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What is Salvation? And what do the commandments have to do with it? Can I still be saved even if I'm living in sin? Joshua Chaulk talks about all these questions and more around the topic of what makes us right with God, and why it's not what you think.

Message by Joshua Chaulk from June 26 2021.

There is a lot of things one can do in a life on a daily basis. Choosing what to do and what not to do can be really hard. Managing the resources of life is important. Let's talk about that.

Abiding in the Lord is more imortant than it's ever been in this time. Let's learn how to do this.

Pslam 91:1 "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

It's really easy to fill a life. This world has a lot to offer us, both good and bad. We can fill our lives with productivity, work, education, family, friends, entertainment, and much more, which can all be good things and I do believe everything I mentioned is good to have in your life.

I've been hearing the word Rest come up a lot these past few years and I've always been telling myself "oh I don't have a problem there. I probably spend too much time on 'rest'". I tend to watch a lot of entertainment. Not a whole lot of TV, but I do watch a lot of youtube every day. And then I'll usually play a few hours of video games in the week too. And although I would consider that relaxing and my time to "wind down".

There are several uses of the word rest in the bible and sometimes I do think they mean to "relax". But there is another type of rest that is much more than that.

Matthew 11:28-29 "Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

The Word rest here is the Greek Word "anapauo" which means:

I've had many weeks where I have been weary or heavy burdened. And chilling on the couch doesn't help me recover from those feelings, it just helps me forget about them and push them down to deal with later.

In Matthew Jesus is talking about coming to him to receive rest. To come and have a calm and patient expectation, that He will carry the weight of what we're going through. And by taking the time to learn from him, walk with him, be with Him, we will begin to collect our strength and recover.

He invites us to take His Yoke upon ourselves.

So when Jesus invites us to take on his yoke, he's asking you to work with him in order to carry the weight of life's burdens.

But what I think Jesus is really talking about here, is that He wants us to Keep Him next to us. Keep Jesus as our main priority. Walking with Jesus in this Yoke is what our life should be.

We're going to watch a quick video in a second that really explains this well, but Living a Life of rest requires our walk with Jesus to be the main priority. If walking with Jesus is the most important thing, it becomes prett easy to add on everything else we care about in life on top of that. ?But If we try to focus on our career, our friends, our family, our hobbies first and then try to shove Jesus in all the cracks, that's a really hard way to live. ?Life is full of much more rest and fulfillment when we add those things on top of our journey with God, because when we do that, He's now yoked with us, and now He can help us pull the weight that all those good things bring.

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So what does this practically look like? What does it mean to Abide in God? If we are feeling weary or burdened, what can we practically do to let Jesus take the weight with us so we can renew our strength? How can we alter our way of living and put on that Yoke with Jesus so that Life is easier, and we're not doing it all on our own?

Here are some ideas I wrote down:

Let's take 5-10 minutes and find and write down some verses that are empowering, life giving, good reminders of God's faithfulness. And then pray about someone you should give that paper to

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When I was in my late teens I didn't understood how to connect to God. I remember so many times, when I'd try to pray, I always tried to find the right frequency to speak to him so he'd hear me. I used so much mental power, and I'd scream internally whenever I'd go to the altar to try and speak in my mind in a way that He would know I meant what I was saying.

I would try to "muster up" faith in Him like Goku trying to go Super Sian.

The Truth is, God always listens and we don't have to do anything special to speak to Him. He's just always there.

Matthew 17:19-21

The bible says all you need is Faith the Size of a mustard seed to do great things. You know why? Because when it comes to Faith in God, He's the one who is actually doing everything. He just needs you to come onto the side of Faith in him even as far as a mustard seed and He can move mountains through you.

Having Great Faith in something is amazing, and we should all try to grow to that level. Having more confidence that God will do things will bring us more piece. But God can still work with your mustard size faith.

Faith is letting go of your reality and Letting God's reality intervene.

Clip of Yoda telling Luke that his negativity is part of the problem

Negativity is the enemy of Faith. If you're trying to have Faith for God to do something but you're also telling yourself it won't happen, then it likely won't happen.

*“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”

Testimony:

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

This week on Monday I woke up with no pain in my jaw and I can wiggle it around and fully close it pain free!

I had to have Faith every day that I would be healed until, it happened. I contended for my healing and I chose to have Faith in God's word. And some days my faith was being tested hard. I would not say I had great Faith in those moments, but I did chose to have some. I knew God could heal me, but I wasn't fully sure He would. But even with that thought I continued to tell myself I was healed and that the pain I felt was just the enemy trying to convince me to live lower than I have access to.

If I would have complained the whole time that I was in pain and that God hasn't healed me yet, I would have been gratifying the Devil for his "accomplishment".

What's main my point here tonight? Faith is not something you have to muster up for God to move. Just chose to believe He'll move until He comes, and don't give the enemy the gratification by being negative.

Staying positive with your words is part of having faith.

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