Saturday – Page 2 – John Markum

Honor the Sabbath

Posted on July 23, 2011 by johnmarkum

In Exodus 20, God commands the people of Israel to “Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” Ever since, there has been confusion as to what exactly He meant by that.

First of all, the word holy simply means “set apart.” And God even tells us in Exodus 20:11 the exact reason for telling us to “set apart” one day per week:

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”

Bottom line: Don’t try to out work God. Take time to slow down, recharge, and focus on the important things. Like God, family, health, and your sanity.

By the time you get to the New Testament, the religious leaders of Jesus time had created hundreds of laws regarding how to “Honor the Sabbath.” When they find Jesus doing everything from healing the sick and getting food on the Sabbath day, they totally lose it! Jesus points out that any of them would pull their ox out of a ditch on the Sabbath, but they cry foul when Jesus healed a cripple man. How does that make sense?

In our crazy-paced, American, consumerism mentality, it is so easy for us to use busyness as an excuse for everything:

Sorry I didn’t make it to your wedding. I had to work.
Sorry I was late for work. I had a doctors appointment.
Sorry I was late for my appointment. My babysitter took forever to get there.
Sorry I need you to watch my kids early, I have a bunch of errands to run.

I’ve heard the full gambit of reasons that people put God on hold. But God doesn’t just want you to make time with Him a priority. He wants you to make time for yourself.

Do you have a regular, weekly day to escape the crazy break-neck pace of life? If not, how long do you expect to make it at this pace? Even if it doesn’t kill you, how much are you actually enjoying life, and all the gifts of God has given you to slow down and enjoy from time to time?

“Man was not made for the Sabbath day, but the Sabbath day for man.” – Jesus (Mark 2:27)

Take one day a week even if it’s not Saturday. Slow down. Appreciate what you’ve accomplished in the past week. Prepare yourself for the next week. God wants you to chill.

Blessings,

John

What I want to say to The Awakening this morning.

Posted on January 14, 2011 by johnmarkum

Good morning church!

A few things I want to remind you about this morning as you go about your day:

First of all, your pastor loves you and is praying for you today. I do not take for granted your faithfulness to our church, and to our service. The highlight of my week is worshipping with you every Saturday night. I can’t wait to be with you all again tomorrow!
Last week we gave away free Prayer Journals that we had made for everyone. They include a 2011 calendar, tips on prayer and Bible reading, pages for keeping track of your prayer requests with encouraging scriptures on each page, and space for taking notes from sermons. There are several left and you are welcome to grab one this Saturday if you missed last week.
This week we’ll have Connecting Point immediately after our worship experience. Connecting Point is a short meet-and-greet where you can get connected with other Saturday night attenders. We’ll have food, a short video, and a chance for you to find out more about The Awakening and how you can get connected to what God’s doing on Saturday nights at Edgewood. It is open for anyone wanting to get more connected, whether this week is your first time with us, or you’ve been coming a few times. So invite someone to come with you!
Church Business Meeting: This Sunday night at 6 pm. This is open to everyone who has made Edgewood their church home. This is our annual meeting and there are a variety of thing to be dealt with and voted upon. The meeting does not take very long (I love our church!).
We want you to help us make an impact! Over the next few weeks, we want to encourage you to find a place to serve on Saturday nights. We have multiple places where you can use your talents to bless others including tech team, band, children’s service, nursery, greeting, and hospitality table. Help us make The Awakening the most exciting thing to do on Saturdays!

We continue teaching from our series, Retro, this Saturday at 6 pm, with a message from Genesis 25 on stew. Yeah, stew. Trust me. It will change your life. See you all tomorrow!

Blessings,

John

REAL: “Speak Life”

Posted on November 9, 2010 by johnmarkum

This past week, we wrapped up series “REAL: life meets church” with a message called Speak Life, (Proverbs 18:21, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue…”) in which I shared the story of my teenage friend, Bryce, who literally spoke life into me when I was on the verge of suicide. You can read all about that under my post here. We looked in James 3:1-12 which deals with the potential power that our tongues possess to do good or destruction. We also looked at a few other passages and took some principles away from how we talk to people:

Your sin is my business. And my sin is your business. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to call one another into our potential to be Christ-like. Hebrews 3:12-13
Build up, don’t tear down. Whenever we speak to others, even when correcting, we use words of life to build them up not tear them down. Jesus did this even when confronting an adulterous women. He did not condone her sin, but called her out of that lifestyle and into her potential.
Don’t be a fool. Proverbs 12:15, “A fool is wise in his own eyes; but the wise receive counsel.” Assume that you can learn something from anyone.
Deal with the person. Matthew 18, Christ tells us how to handle conflict with people which begins with “go to them…” Don’t try to deal with a tense situation over facebook! Go to them, or at least call them.
Stay out of it. Refuse to listen to someone else tearing another person down. It’s gossip, and you should refuse to receive it or spread it. Period. Don’t give-in to your curiosity at the expense of someone else’s reputation.