Christmas At Bethesda | Message 1: Relearning Rest | Pastor Chad Dingess | 12/03/2023
December 3, 2023 / Bethesda Church1. Rest REVEALS our spiritual condition.
Leviticus 23: 1-3 (NLT)
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly. 3 “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly.
John 15: 15
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends…”
2. Rest is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
Matthew 11:28 (NLT)
Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
John 6:37
“…whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”
3. Rest carries GREAT RISK and REWARD.
Numbers 15: 32-35 (NKJV)
Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him…”
Isaiah 58: 14– (MSG)
“If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”