Discovering God's BIG-Ness

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. This is our third week, and it's exciting to be here and to celebrate God's goodness and how we can rest in Him. To rest, to truly rest, to stop everything around us, all the business, all the hecticness. Today, we're going to be looking at how we can rest and to discover, again, God's bigness. God's bigness. Let's pray. Lord God, this day is yours, and we're amazed. This time is yours. This moment as we look to you, Lord, to discover your bigness and greatness in our lives, how everything else is small in comparison. We pray that that would be our perspective, not only today, but all week. We pray, Lord, that you would be involved in this country in big ways, in this community in huge ways, that you, Lord, would be magnified in all of our relationships. We pray, Lord, this morning at all of your churches around this area, who are part of the one Christian church on earth, that you would have your gospel proclaimed faithfully and fully, and that we would all rest from our works, from our efforts, and just trust in you and your grace and mercy that we know so much in Jesus. We pray, too, Lord, that you would have us grow in our abiding in you, so that out of that strength of resting in you, we can work and live and move and have our being. So bless this day and this time together. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, our text today that we're looking at and focusing on is one of my favorite Psalms. I don't know if you've ever read this one, but it is a great one. It's Psalm 62. And you can follow along with that in the You version of the Bible. It has all the notes as well, or kind of look it up. It's going to also be on the screen. And this is a Psalm of David when he was actually facing a very difficult time, and this is how it goes. For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse, say, La. For God alone, O my soul, waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock. My refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. Those of lowest state are but a breath. Those of highest state are a delusion. In the balance they go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes in robbery. If riches increase, set your hearts not on them. Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this, that power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work. Great psalm. One of my favorites. We're going to be exploring that today as we talk about rest and how we can rest in God and how rest can be experienced on a daily basis, a weekly basis in the rhythms of our lives. How many of you have heard someone say, hey, I'm spiritual but not religious? Raise your hands. I'm surprised not more hands have gone up on that one. I've heard it numerous times and in one sense I believe them, that they say they believe. I believe that they believe they're not religious, but in a sense I don't believe them at the same time. Because I think everybody's religious. Even those who will say, no, religion is religious, it's ridiculous, like Bill Maher. He says, it's religious. I don't believe in any of that stuff. I don't believe in God. You can throw God out of your life, you can say you're totally secular, but I believe you're still religious. Something, someone, some way is taking that position of God in your life. Humans are innately religious. The word religion is from the Latin word religio, which comes from two Latin words, ligare, which have you heard ligaments in the body? It is that which binds or connects together and the word re that we use often for again or repeat or a return. Religion is that which connects in the best sense of the word, that which binds and connects everything together and holds it together in your life. That's religion. Now it can be formal stuff, it can be ritualistic, it can be all sorts of things. But everyone is religious. Everyone has something or someone that connects everything in their life to try to make sense. We're always meaning making people. Everybody has that one thing. Everyone is religious. Now, there was a time when it was pretty obvious. But in Western society it's become less obvious and it's more under the current. A man named, and I've used this before, Ernst Becker, who wrote a book called The Denial of Death. And in it he postulates and basically ...