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Welcome to all who are gathering with us today—those in this room and those watching across the world. This final message in our Kingdom Callings series carries a word for you: you are called and rested. Not everyone in this room may understand what I'm about to say, but I need you to know: you need rest.
It's a lot of people living, but you don't have rest. You're moving, but you don't have rest. You're doing church, but you don't have rest. You're busy, but you're not rested. You know church, but you don't know Christ. We're going to unpack Matthew 11:25-30 together—a very difficult passage that requires us to face it head on.
Last week I was in Brooklyn, New York, preaching at a men's conference. As I was leaving, I looked out over that city and thought about the last time I'd been there. The last time I was in Brooklyn, I left in shame. I had been arrested. My mother packed my clothes in a trash bag, put $50 in my pocket, rented a van, and drove me to North Carolina. She told me, "You cannot come back to New York."
But that was then. This time, I was returning as a preacher of the Gospel.
God does not waste experiences. He knows how to bring all things full circle. He knows how to vindicate you in time. He knows how to put you at the table in time. He knows how to redeem your name. God is a restorer.
The things the enemy means for evil, the Lord knows how to turn those things around for good and for His glory. The devil will drag you out of Brooklyn in disgrace in one season. And God will bring you back there as a missionary in another season. The devil will have you chained in one season. And then God will send you back to lead captives free.
If you've been ashamed of your past, I want you to know: anything that's been weaponized because of sin—if it's under the blood, it's now a weapon against the kingdom of darkness. You don't have to be ashamed anymore. You can talk about it not as a victim but as a victor, to give glory to the God who brought you through it.
When we landed in Atlanta at around 12:30 a.m., we stopped at Burger King before leaving the airport. As we sat eating, two homeless men came to our table. While I was eating, I was praying for them in my heart. But prayer wasn't enough—I wanted to be an answer to prayer.
I dug around in my wallet and found $20. I tapped the man on my left and said, "Have you eaten today?" He said, "No." I gave him the $20, and he was full of gratitude and joy.
Then I asked one of my team members for another $20. I tapped the other man and said, "Here, we want to give this to you." But he shoved me off. "Get away from me. Don't touch me."
One man received grace. The other man rejected grace. Same money. Same person giving. One received with gratitude. The other categorically rejected it.
As I walked away, my heart was broken for the man who rejected the grace. I had to turn my back and walk away because I had somewhere to go. I couldn't stay there and force him to receive what I was offering.
Then the Spirit gave me a revelation: As these two men are in the physical realm, so is every human being in the spiritual realm.
There are only two types of people in the world: those who have received God's grace and been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and everyone else.
Those in the kingdom of light have passed from death to life. They know it. They feel it from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They feel differently about sin. They feel differently about life. Something has happened in their heart.
Everyone else is still living in the kingdom of darkness. Some don't know they're in darkness. Some don't care. But they are all living every day under the danger of eternal damnation, headed for eternal separation from God.
Jesus uses two words to describe these kingdoms: light and darkness. Light represents truth. Darkness represents deception.
On the left side—the kingdom of light—are all those who have placed their faith in Christ. They received the grace of Christ. They surrendered their lives to Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They know they've passed from darkness to light.
On the right side is everyone else doing life, thinking they're okay with God. The atheist is in darkness. The agnostic is in darkness. Every person who is a devotee of a false religion is in darkness. Every person in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism—they are in darkness. Every "Jesus plus"—Jesus plus something else—is in darkness. Every person depending on crystals and rocks is in darkness. Everyone who's bowed their knee to an altar other than the kingdom of God is in darkness.
But let me go deeper. There are people who go to church every Sunday and are still in darkness. There are people singing on worship teams still in darkness. There are people preaching every week, and the Lord calls them false prophets. You can't tell the difference because you don't know enough Bible to be agitated by lies. The more truth you know, the easier it is to discern a lie.
Look at the screen. What colors do you see? Light and darkness. What color is not there? There is no gray.
A famous woman in our culture said, "There are multiple ways to God." But Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
If you're at the top border between darkness and light, there is no doorway that says "Come to God through Islam." There is no doorway that says "Come to God through Mormonism." There is no doorway that says "Come to God through Hinduism." There is no doorway that says "Multiple ways."
There is only one doorway from darkness to light.
And let me go deeper still. There's no door that says morality leads you to life. There's no door that says good behavior leads you to life. There's no door that says church attendance leads you to life. There's no door that says being baptized as a baby while never placing your faith in Christ leads you to life.
The only door that leads from darkness, damnation, and hell into the kingdom of light is faith in Jesus Christ. That door has to be revealed to you. That's why faith is in the middle—that door has to be revealed. If you don't walk through that door, you could live your whole life thinking you're in the kingdom of light, but you're really in the kingdom of darkness.
Jesus said, "If your darkness is light, how great is your darkness?" That is, if you think you're in the kingdom but you're not, you are more deceived than the atheist.
This is the lens through which God wants us to see the world. When Jesus called a group of men, He said to them:
"Look out there into the harvest field. Look—it's ripe for harvest. Go out there and bring me everybody that belongs to me. Pray them in. Love them in. Serve and give to get them in. Preach them in. Believe for them to come in."
This line is everywhere you go.
I see the world like this so much that even when I'm in a restaurant and the person brings me my food, I say the same grace every time: "Father, thank you for this food that you have given us. I pray you would bless this food, bless our fellowship, and save everyone in this room who belongs to you. In Jesus' name."
When I'm working out in the gym, I pray, "Lord, I pray for everyone who's in here while I'm doing my set. You will save everyone in this gym who belongs to you."
Walking through Walmart buying groceries, in aisle four looking for hot sauce, surrounded by people getting their Thanksgiving trimmings, I pray, "Lord, this place is packed with everybody getting their last bit of trimmings. I pray you will save everyone in this building who belongs to you."
When you are a kingdom agent, you think that way.
But some of you look at me and think, "Oh no, that's just for you, Pastor Philip." The Lord took a group of men and said to them, "Fellas, look. You see the harvest out there? Bring them to me." From the time He saved them, He tried to change the way they see the world. Now you see through the lens of the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and you become an agent to increase the light side.
Yet some of you stare at me like that's not for you. Shame on you when you have family on the dark side. You have sisters and brothers on the dark side. You have parents on the dark side. You have coworkers on the dark side. You have people following your social media on the dark side, but we can't see anything about Christ on your page. You have all that influence for what?
Let me set the context for our text. In this series, Jesus called 12 men to Himself. He began to teach them, empower them, and disciple them. He showed them a harvest field ripe for harvest and said, "I want you to go out there and reap that harvest." He sent them out two by two to do ministry.
Then Jesus' cousin John got locked in prison for preaching righteousness. The Lord did not deliver him from prison. John became discouraged. But the Lord told him to focus on the work that He was doing, not what He wasn't doing.
And then, just before our text, Jesus was rebuking cities. Listen to Matthew 11:20-24:
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. They did not repent. They did not repent. He said, "Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida. If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And woe to you, Capernaum. Will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Jesus is saying that Sodom and Gomorrah—those people full of sexual perversion and promiscuity—it will be more tolerable for them in judgment than for these cities. How can that be?
The Lord is going to judge people based on the light that they received. A person living in the United States who rejects Jesus will be judged worse than a person living in the bush who never heard the Gospel, whose only light is the moon and the stars telling him there must be a Creator somewhere. Every person will be judged based on the light they have received.
That's why it's dangerous to hear the Gospel. The people in the worst trouble are people in America because we are saturated with Gospel preaching, and some of us don't care anyway.
Now, this is heavy. At verse 25, Jesus just condemned all these cities in front of a crowd of people. And what does He do?
At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."
After rejection, Jesus prayed a prayer of gratitude.
The first thing I notice is the title Jesus uses for the Father: "Lord of heaven and earth." This is a tagline. It means God the Father has all sovereignty and all knowledge in heaven and on earth. There is nothing in between that God does not know. There is no motive of any heart that God does not know. There is no preacher on a stage that God does not know their motive and heart. There is no church that God does not know the motive of that church's heart. There is no circumstance that happens that's a surprise to God. There is nothing that's happened in your life that God does not know.
Second, notice this: Jesus says the Father "has hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children." This is controversial. The question is: What are these things?
If I flip back through the text to see what Jesus revealed that people did not know before, I see He was rebuking cities. He was defending the ministry of John. He was talking about rewards. And then—He gets back to where He said, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
I came to divide the world in half with the truth of the Gospel. Because of that division, some people will be entered into the kingdom of God, and some people will not. Some people will hear the Gospel of Christ and be saved, and some people will not. Some people will be torn from a family into the kingdom, others will not. I came to bring the revelation that My kingdom did not come to bring everybody in. My kingdom is going to separate the world—sheep and goats, saved and unsaved, believers and non-believers, those who will be safe and those who will be eternally damned.
These "things" are the truth about the Gospel.
Now, who are the wise? Who are the children? The wise are people who think they don't need God. They're proud. They're self-sufficient. The children are those who respond to His grace with humility. The children are those who take the $20 and buy food at Burger King. The wise are those who say, "Get off of me. I don't want your grace."
It's so powerful that Jesus, just after being rejected by a group of cities, is praying a prayer of gratitude. Even in the face of rejection, Jesus was thankful. It's almost as if the Lord is saying:
"Lord, I thank you that you blinded the minds of those who would reject the pearls of what I'm giving. The pearls of what I'm giving are so precious that instead of being trampled under the feet of men, I want to thank you that you blinded the eyes of those who are so prideful they can't even see that they need grace. And you opened up the minds of people who have received grace.
Now, if you're saved right now, your good behavior could not have done it. Your church attendance could not have done it. If you're in this room and you're saved, the Lord at some point in time chose to reveal Himself to you when you could not get that revelation on your own.
I keep trying to teach my children and my church: I'm so sick of your vision boards. If the Lord doesn't give me a single thing—if I never get a husband, if I never get a wife, if the ministry never grows, if I never achieve any of these things you keep begging God for—you think God owes you these things? You're so entitled. You can't even thank Him for the fact that your name is written in heaven.
How in God's name do American Christians keep bullying God for stuff and be mad at Him when He doesn't come through? You think your salvation is not worthy of perpetual thanksgiving? You need to wait for one day of the year to be thankful?
If every morning I rise in the kingdom, I've got to fight for gratitude. Every single morning that I rise in the kingdom, it doesn't matter what hell is breaking loose in my life. It doesn't matter that I'm not where I want to be. It doesn't matter that I don't have everything I want to have. It doesn't matter that there are things I've been praying for for 20 years that God has not done.
But my name is written in a book in heaven. And at some point in time, when I was in darkness, the Lord revealed Himself to me. I had no control over that. I couldn't accomplish that on my own.
Let me tell you a story. When I was young, my mother sent me to a camp. I was at the edge of a pool. I was the shortest one there, so I was at the front of the line. The instructor said, "Today you're going to learn your first lesson in how not to panic."
When he got behind me, I could feel him on the back of my neck. He pushed me into the deep end of a 20-foot pool. I went straight down to the bottom because I couldn't swim. I frolicked at the bottom of the pool. I couldn't get out on my own. The water rushed up my nose. I felt my head starting to swell. In my mind, I was about to die.
Then I felt a pole poking me in my head. After so many pokes, I had the sense to grab the pole. They yanked me out of the pool.
Now, according to Scripture, every human being was born at the bottom of that pool. Don't believe me? Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory." Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." And because of Adam, you were born at the bottom of the pool.
No human being can get out. No one can swim to the top on their own. You don't have enough righteousness to swim to the top. You don't have enough morality. You don't have enough church attendance. You don't have enough good behavior. You don't have enough of Grandmamma's faith. There is no way out of the pool without a mediator.
So if you were me in that pool and you got pulled out from the bottom, you open your eyes and see the person who saved you. What is your response except gratitude?
Here is biblical theology above American theology: You were born at the bottom of the pool. You were born separated from God. You were born already headed to damnation. The Lord does not owe you anything. He doesn't even owe you salvation. The only thing Scripture teaches us He owes us is damnation. It's why Paul writes to the church of Ephesus and calls us "objects of God's wrath."
So you think God owes you a house? A car? Things you could touch? He don't even owe you salvation. When this hits you, you walk around with a sense of gratitude, not entitlement.
I'm so sick of your vision boards. Why don't you put intangible things on there this year? "I want more wisdom. More intimacy. More faith. More Bible reading. More prayer. I want to be more surrendered. More humble."
You're entitled because you'd be mad when He says no. You'd be mad when He makes you wait. You're mad because you've been praying for something for 20 years and He still hasn't moved. You're mad because you think He owes you anything. He doesn't even owe you salvation.
So if you're in this room—not a churchgoer, but you know in your heart you have passed from death to life—how is your response to Christ anything other than a life of gratitude and full surrender? How is that possible?
If you have received the righteousness that comes from the blood of the cross, how is your response to Jesus not anything other than a life of gratitude and full surrender?
In America, this is boring to you because all you think about is stuff. If it's not a key or a wheel or a name brand, you can't be thankful. But not a week goes by in my life in my prayer room that at some point I have not shed a tear on my knees, thanking the Father.
"Lord, when I was far away from you, when I was raised in a home with Christian parents, when I heard the Gospel and rejected it—at some point, You revealed Yourself to me. You brought me out of the kingdom of darkness. When I was headed for damnation, You brought me into the kingdom of light. And I cannot accomplish that on my own."
I shed tears of gratitude that I'm just in the kingdom. I don't need a bigger platform. I don't need more followers on Instagram. I don't need another house or car. I don't need to be famous.
Lord, if all I have is all I will ever have, I will continue to shed these tears that You brought me out of the kingdom of darkness. You rescued me from the bottom of the pool when I could not get out on my own. I am headed to glory. If I get clipped by a bullet, I see Your face. If I die in a car crash, I wake up in glory. My labors will end with a crown. I've got the God of heaven and earth on my side. I have nothing in this life to fear—not even death can rob me of the testimony that I'm headed to glory.
No demon can curse me. No person can take away from me what God has given me. My name is written above. Even in my insecurities, my failures, my mistakes, my hang-ups, and my shame, even in my sense of unworthiness—I still don't even understand why You would reveal Yourself to me.
You see? And if you're always thankful for salvation, anything above that is just overflow: "Dang, Lord, a new job!" "Dang, Lord, I've got a dope squad!" "Dang, Lord, I've got people who love me!" "Dang, Lord, steak and kale!" "Dang, Lord, fish and champagne!" "Dang, Lord, a new opportunity!"
Everything else is like, "Oh man, Lord, oh thank you Lord!" "I've got a hot wife that loves me—oh, thank you!" "I've got kids—thank you Lord!" "I woke up this morning—thank you Lord!" "I've got a job—thank you Lord!" "I can pay my bills—thank you Lord!" Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
Now, some of you are asking, "Is Pastor Philip a Calvinist or Arminian? Does he believe in predestination or the Great Commission?" I'm both.
For those he predestined, he also foreknew. (Romans 8:29)
And it's the same God that said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people." Since I don't know who belongs to Him, my job is to keep telling everybody about Him.
How could both be true? Do you remember everything you did on Thanksgiving Day? You remember where you were, what you ate, how much turkey. You remember all of that, right? That's your memory—two days behind you. You know everything that happened on that day.
Now take your memory and swing it around in front of you. That's God's foreknowledge. He already knows who's going to receive and who's not. He already knows who's going to open up their heart and who's not. He already knows who's going to accept and who won't.
So based on His foreknowledge—knowing everybody that He knew was going to love Him anyway—He already predestined them to be His sons and daughters. "I'm going to open Courtney's eyes because I already know she'll open her heart to Me. So I'm going to predestine her to be My daughter before she was born."
"When Philip was in Sharon's room, I already knew that when he was 24, he would open his heart to Me when he was suicidal. So I'm already going to predestine him to be My son and to be a preacher."
And since you don't know whose hearts are going to be open, our job is to go therefore. I already know I'm going to get heat for this section. I already know the hate, the emails, the direct messages are coming. They're going to try to back me into a corner. I don't care. I'm both. I'm predestination and go therefore.
Since I don't know whose hearts are going to be open to Him, my job is to keep preaching the gospel to everybody. His job is to win those who He already knows belong to Him. I can't regenerate a human being. Only the Spirit of God can do that.
Now, is Jesus credible to say these things? Look at verse 27:
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Here we have Trinitarian doctrine—the Godhead doctrine. The Father is talking to the Son. The Son is talking about the Father. We serve a God who is one God—Elohim, plural—who is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three co-equal persons in one.
I don't understand that, but that's the way He revealed Himself. The Father is water. The Spirit is steam. The Son is like ice cubes—He's the One, the Trinity, the One who we've been able to touch and hold.
We see this Trinitarian doctrine, this Godhead language. The Father is known by the Son, and the Son is known by the Father. The word "know" doesn't mean I have mental knowledge of you. It means I have intimate knowledge of you—because they've always been together. They have never been outside of community.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1) And the Word became flesh and walked among us. (John 1:14)
They've always been together. Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—make man in our image and in our likeness."
Now, the last thing Jesus says is crucial: "No one knows the Father except the Son reveals the Father to them." There is no knowledge of God apart from Christ. So you have people running around social media saying they're children of God, but they're antichrist. You have people talking about being servants of God, but they don't do Jesus.
How do you do God but you don't do Jesus when Jesus said, "I am the only person that can reveal God to people"?
You have all these people with big followings, big Instagram, doing conferences, writing books, doing God talk—but Christ is nowhere in the conversation. You don't know God. You know a false god.
"But they have a big platform." False god. "But they talk with wisdom." False god. Wasn't it the wise people that He blinded because they weren't humble enough to know that they need the Lord Jesus Christ?
How can you be pro-God and anti-Jesus? You've got to watch people carefully. People who always talk about God but never mention Jesus. You've got all this God talk, but you don't talk about Jesus. I'd be careful of all preachers that always talk about God, but you don't talk about Jesus.
These prophets—all these people always saying, "God said, and God said." They're catering to you. You always talk about God. You never exalt the Son. They can fool them. They can't fool me.
What God is Islam serving? Tell me we're serving the same God? How? When your prophet is Muhammad and mine is the Messiah? We ain't serving the same God.
Jehovah and Allah are not the same being. I don't care what you say. There's only one God. Stop telling me Jehovah and Allah are the same being. No, they're not. Jehovah is God, and Allah is a demon.
You better wake up. We're living in the last days. You've got all this gray, all this mixing of truth. We're so afraid. We don't know biblical doctrine. You're standing on all these opinions of men, and you won't read the Bible. Jesus said, "No one knows the Father except I reveal Him to you." There is no knowledge of God apart from Christ.
Because there are people in this room still in the dark, and because there are people watching me still in the dark, and because Jesus knows there are people under the sound of my voice right now in the dark—you know what He says next in the text?
Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Not to your sage. Not to your crystals. Not to your church attendance. Not to your baptism as a baby. Not to your favorite prophet. Come to me. Christ.
All of you who are laboring and laden, you are tired.
This tiredness really means those who are carrying the weight of your own sin that you are not going to be able to pay for. So don't believe all of that. Just die and find out how heavy that sin is. You can't pay for it with your good behavior. Since there is no other way to have a relationship with God, the Lord looks out over a crowd and says:
"Stop all your mess. Come to me."
I'm talking to people in this room who are still in the dark and you know it. You've been in church, and you're in the dark. You do church, but you're not alive. You know why? You love sin. So I know you're not in the light.
You sin and sleep. You do church, but you're not really born again because you don't even feel convicted about your wrongdoing. You've got God in your profile, but your life doesn't testify of a changed person. I know you're in the room. I know you're watching me right now live across this camera. I know you hear my voice right now. You're still in the kingdom of darkness. You are deceived.
And Jesus said, "There is no other way. Because I love you, come unto me." Everyone who labors and is heavy laden, you're tired. The weight of your sin is too heavy. Come to me.
And here is the promise for your humility: That thing you've been looking for in men and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in women and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in money and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in following and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in bottles, drugs, pornography and can't find. You know what your soul needs? Rest.
Rest is the assurance that I'm in the kingdom of light, that God is my Father, that I'm walking with Jesus, and when I die, I will land in the arms of my Savior.
Jesus continues with the greatest invitation you've ever had:
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.
Listen carefully: He uses the word "my" yoke. Why? Because the presupposition is that He's not the only one with a yoke.
What is a yoke? It's a wooden object that straps two animals together—two animals that cannot be released without help. When one animal gets weak, the other animal bears it up. When one animal falls down, the other one has to bear it up.
If you're not yoked with Christ, there is somebody else in your yoke. It's not Jesus. It's the adversary. It's the devil you've been strapped to since you've been born, who keeps dragging you every direction but towards the kingdom.
So Jesus says, "Break free from that yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me. Be My disciple, and I'll give you rest."
You say, "But man, if I put on God's yoke, a yoke is still heavy." Listen to the last verse:
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
It is easier than the sin you're carrying. It is easier than the lies of the devil.
You say, "But man, if I take on God's yoke, what about all the thou shalt nots? What about all the stuff He's going to ask me to do?"
Let me read you 1 John 5:3:
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
His commandments are only burdensome for people who are trying to carry a fake yoke, but you're not filled with the Spirit. Everything about Christianity feels heavy because you don't have the Spirit of God.
But once you have the Spirit, you have a desire. You wake up wanting to do what's right. You feel bad when you do what's wrong. His commandments are not burdensome because the Spirit empowers you to do them.
So get real. You're sitting in this room right now. You're doing church, but it feels heavy. You're doing life, but it feels heavy. His commandments feel burdensome. Who's on the other side of your yoke? Is it really Jesus? Or is it the enemy that's been deceiving you since you first started going to church? You've been at church your whole life, and you're still yoked to the devil.
What did Jesus say to you? Hear His voice. Come. Just come. You're tired? You're weary? You're working to earn something He paid for. Just come to Me.
You don't need to fix the past. You don't need to figure it out. Just be a little child. Just come to me. Or if I'm talking to you—get out your seat. The Lord says:
"Come, all of you who are weary and tired and heavy laden. Come to me. I will give you rest for your soul."
I want to pray for every tired person. Every person who's far away from God, and you know it. Every person who is just weary. Hear the Spirit of God saying, "Come."
Just come. I'm going to give you rest for your soul. Just come.
You're tired. You're weary. For some of you, your tiredness is sin. You're still in darkness. You need to come. For others, your tiredness is that you're in the kingdom, but you're trying to perform and earn. You're just tired.
Listen—I'm talking to both of you. Come.
If you're not at the altar, don't move. Don't try to slip out the back door. Stop this American nonsense. Pray. Some people are about to come out of darkness into light. They're about to escape hell. They're about to escape damnation. The Father is wooing them right now to Himself.
How do you move during this moment? How do you not pray? This is life or death. Time is running out. We're living in the last days. The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.
If you're in the aisle, get as close to me as you can. Keep coming. He's catching those tears. Come on. Come close. Come.
This is between you and God. Throw yourself on the altar. Tell Him you're sorry for your sins. Tell Him you're tired. Tell Him you're weary. Tell Him you need Him.
Father, I pray over all of these men and women who are weary and heavy laden. I pray right now, God, that You give them rest in their soul. That You are sovereignly saving those who belong to You.
For the believer who's been trying to earn what You have freely given, I pray You give them rest right now for their soul.
For the one who has been carrying the heavy burden of sin, I pray You would save them right now and give them rest for their soul.
For the one watching me across this camera, listening to my voice, I pray You save them and give them rest right now for their soul.
For the son or daughter trying to earn love, trying to earn righteousness, who's already under the blood, give them rest right now in their soul.
Deliver us from the treadmill of trying to earn what You have freely given.
Catch all these tears that are falling at this altar. We feel Your Spirit now, transferring people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
Father, seal these with the Spirit. Record their names in heaven. Minister to the brother and sister. Let every person leave this room today rested in the assurance of salvation, Your love, and Your goodness.
And now we shall shame the devil, for You said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices.
Welcome to all who are gathering with us today—those in this room and those watching across the world. This final message in our Kingdom Callings series carries a word for you: you are called and rested. Not everyone in this room may understand what I'm about to say, but I need you to know: you need rest.
It's a lot of people living, but you don't have rest. You're moving, but you don't have rest. You're doing church, but you don't have rest. You're busy, but you're not rested. You know church, but you don't know Christ. We're going to unpack Matthew 11:25-30 together—a very difficult passage that requires us to face it head on.
Last week I was in Brooklyn, New York, preaching at a men's conference. As I was leaving, I looked out over that city and thought about the last time I'd been there. The last time I was in Brooklyn, I left in shame. I had been arrested. My mother packed my clothes in a trash bag, put $50 in my pocket, rented a van, and drove me to North Carolina. She told me, "You cannot come back to New York."
But that was then. This time, I was returning as a preacher of the Gospel.
God does not waste experiences. He knows how to bring all things full circle. He knows how to vindicate you in time. He knows how to put you at the table in time. He knows how to redeem your name. God is a restorer.
The things the enemy means for evil, the Lord knows how to turn those things around for good and for His glory. The devil will drag you out of Brooklyn in disgrace in one season. And God will bring you back there as a missionary in another season. The devil will have you chained in one season. And then God will send you back to lead captives free.
If you've been ashamed of your past, I want you to know: anything that's been weaponized because of sin—if it's under the blood, it's now a weapon against the kingdom of darkness. You don't have to be ashamed anymore. You can talk about it not as a victim but as a victor, to give glory to the God who brought you through it.
When we landed in Atlanta at around 12:30 a.m., we stopped at Burger King before leaving the airport. As we sat eating, two homeless men came to our table. While I was eating, I was praying for them in my heart. But prayer wasn't enough—I wanted to be an answer to prayer.
I dug around in my wallet and found $20. I tapped the man on my left and said, "Have you eaten today?" He said, "No." I gave him the $20, and he was full of gratitude and joy.
Then I asked one of my team members for another $20. I tapped the other man and said, "Here, we want to give this to you." But he shoved me off. "Get away from me. Don't touch me."
One man received grace. The other man rejected grace. Same money. Same person giving. One received with gratitude. The other categorically rejected it.
As I walked away, my heart was broken for the man who rejected the grace. I had to turn my back and walk away because I had somewhere to go. I couldn't stay there and force him to receive what I was offering.
Then the Spirit gave me a revelation: As these two men are in the physical realm, so is every human being in the spiritual realm.
There are only two types of people in the world: those who have received God's grace and been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and everyone else.
Those in the kingdom of light have passed from death to life. They know it. They feel it from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They feel differently about sin. They feel differently about life. Something has happened in their heart.
Everyone else is still living in the kingdom of darkness. Some don't know they're in darkness. Some don't care. But they are all living every day under the danger of eternal damnation, headed for eternal separation from God.
Jesus uses two words to describe these kingdoms: light and darkness. Light represents truth. Darkness represents deception.
On the left side—the kingdom of light—are all those who have placed their faith in Christ. They received the grace of Christ. They surrendered their lives to Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They know they've passed from darkness to light.
On the right side is everyone else doing life, thinking they're okay with God. The atheist is in darkness. The agnostic is in darkness. Every person who is a devotee of a false religion is in darkness. Every person in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism—they are in darkness. Every "Jesus plus"—Jesus plus something else—is in darkness. Every person depending on crystals and rocks is in darkness. Everyone who's bowed their knee to an altar other than the kingdom of God is in darkness.
But let me go deeper. There are people who go to church every Sunday and are still in darkness. There are people singing on worship teams still in darkness. There are people preaching every week, and the Lord calls them false prophets. You can't tell the difference because you don't know enough Bible to be agitated by lies. The more truth you know, the easier it is to discern a lie.
Look at the screen. What colors do you see? Light and darkness. What color is not there? There is no gray.
A famous woman in our culture said, "There are multiple ways to God." But Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
If you're at the top border between darkness and light, there is no doorway that says "Come to God through Islam." There is no doorway that says "Come to God through Mormonism." There is no doorway that says "Come to God through Hinduism." There is no doorway that says "Multiple ways."
There is only one doorway from darkness to light.
And let me go deeper still. There's no door that says morality leads you to life. There's no door that says good behavior leads you to life. There's no door that says church attendance leads you to life. There's no door that says being baptized as a baby while never placing your faith in Christ leads you to life.
The only door that leads from darkness, damnation, and hell into the kingdom of light is faith in Jesus Christ. That door has to be revealed to you. That's why faith is in the middle—that door has to be revealed. If you don't walk through that door, you could live your whole life thinking you're in the kingdom of light, but you're really in the kingdom of darkness.
Jesus said, "If your darkness is light, how great is your darkness?" That is, if you think you're in the kingdom but you're not, you are more deceived than the atheist.
This is the lens through which God wants us to see the world. When Jesus called a group of men, He said to them:
"Look out there into the harvest field. Look—it's ripe for harvest. Go out there and bring me everybody that belongs to me. Pray them in. Love them in. Serve and give to get them in. Preach them in. Believe for them to come in."
This line is everywhere you go.
I see the world like this so much that even when I'm in a restaurant and the person brings me my food, I say the same grace every time: "Father, thank you for this food that you have given us. I pray you would bless this food, bless our fellowship, and save everyone in this room who belongs to you. In Jesus' name."
When I'm working out in the gym, I pray, "Lord, I pray for everyone who's in here while I'm doing my set. You will save everyone in this gym who belongs to you."
Walking through Walmart buying groceries, in aisle four looking for hot sauce, surrounded by people getting their Thanksgiving trimmings, I pray, "Lord, this place is packed with everybody getting their last bit of trimmings. I pray you will save everyone in this building who belongs to you."
When you are a kingdom agent, you think that way.
But some of you look at me and think, "Oh no, that's just for you, Pastor Philip." The Lord took a group of men and said to them, "Fellas, look. You see the harvest out there? Bring them to me." From the time He saved them, He tried to change the way they see the world. Now you see through the lens of the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and you become an agent to increase the light side.
Yet some of you stare at me like that's not for you. Shame on you when you have family on the dark side. You have sisters and brothers on the dark side. You have parents on the dark side. You have coworkers on the dark side. You have people following your social media on the dark side, but we can't see anything about Christ on your page. You have all that influence for what?
Let me set the context for our text. In this series, Jesus called 12 men to Himself. He began to teach them, empower them, and disciple them. He showed them a harvest field ripe for harvest and said, "I want you to go out there and reap that harvest." He sent them out two by two to do ministry.
Then Jesus' cousin John got locked in prison for preaching righteousness. The Lord did not deliver him from prison. John became discouraged. But the Lord told him to focus on the work that He was doing, not what He wasn't doing.
And then, just before our text, Jesus was rebuking cities. Listen to Matthew 11:20-24:
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. They did not repent. They did not repent. He said, "Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida. If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And woe to you, Capernaum. Will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Jesus is saying that Sodom and Gomorrah—those people full of sexual perversion and promiscuity—it will be more tolerable for them in judgment than for these cities. How can that be?
The Lord is going to judge people based on the light that they received. A person living in the United States who rejects Jesus will be judged worse than a person living in the bush who never heard the Gospel, whose only light is the moon and the stars telling him there must be a Creator somewhere. Every person will be judged based on the light they have received.
That's why it's dangerous to hear the Gospel. The people in the worst trouble are people in America because we are saturated with Gospel preaching, and some of us don't care anyway.
Now, this is heavy. At verse 25, Jesus just condemned all these cities in front of a crowd of people. And what does He do?
At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."
After rejection, Jesus prayed a prayer of gratitude.
The first thing I notice is the title Jesus uses for the Father: "Lord of heaven and earth." This is a tagline. It means God the Father has all sovereignty and all knowledge in heaven and on earth. There is nothing in between that God does not know. There is no motive of any heart that God does not know. There is no preacher on a stage that God does not know their motive and heart. There is no church that God does not know the motive of that church's heart. There is no circumstance that happens that's a surprise to God. There is nothing that's happened in your life that God does not know.
Second, notice this: Jesus says the Father "has hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children." This is controversial. The question is: What are these things?
If I flip back through the text to see what Jesus revealed that people did not know before, I see He was rebuking cities. He was defending the ministry of John. He was talking about rewards. And then—He gets back to where He said, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
I came to divide the world in half with the truth of the Gospel. Because of that division, some people will be entered into the kingdom of God, and some people will not. Some people will hear the Gospel of Christ and be saved, and some people will not. Some people will be torn from a family into the kingdom, others will not. I came to bring the revelation that My kingdom did not come to bring everybody in. My kingdom is going to separate the world—sheep and goats, saved and unsaved, believers and non-believers, those who will be safe and those who will be eternally damned.
These "things" are the truth about the Gospel.
Now, who are the wise? Who are the children? The wise are people who think they don't need God. They're proud. They're self-sufficient. The children are those who respond to His grace with humility. The children are those who take the $20 and buy food at Burger King. The wise are those who say, "Get off of me. I don't want your grace."
It's so powerful that Jesus, just after being rejected by a group of cities, is praying a prayer of gratitude. Even in the face of rejection, Jesus was thankful. It's almost as if the Lord is saying:
"Lord, I thank you that you blinded the minds of those who would reject the pearls of what I'm giving. The pearls of what I'm giving are so precious that instead of being trampled under the feet of men, I want to thank you that you blinded the eyes of those who are so prideful they can't even see that they need grace. And you opened up the minds of people who have received grace.
Now, if you're saved right now, your good behavior could not have done it. Your church attendance could not have done it. If you're in this room and you're saved, the Lord at some point in time chose to reveal Himself to you when you could not get that revelation on your own.
I keep trying to teach my children and my church: I'm so sick of your vision boards. If the Lord doesn't give me a single thing—if I never get a husband, if I never get a wife, if the ministry never grows, if I never achieve any of these things you keep begging God for—you think God owes you these things? You're so entitled. You can't even thank Him for the fact that your name is written in heaven.
How in God's name do American Christians keep bullying God for stuff and be mad at Him when He doesn't come through? You think your salvation is not worthy of perpetual thanksgiving? You need to wait for one day of the year to be thankful?
If every morning I rise in the kingdom, I've got to fight for gratitude. Every single morning that I rise in the kingdom, it doesn't matter what hell is breaking loose in my life. It doesn't matter that I'm not where I want to be. It doesn't matter that I don't have everything I want to have. It doesn't matter that there are things I've been praying for for 20 years that God has not done.
But my name is written in a book in heaven. And at some point in time, when I was in darkness, the Lord revealed Himself to me. I had no control over that. I couldn't accomplish that on my own.
Let me tell you a story. When I was young, my mother sent me to a camp. I was at the edge of a pool. I was the shortest one there, so I was at the front of the line. The instructor said, "Today you're going to learn your first lesson in how not to panic."
When he got behind me, I could feel him on the back of my neck. He pushed me into the deep end of a 20-foot pool. I went straight down to the bottom because I couldn't swim. I frolicked at the bottom of the pool. I couldn't get out on my own. The water rushed up my nose. I felt my head starting to swell. In my mind, I was about to die.
Then I felt a pole poking me in my head. After so many pokes, I had the sense to grab the pole. They yanked me out of the pool.
Now, according to Scripture, every human being was born at the bottom of that pool. Don't believe me? Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory." Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." And because of Adam, you were born at the bottom of the pool.
No human being can get out. No one can swim to the top on their own. You don't have enough righteousness to swim to the top. You don't have enough morality. You don't have enough church attendance. You don't have enough good behavior. You don't have enough of Grandmamma's faith. There is no way out of the pool without a mediator.
So if you were me in that pool and you got pulled out from the bottom, you open your eyes and see the person who saved you. What is your response except gratitude?
Here is biblical theology above American theology: You were born at the bottom of the pool. You were born separated from God. You were born already headed to damnation. The Lord does not owe you anything. He doesn't even owe you salvation. The only thing Scripture teaches us He owes us is damnation. It's why Paul writes to the church of Ephesus and calls us "objects of God's wrath."
So you think God owes you a house? A car? Things you could touch? He don't even owe you salvation. When this hits you, you walk around with a sense of gratitude, not entitlement.
I'm so sick of your vision boards. Why don't you put intangible things on there this year? "I want more wisdom. More intimacy. More faith. More Bible reading. More prayer. I want to be more surrendered. More humble."
You're entitled because you'd be mad when He says no. You'd be mad when He makes you wait. You're mad because you've been praying for something for 20 years and He still hasn't moved. You're mad because you think He owes you anything. He doesn't even owe you salvation.
So if you're in this room—not a churchgoer, but you know in your heart you have passed from death to life—how is your response to Christ anything other than a life of gratitude and full surrender? How is that possible?
If you have received the righteousness that comes from the blood of the cross, how is your response to Jesus not anything other than a life of gratitude and full surrender?
In America, this is boring to you because all you think about is stuff. If it's not a key or a wheel or a name brand, you can't be thankful. But not a week goes by in my life in my prayer room that at some point I have not shed a tear on my knees, thanking the Father.
"Lord, when I was far away from you, when I was raised in a home with Christian parents, when I heard the Gospel and rejected it—at some point, You revealed Yourself to me. You brought me out of the kingdom of darkness. When I was headed for damnation, You brought me into the kingdom of light. And I cannot accomplish that on my own."
I shed tears of gratitude that I'm just in the kingdom. I don't need a bigger platform. I don't need more followers on Instagram. I don't need another house or car. I don't need to be famous.
Lord, if all I have is all I will ever have, I will continue to shed these tears that You brought me out of the kingdom of darkness. You rescued me from the bottom of the pool when I could not get out on my own. I am headed to glory. If I get clipped by a bullet, I see Your face. If I die in a car crash, I wake up in glory. My labors will end with a crown. I've got the God of heaven and earth on my side. I have nothing in this life to fear—not even death can rob me of the testimony that I'm headed to glory.
No demon can curse me. No person can take away from me what God has given me. My name is written above. Even in my insecurities, my failures, my mistakes, my hang-ups, and my shame, even in my sense of unworthiness—I still don't even understand why You would reveal Yourself to me.
You see? And if you're always thankful for salvation, anything above that is just overflow: "Dang, Lord, a new job!" "Dang, Lord, I've got a dope squad!" "Dang, Lord, I've got people who love me!" "Dang, Lord, steak and kale!" "Dang, Lord, fish and champagne!" "Dang, Lord, a new opportunity!"
Everything else is like, "Oh man, Lord, oh thank you Lord!" "I've got a hot wife that loves me—oh, thank you!" "I've got kids—thank you Lord!" "I woke up this morning—thank you Lord!" "I've got a job—thank you Lord!" "I can pay my bills—thank you Lord!" Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
Now, some of you are asking, "Is Pastor Philip a Calvinist or Arminian? Does he believe in predestination or the Great Commission?" I'm both.
For those he predestined, he also foreknew. (Romans 8:29)
And it's the same God that said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people." Since I don't know who belongs to Him, my job is to keep telling everybody about Him.
How could both be true? Do you remember everything you did on Thanksgiving Day? You remember where you were, what you ate, how much turkey. You remember all of that, right? That's your memory—two days behind you. You know everything that happened on that day.
Now take your memory and swing it around in front of you. That's God's foreknowledge. He already knows who's going to receive and who's not. He already knows who's going to open up their heart and who's not. He already knows who's going to accept and who won't.
So based on His foreknowledge—knowing everybody that He knew was going to love Him anyway—He already predestined them to be His sons and daughters. "I'm going to open Courtney's eyes because I already know she'll open her heart to Me. So I'm going to predestine her to be My daughter before she was born."
"When Philip was in Sharon's room, I already knew that when he was 24, he would open his heart to Me when he was suicidal. So I'm already going to predestine him to be My son and to be a preacher."
And since you don't know whose hearts are going to be open, our job is to go therefore. I already know I'm going to get heat for this section. I already know the hate, the emails, the direct messages are coming. They're going to try to back me into a corner. I don't care. I'm both. I'm predestination and go therefore.
Since I don't know whose hearts are going to be open to Him, my job is to keep preaching the gospel to everybody. His job is to win those who He already knows belong to Him. I can't regenerate a human being. Only the Spirit of God can do that.
Now, is Jesus credible to say these things? Look at verse 27:
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Here we have Trinitarian doctrine—the Godhead doctrine. The Father is talking to the Son. The Son is talking about the Father. We serve a God who is one God—Elohim, plural—who is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three co-equal persons in one.
I don't understand that, but that's the way He revealed Himself. The Father is water. The Spirit is steam. The Son is like ice cubes—He's the One, the Trinity, the One who we've been able to touch and hold.
We see this Trinitarian doctrine, this Godhead language. The Father is known by the Son, and the Son is known by the Father. The word "know" doesn't mean I have mental knowledge of you. It means I have intimate knowledge of you—because they've always been together. They have never been outside of community.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1) And the Word became flesh and walked among us. (John 1:14)
They've always been together. Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—make man in our image and in our likeness."
Now, the last thing Jesus says is crucial: "No one knows the Father except the Son reveals the Father to them." There is no knowledge of God apart from Christ. So you have people running around social media saying they're children of God, but they're antichrist. You have people talking about being servants of God, but they don't do Jesus.
How do you do God but you don't do Jesus when Jesus said, "I am the only person that can reveal God to people"?
You have all these people with big followings, big Instagram, doing conferences, writing books, doing God talk—but Christ is nowhere in the conversation. You don't know God. You know a false god.
"But they have a big platform." False god. "But they talk with wisdom." False god. Wasn't it the wise people that He blinded because they weren't humble enough to know that they need the Lord Jesus Christ?
How can you be pro-God and anti-Jesus? You've got to watch people carefully. People who always talk about God but never mention Jesus. You've got all this God talk, but you don't talk about Jesus. I'd be careful of all preachers that always talk about God, but you don't talk about Jesus.
These prophets—all these people always saying, "God said, and God said." They're catering to you. You always talk about God. You never exalt the Son. They can fool them. They can't fool me.
What God is Islam serving? Tell me we're serving the same God? How? When your prophet is Muhammad and mine is the Messiah? We ain't serving the same God.
Jehovah and Allah are not the same being. I don't care what you say. There's only one God. Stop telling me Jehovah and Allah are the same being. No, they're not. Jehovah is God, and Allah is a demon.
You better wake up. We're living in the last days. You've got all this gray, all this mixing of truth. We're so afraid. We don't know biblical doctrine. You're standing on all these opinions of men, and you won't read the Bible. Jesus said, "No one knows the Father except I reveal Him to you." There is no knowledge of God apart from Christ.
Because there are people in this room still in the dark, and because there are people watching me still in the dark, and because Jesus knows there are people under the sound of my voice right now in the dark—you know what He says next in the text?
Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Not to your sage. Not to your crystals. Not to your church attendance. Not to your baptism as a baby. Not to your favorite prophet. Come to me. Christ.
All of you who are laboring and laden, you are tired.
This tiredness really means those who are carrying the weight of your own sin that you are not going to be able to pay for. So don't believe all of that. Just die and find out how heavy that sin is. You can't pay for it with your good behavior. Since there is no other way to have a relationship with God, the Lord looks out over a crowd and says:
"Stop all your mess. Come to me."
I'm talking to people in this room who are still in the dark and you know it. You've been in church, and you're in the dark. You do church, but you're not alive. You know why? You love sin. So I know you're not in the light.
You sin and sleep. You do church, but you're not really born again because you don't even feel convicted about your wrongdoing. You've got God in your profile, but your life doesn't testify of a changed person. I know you're in the room. I know you're watching me right now live across this camera. I know you hear my voice right now. You're still in the kingdom of darkness. You are deceived.
And Jesus said, "There is no other way. Because I love you, come unto me." Everyone who labors and is heavy laden, you're tired. The weight of your sin is too heavy. Come to me.
And here is the promise for your humility: That thing you've been looking for in men and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in women and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in money and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in following and can't find. That thing you've been looking for in bottles, drugs, pornography and can't find. You know what your soul needs? Rest.
Rest is the assurance that I'm in the kingdom of light, that God is my Father, that I'm walking with Jesus, and when I die, I will land in the arms of my Savior.
Jesus continues with the greatest invitation you've ever had:
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.
Listen carefully: He uses the word "my" yoke. Why? Because the presupposition is that He's not the only one with a yoke.
What is a yoke? It's a wooden object that straps two animals together—two animals that cannot be released without help. When one animal gets weak, the other animal bears it up. When one animal falls down, the other one has to bear it up.
If you're not yoked with Christ, there is somebody else in your yoke. It's not Jesus. It's the adversary. It's the devil you've been strapped to since you've been born, who keeps dragging you every direction but towards the kingdom.
So Jesus says, "Break free from that yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me. Be My disciple, and I'll give you rest."
You say, "But man, if I put on God's yoke, a yoke is still heavy." Listen to the last verse:
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
It is easier than the sin you're carrying. It is easier than the lies of the devil.
You say, "But man, if I take on God's yoke, what about all the thou shalt nots? What about all the stuff He's going to ask me to do?"
Let me read you 1 John 5:3:
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
His commandments are only burdensome for people who are trying to carry a fake yoke, but you're not filled with the Spirit. Everything about Christianity feels heavy because you don't have the Spirit of God.
But once you have the Spirit, you have a desire. You wake up wanting to do what's right. You feel bad when you do what's wrong. His commandments are not burdensome because the Spirit empowers you to do them.
So get real. You're sitting in this room right now. You're doing church, but it feels heavy. You're doing life, but it feels heavy. His commandments feel burdensome. Who's on the other side of your yoke? Is it really Jesus? Or is it the enemy that's been deceiving you since you first started going to church? You've been at church your whole life, and you're still yoked to the devil.
What did Jesus say to you? Hear His voice. Come. Just come. You're tired? You're weary? You're working to earn something He paid for. Just come to Me.
You don't need to fix the past. You don't need to figure it out. Just be a little child. Just come to me. Or if I'm talking to you—get out your seat. The Lord says:
"Come, all of you who are weary and tired and heavy laden. Come to me. I will give you rest for your soul."
I want to pray for every tired person. Every person who's far away from God, and you know it. Every person who is just weary. Hear the Spirit of God saying, "Come."
Just come. I'm going to give you rest for your soul. Just come.
You're tired. You're weary. For some of you, your tiredness is sin. You're still in darkness. You need to come. For others, your tiredness is that you're in the kingdom, but you're trying to perform and earn. You're just tired.
Listen—I'm talking to both of you. Come.
If you're not at the altar, don't move. Don't try to slip out the back door. Stop this American nonsense. Pray. Some people are about to come out of darkness into light. They're about to escape hell. They're about to escape damnation. The Father is wooing them right now to Himself.
How do you move during this moment? How do you not pray? This is life or death. Time is running out. We're living in the last days. The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.
If you're in the aisle, get as close to me as you can. Keep coming. He's catching those tears. Come on. Come close. Come.
This is between you and God. Throw yourself on the altar. Tell Him you're sorry for your sins. Tell Him you're tired. Tell Him you're weary. Tell Him you need Him.
Father, I pray over all of these men and women who are weary and heavy laden. I pray right now, God, that You give them rest in their soul. That You are sovereignly saving those who belong to You.
For the believer who's been trying to earn what You have freely given, I pray You give them rest right now for their soul.
For the one who has been carrying the heavy burden of sin, I pray You would save them right now and give them rest for their soul.
For the one watching me across this camera, listening to my voice, I pray You save them and give them rest right now for their soul.
For the son or daughter trying to earn love, trying to earn righteousness, who's already under the blood, give them rest right now in their soul.
Deliver us from the treadmill of trying to earn what You have freely given.
Catch all these tears that are falling at this altar. We feel Your Spirit now, transferring people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
Father, seal these with the Spirit. Record their names in heaven. Minister to the brother and sister. Let every person leave this room today rested in the assurance of salvation, Your love, and Your goodness.
And now we shall shame the devil, for You said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices.
