Dear brothers and sisters: Happy 2016!!! My prayer for all of you this day is that you will pray the above prayer and try and stick with Jesus each and every minute from this time forth. I also pray God's richest blessings upon you in this upcoming year. I also pray this day that each one of us would set goals on our own to lead the lost to Jesus during this coming year. The most important thing we can do for our Lord Jesus is to be saved and then help lead in the lost. It is a job worthy of our work for Him and it is indeed a command of His to us. (Mark 16:15)
Today I would like to get back to handing our burdens over to Jesus. Some of you might have extra burdens because of last evening. "Like a hangover!"
New Year's Day: Friday, January 1, 2016: The Big Trip (Day Nineteen)
Matthew 11:25-30 New International Version (NIV)
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, here is another scripture where Jesus is telling us that He is the way to the Father. The little children referred to above are we, we who follow Jesus regardless of our age. In verse 27 we also see that ALL THINGS have been turned over to Jesus by His Father. He also tells us point blank, NO ONE knows the Father except the Son, EXCEPT, EXCEPT those to whom the Son chooses to reveal to the Father. To me this is very plain, that unless we know Jesus and He also knows us, we will not get to see the Father, meaning we will not get into heaven. Now let me point this out, there is a difference in knowing Jesus and "KNOWING Jesus!!!" Now that sounds like double talk, but it is not. The difference is spelled out in four letters.
L-O-V-E. Yes, that really big four-letter word, "love." We can know people, maybe without loving them. For instance, I know who George Washington was. He was our first president, but I do not love him or have a personal relationship with him (even though I have a couple of his pictures in my billfold). But you see I love Jesus, I h ave heard about Him since I was but a child growing up in Harrisburg, PA, but I did not fall in love with Him until much later in life. That was when I had my second birth. No, not my second birthday anniversary, but my "second birth as in "Born Again." So I am confident that Jesus will introduce me to His Father, our Father in heaven, when that time comes. This is worthy of bringing out from another scripture.
John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV)
That makes it easier to understand, I think. So let me move on with unloading our burdens. Let us look back again to Matthew 11.
Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (NIV)
Our dear Lord Jesus was/is a humble man, and I want to bring that out with this scripture. Here we find our Lord Jesus asking us to "come to Him" if we are weary and burdened, and He will give us rest. Now whom among us is not weary and burdened at least some of the time? And of course some a whole lot more than others. He is telling us that we should take His yoke upon us and learn from Him. What in the world does that mean? I want to tell you that just carrying the sins that I have done in my lifetime would be a load to carry and He is carrying the "sins of the world!!!" But you see, Jesus never sinned and and if we truly walked each day in His light and His name our burdens would not be as heavy. Jesus also tells us He is gentle and humble in heart. If He were not humble in heart He would have boasted about taking on the sins of the world, but not our Savior. All He ever wanted for this "mission of grace and mercy" that He was sent on was just one thing. "Our Love." And of course once we love Him we surely will want to work to get others to love Him. Jesus even called what He was sent to do "easy" and that "His burden was light."
So brothers and sisters, we need to start turning things over to Jesus. I do want to work more on Him taking care of our burdens and will pick that up on my next writing. However, on this very first day of a New Year, I think the burden that we need to be sure we turnover to Him is the burden of our Salvation. Do you agree? Maybe you have done this over and over again and again, but today I need to bring it up again. What we need to fully turn over to Him is our love for Him. Please, please start the year out right by confessing your love for Jesus. I can only lead you in this prayer of salvation. Please come to Jesus now.
Dear Father in Heaven. I confess to You through Jesus my Savior that I am a sinner and I am asking to be cleaned of those sins. I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and died on the cross and on the third day He was risen from the dead. I believe also that He is alive today and in Heaven and someday will judge me as to my admission to heaven. Please, dear Lord, place my name in the Lamb's Book of Life, forgiving me of my sins and then please help me to live a better, cleaner life as I try my best to live like Jesus. To Jesus all honor and glory as I pray in His Name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, if you prayed that, please know you are indeed saved if you prayed it in faith. Once again I put out the offer, if you do not have a Bible, we have some to give if you know of others who need a Bible, please feel free to get one from us (free) to give to them. Also we have beautiful "Read-n-Grow" picture Bibles for children (again free). If you want one, please ask. Here is my cell phone number - 771.991.0754.
Now please go forth loving and sharing Jesus and knowing you are saved. Love ya.
Pastor Dan
("And the longer you love Jesus the sweeter that love is!!!")
Sweeter As the Years Go By (Lelia N. Morris)
Sweeter as the years go by, sweeter as the years go by;
Richer, fuller, deeper, Jesus' love is sweeter,
Sweeter as the years go by.
Sweeter as the years go by, sweeter as the years go by;
Richer, fuller, deeper, Jesus' love is sweeter,
Sweeter as the years go by.
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