Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
Text: Acts 18:18-23
Theme: Reflect, Refresh, & Renew
Notes:
Refreshing the Body and Soul
- The Sabbath rest is for everyone
- The pattern of resting one day out of seven precedes the giving of the Law
- Genesis 2:1
- Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
- The Sabbath was given:
- As a rest
- As a remembrance
- Rest restores our identity
- The Sabbath was given as a distinctive mark for God’s people
- It shows that our bodies, our time, and our finances belong to God
- That He will provide because He is good
- That while He commands us to labor, He is not dependent on our labor
- Rest reminds us that it is about relationship
- A God-initiated relationship
- The rest we enjoy is Christ’s rest, because it was Christ who labored for our salvation–not us
- Rest restores the soul
- We need physical rest–but we also need spiritual and emotional rest
- Our weekly church attendance is part of that spiritual and emotional rest
- Psalm 23:1-3
- “He makes me to lie down”
- There are many times when God not only leads us to rest–but makes us do it
- How many times have we overlabored until God providentially allowed sickness to force us to rest
- Schaeffer, even good activity can be idolatry
- Chambers, waiting & rest indicate a healthy faith
- Rest should be purposeful
- If relentless labor produced changed lives, then we don’t really need faith
- There are lazy people that need to work harder
- There are working people that need to rest
- God is glorified by faith-fueled labor AND faith-fueled rest
Live It Out!
- Take intentional time to refresh your body and soul
- You need physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual rest
- Depending on what your normal job is, rest might be different for you than others
- Take rests from media and screens:
- to rest and reset your attention span
- to rest & redevelop your thinking skills
- to quiet your soul
- There are consequences to NOT resting:
- physical: health
- spiritual: relationships
- You can’t steal sleep–you can only borrow it
- Owning stuff can be labor as well
- Every thing you own also owns you
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