'Words of Life' w/ Pastor Mark D. Ingram
'Words of Life' w/ Pastor Mark D. Ingram
When Our Soul Needs a Break
In a world filled with constant demands and stressors, Pastor Mark's message on "When Our Soul Needs a Break" offers a timely reminder of Christ's invitation in Matthew 11:28-30. This powerful teaching explores how believers can find genuine rest amid life's challenges by bringing their burdens to Jesus.
What exactly is rest from a biblical perspective? Pastor Mark defines it as "refreshing ease," "a state of tranquility," and "relief from anxiety or anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs." The Greek word for rest literally means "to repose" or "lie back and be refreshed." This stands in stark contrast to the weariness many Christians experience, especially when trying to serve God and deal with difficult people and situations.
The sermon delves into a profound reality that many believers face: serving Christ faithfully often leads to exhaustion. When we strive to deal with people in a manner pleasing to God, we can grow weary, burdened, anxious, and even depressed. This kind of spiritual and emotional fatigue can manifest physically through high blood pressure, stress-related ailments, and sleepless nights.
Within the context of Matthew 11, Jesus addresses this very human condition. Prior to His invitation (to His followers) to rest, Jesus discusses John the Baptist, who was imprisoned for speaking truth. John, despite his faithful ministry preparing the way for Christ, found himself questioning if Jesus was truly the promised Messiah while he suffered in prison. This backdrop emphasizes that even the most dedicated servants of God experience moments of doubt and weariness.
Pastor Mark outlines three essential points for finding rest in the Lord. First, we must "schedule God time to vent." Rather than gossiping or complaining to others who cannot resolve our frustrations, we should take our burdens directly to God. Psalm 37:7 reminds us to "rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him." When we fail to vent to God first, our unresolved feelings manifest as murmuring and complaining, creating a negative atmosphere that affects everyone around us.
Second, we must "accept God's work as a privilege, not a duty." Pastor Mark challenges listeners to examine their priorities, noting how we often pursue temporary things like careers and personal goals to exhaustion while making excuses to avoid eternal investments. He provocatively contrasts how people will call in sick, avoiding spiritual commitments and responsibilities, but still force themselves to work despite illness when money is at stake. This perspective shift helps believers approach God's work with joy rather than obligation.
The third point addresses a crucial question: "Is our labor God's yoke or our own?" Jesus described His yoke as "easy" and His burden as "light," emphasizing that He is "gentle and humble in heart." When our Christian service becomes burdensome, making us bitter rather than gentle, it suggests we're carrying our own self-imposed yoke rather than Christ's. Pastor Mark encourages believers to evaluate their commitments by asking, "Does this have eternal consequence?" This discernment helps us avoid yoking ourselves to activities God never intended us to bear.
The message concludes with a powerful reminder that true rest comes not from escaping responsibilities but from allowing Jesus to carry the weight with us. In Him, we find not just physical rest but soul rest—the deep tranquility that persists even amid life's storms. When we learn to rest in the Lord, we discover that His yoke truly is easy and His burden light.
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In lieu of eternity, sermons and musical artists are featured to extol JESUS CHRIST as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity.
We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast, where our mission is persuading the lost, perfecting each believer and equipping all for service with practical application from God's Word. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life.
Speaker 2:And the majority are standing, and so I'll go ahead and read Matthew 11, beginning at verse 28,. And I'm reading from the NIV version. The verse reads as follows Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, in other words those who work to exhaustion, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Final verse, verse 30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. May the Lord add a blessing to the hearers, the readers and the doer of his holy word. You may be seated in God's house. The doer of his holy word. You may be seated in God's house For a title to take with us this week.
Speaker 2:I generally just want us to think about this statement all throughout the week. It's Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday and Saturday. Come until we meet again. Well, we meet Wednesday for Bible study, but I want us to take this with us this week. The title simply is how to rest in our Lord. How to rest in our Lord.
Speaker 2:When you say the word rest, if you were to define it, rest simply means refreshing ease, it means a state of tranquility, it means relief or freedom from anxiety, means a state of tranquility. It means relief or freedom from anxiety or anything that wearies, troubles or disturbs. It's the cessation or the stopping or absence of motion. It's relaxing the body or mind. In other words, to rest means to be at ease. The Greek literally says of this word rest, to repose or to lie back, to be refreshed. Now, the exact opposite of rest found in our opening verse, it's one word's called labor or work. That's the opposite of rest. And just for a minute, I want us to think about somebody, something or some place that has affected us recently and personally, to see if this definition has become us here. It is To become weary of or to become tired. Let's think about that for a second. Is there somebody, something in your life or someplace, recently and personally, that has affected us to the point that we have become the opposite of rest, which is weary or tired?
Speaker 2:Now, if the text hasn't stepped on our toes yet, just continue living on this planet, especially as a Christian, because in dealing with people in a manner that's pleasing to God, we can deal with people on a normal everyday basis, but when we deal with people in a manner that's pleasing to God. That will sometimes cause us to grow weary or get tired of, will cause us to feel heavy burdened, carrying weight around. That weighs us down, even into a deep depression. It will weigh us down with anxiety. Next thing you know our blood pressure. We have a history of that in our family and I start to wonder why. The base of the back of my neck it's not really a headache, it's just a dull ache. That's your blood pressure. Diabetes gets out of whack If you're not really careful. I've sat at a computer before just with blurred vision and kind of blacked out and whoa, depressed anxiety, high blood pressure. Oh, get this one If we haven't stepped on your toes yet.
Speaker 2:Dealing with people as a Christian will make you feel weary and tired, simply because people have this propensity to just say what they want to say. When they feel like saying it. They say it to you how they want to say it, and sometimes all you can do is just walk away with pain in your heart, tears in your eyes welling up, just shaking your head saying, lord, you know, I'm doing the best I can. I'm trying. You have pain, you have misunderstanding and you have anxiety that out of nowhere, blindsides us. That out of nowhere blindsides us and get this. It usually comes from those that we love and care for the most. Oh, if we haven't stepped on your toes yet, just keep living, because all of these things if you're trying to live godly in Christ, you will get tired. So it's important that we understand how to rest in the Lord they hunt us even in daylight. Now nowhere is safe.
Speaker 2:Thank you. You know, we can't truly appreciate rest unless we've ever been fatigued. You don't appreciate rest unless you've really been worn out, unless you've really been heavy-hearted about somebody. You don't appreciate rest unless you've really been troubled in spirit, unless you've really been mad at you-know-what, unless you've cried about it, unless you've thought about whatever, whoever, over and over and over and over, unless you've tossed and turned with sleepless nights about it, about that, about him, her or them. You don't know what it really means to be tired, but anybody that knows that feeling, all those things that I just talked about, then we have to get to a point where we learn how to rest in our Lord. So let's get to our scriptural review real quick, because if we take it in context, we'll look at our scriptural overview and before we get to our opening text.
Speaker 2:Jesus, in that entire chapter chapter 11, he spent time addressing his 12 disciples and as he addresses them, he now starts his ministry. He begins to go. The scripture says I believe it's verses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of chapter 11. He begins to go into their cities, the disciples, to preach and to teach. Now it's important to note that during this time Jesus starts his ministry, there was one who had come before him. There was one who had prepared the way. His name was John the Baptist. And here John the Baptist was.
Speaker 2:As Jesus starts his ministry, john is sitting in prison simply for telling the truth about a matter. And as John the Baptist sits in prison and hears about Jesus starting his ministry, understand, john is the one that, okay, there's this Jesus coming. And Jesus is the one that John spent his whole life in ministry preaching and teaching and saying the Savior is on the way. The Savior is on the way. And so John asked a question as Jesus starts his ministry, okay, I want y'all to send word to this Jesus. Jesus, are you really the one that I preached about, or should we be looking at or waiting for another Savior? Now, that's important to note because John the Baptist, as Jesus starts his ministry, john is sitting in prison, john is about to lose his life, and John probably contemplated all of his work, his preaching, his teaching, his baptizing in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2:It's not hard to imagine John the Baptist feeling right about now as Jesus starts his ministry Okay, Jesus, you're finally here. And so what about me? I'm sitting here in this prison, they're talking about cutting my head off and you just going on about your business and ministry. What about me? What about my work for you? What about my situation? Jesus?
Speaker 2:Jesus knew church what John the Baptist was thinking, and so he tells them I want y'all to encourage John. And he makes note of John the Baptist's work and his impact before Jesus ever got on the scene. All of that is in chapter 11, and so, before we got to our opening text, in verse 28, what Jesus starts talking about is he kind of re-instructs the disciples and encourages them about man. This is what John did. There's none greater than he is very important in what I'm about to do. He was the forerunner. He starts telling them.
Speaker 2:But verse 28, you all might one day kind of feel that way. Work might kind of make you tired, work might have you persecuted, you might end up in certain situations. So in verse 28, jesus says come to me, all of you who are what Weary and burdened, those who work to exhaustion for me, and I will give you rest. In other words, john, I'm aware of your work, I know you're in prison. I haven't forgotten about you. And it's as if Jesus, just like he, instructed them to encourage John while John sat in prison. It's as if Jesus is instructing all of those who work and labor in his name today, all of you that labor and are heavy burdened, come, put it all on me and I will give you rest. The next verse, verse 29. Take my yoke, not your concerns, but take my yoke, not your yoke, but take my yoke and learn about me, not you, not the situation, not how it's going to work out, not what it looks like.
Speaker 4:Take my yoke and learn about me.
Speaker 4:There's no florest in sight, no spring tonight, a dawning task. This cup won't pass. I'm in this garden with you, searching for peace. So worried, I'll be torn from Thee. I'm in this garden with you, my strength, you can renew. Been through a lion's den. You've been where I stand With the rising of the sun. The victory is won In this garden. I'm thanking you For the thorns taken from me. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, these burdens. Though I cry, I won't deny the scars, the pain, my fear or shame. So I'm in this garden with you, in your presence.
Speaker 4:Tonight, everything's alright in a secret place. I'm in this garden with you, my strength, you can renew been through a lion's den. You've been where I stand with the rising of the sun. The victory is won in this garden. I'm thanking you for the thorns taken from me. I'm in this garden with you. A rose blooming anew sunrise filters in. I'm so fenced in. You're here and we are one. So I'm an overcomer in this garden. I'm thanking you for the thorns taken for me. Though I tire, take me higher, and when my will tries to escape the trial, I feel Say child, just be still. I'm in this garden with you. To you I commit, humbly submit, I'll bear my cross. I'm in this garden with you. My strength you can renew, been through, you've been where I stand the sun. The victory is won in this garden. I'm thanking you for the thorns taken for me in this garden. Thanking you for the thorns taken for me. I'm in this garden with you.
Speaker 2:And so as we transition from those three verses that Jesus talks about, you know, give me your burdens, give me your concerns, give me your heartache, give me your hurt. I know that all of these things will happen when you're in service for me. But don't hold that, don't try to handle that. Give that to me, because if we don't, all we're going to do is end up changing. Our appearance will change and how we interact with others that definitely will change and we're going to impact people negatively. So as we transition and apply Jesus's instruction then to our lives now let's consider a few points when we consider how do I rest in the Lord? Point number one we've got to schedule God time to vent. We have got to schedule, learn how to schedule God time to vent. With that said, I think sometimes we think God doesn't know what we're even thinking. You know we think, just because we don't say it or whatever, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da. But then we think but you know, there ain't no way. But God even knows that we have got to learn to admit how we're feeling about anything, because our Father already knows, he already knows. Verse 28 says come unto me. But you know what we do. A lot of times we go to a lot of other people for opinions, for advice and even our frustrations, what we've been about, what's bothering us. Oftentimes we go to others who cannot alleviate our frustrations and then what happens is that basically ends up being gossip. When our frustration vented to another and then it's vented to another, and then another is vented to and then it's conveyed to another, then that frustration is then basically just become gossip. It's basically become gossip. And God would that we learn to vent first and foremost, and sometimes vent only to him. Schedule God time to vent. That's why he says come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. He doesn't say go to mama. He doesn't say go to daddy and they will give you rest. He doesn't say look to your husband and wife, they will give you rest, because sometimes they're not going to understand.
Speaker 2:I love a truth that my wife always tells me sometimes, and sometimes I get frustrated and mad because she doesn't see my point, and then just, yeah, you're right, you right and you right. Sometimes she's just like you know, baby, you're a pastor, and sometimes I'm not gonna even understand, but that doesn't change what you have to do. That's between you and the Lord and I. Sometimes you gonna have to correct me, but still, if I trip or everybody else trip, it's you and the Lord and as long as you are right with the Lord with it. I encourage you, go on with what God has for you to do. And that teaches me something. Every time she says that why Sometimes I don't need to vent to my wife, sometimes I need to go in and vent and throw it all on the Lord. Amen. I could have saved myself from frustration and I get mad at her, you know, but she really just told me the truth. Yeah, you told God all of this be like mmm-hmm, but that's just true. That's what God wants from us.
Speaker 2:Psalm 37 and 7 says like this this Rest in who the Lord. Wait patiently for the Lord. Fret not thyself. And I'm going to stop right there for a second, because you know when we start fretting.
Speaker 2:What we've learned is when you fret, when you complain, when you're just chatter, chatter, chatter and you're complaining, and then what the Bible calls that is murmuring. When you do that consistently, it kind of should let you know that you haven't even been it to God. You know you haven't even been it to God. If we think about that for a second, the things we murmur about, the things we complain about that, that we fuss about that, that we talk about others. If we've taken that to God first, y'all ever notice you kind of feel a peace and there's nothing else with her to talk about. But if you have it, then you got something to talk about with everybody your frustration, how that happened, how they did, how he, she and how he, and what we and why they. Oh, and it's like God is saying whoa, wait a minute, have you scheduled a routine time to come to me? ¶¶.
Speaker 2:We need to start scheduling God time to vent, because he knows it all already. If we don't master that God time to vent, a routine time to talk to him, tell him about our concerns, wait for answers, wait for direction, then all that's going to do is change this negative atmosphere around us. We're going to be infected by it and then we're not going to be light and salt, we're going to be vinegar and just sour to people. We've got to take our time when we learn how to rest in God. We've got to start scheduling God-timed events. Point number two accept God's work as a privilege, not a duty. We need to accept God's work as a privilege, not a duty, when we're talking about resting in God, because we've got to really examine ourselves, person by person, individually. We got to learn to examine ourselves with how is everything else? Ourselves with how is everything else? College I know people that are not here right now, but college is the big thing now occupational job, pursuit, our plans, our goals. How do we work and pursue things that will not last forever? And we pursue that to exhaustion with no problem. But God's work that will last eternally suffers with every excuse in the book. Only what we do for Christ will what. I'm sorry. This is one thing I cannot get over and I don't think I'm going to get over. And so if you come to pastor with it, you may as well go to somebody else with it, because I'm just not feeling it. Anybody that comes to pastor saying, you know what, I didn't come to church because, or I'm sick, I just ain't feeling it. Because scripture says those of us that are sick, come to church and do what. Let the elders of the church lay hands on them. Because scripture says those of us that are sick, come to church and do what. Let the elders of the church lay hands on them. Oh, you get well real quick.
Speaker 2:But here's where I really have the problem with it. If you get up in the morning or whenever your next schedule shift at work is, if you go to that job and you know you ain't been healed of those symptoms, you're still a little bit sick then you need to check yourself. Because what you do is we kind of let self get in the way. I'm not feeling this kind of tired, a little bit sick, kind of under the weather. But tomorrow morning, monday, I can promise you we will be at that job, especially if we don't have any sick time, especially if we don't, because then we start thinking about the bills you know, sometimes you'll miss work like, oh, I got sick time, well, no, let's take away that sick time, you've earned that. But if we take that away and then we start thinking about what this is due oh, I got to go to work, sick or not Something's wrong when we don't have that same mindset about God's work.
Speaker 5:I'm no longer among those of you on planet Earth, but I'm still alive.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be. Somebody get me out of here, help me.
Speaker 5:You've just heard a depiction of terrible despair where there's no hope or rest. The frightening truth is it's a horror-filled place reserved for those who choose to reject the way, the truth and the life. Now try to imagine what forever will feel like without Jesus.
Speaker 2:Point number three. Point number three Is our labor God's yoke or our own yoke? That's a question that we need to ask ourselves when we're talking about man, how to rest in God. Is my labor God's yoke or is it my own yoke? When we take God's yoke, when we take God's work upon us, we should learn how to deal with people as Jesus did. He says I am gentle, I am humble. So Jesus dealt with people gently and humbly.
Speaker 2:And when our yokes become burdensome, when our yokes weigh us down, more often than not those around us or those that are in our lives, they have to suffer, they have to pay because of a lack of what Rest, because of a lack of rest. We then become hard, we become bitter, we don't stay gentle, we don't stay humble. We start thinking me, my and and I, and how this is impacting me, and more often than not, that yoke has made those around us suffer, pay, all because of a lack of what was. Somebody didn't rest in the Lord. God's work has become laborious and the Bible says that his yoke is not burdensome, it's not work. We should joy in it. It's gentle, it's comfortable, it's pleasant. My yoke is easy. But when we don't learn to rest in the Lord. Rest the lack of it is going to produce frustration, it's going to produce stress, it's going to produce anxiety. And so we got to start asking ourselves wow, is my work or labor? Is that God's yoke or my own yoke? Whose yoke are we really carrying or shouldering? And we've got to become real good at asking ourselves this kind of question Is whatever I'm about to undertake or yoke myself to Because that's all a yoke is it's a wooden beam that latched on back in those days to oxen and it kind of balanced out.
Speaker 2:It could be buckets or pails or whatever on each end, but it kind of balanced out when you put the beam on the shoulder so that you can kind of get that heavy load to wherever it needed to be. And so when you talk about yoking up to something, yoking up to Christ, whatever he puts upon our shoulders to bear, to do, to carry, hmm, is it of any eternal consequence that should tell you if it's a yoke of his, or is it a yoke of mine? It's my work, is my labor? Is that God's yoke? Did Christ put that on my shoulders? Or did I put that on my shoulders?
Speaker 2:Whatever I'm working at, whatever I'm about to undertake, does it have any eternal benefit or consequence? And I think that will stop us from yoking ourselves to certain things I think I've become pretty good at. I think we've got to learn how to say no. Sometimes I'm getting good at that, because people will take advantage. Pastor, can you do a funeral pastor? Can you do a wedding pastor? Can you do this? Pastor, can you do that?
Speaker 2:I've kind of learned along the way that the Bible even says because people always got this, this skewed view of preachers and money just because some eggs in the basket are bad, and that's not correct. Because some eggs in the basket are bad, and that's not correct. Because the Bible says the workman is worthy of his hire. The workman, if there's anybody on the planet that should get paid. People ain't going to like to hear this, but this is what God says about it. It is the one that looks after your soul eternally, the pastor.
Speaker 2:That's scripture, because everybody else, we want to take care of them and the services they provide. But the one that's going to look after you to get you from earth to eternity, we kind of want to sweep that under the rug. Oh, but here they go, uh-uh. We got to stop that. Scripture says if one should get paid and I'll tell TV land that pastor ain't getting paid nothing so this is a labor of love, and that's what we've got to start asking ourselves. Man, is this work, is this yoke that's been on my shoulders that causes me to get no rest, that causes me to be weary sometimes, that makes me frustrated, that gives me anxiety, that makes me mad sometimes? Is this an eternal work that God is going to say well done, or is this something that I have yoked myself to?
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