Lesson 3 | The Roots of Restlessness

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god we're in a series entitled rest in christ i need that rest today and i'm sure you do as well today we're talking about the roots of restlessness we discovered in our last study that restlessness can lead to rebellion which can lead to violence and destruction god wants us to experience rest for our souls so we're really glad you joined us today and glad to see the team here and we're excited that we're now having some of our team members joining us remotely we've got shayna joining us from maine shaina great to see you as part of the team today and also puya joining us from hawaii great to see you puya as part of our team we're always happy to hear from you our hope sabbath school members around the world you can always write to us at sshope hopetv.org we get excited don't we when we hear what god's doing in your life and how he's blessing you through his word here's a note 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to sing our theme song it's taken from matthew chapter 11. it's the words of jesus verses 28 to 30. come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest let's sing together [Music] i will give you rest come to me are you whoever [Music] and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me foreign [Music] you will find rest for your souls for my oak is easy my burden is [Music] take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lonely [Music] come to me [Music] come to me [Music] take my yoke upon you and learn from me foreign [Music] i love that song and you know i love it so much i want to speak to you as a hoops habit school family we'd like to give you a copy of the song plus 11 other scripture songs in a collection all you have to do is go to our website hope tv dot org slash hope ss you'll see a button that says get free gift go to our website click on the get free gift button and you'll get a link to download not only this theme song but 11 other beautiful scripture songs so you can hide god's word in your heart that's our gift to you from hope sabbath school let's pray together now our father in heaven we've already seen in this series on rest in christ how much we need that rest for our souls and we've seen the damaging effect of restlessness and rebellion i pray today as we study about the roots of restlessness that we might be convicted even more to find rest for our souls in jesus guide each one in our study today we pray in the powerful name of jesus amen amen amen we're going to start a study today in luke chapter 12 with a story about a restless individual now we're going to look at three routes of restlessness maybe maybe you'll say well derek i can think of four or five and and we can share those together but i'm suggesting that selfishness is one of the roots of a restless spirit let's pick up the story in luke chapter 12. and nicole if you could begin our study today verses 13 through 19 a restless young man actually interrupts jesus who's preaching and interrupts him with the demand let's let's pick up the story in luke 12 13-19 and the new international version says someone in the crowd said to him teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me jesus replied man who appointed me a judge or an arbor arbiter between you then he said to them watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed life does not consist in an abundance of possessions and he told them this parable the ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest he thought to himself what shall i do i have no place to store my crops then he said this is what i'll do i will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there i will store my surplus grain and i'll say to myself you have plenty of grain laid up for many years take life easy eat drink and be merry now let's take this man he has a barn it's too small what are some options if he wasn't driven by a selfish spirit he's had a great crop jason he could give away some of it to other people he could find some other people that didn't have such a good year brittany i was going to say what jason said that yeah he should look for those who are needy or like they had in israel they had this um law that they would allow um they would let the reapers go through and then they would leave some behind for those who were widow and poor so he should do the same with his with his stuff that's a great example i think they call that gleaning don't they we heard about that in the story of ruth in the in the old testament uh in fact with ruth that boaz gives permission to leave extra piles doesn't it i think he's already realized what a precious person she is so one option would be to give away rather than tear down a barn which cause cause more uh expense for him um what indications are there though that that this man is driven by a selfish spirit sabina i think that we can look at verse um let's see verse 18 19 it says i will say to my soul so you have many goods laid up for many years take your ease eat drink and be merry so it sounds like he has a very great plan for his own life and his own self to you know care for his own problems and not nobody else's that's right he he doesn't he's certainly not talking to god he's kind of praying to himself and he's not talking to anyone else around saying does anyone else have any needs no he's saying self eat drink and be merry how how does the lord by the way this is a parable though it may have been a true story who knows jesus may have actually seen uh something like that certainly the interruption that nicole read was real someone just interrupted him how does jesus respond pedro in verses 20 and 21 of luke chapter 12. i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says uh but god said to him fool this night use your soul will be required of you then who whose will those things be which you have provided so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not reached towards god you know in another place i think it's in matthew 16 jesus says what does it profit a person if she or he gains the whole world super big barn yeah and lose your soul right but the whole point is when this man dies nothing how much do you take with you only your relationship or lack of relationship with god right if you're resting in christ well death is just asleep right yeah but you can't you can't change you certainly can't take things with you so here's an unnamed selfish man can you think of other bible characters do a little scan in your bible memory some other bible characters that they were just driven by selfishness and of course underlying this this theme of rest in christ you can't you're restless when you're driven by selfishness nicole i would say jacob before his encounter with god when he took the inheritance and ran away i would say that was a bit of restlessness in terms of self and i want what my brother has but then he when he encountered god his whole life changed so grabbing for that birthright which which technically would have been eso's right but god had promised him right so so there's that a selfish gravity it's a struggle it's a struggle right brittany i was thinking of balaam he was uh supposedly a prophet of god and god told him to go uh well actually a king came and said hey will you curse the children of israel for me because god is blessing them so balaam at first was like no i'm not going to do it but then when the king offered him a large sum of money he was like oh sure i'll do it and on his way an angel of the lord came and blocked his way and it took a donkey god using the donkey to speak to him to open his eyes to his danger and what he was doing against god and of course when he finally does open his mouth he blesses the people of god rather than curses them but those are two examples another one jason so i think of ahab and jezebel i think it's particularly jezebel with the vineyard nabith i think was the name that she wanted and she actually had the guy falsely accused and murdered and both her and her husband were part of a conspiracy because they wanted a vineyard sure i'm seeing uh shayna's hand and puya's hand raised there in maine and in hawaii shaina another example of someone driven by selfishness which of course creates a lot of restlessness in our hearts i'm thinking of king saul saul was anointed by god to become the first king of israel but when he saw that i mean he had done a bunch of things that were wrong in the side of the lord and when he saw that the spirit of the lord was instead on david um his the rest of his life was somewhat spent in pursuing david and it was a restless pursuit um even to the point where there was a time when when saul was right in front of david and david had the opportunity to take his life but david was like no i'm not touching the lord's anointed so that's another example of restlessness sure and selfishness for sure you know while shayna was sharing puyol come to your point while shayna was sharing i thought instead of spending the rest of his life pursuing david what if he'd spent the rest of his life pursuing god right it would have been a totally different story yes i was thinking of satan lucifer in heaven his selfishness drove him to rebel against god as he wanted more and more power even above his own creator and he of course is the originator of sin in heaven and later brought it into this planet and so i believe satan is a good example of what selfishness does to someone when you allow that selfishness to continue to drive you forward thank you he's also a great example of the second route of restlessness which we'll come to in a minute it's going to come to you pedro it seems like we don't have much difficulty finding examples of people selfishness is kind of a natural attitude of a sinful heart right oh i was trying to find the name here and i found him first samuel 25 nable you know he uh he was helped by david and his men and he refused to to reward him says i don't know who david is and abigail his wife had to intervene and we saw that his greedy cause on his life similar to the parable of jesus sure and that's right eventually nabel dies in a drunken stupor we don't know his heart stopped for whatever reason and shows the futility of living a life simply driven by selfishness well we like i said we didn't have a trouble finding many examples confession time oh was there ever a time uh pouya and shayna you're joining us remotely and here we've got the team when when if you're honest with yourself it you were being driven a little bit by a selfish spirit notice i'm trying to tone it down just a little bit but it it it didn't satisfy the restlessness inside anybody can relate to that in in any way oh we got a few brave souls sabine and then nicole i can okay so i can i have a sister she's older than me and i think that if she watches us she you know will be able to agree with what i'm going to share i think that we both were selfish usually when we were not willing to share our clothes with each other so that's and i think that as some sometimes in our relationship growing up just the fact that i i wanted to hoard my things for myself or she wanted to hoard her things to herself made us sometimes to be in conflict so i know there are i could give other examples in my life but i'm just sharing this one just that one and and i'm assuming that that didn't result in a very rest restful environment no eventually we you know we grew up in learning how to divide things with each other but i i remember situations in which you had like fights as girls you know not willing to share sure selfish and sure nicole when i was in medical school i was very much driven for a particular path that i wanted to take my life and it was really driven on myself and wanting to be in a particular position and it was very restless time because i was i was fighting against god at what he wanted me to do and i wanted to do x and so when i finally gave in and said okay where do you want me to go lord i found the rest i needed and was able to choose the career that he wanted me to be in but before that there was definitely a tuggle and struggle between my desire for my ego to be stroked and my selfishness versus what he won and saw from my life so we found many examples and we could probably all uh find examples in our own lives of of how a selfish attitude created a restlessness for us but uh have you ever seen or either in the scripture or maybe even in your life someone that really models a an unselfish spirit which results in in rest for our souls anybody is there an individual that comes to your mind anybody that you know that comes to your mind that just models that unselfish spirit yes i i believe jesus is the prime example of someone who showed uh the opposite of selfishness as he came to this planet as a babe and then grew up as a man and suffered to the point of uh dead on the cross and so jesus showed us what the opposite side of selfishness is and through love he was able to accomplish the plan of salvation to give us that rest in him beautiful it's hard to find a better example isn't it you may anybody think of a family member a loved one a friend uh i you know what can i share someone i was went on an assignment to a refugee camp on the thai myanmar border oh puya that's getting close to home country and and there in a refugee camp were about 35 000 refugees in no man's land and there was a godly woman she's still there named helen hall who started a school called eden valley academy and at times there were up to a thousand students in this refugee camp in the school and she's in her 80s now she could be somewhere very safe in australia which is her homeland but she said this is where god's called me to serve i have never personally seen a more unselfish spirit than i saw in this precious lady and maybe maybe we should just remember helen hall and eden valley academy in our prayers because things are quite uh quite unstable there on the border and yet she's really kind of modeling what jesus taught willing to lay down her life for for others anybody else someone you've seen if not let's move on shall we one route of restlessness is what selfish selfishness but you notice when we were talking about selfishness i think pouya you talked about lucifer now called satan he's lost his place in the heavenly courts that that also that desire to exalt self self exaltation is also uh a root cause of restlessness we don't have to go all the way back to lucifer and the rebellion jason we could find even among the disciples of jesus take a look with us if you would at mark 10 verses 35 to 40. all right i have the new king james version here mark chapter 10 verses 35 through 40. then james and john the sons of zebedee came to him saying teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask and he said to them what do you want me to do for you they said to him grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory but jesus said to them you do not know what you ask are you able to drink the cup that i drink and be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with they said to him we are able so jesus said to them you will indeed drink the cup that i drink and with the baptism i am baptized with you will be baptized but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it is prepared now while jason was reading that nicole you were just kind of shaking your head there's definitely a root of selfishness there too isn't there but but where this self-exaltation what what are your thoughts as you see these two uh they were fishermen right james and john they're just asking to be two vice presidents in the kingdom you know it's it's it's a human tendency for us to want people to praise us and to give us honor and to give us glory and i think that we if we're not careful will want that more than we want to actually glorify god and so this is just us having to fight against our natural tendency to want things that christ knows are not good for us writtening when i read the story it just since we know the end of the story we know why jesus came it's like they completely missed out on his whole mission his whole mission was not to raise himself up except to die for us doesn't he say i've come not to be served but to serve and to give my life and if they had known if they had understood he was going to give his life they wouldn't have asked for this they wouldn't have said we want what you uh are going to have he was like yeah you're going to receive the grief and the suffering that i am going to experience but um what you are asking you don't understand it's interesting just thinking about it and pedro then i'd like you to read the next verse that one of them james is beheaded by herod right and peter almost is beheaded right and then john well he gets put on a desolate island called patmos but god works with him even there but you're right they they had no idea they were thinking of an earthly kingdom but that desire to exalt self is very strong peter how did the other disciples respond and why let's take a look if you can read for us in mark 10 verse 41. i'll be reading from the new king james version mark 10 41. and when the 10 heard it they began to be greatly displeased with james and john all right i'm going to ask you a question shayna i know you uh you're a student of human behavior you've taught and you've seen a lot of different character traits so let me ask you shayna up there in maine why do you think the other disciples were so upset with james and john oh they may have been feeling like do you guys think that you're better than any of us like we're all in the same walk together um we've all been through most of the same experiences together none of you are better than that so why would you be subject to the next highest position in heaven which is on the right hand and on the left hand of jesus yeah so so let me paraphrase that they could be feeling a sense of who are you to push yourselves over the top of us maybe actually something more than that uh we've got three hands here who would like to share brittany i was just thinking they might have been upset that they hadn't thought to ask questions first how come they got to ask that question i wish i had thought of that anybody agree with brittany okay i'm going to raise my hand how what evidence puya is there that they were also contentious um can you think of right yes in another chapter we find them arguing on the topic of who is the greatest among us like who who is the greatest in our group and and even today in our like church settings we may not say out loud as to who is the greatest among us but truth be told i believe we all think about it sometimes even in our church settings even today as to who among our members have made the most money who among our members is the most influential or the greatest it seems that this is human tendency not just for james and john but for the rest of us as well so unless we sit in judgment on james and john for being so brash um by the way the reference here i think was luke at least one reference luke 22 24 where they're arguing who's going to be the greatest sabina and i'm thinking also to jesus reaction to the confusion that is triggered by you know this comment because the 10 the bible says on verse verse 41 that it then heard and then began to discuss about it and the way that jesus intervenes is by reminding them that you know that they were called to be servants and that even though when they look at authorities in the world that they look at them as being the greatest ones that in our case it was not going to be so with them and with us that in the kingdom of god the last shall be the first so i think that the way that jesus responds makes us believe that all of them were having the same sort of heart issue going on well before we come to confession time when we've ever felt like exalting ourselves there's a story of an ancient monarch ancient not being old himself but many many generations ago in fact what two thousand uh six hundred years ago uh a monarch who had a problem with self-exaltation and and it's clear from the story that he was restless you know when you're always wanting to be first if anybody drives faster than you do or jumps faster or gets a higher score on the test or gets the position you were hoping for you're never going to be at rest right if your desire is to always exalt yourself who's that ancient monarch we're thinking about nebuchadnezzar now there is a story about nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4 of his book would you just read a few verses for us of verses 28 to 32. sure i've got the new king james version here it's daniel 4 28-32 it says all this came upon king nebuchadnezzar at the end of the 12 months he was walking about the royal palace of babylon the king spoke saying is not this great babylon that i have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty while the word was still in the king's mouth a voice fell from heaven king nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken the kingdom has departed from you and they shall drive you from men and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field they shall make you eat grass like oxen and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses so what happens to nebuchadnezzar after this declaration of this messenger yes brittany he is driven from his kingdom in seven years he spends out outside he's getting wet he's living like an animal um it even says that his hair grew like feathers of a bird almost and his nails grew long like eagle's claws he he just he became like an animal and that was the end of the story right uh wrong how does the story end i think it ends hopefully with with some kind of rest for his soul who'd like to read for us daniel chapter 4 verses 33 to 37 pedro i'll be reading from the new king james version daniel 4 33-37 that very hour the word of was fulfilled concerning nebuchadnezzar he was driven from man in a grass like oxen his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagle's feather in his nail like bird's claws and at the end of the of the time i nebuchadnezzar lift my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me and i bless the most high and praise and honor him who lives forever for his dominion is the everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to degeneration all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him what have you done at the same time my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom my honor and my splendor returned to me my counselor and my nobles resorted to me i was restored to my kingdom and excellence majesty was added to me now i nebuchadnezzar praise and install and honor the king of heaven of all of whose works our truth and his ways justice and those who walk in pride he is able to put down now if you've read the book of daniel he has some things to say about the god of shadrach meshach and abednego or the god of daniel in daniel 2 and in daniel 3. but what's the difference in daniel chapter 4 did you notice a difference nicole he's actually um internalizing the god of chadwick missionaries not just their god anymore it's his god he gives the praise to this god and so he made it he makes it personal at this point because of his experience with god so why why is it so important shayna let me take your point and then i want to ask why it's so important i mean i guess we could find hope in the story of nebuchadnezzar right that if you have been living trying to just exalt yourself you don't have to die that way you can change shaina i also find it amazing that this king who built a statue all of gold because he was like my kingdom is gonna last forever um in verse 37 he says honor the king of heaven and so it's a complete shift in um character or language vocabulary that he's using to say this is the king this is the real deal um that we're dealing with beautiful well we're talking about roots of restlessness and and we know that god doesn't want us to be restless right but to find rest in christ selfishness doesn't work why doesn't self exaltation work why don't we find rest why don't we finally get to the place uh brittany why don't we finally get to the place where we go oh rest because i'm finally at the top of the pile i've left all of these broken people in climbing up why doesn't that ever work well we were created to worship when we read throughout the bible we realized that god um created us in his image and he created us with this desire to worship and we're never fulfilled until we worship the one who made us yes all right so actually back to puya what you said earlier and then i'll come to your point actually this desire for self-exaltation finds it its original root in in lucifer the rebellious angel where if i keep wanting to exalt myself as as the driving force of my life i'll want to be above god i want to be god right which of course will never work yes uh picking up on what britney said i believe the reason why self-exaltation doesn't lead us to actual rest is because it completely goes against the nature of god and as god is our creator and the author of our lives he designs our life in such a way that our lives will flourish when we follow his principles and god's god's principles are never about self-exaltation but rather about humility and serving other rather than self and so when when we try to exalt ourselves we're going against the way god designed us to function best and so we're not able to find rest as long as we are going against god's original plan we found some examples of people trying to find rest in self-exaltation it doesn't work nebuchadnezzar does become an example of someone who says i'm going to exalt god rather than myself and he finds rest any other examples in the bible people pedro find rest by saying i'm i'm just going to exalt god well one thing that got my attention when we're reading in mark was bartimaeus because the same question the same question that jesus made to james and and and john was the question he makes to him but we see that bartimaeus he saw he heard that jesus was passing by he was blind this motor dude is coming up and he's calling upon jesus son of david son of david resulting god as who he is you know everybody thought that he is jesus of nazareth he's just you know he's the prophet but he recognized who jesus was and jesus came to him and says what do you want me to do for you and what happened to him he had an encounter with god beautiful by the way son of david was a messiah term right and so i just thought of that beautiful thing i want to see and the first thing he sees is jesus it's like i want to see jesus i want to see the son of david what a beautiful picture sabine i'm thinking of the apostles you know after jesus parted they were all given great authority by the power of the holy spirit to heal to preach to teach and to do things that were even greater than those things that jesus had made and they could have eventually desired or placed themselves in a space of being the authority doing those things and not bringing glory to god and i believe that they surely were able to succeed in their mission because they were putting the name of jesus ahead and not their own there was one example and i see your hand put you raised there in hawaii there there was one example of someone in the book of acts who wanted the power to exalt self anybody remember what what his name was was it simon the sorcerer yeah he wanted to buy the holy spirit right well i could be really famous if i had this power another person that came to mind is daniel in the story where king nebuchadnezzar forgot his dream and was uh trying to find out what his dream was and inquire from all the magicians and the wise men and nobody could tell the the forgotten dream of the king and daniel came along god answered his prayer but daniel did not take the credit when he explained it to the the king that the dream came from god so i believe daniel is a good example of someone who gave the credit to god rather than exalting himself great illustration and and that's repeated in daniel 5 in his interaction with belshazzar and it's repeated in his interaction with with king darius where he says my god sent an angel rather than say well i was able to tame these lions okay he's always exalting god rather than himself well we want to move on to a third root of uh restlessness is selfishness going to help us find rest for ourselves no no self-exaltation is it going to help us no no there is a third root of selfishness of restlessness and that is hypocrisy what is hypocrisy can someone give me a definition what is hypocrisy shaina could you give us a brief definition or maybe a definition of a hypocrite unfortunately jesus calls some people hypocrites what's the definition of a hypocrite so in a very simplified version um it's a person who says one thing or they're they preach one thing and their lives their actions preach another thing so there's a uh inconsistency between their words and their actions so let's go back jesus calls us some of the religious leaders we need to be careful here because there were some religious leaders who were very devoted godly people in fact they're willing to identify with jesus and even you know lay down all of their resources namely who comes to mind so not all of the religious leaders agreed with the majority jesus called hypocrites let's look at that passage it's very strong language in brittany if you could read for us in matthew 23 beginning with verse 1 i don't think i've ever heard jesus speak more strongly than this and so while britain is reading ask the question why is jesus speaking so in such what appears to be such harsh language to these religious leaders and it must have something to do with that hypocrisy will never give us the rest for our souls that we need starting in verse 1 of chapter 23 down through verse 13. i'll be reading from the new king james version matthew chapter 23 verses 1 through 13. then jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples saying the scribes and the pharisees sit in moses's seat therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do but do not do according to their works for they say and do not do for they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers but all their works they do to be seen by men they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments they love the best places at feasts the best seats in the synagogues greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men rabbi rabbi but you do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher the christ and you are all brethren do not call anyone on earth your father for one is your father he who is in heaven and do not be called teachers for one is your teacher the christ but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant and whoever exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted but woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in you know as you were reading that there seems to be a strong correlation between hypocrisy and self-exaltation and selfishness maybe it's all one root it's all kind of woven together why would a person make a profession of something but live differently what do you think anybody why would they make a profession but not follow it shaina i can say i'm these things to look good to people um and if if no one is really tracking my life to to ensure that i am living like that then you know my appearance looks good but really well jesus knows so but that ties in to wanting to exalt myself beyond where i actually am jason why would a person do that hypocrite jesus said hypocrite you say one thing but you don't do it sure so sometimes people want the benefits of a certain way or a certain expression but they don't actually want the responsibility or the things that may not make them feel as good so they kind of want an external good feeling but internally they still want to do what they want to do themselves so they kind of want this for their own purposes and not really for anyone else yeah nicole i recently heard someone say that hypocrisy is the enemy of love because if you don't have love you are going to present yourself in a way so you can appear to have it but you really don't because love is authentic love is um love is transparent and hypocrisy there's clearly a shadow and a wall there so i heard that it really kind of stuck to me that it's the enemy of love and that's why christ can't have it and it's interesting because the rest in christ is resting in his love yes i think it's all related isn't it what a beautiful thought um you know some people might hear these stern rebukes pedro that jesus is giving and think jesus you you're a hypocrite i mean ever don't be so hard on these people nobody's perfect but in the same chapter we see that jesus actually he's so hard on them because he loves them that's that's an interesting thought because hypocrisy will always lead to destruction destruction look at a revelation of his character there in matthew 23 and verse 37. i'll be reading from the new king james version matthew 23 37 o jerusalem jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to her how often i want to gather you children together and as a hand gathered her chicks under her wings but you were not willing you see the love of jesus which is a revelation of the father's love well did anybody anyone here either here in the studio or or shayna puya find yourself acting like a hypocrite and you're going to testify today to the world whoops that didn't give me the rest i was looking for jason sure so um these days uh at least uh over my life i've spent a lot of time on social media particularly certain sites like facebook and people get into arguments and discussions there and there were times in my life when i was in discussions with people friends professors and even though people knew i was a christian knew i you know studied the bible um i was saying things and attacking people and acting well very ungodly in a public forum even though people knew i was a christian so i clearly was doing things publicly that didn't match you know my relationship with god or showed that there was a disconnect there i'm hoping you could tell me you changed yes well by god's grace i spend a lot less time on facebook and social media and i i decided to turn my my facebook page not so much into debates and discussions anymore well thank you for sharing that i remember a time i was going to church i was 18. i looked and a friend from high school was across the road and i turned my head so he wouldn't see me go into the church hypocrite and i still feel the pain of that day because jesus was not ashamed of me fortunately jesus saved me yes but we all contend if we're not connected we could all tend towards hypocrisy right we could tend towards selfishness and self-exaltation so puya would you read to us john 14 1-5 because embedded in this story we see both restlessness from the disciples but also the secret the antidote for restlessness whether it's caused by selfishness or a desire for self-exaltation or hypocrisy read to us john 14 1-5 sure and i'll be reading from the new king james version let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mentions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also and where i go you know and the way you know thomas said to him lord we do not know where you are going and how we how can we know the way so why why are they restless why are they at least tempted to be anxious brittany well their master who they've been following for three and a half years is saying he's leaving them and so they don't know where he's going from what thomas said and they don't know how to get to him they're worried they're concerned now what is our life going to be they left everything to follow him and now what are we going to do next and what is the answer to their restlessness uh next verse sabina chapter 14 of john verse 6 it says jesus said to him i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me rest in me that reminds us of our scripture song can someone sing it for us well no don't sing could you read it for us someone matthew 11 28 to 30. jason do you have it because really the rest is not found in selfish grabbing self-exaltation or trying to project a life that you're not living it's found by resting in christ what's a beautiful invitation there in matthew 11 28 to 30. the new king james version says matthew chapter 11 verses 28-30 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light so you finally come to the place where you say i am going to surrender my life holy to jesus and rest in him whether i live whether i die um whether the result from this uh test i just had is negative or positive i'm going to choose to rest in christ and be secure there do you know there are some people that when they make that decision not everybody supports them sometimes even friends and family members criticize them for saying you know it's like the survival of the fittest jason you know keep climbing up even if you have to climb over people you're just going to get we have an expression in english eaten alive if you just think you can rest in christ and life will go well what would you say to someone like that once you've made your decision i'm just going to rest my life for you and rest in christ what would you say to someone who says you'll just be eaten alive you you'll get trampled on by everybody i would say continue to look at the cross and how much jesus suffered to give us that rest and once we have that personal relationship with jesus uh and and we are being persecuted either by our family or friends or other people um it means that we are sharing uh in the journey of jesus and we are carrying the cross as jesus called us to and at the end of the day as as we read earlier jesus said i will give you rest and the yoke jesus said the word the yoke in some ways the yoke would seem to be a like a problem for an animal that they often use to to drive the animal to work but according to jesus his yoke is easy meaning even when we go through problems because of jesus we find joy and rest and happiness inside you know i've heard stories and i see a couple of hands in the couple of minutes remaining i've heard stories when christians are facing great hardship and yet the rest in their souls is a powerful witness to people and to unbelievers even who who come to conviction that they need resting god too nicole i would say rest is not just laying down and letting life happen rest is allowing christ to work through you and in you to give you what you need to accomplish and deal with whatever situation is presented in front of you and your life can be a testimony that correct that you found rest for your soul jason and one thing also i would say is uh the whole idea of you can get ahead of others you know by fighting for yourself jesus said you know if you live by the sword you'll die by the sword so one that you're kind of setting your destiny and then i would ask that person do you really want to live this way does this way truly make you happy because at least in my experience uh pushing over others doesn't really make a person happy shayna closing thought i also find that um when we truly rest in christ we also get his promise that peace that passes all understanding and we're able to make more coherent decisions and so um versus it's you know the comparisons of being stressed and worrying and you know being in that 24 7 society versus taking that peace and being able to maneuver life's situations much better and what a powerful testimony from shaina who not many months ago went through a really tough accident and she had to decide to rest her life holy in christ praise god shaina for the miracle that you're experiencing through resting in jesus every day and you know that's what jesus wants for all of us he wants us to learn to let it go the selfishness the desire for self exaltation the hypocrisy and say i'm just gonna surrender to jesus and rest in him and like nicole said doesn't mean you just don't do anything but whatever you're facing you're facing it with jesus by your side let's pray father in heaven what a way to live instead of these restless ways to rest in you and may our resting christ be a witness that others might seek rest in you too in jesus name amen amen well thanks for joining us for hope sabbath school today don't forget that free gift go to hopetv.org hope ss click on get free gift button we'll send you some scripture songs including our theme song hide those words in your heart jesus wants to give you rest for your soul and as you rejoice in his presence go out and be a blessing to those around you [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021