Podcasts about sabbaths

REVELATION EP 8- The Seven Trumpets and a Map of Time The book of Revelation is, in many ways, a summary of the unfolding work of God in redemption and redemptive judgment. It begins with the seven letters to the churches, moves into the opening of the seven seals, and then into the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. In the first four seals we see the release of forces that have shaped the world we know—conquest, war, economic scarcity and inflation, famine, disease and death. These events describe the progression of human history toward the final period of God's dealings with the earth. We have already experienced many of these things in measure, including global pandemics, giving us a foretaste of what Revelation describes as ultimately coming upon the earth. But then we arrive at something extraordinary: the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet ultimately contains the seven bowls or vials of judgment. Revelation gives us a series of summaries within summaries. Seven speaks of completion and fullness. What we are seeing is not merely a sequence of catastrophes, but the completion of a divine process that brings God's purposes for humanity to their appointed goal. “Receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” —1 Peter 1:9 The final movements of Revelation therefore concern not simply judgment upon the earth, but the completion of God's redemptive work in His people as Christ brings history toward His return. This brings us into the final three-and-a-half-year period that repeatedly appears throughout prophetic Scripture—a period culminating in the second coming of Christ. THE SEVENTH SEAL, THE CENSER AND THE DAY OF ATONEMENT Revelation 8 begins with one of the most remarkable moments in the book: “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” —Revelation 8:1 It is the only explicit period of silence described in heaven in Revelation. After the worship, thunder, voices and activity surrounding the throne, suddenly everything becomes still. It is as though heaven pauses before the next great movement of God's purpose. John sees seven angels standing before God, and seven trumpets are given to them. Before those trumpets sound, however, another angel appears with a golden censer. He is given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne. The censer is then filled with fire from the altar and thrown to the earth, producing thunder, lightning and an earthquake. This gives us an important principle: the prayers of God's people are not disconnected from the purposes of God in the earth. Heaven receives the prayers of the saints, and those prayers become part of the unfolding divine purpose. The golden censer is particularly significant because of its connection with the Day of Atonement. In the Old Testament, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year carrying incense and blood into the presence of God. Leviticus 16 describes him taking burning coals and incense behind the inner curtain, creating a cloud over the mercy seat, and then sprinkling blood before it. “Into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood…” —Hebrews 9:7 The imagery of Revelation 8 therefore takes us directly into the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. The seventh seal opens a prophetic picture of cleansing, sanctification and preparation, and connects Revelation with the prophetic pattern of Israel's feasts. THE FEASTS — A MAP OF REDEMPTIVE TIME The Church has historically experienced the great movements represented by Passover and Pentecost, but we have not yet experienced the prophetic fullness represented by the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. Passover speaks of deliverance. The blood was placed upon the doorway, marking out a people delivered from judgment and slavery. Christ is our Passover; His blood establishes the boundary of salvation and justification. Pentecost speaks of covenant relationship and the giving of the Spirit. What was external becomes internal. God's covenant is written into His people, and believers learn to walk by the Spirit in conscious obedience to God. The Day of Atonement speaks of deeper cleansing, transformation and sanctification. Before Israel entered Tabernacles came Atonement, so prophetically it becomes the preparation for the fullness of God's dwelling. Tabernacles represents the fullness of God dwelling among His people. So the movement is: Passover → Pentecost → Atonement → Tabernacles. The story is moving toward the completion of God's dwelling with humanity. The final feast season begins with the Feast of Trumpets: “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets…” —Leviticus 23:24 These initial trumpets are not the judgment trumpets of Revelation 8–11. They are prophetic trumpets announcing that something is about to happen. They call God's people to attention and announce a season of preparation. Ten days later comes the Day of Atonement, followed by the Feast of Tabernacles: Trumpets → Preparation → Atonement → Tabernacles. This gives us a prophetic picture of the preparation of the Bride of Christ. THE BRIDE, THE BLOOD AND TRANSFORMATION Paul writes: “That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word… that she should be holy and without blemish.” —Ephesians 5:26–27 This is not simply about becoming better Christians. Paul describes a deeper work of transformation in the Bride. The Church is being prepared for union with Christ. “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” —Ephesians 5:32 The Day of Atonement gives us a prophetic picture of this deeper cleansing. On that day, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place with blood: “Then he must take some of the blood of the bull… and sprinkle it seven times…” —Leviticus 16:14 Seven speaks of completion. At Passover, the blood was placed at the doorway. At Pentecost, covenant relationship was established with God's people. At the Day of Atonement, the blood enters the Most Holy Place. Doorway → People → Presence Deliverance → Covenant → Transformation The Day of Atonement therefore points toward the fullest application of Christ's redemptive work in His people—not another sacrifice, but a deeper manifestation of the power of the one sacrifice already accomplished by Christ. The goal is maturity—the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The Day of Atonement was also called a Sabbath of Sabbaths—Shabbat Shabbaton. Israel was commanded to “afflict” or humble their souls, but Isaiah 58 reveals that God was never interested in religious suffering for its own sake. The people were fasting while still oppressing others, fighting, quarrelling and maintaining bondage. “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” The ultimate fast is therefore not simply abstaining from food. It is becoming free. It is allowing God to break the internal bondage that prevents us from loving God and others freely. God is not trying to crush the soul. He is trying to heal it. THE TRUMPETS AND THE WITNESSES Numbers 10 says: “Make two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece you will make them.” Silver is associated with redemption and atonement. There are two trumpets, yet they are made from one piece of silver. This gives us a picture of Christ and His people—the one new man created in Christ. The trumpet represents the prophetic voice of God. God speaks to His people, and He also speaks through His people. This imagery provides a fitting parallel with the two witnesses of Revelation 11, who prophesy for 1,260 days. Their ministry belongs to this final prophetic period and corresponds to the ministry of Moses and Elijah. Their witness becomes part of God's final testimony before the culmination of the age. SABBATH REST The Day of Atonement also opens another major biblical theme: rest. The Sabbath was never merely about stopping work one day each week. Israel was commanded to allow the land to rest every seventh year. Leviticus 25 describes six years of cultivation followed by a seventh year in which the land was not cultivated in the ordinary way. The people had to trust God. They had to stop striving to produce and believe that God could sustain them. But Israel failed to fully enter this dimension of Sabbath rest. 2 Chronicles 36 says Israel went into Babylonian captivity: “Until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths… to fulfil seventy years.” The seventy years correspond to seventy unobserved Sabbath years—a period traditionally calculated against 490 years: 490 ÷ 7 = 70. Hebrews takes this principle beyond agriculture and national history: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God… He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” This is the spiritual reality behind Sabbath. The issue is not merely whether we stop working. The issue is whether we have learned to trust God. Rest is faith. Rest is the cessation of self-powered striving. Rest is learning to live from the faith of Christ and the flow of grace. Sometimes the very thing we call spiritual activity becomes a substitute for spiritual rest. We can become so busy trying to manage ourselves, fix ourselves, control ourselves and prove ourselves that we never become still enough to allow God to transform us. FROM PASSOVER TO TABERNACLES The journey from Passover to Tabernacles can be understood as the journey of a building becoming a home. At Passover, the people come through the doorway. At Pentecost, they learn covenant relationship and Spirit-led living. At the Day of Atonement, they are brought into the deepest place of cleansing. At Tabernacles comes the fullness of God's dwelling. The Church is therefore not simply being rescued. We are being prepared for habitation. Salvation → Maturity | Forgiveness → Transformation | External religion → Internal reality | Striving → Rest | Knowing about God → Becoming a dwelling place for God The Sabbath also points beyond itself. In Revelation, the return of Christ is followed by the thousand-year reign described in Revelation 20. The final three-and-a-half-year period culminates in Christ's return, and the Millennium becomes a prophetic expression of the greater Sabbath rest of God's kingdom. Six days → Seventh-day Sabbath | Six years → Seventh-year Sabbath | Redemptive history → Millennial Sabbath The Sabbath becomes a picture of the ultimate cessation of rebellion, striving and self-rule under the reign of Christ. A MAP OF TIME When we step back and look at Revelation 8, we begin to see something much larger than a series of judgments. We see a map of time. The seals bring us through the broad progression of history. The seventh seal opens the trumpets. The trumpets move us into the final prophetic period. The golden censer takes us into the imagery of the Most Holy Place and the Day of Atonement. Atonement points toward the cleansing and preparation of the Bride. The Bride is washed by the Word and brought toward maturity. Beyond that lies Tabernacles—the dwelling of God with His people—and finally the return of Christ and the Millennial Sabbath. Seals → Trumpets → Atonement → Bride → Tabernacles → Christ's Return → Millennial Rest Underneath the entire progression is one great purpose: God is bringing His creation back into His rest. THE BUILDING BECOMES A HOME This may be the most important application for us personally. We can spend our lives building—reputations, theological knowledge, religious activity and systems designed to make ourselves feel safe. But God's ultimate purpose is not merely to build a structure. He wants a dwelling place. The journey from Passover to Tabernacles is the story of a building finally becoming a home. We are still under construction. The Word is washing us. The Spirit is working within us. The blood of Christ has already accomplished the foundation of our redemption. But God is bringing us into a deeper experience of what Christ has already purchased. Perhaps the question is not simply “How much am I doing for God?” but “How much am I resting in God?” Not “How hard am I trying to change myself?” but “Am I allowing God to transform me?” Not “How much religious activity can I sustain?” but “Can I become still enough to hear His voice?” Sometimes our greatest obstacle to entering God's rest is the very activity we believe is helping us get there. There comes a time when the noise must stop, the striving must stop, the self-protection must stop, and the endless attempts to manage everything must stop. In the silence of the inner sanctuary we discover that grace does not merely forgive us; it transforms us. The blood does not merely bring us through the doorway; it brings us into the presence. The Word does not merely inform us; it washes us. The Spirit does not merely empower our activity; He teaches us to rest. The Bride is not ultimately prepared by striving harder. She is prepared by allowing Christ to do His work within her. The seventh seal begins with silence. That is fitting. After all the noise of the seals, wars, judgments, trumpets and shaking of the earth, heaven becomes silent. When the noise finally stops, we discover that God has been working all along. The building becomes a home. The Bride becomes ready. The people of God enter His rest. The journey that began at the doorway of Passover finds its fullness in the dwelling of Tabernacles and its great Sabbath rest. And ultimately, Jesus reigns.  

If God is a God of blessing – then what about all the suffering we go through? And anyway, if God does bless, does that just mean a new car and a bigger house?   Does God want to Bless Me? It is just great to be with you again this week and we are starting a new series that I've called "Blessed to be a Blessing". There's some really important teaching going to happen over these next four weeks on the subject of God's blessing. Why is that important? Because I see so much misunderstanding about God and His heart and where He stands on blessing us. There seems to be a couple of extreme positions on this whole subject of God's blessing – two opposite ends of the spectrum, if you like. On the one end, it goes something like this. God wants to bless me, therefore, I should believe Him for the new Mercedes convertible, more money and a bigger house and a big diamond ring. In effect it kind of reduces God down to some sort of sugar daddy: it's all about me, I am at centre stage – I name it and I claim it. And you know something, lots of Christians believe that. Now the problem that I have with that end of the spectrum is that when I take that and I hold it in one hand and I hold the cross of Christ in the other – when I look at Jesus, this Jesus that gave up everything for me; this Jesus who was nailed to a cross, beaten and bruised and brutalised, not even with the clothes on His back – and I compare those two things, you know something, this end of the spectrum over here, jars with that, don't you think? And it leads to some of the worst excesses – the tele-evangelists pressuring people for money and flying around in their private jets. Is that where that should end up? I mean is that what God's blessing is all about? The other end of the spectrum is you have to be poor to serve God. Money is evil. In fact, we just had a phone call, just the other evening, in the middle of the night, someone responding to a program, saying, "money is evil". Well, no that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil", but money itself isn't evil. "People who are rich are evil." I was talking to a man in India recently. India by and large, is a country of extremes – there is the very rich and there's a large, large number of very, very poor people. And this man was being very critical of a Christian leader who just happened to have a nice house in a nice area. He believed that it was wrong for him to have money. Then I looked at this end of the spectrum – you have to be a pauper to serve God. And then I go to the Bible and I read about Abraham, who was God's chosen man; he was very wealthy. I read about King Solomon, he was very wealthy. Yet King Solomon was still God's anointed leader over Israel. He was full of God's wisdom. Do you see the problem? You go to either end of the spectrum and you take teaching about God's blessing to the extreme and you know, I think you end up with the wrong answer. God is a God of balance and when we look at our lives, what we see is that we go through times of blessing, where there's joy and everything seems to be going well and we all go through difficult times. You see the problem. At one end you can have people getting the extreme prosperity thing in their heads and we can end up thinking it's all about us. It plays right into the hands of the world; it's the me, me, me – the next plasma TV, the next car, the next big thing. If you don't have that, obviously you don't have enough faith. On the other hand, if you have this perception that you have to be poor to be a Christian, well if that were the case, who would ever fund the work of the Lord on this planet? God has always chosen to fund His work through His people. And then on top of the pure monitory thing, there's the reality of tragedy and pain and suffering. I mean some of these things are indiscriminate – earthquakes, tsunamis, a young person who loves God dies of cancer, in a car crash or there's divorce or there's retrenchment or there's all that stuff of life that we all experience some times. Are you with me? So what's God's plan? Does God want to bless me or not? Is it okay for me to ask for His blessing? Is it okay for me to expect His blessing, or is that presumptuous? This is an important question. It is in a sense where the 'rubber' of faith hits the 'road' of life. It's when it comes to faith in God being active, right in the midst of life's realities today, the things we all have to face. We get up in the morning, we pray, we look forward to the day … How do I pray, what do I give thanks for? That difficult situation that's going be confronting me at work today, can I ask God to help me with that? Is God in all of that? That's why we are doing this series "Blessed to be a Blessing". I'm a simple man. I open the Bible, I see what God's Word says on a subject and you know God is largely a God of balance. I love to be empowered with God's Word and hopefully as we share these next twenty, twenty five minutes together we will both be empowered by God's Word. The problem with teaching on blessing is that you just can't take one verse and say, "That's it! See, God is a God who blesses; therefore I can ask Him for the next big car". You end up with an extreme position. Just as if you say, "You can't have any money to serve Jesus. You have to sell everything you have, give it all away", because Jesus did say that to one young ruler. I'd like to look at God's perspective; the whole thing. Is God a God who blesses? Well, let's just start with what we mean by the word "bless"? It has a number of different meanings but the main connotation is God's divine favour – God intervening to make something better or to give us something that will bring us joy or happiness, financial blessing, spiritual blessing, physical blessing, healing, anything and everything. God's divine favour – His blessing becoming active in our lives. The question is, is God in the blessing business? The word "bless" or "blesses" or "blessed" or "blessing", appears three hundred and fifty eight times in the Bible. The first time you see it is in the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, verse 22. Let's go there and have a bit of a look at what God's up to. Genesis chapter 1 is the account of God's creation. He creates the light out of darkness and the heavens and the earth and the oceans and the dry land and the plants. And the first time He creates a living creature, this is what He says: So God created the creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems. According to all their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind and God saw that is was good and God ... Listen to this: ... and God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on the earth'. The second time that the concept of 'blessing' happens in the Bible is in that same chapter, a few verses on, verse 26: Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image and in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, over the livestock over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female, He created them. God blessed them and said to them" – see, there it is again – "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over every living creature that moves on the ground.' And then God said, 'I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it, they will be yours for food and all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground; everything that has breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.' And it was so. That's creation! Let me ask you something – do you think God's in the business of blessing us?   If God Blesses why do we Suffer? So we've looked at God's own account of His creation, Genesis chapter 1. The very first living creatures He creates, He blesses them. He says, "Go and multiply, increase in number and fill the earth." And He creates humanity, man and woman, and He hands the whole of that creation over to them. What an enormous blessing! You and I are joint owners in creation! Why? Because God created us in His own image and then He handed the whole thing over to us. Just stop and think about that for a minute. What a huge blessing! Right at the point of creation, God was in the blessing business. That's profound! And His plan for us was to live in relationship with Him – Adam and Eve. Genesis, chapter 2, verse 15: The Lord God took the man and put him is the Garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. A perfect plan of blessing and as you probably know, Adam and Eve rebelled. They did the one thing that God said, 'don't do' and there were consequences. Rebellion against God always has consequences. To the woman He said, "I will greatly increase your pains in child bearing, with pain you will give birth. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." To Adam He said, "Because you listened to your wife and you ate from the tree about which I commanded you 'you must not eat', cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you'll eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken – for dust you are and to dust you will return." Enter pain and suffering because humanity rebelled against God. And for the rest of the history of humanity, there are consequences. Now you might say to me, "Berni that is so insensitive. If there's a still born baby, if tens of thousands are killed in a tsunami, if some young teenager is raped and murdered, how can you say that?" Here it is, God made us in His image but when who He is doesn't suit us, we try and remake Him into our image. God is a God of blessing – that was His plan, that's why He put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But they rebelled and when that happens there is an interruption of blessing, there's an interruption in the relationship with Him. Have a look at it. In Leviticus chapter 26 is a perfect summary of where God stands on this. It's a summary of the old covenant; the relationship between God and Israel. And He lays out the relationship in this chapter. Let's go there and begin at verse 1. He says: Don't make idols or set up a sacred stone for yourselves, don't place a carved stone in your land to bow down to it because I am the Lord your God. If you observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary, I am the Lord. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commandments, I will send rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field will be full of fruit and your threshing will continue until grape harvest and grape harvest will continue until planting and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant you peace in the land and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid of them. I will remove savage beasts from the land and the sword will not pass through the country. You will pursue your enemies and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. I will look on you with favour and make you fruitful and increase your numbers and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last years harvest when you have to make room for the new one. I'll put my dwelling place among you and I won't abhor you and I walk among you and be your God and you will be my people. I'm the Lord God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yolk and enabled you to walk with your heads high. But, but if your won't listen to me and carry out all these commandments and if you reject me and my decrees and you abhor my laws and fail to carry out those commandments and so violate this covenant, then I will do this - I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease and fever will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you and you will flee, even when there is no one pursuing you. See, God first and foremost is a God of blessing. He wants to be in relationship with His people and He is God – He gets to say this is how it is. And when Israel turned against Him, there were consequences. And you and I both have rebelled against God; we both have turned our backs on God at some point in our lives. I was talking to a man just the other day. He's my own age, he's a good friend of mine and he was talking about his three adult sons. This man had a dream to bless his sons. He's an entrepreneur. He's good at making money. He worked as a team with his sons; he wanted to build a business empire and to see them blessed and their children blessed. But one by one, they rejected him and his plans – they didn't honour their father. They went their own way; they turned their backs on him. It sounds like a parable, doesn't it? This is a true story – a friend of mine. And this is what my friend said to me, he said, "Berni, I really wanted to bless them, I wanted to give to them but now that they have rejected that, in their self-centered, selfish ways, I can't bless them." and it's the greatest sadness of his life. That man is made in the image of God. What he said about his heart to bless his sons is exactly, exactly where God is coming from. God is a God of blessing, but when we reject Him, when humanity rejected Him, when you and I as individuals rejected Him, it interrupts the relationship. And it's in that relationship that we are blessed – that's God's plan. So we've all done that. Can we still go to God and ask Him to bless us?   Can I ask for God's Blessing? I hope that as we have looked into God's Word so far on the program, it's had a profound impact on you. God's heart is to bless us – it's in His very nature. That's what creation was all about. A huge abundant, indescribable blessing from Him to us. But when we reject Him, when we try to reconstruct God in our own image rather than accepting Him for who He is, we interrupt that blessing. It's as simple as that. Now we have all done that, so can we still ask God for His blessing, for His favour, for His grace? Absolutely, because God is a God of forgiveness. I'd like to take you to a place, a prayer by a man called Jabez. Someone wrote a book about this a few years ago and it became very prominent, but this prayer is in the Old Testament. If you have a Bible, grab it. We are going to First Chronicles, chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. It's in the middle of nine chapters of genealogy, you know, so and so begat so and so who begat so and so who begat so and so - nine chapters - riveting! Smack bang in the middle of that God stops and tells us the story of this Jabez. Obviously He thought it was important enough to break this riveting flow of the genealogies. Good stuff, thank you Jesus. Here's the prayer of Jabez: Jabez was honoured more than his brothers and his mother named his Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, "O God, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory and that your hand might be with me and that you might keep me from hurt and from harm." And God granted his request. Jabez gets called "You're a pain" by his mother. Imagine if your mother or my mother named us that. Not a great start in life is it? Mustn't have been for Jabez because Jabez cried out to God. He cried out to Him in desperation, out of his pain, out of his imperfect life. We don't know much more about him but what we do know is that everybody has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and he rejected God in his life at some point, just the way that you and I have. And in his desperation he calls out to God. You might say, "Berni, how do you know that Jabez rebelled?" Let me ask you, if you're a parent, what's the first or the second or the third word that every child learns? "No!" Isn't it? And God's Word clearly teaches that we all have turned our backs on Him. So Jabez is a fallen man just like you and I are fallen human beings. What does Jabez ask God? "God, that you would bless me indeed." Not just any sort of blessing an 'indeed' blessing; not just an ordinary blessing of God, "I really, really, God, want you to bless me." Secondly he asks God to enlarge his territory. In the Old Testament, land was very important, in terms of blessing. I mean, land is somewhere we live. If you have a house in the suburbs, you might take that for granted. If you happen to live in a Liberian refugee camp in Sierra Leon, where you are listening to this program, you won't be taking land for granted. Jabez asks God to enlarge his territory. Thirdly that God's hand might be with him. What a great blessing that is! And fourthly, that God would keep him from hurt and harm. And listen to what it says, (Jabez is a person just like you and me) listen to what it says next. It says, "And God granted his request." This man put his faith in God and he asked God for a blessing. Once I discovered this prayer, I started praying it regularly, with my own twist. I said, "God, that you would bless me indeed today. I want to see your presence; I want you to be with me. God, that you would increase my borders and my territory. That more and more people would listen to these programs." You know, I started praying that two years ago when these programs were being listened to by a few people on a few stations and now they are listened to by hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in over eighty countries around the world. God answers those prayers. "God that you would send your hand with me that doors would open for the work that we do and that you would keep me from evil that I wouldn't cause any pain." It is just the Lord laid on my heart. The point is we can ask God for blessing. God is a God of great blessing and blessing happens in relationship with Him. When we reject God – listen to me – when we reject God it breaks the blessing. Just like that friend of mine that I was talking about with his sons. God wants to bless you … God wants to bless me and there's a purpose; there's a reason for His blessing. It's not just for us but as we will see over the next few weeks on the program, God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. But right from the beginning, right from the first creature that He created on this earth, He wanted to bless them. And when he created humanity, He wanted to bless them. And when He had a relationship with His people, Israel, He wanted to bless them. And we all turned our backs on Him and so God then gave us the greatest blessing that there could possibly be – He opened the door to a relationship with Him through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. God is a God of blessing. Yes, we go through ups and downs in our lives, and we're going to have a look at some of those things over the next few weeks, but when I open the Bible I see a God who wants to engage, not just with humanity as a whole, but with little people like you and me and His heart is to bless us.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0804db.mp3 Listen to Bible reading Through My Bible Yr 03 – August 04 Hosea 1 – 2 Hosea's Wife and Children Hosea 1 1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Be'eri, [1] in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, the king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go. Take for yourself an immoral wife and children produced by sexual immorality, [2] because the land has been committing flagrant immorality, turning away from the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and gave birth to a son for him. 4 The Lord said to him, “Name him Jezre'el, [3] because in a little while I will inflict punishment on the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezre'el. I will destroy the ruling power of the house of Israel. 5 In that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezre'el.” 6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. The Lord said to him, “Name her Lo Ruhamah, [4] because I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. Indeed, I will certainly not forgive them. 7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah. I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” [5] 8 Gomer weaned Lo Ruhamah. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 The Lord said, “Name him Lo Ammi, [6] because you are not my people, and I will not be the Lord for you.” [7] A Promise of Future Blessing 10 Nevertheless, the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. Then, in the place where they were told, “You are not my people,” they will be told, “You are children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint one head for themselves, and they will go up from the land, for the day of Jezre'el will be great. [8] Hosea 2 1 Say to your brothers, “My people,” [9] and to your sisters, “She has been shown mercy.” [10] Israel Rebuked, Punished, and Restored 2 Plead with [11] your mother!     Plead with her, because she is not my wife,     and I am not her husband.     Let her put away her sexual immorality from her presence     and her acts of adultery from between her breasts. 3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked     and expose her as she was on the day she was born.     I will make her like a wilderness.     I will cause her to be like a dry land.     I will cause her to die of thirst. 4 I will have no compassion on her children,     because they are children of promiscuity, 5 because their mother has been promiscuous. [12]     She who conceived them has acted shamefully.     She said, “I will chase after my lovers,         the ones who give me my food and my water,         my wool and my flax, my olive oil and my drinks.” 6 Therefore, this is what I will do:     I will block your [13] way with thorns.     I will build a wall against her,     so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She will chase after her lovers,     but she will not reach them.     She will seek them,     but she will not find them.     She will say, “I will go back to my first husband,     because then it was better for me than it is now.” 8 But she would not acknowledge that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.     I gave her large amounts of silver and gold—her people used it for Baal! 9 That is why I will take back my grain during harvest time,     and my new wine in its season.     I will also take away my wool and my flax that were given to cover her nakedness. 10 Then I will expose her shameful nakedness in the sight of her lovers.     No one will deliver her from my hand. 11 I will put an end to all her celebration:     her pilgrimage festivals, [14] her monthly new moons, and her weekly Sabbaths—     all her appointed festivals. 12 I will devastate her vines and her fig trees,     about which she said, “These are the payment [15] that my lovers gave me.”     I will make them into a scrub forest,     and the wild animals will eat the crops. 13 I will punish her for the days with the Baals, on which she repeatedly offered incense to them.     She adorned herself with her rings [16] and her jewelry,     and then she chased after her lovers,     and she forgot me, declares the Lord. 14 But watch! I am going to court her.     I will bring her into the wilderness.     I will speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her vineyards back to her.     The Valley of Achor [17] will be a door of hope.     She will respond there as in the days of her youth,     as in the day she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 In that day, declares the Lord, this is what will take place:     You will call me “my husband.”     You will no longer call me “my master.” [18] 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth.     She will no longer call them by their names. [19] 18 In that day I will make a covenant for the Israelites with the wild animals, with the birds of the sky and the things that creep on the ground.     I will break the bow and the sword.     I will abolish war from the land.     I will allow the people to lie down safely. [20] 19 I will pledge you to myself in marriage forever.     I will pledge you to myself in marriage—     with righteousness, justice, mercy, and compassion. 20 In faithfulness I will pledge you to myself in marriage,     and you will know the Lord. 21 In that day this is what will happen:     I will respond, declares the Lord.     I will respond to the heavens,     and they will respond to the earth. 22 The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil.     They will respond to Jezre'el. 23 I will sow her for myself in the land.     I will have compassion for Lo Ruhamah, [21]     and I will tell Lo Ammi, [22] “You are my people,”     and he will say, “You are my God!” Footnotes Hosea 1:1 The stop mark ′ indicates that Be'er – should be pronounced as two syllables. Hosea 1:2 Or prostitution. The Hebrew term includes paid prostitution, but it also includes promiscuous sexual immorality which is not done for money. It also includes sexual misconduct by perpetrators who pay their lovers instead of the other way around. Hosea 1:4 Jezre'el means God sows, and it is the name of both a valley and a city in Israel. Ahab and Jezebel murdered Naboth at the city of Jezre'e l, and Jehu destroyed the dynasty of Ahab there. Hosea 1:6 The Hebrew name Lo Ruhamah means no compassion or no pity. Hosea 1:7 Or charioteers Hosea 1:9 The Hebrew name Lo Ammi means not my people. Hosea 1:9 The Hebrew reads I am not I am for you, an allusion to the Lord's gracious name, I am. Hosea 1:11 English verses 1:10-11 are verses 2:1-2 in the Hebrew text. All the subsequent verse numbers in chapter 2 are two numbers lower in English than they are in Hebrew. Hosea 2:1 Hebrew Ammi Hosea 2:1 Hebrew Ruhamah Hosea 2:2 Or bring charges against. Also in the next line. Hosea 2:5 Or been a prostitute or acted like a prostitute Hosea 2:6 Your is the reading of the Hebrew. The Greek and Syriac read her. Hosea 2:11 That is, Passover, Pentecost, and Shelters Hosea 2:12 Or gifts Hosea 2:13 Either earrings or nose rings Hosea 2:15 Valley of Achor means Valley of Trouble. It refers to the location of the incident caused by Achan in Joshua 7. Hosea 2:16 Hebrew my baal Hosea 2:17 Or call on their names Hosea 2:18 Or securely Hosea 2:23 The Hebrew name Lo Ruhamah means no compassion. Hosea 2:23 The Hebrew name Lo Ammi means not my people. The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rest Isn’t a Luxury—It’s a Command: How Christian Parents Can Rediscover the Gift of Sabbath in a Nonstop World Few topics challenge modern Christian families more deeply than how—and why—to actually keep the Sabbath in our culture of relentless busyness and endless to-do lists. Have we missed one of God’s greatest gifts for our homes? Catherine is joined by Dr. Steven Hall, minister, theologian, and soul-care advocate, to guide parents through the what, why, and—most importantly—the how of Sabbath-keeping for busy families today. With nearly four decades of ministry experience, degrees in biblical studies, pastoral counseling, and spiritual formation, and as the cofounder of Ministry Oasis, Dr. Steven Hall offers a powerful, grace-filled perspective on rest that goes far beyond legalism. In this episode, you’ll discover: Sabbath as Trust, Not Legalism: Dr. Hall reveals how practicing Sabbath is less about rule-following and more about radical trust—much like the principle of tithing. "Trust is being able to say, okay. There's a hard stop here for me…I'm going to trust God with all of my unanswered emails, all my unattended bills, and all my unrun errands," shares Dr. Steven Hall 09:03. Why Rest Comes First: Many Christians “work, work, work, until we finally collapse,” but as Dr. Hall points out, God designed us to work from rest, not rest from work04:39. The Jewish day begins at sunset, with rest and worship, modeling God’s original rhythms. Practical Ways to Start: Sabbath needn’t be another item on your checklist. Dr. Hall shares practical, creative approaches for every stage of family life—from “micro-Sabbaths” to trading child care hours with other parents in your community 14:46, 20:10. Even single parents or busy caregivers can carve out sacred time, with the help of honest reflection and support. Saying “No” for a Higher Yes: Sometimes, honoring the Sabbath means courageously declining soccer games, dance recitals, or church programs that overcrowd your family’s schedule—trusting that what your children need most is a parent who models margin and abiding in Christ 25:21. Notable Quotes & Moments: “Sabbath is not about adding one more thing to your to-do list. Sabbath is about removing all the to-do things from your list.” – Dr. Steven Hall 15:21 “Imagine if parents of young children would live and teach Sabbath, their children would catch it—and break the yoke of the cultural pharaoh over their lives.” – Dr. Steven Hall 17:51 Stories of creative Sabbath-keeping, from couple tag-team strategies for parents with little kids, to the real-life example of Susanna Wesley using “micro-Sabbath” moments by simply pulling her apron over her head for prayer 31:06. About the Guest:Dr. Steven Hall is associate professor of pastoral ministry at Lee University and cofounder of Ministry Oasis, devoted to the soul health of pastors and ministry leaders. Ready to trade busyness for blessing?What could Sabbath look like for your family—if you trusted God enough to stop, even when the world demands more? This episode equips you not only with theological foundations, but also with inspiring ideas and practical steps to lead your home into God’s rhythm of rest. Ask yourself: What is one step you can take this week to model rest, trust, and delight in God for your children? How might your family—and your legacy—change if you made Sabbath a priority? Tune in and reclaim the gift of Sabbath for your home! Resources for Going Deeper The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer Find it on AmazonA highly recommended book that explores the damaging effects of hurry and the invitation to cultivate Sabbath rhythms for a more grounded, God-centered life. Rule of Life Podcast Listen HereA podcast series (early episodes dedicated to Sabbath) that dives deep into the biblical and practical aspects of building habits of rest and renewal. Ministry OasisExplore resources and Sabbath teachings at ministryoasis.comDr. Steven Hall offers teaching, encouragement, and practical guidance for soul health and Sabbath keeping. Catherine Segars’ Christian Parenting ResourcesGet free faith-building downloads at catherinesegars.com/resourcesAccess eBooks, podcast archives, prayers for your kids, and tools to support your journey as a Christian parent. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The Poem of the Man God is a retelling of the Gospel story of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the private revelations of Maria Valtorta. In this episode, we resume reading from Bk4: The sabbaths in the peace of Nazareth.Original music by Angela Marie (Mohammed). Messiah. Savior. Passion of Christ. Religion. Wisdom. Miracles. Catholic Christian Theology. Apostles. Disciples. Believers. Followers. Early Church. Holy Communion. Healing. Suffering Sacrifice. New Testament. Bible. Parables. Teaching.

As summer brings a change of pace, it also gives us an opportunity to recover something many Christians have lost—the biblical rhythm of rest. In this episode of the Pastoral Thoughts Podcast, Pastor Jack Young and Pastor Jon Mager discuss the biblical principle of the Sabbath and what it looks like to practice intentional rest in a world that celebrates constant activity.Drawing from Scripture and Pastor Jack's recent article on Summer Sabbaths, they explore why God designed rest as a gift rather than a burden, how Jesus modeled healthy rhythms of ministry, and why slowing down can actually make us more effective in serving the Lord. They also discuss practical ways pastors, ministry leaders, and busy families can build times of refreshment into their lives without becoming lazy or neglecting their responsibilities.Whether you're feeling spiritually drained, physically exhausted, or simply looking to establish healthier rhythms, this conversation offers biblical encouragement and practical ideas for finding renewal in Christ.In this episode you'll discover:The difference between biblical rest and laziness.Why God built Sabbath principles into creation.How rest strengthens rather than weakens ministry.Practical ways to schedule "summer sabbaths" for yourself and your family.How seasons of rest prepare us for greater faithfulness in the work God has called us to do."Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28

Exodus 23:10-19

Sam Haynes | Acts 8:26-40 | Isaiah 56:1-8 The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.' Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?' Philip asked. ‘How can I,' he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?' So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. For this is what the Lord says: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,     who choose what pleases me     and hold fast to my covenant - to them I will give within my temple and its walls     a memorial and a name     better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name     that will endure for ever.' On  a desert road, riding in a chariot, an Ethiopian eunuch - a senior court official - is struggling to understand a passage of Scripture. Suddenly, Philip appears alongside him and offers to explain it to him - and in doing so, introduces him to the gospel. As Sam Haynes explains, this man was an outsider according to the Jewish customs of the day, but there is no barrier to him being welcomed in by Jesus and becoming part of the family of faith. The recording begins with the reading from John Davies. An edited video recording of the service can be viewed on YouTube.

Tha san in+Ka Tuun Neem+Zomi Hi hang+Health Talk.

2026년 성경통독 시리즈 (Bible Reading Plan Series) 23 2026년 6월 28일 레븐교회 주일예배 설교 (박기범 목사) Text: 에스겔 (Ezekiel) 22:23-31 Title: "에스겔의 환상 (1): 이 땅을 지키는 한 사람 Ezekiel's Vision (1): One Person before God for the Land" 에스겔 (Ezekiel) 22:23-31 [새번역/ESV] 23 주님께서 나에게 말씀하셨다. And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 "사람아, 너는 유다 땅에 이렇게 말하여라. '유다 땅아, 너는 진노의 날에 더러움을 벗지 못한 땅이요, 비를 얻지 못한 땅이다. “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 그 가운데 있는 예언자들은 음모를 꾸미며, 마치 먹이를 뜯는 사자처럼 으르렁댄다. 그들이 생명을 죽이며, 재산과 보화를 탈취하며, 그 안에 과부들이 많아지게 하였다. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 이 땅의 제사장들은 나의 율법을 위반하고, 나의 거룩한 물건들을 더럽혔다. 그들은 거룩한 것과 속된 것을 구별하지 않으며, 부정한 것과 정한 것을 구별하도록 깨우쳐 주지도 않으며, 나의 안식일에 대하여서는 아주 눈을 감아 버렸으므로, 나는 그들 가운데서 모독을 당하였다. Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 그 가운데 있는 지도자들도 먹이를 뜯는 이리 떼와 같아서, 불의한 이득을 얻으려고 사람을 죽이고, 생명을 파멸시켰다. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 그런데도 그 땅의 예언자들은 그들의 죄악을 회칠하여 덮어 주며, 속임수로 환상을 보았다고 하며, 그들에게 거짓으로 점을 쳐 주며, 내가 말하지 않았는데도 나 주 하나님이 한 말이라고 하면서 전한다. And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,' when the Lord has not spoken. 29 이 땅의 백성은, 폭력을 휘두르고 강탈을 일삼는다. 그들은 가난하고 못 사는 사람들을 압제하며 나그네를 부당하게 학대하였다. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 나는 그들 가운데서 한 사람이라도 이 땅을 지키려고 성벽을 쌓고, 무너진 성벽의 틈에 서서, 내가 이 땅을 멸망시키지 못하게 막는 사람이 있는가 찾아 보았으나, 나는 찾지 못하였다. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 그래서 나는 그들에게 내 분노를 쏟아 부었고, 내 격노의 불길로 그들을 멸절시켰다. 나는 그들의 행실을 따라 그들의 머리 위에 갚아 주었다. 나 주 하나님의 말이다.'" Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

A sermon on Colossians 2:13–23 (with a look ahead to 3:1–5) continuing the Colossians series. Paul reminds the Colossians that they were dead in their sins and uncircumcised in the flesh — estranged from God and condemned by His holy law — until God in grace quickened them together with Christ and nailed the handwriting of ordinances against them to the cross. From there the message confronts two errors that draw believers off the centrality of Christ: the Judaizers who cling to dietary laws, holy days, and Sabbaths that were only shadows of which the body is Christ, and those who chase false humility, the worship of angels, and supposed private revelations rather than holding fast to Christ the Head. Such man-made rules — touch not, taste not, handle not — carry a show of wisdom but give no help in conquering sinful desires. True holiness is not external regulation but a life raised with Christ, affections set on things above, hidden with Christ in God, and growing into His image by His power alone.

Intro: God's great project is to dwell amongst his people… God is building his dwelling place through his people… 1. …As we observe his grace-given pattern of rest (35:1-3) ? God is not harsh like “no-rest” Pharoah ? Our activity doesn't make us holy, God does in Christ “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you…that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.”(31:13 ESV) 2. …As we obey his grace-given command to join in (35:4-19) ? God is not self-serving like “store-citi

June 7, 2026. Sunday Bible study with Pastor Cason Kelly.

Broken Promises Hosea 1-2:13 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” 10  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. -- 2  Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.” 2  “Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; 3  lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. 4  Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. 5  For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.' 6  Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 7  She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.' 8  And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9  Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 10  Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 11  And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. 12  And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. 13  And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the LORD. I. To obey God we must surrender to God. II. One must obey God to understand the things of God. III. To obey God we must be honest with God and with ourselves. If every member of my church were just like me, what would we be like?

We delve into the Sinai Covenant and the laws and teachings it encompasses. We discuss the fear of God and how it should motivate a pure and righteous life. The complexity of the Israelites' relationship with God is examined, along with an exploration of the regulations given by God, including slavery, restitution, and Sabbaths. We reflect on the importance of the Sabbath as the primary sign of the Sinai Covenant and conclude with the formal establishment of the Sinai Covenant with blood. Support the showRead along with us in the Bible Brief App! Try the Bible Brief book for an offline experience!Get your free Bible Timeline with the 10 Steps: Timeline LinkSupport the show: Tap here to become a monthly supporter!Review the show: Tap here!Want to go deeper?...Download the Bible Brief App!iPhone: App Store LinkAndroid: Play Store LinkWant a physical book? Check out "Bible Brief" by our founder!Amazon: Amazon LinkWebsite: biblebrief.orgInstagram: @realbiblebriefX: @biblebriefFacebook: @realbiblebriefEmail the Show: biblebrief@biblelit.orgWant to learn the Bible languages (Greek & Hebrew)? Check out our partner Biblingo (and use our link/code for a discount!): https://biblin...

What does it truly mean to welcome others the way Christ welcomed us? This powerful exploration of Romans 15 challenges us to examine how we receive people into our faith communities. We discover that the 'strong' believers aren't necessarily those who've been Christians the longest, but those who understand their freedom in Christ without the baggage of religious tradition. The early church faced a profound struggle: Jewish believers steeped in 1,500 years of ceremonial law had to embrace Gentile believers who came with no religious background whatsoever. The message is clear—when Jesus said 'It is finished' on the cross, He wasn't just paying for our sins; He was tearing down every barrier that separates us from God and from each other. The beautiful Greek word 'proslambano' paints a vivid picture of taking someone by the arm, walking shoulder to shoulder through their journey. This isn't casual acquaintance—it's intimate, intentional discipleship. We're reminded of Jesus washing His disciples' feet after receiving all authority in heaven and earth, choosing humility over power. The three parables in Luke 15—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son—all culminate in the same response: rejoicing and celebration. Heaven throws a party over every single person who comes home to God. When we fail to welcome others with the same joy and grace that Christ showed us, we're not just being unfriendly—we're sinning against the very heart of the Gospel.**SERMON NOTES – Romans 15:1–13****1. Strong & Weak Believers (Rom 15:1–3)**  - In Romans, “strong” = mainly Gentile believers who understand they are free from OT ceremonial law (Sabbaths, food laws, feasts).  - “Weak” = mainly Jewish believers still bound in conscience to OT ceremonies; they lack faith to enjoy their freedom.  - Obligation of the strong: bear with the weak, not please themselves; build others up.  - Christ is the example: He did not please Himself but bore reproach for others (Ps 69).**2. Scripture, Endurance, and Hope (Rom 15:4–6)**  - OT was written “for our instruction” so that through endurance and encouragement of Scripture we might have hope.  - Old Testament stories (e.g., Israel in wilderness, Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego, Balaam) show God's faithfulness despite human failure.  - Goal: harmony, accord, one voice glorifying God—hence corporate worship and unified praise.**3. Welcoming Like Christ (Rom 15:7)**  - Command: “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”  - Greek *proslambanō*: to take by the arm, draw close, walk with; intimate, committed welcome.  - Seen in:   - Peter taking Jesus aside (Mt 16:22),   - Priscilla & Aquila taking Apollos aside to teach more accurately (Acts 18),   - The people of Malta welcoming shipwrecked Paul (Acts 28).  - To add extra requirements for belonging (like Pharisees' added laws) is near blasphemy.**4. God's Heart for Sinners (Luke 15)**  - Three parables (lost sheep, coin, son): all end in rejoicing.  - Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents; God receives sinners with joy.  - If we refuse to welcome those Christ welcomes, we sin against His heart.**5. Dispensations & “It Is Finished”**  - Jesus lived and obeyed under the Law to fulfill it perfectly, then declared, “It is finished.”  - Veil torn: access to God opened; we now live in the age of grace.  - We approach God by faith, not ceremony; no more sacrifices—just bold access.**6. The God of Hope (Rom 15:13)**  - God of hope fills us with joy and peace in believing.  - By the Spirit we “abound in hope”: assurance that sin's penalty is paid and God is not angry with us.  - Our assignment: carry this hope to our generation; God placed us in this time and place (Acts 17:24–27).---**PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS**1. Identify where you're “strong” and tempted to look down on “weaker” believers. Choose to bear with and build up instead.  2. Practice *proslambanō*: literally take someone new or struggling by the arm—sit with them, listen to them, walk with them.  3. Repent of any “extra rules” you expect from others that Jesus did not.  4. Use your testimony as your primary evangelism tool: “I was… but Christ…”  5. This week, ask God for one open door to share the hope you have and step through it in dependence on the Spirit.---**DISCUSSION QUESTIONS**1. In what areas of Christian freedom do you see yourself as “strong”? Where might that make you impatient with others?  2. Have you ever felt like a “weak” believer bound by conscience? What helped you grow?  3. What does “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you” practically look like in our church?  4. Where have you added expectations for people that Jesus doesn't require?  5. Which OT story especially encourages your hope right now, and why?  6. Who is one person God may be asking you to “proslambanō” this month? What's your next step with them?

Exodus 16:21-30 // Stand Alone: Sabbaths and Sabbaticals // Anthony Jones // May 24, 2026

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Get your Hosea Scripture Journal now. Our shout-out today goes to Jonathan Santiago from Ocala, FL. Thanks for your partnership in Project23. Listen to our text today, Hosea 2:11-13 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.— Hosea 2:11-13 Count the words in this passage. Her. Her. Her. Her. Ten times. God is describing Israel the way a wounded husband would describe an unfaithful wife. The language is deliberate. The metaphor is unmistakable. This is spiritual adultery. The feasts are her feasts. The celebrations are her celebrations. The prosperity is her prosperity. And the lovers? Also hers. At some point, the worship that once belonged to God had become something else entirely. Israel still had the festivals. They still had the Sabbaths. They still had the religious calendar. But their devotion had shifted. They had blended loyalty to Yahweh with loyalty to Baal. The prophets called this syncretism—mixing the worship of God with devotion to other gods. The result was religion that looked right on the outside but was corrupted at the center. Israel was celebrating feasts while trusting Baal for provision. They were honoring rituals while chasing other lovers. And God exposes the truth in one devastating sentence: "She went after her lovers… and forgot me." That is the heart of spiritual adultery. Not abandoning religion. Forgetting God while pretending you haven't. And this is where the text turns toward you. If you are going to church for the appearance of faith, but you never open God's Word during the week… you may be practicing religion while forgetting God. If you sing worship songs on Sunday but your security rests in money, status, or political power… your heart may be trusting another lover. If you talk about God publicly but privately live as if your life belongs to you… that is exactly the kind of divided devotion Hosea is exposing. God will not share his bride with idols. He does not want your rituals if he does not have your heart. Because the real question is not whether you attend worship. The real question is this: Does God actually have your devotion? DO THIS: Take ten minutes today to sit quietly with God and honestly ask him to reveal anything competing for your loyalty. ASK THIS: Where is it easiest for you to substitute religious activity for real devotion to God? What "lovers" does our culture tempt believers to trust instead of God? What would wholehearted devotion to God look like in your life right now? PRAY THIS: Father, expose anything in my heart that competes with my devotion to you. Teach me to worship you with sincerity and undivided loyalty. Amen. PLAY THIS: "The Heart of Worship"

What if everything you think you know about the Witches' Sabbath is wrong?The broomsticks, the Devil, the midnight orgies on remote mountaintops: this image has haunted the Western imagination for nearly six hundred years. But where did it actually come from? Was it an inquisitorial fantasy imposed from above? A distortion of real folk traditions of spirit-flight and nocturnal procession? A recycled conspiracy theory older than Christianity itself? Or something stranger than any of those?In this video I trace the Sabbath from its origins in a handful of Alpine witch trials in the 1430s, through the great demonological texts of the early modern period, to its reinvention by romantics, feminists, and modern practitioners who know the image was constructed and use it anyway. I cover the Cohn vs Ginzburg debate that still organises the field, the Friulian benandanti who fought witches in their sleep, the antisemitic roots of the word "sabbath" itself, Margaret Murray's influential and almost entirely wrong witch-cult hypothesis, and why the Wheel of the Year is a twentieth-century invention. I also look at where the term "esbat" actually comes from (spoiler: not where you think), the connection between the Sabbath and the Wild Hunt, and what contemporary Italian folk practitioners make of all this today.This is serious historiography made accessible, not dumbed down. If you want the real story behind one of the most persistent and misunderstood images in Western culture, this is it.CONNECT & SUPPORT

We are closing out April with the most fun episode of the month. Today I am sharing 10 ways for play. 10 ways I love to play. I hope by the end of this one, you're inspired to protect more space for play in your own life too. Resources from this episode: Work & Play Episode 306 : 1,000 Hours Outside : The Hard Parts No One Talks About  Timeless Series by Gabrielle Meyer : Book 1  Flip 7 Card Game  Skyjo Card Game  Work & Play Episode 173 : How We Sabbath  Work & Play Episode 232 : A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 1 Work & Play Episode 233 : A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 2   Work & Play Episode 308 : You're In Good Company with Ashlee Gadd  Work & Play Episode 311 : 10 Things That Are Growing My Faith Work & Play Episode 312 : 10 Things I'm Loving in My Home Work & Play Episode 313 : 10 Things Helping Me in My Work  The Contentment Challenge  Send Nancy an audio message! Dwell Bible App Discount Visit my Amazon Cornerstore!  Join my email list!  Nancy Ray Website Nancy Ray on Instagram Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly appreciate when you choose to use them!

To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Jesus  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 36:17–21 - Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. [18] And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. [19] And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. [20] He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, [21] to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Support a daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: https://venmo.com/CareyNGreen  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ THEME MUSIC: “King’s Trailer” – Creative Commons 0 | Provided by https://freepd.com/

This sermon reflects on the Resurrection account in St. Matthew, drawing attention to the plural “Sabbaths” in the Greek to reveal the profound transition from the old covenant of rest under the Law to the new and eternal rest inaugurated by Christ. While Christ's body lay in the tomb, His soul descended into Hades, as described by St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, to liberate Adam, Eve, and all the righteous, proclaiming victory over sin and death and calling humanity to rise with Him into new life. This moment marks not only the defeat of death and the devil, but the fulfillment of the Law and the beginning of a restored creation, where God's commandments are no longer external but written on the hearts of His people. Living now in this “age after the Sabbaths,” believers are invited to enter into the eternal day of the Resurrection, where Christ, the Life Himself, leads humanity out of darkness and into the fullness of divine communion.

Preached in 2024. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exodus: Saved for God's Glory // Philip Graham Ryken⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exodus // Douglas Stuart⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Gleanings in Exodus // A. W. Pink⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Pentateuch as Narrative // John H. Sailhamer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exodus // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you have benefitted from this episode, consider sharing with others. You can also support my work financially⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ at this link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

* You can get the sermon note sheet at: https://family-bible-church.org/2026Messages/26Apr05.pdf Last Sunday, we began to look at Christ's fulfillment of the three spring feasts of Israel - Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. * In that message, we saw that YHWH had declared a specific order of events that would occur in the celebration of these feasts beginning with the Selection of the Lamb on the 10th day of Nisan. That lamb was then supposed to sacrificed at twilight on the 14th day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread would then begin on the 15th day (which begins at sundown) with the eating of the lamb which was roasted. The first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread was also to be considered a Holy Convocation (a Special Sabbath) to YHWH. * The Feast of Firstfruits fell on the 1st day of the week which followed the weekly Sabbath of the Passover celebration. That would be day when Jesus rose from the dead! The women came to the tomb while it was yet dark and found the stone rolled away with the tomb empty! As recorded in the original Greek of Matthew 28:1, there were actually more than one "Sabbaths" between the time that Jesus died and rose from the dead (those would have been the 1st day of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath). * Jesus sacrificial death on the cross fulfilled the Passover sacrifice and became the basis for the fellowship of the church, and a desire for us to live "unleavened" (sinless) lives. * Today, we will see the importance of His fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits to the Completion of the Good News, the Confirmation of your Faith, and the Consummation of Future Events! * This message was presented by Bob Corbin on April 5, 2026 at Family Bible Church in Martinez, Georgia.

The Prophetic Rhythm of Rest and Redemption In this insightful teaching, Servant Marcia Carty explores the biblical concept of Jubilee and the Sabbath of the Land. Drawing from Leviticus and the prophetic visions of Daniel, she explains that the Earth belongs to God and requires its own periods of rest. When we ignore these divine cycles, the consequences manifest in the physical and spiritual realms. -- The Jubilee is the 50th year following seven cycles of Sabbatical years, representing a total reset for the land and the people. -- Key elements of the Jubilee include the release of debts, the freeing of slaves, and the restoration of property to its original family owners. -- The 70-week prophecy in Daniel reveals that the Babylonian captivity and the timing of the Messiah were directly tied to Israel's failure to give the land its required Sabbaths. -- True restoration is found in Christ, who came to bring everlasting righteousness and redeem us from the curse of the law. -- As we see signs in the earth and hear "trumpets" sounding globally, we are reminded that we are living in days similar to the time of Noah. Scriptures for Further Study -- Leviticus 25:1-23 -- Judges 2:10-19 -- Judges 3:12-30 -- Daniel 9:10-27 -- Matthew 24:1-37 -- Galatians 3:13-14 +++++++ We have begun building a new website which you can see here: https://www.noahdays.org/

"My offering, my food for my food offerings." God establishes the rhythm of Israel's worship through daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices. Each day, morning and evening, is framed with the aroma of burnt offerings. Sabbaths bring double portions and new moons mark the turning of months. In this chapter, we see that Israel's entire calendar was oriented around the worship of God. While these sacrifices could never fully satisfy for sin, they pointed forward to Christ, the Lamb of God who offered Himself once for all people. The Rev. Mark Duerr, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Monroe, MI, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Numbers 28.  To learn more about Trinity in Monroe, visit tlcmonroe.org. The Book of Numbers is far more than an ancient census report. It is the story of a people learning to trust God in the wilderness, and failing, and finding grace anyway.  In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk through the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter by chapter. We follow Israel from Sinai toward the Promised Land, through grumbling and rebellion, fiery serpents and a talking donkey, faithless spies and faithful priests. The journey is hard, the failures are many, and God remains faithful to a faithless people.  These ancient accounts point us to Christ. The bronze serpent lifted on a pole points to the cross. The rock struck for water points to the one struck for us. The high priest whose death frees the manslayer points to the Great High Priest whose death sets us free forever. Join us as we discover that the wilderness has more to teach us than we ever expected.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Over this short series we've been learning about the freedom and liberty we have in Christ regarding food, Sabbaths, festivals and other celebrations but sometimes our liberty and freedom can be concerning for others. Paul dealt with this issue with the Corinthian church and that's what we'll be learning about in this program. Your support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://www.vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reverend Steve Johnson - Scripture: Isaiah 58

By Brian Shaw - God's Sabbaths and Holy Days have meaning through Jesus Christ, especially the Passover and Unleavened Bread as symbols of His sacrifice and removing sin. Israel often kept them without understanding, but true Christians keep them with spiritual meaning, obedience, and unity with God.

Moses continues to receive instructions from the Lord, and today's episode begins with instructions for the priests in eating their portion of the sacrifices to the Lord. Recall that the Levites will not be given large portions of land when they enter the Promised Land; instead, the Lord will be their portion. For their service in the tabernacle, they will receive portions of food from the offerings given to the Lord, and thereby be sustained. Or reading continues by considering which sacrifices are acceptable, which days are to be set aside for Sabbaths, and which days are to be set aside for worship, celebration, and remembrance. Leviticus 22 - 1:01 .  Leviticus 23 - 7:57 .  Psalm 47 - 16:38 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Moses continues to receive instructions from the Lord, and today's episode begins with instructions on keeping the sacrifices pure and acceptable before the Lord. Consider that Lord does not want Israel to present anything that is second best or impure in anyway, thereby communicating indifference or irreverence for God in His perfection. We'll also consider days set aside for celebration include Sabbaths and feasts, the nature of  punishment for violent crimes, the instructions for the bread of the presence, and the steps for executing the death penalty in a case of blaspheming against the Lord. Leviticus 22 – 1:07 .  Leviticus 23 – 7:25 .  Leviticus 24 – 15:44 .  Proverbs 19 – 19:19 . :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Winter can feel long and slow and February especially can feel like an eternity sometimes. Today I am sharing the daily and weekly rhythms that are working for me right now and how I'm making the most of this season before transitioning into spring. Resources from this episode: Claude AI Trello Dwell Bible App Discount  1,000 Hours Outside  Nourish Move Love on YouTube  We Heart Nutrition (Use code: NANCYRAY for a discount!) My Favorite Natural Supplements for Pregnancy and Postpartum Blog Post  Episode 173 - How We Sabbath  A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 1 A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 2   Rhythms Reset  Visit my Amazon Cornerstore!  Send Nancy an audio message!  Work and Play Survey  Join my email list!  Nancy Ray Website Nancy Ray on Instagram Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly appreciate when you choose to use them!  

In this special Q&A episode of The Celebrate Kids Podcast, Wayne and Dr. Kathy answer real questions from Christian school leaders and teachers at Linville Hill Christian School in Paradise, Pennsylvania and Hillcrest Academy in Minnesota. These questions aren't theoretical. They come from classrooms, dorm rooms, and dinner tables. Here's what they tackle: How do we teach empathy, especially toward students who are hard to love? Dr. Kathy explains that empathy begins with self-awareness. If children can't identify and manage their own feelings, they will struggle to recognize others' emotions. Discernment matters. Service matters. Prayer matters. And sometimes empathy grows not by fixing someone's pain, but by simply acknowledging it. Are we fooling ourselves about technology addiction? Screens are addictive. The dopamine cycle is real. But the deeper issue isn't just devices, it's the lies we attach to them: "I deserve to be happy all the time." "I need constant choice." "I'm the center." Technology amplifies those lies. The solution is formation. Sabbaths. Boundaries. Stewardship. Teaching children that they are created on purpose and cannot afford to waste their time. What about kids using AI to write their papers? This isn't just about cheating. It continues our conversation about formation. Writing is not simply information transfer; it is character development. Wrestling with ideas, revising drafts, struggling through clarity, that's where growth happens. AI might save time. But what if the point wasn't speed? The question becomes: What kind of human are we forming in our writing? How do we help perfectionist students who freeze under pressure? Perfectionism often grows from home culture. It can reflect unrealistic expectations, fear of mistakes, or conditional approval. Dr. Kathy reminds us: Perfect has already been done. His name is Jesus. Progress matters more than flawlessness. Struggle builds endurance, character, and hope. Perfectionism paralyzes. Grace frees. Why should we let kids struggle? Because resilience only grows through recovery. James 1 and Romans 5 remind us that perseverance produces character. If we rescue children too quickly, we risk raising fragile adults. Victory after struggle builds deep confidence. Struggle isn't failure. It's formation. So, this episode is packed with practical wisdom to guide kids and parents to deeper faith and stronger conviction. If you'd like to bring Dr. Kathy to your school, church, or community, visit CelebrateKids.com and click "Book Dr. Kathy." Have a question you'd like answered in a future Q&A episode? Email Wayne at wayne@celebratekids.com. We're grateful you're here. And we're honored to help you celebrate kids well.

The Sabbath is Yahweh's unique sign of covenant, established as a day of sacred rest and collective worship that profoundly impacts spiritual, mental, and physical well-being when honored according to His unchanging commands. 

This month on Theonomoney, Jeremy continues looking at the Fourth Commandment, the Commandment on the Sabbath. He talks about how the Fourth Commandment relates to work and laziness, land Sabbaths and how they related to the Old Testament Exile, and more. Subscribe on your favorite podcast catcher, tell your friends about Theonomoney, and follow Theonomoney on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Check out great theonomic shirts and hoodies here: bonfire.com/store/theonomoney/ Catechism link: www.reformedreader.org/ccc/keachcat.htm

282. Family Sabbath: Pause and Delight with Eryn Lynum   Mark 2:27 NIV “Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”   *Transcription Below*   Eryn Lynum is a certified Master Naturalist, Bible teacher, national speaker, and author. Eryn lives in Northern Colorado with her husband, Grayson, and their four children, whom they homeschool—mainly in the great outdoors. Eryn has has been featured on FamilyLife Today, Proverbs 31 Ministries, Christian Parenting, MOPS International, Bible Gateway, Her View From Home, and For Every Mom. Every opportunity she gets, she is out exploring God's creation with her family and sharing the adventures. To learn more about Eryn, visit ErynLynum.com.   Eryn's Books Eryn's Free Resources Mentioned Nat Theo Podcast   Topics and Questions We Cover: What can this look like to daily align our activities with our deepest values? What do people actually do on this day of rest and what do you recommend for families? Are there any other practical benefits we're missing out on if we neglect rest?   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Leman Property Management Company   Related Savvy Sauce Episodes: 81 Rest with Doctor, Author, and Speaker, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith 99 Sabbath Rest with Sandy Feit 175 Practicing Sabbath with Shireen Eldridge   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:11 - 1:34) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   Leman Property Management Company has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois. Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook.   Eryn Lynum is my wonderful guest for today, and she's the author of this beautiful book, The Nature of Rest. We're going to discuss all things related to rest, ways that we can prepare for it, how we can enjoy and delight in it, what good gifts God has for us with rest, and then how to reflect well on the rhythms in our life, and so much more.   Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Eryn.   Eryn Lynum: (1:34 - 4:03) Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.   Laura Dugger: Well, I'd love for you to start us off by sharing your personal journey and tell why you are so uniquely qualified to teach and write about rest, as stress can literally kill you.   Eryn Lynum: Yeah, that's correct. So, when I was 14 years old, I was diagnosed with a potentially fatal autoimmune disorder. And kind of the context of that season, I was preparing to go overseas for the first time on a missions trip. So, I was going to be in Africa for two months. And so, before you go do something like that, you have to go to the doctor and get a checkup and vaccine recommendations, all the things. And so, my parents took me in.   Again, I was 14 at the time, and we had no reason to believe that there was anything wrong. There were no red flags. Besides, I had been a little tired, a little dizzy once in a while, but really, we just thought, okay, well, I'm growing up, my body's changing. But when the nurse took my blood pressure that day, it was 56 over 48, which is deathly low.   And so, immediately, that's a red flag. And I undergo more testing and hospital visits and seeing specialists. And they diagnosed me with something called Addison's disease. And Addison's disease, it's where your adrenal glands no longer function. So, maybe you've heard of adrenal fatigue, where someone is so taxed out that their adrenal glands can't keep up because they're meant to produce cortisol, which is our stress hormone. Well, Addison's disease is the worst-case scenario where you can't come back from it, barring a miracle. Like, my adrenal glands don't work, and they haven't for over 20 years now.   And so, you know, this system that God has given us meant to cope with stress, and it's that fight-or-flight response. At that young age, I no longer had that. And so, stress became quite literally deadly to me. And at that point, my parents, they began coaching me in biblical stress management, so identifying stressors in my life.   You know, when your shoulders start creeping up, and you can feel that tension in your neck, and knowing that those are signs that, okay, you need to step back, you need to calm yourself. Like the Psalms talk about, “I have calmed and quieted my soul,” and to bring everything to the Lord and cast all your anxieties upon Him. And this is really where I can see, in my life, I developed a very consistent prayer pattern in my life where just all day long, like conversing with the Lord.   And so, that's been a big part of this. But yeah, that's really what began leading me into this deeply restful lifestyle was out of necessity. But really what I've seen since then is God designed all of us to live and thrive through rest. Like this is His original design.   Laura Dugger: (4:04 - 4:27) I love that so much. And you articulate this so well in your book. But before I ever encountered you, I had never heard of the term master naturalist before. So, if you want to share anything about that, it would be great. And as a master naturalist, where do you see these rhythms of rest in nature?   Eryn Lynum: (4:28 - 6:54) So, a master naturalist, it's really a fancy term for nature teacher. And I pursued this because my degree and my passion are in biblical theology. And I've always been passionate about rightly handling God's word of truth from 2 Timothy 2:15.   And I began to see as my own family, my husband and I, we have three boys and a daughter, and now they're 14 down to seven. But when they were younger and we started spending more time outdoors, I started to see, okay, God has given us so many visuals and materials in nature with which we can teach about Him. Coming from Romans 1:20, that His invisible attributes, those things we can't see about God, are clearly perceived through what He has made. And I saw that also Jesus in the gospels, He used nature all the time to teach.   And God throughout scripture, like it's not just Genesis 1, nature narratives are strong throughout scripture. And so, I thought if God and Jesus use this methodology to teach, then certainly we can. And so, that's why I went through this training and taught, teach with this method is because, you know, the more we understand these materials, the more we see of God and the more we can communicate about Him.   And so, I was working as a master naturalist in our city and teaching my own programs. And I started to incorporate it more and more into my book and then later on in my podcast. And at the same time, God was leading my family into celebrating Sabbath. We had come into this season where we were just exhausted, like running businesses and raising and homeschooling kids, like all of us, no matter our circumstances, face this very real human existence of fatigue. And so, we came to a place where rest was no longer optional. It was critical and vital.   And so, I'm living in these two realms of learning about nature while I'm learning about scripture. And then God is bringing us into deep rest. So, I started to ask the question, where do we see rest in scripture? And I found that it is everywhere. The roots of rest run deep and wide throughout scripture. And also asking, where do we see rest in creation in nature? And it's also everywhere there that God designed all these cycles and these rhythms and all of his plants and creatures, even the ones that we think of as so frenetic and busy that God designed them to thrive through rest.   Laura Dugger: (6:55 - 7:04) And will you give a specific example then of something in nature as it's so apparent that it's designed for rest?   Eryn Lynum: (7:04 - 8:28) Definitely. Let's focus on one of those ones that we often think of as really busy, the hummingbird. I opened the book with the analogy of a hummingbird because when you think about a hummingbird, what do you picture in your mind?   Laura Dugger: (7:17 - 7:19) Busy, constant movement in and out.   Eryn Lynum: (7:20 - 8:28) Yeah, exactly. Like they have to visit between 1,000 and 2,000 flowers every day to get all the nectar that they need. And so, they are always like here and there in the next place. And they look like this little thing just zipping through the air and you can't even see their wings beating because they can be up to 70 times a second. It's this blur of motion. And we think about that little hummingbird, and we can sometimes feel like that little hummingbird just zipping from one thing to the next, thinking there's no time to stop.   But the hummingbird does stop. It has a very strategic method of rest called torpor. And torpor is kind of like a mini hibernation where the little bird is going to go into this deep state of rest. It lowers its body temperature by around 50 degrees and becomes completely unresponsive. And this is a regular thing that the hummingbird does, and it enables it to continue its God-given, good, busy, fruitful work. So, it's this picture of, you know, busyness is not bad. God created us for fruitful work, but it's all meant to be sustained through deep, rhythmic, intentional rest.   Laura Dugger: (8:28 - 9:06) I mean, immediately that makes me think of the weeks, even that I'm most productive, I've probably prioritized my sleep the best of it. And if I get great sleep, even if it's extra hours, that doesn't take away from the rest of the day. That probably makes my time even multiplied.   Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I love, you point out so many times how God just clearly designed his creation to enjoy this gift of rest. So, you mentioned some of the nature parts. What about some of the foundational scriptural truths on this topic?   Eryn Lynum: (9:07 - 11:52) Yeah, well, of course, where's the first place that we get the idea of rest in the scripture? Yeah, exactly. So, God completes his work of creation and then he rests and he didn't need to rest. Isaiah 40:28 tells us that he, the creator of the world does not grow weary or tired.   I believe that one reason, and I talk about a couple of them in the book, but I believe that one main reason God rested was to stop and delight. That word Sabbath, it comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat, which can mean to both stop and delight. Like think about God finishing his creative work, bringing, bringing everything from nothing. Ex nihilo is that theological term, everything from nothing. Creating not only the animals and the plants, but the textures and the math and the shapes and the like everything he needed to make these things. And I imagine he just wanted to stop and enjoy it. I can even picture him going through creation and listening to the birds and taking in the colors and the shapes of the clouds.   What a beautiful reminder to us, because I know for myself, I'm so prone to just run from one thing to the next, like check it off the list. What's next? But here God is modeling for us. Stop delight, praise him for what he just allowed us to accomplish, to create, to do before rushing on to the next thing.   And so, we get that first mentioned there at creation, but then think about when Sabbath was actually established, there's a framework, there's a structure it's Exodus 16. And the context here is the Israelites. They're doing what they do. They're wandering and grumbling. They're hangry and God shows mercy to them in the form of quail and manna, but he has very specific instructions for them. He says for six days, you shall gather it, but not on the seventh day. Don't go out. It is a solemn day, a Holy Sabbath to the Lord.   That's the first mention of Sabbath, that word in scripture, but consider the Israelites. They had no context for what God was calling them to do. Surely they could think back to the creation story. Okay. God worked and then rested, but they had very little idea of what he was asking them to do. This was an act of faith. God was saying, stop gathering, trust me.   And this is so hard for us because like we are so prone to gather, gather, gather, do produce work more out of this scarcity mindset. But this picture is showing God is a God of abundance and his math works. When we trust him to be the provider, not ourselves. And we take that risk on rest. He provides abundantly through it.   Laura Dugger: (11:53 - 12:05) Absolutely. And within this gift then of rest, how can rest actually reorder and re-energize our lives?   Eryn Lynum: (12:05 - 14:03) I love this question because throughout the book, we talk a lot about reordering and creating margins. So, we can rest and reprioritizing. You know, it's so interesting when we look at the creation narrative, where we get that first mention of rest, because it's backwards to what we normally think.   Think about this. God created for six days and then he rested. Adam, the first human was created on that sixth day. So, Adam's first full day was a day of arrest, dedicated to rest. And in this, we see that God worked and then rested. But we, humanity, we were always meant to begin from rest.   And you see that even in the Hebrew tradition of a day, their day begins at evening. Their day doesn't start with, let's get up and get to work. Their day starts with, let me go to rest to get ready for the work. So, first we have to reorder our concept of rest, not see it as a reward. Oh, I'm going to work, work, work, get all the things done so that maybe I can rest this weekend or on vacation, or when the kids are out of the house or in retirement, that's backwards to the biblical framework. We are meant to begin from rest.   So, starting there. And as we do that, my family has found after sabbathing for three and a half years now, everything else kind of falls into place. And that happens when you operate by God's design. You know, rest allows us to tend to the most important things. Those deep values, whether like that should be of course, faith and family. So, getting clear on your values is really important. Like what is most important to your family faith? Maybe it's community generosity. Maybe it's physical health, mental health, all these things do better. And we have more time to tend to them when we first make room and space for rest.   Laura Dugger: (14:04 - 16:28) And now a brief message from our sponsor.    With over 1,700 apartment units available throughout Pekin, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Morton and Washington. And with every price range covered, you will have plenty of options when you rent through Leman Property Management Company.   They have townhomes, duplexes, studios, and garden style options located in many areas throughout Pekin. And make sure you check out their newest offering, the McKinley located in Pekin is a new construction addition to their platinum collection featuring nine foot ceilings, large spacious layouts, beautiful finishes, such as courts, countertops, and garages. You won't want to miss this outstanding new property in Peoria, a historic downtown location and apartments adjacent to OSF Medical Center provide excellent choices.   Check out their brand new luxury property in Peoria Heights, overlooking the boutique shops and fine dining on prospect. And in Morton, they offer a variety of apartment homes with garages, a hot downtown location, and now a brand new high-end complex near Idlewood Park. If you want to become part of their team, contact them about open office positions.   They're also hiring in their maintenance department. So, we invite you to find out why so many people have chosen to make a career with them. Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at leasing@lemanprops.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com, check them out and find your place to call home today.   It never ceases to amaze me how God's economy and his math are just different. Sometimes upside down from ours, but I feel like when you're speaking, it reminds me of Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” So, if we actually obey, I think there are so many blessings that we can enjoy from this gift of rest. So, you're talking about our values. Then what can this look like to daily align our activities with our deepest values?   Eryn Lynum: (16:30 - 18:30) Yes, this is an ongoing practice because the enemy is always trying to distract us from what is most important. And that word there is key distract. And so, first we have to learn to identify those distractions, the things that are pulling us away from what is most important, but you know, getting to those core values and on my website, I have, my husband and I developed a family values guide that helps you step by step to really figure out what are our deepest values.   So, that's erinlynum.com/values. But really what it is, is this practice of getting clear on God's best for, for us and for our families and for those around us and, and making sure that we are aligning and realigning because it's going to get out of alignment, those values with God's agenda. You know, a lot of days I just start my day with a restful pause.   I call them in the book, Selah pauses. And I am quite literally, I am sitting before the Lord, my eyes closed and my hands just up in this posture of surrender and receiving. And I will say, Lord, I am surrendering my own agenda, my own expectations for this day. And I want to receive your power, your presence, your peace. And then throughout the day, just taking those checks.   Like I practice these daily Selah pauses and moments of rest because think about Selah in the Psalms. It can mean to pause, to contemplate, to redirect. And we need to do that often because as a day goes on, I think we lose energy and focus. You know, at the beginning of the day, we might feel really like focused. And this is what I'm getting done today. And that can waver like that can wane out as the day goes on. And so, constantly just checking back in.   Okay, Lord, what is it you have for me to do today? And how do I tend to those most important things? But you have to take that restful pause to be able to do that.   Laura Dugger: (18:31 - 18:46) That's good reminder. Okay. So, to check back in with the Lord and then can you give another example of one family and what their value is and how they live that out in their daily life. And maybe even what requires us to say no to.   Eryn Lynum: (18:47 - 20:15) Ooh, that's a fantastic question. Hmm. Can it be for my own family or do you want me to give them love it from your own family?   Okay. I was asked this question recently. Someone asked me, how do you make time to be outside as a family? One of our core family values is to be out exploring in God's creation. And this has been harder in different seasons. And we have two middle schoolers now, you know, we are, we have a lot going on.   And so, it can very quickly happen where at the end of the day, we're like, wow, we really didn't spend much time outdoors today, but how we prioritize this is you do have to say no to other things. So, we're a homeschooling family. And just as an example, it can be very tempting to feel like, am I doing enough? Am I teaching them enough? We need to check off all these boxes and get the lessons done. And it's constantly surrendering that and realizing, you know, I know that our value of being outdoors is important to God. I know that he is meeting my children there. He is meeting me there. He is giving us rest and rejuvenation there.   So, trusting with that, again, going back to the Israelites, stop gathering, stop checking off all the boxes, stop trying to provide and meet your own expectations. And instead stay super focused on what God has called you to and ruthlessly get rid of the rest, anything that's keeping you from that.   Laura Dugger: (20:16 - 20:36) I love that personal example. Thank you for sharing. And how can we also in our own families or in our own life, how can we distinguish which activities are vital for the abundant life in Christ that he offers so that we don't settle for less?   Eryn Lynum: (20:38 - 22:46) I love that you bring up that, that term, the abundant life. In John 10:10, that Christ came, that we might have life and life abundantly overflowing to the fullest, like brimming over is what that word means. And that scripture also says the enemy comes to steal and kill and destroy.   And I believe that one of the enemy's biggest schemes and methods for that is to send us into hurry and hustle mode. And he does that through distraction and discontent. And so, so much of this is pressing back against distraction and discontent and getting back to how God created us to thrive.   And again, I believe that that is through this, this gift of rest. You know, you talk about, you asked about settling for less. The enemy is going to put a million things in our life that would cause us to want to settle for less.   Let me give you an example of him trying to distract us. There was a recent weekend where we were coming up on the weekend, and I had several friends reach out and ask about me doing these things like these different opportunities coming our way. Like, do you want to do this? Do you want to do this? And each of them were for on Saturday and that's usually when our family Sabbaths. And so, I had this tension because these were good things.   It's hard to say no to a good thing, but I kept feeling again and again, the Lord saying, no, rest with your family, rest with your family. And it was so sweet because come Saturday morning, I was out on our back deck sipping coffee with my husband for hours, having incredible conversations, reading great books. The kids are playing in the yard.   Several times I caught myself thinking, I almost said no to this by saying yes to other things. And again, they were good things. This life is full of good things, but God's rest is one of the best things for our families. So, it's learning to be okay with saying no to those good things. So, you can say yes to that better thing.   Laura Dugger: (22:48 - 23:17) Examples are so helpful. And that requires a level of discernment and going to the Lord to ask him, but I'm wondering if you even have a system in place for how you discern that, or is it a gut piece that you follow or any practical ways that each of us can discern what's the right kind of busy that's good. And what's the wrong kind of busy and the things that we want to say no to.   Eryn Lynum: (23:18 - 25:05) Yeah. Going back to, again, busy is not bad. God created us for fruitful work, but I think, you know, when we are following Christ and God's spirit is within us, he's going to give us that sense of this is the right kind of busy.   This is the wrong kind of busy. And practically, you know, if it has any notion of distraction, like if you're doing this thing to just distract you or to procrastinate on better things, if it has a note of busyness, you know, some people will be like, well, some people, the enemy makes us want to think that sitting on our phones can be restful because you're not technically doing much of anything, but that distraction is stealing God's true gift of rest for us.   And so, you know, our family, as we practice Sabbath throughout the week, I know that come Saturday, we have a full day of rest. And sometimes it's tempting to add a little work into there, to let it seep out of those edges of the work week and kind of into our Sabbath. And as you practice this more and more and begin just ruthlessly protecting that time, whether it's a full day, whether you start with a half day, God is going to make you more sensitive to those things. Because sometimes I'll like work it out in my mind, like, oh, this isn't work. And really like it's definitely, it's definitely trying to serve my work during the work week.   And God is saying, no, like step away from that and allow me to refresh and rejuvenate your spirit so that when you go back to the work, you do so much more powerfully energized, restful, and ready to do that work to the very best of your ability with God's power.   Laura Dugger: (25:07 - 25:36) That reminds me of a previous guest I'll link to. He did two episodes, but Jeff Henderson just said he's a pastor too. And he said, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.   I would agree on that, which you've kind of been sharing a little glimpses of your family's experience with Sabbath, but let's just zero in on Sabbath and I'll just try and go through a series of questions. But first what's the importance of Sabbath?   Eryn Lynum: (25:37 - 26:55) Well, first God commands it. Like if God commanded it, then surely it's important, but that can also sometimes cause us to get a little legalistic about it. What is it? What isn't it? Well, it is meant to be a gift, meant to be a blessing. It's meant to empower us and what God created us for and calls us to.   And so, keeping that just center, this is meant to be a gift, but we see it all throughout scripture, the importance of rest and rest in God's design. It's celebration. Like it's not idleness. It's not doing nothing. Although sometimes like that's the most beneficial way that we can rest. Like you talked about a nap.   I love a good nap on Sabbath, but also it can be energizing activities, inspiring activities. I also love a good long walk on Sabbath. Sometimes I love cooking with fresh ingredients and working on a meal during Sabbath because I don't get much opportunity to do that during the week. Sometimes I love going out and working in the garden because that's life giving and I don't have time to do that throughout the week. And so, getting back to this concept, this idea of Sabbath and rest are celebratory. Like when we do it well as a family, it feels like a mini vacation every week.   Laura Dugger: (26:56 - 27:15) Ooh, I love that. My husband said that before about date night and I connect with that, that it's a little mini reprieve, a mini vacation each week. But then that leads me to the question because I bet so many people share their Sabbath activities with you. What do families actually do on this day of rest?   Eryn Lynum: (27:16 - 31:46) Yeah, that's a great question. And first I'll say that it should look different from family to family. We are all in unique seasons. We have different stories, different scenarios. Again, if you can't start with the full day, now I strongly believe strive and work toward that full day. That's God's design.   And we've seen the most blessing from that. But if you have to start smaller with a half day with four hours, start there. So, it's going to look different. If you have newborns, like a newborn child, it's going to look different and that's okay. No going into it, that it's going to be messy. Hebrews says strive toward rest, work toward rest. It's so counter-cultural. We have to work toward it. So, just going in, knowing these things is very helpful.   It's also going to grow, adapt, and change throughout the seasons. Our family has seen that. But a typical Sabbath for our family right now is we follow the traditional Friday evening to Saturday evening for the most part. Some people ask me, why not Sunday? Isn't Sunday the Sabbath? Well, for us, Sunday is set aside for church community and fellowship and corporate worship. And that's so life-giving to our souls. But by the time I get home from church and I'm making lunch for the family, like I'm not rested physically. So, we needed a separate day set aside for rest.   And so, Friday afternoon, we start preparing where we're going to band together and just pick up the house, get it ready, wash all the dishes and just start preparing our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our home for rest. And then we start Friday evening with communion as a family, just breaking bread and celebrating what Christ did on our behalf. And again, that, that idea of celebrate, and this marks it as special. Okay. We're heading into Sabbath. Some families will like light a white candle for Sabbath, just really marking it. And then we have, we toast to the week. So, we'll pour sparkling juice and just toast and say, “Hey, what did we see God do this week?” Like going back to that idea of stop and delight, we are setting a hard stop to the week. We are delighting. What did we see God do? What did he help us overcome? What can we thank Him for from this past week? And then we'll do an easy dinner. Think tacos, take and bake pizza spaghetti.   We use paperware, which is a bit controversial since I work as a master naturalist, but it has been an easy button for Sabbath that I'm not worried about like dishes piling up on the counter. And then we'll, we'll wrap it up with a sweet treat like ice cream and then our kids go to bed, or they'll listen to audio books. Audio books have been massive for our Sabbath because they're screen-free because we do put away all screens and work like devices on Sabbath, but they can listen to good books.   And my husband and I, we read, like people ask me, when do you find time to read? You don't find time to read. You have to make time to read. And for us, that's on the Sabbath mostly. And then Saturday we sleep in, we get up pretty early during the week and the kids just know like you don't wake mom and dad on the Sabbath. Like that's their day to sleep in.   Again, if you have a newborn or young children, that's gonna look different and that's okay. But for us, that's the season that we're in and our kids, they'll make themselves first breakfast and then eventually we'll get up and we'll join them for a second breakfast or some Sabbath. I don't want to cook at all. And so, it's just take and forage. And you know, I usually have a grocery delivery the day before or go to the grocery store and make sure we just have a ton of good stuff in the house. So, no one's, you know, everyone has what they need.   Then the rest of the day, it is just a day of delight. Reading books, playing games, being out in creation, visiting with neighbors, having great conversations together. Sabbath is this space where you get to do all those things during the week that you're like, oh, I wish I had time for that and you just don't get to them. Like recently my daughter during the week, she really wanted me, she's seven. She wanted me to sit down and watercolor paint with her, which I love doing, but it was a really busy week. And I just didn't have the space.   And so, I told her like, “Hey, I would love to do that. Can we do that on Sabbath?” And she was so happy with that answer. And come that Sabbath a few days later, she remembered, she came up to me. She's like, mom, it's time to paint. And she got all the supplies, and we went and sat outside at our picnic table and painted for the afternoon.   You know, Sabbath does so much for me as a mom to remove that guilt of the things I don't feel like I have time for because I know, and my kids know, Sabbath is coming and that's our day to be together and do those things.   Laura Dugger: (31:47 - 31:57) Hmm. Okay. That makes me curious. Then to how much of a vote does everyone in the family get for what Sabbath will look like?   Eryn Lynum: (31:57 - 34:02) Oh, that is a great question. No one's ever phrased it to me like that before. I love that. What we found that's been important to keep in mind is that we all individually find different things, restful and inspiring. I'll give you an example. One Sabbath, my husband, especially in the spring, he loves to work in the yard on Sabbath because he spends most of his week. He runs a construction company on the computer or on the phone. And so, in the spring, he wants to be out in the yard and trimming his fruit trees and just working with God's creation. And so, one Sabbath he comes and he has like the clippers in his hand and he's like, “Hey, let's go work on the yard.”   And I was like, that's great. You do that. I'm going to go read my book in the hammock. And I fell asleep for two hours while he worked on the yard. And so, a lot of this is being okay that yes, a lot of it's going to be together. Like I talked about, we did, we do communion together and we do meals together. And a lot of times we'll be out on a hike together. That's a favorite Sabbath activity. But a lot of times we're also doing separate activities.   The kids are enjoying their books or their audio books or their painting or their, uh, visiting the neighbor kids. And my husband and I are reading books on the back deck. And so, it's okay that there's going to be some together time and some separate time, you know, just being flexible with it. Like our first year of Sabbath, we went, we had to go like hardcore. We had to learn to stay. I think about in the book, I talk about the word abide meno in the Greek and it can mean to stay, to dwell, to remain.   So, we've spent our first year of Sabbath, not getting in the car. We stayed home and learned to just be home together. And after that year, we started to miss our time. We live in Colorado, missing our time hiking in the mountains. And so, we changed it. We said, okay, well, toward the end of Sabbath Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, let's go hike or let's go have a picnic in the wilderness. And just being open to that, that God's going to change you as a family and change you individually. And just growing up in a Sabbath practice together.   Laura Dugger: (34:03 - 34:20) I like the freedom that you're communicating there. And then when you mentioned the neighborhood kids, it makes me curious. Do you encourage community for some of those who recharge with other people? Would you recommend Sabbath thing with others or just keeping it your family?   Eryn Lynum: (34:21 - 36:16) Absolutely. We love inviting others into Sabbath. And it actually started with, we started our Sabbath practice. It was so sweet because God convinced us to do this. And then our first Sabbath was on January 1st. That happened to be the first Saturday that we did it. So, it was like this fresh start. And right around that time, we had moved to a new neighborhood. And our neighbors near us are Messianic Jews.   And they follow Shabbat, the traditional Shabbat. And they invited us into that. It was the sweetest evening, and they have children, young children, like we do. So, like there's chaos and there's mess. And then there's sweet times of singing together and scripture reading. And they follow it much more the traditional method than our family has.   But it was so sweet to be invited into that and to get a picture for how to invite others into this rest. And so, absolutely, we encourage, especially our kids having friends over. And we do usually ask parents, hey, can you drop them off? And then we can bring them back maybe like later that day toward the end of our Sabbath. Or if you want to come pick them up. Because again, we like to just stay home if we can.   But our kids are to the point now too where they can ride their bikes over to friends' houses. And we're fine with that. They might not be home on Sabbath once in a while. It's not a regular thing. But they're getting fed. And we know that the people they're with are people who share our values, people that we do life together.   We love having bonfires in the backyard on Sabbath. Now one thing I have to be careful of is I don't want to invite people over and feel like I need to host or clean up first. And so, for one, we don't have full families over a whole lot on Sabbath because I just don't want any sort of self-induced, self-imposed pressure.   But sometimes it's so much fun to just be like, hey, let's go meet at a park and have a picnic dinner. Or let's have a family over and do a bonfire. Just making sure that you're keeping it really, really simple if you are going to incorporate community.   Laura Dugger: (36:17 - 37:54) Guess what? We are no longer an audio-only podcast. We now have video included as well. If you want to view the conversation each week, make sure you watch our videos. We're on YouTube, and you can access videos or find answers to any of your other questions about the podcast when you visit thesavvysauce.com.   Some of these things, like you said, “They do require forethought where you have the groceries coming or certain things in place. And I think you even refer to it as a sacred striving.” So, it's important for us to learn more about that. And here's a quick story.   I just remember we've moved states quite a few times in marriage. But when I was a young mom, there was a mom in the next season of life, and she had more kids than we did. And we went to church together, and she was just like, “Oh, we learned about Sabbath. That's not a thing for moms with multiples.” And I always wrestled with that, and I love her. She's a wonderful person. Maybe she's even changed her stance on that, so it's not to speak ill of her. But I do think that we can struggle with that because that's not an actual truth. I do think that's a message from the enemy.   So, I guess this is a two-part question. How do we protect ourselves from buying into a storyline that is not true that may hold us back from Sabbath? And then also, what is kind of the both and? It's both restful, and it requires a lot of work up front to make this a reality.   Eryn Lynum: (37:55 - 41:19) It does, and knowing that, that it is going to take work, but God's going to bless it. Think about Isaiah 55:10-11, that says, “Just like the rain and the snow go forth and produce life and bring forth life from the land, so my work goes out and does not return void or empty. It produces that which I sent it out for.”.   That is true for Sabbath and rest because, again, we find it all throughout scripture. So, know that it's going to take hard work, but God will not allow it to return void. He will bless our efforts as we step into His design that He created us for.   I talk about in the book a few ways that you have to prepare mentally, physically, and spiritually. So, mentally, for me, I have to just totally remove anything mentally that's going to distract me from rest. So, I own a business, and so a lot of my work is on the computer and on the phone. I will answer, so this is like Friday, I'll answer any lingering emails, those ones that are going to be on my mind if I don't get to them. And then I put an away message on my email. So, if anyone emails me on our Sabbath, it sends an automatic reply that says, hey, thanks for your message. My family's resting. It has a little blurb in there about Sabbath. I'll get back to you in the new week.   That gives me permission to not even look at my email. In fact, people expect that I'm not looking at my email if I'm keeping my word. And so, this has just freed me up mentally to step away, and then I literally put my laptop in my closet.   With my phone, I set it to a Sabbath mode, and you can create these different focus modes if you have a smartphone, so that I can only receive messages from my mom in case of emergency. And our people, our friends, they all know this now. Like, oh, I'm not going to hear back from Erin because it's Saturday for the most part.   And so, these little things that you might just need to mentally prepare yourself. And then physically, that goes back to preparing our home. So, this is not a deep clean that we do prior to Sabbath. It's just tending to the things that are going to distract me if we don't get to them beforehand. So, again, washing all the dishes and having the kitchen clean, vacuuming. Like, that's like just a hack to make the house feel clean is I feel like it's clean if it's vacuumed.   So, just these little things, and then physically also doing that grocery order. And I have a free Sabbath guide on my website, erinlynum.com/family-sabbath. And it walks you through creating your Sabbath grocery list so that every week you have what you need in the house. These little things that truly make it, Sabbath easier and more successful.   And then preparing spiritually, going into this, like a lot of times I'll know, okay, I'm going to study this on Sabbath. For our first year, I just had like this stack of books on Sabbath that I would work through on our Sabbath. Right now, I am parked in Genesis 1 and have been for weeks. And so, just preparing spiritually, you know, this is a time of communion with our creator, with our heavenly father. And so, just having an idea of, you know, this is how I want to spend time delighting in God on the Sabbath.   That might be a long walk. That might be time in the word or time of worship but making sure that that is a keystone part of your Sabbath practice.   Laura Dugger: (41:20 - 41:45) And, you know, it really is possible. I just think so many of us celebrate holidays and we do the same thing where we plan, prepare, prioritize ahead of time so that we can delight in that day. And what a gift to get to do that weekly. So, with all of these amazing benefits, why do we still resist God's design for rest?   Eryn Lynum: (41:46 - 43:00) Because we live in a fallen world, broken by sin, and the enemy wants to do everything he can to keep us from this. This is God's design and our faith, and our souls and our families flourish in this design. And so, the enemy is going to do whatever he can to keep us from it.   He's going to insert fear. He's going to insert distraction. He's going to insert doubt. You know, when we started this practice coming up to it, I was thinking, there's no way, like how are we going to get everything done in one last day a week, all these doubts. And yet what we found so quickly is that as we took this step of faith, we quickly became so much more productive and effective and creative during the work week, because we were starting from rest and following God's design.   We resist this because it is counter-cultural. Everything in society is set up against us doing this and succeeding in this. So, again, going and knowing that our war is not against flesh and blood. It is against the powers of the spheres, like things unseen. The enemy is against us, but God is on our side. And as we step into his design, he's going to make much of it.   Laura Dugger: (43:01 - 43:12) Okay. So, if we are convinced and we want to give this a try, what is a practical first step to just obeying this and receiving this gift of rest?   Eryn Lynum: (43:13 - 45:23) Yeah, super practical here. Two first steps. The first is to set a day and time. Now you're not committing to this forever. And again, if you, if a big hesitancy here is I can't do a full day. Okay. Work and pray toward that but start smaller. If it's four hours on a Wednesday, guard that time. Ruthlessly guard it. Don't let anything be written on the schedule besides that.   So, set a day in time and then write two lists. This is going back to the idea of stop and delight, right? Your stop list. These are things that send you into hurry and hustle mode, things that are related to normal work, things that feel heavy. Some of them are so important.   Again, our work is important, but this is going to be things like devices, media, regular work, answering emails, phone calls. It might be driving in traffic. It might be spending money. Write down those things that feel heavy. That's your stop list. The things you're not going to entertain on that day or that time.   And then write your delight list. This might be hard at first because what I've found with myself, with many of us is that we forget what we delight in but causes that childlike sense of play and wonder. This is learning to be human again, coming back to those things.   So, it might be playing music or listening to music, working with fresh ingredients, reading a good book, writing by hand, watercolor painting, going for a walk. What we find is that a lot of people who spend time during the week in front of a computer want to be outdoors on the Sabbath, but people who run a landscaping company might want to be inside with a great book. So, just writing down those things that are, again, those things that you think during the week, oh, I really wish I could get to that.   Only we don't. Those are your delight list. So, now you have a day and a time. You know what you're not going to do, what you're setting aside, even physically, that should probably most definitely be your phone. Stick it in a drawer. I have my Sabbath drawer where I put my phone, and then you know what you're going to do and spend that day on.   Laura Dugger: (45:24 - 45:47) That's so good. And for those who have been listening for a while, they could even put their phone in their RO box, and I could link to that episode as well with Joey Odom. That's incredible about where our phone could be in its right place.   But Eryn, are there any other practical benefits that we might be missing out on that you've seen as a result of this Sabbath rest?   Eryn Lynum: (45:48 - 49:44) One of my favorite benefits is how it unlocks our creativity. Whether you work in a career or position that you consider creative or not, God designed all of us to be creative, to produce. And so, what I have found is that my work, my work is very in that creative sphere, writing books, creating podcast lessons for children.   It's very creative work. And I've found that Sabbath is this day where God gives my mind rest. It's so incredible thinking about how he wired our brains to thrive through rest, and science points to that that a restful mind is better at problem-solving, connecting ideas, remembering details.   And so, as my mind is allowed to rest on Sabbath, and I'm out on a walk in nature, or I'm reading a good book, or I'm writing by hand, when it comes time to sit down at the computer Monday morning, I am ready. I am flowing with ideas. They are there.   And I'll give you an example. This one isn't from Sabbath. It's from one of my daily rest rhythms that I call Selah Pause, and that's a walk in the morning. And this might be a little controversial, but this is not an easy stroll. I have my rucking pack on, and I'm trekking up a hill, which is not physically restful, of course, but it's mentally restful for me. I love it.   And so, it was in January, so it's frigid out, and everything's covered in snow, and I'm in all my snow gear, and I'm trudging up this hill. And at the time, I was dealing with a problem in my podcast where it was a good problem. We had spent the month teaching about God's designs in the human body. So, we had taught kids about God's designs in cells and DNA and the heart and the brain, but I didn't want to just let this series end. I wanted to wrap it up in some powerful way, and I didn't know how. So, I could have stayed home that morning and hashed this out and been at the computer, and how should I end this thing?   Instead, I went on this walk, and God just dropped this idea in my mind. And it was this idea. He said, ask the kids how they are wonderfully made. And that was the top. The theme was wonderfully made. And so, I put it out there to my email list. When I got back from that walk, I said, hey, I would love to hear how you kids believe you are wonderfully made by the creator. And I opened up this little voice mailbox on our website, and I didn't know if anyone would respond. And then I'm like, what if they don't? And then I don't know what to do because I said I'm going to do this thing.   I tell you, message after message came in from children from ages. I think it was three or four up to 14 from all over the world. And I was weeping as I edited that episode. I had planned to add something at the beginning and the end to build out this episode. I didn't do that because it was, I believe it's 22 minutes straight of children saying, this is my name.   I'm five years old. I live in England and I'm wonderfully made because God made me to read well or God made me fast. Or one little boy shared, he said, I know I'm wonderfully made because my mama lost a baby before me. And I'm here and I'm wonderfully made. And I'm weeping.   And this idea that God gave me, I would have missed it if I hadn't taken that pause to be out in his creation walking that day. And so, that's a very roundabout way to get back to your question of what are the other benefits? We hear from God when we make time for rest. And if we keep just rushing and hurrying, I'm concerned that we are walking by so many opportunities to hear from his spirit and to let him unlock that potential within us.   Laura Dugger: (49:45 - 50:22) Oh, I love that. And I'm even reminded of one other thing that you write in your book that today, one way we can practically experience his original design of rest is by stepping outside. And you're full of tips and ideas like that, but I so appreciate those stories.   So, you've equipped us with this foundation of rest and ways that we can prepare for it, how we can enjoy and delight in it. And so now, Eryn, how can we reflect well on our rhythms of work and rest?   Eryn Lynum: (50:25 - 53:19) So, much of this is reflection. So, much of this is stopping to consider where God is at work in our lives, where we need to recalibrate, where we need to realign, where we need to step back into his pace because we're trying to run ahead of him. And one way that we can see it, you know, like you might ask the question, am I at rest? Even me sometimes on Sabbath, I'm like, am I doing this right? Like, is this actually restful? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?   I think we can answer that question by the fruit in our lives, the fruit inside of us that God is producing and the fruit that we are producing. So, one thing I kind of sum up the book on is this question of, are you growing in truth and love? Because the enemy, when he gets us away from God's rest and into hustle, into distraction and hurry, we are not fully experiencing God.   And so, our levels of experiencing his love and offering it to others is going to suffer. Our experience of hearing his truth and living that truth out in our lives is going to suffer. And so, the opposite is true that as we live at rest, this whole concept of abide, that is living at rest, not just these rest practices, but living at rest in God's restful presence, we are going to be producing more love and more truth.   So, that's like a key visual. And then I love on that idea of abide. We spent a whole week on abide in the book and, you know, John chapter 15 being the abide passage. And what we see there is there's these 11 mentions of that word abide. And they all refer to us abiding in Christ, Christ abiding in us, God's word abiding in us. So, all this connectivity between Christ and God and us and his word.   But then it's, I think it's verse 16. There's a different mention of meno, abide. And it says that he wants us to go out and produce fruit that abides. So, this is different. It relates to our fruit and that word abide. Yes, it can mean dwell, remain, stay, but it can also mean continue and endure.   God created us to produce fruit and fruit that endures. Doesn't rot, doesn't fade, but continues into eternity. So, we can look at, okay, am I personally in my spirit? Am I growing in truth and love? Because God's spirit actually has the space to minister to me when I rest. And is that rest directly affecting the fruit of my life?   These are key things that we can look at and ask to see. Are we truly living from God's rest?   Laura Dugger: (53:19 - 53:53) I love questions so much. And that's so good to reflect then on the fruit that's being produced. And a mentor many years ago said, you never reap what you sow in the same season. So, that's a great place to even begin just reflecting. What did we do in the past season and what fruit are we reaping now? And where do we want to go then from here?   And one place we could go from here after this chat is to follow you. And you've mentioned your podcast. Do you want to elaborate on all the places that you're available?   Eryn Lynum: (53:54 - 55:03) Yes, thank you. So, the new book, The Nature of Rest is available wherever you get your books, along with my second book, Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family's Faith Through God's Creation. And that's all about taking our kids or grandkids, the next generation outside and reconnecting the dots between creation and creator. Really returning nature study and time outdoors to its proper place as theology and the study of God.   So, those are available anywhere, including Amazon or my website, which is my name, erynlynum.com. And then my podcast is Nat Theo, short for Natural Theology. It's nature lessons rooted in the Bible. It's a podcast for kids and families where we dive deep into science and all the design and intelligence we see in creatures and plants. And we tie it all back to biblical truth so that our kids are learning science and theology at the same time.   And that's available on any podcast platform, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, right on my website, erinlynum.com, as well as YouTube. We actually provide visuals so you can watch what you're learning about as well.   Laura Dugger: (55:04 - 55:22) So, incredible. We will add links to that in the show notes for today's episode. And Eryn, you may already be familiar. We're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for you today, what is your savvy sauce?   Eryn Lynum: (55:24 - 56:34) I love this question. And this is one that actually I was like, oh, I'm not asked this much. I'm going to have to really think deeply on this one.   It's get outside every day. That seems so simple, even though it's not really simple in practicality. But one thing I've learned through rest and through time outdoors is that 10 minutes matters. Like if you think I don't have time for this, but you have a 10 minute slot, go for a walk and see how God just communes with your spirit. Even in the dead of winter, if you live somewhere cold, like if it's safe to do so. For me, I had to buy like the best pair of snow pants I could find because I used to really dislike the winter. And I would just become like really down in those winter months.   And so, God just convinced me, don't go outside every single day if it's for 10 minutes. And then pretty often he just extends that. Like I think I'm going out for 10 minutes. And sure enough, I'm like playing with my kids outside. It's much longer.   But yeah, as best as you can, just prioritize that. If you have to do it first thing in the morning to make sure it happens, go for a walk and watch the sunrise. And God is going to minister to your soul through his creation.   Laura Dugger: (56:35 - 56:54) Amen. Amen. That is so good.   And this conversation has been so rich. Eryn, it is just very clear you have filled up on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have just poured out goodness and love and truth for all of us, all over all of us today. So, thank you for all that you shared. And thank you for being my guest.   Eryn Lynum: (56:55 - 57:03) Thank you. Thank you so much for that encouragement. That means a whole lot to me. So, thank you. And for the opportunity for a great conversation.   Laura Dugger: (57:03 - 1:03:10) I really enjoyed it.    One more thing before you go, have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you, but it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior, but God loved us so much. He made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life. We could never live and died in our place for our sin.   This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished. If we choose to receive what he has done for us, Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   So, you pray with me now. Heavenly father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you.   Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life? We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus name we pray.   Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me. So, me for him, you get the opportunity to live your life for him.   And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you're ready to get started.   First, tell someone, say it out loud, get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes and Noble and let me choose my own Bible. I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it.   You can start by reading the book of John. Also get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.   We want to celebrate with you too. So, feel free to leave a comment for us here. If you did make a decision to follow Christ, we also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “in the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

December 3, 2025 - Wednesday PM Bible Class   In this episode we finish our quarter by working through Colossians chapter 1 and beginning chapter 2, part of the New Testament prison epistles. The speaker situates Colossae geographically and historically, explains the city's relationship to nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis, and explores the background of false teachings infiltrating the church there — including Judaizing legalism, Greek philosophical influences, and early elements of Gnostic thought. Chapter 1 is examined in depth as a doctrinally rich celebration of Christ's supremacy: his deity, role in creation, relationship to the church, victory over death, and the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him (verses 15–20). The episode highlights key themes such as the preeminence, authority, and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ (with verse 18 as the chapter's bellwether), and explains reconciliation through Christ's blood (verses 20–23), stressing the conditional nature of remaining reconciled — continuing steadfastly in the faith. The teacher draws parallels to Ephesians and Matthew 24, emphasizing how the gospel had spread to “every creature under heaven” by Paul's day, and explains Paul's role as a steward of the revealed “mystery” that Gentiles are fellow heirs in Christ. Practical preaching principles from Colossians (warning and teaching) are outlined, and the episode concludes with an overview of chapter 2 warnings against deceptive philosophy, legalistic observance of festivals and Sabbaths, and angelic worship. Listeners can expect a mix of historical context, careful exposition of key verses, doctrinal clarification, and pastoral application aimed at helping Christians recognize and resist false teaching while remaining rooted, built up, and steadfast in Christ. The episode encourages listeners to read the short book of Colossians (four chapters) and Philemon to complete the study of the prison epistles.   Duration 35:51

Pastor Jeff teaches today that God's commands aren't meant to stop our fun—they're meant to help us live the best life He designed for us. The Fourth Commandment reminds us to worship God, and the Fifth teaches us to love and honor our parents. Leviticus 19:3 "Each of you is to respect his mother and father. You are to keep my Sabbaths; I am the LORD your God."

Joshua Pauling, author, “Are We All Cyborgs Now?” Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the MachineThe post Digital Sabbaths – Joshua Pauling, 1/8/26 (0083) first appeared on Issues, Etc..

Well friend, I've made it all the way to episode 300 and today's episode is a Q&A with my listeners. I'm so excited! Resources from this episode: Dwell Bible App Discount  Episode 223 : I Read the Bible in a Month Episode 232 : A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 1 Episode 233 : A Year of Sabbaths with Will Ray : Part 2 Made for People by Justin Whitmel Earley  A'Del Cosmetics  Timeless Book Series by Gabrielle Meyer  Kindle Paperwhite  Trello  Midliners The Contentment Challenge Episode 003 : The Contentment Challenge Episode 004 : Seasons of Business Episode 286 : 3 Lessons from Charlie Kirk Psalm 73:25-26 Shepherd's Way Farms  Too Good by Jess Ray Positive Parenting Solutions  Brick Device  Meeting with Jesus by David Murray Rhythms Reset Send Nancy an audio message! Join my email list!  Visit my Amazon Cornerstore! Nancy Ray Website Nancy Ray on Instagram Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly appreciate when you choose to use them!  

By Ben Light - The rhythm of the weekly and annual Sabbaths of God safeguard against human forgetfulness. They represent a sacred summons that is rooted in both creation and redemption. The contrast between “remembering” and “keeping” highlights the call to actively guard its holiness, protect it from encroachment

This month on Theonomoney, Jeremy begins looking at the Fourth Commandment, the Commandment on the Sabbath. He goes into various types of Sabbaths in the Old Testament and describes a focus on the Sabbath we should have to combat legalism concerning it. Subscribe on your favorite podcast catcher, tell your friends about Theonomoney, and follow Theonomoney on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Check out great theonomic shirts and hoodies here: bonfire.com/store/theonomoney/ Catechism link: www.reformedreader.org/ccc/keachcat.htm

The day before Thanksgiving, we hit pause together for a short "FaceTime-style" heart-to-heart. Whether you're bracing for tricky family dynamics or you're the holiday superfan, this mini-episode gives you a simple, grace-filled plan to enter the day grounded, intentional, and at peace—without pretending or performing. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." — Proverbs 3:5–6 What We Talk About Two honest camps we tend to fall into for Thanksgiving (dreaded & pressured vs. excited & overamped) — and how intention bridges both. The 2023 burnout story that led to boundaries, fewer yeses, and clearer expectations. A 5–10 minute grounding ritual you can do today (journal-optional) to shape tomorrow. Why your presence > performance — and how to carry peace into complicated rooms. Gratitude as an anchor, not a performance — practical ways to spot "small gifts." Navigating family roles, old wounds, and people-pleasing without losing your growth. "Touch grass" breaks and mini-Sabbaths that reset your nervous system mid-chaos. Scripture Anchors Proverbs 3:5–6 — Trust > understanding; acknowledge > control. 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 — "Rejoice… pray… give thanks… for this is God's will." Philippians 4:6–7 — Prayer + thanksgiving → peace that guards your heart. Colossians 3:15 — "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… and be thankful." The 5–10 Minute "Pre-Game" (Do this today) Name it honestly. Write how you actually feel about tomorrow (the good, the hard, the mixed). No bypassing. Three clarifying questions: What do I want to carry into tomorrow? What do I need to leave behind? What kind of presence do I want to bring? (peace, presence, wholeness, gentleness, curiosity, simplicity) Gratitude that isn't performative. List 3–5 specifics: Where has God sustained me lately? What tiny gift have I been overlooking? Where can I choose wonder over worry today? Pray it in. "Jesus, I acknowledge You here. Set my pace. Guard my tone. Keep me rooted." "Be still, and know that I am God." — Psalm 46:10 Day-Of Rhythm (Quick Guide) Before you step in: step outside, touch grass, breathe, pray a verse (Prov. 3:5–6). Alarms as mini-Sabbaths: try 11:45 / 2:30 / 6:00 — step out, breathe, reset. Protect your growth: You can show up as who you are now, not who you used to be or who they expect. Boundaries are love: You're not responsible for others' perceptions; you are responsible for your presence. Gentle Prompts for the Table (or your journal) Where did I see a small mercy today? What pressure can I lower by 20% without harming the moment? If peace walked into this room, what would it sound like from me? Sponsor Messages PreBorn An ultrasound can double the chance a mom chooses life. This year alone, more than 38,000 babies were rescued through PreBorn's work, with moms supported through counseling and tangible help for up to two years after birth. $28 sponsors one ultrasound. Be the first voice of hope: PreBorn.com/Speakeasy CrowdHealth Open enrollment got you stressed? CrowdHealth is an alternative: pay a monthly advocacy fee for bill negotiation, affordable labs/prescriptions, and a trusted network of low-cost, high-quality doctors. If something big happens, you pay the first $500; the crowd helps with the rest. Start for $99 for your first 3 months with code speakeasy at joincrowdhealth.com. Disclaimer: CrowdHealth is not insurance.

Send us a textIn this Bible study, we take a close look at Colossians 2:16–17—one of the most misunderstood passages among Hebrew Roots teachers. Paul's words about festivals, new moons, Sabbaths, and the “shadow vs. substance” point us straight to the sufficiency of Christ and the freedom of the New Covenant.If you've been confused by Torah-keeping claims or you're trying to help a friend caught in Hebrew Roots theology, this walkthrough of Colossians 2 will give you the clarity and biblical grounding you need.The Biblical Roots MinistriesOur websiteOur YouTube ChannelProf. Solberg's BlogSupport our Ministry (Thank you!)00:00 Intro02:43 Colossians 2:16-1714:47 Claim 1: How We Keep the Rituals22:32 Claim 2: Things to Come26:34 Claim 3: The Body of Christ28:51 Bonus Claim: Special Sabbaths30:52 Wrap it up, Solberg.

Custom Mary I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say, "It's just man's tradition. It's just a custom." At its worst misunderstanding, the tradition or custom is seen adversarial to Torah obedience and as evil. As a simply uninformed understanding, it's a lack of research or direction into how Yeshua taught and lived customs and traditions...of men.   For instance, the letter of the Torah does not say to go to a synagogue every Shabbat. But how should one "hear" the Word, which is a commandment? Synagogues were an answer to that question. The Torah was read every Shabbat, so Scripture tells us that Yeshua went to synagogue every Shabbat:   • And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. (Lk 4:16)   Yeshua wouldn't do something evil, so this was a good custom even if the Torah does not say, "Thou shalt enter the synagogue every Sabbath." How to differentiate among the direct mitzvah (commandment), the custom or tradition that helps one to do the mitzvah, and an outright tare? The answer comes from knowing that the Word is the seed from which we grow fruit and that the heart's intent is a vital indicator of the fruit grown from it. My offer to help with a Biblically sound way to look at customs and traditions for believers was to write the booklet: Truth, Tradition, or Tare: Growing in the Word.   This brings us back to our topic of hospitality over the last several weeks. Hospitality is how we invite the very Presence of Adonai into our homes, towns, and gatherings. In the following account of hospitality, the hostess is a woman named Martha, and she had a sister named Mary (Miriam). Custom dictated that a host or hostess like Abraham and Sarah provide a safe refuge, water for washing, and food and drink for their guests. It was customary. Traditional. Martha busied herself providing these customary things for Yeshua and his disciples, but Mary was more, well, I'm going to say it...not Custom Mary:   • Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:38-42)   Martha was missing something in her hospitality, just as we can miss it in any custom or tradition we practice: why do we do it? To strengthen our relationship to the Holy One and His Word? Or to earn righteousness or the esteem of others through our own efforts?   Yeshua gently pointed out to Martha the important aspect of customary hospitality: it is to strengthen the relationship between the ministry of the Word and the recipients of the Word. To make it come alive. In this case, the Word was literally alive in Martha's home!   In fact, Yeshua would have greeted the home with peace when he entered, just as he instructed his disciples to do. Instead of receiving the peace, Martha remained in a state of worry and bother. She did not receive the blessing. Mary, however, was eating and drinking it in, getting to know what the Living Word should be in her life. The custom of hospitality is to enable Kingdom ministry, to provide a temporary little Temple sanctuary for the minister.   Martha was not wrong if she wanted to continue preparing food to serve the disciples, but she was wrong if it became contentious and destroyed the very relationships she should be strengthening with other believers. Yeshua was well able to perform a miracle of bread, oil, wine, fish, or any other meal she was serving. He'd certainly done it for others who offered what little they had, and so had Elijah. And I'm sure he was prepared to wait if her meal took longer. After all, he was there to grace her with his Presence, not to grade or promote her on culinary skills. He wanted her to drink him in!   To Martha, however, the customary, traditional way a woman of the First Century was viewed as valuable was in her domestic skills. To Yeshua, his custom was to invite all to sit and learn at his feet. Male, female, Jew, non-Jew, slave, free...all could learn and grow in the ministry of the Word. It was the better part of hospitality. It didn't negate the need to feed and house the visiting ministers, the other part, but it was the better part of the whole equation. Perhaps, Yeshua is saying, the point of the serving is forging peace with people and Heaven. Hospitality is the designated vehicle for it.   Yeshua didn't pick Martha's home so she could become righteous through serving; he picked her because she believed in him; she already was righteous. She just needed some extra training like he had to correct his other disciples on things like fighting over higher positions, water-walking, and poor demon management.   A righteous guest seeks a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that sanctuary home with peace:   • “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house* is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” (Mt 10:9-15)      *”The House” is a euphemism for The Temple    Yeshua clarified hospitality: it is receiving by 1) providing refuge, food and drink, and water for washing as well as 2) receiving his Word. Yeshua had to remind Martha to receive the Word, too. The heart of the Temple was in the hidden place of the ark, the Word of the Torah emplaced between the two cheruvim where the Voice would speak. Out loud.   Hospitality is how the average person enters the holy Sanctuary to experience the Voice and Presence of Adonai through His designated ministers of the Word.   • “You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD.” (Le 19:30)   What did First Century Jews understand about this commandment? And why did Yeshua instruct his disciples so specifically about hospitality as they ministered in his name and authority?   Rashi explains it in his comments to Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:30:   • “'And revere my Sanctuary.' He should not enter the grounds of the Temple neither with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his moneybelt, nor with the dust that is on his feet, i.e., he should not enter with dirty feet. And although I enjoin you to have reverence with regard to the Beit HaMikdash [Temple], nonetheless, ‘you shall observe my Sabbaths; the construction of the Beit HaMikdash does not override the Sabbath.”    Contextually, Rashi's point is that Sabbath will occur in every place for all time, and so commandments specific to the Temple services will be overridden by commands specific to Shabbat. As Yeshua understood about the magificent Temple, it would not long endure. Instead, the righteous of the earth would have to function as little sanctuaries in the nations where they lived and were sent. He would continue to build the Temple through them and to send the Presence, the Ruach HaKodesh.   In practice, Yeshua sent his disciples to continue his work; in order to do that work, they would need holy homes to provide Temple hospitality. For this, the home would need to be a “worthy” one. The family would need to conduct its daily life toward the preservation of holiness of Shabbat.    Such a family was fit for Kingdom ministers, and those minister-guests were obligated to treat it with the same courtesies as they would enter the Temple itself. Yeshua's requirements were identical to the customary Temple protocols for entry. A home that provided water to wash the feet was a prepared holy temple. As the repentant sinful woman washed Yeshua's feet with her tears, receiving his forgiveness, so a righteous home signaled receiving the guest with physical water as well as receiving the Word of shalom he or she brought to the house...and House.   The reverence of Shabbat is linked to entering the Temple itself, placing that home in a very high spiritual status, worthy of blessing for its hospitality.   The disciples would bless the homes of Custom Marys the same as they would proclaim blessings in the Temple, for the host was standing in to bless them as the priests would bless the tribes coming up to worship, and all, even those "night watcher" servants of exile from among the nations, offered blessings to YHVH.

Because Christ has triumphed in the cross, no one can judge Christians based on those things that Jesus has fulfilled. The Old Testament regulations concerning food and drink and Sabbaths are a shadow of the body of Christ who has now been revealed. Although false preachers peddle practices that may look religious, any worship or piety that does not teach us to cling to Christ has no value. Only Christ, the Head of the Church, can hold His body together and cause it to grow and bear fruit.  Rev. Ryan Ogrodowicz, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church and School in Brenham, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Colossians 2:16-23.  To learn more about Grace Lutheran, visit gracebrenham.org. “Letters from Prison” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that studies Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Even when Paul was imprisoned for the sake of Christ, the Word of God remained unbound. The apostle's letters from prison still fill us with the same joy that his chains could never silence. Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God's Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

*Note: The Season of the Witch Replay episodes will only be available until Nov. 1st. Today on Day 3 of Season of the Witch, we're talking about rhythm - and how to find yours when life refuses to give you any.Here's the truth: we're all swimming upstream against our own energy. Doing things just to be busy. Doing things because we've always done them. Saying yes when our whole body screams no. And then wondering why we feel like square pegs in round holes all the time.Here's what we covered:We explored the lunar phases (that waxing/waning cycle) and the wheel of the year (those eight Sabbaths marking the seasons). Both follow the same pattern: growing energy → release moment → reflection energy → back to the beginning. New moon to full moon. Winter solstice to summer solstice.But here's the kicker: none of us can actually live fully aligned with these rhythms. You can't just hibernate from Samhain through Yule like nature intended. You've got graduations, weddings, holidays, 12-hour nursing shifts, kids' taekwondo, grandparents' appointments - life keeps happening regardless of what the moon or sun is doing.So what do we do?We create our own energetic rhythm wheel. Through the threshold of timing visualization, you explored:When you feel most energized (that "throw it at me, I'm good" energy)When you lose track of time because you're so engrossedWhen your energy naturally wants to plant seeds versus releaseWhen you're just done for the dayThen you mapped it on your own circle. To be a witch is to create energy, not respond to it.When you align with your natural rhythm instead of fighting it, you stop:Feeling like a failure for not keeping upShutting down your voice again and againDoing emotional labor for everyone else's scheduleLosing yourself in daily monotonyThis is how you reclaim your season. You become a season keeper for yourself.Your turn: Map your own energetic rhythm wheel. Notice where your energy naturally flows. See what your rhythm is actually creating for you right now.Join the conversation! Share your rhythm discoveries in our YouTube Community space and connect with fellow Enchanted Sisters navigating their own cycles.Want the full Season of the Witch experience? Register here to get all replays, your workbook, the potion quest (unlock your custom meditation!), and more delivered to your inbox. Plus - our annual Enchanted Journey membership is open this week only, and we've got an in-person event in Salem, Massachusetts happening in April! Check it out here.Tomorrow: Day 4, our final session before Sunday's wrap-up.Stay magic. ✨

It's Fuck Yeah Friday, and Lesley is back with wins and wisdom to brighten your week. She shares a surprising story about how time was once measured, highlights an inspiring Pilates win from listener Lisa MacDonald, and reflects on her 10th wedding anniversary with Brad. Along the way, she reminds us that noticing even the smallest victories—like making it through a tough day—can transform how habits take root.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How ancient calendars connected women's cycles with timekeeping.The role of daily recognition in building lasting habits.Lisa MacDonald's Pilates win and how she reframed a setback.The significance of celebrating milestones like anniversaries.Why the mantra “I do not rise and fall for another” fosters self-trust.Episode References/Links:Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsStella Porta's Instagram Post - https://beitpod.com/13month If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:03  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:04  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.  Lesley Logan 0:48  Hello, Happy FYF. Happy Friday. Happy Fuck Yeah Friday, where we get some inspiration, we have a little bit of fun, we celebrate your wins and mine, and we leave with a little affirmation or mantra or just something to kick our weekend off. Thank you so much for being here. If you're new to the Be It Till You See It Podcast, we do interviews on Tuesday, recaps on Thursday, and this is my time to share a win of yours. You can send your wins into beitpod.com/questions as we can send your questions as well, but you can also send your wins. And I want them. I want more wins from you. Lesley Logan 1:15  So something that inspired me, or like sometimes I feel like it can be educational. So they erased the 13th month because it was ruled by women. So this is from Stella Porta on Instagram. And this is interesting because I definitely had done some research and learned how, like, we got the Roman calendar, which is, like, makes no sense, and we have winter starting the new year off in the middle of winter, which makes zero sense. We should start the middle. We should start the year off at Spring, right? I just think so. But okay, here we go. Before the church ruled time, women followed a different calendar, one based not on the sun, but on the moon. It had 13 months of 28 days, mirroring the menstrual cycle. This wasn't just myth. It was math, 13 times 28 equals 364. Plus one holy day equals 365, Brad just walked in and I just blew his mind. So by the way, the Instagram has sources. So if you're like, this is baloney. No, it's not. There's like little sources. This lunar calendar shaped everything. It had four sacred weeks per month, New Waxing, Full and Waning. Sabbaths were tied to moon phases and a full year, called a year and a day, a phrase still found in spells and folklore. I have seen that in some stuff, and I was like, whoa, that's interesting. So a year and a day, right? Cultures around the world honored it. Maya, Maya women said that their calendar came from menstruation. Chinese women divided the sky into 28 lunar mansions, and in Gaelic words for menstruation and calendar are the same, miosach and miosachan. I don't know, M-I-O-S-A-C-H and M-I-O-S-A-C-H-A-N. So there you go. The Romans used the word menstruation for measuring time. It comes from mensura, measure, from the same root, we get mensis, month and the word menses, the monthly cycle. So one is mensis, maybe, and menses. A woman's body was the first clock, mind blown. But this body-based time was slowly erased. The church replaced the 13-moon year with a 12-month solar one. They called 13 unlucky, moon rites became witchcraft, even menstruation became taboo. Still the signs survived. Witch covens honor the number 13, The 13 Treasures of Britain. Sow with 13 teats in Malta's temples, Twelfth Night fires, 12 small flames, plus one large one to represent the 13th moon of the new year. So lots of little people, just like keeping that history around. I love it, generations, hundreds of years later, right? The church flipped time inside out. Pagans began their days at sunset. The Saxon word for day actually meant night. Good night was once good den or good moonday. Christianity didn't release the goddess calendar. It was rebranded. Christmas Eve equals the pagan night of the mother. Easter equals set by the first full moon after the spring equinox. May Eve, Midsummer Eve, Llamas Eve, All Hallow's Eve, all began as a lunar right. This is interesting. This source that's here I started on another podcast. Pretty much every amazing holiday used to be a pagan holiday, and then the church just rebranded it. So anyways, always good to know where these things came from because I just think you should know. I think you should know what things really are. Alright. They tried to rewrite time, to flatten her curves into straight lines, but the moon cycles never left. They pulse in the mirror of stories and the tides of women in the hush between full moons. And now she's being remembered, not as superstition, but as origin. So hopefully I can get this girl who posted this on the pod. I really. She was cool. And I thought this information is cool. And ladies, we need to know. Right? Time was actually all about us. And I just think that's amazing. Lesley Logan 5:08  So okay, a win of yours. Lisa MacDonald, had a summer cancelation hole on my schedule, but turned what could be considered a negative to a positive, and did Boom Boom Pow! with Lesley on the Reformer, finished with my boomerang on the mat, stood up and said awesome out loud, it felt great. Such a win. Coming off my duet session with Lesley and Melissa Hargrove last night, I felt strong, connected and fabulous. Thank you, Lesley, for inspiring me to look for a win and celebrate. Lisa MacDonald, of course, of course. Lisa is an OPC member. She's done my mentorship program, and so the Boom Boom Pow! was one of the OPC classes. And at OPC, we have a name for every class you have access to it for two weeks. And it's really fun when you get, if you're a teacher, you get a cancelation and you take class because then you get to have extra time with your Pilates practice, which I love. Lesley Logan 5:57  Okay, my win didn't get celebrated last week. We were out of town, and I wanted to make sure I told you, Brad and I celebrated 10 years of being married last week, which is insanity. It's so crazy. I don't know if you maybe this is maybe I'm not the only one, but please let me know if you feel like you are. Like, hold on, how long I've been with this person, or how long I've been doing any anniversary, right? Like, how long have I been doing this? Like it felt like we just got married, and actually, obviously we haven't, but, like, doesn't feel like it's been 10 years, which I guess is great, but then I look back and I'm like, wow, we have done so much in 10 years, like, an insane amount in 10 years. And it's really cool, because this is, like, the first time we have so much more to go and so much more to grow, but just really grateful that we got to celebrate that together, because sometimes our anniversaries line up where we are on a plane and we're together, but like, one of us probably sleeping, and also several times it's happened where we've, like, taken off on a flight on the second, we've landed on the fourth, because we lost today. So it's really nice that we were around together in the daylight hours, not on a plane, able to actually celebrate our 10 year anniversary, which is really, really great. So normally, the wins are something that you want to celebrate. Sometimes they're big, like a 10 year, you know, I'll celebrate 11 as well, but I think it's important that, you know, we celebrate wins, big or small. In the coming months, we're going to have a Habits Series on the program, and one of the biggest things you can start doing to big habits happen is start to notice the things that you actually are getting done, the wins that are actually happening in your life. All right, there's little ones every single day, and we are just not taking enough time to celebrate what we did do. And you know what? Maybe you've got a lot going on in your life, and the only thing to celebrate is that you took a shower and you put on a different change of clothes. That's a huge win. If that was the hardest thing you could do in the day. You know, like, I think you I think we have to start giving ourselves credit for what we have done. And I really, I interviewed someone to be on the pod, and I really like what they're saying. There's so many people who are doing outward actions to get outward affirmation, versus looking and glowing from within, and you can only do that if you're actually recognizing that you're doing really great stuff based in grace, babe. Lesley Logan 8:13  All right, your mantra. You ready for it? I do not rise and fall for another. I do not rise and fall for another. I do not rise and fall for another. No, you don't. You rise. You rise for you. Got it? So easy to do it for other people, and it hurts because it's hard that way. So I do not rise and fall for another. Lesley Logan 8:39  You guys, have an amazing week. We've got a great guest coming up next week. Can't wait for you to hear it and until then, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 8:46  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 9:28  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 9:34  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 9:38  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 9:45  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 9:49  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy