hey well today I'm very excited to start a brand new series called Jesus said it's a look through some of the we're going to do five weeks through the teachings of Jesus Christ and usually every year I do some kind of red letter series and I just want to encourage you for the whole month of October just let's do this together as a church in your personal devotion time in your daily reading or your regular reading of scripture let's just spend some time in the gospels this month now if you're reading somewhere else I think that's great but let's incorporate time in the red letters specifically in Matthew Mark Luke and John I love teaching the The Parables of Jesus the hard sayings of Jesus and today we're starting a Jesus said series with a message I've called the Great invitation mission the great invitation since you brought your Bible to church go ahead and turn with me to Matthew chapter 11 we're going to be at the tail end of that passage that chapter Matthew chapter 11. let me encourage you to always bring a Bible to church and a notebook I think it's a great way to stay engaged in the sermon by the way you can engage in small group discussion this week whether that small groups your dinner table with your family or with a small group at work or somewhere here in town Matthew chapter 11 the great invitation while you're turning there let me ask have you ever gotten a cool invite to go somewhere you've always wanted to go have you ever been asked by a Maybe a commanding officer to come and have dinner at the you know at the at the Officers Club or or maybe you've been invited to go be a part of a cool sports opportunity or something that you've always wanted to do I've not done everything I've wanted to do in my life but I have had a few cool opportunities I'll never forget the time I was asked to go to the white house uh it was a tour to kind of get ready for my future estate you know where I was going to live but anyway um it was just prophecy anyway no the first time I was invited to the White House it was a great opportunity and I had the privilege we actually got to meet with the the the acting president's staff at the time and and um there was a moment where they were asking it was a group of pastors they were asking us for prayer and I got to lay hands on and lead a prayer meeting for the president's personal assistant and the entire team that was working with the president I just thought that was a great Opera what a cool opportunity you know I couldn't uh I would not have turned that down that's for sure I've got to meet some of my favorite leaders and pastors and folks I really admire some celebrities and athletes and and I've gotten the privilege to serve with some pretty amazing organizations as well let me just pause and say Stephanie and I both agree the greatest invitation we've received yet is to come to Clarksville and to be your pastor so even though we've met all these other people you're the greatest people that we know and we thank God for you most of all let me just ask you what kind of invitation would you adjust your life to like what what invitation could you receive that you would adjust the way you live adjust your schedule I mean most of us if our boss called us and said hey I need to meet with you you'd make the adjustments or or maybe if an elected official uh in your community our county or city mayor College and said hey I'd like to have a lunch with you we'd make the adjustments and we'd do the appropriate things to to put time in our calendar for that well Jesus our lord Our Savior our King the god of Heaven has offered so many invitations throughout the gospels this is why I want you to read the gospels over the next month as we're doing this Jesus said series he has made so many invitations for us to come to him and honestly one of the things I'm concerned about as a pastor and just I think just being a Christian in the south in in this part of the country is sometimes we take for granted the constant invitations of Christ to come close to him to come near to him and so today we're going to look at one of his most famous invitations and it's something that I believe will change your life forever honestly and my hope today is by the end of the service that you'll be a different person because of the invitation of Jesus Christ and I pray that God used me appropriately for that I want to start in Matthew 11. I want to give you the context as we read the text together then we'll unpack it as a church Jesus is confronting religion which is man's attempt to get to God which is behaviors and rules-oriented things and he he's honestly you know if you study the Bible Jesus came into a culture and a time in history where religion was very much a part of the of the cultural landscape it was not hidden in this separation of church and state kind of attitude it was very much a part of the cultural landscape and he came into a religion that was not self not saving people it was actually binding people by rules and regulations and and sacrificial systems and Jesus came into a culture that was wrapped up in a ton of political drama and also a ton of religious pressure and those two worlds are colliding and and in Matthew chapters 10 and 11 he's confronting those religious World Views in fact at one point in the chapter 11 he proclaims all these woes like he's basically condemning these cities that have tried to get to God through religion or that had become mean in their desire to be Godly they actually became mean and horrible and he Compares these cities in his pronouncements of judgment he said it would have been better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you guys I mean he's in a pretty intense moment in his uh proclamation of these curses and these condemnations on these cities that are just basically wrapped in sin and then in that very same sentence like that very same paragraph it we pick up in Matthew chapter 11 verse 25 and it says and at that time after pronouncing woes on these cities Jesus declares to the father he says I thank you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden all these things from the wise and understanding and you've revealed them to Little Children what Jesus is saying is is all the the kings of the earth and the rulers of the political world they don't get what God's doing right now and he says you're revealing it to the little ones talking about all of his disciples and those that are following him and he's thanking God that you have hidden this from the wise and you've given it to the little ones you father for such was your gracious will and then he says all things have been handed over to me now he's talking to the crowd he said all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the Son of God except the father and no one knows the father except the son and it feels a little exclusive Jesus is making this kind of exclusive statement like I know the father and the father knows me and nobody else knows us like we know each other which feels a little awkward when you're in the room there you know it's like Haha I've got a best friend and you can't know him anyway that was a third grade baggage is what that was just came out of me he said all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal and then he says this in verse 28 and here's the great invitation you ready verse 28 he says now come to me all you who labor all of you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest remember his context he's talking to a crowd of people trying to get to God through works and religion and like sin and political climbing Jesus goes woe to all of that and he goes now come unto me he introduces this inter this intimate relationship between him and the father and now he's saying now come be a part of that he says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you learn from me for I'm gentle I'm lowly all the religious and the political and the cultural stuff and the sin and the burden and the baggage that's not General that's not low he says take my yoke upon you learn from me I'm gentle and low in heart and you will find rest for your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Lord would you bless the reading of your word and the preaching of your word help me Lord God to speak in a way that's transformative and brings life change forever and Lord we ask you you get all the glory and praise for changing Us in Jesus name amen I love this text it's actually a very simple invitation from Jesus we're going to stay right here in these three verses the whole time there are a couple things here that I want you to notice first of all a simple invite could you imagine getting a text from the CEO of your company goes hey come up to my office now some of you would freak out like what did I do oh my gosh this is this is not God you don't have to freak out about him you know but he just says it just like that it's like the Lord sending all of you a text this morning say hey come to me very simple invite second you you'll notice there's some realities that he wants to address in our lives every one of you that's burdened and heavy laden that needs rest come to me then he gives some profound promises the simplest promise of all is that you'll find me you'll be with me and you will find and have rest for your soul anybody in a season now or coming out of a season where your just soul is in turmoil like anxiety or stress or you got some diagnoses or got some drama going on in your life and you just need some rest for your soul Jesus is inviting you come to me there's some realities in your life there's some promises I want to give you and so I want to ask you on the front end does anybody feel like you're laboring through some stuff like your life is heavy and hard is anyone out here that be honest with the Lord and say man I need some rest in my soul so let's look together at this text because notice it when Jesus starts he said come to me and I will give you rest then he goes a little further he says take my yoke learn from me and you will find rest the Bible in the New Testament has this Motif that actual Sabbath rest is intimacy with God it's not a Friday or Saturday off or Sunday off it's and I encourage every one of you to take a day off every week to rest with the Lord and Come Away With God none of us should be going hard seven days a week it's not part of God's design for us a day of rest is really important but real rest is knowing and walking with the Lord and that's the motif the book of Hebrews says that entering into true Sabbath is the in is the reaction is is the result of us entering into relationship with Jesus every day but let's look at this together and let's unpack this three-part invitation here first of all he says come to me come to me I just want to pause and extend that invitation from the Lord to all of you today come to Jesus come to the Lord watch how he says in verse 28. come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest it starts with a beautiful invite come to me and it seems like a certain group is who's talking about everyone who's laboring and everyone who's heavy laden or burdened or late things upon you let me just help you with who he's talking about because honestly if you you might be sitting here going I'm not really working right now so I'm not I'm not in labor so you know that's not really about me that's a joke um Pastor Aaron she and her husband lead our Austin Peay campus and this week in our sermon prep she helped to see the difference between all who labor and all who are heavy laden all who labor is probably referring to anyone who's just burdened with cares that weigh you down things you can't control stuff happening to you and through you and because of you maybe and yet all who are heavy laden could be referring to anyone who's been placed heaviness on them externally like somebody's putting more weight on you either way it's it seems like it covers all of us at times right like we've either got stuff going on or stuff going on around us can I hear a man from somebody all of us at some point or another are dealing with stuff and because we're humans we're always dealing with sin our flesh our desire to religiously approach God or whatever the case and Jesus is basically saying to everyone come to me by the way this is the part of the the Invitational heart of Christ is is always for everybody in context if you remember Jesus was speaking to people who are carrying sin in their lives they're they're Hypocrites or people carrying religion as their way to get to God I'm going to behave my way to God I'm going to do the rights and the the sacrifices and I'm going to earn my way to God and prove my way to him through religious activity and he's talking to those who have no hope for their soul because they're woefully lost and this invitation not only to his disciples but to everyone else is come to me you're trying to come to God through all these different means you're trying to come to you you're trying to come to your flesh you're trying to you're trying to climb some ladder in your culture and maybe in your company or in your world and Jesus is going no no come to me come to me all of you who are trying to do this life on your own and look what he says come to me and I will give you rest come to Jesus in other words he's saying be close to me come near me come next to me get comfortable with me know me hear me listen to me come to me most people don't refuse invitations from great people most of us would never refuse an invitation even if we don't agree politically we would probably take an invitation to have a meal with a political official a leader and a boss in our company most people don't refuse invitations from leaders they admire there's famous celebs can I ask all of you do you admire Jesus do you love Jesus more than all why do we refuse his invitations to keep coming to him the god of Heaven shows up with an open arm invitation to come to me come to me when you're heavy in your heart and it's difficult come to me in response to all the heaviness we're feeling and experiencing and in response to all that's happening his arms are wide open and is his he's not saying get that figured out and call me when you're better he doesn't say go get a squad to get your life cleaned up he just says come as you are come get your stuff come get around me when you're dealing with it's hard when it's heavy don't try to resolve your issues resolve to be with me no matter what you're dealing with no matter how heavy it is no matter what you're going through Jesus says I will give you resolve and rest listen people came to Jesus in the gospels for all kinds of reasons they came for forgiveness for answers for healings for miracles for teachings they come for deliverance many of them came for others but in this invitation Jesus is inviting us to come to him for rest which is way more than a nap he's saying I want your soul to be at rest anybody know the feeling when your soul is not at rest your emotions are out of whack it's overloaded emotions broken Spirit Heavy Hearts distracted and Disturbed Minds what are we tending to do in those situations is we try to fix or placate or avoid or evade or distance ourself or we medicate through sin and drink or drugs or whatever but Jesus is saying when it's hard and heavy come to me when your spirit's broke when your heart's heavy when you're distracted and Disturbed instead of medicating and avoiding innovating and working harder to just fix it or we project and soul vomit all over everyone else Jesus says get near me get comfortable with me get to know me I I feel like the picture of Jesus here is it's a loving father With Arms Wide Open I have four daughters if you're new here you don't know this but I have four girls and and my wife's a girl too so I've she's a woman she's my woman and one of the things I've learned with raising daughters is I don't know anything but truthfully there have been times when things are awry and things are upset and things are just coarse and I go what is it let's fix it I'm a doer and a task guy and I'm a fixer and my wife has reminded me many times just hold her just hug her just be around her sometimes we don't need resolve we just need him I'm just telling you this invite from Jesus in context is a world totally upside down and in tumult and Jesus is going to come to me just get by me and let me just ask you this question like it it's kind of like a life preserver in a storm it's it's the rescue boat it's the uh it's the it's the parent when you're scared you know what I'm saying do you see Jesus in this way that when life is hard and when things are upended that you can just get in your prayer closet I mean we sing it in our worship songs Hallelujah You're All I Need but a lot of us treat God like Hallelujah I'm working on this I'll get back to you in just a few days Jesus says come to me come to me I'll give you rest all who are burdened and heavy laden I'll give you rest then he invites us to do the second thing take my yoke upon you I ate a lot of eggs I remember when I was a new Christian hearing about yolks and I was like that's weird I didn't read it I heard it you know yolk he says in verse 29 take my yoke upon you and you will find he goes on to say and learn from me from meek and Lily and heart we're going to get to that in a second but he says take my yoke upon you and you will find rest notice in the first part he says come to me and I'll give you rest and now he says take my yoke learn from me and then you'll start finding rest what that means is you'll start learning how to just discover and stay in a place of rest and Soul Care and health by the way I encourage all of you to read this book called Soul keeping by John ortberg it will change your life he says take my yoke upon you and let me just tell you Jesus was not a farmer or an agrarian he was an artisan Craftsman they call him a carpenter but there's not a lot of wood in that part of the world so he was doing a lot of stone masonry work as well but this is a yoke for animals for plowing and um uh typically a yoke would be uh By Design a harness is a single animal Contraption but when you're putting two together to work hard and to work together it's yoked they're yoked together so the two animals together are called yoke fellows and you're yoked together and typically it'd be two oxen of the same size or two mules of the same side it's a single cross piece laid over their necks with these bows between them that are adjustable these bows are adjustable high and low you can see the little pieces here so if the if the one animal is a little bigger than the other you know you can adjust the yolk accordingly so that it doesn't create discomfort but Jesus is giving this analogy here he's like take my yoke upon you now Jesus was not a farmer he didn't have a yoke in his shed you know what I'm saying like he and he wasn't also an ox I don't know if you knew that or not he was not a goat an Oxford I don't think he was his man so but he understood this farming analogy and after inviting us to come to him then he gives us this analogy to say and take my yoke upon you and learn from me and what this is it's interesting that Jesus is teaching come to me to find rest and he uses an analogy of a machine designed for work I want you to understand something rest is not sleep or laziness rest is Walking with the one rest is walking alongside a yoke fellow that makes your burdens lighter and makes the job more palatable and makes the life in the walk easier rest is not doing nothing it's doing everything yoked up with Jesus what Jesus is saying here is come to me and then he's saying get yoked up with me can I tell you if two animals are yoked they're stuck together they're bound together Jesus isn't saying take my habits he's saying take my bondage and be bound up with me so that we're walking this life together Jesus by inviting us to take his yoke is not saying hey do this job for me what he's saying is come be around me don't just get in proximity but get like locked into position with me he's saying be intimate be in Partnership be close to me and walk in Step I'll tell you two animals yoke together do not go in separate directions two animals joke together are not doing opposite jobs two animals yoke together have one Collective objective and they cannot separate what Jesus is telling us is take my yoke attach yourself to me now let me do a little bit of nerding out here and some teaching for you usually when two animals are yoked together there's a couple reasons why this happens but typically in order to be the most productive to work the fastest and I know this because I am a farmer no but I went to farming school on Google so when two animals are yoked together they're typically close to or comparable in size and strength that allows him to walk together at the same Pace to get the work done at the same speed and you can study this out statistically the the the strength grows exponentially when two animals are put together so like one animal may be able to pull 50 and two doesn't pull a hundred they would pull like 250 together so their strength and their speed and their ability grows exponentially when they're working together so typically when two animals are yoked together they're they're comparable they're typically the same animal style type and the same size and strength or there's another time that two animals would be yoked together and it's when there's one strong in one week one lead and one following one larger and one smaller more experienced and less experience and that's when the farmer is trying to train the younger does that make sense so those are the two opportunities to be yoked together in an animal situation well listen when Jesus is inviting us to yoke with him he's not saying come be God with me he's not saying come save the world with me he's not saying come be as holy as I am come go to the cross for me with me he's the stronger and we're the weaker but many of us go I can't get yoked up with him because I'm not strong enough or I don't know enough Bible or I haven't been around the church long enough no no he will remember these bows are adjustable can I tell you when there's a big Ox over here and a small one here this thing gets a little tighter to compensate and Jesus in the same way knows right where you are he knows how long you've been walking with him he knows your issues he knows the sin that you've been living in and he doesn't expel the invitation for you to yoke with him just because you're not co-equal he never expects you to be equal with him he knows what he's getting into you into when he invites you to come yoke along him he knows it'll slow him down he knows that he has to be temperate and patient and kind with you he said I'm gentle I'm lowly in heart so come yoke yourself to me remember what he said and you'll find rest for your soul hey let me just come out of this for just a moment and let me just tell you in some ways we always prefer the equal yoke part right like if you got a workout partner you want somebody with your moderate strength if you're gonna have a battle buddy in combat you want somebody that knows how to cover your six right everybody right foreign for many of us we want to we we hopefully are choosing to be equally yoked with other believers as well brothers and sisters who we can walk with and grow with and not be drugged down by can I tell you when you're unequally yoked if you're the strong one you're doing all the work and you're doing all the heavy lifting and I'll tell you what it will wear you out faster than when you're with somebody that's equally yoked with you or the Temptation is it will pull you down into a ditch this is why Paul the Apostle writes in second Corinthians 6 14 do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers my wife and I we have a couple friends our daughters have friends with their daughters and there's kind of this four or five families that they all have friends in the same age group and and one of the dads and I were talking on Friday night just how thankful we are that our families have shared values shared alignment we all go to church together we love Jesus together and we're equally yoked as family it makes hanging out with their kids a lot easier and more like trustworthy right but how many of you know when you got kids that your your kids are becoming there's bad influences there and they're dragging your kids heart away from you or maybe that's true with you with some co-workers at work listen Paul says in second Corinthians 6 14 don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers can I tell everyone who's in a dating relationship or pursuing someone for marriage right now this is gold wisdom when it comes to the kind of person you want to do your life with forever don't be unequally yoked like make sure you're pursuing someone who's pursuing Christ ahead of you all right let me come back to this though when two animals are yoked together either they're both of similar strength in order to get the job done faster or there's a strong and a week because the strong is training the weak under the leadership of the of the owner and that's the situation where Jesus is inviting you into he knows where you're at he's not confused with the fact that you're not God he's not confused with the fact that you haven't read all the Bible and you don't have all your theology figured out he's also not confused with the fact that you're lowly or that you're tired you're weary you're labored and you're heavy laden and his ask of you is not go get your act together go get that stuff figured out and then come to me that's the very group he condemned that religious approach that says I got to get me figured out I'm going to try to be a better person Jesus says no no you're not a better person apart from me so just come to me take my yoke cause I'll train you I'll teach you I'll invest in you I'll I'll invite you to grow closer to me and can I tell you when you're the weaker a Hox with a stronger Ox when you're you and he's him you know what will happen to you is you'll you'll be yoked up with Jesus and and you'll start moving with him you'll start walking with him you'll start flowing with him you'll start resulting or responding to him you'll start hearing his voice and listening to him you'll start to sound like him and talk like him and you'll start to forgive like him and love like him and maybe even suffer like him Robert Morris shared once in a message it was on some some television show he was on but he was saying how the longer I've walked with Jesus the the more I recognize his voice when he speaks to me the same is true with you and your your spouse right like I've been married to Stephanie 21 years when we first met she was from Ohio so I had to translate all the northern accent stuff like don't you know you know all that kind of stuff I didn't get it e you know all that that's not true it's not true but now she could say anything from any place in our house in any emotion and I recognize her voice I know when my wife is speaking after 21 years of doing life together yoked up together living in the same house doing the same life working together I know her voice and she knows mine and the same is true when Jesus listen as he's inviting you come to me then he's saying get locked in with me and why because it's good for you it'll change you it's the greatest invitation we've been offered the god of Heaven is inviting us to take his yoke upon us both times he'll give you rest and you'll find rest and then finally he says and learn from me oh look at that that's me and Jesus he says learn from me so he starts with come to me that's kind of the big step then he goes tie into me then he says and then listen to me learn from me many of us are learning a lot from outside of him we're learning from Fox News and CNN we're learning from social media we're learning from our flesh we're alert hey watch this many of us are busy learning from our feelings I always get nervous when people say I'm just gonna I don't I don't pray I meditate I don't trust my thoughts I don't trust my thoughts for an hour that's for sure I want to meditate on God's word but just empty my head and just trust what I come out of there with nope Jesus said verse 29. take my yoke upon you and learn from me look who says for I'm gentle I'm lowly can I just invite you for this month as we're doing this Jesus said series just read the gospels this month Matthew Mark Luke and John and repeat read them over and over again and let's learn from King Jesus let's learn from our master and our Lord look what he says I'm gentle and lowly what you'll find as you read the gospels he's never abrasive or mean to you he'll never say anything to hurt you you will not find a single passage in the gospels where Jesus words hurt you never I don't know about you but I've been around religious folks that when they talk it hurts hello I've listened to stuff online I've been in the I've been tempted to get in the debates on social media where those words hurt Jesus said I'm gentle I'm low I'm I'm coming to you and you shall find rest for your souls I just want you to hear the heart of this invitation in his immediate context he's just confronted and condemned religion and the religious based rules-based approach to God and he has overtly pushed back against the Pharisees Sadducees scribes and others their religious demeanors and attitudes and he's now inviting his audience hey just don't try to get to God through that get to God by coming to me don't try to figure God out let me teach you who I am if you remember in John 14 6 Jesus says I am the only way to God I am the truth that that means everything Jesus said and is and does is true I don't know why we would search for truth outside of Jesus he said I'm the way in the truth and the life no one comes to father but through me when you and I are not when you and I not only come to him when we take his yoke upon us and share as a yoke fellow with him when we're in proximity to him when we're learning from him we discover that Jesus only speaks truth he only teaches what God wants us to know and he only leads us in the way Everlasting and you know what comes as a result of that rest for my soul peace with God the joy of the Lord this is an invitation to learn from him doesn't it seem so simple yet so profoundly hard at the same time this is his invitation to learn from him can I just tell you some of the practical ways you need to do this this is why we read his word gotta tell you you're not going to figure Jesus out just making it up or watching The Chosen great show but read your Bible this is why we pray can I invite every one of you this month to commit I'm going to pray every day let's just do it together as a church I'm gonna spend time with God every single day and don't just come to God with your list here's my prayer list God it's not a grocery store you ever go to the store and just walk around like I don't even know what I want here today it's like scrolling on Netflix I don't know what I want to watch I spend an hour trying to pick a show and never pick one I just want you to cruise with Jesus like that and don't drop off any list I just want you to be with him get in your prayer closet get on your knees stand on your feet whatever you need to do and just worship him just stand there in silence and listen to the Holy Spirit spend time in his word spend time in prayer go to church get in your small group come to me learn from me and you'll find rest for your souls you got to have a plan to get around Jesus how many of you know the invites there but you got to take a step did you hear what I said the invite is there but you got to take a step I was invited to go to the White House you know what I had to do buy a suit because I was 41 and didn't own a good suit then I had to buy a plane ticket had to get a hotel room I had to go through security they got real security at the White House can I tell you that one right now I felt a little violated I'm not gonna lie you have to take the steps to receive this invitation come to me take my yoke learn from me if I can be real honest as a pastor I just want to say I'm concerned that sometimes we don't get this right for many of us if we're not careful our greatest relationship is not the Lord can I tell you the Eternal relationship that you're actually working to build is with Jesus not your buddy your homeboy your neighbor your politician it's with Jesus it's not your favorite celebrity or what basketball player is shooting what hoops and what their stats are who cares about that our greatest relationship is not anything here it's with the Lord and yet I'm afraid that for many of us we're waiting till heaven to come unto him but he's inviting you come unto me now take my yoke we're getting yoked up with other people other ideas other belief systems we're we're following Islam and Hinduism and rules and all these kind of other religions Jesus saying get don't even follow a religion come to me and get yoked up with me and learn from me we're learning from everyone else but him and I just want to bring us back to this very simple invite and look what Jesus said my yoke is easy my burden it's light many of us are living life all the time hard and heavy that is not who Jesus is if you feel like being a Christian is hard and heavy you haven't met Jesus because his burden is light and easy I've got a couple friends that are going to come up here and help me with a closing illustration I showed you a picture of a yoke but I actually have one I'm thankful for a new friend in our church and his I think a great grandfather somebody had this yoke I found out most farmers in the area don't use two oxen to do their field work anymore they use one John Deere you know anyway one of my our friends uh had this yoke kind of in a shed somewhere and so we had to modify it we didn't have the bow the bow piece so we were using rope instead and but you get the point let me just show you kind of the anatomy of a yolk and I've got a couple friends here this is Jesus and this is you okay good you're tracking um the the top piece here is called the beam and it's the main body of the yoke um the belly is the middle that attaches to the pulley system the chains or whatever that's attaching to the cart or the carriage or the plow the next seat is this curved part here that's designed to bring Comfort but allow you to carry some of the loads so the animals would have this as a comforting spot and then the bow would be typically a piece of wood that's adjustable but we're we're symbolizing it here with a piece of rope but this goes around the neck of the animal or the person and uh and it's meant to carry the weight when you're pulling on it right so so this is what you pull the Yoke with and I want you to understand something here this whole passage is an invite from Christ Our Lord our Master our King to find Rest by putting on a work device so I'm going to ask Jesus to hold your yoke because you said to take not you not no hang on you not yet we're invited to come to him he said first of all and honestly if if if if we're If we're honest about this many of us if we're invited to Jesus we go cool I'm just going to be around Jesus what's up bro how you doing and we're just gonna be boys and don't ask me of anything but just let me be around you because I want to be best friends but I still want to be me you know and so that's anybody else's problem but mine so so we like this place next to Jesus because it hadn't required anything of me yet hadn't cost me anything yet but the invitation of Jesus is take his yoke which means we share the load of this crossbeam now watch the invitation is not give him your yokes because a lot of people do this can I see this we go we go uh Hey Jesus man Hey listen I got a lot going on I got baggage from my youth upbringing my dad was mean and or I've got Southern issues or or men I I was hurt Church hurt I got all this stuff and hey God I've been carrying this for so long would you mind to carry this with me Jesus didn't say bring me your yokes he said take mine oh wow so wait a minute how there is no triple double yolk here there's I'm either gonna carry mine or I'm gonna put it down and carry his so Jesus said take my yoke because it's easy and light and the Yoke I've been carrying is heavy and hard it feels like it feels like shame it feels like sin it feels like my flesh it feels like 20 years of racism it feels like oppression it feels like defeat that I've been walking around in just believing because of my upbringing and all this other junk in my life it feels like my feelings and we want to go to Jesus and go hey will you carry this with me and he's like why don't you just put that down and take my yoke on you well part of the only ways that you take his joke is you gotta put yours down you got to decide to lay some things down in order to carry his yoke together and what's really interesting Jesus has invited us draw near to me come to me that the invite's open the door's unlocked the the the the fridge is yours like come into my place James said it like this in James 4 8 draw near to God and He will draw near to you there's no way in the world Jesus is not going to be on the other side of that invitation he says come to me draw near to me walk with me settle up now watch this when you get into the Yoke with Christ and we tighten the the bow appropriately to where all of a sudden you're locked in with the Lord and when he speaks that's all you're hearing and when he leads you follow and when he stops you stop and you're not taking the lead because you're the weak rocks but it's going to require some things of you it's gonna cost some things from you some of us struggle we go I can't put this yoke on because I'm not worthy he's he's aware of that I don't know enough of the mission of God I'm not holy enough I struggle God you don't know my life yeah I do that's why I invited you to come up here next to me because your life is a wreck and this life is a lot better we go I don't know enough Bible I don't know enough scripture I'm too new or I'm too old I'm too young some of us If we're honest we're too busy being yoked up to somebody else or some sin or some crazy ways of thinking or our own greed we're so busy yoked up to other cultural stuff that we don't feel like we would ever fit here don't forget this is adjustable Jesus said come learn take my yoke that's not him saying save the world I'll do that that's not him saying be perfect he'll do that some of us struggle but he's not saying take the weight of Heaven and Earth Jesus I got that you just take the weight of being near me tie your life to mine be in real relationship with Jesus so how do we do it can we stand to our feet nobody leave come on let me just close this in prayer I'm going to hand off to our campus Pastor in just a moment first thing I want you to do is you have to decide I believe that this invitation is for me and I Surrender my whole life to Jesus can I ask our prayer team to come up here right now I Surrender my whole life to Jesus you're the Lord You're the master that means I'm going to put down some things and I'm going to pick up the Yoke with Christ second I'm going to choose to come away and be with God I'm going to come to him I'm going to learn of him I'm going to take his yoke that means I want to spend time with God every day every week every month I'm going to read his word I'm going to pray don't just pray for my knees but I'm going to pray to be with him I'm going to belong to his family part of being yoked up with Jesus is you yoked up with his kingdom and his family the church the bride of Christ and I'm gonna be in small group I'm going to be obedient to God and the greatest hindrance for all of us if we're going to take up his yoke so we have to remove ours and some of you your greatest hindrance is your flesh the addictions to your yokes but in order for you to take his you got to put yours down you got to repent from some things today and that's where I want to end our time together thank you guys for helping me this morning in The Message Bible this text reads like this are you tired and worn out burned out on religion come to me get away with me you'll recover your life I'll show you how to take a real rest walk with me work with me watch How I do it learn The unforced rhythms of Grace I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly can we just open our hands to the Lord right now and I want to invite you right now if you say Pastor Mike this message is messing with me I've got some things I need to lay down even while I'm praying get out of your seat and come let somebody down here pray with you come on just get out of your seat move down here and let somebody pray with you to lay these burdens down lay these Yokes off of your life and take up a yoke with Jesus father in the name of Jesus thank you Lord God for your Mighty word thank you Lord for the scripture Stephanie if you would come and help me with prayer thank you Lord God for changing lives today thank you Lord for transforming us and teaching us new things from the word of God thank you Lord for your gospel thank you Jesus that you have offered us this great invitation to come to you to come to you to take your yoke to lay ours down and to learn from you Lord we receive this message by faith we believe this invitation is for us we will walk in this invitation from here forward in Jesus name we thank you for it Lord God we thank you for it Lord God lord and I thank you for every person that's here just thinking of the burdens that they've been carrying and I pray that they would lay them down right now every single person God we all carry challenges and trials and right now this is their moment to lay it out thank you and so Lord we make that exchange right now we thank you that your burden is easy and your yoke is light Lord we we want to walk with you god thank you for every person that's here today God and as we close out our time together we thank you God that we will turn to you and we will not turn to ourselves or other things but God we will bring all of our issues problems needs struggles to you God if you want to carry that for us you're such a good God you're such a good father and we love you so much and Jesus precious name and everybody said here today amen amen hey I want before we leave I want to invite you if this message is messing with you let our prayer team pray with you I want to close in a confession of Jesus as Lord of our lives and invite you to be baptized today if you've said yes to Christ today if God is stirring you to give your whole life to him but please let our prayer team pray with you today and get baptized and we've handed off to our other campuses but let us confess Jesus as Lord of all and we're going to walk with him together everybody pray this with me say God I thank you for Jesus the son of the Living God who gave his life on a cross for me that I can live forever say I confess my sins I ask for your forgiveness I receive your salvation to the glory of God the father in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit I receive it by faith today in Jesus mighty name I will come to you I will walk with you I will live for you for the rest of my life say it God I'm all in in Jesus name amen foreign [Music]