The Rhythm Of Rest

I have a message today, I titled it the rhythm of rest. The rhythm of rest. The rhythm of rest. We're gonna look at two passages of scripture today, Hebrews chapter four, and also Mark chapter four.

So if you wanna go ahead if you have your Bibles, and you wanna mark those passages, we won't really get to Mark until toward the end of the service. But we'll really spend most of our time in Hebrews chapter, chapter four. When we think about rhythm, rhythm is this. I have it up here.

Is a regular recurring pattern of sound or movement over time. It's a regular. So there's a regular to it. It's recurring, it means it's just not, like if I do this, that's not rhythm, right?

It's gotta be regular. If I do this, that's more like my rhythm, which is not rhythm. If you ever see me clapping in my foot, sitting in the ground, like that, yeah, that's a, I try to get the two together, but they don't always, there's, there's recurring, but it's not in the same time. So it's regular, it's a recurring, it's a pattern of sound or movement over time.

And it's not just a short time, it's over time. And as I was preparing this week, I walked into the place where my son used to practice piano in our house. There's a piano there that doesn't get used anymore, but I'm pulling out a drawer looking for something. I was actually looking for a hole puncher, and I see this little black box, and it's called a metronome.

And that particular little black box works off a battery, I think. I'm just over on our piano, and I see this thing, which is actually, anybody know what this is? Oh, wow, it is a metronome, you're right. So as I looked over that metronome, God just kind of just dropped something in my spirit that really, really I felt was our message for this week.

So go to the definition. So this is it. By providing a steady pulse, a metronome helps musicians play accurately, prevents them from speeding up or slowing down unintentionally, and builds a strong internal sense of rhythm. And I just felt like spiritually, there's something I want to release today, and that's a strong sense of internal rhythm.

Anybody ever used one of these, by the way? Okay, wow, that's amazing. So you might be this person, right? Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop.

Or maybe you encounter something, and then you're this guy, or gal. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. I got over that, that off stick one now, I'm back to dink, dink, dink, dink. See what I've found with many believers is they can go from zero to 100 in an instant.

That you encounter something, in the face of everyday life, some days you're very consistent and calm and rhythmical. But then other times when you know what hits the fan and things go bad, all of a sudden, we crumble in the face of seeming disaster. I find a lot of the only thing consistent in their life is inconsistency. That they go from, they're here one day, then they're up here the next, then they're down here the next, and they're up here the next, and they're down here the next.

And when I look at the Jesus of the Bible, I don't see that in his life. I saw that, I see that Jesus that moved through life no matter what he encountered with a rhythm of rest. That no matter what he encountered, we don't have any food. There's an epileptic that needs healed.

We're gonna sink in the boat, right? It didn't matter what he encountered. We don't have any money to pay our taxes. Oh, there's a fish, right?

And he lived life with a consistent rhythm of rest. That no matter what he encountered, he didn't fly off a handle. He didn't get excited. He didn't get depressed, but he lived with this consistent rhythm.

And so what I find that rest that we're gonna talk about today, rest in the rhythm of rest, it's not about inactivity. A lot of people are like, well, I'm just taking a break from ministry. I'm taking a break from work, and they think inactivity is rest. Jesus said this, he says, in John 517, he says, my father is working until now, and I am working too.

We sing the song, you never stop working. So that Jesus who's sitting at the right hand of the father seated in a position of rest actually never stops working. So rest is not inactivity. The rhythm of rest is not about a day of the week either.

You know, a lot of times like, well, I take the Sabbath off, it's family day. I've heard that a million times. I think it's funny, the Sabbath is not Sunday for in case you didn't know that. Matter of fact, the Sabbath isn't even Saturday.

The Sabbath starts Friday at 6 p.m. and goes to Saturday at 6 p.m. I was in Isbro one time. It's kind of fun to have what's called a Sabbath elevator.

You ever get in an elevator and there's one that even spawned it's like hitting all the buttons when you're in a hurry? You're like, well, the Sabbath elevator has all the buttons already hit for you. That way you just step in and it stops at every floor. So God forbid you raise a finger and touch a button.

That's how far they take that. See, it's not about a day. See, if you observe the Sabbath, now I'm not saying our bodies don't need rest, but if you're observing the Sabbath for some religious reason, think about this, that if you keep the whole law and offended one point, you're still guilty of all. So you're going to keep the Sabbath if you miss any of the other 612.

You've actually not kept the Sabbath because you're guilty of all of them. So I hear this too, like God's called me to a season of rest. Rest isn't about a season because what season is it when that season's over? Rest isn't about inactivity, rest isn't about a day, rest isn't even about a season, rest is a lifestyle.

It's a lifestyle that Jesus lived that no matter what he encountered, he consistently moved almost like, I hear the word glide, he glided through life. Like I have areas in my life that aren't like Jesus. Like he had this consistency that I need, that when I turn on the television, I turn on the news, and do we go like this? He didn't, when I get a text, oh my gosh, what's going on?

Or I get to work and I hear something at work and phew. But he had this rhythm, consistent, reoccurring. It wasn't temporary, it reoccurred over an entire lifetime that he was on the earth. And so today as we look at scripture, I really want to pour that lifestyle of rest that's available, that's accessible, and that Jesus himself displayed is, we're going to see at the very end of today's message.

So four things I want to look at today, and oddly enough they spell the word rest. So hopefully you can remember these. Four things about rest. Rest, it's a rest that remains.

Number one, it starts with our, it's a rest that remains. Number two, it's a rest that must be entered. It must be entered into. Number three, it's a rest that stops.

And number four, it's a rest that must be tested. Anybody ever take physics in high school? Well, people know what a metronome is. Okay, maybe you've heard this.

Newton's first law of motion, right? All right, a body, two things. A body at rest stays at rest. And a body at motion will stay in motion at the same velocity and in the same direction, unless acted on by an external force.

Which means this, so two things. One, a body at rest stays at rest. So if I put this Bible on that table, that Bible will never move unless acted on by an outside force. See what happens in the Christian life is this.

We apply things that are true in the physical realm, which sometimes they are and we apply them to the spiritual realm. So I believe what God wants us to say is that a body at rest has the potential to stay at rest, even when acted upon by an outside force. See what we think about body at rest stays at rest until some external force hits it. Oh my gosh, I'm getting hit.

The waves are hitting me. I'm getting, I'm really, I'm really going through it. Therefore a body at rest only stays at rest until something hits it. But a spiritual body is at rest, stays at rest, even when an external force comes against it.

Jesus carried this rhythm of rest into everything that he did. No matter what he encountered, no matter who he encountered, no matter what he heard, saw, stood, touched, felt. He lived a methodical rhythm that was rooted in rest. Number one is this, a rest that remains.

Well, let's read, we're going to read Hebrews chapter four. This is a confusing, verses one through 11. This is somewhat of a confusing passage. So I want to read it, and then we'll go back and make some points from it.

Hebrews chapter four, verses one through 11, it said, therefore, since a promise remains of entering in his rest, let us fear less any of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed, the gospel was preached to us as well as them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed to enter that rest, as he said, so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way.

And those to whom at first was preached did not enter in because of disobedience. Again, he designates a certain day saying, in David, today, after such a long time, it has been said, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. If Joshua had given them rest, then he would not have afterwards spoken of another day. There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God, for he who has entered into his rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from his.

Let's therefore be diligent to enter that rest as anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Father, we just ask that you would teach us today, bring your word alive in your name, amen. Arrest that remains. So what we see here in verse one, it says, therefore, since a promise, say this, remains.

A promise remains, which means nobody used it up. It's still available. Like it's accessible. It's remaining.

It's still here. It says a promise remains of entering his rest. Let us fear, lest any of you should say this, seem, seem to come short of it. Lest any of you should seem to.

So think about this. There's this promise of rest. What do we know about all the promises of God? According to 10 Corinthians 1, 20, it says, all the promises of God are in him what?

Yes. And in him, amen to the glory of God through us, which means that in God, in Christ Jesus, if he makes a promise, he's already said yes. The next part says that in him, we are the one that gives voice to the amen. And it brings glory to him.

So here's all the promises of God. This promise of rest is one of thousands, right? But it's a promise because it says all the promises of God are a what? A big yes.

So do we have to convince God to give us this promise? No, it's available. He said, but what do we have to do? We have to say amen.

Let it be so. He said, see, let's go back, go back, back, back. Lest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come. So here's what I want to tell you.

If you've accepted Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking, you are in a position of rest. But you don't seem to be in rest because your natural experience doesn't match your spiritual reality. The reality is this. He's put you in a place of rest.

When he sat down, you sat down with him. But unfortunately, your experience in life doesn't mirror the spirituality that you're actually in rest because you're not exhibiting it. You're not experiencing it. Now this word, when it says fall short of, it's not talking about falling short of heaven.

It's not talking about not getting to heaven. Look at the Greek word. It says to come short of, who's stereo? And I'm not going to tell you the history of that, but it's similar to hysterectomy.

And it has to do with women. Just leave that there. Just leave that right there. It means to fall behind in a race, to be inferior in power, influence or rank, to fail, to be wanting, to be in lack, metaphorically to fail, to become a partaker.

See, there's things that when you step into your walk with the Lord, He puts everything in you that you ever need. But it doesn't mean that everybody by experience taps into all that's available. I love the new living translation of Hebrews 4-1 because it spells it out just like that. It says God's promise of entering into His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.

It's a spiritual reality. It's true. There is a promise of rest. You're seated in heavenly places in Christ, but the experience in and here and now today, it's not evident in your life.

And He says, I don't want you to leave a promise, not tapped into. Like you're out here crying wolf, peeing and moaning, whatever. No, I just said that. Oh, wow.

You've got the reality of rest in you, but your experience doesn't reflect it. See, it says, next verse says this, verse is 8-9, for if Joshua had given them rest, he would have not have afterwards spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people God. Think about this, the Israelites lead Egypt, right?

And Moses sends the 12 spies into the promised land. 10 come back and said, we're not able. Yeah, the cities are too fortified. The people are too big.

We're like grasshoppers in their sight. Like we're going to get obliterated. And then two spies, Joshua and Caleb said, we're well able. We can do this with the Lord's help.

Let's take it. And because the people believe the word of the other 10 spies, every one of that generation died in the wilderness. The only people that made it into the promised land were the ones that were under 20 years old at the time. And so it's the second generation that makes it into the promised land, the land of rest.

See, the promised land does not represent heaven, because in heaven there will be no battles to fight. In the promised land, it was accessed city by city, little by little. God said, I'll drive them out, little by little. Because if I give it to you all at one time, you'll not be able to handle it.

And so there were battles to be fought. There were people to engage. And so the promised land is this representation, not of heaven, but of the finished works of Christ and the reality of what we live in today. And he says this, he says, therefore, if Joshua had given them rest.

So if you read in Joshua 23 verse one, it says they had rest all around. They conquered the cities. They were at rest. But here it says, if Joshua had given them rest, if that was all there ever was, was the Israelites making it into the promised land, then it says David, never would have talked again about today.

And what David did, if you read in Psalm chapter 95 verses 7 and 8, this is where Paul is quoting this here. He says, today, if you will hear his voice and not harden your hearts as they did in the wilderness. So here's the logic in this. He's saying, if Joshua would have fulfilled all that was available spiritually, then 500 years later, David never would have talked about today because if it fulfilled then, then 500 years later when David wrote Psalm 95, it would have been pointless.

It would have been stupid. Because if it wasn't still available, why would he even bring it up? And so the writer of he, who's also Paul, he says, because Joshua didn't completely give them rest, there still remains a rest for us today. It's available today.

It was not fulfilled by the children of Israel, only in types and shadows. It was a type and shadow of what's available to us right now. So it remains. Unfortunately, most people don't tap into it.

I think more Christians die in the wilderness. Forget getting into the promised land. Most Christians just live right here and die complaining their whole Christian life. Like, I just wanna go back to Egypt.

I think I'll stay here. What am I doing here? And we just walk around our entire life just full of complaints. But God says there's a promise.

It's a promise. And if you'll tap into it, it's still available. It's still available to access new territory. It's still available to conquer the enemy.

That's all available. But too many of us don't get to that experience. Number two is this. It says arrest that is entered.

Arrest that is entered. So it remains. But if it's just there, I have to actually step into it. I have to access it.

We access rest not by works, but by faith. We access rest by faith. I don't wanna talk about this just for a few minutes today. It says the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith.

So it says the gospel was preached to the children of Israel. They actually had the good news preached to them. But because they didn't co-mingle, it's the word mixed means co-mingle. They gave the gospel and faith.

And it says because they didn't co-mingle faith with the gospel or the good news, it became of no benefit. It was no benefit. What benefit is it to die in the wilderness? Like that's not the life I want this church to live.

I don't want you living in the wilderness. I want you tapping into the promises of the promised land. So if you're gonna derive profit from scripture, if you're gonna derive profit from the gospel, then you have to co-mingle your faith with the word that is preached. It says it was of no profit because they didn't mix faith with the gospel, which means that it is of profit, it's of benefit, it's advantageous and beneficial to you when you mix your faith with what God's promised us.

That's how you step into it. It says for we who have believed do enter. So the way we enter is how? Through faith.

We enter through faith. See, a lot of times we tend to make faith a work. Maybe nobody, maybe I'm the only one who does that. You know, we can make faith into a work.

Anybody ever see a dog chase its tail? And what's he do? He just goes and circles. See, most Christians chase faith like a dog chases its tail because you're trying to access something that you already have.

Does a dog, he thinks he's seeing something that's not his. He said, oh my gosh, there's a tail. I want that tail. I want that tail.

But all along he, what? A tail. We think that's funny. Look at that dumb dog chasing his tail.

Look at that dumb Christian trying to chase faith. Do you know that faith is a fruit of the spirit? Some translations say faith. Some say faithful.

That's a relation 5, 22, and 23. But I'm going to tell you this. It's the word peace. This is which is faith.

But when the Holy Spirit is in you, faith is in you. Faith is in you. When it says in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, 4 by grace, we have been saved through what? Faith.

And what? And that. OK, I want you to point something out here. We know that grace is a gift, right?

Grace is a gift that we receive. It's free. But faith is also a gift. Faith is a gift.

It says that, which is referring to faith, not of yourself. It, referring to faith, is what? The gift of God. See, too often we're trying to drum up our own faith.

Man, if I just get 1,000 people praying together, if I just fast for 27 days, I'm going to make God move. If you're praying to attempt to change God, then your faith is a work. You should be praying to change you. Praying to change you.

Prayer should change me. What's easier to drum up my own faith or receive the faith that he's given me? It's much easier to receive the faith that I've been given than try to drum up my own, which I never know is even going to work. How many think that the faith of Jesus probably works?

I don't think Jesus has any deficiency in his faith. None. There's absolutely none. Not a sliver of doubt.

Not a worry. Not a fear. It's faith in its purest form. Paul says this in Galatians 2, 20, he says, I am crucified with Christ.

Anybody ever hear this verse before? Now I put the original King James, because I think it's a better translation, and I'm preaching, so I get to pick it. But there's a big difference here. There's a big difference.

And it's the word of verses in. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, let's say it, I live. And the life, oh, but Christ does what?

Lives in me. And the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. A lot of translations say this, the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. What's easier to do living by faith in something, or someone, or living by the faith of that person?

Do you see that? Like where rest comes in here? When I learn to live by the faith of Jesus, it's much easier than me trying to figure out how much faith and what kind of faith and what scripture to quote, and how many prayers to pay to put my faith in Jesus. But when I receive the gift of faith, his faith, it's why the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter three, or German 12, or three says that he has dealt to every man and woman, every one of us, he's dealt the measure of faith.

Do you realize we've all been given the same measure? The measure is his measure. Peter says this in second Peter chapter one verse one, he says that we have all obtained like precious faith. Like precious is one word in the Greek that means equal value.

Think about this, do you think Peter had faith? Now we talk about what an idiot Peter was, but have you walked on water? He has, oh, we have one, okay. You walked on water, okay, I need to hear that testimony later.

I feel like I need discerning of spirits on that one. No, but when Peter says, he's writing, he says that you've obtained like precious faith, equal value faith, I wanna tell you that when you have the faith of Jesus, you have apostolic faith. It's equal value faith that the Apostle Peter had. It's the same faith that the Apostle Paul had because it's not their faith, it's not my faith equal to Peter's faith or my faith equal to the Apostle's small pulse faith.

It's that they recognize they tapped into the faith of Jesus, which is the same faith that we've been given and that's how we can have equal value faith because it's his faith. It's so much easier than chasing my tail. Oh, I gotta have more faith, I gotta have more faith. I don't have any faith.

Oh, ye of little faith. 40 years, right here, 40 years because I'm trying to get something that God's already given me, rest, that rhythm, that rhythm, that consistency is available but most never experiences. That consistency that Jesus has, that he lived at on earth, it's available but can only be accessed by faith. And I'd encourage you to receive the faith that he's already imparted to you.

You have the faith that it takes and that's required to appropriate what he's provided. It's there, it's there. I encourage you today to look at your life. Just take the last week.

Shoot, I could just take the last day. This morning, yesterday, today, getting ready for church. See, Jesus is the measure. It's called that he is the measure of the standard of the stature of prayer.

And to like, our measurement is Jesus. And if my timing and his timing don't match, it's like Jen up here playing the drums and she's on beat and I'm doing this. Like somebody's off and it's probably not her. Like when your rhythm is off, when your rhythm doesn't match Jesus, probably not him, probably you.

It's probably you. And so I've got to get the spiritual metronome out. I've got to get the pulse, the heartbeat, the rhythm of Jesus Christ. And I've got it, it's like putting that pacemaker on my spiritual heart.

I've got to let it set my rhythm. Got to move in unison with him. Because that's where I'm able to walk into things and not let it take me from zero to a hundred like that. Number three is this, it's a rest that stops.

It's a rest that stops. Anybody ever hear of a cease and desist order? Okay, other hand, I've never given a cease and desist order. Same one to walk on water.

Yeah, yeah. I feel like there's more to that story. cease and desist from fipping. Yeah.

No, cease and desist is you're telling somebody to stop doing some particular action immediately. Stop it. Don't do it anymore. It's over.

It says this, it says God rested on the seventh day. And here's where we pull the law into grace, right? So many people get this confused. It says God rested on the seventh day from all his works for he who has entered his rest.

All right, so rest remains, right? So it's available. We don't all experience it. But if we appropriated by faith, we can enter in, right?

And now it says those who have entered in do what? Have ceased. The word ceased, the same word as rest. It's actually the same word.

But those who have entered in have ceased from their works, the same man God did from his. See, when God created the earth, it's going back to creation. When God created the earth, he did it in how many days. OK, let's go back to Sunday school.

Got six, yeah, six days. Right, on day one, he said, let there be, OK, everybody knows that one, right? And then he said, puts the stars in the moon, he does the water in the land, and then trees come up, and the birds and the fish, and then on the set, the six day land animals, and then the sixth day who gets created on day six? Adam.

So God does not create Adam until last, because had he created Adam first, even though Adam's the crown jewel of creation, had he created Adam first, Adam would have been gasping for air, because there wasn't any. He would have been, he'd have been treading water, right? He'd have been, oh my gosh, it's so cold, right? Because there's no sun.

Couldn't see, because it was dark. He couldn't eat, because there's no food. So God doesn't create him last until everything is perfect, and then he creates Adam and places him into perfection, where every need that he ever would have would be pre-provided for and self-sustaining. See, after God creates Adam, like, let's just say on day 27, oh God, please provide air.

Oh God, please provide apples. God never created anything after he finished creation, because he pre-anticipated, it's not like Adam praying, and said, oh God, I need this, and I was like, oh my gosh, I cannot believe I forgot oranges. Phew, just like that. Now he thought of every need Adam would ever have, and then he places Adam in that.

And so when God rested, let's read Genesis chapter one, or two, it says, thus the heavens and earth, and all the host of them were what? Finished, they were what? Finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day for all his work, which he had done.

What did God do on the eighth day? I asked my wife, this is when she asked, that's so simple, why didn't I ever think of that? God did not go back to work on day eight. He didn't go back to work.

He stayed in a perpetual state of rest. As then, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because he rested from all his work, which God had created. See, God on the seventh, think about this. Six days, the evening and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were the second day, the evening and the morning were the third day.

It goes on, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day. But guess what it doesn't mention? Never says that about the seventh, because it didn't, and it continued perpetually after that, because God didn't rest because he was tired. Oh my gosh, it's six days of creation.

Oh my gosh, man, you ever watched Jim Carrey? Like, trying to answer all those prayers, you know, what was it called? What was that? Bruce Almighty, right?

Like, it's funny, but when God finished in six days, it's not like he's like, Jesus, Holy Spirit. You know what, I'm out. I'm tired. I just can't create another tree.

I just can't pardon another sea. I'm done. Another guy, if I had to speak in other galaxy, I'm exhausted. No, God rested because he was finished.

He rested because he was finished. If you're in court and your attorney's representing you, and he says, your honor, I rest my case. Is your attorney tired? Hopefully not.

Hopefully he's presented all the evidence, and it's clear, and hopefully you found innocent, but regardless, he says, I rest because I'm done. And that's what God did. God didn't rest because he needed a break. He rested because it was complete.

He never created, see, even today, six thousand years later, trees are still self-sustaining themselves. Animals are still self-perpetuating themselves. Humans are still self-perpetuating ourselves because God created once and then rested. It's no different than when Jesus hung on the cross in John 19, 30 and says, it is finished.

See, it's finished. It's finished. Sin, paid for. Sickness and disease, paid for.

Demonic oppression and bondage, paid for. It's finished. What Jesus do after he ascended? He sat down at the right hand of the Father, not because he, oh my gosh, if I had to hang on that cross, one more minute, I just need a break.

He sat down because he was done. When he died, you died, even came alive, you came alive. When he rose, you rose, and when he was seated, you were seated. See, when God made creation perfect, it's the same thing when God made you in the new creation.

If any man be in Christ, he is a what? New creation. The same way God perfectly anticipated every need in the original creation, he anticipated everything you'd ever need in this creation. It's the new creation.

It's complete. Colossians 2.10 says you are complete in him. See, I think the biggest challenge to rest is learning how to stay in your seat. And I don't mean physically.

I mean spiritually, you're seated with him in the heavenly. Oh my gosh, do you believe what just happened? I don't think Jesus is up there getting excited about stuff, because he's already provided everything that would ever be needed to meet every need, that would ever be encountered today. See, the fight of faith is the fight to stay in your seat.

Abraham to rest is laboring to stay seated. Man, if I could just learn how to receive what he's provided and be confident in that, knowing that it's going to be okay, that I don't have to convince him to give me something that he's already given me. He's already said every promise is yes. It's a yes.

It's just like Jim Carrey. You remember, he had all those prayers coming in. He goes, I got him, I was going to answer yes to all of them. Yes, yes, yes.

And that's what God did. Every promise. Yes. A faith that must be tested.

You know, if your faith doesn't get tested, anybody can stay at rest. How hard is it to stay seated when nothing's happening? Oh man, I'm just resting in the Lord. Life's great.

Till storm hits. Till stuff hits a fan. All of a sudden, now can I stay seated? See, there has to be a test.

Otherwise, we just think we're doing okay. I got this one. I got this one. I got this one.

I'm good. Are you? We'll see when the storm comes. Are you okay?

As if you've learned, I said, it's a test. That's right, it's a test. Test. See, we'll see an experience if you can walk out where you're at in reality.

See, when the storm comes, the storm comes to reveal what that rhythm is. What that rhythm is. Watch this movie this week. It was, I don't recommend it.

It's got like 500 killings in it, but it was called extraction. What's that guy's name? Helmsworth. Ladies know who Helmsworth is?

Yeah. I always look up movies to see how many swear words are in for watching. I know it's just my thing. I see that it's Helmsworth.

I'm like, I know why you want to watch it now. Yeah, I get it. But there was a point in this movie to where this bad dude puts a gun right in his head. And the clip's not, and he pulls the trigger.

Click, Helmsworth doesn't. Click, this man doesn't even flinch. But I believe spiritually we can get to a place where we don't flinch. We can get to a place where we can have a gun to our head.

And we have such a rhythm of rest that the click doesn't even make us move. The Apostle Paul says, I don't know what I might encounter there. All I know is Holy Spirit says that I'm going to be bound in chains. But he says none of these things move me.

None of these things move me. See, you can get to a place where things don't move you. I've never seen a week, and I'm not going to get political, but this last week I've never seen a week where people have been moved so much in the last 20 or 30 years. And I say, God, if they just knew what rest was, if they just knew what the rhythm was, they wouldn't flinch when things don't look the way they should look, or things look different than you think they should look, that you can go through literally anything and nothing will move you.

See, it's got to be tested to see if it's genuine. See, there's things that we have to believe that we can't see. See, there's human, do you know there's human faith? There's also supernatural faith, right?

But do you trust that? Do you trust that? Do you trust that? I told you.

You do, okay, I'm sick. All right. That was human faith. I want you to sit on that chair that's right there.

There's a chair right there. See, you're, I'm just not so easy. See, super human faith, the faith of Jesus requires that we believe things that we can't see. See, I can sit on this chair, but if you pull the chair away and tell me to sit on the chair that I can't see, my senses won't let me do it.

My senses hold me back because there's no chair there. But if God's word says there is a chair there and it didn't, but what if it did? Whether I can see it or not, whether I can touch it or not, I can sit down in confidence because he said it. See, there's got to be a time when we start believing what we don't see.

It says that, and I want to point out this. So this is a story where Jesus falls asleep in the boat and I put up there from Luke chapter 8, but we're going to read from Mark 4. You guys good? Good.

Okay, we're going to do this fast because it says, as they sailed, he did what? So I want you to think prophetically about this. I don't want you to think, well, Jesus preached all day and he took a nap. I want you to think prophetically about rest.

As they sailed, he fell asleep and then what came? A storm. He is entering the storm from a place of rest. What we try to do is when we encounter the storm, we try to get into rest.

But Jesus is coming from and entering into the storm in rest. So Mark 4 says this, I'll read it up here. It says on the same day when he even came, he said, let's cross to the other side. Now when they had left them altitude, they took him along the boat as he was and the other little boats were with him and a great wind storm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling.

But he was in the stern asleep on a pillow and they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? Sometimes your ability to rest in the middle of the storm will be misinterpreted as ambulance. Well, you must not care. Well, you obviously don't know what's going on here because if you knew what was going on, you would be doing something.

See, I believe that you can get to a place to where you don't flinch when the guns point at your head. And it looks like you don't care, but you really are so solid in rhythm of rest that nothing is able to move you. And when it looks like to other people who are moved, it looks like you don't care. But it's not that you don't care, it's just that you know who you've put your trust in.

We have two different, they're in the boat with, like Jesus is in their boat. Is Jesus in your boat? If you're saved, let's just say Jesus is in your boat. When you come to the storm, are you going, are you staying like Jesus?

Boom, boom, boom, rhythm of rest, boom. Nothing, nothing. But here even the disciples, what did he say? He said, let's go to the other side.

They had a word from Jesus that they were going to the other side. Interestingly enough, they're in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. And if you've been here the last few weeks, we've talked about into the deep and that we encounter the presence of God in the deep. But there's also times when you're following the presence that storms will arise, also in the deep.

And so as you're moving into the deeper things of God, you need to be aware that there will be storms that will test whether you're at rest or you're just faking it. I think most people fake it. But the storm will discern and the storm will reveal what that clock looks like on the inside. What that rhythm looks like on the inside.

It says, and then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. I looked at this. I just found this out this week. So maybe you knew this.

Maybe that is not, he's not releasing peace into the storm. That's not the word peace, Irenae. It's not that he says my peace, I give you my peace, I leave with you. That word peace is the word shut up.

It means silence. It means shut your mouth. The word be still in the Greek means put a muzzle on it. Shut up.

Put a muzzle on it. Do you realize every time Jesus, do you realize the waves are what you can see, but you can't see the wind. See, the waves are what's visible, but the visibility of the storm is driven by an unseen force called the wind. That when Jesus encounters the wind in the waves every single time, he speaks first to the wind, which is the spirit behind the waves.

Are you getting this? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, rulers in high places, spirits, wickedness, hosts and darkness. There is an unseen realm called a spirit realm, a demonic realm that is causing the waves in our life that is creating this boisterous and the first thing Jesus does is stands up and speaks to the spirit of the wind. It doesn't freak out.

He doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't like, oh man, I'm going to, I'm going to bind and come play. I'm going to bind and lose him. He just literally shut up, shut up. Put a muzzle on it.

Do you realize when you're at rest? I believe in taking authority, but you cannot release authority in the storm unless you're coming at it from a position of rest. So he releases it. You'll never be effective releasing authority into the storm unless you're doing it from a place of rest because anything other than rest means I'm putting my confidence and trust in something other than him.

Master wake up, do you don't care? Not care. Watch it. Watch it.

Shut up. Put a muzzle on it and it said there was a great calm and there was a great calm. And see, here's what you can do. Your internal reality can become your external reality, that you literally have the ability to release what's on the inside of you into the situation around you.

And it says, who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him? And what did Jesus do? And all of a sudden, he released his internal reality into the reality of the storm and a storm submitted to what he said. You have the same authority.

You have the same victory. You have the same ability. But too often we try to drum up something that we already, he's given it to us. He's given it to us.

You've been given authority. If you've been filled with all these spirit, you've been given power to be a bold witness to literally release into overwhelming situations a rhythm of rest. See too often the metronome is the world that's setting my ticker. See, we're setting our rhythm to the rhythm of the world.

We're not of this world. My citizenship is in heaven. I've got a heavenly rhythm. And I've got a heavenly rhythm that's when it's released, you can set the rhythm out here to reflect what's in here.

Instead of letting that set what's here. But there's got to be a test. See the test is a good thing. Nobody likes the storm.

But the storm gives you the ability to grow into all that God's placed in you. Remember that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. It's in on every side but not crushed. Like when the cracks appear so the glory can be released.

And so the rhythm can go out. We're going to close with the message. Don't hate me. James chapter 1 verse, you know that under pressure your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

Your faith life is forced into the open and brace the storm. Quit freaking out. I'm tired of freaking out Christians. If we're to live like Jesus, Jesus lived with this rhythm of grace.

It wasn't forced. It wasn't fraud. It wasn't fake. It was natural.

It was birthed from this place of intimacy with the Father. That the Father's rhythm, his heartbeat in heaven, was the heartbeat of the Son on earth. And then everything he did, it says that he perfectly reflected the glory, the radiance of his Father. That's available to you.