The Place Beyond Okay | Rest | Judah Smith

Hey church home, welcome back to weekly service. We are dedicating the month of July to the idea of the place beyond. Okay, maybe I just like the title The Place Beyond the Pines, but um which I don't know is that a bad movie or a good movie. I don't know as a preacher if I can recommend movies, but um I guess we're here and I've walked myself right into this.

I really do like that movie. But what if you could be better than okay? What if you could um work on or have handles to or a road map or a guide to like am I doing okay? What if I could get better than okay? You ever ask somebody how you doing and they're like okay and you're like that means absolutely terrible.

So now in culture okay is synonymous with like not good really. Um so we're thinking like how do I get past okay? Now, if you're like me and life can get challenging and difficult, sometimes I'll settle for okay. I really will. Okay. Is the new great, you know?

It's like, man, this is okay. I'm okay. I'm making it. I'm upright. I'm moving. We're going forward. And life has been challenging. There is research and study that's informing us that at the increase of technology which gives us more access to information and more access to news and observation of human behavior and what's going on all over the world and what calamity and tragedy and and even natural disaster is happening and sometimes we are so inundated in this modern era.

We're just not okay. There's a lot going on. I said last week, it's just been hard for a lot of my friends to sleep lately. I said last week, uh, it took us, we were two hours late just to this recording in this studio because of so many phone calls I ended up on this morning with people just going through some of the most challenging moments of their life.

Hence, we are here. Hence is such a great term. I like using it. Hence, we are here. What if there is a place where you could be you could be beyond okay, better than okay? How can you get there? What does it look like? What's the road map?

What's the keys? Well, first and foremost, there is a place beyond okay. And that place is a person. And he has a name and his name is Jesus. And he's changed my life. And I'm totally in love with him. Because of Jesus, we can now look at things like relationship, rest, restriction, and responsibility in a whole new light.

In a relationship with God, we can look at these four elements. And I want you to think of it like this. These four elements make up like four walls, which creates this environment, this optimal environment for you to be better than okay and beyond okay. And that's what I want for you in the month of July.

And I'm so excited today to talk about rest. Now, the first uh installment was 30 minutes. Okay, that's as long as we'll go. We're going to go far less than 30 minutes here for the rest. But by the way, like you can't talk on rest and go so long that people get restless.

You see what I did there? I know. I know. It's wild. Um so this week has to be uh well a digestible um reasonable amount of time so that you feel unhurried and unrushed and perhaps even rested. What is rest and what is rest in in scripture? Well, at the beginning in Genesis where we're finding our framework, it says that God rested on the seventh day.

He creates the garden, the optimal environment for man and woman to thrive. And it says he he rested. Furthermore, it says in Genesis 3:6 that the the trees were really good to look at and the fruit tasted really good. There's an element there that God's sending us a message like I want you to enjoy the the visual enjoyment how beautiful the garden was and then natural sugars, right?

He wants you to enjoy the good fruit. It's pretty awesome. And it speaks to this idea that one of the essential elements of you thriving in life is rest. I've said it before and I won't say it too long because I say it so often, but God could have made this life any way.

And one of the elements he baked in to our being is we have to go offline for six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 10, somebody 10 hours. Recently, I slept in and my friend text me, "How much sleep does a man need?" And I was thinking, "A lot, you know."

Um, but we turn off, we go to sleep. He could have just made us just like, you know, the Energizer Bunny. We just go on and on and on and on. Keep going and going and going and have no need for sleep. But think about it. He He restores us.

We We go offline. We literally close our eyes and fall completely asleep to the whole wide world. And we wake up every morning and it's still here. And it's sending us a message that while we rest, he doesn't. And the world keeps turning and keeps moving. We are not the master and commander.

We are not the king and the leader. We are not the director and the author. He is and he's in charge. So rest becomes an essential practice to the human existence. Rest is it's a returning to I think the original rhythm of life. Now rest is more than just natural actual physical sleep.

Now some will say rest is not just sleeping but but it is sleeping. And sometimes I think my grandma used to say this like the best thing you can do sometimes is just go take a nap. If you're a nap person raise your hand. Okay. I love naps.

The older I get, the more I love them. Naps are amazing. One of my kids loves naps. I won't tell you which one. But listen, actual sleep is important. And I tried to wear the Aura ring and I tried to study my sleep, but then I had to charge another thing.

And I don't want anything else in my life to plug in. Like, it's overwhelming all the different plugs and then you got to get new plugins and new chargers because the the the the input changes and everything and there's updates and it's just too much for me. So, I tried the Aura Ring.

It ran out of juice. I never charged it again. So, I'm not sure really how my sleep patterns are going. But it's more than just your sleep patterns. Rest is worship. Rest is sitting in completion. And rest is also alignment. I want to talk about this first. Let me talk about rest is sitting in completion.

The first time we see the idea of rest introduced in the original book, the beginning, the genesis of this magical mystical book called the Bible. It says God rested. Now that's interesting, right? Because our first introduction to rest, the person who rests doesn't need sleep, doesn't get fatigued.

So almost immediately we are introduced to this different level or different kind of rest that isn't about physical exhaustion. It's about completion. Rest is an act of completion. Rest is an act on our part of honoring his sovereignty. Rest says I'm not in charge. He is. rest says I didn't choose my birth date.

I didn't choose my DNA. I didn't choose my heritage. My son and I were watching one of the uh uh uh old movies um like a time period piece and it was like from the late 1800s I think set in New York City and it's just wild. It's just chaos and some of these scenes.

And I think we just paused to like like go get ice cream or something and then come back because it was a long movie. And I said to my son Elliot, I said, "Aren't you grateful like we were born like now?" Like we could have been born any era, any generation, any time, but we were born now.

Like with modern amenities, you know, like with Chick-fil-A, you know, it it with the microwave. I just feel grateful. And he's like, "Dad, I think about that all the time." And I was like, "That's my guy. He's a deep thinker, you know. I like that. But rest says I didn't choose when I was born."

Rest says like I didn't earn work or plan or prepare for birth. I just I'm here. Something far beyond me is at play here and in charge here. rest sits in this idea that he is sovereign. Now the rest we speak of in relationship to Jesus is also acknowledging his completed work of giving us access and relationship with himself with God.

Jesus said on the cross it's finished. Rest is it's finished. I'm right with God. I'm accepted. I'm loved. I'm his rest says I'm going to sit in that and celebrate that. Rest in a way is a form of celebrating. Often times when we don't slow down and grant ourselves margin, there are thoughts we don't think.

There are birds we don't admire. There are songs we don't hear. There is thoughts we don't think through. Rest is well my second observation rest is worship. It is a returning to rhythm with God, saying, "God, you're you're in charge." The other day, I sat on a lounger at my house and I turned everything off.

And to be honest, the reason is because I saw a really inspiring Instagram post by Denzel Washington who said, "You got to wake up every morning and like whatever Denzel says, I want to do, you know, but like wake up every morning and before your feet hit the floor, sit in 30 minutes of silence.

And so I've tried it. I actually sit in silence oftentimes in my bathtub with Epsom salt, by the way. That's what 46 year olds do. And I was doing that just the other day and I was listening to the birds. And if you listen long enough, you're like like they're talking to each other.

I promise you it's wild. At least in my yard, they're like talking to each other. I'm like, "Wait, chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp." And you're just like, "This is this is wild. I can slow down and listen to the song that's being played to me through the birds."

I turn on a guided prayer on our app. And wouldn't you know it, it was led by my friend Christy Adams and she was talking about, "Look at the birds. They don't toil. They're not fearful. I provide for them." God says, "How much more value are you? The ultimate image bearer, the human being, the centerpiece of his creation.

How much more valuable are you?" Well, rest gives us that rhythm back. It sets us back in motion to say, "Hey, he's in charge. He takes care of birds. He takes care of worms. He takes care of butterflies." The other day, I got the best butterfly photo of my life, and it was in my yard.

Rest is is margin enough to worship. It's wild, isn't it? We We grow up and we grow out of the things we need me need most, excuse me, to keep growing. You know what you need most? You need to return again to that childlike wonder. Turn again to the summers of your childhood where you ran around and let the sun hit your skin, then heard the music blasting in the neighborhood.

And if you were in my neighborhood, man, we we we had water slides, but not like you're thinking. Nobody bought these at Costco. We duct tape garbage bags together and got the local hose out, but we had a water slide and we were making the most of what we had.

I think rest is this margin enough to return to some of the rhythmic beauty that God has all around you. It can speak to you. It can speak to you. Rest is worship. Rest is sitting in completion. And lastly, rest is alignment. It's alignment. It is rest for your soul.

Listen to this quote from Jesus. He said, 'Come to me. Are you weary? Are you worn out? All who labor and are heavy laden? The ESV says, "Come, come to me," Jesus says, "and I'll give you rest." Now, what is that rest that he speaks of? He's not just saying, "Come to me and I'm going to give I'm going to hand out pillows and blankets and everybody's going to take a physical nap."

Sure, it can include that. But clearly, this is more than just a good night's sleep or a nice afternoon nap. Jesus is talking about soul rest. Rest and reprieve for your mind, your will, and your emotions. He's saying, "Come to me and I will grant you a new way of being, a new way to be human.

I'll give you reprieve and ease and margin and perspective and rhythm and pace and acceptance and forgiveness and provision for your soul. Are you worn out, burned out, exhausted? Are you okay? No, I'm I'm not okay. Well, how you going to be okay? Well, there's a place beyond okay, and it's this optimal environment for your soul.

It includes relationship, rest, responsibility, and restriction. These four elements in the beautiful context of the essence and person of Jesus can change your life. Jesus is the best example of rest. He's the best example of rest. What do I mean? Well, Jesus was very outspoken about the reason he was born.

He was born to die. He said, "Die for the sins of human history. And yet his first miracle was done at what was probably a week-long party. What is Jesus doing at a party, at a wedding feast? And do you know what he did for his first miracle?

He turned water into alcohol because they ran out of alcohol. And in antiquity, to run out of alcohol was a shame on your family. And Jesus said, "There will be no shame here." And he turned water into wine. and the drinking continued. Does that sound like this buttoned up, ferocious kind of achiever mentality?

No. He's even in his first miracle, there's an element of enjoyment, fulfillment, laughter, not taking ourselves too seriously. Jesus demonstrates rest. He gets away by himself in the mountain, in the desert, by the water. And he spends time alone in prayer with the father. He shows us rest.

The Greeks come to see him. And Jesus loves the Greeks. He made the Greeks, but he said, "No." There are people that asked to meet with him, and he said, "No, I've got to do what I've come to do. There'll be a time for that. Now is not the time."

He had margin. He didn't say yes to everybody. Jesus, he demonstrates this rhythmic life. He demonstrates the zenith of relationship as he cares for those who are forgotten and overlooked in society. If you're looking how to do relationship, how to rest, how to have responsibility and restriction, look no further, friends.

It's all fulfilled and realized and demonstrated in the person of Jesus. But there is a place there is a place for you to be better than okay. And it's found in this space. I really believe it. Last week we talked about relationship. This week we talk about rest.

Next week we're going to talk about restriction. And the last week we'll talk about responsibility. And I believe as we look into these elements, we can find I love that word buoyancy. We can find buoyancy. We can determine and decipher and define and understand. Am I doing okay?

And by the way, do you know the truth is the answer to are you doing okay? I don't know if anyone's doing okay. Now, some of you watch I'm I'm I'm blessed and you are and I love that statement and I'm with you too and I'm so but I mean like there's a lot of things right now in the world that if focused on and absorbed and thought about you'll be instantly not okay.

There's a lot of things that just aren't okay. And yet God wants us in the middle of pain and loss and agony and horrific natural disasters. He wants us to have life on the inside, buoyancy in our soul that makes us better than okay. So, this is a unique month in that I'm even more so urging you as I come to a close, please take this content and it works well with others.

That's the whole goal here. Work it and let's talk to each other. Let's make phone calls. You can jump on pastor chat. We'd love to talk with you and discuss this and help you live in this place beyond. Okay, two more weeks left here in the month of July.

We're going to talk about restriction and responsibility. I'm excited to share with you. And uh I love you tons. Let me pray for you. God, thank you for the minutes and moments that we share. People all over the world watching this. What I love is that you are with each of us right now in this moment.

And we thank you for it. Bless my friends all over the world. If you'd like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers through his death, burial, and resurrection, it's yours, friend. Just say, "I do." It's that simple. It's done. Any way we can serve you and help you.

That is why we are here. Love you. For those in this part of the world, happy summertime. For people in the other part of the world, happy winter time. But regardless, I love the month of July. See you next week. ((music playing)) I found rest in your safe reuge. Waves they tossing me, turn me, breaking me down.

I need you now. You're my rest and my hiding place. In this place be exalted. Great is your love. Great is your love. Stronger than my fears. My anchor in the darkness. Wrapped within your love here with me now. ((music playing)) Fortress, Savior, come in the storm. God in the shadow of your wings.

Lord, I am saving you. Saving you forress. Savior, come in the storm. God in the shadow of your wings. Lord, I am saving you. Saving you. ((music playing)) I find rest in you all my days. In this place be exalted. Great is your love. Great is your love. ((music playing)) Stronger than my fears.

My anchor in the darkness. Wrapped within your love. here with me now. Forress, savior, calm in the storm. ((music playing)) God in the shadow of your wings. Lord, I am saving you. Saving you. Forress, my savior. Come in the storm. God in the shadow of your wings. Lord, I am saving you.

Saving you. Saving you. I am saving you. I am saving you. Saving you. Safe in you. I'm safe in you. Safe in you. ((music playing)) Fortress. A savior calm in the storm. God in the shadow of your wings. Lord, I am saving you. Savior you a forress a savior cal in the storm guide in the shadow of your wings Lord I am saving you saving you I'm so saving Yeah.

((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. ((music playing))