Live Free with Josh Howerton - Devoted, Not Drained • Pastor Carlos Erazo | Ep. 185 | Friday October 20, 2023

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

Anyone else feeling tired or worn out today? Pastor Carlos Erazo reminds us that Jesus calls all who are weary to come to Him for rest. Nothing we do can make Him love us more. He loves us for who He has created us to be. Therefore, we are free to follow God’s own example of Sabbath and rest in Him, so we can live devoted and not drained. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.compturch slash daily drive. In this week's episodes, we will be hearing from our special guest, Pastor Carlos Arazo. And now, let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, hey guys, welcome to our daily drive. If we have not been, my name is Carlos, and I get to be a part of the pastoral team here at Lake Point.

And we get to hang out this week for a few minutes every day as we dive into the Word of God. And this week, we are talking about how to live devoted to Jesus in a time full of distractions. On Monday, we talked about being called to be devoted, not distracted. On Tuesday, we talked about being devoted, not deformed. On Wednesday, we learn we're called to be devoted, not discouraged. On Thursday, we discuss how to be devoted, not disconnected. And today, I'm excited to explore the following biblical truth. Are you ready?

You are called to be devoted, not drained. Let me start by sharing this. When I first got my driver's license here in the U.S., I remember taking the test, learning all about the signs, on the road and all the things you need to do to get a license. Now, one day I was driving and I approached the red light, but I was planning to turn right on red. However, what I did is as I approached the red light is slow down, made sure there was no incoming traffic coming from the left lane, and very slowly made my way and turn right on red.

Now, at the time, I was aware that unless there's a sign that says otherwise, it is legal to turn right on red. However, what I did not know at the time is that if there is a red light and you want to turn on red, you cannot just slow down kind of enough to kind of stop. No, you must fully stop. And this was a lesson I will never forget because I might or might not have gotten a $70 ticket over the mail with a link to a video of me doing exactly that. But anyways, why do I start here? Because this is what most of us do today and are constantly hurried, always fast, pay, overworked culture. We work a lot. We're connected a lot. We are on the go a lot. We're on our phones a lot. We are busy a lot. Life happens. We go, go. And if we're honest, for most of us,

we know we need time to slow, to rest, and to stop. We know it's healthy. We know we need a break here and there. And so what we end up doing is we kind of slow down. We kind of take a break. We kind of try to stop, and yet we rarely, or if ever, we actually fully stop. Amongst other reasons, this is why we feel tired. This is why we feel anxious, stressed, and generally speaking, chronically just drained. Anybody else feeling a little bit of that these days? Man, maybe that's how you feel today. Maybe that's how it feels every day. And in light of this, I'm reminded of the words of Jesus when he said in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, he says this, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and stress and anxious and nervous and drained,

and I will give you rest. Jesus was a Jewish teacher of the Bible, and the Bible actually has a word that literally means stop. And this word actually is not a suggestion, it's a commandment. And the word the Bible has that means stop is what we today know as Sabbath. And in the Bible, Sabbath is a full 24. hour day that God created as a gift for you to stop and to rest. And it originates in the creation story in Genesis where you'll find that there is a rhythm to the week. God works by creating all things for six days, but in the seventh day, God rests. Now, this is really important because

the Bible says you and I were made in the image of God, which means we're meant to image who he is. So to image God is to work and to rest as God worked and rested. Now, this is something many people miss when reading the story in Genesis. The Bible says in Genesis 2.3, then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, made it special, made it separated, because on it, he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. And this is what that means. Think about it for a minute. God made Adam and Eve on day six

and on the following day, day seven, that was a day of rest. This means that Adam and Eve's first full day of existence was a day of rest and not a day of work. It's not that they work really hard first and then God said, okay, now you get a full day of rest. No, no, no. Their week actually started with resting.

So rest for Adam and Eve didn't come after they worked. it came before as a good gift from God. And so in one sense, this is a first picture of the gospel that we find in Scripture. Adam and Eve had not accomplished anything yet. They hadn't done any good works. And yet and still, they received the gift of rest from God. That's what we call grace. We're used to thinking we need to work and earn for ourselves.

And that can be true for other things. But not when it comes to the grace, generosity, forgiveness, and love of God. Jesus did not love you. you because you loved in first. You love him because he loved you first. Jesus didn't die for you because you're lovely. He died for you because he is loving. You are saved not because of your good works. You are saved by faith through grace because of Jesus's good works. Now, I love how God ingrains this gospel truth and creation and this truth resonates in other areas of our lives. Think about it with me. before we are born into this world, we get nine months of rest in the womb of our mother.

Before we become adults with jobs and other responsibilities, we get several years of just being children and play and enjoy. Before Adam and Eve were called to work and were first called to rest in the presence of God. God said, work is good. We were meant to work, and at the same time, he designated one full day to rest. He built this into the fabric of creation. And so when we find intentional moments and regular days and rhythms of rest throughout our week and throughout our lives, we flourish. Author A.J. Srobita said it this way once. He said Sabbath is a scheduled weekly reminder that we are not what we do. We are who we are loved by. Let me repeat that for emphasis. You are not what you do. You are who you are loved by.

That means you're free to stop. You're free to rest in the presence of God. And if you are not familiar with taking a full day of Sabbath where you stop and do not work and all you do is rest, play, enjoy, worship God, all those things that are replenishing and restful to your soul, I want to encourage you to consider testing it out. One day a week, and I say this for multiple reasons. One, number one, it's in the Ten Commandments.

It's kind of on the same list as do not murder and do not commit adultery. And so when God gives a commandment, it is for your joy and your flourishing. Number two, it's a law of creation. God made creation in six days and in the seventh he rested. And so when you do the same, you're in rhythm with how God created literally everything in the universe. Interestingly enough, there are studies that show that Seventh-day Adventists, which is a particular religious group of people that place a strong emphasis on the Sabbath.

They live actually 10 years longer than the American life expectancy of about 79 years in are known as one of the happiest groups of people on earth. Number three, Sabbath is a reminder that you are not what you do. You are who you are loved by. You're not meant to live as a slave to your schedule, your work, your busyness, your ambitions. You're meant to live free to love God and love people. And number four, Sabbath is simply a blessing. It is not a you must do this.

It is you get to do this. It's meant to be a gift. God wants this for you. your good, for your joy, for your flourishing. Man, what a gift that Sabbath is that God gets to say to you, you get a full day of fully stopping to rest, spend time with friends, not doing chores, reach your Bible, pray, worship, take a nap, enjoy a good meal, taste the peaceful presence of God in your life in a holy way and more. I pray we become people that know how to work with excellence for the glory of God and at the same time learn how to enjoy the gift of stopping.

practically speaking for you today this could be also multiple times a day maybe taking a break and just stopping and praying slowing down the pace of your life to leave margin for God to speak to you for him to move in ways that maybe you weren't planning for it for you to find replenishing continual rest for your soul in the midst of busyness and all the daily grind of life what would that look like in your life not kind of stopping or only slowing down a bit but actually making a full stop. That is where God will meet you. And so, as we wrap this week, I genuinely pray that the Holy Spirit may stir something inside of you that will result in a life change in and through you, especially as we are reminded that because you are in Christ, you're called to be

devoted, not distracted. You're called to be devoted, not deformed. You're called to be devoted, not discouraged. You're called to be devoted, not disconnected. You're called to be devoted, not drained. Hey, thanks for joining us this week. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.