Freedom | To Bear Each Other's Burdens

morning, Father, you are so good. You're a loving Father to give us your one and only son, Jesus. God, I just pray as we wrap up this series, God, that each and every person's hearts and minds would be open to the kind of freedom that can only be found through him, through the blood that he gave us on the cross. So God, as we dive into your word this morning, God, open our hearts and our minds to what only you can do. We love you, we're grateful to be in your presence this morning, be reminded of your love for us. It's in your name we pray, amen. So a few weeks ago, my buddy Matt, who you all got to hear from a couple weeks back, and his wife, Tawny, needed a last minute babysitter. And my wife, Hannah, and I absolutely adore their four-year-old daughter, Mia, and so any opportunity for Aunt Hannah and Uncle Connor to come over and play, we're all about it. And so as the three of us are rolling around on the living room floor, making up games, having the time of our lives, at one point, Mia gets up, leaves the room, and comes back into it, holding this little bag of party supplies, and looks up at me very sweetly and says, can we please blow up these balloons? Well, of course, I can't say no to her on anything,

and so very slowly, very carefully, my wife takes one of these balloons, blows it up really small, about the size of an orange, just big enough and safe enough for Mia to play with. I'm thinking like, well, that's lame. Like, obviously my wife's never been to a party before, but I know what balloons are supposed to look like, and so being the fun uncle that I am, I decided it would be a good idea in that moment for me to blow up my balloon as big as I possibly can in order to make Mia laugh. Some of you know where this is headed, and so as I'm blowing up this balloon bigger and bigger, her eyes are getting wide with excitement, she starts giggling more and more, when all of a sudden, pop goes the weasel. And not only does this balloon absolutely explode all over the living room, but it makes a sound so loud it startles all three of us, it sounded like a gunshot going off in the middle of the house. And her look of excitement quickly turns to this horrified look on her face, and to make matters worse, as I look over Mia's shoulder, I see my wife sitting across the room, staring at me with an even scarier expression on her face, one that says, if Tawny doesn't kill you for this, I will. Luckily to Mia's credit, she didn't freak out, she didn't get scared, she just paused for a moment, and after a few seconds, she reached her little hand out

past the edge of my knee, very sweetly looks up at me and says, Uncle Connor, maybe you shouldn't blow up the balloons. And I'm thinking like, yeah, that is a fantastic idea, Mia, why didn't I think of that? All that to say, if you're ever in need of a last minute babysitter, I am probably not your guy, okay, I just wanna be transparent about that. I don't know about you, when I look back over the course of my life, I can't tell you the number of times that my sin has caused me to be way too foolish and to take things way too far. Maybe you could say the same. In the process of me doing this, not only have I wounded people that I've cared about, but to make matters worse, I've caused damage to myself and others far greater than the pieces of a busted up balloon. However, when things have finally blown up in my face, I'm grateful to have had people along the way who have gently moved towards me with truth and have helped me begin to pick up the pieces. And as Paul closes this letter, he writes to the church of Galatia, he wraps it up with some strong verbiage of what this is supposed to look like for you and me as followers of Jesus. So if you got your journals with you, your key word is still freedom.

If you got your Bibles with you, go ahead and turn those to Galatians chapter six, verse one, where Paul tells us this. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, but keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, there's a lot we can unpack here in just these two verses, but before we do, there's an important word that Paul uses here that we need to pay close attention to, and it's his use of the word spiritual. Several years ago, a college student over at the University of Kentucky came up to me and was telling me about how she'd recently been on a date with a guy who claimed to be a Christian, but who actually wasn't. And so somewhat sympathetically, I said, oh man, I hate to hear that, tell me more about it. And she explained that as these two met for coffee and went on a date with one another, made their way past the normal conversation, she looked at him and said, hey, I noticed your profile says that you love Jesus. I'm a Christian too, tell me more about that. And somewhat arrogantly, he responded,

oh, well, you know, I'm actually drawn to a lot of different religions. I follow what Zen. and Buddhism has to say about this. I closely pay attention to the tenets of Islam. I appreciate what Jesus has to say about a lot of things, but I don't really believe what's in the Bible. You know, the word Christian just has such a negative ring to it these days. I just love Jesus. And then he said the classic line that usually follows. He said, I don't want people to think I'm religious, but I am spiritual. To which she very wisely responded, I don't want you to think I'm rude, but I am leaving. And immediately gave her the biggest high five. I was like, you go girl, get the heck out of there. That was awesome. I tell you that, because there's no shortage of people in our world today who would proudly describe themselves as spiritual. What Paul isn't referring to here is people who would consider themselves children of the earth or a collector of different worldviews. As a matter of fact, that version of spiritual liberalism and mixing of ideologies is what got the Galatians in so much trouble to begin with. Taking the gospel that they knew about Jesus

and combining that gospel with the keeping of Jewish law. But in the process, where this version of spiritual liberalism led them was actually a version of spiritual legalism, which says that Jesus plus obeying all the different rules is what will eventually get us into heaven, which isn't true. Know what Paul's referring to here when he uses this word spiritual is those who've been given the Holy Spirit, which is a gift that's been given to each person who trusts Jesus and Jesus alone. And the reason that this matters, the reason that this is so important is because Paul recognizes that the Holy Spirit is inward and moves outward. But works-based religions are merely outward expressions that focus all of our attention inward and on ourselves. And when you and I focus all of our attention inward and on ourselves, well, that's a really miserable place for us to be. One of my favorite things about getting to serve on our staff here at Southland is I get to work with great people, men and women who love Jesus and love people really well. But one of the challenges about getting to work with so many great people is that if I'm not careful, I'll find myself falling into this comparison trap with them and I'll think things to myself like,

man, I'll never be able to preach like Scott. I'll never be able to lead like Matt. I'll never be as poetic or as well-spoken as Lydia. I'll never be as discerning as Nate. I'll never be as talented as Benji. I'll never be as wise as Gary. On and on the list goes. And instead of feeling encouraged by all the different ways that I see the Holy Spirit working in them and through them, I'll find myself spiraling into this state of self-loathing and thinking things like, man, I'll never be as good as them. And I'll begin to assume that the good things I see in them are the result of their own individual performance instead of the work of Jesus through them. Now, I don't tell you that so you'll feel sorry for me because you don't need to. As a matter of fact, there's a ditch on the other side of that road that I can just as easily fall into. You see, every week I have the opportunity to sit with people in some of their worst moments, people who battle addiction, people who've been to prison, people who've ruined their families, messed up their marriages, and I'm grateful to be the one that gets to do that with them. But if I'm not careful,

if I don't check my own heart following those conversations, I'll find myself thinking things like, well, at least I've never murdered anyone. At least I've never abused anyone. At least I've never hurt a child. At least I've never gone to prison. Instead of acknowledging how deep and how dirty my own sin is, I'll find myself giving myself this little spiritual pat on the back and I'll think things like, well, maybe I'm not so bad after all, or worse, at least I'm not as bad as them. You ever been there? You ever told yourself things like, well, I may not be the best mom, but at least my child doesn't have the kind of behavioral problems that that other mom's kids do? She doesn't know what she's doing. She doesn't know how to be a parent, really. Does anyone? You ever puffed out your chest and said, well, I may not look at other women, but I may look at other women, but at least I've never cheated on my wife physically like some of my friends have. Congratulations. You know, Jesus's words about adultery would actually beg to differ with you on that.

You ever tried to convince yourself, well, I might not have the most self-control, but at least I'm not like that cousin of mine who's a drug addict, as if that dopamine hit of Draft Kings or online shopping hasn't become just as addictive for you? See, not only has Paul recognized that any form of a workspace gospel will cause you and I to focus all of our attention entirely on ourselves, but he also recognizes that recognizes, that it will put us in this exhausting comparison game between two camps of people. if you don't focus your attention on yourself, you're not going to be able to focus your attention on the things that are important to you. People we place at the top of this spiritual ladder and think, I'll never be as good as And so, Paul recognizes that. them, and those we smugly look down upon and think, I'll never be that bad. Both of which are actually rooted in a ton of spiritual arrogance. See, one's rooted in this false humility that assumes that the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that raised Christ back from the dead, somehow isn't capable of transforming our lives in the same way that he has for others. While the other foolishly believes that even though Jesus carried our sins to the cross, certain people's sins are actually a lot heavier for him to carry than ours were. See, Paul has no problem identifying how the self-centeredness of the Galatians' performance gospel has so quickly turned into this attitude of self-righteousness for them. How it's caused them to begin to dismiss people instead of serve people who can no longer measure up to their spiritual standards, which is why he hits them with some much-needed truth when he says this in verse three, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast

will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own load. In other words, hey, Church of Galatia, since things have clearly gotten so fuzzy for you lately, let me make something abundantly clear. None of you will ever be above needing help. None of you will ever be able to measure up. None of you are without sin, therefore each of you are fully capable of falling into sin. Therefore, when any brother or sister among you does fall into it, none of you have any reason not to help that person back up. To put it simply, you foolish Galatians, you people all of a sudden think you're something even though you're nothing just because you suddenly pretend to obey all the rules. You people are nothing. All of you desperately need the grace of Jesus, and therefore all of you need to go and extend the grace of Jesus. Here's the problem. We don't really like to admit we need to do either. Like we don't really like to fully admit how desperately we need the grace of Jesus, and on certain days we don't really like to extend the grace of Jesus to certain people because doing both of those things takes a word that doesn't come naturally to many of us. It's this word humility. It takes humility to not only look at people with a posture that says, hey, without Jesus I'm not good enough, but to actually full send it and fully admit, hey, without Jesus I'm not even good at all. It takes humility to not only spiritually follow Jesus as the way and trust his truth, but to celebrate that without the life that he gave on our behalf, all of us were headed towards death. It takes humility to chase after lost and broken people who are messy because we humbly acknowledge that no one is actually any messier than we are. In other words, friends, it takes humility to choose humility and to chase after it daily. Because here's the reality. When we run from this word humility, what we're actually just running away from is the gospel. It's running away from this truth that Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. It's running against this equation that says Jesus plus nothing equals everything. And you want to know who the nothing is in that equation according to Paul, everyone else but Jesus. One of the biggest ways that we begin to avoid this word humility as followers of Jesus is we'll slowly but surely begin to avoid accountability. We'll buy into this lie that we don't need people, other Christ followers, speaking truth into our lives. You see, men, we'll avoid jumping into a men's Bible study because we're worried that there'll be other dudes there who not only know their Bibles better than we do, but who

will actually challenge us to go and live the Bible out as if that's a bad group of men to be around. As if that's a group of men we wouldn't benefit from spending time with. No, instead we'll spend our weekends with the same old buddies we've known since college who act the exact same as they did when they were teenagers, drinking and swearing in front of the TV, talking about all the wrong things in all the wrong ways because after all, Saturdays are for the boys, which in reality is what a lot of those men still are. Ladies, we'll avoid the invitation from that woman at church we know is still deeply in love with her husband because being around her makes us feel guilty and convicted about all the negative things we constantly say about our own. Here's a thought, maybe she'd actually be a good person to spend time with. Maybe her marriage would actually be a good one to learn from. No, instead we'll keep grabbing lunch with that same group of girlfriends who have either sworn off marriage completely or who are proudly headed towards divorce because you know what? My girls just get me. And venting to them actually feels a lot better than addressing the problem. See, here's the reality. Our cultural definition of friendship just includes someone who likes all of our posts, hates all the same people as we do, never says anything that we don't want to hear, and will actually celebrate. but what the Bible actually has to say about friendship is this, wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. In other words, an enemy will celebrate and high five your sin, but a true friend has the kind of guts and courage to step up to you and say really hurtful things like this. I'm worried about you. I have some concerns. Can we talk about something? You can be honest with me. I've made that mistake before. I've been there. That's not a good idea.

You should apologize to that person. Or better yet, I'm just here to help. Because from time to time, that's what all of us need. It's what I need. Several years ago, I was part of a growing house church down in Nashville that would later become the church plant that I worked for. And in that season of life, in my early to mid 20s, I found myself recovering from a lot of temptation and inappropriate relationships with the opposite sex. So much so that for over a year, I didn't date anyone. Just focused all my attention on trying to deepen my relationship with Jesus, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions that I had ever made. But at that house church, I met a girl there who had a story similar as mine, and we struck up a friendship, and that turned into flirting and a few dates. And one afternoon as I was walking to my car, an older couple at that church stopped me and said, hey, do you have a second? And not only had this older couple heavily invested in my walk with Jesus, but they had baptized her. They'd taken time to get to know her and hear her story. The wife had become a strong mentor for this young woman in her walk with Jesus, and very humbly, very gently, she began the conversation by saying, we want you to know that we love you, and we love her. But Connor, you're a little bit ahead of her

in your walk with Jesus, and we have some concerns. See, Connor, God has redeemed you. He's redeemed your story, and he's in the process of redeeming her story as well. We know that. Then her husband very courageously jumped in and said, but Connor, we know you. We know your story. We know your past. And I'm worried that based on where this young woman is in her present, that she will slowly but surely begin to pull you back to your past. And I don't wanna see that happen to you, brother. Then he put his arm around me and said something that I'll never forget. He said, I love you more than that. And as a 20-something-year-old kid, friends, I didn't wanna hear that, but I needed to hear that, because I need the kind of friends who will tell me the truth even when it hurts. Friends, we don't avoid accountability from followers of Jesus, because none of us in this room are above accountability as followers of Jesus. And so if you've surrounded yourself by people who only tell you what you wanna hear or who affirm sin or who agree with you on everything, look right at me. They will be your kiss of death. But a true friend is the kind of friend who will wound you for your benefit, and they will hug you as they do.

Those of you who know me well know that I love sneakers. I love Air Jordans, Nikes, you name it. But like most men in the room, I also have a pair that I mow the grass in that I affectionately refer to as my dad's shoes. Definitely made for comfort, not cool. And as I was coming to the house one afternoon after doing some yard work, my wife looked at me and very sweetly, very genuinely said, "'Babe, I'm so happy to see that as you're getting older, "'you're finally starting to wear more supportive shoes.'" I was like, thanks, babe, that makes me feel terrific. And knowing that this comment hadn't exactly landed the way that she wanted it to, hoping to make up for it, she gave me this wink from across the room and said, "'Babe, support is sexy.'" So I went out and bought 10 more pairs, and these things have been great for my marriage, okay? Poor girl just can't keep her hands off me. Friends, I don't care how old or how young you think you are, your walk with Jesus is going to need good support. So don't surround yourself with yes-men or an echo chamber. Instead, find people who love you enough to deliver truth gently and to deliver it humbly. And when they deliver that truth, be humble enough in that moment to receive that truth. Paul goes on to say this in verse six, "'Let the one who is taught the word "'share all good things with the one who teaches.

"'Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. "'For whatever one sows, that will he also reap.'" for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Some of you all have heard me share this story before. A few months ago one of our high school students here at the Lexington campus very confidently ran up to me one day and said, Mr. Conner, how much money do you make? And so awkwardly I kind of told her, hey that's not really something we talk about. Probably not gonna want to get in the habit of asking people that question. Well as I'm doing this, her younger brother who's in middle school gets this really confused look on his face and looks up at me and says, wait a second, they pay you? And I'm thinking like, yeah buddy, I'm just as surprised as you are that they pay me. All that to say, even though there's some debate on what Paul's referring to here when he says share all good things with the one who teaches, most biblical commentators believe that what he's actually talking about is the financial support of teachers and preachers and those who help shepherd the church. But what we need to pay attention to is how his wording shifts from referring to one singular person in verse 6 to referring to a group of people when he says this in verse 9, and let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Meaning, friends, the ministry of Jesus is not a role on a church staff. It's the responsibility of every Christ follower. It should be the natural response of those who are following the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. And one of the biggest ways that American Christianity has gotten this completely wrong is with our natural tendency to punt everything to pastors. To just absolve ourselves from serving people in any way shape or form or serving in the local church and to assume that going after lost and broken people is the sole responsibility of quote-unquote ministry professionals. That it's the responsibility of dynamic youth pastors to make sure that our kids have a

relationship with Jesus when in actuality they spend far less time with our kids than we do. That serving the poor is the responsibility of local outreach ministries and not-for-profits when in reality it's something that Jesus actually commanded for every Christ follower to go and do. That serving lost and broken people who are messy is something that we can just kind of avoid and just kind of hire out to quote-unquote ministry professionals. But here's the actual heart posture behind that way of thinking, friends. We tend to only hire things out that we just don't want to do ourselves. And when you and I no longer want to lead people to Jesus ourselves, what we actually need to hire is a cardiologist because our hearts have a serious problem. Not long after I jumped on our staff here, an older gentleman came up to me one day in the lobby of one of our campuses and says, I don't know if y'all ever do hospital visits at this church, but there's a buddy of mine that y'all really need to go see. So humbly I told him I'd be happy to go with him sometime to see his friend in the hospital and very quickly cut me off and said, no, no, no, no, you you don't need me there. No, I wouldn't know what to say. You see, this this former friend of mine, he's in the hospital because of a drug overdose. He completely ruined and wrecked his life a few years ago and I haven't talked to him since. It'd be too awkward. So gently I did my best to convince him, well sir, with all due respect, I can't think of anything that would mean more to your friend in his lowest moment than seeing an old friend who still cares about him. I'll go with you to the appointment. I'll even lead through the whole conversation. You just be there with me since you have a existing relationship with him. And very arrogantly he pointed his finger in my face and says, look, isn't this what they pay you for? Isn't isn't this your job? You're the expert here. You're the pro. Just just go pray for him. Go talk to him. I don't care what you do. Just keep me out of it. Foolishly I listened to him. Awkwardly tiptoed my way into his friend's ICU room in the hospital and shamefully he looked up at me after I introduced myself and said, how'd you find out about me? So not wanting to throw anyone under the bus, I said, well I'm from a church just up the

road where your friend goes. He was really worried about what happened to you. He loves you very much and so he sent me to come and check on you. I'll never forget what he said next. He rolled over and looked at me and said, if he loves me so much, why isn't he here? I have an answer for him on that. See friends, to quote the great theologian Forrest Gump, I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is. And what I know about this word love is that it always shows up. It shows up in hospitals. and funeral homes, it shows up in courtrooms and custody battles, it shows up in misdemeanors and in the middle of people's broken marriages, but it always shows. Love always makes its presence known. And when you and I help carry the burdens of one another, we help make the presence of Jesus known. You see, when someone we know needs help or is hurting, what Satan will try to convince you and I is, well, you wouldn't have the right words. You wouldn't know how to handle something like this. You wouldn't know what to say. Like Scott talked about a few weeks ago, we buy into this lie that there's some sort of varsity in JV Christians, and we'll begin to think to ourself, well, I don't have the right training. I don't have the right credentials. I don't have the right words to go and pray over this person. I'm not spiritual enough for this situation. And if you've ever believed that lie before about yourself, friends, well, then let me just take a moment and read for you my spiritual resume. Here goes.

Five years ago today, I was an arrogant loan officer at a bank. Before that job, I drove a box truck to farmer's markets where I sold vegetables. I have only two college credits to my name and barely graduated high school. As a matter of fact, I had a couple of teachers there say, don't ever come back here. I have no Bible college or seminary background, no master's degree, and I struggle to write sermons more than any person on our teaching team. Those of you who met me in person know that I am not anything impressive to look at or to listen to. Most days, I don't have the first clue on how to lead, both in ministry and even in my own home. But friends, I know the gospel and I know it well, which means that I know that Jesus has done something for me that I could never do for myself. And through the power and the work of his Holy Spirit through me, he does things through me that I could never do myself. And if you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you've been baptized, you've given your life to him, that's how holy is this gospel. But friends, that same Holy Spirit works and moves and lives and breathes through you, and if you do not believe that about yourself, friends, look right at me, when you have not believed the gospel.

Now I want you to know it beter than the Galatians did. So I say this on behalf of our team, behalf of our staff and our church, if you ever need our help or our support, you've got it. But our job is equipping saints like you for ministry work, not providing service for a fee. All that to say, we will proudly go with you, never for you. Because if you call this church home, you have the exact same mission that we do, and it's to bring one more person to Jesus. Now, I could stand up here all afternoon and list all the different ways that you as a church have done this really, really well for people, but I'd rather show you. More importantly, I'd rather you hear firsthand from someone who's gotten to experience it on their own. Recently, our team had the opportunity to sit down with a young mom at our Danville campus, and I can't wait for you to hear more of what she had to share. So take a look at this video. My name's Lakin, and I attend Southland here in Danville. Growing up, I had this image of what I thought life would look like. Very early into my adulthood, I found that that was not the plans that were laid in front of me. I found my marriage in shambles, and life was not going the way that I expected.

A few weeks in through the divorce process, I found out that I was pregnant with our second child. I was driving in my car, and I cried out to God, why is this happening? Why would I be pregnant through this divorce? I feel like everyone's leaving me at this time. I really cried out to Him, and decided to fully surrender. I was still pregnant with my daughter coming in every Sunday, and there was a lady that worked at the cafe that would ask me how I was doing, how far along I was at this point, you know, how my pregnancy was going, what did the doctor say, and she really just kept touch with what I had going on in life. I received so much encouragement during that time by the staff here and by my church family that really kept me coming back every week. I started in the preschool room, and every Sunday I looked forward to seeing these kids. The laughter and the joy that they brought me during the darkest time. The group of women that were serving on the children's team, they stay so connected. That was just so encouraging to me. At the time when I felt like I didn't have anybody, seeing them every week, they very quickly became like family to me. I had several people that sent me cards anonymously and were like, I see you, you are here every week and you're coming in with kids lagging behind you, like I'm so proud of you.

And that was, I'll never forget that. Fast forward, my daughter is six months old at the time and she became very ill. She was fighting RSV, pneumonia, COVID, adenovirus, all at the same time. Having children's team also love on my children has been a life changing experience for them as well, especially when life at home is hard. They also loved them and wrapped their arms around them and took them in and cared for them as a church family. So when it comes to, yeah, so when it comes to bearing the burdens of other people, we don't do it to check a box. We don't do it because we think we're super spiritual or because we believe that we have it all together. We do it simply because we know that other people need Jesus. We know that others need Jesus because we know how desperately that we need Jesus. And so we don't run or hide from humility. We choose it and we chase after it daily because we recognize that what Jesus has done for us, Jesus can do for anyone. Paul closes his letter to the Galatians with these words, but far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I couldn't agree with him more on that. So let me leave you with this today. There's some of you in the room here. You need to go help. You've been following Jesus for a long time now. You've become a spectator of Christianity and it shows, and I love you enough to tell you this, it's time for you to get in the game. You've been thinking about serving for a long time, but you keep putting it off and putting it off because you're not quite sure what you'd be good at. You're not quite sure what your giftings are and that's fine. Our team can help you figure those out, but let me remind you of some strong words that Scott gave a few weeks ago.

It doesn't take a high level of gifting to put food into a backpack that'll help serve hungry kids. It doesn't take very much gifting to rock babies in our nursery. My wife and I did that together just last week. It doesn't take a lot of gifting to pour a cup of coffee in our cafe area and ask people how their week is going, but just like you saw in that video, through the power of His Holy Spirit, you have no idea the impact that that can have on a person's walk with Jesus. There's a million different ways that you can jump in, but here's what I can assure you, you or I are not above any of them. So go. Don't put it off another week. Just go because there will never be a shortage of people who need Jesus' help. And for some of you here, before you do that, you need to get help. You've known that you needed to for a long time, but you just keep putting it off, hoping that it'll get better on its own, but it hasn't. It's just gotten worse. A secret sin that you've been hiding, an addiction that you've been struggling that's just had your lunch lately, your marriage is in shambles and both of you know it, but you're not quite sure who to talk to. There's just this weight and this burden that you've been carrying for days, weeks, months, maybe even years, and you're just not really sure if you can carry it anymore. I've got really good news for you today. You don't have to, and you can't. I'm going to be down front, along with all of our prayer teams across all of our campuses. We would love nothing more than for you to lay whatever it is at Jesus' feet today. Friends, I assure you there is nothing that you're going to say in any of our campuses that will surprise us. There's nothing that you're going to say that'll be too hard or too heavy because we've not only seen it, but better yet, we've seen Jesus carry it. Nothing is too heavy for Him.

Don't put it off. Don't wait. Have 10 seconds of courage to come talk to someone today and lay it at His feet, but here's the catch. You're going to have to let Jesus carry it because you're not strong enough to on your own. 10 seconds of courage. Come talk to someone today. You'll be really, really glad that you did. For some of you here today, maybe you just finally need to surrender your life to him. Just finally need to step into the freedom that can only be found in Jesus and begin your walk with him. You need to step out of this slavery that you've been in and trying to do everything on your own. And if that's you this morning, I just want you to hear me say this. We got water, we got towels. More importantly, we have people across all of our campuses who will baptize you and will do it today. Don't wait, don't put it off. Paul says these words for freedom. Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit yourselves again to the yoke of slavery. Translation, run, run. Run towards the grace that can only be found in Jesus and run after him as hard and as fast

and as long as you can and do it today. And while you're at it, do me one more favor, friends. Don't ever look back. Don't ever look back. I love you more than that. I'm gonna be down front. Where are you gonna be? Go help or get help. Let's stand and celebrate the freedom that we have in Jesus together and lay everything at his feet.