It doesn't matter how many times we hear the story of the woman caught in adultery and Jesus saying, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone", the story never ceases to enthrall us. And yet, as many times as I've read it and heart it I learned something new today. I never realized this story took place in the temple! (See John 8:2) I always imagined Jesus stooping down to write in the dusty street or countryside. I never realized this took place on the site that was consecrated to God.That just goes to show that the enemy of our soul likes to turn worship into religion, which is an excuse to put yokes of accusation and condemnation on people. That's what religion is - man-made rules that pretend to have a heavenly origin. Religion causes people to do strange things like seek for power, form cliques, ostracizing others not like the "in" crowd. The Pharisees were so intent on catching Jesus in error that they turned a court of worship into a court of accusation.
But Jesus came to break yokes! This morning I'm going to be teaching on the second part of our ABC's of Consecration. (Spiritual Alignment, Breaking Yokes, Setting the Captives Free.) As we look at the issue of Breaking Yokes I'm going to talk about seven difference classifications of yokes - and many of them are found right here in this story - sin, religion, "pointing fingers", habits/addictions - but you'll have to hear the teaching, which will be on our website sometime this afternoon, for it to make sense. I hope you're able to be with us this morning. It's going to be a powerful service as we see the Lord truly break yokes in our lives that are keeping us back from serving Him fully.As for our 21 Days of Consecration, we're on Day 8, the beginning of the second week. The number 8 stands for "new beginnings". If you have joined with us yet or if you've struggled along the way, today's a good day to start over. Join with us in reading through the 21 chapters of John, one per day, picking up today with chapter 8. And ask the Lord what area of your life you should consecrate to Him - many are fasting food, but I'm also hearing of some fasting from TV and even from the Wii! Whatever it is, make your own decision to replace something with time with the Lord. You won't be sorry! And don't forget to come to church this morning because ...
I love worshiping Jesus with you!
Nathan
2 comments:
I often ask God what is my motive for doing something. This has helped me to be honest with myself. I'm the person I'm always around so I constantly learn to correct, realign, and make changes as the Lord speaks to me. Sometimes fast and sometimes slow!
In the past and even now, however, I may question someone's motives in
asking particular questions. I would ask myself, what would motivate them to ask me such a question?
What I am finding is that more often I may be checking their motive because of insecurities in
myself. It's almost like the motive checking the other motive.
What a circle.
The Lord is teaching me to check my motives not the other guys. End of story!
What a great comment! Thanks for your honesty and transparency, Nora. You're an awesome woman and I admire you!
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