Renew Baptist Church
260607 Service
  • How deep the Father's love
  • O Praise The Name (Anástasis)
  • Cornerstone

      • Genesis 1:1-4NLT

      • Genesis 1:5-6NLT

      • Genesis 1:7-9NLT

      • Genesis 1:10-11NLT

      • Genesis 1:12-13NLT

      • Genesis 1:14-16NLT

      • Genesis 1:17-20NLT

      • Genesis 1:21-22NLT

      • Genesis 1:23-24NLT

      • Genesis 1:25NLT

      • Genesis 1:26NLT

      • Genesis 1:27-28NLT

      • Genesis 1:29-30NLT

      • Genesis 1:31NLT

  • Last Friday as I prepared for the services that I do on Wednesdays in the aged care homes I was faced with a problem.
    What am I going to share as the sermon?
    I take the approach that the elderly residents deserve the respect of receiving a proper sermon as a part of their weekly church service.
    In the moment, they are able to follow what is being taught.
    They still have a purpose and can still engage in ministry to others.
    They may not remember a great deal from week to week, but they will benefit enormously from being encouraged to live for Christ in their mission field of other residents and staff.
    Their words of encouragement to a staff member who is facing struggles at home.
    Their love to a fellow resident struggling with the grief of loss of independence.
    Their sharing that Jesus is the one who gives them hope.
    Their faithful prayers for the lost.
    This is their mission field.
    So I normally take the approach of sharing the same message that I share on Sundays in church, I just take out any technical explinations and shorten the sermon a bit.
    But as I prepared last week I knew I wasn’t preaching on Sunday because we were going to be away.
    So what will I prepare for them.
    Now as a Baptist church we don’t use a lectionary with readings and prayers set out for every week to choose from.
    But many other churches do and it gives a structure to a service that is actually very helpful.
    So I use that for the aged care homes, it is something most are familiar with.
    And the theme for last Sunday and hence the whole week was God’s creation.
    And the light bulb in my head went on as the Holy Spirit knocked on the door of my mind.
    Thank you Lord, that ties in with our current series.
    It will work for the aged care homes and it will work for the coming Sunday in church.
    This series, Peace with self, peace with God - bringing calm to the inner voices is a practical look at Biblical principles which will help you to cope with the crazyness of life and the struggles we have with relying on God.
    And one of the biggest issues we all face is simply stopping.
    Taking the time to be still.
    Bringing calm to the inner voices, means you need to focus on God not everything else.
    One of the best ways to do that is in creation.
    One of the things that jumped out at me was that there are 6 days of creation and every day ends with a refrain.
    The first five and a half days each end with the refrain, “God saw that it was good”
    Then at the end of the sixth day God says “it was very good”
    If each aspect of creation is good and the whole of creation is very good, isn’t that an encouragement to notice what God has created?
    To enjoy it?
    I said to the residents of the aged care homes that they have a wonderful opportunity.
    They have time.
    They have lovely gardens that are maintained for them.
    They have staff you can wheel them outside into a lovely warm spot.
    They can sit there and simply enjoy creation.
    They can take the time to notice the landscape, the hills the mountains.
    They can look at the clouds in the sky.
    They can look at the birds flying around the garden.
    They can look closely at the shape of the trees, the leaves.
    They can focus on the flowers and shrubs.
    They can notice the insects crawling along the grounds and in the plants.
    They can notice the small lizards and other animals on the ground, the cattle in the fields.
    They could even ask the staff to take them outside at night, all wrapped up in a blanket and look up at the night sky and see the stars, because they are in the country and they can see them.
    We need to stop and do the same, because as you do you actually will notice things.
    God gave us creation for a reason.
    It was to provide for us.
    He could have made us and nothing else.
    We could have been made to spend our lives walking around on an endless blank plain, just flat nothingness.
    But God made the landscape, the sea, the sky, the stars, the birds, the trees, the flowering plants and grasses, the animals both big and small.
    Not just to feed us and give us oxeygen to breath but also for our wellbeing.
    So I want to encourage you today.
    Get outside.
    Actually stop and smell the roses so to speak.
    Notice the clouds.
    Look at the birds.
    Stop in front of a plant and take a really careful look at it.
    See the structures of the limbs, the leafs, the flowers.
    Notice and look at the insects, the little lizards.
    Actually stop and allow God’s creation to minister to you.
    It will help to calm the inner voices.
    It will help you to refocus on God.
    It will enable you to be still.
    And it is in the stillness that God speaks.
    Bringing calm to the inner voices, means you need to focus on God not everything else.
    When should you do that?
    The principle of Sabbath rest, flows throughout Scripture.
    From beginning to end there is this theme of resting in God’s presence.
    The Lord himself gave us this principle at the end of the seven days of creation in Genesis 2:1-3
    Genesis 2:1–3 NLT
    So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
    We see the idea of setting aside time to be in God’s presence throughout the law of Moses.
    Over and over again the people had to be reminded to stop and spend time with God.
    They needed laws to follow.
    But always it was meant to be about relationship.
    Then in the New Testament the writer to the Hebrews picks it up in chapters one to four where entering God’s rest is portrayed as eternity through relationship with Christ.
    The reality that Sabbath rest is about relationship not legal observance, is upheld by Jesus himself in Mark 2:23-3:6 where Jesus condemns the Pharisees and says in Mark 2:27–28
    “Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!””
    And just to prove his point Jesus then goes and heals a man on the Sabbath right in front of them.
    The Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:16 makes the strong point to not let people condemn you for what you eat or drink, and for not keeping to their idea of certain holy days, feasts and sabbaths.
    So when should you focus on God?
    When should you have that special time?
    I believe the answer is all the time and on a regular basis
    We live in a society that has largely abandoned the idea of sabbath.
    And society is paying a high price for that.
    Stress, the constant work demands that mean families rarely get time together.
    Because business wants 24/7 trading so that they don’t miss out on any opportunity to make money.
    Governments that want a 24/7 society so that the economy is strong and taxes are brought in.
    But we all know this isn’t actually building society.
    Instead society now exists to serve the economy.
    The god of mammon is served.
    The God of eternal rest ignored.
    Now we could rant and rave and carry on.
    But that only labels us as people against things and it won’t change anything.
    Or we could act and decide that we will first stop and maintain the principle of sabbath rest.
    We will arrange our schedual so that we do have a regular weekly time to stop, rest, recreate and enjoy.
    It might involve sport, or a hobby, or simply quality time with family and friends.
    But above all it is a time to recharge.
    To appreciate God, some aspect of his creation and relationship.
    And as part of that approach we will work out our life so that we intentionally spend time with God every day.
    Practical Steps to focus on God
    We used to say an hour a day and a day a week.
    That was the “gold” standard that Christians were taught.
    And for many it worked.
    They would open a printed Bible every day, at the same time every day and read the next chapter and then reflect on that chapter and write in a journal what God was saying to them through that passage of Scripture.
    They would have a list of people and missions to pray for.
    And they would pray for those people and missions.
    And then they would get up and go about their day.
    Some of you may do that and praise God that you have formed and kept that disciplin eover so many years.
    It works and it works well.
    For others it felt like Old Testament law.
    Something you said you did in order to maintain societal expectation.
    But it was lip service rather than relationship.
    So what do you do if the discipline of a set devotional time with a set approach doesn’t work for you?
    The first practical step is to download the Bible App and set it to send you the verse of the day.
    A small step but it is a first step.
    Then adjust the settings to have the notification come at the same time as you get out of bed.
    Start you day simply reflecting on that verse.
    Even a couple of minutes is a good starting point.
    Then once you have that starting point working go to the plans tab and search for a topic.
    Select a reading plan and simply stick with it.
    Verse of the day, reflect on it.
    Reading plan, learn from it.
    Then once you have those two things going, add my sermon notes to the mix.
    Every day, verse of the day, reflect on it.
    Every day, reading plan, learn from it
    One day a week, sermon notes, dig deeper into it.
    If you do that you will find that you will grow spiritual.
    If you can do that and attend a home group, you will be flying.
    And then you might want to add reading a book on spiritual growth or ministry or a theological topic or church history.
    Spend time in creation - stop and admire what God has made.
    Spent time in his word - stop and consider what God has said.
    Spent time in a small group - stop and be sharpened by others.
    Spent time in church worshipping, being taught and sharing in fellowship - stop and be equipped.
    Sabbath rest is an idea, it is a practical action and ultimately it is about spending time with God.
    The day doesn’t matter, what you do every day and on the day you set aside does.

      • Genesis 2:1–3NLT

  • How Great Is Our God
Renew Baptist Church
info@renewbaptist.org.au
+61 0409 036 483
http://renewbaptist.org.au
25 members • 3 followers