Today is Fall Back Day, the day that comes once a year in which we change our clocks back one hour to our Standard Time,(hence the name, Fall Back). Fall Back Day is one of the Most Awaited Days of Year.
Nobody in their right mind ever looks forward to Spring Forward Day but for most people who go to school, work or otherwise that have to get up an hour earlier in the morning; Fall Back Day is a glorious day and is among the most awaited days of the year. For many, today is probably ranked with the likes of Black Friday, Super bowl Sunday, or even Christmas.
Many of us get excited about Fall Back Day because we value our sleep and getting an extra hour of sleep is what we think we need desperately. We see that extra hour as an hour in which we can relax a little and not be stressed out so much to get ready in a hurry and head out the door. We think getting that extra hour will help us not to be late for church, work, school, or whatever appointments we have in the mornings.
But you know what? Many of us will find ourselves late and wasting that extra hour. For many, Falling Back is to no benefit to us because we squander it. Instead of cherishing it and receiving it as a blessing we find ourselves staying up later at night because we can sleep later and we find ourselves snoozing longer in the mornings.
Instead of applying the gift of an extra hour we waste it.
Falling back can be a big blessing if we apply it correctly into our daily lives. I think we would all agree that an extra hour to our day can be highly beneficial to our lives.
But what can we gain from FALLING BACK spiritually speaking? Is there anything that can encourage us spiritually in falling back? I definitely believe so!
We live in a world today in which we are running 90 to nothing. Our society is a face paced one and if we don’t hold on with both hands, we’ll find ourselves broken down on the side of the road.
It seems we always have something going on and to find rest is what we all need. An extra hour of sleep may be nice for our physical bodies but what we need more than that is what Jesus offers.
Matthew 11: 28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Don’t you get the same message from Jesus as I do here? He is calling to us, offering us rest. He wants us to fall back to him.
Illustration: Do you remember the Nestea commercials back in the 80’s? They had a famous slogan that many of us remember today. What was it? …..”The Nestea Plunge”.
VIDEO: “Nestea 8o’s Commercial”
Doesn’t that look refreshing? I can remember just about everybody imitating the Nestea Plunge. It was a catchy visual that sold a good amount of people to Nestea.
Jesus wants us to take a different plunge. He wants us to fall back to Him. He offers us rest and refreshment and He wants us all to be sold to Him.
I believe that God wants us to fall back into a few things that will enhance our relationship with Him. I also believe that no matter where we are right now that we can always grow closer to Him. As this is His desire.
First of all I believe that God wants us to
I.FALL BACK INTO HIS WORD.
A.You may say, “But I read my Bible every day, I can’t fall into something that I am already into.” True, what I am talking about is not simply reading the Scripture but studying them and allowing God’s Word to speak to your heart.
1.When was the last time you felt God speaking directly to you during your Bible reading? We all can sit down; open our Bibles up and read but are we doing anything else besides reading it?
2.Are we applying the Word of God to our daily lives? Do we truly accept God’s teachings through His Word?
James 1: 22-25 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
3.Jesus wants us to fall into His Word, to find rest and to be refreshed. His call is clear to us and we need to take advantage to what he offers.
4.When times are tough, when you are weary, when you feel like throwing the towel in and giving up, Jesus is there for us, to give us rest.
5.James tells us that we need to not only listen to the Word but to actually apply it to our lives. If we are not going to God in times of distress in our lives, we are not applying His Word, we are not being obedient.
6.Psalm 62 is a psalm of David where he really pours out to us where he finds his rest. It is a wonderful picture of obedience in going to the Lord to receive rest.
7.Let me read just a portion of it to you this morning.
Psalm 62: 1-8
1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. 2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3 How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? 4 Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.
5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
8.David knew where to find rest, David knew where to fall back. Do we?
9.We need to Fall Back into His Word and we also need to…
II.FALL BACK INTO HIS GUIDANCE.
A. With all that we have going on in our lives we can get lost and confused very easily. The world can misdirect us without us even realizing it until we are already on the wrong path.
-Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
1.God is in control of all things but if we are not willing to fall back into his hands listen and follow His instructions, our lives become controlled by fleshly beings with fleshly desire and we become our own worst enemies.
Illustration: How many of you have ever seen the bumper sticker that says, “God is my Co-pilot”? It’s a great thought, to have God walking bedside you but the problem I have with God being our co-pilot is that you are not placing Him in the driver’s seat, He is only listed as your assistant and that places you and your driving skills for your life above God’s.
2.I want God to be my pilot and I will gladly be His co-pilot for my life. Where he says to turn, I am gonna turn. When he says to stop, I’m gonna stop and when He says go, I’m gonna go!
3.This all comes down to having control issues. We may have given our lives to God but we may have a kung-Fu Grip on some areas of our lives that we just can’t release.
4.God calls us to release that control and to fall back to Him. The truth is we can’t do it alone, but yet we still fight it. We try our hardest and fail. We need to give it to Him and succeed.
Illustration: I am a horrible public speaker. I stutter when I am nervous, I am self-conscious over a lisp I have. In elementary school I had to take speech classes. I freeze when I am in front of several people. But most would not know this of me.
I stand here before you today as I do each week, facing my fears but having complete comfort in knowing God is in control and it is not me. If I tried to do this without Him, I would fail. Trust me when I tell you, I have tried it my way in the past and it isn’t pretty.
With God guiding me and with me placing Him in the driver’s seat, how could I not succeed? With God in control all things are possible.
5.I know this not only because He proves it to me each week but because Jesus tells us this in His Word. And I want to live my life by falling back into His Holy Word.
-Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Conclusion:
Illustration: One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.
"I don’t get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."
"But you didn’t notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."
-When we fall back into God’s Arms we gain the rest that we will find nowhere else. The rest that will sharpen us in doing His will, The rest that will sharpen us to overcome all obstacles.
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-Today, we gain another hour of rest. Some will choose to use it wisely and find refreshment in it. Others will choose to ignore it, stay up later and still drag their feet the rest of the day.
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-Today, you can accept the rest that Jesus gives. The rest that will give you refreshment for your souls. You can choose to take the plunge and fall back into His arms or you can choose to keep on going the path you have been, spinning your wheels going nowhere. The choice is yours today.
-Don’t you think it is time to fall back and receive?
