Pastor Brad DeLong - It's Time To Rest

he's going to help us today he's already helping us by his power in the spirit he's going to help us by his word i wonder if you turn with me return to the book first kings chapter 19 matthew chapter 11. first kings 19 come upon the story of elijah after his victory and his triumph on mount carmel he's just defeated the prophets of bell when he finds himself on the run he finds himself fearing for his life because of queen jezebel her threats against him and notice the extreme contrast between his high point on the mountain and then this low point in the wilderness we've got it and here today some of you had a high point walking with god and we'd rejoice over that and some of you had a low point some of you have made that transition in just days time he's tired he's weary he's wandering he's distressed verse 4 says he himself on a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree he prayed that he might die he said it's enough lord take my life no better than my father's it's at a low point in his life in his ministry he's anxious he's upset he's weary he's dejected

but verse 5 says he he calls on the lord and falls asleep and as he lay and slept under a broom tree suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and he'd notice how close the angel was her eyes and eat he looked and thereby his head was a cake baked on coals in a jar of water so he ate and drank he lay down again the angel lord came back a second time touched him and said arise and he because the journey is too great for you it's too great for you too great for you when he arose and he ate and drank and he went in the strength of that food and that rests 40 days and 40 nights as far as the mountain of god so he jumps from triumph to dread and misery and then from dread and misery to adequate sustenance and sufficient strength for the journey and it's just two naps and two meals removed from wanting to die that elijah has enough strength to endure another 40 days of travel until he receives a word from the lord on mount horeb i thought as i read that that is the power of a nap right there truthfully it is the power of resting and being refreshed in the presence of god and the

care of his angels and the protection of his covering it's the aftermath of rest and arrest that only the lord himself can provide it's the kind of rest he promises to us and even invites us to experience in matthew 11 he said come to me all who labor and are heavy late and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i'm gentle lowly and hard and you'll find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy my burden is light someone has come today looking for rest for your soul and you found it you found it i feel a very specific word to help someone today it's entitled this way it's time to rest it's time to rest i need god's help and we need his help would you lift your voices with me right now let's pray i feel a holy presence of god you've got someone on your heart today lord you have pinpointed some individuals who are weary and well-doing some individuals who are wandering and are heavy-laden and i believe you've got rest for someone and i believe you've got peace for them before they leave this place and before the day is out that they will find the rest that they've

been looking for and we need your help to get to that point today and we pray it in the name of jesus and amen you may be seated many of you know mariah sister kiana and i just returned from our youth on missions trip from spain did i mention how good it is to be home be back with you i'm thankful to be back here i'm also glad for that experience and for all that we learned while we were there one of the most interesting things we saw in my opinion happened on the second day of our trip we were in a city named beak we were doing outreach and passing out water bottles during the afternoon or late afternoon of that day we made our way to a very large plaza in the city we're expecting to see hundreds of people that were gathered there they had evening celebrations planned for that night so we expected to see a crowd but we were surprised to find the streets and the plaza almost completely empty when we arrived during that portion of the day there were people around there were tourists like us but there was nowhere near the crowd that a city of that size should have accumulated during that

time of the afternoon so after talking to the missionary and the local pastor we learned it was because of what they call la pausa and i'd heard this before but i had never seen it myself around one to two o'clock in the afternoon almost the entire country of spain shuts down for several hours restaurants closed businesses lock up schools send children and teenagers back home employees and workers all head home and once they're there they're free to do whatever they want to do but many of them will nap and they will rest and they will prepare for the night ahead and for some of you that are nappers in the room you're thinking that is paradise that is wonderful you'd be sad to hear that they go home for several hours they rest only to go back to school and back to work after and then they work later into the evening the whole city and the whole country shuts down for several hours and they do it all in the name of rest as a country in a society they take an intentional pause and they make room for rest and for refreshing they recognize that as a collective group as a people that we consistently

need a time of rest a time to pause a time to refresh a time to gather a time to be renewed and through observing la pasa or the great pause the people of spain have tapped into a spiritual principle as well whether they knew about it or not you see whether we are intentional about it or not there does come a time and there comes a moment or multiple moments when we need a pause we need rest we need refreshing we need renewal in revival we need a moment or a season in which we are wrapped up into the presence and the glory of god and we experience the kind of rest that only he can provide there comes a time when the most productive and spiritual thing we can do in that moment is to obey the command to come unto him when we are weary and heavy laden so that he can give us rest and today for some of you or maybe many of you today i believe is that moment this morning is that opportunity this service in the moments that follow maybe your time to rest and pause and to be refreshed and i'll say this if you came in weary today if you came in overwhelmed if you came in burden and carrying a

weight that is too heavy for you to handle i will tell you emphatically that it is time for you to rest you want to leave here with peace today you ought to be refreshed today by the presence of god you want to experience the rest that he is offering to you this morning it's time to rest i quoted it in partiality a moment ago but an an named ortberg penned this statement in a book our staff read a while ago he said sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do in your life is go and take a nap sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do let's go and take a nap i'll reiterate this morning for some of you the most productive thing you will do today is find rest in him and him alone and that doesn't mean that you check out right now that didn't mean you fall asleep during the sermon please don't do that because i'm not talking about that kind of rest some of you have rested recently but you're still tired some of you have gone to sleep but you've still been restless some of you have battled anxiousness and anxiety and when you go to sleep it's there and when you wake up it's i'm not talking

about that kind of rest i'm talking about a rest that only jesus can give a rest that's in him i'm talking about a true rest and true peace say one that god has for each one of us he called it a rest for your souls there's a rest that satisfies your body there's one that satisfies your mind and your brain with all its faculties there's one that alleviates your system and your physical needs but there's something completely different about a rest that satisfies and eases the soul and the entirety of a person in fact the word for rest in matthew 11 it's a greek word meaning to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his or her strength to give rest to refresh to give oneself rest to take rest to keep quiet of calm and patient expectation it's a complete rest it's a satisfying and refreshing pause it's a fulfilling and acquiring encounter within the presence of god and his peace and his protection is reflected in matthew 11 first kings 19 throughout the word of god as a whole the truth is that we were wired and designed for rest and for intentional

pauses in the presence of god the psalmist declares he knows our frame he knows our needs one of which is arrested only he knows how to provide he's the one who created us in the first place and we were created by a god who rested himself there are a number of reasons and theories as to why he decided to rest but the truth remains we are made in the image of a god who taught us how to rest when he rested from his labor on that seventh day of creation he was intentional about rest from his own labor he frequently rested during his earthly ministry he even rested one time in a boat in the middle of a squall in a storm he recognized that rest was important he caused disciples away we need to go and rest we need to go and find a secluded a quiet place we need to go and and be together and he calls us continually in the old and new testament to rest he literally had to force us to rest through upholding the sabbath and making sure no work would be happening in those holy days it's almost as if the lord recognized that we would run ourselves ragged physically and emotionally and that we need

to take time to rest in him and meditate in his word on a regular basis this might be the reason the psalmist said he makes me lie down in green pastures i don't do it on my own volition and my own will but he compels and commands me to rest as i walk through the valley and as i follow after him the shepherd knowing full well his sheep and their shortcomings and and our propensity for both physical and emotional spiritual exhaustion he calls us to rest in closeness in proximity to him this is the case with elijah great prophet of israel this is the man who's involved in so many miracles he prayed for rain to cease and it stopped for three years plus he called down fire from heaven on mount carmel he was involved in the resurrection of the widow's son in first kings 17 used by god to split the jordan in two and then he's taken up into heaven in a whirlwind and this mighty man of god like many of us finds himself tired weary running for his life lonely dejected wanting to end it all be done with life completely this is elijah we're talking about the premise today is that if even a biblical

hero like elijah found himself in a low place found himself discouraged and weary and found himself needing the remedy of rest how much more do you and i need some time in the presence of god like this sunday morning where the lord just brings us in and says okay i've got strength for you and i've got rest for you i know you're tired i know you're weary but i've got peace for i believe some of you are headed for a moment like that today and you found yourself tired and weary and dejected and discouraged you're burdened and heavy laying the lord has set aside this time and others to give you rest and renewal i feel a word for someone today who has been running ragged with life and the enemies chasing you from behind in proverbs 18 echoes that word that the name of the lord is still a strong tower and the righteous run to it in our state that those who dwell in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty the psalmist says i will say of the lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god in him i will trust he's the only one that can give me the rest that

i need and isaiah says have you not known have you not heard the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth he doesn't faint he's not weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak someone feeling weak today grab a hold of this to those who have no might he increases strength i believe you're going to have an increase of strength today even the youth shall faint and be weary the young men shall utterly fall but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength don't mount up with wings like eagles they'll run and not be weary they'll walk and they will not faint an invitation for those who are weary is loud and clear today from that everlasting god himself he invites you and i this morning come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden i'll give you rest take my yoke upon you learn from me for i'm gentle and lowly and hard and you'll find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy my burden is light this is your word and your invitation today child of god weary traveler come to me come to me i want to make it clear the distinction is this invitation

makes the one that jesus spells out in this passage because it's one that we need to fully grasp as we seek his rest especially with all the pseudo forms of rest that our world and our culture would try to offer instead i want to make it clear as we review this passage in this invitation that it is important to recognize and realize where our rest really comes from i've alluded to it already but i'll say it again no one can give you rest like jesus can he said come to me i will give you right take my yoke upon you learn from me you'll find rest for your souls my yoke is he my burden is lot it's an important reminder today because only jesus has the ability and the capacity to truly replenish and renew us in our souls alike and while we may find rest in other places and we find renewal through things we enjoy and activities that recharge us there is simply no substitution for the presence of god and both the rest and the peace that only he can provide it's his rest as an example some time ago my wife's workplace had a seminar for all their employees they brought in this special group

of people and the sole purpose of this group coming in was to try to help these teachers and staff find rest in renewal outside of their work hours and office times you see there is an epidemic of restlessness and anxiety that plagues our world and our workplaces and our schools and this team's role they were just there to try to help curb that restlessness and somehow help these teachers find rest and peace through practical measures and i'll give the caveat i'm i'm all for finding creative ways to fall asleep that don't involve some kind of extreme medication i'm okay with finding some healthy ways to ease your mind and make sure you're getting proper rest i've counted sheep before it never works well the very existence of this seminar told me there are so many people who do not know the type of rest that only jesus can give the leaders of the session said as much this is staggering they presented these statistics of the workforce that go home from the job only to find themselves an inner turmoil and anxiousness they presented their findings to the staff at the school that many go

home and their only way to cope with their restlessness is to over medicate with alcohol and medication that induces a numbing effect their studies showed that one of the most terrifying things that individuals contemplate is having to be alone facing their own thoughts and the things that run through their minds that to sit in a room alone to think and meditate was an absolute torturous activity for many in the workforce at large just to sit at home with no distractions and no noise so how do we cope we go home and we distract ourselves until it's time to go to bed and we sit and we scroll and we scroll and we turn it on and we watch and watch and it numbs everything else i wish this was not the reality we lean on our crutch and i'm talking and preaching to myself and i'm also talking and preaching to some people who the weariness and the tired that this can't even fix and you turn on the screen but you still can't go to sleep and you're miserable and you get sleep but you're still tired not even the distractions can help it not even the vacation can appease the restlessness not even

the scrolling and all the screen time can bring us peace and rest i'm all for vacations and rests and getaways but there is a kind of weariness and tired that not even a week or two a vacation can fix i speak from experience that we often believe that a week at the beach is going to overcome weeks and months of restlessness and pain and weariness and if i could just get to vacation and run away then i'll be all right just hitting home at all today it's where we're living if i just distract myself long enough and we look for a piece that passes all understanding and we look for it in an outlet that was never designed to give us peace in the first place again i'm all for vacations hobbies getaways i i practice them but there is a rest and there's a kind of peace and there's a refuge that is only found in him it's only found in his presence it's only found with the shepherd it's only found with jesus christ who is more than amazing there is no substitute for the rest and this peace that only he can give psalm 62 says truly my soul silently waits for god from him comes my salvation he only

is my rock and my salvation he's my defense that's why i will not be greatly moved there's no refuge in rock like him there's no rest like he provides psalm four in verse one he prays answer me when i call to you my righteous god give me relief for my distress have mercy on me hear my prayer some of you prayed prayers simmer to this in recent days verse 8 in peace i will lie down and sleep for you alone lord you alone lord make me dwell in safety my hope is someone will get this in your heart and you've been running to other places for rest and you've been running to other things and you're looking for distractions and the entire times god been saying arnold come unto me come unto me i will give you rest not just to rest for your eyes and rest for your body and your frame but i'll give you a rest for your soul a true and complete rest there's just no rest like he has a psalmist said my heart and my flesh fail in psalm 73 but god he is the strength of my heart and my portion for he is my strength and his rest is true in fulfilling rest hebrews discusses this at length in chapter four

the rest that he provides an eternal rest but also one we can experience now and verse 9 says there remains therefore a rest for the people of god it's offered to you it's yours for he who has entered his the lord's rest has himself also seized from his works as god did from his so you experience the same type of rest that he experienced a true one one that he's reserved for his people as they believe in trust and it's a rest and refreshing that's only found in him and in close proximity to him and his presence his presence and his nearness is where i find true rest his closeness is what brings me peace it's his presence he said himself in exodus 33 he spoke with moses he made him a promise notice the connection between the presence of god and rest my presence will go with you and because of that i will give you rest i thought i meditated on this scripture this week it occurred to me i have never found rest and peace outside of his presence like i have found inside of his presence i have never found rest here like i have found here god's reaching for someone today who has been looking

for rest in all the wrong places he's saying it's me it's always been me i am your rest i've not found rest outside of his glory like i find when i'm in his presence there's nothing that this world or the universe for that matter that can give that can match the rest and renewal of his presence in other words there's just no rest like the one he can provide no peace like his peace john 14. he talks to his disciples he said these things i've spoken to you while being present with you but the help of the holy spirit i feel his spirit in the room whom the father will sin in my name he'll teach you all things and bring your remembrance all the things i said to you peace i leave with you my peace i give you not as the world gifts do i give to you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid he makes the same distinction we're making today loud and clear it's not just peace he gives to you it's his peace it's a peace that this world cannot give there's no substitute for it philippians 4 describes this piece that passes all understanding the translation says it transcends all understanding

we just can't comprehend it this is what's on the table for you today this is what's at the altar for you today a piece that really doesn't make sense to us how did jacob rest and receive a vision from god while he's running for his life i would have been sleeping much less on that rock my nice pillow that doesn't make sense how did elijah experience renewal moments after wanting god to take his life how do you turn that page the psalmist says he makes me lie down in green pastures and when i do he restores my soul and when you consider that the setting for his restoration and that his rest was in the middle of the valley of the shadow of death that kind of rest just doesn't make sense it's a kind arrest that surpasses all understanding it's a rest that no distraction can offer no substitution can grant it's a peace that the world is powerless to give us in a rest it's only possible when you're in proximity with jesus so he invites you to come unto him today all who are weary and heavy-laded in the backdrop and the setting of your life think about it elijah in the wilderness jacob on

the run jesus in the storm john's on the island of patmos gets in the glory of god prison island the setting in the backdrop of your life does not disqualify you from peace and rest someone who came in here today and you got no peace at home and things are turmoil and they're falling apart and you've been looking for rest and you've been looking for answers i know that some of you may go back home in the same turmoil but think about these men and those in the bible who had extreme turmoil yet in the middle of it all they had peace and they had rest and not only that but they got a word from god in the middle of it i feel like the lord's ready to speak to someone but you haven't paused long enough like elijah did for him to talk to you he's saying why don't you rest and why don't you sit in my presence a little while and why don't you meditate on my word and then i'll speak to you trying to speak to you in a still small voice but we've got so much noise trying to distract us and numb us god's trying to give us a word i don't i'm just going to follow what i feel i believe there's a true

rest today so much so i told the team beforehand i had something entirely different i was planning to preach to you today but the lord got a hold of me in a moment of rest so there's some people who are at the end of their rope and they've been going from one trial to the next and they're wondering when in the world is this going to end god and it may not end today and it may not end tomorrow but i can give you an assurance that you're going to have rest throughout all of it that even in that storm and even in that wilderness and even in that barren place and even when you're running from life and the enemy's chasing you down you can still have rest there and you can still have peace there i want you to stand with me see musicians come i feel like this word i just use the word pinpointed for individuals and for families and i've got some of them on my heart and mind today as i was talking to bishop i said i feel like there's more people than i even realize who've been running from life and god's calling them to pause and to rest psalm 55 such an apt description of where some of you are

right now i want to read it to you before i invite you to come david writes this in verse 1. give here to my prayer of god don't hide yourself from my supplication you almost hear the tired in this voice tend to me and hear me i'm restless in my complaint i don't have rest i'm moan noise because of the voice of the enemy i could preach a sermon on that right there when you're weary don't listen he'll tell you to take an easier path he'll tell you to take an easier way don't rest in god he doesn't have the remedy for you don't listen to him the voice of the enemy will try to speak to you when you're restless because of the oppression of the wicked they bring down trouble on me and wrath they hate me my heart is severely pain within me tears of death have fallen upon me fearfulness and trembling have come upon me horror has overwhelmed me so they said oh that i had wings as a dove and i'd fly away and i'd be at rest indeed i'd wander far off i'd remain in the wilderness i'd go on vacation forever would hasten my escape from the windy storm and i just want to get out of this god's saying

i might not take you out immediately but i've got rest for you in the middle of it let me escape lord says no verse 16 but as for me i will call upon god and the lord will save me evening morning noon i will pray i'll cry loud if he will hear me he's redeemed my soul in peace right in the middle of the battle he says it was against me for there were many against me verse 22 instructs us cast your burden on the lord and he will sustain you he'll never permit the righteous to be moved i'm invite you to come in a moment i want to share one last thing i feel like the lord spoke to me this week and said you tell someone i have rest reserved for them if they will come to me if they'll come to me i've got rest for them there's individuals today you know who you are there's families today that god's calling you to rest and if you want peace and you want strength and you want rest there is no shame in that today i hope you do not hesitate because of any kind of shame don't listen to that but i want you to invite you to come today to experience rest and maybe even get a word in the process if

you need peace and you need strength and rest would you just begin to come right now and find you make your way to this altar find a place where god can help you some of you've been running you've been running from that problem and god's not trying to keep you in there and god's not trying to he's not trying to destroy you but god's trying to help you and grow you he's got rest for someone today i wonder for those who are on the mountaintop right now and maybe you're in a good place would you just come and file in behind some of these that are in the struggle that need the rest of god i wonder if you'd come and lay hands and pray right now there is a peace in a rest in the name of jesus we pray in the name of jesus we know that there's peace for the people of god that's been reserved for them and now we pray it and we believe for it in the name of jesus in the name of jesus oh if you need peace confidence because if you need rest if you need the strength of god this is your moment this is the moment of rest i trust the power of your that's all right shane of god of god if all the strength

you have right now is just to fall into his arms and fall into his hands you do that you let god heal some things and you let god touch your heart today get the peace and the strength i will not feel the declaring victory i've seen the faithfulness i trust the power beyond the ocean waves when i walk through the waters i won't be overcome when i go through the rivers i will not be drowned my god will make a way so i am not afraid when i am in the fire i will not feel the flame i'll stand before the giant declaring victory my god will make the way so you keep the promises you make there isn't one that is is i victory behind me always i will not be i will not feel the pain so i am not afraid where you won't find me always beside me i am i so high where behind me always me when i so we've got people still praying if you are please continue needing the peace of god this is the first time some have rested in a long time i'd like to pray a very specific prayer though there's an individual here or a family it just feels like you have gone from one trial or season to the next and you feel that

you just need strength and you need god's help i just felt earlier this week again that there's individuals or families that just need a lifting from both the spirit of god and the body i want to just ask you to just be honest today and vulnerable in the presence of god and say you know what our family is battling or i'm battling i need god's strength and if that's you today if you wouldn't mind just stepping out we do this pretty regularly but this is just the body being the body and helping would you just come right now if you're in need of strength just stand right in this area here i told a story several months ago my own family a time when we stood here and this church prayed as a 14 year old i remember it changed my life that prayer so please do not discount what's about to happen in this moment but what's going to need to happen is i'm going to ask every person here if you wouldn't mind standing just to be engaged in this prayer and then i'm going to ask you to take it a step further and if you are willing to come right now and surround these people of god and let them know they

are not alone but the body is going to help and see to it that they have rest and strength and peace i wonder if you'd come right now thank you for coming thank you for being the body would you come and file in and just go from one just below the holy ghost and go from one to the next and pray in the name of jesus listen to our voice right now and pray as a church in the name of jesus we believe we're just going to take a season and prayer right here in jesus name oh uh so cheers uh i feel a word from the lord your challenge your trial whatever form it is taken god is not waiting for you to prove anything sometimes we see these tests and trials and feel like okay what do i need to prove or how faithful do i need to prove and we should god is not waiting for you to prove anything he wants to prove himself to you he wants to distrust him what our pastor invited us to just come to him and you have you have god go ahead and prove yourself why don't you just speak that word of faith go ahead and prove yourself god i'll do whatever i should do i need to do but you just go ahead and prove yourself

we're not going to try to prove anything to you or anybody else such a deep move of the holy ghost today god's working in some deep places of our hearts bishop shared with me this past wednesday felt like the lord dealt with him about apc that we are entering into a season of strengthening helping when i thought about that at first kings 19 was right before elijah went to see the miraculous to anoint the next generation to be used by god to get a word and direction from god that the lord strengthened him and helped him god is strengthening his church for a purpose and he's strengthening you for a purpose not just to give you strength to help you to continue on to be faithful and then to use you in the future we owe him great praise would you offer that to him right now oh oh you're so great you are so great oh let that praise break for oh there's a praise of victory coming out of someone right now oh let that praise go oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah that strength you've got oh there's no better purpose than his praises to use that strength i feel you some of you just

won that let it go don't hold back on my account you let that praise go there's strength in that praise right now i shouted my microphone off i don't even know i'm gonna go out of here rejoicing we're going to go out of here in his power and in his rest and we're going to go and continue to find rest in his presence