IN SEARCH OF REST
In Search of Rest: The Invitation
In Search of Rest: Finding Rest
In Search of Rest: Let’s Try This Again
(If you missed In Search of Rest Part I or II, check out our Sermon Archives for Summer Break.)
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF REST
1. Jesus Reveals Himself to Us in Rest
Matthew 11:27 (NIV) “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Matthew 11:28 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
If you want to know God is real…Rest in Him.
Matthew 11:27 (NLT) “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
If you want to know God’s presence…Rest in Him.
Isaiah 63:11-14 (NIV)
11 Then His people recalled the days of old,
the days of Moses and His people—
where is He who brought them through the sea,
with the shepherd of His flock?
Where is He who set
His Holy Spirit among them,
12 who sent His glorious arm of power
to be at Moses’ right hand,
who divided the waters before them,
to gain for himself everlasting renown,
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in open country,
they did not stumble;
14 like cattle that go down to the plain,
they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD.
This is how you guided your people
to make for yourself a glorious name.
If you want to know God’s Will…Rest in Him.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
2. Slow The Swirl
Psalms 55:6 (NIV)
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
What distracts you is often a substitute for real relationship.
Relationships with others slows the swirl.
Romans 15:32 (NIV) so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed.
Relationships with God slows the swirl.
Psalms 46:10 (NIV)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalms 37:7-8 (NIV)
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
3. Rejected Rest Comes with Regrets
Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)
16 This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Rejected rest leads to exile.
Isaiah 30:15-16 (NIV)
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
Rejected rest leads to exhaustion.
You will be made to rest if you do not make time to rest.
You choose not to have peace when you choose not to rest.
4. More Being. Less Doing
Matthew 11:28-29 (NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We must choose BEING over DOING.
Your identity is who you are in Jesus!
Isaiah 28:11-13 (NIV)
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.
Your identity is not what you do for Jesus.
Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Our being will lead to doing. But, our doing will distract us from being.
Acts 18:20-21 (NIV) When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Direction comes from being.
John 15:5 (NLT) “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
Contentment comes from being.
Psalms 131 (NIV)
1 My heart is not proud, LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
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