Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Faith Word Baptist Church.
Great to see you all here for our Sunday morning service.
Well, please have a seat and open up that window to sign number 357.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number 357,
ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
357, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign
number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the sign number
237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and
not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 237, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
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sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
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sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
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sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by
singing the sign number 175, ask and seek and
not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing
the sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
We begin this morning's service by singing the
sign number 175, ask and seek and not.
Amen.
So this morning, I'll be continuing on and
actually concluding the series that I started several weeks now regarding the wells of
wellness.
If you remember, we started this probably about five weeks ago, I believe, and we were
talking about, over the last few Sunday mornings, the different wells that we need
to be digging in our lives, and we of course got that from the biblical analogy
of a well, and it's a very biblical one to think about life, different areas of
our lives, as these wells that we have to deepen.
And if you remember, in every sermon, I tried to give you a specific shovel and the daily
digging that you can do in each of these wells in order to deepen each of these different
areas of your life.
We talked about the well of wisdom, how that was our primary need that we need to
be digging that well through Bible reading, memorization, study, church attendance.
We talked about the well of work because obviously these are major areas of our life,
right?
The well of wisdom, our Bible, our walk with God, the well of work, you know, not being
an optional well, and I'm not going to preach all these, just reviewing them very
quickly.
The well of welcome, we talked about being faithful to our family and to our friends
and to our fellows, and last week the well of wonder, where we talked about deepening
our appreciation for the works of God and of man, and this morning I'll be concluding
by talking about this last well of wellness, the well of well-being.
Now that seems kind of redundant, obviously, but when I talk about, say, well-being,
what I'm talking about is the state of being happy and healthy, right?
Being in good health, okay?
And if you look there in 1 John, or excuse me, 3 John chapter 1, it says in verse
2,
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as
thy soul prospereth.
So obviously John here writing to the church, writing to believers, he's saying, I'm glad
that you're saved, and now I wish above all things that you would prosper, right?
That you would be fruitful, that you would bear fruit in your lives, and also that you
would be in health, right?
That you would be in good health, and even as thy soul prospered, right?
So we see here that it's a good thing to desire health in our lives.
And this is important because a lot of times people, you know, health often is very neglected
in our lives.
It's one of those things that's just kind of an afterthought.
It's something maybe we'll just get around to when it's convenient, and then when
our health goes south, when our health isn't what it ought to be, that's when we
really start to appreciate it and wish that we were in good health, right?
So it's one of those things we'll miss when it's gone, right?
All that a man hath shall he give for his life, okay?
And God wants us to be well, you know, God wants us to be in health, God wants
us to be healthy, God wants us to be happy people, and one of the ways that we can
obtain this is through obedience to God's word.
Now if you would, you can go ahead and turn over to Proverbs chapter 20.
I'll just very quickly move through this first point that, you know, God wanting us
to be in good health is evident in scripture because of the fact that if we obey scripture,
you know, that's going to lead to better health.
It is.
Not saying that our life is ever going to be free from disease or our life is going
to be, you know, the perfect picture of health, that we're not going to have struggles and
things like that that we go through, but it's going to spare us a lot of unnecessary
suffering, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, if we obey God's word.
I'll just read to you a few verses.
The Bible says, Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Right?
He's saying, Depart from evil, depart from sin, depart from iniquity, it shall be health
to thine navel and marrow to thine bones.
You know, obviously he's speaking figuratively, but we can also take that quite literally
as well, that if we depart from evil, it will literally be health to our navel.
It will literally be marrow to our bones.
It will strengthen us.
It will keep us in good health.
You know, the Bible commands us to not, you know, drink alcohol, to be sober minded,
that we shouldn't be given over to drugs and alcohol, that we shouldn't be consuming
these things.
You know, if we obey that command in scripture, that's going to spare us a lot of unnecessary
physical suffering, a lot of, spare us a lot of mental anguish even, right?
We're not going to succumb to the different diseases that come along with that.
We're not going to have the same problems and negative consequences that come into other
people's lives if we obey God in that way.
So you can see how just obeying God's word will naturally lead you down a healthier life
of well-being.
Okay?
You know, God wants us to be in good health.
That's why he gives us these commandments in scripture.
They're often given to us for our own good, to benefit us, right?
He said in Deuteronomy, again, I'll just read to you, thou therefore shall, thou shalt
keep therefore his statutes and his commandments, which I command in this day, is God is
just a big meanie who wants to ruin all of your fun, right?
And you know, that's not what it says, obviously, but that's the mentality that a lot of
people have sometimes.
They just look at the Christian life as a bunch of do's and don'ts.
They just look at the Bible as just this book of commandments, and it is, and rules,
and it is, but they often forget why those commandments are there to begin with.
Why it is that we should be obedient.
Why should we obey his commandments?
Why should we keep the statutes that are commanded us?
That it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest
prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever.
You know, if we obey God's commands, if we keep his, we're obedient to the things
which are commanded to us in scripture, we are going to have a longer and healthier
life.
Obviously, we're all subject to, you know, random things that could come into our lives,
accidents, disease could come out of nowhere.
That's not necessarily always the hand of God.
That's just part of being, you know, human, just being alive in this world.
But generally speaking, you know, if we keep God's commandments, we're going to avoid
a lot of the pitfalls that come into other people's lives, and we're going to be blessed
as a result.
So I'm just starting out this morning just trying to make that case.
You know, and really, that's what I'm just trying to do with this whole series that
I've preached, is just give you the idea of, you know, deepening these different
wells in your life.
And I've just cited a few examples over the last few weeks, just giving you a few specific
ways in which we could do this.
You know, this is really a series that could just go on and on and on, and we could talk
about all the different areas and all the different ways in which we can have a deeper
walk with God, a more meaningful life, right?
And tonight, or this morning, rather, I'm just trying to touch on this one area of
well-being, okay, of how you can be healthier by looking to the scripture and obeying
what it says.
Now let me give you, as I said, you know, every sermon in the series, there was the
specific shovel.
We were using the analogy of digging a well.
How do you dig a well?
Today you probably use a backhoe or some kind of an excavator, you probably just drill
down with something, but you know, we're going old school, right?
So we're talking about shovels, okay?
So let me give you the specific shovel of the sermon when it comes to how to deepen
this well of well-being in your life, okay?
The specific shovel is sleep, okay?
It's sleep.
Now there's a lot of different ones we could talk about, right?
And we probably don't want to hear about.
We could talk about diet and exercise, and those are all fine and good.
But I believe sleep really is a very critical thing that we need to, if we are able to,
to make sure that we are on top of in our lives.
And if we do this, that we will have a better state of health, we will be deepening
this well of wellness, we'll have more health and happiness in our lives if we pay attention
to sleep.
And the Bible talks about sleep, and the Bible does talk about sleep quite a bit, okay?
Now let me just, before I get into the positive mentions of sleep, let me just deal with
the negative, right?
Because some people might latch onto this and say, aha, see deacons for sleeping, right?
Which means, you know, don't set the alarm clock.
You know, mom, dad, you heard the preaching, sleeping is good.
The Bible says so.
Why can't I sleep in till 11 a.m.?
Why can't I, you know, why can't I stay, sleep in till 1 p.m., where, you know, I doubt
anybody in the room is doing that, right?
Why can't I sleep 12, 13, 15 hours out of the day?
You know, maybe some of you are, I don't know.
You know, let me just sleep in and get up and not be productive and just take naps
and, you know, the Bible does talk negatively about sleep too, so let me cover that first.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 9, I'll just read to you, how long
without sleep, O sluggard, when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
So a sluggardly person is somebody who oversleeps, who sleeps too much, right?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so
shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as an armed man.
The Bible says if you're one who just sleeps in, doesn't get to work, can't hold
down a job, you're going to be a poor person, right?
You know, today, that's a complaint you often hear, we just need people who are willing
to show up on time and work.
There's so many people today that just want to stay at home and not work, okay?
And I don't want to go on and on about that, but the Bible does talk about the
negative aspects of being one who sleeps in, who oversleeps, who, you know, goes
to that extreme, that it's actually a form of laziness, okay?
Bible says in Proverbs 26, we looked at this, I believe, last week, as the door turneth
upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
You know, the person who sleeps in more than they actually need, they're trying to
get more sleep than their body actually needs, they don't even get that good of
sleep, right?
They keep hitting the snooze button every 10 minutes or whatever, and they're like
that door that's just rocking back and forth.
They're not getting any more quality sleep, they just don't want to forego the comfort
of that nice warm bed and that soft pillow and go start facing the day, okay?
So obviously, you know, we can look at sleep in a negative way, the Bible does have negative
mentions of sleep, but it also talks about it positively.
One last negative mention where you are in Proverbs chapter 20, and you're going
to want to bookmark that.
I'm going to have you bookmark a couple places this morning, just giving you a heads
up.
But bookmark Proverbs 20, we'll come back towards the end and look at this verse again.
But it says in verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made
even them both, both of them, excuse me, love not sleep, lest thou come
to poverty.
Now, does he say don't sleep?
Does he say forego sleeping?
No, he simply says love it, don't love it.
Love not sleep.
Meaning we shouldn't just be people who just want to sleep in and be lazy and not
do any work, right?
Because that's the picture that you see in Proverbs, you know, the sluggard, the
person who refuses to work is the person that loves sleep, and those things are
related.
He's saying love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty, right?
That was the same picture that we saw in Proverbs six, lest thy, you know, poverty
come to you as, as, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, excuse me, poverty come as
one that travaileth and they want, or they need as an armed man.
If we sleep in, you know, we're not going to have, get the work in that we need
to get.
We're not going to earn the income that we need to.
Lest thou come to poverty, open thine eyes and thou shall be satisfied with that, with
bread.
What he's saying is get up, get after it basically, right?
Now that's one extreme.
Okay.
Obviously that could have its application in our world today and in our lives today
that we don't want to be people who love sleep to the point where it's robbing us,
you know, it's, it's affecting our lives financially.
Okay.
But sleeping today is also wrong or excuse me, uh, going without sleep or sleeping less
today is often wrongfully, I believe, equated with being productive.
Okay.
And I'm gonna talk about this a little bit this morning, this idea that's out there
that, Hey, you need to just sleep less and work more.
Okay.
The Bible, you know, cause you might get that impression.
The Bible saying here in Proverbs, you know, we just looked at a few verses.
Don't love sleep.
You're going to come to poverty.
Don't be somebody who sleeps in or you're going to be a poor person.
So people tend to maybe run to the other extreme and say, well, let's just not sleep.
Let's just go get as little sleep as we can so we can just go, go, go, go.
Now the Bible's all for working hard and putting it in honest day's work.
But you know what?
We can't run to either extreme because we want to be people who live long lives.
We want to be people who can accomplish much over time.
Okay.
We want to deepen this well of wellness, this well of wellbeing by having balance
in our lives when it comes to this concept or this idea or this really reality of sleep.
Okay.
You know, sleep is something that is equated with pro or lack of sleep is equated with
productivity.
But is that necessarily the case?
Well, we'll look at that here in a minute.
Let me just point out, first of all, you know, that Jesus is somebody that slept when
he was on this earth, right?
Obviously Jesus had a lot of work to do, didn't he?
Jesus was on a mission.
You know, he was here to do his father's business.
He had the work that he had to accomplish.
He was on a schedule.
He had to be places, but you know, we see Jesus sleeping in scripture and it's kind
of interesting.
You know, we get a few details here of some different instances when he slept.
You're in Mark.
I should've had you go to Mark four, go to Mark four, keep something in Proverbs 20.
When you get to Mark four, I know bookmark that too.
We're going to be in Proverbs, Mark and John.
Okay.
Those are the three bookmarks.
I'll remind us of one of these instances when Jesus slept in Matthew eight, it says,
and when he was entered in a ship, his disciples followed him and behold, there grows
a rose, a great tempest in the sea and so much the ship was covered with the waves, but
he was asleep.
Okay.
Obviously there's this greater application that Jesus, you know, he can calm the storm
that he's not worried about these things.
The storms that come into our lives, you know, we shouldn't fret over.
God is in control, but it's interesting.
That's when Jesus chose to sleep right in the middle of a storm, right?
Maybe he fell asleep and then the storm came probably is what happened and his disciples
came to him and it woke him saying, Lord, save us.
We perish in the parallel passage where you are in Mark four.
Look at verse 37 Mark four 37 and Mark four 37 and there rose a great storm of wind and
the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full and he was in the hinder part
of the sheet.
The ship asleep on a pillow and they awake him and say unto him, master cares though
not that we perish.
And I think it's an interesting detail there that it points out that he was asleep on
a pillow.
You know, Jesus didn't just get in the ship not intending to sleep or to, he didn't
just kind of nod off, right?
He intended to sleep.
He's like, well, here's my opportunity.
You get some shut eye.
You guys can go ahead and row through the night and I'm going to get the sleep that
I need.
Where's my pillow?
Right?
So he's sleeping on a pillow, meaning he intended to sleep.
Okay.
And I'm preaching this because people, again, today they go from one extreme to the other.
You have the group of people who just want to do nothing but sleep and they love
sleeping.
Then you have the workaholics, people who want to just forgo sleep, operate on as little
sleep as they can.
They mistake that for productivity when really you have to kind of wonder how productive
are they, how efficient are they when they don't have the sleep that they need?
If you're well rested, you could probably get more done in a shorter amount of time
than being somebody who's operating on very little sleep and just working more.
Probably your efficiency drops big time when you don't sleep.
So I'm just preaching this because again, sleep's very important.
We see here an example of Jesus intending to sleep.
We can't run to one extreme or the other.
The reason why is that sleep, you know, is a restorative function that is designed by
God.
You know, and I'm speaking probably more now to the types and if you would go over
to John four, John chapter four, these, these types out there that, you know, are
just these hyper productive workaholics, people who just want to forgo sleep and just look
down on anybody else that isn't willing to just, you know, do nothing but work with
their life.
Obviously, you know, we need to work.
We just read Proverbs.
We just looked at those verses.
We don't want our poverty come as a, as an armed man.
You know, we don't want to suffer want.
We don't want to beg and have nothing.
You know, we need to be people that don't make excuses, that don't sleep in and put
in an honest day's work, you know, and, and, and, and earn a living, right?
But let's not run to the other extreme either and just work ourselves to an early grave.
Okay.
And that's what happens.
And you know, people who, you know, maybe they're working a lot in the, in the meantime,
but you know, it's having devastating effects on their longterm health.
And again, that's what I'm talking about this morning, deepening this well of wellbeing.
You sleep to live a healthier life, okay?
Have the right perspective of it.
Don't be somebody that sleeps in, but don't be somebody that just does nothing but work
and forgoes the sleep that they need.
Jesus was somebody that was subject to sleep because sleep is a restorative function designed
by God himself.
Okay.
It's not like it's this curse that we just have to endure.
You know, it's, it's part of our, our makeup as human beings.
John four, look at verse six.
Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus, therefore being wearied with his journey.
You know what?
The son of God in this flesh, he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
You know, he's just like us.
He had a body like us.
You know, he wearied.
It's a natural thing to get tired.
You know, that's part of God's design.
You know, God, you know, has put it a certain biological rhythms into our body that certain
times we're going to be more tired than others.
And we're designed to go to sleep and to get that sleep.
That's an important thing to understand because of, you know, this world that we're living
in today and the society and the culture that's out there, you know, there's a, there's
a group of people that really promote, you know, just not sleep, getting the sleep that
you need just for going sleep.
There's types of these people out there that promote this kind of mentality.
You know, the hustle culture.
I'm sure a lot of people have heard that, right?
The hustle culture that's out there where it's just, it's, and it's all about making
money a lot of times.
It's just about these entrepreneurs and people who just forgo time with their family for
sake having doing anything else and it's just go, go, go sleep, you know, just
sun up to sundown and beyond.
Just work as little sleep as you can and just get everything done and go.
It's called the hustle culture.
What they should really call it is the covetous culture because that's really what
it is.
It's just about getting more money, more wealth, more power, more prestige, achieving
more, just me, me, me, and just pushing yourself to this limit so you can just have
more stuff, more things or obtain a certain lifestyle.
That's covetous friend.
It says that we should be content with such things as we have, that we should not be covetous
people.
Okay?
That's where a lot of this mentality comes from, right?
And again, I'm not against people getting up and put in a hard day's work.
You know, work the eight, 10, you know, 12 hour day if you need to, whatever you
got to do to get the bills paid, but you know, if your whole motivation in life
is just to get more and have more and you're even willing to go to the place where
you're going to start to sacrifice your own health just to have more stuff and things,
you know, you're a covetous person.
I don't know how else you would call it.
What else you would call that?
And this is an important sermon, it's an important topic because that kind of mentality
is out there.
And the Bible warns us to not be spoiled by those that would, you know, men out there
that would spoil us through what?
Through vain philosophy.
They have this philosophy about life, about how you should live life, right?
It's all over social media.
You have people out there, you know, on YouTube and Instagram and other places who
are promoting a way of living, a philosophy, an approach to life in the hustle culture.
You know, people are just going to try to get you to just be all about work and
attaining, you know, make that six figure income, get that passive income so you can
live, you know, the life you've always wanted to live, right?
That's a philosophy that's out there.
It's vain deceit.
The Bible warns us about the fact that there are many unruly and vain talkers that
are gone out into the world, okay?
If you would, go over to Psalm 127.
And obviously, you know, a lot of times there's good things that will come out of, you know,
even the world.
You know, we can look to some people in the world, some people who might know something
about time management, people who might know about how to make money and things like
that.
I'm not totally against that, but what I'm saying is we don't want to fall for
this covetous culture, this hustle culture that's going to tell us to just sacrifice
everything else in order to just make money or attain some, you know, lifestyle, okay?
Obviously, there's a lot of things we can look to and draw from.
And as I've mentioned in other sermons, you know, a lot of times when you find
people that have, even out in the world, unsaved people who have a philosophy or just
an approach to living that is actually good, what you'll find is whether they
know it or not, it just lines up with scripture.
You know, and we're told to try the spirits, right?
We're told to see whether they'd be of God or maybe just whether or not they, what
they're preaching and teaching lines up with what the Bible teaches.
Ultimately, you know, this is where we get our approach to life is the word of
God and the Bible should be our guide.
The Bible should teach us how to live in all areas of life.
When it comes to work, when it comes to our family, when it comes to how we spend
our free time, when it comes to our health, when it comes to our finances, when it
comes to everything that we're going to invest in in this life, you know, it ought to be
biblical.
It ought to be based on the Bible.
I mean, we're Christians.
Good night.
That should go without saying.
You know, why would we turn to the world who's just chasing after stuff and things
and allow them to, you know, influence us and encourage us to live a life that God
doesn't intend for us?
A life that's not content, a life that's full of consciousness, a life that's willing
to sacrifice, yay, even our own health just to get ahead, right?
Are you in Psalm 127?
If you look there at verse two, it says, it is vain for you to rise up early, to sit
up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
You know, God gives his beloved sleep.
God loves us.
God has designed sleep.
It's this thing that we need.
God wants us to get the rest that we need so that we can be in health, so that we
can prosper even as our soul prosperous.
We're talking about, you know, digging this well of wellness, this well of well-being.
Sleep is critical, right?
Really when it comes to our physical health, we can narrow it down probably to just three
things, right?
Diet, you know, I'm not going to preach about that because that's just a whole, you
know, you're basically asking for it, you start preaching about diet.
You know, whether or not people are forward against it and you just get this multitude
of opinions about what diet is right and how we should all be eating.
You have to access the same internet I have, go figure out your diet on your own.
You know, exercise, that's a dirty word anymore too, right?
And again, that's a realm fraught with conflicting opinions.
You figure that out on your own.
But sleep, you know, is kind of, you can't, either you sleep or you don't, right?
You know, unless you get into one of these weirdos who say, you know, well you have
to make sure your head's pointed north if you want to get the right amount of sleep.
People have crazy ideas about everything.
I don't know.
Do you believe that?
It's kind of weird, but whatever.
But you know, again, those are like three areas when it comes to our wellbeing, our
wellness, right?
In this area.
And you know, diet, exercise and sleep, you know, really in my opinion, sleep is
the most critical.
It would probably be sleep, nutrition and then exercise.
And I mean that because think about it, sleep is a restorative function, right?
Look, any guy who's lifted weights knows about, if you want to get the gains, you know,
you don't make the gains when you're lifting.
That's not when you make gains.
That's when you're doing all the micro tearing.
That's when you're challenging the muscle.
That's when you're getting out of, you know, that static state, right?
The real gains come through recovery, right?
When your body rebuilds.
That takes place during sleep.
You know, I'm not, again, you can find out more about it out there in internet land,
you know, where you can go out and learn all about how, you know, the growth hormone
is released and all these things.
You got to get so much protein.
Okay.
But sleep, I believe is the most critical of those three elements when it comes to
having good health and isn't an ironic.
It's probably the one that we would neglect the most.
You know, a lot of people will take care of their, maybe their exercise.
They might even look after the nutrition, but then sleep just kind of gets ignored.
Okay.
And I'll get more specific in how we can improve our sleep here in a bit, but I'm just
making a point here that God cares about our sleep.
You know, he tells us to get sleep.
You know, it's vain for you, verse two, to rise up early.
You know, and that's part of this hustle culture that's out there.
You need to get up at four thirty.
You need to be up at three a.m.
You know, I don't, I don't need an alarm clock because I'm just so driven to succeed that
I just pop out of bed like a pop tart out of a toaster, all crispy and sweet and ready
to go and face the day at three a.m. and I'm up until, you know, ten o'clock at night
and I only need six hours.
What's wrong with you?
Don't you want to, you know, this, this is out there.
You know, these motivational compilations, these hyperactive, you know, speakers and
things like that.
They're just, you know, and you wonder like how much, how sincere they really are.
Are you really think that person's getting up at three a.m. every day?
Because let me just break it to you right now.
None of us on this earth are some biological snowflake.
We are all, just like Jesus was subject to being weary, so are the rest of us.
You know, some people might have some predisposed genetic conditions where maybe they can get
by in a little less sleep and as we get older, you know, we typically need less sleep.
We can probably get down to that seven to eight hours.
You know, there's been studies that, you know, teenagers and children, they actually
do need more sleep than adults because their bodies are growing, their minds are growing.
You know, but what I'm getting at is that no one here can just go without the sleep that
they need and expect to live a long life and there's been a lot of advancements,
a lot of studies that have gone on in this area.
You know, we were talking about last week, you know, the, the, the well of wonder,
right?
I was talking about how reading is a way that's that specific shovel and I gave a few
book recommended recommendations.
Here's another one.
Why we sleep by Matt Walker, I believe his name is, you know, guy who studied his sleep
his whole life, why we sleep and it's fascinating when you start, he actually explains what
goes on with your brain waves when you sleep.
It's been a while since I read it, so I'm not going to, you know, get it wrong,
but if you want to know more about the subject, that's great.
You know, a great book to refer to, but what I'm getting at by citing that is that,
you know, he makes the case in that book that we all need sleep.
It's not, and today we see so many people with so many, you know, avoidable preventable
diseases and so many mental conditions that are just on the rise and there's this correlation
with the fact that people are sleeping less now than ever with things like, you know,
we just take indoor lighting for granted electricity, but that has had a major effect
on society.
The fact that now we can have shift workers, we can work past dark, you know, this has
an effect on people.
Okay.
It affects society.
That's the culture that we're living in.
That's the society we're living in where sleep is just kind of, we'll get to it if
we can and it's having devastating effects on us and none of us is, you know, are an
exception to that, okay.
It's vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows,
for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
You know, God wants us to get rest.
Obviously, and if you would go to Psalm 132, there is a time and place to redline.
I get that.
There's a time and place to just stay up late and do the work that we have to do in
the Bible.
You know, the Bible is such a practical book.
It's a very profound book, a very deep book, but it's also very practical.
It fits right in with our lives.
You know, obviously there's a time and place where we do have to work, you know, and
go without sleep.
But that should be the exception and not the rule.
Okay.
That should be the exception and not the rule.
You're going to Psalm 132.
I'll read to you from Proverbs 6.
It says, do this now my son and deliver thyself.
When thou art coming to the hand of thine friend, go and humble thyself and make sure
thy friend give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Deliver thyself as a row from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of
the follower.
So he's saying, you know, if you've been surety or if you're like a co-signer on
a debt, you know, we could take the principle like, Hey, maybe you were in debt.
You know, maybe it's time to just kind of work those long hours for a season out of your life
and get yourself out of debt.
You know, the Bible makes a case for that.
Deliver yourself.
Give not sleep to thine eyelids, right?
Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Go and deliver thyself as a row from the hand of the hunter because that's what
debt is.
It's like a snare that will just hold us back.
It's like a hunter that has us.
Okay.
Another example of, you know, the fact that there's a time and place to maybe forgo
sleep is when we have something very important to do.
Okay.
Maybe we have to improve our financial situation.
Maybe dad has to go work that second job, right?
Maybe that 70 hour work week is going to happen.
You know, that's something you're just going to have to do for the next nine months
to whatever, you know, we've, you know, any, you know, several of us I'm sure have
been there and several of us, if we haven't been, will be.
Look at Psalms 132 verse one, it says, Lord, remember David and all his afflictions,
how we swear in the Lord and vowed on the God, mighty God of Jacob.
Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go into my bed, up into my bed.
I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for
the Lord and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Referring back to when he's wanting to just get the house of God built, right?
He was obsessed with this project.
He's saying, I'm not going to go into my tabernacle.
I'm not going to go up into my bed.
I'm not going to give sleep to my eyes.
I want to, I had this project in front of me, right?
That wasn't how he lived his whole life.
It was a season, right?
So you can see how practical the Bible is.
Well, even when it comes to this thing of sleep, something we probably don't even think
about very often, you know, we all go comatose for about six to eight hours every day of
our life, and we never really think much about it.
You know, you would look at that person and think, are they dead?
You know, we just go completely limp.
We just zonk out, but, and yet sleep is not one of those things that we think about
very often.
And that's a huge part of our life.
Well, you know, the Bible does talk about it.
How we should approach it.
What should our philosophy as Christians be when it comes to this, you know, idea of
sleeping and working and having that balance.
Now let me just, I want to, this is something I've thought about, and this is even something,
I'm going to kind of counter something that I've preached previously.
You know, this idea that when we look in the scripture, we just see that everybody's,
you know, all the great leaders are getting up super early in the morning, right?
And this kind of plays into what I just said, that there is a time and place to redline
and get up.
Okay.
But I've preached, and I've heard it preached that, you know, if you want to
succeed and be a good leader, then you're just going to have to be somebody who just
gets up super early in the morning and, you know, forgo sleep.
You know, and, and I've, I've come to see that the, that that is wrong.
You know, I'm not saying it's sinful, obviously, like I just said, there's a time
and place, but I believe this early morning thing, like if you go just look up that phrase
early in the morning, right?
You're going to see Abraham, Moses, you know, Joshua, Jesus.
I mean, there's, it's just a phrase that's everywhere about these great leaders in
the Bible.
There's often times in their lives, it says, and they rose up early in the morning,
but often it's associated with something that had to take place that day.
You know, Abraham rose up and made a sacrifice.
Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people before they went in across
Jordan and to Jericho and defeated Jericho, right?
It wasn't that, that's, it doesn't say they rose up early in the morning every
single day of their life.
You know, because they would waste away, they would wear, they would weary themselves
away.
Okay.
And I'm not saying, doesn't say they slept in either, but this idea of just, hey,
getting up, you know, before the dawn, being up before everybody else and just, you
know, only, you know, you know, giving yourself five, six, seven hours of sleep before
going sleep.
You know, that's, that's an exception, not the rule.
Okay.
And, you know, obviously that's something you see in scripture, men getting up early
in the morning, but it's often associated with some kind of special event or some
kind of occasion that's taking place, some kind of task that has to happen.
Another thing I've heard, if you would go to John 11.
And I've looked for this, you know, maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but I've heard
it preached that God's model for our work week is 72 hours.
That we need to be working 12 hours a day, six days a week.
And if we're not, you know, that's unbiblical.
Now, I disagree with that.
I do not believe that's what the Bible teaches.
You know, I've tried to figure out where people get this mentality from or where they
get this from scripture.
I mean, I know where they get the mentality, right?
But you know, when they're saying it's unbiblical to work anything less, or this
is the biblical model, it's like, well, show me, right?
And the only thing I've been able to figure out, because that's just a thing I've
heard people say, just kind of casually conversation, just kind of preach that, just kind of say,
hey, you need to work 72 hours.
And that's what the Bible teaches.
And it's like, okay, chapter and verse.
And it's just like, nothing, right?
So I'm thinking, okay, well, let me just see if I can find it.
The closest thing I could come up with that maybe they're using as a proof text
is John 11.
Because it says in verse seven, then after that, you know, this is after the death
of Lazarus, when he receives that news, after that, he said to his disciples, let
us go into Judea again, and his disciples say unto him, master, the Jews of late sought
to stone me and goest thou thither again?
Jesus answered, verse nine, are there not 12 hours in the day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of the world.
And it's kind of like, is that it?
Because to me, I'm reading, I'm like, that has nothing to do with working.
That has nothing to do with laboring.
Maybe they're referring to the parable of the laborers, the ones that came every hour
up until the 11th hour, saying, well, see, they're laboring 11 hours in that passage,
up to 12 hours.
They came in the 11th and they labored the last part of the day, the biblical model.
Well, one, that's just a parable.
And two, they only worked one hour and got the same reward as everybody else.
That's not a proof text either.
And it's not a very good proof text at all.
That text would actually work against you.
There's another way to, it would actually disprove that theory.
You know, Jesus is saying here, you look at verse 10, but if a man walk in the night,
he stumbleth because there is no light in him, saying we have to walk during the day.
You know, we have to get there while we can, we have to do the work that we can
while we have the light to work in.
It's an analogy, right, which actually disproves this theory of working 12 hours, 72 weeks.
Okay, because again, back then they didn't have indoor lighting.
You worked according to the sun, you know, and the sun isn't always up for 12 hours.
There are seasons when days are longer than others.
I mean, at least that's what I've noticed, I think.
You know, and where you are on, you know, the earth also makes a difference too.
You know, where I'm from in Northern Michigan, the days get very short during the winter.
I mean, it's dark at 6 p, a.m., it's dark at like 5 p.m.
I mean, the days are short and snowy and cold.
I don't know why anybody lives there, right?
But, you know, so how, you can't really use this theory, well, the Bible teaches a 12-hour work week.
Well, one, you can't work at night, especially back then.
It's not like they all busted out the LEDs, you know, the headlamps, and got to work.
It's not like they all went indoors and worked under the fluorescent lamps in some factory.
You know, this is, you know, like the vast majority of human history, you know, they're farmers.
It's agricultural. They're working with the sun.
They're working with the seasons, which is the biblical model, right?
That is the biblical model, seasons of work and rest.
That's what you actually see in Scripture.
Again, you know, we can apply that today.
There are seasons when we ought to work longer.
Maybe we're going through something in our lives.
Maybe there's some, you know, financial situation that we have.
Maybe it's just, you know, that's what work demands of us at certain times during our life
or certain times during the year.
Yeah, there's times to just work longer and maybe even have to go without some sleep.
When we look at the biblical model, we have time to look at it all.
God works man in, you know, in correlation with the seasons.
He had the different Sabbaths, the different harvests, the different, you know, the ingatherings,
all those different, you know, the sowing.
That's all around farming, right?
And there's a lot of symbology and things like that.
But there's whole weeks that God says, hey, you're going to rest.
You're going to rest for weeks, right, during certain times of the year.
You're going to rest every, you know, at the end of every Sabbath, every week, you know,
you're going to rest on the seventh day.
God designed rest, okay?
So seasons of work and rest is a biblical model.
I just had to get those couple of things off my chest because that's been bothering me
for a while, this 12-hour, 72-hour workweek being what the Bible teaches.
No, it doesn't, okay?
And you won't see it anywhere.
In fact, you see the opposite.
And the proof text that I think people are using actually work against that theory, okay?
Because Jesus is saying there, if you walk in the night, you stumble.
You know, sometimes there aren't 12 hours worth of day to even work, okay?
Seasons of work and rest.
Go to John 9.
I think I had you keep something, John.
The Bible says in Proverbs 6, go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and
be wise, which, having no guide oversee her ruler, provideth her meat in the summer,
and gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard, wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Right?
So there's a time to work, and there's a time to rest.
There's a time to go out there in the summer, and so, that's typically when days
are longer anyway, right?
That would've made more sense.
Maybe that's when the 12-hour day came into, maybe that's what, you know, the parable
of those guys going out and working, you know, up into the 11th hour.
That's probably the time of year that it's taking place.
They're out working in the field when the days are long.
You know, when the days are shorter, after the harvest, there's probably going to be less
work to do simply because you're limited by daylight, okay?
And look, I'm going to tie this thing in with daylight at the end, okay, as some
daily digging, right, because the specific shovel for this well-being is sleep, right?
And daylight is very, obviously very tied in with our sleep and the quality of sleep
we get.
It's something we can actually use to improve our sleep, okay?
But I'm just making the case here that the biblical model is that there are seasons
in which we work hard, there are seasons in which we rest, but God gives his beloved
sleep.
God is not some cruel taskmaster, just trying to drive us all into the ground and
grind us to powder.
You know, God isn't this maniacal taskmaster just hell-bent on working us all to death,
right?
That's why I just strongly disagree with some of these things that I've heard, and
even at certain points in my own ministry, I've preached.
You know, I've changed.
Ah, excuse me, you know, I was wrong about something once.
You know, he created the Sabbath.
Go to Mark chapter 6, Mark chapter number 6.
I mean, consider Matthew 11, come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.
That's what Jesus said.
Come unto me, and I'll put you to work.
I'll show you what a real day's work looks like.
You haven't worked a day in your life until you've come to work for me.
That's not what he said.
He said, come unto me.
And obviously, there's the spiritual application, right?
He's talking about don't, you can't labor to work your way into heaven.
You come unto Jesus, you find rest for your souls, right?
It just goes to show you that God truly does give his beloved rest.
He gives us sleep.
God cares about our well-being, and so should we.
I have you go to Mark 6, look at verse 30, and the apostles gathered themselves together
into Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had
taught.
Remember, he sends them before his face two by two, and they go out, and they're doing
all these miracles on their own, right?
And then they come back, and they tell them everything that they had done, all the
work that they'd been doing, right?
And Jesus tells them, hey, get back out there.
What are you doing here, right?
I'm glad you've been working.
Now it's time for you to get back out there and keep working.
No, he says in verse 31, and he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into
a desert place, and rest awhile.
That's the biblical model that we see.
There are times to work hard, and there are times to rest.
There's times to go out there and push ourselves and red line, and there's times
to make sure we're just taking care of ourselves and restoring ourselves and getting
the rest that we need, because that's how we're going to get more done over the long
haul.
If people want to work 70, 80, 90 hours a week for the rest of their life, go ahead.
Here's what I'm saying is this, is that that life is probably not going to be as long
as it could have been, because you're robbing yourself of a very necessary part
of a long life, which is sleep.
You're robbing yourself of sleep.
You're robbing yourself literally of life, and you're putting yourself in harm's
way.
Think about all these people out there that get so little sleep, what do they do?
They get in a car, and then they throttle themselves down the road with a little piece
of paint between them and everybody else in these steel missiles we call cars.
Let me just get on a highway with 100 other people, and let's all just hurl ourselves
down there at high speeds, and let me just do it with as little sleep as possible.
That's dangerous.
People die all the time.
They nod off, and it's called a microsleep.
You've probably experienced, if you've ever driven while you're sleepy, you nod
off for that second.
Look, when you're doing 60, 70, 80, that's where I'll stop, if you're going that
fast and you nod off for two seconds, a lot can happen.
A lot can happen in two seconds.
You take your eyes off the road for two seconds because you nod off, or maybe you
were texting.
That one drives me nuts.
Your phone, let me just go off on this, because this drives me nuts when I see people
doing this.
Because it's dangerous.
People literally die from texting.
Oh, how did they die?
They were texting.
Well, I hope it was important.
I hope it was, I love you.
I hope it was some loved one you were saying goodbye to when you were texting.
What a sad way to go.
It's terrible.
You know, I may kind of make fun of it, but really, when you think about it, that's
tragedy.
These phones today, too, you can set them up.
When it knows you're driving, it just automatically goes into Do Not Disturb.
That's what mine does.
I don't even have to turn it on.
And then when I get where I'm going, while you were driving, here's what was texting.
Here's the calls you missed.
And I look at it and go, it wasn't worth it.
It wasn't some emergency.
Wasn't anything that needed my immediate attention.
So I've been meaning to say that, too, for a while, because I see that everywhere.
Don't text and drive.
You know what's also equally as dangerous?
Is getting on the road with little sleep to where you're nodding off.
You know, and you think, well, you know, that's what the rumble strips are for.
That's not what the, you know, well, they are, right, you know, they wake you back
up.
You know, if I nod off, then I'll wake up real quick and I'll get that shot of
adrenaline and I'll be good for another two minutes.
It's not good.
You know, it's dangerous.
What you should do is take a crisp $100 bill and just hold it out the crack of a window.
Just roll the window down about that far and just hold it out there.
You'll wake up.
Actually, what you should do is just not do it, okay?
So yeah, go ahead.
Be the person that just drives yourself before it goes to sleep, but you know what?
Your life might come to an end tragically.
Your life, you know, you might, you will end up suffering disease later on in life.
And those of us that have just paced ourselves and have made sure that we've dug this
well of wellness, this well of wellbeing through sleeping and getting the right sleep,
you know, we'll continue to live on for another decade or two beyond you.
And get more done in the long run and enjoy our lives along the way.
You know, God isn't this taskmaster.
It's Satan.
That's the slave driver.
And you think about it.
Right?
That's what you're saying.
Come on to me.
You know, forsake your old employer.
Come on to me, right?
Remember Exodus, you know, Pharaoh when they, when they wanted to go worship God and he's
saying now they got to gather their own straw.
Don't give them straw.
Don't take them, gather the straw and don't let them decrease the tail of bricks they
had to produce.
You know, Satan is the cruel taskmaster who just wants to work us to death.
Okay.
So, you know, the first part of this sermon, I'll wrap this up is obviously just trying
to make the case that, you know, sleep is important.
It's not something that we should just, shouldn't be an afterthought in our lives.
It really should be something we really focus on.
It should be really something that we make sure we have in check that our sleep is good.
We'll be more productive.
We'll be happier.
Our mood will be better.
We'll live longer.
We'll suffer less physical ailments.
We won't put ourselves in dangerous situations through lack of sleep.
It's just, it's better for you all around.
Okay.
Hopefully I've made that case and kind of dispelled some notions that are out there
using the scripture, these notions of getting involved in the hustle culture that the Bible
teaches, you know, driving yourself into the ground.
Okay.
So let me just end by giving you the daily digging, right?
What can you do in a daily basis to deepen this well?
You know that you have the specific shovel, right?
To deepen the well of wellness, the well of wellbeing, the specific shovel is your
sleep.
That's the, that's the tool we're going to use to dig this as well.
Obviously we re there's a lot of different tools we could use to deepen that well,
diet, nutrition, other things.
Okay.
But we're just using one shovel sleep.
What's the daily digging?
How are you going to use that shovel?
If you would go back to Proverbs 20, okay, and I'll wrap this up quick.
This is something I've mentioned, but before, but I'm going to just spend a minute here
at the end because it's important.
Remember that God is the one that designed sleep.
God is the one that designed man, you know, and God caused a rest to come upon Adam
when he formed woman out of his rib, right?
He put him into a deep sleep, right?
So that's prior to the curse.
You know, sleep isn't just this curse that we have to endure.
It's something that's how we're designed.
You know, we're, we're made to sleep.
That's how God designed us.
And there's this interesting, you know, system that we have in our body that actually uses
the eye, okay, when it comes to sleep.
Because again, I'm trying to get specific, I'm trying to give you something you could
take away from the sermon actually put into practice in your life, okay?
If you look there in Proverbs 12, Proverbs 20, verse 12, the hearing ear and the
seeing eye, the Lord hath made even them both, right?
God formed the eye, right?
And God has formed the eye in such a way that if we use it with sunlight, it will improve
our sleep, okay?
The daily digging is getting your circadian rhythm, you know, running correctly.
Circadian meaning, you know, your, your 24 hour clock.
Circa, you know, sura meaning about, right?
You know, think about circadian, about sura, about, and then you think about, you know,
dia, a day, right?
So about 24 hours, about a day, your circadian rhythm.
You know, our bodies run on a natural 24 hour clock, about 24 hours, and science
has, you know, you know, they've discovered this, they know this to be the case.
We have this thing that's in us called our circadian rhythm.
In fact, every cell in your body runs on this 24 hour clock.
Every single cell has an internal clock that tries to know where it is in time, okay?
And the way it knows, because think about it, your body needs to know where it is
in that 24 hour period, right?
Where it is in relation to the sun, right?
Because that's when you get to work, is during the day, and then you rest at night,
you sleep at night.
Your body has to know where it is, okay?
Now your body doesn't have any way of knowing that other than the sun, okay?
What's the one way your body can tell where you are, is your eye, right?
It's the only way that light enters your body, it's the only way, okay?
And there's this really interesting system that God has designed where, you know, even
the way our eyes are designed, right?
On the bottom half of our eyes, we have the retinal ganglion cells, which absorb
light, right?
They receive that light, and then they communicate to our, what was it?
The hyper chiasmatic nucleus, or something like that, I used to know it.
The chiasmatic nucleus, something like that.
But basically, it's this group of nerve cells above the roof of your mouth, right?
And those nerve cells, they receive that light from your retinal ganglion cells,
and it tells every other cell in your body where you are during the day, right?
That's the only way light gets in your body.
Through the eye, through that group of cells, and it communicates to the rest of your body,
here's where we are during the day, right?
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 11.
When I first learned about this, this is the verse that immediately came to mind.
Your eyes use sunlight to find out where they are during the day.
You should use that to improve your sleep cycle, your circadian rhythm.
Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 7, it says, truly the light is sweet,
and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.
Obviously there's this allegorical philosophical application here,
that if a man live many years and rejoice in them all,
yet remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many, right?
But I instantly thought about the fact that it's a pleasant thing for the eyes of man
to behold the sun.
You know, it's a good thing for your eyes to get natural sunlight, okay?
And think about all the sleeping disorders that are out there today.
I mean, we're to a place now where people are taking prescription drugs just to fall asleep.
People take melatonin, they take sleeping pills, they do all these things,
they take all these supplements just so they can fall asleep.
And it's because I believe in large part we're living in this weird world
where we're not tied in with nature as much.
We're not tied in with the sun like we used to be.
We're living in all this artificial light, we have all these weird schedules that we keep.
It's not how we're designed to live.
It's the world we live in, that's not how God designed us.
So with this circadian rhythm and with this ability for your eyes to communicate
where you are during the day, you know, how would you use that?
How would you actually put that into practice?
Well one way you can do it is by getting natural light exposure at dawn or at a dusk,
or as close to those two times as possible.
Because there's certain wavelengths of light that are emitted during low angle light.
There's certain, I don't know all the technical terms, but when the sun is low,
when it's first rising and when it's setting,
there's a certain wavelength of light that goes out there that actually your eye absorbs
and communicates that to the rest of your body.
It says it's dusk, it's dawn, it's dawn, it's dusk.
That's how your circadian rhythm gets set.
So if we're missing that, you know, we're waking up, and if you wait too late in the day,
that sun is too high, right?
You're not getting that same wavelength of light,
it doesn't communicate the same signal to your body.
This is a fact.
This is why, you know, the well of wonder is so important.
Go read, go listen to these people out there that know about these things, right?
It's fascinating how our minds and our eyes, our bodies are designed.
It'll actually help you, benefit you to know this.
Look, this might be a dry subject, it might be losing some of you,
but if you started doing this, it would improve your sleep.
And I understand that not everybody is able to do these type of things.
We're all in different seasons of life, we're all in different situations.
Sometimes we just have to forego sleep, you know?
And I feel nothing but sympathy for people that are in a position
because it's really a form of suffering to some degree.
People that are going through that, it's hard.
I've been there, you know, I give people a lot of slack that are in that position, okay?
But if you're able, if you're somebody who can, you know, do this,
you know, you're going to have a much healthier and longer and more productive life
by simply just getting up in the morning and just walking outside.
And I'm not saying you have to be out there for 30 minutes.
You know, where we live in sunny Arizona, I mean, you could be out there for less
than five minutes and your brain automatically gets that signal.
Because when that light is absorbed, your brain, you know, it tells it where it is
and then your brain knows when to release cortisol, that hormone.
It's a stress hormone, right?
You probably heard of that, oh, it's bad.
It's actually not bad.
It's bad when it comes late in the day.
It's bad when there's high levels of it.
It's bad if you've gone through some kind of trauma and it's always, you know, elevated, right?
But you will, we will all have, again, this goes back to saying, none of us is unique.
We will all have a release of cortisol within a 24-hour period.
Our brain will just naturally dump the stress hormone into our body
that will cause us to be compelled to go get things done.
We'll feel that stress and we'll be motivated to go work.
That's what that's for, to feel that stress.
You want that to happen as early in the day as possible so when you observe the sun
at low angle light, through your eyes, your body knows when to release that cortisol.
You know, but if you're sleeping in and then you're staying up late
and you're exposing yourself to blue light, all this overhead artificial light late
in the evening past sunset, your body might just release that cortisol, you know,
at 11 p.m. when you decide to go to bed.
And then you're laying there thinking about everything you got to get done tomorrow.
You know, people go through that.
So this is really practical, isn't it?
This is really bringing it down to the, you know,
where the rubber's really hitting the road this morning, okay?
You get that natural light exposure, you're going to release the cortisol,
you're going to release the melatonin when you're supposed to,
which is the chemical in your brain that causes you to go to sleep.
You know, that will, you know, you go observe the sunset.
And who doesn't like a sunset?
I mean, you thought I was going to, you were going to come to church this morning
and I was going to tell you to go do something hard, right?
You're like Naaman.
You know, you want me to tell you to go climb a mountain to get rid of your leprosy.
And I'm just saying, hey, just go jump in the River Jordan seven times, you'll be clean.
You know, get all upset, go look at the sunset, see the sunrise,
listen to birds chirp in the morning, ah, smell dew in the grass,
wave hello to my neighbor, wish him good morning.
What a terrible thing to have to do.
He gives his beloved sleep, right?
And God has designed us this way.
You know, God is good.
Get that melatonin release when you're supposed to in the evenings.
Go observe a beautiful Arizona sunset and avoid blue light.
You know, we should all have a rule that, especially after you kind of do that,
after you, if you get in the practice of seeing that sunset, stop looking at screens.
Put on the blue blockers or something.
And I've even heard people suggest that you don't have overhead lights on
because it communicates to your body that you're still under sunlight
and your body thinks it gets the wrong signal.
And that's, you know, there's a couple other points,
but I've given you enough to think on.
You know, I've talked too much about sleep.
Some of you are starting to take me up on it right now.
So, but that's just a joke.
But, you know, I hope you enjoy this series.
You know, obviously, like I said, more than the specific things that were mentioned in this series,
the specific shovels, the daily digging that you can do.
Those are great tools, I believe, that we could all use in our lives.
But hopefully it's at least gotten you to think about this concept,
about there's certain areas in our life that we just, we want to excel in.
We want to do better and we want to deepen these things.
It'll give us a more meaningful life.
It'll give us even a healthier life when we think of something even as simple of,
you know, how we can improve our sleep.
Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the fact that you give us rest, Lord, that you're a God of comfort.
And, Lord, obviously we all have work to do.
We have responsibilities.
But, Lord, I pray you'd help us to be a people who also understand that you've created us, Lord,
to have seasons in our lives and even in our days, Lord, times when we work and when we rest.
It's just how we're built, Lord.
Help us to move with the way we've been created and not against it.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
All right. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where the thoughts you need are a single sign.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where the joys and the angels hang.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where with the mighty hosts I'll stand,
Just go over in the glory land,
I am on my way to those measures here.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where to see God's praise and his glory share.
Just go over in the glory land,
I'll join the happy angel band.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where with the mighty hosts I'll stand,
Just go over in the glory land,
What a joyful Father, my Lord, I'll sing,
Just go over in the glory land,
Where the kindreds sing their forever be.
Just go over in the glory land,
I'll join the happy angel band.
Just go over in the glory land,
Where with the mighty hosts I'll stand,
Just go over in the glory land,
In the blood of our strong heart we'll shout and sing,
Just go over in the glory land,
Come send us to Christ the Lord and King,
Just go over in the glory land,
I'll join the happy angel band,
Just go over in the glory land,
Where with the mighty hosts I'll stand,
Just go over in the glory land.
.