Isaiah 1:18, Ezekiel 36:25-27, 2 Chronicles 7:14 , Luke 15:11-32, 1 John 1:8-9, Psalm 51:10-12
Gracious God, we confess our sin to you, for we have denied your light in us; we have betrayed your Holy Spirit in us. For those sins which weigh upon us, and those we do not even know we ...
Preaching Commentary Besieged from All Angles The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Jar...
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have comm...
Pastor: He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; People: upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. Isaia...
Leader: Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. People: My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. Leader: All my longings lie open before yo...
John 3:16, Matthew 11:28, John 6:37, 1 Timothy 1:15
Hear the words of comfort of our savior Christ says to all who truly turn to him: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28) For God so loved the world...
Locked into captivity by an airplane seat, a kindly disposition of keeping a friend company, or a telephone connection, we become ex officio confessors to those with troubled consciences and traces, o...
Eternal God, our judge and redeemer, we confess that we have tried to hide from You, for we have done wrong. We have lived for ourselves, and apart from You. We have turned from our neighbors and refu...
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set b...
Matthew 16:25, Luke 17:33, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11, James 1:5
Heavenly Father, our Savior told us, "Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for My sake will gain it." These are hard words. We confess that we oft...
Pastor: O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. All: There is no soundness in my flesh because of ...
Holy God, Father most gracious! Rebuke us not in your anger, nor chasten us in your wrath! Heal us from our sin, for we are troubled. Deliver us for the sake of your steadfast love. Our sins trouble u...
Jeremiah 3:13, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 11:28, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 27:10, Isaiah 49:15-16
In his book The Logic of the Spirit, James Loder talks about a woman with whom he had been in a therapeutic relationship for years. This woman’s underlying issue seemed to be a complete sense of rejec...
Jesus says, “Are you tired? Burned out? Worn out? Come to me.” He promises rest. When we come before God and confess our sins, We are not only handing over those burdens, We are asking Jesus to give...
Romans 5:8, Luke 15:11-32, Luke 10:25-37, John 4:1-26, John 3:16, Ephesians 4:32, 2 Timothy 1:9
Everyone: Holy God, we live our lives struggling in our own burdens and failing to trust You with all the things that hold us down. Leader: Your Scripture says, "Come to Me all you who are wear...
Psalm 95:1-2, Luke 2:8-20, Acts 16:25-34, 2 Samuel 6:12-15, Colossians 3:16-17, Revelation 4:11, Psalm 103:1-2
The Psalmist declares: Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens, our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. Therefore, Come let...
Notes on the Passage Besieged from All Angles: The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Ja...
The greatest burden we have to carry in life is self. The most difficult thing we have to manage is self. Our own daily living, our frames and feelings, our especial weaknesses and temptations, and ou...
Whenever you’re running your life on those fuels, Satan’s got you where he wants you. The one thing he does not want is that God’s words “You are my beloved child” become the fuel of your life and hea...
In their excellent book Invitation to a Journey, M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton describe the Biblical understanding of the process of spiritual formation over and against the “self-help” p...
Matthew 11:28, Galatians 3:28, Isaiah 55:1-2, Matthew 5:6, Psalm 34:18, Mark 2:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:9
Like the crowds who followed Jesus, we come today from different places. We’ve had different weeks, different challenges, and different joys. And yet we come united by the risen Lord Jesus, who meets ...
Eternal Father, we come to you at the close of day (change as applicable) , when from long ago men and women have always turned aside to seek your face. Wearied by the conflict of life, worn by the b...
What is our responsibility to our neighbor? This is a question many have asked, including the Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas. Meditating on the topic he observed, “To patiently endure wrongs done ...
Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 62:1, Isaiah 30:15, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:1, John 15:4, Hebrews 4:9-10
He invites us to leave our burdensome ways of heavy labor—especially the “religious” ones—and step into the yoke of training with him. This is a way of gentleness and lowliness, a way of soul rest. It...
Matthew 11:28-30, Colossians 3:12, Matthew 5:14-16, Romans 12:18, Matthew 5:9, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Lord: In our times of weakness and our hours of need, Yours is the strength that enables us to carry on, Yours the shoulder we rest our heads upon. When our load is heavy and too much to bear, Yours a...
Leader: Come, bring all that you are to God who hears our prayers and does not hide from our supplication. People: God is more faithful than our closest companions. Leader: Call upon God, our Savio...
Leader: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. People: Lord, teach us how to rest in you. Leader: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. People: O Savior Chris...
Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 55:22, Isaiah 26:3, John 14:25-27, Revelation 21:3-4
Leader: Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Your Son to free us from the burdens of life that so often weigh us down. Lord, guide us to a place of peace where we can set those burdens down and r...
Bear one another’s burdens, the Bible says. It is a lesson about pain that we all can agree on. Some of us will not see pain as a gift; some will always accuse God of being unfair for allowing it. But...
Bruce Larson had an unusual way of convincing people to turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. When he was working in New York City, he would walk a man or woman downtown to the front of the RCA buil...