12.28.2025 Soul Rest

It would be good to take a quick look at the heavy loads that the Jews had to bear at this time. In the first century, if you know your history, they were experiencing great social oppression. They were subjugated. They were a subjugated people under the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had power and dominion over them. And because of this, they had many hardships, especially economic hardships with all the taxes that they were burdened with. They had land tax, they had poll tax, they had customs. And most of these taxes didn't burden the rich, it burdened the peasants and the farmers. And a lot of them lost their ancestral lands because of that. [00:05:19] (51 seconds)  #RememberTheirBurdens

Have you considered, too, that possibly we could also be under religious loads as well? Maybe I shouldn't say that because we're in a church. But let me just say this, religious legalism is still a serious thing today. Just like the Pharisees had created that fence to protect people from God's law, from breaking it, so, too, churches have a tendency to create man-made traditions that can obscure God's grace. [00:09:46] (37 seconds)  #EndReligiousLegalism

``Some of the things that we might see are legalistic expectations, or fear-based obedience, or performance-driven spirituality. And of those three points that I mentioned, you can sum it up this way. It's being a checkbox Christian. You know, you have a list, and you just check off things as you do it, because then you're good, right? You've kept everything that was taught you, but you're not doing it from the heart. You're just doing it. [00:10:22] (34 seconds)  #CheckboxChristian

And when they came over, I remember my kids, the older ones, they looked at me and they asked, Well, don't we have to go to the prayer meeting? And it was that moment in time that God said, You know what? What are you going to do? Are you going to help somebody in need? Or are you going to check off that box, go to the prayer meeting, and say, Hey, you're a good Christian? Well, by God's grace, I didn't check off that box. [00:12:08] (28 seconds)  #ActionsOverCheckBoxes

But I will say that you know what it is that you do instead of coming to Jesus. And I think one of the things that we can do is we can become too comfortable in our walk with God. It's always good to be uncomfortable when you're walking with God because then you lean on God. The more comfortable we become, the less we rely on him and the less rest we have for our souls because we're trying to do it on our own. [00:14:48] (31 seconds)  #LeanOnGodNotComfort

The yoke is a mechanical device. We've talked about this before. Others have. I'm not going to go deep into it. But it's essentially a mechanical device that joins two animals together so that they will be walking side to side. Usually it's put on a more experienced animal and then attached to a less experienced animal. And then that experienced animal is used to train the less experienced animal until they can do it. [00:15:20] (27 seconds)  #YokeAsTraining

And in our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, if you don't have that, then you're not getting the best. If you think that just accepting Jesus one time and you're good to go without searching for him daily, then you are missing out. You're not getting the soul rest that he desires for you. Remember, Jesus is inviting us into the best relationship we can ever have. [00:19:23] (28 seconds)  #PursueJesusDaily

Some of the key characteristics of a true master-apprentice relationship is this. There is, number one, a long-term commitment. Are you committed to Christ as he has committed to you? There's a close observation and imitation. Just like I shared, I observed the master technician and then he watched me as I imitated him until I could get it right. That's who our Lord Jesus Christ is. He wants to observe. He wants you to imitate him. He wants you to observe him. [00:22:15] (35 seconds)  #CommitLikeAnApprentice

So why is it that we accept master-apprentice relationships in the world? Meaning that, oh, if you want to be a great electrician or a craftsman or even a doctor, right? Doctors have to go through apprenticeships. It's called residency, right? So why do we accept that and say, yeah, that's fine. That's fine. But when it comes to our Lord Jesus Christ, when it comes to spiritual things, like, no, no, I don't need that. I'm okay. I could figure it out on my own. [00:24:20] (30 seconds)  #SpiritualApprenticeship

So, too, we don't want to be doing spiritual surgery on each other without having come to Christ first. Right? Because what happens when you do that? You come off as being judgmental. You come off as being ungracious. I'm guilty of having done that in the past. You can ask my children. And I've apologized to them, and they were gracious and they forgave me. [00:25:08] (27 seconds)  #GraceOverJudgment

Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart. You know what the world is? The world is harsh. The world is proud. The world is critical. Jesus modeled and practiced what he taught. Does the world do that? No, the world does not. The world only has expectations of you. And when you fail, you're chewed up and spit out. [00:26:01] (25 seconds)  #JesusIsGentle

And I want to be able to give a warning. There are two systems at war right now. Each one is constantly vying for your attention and for your affection. Be aware that this is nonstop. It's nonstop. It's happening even now. So Proverbs chapter 9. There's two representations here. Verses 1 through 6 talks about wisdom. [00:26:31] (34 seconds)  #ChooseWisdomNotFolly

Have you ever thought of Jesus as Jesus is God? I heard that, yes, good. Praise God. But oftentimes we don't act that way. We don't show him the reference. We tend to default to Jesus, my friend, he'll accept me. And whatever I do, it's going to be okay. [00:29:25] (19 seconds)  #HonorJesusAsGod

The mother of exile stands as a monument to human longing, offering a vision of refuge that stirs the heart, but cannot redeem it. Her promise of welcome lacks the power to grant true liberty, for only the grace of God can deliver the soul from bondage and grant eternal rest. [00:32:24] (22 seconds)  #OnlyGraceRedeems

The Lord Jesus Christ's words of invitation, spoken before his crucifixion on the cross, continue to resonate today, especially after his resurrection. In fact, his invitation holds even greater significance now, that he is risen and is seated at the right hand of God in heaven, thereby proving his ability to fulfill the promise of granting us eternal rest for our souls. [00:32:46] (30 seconds)  #RisenGivesRest