Sermon and Worship Resources

Dictionary: Rest

Leisure time offers a respite from work, those essential duties of life such as paid employment and maintaining a household, to pursue other activities. Such nonobligatory pursuits range from entertainment to fine art, from peaceful relaxation to physical activity.

From the beginning, humankind was intended to work (Gen. 1:28; 2:15), but God also set apart one day per week for his creatures to share in his divine rest (Gen. 2:2–3; Exod. 20:8–11). This weekly rest should bring to mind God’s creation and the final rest in the age to come (Heb. 4:9–11). Although leisure time and Sabbath observance are not identical, both are opportunities to give thanks, worship, and put hope in God. They also refresh and enrich earthly life.

Indeed, every good thing is a gift from the Father (James 1:17), including time off from daily duties. How one uses leisure time is thus a matter of stewardship, much like one’s use of money and working time (cf. Matt. 25:14–30). Thus, although the Bible does not discuss playing sports or writing poetry, it does proclaim Christ as Lord over all spheres of life. Therefore “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Synonyms: relax, take a rest, ease up/off, let up, slow down, pause, have/take a break, unbend, repose, laze, idle, loaf, do nothing, take time off, slack off, unwind, recharge one's batteries, be at leisure, take it easy, sit back, sit down, stand down, lounge, luxuriate, loll, slump, flop, put one's feet up, lie down, go to bed, have/take a nap, nap, catnap, doze, have/take a siesta, drowse, sleep, lie, be laid, recline, be, be placed, be positioned, support, prop (up), steady, balance, lean, lay, set, sit, stand, position, place, put, be based on, be grounded in, be founded on, depend on, be dependent on, rely on, hinge on, turn on, hang on, pivot on, be contingent on, revolve around, centre on, relaxation, leisure, ease, inactivity, respite, time off, time out, breathing space, break, interval, interlude, intermission, base, holder, stay, prop, brace, rack, hook, frame, shelf, bracket, trestle, tripod, plinth, pedestal, foundation, bed, foot, substructure, a standstill, a halt, a stop, remainder, residue, remaining part/number/quantity, part/number/quantity (that is) left over, others, those left, remains, remnant, remnants, rump, surplus, difference, extra, excess, superfluity, overflow, overspill, additional people/material/things, extra people/material/things, remain, continue to be, keep, persist in being, carry on being, go on being

Antonyms: work, motion, movement, struggle, rage, go mad, have a fit, see red, hit the roof, toil, be active, labor, effort, agony, activity, do, blow one's stack, blow a gasket, do one's nut, go ape, go wild, lose it, drive, action, move

Showing all results

4926. Remember the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Debbie Farmer, in her book Don’t Put Lipstick on the Cat! shares a hilarious essay which she calls “What a Mother Is Thankful For.” She lists many things a Mother learns to be thankful for after she has children. I want to read just a few of them. I believe that some of you will relate to her words. She writes, BEFORE CHILDREN: I was thankful to have been born in the USA, the most powerful free democracy in the world. AFTER CHILDREN: I am thankful for Velcro tennis shoes. As well as saving valuable time, ...

4927. The Christmas Candy Cane

Illustration

Staff

Tradition holds that a candy maker wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white hard candy: white to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the solid rock, the Foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises of God. The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the name of Jesus, ...

4928. Laws of the Harvest

Illustration

Staff

The following article is based on a sermon by missionary Del Tarr who served fourteen years in West Africa with another mission agency. His story points out the price some people pay to sow the seed of the gospel in hard soil: I was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel, that vast stretch of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the Sahara Desert. In the Sahel, all the moisture comes in a four month period: May, June, July, and August. After that, not a drop of rain falls ...

4929. Roots Like a Tree

Illustration

Staff

While on a tour of California's giant sequoias, the guide pointed out that the sequoia tree has roots just barely below the surface. "That's impossible!" a man exclaimed. "I'm a country boy, and I know that if the roots don't grow deep into the earth, strong winds will blow the trees over." "Not sequoia trees," said the guide. "They grow only in groves and their roots intertwine under the surface of the earth. So, when the strong winds come, they hold each other up." There's a lesson here. In a sense, ...

4930. Go After Your Dreams

Illustration

Author Irving Stone has spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing novelized biographies of such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud and Charles Darwin. Stone was once asked if he had found a thread that runs through the lives of all these exceptional people. He said, "I write about people who sometime in their life...have a vision or dream of something that should be accomplished...and they go to work. "They are beaten over the head, knocked down, vilified and for years they get nowhere ...

4931. Jingle Bells at a Funeral

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Dennis Wilson is a backup singer in the country music’s unofficial capital, Nashville, Tennessee. In the book Real Country Humor Wilson tells a true story about a friend of his who sings professionally at funerals and weddings. Sometime back this friend got a call from a lady whose husband had died of a heart attack. She said, “I heard you sing at my cousin’s funeral, and I wondered if you’d sing at my husband’s funeral. He just died.” Wilson’s friend said, “Yes, ma’am, that’s what I do. Did you have ...

4932. Stuck in a Rut

Humor Illustration

Dean Martin tells the story of a frog who fell into a deep rut and, try as he might, he could not get out. Mrs. Frog, standing above the rut, admonished, cajoled, beckoned, and belittled. "Get out, come on, let's go." she pleaded. Mr. Frog, down in the deep rut, said simply that he couldn't. "I've tried everything and there is no way I can get out of this rut." Mrs. Frog hopped on down to the pond, and in a few minutes Mr. Frog appeared beside her on their favorite lily pad. "I thought you said you couldn' ...

Showing 4926 to 4932 of 4932all results