Rhythms of Peace | Week 2 | Message

you ever had a time that you did something for the purpose of rest and you ended up less rested after you did it? I they're called family vacations. At least in my world, it is. When I had and the younger the kids, the worse.

And and because I remember about ten years ago, we got a chance to go to New York and and spend a little time, and we saved up all of them. We were gonna and part of this New York trip was gonna be, like, a few days. First, it started up at a lake in Upstate New York and had a free place to stay and all that. So we people gave us we got free plane tickets. So we were poor, but we saved all of our money. And he gave us the money to stay in a nice hotel in Manhattan for like four days.

And that was it. We spent all and we were just this is gonna be great. My wife was excited because she had got to go there with some friends few years ago. I'd never been into New York City. My kids are all excited. We're super pumped about this trip, and then it was just it was so exhausting.

And it's like especially and you know what? The worst part about what made it the most exhausting is the way my kids acted.

Like, they just they were they didn't like anything. You know, they're freaking out. Like, this is boring. This is other day. They didn't like the how boring it was up in the by the lake. And then we go down to the city, and then they're like, they're too tired from all the walking, and it was hot out, and it was, like, exhausting and all that. And and they're complaining and they're like, we don't wanna do this. And then at night, they we'd back, clean up, go, hey, go out to dinner and go hang out. It's cooler in the evening. And they got they were like, no. We don't wanna go. They just wanted to stay and be on their phones. And so we kinda said, fine. So my wife and I went out. Turns out that was the best part of the trip.

But but

I mean, my oldest daughter my youngest son, when we were in one part of New York, I'd say he's like, hey, dad. There's a video game tournament that's in this town over here. Can we take me? And it was like, look at it. It's like, no. It was like two hours away. We don't even have a car. He was mad. My daughter finds out my oldest daughter who's a senior finds out that one of her friends was hosting this big graduation party, but it was gonna be before we get back. So she literally goes, can I fly home a day early?

And and I'm by myself. I'm like, no. She was so mad. I'm like, no. And wait a minute. No. And so we're all exhausted. And then we come back, and and that's when I learned whenever I take a vacation with my kids, I make sure that I get back three or four days before I have to go back to work.

Because I don't know about you, but I need a vacation for my vacation because I'm so exhausted from my vacation. And guess what? I think that's how a lot of us are experiencing the totality of our lives, our spiritual life, just just our walk in life. It seems like I feel like I need rest.

And whatever you're trying to do rest, why are we still tired? Why can I go maybe maybe it's like, hey, I I I started going to bed early? I I I did the obvious things. I'm not but I'm still weary. I'm still tired. I need rest. And when it comes to finding peace, one of the things that we don't really experience peace

is because we don't rest. And we found out last week that peace is a person, not a place. So we think the tiredness is sometimes it's just the problems around me, and I just need to back away from the problems, or I just need to cease activity. And we think that that's really what it is. Now some of us, it is just

your pace is too fast, and you need to figure it out. But I think we need a rest that is deeper than that. I I I think that we need more than we think we need a vacation from our problems or a vacation from this that'll make us have peace and not be weary anymore. And I don't think I think that God offers us a rest.

A a rest to pursue. A rhythm of rest that brings peace that is different than what we think rest is. And that's what we're gonna look at today. We're gonna spend a few minutes talking about this idea that we rest to live, not live to rest.

Because when we live to rest, that means I go to work, I do these things, but the reality is everybody's working for the weekend. Right? There's an eighties song for you. And and then you're like, you know, we get this mentality that I

that that work and all that is a necessary evil. And then the problem is if you look in the book of Genesis, God gave Adam they had a job and that was before the fall. We think work and and and being busy and having a mission and having things we got to accomplish is just the punishment for sin. No. It's the way we're built. We're built for these things.

And contrary to popular belief, when we go to heaven or and then Jesus sets up the new heaven and new earth, we're not just gonna sit around on clouds playing harps all day. We're gonna have a purpose. We're gonna have a job. And and and and I know that by saying that, I probably just destroyed many of you guys' view of you you think you were just working for the weekend. You were thinking that heaven, at least when I'm done with this life, I get an internal weekend.

No. So sorry to burst that bubble.

But the reason you want that is because you want rest, but we pursue the wrong rest. So what is real rest? Well, we know that it's it's it's it's a few things when Jesus talks about it in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28. He says, come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest.

Oh, yes. Okay. So if you imagine rest the way we imagine, what he says next is not gonna make any sense. He says, come to me and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. A yoke is what you put on an animal that's plowing a field. So he's like saying, hey, you want rest? Come

plow the field. I'm asking you to plow. It's like it's not doing nothing. It's it's you're gonna do hard things. But it's who you're doing it with and what you're doing. Because he says, when you do that, I will teach you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart.

You can trust me is what he's saying. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. He has a yoke. He has a burden. He says it's light because what he does is when we go his direction, there is a rest that's for our souls.

And I believe that is what most of us are carrying around, especially those of us that believe in Jesus that are still weary. It's it's we need rest for our souls. That's what we're missing.

That's what we're missing. And it doesn't matter how much rest you give your body. I mean, if it was just give your bitters, I don't need to preach a sermon on that. That's obvious what to do.

But what is really causing the issue? So there's two things in that. There's two things I just wanna unpackage and then get into a passage for most of our time that I think really shows the true meaning of where we get real rest from.

And the two points that I see here is simply this. First, rest is not an excuse to avoid responsibility. Like I said, God's already given us work. Thessalonians says, if you don't work, don't eat.

And and I see a lot of younger Christians, especially the guys I develop. I'm gonna go speak to a bunch of them in Indianapolis next week in leadership that the the world is we gotten so busy, the hustling,

you know, the hustle culture and all that, that people are tired. And I think a lot of young leaders, especially if they're young and newly married, they have the right idea. We can't be hustling at this pace. The pace is wrong. But they think the answer is to back off actual responsibility.

Back off what they're supposed to do. Back off and never be busy. Back off and have this really unrealistic idea of how to do their life. And and it's and you got the right idea, wrong application.

Because it's not about we still have a response. There's still a yoke to bear. There's still a call. God still calls us to be things as a disciple of his. And the problem is when we don't get that, we get tired or we get busy, and the problem is that's usually the first thing we let go of.

I know say when people when you're serving, we're called to serve it, and all of sudden, your life got busy, and the first thing I you know, I'm just too busy right now. I can't serve. So when we're too busy, the first thing we do is take the yoke Jesus gave us off. The problem is not the yoke Jesus asked us to pull.

It's the other one we keep on as well. We try to pull with Jesus, but also pull our own way. And that's what becomes the problem. And that's so even if you slow down, it doesn't help. If your pace is really fast, but you're too busy to do got what God's asked you to do, you're too busy.

So but you still say, alright. I'm gonna slow down. I'm gonna slow down the pace. But it's like imagine you're running. You're out in the, you know, desert somewhere, and you're running in a direction.

And and and what you're running towards is you're like, you know, I gotta get out of here. And and I'm running out of water, and I gotta get someplace. And so you're running and you realize, hey, I can't run this fast. I'm gonna fall over dead, and I'm I'm just not gonna make it. So you slow down to a jog.

The problem is you're actually running away from water. You're running further into the desert. You're running further away. So who cares what your pace is? You could start. You could sit down. You could walk, and you're still gonna be dehydrated. You're still going to die going that direction.

So a lot of what rest is is not about pace. It's about direction. It's about direction. And that's where I think we end up weary. And that's why Jesus says, your soul needs rest. It's what you rest in, not just how you rest.

And that leads to the second point because that first point, if we don't understand what rest really is,

we'll we will we will over spiritualize it. And rest isn't permission to coast. It's preparation to contribute is what rest is. And so that leads to the second point, what I really wanted to get to is, if it's not that, then what is it? Rest renews identity, not just energy.

That's the type of rest Jesus is talking about. We need to have a rest that renews our identity, not just our energy. It's not just about replenishing your strength and your your body. It's it's the soul.

And the thing that we need to do is to have the rest that renews our identity. And what's our identity? If we know Jesus, we need to find our identity in Christ. And when we find our identity in other things, we could be a follower of Jesus and have no peace because we are weary and heavy burdened

because we're running into the desert. We're running the wrong way. And pace doesn't matter at that point. It doesn't matter how slow. You can say, hey, I believe in Jesus, but I really, really find my identity in success.

Now success isn't a bad thing to have. It's just not the thing that you should say this is who I am. I believe in Jesus,

but I really really really want to be married. Or I really really really want this. I believe in Jesus, but I wanna be comfortable. I believe in Jesus, but I find my identity in my job. I believe in Jesus, but I find it's that's the problem. Is it's our identity issues that are taking us the wrong direction, and we try to believe in Jesus and have that. That's the problem

that I believe. I know in my own life, when I get worn out and too weary, it's because I start focusing on the wrong thing, just like we talked about last week, and it builds a weariness because I can't both worry about this and go this direction and go the direction that Jesus wants. And now I'm tired,

And that's where we struggle. We get caught up in that weariness and that battle, and we wrestle with it. Matter of fact, Psalm forty six ten was written as a worship psalm

song. They would sing it in a time of chaos, in a time of, like like like a time of today where you're, you're worried about prosperity, you're worried about these things, and you're worried about am I gonna be okay? And one of the lines, forty six ten says this, be still.

We get that part right. A lot times, you know, I'm tired. I'm gonna be still. And we forget the second part, and know that I am God. See, real rest is found in the being still but doing something in that stillness, knowing that I am God. Well, to know that he's God, you gotta know him. And who is God? And what is he like?

In other words, real rest, where we renew our identity in who we are in Christ, is you have to see God for who he really is. Because when we see God clearly, guess what that is? It's like looking in a mirror, it reflects back. You see who you really are. Then you understand why you need to trust the love of Christ.

And then you're willing to take on his yoke. And the reason he needs to teach you is from the outside, his yoke looks hard, but it's actually where you find the rest, where you find the focus, where you find the peace. And that's really what when we pray, it's to rest

in who God is. When we when we read the word of God, we're teaching and we're learning who he really is, and we learn who we really are, and we react to that, and we will find rest through that. It's when we come here and worship

that we should focus on who God really is and let that say that what does that mean who I am? Where am I at in regards to who where God is and what he's called me to be? And I respond to him. Otherwise, we're just gonna be playing a game.

We're gonna we're just gonna be we're we're we're not gonna be the soldiers God called us to be. We're just gonna be the parade ground soldiers. You know, they they do the parades

where where they dress up in their finest, they know how to march right, and they have all their weapons, and they're it's looking awesome, and the band's leading the way. But the truth is that's not their job. What if that's all they did?

What if once a week they paraded, and then a war breaks out, and they're like, well, I'm not gonna go fight. I'm too busy. I can I'll make it to the parade grounds, two, maybe three times a month. But other than that, I I I'm too busy with other stuff. That would be a colossal waste.

That's you're not gonna find rest in that. And matter of fact, that whole illustration of the parading is I wanna go to a passage and spend time showing exactly what this looks like. Because what I'm really saying is, rest is not just from work.

We need to rest not from something. We need to rest in something. So it's not just rest from work. We need to rest in wonder, in the awe of seeing God for who he is, and then understanding what that means for what he's done for us. And then you will have the rest and be willing to respond to him

and and and run and not grow tired and not grow weary. And so where am I gonna be at? Isaiah chapter six.

Isaiah chapter six. And what's happening is Isaiah's book, it's written about a time as he's a prophet.

And by chapter six, he's a he's a young prophet. He's already been serving the God. What a prophet does is what I'm doing now. I mean, sometimes they'd go and share something that was in the future. They made a prophecy. But 99% of what they did is they proclaimed the word of God to the kings and to God's people.

And and so he's doing that. He's using his mouth to serve the Lord. And who is he called to serve? He's calling. He's serving. He's speaking to the people of God during a time when a guy named King Uzziah at this point in Isaiah, say, Uzziah Uzziah just died. He'd been king for fifty two years, and in that time, they had a lot of prosperity.

The Northern Kingdom Of Israel already collapsed in on itself, and they thought, well, they collapsed because they're terrible. We have the it's because we have the temple. We have God. We have the word of God. We're better than them. They're all that. But the problem is because of fifty two years of unprecedented

prosperity, prosperity tends to make us kind of pathetic in our commitments.

Prosperity makes us apathetic. Prosperity makes us feel safe. Prosperity makes us feel like we're doing good and I'm fine. Prosperity made them judgmental. They go, well, the Northern Kingdom fell, but we're better than them because look at us. Prosperity does that. And that's the problem with us in The United States, especially out here in Queen, Tucky, actually, Beverly Creek.

But we we we've prospered. And prosper can make us apathetic because everything feels okay. Or it also makes us angry if I don't think I'm prospering like I should be. What's wrong with God? Why is he not giving me the good stuff?

And and and so we struggle. That's exactly what's happening with God's people. This is who Isaiah's been talking to. They're they're they've been apathetic. Matter of fact, that whole parade ground thing, one of the things Isaiah has to say to his people is God has says you've paraded in the temple.

And it's exactly what I meant. It's what I said about soldiers. He's saying, you show up, you go through the motion, you come to church, but then you go out and you don't get in the fight.

You don't actually live the way I've called you to live. You're not taking on the mission I've given you. You're not grabbing the yoke I've called you and plowing the field I've called you to plow, and that is why you're weary.

And that is why what happens in here is king Uzziah dies. And when a king died back then, especially when they've been a king for a long time and there was stability,

it's chaos. It's like imagine an election year. You You know, they get a little chaotic. But fortunately, in our society, once the election's over, all the problems go away. No. It's bad.

And everyone's gonna be freaking out. You know why? They've had so much prosperity. Now it's gonna go into chaos, and they're more afraid about losing their prosperity than they are, and they don't trust God in it even though they go to church. They parade at the temple. But parading doesn't prepare you to fight a battle,

so they're gonna be tired. And Isaiah is get in this moment, he's praying or whatever, but God reveals himself. He has this vision. He ends up literally in the presence of God.

And look what happens. It shows what you really really need to rest in, and it's gonna sound scary at first. It's gonna sound hard at first because the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.

Why? It's because god's gonna scare you in it? No. It's this fear that says, ah, wonder to the point of holy cow. And so he says here in verse one, it was in the year that king Uzziah died that I saw the lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

That's funny. The train of his robe filled the temple. It's interesting. Every time someone sees a vision of the Lord, they don't see all of them. It's always a piece of them. Moses said he saw God's feet, you know, then he sees the train of the robe. In the book of John, in the New Testament, Jesus goes up on the Mount Of Transfiguration.

And all it means is he kinda showed his glory. Because I don't know. He'd like he was he was like Johnny Storm and just flamed up and

but whatever however it worked, it says John couldn't look. He says his face shined brighter than the sun. Well, you know, go out and look at the sun. Actually, don't go out and look at the sun. That'd be stupid. Because if you look at the sun too long, you can't you and if you've already done that, you can't see me right now. And so if he said it's brighter than the sun, that means he couldn't even see them.

It was so impressively powerful. And it's weird that in this vision, he's saying, just the train of his robe. Symbolically means I couldn't even see him. It was like the glory was so bright, so powerful. And then it says, attending him were six mighty Seraphim, each having six wings.

With two wings, they covered their faces. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they flew, and they were calling out to each other. Gets us. These mighty angels are saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heaven's armies. The whole earth is filled with his glory.

And just the angels' voices says that their voices shook the temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. So now he can't see nothing, but he's feeling this earthquake that just the angels themselves, that's not even God, just these angels saying, holy holy holy

is Lord God Almighty. Holy holy holy is shaking this entire huge stone structure. Could you imagine that? This glorious light, the thing, and now it's smoke, and now you can't see, and you just hear the holy holy holy is the Lord of heaven's armies. The whole earth is filled with his glory. The room is shaking.

Wow. Wow.

Verse five, he says, then I said,

Jesus is a friend of mine. This is great. He's my buddy. Why is he not and I have all these questions I'm gonna ask him, and I wish he would answer me because I'm a little bit frustrated. No. He said it's all over. I am doomed. Here's a guy that's been serving God. Basically, I think I might die. For I am a sinful man.

So the first thing he thought about is how sinful he is. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips, yet I have seen the king, the lord of heaven's armies. Look at his response. His first response to God wasn't, why is my life not easier? Where were you when? Why are you so scary? His first response was, I am

so not holy. He wasn't self justifying. He wasn't trying to earn something. He just realized when I realized how holy God is and saw this moment, it just let him know how unholy he was. You will never get to peace. You will never get to true rest until you realize we are sinners that are far from God. We're not mistakers.

We're not just need a tweak. We're not pretty good people. We are completely not holy. And compared to God, you can't even come remotely close enough to earning his love or his presence.

And I'm telling you, some of you react to that. You're like, that's not the God. Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible told me so. Yes. That's what's gonna be said next. But here's the problem with us. We are in the New Testament times. Jesus already came and did what I'm about to read.

We're like people that came in at the end of a movie, and all you saw was that cool moment of sacrificial love of the hero. But you don't know the beginning of the story, and you don't know what your character is like in that movie. You only see that. And we never will appreciate the end without understanding the beginning.

That's

why we need to realize God's holiness first and foremost. That is why God comes to his servant that's already serving him in a time of chaos to prepare him for what he's gonna do next, which is not easy, by the way. But Isaiah is the one that says, if you trust God, you will mount up like wings of fangles and run and not grow tired, and you will walk and not grow weary.

And he does this for over forty years. He trusts God through a tough call because he finds true rest. And what he needed God to see, he needed to see God who he really is. And what he saw him was holy, holy, holy. And here's what's crazy. Just get this. Who is this that he's seeing? He says, the king,

the lord of heaven's armies. Every time he describes that, and John already answers the question 12 when he says, Isaiah saw the glory of Christ. This is Jesus pre incarnate, before he became a man and came in. So the first thing he sees of Jesus is not love, it's holiness.

Matter of fact, he repeats it three times. Holy, holy, holy. Understand in the Bible, when something's repeated three times, that's like you triple underlining something in a book you're studying because that's the most important thing you gotta remember. If you say something three times like they kept doing it, holy, holy, holy, that means infinitely holy. So of all the things when he sees the Lord, when he sees Jesus on the throne, he is the he sees a king

who is the king, and he has these mighty angels that are so powerful, they cause an earthquake with them singing. And they are saying, holy, holy, holy. Three things repeated means infinitely. That's the first thing. That's the primary attribute that God reveals

to Isaiah in this moment before sending him to give him the power and the motivation to understand. He had to start with how holy God was and how holy unholy he was.

Because here's the thing. When you repeat something three times, it means infinite, ultimate. Do you realize this is the only attribute of God in scripture that's repeated three times like that? It's not love, love, love. Fortunately, it's not wrath, wrath, wrath,

and it's not buddy, buddy, buddy. It's not even buddy one time, to be honest.

And when when we only hear the end of the story, we just think of Jesus being he's the loving guy. You And know what we want? When we hear the end of the story, we go we grab on to, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And what you think that means is, I'll be successful at whatever I really, really want. As long as I say, please please please, Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you. I believe in you. You're gonna make me successful.

That passage isn't even talking about that.

It's talking about the hard calling, taking on his yoke. Read the whole context. You put it above your thing on your business, whatever. Is your business God's business? Because that's what he's talking about. I can do all the things God's called me to do. I can do all the things he's called me to walk through. I can do all the tough things. I can do all those things.

It's implying it's gonna be hard, but I can do it through Christ who strengthens me. That is where I will find the rest. That's what we need to know. And if you don't understand how unholy you are by nature and how unholy I am and you think you're just a decent person, which is weird. We always

we'll say, I know I'm not perfect, but and the but is you usually say, who's evil and who's just a messed up person? I'm on the messed up to good side. Anyone below me, they're really screwed up, and they're bad. Every one of us thinks that's way. Hitler probably thought that way about himself. It doesn't matter.

We don't compare ourselves to each other. There's no grading on a curve. God is perfect. He is holy, holy, holy, and that is Jesus. And the Bible says he's the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, and end. The Bible says God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, yes,

God was not mean in the Old Testament and then became buddy buddy buddy in the New Testament. He is the same God the whole way through. And just as much as he loves, you have to remember, is also Jesus is the king of kings and the lord of lords. He is the king, the lord of the heaven's armies. He's the one sitting high on the throne. His glory, just the train of his robe fills the temple. And he is holy, holy, holy, and we are people of unclean lips, of unclean hearts that desperately have no hope, no hope at all. We are undone

if he doesn't do what he does next. Because then when you realize that, you won't fight him as much. You won't be stuck in your own way. You won't be angry, and you'll find real rest. And if you're uncomfortable with him being holy, holy, he may not, then you don't understand who God is at all. And that's why the hope

doesn't mean as much to you. And that's why when he asks you to go and take his yoke, you refuse, you fight it, you do it half heartedly, and it doesn't work.

Because look what happens next. Then the one Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. That altar is where they would sacrifice a lamb. They had to sacrifice a lamb that says, hey, you're sinners,

but this purity, this perfection, this this this unblemished lamb, the spilling of its blood, the sacrifice at it is what takes your sins. They knew it was symbolic. They were waiting for their Messiah. And so in this moment, he took that, had an angel take it. It touched him on his lips, and with it he said, see,

this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven. There's the part of the story we know. That's the Easter story. And it's kinda cool to think about the fact that it was Jesus that told the angel to do that, this symbolic thing, when it's really is like, what that's happened there

is what I'm gonna do.

I am love.

And the reason my love is so great is because you realize you are undone because you are not holy. And you cannot fix this. And your only hope is me.

And so he does. And here's a guy, that's all that happened. That's the only thing that differs between I'm done,

I'm dead here. I'm dead in the water. I can't. And some of get stuck on that. Because you understand, we you'd say I'm a Christian, and we just get stuck there the whole time. Two, I still can't follow God. I'm not good enough. None of this. It's not about you. It's about him.

Because after he did that, he then says, I heard the Lord asking, whom should I send as a messenger to his people? Who will go for us? Which he always planned to do all along. He had a mission for Isaiah, and he wanted him to be ready. And he says, right after hearing he's forgiven, which was right after,

he said, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. He said, now who's gonna go? Who's gonna go speak for me? He instantly says, here am I. Send me. The power for him to do that, the rest, the energy, was his renewed identity

that he found only in Christ, only in this God who saved him, who loved him, and he saw that he is holy, holy, holy. You see, God is our friend. He does love us. But we gotta remember that he's also the king of kings and he's holy, holy, holy.

And when we say, I don't wanna do what He wants to do, and we ignore Him, imagine the arrogance we have in that moment.

Why do we believe that we know what'll make us happy and give us rest for our souls more than the God who is perfect, who created us? And then even though we're very unholy and his holy righteous judgment demands that we should die, yet he died so we can be touched by that hot coal and be made clean.

Do you realize it? When you come to worship, is that what you think about? Or do we come to parade? Parade in here, parade back out, and go back on with our life? Or do we sit in the presence of the holy God and then listen to him?

And then because we've seen that love, have the energy and the abilities to say, here am I, send me. Because it's not about rest, isn't about making it easier. Because after he says this, God says, okay. Listen to what he says he's gonna do. He goes, alright. Go and say to these people,

listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing. Harden the hearts of these people, plug their ears, and shut their eyes. That way they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts, and turn to me for healing. Now that's brutal.

It's not saying that he wants him he's not the one causing it. Same thing when it says pharaoh hardened,

God hardened pharaoh's heart. What he's saying is this is what's gonna happen when you go present a holy God to people, but the grace that says what you just experienced, but if you turn to me, you'll be saved. If you if that's what God God did not change. He wasn't mean in the Old Testament, got nice in the New Testament. He's the same God. He's the God of grace in the Old Testament, but he's also still the holy holy holy God in the New Testament as well.

And so he's always had the offer that you can't do this, but I'm willing, but you have to turn to me. If you turn to me, return to me, I'll return to you. So he goes, go tell these people this, but remind them of the holiness, And you gotta remind them. And the reason he's gonna get a bad response is who he's mainly talking to is people who think they're God's people. It's like me. I'm preaching to a room of old people that many of you in here say, I'm a Christian.

But what are you doing? Are you really pursuing the holy God, or are you trying to just put

spiritualize chasing after your own life? Are you too busy to do what God wants you to do, and that's why you're tired? You know, I can't do that and do that, and so I'm gonna give up. I'm not gonna serve. I'm not gonna give. I'm not gonna do the things God's called me to do, because I'm too busy and too weary doing this.

That's who he's called to say to. And that's what he says. And he's what he's saying is when you say the truth straight up, when you throw that light of God's glory and the heat comes, it's the same thing as when you put something in a really hot oven. Two responses. Some things melt, some things harden. Which one are you?

You're gonna be the the the the the the ice or the whatever that melts and gets soft to what God has to say, like Isaiah? Or are you gonna get hard? Because he's saying most of these people are gonna get hard and not listen, and I'm gonna come, and they're gonna it's gonna get smashed like a hardened bowl.

That when they're when they're they're they're the the rug's pulled out from them, they're gonna fall and smash.

And I get it when he calls them to do that, and that's what we're all called to do. We're all called to bring a gospel to people, to bring the truth of the holiness of God, and we have to confess our sins. We have to own that. And that's it's hard because most people most people,

it breaks my heart that some of you in this room are exactly exactly like the Israelites that he's describing, and you're getting a little uncomfortable and almost upset at me right now. And it breaks my heart because you're gonna miss it.

And the thing you're gonna ignore and run after your own peace, you're never gonna find it.

And he says, I need you to be faithful. And I get it. I love it. Isaiah is like, asked the same question I would and you would. He goes, okay. When he tells him what he's gonna go do, he's like, how Lord, how long will this go on? Like, long is this the job description? Like, at what point does it get nice and easy?

And he says, he answers, until their towns are empty, their houses are deserted, and the whole country is a wasteland.

Until the Lord has sent everyone away and the entire land of Israel lies deserted, even a tenth of remnant survive. It will be invaded again and again.

That's pretty brutal. He says, until it's done. And he goes, the sad truth is what he's predicting here, that's a prophecy. He's letting him know that it's gonna end with the Southern Kingdom invaded by Babylon and carried off just like they made fun of the Northern Kingdom, thinking they weren't loved and they thought they were protected and they were safe and they were gonna always be prosperous because they went to church, because they had this thing. And he goes, nope. They're gonna get dragged off and it's God's intention. And if you go read the rest of the Old Testament story, them going there is what actually woke people up. It was actually a good thing. God sending them to Babylon and deserting their cities and all that was his way of trying to call them back to himself.

But if you think the other way, you're gonna think, what does God do? He's so mean. No. He's holy and loving. And we need to trust Him. How about you? What is God gonna have to do to try to get your attention? Because that's where rest is found,

is when we don't just rest from work, we don't just rest from responsibility, we don't just pull back, but we lean in. We don't just rest from this work. We rest in the wonder of who God is. But you have to see him clearly so you can see yourself clearly, so you can understand what he's doing clearly.

Because here's the cool part. He said, but as a tarrabinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel's stump will be a holy seed. He's talking about when you cut these trees down, he's talking about that stump

will grow into another tree, and there'll be seeds, and it'll grow into more trees. It'll it'll expand, and it'll grow. So he's saying two things. One is why we're here. God had a plan. And by Isaiah giving this message, yes, most people aren't gonna listen, but there's a there's it's called the remnant.

There's a remnant. Just like not everybody in this room is a Christian, even if you think you are. There's a remnant though that is. And that remnant grows,

and it'll become something. And how that remnant was able to become a remnant when he says a seed, it says a double play on what he's saying is Jesus is the one that is the seed from that oak that provided for the growth, for the survival, because he comes from the line. Jesus was born into the line of Judah.

So from that remnant is where Jesus comes from when he becomes a man. He had a plan all along. He's gonna love and protect and give rest to everyone that wants to listen to him all along. But you have to realize he's holy and you're not. But he will make you holy if you put your faith in him.

And if you genuinely see that and genuinely understand how awesome it is that he died for you and loves you despite his holiness, that's where we should be able to look at ourselves and say, here am I. Send me. And not worry about all your other problems. Not worry about all the other things you're trying to do.

Because once you say that, he says, I give you rest, which means you trust me with your life. You go where I've asked you to go. You do the things I've asked you to do. I will now take care of the other things. It's not I gotta figure out how to do this and trust God. It's just trust him.

And you'll be amazed at where this strange peace comes from even if you're sent through hard times like Isaiah was sent to because he stayed faithful for forty years. So here's the question. You gotta decide. Do you wanna be the stump? The seed, the part of the the continuing, the remnant

that finds peace, that finds real rest? Or do you wanna walk out this door

and continue to be stumped by why you're tired even though you come to church? Why you don't understand what God's doing all the time? Why you're always frustrated? Why you're angry? Why you're exhausted? Why you're weary? And it doesn't matter how many days that you take off, doesn't matter how many vacation, doesn't matter how long. It doesn't even matter if you've been so tired, you pull back from ministry, you pull back from this, you pull back from you'll just always be stumped

if you don't just surrender and become the stump. Become the person that surrenders to God's love because you see God's holiness. Otherwise, if you don't understand his holiness, you'll kinda take his love for granted. We'll act apathetic

because God's blessings, we think, well, that's just normal, and that's what I should have all the time. We'll miss it. In other words, what real rest is is this. What Jesus was saying in that first passage I read is this. He Jesus doesn't offer rest as a day. He offers it as a relationship. Do you want that? Do you?

Are you willing to say? Because, you know, that New York trip that I said was so exhausting, and my kids were just the worst. A few years ago, we're sitting around. My oldest daughter has kids now, and they're like, you know what we really need to do? What? And they go, we need to go back to New York altogether again.

And I'm thinking, really? With grandkids? What? And my wife was like my wife was like, what? Why would you guys wanna do that? You guys were the worst, and you hated it. And then my son goes, no. That was the best trip we've ever gone on as a family.

And then my two daughters, yep. Best trip ever. My wife, I thought she was gonna have a coronary right there. She was like, were you kidding me? I just started laughing because I thought it was hilarious.

And then they go, why would you think that? She goes, well, the time we got stuck, the time there was the dead fish in the lake, and so I got stuck on it. The time where Jaden freaked out because he freaks out by elevators, and we went all the way up in the Empire Straight Building. And dad chose to stand and face the 30 people in the elevator, including him. And it was super awkward because you just don't do that in an elevator.

I broke protocol. And it's like all these things that they were so whiny about, they're going back and they're laughing about it. They're remembering it. I go, you know what the real difference is? They go, it's because that was an adventure and we were together.

It was the relationship they remembered. And it re it it the the the trip itself did not change. We didn't go back in time and change the trip. We didn't find the infinity stones, and we didn't go back there, and we didn't change the trip. The trip was the same. They changed their perspective of what was happening in the trip, what was meant, and that's what God does. So many of you look back at your life, and you don't understand that the whole time that even when it's tough, even when it's hard, Jesus is with you if you trust him, and you will understand it was all about the relationship.

And then you'll remember it. And that's why you won't be burdened anymore. Won't be weary about it. You'll actually say, here am I. Send me back to New York with grandkids.

Do you want that? Then I'm gonna pray, and I think there's some people in this room that need to head out to where we're baptizing people. You need to go. Here am I. Baptize me. Some of you know the Lord. You've just never done it. Why? We have the towels. We have the clothes. Do it. Do it. Respond to his love.

Say, here am I. Some of you don't know who Jesus is and you're a little bit, okay. I I think I should don't just go get baptized. That's not what saves you. But I want you to go out there too, like people did last service. Say, tell me how do I? How do I have a relationship with Jesus? And they'll pray with you.

And you can have that relationship with just send me. Show me. Here am I. Show me. Just whichever one you are, just do it. Don't stay stumped when you leave. Leave being the stump. Amen?

Father God, thank you, Lord. I just pray for everyone in this room. I pray for those who need to go and respond to you right now. I pray they will walk out there right now and say either show me Jesus or baptize me in the name of Jesus.

And, Lord, I pray for all of us that even those of us that we do trust you, we we we know that we know, but today, it may be an encouragement that if someone's going through one of those rough moments and they're looking back and go, this has been exhausting. This has been tiring. But if they remember it's your yoke, it's what you've asked them to do,

give them the joy of the fact that you were with them the whole time, and it's all about the relationship, and they could celebrate. I just pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hey. I love you guys. Hey.

Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on our Rock Point social media to stay connected throughout the week and see what's happening here at Rock Point.