Rest In Peace - Dying Poor

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Our new series for March is titled “Rest In Peace”…

So let me lay the foundation for why we are starting a “Rest In Peace” series AND where I believe this series is going to take us…

We had a friend in a coma for 4 weeks and then she passed away just about a week ago…

I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but it was the best funeral I’ve ever been to…
 
Even though we all mourned the loss of a friend and we mourned for the husband she left behind everyone was laughing and telling stories and sharing with each other the things that Diadema had imparted into our lives…
 
She imparted joy and laughter and faith and encouragement…
 
1 Corinthians 15:54-55
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."55 "O Death, where is your sting?
 
So this is what I felt yesterday… Death had no victory and death had no sting…
 
In our Wednesday night bible study we have been in the book of Hebrews and to see Jesus in the unique light of this book has really awakened something in me and we are only halfway through Chapter 3… 10 more chapters to go!…
 
Hebrews 1:1-2
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son
 
Hebrews 2:9
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
 
Jesus has tasted death for everyone…
 
Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
 
Not only has Jesus tasted death for everyone He has destroyed the devil and disarmed him so that he can no longer control us by our fear of death…
 
Hebrews 3:18-19 & 4:1
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
 
We are starting this “Rest In Peace” series because a “a promise remains” that there is a “REST” our souls are longing for and it’s a “REST” that the Lord wants to give us…
 
We need to figure out what that “REST” is and then we need to figure out how to enter into it…
 
I said I’d tell you why we are starting this series AND where I believe it’s going to take us…
 
We have these 4 Sundays in March to dive into this series and wouldn’t you know that the 1st Sunday in April is Easter Sunday!…
 
The “REST” we find in this series will lead us to the “PEACE” that can only be found in Easter…
 
There is a “Rest and Peace” for the children of God that transcends all the laws of nature and science and common sense and all of our past experiences…
 
It resurrects the dead and it overcomes anything this world can throw at us…
 
Philippians 4:7
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
 
In Exodus 33:14 God says to Moses…
"My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
 
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus is speaking to a multitude and He says…
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
 
In the old testament God says I will go with you and give you rest and in the new testament Jesus says come to Me and I will give you rest…

Why do we continue to go away from God even though time after time we find ourselves exhausted and we never seem to find the “rest” we desire?…
 
Week #1 of our “Rest In Peace” series is actually titled “Dying POOR”…
 
Picture: POOR - Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly
 
POOR stands for “Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly”…
 
Hebrews 4:1-2
1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 
 
#1 we are “POOR” because we don’t mix the word we hear and read with faith…
 
Earlier in Hebrews 3 we heard about the consequences of disobedience and unbelief being an inability to enter into the “rest”…
 
Hebrews 11:6 says…
without faith it is impossible to please (God) Him
 
It pleases God to “rest” us but without obedience and faith he can’t give us rest or more accurately we keep ourselves from entering into His rest…
 
Hebrews 4:3-9
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest." 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
 
The disobedient and faithless had a promise of rest that had been finished before the foundation of the world…
 
The didn’t enter into because they were “POOR”…
 
They passed over opportunities repeatedly in the wilderness to enter into the 7th day rest of the Lord…
 
God made everything and saw that it was good and then on the 7th day He rested from His work and enjoyed the blessing of creation…
 
We are not created to work and work and work without rest… Not only physically but also spiritually…
 
We cannot keep up with the religious requirements of God no matter how hard we work so we need a supernatural “REST”…
 
Not the kind of rest that throws religion out the window or settles for a sin-filled pseudo-spirituality…
 
We need the “Rest” that is accompanied by “Peace”…
 
That’s why these Verses say that even after the disobedient died in the wilderness and the obedient and faithful entered into the promised land with Joshua they didn’t find the “REST” they truly longed for…
 
Verse 9 says… 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…
 
That “Rest” is the “Rest & Peace” we are searching for in this series…
 
Hebrews 4:10-12
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 
We see here that we can enter into that “Rest” and that we are going to find the way into that Rest and Peace” in the word of God…
 
Where all of the swords and weapons of man that we’ve tried have failed to kill our flesh and sin and stinking thinking and frustration and anger and depression the word of God will not fail because it is alive and powerful…
 
If it can divide the soul and spirit and joints and marrow and it knows the thoughts and intents of the heart it can separate the people we are from the people we want to be and it can separate the flesh that kills us from the spirit that gives us life…
 
What needs to be put to “Rest” in your life so that “Peace” can be ushered in?…
 
What needs to “Die” in order to make room for “New” life?…
 
What “Opportunity” have you “Repeatedly Passed Over”?…

What’s the real significance of a baptism…
 
Is it friends and family and a celebration?…
 
Is it placing a stake in the ground for the world to see that you are with Jesus and you believe that Jesus is with you?…
 
Is it about the perfect Facebook post we’re gonna try to share?…
 
While there is nothing wrong with those things and they can be a part of a persons baptism they are definitely not the core or center of baptism…
 
At the core and center of baptism is a “Rest & Peace”… A Death and Resurrection… The end of one life and the beginning of another…
 
Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
Wow… What a revelation about baptism… It said…
 
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
 
(we) were baptized into His death
 
we were buried with Him
 
our old man was crucified with Him
 
we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him
 
Death no longer has dominion
 
I want to share a story that I’m struggling between two titles for…
 
One title is “Philip meets a RICH man”?…
 
The other is “Philip kills a POOR man”?…
 
You can decide whichever one you like better after we go through it…
 
Acts 8:26-39
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot." 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth." 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" 37 Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
 
This man was not going to “Pass Over this Opportunity” and become POOR…
 
He was wrestling with the word of God that is sharper than any two-edged sword and when Philip showed him how to use that weapon it cut him straight to the heart…
 
This man right there in the moment took the word of God he was hearing and he mixed it with the faith to believe that he could be changed forever right then and there in that moment…
 
So did Philip meet a RICH man or did Philip kill a POOR man?…
 
In Acts 2 Peter is preaching the word of God and watch what happens here…
 
Your choices for a title here are “Peter’s got a shank” or “I’m drowning you because I love you”?…
 
Again you can decide whichever one you like better after we go through it…
 
Acts 2:36-39
God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
 
Those who hear the word of God here are again cut to the heart and instead of “Passing Over this Opportunity” and becoming POOR they ask what they must do so they repent and then they’re baptized…
 
Many of us are afraid of baptism because we know it means we are going all in…
 
The people I see who go all in with Jesus and fight the daily and weekly and monthly and yearly battles go from being POOR to becoming RICH in Christ…
 
They receive the Holy Spirit who empowers them first of all to lay their old lives down to “Rest” and then over time they receive the “Peace” of God…
 
But those who “Pass Over Opportunities Repeatedly” to go all in never seem to find the “Peace” that has been promised or the “REST” that remains for the people of God…
 
Are you “ready to die”?…
 
If you are you can lay all of your old life down to “Rest” and be raised in the newness of life that promises ‘Peace”…