string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Oct 15, 2023

One Another’s Burdens

One Another’s Burdens

Passage: Galatians 5:24-6:2

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Freedom in Christ

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, worship, prayer, faith, jesus, god, sermon, freedom, membership, christian, bible, christ, hope, grace, sermons, holy spirit, paul, galatians, relationships, jesus christ, the bible, lord, christianity, burden, bible study, healthy relationships, freedom in christ, self improvement, study the bible, bible teaching, trending, 2023, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, how to change your life, galatians 6 explained, bear another's burden, church membership biblical

We conclude our sermon series throughout Galatians called Freedom in Christ by studying chapter 6. We learn that to experience Holy Spirit power, we must live lives constantly pointing to the gospel, and when we try to seek glory from anything but the gift of the gospel, we will stay empty. Walking in the spirit requires healthy and loving responsibilities and relationships within the body of Christ. Through studying the scripture, we see that church, specifically here, Burnt Hickory is not just an event to attend, it’s a family to belong to, because as Christ followers, we do not have to carry our burdens alone. The ministry of burden bearing is for all believers. Do you seek glory from anything other than the gift of the gospel? Are you bearing the burdens of your fellow believers? Do you have a church to belong to that helps you bear those burdens and build relationships? We’d love to answer any questions you’ve got and take time to pray with you, so reach out today! As always, you can take the next step by visiting burnthikcory.com/next.


Well, good morning, Church. It is so good that you are here today. And I can already smell the smoked meat in the air from the front lawn today. I want to start the message a little bit differently today than normal. I know that if you have been listening to anything in the news at all, you are aware of the situation that is happening on the other side of the planet and Israel and the surrounding countries around that. And I just want us today before we jump into the message, before we move even farther to carve out just a couple of minutes today and lift up Israel. I pray for Israel and pray for just the evil that is surrounding it and literally has surrounded it for years and years and years, particularly this time in the form of Hamas. But you can fill in the name throughout the years. But it is our responsibility as believers, as people of the book, right to lift up Israel. You cannot read scripture. This is not political. You cannot read Scripture and not see that Israel has a special place in God's design and God's plan and God's message in the coming of Jesus and the coming of salvation and the return. And when Christ comes back, you cannot argue with the fact that He's returning to the Mount of Olives. He is walking through the gate that has been blocked up by the infidels. And today we just have a responsibility to pray for Israel before we jump on our message. So let's do that. Let me just tell your head's with me and I will lift up a prayer on our behalf.

Lord Jesus, today, God, honestly, we want to stand in the gap for Israel today. God, we pray for peace in the Holy Land. We pray for your mighty hand, God and for your warrior Spirit, God to bring peace to a land that from the beginning of your people has been in turmoil. God, we pray also. Secondly, just for the protection of the Israelites, of the Israelis, God of the innocent people who have no idea how strong this evil is around them and this trying to take them. God, we pray for justice for Israel. We pray for blessings for countries that do come in and support this nation and come to her aid. And God, we pray for Christian believers in Israel, the Messianic Jews that do live there, Lord Jesus. God, give them a sense of boldness. Give them a sense of, now is an incredible time to preach the name of Jesus. Among the people that are so special in your eyes. God, we pray that you Christ would be made known in this whole event. God, that your name would be proclaimed. And that God, we just ask for you and your protection over Israel, Lord Jesus, and it's in your holy, holy name that we pray these things. Lord Amen. And Amen.

I just want to encourage you through the rest of this week, today just be lifting up prayers on behalf of Israel. It is a very complicated situation. It is a message for another day. But today I just want you to know that it's our responsibility. Well, listen, today is a really, really special day in the life of our church that you have already heard. Today is Membership Day. We're going to talk about that a little bit at the end of today where we're just asking you to make a commitment to this place. Today is tailgate day where we just have fellowship on the front lawns today. And then thirdly, today is the day that we are going to finish this eternal series through the book of Galatians. I'm just kidding. It's only been six weeks long, but today we're going to land that plane in the fifth, the end of the fifth chapter and into the sixth chapter of Galatians today. And we're going to watch kind of Paul's final message to these small churches, these gentile churches in the Turkey area. Now, let me give you the, “couple of minute” here is where we've been to point to where we're going to talk. The Galatians churches were established by Paul. They were incredibly young when Paul was writing this letter and he's writing this letter to combat some incredibly wrong thinking that has infiltrated into the churches to tell them that their salvation is based on their actions and their words and their being good enough to get to God.

God has said numerous times through Scripture, and Paul is telling them in this book that it's only through Jesus that you can be saved. In fact, chapter one of all of Galatians is describing the gospel, the fact, the good news of Jesus. So what Jesus has done for us, that it's not because of me and it's not because of you, but it's because of Christ and Christ's love for us and the fact that he went to the cross and he died for me. He gave me life. Therefore, chapter two tells us because of that, when we trust Christ, Galatians two tells us that we have been justified, that God stamps His rightness on us through Jesus, not once again because of our words, it's because of Jesus's works and what Jesus has done for me. So God, the judge stamps the righteousness of Jesus on me, and He tells me that I am now justified. Moving into Chapter three, Paul reminds us that God doesn't just stamp us as right. He leaves us the Holy Spirit to help us walk out this rightness, to help us walk in His love and in his power and in his grace and in his mercy. Chapter four shows us a whole other picture of who God is. Praise God that He's not just a judge that proclaims something over us, but he's a father that wraps his arms around us, that proclaims us his sons and his daughters. And we don't serve a God that is just stoic and out there and unattached from the world. We serve a God that took off the robe that he wrapped his arms around us. We call him Abba and he calls us his. And that is where our security comes from. Last week we walked through Galatians Chapter five and Galatians Chapter five is all about because we are his son, because we are his daughter.

Now we have been called to walk out the spirit. Last week we talked about this battle that we have in our soul, that even though God has justified us, there's still parts of us that try to flee back to who we used to be. Those what Paul would say are the fruits of the flesh, the fruits of the flesh promise fulfillment, but they never make it all the way. They leave us hanging, they leave us wanting for more. But then Paul says, it's the fruits of the Spirit that give us hope. It's the fruits of the Spirit that we're to point our lives in that direction. And because of the fruits of the spirit we can emulate who Jesus was. Well, today we're going to finish the book. We're going to pick up right where we left off last week. But I want to remind you something about Paul. Anytime you're reading one of Paul's letters, you will notice a pattern. At the beginning of the message series, I said that Paul's pattern is about the same every time he starts a book, he starts a book by saying, Hey, I'm Paul, this is my acolyte. This is my qualification to be able to say this. And I love you a whole lot. That's pretty much how Paul starts every letter, and then he jumps into his message. But not only does Paul and every pastor kind of start their message the same, Paul also ends his messages and his letters pretty much the same way in every single letter. And basically what Paul does is he writes this incredible argument over time makes this incredible intellectual and spiritual conversation that is laid out beautifully. And then he gets down to the end, the final chapter or the final chapter and a half, and then all of a sudden it's almost like he's a preacher that looks up at his preaching clock and says, Oh, man, I got a lot to say. And we got to hurry up and let me just spit these thoughts out. Well, that's how Paul finishes the book of Galatians. All right. He basically just gives us a whole bunch of and remember this and remember that and remember this. And don't forget about this and then go and do this. All right. So I'm going to warn you today.

All right. I'm just going to warn you that the front end today is not going to flow. It's going to be clunky. It's going to be all over the place. It's going to look like Paul goes all over the map. But, hey, it's the text. We're speaking into it and it's how the Holy Spirit laid it out. All right. But what Paul does, though, is he ties all of these one offs today into this idea of how we individually walk out the spirit of God in our lives, how we walk in the spirit, but also he gives us how we do it as a community of faith. All right. There's our tie into what this day is about. So Paul says, if you want to walk out your faith, you've got to do it in freedom of the Holy Spirit power, individually as well as together. All right. The whole book, he's talked individually today. Midway through the message, I might add, he's going to move to how we walk this out together. All right. So let's jump into the text today. I'm going to start in Galatians 5:24. All right, here we go. Here's what Paul says right after the fruit of the spirit. Okay. This is where this happens. There's no break. There's no change of thought. Here's what he tells us. He says, Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.

Now, I want you to circle the word crucify there, because this word that Paul uses here is really only used in the context of a positive thing in Christian language and in Christian speaking. Why? Because when we see this word crucified, it does a couple of things for those of us who know who Jesus is. First, it kind of points back to what Jesus did for us. Second, it points back to the idea that I can unite myself with Jesus in the fact that he was crucified, that he did die for me, that he did give my life to me. And thirdly, it shows that because I have done this, I have crucified a part of me. I now belong to who Jesus is. This word crucified represents to me putting down the old and picking up the new, or it's a finality. In other words, you now, because of the fact that you are not who you used to be, you are now united with Jesus. And here's the positive parts about that. That means that now you no longer have to be dominated by the flesh. You don't have to be dominated by the fleshly desires anymore. Why? Because you put them down, you've put them away, and you've united yourself with Christ. Now, that doesn't mean that there's not a struggle there, all right? It doesn't mean that, in other words, you're never going to be fully released from the struggle on this side of eternity.

But what it means is that it no longer has to grab you. It no longer has to possess you. It no longer has to define you. Why? Because this whole series. Right? There's freedom in Jesus, all right? There's freedom. We have crucified the flesh as we put it out. We put it away and Christ has covered us. But keep going into verse 25, He says, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep step with the spirit. Let us keep step with the spirit. So in other words, since this has happened and we have crucified that old part of us, now we have been freed up to keep step with the spirit. The spirit is what creates in us a new reality. It has birthed the gospel into us. And now it has given us the resurrection power of Jesus.

It's the whole message of Galatians that we don't do this on our own. We don't do this by our own power. We don't do this by our own will. But because our old self has gone and God has put His Spirit in us. Now we can emphatically walk in it, but write this principle down though. To experience the Holy Spirit power, we must live lives constantly pointing to the Gospel. In other words, just because it's been given to you doesn't mean that it's just going to automatically that power be present in you your whole life. What that means is that we've got to live our lives pointing in the presence of the spirit. So many people will call me up and go, Man, I just don't understand. I don't feel the Holy Spirit. I don't hear Jesus speaking to me. I don't know what to do in this situation. And I just don't feel like there's ever a movement in my life that is pointing me to the gospel. And then I'll just ask some more simple questions like, Hey, when's the last time you prayed? When's the last time you read your Bible? When was the last time you committed to be in Bible study? You committed to be in the family of God. When's the last time you sat before the Lord for an extended amount of time and say, God, I need you? And they'll go, Well, man, I really haven't done that. I was expecting him to tell me to do that. Now, listen, he's telling you already to do that. It's in the book. The literal meaning of In Step with the Spirit means the moment we give our lives to Jesus. Our role, the part we have to play because of what He has given us, is to keep step with the spirit. What does that mean?

That means that our faith is not a sit and soak faith, our faith as a stepping faith. It's a moving faith. It's a forward, moving, aggressive, consistent faith. That does what? That points to what Jesus has already given us. That's how Paul is tying this whole thing together. But it also means that it's not pointing to me. And this is part of the problem that many of us struggle with. You see, keeping step in the spirit means that our faith is active, but it's not pointing to my gifts, my abilities, but it's pointing towards God's gifts and God's abilities. Why? Because when we point towards our gifts and our abilities, we just puff ourselves up, right? You say Matt, what do you mean? Well, let's see what Paul says about it. Right? Look at the next verse 26. Paul says, Let us not become conceited. Let's not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. The word conceited here is really important, but it's a tough word to translate. You might want to write in your Bible the word false glory or vain glory or earthly glory.

Because what this means is, when we become conceited, the reality is we're seeking glory because we think that we're owed it. We think that we deserve it. Or we think that we're deserving of something. But you got to remember that in this book and actually in all of the New Testament, we're shown over and over and over again that the real, lasting eternal glory that actually satisfies us never comes from us. It never comes from my power, it never comes from my abilities, and it never comes from my talents. It always comes through what Jesus has done in me. Everything else, Paul says, is false. It's temporary. The language that we've used in this series is that it's counterfeit, right? It's counterfeit. Why? Because the Satan side. The counterfeit side wants to think that it will fulfill you, wants you to draw in to this to give you life. But if it doesn't, it's just temporary. It's a vain conceit. It's false glory. And Paul says, Here's how you can know if you're living in false glory. In verse 26, he gives us two definers of If we're conceited, right? He says, Our worldly goal shows itself. What's the last two words in the verse? Either A We become provoking, which just really means that I'm better than you conflict, or complex, right? That's when you provoke someone because you think you're better than them. Or the second way that this vain conceit comes out is you just kind of flip the coin on the other side and you think that you'll never match up to somebody. You're not good enough to do something. Paul says Quit both of them because it's not about you. It's about the spirit in you. And what they show is that no matter what position that you're trying to seek earthly glory in. Watch this. Write the principle down. When we try to seek glory from anything but the gift of the gospel, we'll just stay empty. Will stay empty. Now we might give you a blip on the radar or hit a dopamine right?

But eventually you're going to re-center down into emptiness. But the converse is true. What? When we stay in the gospel under his power, under the position of who Christ has made us. The Gospel transforms my relationships and my focus. Both. How? Well, because the gospel humbles me and tells me that really, without grace, I'm nothing but with grace, I'm something. The Gospel also completes me, telling me that I don't really need any other external glory from anybody else. Why? Because I've already been adopted. I'm already His. And the gospel redirects me. And the fact that I no longer have to chase accolades for myself. I'm pointing to accolades toward the father. So before relying on the gospel, when we do that and before when we just kind of live this life in the flesh, when we pull this down into relational living because that's where Paul is going.

The reality is if we're living our life outside the gospel and living our life in the flesh, every single relationship that we have in every single task we have, we are literally living under the question of how can this benefit me? How can it benefit me? Or how can this fulfill me? Or what can this do for me? But Paul changes it and says, Listen, if you are living in the spirit that changes you, It shows you that this life is not about us. It's about him. And being about him means that it's about us together pointing to him. And really, this answer is one of life's biggest questions that we have. One of the questions that people have incredibly, incredibly often, especially young believers, is they'll say, Matt, why is it that when you get saved, when Jesus gives you new life? Why is it that God just doesn't reach down and take you off this planet? Why not just beam me up, Scotty? Right there. Right. Why doesn't he do that? Have you ever thought about that? There's an incredibly big reason why he doesn't do that. I mean, it'll be awesome that we know how to just deal with the junk of the planet, right? A little mean for the family, but the rest of it, I mean, you don't really care, right? Do you know why God doesn't just automatically take you in that moment? For other people. That's it. It's for other people. One of life's biggest questions for followers of Jesus is why doesn't he take me? The answer is incredibly simple, and Paul says he doesn't take you on the spot so that you can display the power and the love of Jesus.

That's it. You realize that we're here for one another. We're here to preach the Word of Jesus to those who have entrusted him. We're here to walk in the family of God. And hear me. This is where the rest of the message is going. We are here to bear one another's burdens. That's it. That's why we're here. Galatians six to finish this thing out today points us away from the direction of how do you live in the spirit individually. To then I told you this is clunky and Paul is all over the place to how we walk it out in the community of faith. How do we walk it out in the community of faith? Now I'm going to warn you, Galatians six is incredibly anti individualistic living, me first, my views above all, my comfort above all. It goes completely against that thinking. All right, I'm going to warn you, but it shows us how we walk out the spirit, how we walk it out as a church body. And I want to challenge you with the Galatians want six verse one. Here's what it says. All right, couple verses, couple of principles, then we're out. All right, here it is. He says, brothers and sisters, Galatians six one. If someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves or you may also be tempted. Now notice the language. He is using the same language from the rest of the book. He's speaking to believers. The redeemed, the Justified, those that are in the family of God. This message wants to be read and preached in front of the churches.

And Paul says, believers or church. Listen closely. If you want to walk in the spirit, write the principle down. Walking in the Spirit requires healthy and loving responsibilities and relationships within the body of Christ. That's what he says here. This is not Matt the preacher preaching to shame you about being a part of the church. No, Paul is saying if you want to walk in the spirit, we have a responsibility to walk in the body of Christ. Chapter six is right after chapter five. There is no break. There's no other thought. He's telling me how to walk out the fruits of the spirit, how to walk out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He's telling me, "How do I walk that out?" While I walk it out individually, I also walk it out in the context of a community of faith. Paul has spoken for five chapters individually. He swaps over in chapter six and he says, Listen, Church, we have a responsibility to each other and to the world to walk out the spirit. And if we're going to be a healthy community and if I'm going to be a part of that health, my presence is needed and my ability to love is needed.

That's what he's saying. He says, Yes, your relationship with Christ and don't send me this, this week. Your relationship with Christ is an individual thing, but it's not a secret. It's not to be lived out in the context of just you. It's to be lived out in the context of what this is right here. It's the command of scripture. Our relationship is personal, but not private. In fact, let me write. Let me just give you a quote. I say it all the time in the welcome that may help drive this home. Burnt Hickory, I'm going to make it personal for us. It could be the church. Burnt Hickory is not an event to attend. It's a family to belong to. And that's what Paul is saying here by opening this message to say that we're not created to live independently, we're created to be vertically dependent on God. Horizontally, what? Interdependent on each other. We're a family. It's a whole language that Paul has been using since adoption on, right, since the father on. We are a family of people and we're calling ourselves a family. That means we've got some family size problems. Amen. We've got them. You've got them in your family, too, right? Don't look at your spouse right Now is not the time. Right? You've got them. But with that, we're called to come around other people. We have a responsibility for each other. So much so look back at verse one.

Look back at the first time. It says this Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, he says, You know what that means? That doesn't mean if someone is in this grotesque, premeditated, unrepentant spot in their life or just they're like they're, harsh to everybody. But to be caught in the sin means that someone is overtaken by sin. Let me give you some more pictures. Maybe. Maybe somebody is incredibly involved at work. The hours are terrible. They've been selling themselves out to it and they just kind of been withdrawn from the family. And before they know it, their marriage is on the rocks. That's what this is talking about. It's talking about a person that maybe they just neglected their family a little bit. And before I knew it, they just kind of just had driven a wedge in it. Maybe it's a person that they're scrolling the Gram, and before they know it, the addiction just began to take them. They were kind of surprised by how fast it led to going down the addiction of pornography. Or maybe it's a person that their work is super stressful. They come home. The only way to knock the edge off is to open that can or take that deal to get you down the road. And before you know it, you're addicted. It's the person that is an incredibly good friend. But they send the opposite sex a text just to check on them. They kind of went a little far.

And before you know it, they're in a full fledged relationship with this other person, whether that's emotional or physical. What Paul is saying is these people, they don't even realize how they got into this situation. They don't realize it. But, watch this, verse one. Here's what he says about it. You live by the spirit you are to restore that person gently. You say, We are a church. You should always find a group of people that are walking with the spirit, which, thanks be to God, we have that here. But secondly, we should always find a spirit of restoration. That should be who we are. In fact, right this principle down. The church is a hospital for the hurting, it's not some exclusive hang out for the Holy. That's what Paul is saying. You want to walk out the Spirit? You got to be part of a body like this one that wants to walk beside people that are hurting. In the same way a hospital heals the broken body. The church has been called to restore the broken soul. This word broken here is a very interesting word. It literally means to mend a net, to put something back in order, or to reset a broken bone. Why? Because all of that places something into a position to be used again. Do you feel what Paul is saying here? If we're going to be a group of people who walk in the spirit, we're going to have to be a group of people who have a desire to see others that are struggling, be placed back into a position to be useful for the kingdom again.

In other words, it's impossible to see a brother and sister of this fallen in sin and look at them and say, It's none of my business. It's all of our business. Restoration is our obligation. In fact, this is not just Galatians. Listen to how James puts it in James five. He says, My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander more from the truth than someone to bring that person back, remember this. Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover a multitude of sins. So practically speaking, if we're walking in the Spirit, we should have the boldness to confront someone that is in the body, but also the compassion to walk alongside them. Now, those two things have to operate in tandem. Why? Because if all you've got is boldness, then you're just a righteous jerk, right? If all you got is compassion, nobody's ever walking in the spirit and calling people out.

But what did Jesus do? He was a master. At what? Confrontation and compassion. Yes, he would call a sin a sin. But then he would reach down and pick the woman up out of the dirt. Right. That's the church. That's the body of Christ. It's not gossip. It's not ignoring. It's not writing them off. We restore people. I heard he once said the only time that we should ever look down on a person is when we're reaching our hand out to pick them up. Because that's the church. That's what God has called us to live in. It's not punitive, it's restorative. And we as God's people should be lifting people up out of God's sin, not throwing rocks into deep despair. Watch what happens. Paul goes even a little father. Verse one says, Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the spirit, you should restore that person. How? Gently. Man, that's a word that the church has needed to hear for a very, very long time. I'm not saying that we run away from sin. I'm saying that we come behind people gently. Gentleness is what? If you were here last week. It's a fruit of the spirit. It's a sign of walking with God. So Paul is describing here how the church operates in the spirit.

What do we do? We come behind people who are hurting. We should help them restore. It's our role. But then he tells us how we can be a restorer. Verse two, watch. It says this. Matt, are we going to get through all these verses? No, we're not. We're only in two. Watch, he says, Carry each other's burdens. And in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Now, this should be one of the most encouraging verses in the whole New Testament. Why? Because it means this as a believer, as a child of God, as one that has been adopted and redeemed, write this principle down. As a follower of Jesus, you don't have to bear your burdens alone. That's what it means. That's what we're here for. That's what the church has been made to do. As part of God's family, we don't have to bear our own burdens. Now. What is a burden? A burden is a load that was never designed for one person to carry. In fact, it was a load that was placed on a pack animal. That's what this word burden means. Too heavy for one person. Too much for one person. This can be relationship, brokenness, mental illness, physical, financial. It could be an addiction. It could be a family crisis. It's just too much for one to bear. And listen, church, it is our role as the church to walk behind people and to say, man, I just know you are struggling and it breaks my heart. And how can I walk with you? How can I move with you? This is me knowing a family has just had a baby and taking them a meal. This is me knowing a family that is just struggling in relationships with a husband and wife, picking up the phone and going, Hey man, this may be none of my business, but I just want you to know I'm here for you. This is me when somebody has a loss, sitting beside them and being with them and praying for them. This is me when somebody financially is struggling, coming behind them and going, Hey, you don't owe me anything. But I just know you needed some help. This is me as a student coming behind another student whose parents are just struggling.

Church, This is what the body does. Paul is saying this is how the body lives out the Spirit. This is how we individually and collectively walk in the Holy Spirit. In fact, I'll go as far to say this. Here's the principle: The ministry of burden bearing, that's hard to say, is for all believers. It's for all believers. Here's what that means. It ain't just my job. It's not just the jobs of the people of this church that get a paycheck from this church. This is what church is. This is how the church operates. We are to bear one another's burdens. But I can hear it now. Matt, that's Jesus's job. He's the only burden bearer. Right, He is, I get it. But I'll say this. You cannot read the New Testament and not see that one of the most practical ways that Jesus steps into people's lives is for the Church of God, the body of God, the Church of Christ, to come behind other people. We're the hope of the world. We've been tasked with the World. Church, as we follow Jesus, as he poured himself out for others. We now have a responsibility to pour ourselves out for others. Is it inconvenient? Yes. Let's just recognize the fact that it's never a good time to come behind somebody. You never have enough money. You never have enough time. You never have enough spare space in your life. It always comes at the worst time in my life. Every emergency phone call I ever get comes at the time where I just had to go ugggghhhh, right? You too, don't judge me. But it's just how it is. But we've got to link arms with the burden bearer Jesus, that took our burdens, took our sin, and put them into the grave. And now we walk together with the spirit that has been given to us. Till he comes back. With this idea that he, Jesus, the suffering servant, showed me how to do it.

He gave me the spirit to empower me to do it. And he gave me the community of faith around me to walk with me in this. To do what? To commit to him. To give my life to him, to fully belong to the church, and now begin to recognize that people in this place hurt. So let me say it like this. If you don't like the thought, here's the principle. If you don't like the thought of living this way of an interdependent community or family of Spirit-led believers, then you don't like the true way of following Jesus. Because it's his way. It's his way. The way of Jesus is biblical community and bearing one another's burdens. But listen, here's the thing. You can't do that when you're just trying to sneak in and out of a place. You can't do that when you're trying your best for nobody to know your name. You can't do that when you grace your presence here once a month. You can't do that when you're trying so hard to beat traffic out of a parking lot, not say anything to anybody. You can't do that. There has to be a vulnerability in walking out this part of spirit. There has to be a vulnerability, but there also has to be a responsibility to know that this church needs you to be a burden bearer. This church needs you to walk in a spirit in such a way that, you know, you are fulfilling the plans and the promise of Jesus.

Let me just say this. I mean, there's about 25% of you that do this amazingly well. And I can tell you, I have a list of people that I know that at any moment I could call on, and they would literally do anything in this space and praise be to God that there are those people here. But let me ask you this. What if the rest of us said yes to the spirit and began to watch how God moves in this place? And watch the harvest that comes from it? In fact, let me just finish this by just herky jerky reading these last verses. It says this. Paul says. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. That's a whole other message for another day. Right. Wish we had some time there. A man reads what he sows. Whatever he says to please the flesh, from the flesh, he will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit, from the spirit, he will reap eternal life. Verse nine He changes it up again. Let us not become weary In doing good, for in proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. And verse ten. He circles back around to us again, he says. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those, Man, I love this. He said hey, do good to everybody, right? But especially those who belong to the family of believers. Let me ask you, as we close this thing up as we close this whole series up, Let me tie a bow around all of this and just say this.

Walking in the spirit is realizing what Christ has done for us, grabbing hold of the power that He has given us, and walking it out in the context of the local body of believers to change the world and bear one another's burdens. You know why Paul did this on the backside of this? It wasn't just some random thought from him, man, this church was hurting. It had some hurting people. And he was looking at mature people saying, Hey, pour into those people. It was looking at people that were just kind of daring them, going man, it is time to commit to walking in the body. So let me ask you something. Are you sowing into the spirit? Are you sowing in the flesh? Are you sowing into what culture says should take all of your time and attention and accolades come from? Are you sowing into the only thing that is going to last for eternity? And that is the body of Christ? You say, well Matt, How do I. How do you do that? How do I walk in the spirit in the context of the local body of Christ? Super practical, really quick. Three things. Number one, you show up, you show up. You make this moment and your group's moments a priority in your life. You know what a priority is? That's something that other things bow to. A priority in your life. You make it a priority. You come regularly. Why? Because people can't walk with you if you're not here. Some of the most disheartening phone calls I've ever got were with people that are just walking through incredibly tragic situations and are really, really peeved at us as a church that we didn't know about it.

But they haven't been here in 12 years. Man, it puts us in such a hard situation because we don't know you. Man, we're family. We're family. We want you to be here. You come. Number two, you join You say Matt, Isn't it a little antiquated to join a church? No. Why? Because in joining, you were aligning yourself and committing and you are saying before God, and you are saying before all these other people, that I am uniting with a community of faith that wants to walk in the spirit together. Would you do this with me? That's what you're doing when you join a church. Maybe that's you today. Maybe you need to determine the relationship. Say this is home. I'm saying yes. And then here's the third way You begin to bear others burdens. You want to walk out the spirit in community? Man, you bear other’s burdens. You bear other people's burdens. Matt, How can I do that? I don't even know them. That's the point. How can I do that? I'm just so slammed with other things. God will redeem that time. How do you bear other’s burdens? You serve in the local family of faith. And when there's a need with compassion and boldness, you step in and you say, Let's walk in the spirit together.

Lord Jesus today, God we know that it's your desire, Lord Jesus, for us to walk in your Spirit, for us to find freedom in your spirit, for us to be the community of faith that loves you, that wants to walk with you, that cherishes you, and that proclaims to the world that you are the King. God, thank you for this book of Galatians to show us that it's all because of you. God, there's two pieces of the invitation this morning and God is moved in this all morning. Number one, God, I realize there are people in this church that need to join this church. To say I'm in. They need to scan the next steps QR that's on the screen or go to the worship guide and say, Hey, I'm in, this is home. But secondly, God, I know that there are people in this room that need to begin to serve. They need to begin to bear other people's burdens and need to make that next step, of man I need to get plugged in and begin to do my part. God, I just pray to move their hearts today. But God, Thirdly, on top of all that God, I also know there's some people with some major burdens today that have been ashamed, that have hidden them. And God today during this invitation. God, I just pray they find the freedom to leave their seat, to walk down to the front of this church, come over by the next step banner, and let one of us just pray with them and begin to walk this out in their life. God, that is the church and You'll bless that. Lord Jesus walk with us today in You're mighty, mighty power and God move in these next couple of minutes. It's in your name.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and sing together. I'll be right over here by the next steps. I got some people with me, and we love to bury burdens.

Follow Along with the Message

One Another’s Burdens

October 15, 2023

Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:25
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

PRINCIPLE: To experience Holy Spirit power, we must live lives constantly to the Gospel.

Galatians 5:26
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

PRINCIPLE: When we try to seek glory from anything but the gift of the Gospel, we will stay .

Galatians 6:1
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

PRINCIPLE: Walking in the Spirit healthy and loving responsibilities and relationships within the body of Christ.

PRINCIPLE: Burnt Hickory is not just an event to attend; it’s a to belong to.

Galatians 6:1
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

PRINCIPLE: The church is a hospital for the , not some exclusive hangout for the holy.

James 5:19–20
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Galatians 6:1
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.
Galatians 6:2
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

PRINCIPLE: As a follower of Jesus, you do not have to carry your burdens .

PRINCIPLE: The ministry of burden-bearing is for believers.

PRINCIPLE: If you don’t like the this way of an interdependent community or family of Spirit-led believers, then you don’t like the true way of following .

Galatians 6:7–10
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
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