Touré Roberts - The Power of Rest

How are you doing? Much better, I hope! I feel like you’re going to be doing so much better when you leave here. You all should just give God some praise on credit; give Him an advance on what He’s going to do. I want us to do a little reading today. Let’s look at Mark, chapter 4, verses 35 to 40. Then we’re going to leave there and look at a passage in Matthew, chapter 11. Mark 4:35 reads like this: "On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.'" The "He" in this passage is Jesus. You know what I want to do? I want to take a minute and let this moment subside. I wish I could sing a song for you; I really do. But you don’t want me to do that, right? No, that wouldn’t be good. I think the anointing would just leave the room! Let me see, maybe I could tell you a joke, or a funny story, something like that. What joke? I’m trying to think of one. No? Ah, okay, that’s better, that’s better. Let’s just try to minimize the distractions, sorry.

So, Mark, chapter 4, verse 35. I want to talk today about something different from what I told you. Some of you may have been confused by social media recently because there was a flyer last night that said today’s message was going to be called "The Way Forward." Did you see that flyer? Then you went to social media today and it said "The Power of Rest," and that was my fault. I am going to be talking about the way forward, but I think what’s more important about the way forward is the power of rest. That’s what we’re going to discuss today. Fair enough?

Alright, Mark chapter 4. I’m trying to stall in case you know... Mark chapter 4 says, "On the same day, when evening had come, He (Jesus) said to them, 'Let’s cross over to the other side.'" Verse 36 says, "Now, when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was, and other little boats were also with Him." "Him" refers to Jesus. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. There was a storm, waves hitting the boat, and the boat started being filled with water. Not sinking, but there was water in the boat. Verse 38 says, "But He (Jesus) was in the stern, asleep on a pillow." They awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

Verse 39 says, "Then He (Jesus) arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!'" Hallelujah! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. So you see the story: everybody’s in the boat. The boat encounters this windstorm. The windstorm begins to shake up the sea, water starts to come into the boat, and Jesus is down asleep in the stern, fast asleep, just chilling on a pillow. I mean, you can’t do any better than that—just chilling. We don’t know if the pillow is behind His head or under His feet, but we know that Jesus is completely unbothered. His disciples go down there and they’re like, "Jesus, we’re perishing!" Jesus doesn’t say anything to them immediately; He just rebukes the wind and tells the sea. You’ve ever been to the ocean? He tells the sea, "Peace, be still!" and the sea settles. Then, in verse 40, He says to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" We’ll come back to that in a minute.

Let’s go to Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28. Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Verse 29 says, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Verse 30 says, "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." As I’ve been walking with the Lord, I have learned a lot about progress and how to move forward in the things of God. But the longer I walk with God, I realize there are more processes to progress than I once thought. If you have been here for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about this; progress doesn’t just happen. You've got to fight for it! I’ve preached that before: you have to fight! You’ve got to press; you’ve got to really press in to lay hold of what God has for you. I believe that with all my heart.

I don’t think that destiny is something that just falls into your lap. I believe you’ve got to make some tough decisions. I believe you’ve got to set some boundaries. I believe you’ve got to pray, press, and lay hold. I believe you have to fight giants, like Goliath. I believe you have to be willing to be tried and not deny in the midst of that trial, and fight until you see that giant fall. I believe with all my heart that what God has for you is not just going to fall into your lap. If Paul said he had to forget those things that are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead, I believe that progress is not just going to show up; you’ve got to lay hold of it.