How to Find Rest for Your Soul in a Busy World | feat. Pastor Cory Demmel

Amen, thank you guys, Hope Alcala, Church of Hope Alcala. How are you guys today? Are we good? Are we happy to be in the house? Amen, it's so great to be with you. I have been a fan and a follower for several years. It's kind of surreal to be with you. Everything Pastor Emily just said is absolutely true. I pastored a great church in Cape Coral, Florida. For nine years, we just made a transition and Hurricane Ian absolutely wiped out our city. And we, as a team, we just decided we're gonna be the first ones to show up. And so I had an amazing team. We were serving thousands of meals every day. We were running boats to islands. And we didn't know where it was gonna come from. And it was literally people like you. Every single day was a faith journey, going like, we believe more people are gonna send stuff. We'd put word out, send it to Cape Christian. And in fact, even according to the governor's office and our mayor, we're like, man, you're kind of the hub for the city. But we would wake up, we'd get rid of everything. We're like, we hope more comes. Another day, another semi would show up so we could feed more people, take care of them because nobody had power for like three weeks.

And so you were directly a part of that. But not only did you help us with our city, we had in that three weeks, hundreds of people show up every single day. And they said, we don't go to church here, but we heard if we wanted to help, this was the place to come. And after three weeks of us doing that, we actually had to add a service. We had over 1,000 people join after shutting church down for three weeks. And hundreds and hundreds of people said yes to Jesus because we serve, because you guys helped us. So you're directly connected to not just feeding mouths, but there's some people's eternity were a part of that. So, so great to be with you. And then I got to meet Pastor Mark and we both kind of agreed like brothers from a different mother. The main difference is though, one of us was a Marine and the other one is an aspiring golfer. And so if you need swing tips, I might be your guy. If you need a real man to help you with anything for real, he's your guy, but he's fantastic. I'm so grateful to be here. And hopefully this is the first of a few trips. The idea now with me transitioning, moving my career is that I get to maybe be a part of a part-time teaching team.

And so if I don't completely botch it today, I think I'm scheduled to come back in a couple of months. So love your church, love what you're doing. Your team is incredible. You have an, and you do have a really amazing reputation in this community as well. And Better Together is they're good friends of ours as well. Most of you probably don't know me, never heard me. So a couple of things you should know about me. I do have a little extra in the tank. I wake up like this, no caffeine or Celsius required. I know I'm a little bit much for some people. And so I'm just warning you, pretty sure my mom was still on drugs when I was conceived, which would explain some things. I'm not even making that up. Maybe I'll tell more of my story another time. Also, how many of you are like, you listen to a podcast or audio book? Anybody, are you guys audio learners? Yeah. How many of you find some that are like, they're a little slow. You got to speed them up like 1.5, 2X speed. Well, my normal speed is like 2X. So I'm gonna try to keep it slow. If you guys try to stick with me, but we should be off and running here. The last thing is I grew up in church. I love the inspiration of church and the word of God,

but I'm also kind of fanatically practical. I remember growing up in church all the time. And we went to one of those great churches, like every week you left, like we were fired up. We were like, boy, what are we supposed to do? And so I hope not only to speak to your heart today, but I want to give you a couple of things that can maybe you can implement and go, man, when we leave these doors, here's one or two things we're gonna change or tweak or whatever the case may be. And then also, I love having like kind of conversation style. So if I say anything, I don't know if you know, it's good to talk to your soul when you're being fed the word of God. So if I say something that you're like, yeah, it's good. Just like say out loud, like, amen, that's good. Dilly dilly, hooty hoo, like whatever, like just talk to yourself. And cause the more you give me feedback, the better this message is gonna be. So if this message is not good, it's really on you. That's really all I'm saying. So we did live in Florida for nine years and we just relocated back to Nebraska where I'm originally from. I'll get to more of that kind of towards the end. And I have a 15 year old daughter, junior in high school and a five year old son. I think every 40 something

should have a toddler running around. It just gives you all kinds of perspective. And so we made kind of a life change. And so this message I'm gonna preach is not just a really good message, but I'm telling you we're living it, we're in it, and we're experiencing it as we speak. As I came down yesterday, I got here early enough to go play not one, but two of your golf courses yesterday. And I was quickly reminded as soon as I got out of the car to go to the golf course, that being in Florida in the summer is like just being in somebody's mouth. Like it is just like, like we have humidity and heat in the Midwest, but it does not play down here. And so you guys know, if you can just think of the last time, cause I know it hasn't been long for all of us, just think of the last time or the last activity you did down here in Florida, where you just, you were like stinky. You were sweating. The shirt was stuck to your like everything. The only question you were asking yourself is do I wash this shirt or do I throw it away? who were like, think about the last time you felt that way and think about the last time you felt that way, which probably most of you were like,

uh, yesterday, bruh, like, what are you talking about? But think about the last time you got to do that and then you immediately got to like jump in the pool or like grab that like just Walmart water bottle and just guh, guh, guh, guh, guh, just crush it up. And then no matter how hot you were, how sweaty you were, for like three seconds after that, you were just like, somebody say it with me. Ah. You know what I'm talking about. Some of you like, yeah, I'm gonna jump in the pool today. I remember whether I was, when I would do yard work, I would just jump in the pool. My wife would get so crazy. You need to rinse. I'm like, I'm not rinsing off. That's what the pool's for. That's what all those chemicals are for. My wife has three children. One's just older. But I love that like, ah, moment. Now here's what's really cool and what I'm excited to talk to you about. Did you know that Jesus says that that ah feeling is also available for your soul? Not just your body. Not just refreshing when you've been, I had a hard day at work or the gym, but actually your soul. And here's what I've learned

in most of my years of following Jesus, 25 years of being in ministry, even a lot of people who call themselves Christians who are Jesus followers have actually rarely ever tasted the like, ah, soul refreshing of God. And Jesus is gonna invite us into something. See, we've learned, here's the challenge. And why I think we gotta talk about this because we have actually learned to keep our bodies going, even though our soul is still in the heat. And I can't help but wonder even today, how many of our souls are going, I need an ah, I need a refreshing, I need rest. I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. And Jesus makes this really, really compelling invitation in Matthew chapter 11, three short verses. And I just wanna spend a few minutes unpacking this because I think if we get this, that it's gonna help so many of us in so many areas of our lives. Because what I have found is a lot of people who go to church or trying to follow Jesus, it's not that they don't wanna do the right thing, it's that we just feel like we're getting crushed by the world around us. Anybody else, like too much to do, not enough time, the bills, the stress, the kids, the child Uber, the activities, the coaching, the thing, and then the family and the keeping up

and then social media and the competition, the comparison, it's like, oh my gosh. It's like, now it's just, we're constant. And Jesus makes, I think one of the greatest invitations that most Jesus followers miss on the regular. Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. If you have your Bible, you're following along, I got it on the screen. Here are the words of Jesus to them then, but I believe it's the exact same invitation he has for us here and now. And here's what he says. He says this, come to me. Come to me, anybody who is weary, burdened, stressed, worn out, tired, overwhelmed. That's what the Greek means. And come to me and I will tell you to do more faster. Is that what your Bible says? Oh, it's the opposite. He says, if you're feeling any of those things, come to me and I will give you rest. Just do you feel it when you say it? Rest. You have to say it like that though. You can't say rest, you can't. Rest. That's how it is in my brain, Henry, Fred, it's rest. And then he goes, and then he says this, watch this. He says, take my yoke upon you. Somebody say yoke.

Now, come on, you guys can do better than that. Somebody who's happy to be in church, say yoke. Yo, we're gonna talk about what that means in a minute because it probably doesn't mean what you think it means. I've taken my yoke upon me and learn from me. Here's what Jesus says. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest, but not only rest, but rest for your souls. So Jesus is not just talking about a nap here. Although I do think a nap is part of the equation sometimes. It's Sunday, hopefully some of us are getting a nap. But he says, I'm gonna give you rest for your soul. There's something to me about that statement, rest for your soul, that every time I say it and every time I hear somebody talk about it, I go, I want that. I need more of that, tell me more, rest for my soul. You have my attention. If I can get a break from this, I'm in. And then he says this again in verse 30. And this is so important and his audience would have very much understood what he meant then. He says, for my yoke, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Has that been your experience following Jesus? That his yoke is easy, your burden is light? See, what I love is that we're doing this in a series called The Rabbi. And Pastor Mark did a phenomenal job last week of talking about the importance of the rabbi.

But if you will let me give you just a tiny bit of a history lesson, I can tell you that what has made the Bible make sense to me and has really allowed God to speak to me in way new ways and deeper ways is the more I've understand the world of the Bible, the more the words of the Bible. Bible have made sense. In fact, can I say it this way? I think as important as what the Bible says is what the Bible means. Because if you don't know what the Bible means, you can actually make it say whatever you want it to say. And the world of the Bible kind of helps us with that, the context. And so when this idea of the rabbi, rabbi translates to teacher, but it's so much more than that. It's not an educator in those days, but the rabbi in those days was the iconic person of the community. Your rabbi was the person who had mastered the art of living. They were the expert in the law. They were the expert in all things life and rhythm. You would go to them with everything. They were central to the community. And as Pastor Mark said last week, they were the main influencer. It was all you ever wanted to be. They were it. It was them and everybody else. And so the rabbis were esteemed. They were wise. They had kind of hacked the code to life. And so you wanted to sit and learn under them. Most people didn't become rabbis. They did something else. But if you actually got chosen to go be to rabbi school, at the end of it, it would have, the third phase was like 15 years long. And at age 15, a rabbi would say, come follow me. And that meant you were in, you were accepted. And for the next about 14 to 16 years, you would go wherever your rabbi went. You would do what he did. You learn to sleep when he sleep. You learn to talk how he talked, how he taught, everything he did. Because the goal of a rabbi was, if you give me 15 years, I'm going to make you just like me. So that way, when I launch you, when you're about 30 years old, there can be, I can almost reproduce myself. And so a rabbi is asking one question is, does this student have what it takes to be just like me? And Jesus is only one of two rabbis in all of, in all of rabbinical history that didn't have disciples applied to him. He just went and chose and said, follow me, follow me, follow me. And so when we read in the Bible where Jesus says, follow me, that's literally our invitation to rabbi school. And it's not come to my discipleship class from 10 to 11 on Sunday. It is become an apprentice

of Jesus. It's a followership way more than a class. And so this is the idea of a rabbi. And so when he says, take my yoke upon me, different rabbis had different interpretations of the text. They all had the old Testament memorized all of it. Um, and, but they had different understandings or interpretations. So for example, there's a verse in Deuteronomy that says, love the Lord, your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You've probably heard this, right? If you have you version and you're on your hot streak, you read that this morning on you version. Well, one rabbi, she's like, yeah, I did. I did. I was 89. Um, uh, but one rabbi might say, well, I think that means these 10 things. Another rabbi might say, I think it only means these eight things, but these 12 things. And so they would have these crazy debates and these understandings of what, who God was and what his word meant. And do you know what an, a rabbi's interpretation of the text and who God was, was called his yoke. So when we read yoke, we're not thinking of a thing that you put on oxen to kind of control them. He's saying my understanding and interpretation of the word and my understanding of who God is, is gentle, humble, light, easy, and not burdensome. So when he says, take my yoke upon me, what he's not saying is let me throw this big, heavy thing on your neck and direct your life. He's saying, let me, why don't you take my understanding of who God is and his word. And I will be a rabbi and it will be gentle and light because contrast him to most of the rabbis in those days, it was very laborious. It was very works-based and it was very oppressive. And Jesus says, not so with me because I'm the rabbi. I'm the God who gives rest to your soul. I'm like, tell me more, tell me more. So I want to get into this because how do we accomplish this? Because if it was true, then it has to be able to be true now as well. John Ortberg, if this, if this hits you in the heart, all wrote a great book called soul keeping that really gets into this. And in his book, he says this, he says, the soul was not made for an easy life, but it was made for an easy yoke. And he's referring to the yoke of Jesus. And so the goal isn't like, how do I just make my life easy? Jesus promised. It wouldn't always be easy. But what he did say is if you follow me, I can lighten that burden. So you don't have to feel like you're just going through life and just continuously getting absolutely crushed. And so here's my question for you. When was the last time you felt like you got adequate refreshing or rest for your soul? When was the last time you felt like, man, my soul was recharged. It was refreshed. Some of you, maybe it was yesterday. Some of you, you can't think of anything. Maybe just,

maybe this is the very thing that we're missing. It's not that we've skipped a week at church in the summer or didn't read our reading plan on Thursday, or we're new to the faith, but maybe we're missing it altogether because it is easy. It is possible to follow Jesus all the days of your life and miss this. Trust me, I did it for a quarter of a century. And so here's what I want to talk about. This is why I think it's so important because our soul, this is the problem and the challenge of where we live, is our soul was. not made to live the way we're living today. Remember the whole, amen, that's good, say it again, preacher? That would have been a really good spot for that. Like, does anybody agree that our soul was not, thank you. Our soul was not, it's not a joke if you have to tell them to laugh. Our soul was not made to live this way. I have, let me just, let me like bury the lead right now. How many of you, how many of you go like, man, could you sustain this pace for another year? Could you sustain this pace for another six months? Going like, oh yeah, marriage, full, kids, full, like friends, full, fitness, full, faithful. Like, I feel like we do this, everybody come like, oh, and the lie was like, it's gonna get better soon. Next season, when school starts. We go, when school starts, it'll get better. And it doesn't. And then we go, when summer hits, it'll get better. And it doesn't. And then when Christmas hit, and it doesn't. And what if Jesus is saying,

I'm not gonna ask you to do anything else, but let's actually kind of recalibrate this whole thing. Are we preaching yet? Okay. Our soul is not made to live this way. I wanna give you a kind of a dumb illustration, but I think it works. Think of your soul like a lint brush, a lint brush. What do we know to be true about lint? They start really nice and clean, but they're also what? Sticky. Did you know your soul's sticky? And whatever this lint brush comes in contact with picks up a little bit of the residual, doesn't it? And your soul is like a lint brush. And our souls are going harder, faster, with more information, with more access, with more problems, with more stress and more drama. I mean, I grew up in the 80s. Like, it was like, go outside and don't come in until the sun goes down. There's a hose out back if you get thirsty. I'm not exaggerating. Oh, you're hungry? Well, you know where the pantry is. Like, that's how it was. And so my point was like, we would be outside. We saw a few people. The pace was slower. And so our souls only came in contact with a little bit.

But now what do we got in the age we live in? You have access to 8 billion people. You have Fox News, CNN News, Red versus Blue. We got, we got, our soul is just constantly at work. And did you hear? And did you know? And then we got the kids and the activity. And then we got Little League and AAU. And we got all this. And don't forget about the horses and the hay because we live in Ocala. And oh, I got to do my friends and my thing and all the stuff and all of a sudden. And our soul is just. And if I went through and it's sticking and you come running to people who are toxic at work and you run into people who are toxic on your group text. And then you got all the craziness. And you're like, man, everybody on Instagram is winning. They're beating me. They got better lives, more money, more vacations and prettier kids. What's going on? You're like, we got to hustle. We got to grind. What happens? It all, come on guys. It's all sticking to our soul. I haven't done this any service. So no wonder that this is how we basically feel every day.

So who's, so who be taking the kids to work today? How are they getting to school? How many sick days do I have left? I know it's only January 10th. I'm already out of PTO. If I see one more video on TikTok about another side hustle I'm going to lose my dang mind, right? And here's the crazy. Here's the other reason it's like a lint roller. I can see it right now. You can't. So here's what I know that this looks like to you. You know what this looks to you? Clean. But I can tell what's really going on. It ain't clean. We got to strip it back. Our soul is like a lint roller and we pick up on the pain, the frustration, the anxiety, the hustle culture, the do more cultural, the achieve culture. And it's like, so much of it is like, you can't find any of it in the words and the ways of Jesus. So somebody tell me we should take 15 more minutes and talk about this. And cause Jesus' invitation isn't like, hey, I want you to go harder. I want you to have rest. And not just rest, not just a nap. Rest for your soul. What if we could do some things where we were picking up

a lot less and we were, so let's talk about, cause here's what I know. Here's our culture. Our culture is busy. It's more, it's hustle, it's respond, it's post, it's side hustle, it's second side hustle, it's third side hustle, it's be present, save money, sleep more, work out more, get up earlier, go, do, be. And everything about our culture is hurry. Here's the problem. Did you know that hurry and the fruits of the Spirit are incompatible? So if you know what the fruit of the Spirit, they're in Galatians, there's nine of them. Let's just start at the top three. What are the first three? Love, joy, peace. Can you find any of those three in a hurry? Some of you tried this morning on your way to church. How'd that work out for you? Lot of love. Guys, God's waiting, let's go. I'm gonna kill everybody. You can't have intimate loving moments when you're in a hurry. Hey babe, would love to tell you how much you mean to me, but I gotta go. You're gonna have a hard time finding any joy when you're constantly late and in a hurry and five minutes behind? Peace is like the opposite of hurry. I just laid down for a second doing an illustration and somebody's like, I want to do that. I just

want to lay down for 30 seconds. Peace. They cannot coexist with a hurried soul. So let me talk about, I want to give you real quick, I want to tell you what the ultimate, our ultimate goal should be, and then I want to show you what the plot of the enemy is, and then kind of get into the secret. We only have a few minutes, but we only need a few minutes, and so if you're ready, let's say I'm ready. Okay, here's my man in the back, young, whoever that young dude was. I'm, you and me, bro. Look, all these old people, they're asleep. You and me right now, okay? And I believe there's like 10,000 people online that you're with me. So if I were to ask you what's the ultimate goal of a follower of Jesus, we would probably get a lot of ideas. I'll tell you that mine would probably be like, I just need to do as much as I can for God, and while that's good, let me tell you what the ultimate goal of a Jesus follower is. The ultimate goal is not that you produce a lot, but the ultimate goal is just simply union with God. Did you know that? The number one thing, if you're gonna be a follower of Jesus, the ultimate goal of love, joy, peace, is union with God. Listen, and here's what I know about this. Some of you are like, oh my gosh, that is so underwhelming. I know that we know this, but I also know that we don't really live like it, because we go, because we'll go, yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the next note? No, no, no, hold on. What if we just stopped there and go, how's my union? How's my connection? How's my fellowship with God? Because modern Christianity, I believe, has led us to an insufficient destination. Let me break this down for you. Here's what I think is probably, and I'm probably as guilty as anybody, because I've been in ministry for 25 years, so I'm not acting like I'm not part of the problem, but I think most of us, if we were to describe our faith journey, that the typical pattern for most believers is it starts with faith. Somebody say faith. Faith is that moment you put your faith in Jesus, he saves your life, he saves your soul, and it's amazing, and it's transformational, and I'll never get tired of that being awesome. So there's faith, right? Then what happens? You put your faith in Jesus, somebody says, you need to start reading his word, and you should, because he has like the words of life, and he does, and so you

start listening to it, and you go, man, I need to do this. My old way wasn't working, because it wasn't, and his way works, and it does, and so we move from faith, and we start reading it, and then we start doing it, and so we move to obedience. Somebody say obedience. So now I've got my faith in Jesus, and now I'm obeying, and I'm like, yeah, and then you start realizing all of a sudden I'm obeying him, and you realize he made me on purpose, with a purpose, he gave me some gifts, he can even leverage my ADHD if I let him, or whatever you might have, that's me, and all this high energy, and so he's like, I want to use you, son, like, and then we go into service. Somebody say service. I'm like, man, I love being used by God, I love being used by God, and so we go, faith is awesome, and I start obeying, and it's awesome, and then I'm serving God, and it's awesome, but then somewhere around, I don't know, six months to 16 years, you kind of start to feel burned out, and you're like, man, the church only ever wants something from me, but not for me, who's gonna serve me, I'm feeling empty, we say crazy things, like I'm just not getting fed anymore, as if the Bible said church is what should feed you, you learn to feed yourself, that's what Paul said, he's like, oh, I still got to give you milk, sorry, but we didn't come here to talk about that, sorry, Pastor Mark, you can clean that up next week. So we go from faith, to obedience, to service, but you know we missed the most important part, because we skipped something that's really, really important, and then you get burned out, and you go, I don't even want to do any of it anymore, because my soul is crushed, because what should happen is the minute you went into faith, and maybe, hopefully, this is your story, but for many people, it's not, immediately after faith comes union with God, it's about being with Him, it's about being connected with Him, learning to let Him love you, and speak to Him, and know that He wants to speak to you personally, and individually, and that you are not gonna go through anything easier than anybody else, but His promise is, I'm never gonna leave you, I'm always gonna be there, we're gonna get through it, don't quit, keep your eyes on me, keep, and it's like, all of a sudden, you have this union, you're like, I can't, but God can, greater is He who's in me, like, I can do all things through Christ, yeah, my life, but

there's a joy I found that doesn't make sense, that comes out of union, and then out of that union, you're like, man, I'm gonna obey everything, because this works, and then you're like, I'm gonna serve, and there's a huge difference between somebody who is serving, out of an overflow of their union with God, and serving, because they read in the Bible, they're supposed to be obedient, and they're literally dripping and draining their soul, come on, somebody, and God doesn't want you to serve out of obedience, He wants you to serve out of an overflow of a relationship, of a Heavenly Father who says, I don't need you, but I want you, do you want to come do this with me? And you're like, oh, what, you could use me? I tell people all the time, I do not relate to Jesus at all, I don't relate to, no, He always said the right thing, He always did the right thing, He was never getting in trouble, He always knew how to help people, I don't relate to that, but do you know who gives me the most hope in the Bible? Those 12 knucklehead disciples. Do you know, He took 12 of the dumbest teenager boys in His day, and be like, why don't you guys give me a shot? They were constantly falling asleep in boats, losing faith, arguing about who was greater, forgetting everything He was said. And he was like, hey, if you guys come give me a chance, we could probably change the world. I'm like, those jokers give me hope. I'm like, well, if he could choose those knuckleheads, there might be hope in me. I don't relate to Jesus. I appreciate Jesus. I don't relate to him, but I do relate to Peter, James, and John. I'm like, I'm better, I'm better. I'll beat you and Madden. Oh, I'm the greatest. Oh, I know I was supposed to be praying,

but I fell asleep in another prayer meeting. Like, that's me. I'm that guy. And he's like, give me three years. We'll go change the world. And then he's like, it'll be better for you guys if I leave. I'm like, better if they leave. They can't even get it right and you're in the boat with them. And he's like, ah, it's better. I'm gonna give the Holy Spirit to everybody. I'm like, oh, oh, okay. This is cool. That's my story. And so what if we minister out of that union with God? And so here's the challenge. And I wanna get into this because the whole idea of rest for your soul, there's a secret tucked right in John 15. It's tucked right in there. It's this hack. We've heard it, we've read it, but we don't do it because most of the time we don't need to learn something new. We need to be reminded of something we're not doing. Come on, somebody. And he says, if you're gonna experience rest for your soul, if you're gonna walk in it, if you're gonna come out of union with God,

not just obedience, he says, it's like this. Jesus gives this idea. And he gives a metaphor. Pastor Mark last week talked about how God, Jesus loved to tell stories. He says, here's how this works, guys. Imagine a field, a vineyard, and God's the gardener. He's the one that does all the work. And then Jesus, let's imagine Jesus. Jesus is the vine, John 15. Jesus is the trunk. It's the sustenance. It's where everything comes from. And so in John 15, verse one, Jesus says, I am the vine. My father is the gardener. And he says, you all, the Greek is y'all. Y'all are the branches. And he says, don't get it wrong because you're gonna wanna try to be the gardener and you're gonna wanna try to be the vine. Come on, somebody. He says, no, no, no, God's the gardener. I'm the vine. And then watch what he says in John 15, verse four. He says, here is how you experience rest for your soul and operate out of union with Christ. He says this. This is the words of Jesus to you and I. He says, remain in me. Somebody say remain.

Somebody say abide. Same thing. He says, remain in me. And I will also remain in you. Watch this. And we're the branches, remember? No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain on the vine. He's gonna go further. Neither can you produce anything or bear any kind of fruit if you're detached from me. He says again, I'm the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I remain in you, here's what you can guarantee. You will bear much fruit. You'll produce fruit. But then he says, but there's another side to this. But apart from me, you can't do jack squat. You can't do nothing. You ain't got nothing for nobody. And so Jesus gives a simple but beautiful illustration. He goes, here's how you're gonna find rest for your souls. Stop trying to produce fruit on your own and just lock in. Just link up. Just abide. We're getting our little, this is our Jesus trunk right here. And here I'm gonna, I'm about to look like a fool, but I don't care. Cause I'm gonna give you a picture

of what a lot of you feel. Cause I know, cause I've been in your world and people like you've been talking to me for 25 years. We go faith, we go obedience, and then we're like, God wants to use me and I need to make God, I need to do it. And so here's what we're trying to do. We're literally trying to produce the fruit on our own without being connected to the vine. And it's like, we're these branches away from the vine going like. God, I pray for fruit. God, I pray for fruit. And we start getting mad at God. Hey, we start getting mad at God. Why? Cause I'm working my tail off. I'm like, this is how some of you feel. I'm trying to love my wife better. I'm trying to be a better boss. I'm trying to be a better mom. I'm trying to be more patient. I'm trying to be more loving. I'm trying to be less insecure. I'm trying to let some of that trauma, like the Holy Spirit, I'm trying so hard and I'm praying God help, God help. And he's like, I'm right here. Some of you all trying to produce fruit on your own. And he's like, you could exhaust yourself producing

or hear me out. And he says, if you remain in me, you will bear much fruit. You can't not bear fruit if you're connected. What if the invitation from Jesus is not try harder to be better and do more, but to say no, slow down, step back and link up. I think that's worth a flight to Ocala to talk about. Cause it'll change your life. Cause here's what you gotta know. God's ultimate goal is he wants union. for you and him. So, but also Pastor Mark talked last week, John 10, that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Did you know there's an enemy of your soul? And what's his name? Who is it? Satan, the devil, El Diablo, whatever language you want it in. Yes, that's him. And you know what his ultimate goal is? Again, when you get this, it changes things. Do you know what his ultimate goal is? It's not to get you to sin. Did you know that? The devil's ultimate goal is not to get you to sin. His ultimate goal is just to get you disconnected from the vine. So if it's sin, great. But it might just be good things, like being a dad, being a mom,

being a worker, having three jobs. It's like, hey, it might be church activity three days a week, seven times a day, all whatever, or three times a day, seven days a week. The devil will do anything he can. His primary goal is just to keep us disconnected from the vine. He will do anything good, bad, or ugly to accomplish that. And listen, hear me out, church. It could be gross sin, it could be minor sin, but then it could also be busyness, guilt, shame, comparison, anxiety, grief, trouble, jealousy, noise, distraction. There's gotta be a good one in here somewhere, so keep going. Entertainment, amusement, hobbies. Please don't take golf from me, Jesus. It could even be good religious activity. The devil's fine with you killing yourself at church as long as you're not connected to the vine. Don't take my word for it, I just, it's a book report. Jesus' words, and some of you, it's not that we need more time, it's that we need to slow down. He wants to keep you from union. I love Corrie Ten Boom, one of the heroes of the faith. If you don't know who she is, she's amazing. She said this, if the devil can't make you sin, he will make you busy, because either way, your soul will shrivel.

Hurry, busyness, soul-crushing, culture, go, do, be. John Mark Comer, in his book, says, he expands on it, he says, if the devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy, because watch this, both sin and busyness have the same effect. They cut off your connection from God, they cut off your connection from other people, and they cut off your connection to your own soul. So sin, busyness, whatever the case may be. And so, if God's ultimate goal is union, if the devil's ultimate goal is to disconnect, and it's all about us staying connected to the vine, then how are we gonna experience a longevity, a soul rest, a refreshing, a regular refreshing? Simply, number three, finally, that soul rest requires a couple things, for us to slow down and make more room. Slow down and make room. I love the idea, I want God to fill all of me, yes, but the truth is, there are things that are occupying our life, and here's what I know about God, he will always meet you and fill whatever space you create. If you give him five minutes, he'll take it. If you give him an hour, he'll take it. If you give him your kids, he'll take, like, he's gonna take what you give him to create room, and worship team, you guys can come on up as we wrap this up. So, the whole idea is slow down,

and so here's maybe some of my talking walking points. What if, what if today, after church, the pastor's not telling you to go do something else, but what if it's about making a to-don't list this week? What are we gonna stop doing? A whole bunch of husbands just got fired up, by the way. I'm afraid we were just talking, their work ain't never done. By the time I get one thing done, the honeydew grew by four. No, I'm talking about to-don't. What if we don't have the kids in all the activities? What if we don't do something every night? What if we don't have all the things? What if we don't fill every margin, every hour, every half hour? What if at work, I start saying no? What if I make 30% margin, I'm less available? No is a full sentence. Even good things are not gonna rob my connection to God, my connection to others, and my connection to my own, so we're gonna slow down. How much room is there in your life to make more room for God to do what? Come to me, and I will give you rest for your soul. The invitation, come to me, was not just come to me when you're emptied out. The invitation was, come take my rhythm, come take my pace. Do you know what changed my life more than ever when I did a study on Jesus?

And I realized this, he had three years to change the world, and he spent a good amount of it by himself, praying and spending time with his disciples. Three years, and he always front-end loaded and back-end loaded, heavy ministry times, like times of refreshing. Yes, he was fully God, but he was also fully human, and I just, here's my heart. I'm not mad at anybody. I want this so bad for you, because God wants this so bad for you. The world says, you have to. Your soul is like, please, not one more thing. What if you made? rule that for everything we add we're going to take two things off? Some of your husbands, you need your wife, everything you want put in the closet, something comes out. What if it's a one for two? If we're going to say yes, what are we going to say no to? When was the last time we had a meaningful conversation at a dinner table? When was the last time you drove and just looked out the window and didn't have anything going on your brain and any noise in your car and all of the things? And so I believe that God wants us to have these life-giving rhythms, but would you agree we live in a soul-crushing culture? So here's what I want to do super quick. You can screenshot these because I told you I want to give you some practical. Here's just five ideas. I could give you 50, but I just came up with like five ideas of how you could trade some soul-crushing habits for some life-giving practices. So just a thought. What if rather than be addicted to our phones, we parented our phones? Oh, I'm not addicted to my phone? Just go check your screen time real quick.

You tell me. And even if you're not addicted, what do I mean by parent your phones? How many of y'all have kids in here? Okay, if you're doing it right, they do what you tell them, right? Like you tell them what to do. So what if we took the same approach with our phone? Rather than our phone run our lives, we tell it what to do. You're not available. You're not on during dinner. We aren't available during the weekend. Like what if we just said we're not going, like my kids don't sleep in my room. You know what I'm saying? My kids can't come in whenever they want. Like our phone. Like some of you just parent your phone to have a time when you're off. Well, I just can't really afford to. You can't afford not to. And if your job requires it, get a better job. There's lots of them out there, no matter what you read on whatever news channel you love. Because y'all, it's one or the other. What if rather than being ruled by bunny more, we got to have the vacation. We got to do one more thing. We got to be out there. We got to get the boat. And there's nothing wrong with stuff, as long as stuff doesn't have you. Let me be clear about that. But what if we'd rather than being ruled by phone, we just trusted God for provision. That he truly will supply all of our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. And maybe if I don't have it, maybe I don't need it. What if rather than just always striving for more, strive, strive, strive, just jump on. Like we're gonna go and we're gonna get the promotion and we're gonna get the kids and all the things. And they're gonna be pro-athletes and pro-musicians. And we're gonna, we're gonna do. What if we, what if rather than striving, we just abided? What if we found a pace for tomorrow? I asked a while ago, is the pace you're currently at sustainable for the next six months? If not, what would God want to come and visit you this afternoon in your conversation? Go, here, let's retool the budget and let's retool the calendar.

Another one, need for speed, right? What if rather than everything was about more, faster, doer. What if you just walked? What if every day you just determined we're gonna leave our phones in the house and we're gonna take a 20 or a 30 minute walk uninterrupted. Can I tell you if somebody does this, it is literally the like, for your soul. When I leave the kids in the house and the phone in the house and my wife and I just go, one's 15, that's not negligent by the way. If you have only toddlers, don't just leave the kids in the house, that is negligent. But just go for a walk. And can I just be honest with you? I hate walking. You know why? It's so dang slow. It's so, I'm like, it takes forever. I run upstairs everywhere. I'm like, it takes forever. But what if you just, I'm gonna walk. I'm gonna walk in the morning before I start my busy day. Or I'm gonna walk at the end of my busy day and just declutter my brain and invite God into the space. I'm gonna dump it all and I'm gonna confess it all. And then I'm gonna come home fully present to a wife and kids who genuinely love me. Or a husband and kids who genuinely love me and are excited to see me. And I have something left because I just got rest for my soul. Because I took 20 minutes. It says, I won't be home at 5. I'll be home at 5 20. Like, I thought dad's car was in the, I thought mom's car was, it is, she gone. It's better for all of us, trust me. She'll be here in 20 minutes. Just walk. Here's another one. Rather than, last one. And again, I could give you 50. I just wanted to give you something to think about. What if rather than fast food, always convenience eating, what if we cooked meals, we ate in, we had a meal plan and went, man, here's what it is in our family. Four nights a week, we will eat a meal together at our table that we cooked. I'm telling you you can do it because I promise I'm probably as busy as most of you.

But four nights a week, we will have a meal. Worst case scenario, we picked it up from somewhere, but there's no phones. We play a game called Hilo Buffalo, where we talk about our day. We get to connect because I know the story I want my kids to tell, that when they were growing up, even though their parents were in the 90s, 2000s, 2020s, teens, that man, when we grew up, we had meals together all the time as a family. It takes a lot of intentionality. It takes work. It takes planning. Every Monday at Costco. Oh my gosh. But every time we sit down, I'm like, man, that was so worth it. I'm so glad we did that. And listen, I'm not like, I'm not like, what's homeboy who does the cooking show with the spiky hair? Guy. I ain't guy. I'm more like Chef Boyardee. You know what I'm saying? But I am from the Midwest. So you put, you put smoke or flame and I know what I'm doing. I'll just grill every night. But I love that we get to sit down and just connect. How was your day? How was school? How was church? How was the tomorrow night? Dinner, they'll go, tell me about who did you meet? How was Ocala? All this stuff. Just cook meals in. Part of the reason, I don't have time to get into it, but part of the reason we made the change is after 25 years of ministry, because of the pandemic and the hurricane, we started a building project that was supposed to be two years and it's not done yet. It was six years ago. And so for the last five years, we did six services every weekend. I preached six times live.

I've done over a thousand sermons in four years. My work days were Saturday, Sunday. My days off were Monday, Tuesday. I was missing my kids. And so, as I mentioned, why did we relocate to Nebraska? Because God has moved me into a new season that I kind of knew was coming, where I get to work with more churches and church leaders, some business guys. But also we get to go slow way down because we looked a couple of years ago and we went, this isn't sustainable. And it's time for somebody else to do this. Now, I didn't just trick somebody else into doing it. The building's almost done. He knows how to run a bigger church. But we relocated. My daughter's gonna finish school where she started with her best friends. I, for the first time in my adult life, I've had the opportunity to think about, will I coach a little league team? Or we can do random weekend stuff. We can visit churches. We can have this margin. And it's not just about time off, but I'm working less. I'm not chasing money. We have a number. And I said, hey, as soon as we get that number,

I'm saying no to everything because I don't care how much I could make. There's nothing to me more valuable than time with my family, time for my health, and time for my relationship with Jesus. And so I'm in it. I'm in it with you. We're figuring it out. We just moved. We're putting a house together. We don't have any couches in it. We just got blind. School just started. And I'm like, man, I'm already starting to feel the like, and so I come to you as somebody who made some pretty gnarly decisions. At the time in my career, if I'm just being honest, and Emily would like, I'm kind of the place where most guys were trying to get. Like we got the church really big. Things were humming. I could go into rooms and now I'm like, somebody else can have it. I'm gonna go be dad. I moved to a town. I moved back to another side of a city where nobody knows me. I love, I love, this is gonna sound like a bad pastor, but I love going to a gas station or restaurant where nobody knows who I am.

I always said I'm not a real pastor anyway, so upgrade for them. But I'm just loving, and I'm loving that like I have, the other day I was doing some virtual calls and I had an hour in between, and rather than fill it, I just went and had lunch with my kids, because I could. That's my story. But what could your story be two months from now if you take this seriously and understand that Jesus is inviting you into a relationship where his yoke is easy, his burden is light, and he will give you rest for your soul. I can't think of one of us that wouldn't benefit from that, and I would imagine we all want that. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you. God's not mad at you. He's madly in love with you. So would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey, God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it, and I can't fix me.

But today, I receive you, Jesus, as my savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days, and then you became alive again. And I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, pastor at hopeinokala.com, I'll follow up with you, and together, we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace.