The Yoke of Jesus: Mercy That Requalifies Everyone

Jul 19, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Rabbi Who Calls Disqualified Fishermen

Jesus didn’t recruit scholars or elites—he walked past religious schools to summon fishermen deemed unworthy. These men had been told their entire lives they lacked what it took. Yet Jesus’ invitation to “follow me” wasn’t about merit but about redefining worth. His authority didn’t require perfect candidates, just willing hearts. When we feel disqualified by failure, education, or others’ opinions, his call still echoes over the noise of inadequacy. The same voice that turned fishermen into world-changers speaks to the parts of us we’ve buried as “not enough.” [57:32]

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”
(Matthew 4:18-20, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you internalized the lie that your past or limitations disqualify you from Jesus’ purpose? What nets—literal or metaphorical—might he be asking you to leave behind today?

Day 2: A Yoke That Qualifies the Unqualified

Religious systems often add weight to the already burdened, but Jesus’ yoke surprises by lifting shame instead of enforcing it. When the adulterous woman faced condemnation, Jesus dismantled the machinery of judgment by removing her accusers. His yoke doesn’t ignore sin—it outloves it. Like a rabbi covering disciples in dust from his sandals, Jesus walks so close that his grace becomes the air we breathe. This isn’t a theology to debate but a way of being that transforms tax collectors into givers and outcasts into family. [58:05]

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30, ESV)

Reflection: What religious “rules” have you mistaken for Jesus’ yoke? How might embracing his gentleness toward your flaws change how you treat others’ imperfections?

Day 3: Healing the Ear of Your Arrestor

Moments before his crucifixion, Jesus knelt to heal the ear of a man complicit in his arrest. This wasn’t divine theater—it was humanity perfected. The same hands that shaped galaxies touched an enemy’s wound, proving love isn’t a theory but a flesh-and-blood reality. Jesus’ way turns retaliation into restoration, even when injustice screams for payback. His followers aren’t called to agree with everyone but to refuse to dehumanize anyone, especially those causing harm. [01:14:16]

“And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.”
(Luke 22:50-51, ESV)

Reflection: Who feels like a “servant of the high priest” in your life—someone advancing a cause that hurts you? What would healing look like in that relationship?

Day 4: Salvation Comes Through Shared Meals, Not Systems

Zacchaeus climbed a tree expecting judgment but found a dinner invitation. Jesus bypassed temple rituals to declare salvation present in a meal with a traitor. The religious elite saw a compromised tax collector; Jesus saw a heart one millimeter from transformation. When we reduce faith to doctrinal checklists, we miss the scandalous simplicity of his method: proximity disarms, kindness disarms, and tables become altars. [01:06:44]

“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’… Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor…’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’”
(Luke 19:5-6,8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you prioritized theological correctness over Christlike connection? Who needs an unexpected seat at your table this week?

Day 5: Taking Hell’s Best Shot and Rising

The cross wasn’t a divine surrender but love’s ultimate defiance. Jesus absorbed humanity’s worst violence and answered with resurrected life. His post-resurrection breakfast with Peter—the denier—proves his yoke outlasts every failure. Following him means trusting that our worst moments aren’t endpoints but plot twists in a story he’s redeeming. The same power that walked out of hell’s gates walks with us through ours. [01:23:08]

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.”
(1 Peter 3:18-19, ESV)

Reflection: What area of your life feels like a “final defeat”? How might Jesus’ resurrection shift your perspective from what’s been lost to what’s being reborn?

Sermon Summary

Jesus is fully God, and Jesus is fully human, and the humanity of Jesus matters because it removes the easy excuse. The divinity of Jesus is affirmed without apology: God is like Jesus, exactly like Jesus, and the fullness of God is seen in flesh. The humanity of Jesus means his way is not some impossible divine trick, but the actual life of a human rabbi who taught enemies to be blessed, cheeks to be turned, and mercy to be embodied.

Jesus, in Matthew 4, calls fishermen with two words: “Follow me.” The call sounds strange on the surface, because grown men leave boats, nets, fathers, jobs, and safety for a vague invitation to “fish for people.” The first century world makes that call explode with meaning, because rabbis did not go to lakes looking for disciples. Rabbis went to the Beth Talmid, to the pre-vetted best of the best, to the kids who had already proven they had what it took.

Jesus goes to the lake because his yoke qualifies the disqualified. Fishermen are there because they have already been told to go home and earn a living at the family trade. Levi the tax collector is there because he has been excluded and despised. Jesus calls both the robbed fishermen and the robbing tax collector into the same movement, and his first test of discipleship is whether enemies can forgive one another and go change the world.

The yoke of Jesus cannot be changed and still be called Jesus. His yoke refuses the shame system that condemns the woman caught in adultery, making the witnesses go away and declaring, “Neither do I condemn you.” His yoke sees Zacchaeus move one millimeter toward repentance and rushes the rest of the way with salvation. His yoke receives the worship of a prostitute and forgives sins before any respectable religious system would have let her near the temple.

Jesus carries that same yoke into Caesarea Philippi, right to the so-called gates of hell. Christ does not stand around complaining about darkness, because followers complain about darkness and leaders turn on the light. Jesus stands over the fear-driven cesspool and announces that his church will not be beaten by hell’s gates.

The cross puts the yoke of Jesus on public display. Christ takes humanity’s best shot, keeps loving, keeps forgiving, and never breaks his yoke. The risen Jesus even restores Peter without rubbing his failure in his face, because the yoke of this rabbi is love saves the day.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus qualifies the disqualified The call of Jesus does not begin with polished resumes, proven winners, or religiously approved candidates. The fishermen by the lake had already been sent back to the family trade, yet Jesus treats their disqualification as the very place where his authority can speak a better word. A disciple’s confidence rests not in having always had what it takes, but in being called by the rabbi whose yoke requalifies people. [57:32]
2. The yoke must remain Jesus’ yoke The name of Jesus cannot be pasted onto shame, condemnation, revenge, or exclusion and still remain faithful to him. The yoke of Christ blesses enemies, restores sinners, and looks for every possible avenue to bring people back to life. A church may change the yoke if it wants, but it loses the right to call that changed yoke Jesus. [59:24]
3. Mercy moves before moral repair Jesus does not tell the woman caught in adultery to fix herself so condemnation can be removed. Jesus removes condemnation first, then lets the kindness of God become the power that makes a new life possible. Holiness that begins with terror may produce hiding, but holiness born from mercy can produce actual transformation. [64:23]
4. One millimeter matters to Jesus Zacchaeus does not present a perfect repentance package, and the prostitute does not pass through an approved religious system. Jesus sees the smallest real movement of the heart and rushes the rest of the way with salvation and forgiveness. The yoke of Jesus is not careless about sin, but it is astonishingly eager to recognize faith before institutions know what to do with it. [66:44]
5. The cross proves the yoke works Jesus does not merely announce enemy love as an ideal; the cross shows him living it under maximum pressure. Christ absorbs betrayal, violence, mockery, and death without surrendering his mercy or taking revenge. The disciple follows a rabbi who was “buying what he was selling,” and that makes his way more than beautiful theory. [82:17]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[36:46] - Resources and Opening Thanks
[38:50] - Jesus, Fully Human
[41:11] - Jesus as Rabbi
[46:11] - Follow Me at the Lake
[49:02] - How Rabbis Were Trained
[53:46] - Smikka and Authority
[57:32] - Qualifying the Disqualified
[59:24] - Changing the Yoke
[62:30] - The Woman Caught in Adultery
[66:19] - Zacchaeus and One Millimeter
[74:33] - Caesarea Philippi and the Gates of Hell
[82:17] - The Cross Displays the Yoke
[84:40] - Surrender and Final Blessing

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 4:18-22
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” [46:11]

John 8:1-11
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’” [01:04:23]

Luke 19:1-10
“He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’” [01:06:44]

Matthew 16:13-18
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’” [01:18:06]

Observation questions

In Matthew 4, what exactly do Simon, Andrew, James, and John leave behind when Jesus calls them? [46:11]
In the story of the woman caught in adultery, what do the accusers ask Jesus, and what happens to the crowd before Jesus speaks directly to the woman? [01:03:05]
In Luke 19, what small actions show that Zacchaeus is moving toward Jesus before Jesus announces salvation over his house? [01:06:35]
In Matthew 16, where does Jesus take the disciples, what question does he ask Peter, and what promise does he make about his church there? [01:14:40]

Interpretation questions

If Jesus calls fishermen instead of pre-qualified religious students, what does that suggest about the kind of people Jesus wants in his movement? [57:32]
Jesus says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” What does that order show about how mercy and transformation work together? [01:05:45]
Jesus sees Zacchaeus make a real but incomplete move and then says, “Today salvation has come to this house.” What does that reveal about how Jesus responds to imperfect repentance? [01:07:07]
Jesus speaks about building his church at Caesarea Philippi, right in a place associated with fear and darkness. What does that setting reveal about the mission of the church in the world? [01:18:18]

Application questions

Jesus qualifies the disqualified. Where has that truth been hard to believe personally? Does it feel harder to believe that Jesus would call a person like that, or a person like you? [58:10]
Jesus called fishermen and a tax collector into the same circle. Is there anyone who feels like “the enemy” in life right now? What would forgiveness, peace, or even one small step toward reconciliation look like there? [58:50]
The yoke of Jesus cannot be mixed with shame, revenge, or condemnation. In what situations is there a temptation to put Jesus’ name on an attitude that actually does not look like him? [59:24]
Jesus removes condemnation before calling the woman into a new life. When failure or sin is exposed, is the first instinct to hide, to attack, or to receive mercy? What might it look like to let mercy become the place real change begins? [01:06:05]
Jesus notices one millimeter of movement and rushes the rest of the way. What might one millimeter toward Jesus look like in this season: honesty, prayer, repentance, confession, generosity, making a call, ending a habit, or something else? [01:25:57]
Jesus does not stand around complaining about darkness; he brings light into it. Where is there a temptation to complain about the state of the world instead of showing up with courage, hope, and love? [01:18:23]
The cross shows that Jesus kept loving under maximum pressure. When pressure rises, what usually comes out first: mercy, defensiveness, anger, withdrawal, or control? What would it look like this week to keep Jesus’ yoke in one hard situation? [01:22:17]

Sermon Clips

27s

#GraceNotCondemnation

“``Jesus said, I don't condemn you. Now go and sin no more. We reverse it and call it Jesus. This is what that sounds like. You better stop sinning so God won't condemn you. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said, I'm not going to condemn you and allow the kindness of god be the technology for you to change your life. Yes. That is the yoke of our rabbi.”

60s

#DontChangeTheYoke

“Unless we unless we've been given special authority, and we haven't, I don't wanna make a ten minute case all of our authority is in Christ alone. I think we're we're safe here. Right? Then we're not allowed to change his yoke, which leads to this question, with no indictment. Have we been guilty of changing the yoke of Jesus, calling it Jesus, and then wondering why people reject it? We're not allowed to do that. You can change the yoke if you want, but you just can't call it Jesus. You can say the yoke of shame, but you can't go, here's the yoke of Jesus, unless you've been given special smica and we haven't, we can't change his yoke, which makes me wonder, have we changed his yoke? Like Jesus told us to bless our enemies. Are Christians worldwide known for being great at that? I don't think so. We actually more use the name of Jesus or use bible verses to attack people who attack us. That's not the yoke of Jesus. That's the yoke of something we made up.”

60s

#CrossShowsTheWay

“You know, the apostle Paul said that the yoke of Jesus was put on public display at the cross. The cross is where we find out, can he do what he said? Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Give your tunic and your cloak. Bless your enemies. Blessed are the merciful. Don't let the sun go down on your earth. Don't repay evil for evil. Overcome evil with good. Can you do that? Can you lay down your infinite power and not take revenge when everybody deserves it? And the cross is where Jesus took their best shot. And they beat him and they beat him and they beat him and they beat him and they beat him and they beat him and they beat him and they beat beat him. And he kept loving and forgiving and loving and forgiving and loving and forgiving all the way to the point of death. That's why any message of Jesus that says, if you don't do something, Jesus is gonna no. That is changing the yoke. It doesn't matter if there's a 25 foot cross over the top of the building. Jesus took everything they had, and he never broke his yoke, which should empower us to live a different way.”

28s

#DustOfYourRabbi

“And here's the truth. You'll either be covered in the dust of your rabbi or you'll be covered in the dust of your own issues. Wow. You'll be covered in the dust of your mom, covered in the dust of your dad, covered in this is my personal favorite, covered in the dust of dust. That's just what I was always taught. As if that's gonna stand the test of time. The hope for the world is not what we were always taught. The hope for the world is converting and thinking and looking at the world through the yoke of Jesus Christ. That.”

59s

#CompassionOverRitual

“Jesus has this whole crowd behind him and they all have one thing in common, they hate the guy in the tree. And Jesus stops the whole crowd and says, Zacchaeus, come down. I'm gonna eat with you today, bro. And Zacchaeus was so moved by Jesus' compassion, he said, Here and now, I'll give half of what I have to the poor. And Jesus says, That'll do. Salvation has come to this house. Can you get saved that way? Or have we changed the yoke? What was the only way for him to be saved in the first century? Temple ritual. Who's not allowed in the temple? Tax collectors. So what do you do when the only place salvation's on offer excludes you? Jesus circumvents the entire system of oppressive power, and he sees that man's heart change one millimeter, and he rushes the rest of the way. Salvation has come.”

29s

#OneMillimeterToJesus

“We love our own rituals. Like, it's my see, people say Jesus is the only way. That's fine. Unless what you mean by that is my way to Jesus is the only way to Jesus. What you see in Jesus is more beautiful than that. It's one millimeter towards him. He's rushing the rest of the way. What was the only way for her to be saved in the first century? Temple ritual. Who's not allowed in the temple? Prostitutes. What do you do when you're excluded from the only places on offer? He sees that as an act of faith. That'll do your sins are now forgiven. Wow.”

42s

#MistrialOfGrace

“So Jesus draws in the dirt. They all get tired of holding their stones and they walk away. And then Jesus says to the lady, where just answer the question. He doesn't ask her what he what she did. He's just, where are your accusers? She looks around. She says, they're not here. He says, great. Then neither do I condemn you. Why? Because the scripture say you have to stone a sex sinner, but the scripture also says you have to have two witnesses to condemn somebody. Jesus couldn't make her sin go away, so he made the witnesses go away, which automatically declares a mistrial. That is the yoke of our rabbi.”

49s

#JesusWasAlsoHuman

“What difference does if he's God, what difference does it make if he's a man? Here's why it matters. K? Because if we only consider Jesus as God without ever considering Jesus as a human being, it becomes very easy to justify not living how he taught us to live. It goes something like this. Come on, bro. Jesus taught us to treat our enemies better than that. Come on now. He taught us to bless those who insult us, to be peacemakers, to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to give us tunic and his cloak. He taught us to do those things. You're like, I know. I know. That was easy for him. He was god. Well, hold on. He was also a human being. I affirm the divinity of Jesus, but when you have forty one minutes, you gotta pick one.”

65s

#HeLivedWhatHeTaught

“he goes to grab Jesus, and and it says, one of Jesus' friends cut his ear off. Right? Like, it like now we know it's Peter. How do we know that? Well, Matthew just says it was one of Jesus' companions. Mark says it one of Jesus' disciples. Luke says it's one of Jesus' friends. How do we know Peter did it? It's it's because John was like, Peter did it. Peter did it. Throw him under the bus. Peter did it. Right? what was Jesus' actions to the man leading the charge to kill him? On his way to be tortured, Jesus reached down and he healed his ear. Yeah. He put him back together. Like like like look. It's one thing to say bless your enemies. Pray for those who insult you. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Give your tunic. And all that sounds awesome. But the the question is, can you live it, bro? The crucifixion story shows us that Jesus was buying what he was selling. He actually lived this thing as a human being, which should empower us to live it as followers of Jesus.”

33s

#AcceptPeopleNotActions

“It's almost like god was always looking for every avenue to requalify someone instead of looking for any avenue to disqualify them. You know, even the guy there's this one time, Jesus was praying in a garden, and a guy led a charge to arrest him in the middle of the night. One of his friends kisses him. It's a whole thing. But it's interesting. Like, just before that, Jesus served Judas communion. Think about that. Think about that, that you can fully accept a human being without affirming all their actions.”

41s

#JesusWayForEarth

“If the whole world became end times paranoid people, would the world be better? I don't think it would. Like, you can have whatever conviction you want about that, but I'm convinced of this. If the whole world converted to how Jesus saw the world, how Jesus saw God, and how Jesus applied scripture, the world would be a better place. And and I want I wanna talk to you about that because I'm in a room full of disciples of Jesus. Yeah. And that has certain implications. If if if I was to ask you, what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? And your only answer is, well, I get to go to heaven. Okay. But is that the only reason we're following Jesus? Like, if heaven and hell wasn't the issue, is Jesus still worth following?”

43s

#FollowForTransformation

“And hopefully, the answer is yes. Because if Jesus said if Jesus said, why are you following me? And your only answer is, well, I hate to go to hell when I died. Well, that's, like, really not profound. That that is that is like your wife asking you, why'd you marry me? And your only answer is, well, the other chick was ugly. You know? Option b was substandard, so I went with you. That that Jesus isn't someone to believe in. He's somebody to fundamentally shape the way we see all things. So And I wanna look at a couple of of stories from Jesus' life, and I wanna point out the implications of what it means to be a disciple. I just want us to pause, cancel the white noise, and let's pray a prayer together.”

56s

#RabbiWithAuthority

“Everybody's a rabbi. The only thing left to decide is what kind of rabbi will you be. There were only two types of rabbis. There were rabbis without authority. 99.9% of all rabbis were rabbis without authority. They were rabbis just the same, but rabbis without authority. And I'll give you a good guess as to what the other kind of rabbi is. A rabbi with authority. So rabbi with authority was about once every two or three generations. A rabbi would come along so special. They would say, no. No. No. That's a rabbi with authority. Now the difference between a rabbi without authority and a rabbi with authority is a rabbi without authority had to teach the yoke of the rabbi that taught him. So the yoke of the rabbi that taught him was passed down to him and then he passed it down so that every yoke in Israel would be somehow traced back to some rabbi with authority. But if you were deemed a rabbi with authority, you got to make up your own yoke. You got to start your own movement. You got to come up with your own interpretations.”

33s

#RequalifyByFaith

“Jesus called all of his followers to do something more profound than being right about scripture. He called us to fulfill scripture and to fulfill scriptures to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If And everybody converted to that, I think the world you know, the yoke of our rabbi was in the Old Testament too. Like, it's almost like God was always looking for every way to requalify people. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Moses. By faith Samson, Jephthah, David, Solomon. None of them would be invited to any of the big conferences”

66s

#GodUsesTheBroken

“Moses was a premeditated murderer. I looked this way and that and seeing no one, I killed the man and hit him in the sand. Problem was the next day the sand shifted. You got this leg sticking up out of the sand. God said, you'll do. I'll have you write the foundation of all scripture. Samson lost a bet and killed 30 people. That is not good. That is not good. By faith, David. David had so David had eight named wives, many unnamed wives, and innumerable concubines. Right? David was dating the entire town of Werribee. Like, the whole the whole place. All of Werby, baby. And do you know do you know that there are Christian denominations that in their written bylaws would never let David preach on their stage? But they'll open a book David wrote, call it the word of God, and fail to see the hypocrisy in that? Come on now.”

54s

#StopPublicShaming

“Have we changed the yoke? The yoke of Jesus Christ looked at a sex sinner who was caught in the act and refused to condemn them. Could your yoke say that? My yoke couldn't. The church I grew up in was a Pentecostal holiness church. And I saw this three times, which means it happened 50. But I physically saw this happen three If somebody did a sex in that church, they would bring them up in front of everybody and make them say sorry in front of everybody. That's not the yoke of our rabbi, that's the yoke of some jacked up white dude from 1880 with severe daddy issues, right? And then and then and then those people would leave the church. And people go, ah, they rejected Jesus. No. They did not. They rejected that image of Jesus, and that image of Jesus should be rejected because they changed the yoke.”

54s

#CostOfFollowing

“Five for five. Grown people, leaving everything they know to follow a guy whose sales pitch needs a work. Look. If if you if you're married, how does this conversation even go? You get home. Hey, sweetie. How was your day? I quit my job. What? I quit my job. Why? This guy came by, told me to follow him. I thought it was a good idea. Where are you going? He didn't say. When are you coming back? Didn't say that either. What will you be doing? Fishing for people. This is frankly bizarre. But he goes five for five. He ends up going 12 for 12. And there's sometimes in the gospel where people show up and say, can we follow you? And he's like, not today. Today's not your day, which leads to this question. Is there ever a moment Jesus doesn't want you following him? And what's going on? And if this is all about the afterlife, does Jesus not care about their souls? What if they died in a donkey accident that night? What's going on? Right?”

40s

#OneMillimeterFaith

“And if you're here tonight and you've never surrendered to Jesus, maybe this could be your first time, your moment, your time where you go, you know what? I'd love for Jesus to be the author of my story. I believe that Jesus' way is the best way for my life and the best way for the world, and I want to follow him. And if that's you, you can pray a prayer like that. It's obviously not the prayer of any the the words of any prayer that save anybody. It's the movement of your heart. And when you move one millimeter towards Jesus, he's rushing the rest of the way towards you. But words do help us. You could say a prayer like, I surrender my life to you today, Lord.”

29s

#YokeIsHowToLive

“Someone is here who can read the scroll. And and a rabbi was teaching disciples how to live. The the way a rabbi taught disciples how to live was called a yoke. A yoke was basically a summary statement of how that rabbi saw the world, how he saw God, and how he applied scripture. And that's that's that's really important. A rabbi was not teaching people how to go to heaven when they died.”

57s

#TrustedRabbi

“And that was a special title. There's only three people called rabbi in the whole Bible. Jesus, Paul, Gamaliel. That's it. There were more rabbis than that. I'm trying to in the Bible, that's the only ones that were given that special title. You never see rabbi Peter, rabbi James, rabbi John. Uh-uh. Rabbi Jesus, rabbi Paul, rabbi Gamaliel. And and to be given a title rabbi was like the highest honor in all of Israel. Here's what it meant. This is a caricature, but here's basically what it meant. We trust you to teach the scripture honestly. In a world where only 3% of people could read and 97% of people could not read, can you see where the people who could read could use the Bible or the scriptures to abuse the people who couldn't read? Right? You could see where that could easily happen. Right? And so if you had your credential as a rabbi, that meant we trust you. That's why when you see Jesus walk into synagogues in rural areas, what do they do? The first thing they're like, oh, good. A rabbi's here. Get a scroll.”

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