Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / May 22, 2022 | More than a Feeling - Weariness

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May 22, 2022 | More than a Feeling - Weariness · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everybody.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Got two quick things before we get into the lesson this morning.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first is just wanted to recognize we had Christina Waldy and Olivia Day.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: They were leading us in worship this morning over here in Mulvaine.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're worshiping over in the cab in Mulvaine last week, Ell Sterling and Evan Will were leading in worship there.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's really neat to kind of emphasize multi-generational worship is such a wonderful thing and has always kind of been a staple at TBC, and these two are helping to continue that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: But moreover, and especially for these two ladies, they are graduating.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And along with a bunch of graduates here from Topeka Bible Church, uh, this was a picture from a dinner last weekend.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: We just wanted to recognize them.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're all fantastic, wonderful people, capable, smart, and you know, uh gonna do fantastic things, but just wanted to make sure that we could honor them and pray for them real quick.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: So would you guys bow your heads as we pray for the graduating class here at TBC?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, and Lord, we thank you for Christina and Olivia and all of the other seniors who have uh walked through the student ministry here at Topeka Bible Church.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Father, they are yours, and we pray that they would serve you to the best of their abilities.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, that you would give them um encouragement and they would feel your peace as they head on into whatever it is that they're doing next.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, that they would be able to find your will and to do it to the best of their ability.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, God, we thank you for how you have protected them and stewarded stewarded them through all of this time.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray for the parents as they have graduating seniors, uh, that you would give them comfort as well.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, God, most of all, we are thankful for Jesus that no matter what age we are, we can all um share in the beauty of the gospel as brothers and sisters in Christ.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, guys.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there we go.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: They hated doing that, so they're glad to be done with it.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um we are continuing our series called More Than a Feeling.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And as we've been going through this series, uh, we've said, hey, we are made in the image of God, and part of being made in the image of the Creator means that we share some attributes with him.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And as we reflect that image into the world around us, we share many of the emotions that God has as well.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you read the Bible, it's not hard to see that God has emotions and a wide diversity of them.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is that you and I, when we sort of express these God-given emotions, they are prone to sin and mistake.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we can sort of learn together how to better use these emotions, we can also draw closer in our relationship with God.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this morning's emotion is a little bit different than some of the other ones that we've looked at.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: My question for you is: have you ever felt weary?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Weariness is our topic this morning, and weariness is interesting because you might think in your head, you'd say, Oh, tired.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But yet we know that the Lord does not grow tired.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: He does not need to rest.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so weariness actually speaks to a much deeper emotion that is going on within us.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Greek and the Hebrew words that are used in the Bible to describe weariness gives this image or basically this picture of somebody who has worked in the fields all day long and now they are exhausted at the end of the day.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not just a physical tiredness, but that idea of exhaustion is also applied to our sort of emotions.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is both a physical and a mental exhaustion.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is the um the ache that comes with the continual onslaught of pain in this world.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is just being tired in the sense of, God, when are you going to rescue me from what it is that is happening in my life?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Weariness is a pain that reaches down into our soul.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when we understand it from this context, we can also see, and I'll talk about it in a little bit, that we actually do share this emotion with our Lord.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once more, not being tired as you're in sleepy, but rather we are weary and exhausted emotionally, just like our God.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: But there are plenty of verses in the Bible that talk about this.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 6, it says, I am weary from my groaning.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: With my tears, I dampen my bed and drench my couch every night.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of crying.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: My eyes are swollen from grief, they grow old because of all my enemies.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or Psalm 69 strikes the same tune.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am weary from my crying, my throat is parched, my eyes fail, looking for my God.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so this word weary is being drawn in here, and yes, they are sad, yes, they are feeling, you know, sort of despair, but the weariness is, Lord, there are so many problems around me, I cannot even count them all.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I feel like I'm in the midst of this situation and there is no rescue from it, there is no end in sight, I am tired of dealing with it, and my body and my soul are weary.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we're getting into here.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe the idea of enemies surrounding you doesn't strike home.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But perhaps it is that you have walked with somebody through their addiction and their continual inability to remain sober has been exhausting and has made you weary as you have journeyed with them on that path.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're somebody who yourself or a loved one has walked through cancer.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And over and over you see this continually coming up again and again, and you want to say, Lord, when is it gonna end?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why does this keep coming back?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening here?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're one of those people who has a job with an amazingly high turnover.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You see the underbelly of society.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are a police officer, an ER nurse, a firefighter, a social worker, you are a nonprofit volunteer, and because of all of the pain that you see in the world every day, sometimes people just want to get out of those professions.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It can be exhausting.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a parent with an adult child, and you continually see them make mistakes and steps that you would not have them make, and yet all you can really seem to do is just watch them, and you grow weary.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: All of these things come together, and they ultimately drive us to the exact same point where we are weary, we are exhausted emotionally, and it feels like we cannot go on.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So there are three things I want you to see this morning, three ways that I want you to better understand your weariness, right?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: The first is I want you to see basically how can we walk through weariness and find hope.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: The second is how we can relate to God through our weariness, and the third is in the midst of our weariness, the command that God has given us to sort of endure.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the first one comes along in the Gospels.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: With Matthew 11, Jesus is speaking, and he says, All things have been entrusted to me by my Father.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then the most famous part.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds nice, doesn't it?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Come to me, listen to me, follow me, I will give you rest for your weary souls.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yet what is often missed about this verse is that it is tied, this is verse 28, that it is tied to verse 27.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: When these two things are knit together, it stops becoming a verse about God being some genie that is going to grant us relief.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And rather we see that the message that Jesus was trying to convey is that those who are weary and burdened may come to him in a saving relationship, and then through that they will find rest for their souls.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is explaining this amazing relationship that he has with the Father, sort of this Trinitarian connection that they have, where the Father has sent the Son, and the Son is being revealed to the people, and through the Son, people may connect with the Father.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is explaining and inviting people into this amazing relationship with him.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And in that context is when he says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, then he begins to discuss about this yoke, right?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that yoke is the kind of thing that would have been put around the shoulders of oxen who were pulling a plow or were carrying a cart and a wagon.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's this idea of something that you have to carry around with you.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he was frustrated because the religious leaders of the time were placing these undue burdens on the people and making them jump through all of these hoops so that they could apparently appease God.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying, that's not the way that you are supposed to connect with God.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: But when you experience that saving relationship with Jesus, knowing that he died for your sins, you repent of your sins, and you walk with him as the Lord of your life away from those sins, that is where we experience rest from weariness.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how these two things are connected.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what is so deceptive is that we live in a world that is constantly trying to give us answers for problems that we don't really have.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: See, when I was in high school, I loved falling asleep watching QVC, okay?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: The infomercial channel, right?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've ever seen any of these infomercials, right, it's like, can you vacuum your house without choking yourself with your cords?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can you cook without burning everything down?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Can you pour juice without spilling four gallons of it on somebody's white shirt?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically like, are you a fool?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and do you recognize how much of a fool you are?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they create these situations that are so kind of grand and silly, but then by the end of it, you're watching and you're like, I need that thing.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do, I need that thing.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a sophomore in high school, but I need a 12-in-one cooker that can both pressure cook and grill at the exact same time.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's made by Emerald Legasi, it's probably pretty great.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you watch these things, and what's so amazing, frankly, and skilled about those channels is they create these sorts and fabricate these sort of problems, and by the end of watching them, you go, that's my problem.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then they give you a solution to that problem, and for only, you know, four payments of$19.99, all of your problems can go away.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you've probably seen a lot of these solutions in the as seen on TV stores or maybe the kiosks in the supermarket, where you go inside and everything that you saw in QVC or some infomercial is there on the shelves and you can buy it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: But when it's divorced from sort of the the pitch, the selling that they are trying to do, you realize that these are all just really cheaply made, mass-produced plastic knickknacks that are not really going to solve your problem.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: That, you know, the sauna pants are not going to actually help you lose 100 pounds, or the easy butter slicer that maybe you don't need a gizmo to help you slice a stick of butter.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you go into these stores though, you realize that all of these things separate are not actually that valuable.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: But something about when someone can show you and tell you what your problem is and connect with you, that becomes captivating.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the problem that we step into is that we hear people or we watch people or you know, we read people that are saying, Hey, I have your exact problem, and and maybe it's weariness, but perhaps it's something else, and they say, I have that exact problem, and I found freedom from it, and here are the six steps that I did to find freedom.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're a little bit more savvy and it's not some BuzzFeed article, but they just explain that, well, hey, if you just remove the toxic people from your life, if you just treat yourself, if you're just true to yourself, you will be able to sort of overcome this problem.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds so nice because they're connecting with you, but then when you try out the solution, you realize that it's just some some sort of cheap knockoff.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first lesson I want you to see about weariness is that it can only find true rest in Jesus Christ.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: The difficulty here though, and something that I I'm sort of burdened in the sense that it is a difficult truth, is that the rest that Jesus talks about is an eternal rest.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: The rest that we desire from him often is an immediate rest.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that is not what he is offering.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you the water of life, I am the bread of life, I will never run dry, I will never stop being able to feed you.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: But in all of these things, Jesus says there is a temporary relief that comes from knowing and having a relationship with the Savior of the universe, but ultimately we will find rest in eternity with him in heaven.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's important for us to see this distinction that weariness can only truly find rest in Jesus Christ.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And even beyond that, the weariness that we experience is something that we may have to endure for a time, because the rest that the complete rest that he talks about is something that has not yet arrived.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be fooled.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Don't look at the supermarket knockoffs of ways that we can be redeemed from our weariness.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Know that those things will never actually solve it, may only put a band-aid over it for a time.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: The only true solution is having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But even then, and it's not because God has failed, it is because we live in a fallen world filled with our sin and other people's sin that we are going to struggle.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: But in the midst of that struggling, this is one of the beautiful things about this series, is that we've been able to see that we can relate to God because he shares the emotions that we have.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: God gets weary.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Might I remind us, this is not tired, but nevertheless, you might be asking the question, well, what makes God weary?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: What in the world, and all when I consider being weary and all of the things that just sort of wash over me like waves, what in the world can make God weary?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Us.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 43.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: But Jacob, you have not called on me because Israel, you have become weary of me.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with incense.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have not bought me aromatic cane with silver, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're using the word weary a lot, but I bring up this passage because each one of these highlighted words is the exact same word in the Hebrew language.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the second reason I bring up this passage is because through that lens, we see that in the exact context that's presented here, both us and God are becoming weary.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what is fascinating about this is God's weariness is coming from our weariness.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in particular, the weariness of the Lord that results in a formal and false worship.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is what makes God weary.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is the answer to the question.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so God is listing off a number of different things here that they um how their weariness is manifesting itself and how it has affected their relationship with Him.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you walked with us through Leviticus, you might recognize some of these words about burnt offerings or sacrifices or the fat of the lambs.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, it is still sort of a disconnect for us because that's not our context.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're talking about wealth here at the end, but we don't measure wealth by the fat attached to our animals any longer.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I tried to put this into more of a modern context.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: My child, you have not called on me because, Christian, you have become weary of me.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: You frequently skip church, forsake your neighbor, and forget to pray.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have not burdened you with obligations or wearied you with oppressive commands.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You have not given to my church, nor recognized all the blessings that I have given to you.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: But what you have given in abundance are your sins.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I am more weary of your worship than you are.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: God grows weary because we are weary, and it affects our relationship with Him.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is how we can relate to God, yet it is different than last week.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about loneliness, and we said, God, Jesus Christ, experienced loneliness when he was on the cross, dying for the sins of humanity.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And through that, and through some of the language of Isaiah 53, telling us about how he probably was a pretty lonely kid too, we have a sympathetic high priest that can relate to us.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little different here because our emotion, and in particular how we have allowed in our sin that emotion of exhaustion, emotional and soul exhaustion, to influence our relationship with God negatively, it creates weariness within our Lord.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And through that lens, though, we can understand two very important things.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: The first is that we've already talked about the Lord grows weary of false worship.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is what uh creates weariness within our Creator.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we can see that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again in the Bible when we see his relationship with the Israelites, that who he that's who he was talking to in Isaiah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: But even so now, where God says in that passage, he says, I have not asked you to do anything that is not reasonable for your Lord and Savior.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I have asked you to give, but not so you might appease me, but because it is stewardship and it is recognizing sort of the gifts that I have already given to you.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've asked you to connect with me and to pray with me, but it's because I am your God and I want to know what is going on, and I want to minister with you and love you, and for you to feel that love.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I mean, my yoke is easy, Jesus says, my burden is light.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yet when we have this sort of formal, distant relationship with God, it might appear to the world around us like we are living for him, but he knows our hearts, and that makes him weary.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the second truth, though, that I want you to see with this is that in that relationship where we are acknowledging how we have made the Lord weary, we can actually find comfort.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because just as it travels one way and we can see that, man, perhaps for a second, when um when we feel wearied by the world around us, whether it's disease or a coworker or a circumstance or just our own sadness, when we feel weary, we get a small glimpse into the way that our Savior feels as he lovingly chases after people who are constantly holding him at bay.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: We get to understand just, I mean, God's ways are above our ways, so we can't say that we know exactly what it feels like, but when we are weary, we get a glimpse into how God feels when we reject him.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it flows the other way too, that we can look at the grace and the mercy and the generosity of our God in those circumstances where we have failed him, and then apply that to our situations of weariness.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can apply grace and mercy and love and patience into these moments and to these places that have a chance to overwhelm us, but because we have the example of Jesus Christ, they will not.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is how it flows both ways.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord grows weary of false worship, yet in that space we can connect with God, we can understand a measure of our Lord and Savior better, and we can use his example to influence our situation.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the third and final thing that I want you to see is the Lord has a message for us about the way that we are supposed to act in the midst of weariness.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking in Galatians 6, verses 7 through 9, Paul says, Don't be deceived, God is not mocked.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever a person sows, he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let us not grow weary of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: In the context here of Galatians 6, Paul is basically giving this message of how to live for the Lord instead of living for the flesh.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: That we basically have these two roads that we walk down, and we can choose between them, and one is living and enforcing and sort of um feeding.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Our sin nature, and the other one is following after the Spirit of the Lord.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it affects the way that we act too.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so in that context, Paul is speaking about the Lord, and he says, Don't be deceived.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: God is not mocked.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: No one has ever duped the creator of the universe or pulled the wool over his eyes.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: He knows all and he sees all.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's important for Paul to set that up because the immediate verse following, he is talking about salvation.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: He says, For whatever a person sows, he will also reap, whatever he plants, he will harvest, because the one who sows to his flesh, his sin nature, will reap destruction from the flesh.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the one who sows to the Spirit of God will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, When you sow, when you plant in your relationship with God and see him as your Savior, you will reap at the proper time an eternal life and full rest with him.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yet there is this other road that you could travel down, where you sow into your flesh.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: You basically plant and nurture the seeds of sin, and through that you will reap destruction.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: This mechanism is sort of a divine one that seems fulfilled in all of God's commands about what his kingdom will be like.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: As much as Jesus talks about the first will be last and the last will be first, that is more of a social dynamic.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: What we see is that in God's kingdom, those who work will be rewarded.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that reward is coming in full and will be paid in full when we are in heaven with him.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a disconnect here.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: There is an already but not yet sort of mechanism where we see that those who are putting forth this effort for his kingdom will see it be returned to them, but perhaps not now.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe even now it seems very discouraging.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are being attacked by Satan.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: He does not want us, the Lord's plan to succeed, that we are trying to carry out.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: It might be discouraging because we don't see the fruit of it in an immediate sense, we don't get the instant gratification, or maybe it's because it's just really hard sometimes to try and do the things that God has called us to do in an eternal capacity.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: All of this stuff comes at us, and Paul says, Hey, I know it's hard.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Don't grow weary of doing good.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't become so tired and exhausted from this world and this fallen world that you fail to do the good things that God has called you to do.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And what's implicit here is there is a divine question, which is when things do get hard, when you grow weary, are you going to quit or are you going to continue forth with the strength that God gives you to do it?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's really where we're at here.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that actually seems to be the focus of the Lord when we talk about weariness.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: See, in all of the afflictions that come our way in this world, God never says that they're easy.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: He never sort of brushes over them and saying, Oh, just kind of get over it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is not the attitude of our Lord.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also his command and his instruction that there are greater things for us than overcoming our momentary afflictions.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever it is that you are struggling with or a loved one is struggling with, know that it is temporary.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it lasts until the day that the Lord calls you home, it is still temporary.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is not easy, but it is temporary.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it is in that space that God says, Do not grow weary in doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to see that this verse, or these pass this passage, rather, that Paul is saying here, he says, For those who have been saved, they must not grow weary in doing good, because some who are saved have given up and will still go and be with the Lord, but will recognize that the work they did in this world was for temporary purposes, and they did not sow into the spirit as they should have.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these things come together, and it comes to a point where you have the possibility that you could be disappointed, because you had the expectation that the Bible was going to be an as seen on TV kind of solution to your problem, that you were going to be able to just buy something or very easily grab something, and it was going to fix all of the problems that have come your way, all of the hard problems and the difficult problems that God does not say are easy.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we understand and hopefully can dig into this idea that because we know Jesus Christ, because we have his yoke upon us, which is light and is not burdensome, we can carry forth, because whatever it is that is afflicting us, whatever it is that is afflicting our family, it is ultimately not too strong for us to be able to overcome.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: This was the message that Jesus left his disciples with, or rather comforted them with, after he had dropped kind of the bombshell that he was going to be leaving them, and they were in distress.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is also how we'll finish this morning.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sorry, I did have a summary slide here.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: We must not grow weary of doing good.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, in that, sort of to that end, in John 16, Jesus says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: You will have suffering in this world.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Be courageous.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: The literal translation is, Take heart, I have conquered the world.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is talking to the disciples, and he's saying, Hey, okay, we got to talk for a second because I'm not gonna be here the whole time.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna have to sort of carry this message and go on and do it yourself, and there's gonna be a lot of suffering.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking to a couple of the disciples specifically, and they might not know it yet.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He tells them later, they're gonna end up dying because they love and trust Jesus and tell other people about him.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says, there's gonna be suffering in this world, but be courageous, I have conquered the world.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: How is it possible that Jesus can say that he has conquered the world when some of his disciples are going to be killed for their faith?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sure doesn't feel like they conquered when Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, it doesn't feel like they have been conquered when James is stoned or Jesus' brother is thrown off the temple.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel like conquering.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: When we struggle, yet we say we have a faith in Jesus.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: How can God say that he has conquered the world?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because he is talking about eternally, he is the victor.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: He has already defeated Satan.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Satan right now is like the animal in the cage that knows that its time is near and is lashing out and biting.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so we experience these pains.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: We also experience pains because we make mistakes and other people make mistakes, and we live in a fallen world that's just kind of filled with that stuff.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yet Jesus says, I have conquered the world.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is coming and it is coming soon.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so because we know that we are already victors in Christ, we can take heart and endure the sufferings of this world and therefore have peace.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: That is how it works.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, in conclusion, I get I guess what I'm trying to say here is I don't want you to hear me expressing this idea that what you're going through is not hard.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, what I'm saying is it is hard.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says it's hard, and that you can endure it because you know Jesus Christ as your Savior.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that in the midst of your difficulty, you can set an amazing example for others through your witness that in the midst of weariness you have not failed in doing good works.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have shown as an example of a believer who has sowed in the Spirit and will ultimately reap these good things.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, it is my encouragement, but also a reality that we might continue to be weary.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you are weary now, it that may persist.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: But know that your weariness will not defeat you, your weariness will not overcome you, because Christ has conquered the world.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you trust in him as the only solution for your weariness, you will find rest now and ultimately in the future.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: That he died on the cross for our sins, that we might take his yoke upon us that is light and easy.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, it does not mean that the road that we walk is simple, nor that the decisions that we have to make are always easy.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: But God, you have set a clear path for us.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have made it abundantly clear how we are supposed to live our lives.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, Father, I ask that for those who are feeling weary right now, who are needing encouragement, they would feel the message that you gave to those who were struggling, saying, Come to me, learn from me, listen to me, and I will give you rest for your souls.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Father, may by the power of your spirit, those who are feeling weary right now, may they feel rest.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, it might not be a rest that lasts for the rest of their life.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, until weariness comes again, but Father, may you give them rest.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, for those of us who are perhaps enduring a long battle, Father, may you give us hope and the eternal rest that is coming, where all of those things will be satisfied.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, most of all, where those who have continued to endure and worked hard in the midst, Father, may they look forward to the harvest that they will find when they see you face to face.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, finally, I pray for those who perhaps have a sense that their time of meeting you might be nearer than others.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: And God, that you would give them endurance to finish the race well.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, getting excited that the time of harvest is near.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, looking back on a life of sowing that was so efficacious.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: God, that you have been so faithful through all of those times, and that we may reflect on the weariest moments of our life and see that you were strengthening us even during then.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we love you and we thank you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming today.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.