What Moms Need... And How You Can Help!

Well, you may have seen this, moms. These are answers given by second graders to questions about mom. I love these. For example, why did God make mothers? Well, she's the only one who knows where the Scotch tape is. And this is true in our house, actually. What kind of a little girl was your mom? I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy. Why did your mom marry your dad? My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on. What does your mom need to know about your dad before she married him? Well, does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say no to drugs and yes to chores? What would it take to make your mom perfect? On the inside, she's already perfect. On the outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery. And lastly, what does your mom do in her spare time? Moms don't do spare time, right? And that's kind of what we want to talk about this morning.

This weekend, we are starting a brand new series that we call Fuel. This is about help for people running on empty. Why don't you grab your message notes that look like this? They were in the bulletins that got handed to you, I hope, when you walked in the door this morning. And as you're getting those out, I want to begin with just a little survey about fuel, okay? Kind of a quick show of hands here. How many of you, when you're driving, have honestly never run out of fuel, not even one time in your lives? Hold your hands up high. Look at these people. They all secretly think that they're better than the rest of us. Look at them. They're kind of like even going like this. All right, how many of you, when you're driving, basically, usually, never let your gas tank get below about a quarter tank? When it's a quarter tank full, you fill it up right away, okay? How many of you see how far you can go when the little light comes on, right? You think E stands for "enough to keep on going," right? It's a challenge to you. How many of you have ever run out of gas? Put your hands. Seriously, raise your hands. How many of you have ever run out of gas more than once? You know what? Me too. Most recently, I ran out of gas on 17 coming back from San Jose. But the good news is I was just this side of Summit.

And now I could have pulled-- I have AAA. I could have pulled over, just called the AAA guy. But, you know, you see these things as a challenge if you're a guy. And I put it into neutral, and I successfully coasted-- I kid you not, I am not making this up. I successfully coasted all the way into Scotts Valley and coasted right up to one of the pumps at the 76 station in Scotts Valley. And so, thank you. A few men are applauding me. Thank you. I was so proud of myself for running out of gas. I actually bragged about it to my friends until my wife said, "You know, you are bragging about being an idiot." She's going to tell me that again today. And this is really part of the problem, right, with running out of gas, even spiritually, emotionally. Because we can actually get proud of our ability to run on fumes, right? Proud of how empty we are emotionally.

I mean, have you ever heard somebody brag about how busy they are? We say things like, "I'm so busy. I haven't slept a full night in weeks." I'm actually hallucinating right now talking to you. I work 80 hours a week. When I'm not working, I'm with a kid. The kids schedule my children are in 18 sports, and they're taking college classes at Cabrillo, and they're only in the second grade. And they actually only sleep in the car on the way to the next event. They actually do not have a bedroom. You know, we brag about this, but the truth is, really living on fumes leads to bad stuff. In fact, last night I made a list. A self-evaluation. Because somebody in my family told me, "You know, you're acting a little bit crabby." And I said, "Well, I think it's because I'm tired." Then I realized I need this message more than anybody.

And I made kind of a list of what happens in my life when I'm empty, when I'm running on fumes. Maybe you can identify with some of the things on my list. When I'm running on empty spiritually, I'm crabby. I'm like a little baby who needs a nap. And just like a little baby who needs a nap, I say, "I don't need a nap. I'm not running on empty." And I complain about what's obvious. When I'm running on empty, I'm impatient. When I'm running on empty, my judgment is poor. It's distorted. I don't make good decisions. In fact, pretty much every bad decision I've made in my life came out of running on fumes. You rarely make well-fueled mistakes. Have you noticed that? When I'm empty, I lack compassion for people who might be hurting that I run across. Do you identify with any of these things on this list? I mean, lack compassion unless one of my kids is literally on fire. I will not get out of my lazy boy when I'm running on empty.

When I'm empty, I'm quickly enticed by temptations. I'm more vulnerable. I'm short with people. I'm more cynical. I'm more critical. And the scary thing is, this is not just me. This is a real issue in America today. Just saw a recent poll. 77% of Americans say they are feeling burned out. And so what that means is we've got an entire nation of people who are feeling cynical and critical and crabby, and it's because we've got a whole nation of people running on fumes. So let me ask you, do you think it would be worth our time to study how to fill up our spiritual tanks for the next five weeks? I think so. And I chose the subject partly because I read about how Americans are feeling these days in the paper and partly because I need this right now.

Here's my prayer for this series from Ephesians 3, and let's all read this out loud together. Here we go. Let me hear you. "I pray that you would be filled with the fullness of God and the power that comes from God." Wouldn't you love to be filled up with God's life and fullness and power again? The Greek verb here is a continuous action verb. It means I pray that you would be continually filled. It's a daily filling. It's a daily topping off of your tank. And now specifically since this is Mother's Day, how are the moms doing when it comes to running on empty these days? I saw a 2011 international web-based survey of moms. 81% of the respondents worry that they will burn out. 81%. 88% said they suffer from a stress-related health problem. 59% say they have problems with anxiety. 43% struggle with depression. I mean, look at these numbers. This is amazing. Moms here need help. They're running on empty.

In fact, let me take just a quick survey by show of hands. How many of you are moms here today? Let me see a show of hands. You're moms. How many of you at some point in your life, let's just be honest here, have found yourself stressed out by your children? Can I see that show of hands? All right. How many of you have moms? Anybody here have a mother? Please raise your hand, okay. How many of you are or have been a source of stress to your mothers? Right? Okay. So we need to all ask what fills the tank for moms. We've stressed our moms out. So let's see how we can fill their tank a little bit.

I saw a survey of moms at Saddleback Church in Orange County by Pastor Tom Holliday, and he asked them, "What do you need as a mom?" And he came up with a long list of things. I'm just going to take the top five responses. And I want you to write these things down, because these are ways that you can help the moms you know, maybe your friends who are mothers, maybe your own mom or the mother of your own children. These are ways you can help these moms get refueled, okay? Ready for this? One, moms say they need appreciation. Appreciation. This is very biblical to appreciate your mom. The Bible models this. I love Proverbs 31. It calls this wonderful woman. It lauds this mother. It says, "Her children arise and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

Now, the city gate, what does that mean? That was like the town hall. That was like where all the important people, the mayors, the governors, the judges would go to sit and make their decisions. This is where the important people were received in the city. So the point is this. It's okay to tell other people how awesome your mom, where the mother of your children is. Biblically, it's okay to brag on her publicly. And think of this. One of the Ten Commandments is honor your father and mother. This is one of the Ten Commandments. Think of it. Of all the things that God could have made rules about, honoring your parents makes the top ten. This is right up there with, you know, do not murder. Because if you honor your mom, she might not murder. No, I'm not suggesting there's an association, but there's a blessing associated with this.

Paul repeats this here in Ephesians 6, and he says that it may go well with you, and that you may prosper. In other words, there's a blessing associated with honoring your mother and father. Even the smallest amount of honor that you can give to somebody is healthy for your soul. And I am going to do this right now. I'm going to do something I've never done before in any sermon or any church service in my life, but I want to give flowers away to one mom. I've done this for one mom in each church service as kind of a representative of all the moms here. I wish we could give flowers to you all, but I don't have a big enough budget for that. But the rest of you get a bag, and this one mom will get flowers. And in this service, I want this little pot of flowers to go out to a woman that I want to arise and call blessed, and that is my mom, Rosemary, who's sitting right down here down this aisle. So happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day. I sincerely hope, Mom, that that makes up for all the times I forgot. Okay, now... Now, we got this one day, right, that we're all reminded to honor our moms, and it's wonderful. You know, Mother's Day actually started as a religious holiday. Did you know that? The woman who started it was a Christian who started it not as a commercial thing. In fact, she regretted the fact that it went commercial. She started it specifically as a day to honor and pray for mothers in churches. So this is right in the spirit of that commandment. But what does honoring Mom mean beyond Mother's Day? You know, this past Thursday, I gathered a panel of all kinds of moms here at Twin Lakes Church. I mean single moms, working moms, moms of preschoolers, grandmas, and everything in between. And I asked them all, "What makes you feel honored? What makes you feel appreciated and validated as a mom?"

And here's what the Real Housewives of Santa Cruz said. I'm a single mom. I've got four children. My youngest, this is in junior high. And I've got a high schooler and two in college. I've got two boys and two girls. And as a single mom and working full-time and going to school, one of my greatest joys and moments that I felt validated is independently, my children have just for random, during random times, have just stopped me and just said, "Mom, thank you. Thank you for always being there for me." And me, who's running around all the time trying to make life work, for them to just recognize that I'm there for them just means everything. And it's the greatest validation that you have as a mom.

I have two children and about to have my tenth grandchild. And I honestly am most validated as a mother when my faith is replicated. And when my children call and ask me for prayer, and then I later hear that they've gathered their children around them to pray with them about the same thing, that is what makes my God's Word. I am a working mother of three school-aged children. My oldest is 12. I'm a nine-year-old. I'm a seven-year-old. And I think for me as a mother, I feel validated and encouraged when, I think when kids were younger, it was very natural for them to want to spend time with me, talk to me, cuddle up next to me. But as my kids get older, those moments are so much more special because they don't come as naturally, at least it doesn't feel that way.

So when my 12-year-old snows up next to me on the couch or isn't embarrassed of me at a junior high event, that I'm with him and wants to sit next to me when he's with his friends, that is very validated. I want my children to be well-behaved and to be polite and respectful to others when they're at home and also when they're out in the world. And I try to an exhausting amount to remind them to be respectful and to use their manners and to follow the rules and to do it without my reminding. Or if somebody tells me, "Oh, they did this when you weren't around," or they were so respectful, then that's when I feel validated. And it's also when my mom tells me that I handled a situation in LA that she respects or that she said, "Oh, I would never have thought of that." And you handled it in a different way than she would have. That makes me feel validated as well.

I'm a new mom. I have an 11-and-a-half-month-old who actually won in the May. And I feel very validated when every morning I wake up and go in and he's standing in his crib and he just stares at me and smiles like him. I've never seen before. It has to be a smile like you like that every single morning. It's really precious and it validates me every day that he loves me so much. I had two children and they both went on a prodigal journey. And both of them have said what always brought them back home was our un-traditional love. Did you hear how much it meant to those moms? Don't miss a chance to help your mom feel like that. Confirm her today. Don't miss a chance to say thank you.

Now it's one thing to say thank you, but it's another thing to say, "I thank God for you." And that's what Paul says in these two versions, that verse is Philippians 1:3 and Colossians 1:3, "I thank God for you." And this is really a key, pray for them. Thank God for them, naming specific things you're thankful for, and then pray for them. Now you say, "What do I pray for?" Let me give you four things, the next four things on this list, on page two. Let's go through these quickly. Like the second thing moms said they need, moms say they need help with worry. Help with worry. And this is huge for moms. In fact, I was at Costco the other day, and I always like to go to the book table at Costco and see what is selling.

My wife and I go to Costco now on date nights. Does that make us of a certain age that that is a good date night place for us? To me it's like an automatic party because you've got the food samples there, your appetizers. I always see all my friends and I go to the book table, massive entertainment for me. But I saw that the biggest kind of genre of books that they were selling there right now is books on stress, and I grabbed just three of the many books on stress. They had a whole section, and I'm thinking, is this seasonal? Is this like a Mother's Day section here right now? Because look at this, "Stress Less for Women." I looked in vain for one for men, but I'm trying to apply this book to my life right now. So "Stress Less for Women" was there. I like this one, "Keep Calm and Carry On," kind of based on that familiar British saying from World War II. And look at this one, "30-Minute Therapy for Anxiety." Now I love the subtitle, "Everything You Need to Know in the Least Amount of Time." I need help with burnout, but I don't have time. Give it to me now, now, now!

Right? So this is definitely tapping into what moms are feeling like right now. Now you're going to get great advice from some of these books. I discovered a few nuggets in there I'm going to be sharing next weekend when we continue to look at this topic. Hope you can make it for that. But for now, the best advice I could give you is from our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "Don't be troubled. You trust God. Now trust in me. Trust God. Trust in Jesus." Listen, real relief from where it comes from, trusting in the Lord. And not trying to control stuff that you can't control anyway. "Let him control things." Psalm 62, "Trust in him at all times." Again, trust in him. "Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge." It says, "Pour out your heart to him." Have you noticed that the main difference between worry and prayer is that worry is self-talk, but prayer is God-talk, right?

I mean, you can be thinking about the same things. When I worry late at night in bed and I can't sleep, I'm just rehearsing all the things that stress me out. I don't have time to write my sermon. How am I going to write my sermon? How are we going to pay for college for the kids? What about the house repairs? We have to pay somebody because I don't know how to fix stuff. "I feel like such an idiot." This is the kind of thing that goes around in my head late at night. But it's so simple to turn those same worries into a prayer. You just start with two words, "Dear Lord." "Dear Lord." I don't have time to write my sermon. I'm worried about the college. What about the house repairs? I don't know how to fix stuff. God, you know that makes me feel like such an idiot. But actually, you'll be amazed at the difference that little phrase makes.

Seriously, when you start out with "Dear God," because what's happening is you change a monologue into a dialogue. Like the Bible says, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. And then you will experience God's peace. Thank Him for what He has done. Now look at this next verse. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about these things, things that are excellent and worthy of praise. I'll tell you a story. One of our kids, David, he's 13 now, but when he was a real little kid, he was one of those little kids that was just full of anxiety. You know how some little kids are just happy-go-lucky and some little kids are just full of anxiety. And he kind of follows after me because that's something I've struggled with my whole life.

And as just a five-year-old, he used to call out in the middle of the night wanting us to come into his room and he'd say, "Parents? Parents? Didn't care mom or dad, didn't matter. Parents?" You know? "Yes, what is it?" "I can't sleep. I am anxious." Five years old, he would define it that way. And my awesome wife taught him this whole passage. He memorized this word for word as just a little kid, word for word, perfect. And she said, "David, the next time you feel panicked or worried in the middle of the night, I want you to reach for these words in your mind and say them out loud and practice them. Think about the things that are excellent and praiseworthy and admirable, anything that fits that category that you can think of, and then do not call us." Right? And you know what? It was amazing to see how this helped him.

I mean, I'm a pastor and I shouldn't have been surprised, but I can't exaggerate how quickly it solved the problem for him. In fact, one day I asked him, "David, when you think of things that are excellent and worthy of praise, what do you think of?" And he smiled and said, "I think of Disneyland." And that's awesome. The next time you're stressed by your kids or overwhelmed by life's challenges, reach for this verse. Memorize it so you have it to reach for and then practice it as a reminder. Right? And think of Disneyland, if that helps you too, because that is admirable praise. It doesn't say think of religious things that are excellent and praiseworthy. You can obviously think of the Lord, think of Jesus, but you can think of anything beautiful, anything that's one of those sites that just inspires you, a beautiful piece of music. That's great advice. It'll calm you down.

Then the third thing's mom said they need. Moms need patience. Do I hear an amen from moms on this? How many moms want more patience? How many of you are thinking, "Get on with this point. No more raising hands." Okay. I asked our panel of real Santa Cruz housewives. Tell us a story about a time you needed patience. Here's what they said. I had my three kids at home. I think Anna was an infant. She was crying uncontrollably. My middle child was at the dining room table playing play-doh, and the huge, beautiful, anti-glass bowl that was given to us as a wedding gift was in his way apparently. And so he just dramatically shoved it off the table and it just shattered into tons of pieces on the floor. Meanwhile, my oldest is scaling the wall in the other room where I had bookshelves nailed to the wall. As the shelves started to just come out of the wall, all of the bookshelves came down. Books falling everywhere. Anna glass of pieces on the floor. Baby crying. It was wild.

But I was so exasperated and I was so angry. And at the end of my rope that I locked all three of my kids out of the house in the rain and called my husband at work because I was afraid of what I was going to do. We were shopping and my kids were freaking out and were telling me all the things that they wanted to get and wanted to buy. And my son decided to have an accident over everything. And I took them to the bathroom and I couldn't get them cleaned up and we had to get new pants. And they were freaking out and wanted all these things that I left my cart in the middle of the store. Picked one kid up, dragged the other one out screaming and people were staring at me and we just walked the walk of shame. That reminds me of the day I took my two granddaughters shopping with me and I was a lot of practice on what you do with wild and crazy kids. And finally, when nothing else was working, I turned around the line and I said, "Which one of you pooped your pants?" And that shut them up.

So if you take home just one piece of advice today, I have to say that line always shuts me up every time it works on me. But can you relate to those stories, right? The walk of shame. You know, you and I will always need patience with our kids and with each other. You know why? Because none of us is perfect. And you take imperfect people, which we all are, and then you put us in close proximity to each other. Eventually, we're going to irritate each other. Imperfect people plus proximity equals irritation. That's true in a job. That's true in a college situation, a dorm room or something. And that's especially true in a family. Irritation is inevitable. Look at Psalm 78:56. This is about God's family. God and his people. Yet though he did all this for them, they continued to test his patience. I love this because it means God gets it. You can be the perfect parent and your kids are still going to test your patience at times.

You might say, "Well, that's great, but how can I learn patience?" A lot of wisdom to be found in Ephesians 4:2. Let's read this verse out loud together. Let me hear you. "Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love." Don't miss this. Circle "because of your love." And listen closely. "Patience" does not mean lack of irritation. So many parents feel guilty because their kids irritate them. But that is normal. They are irritating. They are sometimes. And so are you sometimes. What I'm saying is patience doesn't mean some kind of perfect detachment. It means you choose to love. And remember in the Bible, love is not an emotion. Love is a choice. And so being patient, this does not mean people don't drive you crazy. It means you have chosen to act loving toward them. And this gives me so much hope because it means I can decide to act patient. That is in my control. And that doesn't mean I'm faking it. It means I am actually learning what patience is.

Patience is holding your tongue when you are irritated. Patience is not being so serene that nothing ever irritates you. You can get that by taking a pill. That's not patience. That's called being drugged. Okay? Bottom line. Patience is being irritated but being patient with them, bearing with them. Then there's a fourth thing moms say they need. Moms need wisdom. Especially moms in this survey talked about with all the negative influences in our culture. Moms need wisdom. They need wisdom to know how to discipline kids, how to encourage kids, how to balance family life, how to teach kids. Teaching kids is hard, right? Would you agree with that? Imparting your wisdom to kids? One mom wrote this. I was telling our four year old Jack about strangers. And I said, some people want to steal other people's kids. So listen carefully Jack. If a stranger tries to give you candy or invites you into their car, kids should scream and run home as fast as they can. Do you understand? And Jack wide-eyed, nodded his head. I understand mommy. Just to make sure I ask, what did you learn from what I just said? And Jack responded, never ever ever steal someone else's kids.

You know, it's hard to teach kids. James 1:5, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he'll give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. So ask for wisdom, but let me ask you this. Have you ever asked for wisdom for someone? Have you ever prayed for wisdom for a mom? We all talk a lot about how our moms prayed for us, but have you ever prayed for a mom? Think of a mom in your head right now and just quickly in the back of your mind say, God, I ask that you give that mom that I know the gift of wisdom. Just do it right now, just in your back of your head. Don't wait because I don't want you to forget. Pray for wisdom for that mom. And look at this, Colossians 2:3 says, God has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ. Wisdom is found in Christ. So spend time with Jesus. You say, how do I do that? Well, we try to make this easier with the brief daily meditations that we attach to the sermon notes. See those on pages two and three there. They are brief things that don't take you more than 10 minutes. Every single day they tie into the message. We put them there every week. I would encourage you to come to all five weeks during this series and then to do the daily meditations every day.

I guarantee you, in fact, that you will see your stress level go down and your sense of margin get wider. Is that worth 10 minutes a day? I think it is. So I encourage us to all get on board with that. And then finally, moms need rest. Moms need rest. Moms do not feel guilty about this. Even Jesus needed rest. One of the best bosses I ever had at a radio station told me one time when I wanted to quit. René, sometimes when you feel like quitting, all you really need is a vacation. And the same exact thing is true of parenting, marriage. Sometimes when you feel like quitting, what you need is a little break. What do I mean? My life, Lori, when the kids were little especially, used to take regular, what we called, "Lori days." Entire days just gone. I'd take the kids and she'd leave first thing in the morning before anybody was awake so she wouldn't be caught in the vortex, right, of family life. Because then she wouldn't leave for another three hours. And she wouldn't come back until everybody was in bed. And I mean everyone. If she saw one light on, she kept driving. But it saved her sanity, right? Pretty much saved her sanity.

But give your wife, give a friend of yours some of her own days. Moms, listen to this. This is how much moms need this. Listen to this letter that another pastor friend of mine received from a woman in his church. I thought it was poignant. "Dear Pastor, I can't remember the last time I felt refreshed and rested. There are too many expectations, too many responsibilities, too many activities, too many decisions. And when I look around, I see that everybody's overloaded. Everybody is trying to do so much. This is madness. It can't be God's will for our lives. I really want to learn how to rest and relax, not just for my own health, but because I can see how my kids are learning the same crazy lifestyle." You know what? This right here, this is why we're starting this new series this weekend.

When I read this letter, this clinched it for me. We've got to do this series. Because first, I want you to be healthy, but second, I care about the next generation that we saw up here on stage in great numbers today. I care about the kids. And when she said in this letter, "Not just for my own health, but I can see how my kids are learning the same crazy lifestyle," I began to think how kids are growing up today with way too much stress. Do you agree with that? Kids are learning how to be workaholics today at younger and younger ages. There was just an article in USA Today about this, and they said anthropologists are beginning to study the generation of children right now because children have never been busier in any human society. And they don't know how this is going to affect them. And cultural anthropologists are actually studying this generation of children wondering how is this new thing going to affect them.

But Jesus said this, "My purpose is to give them, all of us, a rich and satisfying life." Other translations call it abundant life. This is what God wants for you. Listen, God is not pro-exhaustion. Yet many Christians are exhausted. This series fueled, this isn't about time management or some trendy thing about burnout. This really is about living the abundant life, the rich inner spiritual life that Jesus wants all of us to live. So I really hope you make it each week. My goal is not to make you feel guilty for a moment, but to help you learn how to live a rich, fulfilling life. And I'm preaching this because I need it too. But right now let's wrap this up. Let's all apply this. Look back at your notes. What can you do about the five things that moms say in that survey they need to get some fuel back in their tank?

Quick show of hands here. How many of you know somebody who is a mom? Raise your right hand if you know somebody who is a mom. By raising your right hand you are now all deputized. All right? To do this. Today, when you go out for Mother's Day, I challenge you to slip this at some point to your mom or a friend of yours, a sister who is a mom, and ask them to put a star by the two things that are their biggest kind of needs right now in their lives. And say, "I want to commit to pray for you for the rest of this year for the two things on here that you want me to pray for the most." And then don't just stop with that. Prayer is very important, but actually then say, "I want to do something practical." Don't just pat them on the shoulder and say, "I'll pray for you for a year." That's my Mother's Day gift to you because frankly that'll probably mean this week because you'll forget.

Offer to put these words into action because I can almost guarantee you that every single mom that you ask will start that last point. Did you hear all the "Amen's" that sounded when I said that last point? Moms need rest. So whether it's your sister or your mom or a friend or the mother of your children, offer to give her a day away. Or a weekend away. Babysit the kids, give her a gift card, give a couple a gift card for a date night, say, "We'll take care of the kids." That is love in action in a church family. That is something you are not going to find at the book table at Costco. This is what a church family is all about. Helping each other get refueled. And you know what? If we all actually do it, you will see a dynamic change just by that action in the spiritual life of this church.

Because not only will moms be getting refueled by some time off, but you'll be getting refueled by honoring and serving them. If you make that choice today to make that offer. And you know what? It's not just moms that need these five things. We all do. So what's the starting point? Look at this last verse and read Matthew 11:28 out loud with me. Let me hear you. Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." This is rest for your soul. Soul rest. And this is much, much deeper than physical rest, right? A lot of us need naps because we're fatigued. But the biggest source of your stress is not worn out muscles. You can take all the naps in the world, but nothing's going to de-stress your soul like Jesus.

The starting point is simply come to Jesus. The answer is not a plan or a program. It's a person. Jesus says, "Come to me." And notice he doesn't even say, "First, come to church. Come to this seminar. Come to a small group Bible study." He says, "Come to me." Because when you establish or re-establish that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you bathe in his presence, in his grace, in his unconditional love. And then you're filled up with all the fullness of God. And so let's go to him now in prayer as tired people, as worn out people, or as well rested people who can help others. All right? Let's pray together. Bow your heads with me.

You may want to pray something like this in your heart, if you've been relating to what I've been talking about. Maybe just say something like, "Dear Lord, I am so heavily burdened. I've been running on fumes. And so Jesus, I come to you. I don't understand all of this, but being filled with you sounds kind of mysterious, but it sounds good to me. And so Jesus Christ come into my life right now. Forgive me and change me." Now, maybe you've prayed that already. You may want to say something like, "God, I want to come back to you. I'm tired of being tired all the time. I'm tired of life without the rest and peace. I read about it in the Bible. And what I need to do is to repent of all the times I've turned to other things for relief instead of turning to you. And so today I come back to you. I want to begin to repent of overloading my schedule so that my time with you is squeezed out. I want to get that continuous daily filling that comes from time with you. And I ask for this in your name. Amen.