This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.
So, how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey. We're glad that you're with us this week.
And I'm just excited because Danny's on the phone. You know, we didn't get to see Danny last week. And Danny, how are you doing, bud? Doing pretty good. They had a procedure last week and recover a little bit.
It was a surgery. I'll pay a surgery. But yeah, doing okay.
Okay, good, good. But we have a full house tonight, too, which is that's been rare here lately. You know, Harold and Nard are back. You won't remember who Art is because he never says much on here, but Art is our video runner guy thing and actually talks a lot about his dogs with us and relates a lot of the stories with his dogs. We actually have twice the people we had last week.
Absolutely. We do. We do. Well, Jim, you have the topic for this week, so if you want to tell us a little bit about that, how it came about, what you're trying to get at with it.
Well, Sam, tall stout, I think it was. Thursday or Friday. What's our topic for next week? And I just finished doing a Bible study with my wife and I. Uh I have a mind like a steel sieve.
It's not a trap, it doesn't hold much. But the the Bible verses I remember are ones I've sung. And this is one I've actually sung with my father many, many years ago. And it is a chorus from Handel's Messiah. I think it's probably the first time we've gone into the 16th century to.
And we're not playing the bump yet, right? No, we're not. Never mind. Yeah. But that's what hooked me.
Okay. That's what we'll hear as a bump there. It did not hook me, however. Anyway, go ahead. The coothlessness is rampant to me.
I I resemble that. I'm good. I like that better than uncouth. But the Verse is, and I think it's from Matthew 11, but I'm too shook up. Maybe even verse 30.
And it's my yoke is easy, my burden is light. And Jesus wants us to Share our burdens with him. And he doesn't say we're going to have an easy life. He says he'll be there. And the the yoke Is The way they used to string oxen together so they pulled in the same direction.
And uh it's his yoke, it's not ours. We're not hooking him into anything. He is inviting us. into a partnership and pulling it through this life. And that just was on my heart as soon as Sam sent that out.
So I responded almost immediately, or as fast as my fat fingers could fumble. Yeah, it was pretty quick. The um We titled this show The Yokes on You, and part of that's just a play on words, obviously, but it's also to kind of ask: okay, what yokes am I carrying? You know, what do I have on me? You know, I grew up with ponies at the house.
You know, and when you had more than one working on something, you had a yoke, so they shared the burden, right? And so I knew exactly what that was to pull greater weights, right? And so it was pretty cool to. Think about that and think back to my childhood to something I just remember real clearly growing up. But, Danny, you have the first clip.
Yeah, my clip is from uh Young sh well, not young children. Oh oh. The Big Bang Theory, and it's one of the Last episodes, and it's where Sheldon, if you're familiar with the show, he's a self-centered guy who um It uh Very smart, his genius And the world revolves around him for most of the whole series. And he, um He's accepting a Nobel Prize. And uh his speech is surprising to everyone because It's really out of character for him.
But he is um Uh He is going to expound some things about his friends and that kind of thing. And but I mean it's really neat and it just kind of spoke to me About the topic, so we can play the clip and talk about it on the other side.
Okay. I was under a misapprehension that My accomplishments were mine alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been encouraged, sustained. Inspired?
and tolerated. not only by my wife, But by the greatest group of friends anyone ever had. I'd like to ask them to stand. I think that's Dr. Rajesh Kuthupali.
Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz. Astronaut. Howard Wolowitz. Yeah.
and my two dearest friends in the world, Penny Hofstadter. And Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. I was there the moment Leonard and Penny met. He said to me that their babies would be smart and beautiful.
And now that they're expecting, I have no doubt that that will be the case. Thanks, Sheldon. I I haven't told my parents yet, but thanks. Yeah. Oh.
Um sorry. Don't tell anyone that last thing, that's a secret. Howard? Bernadette. Raj.
Penning. Leonard. I apologize if I haven't been the friend you deserve. But I want you to know. In my way.
I love you all. And I love you. Thank you. You know, when I when I heard the topic or or read the topic, And I always think about yokes, and there's actually two different kinds of yokes that came up, and I asked a question about. because there is a yoke that a person carries and you can carry a burden on each side like jugs of water or whatever.
And But the the yoke when the oxen are yoked together, you know, it's a big wooden beam and two oxen are locked together and and I thought about that and I and thinking of Sheldon, who is is now Giving credit to his friends and how they've encouraged him and helped him. And got him to where he is. Scripture tells us that Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And he tells us to take his yoke upon us For his yoke is easy and his burden is light, And when I think about that, I think about how in another show We were talking about different things, and one of the phrases I used to use quite frequently was: you know, God won't put more on you than you can handle. which I found was a lie.
that because if you could handle everything that came your way, you wouldn't need Jesus.
So that's why I need to be yoked with him to pull the burdens of life because I can't pull them on my own. And whether you acknowledge that he's pulling or not. He's still there. And you know, I think about the the things that I've had to pull in my life, even recently, And you know, without being yoked with Jesus, I don't know where I'd be. I'd just be.
a frazzled mess curled up in a corner and covered up in a blanket and hoping the light never came in, you know what I mean? But um but you know listening to Sheldon talked to his friends and you know having known that character and that kind of thing. And that his enlightenment, if you will. that, you know, he was yoked with other people. And you know, there is another scripture I thought about about.
It says don't be unequally yoked. 'Cause there's nothing worse than pulling a burden with somebody who ain't pulling. And but that's never the case with Jesus. He he's yoked with people that ain't pulling. But the uh But that's kind of what I thought about topic wise with that year, that you know, being yoked with Jesus is is not a burdensome thing.
it's teamwork, it's it's it's it's actually light and joyful at at times.
So not that there aren't struggles, but Anyway, that's enough out of me.
Well, Danny, as you were talking, I was thinking about my lesson of being yoked with somebody is you never want to take the front seat on a tandem bike. Right? Because you'll be pedaling away and they'll just be sitting back there with their feet up. I learned that lesson the hard way. You know, if you're in back, you can see what they're doing.
Right, but uh anyway, if you're in front, you may be pulling all the weight, like you said. Yeah. So guys, before we go to break here in a couple of minutes, I wanted to just spend a little bit more time because I don't think that the topic Yes, it makes sense, but I don't think it's as clear for people How do they apply it? Right, I mean, what are yokes that people take on? What are we talking about when we're talking about?
A yoke. You know, other than Jesus is with us and our burdens. Let's h try to help get him some clarity on it. I think one of the first things that you really have to look at in that verse. is that He says it's easy.
If we are walking alongside him, it doesn't matter what we're walking through. Because as you sort of pointed out in that clip. You know, you're carrying He's carrying us along. And so it's not going to be a hard trip. We may have lots of things we have to go through.
But the burden is not going to be beyond as you pointed out, you know, he won't give us more than we can handle. He gives us more than we can handle, and then he handles it for us. You know, part of the passage has to do with the culture at the time. And rabbis were yoked to their disciples. And so when Jesus was speaking to this audience, you've been yoked to one of these Pharisees, guess what your job was?
Right? You had to memorize lamentations before breakfast, and you had to, you know, like you had all these different responsibilities that would have come with a yoke from another rabbi. Right. And and the idea is you're going to have to earn Your merit, so to speak, from Their perspective in that culture. And so there is an angle to what Jesus was teaching that.
being yoked to him, means that you don't earn you don't have to earn your way to you know that he is literally carrying away, but it also it it it it it it has to do with a common vision. That the idea of that yoke in Hebrew is a beautiful idea of vision. And so, when you have Jesus' vision, you see or you have an idea of how the kingdom works. And so, you know, for me, like when I go to take a nap. And or when I use the pause app and I give everything and every like, I just go, okay, God, you got it.
I'm going to let go of the world for right now and I'm going to go to sleep. To me, I'm handing him, there it is. Right? That's part of his vision as he's He he's got that. And so, you know, that's that's another angle, dear.
Very, very simply, you cannot be yoked to something without being connected to it. And so think of it as a connection, as a relationship.
So when you hear us say yoke, think connection, relationship. Yeah, and we'll come back and talk about other aspects of it. Go to masculinejourney.org if you want to see anything we have coming up. We'll be posting something hopefully soon about spring. Yeah.
What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. You know, I think I was 13 maybe in my first camp. I'm now 28. You know, these look a lot different from when they looked back then.
Back then, it was a lot more finding direction, and it's still finding direction, but it's also being reminded of what that direction was and where did you lose it along the way. Let's reclaim that and take it into your next step. You know, talking about being fathered, I had a good dad, I had a great dad, and a lot of things were great. And, you know, you had your faults like anyone else, but. I think I always told myself I don't necessarily need God's love because I'm okay.
And that's what God's been working on with me for this camp: hey, yeah, you do. You're not going to make it without me. And He's really just shown that He delights in me, and I am the apple of His eye. And just really being able to feel that this camp has been a lot different from anything I felt. Register today at mascularjourney.org.
His light, his breath is light, his heart is heart, his God is marched, his gold is easy, it's made, his love is marched, his glory, his brethren's heart, his glory. I promise that was only 30 seconds. And actually, that's all the lyrics in that chorus. And it's about four minutes, if I remember correctly.
So you you got it all in thirty seconds.
Well, what's it saying in there? Because it is hard to pick it up with all the different voices. It is um It's exactly what we Quoted up front, his yoke is easy, his burden is light. Actually, burden, but. burden is our.
more modern English word for that.
Okay. Okay, it's For those that like King Jimmy, this one's for you. And and it really was from that time. But uh the story, if you've never heard it, of how Handel Wrote the Messiah in just a ridiculous amount of time, little time. with no errors.
it's a God thing and uh If you've never heard it. That's th three hours worth spending. But uh As I pointed out, anything I remember in Scripture is pretty much something I've sung. And that one. Yeah.
hits home in a way that, uh I love. Not my favorite chorus to sing. That one's tough. But they don't disagree. No, they.
It reminds me of Carol the Bells or whatever that song is where they just keep. I mean, I like it at Christmas. Jim, I'm glad you. The wonderful thing about the Messiah is you could enjoy it at Christmas and Easter. I do enjoy all the time in between.
Most people recognize it, you know, in the hallelujah chorus, right? Yeah. You know, born unto us, a child is born. You know, other lyrics other than the... His his joke is not.
I'm okay. We just, I appreciate people love that. But uh Mm-hmm. I was really Carolyn was also surprised that you would consider doing something that old. I you know, I mean, it it was your show, so I figured it was your bump.
I just I was like, I'm just grabbing 30 seconds and getting out of here. It's really not that. It's not that old. Is it her? It's just not that old.
Yeah. Back in what? First grade? Yeah. Yeah, it was in the top 100 when you were.
Just a moment ago.
Well, Andy, while you got the microphone, I was going to go ahead and switch over to you for the next clip.
Alright, which one?
Well, I don't know. The one from Rudy, I think. Did you have more than one? Yep. Oh, which one do you want to do?
I'll do Rudy.
Okay. You know, I did Tried to find some different stuff on some current movies that I've been, I've watched. Couldn't really find what I was looking for.
So, this is a good old standby for this theme as really it gets into Rudy's having a conversation with a priest because he's having problems figuring out things with how he's going to play football, how he's going to pay for school, how he's going to do his job, all this stuff. And this again is where we take the yoke upon us. and try to figure things out on I'm the world's worst about Analyzing the situation and trying to figure out how things will work in my own strength. You think about the yoke. I always think of a whenever you're talking about oxen, it was always side by side.
Just think about if we're yoked to Jesus. And we're side by side, it's going to be pulling his way. Yeah, right turns only. Right turns only, exactly. I'm thinking the yoke is more of like he told us to follow him, so it would be more like behind him, like he, we would be at the back of the bike that you're talking about.
But you know, it really gets into the point that, um We do take his role. It's a partnership, and he wants to include us in it, but he is definitely the head, and we get that out of balance sometimes. And when he doesn't move at our timing and that kind of thing, we do take back on that yoke. We get to. start trying to pull to the left and straighten him out to our will.
Doesn't work. No. If it does, it doesn't end up going well, right? But this guy, this priest gives. Rudy.
Rudy, a really good counsel. And Robby will probably want to speak on it, but it's just pretty simple. Here we go. Maybe I haven't prayed enough. I'm sure that's not the problem.
Praying is something we do in our time. The answer's come in God's time. Have I done everything I possibly can? Can you help me?
Son. and 35 years of religious studies. I've come up with only two hard, incontrovertible facts. There is a god? Mm-hmm.
I'm not him. Yeah. You can't say it any better. It's like, you know, that is where we get in trouble, where we try to. Take on the control.
Man's been trying to do it ever since the fall. And taking on God's role because we're smarter than He is. Isn't that what Satan said to Eve? That she would be. see things like God and And it's really that simple.
But. We live as orphans, as I've said many times. We try to do things on our own. We have a self-reliance, and I think that's exactly what he's talking about when he's talking about come to me. All you are weary and heavy-laden.
Well, why would you be weary and heavy? Because you're carrying the burden all by yourself, and you were never intended to be. That's the spirit. Thanks. The uh no, it was good.
I I appreciate that. When you were talking about that and and the way I look at yokes and everything you guys said is right, especially Rob, I enjoyed, you know, sharing the the Background of the time frame, right? What was going on there? I equate, for me, yokes to be fears. Right?
'Cause if I'm feeling it, it means I'm taking it on. I'm not really giving that over to Jesus. And when you played that Rudy clip, that's what's going on, right? He's done everything he can do within his power. He's trying to take it to the holy guy to help me.
You know, can he do something more that I haven't done? You know, and that's, and it's just fear. Yeah. Right, and that's a pretty good indicator. And so, if you don't know what your yokes are, what are you afraid of?
Right. What's really got you fearful? Is it your health? Is it finances? What is that?
Right, because there's a yoke there somewhere. Uh I loved when Jesus told that when he had the major encounter with Paul. it's hard for you to kick against the goats. He was Trying to get ahead of God. And With the yoke, if you're falling behind or you're trying to race ahead, there's a a pain to that in being dragged or dragging.
And if we are walking with him, and letting him guide. He's the lead dog. But and actually we need art in on this one because we're speaking of puppies too. But in that context of having a team And that the animal doesn't matter. Humans, it works too.
as Danny pointed out. You can carry two burdens better than One of the twice the weight if you've got balance. And with God we have balance. Yes, sir. Yeah, gentlemen, it really is amazing the way my two dogs work together and get along and feel.
figure things out. One day we were headed across the pasture, and the one that's the half-pointer, you know, he hunts all the time and he Indicated that there was something in a pile of brush, and he pointed at it, and I guess maybe barked or something. the other dog, the shepherd, ran to him and they looked at each other and the shepherd held the point and the hunter went around the other other side of the brush pile there and trying trying to flush it out. I mean You know, one dog by itself would have had a harder time doing something like that, but they just knew, communicated or knew what to do somehow with each other.
So it really worked well as a team. And we got Art talking, which is almost as big a miracle as Sheldon giving credit to his friends. Hey, I've talked a few times on here. Yeah, just been a minute. Yeah, okay.
Because we love you. We pick on you.
Okay, thank you.
Well, guys, we've got probably about a minute and a half, maybe two minutes left. Is there anything you want to add on this topic? Art, Harold, I'm looking at you and calling you Art. Anything you want to talk about? I was thinking about the easy part.
My yoke is easy. It's because he made it that way. He put the padding in the right place. He's got the angles the way they need to be. And so it it's not like what I might throw together for myself and and try to use them.
That's like, ooh, this thing's not working. But with Jesus He's got it the way it needs to be. Mm-hmm. To do what has to be done. Guys, the time that you've taken on the yoke yourself and kind of tried to outrun God or.
drag behind or whatever it might be, how's that ended up for you? Not too good. Not too good, right? And the other part when he talks about the burden. I look back at what was required.
of the Israelites. And man, I am so glad I hadn't got a foo with bulls and goats and Rams and blood all over the place and you know, thinking about a burden. Uh He He changed it for the better for us. Our load is so much lighter than theirs. I mean, we have a responsibility, true enough.
but it's uh much easier for us to carry. Right. He's not going to do it for us. Right, we're we're part of the equation. And sometimes it takes us to uncomfortable places.
Right, but that's where growth comes, is in the midst of that uncomfortableness. That's where I've grown the most, either from my errors are the things I've been uncomfortable in. having to learn more about myself why that made me uncomfortable. You reminded me of uh Saying I loved God's purpose is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
So if you're comfortable, you know, expect to. get motivated to do something. By him. Yeah. Well, we have a great clip coming up about cows and bulls in the after hours.
So if you don't go normally listen to that, I would encourage you to. I think you'll enjoy it. She mentioned learning from your errors. I and I thought, you know, with just a slight change you could be learning from your arrows. Yeah.
That's true.
Sometimes I feel like that's how I did learn. Took a couple good shots there.
Well on this topic, just spend some time this week asking Jesus, Jesus, what are you talking to me specifically about? on my yokes. What am I taking on that's not mine to take on? Am I doing it? Is someone putting it on me?
Because that can happen as well. The people have expectations of you. that you can't live up to, that's another type of yoke.
So just to ask him to help clarify and ask him what things you can let go of and what things you can just totally turn over to him. This would be the only way you're going to get that peace that your your heart's calling for. Right? Because in the midst of that, the enemy is going to be just turning everything up and making life Really, really unjoyful. We'll talk to you next week.
Uh
