WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:02.399 Good morning. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.240 Well, uh, we've managed to get the AV to behave. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:07.360 It was misbehaving. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:09.119 We had four screens out of five. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:14.640 I know, uh, as the saying goes, that ain't bad, uh, but we have all five of them working now. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.519 So welcome to Fresh Brook Church this morning. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.960 Thank you for joining us. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:30.879 Uh, for those of you that have sweat your way here in the heat, uh, for those of you uh for whom coming out in this heat was just too much and you're joining us live online or you catch up with us later. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:32.960 Uh, my name is Dave Davidson. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.920 I'm one of the two pastors here at Freshbrook Church. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:47.200 And our prayer this morning is that you will encounter the living God and be blessed as we worship together this morning in song, in prayer, and in the preaching of the word. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.000 I want to extend a special uh welcome and greeting to Stephen Mora Bolson. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:01:01.200 Uh, they drove down from Lincolnshire yesterday from New Trials Mission, where they work and serve to share with us and with our children this morning. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:04.000 This won't be a full mission update. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:09.200 Uh, you'll catch that from them later uh in August as part of our mission series. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:16.560 But they will be here this evening, uh sharing as a part of the culmination of our week of prayer something more about their work. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.760 So do come this evening if you're able to at 6:30. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:24.159 Uh it'll be uh everybody that the teams are going to join us as well. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:36.239 They're not having their separate meetings, so we would encourage you all to come and join us this evening, particularly if you know of the work of Steve and Moira, be encouraged and join with us in prayer with them and for them. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:42.879 Uh, just want to say uh on that of our week of prayer, thank you to everybody that has joined with us over the course of the week. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:58.719 Those of you who joined us at seven in the morning on Zoom, those of you come out in person in the evening uh from 7:30, and those that have uh braved the midday heat and prayer walks uh through the far end of Freshbook into Grange Park. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:04.400 Uh may uh the Lord just bless all of that work and continue to bless us as we pray. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:12.560 Now, this morning we come to uh uh the mid-year review, if you like, of our theme text. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.520 Uh, the text that we set for a year as an eldership. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:24.639 We pray each year that God would give us a wisdom and an insight, a verse or a series of verses that would speak to us as a church uh in the year to come. 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:27.759 And so we preach this text in January. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.439 Uh so for some of you, uh, we're coming to this text a second time. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.520 Those of you who joined us since January, uh then a preach on this text will come to you fresh. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:48.400 Uh I've not looked again at what Phil shared in January, but I commend to you, if you're blessed and encouraged this morning, to go and have a listen as well to our service on YouTube. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:03:00.719 But I invite us this morning, uh, we're going to preach from the New Testament, but we're going to start the service in the New Testament and read together the text that is on the wall behind us. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:06.159 So, will you read with me Matthew 11 verses 28 to 30? 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:15.759 Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.879 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:28.479 For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.400 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:44.479 Let me just uh open our time together in prayer and commit a morning to the Lord, uh, and then we will move into a time of sun worship. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:04:01.439 Father God, we ask that you uh meet us here, that you come and dwell in our midst, that in our minds, in our eyes in what we see, in our ears in what we hear, in our heart and what we sense of you, Lord God, we would have an encounter with you. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:10.639 That by your spirit you would stir us in worship and praise of you, that you may be honored and uplifted as you and you alone are worthy. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:36.480 Would you encourage us encourage us, Lord God, in love for you and in love for one another, and to have such an abundance as that love as we go out from here, that we love and encourage and bless others in our community, those in our homes, amongst our neighbors, that there'll be such an abundance of it, there'll be plenty left for tomorrow for our colleagues and those that we work alongside through the course of the week. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:51.759 So would you bless this time this morning in all that we do together as a whole church, in what takes place later as we come to your word, and in what Steve and Moira will share with the young people in our primary and secondary urban saints. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:59.120 That it be for your glory and for our encouragement. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:00.800 We ask in Jesus' name. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:01.759 Amen. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:11.279 Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew 11, verse 20, to the end of the chapter. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.480 And if you've got the church Bible, it's 976. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:21.759 If you went to Bible, I see a lot of people were going to get Bibles, so I imagine you've all got Bibles by now. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:25.439 So Matthew 11 and verse 20. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:33.680 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.720 Woe to you, Kulazin, woe to you, Baseda. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:46.240 If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:53.920 But I tell you, it would be more bearable for Ty and Sidon on that day of judgment than for you. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:58.560 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.120 No, you will go down to the depth. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:08.079 If the miracles had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:14.959 But I tell you, it would be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:27.040 At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.839 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:45.680 All things that have been committed to me by my Father, no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:51.920 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:07:02.560 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest to your soul. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:08.079 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.560 Paul, thank you for bringing us a reading. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:25.439 So just hold that text open, please, uh, as we look at uh these few verses. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:45.199 And just the sense of what I want us to grasp this morning is that Jesus doesn't simply invite weary people to find relief, he invites them into a lifelong relationship of trusting, learning from, and walking with him. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:53.360 So, by way of introduction, I want you to think about an invitation. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:57.600 Every invitation expects a response. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.519 Some invitations change our diary. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:07.360 You think, oh, yes, scratch that out, put that in, that's the day. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:17.199 Some invitations change our future. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:33.120 Some invitations change everything, and there is one invitation this morning that we will look at that is greater than any other invitation. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:39.600 Whenever we receive an invitation, we instinctively ask three questions. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:50.399 We want to know who's inviting us, we want to know what they're inviting us to, and we contemplate, should I accept? 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:03.200 This morning in our text as we look at it, we hear one of the greatest invitations ever spoken. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:17.440 Before Matthew lets us hear Jesus say, Come to me, he first wants us to understand who it is that is extending the invitation. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:31.200 Because here's the key it is only when we understand who is extending the invitation that we might begin to grasp how amazing it is. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:41.440 So let's look at this one who invites and consider why why does it matter? 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:52.639 Well, before Jesus invites anyone to come, Matthew has taken ten chapters to establish beyond doubt who Jesus is. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.840 You could thumb back through from the beginning of Matthew. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:06.320 You find as you read chapters 1 to 4 the story of the early years of Jesus, his birth narrative, his baptism, and his temptation. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:20.960 And then when you get to Matthew chapter 5 through 7, we have that text that we know as the Sermon on the Mount, a block of teaching that Matthew has drawn together that is what Jesus taught. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:36.960 So we have his birth narrative from 1 to 4, a teaching narrative in 5 to 7, and then when you look at chapters 8 and 9, we have just a succession of miracles that God is working in the lives of the people around. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:55.360 And then when you get to chapter 10, the chapter before that, which we're considering this morning, uh that chapter is devoted to the instructions that Jesus gives to his twelve disciples as he prepared to send them to take the good news of the kingdom of heaven that was come on earth. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:07.120 And then when we get to chapter 11, his ministry is expanding, and the inevitable question arises who is this man? 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:17.120 And when you look at the beginning of uh John Matthew chapter 11, let me just read this brief exchange for you. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:21.360 Uh, from uh 11 verse 2 through 4. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:32.320 When John, John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, Are you the one who is to come? 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:35.279 Or should we expect someone else? 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:40.080 Jesus replied, Go back and report to John what you hear and see. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:51.039 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:06.000 Even John the Baptist, now in prison, sends his disciples to ask, Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:24.480 This is the same John who had declared there was one coming after him, he himself, who was more powerful than he, who would baptize not with the water that John the Baptist baptized with, a baptism of repentance, but one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:31.600 John would baptize him, uh John would baptize him as Jesus came up out of the water. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:36.720 A voice spoke and said, This is my son, whom I love. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.559 With him, I am well pleased. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:43.600 This is the John the Baptist wrestling with who is Jesus. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.320 He wants to know, are you the one? 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:54.799 And we can speculate about why he's asking the question, but we can be grateful for this. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:58.320 He asked it so that we don't have to. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:04.399 Because he asked the question that so many now are asking, and Jesus gives an answer to that question. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:13.360 So if you this morning are wondering who is Jesus, let him answer that question for you this morning as we look together in this text. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:24.960 Jesus addresses his doubts, his concerns of 2,000 years ago, so that in the 21st century we can hear his response. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:27.120 And he points him to what he was doing. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.279 So, John, look at what is going on. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:42.080 Look at how you see the kingdom come in the miracles, the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, those with leprosy cleansed, the deaf hearing, and the good news proclaimed to the poor, just as God said it should be. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:53.919 Jesus doesn't simply answer John yes, but he points him to the evidence that proves he is the one who was promised. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:03.200 He is the one who was to come, he is the one that John had proclaimed him to be, that the voice from heaven had declared him to be, so that all about might know. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:11.919 The miracles that Jesus references are not random miracles, the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, uh, the rest of the list. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:19.679 Uh, but they are evidence of God fulfilling his purposes and revealing Jesus as the promised Messiah. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:34.720 And that same Jesus of 2,000 years ago is still working powerfully and miraculously in the lives of people today, both in believers' lives and in those who are seeking him. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:42.320 So this thought to hold on to, as the writer to the Hebrews puts it in chapter 11, verse 1. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:49.759 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:58.559 By faith, we are invited to look carefully at the evidence of who Jesus is. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:09.840 And then as we uh move uh on into the text that we've read together, we'll just think about this the tragedy of unrepentance. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.279 You see, great privilege brings great responsibility. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:23.759 Few places in history have shared the privilege of the towns that Jesus is now about to mention in these verses. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.840 Let me read them again for you. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:28.639 Uh verses 20 through 24. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:35.840 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.679 Woe to you, Khorasim, woe to you, Beth Seda. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:49.600 For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:56.320 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.559 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the heavens? 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.039 No, you will go down to Hades. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:10.559 For if the miracles have been performed in you that have been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:17.279 But I tell you, it would be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:22.480 Khorasin, Beth Sarah, and Capernaum. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:29.600 They had seen more of Jesus' miraculous working than anybody else. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:33.600 And yet Jesus speaks woe to them. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.360 Woe to each of them for rejecting the evidence that was so plain for them to see. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:49.120 You see, the challenge for them was not a lack of evidence, as some here now might say, Well, I don't see the things in my day-to-day life that they saw. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:17:00.799 The woe to them was their lack of repentance, not acknowledging who Jesus was, as he evidenced through his uh teaching and through his miracles. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:18.480 Jesus, uh Tyre and Sidon and even Sodom, those towns that are referenced, uh, for those that were listening as Jesus spoke, they conjured up a sense of judgment and wickedness uh that was unparalleled. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:25.200 If you wanted to describe depravity, you spoke of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.759 And look at what Jesus does with that. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:45.440 He makes a comparison between them and Khorasin and Beth Seda and Capernaum, the towns in Galilee that Jesus had lived amongst, moved amongst, uh, taught in, and performed miracles in. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:18:00.720 Jesus' warning to them and by extension to us is that the greater the light we have seen, the greater accountability that will be demanded of us on the day that Jesus returns. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.039 Make no mistake. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:12.319 As we meet each Sunday, we are all exposed to the light as we worship God together and hear his word preached. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.759 This is a sober warning for us. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:20.960 Hearing God's word is never a neutral experience. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:27.200 We can choose to respond and say yes to God, or we can choose to say no to God. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.519 There is no neutral position, no middle ground. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:36.880 To make no decision for God is to say no to God. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.559 So out of these verses, I want you to remember this. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:56.880 It wasn't the lack of evidence for which Bethsaida, Khorazin, and Capernaum were judged, but their lack of repentance and turning to God from their sinfulness. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:10.960 And then there's this move from these woes declared on these towns to one of the gentlest invitations in Scripture. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.720 Let me read to you again these verses out of Matthew 25 to 27. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:28.720 At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and reveal them only, reveal them to little children. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:33.039 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:41.359 The invitation that Jesus makes is wonderfully wide. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:54.720 Jesus thanks the Father that these truths that are revealed are not given to the proud, to the arrogant, to the educated, but to those who come like little children. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.920 Simple, open-handed, faith and trust in Him. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:04.319 Only the Son knows the Father. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:09.920 And only through the Son, Jesus Christ, can the Father be known. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:19.519 The invitation that follows is from Jesus, the Messiah, the long promised one, the Son of God. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:23.920 This invitation comes with a royal seal. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:30.160 You cannot receive a higher honor than an invitation from Jesus. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:37.599 So let's consider what is it that we're invited to. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.559 And here it is. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:42.240 Verse 28. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:49.200 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:21:02.559 Jesus is speaking to people burdened by sin, crushed by legalism, and living under Roman oppression. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:09.359 Today, what wearies us and burdens us may look different. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:25.119 It may be grief or anxiety, hidden shame, loneliness, family pressures, responsibility, caring for others, exhaustion. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:32.640 Jesus is inviting you to bring them to him. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:39.039 I wonder what would stop you from coming to Jesus. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:47.279 As I reflected on this, I was caused to think of Queen Esther, the most beautiful woman in the land. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:51.039 Was it a hundred of the most beautiful women that were gathered together? 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:59.759 A year of beauty treatments, and the king selected from them the most beautiful of the hundred most beautiful to be his own wife. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:12.480 And yet Queen Esther, as beautiful as she was, hesitated to go into the king's presence, to go through the door to the inner court for fear of her life. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:29.279 And I thought too of the temple, and at the heart of it, the Holy of Holies, a curtain that hung from ceiling to floor, a curtain that was so thick, no man could tear it. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:33.200 And no man but the high priest dared go through it. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.920 And then but once a year. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:41.920 Is it a door and fear that holds you back? 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:45.599 Or maybe just that sense that you're not quite beautiful enough. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:50.799 I might not be received as Queen Esther feared for going to the king's presence. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:55.119 But she stepped into the inner court. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:02.720 The king looked, extended his scepter to her, delighted to see her coming, queen. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:06.160 What do you want up to half my kingdom? 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.519 And that curtain that once separated us from God. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:15.119 When Jesus bowed his head on the cross and said, It is finished. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:26.160 As his head fell forward, God by his hand tore the curtain from top to bottom, not as we would if we touch it from the bottom. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.960 You see, the way is open to God. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.160 Jesus took the door off the hinges. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:39.839 There is no door that obstructs our way to the inner court, no lack of beauty that prevents us from coming in. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:53.119 And as he tore the curtain, he separated the barrier between sinful man and the holy God through the life, the death, and ultimately the resurrection of Jesus. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:04.400 Christ has made a way for us to come to God where there was none before him. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.640 So what is the offer that Jesus gives to us? 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:18.960 What is it that comes out of this text that we have, the text that is on the wall behind me? 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.839 Jesus offers us rest. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:26.319 But not simply relief from responsibility. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.559 Rest is found in relationship with Him. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:40.720 Take my yoke upon you is an invitation to exchange masters, not to carry nothing. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.720 Everyone carries a yoke. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:48.559 The question is, whose yoke are we carrying? 00:24:49.359 --> 00:25:01.599 Look at the progression in Jesus' invitation, come to me in verse 28, and then take my yoke and learn from me. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:04.960 The goal isn't simply relief. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:12.559 Jesus doesn't merely remove burdens, he places us under himself. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:22.319 That sounds harder until we realize his yoke replaces every other yoke. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:26.880 People carry all kinds of yokes. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:29.680 These are but a few. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:44.799 Performance, approval, success, self-sufficiency, fear, guilt, religion, perfectionism. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.440 Did you find yourself in that list? 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:56.480 Is there something I missed of the list that is the yoke that you bear? 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:01.200 Jesus isn't saying, come and carry nothing. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:04.960 He's saying, stop carrying what's crushing you. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:08.480 Carry what I give you instead. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.640 Then his invitation is learn from me. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:21.039 This is the language of discipleship. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.519 It is an apprenticeship. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:29.359 Jesus calls us to walk with him and become like him. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.480 Then he says, I will give you rest for your souls. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.559 You come to Jesus worried under the weight of your burdens. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:45.599 Lay them at Jesus' feet. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:52.000 You come alone, but you leave with Jesus at your side. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:00.960 We come to Jesus one way, we leave with Jesus different people in a different direction. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:06.319 Notice Jesus' heart. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:11.759 I am gentle and humble in heart. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.240 This is not merely what he does. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:18.480 It is who he is. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:28.079 Let's just return to those questions we considered at the beginning. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:31.359 Who is doing the inviting? 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:33.359 The Son of God. 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:40.720 The Son of God, the King of Kings, has extended an invitation to you. 00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:44.880 Who is invited? 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:46.880 Everyone. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.519 Everyone who will come to him. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.440 There are no exclusions. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.559 His court won't be too full. 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:57.039 There is space for you all. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:59.599 And what is offered? 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:03.039 What is he holding out to you with his invitation? 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:04.640 It's rest. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:08.319 It is relationship. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:10.960 It is life. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:21.119 As I draw to a close, what I want to say to you, I invite you, please, just to close your eyes. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:28.640 Open your hands as a gesture of vulnerability, of offer to God for yourself. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:40.319 And hear these words as I read to you again slowly and intentionally the verse that God has given us as a church this year. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:48.240 Matthew chapter eleven verses twenty eight to thirty. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:52.000 Come to me. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:08.559 All you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:23.359 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:31.359 For I am gentle and humble in heart. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:38.880 And you will find rest for your souls. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:50.640 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:10.160 My invitation to you this morning is if you have heard and received that invitation from the Lord Jesus Himself this morning, or maybe you've heard it before, but but back then you didn't make a decision, or you chose to say no. 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:15.599 The invitation comes again to you. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:20.559 Will you come to Jesus, to the King of Kings? 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:28.960 The one who took the door off the hinges, the one who tore the curtain, the one who makes a way into the very presence of God. 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:47.119 You can come through and be in the presence of the living Son of God, the Savior, who is working miracles in changing lives in this day and time, has done from creation, will do till the day he restores creation. 00:30:49.279 --> 00:31:10.000 And to you this morning who know and love the Lord God, but who are wearied and burdened, to you this morning who love the Lord Jesus, but you bear a yoke that is too heavy for you, weighs you down, and is crushing you. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:30.160 Come to him who will lift that yoke off you, and then stand tall at the side of Jesus, and know that the yoke that he puts on you is no more than his arm around your shoulder. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:41.680 See, he stands tall and he stands strong and he leads you forward at his pace with him by your side, where you can have confidence. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.079 You're going nowhere where he isn't there for you. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:32:06.000 And as I close, know this the judge who had every right to condemn, as Jesus spoke, uh to those towns in Galilee, he is the one who invites you to come. 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:22.880 You need do nothing more than bring your burden, lay it down at his feet, take up his yoke, become his disciple, apprentice to Jesus, that you might become like the Master. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:32.880 May this text live with you afresh today, tomorrow, and all through this year.