(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, this evening, we're taking one break from our normal Bible study through 1 Samuel. We'll pick that back up again, but I wanted to preach a sermon this evening. If we focus on verse 2, the Bible reads, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The title of the sermon this evening is, Bear Ye One Another, Bear Ye One Another. And I think there's three aspects when I was studying this, when I'm looking at this, that I feel like are really important to bearing ye one another. The first point that I have is that in order to bear ye one another, you must be one who wants to serve. It's about serving. What is serving? It's not doing something for yourself. It's helping someone else. Let's start again. Let's look at verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye with your spiritual restorer such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. We ought to have a desire in our heart to help our brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is one who wants to help others, who wants to bear burdens of others. This person's struggling with something. And oftentimes, when people are in struggle, when people are having difficulty, we see that having someone help them will cause them to have less fault, cause them to have less struggle, less sin, all kinds of different ramifications that come when someone's going through struggle. Someone might be struggling financially, and they decide to quit the church because, you know, it's too hard. Maybe I can't drive to church, I don't have the money to. Or maybe I need to go work more. Or maybe, you know, whatever the case is, where if someone could walk, could step in and say, hey, what's going on? Maybe I could help. Because, look, you don't want anybody to quit the church because then they're going to get in all kind of manner of sin. You don't want them to quit reading their Bible. You don't want them to quit soul winning. You don't want them to quit doing any of these things because then you're just going to fall into greater sin. You're not going to get more godly by just staying home. You have to get into church. You have to be at church. You have to be reading your Bible. You have to be singing praises to God. You have to get alongside other like-minded brethren and let iron sharpen iron. It's important. We're a family. We are Christian. Christian is not do it alone. It's do it with others. And if every single one of us is trying to help other people, that's going to be great. Imagine everybody is on your team. Everybody's looking out for you. Everybody's trying to help you. Wow, that's going to be great. You're going to be successful. When everybody's worrying about themselves, we're all going to fail. And we all have different struggles. We all have different temptations. We all have different lives. We all have different strengths. We all have different weaknesses. But when we come together, we can be complete. No one in this room is complete on their own. Say, oh, Pastor Shelley, are you a complete? No. I need you guys. It would be awkward if I'm up here preaching by myself. I'd just go home. I mean, I'm not here to be some online prophet. I came here to preach to you guys, to be here and to bear one another's burdens, to have the fellowship. Look, you don't get the fellowship and the camaraderie. You don't get to bear one another's burdens by going online. You got to get into church. You know, and unfortunately, because of the advent of the internet, people will forsake church. Well, you're not doing that which is right. You're going to fall into grievous sin. You got to get into church, and you got to let the brethren help bear one another. Look at verse three, for a man think of himself to be something. When he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. If you think you can do it on your own, you're wrong. Look, we need one another. We need to rely on other people in order to be successful. Don't think I'm going to be this lone ranger. Look at verse four, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. So we don't want to take either extreme. Sometimes people, when they hear some commandment in the Bible, or they hear some type of advice, it's easy for them to just take it to a weird extreme. You say, okay, so does this mean I do nothing? If other people are supposed to bear my burdens, does that mean I don't have to take responsibility for my own actions? Does that mean like, well, I mean, you know, other people in the church, they can pay for me. I don't, you know, I don't need to go out and work. They'll just, you know, they'll pay for my mortgage, and they'll pay for my food, and they'll do everything for me. Well, keep your finger here, because we're going to keep going, but go to 2 Thessalonians chapter three. The reality is we're supposed to bear one another's burdens, burdens. Does that mean necessities? Does that mean just everything? We're just puppets, and we're going to let someone else, you know, move us and control us. No, you have to take responsibility for yourself. You have to be one who can provide for himself. He can take responsibility for his actions, but the reality is we've got to balance that with, hey, I can't be a lone ranger, but at the same time, I can't expect everybody to do everything for myself. So what should you do? I should strive to be my own person as much as possible and then lean on others when necessary. Be someone that can sucker others and help others. But there's some ways that people think, well, I'll just rely on others to do all the things that I need. That's a wrong mentality. That's unbiblical. Look at verse number six. It says, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not of the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you. Neither do we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy bodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. For ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. So according to the Bible, if someone would refuse to work, so now they're starving, they're hungry, I'm not going to get a job, I'm just going to be lazy, I'm just going to do whatever I want, I can't keep a job. He's not just supposed to be sitting here and everybody's like, oh, poor you, you know, let's buy you some groceries, and let's take you out to dinner, and let's help you out. No, the Bible says if he's not going to work, don't feed him. He's got to prove himself. You're not even helping him, you're enabling him to be worse of a person. Now he has no motivation to get a job. Now he's just worthless and a derelict, and he's not somebody that's supposed to be around, because look, you've got to be able to work. Now what happened if there was a guy in a church and he got in an accident? Now it's not because he doesn't want to work, but maybe something's keeping him from working, and people in the church say, man, that's a burden. Why do we bear this guy's burden? Why don't we help him out financially or give him some food or do something because they're in a unique situation of a burden? It's not the necessity, look, normal men can go out and work. I'm not going to help buy your food when you just refuse to work, when you refuse to do any labor. So according to the Bible, we have to balance those two concepts of when you bear one another's burdens, it's not to enable someone. We're not trying to enable people that have problems. We're trying to help people when they have crisis, when they have struggles, when they're trying to do that which is right, but then a burden comes upon them. We say, hey, I can help you with that burden. I can help share the load, buddy. I can come alongside when there's tribulation and persecution and there's struggle, but at the same time, people have to take responsibility for their own actions. They have to be their own man, they have to be their own person. Now go back to Galatians chapter 6. Don't enable people to keep sinning and doing wickedly. The Bible says, but ye be not weary in well doing. It also said, if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed, yet count him not as an enemy but admonishment of his brother. Saying the guy that wouldn't work, kick him out of the church, that he could be ashamed, that he'd feel bad about it, and then that might motivate him to fix the problem, to get it right. Look at verse 5, for every man shall bear his own burden, but let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. He not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. So some people say, oh, once saved, always saved, that's a license to sin. Wrong. Whatsoever you sow, you shall reap. God is not mocked. You say, hey, Pastor Shelley, you keep saying I'm going to have punishment for my sins. That's not what I'm saying. That's what God's saying. God's saying when you sin, when you do wickedly, and you're saved, God will punish you. He chasteneth and scourges every son in whom he receiveth. God says he that spareth the rod hated this son, and God doesn't hate us, he loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can separate us from the love that's in Christ Jesus. And because God loves you, he will chastise you. He will spank you. He will scourge you. Promise from God. The same promise that gave you eternal life, it's the same promise he's going to punish you when you need it. You say, hey, I'm not going to come to church when Pastor Shelley's not here. Who cares if I notice? God notices. God notices when you're not reading your Bible. God notices when you're doing those things in secret. And God will repay. There's a pastor in Fort Worth that was doing wickedly behind closed doors, but guess what? God saw it. God knew. Oh, did he get chastised? You bet he got chastised. You bet he received punishment. Look, you can't just go on and do all this wicked stuff and just get away with it. The only people that get away with it are the unsaved false prophets. But guess what? When they die, they're not going to get away with it. Look, there's wicked people that seemingly get away with all manner of sin and wickedness. But hell is not a place to get away with it. There's nothing that you could ever experience on this earth that would be even close to one second in hell. And so the people that receive the greatest punishment many times in this earth are the saved. The saved, born again believers. Oh, that's a license to sin. I don't think so. I don't want that kind of punishment. I don't want that type of scourging. No pastor's perfect. No person's perfect. But obviously when you're just a major hypocrite, when you have spiritual wickedness that you're bringing into the church, God is going to judge that. God is not one to just sit here and say, well, I told you I would do it, but now I'm not. That would make God a liar. That would mock God, but God's not going to get mocked. He will repay. Go if you would to Proverbs chapter number nine. The reality is you will bear your sins. You will bear the burdens of your sins. The Bible says in Proverbs nine verse ten, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shall be wise for thyself. If thou be wise, thou shall be wise for thyself. But if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it. He's saying, look, when you do wickedly, you're going to bear that sin. You're going to feel the ramifications of that sin. But the sad thing is, is when you sin, it will affect others. Go to Exodus chapter number 20. Exodus chapter number 20. Especially for the men in this room. I preached a sermon. It was probably the second, it was the second sermon I preached for this church. It was entitled The Sins of the Father. And the reality is, is that sin rolls downhill. And whenever you're in a position of leadership, no matter what that leadership is, it will greatly affect the people under your leadership. And especially a pastor who may be over lots of different people spiritually. He has his own family. There's all kinds of people affected. And when that person sins, it's going to affect others greatly. Look at Exodus chapter 20 verse 5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. So it's this saying that, oh, well, my sin's just going to affect me. It's saying it's going to affect your children. And that's just obvious. I mean, I've gone out. I've knocked on doors. I'm talking to this person. I say, hey, can I show you the gospel? No, I'm Catholic. My parents are Catholic. My grandparents are Catholic. We've been Catholic. I'm not interested. I know that y'all's Bible's different. Yeah, it is different. Can I show you what it says? No. And we see the iniquity of the fathers is causing this person to not even be interested in the gospel of them that hate him. So you can break that by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, because look what it says. It says, in showing mercy unto the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. So obviously, once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God's not going to bring iniquity from your parents back down on you. But you're going to still suffer repercussions of your parents no matter what. Even if you're saved, the sins of the parents will often affect the children in some way. They may have to go through suffering and affliction and all kinds of things because of what their parents do. Go back to Galatians chapter number six, Galatians chapter six. And the reality is, when we see a nation or we see a group of people that continually hate God, they continually reject the gospel. That area of the world just waxes worse and worse and worse. Why? Because they have this compounding iniquity from their grandparents to their grandparents, and they just keep rejecting God and hate God. And the Bible says the nations that forget God will be turned into hell. Why? Oh, you say, oh, there's these countries where they're really wicked. Yeah. They hate the Bible. You find me a really righteous nation that doesn't like the Bible. It doesn't exist. There's heavy oppression. There's all kinds of spiritual wickedness in these places. It's evil. Usually they result into cannibalism and all kinds of evil, demonic, sick practices. You know where you get clean, healthy living? From biblical Christianity. From where Christians come around. Look at verse nine. And let us not be weary and well-doing. Oh, yeah, that reminds me of 2 Thessalonians, not being weary and well-doing. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith. So what is he saying? He's saying, hey, we ought to bear one another's burdens. What's my first point? My first point is that we need to serve others. We need to help others. And God gives us a promise. He says if you do it faithfully, if you don't faint, you'll reap. God says, hey, whatever you sow, you're going to reap. That's good and bad. So obviously we're kind of talking about some bad, but you know what, when you sow good, when you sow that which is right, when you're humble and you're serving others, God says you're going to reap that. You're going to reap the benefits of serving and loving others. God's not mocked in that direction either. He's not going to take somebody who's faithfully serving him, who's a faithful and humble servant, who's doing that which is right, and just throw them in the trash. Just disregard them. Just ruin their life. Some people have this idea that, man, I was serving God, and I was doing that which is right, and I'm reading my Bible, and all of a sudden God's just going to destroy my life because Pastor Shelley is going to go up to Fort Worth. You really think that I am going to control your destiny, or is God going to control your destiny? Is God the one that's in control? You really think if you're serving God, you're serving Christ, you're doing that which is right, God's not going to take care of you? You don't put your trust in man. You don't put your trust in the pastor behind the pulpit. You put your trust in the Bible, in God's word, in the pure words. You know what? When there's going to be great struggle, and great tribulation, and great persecution, and you don't know who to trust, this is who you can trust. This is where you can rest upon the Scriptures. You say, I don't know what decision to make. What does this say? You say, I don't know what it says. Well, then you're not going to know where to go. This is the light. This is the lamp unto your feet. This is going to guide you and direct you, and when you make these decisions, you won't be ashamed. When you trust in Christ, you're never going to be ashamed. You're never going to fall. And even though there might be a setback, even though there might be darkness, God will lead you through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil. Go if you went to Deuteronomy chapter number 8. Deuteronomy chapter number 8. He said that we should do good unto all men, but especially those of the household of faith, meaning we should try our best to help the brethren, to help Christians. When we see a Christian struggling, we should have great desire and love in our heart to help this person. Look at Deuteronomy 8 verse 1. All the commandments which I have commanded you this day shall you observe to do, that ye may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware in your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whither thou wouldst keep his commandments or know. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knowest not. Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. You know, when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness, God was using that to tempt them, to test them. He was going to see, are you going to really follow my commandments? And when they failed, when they didn't have faith in him, he's like, well, guess what? Now you get to wander in the wilderness for forty years. But what if they had just endured just a little bit of time? They would have gone straight in the promised land. They would have had the best time of their lives. So what was the problem? They didn't actually trust his word. They weren't humbled by the word of God. And when they entered into a wilderness in their life, they decided to get so fixated on the flesh, get so fixated on the struggle, get so fixated on everything else and not trust God that they stayed there. You say, oh man, I don't want to stay in a wilderness. Then keep your eyes on Christ. Look and live, not just for salvation, for your whole life. Always keep your eyes upon Jesus and He will guide you. He will direct you. God will not just desert you. And any trouble, any persecution, any tribulation you have when you're following Christ, He'll make it work out for good. It'll end up being better. They were in Egypt, under suffering and oppression and wickedness, all kinds of horrible things happening to them. They're slaves. Well, they didn't have to go through a little bit of wilderness to get into the great promised land, but they rejected it. They didn't want it. So their children ended up getting it. Go to 1 Peter 5. The point of being a Christian is being a humble servant. How are you going to be humble by God's commandments? God will use tribulation and struggle to humble you so that way you can esteem other better than you. Look at 1 Peter 5. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all of your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. So according to the Bible, we must humble ourselves and rest upon Christ, putting all of our cares upon Him. You say, I'm struggling. Put your cares on Christ. It's hard. Put your cares on Christ. Don't put it on man. Put it on Christ. Now, you can be Christ by proxy for someone else when they're struggling, when they're hurting, and you say, I can bear that person's burdens. I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to think about someone else, and I'm going to step in, and I'm going to be the person that Christ wants to use to help them. Christ wants to use you to help others to be the person in time of need to help them. And we see we need to be sober because there's a lot of enemies. The devil would love nothing more than to destroy you personally, get you out of this church, get you to stop reading your Bible, discourage you, distract you, take you away from serving God, and look, it's a fight. It's a real fight. There is so many enemies. Man, if this last week hasn't taught me anything, there's more enemies than I thought. And they want to say all men are evil and wickedness and sow discord and put distrust in your mind and try to discourage you, but I'm telling you what. The King James Bible is going to stand the test of time. It's going to defeat all the enemies, all the foes you trust in your Bible. Go if you would to Matthew chapter 20. You know how you're a great Christian? By being a humble servant, by being one who serves and loves others, and God will take care of you. He says, look, if you humble yourself, I'll exalt you. If you decide other people are more important, if you decide to serve other people, guess what, I'm going to exalt you. I like that. That's what Christ did. Christ is the best example of a servant. He's the ultimate example of a servant. That's why he gets the ultimate exaltation. He gets the highest praise, the highest glory. Jesus said in John chapter 13, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Jesus Christ said, the way you can tell who are the real Christians, who are the real disciples, will be exemplified by their love. That's why I love this church. That's why I love it when I go to Fort Worth and I go to Steadfast Baptist Church, and you see people who actually love you. They're not just saying it. They're not just, I love you. Well, can you help me? Well, I'm busy. I've got to move some boxes. Could you do that for me? No. People say that all day long, I love you. I would do anything for you. Can you get me a bottle of water? Nah, I'm busy. You walk in the door and you say, hey, what can I get you? I'll take a glass of water. Nah. It's just feigned lips. It's just feigned words. And you go to the mega non-denominational church today, and they say they love everybody. You know who they really love? Themselves. Look, Christ says, you know who you can tell who's a real disciple, who's the real Christian? It's the guy that's humble and wants to serve others. He loves other people from his heart. It's genuine. It's genuine based on his actions. He says people will look at that and say, wow. A church is willing to just give themselves to another church or bless another church or care about other people. And hey, this church is struggling, and we want to send our men to go out there and bless that church and bless that church. This is where you see the love of Christ is when you esteem other better than yourself. Jesus even told us how to be great. Look at Matthew 20, verse 20. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons worshiping and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She said unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one at thy right hand and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto him, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them, and they that are great exercised authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. You say, Why did I come to church? Why did I just want to get fed for me? I need help. Help me. Is that why Christ came to the earth? He said, I didn't come here to get ministered to. I came to minister. Why don't you have the outlook as a Christian to say, You know what? I'm coming here to exhort the brethren, to help the brethren, to encourage the brethren to serve and to love and to help others. I'm not in it for myself. I'm in it for others. That's what Christ is saying. And he says, You want to be great? That's your attitude. Not, Oh, I can't wait to get a title. I can't wait for everybody to look at me and get my name in the bulletin and look so sharp. Oh, look at me. I'm pastor, you know. I'm evangelist. I'm deacon, you know. Who cares? It's vain. It means nothing. You think in heaven, like the pastors will have this extra sash, like I was a pastor. It means nothing. It has no impact. You know what has impact? What do you do with the opportunities that have been granted unto you? The pastor is not more important. We all have the same level of importance. But my question is, where's your heart? Is your heart to come here and just to take? Or is your heart to give? Is your heart to help others? Go to Romans chapter number 12. Let's look at the chapter that we're supposed to be memorizing. I hope people in here are memorizing it. Look at verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. According to the Bible, we're all important. We're all one body. When we see another Christian, we can say, This is my body. This is a member of my body. I want to help it. I want to love it. I want to cherish it. We ought to have love for all Christians. You know, this also applies to tough love, though, too. You know, everybody thinks that love is just always being nice. Love is just always being a friend, like super friendly and super kind. Oh, you're so great. I love everything about you. You know, sometimes you need to get rebuked. Sometimes you need to be reproved by a friend because he looks at what you're doing. He says, That's wrong, buddy. That's wicked, buddy. You need to make a change, buddy. And I say this because I love you, because I care about you. You know, the person that doesn't love you, they'll just say nice things to your face. They're not going to say anything mean. The person that really hates you in their heart, they're just like, Yeah, you're great. I really like you. That guy's a jerk. That guy's stupid. But behind your back, they say all manner of evil. They gnash on you with their teeth. This is what the Bible teaches. Look, do the Pharisees come to Jesus Christ and say mean things to him? I don't know a mean thing they said to him. They were saying, Oh, you teach the Bible right. Everything you say is good. Good master, good teacher. You know, you're so great. But then they lie in wait to trap him in his words because they hated him in their hearts. They were wicked to the core. When someone comes to you and they're telling you all manner of niceties and they're trying to make you feel good, you ought to be aware of that person. What are you trying to get out of me? What's the point? Why are you coming up and saying something that's not true? Look at verse six. Having been gifts differing according to grace that is given to us with a prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering or he that teaches on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence. He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. We all have different giftsings. And look, if you have rule over anything, it needs to be with diligence. Brother Eli, you're going to be leading and ruling. It's got to be with diligence. You say, what's diligence? It's watching. It's taking the oversight. It's being careful. Not only that, it's being proactive, not sitting back and just letting problems occur, saying this looks like a problem could happen. I'm going to go ahead and fix it right away. I'm just going to step in and make sure that the situation's not going to spin out of control. There's not going to be a problem. I'm looking. I'm watching. I'm careful. I'm going to care for things. I'm not going to just let things go. Hey, there's a problem. Let's fix it now. Why not just fix the problem now? That's what's diligent. The person that's slack, the person that's slothful, will just let things go by the way. Somebody will take care of that eventually. No, the leader needs to step in. The ruler needs to step in. He needs to get his hands dirty. He needs to be the one serving and helping, serving and setting the example, and nipping problems in the bud, not just letting them fester and become worse and worse and worse. Look at verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation. Man, that's a good verse. Abhor that which is evil, cleave that which is good. You know what I don't like is dissimulation. People that are just constantly trying to fight and bicker, why'd you put Eli in charge? I'm smarter than him. I'm taller than him. Who isn't? No, I'm just kidding. Look, you can just sit there and back bite and be mean and be evil and be wicked. That's not what the b- Love without dissimulation. Let love be without. Just love people, help people, serve people. Dissimulation is concealment of one's thoughts, feelings or character pretense. Saying if you actually love somebody and you can compliment them, make it be pure, genuine. Don't go up to somebody that you don't love and say that you love them. That's horrible. That's what every other person does. We just love everybody. No, you don't. You're just lying. Your love is with dissimulation. You don't truly love me. Look, and the people that say that, they hate our guts. They hate us because they're like, you're so judgmental and you're like a Pharisee and all these accusations that they want to throw at us. Look at verse 10. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. That's intense. There's something you want, but you say, you know what, I'd rather him have it. I prefer that guy. I think that guy's better. I hope he gets it. I hope we can bless and encourage him. Look at 11. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, weep with them with weep, be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not I things, but condescending men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. I like this verse because it's saying, look, even if you thought you were smarter than somebody else, you got more together. I'm a better Christian. I'm a better soul winner. The Bible says condescend, meaning what? Get on the same level as whoever you're with and just help them. You know what? There was a time when I couldn't go soul winning. There was a time when I didn't know what the Bible said in James chapter 2. There was a time when I hadn't read my Bible cover to cover. There was a time where I was struggling in my marriage. There was a time when I was, you know, young and a teenager and foolish and stupid and had problems and had sin. So when you see another guy, don't think, well, I'm better than that guy. Think, I was like him. I need to get on his level and talk to him and say, hey, I struggled the same way, buddy. I was probably worse than you. Let me help you. Let me show you what changed for me. Let me show you what the Bible says. Let me encourage you. Condescend the men of low estate. Go, if you would, to Exodus chapter 18. Look, the point of being a Christian is to serve. And David said, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. You know, when I tried to come in this situation to try and help steadfast Baptist church, well, my heart's desire, which maybe you can't trust me, my heart's desire was for peace, to help people, to love people, to serve people, to take on their burdens, to try and esteem other better than myself, to esteem their desires and wants more than my own. But when I speak, they're for war. There's a faction of wicked, you know, Judases that don't like it. So when I say, I want to help you, I want to love you, they go behind my back, and they're like, it's not going to work, this ray of bones coming in, he's trying to take over. It's like, look, I'm just trying to help here. It's ridiculous. And we see David is the one that said that. And David was a good leader. So my second way that we can bear one of those burdens, first, we need to be willing to serve, but the second way is we need to be willing to delegate. If there's all these people ready to serve, then the leader needs to delegate, needs to help them actually serve. You need to be willing to use people that are willing to serve. It goes hand in glove. If you get one of these off, then you're an imbalance. If you have nobody that wants to serve, well, it doesn't matter how much you delegate. And if you have all these people that want to serve, but you don't delegate, then nothing gets done. We see David was a good leader because he was willing to delegate. You see, David had many mighty men, and he gave them all kinds of responsibilities. He got to the point where he could just be at the castle doing nothing if he wanted. Now, that wasn't a good decision, but it was good on his part that he had that much delegation. Job was in charge of the army. Job's doing his bidding for him. That's good. It's good in a leader to delegate to a point to where he doesn't have any of the responsibilities. He's letting others take in those roles. Look at Exodus chapter 18. We're going to see when Moses does the same thing. Look at verse 10. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, He was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone? And all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening. So what's happening? Well, Jethro, he visits his son-in-law. He sees that his son-in-law is judging all of the children of Israel. We're talking about millions of people. Talk about a line of a million people coming to ask you questions. I can hardly handle it with ten people wanting to ask me a question, let alone a million people. He's trying to give judgment. He's trying to do that. And his father-in-law looks at it and he says, What are you doing? This doesn't seem right. Look at verse 15. And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God, when they have a matter they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. And Moses' father-in-law said unto them, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee, for this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. So he's saying, Look, what you're doing is not sustainable. You're going to wear away. You're going to perish. Moses, you've got to share the burden. You've got to let others bear the burden with you. And you know what? It'll be greater. It'll be better when you have more people involved. Look at verse 19. Hearken now unto my voice, I give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people the Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God, and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten. So he says, You need to share the burden, but guess what? Make sure it's good people. Don't find bad people and put them in charge. Don't find all the business owners. You know, this is what most churches do, right? They get a bunch of deacons to run their church, and it's all the rich business owners. Well, they failed this test where it says hating covetousness. Because guess what? Most business owners are in it for the money. They're not in nonprofit corporations. They're in very much for-profit corporations because they want lots and lots of money. Now, I'm not saying owning a business is wrong. I'm not saying owning a business is wicked. I'm just saying that when you're in that type of a position, many times there's a stronger temptation to be filled for the love of money, to be filled with covetousness, and we see here that they're supposed to hate covetousness. So you've got to pick somebody that's able. That was the first thing. You know, not everybody's able to be a leader. That's just a reality. Like, some people are just not good leaders. Some people are good followers. Some people are good at other things. Not everybody's a leader. So you've got to look at people, and you've got to judge and discern Moses who looks like someone that could be a leader, who's actually able to lead. Now, that's such as fear God, someone that doesn't really care about man. He really cares about what the book says. He cares about the commandments of God. He would be afraid to break one of God's commandments on purpose, presumptuously. That would terrify him. Now, that men of truth, this is a person that's very trustworthy. He's always telling the truth. Now, that hating covetousness, because when people are put in positions of authority, it's very easy for them to abuse their power for money, to abuse their power to satisfy the lust of their flesh. So you need to find a guy that hates covetousness to put him in a position of power. Because the reality is, whether it be power or money or anything, it will magnify your attributes. So if I won the lottery, if I won a billion dollars, what's going to happen is it's going to magnify the attributes that are in my heart. If I'm someone that's not covetous, if I'm a generous person, if I love God, I would probably just get rid of the money and give it away and have nothing to do with it. Now, if I'm a drunk, selfish loser, I'd probably buy some refinery somewhere and get drunk all day and just die. So it's not really the money is insignificant. It's just going to magnify who you already were. You say, oh, man, the lottery ruins people's lives. It really doesn't. They were just a really wicked person without any money. And then when they won the lottery, we just got to see what was in their heart. We got to see this person is just a really wicked person. And we see if a good person were to win the lottery, it wouldn't immediately change them. Now, obviously, with more temptation and struggle, they could fall harder. But here he's saying this is the type of person. So you say, why did you pick Eli? Well, when I read this list, I feel like he's a good fit. Now, look at verse 22. And let them judge the people at all seasons, and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee. But every small matter they shall judge, so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. You say, Pastor Shelley, what's your plan for all these churches you got to manage? Well, I just want to be like David and Moses. I want to get to a point where I have everything delegated to where I would literally have to do nothing if I didn't want to. You say, now, at that position, I could be wicked like David and just walk around on the housetops, you know, and get into sin. But rather, I should go out before the people and come in after the people. That's why they love David, because he got into the work. But what would be my goal is to try and have other people that are willing to serve to step into roles of leadership, to step in to preach, to step in to go soul winning, to step in to bear one another's burdens, to help grow the church. Look, I can't do it by myself, but I want to follow the biblical model of delegation, and I need to have people that want to serve, and look, I want to serve, too. We should all want to serve, and we should all be willing to delegate different responsibilities. This is a good model for mothers. You know, obviously, I believe that families should just keep multiplying, child after child after child. Well, guess what? You get more burdens with each child. Just FYI. It gets harder. So you know what moms have to do is they have to figure out how to delegate. Well, you know what? The ten-year-old, he can take out the trash. You know what? He can change diapers. You know what? The seven-year-old can clean their room. The five-year-old can clean their room. The three-year-old can clean your room. The mom can't just do it all by herself. She has to delegate responsibilities under her children just so she won't perish, just so she won't wear away. Now, obviously, at the very beginning, the mom's got to do it all. I mean, look, the baby and the toddler aren't going to do anything. They're not helping out, all right? But as the children grow, parents have to learn how to delegate, and it'll help the children, help the children be responsible, help the children grow. And look, what's the point of a pastor? To help others serve Christ better. I want to enable y'all to serve Christ better by giving you more opportunity, more ways to serve God. Go to Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16. So what's the attributes of a good leader? Hating covetous. Here's some other attributes that I thought of. The ability to say no. If you can't say no, you're not a good leader. How many times does God say no? More than he says yes. There's more negative thou shalt not. Talk about all the Ten Commandments. There's way more thou shalt nots than due commandments. And look, a good leader is quick to say no because there's lots of things that are off the table. You say, Pastor Shelley, it seems like you're against everything. Yeah. There's not very many things I'm for. I'm for this, though. I'm for the King James Bible. I'm for soul winning. I'm for raising our children godly. You say, do you like TV? No. Do you want to start the rock and roll in this church? No. Do you want to bring in the NIV? No. Never. Look, there's lots of things I'm against. And you know what? A guy that can't be against anything is going to struggle and fail. Not only that, there's bad people. There's wicked people. And if a leader can't decide that there's bad people in the world, he's going to be a bad leader. We see at the end of Jeremiah, when all of Babylon's destroyed, they set in a leader. And they warn the leader. They say, hey, this guy's coming in to kill you. And he's like, I don't believe it. And then guess what happens? The guy comes in and kills him. Look, if you can't realize that bad people exist, you will be destroyed by the bad people. A good leader is watching for all the wolves and all the false brethren. He's not a respecter of persons. And another successful thing is when the leader can encourage people to help him. He can share the burden. You know, when I got here, I started trying right away. Hey, do you want to lead the music? Do you want to help play the piano? Do you want to help do the soul winning? Do you want to help preach? I mean, that's something that would be good. And I'm so glad that for the first five months, I didn't decide I'll just do everything by myself, period. Because then what would have happened? And look, I'm letting other people grow. So a good leader is going to help grow other people. It's not all about himself. It's not about him getting all the glory and the honor. It's trying to help others. Look at Romans 16, verse 1. I commend unto you, Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Chintria, that you receive her in the Lord as become a saint, and that you assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been a suckerer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Achilla, my helpers, in Christ Jesus. So Paul, was he a solo guy? Right here he says he has helpers in Christ Jesus. You know, when you think about Paul, people think this is like Lone Ranger. This guy that's just on his own. He's just coming in, just taking names. He's like this lone sniper, you know, James Bond, spiritually. He's just taking... Look, no, Paul rested and relied upon many people. Many people. And I like Romans chapter 16 because it mentions a whole bunch of people you've never heard of. You don't even know, you're like, who's this guy? And look, obviously I'm not going to put every single person or church name on the door, okay? Not everybody gets their name on the door, but that doesn't make you less special. That doesn't make you less important. That doesn't mean you can't serve Christ the same. Look at verse 4. Who have laid... Who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Now, I greatly praise Priscilla and Aquila because if they weren't willing to lay down their own necks, we wouldn't have the apostle Paul write all the books that he did, would we? We wouldn't have all the great things that the apostle Paul accomplished and they're going to share in the rewards of the apostle Christ because they were willing to labor with Christ. They were helpers of the apostle Paul and they allowed and enabled Paul to do great things for God. You say, why do you want to free yourself up, Pastor Shelley? So I can do great things for God. Look, why not ramp everybody up so that we can do even more for God? We can do greater works. We're supposed to preach the gospel to the whole world, by the way. That's pretty hard if you don't have a lot of people helping you. That's going to be real difficult. So we need to build infrastructure and build other people up and build up other churches and give them a spirit-filled man of God that's a pastor and say, go buddy, go turn up the world inside of the gospel. That's what I want. Let's keep reading. Let's look at verse five. Likewise, greet the churches in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epinatus, who is firstfruits of Achaea unto Christ. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Now that's interesting. He's saying, these guys, they got saved before I did. But you know what? Paul labored more abundantly than they all. You know, Paul was the last apostle, but he did the greatest works. You say, oh man, I'm late to the party. Who cares? You can do greater works than I could ever imagine. If you just get your heart on fire for God. Look, Paul coming in, he's like, these guys were saved before me, and they helped me a lot. But you know what? Paul labored more abundantly than they all, didn't he? Greet Implyus, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urban, our helper in Christ. And Staschus, my beloved. Salute Appellus, approved in Christ. Salute them which are of the Aristobulus household. Salute Herodian, my kinsmen. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Trifina and Trifosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the Boved Persis, which labored much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobus, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus, and his sister in Olympus, and all the saints which are with them. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. That's a lot of people. Oh, Paul's a lone ranger. I don't think so. He could just name person after person after person. This person's great. This person helped me. This person loved with me. This person labored. This person laid down their neck for me. This person's just my great friend. He's looking and relying upon other people because other people are a sucker of Paul and helping him accomplish the work of the Lord. Look at verse 17. Now beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause the visions and offenses contrary to the doctrines you have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not a Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. So my first point is we ought to serve, and we ought to delegate. But my last point is sometimes, even to bear one another's burdens, we got to reject. We got to reject the enemies because the enemies are going to prey on those that have the burdens. They're going to find the people that are struggling, that are weak mentally, that have issues, and that are going to discourage and destroy their faith and get them out of church. So if you want to help bear one another's burdens, you got to root out the enemies. You got to destroy the enemies. You got to get all the wicked people out of the church. So it won't hurt and harm all the people that are burdened right now. Go to Philippians chapter 3. We're almost finished. This is an important sermon that I want to preach to encourage you, to instruct you, to guide you, so that you can bear one another. Bear one another. I want a church where you come to and everybody cares about everyone else, that's trying to serve everyone else, that loves everyone else. But people can say that. The question is, what does that mean practically? What does that actually look like? It looks like you're serving. It looks like you're delegating. It looks like you're rejecting certain people. Look at Philippians chapter 3 verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. He's saying, look, I've told you this multiple times over and over, but you just need it. You need me to tell you over and over and over. Because people, these bleeding hearts, it's like they just don't believe anyone's wicked. It's like there's no wicked person. Look at verse 2. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Look, there's evil, wicked people you need to watch out for. They exist. Look at verse 17. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things. He's saying, when you meet a guy that's selfish, that only cares about himself, that only wants to feed his own belly, this is an enemy of the cross of Christ. You say, I don't think that guy's my enemy. That guy's not an enemy. Yeah, he is because he's a selfish, wicked person. His end is going to be destruction. His glory is going to be a shame and he minds earthly things. The only thing he can think about is carnal. I can only think of carnal things, not spiritual things, not esteeming others better than yourself, not loving the brethren, not laying down my life. Go to 1 Corinthians 12, the last place I'll have you turn. In order for us to bear ye one another, we must serve others. Have a servant's heart. You want to be great? Serve. Be humble. God will lift you up in due time. Not only that, when you have opportunity, delegate. Share the burden. Help others labor with you. Give unto others the opportunity to help serve, to help you, to share the load. Look, if I gave somebody the opportunity to lead in this church and they just want all the glory for themselves, they just want the name and the title, it's going to fail. And the people are not going to have love. They say, I'm ready to serve. I'm ready to help. How can I do it? Well, I'm going to do it. I'll take care of it. I want to do it. Me, me, me, me, I, I, I. I want to get my name on the door. Look, that's wicked. And at the same time, if you want your leaders to succeed, you have to decide you want to help them, you want to serve. And he is going to have to help you reject the enemies. And you need to reject the enemies, too. Don't be so feeble-minded to think that there couldn't be somebody wicked, even in leadership. Look at verse 18. But now if God set the members, every one of them in the body, is it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you, nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be feeble or necessary, and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow much abundant, more abundant honor, and our comely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. What's the title of the sermon? Bear Ye One Another. We ought to love one another. We ought to realize the eye is not more important than the hand. The hand is not more important than the eye. They all work together. And as a church, it's a congregation, it's a group, it's an assembly of believers. We must work together. We must have unity. That's why we have such strong core doctrines. That's to have unity. Why do we all use the same Bible? First of all, it's because it's the only Bible. There's only one word of God. It's the King James Bible. It's the pure word of God, but it also helps us have unity so we can have the same doctrine, so we can have the same salvation, we can have the same Lord, the same faith, the same baptism. There's only one of them. And look, it's right here. And we have to be unified together. We have to be loving one another, so there'd be no schism. Schisms are constantly going to try and come into a church that's unified. It's going to constantly want to divide the church. So we must, as a church, embrace the idea of serving and helping one another. Bear ye one another. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you so much for setting the example in every way for being our perfect example of a servant, of loving us, of caring for us, of sacrificing yourself, of becoming poor and a humble servant for us. I pray that we would have the same love and care, that we could be called Christians because we're like Christ and that we want to help and serve others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.