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Sep 23, 2018

The Burden of the Lord

The Burden of the Lord

Speaker: Dr. Clem Ferris

Series: Guest Speakers

Category: Sunday Morning

Guest speaker, Dr. Clem Ferris, speaks on the burden of the Lord and how to examine our burdens as we look to God, wait for God, and hear from Him.

Micah 7:7 “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.”

In Micah 7:7, the prophet took a prophetic stance. How?

  1. Look to the Lord. This is supplication - an emptying of self - an emptying of me and of my plans. Pour ourselves out to the Lord.
  2. Wait on God. This is entreating God in a quiet wait, not knowing the answer. A prophetic stance involves a longing to be with, a yearning for God’s answer.
  3. God will hear. 

The prophetic is Heaven and Earth communicating = Prayer. We can take a prophetic stance by looking, waiting and hearing.

An oracle was a burden of the Lord upon prophets. It was a burden, a weight or heavy load to carry God's Word and then deliver to people. A burden of the Lord is the most intimate thing from the Lord to each one so that we can participate in carrying a piece of God's house. 

God, first of all, gives it to each one of us. It’s mine. We can’t imitate someone else’s burden from God. Do you know what your burden from God is?

The word “burden” in Galatians:

Galatians 6:2 ”Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” 

This word for burden in the Greek is Barras. It means restore as in mending nets or setting a broken bone. We become the splint to hold someone tight until they are healed.

Galatians 6:5 “For each one will bear his own load.”

This is a different word - Fortia. It means a bill or invoice, a task. It’s an assignment from God to carry out. We each get out own assignment from God.

As a soldier carries all he needs for a mission in a backpack, we get a backpack from Jesus. It’s individualized just for me - an assignment from God to carry a piece of the tabernacle, church, relationship or family.

Problems come when others put their things in our backpack. They put their expectations of me that God didn't have for me. Then I get overburdened. It’s just too heavy. Or, people steal stuff out of my pack. Or, I put other's things in my pack that don't belong to me. Only God has permission to fill my pack.

Matt 11:28-30  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

What do we do when it gets too heavy? Go to God and ask Him to show you what is yours and what doesn't belong. Do an inventory of our backpacks and keep only His assignments.

Ask God, “what is your burden for me?” Look to the Lord. What am I learning from what's in my pack? What is God teaching me?

Start with humility - how did Jesus carry his burden? He became meek so we learn from Him. Meek is strength under control; it's not weakness. It's to be under the control of another - under God's control. When we get the weight of God to carry, look to God for strength, not to the natural self.  

The backpack is my soul - it's not an external pack. A prophet hears God speak to him and then it goes out from him and God to others. A prophet gets people talking to God.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 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.

What has God placed in your backpack?

What is it that God wants to remove from your backpack?