Please turn your Bibles to the book of Mark, Mark chapter one, as we continue working through this idea of rest to the glory of God, and really a theology of rest. What does the scripture say about rest, whether it be physically, emotionally, mentally, and most importantly, spiritually? I was thinking this morning how wonderful the thought is that Helen Flower, she's at complete rest today. Can you imagine a hundred years, a hundred years of life, through the hardship, the toil, the joy, the sorrow, and then to be finally at rest with your Savior? Man, what a reunion that must have been. what hope we have to look forward to the day whenever God chooses to take us to that place of final rest. But as we toil and work here, we must be reminded often that we need to rest. It's how God created us. It's important. We talked at first in the series of the idea of sleep and the idea that it's an actual gift from God, and so we should enjoy the gift of God and enjoy the gift of sleep. And then we move toward the idea of Sabbath, which really just means to cease from work or to rest. And what does the Bible really say about the Sabbath? What is it? That's what we wanted to find out, and the Scripture instructed us along those lines. And how should we view it today? And the Scripture talks about that, and gives us very clear instruction. And then the last time we were together, we started the process of looking at why do we need the Sabbath, or a Sabbath rest? And ultimately, Lord willing, we'll end in Hebrews where we look primarily at the fact that Jesus is our rest. And so as way of reminder, I want to just walk through just what we went through last time and kind of catch us up because we did have that one week off. And we're using a good portion of the book called Crazy Busy. We're thankful for that resource. And as we work through why we need the Sabbath, the author helps us understand some of the reasons why, and he kind of puts it in a diagnosis. And we looked at diagnosis number one. You are beset with many manifestations of pride. And sometimes we're crazy busy because our hearts are full of pride. where we fill up our lives for wrong motivations, not for the glory of God, but for a variety of other reasons. And he walked through some of these, and we did as well. And we started with the idea of people-pleasing. And it's something that we're all tempted with. Some struggle with it more than others. But the idea of people-pleasing is that idea where we operate and we fill up our schedules and many times we say yes because we're afraid to say no. We fear what people will think of us if we say no. And so many times it's that idea of people pleasing that causes us to, we have to be accepted and that need just has to be filled. So we, yes, I'll do that. And yes, I'll do that. And yes, I'll do that. and sometimes coupled with that is the idea of pats on the back, which really is different from the fear of people pleasing, but really the same root problem, which is pride, and we actually like to rob God of his glory. So we love when people notice how much we do, and so we keep doing it so we can get the pats on the back, because we're glory thieves, and we like when people say, oh, you just do so much, and you're just so talented, and you have so much to offer, and we're just like, yes. But it's pride. And sometimes we get so wrapped up in that, we just keep doing more because we like the glory. Even if it's doing really, really good things that the Bible tells us we should be doing, but it's motivated out of the wrong reasons. Sometimes it's our performance evaluation where we just think too highly of ourselves. We think we're the ones who need to do everything, and if we don't do it, it's just not gonna go as well. And so sometimes it's our performance evaluation that causes us that elevated view of self that, you know what, we just gotta do it because there's a standard and we gotta keep it there. Sometimes it's proving myself where we have this image problem, this view of self where we think we just have to do so that people really understand that we're somebody. It's a significance issue where we just, yes, we have to do this and we have to do this because I'm significant, I matter. And that's one of our root problems in life. We come into this world with selfish ambition when God tells us, actually, you do matter. You're created in Christ. I've taken care of all that you need. You're actually perfectly fine the way you are. But we have to prove that we're somebody and that we're important many times. And we're driven by significance. So we're really motivated by pride when we say yes to more and more. Sometimes it is possessions. where we just love stuff and we're defined by our stuff and so we keep working and we keep doing and adding to so that we can get more stuff and that's where our heart is and really it's a pride issue because we have to keep up with the Joneses and we have to maintain a certain level and a certain look and it's really just pride. We continued on by talking through the idea of really sometimes it's pity. where we love for people to say, man, you are so busy, and we love the ooh and ah, like, aw, I'm so sorry for you, you have so much going on, and we like that. There's something inside of us that we like people to feel bad for us, and so we keep filling up our lives so that people will keep saying those things that we like to hear. Sometimes it's power, we just want to control everything. And it kind of goes with that performance evaluation. And then perfectionism, where we're so afraid to fail. And so we just keep working and evaluating and keep doing it better and better and better because we just can't fail. We're a perfectionist in certain areas. And so we just can't stop many times. And then we talked about the idea of social media and how much of our time that we spend posting really is motivated out of pride. And we're crazy busy many times because we spend hours on our phone, and many times the motivation is completely wrong. We're so concerned about making sure everyone sees our best self, and our best family photo, and everything perfect that's going on, when really our lives are so messy, and we rarely put that on Facebook, or Instagram, or whatever. And so sometimes our craziness is because of, it's our own fault. It's our own problem. And we have to be very, very careful. And I wanna look at, when we kinda move to the next section, I want us to look at the life of Christ and understand that if anyone was busy, it was Jesus. And here we have in Mark chapter one, if you look in the text, it says, they went into Capernaum, And immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and began to teach. I'm reading in verse 21 of Mark chapter 1. I love being able to open the Bible and remember. I've been able to go to Israel a couple times and I have been able to see in live color this city, the remains of this city. And we're gonna talk about Peter's house and the remains that they think Peter, as far as his household. And so you open your Bible and you point. So experiences like that help the scriptures to come alive But they went up to Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying, be quiet and come out of him. Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. And they were all amazed so that they debated among themselves saying, what is this, a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him. Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into the surrounding district of Galilee. And I wanna stop here because I just wanna help you understand. We're gonna look at the life of Christ one day. And it started where they went into the synagogue to do what he would normally do. He would teach on the Sabbath. And so they're in Capernaum, and they start here, and what happens is that they were amazed by his teaching. Jesus here is establishing His authority and His power. It's at the beginning of His ministry, and so He's here in the northern section of the Sea of Galilee, and He walks in to this area in the synagogue, and He starts to teach, and they think He is an amazing teacher. an amazing preacher. They were used to talks about God or some sort of sermon type situations where they would read the portion of the scroll for the day and then there would be a teaching on it, but this guy was different. Jesus made a different effect. In fact, they said he teaches with authority. It was like a new type of teaching. They were probably more used to a legalistic approach to teaching. and how they had to just continually fulfill the law and do this and do that because we've talked in the past about how the religious leaders embellished the law of God and made so much more of it. And then you have Jesus and his message cut right to the heart. It wasn't about the surface, it wasn't about the externals, it was about the heart and how one related to him, the Messiah. And this was a new teaching. So he's establishing his authority, and then there's this demon who cries out to him. A man is possessed with an unclean spirit, and he says, which is very interesting, have you come to destroy us? Again, it's at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and from what we understand from the text, it was one unclean spirit in this man, but he uses the word us. So it could have, he could be referring to the man who the spirit was indwelling, or it could be really all the forces of evil. That could be where this is the first time Jesus comes on the scene, and they know who he is. Like, they know what's coming. They know the end game. Because they actually say, we know who you are. It's amazing to me that the demons know who Jesus is. But the agnostic, the atheist, liberal theologians, will not recognize the deity of Christ. But you have a demon saying, I know you're of God. You're the holy one of God. They immediately recognize his deity. So Jesus is here in this moment establishing, actually, I have authority over the strongest that the earth has to offer. And he takes and sets the record straight. He speaks, he rebukes the demon, and his power is greater, and so the demon then leaves him. The demon obeyed. And the reaction to this teaching and then this expression of the power of God is What is this? A new teaching with authority. There is something different about this man, about this rabbi. And immediately the news spread throughout. So here we have at the beginning of his day. He's establishing his authority and his power. He probably continued to teach throughout the day. And then look in the next verse there in verse 29. And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. And he came to her and he raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her and she waited on him. And so after they had spent probably a good portion of the day in the synagogue, and he probably was somewhat, you know, He had expended a lot of energy from teaching and then the experience with the demon. You have another situation where someone needs Jesus. They went to the house. Peter's mother-in-law is sick with fever. This is probably different than a small grade fever that we experience on a regular basis here. This is probably more of an elevated sickness that perhaps they didn't have a cure for. It was probably a high fever. and immediately Jesus takes care of that problem. Well, he's here and there's a problem and he takes care of it. And again, he's establishing his authority over everything, his power. And so he basically does the same thing to the physical illness that he did to the demon. In fact, in Luke chapter four, verse 39, in Luke's account, Luke says that he rebuked the fever. And so Jesus, as well, established his authority, and he healed the lady. He helped her, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her. And once again, he is establishing, and everyone can see, he is the all-powerful God. He has power over every realm. So that was probably, you know, afternoon. Then in verse 32, When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed, and the whole city gathered at the door. So as his day continued, because word was spreading, hey, this guy is different, he has an authority that we have not experienced before, They're bringing all who are ill, all who are demon-possessed, and can you imagine? The whole city is outside waiting for you. And it says that he was healing all of them. So the amount of work that Jesus was doing in this one day, he was taking care of their problems. He was healing their sicknesses. He was establishing his authority. And yet, I would say he would fall under the category of pretty crazy busy. In fact, I don't think there's any of us who would experience something like this. But my point in letting Jesus be the example is the fact that he's the Messiah. Like, he's able to do this. He's the all-powerful God, and that was his point. He is the Messiah. He's the Christ. He's the one who can take care of it all and never be completely depleted. Now we're gonna talk more here in just a few moments about how he set priorities, but I want us to understand that so many times in our lives we are crazy busy because we actually tend to think it depends upon us. we kind of in some way take the perspective of we have to play the role of the Messiah. And I'm trying to be very genuine as I say that. I'm not trying to be disrespectful in any way, but we have to understand theologically, if we are gonna rest and really be at rest, we have to be okay with the fact that Jesus is the ultimate. He is in control of everything. He is all powerful. He can take care of every need, every illness, every sickness, every situation that we encounter. Jesus is the Messiah. And so sometimes as we look at the second diagnosis, you're trying to do what God does not expect you to do. He actually has everything in control. We're not talking about spiritual laziness here. So I realize that in a crowd this size, there's different applications that can be made. Please, if you're the person who is trying to walk with the Lord, spend time with Him, serve Him faithfully. You're the person I'm talking to. I'm not talking to the spiritually lazy one. And sometimes there are churches, Christians sitting in churches, which they need to be challenged, they need to live life on mission, and they need someone to come along and say, hey, get busy. Your life is completely consumed with self, and you need to be faithful to the Lord. But I'm actually talking this morning to the person who just can't say no. The person who just always has to be doing more and more and more. When things are offered as far as signup, the immediate response is not, well, should I get involved in this? It's where's the signup sheet? Sometimes we just take on too much because we understand the urgency, the needs are everywhere. There's always something to do and there's always an occasion and an opportunity. And I think people are very genuine in the fact they really wanna be involved and they wanna make a difference. They see that Jesus is the answer and so by serving him in every aspect of their life, they can be used in a great way and all of that is true. But sometimes we need to be reminded that we don't have to do everything. There's actually only one person who has enough energy, enough power to take care of everything that is needed today in this world. And that is Jesus, our Messiah, and we are not him. And so there should be an opportunity in our lives to be able to rest and actually take a break and say, you know what? God, do you want me to be part of this? And evaluate with real clarity everything that's going on in our lives, what we're already currently doing, what we're involved with, and be able to just make a decision. No, actually, I don't think this is for me. And then be at rest with that. Okay, God, if you're leading me in this way, then actually you've got everything under control, and you're gonna supply for your church and your purposes, and it's gonna be okay, and I don't have to worry about that. But when we look around at our world, we understand that there's so much that we could do to help those who are poor. There's so much that we could do around the world. I mean, yesterday I was driving past a church in town and I saw on their board that they had some sort of program set up for the hurricane relief for our neighbors up north. And the first thing I thought of was, oh no, we didn't do that. We should have done that. Instead of, Actually, the Lord did not lead us to do that as a church. We could have. That's why I'm so thankful that we believe in spirit-motivated ministry. Do those people need help up there? Yes. And if we had someone who found, realized that, you know what, there's time and I could really spearhead something, then great, we'll get behind you. But the response when we see a need should not be initially guilt. Like, oh, I'm a loser. I didn't do this. We should be responding with, okay God, I know you're the Messiah. I know you sustain the world. Everything's in your care. Is this something I should do? Should I be a part of this? Is this how I could serve you best in this season of my life? But it's having the right thinking about making choices that come about. We love the commands that say, do not, because it's crystal clear, right? Do not do this, got it, check. But it's those commands that are really open-ended, where it really takes a walk with God, a day-in, day-out life that's walking in the Spirit, to be able to walk and communicate, to really know where he's leading us and what he wants us to do. That's the hard part of the Christian life. And it's a tough balance. And some days we get it right, and some days we don't. We can always do more about the situation with the homeless, about hospitality, about caring for widows and orphans, you know, the abortion situation in our country, in our world, and all of these aspects. And the list could go on and on. It can be so overwhelming. And sometimes when we encounter a need, we feel guilty because we're not doing something. Now, if you're spending your life consumed with yourself, and you're not walking with the Lord, then that's a whole other conversation we need to have. But for the person who just feels like they have to do, and they have to do, and if they don't, there's guilty, there's guilty. We must live life on mission, we must be serving the Lord, but we must remember that our God is in control. And there actually is only one Savior who could set the example for us that he's got it. Like the whole city showed up and Jesus was in need and he took care of their needs. But He is the one who can do that. So many times as I have listened to folks present needs, so many times it's guilt-based. And so we hear about the orphan situation, and we hear about unreached people groups, and exploited minorities. We hear about all this stuff. And all of those things are good things to be a part of, but the glory of God must be motivating all of our efforts, not guilt. Like it's for God's glory that I walk through the process and try to help an orphan in this life. And our family's been in that situation for many, many years. We couldn't take care of all the orphans, but we could take care of one. But that's not the calling on every person. And so you should not feel guilt if God has not called you to do that. Should you care? Absolutely. You should care for it all. Our mission's endeavor, it must be motivated by the glory of God. That it's God's name that we want to see established in unreached people groups. That's why we go. That's why we do missions. That's the fuel. It's the glory of God. So we are careful. We evaluate. We say yes if God wants us to say yes. Many times we just do too much, and it's not what God wants us to do. Here's some application thoughts. I would suggest, number one, understand I am not the Christ. I am not the Messiah. We should care about everything, but we don't have to try to accomplish everything. Our sense of obligation would be relieved many times, appropriately relieved, if we would just remember this. There's actually one who sustains it all, and it's not me. And I would say as well, number two, there's a bigger picture at work. We have to believe that God is sovereign from beginning to end. That's what the scripture tells us. And so we can get so focused and so distracted even in such a small aspect of the bigger picture. and we can see something that is really important and really helpful and appropriate and God leading us to do it, but we can get out of balance with that because we forget the bigger picture of redemption that God is accomplishing in lives. And He will fulfill everything that He has said. And this is good news for us. We have to be very careful that the glory of God, which is the theme of scripture from the very beginning to the very end, that it's about his glory from start to finish. I would say number three, understanding caring is not the same as doing. We should care for it all because Jesus cared for it all, right? So every widow, every orphan, Every person who is experiencing hardship in their life and finds themselves in deep poverty, whether it be here locally or around the world, we should actually care about it all. We should care about all suffering. But that is not the same as actually doing something. We should care about all the issues as far as politics and abortion and all of those types of things. But it doesn't mean that God is calling each one of us to go after every single thing. Now again, if you're not doing anything, that's a problem. But for those who are serving the Lord, they're trying to be faithful, they're trying to, and then we just hear of more and more need, we must go back to what the scripture tells us because you will not be able to rest if you do not think appropriately about the world in which we live. And that is the fact you are not the Messiah. And actually, he hasn't called you to do everything. He's got it all under control, and you've heard before from other preachers, I think I've said it, God actually doesn't need us. He chooses to use us, but so many times we think, well, God needs me to do this. And if you think about that from a theological perspective, I don't think that that's actually accurate, because He's the all-powerful God in control of it all, and He can orchestrate anything to accomplish His purposes. Now the beauty of being redeemed is that He can take broken things and use us for His glory, and we can get involved in His purposes, and we can conquer issues. We have folks who volunteer and serve very faithful at the pregnancy center in town, and that's wonderful, and we want to get behind them. We have folks who spend their lives helping the modern-day orphan here in our area, and that is wonderful. That's why we get behind places like Miracle Hill and folks locally who are doing things. And you may have opportunity to do more volunteer than you do. And so there's a constant, should be a constant evaluation. God, is this something you want me to get involved in? Should I do this? But it's through the right lenses of Jesus, you're actually the Messiah, I understand you're in control of it all, you're accomplishing your purposes, but use me for your glory if this is what you have me to do. And when you need to rest, you should be able to turn the key and close it off and be able to just settle down and actually be at rest because of this right here, because Jesus has it. He's got it under control. Understanding caring is not the same thing as doing. And number four, understand we have different gifts and different callings. The beauty of the church, of God, I'm speaking universally, is that God gifts everyone. First Peter, other passages in scripture tell us that each person who is redeemed, who is a child of God, they've been gifted to serve him. But that giftedness looks very, very different as God takes what he has given us by the Spirit and takes our personalities and our talents and he infuses them together and he uses us in different ways. And so sometimes people are called to do something and you're not. And so you can actually say no and be at rest with that. Because you understand all the responsibilities in your life, and you understand what is appropriate and right, because you're walking with the Spirit, and the response is not guilt. It's okay. You know what? God's going to take care of that need. He's going to supply. But that may not be your particular giftedness. I would say as well, you need to understand the role of the church. The role of the church is so crucial in this time and season of the program of God. In fact, I would say wholeheartedly that from a very biblical perspective, that I think we must be focused on the church first. That is the first work that God is doing in this time and place. And so as we think about priorities and things like that, it's really important to keep it in check. Because there's a number of wonderful things and opportunities where we can get involved and do things. And maybe sometimes God calls us to do that vocationally, sometimes it's through a volunteer, but it should not be at the stake of your local church. And this isn't just like a pastor's opinion. You would expect me to say it. I actually believe that's what the Bible says. He says, I will build my church. And he is choosing to use that as the avenue to accomplish his purpose today, although there can be many other things. And then as we go from this place on a weekly gathering and we go into a world of need, God uses us as the church, the video would even describe that, as the church, to be the light of the gospel to those who God brings across our path. So we understand the role of the church. We are part of a bigger group. In fact, millions across this world who God is using to accomplish His purposes. And number six, I would say we need to understand the gift of prayer. And I would put this coupled with caring. So you may not be able to do everything, but you actually can pray. for everything. And you can take time to do that. And maybe it's as simple as when you're in a situation, you hear a need being presented, you actually take in that moment an opportunity to pray. And so one of our gospel partners goes through and they share a need, take the moment right then and there to pray. And maybe you could add them to your prayer list. And that's a wonderful thing. Or maybe when you come in contact with the one on the side of the road, and you would love to help, your heart goes out to the person. And maybe you should do that from a monetary perspective, but maybe it's just taking a moment to pray. Or those who are sick within our body, and someone tells you about what's going on in their life. You know, what I love to do in that moment is just start praying as, you know, I'm still hopefully listening to the person, but I'm also praying, or when I walk away from that conversation, if I've told them I'm gonna pray for them, I wanna do that. So the gift of prayer is actually something that we can utilize and take advantage that it's no small opportunity to pray. It's a wonderful gift. In fact, much can be accomplished, even many times more than actually doing some activity if we were to pray. And it is a gift, and we trust God for the results. And in some cases, what he wants us to do is trust him and move on. Don't sign up. Actually, take the moment to rest. And we have to be very, very careful with all of these things. And so, from a big picture perspective, talking to a group of people who I believe are very genuine in their service to the Lord. I mean, there may be those here who are spiritually lazy and you need to be encouraged to come out of your apathy and get involved and really serve the Lord in some aspect. But as I have been here, and I've said this before, a healthy church has a very high percentage of people who are serving on a regular day when the church gets together and throughout the week. And I have found, and even as I look around, people are involved here. And so I think I'm talking more to a group of people who would fall into the category of needing to know that they can actually say no. and not have that feeling of, oh, that guilt. Our first response is to really go to the Spirit of God and find out, God, is this something you want me to be part of? Maybe present the opportunity as you pray and think through what it would be as far as a commitment and if you were to make this commitment, what it would do and how it would affect all the other commitments in my life as far as my other relationships with my family and other coworkers or whatever the situation is. So there should be an appropriate response to need. We should be open to it. But we should be willing to then say, If the Lord leads us to not get involved, okay, God, you've got it. You're the Messiah. You're the one who can go, and go, and go, and go, and do, and do, and do, and do. But I can't do that. I have so much in my tank, and when it's gone, it's gone, and I need to rest, and I need to recharge. And as we look, Lord willing, next week as we continue to find how Jesus responded to a busy day in the next portion of Scripture where, you know what? He got up early and he went and prayed. So we can get busy and busy and busy and we can sacrifice our actual communion with God so that when we are walking through life, we're actually not walking in the Spirit because we're really misguided and our focus is off and so the opportunities come and we just say, yep, I'll be there, two o'clock, I'm in. And those of you who know me, I'm preaching to the choir here. This whole series on rest, this is something for me, and I'm learning a lot. It's things I've been told before, but I'm being reminded of. There is only one Messiah, and he actually has it all under control. And so many times when we look around our lives and the situations and the opportunities, we think, oh, it depends on me. So I would encourage you, my friend, evaluate before you commit to anything else. Is it pride that's motivating you? In one of those ways that the manifestations of pride can show up in our lives? Or is it the fact that we really don't believe that our God is sovereign and it's gonna be okay? Ultimately, from His perspective, from a big picture perspective, He has it under control. Every person who ever lived and ever will live for eternity, He is the sustainer. So when it's time to rest, I can actually rest. And over the last week, what I've been doing, if I wake up with thoughts in my mind and anxieties and thoughts, I literally go through this process. God, thank you for the gift of rest. Help my mind to turn off because I know you've got it all under control. Thank you for this gift. I'm going to go back to bed now. Now I realize it may not work for you because I'm not, and I'm not trying to in any way, I realize there are people who have really significant issues at night time and there's a lot of anxiety. I get that. And I not fully understand, but in some way I understand. But what we must continue to think about, meditate, in this idea of the theology of rest, Jesus is the Messiah. He came to take care of it all. He demonstrated that daily, that he was able. And he demonstrated on the cross, ultimately, that actually all the work he accomplished. And so we can rest. And sometimes we can even say no to really good opportunities, knowing that God has everything under control. And he may open up another season in our life where he changes some circumstances and allows us to have some free time in our schedule so that we can evaluate new opportunities to live life on mission and we can say yes. But it's through a very healthy process. And it's through a very clear evaluation of our hearts. And I think that's how God wants us to live life to his glory day in and day out. God, is this what you want? I know you're the Messiah. You can take care of it. Is this what's right for me? And sometimes we say yes, and sometimes we say no. But hopefully it's all motivated by His glory, because that's what life's about. Would you stand with me as we close out our time this morning? while the piano plays quietly, would you just take a moment and ask yourself a simple question? Am I finding rest? When the opportunity's there, am I really at rest? And if you're not, maybe you're carrying things that you shouldn't be carrying. Maybe you need to remember who's on the throne today and who's in control. Spend a moment of personal evaluation and speak to the Lord. Lord Jesus, thank you for renewing our minds today. Thank you for reminding us that you are the Messiah. You're completely sovereign. You're in control of it all. and we can rest. God, you want us to live life on mission. You want us to present our lives as a living sacrifice, and I pray that we'd be faithful to do that. But it would be for your glory that we're motivated, and we're very careful to understand it's your voice that's asking us to do the things that you want us to do. Lord, help us to be very careful and help us to depend moment by moment on your spirit so that we can be faithful to you. In your holy and precious name I pray, amen.