Sabbath day pow-wow

I gave a recent sermon about your weekly sabbath “date” with your Maker.  Imagine that? A personal, worshipful, refreshing, restful weekly appointment with your Creator.  In that sermon I give specific ideas of how to make that sacred time of the Sabbath – MORE.  More what?  More productive, more holy, more effective, more worshipful and happier –more of a great delight.

How about having a family or group discussion –or a “pow-wow” as we say here in America -- wherever you live on how you can make that sabbath date with your Maker more productive, more holy, more uplifting and more worthy of His name? 

On each 7^th day Sabbath, we remember and memorialize who the Creator of everything in the universe really is.  This is especially important as we and our children are constantly bombarded with the false god of evolution. We are supposed to believe that all the intricate and sophisticated life we see around us all just evolved.  NONSENSE!   And professing to be wise, these professors who espouse this have become fools.  But not all. Albert Einstein, even as liberal as he was, when asked if he believed in God, said when he looked at the universe, it was just beyond believability that it could have all just happened without a Creator. 

So on sabbath day, on the right and only weekly sabbath day, we bow to and delight in the Creator, Life Giver, Universe Designer and Law Giver who brought this all into existence.  Worshiping the Creator and remembering HIM as the creator of all things is the sabbath’s original purpose.  Remember: We are to remember the sabbath – the day YHVH RESTED and STOPPED all his work and made the 7^th day of each week HIS holy time. 

Frankly, I think many sabbath keepers – including me – have especially in recent  times become lax in keeping the sabbath holy, restful, worshipful and delightful --and to bring glory to our Maker. It has become to many more of a social club where we go to sabbath services more to meet up with people we haven’t seen for a week instead of focusing more on our Maker. 

The weekly sabbath is the appointment your Maker set with YOU and your family for his children to come and worship and be refreshed together.  It’s your “date” with your Beloved Messiah.  This appointment that HE set (Leviticus 23:3) and calls HIS feast day (moed – divine appointment) begins at sundown the end of the 6^th day of the week and goes through sundown the 7^th day.  Are you ready for your appointment, or are you still shopping somewhere, still have a long drive home after sundown, or are not ready to meet your Maker yet?  Remember the Sabbath – shabbat in Hebrew – means “rest”.  It’s our weekly stop sign.

Our God said that sabbath should also result in us feeling refreshed. 

Exodus 23:12  “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall REST, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.”

We know our Creator doesn’t need to rest, but he DID – perhaps as much as an example for us as well as the spiritual reminder that we must take time to rest from our work(s) and find refreshment in him.  I say again, be sure to read and hear the sermon posted recently about our weekly sabbath “date” with our Maker.  

Many teach the sabbath was given just to the Israelites or Jews.  But the first sabbath was given to Adam and Eve – ancestors of all mankind, at least 2000 years before Judah was even born! Yeshua himself said he made sabbath for MAN – all mankind – and not just the Jews.  Also remember in the new covenant we are all of Israel spiritually anyway. We who have His holy spirit are the “Israel of God” – a phrase especially applied to mostly-Gentile Galatians! 

In my sabbath series of sermons we’ve posted, I show numerous examples of Gentiles also being expected to keep the sabbath. BE sure to check those out. Strangers “within your gates”, residents of Israel – foreign or Israelite alike – were to keep the sabbath.

Sabbath was also to be one of the signs identifying the people of God.

Exodus 31:16-17  “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"  (See also Genesis 2:1-3).

But back to my main point:  If you, your spouse or your children are not feeling refreshed and rejuvenated by the end of each sabbath day, something is terribly wrong in the way you’re keeping sabbath. 

Frankly the way sabbath ends up, many remark how tired they feel.  It’s been a long day. Especially those who don’t get to sleep in and have to attend morning services.  And if they have a long drive – it’s even harder to be rested and refreshed.  I recommend afternoon services where possible, to allow people to sleep a bit longer, to rest and be refreshed and even have time for family and for prayer.  And even then, many would admit that going to services ends up being a mad rush to avoid being late. 

I’m just saying and asking: what must be done in your household to start having sabbath day be enlightening, refreshing, restful, worshipful, holy and wonderful? 

Click on continue reading to for tips and ideas that can change your sabbath experience and make it more of a delight for you and your Maker.  Some of these ideas can help make the Sabbath a day you can’t wait for! 

Suggestion:  whether you live alone, or are married with or without children – have a discussion, a “pow-wow”, even if only with yourself, on “How can I make the sabbath a more holy time, a more dedicated-to-God time, a more delightful time, and one where I can find time to rest and be refreshed – even as I seek my Beloved Savior even more?” 

If you have children, get them involved in this discussion too.  Be sure to let them talk and be sure they know you are truly listening.  

• Someone take notes on what each person says, asks or suggests. 
• Ask each person present how he/she feels about the sabbath day, really and openly.  Do they look forward to the sabbath? Do they enjoy the sabbath? 
• What’s their wish-list of things they wish could happen on the sabbath?  Perhaps a suggestion will lead to other ideas from the others.   
• What can each do to help start the sabbath? 
• Some do a candle-lighting ceremony similar to what Jews do, to welcome the Light of the world into the start of sabbath. 
• Others can make sure the little ones are bathed, dressed and ready for the holy time.
• What can be done to make the dinner more enjoyable – and special -- for the cook in the house? 
• What can be done about music – that brings in a soothing, worshipful mood into the home?  I’d turn off the TV, turn off jangly music and have songs and music or instrumentals that sooth the soul and heart.  There are worship songs that are soothing – others can be quite energetic. 
• Could you maybe start a family tradition of reading 1-2 verses that pertain to the sabbath – and do this each week as the sun is setting? Have the children take turns reading aloud the verse for the week, if they wish to.  If not, the head of house or the mom can read it.  Don’t make it a scary event. 
• Some verses you might consider, for sabbath reading are some of these:  I would read just one per sabbath, at the start of sabbath as the sun is setting. 

Genesis 2:1-3; Mark 2:27, or Mark 2:23-28;  Luke 4:16;  Exodus 20:8-11; Ex 31:12-17;  Matthew 12:1-8;  Matthew 12:9-14;  Nehemiah 13:15-22;  Isa 56:2-7;  Leviticus 23:1-3;  Psalm 92 was actually designed as a sabbath-day hymns.  Isaiah 58:13-14; 

I’d even tell the children that we will continue the discussion again in a few days and that you want them to be thinking about how the family can have a better sabbath experience.  They will appreciate that dad and mom want to hear their thoughts and – wow – mom and dad are actually listening too!  The sabbath should be a delight to them too, and to your wife or your husband.  And it should be a holy time for you with your Creator.

I know a family in Oregon where the whole family is involved in the family sabbath discussion.  They talk about their own studies; they show others some creative artwork depicting Biblical stories, or share testimonies on how they share the truth about sabbath with their friends, and on and on.  Or sometimes they read 1-2 verses about the sabbath. 

So have the family pow-wow on how to make the sabbath experience a richer, more refreshing and more spiritual – and yet fun – day.  Please send me some thoughts you came up and I’ll share some with the group here if you wish. 

On our website’s “Contact us” section, you can share with me some things you are doing that make the sabbath very holy and very special for all involved – especially our wonderful Lord and Saviour.  (Yes, I spell it the British way sometimes to show the Brits and Aussies that I honor them too.) 

For more information on what this is all about, be sure to check out my Sermon recently posted on “Your Special Date with your Maker”.