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Experience_the_Nature_of_Rest__A_Journey_into_God_s_Peace · Abide Meditation App

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to this bedtime story from Abide. I'm Chloe,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: and it's my privilege to lead you tonight in the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: art of resting. Join me as we explore the nature
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of rest, both an art and a gift and a
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  Speaker 1: discipline as well as a delight.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: The art of.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Rest is something very dear to our heavenly Father's heart.
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  Speaker 1: He enjoys rest so much that he made it a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: part of his creation plan for the world.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Is the number of.
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  Speaker 1: Completion and even perfection in Hebrew symbolism. So God made
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  Speaker 1: rest the seventh day of creation, and it's the seventh
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  Speaker 1: day of our week. Thus we will come to understand
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  Speaker 1: more deeply tonight how rest can complete our lives in
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  Speaker 1: some very special ways. There is purpose in all of
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  Speaker 1: God's designs, and we'll be exploring some of his purposes
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  Speaker 1: for rest and how we can practice and enjoy the
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  Speaker 1: delightful art of resting. God's word in Exodus thirty three,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: verse fourteen will be our compass scripture tonight, leading us
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  Speaker 1: to the true north of rest. The English Standard version
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: tells us, and he said, my presence will go with you,
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  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. We'll be learning the
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  Speaker 1: art of resting. As we listen to scriptures and poetry
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: while allowing the Holy Spirit to move on our hearts
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  Speaker 1: and draw us into an experience of his rest. His
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  Speaker 1: presence will go with us tonight, and he will lead
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  Speaker 1: us in his paths of peace. Before we delve deeper
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  Speaker 1: into the art of resting, let's truly put it into
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  Speaker 1: practice and get our bodies into a state of total rest.
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  Speaker 2: Do whatever you need.
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  Speaker 1: To do to make your surroundings most RESTful and quiet
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  Speaker 1: and comfortable. That may include turning off the lights, drawing
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  Speaker 1: the curtains, or adjusting your pillows or blankets to the
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  Speaker 1: best position. When you have made yourself fully comfortable, come
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  Speaker 1: to stillness and breathe.
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  Speaker 2: What a gift breathing is.
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  Speaker 1: It allows our bodies to release all tension in a
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  Speaker 1: way that few other methods do, and it's so easy.
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  Speaker 1: We're designed to breathe. That makes me think that we
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  Speaker 1: were designed to rest and relax. We were designed to
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  Speaker 1: not carry stress or tension in our bodies long term.
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  Speaker 1: As you breathe out, feel yourself breathing out the tension.
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  Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit may bring thoughts to your mind that
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  Speaker 1: are hindering true true rest. He wants you to yield
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  Speaker 1: them to Him so that nothing will hinder your total
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  Speaker 1: rest and relaxation. This is a vital part of trusting
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  Speaker 1: in Him. So continue to notice these thoughts and exhale.
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  Speaker 1: Notice any tightness and let it go out of your body.
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  Speaker 1: As you breathe, notice the Holy Spirit's gentle presence coming
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  Speaker 1: in and bringing soothing and peace to your mind and body.
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  Speaker 1: Let His love touch your emotions and bring his rest
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  Speaker 1: to your heart. Feel your stomach rise and fall gently.
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  Speaker 1: Feel the peaceful rhythm of air coming in and going out.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing is forced or harsh. This is the nature of
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  Speaker 1: the art of resting. We coax our bodies into the discipline,
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  Speaker 1: but we never force anything. God does so with our
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  Speaker 1: free will. He coaxes us, but he will never coerce
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  Speaker 1: or pressure us. He models true rest to us. Enjoy
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  Speaker 1: this moment of rest. You'll find breathing a beautiful key
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  Speaker 1: to come back to Let's come to God together in prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Wonderful Creator and Father, we are coming to you tonit
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  Speaker 1: to learn the art of resting. Teach us this discipline
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  Speaker 1: and delight. Teach us not to simply rest for the
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  Speaker 1: sake of resting, but to rest in you and find
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  Speaker 1: completion in you. Open the eyes of our hearts to
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  Speaker 1: understand why you deemed rest so important that it took
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  Speaker 1: up the seventh day of creation and the seventh day
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  Speaker 1: of our week, just as Jesus invited us. Help us
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  Speaker 1: to come to you and learn from you tonight and rest.
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  Speaker 1: Help us to give our heavy burdens to you, and
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  Speaker 1: sit on your knee like a small child. We are
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  Speaker 1: coming to you as you open your arms wide to
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  Speaker 1: receive us. Help us feel your embrace, knowing that you
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  Speaker 1: will never ever let us go. Lord, help us return
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  Speaker 1: to you for rest again and again in life. We
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  Speaker 1: know that true rest for our souls can only be
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  Speaker 1: found in you. Nothing else will bring us lasting peace
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  Speaker 1: and serenity like you.
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  Speaker 2: We love you, Lord. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's begin to explore the art of resting in
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  Speaker 1: greater depth. As our verse in Exodus thirty three tells us,
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  Speaker 1: rest is the delightful fruit of his presence, which goes
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  Speaker 1: with us. The New International Version translates the verse like this,
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  Speaker 1: The Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and
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  Speaker 1: I will give you rest, And the New Living Translation
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  Speaker 1: reads the Lord replied, I will personally go with you Moses,
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  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine
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  Speaker 1: for you. Probably, at many points in our lives before
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  Speaker 1: we received Christ and even afterwards, we have sought this
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  Speaker 1: elusive state of rest in many different places and in
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  Speaker 1: different ways. We may have gone to great lengths and
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  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time and money in the search
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  Speaker 1: for rest for our mind and body and soul. What
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  Speaker 1: an irony it is to exert so much energy in
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  Speaker 1: the quest for rest. What must God think of us
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  Speaker 1: when he sees his children frantically pursuing this elusive quality
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  Speaker 1: and desperately believing many things that are packaged to promise
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  Speaker 1: us peace, when all the while rests his delightful invention.
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  Speaker 1: Let's seek him and find him as he rests, and
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  Speaker 1: rest with him. Something we need to know about the
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  Speaker 1: art of resting is that, since we are made in
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  Speaker 1: God's image, how and when He himself rests is of
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  Speaker 1: utmost importance to us. Paul knew this and wrote in
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians five that we must imitate the Father. Since you
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  Speaker 1: are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.
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  Speaker 2: Your life must.
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  Speaker 1: Be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and
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  Speaker 1: gave his life for us as a sweet smelling, offering
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  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of
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  Speaker 1: the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: to find the Father, we look at the Son. And
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  Speaker 1: in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us to
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  Speaker 1: come to him and rest is the same place that
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  Speaker 1: he tells us that he has come to reveal the Father.
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  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
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  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
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  Speaker 1: Let me read the passage to you now from Matthew
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  Speaker 1: six in the New Living Translation. At that time, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for hiding these things from those who think
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  Speaker 1: themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike, Yes, Father,
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  Speaker 1: it pleased you to do it this way. My Father
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  Speaker 1: has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the
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  Speaker 1: Son accept the Father, and no one truly knows the
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  Speaker 1: Father accept the Sun and those to whom the Son
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  Speaker 1: chooses to reveal him.
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  Speaker 2: Then Jesus said, come to.
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  Speaker 1: Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
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  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
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  Speaker 1: Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle
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  Speaker 1: at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
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  Speaker 1: For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden
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  Speaker 1: I give.
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  Speaker 2: You is light. Rest and breathe as his red.
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  Speaker 1: Letter words seep into your soul. Can you hear the
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  Speaker 1: rest in his voice? Can you sense the peace in
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  Speaker 1: his tone? He is praying to the Father for you,
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  Speaker 1: so that you may tangibly experience his rest by becoming
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  Speaker 1: childlike and trusting and carefree. Let your knowledge of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: show you the Father. Let the gentle and lowly Savior
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  Speaker 1: prop you up on his knee, and thus disclose the
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  Speaker 1: nature of your heavenly Dad. As the Father rested after creation,
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  Speaker 1: he likewise calls us to rest like father, like son.
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  Speaker 1: What unity and what bliss I found in such rest?
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  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews had this revelation of rest, and
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  Speaker 1: we read in chapter four, verse ten, for whoever has
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  Speaker 1: entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as
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  Speaker 1: God did from his or another translation puts it because
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  Speaker 1: those who enter into Salvation's rest lay down their labors
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  Speaker 1: in the same way that God entered into a sabbath
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  Speaker 1: rest from his.
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  Speaker 2: Let us.
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  Speaker 1: Consider that Father God ordained rest in creation to create
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  Speaker 1: space in the garden to walk with Adam. Rest was
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  Speaker 1: the avenue to oneness and friendship with his beloved children.
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  Speaker 1: So it was then and so it is today. No
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  Speaker 1: wonder the devil is so intent on disrupting our rest,
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  Speaker 1: both men and physical. But instead of waging war against
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  Speaker 1: Satan through striving, our method of warfare is simply to
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  Speaker 1: come to God like small children. His arms are always
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  Speaker 1: open wide, just like the prodigal son. Our Father is
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  Speaker 1: always waiting for our return, watching the horizon to see
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  Speaker 1: us coming back to his embrace. Poet William Cooper from
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  Speaker 1: the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem called Retirement from
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  Speaker 1: his collection of only hymns. Rest and listen as I
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  Speaker 1: read this artistic expression of rest in his words, far
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  Speaker 1: from the world, Oh.
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  Speaker 2: Lord, I flee.
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  Speaker 1: From strife and tumor, far from scenes where Satan wages
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  Speaker 1: still his most successful war, the calm, retreat the silent
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  Speaker 1: shade with prayer and praise, Agree and seem by thy
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  Speaker 1: sweet bounty maid for those who follow thee. There if
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  Speaker 1: thy spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode.
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  Speaker 1: Oh with what peace and joy and love. She communes
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  Speaker 1: with her God. There like the nightingale, she pours her
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  Speaker 1: solitary lays, nor asks a witness of her song, nor
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  Speaker 1: thirsts for human praise.
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  Speaker 2: Author and guardian.
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  Speaker 1: Of my life, Sweet fount of light, divine and all
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  Speaker 1: endearing names in one my Savior. I am Vine. What
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  Speaker 1: thanks I owe THEE? And what love a boundless, endless
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  Speaker 1: store shall echo through the realms above, when time shall
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  Speaker 1: be no more. Continue to breathe in and out letting
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  Speaker 1: this age old wisdom. Touch your soul. You are the lords,
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  Speaker 1: and He is yours. He gives us RESTful union with
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  Speaker 1: Him that we can enjoy both now and forever, an
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  Speaker 1: eternity hand in hand with our Father, just as William
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  Speaker 1: Cooper touched upon. There is a calm, retre and a
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  Speaker 1: silent shade where we must flee from the tumult of
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  Speaker 1: Satan's strife. True rest happens when we retreat with God.
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  Speaker 1: It was the same for Moses. Let me read some
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  Speaker 1: of the preceding verses from our scripture in Exodus thirty three.
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  Speaker 1: I'll read from verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation.
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  Speaker 1: Rest and breathe as I read the Holy Word of
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  Speaker 1: God over you, and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses
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  Speaker 1: used to take a tent and put it up far
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  Speaker 1: away from the camp. He referred to it as the
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  Speaker 1: Meeting tent. Everyone who sought the Eternal One would go
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  Speaker 1: out to the Meeting tent, which was located well outside
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  Speaker 1: the camp. When the people heard that Moses was going
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  Speaker 1: out to the tent, they would get up and stand
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  Speaker 1: and at the entrance of their own tents and watch
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  Speaker 1: him until he had gone inside. When Moses entered the tent,
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  Speaker 1: the cloud pillar descended to the tense entrance, and the
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  Speaker 1: eternal would talk with Moses. When the people witnessed the
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  Speaker 1: cloud Pillar standing at the Meeting Tense entrance, they would
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  Speaker 1: stand and bow and worship at the entrance of their
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  Speaker 1: own tents. The Eternal One spoke with Moses face to face,
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  Speaker 1: just as a friend speaks to another friend. After they
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  Speaker 1: were done, Moses would come back to camp, but his
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  Speaker 1: young assistant, Joshua, the son of Nun, would remain behind.
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  Speaker 1: Moses said to the Lord, look, you tell me lead
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  Speaker 1: these people, but you haven't yet told me whom you
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  Speaker 1: will send to accompany me. Yet you tell me I
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  Speaker 1: know you by name, and you have gained my trust
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  Speaker 1: and blessing. If I have gained your trust and blessing,
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  Speaker 1: reveal your way to me so that I can truly
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  Speaker 1: know you, and so that I may gain your favor.
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  Speaker 1: Remember that this nation is your covenant people. The Eternal
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  Speaker 1: One replied, my presence will travel with you, and I
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  Speaker 1: will give you rest. Notice that the Bible tells us
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  Speaker 1: that Moses often took a tent and pitched it far
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  Speaker 1: away from the camp, far away from the interruptions and
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  Speaker 1: busyness of the Israelites. This meeting tent was set apart
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  Speaker 1: for his time alone with God. And even though God
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  Speaker 1: says on only six verses later that you cannot see
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  Speaker 1: my face, for no one may see me and live,
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  Speaker 1: we do read that Moses spoke face to face with
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  Speaker 1: God like.
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  Speaker 2: A friend would.
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  Speaker 1: This is remarkable, the power of retreating and resting, returning
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  Speaker 1: to the Father and resting in him. Through seeking him,
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  Speaker 1: we may find him, and through finding him we may
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  Speaker 1: love him more. Let us seek places of rest and
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  Speaker 1: refuge during our day, not only as we come to
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  Speaker 1: sleep at night. If the bed is the only place
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  Speaker 1: where we seek rest, we don't usually give God our
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  Speaker 1: best when we're exhausted and groggy. The intimacy God wants
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  Speaker 1: and the secrets that he desires to share may not
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  Speaker 1: be entrusted to us. Let us give him the first
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  Speaker 1: fruits of our day, the best part of our day,
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  Speaker 1: just as he commanded the Israelites to sacrifice to him
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  Speaker 1: their best lambs and goats. Let us not give the
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  Speaker 1: Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord, second best. Let
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  Speaker 1: us make space in our day to rest with him.
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  Speaker 1: As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says.
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  Speaker 1: Only in returning to me and resting in me will
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  Speaker 1: you be saved and quietness and confidence as your strength
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  Speaker 1: come in quietness, come in confidence. Return to him and
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  Speaker 1: rest in him. The art of resting is founded upon
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  Speaker 1: resting in him. We cannot rest apart from him. There
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  Speaker 1: is no other sanctuary like his presence. There is a
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  Speaker 1: famous passage from Saint Augustine's Confessions in which Saint Augustine states,
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  Speaker 1: you have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our
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  Speaker 1: heart is restless until it rests in you. Precious one,
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  Speaker 1: become aware of his presence right now. Feel the gentleness
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  Speaker 1: of his love, since the sweetness of his kindness.
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  Speaker 2: Delight in his rest.
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  Speaker 1: Just as Adam and Eve delighted in his rest in Eden,
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  Speaker 1: hand in hand, side by side.
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  Speaker 2: Face to face, sweet rest.
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  Speaker 1: Hear the echo of Jesus' gentle words, beckoning again and again,
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  Speaker 1: come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and
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  Speaker 1: I will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
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  Speaker 1: when you come to him, he will most certainly give
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  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
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  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
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  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest. Oh Father God, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus. Thank you that his words
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  Speaker 1: and his life tell us how you want to relate
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  Speaker 1: to us. You are beckoning us to come to you
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  Speaker 1: as we are and rest in you. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: showing us how Moses met with you face to face,
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  Speaker 1: so that we can do likewise. Thank you that he
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  Speaker 1: modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
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  Speaker 1: knowing that your presence went with him wherever you led him.
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  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
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  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
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  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us, and cause us
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  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are
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  Speaker 1: our best friend. May your presence go with us, and
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  Speaker 1: may we go with your presence. You have our hearts, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: and we surrender to you again and again, and the
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  Speaker 1: wonderful name of.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus we pray. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
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  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
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  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
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  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
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  Speaker 1: craft the intricate.
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  Speaker 2: Details of the great deep.
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  Speaker 1: Sea sponges and coral reefs, oak trees, and fromeliads. Then
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  Speaker 1: he had been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing
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  Speaker 1: the planets in our solar system into perfect order, and then,
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  Speaker 1: working his way up to his zenith, he formed every
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  Speaker 1: living animal, from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice,
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  Speaker 1: and lastly, as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind.
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  Speaker 1: After such a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing
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  Speaker 1: that was left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine
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  Speaker 1: how God must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction
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  Speaker 1: and delight. Ah, What pleasure to see his good world
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  Speaker 1: filled with such beauty and peace, no striving and no strife,
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  Speaker 1: no turmoil, and no tears. What a place to rest
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  Speaker 1: and commune with his creation. To speak face to face
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  Speaker 1: with Adam and Eve, his children created perfectly in his image,
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy rich communion and companionship with him, To experience
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  Speaker 1: with him the unadulterated joy of mutual love and friendship.
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  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
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  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
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  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity. And
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  Speaker 1: though Satan and Sin interrupted that master plan, we are
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  Speaker 1: headed there again, and he is making this challenging detour
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  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
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  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving us
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  Speaker 1: spaces to come back to him and rest with him
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  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day.
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  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, his presence is not only
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  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses.
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  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
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  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
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  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
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  Speaker 1: inside of us, we can praise him for this. He
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  Speaker 1: can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can
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  Speaker 1: encourage our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty,
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  Speaker 1: we can return to him and rest in him and
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  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
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  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
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  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and run back to the Father.
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  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
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  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him in
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  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking Him
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  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting. Let's praise him. Ah, Father, God,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: wonderful Creator, You make all things well. Your gift of
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: rest to us is something we long to reach for
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and live out every day. Let us seek you and
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: find you as we rest in you. Let us not
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: seek false forms of rest. Your rest is perfect and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: it is necessary to experiencing deep and loving unity with you.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Help us pitch our tentive meeting every day and give
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: you our best. Thank you for your presence that goes
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: with us. What delight can be ours each day as
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: we sense your sweet spirit going with us. In your
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: son's precious name. Amen, continue to enjoy this peace, beloved child.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: May you feel His presence with you, and may He
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: give you rest. Let's listen again to this sleep story
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: about the art of resting. As our verse in Exodus
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: thirty three tells us, rest is the delightful fruit of
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: His presence, which goes with us. The New International Version
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: translates the verse like this, The Lord replied, my presence
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: will go with you, and I will give you rest.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: And the New Living Translation reads the Lord replied, I
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you rest. Everything will be fine for you. Probably at
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: many points in our lives before we received Christ and
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: even afterwards, we have.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Sought this elusive state of.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Rest in many different places and in different ways. We
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: may have gone to great lengths and spent a lot
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: of time and money in the search for rest for
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: our mind and body and soul. What an irony it
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: is to exert so much energy in the quest for rest.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: What must God think of us when he sees his
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: children frantic pursuing this elusive quality and desperately believing many
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: things that are packaged to promise us peace when all
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the while rest is his delightful invention. Let's seek him
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: and find him as he rests, and rest with him.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Something we need to know about the art of resting
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: is that, since we are made in God's image, how
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and when He himself rests is of utmost importance to us.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Paul knew this and wrote in Ephesians five that we
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: must imitate the Father. Since you are God's dear children,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: you must try to be like him. Your life must
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: gave his life for us as a sweet, smelling offering
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: to find the Father, we look at the Son. And
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: come to him and rest is the same place that
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: he tells us that he has come to reveal the Father.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Let me read the passage to you now from Matthew
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: six in the New Living Translation. At that time, Jesus
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: thank you for these things from those who think themselves
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: it pleased you to do it this way. My Father
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: son accept the father, and no one truly knows the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Father accept the son and those to whom the son chooses.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: To reveal him.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Then Jesus said, come to me, all of you who
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: easy to bear, and the burden I give you.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: As light.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Rest and breathe as his red letter words seep into
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: your soul. Can you hear the rest in his voice?
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Can you sense the peace in his tone? He is
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: praying to the Father for you, so that you may
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: tangibly experience his rest by becoming childlike and trusting and carefree.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Let your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father. Let
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: the gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on his knee,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and thus disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad. As
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us to
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: rest like father.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: Like son.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: What unity and what bliss are found in such rest?
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews had this revelation of rest, and
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: we read in chapter four, verse ten, for whoever has
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: God did from his or another translation puts it because
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: those who enter into Salvation's rest lay down their labors
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: in the same way that God entered into a sabbath
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: rest from his Let us consider that Father God ordained
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: rest in creation to create space in the garden to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: walk with Adam. Rest was the avenue to oneness and
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: friendship with his beloved children. So it was then and
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: so it is today. No wonder the devil is so
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: intent on disrupting our rest, both mental and physical. But
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: instead of waging war against Satan through striving, our method
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: of warfare is simply to come to God like small children.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: His arms are always open wide.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Just like the prodigal son.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Our Father is always waiting for our return, watching the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: horizon to see us coming back to his embrace. Poet
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: William Cooper from the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: called Retirement from his collection of only hymns. Rest and
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: listen as I read this artistic expression of rest in
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: his words. Far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: from strife and tumult, Far from scenes where Satan wages
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: The calm, retreat the.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Silent shade, with prayer and praise, Agree and seem by
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: thy sweet bounty maid for those who follow Thee. There,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: if thy spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: her God. There, like the nightingale, she pours her solitary
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: lays or asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: for human praise. Author and guardian of my life, Sweet
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: fount of light, divine and all endearing names in one
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: my Savior. I am Thine. What thanks I owe THEE?
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: And what love a boundless, endless store shall echo through
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the realms above, when time shall be no more. Continue
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: to breathe in and out letting this age old wisdom.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Touch your soul. You are the lords, and he is yours.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: He gives us RESTful union with Him that we can
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: enjoy both now and forever, an eternity hand in hand
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: with our Father. Just as William Cooper touched upon, there
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: is a calm retreat and a silent shade where we
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: must flee from the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: happens when we retreat with God. That was the same
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: for Moses. Let me read some of the preceding verses
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: from our scripture in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation. Rest and
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: breathe as I read the Holy Word of God over you,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses used to take
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: a tent and put it up far away from the camp.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: He referred to it as the meeting tent. Everyone who
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: sought the eternal One would go out to the meeting tent,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: which was located well outside the camp. When the people
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: heard that Moses was going out to the tent, they
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: would get up and stand at the entrance of their
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: own tents and watch him until he had gone inside.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: When Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar descended to
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the tense entrance, and the eternal would talk with Moses.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: When the people witnessed the cloud pillar standing at the
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: meeting tense entrance, they would stand and bow in worship
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: at the entrance of their own tents. The Eternal One
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: spoke with Moses face to face, just as a friend
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: speaks to another friend. After they were done, Moses would
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, the
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: son of Nun, would remain behind. Moses said to the Lord, Look,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: you tell me lead these people, but you haven't yet
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: told me whom you will send to accompany me. Yet
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: you tell me, I know you by name, and you
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: have gained my trust and blessing. If I have gained
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: your trust and blessing, reveal your way to me so
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: that I can truly know you, and so that I
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: may gain your favor. Remember that this nation is your
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: covenant people. The Eternal One replied, My presence will travel
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: with you, and I will give you rest. Notice that
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that Moses often took a tent
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: and pitched it far away from the camp, far away
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites. This meeting
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: tent was set apart for his time alone with God.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: And even though God says only six verses later that
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: you cannot see my face, for no one may see
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: me and live, we do read that Moses spoke face
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: to face with God like a friend would. This is remarkable,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: the power of retreating and resting, returning to the Father
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: and resting in him. Through seeking him, we may find him,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: and through finding him, we may love him more. Let
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: us seek places of rest and refuge during our day,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: not only as we come to sleep at night.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: If the bed is the only.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Place where we seek rest, we don't usually give God
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: our best when we are exhausted and groggy. The intimacy
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: God wants and the secrets that he desires to share
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: may not be entrusted to us. Let us give him
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: the first fruits of our day, the best part of
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: our day, just as he commanded the Israelites to sacrifice
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: to him their best lambs and goats. Let us not
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: give the Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord, second best.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Let us make space in our day to rest with him.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: says only in returning to me and resting in me,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: will you be saved and quietness and confidence as your
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: strength come in quietness, come and confidence. Return to him
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: and rest in him. The art of resting is founded
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: upon resting in him. We cannot rest apart from him.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: There is no other sanctuary like his presence. There is
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: a famous passage from Saint Augustine's Confessions in which Saint
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Augustine states, you have made us for yourself, oh Lord,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: and our heart is restless until it rests in you,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: precious one. I'm aware of his presence right now. Feel
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: the gentleness of his love, sense the sweetness of his kindness.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Delight in his rest, just as Adam and Eve delighted
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: in his rest in Eden, hand in hand, side by side.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: Face to face, sweet rest.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Hear the echo of Jesus gentle words, beckoning again and again.
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: When you come to him, he will most certainly give
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest, Oh Father God, Thank you
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you that his words and.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: His life tell us how you want to relate to us.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: You are beckoning us to come to you as we
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: are and rest in you. Thank you for showing us
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: how Moses met with you face to face, so that
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: we can do likewise. Thank you that he modeled the
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: balance of seeking your presence in solitude and knowing that
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: your presence went with him wherever you let him. Help
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: us set aside distractions every day that hinder our rest
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: in you. Help us to pitch our tent of meeting
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: whatever that looks like for us, and cause us to
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: speak face to face with you, because you are our
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: best friend. May your presence go with us, and may
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: we go with your presence.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: You have our hearts, Lord.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: And we surrender to you again and again, and the
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: wonderful name of Jesus, we pray.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate detail of the great deep sea sponges
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees, and fromeliads. Then he had
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: in our solar system into perfect order, and then, working
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: his way up to his zenith, he formed every living animal,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: what pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no turmoil,
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: and no tears. What a place to rest and commune
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: with his creation. To speak face to face with Adam
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: and Eve, his children created perfectly in his image, to
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: enjoy rich communion and companionship with him, To experience with
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: him the unadulterated joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity, and
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: though Satan and Sin interrupted that master plan, we are
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and He is making this challenging detour
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving us
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: spaces to come back to Him and rest with him
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with Him every moment of the day.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, His presence is not only
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses.
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: inside of us. We can praise him for this. He
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: encourage our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: we can return to him and rest in him and
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son, and.
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: Run back to the Father.
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him and
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever be encouraged to continue seeking him
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting. Let's praise him, Ah, Father, God,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: wonderful creator, You make all things well. Your gift of
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: rest to us is something we long to reach for
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: and live out every day. Let us seek you and
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: find you as we rest in you. Let us not
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: seek false forms of rest. Your rest is perfect and
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: it is necessary to experiencing deep and loving unity with you.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Help us pitch our tentive meeting every day and give.
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: You our best.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your presence that goes with us. What
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: delight can be ours each day as we sense your
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: sweet spirit going with us. In your son's precious name, Amen,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: continue to enjoy this peace, beloved child. May you feel
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: his presence with you, and may he give you rest.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: Let's listen again to this sleep story about the art
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: of resting, As our verse in Exodus thirty three tells
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: us rest is the delightful fruit of his presence, which
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: goes with us. The new International version translates the verse
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: like this, The Lord replied, my presence will go with you,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest, and the new Living
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: translation reads.
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: The Lord replied, I will personally go with you.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Moses and I will give you rest. Everything will be
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: fine for you. Probably, at many points in our lives
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: before we received Christ and even afterwards, we have sought
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: this elusive state of rest in many different places and
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: in different ways. We may have gone to great lengths
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: and spent a lot of time and money in the
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: search for rest for our mind and body and soul.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: What an iary it is to exert so much energy
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: in the quest for rest. What must God think of
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: us when he sees his children frantically pursuing this elusive
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: quality and desperately believing many things that are packaged to
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: promise us peace, when all the while rests his delightful invention.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: Let's seek him and find him as he rests, and
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: rest with him. Something we need to know about the
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: art of resting is that, since we are made in
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: God's image, how and when He himself rests is of utmost.
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: Importance to us.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: Paul knew this and wrote in Ephesians five that we
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: must imitate the Father. Since you are God's dear children,
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: you must try to be like him. Your life must
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: gave his life for us as a sweet smelling offering
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: to find the Father, we look at the son. And
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us to
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: come to him and rest is the same place that
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: he tells us that he has come to reveal the Father.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: Let me read the passage to you now from Matthew
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: six in the New Living Translation. At that time, Jesus
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: Wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: knows the son accept the Father, and no one truly
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: knows the Father accept the son and those to whom
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: the son chooses to reveal him.
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: Then Jesus said.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: Come to me, all of you who are weary and
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: and the burden I give you as light, rest and breathe.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: As his red letter words seep into your soul. Can
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: you hear the rest in his voice? Can you sense
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: the peace in his tone? He is praying to the
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Father for you, so that you may tangibly experience his
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: rest by becoming childlike and trusting and care free. Let
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father. Let the
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on his knee,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: and the disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad. As
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us to
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: rest like.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: Father, like son.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: What unity and what bliss are found in such rest?
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews had this revelation of rest, and
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: we read in chapter four, verse ten, for whoever has
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: God did from his or another translation puts it because
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: those who enter into Salvation's rest lay down their labors
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: in the same way that God entered into a sabbath
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: rest from his Let us consider that Father, God ordained
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: rest in creation to create space in the garden to
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: walk with Adam. Rest was the avenue to oneness and
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: friendship with his beloved children. So it was then and
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: so it is today. No wonder the devil is so
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: intent on disrupting our rest, both mental and physical. But
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: instead of waging war against Satan through striving, our method
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: of warfare is simply to come to God like small children.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: His arms are always open wide.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: Just like the prodigal son.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Our father is always waiting for our return, watching the
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: horizon to see us coming back to his embrace. Poet
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: William Cooper from the eighteenth century penned a beauty poem
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: called Retirement from his collection of only hymns. Rest and
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: listen as I read this artistic expression of rest in
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: his words, far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: from strife and tumult, far from scenes where Satan wages
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war, The calm retreat the silent shade,
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: with prayer and praise, agreed and seem by thy sweet
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: bounty maid for those who follow thee. There if thy
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: spirit touched the soul and grace her mean abode. Oh
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love. She communes with
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: her God. There like the nightingale, she pours her solitary lays,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: human praise.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: Author and guardian.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: Of my life, Sweet fount of light, divine and all
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: endearing names in one my Savior.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 2: I am Thine. What thanks I owe THEE?
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: And what love A boundless, endless store shall echo through
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: the realms above, when time shall be no more. Continue
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: to breathe in and out letting this age old wisdom.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: Touch your soul. You are the Lord, and He is yours.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: He gives us RESTful union with Him that we can
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: enjoy both now and forever, an eternity hand in hand
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: with our Father, just as William Cooper touched upon. There
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: is a calm retreat and a silent shade where we
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: must flee from the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: happens when we retreat with God. It was the same
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: for Moses. Let me read some of the preceding verses
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: from our scripture in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation. Rest and
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: breathe as I read the Holy Word of God over
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: you and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses used to
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: take it tent and put it up far away from
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the camp. He referred to it as the Meeting tent.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: Everyone who sought the Eternal One would go out to
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: the meeting tent, which was located well outside the camp.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: When the people heard that Moses was going out to
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: the tent, they would get up and stand at the
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: entrance of their own tents and watch him until he
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: had gone inside. When Moses entered the tent, the cloud
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: pillar descended to the tense entrance, and the eternal would
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: talk with Moses. When the people witnessed the cloud pillar
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: standing at the meeting tents entrance, they would stand and
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: bow and worship at the entrance of their own tents.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: The Eternal One spoke with Moses face to face, just
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: as a friend speaks to another friend. After they were done,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: Moses would come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: the Son of None, would remain behind. Moses said to
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: the Lord, look, you tell me lead these people, but
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: you haven't yet told me whom you will send to
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: accompany me. Yet you tell me I know you by name,
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: and you have gained my trust and blessing. If I
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: have gained your trust and blessing, reveal your way to
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: me so that I can truly know you, and so
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: that I may gain your favor. Remember that this nation
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: is your covenant people. The Eternal One replied, my presence
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: will travel with you, and I will give you rest.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Notice that the Bible tells us that Moses often took
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: a tent and pitched it far away from the camp,
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: far away from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: This meeting tent was set apart for his time alone
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: with God. And even though God says only six verses
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: later that you cannot see my face, for no one
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: may see me and live, we do read that Moses
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: spoke face to face with God like a friend would.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: This is remarkable, the power of retreating and resting, returning
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: to the Father and resting in him. Through seeking him,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: we may find him, and through finding him, we may
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: love him more. Let us seek places of rest and
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: refuge during our day, not only as we come to
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: sleep at night. If the bed is the only place
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: where we seek rest, we don't usually give God our
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: best when we're exhausted and groggy. The intimacy God wants
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: and the secrets that he desires to share may not
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: be entrusted to us. Let us give him the first
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: fruits of our day, the best part of our day,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: just as he commanded the Israelites to sacrifice to him
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: their best lambs and goats. Let us not give the
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord, second best. Let
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: us make space in our day to rest with him.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: Only in returning to me and resting in me will
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: you be saved. And quietness and confidence is your strength.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: Come in quietness, come and confidence. Return to him and
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: rest in him. The art of resting is founded upon
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: resting in him. We cannot rest apart from him. There
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: is no other sanctuary like his presence. There is a
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: famous passage from Saint Augustine's Confessions in which Saint Augustine states,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: you have made us for your self, oh Lord, and
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: our heart is restless until it rests in you. Precious one,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: become aware of his presence right now, Feel the gentleness
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: of his love. Sense the sweetness of his kindness. Delight
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: in his rest, just as Adam and Eve delighted in
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: his rest, and Eden hand in hand, side by side.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: Face to face, sweet rest.
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: Hear the echo of jesus gentle words, beckoning.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: Again and again, come.
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: To me, all who are weary and burdened, and I
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: when you come to him, he will most certainly give
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest. Oh Father God, thank you
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus. Thank you that his words
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: and his life tell us how you want to relate
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: to us. You are beckoning us to come to you
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: as we are and rest in you. Thank you for
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: showing us how Moses met with you face to face,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: so that we can do likewise. Thank you that he
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: knowing that You're presence went with him wherever you led him.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us and cause us
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: our best friend. May your presence go with us, and
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: may we go with your presence. You have our hearts, Lord,
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: and we surrender to you again and again, and the
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: wonderful name of Jesus we pray.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God rested from his work
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate details of the great deep sea sponges
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees and bromeliads.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 2: Then he had been flinging.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: Galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets in our
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: solar system into perfect order, and then, working his way
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: up to his zenith, he formed every living animal, from
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: What pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no.
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 2: Turmoil, and no tears.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: What a place to rest and commune with his creation,
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: To speak face to face with Adam and Eve, his
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: children created perfectly in his image, to enjoy rich communion
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: and companionship with him, To experience with him the unadulterated
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity. And
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: though Satan and Sin interrupted that master plan, we are
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and he is making this challenging detour
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving our
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: spaces to come back to him and rest with him
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, his presence is not only
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: inside of us, we can praise.
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: Him for this.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: He can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: can encourage our hearts to obey His words. In Isaiah thirty,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: we can return to Him and rest in him and
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and.
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 2: Run back to the Father.
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him in
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking him
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 2: Let's praise him.
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Ah, Father, God, wonderful creator, You make all things well.
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: Your gift of rest to us is something we long
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: to reach for and live out every day. Let us
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: seek you and find you as we rest in you.
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: Let us not seek false forms of rest. Your rest
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: is perfect and it is necessary to experiencing deep and
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: loving unity with you. Help us pitch our tentive meeting
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: every day and give you our best. Thank you for
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: your presence that goes with us. What delight can be
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: ours each day as we sense your sweet spirit.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 2: Going with us.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: In your son's precious name. Amen, continue to enjoy this peace,
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: beloved child. May you feel His presence with you, and
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: may he give you rest. Let's listen again to this
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: sleep story about the art of resting. As our verse
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: in Exodus thirty three tells us, rest is the delightful
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: fruit of His presence, which goes with us. The New
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: International version translates the verse like this, the Lord replied,
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: my presence will go with you, and I will give
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: you rest, And the New Living Translation reads.
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 2: The Lord replied, I will.
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: Personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest.
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: Everything will be fine for you. Probably at many points
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: in our lives before we received Christ and even afterwards,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: we have sought this elusive state of rest in many
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: different places and in different ways. We may have gone
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: to gray eat lengths and spent a lot of time
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: and money in the search for rest for our mind
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: and body and soul. What an irony it is to
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: exert so much energy in the quest for rest. What
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: must God think of us when he sees his children
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: frantically pursuing this elusive quality and desperately believing many things
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: that are packaged to promise us peace when all the
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: while rest is his delightful invention. Let's seek him and
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: find him as he rests, and rest with him. Something
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: we need to know about the art of resting is that,
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: since we are made in God's image, how and when
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: He himself rests is of utmost importance to us. Paul
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: knew this and wrote in Ephesians five that we must
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: imitate the Father. Since you are God's dear children, you
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: must try to be like him. Your life must be
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: his life for us as a sweet, smelling offering and
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of the
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order to
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: find the Father, we look at the Son. And in fact,
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: the famous verse where Jesus invites us to come to
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: him and rest is the same place that he tells
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: us that he has come to reveal the Father. We
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: can learn from this that one main attribute of the
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest. Let
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: me read the passage to you now from Matthew six
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: in the New Living Translation. At that time, Jesus prayed
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: you for hiding these things from those who think themselves
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father,
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: it pleased you to do it this way. My Father
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: son accept the father, and no one truly knows the
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: Father accept the son and those to whom the son
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: chooses to reveal him.
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 2: Then Jesus said.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: Come to me, all of you. You are weary and
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: and the burden I give you is light. Rest and
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: breathe as his red letter words seep into your soul.
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: Can you hear the rest in his voice? Can you
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: sense the peace in his tone? He is praying to
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: the Father for you, so that you may tangibly experience
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: his rest by becoming childlike and trusting and care free.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: Your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father. Let the
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on his knee
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: and thus disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad. As
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us to rest.
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 2: Like father, like son.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: What unity and what bliss are found in such rest?
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews had this revelation of rest, and
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: we read in chapter four, verse ten, for whoever has
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: God did from his or another translation puts it because
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: those who enter into Salvation's rest lay down their labors
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: in the same way that God enters into a sabbath
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: rest from his. Let us consider that Father God ordained
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: rest in creation to create space in the garden to
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: walk with Adam. Rest was the avenue to oneness and
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: friendship with his beloved children. So it was then and
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: so it is today. No wonder the devil is so
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: intent on disrupting our rest, both mental and physical. But
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: instead of waging war against Satan through striving, our method
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: of warfare is simply to come to God like small children.
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: His arms are always open wide, just like the prodigal son.
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: Our Father is always waiting for our return, watching the
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: horizon to see us coming back to his embrace. Poet
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: William Cooper from the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: called Retirement from his collection of only hymns. Rest and
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: listen as I read this artistic expression of rest in
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: his words. Far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: from strife and tumult, Far from scenes where Satan wages
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war. The calm, retreat the silent shade,
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: with prayer and praise, Agree and seem by thy sweet
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: bounty maid for those who follow Thee. There, if thy
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: her God. There like the nightingale, she pours her solitary lays,
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: human praise.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 2: Author and guardian.
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: Of my life, Sweet fount of light, divine and all
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: endearing names in one my Savior. I am Thine.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 2: What thanks I owe THEE? And what love A boundless,
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 2: endless store shall echo through the realms above, when time
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 2: shall be no more. Continue to breathe in and out
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 2: letting this age old wisdom.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: Touch your soul. You are the lords, and he is yours.
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: He gives us RESTful union with Him that we can
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: enjoy both now and forever, an eternity hand in hand
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: with our Father. Just as William Cooper touched upon, there
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: is a calm retreat and a silent shade where we
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: must flee from the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: happens when we retreat with God. It was the same
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: for Moses. Let me read some of the preceding verses
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: from our scripture in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation. Rest and
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: breathe as I read the Holy Word of God over you,
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses used to take
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: a tent and put it up far away from the camp.
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: He referred to it as the meeting tent. Everyone who
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: sought the eternal One would go out to the meeting tent,
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: which was located well outside the camp. When the people
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: heard that Moses was going out to the tent, they
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: would get up and stand at the entrance of their
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: own tents and watch him until he had gone inside.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: When Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar descended to
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: the tense entrance, and the eternal would talk with Moses.
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: When the people witnessed the cloud pillar standing at the
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: meeting tent's entrance. They would stand and bow and worship
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: at the entrance of their own tents. The Eternal One
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: spoke with Moses face to face, just as a friend
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: speaks to another friend. After they were done, Moses would
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, the
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: Son of None, would remain behind. Moses said to the Lord, Look,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: you tell me lead these people, but you haven't yet
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: told me whom you will send to accompany me. Yet
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: you tell me, I know you by name, and you
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: have gained my trust and blessing. If I have gained
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: your trust and blessing, reveal your way to me so
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: that I can truly know you, and so that I
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: may gain your favor. Remember that this nation is your
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: covenant people. The Eternal One replied, My presence will travel
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: with you, and I will give you rest. Notice that
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that Moses often took a tent
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: and pitched it far away from the camp, far away
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites. This meeting
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: tent was set apart for his time alone with God.
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: And even though God says only six verses later, that
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: you cannot see my face, for no one may see
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: me and live. We do read that Moses spoke face
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: to face with God like a friend would. This is remarkable,
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: the power of retreating and resting, returning to the Father
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: and resting in him. Through seeking him, we may find him,
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: and through finding him, we may love him more. Let
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: us seek places of rest and refuge during our day,
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: not only as we come to sleep at night. If
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: the bed is the only place where we seek rest.
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: We don't usually give God our best when we're exhausted
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: and groggy. The intimacy God wants and the secrets that
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: he desires to share may not be entrusted to us.
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: Let us give him the first fruits of our day,
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: the best part of our day, just as he commanded
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: the Israelites to sacrifice to him their best lambs and goats.
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 2: Let us not give.
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: The Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord, second best.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: Let us make space in our day to rest with him.
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen,
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: says only in returning to me and resting in me,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: will you be saved and quietness and confidence as your
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: strength come in quietness, come and confidence. Return to him
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: and rest in him. The art of resting is founded
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: upon resting in him. We cannot rest apart from him.
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: There is no other sanctuary like his presence. There is
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: the famous passage from Saint Augustine's Confessions, in which Saint
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: Augustine states, you have made us for yourself, oh Lord,
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: Precious one, become aware of his presence right now, Feel
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: the gentleness of his love, since the sweetness of his kindness.
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: Delight in his rest, just as Adam and Eve delighted
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: in his rest in Eden, hand in hand, side by side,
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: face to face, sweet rest. Hear the echo of Jesus
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: gentle words, words beckoning, again and again. Come to me,
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: all who are weary and burdened, and I will give
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one, When you
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: come to him, he will most certainly give you rest.
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: He will take your burdens away, and he will remove
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: your weariness. Join me as we praise him for this
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: gift of rest, Oh Father God, thank you for revealing
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: yourself through Jesus. Thank you that his words and his
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: life tell us how you want to relate to us.
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: You are beckoning us to come to you as we
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: are and rest in you. Thank you for showing us
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: how Moses met with you face to face, so that
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: we can do likewise.
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you that he.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: Modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: knowing that your presence went with him wherever you led him.
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us, and cause us
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: our best friend. May your presence go with us, and
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: may we go with your presence. You have our hearts, Lord,
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: and we surrender to you again and again in the
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: wonderful name of Jesus, we pray.
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate details of the great deep sea, sponges
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees, and fromeliads. Then he had
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: in our solar system into perfect order, and then, working
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: his way up to his zenith, he formed every living animal,
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: What pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no turmoil,
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: and no tears. What a place to rest and commune
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: with his creation. To speak face to face with Adam
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: and Eve, his children created perfectly in his image, to
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: enjoy rich communion and companionship with him, To experience with
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: him the unadulterated joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity and
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: though Satan and Sin interrupted that master plan, we are
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and He is making this challenging detour
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving us
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: space to come back to Him and rest with him
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day.
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, His presence is not only
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us.
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 2: More than Moses.
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: inside of us. We can praise him for this. He
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: encourage our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty,
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: we can return to him and rest in him and
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and run back to the Father.
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him and
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking him
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting. Let's praise him, Ah, Father, God,
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: wonderful creator, You make all things well. Your gift of
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: rest to us is something we long to reach for
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: and live our every day. Let us seek you and
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: find you as we rest in you. Let us not
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: seek false forms of rest. Your rest is perfect and
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: it is necessary to experiencing deep and loving unity with you.
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: Help us pitch our tentive meeting every day and give
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: you our best. Thank you for your presence that goes
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: with us. What delight can be ours each day as
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: we sense your sweet spirit going with us. In your
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: Son's precious name, Amen, continue to enjoy this peace, beloved child.
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: May you feel his presence with you, and may he
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: give you rest. Join me as we explore the nature
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: of rest, both an art and a gift and a
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: discipline as well as a delight. The art of rest
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: is something very dear to our heavenly Father's heart. He
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: enjoys rest so much that he made it a part
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: of his creation plan for the world. Seven is the
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: number of completion and even perfection in Hebrew symbolism. So
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: God made rest the seventh day of creation, and it's
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: the seventh day.
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 2: Of our week.
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: Thus we will come to understand more deeply tonight how
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: rest can complete our lives in some very special ways.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: There is purpose in all of God's designs, and we'll
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: be exploring some of His purposes for rest and how
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: we can practice and enjoy the delightful art of resting.
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: God's word in Exodus thirty three, verse fourteen will be
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: our compass scripture tonight, leading us to the true north
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: of rest. The English Standard version tells us, and he said,
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: my presence will go with you, and I will give
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: you rest. We'll be learning the art of resting as
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: we listen to scriptures and poetry while allowing the Holy
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: Spirit to move on our hearts and draw us into
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: an experience of his rest. His presence will go with
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: us tonight, and he will lead.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 2: Us in his paths of peace.
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: Before we delve deeper into the art of resting, let's
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: truly put it into practice and get our bodies into
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: a state of total rest.
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 2: Do whatever you.
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: Need to do to make your surroundings most RESTful and
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 1: quiet and comfortable. That may include turning off the lights,
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: drawing the curtains, or adjusting your pillows or blankets. To
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: the best position. When you have made yourself fully comfortable,
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: come to stillness and breathe.
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 2: What a gift breathing is.
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: It allows our bodies to release all tension in a
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: way that few other methods do, and it's so easy.
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: We're designed to breathe. That makes me think that we
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: were designed to rest and relax. We were designed to
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: not carry stress or tension in our body's long term.
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: As you breathe out, feel yourself breathing out the tension.
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit may bring thoughts to a mind that
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: are hindering true rest. He wants you to yield them
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: to Him so that nothing will hinder your total rest
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: and relaxation. This is a vital part of trusting in Him,
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: So continue to notice these.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 2: Thoughts and exhale.
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: Notice any tightness and let it go out of your body.
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: As you breathe, notice the Holy Spirit's gentle presence coming
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: in and bringing soothing and peace to your mind and body.
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: Let his love touch your emotions and bring his rest
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: to your heart. Feel your stomach rise and fall gently.
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: Feel the peaceful rhythm of air coming in and going out.
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: Nothing is forced or harsh. This is the nature of
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: the art of resting. We coax our bodies into the discipline,
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: but we never force anything. God does so with our
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: free will. He coaxes us, but he will never coerce
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 1: or pressure us. He models true rest to us. Enjoy
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: this moment of rest. You'll find breathing a beautiful key
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: to come back to Let's come to God together in prayer.
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: Wonderful Creator and Father, We are coming to you tonight
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: to learn the art of resting. Teach us this discipline
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: and delight. Teach us not to simply rest for the
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: sake of resting, but to rest in you and find
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: completion in you. Open the eyes of our hearts to
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: understand why you deemed rest so important that it took
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: up the seventh day of creation and the seventh day
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: of our week, just as Jesus invited us.
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 2: Help us to come.
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: To you and learn from you tonight and rest. Help
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: us to give our heavy burdens to you and sit
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: on your knee like a small child. We are coming
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: to you. As you open your arms wide to receive us.
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: Help us feel your embrace, knowing that you will never
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: ever let us go. Lord, help us return to you
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: for rest again.
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 2: And again in life, we.
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: Know that true rest for our souls can only be
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: found in you. Nothing else will bring us lasting peace
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: and serenity like you.
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 2: We love you, Lord. Amen.
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: Now let's begin to explore the art of resting in
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: greater depth. As our verse in Exodus thirty three tells us,
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: rest is the delightful fruit of His presence, which goes
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: with us. The New International Version translates the verse like this,
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: the Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest, And the New Living Translation
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: reads the Lord replied, I will personally go with you, Moses,
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: for you. Probably at many points in our lives before
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: we received Christ and even afterwards, we have sought this
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: elusive state of rest in many different places and in
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: different ways. We may have gone to great lengths and
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time and money in the search
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: for rest for our mind and body and soul. What
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: an irony it is to exert so much energy in
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: the quest for rest. What must God think of us
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: when he sees his children frantically pursuing this elusive quality
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: and desperately believing many things that are packaged to promise
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: us peace when all the while rest as his delightful invention.
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: Let's seek him and find him as he rests, and
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: rest with him. Something we need to know about the
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: art of resting is that, since we are made in
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: God's image, how and when He himself rests is of
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: utmost importance to us. Paul knew this and wrote in
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: Ephesians five that we must imitate the Father. Since you
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet,
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: imitators of the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: in order to find the Father, we look at the Son.
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: And in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: to come to him and rest is the same place
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: that he tells us that he has come to reveal
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: the Father. We can learn from the that one main
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: attribute of the Father that Jesus wants to show us
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: is rest. Let me read the passage to you now
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: from Matthew six in the New Living Translation. At that time,
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 1: Jesus prayed this prayer.
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 2: Oh Father, Lord of.
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: Heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: do it this way. My Father has entrusted everything to me.
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: No one truly knows the son accept the father, and
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: no one truly knows the Father accept the son, and
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: those to whom the son chooses.
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 2: To reveal him. Then Jesus said, come.
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: To me, all of you who are weary and carry
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear,
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: and the burden I give.
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 2: You is light.
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: Rest and breathe as his red letter words seep into
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 1: your soul. Can you hear the rest in his voice?
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: Can you sense the peace in his tone? He is
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: praying to the Father for you, so that you may
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: tangibly experience his rest by becoming childlike and trusting and
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: care free. Let your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father.
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: Let the gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: his knee, and thus disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad.
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: As the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: to rest like father, like son. What unity and what
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 1: bliss are found in such rest? The writer of Hebrews
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: had this revelation of rest, and we read in chapter four,
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: verse ten, for whoever has entered God's rest has also
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 1: rested from his works, as God did from his or
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: another translation puts it because those who enter into Salvation's
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: rest lay down the labors in the same.
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 2: Way that God entered into a sabbath rest from his.
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: Let us consider that Father God ordained rest in creation
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: to create space in.
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 2: The garden to walk with Adam.
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: Rest was the avenue to oneness and friendship with his
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: beloved children. So it was then and so it is today.
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: No wonder the devil is so intent on disrupting our rest,
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: both mental and physical. But instead of waging war against
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: Satan through striving, our method of warfare is simply to
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: come to God like small children.
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 2: His arms are always.
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: Open wide, just like the prodigal son. Our Father is
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: always waiting for our turn, watching the horizon to see
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: us coming back to his embrace. Poet William Cooper from
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem called Retirement from
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 1: his collection of only hymns. Rest and listen as I
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: read this artistic expression of rest in his words.
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 2: Far from the world, Oh Lord, I.
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: Flee from strife and tumult, Far from scenes where Satan
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: wages still his most successful war. The calm, retreat the
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: silent shade, with prayer and praise, Agree and seem by
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: thy sweet bounty maid for those who follow Thee. There,
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: if thy spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: her God. There like the nightingale, she pours her solitary lays,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: human praise. Author and guardian of my life, Sweet fount
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: of light, divine and all endearing names, and one my Savior.
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: I am Thine. What thanks I owe THEE? And what
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: love A boundless, endless store shall echo through the realms above,
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: when time shall be no more. Continue to breathe in
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: and out letting this age old wisdom. Touch your soul.
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: You are the lords, and he is yours. He gives
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 1: us RESTful union with Him that we can enjoy both
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: now and forever, an eternity hand in hand.
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 2: With our Father.
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: Just as William Cooper touched upon, there is a calm
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: retreat and a silent shade where we must flee from
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 1: the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest happens when we
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: retreat with God. It was the same for Moses. Let
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: me read some of the preceding verses from our scripture
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from verse seven to fourteen,
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: and the voice translation. Rest and breathe as I read
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: the Holy Word of God over you, and let his
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: spirit reveal truth. Moses used to take a tent and
• 2:01:15
  Speaker 1: put it up far away from the camp. He referred
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 1: to it as the meeting tent. Everyone who sought the
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 1: eternal One would go out to the meeting tent, which
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: was located well outside the camp. When the people heard
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: that Moses was going out to the tent, they would
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: get up and stand at the entrance of their own
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: tents and watch him until he had gone inside. When
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar descended to the
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: tense entrance, and the eternal would talk with Moses. When
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: the people witnessed the cloud pillar standing at the meeting
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: tents entrance. They would stand and bow and worship at
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: the entrance of their own tents. The Eternal One spoke
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: with Moses face to face, just as a friend speaks
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: to another friend. After they were done, Moses would come
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, the Son
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: of None, would remain behind. Moses said to the Lord, look,
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: you tell me lead these people, but you haven't yet
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 1: told me whom you will send to accompany me. Yet
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: you tell me, I know you by name, and you
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: have gained my trust and blessing. If I have gained
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: your trust and blessing, reveal your way to me so
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: that I can truly know you, and so that I
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: may gain your favor. Remember that this nation is your
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: covenant people. The Eternal One replied, My presence will travel
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: with you, and I will give you rest. Notice that
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that Moses often took a tent
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: and pitched it far away from the camp, far away
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites. This meeting
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: tent was set apart for his time alone with God.
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: And even though God says only six verses later, that
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 1: you cannot see my face, for no one may see
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: me and live. We do read that Moses spoke face
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: to face with God like a friend would. This is remarkable,
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: the power of retreating and resting, returning to the Father
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: and resting in him. Through seeking him, we may find him,
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: and through finding him, we may love him more. Let
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: us seek places of rest and refuge during our day,
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: not only as we come to sleep at night. If
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: the bed is the only place where we seek rest.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: We don't usually give God our best when we are
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 1: exhausted and groggy. The intimacy God wants and the secrets
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: that he desires to share may not be entrusted to us.
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 1: Let us give him the first fruits of our day,
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 1: the best part of our day, just as he commanded
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: the Israelites to sacrifice to him their best lambs and goats.
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: Let us not give the Living God, God, our holy
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: and sovereign Lord, second best. Let us make space in
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: our day to rest with him. As Isaiah spoke God's
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: words in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen, this is what the
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says only in
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 1: returning to me and resting in me, will you be
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: saved and quietness and confidence as your strength come in quietness,
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: come and confidence. Return to him and rest in him.
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: The art of resting is founded upon resting in him.
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: We cannot rest apart from him. There is no other
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 1: sanctuary like his presence. There is the famous passage from
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 1: Saint Augustine's Confessions, in which Saint Augustine states, you have
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our heart is
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: restless until it rests in you. Precious one, become aware
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: of his presence right now, feel the gentleness of his love,
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: since the sweetness of his kindness. Delight in his rest,
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: just as Adam and Eve delighted in his rest in Eden,
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: hand in hand, side by side.
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 2: Face to face, sweet rest.
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 1: Hear the echo of Jesus gentle words, beckoning again and again.
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: When you come to him, he will most certainly give
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest, Oh Father God, thank you
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus. Thank you that his words
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: and his life tell us how you want to relate
• 2:07:51
  Speaker 1: to us. You are beckoning us to come to you
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: as we are and rest in you. Thank you for
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: showing us how Moses met with you face to face,
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: so that we can do likewise. Thank you that he
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: knowing that your presence went with him wherever you led him.
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us, and cause us
• 2:08:34
  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are.
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 2: Our best friend.
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 1: May your presence go with us, and may we go
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: with your presence.
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 2: You have our.
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: Hearts, Lord, and we surrender to you again and again
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: in the wonderful name of Jesus, we pray.
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 2: Men.
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate details of the great deep sea, sponges
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees and promeliads.
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 2: Then he had been flinging.
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 1: Galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets in our
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: solar system into perfect order, and then working his way
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: up to his zenith, he formed every living animal, from
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: octopi and skylarks to reindeer and feel, and lastly, as
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such a
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was left
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God must
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: What pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no turmoil,
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: and no tears. What a place to rest and commune
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 1: with his creation, to speak faith to face with Adam
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: and Eve, his children created perfectly in his image, to
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: enjoy rich communion and companionship with him, to experience with
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 1: him the unadulterated joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity. And
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 1: though Satan and sin interrupted that master plan. We are
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and He is making this challenging detour
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from He is giving us spaces
• 2:12:03
  Speaker 1: to come back to him and rest with him and
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 1: enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day. If
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: we accept the invitation, his presence is not only around
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 1: us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses. We
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 1: can truly say that his presence goes with us. It's
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 1: even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand in
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 1: hand with God. Because now God is on the inside
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 1: of us. We can praise him for this. He can
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 1: turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can encourage
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 1: our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty, we
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: can turn to him and rest in him and find
• 2:13:04
  Speaker 1: our daily salvation. We can come to him and trust
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 1: him like children. We can turn from our own ways
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 1: like the prodigal son, and run back to the Father.
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him and
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking Him
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting. Let's praise him, Oh Father, God,
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 1: wonderful creator, You make all things well. Your gift of
• 2:13:58
  Speaker 1: rest to us is something we long to reach for
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 1: and live out every day. Let us seek you and
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 1: find you as we rest in you. Let us not
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: seek false forms of rest. Your rest is perfect and
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: it is necessary to experiencing deep and loving unity with you.
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: Help us pitch our tentive meeting every day and give
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 1: you our best. Thank you for your presence that goes
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 1: with us. What delight can be ours each day as
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 1: we sense your sweet spirit.
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 2: Going with us.
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: In your son's precious name, Amen, continue to enjoy this peace,
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: beloved child.
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 2: May you feel his.
• 2:14:58
  Speaker 1: Presence with you, and may he give you rest. Let's
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 1: listen again to this sleep story about the art of resting.
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: As our verse in Exodus thirty three tells us, rest
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: is the delightful fruit of his presence, which goes with us.
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 2: The New International version translates the.
• 2:15:28
  Speaker 1: Verse like this, The Lord replied, my presence will go
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 1: with you, and I will give you rest, and the
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 1: New Living translation reads the Lord replied, I will personally
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 1: go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest.
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: Everything will be fine for you. Probably, at many points
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: in our lives, before all we received Christ, and even afterwards,
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: we have sought this elusive state of rest in many
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 1: different places and in different ways. We may have gone
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: to great lengths and spent a lot of time and
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 1: money in.
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 2: The search for rest for.
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: Our mind and body and soul. What an irony it
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 1: is to exert so much energy in the quest for rest.
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: What must God think of us when he sees his
• 2:16:35
  Speaker 1: children frantically pursuing this elusive quality and desperately believing many
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: things that are packaged to promise us peace, when all
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: the while rest is his delightful invention. Let's seek him
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: and find him as he rests, and rest with him.
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 1: Something we need to know about the art of resting
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: is that, since we are made in God's image, how
• 2:17:08
  Speaker 1: and when He himself rests is of utmost importance to us.
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: Paul knew this and wrote in Ephesians five that we
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 1: must imitate the Father. Since you are God's dear children,
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 1: you must try to be like him. Your life must
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 1: gave his life for us as a sweet, smelling offering
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 1: the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: to find the Father, we look at the Sun. And
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us to
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: come to him and rest is the same place that
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: he tells us that he has come to reveal the Father.
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: Let me read the passage to you now from Matthew
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 1: six in the New Living Translation. At that time, Jesus
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: thank you for hiding these things from those who think
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 1: themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 1: childlike Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 1: knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: knows the Father except the Sun and those to whom
• 2:19:05
  Speaker 1: the Son chooses to reveal him.
• 2:19:08
  Speaker 2: Then Jesus said, come.
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: To me, all of you who are weary and carry
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 1: humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 1: for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear,
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 1: and the burden I give you is light. Rest and
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: breathe as his red letter words seep into your soul.
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 1: Can you hear the rest in his voice? Can you
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: sense the peace in his tone? He is praying to
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: the Father for you, so that you may tangibly experience
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 1: his rest by becoming childlike and trusting and carefree. Let
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father. Let the
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 1: gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on his knee,
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 1: and thus disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad. As
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us to
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 1: rest like father, like son. What unity and what bliss
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: are found in such rest? The writer of Hebrews had
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: this revelation of rest, and we read in chapter four,
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 1: verse ten, for whoever has entered God's rest has also
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 1: rested from his works, as God did.
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 2: From his.
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 1: Or another translation puts it because those who enter into
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 1: Salvation's rest lay down their labors in the same way
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 1: that God entered into a sabbath rest from his Let
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: us consider that Father God ordained rest in creation, to
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 1: create space in the garden to walk with Adam. Rest
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: was the avenue to oneness and friendship with his beloved children.
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 1: So it was then and so it is today. No
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 1: wonder the devil is so intent on disrupting our rest,
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 1: both mental and physical. But instead of waging war against
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 1: Satan through striving, our method of warfare is simply to
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: come to God like small children, and his arms are
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: always open wide.
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 2: Just like the prodigal son.
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: Our father is always waiting for our return, watching the
• 2:22:13
  Speaker 1: horizon to see us coming back to his embrace. Poet
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: William Cooper from the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: called Retirement from his collection of only hymns. Rest and
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 1: listen as I read this artistic expression of rest in
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 1: his words, far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 1: from strife and tumult, far from scenes where Satan wages
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war. The calm retreat the silent shade,
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: with prayer and praise, agree and seem by thy sweet
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 1: bounty maid for those who follow thee. There if thy
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 1: spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: her God. There like the nightingale, she pours her solitary lays,
• 2:23:36
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: human praise.
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 2: Author and guardian.
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: Of my life, Sweet fount of light, divine and all
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: endearing names in one my Savior.
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 2: I am thine.
• 2:23:59
  Speaker 1: What thank I owe thee? And what love a boundless,
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: endless store shall echo through the realms above, when time
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 1: shall be no more. Continue to breathe in and out
• 2:24:19
  Speaker 1: letting this age old wisdom.
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 2: Touch your soul. You are the lords, and He is yours.
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: He gives us RESTful union with Him that we can
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: enjoy both now and forever, an eternity hand in hand
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: with our Father, just as William Cooper touched upon. There
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: is a calm retreat and a silent shade where we
• 2:24:50
  Speaker 1: must flee from the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 1: happens when we retreat with God. It was the same
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: for Moses. Let me read some of the preceding verses
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: from our scripture in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation. Rest and
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 1: breathe as I read the Holy Word of God over you,
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses used to take
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: a tent and put it up far away from the camp.
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 1: He referred to it as the Meeting Tent. Everyone who
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: sought the Eternal One would go out to the Meeting tent,
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 1: which was located well outside the camp. When the people
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 1: heard that Moses was going out to the tent, they
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 1: would get up and stand at the entrance of their
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: own tents and watch him until he had gone inside.
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 1: When Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar descended to
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: the tent's entrance, and the Eternal would talk with Moses.
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: When the people witnessed the cloud Pillar standing at the
• 2:26:07
  Speaker 1: Meeting tense entrance, they would stand and bow and worship
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 1: at the entrance of their own tents. The Eternal One
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: spoke with Moses face to face, just as a friend
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 1: speaks to another friend. After they were done, Moses would
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 1: come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, the
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 1: Son of None, would remain behind. Moses said to the Lord, look,
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: you tell me lead these people, but you haven't yet
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: told me whom you will send to accompany me. Yet
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 1: you tell me I know you by name, and you
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 1: have gained my trust and blessing if I have gained
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 1: your trust and blessing, reveal you your way to me,
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 1: so that I can truly know you, and so that
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 1: I may gain your favor. Remember that this nation is
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: your covenant people. The Eternal One replied, My presence will
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: travel with you, and I will give you rest. Notice
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 1: that the Bible tells us that Moses often took a
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 1: tent and pitched it far away from the camp, far
• 2:27:34
  Speaker 1: away from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites. This
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 1: meeting tent was set apart for his time alone with God.
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 1: And even though God says only six verses later that
• 2:27:51
  Speaker 1: you cannot see my face, for no one may see
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: me and live, we do read that Moses spoke face
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 1: to face with God like friend would This is remarkable,
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: the power of retreating and resting, returning to the Father
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 1: and resting in him. Through seeking him, we may find him,
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 1: and through finding him we may love him more. Let
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 1: us seek places of rest and refuge during our day,
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 1: not only as we come to sleep at night.
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 2: If the bed is.
• 2:28:33
  Speaker 1: The only place where we seek rest, we don't usually
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 1: give God our best when we are exhausted and groggy.
• 2:28:44
  Speaker 1: The intimacy God wants, and the secrets that he desires
• 2:28:48
  Speaker 1: to share may not be entrusted to us. Let us
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 1: give him the first fruits of our day, the best
• 2:28:59
  Speaker 1: part of our day, just as he commanded the Israelites
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: to sacrifice to him their best lambs and goats. Let
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 1: us not give the Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord,
• 2:29:15
  Speaker 1: second best. Let us make space in our day to
• 2:29:21
  Speaker 1: rest with him. As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty,
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 1: verse fifteen, this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: One of Israel, says. Only in returning to me and
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 1: resting in me, will you be saved and quietness and
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 1: confidence as your strength come in quietness come and confidence.
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: Return to him and rest in him. The art of
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 1: resting is founded upon resting in him. We cannot rest
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 1: apart from him. There is no other sanctuary like his presence.
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: There is the famous passage from Saint Augustine's Confessions, in
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 1: which Saint Augustine states, you have made us for yourself,
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 1: oh Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 1: in you. Precious one, become aware of his presence right now.
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: Feel the gentleness of his love, since the sweetness of
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 1: his kindness, delight in his rest, just as Adam and
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: Eve delighted in his rest.
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 2: In Eden in.
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 1: Hand, side by side, face to face, sweet rest, hear
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: the echo of jesus gentle words, beckoning again and again,
• 2:31:18
  Speaker 1: come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
• 2:31:32
  Speaker 1: when you come to him, he will most certainly give
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest. Oh Father God, thank you
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus.
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you that his words.
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 1: And his life tell us how you want to relate
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 1: to us. You are beckoning us to come to you
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 1: as we are and rest in you. Thank you for
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 1: showing us how Moses met with you face to face,
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: so that we can do likewise. Thank you that he
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 1: modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 1: knowing that your presence went with him wherever you led him.
• 2:32:30
  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us, and cause us
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 1: our best friend. May your presence go with us, and
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 1: may we go with your presence. You have our hearts,
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 1: Lord Lord, and we surrendered to you again and again
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 1: in the wonderful name.
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 2: Of Jesus, we pray Amen.
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate details of the great deep sea sponges
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees, and fromeliads. Then he had
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 1: been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 1: in our solar system into perfect order, and then, working
• 2:34:01
  Speaker 1: his way up to his zenith, he formed every living animal,
• 2:34:05
  Speaker 1: from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 2:34:29
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply. As you imagine how God
• 2:34:37
  Speaker 1: must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight.
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 2: Ah.
• 2:34:46
  Speaker 1: What pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no turmoil.
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 2: And no tears.
• 2:35:02
  Speaker 1: What a place to rest and commune with his creation,
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 1: To speak face to face with Adam and Eve, his
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 1: children created perfectly in his image, to enjoy rich communion
• 2:35:20
  Speaker 1: and companionship with him, To experience with him the unadulterated
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 1: joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity. And
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 1: though Satan and Sinh interrupted that master plan, we are
• 2:35:54
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and He is making this challenging detour
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving us
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 1: spaces to come back to him and rest with him
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day.
• 2:36:22
  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, his presence is not only
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses.
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: in hand with God, because now God is on the
• 2:36:53
  Speaker 1: inside of us. We can praise him for this. He
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 1: can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: encourage our hearts to obey his words in Isaiah thirty.
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 1: We can return to him and rest in him and
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and run back to the Father.
• 2:37:33
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with him in
• 2:37:44
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking him
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting. Let's praise him, Father, God,
• 2:38:02
  Speaker 1: wonderful creator, You make all things well. Your gift of
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: rest to us is something we long to reach for
• 2:38:12
  Speaker 1: and live out every day. Let us seek you and
• 2:38:18
  Speaker 1: find you as we rest in you.
• 2:38:22
  Speaker 2: Let us not seek false forms of rest.
• 2:38:26
  Speaker 1: Your rest is perfect and it is necessary to experiencing
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: deep and loving unity with you. Help us pitch our
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: tentive meeting every day and give you our best. Thank
• 2:38:44
  Speaker 1: you for your presence that goes with us. What delight
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: can be ours each day as we sense your sweet
• 2:38:53
  Speaker 1: spirit going with us in your son's precious name. Amen,
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 1: continue to enjoy this peace, beloved child. May you feel
• 2:39:08
  Speaker 1: His presence with you, and may he give you rest.
• 2:39:17
  Speaker 1: Let's listen again to this sleep story about the art
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 1: of resting. As our verse in Exodus thirty three tells us,
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: rest is the delightful fruit of His presence, which goes
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 1: with us. The New International version translates the verse like this,
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 1: the Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and
• 2:39:48
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest, And the New Living Translation
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 1: reads the Lord replied, I will personally go with you, Moses,
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine
• 2:40:05
  Speaker 1: for you. Probably at many points in our lives, before
• 2:40:11
  Speaker 1: we received Christ and even afterwards, we have sought this
• 2:40:16
  Speaker 1: elusive state of rest in many different places and in
• 2:40:21
  Speaker 1: different ways. We may have gone to great lengths and
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time and money in the search
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 1: for rest for our mind and body and soul. What
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 1: an irony it is to exert so much energy in
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 1: the quest for rest. What must God think of us
• 2:40:46
  Speaker 1: when he sees his children frantically pursuing this elusive quality
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 1: and desperately believing many things that are packaged to promise
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 1: us peace, when all the while rest is his delightful invention.
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 1: Let's seek him and find him as he rests, and
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 1: rest with him. Something we need to know about the
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 1: art of resting is that, since we are made in
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 1: God's image, how and when He himself rests is of
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 1: utmost importance to us. Paul knew this and wrote in
• 2:41:28
  Speaker 1: Ephesians five that we must imitate the Father. Since you
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 1: are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 1: loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet,
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 1: smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 1: imitators of the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because
• 2:42:03
  Speaker 1: in order to find the Father, we look at the Son.
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 1: And in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 1: to come to him and rest is the same place
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 1: that he tells us that he has come.
• 2:42:18
  Speaker 2: To reveal the Father.
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
• 2:42:31
  Speaker 1: Let me read the passage to you now from Matthew
• 2:42:33
  Speaker 1: six in the New Living Translation. At that time Jesus
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer, Oh Father, Lord of.
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 2: Heaven and earth.
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you for hiding these things from those who think
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 1: themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father,
• 2:42:58
  Speaker 1: it pleased you to do it this way. My Father
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 1: has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the
• 2:43:07
  Speaker 1: son accept the Father, and no one truly knows the
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 1: Father accept the Sun and those to whom the son
• 2:43:17
  Speaker 1: chooses to reveal him. Then Jesus said, come to me,
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 1: all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
• 2:43:35
  Speaker 1: Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 1: at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 1: For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 1: I give.
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 2: You is light.
• 2:43:54
  Speaker 1: Rest and breathe as his red letter words seep into
• 2:43:58
  Speaker 1: your soul. Can you hear the rest in his voice?
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 1: Can you sense the peace in his tone? He is
• 2:44:10
  Speaker 1: praying to the Father for you, so that you may
• 2:44:15
  Speaker 1: tangibly experience his rest by becoming childlike and trusting and carefree.
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 1: Let your knowledge of Jesus show you the Father. Let
• 2:44:30
  Speaker 1: the gentle and lowly Savior prop you up on his knee,
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 1: and thus disclose the nature of your heavenly Dad. As
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 1: the Father rested after creation, he likewise calls us to
• 2:44:47
  Speaker 1: rest like father, like son. What unity and what bliss
• 2:44:54
  Speaker 1: are found in such rest? The writer of Hebrews had
• 2:45:00
  Speaker 1: this revelation of rest, and we read in chapter four,
• 2:45:04
  Speaker 1: verse ten, for whoever has entered God's rest has also
• 2:45:10
  Speaker 1: rested from his works, as God did from his or
• 2:45:15
  Speaker 1: another translation puts it because those who enter into Salvation's
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 1: rest lay down their labors in the same way that
• 2:45:24
  Speaker 1: God entered into a sabbath rest from his Let us
• 2:45:30
  Speaker 1: consider that Father God ordained rest in creation to create
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 1: space in the garden to walk with Adam. Rest was
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 1: the avenue to oneness and friendship with his beloved children.
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 1: So it was then and so it is today. No
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: wonder the devil is so intent on disrupting our rest,
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 1: both mental and physical. But instead of waging war against
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 1: Satan through striving, our method of warfare is simply to
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: come to God like small children. His arms are always
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 1: open wide, just like the prodigal son. Our Father is
• 2:46:20
  Speaker 1: always waiting for our return, watching the horizon to see
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 1: us coming back to his embrace. Poet William Cooper from
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 1: the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem called Retirement from
• 2:46:40
  Speaker 1: his collection of only hymns. Rest and listen as I
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 1: read this artistic expression of rest in his words.
• 2:46:52
  Speaker 2: Far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee.
• 2:46:57
  Speaker 1: From strife and tumult, Far from scenes where Satan wages
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war. The calm retreat the silent
• 2:47:12
  Speaker 1: shade with prayer and praise, Agree and seem by thy
• 2:47:19
  Speaker 1: sweet bounty maid for those who follow Thee. There, if
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 1: thy spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 2:47:34
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 1: her God. There like the nightingale. She pours her solitary lays,
• 2:47:48
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 2:47:53
  Speaker 1: human praise. Author and guardian of my life, Sweet fac
• 2:48:00
  Speaker 1: count of light, divine and all endearing names in one
• 2:48:07
  Speaker 1: my Savior. I am Thine. What thanks I owe THEE?
• 2:48:13
  Speaker 1: And what love a boundless, endless store shall echo through
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 1: the realms above, when time shall be no more. Continue
• 2:48:27
  Speaker 1: to breathe in and out letting this age old wisdom.
• 2:48:33
  Speaker 1: Touch your soul. You are the lords, and he is yours.
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 1: He gives us RESTful union with Him that we can
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 1: enjoy both now and forever, an eternity hand in hand
• 2:48:51
  Speaker 1: with our Father, just as William Cooper touched upon, there
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 1: is a calm retreat and a silent shade where we
• 2:49:02
  Speaker 1: must flee from the tumult of Satan's strife. True rest
• 2:49:08
  Speaker 1: happens when we retreat with God. It was the same
• 2:49:12
  Speaker 1: for Moses. Let me read some of the preceding verses
• 2:49:16
  Speaker 1: from our scripture in Exodus thirty three. I'll read from
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 1: verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation. Rest and
• 2:49:26
  Speaker 1: breathe as I read the Holy Word of God over you,
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 1: and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses used to take
• 2:49:36
  Speaker 1: a tent and put it up far away from the camp.
• 2:49:41
  Speaker 1: He referred to it as the meeting tent. Every One
• 2:49:45
  Speaker 1: who sought the eternal one would go out to the
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 1: meeting tent, which was located well outside the camp. When
• 2:49:54
  Speaker 1: the people heard that Moses was going out to the tent,
• 2:49:57
  Speaker 1: they would get up and stand at the entry tance
• 2:50:00
  Speaker 1: of their own tents and watch him until he had
• 2:50:03
  Speaker 1: gone inside. When Moses entered the tent, the cloud pillar
• 2:50:09
  Speaker 1: descended to the tense entrance, and the eternal would talk
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 1: with Moses. When the people witnessed the cloud pillar standing
• 2:50:18
  Speaker 1: at the meeting tense entrance, they would stand and bow
• 2:50:23
  Speaker 1: in worship at the entrance of their own tents. The
• 2:50:28
  Speaker 1: Eternal One spoke with Moses face to face, just as
• 2:50:34
  Speaker 1: a friend speaks to another friend. After they were done,
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 1: Moses would come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua,
• 2:50:43
  Speaker 1: the son of Nune, would remain behind. Moses said to
• 2:50:48
  Speaker 1: the Lord, look, you tell me lead these people, but
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 1: you haven't yet told me whom you will send to
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 1: accompany me. Yet you tell me I know you by name,
• 2:51:02
  Speaker 1: and you have gained my trust and blessing. If I
• 2:51:08
  Speaker 1: have gained your trust and blessing, reveal your way to
• 2:51:12
  Speaker 1: me so that I can truly know you, and so
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 1: that I may gain your favor. Remember that this nation
• 2:51:22
  Speaker 1: is your covenant people. The Eternal One replied, My presence
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 1: will travel with you, and I will give you rest.
• 2:51:37
  Speaker 1: Notice that the Bible tells us that Moses often took
• 2:51:40
  Speaker 1: a tent and pitched it far away from the camp,
• 2:51:45
  Speaker 1: far away from the interruptions and busyness of the Israelites.
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 1: This meeting tent was set apart for his time alone
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 1: with God. And even though God says only six mens
• 2:52:00
  Speaker 1: us later that you cannot see my face, for no
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 1: one may see.
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 2: Me and live.
• 2:52:07
  Speaker 1: We do read that Moses spoke face to face with
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 1: God like a friend would. This is remarkable, the power
• 2:52:17
  Speaker 1: of retreating and resting, returning to the Father, and resting
• 2:52:23
  Speaker 1: in him. Through seeking him, we may find him, and
• 2:52:30
  Speaker 1: through finding him, we may love him more. Let us
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 1: seek places of rest and refuge during our day, not
• 2:52:40
  Speaker 1: only as we come to sleep at night. If the
• 2:52:44
  Speaker 1: bed is the only place where we seek rest. We
• 2:52:48
  Speaker 1: don't usually give God our best when we are exhausted
• 2:52:54
  Speaker 1: and groggy. The intimacy God wants and the secrets that
• 2:52:59
  Speaker 1: he desires to share may not be entrusted to us.
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 1: Let us give him the first fruits of our day,
• 2:53:09
  Speaker 1: the best part of our day, just as he commanded
• 2:53:13
  Speaker 1: the Israelites to sacrifice to him their best lambs and goats.
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 1: Let us not give the Living God, our holy and
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 1: sovereign Lord, second best. Let us make space in our
• 2:53:32
  Speaker 1: day to rest with him. As Isaiah spoke God's words
• 2:53:37
  Speaker 1: in Chapter thirty, verse fifteen, this is what the Sovereign Lord,
• 2:53:43
  Speaker 1: the Holy One of Israel, says. Only in returning to
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: me and resting in me, will you be saved, and
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 1: quietness and confidence is your strength. Come in quietness, come
• 2:54:04
  Speaker 1: in confidence, Return to him and rest in him. The
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 1: art of resting is founded upon resting in him. We
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 1: cannot rest apart from him. There is no other sanctuary
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 1: like his presence. There is the famous passage from Saint
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 1: Augustine's Confessions, in which Saint Augustine states, you have made
• 2:54:36
  Speaker 1: us for yourself, oh Lord, and our heart is restless
• 2:54:41
  Speaker 1: until it rests in you. Precious one, become aware of
• 2:54:49
  Speaker 1: his presence right now. Feel the gentleness of his love.
• 2:54:57
  Speaker 1: Since the sweetness of.
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 2: His kind.
• 2:55:01
  Speaker 1: Delight in his rest, just as Adam and Eve delighted
• 2:55:08
  Speaker 1: in his rest.
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 2: And Eden.
• 2:55:11
  Speaker 1: Hand in hand, side by side, face to.
• 2:55:16
  Speaker 2: Face, sweet rest.
• 2:55:22
  Speaker 1: Hear the echo of Jesus' gentle words, beckoning again and again,
• 2:55:29
  Speaker 1: come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and
• 2:55:35
  Speaker 1: I will give you rest. Take his promise seriously, precious one,
• 2:55:44
  Speaker 1: When you come to him, he will most certainly give
• 2:55:47
  Speaker 1: you rest. He will take your burdens away, and he
• 2:55:52
  Speaker 1: will remove your weariness. Join me as we praise him
• 2:55:58
  Speaker 1: for this gift of rest. Oh Father God, thank you
• 2:56:04
  Speaker 1: for revealing yourself through Jesus. Thank you that his words
• 2:56:10
  Speaker 1: and his life tell us how you want to relate
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 1: to us. You are beckoning us to come to you
• 2:56:18
  Speaker 1: as we are and rest in you. Thank you for
• 2:56:23
  Speaker 1: showing us how Moses met with you face to face,
• 2:56:27
  Speaker 1: so that we can do likewise. Thank you that he
• 2:56:31
  Speaker 1: modeled the balance of seeking your presence in solitude and
• 2:56:36
  Speaker 1: knowing that your presence went with him wherever you led him.
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 1: Help us set aside distractions every day that hinder our
• 2:56:46
  Speaker 1: rest in you. Help us to pitch our tent of
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: meeting whatever that looks like for us, and cause us
• 2:56:56
  Speaker 1: to speak face to face with you, because you are
• 2:57:01
  Speaker 1: our best friend. May your presence go with us, and
• 2:57:06
  Speaker 1: may we go with your presence. You have our hearts, Lord,
• 2:57:12
  Speaker 1: and we surrender to you again and again, and the
• 2:57:18
  Speaker 1: wonderful name.
• 2:57:19
  Speaker 2: Of Jesus we pray. Amen.
• 2:57:25
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of the sky like
• 2:57:40
  Speaker 1: unrolling a scroll. Then he had been diving down to
• 2:57:46
  Speaker 1: craft the intricate details of the great deep sea sponges
• 2:57:52
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees and promeliads. Then he had
• 2:58:00
  Speaker 1: been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets
• 2:58:06
  Speaker 1: in our solar system into perfect order, and then, working
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 1: his way up to his zenith, he formed every living animal,
• 2:58:17
  Speaker 1: from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 2:58:26
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 2:58:36
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 2:58:40
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 1: must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 1: What pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 2:59:01
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no.
• 2:59:08
  Speaker 2: Turmoil, and no tears.
• 2:59:14
  Speaker 1: What a place to rest and commune with his creation,
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 1: To speak face to face with Adam and Eve, his
• 2:59:24
  Speaker 1: children created perfectly in his image, to enjoy rich communion
• 2:59:32
  Speaker 1: and companionship with him, to experience with him the unadulterated
• 2:59:38
  Speaker 1: joy of mutual love and friendship.
• 2:59:43
  Speaker 2: What a place to rest.
• 2:59:46
  Speaker 1: Everything was complete, nothing was left undone. Just enjoyment and
• 2:59:54
  Speaker 1: rest were his desire for the rest of eternity. And
• 3:00:01
  Speaker 1: though satan and sin interrupted that master plan. We are
• 3:00:05
  Speaker 1: headed there again, and He is making this challenging detour
• 3:00:10
  Speaker 1: back to his heart something beautiful. He is always creating
• 3:00:18
  Speaker 1: beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is giving us
• 3:00:24
  Speaker 1: spaces to come back to Him and rest with him
• 3:00:29
  Speaker 1: and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of the day.
• 3:00:34
  Speaker 1: If we accept the invitation, his presence is not only
• 3:00:40
  Speaker 1: around us now, his spirit inhabits us more than Moses.
• 3:00:48
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 3:00:56
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 3:01:00
  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
• 3:01:04
  Speaker 1: inside of us. We can praise.
• 3:01:08
  Speaker 2: Him for this.
• 3:01:10
  Speaker 1: He can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This
• 3:01:16
  Speaker 1: can encourage our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty,
• 3:01:21
  Speaker 1: we can return to Him and rest in him and
• 3:01:26
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 3:01:32
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 3:01:39
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and run back to the Father.
• 3:01:45
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 3:01:50
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with Him in
• 3:01:55
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking Him
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting Let's praise him, Oh Father, God,
• 3:02:14
  Speaker 1: wonderful creator, You make all things well.
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 2: Your gift of rest to us is.
• 3:02:21
  Speaker 1: Something we long to reach for and live out every day.
• 3:02:28
  Speaker 1: Let us seek you and find you as we rest
• 3:02:32
  Speaker 1: in you.
• 3:02:33
  Speaker 2: Let us not seek false forms of rest.
• 3:02:37
  Speaker 1: Your rest is perfect and it is necessary to experiencing
• 3:02:43
  Speaker 1: deep and loving unity with you. Help us pitch our
• 3:02:49
  Speaker 1: tentive meeting every day and give you our best. Thank
• 3:02:55
  Speaker 1: you for your presence that goes with us. What light
• 3:03:00
  Speaker 1: can be ours each day as we sense your sweet spirit.
• 3:03:05
  Speaker 2: Going with us.
• 3:03:07
  Speaker 1: In your son's precious name, Amen, continue to enjoy this peace,
• 3:03:17
  Speaker 1: beloved child. May you feel his presence with you, and
• 3:03:23
  Speaker 1: may he give you rest. Let's listen again to this
• 3:03:30
  Speaker 1: sleep story about the art of resting. As our verse
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 1: in Exodus thirty three tells us, rest is the delightful
• 3:03:43
  Speaker 1: fruit of his presence, which goes with us.
• 3:03:49
  Speaker 2: The New International version translates.
• 3:03:51
  Speaker 1: The verse like this, The Lord replied, my presence will
• 3:03:57
  Speaker 1: go with you, and I I will give you rest,
• 3:04:03
  Speaker 1: and the New Living translation reads the Lord replied, I
• 3:04:08
  Speaker 1: will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give
• 3:04:13
  Speaker 1: you rest. Everything will be fine for you, probably at
• 3:04:21
  Speaker 1: many points in our lives, before we received Christ and
• 3:04:25
  Speaker 1: even afterwards, we have sought this elusive state of rest
• 3:04:30
  Speaker 1: in many different places and in different ways. We may
• 3:04:35
  Speaker 1: have gone to great lengths and spent a lot of
• 3:04:40
  Speaker 1: time and money in the search for rest for our
• 3:04:44
  Speaker 1: mind and body and soul. What an irony it is
• 3:04:49
  Speaker 1: to exert so much energy in the quest for rest.
• 3:04:56
  Speaker 1: What must God think of us when he sees his
• 3:04:58
  Speaker 1: children friend particularly pursuing this elusive quality and desperately believing
• 3:05:04
  Speaker 1: many things that are packaged to promise us peace, when
• 3:05:09
  Speaker 1: all the while rest is his delightful invention. Let's seek
• 3:05:17
  Speaker 1: him and find him as he rests, and rest with him.
• 3:05:24
  Speaker 1: Something we need to know about the art of resting
• 3:05:27
  Speaker 1: is that, since we are made in God's image, how
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 1: and when He himself rests is of utmost.
• 3:05:34
  Speaker 2: Importance to us.
• 3:05:37
  Speaker 1: Paul knew this and wrote in Ephesians five that we
• 3:05:42
  Speaker 1: must imitate the Father. Since you are God's dear children,
• 3:05:49
  Speaker 1: you must try to be like him.
• 3:05:52
  Speaker 2: Your life must.
• 3:05:53
  Speaker 1: Be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and
• 3:05:58
  Speaker 1: gave his life for us as a sweet smelling offering
• 3:06:03
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that pleases God. Let us be imitators of
• 3:06:10
  Speaker 1: the Father by being imitators of Jesus, because in order
• 3:06:16
  Speaker 1: to find the Father, we look at the son. And
• 3:06:21
  Speaker 1: in fact, the famous verse where Jesus invites us to
• 3:06:25
  Speaker 1: come to him and rest is the same place that
• 3:06:28
  Speaker 1: he tells us that he has come to reveal the Father.
• 3:06:32
  Speaker 1: We can learn from this that one main attribute of
• 3:06:36
  Speaker 1: the Father that Jesus wants to show us is rest.
• 3:06:42
  Speaker 2: Let me read the passage to.
• 3:06:43
  Speaker 1: You now from Matthew six in the New Living Translation.
• 3:06:49
  Speaker 1: At that time, Jesus prayed this prayer, Our Father, Lord
• 3:06:56
  Speaker 1: of heaven and Earth, thank you for hiding these things
• 3:07:01
  Speaker 1: from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for
• 3:07:05
  Speaker 1: revealing them to the childlike Yes, Father, it pleased you
• 3:07:11
  Speaker 1: to do it this way. My Father has entrusted everything
• 3:07:15
  Speaker 1: to me. No one truly knows the son accept the Father,
• 3:07:22
  Speaker 1: and no one truly knows the Father accept the son
• 3:07:27
  Speaker 1: and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him.
• 3:07:32
  Speaker 2: Then Jesus said, come to.
• 3:07:34
  Speaker 1: Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
• 3:07:41
  Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.
• 3:07:47
  Speaker 1: Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle
• 3:07:51
  Speaker 1: at heart, and you will find rest.
• 3:07:54
  Speaker 2: For your souls.
• 3:07:56
  Speaker 1: For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden
• 3:08:00
  Speaker 1: I give you as light, rest and breathe. As his
• 3:08:08
  Speaker 1: red letter words seep into your soul. Can you hear
• 3:08:13
  Speaker 1: the rest in his voice? Can you sense the peace
• 3:08:18
  Speaker 1: in his tone? He is praying to the Father for you,
• 3:08:25
  Speaker 1: so that you may tangibly experience his rest by becoming
• 3:08:31
  Speaker 1: childlike and trusting and carefree. Let your knowledge of Jesus
• 3:08:39
  Speaker 1: show you the Father. Let the gentle and lowly Savior
• 3:08:46
  Speaker 1: prop you up on his knee, and thus disclose the
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 1: nature of your heavenly Dad. As the Father rested after creation,
• 3:08:57
  Speaker 1: he likewise calls us to rest like Father, like son.
• 3:09:03
  Speaker 1: What unity and what bliss are found in such rest?
• 3:09:10
  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews had this revelation of rest, and
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 1: we read in chapter four, verse ten, for whoever has
• 3:09:18
  Speaker 1: entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as
• 3:09:24
  Speaker 1: God did from his or another translation puts it because
• 3:09:29
  Speaker 1: those who enter into Salvation's rest lay down their labors
• 3:09:34
  Speaker 1: in the same way that God entered into a sabbath
• 3:09:37
  Speaker 1: rest from his Let us consider that Father God ordained
• 3:09:45
  Speaker 1: rest in creation to create space in the garden to
• 3:09:49
  Speaker 1: walk with Adam. Rest was the avenue to oneness and
• 3:09:55
  Speaker 1: friendship with his beloved children. So it will then, and
• 3:10:01
  Speaker 1: so it is today. No wonder the devil is so
• 3:10:07
  Speaker 1: intent on disrupting our rest, both mental and physical. But
• 3:10:14
  Speaker 1: instead of waging war against Satan through striving, our method
• 3:10:19
  Speaker 1: of warfare is simply to come to God like small children.
• 3:10:24
  Speaker 1: His arms are always open wide, just like the prodigal son.
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 1: Our father is always waiting for our return, watching the
• 3:10:36
  Speaker 1: horizon to see us coming back to his embrace. Poet
• 3:10:44
  Speaker 1: William Cooper from the eighteenth century penned a beautiful poem
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 1: called Retirement from his collection of only hymns. Rest and
• 3:10:56
  Speaker 1: listen as I read this artistic expression of rest than
• 3:11:01
  Speaker 1: his words. Far from the world, Oh Lord, I flee
• 3:11:09
  Speaker 1: from strife and tumult, far from scenes where Satan wages
• 3:11:15
  Speaker 1: still his most successful war, the calm retreat the silent shade,
• 3:11:25
  Speaker 1: with prayer and praise, agree and seem by thy sweet
• 3:11:31
  Speaker 1: bounty maid for those who follow thee. There, if thy
• 3:11:38
  Speaker 1: spirit touch the soul and grace her mean abode, Oh,
• 3:11:45
  Speaker 1: with what peace and joy and love she communes with
• 3:11:52
  Speaker 1: her God. There, like the nightingale. She pours her solitary lays,
• 3:12:00
  Speaker 1: nor asks a witness of her song, nor thirsts for
• 3:12:04
  Speaker 1: human praise, Author and guardian.
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 2: Of my life.
• 3:12:11
  Speaker 1: Sweet fount of light, divine and all endearing names in
• 3:12:17
  Speaker 1: one my Savior.
• 3:12:20
  Speaker 2: I am vine.
• 3:12:22
  Speaker 1: What thanks I owe THEE? And what love A boundless,
• 3:12:28
  Speaker 1: endless store shall echo through the realms above when time
• 3:12:34
  Speaker 1: shall be no more. Continue to breathe in and out
• 3:12:42
  Speaker 1: letting this age old wisdom. Touch your soul. You are
• 3:12:48
  Speaker 1: the lords, and He is yours. He gives us RESTful
• 3:12:54
  Speaker 1: union with Him that we can enjoy both now and forever,
• 3:12:59
  Speaker 1: an eternity hand in hand with our Father, just as
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 1: William Cooper touched upon. There is a calm retreat and
• 3:13:12
  Speaker 1: a silent shade where we must flee from the tumult
• 3:13:15
  Speaker 1: of Satan's strife. True rest happens when we retreat with God.
• 3:13:23
  Speaker 1: It was the same for Moses. Let me read some
• 3:13:26
  Speaker 1: of the preceding verses from our scripture in Exodus thirty three.
• 3:13:31
  Speaker 1: I'll read from verse seven to fourteen in the Voice translation.
• 3:13:36
  Speaker 1: Rest and breathe as I read the Holy Word of
• 3:13:40
  Speaker 1: God over you, and let his spirit reveal truth. Moses
• 3:13:48
  Speaker 1: used to take a tent and put it up far
• 3:13:51
  Speaker 1: away from the camp. He referred to it as the
• 3:13:54
  Speaker 1: Meeting tent. Everyone who sought the Eternal One would go
• 3:14:00
  Speaker 1: to the Meeting tent, which was located well outside the camp.
• 3:14:05
  Speaker 1: When the people heard that Moses was going out to
• 3:14:08
  Speaker 1: the tent, they would get up and stand at the
• 3:14:11
  Speaker 1: entrance of their own tents and watch him until he
• 3:14:15
  Speaker 1: had gone inside. When Moses entered the tent, the cloud
• 3:14:20
  Speaker 1: pillar descended to the tense entrance, and the Eternal would
• 3:14:25
  Speaker 1: talk with Moses. When the people witnessed the cloud Pillar
• 3:14:29
  Speaker 1: standing at the Meeting Tense entrance, they would stand and
• 3:14:34
  Speaker 1: bow and worship at the entrance of their own tents.
• 3:14:40
  Speaker 1: The Eternal One spoke with Moses face to face, just
• 3:14:45
  Speaker 1: as a friend speaks to another friend. After they were done,
• 3:14:50
  Speaker 1: Moses would come back to camp, but his young assistant, Joshua,
• 3:14:55
  Speaker 1: the son of.
• 3:14:55
  Speaker 2: Nun, would remain behind.
• 3:14:59
  Speaker 1: Moses said to the Lord, look, you tell me lead
• 3:15:04
  Speaker 1: these people, but you haven't yet told me whom you
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 1: will send to accompany me. Yet you tell me. I
• 3:15:12
  Speaker 1: know you by name, and you have gained my trust
• 3:15:16
  Speaker 1: and blessing if I have gained your trust and blessing.
• 3:15:22
  Speaker 1: Reveal your way to me, so that I can truly
• 3:15:25
  Speaker 1: know you, and so that I may.
• 3:15:29
  Speaker 2: Gain your favor.
• 3:15:32
  Speaker 1: Remember that this nation is your covenant people. The Eternal
• 3:15:38
  Speaker 1: One replied, My presence will travel with you, and I
• 3:15:44
  Speaker 1: will give you rest. Notice that the Bible tells us
• 3:15:50
  Speaker 1: that Moses often took a tent and pitched it far
• 3:15:54
  Speaker 1: away from the camp, far away from the interruptions and
• 3:15:59
  Speaker 1: busy of the Israelites. This meeting tent was set apart
• 3:16:06
  Speaker 1: for his time alone with God. And even though God
• 3:16:10
  Speaker 1: says only six verses later that you cannot see my face,
• 3:16:16
  Speaker 1: for no one may see me and live, we do
• 3:16:19
  Speaker 1: read that Moses spoke face to face with God like
• 3:16:23
  Speaker 1: a friend would. This is remarkable, the power of retreating
• 3:16:30
  Speaker 1: and resting, returning to the Father and resting in him.
• 3:16:38
  Speaker 1: Through seeking him, we may find him, and through finding
• 3:16:43
  Speaker 1: him we may love him more. Let us seek places
• 3:16:48
  Speaker 1: of rest and refuge during our day, not only as
• 3:16:53
  Speaker 1: we come to sleep at night. If the bed is
• 3:16:56
  Speaker 1: the only place where we seek rest, we don't usually
• 3:17:00
  Speaker 1: give God our best when we're exhausted and groggy. The
• 3:17:07
  Speaker 1: intimacy God wants and the secrets that he desires to
• 3:17:11
  Speaker 1: share may not be entrusted to us. Let us give
• 3:17:18
  Speaker 1: him the first fruits of our day, the best part
• 3:17:22
  Speaker 1: of our day, just as he commanded the Israelites to
• 3:17:26
  Speaker 1: sacrifice to him their best lambs and goats. Let us
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 1: not give the Living God, our holy and sovereign Lord,
• 3:17:38
  Speaker 1: second best. Let us make space in our day to
• 3:17:44
  Speaker 1: rest with him. As Isaiah spoke God's words in Chapter thirty,
• 3:17:50
  Speaker 1: verse fifteen, this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy
• 3:17:55
  Speaker 1: One of Israel, says. Only in returning to me and
• 3:18:00
  Speaker 1: resting in me, will you.
• 3:18:03
  Speaker 2: Be saved.
• 3:18:05
  Speaker 1: And quietness and confidence as your strength come in quietness,
• 3:18:15
  Speaker 1: come and confidence. Return to him and rest in him.
• 3:18:25
  Speaker 1: The art of resting is founded upon resting in him.
• 3:18:31
  Speaker 1: We cannot rest apart from him. There is no other
• 3:18:35
  Speaker 1: sanctuary like his presence. There is a famous passage from
• 3:18:41
  Speaker 1: Saint Augustine's Confessions in which Saint Augustine states, you have
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 1: made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our heart is
• 3:18:52
  Speaker 1: restless until it rests in you, precious one, Because come
• 3:19:00
  Speaker 1: aware of his presence right now, Feel the gentleness of
• 3:19:05
  Speaker 1: his love, sense the sweetness of his kindness, Delight in
• 3:19:14
  Speaker 1: his rest, just as Adam and Eve, delighted in his
• 3:19:20
  Speaker 1: rest and Eden hand in hand, side by side, face
• 3:19:27
  Speaker 1: to face, sweet rest, hear the echo of Jesus gentle words,
• 3:19:37
  Speaker 1: beckoning again and again, come to me, all who are
• 3:19:44
  Speaker 1: weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
• 3:19:52
  Speaker 1: his promise seriously, precious one, When you come to him,
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 1: he will most certainly give you rest. He will take
• 3:20:01
  Speaker 1: your burdens away, and he will remove your weariness. Join
• 3:20:08
  Speaker 1: me as we praise him for this gift of rest,
• 3:20:13
  Speaker 1: Oh Father God, thank you for revealing yourself through Jesus.
• 3:20:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you that his words and his life tell us
• 3:20:24
  Speaker 1: how you want to relate to us. You are beckoning
• 3:20:28
  Speaker 1: us to come to you as we are and rest
• 3:20:32
  Speaker 1: in you. Thank you for showing us how Moses met
• 3:20:36
  Speaker 1: with you face to face, so that we can do likewise.
• 3:20:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you that he modeled the balance of seeking your
• 3:20:45
  Speaker 1: presence in solitude and knowing that your presence went with
• 3:20:49
  Speaker 1: him wherever you let him. Help us set aside distractions
• 3:20:56
  Speaker 1: every day that hinder our rest in you, help us
• 3:21:01
  Speaker 1: to pitch our tent of meeting whatever that looks like
• 3:21:05
  Speaker 1: for us, and cause us to speak face to face
• 3:21:10
  Speaker 1: with you, because you are our best friend. May your
• 3:21:16
  Speaker 1: presence go with us, and may we go with your presence.
• 3:21:22
  Speaker 1: You have our hearts, Lord, and we surrender to.
• 3:21:26
  Speaker 2: You again and again in the wonderful name of Jesus,
• 3:21:31
  Speaker 2: we pray. Amen.
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 1: Imagine the day the Lord God wrested from his work
• 3:21:40
  Speaker 1: in creation. He had been illuminating the darkness with his
• 3:21:45
  Speaker 1: glorious light, stretching out the expanse of sky like unrolling
• 3:21:52
  Speaker 1: a scroll. Then he had been diving down to craft
• 3:21:58
  Speaker 1: the intricate detail tales of the great deep sea sponges
• 3:22:04
  Speaker 1: and coral reefs, oak trees and bromeliads. Then he had
• 3:22:12
  Speaker 1: been flinging galaxies and stars into existence, placing the planets
• 3:22:18
  Speaker 1: in our solar system into perfect order, and then, working
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 1: his way up to his zenith, he formed every living animal,
• 3:22:29
  Speaker 1: from octopi and skylarks to reindeer and field mice, and lastly,
• 3:22:38
  Speaker 1: as his crowning glory of creative artwork mankind. After such
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 1: a collection of sheer masterpieces, the only thing that was
• 3:22:52
  Speaker 1: left was rest. Breathe deeply, as you imagine how God
• 3:23:00
  Speaker 1: God must have taken one long exhale of satisfaction and delight. Ah,
• 3:23:09
  Speaker 1: what pleasure to see his good world filled with such
• 3:23:13
  Speaker 1: beauty and peace, no striving and no strife, no turmoil,
• 3:23:21
  Speaker 1: and no tears. What a place to rest and commune
• 3:23:29
  Speaker 1: with his creation, To speak face to face with Adam
• 3:23:35
  Speaker 1: and Eve, his children created perfectly in his image, to
• 3:23:41
  Speaker 1: enjoy rich communion and companionship with him, To experience with
• 3:23:48
  Speaker 1: him the unadulterated joy of mutual love and friendship. What
• 3:23:55
  Speaker 1: a place to rest. Everything was complete, nothing was left undone.
• 3:24:04
  Speaker 1: Just enjoyment and rest were his desire for the rest
• 3:24:09
  Speaker 1: of eternity. And though Satan and Sin interrupted that master plan,
• 3:24:16
  Speaker 1: we are headed there again, and He is making this
• 3:24:21
  Speaker 1: challenging detour back to his heart something beautiful. He is
• 3:24:28
  Speaker 1: always creating beauty from ugliness, joy from pain. He is
• 3:24:35
  Speaker 1: giving us spaces to come back to him and rest
• 3:24:40
  Speaker 1: with him and enjoy fellowship with him every moment of
• 3:24:44
  Speaker 1: the day. If we accept the invitation, his presence is
• 3:24:51
  Speaker 1: not only around us now, his spirit inhabits us.
• 3:24:58
  Speaker 2: More than Moses.
• 3:25:00
  Speaker 1: We can truly say that his presence goes with us.
• 3:25:07
  Speaker 1: It's even better than what Adam and Eve experienced hand
• 3:25:12
  Speaker 1: in hand with God. Because now God is on the
• 3:25:16
  Speaker 1: inside of us. We can praise him for this. He
• 3:25:22
  Speaker 1: can turn the worst circumstances for our good. This can
• 3:25:28
  Speaker 1: encourage our hearts to obey his words. In Isaiah thirty,
• 3:25:33
  Speaker 1: we can return to him and rest in him and
• 3:25:37
  Speaker 1: find our daily salvation. We can come to him and
• 3:25:43
  Speaker 1: trust him like children. We can turn from our own
• 3:25:50
  Speaker 1: ways like the prodigal son and.
• 3:25:53
  Speaker 2: Run back to the Father.
• 3:25:56
  Speaker 1: He will make all things right, and we can look
• 3:26:01
  Speaker 1: forward to unadulterated bliss and perfect rest with him in
• 3:26:07
  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever. Be encouraged to continue seeking him
• 3:26:15
  Speaker 1: and learning the art of resting.
• 3:26:20
  Speaker 2: Let's praise him.
• 3:26:23
  Speaker 1: Ah, Father, God, wonderful creator, You make all things well.
• 3:26:31
  Speaker 2: Your gift of rest to us is.
• 3:26:33
  Speaker 1: Something we long to reach for and live out every day.
• 3:26:39
  Speaker 2: Let us seek you.
• 3:26:41
  Speaker 1: And find you as we rest in you. Let us
• 3:26:46
  Speaker 1: not seek false forms of rest. Your rest is perfect
• 3:26:52
  Speaker 1: and it is necessary to experiencing deep and loving unity
• 3:26:56
  Speaker 1: with you. Help us pitch our tentive meeting every day
• 3:27:04
  Speaker 1: and give you our best. Thank you for your presence
• 3:27:08
  Speaker 1: that goes with us. What delight can be ours each
• 3:27:13
  Speaker 1: day as we sense your sweet spirit going with us.
• 3:27:19
  Speaker 1: In your Son's precious name, Amen, continue to enjoy this peace,
• 3:27:28
  Speaker 1: beloved child. May you feel his presence with you, and
• 3:27:34
  Speaker 1: may he give you rest