Exodus 16:1-5; 22-30 | Doug Banister
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When we believe in God's abundance, we rest. We trust that God will give us enough bread to cover the time we need for rest.
When we live out of scarcity, we can never stop working and producing, because there is not enough to go around.
You might begin simply by asking a few questions like this:
- How tired are you tonight?
- How is your sleep?
- What is rest for you?
- What is the difference good, soul nourishing rest and anemic, empty rest?
Read Exodus 16:1-6; 16-30
- Why do you think God told them to rest one day a week?
- In what sense is not gathering breath on the Sabbath a spiritual test?
- Why is it hard to rest?
- What is the spiritual problem with the idol of productivity?
In what ways does a scarcity mentality hinder us from resting?
In the sermon, we used the illustration from the Porsche race instructor. He said that the high-performance cars were taken into the shop every evening. The mechanics had one instruction: Do whatever is necessary so that these magnificent cars can perform at the highest level possible.
What do you need to perform at the highest level possible?
What is keeping you from seeking this?
What would you like to do differently?
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REFERENCES & RESOURCES:
- Walter Brueggemann's essay The Liturgy of Abundance, The Myth of Scarcity
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