The Mystery Of Divine Rest - Part 2

Good morning, Altar family. Welcome, as we are here this morning, just being able to praise together. Something I have been trying to teach my kids is worship and praise can look different in so many ways. And I try and teach them throughout the week that like, there are so many things that you can be grateful for and thankful for. And you just have to find it in your everyday life, whether it's doing the dishes or changing 100 diapers or you name it, whatever. But when we practice and continue to practice praise throughout the week, and not just on Sundays, it becomes second nature to us when we are walking through a storm or when we come here and we get to worship together. It's just so easy to be able to worship in this place together. So this morning, I just want you to, if you can come forward and just worship here with us this morning. ♪ I could sing Your name for all my life ♪ ♪ And still find more to love each time ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ You're sweeter every time that I call on it ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪

♪ Jesus, You're worthy, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ And You have been the friend who never left ♪ ♪ I won't forget Your faithfulness, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter every time when I call on it ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, You're worthy, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ There's just something bout Your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, You're worthy, oh, so worthy, so worthy, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, Your name is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one that darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, Jesus, Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Your name can heal, Your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, You never will, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the bread of life broken for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and still to come ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the bread of life broken for us ♪

♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and still to come ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gets all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ The glory, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa ♪ ♪ Oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa, oh whoa ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, that gets all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah oh, oh oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, yeah ♪ ♪ There's healing, there's healing in your name ♪ ♪ There's healing in your name, there's healing in your name ♪ ♪ There's healing in your name, it makes me cry whole new ♪ ♪ There's freedom in your name, there's freedom in your name, ♪ ♪ There's freedom in your name, there's freedom in your name, ♪ ♪ It makes me cry whole new, salvation in your name, ♪ ♪ Salvation in your name, salvation in your name, ♪ ♪ It makes me cry whole new. ♪ Hold on just a sec.

We're gonna re-sing those two parts because I believe that there's so much healing in His name. And I know there are so many people here that may have something in them that needs to be healed or that you're believing for someone else that needs healing in their body or salvation. And we are gonna declare that this morning, that if you have something or you know someone that needs healing, there's healing in Jesus's name, only His name, only He can heal. So we are going to sing that again with the declaration and we are going to believe it, we are gonna declare salvation and healing. Oh, there's healing. There's healing, there's healing There's healing in Your Name Oh yeah There's healing, there's healing Healing in Your Name Oh yeah Oh yeah There's healing, there's healing Healing in Your Name Begin to declare, begin to declare Begin to believe it Yeah There's healing in Your Name It makes me cry holy There's freedom in Your Name Sing it! There's freedom in Your Name It makes me cry holy There's salvation in Your Name

Salvation in Your Name Salvation in Your Name It makes me cry holy Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name That gets all the glory Jesus be the Name There's healing in Your Name There's healing in Your Name That gets all the glory Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name That gets all the glory The Lord Alive The One the darkness can't deny The resurrection and the life Jesus Jesus Your Name can save, Your Name can heal Your Name can make the storm be still You never fail, You never will Jesus The bread of life broken for us The wounded and the worthy won The first and last and still they come Jesus The King who overwhelmed the grave The Lord who will forever reign The Name above all other names Jesus

Jesus be the Name That gets all the glory Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name That gets all the glory Jesus Jesus be the Name Jesus be the Name That gets all the glory There's healing in Your Name There's healing in Your Name There's healing in Your Name I'm so lonely, I'm so lonely I'm so lonely, I'm so lonely There's healing in Your name So holy, so holy There's healing in Your name So worthy, so worthy, so worthy Jesus, You're worthy Healing in Your name, healing in Your name Healing, healing in Your name We declare healing, we declare healing Healing in the mind, healing in the body We declare Your healing power There's healing in Your name Salvation in Your name There's healing, healing in Your name Oh worthy, so worthy, so worthy So worthy, keep declaring it

So worthy, there's healing So worthy, there's healing There's healing, healing, healing in Your name Healing, healing in Your name There's healing in Your name Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To encourage His treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which bar the chosen one Bring new peace, sons, to glory Behold the man upon a cross I sit upon his shoulder When I hear my mocking voice Call out among the slaughters It was my sin that held him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me high I know that it is finished I will not boast in anything Or gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast that Jesus Christ

Is dead in resurrection What should I gain from his remorse? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom . . . What should I gain from his remorse? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom . . . You gave your life for us, Jesus You gave it all away Thank you for the cross, Lord Thank you for the debt that's been paid . . . Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt And raised his life up from the dead

Lift up your voice! ♪ And it raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Yes, come on, all praise ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who paid my debt ♪ ♪ It raises life up from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And this I know with all my heart ♪ ♪ His wounds have paid my ransom ♪ ♪ And this Jeffrey's gonna show me someday who's God and sing ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And this I know with all my heart ♪

♪ He won't lay in wait for me to not spread my spoils for Him ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ Oh, no, no, no ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And this I know with all my heart ♪ He won't lay in wait for me to not spread my spoils for Him ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And this I know with all my heart ♪ He won't lay in wait for me to not spread my spoils for Him ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ And this I know with all my heart ♪ He won't lay in wait for me to not spread my spoils for Him ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ I will exalt You ♪ I will exalt You ♪ You are my God ♪ I will exalt You ♪ I will exalt You ♪ I will exalt You ♪ I will exalt You ♪ You are my God ♪ My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and king, anointed one, most holy. ♪ ♪ By His hands, Lord. ♪ ♪ I will exalt You. I will exalt You. I will exalt You. You are my God. My hiding place. My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and king, anointed one, most holy.

My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and king, anointed one, most holy. My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and king, anointed one, most holy. My hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure, Lord, You are. My friend and king, anointed one, most holy. ♪ Because You're with me. Because You're with me. Because You're with me. I will not fear. Sing that again. ♪ Because You're with me. Because You're with me. Because You're with me. I will not fear. ♪ ♪ We cry holy. Yeah. And every tribe and every tongue. All creation with one voice. For a thousand generations, Holy One. Here our hearts have found a home. Gathered all around joyful. For a thousand generations, Holy One. ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Holy one, every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪

♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪

♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Every tribe and every tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one voice ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ Hear our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations, holy one ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ This is so beautiful to God, because we are singing to Him and nobody else. It doesn't matter what you look like or how you sound, we are giving our praises to God this morning. And He is glorified. He is glorified by our worship. Thank you, Jesus. Every tribe and every tongue, all creation with one voice, for a thousand generations, holy one. Hear our hearts have found a home, gathered all around your throne. Every tribe and every tongue, all creation with one voice, for a thousand generations, holy one. Hear our hearts have found a home, gathered all around your throne, for a thousand generations, holy one. Hear our hearts have found a home, gathered all around your throne, for a thousand generations, holy one. Galway, this is our prayer to you, that this generation and every generation from here forward bows to you. Bows only to you, Father. We lay down our idols at your feet and we worship you because you are so worthy.

Thank you, Father. Thank you. Thank you, Father. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Alleluia, Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Alleluia, Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Alleluia, Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. You're holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. For you are holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. You are holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. You are holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. You are holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Amen. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪ Worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, there is no one ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, there is no one ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, there is no one ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, and you are holy, holy ♪ ♪ And you are holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb ♪ ♪ You are holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty, worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb ♪ ♪ Worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb, amen ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ Come on and lift up I want I just. I just keep hearing in my spirit the word remember. It's that song, Agnes Day, that, you know, you remember 30 years ago, 20 years ago, singing that song and wondering what heaven would be like, wondering if God had a place for you. You know, maybe you're here, maybe it's your first time in church in 10 years and you remember being a little boy, a little girl, going to church with your parents and your grandparents

and feeling the presence of God, feeling the hope that maybe God had a plan for your life and now, you know, so much has happened and maybe you're wondering if that plan, you know, God has thrown that plan out the window and maybe that plan is ruined. But I want to call you to remembrance this morning, to remember the God that made you a promise, remember the God that gave you a dream. Remember the God that planted a seed in your heart decades ago and I want, I want you to know that he remembers the promises he made and he has not given up on fulfilling every one of them. He has not abandoned or forgotten you. He has not cast you aside and moved on from you. I want you to remember this morning that God is faithful to do all he said he would do and that not even your season of rebellion could derail his marvelous plan for your life. I'm living proof that not even the years of rebellion can derail the marvelous plan he has for your life. So Lord, we remember how we remember when we first first felt your presence. You take a moment this morning to remember when we first heard the sweet name of Jesus. We remember this morning that dream you gave us when we were little. The question you asked when we were young. The promise you made all those years ago and Lord we come back again to faith in your faithfulness. Lord, we know that you will that your word to us will accomplish everything for which it was sent. It never returns void. So God we we take courage this morning to get our hopes up again.

We believe God you're not done with us. Amen. We believe that disappointment has not derailed our destiny. Father, we lay down our rebellion. We lay down our selfishness. We lay down the ambition that moved us to take our lives out of your hands and into our own and we come back again to the foot of the altar today and we said Lord have have our all take our present take our future take our hearts and our hopes. Lord use our lives for your glory in Jesus wonderful name. Amen. Amen. Hey, welcome to the altar fellowship. This is your first time. Congratulations. You made it. We're so glad you're here. It's awesome. Would you guys as we're finding seats if you're able to find a seat, would you guys join me in blessing our musicians thanking them for leading us this morning? Awesome. Awesome. Awesome job. Thank you Lord.

I I'll tell you a story when I was when I was five years old back in the last century when I was five five years old before the turn of the Millennium, I I was in a at a conference in at a Christian University in Pennsylvania Grove City College and and we were there as a family. We were a part of a church denomination that every summer would get together on the campus of that school and would have a week-long time of fellowship and and growth and I've got to be honest with you that denomination was a pretty sort of classic denomination. We, you know, ladies wore head coverings and you know, men wore suits and ties and and so as a five-year-old boy, you should know it wasn't real fun for me, but you know, I was pretty wiggly pretty antsy pretty restless, but I was you know, I was there and so my mom would bring things for me to do pages for me to color.

You know quiet toys for me to play with and as a five-year-old boy, you know, I still remember sitting in the auditorium there on that campus and listening to a man talk about the gospel now. I'm sure that I had heard somebody discuss the gospel before but for some reason at five years old, I'm sitting down there coloring and I'm just I'm hearing some parts of what he said and the way my mom tells the story, you know, I was down on my on my knees and I was coloring with my coloring book and a pew and she said every couple of minutes. I would sort of look up and look at the man on the stage and listen to something or react to something that he said and then I go back to coloring and then I'd color some more and then a few minutes later. I'd look back up at him and then I'd color some more and at the end of the message, this man gave an invitation. He said if you can't say with absolute confidence that your life eternally stands secure in the hands of Jesus. If you have not made Jesus the Lord of your life, if you've not surrendered your everything to him then come forward. Let's pray for you to respond to the gospel be born again today.

And you know, and I'm a five-year-old kid and I'm sitting down coloring and I set my coloring book down and I stand up people are walking to the aisle and I'm like, I'm walking to the island. My mom bless her. She knows me well enough to know I'm just taking the opportunity to run around the room, you know, and so she grabs me by the arm and it's like no sit down and I'm like mom, I gotta get saved and and she is sort of suspicious, you know, she's thinking like there's no snacks up there, you know, like why why do you need to go to the front of the room? And so she said she asked me to just wait. She said let's wait until after the service and when the service is dismissed, we'll go. and talk to the preacher. And so she brought me forward to the front of the room and I talked to this old man who had preached and he said, well, why were you trying to come forward? And I said, I need to be saved from my sins. I need Jesus to come and live in my heart and I wanna be with him eternally. And he said, that's good enough for me, man. And so we prayed when I was five years old to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I still have an old King James Bible from 1992

that they gave me, it's King James zip up Bible. It's called a young folks Bible. Young folks aren't reading King James, so, you know. But he gave it to me and I'm grateful for that. And listen, I had valleys and mountains after that day. It wasn't like sunshine and rainbows. I just walked with the Lord all the days of my life ever since I was five years old. But, you know, one of the things that I think for me was so important about that moment is that it planted a seed in me that is a constant reminder that five years old is not too young to hear and respond to the gospel. And we have, when we have the opportunity to build our own church, we understand that lots of other churches, you sort of walk in and you drop your kids off at one side of the building and they do their thing and parents come and do their own thing. And I think, no, no, no, I want your kids to be with you, man, they may be five years old, but they, like me, might hear something in the gospel that would grab their attention, would capture their imagination, and would prick their heart, even at a young age. And so, you know, we, I was talking with Sam Nava earlier about the importance of not forgetting or remembering, like we talked about just a minute ago, what it is that we've been built on, that this house, we really have committed ourselves,

we've been commissioned by God to do two things with all of our heart. You all remember what those are? Worship and family. And not because missions isn't important, not because evangelism isn't important, not because discipleship isn't important, but because if we can, if we can build our community around the adoration of God, and then we can open our hearts to bring people into the family business, which is the adoration of God, we will find that evangelism and discipleship and helping the poor and, you know, serving the outcast, those things are going to happen inevitably. I'm convinced if we can do worship and family with excellence and honor, that everything else will follow. And yet, here's the thing about family that my, I've got, now I've got two teenage boys, so, you know, feel free to bring food whenever, like we need, yeah. And I heard a preacher one time say, you know, if you'll give a donation, the donation is gonna go to starving children, the starving children are mine, of course, you know, so feel free to donate food, we can always use it. But we, you know, I've got two teenage boys in the house, three boys in total,

and here's the thing that my kids are learning, is that family, when you're a baby, is everybody else taking care of you. They wash and fold your clothes, they make your food, they clean your food up when you're done with it, you know, they put you to bed, like it's just food magically appears on your plate, like you don't know where anything comes from, you don't think, you don't know where it goes when you're done with it, like the whole system revolves around serving you. But as you grow up, my two teenagers are finding, you become a part of the group that takes care of the younger ones. And so now it's not just me and mom taking care of all three boys, it's me and mom and Kai and Caleb taking care of Carver. Carver loves it, he's wringing it out for all it's worth, and pretty soon it'll be me, mom, Kai, Caleb, and Carver taking care of the church, taking care of our community, looking for other people to bless and to serve. Like this is what family does, is that we don't just take, we look for ways to come together to give. And this is why week after week after week I give you the opportunity, the invitation, the exhortation to be faithful givers to the church, because listen, the American church has had enough of freeloading spectators. I have a friend that's a real successful businessman, and he said, man, I just don't understand

that you guys have a model where your business, where people can come and receive. leave from the services you provide and give nothing in return. He's like, I just, you should make people subscribe to your church or something. And, uh, and I said, Hey, good idea. Um, we're not doing that, right? We, uh, we don't, there's not a subscription fee. Uh, but, but there is, if you would consider this, your family, an expectation that you wouldn't be an immature child that comes here to take from the provision and the generosity of everyone around you, but that you would be a mature son or daughter who says, no, no, I'm going to be a contributor. I'm going to be a giver. I'm going to be a burden bearer. And I'm going to make sure that this family God has given me is taken care of with my, with the provision and the resources that God has put under my control. Amen. And so this morning, hold your applause. I know you guys are thrilled. We have the opportunity to give, come on. It's so good. Yeah. So we are going to, uh, we're going to give there's, as you know, there are a few ways you can do that. There's an envelope in the seat in front of you. You can use to get by cash check or card, uh, or you can take your phone out and scan that QR code. Or, uh, if you have the mobile app, you can give through that. Would you stand with me? As we prepare our hearts to give in this offering, Lord, we thank you for your

great love. God, thank you that, uh, that the gospel that saves, uh, is the same for those who are young and those who are old, that for all of us of every age, of every color, of every background, of every language, that, uh, that, that all of us can come to salvation. To the same blood of the same savior hung on the same cross as proclaimed in the same gospel. God, we thank you that we find unity in the blood of Jesus. Lord, we, we love and we worship you today, not just in our singing and our dancing. We worship you today, God, in our giving. Thank you that you called us to have a hand in what you're doing in the world, what you're doing in this community and God, as we give this morning, we ask that this offering would be, uh, would be multiplied in its fruitfulness, its effectiveness and its impact for the sake of your kingdom. God, let our temporary money have an eternal impact for your glory and for the good of your kingdom. In Jesus name. Amen. Yeah, you could be seated actually. Yeah. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. I'm, I'm honored. I, uh, am, uh, maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I, I am just so grateful to be here, man. I, I, I love this church. I love this family. I love this community. I love being your pastor and your friend this week has been, uh, so refreshing for

me just to be back in the swing of things, you know, to, to be answering questions and coming up with ideas and brainstorming about, uh, how we can better serve this community. It's, it's so much fun for me and the teams have been so life giving for us. And, uh, and so I want to, uh, just, uh, I want to tell you guys, you know, buckle up because we're, uh, we're going from glory to glory and, uh, and, and we're still continuing to follow the cloud. And God is, uh, is leading us into some, some wonderful things together. And I just, I can't wait to, to see sort of where, uh, where we end up. You know, I, uh, I mentioned that, uh, this last week, last Sunday was my first Sunday back from a seven week sabbatical. And, uh, and that was when, you know, when I, when, when we first sort of started to float or consider discuss the idea, seven weeks was sort of like, gosh, that's really, that's a long time. And do I really need that long? And, uh, and I, I talked to some, you know, some mentors, some senior, you know, uh, ministers in my, uh, in my world. One of them is pastor David's dad, who's been a pastor for, since the beginning of time. And, and he just, he just, he's been there and done that about everything, you know, and we, we got together and, and, uh, had a long conversation about sabbaticals he's gone on and, and how did the Lord minister to him and what are the things that he did or didn't do that he would maybe recommend. And so, um, it was, uh, it was great getting to pick his, his brain a little bit. And, uh, and one of the things that he said was, you know, you gotta like rest, like you, you gotta learn to, uh, to rest and it might be a challenge at first. And I, I'll be honest with you. When I heard him say that, I sort of thought like, yeah, not for me. I love naps, you know, like, What I realized is something that I sort of touched on last week.

What I, what I learned is, is that there's, there's a difference between rest and inaction. And, and, and here's how I learned that is that it took me more than a month to, to get to the, like, I wasn't preaching sermons at any point during my sabbatical, but I was still carrying the weight of the altar fellowship. I, I was, I was, I was like, I was engaging in inaction, but I hadn't yet begun to rest. It really wasn't until like the last maybe two weeks of those seven weeks that I was able to get to the point where it felt like God sort of put his hand on my shoulder and said, Matty, it's my church. These are my people. And what happens with this community is in my hands, not yours. Right. And so, uh, when, when it, when it happened, I felt like maybe more than ever before I was able to come to a place, not just of inaction, but of rest. And that rest, like I preached last week required trust. I was trusting God with you. I was trusting God with this community. I was trusting God with the, you know, with the financial demands of the church. I was trusting God with the development of the staff and leadership here. I was trusting God with the administration of this, um, this community. And, and, and so it wasn't until I got to the point where I recognized it's not, it's not my church and it's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to be a ready and willing tool in the hand of the one who is actually building this church. And, uh, and when I got to that place, not only was I finally able for those last couple of weeks of the sabbatical to come to a place of rest, but I realized that rest doesn't have to end when the work starts up again. If I recognize that the results depend on God, not on me,

the results depend on God, not on me. And I would point you to, uh, maybe a great example of this is, um, uh, maybe I could give you two great examples just off the top of my head. You know, one might be Noah who preached for a century for a hundred years. Judgment is coming. God's going to flood the earth. I'm building this boat so that we can save those who would believe the message and eight people were saved. I have not preached for close to a hundred years, but more than eight people have been saved. And I'm grateful for that. I think about Jeremiah called by scholars, the weeping prophet who preached for 40 years. If we don't turn from our sin, God's going to send judgment and zero people listened to him repeatedly beaten, ignored, mocked, cast out over and over and over and over again until suddenly judgment came destruction came and everyone realized Jeremiah had been right all along. And so guys, I need you to hear this. I should say it like this. I need to hear this today and repeatedly. And so I'll bet I'm not the only one in the room that needs to hear this. Your job is to obey God. The results depend on him. Your job is to fix your eyes on your father and to say, and to say, where do you want me? Because that's where I'll go. And then where he puts you, if it makes you wealthy and influential, praise God. If it ends with you being locked in prison and forgotten about praise God because our glory is in obedience, not in fruitfulness or impact. Impact. And so this morning I want to continue to unwrap what I began last week. That is, I want to discuss the mystery of divine rest. Now we, we entertain deception when we begin to believe that the rest to which we've

been called is simply or exclusively for our benefit. Like, here's what I mean. It's easy to hear about, you know, the instructions in the Bible about a rhythm of rest, you know, every one day a week or, you know, one part of each day, one day a week, you know, one year every seven years. Like we hear about these rhythms of rest that God calls his people to. And it's easy to think, well, God's doing that for our benefit. And that is true, but it's not the whole truth. We entertain deception when we begin to believe that the rest to which we've been called is simply or exclusively for our benefit. As I explored last week, when you come into rest, you not only obey God, you demonstrate God's nature. And so with that in mind, I wanna show you this morning that as we become a community who has cultivated true rest in our souls, we will also become a community that God can trust with the hearts of a restless generation. When we become a community who has cultivated true rest in our souls, we will also become a community God can trust with the hearts of a restless generation. This is, I would say in particular, Anthony Girola and Jacob Coyne, I think you guys are both in the room, I know that God has given you a platform in the online space. Owen, I would also include you in this.

If you're called to online ministry, you should know that the most restless people in this generation are the most chronically online people in this generation. And so God's called you specifically, you three guys specifically, and maybe there's others in the room, God has graced or called or positioned to have a voice into some of the most restless people on the planet. And so it's especially important that a continuous posture of rest be something that we seek, that be something that we actually receive from God and allow ourselves to yield to and to carry. Rest in our souls will prepare us to be trusted with the hearts of a restless generation. Now, church, the way I see it, our willingness to choose rest in this restless age will reform our relationships and it'll do so in three specific ways. Number one, rest changes our worship. Number two, rest changes our work. And number three, rest changes our world. Rest changes our worship, it changes our work, and it changes our world. First, I want to look at how rest informs our worship. In fact, I thought Kashif, when he preached a few weeks ago, said it so brilliantly. He said, what we believe about the gospel

actually informs the way we approach fellowship and worship, that we find fellowship with one another in our understanding of the gospel, but our understanding of the gospel also totally transforms the way that we worship God. You know, this, a couple weeks ago, I spent a week, and I mentioned this last week, at a monastery, a Catholic monastery. And one of the things that I noticed when we were in prayer with the monks is that a lot of their prayers, a lot of their liturgy, is, sort of revolves around begging for salvation. It's like, please save us, rescue us, deliver us. And that's an interesting thing for me because I think, if you were to come here, one of the defining sort of attributes of our common doctrine here at the Altar Fellowship is that we're not begging for salvation, we're celebrating salvation. We're not hoping for an eventual redemption, we're rejoicing in a redemption that has already been sealed at the cross. And so we're celebrating the finished work of the cross. And while Catholics recognize the power of the cross, they would also say that there needs to be some virtue, some morality, some sort of ethical demonstration in perpetuity so that at the end of our lives, Lord willing, we'll be found acceptable to enter into heaven. And so there is sort of,

because of the Catholic understanding of the gospel, there is a sense of like, I hope I'm saved, right? And that changes the way they worship. Just like, for those of us who can say, I know I'm saved, that should change the way that we worship. But I would point you to 1 John chapter five, 1 John five, verses 11 through 13. Say this, it says, it says, and this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God. Listen to this, that you may know that you have eternal life. That you may know that you have eternal life. Not that you may hope that you have eternal life. Not that you may be kind of sure, you know, I'm. Optimistic that one day I'll have eternal life. No, no that you may know that you currently have Eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God our Understanding of the gospel is that we are saved because of the finished work of the cross That I have faith in what Jesus accomplished that when he hung on the cross and said it is finished that he meant it and and so because my faith is in the the finished work of the cross or the adequacy of The cross or we might say the efficacy of the cross Because my my faith is fully in that I'm able to look at the cross as a witness a testament a monument To the redeeming love of God for me and to say that I'm not hoping someday that I will be saved I'm not hoping to someday obtain or receive eternal life

I have been given eternal life and in fact John who wrote the book of first John Wrote that book specifically that you may know that you have eternal life His agenda is to make sure that we can have confidence or assurance in our own Salvation the distinctive attribute of our faith is not what we do for God. It is what God has done for us First John chapter 4 in fact just the chapter before this John writes something real similar first John 4 starting in verse 10 He writes in this is love not that we loved God But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins Beloved he continues if God so loved us we ought to love one another we don't worship God as Simply an act of obedience to the instructions in Scripture now Scripture does instruct us to worship God But I'm convinced that if we could catch a glimpse of his beauty And we could catch a glimpse of his Overwhelming love for us The worship would be our natural impulse That it would be as natural to us as you know buckling over when somebody punches us in the stomach It's like nobody would have to convince us or beg us or provoke us or challenge us to worship we would let go of the back of the pew in front of us, and we would celebrate like crazy people not because We have the opportunity to be saved, but because we have the assurance that we are we have an internal Witness of the Holy Spirit. We don't worship God simply as an act of obedience to the instruction of Scripture We worship God as an act of gratitude for his redeeming and relentless love Worship is our response to the blessed assurance. We have because of the finished work of the cross to put it another way True worship can only come when we rest in what Christ has accomplished So rest changes our worship and If you have I would say it like this if you have a hard time Worshipping when we gather and people are you know doing what they do here, and it's like this is a little uncomfortable It's not really my personality. I would ask you to say well How convinced are you?

That The blood of Jesus was enough to wash away your sins. How convinced are you that you've actually been adopted by your heavenly father? Who has brought you near to himself and promised to never let you go How convinced are you that the gospel really has brought salvation and deliverance to your life because if if the work of Christ Really has had its effect in your life You can finally rest and in that rest You find the kind of worship that you were made to give Thank you God the work is done one of the things I was planning to Hopefully share this in like October because for the last couple weeks of September I'm gonna be with a buddy in Alaska hunting moose and grizzly bears and and I'm really looking forward to that It's gonna be awesome. I was like packing my bag last night. It's like only seven more weeks. You know and And so I'm I'm really looking forward to that but I Here's the thing about about Hunting, you know, there's a real possible we're gonna have a camp that you have to fly a two-seater plane into and and they're just gonna land us in the bush and Sort of drop us off and just say like see you in ten days. Don't die. You know, it's it's a it's a it's a So I'm looking forward, it's gonna be great. It's a it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a it's a But I, at the same time, I recognize there's a thing that you have to think about when you're hunting in the frontier like that, and that is that the works, the way the old timers say it, is the work starts when you pull the trigger. You know, when I hunt, finding the animal is not always easy, but it's the easier part because once you kill an animal,

especially an animal like a moose, you've gotta then figure out how to get all the parts of all the meat and the hide and the antlers like out of the bush. And so we may have to hike five, 10, 15 miles to get to a moose that we can shoot, but then after we shoot one, we may have to throw a 150 pounds of moose meat on our back and hike it four miles each way back for seven or eight different trips. We may end up walking 30 or 40 miles with moose meat, you know, 100 plus pounds of moose meat on our back because we're only two guys, and it's gonna take eight or nine different trips to get everything out of the bush. And so if we shoot a moose a few miles away from our camp, it's gonna be days of hiking that meat out of the bush. And I say all this because there's a different kind of work. There's the work that you do to get to the animal, and that's the work where you're like, gosh, I hope it works out. But once the animal's down, there's probably more work to be done, but it's a different kind of work because now you're not working for success, you're working from success. You're not working for victory, you're working from victory. We've already won, we already did it, and now I'm just stewarding the victory that I have. Now this is what it's like to be a Christian. We're not working as Christians so that one day

we can obtain salvation. We've been given salvation. The work is already done. We can rejoice, I will happily, it is my dream to throw 150 pound moose hindquarter on my back and carry it three miles out of the brush. It won't be easy, I'll be sweating and my knees will be begging for mercy, but I'll be happy to do it. I'm gonna try my hardest to make that a reality, and it's because there's joy in work from victory. There's joy in working from success, and so we are able to worship, to rejoice when we recognize that we can rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross, amen? And so not only does rest change our worship, it changes also our work. Now our willingness to rest, as I said last week, our willingness to rest doesn't just shape, excuse me, our willingness to rest doesn't just shape our worship, it also shapes our work. As I said last week, to do the work of God, we must rest from our insistence upon pursuing our own ambitions. If I'm going to do God's work, that means Maddie's work has to take a back seat. If I'm gonna do God's will, that means my will has to take the back seat. The truth is, well-intentioned preachers, I think, have done a grave disservice to the American church by teaching that Jesus died to fulfill

their dreams and desires. The message of Jesus was not follow me and I will serve you, the message of Jesus was follow me and I will save you. To follow Christ means to remove yourself from the driver's seat. We talk about, like, hey, you have a minute to talk about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? We all know this idea, Jesus being our Lord and Savior, but the truth is, we are very happy, very comfortable with Jesus being our Savior, but the Lord part, it's a big problem for a lot of people in this age. A lot of people, they want Jesus to save them, but they don't want Jesus to sanctify them. They don't want Jesus to be the master of their life, the commander of their destiny. They don't want him to be the one that makes their choices for them, and yet, this is the deal. I don't get Jesus the Savior without Jesus the Lord. The two come together, and so it's crucial that we understand, in fact, in James 3.16, James writes, where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and every evil practice. Where you have envy and selfish ambition, that is where I say, this is what I want, and I'm gonna pursue it no matter what. There you have disorder and every evil practice. Every evil practice. Now, this is critical, I think. It's important for us to to recognize that selfish ambition, or I would say like self-serving ambition is in every way contrary to the culture or the ways of the kingdom.

The work of the kingdom is is to serve the will of God. It is to make the pleasure of God not just our highest priority, our only priority in life. And if we are going to be a people who adequately serve God, then we are going to have to be a people who recognize that our will must become secondary. Our will must yield to his will, that our desires, our impulses, our priorities, our interests, our passions must yield to his. We must join Jesus, our master, in saying, Father, not my will, but yours be done. And so if we are going to come to rest and hear this, y'all, God, the scriptures, the scriptures tell us watches over his word to perform it. He, his word, it says, never returns void, but it accomplishes everything for which it was sent. Why is that important? Because it means here's a saying the old timers used to say that I think is real beautiful. If it's God's will, it's God's bill. I'm telling you, I've said this in ministry leadership more times than I can count. I mean, I think I think this is God's will. And if it is, he'll make a way. And so we can do what somebody say rest, we can rest if we are living in the will of God, knowing that he himself will watch over the things we're doing. But where we leave rest, but if we leave obedience, we have also to leave rest, because if I'm pursuing something God has not called me to, then I don't have the assurance that God's going to watch over it and resource it and protect it and guard it and make sure that it comes to pass. Because I'm not doing God's will. I'm doing Maddie's will in that moment. And so our obedience, that is to say, our work is tied inevitably to our rest. If we are doing the work of God, we can rest in the knowledge that God will make sure the work gets done. God will resource the work. He'll send gold from a fish's mouth. He'll make it manna fall from heaven. He will resource the work if the work I'm doing is what he's called me to do. And I remember years ago there was a conference that some some people I really admired were going to hold called Wilderness Outcry. This was now probably 15 years ago. And Dutch Sheets was one of the main leaders that was pulling this thing together. And they were expecting, you know, thousands, tens of thousands of people to come together to this farm in the Midwest and have a weekend of worship and prayer and intercession for our nation. And and they had to cancel the event because the funding didn't come in. And Dutch Sheets did something that I still to this day is one of the most admirable things I've ever seen a leader do.

He said, I must have missed it. I thought this was the will of God and I was wrong. If this was the will of God, the funds would have been there. And and so I apologize for having he publicly apologized for having misheard the voice of God. Now, listen, a lot of preachers would have been like, this was God and y'all didn't give. And God's very disappointed with you. And, you know, people should have given more and put it on the people for not having enough faith to support what the Lord had put in this man of God's heart. But he didn't do that. He took a high degree of accountability that I admire still to this day greatly to the amazing demonstration of humility and accountability from a leader. But what he recognizes that if the work we're doing is God's will, then the bills will be covered by God. If it's God's will, it's God's will. If the work we're doing is God's will, we can trust that God will meet that the demands of that work with his resources, with his strength, with his provision, with his ability. And so if we can come to rest, it changes our not just our worship, but rest changes also our work, because if we can rest in the knowledge that what we're doing is God's will, then suddenly the burden of work is no longer ours to bear. All we are called to do is obey. Amen. And so not only does rest define our worship and our work, or not, not only does rest change our worship and our work, it changes also. our world. Are you guys in a hurry today? We are past time. Are you good? We're good. All right. Okay. I told you there were three points. I got to get to all three. Tell the second service people, I'm sorry. I'll give him a high five on the way out. Um, so, so lastly, we, we find rest as we find rest for our souls in God, our savior, that rest not only changes our worship and our work, it changes our world. I'll tell you a story about one of the reasons that the altar fellowship exists today. It's in a story that I have told often, but it was a impactful transformational moment for me in the summer of 2017. I was, um, I may even have been the spring of 2018. I'd been invited by a friend of mine, a pastor out in California, Mark McGaffin, a good man of God, a good friend of mine who, um, was a youth pastor out there and his youth group, they were doing a camp. And he said, I want you to come and be the camp speaker. And so I flew out there for a few days and I'm going to speak at this beautiful camp in Southern California, just a little bit north of LA and like the Bakersfield area. And, uh, and I go to speak to this camp. There's a few hundred, uh, high school students there and they're all sort of sitting in the front. There's this amphitheater at the camp that we're, we're, uh, that I'm speaking at. I'm on the stage and I'm

preaching my first message and everybody is near the front. They're worshiping. They're all kind of sitting together, but there's this one girl, maybe seven or eight rows behind everybody else. She's all by herself. She, uh, this, you know, skinny little girl. She, I mean, she looked like she was, uh, maybe, you know, 90 pounds and I had a buzz cut and she was wearing a Slayer shirt. And I was like, that's my, that's my kind of person, you know, like I like her. And so, uh, so I'm preaching. I start preaching on the first day and she sits in the back six or seven rows behind everybody else. And she just sobs through my entire message. And I think, all right, Lord, just minister to her. And then we come back the next night and I'm preaching again. And I begin to preach and she's sitting seven, six or seven rows behind everybody else. And she just sobs through my entire message. She's just weeping. And then, uh, and then the third night comes and she's sitting six or seven rows behind everybody else. And I begin to preach and she sits back there and she just weeps the whole time. She's just crying and crying. And, uh, and so at the end of that last night, I I'm going through it. I'm just laying hands on all these kids and I get to her and, uh, and I just grab her and just wrap her up in a hug. And y'all, she just breaks and, and it gets to the point where she's not even standing. I'm just holding her and her, her legs have given out from under her. I'm just holding this girl to my chest and she's just crying and crying. And, uh, and I just pray over her, God, you know, see her, you know, what's going on in her heart or you can handle it. And so I just commit this situation, whatever it is to the Lord, I commit this girl's heart, her future to the Lord. And, and, uh, you know, just pray over her. And then I just kind of lay her down, you know, set her down on this seat and she just goes back to crying. And so I asked my friend, pastor Mark afterwards, like, what's the story with that girl? And he said, you know, she's actually not a part of our youth group. He said, she was a part of our youth group. She's she's 21 now. And, uh, and he said about two years ago, her dad was one of the pastors at the church and he was caught in an affair with a married woman that was in the church. And so he was let go his, her parents got a divorce. This other family, you know, moved away. It was a huge scandal, but her dad stayed at the church. And so this girl, you know, continued to come to the church, but he said in the chaos and the devastation, the pain that, that she felt, man, she began to slip into depression and some substance abuse. And he said about six months ago, she tried to enter her life. She attempted suicide. And, um, and he said, uh, you know, after she got out of the hospital, um, her dad reached out to me and asked if maybe she could

just come to, to youth camp with us, even though she's not a part of the youth group, just to get away from the church, to get away from being the daughter of the pastor who had, you know, caused this huge scandal and perpetrated this, this, this massive moral failure. And, uh, and, and he said, so we decided to let her come to youth camp, even though she's not a part of the youth group. And, and, uh, and that was the story. And, and I never talked to this girl personally. We never had any kind of connection after that, but I came home and I remember telling my wife and a couple of the people that worked for me, this was in the early days of our ministry. to have a place for people like this to come. Like, there has to be, at that point, I was just doing online classes. I was just preaching the gospel online. I was doing online classes. I was preaching at conferences and things, and I said, no, no, no, that's not, this isn't good enough. There has to be a place for people like that. I would love to call that girl and say, we got a plane ticket, and we've got an apartment for you. Come on out. Get away from the trauma. Just change your context here. Like, everybody in your world knows all about your family's biggest shame. Why don't you come out here and be the woman of God? You know God has made you to be. And I didn't have a place that could receive somebody like that. But Matthew, I read in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus had the same dream. You know, Jesus dreamed the same thing for that girl.

This is in Matthew 13, starting in verse 31. Jesus, it says, another parable Jesus put forth for them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. So that the birds of the air can come and nest in its branches. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, is like a mustard seed. Now, I have talked at length in years past about the kingdom. How do we define the kingdom? Is it just the place we go when we die? Is it the church? Is it the master list of all who are saved? No, the kingdom is the culture of heaven. When we look at heaven, like the throne room of heaven, the depictions in Revelation chapter four, Isaiah chapter six, we catch a glimpse, I think, of what we ought to be striving for, what we ought to be working toward as members of the kingdom. Our job is to make earth look and operate like heaven. That's what the kingdom is. And so if we see the kingdom as the culture of heaven, we recognize a couple things by Jesus describing it like a mustard seed. Number one, it starts small.

In fact, it started with just Jesus. And then it was just Jesus and his disciples. And then it was just Jesus and his disciples and some of the other people that his disciples included. And then it was the 3,000 at Pentecost. And then it was 5,000 in the temple after the lame man in the gate. Called beautiful. There's this sort of explosive rapid growth of the kingdom that is the culture of heaven, but it starts small. And it may start small in your life or your family. Maybe you're the only believer in your entire extended family. Hey, that's okay. Congratulations. The kingdom starts small. It always has. We started this church with me and my wife and my kids and my sister in our living room. It's like the kingdom always starts small, but it grows. And it grows with this specific sort of long-term goal in mind. And that goal is found in verse 32 of Matthew 13. What is the goal of the growth of the kingdom? So the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Do you wanna know what the goal of the expansion of the kingdom is? Shelter. Rest. That's why we've got a mural out front

that says, welcome home. Because we are, like it or not, a part of a restless generation where the birds of the air are looking for a place to come rest. I want you to understand, family, that God's purpose for the earthly manifestation of his heavenly kingdom is for all creation to find rest. That is for every heart and every home to enjoy the shade and the sweetness of the culture of heaven. I don't mean to get political, but you notice that people overwhelmingly flee Muslim countries in favor of Christian countries. Why is that? It's this, it's Matthew chapter 13. It's because people recognize that where Christian ethics, where the culture of heaven is most prevalent, people are most at peace. People are safest, they're the most secure, they're the most loved, they're the most protected, they're the most prosperous. That is a testament to the validity of the gospel of Christ and his kingdom. Every heart, the purpose, God's purpose in the manifestation of his kingdom is for every heart and every home to enjoy the shade and sweetness of the culture of heaven. The kingdom is not just a list of those who are going to heaven one day.

The kingdom is the culture of heaven. Manifested on earth for the good of all for the skinny young girl in California trying to find a reason to give life another shot for your co-worker who isn't sure if his marriage is gonna make it through the end of the year for your family member who just fell back again into their years-long battle with addiction the kingdom is not merely God's gift to Christians it is God's gift to the whole world and so your rest is not just about your personal fulfillment your rest changes your worship your work and your world so my prayer this week is that you would choose rest that you would find rest for your soul in the finished work of the cross and that you would worship God not merely hoping for eventual salvation but being fully assured of your salvation by the witness of the Holy Spirit my prayer for you is that his rest would underscore your work that you would learn to move at his pace and not yours that you would joyfully answer when he calls you out of the familiar and that you would know from experience his yoke is easy and his burden is light and lastly my prayer is that his rest will become in your life an environment of hospitality to a lost and restless world around you so that with you the birds of the air will be able to come and find a place to rest their wings and enjoy shade from the heat of life the world a world in chaos desperately needs a church at rest and it is of vital importance that we cease our striving that we cease our bickering that we cease our chaos and conflict so that a restless generation can find rest in the branches of the kingdom God has established here father we thank you for the rest that we have in Christ thank you Lord that that the work of the kingdom is your burden to bear not ours thank you Lord that we can simply obey simply enjoy your presence and honor your word and know that our lives will be eternally impactful as a result God we ask you to quiet our restless souls and to keep us always engaged always aware always conscious of the words of Jesus from the cross that still testify through the ages it is finished Lord help us to rest in that proclamation in his mighty name amen amen family God bless you thank you so much for being

here we will see you next week same time you