Participants: Paul Rayne
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000344
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00:31 I want to give you a very warm welcome to Faith Chapel today
00:34 My name is Paul Rayne from Restoration International 00:39 and I want to talk today about finding rest in Christ 00:43 Do you ever rest in Christ? Let's bow our head's 00:47 Father in heaven, we need you to bring rest 00:52 into our troubled hearts. And as we study your Word together 00:57 I pray that your Spirit will speak to me 01:00 and to each viewer. That the words that are heard 01:04 and the word that are spoken might me words of life. 01:07 And is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. 01:11 What do I mean by rest in Christ? 01:15 Well let me tell you what I mean by no rest. 01:18 Shortly, before I was married, I was going to meet my fiancée 01:23 at Heathrow Airport in London. Huge airport. 01:25 This point in my life I was very used to having the Lord 01:29 wake me up in the morning. So I said: "Lord, I'm used to 01:34 getting up at 4, 5, 6 am. But now I've got to get up super 01:38 early to meet my darling at the airport. 01:40 So wake me up when you need me. " 01:43 Well, I went to bed that night 01:45 with full sure that the Lord will wake me up. 01:47 I woke up in the morning, and I've done my calculations. 01:50 I figured probably the Lord will wake me up at 3 to get me to 01:54 the airport in time. Well, when I woke up, it was 5, 01:57 it was my normal time for getting up. I thought: "Oh no, 02:00 my sweetie is gonna be at the airport waiting for me. " 02:04 So, I jumped out of bed, I didn't have time to pray. 02:07 I didn't have time to clean my teeth. So off I go. 02:11 Down the M1 motorway. The central road that runs through 02:15 England. And I'm going as fast as I dare and I get there. 02:19 Do I have rest in Christ? 02:23 Oh no, not rest. I'm pushing Jesus out of my life. 02:26 Was I a Christian? I was a profess Christian at this time. 02:30 I'd even giving seminars at the church. And I rush into the 02:34 airport. And I'm looking were is that flight. My fiancée was 02:37 coming back from the mission field. I haven't seen her for 02:41 a little wile. I get to the monitors. There it is: Lusaka, 02:45 Zambia. That's her flight. Delayed! 2 hours! 02:51 I could've have rest in Christ all the way through. 02:54 But I didn't. How do I get from that point in my Christian 02:59 experience to a point when nothing will ruffle me. 03:04 Nothing will ruffle you! That is a peace that the world 03:08 doesn't understand, and many of us, even thou we profess to be 03:13 Christians. Of those who do not profess to be Christians. 03:17 Have we found rest in Christ? I want to take a look at 3 steps 03:22 to finding rest in Christ. First we going to have a look 03:25 at the past, then will going to look to finding resting in the 03:29 present. And then will going to have a brief look at finding 03:32 rest in the future. Let me start off with thinking about the past 03:38 You know, unless we have doubt with the past, we are never 03:45 going to find rest in Christ. Do you have any skeletons 03:50 in the closet? Do you hear me? Do you know what I'm saying? 03:53 Do you know what a skeleton in the closet means? Maybe that's 03:56 just a western world expression. But what it means is that you've 03:59 done things that are wrong. And you know there are wrong, 04:02 and you know they are wrong, but you've never confessed it to 04:04 God, you've never made it right to it whoever it was 04:08 that is something, dear viewer 04:11 that will come back and plague you. 04:13 You can push it aside, you can ignore it, but when it really 04:17 comes down to it, maybe when you are in a car accident, or when 04:21 you're in your crisis in your life, and you are asking God 04:24 to come very close. 04:26 Then those things will start to come back to you. 04:29 So, we got to look at the past, we can't just forget the past. 04:33 Now, I'm not talking about delving in to every last thing 04:37 you ever did, 04:38 I'm talking about going to the Lord and saying: "Lord, is there 04:42 anything in my past that you're calling me to take care of. " 04:48 You know that some things that you have seen that you should 04:54 not have seen. Maybe I'm speaking to men. 04:56 Today, you're watching 3ABN, but do you watch 3ABN all the time? 05:01 Or do you flick channels sometimes, and come, find your 05:04 eyes coming across things that they should never be looking at? 05:07 You know what you've seen, men. 05:10 Ladies, I don't want to get myself into sticky ground here, 05:14 but ladies you know the things that you've done 05:17 or the things that you've purchased and you should 05:19 not have purchased or the books that you're reading 05:22 that you shouldn't be reading or the friendships that 05:24 you are formulating that you shouldn't be having? 05:28 If there are things like that are in your life, then they need 05:33 to be taken care of. 05:35 We need to take God and His Word. 05:40 God is offering us forgiveness for the past. 05:43 But as well as God is offering us forgiveness, you know, 05:47 we have to forgive ourselves. 05:51 Often times we have gone to God and we have taken care of it, 05:55 but we've carried it around for years. 05:58 We've got to learn not only to allow God to forgive us, but to 06:04 forgive ourselves. 06:05 Now how do we have God forgive us? 06:08 This really is not very complicated. 06:11 It all comes down to one word: Do you believe God? 06:16 Do you really believe God? 06:19 You know, sometimes we can go to God and we can say: 06:22 "Lord, please forgive me" and then we immediately get up 06:26 off our knees. And we go into our day, and we are still 06:30 chastising ourselves. We don't really believe that 06:33 God has forgiven us. 06:34 But let me ask you a question: If we have asked God 06:40 to forgive us, if we've asked God to give us a clean heart, 06:43 do you know what I mean by that? To give us repentance, 06:47 to turn our hearts away from that wrong act or sin, 06:51 whatever it is, then will God do it? 06:54 Or is God the sort of God that say's: I know you've asked, 06:58 but I'm going to hold out on you for a while to see if 07:02 you really meant it? 07:03 No, that's not the God we serve, think about Jesus 07:08 in his ministry. He spent a lot of his time healing people. 07:11 We can learn a precious lesson from how Jesus healed people. 07:15 Remember that man by the pool of Bethesda. 07:19 Jesus came to him and he say's, Do you want to be made whole? 07:22 And the man said: I do! 07:26 And Jesus said, "Get up and walk!" 07:30 What did the man say? 07:32 Oh, Jesus, you don't understand! I've been like this for 07:35 30 odd years. There is no way I can do that! 07:38 Is that what happened? 07:39 No! 07:41 Did the man act on faith? 07:43 Did he have to act on faith and say, the Lord said I can get up 07:48 so I'm gonna get up. 07:49 You know, that man got up and walked 07:52 When it comes to forgiveness, dear friends, we need to get up 07:56 and we need to live! 07:58 Don't go wallowing in the past, 08:01 don't say that God's holding out on you 08:03 If you believe the Scripture say's 08:07 Let's look at it, Mark 11, 24 08:23 So, is it God's will for us to be forgiven? 08:28 Of course it is! 08:29 We can't say to God, "Please God, give me a Porsche!" 08:32 Because it might not be God's will 08:34 Or a new house! 08:35 But we can say, Lord, please forgive me! 08:39 That is His will. 08:40 And then we need to take it a step further, as I said. 08:43 And we need to settle the matter 08:45 If God has forgiven me, then I am forgiven. 08:48 And I can forgive myself. 08:51 We need to confess our sins, we need to give ourselves to God 08:55 and then, whole heartedly, we need to say, 08:58 Lord, I'm going to serve you! No other master, 09:03 just You, and You alone. 09:05 You know, so often we don't believe God. 09:13 Like I said, we kneel down, and we say: Lord, please! 09:18 And we don't believe Him. 09:20 I was with a group of men just recently and we were having a 09:23 men's' summit. 09:25 And some of those men began to open up their hearts, you know 09:28 what the bottom line issue was? 09:30 We discovered that a lot of us in that room, 09:34 don't really trust God with our whole life. 09:39 We can! We can do it! 09:41 Jesus is there to help us! 09:43 And we need to respond to his calling. 09:49 You know, I don't want to lead us just to that point, 09:52 because there's more to it then just asking for forgiveness. 09:56 Let us look at another Scripture. 09:58 Leviticus 6:4 10:12 What will he do? 10:13 He will have to restore. 10:15 So it's not just a case of going before God and saying: 10:18 "Lord, I've said sorry to you, there is a part for us to play 10:22 We have to restore that which we have stolen 10:25 And that might be somebody's character, 10:28 that might be somebody's reputation 10:31 that might be somebody's wife, 10:32 that might be somebody's money, and might be anything, 10:36 but you get the spirit of what that verse is saying 10:39 There is another Scripture: Zacchaeus 10:41 Remember Zacchaeus? He was a very little man, 10:43 the Scripture tells us, Luke 19:8 10:47 "if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, 10:52 I restored him fourfold. " 10:55 He, as a part at his walk with Christ has started making right 11:00 So, we confess to God, we forgive ourselves, and then, 11:04 as far as lies within our power, we are to make restitution 11:10 And you say, oh, you're going too far. 11:14 I was quite with you on the speaking part to God, but now 11:18 making restitution? 11:19 Yes, we need to make restitution. 11:24 Let's summarize that: If we want to find true rest in Christ 11:28 for the past, then we have to confess our known sins. 11:31 We have to give ourselves fully to Jesus Christ. 11:35 We have to make restitution as far as lies within our power. 11:39 And then we need to resolve to serve God. 11:43 Whole heartedly, no restrictions on our surrender. 11:49 All of it to Jesus Christ. 11:51 Let's move on. That's finding rest for the past. 11:55 We can't skip that. 11:56 Not comfortable, but we cannot skip it. 11:58 But I want to spend some time now looking at finding rest 12:02 in the present. 12:03 In the here and now. Today! 12:05 This very day that were in now. 12:07 Turn with me, if you got your Bibles, at I'm hope if you're 12:10 viewing at home or in church you've got your Bibles. 12:13 Open up to Matthew 11:28-30 12:49 You know, this Scripture is so profound. 12:54 We can spend the rest of this message on these few verses. 12:59 First of all, in 28 it says "come unto... " who? 13:03 "Come unto Me!" 13:06 That's Jesus speaking those words, so "come unto me, all ye 13:10 labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. " 13:15 Do you know what sadness me? 13:16 As I country speaking, I find people who've come unto church 13:23 that they might find rest. 13:26 Well, it doesn't take long, going to church to figure out 13:29 that is not all rest, in church. 13:31 Or some people they think, I'm coming to 3ABN 13:37 and I shall find rest. 13:39 But it won't work that either. 13:41 The Bible say's, God's Holy Word say's 13:44 "Come unto Me" 13:47 Have you come? Have you come unto Jesus? 13:50 That it might give you rest? 13:53 You know do you have rest right now. 13:56 is everything in your soul perfectly at rest? 14:01 Or are there background burdens? 14:03 Are you carrying what I call background burdens, 14:06 things that are just nibbling away at your rest 14:10 and you know you need to take care of them, 14:13 But for the press of time, or for the want of desire, 14:18 those things are nibbling away at you. 14:22 I tell you, my dear friends, we need to come unto Jesus 14:27 that He might give us rest. 14:29 Now, you might be saying: How? 14:31 How am I suppose to come unto Jesus? 14:33 I've heard people say that before! 14:35 You know, the answer, my dear friend, is right in the very 14:40 next verse. Keep your Bibles opened. Matthew 11:29 15:09 You know, when I read this verse, first of all, I thought 15:12 A yoke? How can a yoke make anything easy. 15:15 I think of a yoke as this thing around your neck, 15:18 and is a negative thing, how can having a yoke 15:21 around your neck make things easy and light. 15:24 I just couldn't understand that. And then I started to realize. 15:28 Well, let's look at it. Let's look at the oxen. 15:32 Why do they wear a yoke? And it dawned on me, 15:35 A yoke, you know, that piece of wood that 15:38 they strap between the animals. 15:40 A yoke makes the load easier to pull. 15:45 If we are yoked in Christ yoke, that is very obvious 15:50 who we are yoked to. 15:53 I become connected to Jesus Christ through the yoke. 15:59 Then, all of the sudden, things are easier. 16:02 You know, so often we carry burdens and we do things 16:07 that the Lord has never called us to do. 16:10 And we find life hard going and we wonder 16:12 how come I'm so burden down. 16:14 I tell you why we are so we're burden down. 16:17 Because we are seeking to live up to 16:21 everybody else's expectations. 16:24 The Lord's yoke is easy. 16:27 If we are connected to Jesus Christ, 16:29 then we are wearing his yoke. 16:30 And the good thing is, could you imagine being in a yoke? 16:33 Could you imagine having a piece of wood around your neck 16:36 and having another piece of wood around somebody else's neck 16:40 and you've got to pull a load. 16:42 I would like the strongest man in the world 16:44 to be in the other side of the yoke. 16:46 Because I would to like the work. 16:48 Well, that's exactly how it is with Jesus Christ. 16:52 He can do anything. 16:53 All we need to do, and don't miss this, dear friends, 16:57 All we need to be is yoked to Christ. 17:02 As I like to say, we just need to be connected to Christ. 17:07 If we are connected to Him, we shall have peace 17:10 in every situation. 17:12 Let me share an example of how this happened for me. 17:16 It doesn't happen every time in my experience, 17:18 I don't want you to think that I'm some kind of saint, 17:20 but I can remember this one time. 17:22 I had been going to my local church area, and I was 17:28 caught speeding. 17:31 It was a 25 limit, I was doing 38, so the officer told me, 17:35 and so, I paid my fine and I drove slower. 17:42 But a couple of years later, I negotiated a very good rate 17:48 on my auto insurance. 17:49 But when the paper work came through, 17:51 the discount that I agreed with the lady on the phone 17:56 it was gone. 17:57 And the insurance was more then it was the year before. 18:01 So I called up the insurance company. 18:02 I said: how can this be? 18:05 They said: we did a search on your record, Mr. Rayne, 18:08 and we found that you had a ticket, 18:10 and so you've lost some of the benefits 18:13 and you're insurance will be higher. 18:15 I said, can't you ignore that, it was a year or two ago? 18:18 They said, "There's nothing we can do about it 18:19 until it's off your record. " 18:21 I said: " How do I do that?" 18:24 They said: "You have to see the judge. " 18:25 So I called the judge. It's only a small town. 18:28 And I explained the whole situation to her, and she said, 18:34 "Yes, we can do something about that. " 18:36 I said, "Praise the Lord!" 18:39 And she said, "But you have to go to driver's education, 18:44 driver's school. " I didn't know what that meant. 18:47 Are you willing do to that? 18:48 I said, ok I'll do that, to save the money here. " 18:51 Also you have to come and see me, and when she said that, 18:55 I thought, "Now, I've got to go to court, 18:57 I've never been to court in my life. 18:59 Anyway, I went to driver's school, that was nothing, 19:01 just watching a video, getting some education. 19:04 Then came the day I had to see the judge. 19:07 Eleven o'clock. Be in court. 19:08 Well, I left my home office a little late. 19:13 It doesn't as bad as you think. But now I'm in a rush, 19:18 and I'm very tempted to speed. 19:20 But I'm going to see the judge for speeding. 19:23 That's not a good situation, is it? 19:24 So, I go along the road, and for the first time, 19:29 on our gravel road, were we live, I find road works. 19:34 How can they be doing road works today? I asked myself. 19:37 So I sit there and the lady say's, "Wait!" 19:40 I'm late 5 minutes. 19:42 I'm late 10 minutes. 19:44 Now, that am I speaking to you about today? 19:47 Finding rest in Christ. 19:50 Is it difficult to have rest in Christ 19:53 when you've got to see the judge at 11 o'clock? 19:56 You are already 10 minutes late 19:58 and now they are holding you for road works another 10 minutes. 20:01 Is that a temptation? 20:02 I can tell you, by the grace of God, 20:05 and that's who I want to lift up today, Jesus Christ, 20:09 by the grace of God, he spoke to my heart, no audible voice, 20:13 but just, "Paul, you can trust me. " 20:16 I said, "Yes I can, Lord, 20:18 I don't know how do you want to work this out 20:19 I don't know how do you make up time, but I trust you, Lord. 20:22 And I trusted Him. And my heart didn't get upset. 20:26 Well, we got through those road works, and I got stopped 20:29 to another one. 20:31 And now I'm on my way, when I get to the courthouse, 20:33 I've never been before, I didn't know were to park, 20:36 I didn't know were to go, and I went into one place, 20:38 that was a library, that was a wrong place, 20:41 I'm looking for the judge's office. 20:42 And I thought there is all this people in court waiting for me. 20:46 It's now a quarter past eleven. 15 minutes late. 20:50 What a terrible thing! 20:51 When you're going to be in court 20:54 Well, I walked into the judges office 20:57 and she said the judge wasn't there 21:00 and I said, "I've come to see the judge" 21:01 and she said "She's gone. " 21:03 And I said "Oh, is that mean I have to come back?" 21:05 "No, it's only a few forms you have to fill in, 21:07 I'll take care of it" 21:08 What a relief to me that I hadn't lost all my connection 21:14 with Jesus Christ, and got all upset, and started blaming 21:20 the guy in front of me for driving too slow. 21:27 Maybe ladies you are just making a dish and the guests 21:31 are at the door, the door bell is ringing, and then you realize 21:35 It's burning! The soup is burning! 21:38 Can you find rest in that situation? 21:42 Yes! 21:43 Jesus Christ can give us rest. 21:45 What do I mean exactly by finding rest on Christ? 21:49 I mean it's that we have to ware his yoke, 21:53 do everything to the honor and glory of God. 21:57 That means in your business! 21:59 Do everything to the glory of God in your business! 22:03 I challenge you, men, do God's will. 22:10 Do what you know to be right in your business 22:12 and you will find rest in Christ! 22:15 If you are a mother, or if you are a teacher, 22:20 give your heart to those young children, for those young people 22:24 do what God would have you do through his strength. 22:28 Every decision you have to make, say no to self, 22:31 no to what you naturally want to do, 22:34 and yes to what you know Jesus Christ is calling you to. 22:37 And you will live with no regrets. 22:40 You will have a perfect peace. 22:42 A peace that passes all understanding. 22:46 Do you want that? 22:47 Do you think that's possible in the crazy world that we live in? 22:51 I am one man who's here to tell you that more and more 22:56 I am experiencing that. 22:58 When by bags get lost in the airport, when I have to 23:02 wait for different things that naturally call forth impatience 23:08 I am thankful, that, by the grace of God, 23:12 he is whispering to me. 23:16 Paul, you can rest in me. 23:19 You know, there's nothing, dear viewers that replaces 23:26 perfect peace in God. 23:30 Do you want it? 23:31 Is it possible? 23:33 You can have it! 23:35 You, watching this program today, 23:38 don't give all you're excuses to God. 23:40 Don't say: "God, it's ok for him, he is a preacher. 23:44 No, it's ok for everyone! 23:47 What did the Scripture say? 23:49 He said, "Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden" 23:55 Are you heavy ladened? 23:58 Then the invitation is to you. 24:01 The invitation is to me. 24:04 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 24:08 and ye shall find rest. " 24:10 Come unto Jesus! 24:12 It's entirely possible not through your own strength, 24:16 it's found in His Word, it's found as you, and as I 24:21 surrender all our known choices to Jesus Christ. 24:26 I challenge you! 24:28 Try it! 24:30 First of all, let's do a little recap, 24:31 You've got to find rest for the past, 24:34 you've got to take care of those skeletons in the closet. 24:37 You know, skeletons don't always stay in the closet. 24:41 Maybe this will be a little human motivation for you. 24:44 Sooner or later, those skeletons are going to get out the closet, 24:47 they're going to start walking around the church 24:49 or walking around the neighborhood. 24:51 Then you wish, then you're do anything to take care of them. 24:54 Take care of them now, dear friends. 24:57 Take care of those skeletons in the closet, 25:00 and then confess your sins to God. 25:03 Make restitution as far as lies within your power, 25:07 and then seek every moment of your waking day, 25:11 seek to be connected, to be yoked to Jesus Christ. 25:15 Then, the Scriptures are fulfilled, and it say's 25:19 that Christ can do all things through you. 25:22 He can! 25:24 He can make you the husband you want to be. 25:26 He can make you the wife or the mother that you want to be. 25:30 He can make you the teacher, 25:32 He can make you want He wants you to be. 25:35 But you have a part to plan. 25:37 Now, our part is very small. 25:39 And God's part is very big. 25:41 But if we don't play our small part, God can't do it for us. 25:46 It's a team effort. 25:49 The secret of success is human effort with divine power. 25:56 We can't do it in our own strength. 25:58 But Jesus can't do it without us. 26:00 Otherwise he could save the whole world 26:01 without our permission. 26:02 So, we've looked at the past, we've looked at the present, 26:07 want to spend a few moments looking at the future. 26:10 You know, we will not find rest in the future unless we 26:16 have taken care of the past and the present. 26:19 We need to let Christ purge the past. 26:22 We need to let Christ to empower the present. 26:26 And then, as it say's in Scripture, Acts 2:26 26:29 "we can rest in hope" 26:33 Don't rest on you're pension plan! 26:38 Because it may fail you. 26:40 Don't rest upon your insurance, or you're savings. 26:47 Rest in Jesus. 26:49 But is part of the program. 26:51 Take care of the past. 26:52 Live to Him in the present. 26:54 Then you can rest. 26:55 Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. 26:58 Father in heaven, what a good God you are, 27:02 and I am so happy that for everyone of our viewers today 27:06 you are offering perfect peace. 27:09 Father, I seek it myself. 27:12 I give myself to you afresh, that I may walk every moment 27:16 to everyday in your presence. 27:18 And Father, I thank you for hearing our prayer. 27:21 In Jesus name, Amen. 27:22 You know, I just want to give you a personal invitation. 27:26 I don't know what you going to be doing in a few minutes, 27:30 I don't know what your life consists of 27:32 But I know that Jesus is waiting for you to surrender all. 27:39 Will you do it? 27:40 For His sake, will you do it? 27:43 I challenge you, and you shall have rest 27:46 that you're friends will not understand. 27:49 I'm so thankful you joined us today, 27:52 and may God richly bless you. 27:54 God bless. |
Revised 2014-12-17