Entering into Christ’s Rest

good morning and welcome to Midweek

Insights This is Pastor John from

Popular Assembly of God We would like to

welcome you here If you're watching us

for the first time we we want to

appreciate you and and you if as you

watch uh and share today uh hit the like

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bottom of the screen Today we're going

to talk about something I think is

really important

We're in a time of uh civil unrest We're

in a time of of people doing strange and

odd things that we're not used to And

uh it can be very taxing on us and it

can cause us to have doubts and

confusion and fear and and because of

that I want to share with you something

Jesus said It's in Matthew 11 28 29 and

30 And one of the things that's of super

important for us as believers to keep in

mind is that Jesus one of the things

Jesus told us was that we would have

peace in him And I want you to listen to

what he said This is verse 28 29 and 30

He says "Come unto me all ye that labor

and are heavy laden and I will give you

rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of

me for I am meek and lowly in heart and

ye shall find rest unto your souls For

my yoke is easy and my burden is light

One of the things that we as human

beings do is we will allow the cares of

this world to overtake us and then we

become

ineffective in our testimony and in our

our life in Christ because we get

burdened and and we get under all this

intense pressure and and we we feel like

you know what's the use of continuing to

cry when it doesn't seem to be that

we're making any progress going forward

and the things that we're doing or are

not being successful So I want to

encourage you to take a look at what

Jesus said If you learn of him you learn

how he operates and how he does things

And those things will give us an

opportunity to grow within ourselves

And Jesus doesn't want us to stay the

way we were when we found

him but he wants us to grow beyond where

we've been And to do that you need to

learn what he says and what he thinks

And you need to know that in him all

things are possible

even when we're looking at all of these

strange crazy horrific things that are

going on and we try to figure out you

know how how do I get from point A to

point B and the way that we do that is

to begin to learn of him to learn how he

thinks to learn how he operates to learn

what he says we can do in him even when

it feels like we're just overburdened

and and uh worn out and worn down Um in

Matthew 6:34 Jesus says "Take no thought

for tomorrow for sufficient to the days

the evil thereof." What he's telling you

is "Stop worrying about tomorrow Stop

thinking about all the things that are

going wrong and all the things that are

weighing us down and all the troubles

that we're having But rather let's shift

our focus back to the one who has the

solutions to the one who can help us

overcome all of these things that we're

uh so burdened down by If you give it to

Jesus and leave it in his hands then the

things that you're experiencing are not

so

overwhelming It's when we begin to try

to deal with these things ourselves in

our own strength in our own thoughts in

our own processes that we become so

weighed down with all these things that

we're fighting against And it keeps us

from reaching the pinnacles of success

in Christ And those go contrary to what

people think are the pinnacles of

success in life Because Jesus tells us

repeatedly stop worrying about what's

going to happen here but rather focus on

this Where are you going to spend

eternity and when we shift our focus

uh from ourselves the problems in this

world Jesus said all the things that are

happening right now were going to happen

And he tells us

um not to be concerned about those

things Rather focus in on what is about

to happen which is the return of Christ

And when he returns things are going to

drastically

change And so we need to be prepared for

that We need to be ready uh to meet him

in the air when he comes to gather the

church And we can't do that if we're

constantly focused on all the stuff

that's going on Uh political turmoil

wars rumors of wars uh economics uh

downturns slides into that Um all of

these things that are going on are

things that Jesus said were going to

happen And if he said they were going to

happen then we have to change our focus

Okay Well if these are going to happen I

need to stop worrying about that because

he already said it was going to happen

And what we do is we need to focus on

what he said And what he said was "I

will never leave you or forsake

you." He said "I'm the beginning and the

end I'm the alpha and the omega." He

tells you repeatedly about himself about

what he's going to do He has so much

care for us And the father has so much

care for us that if we can let

go of the things that weigh us down and

burden us we can enter into this what he

calls rest And that means that mentally

we're no longer overwhelmed by the

things we're facing We can have

uh confidence in him We can take courage

that no matter what happens he's still

going to be there He's still going to be

the God that we need He's still going to

be there to fulfill in us the things

that he said he came to do And you know

we're we're entering into the Easter

season

Um and this is a time where people need

to stop and

reflect about what Jesus said not only

about himself but about the father He

tells us and and most Christians this is

the first scripture they ever learn Uh

for God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son that whosoever

should believeth in him should not

perish but have everlasting life And

he's telling you I love you this much I

love you so much I was willing to come

and die in your place to restore your

fellowship with the father that was

destroyed back in the

garden And we need to realize just to

how much we mean to God to the point

that we are no longer looking at our

circumstances We're no longer looking at

the political situation We're no longer

looking at the world and being in

distress and being afraid that we might

um that we're going to be overwhelmed

and that we're going to everything's

going to fall

apart because he said "I will never

leave you or forsake you." And if we can

wrap our mind around that if we can

start to realize that in

Christ we can do all things That's what

Paul said I can do all things in Christ

who strengthens me We have this

fantastic

fantastic amazing

um

God that we can't even really fathom or

wrap our minds around of his love and

care for us is so great that he was

willing to die for us And that's what

this Easter season is about It's about

his death burial and resurrection about

what he came here to do to start with

and what he's going to be doing as we go

forward And so as you're preparing to go

in to your Easter preparations and

preparations for celebrating the death

burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Uh I I want to encourage you I want to

encourage you to take the

time to enter

in to his

rest Um because it's a perfect place of

peace It's a perfect place of love It's

a perfect place of joy And when we're

located

there then the things that are going on

in the world that surround us constantly

and attack us constantly become of less

and less consequence because our

confidence is in Jesus and not in what

we see So I want you guys

to find that place in yourself where you

learn how to fully and completely trust

that God

has it under control that he's concerned

about your well-being that he said he

provides all your needs according to his

riches and glory And stop worrying about

those things Stop worrying about the

political atmos uh atmosphere that we're

in Stop worrying about all those things

and learn to trust in him So I'm going

to leave that with you guys You guys

have a fantastic week and we'll see you

again next week