Followed By Mercy

Rest Over Religion

• W. Austin Gardner

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We speak plainly about money, missions, and the hope that drives both: Jesus offers rest where religion piles on rules. From Matthew 11:28 and Psalm 23, we discuss how grace relieves guilt and how giving, praying, and going can flow from love rather than pressure.

Across India, Latin America, and beyond, we’ve seen people try to earn peace through rituals, diets, candles, or daily checklists. Those scenes meet the words of Jesus: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Religion burdens. Jesus lifts.

We look at what it means to take His yoke, not a harness of duty, but a union where the strong carry the weak. Galatians 2:20 shows us a new way to live: Christ in us, not us trying harder. Psalm 23 becomes a balm for fear and suffering, a steady voice that guides us through dark valleys and restores our souls.

From Eden to today, Scripture tells one story: God pursuing people, not people climbing their way to Him. That’s what reshapes how we see missions: not exporting a rulebook but announcing a Person who gives rest.

We end where the gospel always leads us to love in action. To share what grace has done in us. To pray with the Lord of the harvest. To give joyfully, not fearfully. Whether your calling is to go or to send, the question remains the same:

God, what would You have me do? How much would You have me give?

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Austin Gardner:

That I noticed hope for the world, and that's what I want to talk to you about. Well, I'm excited. One, I'm very excited about these young people wanting to do something for God. Aren't you? Amen. If I were young again, I would do what they're doing. And I am excited about what they're doing, and I know that God's going to do wonderful and great things. And you are a major part of that because you are giving. Our praying, our going where we are, but also our giving. And one thing about your pastor who has been boldly and bluntly honest when he says we know it's about raising money. And that's the truth. We've got to take care of our missionaries. And I'm glad you always respond so well to that. I want to ask you to take your Bible, if you would, and turn with me to Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28. Now there is hope for the world. Since the very beginning of time, when man chose to decide what was right and wrong, when he decided to choose that he didn't need God to tell him what to do, religion came into play. And you see religion really in the Cain and Abel story, when a man comes along to try to come up with a way to please God that's not the blood. You see religion when you see Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves up, put on masks, and hide their shame and their embarrassment, and they need the blood of Jesus Christ that will be shed 4,000 years later, and they need all that. And so religion is at work all around the world. Now I would like to tell you that in both the countries where these missionaries are going, they already have religion. They already have religion, they already have a way to please God. They already have supposedly the answer to life. But they don't have it. Because what the what the devil does is what's being found right here in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. Would you read that with me? It says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Pray for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Every religion on earth tells people how to earn acceptance. Every religion tells them what to eat, what not to eat, what days to keep holy, where to bow, when to fast. And when we passed a graveyard or a worship spot, everybody crossed themselves because you've got to know what to do. I've been to India, to the Ganges River, and I've watched them as they burn the bodies and put the ashes in the river. I've watched as people climb in the one of the nastiest rivers in the world to bathe, to cleanse themselves, because if you bathe in the Ganges, your sins will be washed away. I've watched them hungry while cows walk down the middle of the street. There are cows everywhere. I'm over there like, can I get a ribbe, please? And no, there's no rebbes because religion says no. If you're a Buddhist, you follow an eight-path, uh, eight-fold path to reach enlightenment. You pray five times a day in Islam, you give alms and you fast, and you make a pilgrimage. In Judaism, you get circumcised, you keep the Sabbath and obey every detail of the law. In Canada, Oh, Mexico, when we were studying the language in 1987, we went to the procession of silence, and there was probably a half a million people on the streets, and people were carrying images and burning wax candles that melted on their hands, and chains around their legs, and they banged those chains against themselves, all earning merit. All to earn merit. Amish people. I mean, I know you kind of chuckle at them, but a lot of times they're they're just religious. They're just religious. What you wear determines if you're saved or not. What kind of house you live in. Do you use modern things? Every system is piling rules on top of rules on top of people. Every one of them is saying, do more and try harder. Ever since Adam and Eve, men have been trying to figure out how to get to God. In an exhausted world, in an exhausted world where we can't seem to make it work, Jesus says, Come unto me, and I will give you rest. Jesus offers good news. They say earn it, and Jesus says, receive it. So I want you to look at with I want you to look at Matthew 23, 4 real quickly. Well, if you if you got it there. The Bible says, For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. I just want you to know that all over the world, they don't know that there is good news. They know about guilt news because religion likes to pile the guilt on. Religion likes to tell you you really messed up, you really have ruined everything, you're in trouble, and you got to do this and this and this, and maybe fact is one religion even has it, when you die, we'll pray you out of the torment that you're in. But Jesus comes along and says, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and I will give you rest. Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor. The truth is, this family going to Guatemala, they're going right into the middle of religion, and they all know about Jesus. I have baptized Jesus many times. I baptized his mother too. I have baptized Jesus Maria, Jesus Maria, Maria Jesus. I've I mean, because that there, I mean, it's everywhere. I used to get my medicine from the Holy Spirit pharmacy. Amen. I mean, they got religion down, but they don't know that Jesus said, Hey, if you come to me, I'll give you rest. Everywhere they turn, there are rules. Everywhere they turn, there's something they're supposed to do. Everywhere they turn, there's more pressure on them. But Jesus said, Come unto me, and I will give you rest. You can wash in the river, the Ganges River, over and over, but you will not get clean. The voice of guilt will constantly say, You're not enough. The voice of grace says, It is finished. It is finished. That's the message we take. We take the message of freedom. We take the message of Jesus Christ. If you would look at Matthew 11, 28 again, come unto me, all ye that labor. You see, Christ is inviting people not to religion, but to union. Not to do something, but to receive something. And God will take all that will come to him. He didn't say, Come to the temple, he said, come to me. He didn't give us a new religion, he gave us himself. Jesus came not to give us a new method. He didn't come to give us a new method, he came to give us new life. The Bible says, Take my yoke upon you. Take my yoke upon you. Well, the interesting thing is that in that yoke, he's the one carrying all the load. He's the one carrying all the burden. You want to hear why you don't do anything to make Jesus love you more. And you can't do anything to make him love you less. God is love. God is love. And so you know what happens when you come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. You know what happens, don't you? He comes inside of you. He doesn't even turn it over to you to live the Christian life. He doesn't even turn it over to us to live the Christian life. He lives through us. Galatians 2.20 says, I'm crucified with Christ, but I'm alive, but not me. But Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The old ox pulls a load, the young ox learns how to do it. When you come to Jesus, he picks you up. When you come to Jesus, he gives you rest. That's what makes it so much fun. Being a missionary, when you go and talk to people and explain to them, I know I used to, it was so exciting because I would say things and people would come to me and they'd say, We had no idea God said that. We had no idea that was in the Bible. We had no idea that Jesus literally paid it all. They had no idea that salvation was by grace and it was forever. The whole world is suffering. It doesn't matter. It's not just Catholicism, it's Mormonism, it's Buddhism, it's Islam, it's everywhere you go and everything that's going on. And Jesus turns to everybody and says, Y'all come to me and learn of me. Come and learn of me. Do you realize? Do you realize that God's been looking for us? The whole Bible is nothing more than the story of a God who fell in love with his creation, a God who loved his creation because God is love, and all the whole story is about how he's restoring us to him. When Adam and Eve sinned, and Adam and Eve sinned, they didn't go to God and say, God, we messed up. Is there another chance? Is there another way? Is there something we can do? No, they invented a religion. They said, let's cover up with leaves, let's put on a mask, let's act like something didn't happen. Let's blame somebody else. It's not my fault. Jesus comes walking in the garden and he calls and he says, uh, Adam, where are you, buddy? That wasn't a condemning voice. That was a, we've been spending every afternoon together. I love you, and I want this relationship and I want this special thing that we got going. And Adam, God came down to get Adam, and then God makes a way for Adam and Eve to continue living. There's no, honestly, there's really no severity. Fact is, when He, when He, when it happens, you know what He ends up killing a lamb, killing a little sheep, because that's a symbol of how God Himself is going to die for us. I've been dealing with cancer and and a whole bunch of stuff in my life. And Psalm 23 has become my go-to. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. It's not about dying, really. It's about it's about living. And so my verse is surely goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy do pursue me. And you know, if you look at the Bible, everywhere you turn, it's God pursuing us. It's God chasing us, it's God chasing Adam and Eve. They walked away and God chased them. Cain and Abel, Cain makes the wrong offering, and God comes with a solution. God's always after us, and that's the hope for the world. Now, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I want you to meditate on, I will give you rest. Because sometimes we live in a performance-based religion ourselves. And we live like, if I don't measure up, if I don't live up to it, if I don't, I got to do this much. And by the way, I hope and pray you're going to give like you've never given before, but your giving's not going to brought any brownie points with God. And your giving's not going to make you a better Christian. You're going to give out of a heart of love that overflows because the love of God is poured into you. But you're not doing it because if you don't do it, you're a bad guy. Because that's not where that's not where we live. We live in our father's house. We live in our father's house. In Psalm 23. This is this is the rest I want to talk to you about. In Psalm 23, David has really messed up his life. He killed his friend and took his wife. That's not a good thing. We probably wouldn't let him be in the church very much. Not only did he do that, his son raped his daughter, and he didn't do anything about it. Not a good father. And then his other son killed his son, who raped a daughter. He didn't do anything about that either. And then he was numbering the people, he was doing a whole bunch of stuff wrong. But he knew something that most of us haven't learned yet. He knew that it all starts with God loving us, and it's all about God, and it's not about me. So when he starts Psalm 23, 1, he doesn't start off going, uh, now God, excuse me for what I did to your eye. I need you to forgive me for that. I'm I'm really a bum. I'm really a bum. I'm a bad guy. I know I don't deserve to be yours. I know I don't deserve for you to love me. That's not how he starts off. He doesn't start off saying, I really blew it as a father. His son is just outside the cave. He's hiding in the cave. His son is about ready to attack him and kill him. And his son's coming, and his best friend's helping his son plan his murder. And as he comes, David says, I need to meditate. And David knows this is how he meditates. The Lord is my shepherd. I'm going to focus on the Lord. Learn of me. You see, all around the world, God's like a, I call him a caricature. We got a God who's a rule keeper. We got a God who's a judge with his eyes everywhere looking to hurt people. We got a God that's angry and a God that's looking for how to hurt us. That's not the God of the Bible. And David knew that, and he starts off, the Lord is my shepherd. And you see, Satan who hates God is going to lie about God and tell us bad things about God. Because if he can make you afraid of God, the God who loved you, the God who sent his son to die for you, God and human flesh died on the cross for us. You see, all of that's the message we carry. They got up every morning in Peru, especially in those days, one whole month, everybody wore purple because of the purple Lord, Lord of the Miracles. Another month they all made pilgrimages when they went long 30, 40, 50 mile walks through the desert to go to earn some points. They they had to go make their confession to earn some points, and all of a sudden somebody comes along and says, Jesus paid it all. He is the author and the finisher. And now it's a gift. The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Come unto me, all you that labor. So many people are working so hard to please God. We're working so hard to please God. When you got to understand, there's no way a human can ever please God. It's all grace. For by grace are you saved. They're good people. They're trying hard. They want to make points. They want the God that they serve to be pleased with them. But the God of heaven, the creator God, He did the entire plan, or we'd be stuck like Adam and Eve over here trying to come up with a way to cover our sin, to put on our mask, to think it through, to get a different opinion, to get a different attitude. But it's not that. So David begins to pray and he says, The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And he, you know, I stopped. I would wake up in the night with a panic. When you can feel the tumors, when you can just touch them and say, right there they are and feel them, they're growing. That's a freaky thing to do at night. It's dark. Your wife's asleep. You're asleep. The house is quiet and you're all alone. And the devil would just come in that room and say, Man, God's getting you, buddy. And then I would realize, wait a minute, I'm not going to think what the devil wants me to think. I'm not going to think what Austin wants to think. I'm going to think on this. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That is, I have not wanted. I do not want, and I will not want. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord provides everything I need. The Lord leads me to besides still water. He makes me lie down in green pastures. God is good to me. Now, wouldn't it be different if they learned in the Ivory Coast or and they learned in Guatemala and they learned in every other place around the world that the God of heaven loves them and Jesus died for them and Jesus paid all their sin debt and there's a free gift that they can receive. Wouldn't that make a massive difference in people's lives? If you think that make a difference, say amen. I'd just like, because I did spend 20 years of my life as a missionary traveling, and then I spent a lot of time helping train other missionaries. I'd just like to talk to you about it. Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I really believe that Jesus wants to say to everybody in Guatemala, hey guys, I sent my buddy down here to tell you. There is an answer. And the answer is Jesus. And he paid your sin debt, he paid all your sins, he did everything for you to be saved. Just coming to him. They labor because they want to please God, but they can't please God on their own. They're heavy laden because their religion lays more rules on them. We grow up with rules being laid on us. We grow up with rules from our church and rules from our family and rules everywhere else. It's we're heavy laden. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus was saying, He was saying, look, they don't like the tax collectors, and they don't like the prodigal son, and they don't like the lost coin. They don't like anybody, but if you're not good, they don't like you. And Jesus said, No, you just come to me and you can rest. Come to me and you can rest. Learn of me and take my yoke. You know, when we take the yoke of Jesus Christ on us, he carries all the load. We just go along for the ride. I just say it is the Lord Jesus who saved me, it's the Lord Jesus who keeps me, it's the Lord Jesus who accomplishes everything we're going to do. It's take my yoke upon you, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly. He's sweet, he's gentle, he's kind, he's humble. Now, I just want to finish up with two or three things, and I we'll stop for this hour. Now, what are we going to do with that? How many of you know the grace of God? If you know about it, say amen. I believe you. And you may look at Guatemala, or you may look at Ivory Coast, or you may look at other parts of the world and think everybody's like us. But they're not. I'd just like to say this real quickly: America's not very familiar with it either. This country is eat up with rules. This country is eat up with perform or God won't like you. This country is eat up with God's going to judge you because you're not good enough. When there's an answer, Jesus died on the cross to pay the sin debt of everybody. So we ought to be sharing the gospel. As a church, we ought to go outside and we're sharing gospel. We're sharing good news. We're sharing positive news. Jesus paid it all. You can receive a gift. And we can go tell people about that. You know, and honestly, if we want our church to do a missionary church, we got to be sharing good news ourselves. And don't don't leave here with some kind of burden being put on you. All you got to do is share what God's done in your life. All you gotta do is say, I tried all these years to please God, and then I realized Jesus did all the pleasing. And he did it all. He died for me, he paid the debt. So we ought to share the gospel. We ought to pray. We're going to pray the Lord of the harvest that he'll send forth laborers to his harvest. You and I should be praying. We ought to pray, really. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and I'd keep a small city of a million, million and a half people in those days. I'd open the windows, open the curtains, and look out across the city and all the lights of the city. And I'd say, God, please do something to save people and change lives and do something here because you have not, because you ask not. We ought to be praying. We ought to pray that God will send forth more missionaries. We ought to pray that God will raise more funds. We ought to pray that God will make a difference in our lives. We ought to pray that God might even use our children to carry the gospel. But then I'd like just to say this to you and may bother you, but you know, when you get excited about it, when you're in love with Jesus and in love with his message, you want to share it with other people. You want to share it. So it ought not be that Sunday we're going to look at the cards and see how much y'all are promising and you're being guilted into it. You don't need to be guilted. You're going to be loved into it. Amen. You're going to realize that God loves you and God loves those people and God wants us to give. And honestly, if we looked at it, we could say, you know, I could give just a little bit more. I could, I want to give a little bit more because I want to get the gospel out. Because God's raised up these young couples, these young, good night, they're young couples, and they want to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. They want to share with people that Jesus died on the cross for them. They want to share that. And for that to happen, some of us, we've got to help them. Amen. So would you pray and ask God over the next few days? God, what would you have me do? How much would you have me give? Would you ask God, just ask the Lord. The pastor made it clear. You know, it's like, you know, it's not, it's it's not a flippant thing. It's it's it's like an owe me. But isn't that what happens when you when you get called? When I when I I called my friends back when I felt like God's calling me to be a missionary, I called a nationally known evangelist. And I called another guy who's written books and he's pretty famous across the world. And I said, I told him, I said, God's called me to be a missionary. And he said, Well, if God called me to be a missionary, I'd say, You got the wrong number. And I said, I started laughing. I said, You don't mean that. He said, Yeah, I do. I called another guy, the evangelist, and he said, Look, also I can help you get a church. You don't have to do nothing drastic, you don't have to jump off a bridge. If you want a better church, I can get you a better church. I said, No, I really think God wants me to be a missionary. Because we tend to have this like that's a that's an astronomical leap, but God's calling out people. And if God's calling out people, don't you think God's calling out people to be givers? And God's calling out people to say, I can give more money, I can get more involved, and I can see God do something to get the gospel running away. I mean, so here's a message. I literally spent the night meditating every time I wake up and I just meditate on this. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I thought about all the religious people around the world who are burdened down with one more rule every day. And when they do just this much, they say, But if I could do that much more, God would love me more. And it's not that. Jesus said, I'm good news, I'm hope for the world, I'm salvation, not about what you do, not about what your activities, not about your holiness, not about your righteousness. It's about accepting a free gift. It's about God changing your life. So I'd just like to ask you to pray and think about the good news that we could get to the world. Come unto me, all ye that labor. Come unto me, all you that labor in Hinduism. Poverty stricken, you can't drive a car down the streets because they're in Delhi they're so close together and so packed, and so many people, they don't know the truth. They're eating a certain way and they're living a certain way because they want to please God. You can go to the Islamic countries, you can go to India, you can go to any place you want to go, and they're all burdened down. And Jesus said, I'm here to relieve the burdens. If Pharisees are wanting to put more on you, I want to relieve them. So when this mission's conference, you know what it's about? It's about good news for the world. It's about the world knowing that Jesus died and was buried and rose again so they can be saved. Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for the chance to serve you, and I pray that your name would be honored and glorified here today, and that you would call people out to serve you in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Austin Gardner

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