Fractured | Message 2: Slowing Down | Pastor Chad Dingess | 4/21/2024

Ecclesiastes 2: 22-23
What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest.

1: There is no such thing as intimacy without intentionality.

2: You can never busy your way to God.

Mark 1: 35-37
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

3: You can’t continue to pour out—if you don’t fill up.

Jesus modeled—consistently, intentionally. Pause. Create space. Withdrew

• Before starting His ministry. Luke 4: 1-2, 14-15
• Before making important decisions. Luke 6: 12-13
• After a long, hard day of work. Matthew 14: 23
• After ministering to lots of people. Luke 5: 15-16
• After losing a close friend. Matthew 14: 10-13

Psalm 46: 10
Be still and know that I am God.

Luke 3: 22
And a voice came from heaven: “you are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 4: 1
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Matthew 6: 6
Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.