-Transcript-
00:26 Amen. Welcome to the cafe. Hey, my name is Pastor Clark Covington, Heartland Community Baptist Church.
00:34 So glad to have you here today. Hopefully you’re having a great day. It’s a great day in the cafe today.
00:39 Made a little bit of a Colombian espresso with some almond milk, you know, got some up to get a little bit older now, can’t go with the regular milk, but some delicious Colombian espresso.
00:50 I’d tell you where it’s from, but I can’t pronounce it and I don’t know what’s going on. I tried to go to their website, but even their website was difficult, just big, big word.
00:56 But absolutely delicious. Colombians can make some incredible coffee. Amen.
01:06 So we’re so thankful here today to have a cup of Joe to be in God’s Word. I hope you are, too. Today we are looking and we’re in a two part series.
01:20 The first part of a two part series looking at God’s promise and kind of God’s promises in general, but certainly his promise that his yoke is easy, that his yoke is easy. Matthew 11:28-30. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
01:34 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Wow.
01:47 You know, in today’s day and age, goodness, we all need a little bit of rest. Don’t we? It seems like, to me, it seems like every day is getting, you know, faster and fast. It’s like going quicker and quicker.
02:05 We had a Wednesday night service a week ago and it was bad weather and it was, got dark early and stuff. And, and I remember that. I remember that about the Wednesday night service, you know, before we started.
02:16 And then we had a Wednesday night service last night and it was the same way. And I said, I cannot believe it has been a week since last service, which is time is flying by here. And it seems like every waking hour, there’s something to do or something to get to.
02:26 What are we in? We’re in an interconnected age where what the phone is constantly buzzing and beeping and you know, the inbox or whatever else. Goodness. It is a, it is a 24/7 life.
02:39 I remember growing up, people talked about the 24 seven news cycle. Well, now it’s a 24/7 life cycle. Amen.
02:45 This is living all day, every day. Uh, like you got something to do. And so with that in mind, we need rest more now than ever before.
02:54 And we have a promise from Jesus Christ himself that he will give us rest. And I want to start by, by asking you this question. What is a promise from God is a promise from God conditional.
03:08 Like I’ll tell my kids, okay. I promise you guys can go to the playground at the park if you’re good. Well, that’s a conditional promise.
03:18 They must be good, which probably they won’t be, but they must be good in order to have that reward of going to a playground. That’s a conditional promise. Uh, you know, is it something that can be broken?
03:31 Is it something that is dependent upon God’s mood? Uh, I’ll tell my wife, okay, we’ll go to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning.
03:41 Oh honey, I just, I’m tired and I don’t feel like it. You know, maybe there’s a football game or something, but no, but, uh, is it dependent upon a mood? That’s a silly example, but you know what I mean?
03:54 James 1:17 gives us such a beautiful idea of who God is. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
04:09 Every good gift, every perfect gift is from where it’s from above. And it cometh down from who from the father capital F of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So a promise from Jesus is a promise that is steadfast and true.
04:21 There is no variableness. There is no shadow of turning. There is no variable.
04:31 There’s no like if, and, or, but okay, it is 100% given fact and no shadow of turning, the idea is that God’s not going to change the same God that was so merciful on King David that blessed him and forgave him even after he had sent
04:48 the same God that was just steadfast next to Moses as he led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the red sea and in the wilderness, the same God that was with Rahab to the point where she was at one point a harlot or innkeeper. And now all of a sudden she’s in the Hebrews hall of fame. Amen.
05:10 The same God that was with Ruth, the same God that was with Joseph, both in the pit there and then being rescued and then in prison and then being highly raised up to second in command, the same God that was with Jacob,
05:26 even as he wrestled God in the flesh that was with Jacob as he took his children to go see Joseph, the same God. On and on and on. I know I didn’t do that in chronological order, but you get the idea.
05:36 The same God that was with Abraham, the same God that Jesus father, Jesus, the son was praying to the father, the same God, the disciples sought the same God that led Paul, that same God is still the same God. He is still set steadfast. He is still love.
05:57 He is still true. He is still honorable. He is still peace.
06:01 He is still what is good. He is still wisdom. Amen.
06:05 He is still all these things. He has not changed. And guess what? His promise has not changed.
06:11 And so when he says, come unto me, all ye that, what that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What he says that he is not going to change his mind. He is not making it conditional upon something else.
06:26 He is not going to go here, there, or anywhere. He says that he means it. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
06:34 So think about it. You know, that’s not even a condition because think about it. That’s saying that, that, that is a circumstance, right?
06:46 So you know what, if I, uh, we go, we go to camping, we go camping, uh, in the summertime, I try to go with the kids.
06:52 I said, I try because you know, they, some of them reluctantly go. Some of them were excited, but we go and just do nothing. Like, you know, don’t plan anything.
07:00 You know, it’s just, just a big day. Just let’s look at the water. Okay.
07:04 Let’s look at the sand, you know, at the beach or whatever. You know, you feel pretty good, you know, you’re like, okay, I’m okay. You know, you’re not laboring.
07:10 You’re not, you’re not burning down and you may not need rest because you have rest. Right. But when you labor and you’re heavy laden, you think that ladle that’s just full of like soup, when it comes up out of the water, it’s, it’s overflowing.
07:26 Well, imagine that, that liquid or that soup symbolizing the worries and cares of life, and they’re just spilling out. You’re so overwhelmed. Jesus says at that point, come to me and I’ll give you rest.
07:36 And wouldn’t that be the hardest time to give you rest, but it’s not hard for God. Nothing is too hard for God. Amen.
07:43 You know, it makes me think of this verse, uh, Philippians 4, 19, that my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And so we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.
07:58 So we get saved, right? And once we’re saved, now we have access to the father.
08:07 We have access to the throne room. We are now reconciled to God. We now have peace with God, which is different because when we’re born, we’re born into sin, right? And we’re not saved until we’re born again, until we accept Christ as savior, specifically what he did on the cross.
08:20 He shed his precious blood, him being perfect and sinless for sinners like me and like you. And we accept Christ as savior. We’re born again.
08:28 And now we have access to God. And Paul writes Philippians 4 :19, but my, or excuse me, uh, Philippians 4:19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So by the blood of Christ, we now can go to God who then supplies our need.
08:45 Uh, cause he’s infinitely rich and our need is rest and he’ll give us rest. And that promise doesn’t change. Amen.
08:52 That is a promise that is secure. And I love that about God. I mean, really, I just love God’s promises.
08:58 And sometimes if I’m counseling a brother or sister in Christ, which honestly, I don’t do too much of a, we have a small group, amen. And for some reason, people, I don’t know why. I mean, people, uh, they get counseling other places, but every once in a while, someone may ask me a question or maybe in a really hurtful, hard time.
09:20 That’s usually when they go to the pastor. Right. And I’ll say, think about God’s promises.
09:23 And more often, honestly, is when I just think to myself, if I’m going through a hard time, let me focus on God’s promises. And there you have God’s promise.
09:34 Philippians 4:19 Philippians 4:6-9, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
09:45 Amen. And verse seven and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And so we see that that rest comes from that promise.
09:58 And then we have that promise. We go to him and then what does he do? He gives us peace. Amen.
10:06 So let me, let me give you this nugget here. Okay. I can try to break this down in a pool to a place where it’s just so obvious that God gives us rest because how many people are restless here today?
10:13 How many people are frustrated and struggling and they will do this, that, and everything, but turn to the living God, they will change their diet.
10:21 They will go to yoga class. They will go to, uh, Netflix. They will go to the bookstore.
10:27 They will go to the app store. They will go to the, uh, park. They will go here, there, and everywhere.
10:33 They’ll go with Bob, Cindy, and Jill. They’ll go, they’ll go to the meeting. They’ll go to the therapy.
10:41 They’ll go to this. They’ll go to that. And the Bible just sits there collecting dust and not just the Bible, the physical book, but spiritually just not even there.
10:47 Right. Why? Oh, why do we do that? You know, I’m telling you, okay. So as a preacher, a radio preacher and a church preacher, I’m in the word daily.
11:03 And that’s both my obligation, like as in, I take it very serious that I’m prepared. How can I preach the congregation if I’m slacking off? I can’t. And then also it’s an opportunity for me to, to just understand the ways of God.
11:18 And as I hit hard times, I literally will, I mean, not literally, but I pretty much literally I’ll run. I’m a big guy. So maybe I’ll kind of shuffle or move quickly.
11:26 Okay. Uh, I can move a little quick now. I’ll move quickly towards the Bible.
11:31 I’ll move to the Bible. I’ll get to the Bible. I said, just give me God’s word.
11:35 I’m telling you, it was a week or two ago. I was woke up and was having just lots of bad dreams, nightmares. Probably, I was like, oh man, thinking of life’s cares of life.
11:43 You know, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? Worrying here and there run to the Bible 15 minutes in the Bible. And I just feel as cool as a cucumber. I feel as calm, as calm as can be.
11:54 I feel at peace. Now, how is that? Oh, brother, you were reading and the reading calmed you down. No, no, no, no, no.
12:06 I could go and matter of fact, I probably was reading something on my phone that wasn’t calming me down. I could read a book and it won’t calm me down unless it’s the book. Amen.
12:12 And so what it is, is it’s God’s word. And what I’m trying to tell you is that God will give you rest as you seek him. And I’m not telling you that from a point of like, this is what the Bible says.
12:21 This is what the Bible says. And I can testify that this is true through my day-to-day experience and through my experience in preaching the word and spending time in the word, going to God, spending time in his word, seeking him through Bible reading
12:36 and through prayer and through Bible study, through fellowship with the brethren, he will give you rest, amen, he will give you rest. God himself will provide the rest you so desire as you seek him and as you live for him and you forsake the ways of this world, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
12:55 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And in the next, um, let’s see here, the next episode,
13:09 we’re going to look at this idea of the personality of Jesus being meek and lowly, one that we can relate to a relatable Jesus and how we find that deep rest, which is a soulful rest, which is deeper than say, just having a good rest.
13:24 Many people can have a good rest and their souls are still, uh, absolutely at odds with the living God and they have no peace whatsoever.
13:32 And so what we’re going to do here, uh, like I said, in the next episode is we’re going to look at this idea of who Jesus is in a way that helps us to understand how he can relate to us and provide that rest that we need, because we think of rest very specifically.
13:51 Someone out there needs rest from their job. Someone out there needs rest from a rough marriage.
13:56 Someone out there needs rough rest from a difficult class. And someone out there needs rest from a difficult situation in a peer group. God knows, and God has been where you are and he will provide that level of rest and security in him alone as we seek him, as we go to him, as we have faith in him.
14:18 He will do that. And so that’s what we’re going to tackle next time on here on KJV Cafe, as always,
14:23 thank you for listening and tune in next time for the conclusion of this series, take care, God bless and amen.