Here's Pastor Doug Batchelor from www.amazingfacts.org with the Sacramento church
To study the lesson with Dr Derek Norris of the Lake Forest church,
click on the following link:
http://media.forestlakechurch.org/content/media/2010q205-15-rest-and-restoration
PLEASE GO TO YOUR SIDE BAR AND CLICK ON VIEW AND ON ZOOM IN + AS MANY TIMES AS NEEDED TO ENLARGE THE WHOLE PAGE SO YOU MAY EASILY READ IN THE PDF WHOSE FONTS YOU MAY ENLARGE ALSO DIRECTLY BY RAISING THE PERCENTAGE INCLUDED. LIKE THAT YOU HAVE A BIRD VIEW OF MANY PERSPECTIVES. THANK YOU.
AND JUST LEAVE YOUR CURSOR ON THE VERSES SO YOU MAY READ THEM
htpp://www.cqbiblestudy.org
http://www.absg.adventist.org
RIGHT INTO YOUR LIFE
INTRODUCTION
God has provided rest in all the turmoil from inside and outside our life, and even better: TOTAL RESTORATION.
THE IDEA
We need the rest and even more the restoration, rest from physical tiredness, rest from mental troubles, rest and spiritual restoration, rest from our usual activities, the Sabbath for restoration, rest in God's peace, renewal now and total restoration at Jesus' coming.
THE LESSON
We need to take a break. God is in charge. We need to balance our lives into God's hands. We need to respect the laws of nature that God instituted for our well being. God has plans for us, to make us happy, we need to come into His rest, His quiet physical rest, His Faithful rest, His Prayer rest, His Sabbath rest, His redemptive rest, His renewal and His rest into Heaven.
THE EMOTION
How peaceful is rest in Jesus! The loveliness of the right amount of sleep. The fulfillment of being physically ready. The faith that we are in God's hands and that He is leading us. The healthy intimacy of meditation. The power that comes from communion with God in prayer. The regenerating Sabbath, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Knowing and feeling God's sustenance, the example of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Heaven on earth in our heart, and Heaven to come, Eternal life with God. O sweet rest.
THE LIFE APPLICATION
How great it feels to be effective and efficient. Satan is trying to get us on shaky grounds, by keeping us too busy all the time, and by getting us to disrespect the natural laws of God. It's the little decisions that get us into trouble, decisions about rest, being a healthy change of activity, decisions about moderation and temperance. There is always more to do and to enjoy, now, but suffer later and more. There are always more worries, but there is always God, and faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit to listen to. REST IN THE POWER OF GOD, ALWAYS WANTING TO HELP AND TO GUIDE US INTO THE RIGHT COURSE. Jump into His open arms and listen to His word, Jesus, and keep in touch with His Holy Spirit for the right decisions, the right life, the rest, the restoration, and Heaven in your heart, Heaven in your life, at every step, power to regenerate you, and peaceful rest, and serene life: Eternity with you.
CEN
Rest and Restoration
Memory Text: Mark 6:31 NIV 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
“Scripture taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION”. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Used by Permission.
Sabbath Afternoon
Sunday
No Time
Proverbs 6:9 NKJV 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?
Proverbs 13:4 NKJV 4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
Genesis 2:15 NKJV 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Mark 6:30-32 NKJV 30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
Mark 6:45-46 NKJV 45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
Monday
The Need for Rest
Ellen G. White comments, Child Guidance, p. 342
Why Poverty Is Often a Blessing.--Riches and idleness are thought by some to be blessings indeed; but those who are always busy, and who cheerfully go about their daily tasks, are the most happy and enjoy the best health. . . . The sentence that man must toil for his daily bread, and the promise of future happiness and glory, both came from the same throne, and both are blessings. {CG 342.1}
Poverty, in many cases, is a blessing; for it prevents youth and children from being ruined by inaction. The physical as well as the mental powers should be cultivated and properly developed. The first and constant care of parents should be to see that their children have firm constitutions, that they may be sound men and women. It is impossible to attain this object without physical exercise. {CG 342.2}
For their own physical health and moral good, children should be taught to work, even if there is no necessity so far as want is concerned. If they would have pure and virtuous characters, they must have the discipline of well-regulated labor, which will bring into exercise all the muscles. The satisfaction that children will have in being useful, and in denying themselves to help others, will be the most healthful pleasure they ever enjoyed. {CG 342.3}
Mental and Physical Activities Equalized.--Students should not be permitted to take so many studies that they will have no time for physical training. The health cannot be preserved unless some portion of each day is given to muscular exertion in the open air. Stated (p. 343) hours should be devoted to manual labor of some kind, anything that will call into action all parts of the body. Equalize the taxation of the mental and the physical powers, and the mind of the student will be refreshed. If he is diseased, physical exercise will often help the system to recover its normal condition. When students leave college, they should have better health and a better understanding of the laws of life than when they enter it. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character. {CG 342.4}
Exodus 23:12 NKJV 12 "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.
Genesis 2:7 NKJV 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Tuesday
The Rest in God’s Pleasure
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:29 "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."
Hebrews 2:4 NKJV 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Romans 1:17 NKJV 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Galatians 3:11 NKJV 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
Wednesday
The Daily Rest
Read Genesis chapter on2
Ellen G. White comments, Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, p. 224
MR No. 463 - The Senses and Sensuality
The result of pure and undefiled religion in the heart will be to change the whole character, If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. We will not, must not, be double-minded, unstable. The renewing grace of Christ renounces everything bad in action, in emotion, in thought. That which was good is purified from its selfishness and every taint of impurity. There is a decided change in the whole life. {7MR 224.1}
If a brackish fountain has suddenly lost its bad qualities, the change will be discovered in the purity and sweetness of the streams that flow from it. . . . {7MR 224.2}
I know from the testimonies given me from time to time for brain workers, that sleep is worth far more before than after midnight. Two hours' good sleep before twelve o'clock is worth more than four hours after twelve o'clock. . . . {7MR 224.3}
You can give short lectures in the parlor at stated times, which will be select but plain, upon the human body and how to treat this wonderful house the Lord has given us, which will aid you in your work as physicians as nothing else can. The people . . . need to be enlightened on almost every point of how to treat their own bodies. . . . {7MR 224.4}
Every day the people, be they few or many, need to be enlightened how to take care of themselves. To subject one's self to a severity of labor which is constantly straining the physical power of endurance, the constitution cannot endure, it is a violation of physical law which sooner or later will (p. 225) bring its pain of penalty according to the transgression. Talk to them in regard to the necessity of resting after eating. {7MR 224.5}
Thursday
The Weekly Rest
Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV 1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV 8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Mark 2:27 NKJV 27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Friday
Ellen G. White comments, Counsels on Health, p. 99
Intemperance in eating and drinking, intemperance in labor, intemperance in almost everything, exists on every hand. Those who make great exertions to accomplish just so much work in a given time, and continue to labor when their judgment tells them they should rest, are never gainers. They are living on borrowed capital. They are expending the vital force which they will need at a future time. And when the energy they have so recklessly used is demanded, they fail for want of it. The physical strength is gone, the mental powers fail. They realize that they have met with a loss, but do not know what it is. Their time of need has come, but their physical resources are exhausted. Everyone who violates the laws of health must sometime be a sufferer to a greater or less degree. God has provided us with constitutional force, which will be needed at different periods of our life. If we recklessly exhaust this force by continual overtaxation, we shall sometime be losers. Our usefulness will be lessened, if not our life itself destroyed. {CH 99.1}
As a rule, the labor of the day should not be prolonged into the evening. If all the hours of the day are well improved, the work extended into the evening is so much extra, and the overtaxed system will suffer from the burden imposed upon it. I have been shown that those who do this often lose much more than they gain, for their energies are exhausted and they labor on nervous excitement. They may not realize any immediate injury, but they are surely undermining their constitution (p. 100) {CH 99.2}
Ellen G. White comments, Child Guidance, pp. 397-398
In Work.--We should practice temperance in our labor. It is not our duty to place ourselves where we shall be overworked. Some may at times be placed where this is necessary, but it should be the exception, not the rule. We are to practice temperance in all things. If we honor the Lord by acting our part, He will on His part preserve our health. We should have a sensible control of all our organs. By practicing temperance in eating, in drinking, in dressing, in labor, and in all things, we can do for ourselves what no physician can do for us. {CG 397.1}
As a rule, the labor of the day should not be prolonged into the evening. . . . I have been shown that those who do this often lose much more than they gain, for their energies are exhausted, and they labor on nervous excitement. They may not realize any immediate injury, but they are surely undermining their constitution. {CG 397.2}
Those who make great exertions to accomplish just so much work in a given time, and continue to labor when their judgment tells them they should rest, are never gainers. They are living on borrowed capital. They are expending the vital force which they will need at a future time. And when the energy they have so recklessly used is demanded, they fail for want of it. The physical strength is gone, the mental powers fail. They realize that they have met with a loss, but do not know what it is. Their time of need has come, but their physical resources are exhausted. Everyone who violates the laws (p. 398) of health must sometime be a sufferer to a greater or less degree. God has provided us with constitutional force, which will be needed at different periods of our lives. If we recklessly exhaust this force by continual overtaxation, we shall sometime be the losers. {CG 397.3}
In Dressing.--In all respects the dress should be healthful. "Above all things," God desires us to "be in health"--health of body and of soul. And we are to be workers together with Him for the health of both soul and body. Both are promoted by healthful dress. {CG 398.1}
It should have the grace, the beauty, the appropriateness of natural simplicity. Christ has warned us against the pride of life, but not against its grace and natural beauty. {CG 398.2}
In Eating.--True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful. There are few who realize as they should how much their habits of diet have to do with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. The appetite should ever be in subjection to the moral and intellectual powers. The body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body. {CG 398.3}
Those who eat and work intemperately and irrationally, talk and act irrationally. It is not necessary to drink alcoholic liquors in order to be intemperate. The sin of intemperate eating--eating too frequently, too much, and of rich, unwholesome food--destroys the healthy action of the digestive organs, affects the brain, and perverts the judgment, preventing rational, calm, healthy thinking and acting. (p. 399) {CG 398.4}
Jerry Giardina of Pecos, Texas, assisted by his wife, Cheryl, prepares a series of helps to accompany the Sabbath School lesson. He includes all related scripture and most EGW quotations. Jerry has chosen the "New King James Version" of the scriptures this quarter. It is used with permission.http://www.whiteestate.org/
Page 234
The Use of Remedies
Disease never comes without a cause. The way is prepared, and disease invited, by disregard of the laws of health. Many suffer in consequence of the transgression of their parents. While they are not responsible for what their parents have done, it is nevertheless their duty to ascertain what are and what are not violations of the laws of health. They should avoid the wrong habits of their parents and, by correct living, place themselves in better conditions.
The greater number, however, suffer because of their own wrong course of action. They disregard the principles of health by their habits of eating, drinking, dressing, and working. Their transgression of nature's laws produces the sure result; and when sickness comes upon them, many do not credit their suffering to the true cause, but murmur against God because of their afflictions. But God is not responsible for the suffering that follows disregard of natural law.
God has endowed us with a certain amount of vital force. He has also formed us with organs suited to maintain the various functions of life, and He designs that these organs
Page 235
shall work together in harmony. If we carefully preserve the life force, and keep the delicate mechanism of the body in order, the result is health; but if the vital force is too rapidly exhausted, the nervous system borrows power for present use from its resources of strength, and when one organ is injured, all are affected. Nature bears much abuse without apparent resistance; she then arouses and makes a determined effort to remove the effects of the ill-treatment she has suffered. Her effort to correct these conditions is often manifest in fever and various other forms of sickness.
When the abuse of health is carried so far that sickness results, the sufferer can often do for himself what no one else can do for him. The first thing to be done is to ascertain the true character of the sickness and then go to work intelligently to remove the cause. If the harmonious working of the system has become unbalanced by overwork, overeating, or other irregularities, do not endeavor to adjust the difficulties by adding a burden of poisonous medicines.
Intemperate eating is often the cause of sickness, and what nature most needs is to be relieved of the undue burden that has been placed upon her. In many cases of sickness, the very best remedy is for the patient to fast for a meal or two, that the overworked organs of digestion may have an opportunity to rest. A fruit diet for a few days has often brought great relief to brain workers. Many times a short period of entire abstinence from food, followed by simple, moderate eating, has led to recovery through nature's own recuperative effort. An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.
Page 236
Some make themselves sick by overwork. For these, rest, freedom from care, and a spare diet, are essential to restoration of health. To those who are brain weary and nervous
Page 237
because of continual labor and close confinement, a visit to the country, where they can live a simple, carefree life, coming in close contact with the things of nature, will be most helpful. Roaming through the fields and the woods, picking the flowers, listening to the songs of the birds, will do far more that any other agency toward their recovery.In health and in sickness, pure water is one of heaven's choicest blessings. Its proper use promotes health. It is the beverage which God provided to quench the thirst of animals and man. Drunk freely, it helps to supply the necessities of the system and assists nature to resist disease. The external application of water is one of the easiest and most satisfactory ways of regulating the circulation of the blood. A cold or cool bath is an excellent tonic. Warm baths open the pores and thus aid in the elimination of impurities. Both warm and neutral bath soothe the nerves and equalize the circulation.
But many have never learned by experience the beneficial effects of the proper use of water, and they are afraid of it. Water treatments are not appreciated as they should be, and to apply them skillfully requires work that many are unwilling to perform. But none should feel excused for ignorance or indifference on this subject. There are many ways in which water can be applied to relieve pain and check disease. All should become intelligent in its use in simple home treatments. Mothers, especially, should know how to care for their families in both health and sickness.
Action is a law of our being. Every organ of the body has its appointed work, upon the performance of which its development and strength depend. The normal action of all the organs gives strength and vigor, while the tendency of disuse is toward decay and death. Bind up an arm, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bands, and you will see that
Page 238
it is weaker than the one you have been using moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect upon the whole muscular system.Inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease. Exercise quickens and equalizes the circulation of the blood, but in idleness the blood does not circulate freely, and the changes in it, so necessary to life and health, do not take place. The skin, too, becomes inactive. Impurities are not expelled as they would be if the circulation had been quickened by vigorous exercise, the skin kept in a healthy condition, and the lungs fed with plenty of pure, fresh air. This state of the system throws a double burden on the excretory organs, and disease is the result.
Invalids should not be encourage in inactivity. When there has been serious overtaxation in any direction, entire rest for a time will sometimes ward off serious illness; but in the case of confirmed invalids, it is seldom necessary to suspend all activity.
Those who have broken down from mental labor should have rest from wearing thought; but they should not be led to believe that it is dangerous to use their mental powers at all. Many are inclined to regard their condition as worse than it really is. This state of mind is unfavorable to recovery, and should not be encouraged.
Ministers, teachers, students, and other brain workers often suffer from illness as the result of severe mental taxation, unrelieved by physical exercise. What these persons need is a more active life. Strictly temperate habits, combined with proper exercise, would ensure both mental and physical vigor, and would give power of endurance to all brain workers.
Those who have overtaxed their physical powers should not be encouraged to forgo manual labor entirely. But labor,
Page 239
to be of the greatest advantage, should be systematic and agreeable. Outdoor exercise is the best; it should be so planned as to strengthen by use the organs that have become weakened; and the heart should be in it; the labor of the hands should never degenerate into mere drudgery.When invalids have nothing to occupy their time and attention, their thoughts become centered upon themselves, and they grow morbid and irritable. Many times they dwell upon their bad feelings until they think themselves much worse than they really are and wholly unable to do anything.
In all these cases well-directed physical exercise would prove an effective remedial agent. In some cases it is indispensable to the recovery of health. The will goes with the labor of the hands; and what these invalids need is to have the will aroused. When the will is dormant, the imagination becomes abnormal, and it is impossible to resist disease.
Page 240
Inactivity is the greatest curse that could come upon most invalids. Light employment in useful labor, while it does not tax mind or body, has a happy influence upon both. It strengthens the muscles, improves the circulation, and gives the invalid the satisfaction of knowing that he is not wholly useless in this busy world. He may be able to do but little at first, but he will soon find his strength increasing, and the amount of work done can be increased accordingly.
Exercise aids the dyspeptic by giving the digestive organs a healthy tone. To engage in severe study or violent physical exercise immediately after eating, hinders the work of digestion; but a short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the shoulders back, is a great benefit.
Notwithstanding all that is said and written concerning its importance, there are still many who neglect physical exercise. Some grow corpulent because the system is clogged; others become thin and feeble because their vital powers are exhausted in disposing of an excess of food. The liver is burdened in its effort to cleanse the blood of impurities, and illness is the result.
Those whose habits are sedentary should, when the weather will permit, exercise in the open air every day, summer or winter. Walking is preferable to riding or driving, for it brings more of the muscles into exercise. The lungs are forced into healthy action, since it is impossible to walk briskly without inflating them.
Such exercise would in many cases be better for the health than medicine. Physician often advise their patients to take an ocean voyage, to go to some mineral spring, or to visit different places for change of climate, when in most cases if they would eat temperately, and take cheerful, healthful exercise, they would recover health and would save time and money.
No comments:
Post a Comment