Jesus' Yoke

Guest Introduction and Prayer
Kansas Senator - Nick Jordan

Jesus' Yoke
Matthew 11:27-30

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:29-30

Loving God means keeping His commandments, and really, that isn't difficult.
I John 5:3 NLT

Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.
- G.K. Chesterton

Proverbs 13:15

• NKJV Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.
• NLT A person with good sense is respected; a treacherous person walks a rocky road.
• There is a greater cost to NOT being a disciple!

He has shown you, O man,
what is good; And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly, To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

How?

• By faith!
  
• The instruction of Jesus to take His yoke upon us is to learn from Him how to live our lives.
  
• The secret is to look to Him, follow Him, and imitate Him.
  
• Like Jesus, our goal must be to please the Father and accomplish His will.
  
• Matthew 6:19-34

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:9

Follow Me - The Breath of God
John 1:35-39

New Series:

1. Receive The Breath of God
   
2. Compelled By The Love of God
   
3. Doing The Work of God
   
4. Bringing The Kingdom of God

Believing
Belonging
Becoming
Begetting

Leo Tolstoy commented that

all men of the modern world exist in a continual and flagrant antagonism between their consciences and their way of life.

We Live with the constant tension between:

• what we know we should be
  
• and what we think we can be
  
• as well as what we are

God of Wonders

By My Spirit
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

Jesus intention – grace and glory:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:21-23

Bringing the message down to earth

• You do what you believe!
  
• You believe what you meditate on!

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:27-28

Follow Me - Introduction

Believing
Belonging
Becoming
Begetting

Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20 NLT

The Christian Life

• It can be condensed to two primary goals or purposes:
  
  • to interact with God and fulfill His intentions for human existence.
    
• We are to proclaim the good news of God’s provision!
  
• We are to plan and to make disciples of all the families of the earth.

Cornerstone World Outreach

• Local outreach
  
  • Local and regional
    
• Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth
  
• Trans-local Outreach
  
  • National and international

Chuck & Mary Nell Hall
World Indigenous Missions

WIM has three targets which help accomplish their mission. They are EVANGELIZING the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ, ESTABLISHING indigenous churches where there were previously none, and EQUIPPING and serving indigenous leaders.

The New Life - Part 10

A New Destiny

The Parable of the Marriage Feast
Matthew 22:1-14

God Reveals His Heart

• God’s great intention
  
• God’s great patience
  
• God’s great justice
  
• God’s great righteousness
  
• God’s great provision
  
• Our great destiny in God

God’s Great Intention

• He prepared a great wedding feast for all to come!
  
• I Timothy 2:3-4 that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”

God’s Great Patience

• Matthew 22:4 “So He sent other servants . . .”
  
• Romans 15:5 “. . . the God of patience”
  
• II Peter 3:9 NLT “The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent.”

God’s Great Justice

• Matthew 22:7 NLT “Then the king became furious. He sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city.”
  
• Romans 1:17 NLT “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.”

God’s Great Righteousness

• Matthew 22:11 NLT “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn't wearing the proper clothes for a wedding.”
  
• II Corinthians 5:21 NKJV “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
  
• I Corinthians 1:30-31 NKJV “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

A New Destiny

• Romans 8:29-30 NLT “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.”
• Defined:
  
  • The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined
    
  • one's lot, and a predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control
    
• destine = To determine beforehand; preordain
  
  • <Latin> destinare, to determine
• fate = The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events; the inevitable events predestined by this force; a final result or consequence; an outcome.
  
  • <Latin> fatum, prophecy, doom, to speak.
    
• predestine = To fix upon, decide, or decree in advance; foreordain.
  
• determine = To decide or settle conclusively and authoritatively; to end or decide.
  
  • <Latin> determinare, to limit : de- + terminus, boundary

Election

• This is God’s plan to bring salvation to His people and His world.
  
• Thus election encompasses the entire range of divine activity from creation, God’s decision to bring the world into being out of nothing, to the end time, the making a new of heaven and earth.
  
• <Gk> eklegomai = “to choose something for oneself”
  
  • The objects of divine selection are the elect ones.

God’s Great Provision

• Matthew 22:14 “Many are called but few are chosen.”
  
• Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved”
  
• Revelation 17:14b “He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

All New

3 Keys to begin

• Hebrews 11:6 -- seek Him
  
• Psalm 92:13 -- planted
  
• James 1:22 -- doers