Genesis 2:1-3
 
Spend time before the Lord considering how you typically view the Sabbath  Is it simply a day to rest and rejuvenate for the work week ahead? Is it a day to pay your religious dues? Is the Sabbath a topic you avoid because it brings to mind competing lists of Dos and Don’ts and plenty of guilt?
 
Even true followers of Christ can fall into the mindset that we must do works of righteousness to somehow deserve our salvation. We can easily become Pharisees in our thinking. Holy Spirit, pinch me when I begin to think that way. Remind me that Jesus did the work to save me.
 
Thank God today and every day for the rest He has given your soul by grace, through faith in Christ. Thank Him because, from the beginning of time, He established the Sabbath as a sign that redemption would come through a Savior, not your own work.
 
As I listened to Pastor Dave yesterday, I wondered if God’s rest can invade all areas of my life. Yes, I can rest from religious busyness because I know I can’t save myself – only Christ can. But what about all the responsibilities, conflicts, and problems that fill my daily life and make me feel harried, not at rest? Can the easy yoke the Lord offers give me rest in those areas? Let’s ask the Lord and listen to what He might say.
 
Calvary Family
 
Lauren Slater requests prayer for her friend Tara Darby Rasheta who recently started chemotherapy for an aggressive form of breast cancer. Tara is a 35-year-old wife and mother of two children under four. Pray for the ability to stand up under the arduous treatment and for healing. Ask the Lord to use this severe trial to lead Tara and her family to Christ. Pray that Lauren and others around Tara will know how best to love her and her family.
 
Jim Hatcher, our missionary in Vienna, sets an alarm on his phone for 10:02 every day to remind him to pray as Jesus directs in Luke 10:2 … The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Pray that He would call workers from among us at Calvary, according to His will. Pray that we would be a church that helps people discern and respond to God’s call.
 
Lift up our Vision Celebration next Sunday evening. Pray that it will be a time of building unity in our body and of opening our eyes to see God’s purposes in the things we do as a church.
 
Be faithful in prayer for the men of our TLC house as they rebuild lives devastated by addiction. Pray that the Lord would touch each man personally, to heal and strengthen him and to encourage him to persevere.

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert
Calvary Community Church of Brea