Are You Tired? The Wrestle With Rest // Six Figures (Part 6) // Michael Todd

what's going on family and all my people that are watching on the Pando app I need to let you know three things number one I'm excited because you're here I'm here and God's here number two today's message I believe is going to really help you walk into new revelation that God has for all his people and number three I need you to know that every time that you write a letter every time you send something our team is getting that and we are reading we're trying to respond we are praying for you and we're believing that this is gonna be the best season of your life don't give up hope keep going and keep transforming as a matter of fact it reminds me of our podcast that we're about to release called progression over perfection and we're about to find a way to get this to you on the Pando app so just give us a little time but if you're gonna hear anything about that I want you to know I want you to see the reality of following God and embracing the principle that we don't have to be perfect doing it we just have to progress and I believe that's what God's gonna do in your life all right let's get into the message today this message is entitled are you tired answer me come on are you tired because many of us are wrestling with rest and it's a gift that God has given all of us to be able to live the life he's called us to so I want you to get ready for this message open up your heart be humble be ready to listen and learn something brand new because I believe this could change and transform your whole life today it's going to be the last installment in a series we've been in called six figures which are six figures that I believe God uses to expand our faith and grow us in a life of abundance and today's message is gonna be good cuz it's gonna help everybody how many people is gonna help not everybody it's gonna help everybody and that includes you now right now if your heart is like prove something to me Pastor Mike you not gonna get this you gotta open up your heart to be able to receive and so what I thought about what would be the best thing to open up the heart of people about a subject that they already are wrestling with I said I gotta put it in a package that they can receive it in cuz today I'm talking to the people of God about rest rest and I look at your face right now and know

you tired I can see by how you respond that you're tired some of y'all's Facebooks and Instagrams are telling on you you tired there are things that God suggests in his word and then there are things that he commands in his word and one of the commandments that is most ignored by people who claim to know him and love him is the commandment of taking a Sabbath the commandment of resting and right now I feel people clinching you don't know my story you don't know how much responsibility I have you don't know where I came from I got it out the mud you don't understand I'm a blue-collar worker you don't understand that I have so much to provide for you don't understand you don't understand how much God loves you God loves you so much that he gives us the gift of rest but if you don't have the revelation of it you never open the gift so today I know it's hard right now some of y'all feel the resistance I feel the resistance so I wanted to put this message in a package that you could receive it today ladies and gentlemen I would like to welcome to the stage preaching his first message my junior preacher today mr. Arlo Phoenix Metcalfe would y'all give it up oh you can do better than that it's a big dog Arlo has a message would you please get your notes ready go ahead Arlo hello my name is Arlo Phoenix Metcalfe and I'm gonna preach today everyone turn to your neighbor and say six seven six seven turn to your other neighbor and say six seven six seven Genesis chapter 1 God creates everything in six days the sixth day he creates man the seventh he rest that reminds us we need rest Jesus asked all of us a question are you really tired he won't only give you rest for six says but seven six seven hey can we give it up for Allah so proud of you buddy high five we can go home some of y'all was smiling so much y'all didn't hear what he said what he said was that God worked for six days

but on the seventh day he rested and it's crazy that at seven years old Arlo has a revelation that most 67 year olds don't have the truth of the matter is um rest is something that is necessary so i'm going to title today's message are you tired oh i don't know what that message just did to somebody but somebody's telling on themselves the rumbles in the crowd look at your neighbor and just ask them the question are you tired if you have the faith you can answer them come on look at your other neighbor come on say other neighbor are you tired today i gotta talk about the wrestle that you're having with rest some of y'all are wrestling with rest now i don't want anybody to confuse this with laziness i gotta say this up front because somebody's like perfect the message no i'm gonna i'm gonna give you context to this but some of you are really wrestling with rest and today i hope that this message by God's grace gives you a revelation of rest matter of fact just just to let everybody calm down everybody take a deep breath in let it out and say relax yes i'm not about to condemn you i'm not about to try to make you change today i'm going to just present some things to you that God presented to humanity and then i want you to make a decision do you want to live the abundant life that God provided or do you want to live this ghetto life that culture is giving me i have no idea what's happening right now it's ghetto down here i want you to live in freedom i want you to enjoy the abundant life life and life to the full and if you only hear things in memes or or or captures i want you to catch this little the whole message i put in a meme i'm trying to break this big thing down to something simple arlo was first this is my second attempt to just make you relax with this i want to give you my message in a meme will you play that video real quick did you have a nap today i did did you take a nap today no i didn't you need one what did what was her response what if God was coming to you today and saying you need a nap would you tell him no i don't i have too many bills to pay no i don't i gotta be outside oh y'all know what i'm talking about no i don't i have too many emails to answer no no no no no no no and um i think God's coming to you today through your pastor and saying you to you today through your pastor and saying you need one

have you had a nap watch this not today have you had a nap this week have you had a day off this week have you had a day off this month have you had a day off this year the reason i'm asking this is not because i as much as i love you i just want you to be healthy and um and thriving in all of the latest things that culture is telling you this is an ancient principle that our God put in place because he wanted us to work not work but he wanted us to function properly so because God wanted humanity his creation to function properly he knew what they needed before they ever went to work my daughter g his birthday is coming up and one of the things as we had her birthday party yesterday one of the things that i learned is that there are a bunch of toys That say they work, but they don't work until you put batteries in them and The thing that I realize is most toys don't come with batteries so we ordered a ton of Batteries that allowed us to do something before it actually Produced God is saying I want to put something into you before I require anything out of you You Missed it All right, let's go back to Arlo's illustration in Genesis God created Day one God created day two God created day three day four day five day six. What did he create? man, and on day six We get with God in connection. The first day we experience with God is a day of rest Not a day of work Your first day in existence as humanity was not a day of work it was a day of Okay, and this is the problem with most of us. We do not have a revelation of rest So today I'm gonna try to give you some revealed truth. And when I say revelation of rest

It's like something is there but you can't see it and a revelation is like oh I can see it one of my friends said it like this a revelation is something that comes from North South It comes from God a lot of our change and and good information comes east-west from friends and pastors But you need a revelation to come from God to you. And that's what I'm praying for you today Is that for the first time and the last time you get a revelation of how poor important rest is to God and? to you Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 Are you tired? This is Jesus was Jesus's response then Jesus said come to me all you who are weary another translation says tired and All of you who carry a heavy burden and I will give you Say it out loud Say it strong Say it like you can take the next week off Jesus response to weariness and To people carrying a heavy load was not Prayer I'm about to mess with your religion. It wasn't a worship service His response to your tiredness was not a meeting with the pastor The response to your heavy load and weariness was what And some of you think I'm saying sleep Sleep you can do that and still wake up tired Okay Okay, I need to find the real people in here. How many people sleep and still woe out come on Rest if you read down and we're gonna read it's rest for your soul Is your mind at ease is your will? At bay are your emotions tamed? Some of you are literally sleeping to escape reality Going through stuff. I just need to sleep Come on. Okay. Come on y'all. I just need to sleep. You'll take things to do it. I

Gotta I gotta shut my mouth my mind down. I gotta shut I gotta you'll watch certain stuff. I gotta numb out These are all terms and you may have different ones, but what I'm saying is what you're doing is sleeping what God provides is And so today I want to give you the revelation of rest because this is God's Gift to us rest is not a luxury. It's a necessity So then when you look at this in verse 29, it says this is Jesus type talking take my yoke upon you and Let me teach you how to rest So this is beautiful because we don't know how to do it on our own This is why Jesus says let me teach you how to rest Let me teach you what you don't know naturally. Let me teach you what your nature goes against It says let me teach you because this is my character. I'm humble and Gentle at heart that means I'm thinking about you Think about this if people think God is mad at you still Like he's a God that's mad at you there's no other God in any other religion that thinks about your rest If God was really if you was mad at somebody do you want them to get rest Do you know that Keeping people up is a form of torture used in warfare. It's like, how do I torture this person? Keep them awake. And what God says is I'm a God that cares about you so much. My spirit is humble and I have a gentle heart. I'm asking you. Have you rested lately? I know you're doing all of these things to prove to your childhood self that you're actually significant, but I'm asking you to come to me because you're weary. You're heavy. I want to give you say the word again rest. This is a new four-letter word that you need to say a lot.

Rest say it one more time. It says if you let me teach you. It says you will find rest. Oh, I like that when God says I'm gonna find something. He says you will find rest for your souls. He says for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light to receive a revelation of rest. You're gonna have to be humble and teachable. And this is why I need everybody to understand the character of our God God's trying to tell you what you heard about me has been misrepresented. I actually love you. I care about you and I want you to be okay, not just today, but forever. So I'm not going to just give you a miracle. I'm gonna give you a pattern. Right now. There are people who need money in your life. And if you give them $100, they're going to come back next week and ask you for $100 and then they'll come back two months from now and ask you for $100. But if you give that person a skill set and you give them a job or you give them a thing then they can actually learn a pattern that will produce what they need. God is saying I didn't want to just give you a magic rest pill. I wanted to give you a pattern of a Sabbath so that you could always have everything you need to do what I'm asking you to do. It's a gift.

And as we look at Scripture today, I realized that there is no other religion in the world where the deity does not demand work from them. If you search every other religion, I'm just trying to give you a revelation. I'm talking to your mind so that it can drop to your heart and then it'll actually appear in your life. There is no other religion that says you don't got to work for this. How many times do you need to pray? What where do you need to turn? How many sacrifices do you need? All of these things is work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work. They demand work for stuff. God gives rest for your soul. This is the God we search. So why will you not receive this gift of rest? Other religions offer a ladder to climb. Jesus offers a refuge of rest and this is why he does it right this point down because rest is a weapon. Rest is a weapon. If you actually were rested, how good would you be? If you actually were rested, I'm talking about in your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions, and your body was rested. How would you handle hard situations? If you were actually rested, how many more good ideas could come through you? You've done what you've done.

Woe out, not war out. You've done what you've done in life. All this is says woe out. You can't even enjoy what God has blessed you with because you trying to keep up with it. So did God bless you with it? Because the blessings of the Lord make it rich and addeth no. Uh-oh. Let's just put the scripture out there. Some of y'all is woe out calling it a blessing but losing your marriage. You got 10,000 square feet. No peace. You got cars to choose from but no vehicle to find safety in your soul. All I'm asking you is are you rested and the truth of the matter is the culture we live in today is offering the opposite promising the opposite. It's saying grind hustle do all this do all this and then you'll have money to take a vacation. And then you'll have money to buy a second home and then you'll be it's grind hustle. Get it. All of these things are deceptions from the enemy. Because I heard it said one time what the enemy can't get in front of and stop he gets behind and pushes. And some of y'all are being pushed to the brink. You're being pushed you're so exhausted that you cannot even sense the presence of god God's got you in a good situation right now and you calling it bad because it's not moving fast enough

Okay. All right. Am I just talking about my own issues? Okay. I'm telling you god had to teach me He said I slowed this thing down. You think the the company's going down? He said i'm saving your life Amen All delay all backup all deals not working are not from the devil Some of the things that god is doing is because we don't have enough sense to preserve ourselves You know if that deal actually went through you would have lost your marriage If if if you actually would have made it in that field you would have lost your mind Okay, let me stop Hey Part of what I know with my literal Makeup is that I can go go go go go go go. Go. God has had to teach me Michael just because you can doesn't mean I want you to Uh-oh Uh-oh Just because you can watch this. Here's my insecurity mine Just because you can doesn't mean That you should do it Because how many people if it makes us feel good and it scratches some childhood wound of feeling significant or or people are going to praise me for this or I'm being too honest up here. Okay. Let me let me go back to the scripture um What i'm trying what i'm trying to tell everybody is the same faith. It takes you to believe for miracles. It takes that faith to rest Amen And most of y'all have faith to praise god and not faith to walk away from the desk You won't shut the laptop You won't stop checking the email and the dow and you won't see oh, it's oh, oh it's going it's crazy How in the world is a little ticker controlling your peace?

It's it's quiet in here and it's okay I get it Because because what's happening is that The mindset of culture is a mindset to keep you enslaved Y'all Okay The problem is right now is that you think you're free But you're enslaved That was the same problem with the children of israel They went when they were enslaved They had no days off The proof you were a slave is you didn't get to rest So when god brought them out from under pharaoh's rule and they were in the wilderness one of the commandments that god made sure To on the top 10 list put on there is you should observe the sabbath Why because the sabbath was only reserved for sons Only sons got to take a rest So the sabbath proves your freedom Oh god, i'm gonna need a whole series When you can take a break it means you know who got it Ah when you can walk away from being god then you have a god When you walk away from being provider then he's jehovah jireh Your provider when you can step back and moonwalk out of having to literally Do everything for yourself it means you make room for god to step in Many of us still have our egypt mentality If it's gonna happen for me I got to get it out the mud Hold on. Wait Did you not come into the kingdom economy? Did you not believe jesus when he said you are no longer a slave the curse is broken off of you whom the sun sets Is free and we don't think about that. You're free to rest Oh god whom the sun sets free

amen And you think you're noble I'm just you know me i'm gonna just put in that extra and god said I didn't ask you for all that That I didn't actually I call it disobedience You actually think you're doing something noble it's sin did y'all hear what I just said When you don't observe a 24-hour period where you walk away from your work Every week God's like why? Do they disobey me all the time? Grace grace after grace mercy after mercy day after day provided for them They in that little house that they didn't think they could ever get and I did that With the job they didn't never think they was gonna be able to get and I did that and I provided and I restored and I was and they still don't trust me. I Gave him the blessing of the book. I Gave him the blessing of the business. I gave him the blessing of the thing and they still won't trust me What do I have to do To let them unwrap this gift that would relieve their soul of weariness Some of you don't need a new career. You need to take a day off You're so overwhelmed Life is just no you're disobedient What is a Sabbath it's a pause It's a pause It doesn't mean I'm not coming back to this it means I have to stop right now and it takes faith to pause a 24 hour period write this definition down a Sabbath is a 24 hour period that God gifts humanity with to reframe from work Remember him and rest your soul Every week God wants to give every person under the sound of my voice a 24 hour period That God gifts you with to refrain from work to remember him and to rest your soul I'm gonna read it one more time. So your soul can hear it

Every week God wants to gift you personally With a day to reframe from work to remember him and to rest your soul Even in the ancient times this was a radical innovation at the time because everybody was working We I mean they didn't have buildings and they didn't have bulldozers. They didn't have all everything they did. They had to make they didn't have Amazon They couldn't order nothing you want a purse go kill something dry out the skin Sew it together. You got some more fig leaves over there like you had to make everything So think about all of the work that was happening in God saying hey Take the day off Come walk and talk with me Remember how good I am Look at those trees. Are they worried? You don't have to either Look at those birds. I know you've missed them every day because you've been so occupied, but they've been here every day They don't worry about what they gonna eat or drink. You see them lilies over there Look how beautiful those colors don't those colors make you feel something. They didn't dress themselves. I did that I'll do that much more For you if you would rest I I said it before but slaves never rested only sons did and This is where I have to bring this up because culture is feeding us a lie that I have to correct with the Word of God culture says rest is a reward for work Hear what I just said to you culture says You better work and you better work until you earn a rest God says Rest is a requirement for work First full day rest and the prerequisite was because God knew Adam was about to work I'm gonna give him rest cuz he about to put in that work Rest should be a sign that God wants you to work It is not. Oh I'm not gonna work cuz I just need to rest. It's like nah, you better get this rest cuz after this rest

We bout to put in this work you can't even feel rested if you don't feel worked. Oh God I'm talking people who don't work Anybody who really work know that the only way a rest is good if you did good work So so what I'm trying to tell you is God gave a six day work period and a One day rest, but I think a lot of us got the God complex So what we did is we did what God did instead of what he said Day one work day to work day three work day four work day five work day six work day seven rested But then he told us Don't do what I did do what I said Rest Day to work day three. Do you see what I'm saying? Okay, let me start it again God worked on day one to day six, then he rested He made us and said rest on day one Work the other six days He was trying to say I'm setting you up cuz you can't handle what I did You not built like me You can't work and then rest I'm God I can do all things I know everything Omniscient, I know everything all at once. He said because I love you you rest first. I Know you I know your attitude. I know you get hangry. I Know your habits. I know your temperament. I know you need to go to sleep first You rest and then all the things that are there they're gonna be there tomorrow Those contracts will be there tomorrow Those those those emails will be there tomorrow some of y'all that don't have do not disturb on your stuff. How do you function? The level of interruptions of your life that you allow in right now. How in the world do you have any peace? It's quiet in here today, okay, so let's keep going If you go to Exodus chapter 5 verse 7 I want you to look it up on your own time Pharaoh strategy was never to kill the children of Israel. It was to exhaust them Y'all didn't hear what I just said what if the enemy doesn't want to kill you he just wants to exhaust you What if what if your adversaries goal is never to take you out just make you not strong enough to do anything

Exhaustion is the new weapon of mass destruction Have you ever been tired just scrolling Come on you Switch fingers y'all know some of y'all on your pinky fingers scrolling News On 24 7 got 4 news channels on what's Fox saying? What's CNN saying? What's MSNBC saying? What's the Exhaustion News feed all the time and then don't get into your family group chat The emotional this disability of cousin Jerome Locked up again Stacey Dayton somebody that dated your other cousin again, like y'all know what I'm talking about or Watch this the exhaustion of silence Because the manipulation that happens many time relationally because we not talking Okay, let me I'm going too deep What if what if there was a way to reset every week where all of that stuff lost its power? in your life What if God knew he wasn't gonna take us out of this world But he would give us tools in this world to actually live higher than this world This is what the scripture means when it says we are in it But not of it But you in it and of it Jesus doing his greatest miracles with a shot clock on three years left Big miracles everybody coming. What does Jesus do? All right, y'all. All right It's been fun. God bless you. He would withdraw often On your greatest day a miracle impact money Our our culture is like do it again Run it up. We can pack it out again four nights at Madison Square Garden Back to back to back. Let's get all this money and God was like, yeah

Where's the limit? And Some of us is so close Why you tell me be careful you won't rest Be careful be careful the decisions you make unrested be careful for the people you keep around your children unrested. Okay, be careful, be careful of saying your opinion. I'm just being honest right now. Be careful of talking at all. Some of y'all, some of y'all just need to say, can I respond to this tomorrow? Why are you saying this Pastor Mike? Because nobody makes their best decisions exhausted. Yeah. The Sabbath or a day of rest isn't just rest from work. It is your proof of freedom. And I just wanna let you know, Pharaoh is not dead. It just comes with push notifications. That algorithm, that for you page, that next deadline, that inbox, those emails, all it's doing is exhausting you to the point where you don't dream, you don't worship, and you don't fight back. This is why you are being beat up at the same level as people who don't know God. It's cause you're on the same training plan as them. Come on, that's very good. You're exhausted. And so you're too exhausted to pray. Come on, let's be honest. God, do it.

Okay, y'all gonna act like I'm the only one that prayed a prayer like that? Let your will be done. Bible talking about pray without ceasing. You're like, Lord, if you don't do it, it won't be done. All right. Why? You're exhausted. Are you tired? Why are you still wrestling with rest when it's the gift that God gives to you? Husband and wives, y'all haven't been able to have a civil conversation, not cause you don't love each other, cause you're tired. Very good, very good. You're both tired trying to provide for a home that neither one of you like coming to right now. Not cause the home is bad, cause y'all. You need to go get a one night stay and a holiday in. I'm not, I'm trying to give y'all real secrets. Somebody needs a staycation at the Homewood Sweets and the other one at the Best Western. And then you need to talk after you're rested. All right, all right. Pastor Mike, why are you saying this? Because the lie is that I need to perform. And if I perform, then I'll get approval and praise. So the reason why people work is cause if I work and I get this money, or if I work and I get this accolade or I work and I get these grades and I work

and I get this thing and I work and I get this compliment, then I will be approved and praised. And the reason why this is important is because all people, even down to children, the reason why we clap so loud for Arlo is because we innately know that a child needs to be approved and praised. Arlo could have got up here and said, A, B, C, D, Jesus is Lord. And everybody still would have, boo, like, why? Cause you know, from a child, you need, if I'm gonna do this again, if I'm gonna actually become everything, if he gonna stand up here and preach one day, he has to be approved and praised. So guess what? The enemy tries to tell you, work for it. Work for it. And God says, I'll give it to you first. Can I give you an example? This is an eternal example that Jesus literally gets baptized by his cousin, John. And the first thing that happens before he ever works a miracle, this is before he turns water into wine. This is before the fishes and the loaves. This is before he heals any blind eyes. Before he ever starts working, he gets approved and praised. He gets dunked down in that water.

The skies open and the Bible says, like a dove descending, it says, this is my son identity in whom I'm well pleased. I'm approving him and I'm praising him in front of everybody. And from that place, he went to work. Oh God. All right So the lie is you need to perform so that you get approval and praise, but the truth is you're already positioned This is my son. This is my daughter. I'm well-pleased in them. You already got approval and praise now go work What's your last name Todd go put in that work my daughters they get I hyped them up before they do anything and And in it and I mean it's at the borderline right now like maybe too much like But I hyped up. I hyped him up. What's your name? My name is Gia. What you do everything good, and I'd be like ah My Gia she she wakes up in the morning. We had a birthday party yesterday. I said how you feeling today. I feel great not good I Feel great. I said I'm glad you feel great. What's today? It's my birthday party day. I I Say what you what you mean? What you how you feel? She's like people are coming over. We gonna swim And I'm gonna get some presents cuz I already know y'all got me some good presents But what I'm saying to you is she lives from approval My baby doesn't wake up in the morning like daddy. Hey dad. Hey, um how many dishes do you want me to wash? How what do you need me to do to be called your own? What I'm saying to you is you're good enough right now For God to approve you right now Gotta keep moving all right here. We go if you need to check that reference. That's Matthew chapter 3 verse 17 I'm moving because there's so much that I have to say because there are people that are hearing me about the Sabbath and right now Your mind's going to legalism Well, okay, so technically if I start my Sabbath at 6 p.m. And I don't check my email and so then well What if somebody could stop? Since God has gifted us the Sabbath people have tried to actually dip it in legalism

But the Sabbath is dipped in love All He's saying he said I'm the Lord of the Sabbath I Get I gave this to you so you could be good so don't if you don't There's a there's a story in the Bible that Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and all the religious people got mad now first off the man was literally sick blind Jacked up if I was a religious person. I'm like that is good for him. I'm wow that's awesome Hey, don't tell nobody my man can see like Immediately they were like you you are not good because you did on the Sabbath and he's like, yo what? How did y'all get this love gift confused? With all this legalism He said if you're if your ox falls into the ditch on the Sabbath, don't leave your ox there till tomorrow It'll be dead Pick it up get your friends a couple y'all gonna have to work today, but this can't be the pattern So so so so so if it happens just make sure it's not the If your ass is falling into ditch every time it's a Sabbath that's You can't drive yeah like that's a Pattern but God's saying like if something happens if they email you or if you gotta go into work or you got like, okay but every week Every week on your off day. Yo boss. What I have a meeting And you've never set any boundaries to be able to let them know. Hey I'm gonna just leave that I'm gonna back away from the camera. I Mean All I'm saying to you right now Is if you get this revelation of rest, I'm almost done Rest becomes a resistance Pastor Mike, what are you talking about? It is the meekest most power move you can ever make It's not big and boisterous and I it's like no I'm about to go rest Yeah, I'll be back for that

God you see what's happening over there. I'm about to trust you at your word Right now while worry is trying to creep up my back and fear is trying to make me Intimidated and I don't know what's gonna happen with all those people and what they talking about father You said if I trusted you and I did what your word says you would fight my battles So father what I'm about to do is go get a massage and play golf today And I'm good y'all don't hear me and I'm gonna trust that as I am resting you're working I'm gonna trust that you're providing for the needs that I can't even make happen for my life. What would happen? What would happen if we really believed God? What would happen that you could be playing laser tag with your kids, developing a greater relationship that will last for decades while God is telling those who have been enemies or adversaries against what you was working on? He was moving them out the way. Somebody say resistance. Exodus chapter, no, I'm going to go James chapter four real quick because I got to give you this. This is the revelation I need you to see. I've heard this scripture my whole life, but the Holy Spirit gave me new revelation on it. It said, and he gives grace generously. As a scripture say, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Okay. Verse seven. Here it is. So humble yourself before God. Now the next part requires humility first. Okay. Humble yourself before God. Then what's the next part of the verse? Resist the devil and he will flee from you. One of the greatest resistance or resistances you can have against the devil is to rest

in his face. You want the devil to flee? Go ahead and rest. He's trying to keep you up in anxiety and depression. Rest. I'm telling y'all this right here has been one of my greatest tactics to fight the enemies in my mind. The enemies that come from the outside is to say, you know what God, if your word says to resist the devil and flee, what I'm about to do is about to be a lot of activity for no reason. I'm about to email this person, make sure these people know my point of view. I'm about to go here, do this, try to make this, get a fifth job, try to go do this. Do you know what I'm about to do? I'm about to trust you and I'm about to resist the devil because the devil is, watch this, watch this, watch this. Thank you Jesus. When the devil came to tempt Jesus, everything he was trying to get Jesus to do was activity outside of his purpose. The way he resisted the devil is he had to rest and remind the devil of the word. If you jump from this, if you go from this, I'll bring you up. He was trying to create unnecessary activity. Do more work, do more work, prove to me, turn these stones into bread, do more work, prove to me and because he was approved by his father before he went into this wilderness, he said, I don't got to work for you to prove who I am. I've already been approved. I've already been called. I've already been, I've already been seated. So the next time you're going to see me work is when God gives me approval to do these miracles. Okay.

So rest is a resistance. Somebody needs to say, I'm ready because I'm rested. What if that was the truth? What if it was the truth that every time something hard came, you were ready for it because you were rested? Pastor Mike, are you serious about this? Is this like a message that you're, I'm going to teach this every year and I have been for the last almost decade. The reason I'm saying it is because most people are looking for a miracle when God wants to give them a method. He's trying to give you a principle that will allow this not to be a one-time thing for you. So rest is a resistance. And then watch this rest is a reminder, Exodus chapter 20 verse 10, but the seventh day is the Sabbath day. It's a day of rest dedicated to the Lord, your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work. This includes all your sons, your daughters, your male, your female servants, everybody worked for you, livestock, foreigners, all of that. Don't do no work. And I started to think about that. And then I started to think about the Christian chicken place. And I started to think about that. There's not too many companies that like publicly like, like, hey, we're closing down today because we're honoring our staff and honoring the Lord. Do you know the chicken Christian place? Y'all know who they are. Until they sponsor us, I ain't saying their name no more. No, I'm just saying.

Holler at me. But I just want, I want you to know, every, almost every other establishment is 24 hours, seven days a week. How many people are buying McDoubles at 3.30 in the morning? Somebody is, but not that many somebody's. I just, I want you to know, like, the idea is more time, more money, more. You know that Christian chicken place. They make almost five times per store what all them other places make, being closed more times than all them other places is closed and having a full 24 hours where they do not bring in any revenue. Less footprint on the earth, more productivity. Now we could just act like it's coincidence or we could say there's a blessing for following the principles of God. Exodus chapter 20, verse 10, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It's so you can rest. Exodus chapter 23, verse 10. It says, plant and harvest your crops for six years, but let the land, watch this, be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. God is so gangster about the Sabbath that he even wants the land to rest. He said, plant and harvest for six years, but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated.

Don't plant nothing, don't pick nothing for the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest what grows on it and leave the rest for the wild animals to eat. The same applies for your vineyards and your olive gardens. The children of Israel were in a place where God was like, hey, I'm gonna let it be harvest for six years and then I need y'all to have a limit and let this land rest. You already got plenty, there's already enough. I need you to trust me and let it rest. They didn't do it. They kept picking, they kept sowing, they kept harvesting. And what God had to do is he had to let them be taken into captivity so the land could rest. My question to you is what are you still working that God is requiring rest from? The sad truth is God allowed all those people to be taken into captivity. And this is my point. Constant activity leads to captivity. If you're always doing something, something's gonna trap you up. There shouldn't be this many energy drinks that are successful. Core, rage, monster, just say any kind of word and it's an energy drink. Don't give me no emails, but coffee shouldn't be making that much money. That coffee not just because it tastes good, stop it.

Stop it. You're tired. Maybe not all of it, but some of it is, I got to do this because I got to stay up. I got to do this because somewhere in my life, I'm not rested. There's pills, there's Adderalls, there's all kinds of stuff. There's all, people do all kinds of stuff to do what they think they need to do when God's already given us a gift. Very good, very good. And today I'm asking you to activate your faith. If you have faith to pray, you have faith to come to salvation. If you have faith to believe in miracles, if you have faith for all these other things in our Christian faith, I'm gonna ask you to add one more to that. Would you please have faith to rest? Matter of fact, you might need crazy faith to do this. What would happen if our love was actually rested? How would we interact with our children and our kids and our neighbors? Oh, the people that we were called to help, Jesus Some of us can't even interact with the people around us cuz we're just We're so unrested and you know when you're not rested you got one nerve I Don't know where your nerve is but like and then it just be like people get on your nerves Somebody said my last nerve, huh?

The kids you made out of love You Start my wife. She says go talk to your father and it's like yo father Your dad it will help you whoa What she really does is say your daughter needs you I'm like hold on your daughter our daughter Why am I why it's cuz when you're unrested Maybe maybe this is my last point rest produces restoration If you would rest Something on the inside of you will come back alive If you would rest that creativity that you've been I'm having writers brought you're tired And it's been tight listen the children of Israel He had to let the land rest the equivalent if you study it out was the amount of Sabbaths they skipped That they had to let the land rest Your body is keeping score and so is God I'm gonna say something that's strong I'm gonna say something that's strong, but I need you to hear me say it There are people that I know God had to sit down cuz they wouldn't sit down You can take that however you want to take it, but you shouldn't you that little boobie That little ankle sprain should not have taken you out for six months But what I'm saying is God was like you will not You won't rest You won't sit down. You won't you won't stop you won't reflect You won't refrain you won't repair You won't restore you won't renew You won't revive Y'all want a revival I bet you it'll come if we start resting Then spending time with God and in that prayer we're not we're not struggling to get a word from God he just drops it cuz it's just the Context of our relationship

He's like oh, I'm gonna. Oh yeah. Yeah, you've been resting all day. I know you're gonna need this tomorrow Do you know all of the things that have been most impactful in my life has happened? after I've rested the ideas the books Relationship goals was the first series that I preached Off a sabbatical so was crazy faith. So was everything else that ever was I'm just saying like I just feel like there's an impact that God gives I'll give you one last example the children of Israel They were supposed to pick up food for six days, but on the sixth day. He put double out So on the seventh day they didn't have to work He's that good He said don't try to store it. He said if you store it and you try to harvest it. It'll rot And some of you have been frustrated because what you've been working for has rotted You thought it was gonna be more for you You thought it was gonna create security and abundance and God said that's got a rock cuz you're not obeying me But if you would rest Let me work I'll double it. I'll multiply it I'll give you what your work did not deserve. Oh why cuz it's my nature I'm the God who does exceedingly Abundantly above all you can ask think imagine or work for Come to me all who are weary and I will give you say it with me Are you tired Are you tired Today God wants to give you rest Many of you know that this is the time of the year if you're new at our church That I take a time of rest since the beginning of our church My oversight pastor pastor Tim Ross has told me he's like you got to take a break every summer Because I need to make sure that you don't need that like you think you need it And I need to make sure that your family is a thing that lasts

And I've watched people give their whole life to ministry and lights and big and all this other stuff and Gain the whole world and lose their soul And every summer there's people like well, I'm not going to church cuz passing Mike ain't there like I'm not God I I Would really like you to know I love I'm human, too I love that you like how I speak and all that other stuff, but God can use a donkey And sometimes that's how I feel up here he all like so sometimes that's exactly how I feel like he can use I'm just being real man like I I Got much rather do some other stuff that was more low-key and different things like this is what he called me to do So I stand up here every Sunday and do it to the best of my ability not perfection, but progression but one thing that I am doing is I following the method and so for the next couple of Months, I'm not gonna be here And I want to say this because most pastors hide it they do y'all know y'all have made pastors in America so scared To even tell you that they not gonna be there Cuz you gonna vote whether you come or not to hear from God if they gonna be there I'm not a slave no more. I'm free So I'm just gonna let you I'm gonna let you know right now I'm not gonna be here. I'm gonna be with God I'll be with Natalie. I'm be with them kids. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be praying every day for you I Can't take a break from that that's my job as your pastor I go to God on your behalf and ask God for wisdom. I'm asking God for what is the word of the year? Where are we going? What are you saying for us to do? Are we doing conference next year? Are we not God? How I'm putting everything on the table The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to be this free in your own life To create some patterns that allow you and listen. I just need everybody hear me I'm not going to speak for other people I'm not now working working working working cuz I'm not working here. I Am really trying to reset my soul And if you love me and you love this church pray for me

This has gotten to a place that was out of my sight This is beyond my wildest dreams and imagination I'm just out here trying to follow God and I believe that we are called to represent God To the lost and found for one reason, what is it transformation in Christ? And so I would just ask that you pray for me And I want to let you know the one thing a good restaurant owner is never gonna do is leave you out without a bomb chef The one thing you gonna do every Sunday here is you gonna eat eat You're not just gonna eat you go eat eat, you know as you put it twice hey So I just want everybody to know pastor Charles is about to do a brand new series that's about to And then pastor Tim Ross is gonna come behind him and do a whole series like This summer you bout to eat Because God can use anybody that's willing and open what I'm asking us let's grow But I don't want this just to be for me I've embraced this principle so much that there are people that leave the church every year. I take a sabbatical no pastor Should thought it up. Hold on. Wait a minute Pastoring is the only full contact sport without an offseason People will cuss you fuss you talk about you make YouTube videos about you. You supposed to just get up there and pray for him Sometimes we need time to heal Here Be hailed I'm being too vulnerable. Okay What I'm what I'm trying to tell you is this is so real that you need it in your own life So I'm just gonna ask you which one of you is the most vulnerable? We get seven days before next Sunday Pick a day Pick a day that you're gonna step back from the work Step back even from social media because some of y'all it's not even a work that exhausts you. It's the comparison that does Comparison is exhausting I just pick a day talk to your spouse about it. Talk to your friend

If it starts at least coming out of your mouth, maybe that's evidence that maybe one day it'll happen Come on, let's be honest. Some of y'all is just in your head and some of y'all trying to figure out So, how do I do it? How do I? I got you You're gonna have to learn how to do this You're gonna have to listen to this message every day this week You may be gonna have to go back and search the scripture god. Give me a revelation north south Give me a revelation so that I don't I don't break this standing all over this building The last thing I want to say to you just because I don't want you to get too spiritual And not realize the practical i've tried to be practical through this whole message, but I want you to hear this last thing rest Is good And you can have recreation Did you hear what I just said I don't want you in a room with a candle for 24 hours No hear me because I Like go do something recreational Go fishing go take a walk in nature Go shopping Within your means Also, I want to give you this because this is just my heart as I do this because people are about to try to do This and I want I don't want you to I want to give you all that I can right now also If it starts off as rest and then it becomes work. It's no longer rest Me and charles talk about it all the time When we start doing stuff It might start off as rest

And then we start dialing it in he became he started riding a bike like what three or four years ago Three years ago. He started riding bikes And then now he's like a professional Bike rider Like he'd be coming to the house and full like gear and and stuff and I was like, what is this? And he said it used to be restful So But then it turned into work so it no longer doesn't mean he can't do it It no longer can be considered a part of his sabbath Unless he's doing it on a huffy Unless the only way if it's a pink huffy, I know you're not going hard. Okay Because sometimes what's golf might start off restful and then you're in a competition Yeah Cooking may start off rest. You know what i'm gonna bake today And then it's like the rest of them the red velvet. It's not right. No you stressed The reason i'm saying this is because watch this if you lie to yourself you'll never live a right life I'll never be there when you're doing what you're considering rest You can convince your husband or your wife it's restful, but you will be the only one that knows Don't lie to you Don't lie to your own soul Are you tired Because god wants to give you rest if you need rest in an area of your life Whether you're in this room or online, would you just lift your hands? I want to pray for you Thank you lord. Thank you I thank you lord God today here we all are Saying that we need your rest Rest for our souls Today father many of us are admitting we're tired Tired of how it's been done

Tired of how we've had to function tired of how we've chosen to live and today we are coming to you And we're saying we want to do it your way If you gave us a day of rest a sabbath as a gift today, we're going to unwrap that gift Amen And we're gonna unwrap it every week I'm praying for practical wisdom of how this applies to each one of our lives god For those of us who need to set boundaries. I thank you that you're giving us courage right now For those of us who need to even figure out language father to be able to renegotiate things that we've already Put in place or contracted or said that we're going to do father I thank you that when you see your heart you begin to work on the hearts of man So today here we are Father many of us the reason why we're working so hard is because we're trying to make ends meet And today god i'm asking you that you Would give us the ability to produce wealth But not have to sacrifice our health God, I'm asking you to help us as a body to embrace your principles that are counter-cultural. God, I'm going to go to Instagram today and ain't nobody going to be telling me to rest. But your word has told me that this is an ancient practice that produces eternal results. So today I trust you. Would you calm the inner critic in me that has judged others for not working hard enough? Would you calm, Father, and even forgive the inner Pharisee and Sadducee that have literally mocked other people, Father God, for doing too much? Today, Father God, I'm asking, I'm coming humbly asking you to give me grace to start a new pattern. Let my family benefit because of this new pattern. Let my soul be refreshed because of this new pattern. I trust you enough and I have faith enough to rest. Thank you, Lord. I believe God's doing a work on the inside of some of you right now that won't be undone

by hurry. I can even hear the single moms or even the people with young children like, how am I going to do this? God's going to give you wisdom. He's going to give you wisdom. No nap times are going to turn into a place of rest for you. God's going to give you some people that can watch the children for a few hours to be able to do so. I'm telling y'all. And some of y'all are the answers to people's prayers. Some of you have been like, I don't know what to do with my time. And God's going to tell you, go get your nephews. Go get your nephews from your sister for a little bit. Take them out. Take them to the park. I just feel like God's going to give all of us a piece to play and how we all are sustained. Here in this room, under the sound of my voice, and you're weary of life. I want you to know this. I was almost going to make it my last point, but I didn't get you nine last points already. So I'm about to go on sabbatical. God bless you. Rest is a person. He said, come to me, all who are weary, and I'm going to give you me. I'm going to give you rest. I'm rest. I'm peace in the middle of the storm. I'm the way out of no way. I'm the cornerstone. I'm the prince of peace. Rest has a name, Jesus.

If you need rest, you actually need Jesus. This is why you can't get it in nothing else. This is why when people try to make false gods and all that stuff, they live their life working because he said, I am rest. I'm the one that makes you stop working. I'm the eternal sacrifice. Listen to his language. It is finished. Think about the language Jesus talks about. He's like, I'm the one that finished it all so you can rest. All you have to do is receive me. So today, your first step to walking into rest, if you're tired of how life has treated you and what you've been going through, is to accept Jesus. He is rest for your soul. Not just today, eternally. Your name will be written in the Lamb's book of life. Pastor Mike, how can you do this? How does he take people like me, who were liars and manipulators and addicted to pornography? I had all kinds of bad stuff in my heart. And God said, I'll take you if you'll receive me. And I gave him all my heart and he helped me change my habits. Today, if that's you in this room or watching online, I don't care how you got here. Today is the day of salvation. And I need the church to begin to pray because somebody's eternity is in the balance right now. You've been walking around God for a long time, but he wants you to walk with him today. I want to introduce you to rest. I want to introduce you to Jesus. In just a moment, I'm about to pray. And if you want to be included in this prayer, I just want you to slip your hand up on the

counter. You're saying, Pastor, I want to be included in that prayer. I want to receive Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior online, YouTube. If you're watching on the Pando app right here in this room, everybody's included in this. If that's you, I want you to make that decision. And it's the whole reason that Jesus. came so that you could have freedom in your own life. One, you're making the greatest decision of your life. Two, your name is about to be written in the Lamb's book of life. If you want to receive Jesus right now, three, shoot your hand up in the air all over this place. I want to see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I'm so proud of you. I see you. I see you. I see you. And more than that, God sees you all the way in the back. Transformation Church, can we give God praise right there? Hear me. Hear me. We're leaving in two minutes. But at Transformation Church, nobody prays alone. So for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ, would everybody just lift your hands and pray this prayer with me. Say, God, thank you for being my place of rest. Today, I come to you. I believe you lived, you died, and you rose again just for me. Here's my life. I repent of the old way, and I turn to you. Change me. Renew me. Transform me. I'm yours forever. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, all over this building, can we join heaven and rejoice in for those who have just joined the family? Welcome to the kingdom family. If you just made that decision as the altar workers come, I want you to text SAVE to 828282. If you're watching online, that's for you too. Our team wants to send you some resources to help you walk this out. Remember, it is progression, not perfection. And if you're in this room and you need prayer, the worship team is about to sing one more song as people are going to grab their kids and leaving. And I want you, if you need prayer in this room, I want you to come get prayer. There are people that need agreement right now for things that are going on. A loved one, a child, hard times. You might need revelation in this resting. You need somebody to agree with you. Come up here for prayer, and we want God to do the work that only he can do. I am so excited that this is my church. And as you go through this summer, I just want you to know I'm praying for you, and I believe the best is yet to come for us. Father, thank you for your people. Bless them to have a restful week. And we declare,

Father God, that you will be lifted up as we live this life of abundance so people can know you and be transformed in Christ. In Jesus' name. Everybody say, we agree. We expect. Amen. Go out and live a transformed life. I love you so much. God, you are my everything. If the highest, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is you, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever satisfied. Oh, God, you are my everything. If one word is me, only being you, then I've heard it all. If I feel your heart and never see it all, I still have it all. There's no treasure I could ever measure. Oh, God, you are my everything. If the highest place, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is you, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever satisfied. Oh, God, you are my everything. If one word is me, only being you, then I've heard it all. If I feel your heart and never see it all, I still have it all. There's no treasure I could ever measure. Oh, God, you are my everything. ♪ Oh God, you are my head ♪ ♪ I don't need anything else but God, you are my head ♪ ♪ I find my rest in you, my God, you are my head ♪ ♪ I find peace in you, my God, you are my head ♪ ♪ I don't need anything else but God, you are my head ♪