← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Real Rest Begins with...
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Part 1 of Soul Good Summer
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Sa. Oh, it's a good day to be in the house of God. Anybody excited to be in church today? I feel it. I love it. Want to officially welcome all of our locations in Alabama and Georgia. Such an honor to be together as a church family. I know in this summer season, we have a lot of people traveling, so if you're joining us online today from somewhere around America or the world, we welcome you. And of course, as always, the men and women of the Alabama and Georgia correctional facilities. Come on one more time, Highlands. Let's put our hands together and welcome our church family. I am so excited to be here today. Excited for this new series you just saw the opener for, and excited. We have step one of the growth track tonight. This is a new season for us here at highlands. You've been seeing it over the last few weeks. We've been kind of announcing all the things that are coming up. So many exciting things. The heart of all of it, though, I just want to kind of put us right into the heart of what our prayer is for this summer. And that is the word community. Everybody say community. Community with each other. And that's. We're launching groups today where we have a chance maybe even in these summer months to kind of just lean in a little bit more to spending time together and enjoying that and then also serving our community, making an impact in our community through serve day and summer blast and later on motion conference this summer. So it's going to be so exciting, and I love all of it. And just really, the call today as we head into this season is just go all in. This is a unique time of the year, and God has something for all of us. This summer, we're not going to take a vacation from God. We're going to lean in and allow him to do a work. Can I get an amen? Amen. Amen. So here in a moment, I'm going to get into the message, but first, I want to share some news really honestly, out of the heart of that idea of relationships, community. And we are a large church. Thank God for that. We're able to make an impact together. We can do more than we could ever do alone. But we are all, at the end of the day. We are a church since day one. Pastor Chris right here on the front row. When he and Ms. Tammy came here to Birmingham, they built this church on relationships. Anybody grateful that we get to do life together? I'm so grateful. This is a church of relationships. We love each other. We do life together. And honestly, when one of us Hurt, we all hurt. And I want to share some news today about a family that I know you love as much as I do. A little over a week ago, Pastor Dino, who's one of our elders here at Highlands, obviously one of our communicators, part of our executive team. He and his wife Dylan and their family experienced a tragedy. Their 30 year old son Dylan, who had recently been diagnosed with a medical heart condition, was just out of town at dinner with friends and he experienced a heart attack. And the medical team did everything they could, but Dylan went to be with Jesus that night. And I'm so grateful for Pastor Lane Shrantz who stepped in and preached last Sunday. Jill and I were able to go be with Dino and Dylan and I'm just here today to share that news. We're going to pray in a moment, but also to testify that Dino, Dylan, Dylan's wife Lane, though they grieve, they do not grieve like the world that the hope of Jesus has been in the middle of all this. I was speaking with Lane earlier and she's like, we're walking through all of that pain, all that grief, but man, the presence of God, come on somebody, the grace of God, He's a real God in every moment, in this moment as well. And maybe you're new with us today. This is kind of a moment for our church just to reflect on a verse that means so much to us and it may seem strange here in a moment we're praying and we're even going to celebrate the hope of heaven today. First Thessalonians says this, brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be unformed about those who sleep. That's what the Bible calls death. And that you would not grieve like the rest of mankind because we have something different. Hey everybody, look at me. We have the hope, the hope of heaven. And this past week I have seen the grace and the strength of God in the Rizzo family. And the most incredible pain I've seen God's power be so present. And so we pray for Dino, Delyn, for Lane, for their son, one year old son, reading for Dylan's sisters McCall, her husband Trey and Bella. I love this family with all of my heart. I love Dylan. Had the honor of being his youth pastor. Watching him grow so much God given anointing and creativity. I'm going to miss him. But I'm here to testify again one more time. Today we will see him again. So let's pray church. And it's in my heart today to pray for The Rizzos, but also for anyone walking through pain. So, God, right now, we just come before you, and we need you, God. We all need you in our own ways. And right now we know that the Rizzo family needs you. So, God, we thank you that your word says you are close to the brokenhearted. We lift them up to you right now, God. We love them. We thank God for them. God, we pray that they would experience your grace and your peace like never before. We, as a church family, we pray for all those who are walking through pain. God, thank you that you are with us in every moment. And, God, we just testify today that even in pain, there is a joy in our heart knowing that the hope of heaven is real. So we celebrate that in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Can you put your hands together for the hope of heaven? Praise God. Praise God. Well, I love you, church family, and I do love that we are starting this new series. Anybody just excited to get in God's word today? So get your app out. You're going to want to take notes today. This is going to be one of those messages, really, from a pastoral heart. I'm going to teach today around an area that we all need some messages. You're like, is this for everybody? I know today is for myself and for all of us. And we're going to frame the whole month around the soul, because it's an important part of who God made us to be. And honestly, our soul takes a beating. But just to teach just for a moment what we mean by soul, really, we're made up in three parts. You are a body. You can write this down today, you're a body. We all have a body, which is our physical earthly vessel that houses our soul and our spirit. Our body contains our appetites and cravings. And this is our earth suit. Okay, So a few years back, one of my best friends in the world, Pastor Mayo, used to serve here at Highlands. He and his wife Kai, have now planted a church in Atlanta. So we worked together over at Highlands College. And he was not feeling well one day, and I walk around the corner and I hear him yelling at himself. And he's yelling at his earth suit. I had never heard a body called an earth suit. He's like, earth suit, get in line, Earth suit, be healed in Jesus name. And so from that point forward, in our family, we just call this the earth suit. And so we all have that. And it gets tired. It grows old. Our bodies came from the dust. They don't last forever. But we're Also a spirit. Praise God for this, that we have a spirit that's the part of us that's united with God through salvation. Our spirit has fellowship with him and is designed to lead the body and the soul. And we teach a lot of messages around how to make sure our spirit is in charge. It's so important, especially during 21 days of prayer and fasting throughout the year, just making sure always that our spirit is leading our body and our soul. But we also have a soul. And this is again where we're going to lean in this month. It consists of our mind, our will, and our emotions. Your soul is the part of you that thinks, that chooses, that feels and remembers. So our body is physical, our spirit is God conscious, and our soul is kind of psychological. And so we're going to focus on our mind, will, and our emotions this month because once again, I know we all agree with this. This is for everybody, these messages. Our souls truly take a beating. Can I get an amen? I mean, it's reality. All the noise in the world, the pace of life. We're going to talk about that today. The pain we walk through, disappointment. My goodness. If you watch the news, your soul is in a boxing ring, just constantly getting hit with just thoughts and fears and just all the uncertainty and just the grind that we're on. But good news, you're at church today for good news, right? You're in the right place. God wants to minister in a very real and powerful way to your soul. Here's our key verse, Psalm 23, verses 1 through 3. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He what refreshes my soul. Can we praise God that we have a good shepherd who walks through all of our life with us? And he's a good God, and he refreshes. I love that word. Especially in the summer in Alabama. It has been cooler in Alabama and in Georgia the last couple of days, if y' all enjoy that weather. It's been kind of weird, but, you know, typically hot, humid. And, you know, you're outside, you're cutting grass, you're doing whatever. And there's just nothing better on a hot day than a. Just a drink of cold, refreshing water, right? I think back to my teenage years playing football, kind of the hottest I've ever been, you know, would be two days, the dog days of August, two days in the south. And y' all know how they used to. They don't do this anymore. I think there's laws and regulations back then. Listen, in the 90s, they didn't care. It was a garden hose hooked up to two saw horses, and they just drilled holes in the pipe and no one thought twice about it. Anybody else grow up like that? Just a lot of water out of a green garden hose. I'm sure it had mold and mildew, but, hey, we made it. I think we're better because of it. It's like built my immune system. Nothing could come against my immune system. I drink a lot of water out of green hoses. So anyway, so this idea of refreshing, it actually God wants you to catch that word's intentional, that for your mind, will and emotions. That same emotion of drinking that cold water on a hot day. God wants to lift your soul. God's promise is you'll invite him in, he'll do just that. In fact, there's even a deeper meaning to that word, and that is that we can recover all. This is a good promise. Recover all that was lost. So many scriptures in the Bible. Psalm 126 is one of the best. When God refreshes our soul, it says we were like those who dreamed again, full of laughter and joy. Anybody want some laughter and joy in your life? I know I do. Each week this month, we're going to lean into how God does that. And today, again, is one. I know it's gonna hit all of us. And that is how God uses. Rest, rest. Now, I'm gonna build some tension here for this talk. I don't think I even really need to because I think we recognize we all need this. And I'm not gonna try to wear you out, but we have to reflect for a moment that number one, here comes. We are tired. As humanity, as America, we are tired. I have more conversations now with people. How are you? Tired, exhausted, Trying to keep up. How are you? It has been crazy. So much so this is wild that the emoji of the year in 2025 was this right here. And I don't know how you would describe that emoji. It actually has a name. It's called face with bags under eyes. Some of you are like, pastor, that's me right now. I am face under that was the emoji. And they actually said it was voted on because 2025 was a year full of so much stress and exhaustion. And honestly, church, look at me today. This is dangerous for us because it's almost like we've now accepted tired as normal. How unusual would it be if you went up to somebody and said, hey, Ian, how are you doing? He's, like, rested. We never hear that, right? Ian, how are you doing, man? I just feel so light and free. Hey, Ian, is there any stress in your life? No, I got no stress in my life. It's just. Right. That would actually be weird. And we're used to hearing the other answer. I'm tired and exhausted. Hey, we need this message. Hey, we all need this today. That rested has become unusual. We are tired because we are so busy. And I won't have you raise your hand today, but I would imagine all of our calendars are full, even in this summer season. Hopefully, you're getting a little bit of a break. But the reality is life is moving. It is moving fast. And we actually. We're gonna hit this this fall in a whole series. I can't wait for. It's really come. This busy has come really as an attack on us in our relationship, primarily with work. Now, work is very good. Work is a gift from God. But work can be abused. And I want to lean into it this fall in a really big way because work is also redemptive. God wants to use you in your work to make a huge difference. But we got to be so careful that we don't find our identity in our work. And the American workforce definitely looks that way, at least statistically. We now spend over 50 hours a week working. Like, a third of our paid time off is no longer used. We are busy not just at work. We're busy with family. We're busy with sports. We did a travel team for the first time this past fall. Did y' all know that travel teams, you know, God has a vision for your life. Do y' all know travel teams have a vision for your life? I didn't. I didn't realize that till this fall. Like, you have so much vision for my life that this one sport, I got four kids. But this one sport with this one kid would be that important. But we just were busy, and we gotta be careful again. I'm gonna hit you with some. Y' all ever know what a spiritual spanking is? It's like, where it hits you, but it's good for you. Here's what Corrie ten Boone says. She says, if the devil can't make us bad, come on, somebody. He'll make us busy. And that has happened to so many of us, and busy's become part of our identity, and we're addicted to it. And here's the reality of all this, is we're so tired because we're so busy. And here's the deal. We don't know how to rest. And it's really honestly not the. The issue is not the presence of busy, it's the absence of rest. And so we try everything. We try more sleep. Y' all know sleep is vital. Sleep is good. How many of y' all out there just love to sleep? You just. You're like, I'm okay. I'm probably on the other side of that. I always feel like sleeping is giving up. Like, man, isn't there more fun to have today? Like, we have to give up. But statistically, we're supposed to have seven to nine hours a night. Anything under six is dangerous. And honestly, as I was writing this this week, I was thinking back even 20 years ago and wondering what happened to our sleep. Sleep used to be so easy. You would lay down in bed and you would count sheep. Now we need magnesium melatonin. I need an aura ring, I need a weighted blanket, and I need to be grounded. I don't even know what that means. What happened to sleep? I don't know what happened. But honestly, having a little bit of fun. But the reality is this, truthfully, even if you perfect sleep, sleep and rest are not automatically the same thing, especially for the soul. You can rest physically from sleep, and your soul can still need rest. Our soul needs deeper rest. So what do we do? We try better vacations. And vacations are great. I hope you're gonna have some time this summer to take a vacation. Jill and I, our family just got back from a vacation. We travel with four other families and we went on a six day camping trip out west on Lake Powell, which is a lake in Arizona and Utah. Y'. All. Your pastor's got weird vacations. I know that. We spent six days on this houseboat right here with 24 other people. Some of y' all are like, that sounds great. Most of y' all are like, that. You are insane. Pray for that man right now. He needs deliverance. But it was so beautiful being in God's creation. You know what is a houseboat? It's basically an RV on water. And if you've ever RVed, everything breaks. That was what our week looked like. We were problem solving the whole week. One night, the generator broke, y'. All. Pastor Blake and his family were with us. We were down there in the middle of the night. Two pastors have no business trying to fix a generator. I'm like down in their oil generator, down at the bottom of the boat trying to fix it. We do our best. So what do we do? We call the boat mechanics? The next day they drive all the way out there to us. We're like, we've tried everything. They look in it and they're like, well, you really. There was nothing you could do because y' all sucked up a fish into your generator. That was our vac. That was our vacation. So it's amazing. It was so. Honestly, it was a great vacation. We love to be out in God's creation, but we gotta be so careful with vacation. Y' all, look at me. Vacations are not the savior of rest. And we will work ourselves to death because the vacation's on the horizon. Come on, somebody. And then that vacation will turn into a trip, not a vacation. And we'll come back even more tired than we left. And I'm raising my hand here, guilty as charged. I've done this even recently. I was spending time with Pastor Craig Groeschel, who's been mentoring me over the last few months. Such a blessing. We were talking about my schedule and he looked at me across the table. And when he looks at you, you feel it. He's got this stare, this glare. He kind of looked into my soul. He's like, mark, be careful. You're putting too much weight on your vacations. You need more rest than that. And our soul definitely needs more consistent rest than just a vacation. Here's number three. This may be a little strong here today, but I want to go there. And what do we also do? We try the perfect Sabbath. And listen, the Sabbath is part of the Old Testament. It was part of the law. God rested on the seventh day. What a gift to humanity that God demonstrates rest. It was a sign of the covenant for the Israelites. And it's an important word. It just means. What does the word mean? It means to stop, to cease, to just take a breath. And I'm so grateful for that. But we are no longer under the law. But Sabbath is still a great principle. We have taught many messages here on Sabbath. It is a very important part of your life. I want to be really clear with that. I do my best every week to practice Sabbath for me. I experimented with lots of different days. I could never find a single day, like the 24 hour period of like one day. Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, something like that. So for me, it's been a really huge blessing over the last year. I Sabbath from lunch on Friday until lunch on Saturday. After lunch, I start thinking about preaching. And I finished the message on Friday morning. That's just the best time for me to enjoy that so I hope you're Sabbathing again. Lots of messages from Pastor Chris and myself on that, but I want to be really clear. Sabbath a day does not have a superpower. And you can practice the perfect Sabbath and still have a soul exhaustion if you're not careful. We can strive like, we can work so hard on that day that we're striving to rest and we won't find the rest that our soul really needs. I've built tension to really point us to a verse today, a passage today that is going to be life changing if you'll get it into your heart. Because we can try all those things and they're good in themselves. There's only one way, everybody say, one way, that the word of God teaches us to find rest in our souls. I could give a lot of verses for it. Matthew 11 is my favorite. This is Jesus speaking. He says, come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. I'm preaching to somebody today. You're weary, you're 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 in me you will find rest for your souls. Can we put our hands together for the word of God today? And here's kind of the revelations they. Tim Keller actually calls this passage the rim of the soul, like REM sleep, the rest under the rest. Sleep is great, vacation's great, Sabbath great. But we gotta have a rest that's under that. And that's what I want us to open our hearts up to today. That Matthew 11 says, I'm speaking to somebody in this room through that camera right now. You're weary and you're burdened. God has a gift for you today. Write it in your notes. Number one. If we're gonna experience it, we have to make Jesus our source of rest. I want to go back through that passage, Matthew 11, verse by verse today, and just kind of slow down in the text. Let it preach to us today. Jesus says, come to me if you're weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. You're like, okay, Pastor, we're in church. Of course Jesus is the answer. I learned that in Sunday school, by the way. I did learn that in Sunday school, whenever the teacher asked anything, I usually wasn't paying attention. I would just answer Jesus. And I was almost always right. All right, so obviously I'm going to point you to Jesus. So it may sound obvious, but there's a tension in this. Jesus is very intentional with his words, because he knew we would often look everywhere but him for rest, that we're looking everywhere but to Jesus. In fact, this verse is so convicting for me around the area of rest. Jeremiah 2:13. I know I've done this in my life. You probably have as well. They've forsaken me. Meaning we've looked other places. Even though I'm that spring of living water, I am that refreshing water for your soul. And what do we do? We dig our own cisterns. These broken cisterns, they have holes in them. Imagine a pot with a hole in it. We're trying to, in our own strength, find rest. We're trying to all our, you know, in our own methodologies. The problem is there's a hole in the bottom, and that is leaking right out. And all the while, Jesus is saying, if you will just come to me. In the original language, that phrase doesn't mean, like, casually, okay, if I've tried Netflix to get a little escapism, I've tried this substance. I've tried the vacation. I've tried sleep. I've tried, okay, now finally, I'm gonna go look to Jesus. That's not what it's saying. It's saying, would you run as fast as you can to me right now? And this is for somebody today. It's like, even the imagery here, it's like, you know, when a kid scrapes their knee? When our kids are younger and they scrape their knee, we might be, you know, at the zoo or, you know, at Six Flags, wherever we might be a crowd all around. But what does a moment. They scrape their knee. Whatever they're doing, they don't keep doing it. They stop. They look for their parents, and they run as fast as they can. And that's what Jesus is inviting you to do today. And I know, again, I already kind of shared my own struggle with kind of banking vacation or looking forward to rest and banking it up and plowing too hard through seasons. And this scripture came to life to me back in 2016. I'm gonna share a story that also involves Pastor Blake. I'm not calling Pastor Blake out today. I'm just saying most of the situations I end up in life, I am with this man on the front row right here. You my ride or die. I love you so much. So Pastor Blake, who's got a big personality, if he's excited about it, you're automatically excited about it. What am I excited about? I don't even know yet. So Jill and I, we were youth pastors working at Highlands College, having the time of our life, but we're working really hard. And this is back in 2016, heading up to spring break, and we're working really hard. And so I'm looking forward. I'm putting all this pressure on spring break to be great. I'm kind of sharing that. And Pastor Blake's like, hey, listen, we already booked a cruise and we want you to come with us. And then, listen, I just. In the moment, I just said, yeah, I didn't even ask any questions. And so about a week later, I'm like, well, what cruise have I booked? What does this all look like? And he goes, well, it's a Carnival cruise, and I'm not coming after Carnival. But I'm just saying, if you look at the totem pole of cruises, I said, okay, okay. He's a five day Carnival cruise. Okay, great. Well, where are we leaving from? He goes, we're leaving from New Orleans. Carnival New Orleans. How much is it gonna cost? He's like, $300. Obviously, they're begging people to come. So I'm like, okay, whatever. So we go, I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. We're leading up to it, getting close to it. And y', all, this always happens. Parents, where you at today? On the Thursday before the vacation, one of our kids goes down with a stomach virus. I see lots of these going on right now, and I'm like, oh, God, where are you? Why? You know, I'm thinking, now, all of a sudden, it turns into this big spiritual struggle. Like, God, I needed this rest, and now my kids are sick. Don't you love us? So we try to isolate. But then a day later, another one goes down. You're like, oh, here are the dominoes. Here's the dominoes. We go 24 hours without a sickness. We got faith. We start driving to New Orleans. Halfway there, another one gets sick in the car. We just sold that car right there on the side of the road and left it. And then we go back home. We're like, we're not gonna go. And then 24 hours later, no one's sick, y'. All. We get on the boat, and within five hours, our fourth son gets sick. And then I get sick. And for the next five days, I was locked in a room that we didn't even upgrade to the balcony. All we had was a porthole. Biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I called thinking this is the right thing to do. I call the pharmacy or whatever on the boat. I said, hey, I'm not feeling well. We're having some stomach issues. Can I get some Zofran? They're like, just stay in your room. And about 20 minutes later, a letter slides under our door. You have now been quarantined by the CDC in your room. I am so miserable on this boat. I will never go on a cruise again. In Jesus name the worst moment of all. I'm feeling a little bit better. I call on the phone. Could we get some chicken fingers? Maybe a lava cake? I've heard those are great. This is what this man says to me on the phone. Oh, no, Mr. Pettus, we know your tummy. Your tummy is hurting. You can have some crackers. All right, so listen, I'm being funny, but it was a rough moment. And I'm spending time with the Holy Spirit. I'm spending time with God, and I'm looking at my porthole the best I can, and I heard the Holy Spirit say to me and wrote it in my journal that day, if you wanted rest, you would have come to me. There's nothing that can give us what Jesus can. Look at me today. His rest. It's a gift. I will. Rest isn't earned. Rest isn't achieved. Rest is received. John 15:4. Abide in me, remain in me, and I will remain in you. Connect to Jesus, and what do you get? You get his peace. You get his love. You get his grace. You get his wisdom. Hey, everybody. You get his rest. Can we say amen in church today? It's available and it's a gift now, practically. We always want to be practical. What is this? That's a big thought. What does it look like? One of the greatest practices I've ever put into my life. I learned it years ago reading a book. It's a funny name, but it's just micro prayers. I pray in the morning in my quiet time. Can I tell you one of the greatest ways to get your soul at rest? All day long. You're walking into that meeting. It's ten seconds of prayer. You're dealing with that situation with your kid before you say a word. It's just stepping away and having that moment of prayer all day long, reminding myself that even in these situations, I can experience rest in the biggest turmoil of my life. Why? Because he is present and he wants to give me that rest that we would run to him. All right, I got number two. I gotta move. Y' all ready for this one? Can I just hit you with it straight Today. Come on. Who wants some rest out there? Can y' all wave? I wanna make sure I'm preaching to somebody who wants some rest. Okay, I'm gonna hit you with it straight. Number two. If we won't rest, we're going to have to obey the word of God. Obey his word. Back to our text. Matthew 11:29 says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Our lack of rest. Look at me today. I'm preaching to myself today. Receive this today. Our lack of rest, if we're honest, most often comes from a disordered life. Talking about soul rest, you're like, well, Pastor, how can I order my life? This is what Jesus is teaching us. He uses the image of a yoke. This was a wooden beam that would have two oxen in it that would pull the plow. And for the Jews in the Jewish culture, one of those oxen would be strong and experienced, and they would always put a younger, less experienced oxen in the yoke. This is what Jesus is saying, come, do life with me and I will teach you. I will teach you the message says, the rhythm of a life of rest. I will teach you. If we want to find rest for our souls, it will be in obedience to how he is teaching us to live. Matthew 11. We're reading. If you go one chapter over, there wouldn't have been a chapter break in the original letter. It's Matthew, chapter 12. Jesus immediately is in a field with his disciples on the Sabbath, the day they weren't supposed to work. And he's picking grain, which was a violation of the law, and he's feeding his disciples, y'. All. Jesus is crazy. He knows that they're frustrated. So what does he do? He walks directly into the synagogue and does something else he's not supposed to do. He heals someone on the Sabbath, and they're mad about it. And this is what he has in response. And I want us to receive. This is a revelation for us today. Jesus says back to them, for the Son of Man. Oh, come on, somebody. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. Sleep is not the Lord of rest. Vacations are not the Lord of rest. Sabbath is not the Lord of rest. Jesus is the Lord of rest. And when we're in obedience to him. Oh, come on. When we're in obedience to him, no matter what we're facing, we can experience rest. We open up His Word, and we can rest in salvation, the finished work of Jesus on the cross. We can rest in our relationships and obedience. Even though my marriage doesn't look great right now. I got this. I got this soul rest. Why? Because I'm in obedience to your word. We can rest in the area of provision. I don't know how we're gonna make ends meet. I don't see the answer, but I'm walking out your word that God, you are a provider. It's one of your names. You're a God of provision. We can rest in work. We can rest in pain. I've seen this, this week in Lane and the Rizzos. I've seen them resting in the truth of the word of God, that to be absent from the body is to be present with him. Church, we gotta rest to do that. We gotta open up this word and find any area of our life where we feel weary and burdened. And we put a verse on it. We begin to walk it out. Not just know it, obey it. Radical obedience, counterculture. We are people of God and thank God for all those other things. Sleep, everything else, it's down, but it's all downstream from a life where of obedience. And that's another one of the great reasons that getting in a small group this summer is so huge. Being around other people who will come alongside you and walk out their faith. That we would come to him weary and burdened, that he would give us that rest, that we would yoke up with him, learn from him. And here's number three. And then we're going to actually finish a little different today with a powerful way to activate this. And this is kind of already in this moment, honestly, the invitation number three, that we would trust in the heart of Jesus, that we would just trust his heart for us. Matthew 11:29, Finish this scripture out. Very interesting and intentional that Jesus. This is the only time in the entire Bible where Jesus describes his heart. And it's very profound to me that it's attached to the area of rest. He says, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will, you will find rest for your soul. The only place he describes his heart, it's almost like. Because he does, it's almost like he knows we're going to struggle coming to him in this area. So he's making sure that we understand his nature, that he is gentle. Look at me today. God's not mad at you. He's not frustrated with you. Yeah. You're like, yeah, you don't know what I'm. How I don't care what your resume looks like. The wrath of God has been satisfied on the cross. He is not frustrated with you. He's Keeping no scorecard. You don't have to perform. Your identity is not in your achievement. You have nothing to earn with him. It's all been done on the cross. He is gentle and he is also humble or lowly. And this imagery here is so powerful. And this is the moment we're actually going to just step into as a church family. This morning, in this moment, what is Jesus doing? He's waiting for you, weary and burdened, broken and bloodied and scarred and struggling and confused and maybe even a little bit angry. He's waiting for you to come. And this just breaks off a religious spirit. And this is something I've had to overcome in my life. For some reason, I've just had this idea of, you know, growing up, of Jesus, like he had some kind of bank account. And I would, you know, I would obviously come to him for the big things, but it's almost like there's a withdrawal. So I don't want to always come to him because I don't want to lose all that bank account. Like, I. I'll come to you for the big stuff. I don't really want to bother you with this. Do you know that when you come to Jesus, it doesn't diminish? There is no bank account. In fact, the great. When you come to Jesus, it doesn't diminish him. It increases his joy. For the joy set before him, what does he want most? He wants you, weary and burdened, to come to him and to receive the gift he's already paid for. What a tragedy. It would be that one of the things he won for us on Calvary is soul rest. For us to leave that under the tree and never open up the gifts. So how do we rest? Church, all that other stuff is good, but how do we rest? We come to Him. So I mentioned we're going to finish a little bit different if you would. In fact, every location, go ahead and stand to your feet, and we're gonna have a moment of worship together. I think worship is a powerful. It's a powerful gift from God for us to step into his presence. I wanna read some verses and I'm gonna pray quickly. And this is ministry moment. I'll come back up and pray at every location and we'll have a moment of prayer. But really, this is kind of the altar call today. You're weary and you're burdened. You don't have to wait to rest. You can rest in this moment in Him. His presence is here. Come on. He's a good God. He wants to minister you today. He is gentle and he is lowly and he is waiting for anyone tired and weary. The invitation has been laid out. I want to read these verses. In fact, if you would close your eyes at every location. Just receive the word of God today. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. Our cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the time days of my life. And we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Come on. Would you lift your hands at every location? God, we come to you today and worship. We come into your presence seeking you. We're weary and we're burdened, but we're running to you. And God, we ask you to minister to us today with our hearts open, with our hands raised in Jesus name. Come on, let's worship together.