Welcome
The Yoke Partnership (tm) Book—buy one, and get free bonus book!
Buy This Book, and Get a Free Bonus Book When You Do!
Send check for $22 (includes tax) to Yoke Publishing LLC, c/o Richard Graham, 5508 Logwood Avenue, Louisville, KY 40272.
Be sure to include your email address, as all books are sent by pdf!
Bible Sales Are Exploding! In 2019, 9.7 million Bibles were sold in the U.S., but by the first 10 months of 2024, that number has soared to more than 13.7 million—an impressive 22% increase over the same period in 2023, according to The Washington Times.
But what is one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to understanding Bible passages? Answer: Understanding the kind of relationship that God wants every person to have.
The Yoke Partnership (tm) will show you an approach never before seen in a Bible Study Book.
“The Yoke Partnership … “ looks at 520+ Scriptures that show that it is a personal partnership that God wants to have with His people, and especially with His ministers. It shows in 520+ passages of proof how God has always planned to be partners with persons, families, groups, churches, and nations of people.
See reviews below.
This Key Excerpt Is about an Exodus Passage in the “Yoke Partnership”:
Chapters 24:1-11; 32:1-20 (HCSB for these verses quoted)
First, we see explanation of the laws. But the Israelites force Aaron to make a golden calf to worship, as Moses is still on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments. After He gives him the tablets, God tells him what is happening. One of the most amazing passages in the Bible is the middle of the second passage in our selection, chapter 32, verses 9-10. Look at what God says to Moses, “I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Right in the middle of those two verses are some of the most astounding words God ever said to a man, “Now leave Me alone." What!? God asks Moses to leave Him alone! In other words, God was saying to Moses, “Don’t stop Me from doing what I propose to do next.” What!? Can a man stop God from doing something that God is proposing to do?! No, of course not! EXCEPT—YES! In one way—intercession! God is saying to Moses, “Don’t intercede for this people, because that is the only way I can be stopped from destroying them.” Listen closely and carefully to this—intercession can change God. God will allow intercession by a man, a group, a church, or a nation to stop Him from something He has planned, or do something He has not planned!
That is the kind of partnership that God wants a man, a woman, a family, a church, or a nation to have with Him! This kind of partnership is a free will partnership that has the freedom to plead with God, to negotiate with God, to intercede with God. And God will allow that kind of partnership to have intercession to change Him in certain situations.
Why should God have to make such a request of a man? He doesn’t have to. But He is developing further the partnership He has with Moses, and with the people. Moses recognizes this strange request for what it is, and immediately intercedes for the people. He makes this plea by basing it on the honoring of God. He tells Him the surrounding nations will think that God brought Israel out of Egypt with evil intent, so He could destroy them. Moses also asks God to remember the promises and partnerships He had made (and still has in place) with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob). Moses’ concern is the honor of God, both in the eyes of the other nations, and in fulfilling the promises He made to their forefathers. Notice that he doesn’t beg for mercy, probably because Israel doesn’t deserve mercy. The people have sinned a grievous sin, so Moses cannot beg for God’s mercy. That explains what Moses does at the bottom of the mountain.
Verse 14 is key in refuting Calvinism. “So the Lord relented concerning the disaster He said He would bring on His people.” (HCSB) In other words, God changed His mind. Yes, He foreknew Moses would intercede, and yes, He foreknew He would agree to Moses’ pleading. But the word ‘relented’ means something very important. It means that if Moses in his free will had not interceded, God would have destroyed the people, and He would have instead made a great nation of Moses. God’s destruction of the people would have been in full alignment with His character of punishing the wicked.
Ezekiel 22:30-31 gives us the exact same situation, but with the opposite results. God looks for a man who will stand in the gap, who will intercede for the people. Why? So He won’t destroy them. God searches for a man who will stop Him from destroying the people, just as He had with Moses. But what happened? He could not find one! So, He, in His holiness, had to punish the people for their idolatry by destroying them. And He does. Two identical situations with two opposite results. What made the difference? A man who was willing to confront Almighty God, and intercede for a sinful people.
Moses, God’s friend, God’s partner, did intercede, and since he did, God relented. He changed His mind about destroying the people. In other words, it was Moses who got God to relent, to change His mind. That means that we, the followers of God, get to, at times, negotiate with, argue with, persuade, convince God to not do things that He says He will do. Or, the vice versus. We have the opportunities, in the same fashion, to convince God to do things that He has said He won’t do. We can ask God to change His mind, and sometimes, He will. That is how great God really is. He gives His people the possibilities of being real partners who can move God in certain directions.
Again, we are actual partners with God, and we all have the opportunities to use those partnerships to change God’s mind, and even change history, within certain limits. The limits are the ultimate plans that God has concerning us, His partners, His children, in training us to be His co-rulers, to co-reign with Him on the thrones of the new age. If our requests line up with the training God is doing with us, so that we can co-rule with God, then God will at times change His plans, even His plans to punish sinners. Our God is that big of a God. Praise His name!
Calvin’s concept of God is too small. He failed to recognize that God is a Father, our heavenly Father. And will not a father allow his child to convince him to change his mind, when it is ultimately the father’s intent to bless his child as to that change? Yes, he will. And God will allow any of His children to change His mind when the change fits the ultimate plans that He has to bless His children! Praise His name! Any conception of God that is less than this dishonors God. So, Calvinism dishonors God.
(End of excerpt)
What Others Have Said About the Yoke Partnership
“I have known Richard for many years and have found him to be both knowledgeable and articulate …. His narrative explains in detail the biblical inadequacies of Calvinism and Arminianism, using both the Scriptures and theologians to back his assertions … Once he discusses the significant ideologies of these two opposing doctrines, including their strengths and inherent weaknesses, he introduces a third view of our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, The Yoke Partnership. I would recommend this book to all who wish to develop the understanding of the Father's connection to those who believe and trust in Him as they look forward to the eternal work He desires for us in the next life.” —Retired VP of SBC College
“I am glad to see that someone wrote down all that I have been thinking for 45 years. This author, Richard Graham, has skillfully devoted himself to honoring Who God fully is and that He, God, changes not to satisfy man’s desired attempts to make Him fit their imperfect understandings of Him … My 45 years of belief has been empowered by Graham’s hard work, Thank you.” —SBC pastor and prayer consultant
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading this work on the special partnership humans can have with God through Christ. Richard speaks plainly about the difficulties with the Calvinist perspective which we from the reformed tradition tend to ignore, and we would do well to hear and consider.” —Church planter, London, England
(Publisher's Note: I have not given the reviewers' names, because, unfortunately, some Calvinists tend to unfairly attack anyone who criticizes their Calvinist viewpoint.)
The Method to Buy This Book, and Get a Free Bonus Book When You Do!
Send a check (includes tax) for $22 to: Yoke Publishing LLC, c/o Richard Graham, 5508 Logwood Avenue, Louisville, KY 40272.
Please be sure to include your email address. With your paid order, we will then send asap to you by email the pdf copy of the book, along with the bonus free book of the Graham Biblical Lectionary (tm), also by pdf. This lectionary, normally $12.50, is in itself a valuable resource for preaching through the church year, and is coordinated with the regular calendar. It enables planning messages using 520+ Bible passages over three years. It is far more focused than the Common Lectionary, as used by many. The huge advantage to this is that you, if you are a pastor, ensure that you give your congregation the full range of the Bible, and keep yourself from falling into the trap of unintentionally preaching only favorite passages and topics. I used this method at two different churches over nine years, and it works! My people heard from ALL the Scriptures, not just the familiar ones.
If you are not a pastor, it is ideal for personal devotions, Bible study groups, even helping a new believer or a non-believer to understand how God wants a personal relationship with Him!
Welcome to the BIG Advantage of a New Kind of Publishing Company, the Yoke Publishing LLC. See What to Expect Under "About Us" above.
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A Message for Preaching Pastors!
When I was a pastor, I realized that I was unconsciously preaching the same topics over and over, and doing so by selecting the same recurring passages of the Scriptures. I was unknowingly cheating my congregations of hearing from all the Bible! I was giving them only a half Bible or a quarter Bible, or even a tenth Bible!
So what could I do?
I began praying, and was led to select 520 passages of the Bible, selecting the primary, most important pieces of verses that I could. But that was only the beginning of what I needed to do. There are actually two calendars that impact the preaching task that we preaching pastors have been assigned by God. The first is the most obvious: the secular calendar—January through December, with all its holidays of all kinds, and its 52 or 53 Sundays in the year. The second is the Christian calendar, with its six seasons that impact the worship services of a congregation and a believer—Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, and Pentecost. (There is a seventh—Kingdomtide, but most churches ignore or are not aware of it.)
520 passages, of course, are too many to try to preach in a single year, even though at that time I was preaching three messages a week: Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday Bible study and prayer meeting. Now we recognize that state and federal governments used the Covid crisis, real or manufactured, to force most churches to give up two or all services during the week. We ministers need to demand that we go back to them!
Why? Because we have been given a mandate from God Himself to preach the Word, not a small part of it, but all of it, regardless of what secular and societal forces say! So ministers and churches should by all means go back to holding three preaching services a week. In addition, we need to reinstitute a weekly Bible study class, often called Sunday School, small groups, or similar. These latter are small groups of believers reading and discussing in-depth aspects of a Bible passage or topic. This, too, is crucially important for Christian growth and sanctification, growing to be like Jesus Christ, our Lord, God, Savior, and Partner in this age. As Joe McKeever has said, "We need to instill a love for the Bible."
Someone will object, saying that work, education, and sports schedules keep this from happening. But that’s the point: they keep three preaching services and a weekly Bible study from happening because we Christian ministers have allowed it to happen! The schedules of other aspects of society are not restricted by society, but we have allowed church and worship schedules to be restricted. This is wrong; this is sin.
So now I had 520 passages, two types of calendars, 52 or 53 Sundays, and 52 or 53 Wednesday services, How was I to fit those Scripture passages into those weeks and years?
That is how the Graham Biblical Lectionary (tm) came into being. It took me seven years to develop it, and I applied it to two congregations over a period of nine years. In three years, I covered 450 passages, preaching three times a week. Over the nine years, I covered all 520 passages in the three worship services each week, because the six seasons shrink or expand in different years.
The Graham Biblical Lectionary (tm) is available for $12.50, but it is offered as a free bonus book when a minister or serious believer orders my second book: The Yoke Partnership! For more information, go to the Welcome page (see left side) of www.yokepartnership.com .
There will be those who will think I am saying these things because I wrote a book that I want to sell. But that is exactly backwards. I wrote the book because I needed to preach the entire Bible, or most of it, in my congregations. Since churches no longer have three preaching services, the need is even greater now. This lectionary will help any serious pastor to preach from all the Bible, not just a relatively few passages.
But there are more opportunities for preaching the Bible than we think. I have a pastor friend who preaches small messages on Twitter every day. He reports multiple professions of faith from these simple sermons. And that is just one way to preach the Bible. Nursing homes, street preaching (see Living Waters YouTube videos), home Bible studies, and more ideas are found in my book, the Yoke Partnership.
Pray! Preach the Word! Seed stored in the barn rots! Share the gospel and the Word as much as possible. God will guide and bless whatever we do to obey Him.
Both of our books are great for devotional use!
The Yoke Partnership book is a great book for studying and applying the Bible passages it covers--over 520 different passages. Just read the Bible passage for your daily devotional. Then see what the Yoke Partnership says about it, and the partnerships that God wants with you, me, our families, our churches, our government organizations (state, nation, et al.), our work places, neighbors, friends, and strangers we meet each day!
The Graham Biblical Lectionary (tm) is a great book for studying three passages a week for over three years! You can use it by applying it to the regular or secular calendar, and seeing how the Christian calendar coordinates with it. E.g., December 1, 8, 15, and 22 are the Advent Sundays of the Christian year 2024-2025. This lectionary is far more focused than the Common Lectionary (as it is called)! This book can be purchased alone ($12.50, including tax by mail), or you can get it for a free bonus book, when you buy The Yoke Partnership book! See Welcome section in the left column for its benefit, cost, and how to order.
