Overwhelmed & Exhausted
Let’s Be Honest • Week 2
Our society has made an unrelenting pace of life acceptable and almost expected. We fill our schedules with an ever-increasing number of commitments with no regard for building in rest. Rest can be seen as unproductive and unnecessary. But Adam Barnett challenges us to look at the life of Jesus and his habit of rest as the call to view rest as an essential part of our spiritual discipline.
MESSAGE NOTES
Overwhelmed & Exhausted
Let’s Be Honest | Week 2
October 4, 2020 | Adam Barnett
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“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence… and that is activism and overwork. To be carried away by the multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work and destroys our inner capacity for peace.” // Thomas Merton
Mark 4:35-37 NIV
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
Mark 4:38-41 NIV
Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
When the storm is raging, and Jesus is sleeping, which looks more powerful?
1️⃣ Release the Idol of Productivity
Psalm 127:2 BSB In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat — for He gives sleep to His beloved.
2️⃣ Learn to Say “No”
3️⃣ Quit Something
4️⃣ Fast from ___ for a week.
“Abandon your spiritual disciplines for one week. While this may seem like a radical exercise, it may serve to free you from the performance trap, pride in your spiritual works, religious addiction, and the judging of those who do less than you. Use that time to relax and enjoy God. Spend an hour visiting with your neighbor about nothing important. Watch the sun go down. Talk a walk, not for exercise but just to walk and listen to the birds. Sit in silence. Do nothing. Need nothing.” // Richard Foster
5️⃣ Take a Nap
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.