Resting in the Wilderness Exodus 16:21-36 Rev. Min J. Chung (Sunday Lord s Day Worship, October 18, 2015)

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1 Resting in the Wilderness Exodus 16:21-36 Rev. Min J. Chung (Sunday Lord s Day Worship, October 18, 2015) Introduction Rhythm is important. Rhythm is a movement characterized by the regular reoccurrence of beat and consistency. There are patterns in music, and it s very difficult to focus when someone is off rhythm. When there is inconsistency in rhythm, it is hard to focus on the music. There is rhythm in sports and music, but within rhythm, there is an incredible balance of science, which is accuracy, and art, which is creativity. In sports everyone scores differently, but how they do it is an incredible art. In sermons, even though it might seem like the same thing over and over again, within it, there is a lot of art that makes it interesting and creative. Life also has rhythm. There is a yearly, weekly, and monthly cycle, but there is so much art within it. There is so much creativity that happens within life. Today we are going to talk about rhythm, especially the weekly rhythm that this passage talks about. There is incredible truth. There are so many helpful suggestions and principles derived out of this passage that will help us live our lives. The Israelites in the wilderness had this weekly rhythm while in the wilderness, and we will look at that rhythm. There are five sections we will look at as we look at this passage. Verse 21 talks about provisions, verse 22 about work, verses about rest, verses about commandments, and verses about generations. God provides for us by the means of our works, and we need to rest during the week as we work. We need to obey and live according to scripture while teaching this cycle to the next generation, so that all our life cycles are lived for the glory of God. I. Provision [21] First of all, provision. Verse 21 states, Morning by morning This is talking about the passage when manna came down from heaven while the Israelites were in the dessert. The Israelites would go out everyday and gather the manna. On the sixth day, they would gather twice as much, so that they would not need to gather on the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now within the context, we get to this passage about the Sabbath. These are the kind of passages that you are tempted to skip as a pastor because you often think, what am I going to talk about? When you spend time with the passage, you will see how helpful it is for our weekly cycle while we see the weekly cycles of the Israelites in the Old Testament. a. There was daily provision There were daily provisions morning by morning for the Israelites. Similarly for us, God provides for us daily. God provides us time, relationships, and food. Everyday he provides different things so that we can live our lives and go on this journey. b. They were provided with their daily need

2 Not only did they get things daily, the Israelites got what they needed. Verse 21 says Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat We all have different needs in our lives, and God provides what we need - not necessarily whatever we want, but whatever we need. c. It was allowable to appropriately save i. Exodus 16:22 We need to live daily and live day by day with our necessities, but can we save? The third principle here is that it was allowable to appropriately save. Some people in this passage inappropriately saved, and some appropriately saved. The passage states that but when the sun grew hot, it melted. Some people got more than they needed and others saved it. Last week we talked about when we have more than the day needs, the manna rots. But are you allowed to save sometimes? Yes. Verse 22 says, On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread it says on the sixth day they needed to save manna. Instead of the manna rotting, they gathered twice as much, two omers each. When all the leaders of the congregations came and told Moses, they were allowed to save. We see this principle in scripture. However, some people had wrong intentions such as being worried or not trusting in God to provide. We are not to save at the wrong time, with wrong intentions, or unbiblically. In this passage, the Israelites are allowed to save biblically. We can see that biblically we can save to serve others or to worship God. In America, the problem is that we think luxury is a necessity. I was reading this article about this American world traveler, who traveled to different parts of the world, even poor countries, he had a realization that luxuries became necessities in America. We can survive with a lot less than what we are getting now. I can t believe how much less I eat in other countries than America. I m sorry, but I m going to give you a little too much information. I go to the bathroom a lot more times in America, but when I go to other countries I maybe go a couple times a week. I go a couple times a day in America because I m eating so much. I m sorry this is too much information, but I m trying to illustrate the glory of God here. We think luxuries equal necessities. The world traveler also realized that money does not equal happiness. So many people in poorer countries than America were happier. We need to deal with things and learn to share, and be willing to share when we have more. We love things and use people. That is what we normally do. But what we need to do is love people and use the things to love people of God. d. This was a reflection of their daily spiritual provision daily grace i. Matthew 6:11 ii. Lamentations 3:22-23

3 Here is the fourth principle of that, and this is a reflection of their daily provision how they got daily bread. It is just a reflection of their daily spiritual provision. That is why Matthew 6:11, the six requests in the Lord s Prayer, one of the requests is Give us this day our daily bread. Of course, this talks about daily dependence; not only physical dependence, but spiritual dependence as well, which the Lord s Prayer is all about. Lamentations 3:22-23, one of my favorite passages in the bible that I ve been thinking about for the past 25 years, says The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I love that phrase they are new every morning: Every morning when you get down on your knees, it is the fresh breakfast of God s grace. They are new every morning because of God s faithfulness. Each morning, through the bread the Israelites were seeing God and His faithfulness. In their stomach they were getting bread, but in their hearts they were getting God. As God was pouring visible bread in the dessert, the Israelites were poured with his invisible grace every morning. For those of you with excuses: I don t have enough strength, I don t have enough grace, I don t have enough money, or I don t have enough friends, you have no excuse. Keep on going because His grace is enough. He will provide whatever is necessary for us to keep on going in our lives. Keep on going, never quit. People ask me, Pastor Min do you ever get tired? Do you ever get burned out? Some pastors ask me, Pastor Min you ve been ministering for 30 years faithfully, what is the secret of that? It is the same answer for me. Whether I get tired or burnt out, I say, Yes, I get burned out. Yes, I get tired. But it only lasts one day because every morning I go to the Lord, I get on my knees, I go to scripture, and he gives me the fresh breakfast of God s grace. I keep on going, and maybe by the afternoon I get tired and burnt out, but the next day He is going to give me another dose of God s grace that I need. Everyday He gives me fresh grace because his steadfast love never ceases and his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness for me. So, let us keep going by his grace for his glory. II. Work [22] Secondly let us take a look at the principles of work. Verse 22 says, On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread What did they gather? Bread. Big deal, right? It is a big deal in Exodus and in the bible even though it seems like they only gathered bread and shared with people. It might not seem like a big deal, but it was such a big deal in a sense because the Israelites were slaves for 400 years, and food came to them in their house from Pharaoh. But here, they had to go out and gather. In fact, it was such a significant change for the Israelites that in Exodus, it is described four different times. It is such a different phase in the Israelites lives. There is a principle of work being worked out. They gathered manna. Here are seven principles:

4 a. Work is commanded by God God told them to gather. Work is commanded by God from Genesis 2. We see this in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 6. Both in the New Testament and Old Testament, work is something commanded. Work is commanded by God, therefore, work is something good. Some people mistake work as the consequence of sin and think we don t have to work if we are not sinful. Rather, work is a blessing of God in such a way that when we work, we picture God, we receive God, and we experience God. Out of obedience to the law, we need to be faithful to our work and be the best workers we can be for the glory of God. b. Work is not given to meet God s needs but to meet ours Secondly, work is not given to meet God s needs but to meet ours. Sometimes when we work, whether it is church work or work in workplaces, we think we are serving God as if God needs it. Sometimes we think we are meeting God s needs, but if you think about this passage, God commanded them to work and it was ultimately for themselves. The simple little theology of God is helpful where God is absolutely sufficient by Himself; He is self-sufficient. God does not need anything. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is complete. But out of His grace, He created us so that we can experience Him and be included in His presence. We can actually picture Him and live for His glory. He is absolutely sufficient by Himself, so whatever He tells us to do or give up, it is so that He can give us more. So when we let go of the things that we don t want to give up, God tells you to give them so that He can give us more. When God tells the Israelites to work, it was to meet their needs so that as they work, they would experience the generosity of God, as well as express God s generosity as they shared with other people. Work is to show God s generosity to us, not God s greed. c. Work is used by God to show what He is like Third, work is used by God to show what He is like. Work was already ordained for people in Genesis 2. God told them to work and serve so that through them, God would show what He is like. As God provides for them through their work, they would see the provider; they would see what God is like. We see from Genesis that God worked for 6 days and rested on the seventh day. When people work 6 days and rest on the seventh day, it pictures both God s work and rest. Notice that in America, we work five days and rest two days, yet we still complain. In other places in the world and in the bible, most people work six days. Even in this passage, if you think about it, God rests the seventh day. On the seventh day, God did not send down any manna, which is symbolic to God resting on the seventh day, so people can rest too to picture Him. Work is used to show people what God is like. Even in rest, people are provided for, which pictures God s provision. d. There needs to be a rhythm in life with a balance of work and rest

5 The fourth thing here is that there needs to be a rhythm in life with a balance of work and rest. Six days they worked and the seventh day they rested. Again, both pictures God. Even in this passage there is time to work, time to rest, time they needed to work harder than usual. On the sixth day they worked harder than usual. That cycle is in our lives. Sometimes we need to work, sometimes we need to rest, and sometimes we need to work harder than usual. This is the rhythm of life. There needs to be a rhythm of life with a balance of work and rest. e. We need to be careful of sins relation to work too little or too much The fifth principle is that we need to be careful of sins related to work. What are the sins that are related to work? Whether too little or too much work, we sin. If you are lazy, you are sinning before God. If you are working too much, you are being a workaholic and sinning before God. You can see these Israelites being lazy and not gathering manna on the sixth day, which caused them to lack on the next day. It would be sinful for them to not gather for the two days, and some people did that according to the passage. That s why they needed to go out on the Sabbath even though God commanded them not to. Some people were workaholics. Even among the Israelites, some went out the seventh day. Maybe they had enough to eat, yet they still went out on the Sabbath to gather manna according to this passage. We can see they are workaholics just like some of you. Some of you can t sit down and do nothing. You are so self-dependent that you want something more. Whether we are not working enough or working too much, we need to remember this: work is not the only main thing in life; your family is also your calling, your church is also your calling. We teach those three things from the book of Ephesians. If you are a student, studying is your calling, and it will one day be replaced by work. In fact, after your graduate, you will have to decide where you live. What do you do? You choose a job, choose a church, and build a family. These three things you will wrestle with all your life. Work is one of the main things, but it is not the main thing. You must have a dynamic balance with the different callings in your life. If you are a new worker, you may need to spend more time with work to get good at it. If you have young children, you may need to spend more time with your family. If you take on a new obligation at church, you may need to spend more time at church. It is not an equal balance, but it is a dynamic balance. In different phases and times in your life, the balance will change. You need to live maximally for the glory of God in the redemptive rhythm of life. f. We can work to earn a living and even save appropriately The sixth thing here about work is that we can work to earn a living and even save appropriately. We talked about saving appropriately, but you can also work to earn a living. Some people feel guilty about this and think, I m just trying to do this for myself, my family, my future and they feel sinful and selfish. Is this selfish? No. According to the bible, of course, the motive must be right, but if you are living your

6 life for the glory of God, that is necessary. We can glorify God through those things. Just like the Israelites did as they worked from Sunday to Monday, we can show the glory of God. We can work to earn a living and even save appropriately and still glorify God. g. We should always work all of our life Last but not least, we should always work all of our life. Meaning we should always work whether we have an occupation or not. Some people will get old and retire you can pick a different line of work to picture God. I am not just talking about occupation, but we should always do something to serve God. Whether you have a good job or not some people get jobs not related to their major, so people say they don t have a real job you can still serve God and glorify God. Working a simple job can still be used to picture and glorify God. Whether you have an occupation or not, you can still serve God. Good examples are the moms that raise children. This may be more difficult than people with occupations, so this is a way to serve God and glorify Him. Whether you have a job or not, a good job or not, if you re retired or not, you can always do something to serve God and serve His people. We should always work all of our lives while mixing in rest to be refueled for the Lord. III. Rest [23-27] We talked about provision and work. The third principle here is rest. Verse 23-27, This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD There are three kinds of rest: physical rest, spiritual refueling, and relational restoring. This is what the Israelites had to do for the Sabbath. These are good principles to have even when we go on vacation and rest. a. Physical rest They were resting from work. They were also resting from walking. They did not have this kind of rest for 400 years during their years of slavery. God was showing that He was different from Pharaoh. They were under Pharaoh and he was abusing them. God was saying, I was helping you to work so that I can provide for you, ultimately so that you can picture who I am. God was providing them work, God was providing them rest. He was not using them selfishly, but ultimately using them to glorify God, which was giving them maximum pleasure and joy through the means of their work. God was showing the difference between Pharaoh and Himself. Different commentators and historical books will say that there were no rest days like the Sabbath in different nations. This distinguished them from other nations and glorified God by showing that their God is different from other gods. He gave them balance and rhythm in their lives. b. Spiritual refueling i. Exodus 35:21

7 There was physical rest, but during the Sabbath, there was spiritual refueling too. The outline of Exodus is that there is freedom out of the bondage of slavery, then there is a journey, which is the main section we are talking about this semester through Exodus, and at the end of Exodus, it is about worship, getting of the law, and the tabernacle. This journey shows a glimpse of the Sabbath, but later on in Exodus, it specifically shows the Israelites how to rest and how they can serve God. Especially the meaning of their rest, that section talks about how they were refueled and revived during their Sabbath rest. One of the examples is seen in Exodus 35:21. As God was commanding Moses and the Israelites with the instructions of the Sabbath, this is what it says, And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the LORD s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. As they were listening to the commandments of God, their hearts were moving and became refueled, revived in God and for God. What were they doing? They were giving generously their material things as well as their service and talents to God. I was thinking how the Church is a picture of this. They gathered to receive more of God, and they were giving everything to God. This is what we should be doing. c. Relational restoring i. Exodus 16:23 They didn t have work and had a lot of time. What did they do while in their tents? They were in their tents and in their clans. They had time to restore relationships with one another in God. d. Questions Here are a few questions about the Sabbath and rest: i. Saturday or Sunday? Creation Rhythm and Re-Creation Rhythm The Sabbath was on Saturday, but in the New Testament we worship God on Sunday. Should we worship God on Saturday or Sunday? This is a controversial question for religion, but we can see this through this passage. The Old Testament is in creation rhythm and the New Testament is in re-creation Rhythm. [Pastor Min s drawn picture] When we look at this picture, it pictures what is in my mind. Jesus Christ is our rest, spiritual rest. After the fall we are battling sin in our hearts, Jesus says, Come near to me, I will give you rest. He is talking about spiritual rest as we fight against sin. Forgiveness and strength, we are resting in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the central person and centrality of history in redemptive history. In fact, B.C. and A.D. is divided by his birth. When we think about the Old Testament, which is before Jesus came, and look at the weekly cycle, they were always rested on Saturday, which pictures the resting that Jesus gives in Hebrews 4, it talks about how Jesus is our eternal rest. It pictures the Saturday because Jesus is coming to them. Jesus had not come yet, but he was coming to them. Looking forward to Jesus coming, they worshipped on Saturday. That is the Old Testament and the creation rhythm.

8 After Jesus Christ came and resurrected on Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection on Sunday because now Jesus came and we are living after his resurrection. We celebrate resurrection because now with the resurrection celebration Sunday, we receive strength, power, rest, and we receive spiritual grace. Then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with resurrection power as resurrection people, we live out our New Testament times. We live out the New Testament life. That is why I think the rhythm changed. Old Testament rhythm is creation rhythm and the New Testament rhythm is recreation rhythm celebrating Jesus Christ, celebrating our resurrection on Sunday. So every time we come to church, when we worship, we are declaring the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrating while receiving his Grace. ii. Should I work or not work on Sunday? Another question is, should I work or not work on Sunday? I would say try your best not to work on Sunday if it is possible and make the day special while worshipping God. I know for some occupations it is inevitable to not work on Sunday, but if you always have to work on Sunday, and it is difficult to go to church on Sundays, it is going to hinder your spiritual life, and it is going to prevent you from celebrating Jesus resurrection. I would say either change your job or change your occupation, try your best to not work on Sunday. If you have to work sometimes due to the nature of your occupation, that might be ok, but still try your best to go to church and celebrate the resurrection of Christ because you also need to spiritually declare the resurrection of Christ. Prayerfully decide and discern try your best not to work on Sunday as a principle. iii. What should I do on Sunday? Another question is, what should I do on Sunday? According to Sabbath rule and principles in the New Testament, we need to make it holy. Holy means separated from sin, but also positively separated for God. So make Sundays special for God. It may look different for different people. The minimum is going to church on Sundays, but some people have different ways to make it different. For me, it may not seem like a big deal, but I don t play basketball on Sunday. I don t play basketball because I want to make it special for the Lord. I want to have less entertainment and make it special for God. For some people it s not studying and others it s not buying things. For some it can be doing something more, but give that day to the Lord and make it special. Now worship God of course, that means making it special by the three things we just talked about: physical rest, spiritual refueling, and relational restoring. We need to spend a lot of time with family and friends that is Kingdom related. We need to celebrate God s presence in our lives. One danger about the Sabbath when you struggle with legalism is that you can miss spiritual rest. You might be doing things, but you are not spending time with the Lord. You have a specific way of doing things, you judge other people these

9 things prevent you from spending time with the Lord. Or you can be a libertine by doing whatever you want. You can go to church whenever you want and go once in a while. You are still missing spiritual rest to be refueled to serve God. After Sunday, we should be so rested physically, spiritually, and relationally that Monday we should be rejuvenated to go back to our callings. That is what that Sunday rest is for. That is what vacation is for. These are three principles you can apply to how you spend your vacation so that you can be refueled and rejuvenated to go back to your calling and live with resurrection grace. You can live your whole week for the glory of God with these principles. IV. Commandments [28-30] The fourth thing here is talking about commandments. This whole passage talks about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath. We question why. Why does God specifically talk about keeping Sabbath? Why is that such a big deal? There are some places in the bible we look and think, Why is that such a big deal? Whenever something is such a big deal, it is related to Jesus. It is declaring Jesus. Keeping Sabbath was specifically was very specifically related to picturing Jesus. -Colossians 2:16-17 Colossians 2:16-17 says Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Keeping the Sabbath had to do something with the future. Keeping the Sabbath was something about Jesus, which explains how long you keep the commandments when you go to verses They wanted to show them Jesus. They wanted to give them Jesus. They wanted to picture Jesus. God wanted them to see Jesus. God wanted them to experience the grace of Jesus. Let s specifically talk about how keeping the Sabbath is related to Jesus. Now when we talk about the weekly cycle the Israelites had, it is symbolic to the whole life the Israelites had. They had work, rest, work, rest, work, rest serving God in all these things. It was the same thing with Jesus especially in the book of John and other parts of the New Testament as well. Jesus life is pictured in this weekly cycle. That is why the Sabbath and Sunday is important. One week of Jesus, especially Passion Week, is like a picture of what Jesus did for 33 years. a. The Work of Jesus [Monday-Friday] We can see the work of Jesus in chapter 9. i. John 9:4-5 Jesus says, We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. This is when Jesus heals the blind person, and He helps the blind man see Himself, the light of the world. Throughout Jesus life, this is what he was doing. We are blind people who can t see God, we are lost, but Jesus gives us spiritual vision so that we can see him, which is a reflection of what he did from Sunday

10 through Friday. Monday through Friday, Sunday through Friday, before the Sabbath, Jesus is healing and working. Jesus was doing redemptive work during this time, and even during the Sabbath Jesus was doing work. This was his work of salvation, work of redemption. Then what does he do? He dies on Friday. Sixth day the Israelites had to double work the sixth day. Jesus did his hardest work on the sixth day dying on the cross for our sins. Just as the Israelites had to finish working on the sixth day, Jesus finished the work on the sixth day too. Jesus says, It is finished on the sixth day. The work of Jesus is pictured in the weekly cycle. Then what does Jesus do on Saturday? b. The rest of Jesus [Saturday] i. John 19:42 Jesus rests. Jewish day of preparation, which is Friday, even the Israelites were resting, and they had to finish the burial. What did they do to Jesus? They put Jesus in the tomb, but when does he resurrect? He rests on Saturday. Verse 42 says, they laid Jesus there. Jesus is resting. He works 6 days and rests that Saturday. He is fulfilling the Old Testament, not only fulfilling, but finishing the Old Testament. Something new is going to start as he resurrects. This goes to our rest in Christ. c. Our rest in Jesus [Sunday] i. John 20:1 ii. 1 Corinthians 16:2 iii. Revelation 1:10 iv. John 9:4-5 As he completed the Old Testament, a new era will start. A new beginning. A new weekly cycle in history as Jesus resurrects. That is why from that moment, even the disciples started to gather, not on Saturday, but on Sunday, the first day of the week. John 20 verse 1 says, Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. That means Jesus resurrected on Sunday, and from that moment on, the New Testament church started meeting on Sundays. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul talks about the gathering of the believers in Corinthian churches, he says, On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. It was the first day of the week when they gathered to meet. Jesus appears after the accession and to John so that he can write the book of Revelation, the first day of the week, Sunday, is phrased as Lord s day. This is a phrase that we use for our Sunday services. Revelation 1 verse 10 says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which is Sunday because a new beginning has begun. A new era, a new weekly cycle has begun for New Testament believers. We worship on Sunday and with the strength that we receive in resurrection power, we live out through the week declaring his resurrection power.

11 We ll go back to this passage, John 9:4-5, I thought about how this applies to us. When Jesus talks about his ministry of healing the blindness of humanity, he says we must work the works of Him who sent me. Its not just Jesus, but we, third person plural. Us believers included, we must work the works of him who sent me, and our work is giving the light to the blind world. So the application is after we get out of church, Monday through Friday, wherever we go, we are turning the light on. In our rooms, work place, classrooms, homes you are holding the light on in the different spheres you are going to because you are carrying Jesus and picturing him. As you receive this resurrection power today, you will go forth during the week and turn the light on to the dark and blind world. V. Generations [31-36] We talked about work, rest, commandments. Last, but not least, generations. This passage then commands us to save some portion of the bread, an omer, and keep it in this box, also called the ark of the covenant of God, a box that represents the presence of God. And that piece of bread, manna would be there, but somehow miraculously it would not decay. Just like it didn t decay on Saturday, it s not going to decay for many years. Verse 33 says, an omer kept throughout your generations so throughout generations, it was kept. Verse 34, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. Aaron placed it before the testimony, which is the ark of the covenant. Verse 35, They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. A few things here about the Omer of manna that is kept. There was a miraculous preservation. It was a miracle. All biblical miracles are pointing forward to Jesus. Of course, there wasn t written scripture during that time, but we have the bible. All different biblical authors have received spiritual manna from God to write the bible that is incredible, preserved words of God. In these authors thought processes, there was spiritual manna. The miraculous preservation of God s grace in His word. Remembrance of grace was kept by Aaron for generations to remind them to live in God s grace. Their resting grace is rest from battling sin until they will rest eternally when Jesus Christ comes. Resting grace and strengthing grace, resurrection power is there to constantly remind ourselves to see grace, so we can give this testimony to the next generation. We are to teach this as we receive God s word. We need to internalize it and live it, then teach our spiritual children. For the Israelites, this grace need to be internalized into them, then externalized to teach their children. These basic foundations and truths about Jesus. It s all about the basics and foundation of Jesus Christ. We need to have testimonies to give to our children. We need to spend time with them, just like it was commanded in the Old Testament. Conclusion There was a story of a father who spent time with the boy. Both of them wrote in their diaries. The Father said, Ugh.. I had to spend time with my boy all day. What a waste of a day. The boy s diary said, I spent my time with my father, the greatest day of my life. Spend time with your children, not only to love them, but loving and instructing them balance. Different cultures, Asian cultures and African cultures emphasize instructions, and American culture

12 emphasizes love, but we need a balance. We need to teach and instruct them while giving testimonies to give them God s grace while spending time with them, so that we, as well as our spiritual children, will live for the glory of God. We have our young children growing up in different generations, so we can maximally live for the glory of God as we work for God, rest in God, trust in God, as we obey and show Christ, and become like Christ and teach the next generation to live for the glory of God. Think about it like this, the same illustration of the father and son spending time. They both write diaries again, but this time is different. The boy s diary states, I spent time with my dad, what a waste of a day. The father s diary saying, I spent the time with my boy, what an amazing day. Sometimes we are like this with our spiritual father. Sometimes we feel like we waste our day, but God desires even one minute of our day. May we never think a minute with God is a waste of time. God is always thinking of us; ever since time began, we were on His mind. He wants to spend times with us. The most challenging thing when doing a quiet time is not fighting external sound, but internal sound. We must be refueled so that we can give that testimony to the next generation. Saint Francis of Assisi gives us a wonderful quote, Keep a clear eye toward life's end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. What you are in his sight is what you are and nothing more. Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received... but only what you have given; a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. Only what you give to God for others is what you can take as you live for God s glory.