Pastors Trey and Caleb talk about the 4th session of the Sabbath series: WORSHIP.
We're looking at Sabbath as worship. We actually concluded the series. Few weeks ago now. But then Caleb and Shelby had a child. Oh yeah. So we delayed this part of the conversation.
I was trying to remember why we didn't do this right away. And that was totally it. It was cuz Abel was born like two days after that last sermon. Yes. And we're like, okay, now's not a great time to chat. How are you feeling? How is Abel good? Everything's good. Yeah. He's we left the newborn stage so recently with Eden, so our daughter is a year and a half, so it's not.
Far off from, I feel like we're just getting out of that. So a lot of that, we kinda remember the tips and tricks and we're just not sleeping for a while. But that's okay. Cause we know that it ends. We know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. He'll be a toddler at some point and it's a whole other mess at that point.
It's weird to imagine my parents, cuz they had Shea when I was six, which is salla is not even six yet. Yeah. I'm just like, I can't imagine. Salek being the last child I had in diapers and then having to do it all over again. Yeah. Goodness. Oh yeah. So it's good. That's, Jordan was always, let's just get 'em done.
Yeah. We're used to that stage. Let's get through it. Praise the Lord. Thank that's awesome. So I want us to have this conversation though talk about Sabbath as worship. We actually introed this week about bastard s. It's the only time I ever cuss in my life, cuz it's not a cuss word I checked with 10 people.
Yeah. As long as it's the right context. Sure. So how about you read , the overview and we'll jump into it. Yeah. Yeah. So for the modern Mind, the Sabbath is typically associated with a day off work to attend church, get things done around the house, and binge on the latest TV show. While this offer, while this way may offer the illusion of rest, it is far from a holy day set apart for the Lord.
The Bible presents a different view of the Sabbath, which involves focusing our minds, hearts, and bodies on the adoration of God. It includes thinking of God throughout the day, turning our attention from worldly things to God, and loving and serving others without worship, the Sabbath can become a day of self-centeredness rather than a day to honor.
Rather than simply resting, worship transforms the Sabbath from a day off work to a day centered on God's character and nature. So the way that we organize this Sabbath practice is it was stop and then rest and then delight, and then worship. . And we were recognizing, but it's actually a really great thing to remember in the context of pastoring.
We're not giving them the whole picture. So I felt like this message was really helpful because I did feel, and that's okay because we're leading them that way in a sense. Oh man, like I, I'm worried some of our, some of us are missing almost the whole point. It like did become like self project self man, have you noticed that? Ha, have you felt that tension? Yes. I was worried that it was my wiring because I'm, I don't know if we wanna use engram language. I'm type one, so there's a, I can of nitpick when people are doing something that I think is wrong or right, or if people are just off base.
And my whole fear during the whole process was Sabbath is just gonna be. A day off work to do whatever you want, binge tv, catch up on chores, whatever. And then people are gonna be like, oh yeah, this is great. But I think and we had , we had talked about Sabbath being a little bit like Sabbath has to involve a little bit of resistance.
So I think you're, oddly enough you have to prepare for Sabbath that requires work and effort. But I think if you're doing Sabbath properly, there is. Resistance even when the Israelites did it. Like when God tells the Israelites to not gather manna on the Sabbath, like they can't help but go out and do it anyways.
So there's that part of us that like resists something about Sabbath. And I think without worship it's really hard to engage in the practice in a way that leads you to that point of resistance. And so worship to me was the. I wanted to make sure we communicated like this is what makes Sabbath and not just like a day off work or whatever.
And I was really encouraged, cuz yesterday in the timeline of our church, we had Cade actually share his story a little bit from the stage and we're actually gonna have him on the podcast later this week. And he had said that line explicitly like. , you can rest physically and all that and that's good, but if you don't put in worship, you haven't really reached like soul rest.
Yeah. I was like, oh good. Like it was just like a good affirmation. We didn't even have to tell him to say that. I didn't even make him say it. And I was literally like on Sunday Hey, say that again. Cuz that was like, that's the thing. Yeah. That I fear. And then it was, it is such a good reminder as pastors like so much of this, we're relying on the Holy Spirit and so we can only do so much.
But I, I. , I started to feel, ah, I'm responsible for us missing the picture. But then you realize God and his sovereign patience, he allows us to get just a piece of it. And then there's so much in theology in life that we're only getting a small sliver of Yeah. And so it's okay that it took four weeks to get to this point.
Yeah. And I think maybe some of us, we never really participate in growth because it's all or nothing mentality. We gotta figure it all out right away or we don't. So I'm really glad that we did it that way, but that was a fear for me as well. Yeah, so that's why we opened up. Which you know, with using Eugene Peterson, he has in an article way back in the day about a Bastard Sabbath and he was essentially saying, Hey, if you just spent the last 24 hours resting, binging a TV show, going to church, and then shopping and this and that, it's like, Hey, that's okay.
It's Sabbath, but it's a bastard version. It's illegitimate. . Uh, And so that was a a wake up call for me as I was remembering. , it's been a wake up call for me when I first started Sabbath, way back when. And I think it's a really helpful wake up call for all of us. I think what we tried to talk about this week was like, okay, we're at the beginning, like the first half of our series, we were talking about resisting the Pharaoh.
And resisting the idle of productivity. And so I think that's why we started that way. Stop rest. It's, Hey, you don't have to be productive on this day. . And even that, I think we have. Confusion. Because for example, what I'm doing recently is memorizing on the Sabbath. , I'm memorizing scripture.
One could argue that's being productive. But it's a different kind of, so technically anything can be productive with a certain frame of reference. Or some things can be laborsome, right? Memorizing is not the easiest thing in the world, but I'm realizing taking steps into it, I do start to step into that freedom and true rest that Jesus has to offer.
So I'm trying to memorize a sermon on the mount. Yeah. And any word on that? Yeah, I think worship is the thing that worship is the thing that ties everything together because you can have, so it's that thing like and I. I don't know what, when you listed off those things that Eugene Peterson mentioned, like shopping and binge binging, stuff like that, it's really hard, I think without the framework of worship to differentiate, okay, what's the difference between me delighting, which was week two, three earth, week three, and then me like doing something that's unhelpful and unproductive and contrary to the spirit of Sabbath.
So I don't know, watching a TV show is really delightful for me. That's how I genuinely delight. Why am I being shamed for that or why, what's the difference? And I think without worship, that's, it's really hard to reconcile those two, or in your case like, this, I feel like I should do this, but it feels like work.
So what's the difference between memory memorizing scripture, that kind of work, versus studying for my sermon next week? That kind of work. And I think the key is worship. Is the reorientation of your of your entire being towards God through these different means. And so usually we think of worship, not necessarily in the biblical sense, which is just, it's an act that we do.
It's the way that we sing songs like that's, it's a genre of music and it's a thing that we do on Sundays, and that's certainly part of it. But Biblically worship is about redirecting your entire mind, your body, and your emotions, your heart. Back to God in praise and adoration. A living sacrifice. A living sacrifice.
Yeah. Romans 12, one. Or even I think the first time, I think the first time worship is used in the Bible, it's when Abraham is gonna go sacrifice Isaac. And it says that Abraham calls his son Isaac and says, come, let's go worship the Lord. But he really means sacrifice. And so it's this like that's the key difference is if I'm just binging a TV show mindlessly, then that's not really delighting.
But if I'm. in a cheesy way, like watching this show with God, like that kind of thing. Yeah. Or if I'm like, memorizing this with God or watching a Hidden Life. Oh, it's so good. Have you seen it? No, I haven't yet. But that's in the works . I'm trying to make that happen. Yeah, it's good.
Yeah. Or a TV show or whatever. So like parents mal malle. Yeah. Did I get that right? Yeah. Look at you. I'm trying to learn your love language, man. That's good. , it's good. Like that kind of thing. Like things that like, is what I'm participating in just mindlessly enjoying? Or is it productivity for productivity's sake or is this in a way redirecting my heart, my mind, and my body towards God?
And I think for memorizing scripture for something like that for you, like that's a clear indicator that no, this is an act of worship. Yeah. So we had actually the practice for. . It's hard for us to remember, cuz this was like a month ago. I know I'm, but the practice for this was to make a dishonor and delight list.
Oh yeah. And so I think when there's things that delight and it also doesn't dishonor god or neighbor , that's your window. Yeah. And that's really an act of worship. So if you're delighting, but it's dishonoring God, it's no longer worship. If you're delighting and it's dishonoring your neighbor it's continuing oppression or whatever.
It's not really an act of worship. . Cause you're not honoring his creation. Yeah. So I think making a delight list a dishonor. Seeing. So like the questions we had is what is entertaining to me, but what would but would dishonor God. Yeah. And what is restful to me, but would dishonor my neighbor. Okay.
What is joyful to me and gives God glory, what is easy for me and blesses my neighbor. So we had talked about that a little bit. And this reality that dishonor and delight can't coincide. Like they, this true worship delight is different. So to bring it. We talked about the first two weeks was about being too productive on the Sabbath, but then I realized just in my own life, and then talking to our group, we were shifting into being too passive on the Sabbath.
Oh yeah. , so it's that middle line. It's not about being too productive. It's okay. The world will keep spinning without you. , the whole world is in his hands. It's almost like Sabbath. Sleep is a picture of a Sabbath too. God is the one working. He's sustaining your very breath. While you're just sleeping.
You have no idea what's going on. Don't worry about being productive, but being passive is that sense of laziness, of binge watching. I had a mentor in college, he told me this and it really stuck with me. It did. I didn't put it into practice, but it stuck with me. He said, Trey and pastoral ministry, and then life in general, you're gonna have to know the difference between laziness and rest.
, he says it's a world of a difference. And so passivity doing nothing on the Sabbath. I think where he also. We're running into this how do I put it, Caleb church on Sunday. Yeah. I think the way that sometimes that we had, I don't wanna, this conversation, I feel like, I'm like, man, we messed up this.
Not it at all. No, but I think this is a natural part. When you're walking into things, you're gonna counter resistance and lies and perceptions. And so our job in this podcast too is to go, Hey, we said this. Now we're realizing it has this perception. So I like how we have a second conversation, but some of us are saying and I think it doesn't help that we're the example and we say we don't Sabbath on Sundays because.
Church is work. Church is work to us. And I think people don't see how oh, I set up and you're pre, that's the same thing when really there's a, it's different. Sure. Yeah. And there's a spiritual significant difference and this, we're stepping into some stuff here. Yeah. But I have found almost none of our people are Sabbath on Sundays.
And it's one of two reasons. One, I tell them, Hey, I'm Friday. Sundown to Saturday sundown, which now I've changed to all Friday because of our schedule. So that's one. Hey, we'll just, you're doing it then we'll do that. Yeah. Which is cool. Sure. I think the other one though is that perception. I'm breaking a sweat because we're a church set up tear down.
So this can't be my Sabbath. Yeah. What are some of your thoughts on that? I I was run, I ran into that too, thinking through like, how. Because, we do set up on Saturdays and really it's about the attitude that you have going into it. Yes. So I think we have an obligation, you and I, and we've never talked about this and I've never vocalized this to you, but like, how can, is there a way for us to creatively make Saturdays feel less like a workday and more like a, some kind of communal act of worship?
I don't know. We can talk about that off. Even like low key like yesterday. . just played fun music while we were tearing down and Oh, yeah. It changed the vibe. That's just a small example. Yeah, totally. There's something we can do to help Hey, this is a moment. Yeah. This is, we're community here.
We're loving each other. Sure. That's what you're saying, right? Yeah. We could feel a little less like work and then I think even that perception changes, but again, it goes back to what we had said. If Sabbath is just about a day off, then you can take that and run with it in a way that just focuses on yourself and then you say no to things that are communal and that God really meant for you to do.
Participate in Sabbath. So we were really big on, we've talked about the Sabbath meal and how it's really important. Sabbath is always practiced within the context of community, but if your only indication for Sabbath is that it shouldn't involve work, then you can be like I don't want, that's work for me.
Social work, I'm an introvert, I don't wanna go to dinner, I don't wanna hang out with friends or do anything like that. Then you're missing the point of Sabbath altogether. So there, yeah, there has to be, again, it's the resistance there. Ha. You have to come up against something that says I know this is not.
This is good for me. This is, this honors God, this honors my neighbor and I know that I will enjoy this once I do it. Yes. So I just, there's enjoyment on the other side. Yes. It's a rebellion against the instant gratification kind of a thing. That's exactly it. I think that's a great point. So much of worship is the opposite of instant gratification.
Yeah. So actually, and I'm trying to practice too the Daily office. Yeah. So one way that I'm participating in the Daily Office is I have a reminder on my. Why are you smiling So big . This is good. So my reminder on my phone, but it's three different, as I was processing at the beginning of the year, what are the three things in my discipleship journey I need to lean into more.
. So the first thing at 9:00 AM is grace. . And so I recite what grace is. I apply it for my life. I apply it for the people around me. Sometimes it's just five minutes, but just recentering around grace. And then that noon is gratitude. . And so it's thanking people. Thanking God for people in my life, but also literally calling people saying, I'm just really grateful for you.
You're doing a great, or text or whatever. And then my last one in the evening is delayed gratification is the reminder. And it's so much of, and it applies for Sabbath too. It also applies during the week as I'm waiting for Sabbath. Hey, don't have that dessert that, because Sabbath is coming, but also in Sabbath, ultimately.
Okay, God, what I'm looking for, I can't over-indulge in here in this. earth I am looking forward to the feast to come. And so even on Sabbath, I am delaying my ultimate gratification. , right? I can't find it here on earth. And it's setting your sights on something that's transcendent. Yeah. That's good.
I, that's, I run into that every Sabbath where I want, I get. I make myself really anxious because I wanna make the most of the day it's like I have 24 hours, I can't waste it. We have this time, what are we gonna do? So we plan everything out and then it never, now we have two kids, both under two years old.
So it like never happens the way that I want it to . And then even when it does happen the way that I want it to, it's perfect. I'll have the perfect Sabbath and it's oh, that didn't scratch that. It didn't fully give me like what I wanted it to give me. And I feel this restlessness. And then at times, if I.
That's an invitation, I think, to worship. I think that's, God saying, that was great and I'm glad you had that day, but you like, this is just a taste cautions too. This is a taste of what's gonna happen. So it's that like I have the opportunity to redirect my mind and my heart and my body towards God in worship and say, I'm grateful for this moment.
I, but I'm acknowledging that it still leaves me hungry for more and that's gonna be, resolved one day in the future. But yeah, that restlessness. It's just this isn't fully like what I want it to be. Yeah. And ultimately Sabbath is for God. Yes. Yeah. Again, know, so it's shaped by the word Robert Mahoen, which I'm reading in prep for the new series on formed by scripture coming in May.
, . He says, though, true spiritual disciplines, you keep doing them even when you don't see a return. , because that's when you know, oh, this is actually for God. Like when we are formed by God, we are participating in it, even when we don't see the value of it. , it's because it's for his glory.
That actually brings, when we talked about on worship, we looked at Isaiah 58, and so the first 12 verses are all about how they misuse the fast. and they thought they were doing all of it but they were dishonoring their neighbor. They were dishonoring God. That in Isaiah 29, right?
You honor me with your lips, but you Yeah. You ruin the sacrifice. We had said a line, a key line on Sunday, that Sunday way back when was God's people in this context were using spiritual disciplines for their own gain and not for God's glory. , and of all the disciplines, Sabbath seems to be the one where it's oh, I can see the benefits.
And I think as preachers we're supposed to show there are benefits. Yeah. But it's all of life right where we are here, Psalm 1 0 3 says, forget not his benefits. Yes. . We need to remember all the things that God and a, the kingdom life brings these little lowercase j Joys. . But the ultimate joy is what we have to keep our eyes on.
And so we had talked about like even Sabbath, it will actually make you more productive the other six days a week if you do it correctly. Even. , even if you're not religious, like taking a day off will help you. . It will improve your relationships because relationships need time, like having those communal mills.
It will actually help you feel better about yourself. And I have found, like if you have a, if you're in a season of where you don't have clarity in life, Sabbath has a way of resetting yourself and giving you a greater perception of where you're at, maybe what vocational change you need to make.
All sorts. There's a lot of benefits that even if you're not a Christian, , but a Holy Sabbath is something wholly different. And Ruth Haley Barton says, like all spiritual disciplines, Sabbath keeping is a means of. a way of opening to the transforming work of God beyond anything we can accomplish for ourselves.
So it's opening ourselves up for God. Saying, God, this is your day and I'm gonna thank you for all the ways that I can see. It's been helpful. , but I'm gonna do it and thank you anyways, on the ways and times and moments and seasons where I don't see it as helpful. , because it's your command and it's my privilege to obey.
I had a thought and then I just lost it. I just kept talking. No, that's good. Yeah. And then it gets to the whole the main thing with spiritual disciplines in general is that they're a means to grace, but it's not like they're not the end themselves. And I think that's one of the biggest temptations with Sabbath is, oh, this is the end.
but the end goal of Sabbath is like all of 'em to become, transformed in the image of God for the sake of others. And so if your Sabbath is void of worship and if it's not that offering to God, and I think that's the other reason that people are hesitant when to practice Sabbath is because they think, okay, it's a day for me to delight in what.
God has given me they rarely think of God as someone who wants us to delight. . And so if it's easier to worship God when you realize that I can have ice cream with my family and that's, that can be an act of worship because God rejoices when I rejoice. And so our worship is just an it can be more of a natural response to God.
Provision and blessing in our life because it reshapes our idea of who God is to us. And then through that, I think we experience the grace like never before. It's not grace because I'm a failure. It's grace because Jesus loves me and because God loves me and has given me the world for me to delight in so that I can ultimately learn to delight in him.
Two ways that we try to say often to help our people understand that these spiritual disciplines are not. , we say two things. One, it's not removal to get approval. , it's making space for God's grace. So say that all the time. It's not about approval. You already are approved. And the second way we say it is these disciplines like Sabbath.
It's not marking off tallies for God, it's marking out time with God. , I think a truncated version of that. It's not about religion, it's about relationship, which we both have problems with cuz it just, it leads you down. Paths that just don't make sense leads you down a path to say, why would I ever Sabbath that's telling me to do something.
I'm out. . So we, that's why we don't use that language. But those two things have been anchors for me in understanding. . And I even admit, like I had talked to my cousin the other day and I had said yeah I wanna know your perspective on this. I was like, Hey. Yeah. Fasting for me was so helpful for three years.
It was like the thing, but then I started to recognize I was misusing it. I was. Expecting things from it that I shouldn't have. Like it became to be, and it really is that J curve thing, right? Of growth. And it was like, I experienced such benefits at the beginning and then I didn't. So then I just stopped for a while and I was like, yeah, it's just not the right season.
But then I think you, that same logic, especially applied to something like Sabbath. I don't think this is like a seasonal, . Or can it be, yeah. Cuz I know that perspective of grace and training like, hey, we're all on a different path and so I, I know we like talking about personalizing these practices and so Sabbath for you can look like this Sabbath for you can look like that.
Stages of life, stages of maturity. Those are all different. And they do, but isn't there a point where it's but you still need to do the. . Like I'm worried that we explain it all away, it's just not my season. Yeah. It's hard. It's the rule of life thing. Cuz ultimately what we're doing, our end goal with these practices is to help our community form a rule of life that we can all live by through nine key practices of Jesus.
But the, I think there's a, within the rule of life tradition, that sort of framework, the traditions that use the rule of life is. Idea that your particular rule of life should not be permanent. Like you should be adapting it and revising it based on your season of life, your maturity, but also where God has you, what you're wrestling with, what your vices are in this season versus this season.
What your temptations are and what God is leading you into next. So yeah, there's, I think what's what you're trying to get at is we should lean into some practices more than others based on different seasons and all of the things that you said. All those different. , but finding a way to do that without foregoing the practices in general.
So like you should always. Be generous, but at what point? Like your capacity to be generous, for example, which is one of our later practices. Your capacity to be generous is dependent on your income level, the job that you have, how many kids you have, all of those things. And so you, your rule of life might involve, like right now, God has blessed me with a lot, so I'm gonna be really generous.
But you should be generous even when God hasn't blessed you a lot. So my rule of life, it was much faithful to you. Yeah, my rule of life should involve generosity, but that's not where God is leading. The most I need to really emphasize like Sabbath in my rule of life or something like that. Yeah. I just I guess so, that we've become like a Frankenstein, it's just like little pieces D things, and they're not in a perfect world we're building.
And that's why we've picked Sabbath as a first one. To build off of. And so then it becomes, I think, the desire. So of course there's grace and there's understanding and there. Hey, you're at where you're at and that's, we're gonna lead you, but we can't force you. , we can't coerce you.
All of those things are true, but like Dallas Willard and his vision of discipleship is to train your way into the. Training yourselves into the way of Jesus where acting like Jesus is second nature. , right? Where he talks about, getting cut off your instinct is to bless that person, not to curse them.
And so that's what we want to get the way of Jesus into our bloodstream, into our marrow. And so then it's yeah, I just do fast twice a week. It's just what I do. . It's just hard, like I think I think other practices, it seems yeah, that's a season and others are like, like scripture.
It's like I find that hard to believe that I'm just in a season where I'm not in the Bible. Yeah. But something like fasting or with something that's even, or simplicity where it's like I'm selling everything minimalism. It's and that to me that makes more sense.
Oh, your kids probably need something to play with, or, yeah. . you're older and you have antiques everywhere, it's it's probably time to move on. So it's, but like scripture reading, you gotta keep doing that. Yeah. But it's Large chunks of scripture for a while, and then right now you're just meditating on one book.
That's, I think that's, I think that's where the wiggle room is. Yeah. So for Sabbath, like you you for example the end goal for this whole two plus year discipleship thing, it's getting like longer and longer I feel like. Yeah. I'm gonna start saying five discipleship. It's gonna be like new church people when they come in.
Nevermind, you can cut that out . But, the end goal of our, of the, this two plus year of discipleship practices is to have that rule of life. And I think implicit in the rule of life is that you are doing these practices, but the way that you're engaging with them is different. And so Sabbath is one that we hope everybody would continue practicing to the point where it just becomes, and that's why there's such a that's one of the reasons why there's such a long break in between each practice series is so that you can learn to habituate it.
So we spend four weeks teaching on it, and then you have eight more weeks of practicing it. And then by the time we start our next one, it's just a part of you. But then you realize. Okay, I Sabbath comes naturally to me, and that's a, I've embedded that into my bloodstream or whatever.
My, my schedule. That's just a good thing to, to that's like a core part of who I am now is I'm a person who sabbaths, but now my rule of life, like I'm really struggling in generosity. So you just, the way that you practice, some should change. But I think you should always be practicing.
Yeah. Yeah. It's just hard. I get it. I get, this is why people. don't talk about this topic altogether. Yeah. Because you can be labeled all sorts of things and you can misuse this in incredible ways. , but that's like all good things, right? And it's, yeah, it's hard because what we're trying to do, really, we're trying to make disciples and a disciple is somebody
What a good plan. That's a, you know what I mean? And, but discipleship in our Western 21st century world requires this overhaul of our schedules and our priorities and our values and vices and everything. And so to do that requires us to nuance and parse out, like, how does, because we don't even recognize the ways that we live discipled lives anti way of Jesus, like we're following another way already.
So we need to look at that and examine man, your schedule is great for your productivity, but it's horrible for your soul. So let's rework that and wire that. But for you, your productivity is right where it should be. But your scripture, like it's to be a disciple of Jesus in the 21st century requires this overhaul of our schedules and our lives and everything, which is what makes our job really difficult, but also really exciting and really challenging and all of that.
I think discipleship. Was unlocked for me in understanding how to preach it and how to live it and how to lead people through it. Is first dissecting your life now? Yeah. Like exegeting your worldview today and then the scriptures and saying, yeah, you're exactly right. It's that idea of us being unintentionally formed.
Yeah. By the world. We're always being formed and I think that is what's helpful and that's why you know that phrase. we've really latched onto, at the end of the day, a lot of the, this whole, the whole reason you come to church, we're actually asking you not to do more, but to do less. Sabbath, in a very real way, is asking a bunch of people to do less things. Yeah. Now you can view it as more, cuz it's one more thing to do, but actually if you do it correctly, there's a lot of other things you're not doing anymore. Yeah. So it is to do less. Yeah. It's just I think the tension we're talking about is people are at different stages of life.
That's when we're just say Holy Spirit, speak through them. I think it's also why our together groups are just as important. As what we do on Sundays. It's a one-two punch. And so I think group is a great opportunity to start processing those things out loud, saying, Hey, what do you think? Hey let's the wisdom here.
I know I, I asked my group recently what is the spirit telling you? What , how is the spirit telling you to lead this moment? Is there something that you need to speak life into someone else in their situation? Just making them realize the spirit of God is in them. And they can lead.
So I think the groups are really helpful balance to that. But. Jesus said, come and die. Yeah. Yeah. , it's upholding all those things. And it's also like our role as pastors, part of the shepherding thing is to meet with people and kind of people who want to genuinely say I wanna follow Jesus.
I just don't know what to do. Like, how do I can't sabbath for a 24, but what can I do? And so our capacity to meet with a person who's interested in willing to sit down with them. That's why we're here is so that we can. Here's where we believe God is inviting you to do this, and we can look at your schedule individually and things like that.
So it's not just the teaching on Sunday, it's also the groups, but it's not just the groups, it's also just the one-on-one, like pastoral role that we have. And then also for each other our, I would love for our community to of have that idea of. I can help other people come where I've been as well.
And that's why everything's so communal in nature and I've really been seeing that. It's been really cool just to see, hear about ladies in our church, guys in our church, just going out of their way, reaching out to people, having community, having Sabbath meals. Yeah, it's been wonderful.
It's been such a blessing to see people just take steps of their faith. And to me it's just so refreshing that. We're really packed. As we read the scriptures, it's not just a set of ideas that we say, yeah, that's right. No, it's a whole way of life. , it's the reality that God has set and we're just trying to submit ourselves to it.
And I think that was one last, and I don't know if there's anything else you wanna mention, but one thing I did want to say as we close Hebrews four, we alluded to, How today is the day for Sabbath, not just someday. Yeah. And every stage of life will have an excuse. Yeah. Every stage of life will have an excuse for all of these practices.
I'm not in, it's not time for me to give, it's not, it's saving season. It's, I can't really sabbath. And and I really think Sabbath is probably the idea we all love, but it's a practice most of us loathe. , especially if we're doing it right. And. That's the Holy Spirit's job to, to lead and comfort and convict and, but I really do, I have felt that resistance in my own life.
, oh man, this could be so much easier 10 years from now. Yeah. Or we even the other. Couple weeks ago we had this, I had this moment. I don't know if Shelby would say that she also had this moment, but it was a Friday night and we had our Sabbath candles not lit, and we had all these plans and then it was just a rough night.
Abel was not non-stop screaming. Eden was non-stop screaming. Like we just had these two kids that were like, and we're like, okay, we can't do anything. And in, in my mind, and then I was getting frustrated. Shelby was getting frustrated and we're just trying to relax. It was a long week, all that stuff.
And it was that thing of okay, right now I have a. in my mind, I have a choice to. Acknowledge that this is just how life is gonna be. And if I don't light the candles and say the prayer, and if we don't gather together and read psalms like we usually do now, then when the kids are teenagers or when like I'm, somewhere else or whatever, like when we're in a different season, like we're never gonna do it.
And so that's why it's I just everybody, and I know the resistance you're talking about, even in our own community, people have pushed back, not. Single person in our church is practicing Sabbath, and that's okay. Yeah. But man, the invitation is if you don't do it now it's hard to imagine that you will just suddenly do it in the future.
But if you do it now, then you have the benefit of Then you're right, it will be better in 10 years because you've been doing it. Because you've been doing it now. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's not just gonna get there, but you have the benefit of the community and us and people helping do this with you, that it just seems like such a great time to, to start it now.
And if, and I think if you don't if you have hard time with Sabbath, like scripture reading's gonna be really difficult. Generosity is gonna be hard, silence, whatever. You just wait. Yeah. Just wait. You have no idea what you, but that's the thing. It's like the spirit of God is the one who empowers us to do this in the flesh.
It is impossible. And so that's the tension. We I'm using the word tension too often, but that is what we are wrestling with and I think it's great and I think we need to point out, hey, , there is supposed to be a wrestle. Yeah. Because we are asking you not to work by the flesh, but to walk by the spirit.
We're looking to become Galatians five in reality. . And so good. It's good that you're annoyed. Yeah. That means you're actually wrestling with it. It's good that you feel like it's impossible because it is. Without Christ and that's why we're doing this as an invitation to step into his grace, his power, his provision and.
I know that from myself. I constantly forget that and I have to constantly bring back my heart to the true north that this is about his grace empowering me, not just forgiving my sin, but giving me the power to live this kingdom life and the here and now. Yeah, he, Trinity has begun. Any last words?
No. Cool. Remember guys, this is not a requirement, but it is a request. , that's how we're viewing it. Not a requirement, but a request. And we hope that you we hope that, this is hard and that we're saying this is not easy, but it's so much better in community and we're stumbling through this together.
And yeah, grace upon grace. Good conversation today. Good conversation today. Grace and peace.