Sabbath (Pt. 3): What Could Happen When We Practice Sabbath?

TO START: Today we continued our first of five mini sermon series focused on the rhythms that help cultivate a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life. Last week we imagined what sabbath could look like individually and collectively by looking at four components of sabbath: Stopping, Remembering, Embracing and Feasting. 

This week’s message focused on God’s desire for us to become a people who trust in Him through the practice of choosing to rest as a way of forming us to be a people that are in the world but not of the world. A people who let go of the yoke of control and anxiety and let the Spirit replace those things with self-control and peace. 

TO READ: Exodus 16:16-30

TO DISCUSS:

(1) In Exodus 16:19-20, some of the Israelites gathered more manna than they needed in contrast to what the Lord had commanded and that food soured. Has there been a time when you chose more of something than you needed/what was allotted to you and your decision to accumulate more was costly?

(2) The beauty of the Lord’s provision of manna each morning to the Israelites spoke to the reality that God’s provision is abundant and consistent. Share a time when God provided you with exactly what you needed… OR has there been a season where God provided for you consistently over a set period of time?

(3) In the message, Luke pointed to the reality that the world’s rhythms want to steal, kill and destroy our lives while Jesus and his lifestyle invites us to have life and life to the full (John 10:10). What rhythm of the world have you been overwhelmed by lately (full schedule, not enough sleep, striving for more, anxiety, control, etc.)?

(4) Sabbath invites us to experience a life of self-control, peace and power ushered in by the Spirit of God. How do you hope practicing Sabbath might bring those realities to fruition?

SABBATH PRAYER EXERCISE:

We invite y’all to close by sharing your personal and/or family sabbath plan with the rest of the group using the outline practice of sabbath at the bottom of the Developing a Rhythm of Sabbath page of the Sabbath guides.  Then, we invite you to spend time praying for the Spirit to make a way for sabbath to become a reality in the lives of your group members. Lastly, we invite each group member to spend time practicing it over the weeks ahead and to have an on-going dialogue with each other about how it’s going and what has needed to shift over the course of trying!