A (0:01)

You look fresh. You look flourishing. You must be planted. You must be planted. If you're new to social. We have a word for every single year. And Our word for 2025 is planted. Planted. It's not a random word. It comes out of Scripture. And so we've been declaring this verse every single Sunday of 2025. It's Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. So we gonna read it today with uplifted, caffeinated voices. Come on. How many of you gotta memorize? Can I see your hand? You gotta mem us. All right. How many are still working on it? Amen. Well, hurry up. Half the year. Half the year is almost gone. You got to December 31st, but come on, let's read it together. One more. Count to three. Ready? 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 and there is no unrighteousness in him. Y' all sound good. Sound real good. And now our text for today remains standing just to honor the reading of God's word. I want to go to Exodus, chapter 16. I want to look at verses one through five and then verses 22 through 30. If you were here not last Sunday because it was our baptism service, but the Sunday before that, I shared with you how the Lord literally changed my message and had me talk on this subject of rest. And so I started an impromptu series on rest today. And I am believing that you are about to enter into a season of rest, that the striving in your life will cease and you would operate from a place of rest. So I want to talk in that same vein of thought today. And we're gonna look at Exodus 16, 1:5, and then 22:30. I know that's a lot of scripture, but you should know by now, when you come to social, wear comfortable shoes. Amen. Look at what it says. It says, then the whole community of Israel set out from Elam and journeyed into the wilderness of sin between Elam and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the 15th day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. That is critical to note. They are 30 days from the moment that God split the Red Sea, had Pharaoh looking like. No, he didn't. And had them walk out of chains in freedom. That's where they are. They've been emancipated from Egypt. You would think they would be shouting and doing The Holy Ghost 2 step. But verse 2 says, There too. The whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. I'm confused. You complained when you were in slavery. God set you free and you still complain. This is not for anybody here, so just keep looking straight ahead. But have you noticed some people don't need a reason to complain. They just need a location. Cause no matter where they are, they're going to find something to complain about. If they're in Dallas, they gonna complain. You can send them to Dubai. They gon complain. This is where the children of Israel are. They said, if only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt. There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. That is the language of an addict. You are romanticizing the dysfunction of your past. But now you've brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death. Then the Lord said to Moses, look, I'm going to rain down fire from heaven. No, my bad. I'm reading into the text. Cause I'm just saying, if it's me. If it's me. And you complain in slavery and I set you free and you still complaining, I'm raining down fire from heaven. But thank God he is gracious. He didn't rain down fire. Whoo. What did he rain down? He rained down food. He rained down food from heaven. Each day, the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they will gather food. And when they prepare it, they there will be twice as much as usual on the sixth day. Verse 22. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as usual. Four quarts for each person instead of two. Then all the leaders of the community came and asked Moses for an explanation. Why do we get double on the sixth day? They're trying to figure it out, he told them. This is what the Lord commanded. Tomorrow will be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath day set apart for the Lord. So bake or boil as much as you want today and set aside what is left for tomorrow. So they put some aside until morning, just as Moses had commanded. And in the morning, the leftover food was wholesome and good, without maggots or odor. Moses said, eat this food today, for today is a Sabbath day dedicated to the Lord. There will be no food on the ground today. You may gather food for six days, but the seventh day day is the Sabbath. There will be no food on the ground that day. Verse 27. And there's always a verse 27. Some of the people went out anyway. You ever met that person just going to do it anyway. They just going to date them. They going to respond to that. DM yeah. They went out anyway on the seventh day, but they found no food. The Lord asked Moses, how long will these people refuse to obey my commands and instructions? They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord's gift to you. That is why he gives you a two day supply on the sixth day. So there will be enough for two days on the Sabbath day. You must each stay in your place and do not go out to pick up food on the seventh day. So the people did not gather any food on the seventh day. Can you say amen? Ooh, that is so good. That is so rich. I want to preach today, just using this as a title. Offbeat, offbeat. Help me preach before I preach. And just look at somebody next to you, whoever you like the best, and just say neighbor. I want to know, are you offbeat? That neighbor was a little stuck up. Find another neighbor. Find another neighbor. Come on, say other neighbor. I got a critical question. Are you offbeat? If you believe God's gonna speak, would you give him some praise up in here? Offbeat. Lord, have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Off beat. Has anybody been to a wedding lately? Anybody been to a wedding lately? Can I see your hand? Have you been to a wedding, like, lately? Okay, awesome. Keep your hand up. If it was your wedding. Anybody? You got married. Congrats. Come on, that's amazing. Have to celebrate that. That triggered some of you. You're like, really pr. You know, I'm still waiting. They're coming, they're coming. But I have to let you know, I personally love weddings. I think weddings are amazing. Weddings are beautiful. Weddings are holy. Weddings are sacred. Let's be honest. Weddings are a great opportunity to go on a date with your wife without your kids. Amen. And I get the opportunity not just to attend weddings, but I get to officiate weddings as well. And I have to let you know, I'm telling you something today. I look for certain things at weddings. I look for certain things, like one thing that I look at, and I get the vantage point, especially if I'm officiating the wedding. I look for a look. There's a look that I look for at a wedding. And it is the look on the face of the groom. And it is the look whenever they open the doors and the bride starts coming down the aisle and Naturally, everybody stands up and they look at the bride. I don't look at the bride. I look at the groom, who's right there next to me. His tux is too tight. He's hyperventilating. It's my job to keep him alive. And I look at the look on his face when he sees his bride coming down the aisle. It is an amazing look. It's amazing to see how each step she takes, his bottom lip starts quivering like, oh, my God, I can't believe this. And tears start cascading down his face as she gets closer and closer and closer. And then I get this look. It's the look she has when she sees looking at her, y' all, it's a magical moment. It's a beautiful look. I'll look for that. There's something else that I look at at a wedding, and it's not really magical. It's comical. And this does not occur at the wedding ceremony. It occurs at the reception. There's something I look for at the reception. Please don't judge me. But I look for the person on the dance floor who has no business being on the dance floor. Do you know this person? The person who is so rhythmically challenged that they are the dance floor and they are not supposed to be there. I look for that person, the person that is completely off beat. Let's be honest. I don't just look for this at weddings. Anytime music is playing in a public space, I look for that person. I'm like, put them on the jumbo screen. I want to see the person who is moving like they have problems in their body. I like to laugh. I'm sorry. At the person who is off beat. Here's the thing. Because they put themselves out there, I respect the person. I respect the person that knows their limits, that says, hey, that's not me. I don't dance. You know those people, they're like, they will stand their ground no matter the song. I'm talking about as soon as just a small town girl, they still will just stand there and not move. No matter the song. I'm talking about anything. Come on. Cash Money Records taking over for the 99 and the 2000. And they were still just being you, telling on yourself. They will still just. I respect that person. But the person that got all the confidence but no coordination. Oh, y' all, bless my life. That is never not funny. They say dance like nobody's watching. I'm watching. I'm watching and I'm laughing at you, trying to figure out how you Putting that move to that song look like you at war with the music. I mean, and God help him when the DJ switches the song because you want to look at them and say, the dance you were doing two dances ago, that goes with this dance, what is wrong with you? And they're moving, and they're completely offbeat. And I laugh, but I actually got some knowledge that helps me have empathy. I still laugh, but I have empathy because I understand that people who are offbeat, the problem is actually not musical. It's neurological. It's interesting that dancing doesn't start on your feet. It starts in your brain. The reason they're offbeat is because their mind does not have the ability to take in the music and then make their body make the necessary movements to be in sync and synergy with the beat. See, rhythm is interesting because the people that have rhythm and the people that don't, there's only one factor. They're hearing the same music. They're on the same dance floor. But people that have rhythm understand something about time. Yeah, rhythm is about time. Rhythm is about time. Rhythm is about time. Rhythm is about time. The brain, the body, the beat come together at the right time. How y' all know to say that? Then you prophetic? Or did you pick up on the rhythm and the time? The music, the melody computed by the mind, coming together with the right movement at the right time. That's how you get in sync and not offbeat. I went through all that to let you know today. Please don't miss this, that God has a rhythm. God has a tempo. God has a pace. God has a cadence. Hear me that. He wove in the fabric of creation. And still today, he is trying to get humanity to get in sync with his time, with his rhythm. I'm telling you today, by the end of this message, you're gonna see clearly that God has a rhythm. God has a time. And today I just want to ask you a very simple question. Are you in sync with the rhythm of God, or are you offbeat? You laughing? But this is how some of yalls lives look right now as it relates to the rhythm, the cadence, and the pace of God. Are you in sync with God or are you off your life? Is it offbeat? Now, before you answer that question, it is incumbent upon me to tell you this. When it comes to God's rhythm, it is your responsibility to get in sync with him. It is not his responsibility to get in sync with you. That messed up like 50% of y' all, because some of y' all you say, well, Robert, I have this plan and I have these visions, and I have this goal, and I have this. I have this vision board, and I want to be here in 10 years. You can have all that. But I'm just saying, don't be. Get mad at God if that doesn't come to pass. As if you are a producer and you produce the song, and now you need God to hurry up and fulfill it. Because I hear some of you, you're like, God, what is wrong? Why can't you get in rhythm with me? I told you I needed this much money at this age and this stage of my life. I told you I couldn't be single at 35. Where you at? Come on. And you're like, God, get in sync with me. And God's going, I'm not speaking. Supposed to get in sync with you. You're supposed to get in sync with me. I know you producing things, but you're just a producer. You understand? God is not a producer. He's a creator. And when you are a creator, you get to pick the cadence. And God put a cadence in creation because he's the creator. If you don't believe me, read the book of Genesis and you will see a God that created something out of nothing. And everything that he created, he spoke it into existence, and it had to respond to his word and get inside and get in rhythm. That's why he said, let there be light. And light just showed up. Light didn't even go, how bright do you want me to shine? What wattage do you want me to be? No, light just got in sync and knew what the rhythm was. He said, let there be water, and water showed up, and water didn't even pause to go, what hue of blue do you want me to be? Water already knew what hue of blue it was supposed to be. Because when God speaks something, it has to to get in sync and in rhythm and come together at the right time. And I'm telling you, God has a rhythm, and it's in the book of Genesis. And that's why I love Genesis. Because I don't just read Genesis. I hear Genesis. And when I hear Genesis, this is what I hear. I hear the timing of God. You ready? You gonna be glad your pastor can beatbox. Here it is. Here's the rhythm. Here's the rhythm of God. It goes just like this. One more time. Did you hear it? Did you hear the rhythm of God? Did you count the P? It was six, followed by A. Because your God created the world in Six days. And then pauses to rest on the seventh day. And the moment he did that, he set a tempo of creation, that there should be six days of work and one day to pause, one day to stop, one day to cease from your work. This is the rhythm of God. Yeah, See, it's that that gives the next power. If you don't ever. And you just. That's techno and you gonna lose your mind. And that's what some of your lives look like right now. Because you have this energy, incessant going and going and going and going. And God says that's going to lead to a breakdown. I didn't create you that way. You better pause and know that I am God and you are not. There has to be a Sabbath. Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat. It literally means to stop, to cease from your work. And as I told you a couple of weeks ago, this idea of pausing, of Sabbath, it seems to be antithetical to the culture in which we live. Because we live in this culture of get it grind, hurry up, you better make it happen. Remember I told you that the commandment of honoring the Sabbath seems to be the only commandment that we will brag about breaking. We will brag about. Nobody says, man, I'm lying more this year than I was last year. Nobody brags about that. But we will brag about our hustle. We will brag about how many hours we put in. We will brag about our effort. And we've forgotten this rhythm that God has put in creation. And no wonder we have anxiety and no won. We're losing our mind. And no wonder our nervous system is about to collapse. It's because we haven't got in sync with the rhythm of God. Oh, this is going to be a fun sermon today. Can I take you deeper? I love what this amazing author by the name of Wayne Mueller said in his book the Sabbath. He said, in the relentless busyness of modern life, we have lost the rhythm between work and rest. All life requires a rhythm of rest. There's a rhythm in our waking activity and the body's need for sleep. There's a rhythm in the way the day dissolves into the night and night into the morning. There's a rhythm as the active growth of spring and summer is quieted by the necessary dormancy of fall and winter. There's a tidal rhythm, a deep, eternal conversation between the land and the great sea. In our bodies, the heart precipitately rests after each giving beat. The lungs rest between exhale and the inhale. Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom. We miss the joy and the love born of effortless delight. Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. What is he speaking to? He's speaking to this undercurrent of uneasiness that many of us have that always feels like my significance is attached to my busyness. So if I'm doing something, if I'm producing, then I am somebody. And I came to tell you, you can go against the grain of God's rhythm, but don't get shocked when you get a splinter. Because God has set up creation in a rhythm of rest. Get in sync with his rhythm. You know why many of us are due to this whole sermon. Okay? No. When we're offbeat, it's because we're not under God's rhythm. We're under a different rhythm. The algorithm. That's the rhythm we're under. The algorithm. I'll never forget the first time I heard that word, algorithm. We'll never forget it. A good friend of mine, he came up to me, and this is a great friend. And he's always about analytics, and he's always about numbers, and he has charts and graphs for everything. I'll never forget him coming up to me one day, and he's asking me about social media, and he's like, hey, how's your engagement? And I didn't know what he was talking about at first. I was like, engagement, Bro, I'm married. What you talking about? He said, no, no, no, no. Your Instagram, your engagement. I was like, I don't know. He takes my phone, goes to Instagram. I've never seen this before. He just like to swipe up, and all of a sudden I see all these charts and graphs and stuff I've never seen before. I'm like, what in the Steve Jobs did you just do to my phone? I didn't even know that was on there. And I saw all these things, and he looked at it, and I'll never get it. He starts looking. He's like, wow. I said, what? He said, this is bad. I said, what you talking about, man? He's like. He's like, your engagement is low. I said, are you for real? He's like, yeah. I thought I was getting diagnosed with a Disease or something. He said, this is bad. He said, robert, I'm telling you. I said, what do I need to do? He said, you got to post more. You got to post more. I said, for real? He said, yes. He said, the algorithm. It's because of the algorithm. You got to post more. He said, you don't have enough content. You got to beat the algorithm, Robert. That's the problem. You know, you could post something and people wouldn't see it for three days. I said, for three days. I said, oh, my goodness, I got to post more. And I'll never forget it. This is years ago. I'm like, I got to beat the algorithm. I woke up the next day under this pressure, going, I got to post more. Doing stupid posts just at breakfast and burn the toast. And then talking about, hey, hey, y' all, hey, I just burnt this toast, man. Cause it was in the toaster too long. You ever been in a season too long in your life and just been burnt out like this? Just the dumbest post. Cause I heard my friend's voice. The algorithm, the algorithm. You gotta beat the algorithm. And what's interesting to me is now we're not even talking about beating the algorithm. Have you noticed there's been a shift now? Now we're just controlled by the algorithm. It's not like you're trying to beat it. It literally shapes your life. It's not a coincidence. You watch the video of a kitten playing with a little yarn, and all of a sudden now you got 68,000 videos of a kitten just keeping you up at night watching it. It is shaping your life. Even in our email, y' all, this messed me up. I didn't know my email had a little update. And it has this thing called primary. My email is trying to tell me which email I should look at. So every email about social Dallas, when I had it on primary, kept coming up first. All the emails about the activities of my kids, school down at the bottom, didn't know anything about it. And I started realizing the algorithm is always going to try to force me to go a certain way. It's going to try to tell me what should be primary in my life. But I just made the decision, I'm coming into 41. I refuse to to live my life under the algorithm. I was not created for the algorithm. I wasn't designed for an algorithm. I was created for God's rhythm. And I want to be in sync with him. I'd rather be offbeat with the world, but in sync with God because he created A rhythm. And it's Sabbath. Sabbath. Do you. Do you have a. Do you have a time where you pause and you analyze the quality of your life? Are you just going and going and going? God is so serious about the Sabbath that he rested. He worked six days, and then he. God rested. Well, you understand, I'm a type A personality. God rested. But you don't understand. Like, I really have a checklist, and I have. God rested. Why did he rest? Not because he was tired, not because he was exhausted. That's kind of one of the things about being God. You don't get tired. You don't get exhausted. Why in Genesis is he showing us rest? He's given us a pattern. He's given us a rhythm for how humanity works. He rested not because he was tired, but because he was done, because he was finished. Oh, that made me shout. That preach is right there. Where my perfectionist at? I'm a perfectionist. Y' all see your hand? Yeah. Keep your hands up. Yeah. Control freaks. I just remember I told you, God is the only perfectionist. And yet this God knew after six days, that's as good as it gets. I'm done. Think about this. This is God. You realize he could have done it in day one. He could have wiggled his nose and just whirl. But even does it in days to show us I can do something on day one, have a boundary and say, hey, for this day and for the energy I had, I'm putting a boundary. Day one, done come back. Day two, let's do some stuff. Day two, day three, what is he teaching? He's teaching us his pace. He's teaching us his rhythm. Do you have any boundaries? See, we jacked up because our phones go with us everywhere. So here you are, answering emails at 1 in the morning. Sometimes people will send me a text. Did you get my text? Yeah. Oh, you had to get a response right there. That wasn't an emergency. You see how technology has jacked up our minds to think, well, I got it. I got to respond. God said, no, no, no, no. No wonder y' all are losing your mind. There is a rhythm to how I work. And God himself reached six days of creation and goes, it don't get better than that. Can you imagine if some of us were creating the world? We would still be waiting on the world right now. Because you'd be like, I can't get this grass the right green man. Gabriel, come over here. Help me. And yet God is able to go, that's as good as it gets. Creates it in six, rests on day seven. But let's go back. What was the last thing he created? Humanity. Adam and Eve were created on day six. He rests on day seven. That means Adam and Eve's first day in a whole new world was a day of rest. The first thing Adam and Eve did in a whole new world was to rest with God. Hear me. And take delight in something they didn't create, but God just placed them in it. This lets me know that rest is not the reward you get from. From work. Rest is the place that you do your work from. I do my work from a place of rest. So much so that God allowed Adam and Eve's first day in a whole new world was just to chill, to commune with each other and commune with him and operate from rest. And hear me. To take delight in what God had already done. Because last time I read it, they didn't plant anything. They didn't water it. God just gave them a whole food market. And their first job was to just take delight in what God had done. You want to get in sync with God and not be offbeat? I want to ask you, are you taking delight in what God has already done? Do you know how hard it is in this negative complaining culture to actually stop and take delight in what God has done? Have you noticed we are addicted to negativity? We are addicted to bad news. You want to be disruptive, all you gotta do is take delight. You want to be disruptive, walk in the environment where everybody's talking about how they like that and just walk in like, this is amazing. This is great. And watch how people look at you like you've been smoking on something. Because we are so prone to negativity. Nobody takes delight in anything anymore. You want to be disruptive, take delight. Anybody can be negative. It takes a mature person who has their delight in the Lord to step into an environment and just find the joy, find the pleasure to take delight. People are always going to pull you down to come to the lowest common denominator of negativity. And I am begging you, if you want to be in sync with God, don't do it. Don't do it. They'll do it about other people. You ever experienced this? This makes me laugh about humanity. You ever had somebody come up to you and they'll say something like this? They're like, hey. It always starts like this. Hey, come here. Hey, come here. Hey, come here. Hey, come here. Hey. Hey. You know Bill? Yeah, I know Bill. Hey. Hey. Just between you and me, hey, what you really think about Bill? You ever had somebody hit you with what you really. They'll do it about church. Hey, hey, hey, come here. Hey. You go to social? Yeah, yeah, I go to social. Hey, hey, come here. Hey, hey, hey. Just between us, what you really think about social? You know what they're doing with that? Really? They're trying to get you to stop finding delight. They're trying to get you to tap into negativity. And I'm telling you, be disruptive. I'm telling. I don't let people come to me with that stuff. I'm telling. This is a practice. It takes discipline to do this. I'm disciplined to do this. What you really think about Bill? I think he's amazing. Watch how they go. Oh, yeah. Really? What you really think about social? I think it's awesome. Can you believe it that there's a parking problem? Some churches are shutting down. Can you believe there's a revival? That a church has to have three services in a venue on a Sunday? Oh, my goodness. Can you believe we had to walk this far cause that many people are coming to Jesus? Can you believe there was a line for people to get baptized? Oh, my. This is amazing. Delight. Some of yalls faces you telling on yourself. You don't even know how to celebrate that. Because it's the trick of the enemy to get you to go from delight to duty. Hello. That didn't come in the first two services. You're welcome. You know you have switched from delight to duty when you start saying, I have to, instead of I get to. And watch Adam and Eve. They're in a garden and God says, it's day one. But your job, day one, is to take delight in what I've done. Ooh, Scripture's coming to me. I love this service. Delight yourself in the Lord. Psalm 37, and he'll give you the desires of your heart. That scripture is not saying God's a genie in the bottle. It's actually telling you the power of delight. Because when I delight myself in him, he has a way of realigning my heart to have the right desires. So I end up getting what I want because I started with delight in him. Because if I want to have delight, I gotta want what he wants, not what I want. God preach Robert Madu delight. So how did Adam and Eve get out of delight? Serpent. And if you've been in church, everybody talked about them grabbing the apple, whatever it was, eating it, right? Was that the sin chewing? Let's think deeper. Let's think deeper. Obviously God said, don't touch the tree. Don't eat of it. But was that the sin? The chewing? Come on. It'd be a sin today to chew. You see somebody chewing, like, hey, be careful. You saw what happened to Adam and Eve. The fruit was just the fruit of a melody that the enemy got in their mind. You know, he was over the music. He got a song in their mind. And once that song got in, they just made the move to grab the fruit. I'm helping y' all. Here's a melody. Here's the melody. Did God really say, shouldn't I eat of that tree? Yeah, he said, we can't touch it. He knows that if you eat of it, you'll be just like him. What's the melody? He has the same tricks. He does it today. Here's the melody. God is not good and he's withholding something from you. God's not good. He's withholding something. And once that melody got in their head, it was only a matter of time before they made the move. And all of a sudden, sin entered the world. And sin is what got us out of sync. Now everybody dances to the beat of their own drum. Sin is what got us chained. Just like the children of Israel in slavery. Sin is slavery. That's what it is to be bound to sin. Sin cuts off my connection. Oh, no wonder God is adamant about rest. Because I've noticed sin and busyness have the same effect on my relationship with God. They cut off my connection. This is why Corrie Ten Boone said this. If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy. Because busyness has the same effect. It's easy to tempt somebody who's weary. It's easy to tempt somebody that's tired. It's hard to tip somebody who is rested and content in God. So the children. I'll take those six claps. Thank you. Thank you. So no wonder the children of Israel had to be set free from the slavery in Egypt. But 30 days after freedom, you're already saying it was better to go back. They're crying out to God, complaining 30 days after he set them free. And God does not rain down fire. He rains down food. Food. What was the food? I'm glad you asked. Manna. Manna was the bread that came down from heaven that God used in the desert to sustain them. Here's what I love about God. He doesn't just save, he sustains. Here I am in the wilderness with no sprouts, no target and no Panera bread. And I Have a God who rains down bread from heaven to sustain me. Now, here's what blows my mind. If you look at the word manna, it does not translate to mean bread from heaven. Although it was bread. It translates to mean, what is it? So when the wonder bread, by the way, I told them to get wonder bread because, you know, it's a wonderful miracle when bread comes from heaven. So when the bread comes down from heaven, they called it manna. What is it? They didn't understand it. And of course they didn't understand it. Because when you've been a slave for so long, you think your value is connected to your productivity and what you do. So God is trying to show you I am able to provide for you not based off of what you do, but based off of the fact that you are my child. See, they understood working and sowing and planting and reaping. They didn't understand a God who is so good that he'll lead you in a wilderness and provide bread from heaven. And you don't have to do anything to make the bread. He'll just make it come. Have you ever had a manna moment in your life? A mana moment is when God just provides and he shows up in a way that it doesn't even make sense. You just look at it and say, that had to be the Lord, because I didn't have the resume for that. I didn't have the gift for that. I didn't have the talent for that. I didn't have the credit score for that. That was simply the miraculous wonder working power of God. I'm gonna give somebody an opportunity to give a little praise break right there. Can you look back over your life and say, that was manna. Only God did that. Only God can get the credit for that. That was not my effort. That was the goodness of God. Would you give God the best praise that you got if you're thankful that he can bring mana wonder bread from heaven? Thank you, Lord. Not just for your saving power, for your sustaining power. Who is this message for today? Because God has brought you out of something and you think he brought you into the wilderness to let you die. The devil is a lie. The same God that saved you is the same God that was the sacrifice sustain you. It's the same God single mama that's going to take care of you and those kids. It's the same God that's going to open up doors that no man can shut. I'm prophesying now. The same God that saves you is the same God That'll move your name up and that pile of resumes to make sure you get what you need. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots. I'm going to trust in the Lord that can make bread come down from heaven. Y' all ain't gonna shout, but I'm gonna shout in this 1245. I know moments in my life God just made bread come down. It was his work. Thank you, Jesus. He's a provider. Bread in the wilderness. He even know how to. They didn't even know what to call. What is it? I don't know how to receive without working. This is why grace doesn't make sense. No, let me do something, Lord for it. Let me read Leviticus. No, you can't earn it. You can't see. You know you are stepping into a revelation of rest when you're trusting that I can do less. Honor the rest and watch him provide. Now, when I say do less, let me just speak to everybody. It does not mean you don't work. Some of y' all shouting too much at this message. Yes. Wake up at the crack of noon, you playing video games all day, talking about yes, I love this on rest. No, fam, it's six days of work. Work. Then the. Some of you, your whole life is. You need some. But you, you know, you're stepping into the revelation of the Sabbath when I can do less. And trust he's going to provide. Not just provide, do more. Okay, no, no, no. This is. I'm going to break sermon protocol. I got to show you this because I didn't plan to do this. I. I was in the back in between services and I was talking to my assistant. She's amazing. I want to shout her out, chat GPT. And real quick, I asked her, I said, I said, this is what I asked. What fast food chain brings in the most money, most revenue? So my assistant said. As of 2023, McDonald's remains the highest grossing fast food chain in the United States with system wide sales totaling approximately 53.1 billion. This substantial revenue is generated from its extensive network of over 13,000 US locations averaging about 3.6 million annual sales per restaurant. Following McDonald's, Starbucks ranked second with US sales of 28.7 billion. And wait for it, Chick Fil A holds the third position generating 21.6 billion in US sales in 2023. Notably, Chick Fil A achieves this impressive revenue. See how Chick Fil A gets extra. Notably, Chick Fil A achieves this impressive revenue with a comparatively smaller footprint of around 2,500 locations. Its restaurants average nearly 9.4 million in annual sales per location, the highest per unit sales in the industry. In summary, my assistant says McDonald's leads the fast food industry in total revenue, while Chick Fil? A stands out for its exceptional sales performance per restaurant cola. Chick Fil? A. How you doing? More with less. The chicken ain't that good. I think it's what's under the sign closed on Sunday. The power of a Sabbath. Because when you pause and say God, it was your hand. It was not my grind. It was not my husband vessel. Watch how God will open up doors. Watch how God will do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can ask, think or imagine. When you rest, you trust. When you rest, you know who your dependence is on. You better rest, rest. How you doing? Marcel's than Popeyes and raising canes. And they all today. Rest, Sabbath. Trusting that God can bring bread in the wilderness. Y' all sit down. Let me tell you one thing real quick. Watch this. Resting and trusting is not laziness. Takes faith to trust. Hear me think. If God can make bread come down from heaven, God could have made the bread show up in their bellies. And yet with the manna, although he supernaturally provided it, notice that they still had to go out and gather it every day. So God says, I'm gonna do the miraculous. I'm gonna do my part. But that doesn't mean you just gonna chill and do nothing. You have to do your part in partnership and collaboration with the miraculous. Y' all. Don't ever get it twisted. It is a miracle. Oh, I hope we don't ever take it for granted. It is a miracle that a church that is four years old has a 90,000 square foot property on 13 acres in the city of Dallas. It's not normal. Study, change, planting. It's not normal. It's miraculous. Please believe. We were doing our part. Praying. You know how many prayer meetings Pastor Honey declaring, God, give us a building. Give us a building. Give us a bit. Pray as a family. You know how many times I've looked at notifications on the LoopNet app? Just trying to find, oh, is that a building? Is it empty? Is somebody in there? God will do the miraculous, but you got to do your part. Are you passively waiting for God to do something when he's already done it? But you gotta go get the manna. They had to gather the manna. Some quick things I noticed about the manna because I'm telling you, the manna is what got them in sync. He was using it to teach them a lesson. He was trying to show them this is how it operates, trying to get you in sync with me. And he made it so clear. That's why a lot of people's favorite song at weddings, at the Cha Cha slide. You know why? Because you get clarity. One hop this, he gave him clarity. He says you're gonna gather it quickly. I want to give you some practical things. They had to gather the manna in the morning. In the morning. You want the miracle I provided. Not in the evening. In the morning. What are you saying? How you start your day matters. Many of us are offbeat because of how you start your day. You ain't even got out of the bed and you've seen everything on CNN and Fox News and a text message and an email. Your feet haven't even hit the ground. No wonder you don't have rest. Your mornings matter. In the morning, look for the manna, look for the word of God. Get in his presence, start your day, day in his presence and watch how the rest and peace of God will come in your life. They had to get in the morning. Number two, they could only gather as much as they needed. They could only get as much as their household needed. And when they tried to get more and store it, it got worms and maggots in it. In other words, God says, if you want to operate in sync with me and the rest, you've got to discern and decipher that difference between your wants and your needs. How many of us are stressed right now because you're trying to get a want and it's not a need and you're grinding, trying to get more, trying to get greed and you think it's going to bring you peace and it's not. This is my 41 year old self coming into a season of just realizing. Have you come to the understanding you can only wear one pair of shoes at a time, you can only drive one car at a time. I don't care if you got a 20 bedroom house, I bet you can't sleep in multiple rooms at the same time. And so a part of resting is discerning God, is this a need or agreed, is this something that I want or something that I need? Because he will provide what is needed. Third thing is, they could only get what they needed for that day. Not for the month, for the day. Why? God says, I want you to depend and trust me for your daily bread. Lord, teach us how to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our weekly. My bad. Third server. Give us this day our monthly. What is that scripture? Give us this day our year. Give us this day our daily. So many of us are offbeat because you're worried about tomorrow when God says, trust me, for today, I have enough to sustain you. For today. Only time they got double was on day six, just so they could rest again on day seven. Are you offbeat? You striving? Are you in sync with Him? I'm gonna ask every person that can to stand to your feet. I'm gonna ask every. Head be bowed and eyes be closed. Please don't move, please don't leave. Just honor this moment as heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Hear me. Today I feel like this message, this series that I didn't plan to preach is an intervention. Hear me. It's an intervention. The rhythm and the cadence of Sabbath is so woven in the fabric of creation that you can either choose to rest voluntarily or you'll rest involuntarily. Life will force you to rest. Panic attacks will force you to stop if you don't learn to get in sync with God. I just feel like somebody today needs to get in rhythm with Him. And look at the kindness of our God, who sets the rhythm and gives an invitation and says, all who are weary, come to me and rest. Hear me when we talk about rest. I'm not talking about Netflix binging, so you zone out from your life. I'm talking about resting in Him. He is our rest. Later on he will say, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm the Lord of the rest. It's only in Him. And so with heads bowed and eyes closed, today I first want to give somebody an opportunity to respond to this invitation of rest and put your faith in Jesus. Maybe you've been running to other things and your soul is so tired, is so weary. And the invitation still stands of a God who says, come to me and I will give you rest for your soul. He is that manna. He is that bread that came down from heaven. He satisfies. And so with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and you'd be so honest to say, hey, pray. If I look at the rhythm of my life, I'm offbeat because I haven't surrendered my life to him. If that's you, I'd love to give you that opportunity. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can See it to say, today's the day I'm coming home. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Yeah, this is all he wants is the people who will respond to the invitation. I see those hands. You don't have to get yourself together to come to him. It's not your effort, it's not your record. It's his record. It's what he did. They didn't know where to find food God provided in the wilderness. They didn't know how to split a red sea. God did it. But they had to respond. You can put it right back down. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. If you're here today and you say, hey, pray, put my faith in Jesus. But just like the children in the wilderness, my life is offbeat. Here's one of the ways you know your life is off beat. Are you doing things out of duty instead of delight? Do you find yourself complaining more than you're giving God thanks for what he's done? All of those are signs that you've gotten offbeat. And hear me, there is grace. Can't tell you how many times in my life God has readjusted and said, hey, we've gotten offbeat here. Come back and sync with me. Learn my unforced rhythms of grace. So if you're here today and you'd be so honest to say, hey, I've put my faith in Jesus, but there's an area that is offbeat and I hear God speaking to me to get this back in alignment. Some of you, it's just as simple as starting off your morning with the manna with him. 80% of Americans wake up and in the first 10 minutes they look at their phone. No wonder we're an anxious generation. You need manna in the morning. That's you. And you say, I know what that area is that's offbeat and I need to realign it. Would you just lift up your hands high enough long enough where I can see it? Thank you, Lord. Father, thank you for rhythms of rest over your people today. Oh, would you help us find our satisfaction in you? Not in scrolling trying to escape, but God, reorder our lives, help us restore, respond to the invitation of finding our rest in you. You're the fountain of living water. You are the bread of life. Oh God, thank you that you sustain, you satisfy. Give rest to your people. God. I speak to depression even right now and let depression dissipate right now in your presence today, Father. Worry, anxiety, panic attacks. God, thank you for your peace in Jesus name. With heads still bowed eyes still closed. I want to give you an opportunity to bond by saying this prayer. If you lift up your hand for either one of those, would you say this? I'm going to give you the words but you say it from your heart. Would you say, jesus, I need you. I cannot do life without you Lord, today I recognize I've been offbeat. I want to be in sync I want to be in a rhythm with you. Forgive me of my sin make me brand new. Jesus, I believe that you lived the life that I was supposed to live. You died the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place. So I'm responding today by giving you everything. I receive your rest in Jesus name. Come on, somebody say amen. Give God the best praise that you got. Come on, you can do better than that. Social family Would you give Jesus some praise today.