More Than Relief: Finding True Rest for Your Soul

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:04:55] Would y'all please stand with us this evening. Thank you so much for being here. Look, it's a different vibe, right? It's a Friday night, it's a different feel, a different vibe, but we still serve the same God, amen? And that's what we're here to do. We're here to praise Him. And thank you so much. Again, you know, it shows the heart for God, and a heart for God overflows with praise. And that's exactly what we're going to do this morning. And again, Psalm 150 says, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. So please join us this morning in doing that.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[00:15:33] Good evening. I am so excited that everybody is here tonight that I get to, I've gotten to shake so many hands and say hi to so many people already. I'm so excited that you've joined us.
[00:15:44] If you are joining us right now or if you are deciding to join us on the live stream on Sunday, welcome into Christ Community Church. We're so glad that you are here today. We have so many
[00:15:56] things to kind of get through and I just want to share a few of them before we get into baptism.
[00:16:02] So, I know you guys are really excited about baptisms, but first of all, I just wanted to welcome you.
[00:16:07] If you are a first-time guest in the house tonight, thank you so much for joining us.
[00:16:12] If you would, just fill out, there's a blue Connect card on the seat back pocket in front of you.
[00:16:16] Fill that out and then take it to the Black Connect booth that's at the back of the lobby.
[00:16:21] Someone will be there, waiting there to give you a gift to say hi and to welcome you to Christ Community Church.
[00:16:26] Guys, would you just join me in welcoming our first-time guest tonight?
[00:16:33] Awesome.
[00:16:33] I'm so excited.
[00:16:34] As I mentioned, there's a few things that I've got to cover because, as you guys know, the weather has not been the best to us here in North Carolina, and so snow has caused some things to get moved back, and I just want to communicate some of those changes
[00:16:49] to you guys right now.
[00:16:50] So the first one is this.
[00:16:52] Our Next Steps class, which I think was supposed to be this Sunday, has now been moved to next Sunday, February 8th, and that is going to be after second service.
[00:17:01] If you know, next Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, so we're going to do that after second service so that everyone can get home and watch the Super Bowl at 6.30 p.m. and watch Drake May
[00:17:14] unfortunately lose.
[00:17:16] Go Tar Heels.
[00:17:17] I know.
[00:17:18] So next steps class is next Sunday, February 8th, after second service.
[00:17:23] That's just a class where you can learn more about what we are all about, and that's great.
[00:17:29] Also, what was supposed to be this Sunday, our Mexico Missions Trip Interest Meeting was supposed to be this Sunday, February 1st.
[00:17:36] We are moving that slightly back, not as far back as the next steps.
[00:17:40] But this Tuesday, February 3rd, and Wednesday, February 4th, we'll have two different options to attend that meeting.
[00:17:49] Tuesday night will be at 6.30 p.m.
[00:17:51] We have an in-person option for that.
[00:17:53] And you can also RSVP and get a Zoom link to attend that meeting online on Tuesday night.
[00:17:59] And then on Wednesday night at 5.30, that will be in-person only.
[00:18:03] Both of those meetings will be in the desert room in the Kids Crew area.
[00:18:06] If you have any more questions, I've attached my email on that registration, that RSVP registration.
[00:18:11] If you have any more questions about that, just feel free to ask me.
[00:18:14] That mission strip is open to all high schoolers, rising 8th graders or rising 9th graders through graduating seniors are welcome.
[00:18:21] So show up to that interest meeting.
[00:18:23] It's going to be such a good trip.
[00:18:25] All right, last couple of things.
[00:18:27] If you're watching online, we have a couple of things linked in the description below.
[00:18:33] So one of those things is going to be our kids crew videos for service today.
[00:18:37] So those are going to be linked in the description below.
[00:18:40] And then the other thing that will be linked is the giving link down below.
[00:18:44] You can give at the link in the description if you're watching this.
[00:18:48] That is all that I have.
[00:18:50] So, what I'm going to do is kick it on off to our baptisms, and Garrett, he's over in the baptism pool.
[00:18:57] Garrett, I'm going to, actually, sorry, I'm kicking it off to a video.
[00:19:00] The videos are going to play right now.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:19:02] Hi, my name's Samantha.
[00:19:31] I met Jesus at a young age, as it was introduced by my family, and I felt his presence looking over on my family as he continued to bless us.
[00:19:41] I believe that the Lord is my Father, and I want to continue to worship him and follow him.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:19:47] It declares publicly your faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:20:14] So baptism is like if you're a Patriots fan and you're watching the Super Bowl.
[00:20:19] Wearing the jersey in the stands does not make you a member of the team.
[00:20:22] In fact, you have to actually be on the team on draft day, right?
[00:20:26] And so these folks that are getting baptized today, they've all confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
[00:20:31] Baptism is a symbol of the hour, an hour expression of that human decision.
[00:20:36] So Samantha, I'm going to ask you a question really quick.
[00:20:39] The Bible says that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart, and by faith you will be dead when you are saved.
[00:20:45] So today, in front of everybody here and watching online, is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today?
[00:20:49] Yes.
[00:20:49] Awesome.
[00:20:50] Well, Samantha, based on your profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it's my privilege today to minister the gospel and also develop a meeting to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:21:02] I'm going to put your hands over here.
[00:21:04] And you were buried with Christ in the likeness of his death.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:21:08] Praise to the Lord.
[00:21:10] Hi, my name is Jade. I talked to my parents about Jesus, and whenever I prayed every night, I can just feel his presence.
[00:21:27] I want to get baptized because I love Jesus, and I want to follow him.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:21:32] Sister, is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior today?
[00:21:51] Jake, based on your perfection of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it's my privilege today to baptize you as a minister of the gospel and as your brother in Christ.
[00:22:02] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:22:04] You were buried with Christ in the likeness of his death.
[00:22:07] Thank you for your grace for walking with me.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:22:09] My name is Dayton Dinnan.
[00:22:19] I met Jesus through the move here from Michigan.
[00:22:23] after the move I kind of got more close to him through that and having somebody more to talk to at the start of the move and then I just continued that habit I I am getting baptized because I feel that recently I've been getting a lot
[00:22:42] closer to Jesus and have been actually listening and telling him about things I need help with and not just asking him for random things that might really help

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:23:39] hi my name is kylie um i went to church all my life uh um during last year for the beginning this year I got closer to God because like I had some friends that were rude and mean
[00:23:56] and this year I broke away from them and I got closer to God because of that.
[00:24:03] I'm getting baptized to publicly show that I voted to God and not just in private.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:24:40] and the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who were buried with Christ in the likeness of the sky.
[00:24:44] All right, well, we're going to go ahead and get back into worship.
[00:24:56] And if you can't get excited after baptism, as I say it every time, then, man, you got to get there.
[00:25:02] So I'm going to turn it over to Josh, our members leading worship, and I'm going to get out of the baptism now.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:25:08] Hey, would y'all please stand up with us again this morning, this evening.
[00:25:12] Hey, look, let's give it up one more time for what God is doing in this church.
[00:25:16] Yes, absolutely.
[00:25:16] Hey, look, y'all get to be a witness to what God is doing, right?
[00:25:22] Y'all are a witness to his faithfulness, right?
[00:25:25] This is a dark world.
[00:25:26] There's a lot of just junk going on, but we get to witness the love and the grace and the forgiveness of what God has to offer, right?
[00:25:35] That is what we get to sit here and witness, and we get to go tell people about that, right?
[00:25:41] That's something we cannot take lightly, right?
[00:25:42] That's what we're called to do.
[00:25:43] We're called to disciple and to witness and to profess who Jesus is and what he's done for us.
[00:25:50] And this is just an amazing, beautiful example of what that is.
[00:25:54] So let's sing right now about what we just witnessed.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:26:18] And all I found home, joy here I.
[00:26:34] And every love.

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:38:07] And your kindness and your forgiveness, God.
[00:38:09] To worship as we open your word.
[00:38:14] God, we pray that every word just resonates.
[00:38:16] And it allows us to just sit in your presence, God, and learn more about your heart.

[00:38:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:38:22] As you're being seated, take a look at this video.

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:38:34] Again, I was excited and on board with it as soon as he started talking about it because I knew that he had such a gift with communication and he already had the gift of shepherding young people.
[00:38:45] And I knew that he would do a good job with the whole congregation.
[00:38:48] So I was excited.
[00:38:49] I was also nervous and thinking, wow, we're really young.
[00:38:53] But I knew that if God was going to do it,

[00:38:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:38:55] he was going to give us everything we needed to do to do it so after praying about it for a while uh we both felt like the holy spirit was saying um that i should approach the planting pastor
[00:39:05] about it and the senior pastor of the church in huntersville and so as i talked with them and they sort of surveyed the ministry stuff for the last three years with the middle school they were like i think we should pray about this like let's see what the lord has in mind so they
[00:39:19] prayed we prayed and then they were like i think it's time we need to talk to the leadership team at the Mooresville Church of God. And so we actually met at a church member's house in
[00:39:30] Mooresville, Rick and Abby Rex, and we gathered in their living room and they asked all sorts of questions to us. And we sort of felt like we were a little bit on the hot seat. It was more just
[00:39:42] about saying, look, this is an opportunity. We would love to come alongside. We know that we're young and we have a lot to learn, but our hearts are to see the Lord do something really special
[00:39:54] in mooresville and we would love to be a part of it and i'll never forget pastor dean looked at all of the crowd that was there i think it was like 25 30 people that were part of the core
[00:40:05] planting team and he looked at them and he said i know david's young i know katie's young i can tell you after spending all the time that i've spent with him as a mentor and other stuff i would

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:40:18] be honored for him to be my pastor. So David's dad, Danny Teague, was my best friend in our church that we attended back in the early 80s. And his wife, Linda, David's mom, was my Sunday
[00:40:37] school teacher in our young married class. And Danny and I sang in the choir together.
[00:40:42] and I was there when David was born.
[00:40:47] So we have a long history and see how God worked in his life from the time that he was born until the time that he joined us on staff as one of our youth pastors
[00:41:00] at Christ Community Worship.
[00:41:03] It was just awesome to see what God had done in his life.
[00:41:06] The idea that I would be happy to serve under David as my pastor and that was true then when Davis was just a young very young man it's true today so we kind of did a

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:41:20] three-month deal of you know see one do one teach one and that last Sunday in September was our first official Sunday where pastor Dean had gone back to the mother church and we were officially installed as as the pastor of the church
[00:41:36] and that was the Sunday before our first daughter was born so lots of changes

[00:41:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:41:42] really quickly we had all these dreams all these visions about what the church could be and then when I come back all these years later and I see that that vision has been carried out I just give God the glory it's amazing to see what
[00:42:00] God has done from such a humble beginning and through dedicated people from people who love the Lord Jesus Christ some of which are still actively involved today from what I understand and it was that core of people that that
[00:42:16] God used to make Christ community what it is today I think anytime God calls

[00:42:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:42:23] you to do something different than what you're doing before it requires a step of faith right and so we felt like we were taking a gigantic step of faith you know I done ministry school and we have been serving in ministry at different
[00:42:38] church is for six years or so but at the same time this was completely new and I think going in it was a thing for us just to say if God is in this he will
[00:42:53] direct it and our job is just to say yes to Jesus and if we're obedient to him he'll take care of the rest awesome so thankful for all God has done and all he's going to do. So it's cool to get to watch some of the story of these videos. That's my
[00:43:15] first time seeing that one. So thanks Chris and Cindy for putting that together. We're excited to sort of share the story of what God's done. Every one of you are part of that story, whether
[00:43:25] you came 20 years ago or whether you came two minutes ago. You're a part of the story he's writing to see people come to know Christ, to love through community and to live as the church.
[00:43:34] and I'm so honored that we get to be a part of that together and all glory and all honor go to him. So it's been a wild ride. He's got even bigger things in store for us and for this community. Do
[00:43:46] you believe that? Yeah. So our 20 year anniversary comes up in April as a church, 20 years as Christ Community Church. And so each month we're having videos from people that have kind of come all
[00:43:59] along the way, whether it was at the intermediate school where we did set up and tear down at 630 every morning. That was a crazy season. Or at the building across the street from Shepard
[00:44:10] Elementary School, we had our first rental building. Or even in this season, we purchased this property and started doing stuff here. We're so excited to have all of you get a chance to be able to sort of share your story of what God is doing and how he's brought you into this place
[00:44:25] to be able to reach people that are here in this community. So excited for that. And then the 20th of each month since it's our 20th anniversary uh we're having a special fast day we're saying god
[00:44:35] what do you want to do in the next 20 years and we'll send out special prayer points to be able to fast on the 20th of each month in february march and april and then uh on april on our 20th
[00:44:47] anniversary we'll have a big party sort of like a homecoming we'll invite anybody and everybody who's ever been a part of the church we'll have this big party atmosphere to celebrate god all he has done and all he's going to do so it's going to be a lot of fun well if you got your
[00:44:59] bibles let's go ahead and open them we are we're in this series we're closing out the series tonight invitations from jesus invitations from jesus and we said this is a great chance to start your new
[00:45:09] year with him and so jesus looks to each of us personally and he invites us to to be with him so we talked about come and see come and be uh come and follow me we've talked about come and
[00:45:22] experience the generosity of god then extend god's generosity to other people we've said that jesus tells us to come and drink because there's no other substitute that can satisfy your soul come and dine with him he's knocking every day because he wants to spend time with you and so
[00:45:39] are we ignoring the knock of the savior in our door we're letting anything distract us from dining with him last week in the snow i spoke to a camera instead of to faces that was so weird
[00:45:51] that was like uh our first time since covet where we were like preaching and singing to a camera instead of to people, but we talked about coming and dying daily. Jesus's invitation is you got to
[00:46:02] embrace the cost of your confession. And so he wants us to come and every day it's a death to ourself. It's not about our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams, our agenda. It's Lord, we just want
[00:46:13] to partner with you in whatever you're doing. No matter what that costs us, we want to walk alongside of you. And so it's a death to self. Tonight is the most, I think, kind invitation
[00:46:25] that Jesus gives us. And it's my favorite invitation from Jesus. It's one that I've experienced so many times in my life. And if you receive this invitation from Jesus, I can't tell you the difference that it'll make in your life. And that's the invitation to come
[00:46:42] and rest. Come and rest. Does anybody need a little rest in the house tonight? Yeah. Anybody need a little rest in the house? Anybody weary and exhausted? It's been a long week. It's Friday.
[00:46:55] right or maybe you're watching on Sunday and it's the start of a long week for you I I don't know but but but it's any of you weary and exhausted because work has been difficult this week or maybe
[00:47:06] parenting has been difficult this week or school did kids like the the day and a half you went to school this week was it was that like make you so worn out that's right like all that asynchronous
[00:47:18] work. It was ridiculous, right? Yeah. Anybody tired and weary, Jesus's invitation is to come and rest. He doesn't just invite tired and weary people to come and rest. He invites people who are overwhelmed. Anybody ever just feel like this is too much? Man, this, this relationship is too
[00:47:41] much. This, this season of sickness is too much. These bills, these are too much. This parenting thing is too much, right? This college thing is too much. Trying to figure out what I want to do
[00:47:56] with my life. It's too much. Anybody caring for aging parents? This is too much, right? Any single parents in the house trying to do the role of two parents. That's just too much, right? There's a
[00:48:11] a point where jesus looks at every person who feels overwhelmed by anything and everything in life and his invitation look right here to you to every single person if you whether you're tired and weary or or whether you're overwhelmed and overburdened his invitation to you is come
[00:48:28] and rest come and rest let me give you some background about what's happening in matthew chapter 11. go ahead and flip in your bibles matthew chapter 11 we're going to start with verse 25 there's a guy who loves jesus and jesus said there was nobody like him on the planet no
[00:48:46] other person that's been born like this guy his name was john the baptist and he was actually jesus's cousin any anybody have cousins that they love to hang out with kids you guys have cousins
[00:48:56] you love to hang out yeah and so he was jesus's cousin and he loved jesus and he prepared the way for jesus to start his public ministry in fact there was a day where jesus got baptized to set
[00:49:10] an example for us and then jesus started his ministry and it was john the baptist who baptized jesus he pointed to everybody who was following him and he said look that's the lamb of god who
[00:49:25] takes away the sins of the world nobody pointed more people to jesus than john did but john got into a season where he was tired and where he was overwhelmed he had spoken some truth to a king who
[00:49:41] didn't want to hear it and he got locked up in prison and while he was in prison he was facing some discouragement and he heard all the stuff that Jesus was doing all over the area but he
[00:49:56] had a moment of doubt anybody ever have moments of doubt it's okay if you have moments of doubt Jesus can take your doubt you don't have to worry but you don't have to pretend that you don't have
[00:50:07] moments of doubt Jesus gets this message from John John sent some followers of his and they find Jesus and they just say this simple question Jesus are you the one or should we keep looking for
[00:50:21] somebody else are you really who we thought you were you're not doing everything we thought you would do right but they thought Jesus was going to come in and fix everything they thought Jesus was going to come and give relief to every tough situation they thought Jesus was going to come in
[00:50:42] and boot out the Romans and set up a kingdom where they were kind of rulers over everyone and everything and so John is there in the prison and he's saying Jesus are you the one are you the
[00:50:55] savior are you the messiah or should we keep on looking and jesus looks at him and he understands that john is overwhelmed and he's tired and he responds with such compassion instead of being like how dare you doubt me i'll pox on your house right like no that's not what jesus does
[00:51:17] he doesn't say how dare you like you're supposed to be one of the closest followers in that moment, Jesus has compassion. And he says, I'm going to tell you, there's nobody on the planet like John. Nobody has pointed more people to God than John has. And here's what you tell
[00:51:33] him. You go back and you tell him that blind people now have sight. Lame people are now walking.
[00:51:43] Sick people are now healed. And poor people are having the good news about a kingdom that's available even for them preached to them now jesus is saying these prophecies that come from the book of isaiah it said that the blind would see it said that the lame would walk it said that the sick
[00:52:02] would be healed it said that the poor would have the good news preached to them but jesus leaves out one prophecy from isaiah 42 do you know this he leaves out the prophecy that that was part of
[00:52:15] all the other prophecies that he's saying the lame walk the blind see the the sick are healed and the poor have the gospel preached to them but but he leaves out this one thing do you know what
[00:52:25] he leaves out the prisoner is set free he hears john's doubts and he thinks about how he's overwhelmed and how he's tired and he says look look look yes i am the one but me being the one
[00:52:44] doesn't always mean you get relief from your situation i i'm the one who makes the blind see and i'm the one who makes the lame walk and i'm the one who makes the sick well demons are cast
[00:52:59] out of people and have all spiritual authority and the good news is preach to the poor but but there are times where you're still going to have to stay in the prison but here's jesus's good news
[00:53:13] in this invitation listen to what he says just jot this down his invitation to come and rest listen this is his invitation to you do you feel exhausted do you feel tired do you feel like it's
[00:53:23] too much this is too much i just can't deal with this is there ever going to be a season where it's like a little easier lord i was so excited to be on your strongest warriors package for 2025
[00:53:36] i really thought that 2026 i was going to be on your blessed and highly favored package but it seems like you still got me on the other one right like do you feel like it's too much
[00:53:47] like life is too hard like life is too much listen this is exactly how john felt and in the midst of this jesus gives this beautiful invitation and here's what he says he says come and rest and
[00:53:59] here's what that means just jot this down in your notes maybe you want to write this down on your little news and note sheet here's what it means to come and rest you don't have to get relief
[00:54:10] from your situation to gain rest for your soul your situation doesn't have to change the bills can still be there and toddlers can still be running around in fact kids tonight as we leave who wants to stay up for the snow yeah all right mr nick right there said he's going to
[00:54:34] to dollar general and buy every one of you a red bull so that you can stay up till 2 a.m and see the snow give it up for mr nick right no i'm just kidding i'm just kidding that was a joke that was
[00:54:47] a joke he's not going to do that right but but but here's the thing listen your situation doesn't always change you don't always get relief from your situation but jesus promises look right here don't miss this the marriage can stay the same the dating can stay the same the parenting can
[00:55:04] stay the same sickness can stay the same the prison can stay the same the finances can stay the same you don't have to get relief from your situation in order to gain rest from your souls
[00:55:17] everything can stay the exact same in your circumstances but jesus gives you this special invitation if you know him even if nothing else changes in your situation he still promises there's a way for you to have rest for your soul it's a beautiful promise look at what he says in
[00:55:40] matthew 11 25 look what it says and at that time jesus declared i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you've hidden these things from all the wise and the understanding and you revealed
[00:55:50] them to who little kids little kids just trust god right he says you have to have faith like a child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven now look at what he says verse 26 yes father for such
[00:56:03] was your gracious will it's not the people who were the most studied and thought they could sort of feel and understand their way to god by their smarts and their intelligence he says no it's it's
[00:56:14] a simple invitation to come and follow jesus and for every person who receives his gift of salvation doesn't matter if you're five or you're 95 for every person he offers you this beautiful gift look at me that the rest of the world doesn't get do you understand that the rest of the world
[00:56:35] they have to have their situation change for them to get rest but he looks every person who follows him and he says you don't have to get relief from your situation for you to gain rest for your soul
[00:56:50] but he can give you rest even when the situation doesn't change it's this beautiful gift now look at what he says verse 27 he says all things everything on heaven and earth has been handed
[00:57:04] over to me by my father nobody knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and who else read this out loud with me what does he say anyone to whom the son
[00:57:14] chooses to what reveal anybody that jesus opens their eyes they can see who the one true god is he says any person that the holy spirit blows this breath of life on their eyes open and they're like
[00:57:33] oh it makes sense now jesus is the way the truth the life nobody comes into a relationship with god the father unless they go through him and in the midst of this he says for every person that's
[00:57:46] a believer for every person it doesn't matter what your situation is are you tired tonight are you weary tonight are you exhausted tonight are you overwhelmed tonight do you feel overburdened like it's too much it's just too much he looks at you and he says i've got a promise for you
[00:58:06] you don't have to get relief from your situation in order to gain rest for your soul look what he says verse 28 he says come to who me not come to a religion not come to rules not come to like
[00:58:23] follow all this set of systems come to me it's so personal he says if you know me as your savior and Lord, come, come to who? Come to me. Who's he inviting? Look, look at what he says. Read this
[00:58:39] out with me. All who are weary, all who labor, all who labor this word for labor. It literally means every person who toils and is tired, everybody who's lost heart because they put out so much
[00:58:54] more than what they're getting back every person who feels fatigued every person who's emotionally discouraged he says to every person that's labored and to every person that's heavy laden uh anybody ever been on a flight when they're like uh this it's too heavy the bags are too heavy right no
[00:59:16] just the ones i go on fantastic i don't know what you're trying to say but but but there are times where like a cargo ship it has a weight limit and if they overload it what
[00:59:32] happens it starts to go down this is the exact word that Jesus uses he says for everybody who's tired going through life for everybody's exhausted for everybody who's heavy late and that means that you're loaded down and you need to
[00:59:47] unload it's too much look at what he tells them come to me all you who are weary everybody who's burdened down by the cares of this life when it's too much look at what he
[01:00:01] says come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you what rest this word for rest here's what he means by rest look right here it doesn't mean relief from your situation here's
[01:00:17] what it means. It means a place to, it means a place to refresh, a place to revive. How many of you ever heard of like a refuge before? Do you know what that word means? Refuge, kids,
[01:00:37] you know what refuge means? It's like a hiding spot where you can sort of tuck away from everything that's going on around you. Anybody play hide and seek with their kids? Yeah, we used to love to do
[01:00:49] that like our kids man they were master hiders like one kid hit in the attic one time don't recommend that right one kid i'm not gonna tell you that because then you'll hide there um but
[01:01:01] but we would we would have them hide everywhere they'd be in cabinets like we would do it and they wanted to do it in the dark because they wanted to scare you when you came to hide them
[01:01:09] right but in the midst of that place they were tucked away in this little hiding spot and for just a minute, they could catch their breath, right? They had been running and running because I was counting and I was going fast. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
[01:01:26] right? Like I was just one, two, skip a few, 99, 100, they're dead, right? But they found their hiding place. And in the middle of that hiding place, they could catch their breath. And that's
[01:01:42] what Jesus is talking about. There's two pictures in this story. The first is a refuge. Jesus is the place where you can he can refresh you in the middle of the chaos that's going on all around you
[01:01:58] he's the place to refresh he's the place to revive look at what he says it's not just that look what he says verse 29 read this with me it says take my what we don't use this word much take this
[01:02:10] take my yoke upon you uh and learn from me for i'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest from your situation is that what he says no you'll find rest for your soul for that inner part of you
[01:02:26] the core of who you are for your mind your personality your spirit he says you don't have to get relief from your situation your teenagers don't have to obey for you to feel rest your
[01:02:40] spouse doesn't have to change for you to feel rest your bank balance doesn't have to change for you to feel rest you don't have to hear a diagnosis of cancer free for you to have rest
[01:02:53] you don't have to have the teacher say the test has been canceled for you to have rest he says you don't have to get relief from your situation in order you for you to get rest for your soul
[01:03:08] he says i'm this place that you can run into in the midst of the chaos and i'll i'll hide you there for just a moment and you can spend that with me and i'll breathe refreshment back into
[01:03:22] you just to give you a pause from all the craziness of life i'm your refuge but then he says take my yoke on you and learn from me because i'm gentle and lowly and you'll find rest for your soul
[01:03:35] because my yoke is easy and my burden is light he says for every person who feels overwhelmed i want you to think of it this way. It's not that I'm going to take away the load. It's not, I don't
[01:03:49] promise to remove the load you're carrying. I promise to give you a partner in carrying it.
[01:03:57] Did you hear what he's saying? He says, my yoke is easy. Come and learn from me. So here's what a yoke is. They would take two animals, like two cows, two horses, whatever it was, and they would
[01:04:11] pair them together because together you can carry a lot more than any person can carry on their own and so they would take the one that was most experienced and they would put the yoke
[01:04:24] on them first and then the other animal would come beside them and they would yoke them up the one who didn't have as much experience the one who wasn't quite as powerful they would yoke them
[01:04:37] together and they were both pulling, but one had the primary weight. They were the ones pulling more than the other one. And Jesus looks at them and he says, I want you to know, listen, listen,
[01:04:53] you can run to me for refuge. I'll be the place in the midst of the chaos where I can just breathe my refreshment into you where you can just take a breath and be ready to walk back
[01:05:08] into the chaos but then also when it feels too heavy you can take and partner up with me you don't have to carry it alone in fact i'll take the brunt of it because my yoke is easy
[01:05:21] i'll be the one pulling first i'm the one who has all power and all experience so you don't have to worry about doing it alone because my yoke is easy and my burden is light you will always have
[01:05:35] a partner who will shoulder the heaviest part of the weight that you're carrying listen church are are you weary today do you do you need a breath of refreshment do you need a hiding place so many
[01:05:51] of us feel like we need relief from our situation god if you would just fix this then everything would be fine listen to me look right here how do you know that you're not in the midst of the
[01:06:01] situation so you learn things you would never learn any other way and in the middle of that he wants to breathe refreshment where you don't depend on your circumstances to give you peace but instead you depend on him to give you rest for your soul even when the situation stays the same
[01:06:24] I can remember 20 years ago, I talked about we had our first child.
[01:06:30] Then we went on to have four children in six years.
[01:06:36] We were busy.
[01:06:39] That was a busy season.
[01:06:41] And I remember getting phone calls from my wife in the afternoon.
[01:06:45] And I could tell if it had been a really tiring day or not.
[01:06:50] Every day was a tiring day.
[01:06:51] but but I could tell if it had been a really tiring day because she would ask me this question she would say what are you planning on being home and who did you have lunch with today and what did
[01:07:01] you eat because I didn't get to do that right no I'm just kidding when are you planning on being home and there were times man where I would drive in sometimes I'd circle the block once or twice
[01:07:13] because I knew I knew what was coming she needed me to carry the load right in that moment she needed a little hiding place like so she could go away and I could just take the kids because she
[01:07:25] had had them all day but there were moments where I'd had a stressful day and things were tough and I would just sit in my car for just a second before I'd walk in and I put my head
[01:07:34] on the steering wheel and I'd say God you got to give me what I don't have and he would and all of a sudden this like knot that had been in my chest thinking about stress
[01:07:45] I'm like okay four kids under six like we're gonna go in and and then I'm ready like I'm ready to tackle them ready to cook ready to give my wife the break she needs whatever it is but in that
[01:07:58] moment God gives you what you don't have right and in the midst of that listen there's some of you today you're exhausted and the only thing in your mind is God you got to fix this situation
[01:08:11] God is saying no my invitation is to give you rest for your soul even when you don't get relief from your situation. Would you just close your eyes right now? Some of you, you need this picture
[01:08:29] in your mind of God as your hiding place. You've been running for so long and the chaos around you is insane. Duck into him as the hiding spot. And in this moment, would you just say, Jesus,
[01:08:47] I need you to breathe your refreshing, your reviving into me because I don't have it.
[01:08:55] I don't have the strength.
[01:08:57] I don't have the energy.
[01:08:59] I don't have the wisdom.
[01:09:01] I don't know what to do here.
[01:09:03] God, I need to just take a minute.
[01:09:06] And even if you don't give me relief from my situation, give me rest for my soul.
[01:09:11] Just breathe on me to give me strength to walk out of this hiding place and back into the chaos.
[01:09:18] There are others of you that you need to picture this image of the yoke.
[01:09:22] and if you're in the house tonight or you're watching on the live stream on Sunday morning you feel like it's just too much it's just too much nobody can do this you're not supposed to
[01:09:35] you were never meant to carry this alone you are not supposed of course it's too much you need a partner you need someone to shoulder the load so would you just take whatever feels like too much and would you just say jesus i'm imagining putting this yoke on you and on me and
[01:10:00] you're gonna have to carry the heaviest part of the load here because it's too much it's too much for me and would you just picture him saying my yoke is easy and my burden is light i'm not taking
[01:10:14] away the load but you're gonna have a partner in carrying it what do you need do you need the refuge to run to just a breath of refreshment before you duck back into the chaos do you need
[01:10:31] a partner to yoke up with jesus says come and rest find rest for your soul even if you don't get relief from your situation would you just do that right now just right where you're seated
[01:10:43] just as josh plays would you just either picture a hiding place that you can run to or or picture the weight that's too much for you the weight of that relationship the weight of the
[01:10:58] finances the weight of the diagnosis the weight of parenting whatever it is the weight of school work the weight of a friend who's talking badly about you whatever it is jesus knows it's too much
[01:11:12] so would you just picture either the refuge and say jesus i'm running to you would you breathe refreshment into me so I'm ready to go back into the chaotic world or maybe you need to say Jesus
[01:11:26] I need to yoke up with you it's too much it's too much and I need you to take the brunt of this load come and give my soul rest or would you just do that for every person in this house for every
[01:11:45] person watching on the live stream we love you Jesus and we thank you for who you are and all god's people said amen amen i'm going to invite our elder of the week adam to come he's
[01:11:55] going to pray a prayer of blessing over us would you stand up as you leave tonight uh on the center of the lobby there's this first thursday registration that's next thursday so it's six days from now or if you're watching on sunday four days from now uh and we are going to talk
[01:12:10] about heaven for the next few first thursdays uh some people wonder what's heaven going to be like if it's me sitting on a cloud playing a harp I want to tell you I don't want to be there because
[01:12:20] that is not at all what heaven is supposed to be like God's word talks about what heaven is like in this unbelievable great adventure of all eternity and so we're going to talk a little
[01:12:30] bit about that this first Thursday we're going to talk about the rewards of heaven so I want you to think about if somebody could tell you hey you have unlimited earning potential at your role in
[01:12:42] your job and it will last the benefits of your 401k will last forever times forever times forever would you want to know what those rewards are so so this week we're going to talk about the
[01:12:54] crowns that god talks about the rewards that he promises uh for those who are in his son jesus when we get to heaven so we're going to talk all about rewards we're going to answer the question
[01:13:05] are there different levels in heaven do the responsibilities do you get rewards uh where You get to present them back to Jesus, all the different stuff. Make sure you're here this Thursday. You can sign up. It's free Olive Garden dinner. You don't want to miss out on that. So Adam is our elder of the week. If you need anything this week, go to the church center app. If you get snowed in on Sunday, call Adam. He's got a Subaru. He'll get there. He doesn't have a Subaru. I'm just kidding. He's a Toyota guy. He'll get there. All right. But, but if you need anything, contact Adam this week and he would love to pray with you. He's going to be at the fireplace after the service.
[01:13:39] If you'd like some personal prayer, if you're really feeling overwhelmed or you're feeling exhausted, he would love to just put his hands on you and give you a hug and just pray over you and say, man, I've been there.
[01:13:50] I know what that's like.
[01:13:51] And pray for the Lord of all comfort would give you rest for your soul this week.
[01:13:56] Adam, prayer, prayer, blessing for us.
[01:13:59] Thank you.

[01:14:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[01:14:00] Let's pray, church.
[01:14:03] Father, I thank you for who you are.
[01:14:04] And I thank you that you accept us as we are.
[01:14:07] And Lord, I just pray that as we go this week, we would be more aware of your presence in every moment of the day and that you're always with us.
[01:14:14] And in a world that says, oh, you need rest, grab your phone, watch TV, go to that event, play music.
[01:14:22] Don't read your Bible, don't pray.
[01:14:23] That stuff's work, that's work, that's not rest.
[01:14:25] God, I just pray that we would remember that you're there.
[01:14:29] And in those quiet moments, we'd be able to find you and find rest, that we would breathe deeper, that we would sleep deeper this week and that we would be able to lean in to trusting you
[01:14:39] no matter what our circumstances around us may be, especially if we're covered with five inches of snow.
[01:14:45] We pray all these things in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[01:14:48] Amen.