Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

[00:00:00] Father God, we just want to thank youk so much for this time together that we can come here in this country, in this state, in freedom, in peace, with full security, Lord God, and we just praise youe for who youo are and for what yout've done for us. Lord, we acknowledge our sin before youe this morning. We just want to say that we're. We're sorry and ask for your forgiveness. We ask that yout would cleanse us and wash us whiter than snow. We pray that yout prayer protect this time, this morning. And you would bless us, you would lead us, you would guide us, you'd challenge and convict us, or bless and encourage us. Whatever your will is this morning, we know that your Word is alive and well, and we just pray that it would be your words we're following this morning. So we pray these things in your precious name. Amen. Amen. [00:00:48] So, welcome. Welcome. [00:00:50] My name's Dan. And again, a warm welcome to everyone, a particular warm welcome to our visitors this morning. It's great to have you here. And just for context, this church currently is pastorless as of, you know, the end of last year. And so there's been a team of speakers that have been working through the Book of Matthew, and we are up to Matthew 12 this morning. And in your Bibles, probably the subheading is Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and that's what we're going to look at. So the scope of this, we'll look at what is the Sabbath, because there are some people who, I'd say, have confused the meaning of it a little bit. Not with bad intentions necessarily, but we need to define exactly what it is and what God commanded it to be. [00:01:43] Why was it significant, given that the passage we've just read, the fact that Jesus heals someone and then he did it on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees are cranky and make to kill him. [00:01:58] We need to sort of unpack that cultural mindset and that thinking and get the context for that. [00:02:05] We'll look at a couple of case studies of, you know, what it is to live in bondage to the law, that is, to follow rules and regulations that are not necessarily commands from the Lord, but are, you know, from people, and people are flawed and, you know, people get trapped by this sort of stuff. In typical religion, if you like traditional religion, where it's more. More about box ticking exercises and have I done this? Am I more a good person than a bad person, as opposed to being in relationship with Christ? [00:02:38] And then a summary and a Couple of reflection questions at the end. So the key themes that will come out of this morning are the importance of rest and the theme of rest. But also, you know, as we sang just then, the state of our heart more so than have we done this, have we done that? What's the posture of our heart towards the Lord? [00:03:00] And is that something that's pleasing to him? More so than, you know, acts of religion or sacrifices we'll talk about later. So that's what we're going to look at. [00:03:13] First thing, I just thought I'd draw your attention to this guy. His name is Charlie Kirk and you may have heard about him last year. He was a young American guy, he was a believer in Jesus. I wouldn't say he was just a cultural Christian. I think he, he knew the Lord, he understood the gospel, he loved Jesus, he leaned more on the conservative side of politics. And so he'd started this organization called Turning Point usa. And his trademark sort of approach was he liked to go into college campuses or what we'd call universities and debate people. [00:03:47] And sadly, tragically, whatever side of politics you fall on, he was assassinated while doing that. [00:03:55] And his, his wife Erica made sure that the book that he'd been working on was released after his death. And it's a very interesting title. It's Stop in the name of God. Why Honouring the Sabbath will transform your life. [00:04:12] And, you know, I agree with the premise of that title. And so it's important for us now to think about this. Why did God give the Sabbath? What was it intended for? And how can that potentially be transformational? [00:04:28] So what is it? What is the Sabbath that we're reading about? In Hebrew, the word is Shabbat and it literally means rest or ceasing from work. [00:04:37] It was intended to be a day of rest in line with the order of things. God worked for six days. He created the world in six days. And on the seventh day he rested. All throughout the Bible, there are things that society, particularly in the west, still uses as a framework today. And this is one of them, like a seven day week. [00:05:00] And it used to be, not so much now, but typically six days of work, the seventh day of rest for the Jews, you know, for those that observe Shabbat, Sabbath starts from Friday at sunset and goes until Saturday sundown. That is their Sabbath, all right? And in the Bible it was. Observing the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant. That is, you know, the people of Israel were under the old covenant, they were under the Mosaic covenant. [00:05:32] There were certain things that God commanded them to do, to be set apart from the nations around them, to be holy. And observing the Sabbath was one of those things. Now we as believers in Jesus are no longer under the old covenant, we're under a new covenant. And so we'll look at the fact that we are not bound by this anymore. [00:05:53] Nonetheless, for many religiously observant Jews, they will still follow Shabbat. [00:05:59] Where people confuse the term Sabbath is that they have morphed it and merged it into the day of worship with the day of rest. So worship in the Old Testament was actually continual. When you hear the term daily sacrifice, it means worship was happening daily. It didn't just happen on Shabbat. It didn't just happen between Friday sunset and Saturday sundown. It was a daily thing. And you know, when we talk about the heart of worship as well as believers, that should be, you know, the posture of our heart, that Sunday is great, to fellowship with the body and to meet together. But worship is not just song and prayer and being here in the building, but it's our life song as casting crowns labelled it. It's what we do every day. [00:06:48] It's not just worship through song. There are many ways we can worship God. And so, yeah, understand that worship was a continual thing in the Old Testament. It wasn't just for the Sabbath. And there are some people, though, that have sort of said that Sabbath means the day of worship. Well, that's not the case. Sabbath was a day of rest. [00:07:09] Worship was continual. And that is worth keeping in mind sort of as we move forward. [00:07:17] So again, the most important thing when we look at a topic is not what we think about it. What does the Bible say about it? Because the Bible is our guide. And so there are a number of passages, but I'm going to start in Exodus and just use a few from there. [00:07:32] And so Moses speaking, he said to them, Moses said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemnity. Rest a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil. And all these leftover lay aside to be kept till the morning. [00:07:50] Okay? Exodus 20:8. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. To be holy is to be set apart. [00:07:58] So remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. [00:08:02] Exodus 35, 2, 6 days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of Sabbath solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Now here is the thing that we can balk at. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. [00:08:19] You know, and here's one of those tricky passages again. But really, here's the heart of it. And you can like it or not, but sometimes we make an idol of God and turn him into a Santa Claus or the genie in the body, you know, warm, fuzzy, Kumbaya, sort of. It's all about the love and nothing else matters. God is also holy. He's righteous, he's just. And it's important that when he tells us to do something, that we follow it. Now, for the people of Israel, like I said, covenant people, chosen people, set apart for God. [00:08:54] And as part of that, God gives certain commands, and those commands needed to be followed as a sign of being part of that covenant. If you defied those commandments, that is, you worked on the Sabbath or you ate certain types of foods, or you did this or you did that when it was expressly prohibited not by people, but by God, you know, you're in defiance of the covenant, therefore you're in defiance of God, therefore you were in sin, therefore the penalty was death. Now, there are other examples in the scriptures where we can feel uncomfortable. [00:09:29] You know, when the ark of the covenant had been taken into Philistine territory, and then it caused them so much grief there that the Philistines wanted it sent back. And a detachment of men was sent from Israel, and they carried it back. And during that time, I guess they're crossing tough terrain, difficult grounds. And there's one guy there that puts his hand on the ark to steady it, you know, and God strikes him down. [00:09:57] And, like, I struggle with that too, because I think the guy has done it with good intent, if you like. He's wanted to protect the ark from falling, from being damaged. But the Ark at the time was the very presence of God and God. What people forget is God had expressly forbidden, you know, prohibited, that people touch his glory, if you like, his holiness, you know, and someone did that, and God struck them down. [00:10:23] In the New Testament as well, Ananias and Sapphira, we see an example where we think, oh, they told a white lie, and God strikes them down. And it can make us uncomfortable. They lied to Peter, they lied to the disciples. They ultimately lied to God and before God about how much money they were keeping for themselves and how much they were giving to the church. And we read it and think, oh, like, why do you get struck down for that? But again, God is holy and he's righteous and he is just. And we need to make sure that we have that healthy, godly fear, if you like, that respect that he isn't just a Good mate of ours, or, you know, a workplace boss, he's God of the whole universe. [00:11:06] And the example to tie in with this. Cause I know people will struggle with this verse. [00:11:11] I remember someone wording it like this. If I go to a wrecking yard and there is an old car that is about to get demolished and I put a scratch with my key on the door and no one cares, you know, the car is not that valuable. We know it's about to be destroyed. No one sees it anyway. It's not really going to get driven around. Whatever. [00:11:34] If half an hour later, I wander into the wealthiest suburb in the city and I find a brand new Ferrari and I do the same thing, all of a sudden, even though I've done exactly the same thing, we have a problem. Why? Because the object that I've damaged is infinitely greater in value. [00:11:51] And that's what we have to remember with God. You know, these little things to us that might think, why would God do that? Why would someone be put to death for not observing the Sabbath? It's because God is holy and we always, always, always need to keep that in mind. He is still love, he still is mercy, he still is compassion. [00:12:13] But remember, he's righteous and he's holy. And so when you struggle with verses like that, that's the important thing to remember. [00:12:23] Thankfully, the encouragement to all of us is we are not under the Mosaic Law. So for those that are skipping church this morning, enjoying a long weekend holiday, they're gonna be okay. All right? [00:12:36] And so here's the key reminder that the Sabbath is expressly, and it sounds selfish saying this, but the Bible says it, the Sabbath was made for man, for all of us, not man, for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. That's Jesus is saying there that, you know, he is the law giver. He's the one that determines what is right and wrong. And in that passage with, in Matthew 12, 1:14, he's having a dig at the Pharisees, trying to determine, you know, you can't eat grains of heads of grain on the Sabbath. That's illegal. You know, you can't heal a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. That's illegal. Jesus is saying, hey, I'm actually the one that dictates what is okay and what is not. And he's saying these things in this example, to heal, to eat, it's okay. And we'll unpack. Why? [00:13:34] So again, the problem is, how do we unpack the Pharisees mindset that the disciples are walking along eating those heads of grain because they're hung hungry, you know, and when we're hungry, we need to eat, or we don't always, but it's helpful. [00:13:51] They crack the sads with the disciples for doing that. And we're like, what's the big deal? [00:13:57] Jesus sort of speaks to them because they say, well, is it okay to do this sort of stuff on the Sabbath? And he said, if a sheep fell in a pit, you would go and get it out. One of the things that the Pharisees had allowed was for people to tend to the sheep, to look after the agriculture on the Sabbath. So he's saying, you are allowing people to look after sheep, but you are refusing me. You are not wanting me to heal someone who is sick and unwell on the Sabbath. Like, is not a human being infinitely more valuable and precious than the life of a sheep? [00:14:33] And so why is it that the Pharisees, smart, educated, respected people at the time, are so fixated on not doing particular things in the Sabbath? Well, it doesn't come from what God had told them. It comes from their own interpretations of the law. It comes from things that they had added in, in their own separate writings to the Bible and set people in bondage. You know, the Sabbath was designed for man. It was not designed to be a business burden. It was designed for rest. But now we're doing work to avoid doing work. There are currently, if I've got this right, 39 prohibitions for the Jewish people that they cannot do on the Sabbath. And there's a list of them there. [00:15:19] But I want to give you an example to show you what it looks like. [00:15:24] A few years ago, before we had kids, Claire and I hosted two Jewish people, one an Australian, one an American. And they were lovely. They were awesome. One of them I still keep in close contact with. Now, both of them were lawyers, far smarter, far more intelligent than I am. [00:15:42] But this is what it looks like to be in bondage to the law. This is what it is to be traditionally religious and follow box ticking exercises. So they were with us over the weekend. And so that means it's during Shabbat, which for them is a big deal. Now, they wanted to go and have dinner at the rabbi's house on Shabbat evening on Friday night. [00:16:04] First of all, we were living at the time near St. Pat's so in Prospect Vale, Mount Leslie Road, and they seriously contemplated getting an Airbnb in town. I think the then rabbi's house was in Newstead, and so they they wanted to be closer to his house so they wouldn't be breached the prohibition about how many steps they could walk on the Sabbath. They were prepared to pay extra and go into town. Now, they didn't. In the end, my dad offered them a lift. And as part of that, though, there was this mad rush to be at the rabbi's house before sunset. [00:16:41] Okay. Because, you know, if you're late, it's like, that's bad. Can't do that. So there's this mad rush to get there. [00:16:49] When, before they left, they said to me, hey, if you leave any lights on, just understand, we won't turn them off because that's prohibited under the Sabbath. We're not allowed to flick light switches. [00:17:02] And they're in Newstead and we're in Prospect Vale. And they walked all the way back in the dead of night to our place, even though that was probably breaching, I'm sure they breached the number of steps they're allowed to have. And it probably took them an hour to two hours. [00:17:18] All right? The next day, they wake up, they want to go to the rabbi's house again for lunch, but this time, the girl has woken up with it. She's quite headachy. I can't even remember if it was even migraines. And so we're quite concerned. She wasn't really in a good state. Pardon me, a good state. And we said to her, would you allow us to drive you? You know, I just did the natural thing. They're like, no, no, no, we can't drive on the Sabbath. [00:17:42] I'm like, no dramas at all. [00:17:44] Do you want to just make sure you've got a phone on you, then, so we can contact you, make sure everything's all right? No, we can't use phones. We can't carry phones. That's against the rules. [00:17:53] And we said, cool, no dramas. It's a hot summer's day even for Launceston. Make sure you carry water with you. No, we're not allowed to do that now. I love the Jewish people. I think they are the chosen people of God. You know, I have a big heart for them, but it was so sad for me to see this. This being enslaved to the rules and forgetting that what's important is the heart is the relationship with the rule giver, if you like. God did not give Those rules, those 39 prohibitions that they were from the Pharisees, they were from religious leaders. It was their own rules, their own interpretation of what rest was. And they'd moved away completely, completely from what the concept of the Sabbath is, this is what religion looks like. You know, religion says, do, you must do this, you must do that, you must tick this off at the end of your life. The good must outweigh the bad. And that's what gets you to nirvana, to paradise, to heaven, to whatever Christianity doesn't say do, Christianity says done. There is nothing that we call could do that makes us earn our way to heaven. It is all what Christ did for us on the cross. There is no requirement to do these things to climb the ladder to heaven. And people are in bondage to this. As believers, we kind of get grace, this undeserved favour. But I guarantee you, someone that's come out of organised religion gets it even more because they know what it is to be following rules rather than serving the Creator. [00:19:33] And the encouragement again is we are not as believers under the Mosaic covenant. And this is confirmed in Colossians and Romans, like Colossians 2, 16 says this, therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. [00:19:53] Romans says, one person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. You know, if we did church on another day, that would be okay. If we did it on Tuesday or Thursday, that would be okay. Yes. We have this framework in place in the west for Sundays. And I get it, but the Sunday is not the be all and end all. It's the state of the heart that's important to God. Location and timing is irrelevant. Seventh Day Adventists, they believe that Saturday, the Sabbath day, is the day of worship. And so they will only worship on Saturdays. Their church services are on Saturdays. And it says here, like, not to condemn people who choose one day or another, you know, so I'm not poking at them, but I'm saying there is no mandate in the Bible for us to do it on Sunday as the day of worship. Worship is a continual thing. It can be an everyday thing. [00:20:56] And so an example of this too, like, how do we not cross the line into legalism? How do we make sure we're, you know, we're doing the right thing? [00:21:07] I don't know if people know who this is. He's a Scotsman, so my dad would be very happy. He was known as the Flying Scotsman. His name was Eric Liddell and he was in the 1924 Paris Olympics. He was a 100 meter sprinter and he was a believer in Jesus and his heats for the hundred meter, which I think he was touted as a favorite for, fell on a Sunday, and he refused to race on the Sunday. Why? Because for him, the script where it says, honor the Sabbath, you know, keep it holy, set it apart for the Lord, for him, that was important, and he refused. Can you imagine, like an Olympian, refusing, giving up your life's dream, your goal, your ambition? [00:21:50] He refused to race on Sunday because he felt it violated that commandment. And again, I don't think we're under the Mosaic Law, but for him, it was a big deal. And the Bible says not to pass judgment on that. Now, the interesting thing is, was this just legalism or was it his heart, you know, his conviction? Well, I'd certainly argue it's the latter, because he went in the 400 meters instead. Someone gave up their spot for him. 400. Massively different race to the hundred. [00:22:18] Completely different sort of strategy and training and all that sort of stuff. [00:22:24] And he won the 400. He won gold and set an Olympic and a world record in the 400 meters. I think God honoured him not because he was box ticking, not because he was being legalistic and following Pharisaical interpretations, but because it was his heart. It was a heart of obedience to God. He felt, you know, he was convicted, that the Sabbath day was holy and he needed to keep it as such. And that's what God honored, not the mere. [00:22:53] You know, I'm doing this because the Pharisees said it was because he wanted to honour and worship the Lord and he went on to do great things. Not in the sporting realm. He went to China on the mission field and he died there. But there's an example of someone who did want to keep Sabbath, and God honoured that. There are others of us here who might be in situations where, you know, we've got children or you yourselves are playing sport on a Sunday. Now, if that happened every Sunday and you were never able to come to church and fellowship with the body, I would think that would be a problem. Even if you're awesome at your sport or your child is awesome, I think that would probably be difficult. [00:23:35] But if you once, you know, every blue moon, are going on a tournament on the weekend, or you're taking a holiday on a Sunday, that's okay. Like, people need to feel okay with that. Because, remember, Sabbath was for man. The concept, the purpose, the intent was rest. [00:23:52] And not to lock us in and to burden us with such things. [00:23:58] So what? The Sabbath is not. It is not a mandated day of worship because that could be any day. In fact, it should be every day. [00:24:06] The Sabbath is not a day where God declared that legalistic man made rules have to be observed. The Sabbath is not a way to obtain favor with God and earn our salvation through following those 39 strict prohibitions. [00:24:22] The Sabbath also is not laziness. [00:24:25] There are people who, I'm not one of them. There are people who I know have to be on the go all the time. [00:24:32] They're almost restless and they're pacing and they're looking for the, the next thing. Even those people can acknowledge that they need rest, they need to switch off, they need to recharge, they need to rejuvenate. It is not laziness to take a day of rest. In fact, I would argue you can probably go and find data and research that will suggest that resting will make you more efficient, more effective, have more energy, you know, and therefore it's good for you. So rest is not laziness. Observing the Sabbath as a concept, as a principle is not laziness. [00:25:09] What is the Sabbath? It is a day of rest. [00:25:12] It's not necessarily the day of worship. [00:25:16] It is a day of rest. That was the intention of it, that was the purpose, okay? Rest and rejuvenation. And it was in line with the order of things that God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. [00:25:30] That whilst we are not bound by the Sabbath anymore under the new covenant, it is worth observing, it is worth considering, it is worth doing. Like that book that Charlie Kirk wrote. I think he was onto something. You look around at people, we are busier probably than ever before because of technology, because of expectations and people are getting for and they're getting burnt out and there are mental health issues. [00:25:57] Rest is needed and it is a good thing. And God again, he's a relational God. He gets us, he's merciful, he's compassionate. He knew what our needs would be. He put this in place, this idea of a day of rest. It is important. [00:26:14] You know, I even remember the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. He said, I, I know people who are high flying business leaders and CEOs and you know, they're crushing it or it looks that way. They're making lots of money, they're hugely successful. But he said what people don't see behind the scenes is that they are anxious, they are stressed, some of them are depressed, okay? And so all that stuff behind the scenes could lead to them unraveling. Some of them are new, not resting and not rejuvenating and grinding themselves into the ground. So this principle of Sabbath rest is good and ultimately in the Scriptures. So many things in the Old Covenant or the Old Testament pointed towards Christ, and so many things in the Bible in general points towards the future. And one of the things with Sabbath, I didn't come up with this myself. I saw it from another scholar. They said Sabbath is ultimately a foreshadowing of ultimate rest and ultimate death in the Old Covenant. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were told to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. To work on the Sabbath was the death penalty. [00:27:28] Whilst we're not bound by that now, our rest is found in relationship with Jesus Christ and refusal, I guess, to go into that rest, to be saved by his grace means ultimate death, spiritual death, eternal separation from him. [00:27:45] So the Sabbath set up in the Old Testament pointed us towards a future reality. [00:27:53] Just as we wrap up this morning. [00:27:57] Whilst this is maybe on the tangent or slightly out of the context, I've been enjoying recently, the animated movie David has just come out about King David, and it's worth checking out. And on Amazon prime, you have an adult series called the House of David. I love it because, you know, warrior adventure. [00:28:16] You know, he's the man. But there are some interesting themes in there, right? [00:28:21] Saul Shaul, the first king of Israel, the kingdom was taken from him, him, because he disobeyed God. And when Samuel the prophet presented himself before Saul, Saul just defeated the Amalekites. And he was told to put everything to the sword. [00:28:39] And Saul had spared people and he'd spared livestock. And Samuel says, mate, what's the bleeding of sheep? I can hear, you know, the inference was, you were told to destroy the livestock. [00:28:50] And Saul sort of pleads with Samuel because he can see this conversation is not going well. And I kept the sheep for sacrifice. [00:28:59] And Samuel utters that famous line to him, says Saul, you know, to obey is better than sacrifice, to heed better than the fat of rams. Saul's trying to say, I'm committing a box ticking exercise. I'm doing something religious here. Surely God's favor will be upon me. And. And Samuel's like, uh, you know, it's the state of your heart. You know, God has taken the kingdom from you and he's given it to someone better. And that person who was better was David. And how does the scripture describe him? As being someone after God's own heart. And in Psalm 51, David references the state of the heart, you know, creating me a pure heart, O God. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken spirit and a contrite heart. [00:29:53] God is not interested in merely works. He's interested in our heart, in our obedience to Him. We're not following man made traditions, we're following the commands of the Lord. [00:30:06] You know, what is the state of our heart this morning? [00:30:11] And so just in summary, the Sabbath, as we look at that passage in Matthew 12, the Sabbath was for man, not the other way round. It was intended for rest, not to be a burden. And rest is absolutely crucial in all areas of our lives, including for being effective in ministry. I remember one person once said, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed. And the idea being it's no good burning yourself out for a good cause because you are still not going to be efficient or effective or helpful. If you are tired, even in ministry, rest, get that rejuvenation, allow God to recharge you and go out energetic and effective. Once again, like I was just saying, the state of our hearts, you know, we're just saying the heart of worship. We're just about to say, lord, I give you my heart. [00:31:05] That is more important to God than not walking X number of steps on the Sabbath, or not turning off a light switch, or not carrying a phone or a drink bottle, you know, and you'll see sometimes even in Christian denominations there are certain traditions that are not prescribed to us in the Bible. And yet people follow them along. Why? We're not saved by works, we're saved by grace. It's not by what we do, it's by what Christ has done. [00:31:34] And so, just a couple of things to think about as we head into this week. You know, Dr. Phil last week spoke about Matthew 11, and in that chapter is that well known verse, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Who here among us this morning needs to maybe observe that idea of Sabbath? Not because it gets us into heaven, not because it pleases God as such, but because God gave it to us to rest us, who needs to take time to rest? [00:32:09] Because you are busy, you are frantic, you are fatigued, your life is chaos. [00:32:14] Do you ever find yourselves, even though we probably understand all this stuff, are there any, any of us that find ourselves following guidelines that are not scriptural but have been developed by people, by man, by people like the Pharisees, and we still stick to it, even though we can't actually find where it says to do that in the Scriptures? [00:32:35] And if so, what are those things? And are they good things that are still worth doing in concept and principle, or are they Things that we're kind of bound to, that we need to cut loose. [00:32:48] And how should we get the balance right here as well? We're not saved by works, but it also says faith without works is dead. The understanding for us is works are not the thing that gets us our ticket to heaven. It's the relationship with Jesus Christ, the understanding that he is not just a mere mortal, but he is Lord of our lives. Like CS Lewis said in Dr. Phil's sermon last week, it's through his death that we are dead to sin. It's through his resurrection that we're alive in Him. It's by putting our faith in him that we're saved. Not through anything we do in and of ourselves. [00:33:24] At the same time, though, because we love him, because we want to obey him. Work should be a fruit of that, a product of that, but not the thing that we think gets us into heaven. How do you get that, that balance right, that discernment right, you know, and again, it comes back to the state of our hearts. [00:33:47] Let's pray and finish up and then Janine and the team will lead us through the final song. [00:33:54] Lord God, we just thank youk, Lord, that yout are a relational God, that yout love us, that yout care for us, that yout implemented this Sabbath, you know, for your people, your covenant people, your chosen people, to rest. [00:34:08] And whilst we're not bound by that any longer, whilst we're not under the old covenant or the Mosaic covenant, you know, the old law, Lord, we can see that there was a purpose and an intent for this that is helpful for people across all of history, across all generations. [00:34:25] And I pray for those this morning that might be weary and heavy laden, who are struggling, who are anxious, who are fatigued, Lord, I pray that they would find their rest in you, Lord, and the comfort that comes from knowing you and who you are and what you've done. I pray that all of us might be challenged, if we're not already, to observe this principle of Sabbath, to take a day, you know, a 24 hour period to unwind, to stir, to chill, to spend time with loved ones, you know, And I pray that we would notice that if we do that, the energy levels come back, you know, we feel refreshed, we feel rejuvenated, and we find that we are more effective in our study, in our workplace, you know, in our ministry, wherever you've placed us. [00:35:14] Help us, Lord, not to chase after traditional religious things. BOX TICKING Exercises Works based salvation Lord, help us to make sure that our heart is aligned to your heart, that we love you and adore you and acknowledge what you have done for us. And out of that, the overflow of our salvation is change in our life. The overflow is wanting to be obedient. The overflow is good works. Again, not because that's what gets us in ahead of, but because we love you and we want to do what is right in your eyes. [00:35:50] Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you for who you are and all you've done for us. I pray for your hand of protection and blessing on people as they head out into the weeks and months ahead, Lord, that you would guide them and lead them, that you would fill them with your spirit and shine your light through them. [00:36:08] And so we commit this people and this church and this week to you in Jesus precious name. Amen.