HCC Weekly - July 28th, 2025

Exodus 20

Pastor David

Exodus 20:8- “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

I often hear around this time of the year that parents are ready for school to start so they can get a break from their kids being home all day. Even when parents are at work through most of the day, their children on Summer break can be antsy and hard to control when those working parents get home. Over the school year they expend that energy at school, but over the Summer there’s no where for it to go so parents must deal with it. Hence why parents around the end of July, can’t wait for school to start to get a break from their kids being antsy when they get home.

Breaks are nice things. It gives us the opportunity to relax and refresh as we rest from our labors. And we know they’re important too, since God made sure that Israel would remember the sabbath in the Old Testament.

In Mark 2:27 (NLT) Jesus says, “Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

Biblical rest that God ordained was meant to help us, not to burden us. Being told to take a Sabbath is a reminder that God loves you and points to you finding your true unending rest in him.

Matthew 11:28-30-“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and

my burden is light.”

Jesus provides the eternal sabbath, which we can experience a little of here on earth when we rest from our concerns and worries knowing that Jesus has everything under control. But we also are told to experience a physical sabbath weekly so our physical bodies can rest as well.

Ultimately the sabbath is meant to refresh us both physically and spiritually. That being said, take a look at the last few Sabbaths you’ve taken and see if you have refreshed

yourself in those ways.

Be reminded that even God took a Sabbath on the seventh day of creation, not because he needed it, but to model what it meant to take a Sabbath for us.

Don’t feel guilty for taking a day off of work! God wants you to do it!