← ArchiveSunday, June 14, 2015DateJune 14, 2015Speaker—TextGalatians 6Passages in this sermonGalatians 6:92:58Galatians 6:13:04Romans 88:57Ezekiel 20:918:32Hebrews 1220:46Matthew 624:01Ephesians 5:1824:55Proverbs 2927:57TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00thank you Greg thank you praise team and instrumentalists and all of that thank you so much hey also thank you so much for all those kind remarks and thank you for those of y'all that didn't have that wanted to say unkind remarks to me about the sermon series that you kept them to0:28yourself thank you so much for that I appreciate that no seriously thank you for all those postings and commitments and the comments that you made about our launch of the summer series called what God says about it is a little bit out of my out of my passion to preach is to do these kind of topical type things and so it makes me feel good to have one banner called what God says about then we can pick some subjects and today we're going to talk about something that maybe some of you have a need0:58in the area of shoring up in your own personal life I have a need for this message today I have a great need for this because I have a tendency to be a workaholic I do I really love to work and I love to work a lot of hours a lot of times and sometimes I find myself working when I should be playing and then there's some times that you're playing and when you should be working amen that we all find1:25ourselves in those areas Charles Stanley Dr. Charles Stanley is a great pastor the First Baptist Church of Atlanta Georgia made this statement at a conference and I remember I jotted it down and I kept it for such a time as this he said if you quit you will have to live with your decision if you quit you quit on life quit on your marriage quit on your job quit on family quit you will have to live with that decision if you quit now if they fire you if they fire you they will have to live with that decision yeah you1:54know if you get fired from your job and for some reason they let you go whatever family falls apart they run off and leave you whatever they have to live with that decision as well so Dr. Stanley says if you quit you have to live with the decision regardless of who is at fault so today's message title is when you feel like quitting I don't know about you but every now and then I just want to throw the towel in how many of y'all feel that way you just say my goodness gracious I don't want to go2:24another day in this mess I have had enough I'm throwing the towel in when you feel like quitting a burned out light does not produce any light neither does a burned out Christian a burned out is a modern day turn for growing weary God promises it we will reap the harvest if we don't burn out now we're going to isolate one verse of scripture kind of as our launch verse in the book of Galatians2:52Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 but I want you to pick it up in verse 1 because I want you to kind of get the feel of what the apostle Paul is writing to the church at Galatia verse 1 in chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 brothers if anyone is caught in a transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted bear one another's burdens3:17and so feel the law of Christ for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself but let each one test his own work then his ray his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not his brother for each will have to bear his own load verse 6 let the one who is taught the word share3:44all good things with the one who teaches do not be deceived God is not mocked for whatever one sows that he will also reap for the one who sows his own flesh from will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life now here's their launch verse4:08and let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up we will reap if we do not give up let's pray father let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight lord we love you we praise you we thank you for what you're about to do in our midst today God as we unpack your word today I pray father that we walk away from this place completely different than4:36when we came father thank you for the musical worship we pray minister to your heart today you are the audience of one and God we pray that our words in our from our songs and from our heart was pure and father I pray that you receive all the glory and all the praise now father is again as we unpack your word today father I pray that you receive all the glory from it we get we father we pray that you5:02you do your work in this in this time right now there are some in this room like me we need this word today because we are weary we're tired we are running hard and father sometimes we are running circles to try to accomplish things that you didn't even call us to accomplish and father I pray that we will find your favor today and we give you all the glory in Jesus name we pray and the church said amen now5:30before I I give you some red flags and some how-to as well to overcome this weariness I think we should I would be derelict in my duty as the preaching teaching pastor today is to not give you some background about the the Galatians letter now this letter is unique Paul wrote this letter to the church at Galatians it has it's has had many titles such as a magna carta for spiritual liberty the battle cry the5:56reformation the christians declaration of independence to name a few it is clearly the holy spirit's character of spiritual freedom for those who have received Jesus Christ as lord and savior many of the church historians have laid maintained the foundation of the reformation and laid in the6:17writings of Martin Luther's commentary on the Galatians letter he Luther even says the epistles of Galatians is my epistles to it I am as it were in wedlock Galatians is my Catherine referring to the name of his his own personal wife he was married to the Galatians letter the message of Galatians is the message of6:44Christian spiritual freedom it is deliverance by Christ from the bondage of sin and religious legalism the message is especially relevant to today's church as well in a personal freedom as it's become the dominant emphasis of countless uh philosophies both within and without Christendom the Galatians letter7:06is one of the only in fact it is the only letter that Paul wrote that didn't have some uh uh uh didn't have some encouragement to it quickly at his opening remarks or his salutations I would say his he upon the apostle Paul immediately states the problem and prompted this listen to what it says in chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 he says I am amazed that he's not giving him any encouragement here so7:34understand he says I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and you and want to distort the gospel of Christ from this word all the way through the epistle of the7:58Galatians letter the flashing sword is wielded by the apostle Paul Galatian is not a detached theological letter but a deep personal letter to a church he deeply loved he was grieving from these guys for these guys it was out of his heart that he wrote this letter to his spiritual children at Galatia and he also says in chapter 5 verse 1 he says it was for freedom that Christ set us free now I want you to8:27know when I read that Christ has set us free he wrote this 2,000 years ago he says Christ has set you free has set us free therefore keep standing firm and do not be subjected again to the yoke of slavery it is saying you have been completely set free it's the same terminology said to the church at Rome8:51in chapter 8 one of the greatest texts that Paul ever wrote was Romans chapter 8 when he says in the verse verse 1 there is there now no say it with me condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus verse 2 says for the law of the spirit of Christ has set you free from the law of sin and slavery so folks let me tell you something we have been set free so he is telling the church don't worry about9:17this quit feeling under bondage now let's get to the meat of the matter here verse 9 launches us into understanding that we can be completely set free we all get tired we all get weary we all get frustrated well maybe y'all don't I do we all get tired of life in general we get tired of church work how many of y'all get tired of church work raise your hand some of you have been tired of church work your entire life that's why you're not doing any church work but all we all get tired of it from time to time especially those 20% of us that do all the work9:44right the Bethel Baptist Church by the way if you're a guest here we're no different than any other church 20% of us are doing the work so we need you to come on join up with us so we can reduce that percentage10:1220% do 80% of the work amen it's the same statistic that 20% by the way this has nothing to do with the message just kind of out of my heart 20% of you are giving 80% of the money as well amen or oh me oh don't drop your head in shame just confess and write a check that's what we need you to do right so it says and let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary10:37now the word burnout does not happen or burnout does not happen overnight did you know that that just you don't just work up one morning just burned out do you it's a process that occurs over a period of time it begins by burning the candle at both ends works fine for a while this series of events bring us to the point of exhaustion burnout occurs when we give out more than we take in we become zapped of strength our motivation to continue11:04and we become zapped of strength our motivation to continue to change our motivation so we resign we retreat into our own life happens every day in our jobs happens every day in marriages happens every day in church work Rick Warren the pastor of great church at Saddleback Church out in California said this11:32if you're burning the candle at both ends you're not as bright as you think you are I wish I'd have thought of that that is a great statement if you're burning the candle at both ends you're not quite as bright as you think you are I had a guy tell me one time Dan Moran you're burning the candle at both ends trying to figure out a way to light it in the center folks let me tell you something burnout is a bad thing we all need to rest so if you think that I'm beating you up over this message I got beat up real bad over this message this last week12:01but because I have a tendency to burn the candle at both ends try to figure out a way to light it in the center so folks let me tell you something burnout can be overcome but we have to understand there are some red flags that we need to look at first of all we need to look at the stages of burnout before we get to the how to get over it12:26number one stage number one we become disillusioned what is the result losing our vision not our eyesight but vision for greatness vision for what God has in store for us we become disillusioned we lose our vision we dread the future when we all got married those of us that were married now I've been married 35 years12:51many of y'all been married longer than that some of you less we had this picture of what marriage was going to be like oh my goodness this is going to be awesome this is going to be fantastic somebody say well your marriage is not awesome yeah it's awesome most of the time yesterday wasn't awesome Deb and I stayed up late last night because we got in a disagreement over something important13:20a picture frame and in this disagreement I said it straight she says it's not the picture's crooked I kept saying I measured it it was perfect but her eyesight must be better than mine her mind is worse than hers I don't know but we had this disagreement and we made a commitment to never go to sleep on a disagreement so we stayed up late last night in this disagreement13:47I finally said are you going to cave in she said no are you I said honey I got to get some sleep she said I can sleep through church tomorrow so what I thought marriage was going to be like sometimes it's not reality we dread the future now I want you to know we figured it out14:16I think the picture inside the frame is crooked not the frame itself amen it hit me this morning I'm going to have to share that with her when I get home pick up this conversation once again amen I don't have to be right all the time just most of the time amen we can become disillusioned number two stage two we become discouraged14:46we lose heart we lose heart the red flag is a significant decrease in motivation we don't want to do anything we're not motivated to move forward in our lives in our journey so we become disillusioned we become discouraged number three we become discontented we lose joy restlessness is the red flag and complaining I jotted down from my quiet time this morning15:14discontentment disrespects the will of God discontentment discontentment disregards the consequences discontentment distorts our view of life church let me tell you something we get disillusioned we get discouraged and we get discontented and that moves us to stage four stage four of burnout is that we become disassociated15:43losing rewards the red flag is deciding to quit to throw the towel in saying enough is enough I read an article several years ago flying on a trip to speak and I picked up a magazine on the plane and I was reading this article about a gold mine and these gold miners were over in Africa they were mining for gold and they could not16:13they could not find it they thought there was some gold there and all the meteorological choices said there's gold there there's gold there and they kept digging finally they said there's no gold in this mine it's a bad bad report they quit they sold the mine to another company they came in and six inches into that same shaft they found gold church let me tell you something we get disassociated we lose our rewards when we get disconnected we lose that six inches away16:42from grasping the gold disillusioned discouraged discontented and disassociated don't give up there's answers on the way Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 says and let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary now the harvest comes at the end of the season correct it comes at the end17:11of the season if we quit before the harvest comes the crops will not be taken in and we will not reap the reward every hard worker doomed for burnout sooner or later we don't have to live in the burnout stage we can get back up and get moving and get motivated I want to have a rust out life not a burned out life I want to rust out so how do we prevent burnout I think there are five things17:40and we'll close out this morning I think there are five things and I hope that they'll help you as they've helped me this week five things to prevent burnout number one rest from your labor six days work seventh day we rested that's what the word said that's what Jesus did took him six days to create the heavens and the earth then on the seventh day he what he rested rest from18:10from your labor taking a day off is not a bad thing you say well I'm retired well take a day on how about it for us amen you know what I tell you what some of us need this that one principle more than anything I have a hard time just sitting down and resting I want to be doing something look to what Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 9 and 10 says six days six days shall you labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord18:40your God and in it shall not do any work God commands us to rest from our labor the commandment is just as valid as the command to work I should have a sign standing on the side of the road workaholic we'll work for the fun of it some of us are that way we'll work for the fun of it church it's time for us to sit down and rest every now and then to get refueled19:10brings us to step number two rest from your labor number two reduce your workload now this is when I'm going to kind of get in your business just a little bit so if you have a problem with it okay deal with it but some of us need to reduce our workload here's what happens in church work we club you on the head drag you down the aisle19:38you sign the blessed card you join and you come to the class and you're part of the club and we have your a box of card slips and want you to tie it's not that simple but it's kinda we invite you to come and be a part of this and then we want you to get involved and some of you do some of you don't and here's what happens the reason that some of us need to reduce our workload is because we've got so many people doing so much and some of you not doing any20:08some of you are a consumer you're consuming all the good of what many of us are doing and so what we're missing is you're missing the blessing of working for the Lord you say well I don't know what to do well we'll teach you that's what we're good at we're teaching you plugging you in to areas of ministry so we need to reduce our workload some of us need to say no the word no in some of your vocabulary that's not a cuss word that is not a bad word by the way the word yes20:37is not a bad word it's more of you said yes we could share the love we can reduce the workload of all of us Hebrews chapter 12 beginning with the first verse what does it say therefore since we have so great cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us lay aside every incumbents and the sin which so easily entangles us let us run the race that is set before us fixing our eyes or gaze our eyes upon Jesus look unto Jesus the author and perfecter21:06of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross despised and the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you and I may not grow say it with me weary church let me tell you something some of us need to reduce our workload now I know what some of you are going to say you're going to say just like I will well if I don't do it it ain't going to get done that's a poor way of looking at it maybe it shouldn't21:36be done anyway you say wait a minute what about reaching people I didn't say about reaching people there are some things that we do in church work that we need to lay aside every now and then and let somebody else you see sometimes we're doing things that we're taking the place of somebody else that want to do it but they may not be bold enough to step up and say I'd like to take that off your back reduce your workload to the things that make a difference22:05lay aside everything which so easily entangles us many people burn out because their workloads are too heavy I preached a conference out in Texas west Fort Worth almost out to a place called Worthington Texas and that conference they said we're taking you to one of our ranchers ranchers I didn't know they had ranchers but you know I remember back22:35reading the books back in the day that they had ranchers our deacons has a ranch I said what great is it 100 acres something like that he said 100 acres no try 2,000 I said 2,000 acre ranch I said what does he do on that land he said he raises cattle and so we want to go out there we're having a barbecue I said great man whoo man barbecue it's going to be fun if you don't know anything about Texas they're more proud of their brisket than they are their pork23:04their pork they love their brisket out there bless their hearts I'm sorry but they love it I love brisket but they love their brisket and they had this huge outdoor in this ranch he had this huge outdoor pit and that's where they cooked the barbecue on that pit down in the ground and for fun of it they were branding some cattle during that day and so he just left the branding irons in there and I said wow there's only one or two you only do one or two at a time he said no if you put more of those branding irons23:34in the fire it reduces the heat some of us need to reduce the workload some of us need to give up some of our branding irons to someone else amen and do the things that matter that are making a difference so rest from your labor reduce your workload number three regulate your schedule regulate your schedule I love what Matthew 6 verse 34 says live one day at a time24:04God didn't give us tomorrow he's not even giving us a complete day you know he hasn't promised us the next second but live the moment live one day at a time because the race of life is a marathon it's not a sprint we must learn how to pace ourselves run with endurance the race that is set before you long distance runners tell me they put themselves on pace and they put one foot in front of the other on that pace and they try24:33to pick up the pace a time or two but they get on the pace that they know that they can run church let me tell you something we need to regulate our schedules we need to rest from our labor reduce our workload regulate our schedules number four we need to refuel our spirits Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 now this particular passage in the apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus sometimes people25:02sometimes people misunderstand this verse of scripture when it says be filled with the spirit do not get drunk with wine for his dissipation but be filled with the spirit they take that when they say well this is the evils of alcohol you shouldn't be drinking that drunk with wine stuff they misunderstand they take it out of context he's saying we need to refuel our spirits if you're tired and weary in your spiritual journey it's because you're not filling your life with the spiritual25:32the spiritual nourishment it's not enough to get fuel physically with food mentally through our rest and our recreation but we need to fuel our spiritual empty tanks let me just give you a word we need to vacation from ourselves a little bit amen some of us have got so much on our plate that we need to vacation from ourselves26:01from ourselves take an e-brake electronic break have you ever thought about just setting your phone down for a little bit have you ever thought about not booting up your ipad have you ever thought about not texting I mean just take an e-brake I challenge you I did it this week it was hard I am so connected to that26:30to that that thing in my place goes everywhere I go I don't think since I got that iphone that I've ever switched it off maybe to reboot it to maybe refresh some things but that's it but I did it this week I took a two hour e-brake two hours you're like I'm telling you it was amazing two hour e-brake and that wasn't sleeping that was middle of the day I said27:00I said babe don't try me I'm taking the e-brake she said sure you are that's what started the picture frame argument but anyway I took an e-brake students let me tell you something it's refreshing I switched it completely off it took me four hours to answer all the emails and all the stuff that went on through that time but it was refreshing I challenge you refuel your spirit I took that27:30that time to study his word I took that time to pray for you in the list of the church members that I have by name church let me tell you something we need to refuel ourselves vacation this summer from ourselves number five and I'm done aren't you glad we need to renew our vision renew our vision Proverbs 29 verse 18 says where27:58where there is no vision the people perish vision is the ticket that tells you where you're going without it you have no destination you are simply wandering through life we need to renew our vision the great Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes he was on a train riding on the train he lost his ticket and the conductor28:28conductor as they do we don't ride trains here in the south much but up north they still do a lot the conductor came and said he said I've lost my ticket he says oh Justice Holmes we know who you are we trust you he said great thank you for trusting me but I need my ticket because I don't know where I'm going you see some of us need to renew our vision we need to have a self evaluation of what's important in our28:58in our lives I guess the older I am the more in that self evaluation I don't know how many more years God's got me on this planet or how much time I have left I know I've got right this second but we're in that stage and Deb and I were talking with family members this week some folks this week and saying we want to over if the Lord leaves us on this planet for any length of time we want to be in a position of making a difference we don't29:27we don't want to just do it just to be doing it we want to be knocking it out of the ballpark every time we get up to the plate if we can we're going to foul some of them off we're going to make some bad pitches we're going to hit some make some bad swings but we're going to make we made a recommitment this last month renewed our vision for the long run and I believe God's going to honor it but if we29:56have to readjust ourselves our lifestyle has got to adjust a little bit we've got to regulate the schedule I'm going to have to learn how to say no some of us are going to have to learn how to say yes to get in the game but we are committed to the crawls of Christ it's the early bird that gets the worm it's not just that one it's the one that keeps digging that gets the worm so my question to you today30:25you today are you at the burnout stage will you will you rest from your labor will you reduce your workload will you regulate your schedule could you could you take something off your schedule so that you can do something that's going to make a real difference will you refuel your spirit on a daily basis and will you take a self evaluation and renew your vision30:54your vision what God has in store that's how you overcome burnout taking those simple steps I love what the Galatian letter says to us it says let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary or the modern day31:24modern day term for weary if we don't burn out let's pray father father father god we thank you we'll be31:34we'll beMore sermons on Galatians →
