Bearing Burdens - Leland Zehr

Good morning, greet you in the name of Jesus, and

it's been good to be here this morning. Appreciated different

things that were said and both the devotions. Thank you

Earl for being vulnerable and open your personal experienced there,

and we're thankful to that you are here with us

and doing well. A couple of things that fit more

into the announcements they didn't get put in the bulletin

because it's my fault. Jason brother Jason wasn't able to

be at the minister's meetings in Montana this last week,

and so I thought maybe i'd just say just briefly

a couple of things there. I think for the most

part it was nice, good couple days. Just for your

information in case you're interested, that the meetings that for

this coming June are scheduled to be in Sterling, so

just letting you know that. And then there had been

a little talk announcement here about the possibility of trying

moving them to the month of April in future years,

back and forth on that, and I guess it was

decided to try that not this year. This year the

meetings will be in June in up in Sterling. But

then I believe the following two years after that, they're

going to try try the month of April. Let's see

if that suits at least some people better. June has

gotten to be busier and busier, it seems like, so,

so i'd let you know that. Also, I too wanted

to thank the youth. I won't go into that much

for the good supper and the singing as well. You

did a great job on the singing. I could have

sang one or two more songs, but it was really nice.

And also let y'all know that my daughter Alison is

planning to leave this Friday, going to Bangladesh, Bangladesh for

I think about three months at this point, helping with

the English teaching there so I can help remember her

in prayer and maybe our family and especially Mom. It's

going to leave a big hole in our home for

the next little while. For the message this morning, I

want to before I give you the title, I want

to tell you a story, true story, his story that's

broken up into three different segments. And I'm going to

probably read a bunch of this just because I think

it will it will move along a little bit better,

and so I'll start with that. The story starts well,

it starts it ends. I'm not sure I'm going to

be moving backwards, starting at the beginning and going back

with this story. But two months ago, about in there,

early in the morning, a group of about twenty four

people from different places different states gathered at the trailhead

of a mountain. The goal, of course, was to climb

the mountain to summon it, but there was also another goal.

When the group gathered there, it was before daylight. It

was dark. People had their head lamps on, gathering their belongings, backpacks, food, drink,

walking sticks, preparing to climb this big mountains a popular mountain.

Many people had climbed this mountain before, but this particular

expedition was unique. It was a special mission. It brought

this unusual group of people together, some of which didn't

really know each other. Some of these people were very

fit and in shape, others were about halfway fit, and

a few were were going to be doing good if

they could some of the mountain. After everyone got their

personal belongings together, their backpacks on, their walking sticks in hand,

the group gathered together and had a word of prayer

and prayed for God's hand to protection and his blo

for the mission that had brought them all together, and

then they were off headed up the mountain. The second

part of the story started about three years ago. Three

years earlier, a middle aged man that had been through

some hard things in life had been handed some challenges

and burdens that none in the rest of the group

had been called to bear. This middle aged man started

to become aware that he was not feeling the best.

He wasn't very healthy, he was overweight, he wasn't sleeping

very well at night. And he thought about this, and

he looked around at his peers in their life, their

lack of health, and he decided that he wanted to

do something about it. So on his fortieth birthday, he

made a small but consequential decision, a decision that started

the hard work of exercising. And so he started to run.

He didn't announce it to the world, he didn't let

hardly anyone know. He just went out into the dark

of night and he ran. At first, he couldn't run

very far. He would run for a couple hundred yards

or so and get out of breath, and then he

would walk. Then he would run, then he would walk.

Then he would run quietly and unknown to most of

the rest of his friends and peers. Night after night,

after he put his children to bed, he would go

out into the dark of the night and run. Some

nights it was nice weather, other nights it was very cold,

miserable and raining. But he kept on running, and he

had a vision, and he had a goal, and he

persisted against the desires of the flesh to stay inside

the wormhouse on those cold nights. Over time, little by little,

he lost weight, built up his strength and endurance. He

felt good and healthy. He looked better and slept better.

He didn't publish it abroad, but over time it got

out a little bit, and he talked about talked with

some that were closer to him about how good he was,

he felt how much of a positive difference it made

in his life. Quietly and gently, he encouraged his family

and a few friends and some others that he loved

that didn't feel good, weren't very healthy to consider running.

He was never pushy or high pressure, never condemning, but

encouraging and inspiring them more than by exam and his

own excitement of success. With time, eventually there were a

few that had their interests sparked and they too started

to run. Some the interest spread and different ones started

to run. There was a couple of group running challenges

through the phone app and people from different states could

participate through this app. This middle aged man became quite

healthy and a strong runner, especially for his age. He

ran for miles. But he developed another vision, another goal,

a vision beyond his own fitness and health, beyond his

own benefits. And this leads me to the third part

of the story. This part of the story started over

eighteen years ago. There was a young married couple. They

were like the average young married couple, starting a home

full of hopes and dreams. Life was good and they

were blessed, and one day they found out they were

expecting their first baby. They were so excited and they

began to prepare for their arrival of this baby, all

the normal things, the buying clothescesories, the baby shower. But

what they did not know early on that was something

was not right with this little baby. Eventually, though, an

ultrasound was taken and they found out this reality. They

were concerned and unaware and unsure of what all this

meant meant. But this young couple believed in God. They

had faith God could heal. So they prayed, and their

friends and family prayed with them. They prayed for a

miracle of healing for this innocent baby. Surely a good

God would see, understand, and heal. So there was hope.

But when the baby, when the day came and the

baby was born, the condition had not been healed by God.

The harsh reality was that God had other plans, plans

that would change the trajectory of this young couple's life

and their families lives life and wives of others. The

baby was rushed off away from the scared and vulnerable

young parents, away from the loving arms, and into surgery

and to be given the medical attention that the doctors

knew how to give. The doctor said they didn't know

the extent of the damage, but there was a chance

that this child might not ever walk. But there was hope,

and of course God was there. God can heal, can't

he faith? We just need faith. So hope lived on

inside the hearts of that young couple. They would pray,

their family would pray, They would do everything possible to

give this child a chance to walk. After many years

of countless appointment, setbacks, disappointments, surgery, after surgery, ambulance, drides, emergencies, therapies,

suffering that shook the faith of that couple to the

very core. It finally became clear that probably this child

would not ever walk on his own. The reality was

cold and hard, felt very far away. Was there even

a God? If so, what was he doing in thinking?

All the while their friends continued to live their normal

lives and the births of their healthy children. Life did

not seem fair. It wasn't fair. God did bless his

family with more children as well, children that could walk.

Time went on, the years passed by, and this young

child never was able to walk on his own, but

he was a bright blessing to his family, to his

school and church. Eighteen years later, in the early morning darkness,

this child, father and mother, and a group of friends

were gathered at the base of the South Sister. The

mission was to help this young man's son at the

top of the South Sister, a request that he had

asked his dad about about five years earlier. Many of

you know by now that I'm talking about Zachary, Matt

and Katrina's boy, and I do want to say, hopefully

I'll get beyond this here in a minute that I

didn't ask Matt about or Katrine about sharing this story.

They don't know that. I'm sorry telling it, but I

trust it they'll be okay. If I get some of

the details wrong, I hope that can be overlooked for

the bigger picture. My purpose here is not to lift

up anyone. It's not about Zachary, it's not about Mount Katrina.

So don't let that be a distraction to you. But

back to the mountain. The goal in the mission of

that day was to climb the mountain, but it was

more than that. It was to help someone get to

the top of the mountain, someone that could not do

it alone. In preparation for this height, the father had

researched and found an all trained wheelchair. And this wheelchair

is a one wheelchair, the suspension with bars going out

the front with a handlebar on the back of the seat,

and it's designed for who are taking people that can't

walk hiking, And it's kind of like a harness. It

has two bars off the front and somebody can get

inside these bars, strap into a harness, person sitting behind

and he's pulling, and the person behind has the handlebars

and the brakes and he's pushing, and so a pair

of people can pull a person on a hiking trail,

and this was a hiking wheelchair that Zachary was too

righte and the goal of the group was to alternate

between different hikers and take turns pushing and pulling Zachary

to the top of this mountain. Now, I don't know

how many of you have climbed the South's Sister, have

any of you? I know some of you have, so

a few of you have been up there. The South

Sister is a fairly substantial height for a semi healthy person.

The overall elevation is over ten thousand feet. The hike

from the trailhead is about a twelve little over twelve

mile round trip six mile one way, and about a

little over a five thousand foot elevation. Game The first

part of the hike is through the timber. It's just

a continual, s gradual incline up through the trees, and

then once you break out of the trees, there's kind

of a bench and you follow the bench pretty easy,

and then it hits above tree line into the rocks

in the steep part of the mountain. The first pull

was a couple of fit guys in shape, and they

took off like a shot ahead of the rest of

the group. I didn't see them, probably for I don't know,

quite a while. Oh I seen them some, but I

wasn't with them. Many of the rest of us lagged behind.

But when they got to the steep and rocky area

of the trail, things began to slow down. There was

steep switchbacks chunks of loose rock, making it extremely difficult

to pull this machine up the mountain. This hiking wheelchair

was designed for two people, like I said, and one

in the front one in the back, but it wasn't

long before it began to be assisted by five people,

two people in the front, one on each side, and

one person in the back. People were straining and stumbling

and sweating. Most of the hikers had their own packs

on and took turns as was their ability. Some of

the hikers were not very in very good shape, barely

able to keep up with just themselves, let alone help.

Some of the other fit ones took the brunt of

the load, took more than was their turn, than their

fair share of the work. There were other hikers on

the mountain that day that were not in our group.

Very fit, experienced hikers, good equipment, light loads, many of

them by themselves or with another person or two, and

as they would pass by our group, some would look

inquisitively at the group. Others wouldn't really look, make eye contact,

or at least stare. But in one case, when our

group was in the open face of the mountain and

it was just boulders and rocks and a trail trying

to go through there, and you couldn't hardly find your

way with the trail, it kind of disappeared. And I

was behind our group and the cluster of guys that

were pulling were up just a little ways ahead of me,

and other hikers were coming down, and so they were

communicating as to where the trail was, and I was

down below. One of the hikers came down to me

and we met on the trail, and I could see

him looking. He kept kind of looking back that group

up there, trying to figure out what was going on.

And as he came up to me, he stopped and

he looked at me and he said, what's going on?

And I told him, it's a group of people helping

a handicapped person to get to the top of the mountain,

and as he watched the group the volunteers struggling and

pushing and heaving, he looked back at me and he said,

in a hushed and a reverent tone in his voice,

oh my god, oh my god, he is so lucky

to have a family of you all. And then he

turned and before he walked away, he said, Wow, it

gives me goosebumps. I thought a lot about a lot

of things that day, and I've thought a lot about

it since. And one of the thoughts that I've thought

about kept coming back to me is what if the

passer buyers of life, when they look at our church

family and saw the love and the sweat and the

tears and the bearing of one another's burdens, would think

and say to themselves, oh my god, Oh my god,

he is so lucky to have all you for a family. Well,

the mission was accomplished that day. Zachary was sat on

top of the South Sister beaming triumphantly. But he did

not and could not do it alone. A verse that

kept coming to me that day on the mountain, and

I've thought of it about it a lot since. He

has found any Glatians Galatians two Bury you one another's burdens,

and so fulfill the law of Christ. And the title

of the message this morning is bearing burdens. If you

want to turn to this chapter in Glatians six, I'd

like to read part of it, and I'd like to

take the rest of the time to just draw from

this teaching here in Galatians six, and also maybe a

few other places aslong, with the hike that day on

the mountain, a few lessons for us to consider to

think about. I'll read the first ten verses here in

Glatians chapter six. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in

a fault, you, which are spiritual, restore such a one

in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest they'll also

be tempted. Bury ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill

the law of Christ. For if a man think himself

to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

But let every man prove his own work, and then

shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him

that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that

teacheth in all things, be not deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

For he that soweth to his flesh showeth the flesh

reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit showeth

the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be

weary and well doing, for in due season we shall

reap if we faint, not, as we have therefore opportunity.

Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them

who are of the household of fate. We all have burdens.

Sometimes it can feel like maybe we have more than

our fair share of burdens. But we need to remember

that everyone has burdens, and often the burdens. Often they

have burdens around us that we might not even know

that they have. And I'd like to just point out

a couple of things here in verse one before I

talk more about burdens. Here verse one, he says, Brethren,

if any man be overtaken in a fault, which are

spiritual restores, such a one in the spirit of meekness, could,

considering myself less, I'll also be tempted. And just a

few picking apart this verse, a little bit overtaken in

a fault. Here, someone who has failed, gave into sin,

has gotten themselves into a mess. Now who is this person? Well,

I think that if we're honest, it's all of us.

At times it has been probably will be. We sin.

At times we have sin. We try not to strive

to be faithful, but sometimes there's failures. And when that happens,

we need to be restored. And to be restored here

means to repair or mend back together something that is

torn and bringing it back together and mending it to

where it's it's whole and joint back. It's to be

restored back to your right standing, especially with God. And

so how is this done? I'd like to I'd like

to just comment a little bit on this. But first

of all, I think to be restored there needs to

be a repentance and a godly sorrow, not a sorrow

of this world. Don't to read this verse. I'm not

going to go into this, but just maybe you can

study this chapter Second Corinthians seventy ten. For godly sorrow,

work with repentance to salvation, to be repair, sentence to salvation,

to be restored, not to be repented of, but the

sorrow of the world worketh death, And I think that's

a sobering thought and something that we need to think about.

That sorrow does not is not always godly repentance, and

so we need a godly sorrow for this to get

off of first base, to be restored with God in

any level, and for others to be able to help us.

God has not. God has designed it that we help

restore one another. And so who is this? Who ye,

which are spiritual? Who is that? Well? Spiritual here means

non carnal of the carnal the flesh. Spiritual is a

word that comes from numa. And if you know, as

a those in our cabinet shop or that use air tools,

Numa is the core root word of where we get phumatic,

which is air, the current of air tools that are

driven by pneumatic or er. And the spirit spirit has

this numa meaning. It is the spirit of God. It

is the breath of God that flows, and it's something

we see and get a hold of, but it's part

of the Christian experience, the spirit of God moving in

the hearts of people. It's people that understand this reality

and try to pursue spiritual things, which is driven by

the spirit of God. It's not just fleshly earthly earthy

things carnal things. We live and handle with both. It's true,

but a spiritual person is not necessarily one that's way

up on as we had envision and seniority, maybe, but

as much as one that is open to the spirit

of God, someone that is aware, someone that is striving

to prioritize his life or her life with the thing

spiritual things rather than the carnal things. Those that are

restoring are not to do this by carnal means, not

by man's ideas, but by those that it is by

those that are relying on the methods of God, the

breath of God, the work of his Holy Spirit, he says,

and he gives a warning to do it in the

spirit of meekness and humility. You have to have a

spirit of meekness and humility to be an effective restorer

and a bearer of burdens, to be aware of the

reality of our of our own vulnerability, an ability to fail.

He reminds all of us of that. I would say

that verses one and two in context are kind of together,

and we'll get to this. But as if you're paying

attention you'll notice that in verse two it talks about

bear one another's burdens, and in verse five it says

every man should bear his own burden. And we'll get

to that, but I think verses one and two are

in the context of bear one another's burdens and so

fulfilled the love of Christ. And that's a big statement

to and so fulfill the law of Christ. And I

wondered about that, and I thought about, is that really true?

As I'm thinking about it, that the law of Jesus Christ,

all that he tried to teach his whole mission, if

you could boil that down into as simple of a

phrase or a description as possible, that the sun of

that total would be bearing one another's burdens. In Luke four.

As I thought about that, there's a verse in both

Isaiah sixty one and Luke four referring to Jesus. It says,

the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because yet

anointed me to pre reach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the broken heart, and

to preach deliverance to the captives, to receive sight to

the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

And I think that has a lot to do with

bearing one another's burdens. The mission of Jesus was to

bear the burdens of people, to help them and to

heal them, and to restore them. There's a verse if

you flip back in Glatians five, there's two verses I

would like to read that kind of go along with

this verse fourteen. I'll read fourteen and fifteen, but mainly

fourteen here supports this idea for all the law is

fulfilled in one word even this, thou shalt love thy

neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another,

take heed that you be not consumed one of another.

And I think if you read that and amplified should

read it. I didn't write it down. I think it

says that something about being aware that your whole fellow

ship is not consumed by the biting and devouring. What

does loving thy neighbor mean? You know, it's not a

lot of what we hear and see in the world today.

But it's a sacrificial love, a love that isn't that

that motivates to action. It is like what brother Jason said,

a it's a free will sacrifice offering it is not

forced upon us, but it motivates. Love motivates. It's a

powerful motivator. So is hate. Hate is a powerful motivator

in the wrong in the wrong way. That that day

on the mountain, twenty four people that showed up there

at the trail that morning were we're there because they

were invited and they wanted to be there. There was

no force, no guilt trip, no nagging, no reminding, no forcing,

no telling them that if they don't, it's a problem.

But people came on their own free will. Another thing

that made this mission possible was because the father had

a vision, a vision motivated by love. He quietly inspired others.

He inspired others by example. That day of that mountain

would have likely never would have happened if the father

would have gone would not have gone out alone on

those cold and dark nights and ran faithfully night after

night to build up his own personal strength. Through that example,

others got inspired and begin to run and get into shape.

And that day, which is the highlight of everything, highlight

of years. But he was able to lead that expedition

on the mountain that day because of the strength that

he had and the example that he was able to

lead by, and he did. He led and pulled more

than his share all day long. Spiritual strength comes not

so much by public service as it is by a

faithful going out alone with God night after night and

day after day. It comes by spiritual exercise, the things

that people don't see and don't understand, and don't don't

know that it's happening. One of the most effective ways

to inspire others is by simply being a faithful example.

Who can bear the burdens? What are the qualifications? How

spiritual and strong do I need to be? What if

I don't feel like I'm strong, I don't feel like

I'm spiritual? You know, on that day on the mountain,

there was some of us that did not have much

extra strength to bear the burdens of others. We were

a bit out of shape and struggling to get ourselves

and our own burdens and up the mountain. But we

did have a desire to help. And I remember there

was this one young man. I didn't know him. I

don't think I had met him before. We were walking

along side of each other on the mountain that day.

He looked good, looked in shape, young man, but he

was struggling. He did not have a lot of energy.

He felt bad. He was a kind of guy that

would love to help, to be out there pulling and pushing,

and he told he just feels so bad, he just

barely feels like he has the strength to help. And

he was exhausted. And I wasn't not going to shape myself.

But I was able to do some short pulls here

and there, and after one of the poles, I was

heaving and resting beside the trail, and the same man,

the young man, came up quietly, and just as he

walked by, he just said, good pooll elin and he

kept going. It wasn't much. I hadn't done much compared

to most of a lot of the others, but just

a few words of encouragement, and they meant a lot

in the moment. There was another couple on the mountain

that day, there to support the climb as well. They

were the oldest ones in the group, slower than the rest,

had been through dark nights and hard things themselves. And

at the very beginning, after the prayer was said and

the people took off, that couple I never seen him

again till later in the day. They were behind. We

kept looking, We kept glancing back seeing if they were coming.

Most of the time we couldn't see him, but we

knew that they were on the mountain with us, supporting

the effort as best that they could, and just that

simple fact was an encouragement and a blessing. And although

they were not able to help physically push or pull

any that day, their presence and interest was a comfort

and a blessing. In fact, the only time that we

were able to really talk to them, the rest of

us made it to the mountain. We sat up there

for a while, rested, snack took pictures, and were there

for some time. As we were headed down, we were

just coming off and ready to take the deep dive

down the mountain. Here they came, and so we met

just a few minutes and they congratulated Zachary and the

rest and were cheerful and supportive. And then we went

on down and we didn't see them the rest of

that day. They left before dark, they got down after dark.

You know, there's times when we feel like we can't

do much to support people, and maybe we can't, but

the little things, and maybe elderly people fall into this.

I feel like you can't do a lot, but a

faithful presence and a few words and showing up up

and can be just a blessing to know that you're

still there, you haven't left, you haven't quit. If you,

why shouldn't we? If you're not interested, why shouldn't I be?

Can be discouraging a few ways we can help bear

one another's burdens. I just wrote a few things down

here that I thought of, and I mentioned a couple

that just the encouraging words, I thank you, a smile,

support where we can be a meal running the school children,

sharing in church responsibilities. And I'll just say here I've

received the blessings and the encouragements of many of you

in life, and it is a blessing. Might not seem

like much, a loaf of bread in the car after church,

or praying for someone and letting them know. Sometimes it

can be some financial assistance if it's really needed, because

the Bible says, don't just say be warmed and be filled.

If someone has a real need and we have the ability,

we can help in different ways. A card of encouragement,

that's always a blessing, A small gift of appreciation. Often

often though we think of bearing burdens as things we

do and things we give, and sometimes just taking the

time to listen, to understand, or to really care is

what can help as much as anything. Weep with those

that weep, and rejoice with them that do rejoice. We

all face good times and we all face bad hard times.

People have different ways and gifts of helping bear burdens.

We aren't all the same. Some are bubbly and happy

and expressive. They and others can barely feel comfortable talking.

But there's all ways that we can help bear the

burdens of others, and they don't need to be and

look exactly alike. You know. The Bible here in verse

one warns that if when you restore someone, you need

to do it in the spirit of meekness, which I

would say humility. And I'll just point this out. Sometimes

to be helped takes more humility than to help and

to allow others to help me, to allow other people

to even know that I have a weakness and my failures,

and that I have this burden. It takes humility to

be helped. And sometimes it stood out to me. I

remember this being said years ago by an old, older

preacher that we get so focused on helping people. And

that's good, that's part of what the message is about.

But sometimes it is such a blessing to other people

to allow them to help us and to help me

to not always be up here helping people down here,

but to allow other people to see my need and

to be vulnerable and to receive help, and it blesses

them to be able to help. A lot of people

want to do something. But if we're self sufficient, we

got it together, and we have the money and we

have the support, and we just know, thanks to everything,

we're robbing them of a blessing. Okay, what about verse five,

for every man shall bear his own burden? Verse and

verse two and verse three are these? Are these contradictory,

I don't believe. So I'd like to talk a little

bit about this, not to distract from the first point.

These two verses both use the word burden, but they're

two different Greek words. I think, like I said before,

verse one and two would be in the context together

the faults and the moral failures that are too heavy

to bear alone at times. And verse five I believe

goes with verse four, let every man prove his own

work and then he goes on to say, and I

think this is talking about personal responsibility that canon should

be borne by the individual themselves or ourselves. We don't

have enough time to go into this real deeply, but

a few things here in the restoring of one another

and bearing one another's burdens, there are a couple important things,

and I just want to point them out here. There

are personal burdens that others are not supposed to bear

for us. It's nice and it's heartwarming to see Christian

brothers and sisters help one another, and it is hurtful

and sad when this is neglected. But it is also

hurtful and sad when individuals do not take responsibility to

bear their own burdens and then blame others for not helping.

I want to read this versity and the amplified it says,

for every person will have to bear with patients his

own burden of faults and of shortcomings for which he

alone is responsible. And I think that's as important as

verse two. They're both very important points on the mountain.

That day, every healthy person who was able was expected

to bear their own burden and to take their own

self and their own backpack up to the top of

the mountain that day. We all have burdens that are

unique to us, and sometimes, like I said, we get

to thinking about and focusing on my burden and we

see a lot and they seem a lot heavier than

the burdens of my friends around me. And if we're

not careful, we fall into self pity, and self pity

only complicates things. If we feed self pity, then we

start to feel resentful towards all the people around me

that are not bearing my burdens. But the reality might

be that they are busy bearing their own burden. You

have no idea about burdens in the dark of the night,

you know, I suppose. I'm sure I don't know what

all the struggles were in the hearts of Zachary's parents.

I'm sure they had moments of self pity or were

tempted with that as a whole, they chose not to

live a life with that attitude. Humanly speaking, they had

every right to leave Zachary in the living room and

justify why it was impossible for him to ever climb

a mountain. No one would have questioned that, and how

that no one else has this problem and don't understand.

But they did everything they could to bear their own burden,

their unique burden that God allowed them to have. And

when they did that, it led and leads to a

life of fullness and joy and a life of success.

Did the burden go away? No, it's still with them

today every day. But they're not unhappy, they're not complaining.

They're living a very full and a happy life. Was

it easy? Did it seem fair? Was it fair? Probably not?

But God calls us all to be responsible and to

bear our own burdens, and also to help each other

where and when we are able. Another principle I want

to just mention briefly here is in verse eight, and

I think it's just in this context of restoring and

bearing of burdens, what we sow, we will reap. It's

a law of God. And sometimes we reap things that

doesn't feel like we even sown. That's also true. But

we must understand that the law of sowing and reaping

does not automatically go away when we repent with a

godly sorrow. There are those that are helping us to

be restored. Often cannot take away the reaping the painful

effects of our sinning. Maybe they can help bear it,

but not remove it. We need to remember not to

feel resentful to God or to others because of reaping

that may go on and on after we have repented.

We could look at the life of David as an example.

There's a whole message there. But with his sin with Bathsheba,

God explicitly said there's going to be some harsh reaping

in the days ahead, and he repented deeply, a sincere repentance.

But that poor man reaped it bountiful and a bitter

harvest for years ahead, and yet he seemed to accept it.

He had to watch that poor innocent baby suffer for

seven days and die in his mother's arms. There was

the immoral abuse of his son Amen committed against his daughter Tamar.

There was a rebellion of the son Absalom in his

public vihilation against his concubines before all of Israel. And

yet David accepted the reaping for the sin that sin,

and he did not get bitter or blame others. A

few things, a few burdens that we must bear ourselves

or take care of, is repentance. I would just say that,

I don't know if you've ever tried to restore an

unrepentant person, but it won't work. You know, we all

have burdens. We all have burdens. The god fearing people

have burdens and the ungodly have burdens, but they're different

kinds of burdens. Burdens of the ungodly are especially heavy.

The burden of guilt and carrying that without the help

of Jesus and his people is a hard burden. So

there needs to be repentance. And if you think about Jesus,

he didn't talk people into it. He told the rich

man young ruler, what you needed to do, and he

went away sorrowful, and we don't know if Jesus ever

talked to him again. He laid out the repentance, what

you need to do, and he walked away, and Jesus

was grieved. Another thing that we need burdens that we

must bear is our own attitudes, our own thought life,

the things that we decide to think about. Another one

is our decisions, regardless of what our parents and our

friends and the peer pressure is. Those are our burdens

to bear. In the end, we have to make our

own decisions and then we sow what we read Glatians

six ' nine says, let us not be weary in

well doing, for in due season we shall rea if

we faint not. And this message this morning is meant

to be an encouragement to be at a reality check,

to be a encouragement for us to be responsible for

our own burdens, and also to look around and to

see where and if we can. You know whose responsibility

is that? Is it the ministries? Definitely? But it's there

all of our responsibility to help and see and bear

the burdens of others where we can. We can't make

it to the mountain top all alone. There's times when

we need help. There's times when we need to give help.

Don't be weary and well doing. Sometimes when you've sinned,

you repented, and you're walking through the harvest of the

sins of the flesh and you're just reaping, it's just couraging.

But he says, don't be weary. Continue to start sewing

a new crop, and if you hang in there long enough,

the fruit of that will also come. Now, just to

read a few verses here and closing, Matthew eleven Words

of Jesus twenty eight to thirty says, come unto me.

All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me, and

learn me for a meek and lowly in heart, And

I will, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

And that's the I don't know if you think how

you think about yokes, but often I think about yolks

as a hindrance. But it depends who you are being

yoked with. If the person that you're being yoked with

is stronger than you, it is going to make your

life easier, as it says, And that is how it

is with Jesus. To be in a yoke with someone,

you gotta be close. You can't be over there, and

being a yoke with someone over there, it takes getting

close to Jesus, following his his his laws and his

will for us. God bless you. Let's have a song.