Let me help some of you. Whatever you're writing - God already knows. Whatever you're writing - He's not going to think any less of you, or any more of you. He already knows, and He likes you anyway.
I have an adult son, who I'm worried is away from the Lord - I can't do anything about that - He's an adult. You have to believe God for him, nothing you can do about that. Barack Obama - I can't do anything about him. Not one thing. He's too cool, can't do anything about him. You can't do anything about the New Zealand dollar. Exporters, you're happy with it; but people like me, who take money out, we're very sad with it - can't do anything about it. Separate the worries that you can do something about, on one side; from the worries that you can't, on the other.
If you can do something about it - then do something about it; but I want to end tonight with the side that you can't do anything about.
If the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth, have kept the word of God from taking root in your life; and it's because of something you can't do anything about, then tonight I want you to have a holy moment with God, where you be still and know that He is God, and you are not.
Be still, and know that He loves you, regardless of whether what something works out, or what something doesn't; that He is no less God, or no more God, regardless of what happens - that that is where trust comes in.
I challenge you also, to begin to take a Sabbath - to have one day in seven, that's different than every other day; to remind yourself to be whole.
Closing PrayerI want you to clear your mind of everything. If you are worrying tonight, just for the next one minute, I want to minister to you. I just felt that the list, and you doing some business with God, was effective.
Just wrap your awareness around God. I want you to repent for thinking you're so important that you don't need a Sabbath; or even worse - you're too busy to take a Sabbath. That's kind of the point.
You need to make a commitment with the Lord, to have one day in seven, that's different than all the other days. Just try it for the next 60 days, and see what happens in your life. Just have a headache tablet ready for the first couple of ones, and then you'll get used to the idea, and it'll give you pleasure: to sit back and know that God is God, and you're not.
If this room filled up with water, and it totally enveloped you, and you could still breathe, and that water was the love of God, what would you feel like now? To be totally enveloped with a God who is committed to increase you - what would you feel like?
Lord, I ask You now to just flood the souls of every person here, fill up all their cracks, fill up all their broken, hurting spots. Lord, we confess to You right now that we're broken, hurting people, with a lot of pain and a lot of cracks, and Lord, I ask that right now, that You would fill our broken hurting cracks, fill those spots in our soul, that are filled with pain and worry and distress and pressure. Fill them up with You, Lord. Just now, would You just let Your presence flow through this place. I can sense Your presence just going right through this place now.
Just take a deep breath in, breathing in God, and then a deep breath out, knowing that God is in your breath. Lord, as we breathe in, would You just fill all the broken spots in our life. Forgive us for the thoughts Lord, that we think we're God. We're not. Heal our brokenness God. May we be keepers of the Sabbath, in Jesus' name. Amen.