Speaking about Sabbath

I was able to speak at church yesterday and was ecstatic to be able to dive into the topic of "Sabbath & Stress." Here's the link to the message: New Life Sermon Achieve.

There are two things about Sabbath that are not only genuinely special to me but also carry a lot of weight in my understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

The first is that Sabbath is meant to be a reminder of CREATION & REDEMPTION. Just like celebrating communion is a sign to remind us of what Jesus did on the cross, Sabbath is a sign to remind of us of these two core truths:

CREATION: God is in control, not just of the universe but also of my life.
REDEMPTION: I am not a slave or a machine, my identity is based not in what I can produce but in my relationship with God.

How often do we forget those two things? The significance of CREATION & REDEMPTION should be real to us when we realize that God wants us to remember them WEEKLY!

The second thing about Sabbath is that God gives me permission to take one! God literally wants me to every week take a day when I don't work, when I don't produce or create, and simply exist. God wants me to take a day every week when I focus on connecting with Him, with family, with others, and with creation! How amazing is that! It's not a day about being "bored for the Lord" - it's meant to be the most important day of our week when we celebrate and experience that we're alive!

I told everyone yesterday that I was again the target of God's sense of humor. He always gives me the topics to talk about that I most need to hear. I don't practice Sabbath very well, at least not on a regular basis. But...this message got to me in a real way. Sabbath is going to become a regular thing in the Moss family! It needs to be.

And it needs to be for you as well!