Rest – Week 2

Online Notes 

Welcome to Grace River Church online! Thank you for joining us, wherever you may
be! Drop a comment where you are watching from today!

My name is Jacob, and I am the Next Gen Pastor here at Grace River, and I have the
opportunity to share with you a message on Rest! Last week Chris kicked off this
short two-week series, and so today we are going to talk about 3 different practices
you can put into your life to eliminate the hurry you are dealing with!

Don’t you just feel like life can be a bit of a blur sometimes? We are always in such a
hurry, leaving us feeling distant from God, others, and maybe even ourselves!
What makes us so busy?
● Technology?
● Family?
● FOMO?
● Work? Nobody is saying I wish I worked more hours!

I want to do a little quiz to see if you’re too busy! Examine your life, and be honest
with yourself!
1. Are you always in a hurry?
2. Is your to-do list always unrealistically long?
3. Do you use days off to catch up on unfinished work?
4. Has more than one person ever told you to slow down?
5. Do you feel guilty when you relax?
6. Do you have to get sick to get time off?

If you’re like me, you answered yes to most of these questions!
What is it that is making you tired? Maybe you’re exhausted, mentally, physically,
emotionally, or even spiritually.

Today, I want to talk about the REST that God provides.
This is the rest that we read about in Matthew 11:29. “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.”

God is inviting us to come to Him and take His yoke, to commit ourselves to God and
His authority. When we do this, he promises rest to us!

So the question is, are there spiritual disciplines that could set us up to thrive in the
middle of the chaos of our busy lives? Yes! So today we are going to talk about three
great practices to unhurry your life.

3 practices for unhurrying your life:
1. Silence and solitude
I believe this may be the best practice that you can put into your life to help with the
issue of hurry in your life!
Now you may be thinking, Jacob, this is impossible for me! I can’t seem to ever find
moments of silence and solitude. I have 3 kids.
But hear me out! Jesus lived a crazy busy life, yet this was still a priority for Him,
which we read about in the gospels.
Read Mark 6:31-33;
31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said
this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his
apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
The disciples were dead tired after doing a few weeks of kingdom work. Notice how
they were so busy, they didn’t even have time to eat! Ever feel like that? All you
parents are thinking, yes every day!
And to these overbusy and overtired disciples, Jesus says this, “Let’s go off by
ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.”
32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 33 But many
people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran
ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.
I love the realism of this story. There are times when what you really need is time
alone with Jesus, but, well, life happens. People happen. You set aside an evening to
have no plans, but then you get a text from your boss, a minor crisis at work. Your
kid’s end up hurting themselves, leaving you at the ER. Your roommate is going
through something hard so you try to help them and two hours later, you’re still
stuck talking to them. You know! Life happens!
Luke 5:16. “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” I love this because
despite how crazy Jesus’ life was, He frequently got away. He made a point to sneak
off to pray on a regular basis. It was a common habit for Jesus!
In seasons of busyness we need more time in the quiet place, not less.
I know you’re thinking, I just don’t have enough time in the day! But we need to find
MORE time in God’s word. Praying. In seasons of busyness. We need God to nurture
our souls and give us rest!

The second way to help the hurry in your life is:
2. Sabbath
The word Sabbath comes to us from the Hebrew word Shabbat. The word literally
means to stop.
The Sabbath is simply a time to stop: stop working, stop wanting, stop worrying,
just stop.
For Jesus, the Sabbath was a rhythm and a core practice in his life.
It’s funny because in Scripture, Jesus was often healing people on the Sabbath. And
the religious leaders of that day (The Pharisees) would get ticked when he did this!
In a loving rebuke Jesus said this in Mark 2:27, 27 “The Sabbath was made to meet
the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.
Jesus was saying that these legalistic, guilt heavy, religious Pharisees missed the
Father’s heart for the Sabbath!
Fast forward to the 21st century, we aren’t legalistic about the Sabbath like the
Pharisees were. Most of us don’t even practice the Sabbath.
A day off? Pshhh. That’s not me!
I want all of us to focus on the first part of that command. “The Sabbath was made
to meet the needs of people.”
It was created by God himself. And it’s for “us”! A gift to enjoy from the Creator to
his creation!
This practice goes all the way back to Genesis 2. Specifically, Genesis 2:2-3
“2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his
work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day
when he rested from all his work of creation.”
Did you catch that? God rested!
And by doing so, he built a rhythm into the DNA of creation. A rhythm that we
should follow!

The third way for you to help the hurry in your life is by practicing:
3. Simplicity
We live in a culture where you are successful if you have more things. The more you
have, the happier you will be.
I fear that for a lot of people, including myself, things aren’t just things; they’re
identities.
ILLUSTRATION: I’m going to expose myself a little. I want a tesla more than anything
in this world. Any will do, but especially the Cybertruck. They are in production
starting next year. I just want a tesla so bad. Mainly because they are the coolest car
on the market. But secondly, because gas costs are outrageous.
But it’s probably good that I don’t have one, because let me tell you, my identity
would get wrapped up in that.
Now I’m not saying that having nice things is bad. I’m also not saying that
simplicity is the silver bullet to eliminating the hurry in your life, but it does help!
One of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture is found in Philippians 4:13.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
I hear people take this verse out of context all the time! But do you know what Paul
was writing about in context to this verse? Contentment!
The verses leading up to this reads; 11 I have learned how to be content with
whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have
learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or
empty, with plenty or little.
Paul is talking about overcoming the giant in our lives called discontentment! The
feeling of always wanting more!
The truth is, we don’t need more. We have everything we need through Christ
who strengthens us!
When you focus on your relationship with God, you can live a rich and satisfying life
whether you are rich or poor, single or married, infertile or counting the days for your
kids to leave the house!
Right now you have everything you need through Christ who is the giver of your
strength.
So as we close out today, I hope that you are able to take the next step in your
spiritual journey of following Christ!

Next Steps to unhurry your life:
1. Find moments of silence and solitude
a. Remember in seasons of busyness, we need more time in the quiet
place, not less.

2. Find moments to just stop
a. Stop working, stop worrying, stop wanting. Just stop!

3. Simplify your life
a. Remember that you have everything through Christ who strengthens
you!
When you feel like the busyness of life is taking over rest in this truth found in
Matthew 11:29. “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.”

Let’s Pray.