June 23, 2026 • 33 mins
Free Resource: Rule of Life for Emotionally Healthy Leaders → emotionallyhealthy.org
You were made for glorious work. But you were also made to stop.
Most of us know how to produce, build, plan, and push through. What we struggle with is the hidden life. The stopping. The surrendering. The trusting when no one can see it.
In this episode, Pete Scazzero explores one of the most countercultural truths in Scripture: you are not God. And that is the best news you'll hear all week.
Drawing from Genesis, the life of Jesus, and two ancient disciplines (Sabbath and the Daily Office), Pete unpacks why our refusal to stop is rooted in the same rebellion as the garden. And why living in God's rhythms isn't weakness. It's the path to freedom, fruitfulness, and true maturity.
If your calendar is driven by fear, your ministry by insecurity, or your pace by the crowd's demands, this episode is for you.
Stop. Listen. Be free.
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September 30 – October 1, 2026
14th St. Salvation Army, NYC
(Live Spanish Translation available)
Register Now: https://ehd.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/3421612
Learn more about the EH Global Leader Conference 2026: http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/conference
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (01:13):
Hi, my name is Pete Scazaro.
I want to welcome you today tothe Emotionally Healthy Leader
Podcast.
Great to be with you.
Our topic or our theme today isYou Are Not God.
Experience the Freedom ofStopping.
You're not God.
Experience the freedom ofstopping.
I want to begin with anillustration, a true
(01:34):
illustration.
It comes from South Central Utahin Fish Lake National Forest.
And there is a tree there thatactually is so big it covers 106
acres.
That's actually 80 Americanfootball fields.
It looks like a forest,actually, of 47,000 different
(01:55):
white-barked aspen trees.
And they actually have beenalive, some scientists say, for
80,000 years, this particulartree.
And it doesn't, it doesn't looklike one tree.
It looks like 47,000 differentones.
But it's actually the trunk isgenetically connected to all the
other trunks.
They have the same DNA, and theyshare a single root system.
(02:17):
They're a single organism.
That particular tree is calledpando, Latin for ice spread.
It's the largest tree on earth,according to some scientists,
both by weight and by size, landarea.
So individual stems, actually,which are trees, they die every
100-150 years.
(02:39):
But the root system doesn'tcare.
When the trunk falls over, theroots simply send new growth
nearby.
And actually, after a wildfiresweeps through the area, it can
burn through all the trees, butthe root system remains intact.
And it's not a long time beforea whole new grove of trees
emerges.
The organism's what's calledimmortality, this panda system,
(03:01):
it may be 80,000 years old, butit has nothing to do with one
individual stem or oneindividual tree.
And it's its interconnectedness.
It's entirely from this network.
And so these roots shareresources.
So if one tree is weak, it getsextra nutrients and waters from
the others, and it helps thestruggling trees.
So it's not that the aspen tree,like an oak tree, goes deep.
(03:25):
It's actually it stays, it's itsconnection that makes it so
remarkable, this undergroundsource of power.
So in the same way, here atleast at emotionally healthy
discipleship, uh, we've reallymade a move to build community,
recognizing that part of theroot system, of course, is
spiritual practices like thedaily office and Sabbath and
rule of life, et cetera.
(03:46):
But there's a need for communityto keep the organism, the roots
connected and strong to be ableto make it through fires and
difficulties and trials and havea root system that's connected
to others.
And so the aspen doesn't surviveby going necessarily deeper, it
survives by staying connected.
And there's a truth in that forus as well.
(04:07):
But here's the problem we'rereally good at building and
pushing and making thingshappen.
We do struggle with our rootsystems, and thus we talk a lot
about practices here, stoppingand surrendering.
Uh, and uh, so our theme, and weneed, we need to grow our
connection, but our theme todayis you're not God, I'm not God.
And there we want to experiencethe freedom of actually
stopping.
(04:27):
So let me let me craft mycomments today around Genesis
chapters one, two, and three.
Now, God uh his creation inGenesis one makes it really
clear we were created forsomething extraordinary.
And so God creates the world andthis poetry here.
He creates this vast universe.
And the climax of that creationis in the sixth day.
(04:49):
He creates male and female,humanity.
Uh, he breeds into the dust andcreates living beings.
And every human being isunrepeatable, is is is is
unique, is is irreplaceable, isholy because our God is holy.
We're made in his image.
And uh Psalm 8 refers to us asthe crown of all creation.
(05:11):
He has crowned us with glory andhonor, it says in Psalm 8.
And this glory is the word inHebrew for kabad.
It's it's we have weight, wehave density, we there's an
awesomeness in human beings,there's there's substance that
leaves one speechless.
And so God crowns human beingswith glory.
(05:32):
What a, what a, and so worth isgiven to us before we do
anything, any kind of work.
And our dignity precedes anykind of accomplishments.
And and the sequence isimportant.
We're we're crowned and blessedwith glory, our very being out
of which we then work.
And so in Genesis 1.28, then Godgives us command to uh the first
(05:55):
humans and says, uh, be fruitfuland multiply.
And then he says, go and subduethe earth.
And that word subdue is likemake a path through a virgin
forest.
We're meant to extend the gloryand the kingdom of God on earth,
and so that everything we touchbecomes beautiful.
So even before there was sin inthe human race, there was work.
(06:16):
Work was good.
And and uh and so we are to,whether it's we're whether we're
homemaking, whether we're takingcare of children, whether we're
building a church or a smallgroup, building community,
whether we're we're sanitationworkers, whether we're lawyers
or doctors or social workers,and everything we do, we're like
artists, we we we create beautyand order and harmony and a
(06:38):
sense of God's imprint, bringingheaven to earth and anything
that we touch.
Uh we bring order into theworld.
And so, but Genesis also thengives us a work to do, um, and
it, but it gives us a limit.
So uh Adam and Eden are giventhis commandment to go and and
and to work, subdue the earth.
But then God says to them, youknow, go throughout the garden,
(07:00):
and you may eat freely from anytree of the garden, but you may
not eat from the tree of theknowledge of good and evil.
And God sets a limit.
No explanation is given.
It's actually a mystery.
And we learn later that the treeof the knowledge of good and
evil, this one tree was right inthe middle of the garden.
Like God didn't put it like in acorner where nobody would see
it.
It was right there in the middleof the garden.
(07:21):
And God says, Enjoy all mygarden, but this one tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, youknow, don't eat it.
And it's not about cruelty.
The tree confronted them, andthis limit of the tree confronts
us with God's authority.
As Augustine said, if youunderstand what's going on, or
you understand God, it's not Godthat you understand.
(07:43):
Uh, God's ways are so muchhigher than our ways.
You know, Romans 11 to 33.
Um, oh, the riches and theknowledge and the unsearchable
knowledge of God.
He, you know, who has known themind of the Lord?
It's so far beyond his paths arehis paths, are beyond tracing
out.
And and uh limits are wheremystery begins.
We we surrender to limits.
(08:05):
We we trust God in our limits.
And Adam and Eve were to trustGod and not eat from that
particular tree.
Their work was not to extendinto that particular tree.
And and uh, and actually whatGod does on the seventh day, God
rests, right?
They were to stop when they gotto that tree.
God on the seventh day ofcreation rests, he Sabbaths, uh,
(08:26):
and not because he was tired,but because he had finished, it
says.
He stopped, he stepped back, uh,he surveyed it all and said,
it's good.
In fact, he created humanbeings, he said, they're very
good.
You're you're good.
Uh and then he commanded thesame for us that we too are to
have a Sabbath.
So we're to we're to listen tothis contrast.
And I want you, it's it's arhythm.
(08:46):
And I want you to hear thisrhythm in Genesis 1 and 2.
And it goes like this afterdoing, uh, we are to stop.
Uh come after doing comes being.
After work comes a stop.
It's Sabbath.
After work comes Sabbath.
After action comes a stop, wesurrender.
(09:07):
After Martha, active for Jesus,comes Mary, we stop, we sit at
his feet.
After the city, in a sense, inas a metaphor, in the city, we
we stop and we go to the desertto be alone with the Father.
After engaging, we stop and welet go.
After swimming, in a sense, westop and we float in his love.
(09:29):
After being active, we stop andwe're contemplative.
After pressing forward, we stopand we retreat.
After doing, we stop and we bebefore the Lord.
So stopping's not aboutweakness.
Stopping very simply isacknowledging I am a creature
and I am not God controlling theworld.
(09:51):
And we remember that he is God,he's on the throne, he's running
the universe, and we are not.
And so a means of surrenderingourselves to him.
It's a means to trust him, eventhough we don't understand.
Uh, stopping is a way ofentering God's rhythms for us,
(10:14):
which is being and doing.
And so, but sin happens when wedon't stop.
And it's really interesting.
We see this in Genesis chaptertwo, um, or chapter three,
because the serpent comes andtempts uh Adam and Eve to cross
limits and said, God didn't saydon't eat from that tree in the
middle of the garden, becauseGod knows he's holding back from
(10:35):
you.
You keep going, you eat fromthat tree, and you know what?
You'll be just like God, knowingthe difference of good and evil.
You'll be just like him.
And uh the strategy is basicallyGod's withholding from you.
So don't embrace and surrenderto limits.
Uh, God's limiting yourpotential, actually.
He's holding you back.
And uh you better grasp it, youbetter take it, uh, because he's
(10:56):
not giving it to you.
So, so they cross over thoselimits.
They they violate those limits,they eat from the tree, and they
refuse to stop at God's rhythms.
And they keep going.
And it's it scripture definesthat as sin, rebellion against
(11:17):
God.
And when we violate God's giftof limits that are given to us,
we we enter, it's it's a form ofrebellion, and we enter into
enemy territory.
All kinds of catastrophic,catastrophic consequences
follow.
And uh, there is a rhythm thatGod has built into the universe.
(11:39):
There's a rhythm of there'stides in the ocean.
The tides come in, the tides goout.
There's a rhythm in the days,the sun goes up, the sun comes
down.
There's a rhythm in the day, andthen it's night.
There's a rhythm in breathing.
We breathe in, we breathe out.
God's built a rhythm into theseasons.
There's fall, winter, spring,and summer.
(12:00):
There's even a rhythm in ourlifespan.
Uh you know, we are children, wegrow older as teens, we get
middle-aged, we get elderly.
And and but and so there's atheology of limits in scripture,
which is all about stopping,surrendering, and trusting when
God sets a limit and says no.
(12:21):
Uh, and and we see this reallyin Jesus.
He is, uh he models it for us,where Jesus does not cross over
the limits.
Um, when the devil is invitinghim to cross over the limits,
turn these stones to bread, jumpdown from the from the temple,
you know, bow down for a minute,you can save everybody right
now.
And and Jesus is the secondAdam.
He he surrenders to the Father'slimits for him.
(12:42):
Uh and so, but we all fall intoit.
We we all fall into the trap,and not just them in the garden.
And every day in our work and inour lives, we we we cross a
line.
Like we fill our calendars outof fear.
We had to squeeze one more thinginto our to-do list each day
because we're afraid, like,what's gonna happen if I if I
actually stop?
Or we push even our childrensometimes to do things and get
(13:05):
into things because we'reanxious about their future.
And we don't stop and andsurrender and pray and let it
let them go and commit them toGod.
I know I've done it.
We make quick decisionssometimes, and and we don't
practice discernment and thewaiting involved in that because
we're fearful.
Or we build a ministry, we canbuild what we're doing out of
insecurity rather than a senseof centeredness in God.
(13:28):
And sometimes I, you know, Ioverwork, we overwork because we
feel like we're indispensable.
If we don't hold this thing up,it'll fall apart.
Who will do it?
Listen, I know uh I know wellthat sin and rebellion of not
stopping, because uh I've doneit.
I'll just think of just I mean,I'm embarrassed to tell you some
(13:50):
of the stories, especially in mypre-emotionally healthy
discipleship days.
Um, I remember I was soconcerned about keeping momentum
up, you know, our first seven,six, seven, eight years of
existence.
Uh we were planting, we plantedour church, we were planting
some other churches, but Iwanted, I wanted that adrenaline
momentum energy in the room.
(14:10):
And I remember calling a uh aleadership team meeting, must
have had 50 people in a room,and I wanted them to be excited
about vision.
And so I put big white uh padpaper all over the walls around
the room.
And I asked them to just dreamvision of what we could do for
(14:30):
God.
And everybody wrote all over theboard for like a half hour, and
and everybody got all excitedand moving around the room.
And then I circled, we wentaround and talked about and
circled big ones.
And it was a way for me of notstopping, of like, no, we we
can't bear the fact of a slowingdown season or God might prune
us or God might lead us into awinter.
God forbid, you know.
(14:51):
Um, and even and I just rememberjust launching, so even as I
entered into this ecosystem thatwe call theologically,
emotionally held thediscipleship, it was a slow burn
for me to let things graduallyunfold and actually stop and
surrender to God's limits.
And I remember uh even sometimesI'd pause, but launching another
(15:14):
service because I was just in arush.
You know, let's get thosenumbers in here, or making plans
to, you know, launch anotherministry because I don't want to
hurt people's feelings out offear, and I didn't want to stop
and actually wait.
Um, and I was anxious about whatpeople would think of me, and
uh, I made plans sometimes thatwere not God, and I said yes to
(15:37):
things before I really prayed,pondered, and listened.
And I know what it just, youknow, that that temptation to
not stop at God's limits isalways there.
I mean, I I knew it not justwhen I was pastoring our church,
especially around money, becauseas you know, you can cast a
vision, uh, especially tooutside people in our context.
We were in the inner city ofQueens, and foundations and
(15:58):
others I'd like to have gottenmoney for.
And this actually has happenedeven in emotionally how the
discipleship and in early years,like if you give a big enough
vision, uh plans I may not evenhave gotten from God yet, you
can potentially get a lot ofmoney.
But I realize, oh, visionfollows, you know, listening to
God, then strategy has to unfoldwith the right people in place.
(16:21):
And out of that, then followsmoney, that there's an order of
God's economy of how we buildministries with integrity.
And I and uh I just had torecognize I we have to stop and
not be seduced by even money ornumbers.
And and um uh it was a it wasit's been very helpful to me
(16:42):
over the years, but it was it'sbeen a slow learning process,
all I want to say.
It didn't happen over overnight.
You know, if you've ever readDante's Divine Comedy, he's got
this one uh scene where uh whichI could never shake.
And he's got his description ofthe devil in hell.
We think of the of the of hellbeing on fire, you know, and
(17:04):
he's got hell.
Uh the devil is frozen, Satan isfrozen in ice, and he's weeping
from sick eyes.
And he's got instead he doesn'thave angel wings now, he has bat
wings, and he's beating themfuriously, you know, in a rage,
and all this effort, all thisactivity, all this motion, but
(17:27):
he's going nowhere.
He's frozen in ice.
And it's such a powerful pictureof he's not gonna stop.
He's grasping, he's striving,he's tons of movement and
motion, all this effort, butthere's no fruit coming from it.
That's what I would call awillful Christianity, which I
(17:50):
know well.
I'm just being willful.
I'm not stopping and I'm notexperiencing freedom because I
got work to do here and thisfeeling of indispensability.
Uh versus a uh a willingrelationship.
Willful versus willing.
Uh a willing relationship meansI'm receiving, I'm surrendering,
(18:10):
I'm trusting the rhythm God'sbuilt into the universe and that
he's built into my lives.
And I'm not pushing and I'mwilling to stop.
So the question is, you know,how do I get back?
If if our first parents broke uhthe uh they violated God's gift
of limits and rebelled againstGod because they were just going
(18:31):
to make it happen and didn'twant to surrender to his
authority.
Well, what's our way to how dowe stop?
Well, Jesus, of course, shows usthe way back to stop because
he's our second Adam.
And maybe Adam and Eve grasped,Jesus received and surrendered.
And we're uh Adam and Evedisobeyed, Jesus obeys and
embraces the Father's will andhis timetable.
(18:52):
He never grasped, he neverstrived, uh, he didn't tell, he
didn't heal everybody in everycity, uh, he didn't respond to
every demand, he didn't travelall over the world.
The crowds pressed in on himconstantly, but he he didn't let
them set the calendar.
He uh unlike Luke 5, 16, heoften withdrew to lonely places
and he prayed.
(19:12):
He stopped.
He worked and he stopped and hehad a rhythm.
He resisted the devil's and heresisted people's seductions to
get out of the father'stimetable, the father's um way
of functioning, and he movedaccording to the father's
rhythm.
And when three years, when hisministry was up, he he followed
(19:34):
the father into the crucifixionand resurrection.
Um it was a three-year ministrywith lots of stops, and but
those three years changed thewhole world.
I mean, but he made stopping anon-negotiable for himself, and
he makes it for us as well.
And I love John the Baptist, youknow, because John the Baptist
stopped.
I mean, he's a great model forme, one of my favorites in
scripture after Jesus, where hesays in John 3, after they come
(19:59):
to John and say, John is Jesusas emerged, and everyone's
starting to follow him.
And you're losing followers,basically.
And John the Baptist says, aperson to his followers, he
says, a person can receive onlywhat is given to them from
heaven.
And he stops.
He recognizes he is not to keepbuilding John the Baptist
(20:20):
ministries.
Uh, and uh he surrenders, hetrusts, he he waits, he uh and
he makes stopping anon-negotiable, you know, in his
own life.
And so what I've it'sinteresting, even just very
recently, I'll give you anexample of how this worked out
for me.
Uh now I've got built into mylife uh Sabbaths every week for
(20:40):
a 24-hour period.
I've got a daily office,offices, morning, midday,
evening prayer built into mylife.
Uh I have a day along with Godeach month built into my rule of
life.
Uh, but for my birthday, whichis coming up, it was interesting
because Jerry, I was talkingabout what I want for my
birthday, you know, and and agift.
She goes, why don't you giveyourself a gift and and go away
(21:02):
for uh for five days to thisparticular monastery that we we
love and go for a silent retreatfor five days.
And I was like, Yes, yes.
And uh, you know, basically shewas saying, stop.
Now what's interesting, I'm nolonger, I was 26 years, I was a
lead pastor of a church.
(21:22):
I was president of emotionaldiscipleship for 12 years, 13
years, whatever.
And I'm no longer president.
I'm I'm just I have my rolewithin it as a part-time staff.
And you think, oh, Pete, well,you're you can stop easy now.
Well, no, I've I've still got Igot so much to do, I think I
don't have time to stop.
(21:43):
And it's so easy for me not tobe listening for God's rhythms,
deep rhythms for me, of stoppingand working.
And again, work is paid andunpaid work.
And because remember, uh sin itcan be described also as a a
grass as a refusal to embraceGod's rhythms and limits that he
(22:05):
gives us.
And and uh so it's just sointeresting.
I so I've been I've been youknow Jesus shows us that that
stopping is not a failure, it'sactually stopping and
surrendering is an act of trustand surrender.
So my prayer, my hope for you isI want you to experience the
freedom of the experience ofstopping.
(22:29):
So I want to talk to you abouttwo pro two practices that can
restore that rhythm for yourlife.
And I'd say these are the firsttwo practices to build in.
The first rhythm, it's andagain, you can't just preach
this.
You can't just read about it andhear about it in a podcast.
It has to be lived.
You've got to enter into it.
You've got to let your it let itget into your body because you
(22:50):
were actually built for it.
It's in your design to work andto stop.
And so, you know, in our as someof you may know, we in my
different books, I present arule of life.
And we actually have a rule oflife for pastors and leaders
around the world.
And it comes out of Benedictinespirituality, and you've got
prayer is one quadrant, rest.
(23:11):
Is another quadrant,relationships is a third
quadrant, and work is the fourthquadrant.
And these last few podcasts, Ihave actually been touching on
different aspects of that ruleof life.
Things like Lectio Divina.
I've talked about the examine,talk about how do I spend a day
alone with God.
(23:32):
And I actually chose this textand this theme today because I
wanted to touch on two otheraspects that are in this rule of
life that I think every leader,uh, every person who follows
Jesus wholeheartedly is worthbuilding into your life so that
you can stop and embrace God'srhythms and gift of limits.
(23:54):
The first is Sabbath, the weeklyrhythm of a 24-hour period where
you stop your work paid andunpaid, you rest from all of
your labor, uh, you do thingsthat replenish your soil, you
delight in the gifts of God inall of the world, whatever
brings you to light, and thenyou contemplate him.
(24:15):
But by that I mean you're seeingthe invisible God and all of his
gifts in the visible creation.
And so Sabbath actuallyliterally means in Hebrew to
stop.
It means I stop.
And it's not a day off.
It's not there, it's not to makeyou more productive, although it
does make us more productive theother six days.
It's not a recovery.
(24:36):
It's a 24-hour period built in,it's a practice uh built in to
stop, rest, delight, andcontemplate God.
So you stop, first of all, youstop to let yourself be loved.
It's it's Genesis chapter one,that you're extraordinary,
you're you're loved, you'reyou're good.
You're not, you're you're you'reyou're you're we may be
(24:56):
disordered by sin, but we'remade in God's image.
And and we don't live startingin Genesis three.
We live in Genesis one and two,pre-sin, but you're God loves
you.
He created you, you'reunrepeatable, he's got a purpose
for you, he's got a destiny foryou.
And and you were a slave, Godsays in Egypt, but now I've set
you free.
And and yes, you're to work uhand you're to rest, you're to
(25:19):
have a rhythm in your in yourweek.
And God says, you're not a toolanymore.
You're not, I'm not using you,and you're not indispensable.
Uh, you're sacred, and you'remade in my image, and you're
deeply loved by me.
And I want you to experiencethat.
I like what Jerry says to meoften, often, she says it all
the time.
I ah, Sabbath, you know, and ourSabbaths generally are Fridays
(25:40):
uh at 6 p.m.
to Saturday, 6 p.m.
And generally now, because I'mnot preaching, we go all the way
through Sunday.
And uh it's it's Jerry says, I II experienced the gospel.
I believe the gospel because Ilived it's just being loved, I
accomplished nothing, and I'mjust experiencing the love of
God.
And and so on Sabbath is whenwhen that when God's love
actually gets into ourbloodstream, it gets into our
(26:03):
bones, it gets into our bodies.
And that we stop on Sabbath toembrace our limits.
See, I I actually I continue tothink sometimes that I'm
indispensable and that, oh Lord,you know, I've got I have so
many visions and dreams.
I believe me, I I have enoughfor three lifetimes.
And but I'm not indispensable.
(26:24):
I'm a creature, God made me.
And so I stop because God's onthe throne, I'm not.
And you know what?
When I die, when you die, God'skingdom's gonna do just fine.
God's gonna continue to buildit.
The earth will be filled withthe glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea, and hewill continue uh building his
kingdom, and there will be a newheaven and a new earth, and
God's gonna wrap everything upunder Jesus.
It's gonna be wonderful, and wehave our part in it.
(26:47):
But we we're never finished.
You're never gonna finish yourto-do list.
You're never gonna finish allyour goals.
And so on Sabbath, we actuallyembrace our limits.
We stop.
That's why it's such animportant practice.
Give yourself six months tolearn, practice, pilot different
ways, what's gonna work for you.
Again, we're not talking about anew legalism.
(27:09):
Colossians 2 talks about that.
You know, a Sabbath, you know,well, Jesus talked about, first
of all, Mark II.
The Sabbath, you were not madefor Sabbath.
The Sabbath was made for you.
Mark 2, 27.
It's a gift from God for you.
And uh, and so it's something wereceive.
You you think God was putting agun to your head, say, rest,
delight, enjoy life, me, mygifts for you.
(27:30):
It's like, no, I gotta work,God, I gotta work.
No, I mean, this is it's it'sit's a God built into the fabric
of your as an image-bearer ofGod, work six, Sabbath one day,
24 hours.
And I would encourage you, youknow, stop for God's rhythm,
choose a day of the week, try tohave the same day each week.
(27:50):
It's a revolutionary act.
You I like what WalterBergemann's book, it's an act of
resistance against the powersand principality of the air,
because you're you're making astand, a statement.
So not just for you, foryourself, it's for everybody
around you that there's a Godwho rules the universe.
I, and I'm not thatindispensable.
And so we trust and rest in him.
(28:11):
And uh so I love that.
It's Ephesians 6, you know, 12to 12 to 18 about we're
resisting powers andprincipalities by the very act
of stopping, resting, anddelighting in him and
contemplating him.
And so Sabbath is a refusal togo the world's way.
And the fruit is our liveschange.
We we we begin to get infusedwith a spirit of rest as we're
working the other six days, andwe get less frantic, less
(28:34):
anxious, more responsive, moreloving, hopefully less reactive.
You're not God.
And this invitation of thispodcast is to enter a bit more
the freedom, uh, the experience,the freedom of actually
stopping.
And the second practice afterSabbath is the daily office.
And well, the daily office isit's not just a quiet time, it's
(28:55):
stopping to be with God, notonce, maybe twice or three times
a day.
I call them mini Sabbaths.
I stop in my day.
So most of you have a quiettime, which is awesome.
Uh, but we're talking here, adaily office comes out of
multiple pauses throughout theday.
Morning, hopefully midday, maybeevening.
Daniel prayed three times a day,we know from the book of Daniel.
(29:19):
David said, I seven times a daydo I praise you.
David has some kind of rhythm ofseven times a day.
We know that the early churchhad a rhythm of morning,
afternoon, evening prayer,because it was part of Orthodox
Judaism at that time.
It's been part of the earlychurch and part of church
history, this idea of the dailyoffice, morning, midday, evening
prayer.
It's not a new idea.
It's actually a very ancientone.
(29:41):
It's about stopping for limits.
And the purpose is not to getfrom God, it's to be with God.
It has silence built into it.
Seen silence and stillness, uh,I'm not in control.
It's got some, it's gotlistening built into it.
We're not always talking to God.
It's got scripture, obviously,in it.
But it's about it's stoppinglong enough that you're not,
(30:03):
you're getting the reality,you're not God.
He is.
And imagine all of us, and Iknow people listen to this
podcast from 120 differentcountries.
Imagine all of us stoppingtogether throughout the day to
stop to be with Jesus.
And maybe the morning's a longertime with Jesus, and you know,
afternoon and evening maybe muchshorter.
Uh, but you're re-we're allreorienting ourselves to God,
(30:25):
who sits on the throne, wholoves us.
That's with the daily office.
And that that's a root systemthat connects us.
Listen, that's why theemotionally healthy spirituality
course and the emotionallyhealthy relationship course,
which is really a practicaltheology uh of this whole
stopping and rhythms of beingwith God, but built into it is
the daily office.
And everyone does daily offices.
(30:47):
There's a uh spirituality,emotionally spirituality, day by
day, 40-day, you know,eight-week devotional, and a
relationships day by day, uh,eight-week devotional.
And everyone practices the dailyoffice of stopping.
So it's actually in some waysthe most difficult part of the
course because we like crackaddicts don't like to stop.
We just keep going.
(31:08):
And uh and so I want toencourage you to, you know you
may want to listen, listen, wewe want to encourage your first
steps.
If you've never done thatcourse, get the daily office
books, go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
course.
And I want to encourage you, getthe workbooks, do it with your
team, do it with three, four,five, six people.
Just wade into the material,begin to experience the rhythm
(31:32):
of stopping, of freedom of doingand being, of being Martha and
being married, being active andbeing contemplative, of speaking
and pushing forward, you know,swimming upstream and then also
floating, you know, with God.
So check that out.
So let me close.
The invitation of Genesis issimply this it's not simply,
(31:53):
it's not work harder.
And we are called to work.
And it's not simply rest more,it's deeper than that.
It's something older and deeper.
The invitation is for you tolive into God's rhythm, which is
active and then we stop.
That we stop, that it's part ofour being.
So we remember after doing,there is being.
After work, there is Sabbath.
(32:13):
After activity, there iscontemplative work.
There is after pressing forward,there is retreating.
After swimming, there isfloating.
You're not God.
And he invites us to deepfreedom in our lives.
So this week, um uh I want toencourage, take one step, one
step to stop.
Maybe try a Sabbath for a24-hour period.
(32:36):
Perhaps it is pray the dailyoffice, you know, get a hold of
that office book.
Um, uh, and and try doing adaily office, pausing to be with
God.
Build in silence.
Uh maybe it's pausing before youmake a decision out of fear or
anxiety.
Let something remain unfinished.
Let it go.
Bow before mystery and receivehis love, his gifts.
(32:57):
Trust him.
You're not, we don't have to beGod.
I don't have to be God.
You don't have to be God.
We're not indispensable.
And enjoy the freedom that'syours.
That's the beginning of freedom.
All right.
May the Lord bless you and keepyou and make his face shine on
you.
And uh thank you for being withme today on this emotionally
healthy leader podcast.
See you next time.
(33:19):
Blessings.
Hi, my name is Pete Scazaro.
I want to welcome you today tothe Emotionally Healthy Leader
Podcast.
Great to be with you.
Our topic or our theme today isYou Are Not God.
Experience the Freedom ofStopping.
You're not God.
Experience the freedom ofstopping.
I want to begin with anillustration, a true
(01:34):
illustration.
It comes from South Central Utahin Fish Lake National Forest.
And there is a tree there thatactually is so big it covers 106
acres.
That's actually 80 Americanfootball fields.
It looks like a forest,actually, of 47,000 different
(01:55):
white-barked aspen trees.
And they actually have beenalive, some scientists say, for
80,000 years, this particulartree.
And it doesn't, it doesn't looklike one tree.
It looks like 47,000 differentones.
But it's actually the trunk isgenetically connected to all the
other trunks.
They have the same DNA, and theyshare a single root system.
(02:17):
They're a single organism.
That particular tree is calledpando, Latin for ice spread.
It's the largest tree on earth,according to some scientists,
both by weight and by size, landarea.
So individual stems, actually,which are trees, they die every
100-150 years.
(02:39):
But the root system doesn'tcare.
When the trunk falls over, theroots simply send new growth
nearby.
And actually, after a wildfiresweeps through the area, it can
burn through all the trees, butthe root system remains intact.
And it's not a long time beforea whole new grove of trees
emerges.
The organism's what's calledimmortality, this panda system,
(03:01):
it may be 80,000 years old, butit has nothing to do with one
individual stem or oneindividual tree.
And it's its interconnectedness.
It's entirely from this network.
And so these roots shareresources.
So if one tree is weak, it getsextra nutrients and waters from
the others, and it helps thestruggling trees.
So it's not that the aspen tree,like an oak tree, goes deep.
(03:25):
It's actually it stays, it's itsconnection that makes it so
remarkable, this undergroundsource of power.
So in the same way, here atleast at emotionally healthy
discipleship, uh, we've reallymade a move to build community,
recognizing that part of theroot system, of course, is
spiritual practices like thedaily office and Sabbath and
rule of life, et cetera.
(03:46):
But there's a need for communityto keep the organism, the roots
connected and strong to be ableto make it through fires and
difficulties and trials and havea root system that's connected
to others.
And so the aspen doesn't surviveby going necessarily deeper, it
survives by staying connected.
And there's a truth in that forus as well.
(04:07):
But here's the problem we'rereally good at building and
pushing and making thingshappen.
We do struggle with our rootsystems, and thus we talk a lot
about practices here, stoppingand surrendering.
Uh, and uh, so our theme, and weneed, we need to grow our
connection, but our theme todayis you're not God, I'm not God.
And there we want to experiencethe freedom of actually
stopping.
(04:27):
So let me let me craft mycomments today around Genesis
chapters one, two, and three.
Now, God uh his creation inGenesis one makes it really
clear we were created forsomething extraordinary.
And so God creates the world andthis poetry here.
He creates this vast universe.
And the climax of that creationis in the sixth day.
(04:49):
He creates male and female,humanity.
Uh, he breeds into the dust andcreates living beings.
And every human being isunrepeatable, is is is is
unique, is is irreplaceable, isholy because our God is holy.
We're made in his image.
And uh Psalm 8 refers to us asthe crown of all creation.
(05:11):
He has crowned us with glory andhonor, it says in Psalm 8.
And this glory is the word inHebrew for kabad.
It's it's we have weight, wehave density, we there's an
awesomeness in human beings,there's there's substance that
leaves one speechless.
And so God crowns human beingswith glory.
(05:32):
What a, what a, and so worth isgiven to us before we do
anything, any kind of work.
And our dignity precedes anykind of accomplishments.
And and the sequence isimportant.
We're we're crowned and blessedwith glory, our very being out
of which we then work.
And so in Genesis 1.28, then Godgives us command to uh the first
(05:55):
humans and says, uh, be fruitfuland multiply.
And then he says, go and subduethe earth.
And that word subdue is likemake a path through a virgin
forest.
We're meant to extend the gloryand the kingdom of God on earth,
and so that everything we touchbecomes beautiful.
So even before there was sin inthe human race, there was work.
(06:16):
Work was good.
And and uh and so we are to,whether it's we're whether we're
homemaking, whether we're takingcare of children, whether we're
building a church or a smallgroup, building community,
whether we're we're sanitationworkers, whether we're lawyers
or doctors or social workers,and everything we do, we're like
artists, we we we create beautyand order and harmony and a
(06:38):
sense of God's imprint, bringingheaven to earth and anything
that we touch.
Uh we bring order into theworld.
And so, but Genesis also thengives us a work to do, um, and
it, but it gives us a limit.
So uh Adam and Eden are giventhis commandment to go and and
and to work, subdue the earth.
But then God says to them, youknow, go throughout the garden,
(07:00):
and you may eat freely from anytree of the garden, but you may
not eat from the tree of theknowledge of good and evil.
And God sets a limit.
No explanation is given.
It's actually a mystery.
And we learn later that the treeof the knowledge of good and
evil, this one tree was right inthe middle of the garden.
Like God didn't put it like in acorner where nobody would see
it.
It was right there in the middleof the garden.
(07:21):
And God says, Enjoy all mygarden, but this one tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, youknow, don't eat it.
And it's not about cruelty.
The tree confronted them, andthis limit of the tree confronts
us with God's authority.
As Augustine said, if youunderstand what's going on, or
you understand God, it's not Godthat you understand.
(07:43):
Uh, God's ways are so muchhigher than our ways.
You know, Romans 11 to 33.
Um, oh, the riches and theknowledge and the unsearchable
knowledge of God.
He, you know, who has known themind of the Lord?
It's so far beyond his paths arehis paths, are beyond tracing
out.
And and uh limits are wheremystery begins.
We we surrender to limits.
(08:05):
We we trust God in our limits.
And Adam and Eve were to trustGod and not eat from that
particular tree.
Their work was not to extendinto that particular tree.
And and uh, and actually whatGod does on the seventh day, God
rests, right?
They were to stop when they gotto that tree.
God on the seventh day ofcreation rests, he Sabbaths, uh,
(08:26):
and not because he was tired,but because he had finished, it
says.
He stopped, he stepped back, uh,he surveyed it all and said,
it's good.
In fact, he created humanbeings, he said, they're very
good.
You're you're good.
Uh and then he commanded thesame for us that we too are to
have a Sabbath.
So we're to we're to listen tothis contrast.
And I want you, it's it's arhythm.
(08:46):
And I want you to hear thisrhythm in Genesis 1 and 2.
And it goes like this afterdoing, uh, we are to stop.
Uh come after doing comes being.
After work comes a stop.
It's Sabbath.
After work comes Sabbath.
After action comes a stop, wesurrender.
(09:07):
After Martha, active for Jesus,comes Mary, we stop, we sit at
his feet.
After the city, in a sense, inas a metaphor, in the city, we
we stop and we go to the desertto be alone with the Father.
After engaging, we stop and welet go.
After swimming, in a sense, westop and we float in his love.
(09:29):
After being active, we stop andwe're contemplative.
After pressing forward, we stopand we retreat.
After doing, we stop and we bebefore the Lord.
So stopping's not aboutweakness.
Stopping very simply isacknowledging I am a creature
and I am not God controlling theworld.
(09:51):
And we remember that he is God,he's on the throne, he's running
the universe, and we are not.
And so a means of surrenderingourselves to him.
It's a means to trust him, eventhough we don't understand.
Uh, stopping is a way ofentering God's rhythms for us,
(10:14):
which is being and doing.
And so, but sin happens when wedon't stop.
And it's really interesting.
We see this in Genesis chaptertwo, um, or chapter three,
because the serpent comes andtempts uh Adam and Eve to cross
limits and said, God didn't saydon't eat from that tree in the
middle of the garden, becauseGod knows he's holding back from
(10:35):
you.
You keep going, you eat fromthat tree, and you know what?
You'll be just like God, knowingthe difference of good and evil.
You'll be just like him.
And uh the strategy is basicallyGod's withholding from you.
So don't embrace and surrenderto limits.
Uh, God's limiting yourpotential, actually.
He's holding you back.
And uh you better grasp it, youbetter take it, uh, because he's
(10:56):
not giving it to you.
So, so they cross over thoselimits.
They they violate those limits,they eat from the tree, and they
refuse to stop at God's rhythms.
And they keep going.
And it's it scripture definesthat as sin, rebellion against
(11:17):
God.
And when we violate God's giftof limits that are given to us,
we we enter, it's it's a form ofrebellion, and we enter into
enemy territory.
All kinds of catastrophic,catastrophic consequences
follow.
And uh, there is a rhythm thatGod has built into the universe.
(11:39):
There's a rhythm of there'stides in the ocean.
The tides come in, the tides goout.
There's a rhythm in the days,the sun goes up, the sun comes
down.
There's a rhythm in the day, andthen it's night.
There's a rhythm in breathing.
We breathe in, we breathe out.
God's built a rhythm into theseasons.
There's fall, winter, spring,and summer.
(12:00):
There's even a rhythm in ourlifespan.
Uh you know, we are children, wegrow older as teens, we get
middle-aged, we get elderly.
And and but and so there's atheology of limits in scripture,
which is all about stopping,surrendering, and trusting when
God sets a limit and says no.
(12:21):
Uh, and and we see this reallyin Jesus.
He is, uh he models it for us,where Jesus does not cross over
the limits.
Um, when the devil is invitinghim to cross over the limits,
turn these stones to bread, jumpdown from the from the temple,
you know, bow down for a minute,you can save everybody right
now.
And and Jesus is the secondAdam.
He he surrenders to the Father'slimits for him.
(12:42):
Uh and so, but we all fall intoit.
We we all fall into the trap,and not just them in the garden.
And every day in our work and inour lives, we we we cross a
line.
Like we fill our calendars outof fear.
We had to squeeze one more thinginto our to-do list each day
because we're afraid, like,what's gonna happen if I if I
actually stop?
Or we push even our childrensometimes to do things and get
(13:05):
into things because we'reanxious about their future.
And we don't stop and andsurrender and pray and let it
let them go and commit them toGod.
I know I've done it.
We make quick decisionssometimes, and and we don't
practice discernment and thewaiting involved in that because
we're fearful.
Or we build a ministry, we canbuild what we're doing out of
insecurity rather than a senseof centeredness in God.
(13:28):
And sometimes I, you know, Ioverwork, we overwork because we
feel like we're indispensable.
If we don't hold this thing up,it'll fall apart.
Who will do it?
Listen, I know uh I know wellthat sin and rebellion of not
stopping, because uh I've doneit.
I'll just think of just I mean,I'm embarrassed to tell you some
(13:50):
of the stories, especially in mypre-emotionally healthy
discipleship days.
Um, I remember I was soconcerned about keeping momentum
up, you know, our first seven,six, seven, eight years of
existence.
Uh we were planting, we plantedour church, we were planting
some other churches, but Iwanted, I wanted that adrenaline
momentum energy in the room.
(14:10):
And I remember calling a uh aleadership team meeting, must
have had 50 people in a room,and I wanted them to be excited
about vision.
And so I put big white uh padpaper all over the walls around
the room.
And I asked them to just dreamvision of what we could do for
(14:30):
God.
And everybody wrote all over theboard for like a half hour, and
and everybody got all excitedand moving around the room.
And then I circled, we wentaround and talked about and
circled big ones.
And it was a way for me of notstopping, of like, no, we we
can't bear the fact of a slowingdown season or God might prune
us or God might lead us into awinter.
God forbid, you know.
(14:51):
Um, and even and I just rememberjust launching, so even as I
entered into this ecosystem thatwe call theologically,
emotionally held thediscipleship, it was a slow burn
for me to let things graduallyunfold and actually stop and
surrender to God's limits.
And I remember uh even sometimesI'd pause, but launching another
(15:14):
service because I was just in arush.
You know, let's get thosenumbers in here, or making plans
to, you know, launch anotherministry because I don't want to
hurt people's feelings out offear, and I didn't want to stop
and actually wait.
Um, and I was anxious about whatpeople would think of me, and
uh, I made plans sometimes thatwere not God, and I said yes to
(15:37):
things before I really prayed,pondered, and listened.
And I know what it just, youknow, that that temptation to
not stop at God's limits isalways there.
I mean, I I knew it not justwhen I was pastoring our church,
especially around money, becauseas you know, you can cast a
vision, uh, especially tooutside people in our context.
We were in the inner city ofQueens, and foundations and
(15:58):
others I'd like to have gottenmoney for.
And this actually has happenedeven in emotionally how the
discipleship and in early years,like if you give a big enough
vision, uh plans I may not evenhave gotten from God yet, you
can potentially get a lot ofmoney.
But I realize, oh, visionfollows, you know, listening to
God, then strategy has to unfoldwith the right people in place.
(16:21):
And out of that, then followsmoney, that there's an order of
God's economy of how we buildministries with integrity.
And I and uh I just had torecognize I we have to stop and
not be seduced by even money ornumbers.
And and um uh it was a it wasit's been very helpful to me
(16:42):
over the years, but it was it'sbeen a slow learning process,
all I want to say.
It didn't happen over overnight.
You know, if you've ever readDante's Divine Comedy, he's got
this one uh scene where uh whichI could never shake.
And he's got his description ofthe devil in hell.
We think of the of the of hellbeing on fire, you know, and
(17:04):
he's got hell.
Uh the devil is frozen, Satan isfrozen in ice, and he's weeping
from sick eyes.
And he's got instead he doesn'thave angel wings now, he has bat
wings, and he's beating themfuriously, you know, in a rage,
and all this effort, all thisactivity, all this motion, but
(17:27):
he's going nowhere.
He's frozen in ice.
And it's such a powerful pictureof he's not gonna stop.
He's grasping, he's striving,he's tons of movement and
motion, all this effort, butthere's no fruit coming from it.
That's what I would call awillful Christianity, which I
(17:50):
know well.
I'm just being willful.
I'm not stopping and I'm notexperiencing freedom because I
got work to do here and thisfeeling of indispensability.
Uh versus a uh a willingrelationship.
Willful versus willing.
Uh a willing relationship meansI'm receiving, I'm surrendering,
(18:10):
I'm trusting the rhythm God'sbuilt into the universe and that
he's built into my lives.
And I'm not pushing and I'mwilling to stop.
So the question is, you know,how do I get back?
If if our first parents broke uhthe uh they violated God's gift
of limits and rebelled againstGod because they were just going
(18:31):
to make it happen and didn'twant to surrender to his
authority.
Well, what's our way to how dowe stop?
Well, Jesus, of course, shows usthe way back to stop because
he's our second Adam.
And maybe Adam and Eve grasped,Jesus received and surrendered.
And we're uh Adam and Evedisobeyed, Jesus obeys and
embraces the Father's will andhis timetable.
(18:52):
He never grasped, he neverstrived, uh, he didn't tell, he
didn't heal everybody in everycity, uh, he didn't respond to
every demand, he didn't travelall over the world.
The crowds pressed in on himconstantly, but he he didn't let
them set the calendar.
He uh unlike Luke 5, 16, heoften withdrew to lonely places
and he prayed.
(19:12):
He stopped.
He worked and he stopped and hehad a rhythm.
He resisted the devil's and heresisted people's seductions to
get out of the father'stimetable, the father's um way
of functioning, and he movedaccording to the father's
rhythm.
And when three years, when hisministry was up, he he followed
(19:34):
the father into the crucifixionand resurrection.
Um it was a three-year ministrywith lots of stops, and but
those three years changed thewhole world.
I mean, but he made stopping anon-negotiable for himself, and
he makes it for us as well.
And I love John the Baptist, youknow, because John the Baptist
stopped.
I mean, he's a great model forme, one of my favorites in
scripture after Jesus, where hesays in John 3, after they come
(19:59):
to John and say, John is Jesusas emerged, and everyone's
starting to follow him.
And you're losing followers,basically.
And John the Baptist says, aperson to his followers, he
says, a person can receive onlywhat is given to them from
heaven.
And he stops.
He recognizes he is not to keepbuilding John the Baptist
(20:20):
ministries.
Uh, and uh he surrenders, hetrusts, he he waits, he uh and
he makes stopping anon-negotiable, you know, in his
own life.
And so what I've it'sinteresting, even just very
recently, I'll give you anexample of how this worked out
for me.
Uh now I've got built into mylife uh Sabbaths every week for
(20:40):
a 24-hour period.
I've got a daily office,offices, morning, midday,
evening prayer built into mylife.
Uh I have a day along with Godeach month built into my rule of
life.
Uh, but for my birthday, whichis coming up, it was interesting
because Jerry, I was talkingabout what I want for my
birthday, you know, and and agift.
She goes, why don't you giveyourself a gift and and go away
(21:02):
for uh for five days to thisparticular monastery that we we
love and go for a silent retreatfor five days.
And I was like, Yes, yes.
And uh, you know, basically shewas saying, stop.
Now what's interesting, I'm nolonger, I was 26 years, I was a
lead pastor of a church.
(21:22):
I was president of emotionaldiscipleship for 12 years, 13
years, whatever.
And I'm no longer president.
I'm I'm just I have my rolewithin it as a part-time staff.
And you think, oh, Pete, well,you're you can stop easy now.
Well, no, I've I've still got Igot so much to do, I think I
don't have time to stop.
(21:43):
And it's so easy for me not tobe listening for God's rhythms,
deep rhythms for me, of stoppingand working.
And again, work is paid andunpaid work.
And because remember, uh sin itcan be described also as a a
grass as a refusal to embraceGod's rhythms and limits that he
(22:05):
gives us.
And and uh so it's just sointeresting.
I so I've been I've been youknow Jesus shows us that that
stopping is not a failure, it'sactually stopping and
surrendering is an act of trustand surrender.
So my prayer, my hope for you isI want you to experience the
freedom of the experience ofstopping.
(22:29):
So I want to talk to you abouttwo pro two practices that can
restore that rhythm for yourlife.
And I'd say these are the firsttwo practices to build in.
The first rhythm, it's andagain, you can't just preach
this.
You can't just read about it andhear about it in a podcast.
It has to be lived.
You've got to enter into it.
You've got to let your it let itget into your body because you
(22:50):
were actually built for it.
It's in your design to work andto stop.
And so, you know, in our as someof you may know, we in my
different books, I present arule of life.
And we actually have a rule oflife for pastors and leaders
around the world.
And it comes out of Benedictinespirituality, and you've got
prayer is one quadrant, rest.
(23:11):
Is another quadrant,relationships is a third
quadrant, and work is the fourthquadrant.
And these last few podcasts, Ihave actually been touching on
different aspects of that ruleof life.
Things like Lectio Divina.
I've talked about the examine,talk about how do I spend a day
alone with God.
(23:32):
And I actually chose this textand this theme today because I
wanted to touch on two otheraspects that are in this rule of
life that I think every leader,uh, every person who follows
Jesus wholeheartedly is worthbuilding into your life so that
you can stop and embrace God'srhythms and gift of limits.
(23:54):
The first is Sabbath, the weeklyrhythm of a 24-hour period where
you stop your work paid andunpaid, you rest from all of
your labor, uh, you do thingsthat replenish your soil, you
delight in the gifts of God inall of the world, whatever
brings you to light, and thenyou contemplate him.
(24:15):
But by that I mean you're seeingthe invisible God and all of his
gifts in the visible creation.
And so Sabbath actuallyliterally means in Hebrew to
stop.
It means I stop.
And it's not a day off.
It's not there, it's not to makeyou more productive, although it
does make us more productive theother six days.
It's not a recovery.
(24:36):
It's a 24-hour period built in,it's a practice uh built in to
stop, rest, delight, andcontemplate God.
So you stop, first of all, youstop to let yourself be loved.
It's it's Genesis chapter one,that you're extraordinary,
you're you're loved, you'reyou're good.
You're not, you're you're you'reyou're you're we may be
(24:56):
disordered by sin, but we'remade in God's image.
And and we don't live startingin Genesis three.
We live in Genesis one and two,pre-sin, but you're God loves
you.
He created you, you'reunrepeatable, he's got a purpose
for you, he's got a destiny foryou.
And and you were a slave, Godsays in Egypt, but now I've set
you free.
And and yes, you're to work uhand you're to rest, you're to
(25:19):
have a rhythm in your in yourweek.
And God says, you're not a toolanymore.
You're not, I'm not using you,and you're not indispensable.
Uh, you're sacred, and you'remade in my image, and you're
deeply loved by me.
And I want you to experiencethat.
I like what Jerry says to meoften, often, she says it all
the time.
I ah, Sabbath, you know, and ourSabbaths generally are Fridays
(25:40):
uh at 6 p.m.
to Saturday, 6 p.m.
And generally now, because I'mnot preaching, we go all the way
through Sunday.
And uh it's it's Jerry says, I II experienced the gospel.
I believe the gospel because Ilived it's just being loved, I
accomplished nothing, and I'mjust experiencing the love of
God.
And and so on Sabbath is whenwhen that when God's love
actually gets into ourbloodstream, it gets into our
(26:03):
bones, it gets into our bodies.
And that we stop on Sabbath toembrace our limits.
See, I I actually I continue tothink sometimes that I'm
indispensable and that, oh Lord,you know, I've got I have so
many visions and dreams.
I believe me, I I have enoughfor three lifetimes.
And but I'm not indispensable.
(26:24):
I'm a creature, God made me.
And so I stop because God's onthe throne, I'm not.
And you know what?
When I die, when you die, God'skingdom's gonna do just fine.
God's gonna continue to buildit.
The earth will be filled withthe glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea, and hewill continue uh building his
kingdom, and there will be a newheaven and a new earth, and
God's gonna wrap everything upunder Jesus.
It's gonna be wonderful, and wehave our part in it.
(26:47):
But we we're never finished.
You're never gonna finish yourto-do list.
You're never gonna finish allyour goals.
And so on Sabbath, we actuallyembrace our limits.
We stop.
That's why it's such animportant practice.
Give yourself six months tolearn, practice, pilot different
ways, what's gonna work for you.
Again, we're not talking about anew legalism.
(27:09):
Colossians 2 talks about that.
You know, a Sabbath, you know,well, Jesus talked about, first
of all, Mark II.
The Sabbath, you were not madefor Sabbath.
The Sabbath was made for you.
Mark 2, 27.
It's a gift from God for you.
And uh, and so it's something wereceive.
You you think God was putting agun to your head, say, rest,
delight, enjoy life, me, mygifts for you.
(27:30):
It's like, no, I gotta work,God, I gotta work.
No, I mean, this is it's it'sit's a God built into the fabric
of your as an image-bearer ofGod, work six, Sabbath one day,
24 hours.
And I would encourage you, youknow, stop for God's rhythm,
choose a day of the week, try tohave the same day each week.
(27:50):
It's a revolutionary act.
You I like what WalterBergemann's book, it's an act of
resistance against the powersand principality of the air,
because you're you're making astand, a statement.
So not just for you, foryourself, it's for everybody
around you that there's a Godwho rules the universe.
I, and I'm not thatindispensable.
And so we trust and rest in him.
(28:11):
And uh so I love that.
It's Ephesians 6, you know, 12to 12 to 18 about we're
resisting powers andprincipalities by the very act
of stopping, resting, anddelighting in him and
contemplating him.
And so Sabbath is a refusal togo the world's way.
And the fruit is our liveschange.
We we we begin to get infusedwith a spirit of rest as we're
working the other six days, andwe get less frantic, less
(28:34):
anxious, more responsive, moreloving, hopefully less reactive.
You're not God.
And this invitation of thispodcast is to enter a bit more
the freedom, uh, the experience,the freedom of actually
stopping.
And the second practice afterSabbath is the daily office.
And well, the daily office isit's not just a quiet time, it's
(28:55):
stopping to be with God, notonce, maybe twice or three times
a day.
I call them mini Sabbaths.
I stop in my day.
So most of you have a quiettime, which is awesome.
Uh, but we're talking here, adaily office comes out of
multiple pauses throughout theday.
Morning, hopefully midday, maybeevening.
Daniel prayed three times a day,we know from the book of Daniel.
(29:19):
David said, I seven times a daydo I praise you.
David has some kind of rhythm ofseven times a day.
We know that the early churchhad a rhythm of morning,
afternoon, evening prayer,because it was part of Orthodox
Judaism at that time.
It's been part of the earlychurch and part of church
history, this idea of the dailyoffice, morning, midday, evening
prayer.
It's not a new idea.
It's actually a very ancientone.
(29:41):
It's about stopping for limits.
And the purpose is not to getfrom God, it's to be with God.
It has silence built into it.
Seen silence and stillness, uh,I'm not in control.
It's got some, it's gotlistening built into it.
We're not always talking to God.
It's got scripture, obviously,in it.
But it's about it's stoppinglong enough that you're not,
(30:03):
you're getting the reality,you're not God.
He is.
And imagine all of us, and Iknow people listen to this
podcast from 120 differentcountries.
Imagine all of us stoppingtogether throughout the day to
stop to be with Jesus.
And maybe the morning's a longertime with Jesus, and you know,
afternoon and evening maybe muchshorter.
Uh, but you're re-we're allreorienting ourselves to God,
(30:25):
who sits on the throne, wholoves us.
That's with the daily office.
And that that's a root systemthat connects us.
Listen, that's why theemotionally healthy spirituality
course and the emotionallyhealthy relationship course,
which is really a practicaltheology uh of this whole
stopping and rhythms of beingwith God, but built into it is
the daily office.
And everyone does daily offices.
(30:47):
There's a uh spirituality,emotionally spirituality, day by
day, 40-day, you know,eight-week devotional, and a
relationships day by day, uh,eight-week devotional.
And everyone practices the dailyoffice of stopping.
So it's actually in some waysthe most difficult part of the
course because we like crackaddicts don't like to stop.
We just keep going.
(31:08):
And uh and so I want toencourage you to, you know you
may want to listen, listen, wewe want to encourage your first
steps.
If you've never done thatcourse, get the daily office
books, go toemotionallyhealthy.org slash
course.
And I want to encourage you, getthe workbooks, do it with your
team, do it with three, four,five, six people.
Just wade into the material,begin to experience the rhythm
(31:32):
of stopping, of freedom of doingand being, of being Martha and
being married, being active andbeing contemplative, of speaking
and pushing forward, you know,swimming upstream and then also
floating, you know, with God.
So check that out.
So let me close.
The invitation of Genesis issimply this it's not simply,
(31:53):
it's not work harder.
And we are called to work.
And it's not simply rest more,it's deeper than that.
It's something older and deeper.
The invitation is for you tolive into God's rhythm, which is
active and then we stop.
That we stop, that it's part ofour being.
So we remember after doing,there is being.
After work, there is Sabbath.
(32:13):
After activity, there iscontemplative work.
There is after pressing forward,there is retreating.
After swimming, there isfloating.
You're not God.
And he invites us to deepfreedom in our lives.
So this week, um uh I want toencourage, take one step, one
step to stop.
Maybe try a Sabbath for a24-hour period.
(32:36):
Perhaps it is pray the dailyoffice, you know, get a hold of
that office book.
Um, uh, and and try doing adaily office, pausing to be with
God.
Build in silence.
Uh maybe it's pausing before youmake a decision out of fear or
anxiety.
Let something remain unfinished.
Let it go.
Bow before mystery and receivehis love, his gifts.
(32:57):
Trust him.
You're not, we don't have to beGod.
I don't have to be God.
You don't have to be God.
We're not indispensable.
And enjoy the freedom that'syours.
That's the beginning of freedom.
All right.
May the Lord bless you and keepyou and make his face shine on
you.
And uh thank you for being withme today on this emotionally
healthy leader podcast.
See you next time.
(33:19):
Blessings.
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