What Does It Mean to Be Unequally Yoked?

About this sermon

What does it mean to be unequally yoked? In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul warns believers not to be "yoked together with unbelievers" — bound in our closest relationships to someone pulling in a different spiritual direction. 📖 Read the full article: https://www.edyoung.com/article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-unequally-yoked God wants all of us to get the most out of every relationship we have. That doesn't just happen, though. It takes an active pursuit to surround ourselves with the right THEY. We must also discover who the wrong THEY are. In this message by Pastor Ed Young, we discover God's strong words about those closest to us. We learn how our most intimate relationships must sync up with our highest priorities. Because when it comes to experiencing the fullness of life, we cannot go through life mismatched. The city of Corinth was a large metropolitan city in what is now Greece. It was very worldly and cosmopolitan. Some of the believers there were hanging around with the wrong people. The apostle Paul wrote a letter to them, warning them not to be unequally yoked. He said: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) A yoke is a piece of farm equipment. It was a wooden implement and it had two holes. Back in the day, animals of equal strength and equal kind would be harnessed to this yoke. They would plow and it would go straight and they could sow seed and reap a harvest, and everybody was happy if they were equally yoked. No one, no farmer worth his or her salt, would even think about having a mismatched yoke. No farmer would think about putting an ox in one part of the yoke and a donkey in the other. One of God's laws in the Old Testament says this in Deuteronomy 22:10 (NIV): "Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together." Why? Because a donkey was considered an unclean animal, whereas an ox was considered clean. God says, "Don't be mismatched." Don't be unequally yoked. When I receive Jesus, I'm a follower of Christ. I have a new nature. I have the nature of Christ. So I'm going to be yoked together with somebody who is a Christ follower. I'm yoked together with Jesus. What does it mean to be yoked? It means to be bound. It doesn't mean isolating yourself. It doesn't mean to never relate to anybody who is not a follower of Christ. Because we're here to bring as many people as possible to Heaven with us. That's why we're here! 4 Reasons Not To Be Unequally Yoked with Nonbelievers: 1. They have poor traction. 2. They have no insulation. 3. They hold you back. 4. They hurt you. God wants the best for your relationships, your marriage, your dating relationships, and for your friendships. It happens when we say, "OK, Jesus. You are the center of my life. I want to yoke up to you." I promise you, you'll find yourself naturally, and really, supernaturally, leaving the wrong 'they' and moving to the right 'they.' I'm a walking, living, breathing testimony of this. I've not done it perfectly, but I've lived it out for decades. God's way works. If you've never put Jesus first in your life or your relationships, there's no better time to change that than today. Ask God to forgive your sins and walk through this life with you. He's waiting with open arms to hear from you. — RESOURCES — 📖 Full article — What Does It Mean to Be Unequally Yoked?: https://www.edyoung.com/article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-unequally-yoked ✝️ Daily devotionals from Ed Young: https://www.edyoung.com/devotionals ⛪ Join us at Fellowship Church in person or online: https://www.fellowshipchurch.com Mismatched | Fifty Shades of They | Pastor Ed Young What Does It Mean to Be Unequally Yoked? #unequallyyoked #fellowshipchurch #whatthebiblesays

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