Enter Your Rest - Pastor Hope Carpenter

Oh, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you Jesus for this time. Thank you, Jesus, for this time. Oh, God, we do not take this for granted. We do not take this time for granted, God, because every time we meet together with you, Lord, is life changing. So I ask you today to do a life changing thing for every person who's listening all over the world, God, do something fresh. Do something new in our heart, God, do it in me. Do it in these people in this room, God, do it for us, Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's go. Let's go. Whoa. So today, tonight, welcome wherever you are, all over the world. I am so thankful that you took time to be with us. So let's jump right in. I want to talk to you tonight on how to enter into rest. How to enter. And you're like, oh man, is that even possible? Can you enter into rest in this crazy time, this world we live in? You know, how many of us are just tired? How many of you, you just get so tired and you're tired of what? You're tired of being on the treadmill, of trying to please, please, please, please, please. It will wear you out. And you know, there's a term for that. It's called performance orientation. Performance. And listen, most of us have operated in that at some time or another in our does to us is it robs us of the joy that comes from doing and the joy that comes from serving. There's supposed to be a joy that comes when you serve and you serve the Lord. Why? Because we do it from an unpure motive. No, not you, just them. Right, just us. We do it from an unpure pure motive. We do it from selfishness. We do it from brokenness. We do it from a codependent standpoint. We do it because we usually want something back from serving. An unpure motive. And this is how you can tell if you are operating in a performance orientation. You look like you're serving, but inwardly you want something back to you. Outwardly it looks like you're doing for others, but inwardly you're screaming, do something for me. See, this is when you're doing it, you're thinking, how does this look to others? How does this look to other people? How am I being received right now? It's all about me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. And the whole nature of serving is doing something for somebody else. But when you're doing it from an impure motive, it's all about you. It's all about you. And it is so draining. Colossians. I love this scripture. Whatever you do, I mean, you could stick whatever it is in there. Whatever you do, do it with all of your heart as you're working for those people. No, that's not what it says. It says whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as you're working for the Lord, not for human masters. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance. From who? The Lord? You receive your reward from the Lord. I mean, this is an age old problem. Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha, they both loved Jesus dearly with all their heart, but they expressed it differently. Martha served. Mary sat at Jesus feet. Martha, there's not one that's better than the other. They were serving, but they were serving differently. And Martha had become polluted in her heart. And how do I know this? Because she was upset at Mary for not helping her. She got upset. She had a sour attitude that showed that her serving had become a choreograph, not a joy. It's good, isn't it? Her attitude showed that her serving had turned from a joy and it was strictly a chore. What are you doing over there? Get up and help me. Why? Because I need help. Because what I'm doing is not enough. Listen, not everything that the Lord asks you to do is glorious. Can I get an amen? Not everything that the Lord asks us to do in our serving is glorious. I mean, seriously. Wiping hineies in the nursery, not glorious. Emptying the trash cans, not glorious. Getting up in a startup church and having to come in early and set up the chairs and set up the sound system, not glorious. And see, this is how you'll know if your heart is right. It's the attitude behind what you're doing. Oh, it's so hard. I know it is. Just spank yourself. Just slap yourself in the face. It's our attitude. This is what we say. Well, no one cares how I feel. No one cares that I had to get up last night and I was up with my baby, but I had to get up this morning and come into church. Understands what I'm going through. Listen, there's emptiness in all of our hearts at some time or other in our life. And there's an emptiness there that only Jesus can feel and see. We try to fill it by doing. By doing. We think if we can do more, if we can serve more, if we can come to church more. See, a pure heart does not want a man's applause. A pure heart does not need a pat on the Back if no one claps, if no one says thank you, you're still full and you're satisfied because you serve from a pure place. You serve because you love the Lord so much and you knew that. I'm doing this for the Lord, not doing it for you. I'm not doing it for a man. I'm not doing it for my husband. I'm not cooking this meal and coming to give it to my husband so that he'll get up and take the trash out. Whoo. No, we don't serve. The whole nature of serving is not serving so that we can get something from it. Most people serve to get something back to fill that void with applause and thank yous. Listen, God's love can cannot be earned. You cannot buy it. You cannot do enough. Clearly, he loved us and he died for us way before we ever had a chance to please him while we were still sinners. The Bible says he died for us way before we were even born or had a chance to be good enough. Love that must be earned is not genuine love. It's not love at all. Love that has to be earned. Pastor, how do I know if I'm serving and living from a performance base or if I'm giving and serving from a whole, pure, healed place? How do I know? I'm going to tell you. Get your notebooks out. We're going to teach tonight. We're going to teach today. Wherever you are in this time zone, here's the unhealed place. If it's a driving force on the inside of you, I've got to do this. I've got to do this. I've got to do more. I got to do more than the person beside me. I got to do more than the person in the office down the hall from me. If you have a desire for a pat on the back, if you come in saying, oh, I hope pastors, they're seeing me today serve, can you do it? If pastor never sees you. If you over commit. Over commitment is a sign of performance orientation. All right, here's where it gets tight, but it's right. You ready? If you critique everybody else who's serving around you. Oh, if you critique everybody else. Well, I was here at 6. I mean, you didn't get here till 6. 45. Okay says yes when you really want to say no. And you're overly busy and you're extremely tired. I know I'm talking to some tired people. I know I am because the Lord showed me that. I can see your face. I see you Laying in that bed right now, feeling like you got to close the blinds and you got to pull the COVID up over you because you're so tired that you don't want to face another day. Overly tired. Trying to fill an emotional need that only Jesus can fill. Only Jesus can satisfy the longings of our soul. Whoo. Only Jesus can satisfy the longings in our soul. And the root here, you say, well, why am I this way? Why? You know, people can preach this, but they never tell you why and how to get out. Well, why am I this way? Because you never received true, unconditional love. You've never tasted it. You always had to perform. Your grades had to be a certain way. The house had to be cleaned a certain way. If you came in five minutes late, you got beat. You never were given the benefit of the doubt. You never, ever received unconditional love. Love from who? God knows. Your parents, who raised you, the people in your life, the people in your circle. It was never good enough. How many of you out there could say that was me? The more I did, it still was never, ever good enough. And God does not require us to perform. He just does not. Man, that's so good, man. That's so freeing. Oh, I could just sit back in that chair in the middle of Amy and Morgan and just lay back and say, thank you, Jesus, that you don't require me to perform. You are not standing there with a belt ready to beat me when I mess up. That's the kind of God we serve. See? But we haven't been preached that kind of God in our churches. We've been preached that if you don't do this and you got to do that and you got to get it all right, and you go into hell on a slip and slide. No, he loved us, and he died for us before we ever had a chance to mess up. He does not require us to perform. He just loves us. I don't know why he loves us like that. I don't know why he loves me like that, but he just does. He loves us. He loves us when we get it right, and he still loves us when we get it wrong. He loves us on our good days, and he loves us the same amount on our bad days. That's the kind of God we serve. He just loves us. And he did not create us to be ruled and fueled by our accomplishments and by possessions. He did not create us to strive to perform and to reach certain levels and to have certain levels in our bank account and to drive a certain car he did not. He just created us to be loved, to rest and to bask in unconditional love, not looking for the approval of anyone. He created us to be fueled by nothing but his love. And if that is you, if that is you out there tonight, wherever you are, you say, pastor, I feel like all I've ever done my whole life is strive. I feel like that's all I've ever done, is try to please people, try to please my parents, try to please my boss, try to please my boyfriend, try to please my own mind of what I think life's supposed to be and my job supposed to look like and my bank account's supposed to be like, if that. I know it's exhausting. I lived like that for a very long time in my life. And it will make you go crazy because you're very insecure in your own self. You're so insecure, you're trying to get approval from this and approval from that. When you really find out who you are in Christ and that. That's enough. That's enough. You say, well, who am I? You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Not in yourself. I am not the righteousness of God in hope carpenter. No, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. When God looks at me, he doesn't see Hope carpenter. He sees Jesus. That's why he's pleased with me. That's why he's pleased with you right where you are. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You are hidden in Christ. Whoa. That ought to just set you free where you are right now. Yes, there is an upward call. Yes, there is the call of God that calls us to be bigger, to be better, to know more of the things of God, to know more scripture, to be better than we were last week, to be better than we were last month. But it's not to please anybody in your circle. It's only to become more like Jesus. It's only to become more like Jesus. That is your goal, is becoming more like Jesus. The more you become like Jesus, the more you enter your rest. You stop striving, you stop performing. You stop being fueled by man's applause. And when you lay down at night, you say, I know that I did everything he asked me to do today. I know that I accomplished everything that he wanted me to accomplish today. I know that me and God are good. That's a hard place to get to. It's a hard place to live because we have so many voices in our life. We have jobs who give us expectations, right? I know I don't give y' all a lot. I'm the best boss in the world, right? I didn't do that for applause. We have jobs that give us expectations. We have husbands and wives who want the house a certain way. Right? You might marry somebody who. His mama had the house completely cleaned all the time. Well, your mama didn't. And you just don't mind stuff all over the floor every day. Well, there are expectations, right? And those are just living in this world and having to work out being married. That's a whole other conference. That's a whole other story sermon. We'll talk about it another day. I don't think you can do that in 30 minutes. You cannot fix the marriage in 30 minutes. Yes, there are expectations, but I'm talking about the driving force on the inside of you where you wake up in the morning with this driven push to feel something on the inside that only Jesus can feel, that only Jesus can fill. Jesus feels the longing of our soul. It's not another pair of shoes. It's not a better wardrobe. It's not being able to go from shopping at Walmart to Nordstrom. I mean, that doesn't satisfy. Once you get to Nordstrom, then you want to go to Bloomingdale's. And then after Bloomingdale's, you want to go to Needless Markup. I mean, Neiman Marcus. Those things do not satisfy the longings of our soul. It just keeps us on that treadmill of performing, and we're so tired. How many of you out there are tired today? Say Pastor Hope. I am exhausted. I feel like it's never good enough. I feel like my best is never good enough. I want to pray for you today. I know God wants to set you free, because that is not why he came. He came so that we could be free. The Bible says that he came that we may have abundant life, may have life, and have it more abundantly. He came that we might enjoy this life that we're living. This is not just. Just keep trying and strive until Jesus comes. No, he wants you to enjoy your life, to lay down at night in peace. He desires sweet sleep for you. And he loves you unconditionally. He loves you like your mother and father could never love you. He loves you like a husband or a wife can never give you. Because we're just. We're just human. We're imperfect. So how can we try to find all of this fulfillment from all of these imperfect people? Jesus wants to satisfy the longings of your soul. He wants you to enter into your rest. He wants you to enter into your rest today. Let me pray for you. If that is you. I want you to get down on your knees wherever you are, in a hotel room, in a hospital, if you can get out of your bed. If not, just put your hands up, put your hand toward the TV or the computer screen or your phone, wherever. I believe. I believe that because I know God has done this in me. He has done this work in me. He has broken that performance orientation off of me. And I know that God will use my prayer for you today. I can lead you to that place because I've experienced it, I've tasted and I've seen that the Lord is good. So if that's you today, I just decree and declare rest over your mind. Oh, God, I just pray that the root of not receiving unconditional love, God, that you would go deep into the heart of these people, that you would take them back to the first time that they felt disappointed by their parents or their caregiver or whoever it was who just did not love them for who they really were. Oh, God, let them see that. That's where it started. And that created this cycle in their life of trying to do more, to please, to be better, to please, to make better grades, to look better, to whatever it is. God, I pray right now that you would release them. You would release them from that false expectation that you never put on them. Them that you never put on us. You said you just loved us. You loved us with an everlasting love. We can't explain it. We don't understand it. It's indescribable, God, but there is nothing to compare to the love of Jesus. So, Lord, I just pray right now that they would all just reach up and receive it and say, God, I can't explain it. God, I don't understand that you love me like that. But God, I receive it and I pray, Jesus, that you would teach us to serve others and to serve you, God, without striving, without performing, just knowing that you love us. I thank you for it, God, I thank you for the testimonies we're going to receive. I want you to write in, I want you to call in, I want you to get on chats, I want you to text. There's somebody coming up at the end to tell you how to get involved, to tell you if you need a church home, we're here for you. We're not perfect. No, we're not. But no perfect people are allowed at Redemption. No perfect people allowed, right? Jesus loves you and I just pray for you tonight. Get involved. If you need a church home at myredemption cc go to hope carpenter.com lots of wonderful ways you can get involved. We love you. God bless you. We are here for you and I look forward to seeing you again soon.