00:14:25,700 --> 00:14:29,500 about food consumption. Gluttony was about a posture of 206 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:32,700 the soul that sought to satisfy longing. 207 00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:38,100 By maximizing pleasure.', the soul that sat sought to satisfy 208 00:14:38,100 --> 00:14:40,800 our longing by maximizing pleasure. 209 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:46,800 This morning, we're in Isaiah Chapter 58 and and this text in 210 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,200 our in scripture is part of kind of a broader conversation in the 211 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,900 final movement of this, whole journey that Isaiah takes this 212 00:14:53,900 --> 00:15:00,100 on in, which he is contrasting, the wicked and denouncing their 213 00:15:00,100 --> 00:15:02,500 way of life. And he's contrasting that with 214 00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:05,400 the people of God, with the righteous and the way of life 215 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,700 that God invites us into And before we get to the prophets 216 00:15:09,700 --> 00:15:13,800 commandment on Sabbath, which was read for us earlier in 217 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,400 Chapter 58, the prophet is going off on the wicked, he's 218 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,800 announcing their behavior, their false religion. 219 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,500 And one of the things that he denounces in chapter 56, 11 and 220 00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:28,900 12 is, is he denounces their practice of gluttony? 221 00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:32,800 He doesn't use that word, but he describes the wicked as, as like 222 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,700 dogs with Mighty appetites who never have enough. 223 00:15:37,700 --> 00:15:41,000 It goes on to caricature them and you can almost hear kind of 224 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,300 a mocking tone in verse 12. When he says, come each one 225 00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:47,800 cried, let's get wine. Let's drink our fill of beer and 226 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,500 tomorrow will be like, today or even far better. 227 00:15:50,900 --> 00:15:54,100 I think I heard that driving home through Southie last night 228 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:56,700 like okay, no, no shade to Southie. 229 00:15:56,700 --> 00:16:00,500 But, you know, like sometimes this is a real thing that's 230 00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:02,400 still happening in our culture, isn't it? 231 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,100 An ancient Eastern mythology, there is the concept of the 232 00:16:07,100 --> 00:16:09,400 hungry, ghosts. Some of you may have heard of 233 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,000 this, the hungry ghosts is this mythological creature. 234 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:18,200 That has a cavernous belly, a cavernous stomach, but a tiny, 235 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:23,100 and shriveled neck, and mouth, and because of this bizarre 236 00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:27,700 configuration, the Hungry Ghost is always hungry. 237 00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:31,500 It's ravenous, it's eating eating eating constantly 238 00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:34,300 indulging and indulging and indulging in no matter how much 239 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:37,900 it eats it can never be satisfied, it can never be full. 240 00:16:40,500 --> 00:16:44,200 I think evagrius was thinking about this kind of thing when he 241 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,500 wrote If you give yourself over to the desire for food, nothing 242 00:16:48,500 --> 00:16:51,200 will suffice to fulfill your pleasure for the desire for 243 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,500 food. It's a fire that ever takes in 244 00:16:54,500 --> 00:16:59,000 and is ever in Flames. This dude lived a long time ago, 245 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,300 but he knew what's up and some of you just sidebar for the 246 00:17:02,300 --> 00:17:04,099 Nerds out. There evagrius is thinking, went 247 00:17:04,099 --> 00:17:07,599 on to become foundational for both, the Theology of the seven 248 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,500 deadly sins, and the Enneagram Which many of you are familiar 249 00:17:11,500 --> 00:17:14,300 with but this is so much of our culture. 250 00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:16,900 It's a chasing more faster. Better bigger, trying to 251 00:17:16,908 --> 00:17:21,300 maximize pleasure by consuming more eat more food, do more 252 00:17:21,300 --> 00:17:25,200 things, buy more stuff, visit more places collect all the 253 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:30,800 experiences. I think this is is gluttony work 254 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,700 hard play hard? And isn't it interesting? 255 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:37,600 That these two extremes are really like two sides of a coin. 256 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,600 They actually reinforce each other and come from the same 257 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,000 disorder drive to fill everything the striving. 258 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,900 This chasing. After that, we hope will somehow 259 00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:53,400 fill the cavernous vacuum that we feel inside based on this, 260 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,000 this false hope that if we do enough, if we accomplished 261 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,200 enough if we experience Off that. 262 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,400 That somehow all of our desire will be satisfied and so work 263 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:07,000 hard play hard. And it's in Striking contrast to 264 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,900 this that we find in scripture this invitation to Sabbath in 265 00:18:10,900 --> 00:18:13,600 Isaiah 58. In our text today. 266 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,600 As I mentioned the profit is not only denouncing the wicked but 267 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,000 he's also pointing towards a vision for the future of God's 268 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,000 people. And as he does. 269 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,000 So he is a he is he's inviting people into the practice of 270 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,700 Sabbath earlier in Chapter 58. He talks about Justice and 271 00:18:34,700 --> 00:18:37,200 integrity, there's a lot more that we're not getting into. 272 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,400 That is also important and I just encourage you to go read 273 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,000 that some other time but I want to draw your attention 274 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,100 specifically to what he says in verse 13. 275 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,400 And Isaiah 58:13. He says if you keep your feet 276 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,800 from breaking the Sabbath from doing as you please on my holy 277 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,200 day if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's Day. 278 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,700 Honorable if you honor it by, not going your own way and not 279 00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:05,300 doing as you please or speaking Idle Words, then you will find 280 00:19:05,700 --> 00:19:09,800 your joy in the Lord. What a striking promise. 281 00:19:10,700 --> 00:19:14,400 The prophet here is essentially saying, if you'll set aside this 282 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:19,200 one day, this one 24-hour period a week. 283 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,300 If you'll set them apart as distinct and unique, and 284 00:19:23,300 --> 00:19:27,700 reserved for me, if you'll receive this practice of Sabbath 285 00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:32,000 not as a burden, but a gift, you will experience a fullness of 286 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,000 joy and Delight. This word delight here, which 287 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,700 were really keying in on this morning, refers to something 288 00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:43,400 that is lavish something, that's luxurious something, in which we 289 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,600 relish, and find enjoyment, and it shouldn't come as a surprise 290 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,700 to find the word delight in in concert with the word Sabbath. 291 00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:55,800 In fact, John Mark, Comer notes that the Hebrew word for Shabbat 292 00:19:55,900 --> 00:19:59,200 primarily means to cease or to stop, but it can also be 293 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,200 translated to Delight. Isn't that interesting? 294 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:06,600 This word has almost this dual meaning, or this dual 295 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,900 imagination of not only stopping, but also of getting 296 00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:14,900 joy in God and our lives, in this world, Now, I don't know 297 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:20,000 about you but I make up my hunch is that Delight is probably not 298 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,600 the first word that you would connect with Sabbath. 299 00:20:23,700 --> 00:20:26,300 Right, or with Christianity, in general. 300 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,900 I mean too often when we think of Sabbath or our faith, I think 301 00:20:30,900 --> 00:20:34,800 many of us, I certainly have growing up kind of imagined 302 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,700 something glow more Grim, something where you have to kind 303 00:20:37,700 --> 00:20:40,500 of clenched and be a little uncomfortable, and be really 304 00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:44,800 devout and serious and, and somehow, you know, put on this 305 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,300 this Pious faiths and think serious thoughts. 306 00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:52,800 Apparently, the people in Isaiah's time had this same kind 307 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,800 of misconception, because actually, this is the exact kind 308 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,200 of posture that Isaiah rebukes earlier in the chapter and verse 309 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,800 58, verse 5, he's poking fun at their. 310 00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:07,400 Gloomy participation in religious ritual and listen to 311 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,500 what he asked sarcastically here. 312 00:21:09,500 --> 00:21:14,300 He says, is this the kind of fast that I have chosen only a 313 00:21:14,300 --> 00:21:19,400 day for a man to Humble himself. Is it only for for Bowing one? 314 00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:23,300 Is head like a reed for lying in sack cloth and Ashes. 315 00:21:23,500 --> 00:21:25,100 Is that what you call a fast today? 316 00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:29,300 Acceptable to the Lord. The prophet is saying here this 317 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:33,100 he said God is not looking for you to just perform some kind of 318 00:21:33,100 --> 00:21:37,100 extreme Act of Devotion to win his favor. 319 00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:41,200 It's not all about how Pious and religious you are. 320 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,600 No God is longing for an authenticity in a reality to our 321 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:50,000 faith and part of that is actually a delight and a joy 322 00:21:50,100 --> 00:21:52,500 Sabbath. Sabbath ought to be for us like 323 00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:57,200 a holiday that comes once a week and and this this invitation 324 00:21:57,300 --> 00:21:59,500 Shinto Delight actually fits perfectly. 325 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,800 When we have a true picture of what God himself is like, see 326 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,000 God tells his people. If you trust me, if you trust me 327 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:12,200 with this day, I will bless you in verses 11 and 14. 328 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,200 God describes here by mouth of Isaiah. 329 00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:19,400 The lavish blessings that he is eager to pour out on his people. 330 00:22:19,700 --> 00:22:24,400 When they show up in true faith. God wants to satisfy your needs. 331 00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:27,200 Verse 11 tells us, you'll be like a well-watered. 332 00:22:27,300 --> 00:22:30,000 Garden a spring whose Waters never fail. 333 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,300 And then in verse 14 he says alcoholic cause you to ride on 334 00:22:33,300 --> 00:22:36,600 the heights of the land and to Feast on the inheritance of your 335 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,300 father. Now these words were written to 336 00:22:39,300 --> 00:22:42,300 the nation of Israel but I don't think God's heart beat. 337 00:22:42,300 --> 00:22:45,400 I don't think his posture has changed towards us because at 338 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,900 the bottom of all, of this flowery language is a profound 339 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,900 theological. Truth, God loves you. 340 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:57,100 He Delights in you. I don't think the Church Father 341 00:22:57,100 --> 00:23:01,800 Saint irenaeus was off when he wrote the glory of God is Man 342 00:23:02,300 --> 00:23:06,200 Fully Alive. Fully Alive. 343 00:23:07,300 --> 00:23:11,800 What does it look like for you to be fully Alive friends? 344 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,900 What I'm trying to tell you this morning is that God takes joy in 345 00:23:15,900 --> 00:23:19,400 human flourishing. God is a good dad, and he wants 346 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,900 his kids to experience good things. 347 00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:25,800 He longs to bless you and for you to experience the goodness 348 00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:29,500 of his creation and this makes sense, because this is, this is 349 00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:35,100 God's posture, this is who he is, he is a God who Delights in 350 00:23:35,100 --> 00:23:36,700 Genesis in the pattern for Sabbath. 351 00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:40,500 We see that the god worked 6 days and then he kicks back, 352 00:23:41,100 --> 00:23:43,700 right? He took a break, he inhaled and 353 00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:47,300 looked at everything and said, this is very good. 354 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,200 He said it's very good. God takes breaks, he takes 355 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,300 moments to enjoy the goodness of his creation. 356 00:23:56,100 --> 00:24:02,000 So why don't we Friends. I think some of us and my myself 357 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,600 first among them that need to repent. 358 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,200 Like, we need to repent too. Often we go through the world 359 00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:13,200 dejected or uptight, anxious or judgmental. 360 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,800 I mean, can you imagine what it would do to our witness in this 361 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:18,400 city? What it would do in our 362 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,300 families? In our friend groups, if what we 363 00:24:21,300 --> 00:24:27,100 were known for as followers of Jesus was joy and Delight. 364 00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:32,300 Can you imagine like sounds pretty nice to just live in 365 00:24:32,300 --> 00:24:34,800 that, right? I can imagine that that would 366 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,200 make a pretty big difference in and this is consistent with 367 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:42,500 scripture like when when Paul goes to talk about the fruits of 368 00:24:42,500 --> 00:24:45,700 the spirit when he, when he sets out the characteristics of 369 00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:48,900 someone marked, by the spirit of God, the first thing he says is 370 00:24:48,900 --> 00:24:51,900 love and the second thing he says is joy. 371 00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:56,800 Like, that's no accident. Our lives are not intended to be 372 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,500 glum and gloomy, they're intended to be marked by a 373 00:24:59,500 --> 00:25:04,900 delight and a joy. Comer says, Sabbath is not just 374 00:25:04,900 --> 00:25:08,300 that you stop working and sit on the couch for a day every week. 375 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,200 It's about cultivating an environment and atmosphere to 376 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,400 enjoy your life in the world. And your God, a mode of being 377 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,200 Last week in our series, Richard talked about how worship invites 378 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,700 us to connect with God into a posture of worship and intimacy. 379 00:25:25,100 --> 00:25:29,200 He talked about how how God Delights in us and wants to be 380 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,900 present with us and and friends. I think it's beautiful here 381 00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:35,100 because Delight what we're talking about today. 382 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:37,500 A practice of delight and a practice of worship. 383 00:25:37,500 --> 00:25:41,200 Go hand in hand, right? They go together. 384 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,400 I love how c.s. Lewis talked about this. 385 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,900 He has this beautiful image in one of his writings. 386 00:25:47,900 --> 00:25:53,200 He says, any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you 387 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,200 something about the sun and a patch of sunlight. 388 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:57,800 Coming through the trees will show you something about the 389 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,800 Sun. Which you could never get from 390 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,800 reading books on astronomy. In the same pure way. 391 00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:11,500 Pure and spontaneous Pleasures are patches of God light in the 392 00:26:11,500 --> 00:26:15,900 woods of our experience. Have you ever considered that 393 00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:19,800 like Every Time We Touch a good and beautiful thing in the 394 00:26:19,808 --> 00:26:25,500 world, every time we experience pleasure, it is an invitation to 395 00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:29,100 just as when you see the sun beams fall on the forest floor, 396 00:26:29,100 --> 00:26:33,300 your eye is caught by the beam itself and goes back up to the 397 00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:35,800 Sun to travel. That same Journey from the 398 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,400 goodness of your life, from the things that you are appreciating 399 00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:43,500 and finding to be beautiful to go back up to the giver of all 400 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:45,700 good things. In Worship. 401 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,600 Delight and worship are inseparable. 402 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:56,500 But so many of us are missing out because we're not entering 403 00:26:56,500 --> 00:26:58,800 into Delight, we're not entering into worship. 404 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:03,100 Instead, we're chasing trying to satisfy a soul need with 405 00:27:03,100 --> 00:27:09,300 physical stuff. And maybe it's like material 406 00:27:09,300 --> 00:27:13,200 Goods, maybe it's experiences but we're in this striving 407 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,300 posture of more more. I need I need more. 408 00:27:16,900 --> 00:27:21,500 Even the goes even when we take a break like even when we go on 409 00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:25,100 vacation, this internal conversation this internal 410 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,100 motivator doesn't stop right when we go on vacation half the 411 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:32,000 time we're not really present, right? 412 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,000 We're thinking about the to-do lists back home, we're taking 413 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,000 photographs to post on Instagram and take Top to show off and to 414 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,700 perform for some other audience. Like, we're losing the ability 415 00:27:42,700 --> 00:27:45,400 to actually be present in the moment and to experience the 416 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:50,000 goodness of God, right here in our lives that already exists. 417 00:27:50,300 --> 00:27:52,700 And instead we go chasing these other bigger and better 418 00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:54,100 experiences. Maybe if I can go to this 419 00:27:54,100 --> 00:27:55,500 concert, if I could go to this place. 420 00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:58,600 And if I could could take this vacation and somehow, my soul 421 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,700 would be filled. And the answer isn't in bigger 422 00:28:01,700 --> 00:28:04,900 or better. Because what we're solving for 423 00:28:04,900 --> 00:28:08,300 is not primarily a need that comes from outside of us. 424 00:28:09,100 --> 00:28:12,400 It's a shift that we need to make inside of us. 425 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:16,000 I'm not trying to talk you out of it. 426 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,000 I'm not trying to talk you out of a caishen friends. 427 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,400 But what I am trying to do is I'm trying to invite you into a 428 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,700 practice of delight. And here's the thing about 429 00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:31,600 Delight, Delight is not determined by the Grandeur of 430 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,200 your experience. This is really good news. 431 00:28:34,700 --> 00:28:37,300 Like you don't have to have some, some big momentous thing. 432 00:28:37,300 --> 00:28:39,100 You don't need to travel to Monaco. 433 00:28:39,100 --> 00:28:42,300 It doesn't demand a cottage on the cape or a villa on the 434 00:28:42,300 --> 00:28:44,300 vineyard, right? You can collect all the 435 00:28:44,308 --> 00:28:46,300 experiences. Play hard do all the things in 436 00:28:46,300 --> 00:28:48,900 still miss out on rest and Delight. 437 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,500 If you're not present in it or you can experience the light in 438 00:28:54,500 --> 00:28:57,400 small everyday things, right where you are. 439 00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:01,700 So there's a beautiful illustration of this that I'd 440 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:04,900 like for us to actually enter into an experience together and 441 00:29:04,900 --> 00:29:08,800 for this I have some volunteers strategically planted around the 442 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,500 room who are going to become going around and passing out a 443 00:29:12,500 --> 00:29:14,800 raisin. You are going to need a raise in 444 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:16,400 this morning. If you are a volunteer with 445 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,900 raisins, please begin, Distributing them at this time. 446 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,600 So there are these little boxes try and avoid germs, you can 447 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,200 dump them, whatever is needed, once you get your raise and pass 448 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,800 it on, you only need one and don't eat it immediately. 449 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,300 All right. And this practice that I want us 450 00:29:35,300 --> 00:29:39,100 to experiment with together with actually comes from, from Dave 451 00:29:39,100 --> 00:29:41,500 Potter and the world of mindfulness. 452 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,500 But I think it's a beautiful illustration of exactly what I'm 453 00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:48,800 talking about today. All right. 454 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,200 If you don't have a raisin in your hand, yet, please raise 455 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,800 your hand so that someone can find you with a raisin. 456 00:29:55,300 --> 00:29:57,700 Everybody needs one before we can continue. 457 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,700 Everybody have a raisin. It's okay if you have to but you 458 00:30:01,708 --> 00:30:05,500 got to have at least one. All right. 459 00:30:10,700 --> 00:30:13,500 So I want you to just hold the, hold the Raisin in your hand, 460 00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:15,700 hold it out in the palm of your hand for a moment here, and I 461 00:30:15,708 --> 00:30:19,000 want you to pretend that you are an alien from Mars and you have 462 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,600 never before in all of your life, seen a raisin. 463 00:30:24,100 --> 00:30:27,500 Really look at it. Like, I want you to examine it 464 00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:32,000 almost like a scientist, would Notice if your raisin has some 465 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,500 crevasses. Some indentations. 466 00:30:36,900 --> 00:30:40,000 You can turn it over to see how the light hits it. 467 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,600 And even the different shades that might be present in your 468 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,600 raisin. Often we think of raisins of 469 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,900 like black or I don't know, I think of them as purple, but 470 00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:52,800 yours might have Flex or brown or of gold as well. 471 00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:57,200 And this raised in here that you're holding in your hand is 472 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,200 extraordinary. Simple thing that's kind of the 473 00:30:59,208 --> 00:31:03,500 point this morning, but it's also like a crazy Majestic, 474 00:31:03,500 --> 00:31:05,500 amazing thing. This is Raising didn't always 475 00:31:05,500 --> 00:31:08,900 exist as a raisin. It was a grape and a Vineyard 476 00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:13,300 somewhere and that grape needed certain things to survive and to 477 00:31:13,300 --> 00:31:16,500 grow it needed Sun, it needed soil, it needed water whether 478 00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:20,100 from the sky or from irrigation. If you look really closely at 479 00:31:20,100 --> 00:31:24,100 it, you might be able to see the place where the stem was see if 480 00:31:24,100 --> 00:31:25,000 you can find. Find that. 481 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,400 The stem is basically the umbilical cord for this raisin. 482 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,600 The place where all the nutrients from Sun and soil came 483 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:37,500 and poured into it. This raisin Came To You by way 484 00:31:37,500 --> 00:31:41,900 of an entire ecosystem of care. Not only in the present, but in 485 00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:45,300 the past, there were there were plants and animals that died. 486 00:31:45,300 --> 00:31:48,200 There was fertilizer that all came into this. 487 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,800 This raisin that you hold in your hand, you're looking at the 488 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:57,000 fruits of years. And then this raised in while it 489 00:31:57,008 --> 00:31:59,500 was still, a great was picked by some labor or maybe it was put 490 00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:01,900 on a sheet of paper somewhere and allowed to dry. 491 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,300 It says, on the box son made. So I suspect that it was put out 492 00:32:05,300 --> 00:32:09,900 in the sun and allowed to dry over the course of weeks until 493 00:32:09,900 --> 00:32:13,500 it got the wrinkles that we see here today and then somebody 494 00:32:13,500 --> 00:32:15,900 somehow they gathered this up they packaged it in some way, 495 00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:19,100 took it to a packaging plant, put it in these tiny little red 496 00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:22,400 boxes. Then it was put on another truck 497 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,000 and taken to a grocery store. I mean, this raisin has been on 498 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:35,800 a whole journey. surprisingly cheap, when you consider, So 499 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,900 notice this raisin in a fresh way. 500 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,900 It's a fruit that was imbued with sun and sky and nutrients 501 00:32:41,900 --> 00:32:44,800 the labors of Pickers and packagers, and grocery store 502 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,800 clerks and even in the pasture and some Hospitality volunteers 503 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,900 this morning, is it came to you, feel it in your fingers, touch 504 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:53,800 it. Is there a certain way that it 505 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:55,300 feels? You can kind of squeeze it a 506 00:32:55,308 --> 00:32:58,100 little bit, just notice the texture. 507 00:32:58,700 --> 00:33:01,800 Yours might be drier than mine, but mine feels a little pliable. 508 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:04,900 Not hold it up to your nose and see if you can smell anything 509 00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:06,900 like I smell or doesn't work very well. 510 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:10,300 But I can smell this raised in just a little bit. 511 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:13,200 All right. Now, take the Rays into your 512 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:18,600 mouth don't swallow it whole. All right, the tendency is to 513 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,000 just pop it in and chew it but but instead we're going to make 514 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:22,200 this more of a deliberate process. 515 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,100 So I want you to just put it in your lips. 516 00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:25,500 Hold it in your lips for a minute. 517 00:33:26,500 --> 00:33:27,900 It's gonna be fun talking with the mic. 518 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,700 You can bring it between your teeth but don't break the skin. 519 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,800 And just roll it around. Let it visit different parts of 520 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,700 your mouth. Allow it to roll to the front of 521 00:33:41,708 --> 00:33:46,300 your tongue. To the back do like a squirrel 522 00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:50,500 and put it in your cheek. Now, if you've been pretty 523 00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:52,300 careful about this, you haven't broken the skin yet. 524 00:33:52,300 --> 00:33:55,900 So go ahead and just gently. Tap it with your teeth. 525 00:33:56,100 --> 00:33:58,500 Okay, just enough to break the skin. 526 00:33:59,900 --> 00:34:03,800 And see if you can notice like a little burst of flavor. 527 00:34:05,500 --> 00:34:07,300 When that happens, it's hard to keep from chewing it. 528 00:34:07,700 --> 00:34:09,400 I want to chew it. Some of you already swallowed 529 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,699 it, but just keep rolling it around. 530 00:34:12,699 --> 00:34:15,699 Notice the flavor, is it changes shape or presses against your 531 00:34:15,699 --> 00:34:19,100 palate? And when you are ready without 532 00:34:19,100 --> 00:34:22,500 taking big bites, take just just little the tiniest bite. 533 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:28,500 You can. you can keep taking tiny, tiny little bites and and 534 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:31,900 with each one, There's notice the sensation. 535 00:34:31,900 --> 00:34:36,000 Notice the flavor. Feel the flavor taste the 536 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,600 flavor. You may notice it's beginning to 537 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,900 break up in small pieces. I'm wanting to bite mine down 538 00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,100 with my molars, really hard, but I'm trying to resist that. 539 00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:51,199 If you haven't already swallowed it as you continue to take these 540 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:53,900 small bites, you'll notice they start to get smaller and 541 00:34:53,900 --> 00:34:55,500 smaller. Maybe you can feel different 542 00:34:55,500 --> 00:34:57,800 parts of the raisin and different parts of your mouth. 543 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,300 You can keep chewing and before before long, the raisin you'll 544 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:08,100 have you'll eating it. But even when you do, you might 545 00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:10,300 notice that there's some like, there's a residual flavor, 546 00:35:10,300 --> 00:35:11,900 right? You can still taste it in your 547 00:35:11,900 --> 00:35:15,000 mouth. Friends. 548 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,700 I don't know if you've eaten a lot of raisins before or just a 549 00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:19,100 few. Maybe this was your first 550 00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:21,100 reason. Maybe you, like Rashad hate 551 00:35:21,100 --> 00:35:23,100 raisins for no apparent reason. I don't know. 552 00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:32,200 But how easy would it be? To go through a whole box of 553 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,500 raisins without having the experience that we just did. 554 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,100 Like how many of you actually, you know, not everybody likes 555 00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:42,000 the flavor, right? But how many of you like notice 556 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:43,800 something about a raisin that you've never noticed before and 557 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,700 that little experience just now. I did probably a lot of us. 558 00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:53,900 Write a raisin is a tiny, tiny simple, not even very cool 559 00:35:53,900 --> 00:35:55,700 thing, right? It's just shriveled fruit. 560 00:35:56,700 --> 00:36:00,100 And yet it's its Majestic and it's miraculous and if you eat 561 00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:02,800 it like we just did. You might even find yourself 562 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,500 delighting in a raisin of all things. 563 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,300 And friends. This is the invitation for us 564 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:11,200 today. Look, I know we're never going 565 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,100 to be fully present in every moment. 566 00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:15,700 You're not going to eat every bite of food, like you just 567 00:36:15,700 --> 00:36:22,100 consumed that raisin? But if you just stay on default, 568 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,800 our culture will give you whiplash and leave you anxious. 569 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,400 You'll keep swinging back and forth between hustle on the one 570 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:34,100 side and gluttony on the other, in an endless cycle that can 571 00:36:34,300 --> 00:36:37,400 never be satisfied. Work Hard, Play Hard Work, Hard, 572 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:42,700 Play, Hard, and repeat But God is inviting us into a slower way 573 00:36:43,300 --> 00:36:46,100 into a radical alternative in this pattern of Sabbath. 574 00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:52,400 Six days of Labor. And a day of rest, and a day to 575 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:56,700 not just sit on the couch, but to enter in and intentionally 576 00:36:56,700 --> 00:37:01,700 experienced, the goodness that he has given us to notice it to 577 00:37:01,700 --> 00:37:05,200 savor it to Delight in it and then to move from these 578 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:09,100 experiences of delight and goodness to trace them, just 579 00:37:09,100 --> 00:37:12,900 like the sun beams back up to God In Worship. 580 00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:16,500 This friends is what it means to practice Sabbath. 581 00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:21,000 It's not a burden, it is a gift. It's a blessing that you receive 582 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,600 it today. Do you practice it? 583 00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:28,900 Now, you consider what it looks like for you to bring even these 584 00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:32,200 tiny notices, maybe it's the raisins that you ate today. 585 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,100 Maybe it's eating slowly for one meal. 586 00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:39,100 Maybe it's noticing the flowers or the smile and COO of the 587 00:37:39,100 --> 00:37:41,800 baby, right? These things that we pass by 588 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:48,200 every single day without noticing and enter into Delight, 589 00:37:49,100 --> 00:37:52,100 The Lord says, if you'll keep your feet from breaking the 590 00:37:52,100 --> 00:37:57,200 Sabbath, if you'll call it a delight then you will find joy 591 00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,300 in the Lord. Would you pray with me?