This sermon emphasizes the importance of coming to God as a loving Father who desires to hear from His children. It uses the story of Mary and Lazarus to illustrate how Jesus sympathizes with our struggles and sorrows, even though He knows the future. The message encourages believers to regularly unburden themselves at Jesus' feet, casting all their worries and concerns on Him, as He is compassionate and willing to carry our burdens.

God is a father. Tell him. He wants to listen. An earthly father, a good earthly father is a picture of a heavenly father. I like to hear my children talk to me. God likes to hear his children talk to him and tell him. He wants you to tell him everything. It says here that Mary came to Jesus' feet. We read in verse John 11, her brother had died. She had sent a message to Jesus three, four days earlier saying, Lazarus is sick, please come. And Jesus never came. Maybe you have had experiences like that in your life where you prayed for something. And Jesus never came. He never answered your prayer the way you expected him to do. You prayed, you prayed, you prayed, you prayed. He never came. And you begin to wonder, what happened? Has he lost his interest? Do you remember the thoughts that went through Mary's mind? Why hasn't he come? He has heard the message. The messenger came back and told us that he told Jesus. And the messenger says, it looks as if Jesus didn't make any move to come. In fact, I heard him tell his disciples, let's stay here for a few days and then go. Why is that? He is disturbed. Mary is disturbed. She is disturbed. But then Jesus came. He always comes at the right time. There is a lovely verse in Galatians 4 which says, In the fullness of time God sent his son. Adam sinned 4,000 years before Jesus came. Imagine waiting 4,000 years. The Bible says, in the fullness of time he came. He always moves according to a timetable. The entire life of Jesus was like that. Mine hour has not yet come. Even to turn the water into wine. He said, no, not yet. Mary, sorry, I can't do it now. Five minutes later the time came. He did it. He moves according to a timetable which is perfect. I praise God for that. So when he came, Mary, who couldn't understand it all, comes and falls at his feet. Again she is at his feet. First time she was listening. This time she is telling him something. Lord, verse 32, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. I want to invite you, my brothers and sisters, to come to Jesus' feet regularly and unburden yourself. You are not supposed to carry those burdens. Even things you can't understand. Tell the Lord. He likes to hear it. He is not a high priest who cannot sympathize with your weaknesses. Hebrews 4.15 says, we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize. I mean, other people may have a high priest like that. All those who don't believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and was a man like us, they have got a high priest who cannot sympathize with them. I've got a high priest who came in my flesh, who became like me, who can sympathize with my struggles because he struggled like me. I follow a Jesus who struggled like me. Faced temptation, faced trials, faced opposition and had to struggle to overcome. He can sympathize with me because the Bible says, he was tempted like me. If he was not tempted like me, he could still sympathize. God could sympathize with people in the Old Testament. Bible says in the Old Testament, His mercies are great, His compassions are new every morning. But it became altogether different when this God, compassionate God came down from heaven to the earth and actually faced these things. It's like a surgeon who is a very tender, compassionate surgeon operating on people. One day he himself has to go through an operation and then he becomes more compassionate to the people he is operating with. It's a small picture. Jesus tempted like us, came like us. It says He can sympathize with us. Because we read here that when Jesus saw them weeping, verse 33, He was deeply moved in His spirit and was troubled. Why should He be troubled? He knew that in five minutes He is going to raise them from the dead. Raise them from the dead, why was He troubled? And listen to this, verse 35, you know, the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. Why did He weep? When He knew that in five minutes Lazarus will be raised from the dead. What do you do when you go to a funeral? You say, hey fellas, come on, rejoice. You know there is going to be a resurrection one of these days. Why are you fellas all grieving and weeping? Poor man is weeping. His wife died a few minutes ago. Is that the message you give him? You don't understand Jesus. I know there is going to be a resurrection. I've got no doubt in my mind at all. But when other people weep, I weep. That's what Jesus did. We have Christians who are super spiritual. Super spiritual is another word for Pharisees. That's all. Who do not know how to weep with others. Who always say, no, no, no, we've got a positive message. When Jesus wasn't teaching positive thinking there, He was sympathizing with people and He wept. He wept with them. See, that shows His heart. And again it says, the second time, He was deeply moved in spirit. He was, verse 38, He was deeply moved within. Twice in that passage, verse 33 and 38, He was deeply moved in His spirit. Sympathizing with, because they were weeping, He wept with them. And I praise God that I have a Savior like this. Who though He sees the future, which I don't see, Mary and others could not see that in five minutes their brother would be raised from the dead. If they could see the future, they would not have been weeping. And if I could see the future, maybe I wouldn't have some of these burdens. The Lord is so compassionate. He understands that we don't see the future, and therefore we face certain pressures, because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You see your children growing up, and you don't know what sort of world they're going to face. Will they be able to face tomorrow? You see your children getting older, and they're not married, and you're concerned. It's right, it's a genuine concern parents have. Or a child is sick and not getting healed of some sickness. It's a genuine concern that you have. And I want to say to you that Jesus is concerned too. We can go to Him and unburden ourselves. There's a lovely Old Testament verse in Isaiah 63, which says, even in the Old Testament, Isaiah 63 and verse 8. This is, I'm reading from the message translation. So He became their Savior. And verse 9, in all their troubles, He was also troubled. And He did not send someone else to help them. He came Himself. In person. I love that. He came Himself. He didn't send a messenger or an angel to help me. He comes Himself. And out of His own love and pity, He redeemed them, rescued them, carried them for a long, long time. But, they turned against Him, grieved His Holy Spirit, sad. How man treats such a loving Savior. But I want to say to you, you can come to Jesus' feet and after you have listened to what He has to say, you can unburden yourself. You can cast your burden on Him. You don't have to carry a single burden. If He can carry you, He can carry your burdens. So many Christians believe the Lord can carry them, but they can't carry their burdens. It's like the story I heard of one of these roads in India where somebody was carrying a heavy big bundle on their head, walking down the road. And there was a compassionate truck driver who came by and said, Hey, I'm going the same direction. I can give you a lift. You don't have to pay anything. Just hop into the back of the truck. Oh, he said, thank you very much. And he got into the back of the truck. The truck was going along for about half an hour and the driver decided to look back and see what this chap is doing. He was still sitting with his weight on his head. He said, hey, why are you still carrying the weight on your head? He said, well, I thought you were kind enough to carry me. I didn't want you to carry the weight as well, so I thought I'd carry the weight. You know that's what you're doing? You're laughing at yourself. Jesus, you said, Lord, take me. He took you. What about this burden? Lord, I don't want to trouble you with that. I think I'll carry that myself. Cast it on him. The truck that carries you can carry your burden too. We can unburden ourselves. Whatever it is, small things.