The Way Church Podcast

00:00:01
Matthew, chapter number 11. I'll read a couple of verses in your hearing. Matthew, chapter number 1128 through 30, reading out of the new international version of God's Holy word, Matthew 11:28. And it says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

00:00:43
Verse 30 says, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Family we're starting a new series this month, and the title of this series is called Summer Break. Summer Break.

00:01:16
And this installation meant we're going to label very simply out of this text, unbothered.

00:01:27
Look at the person next to you as you take your seats and tell them, I'm unbothered. I'm unbothered.

00:01:41
Family I don't know about you, but summer has always been one of my favorite seasons, as somebody else is a witness of that. There's something about this time of year, the cookouts, the vacations, the longer days, the sunshine. Some of us have been counting down to summer since January.

00:02:11
The kids couldn't wait to get out of school because summer is coming. We look forward to the trips and the beach days and just a little more time to breathe. But if we can be honest and tell the truth in this sanctified church, many of us know how to take a break on the outside while still breaking down on the inside.

00:02:40
Have you ever taken a vacation and came back just as tired or even more tired than when you left? Come on in this church. Let's tell the truth and shame the devil. You planned to rest. You booked the hotel.

00:02:54
You took the time off. But even on the beach, your mind was back at work. Your mind was worried about the children. Your body was reclined, but your soul was restless.

00:03:10
Because the truth of the matter is that real rest doesn't start with your schedule. Real rest starts in your soul. You can be on a beach chair in Jamaica but still worried about bills. Back at home, you can be on a cruise ship in in the Caribbean, but still wrestling with anxiety in your mind. Know how to post pictures on ig?

00:03:40
But your soul is screaming for relief because we've mastered the art of looking rested but living restless. And Jesus knew that we would struggle with this. That's why he extended this standing invitation. He says, come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. You don't have to admit it in this church this morning.

00:04:14
But I wonder if there's anybody in this sanctified church today, under the sound of my voice or watching me, that needs rest for your soul.

00:04:25
Jesus didn't say I might or I'll consider it. He says, come to me when you get yourself. He didn't say, come to me when you get yourselves together. He says, come to me and I will give you rest. This is not just a vacation, but it's a permanent visitation that Jesus is saying to us, all you got to do is come to me and.

00:04:50
And I know how to give you rest. It's an invitation to a different kind of rest, the kind that refreshes your soul, the kind that recalibrates your spirit. It restores your strength. And today I want to talk to people who are tired of being tired. I want to talk to people that have been going through and you say, I have reach my apex with the situation and with these struggles and with this pressure that I'm under.

00:05:24
And I need rest beyond the rest that I get for eight hours in the evening time. People who look good on the outside but are carrying invisible weights on the inside.

00:05:40
God sent me to tell you it's time to break from burden. Look at somebody and tell them you need to take a break. Yeah. Make sure you tell somebody. Tell them you need to take a break.

00:05:53
Because some of us have been carrying things that God never intended for us to carry. And today, God wants to give you permission and an invitation to break the burden. He wants you to know that you can take a true step, summer break, and break the burden. Before we can lay it down, before we can hand it over, before we can break free, brothers and sisters, we have to identify what it is that we are carrying. Because you cannot fix what you do not face.

00:06:29
You won't be able to handle it if you are not bold enough to admit it. Let me say it this way. You can't release what you refuse. Refuse to recognize that you're holding on to.

00:06:43
There's one thing to know that you're tired, but it's another thing to know why you're tired. I'm gonna say it again for the people in the back. It's one thing to feel the weight, but it's another thing to name the weight that you're feeling.

00:07:05
And family. If we're going to truly experience the rest Jesus promised, the first step is to point number one, identify your burdens.

00:07:22
We have to take an inventory. In other words, we have to shed light on the burdens that we've been dragging around sometimes for years. Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and burdened. We have to pause right there. I teach you all the time that you can't just read the Bible.

00:07:44
You have to read the Bible. Jesus does not say, come to me, all you who are perfect. He doesn't say, come to me, all of y' all that got it together, who. Who never. Who will never get stuck, tired, or who always gets it right.

00:08:00
Notice he does not call the religious performers or the spiritual superstars. But Jesus points out. And he calls the weary. He points out the burden, the stressed out, the overwhelmed, the overthinkers, the overachievers, the overlooked, the single mom who has to be mom and dad, the father that's working three jobs, two just to keep the light on, the leader that encourages everybody else but cries themselves to sleep at night, the student that is crushed under the weight of expectation, the entrepreneur that silently deals with anxiety behind the brand.

00:08:47
Jesus said, that's who I'm looking for. Because Jesus understood, I cannot heal what you won't reveal. I know religion wants you to walk around burdened and bottled up with guilt and shame and the performance pressure, like you got it all together and you know how to dress the part and you know how to speak Christianese and you know how to wave your hand and pick them up and put them down, but you're under pressure.

00:09:21
But Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and burdened. If I don't do nothing else today, I want to give you permission to go to Jesus. If you don't hear nothing else, I want you to have permission to take it to Jesus. Nudge your neighbor and say, take it to Jesus. Because he said, come here.

00:09:42
He said, come here. Keep it real with me so I can set you free to walk around unburdened and unbothered and unstoppable.

00:09:53
He said, all of you that's dealing with something. Notice he calls out the pain points. In the marketing space, we call it the target audience. Jesus calls out his target audience, their pain points. He wanted to make a distinction.

00:10:13
Distinction. I'm not looking for the perfect people. I'm not looking for the people that. That's all intoxicated on their titles and their positions. He said, I'm not looking for them.

00:10:24
I'm looking for the people that has some real burdens. I'm looking for some people that have some real struggles. I'm looking for some people that scratch your head at night and have tears falling down your face on your pillows. At night and you walking around, you here, but you really somewhere else because your mind is still racing. He implies, I want those people.

00:10:50
Because listen to me. He expects us at some point in time to have pressure that he knows that life is going to weigh on us. Hebrews 4 and 15 tells us, for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the fear feelings of our infirmity. Jesus is in touch with our feelings. Some of us are carrying burdens we've gotten so used to.

00:11:20
They feel normal to us. Y' all giving me that religious look. Let me come where you are. That burden of guilt where you're replaying the worst moments on the loop in the theater of your mind. That burden of other people's expectations where you're trying to be everything to everybody and losing yourself in the process.

00:11:43
Burden of comparison, where you're constantly measuring your worth against somebody else's highlight reel and you're feeling like you will never measure up. The burden of past mistakes trapped in what you did or did not do. Believing that those things cause you to be defined of where you are today. The burden of performance. I gotta get myself together.

00:12:09
I gotta put my head up and I gotta act the part because I gotta feel like I have to hustle for my worth to earn love and prove my value even to God.

00:12:25
The burden of unforgiveness, where you refuse to release others and even yourself. Not realizing you are poisoning your present life.

00:12:40
Hear me. Don't miss this. You were not built to carry everything that you're carrying. And it's time for you to take a real summer break, starting with breaking burdens. Tell the person next to you it's time for a real break.

00:13:02
Yes, Time for a real break. First Peter 5. 7 says, Castle all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.

00:13:16
Notice it says cast and not place. Placing is gentle, but casting is aggressive. In other words, what he's telling us is, you got to throw that thing on Jesus. You've been carrying it too long and you cannot fly weighted down. You gotta throw that thing on Jesus.

00:13:42
One translation says, once and for all, give it to him and let him carry it. Because you cannot run if you're shackled to baggage. Burdens were never meant to be managed. They were meant to be given to God. Because when you don’t.

00:14:05
Or whatever you don't lay down will eventually lay you out. There's people that don't realize the reason why you can't make two steps of progress. Or you make a step, but then you take five Steps back is because you are carrying burdens, burdens that were meant to be given to God. Brothers and sisters, if you want to run your race, if you want to soar into your next season, you have to first identify and acknowledge the weight that's holding you down. You can't break free from burdens if you keep pretending like you don't have one.

00:14:55
What's wrong? I'm okay. What you going? Nothing. God said, listen, you want to be real with me because I already know.

00:15:03
So I wait for you to admit it to me because I already know what you're going through. He just said, I'm waiting for you to give it to me. Can we go a little bit deeper? Because Jesus does not just acknowledge it. He does not just acknowledge that you will have burdens, but the loving, kind God that we serve, he provides a solution for the burdens that we carry.

00:15:36
And he encourages us, point number two. To trade striving for surrender. To trade striving for surrender. Notice what he says. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

00:15:56
Now let's break this down. Because a yoke is a wooden harness that connects two animals together so that they can work together to pull a heavy load. But here is the key. The stronger animal bears the weight, while the weaker one simply walks in step with the stronger animal. What Jesus is saying to us family, is that, I know the load is heavy, but when you're yoked to me, I'll carry what you cannot carry.

00:16:30
All I need you to do is just walk with me. Part of the reason why sometimes we find ourselves, we weighted down and overwhelmed and stressed out. When life starts lifing, it's because of who we have been stepping with. I dare you to ask your neighbor, who you stepping with? Yeah, who are you stepping in?

00:16:51
Because when you strive, you will burn out. But when you surrender, you will find out that Jesus will carry every load that you have. Jesus is saying, get in step with me. Let me lead you step. Stop fighting me, stop pulling away from me.

00:17:09
Learn my rhythm, learn my pace. Stop trying to outrun me and outwork me and get in step with me. Just walk with me. I dare somebody to shout, I'm stepping with Jesus. Tell somebody else I'm walking with Jesus.

00:17:26
Yeah, I realize I can't handle it on my own. I realize I can't do it by myself. So I'm going to walk with Jesus. I. You think it's me that's carrying me?

00:17:35
No, it's the God in me. It's the Jesus in me. It's the one that strengthens me. When I'm weak. It's the one that holds me up when I feel like I'm going to fall.

00:17:46
It's Jesus.

00:17:53
I gotta walk with Jesus. Psalm 46 and 10 says, Beast still and know that I am God. Sometimes you just gotta be still and know and let God be God. Ah, stop trying to be God. You stop trying to handle it yourself.

00:18:12
Just get in step with Jesus and know that he will be God.

00:18:23
Watch this. Because God be still doesn't mean do nothing.

00:18:33
Be still doesn't mean do nothing. It means you stop fighting God's leadership. You stop wrestling with his timing, trying to make it your timing. You stop completing or competing with his plan, trying to force your plan. I know what to do.

00:18:58
I know how to make it happen. That's the culture's way. Because we live in a culture that says, hustle harder, grind more, sleep less, prove yourself, make it happen. But in the kingdom, the third way, greatness does not start with grind. Greatness starts with grace.

00:19:14
All the things that I could not do by myself because of the grace of God that I have every single day, I can do more with the grace of God than I could ever do grinding by myself. And this is the reason why some people are tired and worn out and burnt out is because they trying to grind it by themselves. When God says, I will make your way easy and successful, when you just walk with me, when you give in to me, when you follow my, I will do it for you.

00:19:50
Because you cannot earn God's love.

00:19:55
You don't hustle for his approval. You can't grind for his grace. I don't have to strive to be forgiven. He already paid for that 2000 years ago on the cross. He paid for it.

00:20:15
I cannot earn his favor. Grace already covers that. Isaiah 30 and 15 says, in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. You'll find strength in quietness and trust in God. Sometimes your greatest spiritual breakthroughs won't come from you doing more, but they will come from you surrendering more.
00:20:47
That when I surrender to God, God will show up and open up the floodgates and make things happen that I could never happen make happen in a million years by myself. Are you listening to me? See, we confuse surrender with giving up. But surrender is not giving up. Surrender is giving over.

00:21:11
I'm going over to God. I'm going to give it over to God. Because here's what I've learned. When you or what you try to control, you will eventually have to carry. But what you surrender to God, God will carry it for you.

00:21:26
Has anybody ever had God to carry some things, carry you through some situations, carry you out of a struggle that you could not get out by yourself, but you knew it was the hand of God that was able to carry you out of that thing.

00:21:43
You cannot receive God's strength if you insist on your strategy, if you insist on doing it your way, God will allow you. God is a gentleman, and he said, I'll let you have it your way. I'll let you struggle. I'll let you through it. I'll let you be underburdened.

00:22:03
But I've learned it's better. Just go with God.

00:22:10
Because surrender is not weakness. Surrender is not weakness. It's wisdom. Somebody say wisdom. Say it again.

00:22:20
Say wisdom. It's wisdom just to surrender to God. Surrender to the King's way. It's like you're in the airport dragging three heavy suitcases, sweating, stumbling, breathing hard, out of breath, because you're determined to make it on your own. And right beside you is an empty cart, free, ready, waiting on you.

00:22:57
But you insist on carrying your carrying it yourself. Jesus is the cart saying, you don't have to do this by yourself. You don't have to carry this by yourself. Let me carry what's too heavy for you. Are y' all getting this?

00:23:17
Let me do it for you. So, family, the question today is simple. Are you going to keep dragging what Jesus died on the cross to carry? Are you going to continue to do it your way? Or are you going to trade striving for surrender?

00:23:43
If you are going to surrender to God, just lift your hands and say, I surrender, God. Yeah, Say, I surrender, God. If you're tired of carrying the pressure, I surrender. Watch it. Because when we trade striving for surrender, something incredible happens.

00:24:07
When we stop fighting, we stop kicking and screaming, trying to do it our way, and start flowing. When we stop grinding and start trusting, we stop performing and rest in his finished work. We set ourselves up for something greater in our lives. We set ourselves up for something deeper than physical relief. Because after you've identified your burdens, after you chosen to surrender them to Jesus, there's one more thing that he wants to give you.

00:24:42
Not just an empty schedule, not just a quiet moment, but something far greater. Jesus says, I want to give you rest for your souls. See, Jesus didn't stop at come to me. He didn't stop at take my yoke. He finished by saying, and you will Find rest for your soul.

00:25:04
If you need rest for your souls, I dare you to lift your hands and say, thank you God for rest. Make sure you tell them like you mean it. Say, thank you, God for rest.

00:25:16
That's not surface level sleep. It's not a nap or a weekend off. This is so deep rest, supernatural calm that cannot be shaken by circumstances. But this only happens when point number three. We embrace rest as strength.

00:25:42
Embracing rest as shrimp. Because Jesus finishes this invitation with the promise. He says, and you will find rest for your souls. In other words, there's something that you're going to have to do. And when you do it, you will find rest for your souls.

00:26:01
This isn't just about physical sleep. It is about a deeper rest, soul level rest. There is a difference between sleep and rest.

00:26:13
Because you can get eight hours of sleep and still wake up tired. If your soul is not rest, do I have a witness in the house? You can go to sleep. You can have the best mattress in the world, the best pillow, the best sheets, thousands of thread counts. But guess what?

00:26:39
If your soul is not at rest, you still gonna wake up.

00:26:47
Because rest is not weakness. Rest is your weapon against the enemy. I know the culture equates rest with laziness. They equate rest with weakness or falling behind. But in the kingdom, somebody say, in the kingdom, rest is not optional.

00:27:06
It's essential for the believer. Isaiah 40, 29 and 31 says, he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.

00:27:31
They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Notice Isaiah says even strong people get tired.

00:27:45
Been young, energetic individuals will stumble and fall. But those that wait on the Lord, they will have rest in God. They'll have their strength renewed. When you learn to rest in God, you are not quitting. You are positioning yourself to receive the God's power.

00:28:13
I don't know about you, but I need God's power in every area of my life, every day of my life, in every decision of my life, and everything that I have to do. I need his power.

00:28:29
Hebrews 4, 9, 11 says, There remain then a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters. God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter into that rest. It almost sounds like a contradiction.

00:28:54
You make every effort. If I don't do nothing else I'm a rest in God because true rest takes intentionality.

00:29:05
It means I gotta trust over, toiling over this situation.

00:29:11
Some people know how to say it in here, but when you get outside and life starts life in and things start happening, you're losing control and you're spazzing out and you're spiraling and you're crying and in a ball of tears. Why? Because you have not entered into his rest. You got to choose his pace over the pressure of the world. You see this all through scripture.

00:29:42
Elijah in First Kings chapter number 19. After defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah was exhausted. He was afraid, he wanted to give up. And God didn't give him a motivational speech.

00:29:56
He didn't give him a motivational speech. He let him rest and eat. Because God knows that your soul cannot fight when your body and your spirit is depleted.

00:30:11
Sometimes we don't need to talk. We sometimes we just need to rest. We need to calm our mind down. We need to steal away. We need to get in the presence of God.

00:30:23
We need to get our strength renewed. Because when we get our strength renewed, God will be able to work things out.

00:30:34
Jesus himself in mark chapter number six, verse 31, the Bible says then because so many were coming and going, they did not have a chance to eat. And he said to them, talking about his disciples, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place. Somebody say quiet place, a quiet place and get some rest.

00:30:58
Even Jesus took time to withdraw. He took time to rest and recharge.

00:31:06
He was the son of God. And if he prioritized rest, what makes us think that we don't have to?

00:31:15
Are y' all getting this? God himself in the creation chapter two of Genesis. By the seventh day, God had finished his work.

00:31:28
He finished the work that he began doing. And on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. Now how, how many of you know God wasn't tired?

00:31:41
Y' all don't know that the all powerful God, he wasn't tired. But what he was doing is he was modeling the purpose and plan of rest for us. So that we know that you don't just keep going, going, going, that you have to steal away, that you have to rest.

00:32:10
He modeled the rhythm of rest for us. What am I trying to tell you? Rest positions you to receive from God. Rest postures you for clarity. It refuses you for your journey.

00:32:25
I don't know about you, but for me I gain better perspective when I'm rested. I get renewed strength when I'm rested. When you rest in him you move from trying to make it happen to trusting that God's going to make it happen. How can you be so calm with all that you're going through? It's because I trust in God.

00:32:47
I trust in God. Somebody say, I trust in God. Oh, you said that week. Say it again. I trust in God.

00:32:55
He's my savior. He'll never let me fall. Jesus said, you will find rest for your soul. Brothers and sisters, you need more than a day off. You need daily surrender, rested in God.

00:33:14
Because here's what I learned. When you rest in God, you will get more done with less.

00:33:25
You'll get more done with less. When you rest in God. When you embrace rest as your strength, you're saying, God, I trust that you're working while I'm waiting. I trust that you can do more in my surrender than I can do in my striving. I trust and know that my identity is not in my hustle, but it's in your presence.

00:33:47
As long as I'm in your presence, I will find the strength that I need.
00:33:56
I don't have to wait for the church to call a fast. I call fast for myself. I get in the presence of God for myself. When I need the strength of God, I learn how to pray for myself. I don't have to call somebody and get them to come and pray so they can perform.

00:34:15
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I learned how to pray for myself.

00:34:23
Nobody gonna be able to take the credit but for this, but God. Because I'm gonna call on him and I'm gonna trust in him and I'm gonna believe in him and I'm gonna wait on him and I'm gonna see him come through for me.

00:34:37
He's done it before, he's gonna do it again. I say, he's done it before, he's gonna do it again. He's done it before, he's gonna do it again. Does anybody have a testimony? He's done it before, he'll do it again.

00:34:52
Because I trust in God. I believe in God. I'm going to show him. I'm going to show him. I trust him.

00:35:03
Rest is not inactivity. It's intentional trust.

00:35:12
And a God who never fails, never fails. Nobody in here could ever say, God failed me. The mic. Nobody can say it because his track record has already proven that he will never fail, that he will do everything that he said he's going to do.

00:35:41
Listen, I don't know what you need, but he said, I'll never fail. I don't know what you're struggling with, but he said, I'll never fail. I don't know what you're wrestling with by yourself, but he said, I'll never fail you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you.

00:36:03
I'll be with you the midnight hour. I'll stick closer than you, than a brother could ever stick to. You tell somebody he'll never fail you. Make sure you tell him I. I'll trust him because he'll never fail me.

00:36:26
Listen, if you want to soar into your next season when I can't figure it out, while I'm stressing, God's waiting and saying, I'm right here. I'm just waiting on you. Many times we think we're waiting on God, but God says, I'm waiting on you. I'm just waiting on you to surrender, to give it over to me. Because I can carry it.

00:37:03
I can handle it. I've seen it before. I know the end. From the beginning, I knew you was gonna go through this. Before you knew you was gonna go through it, before your mother met your father and you came into this earth, I already knew that this was gonna happen.

00:37:24
If.

00:37:29
If you're going to soar into your next season, if you're going.

00:37:36
If you're going to move into that place that God wants you to move in, it won't be because you hustled harder. It will be because you rested. Rested deeper in God.

00:37:52
Tell somebody. Rest isn't luxury. It's a necessity for your soul. Rest is not luxury. It's a necessity for your soul.

00:38:06
And as I open this series up today, I just want us to make the choice, not just take a summer break, but take a soul break.

00:38:19
Embrace rest as strength in your life, the strength that it was intended to be. Stand with me all over this building.

00:38:33
What burdens are you carrying? What burdens are you struggling with that God is inviting you to lay down? Where in your life are you striving instead of surrendering?

00:38:52
God sent me with this word today to let you know it's time for a true summer break where you can live unbothered, that no circumstance or situation will ever be able to disrupt you.

00:39:14
If you know this word was for you. Lift your hands where you are. God was speaking to you, and you, you receive it today. I decree and declare over your life that you will no longer carry what God has called you to cast on him. I decree and declare that you will not be crushed by the weight of worry, that you will not drown in the sea of striving by yourself, that you will not suffocate with the silent struggles or the secret battles.

00:39:54
But in the name of Jesus, I speak over your life that you will experience supernatural rest.

00:40:06
Rest not just for your bodies, but rest for your mind, rest for your emotions, rest for your spirit, Rest in your soul.

00:40:18
I declare over you that you will sleep in peace.

00:40:25
I decree and declare that you will rise in purpose, that you will walk lighter and freer and move forward, and move forward in strength. I speak divine release.

00:40:40
I speak renewed strength.

00:40:44
That God will give you your joy back, that this season of your life will be deep. Rest that you will experience, that you will be able to break from burden.

00:41:01
I speak it now in Jesus name.
Total Duration 00:41:06