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CURRENT RADIO SERIES Lifeworks   CURRENT TV SERIES Angels

“… Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” --Luke 12:8-9 When you and I look at the New Testament, we see that every person who came to Christ came openly and publicly. There were no secret disciples – each person who followed Christ took up his or her cross and followed Jesus openly. In fact, public confession of the Lord Jesus is one of those “things that belong to salvation,” (Hebrews 6:9). Confessing Christ simply goes hand in hand with salvation. Now, in Jesus’ time, when you saw a man carrying a cross, you could be quite certain he was on his way to a public execution. In this same sense, when Jesus calls us to pick up our cross and follow, he’s not only bidding us to die to ourselves, but also to live openly for him! So while salvation is intensely personal, it’s never private; it’s always public! Have you made a public confession of your faith in Christ Jesus? In black and white, today’s verse says that if we want Jesus to acknowledge us before God, we must acknowledge him before men. This is more than walking down a church aisle and shaking hands with a pastor. If Jesus lives within you, use your God-given breath to tell your world about him!   WHILE SALVATION IS INTENSELY PERSONAL, IT’S NEVER PRIVATE; IT’S ALWAYS PUBLIC

Rest in the Yoke

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

In Bible times, the fields were often worked and loads carried by oxen. To distribute the weight of the farm equipment or wagons, wooden yokes were made to fit over the shoulders of a team of two oxen. If you ever see an old wooden yoke you will find it quite large. And if you try to pick one up, you will find that it is very heavy. And if a yoke were not made properly, it would greatly irritate the animal wearing it so that they would find it nearly impossible to work.
Jesus did not promise His followers that they would be freed from wearing a yoke. God has service for Him that each of us is to carry out—if not there would be no reason not to take us to Heaven immediately upon our salvation. Rather Jesus promised that when we came to Him we would find that His yoke rests easy upon us, and we will not be burdened by His service.
Many people “burn out” after they have served God for a period of time. Where once they were faithful to do His work, now they find it burdensome and have laid it aside. What is the problem? Though there are many reasons, one of biggest is that too many Christians try to work for God in their own strength. Jesus said that we are to learn of Him, which speaks to a growing and deepening relationship. When we work in His strength, we will not find the burdens more than we can bear. Instead we will find rest, even while we labor and wear the yoke.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Rather than complaining about what our service for God requires, we should rejoice in the privilege.