You radically love God by keeping the Sabbath holy!

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” is the 4th Commandment.

We get this Commandment, “Keep the Sabbath Holy,” by God first setting the example for us in:

This is the only commandment we freely break without care or conviction!

This is the only commandment we break and defend our actions as if we are right!

Mercy Culture Value

Authenticity: We don't do fake.

We disciple through real relationships. We create an atmosphere for people to be open and honest by leading in vulnerability and transparency.

What is a Sabbatical?

Sabbatical = An extended Sabbath; an extended period of time to set yourself apart to rest, love on the Lord, and be refueled.

In 2023, God taught me how to rest in Him during my sabbatical!

In 2024, God said, "When you rest in Me, I come to rest in you!"

In 2025, I was disciplining myself to stay in a place where God can rest in me and me in Him, whether I was working, worshipping or warring.

Sabbath rest comes down to faith and trust in God.

4 Things That War Against Sabbath Rest:
1. Pride

Pride sounds like: You are the hardest worker, and no one can do your job like you, so you might as well do it all. If you’re not there, nothing will get done, and it will fall apart. No one understands what’s on your plate and what responsibilities you carry. In fact, if you just operated like everyone else in life, you would be irresponsible like them. So good for those people that “Sabbath” but you have too much work, too many clients, and responsibilities that you have to take care of. And if you just let those things fall and not get done, what would that make you look like? You’re not okay with that reputation, you work hard for that reputation, and you will keep it. And due to how hard of a worker you are, you are the provider of your family. No one else is stepping up to provide, so you should all be thankful I give you the lifestyle you want.

4 Things That War Against Sabbath Rest:
1. Pride
2. Ambition

A fast-paced lifestyle, Success, and trying to keep up with everyone else will kill your sabbath. It will always convince you that it’ll take you further than the favor of the Lord. Ambition many times is in direct competition with Sabbath rest. It’s the drive that says, “Keep running at 100 miles an hour,” and your pride partners with it, thinking you’ll never run out of gas. Ambition is the drive that doesn’t get people to the correct finish line; it usually gets people to burn out. There may be some success in your life too, but there may also be an affair, abuse of your children, and a total void in your children’s lives under the lie of, “I work hard to provide for my family.” Ambition will get you the wrong things many times—the success with anxiety, the success with a broken family, the success with depression—because it’ll drive you into exhaustion, and no one is at their best in exhaustion.

4 Things That War Against Sabbath Rest:
1. Pride
2. Ambition
3. Religion

Sabbath is all about being with the Lord; you resting in Him, and Him in you. RELIGION HATES THIS! It wants you more concerned about what you can do and can’t do on the Sabbath, so that you never rest and quit trying to—causing you to turn to idols in your life, and eventually to sin because of burnout, exhaustion, despair, anxiety, depression, and fear. Religion has told you,“You don’t need to, it’s OT.” Yet the Lord desires to just be with you, lift those heavy burdens, and bless you. Religion will partner with ambition and pride to say, “Strive,” but never "Rest," because rest resists Jesus’ healing. You notice how the Pharisees always showed up to test Jesus on the Sabbath? On purpose, they went to catch Him on the Sabbath for not following rules; but Jesus came to bring relationship with His people, and they fought Him healing people on the Sabbath. When you rest in Jesus on Sabbath, and Him in you, you see blood pressure come down, anxiety leave, peace wash over you, and deliverance and healing come.

4 Things That War Against Sabbath Rest:
1. Pride
2. Ambition
3. Religion
4. Peoples' needs and the demands of life

People will say it's selfish to have that time away and turned off. You’ll get the, “Why didn’t you answer the phone? I needed you. I’m going to find another realtor that will answer their phone whenever I need them.” Pressure from people and life will get LOUD on Sabbath to destroy peace and rest in Jesus. Listen, I’m not convinced that demons don’t provoke people to call every Sabbath with all their problems, worries, frustrations, and burdens they want to cast onto you because they don’t have a real relationship with Jesus to cast them on. You are not peoples’ Jesus! Stop letting people cast all their cares on you,and tell them to go to Jesus, who is the lifter of burdens! It’s okay to set up boundaries in your life and teach others to respect those, especially when it’s in obedience to God and His word. KEEP IT HOLY! Do not let the demands of life stop you from being obedient to God’s word and remaining in Him! Does this mean if there’s an emergency or special moment that comes up that you don’t show up or be there? No. But the problem is that everyone will say, “I need you.” And you will never Sabbath if you don’t discern an emergency from a spirit trying to steal rest in Jesus from you, or a celebration from all the other celebrations in life that steal rest.

Practical Advice for the Sabbath:
1. Spend time with the Lord; rest in Him.

It’s not about accomplishing something!

This is not the day you are spiritually warring and crying out all day to the Lord for salvation, deliverance, and reformation. This is the day you are trusting in Him, that He has it all under control.

This is not the day you are trying to get revelation from God to hear His voice on that business, that venture, or that answer you have needed from the Lord.

One of the ways God supports us in resting is not speaking to us about big things
on Sabbath. It helps us take our minds off those big things, and put our minds on Him! In daily encounters, do whatever you like to do, connect with God however you best connect with Him; the sole focus is to love on Him and Him on you!

God made the Sabbath for you!

When you begin to rest in The Lord, and Him in you, you will crave it more because you’ll crave the good fruit of it!

When we pause the noise, and the fast pace of everything around us to rest, we become sensitive to The Lord and His Presence, desiring more of it!

Sabbath rest will increase your hunger for The Lord!

Practical Advice for the Sabbath:
1. Spend time with the Lord; rest in Him.
2. Do not be legalistic; do what you love to do.

Do what you love to do!

Jewish laws behind Sabbath are neat to learn about, but very rule-driven and can be legalistic.

There is not one way to rest; everyone rests differently.

If you like to grocery shop, go grocery shopping. If grocery shopping is work for you, and you dread it, don’t do it on Sabbath. For one person, a bike ride sounds like torture, but the other encounters God in nature. Do what puts you at rest; it’s not about not allowing yourself to do anything and being rigid, it’s about resting in the Lord, and however you best do that, do that.

Warning: There is spiritual warfare around the sabbath!

Jesus didn’t say, “don’t Sabbath.” He asked the question, “What is lawful, to do good or evil on the Sabbath?”

Demonic spirits will work with your weaknesses—pride, ambition, religion, responsibilities with people, and demands of life—to get you to dishonor the Sabbath!

You have to make the choice to either receive the gift of rest He has given, or reject it.

Prioritize and be intentional on keeping the sabbath holy!

Practical Advice for the Sabbath:
1. Spend time with the Lord; rest in Him.
2. Do not be legalistic; do what you love to do.
3. Prepare for it; Sabbath is something to look forward to, but also prepare for.

Sabbath is something to look forward to, but also prepare for!

It takes intentionality and organization.

Since it’s a priority and a commandment from God, for us, we should prioritize it in our lives!

Preparation Day: People would prepare their homes, groceries/meals, all of it the day before the Sabbath, which was called “Preparation day.” Still to this day in Israel, everything shuts down on Sabbath. Nothing is open. Everyone knows you have to plan ahead for Sabbath. We should learn from this and be just as intentional in our preparation for the Sabbath!

If you know you have a big week coming up, prepare for those busy days that follow the Sabbath before the Sabbath. So many people get to the Sabbath and then don’t rest because they said, “I didn’t have a choice, I had to.” No, you didn’t plan ahead!

Do the things you don't want to do ahead of time.

Example:

Dishes! If you go to bed the night before with a mess everywhere and dishes all over in the sink, and that’s going to drive you crazy to look at all day, then make sure you, the kids, anyone and everyone, clean up the night before, so you can rest and be at peace. It’s paper plates in our house on Sabbath!

If you have clients, deadlines, work that isn’t hourly, communicate what day your day off is, and let them know you won’t be answering the phone.

For Example, I made a voicemail that let people know on my Sabbath, it was my day off, and that I would return their calls the following day.

Communication allows others around you to honor your sabbath with you!

Communication is huge for preparing for the Sabbath!

Sabbath does not have to be Saturdays. Just take a day every week, and set it apart to rest in the Lord. Landon and I Sabbath on Mondays. Choose a day, it can move each week if you need to, but try to keep it consistent because it allows you to prepare for it better (when you know which day it is and you’re not consistently moving it.) But if you have to, it’s okay. It’s not a religious/legalistic thing that "If it's not the right day of the week, it wasn’t a Sabbath. If you changed the day, it’s not a Sabbath. If you didn’t spend 12 hours that day in the Holy of Holies, it’s not a Sabbath!" The day is not about achieving or striving, but loving on God, so don’t allow your flesh to partner with religion to make it something that’s binds you up instead of sets you free!

Why We Sabbath:

To set us apart, keep us healthy, and re-center our lives on Him. To make room for loving on God, and Him loving on us; this is where we find ourselves restored, healed and renewed!

Question:

Everything sounds so good about Sabbath, why would we not want it?

Answer:

Disobedience.

The Israelites chose slavery through disobedience, even when God had set them free.

Many of you are practicing for eternal slavery instead of eternal rest.

You have been practicing the wrong thing! You must work hard, but you are not saved through works! Hebrews 4 states we should look forward to and prepare for eternal rest, or an eternal sabbath in the presence of Jesus!

How do you crave an eternal Sabbath if you don’t practice it now?

When you reject the Sabbath rest, you reject God, saying, “I don’t have time for a day with You; I have to give my time to the other lovers in life!”

This Sabbath day rest prepares us for a greater rest, an eternal rest!

You are those priests, a royal priesthood and your bodies are the temples He wants to abide and rest in!

God made the Sabbath for you!

He wants to come and rest in you—but you have to be willing to rest in Him!

Do you realize that when you rest in Him, and He goes and does the miraculous on your behalf, you become the temple bringing Him glory! You’re not receiving the glory, because it wasn’t accomplished in your strength, but in His!

Your Sabbath rest brings God glory!

Do you remember what I said in the beginning, what it takes to Sabbath?

Trust and faith in The Lord!

What if you Sabbathed to just show Him every week, “Lord, I trust You!”?

The Sabbath is God’s gift of rest to us.

Will you receive it this morning?