Sabbath Sunday - [Notes]

July 6th, 2025

This year, we're stepping away from our usual routine to intentionally pause and practice rest—together. On Sunday, July 6, we'll observe Sabbath Sunday with no in-person services as we create space for our staff and volunteers to breathe, reset, and be renewed. A special, pre-recorded message will premiere online at 9a, and you can watch it live or anytime after.

Sabbath Sunday

Takeaway: Let’s embrace God’s cup-filling rhythm of work and rest.

Problem: For many of us, the first half of 2025 was draining. We want to give our best to God and others, at home and at work, but it’s hard to pour from an empty cup.

Takeaway: Let’s embrace God’s cup-filling rhythm of work and rest.

Let’s embrace God’s cup-filling rhythm of work and rest.
1. God designed us in His image to work and rest … and enjoy both!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
– Genesis 1:1 (HCSB)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky,
and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
– Genesis 1:26-28 (HCSB)

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
– Genesis 1:31 (HCSB)

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day God had completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.
– Genesis 2:1-3 (HCSB)

Sabbath: The word “sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, meaning “to cease” or “desist.” The primary meaning is that of cessation from all work. A day of rest, considered holy to God by His rest on the seventh day after creation, and viewed as a sign of the covenant between God and His people, and of the eternal rest He promised them.
– Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

“The root idea of sabbath is simple as rain falling, basic as breathing. It’s that all living things thrive only by ample measures of stillness.”
– Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men.
– Colossians 3:23 (HCSB)

The Sabbath is God’s weekly gift of rest, relationships, and refreshment.

Let’s embrace God’s cup-filling rhythm of work and rest.

God designed us in His image to work and rest … and enjoy both!
Jesus modeled and taught this cup-filling rhythm of work and rest

Jesus is the answer

Jesus modeled and taught this rhythm

Daily

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there He was praying. Simon and his companions searched for Him, and when they found Him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
– Mark 1:35-37 (CSB)

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
– Mark 6:30-31 (CSB)

After He said good-bye to them, He went away to the mountain to pray.
– Mark 6:46 (CSB)

But the news about Him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
– Luke 5:15-16 (CSB)

Jesus modeled and taught this rhythm

Daily
Weekly

He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
– Luke 4:16 (CSB)

Then He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
– Mark 2:27-28 (CSB)

Jesus modeled and taught this rhythm

Daily
Weekly
Seasonally

Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.
– Luke 2:41 (CSB)

Takeaway: Let’s embrace God’s cup-filling rhythm of work and rest.

Daily
Weekly
Seasonally

“Why We Sing” – beginning Sunday July 13

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