THE REST OF THE STORY MARCH 3, 2019

Transcription

1 THE REST OF THE STORY MARCH 3, 2019 Welcome to the Bible study Evangelista show I'm Sonja Corbitt your Bible study Evangelista, and I am excited to look forward to the beginning of our next series. We are going to finish today with the Dew of Heaven, and we have looked at what rest really is. It's not the absence of activity alone, it is worship, it is peace, inner peace. Not the kind of you know, yoga inner peace or meditative, although that may figure in, but we're talking about peace as in emotional and mental peace. The kind of peace that passes all understanding as the Bible says because there could be a whole lot of stuff going on the outside, but the peace that passes understanding is the peace that God gives us himself. And it is him, himself. God is peace. He is rest. In fact, that's actually his name. But we have been talking about the promised land, and the book of Hebrews has been our text throughout the entire series. And we looked at the Sabbath because at the end of chapters 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 of Hebrews we see that there remains a rest. And we know that the word rest in that context in verse 9 that that word rest is actually the Sabbath. So, we looked at Sabbath somewhat last week and I'm going to finish it up this week cause there's really a whole lot to it. We covered it sort of the high spots last week as far as the fact that it is part of the moral law that we rest and worship on the Sabbath. That we separate that day. And we do that because as the catechism says it's a protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money. So, it's a dedication of a day and as is with all of the moral law and all even of some of the ceremonial law, the elements that God prescribed and the commandants that he gave were meant to be perpetual. And in fact, we saw that when we looked at Exodus 31 verses 16 and 17, we saw that it had to be a perpetual sign. And so, for them the Sabbath was the commemoration or the memorialization of their Exodus from Egypt. And for us then because we're not Jewish, saving event which is spiritual, is the cross. And so, our Sabbath then changed through the apostles from Friday night into Saturday, to Saturday night into Sunday. We talked about the timekeeping and all that kind of thing. So today I'd like to kind of finish that up. I want to look at both the consequences of breaking Sabbath. And of course, I want you to remember that when we say the word Sabbath, we're looking at it because that's what the scriptures use, that s the word that the scriptures use. But for us we're talking about Sunday. It is built on the Sabbath though and so that's why we continue to use that word because in the 1 P a g e

2 Old Testament we see these principles and the word is used, the Sabbath word is used. But for us we re thinking about Sunday because it has been transformed as has everything about the Old Testament through Christ and his cross and his resurrection. And so, we carry it forward into the church through Him. So, we re going to look at chapter 20 of Ezekiel and the heading there, for this entire chapter or part of it is, the very first part is, the rebellion of Israel. And then there is at the end of the chapter another section that says God will restore Israel. And that's always the case in any sort of prophecy, that the prophets give and they in this case we're going to see that Ezekiel's prophesying against the lack of keeping the Sabbath and how it got the people into trouble, and what the consequences would be. And I alluded to this somewhat last week, but I really want to kind of dig around in the scriptures for you because I want you to see how important this is. We saw a whole lot of discussion on the Bible study Evangelista Facebook page that discussion page and I love that. Because each of us was sort of sharing some of our practices for Sunday keeping or Sabbath keeping. And some people talked about how they like to rest, and some people talked about, you know, their favorite ways to rest and I really love that. Some people talk about how they, you know they, they cook a big meal for their entire family, and I don't know if that's restful than fine, I don't find that very restful. I do like to do a Sunday dinner for my family, but I don't like the cleaning up, so we don't do that part. But I do like to cook for everyone. And actually, that harkens back for me to my upbringing. My mother and my stepdad have really profound gifts of hospitality and they cooked a Sunday dinner every single Sunday. And even after I moved out and even after we married my husband and I married, we would go home after church, they had actually stopped going to church, but they continue to do Sunday dinner. And so, we would go to their house and it was just a very sweet time I hope to carry that forward in my own family. But in chapter 20 of Ezekiel we're going to kind of skip down to about verse 10 because we don't have time to read all of them. I have a whole lot of scriptures to get through today, so I'm going to kind of skip down to verse 10. And it says Therefore, I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between them and me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not walk in my statutes, they despised my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them; and they greatly defiled my Sabbath. 2 P a g e

3 Then I said I would pour out my fury on them in the wilderness to consume them. But I acted for my namesake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out. So, I also raised my hand in an oath to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands, because they despised my judgments and did not walk in my statutes, but profaned my Sabbath; for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless, my eye spared them from the destruction. All right now look; several times here just in the section that I read, it says if you keep my judgements, which if a man does, he shall live by them And it says that three times if a if a man does, he will live by them If you keep the Sabbath you will live by it, okay? And also, they got in trouble because they defiled the Sabbaths; God's Sabbaths. It says my Sabbaths and why? Because it's a sign of the Covenant. And so, they are profaning the very Covenant of Salvation that God gave them by ignoring the Sabbath. And what happens, he says if you keep the Sabbath, you will live by it and that means physically mentally emotionally spiritually. Keeping the Sabbath is part of what keeps us healthy, okay? To not keep the Sabbath is what causes us to be sick. That can be physical, that can be emotional, and I'm not saying that, just this all by itself, I'm saying it contributes, okay? So, what he says there is; that the Israelites defiled the Sabbath, and in doing so that is what contributed to them not entering into the promised land. Now that is big. If we're thinking about the promised land as the final Sabbath rest, meaning Heaven, if you're not keeping the Sabbath, you're not keeping the Covenant, and if you're not part of the Covenant, then you don't have eternal life, and if you don't have eternal life you don't go to heaven, okay? So, he's saying that they defiled the Sabbath, and that means - in Exodus it talks about the manna, when they gather too much, they were only supposed to have gathered enough for a day, and if they gather too much, it was defiled, it stank, okay? It's an abomination, it's something detestable, and it's unclean, okay? And what happened? they were not supposed to have - they didn't get manna on the 7th Day. And when they didn't do what God said it was detestable, it stank, it was defiled, all right? They defiled the manna by not doing what God said to do with it. So, He gave the Sabbath for a sign. The wilderness wandering is a type of our earthly journey. So, he was preparing them to take the promise, to work for the promise, and he was sanctifying them in stages, with the law of Moses, and the Sabbath was a big part of that, okay? Now Jesus contributes to our understanding of the Sabbath, when he talks about, in Mark chapter 2 verses 23 through 28, that He, it says that Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Which means; God gave Sabbath to us as a 3 P a g e

4 gift. It's a gift, it's not a luxury. It's not a duty, although that, it is partly a duty, but more than that, it's a gift. It's a gift of rest, it's a gift of worship rest, okay? And so, Jesus doesn't cancel it, that's my point. He talks about the Sabbath keeping and then later, after He has risen from the dead, on the eighth day, which inaugurates the New Covenant, the New Covenant in Him; that is when He, the apostles change the time and the day from Saturday to Sunday, the day of the Son Sunday. Now there are lots of promises concerning the Sabbath which we're going to look at it a few moments. But Jesus says there in Mark that a true need takes precedent over the Sabbath rule. And that means he's talking about the oxen falls in the ditch and that's because the Pharisees were aggravated at him because he was healing on the Sabbath. And He said look, if there's a dire need then of course take care of it. We don't want to be legalistic here. We're not keeping the rule for the sake of the rule. And that's what He was saying, the Sabbath, you're not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for you, as a gift for you. So, if you have a dire need then take care of the need, but don't let it be a habit. Because making the Sabbath normal, or, and that's what it means to defile it, to keep it as, to make it a regular day, it's not set aside, and there's nothing special about it. And to do that is to defile it. We ll talk about that more when we get back. This is Sonja Corbitt your Bible Study Evangelista. Ok so I'm actually going to read that section in Mark. It says Now it happened that they went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and as they went his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why do they do what's not lawful on the Sabbath? Because they kept Sabbath in the way that was, you couldn't even, like nowadays you can't even flip a light switch on. That's considered work, okay. You couldn't walk more than 20 steps down the road, and you couldn't lift a mat. Remember when the paralytic was lowered and Jesus said, You're healed take your mat and go, and they got all upset. That's why! Because he wasn't supposed to pick up his mat, it was considered quote work. Do you see how silly that got? So why are they doing what's not lawful on the Sabbath? And Jesus said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him; how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the presence bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests. And also gave some to those who were with him. And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. And so, what's important there, besides the fact that it is a blessing and not a burden, what He's doing there, is, He shows that he's not canceling the Sabbath. So, it's still in 4 P a g e

5 place, the sign is still in place, it's just been transformed in Him. So, we must still obey it, that's really the point that I'm kind of getting at. So, given all that you've learned so far in Dew of Heaven, would you say that God requires rest from his people? And I think yes, he absolutely does. And now I'd like to kind of take a little time to look at some of the promises, well actually, let s do the promises next. I want to look at how the Sabbath is a sign of the Covenant. I want to look at some covenants here for a moment. It's important to know, and I mentioned this, I believe, in a couple shows back and maybe even last week too. But the Hebrew for a covenant is to seven one s self or to Covenant one's self. It was a family bond or an exchange of persons. We think of a covenant as like a contract, a legal contract but it's not that. It's an exchange of persons, okay. And to cut a covenant or to put a covenant in place in the Scriptures, it means literally to seven one s self. And that's the reason God created in 7 Days, okay. He created in six and he rested on the seventh. He was He was covenanting himself; giving himself to his creation. And so, there are several of them in the scriptures. There is first: Adam; well first creation and Adam and marriage; so those two things actually went together; so, the creation, and then Adam and Eve, and so the sign was both the sevening of himself, in the rest, on the seventh day, and also marriage. And so, the first Covenant then was with Adam and creation, and then Noah. So, you went from creation, and then a man and wife in a marriage, to a family. And Noah then was the Covenant recipient, and the sign of that Covenant was the rainbow. And that Covenant was made with a family. And then there was Abraham, and Abraham, the Covenant that God made with him, was according to his tribe. And the sign there was circumcision. And so, God, you can see that through these ever-increasing concentric circles, God is giving himself in a total self-donation to larger and larger groups, okay. First the creation, then a marriage, well creation and marriage are together, but then a family and then a tribe. And then He covenants with Moses and the people, the nation. And the sign of that was the Sabbath. And then you have David, David was a king and so God covenants himself through and to a kingdom. And so, the sign there is: that pilgrimage to Israel every year, okay, and so, and the Perpetual priest-king that would come. Christ is the final Covenant, the one that we're living in now, not quite the final, but what we re living in now. That's a universal, that's a covenant through Him, His person, it s international. That's where we get the word Catholic, it means Universal, okay. So international Covenant, and the sign is the Eucharist, all right. So that is why God created in 7 days rather than one. He was sevening himself to Creation. And He invites us into that Covenant as father. So, He created in 6 and He rested on the seventh, to 5 P a g e

6 show that Covenant. We're supposed to work for six days, as He worked, and then we rest on the seventh, as He rested. And that points toward the final Covenant which is the new Heaven and the new Earth. And in fact, all of the Old Testament, the Jewish people understood creation, that God was actually house building. He was making a home for Himself. In Job and in Psalms we see the language in which the creation is described as a house or a temple or a palace. It has pillars and windows and a Cornerstone and foundation and doors and a roof and Gardens, right. So, the heavens are the roof. And so, the Hebrews understood God's creation as His house building for Himself, but also for us. And He uses the word of God, the second person of the Trinity. So, it's not an impersonal utterance or word. And we see in the Book of Genesis that He uses the word to create the cosmos. And then when He's creating the New Creation in Christ, He uses the word again. We see that in John 1 and Hebrews 1 and Colossians 1; this new creation, it says well you'll have to go read those I don't have time to go through them all. But when the time had come, John 1 says, that In the beginning was the word and the Word was God and the Word was with God and all things that came to be, came to be through the word. And so, what John is doing, is drawing a parallel to the original creation account in Genesis. And so, he's saying that God created the cosmos in Genesis, and now He's recreating, He's doing something new. What is he doing? He's creating a spiritual renewal. He's rewinding the sin of the garden and He has begun it through the word. It's the word of God that brings that creation. And so, the Sabbath then was a sign and memorial of that creative power; that power that is able to make all things good. Redemption is the new creation the eternal creative word working to restore all things; to Himself. Is that not beautiful? So, in Genesis 1 it s formless and void and there's no structure, and it's empty. And then on the first day God creates light and dark and time. And so, He creates this structure, first of all, on day one. And then day two, well the structure is actually built in the first 3 days; light and dark and time on day one. And then number two, on day two: space and sky and ocean. And then on day 3: land. So, you see that he's building the structure and then he fills the structure; the Sun and the Moon on day four, the birds and the fish on day 5, and man on day 6. And he creates Man in His image and likeness; Adam and Seth, father and son, God's future. God is, He is furthering us through this intimation of the new creation that would come later. I hope that made sense, it might not have. But the whole 7 idea is, the whole point of this is that the seven idea is the number of Covenant. And so, God is coveting himself to us. And so that's why we keep it. All of 6 P a g e

7 these covenants remain in effect. They don't go away. A covenant can never be rescinded. And so, the Covenant that he made with creation, the covenant that he made with Adam, the Covenant he made with Noah, with Abraham, Moses, David and Christ. All of those covenants carry forward. And so, the Covenant in the center is creation and marriage with Adam and creation. And then it gets bigger, and it includes the first one. The second one is Noah and then it includes Adam and creation. And then there's Abraham which includes Noah and Adam and the creation. And then there's Moses which includes Abraham, Noah, Adam and creation. And then there's on and on, so forth. So, they all then encapsulate or embrace the one that went before. So, none of them, my point is, none of them has been canceled or rescinded. They are all still in effect. That means that Jesus cannot cancel the Sabbath. Instead He can transform it into the memorialization and the participation of the Covenant through the Eucharist, and the memorialization and the participation of, or the remembrance, which is actually a reparticipation in all that went before. And that is why it is so important to keep your Sabbath, to keep your Sunday holy. It is important to do so because there is so much to it. It is a covenant keeping that includes all of the covenants before. So, God then has given himself to us at every single stage in an increasing self-donation. And that is exactly what he expects of us. And that's what the Sunday obligation and the Sunday observance does. We are able to continue to give ourselves back to him in self donation in increasing and increasing and increasing levels and measures. So, God then is furthering us through the observance of Sunday. Isn't it beautiful! It is such a much bigger idea then going to church and going to mass. You know, we look at it as such a duty, it's an obligation, you know we hate that word. But it's a blessing. It is a gift. And if we observe it properly it will truly change our lives. We ll be back in a moment. 24:40 Alright I spent so much time on the covenants, because we re going to look now, at the promises concerning Sabbath. And we re doing that because we know that the Sabbath is our sign and memorial of deliverance from sin and onto the new creation. And when I say Sabbath, I mean Sunday, okay; because we re still keeping Sabbath only it s been transformed. And I m, I hate to beat a dead horse. I just don t want people to say, Sonja is saying we have to keep Sabbath the way they did in the Old Testament. I m not saying that. It s been transformed. Now we go to Mass, we receive the Eucharist, we observe the new law in Christ, okay, which is the law of love, of self-donation. So, I just want to reiterate that. But here, this right here will blow your mind, if you just sit and think about it. Our hope, what we see through these covenants, there are seven of them. The eighth one has not been inaugurated yet. The eighth covenant is the final one and it is the new creation and the resurrection of all things. And that is our true 7 P a g e

8 hope; it s not actually heaven, okay. So, heaven, the New Jerusalem, will come down out of heaven to the earth, the book of revelation says. And so, our hope is not finally heaven, it s the new creation and the resurrection. And it has begun already. That is what Jesus came to begin, it s the inauguration of the eighth covenant. Now eight, seven is the number of divinity and completion and the eighth day begins the new creation. 26:11 Actually, the catechism speaks to this very beautifully. In number 349 it says But for us a new day has dawned, the day of Christ's Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation; the eighth day begins the new creation. So, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning in its summit, in the new creation in Christ, the Splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation. Isn't that beautiful! In 1166 the catechism says by tradition, handed down from the apostles, which took its origin from the very day of Christ's resurrection, the church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday. And that s, we see that in the Book of Revelation, the day of Christ's resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the eighth day on which Christ, after his rest on the great Sabbath, inaugurates the day that the Lord has made, the day that knows no evening. The Lord's Supper is its Center; for there, the whole community of the faithful encounters the Risen Lord who invites them to his banquet, okay. And so that whole section in 1166 and 1167 actually talks about the Lord's Day, if you'd like to go look at that. But as I said the catechism has very beautiful language that explains this whole seven and eight day covenant thing. There's also a really beautiful section, I wish I had time to read it all, but it s on the section with the Commandments. And it talks about the Lord's Day in 2174 all the way through the end, really of that whole chapter through And so, it talks about Sunday and a day of Grace and rest from work; there's all kinds of really good stuff in there, the Sunday obligation, the Eucharist, the Fulfillment of the Sabbath. And it talks more about that eighth day. I don't have time to read all that but it's just beautiful and it's thorough. That's the other thing is so good about it. But right now, I really want to concentrate on these promises concerning the Sabbath because I want you to see what the benefit is. We know that we shall, if we keep the Commandments that we shall live by them Meaning that we will, our souls and our minds and our bodies, will all benefit from keeping that Sabbath. But we also see that Sabbath keepers are blessed, specifically in Isaiah 56 verse 2, it says Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. And then we have in Isaiah 56:4, in that same chapter it says Fore thus says the Lord To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases me, and hold 8 P a g e

9 fast my Covenant; even to them I will give in my house, and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And that actually, the eunuchs there, there was a real specificity about that. But we can actually draw a parallel to purity, okay. Those who are pure and especially dedicated to God, if they keep the Sabbath than they have a very special place in God's house, which is the church, okay, later. Later it becomes the house, in the Old Testament it was the temple. But then, if you skip even further down, it talks more about keeping the Sabbath. It says Also the sons of the Foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him and love the name of the Lord, to be His servants; everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbaths, or the Sabbath, and holds my Covenant, even them I will bring to my Holy Mountain and make them joyful In My House of Prayer. Their offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. Okay, so He's talking about the blessings that come with Sabbath keeping. And in fact, it's this is elaborated on in Malachi 1:11 when He says, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. That is actually a verse too both of these places, in Isaiah and also Malachi; Jesus when he cleans the temple, and He's whacking people with the whip, and chasing the money changers out of the temple. This is the verse that He quotes. And he s; why is he upset, because they're defiling the House of Prayer, of the temple. And to defile the Sabbath is to defile the House of Prayer, your soul, and even the church, because we are the church collectively, okay. And then we see in Isaiah 58 verse 13, If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking in your own words; then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high heels of the earth; and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Now elsewhere, it talks about those who have delight in the Lord, those who delight in the Lord, He will fulfill their desires. And so, you see here, that delighting in the Lord includes keeping the Sabbath, okay. So maybe our prayers have not been answered because we're not keeping the Sabbath properly; maybe we're defiling it, by doing our own thing, you know, by doing our own work. And as I said, I don't want to be legalistic about this. If you can't do it on Sunday, like our pastors, you know, choose another day. But keep the Sabbath. At least, if you have to work, find a place to work that will let you go to Mass, at least. And then rest on another day. But you must, must, must observe the Sabbath properly. 30:02 9 P a g e

10 And try your very best to, even keep in mind, what went throughout the week before; how you contributed, how you worked with God, to work, you know. What did you accomplish together throughout your week, and what might you accomplish next week, if it's Sunday, what will you accomplish in this next week? And those are the kinds of things that we really need to be thinking of while we're resting, you know. What does God want me to do this week? What is my week going to look like, okay? And onto more promises concerning Sabbath. So, Ezekiel 20 versus 12 through 26, we looked at that, and so we know that keeping Sabbath helps us live. And when the Bible talks about living, it means eternal life. It helps us focus on eternal life, it gives us graces to receive eternal life, especially when we're receiving the Eucharist, you know. We live because we're receiving the Eucharist worthily. How do we receive it worthily? Well part of it is observing the Sabbath properly when we do receive it. Now, this is obviously on a Sunday. And we can receive the Eucharist every single day, in Mass. But even in so doing, what we're doing is remembering the Covenant. And the Covenant sign, then, back then, was the Sabbath. And all of those covenants are still in place. And that's, as I said, I'm beating a dead horse, but that's why we're looking at all these. So, keeping the Sabbath helps us live, okay. It helps facilitate eternal life and that's a quality, not a quantity. It's not a number of years; it is a quality of life. Eternal life is God's own life; it's His quality of life. And then we can see in Isaiah 30:15, if we are guilty of profaning or defiling the Sabbath, either by not focusing properly in worship at Mass, or in not resting properly, or in simply, just not even considering that it's part of the Covenant. And maybe we're not considering what we did the week before. And maybe we're not considering what we have, are going to do in the week coming. If we have, and we're all guilty of this at some point, listen to what it says in Isaiah 30:15, Fore thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you said, you would not, you said, No! Fore we will flee on horses, and therefore you shall flee; and, you said, We will ride on swift horses, therefore those who pursue you shall be Swift. And what He means there is, if you're not keeping Sabbath, then your enemy will pursue you and overtake you. So, keeping Sabbath properly is part of the key to spiritual warfare. It keeps us in the mind of Christ. And if we're keeping it, it says in quietness and confidence, in rest and returning, you shall be saved. He means repent, come back and repent, and keep the Sabbath properly and don't say no, don't turn away from the Sabbath so that your enemy can conquer you; instead, turn back to me. I am your Sabbath, I am your protection, I am your rest. So, God requires rest. He requires it, it's part of moral law, He requires it because it helps us 10 P a g e

11 worship and go together. If you haven t worshiped than you haven't rested, if you haven't rested you haven't really worshipped. We ll be back to wrap up the series in just a moment. 36:45 Alright, by now we know that God is concerned about our stress, our busyness, our lack of rest. He's so interested in it that he set aside a day every single week, and a year every seven years to recuperate, and be refreshed. He's especially concerned that our busyness doesn t spill over into our spiritual lives, where we are attempting to earn the gifts that he has provided. We also know that Sabbath and rest were meant to be both symbolic and prophetic. They were physical and spiritual. So, let's look then, to wrap up at Isaiah chapter 28 verses 9 through 13, at What God Says, is actually the rest and the refreshing. To whom he said, (in verse 12) this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest. And He says This is the refreshing; yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and caught. And so, what He says there is, the rest with which the weary rest, and the refreshing, is the word of God. The word of God is refreshment. Isn t that beautiful? And that's what we've looked at throughout this entire series; what does the word of God say about rest. And so, rest is the word, first of all, the word is a person, and we saw that that rest comes through the person of Christ. He is our rest.38:13 But now I'd like to go to Acts chapter 3:19. Because we get a little more insight here, this is actually Peter preaching in the temple. And he says, Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And so, we're being called, then, to return to a proper observe, observance, I'm sorry, of our Sunday; a Sabbath. We're being called to repent of doing our own thing, and defiling the Sabbath, and not focusing properly. We're being called to that, because times of refreshing can come from the Lord. Where then, do you desire refreshing, where do you need Him and what are you guilty of regarding the Sabbath? And specifically, the Sabbath but, you know, we ll look at the other parts in a moment. And what steps can you take, and will you take, to make the Sabbath a more holy day, a day of rest for both yourself and your family? What has God spoken to you, during the study, about how you deal with stress? What has He said about abandon abandoning faith in Him for self-provision? Where has He talked about you being impatient, and in a hurry? Where has He talked to you about rebelling against waiting on his timing? And how do you feel about the fact that neglect in these issues, qualifies as evil unbelief according to the book of Hebrews. And it prevents us experiencing the rest of that Promised Land; the rest that God has provided for us, his children, and that he desires for you to have. 11 P a g e

12 All of those things that we talked about, so far, in week one, we talked about our negative and dark emotions. And so, when we talked about times of refreshing, this is a term understood by the Jewish people to mean a visitation from God. God, when the times of, sorry, refreshing came, it s because God Himself came and visited them. And that s what Peter says there, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come; where: from the presence of the Lord. That He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you, alright. And so, He s saying to return to a proper observance of rest. And that means, that we are, that Jesus is visiting us in the silence and in our dark emotions. And so, we meditate on our anger with God. And in so doing, we experienced times of refreshing. We are more healthy emotionally because we looked at Psalm 44, and how to stop. We looked at how well you can go back and listen to that show, but that was in the very first show. Anger, we talked about anger and negative emotions. And so, we learn how to deal with anger, and those negative emotions. And in doing so, when we go to God with them, we experience that refreshing, and our mental and emotional health is restored. And then in the second lesson, of the promised land, when we talked about how the people murmured against the provision that God gave them, both through their leaders, but also through the manna, and in their lack of water. And what was the time of refreshing? Well part of it was that God appeared, in that pillar of cloud and fire there, and He showed himself to the people, and he provided for them from the Rolling Rock of water, and the manna from the sky. And He provided the high priests and Moses as their leaders, and he confirmed them in these miraculous ways. So, he showed up, right. In week three, we talked about legalism, and trying to work for what is a gift from God. We can t do that. The people in the book of Hebrews were not progressing; why, because they were trying to go back to the works of Judaism. We cannot obligate God to us by doing good works. However, they are necessary, so we do them through Grace, out of love. And what is the refreshment there, the time of refreshing, where does Jesus visit us? He visits us in grace. He visits us through the grace of that love that motivates us to serve other people in charity. And then, we saw in, between Kadesh and Bered, how God sometimes asks us to return to difficult circumstances, because there are things that God is working out there. And how does He refresh Hagar? He, well first of all, it takes, His visitation takes place by a well. And He refreshes her by giving her a certain promise, and by making sure she has plenty to eat and a drink, and then sending her back into the fray. So, He encourages her, in her obedience. And He gives her that that time of retreat, to sort of, from the stress of her situation with Sarah, right? 43:20 12 P a g e

13 And so, God visited her and refreshed her there at those wells. And then we see, in the next episode we talked about that bondage of busyness, and how Sarah and Abraham got in a hurry, and they tried to contrive the promise on their own. And so, in doing so, they created this enormous mess, that is still ongoing. And so how did God refresh them? He returned over and over to confirm the promise, and to encourage them in their waiting and in their patience. And ultimately, He sent the son, right. So, He visits them through the fulfillment of the promise. And then we looked at Sabbath. We actually took two weeks for that. But we looked at it through last week, and this week, and how: what is that refreshing? Well for us it's the Eucharist. Jesus visits us, and refreshes us on a weekly basis, and even a daily basis, at the Mass, but on Sabbath especially because that's the day we're supposed to really rest. And we're thinking about the Covenant, and we're thinking about creation and communion. And so, He uses, we looked at the fact that the word of God is rest, it brings that refreshment. And so how does God use His word in each of those? Well, in the first one, He uses his word to help us resolve anger. In the second, He shows us how to rest in his provision, and he corrects us in our grasping and our complaining, for not having what we think we need, in the time that we need it. And then He uses, in the book of, when we're talking about works and legalism, He uses the word through Paul, to the Roman Christians. And also, in the book of Hebrew, he was talking to the Christians there, and he uses what eventually, actually became scripture, but the word, through Paul the Apostle. And then in the next episode the word of God comes to the Galatians. It's the word that gives the promise and gives life in that episode. That was the one that we talked about Hagar, and how God came to her personally, and had this conversation with her, and refreshed her with his word there. We saw that in Galatians. And then, in the next episode, we saw that encouragement in endurance, that the promises may take a long time to be fulfilled, but they will come, they will always come. And so, we are encouraged through that story in Genesis, through Abraham and Sarah, through the scriptures of the Old Testament. We re encouraged there, through God's word, to endure all the way to the end. To the end of when the promise finally is fulfilled. And then we looked at covenants and how throughout the scriptures, the word of God comes in Covenant, in self donation to his people. And so, He refreshes us even now, through the scriptures, through all of these ways, through all of these stories. We are being refreshed and have been refreshed, throughout this entire series. And we are being drawn and invited to a deeper rest, through all of these observances. And so, you can see then, that rest is intended not to be a lack of activity, but a rest in the emotional life, in the fault life, the mind, in the body, and in our physical strength, and in our Spirits. Rest is meant to be all of those things. And here is the very last bit. Deuteronomy 32:2 says, Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distills as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass. And so, God's teaching here, through the series, is said to be dew. But even more than teaching, the word, of the word of God s own teaching, more than even that; the dew of Heaven is himself. He says in Hosea 14:5, I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the Lily. Isn't that 13 P a g e

14 beautiful! God himself is the Dew of Heaven! God himself is our rest! Until next week and the new series, I m Sonja Corbitt your bible study Evangelista. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen 14 P a g e