Being
Successful
Rest
What God the
Father was doing was the
most important
thing Jesus could do
Doing what God
the Father is doing brings us into “Rest”
Obedience to do
what God is doing will bring you rest
So what is God
doing in your life?
How obedient are
you to “His plans to prosper you
and
give you a future and a hope?”
Disobedience
will always bring unrest
So here is the
Question…
Are you going to
work for a paycheck
Or, because God
wants you there?
The older I get
the more I see the need for rest.
I never liked
nap time as a child.
I did not like
it when the sun went down or
Sundays after
church and the afternoon meal.
How all that has
changed with age.
Every parent
knows when a child gets tired,
they become disobedient.
It becomes
something they can’t control.
Our disciplines
become weak when we don’t get rest.
Rest is a necessary part of living a full life.
The Scriptures
tell us that even God
rested after six
days of creation.
I think it is
safe to say God also rested
each night after
a day of creating.
Because God
doesn’t say anything about resting each
night, makes the
seventh day of rest more noteworthy.
Everything God
created needs rest…
Farmers know
that is true about the ground that we get our food from.
We also need
rest.
Just as the
scriptures say the seventh day is holy, a day of rest,
the scriptures
also says six days shall a man work.
There is a ratio
of six to one when it comes to work and rest.
Although this is
well laid out in the Old Testament,
Jesus enlightens
us to an even more important principle.
Jesus in John 5
heals a man and tells
him to take up
his mat and walk.
Because this was
on the Sabbath,
the Jewish
leaders wanted to kill Him.
Jesus’ defense
is…
“My
Father is always at his work to
this
very day, and I too am working.”
This statement
is very important for us to understand
as Jesus is
letting us know there is something more
important than working to get ahead in life.
Jesus saw His
work as doing what the Father was doing.
The truest
meaning of like “father like son”.
In Hebrews 4,
the meaning of “Rest” becomes clearer.
The rest God
wants us to have can only come through “Obedience”.
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the
people of God;
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for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests
from their works, just as God did from his.
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that
rest,
so that no one will perish by following their
example of disobedience.”
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Maybe this is
the question that will help us understand…
Are you going
to work for a paycheck,
Or, because
God wants you there?
Our God who
has begun a good work
in you is
working to complete it.
Jesus in John
4 kept His eye on what God was doing.
What God the
Father was doing was the
most important
thing Jesus could do.
Doing what God
the Father is doing brings us into “Rest”.
Obedience to
do what God is doing will bring you rest.
So what is God
doing in your life?
How obedient
are you to His plans to prosper you
and give you a
future and a hope?
Disobedience
will always bring unrest.
So here is the
Question…
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Are you going
to work for a paycheck,
Or, because God wants you there?
Scripture Reading
Genesis
2:2&3
By the seventh
day
God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done.
John 5:17
In his defense
Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work
to this very
day, and I too am working.”
Hebrews 4:1-11
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest
still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen
short of it. 2 For we also have had the good
news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no
value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now
we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in
my anger,
‘They shall never enter my
rest.’ ”
And yet his works have been
finished since the creation of the world. 4 For
somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh
day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the
passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter
that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them
did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God
again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time
later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his
voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not
have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters
God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let
us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will
perish by following their example of disobedience.
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