“Come unto me,  all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” 

Matthew 11: 28-29 KJV

There are times when life is burdensome.  Life can be challenging.  Life can be painful.  Life can be difficult.  Life can be disappointing.  Life can be lonely.  Life can be overwhelming. Not only do our bodies get weary, but so do our souls! Sometimes the weight on our souls can be greater than the weight on our bodies!    Jesus fully understands the burdens of life. After all, He lived a genuine human life just like us.  The scripture declares that Jesus fully experienced every burden and difficulty of life that we experience.  He fully identifies with our humanity!  (Heb.4:15).  And at the cross Jesus also experienced the full weight of our sin! (Isaiah 11:6).   So, when He offers us rest for our soul, it is not an empty promise!   He knows the need!  And He has the solution! 

First note that the invitation is to “Come”! It is open to anyone!  There are no exclusions! Second, the invitation is to become joined together, or yoked together, with Him!   Third, we are to “learn” of Him!  We are to learn just how much He truly loves us!   We are to learn that He is faithful in all things just like He promised!  His promises never fail.  His Word never fails!  His Word is true!   It is everlasting.  It is relevant to every generation.  We have to be joined with Him and walk with Him in order to learn that.   It is in that place that our soul will find the promised rest. 

It is in that place that our soul will find peace!  It is in that place that we will find contentment. It is in that place that we will find hope.  It is in that place that we will find joy.  It is in that place that we experience the richness and fullness of His love.  It is in that place that we experience His joy!  It is in that place that we experience His overflowing life as we learn to simply “rest” in Him!  It is in that place that we discover that He is the One who orders our steps. It is in that place that we discover that we can trust Him in all things!   It is in that place that we realize we can trust Him for whatever we face today and we can trust Him for whatever we may face tomorrow.  It is in that place that we discover the meaning and purpose of our life.  It is in that place that we get a glimpse of His glory.  And it is in that place that we get a small peek behind the veil of this life into what awaits us in eternity! There is no one anywhere who can offer us such rest!   Let us put aside whatever is necessary to enter into that rest!  For it is a rest that far greater than anything we can possibly imagine! 

James W. Black

“Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth.  I came not to send peace, but a sword.”

Matthew 10:34 KJV

This statement of Jesus is startling.  One of His titles is “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
And He also promised to give His followers His peace (John 14:27).   Bult He also warns His followers that if we follow Him, there will be no peace.  That sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it?

The reality is that while the followers of Jesus will truly experience His peace in their personal lives, the very peace we experience through the cross will produce conflict. The cross of Christ and the peace that He provides creates a divide between light and darkness.  That divide will also produce hostility toward those who follow Christ.

Many times that hostility is initially experienced by family members who either do not understand or do not want us to become followers of Christ. But this hostility is also expressed from the culture at large.  As America continues to abandon Biblical Truth that hostility will intensify. 

But the good news of the Gospel is that in the midst  of the conflict we still have His peace!  And it is His peace and His cross that overcomes the darkness!  Although the enemies of Christ may rage against us, Christ has already overcome them (Col.2: 13-15).  And because we are in Christ (Gal,. 2:20), He has made us more than conquerors (Ro.8:37).  All we have to do in the midst of conflict is to simply continue to “stand” in Him and for Him (Eph. 6:13). He provides the power and ability to do that (Phil.4:13).   It is impossible for the darkness to overcome the Light (John 8:12).  Therefore, we can stand and rest in His peace no matter what may come!   For He is with us (Hebrews 13:5)! 

Rev. James W. Black

“Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” 

Micah 7:7 KJV

The Prophet Micah lived in dark times. The nation of Judah was in great apostasy.  One of the nation’s most wicked kings, King Ahaz, sat on the throne. Ahaz reigned from 735 BC  to 715 BC.  Evil and wickedness were the norm in the culture.  Every strata of society was infected with it.

But in the midst of it all, there was a voice and a remnant of people who still loved, served, and followed the Lord.  Micah was one of those voices. Although he could see the judgment of God coming on the nation and the difficult times that would come as a result, he chose to focus his attention upon the Lord.  He did not ignore the darkness. But his primary focus was upon the Light! 

We live in dark times in America. We can see and feel the darkness enveloping our land.  Like the days of Micah, there are those who seek to silence the voice of righteousness. But the Lord did not place us here during these times to be silent. He placed us here to be His voice and a reflection of His Light in the midst of the darkness. 

The key to maintaining our joy and hope in the midst of the darkness is to “look to the Lord.”  He is our Light and our Hope!   By riveting our focus upon Him we can see beyond the darkness!  We can see the King and His Kingdom!  We can see His Hand at work in the midst of everything else that is happening. One glimpse of Him puts everything else in perspective. Although the majority of the culture embraces the darkness, we can still rejoice as we embrace the Light!  For there is absolutely nothing that the darkness can do to extinguish the Light!  (John 1:5). Therefore, we can live with our eyes fixed on Jesus.  And because of that, we can have absolute hope and confidence in the midst of everything for we know how the story ends! 

Rev. James W. Black

“And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” 

Matthew 11:6 KJV

We live in a world of paradox. On the one hand, people say they do not want to be offensive.  They believe in tolerance and acceptance.  Yet at the same time, many of those same people take great pleasure in offending the Followers of Christ.  We saw this recently in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris when the Olympic Committee took great pleasure in mocking and defaming the Name of Christ.  The Followers of Christ are ridiculed, vilified maligned, and marginalized with impunity by many different individuals, groups, and institutions.  Such intolerance has become openly accepted and fully embraced by those who proclaim tolerance as one of their highest virtues.  Their hypocrisy and double standard is blatantly obvious.   But they do not realize that Christ will ultimately have the final word!  (Psalm 37: 1-2).

Although such things offend us,  we must remember that this is nothing new.  The Followers of  Christ have experienced this throughout history.  It continues in our day.  Currently, some 80 countries around the world persecute those who follow Christ.   Jesus was hated in His day!   And He promised that those who followed Him would also be hated as well. (John 15:18, 1 John 3:13).   The reason for this hatred is that those who are enslaved by darkness are offended when the Light of Christ exposes their sin.  No one likes for their sin to be exposed.  It makes one uncomfortable.   It can even make one angry.   

They do not realize that the purpose of the Light of Christ is not to bring condemnation (John 3: 17-20) but instead to bring salvation and deliverance from the darkness that has enslaved them.  His Light illuminates the path they are on.  It helps them to see the path of destruction they are traveling and enables them to find the only way of escape.   If we were driving down a road whose bridge had been washed out by a storm, we would want someone to warn us of the danger that lay ahead.   That is exactly what Jesus does when He exposes our sin!  He is warning us of the danger we are facing and is seeking to save us from certain destruction.

https://www.bible.com/bible/1/jhn.3.16His shining Light gives hope where there was none before.  His Light points the way to a life that is full of meaning, purpose, and destiny!  (John 10:10).  It is a life that one can experience now and all throughout eternity.   (John 3:16).   

James W. Black

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!”

Phil. 4:4 KJV

In Philippians 4 the Apostle Paul encouraged the Followers of Christ to “stand fast in the Lord” (vs 1) and to “rejoice always”!   The word “rejoice” here is taken from the Greek word “chairo” which means “to be glad, to be full of joy or to be elated”.   

We are familiar with being elated and full of joy over such things as getting a desired job, a raise, or when our favorite sports team wins a championship.  During those times our hearts overflow with gladness. And there is nothing wrong with expressing joy over those things. But if we can be filled with joy over secular things, how much more should the people of God be able to rejoice over the reality of the living God;  expressed and revealed to us in and through His Son, Jesus! The secular events in life are fleeting. They do not last. But the reality of God’s love is a constant and ever-present reality for the redeemed! 

To rejoice does not mean that we are always giddy with physical, animated expressions of excitement such as one might experience at a sports event.  But it does mean that we live with a consciousness of God’s Presence. We can see and sense His Presence revealed in creation as we take time to observe it.  And we can sense HIs quiet, gentle indwelling Presence within us when we take time to be still and focus our heart and mind upon Him.  Each day we can be conscious of Him.  Most often this consciousness is simply a quiet,  gentle “knowing” on the inside of us.   

This rejoicing is something that we can “always” do.  This rejoicing is not based upon our ever-changing circumstances in life.  Nor is it based upon our fickle feelings or emotions. Rather it is based upon the unchanging Person of Christ!  It is anchored in the sure and certain knowledge of Who He is!  We can rejoice in His grace. We can rejoice in His mercy.  We can rejoice in His love.  We can rejoice in His salvation.  We can rejoice in His peace.  We can rejoice in His provision. We can rejoice in His goodness and a multitude of other things that are found only in Him. As we become conscious of His ongoing engagement in our lives we can always find something in Him for which we can rejoice!  

Rev. James Black

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry.”

Psalm 34:15 KJV

Have you ever wondered if the Lord hears you? The Word of God declares that He does! The Lord sees and hears both the good and the bad in everyone’s life.  Nothing escapes Him!   

But His ear is especially attentive to those He has redeemed!  The redeemed are those who have been made righteous by the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1: 18-19).  The redeemed are His children.  No good parent ignores the cry of their child!  How much more then does our Heavenly Father hear the cry of His children!   

The question arises, however, as to why the answer to our cry has not yet come. There are many reasons. Sometimes the Lord is working in the lives of others in order to bring them to a place where they will respond.   This is especially true concerning our lost loved ones and our prodigals.  All of them are resistant to the drawing of the Holy Spirit.  It takes time for Him to break through their barriers of resistance. Sometimes He is working to orchestrate situations and circumstances that will meet our needs.  That too involves others. They too must respond to the Lord’s nudging in their heart.   Sometimes the answer is no because He knows that what we are asking for is not the best thing for us.

And sometimes, He is working to prepare us for the answer.   The delay deepens our faith; strengthens our perseverance and deepens our trust in Him and His Word!   If we continue to persevere and not waver, the Lord will respond with exactly what is needed at exactly the right time.

James W. Black

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”

Psalm 145:18 NKJV

One of the most amazing things about the Lord Jesus is His longing to be near us!  Sin separated us from God.  Because of our sin,  His holiness would not permit Him to have close, intimate fellowship with us!   Yet He longed for us to experience His nearness!  Through His sacrificial death and powerful resurrection, He satisfied the just demands of a Holy God and bridged the gap that had separated us from Him!  He dealt once and for all with the sin problem on the cross and reconciled us unto Himself! (Col. 2: 13-15).  Now, it is possible for anyone who truly desires to know Him and fellowship with Him to enter into His Presence.  He has made it possible for anyone who truly wants to be near Him!   

 The Lord makes it clear that the experience of His nearness depends on whether one truly wants to be near Him!   He has already demonstrated that He longs to be near us!  So the question is do we really want to be near Him?  Unlike the false, secular, and pagan gods, He is not distant!  He is near.  But His nearness is only revealed to those who truly desire to be near Him!   (James 4:8).

His promise is definite, specific, and sure!  He is near to all those who call upon Him in truth!   To call upon Him in truth means that we truly repent of our sin, turn from our sin, and turn unto Him with the desire to know Him, follow  Him,  honor Him, walk with Him, and obey Him.  His will for us is clearly laid out for us in His Word. (Micah 6:8 & Ex. 20: 3-17).  Through the Person of The Holy Spirit, He empowers us to obey (Rom. 8:9-11), which means that His nearness is as close as our next breath! 

Rev. James W. Black