SERMON NOTES March 3
Announcements / Service Moments
Reno Campus
Carson Campus
Reno Campus
Pastor Tom Chism
Carson Campus
Pastor Dusty Braun
Series: Gospel of Luke
Sermon Title: Lord of Rest(oration)
Passage: Luke 6:1-5 NIV
- God created Sabbath because of our deep need for restorative rest
Genesis 2:2-3
Exodus 20:8-11
Mark 2:27 - Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath and invites us to rest in Him.
Luke 6:1-5 NIV - We must be proactive in creating Sabbath in our lives
Psalm 63:1
Hebrews 4:9-11
Luke 6:6-11
GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- It’s been said that the only people who will remember how much you worked at your job in 30 years will be your kids. What is the importance of creating a good work / life balance?
- Read Exodus 20:8-11. Of all the ten commandments, it has been said this is the only one we usually consider optional. Why do you think we don’t prioritize Sabbath as a commandment?
- When you sabbath Are you able to enjoy the work of your life, the way God enjoyed His efforts in creation
- Discuss how you regularly practice sabbath?
- Share your journey engaging sabbath
- What obstacles do you face when you think of or practice sabbathing?
- Jesus shows love and compassion by healing the man with the shriveled hand on the Sabbath which was a violation of their laws. In your life, how have you found it difficult to balance love and compassion for people while upholding God’s righteous standards?
- Sabbath acknowledges that we have limits. What about our inner personal wiring fights against this idea?
- How does your attitude toward Sabbath actually declare what you believe about your human abilities?
- What are things that you’ve found that bring you peace, rest and a deep connection with God? How would you make this a sustainable rhythm?
- How can you avoid turning the Sabbath rest you create into an empty ritual?
PERSONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
- Take 10 minutes, shut off the busy noises of your day or home. Pause, exhale and listen. Ask yourself – Where do I experience resistance to the idea of sabbath?
- What tangible steps can I take to replace my resistance to sabbath?
- What activities will I refuse to engage in so that it is truly a day of rest, worship and delight?
- What activities bring me delight, and how will I incorporate them? (Do not plan it out too precisely; gather some ideas— and allow your inner longing to prescribe your day?
SCRIPTURES TO MEDITATE ON:
RESOURCES:
Book | Tony Reinke | Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age
Book | Ruth Haley Barton | Sacred Rhythms
Podcast | Rule of Life | Sabbath 02 Rest/ An Act of Resistance
MONTHLY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE TO TRY : Solitude/ Silence
What is Solitude? Solitude can best be described as a deep longing to connect with God, in ways we never have before. We are not a people of patience or a people of longing for something or having a deep and great desire for something or someone. It makes us uncomfortable. But that is just the place we need to be in our walk with the Lord. To reach a place of deep desire for more, to experience God in a unmediated or assisted way. Solitude is a place. It is a place in time we establish to be with God, not our thoughts or plans. Solitude is a place deep within yourself where God’s Spirit and your spirit connect and rest together.
Solitude often times works together with silence. We do not enjoy silence. We are a master of noise. Noise in our thoughts, our environments, our lives. Ruth Haley Barton says “Silence deepens our experience of solitude, because in silence we choose to unplug not only from the constant stimulation of life in the company of others but also from our own addiction to noise, words and activity.”
So this week as we begin with solitude and silence:
Find a time and a place, to take three minutes and be silent with these two questions:
- How have I been wanting to be with God Today?
- How has God wanting to be with me?
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
This week I had the honor of visiting with some pastors in area of Costa Rica that does not have many resources . They often find themselves leading a church and working another job, not out of desire to be bi-vocational, but out of necessity to provide for their families and oftentimes to keep their churches open and running. They work tirelessly and yet have incredible joy.
As I began thinking about Sabbath for this week in the context of our limits versus God’s abundance, I saw these pastors who literally had no support, and yet they not only Sabbathed, but they were filled with joy. Their overwhelming feedback was ‘God is a God who provides when I can not’. They would reach the end of what they could do or provide and then rested in God’s provision. Their joy came from not working beyond their limits in order to provide the church with what it needed. Their joy came from reaching the limits of themselves and resting in God. Jesus was their resting place, the Spirit was their peace, and God was their provision.
My mission was to encourage and check-in with some pastors, but instead what I found was a conviction. A conviction to rest in God, allowing Him to provide His way and complete His work. I pondered all week, what are the obstacles in my life that interfere with my resting in God? Practicing Sabbath means allowing God to speak into so many areas of our lives. It challenges our fears and the lies we align our minds with, such as ‘I need to provide so I should work harder’, ‘my identity is in what I am capable of’, ‘I can’t rest because of what others may think of me’, or ‘I should not rest or sabbath because culture dictates that I should remain busy with “Good Things”’.
My prayer for you this week is that you will take an honest reflection at your life and ask the Holy Spirit to convict you in the areas you need to rest in the completion of the Lord, But be careful, this can be a dangerous prayer. As He is faithful to answer, and requires action and change on our part.
‘“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord ’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the , and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the has spoken.’
Praying for you this week. That you reach the end of yourself and the beginning of the Lord.
Rob Hans | Pastor of Adult Discipleship and Connection