Bobby Chandler - Protect the Gift
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Summary:
In part two of «The Gift of Rest,» the preacher emphasizes that work is a blessing and pre-fall assignment from God, revealing His attributes and serving as worship when done unto the Lord. However, Satan twists work into idolatry through busyness, stealing the gift of rest. To protect rest, believers must intentionally plan it as an act of faith (even referencing the Sabbath year for the land) and remember it as freedom from slavery to busyness, trusting God’s provision. Obeying the Sabbath commandment positions us for God’s commanded blessing.
Recap and Enthusiasm for the Series
We started a new series last week titled «The Gift of Rest.» Will you all just make some noise if you’re enjoying this sermon series? I’m telling you guys, God has been speaking to me about this series for a very long time, and I’ve been excited to preach it. I’m going to show you a lot of cool things you may have never heard of before. Last week, we learned, or I taught you, that rest is actually a gift from God. Can you believe it? That God, our good Father whom we serve, actually wants rest in our lives.
Jesus said this in Matthew 11:28 (New Living Translation): «Come to me, all who are weary and have heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.» Notice Jesus doesn’t say, «How big are your problems? Maybe I can give you rest.» He goes, «No! Whatever is troublesome right now in your life, whatever burdens you have, come to me, and I will give you this rest.» You can breathe, and you can have peace of mind. Why? Because rest is a gift from God.
Addressing Misconceptions About Work
So, what does that mean, though, about work? What does that mean about work? What about work? Because a lot of times when we look at the idea of work, we think, «Okay, Adam and Eve messed that one up. I get it. We got a punishment now. Now we all have to work, and we got to do these things.» And God, if we could all just rest! It’s funny, too, because after last week’s message, I feel like a lot of people wish my sermons could be like a doctor’s note, like you take it to your job and say, «Hey, my pastor told me to rest for a week. It’s a biblical commandment.»
Okay, don’t look at me like that, but I still want to get paid! Here’s what I’m saying: you can watch it on YouTube if you haven’t subscribed. But a lot of times, we look at work like that because it is a commandment; we learned that last week. It is a biblical principle we need to live by: Exodus 20:8-9 states, «Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.» By the way, it’s the only commandment that says, «Remember.» I wonder why? Because a lot of times we look at the other commandments and think, «Yep, okay, yep, serve no other gods, yep, not going to speak that way, yep, not going to do that.» Rest becomes comical to us, like, «Yep, I’ll do what I can.» No, no! God is commanding it; it’s not an afterthought. He’s actually speaking this over your life. It is a commandment: you need to rest, and you need to observe a Sabbath day by doing what? By keeping it holy. What does that mean? It means to set that day apart. Plan that this day is going to be dedicated to the Lord. Everything that I have, I get to enjoy this day. Look at your family; look at all that God has given you.
Now, some of you may be going through a trial, and you’re like, «I don’t know if I could even enjoy a day off.» No, no! You can! Because even if you’re going through something difficult or something hard right now, you can look around and see that you have health, that God is still with you; you’re not alone. You can speak to Him about your problems, and He can still change your situation. Hope is a great gift from God. That hope gives you something; it gives you peace of mind. Today, I can rest, even though life doesn’t look good. I was just talking about this with Pastor Felix. You know, people ask too, when you live this out, people ask, «Why are you so happy?» Well, it’s not that I’m always happy or that everything’s perfect; it’s that I trust the Lord and have rest in that. I have peace in that.
Observe it; keep it holy. Now listen to the wording: «You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest. You need to dedicate it to the Lord your God.» But I want us today to study closely the details of what God said to Moses. What did He say to Moses about the fourth commandment? He says, «Yes, observe the Sabbath day,» but He also said, «You can work six days.» I knew going into this I might not hear as many amens to that one as I did last week about rest, but that’s okay. I’m going to show you something because I want to bring this to your attention: guess what? Work is also a blessing from God.
Work as a Blessing
You say, «What? Are you sure about that? Because you haven’t seen my job!» Alright, look—work is also a blessing from God, and I want you to see this truth. Everything that God commands for your life is a blessing for your life; everything! The reason why I’m saying that is because growing up in church, a lot of times I heard the commandments, and you know, «Don’t do this; don’t do that,» and I just felt like there were a bunch of boring rules trying to tell me what to do and what I can’t do. But I realized that through every obstacle, through every trial, as long as I obeyed God, He also was commanding a blessing in my life. He was taking care of me; it was a blessing. He wants to speak a blessing over you! But when you walk away from Him, how are you going to receive that blessing?
I noticed with a lot of conversations people were going through something hard or something difficult. They say, «I love God; where’s my blessing?» Were you serving Him? Were you praying? Were you speaking to Him? Usually, the answer is, «Not right now.» No, the blessing’s there; you’ve actually walked away from it. God didn’t take it away, but I see people constantly walking away from the blessing, from the life God wants you to live. Listen to this: Psalm 133:3 (ESV) states, «It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing—life forevermore.» Meaning that when we honor God with our lives, when we walk in obedience, when we listen to His commands, guess what? He actually, with all of His authority, commands a blessing over your life. That’s powerful! That’s good stuff! That means, «Okay, God, I’m following You.» And it may not make sense right now; and I may not be in a happy place, but I trust Your authority that You’re commanding something right now in my life that I can’t even see because You are good! And that’s where we get this hope and this peace of mind—that He commands a blessing in your life.
But the truth is, what I want you to see is that work is not the enemy. Because I’m preaching a series about rest, a lot of us look at it like work is the enemy. No, work is not the enemy; Satan is the enemy! He always wants to twist what God has commanded over our lives. So before we really dive into rest, I want to give you three points about work. Why did God create us to rest? I talked about that last week. Why did God create us to work?
Three Points About Work
Point A is this: Many people miss this: Work existed before the fall. Really? Because I thought that was the punishment! No, if you look at the wording, if you look at the Scriptures, you see that work actually existed before the fall, not after. Genesis 2:15 (New Living Translation) says, «The Lord God took the man,» talking about Adam, «and put him in the Garden of Eden to do what?» To work it and to keep it! Which means in the very beginning, before the fall, Adam was already created and put into the Garden of Eden to work it—actually to enjoy it! To enjoy the work that God was giving him!
Let’s take it further because they also had a very important assignment. Adam and Eve had a big assignment, and if they did not listen to God and take on those tasks, we would not be here today. What was the assignment that God gave them? It’s in Genesis 1:28. By the way, I got a lot of Scriptures for you today, so I hope they had fun with the PowerPoints! Genesis 1:28 says: «Then God blessed them.» Stop right there; how did He bless them? He gave them an assignment! Think about that! He blessed them by giving them an assignment. God has given you an assignment. You have a purpose to work for; you have something God has created you for—to glorify His name. And it says that He said, «Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.»
I get it; some people listen to this and think, «Alright, that’s work: be fruitful and multiply!» Alright, but let reality check in, because they were the first human beings that ever lived on this earth. They didn’t have a book telling them a hundred different ways to keep your baby sleeping at night! They didn’t have that guidance; they didn’t have this technique. «Here, you can do some Pilates after you give birth, and this is going to help you.» They had no idea what they were doing! They had no clue; nobody had ever had children before. And God gave them this gift, and now they were like, «How do we feed this thing?» Have you ever thought about it? They had nobody else to look to! «I was born an adult—were you a baby? No!» Okay, so they had to figure all this out: how to feed them, how to protect them, how to raise them up—and instruct them in the ways of the Lord.
And then think about this: it got very difficult! The very first brothers that ever walked this earth—one murdered the other! Now what does that tell you about humanity? What does that tell you about our flesh? My wife and I have had many conversations about this topic: how is it that the very first two brothers want to commit murder that quickly? From the very beginning! So what I need you to understand is that point A is that work was assigned before the fall. They had a lot to do; they had a lot to accomplish for us to be where we are today.
Point B is this: Working reveals the attributes of God. This is powerful! Working actually reveals the attributes of God. What does the Bible tell us? It tells us that we were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says, «So God created human beings in His own image; in the image of God, He created them. Male and female, He created them.» We are created in the image of God, which means that we have the attributes of God. We get to understand the character of God because God has created all these things.
What I love about it is that God actually instructed us and showed us how to work well! How did He do that? When did God show us how to work? From the very beginning! What did He do? In Genesis 2:2 (ESV), it states, «On the seventh day, God finished His work that He had done,» for six days creating all things. And on the seventh day, He rested! It was a Sabbath! He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done, and He taught us this biblical principle.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it like that: the work week and having a day off is actually a biblical principle! That’s where it was created! That’s where it came from! Why? Because God was the first to create everything and work and show us how to rest! But again, we live in a culture today that tells you, «Hey, never sleep! Never stop! Sleep is for the weak!» Right? «Keep going, keep going, and keep going!» And we need this because God has created us for an assignment, for a special purpose. You can’t do that when you’re tired and drained.
Believe me! I think I said this last week: you’re going to notice me on this stage. If I’m drained, you’re going to notice it in the sermons; you’re going to notice it in the word. You’re going to notice when you come in here and people say, «Good morning! Good to see you!» You know what I mean? We go through the motions, but it’s bigger than that because this is church! Okay? When you go through your job throughout the week, and you’re drained and tired, guess what happens? You get to work, and you’re irritable and frustrated! And you say, «Who said that about me? You want to talk to me? By the way, you want to go to church this Sunday? You got a really cool church!» But that’s what we do because we’re drained; we’re empty! And God wants to give us this gift of rest! He wants you to open the gift of rest! It is good for your soul and physical mind and everything!
But He showed us how to do this! And the reason we see the attributes of God is because God created all things! And now we can create out of what God created! We could build houses; we could help people! We can get people shelter to live in to protect them from storms! Not only that, but we can invent solutions! Technology helps make the day go faster! It’s a little bit scary, I get that, today, but you know we can invent things and enjoy that and worship the Lord! Not only that, but we can create medicines to heal the sick!
Something I love to do is study ancient Jewish culture and some of the things that they taught, and one thing that they thought actually was that some angels taught mankind how to make medicines, natural medicines out of plants and stuff like this! It’s incredible looking at the research of these things and all the things we’re able to create! Why? Because you and I were created in the image of God, which means we can take from the earth everything God created and create out of it! We can forgive, and we can love, and we can bless! These are the attributes of the Father! But if you didn’t work, you would never know! This is how we learn. So work was not a punishment; it was here before the fall and also, as I just said, it reveals the attributes of God.
Point C is this: Work is a form of worship! What did I tell you last week? Rest is a form of worship! So you’re saying rest and work are both a form of worship? Let me show you; this is really cool! In Genesis 2:5 (ESV), it states, «There was no man to work the land.» Okay? In Exodus 8:1, just listen to the New Living Translation. It states, «So they can come worship me.» God says, «Work and worship!» Get this—the same Hebrew word! The Hebrew word «avada» actually means to work and to worship, to serve! So what God is saying is, when we work, we have been given a responsibility, an assignment, a purpose! As we work, we get to dedicate everything to the Lord, and through that we worship God!
Now, with that, I want you to think about this week. Everything that you went through at work, did you worship the Lord? Did you give Him praise? It’s very easy to complain. It’s very easy to get caught up in the moment and think, «This is my life, and this is where I’m stuck at! I can’t pay my bills, and I got to deal with these angry people!» Look, some of you work in some very, very difficult places; you hear some colorful language every single day! People are coming at you! But guess what? Paul says it like this: «Your work is your ministry.» You don’t have to have a stage to do ministry! I’m telling you this is what he says in Colossians 3:23–24. Paul says, «Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you’re working for the Lord rather than for people.»
Now think about the job that you have right now, the position that you have, where you’re at. What if you showed up every day working for the Lord rather than for people? Why would you do something like that? So that you can remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance! Great is your reward for serving the Lord, and then it states at the very end, «And the Master you are serving is Christ!» You’re not serving this world! You don’t have another master! You serve Jesus Christ, which gives you rest and peace of mind, so that even when you go to a job you don’t even like right now, you still get to do ministry!
Personal Story: Ministry as a Waiter
I used to be a waiter at the DFW Airport in Dallas. This was a huge airport, and I’d meet so many people coming in and out, but you want to talk about a ministry training opportunity! How many of you have ever worked in the food business? Raise your hand if you work in that today. You know exactly what it’s like to work in the food business and to deal with a lot of characters! I remember a lot of people there did not believe in God; a lot of conversations about people being angry at God. People didn’t understand God!
In fact, when I first got there, people were like, «Oh, who are you?» And I’m like, «My name is Bobby. I go into ministry.» They’re like, «Oh, you’re one of those.» You know, don’t ever say «ministry.» To this day, I have a hard time telling people I’m a pastor, believe it or not. I never go around saying, «Hi, I’m Pastor Bobby,» because people look at me differently; they start to hide things. They don’t know how to talk to me, and I just want them to talk to me!
What I noticed was that many days I showed up thinking, «Man, I don’t want to be here; I don’t want to do this today!» But God used that opportunity to do so much ministry! There were people in the very beginning that would mess with me and make fun of me, «Oh, you’re a church boy!» But guess what? After a few months later, they’d say, «Hey, church boy, can we talk? Because I need some guidance.» Oh, you need some guidance now? Yeah, because it’s a ministry opportunity!
Everything you do, do it for the Lord! Even at the job that you don’t like, God is using you. Here’s what’s incredible about that story: God is still working on some of the people I had conversations with years ago to this day! You don’t know the everlasting impact that is made! Sometimes you feel like it doesn’t go anywhere; it doesn’t do anything! But you don’t know that you just plant the seed, and God keeps watering it and watering it and watering it! But you got to be ready!
Work After the Fall and Satan’s Twist
So, work is not the enemy; Satan is! But after the fall, work became a lot more difficult. We know this from Scripture: Genesis 3:17 states, «For the ground is cursed because of you; in all your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.» So before the fall, work was actually enjoyable, but after the fall, because of this punishment, work became very, very difficult.
But I also noticed another temptation that Satan brought into the world, and this is what he tells us today: «Hey, guess what? You can worship work as your god!» Because the busier you are, the more important you are, right? Like, when you go up to people and talk in conversation, «Well, I gotta schedule you in because I got this, and I got that.» Right? It makes us feel important! What I’ve noticed within our culture is the reason why it says «Hustle, hustle, hustle» is because our culture wants you to worship work as your god! Never stop! Never sleep! Never rest! Really? What the world is telling you is, «Never obey the commandment from God to give you peace of mind! Just go, go, go until you drive yourself insane and you feel like you have nothing left to give.»
Protect the Gift
So the title of today’s message—and I started laughing at this because I think one day for fun at the very end of the message I’m going to give you the title, because my titles just keep going further and further throughout the message—but the title of today’s message is this: Protect the Gift God has Given You.
Last week I told you to open the gift. Today I’m telling you we need to protect the gift. What is the gift? The gift of rest. Let me ask you a few questions before we dive more into the word: if Satan showed up to your house to take your marriage, how many of you would fight back? You’d fight; you’d stand up! «This is my marriage! I’m not going to allow you to take it! I’m not going to let you come in and distort it! I’m going to stand up!»
So I started to think about this: How many of you, if Satan came over to your house to steal your children, how many of you would stand up? «You ain’t touching my child!» Right? «I’ll block every TV and song in this house! They’re just going to know worship songs their whole life! You ain’t coming in here!» But what I’ve noticed is that many of us, when we see Satan at the door wanting to take our rest and steal our rest, we’re like, «You can have it! I’m not going to protect this! It’s just life, right?» The culture we live in, the busy world: everybody’s busy! «Go, go, go! It’s no big deal!»
And somehow, we believed this lie that rest is not a big deal, and we just completely hand it over to the enemy. But let me give you a hard truth today: If you allow Satan to steal your rest, you allow Satan to steal your life! When you allow Satan to steal your rest, you allow Satan to steal your life! Remember: no rest! I taught this last week: no rest leads to death! It leads to physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, and guess what? Spiritual exhaustion—where you feel like you have nothing!
So right now, if you feel like you’re in a place where you just can’t think straight and you feel like you can’t even feel anything—you don’t feel the Lord; you don’t hear from Him—what’s going on in your life? Because I also notice this: a lot of people just want to remain busy. The reason they want to stay busy is because they don’t want to think about the problems they’re actually facing! «If I could escape and keep running from things, then I don’t have to deal with it!» Guess what? You’re going to burn out; you’re going to get tired! I see it over and over again! A lot of people just start blaming God. It was never God’s fault! He has a blessing for you! But how can He give it to you if you keep walking away?
So what we have to do is stand up! Because, like I said, this is what Satan has convinced us to do: he’s convinced us to worship work as our god, but also to obey the spirit of busyness! I struggle in this area because this world is constantly fighting for your attention, always trying to distract you, especially with your phone! Sometimes it just makes me sick, right? I’ll be driving, and I stop at a red light, and I’m just saying, «Well, I’ll just check my phone,» or I’ll be at home, and I’m not doing anything for a second, and I’ll just check my phone. I’m just doing this and that, and I’m constantly checking my phone! «What if I check an email? What if somebody is texting me? What if they need just one thing?» And you’re busy, busy, busy, busy! And you’re like, «Well, if I don’t take care of that, it’s going to be a problem!»
I heard a pastor say it like this: this is really powerful! He took a day of rest, but in the very beginning he said, «You know, I failed at it a lot because I’d take a day of rest, but then I’d get that one email. I’m like, 'Okay, well, I’ll just check the email. Alright, I’ll just write back…'» But what he said when he checked the email and he wrote back, guess what? He gave that other person authority to think that it was okay to do this every single time! And then everybody thought it was okay to reach out to him and ask him questions. Next thing he knew, he was in the office on his day off, and it started to overwhelm him!
What did Paul say about busyness? What does the Bible say? 2 Thessalonians 3:11 (ESV): «For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at your work, but busy bodies.» Paul was warning the Thessalonians, «Look, working to honor God is one thing, but he’s stating to them, 'You’re not even going to your job to work! You’re just bored, constantly trying to fill your life with busyness! '» And when you live that way, when you live for busyness, you fill your days with destructive activities! Have you found yourself becoming destructive? A loose cannon? Sometimes that temper is just ready to pop off! One person says the wrong thing or, as a parent, sometimes I tell the kids to pick up their toys 20 times: there are still toys all over the floor! Right? It’s just been a bad day!
And we’re just busy, busy, busy, busy, busy! You see how that wears on the mind? It’s destructive! But we hear the lies of the enemy: «It’s not a big deal! You can relax later; you’re just going to rest! You’re just going to sit down—what’s the importance of it? You got stuff to do!» But listen to me: when you become busy for too long, you become destructive too fast!
When you become busy for too long, you become destructive too fast! Paul gave this warning: «Don’t allow yourself to be bored with things, and just keep yourself busy to distract your mind from what’s really important.» We need to stand up, and we need to protect the gift that God has given us!
How to Protect the Gift: Rest is Planned
So for the remainder of the sermon, I want to give you two points to help you understand how to protect this gift of rest. So point number one is this: Rest is planned. Will you say that with me? Rest is planned! Look at somebody next to you and tell them, «You’ve got a plan to rest!»
If you’re married in the house, say, «What about that vacation we’ve been talking about for the last four years?» Huh? We need a plan to rest! A lot of people don’t understand this principle because I think a lot of us think we’re just going to accidentally rest. That doesn’t happen! You don’t just accidentally rest; you actually have to plan to rest! Why? Planning to rest is moving by faith that on this day God has commanded me to rest! So on this day, I’m going to dedicate everything to the Lord! I’m not going to do the work that I do every other day throughout the week! And I’m just going to trust God with it! I got an email—so what? I can handle it tomorrow! I’m going to give it over to the Lord!
And what happens is you take your hands off of it, and this is why it’s faith! It’s hard to do. Be real in here for a second: Raise your hand if you have a hard time resting one day! I’d say most of us do! Especially me! One day? One day, Lord? Dedicated to You! Here’s a crazy idea, crazy miracle: What if God told you to rest for an entire year? What would you do? Some of you are like, «Please get that doctor’s note ready right now, Pastor! I’m ready! You’re talking about a year! We’re talking about one day a year!» God did this, and He did it every seven years with the Israelites! In fact, God commanded, «Hey, you know what? Once a week, I want you to dedicate yourself to a Sabbath and rest and enjoy yourself.» But every seven years, God says, «I want you to rest and let the land rest!»
Don’t touch the land! Understand, this is their livelihood; this is how they eat; this is what gives them what they think is peace of mind. This makes them feel like they’re in control, just like we do with our jobs! «Well, if I go here and work, then I can make sure I can take care of bills!» You don’t know what’s going to happen! Something could happen any day! And so what God would do, because a lot of us get in that groove, «Well, I get a paycheck, and I work for it,» so God says, «Okay, who really gives you your money? Who really provides for you? You do all this work; let Me show you a mighty miracle! Let’s see how much you trust Me for an entire year! Every seven years, don’t touch the land! Leave the land alone!»
Imagine that. Leviticus 25:2-3 (ESV): «Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Do you realize how important a Sabbath is to God? '» Not only is He telling His people to take a Sabbath, but He’s saying, «Hey, even the land needs a Sabbath! Rest for an entire year!» And God said this: «For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruits, but in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath—a solemn rest for the land—a Sabbath to the Lord!»
God is telling Moses, «Leave the land alone!» But you know what He’s really telling Moses? «Leave the land to Me!» So when God tells you to take a day of rest, He’s speaking over you: «On that day, leave your work completely to Me!» I don’t know about you, but I believe it’s better in God’s hands than it is in my own! Because I mess up a lot of things! We can have some conversations; I’ll bring my wife on stage, and she can tell you some funny stories! But when I put it in God’s hands, I trust Him! It’s because He’s a good Father! This is a gift for you! He wants to bless your life! But He also wants to show you how real He is!
We rob ourselves of this because a lot of people ask, «Well, how do you know God’s real?» You ever taken a year of rest? «What do you mean? I trusted the Lord for a long time, and He never failed me once! Look at me! I’m here today; you’re here today! Everything you’ve been through, every trial that you faced, you’re here today because of God! Because He has blessed you and taken care of you!»
Listen to this, verses 4 and 5: «You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard! You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest or gather the grapes of your undressed vine! It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land!» Don’t do anything! But what I love about this is that every seven years, God is saying, «Plan to do nothing!» You need to plan to do nothing!
God’s Provision and Greater Gifts
If you were here last week, thank you, Pastor Felix! If you were here last week, I talked about the Sabbath and how it’s a gift, and that this is a gift that God has given you. Maybe you’re like me, where sometimes it can be very difficult to accept a gift because you just don’t know how to handle it. But God is giving us this gift, and He wants us to enjoy this rest and this peace of mind! Last week, I talked about how it had been over six years since my family went on a real vacation! And that vacation was just a time of thanking God. «Thank You, God, for everything You’ve done! Thank You, Lord, for my family!» And He taught me a lot, but what I want to show you today is this!
This is cool because you’ve got a Sabbath day of rest that involves you trusting the Lord! But why would God say He spent an entire year resting? Because He wants to prove to the nation that He will take care of everybody! He’s not limited; He’s here for everybody, and it’s a huge impact!
And here’s the truth that I need you to see: when you realize you can accept this gift, can we bring out the second gift? The gifts keep getting better! Why? Because we serve a good Father! Look at this! When I can accept this gift, I can accept this gift! You go ahead! Thank you, sir! Thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you! I can already hear it online today: «What kind of church is this? Pictures are going out—look! Am I preaching today or what?»
But a lot of us don’t know how to enjoy this! He’s a good Father! He wants to take care of you! And so He teaches us this! He says, «Okay, you can enjoy this gift! I got more for you! I’m going to make you look around and say, 'How did I get here? How is this in my hand? ' When you’re in a dry place, I will quench your thirst! I will give you water that will never run dry! Because what I have for you is good!»
Personal Story of Faith and Provision
And it made me think, God reminded me of this story today. I’m going to take this off; I’m sorry. But it reminded me of the story that for a year when we did evangelism, I didn’t have a paycheck. I’ve shared stories with you guys before. It was a very exciting year, yet difficult year! «God, what are You going to do today? How are we going to make it through?» And I remember we were in a tight spot, and I said, «Okay, I’m just going to sell something.» And I sold my tool chest! And this was a gift that my wife had given to me when we first met, and all this stuff! I really love this tool chest! I’m like, «Alright, God, I’m going to do this!»
So I sold my whole tool chest for like $300, and I remember sitting down, and still this is a gift because God was providing in different ways and doing all these things throughout the ministry of evangelism. And I sat down, and I just remember God speaking to me, «You know I’m providing for you right?» «Yeah!» «I’m taking care of you right?» «Yeah!» «You know I told you to do this, right? This is a gift!» «Okay, yeah!»
«There’s a friend that you have who’s also an evangelist; you’re going to give him $100.» I said all spiritual and everything, «No, I don’t want to! I don’t get a paycheck right now!» This is difficult enough! I didn’t know how long it was going to last! And I just finally made $300 just to give me a little bit of peace! And you’re telling me now to give $100 away! No! I’m not going to do that!» But God started wearing on my heart!
So I called up his fiancée because he’s a stubborn guy; he’s not going to take my $100! So I called up his fiancée: «Look, hey, this is weird, okay? I’m sorry! But I just need to meet you. I’m going to give you $100, okay? I just want you to give it to him!» She said, «Okay,» didn’t even ask questions. I’m like, «This is okay, alright!» So I’m driving—a driving! I remember just driving like, «I didn’t tell my wife or anything! I’m just going, and I’m giving away some money that we really need right now!»
I met with him, and I said, «Hey, look, I know this is strange, but God told me to give you this $100!» I gave it to him, and she looked at me and said, «Well, this is weird too because God told me to give you this, and I already planned to do it!» I look down, and there’s $200 that she’s giving me! I said, «No way!»
And the whole way home, God was saying, «How was that gift? You trust me with this gift? The gifts keep getting better!» Because I’m making an impact, and I believe this is what He wants to do in your life! When you learn how to trust Him and how to let go of some things, it changes your life!
Leviticus 25:20–21 (Amplified Version): «If you say, 'What are we going to eat in the seventh year if the people say, 'Hey, we’re not going to sow a seed or gather crops? ' God said, let this be my answer! Listen to this! God said, 'I will order my special blessing! ' God is stating, 'I will command my special blessing for you in the sixth year so that it will produce sufficient crops for the next three years! ' I will command a blessing over you! Why? Because you let go of something that seemed impossible, and because of your faith!»
Because you moved and planned to rest and trusted Me, the gifts keep getting bigger! And ultimately, God is showing the world who is in charge! He’ll take care of you! He’ll take care of your family! He’ll take care of a nation of people willing to go beyond what seems normal, to listen to the voice of God! And now knowing this, do you understand why Satan shows up at your door saying, «Hey, rest is no big deal?» Don’t fall for it! Don’t fall for it anymore! Say, «No, no, no! Every commandment from my God is a big deal! You’re not going to rob me from this blessing!»
But I work for the Lord! My job is the ministry that I do every day, and I will trust Him and believe that He will do big things! And a lot of people are like, «Well, I’m just too busy to rest!» No, you’re not too busy! You just don’t value the commandment! And for a long time, I didn’t value this commandment!
And the reason why I say that is because what you value, you prioritize! So if you value rest, guess what? You prioritize that! And you set this day, and you work meetings around that so that you could spend time with family and enjoy the day! And again, do whatever you want! That’s fun! You can even mow the grass; I don’t care! Just don’t do the work that you do every single day! Give your mind a mental break from that, and enjoy what God has given you—the blessing!
Remember Why You Rest
My last point is this: Remember why you rest! This is interesting! So again, the commandment is told out of Deuteronomy 5:13–14, but this time it’s worded a little bit differently. It states, «You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do work.»
But guess what? Verse 15 states, «Remember that you once were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with His strong hand and provided for you!» Why would God say remember that? Because slaves have no rest! And God is saying, «I have freed you from this! You are a slave no more! You do not worship the world! Work is not your god! You do not get commanded by a spirit of busyness! But you can rest and trust Me and allow your anxieties to go! You don’t have to look like everybody else! It’s time to do it because I know what that meant to me, and I know what it did in my life and how it changed me forever! And I want the same for you, but you have to step out on faith! You have to let go sometimes!»
Would you trust God for a year? Will you trust God for a day? Is it a value to you? I’m telling you—open the gift! Because—and the reason why I’m saying this: the Israelites didn’t always listen to God, and for 490 years, they did not allow the land to rest! 490 years! Every seventh year, they still worked the land! Why? They thought they were in control! That they had to do this! And guess what? You get away with something for 490 years, you start to think, «Okay, I guess it’s not a big deal; I guess it’s not that big; God’s not going to do anything!» But what happened? Babylon came; King Nebuchadnezzar came, and he took the people back into captivity!
2 Chronicles 36:19–20: «Then his army burned the temple of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, and completely destroyed everything of value! And the few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon!» Why did this happen? 2 Chronicles 36:21 tells us: «Because the land never got the rest that was commanded!»
Listen! So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled! The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until 70 years were fulfilled! Seven years of captivity! God has a blessing for you! Will you stand up? So I want this to hit home! I want you to see it! God has a blessing for you! He’s saying, «It’s right here, but you have to walk towards Me! You have to trust Me, even when it’s difficult and you may not understand!»
And now listen to me: God is also telling you, «Take your hands off; it will be okay!» Close your eyes now! Hear that again: God is saying, «Take your hands off; it will be okay! Don’t touch it! Leave it alone! And I will handle it; I will protect you! I will lead you! I will slay the giant! I will move the mountains! I will part the sea! You will see My glory!» God says, «But follow Me!»
How do you protect the gift of rest? You plan a day! You plan a day to enjoy God’s goodness! Enjoy your family! Enjoy the gift that God has given you! And you remember the why: «I was once a slave to busyness, but now I’m free because I trust the Lord with everything I have!»