In this sermon, the speaker shares his experience of seeing over 100 young adults come to Christ in his small town. He emphasizes the joy of serving God and witnessing His anointing in ministry. The speaker also encourages the audience to focus on their own calling from God and not try to be something else. He then tells a story about a man he met at a men's retreat who later organized a car repair day at his church, highlighting the importance of using one's gifts to serve others and build unity in the body of Christ. The sermon references Ephesians 4:4-11, which speaks about the different gifts given by Christ to equip the saints for ministry.

I introduced to you the idea of anointing. I was pleased to see a couple of our songs today address that same word. I defined anointing at that time as the evident presence of God in a person's life or ministry. Last week, after our excellent presentation by our missionary guest here, I just briefly started off by saying that it's a process of preparation to seek God's anointing on our lives. I think it is imperative that we commit ourselves to seek to live according to the precepts, the mandates of God's word. And much of my teaching over the two months I've been with you have been concerning many of those things, dealing with offences, dealing with attitudes, seeking to walk in a right relationship with one another and the Lord. I think that's vitally important. Then last week I introduced the thought of making sure our vision is correct. We need a right vision of God. We need a right vision of who we are in Christ. We need a right vision of this world. I'm not surprised when the world acts like the world, I keep saying. I'm just saddened that the church doesn't act like the church. And we need a right vision of the church. I want to continue today with a new thought. I'm going to take my text from a verse found in the book of Galatians. If you have your Bibles you can turn to it. I'm going to turn to the scripture several times this morning. Verse found in Galatians chapter 6 verse 5. And Paul writes these words. Let everyone carry their own burden. Now you heard me correctly, I'll repeat it. Let everyone carry their own burden. Now you've probably heard it said many times that we should share one another's burden. And that is true. And in chapter 6 just three verses earlier in verse 2 it says there. Let everyone bear one another's burden. There are burdens that we are supposed to bear and share with one another. When somebody carries a burden of mourning, then the people of God should come around to help them carry that burden. A sense of loss. When somebody's going through a struggle, when somebody's going through a deep valley, when circumstances weigh in heavy upon another believer, we should come alongside and help bear that burden. But there are burdens that we are supposed to carry ourselves. A burden that God places upon his people that you are supposed to carry yourself. It is of this burden that Jesus spoke when he said words like this. Learn of me and take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. My burden, I have a burden for you. My burden. I have a yoke for you. And when you take my yoke upon you and you take my burden upon you, that yoke is easy and that burden is light. Now a yoke is that which yokes together two oxen as they pull a cart. If you've got an oxen and you want to pull a cart, you yoke them together so that they're pulling together. They're not pulling against one another. That is what a yoke is. And Jesus says I have a yoke for you. It's got your name on it. It's custom made just for you. And I want you to be yoked together with me to carry my burden for you. There is a burden we are supposed to carry. There is a yoke that is custom made for us. The problem is this, that the yoke that God made for me has my name upon it and you cannot wear it. It will chafe upon your shoulders if you try to bear that yoke. It's custom made. And Larry, there's a yoke made for you that I will find difficult to carry because God designed you to carry that burden with that yoke. I have a burden that God has placed upon me. I have a burden to teach his word. I have a burden to see health come to the body of Christ. I have a burden to see people set free into the fullness of the spirit of God. I have a burden to see a healthy church. I have a burden to see people discipled in the world. I have a burden to see the people of God come together in unity. That's why I preach as I do. It is not birthed out of my head. It is not birthed out of books I'm reading. It is not birthed out of something I've read on the Internet last week. It is birthed out of a passion, a burden that I have deep within myself to see these things true in the church. And you've given me the privilege for these few months to be with you to express my burden. It may not be your burden, but it's certainly my burden. I became a pastor in 1979. I was invited to pastor a church in Kitchener, Ontario. I don't know how many of you know Kitchener. I know one or two of you do. When I went to the church, it had been in existence. It was a Christian Missionary Alliance church. It had been in existence for about 25 years. And the most they'd ever had in that church over those 25 years was about 20 people. A very small, struggling church. The year before my going there, there was a street evangelist in the town of Kitchener who was pastor of this church. And he had brought 50 to 60 young people, street people, into the church. They'd come to Christ, and they were in the church. He wanted to move them out of the denomination. There was some conflict, so he left the church. He had abandoned, basically, these young people in the church. And they invited me to become their pastor. Now, I was very happy with that because all my life I had a burden at that time for young people. I still love being with young adults. They're my favorite group. So I went to this church, and I found that I had 60 young people who knew nothing about the scriptures, who were brand new Christians. There were no healthy relationships. Most of them were struggling. None of them had employment. My three elders were 30 years of age, all unemployed. And that was exactly the church I needed to be in. The first year, I taught. They gave me an hour every Sunday to teach. My hour. And I taught. And we saw some change, and we saw some conflict, and we saw some very strange things of some counseling needs. But I started attending the ministerium in Kitchener, the pastor's ministerium, every month. And I noted one man there, about 40 pastors met. His name was Ron Smith. And as I got to know Ron, I found he was rather different. He was a bit of a radical. He wasn't a pastor of a church, and yet all these pastors received him among them. Not only was he not even a pastor, he didn't even attend church. Yet he came every month to the pastor's ministerium. And I discovered the reason why he was so well-received was because Ron and two of his friends, every Saturday, every Friday night, spent all night in prayer. All night in prayer, every Friday night. And then they'd go in the streets of Kitchener, Waterloo, and they'd stop and speak to university students, and anybody who would stop to talk to them. And in their ministry, they led people to Christ. One day in my church, a man came in. His name was Roger. He was big. He was dirty. He was uncouth. It's a good old English word meaning he wasn't cultured. He looked more as though he'd been agricultured than cultured. And he had gravy stains all down his shirt front, and he comes in, Pastor Gareth! Big embrace. Good to see you. His father was in prison. His three brothers were in prison. And probably Roger should have been in prison. That kind of guy. Let me just add a little comment. He was so faithful in the church the next three years. He was one of those guys who, though he'd never been to church before, had such a deep understanding of Christian principles, that when I asked a question at the Bible study, it was usually Roger who answered correctly. You know, and understanding. He comes in and he says to me, Pastor Gareth, he said, Ron Smith led me to the Lord last night on the streets, and he told me to come here and get disciplined. I think he meant discipled. Great guy. The following week, I met Ron Smith. And I said, I see, Ron, you're in the business of producing illegitimate children now. What do you mean? I said, well, you fathered this guy on the streets, but you want me to bring him up? And I guess I got under Ron's skin, because the following Sunday, he's in my church. Sitting at the back corner. Little church, only held about 100 people maximum. Ron's at the back corner. And the following week, and the following week, and four weeks, and the fifth week, I went out for lunch with Ron. And over lunch in a little restaurant in Kitchener, I said, tell me, Ron, what's your burden these days? What is your burden? He said, prayer and intercession, Pastor Gareth. I said, you pray and intercede all the time, I understand. He said, that's my burden for the church. I said, tell me, any church in Kitchener doing this? No, he said. They're all playing games. They're real cynic. I like cynics. I'm a bit of a cynic, I guess. I like cynics. He said, no, they're all playing games. So I said, I assume that means our church too. Well, and now he tries to be diplomatic, you know, which is very hard for Ron to be diplomatic. The bottom line is, yes, our church too. So then I said to him, Ron, forgive me Larry, Ron, I know a guy who's got the same burden as you. He said, who? I said, what's his name now? He said, he's in our church. He sits at the back. He's about six foot two. He's got blonde hair, thin blonde curly hair. And of course I'm describing him. And he's sitting there trying to think. Well, I sit in the back, he said. I said, he's been coming about five weeks. You know, he must think, I don't know. Then it dawns on him, maybe I'm talking about him. Then I said, I know, I said, he's got a business downtown. He's a commercial artist. He said, well, I'm a commercial artist. And now he thinks I'm, he said, I'm a commercial artist. He said, you're talking about me. That's right, I said. You're the guy with a burden for prayer and intercession, aren't you? He said, yeah. I said, tell me, Ron, why is it that you've got the burden, but you want me to carry it? Did you hear that? All you're doing is griping and complaining about other churches in the city because they're not carrying your burden. But I've got a burden. I've got a burden to see my church grow healthy. I want to see these young people discipled in Christ. I've got a burden, Ron, but I can't carry your burden. God did not give me your burden. He gave me my burden. And if I take your yoke upon me, it will chaff on my shoulders, brother. But God gave you a burden for you to carry. So he said, well, what should I do? I said, you tell me. He said, well, people need to be taught how to pray and intercede. So I said, when are you going to do it? He said, what, me? I said, of course, you. You're the one with the burden that Jesus has promised to be yoked together with you to make that burden light, brother. He said, well, any time. I said, how about next Wednesday? He said, sure. So on Sunday I announced in my church that Ron Smith was going to be teaching on prayer and intercession the following Wednesday. The following Wednesday, 15 people from my young people turned up, plus 15 from the University of Waterloo. Ron, that's 30 people. I was teaching at a home group on Wednesday for the next four weeks. The fifth week, I came along. There were 30 people in a circle. And Ron said, tonight we're going to pray. All he'd done was teach them. So I sat there, and he said, we're now going to wait upon the Lord to hear what the Lord wants us to pray about. And I sat in amazement as I listened to the way they prayed. My church from that day took off. A year later, we were 150, 170 people. We had a brand new building to seat 300 people, almost totally paid for. We had two full-time pastors. The denomination think I'm the best thing that ever happened in Kitchener. But now you know the truth. I didn't do a thing except release an eagle to fly. And God put his anointing upon that man as he taught my people to pray. Did you hear what I said? All I did was release him. And he taught my people how to hear God and how to pray. You know, a man who can spend every Friday night, all night in prayer, I better start believing that he probably can hear more from God than I can. I'm too busy being a pastor. I'm too busy answering telephones. I'm too busy dealing with counseling in people's lives. This is what my life was at the time. I was working 15 hours a day doing the menial things of the church, plus preaching and teaching. But I had a man in my church who listened to God. And all I did was give him the freedom to teach my people how to hear from God and to pray into reality what was upon God's heart for Kitchener. There are burdens that we have. But this burden, says Jesus, if we take it upon ourselves, if we get yoked together with him with a customary yoke, the burden is light. It is light for two reasons. It is light because he bears it with us. That's why we are yoked with him. I could do this, what I'm now doing, preaching, teaching. I could spend every hour of the day with young adults talking about the law of discipleship because that's my burden. That's an easy burden. But please don't ask me to sit in your office answering telephone calls and doing administrative work. That is not my burden. And we've got people in the church who have burdens upon themselves. They want other people to carry it. And then we've got people who are trying to carry burdens that is not God's burden for them. And I'm not talking about Departure Bay Church. When I say across the church, we've got deacons functioning as elders. We've got elders functioning as deacons. We've got youth workers who are functioning as something else. And so on and so on and so on. We've got men in the pulpit preaching a word who do not have any burden for the real word of God. And we wonder why we've got no anointing. Why should God put anointing upon you when you're functioning, carrying a burden he did not ask you to carry? But there is, says the scriptures, for every one of us a burden. And let every one of us carry our own burden. The burden is light because it's yoked together with Jesus. It is also light for this reason, that he equips us for the burden he's designed us for. What do you have in your hand, David? Or just a sling? I've been looking after sheep for many years for my father. Good. I'm now going to use you to slay a giant. What do you have in your hand, Paul? Or just my Roman citizenship? Good. I'm now going to send you to Rome to be my ambassador. What do you have in your hand, Peter? A fisherman's net. Good. I'm now going to make you a fisher of men. What do you have in your hand, Moses? Well, just my shepherd's staff. I've been looking after millions of four-legged, bleating sheep for 40 years. Good. I'm now going to send you to Egypt to lead a flock of two-legged, bleating sheep for the next 40 years. The gifts we have, the natural abilities we have, God wants us to lay them down. As Moses was asked to lay down his rod, he then saw it was nothing but a serpent when he laid it down. God then said, now take it back up again. And when Moses took up the rod again that he had laid down before God, it turned into the rod of God, by which he crossed the Red Sea, by which he brought the plagues upon Egypt. It was the same staff, the same wooden staff, but he had laid it down. And God calls us to lay our abilities, our natural abilities down for him, that he can use them. But beside that, he also gives us spiritual gifts to enable us to carry our burdens. I'm very struck with three portions of scriptures, and you can follow these with me if you like to, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. And in these three portions of scripture, you'll find a very striking thing. All three portions I'm going to take you in to speak about the giftings that God gives to his people. Giftings he gives to enable us to carry the burden we are supposed to carry. The second thing you'll find common in all three of these passages, is that each of the passages deals with the subject that we are the body of Christ. And that's no coincidence, because the giftings are given to us as individuals for us to function and operate within the body of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4. I'm going to pull verse 4. There is one body, there is one spirit. We should be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit. For to each one of us, verse 7, grace has been given according to a measure of Christ's gift. Each one of us. Now it is said of him that when he ascended, he gave gifts unto men. So what are the gifts he has given? Verse 11. He gives some of us to be apostles, some of us to be prophets, some of us to be evangelists, some to be pastors, some to be teachers, so that they might equip the saints for the work of ministry. If Christ has given me, if Christ has given me as I believe to be a pastor, I would not be in the pulpit if I did not believe that, he has called me to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Maybe he didn't call you to be a pastor, but he's given you another gift. And I am to exercise my gift within the body of Christ to equip the people of God. My passion is to see young adults set on fire for Christ. With a fire I cannot consume. These are gifts given to the body of Christ. Turn with me to Romans 12. Three portions of scripture. This is the second one, Romans 12. Verse 3, through the grace given to me I speak to you. He's speaking of the grace gift given to him as an apostle. Verse 4, we are many members in one body. All those members do not have the same function. Does it all include you? Yes. But we do not have the same function in the body. One might be an eye, one might be a foot, one might be a tongue, one might be a big toe. You hear me say that's what I am? I'm a big toe because as a pastor I'm used to being under pressure. I like to bring balance to the body of Christ. We're all different, we've not all got the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ but individually members of one another. Verse 6, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us. Each of us is to exercise them accordingly. If your gift is prophecy then prophesy. If your gift is service then serve. If your gift is teaching then teach. If your gift is exhorting then exhort. If your gift is giving then give with liberality. If your gift is leading do so with diligence. If your gift is showing mercy do so with cheerfulness and so on. Let me take you to my third reference in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Concerning spiritual gifts brethren I don't want you to be unaware. Verse 4, there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit. There are varieties of ministries but the one Lord. There are varieties of effects but the same God who works all things in all persons. Have you noticed each, each, all, all, every, every? Verse 7, but to each one is given a manifestation of the spirit for the common good, for the body's good. And here comes some of the gifts. To one is given a word of wisdom, to another word of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, to another the effect of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing, the discernment of spirits, to another various kind of tongues, to another interpretation in tongues. But the one and same spirit works all these things distributing to each one as he wills. Let me go further on to the end of the same chapter. We are now members but one body. Verse 20, the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you. The head cannot say to the foot I have no need of you. On the contrary it is true that we all have much need of one another and those who are weaker in the body are very necessary. Keep on going. Verse 25, so there may be no division in the body but the members may have the same care for one another. If we suffer all members suffer. Now you are Christ's body, you are members of it. And God has appointed in the church, not the denominational superintendent, but God has appointed in the church apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kind of tongues. We are not all apostles are we? We are not all prophets are we? We are not all teachers are we? We are not all workers of miracles are we? We do not all have gifts of healings do we? We do not all speak with tongues do we? But God has appointed such in the church. So what's the sum of this? The sum of this is that God, the Trinity, has given gifts. Did you notice in my readings? You probably didn't but let me draw to your attention. In 1 Corinthians 12 it says God has appointed. In Ephesians 4 it says he who ascended, Jesus gave. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 11 it says the spirit distributes. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all involved in giving gifts to his people in order for his people to carry the burden he has designed them for. And why is it we keep putting burdens on other people? One of the saddest things I know in the church is when I see people appointed into office or ministry that God has evidently not equipped them for. And they struggle. It hurts. I'm not surprised in North America the tenure of pastors in the pulpits of North America is less than 2 years. The average tenure of a pastor in North America is 1 year and 11 months or something like that. That's what Leadership Magazine says. How is it that a man can say that God has called him, he comes in the pulpit and yet within 2 years he feels he is burnt out? Maybe it's because he's not yoked together with God in doing the burden that God has called him for. We're not all pastors are we? Or prophets or evangelists or helps or whatever it might be. And I think it is imperative upon the church to start to discover what each of our burdens is and to start operating in the gifting that God has for us. Why should he put his anointing upon your ministry when it is not what God designed you for? Then it becomes incumbent upon the church to begin to recognize the burdens upon its people and to release them into the ministries according to their burdens assuming they have the giftings to carry the burden. Both the natural abilities and the spirit given abilities to function. I was a school teacher in Germany. The British forces in my 20s. And people in my school knew I was a Christian but I didn't have the evangelist heart of being able to challenge them with the gospel. And I remember being in a prayer meeting with 2 other men, a man and a student. And I prayed to God asking him for a burden for youth. I wanted God to give me his burden for youth. Believing that if it weighed heavy upon me, that would be motivation enough for me to do the work of an evangelist. I never realized what I was asking for because 5 years later I started a little bible study in a home with young people. 4 teenage girls. They didn't want to bring their friends and then they wanted to bring their boyfriends. So soon I was enrolled in arranging car treasure hunts and little bible studies for these teenagers. It led from that to the next 2 years to me being invited into the local town to come on staff of a church. But not on staff, to work with people in a church, a little church. And then one day in a little bit of heated argument, I'm Welsh so I have a little bit of fire in me. I do not commend myself for my attitude at that time. But the church released me with carte blanche to run the youth work in the town. Then the YMCA called me and asked me to serve on their board. And as I look back now, I'm utterly amazed that I can see the doors that God opened in my life. 2 years later we saw in our little town, no bigger than Duncan, maybe a little bigger than Duncan, maybe. Still not as big as Nalaimo. The next 2 years we saw well over 100 young adults come to Christ. I was not the evangelist that led them to Christ. I was simply an umbrella man of many people who were being released into their giftings. And I learned then the joy of serving God and knowing his anointing, not only upon my life but upon the ministry we were doing. Several times during those days I would be telephoned late at night. I can only think of 2 in particular, 2 o'clock in the morning. A young Baptist pastor who had just broken off an engagement with him. And he was very distressed and he called me 2 o'clock in the morning. Gareth, I have to drive Margaret back to Cardiff, 30 miles away. And I'm afraid, I don't know if I'll handle myself, what I'll do, please come with us. So I put my trousers over my pyjamas and he picks me up and I sit between these 2 ex-lovers. And for all the morning I'm walking the beach with him, trying to console him, speaking to him. Get into bed about half past 6 maybe in the morning. Half past 7 I'm up, quick breakfast, go to school to teach. Come back home that evening, have my supper. Then Ann would say to me, are you going to bed early tonight? I said, why? Well she said, you were up all last night. But I never felt tired. And that happened on a number of occasions when I should have felt exhausted. Another young man telephoned, he was going to commit suicide, he'd overdosed on the beach. When I asked him where, he wouldn't tell me. So I put my trousers over my pyjamas, this was also 2 o'clock in the morning. Drove the 4 miles down to the beach, walk the beach and I see him on the beach. He'd overdosed at speed, which isn't going to kill him, but anyway, it's a notch he took. But we got him vomiting and I walked the beach with him. Went to school the next day, same way. Came home, Ann said, are you going to bed? No. I did not feel at all exhausted. I began to realise that when I was serving God in my burden, the anointing of God was upon me to the place where I didn't even feel exhausted in the doing of it. Now if I'd stayed up till 11 o'clock marking papers all night, I'd have been exhausted. I had to do that, I was paid to do that as a school teacher. I look back at my life and I see the amazing ways that God has blessed me. That is why I function now simply doing what I know God's burden upon me is. I don't try to be something else. But I long to see the people of God beginning to focus in on what God has called you to be. I'm going to tell you a story. You love stories, don't you like stories? I was teaching this to a Baptist church men's retreat in Kelowna. There were about 70 men there, I was there for a long weekend with them. And I was teaching this material. And as I taught, a man at the back put his hand up and said, Gareth, can I give a testimony? And I said, yes, elderly man. He said, I've retired about three years ago. And he said, I was in the church, I've been in the church most of my life. I've never held office in the church at all. He said, I've never taught Sunday school or been a deacon, nothing like that, because I didn't feel I was capable of doing those things. He said, I've never really had ministry at all. Until about a year ago, less than a year ago, he said, as we came up, by the way, the Baptist church in Kelowna is well over a thousand people, a big, big church. He used to sit at the back, and he said, you don't really get to know many people in a church that big. But he said, there was a young lady often sat in front of us, and I didn't know her, didn't know her name. But one Sunday I noticed she wasn't there. And the following Sunday, as I'm coming out at the end of service, I just happened to be standing right by this lady as we were walking out. So I said, I missed you last week. So yes, she said, my car, I have problems with my car. The brakes need redoing on it. I couldn't get you last week. She said, oh, how did you come today? Oh, she said, a friend brought me. He said, is your car still needing the brakes? Yes, she said, but I can't afford to get it done. So I went home, and I thought to myself, gosh, I can do the brakes. That's what I've done all my life was service cars. I can do the brakes for her. She said, I went to a friend of mine who owned a garage and said, Jack, can I borrow your pit on Saturday? I want to do a brake job on a car. Jack said, sure, but have you had your brakes done recently? Yeah, he said, but it's for a young lady in the church. I told him the circumstance, and Jack said to me, I'll tell you what, you bring the car along, and I'll supply the parts to you at cost. So he said, I picked the car up and went and did this job at cost. I just paid for the parts and did the labour. I took it back to the young lady. She started crying when I took her the car. She was so thrilled that I had cared enough to do her car. And I was so blessed in doing this, I said to her, look, if any of your friends need their cars done, tell me. She said, over the next few weeks, she said, I found myself repairing and doing a little odd jobs on some cars for some of the young people in the church and for some of the seniors. It went on for a few weeks, and he said, I was enjoying it because it's what I enjoy doing. This is what I've done all my life, is fiddle with cars. I love this. Then one day the pastor calls me into his office. He said, I've never been in the pastor's office. I've never even spoken to the pastor before, but he called me and he said, John, I understand you've been servicing cars for some of our young people. Yes, pastor. Well, he said, we've discussed it at the board and we're not very happy about this. Oh, he said, why, pastor? He said, well, he said, I understand that these young people are bringing some of their friends now to church and they're coming to know Christ. He said, but we're concerned because why should you get all the blessings and none of us be able to share it? Uh-uh. A wise pastor. He said, John, I'll tell you what I want to do. I want you to form a group of fellows like yourself who would love to spend their Saturdays doing odd jobs like this, repairing lawnmowers for some of our senior people, doing odd jobs, and he said, we want you to form it, and then he said, we'll sit down together and see how we as a church can fund you for this work. Wise pastor. Releasing a man into his burden. He said, I've been doing that now, for the last three months, it's the most fulfilling part of my life to do this. I'm serving God and seeing people come to the church through it. That was a wonderful story. A year later, Anne and I were driving back from the Rockies, and we stopped off with friends of ours in Kelowna, and we went to this church, Baptist Church. During the announcements, a man stood up and said, I want to thank all the men who turned up yesterday for our car repair day at the church. So I said to him, oh, that's the fellow I met at the men's retreat last year. And then the pastor got up to speak, and before he spoke, he said, I just want to take a moment to explain one of the announcements. He said, those of you who have visited our church probably don't know, but he said, we had a day at the church yesterday, and our men serviced 70 cars for our seniors, oil changes and some of these things. But he said, I want to understand, he said, when I knew this was happening, I went to Evans, it happened to be Evans, Evans' garage, the big garage in Kelowna, and I saw Tom Evans, whatever his name is, and I said to Tom, look Tom, I need to explain something to you, we're going to be doing these cars at the church tomorrow, and I'm concerned that you don't think we're robbing you of business, and we're trying to do this. And the man said to him, who's not a Christian, pastor, he said, all the town is talking about your church doing these things. And I tell you what, if you don't want me to be offended, there's one thing you can do. And he said, what does that say? He said, you make sure you buy all your parts at cost from me. The secular garage supplied all the parts at cost. She said, our men service these. Now you say to yourself, what has this got to do with the church? I'm going to tell you, we have 75 people in this church who came to Christ this year because of that ministry. Did you hear what I said? 75 people added to the church because one man serviced one girl's car. And when he did, God said, that's exactly what I called you for, and he put his anointing on it. Kelowna Baptist Church, do you want to see that happen in Departure Bay Baptist Church? I'm not asking you guys to service cars. I'm simply saying, if you have a burden from God, please start talking about it and doing something about it. Don't complain because the church isn't doing it. Why aren't people out in the streets with those kids with rings in their ears and their eyes and their belly buttons with their hair painting, why isn't the church doing something about it? Why aren't you? What about all these shut-ins we've got in the church? Why aren't the deacons visiting them? Why aren't you? Why doesn't the church have a proper prayer meeting? How long do you spend in prayer? If you want to know God's anointing on your individual life, if you want to know God's anointing on this church, then you and I have to start carrying the burden for which we were designed. And for which God has equipped us. But there are reasons why people don't carry burdens. One, of course, is they do not know they should. Second, of course, is though they really have a burden, they have not got the equipment to carry it. Not that God doesn't want them to have the equipment, but they've never dealt with things in their life that are hindering them. You tell a man to fight a fight, and then you see that his leg is broken. You ask him to run a race, and his arm is broken, he can't wield a sword. You ask him to run a race, he can't because his leg is broken. And I'm talking in the spiritual sense with wounds upon the soul of things in the past that we've never dealt with. They hinder us carrying our burdens. People don't carry their burdens because pastors often put other burdens upon them. You know, I thought in this church it would be very good if we had a Sunday school. I've got this Sunday school program for you guys. It's called the Gareth Evans 12-step Sunday school program. Great program. And Larry, I've been praying about this and I think you'd make a wonderful Sunday school superintendent. Did you notice I think he'd make a wonderful superintendent? What does God think? Has God called you? Has God burdened you to be a Sunday school superintendent? Because if he hasn't, I am putting my burden on you instead of God's burden. And my burden is not the one Jesus said will be light. After three months trying to carry my burden, brother, you're not going to be sleeping at night because of a wearisome thing. Jesus says this. The Pharisees, he said, are very good at tying up bundles and putting them on other men's shoulders. And the last thing I want to be is a Pharisee in the church of Jesus Christ. I want to see people set free to carry the burden they were designed for, not to encumber them with my burdens. And the tragedy is we as pastors are so used to putting our burden we're the ones with vision. We're the ones who hear from God. And I've heard from God, Larry, that you're to be a Sunday school superintendent. Is that what I'm called to be? That's not what I'm called to be. I'm called to release you into the burden God designed you for. And the tragedy in our church is how many people are broken down and wearied out and burned out because they're carrying somebody else's burden. So, for example, if I said that to Larry, Larry's got two responses. He could say no. Three responses. He could say yes. Three months down the road he's wishing he hadn't said yes because he's not sleeping at night and it's not working. Or he could say to me what he should say to me. He has a good servant. He wants to serve. So you say, well, pastor, I pray about this, but in the meantime I'll do this for you for the next three months. Then after three months, if the Lord hasn't shown me what my burden is, we'll do it for another three months. Tell me, what would the pastor think if he answered that to me? This brother hasn't got commitment. To whom? Just because he's not going to carry my burden I think he's not committed to whom? To me. Is God interested whether he's committed to me? Not at all. God's interested whether you're committed to him. I mean, of course, that we should honour one another's different callings. When you say commitment to the pastor, yes, you should have a heart's commitment of prayer for the pastor, but when it comes to carrying burdens, let every man carry his own burden. Then, of course, one reason people never carry the burdens that God has for them is because they've never dealt with the other burden that they carry, which is that of sin. God is not going to put his anointing upon you when you've never dealt with the sin question. And the guilt question. That which weighs us down and makes life a drudge. We long to be free, as Jesus says, with those who come to know him shall be free, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Yet the world is full of people who walk with bowed shoulders because they do not know the freedom that's in Christ. The tragedy is when Christians walk with bowed shoulders because they weigh down on the burdens that are not God's designed for them. But those wrong burdens can be removed. That is what the cross is about. That at the cross of Jesus we had one who came to bear our burdens. Not the burden you should carry with him, but the burden you should not be carrying, which has been put upon you by pharisaic leaders, which has been put upon you by your sin, which has been put upon you by the doubts and lies of the defeated belief, which has been put upon you by the monkey that jumps in your shoulder of offenses, by all these things that rob you of being who you are in God, in Christ Jesus and knowing his anointing upon your life. I pray that we'll be a people here who long to hear his voice, long to know his burden and begin to experience the joy of being released into his anointing like my brother in Kelowna was. All he was was a garage mechanic, but he laid down his gifts and God anointed ministry. Father, I thank you for this word. I thank you for your word, the written word that teaches us principles of releasing you. I pray, Father, I thank you for this time that I'm here in this lovely church with these people. I pray, Father, when I leave here that the words that are spoken in the weakness of man that you have taken to anoint them in the hearts of our ears, that this church might become a place of people serving you, truly being built together as a dwelling place of Christ, functioning in the callings and giftings that you have for each one of them. I ask you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.