The Weight

When life brings unexpected loss, sudden disruptions, health trials, and seasonal stress, how do we continue to stand under the heavy burdens we carry?

In this stand-alone pre-Advent message, Executive Pastor Wade Burgess explores how believers can navigate and bear under the weight of life. Drawing from Job, the Psalms, 1 Peter, and the teachings of Jesus, Pastor Wade unpacks three foundational, practical steps to find lasting relief, steady hope, and spiritual resilience in every difficult season.

In this episode, we cover:

• Remembering Who’s in Charge: Looking at God’s infinite sovereignty in Job 38 and Psalm 121 to trust the Creator who never slumbers or sleeps.
• Being Mindful to Pray: Shifting from worry to constant, genuine prayer as highlighted in Romans 12 and Philippians 4.
• Being Quick to Forgive: Unpacking the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 and learning how releasing others from wrong releases us from bitterness.
• Redefining Comfort and Benefit: Understanding that trials are often necessary tools God uses to produce living hope and character.
• Aligning with God’s Heart: Moving from simple duty to genuine mutuality through praise, persistent prayer, and gospel-centered forgiveness.

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Transcript

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This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParquay.org.

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God, we confess today that you are the solid ground. You are that solid foundation that we can build life on and hope on. God, we confess it today as we sing. Lord, I pray that we live it as we leave this place. I pray that we demonstrate it to everyone we come in contact with that Christ is worth believing in and trusting in because you are faithful. Thank you for how good you are. God, what I ask now is that you would continue to be faithful as you use me as your mouthpiece. I pray that you would do the work that you promised to do, that your word goes out, not returning to you void, that you open ears and hearts, eyes and minds to your revelation. Holy Spirit, I pray that you're active in this place, speaking fresh and new. Let us hear and heed what you have for us today. For it's your name that we pray these things, Jesus. Amen. You can be seated. Well, good morning. My name is Wade Burgess. I'm the executive pastor here, and from time to time, when Neil needs a break, I get the privilege of being in front of you all. And so thank you for allowing me to do that. This is our last sermon before we start the Advent series. If you've been around Grand Parkway at least a year or so, you know that we will dedicate the next four weeks to Advent, to that preparation of Christmas coming, the celebrating of Christ's birth. So we will pick back up in Daniel as Neil has been walking us through that. We'll do that likely in the beginning of the new year. But for today, I wanted us to talk about, really kind of unpack and explore a problem that I think is common to all of us. And I want to give you a couple of notices before I begin, and then we're going to do a little survey. The first notice I want to give you is that we're going to look at several texts today in the Bible. And I don't want to give you a Bible whiplash for that. So this morning, as usual, our text will come up on the screens behind me. You're welcome to follow along in that. You're welcome to jot down those reference points, and then you can take those home, read those further for yourself. But we're going to look at several areas in the Bible. And the reason I want to do that is I think it's been amazing to me how applicable Daniel has been. As Neil has been preaching through that, words written thousands of years ago are so applicable to what we're dealing with today. I want to demonstrate to you that it's not just in that one book, but it is in the entire book of the Bible that has so much applicability. And I want to show you a few places to do that. I also want to put you on notice that the three points of our sermon today really could be a sermon in and of themselves. And in fact, they may even be a sermon series, but we're only going to touch on uh kind of the surface of that. My plan is that I would give you just a little morsel to chew on, and I hope what it does is it wet your appetite so that then later, later this week, later this month, whatever it is, that you go in and explore the full depth of what we're talking about today in those three points. So, having said that, uh let's start with a little bit of a survey. How many of you with a show of hands know the song The Weight by the Band? Any of you, I do I have any hippies left over in here? Uh okay, a couple of you. All right. I brought a little snippet with me. Cloud put this together. I want you to listen. And as you recognize this song, I just want you to raise your hand. Oh, yeah, I know that one. Let's see if you recognize it. Kids, this is great music. We should listen to it. Now we are a Southern Baptist church, but uh in the first service I had a little bit of a groove to me. But since I'm on TV, I won't uh do that. I won't ruin you for that. But here's my point. It's kind of silly, but we all recognize the weight. That's what it's called. It's called the weight. Some of us thought it was a load or take a load off or take a load off Fanny or Annie or whatever he says there. My point is we all recognize the weight. It just goes by different names for us. The weight of life, we all get underneath that burden, and it goes by different names. It goes by COVID or by other illness. It goes by maybe even a new baby, or it goes by school exams, or it goes by all kinds of things can be named as that weight of life, and we all have to bear under it. For me, the weight of life really kind of came about in earnest about a year and a half ago, uh last uh May of 2019. My father-in-law passes away unexpectedly. And then two months later, my dad passes away. And man, we get to the end of 2019. I mean, you know, it is, we're like, whew, bring on 2020, we can't wait. And then 2020 starts off, and for me, it starts off pretty well. LSU wins a national championship, and I'm like, all right, now we're getting it right. And then about five days after that, my mother passes away, and I'm like, and then COVID comes about two months later. Social unrest, the most active hurricane season on record, and then a presidential election. Oh, and then to end the year, like we do every other year, but this one feels particularly heavy. We're gonna end it on the holidays. And uh, since my mother-in-law watches the uh podcast or listens to the podcast, uh I love all of my family. But I know some of you may feel like Paul Thorne sings, I don't like half the folks I love. Okay? I like it when they come, but I love it when they go. And so the holidays sometimes doesn't bring that relief that it should. It brings on even more that weight of life. Let me just play my cards open-handed this morning and go ahead and tell you our three points. The three points to how we bear under the weight of life is that we remember who's in charge, we're mindful to pray, and we're quick to forgive. Let's explore this first point by looking at what the Bible says. Now, uh, we're gonna start in Job. This is Job chapter 38. Now, if you know anything at all about the story of Job, you know that Job had a real 20-20 year, right? But he had it all in one day. Job loses family, crops, cattle. I mean, he gets wiped out in every facet you could think of. If you read the book of Job, you recognize that Job never loses faith. He never blames God. But just before chapter 38, he starts to say, Hey, God, I'm with you. I'm still all in, but what's going on here? God, what are you doing with this? Probably a question many of us have asked as well. If we're to remember who's in charge, we have to know the nature of the one in charge, and we have to know what he's capable of. Let me show you. Job 38. This is uh starting at verse 4. We're gonna read verses 4 through 15, and then we'll skip over to 17 and 18. Now, this seems a little bit harsh, but I I take it as real comfort. Listen to what God tells Job, starting in verse 4. Where were you when I created the earth? Tell me, since you know so much. Who decided on its size? Certainly you'll know that. Who came up with the blueprints and measurements? How was its foundation poured? And who set the cornerstone while the morning stars sang in the chorus and all the angels shouted praise. And who took charge of the ocean when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb? That was me. I wrapped it in soft clouds and tucked it in safely at night. Then I made a playpen for it, a strong playpen, so it couldn't run loose, and said, Stay here, this is your place. Your wild tantrums are confined to this place. And have you ever ordered morning, get up, told dawn, get to work, so you could seize earth like a blanket and shake out the wicked like cockroaches. Move over to verse 17. Do you have one clue regarding death's dark mysteries? And do you have any idea how large this earth is? Speak up. If you even have the beginning of an answer. If we're to remember who's in charge, then we have to understand the nature of the one in charge and what he's capable of. God is in charge because he's the creator of all things, he's the knower of all things, he is all, he is the beginning and the end. God is everywhere, all-knowing, all-present. He's in charge because he says he is. There's a uh kid that went to high school with my son, and recently he reached out to him and said, Hey, can I put you down as a reference? I'm gonna join the Marine Corps. And I'm like, oh man, that's awesome. Yeah, put everybody down. We'll we'll we'll gladly vouch for this kid. And I was telling someone about it, and I said, Hey, you know why every Marine thinks they can whip five folks by themselves? Because they can. Okay, that's the same way I feel when I think about God's in charge. Why is he in charge? Because he says so. Because he can. Because he's done it and he's still doing it, and he'll keep doing it, he will still be in charge, and we have to remember that. If God is in charge, then what does that mean for us, really? Okay, he's in charge, but what does it mean? Well, let's take a look at Psalm 121. This is the 121st Psalm, and it'll be very familiar to many of you. It reads this I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand, the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm, he will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. That's what it means. When the one is in charge, that's what it means. There's two things I take from that 121st Psalm. The first thing I take is God neither naps nor sleeps. Now, obviously, I get that right there from verse 4. And you may be thinking, well, it says slumber or sleep. I mean, why did the writer use two words to mean sleep? Slumber could be replaced with napping. God is never napping on the job. You are not going to catch him off guard, asleep, or napping. I think that brings great comfort when we think about who's in charge and the capability he has. The second thing these quick verses tell us, and it's seven and eight, and it is that God watches over you now and forever. It says, the Lord will keep you from all harm. The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever. Now, if you think this is just the God of the Old Testament, I mean that sounds like him. He kind of sets some people right, he tells them he's in charge, and that's how it is. Let me ask you to flip over or look at the screen behind me. Let's take a look at 1 Peter. Now, 1 Peter is written by Peter. It's the one of the original apostles of Jesus. Peter got a firsthand account, a real firsthand view of all of Jesus' ministry. Peter well knows who Jesus is, but he also well knows who's in charge. This is 1 Peter chapter 1, right in the beginning of his letter, verses 3 through 5, and reads this Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. It's kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. If it's true that there is hope, then it's true that we have an ability to withstand the trials. If it's true that there's hope, then we have to believe that the weight is tolerable. If we trust God, if we believe he is who he says he is, and he's capable of doing what he's already done and will do, then the weight is understood as necessary and beneficial. You know the phrase richer for poorer in sickness and in health, the one that we hear a lot at weddings. I think that's what it's like when a person comes to faith in Christ, when God regenerates their heart and demonstrates himself to them and they say yes to Jesus. That's what I think they're saying yes to. They're saying, God, if I'm in richer or poorer, if I'm in sickness or in health, you know what? You're in charge. And I've got hope in you. We have got to stop thinking that comfort is the goal, and we've got to stop having a definition that doesn't align with God's. There are many times when God's definition of beneficial is not matching with ours. Well, God, I was sick. I don't know that that could be a benefit. God, I had this trouble that I went, could be a benefit. We've got to understand that the weight of life, I get it is hard and I get that it's heavy, I know it. But I'm telling you, it's also necessary and beneficial. We have to remember what's been done by the one in charge. What's been done? Christ was sent, lived, died, and has been raised again. Why was it done? For our salvation. What good is it now? It's a living hope. If we're going to bear under the weight of life, we have to remember who's in charge. And we also have to be mindful to pray. Now, the Bible places great emphasis on prayer. I mean, you can't hardly read three or four or five pages in the Bible and not see that there's some instruction, somewhere, some encouragement about prayer. I want to show you just two quick references this morning that I think are fairly simple to grasp, and I think yet are heavy in their conviction and they're weighty in their meaning. The first one is Romans chapter 12. Paul writes this. Now, if you know anything about Paul, you know that Paul was this great persecutor of the church. I mean, he was making a strong living at uh taking out the Jews and anyone who preached or believed in Jesus. Paul gets this tremendous conversion, and he is taught, instructed. Jesus reveals himself to Paul, and Paul becomes this apostle whose life mission is to spread the word of the gospel, the good news of Jesus. Paul writes this about prayer in verse 12 of Romans 12. He says, Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. That word faithful there is a consistent, constant. Paul is saying, be faithful in prayer, be consistent in your prayers, be continual in your prayers. Don't quit. This should be the number one tool we're using is prayer. Now, Paul not only got this huge conversion story, but Paul also, for the sake of Christ, gets shipwrecked on multiple occasions. He's beaten several times, he's imprisoned several times. I mean, if ever there was somebody who could say, Jesus, I'm working for you, right? I mean, I see the paychecks, it's got your name on them. What gives? It'd be Paul. If anybody knows the battles of life and the way that they should be waged and how to be armed for them, it would be Paul. And so Paul tells us as he writes in Philippians, and I want to read this to you, because here's a guy who knows what it's like to bear up under the weight of life. This is Ephesians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7. Paul says this don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness and everything coming together for good will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. And by the way, just a little footnote uh if we have to stop having comfort as our goal and we have to change our definition of what is beneficial, I think we also have to stop thinking we have to see something to fruition. We have to see the good in order for there to be good. What I mean is, is if we're out living a life of witness for Christ, we have to stop thinking, well, I had to see him. I mean, I didn't see him convert, and so therefore I don't know if I'm doing any good or not. You've got to remember who's in charge to be comforted by that. And certainly you've got to pray. Paul is in a short way saying, let everything turn your mind toward prayer. Martin Luther said that prayer for the Christian is like breathing, it's basic and vital. Now, what do we get when we don't breathe? Uh death, right? Or a really bad headache. But death if we're not breathing. But you know what we get when we don't get enough breath? When we've gotten some oxygen deprivation? Ask somebody who has maybe a sleep apnea and they're having a CPAP and they understand the difference before and after. What happens is when you don't get enough oxygen to the brain, it doesn't work at full capacity. And then when the brain doesn't work at full capacity, neither do the organs, and then when that doesn't work, the whole body starts to have issues. I think that's what it's like with prayer. No prayer at all is death, and too little praying brings about some significant consequences. But why do I use the word mindful to pray? Because I think too often we pray only when we can't handle it. Right? You've heard the phrase, well, we've done everything else. I guess all we have to do now is pray. It should be the first thing on our mind, the thing in the middle while we're going through it, and certainly at the end as well. Mindful to pray means your mind is always locked in on praying, always locked in on what I ought to be thinking and doing related to that prayer. Prayer is necessary, but I might argue prayer is not necessarily natural. Some of you may have pushed back on that a little bit, but I don't know that prayer is natural. Repetition, I think, is necessary for us to be better at something. Now, in order to be better at prayer, and better, by the way, is not more uh articulate or some kind of large thesaurus of biblical terminology. Being better at prayer is really just being genuine and aligned with God's preferences. But I don't know that it's natural. I was talking with someone, and um uh we were kind of talking about some marriage counseling, and I said, Hey, uh, tell me this. You've been a Christian a long time. Uh what does the prayer life look like between you and your wife? And he said, uh uh, well, I pray for her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but but y'all pray together, right? Oh, that's pretty awkward. I'm like, uh. Yeah. And it was. For our marriage, when we first got married, we would pray together. And it was. It was kind of awkward. It was, I don't know how to describe it other than that. This is kind of weird. I'm praying with you out loud. What does that look like? And now, almost 27 years later, we can't hardly go a night without, hey, we got to be praying together, praying with and for each other. It's not necessarily natural, but it's necessary. There was a Nigerian author, and he wrote a very quick book on prayer. It's very simple but very profound. It comes from the Mark 9 book series. And he said, really, prayer is three things. Number one, it's talking to God. Simple as that. It's just talking to God. It's, God, I'm concerned about this. God, I'm thinking about this. God, this is all my God, thank you for, oh, God, you've been so good in this. God, thanks for that. It's just, it's just talking to God. That's all it is. Prayer is talking to God, and it's also asking of God. It's saying, God, this is my request. This is what's on my heart. Now let me say something about that. I've prayed for things for a long time. Some things I've prayed for not so long. Sometimes, if I'm not getting the answer that I'm praying for, I'm starting to ask God, God, is this the way I should be praying for that? Is my prayer aligning with you and what your will is? Am I praying how I should be? Now, if I get a sense that, no, you're not praying right, you're not going to get a brand new four-door super one cab, 50, I don't pray for it. I stop. But if I don't sense that I am out of alignment, I will keep praying for that thing, even though the answer is no. Let me demonstrate by this. There's a lady in our church, and she uh she was praying for 40 years for her husband's salvation. He comes to know Christ at the almost at the end of his life. God regenerates his heart and he recognizes the need of saying yes to Jesus, and he does right at the end. Do you ever think she went, man, I'm glad I didn't stop at year 39? Right? It's talking to God, it's asking of God, and it's aligning with God. That's what prayer is. Now, let me just make a quick confession to you. I find myself actually being mindful to pray a lot. You know where I miss it? It's in the praise category. I'm like, God, I really, you know, really, if you could do this, he'll, you know, fix whatever it is. God, I really, God, I really, and it happens, and I'm like, oh, thanks. Okay, but here's the other thing I really wanted you to do. I want us to be careful. I want me to be careful, that my praise equals the amount of asking. I want to be saying thank you as much as I asked for that thing. And I think too many times we get so quick to say, thank you, and next, right? Be careful about that. Do you know why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray? By the way, some commentaries suggest that it is the only time the disciples asked to be taught something. Now, they asked a lot of questions and they asked Jesus to do things like, hey, Jesus, uh, could you help us? He'll show us how to do that. Hey, we want to sit at your right hand, is that okay? All kinds of questions and things, but some commentaries say that this is the only time that the disciples said, Jesus, teach us something. You know why they did that? Because they saw how often he did it and they saw the benefits of it. I mean, think about this. If the very Son of God prayed, right? He prayed before meals, before miracles, before trials, before he died. If the very son of God prayed so much, how much more should we be doing that? And by the way, in that model prayer, in that Lord's Prayer, where Jesus answers the disciples' request to teach them, I think that's where we find the third point of our sermon. And it's quick to forgive. You know, we cite the Lord's Prayer so often, I think sometimes it has a risk of being wrote. Just we kind of say it and we go through it. I know when I was a when I was in high school playing basketball, and the before the game would start, you know, the coach would have you in the locker room and he's like, okay, guys, let's go over the final kind of remembrance of what we're going to do tonight. Number one, Wade, you're never going to shoot the ball. Number two, and and then he would say, as he got finished, he would say, Okay, let's take a knee. And we'd all take a knee and our Father who art in heaven, hallelujah. And we go through, and I'd be like, I don't think this is what you're, I don't think this is it. And we would finish, and I'm like, I guess I shouldn't say anything, because if we lose and we said it, at least we'll be all right. But if we lose and we didn't say it, well then we'd have said it. And then my point is, it kind of becomes just sort of such a habit, the words. Well, let me demonstrate by this. Let me show it to you. It's Matthew chapter six, and uh I want to show you what I'm what I'm talking about. When I think it becomes kind of so commonplace we forget exactly what we're praying. Now, we're gonna pick it up kind of about halfway. This is starting in verse 12 of Matthew 6, and I want to read all the way through 15. This is what Jesus told his disciples how to pray. He says in verse 12, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now, usually we'll stop there, and we should, right? That was his prayer, and we'll we'll stop there. But read just a two verses further. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. Do we forget that part? I think we say it so often, I think what we hope is I think we do it like this. God forgive us of our sins and help us to forgive those that sin against us. God forgive us of our sins, and eventually I'll get to those that God really forgive us of our sins. That's what I'm saying. Forgive us of our sins. And I don't know that we mean that next part to the weight that Jesus intended. Forgiveness, in my opinion, is an assumed action. Where do I get that? It's the as we also have. It's saying, God, forgive me as I already have, as I also have already done so. It's praying like we've already forgiven people. Jay Adams, uh, well known for his counseling, particularly biblical theology counseling. Jay Adams, in a book called A Theology of Christian Counseling, says this related to Christians and forgiveness. It says, Christians are forgiven people and should be thankful for it. That's what makes them unique. But this unique factor carries a responsibility with it because they are forgiven, they must also become forgiving persons. So, what is forgiving others? Does it mean I just kind of forget about the offense or I push it down and cram it into a little bit more space and I keep pushing it down until eventually time wears on, and then I'm not as bothered by it, or it doesn't affect me as much. Or no, no, it's not that. Forgiveness is releasing that person from the wrong. It's releasing them from the wrong. All right. How do I do that though? I mean, man, you don't understand. I mean, some people have hurt me really bad. That's a lot to forgive. I mean, how am I supposed to just release them? That sounds so easy. How do I do that? Well, I'll tell you that I think part of forgiving is not judging. The Bible says, let God be the judge. So I'll refer you to sermon point number one. Remember who's in charge. Let's let him do what he is to do. But what does judging have to do with forgiveness? Because when you judge someone, you leave little room to forgive them. What do I mean? Well, you've already kind of decided, right? Their intent. You know what they were thinking and doing. You know exactly what they meant when they said it. I mean, you just judge them, and now we've left a little small space to forgive them. Because if I forgive them, I mean I have to change the way I felt and interpreted what they did and their intentions and all of that. I think again, a quote from Adams is apropos here. He said, The one who has relieved his own mind and heart of the burden of the offense in prayer, growing out of a truly forgiving attitude, will have little difficulty granting forgiveness to his brother when it's sought. Now, look, I didn't look up any statistics on this. I've not done my own polling on this, but here's what I would think. For many of us, if someone wronged us and they came to us and they said, Hey, I wronged you, I did wrong, would you forgive me? I think most of us would say, Yeah, yeah, I forgive you. But you know what I think? The statistical lack of analysis that I've done, just my own gut would tell me this. I don't know that a lot of people are coming to ask for forgiveness. You know why? Because I don't think they realize they wronged us. Have you ever gone to someone that's wronged you and you went to them and you said, Man, Bob, you said this, and boy, it really hurt me, or you did this, and it really, and they're like, Oh, I I had no idea. I am so, oh my gosh, forgive me. I'm sorry. And we're like, oh, it's no big deal. No, it's no problem, no big deal. I've been carrying around for 30 years, but it's no big deal. I'm letting you go of it, no problem. I mean, it wasn't like I wasn't already releasing you. I mean, it's just I had this ulcer about it, but my my point is, I don't know that people recognize what they've done. Does that mean we got to point it out to them and make sure they know, well, God, you're gonna know how I. Well, the Bible does say keep short accounts with one another. It's always easier, I have found, it's always easier that when someone wrongs you, try to go right then, try to go very soon thereafter and deal with that. But I also recognize that not every situation will allow that. I recognize there's some deep hurt, some real offenses that have happened. And that person's not available for you to talk to. That person's not available. There's all kinds of things going on there. I recognize that, and I certainly don't make light of that. How do you forgive? By the way, when you forgive, you take back the power. That power that they have over you that makes you feel a certain way when you see them, makes you feel a certain way when their name gets brought up, that power they have over you that kind of dictates how you're thinking and feeling about that situation or about them. You've got to take that power back, and the way you do it is you release them from the wrong. But how do you really do that? Jesus got asked that question or something very close to it. Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18, he says, uh, Jesus, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother? Should I do it seven times? Which was much more than the Jewish law required, right? And Peter's like overreaching, kind of, you know, that's the way Peter worked. And he says, Should I do it seven? Is that all that's a lot? And Jesus says, No, Peter, I think it ought to be 77 times. Some translations say 70 times seven. So what does that have to do with how do I forgive? Well, you don't keep score. That's one. That's what he's telling Peter. He's saying, Peter, you can't keep up with it. I want you to forgive every time it's necessary, as often as necessary. Just keep forgiving. Now, that question and Jesus' answer kind of prompts him to tell a great parable where he talks about, and if you're familiar with it, you'll know that the rest of chapter 18 goes on to say, Jesus tells a story of this guy who's forgiven of this huge financial debt. He goes outside right after that and chokes out a guy for $10. This huge financial debt, and then that, what do I say about that? I say, remember what's been done for you by God through Jesus. Now, some will be thinking, well, I've never been forgiven of a bunch of debt. I mean, I called my credit card company and I was kind of hoping they would. And I read the parable to them, and they didn't seem to be a believer. But I've never been, I mean, have I really been forgiven of a lot? Do you remember the rat you were before Jesus saved you? And you don't have to live very long. In fact, you don't have to hardly live very much at all to know. You're born in a sin nature that in itself, by you being born, are already separated from God. And Jesus says, I've forgiven you. I've made a way to forgive you and for you to have a right relationship. How in the world can we not forgive somebody else after all that's been done for us? Now, how do you know if you have forgiven? Well, one, it's hard to be kind to them. If you've not forgiven them, it's very hard to be kind. If you leave church today and that person's broken down on 1464 out here, and you pass them up blowing and waving, you might need to work on releasing them a little more, okay? How do I know if I've forgiven? Can you be kind to them? And is your heart tender toward them? You hear the difference? Kindness is an act, tender is a feeling. How what do I feel to them? But Wade, you don't know what my sister-in-law did. I mean, two years ago, doggone it. All she brought was pork and beans to the dead gum Thanksgiving. Then she took my best Tupperware, and I'll tell you one thing, she better bring that sucker back this time. Because, by the way, we'll get worked up over that kind of stuff, right? And we'll already have determined her intentions. Her intentions were to get Tupperware because she knows I buy the best stuff, and I don't know why in the world she had to keep it. Yeah, I don't like half the folks I love. How do I forgive? We remember what God has done for us, and we don't keep score. You write the good people have done to you and for you on rocks, and you write the wrong they've done on the sand, so it gets washed away. 77 times, 70 times seven, all infinite. You keep forgiving. You know why? Because that's exactly what we want God to do for us, right? And that's exactly what He's done. So, how do we bear under the weight of this life? How is it tolerable? How is it seen as beneficial, even? We remember who's in charge. We're mindful to pray, and we're quick to forgive. Let's pray. God, you tell us, you demonstrate it, you constantly are on display as to how good you are. You're constantly on display that you're in charge. For those that don't believe in you, that should worry them. And for those that do believe in you, oh, that provides a great deal of comfort. An internal joy and internal peace. But God, I pray that our definition of good is not necessarily comfort, it's not necessarily without trials. Lord, I pray that we would bear under that weight of life with strong legs and broad shoulders. Why? Because your word says, cast it upon you. God thinks that we get to do that. Lord, you've given us a way through prayer to talk directly to God Almighty. And some of us still don't engage in it the way we should. Lord, I pray that we be mindful to pray. Not only when, but always. And God, you let out with that example of forgiveness. You said, no matter what you've done, oh, the blood of Jesus is powerful enough not to just cover, it washes it away, it cleanses it. You have forgiven us. So, God, let us do the same. Let us do what you demonstrated in that model prayer. God, let us forgive those that have sinned against us. Let us be quick to do that. We ask these things in your saving, forgiving, in-charge name, Jesus. Amen. Well, you know, here at Grand Parkway, we like to give you just a moment or two to consider what was revealed to you today, what hit home, what didn't. Some questions for you to consider. Those questions are on the screen behind me. You're welcome to take notes or take a picture, but let me give you just a moment or two to jot these down. Our goal with giving you these questions is so maybe later today, maybe this evening, if you're in community groups, what those are designed to do is give you some time to process the sermon and these questions. Or maybe later this week you've got to drive to whoever's house you're going to. Maybe just consider some of these. And just ask, God, what is it that you want me to take away? What do you want me to better understand? Now, as I mentioned to you, not only does Advent start next week, but this is our last week that we'll give announcements from the stage. We want Advent to be fully our focus. And so today we've got several things to make you aware of coming up in the life of our church. Give your attention to the video screen behind me and take some good notes as we have a lot going on.

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Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church. Our family Christmas party is Saturday, December 5th at 9 a.m. in the Kids Building. To register, head to Grandparkway.org slash events. On December 6th, singer-songwriter Ross King will be with us in our worship services. This is a great Sunday to bring friends and feast on good stories and good music. Our young adult class will begin next Sunday. If you're a college student or a young adult, come join Jeff Wood and Wade Collier as they lead the class. The landing exists to empower survivors of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in the Houston area. We are hosting our ministry partners Virtual Gala on the evening of December 5th. To register, head to Grandparkoy.org slash defense. If you're new or would like prayer, or you have any questions, come find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

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All of that and so much more that we get to do is because of your generosity, your tithes, and offerings. So thank you for that. If today is the day that you worship through giving, you know you can do that in the wooden boxes at each of the exits. Also, if you're a first-time guest with us and they had a chance to fill out that connection card on the seat back in front of you, then you just drop that in one of those as well. Let me also make you aware that our quarterly devotions are available. They'll start December. This one goes from December through February. They're in the lobby and in each of our building's main exits. So avail yourself to those. Well, thank you again for your attendance and attention. Let me ask you to stand and I'll speak a blessing over you, and then I'll dismiss you. God Almighty, who has set the foundations of the world, is still in charge. He has forgiving you of much. Be comforted by that. And go out and do likewise. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. You're dismissed.