Where Can I Find a Little Rest?

Title: "Where Can I Find A little Rest? | Pastor Joel Mason (Sunday Service)" URL: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blrNnuIi7BU" Transcript: "(00:01) Only one left talking is Lori, so that's okay. >> [laughter] >> Sorry, Lori. Just couldn't resist that one. So, good morning. Couple of things I want to draw to your attention. One, um it's Memorial Day weekend, and if kids haven't left yet, I see they can they can head out. That's great. Um but just want to say um we recognize God's goodness to us as a nation, and to those who have sacrificed on behalf of this nation, too. (00:30) I think we need to be mindful as followers of Jesus does not exclude us from the benefits that have come from being as uh citizens and those who live in this nation. And so, uh I am thankful for that, and God is good. Uh the other thing I wanted to do is to wish you a happy birthday. And you're going, "What are you talking about? It's not my birthday. (00:50) " Uh it is. Today is the celebration of the birthday of the church, and today is Pentecost. And it's the gift of the Holy Spirit was given, and the church church was uh uh was born. This is why Christ died, not just to forgive our sins, but to give us his church. And so, uh it's good for us to recognize and remember that as well. (01:09) God is good, and he dwells with us personally and in us personally if we've committed our lives to Christ. So, happy Pentecost Day as well. All right. We're in a series. Uh if you're guest with us, this is part seven of our series on I Promise, and we are just taking a few weeks to walk through some of the promises of God. (01:31) And our reason for that is to recognize as disciples of Jesus, how is it that we get to know God? And uh I'm simplifying this down quite a bit, but in that process of becoming one who follows hard after Jesus, I am learning not only to obey all that he has taught, and to in that process learning to become uh live my life in full surrender to him, it also is a process of learning the God that I am serving. (02:04) And sometimes we disconnect on those things. We make it a list of well, I'm supposed to, you know, be nice to my neighbor and I'm supposed to, you know, not swear and do bad things and you know, we make our list up and that's what we go by. But really, to be a disciple of Jesus is to get to know our rabbi, to get to know our savior. (02:25) And so, as part of that, uh we look at these promises because God's character is intricately woven into the promises that he makes throughout scripture. So, the truth is this and this is the whole premise of our series here, that God has revealed himself by the promises that he has made. And as we become those who live in his promises and by his promises, we become those who know him. (02:52) That's what the series is about. And I'm not going to walk back through everything we've looked at. We're going to look at a different promise today than we have, obviously, in the previous weeks. And maybe to help illustrate it, it's very uh a personal reminder. Maybe God did this intentionally, didn't know it at the time when I put the series together. (03:11) But we're going to be looking at one that I uh is very practical, number one, and number two, uh I'll put it this way. I honestly believe this is going to be a funny one. This is, I believe, of the promises of God, we like the idea of this promise, but I think this is a promise that we ignore almost more than any other promise. (03:32) And I'll see if you see if you believe or agree with me by the time we are done here this morning. So, as many of you I've told you uh and you've heard and not to dwell on me here. It's not about me this morning, but I'm going to share what I'm going through as an illustration, okay? So, uh I think we shared last week, um, we are moving to another house, not out of the area, can't get rid of us that soon. (03:58) Um, but, uh, we're moving into another house. And this has been a process for us, for Renee and I, that, I don't know, 7 [snorts] 8 years, maybe, maybe more, we've been looking to, uh, possibly buy another house. And there was we had certain criteria, things what we were looking for. And in that process of time, um, we made offers on several houses and things fell through every time. (04:25) And so we had made a decision, um, a couple months ago that we were done looking. We just were done. And we had been praying all the way through this and it just really seemed evident to us that God didn't want this to happen. And so, um, there were so many times where it looked like this is really promising, pieces are coming together, this seems to be right. And bam, it would get cut off. (04:48) And it was okay. It just, yeah, there's disappointment, but we felt like, okay, that's good. Um, so we had come to the point where we had decided we were going to, uh, just stay where we were. And in fact, just to give you the full context here, not only made that decision, but we decided in that being the case that we were going to do some, uh, improvements on our house. (05:11) And so, the main thing we were looking at, I had [clears throat] I did a, um, slight remodel in our family room, got that done, and then I was just lining up to remodel our kitchen. And so I had, uh, contractor lined up and countertops ordered, we bought the the flooring was coming, new appliances were ordered and were on their way. (05:33) Um, so all of this was in the works. And literally on Thursday I was going to start tear out. Thursday, I'm on my computer, um, doing some writing and, um like a dummy I have uh Zillow and Redfin will pop up when new houses come on. And I hadn't disconnected that yet. And all of a sudden, bing, things pops up and it hit our criteria at least the on there that you can set and so I I didn't I kind of glanced at it no big deal. (06:09) I thought oh, I recognize that house. And uh so I went and looked at it and I was like I don't even know if I want to even tell Renee on this one. I It's like no, we said no, we're done. So I keep working doing some stuff. It's still sitting there. So I go and look at it and I'm like oh man this kind of hits what we've been looking for. Uh no, I don't want to. (06:31) Couple hours later I walk downstairs and go okay just look at it. Don't just just look at it. We don't have to do anything. And I'm expecting her to say no and I'm going to be quite fine with that. And she goes takes a little look at it and she goes well I don't know. We We got the kitchen you know and we're going to we don't want to get into this and it's like yeah, you're right. (06:53) You know, whatever let's let's move on from this and we're sitting there she goes well maybe we should go take a look at it. I'm not sure whether I'm happy or >> [laughter] >> bothered by that at this point. It's like okay. So this was Thursday. Friday we went and looked at the house and uh I thought well yeah, it's got it's got the things we're looking for but we're just like no, we lived by the way 25 years in our current house. (07:23) So and this is another jumping ahead I don't recommend trying to move after living in a house for 25 years. Just just telling you that, okay? Um and if there's anything you guys want to come over you can have anything in our house that you want. We want to get rid of it. Um >> [laughter] >> but that's a whole another part of the story. (07:42) The other the reality is we went and looked at that and so we called up uh my niece has been our agent for on all these houses that we've looked at and said well you're not going to believe this. I sent her the thing and she goes Well why don't you go back there having an open house on Sunday and really see whether or not you want the house. (07:59) We went back on Sunday walked through in fact we went and it was an irritating experience for me because it was literally packed in the house of people looking at it. Um and it's like we this is going to be just another one of these running in circles again that I don't want to do this and I'm not going to get into some bidding war. (08:21) I'm not going to do No, not going to We went in Renee will tell you I was a little bit grumpy and I said let's get out of here. And so we left. And my niece called and said uh Well what do you guys think? And And said well to be honest with you we like the house. I just didn't enjoy being over there today. So but we liked it. (08:40) We talked and the stuff and go okay we're going to make an offer. And so she called their agent and said um we're thinking of putting an offer in goes well I've got several others who are going to be writing offers. And so or at least they're saying that and we go oh man No, it's it's like whatever. Okay, we'll put in an offer and we know what we want to do. (09:00) We're not getting into bidding war. We put in um I'm giving you all kinds of details here. We put in an offer right at asking. And we knew with the with the interest in the house at least from the open house there's a good chance we're going to get outbid on this. So we put that in on Sunday and we were the first people to put in an offer and but the challenge was our offer was contingent and um we thought there's there's no way this is going to happen. (09:28) So speed up the story. Get to Wednesday. They've accepted our offer but it's contingent. Wednesday night they get two offers that are significantly over the asking price. Their agent calls back and says, "We're going to go with one of the other offers and unless you guys can come up with a way to keep yourself in the in the running." We said, "Nope. (09:48) " Um we'll just simply be praying if God wants us to have that. So, in that process, that was in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday, about 8:00 on Wednesday night that our agent called back and goes, "You know, we've we're um the owners are re-looking at your offer and um there are >> [clears throat and cough] >> several reasons why they're starting to think they might come back uh to your offer. (10:18) And uh in that they said and I was saying this last Sunday, one of the biggest things was that um we were in ministry. >> [cough and clears throat] >> And they come from a family of uh his dad was a pastor. So, >> [clears throat] >> they have a connection to that. Ends up Speed the story back up. Sorry, I'll get caught in the details here. (10:52) Um that Thursday morning they call and say they have gone with your offer. They want to go with you. However, the stipulation is you have to have your house on the market tomorrow. And by 5:00. And it's like, "Oh, that sounds fun." Um the good thing was God had been preparing for that all the way along. And so, we had already had pictures taken of our house. (11:16) We already had We'd been keeping our house Renee does a good job anyway of keeping our house clean and ready to go and and I say Renee not because that's her job. I say Renee because I make it a mess. She cleans it up. Um and but in that process, uh we put our house on the market on Friday night. We had an open house on Saturday, a second one on Sunday, and we had four offers over asking on Monday morning. (11:45) >> [cough and clears throat] >> So, I tell you that, and we closed on both houses last Thursday. So, that all went through. Uh So, I tell you that. Why? Because I want to not take time to focus on me, but what on God was doing in in for us in that. We sometimes [snorts] take so many things of life for granted. (12:11) And we just kind of think, "Yeah, we go through these things, and God's here, but we're down here in the muck." And God's in the muck with us. That's why Jesus came. And as we talked about last week, God knows our needs, and he knows them well enough that if we're wise enough to walk with him, he'll meet our needs according to his timing and his plans and what he feels is best. (12:36) And so, God is good, and I say that not just because we got a new house, but because I see God in the evidence of how we got to that new house. That's the good part of God, not the house, but God taking us through that process. And so, why do I tell you all of that? It really does tie in, and I'm going to tie it in here in a minute to what we're going to talk about today. (13:02) We now are in the very, very fun process of packing and moving. And I don't know that I've felt as tired as I have felt going as I do now right now. Uh but we're we're doing it. It's going. It's going great. >> [snorts] >> And I was reminded this week because I was putting together this message of this promise that we're going to look at today. (13:31) God promises that he commands, we're going to look at, he commands for us to rest, but he promises to give us rest. This is a very unique God does this on almost everything that we will look at in his promises, but this one's very unique in that he commands for us to rest. He demonstrates and models resting in himself, and then he provides the rest for us. (13:54) So, we need to understand the full God talks about rest as he does, okay? So, let's start in the book of Genesis, chapter 2, just so we have a context from scripture. On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. Now, I want you to think of something with me. (14:15) We'll continue those verses in a second. Do you think God actually needed to rest like we need rest? There's a purpose. God chose and said, in fact, we're going to read it here in a second, that he made rest holy. He set it apart for a purpose. And so, he's then set it apart, and he has is said it is a good thing in and of himself. (14:43) It represents an aspect of his character for God to rest. It demonstrates his control. It demonstrates his expression of delight in what he has done. And to find the time to not be always hurried, God doesn't have to be hurried, and he's wanting to pass it on to those of us who care to bear his image. He has it for a purpose for us to rest. (15:04) So, it goes on in verse 3, "And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation." >> [snorts] >> There is a purpose behind rest that I hope we will we will grasp. I I earlier, as disciples and those who desire to follow Jesus, I think one of this is and it's very [snorts] funny to me in a certain way. (15:30) If I were to ask you if the idea of being rested is good, you'd say yes. If I would ask you if you like the to take, you know, if you could lay in a hammock on a beach and give praise to God, would you want to do it? Oh, yeah, I would love to. But in your regular work week, do you find rest? And do you have a purpose for finding rest? We find ourselves we are so good. (15:54) Maybe I'm different. I don't think so. We are so good at being busy. We always look at life with the next thing that has to be accomplished. We We often measure our value by what we think we will can do. And so if I'm slowing down, in fact, there was there's been several books written on this in the last the last 10 15 years, that we find and measure value in our existence by the how busy we keep ourselves. (16:24) We determine, oh, yeah. How often do you say when somebody how you doing? Oh, I'm really busy. But man, I'm doing good. And so we we somehow think if we say, "No, you know what? I feel really rested today. How am I doing? I'm rested." We would think, well, what? This guy must be lazy. What's wrong with him? But see, God wants his followers to be able to say, "How are you? I'm rested. (16:51) " I'm rested because of God. He has allowed me and called me and shown me how and he says, "Rest. Find your your renewal in me. Find an opportunity that as you rest, you're able to give praise back to me. That you that you know I sustain you. That I you know that I walk with you. You know that I care for you. (17:15) You know that I will provide." We looked at that last week. If we truly hang on to the promise that God will provide, doesn't it make sense that we can rest? Absolutely. What did we looked at Matthew 6 last week? Okay, I went to Matthew 6 again, just for those of you who are giving me a bad time earlier today. Um >> [snorts] >> But God says that he who cares for the birds and of the air and the grass of the field, why are you worrying? Cuz you can't add anything to tomorrow. (17:48) You see what he's laying out in that context of his provision? Is a peaceful rest. As an assurance. See, rest is not just I need to sleep, it's in the mind as well. What preoccupies my thoughts and drives the things that I do? What wakes me up at 3:00 in the morning and starts running my brain like crazy? It's I've got to learn to rest in the presence of God. (18:18) Okay, let's go to Exodus 20 cuz I want us to catch this and then we're going to build on this on this truth. Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What makes it holy? Just the fact that you're not working? No, that God declared it as set apart to him. Have a day in your week that's set apart to God where you do not allow anything to crowd in on it where you can see and focus only on the goodness of God's provision. (18:44) You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. (19:02) Isn't it funny? It's Sorry, I laughed right there at that is God even is saying don't let your let your livestock rest. I provide. Don't put a yoke on the oxen make them plow the field. Don't do let them rest. Cuz this world is mine God says and I put you in it and I will provide through it. Enjoy and be fully rested in me. (19:29) He goes on for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth this and the sea and everything in them but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. So the one thing we can first draw out of that is God values rest. The question that needs to be do I value rest as God values rest? And I'm going to say I'm going to be critical this morning because I'm putting myself in there. (19:58) I don't think we value rest like God values rest. I really don't. Somehow we think that God is in he's impinging on my freedom or he's he's putting too much of a demand. I got to be able to use I can't rest this week. I'll rest next week. Here's a little you can go do studies on this. People that really truly do observe a Sabbath day of rest there have been studies done that show they live healthier and longer. (20:35) Less stressed. I mean they they live what we all want. But it's like we heard we what we can rest? Never heard of such a thing. We we fill it up our in our mind comes from a must do must have must be rather than he is he's all I want. He's all I need. I will rest in him. He's my provision. We've got to get past that. (21:05) Now I read that in Exodus and and it's written as a command, the idea to rest. He's telling his people, "Rest. I set the example, recognize me, and find time. You set apart the seventh day for me." So, we're going, "Okay, it's a command, not a promise." No, it it is command. And it starts there. But I said you're to you already, it's a command based upon his example. (21:33) So, his character is wrapped up in that command. And I think he has to give it as a command because we as human beings we're a little bit thick-headed. Especially when it comes to the idea, and I've already mentioned it, of accomplishment. And we think time will determine my accomplishments. Did you know God doesn't say that you need more time to accomplish what he desires? See, we've got a whole wrong mentality about this. (22:04) God says you need me to accomplish all that I intend for you. And we'll say, "Great, God, but I've got to go do these things." God has given a picture throughout scripture. It starts here with an example we looked in Genesis, it moves to a command in Exodus, and we're going to see by the time we get to Jesus teaching, it moves to a promise. (22:27) And that we need to observe that promise because it has been commanded. And we need to begin to be those who truly find delight in our God and full dependence on him. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything. No, he made a mistake. I think that's been written out now. (22:49) It's some things will be added to you. No, everything will be given to you. Fact, you will find when Jesus talked about our approach to living life, he said we can't add anything to our lives by our uh our work our and our striving and our constant filling of our time." He talked about how we need to be able to surrender rather than gather more. (23:17) It's all around this concept of rest. Rest is letting go, giving yourself room to breathe. God intended for you to find He gave you breath. He wants you to breathe Him in in your daily existence. And breathe Him out in all the things that you do. I heard somebody say uh this last week um if Christians will ever figure this out, they can do far more in 6 days than anyone can ever do in 7 days without God. (23:50) Do you believe that? With Jesus, following His command and His promise, we can do far more in life than anyone can do with 7 days of non-stop work. >> [snorts] >> Let's continue and push this a little bit further forward. Let's move into the New Testament where Jesus taught Matthew 11:28-30. Are you having real struggle? Come to me. (24:18) Carrying a big load on your back? Come to me. I'll give you rest. Pick up my yoke and put it on. Take lessons from me. My heart is gentle, not arrogant. You'll find the rest you deeply need. My yoke is easy to wear. My load is easy to bear. Or in John 14, I am leaving with you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. (24:42) And peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So, don't be troubled or afraid. If you want to study uh this week, go study the concept of rest throughout the Bible. We looked at last week Psalm 23. God is a God who wants to provide as a shepherd provides for a sheep, but do you see the theme of rest all the way through that 23rd Psalm? He makes me what? Lie down beside still waters. (25:14) He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy. You know what the table has on it? Everything you need. You're not running around this field is bare. I can't find any grass. There's nothing to eat. Now, see, that's what Jesus already talked about. We We talked about in Matthew 6. God's going to provide even down to what you eat and need. (25:40) I'm going to You can challenge me on this or ask me more on this later. I honestly believe the reason many of us don't have the things that we need in our lives is because we have not learned to rest in God. I need I need to say that again. Many of us do not have the things we need in this life because we have yet to learn to rest in God. (26:07) A day set literally a day set apart. And even I believe if you read through scripture, it's beyond a day. It's a mentality that flows through everything that I do. I don't have to be in a hurry. Because I'm following my shepherd. I'm not leading my shepherd. I'm not having to go hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up. God has his timing. (26:29) In the seven plus years of our search for a house, it was not I have a hard time putting that in a need category. We've been blessed our whole lives Renee and I have been blessed. We had reasons why we felt this is one, a desire, two, a ministry benefit and a life benefit. So, we looked. But we prayed. (26:54) As I said, there were tough opportunities that came up and disappointments that followed, but in each of those disappointments it had gave us an opportunity to circle back to go, "God, were we pushing too much for something we wanted? Were we seeking to our What is it you want us to know? How do we listen better? What is it we're not understanding?" And part of that is the rest of saying, "Timing is mine. (27:21) I will do what I please to do with your life. Live it in me and find the rest that you don't have to worry about that stuff." Last week I talked about when God wants to provide, we often think of provision from a materialistic, physical standpoint. But, the reality is God is interested in you as a whole being. (27:43) And so, yes, he'll provide and see, Jesus even said that. It's not a problem for God to provide your physical needs. That's nothing. He also provides for you emotionally and spiritually. He provides for us as whole beings. And when we learn to be able to rest in God, I find my that rest restores me emotionally. (28:06) I find that rest restores me spiritually. It not and it will restore me physically as well. It will restore me relationally. Sometimes some of our relationships, and maybe you know what I uh one that might come to mind for you, is that our relationships are suffering because we are not resting in God. We are pushing in those relationships. (28:30) We are uh striving for our own wants and desires. We are demanding and rest does not demand. I believe it is a it's a soul shift where we need to long for rest rather than rush right past it. God has been kind enough to demonstrate it, to command it, and now in those words we read from Jesus, he promises it. (29:02) I'll give you the rest you need. You've got to choose rest. Choose it. So, I want to give us a challenge this morning because as I said, I I was as I was looking in about this and thinking about it in the midst of trying to get my house packed up, >> [snorts] >> I realized that it is easy for me to put a concept of rest as that's a nice idea. (29:29) Get back to you about that later. Today when I go home, my house is fair to say a mess. >> [laughter] >> It's it's 3/4 empty and stuff all over the place that we still haven't even packed up. Do you know what my natural tendency is going to be? Walk in that front door, set my Bible and notes down, and pick up a box and start doing stuff, moving stuff around, loading stuff into a pod, start getting thing I got to get more done. (30:02) I've got to get more done. So, I am telling you this is not easy for me. If you've known me for very long at all, I can be a fairly driven person. And I can find good reasons to do good things. But God says, "Look, we got plenty of time for that. You need to rest. You need to rest mentally. You're thinking about too many things. (30:31) And in that you start to think you're controlling them. Let's rest on those, okay? Give them back to me. You need to rest physically. Your body can only stand and do so much. Rest physically. You need to just rest relationally and make sure that you and Renee are both doing well. You need to rest I could walk through the whole thing of being a human being and my God wants me to rest. (31:00) And he died to not only remove my sins, we so focus on that. He died to make me whole. And I throw wholeness out the window because I'm too busy. So I'm just telling you, I'm right in the middle of it. It would be very, very easy for me today to say, I'll rest next Sunday. Well, no, let's make it a couple months down the road. I'll rest then. (31:23) Because I got so much to do. Yes, I do. But if God gave me the house, it's his responsibility to get the stuff in there. And I do believe that. And he's been showing that to me. He keeps providing, keeps providing, keeps providing. But I've got to be willing to rest. Okay? I'm looking at me. I want you to look at you. (31:52) Have you yet as a follower of Jesus determined that you will listen and accept his promise for rest? He wants you to rest. We know that. He's commanded it, he's modeled it, but he wants you to accept the promise to rest. Where can you What can you point to? He said set aside the seventh day. So today, what are you going to do? You already have it planned out. (32:22) I got church checked. I'm out the door and on to the next project. That's how we work. But a follower of Jesus, I'm just saying, I want to know if you'll take a challenge with me. Will you be a follower of Jesus who rests seeks him litter find time And so let me let me clarify the the challenge. Maybe for the next month, let's practice this. (32:54) On Sundays we'll stop working. You got to decide if you're going to do it. Too many of you I know will leave here and and already have plans on what you're going to do, right Josh? And the reality is >> [laughter] >> God says don't do it. Don't do it. Cuz I want to give you rest. You need it. So maybe would you accept the challenge with me? Let's just practice for the next month, next four Sundays. (33:25) Let's see if we can consistently put all the work aside. Now, in that I want you to hopefully we picked up on this. It's not just ceasing work that is resting but is turning and recognizing and just dwelling in the presence of God. God is good to me. In fact, part of the reason I believe God calls for us to rest at 7th day is so by time we hit Monday, not only do we have the energy, but we have a mentality that says God, all those things that I thought had to be done, I gave them to you. (33:55) What are you going to do starting today? How are we doing this? What are we going to do? And so we can rejoice with him in the accomplishments and the things that get that get done in the in the way we treat people and the things that that we acquire, all of those things come as a result, I can say it, a result of our resting in God. (34:17) So that my Monday and my Tuesday and my Wednesday don't have to be so full of things to do, but full of the presence of God that I can say no to things that won't allow me to rest. And then you're going to put then I got to See, I was thinking about this yesterday and we got a lot of work done yesterday. And yet in the process of that I was thinking, well, tomorrow I can and then I had to stop and go, "You know what? I'm not doing anything tomorrow. (34:48) " I'm not going to do anything. This is something beyond just this Sunday and our move. I've been trying to be very mindful of. I go home on a Sunday and though I've even put time in here, I try to have a day that extends out into Monday, which is my day off, where I don't think and and just strive to get work done. (35:07) Am I good at it? Not where I need to be. So, I'm saying, will you join me in this? Let's challenge each other and say, "Sundays we're going to set aside. Go and spend time with friends. Build relationships. Pour time back into your spouse. Read a book that brings you back to the presence of God. (35:32) Listen to music and sing praise to God. It's all his creation. Well, take a walk. Go on a hike. But if I sweat, am I working? Don't worry about it. Let's try that first. Second thing is let's not be driven by the the tyranny of the immediate. Let's let God set our clock. Okay? That's not easy to do. Because I know you work for somebody or you may work for yourself, but there's things that demands that are always going to be there. (36:09) I'm going to challenge you in this. For the next month, you determine God will set what gets done in your day. You That means when you see what all has to be done, talk to him about it and ask him, "What are the things you want done through me, for me today?" Cuz I really want to feel rested by the time I reach the end of my day. (36:32) Here's the good thing is, if you can do that, you're going to sleep better at night. Because you are really or truly trusting in someone else to take care of your life. >> [snorts] >> And then the third part of this I'm just going to ask you to do, if you will join me in this, let's look at our every day, let's set Sunday aside, take a note. (36:52) I want you to start a notebook today. Note your struggles. Man, I found today I was really feeling like I had to I had a deadline. I had to get this done, so it was okay because did didn't God know about your deadlines? You know what I have found? I'm going to Sorry, I just another personal note. >> [snorts] >> Um I often find that when I am faced with a deadline and pressure is coming, two one of two things can happen. (37:19) I can start to look at what I have to do and I'll lay it out and I can organize and okay, I've got to go step one, two, three, three B A, B, and C and then over to four. I can have it mapped out, but if instead I will set that map aside and I will turn to God and say, "God, I don't know how this is even going to get accomplished. (37:38) Can you help me with this? Give me what I need to get done." So many times God has done that for me. What should have taken 6 hours was done in 15 minutes and I'm going, "How did that happen? What did God do?" Or I'll get a phone call from somebody and they'll say, "Hey, I was wondering, could I do this for you?" Wow. (38:00) You see, God does know your needs and he is interested in them and to meet those needs he says, "You know what I need to give you? Rest. So I'll provide so you can rest. So take a notebook, make a note where you struggle, make a note where you see God, make a note what is changing for you physically and emotionally, spiritually. Let's see in a month where we stand and what we learned. (38:25) And let's see if we can do this together, okay? I hope you'll join me on this. God commands you to to rest. He modeled how to rest, and he calls you to join him in his rest, and he will meet your needs.