Hey, Calvary Fremont –
Jesus knows how these last two years have overburdened your hearts, fatigued your souls, and taxed your faith. He is making His way to you to bring relief! It’s just like in the gospels where Jesus is talking to farmers and fishermen, tax-gatherers and carpenters, prostitutes and thieves, liars and adulterers, addicts, and alcoholics. He’s speaking to all who are discouraged, disillusioned, disappointed, and disheartened. He cries out to those with broken hearts, guilty souls, and shattered dreams. He says, “Come unto Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
“Come to Me all who are discouraged, disillusioned, disappointed, and disheartened. Come to Me all who have failed and are full of regret & sorrow. Come to Me all who are guilty & filled w shame. Come to Me all who are angry and don’t know who to trust. Come to Me all who have made wrong turns and can’t find your way back. Come to Me all who feel you can’t take another step with all the weight you are carrying. Come to Me with your broken hearts, guilty souls, and shattered dreams. Come to Me and I will give you rest.”
That’s a pretty wide net that Jesus throws out! Jesus makes this big, bold, audacious claim that He can shoulder the weight and carry the burdens of your failure and sorrows, your guilt and your shame, your disappointments and discouragement. He specializes in broken hearts and shattered dreams. In Christ, God became man and walked among us. He ate our food, breathed our air, and choked on our dust. And when He swung the carpenter’s hammer and smacked His finger, He said, “Ouch!” He was tried and tempted in every way that you are – He felt your pressures and tensions. He knows what it’s like to be betrayed and lied to. He knows how to come to your aid.
Come to Jesus and find rest for your soul. Let Jesus carry the worry and anxiety, the weight, and the burden. Move over and let Jesus shoulder your disappointments, your brokenness, and sorrows. He can carry it – He will bear it.
He invites you to come to Him and find rest for your soul – but there’s more! It goes even deeper than that. He says, “Take My yoke upon you & learn from Me and you will find rest for your soul.” There is a rest that Jesus gives when you come to Him and there is a rest that you find as you yoke yourself to Christ and learn from Him. As you learn from Jesus, your rest deepens, and this affects every area of your soul. In this season of COVID Chaos and Cultural Confusion, Jesus invites you to rest.
Many Christians have experienced the rest that Jesus gives yet have not experienced the rest that is to be found in being yoked to Christ and walking in His steps and learning from Him. A yoke is a device used to control the will and harness the strength of an animal. The yoke makes the donkey or ox the servant of the one who imposed it. The yoke keeps the animal’s feet from straying and ensures that the animal’s strength is channeled into a singular purpose. There is rest to be found in being yoked to Jesus, walking in the steps of Jesus, and working in the field of Jesus. What a glorious paradox – rest through work. As you learn from Jesus and walk in the way of Jesus, your soul’s rest deepens. As you live life on your terms, insist on your own way, and walk in the stubbornness of your will, your soul grows weary. This is why Jesus offers you rest.
There is a rest that Jesus gives and there is a rest that you find.
Jesus tore a page out of Jeremiah’s playbook when He spoke about finding rest for your soul. Here’s what Jeremiah wrote, “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.”” Jeremiah 6:16
Jeremiah indicated that you find rest not by sitting and taking a load off your feet – you will find rest for your soul when you walk on a certain path and go in a certain direction. When you walk in faith, whatever you do doesn’t wear you out, doesn’t fill you with worry, doesn’t bring you to the brink of quitting – when you walk in faith, your rest deepens, your confidence increases, and your joy intensifies.
The rest that Jesus gives is the removal of all earthly weights.
The rest that you find is the bestowal of all heavenly delights.
The rest that Jesus gives removes the guilt of sin and the weakness of the flesh.
The rest you find is the renewal of the image of Christ and the strength of the Spirit.
There is a rest that Jesus gives when you come to Jesus and there is a rest that you find as you walk in Jesus.
Be blessed and stay healthy – come to Jesus and walk in Jesus – Pastor Tim
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