Rest

Cheryl and I recently spent some vacation days in the area where we used to live in Southern Ontario. It is a county of rolling hills, beautiful farmland on the shores of Lake Erie, and just enough off the beaten path to have a noticeably calmer pace of life compared to what we experience here in Barrie. We remarked that our time there was peaceful, awesome and a means of God’s grace to us for those five days. It was a sabbath rest. As we come together to hear God’s Word on Sunday, we’ll be looking at Hebrews 4:1-13 and the promise of God with respect to rest. As the preacher of Hebrews (it’s a sermon manuscript) said, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” This is something we must give our attention to as Christians. Come ready to hear God’s Word and be challenged about God’s design for us and his insistence that we find our rest in him for now and for eternity.

Series: Means of Grace (Summer series)
Message: 6 - Rest
Text: Hebrews 4:1-13
Todd Dugard
Harvest Bible Chapel
August 7, 2022

God gives me rest as a means of his grace…

…but I will fail to experience it apart from Christ (v. 1)

At the heart of worship is rest—a stopping from all work, all worry, all scheming, all fleeing—to stand amazed and thankful before God and his work. There can be no real worship without true rest.
Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God

(https://www.amazon.ca/Rest-God-Mark-Buchanan/dp/0849918707/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2C5K5ZKQ0SGU4&keywords=the+rest+of+God&qid=1659728703&sprefix=the+rest+of+god%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-1)

…so, I must listen and believe his promise (v. 2-7)

The Lord of the Sabbath message:

…awaiting rest’s ultimate fulfillment (v. 8-10)

…while striving to enjoy that grace now (v. 11-13)

Sabbath is when we stop. We slow down. We play, we rest, we dream, we wonder. We cease from that which is necessary and turn to that which gives life. And in the hush that descends, we listen.
Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God