Our God invites us into His rest
That He’s enjoyed since the creation
A future, glorious, joyful rest
Enjoying Him, His new creation
Chorus
Fast, Fast, Hold fast
Hold fast to Jesus the Better One
Near, Near, Draw Near
Draw near to God through His only Son
An invitation open today
Do not refuse, His rest to receive
Don’t harden your heart and disobey
To enter His rest, in Him believe
(Repeat Chorus)
© 2022 Brian J. Mikul
(Sing to tune of “Grace Greater Than Our Sin”)
– Mark Buchanan in The Rest of God
Medicine Rocks State Park in Montana
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
My Dad made all kinds of wood art with a scroll saw. One of the first shelf sitters I remember is shown here:
He made a lot of these. The truth is found in II Cor 12 as Paul struggles with some thorn in flesh, some trial in his life. Paul begged God to take it away, but Jesus responded:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
My Dad faced some thorns, some trials in his last years, as I suppose most people do in their final years. And yet my Dad’s testimony through this simple shelf sitter is that the grace of Jesus was sufficient. His grace was enough.
A pretty big thorn pierced our hearts with the passing of my Dad. But as we cry out to God – looking to Him, trusting in Him – we too can find that His grace will be sufficient for us, that His grace is enough.
And what thorns are you facing in your life today? Jesus bids you to look to Him, to rest in His sufficient grace, to find that His grace is enough for you.
Here are some loose strands for our growth:
The Uselessness of Prayer – Trevin Wax (TGC)
Prayer is training us to look up to the God whose first and greatest commandment is to love him with our whole heart, mind, and soul. You cannot measure or quantify that goal. You can only give yourself over to that desire and direction.
The Golden Rule for Hard Conversations – Casey McCall (ROFD)
Now ask yourself, what would you want if you were that person? The Golden Rule helps us wisely discern when the difficult conversation is necessary.
7 Things to Remember When Tempted to Sin – Doug Eaton (FOF)
We all struggle with sin, but we must remember that sin makes us foolish. It is never reasonable, and when we are in the throes of temptation, we often become ignorant. It is as if sin puts blinders on our eyes, causing us to forget what is important to us. These blinders are why, when tempted to sin, it is crucial to pause and reflect on the following seven things.
The Olympic Vision: ‘My Way’ – Murray Campbell
Because of this, perhaps ‘My Way’ was a fitting end to the Paris Olympic Games. The Olympic flame was snuffed out, its dying embers a sign of where ‘Imagine’ becomes reality.
Flashback: Not Offended
Our identity is found in Christ and not in what others think or do. So let’s live as Christians and not be so easily offended.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping God with your local church!
Here are some helpful posts for small-town pastors:
Don’t Measure Small-Town Ministry Simply by Its Size – Stephen Witmer (TGC)
My friends’ ministry is expressing something of God and his gospel that couldn’t be expressed through a massive revival. All their many sacrifices, their unconditional friendship to a young Muslim family still blind to the glory of Christ, their consistent, prayerful sharing of the gospel with those who will listen—these demonstrate a generous God and a lavish gospel.
No City Is Too Small for God: Reaching the Crevices of the World – Josh Manley (DG)
But if you labor in relative obscurity and are tempted to think your work is unstrategic, I want to encourage you that, if you labor for the Lord, there is no such thing as an unstrategic city. He cares about every last sheep.
Brothers, Preach Your Heart Out — No Matter How Few People Are in the Room – Tim Counts (IX)
The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Only the Lord knows what he will do with an army of preachers committed to expositing God’s Word with precision and passion week in and week out in small churches across America.
Brothers, let’s press on for the sake of the kingdom!
My Dad passed away last month. It is hard to write that. One evening I was texting him about our big family summer get-together, the next evening he was gone.
My wife and I headed back to my parents’ home to be with my mom, and grieve, and prepare for a funeral, and all those things.
On Sunday we headed to church as we do every week, only this time not our home church, but my brother’s church. We sang “The Solid Rock” – a great old hymn about our hope in Jesus. I say we sang, but I had trouble singing, coming in and out, as the emotions raged between grief and the very real hope that is ours. During the pastoral prayer, the pastor prayed for our family in our loss, and there real tears. Then we sang “There Is One Gospel” – a new hymn that I knew, but had never sung in church before. It too spoke of our hope in my grief. Then came “O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer” – a new song too, but one I had never heard before. No matter – it too spoke of our hope.
The message was from Mark 4 about the Sower and the four soils. I confess I don’t remember much about it, except that it was grounded in the Word. After the message, we sang “I Will Glory in My Redeemer” – one of my favorite newer songs that again talked about my hope. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper, my wife and I with my brother and his wife and a church full of people I didn’t know. But we were all brothers and sisters in Christ celebrating the reality of Christ’s death on our behalf that gives us hope for the future. We closed with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” – another great old hymn reminding us that in all of this, God was still faithful.
And sometime during that service, it hit me – this was what will get me through. This weekly rhythm of singing songs about our great hope in Jesus that transcends death. Prayer, the Word, the Lord’s Supper – all reminding us that we have a great God who has redeemed us and promised us a glorious future with Him. This weekly rhythm rehearsing the glorious truths of our Savior.
And it didn’t matter if it was an old hymn or a new one, a song I knew or didn’t. All that mattered were the words speaking the gospel hope into my life.
Some people say that church is boring, but it is anything but boring when you are wrestling with the realities of life and death, grasping for hope in the midst of tragedy. And maybe that is our problem. Not church, but us. Too often we are pre-occupied with more trivial matters, distracted by things that have no eternal value. The gospel speaks words of life, but we are too busy chasing the next thrill, the next meme, the next new something that means nothing compared to the old, old story of Jesus.
I don’t remember anything about the message that Sunday. I don’t remember what I had for lunch that day either. But in both cases I was fed. And just like I need that daily rhythm of eating, I need that weekly rhythm of worship together. To be fed, to refocus on what is important, to be reminded again and again of our hope in the Lord. This weekly rhythm is what will get me through.
And yet, the weekly rhythm would mean nothing without the truths behind it. The rhythm would be worthless if I didn’t know that our Redeemer lives, and because He does, so shall my Dad.
The rhythm would just be wishful thinking without my Savior risen and reigning. The rhythm points to Jesus. And that is why the rhythm is powerful. Because it is a means that He will use to get me through.
Badlands National Park
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
Here are some loose strands for our growth:
Living From Approval, Not For Approval – Dave Harvey
Let me ask you a question: What do you think God feels about you right now? Irritation over your flaws — that tendency towards gluttony, or your inconsistency to getting up each morning to pray? Does God want to withdraw due to our failures — the impatient word with a wife or child; the angry outburst provoked by someone cutting you off on the freeway? Does he look down with a cosmic frown of disapproval on you, so prone to wander and full of weakness?
Love (All) Your Neighbors: A Surprising Test of True Faith – Scott Hubbard (DG)
So, if you want to see someone’s spiritual sincerity more clearly, don’t mainly watch him in church. Watch him with his children. Watch him at work. Watch him in traffic. Watch him when offended. For you will know him by his neighbor-love.
Can We Forgive When the Offender Doesn’t Repent? – Mike Wittmer (TGC)
Forgiveness means to pardon an offender by paying/absorbing his moral debt. When an offender repents, it’s clear we should both pay and pardon. We absorb the moral cost of being sinned against and assure the offender of our forgiveness. When the offender doesn’t repent for whatever reason—perhaps he’s hard-hearted or has died—we must separate the payment from the pardon. We don’t pardon him (and gloss over his offenses), because he hasn’t repented, yet we still must absorb the moral cost.
The Desecration of Man – Carl Trueman (First Things)
Contra Nietzsche, God is not dead. But we moderns have used Nietzsche’s claim as an excuse for desecrating man, for turning ourselves and others into insignificant, sexualized, animate lumps of meat. Only a reclamation, and a proclamation, of the living God in the vital worship of the Church will consecrate man and bring him back from the brink of a nihilistic, dehumanized abyss.
Flashback: Gentle Discipline
Paul is weary of Corinthians, who are like wayward children, and yet he wants to treat them with gentleness. He doesn’t want to come with a rod, but with gentle love. Notice he doesn’t demand, command, or threaten. But clothed with the gentleness of Christ, he entreats, he urges, he beseechs, he appeals to them. His discipline is gentle.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping God with your local church!
– Philip Nation in Habits for Our Holiness
Brian J. Mikul 