February 17, 2018 - Church at Worship

Sermon: "The Fourth Word: Rest" The Ten (part 4 of 10) by Randy Roberts

Pastoral Welcome: Miguel Mendez

Children's Feature: Jonathan Osorio

Baptism: Albert Perez

Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:8-11, TNIV read by Britt Van Orden

Sermon Notes:

A weekly Sabbath—while an idea as old as time—is also an idea whose time has come. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine an idea more germane and more desperately needed in our day than the Sabbath.

Simply put, the Hebrew word that in English is translated as Sabbath means stop! As Eugene Peterson says so well, the first reality about Sabbath, then, is that in order to practice it, we have to stop. Stopping is the very thing we moderns find difficult. The truth is, I find it hard to stop even at a red sign that says, STOP. I would rather do a rolling “California stop” than actually bring my vehicle to a full halt! I’m in too much of a hurry.

Richard Swenson, author of books such as The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits and Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, said the following in a seminar that I was privileged to attend:

Thirty-six percent of Americans say they are rushed all the time. This is historically unprecedented, anywhere, anytime. The average desk worker has 36 hours of work sitting on their desk at any given time. The average American gets 2½ hours less sleep than they did 100 years ago.

He then went on to list these common symptoms of overloaded lives:

Apathy, depression, work dread, irritability, anger, hostility, frustration, disorganization, mistakes, chaos, fatigue, exhaustion, burnout, moral failure, relational problems, risk taking, self-medication, abnormal sleeping/eating patterns, GI & CV symptoms, headaches.

Sound familiar? Anybody need a Sabbath? Sabbath is an idea whose time has come. Join me today as we thoughtfully (and gratefully) consider the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day. . . . ”

Randy Roberts,Senior Pastor