We Gon’ Be Alright

Tim Rivers | March 12, 2023

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I'm so glad that you're here. If you're a guest with us, we want to say welcome to Embassy City Church. We're delighted that you're here, and as Cobb mentioned, be sure to stop by our guest central. This is a space that we've designed specifically for you. We want to get a opportunity to meet you, to talk with you, to exchange information with you, and let you know that we're on your side and we're going to be your family. So make sure you just swing by for those that are watching online, our Vitamin E family and those that are in overflow. Thank you so much for being with us. We love you so much. Can we just give all those online a big hand? Can we talk about last week? Can we talk about it? Yes. Can we give God some praise? Amen. For what took place. My goodness, I got to share this with you. So right before a few weeks prior to baptism Sunday, I felt prompted to just begin to pray for a hundred people to get water baptized. And so I put it in my prayer journal, I shared it with the team, and I just started praying a few weeks ago. Lord, if there's a hundred people, and it seems like really ambitious to be honest with you, you know what I'm saying but if it's not a hundred, I'll be all right, Lord.

But when God tells you to do something, it's probably going to be beyond what you imagined it to be and it's going to require faith. So I prayed for it and our team prayed for it, and then last week came, and God not only answered that prayer, but he did exceedingly, abundantly above all that we're able to ask or think just because he is God. Amen. So one more time, can we give God some praise in this place for all those that went in public,

Nothing but Jesus. So before I get in this word, there's one more thing that I want to cover with you about last week. So if you follow us on social media, you probably saw that we took down a reel that had the total number of baptisms at 2 0 5. And the reason why we took it down is because when we went back and we reconciled all of our lists and names and we realized that we had some redundancies in there. And so I want to tell you the official number of those that were water baptized is actually 146 people that went down in the waters of baptism.

And you may be wondering why are you even talking about numbers? Because one of our cultural values here at Embassy City is to be hot. We want to be honest, open and transparent. And one of the things that I want you to be confident in is that as your pastor, I'm always going to do my best to lead hot, to lead with integrity. And that means if we posted a number publicly and then we found out it was different, I'm just going to come up here and tell you it was a different number. But what that doesn't do is reduce the amount of rejoicing and glory that we give God for every single person. Cause every number has the name attached to it, and every name has a story and every story has a testimony, and I don't even have time to get into all the detail. We had a couple fly down from New York to get water baptized that are part of our vitamin E family. Yes. We had a gentleman who had just torn his a c l that got in the baptism with a straight up knee brace. We had to baptize him diagonally. And he was like, I'm not waiting. I got to get baptized today.

We had a young lady, I was going to wait to get baptized in Puerto Rico. She said, nah, dad, I got to do it right now and I can't go through all the stories. But 146 people went public with their faith. We ought to raise the roof in this place and give God glory.

Only God could have done that. My goodness. I'm still on cloud now. All right, let's go into the word mark, chapter four, the book of Mark chapter four, starting at verse number 35. I feel like preaching just a little bit, if that's all right. I know y'all got that extra hour. I know there's some nine o'clock present here, right? <laugh>, the problem with having an iPhone is it automatically corrects some. Y'all going to get that on your way home.

Mark, chapter four, verse number 35. On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side and leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was, and other boats were with him and a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling, but he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. Isn't that just like Jesus, when you are going through a major storm, it seems like he is a asleep. And Mark was very intentional about telling us that he also had a pillow. Nothing more insulting than going on a long road trip. And someone is sleeping beside you on a pillow and he awoken, rebuked, oh no, no, no, okay on a cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Isn't it amazing that when we go through storms, we start blaming Jesus for it? Don't you care that I'm going through this? And he awoken, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, why are you so afraid? I love how Jesus downplayed situations. Why are you so afraid? Because we are drowning.

I'm not sure if you noticed, I noticed that you were asleep, but while you were sleeping, we were almost dead.

Why Are you so afraid? Have you still known faith? And they were filled with great fear? That word fear can also be awe and said to one another who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him. Somebody say, amen. So as most of Janis and I have three small children, ages six, almost seven, three and one and a half. And a common question that I get from people, and it's usually from parents of older children, they will come and they'll almost put a smirk on their face. They'll say, Hey you getting any sleep? And I look at 'em and I'm like, Lord, help me because they know that I'm not getting any sleep. And I look at 'em, I go, <laugh> what? Sleep. And the reality is all of us need rest. Now, whether you're a person that needs at least eight hours of sleep, have you ever been around someone that needs at least eight but they got six and you're like, Hey, I will do whatever's necessary for you to go get this two hours. And then there's some people that only need, I only need about five or six a night and I'm good. But regardless of how much sleep you need, the reality is that all of us need rest. And our culture has tried to convince us with hustle, culture and grind and secure the bag alert

That we need to work and be busy and do all types of stuff to try to secure the money and the bag and the bands. And here we have a culture that is busy but not productive.

And those are not the same thing. You can be busy and not productive. You can be productive and not busy. In fact, I've changed my language several years ago when people say, I know that you're busy, I say, no, I'm productive because I want to convince myself that what I'm doing is not getting caught up in the business culture because it's the will of God for you to rest. So for the next few moments, I want to teach, preach to you from the word of God. And I want to demonstrate to you by the word of God, how incredibly biblical theological and absolutely necessary it is for you to rest. Anybody tired, <laugh>, what a day to talk about rest <laugh>. Look at God. So for the next few minutes, I want to preach on this topic. We going to be all right. We going be all right.

Do you hear me? Do you feel me? <laugh>, we going be <laugh> heaven. Father, we thank you so much for allowing us to be in your house. I pray that in the next few moments you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive and a mind to understand what your word would say to us. Help us to walk out of here different than the way we walked in. Help us to rest in you. I thank you Lord God in advance for what you're going to do in Jesus name. And everybody say Amen. Turn your neighbor and tongue, we going to be all right. We going to be all right.

I want to read you some facts about sleep. Almost half of all Americans say they feel sleepy during the day between three and seven days per week on average, we spend about two hours per night dreaming. Anybody a dreamer in here? Anybody remember your dreams? I love one of the highlights of going to sleep for me is to go dream. And I have such vivid dreams that oftentimes sometimes I will wake myself up laughing because of how incredible my dreams. In fact, I'm going to tell on myself. One time I woke up and I had this really incredible dream and Janice was like, Hey, did you dream something funny? And I said, yes. She goes, yeah, because you were laughing loudly in your sleep. She said, what did you dream? I said, well, I was dreaming that I was flying with turtles, but here's the best part. I was dreaming that the turtles were turtles were reaching over and tickling me. <laugh>.

Some of y'all thought I was going to be super spiritual with my dreams. You know what I'm saying? I saw the heavens open up and I saw a cloud descending. Nah, nah, it's getting tickled by turdy by turkeys. Oh Lord. Shot byebye rush, shot Byebye, getting tickled by turtles. Say that 10 times real fast. It's going to be a fun day today for adults over age 40, 69% of men and 76% of women get up to go to the bathroom at least once per night. I do that. And I'm not 40 yet. So y'all pray for me. <laugh>, around 57% of men and 40% of women in the US snore. Anybody sleep with a snorer? I'm going to keep my hand down. Anybody else <laugh>?

The truth is that in our culture today, we do more and we rest less. We are busy but less productive. And our culture has convinced us that if you're not busy, then you're not doing anything. And so we get caught up in this culture of grind and hustle, and I'm trying to secure the bad and I'll sleep when I die. That ain't of God. Plus you ain't going to be sleeping when you die. Where you are awake is dependent on you, but you ain't going to be sleeping when you die. That is the trick of the enemy to try to convince you that you have to hustle and grind and do all the time. But can I tell you it is the will of God for you to take some time and rest. Rest. And it's a big problem because even in Japan there's a word it's called karoshi.

And the word karoshi can be interpreted to mean overwork, death. And this was a word invented in the 1970s when in Japan, what they were finding is they kept finding these individuals who had no prior health conditions, no ailments of any kind, and they would find them dead. They would go to sleep and then literally be dead. And they were starting to investigate what is going on. And what they realized is that people were literally working so much that their heart would literally just stop. And so there's a term called corrosion. And here's the thing about rest, about not resting. The question we have to ask is why do we feel the need to stay busy? Why do we feel this need to always do something? Like you've probably been around that person that you're on vacation and they still are working, they just don't rest.

They're always doing something. And I think what's complicated the situation is the several years that we've been through, we went through covid and then we had racial unrest, and then we had riots, and then we have all types of stuff going on in our culture and then people getting laid off and then trying to find the job. And then we had school and when we didn't have school and you're trying to determine should I homeschool? Should I send 'em back to the school because we're on one week and then we're off one week and I'm getting real personal. But you know what I'm saying? And so we've developed a culture that feels like we always have to do something. But can I tell you generally speaking, the underlying issue about why we don't rest is because we lack trust?

Yes. Because trust can be defined as relinquishing control to something or someone. And the reason why most people will not rest is because they don't trust that the earth is going to continue to rotate if they go to sleep. And what ends up happening is we feel like, you know what? If I'm not making the sales calls, then what's going to happen? If I'm not the one out there answering all the emails, then nobody is going to do it. Let me tell you, you're good, but you need that good. The job is still going to be there. And I know pastors that they are on the grind from Monday through Sunday and they're working and working and working and they're sacrificing their family and their time because in their minds they think If I don't do it, then our church is going to crumble and we're not of God.

That's a lie. The earth will continue to move while you go to sleep because God has designed it that way. And here's the reality about being tired. The enemy wants you to be tired because it is the scheme of the enemy to attack you when you're most vulnerable and sleepy. We know this will be true with Jesus, right? With Jesus he went to the wilderness to fast 40 days and 40 nights, and that's when Satan, for 30 years, we have no account of Satan coming to tempt Jesus. But when Jesus is in the middle of the desert, he is tired and he's hungry. That's when Satan comes and tries to get him, tempt him to leave his purpose. When you are tired, that's when Satan attacks you the most because when you're tired, your guards start coming down and you start doing things that you ought not to be doing. But you're so tired your defenses aren't up. Am I preaching to anybody?

So you have to rest. Here's the thing, the principle of rest was invented by God. Let's go to Justice chapter two. Jesus chapter two, verse number one, thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because oned God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. The word rest here is the Hebrew word, Shabbat. It means to cease, desist and rest. So when God got ready to make creation, he created for six days. And then on the seventh day he took a break and he looked back at al everything that he had done and he said, it's good. No, it is real good. The word rest does not mean that you wear yourself out. God did not rest on the seventh day because he was tired from creating, Right?

God wasn't like <laugh>, my Lord. It took a lot to put these trees up and to speak the world in existence. I got to take sit down on my throne and take myself a break. No, no. The word rest is the same word that we see in the court of law. When a defense or prosecution, they make their case and they've presented all of the evidence and they've called all of their witnesses and they've presented all of their findings. And when they feel like they have done everything that they know that is possible to do to state their case, when they get to the end, they will look at the judge and they will say, your honor, we rest our case. And what they're saying is, we have presented all of the evidence that we could find. We've called all of the witnesses that we feel are pertinent to the case, and we've made all of the arguments that we feel like give us a shot at winning this. And so now we rest in the fact that what we have presented was good enough.

Lord, did you know that you will not find another scripture in the Bible where God recreates on the eighth day? No, God created for six days and then he rested on the seventh day. He looked at what he did, he said, that's real guilt. And then on the eighth day he cultivated, he stewarded what he had already created. And if you're not careful, we will buy into this idea that we have to create, create. No. God wants you to rest and cultivate and steward what you have already created. Everybody's trying to dig new gardens and God says, I already gave you a garden. I need you to cultivate it. I want a new relationship. Why don't you take care of the one you have? I want a new job. Why don't you be really good at the job you do Have?

That's the process of rest. And here's the thing about rest. God set a precedent in Genesis that the seventh day is going to be a day of rest. And then he reiterates that when he gives the 10 Commandments to the shit of Israel, the 10 Commandments madness has all kinds of stuff. Don't kill, don't steal, don't covet, blah, blah, blah. And oh, and by the way, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, the word Sabbath and Shabbat's the same thing. It means to rest. So God says, while you are proud of the fact that you didn't kill nobody today, if you did make yourself known so we can run <laugh>. I didn't steal nothing today. I didn't cover it today. Yeah, but did you rest? We will get proud of the fact that we've kept nine of the 10 commandments and turn a blind eye to the fact that we did not rest. God thought it was that important that he said, if I'm going to give you 10 things to do, one of 'em is going to be for you to rest.

And good things happen when you rest. God does his best work when you rest. Can we talk about Adam? Yes. Adam, God created him. He puts him in the garden. He says, I want you to take care of the garden, take care of what I, I've placed in front of you. And so Adam is doing that and he looks around, he's like, okay, I see everybody else got a partner. Monkeys are doing their stuff behind these bushes. This cow got a bull. Everyone's booed up except for me. That's what he says. God notice I don't have anybody to be with. And God says, I got you fam. I'm going to create you the perfect, help me. Adam's like, all right, what we doing? He said, well, you're going to go to sleep. God puts a deep sleep on Adam and then he creates Adam the perfect, help me. You know why God wanted Adam to be asleep? It's because he didn't want Adam to be involved in the details of who he was creating for Adam. I'm going to get in trouble right now. <laugh>, the reason why some people are still single is they're out picking God's pick.

He's the perfect guy for you, but you won't date him because he's got curly hair. And that's just not my thing. God brought you the right one and you are like, Hey, look, you know, asked me to stay asleep, but I got one eye opener and I told you I like Burnett's and not, and you brought me a blunt. What's up with that God? And God's like, listen, I need you to go to sleep so that I can do what I can do.

God speaks to Abraham and says, Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make your name great. I'm going to make of you a great nation. All this stuff is going to happen. And Abraham, he's like, okay, how's this going to happen? God says, I'm going to make a covenant with you. And Abraham's like, all right, I bet I'm ready. God says, no, no, you're not.

You are going to go to sleep. So God puts a deep sleep on Abraham and then God makes a covenant for Abraham with himself. God signs both sides of the contract, the seller and the buyer. And he says, you know what? Because if you are awake, you're going to try to dictate the terms of the contract and you cannot, in your own human power be able to fulfill the contract. So I have to fulfill the contract myself by signing both ends of the agreement. And you got to go to sleep, close your eyes, shut your mouth and sleep. Good things happen when you sleep. We can talk about Joseph. Joseph received a vision, a dream of what he was called to do while he was please. Oh, I think y'all want some more word. All right, I got you.

Samuel was called to be the next prophet while he was. And I love that story because here's interesting about the story of Samuel and Eli. Eli was the prophet right now, if Samuel would've come to Eli and said, Hey, Eli, man, I think that God's calling me to do something it probably would've been a little messed up. So God says, Hey, while you're asleep, I'm going to call your name. And so he goes to Eli and says, Hey Eli, did you call me? And Eli's like, nah, go back to sleep. He goes back to sleep. Same thing happens. He goes back to Eli, Hey Eli, did you call me? He said, nah, man, go to sleep. He goes to sleep, he comes back, Hey, I heard it again. And Eli says, next time say speak Lord. Yeah. So he goes back to sleep and he realizes the Lord. It was the proof to who both Samuel and Eli, that when you are asleep, God call you. Can we talk about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus? He was getting upset that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit right there with you, Joseph. I'd be like, <laugh>, that sucks. Fam <laugh>, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. So what you talking about <laugh>? Holy Spirit hadn't been poured out yet.

So what does God do? God says, I'm going to put you to sleep and while you sleep, I'm going to set in Asia to tell you that Mary is with child by the Holy Spirit, but I need you asleep. And even physically, biologically, we are created that our bodies experience temporary paralysis while we have vivid dreams. And if you think about that, you think about the science behind that. Millions of neurons literally shut down your body so that you can experience mentally euphoric things like flying and jumping off a building and being a superhero and <laugh> all the things that are not real life. You get to experience in your dream. But the reason why your body shuts down is because if your body was awake, you would not be able to experience all of these things. That is by design. Now, I do want to tell you that there's a difference between sleep and slumber. Sleep is intentional, sleep, biblical rest is when you intend to go to sleep, you intend to rest. Slumber is when you've worked so hard that you just fall asleep and bad things happen when you're in a state of slumber.

Can we talk about Jacob? Jacob was called by God, but then he tries to get to the will of God in his own power. And when he couldn't do that, he starts running away. He gets so tired, the scripture says that he lays down and he puts his head on a rock to God. You have got to be uber tired to confuse a rock with a pillow. He is so tired and he's sleeping. The winners of heaven opened up a ladder descends angels are ascending and descending, and God is speaking. He is like, Jacob, I'm going to do all the things, the promises that I gave to your grandfather and your father. I'm now giving it to you and I'm going to be with you this whole time and I'm going to fulfill the promises to you. But Jacob was such and slumber that when he woke up, he said, surely God was here and I did not know it. When you are slumbering, you will miss a visitation from the Lord and you will start thinking that visions that God has given you are actually dreams that will never come to pass. And when you are in slumber, you will waste time still trying to accomplish it in your own power. That's exactly what Jacob did. Jacob wet and he worked for 21 years until God brought 'em right

Back. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

So there's the difference between slumber and sleep. We can also talk about Samson. When Sampson got to the place where he was slumbering, he gave away his secrets.

We can talk about Saul. Saul was so intent on trying to kill David that he slumbered. And when he slumbered that he almost got his head cut off because David walks into the cave and is like, man, I could kill this joker right now. I wonder if it's the will of God. What I would've been thinking, God for forgive. But slumber is not a great thing. So I want to go back to the scripture that we read in March chapter four, and I want to talk about the story of Jesus being with his disciples out in the sea, but in order to do so, I want you to go with me to the sea of Galilee. We're going to completely immerse ourself in this story.

So Jesus isn't that cool?

Jesus comes out and he's teaching and he's working miracles, signs, and disciples are gathered around him and they're like, y'all make fun of my boat.

This is all we could afford. So you know what I'm saying? Not everybody can go and get a 25 foot bass boat mean. So Jesus out there and he's teaching the multitudes and he's working miracles, signs and wonders, and the disciples are following him and they're so happy to see God moving. And here's a trick that can sometimes come into our minds that when good things are happening, we got to keep going. Yeah. And what will happen is we would try to convince ourselves, well this is good now I don't want it to stop, so I got to keep grinding. I got to keep doing. I got to keep working and I don't have to rest. I don't have time to rest because I still want God. You continue to work and that's the alive enemy. You still got to take time to rest. So the disciples are with Jesus and they're like, Hey Jesus, what we going to do next?

And Jesus like, Hey, we're going to go to the other side. So he gets into the boat with them. Y'all give it up for Jesus right now, know. So disciples get into the boat and Jesus is in the back and they're comfortable and they're cool. And I can just imagine the conversations. That's the disciples they're having. Oh, cool boots. Jesus rocked. So disciples are talking with one another and they're high fiving one another and they're like, man, did you see how that dude tried to roll up on Jesus with all them demons, breath? And Jesus was like, poof, be gone. And that dude was cleared of all demons. Did you see that part? Come on, Peter, did you see that? And Andrew was like, yeah, man. But did you see that one dude that they had to carry in because he was paralytic? And then God, Jesus touched him and that dude got up and started walking. Did you see that? And they're high fiving and they're glory, and they just cannot wait to see what God's going to do with him on the other side. When all of a sudden the Bible says while they're in their boat and they're having fun and they're enjoying themselves, that a storm arose. And next thing, the disciples catch themselves in the middle

Of a wave and then they start freaking out and they start going, you know what? I signed up to follow Jesus, but there's limits to my following him. I didn't sign up for this. And they're freaking out and they forget 'em all about the miracle sounds of wonders and the most significant thing that they forget just that Jesus is with them. So the Bible says that while they're in the boat, that water is getting into the boat and they're grabbing buckets and they're trying to remove all the water from the boat. And in their old power, they're trying to fight a storm that they will never win. So the ocean is raging and they're putting out water. And finally one of 'em gets the bright idea of, Hey, you know what? Jesus is with us. Maybe we should ask him. And so they look at Jesus. Jesus, get up. Take your time. Jesus, just take your time. Family. Nah, that was the joke, bro. Jesus, we need you up. So Jesus starts getting up and they're like, Jesus, don't you care now we're perishing. This is all because of you and can you do something? And Jesus, then he says, peace be still.

Y'all give it up for Jesus. And next thing you know, Jesus wakes up and he calms the storm. He was there the whole time. And you got to ask yourself the question, why was Jesus able to sleep while everybody was tripping? How was Jesus's able to sleep? And one of the worst places on a boat, the best place for a boat when you're in a storm is in the middle, by the way. So if you're in a cruise ship, get to the middle, go to the back of the front. Not a good place to be, but Jesus is in the back and he's resting and he's going to sleep because he had just worked and now he's resting. And which that's a side note. We rest from work. We don't just rest from rest every day. Nails on Monday, toes on Tuesday, hair on Wednesday, <laugh> massage on Thursday, foot rub on Friday. I'm sorry Y I'm medling now. But Jesus was able to rest. And when you look at the scripture and you try to understand why Jesus was able to sleep well, everybody else was tripping. I can tell you why. It's because Jesus knew that no storm was about to stop him from accomplishing the purpose that was on him.

You can sleep in the storm when you realize that the God who brought you here will take you there. Jesus knew he was getting to the other side because here's the thing, rest is an act of faith. This is why when Jesus replied to them, he didn't say, man, that was a bad storm, wasn't it? Who? I'm right there with you. I did not know that was going to happen. Jesus looks at me. He says, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? You know why Jesus attaches rest to faith? Because faith is believing that God tells the truth. And when we are not willing to rest, we are questioning the sovereignty of God in our lives.

So the question is how do I rest? Glad you asked. Number one, if you want to rest is find you a place to rest. Find a resting place. When Jesus was in the boat, he found the place in the boat to rest. Jesus didn't jump into another boat, he didn't get on the shore. He found a place in the midst of the storm to rest. It is going to be nearly impossible for you to rest if you continue being around an environment that is restless. Some of y'all like, have you seen the tickets to Fiji right now? <laugh>, I've been trying to find a place to rest, but is outrageous. You don't have to go to somewhere exotic. You just got to find a place. If that means go to the park, go to the park. If it means go to the other room, go to the other room. If it means taking a trip to holiday inn express, I almost said motel six, but Holiday inn express, <laugh> will do, but find you a place so that you can rest. Number two is disconnect. This is right here. I feel like the greatest problem in our culture. We are too connected. Here's the problem with being too connected. You will start emulating what you are around. Have you ever been around somebody that's just freaking out all the time and you catch yourself, your heart rate is elevated, you start to sweat profusely, and they're like, are you okay? And I'm like, no, I'm not. Okay. Why are you freaking out? Well, I think it's because you're freaking out.

Why are you anxious? Because you are anxious. And what happened is you start matching the energy of the people that you're around. Notice that while the disciples were tripping about the storm, Jesus was completely disconnected because he was in a different spot. You got to unfollow some people. You got that elevated heart rate because you watching their stories stop watching their stories. Ooh, ooh, that hit home for somebody.

You got to disconnect. If you go on vacation, disconnect, get off social media. I promise you Instagram is still going to be there when you get back. Disconnect from your emails. Disconnect. Jesus refused to let the lack of face of the disciples to affect his rest. Jesus elevated rest above meaning the needs of disciples who were having a hard time. Here's number three. This is a duh moment rest. Why do I say that? This is an important factor? Because you have to be intentional about getting rest. Rest ain't just going to jump on you.

<laugh>

Rest on me. Rest.

I know so many people that will be praying, God give me rest. And God's like, why don't you go rest? I already set the patterns for God says, I done told you you got to do it. Stop working seven days a week. Stop grinding, stop hustling, and then complaining about not having rest. Be intentional about resting.

Because God set the pattern for rest. And I don't have time to go through this, but I encourage you to do this in your own time. Go through the gospels and look at how many times the scripture tells us that Jesus went away. He would do miracles and then he would go away. He would work miracles, and then he would separate himself. He would do this and then he would go away. Jesus understood that my effectiveness in ministry is connected to my ability to refuel. You cannot pour out from an empty cup. We always talk about the scripture to whom much is given, much is required. And we use that almost as an excuse to give because a lot of us, a lot is required of me. So I got to give, give, give. To whom much is given, much is required. That is an equal amount. In other words, if you require much, then I need much.

That's a revelation for somebody. If I stood up here and just preached every day for five hours, it would not be good. Because in order to preach the word and to do my best, I've got to go away and study the word. I've got to go pray. I've got to go seek the face of God. I've got to sleep. I got to rest because while I'm doing that, God is filling me so that I can pour out. And the same is true for you. The best thing that you can do for your job is to what? Fill up with rest so that you can pour out with energy. That's how God has designed your body. Did you know you will die faster without rest and you will without food or water? Literally you're designed to have rest.

What I love about the story is that when Jesus saw the storm, he said, peace be still and almost seems redundant. But if you would allow me, this is my imagination, and I can't say this is exactly what the scripture says. This is just me. When I read the scripture, I wonder if Jesus didn't look at his disciples and say Peace and then look at the storm and say, be still. Because the word peace actually can be transliterated to the word hush. Be quiet. And I wonder if Jesus didn't look at his disciples and say, hush <laugh>, be quiet. I realize that we're in the storm. Ain't got to tell me that I'm in the same boat.

That's probably where that phrase came from. We in the same boat, we're in the same storm. We have two different perspectives. Why? Because I will rest. So hush. Be quiet. Watch me work. Be still. I believe that the Lord is saying that there's somebody here today. You've been tripping about the storm. You got your bucket out. You're like, God, I'm trying to get rid of all these problems. And Jesus like, shh, be quiet. Stop tripping. I'm here. I'm with you. Go to sleep. Take a rest. If we're not careful, we can buy into this idea.

We have too many people hooked on sleep aids right now. Melatonin, ze, qui. If I can't find that, I'll go for NyQuil. Benadryl, we got stacks of sleep aids. But can I tell you as a believer, and I know that there are legitimate reasons, chemical imbalance, maybe something that's that's happening where you have an overactive mind. I understand all that, but as a believer, can I encourage you first go to the Lord and be honest with God and say, God, am I doing too much? Am I spinning too many plates? Am I showing up for too many people? Am I taking too many appointments? Am I trying to disciple everybody? Am I bearing everybody's burdens? Am I not sleeping enough even when I have the opportunity? Am I spending too much time watching Netflix? Do I spend too many hours scrolling through social media? Do that first before you try to use sleep aids as a band-aid for a root issue. Some of us need surgery. We're putting band-aids. Yes, sir. On a deep, God wants you to rest, not just read this word, but meditate on. You know what meditate means means to be quiet

And reflect. Amen. How many in this place would say you need a rest like you've been doing too much? Some of us started this year like, God, I am going to go to bed earlier and I'm going to, I'm going to prioritize rest. I'm going to prioritize my sleep schedule. And then you get caught in a rat race of doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing. And the Lord sent me here to tell you, you going to wear yourself out. So stop it and go to sleep. Find you a resting place. Disconnect and go to take a nap. Not everybody can take a nap. I remember a God told me one time, Hey dude, take a 10 minute power nap, u b, alright. I said, all right, I'm going to try this theory. He said, in the middle of the day, I was in my truck. I said, a timer for 10 minutes. And I woke up an hour and a half later, <laugh> drew coming down. I missed two appointments. I said, God, this ain't for me. I said, ma, I told him. I said, man, it didn't work. He said, try it again. I said, all right, I'll give one more shot. I tried it again. I woke up two hours later. This ain't for me, but I know for me, I've got to prioritize rest. I've got to take intentional time to disconnect and rest. And here's the thing.

We're going to practice what I'm preaching this week. This week is spring break. We about to take the kiddos, go somewhere cool, and we're going to do nothing but rest, right? I'm going to disconnect and I'm going to rest. We're going to have a ton of fun, and I encourage you to do the same thing because we need you. We need you healthy. We need you with energy. We need your body to last. How am I going to rest this week? Some of y'all are like, I don't know. I got so much on my plate right now. I mean, I hear you, but just put your hand up if you intend on resting. I don't care if it's 10, 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Add some time to rest because the will of God. And if you have a hard time, go read the 10 Commandments With that.

Father, we thank you so much for allowing to be in your house. I pray, Lord God, that as we go forth from this place, that we will be convicted in our hearts, motivated in our hearts to move forward and be intentional about resting. Help us not to get caught up in the culture's mindset of grind and the work ourselves to death and all the junk that the culture tries to convince us to do besides rest, I pray that we would prioritize it, that we would follow your pattern that you set at the very beginning of creation that you emphasized in the 10 commandments that you demonstrated while on earth. So right now, God, I just thank you, Lord for the sweet place of rest. God, I pray that you would rejuvenate us, that you would fill us up with your presence, that you would help us, God, to be filled up so that we can pour out and fill us up. Again, I thank you, God, for what you're doing in the midst of us. We give you name all the praise and glory in Jesus name, and somebody shout, amen. God bless you.