RESTED: Talk 6 – Lord of the Sabbath
builder2024-07-27T17:00:13+08:00Talk I’m going to preach this Word right away to you: God is giving you real rest. That person beside you might be tired. That person beside you might be experiencing the pandemic of exhaustion. I want you to tell that person, wake him up: God is giving you real rest. We’ve been going through five weeks already-- five weeks of analyzing low-grade exhaustion that people are carrying like a badge of honor. Because if you’re not tired, people will say you’re doing nothing, and therefore, probably you’re irresponsible and, you know, you’re passing on the responsibilities to other people. And so we carry this exhaustion. And we think it’s normal. But for the past five weeks, we’ve also been saying that God has an antidote. And that antidote is Shabbat. And Shabbat is sacred rhythms of rest and relationship. How many here can actually say that in the past five weeks, God has spoken to you? God has dealt with you, and you have been blessed by our series. We Don’t Have Sabbath Rhythm There's something that troubles me. We, Catholics, are supposed to be loving and obeying God. But I noticed that many of us don't have any sort of Sabbath rhythm. We go to church or to The Feast. But that’s it. I have a hunch. I think we’ve misread the Gospels. In all four Gospels-- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John-- there are a bunch of stories where Jesus heals on a Sabbath. But a bunch of guys called the Pharisees took Sabbath seriously. They criticized Jesus for not making the Sabbath the way they wanted Him to. We’ve got this message: If Jesus did not take the Sabbath seriously, why would we? Maybe, it’s not very important. In this talk, we will convince you otherwise: That Jesus took Sabbath very seriously-- but in a different way. So, extend your hand towards the Word: Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “I will give you rest.” The global average of burnout is 45%. That is shocking. It means that people of all ages in different cultures and nationalities are experiencing burnout. But there is something worse. In the Philippines, a Deloitte study shows that 63% of millennials and 70% of Gen Z are going through burnout. This is wild and crazy. The verse above is very relevant but then Jesus shocks everybody as He continues: The Yoke of Jesus A yoke is a harness around the neck of an oxen or a carabao. Can you rest while carrying a yoke? No. But if it’s Jesus’ yoke, you can rest. Here’s news for you: God is not in the business of removing your burdens. He is in the business of replacing them. We have the wrong notion of what rest means. We want a comfortable life but what we really want is the absence of burdens. Yes or no? How many of you dream of