[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:24] Speaker B: I wonder how many are in the house today that are burdened by something or someone. Maybe some of you were like, yeah, those burdens joined me in the car this morning, actually, on the way to church.
Wave at me if that's you. If you're burdened by something or someone, wave at me. Wave at me. Okay. I figured a lot of you are waving inside, right? Some of those burdens that you may be facing, it might be financial related. I don't know if you've heard something called inflation, but that apparently is a real thing. Maybe you're burdened by some of the pressures to perform at your workplace. You got some quotas, deadlines to meet. Maybe the burden is because of a struggling marriage. It could be a wayward family member. It could be a struggling child. It could be the Dallas Cowboys defense and offense. Pretty pitiful, actually, lately, hopefully 325. I expect the 11:00 serves to be packed. Cause they're playing late afternoon today, which is always gonna be good. Look, no matter what form the burden comes in, no matter how long the burden lasts, there's one thing that is true about every single person in this room when it relates to burdens, and it's this that we look for. And we long for the moment when the burden will be what lifted off of our shoulders. Isn't that right? I'm reminded of a story about this woman who. She was really having a tough go at it and just struggling with all the demands of life. She wants to be this spectacular present and active mom and a really good wife and a high achiever at work. And it's just become too much at this point in time. And things are out of control. The house is a mess. The dishes are piling up. She's spending most of her evenings toting around the kids from practice to practice. She's stressed because of the pressures of work. She and her husband rarely see each other. They're like ships sailing past each other in the night. And maybe worst of all, she hasn't been able to go to the gym and get her hair done in a couple of months. And I say that from someone who knows from experience? Okay? And so, in just the nick of time, I mean, she's at her wits. The phone rings, she picks it up, and this sweet voice on the other line says, hey, I know you've been having a difficult time lately, so here's what I want to do. I want to help you out. I've already made arrangements to go by and pick up your kids from school tomorrow. I'm going to take them to practice. I'm going to bring them home. I'm going to help them with their homework. I'm going to clean up your house, spick and span, dishes, laundry and all. And then I'm gonna make dinner and have it ready for the entire family. And I won't take no for an answer. And the distraught woman with tears in her eyes and, you know, scratching her voice, she just says, I just can't believe it. This is just. I mean, thank you. No, no, no. The woman on the other line said, no, no, you don't have to thank me. I'm your friend. This is what friends do. We come to the aid of each other when we need help. But I just need one thing from you to make sure this plan plays out the way I anticipated. I need to know exactly when Bob gets home from. From work. And the woman says, wait, my husband's name's not Bob.
And then there's a long pause followed by, but you're still coming over, right? Isn't that how it is? I mean, when we're stressed out, we're in need of some support. We're looking around going, has anybody see me? Will anybody come to my aid? And just whenever you think that help is at hand, it's like a wet fish. This seems to slip right out of your grips. I'm gonna go on a limb today, and I'm gonna say that everyone in the room knows exactly what that feels like. That we all carry our own burden, or sets of burdens, and sometimes they're short lived. Sometimes we live within our entire lives. Which is why I want to share with you a message today that really centers around the idea of bearing one another's burdens. It's not really a recommendation. It's actually a commandment given by God to his people through the apostle Paul to the church in Galatia. And I want to take you that verse today. It's in Galatians, chapter six, verse two. Here's what we find, very simply put. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Bear one another's burdens. To bear someone's burden. It really just simply means that we deliberately step into the life of a person who's in need of some form of relief, and we do whatever we can. Anything's better than nothing. Do whatever we can to try to lighten the load just a little bit. How? By carrying the burden alongside them. It's really pretty simple. I don't even really need to espouse much on this principle. It's see a need, meet a need. If there's a burden to carry, then I'm going to carry it. And yet it's something that we tend to complicate. We don't need specialized training to do this. We don't need the church to formally organize and launch a program to mobilize the troops to go carry burdens. It doesn't need that. Anybody can do it. Everybody should do it. Carry one another's burdens. And what's the result? Oh, this is so beautiful. What is the result? Whenever we carry one another's burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ.
We fulfill the law of Christ. Now, what is Paul talking about? What law is he referring to? Well, I would suggest to you he's probably talking about the new command that Jesus gave to his disciples. That's us. He says this in John 13, verse 34, a new command I give you. In other words, I'm going to summarize and supplant the Old Testament law, the law of Moses and the prophets. I'm going to supplant it. I'm going to replace it with this new law. Here it is. Get ready for it. He says, I want you to love one another as I have loved you. Isn't Jesus the ultimate burden of carrier any, the ultimate burden lifter? If our God and savior, if he so it, saw fitting to not be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, then who are we as the subjects to the master to do anything less? A new command I give you that you love one another as I have loved you. Simply put in this context, what are we going to do? We're going to carry one another's burdens. It's nothing super hard. It's not complicated. And what do we do? We're fulfilling the law of Christ. I want us to remember that fulfilling the law of Christ is not about us adopting and adhering to some sort of dogmatic rituals. It's not about us becoming self righteous moralists or legalists. In fact, it's far from that. It's loving people to the extent that we are moved with compassion and compelled into action to see them, to serve them, to be burden lifters in their time of great need. I want to expound on this idea by looking at an old Testament story that's in Exodus chapter 17. I mean, this is, like, one of my favorite stories, and I'm excited to share it with you today. And in order for us to understand it best, I need to give you a little bit of a backstory here. This is actually the very first battle that the nation of Israel fights. The very first one. Now, if you remember, the nation of Israel, before they were a nation, they were a people group. They were the hebrew people, and they were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. That's a long time. And they cry out to God. They cry out to God, and it doesn't fall on deaf ears with God. Just because God doesn't intervene in the instant we pray doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. It doesn't mean he doesn't have it already lined up at some point in time to facilitate his plan in our lives. Well, they keep praying. God hears, and the time comes for him to lean in and send a deliverer, a man named Moses. Moses goes, tells Pharaoh, let God's people go. And then God performs a series of miracles that compels pharaoh to allow his people, his slaves, to go free. Then they chart a course toward the land of Canaan, which is going to be a promised land for them as an inheritance for generations to come. Well, while they're making their way to the land of Canaan, they are attacked without provocation by this group called the Amalekites. And that's where we find our story. The Amalekites, they just launched this attack on this migrating caravan of people we know as the Israelites, God's chosen people. Here's what we read in Exodus 17, verses eight through twelve. The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Now, Moses said to Joshua, come choose or choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.
Tomorrow, I'm going to stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands. So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and her went to the top of the hill. That sounds like a small group to me.
Moses, Aaron and her, they all go up to this mount, this little, small group of men. They go up here. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses hands grew tired, they took a stone, they put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and hur held up his hands, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So there's this huge procession of Israelites, hundreds of thousands of them, maybe even a couple of million of them. They've escaped slavery in Egypt. They're heading toward the promised land of Canaan, when, unbeknownst to them, they are attacked by the amalekites. Now, the book of deuteronomy, chapter 25. When I. When Moses is reflecting on all that has happened prior to them going to the promised land, he actually gives us a few more details about this surprise attack. It says that in its traveling group of migrating Israelites, that some had straggled back, that some had become worn out and tired, and they got separated from the larger group of migrating Israelites. Now, amongst this tired and worn out, I would imagine that probably it included women and children. It included the elderly, probably included people who had been afflicted with disease or who had sustained injury for many, many, many years of forced labor in Egypt. And once a little bit of distance began to separate this worn out, tired group of people from the larger herd, if you will. The larger pack of Israelites is at that point in time that the cruel, cunning, yet cowardly and craven malachites launched their attack.
Listen, we've got to be super vigilant and careful when we are worn out and tired, because that's when the enemy launches his attack.
We have a very real spiritual enemy, and he is just like the amalekites. You might even say. Some theologians would say that Amalek is actually a type and shadow of the devil, that his tactics are very similar, that the way he goes about attacking God's people can be juxtaposed to the church today.
That the devil, a very real spiritual enemy, what does he do? He oftentimes waits until you're weak, waits until you're lonely, you're worn out, you're weary, and that's when he attacks you.
He's cunning.
He's craving. He wants to take us out. He wants to take out your marriage. He wants to take out your family. He wants to take out your future. He wants to take out your mind. He wants to take out your body. He wants to take out your finances. He wants to take it out. He will eat our lunch if we give him the chance.
The devil has never shown mercy a single moment in his entire life. Why would he start with me?
He's just like the amalekites. Jesus said it as much in John, chapter ten. He said, the thief, that's the devil. He's come to steal, kill, and destroy. But thankfully, Jesus didn't stop there. He said, but I have no rival.
He's not my counterpart. It's not he and me going toe to toe. No, no, no, no. That's what he wants to do. But here's what I'm going to do. This is a guarantee. I'm going to come to give you life. So you may have it fully, but it's only in me. When we are weak and we are tired, that is when we need to buckle up, buttercup, and get with God's people and pray. And that's exactly what Moses does.
Here's a question I have for you.
Are you in a battle right now?
Are you being attacked?
It's one thing to be attacked and be winning, isn't it? It's a whole other thing to be attacked and losing. I mean, when you're being attacked, but you're winning. Here's what it looks like. Well, I don't like this season. Oh, this is tough. I didn't think I would find myself in this spot. I'm tired. I'm worn out. But I know God's promises. I know he's going to get me through it. I don't know how. I don't know when. But I see hope on the horizon. So I'm going to move forward in faith, following after Jesus, because his way is the best way. That is a winning mindset, even though you may be taking on some hits. But if we're being attacked and losing, meaning I don't know why this has happened to me, and I don't know how to get out of this, and I don't know where to turn, and I don't know who to turn to, and I don't know what to do.
That's all bad. There's no hope in that mindset. But that wasn't the mindset of Moses and Aaron and her.
Here's what ends up happening. Moses says, joshua, okay, we've been attacked. That's not okay. I'm gonna go in all defense mode, all right? Protection mode. Joshua, get your boys, go out and fight against Amalek. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go up on the hill with my small group, and we're gonna watch him pray. Now, I want you to picture this. There's this valley scene, right. I. And we have these two great groups of people that are about to just throw down. You've got the amalekites. These are these vicious, cunning, nomadic warriors. I mean, this is what they do. They pillage and they plunder. This is what they do, what they live for. And then you have the Israelites, this rag tag group of former slaves. They have no military training. They've never probably held a sword, much less wielded it in battle. I was thinking about it, and I was reminded of the movie Braveheart.
And if you remember that scene when there's the English over here, and they are well organized, rank and file, mounted on horses, they've got sophisticated weaponry. I mean, they have not seen a foe that they couldn't conquer. That's the Amalekites. Right? And then over here, you got the Scottish. The scottish militia, they became like, I don't know, French somehow. Sorry, I gotta work on my scottish accent. You got the Scots over here. This militia, what are they? They're not trained. They're not organized. They're a bunch of farmers with pitchforks and dad bots. All right, that's what we got going on here. You picture it. That's the scene of this battle that's taking place.
Moses then goes with Aaron and her to the top of the hill. And what are they doing? They're watching the battle, but not inactively. They're watching it actively. What are they doing? They're praying. He's holding up his staff, and he realizes that as long as the staff's up, they're winning. The staff goes down, they're losing.
Now, I wonder if Moses, how did he figure that out? Is he like, nah.
Oh, I don't know. That's what I would have done. Moses, he perceives there's power in the staff of God, and so he holds up the staff. Now, what I got to get you to understand is this right here is the hebrew posture of prayer. Like, why did Moses not just, you know, put the staff, strike the staff on the ground like he struck the rock as God commanded him?
Why did he hold the staff up? Because this is the hebrew posture of prayer. See, in our culture, we pray a bit differently, don't we? There's not a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray, but you have to pray with your eyes open, your eyes closed, sitting still, laying prostrate. Can you pray while you're running around the neighborhood? Can you pray in your mind? Of course. All those things. But in our culture, what do we do? Hey, bow your heads, close your eyes, clasp your hands. Let's pray. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's fine. But the hebrew posture of prayer was this. You know why? Because in one respect, you're saying, God, I'm ready to receive.
I'm ready to receive from my father is in heaven, who loves me, who cares for me, who has good gifts for me. God, you're the source of life. You're the giver of good things. I need you, Lord. So it's a posture of, I'm ready to receive from God. Does anybody want to receive something from God today? I'm ready to receive. This is also a posture of surrender.
I can't do it without you. We don't stand a chance of winning this battle unless you show up. Jesus, we need you. So there is Moses. As long as the staff is lifted high, Israel prevails. The staff is lifted, lowered. Because of his tiredness, Israel loses. Can I tell you? We are prevailing when we're praying.
We, as God's people, prevail when we pray.
I can't think of a more powerful illustration that God could have used than this story right here to help us understand the power and the importance of prayer. So here's a big question. Is there anybody in the room today that has prayed enough?
Is there anybody in here today that said, you know what? I prayed this morning. I'm good.
We prayed last night as a family. I feel like we're good.
Can anybody say, I've prayed enough? Of course, you know the answer to that is no. As long as we are in need of help, as long as there are people in our lives who are in need of help, we must be people of prayer. God, in his sovereignty, in his and infinite wisdom, has so chosen to use the instrument of prayer to accomplish his purpose and plan in this world. He doesn't need us, but he invites us to participate. How? At least through prayer. At least, and should I say not last through prayer? At least through prayer. And I should say, first and foremost, through prayer. So moses, he's up there, he's lifting up the staff, he's praying. But what I find interesting is that Moses eventually gets tired. Verse twelve said Moses grew tired.
You ever get tired of praying?
You ever feel like, I've prayed enough? And God, are you not listening to me? You ever get tired of battling in prayer? Or does your mind ever wander when you pray? I know sometimes I pray. And I'm like, lord, God, I just pray for. Did I put that on the grocery list? And I started. My mind wanders.
Moses grew tired. You know what that tells me? It tells me that there are some burdens that we can't carry alone, that at some point in time, we're going to grow tired. Moses. Now think about this.
Moses grew tired. Moses. The Moses. Everybody knows Moses, right? This is Moses. This is the man who. Just two chapters before, in Exodus 15, he held that same staff of God up all night long. All night long. That's what the Bible. That's how I hear it when I read the Bible. He held the staff up all night long by himself. And what happened? He drove back the waters. What? No, he didn't. God used him to drive back the waters. So two chapters before, same Moses, same staff, same power of God, same result. Water's part, he doesn't get tired. But now, two chapters later, he's like, you know what? I feel like I'm getting a bit tired of leading these people. I'm getting a bit tired of carrying this weight of leadership. I'm getting a bit tired. Ooh, my shoulders are starting to burn. It's shoulder day today. He starts to get tired. And his arms. This is Moses, the CEO of Israel. This is the man of God who was played by Charlton Heston.
What a mighty man of God. I mean, you get Charlton Heston to say yes, to play you, you got a good thing going.
Yet he grew tired. Here's what it tells me.
It doesn't matter how strong you are right now.
There's going to come a time when you're going to grow weary and tired, just like Moses.
You may have had some seasons where you were hope filled and faith filled, but now you're tired. There were some seasons when you were confident and you were, you and God were. You were so tight.
But now you're tired. And in those moments, what are you gonna do?
When you're tired, who do you look to? Or maybe I should say, what do you look to? Do? You know that oftentimes when we're tired, we look to something instead of someone.
Moses, when he was tired, he knew exactly what to do. He looked to God first, and he looked to his small group second.
He looked to God.
In fact, he kept his eyes fixed on God. There was never a break in that case. And then he looked to a trusted group of people who, he knew, in his time of need, would step in, help him carry that burden. That's exactly what happened. Listen to what verse twelve says again. Moses grew tired. So what did they do? They took a stone. That's Aaron and her, they took a stone, they put it under him, and Moses sat on it. Aaron and hur held up his hands, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. Listen, there is not a single burden, not a single enemy, not a single battle that God can overcome and defeat in your life by himself. He does not, he does not need a sidekick. He's not going, man, if my people would just help me out here. I'm just. I'm struggling. That's not the Lord God Almighty. He can lift any burden. He can defeat any enemy. He can overcome any battle in our lives by himself.
And yet he's ordained a different way, that he's inviting us to be a part of that plan and accomplish his purpose, to help people.
What's God inviting you to do today?
I'm going to tell you. He's inviting you to carry one another's burdensh.
Remember, Paul said, carry one another's burdens, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, this is where we get super practical. How can we do that? How can we bear one another's burdens? If you're taking notes, number one, look, we gotta look.
We gotta see people and really not just see them. We've gotta see them and look into their lives with enough intentionality and enough length of time to see what's going on in their world and see when their world starts to spin out of control. We got to see them, and we got to look them. And I know that sounds like really, I'm not even writing that point down. That's so obvious. Don't do it, Susan. Don't you do it. Johnny, put your pen down. You know, it just seems, like, so obvious. But you know what's so crazy about it?
Sometimes it's the smallest, most simple things that get overlooked.
Looking at people is actually the most difficult part in the process.
It really is. You know why? Because anytime we endeavor to do something that brings honor to God, the greatest obstacle is always me.
Self. Hi, I'm the problem. It's me. It's always self. Why? We live in a self centered, self absorbed, self help world that my natural inclination is to think about me and not theme.
When's the last time you looked at a group picture?
When you do, who's the first person you look for?
Me. And if it's unflattering, I don't know. Get back together. We're taking this picture one more time. Why? What's wrong? Shh.
We do that, don't we? It's simple, but it's very difficult because our eyes are pretty fixed on what we need fixed.
What about, what about, what about my relationships? What about my worries? What about my back pain? What about the drama that's in my life? And what about opportunities that I don't have? And what about the job that was passed, passed me up? What about me? Now, I'm not saying that you and me included. We don't have real challenges in our lives. Oh, you do? I do. We do. What I'm just simply saying is if we're not careful, that we can fall into this trap, that we're susceptible to only focusing on the. What needs to be fixed about us as opposed to looking for other people that we can lend a hand to help out, to help carry their burdens. I like how Paul the apostle says this. In Philippians, chapter two, verse four. He says, don't look there. There it is. Don't look out for your interests only, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ had. Here's what Paul's pretty much saying.
We need not be self focused. We need to be others focused. And when something like that happens in the body of Christ, there's a beautiful, dynamic shift that takes place. Can you imagine what it would look like if everybody in this room looked out for everybody else in this room?
Tell you what happened? Every single person would be looked up at instead of looked down upon, and everyone's needs would be met if everybody took that to heart. Let me just say this. If Jesus has changed my heart, then my hands ought to reflect it.
But I've got to look. I've got. I've got to deny myself, and I've got to look at people and look at them long enough to actually see them. You know, you can see someone and not really see them. We got to look into the lives of people, take interest and what they care about and help carry their worries. Help carry their burdens. Lighten the load even just a little bit. And can I say one last thought on this point?
There are times when the burden that you carry is so heavy that you need rest.
You need rest. You need a break. You don't need to be doing any lifting.
It's proverbial bedrest for you right now. That's okay.
But can I also say that one of the greatest forms of therapy, whenever you have a heavy burden, is by stepping into the life of another person and help lift the burden off their shoulders.
So we gotta look, we gotta take interest in people. You know, it says of Jesus, it says when he would go in to a town that he would see the people, and he was moved with compassion. He was always looking, who needs help? And who's going to receive the help? When I bring it? Number two, we're going to lean in, not back. We're going to lean in. We're going to look at the people God's put in our path, and then we're going to lean in to those relationships. I want to help you understand and really capture this idea that bearing burdens is best within the context of relationship.
Moses brought Aaron and her up on the hill with him. He brought a small group. Come on, boys, I might need you up here. So they go up there. Why? Because he had a relationship with them. He didn't just indiscriminately pick two randos from the nation of Israel, come up there with him. Ah, yeah, you guys are fine. Come on. No, no, no. He goes, Aaron Hur. Let's go call them by name. We have a relationship that goes back many, many years, probably. I know I can count on you. I know I can rely on you. I know when I need you, you're not going to run away. You're going to run in and help me. We got to lean in to relationships. Can I share with you two things that I see about relationships of this nature that I see reflected in Aaron and her? Here's what it is. When it comes to their relationship with Moses, they were with him and they were trusted.
They were with him.
Proximity is necessary for relationship.
I can't have a relationship with you if we don't spend time together, if we don't go to coffee, if you don't swing by my office or I sit on your couch and make a mess and then leave. I'm just kidding. If we don't spend time together, we're not going to have a relationship. We have to have proximity. Aaron and her were in close proximity to Moses prior to the hill moment and during that moment in his time of need. We have proximity with one another, and then they were trusted. They were trusted. Consistency is necessary for trust. Not only do I need proximity with people, I need to share the same space at the same time, consistently over time, in order to build those trust bonds. In other words, I can't trust you if I don't know you.
It's hard for me to receive a rebuke from you if I don't know that you love me.
It's gonna be difficult for me to actually open up and be vulnerable and say, hey, I need your prayer for whatever it may be. If I don't know that you can be faithful and responsible with that prayer request, we've got to have proximity and consistency with God's people. I can't stress that enough. The importance of us involving ourselves in the lives of other believers and sustain that relationship over time. I want to help you understand church structure, and this is not met church. This is church. This is the way God set it up. You look at acts chapter five. It says that the people of God, these are believers, that they met in the temple courts and traveled from house to house. You know what that is? Large group, small group.
There it is. I give you countless other examples of scripture. Large group, small group. In other words, they met in the temple. That's corporate worship. That's this time right here. That's where we come together for the presentation of God's word. We're here to be able to edify and lift up the name of Jesus that we just did a moment ago. And this is good. It's good for our soul. We need it. Oh, it's better in person than online. Although, hey, we need this time. This is important. Do not forsake the gathering of the brethren was what the Bible says. We need large group. However, relationships aren't happening in here.
Earlier, Amber came out. She's like, hey, go stand up and say hi to you. That's a bad amber impersonation. I'm sorry. Amber. Amber came out here, she said, hey, go stand up and greet your neighbor. You know what you did? You're like, hey, good morning. Good morning. I'm good. How are you? Good. Good. Ask me next week, I'll still be good, right? We're just like, surface level.
You don't form those deep, life giving, burden sharing relationships in this environment. What do you need to. You need a small group. You need to be with other people. I need to be with other people. Proximity and consistency. What does it even look like at our church? It looks like a lot. There's lots of options. You could join a life group. That'd be great. Join a life group. You can serve on a ministry team. Met kids or met youth, or the connections team or tech production. There's lots of things you can go to. Courageous motherhood. You can join a Bible study. There's lots of options. And the devil's like, you're too busy.
You shouldn't do it. Why? Because he knows if he can separate you from God's people.
And you get weary and worn out. Attack.
That's what he wants to do. Moses had his people, and he brought them up there with him, and thank goodness they were there. What? To lean into that relationship that they had with Moses so they could point number three. Lift.
When you look, see people. Not just see them, but really take interest in their lives, see what's going on in their world till they're recognizing the world spinning out of control. And then we're going to lean into a relationship we already have with them, because that has to be a foundation oftentimes. And then we're going to lift.
Watch this.
If you can lift up your finger, you can lift up a friend.
Is that simple?
I want to juxtapose, because I'm not perfect at this, and neither are those who are closest to the Lord in scripture. I want to juxtapose how Moses and Aaron.
Aaron and her. Excuse me. When Moses says, hey, boys, I need your help. And they're like, oh, we got you. And then they helped him out. Right. That was a successful moment where the small group rallied together and they supported their brother. That's great. Well, now let's juxtapose that with Jesus disciples in a very low moment in their life. Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane. He brings his closest friends with them there, Peter, James, and John, to be specific. And Jesus is. He's overwhelmed. He knows that the time is drawing near for him to fulfill his mission, for him to bear our burdens on the cross, that he would fully absorb the wrath of God, the justified punishment for sin, that he would take it upon himself. He's agonizing over that moment. In his humanness, he's fully God, but he's fully man. And in his humanness, he's agonizing over that. So what does he do? He goes to his small group. He goes to his peter, James, and John. He's like, guys, I'm overwhelmed, even to the point of death. Will you watch and pray? Huh? That sounds like what Moses did. He went up to the hill, and what did he hear? He watched and he prayed. Guys, will you watch him pray with me? And they're like, oh, yeah, Jesus, you came to the right guys. Like, we got you. So Jesus goes off and they go to sleep.
Jesus comes back. Guys, like, really? I'm overwhelmed here. Oh, sorry, sorry. No, no. We got. They fall asleep a second time.
I was thinking about that. I was a little convicted in my heart, so think about that story I was about to pile on to Peter, James and John.
And I sensed this question.
I wonder if I have fallen asleep on people in their greatest time of need.
Have you fallen asleep on people God's put right there in your life to help lift that burden? Have you fallen asleep on them?
Have we gotten real comfortable with just attending church by not actually stepping into relationships, loving people well, serving? Have we got comfortable with just allowing a very small, select group of individuals do all the ministry?
Let's not sleep on people. Let's step up. Let's step up. Let's watch and let's pray in the lives of others. Let's lean in. Let's lift people up.
Paul says this, or excuse me, it's a proverb, rather, excuse me, 1717 says, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity. A friend loves at all times. If you don't have friends that love you at all times, you find some new friends. A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Here's the question. Whenever someone in your life, a friend, is going through a really difficult time, is your mindset, oh, wow. I'm born for this. I'm born for this time. This is my time to step in and lift up my brother, lift up my sister. I am born for this moment. Listen, there are only two positions in the kingdom of God. You ready? Two positions. This is it. In the kingdom of God, it's either that I am lifting or I'm being lifted. That's it. I'm lifting or I'm being lifted. One of two. There are no bleachers, spectator seats in the kingdom of God. I'm either carrying someone's burden or I'm humbling myself to the extent where I'm allowing someone to help carry mine only in two positions. It's not over complicated. If I can lift up a finger, I can lift up a friend. We gotta look, we gotta lean. We gotta lift. Let me give you a couple of quick examples of what lifting looks like real quick. You can lift with a gift.
Like the way that sounds, you can lift with a gift.
Anytime you support any ministry of the Met, you are lifting the burdens of people. You're lifting them up. Anytime. You share in that, this doesn't just miraculously happen. Although God can't provide, it's because of the faithful stewardship of our church. So that kids can go to met kids and they can hear the story of goddess and be the wonder in their hearts, be ignited, and they can look to Jesus. And our students can learn how to wrestle with the tensions of what it is to be a teenager in today's culture and have their faith anchored in Jesus. So we have life groups. We can have a worship service anytime. You support financially, you're helping lift the burden off of people. And also the CRC. Let's not forget that is an independent ministry. But it is born from the heart of our church, and it's our number one mission. I want to show you this. We got a letter a couple weeks ago, and I'm going to keep their name anonymous because that's just what we want to do. But this is from a neighbor who was receiving food from our food pantry. Ready. This is verbatim. This is the letter that they wrote. Ready. My mom and I would like to give up our appointment times to two other families that may need the help more than us. Now, we thank you for supplying us with the help we needed when we needed it. We are happy to report that we are doing much better financially. By the grace of God, please bless another family with our spots. We want to thank met church and most of all, Jesus for the Cindy Ramsey center. Isn't that amazing?
And she got it right, or he got it right, whoever that was.
I want to thank Jesus.
Cause Jesus did that. See, when you and I, we watch and pray and we step in the lives of people, Jesus is doing it. We are his hands. We are his feet. We can lift with a gift by supporting the church financially. Also, we can lift with words. It's not just financial, it's verbal. There's a proverb that says that anxiety weighs down the heart, but a good word cheers it up. A good word. A good word. There's a story of a woman who is in our church, and when she first visited about 1011 years ago now, she was a single mom with three kids, and she's really struggling. And she attended our church. And then one of our staff members did a visitor follow up, which was the protocol at that point in time. And little did this staff member know the context of this single mom with three kids. She was having just a very difficult time. She was a dark season, so much so that she had actually created a plan and had intentions of carrying it out to end her life.
But Goddess, use this staff member to place a visitor follow up call, which is basically, how was your visit? How can we make it better next time? Little did this staff member know that God would use his voice, a voice of encouragement, a voice of kindness, to help lift the burden off of her heart and point her to Jesus. And I'm happy to say this woman found Jesus, got baptized. She's been serving in our kids ministry, is one of our most incredible, faithful volunteers for many, many, many years. Why? Because one person said, you know what? I'll lift the burden. I'll do it with my words, if not anything else. Lastly, sometimes it's just showing up. My daughter Adeline, she's an 8th grader. She serves in met kids as an assistant small group leader. She loves it. She's been doing it for several years now. And the group that she leads, she's been with those same girls for several years now, and what proximity and consistency is what helped her develop relationships, trust bridges. So much so that a mom came up to me a couple months ago of this little girl in her group and said, hey, I just want you to know that my little girl, she struggles with confidence and insecurity, and she's really shy. But I want you to know, your daughter, Adeline, that she has helped her find her voice, she's helped her grow in confidence. I'm seeing her change because of how you treat her, how you receive her. And by the way, she wants to get baptized. You talk about putting her in a very uncomfortable spot. She's nervous. She's not sure she wants to go through with it. But then she came to me and she said, mommy, do you think that Adeline would allow me to come over to her house so she can talk to me about baptism and encourage me? She told us that, and we're like, come on over. Let's go. So she came over to my house and she and my daughter played barbies.
That's what happened. She just. Adeline made herself available. We opened up her home. Nothing special. Nothing special to see here. But just because of a consistent relationship, making yourself available, this little girl, she's getting baptized in a couple of weeks. It's awesome. You see what I'm saying? If you can lift a finger, you can lift a friend. It's just really not that hard. But let's take it back to Israel. They fought hard. God gave them the victory. And listen to what Moses did. You ready? Let's close it out here. Verse 15, Moses built an altar, and he called it the Lord is my banner.
After the victory, can you imagine the atmosphere in the encampment of Israel? The jubilation, the shouts, the cheers, the chants that echoed. You know what they said? Glory to Moses. Glory to Moses. No, that's not what they said. Joshua, the general. The amalekite slayer. Glory to Joshua. No, that's not what they said. You know what they said, moses. You prayed. Aaron. And her, you lifted his arms. Joshua, you fought. All you guys fought too. But I'm gonna tell you, it's Jesus.
He's our banner. Jehovah nisi. He's the one that we lift up high. He's the one that lifted us up. Praise and glory be to Jesus. Listen to me. When we look, when we lean and we lift up people, you know who's doing it.
Jesus. And he gets all the glory and he gets all the credit. Because he alone is worthy of it all. Lord, we love you and we thank you. Thank you that you saw us in our most desperate time of need. When you stepped down from heaven to earth 2000 years ago. You lived the life we were intended to live. But fall short. You died the death we deserve. You bore. You bore on the cross. You bore our shame, our sin. You took it all on, Lord. You rose again three days later so that the true burden of death could be lifted and we could step into your presence. Father, I pray for every person in this room. They would sense the Holy Spirit, that you would move in their hearts. If there's anyone here that doesn't know you, Jesus, they'll know that you are a cry away of saying, Lord Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sin. Come into my heart. Be my lord, my savior. I will follow you all the days of my life. And, Lord, that burden of shame, that burden of sorrow will be lifted from them and everyone else in the room, Lord, and the burdens they carry. God, I pray that you would send those people to help lift that burden and carry it. Cause that is what you've called us to do. Carry one another's burdens. And so fulfilled the law of Christ in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
