2024-05-01- How To Handle What Is Handling You

The speaker starts by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to preach and acknowledging the impact of the pastor's preaching. They share how they felt a struggle in prayer recently, but felt led to a specific Bible verse. The speaker believes that God wants the congregation to draw closer to Him. They read verses from Daniel and Matthew that emphasize the importance of knowing God and coming to Him for rest and help. The speaker encourages the congregation to bring their burdens to God, as He is the only one who can truly handle them. They use an analogy of a father carrying his daughter's heavy bags to illustrate how God can handle our burdens. The speaker urges the congregation to trust in God and draw near to Him for strength and victory. the Lord what I feel in my soul already. Amen. No fear, sister. You're all right. Most of y'all probably don't know why she's laughing, but I'm not going to preach on keep the dye out of your hair, although you need to if you do. All right, there we go. No, I do appreciate the Lord. I always appreciate this opportunity. I feel like that I'm the least among any of you, but I'm so thankful for what God has been doing around here in the preaching through our pastor and the other men of God that's been preaching so well. And I kind of struggled a little bit last few days just praying and getting in the spirit, going to the prayer closet, getting in the presence with the Lord. And Sunday night was down here praying and I had something come to me. And I'm going to read a verse if you won't be turning to the book of Daniel chapter 11, and then we'll be going to Matthew chapter 11. But Daniel chapter 11, this verse came to me Sunday night when I was kneeling down here praying and I thought, well, Lord, what do you want me to do with it? And and I just could not get away from it. And I just feel like the Lord is kind of wanting to if I could say it like this and not be out of the way to kind of keep that theme going, because I believe God's wanting us to draw nigh to him. I know, I know that he is. It's not what I believe. I know that he is. He is wanting us as a group, but also as individuals to draw nigh unto him. Amen. If you want to stand tonight, the book of Daniel chapter number 11, just one verse here, a very familiar passage of scripture and a very familiar verse, verse number 32. And the Bible said, and such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Let me let me read that again. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Amen. Matthew chapter 11, just a few verses here. And we'll try to get out of the way here in just a few minutes. Amen. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 27. This is I'm telling you, probably one of the most familiar passage of scriptures in the Bible. But oh, the meaning and that's behind this scripture here. We all know this could probably quote it. Matthew chapter 11, verse number 27. All things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father, save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. Listen to these three words. Come unto me. Come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Listen to them words again. Come unto me. Would you stretch your hand toward heaven? Ask the Lord to come by and help us. Heavenly Father, we do come before you here tonight. Within ourselves, God, but through you, O Lord God. As Paul said, we can do all things through you, for you are our strength. You're our strong tiger tonight. You are the secret place. And I'm praying, God, that you'd move right here in these altars and we'll not fail to give you the praise in all that the church said here tonight. Amen and amen. Hallelujah. I do appreciate the Lord, amen, for this great opportunity. Amen. But I want to preach tonight, amen, from this text. You know, and I'll give my title here in just a minute, but I began to think about this when I was praying as the Lord laid that verse upon my heart there. They that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And I thought to myself as I was contemplating upon that and praying about it, and the Lord took me to this chapter here in Matthew chapter 11, and I thought to myself, Brother Quentin, amen, such a familiar verse, amen. There is no dissecting it. There's really, I mean, it is just such a plain and tame verse, if you will. Jesus is simply saying, come unto me. But I began to think about this and pray about it, and I've come tonight, amen. I don't know if you all caught a question, amen, that our pastor asked here one night, or one morning when he was preaching on, draw nigh to God, amen. He asked this question, and I'm telling you this, it has been laying heavy on me ever since he asked it. And he asked this question, why won't you draw nigh to God, amen? Why not draw nigh to God? And I began to pray about this, and I hope I can preach this the way the Lord gave it to me, amen. But I wonder tonight, have you ever asked yourself this question here, amen, if I could just get a handle on things, if I could just get control of this, if I could just get this out of the way, if I could just get over this right here, amen. I wake up every morning, and it's right in front of me. I go to bed tonight, and it's still there. Everywhere I go, I can't get away from it, amen. It's got a handle on me. But I've come to preach to somebody tonight how to handle what's handling you, amen. Listen to me here tonight, when you come to the Lord, you're coming to the right place. Bring all that you have unto Him, amen. They that know their God. I thought about that, Brother Joe, amen, amen. I don't want to be too plain here tonight, amen. I'm going to try to preach this, amen. I'm going to try to be, amen, very careful here, amen. But listen to me, amen. That Word of God says they that know their God, amen. I'm telling you, this is elementary tonight. I know it is, amen. I'm going to try to take my time, but I won't be too long if I can help it here, amen. How do you get to know somebody, amen? How do you get to know someone, Brother Joe? Amen. Come on now. I don't know any other way to preach it but like this here. I know a lot of people, amen, in the whole in this movement. You can name names and I can, yeah, I know him. I've heard him preach. I've shook his hand. I know a lot of people, Brother Quentin. But Brother Ronnie, do I really know them? No, I don't. Amen. I know of them, amen. I can take my burdens to them and they would probably pray about it, no doubt, amen. I don't know of a preacher tonight, if you said, pray for me, and he's going to blow you off. He's going to pray for you, amen. There's no doubt about it, amen. But there's things tonight that you're facing, amen, that you can bring to anybody else. But they can do nothing about it for you. But when you go to the Lord in prayer, when you get away in the hiding closet, when you get away in the secret place, when you get in the presence of an Almighty God, when you know your God, you can be strong and do exploits. You can overcome some things. You can go over. You can surmount those unsurmountable things in your life, amen. You can be an overcomer. You can be a conqueror, amen. But you must know your God, amen. You must get along with Him. You must get away with Him, amen. I'm telling you, you must draw nigh unto the Lord. Draw nigh unto Him and He will draw nigh to me. I did not go through, amen, and pull out, because there's no telling probably how many there is. But you can go through the Bible, Brother Ronnie, amen, and find invitations after invitations, amen. Not too long ago, Brother Camden preached a wonderful message about that invitation when he said, come, amen, and sup with me, amen, and I'll sup with you, amen. I remember him preaching that, amen. What a great message. And here tonight, we see another invitation of Jesus saying these words, come unto me, hallelujah. Who's He talking to? All of us, hallelujah. That's what I love about it tonight, Brother Michael. He doesn't leave nobody out. He's saying, come unto me. You know, we may have things sometimes. We may have events, and we'll send out invitations, and we may not invite everybody under the sun, amen. But I'm telling you tonight, there's a Savior who's saying these words, come unto me. You're trying to handle some things that you can't handle. You're trying to control some things that you have no control over. But come unto me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon thee. Amen. Amen. Does the word weary ever describe your life? Do you ever feel like you've reached the end of your rope, and there simply isn't enough rope left to hold on to? Amen. These are the kinds of people that Jesus is addressing in these verses. Amen. I've used this illustration before, and I'm sure I believe someone did here a long, long ago. Amen. But in the story, I'm not a book reader, and I have not read this book. I heard the drama of the radio drama, OK, The Hiding Place. I'm just going to confess to you, I'm not a reader. But in the story, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boone, as a little girl, was riding on a train with her father. You all probably know this, I know you do. And she asked her father a question, and she wrote in there that her father did not answer the question, but rather he just kind of sat there quietly. As the train went on, and it came finally to a stop, he stood up, and he lifted up his traveling case, and then he set it down on the floor, and he looked at Corrie, and he said, Corrie, will you carry my bags for me off this train? And she said, Daddy, I can't carry those bags. They're too heavy for me to carry. Amen. And to his reply to her, Amen, he said, Honey, it would be a poor father to ask a little girl to carry such a load. Now, you must trust me to carry it for you. And I'm here tonight to tell somebody, I don't know what it is that's keeping you from drawing nigh unto the Lord. I don't know what it is that's weighing over you, and there's a heavy burden, and it's a heavy load that you've been trying to carry, and you've been trying to take here and there. And it's weighing you down, and it's pulling you down. But I've come with good news tonight. There's three words that I've come to tell you that Jesus already said. It is, Come unto Me, and I will handle it for you. I'll take care of the problem. I'll lift it up. I'll pull it off of you. I preached a message not long ago. Hey, God cares. Amen. To cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Amen. I know it's a given tonight that burdens and troubles and trials and difficulties are going to come our way. It's a given. But however, what is not is what you and I will do about the trials and the troubles that come our way. In this verse, or these simple short verses, Jesus gives us a clear teaching on how to handle what's handling us. Amen. The word labor, amen, refers to those who are absolutely worn out from effort. While the word heavy laden, it calls to the mind of those who have been pressed down by a great weight. Amen. I'm not here tonight to embarrass nobody. And I know and I pray that you don't think I am. But it's easy, amen, to come into the house of God, amen, with that million dollar smile on. It's easy to come in here with hands lifted up. Amen, I'm telling you, I mean this with all respect, amen, our services, amen, we don't have dry services. I don't believe that we do. Amen, we've got a God who is always here to meet us. Amen, but I'm telling you, it's very easy, amen, to hide that load. It's very easy to tuck it under, amen, and then pick it back up and carry it right back out the door. When you leave the house of God and take it back home with you and carry it right back to the house of the Lord. But I've come to preach to somebody tonight. It's time to bring your load to the Lord. It's time to carry it down to an altar. It's time to lay it all down, amen, and come unto the Lord. And He will help you handle the situation. I've tried everything I know to do. I've called this one. I've called that one. Amen, I've tried. Amen to no avail. But Jesus said simply, come unto me, all ye that labor in our heavy laden. What an invitation that you have right here tonight. Amen, some, amen. Oh, there's many that are troubled and they're agitated in their souls. And they try to find rest in all the wrong places. Some look to a mate. Some have even looked to a bottle or even a pill. Some have looked to friends. Some look for pleasure or some entertainment. Some even look to a job or money. But people, they look everywhere. And they try everything in effort to find rest for their souls. But oh, no thing or no one in this world can give you the peace and the rest that you seek. While people run here and there trying to find peace. Jesus just simply and so calmly says, come unto me. Oh, I said it was going to be simple. And it is. It's elementary job, Brother Joe. But my, he's got his arms stretched out wide. Amen, and he's saying, come unto me. Notice in the invitations, draw nigh unto God. And he will draw nigh unto you. He's waiting on us, Brother Quentin. It's simple as that. He's waiting on us. When I go to that prayer closet, a lot of times I'm, I pray in Callie's room. That's usually where I go pray at. Amen. Brother Ronnie, please don't think I'm mocking because I'm not. OK, I don't have to before I get to that room. Hey, hey, Lord, I'm going to Callie's room. Will you meet me in there? Don't have to, Brother Joe. Brother Quentin, he's already in there. He's already there. He's waiting on me. He's waiting on me to go into the room and shut to the door and bring everything that I know to bring and lay it at his feet. Oh my, can I tell you tonight, amen, that he was right here before the door was ever opened, waiting on you tonight, just like he was at the well, waiting on the Lord. He was already there. He knew tonight you was coming and he knew what you were bringing. And you brought it before. You brought it to many services and you've tried to handle it again. You've tried to take it back home and say, I can do it. I can control it. I can handle it. But it's handling you. It's taking over. But tonight there's rest for your soul. Tonight you don't got to labor. He said, come unto me and I will give you rest. Come unto me. Amen. Amen. You've got to take your burdens to the right place. Fretting will not help you. Most people, they take their burdens here and everywhere else, but it's to the wrong place. Friends, although they may try, cannot help you. Job tried to tell his friends about his burdens, but he found that they were physicians, amen, of no value. They might sympathize with you and they may even pray with you, but they cannot really help you with the real burdens of your life. I say this respectfully, amen. Our pastor cannot help you the way you need help. Amen. God will lead him and he has led him and he will preach to us what God gives him. And he has, amen, done his dead-level best. But nevertheless, until you know your God, until you know him, when I say know him, I mean know him, until you know him. But when you do, you can be strong. You can come out victorious. You can go home tonight, amen, with a hand lifted up and say, I couldn't handle it. But I come to the one who can. I brought it to him and he took care of the problem. Amen. Fighting won't help you. A lot of people try to live in denial and fight what they're, amen, or fight it and trying to say, no, it's not bothering me. It's not. It's okay. I'm telling you, I feel this tonight. I really do. I'm going to get you staying here a minute, but I don't want to keep you standing long. I know I have a bad habit of that and I'm sorry. Amen. I'm telling you, I feel like somebody needs to run to this altar tonight. I feel like there's somebody here. You've been carrying a load for a long time. You've been trying to handle it on your own. You've been trying your best to make every day. Amen. But I'm coming to tell you tonight, these three words that Jesus Christ come unto me. Take your burdens to the right place and transfer your burdens to the right person. This is the one who cares about your situation. Come on now. I had my share of pastoring. Amen. And please, I'm going to say this very carefully and very respectfully. Amen. I know there's times. Amen. Amen. It could get wearisome. I know it can, Papa. I know. And I mean that respectfully. Amen. They can come to you with every burden under the sun. And you're thinking, my lands, how do these people sleep at night? I don't mean it the wrong way. I don't. Amen. But can I tell you tonight, there ain't no way, shape or form that you've got enough troubles on your plate that can weigh down the Father. You ain't got enough problems. I don't care what it is. I do care what it is. I said that the wrong way. I do care what it is. But it doesn't matter how big the issue. It doesn't matter how many problems it is. When you come to the Father, bring them and unload them. I'm telling you, you can bring a truckload and dump them right here tonight. Amen. And he said, I will give you rest. It is that simple. James said, draw nigh unto God. And maybe he will. If you do it right. Maybe he... No. No, brother Michael. Just draw nigh to him and he will draw nigh unto you. I know it's simple. Come unto me. Do you want to carry it for the rest of your life? If not, come unto me. I'm here. I'm waiting for you. Stand tonight all over the house. He tells us that he is meek and lowly of heart. This is what sets Jesus apart from all the other masters. What are you saying? There are other masters throughout the Bible. But those masters, they get harsh with their servants. They get mean sometimes with their servants. They treat their servants like slaves. But this master, Brother Quentin, he said, with a meek and lowly heart, just come unto me. Bring it to me. It's almost like he's just begging you to. It's almost like he's just saying, you don't have to bear your burden alone. You don't got to take it home. You don't got to try to handle it no more. But come unto me. Transfer your burdens to him. And then simply this right here. Trust him. Trust him. I fear tonight that that's where a lot of people are right there. It's the trust. I heard the little illustrated story. And I'm closing. I really am getting you in the altar here. Bringing you to an altar. I know it's a little illustrated story. But Ted, a man named Ted, was climbing a mountain. And he slipped and he fell. And he caught this little bitty branch, Brother Ronnie. And he was hollering for help. And nobody was answering. And that branch was breaking little by little. Little by little. And he didn't hear a voice nowhere. And all of a sudden from the heavens, he heard, hey, Ted. You trust me, I can help you. Ted said, what do you want me to do? The voice said, turn loose of the branch. Trust me and turn loose of the branch. And Ted hollered out with a loud voice. Will somebody help me? I need help. Ted wasn't willing to let go of the branch. I'm telling you tonight, I don't know what it is. But if you'll bring it to the Lord and say, I'm letting go of it. I'm turning it loose right here tonight. It's had a handle on me. It's been controlling me. I can't sleep. I can't find joy. I can't find peace. I've tried and tried. But tonight, I'm coming to the Lord. I'm turning loose of it right here and right now. While she sang, this altar is open. How about it tonight? I want there to be somebody, amen, that will just step out. Amen. I ain't trying to embarrass nobody. Come on, son. Come on, son. Give it to God, turn it over and lay it in his hands. Give it to God, knowing that he's able to do what only he can. He's a burden bearer, so cast your every care. Bring all that you've got. I'll wait another day. Give it to God, oh, give it to God. Turn it over, lay it in his hands. Give it to God, knowing that he's able to do what only he can.