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God gives you six days to get your shopping done, get your bills paid, get the house clean,

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get the lawn mowed, get the homework done and get everything done at the office.

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As soon as you allow your mindset that says, well, I can always finish that on Sunday,

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you will lose the ability to enjoy God’s day of rest.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.

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I’m David Pick and Colin, you’re raising a really important point here, I think just

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taking time to rest.

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But there are many of us who try to live at such a fast pace of life, we feel as if we’re

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never going to get it all done if we don’t work all seven days of the week.

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Yeah, and I think that’s where the example that God gives to us in Genesis, in his own

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work of creation is so important.

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I mean, God could have created all things in an instant.

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So why does he do it over these days?

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And why does Genesis tell us about there being evening and morning the first second and third

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day?

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God is modelling what it is to divide our work, so that there is starting and there

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is finishing and there is completion and there’s a week and at the end of it God says that

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it is good and he enters into his rest.

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Now, all of these things transfer into our work, the way that we approach it and what

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it means for us to rest.

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And I think there’s some really important things for us to learn here from the book

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of Genesis.

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So there are some really practical applications in today’s message and I’m guessing that you

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apply some of these in your own life.

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Yeah, I really try to, I mean, all of us are in a position of trying to do better in regards

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to these things.

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But the principle of dividing work and then trying to reflect with gratitude on what God

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has enabled me to do in a day rather than being flustered about what I did not yet get

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done, that’s a big issue in my life and I think in the life of any person who’s busy.

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To learn to thank God for what has been accomplished and to trust him in what’s yet to be done

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That’s already a good idea.

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If you can, join us in Genesis chapter two as we continue the message the Climax of living.

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Here’s Colin

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Here’s the first principle of enjoying God’s gift of rest and it’s very obvious when you

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state it but we miss it in practicality so often.

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If you are going to enter into God’s rest, if you’re going to experience it, you have

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to get your work done.

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Now someone will probably say immediately that’s my problem right there!

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My work is never done!

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That’s why I never enjoy proper rest!

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I’m absolutely overwhelmed by my work!

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My work is never done.

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Let’s try and think biblically about that claim because it’s very often heard among

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us.

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We often feel the weight of that.

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Work is a wonderful gift from God.

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The Bible begins with God working.

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Think about that!

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He gives us the pattern, the mandate to work is as important as the invitation to rest.

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His work is creative, fulfilling, enterprising, and beautiful, and we are to follow after

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that pattern.

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God gives Adam work to do.

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But when Adam was working in the garden, he was never overwhelmed by his work.

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Being overwhelmed by your work is something that was only experienced after the fall.

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Work is good, and it is a gift from God, Adam enjoyed it.

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But being overwhelmed by work is something introduced as an effect of, and consequent

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to, the fall.

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Therefore, being overwhelmed by work is something you and I need saved from, right?

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If it’s something that came in after the fall.

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I don’t need saved from work, but I do need saved from being overwhelmed by it.

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And God’s saving purpose is to restore to you and me everything that Adam lost through

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the fall, including being in a position of superiority over his work.

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God said, rule!

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We find ourselves under.

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God says when you come into the new heaven and to the new earth, you will reign!

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You see, you’ll be brought back to that position in which you’re restored, not under but over.

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That’s what his saving work in eternity will ultimately look like and that saving work

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is begun in you now.

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Now, I have to face my wife after this sermon.

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So I’m going to be honest and say I’m a fellow struggler.

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We all struggle with all of the effects of the fall, donít we?

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But when we realize that this is a spirtual issue, that this is actually a dimension of

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God’s plan for your life, that it is actually part of His salvation that a man or a woman

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be brought from the position of being overwhelmed by work to a position of being in control

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of work, that will greatly help you because at least you will begin to pray about it.

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At least you will begin to see that it is something that is not arbitrary but something

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in which God calls you to grow.

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To reflect your character, o’ God, I must gain control of my work.

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As you are in control of your work I cannot live with my work controlling me.

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It could change a lot of homes there couldn’t it?

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God’s whole purpose in your life is that He will reflect His glory, and this God is

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a God who finishes His work.

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Now you say how do I get a handle on that?

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I see a principle here, how do I get my handle on it?

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Well, plan your week as if there were only six days, it’s pretty fundamental.

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God gives you six days to get your shopping done, get your bills paid, get the house cleaned,

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get the lawn mowed, get the homework done and get everything done at the office.

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As soon as you allow your mindset that says, well I can always finish that on Sunday, you

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will lose the ability to enjoy God’s day of rest.

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God gives you six days to get everything done, so work on that principle.

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Second, learn to divide your work.

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Now people spend a lot of money on that management books to learn things that God has actually

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put on the very first page of the Bible.

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Don’t you think that’s fascinating?

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God, who could have completed his creating work in a single day or in a millisecond if

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he had chosen to, but He does not do that, He models for us a pattern in which there

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are rhythms of rest and work.

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Evening and morning, the first day, the second day.

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And when he has completed his work, he enters into the second day.

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There is beginning, there is ending, there is evening, there is morning.

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There is the joy of reviewing what has been done.

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God says, He saw that it was good.

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The work is divided.

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Now, you know, the Bible is speaking to us about something that actually paralyzes some

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of us in our working lives.

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We sit there with this mountain of what is ahead of us to do, and we are paralyzed by

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the fear of it.

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We have no way of getting into it.

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We have never discovered how to divide it, as God does.

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So what is it that you have to do in the next year?

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What is it you have to do in the next month?

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What do you have to do in the next day?

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Get a to-do list.

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Break it down into bite-size chunks.

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I cannot fulfill my life ministry in the next week.

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I can fulfill what God gives me to do in six days, and I must try and describe that.

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I must try to plan that.

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And I must enjoy what God shows me to enjoy, the completion of what I have done, rather

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than the awesomeness of what I have yet to do.

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Each day has enough trouble for its own, Jesus said.

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Let tomorrow worry about itself.

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And then keep your eyes on the prize.

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Notice the pattern, it is not that God rested so that he could work, it was that he worked

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so that he could rest.

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He completed the work so that he could enter into this summit experience of rest.

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And I’m convinced, and I see patterns of it at places of my own life, as well as around,

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that the biggest reason that many of us miss out on God’s gift of rest, is that we waste

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time when we should be working.

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So we end up working when we should be resting.

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I live with the struggle as you do, but I’m coming increasingly to the conclusion that

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if I cannot fit my work into a six day cycle, then either I am trying to do something that

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God never intended me to do, or I have allowed myself to become distracted onto other things

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and have wasted time that God intended for the work that he has trusted to my hands.

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So approach each day, so that at the end of it you will have the joy of completion, of

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that part that has been allotted for the day. Focus on it, continue that so that at the

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end of six days, you will be able to enjoy God’s gift of rest. If you want to enjoy

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God’s gift of rest, finish your work. Well I know how accountable I am going to be held

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on all of this. Second, enjoy God’s blessing. Here’s a second thing that God did on the

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day of rest. Notice chapter 2 in verse 3, God blessed the 7th day, he blessed it. He

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made it holy because on that day he rested. In other words he invested a blessing in the

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the experience and the day of rest. You’re listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open The

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Bible and today’s message The Climax of Living. It’s part of our series Give Yourself a Break

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How to Enjoy God’s Gift of Rest. And if you tuned in late or if you have to go early or

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you just simply want to go back and listen again to any of the series, you can do that

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by coming online to our website,

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OpenTheBible.org.uk or by going to your favorite podcast site and searching for Open The Bible

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UK. Back to the message now. We’re in Genesis chapter 2. Here’s Colin.

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Here’s the second

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thing that God did on the day of rest. Notice chapter 2 in verse 3, God blessed the seventh

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day. He blessed it and he made it holy because on that day he rested. In other words, he

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invested a blessing in the experience and the day of rest.

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There is a blessing God wants you to enjoy that you will experience as you enter into

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the rest that comes to those who have finished their work.

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I read a beautiful piece from a Jewish writer Abraham Heschl, who writes on the subject

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of the Sabbath with great beauty and penetration. This is what he says.

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The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays, the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath.

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The Sabbath is not an interlude, it is the climax of living. Isn’t that beautiful? It

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is the climax of living. I finish my work so that I may enter into the climax of living,

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there are joys in work. God saw that what he did in his work was good. But when it came

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to the seventh day he blessed it and he made it holy because this is the climax of living,

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this is to be a snapshot, a picture, a foretaste of all that life is to be about, even for

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all eternity. This is a day that God gives to us to anticipate the climax of all things,

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a day when your work will be complete, a day when God’s people will be gathered together,

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a day when his presence and his blessing will be particularly known among his people. The

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whole Sabbath principle even in the Old Testament was intended to be a taster of eternity. That’s

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why, not only built into the rhythm of ordinary life was there the special day which God’s

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blessing was to be known in the community, gathering together to worship and to rejoice

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in his goodness, but it was extended so that in the seventh year, for example, all debts

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were cancelled. Ain’t that fantastic? Can you imagine visa? Writing it off every seven

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years? Now this is what the Old Testament law says. Why? Because God wanted to give

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an anticipation that there would be a day when every obligation would be released. And

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after seven lots of seven years they had this marvelous thing called the Jubilee every

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50th year in which inherited land that had come to a family, but it had to be sold because

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they’d come on hard times, was actually returned to that family. Why did they have that? Because

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in this Sabbath principle God wanted to give a glimpse of what lies ahead in eternity.

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That one day the inheritance that has been lost, everything that Adam mortgaged through

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his folly and his sin is going to be restored to all people in Jesus Christ and we’re going

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to rejoice in it for all eternity. So let’s have a snapshot of that even in time, God

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says, there’s a future. I want you to think about its richness, you can’t begin to imagine

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what it’s like, but I want you to have as far as you could grasp it in this world of

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space and time just a little taste of it now. Don’t let a week go by without you having

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a sample of eternity. A sample of that day when your life’s work will be done. A sample

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of the day when God’s people will be gathered together and his presence will be known with

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joy and worship. A sample of what fellowship and community is really all about. A sample

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of the climax of living. That’s why we gather for worship. It’s why it’s the best day of

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the week. That’s why it’s the greatest day for fellowship together and rejoicing. It’s

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a day for ministry. It’s a day for getting into the Word of God and anticipating and

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rejoicing in all that he’s given us. It’s a day for reaching out in acts of mercy, for

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caring for someone who is alone, for finding a way to share this blessing that God pours

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into our lives. It’s a day to tighten your grip on eternity.

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Some of us have lost a lot of these things, because it’s become just a day like any other

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day and our lives have become in their shape secular. And so that leads me to the very

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last thing briefly. Make it different. Make it different. Look at this. God blessed Genesis

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2, the seventh day and he made it holy. He made it holy because on it he rested from

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all his work of creating that he had done. He made it holy. Now, the root meaning of

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this word holy in the Bible is really to cut, to cut. So, if I go home after these services

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and were to be chopping carrots and were to sever my thumb, I could hold up the thumb

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and say, this thumb is holy. This is an illustration for the kids, you could draw this one. It’s

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a very delightful little picture. A more useful thing, of course, would be to rush to the

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emergency unit, but I hope you get my point. When I said the thumb is holy, I would mean

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the thumb is severed. It is disconnected from the rest of the body, it is a thing to itself,

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it now stands alone, it is not bound up with everything else. That’s what the word holy

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means. By the way, that’s why it’s so important in our day to know that God is holy, just

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about the most important thing the Bible says about him, because what that means is that

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God is not bound up in the universe, as the New Age people keep telling us he is, as the

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Pantheists keep saying he is. No, the Bible says God is holy, he is other, he is high

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and lofty and over the universe, he’s holy, he’s separate from it, he’s another thing

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altogether. Now God bless the seventh day and made it holy, another thing altogether

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altogether, and that’s the heart of the Fourth Commandment, isn’t it? And we’re going to

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apply this in different ways within the bounds of our Christian liberty. But God says to

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us remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Make it different from all the rest,

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whatever you’re doing. God gives you wonderful liberty in this but make sure it’s different.

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But one of the tragedies of our society is that we have bounded up and made it essentially

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like all the rest, and we’re losing our grip on eternity. Suppose for a moment that the

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President of the United States were to take a new initiative this week and address the

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nation by television from the White House and say something like this. My fellow Americans,

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our nation is in crisis. Families are becoming splintered, stress is at record levels. We

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all share the American dream but instead of living it we are burning ourselves out in

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the pursuit of it. Therefore, today I am announcing a new initiative.

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From the beginning of next month, we will on a weekly basis be instituting Wonder Wednesday.

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Wonder Wednesday. On Wonder Wednesdays the schools will close, businesses will shut down,

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there will be no trading on the stock exchange. Wonder Wednesday will be a day for the renewal

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of your soul. It will be a day to rediscover why you’re alive. It will be a day to reconnect

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with people you love, it will be a day that will renew America.

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You know what would happen?

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Within a year Wonder Wednesday will be like any other day.

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That says something about what we value.

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Make it different.

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For God has given you such a day and it’s bound up in the very heart of his purpose

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for you in this world and for you in eternity.

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The best way for you to use this day is to remember why God gave it to you.

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He gave it to you as a day of rest, a day in which his blessings should be known, and

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a day that would be different from any other, holy.

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So take this day as a gift from God today and in every other day that he gives to you

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like it.

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Use it in such a way that at the end of the day you could look up into his face and say

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Lord, you gave me a day to rest, a day to savor your blessing, a day that would be different

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from any other.

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This is what I did with it today.

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And as you do that, you will find that each week of your life becomes a little snapshot

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of your life as a whole.

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Because if you blow this pattern that God has given us for a week up very, very large,

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you have a picture of your whole life.

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Because you do what God has given you to do for the years he gives you for your life,

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and when that work is complete, you’re going to enter into God’s rest.

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You’re going to enter into the joy and blessing of his immediate presence.

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You’re going to enter into a day that is unlike any other you have ever known.

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So God says now, once a week, every week, I want you to get a little bit of practise

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so that you know what you’re living for, why you’re here.

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So when it comes, you’re going to be ready.

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So the challenge today is to take a day of rest to make that day different and enjoy

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God’s blessing.

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You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on OPEN the Bible and the message called

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The Climax of Living

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Part of our series, give yourself a break, how to enjoy God’s gift of rest, and don’t

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forget, you can always go back and listen to any of the series again online at our website

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openthe bible.

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org.

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uk or by finding us as a podcast on your favorite podcast site by searching the website openthebible.uk

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Open the Bible is listener supported.

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It’s your generosity that keeps Pastor Colin’s teaching on this station, and online.

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Thank you, if you already give regularly.

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If that’s something you’ve been thinking about doing, if you’re able to setup a regular

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gift to the work of Open the Bible, in the amount of five pounds per month or more, this

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month we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy of Chris Lungard’s book The Enemy

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straight talking about the power and defeat of sin.

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Colin, for those of us not familiar with Chris Lungard, what can you tell us about him?

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Well, Chris Lungard has done a brilliant job of describing the battle that Christians have

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against sin and pointing us in the direction of how we can prevail in that battle.

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The Bible speaks about this very clearly, especially in Romans chapter 8 in verse 13.

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We’ve got to put to death the misdeeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit

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who lives within us.

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That’s the ongoing battle of the Christian life.

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I think one of the most insightful writers in all of human history on this is a Puritan

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writer by the name of John Owen.

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He wrote on the battle against sin in a profoundly helpful way.

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You’ve got to know what sin you’re up against.

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You’ve got to find where it’s lurking in your heart.

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And then, you’ve got to be ruthless in giving it no quarter in putting it to death.

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That’s Romans chapter 8 and verse 13.

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But the problem with John Owen is that he was a 17th century Puritan, and he wrote hundreds

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of pages that are quite difficult to read.

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And the genius of Chris Lungard is that he has taken the insights of John Owen, some

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the richest insights into the battle of the Christian life in history, and he has put

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these in clear and contemporary and compelling terms.

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And that is why this is such a wonderful book.

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It is brilliantly titled, The Enemy Within Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of

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Sin.

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Anyone who wants to prevail in their battle against sin should read this book.

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It is wonderfully practical, wonderfully encouraging and wonderfully helpful.

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We would love to send you a copy of this book – and to thank you for setting up a new

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donation to the work of Open the Bible this month.

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There are full details on our website openthebible.org.uk

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith I am David Pick, and I hope you’ll join

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us again next time.

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Some people say there’s no such thing as good or evil, only

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what’s right or wrong for you. Discover what God says about wickedness next time

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on Open the Bible.