Spiritual Backsliding Comes Through Neglect — Santosh Poonen

Revival Through the Word and the Holy Spirit

I'd like us to turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. As we've been thinking in our church meetings recently, brothers and sisters, we've experienced a real time of revival in our midst over the last few months.

It's changed my life in many ways and shown me so much in my life that the Lord's convicted me off, challenged me with, encouraged me by and drawn me closer to himself. And as I think I mentioned on Sunday, I see it as a revival in two special areas in my life.

And I think many of us, if not all of us in the church can testify of that as well. And those two areas are, first of all, the sharpness of the word of God. There are many ways in which God's word has become sharper to me over the last few months.

Being, and like it says in Hebrews, for able to divide between soul and spirit. And the second area for me has been a greater thirst for the fullness of his Holy Spirit. And if you thought you were thirsty yesterday to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we ought to be even more thirsty today to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So if the second aspect of fullness of the Holy Spirit and a thirst for it, a constant thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I find, and this is my honest testimony, I'm not saying this to impress you or any reason except to challenge you also to make this your prayer.

I find dear brothers and sisters that throughout the day, my prayer is Lord, I want more of your Holy Spirit than you've given me even an hour ago. I want to be on this steady, steep incline. It's not me trying to climb uphill, but me thirsting for more and God meeting me according to my thirst.

And he's doing that. I find that any free moment I have, even if I'm just driving in the car or running an errand or in between something at work, the cry from within my heart is Lord, I want more of you.

I'm not satisfied. I thank you with all my heart for what you've given me, but I know there's so much more you want me to have of you. So I want to encourage you all in that area as well. I also talked on Sunday about the day of our visitation, that verse in Luke 19, verse 44, where Jesus said that their ruin would come upon the Jews because they did not recognize the day of their visitation.

And I believe spiritually the same can happen in our lives. And I'll tell you, I can testify that that's happened in my life. There were times when I experienced days of visitation, but I neglected it.

I didn't pursue with it. I didn't persist with it. That's the word I was looking for. And that day of visitation passed me by. And I determined that when the Lord meets with me and has a specific purpose and a specific meaning he wants to have with me, a unique experience, I don't want it to pass me by.

And that's been the burden of my heart. And when we see in Hebrews chapter one, verse one, you know, Hebrews is a wonderful book. We're shown the new covenant. We're shown Jesus in not only the fullness of his Godhead, but also the fullness of his humanity.

And in that an example for us. But it starts, this book starts by saying that God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. So he's saying that God had spoken for thousands of years through his prophets in these last days has spoken not just through a prophet now, he's spoken to us in his son.

It's a wonderful phrase. Now, what stands out to me, first of all, it doesn't say by his son. Yes, Jesus Christ is speaking to us. It's his voice through the Holy Spirit that ministers to us. But he's speaking to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the world.

So when he says he's speaking to us in his son, that means that every word that I hear, the only way that it can really be meaningful for me is if I see it manifest in Jesus Christ. If I hear some word in a message and it just becomes a theory or some, oh, I never saw that verse before or some other doctrine maybe that we can repeat.

If I have not heard God speaking in Jesus, that means that word, I see how that is describing some portion of Christ's nature. Everything we hear, dear brothers and sisters, everything we hear through the Holy Spirit in the new covenant is a description of some part of Jesus.

You know how if you're trying to describe a statue, let's say, or trying to describe a building, let's say the Taj Mahal, for example, you couldn't just describe it by looking from one side. You'd have to go through around the whole thing to describe it in its entirety.

And in a sense, that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do through us. That's why we listen to messages. That's why we still read his word because there's more of God speaking in Jesus that I haven't yet fully realized.

I haven't seen Jesus fully. And remember this, every message we hear, every single message we hear must be God speaking to us in Jesus. That means I've seen a little bit more of what Jesus is like, and I can partake of that.

Paying Careful Attention to the New Covenant

But then he goes on to say in chapter two, verse one, since, you know, he begins by saying for this reason, that means since it used to be prophets and they would describe God and they would explain him, but now you've seen him in Jesus.

You've heard Jesus speaking, but you're also seeing Jesus. You're seeing God in a relatable way for this reason. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it.

We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty.

So when God spoke to an angel, you better not mess, you better not disobey. Judgment was severe because God sent his angel to speak. I mean, if you heard a word of God from an angel and you disobeyed it, you knew you were gonna get punished under the Old Testament.

But what he's saying is now that he's spoken in not just an angel, it's in Jesus himself. How will we escape who claim to hear from Jesus and about whom the things spoken are in Jesus? How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. But this phrase, how shall we escape? How will we escape? What? The penalty in verse two, every transgression and disobedience received an appropriate penalty, he says in verse two.

And then the writer of Hebrews is saying, oh, you call yourself new covenant? How will you escape if you neglect the salvation that is available to you in the new covenant? That's a very serious word, dear brothers and sisters.

We hear the word, the phrase new covenant often in our church, in our churches. But I fear that it could be something that we take for granted. Jesus used the word new covenant only one time, and that was when he talked about his blood.

It cost him his blood to sign that new agreement. That's what the new covenant is. And the warning for me here is not that I would forsake it. Notice what he says, how will we escape? Not if we forsake it, simply if we neglect it, if we neglect it.

And I'd like to speak today about the sin of neglect. The Lord's been convicting me about it recently, different areas in which we can neglect it. Now we may think, well, I haven't turned against the message of salvation.

I haven't turned against the gospel. I haven't turned against the good news, but I may be neglecting it. There's things that I should be doing to nurture and to build up the life of Christ in me, this new covenant life in me that I'm neglecting.

That means I'm not turning against it. I'm not speaking against it. I might still talk about it, but I've neglected it. Let's examine our hearts, dear brothers and sisters, this evening. If the Holy Spirit speaks to you this evening, maybe not even through things I might share, but just as you meditate on whether you may be neglecting this great salvation in the new covenant in some area and the ruin that can come through that.

Neglect and the Overgrown Field

Turn with me, if you could, please, to Proverbs 24. There's a little story that's recounted here in Proverbs 24. Proverbs 24, verse 30. I passed by the field of the sluggard. Proverbs 24, verse 30. I passed by the field of the sluggard and the vineyard of the man lacking sense, or the literal word there is actually heart.

That means desire. Let me read that again that way. I passed by the field of a lazy person, somebody who neglected the field that he had been given. I passed by the field of a lazy person and by the vineyard of the man lacking passion, lacking heart, that's the literal word there, the lacking heart.

And this is how the Lord's been convicting me about this with regard to the truths that we hear, with regard to the word that's been preached in our midst for the last three months. Are you lacking heart in it, Santosh?

The Holy Spirit's spoken very clearly to me. Yeah, you accept it in your mind, but are you lacking a passion behind it where you wanna lay a hold of it, you wanna grab it and you want the Holy Spirit to grab a hold of you?

That's a very serious exhortation. And behold, because this man lacked heart and he was a lazy person, it was completely overgrown with thistles, verse 31. Its surface was covered with nettles, which is another type of weed or thorn, and its stone wall was broken down.

When I saw, verse 32, I reflected upon it, I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and then your poverty will come as a robber and you'll want like an armed man.

That last verse describes a destruction that will happen, not because we will turn against the gospel, not because we will reject the good news that we have been taught, but because we will neglect it.

We'll say, you know what? I don't think we really have to take it that seriously, or can I just take a break for a little while? This constant pursuing after Jesus, this constant radical attitude is a little much.

Let me just sit back for a little bit. It's exactly what the devil wants us to hear. Now, this isn't a tiresome way. It's not a frantic running around like a chicken with its head chopped off, as they say, but this is a zealous pursuit of God in my thoughts, a passionate desire for God to consume more of me, a passionate desire for God to kind of take over my whole being, and I want it, and I want Him to give me more opportunities to die to myself and to deny myself, to take up my cross.

I want to take up my cross in more areas than I've seen yet, because I realize that if I'm trying to find a way around the cross, a lazy option, where I don't have to deny myself, I don't have to try to invest in that relationship.

If I have to try to love that person who's hard to love, it's gonna be a lot of work, and so I sit back, or in a relationship, in our marriage, there could be a conflict, and all it would take is me as the husband, or you as the wife, just humbling ourselves and saying, I don't need to be right, I just want to love you, and to come back, and for us to be united again, and it may be just swallowing your pride, and not trying to justify yourself, and just saying, all of that doesn't matter.

I want to love, I want God's heart of love to flow through me. The lazy option would be to just give her the silent treatment, or to shut myself in the office for a little while, or go read a book, or something like that, and avoid that difficult circumstance, and that's the attitude of the lazy person, and pretty soon, that's how marriages start to grow weeds and thistles, that we're not, there's a saying that marriage is like a garden, you have to tend it, you have to take care of it, and as you do so, it'll start to bear fruit, but it's the same with our children, what if you sensed as one of our children, let's say one of my children was growing older, and a little bit of a distance is coming between me and that child, what should I do?

Should I just say, well, he's an adult now, he should choose for himself, or is there a zealous heart attitude in me that says, no, Lord, I have to win that child of mine, I have to win my wife, I have to win my brother?

Winning Brothers and Sisters Through Forgiveness

You know, this must be the basis for forgiveness, let me show you this verse in Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talked about forgiveness. Matthew chapter 18, we read in verse 15, Matthew 18, verse 15, if your brother sins, and the margin says, if your brother sins against you, some translations say, go and show him his fault in private.

If your brother sins against you, he's done some harm to you, he's done some sin, not just, you know, was unthoughtful, but it was clearly sin, if he sins against you, go and show him his fault in private, privately go to him, now, this, the much easier option is just to kind of put up a brick wall, and just say, fine, I'm just not gonna talk to you, or I'm gonna walk away from this relationship, that's what people who choose divorce as an option, says, well, maybe it started with sin, but the response of every Christian, the response of every Christian, where God has placed us in relationship, and that's why he says, if your brother, he's not talking about other people, and it says, as long as it lies with you, live at peace with all men, but if your brother, that means somebody that God has placed in your circle, in the church, a sister in the church, and certainly the family, a husband, a wife, or children, if somebody in that circle of care, that God has placed in your circle of care, sins against you, go and show him his fault in private, if he listens to you, why do you want to go and show him his fault in private?

It's not because you're this superior person that knows all these faults in other, in fact, Jesus got done earlier in chapter seven, saying, take the log out of your eye, before you try to take a speck out of somebody else's eye, so before you go and correct somebody else, make sure you don't have a judgmental attitude, but he, the purpose of going to my brother, Matthew 18, verse 15, is ultimately the last phrase there, if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Meditate on that phrase sometime, dear brothers and sisters, this is our objective, this is our goal in life, I want to win somebody for Christ, not just give them a tract and tell them about Jesus Christ dying for their sins, but I want to, and we're talking especially here about those relationships where God has placed us in the same circle, beginning in our marriages, and with our children, and brothers and sisters in the church, I have a responsibility to win you, and if a gap, a distance comes between you and I, and I can't sit there and say, well, he started it, she started it, no, that's the attitude of children, right?

If you go to children, you see them fighting, it's usually the first answer is, he started it, she started it, that's childishness, let's put that childishness away, it doesn't matter who started it, if it's a brother or sister that God has placed you, or even your wife, or children, husband, placed you in relationship with, we have a responsibility to be active, to be proactive in winning our brothers, in winning our sisters, and as I think again about this proverb that we just read, the story in Proverbs 24, this is the thought that has come to my mind, if I do nothing with what's given to me, something will still happen, but it won't be good, if I do nothing with what's given to me, something will still happen, and it won't be good, let me explain what I mean by that, you don't have to do any work for weeds to grow in your garden, it'll just happen, if you want good fruit to come out of your garden, you'll have to put work into it, if you want apples, a good apple tree to grow, if you want a good orange tree to grow, you want peppers, zucchini, well, zucchini seems to grow on its own too, but okay, but the nice fruit, okay, but you know what, you don't have to put any effort to grow is weeds, in fact, you have to be proactive to take out the weeds and the thistles and the nettles, you have to be proactive to remove that, so think about this, when thinking about our Christian life, if I do nothing, let's say I sit and listen to a sermon that was living and active and I read God's word even, and God's word is living and active, every time you open God's word, something of life is being implanted into you, but if you do nothing with it, something will still happen and it won't be good, what happens automatically is never good, what good that must come out of our life will take some work on our part, some yielding to the Holy Spirit, that's where it begins, the Holy Spirit giving us his power and his grace, so that we can care for this garden, for our lives, for our hearts, if you do nothing with your thoughts, there's a phrase in the world, the idle mind, the empty mind is the devil's workshop, if you leave your mind empty and it's actually not original to the world, Jesus said that, that you remember what he said, how a demon possessed person was filled with evil and then the demon is cast out, but that person did nothing with the good that was given him, he left his house empty, untended, he didn't lock the door, he didn't watch over his walls and as a result that demon came back with seven more demons and the condition of that man was worse, have you thought that it's possible to have a demon cast out of you and at the end of it, you're in a worse situation, through neglect, this is how serious neglect is, that if I'm not vigilant and maybe demon possession is an extreme example, I don't think any of us is demon possessed, but what about the word of God, when we receive the word of God, when we listen to more and more messages, when we even read God's word, if we're reading it, I love that we're still doing a Bible reading plan, I hope we're all keeping up on it, especially children, but as you're reading it, recognize that God has given you a garden as a result of it and if you do nothing with it, something bad will happen, like happened to this sluggard in Proverbs 24, what was the fault of the sluggard?

Did he put the weeds there? Did he break down his own wall? You know, there are some other Proverbs that talk about destruction that comes by one's own bad works, like Proverbs 14, I think a few weeks ago, I talked about that verse that a foolish woman tears down her own house brick by brick, that is a woman that's, or a person that's acting against herself, against himself through sinful habits or through active things that they're doing, but this is a different type of ruin that this proverb is talking about, this is a ruin that comes by doing nothing and you may say, well, what did I do wrong?

I didn't do anything and that's exactly what was done wrong, sins of omission, where God wanted me to do something. You know, in any situation, if there's a situation of conflict between a husband and wife, I try to take this seriously, I'm not preaching something I don't seek to put into practice.

If there's a situation between my wife and I and in a sense, she feels that I've hurt her or I've done something hurtful to her or even if I think she's taken it the wrong way, I have a responsibility to win my wife, I have a responsibility to be the bridge builder.

There's a hymn we sing, we know that fear builds walls instead of bridges. I've been forgiven so much that I'll risk loving too, I'll forgive, I've been forgiven so much, I've been loved so much that I'll risk loving too.

Fear builds walls instead of bridges and as we see these walls building between relationships, whether it's in the marriage or in the church and otherwise, be vigilant, dear brothers and sisters, let's be vigilant over these relationships.

If there's a brother or sister in the church that you just don't enjoy talking to them, let's say, but God has placed them with you in the local church, I believe we have a responsibility to try to build those bridges as much as we can, as much as it lies with us to invest in that, to make sure there's no weeds, that there's no thistles that are coming in.

Thorns, Worldly Cares, and Fear

Now, there's two things here that I see in this proverb back in Proverbs 24. One was the thorns, the thistles that came up and the other is this broken down wall and I just like to talk about those two briefly.

Overgrown with thistles, you know that Jesus said when he was speaking about the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, he said that the thorns, let's look at that, maybe so you see it. Matthew chapter 13, Matthew 13 verse 22, when Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower, he says in verse 22, the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of wealth, choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.

There's two things that Jesus mentioned there. I think we've heard a lot about the deceitfulness of riches. I think all of us can say that we're aware that riches will choke out the spiritual life in you if you love it, if you hold on to your possessions, if you hold on to your wealth, if your mind is constantly thinking about how you can add more wealth and more money and improve your standard of life and buy this thing and buy that other thing.

If that's what's preoccupying your mind, it's going to choke out the word of God. It's no wonder that there won't be life. You'll find yourself not zealous and wholehearted for the things of God for investing in his kingdom because of the deceitfulness of riches.

We've heard a lot on that. I don't need to dwell on it much more. But I want to talk about the cares or the worry of the world. Have you thought, have you realized, have we realized, dear brothers and sisters, that when I see what's going on in the world around me and as a result of that, I allow worry to come into my life.

I allow fear to trap me. I allow the unhealthy anticipation of something bad that's going to happen as a result of what I see and hear and the news and rumors and all these things and conspiracies and all those things.

If I allow it to become worry in my life, that's going to choke out the word. And maybe we're vigilant over the love of money and we're careful that we don't allow the love of money to ensnare us. Like Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 2 verse 4, no soldier of the Lord allows himself to get entangled in the affairs of this world.

Keep a finger on Matthew 13. We'll come back to that. 2 Timothy 2. If you're in active duty, it's what Paul is saying here. If you're an active duty, and that's a good question to ask ourselves this evening, are you an active duty in the Lord's army?

Or are you on call, you know, in retirement mode or backup? No, are you an active duty? We must all be an active duty. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

So that means not getting entangled in the affairs of everyday life. And sure, that could mean, you know, business prospects and making a lot of money. But I think perhaps the greater danger for us is allowing the affairs of this world to bring worry and care and fear.

And Jesus said, no, God told us in Isaiah 8, if you fear me, you need fear nothing else. That's a living Bible paraphrase of Isaiah 8 verse 13. If you fear God, you need fear nothing else. And so dear brothers and sisters, let's be vigilant over fear coming in.

I find that many Christians are operating out of fear, fear of the pandemic and fear of the vaccine and fear of masks and fear of the government and fear of other Christians and fear of the liberals and fear of the conservatives.

Whichever side is fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. And whether, you know, whether any of that is true or not is really not as important as this. That even if it is true, the one thing that I'm not entitled to is fear.

Maybe there is, maybe it's not a conspiracy after all. Maybe there is some truth to what they're saying. But regardless, I'm a soldier in the kingdom of heaven and I don't want to be entangled in the fear and the worry and the anxiety that pervades the world as I see it.

Especially in the last two, three years, it seems like it's a fear. The devil's, God, you know, the spirit of the devil, the spirit of the Antichrist, if you want to know it, it's very clear. The Holy Spirit says through Paul, God has not given to us.

So the not spirit of Christ, if I could use that term, the spirit of the Antichrist, God has not given to us a spirit of fear. So the spirit of Antichrist, which is the not Christ spirit is the spirit of fear.

And to the extent that I allow even a little bit of fear, a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of worry in my life, I am allowing the spirit of the Antichrist to find a place in my heart. And it's no wonder that those messages that I hear and the word of God that I read doesn't actually come to fruition because the thorns are pressing in and choking out because I'm lazy.

I neglect, I'm not vigilant over casting aside fear. I tell you, dear brothers and sisters, we must attack the spirit of fear. We must attack the spirit of unbelief. We must attack the spirit of worry and the spirit of anxiety.

It, I know as Christians, we tend to take it just like, oh, I was a little anxious and shrug our shoulders at it. That's a neglecting attitude towards this evil spirit of fear and worry. And it's no wonder that the devil wreaked havoc in so many people's lives through the fear that has come in and choked out the word of God and choked out the life of the Holy Spirit.

If you were filled with the Holy Spirit and the anointing of God was in you and the presence of God was there in your life and you knew it, and now you find that there's a dryness in your life, check and see if there's a thorn, if there are thorns in your life.

Unbelief, mistrust of God, that God is really who he is and who he said he is, that he has a purpose for my life, that he saved me, he sent his son Jesus to save me and he began that work in me and he's going to finish it.

That's the spirit of faith. And the opposite of that is the spirit of unbelief where the devil would discourage us and hold us in bondage and say, oh, it's not going to work for you, you're not going to get it.

Don't look at others, dear brothers and sisters, don't look at, because many people are pretending to be more spiritual than they really are. Look to God and say, Lord, I want to partake of your spirit of faith.

I want to be vigilant against these weeds, against these thorns that will come and choke out. If you do nothing about fear, if you read, when you read the news, let's say, or you read it online or you hear some news, you must be vigilant at that time.

Recognize this is the world that's presenting the news to you. Every single news source is going to be biased in some way or the other because the world is biased. It's part of just the way the world is.

So recognize that and be on guard. Let there be a filter in your mind as you read that news item, as you process that news that you hear or that conversation that somebody tells you, oh, did you hear this?

So this new mandate or some other thing that's coming up and all these things, as you listen to it, filter it. If you don't put that filter, it's going to become a thorn and it's going to lead to worry and fear.

And when we filter it through a spirit of faith, through the spirit of power, through the spirit of love, through the spirit of discipline and a sound mind, that's the opposite in those verses. It says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love and discipline, a disciplined mind.

That means I say, I'm going to refuse to put, allow those thoughts into my life. You must be vigilant. We must be vigilant, dear brothers and sisters. You know, a few chapters earlier, Matthew chapter 11, I've been challenged recently by these verses that we know well.

Rest Under Christ's Yoke

Matthew 11, we know these verses quite well. 28, Matthew 11, 28 through 30. Or Matthew 28 and 29. Matthew 11, 28 and 29. Come to me, Jesus says, come to me. You who are weary and heavy laden with what?

With fears, with anxieties, with worries, with uncertainties about the future, with doubts about God even. Maybe you doubt, is there a God? Doubt whether, is God really the way he is, the Bible says he is.

Have I understood him correctly? Come to me if you're weary, if those thoughts are burdening you and preventing you and choking out the life of joy and peace and love and rest. That's ultimately what I was going to get to, rest.

If there's unrest in your life, in any area, Jesus says, come to me. You've been burdened, you've been weary and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. That means there's Jesus under his yoke.

He says, come stand next to me. Let's plow this field together. Take the same yoke that I'm under and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. And he says it again, you will find rest for your souls.

And I've come to see dear brothers and sisters that the one thing I covet more than anything else that people ought to be able to say about me if they're able to recognize it is this, he's being with Jesus, he's walking with Jesus.

He's been with Jesus. You know how they testified about the apostles in Acts 4, the Pharisees who were the experts on the law and they studied the Bible in and out. But then they saw these unlearned fishermen, uneducated people speaking with authority, speaking with boldness, speaking with power.

And they said, they've been with Jesus. That's a testimony I've coveted. I want, if someday I'm called up in front of some court to testify that I'm a child of Jesus Christ and to be prepared to die for it, as I believe is coming to this country, I'm not afraid of that.

But I pray at that point, they'll say, they won't be, oh, he's a learned man or, oh, he's got a degree in this or anything like that. There's a man who's been with Jesus. That's where he gets his power from.

When I talk about maybe victories that God brings into my life, allows me to experience, gives me victory in an area. I want it to be this way. Santosh has been with Jesus. That's why he's become more kind.

That's why he's more joyful. That's why he's more full of love. He's been with Jesus. Not that he's become a better self. He's been with Jesus. And the mark that somebody has been with Jesus for me in these verses that we read in Matthew 11, 28 and 29 is, I get rest.

No matter what happens in the world around me, I'm at rest. That's the mark that you've been with Jesus. And so I encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, spend time with Jesus. And what do I mean by that?

It doesn't mean just praying for five minutes on your knees or reading your Bible for 15 minutes, a quiet time in the morning. Let your entire day be a quiet time with Jesus, no matter what you're doing.

If you're driving in the car, if you're working at the computer or you're teaching the children or you're doing dishes or changing diapers, let everything that you're doing be quiet time with Jesus. You're taking his yoke upon you and you're walking with him and you're learning from him and you will get rest.

That's the promise of Jesus. And I want that. And I've seen so often that I found myself in situations where I didn't have rest, a little bit of unrest. Something came up suddenly and caught me off guard and I was at unrest.

By God's grace, they're becoming fewer and fewer. Now when things suddenly come up and something wants to rattle me, there's still a little bit of shaking, but God's able to quickly, I immediately say, Lord Jesus, let me run under this yoke of yours.

Let me join you under this yoke because you said there I would find rest. And I take on the mind of Christ. I fix my eyes on Jesus and say, Lord, in this situation, I want to find rest. You promised me rest.

Jesus is not a liar. When he said I would have rest, he meant it, dear brothers and sisters. And all it means is taking him at his word and going to him and saying, Lord, I look back on the last week.