Sunflower Faith

Image from About My Father's Business

Just a gentle reminder to take one day out of the week, to rest and spend in His word.

True Sabbath Rest by Ray Stedman

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work (Genesis 2:2).

We must recognize that the weekly Sabbath is not the real Sabbath. It is a picture or a reminder of the real Sabbath. The true Sabbath is a rest; the Jewish Sabbath is a shadow, a picture of that rest. All the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. When the work of Jesus Christ was finished, the shadows were no longer needed.

Some years ago when I was serving in the military in Hawaii, I found myself engaged to a lovely girl who lived in Montana and whom I hadn’t seen for three or four years. We were writing back and forth in those lonely days, and she sent me her picture. It was all I had to remind me of her, and it served moderately well for that purpose. But one wonderful day she arrived in Hawaii, and I saw her face to face. When the real thing came, there was no longer any need for the picture.

This is what happened with these Old Testament shadows, including the Sabbath. When the Lord came and His work was ended, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly Sabbath ended at the cross. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul confirms it to us. He says, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

The shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross. The next day was the day of resurrection, the day when the Lord Jesus came from the tomb. That was the beginning of a new day–the Lord’s Day. Christians immediately began to observe the Lord’s Day on the first day of the week. They ceased observing the Sabbath because it was ended by the fulfillment of its reality in the cross, and they began to observe the first day of the week.

Though this shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross, the true Sabbath, the rest of God, continues today. That Sabbath is defined for us in Hebrews 4, There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God [it is available to us now]; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)

That is what the true Sabbath is: to cease from your own efforts and your own works. Well, you say, if I did that I would be nothing but a blob. But the implication is that you cease from your own efforts and depend on the work of Another. This is why Paul cries, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). This was also the secret of the life of Jesus, as we have seen. He Himself said, It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10). This is the secret of the Christian who learns it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). So the secret of true Christian life is to cease from dependence on one’s own activity and to rest in dependence upon the activity of another who dwells within. That is fulfilling the Sabbath.

Lord, teach me to enter into Your true Sabbath rest by ceasing my efforts to please You and serve You in my own strength.

Life Application: Jesus can do much more through us than we can ever do for Him. How do we cease from our own efforts and our own works? Have we found true Sabbath rest in Christ?

This is a beautiful graphic that was posted on:"About My Father's Business" @ aboutmyfathersbusiness.net

The Blessing of the Christian Sabbath

By Debra Lohrere

In Christian circles, even among those who do believe in keeping the ten commandments, there has still been confusion over the fourth commandment and whether we should be keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day that was ordained, sanctified and made Holy by God at the time of creation.

To be able to develop a close relationship with God, we need to spend quality time with Him. He set aside this day as a special time of communion with Him. It is a time where we can study His Word, and let His Holy Spirit speak to us through it. A time that we can spend in earnest prayer, talking to Him, praising and worshiping Him.

It is also a time that we can look at nature and reflect on all the wonderful creations that He has made. And finally, it is a time that we can spend with fellow believers, to worship together in song and have fellowship with each other, encouraging one another and building up each other’s faith by our testimonies.

God also gave us this special day as a day of rest. In this hectic world with our busy lifestyles it is so easy to get so engrossed in other things that we never have time for God and never have time to just stop all our work and let our bodies recuperate.

Some Christians spend a couple of hours of a Sunday morning attending church, but then the hum drum of every day life catches up with them and they start doing household chores like mowing lawns.

Others go to the footy, or do other secular activities where God is just not a part of it. Sunday keeping Christians often claim that Sunday is the Sabbath, but if they genuinely believed this, then it follows that they would demonstrate it by keeping the entire day Holy and devoted to God, without doing secular activities.

With stress related diseases like cancer and heart attacks on the increase every year, the necessity to take a days break, and bask in the presence of our all mighty father in Heaven, has never been so important. We need to spend time with Him to be replenished and rested.

God gave us His Sabbath day as a blessing to all mankind. A day on which we could spend time with Him to get to truly know Him and fellowship with Him. A day on which we do not have to do any work or labour. A day to rest, away from the worries and cares of this world.

God also ordained the seventh day Sabbath as a day in remembrance that He is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Bible says, Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…”.

The scriptures also show us the true spirit of the Sabbath. Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight..”

This shows that the Sabbath is a delight and a blessing. It is a wonderful day and something to look forward to each week.

All Bible references are from the King James Version.

For more information on this topic please visit the-ten-commandments.org

Debra Lohrere is the author of Christian Prophecy and Investment books investmentpropertybooks.com/christianbooks.html

Article Source: faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS-MAKE A WEBSITE