Pace Yourself | Pastor Kyle Rogers

Daysville, Cape Coral, God Behind Bars. It is a great day to be in God's house, amen? Amen, if we haven't met yet, my name is Kyle, and this is the joy to hop into this series that we have been in called Sacred Rhythms. I'm thankful for every download that we've had in this series, and today's gonna be no different. So I'd love for you to grab your phone, grab whatever it is that you're taking notes with, because we are going to lean in today to a sacred rhythm known as the Sabbath. If you're taking notes, the title for today's message, I'd love to call it this, pace yourself. Pace yourself. When I hear the words, pace yourself, I think of what my mom used to tell me growing up and even when I first graduated college, she said, " Kyle, you are burning the candle at both ends." Anybody ever heard somebody say that to you before? You're burning the candle at both ends, a problem with burning the candle at both ends, 'cause at some point, you have no candle left, and I think it's a very relevant message to where we are today in our culture, where over 50% of Americans say that they either feel burned out or emotionally exhausted, and one in three dads say, "You know what, emotional exhaustion is a way of life for me." And I believe that that is not what God called and created us to, so he instilled for us

a discipline, if you will, called the Sabbath. Today's message is called, "Pace Yourself." A key scripture for us to look at today is found in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter two, and it reads like this, "And on the seventh day God finished his work "that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day "from all his work that he had done." So God blessed the seventh day and made it what? Holy, because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. If you'll notice, there's a pattern here that God instills for us in the book of Genesis, and this is the first place where rest shows up in scripture. He says that God rested from all the work that he had won. Done, in other words, it indicates for us that rest is something that follows the completion of something. The word rest here, Shabbat, means literally to stop, to have an intentional pause. I don't know about you, but in the life that I live, and maybe you would say amen to this as well, there aren't many spaces in life where there are intentional pauses. It feels like we're moving from one thing to another. We're my parents at, just wave your hand in the air, wave it like you really do care. Come on, most of our weekends, for those of us who are raising kids, they turn into sports weekends really fast.

So you feel like you're going from waking up on Monday through Friday at only God knows what time in the morning you're arising, and then on Saturday you've now sacrificed another morning. Can I get an amen from somebody who feels me right there? There is not enough coffee in the world to help you make up for the sleep that you miss. We're moving fast, we're moving quickly. For some that have adult kids, you notice like to go through this season of life. Some of you grandparents are crazy enough to keep your grandkids at your house overnight. God bless you, amen. Oh, whatever it is, we're moving quickly. We're moving from work to the pickup line at school. We're moving from the pickup line at school to a rehearsal or to a practice, or writing to an evening routine that includes dinner. We're moving quickly. We've got our groups that we're a part of. We've got our spaces in community, but how may you know that if at some point you don't stop and have a purposeful and intentional pause, how may you know you gotta check yourself before you wreck yourself? Then what God does here in the book of Genesis, he gives us what it looks like to take a very intentional pause and notice when God takes the intentional pause.

God takes this intentional pause when the work is done. Let's be honest, for maybe the most overworked generation that has ever lived on the face of this planet, that is you and I, where overworking seems to be a badge of courage that many carry. It's important that we know. Let's just say, like I was back home, I'm gonna be honest and go, the work is never done. Y'all quiet, the work is never done. This is why we have to decide when the work is done for the day. God's very intentional. He puts this intentional purposeful pause in. And not only does he do this, but God shows us, here we go, the only time in creation where he takes a moment to call something, here we go, holy, don't skip this part. This part matters more than any other piece because what God is showing us is that taking a step back, pacing yourself, pausing, When something is holy, something is set apart, something is consecrated, something is offered to the Lord as a reminder that He is in control. When we see this, rest is now a reminder of who our source is. Rest is the reminder that He is in control. We are not. Rest is the reminder to you and I that someone else is the one who guarantees success and productivity when we take a purposeful and intentional pause. I like the way Mark Buchanan says it in his book, The Rest of God. He says, "A simple and more spiritually focused version of these questions is..." Here we go. This is how we know we're resting. When did I feel closest to God and when did I feel farthest? When did I feel closest and when did I feel farthest? I hope is a part of the rhythm of your day, the rhythm of your week that you take time to write and reflect. In this, here's two questions that you can ask this week. When did I feel closest to God this week? I give you one in particular because it's very easy to be able to say that you feel close to God when you're at church and in His house. But one of the moments where I felt close to God recently, one of my kids just

randomly walked up and gave me an incredible hug and said, "Dad, you are the best dad in the history of the world." What you don't know is this was 24 hours after I had yelled at them. What it was was the fresh reminder of what forgiveness looks like in real time. I felt close to God. When did you feel close to God and then when did you feel farthest away from Him? The example I just gave you came on the backside of the moment when I felt far from Him. And how may I know, missteps, shortcomings, weak moments, they have a tendency to highlight when you feel, not that you are, but when you feel far from God. But when you take a purposeful and intentional pause, reflect, it can bring you back to the center point, which is always and only God Himself. If you don't remember anything else today, I'd love for you to remember this. Rest isn't what you earn after the work is complete. It's what keeps the work from breaking you. I'm going to say it again for somebody at Cape Coral or Janesville. Rest isn't what you earn after the work is complete. It's what keeps the work from breaking you. Because the goal of rest is alignment. Alignment, now I'm going to sound like a preacher for a moment, induls me. Alignment keeps you in touch with your assignment. You have assignments that have been given to you. You have assignments that you have asked for and received. But in order to have the assignments be completed in a way that glorifies God and that touches other people around you, you have to make sure that alignment is in order as well. The goal of rest is alignment. It's like this. When I first got, when I got my first car, I was about 21 years old when I got my first car. I was slow, but I'm worth waiting on. I found a mechanic that would help me to take care of my first car. His name was Mr. Joe. Mr. Joe is Jamaican man and whatever Mr. Joe said, that's exactly what I did because I could trust that Mr. Joe knew exactly what he was doing. He pulled me into the shop one day and he said, "Hey, Kyle, you need to know something. It's time for you to get an alignment on your car." Pause the story for a moment. Have you ever gone to a mechanic before and every time they suggest something new, your cortisol level and your blood pressure starts to rise? I trusted Mr. Joe. I looked at Mr. Joe and said, "Mr. Joe, you got to explain this to me. This is my first time going through things like this. Why do I need an alignment?" The answer that Mr. Joe gave changed my perspective forever. He says, "Because the longer that you go without an alignment, the more parts of this machine start to break down and not go according to what they were built to be any longer." Are you picking up what I'm putting down today? The goal of rest is to bring. I'm not calling you a machine, a robot. No, I'm just saying you are a person with

parts and pieces and the longer that we go, not in alignment with who God called and created us to be and have the intentional pause of rest. The more parts of our lives begin to break. discipline. Exodus chapter 16, though, is the first spot where we see God install Sabbath into the life and the rhythm of his people. You'll see this even repeated again where during the commandments, God gives a command that says you are to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Now you and I would agree that there are so many parts of the commandments that God gives that we look at. We go, oh, these are not suggestions. Like, love the Lord your God and serve Him only. You'll have no other gods beside me. And if you don't like any of those, how about thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal. Honor your father and mother. Every parent says, amen. But for some strange reason with commandment number four of keeping the Sabbath and making sure to keep it holy, we look at that one as a suggestion. Talk to me in here. Come on. So God goes, look, in Exodus 16, he installs the Sabbath as a discipline, not merely a day. And remember the context of who he's speaking to. He's talking to a group of people who have only known slavery. They've been told what to do, when to do it, given less than positive resources to be able to make a product happen. And God goes, if I'm going to get Egypt out of you, I have to install new rhythms into the fabric of your culture so that you stay aligned with who I created you to be and don't fall prey to who culture suggested you become. Okay, we're here now. Here we go. Exodus chapter 16, scripture reads like this, "Then the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." On the sixth day, somebody say the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days. What God does here, speaking to these former slaves, he lets them know that, "Hey, I've heard your complaints about how good you thought things were back in Egypt, but I need you to know it's only deception that is causing you to believe that." So then God goes and does what we would call the miracle of manna in the wilderness, providing for his people manna for each and every day. And I love what God does because it teaches me as a parent on a regular basis is that God doesn't answer their complaint with a lecture. God answers their complaint with provision. Here we go, but provision that has boundaries bread from heaven every morning and twice as much on the sixth day. Why twice as much on the sixth day? Because he wants to make sure that they keep the Sabbath on the seventh and they don't do any

work. And then comes the first time scripture ever names the Sabbath. In this, the rest that God modeled in Genesis 2, his people were then asked to practice in Exodus 16. And there were two specific things that God points to in establishing the Sabbath and rest for his people. The first thing he points to is provision. And who takes responsibility for the provision in Exodus 16? God does. Can I just be so bold to nudge this across the table to you today and go that the person that is taking responsibility for your provision today? Although you and I work hard and are good stewards of the opportunities and the talents and the skills that God puts in our hands, we're good stewards. We try to be of the time that we have been allocated. The person who is responsible for the provision of our lives is God. Can I just say like I'm back home? Okay, I'm gonna say it anyways. Here we go. It don't matter how good any of us think we are at what we do and how we do it. The person who makes sure that things go through is God. Deuteronomy tells us it is God who is the one who is able to give us the power to become wealthy. Now, this ain't one of them name it and claim it so it can show it message. No, no. When I say wealth, I'm not just talking about something financial. And when I say provision, I don't just mean money and resources. I mean the ability to be able to breathe. God did it. The ability to be able to beat... The ability to be able to have relationship with the people you love and the ones you'd rather get rid of. Come on. God did it. And so in the midst of this is God is installing the Sabbath. He's reminding you that I am the one who provides, I am your source. You don't need another supplement. You only need me. And then the second thing he does, because God is a great teacher and a great parent. God doesn't just give provision. He also gives testing. Ah, come here, lean in. The testing wasn't built to cause God's people to fail. The testing was built to be a heart check.

And here's the question the heart check asks, do I trust that God's provision is enough? Ah, talk to me in here, because have you ever been through a chapter of life before, where you look at what you have, I know we like to call it income, but you've ever been in a chapter of life before where it feels like if come, like if it comes, I might be able to pay these bills. But in those moments, do we try to do everything that we can to conjure up more? Or do we first look to the one who provides everything and go, what do you want me to learn here? Because you know what the Sabbath will do when you take a moment to step back and look at where provision comes from. Sometimes you take a step back and you look at the fact that it's not more provision that you need, it's more wisdom you need to apply for the provision you've been given. But sometimes if we got more money, we'd have more problems. I know I just quoted the Psalm as Biggie Smalls right there, okay? But in this, when we ask God what He knows is best for us, we then show that we trust Him above all else. Here's the challenge though, is that too many of us see the Sabbath as a rule to be followed instead of an expression of relationship. Remember, God rested on the seventh day not because God was tired. Isaiah tells us in chapter 40, he says, "God will neither slumber nor sleep." In other words, he don't need to time out like the rest of us do. The other day I was so exhausted, I laid down, took a nap, you ever laid down, taken a nap before, and you wake up and the sun's gone? I'm a human, I get tired, I get weary, I need sleep, I need rest. God doesn't need any of these things. So then Kyle, why would God intentionally put rest into the fabric of creation and call it a discipline for you and I to use as a sacred rhythm? It's because when Sabbath isn't seen as a gift, rest will always feel like a command. Let me break it down like this, because I'm from south side of St. Petersburg, there would be moments where me and I got two brothers and we used to play games, y'all know what

we used to play before we had phones and iPads and touch screens. We used to play games like this, we used to play games like tag. We used to, this might not be politically correct, but I'm going to say we used to play a football game called Teal the Carrier, y'all remember that game coming away? We used to, we used to, we used to play games, we used to play card games, Uno, uh-huh, come on son, some of y'all grew up like high grew up, we, here we go, we actually used to have to involve people in our lives to have fun. And we always knew that our lives were in jeopardy with our parents when we'd be runned around the house too much, and they say y'all need to go outside and play, y'all have had parents like that and they tell you don't come back in here unless somebody's bleeding or something's broken. Now back then, that felt like a command, y'all better do it or else. I'm afraid that too many of us take the same tone and temperature of the Sabbath that God not only offers to us but commands us to take, and we see it as a rule that has to be followed instead of a gift that gets to be experienced. So here in Genesis 16, there are five different observations that I've just, I just took five. I just took five. So if you're hanging out with me, if you're one of those people that goes, "Hey, I got Come on, lean in, Jamesville, Cape Coral, here we go. I've got five observations from Exodus 16 to help us to pace ourselves and experience the rest that God brings. The first observation is trusting God's daily provision will feel uncomfortable at first because it means everything doesn't start and end with you. It starts and ends with him. Exodus 16, verse 19 and 20, and Moses, listen, said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning." But they did not listen to Moses.

Some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and steak. And then Moses was like every parent and he was angry with them. What happens is that God gives the command. He says, "Hey, look, I am only going to give you enough, lean in, enough daily bread for the day that I deliver it to you. You are only to get as much as you need for today. If you try to hoard it and store more, some of y'all overachievers, y'all know what I'm talking about, you'd have been the first one to grab an extra pot. Let me see how much more bread I can get up in here. For those that did this, God was very clear and he allowed what he provided as a miracle one day to become wasted the next. Because he wants you to know I am here to provide for you. Your daily, this is why when Jesus comes along and the disciples look at Jesus and teach us how to pray, part of the Lord's prayer that you and I pray on a regular basis is give us this day our daily bread. Jesus, I did not come to do away with the law, but I came to fulfill it. Jesus also known as the bread of life. Jesus also born and raised in a city that is known as the house of bread. Are you picking up the bread crumbs? Here, God goes, "Until you trust me completely, "it will always feel uncomfortable to you to trust me at all."

'Cause how many, if I go back to old school church for a moment, 99 and a half, just won't do? You either all in or you're not. On ordinary days here in Exodus 16, the instruction was simple. Take what you need and leave none till the morning. And when some kept the extra anyway, the bread developed worms and it stunk. Have you ever gotten an answer to one of your self-centered prayers and realized, come on, you see what I did there? The answer to a self-centered prayer, only to realize that the answer to your prayer brought more responsibility than you anticipated. I was talking to somebody just recently and they've been praying and asking God for a promotion in their specific space of employment and then they got the promotion, the dream job, if you will, only for six months later, them to be complaining about the dream job they were in. It was all the dream, I know. 'Cause you woke up to the reality and brought more responsibility than you anticipated. But God goes, "No, no." Only preparing for the Sabbath portion, gather together what you need. It will stay fresh. Here's my favorite part. If you go to Exodus 16, verse 27, you can read it this week.

The ones who went out on the seventh day looking for a little extra, a couple extra scraps, they found nothing. Why? Because God was abundantly clear. I'm here to give you your daily bread. The issue was never the bread. The issue was trust. And the same God who said, "Don't store it on Tuesday," was the same God who said, "Hey, make sure you store more of it on Saturday in preparation for Sunday." Obedience, here we go. Not anxiety is what keeps trust in God fresh. How do you know the difference between obedience and anxiety? Here we go. Anxiousness makes you feel like you never get to a place where you wonder whether or God is pleased with you. Obedience goes, "This is what he said. This is what I do, and I find confidence in knowing that he is God." Lean in with me. What did they do? Morning by morning. They went out of their tent and gathered manna. Here we go. And they did it right away because as the sun rose and got hotter, it melted immediately. Let me talk to my people for a moment. Maybe you're like me and my tendency is for the first thing in the morning to be to reach

for my phone. It's quiet. It usually is in this moment. For me, it's not weird to say, "I like checking ESPN. I wonder who won?" Because how many know? You get to a certain spot in life. I'm not staying up for the whole game anymore. I like to check the scores. I like to know what's going on. And then before you know it, you don't went from ESPN to Instagram. You went from Instagram to your bank account, from your bank account to your email to your text messages. Now you're mad at five people. You got 15 different political views that you didn't have before you went to bed. All because the first thing that you went to reach for first was not the provision of God. The first thing you went to reach for first was something to keep you entertained. And if we start our day and set our day with entertainment, we'll go throughout the rest of our day needing entertainment. The first part of the day was where Exodus 16 provision was collected. And for many of us, the first thing we gather in the morning isn't the provision of God. It's notifications and headlines. It's some here we go. It's someone else's urgency. You ever got a prayer request from somebody before and they're like, I need to pray and I need to pray right now. Can you meet me at the coffee shop? Can you stop your entire life to help me with mine? I mean, I am not equipped for that at six o'clock in the morning.

I need to talk to God for myself. Let me help somebody get free. You're the strong friend in the relationship. You have seven days away from being the strong friend. They text you and ask for prayer, text them back and say, talk to God for yourself. Okay, y'all quiet, y'all didn't like that one, okay. Because if you talk to him and you get answers, how many know that if they start talking to him, they might get answers to him. And then let me talk to my strong friends just for a moment. I tend to be one of these. You are not the hero in the story. You are just the vessel that God uses to get his word to them when they need it. Because how many know the tyranny of the urgent can often overshadow what God wants to do in the moment. And if we're running to what notifications tell us is urgent before we've received anything from God, my friends, we are running out half cocked and self-centered. What you reach for first, shapes what you carry all day. Observation number three, comparison measures what they have, but manna measures what you need. Actually 16, verse 16, 17, this is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it, each one of you, as much as you can eat. You shall take an omer, historians tell us an omer, is somewhere around five or six pounds, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more and some less. But notice the parameters he gave, you're to gather, he gives the measurement, the boundary. And then he says, for those who you have in your tent, those and the things that you are responsible for, some gathered more, some gathered less, but when they measured it, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack. Why is this?

Because comparison will often keep you trapped in looking at what everyone else has. But the miracle of the manna was to show you and I that when our trust is in God and not trying to keep up with others, he will always get us what we need. Am I at the right church today? Yeah, pace yourself, pace yourself. Observation number four, here we go, rest doesn't happen by accident. It requires intentional preparation. Exodus 16, verse 22 and 23, on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread to omers each. All the leaders of the congregation came and told He said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest." A holy Sabbath to the Lord. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much, and Moses told them to bake and boil what they need ahead of time. In other words, prepare for what you need ahead of time. The people who rested well on the seventh day were the ones who planned it on the sixth. And let me stop and just encourage somebody right here. If you're looking to find rest that God has for you, you are going to have to prepare to rest ahead of time. Think about what it's like, how hectic is the 24 hours before vacation. You almost got in five fist fights with people you don't even know. You don't yell to the kids. You bark at your spouse, you kick the dog twice, like you're just not, here we go, you're just not yourself when you're not rested.

I wrote this down because I want to make sure to get it right. John Mark Comer calls up the hurry sickness. And there are 10 different symptoms of hurry sickness. I'm going to read them for you. If any of them resonate with you, don't say nothing, just nod your head. Just nod your head and blink your eyes twice. If you're okay, 10 symptoms of hurry sickness, John Mark Comer says irritability, hypersensitivity, restlessness, workaholism are just non-stop activity, emotional numbness, out of order priorities, lack of care for your body, escape this behaviors, slippage of spiritual disciplines or isolation. Recently in this series, Pastor Jerry talked about solitude getting away, being alone with God. Sometimes it's good to be away, but my friends, getting away can't happen all of the time. And even if it is a frequent rhythm of your life, it also needs to be combined with Sabbath to make sure that you are not allowing yourself to call pray to this hurry sickness, but take time to plan out what is it going to look like for me to unplug and rest and be with my creator and trusting that he is in control. Rest doesn't happen by accident. It happens by intentional preparation. Observation number five and I'm out of your way.

Some of us are searching the field for what God already put on the table. Lean in. Some of us are already searched. Some of us are searching on the field for what God already put on the table. On the seventh day, some of the people went out together, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?" Maybe that same question is the one. If you find your soul weary and tired today, are you hurting and broken within? Not just by the wind and the waves of life, but are you hurting and broken within because you haven't taken a moment to rest, to breathe? God, you don't know what my life looks like. I may not know what your life looks like, but I know who your God is. He's the one that says, "I will lead you beside steel and quiet waters. I will restore your soul." Maybe as a business owner, today is the day for you to delete the email app off of your phone just one day every week. If you don't have the discipline to not open it, it's better to have it deleted and have to re-upload it the next day.

And always be creeping in wondering what invoice, what message, what emergency is coming next. How do I do this with young kids? This is where Danielle and I are wrestling with right now. And there's just some moments in our weekend where we don't schedule anything. Somebody always has a birthday party, somebody always has a get together, somebody, and these things aren't bad. These things are good, but how many know if you're always saying yes to the good, you won't have room for the best. You know what the best is? Just to be able to see my two kids running around the house, having fun. You know what the best is? It's for my wife to look at me with a smile. You know what the best is? Valuing the people and the places that God has given us. Some of us are so busy still looking in the field for something God already put on the table. So what is the response? Not my words here, these are Jesus' words. Eugene Peterson did a great job in the message version to translate it like this and found in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. This is a promise you can take with you this week. Are you tired? Warn out. Come to me.

Get away with me. And you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me. Work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly. And we just be honest, that last line learning how to live freely and lightly is something that our culture needs now more than ever. And who better to show them how to do it than those who've given their lives over to the sacred rhythm of Sabbath and rest? Would you bow your heads with me just for a moment at all of our locations? Maybe you're in this place today and you go, "Hey Kyle, not only am I navigating through Sabbath and rest, but I'm reminded today that I have need for a Savior. I have need for Jesus. I have need to make him the Lord of my life and the leader of my heart today and every day to come." If that's you in just a moment, we're going to pray a simple prayer or commitment. And all that matters is that with the words of your voice, you mean exactly what you're saying in your heart. And Scripture says that the God who promises you rest in a lightweight of living will be the one who leads your life today and every day to come. City first, I'm going to ask you to pray this simple prayer out loud just so no one ever feels left out. Just say, "Jesus, I need you. I've tried on my own and I'm tired of failing." So today, I hand you my sin, I receive your forgiveness, I hand you my life, I receive your leadership, be the Lord of my life, and the King of my heart.

Today and every day to come, I trust you. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, come up with those hands together. What a powerful prayer that changes everything. And if you prayed that prayer, we want you to know not only are Adam and I celebrating with you and your city first family celebrating with you, but the Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating the decision that you just made. Best decision ever. And the encouraging news is not only do you have heaven forever as your home, but you don't have to figure out your faith alone. Want to encourage you to tell somebody about the decision that you just made? You don't have to keep that good news to yourself. Also, we have an amazing resource for you called New Beginning Resource. There's a 14-day devotional in the New Beginning Resource, it's a quick read and it's going to help you make sense of the decision that you just made. That's right. And when you sign up for our New Beginnings resource, we're going to send you some videos from our pastors, Jeremy and Jen, and they're going to explain a little bit more about how to pray and how to read the Bible and the importance of having people that you can journey with to have Christ-centered friendships and relationships. And if you ever have questions about faith, you can always DM us or drop it in the chat and we would love to answer those questions. That's right. You have an amazing next step called GrowthTrack and this happens the first Sunday of every month. You're going to meet incredible people, discover the purpose that God has for you and how to live it out in your daily life. You can participate in GrowthTrack in person or online. You can find out more information on the CityFirst app or you can scan the QR code. That's right. And we would love to take a moment.

If you have a prayer request, we would love to pray with you. You're not alone in this journey and to submit a prayer request, all you got to do is just jump on the CityFirst app or you could even DM us on social media and we would love to pray specifically for that request. And when you do send that, I want you to know that there are hundreds of people that are praying for you and believing for what you're believing for. So with that, we just want to encourage you to keep coming back to church, keep showing up. That's right. This is the best place to be to grow in your faith and not only should you come back, but invite somebody to join you for church. You can send somebody a link. You can share about it on your social media, but let's be people who spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Will CityFirst anywhere fan, we love you, we're praying for you and we will see you back here next week. God bless and have a great day.