Those “Crazy People” Who Find Rest - Purity 1388

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of this spectacular seaside or bayside sunset sky comes to us from your, uh, from Jessica Patruck, who shared this view near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on social media on Thursday with the one-word hashtag Home. Well, it's Saturday, and be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. And even though my shifted tour has me working today, this is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. Because among many other reasons, Lord willing, I will be back at my countryside home, uh, with my beloved wife when the workday is done. Hey, heads up everybody, June is virtually over. Tomorrow is the 30th, and Monday is July 1st. And just like that, half of the year 2024 will be gone. I like to give wake-up calls to all of us because our lives are meant to be enjoyed. And if your life is anything like mine, time can fly by pretty quickly. And as that '80s fictitious sage Ferris Bueller once said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. So let's use today to look around and enjoy where we are today, and to appreciate what we have accomplished or endured over the last 6 months. No matter what we have done, haven't done, or suffered through, uh, we're here and we made it, and God is with us. So I'm calling it good. The last 6 months on my— of my life have been positively jam-packed with work, ministry, study, development, launching new ventures. To say my cup was full would be putting it mildly. But amazingly, the Lord gave me the skill, strength, and increased my capacity to go through it all with peace and joy. You never know what you can do unless you try, and the Lord revealed to me— man, oh man— that when we follow him, our potential for growth is virtually limitless. With that said, as I draw near to this particular time and space and was, uh, was wondering what I was going to do next in this small space between the first half of the year and fall, and fall 2024's Freedom in Christ season, the Lord gave me a simple one-word instruction that I have both received with joy and been challenged to walk into. The word: rest. Who, me? Rest? Um, okay, but you know, there are a couple of nights here that I could do coaching or maybe start a class. You know, teach, encourage, or advise others on experiencing their freedom in Christ? Crickets. Okay, we're doing this now. Resting. The instruction, of course, is biblical, but I'm not used to it. While I normally get some rest on the weekends, this call to rest seems to be commanding me to cool my jets for more than 48 hours. While I don't feel like I'm getting the instruction to do nothing, I do feel that I'm not supposed to stretch myself too thin by booking the few nights I do have available to minister it to anyone, at least not yet. So to get some good advice on the topic of rest, I'm turning to The Chosen Team's Get Used to Different student guide to share an excerpt from chapter 25, which is "Come to Me, All You Who Are Weary," which says, "There are those crazy people who've had really bad experiences but still managed to find ongoing comfort, peace, wholeness, and fullness in Jesus, to find rest for their weary souls. How? Where does this faith— where does faith like that come from? Well, ironically, from experience. Life is hard in a thousand ways because sin has wrecked the world in a thousand ways, everything from the environment to the family unit, from how we interact with one another to what we do when we— when no one is watching, from our physical bodies to the deepest parts of our hearts. We've made a mess of things, and nothing will be truly fixed until Jesus comes back and restores creation to the way it was supposed to be. But in the meantime, Jesus offers us rest, which means he hasn't left us to struggle on our own. Instead, he 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. What kind of exchange— or, I'm sorry, that kind of exchange, our weariness for Jesus's strength, our heavy, heart-rending burdens for his comfort only happens when we muster what measly faith we do have and enter into his presence. When we sit with him, our hearts and hands open. When we confess our inability to carry our burdens alone, when we profess that he's the only one who can really help. In those quiet moments, something happens. Not necessarily to our circumstances, but to our ability to endure them. Jesus takes our burdens and gives us his yoke instead. So what's a yoke? Well, in Bible times, a wooden yoke joined two animals together, allowing them to combine their strength in order to pull a heavy load. By itself, an ox or a horse has no rest from grueling work, no help in exhaustion, no options when it all became too much. They just had to plow ahead. Jesus is offering to be yoked to you. He's offering to help carry your load, to bring his otherworldly strength, love, kindness, faithfulness, mercy, power, and wisdom to your circumstances. By yourself, you'll have no help, no rest from the grueling world. No help in exhaustion, no option when your circumstances become too much. But with Him, you'll have Him. Experiencing His presence in the midst of your circumstances will increase your faith and allow you to not only endure, but to also believe God is all the things the Bible says He is. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31. Then the chosen team prompts us to pray: Lord, life can be really too much for me sometimes. I admit I am struggling to carry my burdens alone. Honestly, I wish you would just take them away. I wish that you'd use your power to fix what's broken. Help me trust your wisdom and timing while I wait for that day. Help me to believe you're all the things the Bible says you are, and help me accept the offer to be yoked to you, Jesus. With your supernatural strength, please help carry this load. Amen. So I hope that encourages you to give whatever heavy burdens you've been carrying thus far in 2024 to the Lord. When we walk with him, we receive his strength, peace, comfort, and love. I've been doing my best to follow what I believe to be God's plan for my life, and at this point in my walk, for the time being anyway, he seems to be telling me to take a breather. We can only give to others what we have received and what we have in store. While the last 6 months have been amazing, I feel like the Lord is telling me it is okay to take some time, some nights off to rest. So I am going to rest because He knows what is coming where I do not. And if God tells you to rest, you should rest because you probably need to be restored and you probably will need to be restored for what will be in the future. I don't think— I believe in retirement or permanent vacations because the Great Commission indicates at the very least we should be teaching others to know and to follow Jesus. And with that call on our lives, we may get a rest every once in a while, but I believe these periods of rest are used to prepare us for the good works that God has prepared for us to do. But don't be worried at this prospect. Sharing your faith should be a labor of love. It's a light burden, remember? And telling people about the peace and joy us crazy people have by following the Lord should be no sweat. So take some time this weekend to rest up, reflect on the first half of the year, thank God for what he's moved you through, and enjoy today knowing that tomorrow The Lord will be with you to power— be with you to power through and carry those burdens once again. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Example, Good or Bad. And today's verses are 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8 from the New American Standard Bible. The Word of God says, for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. Because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Today's verse is the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the third point of our, our counseling reference guide resource section on example. And the third point is: the Apostle Paul set a godly example to teach others how a Christian Ought to live. Today's verse— verses are about living a life of integrity and how our good contact— conduct and practices can be proof of our genuine faith and example— and an example for others. This was my big challenge as a new born-again Christian in 2010. How do I do this? How do I live as a real Christian? While I got the good advice to read the Bible and to pray every day, my walk was greatly assisted by encountering, encountering other Christians that were actually doing these practices and living according to their faith. Through the example of others, I learned how to preach, teach, serve, worship, praise, and pray in ways I never would have on my own. While much of our faith is highly personal and individualized, we were never meant to go it alone. And the faithful example of others is one reason why. Comfort, friendship, fellowship, and help are some of the others. I was encouraged to be a real Christian by the example of other faithful men and women of God who were as real in their practice of their faith as they were in their profession of their faith. So talk that talk, but don't bother saying a word if you're not going to be real by walking that walk. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Um, and today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotion, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, um, morning and evening. And today's uh, chapter is 1 Corinthians 14, and from, uh, that chapter he shares a portion of verse 40, which says, "Let all things be done decently and in order." And Stephen Alford writes, "The literal translation of this verse is, 'Let all things be done becomingly and according to arrangement.' What an exhortation to all who seek to run or organize the concerns of God." First, all things must be done as becoming the Lord, worthy of the Lord and his glory. How careful one ought to be, then, to see that nothing in any way casts dishonor on what is done for him. Second, according to arrangement does away with all the well-worn ideas about no prearranged plans necessary. The teaching here is clear that order and arrangement must characterize all that is done for God. And Alford ends by praying, in my life and ministry, Lord, let all things be done decently and in order. Amen. Amen. Yeah, um, there's got to be some order. Um, it's got to be— there's got to be a balance though, I think. You know, one of the gripes about the church is that it becomes regimented and rote. It just becomes, you know, if we do the worship the same way every time, it just, it can become a monotony. And, you know, people question whether or not the Holy Spirit is moving. Amongst the congregation when people are just going through the motions. So by all means, things are to be done decently and in order, for sure, you know, because the other balance is, wow, you know, wild, unstructured madness. And, um, I don't know if the Lord— you know, the Lord's not an author of confusion. So, you know, if it's a real hootenanny, you have to wonder whether or not he's there. Um, you know, or if it's, you know, people just whipping themselves up in a frenzy, um, you know. So there's that. I just say let's be balanced. Let our joy— in fact, our worship— but let's make sure it's, um, it's orderly and it's not going to drive people away from the Lord, you know. That's— it's difficult. This is why I don't run a church. I just I just go there to worship. I do run programs, and sometimes, you know, our support group could be considered disorderly, I suppose, because of the worship we do, or the open forum I provide for sharing sometimes can be taken in, you know, directions that we can't control, you know. He's like, okay guys, get together and share a few words about what's happened in your week. And then next thing you know, somebody's given a testimony about their life struggles. They're sharing things they've never revealed before in a support group. And instead of going, your time's up, I'll let people talk. So, you know, so I feel this, I feel this instruction for, you know, things to be arranged and to be orderly. But sometimes you have to give room for the Holy Spirit to move, and, you know, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to be a little, a little flexible in how we let the Lord minister to people. And at least that's what we do at the Celebrate Freedom support group. You know, we want people to share themselves, you know, that fellowship, right? That friendship. We learn by the example of others. We try to put forth a good example as somebody who's been transformed reformed, who's been set free from alcohol, drug addiction, sex addiction, and, you know, who's fighting a good fight, you know, sometimes losing the battle against food addiction. But, um, you know, so we put that forth and, you know, we, we tell— we instruct people on how to quiet themselves and how to, um, you know, stand in their identity in Christ and to, uh, you know, attack negative thoughts that come in with the truth of who they are in Christ. Some spiritual warfare stuff. You know, we try to encourage people through our example or through our testimony, um, how we do this thing. But, uh, we have to— so if we're gonna, we're gonna give all that out, we got to see how it's received and see if people are paying attention. Unfortunately, I feel like, um, you know, we've had a lot of people come in and out of the doors that are support— our support group, and Some, you know, not for nothing, sometimes people give a broken record of the same brokenness every week. Um, unsurprisingly, those people didn't stick around, um, because they, you know, while we're encouraged to be honest and truthful and, you know, the struggles we're going through, the intention— while we're not there to fix anyone, the intention is to be forward-thinking. And how do we, how do we change these things? Or, you know, if you just want a place to come and lament every week. We'll give you the space, but we're going to encourage you to change. And if we don't see fruit, we have to wonder if you're following the Lord. You know, we're not— it's not about perfection, it's about progress. And if you're not making any progress in how you live your life as a Christian, we gotta, you know, we gotta question, do you even know what that is? Um, you know, I've had people claim struggles and, you know, have made no progress at all. And, you know, honestly, when that happens, I have to question whether or not the demonic is happening. When people are telling me that things happen automatically, you know, it might be a lack of insight, but it also might be some serious demonic oppression. You know, I can't stop doing this, like, whoa, you know, we You know, we need, you know, okay, I get that. I've been in addiction and I know how the cycles go. The way I found out of it is by pressing into my identity in Christ and resting in the Lord, giving that burden over to the Lord, you know, help give him, give it to him to carry. When you do that, he helps you. And when you clean house spiritually through prayer and repentance, you do grow, you do progress. And if you're not making progress, I have to wonder, you know, is God not faithful to help you? I don't believe that. And, you know, I don't want to be one of the guys who say, you know, you don't have any faith and that's why you're sick. But, you know, not for nothing, are you— there's, there's, you know, something I call faith effort. You Are you reading the Word of God? Are you praying? And I know demonic oppression can come in to block those things, but, you know, are you trying to turn from your sin? You know, these are the things, you know, we give permission to the enemy to be in our lives. One of the things is sin and unforgiveness. Well, I guess that's two of the things, but we have those in our life, guess what? You know, the enemy's got permission to be there. And he's going to disrupt your life of faith. And so when you get somebody who's complaining all the time, you know, oh, they hurt me, they just, you know, there's— what's that say? One, they're hurt, and two, they're bitter. Whoa, you know, that might be hard to see, but if they're not letting go of the pain and forgiving, you know, you're not forgiving. And I know that's hard, but that's the thing. So you're holding on to bitterness, your unforgiveness is giving the enemy a wide door to stay in your life. Um, you know, and why, why do we forget? Because Christ commanded us to forget. Not for nothing. We're to be obedient to the Lord, follow his example. Um, so, you know, that's just some additional commentary, uh, on spiritual warfare and overcoming, um, and order. Anyway, um, I do have to work today, so I should should, uh, shut up and get out the door, uh, and pray. Um, let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much, uh, for everything that's happened thus far in the 6 months of 2024. Um, Lord, the good things, the bad things, everything that brought us to this place, we take, we accept fully, and thank you for. Um, we forgive all the offenses that we've suffered from all the people or all the situations that we've suffered over the last 6 months to be set free. Um, we forgive any and everyone who's offended us in Jesus' name. And, uh, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, um, to guide us, to let us rejoice in the day because you've made it, and to find our rest even in the circumstances of work. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone listening that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Uh, help them as they go. And Lord, we're always praying for you to go before us, so open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom, and we need a lot of help with that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.