I WILL GIVE YOU REST

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SERIES: UNFAILING

SESSION THREE, WINTER 2017

I WILL GIVE YOU REST Americans have more wealth, more stuff, and better health than at any time in history. Yet we are more stressed out, depressed and anxious than ever before. And deep down many men feel like they’re missing out on what life could be and should be. But one thing men are sure of: The life they want is not the way of more ________ and restrictions. Jesus would agree. Matthew 11.28-29: Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. To men who feel burdened and overwhelmed and who feel they may be missing out on life, Jesus says, “I understand, I care and I want to give you rest.” Men carry a lot these days. (1) We feel responsible for our _____________. (2) We live in a competitive, capitalistic society that gives the message that people are worth what they ___________ and that demands we do more with less. (3) Technology now makes it possible and ____________ that we work from home, on the weekends and on vacation. (4) We place on ourselves the burden that we should be able to handle the pressures of job, marriage, kids, and the rest of life ________________. We may not follow the 600 Old Testament laws, but there are unwritten laws that we all know. Unwritten laws that tell us what we’re supposed to do, who we’re supposed to be, and how we’re supposed to live. Like the Old Testament laws, these rules don’t bring joy, peace or life. WHAT DOES JESUS SAY TO MEN WHO ARE WEARY AND BURDENED? 1. COME UNTO ME It’s our _____________ with Jesus that is the source of life and peace and freedom. Our problem is not an “out there” problem; it’s an “____________” problem. And there’s only one reality that can make us right on the inside – a relationship with the One who created us to know him.

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St. Augustine: Our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Blaise Pascal: There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus. Sundar Singh: In comparison with this big world, the human heart is only a small thing. Though the world is so large, it is utterly unable to satisfy this tiny heart. Its capacity can be satisfied only in the infinite God. As water is restless until it reaches its level, so the soul has not peace until it rests in God. The restlessness within us is a longing not for something, but for _____________. One of the beauties of our faith is the truth that the universe is inherently relational – Father, Son and Holy Spirit sharing life together. And at the heart of who you are there is a relational need greater than any earthly thing or any human being can fulfill. David Bloom: I can’t wait to be home to be with all of you. You can’t begin to fathom, cannot begin to even glimpse the enormity of the changes I have and am continuing to undergo. God takes you to the depths of your being until you are at rock bottom and then, if you turn to him with utter and blind faith, and resolve in your heart and mind to walk only with him and toward him, picks you up by your bootstraps and leads you home. I hope and pray that all my guys get out of this in one piece. But I tell you, Mel, I am at peace. Deeply saddened by the glimpses of death and destruction I have seen, but at peace with my God, and with you. I know only that my whole way of looking at life has turned upside down here. I am, supposedly at the peak of professional success, and I could frankly care less. Yes, I’m proud of the good job we’ve all been doing, but in the scheme of things it matters little compared to my relationship with you, and the girls, and Jesus. If you’re not at peace, the question is: Have you come to Jesus? Have you come to him to accept him as Lord and Savior? If you have, and you’re not at peace, have you come to him with whatever it is that you’re facing? To come to Jesus, you have to come honestly and openly. You have to get ______ with yourself and with him about your needs, your motives, your desires, your weaknesses, and your fears. And then sit in his presence and receive his Spirit. 2. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU “Yoke” is a metaphor for the _________ and the obligations and the responsibilities a person takes on to fulfill. In the Old Testament and in Jesus’ day that was the Old Testament law.

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YOKES THAT MEN PUT ON TODAY A. The Yoke of the __________ Men who wear this yoke are always working to prove themselves. They feel a need to prove something to themselves or to someone else or to some voice that tells them they have to measure up to be a man. Provers have to do more, be more, achieve more, and/or have more than other guys because they think then they will be worthy of respect or happiness. But no matter what the prover does, it’s ________________. B. The Yoke of the ___________ These men believe if they can do enough for others, they will be loved and happy. C. The Yoke of the ___________ Rescuing others makes us feel good and important. Until I’m no longer rescuing and then I don’t know who I am. Or until I face a problem I can’t _______. Then I feel like a failure and a nothing. D. The Yoke of the ___________ This is the yoke that says: I live for me: my pleasures, my plans, my happiness; me and my world come first. Selfers always end up _________ and miserable. You were made for a world whose horizon is bigger than a self-embrace. And if the world of a self-embrace is big enough to make you happy, you are a very _______ man indeed. E. The yoke of __________ Who chooses which yoke you will wear? ______ do. The yoke of Jesus is the yoke of _________. It’s a yoke that says life is about relationships. It’s a yoke that says the greatest commandment is to love God with all you are and the second most important is to love others as yourself. It’s a way of life that grounds us in the deepest aspects of reality that will remain when everything else is gone – God and __________. Your assignment for this week: each day do one thing to love God and do one thing to love another person. Simple ways to love God: spend some time with him, pray, listen to a praise song or a great hymn and then tell God what he means to you, take a short walk and tell God you want more of him in your life, make a special gift to help the poor, list all your blessings and thank God for being so good to you, decide you’re going on a mission trip or you’re going to try out prison ministry.

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Simple ways to love others: think of someone you know who’s going through a tough time and send a card or write an email, take someone to lunch and ask how he’s doing, pray for someone, listen to someone, do a chore for a neighbor, invite someone to church or to Quest, tell your wife how much she means to you, compliment/bless someone at work, thank someone who made your life better recently or in the past. 3. LEARN FROM ME Jesus says that he will _________ us how to live in love. That means we won’t always get it right, but that’s to be expected and that’s ok. When a disciple followed a rabbi, the main goal was not simply to learn what the rabbi knew. The disciple’s intention was to learn how the rabbi lived so the disciple could live the ______________. When a young man committed himself to following a rabbi and learning his way of life, it was referred to as putting on that rabbi’s yoke. Do we need to fear when we fail? No. Matthew 11.29: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart … Jesus is not a harsh judge but a gentle encourager, kind with our failings, not lording it over us, but patiently lifting us up to a new way of life. Matthew 11.29-30: And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. “Easy” here means it ___________. “The life I call you to,” Jesus says, “you were made for it and it was made for you.”

Spring Mission Trip to Honduras: March 16-19. You can register on the church website under “Missions.”

The Woodlands United Methodist Church www.thewoodlandsumc.org