well good evening um hope you had a great thanksgiving um chase rebecca or in louisiana so um down there with family um uh this weekend and i think they’re coming back today tomorrow tomorrow um we’re going to be in exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 11 and vera so kindly decided that that part of the bible needs to be detached so i’m reading from a it’s still the bible it’s not connected to my bible um starting in verse 8 remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the lord your god on it you shall not do any work you or your son or your daughter your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates for in six days the lord made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy holy made it holy um rest is one of those things um that seems to be like in our time a an elusive mythological creature um you you wouldn’t find it hard if you were to google you kinds of stats about how, um, we sleep less than any generation has slept before we work more than any other generation has worked before. Um, and we are, most people live tired. Most people live very, um, exhausted. And I couldn’t think of the guy’s name, but I think it was about a century ago, a man quipped that, uh, the modern man with technology, he won’t even know what to do with all of his leisure time because the world will be so automated. He’ll just have all this free time on his hands all the time. Um, and as you know, that doesn’t happen when, when, when we have leisure time, we tend to fill it up, not with, I think even good things. Um, rest is very much so a, a spiritual discipline, knowing how to, rest well. And it’s really, it’s really the idea of, um, the old Testament, um, kind of, um, Hebrew word Shalom more than anything. It’s having mind, heart, body, a whole person, a whole self that’s rested. And of course you and I know Shalom is really only found in Jesus. So I want to kind of look at what it means to rest with you practically, um, and at a spiritual level. I think when we come to the end of the year, um, you know, last week we talked about, we come to the end of the year and we can have a lot of maybe disappointments or regrets and we need to deal with those. Well, right. We talked about in Jesus, I can always rejoice. I can always know that God is for me. Um, God always gives me peace that I need at any season, but God also offers us the rest we need just as much. It’s very important, even if it’s practical and it is practical. We live in a fast paced society. Uh, we live in a connected society, right? Um, if you wanted to, and maybe some other church members, not you check their social media during a boring part of a sermon, if you so wanted to, or check to see if there’s a cyber Monday deal that just happened and you don’t want to miss out on it right now, right? You’re very connected to people. You’re very connected to stuff. You’re very connected to what’s going on around the world. If you wanted to know what’s going on with Israel, um, you know, Hamas war or Ukraine and Russia war, you can know right now, you could see what everyone else is doing with their life right now. You are driven because you’re a Westerner and you’re an American. You’re driven to be not just productive. You’re driven to be over productive, bigger and more is better in multitasking. You are a multitasker most likely. And it’s interesting. More and more studies are coming out. There’s a, there’s actually a documentary on Amazon right now, prime about the, the, the harmful effects of multitasking on your brain. And I think we could say, well, welcome to the 21st century. That’s just a cultural problem. It’s the way it is. Or someone may say, I I’m just not built to like live adult life. I don’t know what it is. Uh, I just can’t seem to keep up with the fast paced life that everyone else is living. Both of those are largely incorrect. I think there’s a deeper issue. And I think the issue is we live worn out, tired, ragged because it’s a spiritual problem. It’s a spiritual problem to run ragged in the normal everyday stuff of life on the flip of it. I want to say learning how to rest. Well, honors the Lord, learning how to rest. Well, honors the Lord. It honors the Lord, because he commanded you and I to do it and to do it. Well, do you notice how much it said in that passage? It didn’t just say, Hey, if you’re the head of the house, you need to rest. It said, everybody, anybody that’s living under your roof, if there’s a sojourner staying with you, that person is not to work, not your son, not your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your livestock.

God seems to take the idea of Sabbath very seriously. And here’s the clue. I want you to think about this. Here’s the clue that you and I are really bad at resting. God had to command us to do it. God commands things because he knows we are in our natural wicked state going to do the opposite, right? That’s why rules exist. Now, nothing in the law of Moses is arbitrary. And I like to say that a lot of times at the pregnancy center when I’m talking to men, because when I’m trying to convince them, marriage is not a pathway. It is the pathway. Marriage is the pathway because that’s what God told us to do. Okay. So if you want to have a romantic relationship with women, there’s not options. There’s not, well, there’s the traditional way. There’s the, there’s just the way, right? The way is what? Get married. And I tell them, God says, get married. Because that’s the best way to experience life, a romantic relationship with a woman. God said, do this because it’s what’s best. God’s not arbitrary. So God’s not having like, I want to think of all these rules to ruin everyone’s lives. I’m going to tell them, don’t sleep around with a bunch of women. God knows if he didn’t say get married, men would abuse sexual relationships with women.

God said, don’t murder. people because you and I are naturally wicked in our heart. And if there wasn’t something there to curb our natural desire, you and I would act in violence. God says, don’t commit adultery once you are married. Why? Because what’s inside of me and you and all of us is this thing of lust and looking for other things and more than what we have and what’s good. So it’s true about Sabbath keeping for God’s people at this time. And it doesn’t seem, I think, as consequential because the effects of it aren’t as obvious or plain, right? Like if you kill somebody, you’re going to jail, maybe you’re getting capital punishment, like you commit adultery, your life’s ruined, you split your family apart. There’s a lot of negatives that immediately tell you, hey, don’t go knock over that. That’s not a good thing, right? And you know, the consequences are severe. But when you and I don’t rest well, that has really bad consequences for the long term for our lives that are hurtful in deeper ways. And for God’s people at the time, if you did not Sabbath, if you were caught on the last day of the week working, it wasn’t a, hey, hey, now you remember God told you, you know, take a mental health day rest. It’s what you should be doing. It was death. So if you don’t want to Sabbath, you can just, you can be cut off from your people and you would die.

So if you and I, I think what this is teaching us, if you and I are constantly resisting the biblical mandate to know what it means to rest physically, spiritually, rest in the Lord, it reveals, does it not, a lot about our hearts. It says a lot about me. A lot of bad things, maybe about me. Before God gave the Mosaic law to the Israelites of do this stuff or don’t do this stuff. God built rest as a rhythm into the fabric of the universe itself. Genesis chapter two, thus the heavens and earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it, God rested from his work that he had done in creation. So there’s a, there’s a rhythm and there’s a pattern to the goodness of working. Yes, but resting. Elsewhere in Exodus, it says the Lord said to Moses, you’re to speak to the people of Israel and said above, above all, you should keep my Sabbath for it’s a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for

you. And so I think you have to take a step back and ask why, why, why would it be so important for you and I to have meaningful rhythms, rest in our life? Because labor is labor, a bad thing is labor working a bad thing. No, not at all. Labor’s good. I’m not just working, but working hard, working creatively. That’s exactly the, the dominion mandate that God gave Adam to do. Here’s the thing though, back then before the fall of man, before Adam came into his sinful state, Adam would not have, because Adam could not have transgressed that good rhythm in that perfect state. Adam was living in it. But when we come to the Israelites who were fallen, and when we come to you and I, you and I certainly will transgress that good rhythm. Why do you and I not rest well, or we could say it this way. Why do we have so often a very unhealthy relationship with laboring? So I think that’s your nine to five, job mostly, but I think that involves anything that you give yourself to in life that is causing your heart, mind, and soul to be worn out and exhausted. So I just want to, I want to work through, I think, what are a few biblical reasons of why it is this way? The first reason I think we labor the way we do is because we choose to believe that we are our own providers. In other words, we are our own providers. In other words, we work too much if we actually believe deep down God is not ultimately a good father and a good caretaker. I did not say hard work doesn’t honor the Lord. I did not say that God doesn’t expect us to work and take care of our families. Laziness is a sin. And everything from Proverbs to, Proverbs talking about fluggards, you know, or to Paul saying, you don’t work, you don’t eat. The Bible condemns laziness. Sometimes, I didn’t say either that sometimes we don’t have in certain seasons, maybe a special project going on or something that requires more than we usually give. Not what I’m saying. Here’s what I’m saying to, to us this morning, the choice morning, evening, the choice to relentlessly overwork when it’s financially unnecessary, or there’s no pull or reason to do it, can reveal a heart that trusts itself for food, for a roof, for security. And what happens when I believe I am solely responsible for taking care of everything in my life? Well, we end up doing that thing I talked about last week that we’re prone to do and we shouldn’t do. Have a terrible anxiety. Jesus says something like completely opposite though, when we go to Jesus. Jesus says, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Jesus says, have a nice look at the birds. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap. Nor gather in barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

So Jesus isn’t condemning hard work and being responsible. Jesus is certainly condemning going out of your way to play God in your own life to make sure you’re taken care of. That’s certainly what Jesus condemns. So here’s, here’s the special spiritual reality, a precious spiritual reality that you and I need to take hold of. Okay. God of his own people. God takes care of you. I think, I think we don’t feel that enough. God loves you. God wants you to work hard. He wants you to enjoy it. But then what does God want you to do? He wants you to stop. He wants you to create space in your life, to remember who he is, to worship him, to thank him for his provision, how he takes care of your family. So we’re talking about a faith issue. We’re talking about when I trust me more than I trust the Lord and I push him out of the picture. That’s one reason. Here’s another reason why we don’t rest well or why we have a bad relationship with work. Because our labor, what we accomplish so often and so easily becomes our identity. Or to say it this way, what I do with my life is more important than who I’m becoming in life. What I do is more important than who I am.

If your identity is tied up and whatever you do, whatever your profession is, it’s impossible to stop because that’s who you are. And if your, if your job, whatever that job is, whatever that that calling is you have, if that’s where you find your identity, the sky is going to be the limit on how much you’re willing to work. And not just work, but grossly overwork to the neglect of your family, of your friends, of yourself, of everything. Jesus, as he always does, though, he’s got something to say about everything. Jesus says this simply to that man. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he forfeits his soul?

Here’s a reminder, though. You and I are not men or women of this world. You and I are men or women of the kingdom. And every accolade you could get from men, every, every, every pat on the back, every race you win, every, everything you want, the expectations of other people that drive you to be that person, like, oh, you know, who, who stays late, you know, who gets there early, you know, who’s never, who’s never, you know, you know, can be compared because they work harder than anybody else here. And you want that? You want an identity, right? And your family’s at home wondering, where’s dad tonight? Where, where, where’s dad tonight? Friends, that doesn’t honor the Lord. And it’s a part of a world that’s going to fail and fall away. I can’t live for the expectations of others. I can’t put my identity in what I do. So again, faith issue. What’s the faith issue? I’m believing that who I am in Christ is not as important. As the work of my hands, even if that work is for Christ. Didn’t Jesus say to so many who did great things to him, depart from me. Why? You didn’t work hard enough, man. It’s not what Jesus said. Jesus says, I know you.

Third reason why we have a bad relationship with work. We don’t rest well. It’s because we enjoy creation more than we enjoy the creator.

It’s really only by resting from labor that I come to that still moment in my heart and life where I’m just with God. And I delight in God as my soul and your soul was fashioned to. I can’t stop resting because I need more money to buy more toys and more treasures. I can’t stop moving and resting because I’ve decided that stuff. And my identity is in what I have. Think about what Paul says in first Timothy. He says, godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world. We cannot take anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires. That plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Rest from my laboring, suspending for a short time or maybe sometimes a very long time. My my relationship with the Internet, my relationship with social media, my busy schedule, with my consumerism, with whatever culture is telling me, I need to be doing and what I need to have. In fact, if I can cut, cut through or maybe cut off all the tethers I’ve allowed around my heart that are pulling me. It’s only when I can do that and I can just be with God, even if it has to be in a less than, you know, fancy rich house. But I could still just sit there and be with God. And I could find out these things about God in that moment. God is the greatest provision. God is my identity. God is. God is my treasure and the expectations of God are what matter, not what people think about me.

And here’s the last one. I need to accept my limitations. That’s often why we work too much and rest too little. We don’t like to remember God made us frail. He made us frail so that we would learn to depend on him. I’m not invincible. I know you know that. But let me tell you something. You’re not invincible.

You’re not the energizer bunny. You’re not whatever you think you are that you can just go and go and go. You need to rest and rest well, physically, mentally.

Certainly spiritually.

I heard a story recently or kind of a. An anecdote that kind of shows that there was a young man chopping down trees and there was an old man chopping down trees and the young man was just blowing and going and cutting these trees down. And every once in a while he’d look over and he would see that old man sitting down, you know, sharpening his axe, not doing anything. And he’d cut some more trees down and he’d look over and he would see that old man again sitting there. And this happened all day. So when they were finally done, the young man was shocked to discover that the old man had cut down far more trees than he had. And he said, well, how is that possible? And the old man said, well, because I had the wisdom to sit down and rest. And because I had the wisdom to sharpen my axe.

Friends, God has created us to rest. Accept your frailty. Accept this. Jesus and his disciples rested. You will hear about rest if you read through the Gospels multiple times that Jesus took them away so they could rest. Jesus took them away so they could eat. Jesus and the disciples Sabbathed well. They rested on the seventh day. If you really want to be the best husband, father, mother, wife, employee, church member, disciple maker that God wants you to be, it’s not going to happen through overworking yourself. It’s going to happen through seeing your limitations, resting and depending on Jesus.

And again, if you’re like, this is unspiritual. Can we have like a sermon on something like really deep or something? Friends, I would say that this is incredibly spiritual, though it is practical because you are a physical creature and God’s put your soul inside of a body that you’re supposed to take care of. So I want to encourage you, as I usually do towards the end of a year and the beginning of another one, take inventory of your calendar. Everything that wants to get on your calendar does not have a right to be there. There is amazing power. And the word no, sometimes it’s just no, we can’t do that. All of your children are not entitled to play every sport they want to play every season and go everywhere they want to go at the drop of the hat. Not saying that’s bad to do sports or anything like that. But what rhythms are healthy for your family? I understand things happen. I couldn’t avoid that. I couldn’t get out of that. That had to be there. I understand that. But I firmly believe that time budget. It’s just as important as financial budgets because time ends up belonging to things that didn’t need to belong to when we’re not stewarding our own daily calendars. Well, so it is a spiritual discipline. Sit down. If you’re married, sit down with your spouse. What things are we doing? We should stop doing. What are the things we should start doing? How can life be healthy and restful? So I’m reminded of blue light, right? The light that comes from your phone or from a tablet. Um, it’s, it’s actually not a good idea and I’m guilty of this and I shouldn’t to just roam the internet and read articles right before bed because blue light has a way of keeping you awake. Right? And so you find yourself up like 2 a.m. Like, oh my gosh, what have I done? It’s 2 a.m. You can’t call and say, hey, I’m going to be at work two hours later because I decided to roam around on the internet for two hours last night. So all these little decisions we make in our day about what time we’re going to bed, about what time we’re getting up, about what gets to, you know, be on my calendar. And doesn’t get to be on my calendar. All these things come out to affect you and to affect me. And I’m simply encouraging you, um, exercise what, um, Andreas Kostenberger calls sanctified common sense. Sit down and say, hold on. Life is feeling crazy. What, what can we do? What should we do to make it enjoyable so we can feel rested in serving the Lord and loving our family? Well,

that’s a little bit more. On the external physical side, I want to ultimately just point us to Sabbath rest in Jesus this morning. Sabbath rest in Jesus. Um, sometimes the questions ask, how come we don’t honor the Sabbath like, um, they do in the Bible or even a modern day, um, Jewish person would. I think on the Sabbath, the last day of the week, you know, I’m pretty sure Israel kind of shuts down, you know, no one’s open and they do honor the Sabbath. The reason is, um, we believe. We believe as new Testament Christians that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the set of the Sabbath. Um, and in Jesus is true spiritual rest. So Paul can say in Romans 14, five, um, you know, one person considers one day, um, sacred. Um, another person considers, uh, all days alike. So, so Paul seems to talk about days aren’t valuable, um, and observant as they, as they were in the old Testament. Paul says nothing about Christians. Gentile Christians needing to worship on a certain day at all. The Sabbath foreshadowed spiritual renewal. Only Christ can bring that you and I lost at the fall.

Forever ago. Jesus can only give you the spiritual restoration, the spiritual peace. Um, and, and that the world can’t, can’t give you only Jesus can satisfy you. Only Jesus can do that. So as much as you and I are talking about maintaining a schedule, a mind that are healthy, it all comes down to this. Am I sitting with, am I thinking upon, am I knowing more? Am I loving Jesus? Because Jesus is Sabbath rest and the, the, the author of Hebrews goes through all the better. So if you’ve never read through Hebrews, you’ll discover. He says, Jesus is the better prophet. He’s the better, he’s better than the angels. He’s better than Joshua. He’s better than Moses. He’s better than the priesthood. He’s better than the old covenant, the old Testament, um, uh, sacrificial system. And he makes the case in Hebrews chapter four, Jesus is the better Sabbath.

And so I deeply want that for you. I deeply want us to be in a world that is crazy, crazy, crazy, stressed out, burned out, um, to be able to more than anything. Rest daily with and in Jesus. And I recognize at the same time, one sermon on this is not going to fix it. I wish it could. I don’t think 10 sermons is going to fix it. What’s going to fix it. I think it’s conviction that God, you have called me out of this world, right? That keeps me stressed. That keeps me tired by chasing dreams that don’t matter by chasing money. That’s going to go away by doing all this stuff. And it’s going to be a spiritual discipline on your part and my part to think. Through the daily on what does this day look like? And to remember, I only have so many of them. And I think that’s lost on us. Like life just goes on. It doesn’t go on. Right. Like you have a certain number of fixed days before you pass away. Before the Lord comes back. How do you want to spend those days using your mind the best you can, using your body the best you can, using your time and schedule the best you can. And certainly loving and being with the Lord Jesus the best you can and should on this side of life.

Jesus says in Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I’m gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy.

My burden is light.

So challenge for the immediate challenge for 2024 challenge for the rest of your life.

Rest in Jesus, because here’s the thing. The only kind of labor that actually comes to something and it’s fruitful happens when we first rested in Jesus. OK, if you want to run for Jesus, you’ve got to learn to rest in Jesus first. If I want to run for Christ. I have to learn to rest in Christ.

So with that said, I want to kind of transition this morning and talk about something slightly different. And I know we have some folks out because of the holidays traveling. And so I’ll have this sermon recorded, but I just want to talk to you a minute about some things.

So October of this year, October 2023. That’s fine. Um, Mark, five years, five years of me being at Providence, five years of of us replanting Providence. And I was thinking about it, you know, a couple of days ago. I probably do a really bad job. I do a bad job, I think, of celebrating corporately what the Lord has done among us, what the Lord is doing. I think that we should be more in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Be thankful. Be thankful to the Lord. And so I wanted to start and just talk about those things for a minute. When I think about our our small church here that I’ve been, I’ve had the privilege to pastor for five years. I am so grateful for you.

I’m so grateful for volunteers who give their best time to hold somebody else’s baby and change diapers of some other kid. Who? Show’s up weekend and week out without complaining volunteers who who take care of our littles and so grateful for our children’s Sunday school. I think that that is just that was just it’s just so timely and so important. I’m just speaking for my children. I think all the kids, they look forward to that. They learn about Jesus. They’re learning eternal truths. Just how Kate and in in in the chins just do that so faithfully. How Sarah has so faithfully overseen pre-K and and made sure we had volunteers for that. I’m so grateful for hospitality. Just the culture of hospitality. We have how much we love to have people when we can’t have them here and how much we just love one another when we’re with one another. I’m grateful for finance ministry and for Kathy doing that. I know we’ve had different people doing over the years, but she does a great job with it. I’m grateful for local mission again. Kathy. I’m always making sure we’re doing something out in the community every quarter and she’s been faithfully doing that since she’s been here. I’m grateful for Richard. I know that he’s not here tonight, but leading the charge in Big Spring Park, you know, in a day and age when evangelism is is kind of forgotten. Just having a church culture where we can remind one another, hey, the gospel still saves and we need to preach that gospel. I’m grateful for our children. We’re a church that has a culture. I’ve loved for children. Children tend to be kind of partitioned off, you know, get them away. I know kids are noisy. I live with four of them. It’s really hard, but I’m grateful that we love our children. And even though they’re noisy and loud in here, I believe that they’re hearing the Bible, even though they don’t realize they’re hearing the Bible at a young age.

I’m grateful that we’ve had seven baptisms in five years. You know, I think seven baptisms in five years for the church, for the size church we are. I think it’s significant. And I think that’s a big deal that we’ve been able to see the Lord bring seven folks to conviction of salvation and baptism in these five years. Spiritual growth. I’ve seen in so many people how the Lord has blessed our finances that we can say we’ve got. I don’t know what we have. Seventy, eighty thousand dollars in the bank. And the Lord, I look back and just so faithfully provided for us and taking care of us.

The HPRC. RC’s been weird. I’ve been there for two years and that’s been a really unique ministry where people are hearing the gospel. You know, I was thinking about, you know, about baptism, just about the card is coming here through that and just how she was baptized. And that’s been such a cool connection. And Kate and Kathy and Diane and so many people making hats and blankets and Richard being able to do the fatherhood classes and sharing the gospel. And Chase was able to serve for a long season there as an advocate. That’s been a really cool way God has used. Our church. So there’s a lot of things I’m thankful for. Are the things I want to see happen? Yes. Are there things that haven’t happened? I wish I had been sure, but I want to just be thankful for what God has done. So praise the Lord for how he has worked among us with these five years. With that being said, I want to say this. I have, I think, found myself to be spiritually exhausted and maybe even burned. Burned out over the last few months. And that’s not because I don’t love being a pastor and it’s not because anybody’s done something wrong. I think it’s just because I’m a person and I’m a sheep before I’m a shepherd. And pastoral ministry is unique in its requirements upon a person. And I was reading these stats just the other day and I wanted to read them to you because I thought that they were kind of telling. And this is from a recent survey done by the Barna Group. But 1,500 pastors leave ministry permanently each month in America. So think about that stat for a second. What that means is churches are going to have to get used to having young and experienced pastors. Because the guy that gets his MDiv and he pays all this money and he’s excited about it. He gets in ministry and he lasts for five to seven years. And guess what? For a variety of factors, he gets burned out and he’s gone. So the idea of. Having a pastor that’s tenured somewhere and he loves his people and they love him. He’s there for 15, 20, 30 years will be something of the past. I think if the culture of burnout doesn’t change. 80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles. 70% of pastors do not have a close friend or confidant. Over 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could, but they have no other way to make a living. 30% of pastors said they either. Had been in an ongoing affair or had a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner. 71% of pastors stated they were burned out. They had battles with depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and daily basis. And then last one out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister. One out of every 10 will actually retire as a minister. So I’m not sharing all that. And I want to make this clear because I want pity. I don’t want nobody’s pity. I signed up for this. I want to be a pastor. I like it. Honestly, I wish you all took more advantage of me. I wish somebody would call me at 2 a.m. Because they’re got a life crisis and they want they need prayer. I wish somebody would call me to come to their house when they’re broken up. I wish people pulled more out of me sometimes as I look back over my time as a pastor. So it’s not a pity thing. And I’m not saying if you’re not in ministry, your life’s easier and pastors lives are harder. I’m not saying that at all. You. Some of you live really difficult, trying lives. And that’s hard on you. You have stresses. I’m only setting forth this fact that ministry is unique in its requirements. I’ll give you an example. A pastor friend of mine gave most people what you have categories in your life. So your friends, your work, your church, your home. Right. And so if one of those isn’t so great, like work’s not great. It can stay in the work box. And I’ve got these other things. We are a pastor, work and church and friends and family. Your home, it all becomes the same. So if someone is sick or if there’s a conflict or if someone’s hurt you or there’s something going on, that doesn’t affect one box. All the boxes all the time are being affected.

So it’s a 24-7 job. And it has a way, pastoral ministry, of pulling on you emotionally, spiritually, and then even physically sometimes. I love preaching sermons. I love preaching sermons. I still am surprised at it. I do it. I’m not saying I’m great at it, but I’m still surprised that I do it. I feel like it’s the highest calling you could be given in life to preach God’s word. But every 15 to 20 sermons is the equivalent of a novel. So it’s just, it’s a lot to bring a good sermon that you’ve prayed over and you’ve studied to your people weekly. I want prayer and praying for you to be a joy. I want to love you with all joy. I want to give it my all. I want. I don’t want. And this is the case a lot of times. I don’t want my wife and my children, my children growing up, spiting and hating the ministry. Happens a lot of times.

So I’m saying these things to say this. You know, I was at the previous church I was at for eight and a half years. And the last couple of years were tougher. And then I began here five years ago. And then on top of that. Yeah. With I think your blessing and I think it was a good thing. I’m also at the HPRC kind of being this weird pastor director guy there serving in different ways. And that’s just different stresses. And I, you know, I need to reconsider if that’s something I need to be doing as well. But all this to say, I know it’s a huge build up. Sorry for the suspense. All that to say, with the support and approval of the elders, advice from mentors, wisdom of Christian leaders, dead and alive, my plan is to take the month of January to be a pastoral sabbatical to read Charles Spurgeon on this subject, talking about pastors rest times, not waste time is economy to gather fresh strength is wisdom to take occasional furlough. So most pastors who do. Most sabbaticals, they usually take three to six months. I’m not asking for that long. I’m not asking for extra money to go here, there to this kind of a thing. To be clear, a sabbatical is not a vacation. So in the month of January, I will not be on the beach, you know, drinking something nice and just do nothing for a month. A pastoral sabbatical is supposed to be me spiritually, mentally renewing myself in the Lord. So that I can run well and be the pastor I need to be at Providence.

To say it in a different way, I don’t want Jesus to be my day job before he is the love of my life. And again, just looking at my trends and looking at how things have gone, it has become that way for me. And I really don’t want that to happen. I want to tell people to follow Jesus. Because I’m following Jesus just as much. So a sabbatical is for me, for you, if that makes sense. It’s so that I can be, but we can be healthy and be refreshed in who I am as a leader. And then what I believe God wants us to do together as a church for the future. So what do you do on a sabbatical? What is that? It’s extended times, studying the word and praying. Just blocked out times to be with God. It’s reading literature. That’s life giving and just re-encourage me and why I signed up for this to start with and why it’s something that the Lord asked me to do and why I love doing it. And just to regain a passion for it. I will spend some time with my family, you know, just with my kids and enjoying them. And with Jessica, it’s time to rethink schedule and priorities and just how everything I talk to you about in that sermon. Just, okay, what are the best rhythms to honor the Lord? I will have a sabbatical coach. So it’s wise when you do sabbatical to have an outside party periodically. Check in with you and say, hey, the things you said you needed to rest from, are you doing that? Like, what do you need to be doing so you’re not wasting your sabbatical? And then at the end of it, there is a place in Georgia and there’s actually more of these cropping up for the reasons I mentioned about the need for it. There is a place in Georgia that’s for pastors who are just tired or burned out or you just need rest. It’s totally free. And so you can go there with your wife. As long as you want and just be there. So we’re going to go there at the end of January for just a few, just a few days.

So that’s, that’s that. Chris and Chase would be preaching and they’ll be available during that time. I want to send out a recap email with this and link to a ton of articles and podcasts just to help you wrap your mind around sabbatical if you need that. If you have any question at all about any of this, please. Say something to me or to Chase or Chris. If you have any concerns, questions whatsoever.

So this, and again, this wasn’t even something that I just cooked up. That happens. People hit the wall and, you know, they say, when you realize you’re burned out, you’ve been burned out for way too long. So in other words, when you realize it, it’s, you know, it’s too late. Like, whoops, you waited, you waited too long. So this wasn’t even something that I just, oh, let’s do this. We talked about this probably close to a year. A year ago is, hey, would this be a healthy thing to do? So I hope that makes sense. And I hope you understand that. And again, if you have any questions or anything, I want to answer them. But from my heart, I love you. I want to be the best pastor I can be. I want to preach well, pray well, lead well, disciple well, all those things well. And so that’s the motivation and intent on. Taking January to just be with the Lord and kind of be refreshed. So I want to rest in Jesus. I want you to rest in Jesus so we can run for Jesus. OK, so I love you. Let’s pray. And then we’re going to take communion together.

Father, we thank you for Jesus, who is our rest. We thank you that.

We thank you that.

We can’t.

We can’t be called to work. We can’t be called or drawn into a season where the labor and the difficulty is greater than your grace.

Lord, in every season and everything, you have the strength. You have the renewal. You have all that we need. Father and your son. And so I pray that we would lean into that. And we would as. Spiritual discipline is daily habit routine to just look at Jesus. And so we love you. We pray that in Jesus name. Amen.