Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30Ephesians 3, verse 1One of the deeper mysteries in the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes through His invitation for us to be yoked to Him, like an oxen pulling a plow.Don’t we desire liberation from our heavy burdens? Why would we want the added restriction and weight of a yoke on our neck?It’s counterintuitive, but yoking ourselves to Jesus is the most liberating thing we could possibly do. It’s a deepening of our devotion, and expansion of our faith, knowing that He will never weigh us down with a burden we can’t handle. No matter what it is, He is with us - we are working together.Gone are the days when we go it alone.

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Jeremiah 17, verse 5John 3, verse 27James 1, verse 17Jeremiah 29, verses 12 through 13Hebrews 11, verse 6All our problems in life stem from our arrogant, proud determination to do everything without God.The meaning of life comes from making God the center of our life, relying on Him for everything.Without God, our lives are cursed. With God, our lives are blessed.Simple, but for me, it took over 40 years to wake up to this simple truth.

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2 Timothy 1, verses 6 through 10Romans 1, verse 16As a preacher’s kid who grew up in the church, I always felt awkward inviting friends to Sunday School. I encountered mockery and humiliation more than once, which made it difficult to expose myself on subsequent occasions.Yet, I had a deep admiration for missionaries who would visit our church. They would have long slide-shows from the Indian jungle or the Chinese countryside, or the African safari, and they would tell harrowing tales about near catastrophes that were avoided only by the Grace and Mercy of God through prayer. I could not find such faith and determination within myself, and felt ashamed.It’s occuring to me now, all these years later, that it’s more about how we live our lives than about some kind of sales pitch. The Gospel of Christ lives in me, made present through the Holy Spirit. My task is to remember this throughout each and every day - to continually hand it over the God, and to praise God for all that He does through me.There is nothing more precious than our relationship with God. Knowing this in the deepest recesses of my being, I want to shine it out so that seeds will be planted and sprouts will come up in others.

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Psalm 139, verses 1 through 4

Romans 8, verses 26 and 27

Jeremiah 23, verse 24

Psalm 90, verse 8

Like petulant children, we look right at God and do the very thing He says not to do. We do it so often, in full knowledge that God sees all, that we eventually lose track, and it becomes a way of life.

No matter how “holy” or “righteous” we may be, we tend to reserve a part of ourselves that chases after unhealthy and unholy desires, convincing ourselves that God is either too busy to pay attention to us, or that He will forgive us and we can straighten things out some other time.

There is a need to define our relationship with God, to take a stand so that we are all in with Him. No more straddling the line. No more blurry boundaries. We need full commitment. God wants self-honesty from us, and a willingness to let the Holy Spirit be our guide in all things - including the process of getting clear on what we will retain in our life, and what we will renounce.

God knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows our most fervent prayers without us having to speak them. The important thing is to open up to Him fully, allowing ourselves to be exposed in our deepest secret places, so that the light of His love, grace and mercy will transform us.

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Revised Common Lectionary: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

Luke 15, verses 11 through 172 Peter 2, verses 20 through 22John 5, verse 22The freely-given Grace and Mercy shown by God when He gave us the one and only path to Salavation - comes with a responsibility. I’m not saying we can lose our Salvation. If it was genuine, then the Father loves us and operates in us no matter what - I believe that, anyway. If, however, we fall into a pattern of living life on our own terms, rather than God’s, there will be a heavy price to pay.In this talk, we read a little of what the Bible says about this. I chose to live most of my life shirking my duty toward God, and my experiences in the pig sty of life has shown me just how imperative it is to at least try to put God back in charge of everything I think and do. Tired of wallowing in the muck, anxious to serve Him in everything I do, as best I can.

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Jason Jack (Satan’s Little Season ministry): https://www.youtube.com/@JasonJackJohn 8, verse 44Genesis 3, verses 1 through 4Revelation 20, verses 2 and 3Jeremiah 9, verses 2 through 6John 1, verse 17Many are waking from a lifelong slumber under the spell of deception.Who is the Father of Deception?Setting aside any beliefs we may have about the End Times, the Apocalypse and the Rapture - what if Jesus has already return, and already given the world a thousand year reign? What if Satan, who was bound during those thousand years, was loosed around the time of the United States’ founding, and we are now living in the “little season” spoken of in Revelation 20?Whether we accept Satan’s Little Season Eschatology or reject it, it’s pretty clear that deception is rampant in today’s world. We as a species have turned away from God, and the results are well described in our passage from Jeremiah 9. It’s important to challenge our “relaxed” view of Satan - that he is just a symbol of evil, and that perhaps evil itself is relative - what’s wrong in our culture may not be wrong somewhere else. This loosening of moral structure amounts from a turning away from Christ, and a turning toward Satan - whose deceptions have been infiltrating our lives since the beginning - see our passage from Genesis 3.Who is our source for Truth?Right - the answer is there in John 1:17, Jesus Christ, our armor against the evil one.It’s time to get clear about the world we live in, and to choose our side wisely.

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Luke 15, verses 17 through 19

Ezekiel 18, verse 28

1 Samuel 7, verses 3 and 4

Many of us have known God most of our lives, having accepted Christ at an early age - only to make choices that lead us away from God, into a spiritual wasteland where we flounder from one potential solution to another.We may follow the path of drugs and alcohol, sex and the party life. We may get sick of these things and start meditating or following some New Age path. We may be attracted to this teacher or that teacher, bouncing from one shiny object to another, year after year after year.

Truth is, even though we’ve turned our back on God, and are now working against God (whether we know it or not) - God continues to work within us through the Holy Spirit. We have chosen the hard way, so we go through much more heartbreak and trauma than if we’d just been able to humbly surrender in the first place. But it is through the trauma and heartbreak that God has prepared us for a homecoming.

No matter what choices we’ve made, no matter how deep into the mud we have descended, the Father is ready and happy to welcome us Home.

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2 Timothy 4, verse 5

2 Corinthians 1, verse 6

2 Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in an emotional dip the past week or two, a sort of burnout. Pretty sure I’m not the only one.

Paul, who knew more about affliction than most of us ever will (both as the dispenser and receiver), provided a teaching on the nature and purpose of affliction that, for me, is very helpful.

Hopefully we can come back to his guidance when we are in the middle of our difficulties.

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Luke 19, verses 1 through 10

Romans 13, verses 8 through 10

In the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus, the issue of making restitution for past wrongs against others comes up.

Paul, who had wronged Christians to the point of torture and death, understood that making actual restitution - repaying with money or some other means of exchange - may not always be possible. Instead, he taught a true form of restitution, which we share here.

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Romans 5, verses 6 through 1 1

John 2, verse 2

1 John 4, verse 10

John 3, verses 14 through 17

We as servants of God repent daily in order to restore our relationship with Him, to receive forgiveness for our sins, big and small.

We do this, knowing that Jesus Christ has already spilled his blood once and for all, so that we are forever welcomed Home by the Father.

We may not be worthy, but we are loved, and it turns out that God’s love is all we need.

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