Last time we looked at "The Rest of the Story," with the emphasis on rest.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
We discovered that there are three basic groups of people:
-- Those who are searching for a place of rest. Wandering back and forth hoping to find something solid to believe in.
-- Those who have discovered the place, but are not sure how to completely enter in. They know the truth and even believe the truth but have a hard time putting it into practice. When trouble comes they tend to revert back to things that never brought peace in the first place.
-- Those who have entered His rest but still are challenged and tested. People who have applied the truth to their lives and are still in the midst of serious trial and heartache.
We also found out by looking at some people in the Bible that if we trust Him we will not be disappointed in the end.
Today I would like to talk about finding rest for our souls in a restless society. Is it possible to do?
Do we find it hard to believe that God is really willing to forgive us of all our sin?
Do some of us believe that God forgives us but we can't forgive ourselves?
There may even be some that feel that they don't need to be forgiven.
Let's see if any of us can compare with David who was spoken of by God as a man after His own heart.
II Samuel 11:1-27, "The day we came to the cross we were as clean as we will ever be. Not as mature, wise or sanctified, but as clean. If we came to the Lord with a broken and contrite heart, one that is sincere, we receive forgiveness of all our sins even the ones we don't know about."
Colossians 2:12-14, "Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being in our trespasses and the uncirumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
-- Pastor Leo Kruger is a member of Carson Valley Ministers' Association.
