So this morning you should have marked Matthew chapter 11 and mark that for just a moment. And then let's go back to the book of Jeremiah chapter six. And as you're turning to the book of Matthew chapter 11 and the book of Jeremiah chapter six, I want you to think about this morning the blessings of burdens. Now, kiddingly, my grandmother sometimes would say, you've lost your marbles. When you say blessings of a burden, I am a believer that God not only can, but God desires to get good out of anything that we might consider even bad. Do you believe that God can bring a blessing out of a burden? Do you believe in that? That's not something I can answer. That's something you have to answer. That's something you have to answer out loud. But do you believe today that God can bring a blessing out of a burden? Today, the blessings and burdens in Jeremiah chapter six and in verse 16, we're gonna read about a stubborn people. Now preacher, you know that we're not stubborn in 2024. Do you think as we as human beings and do you think we have a nature about us that sometimes not stubborn to each other, but stubborn about believing and trusting in God? Listen, if you will, in the book of Jeremiah chapter six, thus said the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. Let's go back into the New Testament in Matthew chapter 11. Let's begin reading in verse 28. The blessings of a burden. Jesus had been trying to bring encouragement to people that were being discouraged. All this legalistic, views that had been brought to them and how discouraged they were that they couldn't keep the laws and they couldn't do the right things by which the Pharisees were leaning out for them. They were just what we would call struggling in life. I say this morning about the blessings of a burden. You know what folks? Struggles do not mean something is wrong. Now, I want you to follow with me for a second. For some reason, and this is going to kind of sound crazy, we struggle with people that struggle. Or we sometimes have a hard time with struggles. You know what today? Sometimes struggles are God's way of letting things grow in our life. They're God's way of letting things prosper in our life. I think about how that we read about how that the caterpillar, how it will merge into a cocoon and that cocoon begins to crack open and all of a sudden that butterfly begins to come out and it squeezes through a crack and all of a sudden what it's doing is it's changing But it's changing from what it is to something that is totally different into what we would call a butterfly. You know, we think that that counterpillar in its transition is really struggling, but what it's not is, it's going through a transformation. The Bible teaches us that seeds, when they're put into the ground, do you know what? I know this is very elementary, but do you know that seeds change once they're in the right conditions in the right environment? Do you know what I believe today? That burdens in the right place, in the right environment can become a blessing. Seeds, change, caterpillars, change. Lost people get changed. Save people, as long as we're in the right place and our heart is in the right place, that God begins to change these things. But listen to what Jesus said. What we have, has been labeled as this great invitation that is here. Through all the struggles that they were going, he said, come unto me, all ye that labor. These are people that are weary and they're tired. You know what today, folks, we realize is that burden sometimes get heavy and we get tired, do we not? Sometimes we get to this idea of how strong we are as far as what we're able to carry and what we have the strength that we're able to endure. You can talk about the idea of how heavy something is. I can have a pen in my pocket and I can tell you to hold it. And you know what? This pen may not seem like it's very heavy, but the longer you hold it, the heavier it gets, folks. God does not desire for us to carry any of our burdens. He desires that we would cast our burdens on him. We get this idea that we're strong and that we can carry our burdens, but the burdens become a blessing when we do what Jesus is teaching. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I mean, there's a load. Oh, how many of us this morning have a testimony to the fact that sometimes that load gets heavy? But you know something about the heavy load I want you to understand this morning? The heavy load, God said, I want you to have rest in that. That's what we read in Jeremiah. He said, I want you to have rest. He said, but you find rest in doing the things that I've asked you to do. Here Jesus said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He said, I'm gonna give you something that you have not experienced. He said, I'm gonna give you peace in your life. I'm gonna give you refreshing in your life. I'm gonna give you a place and a point where all these things are gone. Folks, let me ask you something today. When the Lord saved your soul, did you feel different in your life? What made you feel different when you got saved? What is it that you felt? And that's, I know those are, that's verbiage that we use about you feel, and you know, I heard, and these are things, but how did you feel when the Lord took that burden away? You know what? The Bible teaches us that there's a blessing that goes with that, and that he said, I want you to bring it to me, and he said, I will take care of it for you. By the way, can I go ahead and say this? Folks, God can take care of things better than we can. Why do we carry the load? Why do we, if we're burdened today, why do we desire to carry those burdens? This morning I come before you today not because that we are bad people or that we are wrong in any way, but it's a simple encouragement to you today to realize whatever your burdens are, Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He goes on to say, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He said, we're gonna change what's going on in your life. You know what, this morning, I want you to know something I believe today, that when your burdens, that they can become a blessing when they change from you and you're able to give them to him. This morning, just bring it to him. Just bring it all to him and bring it to him and let him be the one to take care of your burdens. And I'll tell you this again, folks, we know today that God can take care of our burdens better than we can take care of them ourself. But you know what our mindset is? We would prefer every single one of us, and I'm not assuming anything on your behalf, but we would all prefer, as our humanistic nature, we would all prefer to live our life without burdens, don't we? Jesus said, I'm not gonna tell you that you're gonna live a life without burdens. He said, but I want you to bring your burdens to me. This morning, I thank God that we have churches today that still tell people, if you've got a burden, Bring it to him. Jesus said, take my yoke upon me. He said, take my yoke upon you. He said, and learn of me for I am meek and lowly. He said, I'm gentle. He said, I'm not here today to bring you down. And I'm not here today to make things worse in your life. But if he's talking about Jesus is saying, I am gentle. You know what I believe today? There's a lot of times in my life that the Holy Spirit of God and God has to deal very gently with me because I've gotten to wit's end or I get frustrated or get aggravated or we get angry. Whatever it is that we do is our nature. And you know what we see is that Jesus is teaching us if we will take our burdens to him that he would be able to learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For all of you that are here today, for all of us that may come together and be able to hear the very words of God, may we find strength, may we find encouragement knowing this, that there is not a burden that you are carrying right now that God does not want you to care upon Him. I wanna say that again. There's not a burden that you are carrying this morning that God does not want you to cast upon Him. Now, if you come to me with certain things and I can help you or I cannot help you, I can advise you or not advise you. But folks, when it comes to burdens, I believe that God is teaching us He wants to bear all of our burdens. All of them. Not just some, but He wants to bear all of these things. For take my yoke upon you, He said. learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest in your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light he said there's a load we're going to trade he said he said for what you have for what you give to me and you remember what we read in jeremiah that jeremiah that god in the old testament god in the new testament he has always wanted human beings to have rest for their souls. And the question I have with so many people today is, why do people not have rest in their souls? Why are they agitated? Why are they disturbed? Why are they uncomfortable? He wants us today to realize is that God desires to give us that rest. I wanna turn back to the book of James for just a minute. To the book of James in the very first chapter here in a minute, James chapter 1, and I'm going to begin reading in verse 2. What is your perspective on things? What's your vantage point on burdens? And what I mean by that is this, is that do you look at burdens as punishment from God or God wanting growth in your life? I want you to ponder that for just a minute. It's God, if there's burdens in our life, is he putting seeds in the ground? And we may talk about that in a minute, about the different conditions of the soil. But if God is putting seeds and there's a burden because it's gonna change, but are these things there that God is trying to grow you? Listen to what our vantage point and how our perspective is. Verse two of James chapter one, my brother counted all joy, when you fall into diverse temptations. That sounds strange again, doesn't it? You mean count it joy when we get into all these various temptations? Knowing this, that the triangle of your faith worketh patience. You mean if my faith is tested, it's gonna produce patience? Doesn't sound right, does it? Well, There were a lot of people that were facing so much persecution, you can go back and read the very beginning of this book, and all the persecution they were going through, James said, put your faith in God. Let's read if we can in verse four. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. There's a lot of opportunities in our life and I want you to think about where we get to that place where he said, count it all joy. You know, I believe God's working in the lives of so many people around this world, not just here, not just in your houses and your lives, but I believe that God is working in the hearts of so many people around the world today. But you know what? When God begins to work and because maybe it gets burdensome and maybe sometimes it gets hard, we think, well, God, if it's hard, then you didn't mean for this to be me. Folks, burdens mean things that are heavy. And if God has given you a burden, he's given you a burden that you might in turn give to him. Today I think we would all say, well, that's something too heavy for me. The truth is, there are some things that definitely are too hard for you and for me. But are they too hard for God? What's too hard for God this morning? What do you think God cannot handle? And here James is beginning to talk about how that they need to count it all joy. When they fall into his words were divers temptations. He said all these various things that we go through, all these various trials and tribulations we go through in life, he said, is there even a reason for this? I'm not gonna ask you to give me any kind of personal details. Feel free to, if God would allow you to testify, testify. But let me ask you this, have you ever gone through something in life and you ever begin to question God, what's the whole purpose of this? What's the reason behind this? Why me or why this? Why can't it be something else? I'm not saying it has to be easy, but can we change, folks? There's a lot of things that God is trying to define us. God is trying to refine us. God is trying to make us whom he wants us to be. He's wanting to turn our burdens into a blessing, but we must realize, as James said, is that we're going through all of these diverse temptations. But notice the ultimate point of all of these we get to in the fourth verse. Can I ask you how many of you have ever gotten to a point in your life where you've gone through the burdens and you've carried these trials and you get to a point you cast them on him and you get to that fourth verse where he said, wanting nothing. How many of you this morning have come to this place? How many of you this morning have come to a time in your life where you want nothing? All you want is God, and God has provided that in salvation. You need nothing else. Folks, that's not an easy place to get to, by the way, might I say that, to get to a place where you want nothing. And James is teaching us that we might want nothing. Now in James chapter one, and if you'll notice what he said beginning in that second verse he's talking about, He's not saying if you ever go through these various temptations. He's saying when you go through these various temptations. Remember what Jesus teaches us in John 16 and 33. He says, in the world you shall have tribulation. That's what Jesus teaches us. In the world you have tribulation. But he goes on to say, he talks about how that we overcome the world through him and that we are overcomers through Christ Jesus. But he goes on to say, count it all joy. Count it just simply means that you gotta look, you have to evaluate and you have to really dig into it. You know, sometimes we look at things enough and we think there's not a purpose, there's not a reason. Folks, I'm a deep believer in there's a reason for everything. There's a reason for all things. But today, these things that we go through, the things that we endure, it's God's way of teaching us what it is that we need. And in these first four verses here that we're reading about in James chapter one, we're reading in these four verses, he said, you know, we're going to get to a place where we're going to trust and we're going to believe. And we see that God today is trying to test us so that the good might come out of us. Folks, let me tell you something. Satan tests us so that the worst in us may come out. It's somewhat alarming when we even have an old cliche that says, they're going to bring the devil in me out. Folks, let me tell you, I don't want the devil in us to come out. I want the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ in us to come out. But we've got to let these seeds grow. We've got to let these trials, we've got to let these temptations, all these things that come into us. And let me tell you this, folks. Sometimes they irritate. Sometimes they agitate. Sometimes they are troubling. But James is teaching us. He said, don't think that these things are bad things. He said, these are things that you need in your life. He said, they're necessary. For the fourth verse, he said, but let patience have her perfect work. Perfect work, that's what he's talking about, a perfect work that he is able to do. He said, that ye may be able, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. We talked about how that wanting nothing means that there's nothing lacking in our life. But when he goes right before that and said perfect and entire, that means complete. Let me ask you something. If you had to come into this place today and you had to say that one thing that you needed to make your life complete, what would you need? Some of you may say, well, I need a job, or I may need, I need to finish my college degree, or I need my car fixed. What would you have to say if you had to list, of all the things you could list, what is something you would need to make your life complete? And no matter how varied the answers may be, you know what I know about this? Is that folks, if you come today saying that of all the things you need, if you would just say, I need Jesus and he's all I need, folks, our life is totally different when we get to that place. When you understand that Jesus is all we need. Now, I'm not saying you can't have food. I'm not saying you can't have vehicles. I'm not saying you can't have a home. What I am saying is this, folks. Folks, if we believe and we trust and we have confidence in Jesus and the work that He's done, then we realize He will provide for us. That there are blessings that comes from the burdens that we face. Here we see is that the idea is that we have a burden in our life and that when we have these burdens that God is trying to perfect us. He's trying to change us to be what he would have us to be. Romans chapter five. I'm gonna turn back and read for just a minute. Romans chapter five. Paul is writing a letter. to the Romans here. And they're having this discussion about this need of peace in their life. I think that if you stop and just listen to what's going on in the world today, there are people that are looking and they're trying to find peace in their life. Where are you gonna find peace at? Let's read if we can. Romans chapter five and beginning of verse three. Here we go talking about this good stuff again. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. My grandmother would say, you've lost your marbles when you ask for something you think you don't really need. What we mean by that is, you mean there's blessings and burdens? And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also knowing that tribulation worketh patience. There's growth that's going to happen. Seeds are going to change. Caterpillars change into butterflies and that we see that these tribulations that we have, they change and God uses them. Tribulation work of patience is at the end of the growing. Patience is going to bring forth experience and experience is going to bring forth hope. Glory in tribulations. Paul's talking about how the fact that the tribulations that we go through, that good can come out of these things. And listen to what he goes on to say. And not only so, but with glory in tribulations also. Tribulations. What are these tribulations that we go through? The word tribulation, if you ever look at it in the Greek language, it means to be crushed. It's the exact same word that we read about in Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane where he was at the place of the olive press where things were crushed. You've heard me talk about how if you take an olive and you crush it, oil comes out. Oil you put in a lamp and you burn it, it begins to shine. Folks, Jesus was giving us a light that would shine in us and it's a work that he was doing, but there had to be a crushing time. Jesus said if there's any other way, If there's any other means, there's any other method that man can be saved. He said, Father, let this cup pass from me. But God, in the place of the olive press, in the place of the crushing, He said, there is no other way. It's going to be by your death, of the death of Jesus Christ, that we are going to have the Holy Spirit. We talked about that in Sunday school. And the Holy Spirit is what dwells in us. That is our burning inside of us. There's a crushing that's there. And he said, when you go through a crushing, by the way, remember when we talk about burdens, things that crush? Here we're talking about these tribulations, things that crush us. What is it in your life? What events in your life would be considered things that just crush you? Tribulations. Solomon said, talking about Christ, he said, he is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. You know what I learned about the roses and the lilies? They have an amazing, fragrant smell. But do you know when their smell gets stronger? When you crush them. You know what, today, folks, our belief in Jesus Christ should not be weakened by trials and tribulations and burdens that we bear. The very relationship with Jesus should be one that's strengthened through what it is we go through. I wish I could look at all of you eye to eye this morning and say, your tribulations today or yesterday or next week or next month, that these tribulations are meant to weaken you folks. Your tribulations that we go through are meant to strengthen us. And when these things in the place of the olive press, this tribulations and the crushings that we go through, the idea is, is that when we are crushed, when we go through things, what does it produce in our life? That's the question I want to have is that if you are crushed and something happens, then what is it that you are experiencing when you do this? He said, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Well, Not only so, but we also glory in tribulations, I want to hurry along, and hope, make it not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. I'm thankful today that God desires to give us what it is that we stand in need of, because God knows that there's a need in our life that we might have our weaknesses to be strengthened, that these burdens might become blessings. But I wanna close over in the book of 2 Corinthians here in just a minute. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Church was facing some criticism, some burdens, if you will. Paul's gonna write a letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And Paul said, You're going to have to understand that you have weaknesses in your life, and that I'm here to help you in those weaknesses. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and let's read to verse 9. And he said unto me, Christ speaking now, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength, which is his power, is made perfect in weakness. Boy, this doesn't sound right, does it? Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. If you make that statement, people are going to think you're crazy, but read on. That rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul said this thorn in the flesh that he had, he would love for that thorn in the flesh to be gone. He would love for that pain to be removed. How many of us want to live a pain-free life? I'm not talking about your knees or your backs or whatever. I'm talking about how many of us would love to have a life where our hearts are never heavy? I want to ask you a personal question. How many of you have ever had a heavy heart? What do we do with that heavy heart? Jesus tells us, and that's what we read in the very beginning, is that he wants us to come unto him, to cast our burdens on him. Look at what Paul is saying here. He's talking about here in 2 Corinthians 9. Excuse me, 12 in verse nine, he said, for my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. There's a promise that Christ made. My grace is sufficient for thee. And then he goes on to say glory in infirmities. He said, my presence is there. Your infirmities are also gonna be there. But he said, you know what? He said, would you rather have the infirmities without Christ or would you rather have infirmities with Christ? Let me ask you this. Had you rather go through tribulations with Christ or did you rather go through tribulations without Christ? Today, folks, there's a lot of people. I shouldn't say we. There's a lot of people today that are fighting their burdens without Christ. but remember what Jesus said. And that's what we read to you there in the very beginning, that Jesus is teaching us, you do not carry these burdens by yourself. That's why he teaches us. Here in the book of Matthew chapter 11, that Jesus is teaching us that we're supposed to take my burdens. He said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Paul said that you've got tribulations, you've got burdens, you've got the presence of Christ. He said, but my grace is sufficient. In other words, whatever it is that you're going to face, He said, I can give you what you stand in need of. Today, I want to ask you a question. Do you have what you need to be able to endure whatever today holds? You may say, preacher, yesterday was good. Last week was good. Whatever it is that we're facing, do we really believe today that God is shaping us, that God is designed for us to take our burdens and cast them on him? I wonder, Lord, how often do we come together at church and we take our burdens and then we leave here with more burdens than we came in. Folks, I pray today that God would help you to take your burdens and leave them with Him. God bless you this morning. That's what I needed to say. I want us to get a song this morning. What's on your heart today?