Stay Strong: Faint Not #yeshallreap #faintnot #serveGod #presson #aussiechurch

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, Galatians 6, be encouraged this morning to faint not, faint not. And we're going to Galatians chapter 6 from verse 7.

[0:15] ! Here is the message, don't get weary in well-doing.

[0:51] It's repeated again in 2 Thessalonians 3, 13. But ye brethren, be not weary in well-doing. It's easy to get weary.

[1:02] Who can identify with that? Any weary travellers here this morning? To get tired, to get sick and tired of the way things are, the way the world is, what it's doing, what's going on, how it's going, this world that we're living in.

[1:17] And the word weary, here it means to be weak or to fail in heart. But, and these are times, surely, they're wearier sometimes. Things are getting wearier, drearier, darker.

[1:29] There's a lot of fear of heartache. Sin is normalised. And Bible believers are mocked and marked. The Bible says that the love of many shall wax cold.

[1:42] We're seeing a lot of coldness. A lot of cold people. Cold churches. Cold hearts. It seems our world is ever more cold to the gospel, isn't it?

[1:54] More perverted. More against God. And there's politicians vying for office. Openly supporting gender mutilation.

[2:06] The perversion of marriage. The slaughter of the unborn. We're going to stand out. If we want to be different, we want to be God's people, we're going to have to be standing out. And if we're upholding a biblical worldview, you're going to stand out like a sore thumb.

[2:20] And God has given us sight to see things differently from many. About how things truly are. And each one of us, we're called to be different. And it's really a badge of honour to be called old school.

[2:33] To be amongst the people of the people of the book. Your Bible bashes. Many don't want the truth today. They think it. They scorn it. And so they're against everyone who is for it.

[2:47] But the word of God tells us about one of the features of the last times. As the Antichrist comes and exerts his power. And certainly we can see it in the portent of that.

[3:00] In the prospect of that. Because we'll be gone, I believe, when he's here. But as he approaches, as that time approaches, it tells of a wearing down. A wearing down.

[3:10] A wearing out of the saints. We see that there in Daniel 7, 25. Of the Antichrist. And he shall speak great things against the Most High. And shall wear out the saints of the Most High.

[3:24] And think to change times and laws. And they shall be given into his hand. Until the time and times and the dividing of time. One of the things of the Antichrist is that he will wear out the saints.

[3:39] And this literally means to oppress, to wear down, literally, mentally. I believe we're already seeing such a thing happening. We're already seeing this.

[3:50] The Antichrist spirit, if you like, is here already. And the Antichrist spirit, in effect, is wearing down the saints.

[4:01] This wearing down is like an oppression. Mental strongholds. It's what the enemy wants to do. To wear you down. To vex you. To be vexed.

[4:12] It means to be annoyed. To be worn down. Mentally drained. It means to be oppressed. Grieved. That's what happened with Lot. In 2 Peter 2 verse 7.

[4:24] It tells our God delivered just Lot. Righteous Lot. And it tells of Lot that he was vexed. Vexed. With the filthy conversation of the wicked.

[4:35] He was vexed. In other words, he was oppressed. He was oppressed. It was a mental torment.

[4:45] Again, the filthy conversation, the conduct, the goings-on of the wicked. In Lot's day, as in Noah's day too, lawlessness was rampant.

[4:57] And it's getting more and more like that, isn't it? Can't we see it? Look at the moral standards of society in which we live. Even the so-called values of the ones who want to be our governors.

[5:12] The values trumpeted by the so-called leaders, the politicians of our world. And we're told in Thessalonians 2 verse 7, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.

[5:29] Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. It's saying that that which hinders is going to be taken out of the way. But we see that the mystery of iniquity, of sin, this lawlessness, this spirit, it's already happening.

[5:45] It's already working. It's already at work. This spirit, if you like, this lawlessness that is abounding. This word iniquity, it means immorality, wicked behaviour.

[5:56] In Daniel, as we read, it tells how the Antichrist is going to change laws, legislations. There's going to be laws passed that will change society and civilisation as we know it.

[6:09] Just look at our own parliament in recent days. Just in the last few days. This is our national government. The Australian government. Many politicians of our country have voted that a baby born alive after a failed abortion will be deliberately left to die on the dish.

[6:33] That's what they have voted for. This is what our parliament has voted for. I've heard gripping stories of late-term born babies brutally left struggling and left to die.

[6:46] Sometimes they place actual witch's hats over the child. Just this cone, a witch's hat, while it writhes in pain, screaming, sometimes for hours.

[6:57] These are the politicians who govern us. That's the calibre of these people. That's the character of them. They're so-called values. It's sick people. And you can expect that the Antichrist will legalise things that will shock you.

[7:12] This is the kind of mentality. It's already, already at work. It's already happening. Governors who have this kind of Antichrist spirit, they're already in power, some of them.

[7:23] And they're signing into legislation, in effect, those things that will wear us down as the people of God, that will mentally vex believers. It will grieve us and break our hearts.

[7:37] Friends, society is changing rapidly for the worst, both in Noah's day and Lot's day. I'm sorry that was quite a graphic statement.

[7:48] But we need to be shocked. There's things happening that are shocking people. And it provokes the wrath of God, that this is what is happening. The judgment of God came, as we know, in Lot's day, in Noah's day.

[8:01] It seems like the headlines that we're reading so much now are grievous things, wearing us down. It's wearisome, isn't it? You turn to the news and it's so oppressive, so dark, so grim.

[8:13] The gloom and doom of what is going on. Even as people look for hope in a church, it seems sometimes those churches are letting them down too, not standing strong.

[8:24] We've got a whole swag of politicians actively promoting wickedness. And what's more, you've got even professing believers who are voting them into power. That is really sad, isn't it?

[8:36] That they've got no problem voting for and supporting such politicians. For example, I'm quite taken with the news in America lately and there's a group called Evangelicals for Kamala Harris.

[8:51] And they're supported by Billy Graham's granddaughter. Even though she's very much, very... There's lots of things you could question. Now, I'm not saying vote one way or the other.

[9:04] I'm just saying, why would you vote for someone who is advocating the shedding of innocent blood, the destruction of marriage, the marriage unit, destroying the identities of children?

[9:16] Why would you vote someone like that into power? But there's Christians who are doing that. In our country and in other places too. Friends, we've got to be waking up to this. The people who represent us in Parliament should be ones...

[9:30] We could see...we could agree with their values. We could agree with them that we would... If we were in that seat in Parliament, we'd be voting the way that they would vote. They're the ones we want to get into power.

[9:40] Amen? Everything we're seeing right now is setting the stage for the Antichrist. And if you think you're being worn down now, think about righteous Lot, what he faced. As the Fuller quote goes, that God delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.

[9:55] For that righteous man, dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Says that Lot here, this righteous man, he was dwelling, dwelling among them.

[10:08] He lived among them. He had to operate among them, go to work every day, function in life. But he was vexed. As he saw their unlawful deeds.

[10:18] He saw their works of wickedness. He saw what was going on. And Noah's time too, we know in Noah's day, it tells that the whole earth was filled with violence. The wickedness was prevailing.

[10:30] And it seems like it's getting more and more that way, in that direction. People going about their everyday lives, normal life, uncaring, unheeding the warning.

[10:44] We get that when we're knocking doors, talking to people about their soul and their destination, their destiny. They're careless. People are eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, just like in Noah's day.

[10:58] And Noah was preaching the gospel. He was a preacher of righteousness, but blah, blah, blah. People weren't listening.

[11:09] And when Christ comes, it's going to be just a normal day, a normal day. But the clock's going to strike that midnight hour. And things are going to change dramatically. And we're going to hear the sound of the trumpet.

[11:23] Woo! And the shout, whoa! Of an archangel. And then the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain, we're going to be caught up together to meet our Lord in the air.

[11:35] Paul says, comfort one another with these words. But in the meantime, until that day comes, we're going to see these increasing signs. And I think we're already seeing it. We can expect a rising persecution against the people of God, against biblical values and truth.

[11:52] And there's going to be this wearing down. We can expect that. So we might feel some vexation. We might be vexed, like Lot was, vexed in our spirit about the things that we see, this evil tide.

[12:07] And we're swimming against it. We're going upstream. We're not going with the culture. And it can be wearing, swimming upstream can be wearing, to go against the flow.

[12:17] And we can expect to be mocked for it. We can expect the spirit of the world to be antichrist, grievous. The culture, godless.

[12:30] There's a wearing down, people, a wearing down. We can expect that. There's some things that are going to disturb us. It's almost like every day in the news cycle, there's some story that's just, oh no, no.

[12:43] Can't believe it. The mystery of iniquity, of lawlessness, it's already at work. And there's this increasingly hostile antichrist kind of culture. It's Australia.

[12:55] We can expect more moves to persecute Christians. I've been copying some of that. There's more laws passing that put the crosshairs on the Christians. Let's go for them. There's stories I've heard about Christians are outrightly getting, it's called lawfare.

[13:12] They're getting attacked just for standing up and saying something biblical. They're being censored, shadow banned, mocked, defamed, targeted. When you become a believer who stands up, you stick your head above the trenches, they paint a target sign on you.

[13:30] God knows our frailties. These are wearying things, aren't they? We can all have times we get weary. Our Lord tells us though, be not weary. Be not weary in well-doing. Keep doing right.

[13:41] Keep on keeping on. All right? And Paul tells us of his times, of a load of testings that he went through. And then he goes on to say this in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16.

[13:53] And he went through quite a lot, but he calls it light affliction. You look in the chapter and it doesn't sound light, but he calls it light in the scheme of things. He says, for the which cause we faint not.

[14:04] We faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more, far more, exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

[14:23] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

[14:36] Brother, sister, faint not. Fear not. Fret not. Surely, there is affliction, but it is light affliction in the scheme of things.

[14:53] There is affliction, light affliction, but for a moment, a moment, there's an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

[15:05] And it's far more, far more than any troubles of earth. And the Bible tells of a refreshing for the weary. Our inward man can be renewed day by day by day.

[15:18] A personal revival is possible. You can know it. The strengthening of God, the refreshing of God. The word weary is used four times in the book of Job. The man Job knew a weariness, a weariness of the flesh and spirit, didn't he?

[15:33] Yet he got through it and so can you, brother, sister. Sometimes we get weary of God's correction too, but we need that. There's a certain need of his correction indeed.

[15:46] My son, despise not the chastening, the discipline of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. So, if it's God correcting you, and that is a load, don't be weary, don't shy away from that.

[16:03] We know God's correction is chastening, is good for us as a loving father to their child. Don't be weary of that, accept it. Don't despise God's discipline if you're going through it.

[16:16] You'll be better for it at the end. Here's another great scripture for the weary. Isaiah 14, 30 through 31, a familiar one, I'm sure, it says, even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall.

[16:35] I still feel like a young man. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

[16:50] They shall run and not be weary. they shall walk and not faint. Glory to God. Isn't that something? I know as a friend of mine, we used to keep joking with each other that we're going to go jogging together.

[17:06] But we never got around to it and he passed away sadly. But we're going to run. Amen. Who wants to join me on that running race? I'm just saying that figuratively.

[17:19] They shall run and not be weary. Amen. Notice it says what? Wait. Wait upon the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Catch this.

[17:30] Wait. Your waiting is not wasting. Sometimes we think we might sit waiting for the doctor or whoever for some appointment or other. But your waiting is not wasting.

[17:40] If you're waiting on the Lord, that's a good thing. In other words, trust God's timing. And you're going to face some times of fainting, brother, sister, even falling. But wait, he says.

[17:53] Wait. It says you can renew. Renew your strength. That strength that you had, you can get it back. And consider God's unfailing strength. The everlasting God, it says, fainteth not.

[18:09] Neither is weary. The everlasting God fainteth not. Neither is weary. God's strength is eternal. And it's unchanging.

[18:20] He never grows tired or weary. And in moments of weakness, we can draw strength from his strength. We can tap into that, his strength. His infinite strength.

[18:32] And God's power is made perfect, it says, in weakness. I'm glad about that one. Aren't you? If you're feeling weak, his strength is made perfect in your weakness.

[18:43] Think of it, brother, sister. You say, pastor, preacher, I'm weak, I'm failing. His grace is made perfect in that, in you. He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

[18:59] Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. We've all got weary times, weary times.

[19:11] We need to strengthen ourselves, steel ourselves for some testing. Friends, it's likely to get worse, can I tell you. Get some resolve, all right? Don't be a quitter.

[19:22] There's some work to do. Marriage takes work, doesn't it? Life, families, ministry, it takes work. But his grace is sufficient for thee.

[19:33] Keep getting back up when you fall down. We're running out of time. In a few days, our little baby, the little baby of my family, he turns 40 years old.

[19:50] We're all getting closer to reaping time, aren't we? Life's time is evaporating. What does it say? You shall reap. You shall reap. A harvest is promised.

[20:01] If ye faint not, faint not, keep on toiling for the master, even if it be toiling on with tears, with tears. It tells us that, Psalm 126, verse 5, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

[20:18] There's some tears down below. There's some loss. There's some heartache. There's some sad times. Some grief. But you shall reap. You shall reap. Keep sowing. Keep on sowing no matter what.

[20:29] Some people, they get something happen, get weary and discouraged and they stop sowing. That's all the more time that we should be sowing.

[20:42] That we should be sowing no matter what, no matter how we feel, no matter the sadness or our hurting, even in tears. Sow. Keep on sowing. Keep on sowing no matter what.

[20:52] Knowing that God's promise is true, you shall reap. You're going to reap in joy. His promise, you shall reap what you sow. And so sow right. And so bountifully too, not half-heartedly.

[21:03] We hear this one, 2 Corinthians 9, 6. But this I say, here which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly. Here that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.

[21:15] And sow bountifully. In other words, pull out all the stops. Don't hold back. Do something for God and do it with gusto. Use your energy for the glory of God while you've got some.

[21:25] Use your energy, please. And all of us have some energy, all right? No one's on the shelf. No one's out of scope here because we can all do some sowing, amen?

[21:37] Use your energy for the glory of God. I used to think, like, in certain jobs, I worked really, really hard and I was motivated. How much more shouldn't we work for God?

[21:48] How much more shouldn't we be more zealous for that glory of God to put our energy, to expend our energy in the glory of God, to put our zeal, our time, our labour into what is godly and spiritual, to sow to the Spirit.

[22:03] So don't be sparing. Don't slacken. Get this. Be not weary. Be not weary in well-doing. Now, there's nothing wrong with hard work. I used to work in a factory, Bridgestone, when they were making tyres down the road here and I used to climb under the big mills and the machines and scrape out the grease for my bare hands and put it into the bucket.

[22:24] I was the daytime cleaner for the factory, one of them, and I used to go in the toilets and clean all the muck up and everything and I worked hard and then I got a public service job and I stopped working.

[22:38] Now, there's nothing wrong with hard work, alright? There's nothing wrong with hard work, I mean? The cleaner in the factory, that's a job that he can do it to the glory of God and you can be blessed as you work in a hard job and you do some hard yaka.

[22:51] There's nothing wrong with hard work, amen? It's been said, better to wear out than to rust out. Now, better that you don't wear out either but it's better to wear out than to rust out, alright?

[23:03] Don't get tired of doing something right. We all face times when we're going to get tired. Think of it, our Lord himself, he knew tiredness. There's nothing wrong with feeling tired. We all have moments where we get tired.

[23:15] You might get tired of this preacher before long and start to fall asleep. It tells us that our Lord says here that he got wearied. He got wearied with his journey. So even our Lord Jesus, he got weary.

[23:27] And it's the same word here that's often translated as labour. You can look at the word wearied, it's translated elsewhere, labour. As when the disciples toiled all night.

[23:38] They were out there fishing, casting the net and they got nothing. They toiled all night. It was hard work. Paul commends labouring. It's got the sense of labouring to a point of exhaustion.

[23:50] That's the meaning of this word. As it tells us in Acts 20, 35, Paul says, I showed you all things how that's so labouring you ought to support the weak. He said he laboured to support people.

[24:02] He said it's more blessed to give than to receive. He writes that your labour is not in vain elsewhere in the Lord. Elsewhere he calls it a labour of love. It's good to labour.

[24:12] It's good to labour. It's good to perspire for the glory of God. He says we should labour. A labour of love. Your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

[24:24] So there's many scriptures we could talk on that theme. Spend and be spent for the Master. Your labour is not in vain.

[24:34] If it is in the Lord, it's not in vain. Even though it might be unrecognised, even though you don't get any credit, any applause for it, any token of appreciation, if it be in the Lord, it's not in vain.

[24:50] So just do it, brother, sister. And the secret thing is all the more so. All the better, your secret giving, your secret fasting, your secret praying, your secret ministry. All the better.

[25:02] I hear of people that are going into the hospital, visiting people. There's people praying for people. I know there's prayer warriors that can't get here in person. They're praying, earnestly praying. And they're labouring in the Lord for what extent they can.

[25:16] Work hard, even to the point of fatigue. That's the sense of it. So you see some people, they're running their own business. I know some of the folk that are running a business, they're putting hours in.

[25:28] And they're perspiring, they're giving their whole energy into their business, their enterprise, whatever it be, their labours. They're expending themselves.

[25:40] How much more should we labour for our Lord? How much more? Or didn't we? To work hard, even to the point of fatigue. So don't shy away from that, brother, sister.

[25:52] Many times God commenced such a labouring in the Gospel and He commenced these ones here. Salute Trithena and Trithosa who labour in the Lord. Labour in the Lord. This one, who laboured much in the Lord.

[26:05] Labour in the Lord. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Now we call labour in different capacities in different ways. Whatever puts on your heart to labour in the Lord.

[26:15] Amen? Serve the Lord. It tells us a further one, Colossians 1, 29. Paul says, Where unto I also labour. I labour. Again, this word of, it's a labouring to the point of fatigue, of exhaustion.

[26:29] It's intense labouring. Striving according to His working. His working, which worketh in me mightily. So be encouraged in that vein. There's nothing wrong with working hard.

[26:40] I know I've got someone who helps me in the garden and he works hard. I don't have to keep an eye over his shoulder because I just glance at him. He's working hard, pushing the wheelbarrow and loading the shovel of the leaves and he's lifting these heavy things and doing all the jobs I don't want to do and he's labouring.

[27:00] He's putting energy in it. He's putting enthusiasm into it. And I know that I can trust him to do a good job. What about spiritually? What about spiritually? Can the Lord trust you?

[27:10] Hey, you're working for me. He says. He sees that. Working hard is a good thing. Keep going. Do something for Jesus. Do something for Jesus.

[27:22] And keep sweet about it. Keep on ministering. And know that it's a battle front too. Now therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Friends, this labour site is a battlefield.

[27:34] It's a combat zone. And we can sustain attacks. We can get worn down. I've had my share of that. People attacking me. Where did that come from? Why me?

[27:45] What do we do when we face hardness? That's the test, isn't it? What's the response? When we get opposition, difficulty, hardship, trouble, affliction, how are we going to respond? Does it stop you?

[27:58] Would it have been easy to quit? Would it have been easy to say this is all too hard and let someone else have this ministry? But no.

[28:10] It's all the more reason to get the job done. What do we do when we face hardness? Does it stop you? No. No. By no means no.

[28:22] It makes us more determined to endure the attacks. It can be surprising when you're attacked for doing something good, but you will be. Expect it. Endure it.

[28:32] In the worst times, that's when we get the closest to our Lord, isn't it? When we draw His strength, when we're beyond our own. Through the trials, the tests, we'll keep on going. Keep on going. The promise to you, dear saint, is ye shall reap.

[28:46] Ye shall reap. Amen. There's a harvest coming. It's just days away. Keep faithful. Don't miss out on your harvest. Keep serving and serve with the right spirit.

[28:56] Not out of obligation. Not because the pastors dobbed you in or put you on a guilt trip or said you're rostered to do this. I heard of one church that was like that. They had a cleaning roster and the pastor just said, oh, it's your turn next month.

[29:11] They'd just write your name down on the roster. All right. I'd rather say, pastor, count me in. I'm ready to serve. The promise to you, dear saint, is ye shall reap.

[29:21] So don't miss out on the harvest. Keep serving. Not out of obligation, but freely, willingly, heartily, with a glad heart, a willing heart. You don't have to be prompted or coaxed or badgered or pestered by the pastor.

[29:37] You just get on with it. Colossians 3 tells us, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily, heartily, as to the Lord, not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ.

[29:54] Keep believing. Keep growing, going, no matter the trouble, the hardship, the affliction. Stay determined. Stay steadfast. Whatever it is God puts on your heart to do, do it, and do it well and keep on doing it.

[30:08] You might say, preacher, I'm feeling weary. I'm tired of church. I'm tired of the world. I just want to have a rest. We can all have moments like that. Maybe there's time for a rest too. But maybe you're feeling a lack of support or encouragement.

[30:22] We can dwell on negativity, criticism, backbiting, all the negatives, the naysayers. Our energy can get drained. We can get discouraged. And we constantly face the danger of that, don't we?

[30:37] And then of losing heart, of giving up. Hey, why should I bother? Let someone else have this trouble. And we end up backsliding. That's a real danger. It's a real prospect. People can get so weary that they get discouraged and despondent.

[30:50] They lose their joy, their heart. Sure enough, that's the devil wants you to do nothing for Jesus. The devil wants you to do nothing.

[31:02] He wants you to get sidetracked, distracted, offended, going off on some tangent. I met a man yesterday who told me he hadn't been to church for many years.

[31:14] Other things got in the way. This was just a contact that we have. He still believes he's a believer, but his faith is unproductive. He is a couch potato for Jesus.

[31:30] Friends, harvest time. It's just around the corner. It's not here yet, but it will be. This is the working season meantime. We need to be in the fields laboring. While it is day, don't shy away from work.

[31:44] And look, whatever God puts on your heart to do, whatever God puts on your heart to do, that's what matters. And while it is day, do it. And keep busy. It's tiring, exhausting, there's work to do, but it's not clock off time yet.

[32:01] You haven't sounded the siren yet, or you haven't put the card in yet. This is not a time to kick back, but to ratchet it up.

[32:11] And sure enough, we're human. And we have moments when we get down. The prophet of God, Elijah, had such a time. He had that kind of attack. He saw great miracles, God's interventions in so many ways.

[32:22] Then he was running in fear and sitting under a juniper tree, pouting, feeling downhearted, disheartened. Oh, it's not fair.

[32:37] Sitting down in the dumps under the juniper tree, it's not where God wants you. God wants you to have fruit. He doesn't want you to miss out on the harvest.

[32:48] Get over the glummies. Where does he want us? Then say thee unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plentious, but the laborers are few.

[32:59] Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Only a few will shoulder the load. Who will man up to the challenge of labor?

[33:11] Harvest time is just ahead. You will reap the benefits. I was talking before how some of our number, their leaflet dropping, could we walk down our street and put a leaflet in a letterbox?

[33:28] There's things we could do. There's things we could do. Harvest time. First comes work. For the meantime we're exhorted to be careful to maintain good works.

[33:40] Titus 3, 8. Be careful to maintain good works. Now of course we don't rest on the good works for our salvation, but our salvation should be working, shouldn't it? To maintain good works, that's a good and godly thing that God tells us to do.

[33:53] You reap what you sow. Notice what it says in the context of that. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

[34:06] It's telling us there do good. Do right. As you have opportunity, do it. Now there used to be a show called Opportunity Knocks. It's opportunity knocking. Can you hear it?

[34:17] Knock, knock. Opportunities knocking. Opportunities to serve. Opportunities to fellowship. Opportunities to minister.

[34:28] Think of it. Friends, what is God knocking on your heart? The opportunity. As you have opportunity, do good. Don't miss it. Sometimes we miss them, those opportunities.

[34:40] Are we making the most of the opportunities we have? Has God put on your heart to minister in music or in other ways, in reaching out, in various ministries that we've talked about?

[34:54] There's opportunities to serve in different departments of this church. There's different ways you could shoulder the load. Are we even aware of the opportunities? We're living in a weary world.

[35:07] There's a wearing down on the saints. We can expect that. People are going to get distracted, discouraged, worn down, detoured. And it's our human lot. We have times of weariness, seasons of it.

[35:18] But I exhort you this morning, dear saint of God, keep on doing right. But as you have therefore opportunity, let us do good. Do good unto all men.

[35:30] And let it be that we're exhorted to the work, to the work. Let it be a work empowered by his spirit. Not a carnal effort, not a carnal striving, but a spiritual calling.

[35:43] And be not weary in well-doing. Now the word weary is the same word here translated faint. And our Lord says that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

[35:54] So instead of weariness, instead of fainting, get to praying. Think of it, when time came in the garden, the disciples were too tired to pray. He asked them to pray and they were...

[36:08] They were praying, they were sleeping. They were too weary, they were too tired. We can get times like that. But rather than getting weary and fainting, let's pray.

[36:20] Keep on praying. Go to prayer. Always to pray. And put your faith into action. Friends, edify one another. We can all do that. Encourage one another. Every one of us can do that. And know this, that the great burden bearer carries the heavy hand, the weight for you.

[36:35] He tells you, come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will 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.

[36:52] Think of it, friends, as we consider what are some action steps I can take from this message. Be strong in the Lord.

[37:03] Brother, sister, there's going to be a time of a wearing down of the saints. I think we're already seeing that happening. It's already working, this mystery of iniquity.

[37:14] So keep working. Keep moving forward in your faith in the Lord. Let God put something on your heart to do and do it with gusto. Do it heartily as unto the Lord, not because the pastor says, hey, we could do with some help here.

[37:28] They actually say, no, I want to serve. I'm willing. Count me in. Keep knowing that the Lord will bless according to his word. It's a wearing well. There's a wearing down of the saints at every turn.

[37:39] It's easy to be overburdened. And as we battle on, there's combat fatigue. There's this, it's hard to keep fighting when it seems like we're losing. We can get run down.

[37:51] That's human. Even our Lord got wearied. Yet there is a labour that is God glorifying. And that labouring can be a labouring that is intense. Even to the point of fatigue.

[38:03] But yet our Lord is here all the time to come and to find his rest. So, I guess there's somewhat of a paradox here.

[38:14] He wants us to labour, but he gives us rest. He helps us when we're labouring to find refreshing. He helps us when we're serving to find his help with the burden.

[38:29] And he tells us there's a yoke, but it's easy. He tells us there's a burden, but it's light because he's carrying it. Friends, our Lord commands that we serve.

[38:43] And he extends rest to the weary. And what's more, he's our source of encouragement. One last verse here of David. It tells of a time where he was greatly distressed.

[38:57] You might say, Preacher, you don't know what's happening for me. I'm going through some really bad things. David was distressed. And what's more, here's the king and the people are talking of stoning him.

[39:11] They're saying, look, we just had enough of David. And the soul of all the people was grieved. But David encouraged himself in the Lord.

[39:24] He found God's resources. He was distressed, but he encouraged himself. There's times when sometimes you've just got to get to the word, go to the word, go to God, Lord, encourage me.

[39:38] Maybe no one else is, but God can help you encourage yourself. Brother, sister, you shall reap. There's going to be a blessing. You shall reap. You shall. It's promised.

[39:50] For the meantime, be a channel that God can use. Don't resist his calling. Don't resist his impression. Do what God puts on your heart to do.

[40:03] And I urge you, weary soldier, this morning to pick up your sword and fight on. Fight again. Faint not. Instead of getting weary, may we get refreshed and revived.

[40:17] Faint not. Now, this morning, I'm preaching to believers. You might say, I'm not a Christian. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

[40:28] Believe on him. But he is the one who is your sin bearer. You can come and find the forgiveness of all your sin as you trust him to be the one who paid for it.

[40:39] As you trust him, as you turn to him in faith. Turn from your own way of living. Turn to him. Turn towards his saving. Turn towards his grace.

[40:51] Turn in faith from your unbelief to faith, to believe, to trust him. And then believe it. As you've trusted him, keep on in that walk of faith, in that fight of faith, knowing that he is your strength.

[41:04] Faint not. Lord, we thank you that you are the grace we need. All sufficient. When we are weak, you are strong. Lord, help us to labour on.

[41:16] As we think of the future, we think of the opportunity, a door of opportunity opened unto us, but there's many adversaries. Lord, help us to not look at the adversaries, but to look at the opportunities.

[41:29] Help us, Lord, to believe you that this harvest field that we're in is one we should labour on, knowing that as we sow, we shall reap, if we faint not.

[41:40] Encourage every discouraged soul, Lord, we pray. Help us to encourage even ourselves in you, in our faith in you, in our walk with you. We pray each one might be stirred up in a good way.

[41:52] And Lord, that there'll be a personal revival in every individual in this church, that we can have a corporate revival as each one is revived and refreshed. We'll all get fired up and fired up again.

[42:04] To be encouraged. Lord, stir our hearts. Help us to see the opportunities that we can serve and give us the grace to serve and to serve well, even if it be labouring with some intensity.

[42:19] Yet, Lord, you're our resource and strength that you'll help us see us get the job done. We praise you, Lord, all to the glory of God. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

[42:29] Thank you.