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Sure. The presence of the Lord is in this place, in the watch party room. Those of you watching at home, our social global family. My name is Robert. I get to lead this church, but I would. I would go to this church if I didn't pastor this church. I love what God is doing in this house, and I'm glad that you're here today. You look good. You look like you're flourishing. You look like you're flourishing. I think you're flourishing because you stayed planted and stay planted. If you're new to social, you're like, how did they know to say that? We have a word every single year, and Our word for 2025 is planted. Planted. Can y' all hear me? Good? Yeah. It's not a random word. It's a word that comes straight out of scripture. And so we've been declaring Psalm 92 every single Sunday of the year. We gonna do it today. Is that cool? All right, come on. I'm gonna count to three, and I want us to read it as a family with uplifted, caffeinated voices. Y' all ready? Come on. One, two, three. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Y' all sound good. Sound good. And then our text for today. I want to look at the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 11. We're going to look at verses 28 through 30, and then I just want one verse of scripture from the book of Hebrews, chapter number four. But we're going to start at Matthew 11, verse 28. Can I see your hand one more time? If it's your first time ever to social, Dallas. First time ever. Welcome. Welcome. It's amazing. In the back, for real. I'm glad you're here. Hopefully somebody smiled at you today. This is social Dallas, not antisocial Dallas. Somebody looked at you frustrated, mad, and constipated. We don't know who they are, but you're a part of the family. I want to focus your attention on a familiar passage of scripture, especially if you've been in church. But this, to me, is one of the most powerful invitations in the Bible. Matthew 11:28, the words of Jesus, it says. Then Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are weary, carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble. By the way, only Jesus can say, I am humble. And it'd be all right if you say, I'm humble. You just lost your humility. But he's so perfect, he can truly say, I am humble and gentle at heart. And you will find here it is again. Rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light. Can you say Amen? Amen. Then the Book of Hebrews, just one verse of Scripture. Because right when you think that the promise of rest stops in Matthew, look at the writer of Hebrews says, God's promise of entering his rest still stands. So we ought to tremble with fear. Uh oh. That some of you might fail to experience it. Do you see the beautiful synergy between the two passages? Because Jesus says, hey, if you're tired, if you're weary, I got an invitation of rest for you. The writer of Hebrews says, hey, the promise of rest still stands. However, you can fail to experience the rest that's available to you. In other words, if you stress today, that's not on God, that's on you. Because he says, I have rest that I've invited you into. I want to preach today for about four and a half hours, using this as a title. Help with the rest. Help with the rest. Would you look at your neighbor? Maybe for the last time. Whichever neighbor you like the best. Just to get in their face, get in their personal space and say, neighbor. Oh, neighbor, I need help with the rest. That neighbor sounded a little bougie. Find another neighbor. Find another neighbor. Come on, say other neighbor. I'm telling you now, I need help with the rest. If you believe God will speak today, give him some praise. In here, Father, have your way. Amen. You can be seated in the presence of the Lord. Help with the rest. Don't need help with the stress. Got that down. I need help with the rest. Quick disclaimer. Before we begin our journey together today, I feel the need to let you know that the message I'm preaching today is not the message that I originally planned to preach. Just want to put that out there and be very clear. What I am preaching today was not what I originally planned to preach. That being said, if you don't like today's message, that's not on me, that's on God. Blame it on him. Or you can blame it on the person or persons who so needed to hear this message today that God provoked me to pivot. When I say provoked, he provoked me to pivot. Saturday morning, I woke up and I immediately was thinking about the message PT preached last Sunday. First of all, can we pause and shout out my boo, who straight up brought the word on Mother's Day? She did it so good. And she fine while she do it too. I mean, just this power that we found in Matthew, chapter 6, that Jesus commands you not to look at the giraffes, not to look at the elephants. He says, look at the birds. The birds should teach you a lesson because they are carefree, because they're cared for. And she began to explain to us how worry will weigh you down. But I woke up Saturday thinking, if you have been weighed down, worry, worry will make you weary. And I felt this whisper from the Holy Spirit, tell my children that there is an invitation for rest for them. But they've got to respond. They've got to respond to the invitation of rest. I go to my office and I'm looking over the message that I was gonna preach, still wrestling with whether I'm gonna change it or not. And I'm like, this message is good, God. They rested. Let me preach this message. I mean, it was a good message. I was gonna preach. I'll just tell you. I was gonna preach. I was gonna preach on the ascension of Jesus, the doctrine of the ascension, something that not a lot of people talk about. We talk about every other major event in the life of Christ, and we have a celebration around it. We talk about his incarnation and his birth, Merry Christmas. We talk about his crucifixion, Good Friday. We talk about his resurrection and put on pastels and shout and say he got up from the grave. We shout about his resurrection, but rarely do we talk about the fact that the same Jesus who lived a and got up didn't just get up from the grave. He ascended up into the heavens and is seated in the position of authority at the right hand of the Father. And how many of you know it was his ascension that activated the day of Pentecost that gives you and me power to be his witnesses in the earth. I was gonna preach that it's gonna be good. But there I am wrestling with changing my message. So I got up and I'm walking and I'm praying in my office, and then I went to the restroom, and when I finished, I washed my hands. So I. Which is a custom that I recommend strongly. I finished washing my hands. True story. And I go into PT's office as I'm still wrestling with whether I'm supposed to change my message or not. And I go into her office to do what I always Do. I took her Aveda hand cream. Took her Aveda hand cream because first of all, it smells heavenly and it's a sin to be ashy. So I'm literally rubbing the Aveda hand cream in. In my hand. And as I'm doing it, I look on her desk and I see a note on her desk written from my daughter to her. And this is what the note said. I did all the work I could and I need help with the rest. I immediately take a picture, that picture right there. I send it to pt. I said, hey, I think God just confirmed my message switch. Where did this note come from? She said, wow. She said, that's actually from a few months ago. She said, I was in the office having meetings and Evie was doing her work in the office and she didn't want to interrupt my meeting. So she wrote that note and just put it on the glass while I was in my meeting. She said, I found it in a drawer on Friday and I just couldn't throw it away. I'm so sentimental, she said. So I just put it on the desk. And when she said that, I said, oh, hold up. This is more than just a cute note from my daughter to my wife. This is confirmation for somebody, because somebody listening to this message today. Your cry is the cry of my baby girl. You have done all the work you could. You need help with the rest. You have done everything you can in your own strength. You need help with the rest. You have done everything with your own ingenuity, with your own striving, with all you can, your own effort. It's time for you to throw up your hands and say, God, I'm here today. Cause I need help with the rest. Help with the rest. And when I say help with the rest, I mean the rest. Not the fake rest. Not the synthetic rest. Not the rest that comes from mind numbing scrolling that you do on the gram and on TikTok. Not the fake rest. Not the rest that comes from something that you sip on just to wind down at night because your life is too stressful. Not the fake rest. Not the fake rest that comes from Netflix binging all day. That's the fake rest. Not even the rest that comes from a nice little nap and we all love us a good nap. I'm talking about the rest. I'm not talking about the rest that comes from the stuff you roll up and you smoke and you tell yourself it's legal and God made all the plants and the trees. I'm not talking about that fake rest. Y' All I'm talking about the real rest. I'm talking about the rest for your soul. I'm talking about the rest that the soul Savior of the world In Matthew chapter 11 gives an open invitation and says, everybody who is weary, come to me and find the rest. I'm talking about the rest of the same Savior who sat on a well even though he was a whale and talked to a woman who had had five husbands and was living with somebody who wasn't her husband, and said, hey, what you're looking for in them, you will not find. You're thirsty, come to me, the living water, and you can drink. I'm talking about the rest that comes from a Savior who took two fish and five loaves and multiplied it and fed everybody and said, don't get it twisted. That multiplied bread is just an illustration that I am the true bread of life. And if you want nourishment not just for your body but for your soul, it comes from me. That's the rest. The rest. I'm talking about the rest that comes from a shepherd who says, if you will let me lead you. If I am leading you, you lack no good thing that if I am leading you. Watch this. I will make you lie down in green pastures. Make you. Have you ever had God make you lie down in green pastures? Some of you are in church today because God made you lie down and green pastures. Yeah, they broke up with you, and now you back in church. He, oh, yeah, y' all was at brunch two weeks ago, but now you're like, oh, the blood, the blood. You. You. He. He will make you lie down and grieve. Pastors, why does God have to make us? Because he knows that inside of us, we have this inner propensity to resist rest. This. This incessant thing on the inside of us that thinks we're the energized bunny and we can keep going and going and going and going. God says, I'll make you lie down in green pastures. And I beside still waters. And here it is. I'll restore your soul. Let that sink in and hit you right in the face. That God offers restoration. Not of your bank account, of your soul. Think of all the things in your life that need to be restored or that could be restored. You could have a car that needs to be restored. You take it to a mechanic. You could have furniture that needs to be restored. You take it to somebody that deals with antique furniture. You could have a section of your house that needs to be restored. Get you. You a Good builder. You could, in this day and age, get your body restored. Amen. Anything that is wrinkled, they can make it smooth. Anything that used to be upstairs is downstairs. They can. They doing miracles out here in these streets. Date with caution. I'm just saying they can restore all kinds of things today. But where do you go to get your soul restored? There is only one person, one not good man, but God, man. God in the flesh, who offers restoration of your soul and gives an open invitation to come find rest. But how many will be honest today and say, hey, I need help with the rest? Oh, are y' all good? Can I see your hand? Anybody? We need help. I'll lift up both my hands. Because most of us do need help with the rest. I found out that resting is not in the default settings of humanity, and here's why. Because most of us find our significance by our performance. We operate as human doings instead of human beings. Most of us find our value in our vocation and what we do. And if you don't believe it, then just meet a stranger and see how quick you ask them, what do you do, what you do for a living? Which, by the way, can you get a better question? When you meet somebody new, there are deeper questions. Say, think. What's something in your life that you're excited about right now that brings you passion? You know, what's the best advice you've ever gotten? Those are better questions than just jumping to what you do, what you do. Because subliminally in that question is this ideology that I am only valuable by what I bring to the table. I am only valuable by my profession. And that will seep into your psyche. You are more than what you do. This is why, oh, I feel like preaching this service. This is why the children of Israel, when they got emancipated from slavery and God is trying to get Egypt out of them, he makes them. He mandates that they take the Sabbath rest. Why? Because their identity for over 400 years had been defined as being a slave. They didn't know what it was to be a son. They didn't know what it was to be a daughter. They had to meet a crazy quota every single day. And they said, my value is by what I do. So God says, the first thing I gotta do to break that slave mentality off you and let you know you are my son and my daughter is to show you how to pause. And you still gonna get mana from heaven. Show you how to take a break and say, I'll still provide for you. Who Am I preaching to you? Are not what you do. Stop thinking that your value isn't what you bring to the table. There's nothing as sad as a person that goes through life like somebody auditioning on the Voice. My kids love this show, so I'm back watching it again. You ever seen somebody on the Voice and the judges haven't turned around yet, so they just start singing louder, start doing more runs. Just trying to do something to get somebody to turn around and doing the most to get somebody to turn around. That's how some of y' all live your life, just doing the most. Please validate me. You are not valued by what you do. I think I met a person the other day who used to be in ministry. I hadn't seen them in a while, and I was just genuinely excited just to see them. Just to see them. And they came up to me, and they were like, hey, man, I see what God is doing in social Dallas. I was like, oh, man, thank you. How are you? He didn't even answer, how are you? He jumped to, hey, I just want to let you know, I'm not doing ministry anymore, but, man, I'm doing real estate. I said, oh, that's awesome. He's like, no, I'm doing it big. You don't understand. I'm doing big real estate, man. I made more money this year than I made in my entire life. I was like, amazing, dog. Is that who you are? How much money you made? What you brought to the table? This is in our psyche. We live in a culture that glorifies our grit. It thinks hustling and being in a hurry is honorable. It's interesting. Even in the moral decay of our culture, I've noticed most people don't brag about the commandments that they break. Have you noticed that? Like, I have not met the person that's like, man, I'm lying way more this year than I was last year. Hadn't met that person. I have not met the person that when you talk to them, they're like, yo, man, I'm telling. When it comes to murder, your boy is killing it. I trying to keep some of y' all away. We usually don't brag about the commandments that we break. You know, thou shalt not covet. Usually if you covet what your neighbor has, you don't say that. I mean, you scroll and say it to your. It's like, I wish that I had. Must be nice. Go on another vacation. I ain't been nowhere, babe. You know, you don't brag about that. Most cheaters don't brag about cheating. They hide it. But you know what commandment? The only commandment, coincidentally, that we actually brag about breaking. Let's put it on the screen. It's in Exodus. It's this one right here. Yeah. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. That commandment right there. We will brag about breaking it because we will brag about how busy we are and how we're on our grind. Isn't it interesting? That's the only commandment that God said, remember? He don't say, remember not to lie, because you know when you're lying. He says, remember the Sabbath day by keeping holy. Why gotta remember? Cause you're quick to forget. You're quick to forget that you are not God. And even if you are, which you ain't, he rested. God. Well, you don't understand my schedule. God rested, but I'm a type A person. God rested, but no, I got so much stuff to do. You know, I got the project. God rested, but I'm a perfectionist God. You ain't more of a perfectionist than the actual perfect one. You are control freak. And you need your hands in everything. And sometimes it's not until it gets out of your hands and starts falling apart that you realize, I need to rest. Put it back up there. Remember the Sabbath day. Ooh, I didn't even get the first service dish. You're welcome. By keeping it holy. Keeping it holy. Interesting that there's only three things that God blessed in the Genesis narrative. He blessed animals and said, be fruitful and multiply. He blessed humanity and said, be fruitful and multiply. To which all the married people said, only one husband, like, amen. But then watch this. Hear me. He blessed a day called the Sabbath, and he made the Sabbath holy. The first time you see the word holy in your Bible is connected to the Sabbath. He said, I'm blessing the Sabbath and I'm making it holy. It is a holy day. So before God even blessed, not just places, he blessed a specific time, a Sabbath. If he blessed animals and said, be fruitful and multiply. If he blessed us and said, be fruitful and multiply, and he blessed the Sabbath, what is he saying? There's something about a pause that makes me fruitful and allows me to multiply. If you don't have a pause, no wonder you don't have any innovation and creativity in your life, because you can only be fruitful and multiply when there is a pause. But that commandment we Break all the time. And we use busyness as a badge for how much we bring to the world. Not just in secular spaces, in sacred spaces. Whew. The church is the only place that will baptize ego, ambition, and capitalism and holy language and say, well, I'm just building the kingdom of God. Really? Are you building the kingdom or your empire? And we're hustling and we're grinding and we're doing the most, and our soul is suffering and we need rest. Elbow the person next to you, say, I think this for you. I think this. I think this is for you. When was the last time? If you don't believe me, just do the test today. Go ask somebody how they're doing. I'm going to soon throw this statistic out there. I'm guessing, like 85% of the people will tell you, oh, I'm good, but man, I'm busy or tired. I'm busy. I'm out here doing. When was the last time you asked somebody, how are you doing? And they said, man, I'm amazing. Really? Yeah. It's just like, I've never had this much joy and peace in my life. For real? Yeah. I just. I have so much margin in my life that I'm actually able to be generous. Not just with my resources, with my encouragement to other people. For real? Yeah. I don't think that I've ever been this content. Did you get a job, raise or something like that? No, it's just something about being with the Lord that I find my soul satisfied. When's the last time you talked to somebody and they said that? Whoo. I'm willing to bet it's been a while. And even if this head, you're probably annoyed by it. Cause you're so tired. And Jesus offers us an invitation to rest. I love Matthew, chapter 11. But you can't know the power of this invitation to rest until you understand the context of what's happening in Matthew chapter 11. No wonder Jesus says, lay your burdens down and bring them to me. Because the people he is speaking to have been burdened and weighed down not just by the Roman government, they have been weighed down by the religious system, who has taken this holy day of Sabbath and have added extra weight to a day that was given to God's people for rest. They had almost 39 categories in the oral tradition of the law, 39 categories of what work really was. Because God just gave the commandment, honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. And all of a sudden, the Pharisees and the Religious scholars felt like it was their job to fill in the blank and let people know, well, this is what it looks like to really honor the Sabbath. And before you know it, they had people counting how many steps they could take, had people going through all kinds of mental anguish and emotional unrest and anxiety just trying to keep up the Sabbath. And originally, it was God given to give God's people rest. How in the world can something that was a blessing turn into a burden? How in the world does something that was a gift to God's people become a weight to God's people? Can you imagine? It'd be the equivalent of me saying, hey, I want to bless some of y' all today. Because I see your faces and you look stressed. And so I just. I'm gonna bless you. Just go to a spa. If I pick out a spa, I say, just have you the time of your life. I'm gonna pay for it. We're gonna send you to the spa. I mean, get it all, get it all. Put the cucumbers on your eyes. Make sure you get a massage. Make sure they take care of you. And can you imagine being so excited? That's what I've been needing. I get a spa day, and you go to the spa, and when you get there, at the front desk, you know, they got the eucalyptus in the air, and it's amazing. But before you go in to receive all your packages, they say, oh, we just need you to fill this out. And there's this massive book with all this information that you gotta fill out. And they asking all kinds of questions about your medical history. They're asking you which bones of your body that you know and you don't. And you're like, do I gotta fill all this out? Ah, yes. If you want to get in this spa, fill it all out. My God, I'm on page 89. Do I gotta fill all this? Absolutely. How many of you are going back to that spa? Never. Never. Because this is not a blessing. This is a burden. This is the climate that Jesus walks into. They even had restrictions on what healing could take place on the Sabbath. And this is what I love about your God. He says, oh, y' all want to put a burden on my people? Oh, y' all don't think that they need rest and restoration. So he made it his point to do most of his miracles on the Sabbath, and that's what made the religious system mad. They couldn't stand it. There was a man with a withered hand, and he healed him on the Sabbath, all while the religious Pharisees were looking at him. They stuffed up with arrogance and pride, saying, you better not heal him. He said, y' all know who I am. I came to bring rest and restoration to my people. Stretch forth your hand. There was a woman that had been bent over for 18 years. And all of a sudden, on the Sabbath day, God says, stand up and be healed from your infirmity. I just want to let you know that your God has a track record of breaking rules to get you rest. He will break rules to bring restoration to your life. That's how concerned he is with it all. While he's bringing rest, the Pharisees are upset and mad, saying, this is not what the Sabbath is for. What would make them take something that was supposed to be a gift and turn it into such a weight and a burden? Well, think about who the Pharisees are. I know they get a bad rap in church. How many of you ever heard a preacher talk bad about the Pharisees? Yeah. And so you get in your mind this image of the Pharisees, and they look like Jafar off Aladdin, right? It's that long nose and like, oh, but don't forget, somebody just got that. Don't forget how this group was started. They actually started so sincere. They started because they understood, especially after the exile of the people of God, when they turned away from God's commandments, they knew the pain of what it was to turn away from the commandments of the Lord. So this group originally started saying, we want to make sure that the people of God never experience the pain of disobedience and that they honor his word. But what started off sincere ended up suffocating God's people. Do you know that things can start off sincere and right and all of a sudden morph into something that is the complete opposite of how it started? It's like you can start off with sincerity to make sure people understand with clarity the word of God. But then all of a sudden, it can morph into something where you become one of those dudes on YouTube who takes like, sermons of other preachers and puts the picture of the preacher and then has his face going and then does a three hour video on how bad that preacher is. Isn't it, Isn't it funny how something can start off sincere and morph into something that it was never supposed to be? Some of you, the reason you're weary and tired is because you started off so sincere with such a passion in your walk with the Lord. Remember how you used to be. You're like, woo. Somebody will say, halle. You're like, luya, remember how you were. You're like, man, I'm gonna come to all three services. Really? All three? Yeah. I'm just feeling it today. I love social. Remember how you used to be? Remember how you're like, I'll serve where you want me, and the kids I'll be. But I hold the sign. And then you know how after a while, just over time, start looking like the Pharisees and start getting mad about other people that are sincere? Oh, shut up. Wait till you be here a while. Yeah, you start off that way. That's why you need a Sabbath. It is a true Sabbath, a true pause that makes you reflect. You cannot audit your life when you are constantly in it. You have to step back and say, God, have I drifted? Have I moved away from the original intent of this thing? This is the power of a Sabbath. Jesus gives an open invitation. All who are weary, come to me and find rest. I love his invitation, but I also love his prayer that precedes his invitation. Again, let's look at it in Matthew 11:25. This is what he prayed before he offers the invitation says, at that time, Jesus prayed this prayer. Oh, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike. To the who? To the who. Childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. What in the world does being childlike have to do with receiving and responding to an invitation of rest? Because remember, before he does the open invitation, this is the prayer that he prays. What does being childlike have to do with receiving rest? I'll tell you what it is. Here's what I've noticed about children. They are completely dependent. Have you noticed that any parents in the house? Children are dependent. If there's something that would define a child, they are completely dependent. I remember one time my son was feeling himself. He was like, leave me alone. I was like, boy, if I leave you alone, you'll die because you need me. Okay? The children are completely dependent. And some of you don't even realize the reason. You are so weary and so tired. It is an alarm to let you know your dependence on God. It is to let you know that you are not God and He is. If you don't believe that you are dependent, have you noticed a third of your life you spend a second that God makes you and wired you to go to bed and get some rest? Because you need to understand that Your problem's gonna be there in the morning that God is still on the throne. So please get some rest and go to bed. And every night you get sleepy, it's reminding you of your dependence and that you are not God. How many are thankful that he never sleeps and he never slumbers, but you have to sleep. And every time you go to bed, it's a reminder, oh, I'm dependent. Oh, I need him. Oh, I didn't have to make the son get up, but he made the son get up. He is God and I am not. Some of you need to shout about your dependence because there's something about dependence that reminds you, I can trust you, God. I can rest because you are God and I am not. I think the essence of walking with him and trusting him and resting is growing in your dependence. If you got kids, what is your job as a parent? One of your jobs is to take them from total dependence to independence. Ain't that right? Total dependence. Here's a bottle. To independence. Get a job. Get out my house. It is opposite in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, it is our job to go from total independence. Remember how you was before you were saved? Do what I want. I'm me. Total independence. Until that day your bottom lips start to quiver and the preacher was preaching. Maybe you're like, how did he know? That was exactly what I was just telling my friend. And it got to the end and you're like, oh, please don't tell me to go to the front. We're going to ask you to come to the front if you want to give your life, okay, Stripping you of your independence. And hear me, it didn't stop at the altar. If it did wake up, you got a long way to go. Every single day it is a walk of being stripped of my independence to total dependence. And a part of resting is trusting that if I'm still and I trust him, he'll still take care of me. I don't have to be hustling because I have a God who has an open invitation. And look at his invitation. All who are weary, come to me and find rest. All who are weary, come to who? Me. When I read that, it let me know that when you are weary, you will run to something. It is inevitable. When you are tired and weary, you will run to something. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had to say, come to me. It's as if his voice is shouting in the midst of the other things that are screaming, come to me when you're weary. TikTok will tell you, come to me when you're weary. The algorithm is shaped for you so that you can just be weary and run to it. Now let me ask you this. What do you run to when you get weary? What do you run to? Is it something in a bottle? Is it images of people online? Is it Amazon? Have I hit yours yet? What do you run to when you get weary? Oh, another question. Who do you run to when you get weary? Some of you, it's not a what, it's a who. And you almost like clockwork. When you get weary, there's a who you run to. And the who knows when you're weary. You coming because you told them, we're done. We through. The relationship is over. I got a word from God. We done. The person's like, all right, I'll be back. Three months. Three months. Here comes the text. Hey, think about you. Who do you run to when you get weary? You're laughing, but I'm telling you, somebody is preying upon your weariness. And like clockwork, they know when you get tired. You going to come this way? This is the case of Samson and Delilah. He knew she was trying to kill them. But when he got weary. Maybe that's why the Bible doesn't even talk about explicit sex between Samson and Delilah. It just says this is the place where he laid his head and woke up bald. Hear me? Because he found rest in the wrong place. What you saying, PR here's what I'm saying. Where. Where's your rest area? If you've ever been on a road trip? Whenever I'm on a road trip, it was easier prior to kids. I have a couple of rules, especially if I do have my kids when I'm on a road trip. Rule number one, don't ask me are we. Don't ask me when we get there, we'll be there. That's rule number one. And then rule number two, which is hard to keep, is I. I believe in non stop trips. I appreciate that clap. I appreciate that clap right there. We gonna take a road trip, dog. Like, do whatever you need to do before we ain't stop it. Oh, but there's a Buc Ees. I don't care about that beaver. We ain't stop it. Pay $40 for some fudge and beef jerky. We gotta get to where we gotta get to. We gotta stop it. That is my disposition. I'm telling you, I will have my hands on the steering wheel. Daddy, can we be. No, but I'm tired. We'll rest when we get there. Are we there yet? Don't ask me that question. And I was thinking, you know, that's how a lot of us live our lives. Actually, we're just going to keep going. Are we there yet? All your family, your emotions, the people that love you in the back seat, Are we there yet? Not yet. Haven't got the income I'm trying to get. Just be quiet. Where is your there? Where is your there? Is it when you get the spouse? Where is your there? It's when you get the big opportunity. Where is your there? Because if you don't define where your there is, I'm afraid you're going to break before you get there. Matter of fact, I'm not afraid. You will. This is how God has wired the world, is that you have to break. If you don't break, you will break. And many of us, crisis and sickness and accidents are the involuntary sabbaths that life has given us because we have been knuckles to the steering wheel. I'll rest when I get there. Are we there yet? No. Where is your. Because there will come a point where you will have to exit and find your rest area. And I am pleading with the same vocal intonation of the Savior, saying, would you come to Jesus and find your rest in him? Because there is no other rest area. Hear me. That will bring you fulfillment. You can't tell on you. I will tell on me. I can look back in seasons of my life where I had different rest areas and I was like, when I get there, I'll make it. I tell on me. I remember I started preaching when I was 16 years old. It was one of the first things I got celebrated for. Be careful what you get celebrated for, because we tend to repeat what we're celebrated for and think our value and our significance is in what we get celebrated for. So one of the first things I was celebrated for was this right here, preaching communication. So I started building rest areas. Theirs. When I get there, I made it. I was thinking about something today. I remember I said, man, when they called me to preach for the North Texas Youth Convention of the Assemblies of God, they had a whole 500 people there. Your boy made it. I remember when they called me, I said, yes, look at your boy. North Texas Youth Convention. I made it. That was my there. And I remember preaching it and getting off the stage. I remember what I preached. It was check your mind space. Check your mind space. MySpace. It was before it was. And I preached it. And I remember getting off the stage and going, is that it? And then I changed it. I said, oh, well, if they called me to do the convention for the whole state of Texas, see, I just did North Texas. If they called me to do the convention for the whole state of Texas, then your boy made it. I did it and preached it and then got off and said, it's time. Is that it? I said, well, well, maybe. Maybe if I get a call to, like, preach. Because then I was just doing youth conference. I was like, man, I'm sick of these youth conferences, preaching to these kids with Axe body spray. If they call me to start preaching, you know, Sunday morning, to, like, adults, man, who can appreciate the depth of this word, man? I got those invitations and I said that. That didn't. That didn't do it. I said, well, here's the problem. I'm only preaching in the United States. I need somebody to call me to preach out of the United States States. Your boy needs to use this passport, man. If they call me to preach in Australia, they called. I preached in Australia. And then I got off the stage, 30,000 people. And I said, is that. Well, maybe it's Australia. I need to go to London. Preached in London. And then before I knew it, I realized that there kept moving, there kept changing. And every time I got to the there, it never gave me the peace that I needed. And I realized, hold up, this is a trick in the the enemy to keep moving the rest area, thinking if I just got that, and I just got this and I just got that, then maybe my soul will be satisfied. So finally I realized maybe the rest area isn't in a place. It's in a person. His name is Jesus, who says, if you will come to me, oh, God, I feel your presence in this place. I promise you, the thing your soul has been longing for will be so. I wish somebody would get up on your feet and give God the best praise that you got. If you know that your rest is not in a place, it's not in a thing, but it's in a person. And his name is Jesus. Maybe that's why I had to switch my message, because this isn't a message. This is an intervention to stop somebody from going to another thing, thinking that it's going to give you the rest that your soul longs for. Hear me. It's not in the place. It's not in that salary. I know you think if I just got some money. It's not in it. It's in him. He says, come to me if you're tired. Then he says, Something that really messed me up because I got real excited about coming to him and letting go of my burdens. Then he says, just real soft, take my yoke. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Hear that? Without, like being a proud Sunday school alumnus, because you've heard the verse before, God, I don't want a yoke and I don't want a burden. I came to give you those, remember? I'm tired. What you mean your yoke is easy, in your burden is light? Do you know what a yoke was? A yoke was a wooden instrument they put on the neck of animals to push and pull things. They would put two animals next to each other and yoke their neck together to work. Let me give you a modern day illustration. It's like this. This is like a yoke. This to me is a modern day yoke. It like, let me see if I can do it. Yeah, these are real. I'm real. They told me, hey, P.R. we gotta get the key. Because once you put it on, it's locked. I said, cool, whatever it takes to get them to get the message. He essentially says, you weary? Yeah, come to me. Great. Can I chill? No, come to me and work. I want you to yoke up to me. I want you to be handcuffed to me. Wait, you mean to tell me that rest is not like doing nothing? Uh, it's a trade. He's letting us know when he says, come to me and take my yoke that you're already yoked to something. This is what every single person in this room looks like. This end is yoked to something. If it is yoked to anything other than Jesus, I promise you it is going to disappoint and it's going to leave you weary. Some of you are yoked to a spouse and you've gone to all the marital councils, counselors, and you've gone all the things, but you're trying to get something from them that they cannot give you, that can only be found in Jesus. Some of you are yoked to your career, and whenever your career calls, you come running. And that's why you're riddled with anxiety. Some of you are yoked to your kids, and your kids are actually running away from you because you put a weight on them that they can't handle because you're yoked to them. And Jesus saying, you're gonna be yoked to somebody. So if you're gonna be yoked to anybody, come be yoked to me. Because when you're yoked to me, that's when you find rest. Jesus is the only person that will take you captive to set you free. Because he knows when you're yoked to him, you'll find your rest. So I just made a decision. If I gotta be yoked anyway, if I gotta be arrested anyway, I want to be connected to him. I refuse to resist arrest. I'm gonna say it for this high. I refuse to resist arrest. Y' all missed it. I refuse to resist a rest. God. I'm gonna pause. It's not my hustle. It is your holy hand. It is not what I do. It's what you've already done. It's not my record. God, I feel like Preacher, it's your perfect record. Thank you, Jesus, that I can be still and still be taken care of my last. He's in you. This message is for somebody today saying what my baby girl said. I've done all the work I could. I need help with the rest. Won't you bow your head and close your eyes? Today, as the worship team comes, Father, would you help us to stop resisting arrest? Father, thank you that you offer an invitation of rest. Thank you for your perfect record. God, I'm praying for the person right now who is so weary from trying to perform some of them, the enemy has made them think is what they do for you that makes you love them. Father, today, let it be the intervention. Our value is not in what we do. It's in you. We were loved by you. Father, I pray the same way you and the Jordan river had an open heaven and heard the voice of your father say, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. You hadn't even done anything yet. Not a single miracle. Hadn't healed anybody yet, but already approved, already loved. Father, would you help us rest from that place? No more striving, no more trying to earn it. We'll cancel the audition and rest. Speak. Rest over your people today. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If you're here today, and you'd be so honest to say, hey, Pri. I first of all, haven't surrendered my life to this Savior. Haven't taken the first step, which is to come to him and surrender your life to him, man, I'd love to give you that opportunity today. Interesting. He didn't say, come to church and find rest. Although there's power and community in coming in the house of the Lord. He said, come to me. I want to ask you today in this room, watch, party room. Have you surrendered your life to this Savior? Who promises rest if not, I'd love to give you that opportunity today. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I don't care if it's just one person. This is just where I'm at. If I had to change this message because it was for one person, you were absolutely worth it. To stop striving, receive the rest, hands about how to close. If that's you, and say, I need to give Jesus my life today. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it? I don't care what you've done, how long you've been in it. This is a savior who says, you can always come home. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Jesus. Hands are going up all over this place today. Thank you, God. You can put it right back down. You're here today in this room. Watch. Party room. Watching online. You say, I've surrendered my life to Jesus. But, man, I've just gotten out of a rhythm. I've been striving. I started off sincere, and now I'm being suffocated by religion and performance and trying to find rest in other things. And today I just. I just need to respond again because guess what? The invitation of rest, as the writer of Hebrews says, it still stands. Still stands. You can lay that burden down, but you need to bring it to him. If you've given your life to him, but you've just gotten in the rhythm of striving and stressing, you just need to come to him again and respond and receive the rest. Is that you? Would you just lift up your hand today? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Father. I'm going to lead us in this prayer. We're all going to say it, but especially those of you who responded. Would you say this? Say, jesus, I need you. Thank you so much for living the life that I was supposed to live. For dying the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place. So, Jesus, today I respond. Respond to your invitation of salvation. Forgive me of my sin, make me brand new. I also respond to your invitation of rest. Teach me how to rest in you. Teach me how to be led by the unforced rhythms of your grace. So today, this moment forward, I'm walking with you. When you say go, I'll go. When you say stop, I'll stop. I will not resist your rest. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.