Be With God

This morning, we talked about slowing down, about stopping, about Sabbath. But the question then is, what do I do?

4th of July in college - movies. That might be considered stopping, but it’s not really a Sabbath, because it’s not honoring and worshiping God.

Like, okay, I stopped working, I put my phone down, so, now what?

John 15:4–5 NLT

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

The goal of slowing down, of stopping and taking a break, is to BE WITH GOD. Jesus says remain in me and I will remain in you. So if you want Jesus to be with you, you have to be with Jesus.

What does it look like to be with in God?

(Not me & my friends - we barely talk.)

No, if we’re going to be with God, we have to stay connected to God. Doesn’t mean you have to be praying 24/7. If you have a friend, you see them after 2nd period, but youStop/Slow rhythm throughout life, but we should be spending concentrated with God each day

Let’s be real: it’s harder to have a relationship with God than a human person in one specific way—God is spiritual. So, we do spiritual practices to remind us that God is there and stay connected to him.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

(practices because they don’t necessarily come easily - basketball practice)

Prayer - who has difficulty praying? ME! Talking AND Listening

Listen - Silence(solo walks at night). Its okay to let your mind wander. (I want him to know where to find me)

Worship - Seeing God everywhere in nature, in other ppl, in art. This is the goal. ALL things lead you to see God.

Fast - reminder of trust and dependence

Laugh - Enjoying God and his gifts.

BEAR FRUIT

The second part of this passage says that if you remain in Jesus, you will bear fruit. When we stay connected to Jesus, we ought to live like Jesus, which means: You should be doing stuff. Just because we’re resting and taking breaks and retreats and spending time with God doesn’t mean that we entirely retreat from the world and never do anything but meditate.

Jesus didn’t adhere to the Pharisees backward Sabbath rules.

Luke 14:5 NLT

Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?”

You can do good on the Sabbath when you’re doing it out of rest and not out of a sense of pressure or duty.

Matthew 11:28-29

Matthew 11:28–29 NLT

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Yoke connected two oxen together. You had to “be with” them. Which builds the relationship.

(being handcuffed together)

But a yoke also implies WORK. When we are connected to Jesus, when we take the time to BE WITH him, we will work alongside him. But his work is easy, and his burden is light. As Christians, there are certain fruit that we should be producing: particularly the fruit of the Spirit (love joy etc), but also generally just good works.

The goal is to intentionally be with God—but the activities that you do could be all kinds of things, some things that even look like “work” to other people, but give you life.

GOSPEL

Jesus did a good work: life, death, and resurrection. It was through this that we learn that the way of Jesus is not the way of the world. It is here that we can enter into eternal rest.

Playing ball with Steph, Lebron, Dwade, etc.