Transcript for:
Galatians 5:26,6:5 -His Paramedics- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-11-16

Chapter five verses 26 through chapter six verse five. Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bury 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 deceives 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. Father, we thank you for your holy word. And Lord, we're here to sit at your feet and to worship you. We're here to be taught of you. And Lord, we thank you that you've given us the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, it was expedient that he leave the disciples and and be crucified, buried, and and go to be with you because he would send the comforter. He would send the Holy Spirit that would teach us all things, that would lead and guide us into all truth, and would bring these truths to remembrance, Lord. And so, Lord, we pray that your word would be sown this morning, planted deep within our hearts, and Lord, watered. And God, that you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, would illumine our hearts and minds and give us revelation, Lord. Reveal yourself to us. And Lord, pray that we'd be doers of your word as we leave here, not hearers only. We pray that we'd apply these truths to our lives and live the Christian life in the power of the holy spirit as taught by you. So teach us, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please be seated? Paul will now explain the practical application of living and walking in the spirit. So the fruit we bear is not just for display at a county fair. When we go to the Puyallup Fair, you go down the aisles there in the in some of the buildings and all the farmers and people display their fruit. Our fruit, the fruit of love is not, you know, to be that, from that standpoint to be just on display. Love is a verb and so an action action word. So as God ministers to a world ravaged by sin, love becomes the healing balm to those devastated, left for the dead in the field, in the battle that we call life. In verse 26 of chapter five, it says, let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. So Paul warns against the tendency when, with a Christian, when you just start to bud, when you just start to, you know, bud a little bit and the and the and the shoots are going out and you're just starting to to walk in that love to to be to pontificate, to become prideful, and to look down your nose at people that might fall around you. So he's wanting us to know that sometimes we as Christians, we can we can just fall. We can backslide. We can really unperceptibly, we don't perceive it in many cases. We're drifting, but then there's a point where, boom, that guy fell. And when we look at that word, it's it's talking about walking on the ice, and then boom, you're on your back, you know, hit your head and all. It can happen so quickly. So Paul warns against the tendency of our flesh to pontificate when our life begins to bud, begins to exhibit the fruit of the spirit. He illustrates how easy it is to grandstand not realizing we have actually reverted to the base fleshly nature as we become conceited, competitive, and jealous of the fruit exhibited by others. So plastic fruit, silk flowers, a badge displayed has no nutritional, spiritual, nor practical value. So the flesh always stinks as, the Lord Jesus indicated that, he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead. Martha says, but Lord, by this time, he stinketh. The Lord's always the the flesh always stink. It's corrupting and is to be constantly abated. So you think about all the deodorants we wear and all the baths we take and all the cleaning up we do, and some people try to clean their own lives up, reform their own lives, but really the flesh always stinks. God's prescription for the flesh is death. And if you crucify the flesh, then you get to live the new life, the life of the Holy Spirit coming out of us. And hopefully, what people are smelling is the fragrance of Christ. They're smelling a life that's been pressed, maybe like the church of Smyrna we're gonna study about, but there's a beautiful fragrance of Christ emanating from our lives and not the stench, the stink of the flesh of pontificating and boasting and acting so prideful, you know, as as maybe the Lord allows a little success in our lives. So focusing on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. So the self life is overcome as we seek to serve Jesus by esteeming others better than ourselves. So the secret of joy is Jesus first, others second, ourselves third. That's the secret of joy, the acronym of joy. So in the text before us, Paul raises the issue of a fallen brother. What are we to do if a brother falls? Does anyone walk in the spirit at all times? If you ask my wife, she'd say, Rick does. No. She wouldn't do. She'd she'd let you know, oh, baby, I've got some stories. But I'm the guy here telling stories about her, so you won't hear those stories. So so who will pick me up? Who will help me when I fall? Who's gonna help me? Who's gonna help you and I as Christians in our Christian walk? It's a long walk. It's a marathon. It's not just a little race. And all of us have kids, we have grandkids, we have moms, dads, family members, friends, coworkers, and we all, as we interact together, there's times where the whispering starts. Hey. Did you know what happened to so and so? You know what happened to so and so? And so we gotta look at verse verse 26. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. Don't go there. So brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, he's instructing you how to restore that person, to bring him back, to get him back in the fold. Jesus said in Luke four eighteen, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. So the church is likened to a hospital, and Jesus is the great physician, and we are his paramedics. You're the paramedic. You're the one sent out to stop the bleeding. Now, you can approach a fallen accident site where two cars hit. You can approach it as a policeman. You can approach that site, you wanna know who's at fault. You wanna write a report. You wanna put somebody in jail. Or I'm not saying all policemen are like that. Policemen, in many cases, save lives. They act as paramedics. But the paramedics come out from all these fire stations we're having built in Kitsap County, and they come out and you hear reports of them saving lives. They're there to stop the bleeding. They're there to get the heart going again. They're there to put them on a gurney and make sure that spinal column and everything's secure so they can get them to, you know, to view and see if there's any, you know, the neck's broken or whatever. And so we we look at that in that way, and we as Christians, in many cases, we kill our wounded. We just execute them. They're gone. We don't need them anymore. We're just quick to throw them away like trash, you know? Because we're the frozen chosen, you know? We're the ones we're the ones we're the we're the super Christians, you know? And if you can't always live as a super Christian, man, we got we got nothing for you. We're not gonna live by that no man left behind. No way. We're gonna get rid of you. And, we're gonna work harder to get only the upper echelon of society. We don't want the losers. None of the losers. Right? And yet we're all losers. And Jesus loved to be around tax collectors and sinners. And the religious hierarchy, the pharisees, you know, they'd look down their nose, they'd say like Simon the pharisee, he can't be a godly man if he'd have known what this woman was like. You know? In Luke seven, you know, she she's a she's a she's a ungodly woman. How could Jesus be interacting with her and all? And Jesus gave an illustration to Simon the Pharisee, you know, that, hey, when I came in here, the first thing she did was wash my feet with her tears. She dried my feet with her hair. She anointed anointed me with with a sweet smelling fragrance, you know. You didn't do anything for me, Simon, when I came here. You didn't have a servant. You didn't act like a servant and wash my feet. You didn't do nothing. Those that are forgiven much, Simon, they love much. That's the key there. Those that are the dregs, those that are sinners, those that know they're sinners, they love much because the contrast of their life is Jesus. He's the righteous one. He's the one that's there to heal them, to bring them the demons out of them, and to forgive them of sin. Do you see the loyalty of Mary Magdalene whom Jesus cast seven demons out of? At the resurrection, she's hanging onto his leg like you're never getting away from me again. You got away once, but not again, buddy. She's got the death grip on him. She followed close behind, got up real early to get there to, you know, to anoint his body and to wrap his body and get it ready because he she knows that the men didn't do it right. And that's the loyalty, that's the devotion, the love that comes from people that know they're losers, that know they're sinners. You don't need to remind them. And they know they're forgiven, and they never ever ever experience the kind of love that Jesus loved them with. And that can be true in your life, in my life. And when we see somebody fallen rather than pontificating and acting superior, we can say, Lord, here am I. Send me. Lord, how can I be used of you to stop the suffering, to stop the pain, to help him get going again, to help that marriage before it falls apart completely? We minister restoration, we minister relief, and we minister rest to the hurting. Notice first of all, the restoration. Verse one, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. This word overtaken means to slip on the ice. I don't like walking on the ice. There was one year there where we had ice for three, four weeks out in Seabeck, and man, I must have fell seven or eight times. And I just learned to tuck and boom, you know. And pretty soon, Wayne's dad came over with some spikes, and he put spikes on the bottom of your shoes. Well, how are those spikes gonna fit on my flip flops? You know, I've been walking around my flip flops. So, I mean, shorts and flip flops, that'll make you fall on the ice for sure. But, I learned to tuck. Now I now I'm a little more careful, you know. Now I'm I'm like, well, it's brutal when you fall. Hurt your shoulder, hurt your head, all those kind of things, but it it sneaks up on you so quick too. And so, got some shoes, they got some little things in them now, and basically, to stay off the ice is the best way. So to fall unintentionally, overtaken by surprise. So who is to help the fallen brother? Ye which are spiritual, restore. One time when we're in Leavenworth, we're walking along and Kathy bumped me, and I fell into a a snowbank, you know, on my back. And boy, I got pictures of her laughing so hard. You know, it's really funny, but who's who's gonna grab me and help me back up from that? You know, that's gonna that's gonna be tough. And so you that are spiritual, not the carnal people laughing at you and all, you who are spiritual. And it was all in fun, you know. And god, that was a fun trip. I I can't go into that though. A little rabbit trail. So the spiritual brother is the one who seeks to help the hurting. He seeks to heal the wound instead of exposing him to further damage. The carnal can't help. The carnal, the fleshly, they can't help. You gotta be spirit filled to be able to help. So where are the broken, the wounded to go if they can't go to the brethren? If they can't get help from the church, if the church can't be the place they're restored, if they're no longer welcome, where are they supposed to go? My daughter one time said that people at the bars are more compassionate than people in the church when you fall. Is that true? I don't go to bars. I don't know. That better not be true. This better be a place where people feel welcome and accepted and loved and where they can be restored. They're embarrassed. They're ashamed. It happened so quickly. They didn't see it coming. They bop their head. They're bleeding. They don't know what to do, and we need to know what to do. We need to follow the example of Jesus, the great physician, and be his paramedics. There's a time for a policeman to gather the facts, to use the letter of the law, to bring the guilty before the court, before the judge, and there's a time to act as a medic and try to alleviate the suffering, to restore, to bring healing, to pray, to intercede, to bring food, to help with money, whatever it may be, whatever that family, whatever that person, wherever they may be, to visit them in the hospital, to visit them visit them at the place they're recovering. Jesus said, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The greatest need we have is a forgiveness. The greatest if we wanna use the word disease as it's as it's used, it's used too much in our in our Christianity. It's sin. Alcoholism is sin. It's not a disease. It's sin. Adultery is not an affair. It's adultery. It's a sin. It's iniquity. It's transgression. It's rebellion against God. Yes. We can become addicted to these areas of the flesh. They can take us down. We know that. But the way that we restore a person is different than the world's methodology. Our methodology, our means of restoration is to point the person to Jesus, To bring the person to the end of themselves where they'll crucify the flesh and call out to God and rely upon the Holy Spirit and pour the word of God into him. Pour the comfort of God's word and the comfort of the Holy Spirit into him. And help him to to walk in the power of the spirit and not succumb to the temptation of the flesh, the world, the flesh, and the devil. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things have become new. Some of us, as Christians, are gonna wrestle with areas of our flesh the rest of our lives. There are areas that we know we're weak in, so we try to shore up that weakness by relying upon the Lord to an even greater degree. Typically, way we fall is in an area of our life where we boast and say, oh, that'll never happen to me. And then boom, it's like slipping on the ice. You're down. And you're just bewildered. How did that happen? Where can I go? I'm too embarrassed to go back to the church I used to go to. And so you you seek a church that's large so you can just slide right in and not, not be noticed maybe. But thank God you're able to go to some church somewhere, but we as the body of Christ, if we've broke bread with you and spent time with you, you should be able to come back, and you should be able to be ministered unto. And it shouldn't be a public hanging, you know, so to speak. And he's gonna show the attitude that we need to have here. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. You know, you gotta have the right attitude in the in the way that we restore. This word restore means to set a broken bone. It speaks of the mending of a net. And so somebody's got a broken bone, and so Jesus uses us to set the bone, to clean the wound, to apply the healing balm of Gilead. And we ask the Lord for the skill in doing this. Or if you're Peter and Andrew or James and John, it's the mending of the nets is what the word means. The net has holes in it. The life has holes in it. We need to mend those nets. We need to shore it up. We need to stop the bleeding. We need to help the anxiety, the pain, the the worry. We need to replace the fear with faith and minister God's word. We need to help them to worship the Lord once again, to get going again in their walking relationship with the Lord. Go out and have a cup of coffee with them, talk with them, disciple them, get them going again. Pride won't do. What should the attitude be? Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. This meekness is not weakness, it's meek. It's recognizing that you too, no matter how strong you think you are, meekness is strength under control. Are you under control of the holy spirit? Are you yielded to the holy spirit? Are you this mighty horse with a bit in your mouth and and the master can turn you to the left or turn you to the right? Do you have your eyes on the master? Or does he need to use a painful means to direct your life? Be not like the horse in Psalm 32, what needs a bit in its mouth. But keep your eyes on Jesus. Let him direct you to left or the right. And so it's it's not just the methodology of setting the bone, but the manner, the your bedside manner. What's your bedside manner? Your nurse Ratchet? She's famous, isn't she? But you want a nurse that's gentle, compassionate. When I was watching my dad in hospice care in Arizona this past year when he before he passed away, the whole nursing staff were incredibly compassionate, kind, standing in the gap. They've they've ministered to many families like me and my brother and my family as we're we're reeling and saying goodbye. And they're they're they're professionals. They're good at it. They've got experience at it. And they're not calloused and hardened and and, you know, like, grow up. You know? They were very kind to me. They comforted me, and they comforted my dad. And, they made it they made it a loving environment for a person to transition from this life into the next. And they honored him as a as a veteran, and they had a flag there when he died and the casket went down the the as he died at the veterans hospital and all. And so all the way through, they treated him how they would wanna be treated. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And it was a beautiful expression of love, which we needed, which we all need. So we're to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. So pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. We don't wanna do it in pride. So when you approach the accident scene, are you a paramedic or a policeman? The vitals, the blood. What if it was you? King David fell. Moses fell. He was a murderer. David was a liar, a murderer, an adulterer, and he tried to cover his own sin. He was miserable in it. Peter fell. He denied the Lord on three different occasions on one on one evening. He didn't think it was gonna happen. He told Jesus, though everyone betrays you, not me, I'm not gonna betray you. And Jesus said, Peter, before the cock crows, before the end of this night, you're gonna deny me on three different occasions. Peter just couldn't understand that. And after it happened, Peter was so dejected, so self disqualifying himself, like he's unworthy to be an apostle, he went back to fishing. And the Lord Jesus appeared there at the bank, and the disciples, Peter's able to grab like six or seven other guys too. They all felt bad because when the shepherd was smitten, they all scattered. And they all thought there's no way Jesus can use us. We just fell. We were his closest companions and we fell at crunch time when it was most critical, he needed us the most, we fled. It was every man for himself. And Jesus is there and he says, children, you caught any fish? Throw your net on the other side. This is a a deja vu if we can say that. This is back to three and a half years earlier when they caught no fish, they labored all night. They're mending their nets, and he says, push out from here and cast your net on the other side, and their nets were full of fishes. So Lord, at your word, we'll do this. You know? We're gonna follow. We're gonna obey your word. So they cast a net on the other side. It's filled with fish. I think it's a 156 fish just bursting, you know? And they come to shore and Jesus said, do you love me more than these, Peter? Focusing on Peter. He let Peter know ahead of time that Peter, Satan desires you that he may sift you as wheat, which is a beating. Satan wants to beat you, Peter. Wants to beat you down the way you would beat grain at a threshing floor. But Peter, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. And when you're converted, I'm gonna still use you as a leader. I'm gonna use you to strengthen the brethren. We all fall. All of us fall. And the Lord's there to restore us. He's there to meet us there at the shore. And he's there to feed us. He's children, you caught any fish? Come and dine, he says. Let's have fellowship. It wasn't a surprise to Jesus that his disciples would fall. It's not a surprise to Jesus when you and I fall. I pray every day, Lord, keep me from sinning. Lord, keep me from being the idiot I am. Help me, Lord. Help me to walk and live the Christian life. I need his help every day. Because if any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. It's that blind spot of pride that takes us out. It's that blind spot that David had after, you know, all these victories that he had. Tremendous victories. And now it's a time when kings go out to battle, but David's idle. He's idle during a time of great prosperity. If it's a Goliath that approaches him, he knows what to do. Trust in the Lord. If it's king Saul trying to wipe him out, he knows what to do. Rely upon the Lord and keep moving. Keep moving for ten years. But now all of his enemies are typically pretty much gone, and he can just send Joab and and and the boys out to go fight. A time when kings go out to battle, and he's idle. And he goes out onto the roof of the palace, and there's a woman across the way. Don't you think the devil put that woman there? Don't you think the devil put Bathsheba there naked on that roof? He should've walked right back into the palace. Should've got away from that. But now he looked, it's that second look that's sin. Right? That first look, you have no control over it, hits you. But it's that second, third look that's sin. And he began to lust. Who is it? Well, when you hear that it's Uriah's wife, Uriah's one of your mighty men. Did did you know that this is Bathsheba, her her grandpa is a Hithophel, David? Do you know how deep this goes, David, this sin? But he was hooked. And the devil reeled him in. And then he tried to cover his sin, using his position as king to cover his sin, and he was miserable. He was guilty, and the guilt was robbing him of peace to no end. And God in his grace and his mercy sent Nathan the prophet to point a little finger at David and say, David, you're the man. You're not gonna die, but you're the man that sinned. And that's God's grace and mercy to restore us. Pastor Chuck used to say, when a pastor falls or somebody falls, the point of restoration is the point of repentance. As long as the person that you're trying to go minister to is making excuses and blaming his wife or the devil or somebody else, they're not ready to restore. When they finally come to the place to own up and take ownership of their own actions, that's the point where they're ready to be restored, that point of repentance, Where the repentant cries out, as David did, against thee and thee only have I sinned. God restore to me the joy of my salvation. I've been miserable. My bones from the inside are are just drying up. I'm drying up like a pot shirt. There's no joy left in my life. There's no vitality. And physiologically, he he was even getting sick physically, David was. As he was pining away, trying to cover his sin. And whosoever tries to cover his sin is not gonna prosper. So we're there to alleviate and trying to point people to Jesus that they'd simply confess their sin. They'd agree with the Holy Spirit that they've sinned. And as they do this, God takes their sin, and he casts from the east to the west. He remembers it no more. It's not written in any book for everyone to say, yeah, there's so and so. Look at that guy in the church. He fell, and everybody tells a story. God doesn't remember it anymore. He casts from the east to the west. Nobody remembers it anymore. It said of Peter that when tradition says that when Peter would walk into a city, that the mockers, when they see Peter the fisherman walk into a city, the great apostle Peter, people would mock by cock a doodle doing, reminding him of his failure. Are there people in your lives that remind you of your failures? Sometimes it's a good thing. Sometimes it's a good thing that we not forget the pain, the loss, how many people are sin affected. But before the Lord, our worship, our praise, our intimacy is unabated. We can boldly come before his throne of grace. The veil of the temple is rent in two. He's taken your sin. He's scathing me East, the West. He remembers them no more. And that which the enemy meant for evil, God can still turn around for good. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Samson's hair began to grow back. Moses, he got a new gig after slaying the Egyptian and forty years with tending the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law. At 80 years old, the Lord says, I haven't forgotten about you. As the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush, you're gonna go tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And Moses like, he's dejected. He's emptied. He's he has no confidence anymore. And Stephen talks about him. He was once eloquent, but Moses saying in Exodus four, I can't even speak. I got a speech impediment now. Well, who put that tongue in your mouth? Who gave you that mouth? You're gonna go speak. You're gonna tell them. And Moses gave in to the Lord and began to fulfill his ministry and all. And and we know that Moses later, the meekest man on the planet, was provoked to anger by smiting the rock a second time. He broke the type. And the Lord says, because of that, you're not gonna go into the promised land. But guess what? We'll see you again at the Mount Of Transfiguration. Alright. Hurt me then. Hurt me. So when you approach the accident scene, are you the paramedic or the policeman? Do you check the vitals? All these men fall, women have fallen. Do you go with the letter of the law which kills or the spirit which gives life? We minister restoration. Secondly, we minister relief. Verse two. Bury one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. That word bear means to carry with endurance. You remember Simon of Cyrene in Matthew 27 verse 32 that Jesus was bearing his own cross, carrying his cross. And just prior to that, Pontius Pilate released Barabbas, the murderer, the son of the father, but the wrong father. Right? And then he gave Jesus over to be crucified, and the soldiers came, and they began to beat upon him. They stripped him of his clothes, and they put a purple robe upon him. They fashioned a crown of thorns to put upon his head, Judean thorns, and crushed it down. They gave him a rod. They began to spit upon him and pull his beard out and say, prophesy, you know, who hit you? As they're beaten with rods. Putting a putting a blindfold on them and all. We're told that he's beaten beyond the recognition of a man. John, when he saw him in Revelation five, he saw him as a lamb that had been slain. When we're in Isaiah 53, you know, he's as I said, behold, his his visage was so marred more than any man, more than the sons of men. His visage is his face. His face was beaten to a pulp, swollen. In Isaiah, it talks about how his beard was pulled out, what kind of skin and everything would come with that. So he's losing blood, he's losing strength physiologically, and he's on his way to be crucified, and on the way, the soldiers tap with a spear, Simon of Cyrene, who later came to know the Lord and his sons, Alexander and Rufus being used of the Lord and were profitable. The apostle Paul talked about how their mother and mine, Paul became a part of their family. But Simon of Cyrene began to carry that cross for Jesus to bear one another's burden as he's headed to the the outcropping, the place called the Place Of The Skull, the place called Calvary Of Golgotha. This word burden speaks of baros, a heavy load, difficult to carry. We are to provide relief when somebody says, hey, Rick, can you help me carry this refrigerator into the house, or can you help with the pulpit? Can you help take that pulpit out there? I'm not like Samson. I can just put it up on my shoulders. You know? We need some help. So I'm always careful to pick up the lightest stand and make you walk backwards, you know, to help. Isn't that how we are? Sure. I'll help. Kathy, you get that side. To alleviate the load, to alleviate the pain, to alleviate the suffering, A heavy load, difficult to carry. We're to provide that relief, helping the burden to bear the load. Love bears all things. Ain't it amazing the the load a mother can carry on behalf of their children? One kid here on that hip, you know, another one here. Just amazing, the endurance the endurance of a mother and a father in love with their children. It doesn't seem like a burden, does it? It's a labor of love. Love bears all things. That word bear means to to cover. And so we we don't expose the person's nakedness, his weakness. We don't broadcast in all of Kitsap County. We don't go on to Facebook and show the face of the guy that just fell. In Genesis chapter nine, after the flood, Noah is becomes a husbandman. He becomes a farmer. And Mo Noah, he always interchange those names, but Noah, he began to grow grapes, a vineyard, real nice vineyard. And he began to make some wine, and he drank of the wine, and he got drunk. Not just drunk, but naked drunk. And he's an old guy about 600 years old, and he's got three sons, Shemham and Japheth. And Ham, the youngest, went in and saw that dad's naked. He's drunk and passed out naked. Now, if you ever see an old guy naked, you can't get that picture out of your head, so don't don't go in there. So Japheth, Ham got in trouble because Shem and Japheth, they went in backwards with a blanket. They didn't see dad naked, and they covered his nakedness. And we like to expose other people's sin. We like to take their sin and expose it for everyone to see it. And we're there in verse 26, it's vainglory provoking one another, envying one another. We're wanting to do the compare game. Look, I'm better than that person. Do you know what they did? Do you know how they fell? And then you've got a whole story to you're the guy, you're the person that always has the story to tell everybody. Well, you know, did you hear about pastor Rick when he did this? And their ears, oh, really? Wow. Those seem to be juicy things that people wanna pass around a community. Had a guy visit the church a couple weeks and couple weeks ago and and just visiting. Next time I saw him, he began to tell me the history of this church, and I didn't tell him that day they visited, but he talked to somebody in the community and got a history of days where we fell, where our church fell, where we lost buildings, where we went bankrupt. And I said, you talk to somebody. And he let me know who it was, and Kathy and I both just kinda shuddered. Certain people that cause you trouble, lots of trouble, you know. And the bible calls them, what we call them, the blessed subtractions, you know? We might have lost, but it's no loss. They're not here now. Let me tell you that. And so you, oh, thank god they're somewhere else. But, the bible says too, as much as lies within you, seek peace with everybody, but you can't be at peace with everybody. There's gonna be people that don't like you, people that butt, you know, butt heads. And and in Romans 16, you're to mark those that cause division and offenses contrary to doctrine, contrary to what the the message is. And so there's gonna be problematic people that I would love to restore. I'd love to bring them back to the fold. I'd love to calm their their anger down, but you can't. So the only solution is and even someone as godly as Barnabas and the apostle Paul have to part company, sometimes a contention over John Mark of whether to bring him on a missionary journey or not, you part company. Or you've got Abraham and Lot parting company. These are brothers, but they gotta part company because they can't reconcile it. They can't bring it together, and sometimes that happens in the body of Christ. But hopefully, we bury the hatchet. Hopefully, we don't continue to broadcast all over the community because people at work are listening. People that aren't Christians are listening. And then they're they're hearing, oh, did you hear about Abraham and Lot? Did you hear how they their guys all got in a fight and they had to separate and Lot wound up, you know, pitching his tent towards Sodom? And so Nathan, prophet comes to David and he says, David, you've given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme his name. Now the enemies of the cross, they've got dirt on us. And it blasphemes the name of God. It doesn't glorify him. It it clouds it. But know this, they still have to come the same way you and I come as sinners. They still have to come by way of the cross. And if their story was told, if their story was ever told, it has to be one of God be merciful to me a sinner. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Heavy load, difficult to carry. We need that help. We seek to alleviate the pain, to restore and relieve the wounded. Romans fifteen one says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves, so that every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification, which means to build up. Are you a paramedic or a policeman? Jesus told the lawyers in Luke eleven forty six, he said, woe unto you lawyers, for you laid men with burdens grievous to be born, and you yourselves touched not the burdens with one of your fingers. And so they're real quick, those in leadership, to impose huge burdens upon the people. But Jesus said, you know, you guys you guys are wicked. You you strain at a net, you swallow a camel, you hypocrites. You guys won't bear any of the burden. In verse three, it says, for if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. And so pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before that fall. Whosoever boasts himself, Proverbs twenty five fourteen, whoso boasts himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain, so there's no fruit. The priest and the Levite in the picture of the lawyer asking Jesus, well, who is my neighbor? And we've talked about this a couple weeks ago, he gives a illustration, a story of the good Samaritan. And there was a priest that went on the left and a Levite on the right, and they passed by the guy that was in the street broken, robbed, bleeding. And it was the hated Samaritan, the good Samaritan that came and stopped the bleeding, poured the oil in, and got him on his his animal, and brought him to the inn, and paid for his restoration, if you will. And, so who is my neighbor? The merciful. And go and do likewise, Jesus said. We're his paramedics. We're to be like the good Samaritan. And we got a schedule to keep. We got things to do, but the Samaritan stopped. And he alleviated the suffering of the man that had been robbed and beaten and left to die. So we are to be his paramedics. We minister restoration, we minister relief, and thirdly and finally, we minister rest. Boy, rest, peace is a commodity today in this crazy, crazy world in which we live in. So many people, including Christians, are overwhelmed with anxiety, overwhelmed with fear. We need so many different substances to try and calm our nerves and to give us that rest. Sleep evades so many people. Sleep apnea, sleep everything, or people have a hard time getting a full night's rest. I'm I'm thankful the Lord got me a new bed because I'm sleeping good now. I'm sleeping real good. Gotta have that sleep. That's where all the magic happens. That's where all the hormones. That's where all the the restoration and changes take place to restore your body after your body's been through rigorous day. He says, verse four, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing himself alone and not in another. Verse five, for every man shall bear his own burden. So now, wait a minute, what's going on here? We're to bear one another's burden. If a man be overtaken and fall, you're supposed to help this guy carry the cross, you know, but now what's what's he talking about here? What what do you mean here? For every man should bear his own burden. And so this is a general obligation or this is a calling. In my calling, in your calling, there's certain things that you have to bear alone, and yet you're not alone. As much as you would love to alleviate the pain, the suffering of a woman that's pregnant, she has to bear the burden of carrying that baby to term. Her back hurts. Her neck hurts. Everything hurts. And you'd like to put a belt and lift it and carry it, but it's her burden to carry. It's her calling. She's she's the mother. Part of the curse within the garden. Right? Talk to Eve about it. Pain in childbearing. The carrying of her own baby in her womb. But you've got a backpack, and that backpack, only you can carry it. You can't have everybody else carrying that backpack on this journey. A certain backpack that only you can carry, and there's a calling, a calling as a mother, a calling as a father, an obligation, a responsibility, a purpose in life, an appointment that God has given you that you must fulfill. And all of us need to know our calling. I love my calling. I love discovering what my calling is and being faithful to that calling. You have a calling. And yet, it can be heavy at times. There's some burdens we cannot bear for others. They've been called to bear them alone, to suffer, a call of suffering. That's a hard, hard calling, And yet, God has called us all to suffer. That's a calling all of us bear. In Paul's calling, Ananias the prophet was told to tell Paul, show him what things he must suffer for my name's sake. Well, didn't the Lord talk to Joel Olsteen? Aren't we supposed to have our best life now? When Jesus said, in this world, will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. When Paul says that we, through much affliction, enter into the kingdom of God. Don't think it's strange concerning this fiery trial that you're gonna go through, Peter says. It's nothing strange. This is this is common for the Christian life. The Christian's going against the grain. The Christian's swimming against the current. The Christian is gonna be hated because Jesus said if they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. He said, woe unto you when all men speak well of you. You're you're marked as a criminal to some governments. A Christian in Nigeria right now, you're a criminal. You're to be executed for your faith. Your refusal to say Allah Akbar. Simply because of your faith. You're a criminal, and God has called you, if need be, to overcome them. The blood of the lamb, the word of your testimony, and you love not your life unto death. You're God's witness. You're his martyr. He's called you to this. And nobody can take your life until God allows it. There's an appointment. And if that appointment is such that the Lord says, I'm gonna bring you home, Stephen, through martyrdom, you're going home through martyrdom for the glory of God. To be absent of the bodies, to be present with the Lord. You don't fear death anymore because of the resurrection. You have a calling. You have a cross to bear. If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. You have a job to do. Your kids can't go out and do that job that you do in the shipyard. It's your job. It's your calling. You suffer through it. You provide by laying your life down. Nobody else can alleviate that. So what are we to do besides prayer for these people that we encounter who are fallen, who are struggling? There's times where we might be lifting so much weight that we start to we start to teeter, we start to lose our balance, we start to get a little awkward, we need a spotter, we need someone there to catch us before we fall, to maybe help. We point them to Jesus, the great physician, for comfort and for rest. There's certain things that only Jesus can alleviate. There's certain loads that only he can carry. There's certain rest that only he can provide. We talk about with our children as they're growing. We don't wanna enable them. You enable them by by taking a burden, which the Lord is wanting them to endure that they might grow character, that they might mature. You're gonna have to let them suffer the consequences of bad decisions at times. You might need to let them sober up in a jail cell. You've exhausted every means of lawyers and monies and rehab and everything to try and stop them from this this, destructive path they're on. And now you gotta give them over to the Lord. Now they're gonna have to face the consequences, and God will use the world to bring correction if need be. And we pray, and we intercede, we ask the Lord to reach them, that they come to the place of submission unto Jesus, to submit unto him, to experience his rest. Quit fighting against God. Quit kicking against the the the goad. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the goats? The goat was a a a stick, a pointed stick, a sharp stick at the flank of the ox when you're plowing, and if the ox tried to kick the person plowing, they would their flank would hit into that into that poker, poke them. You're kicking against the goads, Paul. You're you're resisting my love. You're fighting against me. Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus. I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. And he's down on his face. He's down on the ground, and Paul's broken before the Lord. And now he's gonna receive that rest. He's a tormented man, a chiefess of sinners, a blasphemer, wasting the church, very zealous for the things of God he thinks. And yet, the very messiah he professes to believe in is the messiah he's persecuting. The messiah he doesn't believe in. And we know in Matthew eleven twenty eight that the religious leaders were putting burdens upon the people that they weren't able to bear. They were burdening them with the law, and that's what's happening to the church of Galatia. They're falling back into the law. They're falling back into the letter of the law that kills. Some of the Judaizers were compelling the Galatian believers who have been set free to go and be circumcised and to keep the 613 precepts of the Old Testament law. And Paul's saying in this letter, no. No. No. No. Doctrinally, that's wrong doctrinally. You've been set free. Jesus fulfilled the law. You need to rest in him. Jesus is your Sabbath rest. You rest in him. He's fulfilled the law. And so Jesus said, come on to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That word easy means kind. God's calling on your life is not a calling to cause you to drown. It may be a heavy burden, it may be difficult, but he's equipping you and making you able to do what he's called you to do. He will gift you and enable you. There'll be times where you say, Lord, I can't do this anymore. Lord, I didn't sign up for this. This is not a marriage I want to endure, Lord. I want out of this marriage. I want out of this contract. I did not sign up for this. I want to be happy. And God says, but I want you to be holy, and you're gonna have to die. You're gonna have to die to self. You're gonna have to trust in me. You're gonna have to rely upon me. You're gonna have to see yourself as married to me. I'll be your husband. I'll be your wife. I'll get you through this. You're gonna have to trust me. Lord, I can't. My friends all came to me and they all told me that you wouldn't give me more than I can that I can bear. You wouldn't give me more than I'm able to bear, and I just can't bear this anymore. Is that what that verse really says? He's gonna he's gonna let you out because you reached your uncle point. Uncle, I can't take it anymore. Really? Jesus offers rest, his calling, the responsibility he has given to you. The yoke is custom made. Your neck isn't chafing. He's the carpenter from Nazareth. You're yoked up to him. You're serving him. It's a perfect calling he has for you. You won't be tormented. Our rest is in him. Our yoking up is to him. Our yielding is to him completely. Lord, I can't bear this burden. I need a divorce. I need to renegotiate my contract. I didn't sign up for this. How many different ways you wanna say it? You've heard it. But God wants us holy. But you've given me more than I can bear. First Corinthians ten thirteen says, there has no temptation taken you. The word temptation is a test. Your marriage is a test. Your marriage is a means of the two as one dying to self. Which one's gonna die first? You wanna continue to battle and fight? Can it destroy your marriage? God's designed it in many cases, putting opposites together. They drive you crazy at times. But as you die to self, God's able to transform and change each of you. Well, who's gonna love me like Christ loved the church? Who's gonna submit? Who's gonna love? Who's gonna submit? The man's made with the need of being respected. The woman's made with the need that God placed there of being loved supremely. Who's gonna submit first? There's a mutual submission to Jesus. He's the head of the home. Well, Lord, I'll be the first to change. I'll be the one, Lord, that yields to you. But, Lord, you gotta you're you're gonna have to you're gonna have to change her, Lord. You're gonna have to change him. I can't change him. Hard as I try, she's just never gonna be like my mom. She never makes my favorite foods that my mom made. She never tucks me in bed like my mom did. Kathy would say to me, you stinking whiner. I don't know in a time of crisis that Kathy's ever come up to me and hug me and say, Rick, it's gonna be okay. That's not Kathy. She she I see these guys on television. I need you. They're they're like losing it. And the wife's supposed to come over. It's gonna be okay. Kathy, slap me. She's just snap out of it. She's she's just not like that. So so I whine to you because you guys you guys love me. There's no temptation taking you but such as common demand, which means you don't have the market cornered on your suffering. It means that when you're in that boat of life and there's a storm, and that storm is the big c, cancer, There are people on that sea of life, they too have cancer. That storm is affecting them too. The difference is Jesus is in your boat. He's asleep at the front of the boat, and the storm is raging. And all you need to do is cry out to Jesus, and he says, peace, be still. And your heart's at rest as you trust in him. The cancer may not go away, may not change, but you will change. God's made you different, and he's in that boat with you as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You're comforted because the Lord's there with you. You're going through that trial. Not this idea of he won't give me more than I'm able to handle, like a like delivering you from that trial. No. He's purposely taking you through that trial. It's no accident. So let's look at this verse again. There is no temptation taken you, but such is common to man, but God is faithful. He's faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you're able, and people stop there. He's not gonna give you more than you can handle. We gave Paul more than he could handle. Paul prayed three times. The Lord didn't take it away. Paul was forced to trust in the Lord, wasn't he? He was forced to come to the conclusion that God's grace is sufficient for his strength's perfected in weakness. Therefore, I'll gladly glory in infirmity in weakness because when I'm weak, then I'm strong. That's what Kathy wants me to discover. Rick, quit wimping out. You'll just get weaker. You gotta trust in the Lord now. Snap out of it. The Lord's there. But will with the temptation, not from, but with. But will with the temptation also make a way of escape. So where's that escape? Jesus. From or through? The escape is Jesus. There's your escape. You run to him. That you may be able to bear it. The way of escape is Jesus. His grace is sufficient. His strength's perfected in weakness. That's real Christianity. That's not the psychological, psychobabble, feel good, soft cotton candy messages in churches today. No. I want you to put in your promise jar, you're gonna suffer. Chew on that. But as you suffer, you're gonna get to know Jesus, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The one that suffered far more than any of us are ever gonna suffer. And he's gonna give you joy, and he's gonna fill your heart with love, and you're gonna see suffering as a badge, as a badge of honor to fill up his sufferings. People are reminded of the cross when they see you suffering. People are reminded of the cross when the Christians go into the coliseum, the animals won't even bite them anymore. Nobody wants the blood anymore because these Christians, all they do is sing. All they do is sing and worship their their god as they're being killed. You can't defeat their spirit. Peter says, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore into the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you. His grace is sufficient. His strength's perfected in weakness and that casting all your cares, you wake up today and you're victorious. Alright, Lord. I'm gonna cast my cares on you. I'm a I'm a fly fisherman. I'm casting it out, Lord. And then you're reeling it back in and you didn't catch any fish. I'm casting it out, Lord. Nothing changed. I didn't catch any fish. Or or you're pushing that ball up, and it the weight of it comes back on you. And it's a burden, and you're tired of carrying I'm a cast it up, Lord. You just keep casting it. You keep casting it. You don't let it settle. That's life. We're constantly casting our cares upon him for he cares of for us. And he's gonna comfort us in that time of casting it onto him. And he's gonna give us strength, and he's gonna give us character, and he's gonna Romans five here, this patience, endurance are gonna produce character, Christ like character. People are gonna see Jesus in us instead of wimps, spiritual wimps, insipid, powerless Christianity. Casting our burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Being confident of this very thing that he that has begun a good work in us, that he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28 verse 20, Jesus said, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. I'm with you in those trials. I'm with you in those difficulties. We saw in Revelation one verse eight the other night. We saw where the Lord says, I'm the alpha and the omega. What's that mean? That means he's omniscient. That means he knows everything about you. Everything that's ever happened to you. He's omniscient. He's the alpha. He's the omega. The a to the z. The antichrist can't do that. They gotta use technology. He's the alpha. He's the omega. He's the beginning and the end. He's history. All throughout history, he's omnipresent. He's with you at the beginning of your life. He's with you at the end of your life and on into eternity. He's eternal. He's the omnipresent one. Jesus, when he gave you and I the great commission, as we just said here in Matthew chapter 28, when he said to go forth with the gospel, make disciples, he said, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this world or even to the end of this age. He's with you and I. He's omnipresent. He's omniscient. And then it says in verse eight, he's the one that that is, that was, that is to come again, and it says the almighty. So we have the the three aspects of who God is. The Godhead is with us. He's omniscient, he's omnipresent, and he's omnipotent. He's the almighty. He's all powerful. In one verse, to be comforted that you're God's omniscient. He knows every hair on your head. He knows everything about you. From beginning to end, he's with you, and he's the almighty. Nothing hard for him. Can you rest in those truths? Can you rest in knowing father knows best, or do you wanna carry that burden yourself? I'd encourage you to cast your burden upon him. Give it to him. Jesus said, come on to me all you that labor. Have I'll give you rest. Give it to Jesus. Lord, I don't know what to do. I'm Jehoshaphat in second Chronicles 20. This army that's coming after us is far greater than us. We don't have the power to overcome this army and neither know we what to do, but you're omniscient. You know what to do. So Lord, our eyes are on you. And guess what? When they began to worship, check it out. Second Chronicles 20, when they began with the priest to worship, God gave them the victory. God discomfited that invading force and caused them to defeat themselves. God, I love that about Jehoshaphat. The the the the humility of saying, neither know we what to do. A king saying neither know we what to do? We're always thinking we know what to do, how to fix that problem. Give it to me. I'll fix it. Kathy says, nope. You're a dope on a rope. I don't trust you. Can we trust Jesus? Yeah. We can trust Jesus. That's how we get through it. When David sinned, he was overwhelmed. He says, for my iniquities are gone over my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. God doesn't want you to carry guilt because of your sin this morning, especially of your past sin. He doesn't want you carrying the stuff from the past. He wants you to confess your sin. He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and to cleanse you of all righteousness. God wants to give you the gift of what? The gift of repentance. Repentance is a gift. The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. You don't wanna cover your sin. You don't wanna carry the burden of that guilt. You don't wanna live a lie in your marriage, hiding things that you've done or doing? Come clean. Give the Lord that burden. Don't play the hypocrite. Play the man. Confess your sin to God. He'll wash and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He'll give you a fresh new start. He'll empower you with his holy spirit to live the Christian life. He'll he'll remove those lies that you're believing and give you truth. He'll truly set you free. He who the son sets free is free indeed. And so no condemnation. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus bears that burden of sin. You're not designed to carry that burden of sin or the guilt from your sin. Jesus is the great physician. By his stripes, we are healed. There's now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Are you walking after the spirit? Keep a very short account with the Lord. As pastor Chuck Missler used to say or doctor Chuck Missler, first John one nine is a Christian's bar of soap. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. You don't wanna carry that burden. You wanna keep a short account. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, continually cleanses a man of all sin. God wants to maintain fellowship with you. Don't allow your unconfessed sin, your hypocrisy to become a burden that you begin to carry that hinders your walk in relationship with your wife, with your husband, with your family, and most importantly, with the Lord. First Peter two twenty four, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we might be dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. Don't be conceited. Don't compare. Don't compete. Care for the hurting. Be his paramedic. Be an extension of his love in the saving of lives. Is your church a life saving station or a social club? Are you a paramedic looking to help the hurting, looking to alleviate the pains and the suffering of this life as the enemy seeks to invade, to steal, to kill, to destroy? But Jesus said, I've come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundantly, the life of the spirit. Let's pray. Father, thank you once again, Lord, for your love. Thank you, Lord, for for the value that you place upon each of us, even though we know, Lord, that we're nothing. That we're filthy, wretched, sinful people. And Lord, we play dress up. We wash our faces and comb our hair, and we put our best clothes on, well, some of us do. And and Lord, we put our best foot forward. We bring forth the appearance of those who are whole, those who are doing okay. But Lord, for many of us, it's a facade. We're hurting deep within and you see where we're hurting, Lord. And some of us tried to express that hurt. We use lots of words. It's a gnawing pain that won't go away. And Lord, for many of us, we don't know what to do. But Lord, you do. So Lord, we pray today that you as the great physician would bring healing deep within our hearts. Help us to let go of those hurts and those things of our past and start fresh. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things will become new. Help us, Lord, to be clean, to be clear, to be honest before you, that you might use our lives as paramedics, Lord. That you might use our lives, that we might minister to others the ways that you have ministered to us. Help us, Lord. Give us an open door that no man can shut to bring the glorious gospel, the good news of your coming kingdom. As Lord, you save, as you heal, as you deliver those who are perishing because of sin. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed as you continue to pray, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, he wants you to know he doesn't want you to carry that burden of sin. He doesn't want you to carry that hurt, that suffering that you're feeling because of your sins, because of other people's sins, whatever it may be. He came to seek and to save the lost. He didn't come for the righteous, he came for sinners. He came for people who are hopelessly lost. People like me, people like you. And he's extending to you a hand of love, a hand that's been pierced, that's been nailed to the cross of Calvary. A savior that bore the burden, that bore the sins of the whole world, is extending his hands of love unto you. You specifically. He knows everything about you and he still loves you. And this is your divine appointment. He purposely went in John four to the woman at the well, at Jacob's well, to have an appointment with her, to let her know that he had water that she could drink of. She'd never thirst again. He told her to go bring her husband. She'd had five husbands, and the guy that she was living with wasn't her husband. Jesus said, this you truly said. She was searching for fulfillment in these marriages, in these relationships on the human level. Without Jesus, we can't do it. He's the fountain of living water. He's the one that brings that satisfaction deep within our our soul because that's who he's made us for, his fellowship with himself, to be married to him. Anyone here this morning, you want a relationship with Jesus, you want your sins forgiven, you're turning from your sins in repentance, you're crying out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Lord, make me whole. Fix me, Lord. Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Jesus, he's the only one that can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The only one. He can put your life. He can put your marriage back together. He's the great physician. He can bring healing. He can take all that the enemy's meant for evil and turn around for good. Father, thank you. Thank you for your peace. Thank you for your rest. Thank you, Lord, that we're we're just so blessed that we don't have to work for your favor. We don't have to be good for your favor. We're thankful this morning that we can rest in you, in your complete, in your finished work. That Lord, we can enjoy you forever. So bless, we pray. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Help us to enter into all that you have for us this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.