Welcome, Crossing Family. I wish I could be with you this
weekend, but I'm preaching at our first Uncommon Conference in
Florida. It would not be back in time for
our Thursday services. And that means I need to find
someone to help us on our 5050 journey, which I hope you're
still on. I'd like to introduce you to
Nate Ross. Nate Ross is the founder of
Moments to Movements. His passion is connecting
leaders like you to the creator, helping you breakthrough your
growth barriers so that you can thrive in your unique calling.
Having grown up in a pastor's home that served in churches
ranging from the Midwest all the way to Las Vegas, he's had some
unique opportunities to learn from some incredible leaders.
Nate has served as a guidance counselor for a Christian
university on boards of global nonprofits and it is local
church in almost every role imaginable.
Most recently, he served as a lead pastor in a Church of over
6000 people that was twice named one of the top 100 fastest
Growing churches in America. On top of all of that, he's my
friend and a world class encourager.
Would you please give Nate Ross a warm crossing welcome?
Get him, Nate. Amen.
Boy crossing family, what an honor to be with you and every
campus want to welcome you. And I met Clayton, your pastor,
23 years ago when I was his camp counselor at church camp.
And he was a scrawny little kid. And no, actually he dominated
all of his counselors in basketball.
But 23 years ago I met him and we formed this friendship.
And it was one. It's just been one of these joys
of journeying. And here's the thing, I'm not
really a spiritual father. I'm just a spiritual brother to
him. And he's my Big Brother, right?
Because Claytons, everybody's Big Brother, right?
And but I love this church and I love what God is doing.
And if this is your first time or if it is your first time in a
long time, I want to welcome you.
This is my first time in a long time.
I was here in August for your uncommon conference.
Anybody here? Any men in here, in this room
show hands in your campus here? Any women try to break into that
conference, right. You know, I mean, it is a
happening deal. And it was great.
My me and my dad got to be here and it was a joy.
And and here's what I love. The reason why I'm here really
is because God is using this church, the Crossing family, to
help change the churches all across our country.
That that's what was going on. Clayton, you saw it in the
video. He was down in Florida as they
kicked off their first uncommon conference.
I grew up in Las Vegas and so the phrase I grew up with is
what happens in Vegas, what stays in Vegas.
Here's what I love about the crossing.
What happens at the crossing doesn't stay at the Crossing,
right. I love this about the Crossing.
You guys are going. We're not just about here.
We are about God's Kingdom. This is the invitation that you
have. Maybe you came in today or maybe
this is your thought. You're like, you know what?
We're in the tri-state area. We're not really Chicago.
We're not really Kansas City. We're not really Saint Louis.
We're just us. And can I just let you know
today, you being you is enough. Because here's what changes us.
We don't change ourselves. It is the Kingdom of God that
changes us. It is the Kingdom of God that
floods into our life. And God says, I want to use the
tri-state area to change this country.
That's the invitation for United Day.
That's why we talk about this series 50 for 50, because this
is God's invitation for you. He's going, I want to meet you
right where you are and I want to change you from the inside
out. And I don't want to just change
you. I want to change the community
around you, and I want to invite you.
If you haven't picked up one of these, it's just $10 out in the
lobby. I've been following along the
last two weeks. Clayton's sermon, if you didn't
get to check it out last weekend on the word of God is
phenomenal. But what happens is this.
God begins to change our life the more we make His word in His
ways, our priority. Matter of fact, some of you are
going. You know what?
I have been looking for more. And this is what I love.
This is what I love that happens in the world.
It's this. We want more in this church.
We want more to go God, We want you to do more in our life.
That's what this series is all about.
But can I just let you know? This is what I found out.
Crossing family. It's not just you that once
more. Here's what I found out.
15,000,000 more people want more in this world.
Do you know that? You're like, well, how'd you do
that? Because I read what is the
number one best selling book on Amazon right now?
And you know what the number one best selling book on Amazon is
right now? It's this book right here.
It's called Atomic Habits, the number one book right now in the
world. It's this.
It's Atomic Habits and 15,000,000 people.
It was the number one book back in 2021.
It's the number one book again right now.
And what the world is saying by buying this book, it's this.
I need more and I don't have what I'm looking for, but I want
more in my life. You may be here today going this
can't be it. And what I love is this.
I love when authors stumble upon this idea that they're like,
scientifically, we've proven it. And God's like, oh, you did oh,
that's so neat. Like these rhythms just showed
up in the 21st century like they've never been here before.
And I love James Clears. I don't know his faith journey,
but I love his tagline. He says.
This tiny changes remarkable results.
What an idea. If you and I begin to make just
some tiny changes in our life and we watch God do the
remarkable, You know, this whole series talk about 50 for 50.
It's about going pro. And today I want to talk about
going pro. And this is the big idea.
I just want to communicate. If you have your book, you want
to write this down. It's just simply this.
And this is what we're going to look at is this.
Jesus is. The more that you and I are
looking for Jesus is the more we're looking everywhere to make
our marriage better. We're looking everywhere to make
our job better. We're trying to get better at
all these different things, but Jesus is the more that we're
looking for. Here's what I love that James
Clear says in his book. It's this.
I don't know about you, but I grew up.
You know, we talk about creating these new habits.
I always heard this idea that it takes 21 days to form a new
habit. I couldn't even make it to day
three. So I just give up, right.
How many people? You just don't even make a New
Year's resolution. You're like, I don't feel
guilty, right? If you don't make one, you don't
feel guilty, right? Like that.
That's, that's a little bit of my mantra.
But here's the thing. James Clear says this.
I love it. He says, actually it's not 21
days. I'll play a little prices right
with you. Can he did some research.
Can anybody guess how long he says it takes nowadays to form a
new habit? Anybody throw a number out, 47.
Someone said $1.00 Bob, right? You know what I'm saying?
Like, right, here's what James says.
James says now with all sorts of scientific research, he says it
takes 66 days to create a new habit.
See, This is why God says if you want to change, you've got to
show us every day into my word. And he uses this phrase in that
book and this is what all this is about.
It says. He calls it habit stacking.
Last week Clayton talked about stacking our life on the word of
God and obedience. Out of that, today I want to
look at 2 disciplines that Jesus did.
Because what happens is when you and I, GoPro, here's the thing.
The game is going to change and Jesus is the game changer.
I want us to look at Mark chapter 12.
This is the verse that this whole series is built on.
And what's amazing about this verse in Mark chapter 12, it's
this. Jesus changed the game.
This is from Deuteronomy chapter 6, except Jesus starts adding
things to the scriptures. Now here's the deal.
You and I don't get to change scripture.
But guess who gets to change Scripture?
Jesus does, right? Jesus is the one that changes.
And this is what he says in Mark chapter 12.
A law keeper, A Pharisee, came to him and they tried to trick
Jesus. Just heads up real quick.
If you're going to get in a theological argument with Jesus,
you're going to lose, right? And listen what Jesus says in
Mark chapter 12. He asked him what is the
greatest thing that we could give our life to?
He says here it is the greatest law out of all 613 laws.
It's this love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all
of your soul and with all of your mind.
What's interesting is this. Jesus adds this word from
Deuteronomy chapter 6. It's not in Deuteronomy chapter
6, but this is what he knows. If your life is going to change,
your mind is going to need to change and with all of your
strength. The 2nd is this.
He takes Leviticus and adds a verse to it.
This he says. The 2nd is this.
Love your neighbor as yourself and there is no commandment
greater than these. The whole series is based on
this. But if you want to GoPro, you
GoPro based on commitments, because amateurs live by
feelings. Some of you you're going, you
know what? I don't know how God feels about
me right now, or you know how you feel about God and you and
God. Right now.
I've got a good friend. Right now, he's in an argument
with God and there's all sorts of feelings going on in his
life. Some of you, you're going, this
is what I feel about my neighbor.
Some of you are here today and you don't even like yourself.
And Jesus says it's the love of God that begins to change us and
move us forward. Well, how do we do that?
I want to look at 2 practices today that you're going to find
in your booklet. And here's the thing.
They are not what you think. That changes us.
This is the ways of Jesus. It's not always the way we
think. Matter of fact, the more I
studied the the the ways of Jesus, here's what I found out.
Here's how Jesus stayed in relationship with his father.
There's three things he did. This is how he went pro.
It was through three things. And it's what we do.
It's this. He practiced his spiritual
gifts. You were made with spiritual
gifts when you get baptized, when you allow the Holy Spirit
to come into you, He gifts you to be a blessing.
You have gifts. You have a calling on your life.
Jesus lived according to his spiritual gifts.
Here's the other thing. He practiced spiritual
disciplines. We're going to talk about two of
them today. And then the third thing is
this. He obeyed the promptings of the
Holy Spirit in his life. Now you're looking at it going.
I can do that. I know.
Here's the good news. Jesus wants you to go pro today.
He's like, I want you to live by your spiritual gifts.
I want you to allow the spiritual disciplines to change
your life. And I want you to obey the
promptings of the Holy Spirit. So how how do we go pro?
Two things. We're going to talk about two
disciplines that Jesus did. It's this.
He lived by these these disciplines.
Fasting and Sabbath. Boy, I was really expecting
everybody to stand on their feet and start cheering right there,
right. You're like, no food and no
work. That's how my life is going to
change. Really.
That's what I woke up for, is for you to tell me to go without
food and don't work, and then everything's going to change.
Just show of hands real quick. How many people right now?
You're like, dude, I just need a day off.
You're like, you know, Clayton, you got in at 2:30 this morning,
right? Here you are.
You're like, you know, maybe one of the most spiritual things you
can do is take a nap during the sermon.
All right? You have blessing to do that
right now. Here's the thing.
How many are like, I don't need a day, I need a vacation right
now. You're like, man, I just need a
vacation now. Here's the tip.
I'm a parent of 311, eight and six.
Do not confuse taking a vacation with going with your kids.
You did not take a vacation. You took a trip, right?
And when you get back, you will need a vacation from your trip,
right? But you didn't.
You didn't do a vacation. Now here's what I know about is
in this room. And even if you're not a
follower of Jesus, it's this. There's something inside you
that goes, man, I need rest. See, that's what the Sabbath is
all about. The Sabbath is from God, and
it's kind of a Jewish term. It's in the 10 Commandments
we'll talk about in a minute. It's about giving your soul the
rest that you need. And fasting is about the
presence of God. There's an epidemic.
I was doing some study on this. You know what our leading
epidemic is right now in America?
And they're saying this is the leading epidemic across the
world. Loneliness.
How is it that we can be more connected than ever before and
be more lonely than ever heard someone say it?
This way? They said, here's what
technology has done to us. Technology has made us become
private when we're in public, and it's made us become public
when we're in private. Could it be that our whole
internal framework is messed up? And This is why we need fasting
in the Sabbath today? We need a fresh presence of God.
And we don't just need the presence of God, we need the
rest of God in US. See, what I was saying is this.
Jesus is the more that you and I are looking for.
But here's how the more comes in, less is more.
You're like, no, Nate More is more.
You and I are getting all that we can in this world, and it's
leaving us more broken, confused, frustrated, and angry
than ever before. And Jesus invites us into this
life. Matter of fact, you see Jesus
practicing the spiritual discipline in Matthew chapter 4,
right after he gets baptized. Here's what the Spirit does in
his life. Look what it says here in
Matthew chapter 4, right after he gets baptized.
Here's the first thing the Spirit did in his life, he said
then. Jesus was led by the Spirit.
There he is being obedient to the Spirit.
OK, God, what you have for me, I'm going to do into the desert
to be tempted by the devil, and I don't have enough time to
unpack it. But what what you're going to
find is this. Jesus is the true Israelite.
He's going to do what Israel did not do in the 40 years of the
wilderness. He's going to be the faithful
one. He's going to be the one who
doesn't give in to sin. He's going to be the one who's
going to complete everything that God has for us.
Listen exactly what happens in verse 2 after fasting 40 days
and 40 nights. He was hungry.
Thank you very much, Matthew. I got to believe that he was
starving, right? After 40 days and 40 nights of
fasting, he's hungry. This represents the 40 years of
the Israelites. And then listen to what it says
in verse 3. The tempter came to him and
said, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become
bread. You know where Satan attacks
Jesus? He attacks his feelings.
He attacks his identity. Here's what's going to happen
when you and I keep following Jesus, or if you become a
follower of Jesus. Here's what you're going to have
to do battle with. You're going to have to do
battle with the voices that speak into your life.
And here's the thing. There can only be 1 voice that
you listen to students in here. I love seeing multi generation
in here. You know there are voices that
are competing for your identity. That's exactly where Satan goes.
See This is why fasting is so important.
It goes on to say this verse four.
Then Jesus answered and it is written Man does not live on
bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God. Here's what I want us to get
today. It's this Sometimes we think
fasting is just about going without food, just doing without
stuff. Can I just let you know Fasting
is for feasting. Fasting is about you and I
feasting on God's word. It's about feasting on the
presence of God. I love how Jesus says this in
Matthew chapter five. He says blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled. Jesus says Christianity isn't
just about going. Oh, hope I didn't cuss this
week. Oh, I cussed.
Oh boy. You know, and it's just
everything's about not messing up.
No, Jesus says. It is about hungering and
thirsting for righteousness, going after the things of God.
See, when you would fast in biblical time, where the
Israelites would grow up, here's what fasting went It meant this
not just that you would go without food.
It's that the time it took to prepare the food.
If you were going to make bread, you had to make the dough.
Then you had to, you know, bake the dough.
Then you had to eat the dough, right?
It was a whole couple hour long process.
And here's the thing, Jesus was saying this when you would fast,
it's not just that you would give up food, it's that you
would replace that process with the presence of God.
God, I'm not going to make, I'm not going to make food.
I'm going to I'm going to devour and spend time with you.
Yesterday I I got to meet a buddy from Jacksonville that I
went to Bible college with in Pittsfield, IL, the epicenter of
Illinois. Shout out Pike County campus.
Right. And we went to the restaurant
there and we're going, I'm, I'm in Pittsfield.
I'm like, you know probably don't have anything to eat man.
We we rolled into this restaurant called New Cheese and
Bob, I got to meet Bob the owner.
He's from Jersey because everybody leaves Jersey and goes
to Pittsfield, IL right. Like that's just what you do.
That's your retirement plan, right?
And what was amazing is just we rolled it into this little hole
in the wall and we come into some of the best Italian food we
ever had. That is like hand rolled
meatballs, homemade pizza, salt, like pasta sauce, all this other
stuff. Now here's what was great.
I rolled in IA, we paid the bill and we left.
I didn't prepare the sauce. I didn't prepare the food.
I didn't clean the dishes. I like peace, right?
Thank you, Bob. But here's the deal.
Somebody got up that morning and made that food, and somebody
took the time to prepare everything that was going on and
see during that when we fast, when you and I take time to
fast, here's what we do. We replace all of that process
and we take time to say, God, more than anything else in this
world, I want your presence. I want your presence.
Jesus says this in John chapter 4.
The disciples are confused about this.
See the ways of Jesus when you and I GoPro.
It is not the way that we think. It is not the way that the world
tells us to GoPro. It is a whole different world.
In Jesus when he meets the woman at the well, the Disciples, they
come back and Jesus here they go, Hey, give him some food and
listen what Jesus says in John chapter four, he says, hey,
listen to them, he says, but he said to them, I have food to eat
that you know nothing about. And they're like, is there a new
cheese here? Right.
You know, like, like where, where?
Like where'd you eat? Jesus.
And listen what he says, My food, Jesus said, is to do the
will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Here's what I love about the word will.
I don't know about you. I I've asked this question a
number of times in my life. What is God's will for my life?
What is God's will? You know what that word will
means. It means this, the heart of God.
You know what Jesus's food was? To feast on the heart of God.
God, the most important thing in my life is your heart and God.
I will give up anything. God, I will give up food.
I will give up this stuff because I want more than any
other pleasure in this world, because I know it's not enough.
Jesus knows this. God you are.
The more I'm looking for in this world.
My food, he said, is to do the will of Him who sent me and to
finish his work. See, here's what happens when we
feast on Him. He gives us our purpose.
He gives us our work and we talk about going pro.
Here's the thing. None of us GoPro alone.
We only GoPro with Jesus. We only GoPro feasting on the
presence of God. Too many times.
This has been my mistake. It's this, I see God work in my
life. Thank you God.
And I feast on his goodness. And then this is what I do.
Then I try it on my own. I feast and then I forget.
It's like when I'd come home from Bible college and I tried
to tell my parents I'm my own man.
Can you please pay my college bill though?
And mom do my laundry and I need $20 on the way back.
But I'm my own man, right? We feast and then we forget.
See, going pros when you and I, we feast on the presence of God.
Two questions for us today. I want to encourage you, as you
journey through to this one, to do an examination of your life
this week and recognize. And ask yourself the question,
What are you feasting on the most in your life?
Maybe just ask God that question.
God, would you reveal to me what am I feasting on the most?
This morning I'll get on my iPhone.
I don't know about you. I'll get my notification of what
I spent my time on on my phone. Every Sunday morning, the
conviction of the Holy Spirit comes over me.
Did I play that much Candy Crush?
I didn't think I did right. You know, here's what happens is
I begin to see what my time has spent on this week.
I want to invite you to ask that question.
God, what am I feasting on in my life?
And then here's the second question I want to ask because
sometimes we get really convicted, like, oh man, I'm
wasting time. I'm just, I'm just scrolling on
social media. I've got all these other things
that I'm just wasting my time on.
The second question I want you to ask yourself this week is
this, We know we talk about fasting is about feasting, but
it's this. Do you believe that God would
actually want to feast with you? Here's what I know.
I never ask anybody The dinner that probably doesn't want to
eat dinner with me. We just don't ask him.
I don't feel like getting rejected today.
Did you know, all throughout scripture, here's the narrative
God telling his people I'm your God and I have all that you
need. Will you come to the table and
meet with me? Psalm 23, one of the most famous
Psalms that we know, hidden back there beyond how he walks with
us through the valley of the shadow of death.
David says this, and God prepares the table before me in
the presence of my what? Anybody remember my enemies?
Did you know that when you and I are facing enemies in our life,
Jesus is saying, here's how you're going to navigate this.
You come and you feast on my presence.
Do you believe that Jesus actually wants to spend time
with you? See, this is what begins to
change our life. And here's the challenge that
you're going to find in this book.
I love this. And if you have complaints,
don't call me, call Clayton, right.
You know what I'm saying? I didn't write this right, but
this is what I love about the challenge of this book.
It's this. Here's one of the challenges.
We've got two challenges for you this week to GoPro.
The first one is this that you would block out a 10 hour window
this week Where? And I'm going to encourage you
not to do it alone. Maybe with your family maybe
with your life group. It's this that you would spend a
10 hour window fasting from food, if you're able.
If physically you need to eat food within that window, by all
means do it. But to spend 10 hours this week
fasting, giving up food or along, and I would encourage
giving up social media. And here's the deal.
Make time to feast with Jesus. Make time somebody like.
Well, Nate, I don't eat breakfast anyway.
And I sleep from about 11:00 till eight.
I'm done. I got.
All right. Hey, if you don't do that, that
doesn't count. All right?
That didn't even count, right. I'm talking about giving up the
food to say, God, we want you more than we want food.
I remember 15 years ago, my wife Ruthie and I, we were in
ministry in Bloomington, IL. We were doing youth ministry and
I was just feeling released from God from that role.
I didn't know what that meant. And there was another
opportunity that came up to help another church and we were
praying about it and we felt led to do it and but we were
wrestling and do we go, we don't want to mess up, We don't want
to mess up. And then like a last default
idea was this, let's fast about it.
So we committed, My wife and I, we committed to fast today, not
even to talk about it. And then we'll come back
together and we'll go, What did God say to you?
Here's what he said to me. And so we spent a day fasting,
and we came back. And here's what God told us it
was. It was amazing.
He told us the same thing. And this is what we came back.
So did he tell you we should go? Yes or no?
It's kind of like a love note in second grade.
Just circle yes or no, Right. You know, Do we go?
Do we not go? God, He told us the same thing.
Here's what God's answer was to us.
I want you to want me more than you want the answer.
Yes or no. Do we go?
Do we stay? I want you to want me more than
you want your answer. Because, Nate, I am your answer.
I am. The more that you're looking for
your career, your calling, even if it's in ministry, Nate, it
will not be enough for your soul.
But I will. I am the more that you're
looking for. We ended up moving, but that was
a defining day for us. Too many times I made fasting a
back burner emergency 911 rather than a priority to say God.
More than anything else I'm doing, I need your presence.
See what happens is when you and I begin to fast and we begin to
go after the presence of God, here's what's going to happen.
He's going to give us answers. He's going to speak to us.
And it's not going to be what we expected, but it is going to be
what you and I need. The number one thing we need is
God's presence. This is why Sabbath is tied in
with fasting in Isaiah chapter 58.
This is what you see God doing. He combines fasting and Sabbath.
These are not two separate ideas.
These are the way for God's people to live out the ways of
God and and and if we go man, what?
What is Sabbath? Here's the the the the most
simple way I can summarize what the Sabbath is.
The Sabbath is this. It allows our souls to rest.
The Sabbath is in the 10 commandments.
Also. This is what's interesting about
the Sabbath. It's the longest, most explained
piece of the 10 commandments. And you know why?
Because we don't know how to rest, do we?
Because as the song goes, everybody's working for the what
we can, baby. Come on, come on.
Crossing family like you act like you haven't heard that
song. You're like, we're we're in the
House of the Lord. We don't listen to that music.
I'm calling you out. Right.
Everybody's working for the weekend, right?
And this is what we're saying. We want, we want rest.
We're hungry for rest. Some of you say this, though.
Maybe your parents said this when you grew up.
I'll rest when I'm what? Dead.
We ain't resting. Can I tell you the quickest way
for you to burn out? Don't rest, just keep going.
See, This is why Sabbath was so key.
And you want to know why. See, the 10 Commandments wasn't
something that God introduced so people could slap you on the
hand with rulers for not keeping them.
You know what it was when the Israelites left Egypt after 400
years? They didn't know how to be
human. You know how many days a week
they work? Seven.
There was no rest. There was no delight.
See, This is why you and I struggle.
Even pastors struggle with this idea.
We become workaholics because here's what happens.
It becomes our identity. Sabbath is a gift from God to
say I want you to rest in me and don't you love it?
I mean, it's one of those things I can write a sermon, but you
know what? Only God can make it 70° in
February when we're talking about Sabbath, you have no
excuse to delight in the glory of God, right?
To walk out and go. Only you can do that.
God. And here's what He's inviting
you and I today to do is this. It's just simply delight to
make, time to delight. Maybe tonight you and your
family, you and your small group, man, you have a little
campfire in your backyard and you and you roast hot dogs and
you come together. Yesterday I played pickleball
and I only won one game, and I still delighted in it.
Thank you very much, Corey, for humbling me game after game,
right? But it's one of those things,
man. It was just a delight.
And here's what God's saying, it's this, He's going Work is
not a curse. But here's what we need to
understand. Our work is cursed.
That's what happened in Genesis, he said, Adam, now you're going
to work and when you work, you're going to have thorns in
your work. And not only that, he says this,
you are going to, you're going to work by the sweat of your
what brow. It doesn't mean that you're
going to have hard work. What he's telling Adam is this.
You were going to plant and guess what farmers in this room,
you're going to plant and does every season.
Do you get the fruit and the reward of everything you
planted? No.
And by the sweat of your brow, you're going to take the corn in
and go, Oh my goodness, I hope we can pay the bills this year.
See, This is why we need rest. And we need rest for our souls.
You know what I find amazing? It's this.
This is why God wants to rearrange everything in our
life. It's this.
Did you realize that in the creation order, God, when he
created on day six, he created man, and then on day seven, God.
What he rested. Which means this The first thing
that Adam experienced wasn't work.
But what rest is rest. You know what the first thing
Jesus said to the disciples after he rose went to the cross
and rose from the dead in John chapter 20, verse 19?
You know what he said? The first thing he showed up,
what he told him. Where did you all go?
No, he didn't. But wouldn't that be amazing?
Right? Like, like, I left, Right.
They're locked in a room and they're and they're and they're
afraid. And you know what he says?
The first thing he says to him is this.
He shows up, the doors locked. He walks behind the door.
And this is what he says to him. He says peace be with you.
You don't need to show a sign of hand or raise or anything.
But I wonder how many people in this room and online today that
is your deepest need. You need the peace of God and
can I just encourage you with this.
Rest is not found in your performance.
Rest is not found in your personality.
Rest is not found on how many connections you have or how much
you have. Rest only comes from an empty
tomb because this is what the creation order is and you know
what new creation begins with. It begins with the resurrected
Savior. See, your rest is not in you.
Your rest is in Jesus. Matthew 12 says this Pharisees
were arguing about the Sabbath because they saw Jesus and his
disciples walking through and listen what happens in Matthew
chapter 12. It says at that time Jesus went
throughout the grain fields on his on the Sabbath and the
disciples were hungry and they begin to pick some heads of
grain and eat them. You are not supposed to work at
all. But the Pharisees, they lost the
spirit of the commandment and said when the Pharisees saw this
they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is
unlawful on the Sabbath you're making a sandwich.
Verse 8. Jesus has to correct him and he
ends it with this. For the Son of Man is Lord of
the what Sabbath. You have no rest without Jesus.
That mean all your problems are going to go away.
But the rest that your soul needs, the rest that you are
longing for, the more that you're looking for, is only
found in Jesus. Here's the challenge for you and
I this week that you're going to find.
Here's the second challenge. Not only is it to find a 10 hour
window of this week to fast, the second one is this.
That you and I would pick a day to Sabbath.
How long has it been since you turned your phone off?
Some of you just already started.
Like I can't. I can't.
I can't do that.
How long has it been? See, the rest of Jesus isn't a
reward. It's a gift.
It's a gift that changes your work.
It's a gift that goes into your family.
It's a gift that goes into your soul.
This is why Jesus says this in Matthew 11.
He knows you and I are weary. He knows you and I are.
You are yearning for more. We're going after everything.
And listen what he says. He says Come to me.
He didn't say, Get your life together, he says.
Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. You don't need to earn it.
Then he goes on to say this, take my yoke upon you and learn
from the Walk with me, GoPro with me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And he finishes by saying this, for my yoke is easy and my
burden is light. Jesus is telling them in Matthew
11 and he's telling you and I today I am.
The more that you're looking for crossing family this week, may
you feast with Jesus, may you rest in Jesus, and may your
souls find the more that you're looking for.
It's been an honor to be with you this weekend.
We're moving to a time of decision.
You know, I wonder how many people in this room right here,
or for those of you who are watching online, if you were to
be honest with yourself in this moment, in this invitation time,
If you were to be honest with even me, just for just for a
moment of just complete transparency.
But most importantly, if you were to be honest with the Lord,
with the Holy Spirit, who's working inside of you, who's so
actively around this place, I wonder how many of you would say
you are you're tired. You would say that when you
walked into this room or you walked into the online space,
you would say, I am carrying some heavy burdens.
Not only are you carrying the burdens, but they are all around
you. You you didn't have enough hands
to carry them all throughout this auditorium.
They're they're sitting on the chairs underneath the view.
They're sitting on the chair next to you.
The burdens are so heavy and you are feeling so restless.
But I want to remind you that last scripture, where it says
where the rest comes from, where those burdens can be laid, and
it all comes and spurs out of an intimate, personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. He says, come to me, come to me,
come to Jesus. Not me.
Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest.
And that, my friends, that is what this moment is all about.
That's what this moment is designed for.
For those of you not in this room, or for those of you in
this room that don't have that relationship with Jesus, listen,
you've never surrendered your life to him.
You've never opened up your heart.
And you just said, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to be
listening to your teaching. I'm going to be listening to
your commandments. I want to be all about you.
Listen. The burden that you brought into
this room, the restlessness that you have right now, is yours to
carry. And you'll walk out of this
room. You'll walk back into your life.
And without a relationship with Jesus, you will continue to
carry that. You will continue to feel
weighted down. You will continue to feel tired.
You will continue to feel weary. But that can change in a moment.
It can change in this moment. As soon as you say with your
whole life, with your whole heart.
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and I want to give my
life to Him. I want to trust in His name.
I want to give my burdens to Him.
He will take it. He will say yes.
You are my child, and I will gladly take those burdens.
I will gladly take the sins that you have and I will put them
upon myself. When you come to this
realization that God's way is the best way and you start
walking out that relationship with him, there is something
incredibly freeing in that moment.
But I know that there's some, or maybe even a lot of you.
You don't know what that feeling feels like.
You don't know what that commitment looks like.
More importantly, But today you can say before you leave, I want
to commit my life to Christ. I want to go pro in my faith in
just a little bit. The music's going to start
playing. We're going to sing a couple of
songs, and it's an opportunity for you as a person to declare
that truth, that Jesus is your savior and you could accept him
and you could walk in that relationship with him.
And I'm going to be right up by the Baptistry.
And I would love to help guide you and talk with you and pray
with you and figure things out. What's your next step and how do
you do that? You're like, I don't know what
to pray. I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say. Listen, I don't have all the
answers, but Jesus does. But I would love to help guide
you to him. He is the more that you're
looking for. And I'm praying that you would
take that decision serious today before you leave.
For those of you in this room and online right now, you have
that relationship with Christ and you're still feeling tired.
You're still feeling like you're carrying these heavy burdens.
Those things don't go away. But I wonder if we got away from
resting in the right places. That's what I love.
Also about this time of invitation.
It's a recentering. It's a time where we can just
say, hey, I'm, I have God's word.
It's right in front of me and I got to hear it.
I had this opportunity to worship.
Now I need to make sure I'm committed to his mission.
And one of the ways you can do that in just a little bit.
When the music starts for you, these steps are open as always.
You hear this week in and week out, and I get it sometimes,
just like that's not for me, that's somebody else.
If I go forward, I think people are going to think I have all
these problems, all these issues they're going to think a lot of.
It's not about that. Here's what these steps are
about in these moments. It's about this saying, hey,
spirit, I want to make room. I want to make room for you to
do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to.
I know that I need to rest in your presence.
That's what this time is, is an opportunity for you to get down
on your knees, For me to get down on my knees and to rest in
His presence, to start feasting with Jesus.
Maybe that moment starts right now for you and for me.
If I had to share a conviction that I've been feeling over this
last couple weeks. It's an interaction that I've
been having with a lot of people or or or people that I love.
And and even you guys as my church family, you'll you'll
come up to me and this again when I say this, this is nothing
that you're doing. This is everything that I'm
doing. But a lot of people come up to
me and they'll say, hey, it'll start by this.
They'll say, hey, Corey, I know you're busy.
But hey, hey, Corey, hey, I know you're.
I know you're busy but I just need to.
But you'll start off by saying that.
And the reason that conviction is so strong on my heart is
because, listen, I want people to fully see the Holy Spirit
working in and through me. And I think that's what you
want. You don't want someone coming up
to you and just already saying, hey, I see you and you're always
busy, you're always moving, You're always going to the next
thing. And the reason that hurts and
convicts me is because I believe when I do that.
It's a reflection of me rushing through my moments with Jesus
too. I feel like that's my
personality. I'm going to rush through my
Bible time. I'm going to rush through my
prayer time. I got things to do rather than
just resting and feasting with Jesus, that I want people to see
the work of the Holy Spirit moving in and through me.
And I think you want that too as Christians.
So maybe this time is an invitation for you as a church
family. As we continue to take steps to
GoPro together, what would it look like?
What would it look like to have everybody in this room?
I know that's going to be hard. There's not enough room.
Where am I going to go? How can I do it?
How can I make my way there? I got things I got to get to.
But what would it look like is as a church family?
We just said we're going to rest in his presence.
We're going to get down on our knees and we're going to put
everything else on pause. I'm going to say, Jesus, we're
going to make room for you in this moment to do whatever you
want to. I hope you'll join me in this
time. Let's stand to our feet as we
move to this time of invitation to come forward to rest.
Jesus, we love you, God, I thank you so much for a weekend such
as this, for your word and for this message to hit in such a
timely way. God, I pray that in this moment
of response, in this moment of worship, you call us to to do
something about what we just heard, not to just sit on it to
put into action. And Lord, I pray right now a
tangible step, a tangible way to start resting in you, to start
feasting with you is to come in your presence to lower ourselves
before you to cry out to you, to just say, Lord, I don't even
know what you want me to do and let you answer for us.
Spirit, would you just move in this time, pray all this in
Jesus name. Amen.