to be here. I thank the Lord. Mark chapter 2 is where we're going to take our text this morning. And I don't know if I've ever shared this story with y'all, but I think I will. When Johnny turned 18 years old, we had to become his guardian, just because he couldn't make his own, you know, decisions as far as medical care and things like that. And so we decided that we had to take him in and we got to go to court to become the legal guardian of another adult. So we kind of felt bad because we were kind of almost taking Johnny's rights away from him and we were going to make decisions for him. We go into court, and it's family court, and everybody's pretty much doing the same thing. And it's Joanne and I, Johnny, a lawyer we had to get, and an interpreter. And we're in the courtroom, and it's our turn. We all sit down at the table, and the interpreter's standing in front of us. Johnny's here next to me, Joanne's next to me, and the lawyer's next to her. You know, you just figure it's going to be a real quick, real quick thing. And the lawyer, or the judge is asking, Johnny, do you understand why you're here? And he's, yes, yes. Do you want your parents to take care of you? Oh, yes, yes, yes. And everything's going along fine. And the judge says, Johnny, have you got anything you want to say? I go, I thought, what is he about to say? And he goes, A thought comes to him, right? Yeah, he says, yes. He says, yesterday, my dad stole my TV. And I'm sitting next to him, and the interpreter, she kind of looks at me like. And I said, yeah, he was acting up yesterday, and I unplugged his television. Discipline. I think Johnny thought, if I can get this judge on my side, he'll lock my dad up for a couple days, and he'll get his mind right, amen? The whole courtroom erupted. They all laughed. His brothers loved it. Oh, Johnny throwing his dad under the bus, man. Get dad thrown in jail. That'd be great. They'd love that. But Johnny, he was a blessing. He was worth a lot of laughs, that's for sure. All right. Mark, chapter number 2. Mark, chapter number 2. Gospel of Mark, chapter 2. If you find your place, I'm going to ask you, if you're able, to stand with me while we read our text this morning. Mark, chapter 2, and we're going to begin in verse 1. And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. And straightway many gathered together, and so much as there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their fate, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. Why doth this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God only? And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or say, arise and take up thy bed and walk. But then ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house. And immediately he arose, and took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, we never saw it on this fashion. I want to bring a message this morning, catching a burden, catching a burden. Let's pray together. Father, we come to you now and Lord, we thank you so much for all that we've seen and all that we've heard. Thank you for the songs that have been sung. For Sister Michelle's special, for the Rogers family, Lord, it just sets our heart ready to hear the Word of God. So Lord, I pray that you would speak. May I just stay out of your way, Father. Holy Ghost of God, have your way in our hearts. Lord, we pray that if there's someone here this morning that, Lord, they may have religion, they may have church, but they don't have Christ. I pray, Lord, they'd see their need to be saved and have their sins forgiven. But Lord, I pray most of all that you would just do a work that we cannot do. We cannot accomplish anything without you. So Lord, I pray that we would see you do something wonderful in this service. May we experience your presence, and Lord, leave here today saying it's been good to be in the house of God. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Please be seated. Have you folks ever been late to an event? You know, you're running behind, and you get there, and you try your best not to disturb other people. You know, you might slip in the back. Could be church, even. You come slipping in the back door, and you sit down, and you don't want to come all the way up front where you usually sit, but you sit in the back, and you don't want to disturb people. It might be a little embarrassing. How about when other people arrive late? You're there, you're on time, you've found your place, and now people are coming in late. We were at a concert one time, the Flint Symphony was doing a Christmas thing, and these people are late, they're late! They're late and they're coming in their seats, their tickets are down front, of course. And you think, you know, well, can't you plan better? What's wrong with you? Why are you late? You know, they usually quickly take, you know, they took their seats quickly, but in the meantime, it was disruptive. You know, do we ever give a thought as to why people might be late? Why they might be running behind? We know what our excuses are when we're late. We know what we were, well, you know, Joanne, once again, took too long to get ready, you know. Usually when we're late, it's 50-50. I run behind, too. Do we ever consider what the circumstances may have been that delayed them from getting to an event or even to church on time? You know, for eight years, I pastored the deaf. And one thing about the deaf is when they're late, they don't care. They don't care. They will walk into the front. If this was a deaf church, they would walk up front. While I'm preaching, eloquent messages, by the way. While I'm preaching, they would walk up front, and they'd say, oh, the traffic was awful. And they'd go on and say, we're waiting in line. And all the deaf are going, yeah, I'm standing in the pulpit trying to preach, and I got to wait. I gotta wait until they're done telling everybody. They didn't care whether they disrupted the service or not. They had a story they had to tell. And so they, everybody had to know why I'm late, why I'm late to this. There was an evangelist named Bruce Kelly. Bruce Kelly, he has a church in Georgia. He's not an evangelist, but we had him come to one of our death days. and sure enough sunday school starts 10 o'clock in the morning or 9 45 in the morning all right now he's from georgia all right and we're in michigan it's the beginning of november you know y'all it's been pretty cold around here last couple mornings right okay so i would think he would know this But he said he got up early, and so he's late. Like five minutes to 10, he walks in and starts doing his Sunday school. But he has to tell everybody why he's late. He said, I woke up, took a shower, got ready. They were very detail-oriented. And he said, it was cold outside. So he walked to his car, and he started it up. And he put his windshield wipers on and went, I can't see. He thought it was due. He said, but it's frozen. And so now, he says, I don't know. What am I going to do? What do I do? So he's got the defrosters on. He gets his credit card out, and he's scraping the windshield. And he's going through this whole long story, telling everybody why he was late. So in the afternoon service, the evening service that day, I went out, and I bought him an ice scraper. And I wrapped it all up, and I presented it to him as a gift, saying, now you have no excuses why you're late. Amen. You know, in our text today, there was a group of guys, there was a group of people. I'm going to say guys, I don't know if it was, could have been men, could have been women, we don't know. But there was a group that were running late. The reason they were late, there was a reason that they were late, but you know what, they didn't care if they disrupted the meeting. They had a mission. They were a people that were on a mission. Jesus is preaching in a house in Capernaum. And at this point in his ministry, his fame had spread. And man, people were getting packed. They packed out the house because they wanted to hear him preach the word of God. Maybe some came, maybe hoping that he would do some sort of miracle. But he was in the house, and the house was packed out. But there was a man that these latecomers needed to get to Jesus. They wanted to get him to Jesus. This man had four friends that carried him and his bed to the meeting, and that's why they were late. That slowed them down. They couldn't get there on time. You see, these men had a burden for their friend, but they went beyond just having a burden. They put the burden into action. I want you and I to look at this account of scripture and maybe insert ourselves into this story. Maybe put ourselves into this story and see what took place and maybe today we can catch a burden. We can catch a burden for others. First of all, see the burden again. In verse number three it says, born of four, and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." Hey, this friend of theirs was paralyzed. He had palsy. Maybe you've heard the term Bell's palsy. It's where the side of your face goes numb. But this man's body was numb. He could not walk. He could not fend for himself. He had a need to get to Jesus, but there was no way that he could do it on his own. No way that he could have got himself to the Lord. He needed help. So he has these four friends. They knew that Jesus was the answer to his problem, amen? They knew that Christ was the one that could help their friend. It was noise that Jesus was in the house. Everybody found out, hey man, Jesus is here. Jesus is here. Those friends said, this is it, man. We can get our friend to the Lord. We can get him to Jesus. But they were late because they were carrying his friend. They were carrying that man. They were carrying him in his bed. And it slowed him down. All the other people got there much quicker, much easier than they did. But they got there, amen? They didn't give up. They didn't say, oh, man, the place is packed. We can't get in. They were determined to get their friend to the Lord. They couldn't enter the house by normal means, so they got creative. Amen. Hey, hey, they got, let's get them on the roof. I could see them all standing there. Now what are we going to do? And one of them maybe looks up, smiles at the other one and says, let's get them on the roof, man. Let's get them up there. The burden, all of a sudden, it became heavier, didn't it? Because now they had to lift him up and get him up onto that roof. But they got him to the Lord, amen? They got him to the Lord. Hey, then I want you to see the burden bearers. Look at verse five. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, thy son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Yeah, who are they? They have no identity, do they? There's no identity. We don't know who they are. Were they friends? Were they family? You know, were they maybe caregivers? Someone that took care of this guy? Who were these guys? We don't know who they are, but we do know that they made that paralyzed man's burden their burden. They became burdened with their friend. You know, they probably had problems of their own. You know, they probably had issues of their own. Maybe they had family troubles. Maybe they had financial problems. Maybe they had other issues in their own life. But they set all those aside and focused on their friend, focused on this man that had the palsy. They were men of faith. We do know that. Because that's what Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus saw their faith. They believed that Jesus could meet the need that their friend had. And they took extraordinary measures to get him to Christ. They did the heavy lifting so their friend could get to the Lord. Then I want you to see the blessing robbers. Look at verse 6. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why doth this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether it's easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and take up that bed and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy. Hey, the religious crowd was in the house also. They were there. They didn't like the interruption. They weren't happy with the interruption that took place. See, usually they would show up when Jesus was in the house to find fault. trying to listen to what he had to say and trying to catch him in his words and argue with whatever it is that he had said. I'm sure they were aggravated by this man being lowered through the roof. Oh, man, what's now this interruption going on? They weren't concerned about him. They weren't concerned about the man with the palsy. They were just concerned about what they wanted to do, what they wanted to see and find out what Jesus had to say. And Jesus tells the crippled man, thy sins are forgiven thee. The scribes about blew their minds. I mean, how could he say this blasphemy? How could he say these things? Here is God in the flesh telling this man that his sins are forgiven you. They didn't understand that Jesus was God. They didn't understand they had the Messiah in front of them. But Jesus says that you may know, that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Friend, he still has power on earth to forgive sins today, amen, amen. Lord's about to do something miraculous, but the religious crowd was concerned that he was claiming to be the Messiah. They were upset with him because he had claimed to be the Son of God. Then I want you to see the blessing. Look at verse 11. I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, we never saw it on this fashion. Hey, Jesus heals the paralyzed man. In my mind, I could see the four guys on the roof, or four people, again, I don't know if they're men, but they're four guys, peering down through the hole. watching what was transpiring with their buddy, with the one that they had gotten to the Lord. Watching Jesus tell their friend, hey, your sins are forgiven. The scribes debating with Jesus back and forth. And then they see their friend rise to his feet and take up his bed. Luke, of the same account in chapter five, says, and immediately he arose up before them and took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house, glorifying God. You know, he didn't just leave walking. He didn't just get up and say, well, that's great, man. I can walk now. Let's head on home. No, man, he was glorifying the Lord. Things got pretty excited. I believe he was pretty happy, amen? Then the people that saw it got excited. Hey, man, we've never seen anything like this before. Man, this is new. We've never seen anything like that. And again, in Luke, it says, and they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today. Amen. I imagine the four that got on the roof, they probably got pretty excited, too. Man, they're looking down through that hole. They see their friend get up, and they're probably looking at each other. I don't know that they did this back in the day, but maybe they were high-fiving one another. Man, this is great. This is great. He's walking. He's up. He's walking. They saw God do. They saw Jesus do what they brought their friend to get healed, and Jesus did what they wanted him to do. They got no glory, but the people gave God glory. And we don't know any of their names. but they saw the Lord do a miracle that they were hoping for, amen? We might not know their names, but I guarantee you one thing, their friend never forgot them. Their friend never forgot what they did for him. The man that they carried to Jesus walked home with them. You know, that's another thing I love about the miracles that God does. He didn't need therapy. You know, he didn't say, well, rise up and go to the therapy three times a week and get your strength back. I mean, he was completely healed. This guy, he got up and he began to walk. He began to walk. And he walked home. Didn't need therapy. He didn't need any help. Can you imagine the conversations that they had on the way home? I can imagine that guy looking at his friends going, you guys are short, man. You know? He's always been looking up at people. Now he's looking down on his friends. We don't know that. Just my unsanctified imagination, whatever. You know? Hey, hey, you guys want to race? You want to race, man? He's doing something he hadn't done before. He's walking. He's walking home. Oh, man, this is a great account of a real miracle that took place many, many, many years ago, right? So that's great, brother Ashley, that's a good story, but what does that have to do with me? I'm glad you asked. I'm glad you asked. What's your burden? What's your burden? Everybody has burdens, right? Everybody has trials. Everybody has problems of their own. Life experiences that we can use to bring glory to God. Many of you, no doubt, have your own burdens. You're dealing with them today, personal burdens. Is your personal burden your focus, though? Is that the focus that you have on your life? Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Personal burdens that we bear need to be taken to the Lord, friend. What you're going through, whatever heartache, whatever pain that you may be experiencing right now, needs to be taken to the Lord. Allow the Lord to help you through your difficulties. You know, I'm not discounting anybody's problems. Hey, people hurt, amen? People hurt, and we talked about this all weekend long, about the pain, about the suffering that is in lives, and they're real to those that are experiencing them, whatever they may be. But you need to take those things to Jesus, friend. If you're a child of God today, if you know Christ as your Savior, you're never alone. He's with you all the time, and He wants you to take your burdens to Him. And once we receive that help from the Lord, we need to take on His burden, the burden that He has. And His burden is for those that are hurting, the brokenhearted, the lost souls of men. Too often we don't catch a burden for others because our focus is on our trials, our life, and our agenda. What's going on with me? What's happening in my life? We get tunnel vision because we're busy looking at what's going on in our life. And sometimes, friend, I get it. Sometimes the pain is great and you need to be ministered to. But once you've been ministered to, friend, now's the time to start looking and checking and seeing what other people's burdens are. We shouldn't allow our burdens hinder us from helping others with theirs. Hey, be a burden bearer. Make other burdens more important than your own. Change the focus. Hey, can I tell you something? As we help bear someone else's burdens, our personal burdens become just a little bit lighter. They don't go away, they don't vanish, but our focus changes. Now, instead of being focused on me and focused on what I'm going through all the time, I begin to focus on trying to help somebody else. And as I begin to help somebody else, my focus starts changing on them. I still got my problems, I still got my burdens, just like those four men. We don't know what they went through, we don't know what was going on in their life, but you know what their focus was on? The man with the palsy, wasn't it? And whatever problems they had back home, they were doing something to help a friend. We may live in obscurity for the most part. Most people won't even know who we are. But friend, the people we get to Jesus will never forget us. They'll never forget us, the people that we get to the Lord. I'll never forget the man that led me to the Lord. I'm in the laundry room in Barracks 801, Southley Field, Pensacola, Florida. Some of you heard this already. And I'm in the laundry room. I'm on duty that night. I got watched later on that night, so I'm washing clothes. And one of my partying buddies comes walking in and says, hey, if you were to die today, do you know whether or not you'd go to heaven? I looked at him. Steve Bowen was his name. skinny guy from Sarasota, Florida, skinny, had round glass, looked like John Denver. And at that point in time in my life, I realized I knew nothing about God. I knew Jesus was born at Christmas and he was crucified around Easter, that's about it. Well, the thing was, he didn't know a whole lot. And he piqued my interest, and I wasn't going anywhere because I couldn't run. I'm doing laundry, amen? I couldn't leave. He got a hold of a lieutenant named Jimmy Ross. And Jimmy Ross was a Christian man. And he said, hey, there's a guy here. You need to talk to him. And Jimmy Ross drove to the base, came to the barracks. I came down. I sat in the front seat of a Jeep Wagoneer in front of Barracks 801, Softly Field, Pensacola, Florida. And I trusted Christ as my Savior. I'll never forget those men as long as I live. And I'll see them again someday. I'll never forget them. They got me to Jesus. They got me to the Lord. People that you get to the Lord will never forget you, my friend. They'll never forget you. Have faith that God will use you to do his work. Jesus saw the faith of those men that brought their friend to him, and their action was associated with their faith. You know, we could say that we believe that Jesus can help our friends and our loved ones. We could say that all day long. But if we don't do the heavy lifting, it's only words. It's just words. Again, James chapter two and verse 17, even so faith if it hath not works is dead, being alone. Yeah, man may say that thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? I could say that I believe that God can help my friend. I believe that the Lord can help my brother, my sister, neighbors, whoever it may be. I believe that the Lord, but friend, if we don't do the heavy lifting and try to get them to Jesus, they're just words. I believe. But man, when you believe here, it puts action into our faith, action to what we say we believe. Hey, getting people to Jesus might require you getting on the roof, amen? Get a little creative. Get a little creative on reaching others. Be willing to do the work in prayer, witnessing to them, showing them the word of God, just being there for them maybe in their time of need. Galatians chapter six and verse two, the Bible says, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. As we choose to bear one another's burdens, our will will diminish in importance. Because we're doing what God wants us to do. Lord wants us to use life experiences to encourage others. We talked about this this weekend. Turning your trials into a testimony. What you're going through, what you're going through is again, the survival guide of somebody else's life. You can share that with them and show, this is what God did for me. And because this is what God did for me, my friend, he can do it for you. He can do the same thing for you. And my friend, don't be a blessing robber. Hey, the religious crowd didn't like that Jesus said he could forgive sin, amen? Jesus is about to do a miraculous work. The religious leaders didn't want any part of it. They had no concern for the man with the palsy. They were more interested in their religion. Don't get in the way of God's work. Don't get in the way because of our religion in the work that the Lord is doing. Let God be God. Let the Lord do the work. Let him be God. Don't put limits on what God can do in somebody else's life. You know, we tend to put God in a box. And God, you cannot operate outside these parameters. Well, I'm going to tell you something, friend. God can do whatever he wants, because he's God. Amen? Amen. Well, God will never do something that violates his word. I'll be careful with this, but I'm gonna tell you something. If I'm not mistaken, he told Isaiah to go preach naked. Right? Now, if Pastor Crowder got up here and he was preaching naked, a bunch of you'd leave. Amen. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. But see, I'm sure there was a bunch that said that Isaiah can't be a prophet of God. Look what he's doing. Look what he's doing. Who's the one who married Golda? Prophet. Prophet of God. Married to Harlan. Amen? Married to Harlan. It'll get there. Jose. Yeah, Jose. Go marry a prostitute. What? What? See, folks, we've got to be careful that we don't just keep putting God in our little religious box. a religious box and say, God, you cannot operate outside the parameters that I've set up. Because when we do that, we become scribes. We become Pharisees. God can do whatever he wants to. He's God. Let God be God. Don't be the bucket brigade, amen? Somebody's fired up. Somebody sees God moving their lives and everything like that. Well, you know, you'll get over that someday. No, man, don't pour water on him. Throw some gas on him. Get him fired up. Get him excited. Help him enjoy the things of God. And if you think, well, hell, you know, they shouldn't be doing that, just get out of their way. Let him enjoy the things of God. Amen. Them scribes, them scribes didn't care about that man with the palsy. They could have cared less about him. Jesus was operating outside the parameters that we have set up for what the Messiah should look like, and where he should come from, and what he should do. And he's not him. And who do you think you are saying that you can forgive sin? Oh, man, they blew a gasket, amen? Because he wasn't following their religion. Folks, religion ain't going to get you to heaven. If you're here today and you think this church is gonna get you to heaven, you're in trouble. If you think being baptized is gonna get you to heaven, you're in trouble. If you think you're faithful to church is gonna get you to heaven, you're in trouble, friend, because only Jesus Christ died for your sins. He's the one that can forgive sin. Nobody else, no religion, no priest, no preacher, none of them can forgive your sin, only Christ. And if you're trusting in something other than Jesus Christ today, my friend, you're on your way to hell. Amen. I'm just telling you, that's what the Word of God says. Don't hinder people from getting to the Lord and receiving the help that they need. And then, my friends, see the blessing. As we seek to get people to Jesus, and we're bearing one another's burdens, can I tell you something, friend? We will reap rewards. Galatians 6, 9, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. We'll see other people's lives changed by the power of God. Make no mistake about it. That man with the palsy, his life was changed. Amen? His life was changed. His sins were forgiven. He walked out of that place. He walked out of that place with his friends, glorifying God, praising the Lord, enjoying what God had done for him. His life was changed forever. As we take on other people's burdens, friends, we'll see lives changed. We'll see people get saved. We'll see people get off drugs. We'll see families getting put together. We'll see drunks getting sober. We'll see great things happen in people's lives. All the results of getting people to Jesus. Amen. You know, there's the blessings of getting involved in people's lives. Man, catching a bird, getting on the roof, do the heavy lifting, seeing the Lord do what we bring them to Jesus to do. And then he'll get the glory. Amen. He'll get the glory. Those fours that carried that crippled man to Jesus are never mentioned again. But they saw God do strange things that day. The man with the palsy, the people in the house glorified God. Those four on the roof, all they could do is watch. Man, it's unbelievable what God did for them. Unbelievable what the Lord did for them. Their faith was recognized and rewarded. Jesus saw their faith. They got to rejoice with their friend, man, all the way home. Right? You know, we don't know who they were. Their faith was rewarded. The Lord will do the same for you and I. Hey, man, we might live in obscurity for the rest of our lives. That's OK. That's all right. You know? But the Lord will receive glory. Our faith will be rewarded someday by hearing, well done. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Hey, let God get the glory in our service. Let God get the glory in what we do. Let God get the glory in us trying to get people to Jesus. He's the only one that can forgive sin. He's the only one that can change lives and change circumstances. But you know what? You and I get the blessing. You and I get the blessing of seeing somebody get saved. And then, friend, you know what we get to do? We get to walk with them. We get to walk with them throughout this life all the way home. Amen. Amen. Man, there's going to be people I'm going to see up there in heaven that I can't wait to see. Folks that were instrumental in me getting safe, people that prayed for me to get my heart right with God, situations that went out. But you know what? There's going to be a few. Not as many as there ought to be, but there's going to be a few that I witnessed, too. They're going to be in heaven. There's going to be a few that I tried to help. They're going to be in heaven. Praise God. I'm gonna thank the Lord for those debt, being able to fellowship with them for all eternity. Be part of something bigger than ourselves. Hey, friend, catch a burden today. Catch a burden today. You carrying a burden of sin today? When I said, if you're trusting in anything but Jesus Christ, did that kind of bother you today? Say, well, wait a minute, who's that guy think he is? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's only one way to get to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ. He can still forgive sin today, and he still does. And my friend, if you are here today and you've never trusted Christ as your savior, and you're trusting in something other than Christ, trusting in religion, trusting in, man, my mom told me when I was four years old, I prayed a prayer. Well, if you don't remember praying that prayer, friend, maybe you ought to check up. My son was 16 years old. He was at camp, they were at Bill Rice Ranch. The whole youth group professed to be saved. They drove down, there's probably about 30 kids, drove down to Bill Rice Ranch, and a dear, dear friend of mine who's in heaven right now, who was the youth director at that time, and he took my son aside and he said, Jason, are you willing to bet your eternity, to stake your eternity on what you possess right now? My son said, I don't think so. He made a profession of faith when he was young. But you know what, he realized, I don't remember it, I don't know how serious, I need to trust Christ. Friend, I'm not trying to talk you out of your salvation. If you're saved today, hallelujah, thank the Lord. But if there's doubt, if there's doubt in your heart and in your mind, when Jason trusted Christ as a savior, he walked back into the cabin. He walked into the cabin, and he told all the other teenage boys, I just got saved. Revival broke out in that cabin. Teenage boy after teenage boy after teenage boy got saved at camp that week. If that bus would have crashed on the way to the Bill Rice Ranch, all us parents would have said, well, at least we know our boys are in heaven. Hey, coming back, they're all testifying and thanking God for saving their soul. Friend, my point is this. Don't trust something that you're not sure of right now. Bob says, your spirit will agree with the spirit of God that you are one of his children. If you can't do that today, please, please, please don't leave here like that. Please leave here today assured of knowing you're on your way to heaven. Hey, are you carrying a burden or heartache today? Jesus says, come unto me. Bring the burden to me. Bring the burden to the Lord. Bring it to him. Bring your trials to him. And then, friend, once he's comforted you, turn around and comfort somebody else. Be a burden bearer. Turn your faith into action. Help others in their time of need. Do the heavy lifting. But please, don't be a blessing robber. Don't let religion get in the way of doing what the Lord would have you to do. or get in the way of what he is already doing. And then, friends, see the blessing. See the blessing. People may never know your name. You may live in obscurity, but people you get to Jesus will never forget you. Hey, strive to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Hey, let's be burden bearers today. Let's be willing to bear somebody else's burden. Father, we just come to.