Aug 15

Hey guys, we'll be doing connected Devos with the leadership team AND praise team.
There is a series that we'll be following so it won't be as dull and repetitive as some of you guys say!
Read, reflect, post!
Here it is!



Mark 2:23-27
23 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat.
24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

Hebrews 4:4
4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”

The final bell rang. Jesse slammed his locker door shut and started toward the school doors. He saw Steven in the jostling crowd ahead and pushed forward until he was walking beside his friend. "What are you doing this weekend?" Jesse asked. Steven shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing, I guess. How about you?" "I'm gonna be pretty busy down at church. Our youth group is helping with worship on Sunday, so ..." "You sound like you enjoy that stuff," Steven said. "I do! Sunday mornings are great. And then we (my family, I mean) usually spend Sunday afternoons doing stuff together. Even if we just play Monopoly, it's kinda cool because it's different from any other day in the week. And Sunday dinner is always the best meal of the week." "Your Sunday is sure different from mine. The only way I know it's Sunday is that there's more newspaper lying around the house." Jesse shrugged as he and Steven boarded the school bus together. "My parents say that Sunday shows us God's grace, because he gives us a day not to work. It reminds us that he gives us things, not because we deserve them, but just because that's the way God is!" Is your Sunday any different from the rest of the week? Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man; that means it's a special day with a special meaning. We are to use it as God's day to understand more about him, especially about his graciousness toward us. It's not always easy to know how to make and keep Sunday special. Even in Jesus' time there was disagreement over how people should spend the Sabbath (as today's reading shows). But from the beginning, God wanted us to enjoy a special day of rest and re-creation.

REFLECT: Sabbath is a Hebrew word that means "to stop doing something." What do you stop doing on your Sabbath? What do you start doing? How is your Sunday different from other days? What can you do to make it more special?

PRAY: "God, sometimes I forget what Sunday is all about. Help me to remember your graciousness for your sake and for mine."

I've had alot to think about for this message, and I think a big debate would be; how should we PERCEIVE our Sundays in church? "24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath."

Within Jesus' response, he mentions the "needs of the people", and I think that put alot of spotlight on how we think as people. We're taught from birth that reason and sense is very important, along with our religious belief. Now that we tend to have "the need" to understand something to believe it, is very relevant to how we spend our weekly time in the church. Our inner instincts have the need to try and comprehend God, in order to love him more. I think it's very crucial that we use that curiousity the RIGHT way, using it to feed our hunger, rather than to just give up and kick the bucket.

/// but thinking back, I did spend my sunday's as a rush hour. get to church, praise God, learn about God, go home, finish off the rest of my homework at 12am, and go to sleep, keeping the thoughts of today distant.

i think if we're actually conscious of how we spend ANY day, we could accomplish a lot more in our lives, and see better changes.

But from the beginning, God wanted us to enjoy a special day of rest and re-creation.

Sunday, the sabbath day, was a day for rest and re-creation.
It's incredible that I forgot that on Sundays, I find myself so stressed with praise that I realized that I don't even kick back and rest up. Even God took one day to rest during the time of creation. Sunday's a holy day, holy meaning set apart, and this passage passage talks about how OUR Sunday differs from any other typical day. Although we say worship is something we do everyday, Sunday is kind of a designated day to praise God, acknowledge him as a community. Praise should never be something that should be stressful. Nor should contributing to the leadership should be stressful. Serving should be refreshing to us. God wanted us to rest, not to stress. It feels like to me that Sundays should be a time of happiness, like this Jesse person stated all the happy things he did on Sundays with his family, with his community at church and whatnot. But some of us may have morphed that into a time where it becomes so much of a routine that it's impossible to enjoy. Let's kick back a little on Sundays? Yeah? Appreciate the things that God has done for us, like giving us a designated day of rest. I didn't even think of it like that until reading this passage. Sounds like something we could all do!

The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath
mkay theres something in my house........................................... i hear sounds.........
...............kay theyre gone. :S
anywho! this kinda reminds me of how god isnt setting all of these rules that we should abide by for him and his own selfish reasons, but for the good of us. so just like the sabbath, the commandments for example are made to meet the needs of people, not people meet the needs of God. because god doesnt need anything from us, it is us who rely on him! and the rules are based on needs that we have that we dont even know about. on another level! haha

and after reading this i realized i have been treating sundays like any other day of the week, squishing in as many things i can do as possible sometimes. like i procrastinate on hmking on friday and saturday and cram on sunday, when i should do the opposite and relax on sunday. I guess that in my life i should start being more relaxed on sundays and really take a chance to look at the things god has provided in my life and watch god work tiny to huge miracles in my life and in others

wow well this is certainly different from our regular devos...i like it!
okay so God created the Sabbath for REST. the almighty and powerful God made a day for him to rest and his creations as well.
it never really hit me that sundays were days of rest. it's funny because we grew up in a church that pretty much drilled it into our heads that God made sunday to rest, yet we don't realize that it is a day of rest for us too. i guess as a younger child, sundays were just another day when i had to wake up earlier than i would have wanted, get ready, go to church and come back home. even now i treat like any other day of the week.
sundays are meant to be God's day. it is the one day of the week when we all join up together in our respective ministries and praise God. it shouldn't be a day when we get all stressed out to go in stage and lead praise, but we should be more relaxed and let ourselves truly fall into the depth of worship. we should really be thankful that God has made this day so we can rest and truly acknowledge the work he has done to shape the world and praise him as our gift of gratitude.
cool devotion! got me to realize a mistake that i make as a Christian that i should pray about and try to fix! have a great week!

After reading the story about Jesse, I realize Sunday is actually the most chaotic day in my week!
If I'm on stage that week, it's even worse for me. In the mornings I wonder how well the Praise team is going to sound, or if my harmony is off key, or whatever.
Then once I get to Church, I'm so paranoid about not messing up! The one time I actually get to actually loosen up, is during the sermon.
Then once I get home I rush to get my piano practice, my vocal practice, my theory homework, and everything else finished.
I should probably start to act like Jesse on Sundays, and instead of panicking about everything I should just take a step back and enjoy the Sabbath.

Just as Jesus said so himself, the Sabbath is based upon yourself, not based upon the requirements. Word to the wise. yeee
For me, our Sunday that we're given is a fresh, new, beginning to whatever God has in store for us.
The day as been specifically blessed for us to come together, to form one body of Christ, to worship and for us to receive wisdom from the Lord.
Although Saturday and Sunday is our weekend, I love to keep my Sunday sacred, it seems as if I feel like God sometimes..
For me, it seems as if as we spend each and everyday of our daily life for a purpose, and we're given one day of the seven, to throw that all away and to turn to our hearts to God. Seems as if we're on some sort of a vacation for the day, spending most of our time with our families as well.
Personally, I also feel as if as Sunday is a day to appreciate God's grace, to be thankful for everything that He has given us.
When I was little, I began to think as if Sunday was just a day for church and that it "consumed" my Sunday morning.
But only recently I've realized that it was made for us, not for God. For his people.

After reading this, i realized how everyone has a different perspective of things. The Pharisees think that on the Sabbath you must not do anywork, but Jesus proves them wrong.
I am pretty sure that alot of people see Sundays very differently. For some, it may be a day where they can relax, do whatever they want, dont need to worry about work,school, jobs etc. But for others it may be really really busy organizing programs, tutors, musical classes, and such.
The point is, Everyone is different and everyone sees thigns differently. it all depends on where you come from and how you were raised. In the short story, Jesse was a Christian and on Sundays, he would go to church and after he would spend time with his family. While ont he other hand, Steven found Sunday's as any other day and Sunday wasnt special for him.
During the street missions, it really opened me up. I got to listen to other people, some who even used to be Christian and i got to hear their story, walk with Christ. It was a really new and different expierence and expanded my knowlegde of the world. Even the most obvious thigns to us may be really fascinating for others.

Omg this is so cute. LOL idk.

Hmm, wow. I can't believe how... for granted Sundays are.
It's something we should be grateful of. A resting day.. And yet we go out of our way to make it just like the rest and not treat it any differently.
27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.
I loved this verse. It's good to remember that the Sabbath is a resting day as a gift not a chore and that God truly wants the best for us. And obviously it's much harder now because we think of Sundays as the day before the most torturous day of the week, but we don't sit at home and do nothing during the last week of summer break, we celebrate.
So instead of complaining, let's all just celebrate the end of a good weekend and take the time to really do something with the family, really just take a break and slow down.
And like Jennifer said, instead of doing homework on Sunday, try to do it on friday and saturday!

I really love this whole guideline devo thing. LOL it's designed so we get a certain message and to not only get it, but to use it in our daily lives as well!

Sorry I couldn't post earlier! My internet was down again....

I think that my Sundays are quite similar to many other days in the week. We do our devos, homework, eat, sleep...the only difference is that I go to church on sundays. Sunday should be for stop whatever is going on and have this day given to God with worship. Most of the times, I feel as if im going to church on sundays like a routine. It should not be like that. We should be in God's house because we want to be there to talk, praise, and learn more. Life sometimes feels like a routine to me. Once in a while, we don't feel like we want to go to church. Think about how much time of the day we're using. We have to wake up early, drive far.... but we need to think about what he deserves and not what we want. We waste a lot of the time in the day for such useless things. If we can save time for that, Why can't we do the same for God?

I hope that made sense!
~Audrey~

Hey guys sorry for not doing the devos at their set time, was ridiculously tired and busy the past week, couldn't find the time or energy to devote, so doing them now.

holy cheesy devo plans LOL but better than the repetition we get from the psalms

We all lead busy lives. Work, school, and church altogether make for one, but this devo really reminded me of the significance of Sunday. Really, God has given us that day to concentrate wholly on him, but most times, we only think of him during church, come home, and then go do other business. Lots of times, my Sunday won't be too different from my other days, besides church, but really, it shouldn't be like that. Though God has given us every day, every moment of our lives to love and worship him, Sundays should be a day we set aside to concentrate completely on doing that. Though all we do is for him, we should really put our minds on God while we are given the ample time to do so.