Stop Carrying That Weight

Verse 26 talks about the rock badgers. It says, the rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags. There are different interpretations about rock badgers.

But I'll say this, the rock badger is a very weak animal that cannot dig, that cannot dig a home for itself, because their feet are so fragile, they can't even dig a hole in a soft dirt, they cannot. Their feet are extremely fragile. So when they come to try and dig a hole for themselves, to make a home for themselves, the softest ground, they can't make an opening in it, because their feet are extremely weak.

So what do they do? They need a place to live in and to have a shelter. They find cracks in the rocks. When they find those cracks in the rocks, they make those rocks home.

The rock badger is a very weak animal, can't build or dig a home for itself. It seeks a home in the cracks and openings of the rocks. So now let's come biblically and see who is this rock.

And the rock says, Psalm 62, 2, He only is my rock and my salvation. It's not on the screen. Psalm 62, 2, He only is my rock and my salvation.

Who is He, the only one that is my rock and my salvation? Well, 1 Corinthians 10, 4, St. Paul explains it and says, And that rock was Christ. And the rock is Christ. So the rock badger is so fragile, is so weak, can't build a home for itself.

It finds the rock to make it home. And the rock is Christ. And my beloveds, we learn from the rock badger that we are all weak like this rock badger.

We cannot build nothing. We cannot make anything for ourselves. We are so fragile and so weak, full of errors, full of shortfalls, full of sin.

The only way for my shelter and refuge and salvation is when I make the rock my home. And that rock is Christ. Seek Christ to be your home.

For without Him, we are too weak to make it, my beloveds. We won't last. We must hide in Christ our rock of salvation, my beloveds.

Verse 27. The grasshoppers, the locusts. Look what it says, verse 27.

It says, The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks. What does that mean? Did you know out of the entire insect's kingdom, the only insect that has no king is the locust? Every other insect, they have a leader. King meaning a leader.

The only one that does not have a leader as a king is the locust. However, they fly in swarms, in groups. They fly in groups.

Now the locusts eat green stuff, green leaves. You know, the wheat fields, when they're green, they land in there and destroy it all. So they eat anything and everything that is green.

When they fly, they don't have a king, they don't have a leader, but they fly all together. So when they fly all together as a group, as a swarm, some will be at the front, some will be in the middle somewhere, and some will be right at the back. So obviously the ones that are at the front, they will arrive to the place where there is food first and they'll eat.

Then the next will come and the next will come and the next will come till the last one comes. But all of them eat equally, the first and the last eats the same. Yet they don't have one to lead the whole swarm.

Well, as human beings, let me see if we can come together without a leader and how far would we go? We will eat each other alive. Everyone will say, no, we do it my way. The other one will say, no, it is my way.

The other will say, none of your ways, it is my way or you hit the highway, brother. And anyone says otherwise, I will behead you, chop you, put you through smithereens. No one will listen to no one.

The locusts are much wiser than all humans put together. They don't have a leader, yet they never fight and never argue who is first and who is second and who is last. All of them live happily thereafter.

You know, when they're flying in a group, now the ones at the front, of course, they're going to arrive first, they're going to eat. But the ones last also arrive and eat. I resemble this when we fly to a country or another destination using the plane.

You know, somebody will come and says, oh, well, my boarding pass says seat number one. And if you're flying an A380, somebody will come, poor thing will be right at the tail, right at the back. Well, so, well, my seat says 101, somewhere along those lines.

I don't know how many seats there are, but they're definitely over 100. So, this one is seat one, the other one is 101. But when the plane lands, the one with seat one and the one with seat 101 arrive at the same time.

Why are we fighting? Ask yourself, we arrived together. Big deal, you're seat number one and I'm seat number 101. But it's the same plane.

We will arrive at the same time. So, why are we envious? And why are we jealous? And why are we upset for my brother or my sister to have seat one and I have seat 101? Big deal. As long as we are together, who cares? But let me tell you this, my beloved, if anything happens to the plane, it matters not what seat number you're in.

All of us are in deep trouble. All of us. It's like we are in the Titanic and the captain comes while it's drowning.

The captain comes and says, it wasn't my fault, it was your fault. And they start bashing each other. That's foolishness.

Hey, the ship is going down, bro. The ocean cares not if you're a captain or a cleaner. For God's sake, just salvage the whole ship before all of you die.

This is the way the Lord wants us all as Christians. It doesn't matter that this guy is the Pope and it's not you. Stop arguing.

You see, they become jealous even with the ecclesiastical orders. Why did they choose this to be the Pope and not me? Why is this the bishop and not me? Why is this the cardinal and not me? Why does this person have this seat and not me? Stop fighting. We are in this boat called the church, the ark of Noah in the New Testament.

This boat doesn't matter if the bishop is the captain and you are the sailors. Let me tell you one thing. As far as the ocean is concerned, all of us are the same.

The ocean cares not one bit. The world is the ocean and the church is this boat sailing in this ocean. Stop making fun of ourselves before the world where we begin arguing, excommunicating one another and going off at each other in public, fighting and telling each other off.

At the end, we are Christians. And if anything happens to the church, the world is a winner. The world is a winner.

As long as the church is prosperous, as long as the church is embedded in Christ, it doesn't matter who does what first or second or last, as long as Christ is glorified. That's all that matters. See, my beloved, the point and the issue is not about me and you.

It's about the Lord. We need to learn from the locusts. Yet they don't have a king, a leader that directs them and guides them.

Each to their own, but they live together harmoniously. We need to learn from this insect. If my brother succeeds, it is my success.

And if my sister fails, it is my failure. And you see, that's what happens even at home, husband and wife, the family, when they go at each other. To prove what? For the husband to prove that he was right and the wife was wrong or vice versa.

If you prove that your partner was wrong, guess what? You are also in the wrong because you chose that person to be your partner in marriage. Eh, you needed to put the glasses on before you chose your partner. So when you chose your partner, that's it, tough luck.

Now she is not good. She is good. It is your problem who told you to choose her and marry her.

Anybody home? We need to listen, not walk away. We need to listen. My beloveds, humility is the key to success.

Humility is the key to success. Christ will choose the humble one, not the prideful one, the humble. The one who does not really care where they sit or where they are to be seated.

Whether you tell me to sit at the front or at the back or even in the street, for me it's the same because what matters is not the place but the honor of the place. Is God in the church? Yes. Is he outside of the church? Is God everywhere? Yes.

So now if you're seeking God, what does it matter if you are being honored or dishonored for the sake of the Lord? It's all beautiful. Some people say the bishop got deposed from the church. Well, let me see what you would do if you get deposed from your position and get a knife in your eye and still preach the gospel.

What are you going to do, my friend? No, no. You see, no, no. The reason why I'm saying this, I want us all to come and focus.

It is about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You see, the issue is if I get treated like a king in the church and love Christ, that love is fake. But will I love Christ and then get thrown in the gutter? Now that is true love if I continue loving him.

Christianity is not a sermon. It's not a song. It's not a preach.

It's not a service that I do. Christianity is life. I need to live Christ on Good Friday and on Sunday resurrection.

I need to love him in both situations equally. I need to love him when he was dragged in the streets, spat on, kicked, punched, ridiculed, and then shredded to pieces. I need to love him.

And I also need to love him when he rose glorified, triumphant from the dead and went up to the heaven of all heavens and sat in glory at the right hand of his beloved father. I need to love him on Good Friday and on Good Sunday. If I only love him on Good Sunday, I am fake Christian.

But if I love him on Good Friday, definitely I'll love him on Good Sunday, on Sunday resurrection. Christ wants people that would love him for himself, not for what he does for you. If you're waiting for the Lord to give you something, then you love him.

That is a selfish, fake love. But will you love him even when he gives you nothing? Will you love him? Will you love him? I'm not asking you now to give an answer. That's a life journey.

That's a life journey. You may say yes, but after one week, one month, one year, 10 years, you'll start getting tired. And after the bead goes white, you'll really get exhausted.

What are you going to do? Pack up and leave or persevere? My dear friend, my advice to you, before you talk, think. What do you know about the bishop? Don't say what you're not capable of. The locusts, they fly in a swarm without a king, without a leader, but they live in absolute peace and harmony.

Verse 28, which is the fourth insect. Verse 28, the spider skillfully grasps with its hands and it is in king's palaces. Look at the book of wisdom, how it talks.

Man, this alone says that there is God. This is not a man's work here, my beloved. People can't write these things.

The spider skillfully grasps with its hands and it is in king's palaces. What does that mean? What is King Solomon trying to teach us here through this book of wisdom? I'll put in a simple term. One day, the spider decided to walk into the king's palace because it says, but they are in king's palaces.

So the spider was walking and saw this big building. He says, oh, that's beautiful. And then he decided to walk into the king's palace.

So he's a little tiny creature. So he, under the door, a small opening here, there enters the palace. He says, whoa, that is a very expensive place, brother.

And then he's walking, wandering around, seeing all those family pictures hanging on the walls, very expensive one, Monalisa and Shanalisa and Annalisa and all of them. Oh, Annalisa is here too. And then the spider comes across this extremely expensive crown of the king.

And then the spider decides for no reason to spend the night in that crown, sleeps in the crown. So he climbs up the crown and on top of it, finds a cozy cushion, a nice, very expensive material, cloth. And then it's all diamonds and gold and maybe it's worth a couple of million dollars.

And the spider sleeps and makes its bed, the crown that is worth $2 million. The richest man on earth, I don't think their bed is worth $2 million. See, the spider lives, you know, much better than the richest man on earth.

So the spider sleeps that night and that crown worth $2 million. But what does the verse say? It says, the spider skillfully grabs with its hands and it is in king's palaces. While the spider is sleeping in that extremely expensive crown, but the hands of the spider are clinging on the very strings that it makes, not the crown.

I'll read it again. The spider skillfully grasps with its hands. What does it grasp with its hands? The string that makes that spider web.

So while it's sleeping in that expensive crown, but the hands are not clinging on the crown. They are clinging on the very string that it makes. Who gave the string to the spider? Who can tell me? Who gave the string to the spider? Who said God? No one said God.

I want to see you. Peter, you're absolutely right. God.

God gave that very string to the spider because God created the spider and created everything the spider can make. Look at the spider. The spider is sleeping in a crown worth $2 million, but the hands of the spider are only clinging on what God gave it, nothing else outside of that.

God. What are our hands clinging on to? What God gave us or what others have? Look at the next door neighbor. They just got a new Mercedes Benz.

Shame on you, husband. You're still driving that old Ford, a piece of wreck. Oh, every time she leaves the house with a different dress.

I've been putting this on for the last 20 years. And that young man bought his fiance a 50,000 diamond ring for the wedding. And you are trying to bluff me and get me a $2,000 ring for my wedding.

What are you clinging on? What is within your capacity? That's all yours. What's not? Don't try to make it yours because you'll be found as a thief. The spider is content with what God gave it.

Even though it's an expensive crown, but I will not stretch my hand on something God never gave me. I'll only hold on to what God gave me. That piece of string.

Maybe the string is worth a couple of cents. But to the spider says, this is the most precious gift God ever gave me. How to be a faithful Christian.

Four lessons how to be a faithful Christian. Number one, the ants. What do the ants teach me? How to rely on God always.

How to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you always and not on your own. Intellect. Let God navigate your life on earth since he is the one who created this life.

He is the one who gave it. He is the one who created you, created everything and everyone. He is the only one that knows how everyone and everything functions perfectly.

Let the Creator navigate your life on earth. Do not rely on yourself but rely on God. The Holy Spirit that has dwelt in you.

That was sent from God the Father in Jesus Christ name. To dwell in you through the baptismal font, through the sacrament of baptism. To be in you, to be your source of life and wisdom and guide your steps in this journey.

So that you can make it to the shores of heaven at the end intact in one piece. How to become a faithful Christian? One, rely on God. Never rely on yourself and on your own wisdom but on God's wisdom who is the Holy Spirit.

These are the ants. Number two, the rock badger. We learn that we need to make Christ the rock of all ages our salvation.

We are feeble. We are weak. We can't dig.

We can't build homes for ourselves. We can't safeguard our life. It is Christ the Savior that can save you only.

Don't ever think you can survive without the Lord. Do not. He is the ark.

Are you in the ark or outside of it? Because let me tell you, if you were the best swimmer in the world and outside the ark, you drowned and the rabbit that can never swim that was inside the ark was saved. It is not what you know and who you are. Are you in Christ or not? This is the question you need to answer.

Be the rock badger, feeble, weak yet finds its home in the rock and the rock is Christ. Find your home in Christ. Make him your home.

And what does it mean make him your home? Meaning at the end of the day, I have a place to go to. I call home. I don't sleep in any strange places because I have home called Christ.

Amen. So from the rock badger, I can't make it unless Christ is the rock of my salvation. The locust.

We learn from the locust on how to trust in God. Even though they fly together, one big swarm, one big group with no king, with no leader. But they have one thing.

They have surpassed the human race. They trust God that even if I arrive first or last, God will always provide. Therefore, never be jealous.

Never be disheartened. Never argue, never fight. What God gave your neighbor has given you.

What God gave your brother has given you. What God gave your sister has given you. What are you arguing? What are you fighting for? Be like the locust, trusting in God.

And number four, spider contentment. I'm content with the strings. Yes, it's a very expensive crown, but God never gave me the crown.

So I will never be somebody God never created me to be. I'm a spider. I'm not a king.

If your nose is big, be happy. And if your ears are big, be happy. And if you're not as beautiful as the other girl, be happy.

You're beautiful in your own way. There is no competition. Hey, my darling, my daughter, my love, my sweetheart.

I love you to death, my daughter. There is nothing to compete here. God created you for himself, not for you.

God wants you the way you are. The way you are, present yourself to him. Let him make you beautiful.

Don't try hard to make yourself beautiful because you'll ruin it and you'll look like the lips of Nemo. Sorry, you know, I mean, well, but why are you, why are you pumping these lips? Why leave them alone? I don't know if it's a traffic light or something. I'm not sure.

You can't tell if they're smiling or not smiling. It's the same. Don't focus on the external, but you need to focus on the internal more than anything else.

Four lessons that will make you a better Christian, that will make you a better follower of the Lord Jesus. Four things. The ants rely on Christ, not on yourself.

Number two, rock badger, confined in Christ and make him your home. Number three, the locust, trust in the Lord and don't ever, don't ever suspect or be suspicious that he has forgotten me and walk away from me. Trust, he's always there for you.

He has never left you, never will, no matter what. You better trust in this. Fly like the locust, but they don't have a king, but you do.

His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen. Make him your king.

And finally, the spider, be content, my child, and be happy with what God has given you. Do not put too much load on yourself that is unnecessary. You know what's happening? And I'll leave you with this.

Thank you, Alliance. I'll leave you with this. The reason why we start having problems at home, I'm not saying this is the only reason, but this is one of the reasons, definitely.

Because we're putting too much load on ourselves that we can't stretch ourselves this much. An example, I have a little house, I want to make it bigger. I have a small car, I want to make it bigger.

I have 5,000 in the bank account, I want to make it 500,000. And the 500,000, I want to make it 500 million dollars. But it's never ending.

Why? Because when you chase the world, the world is like the ocean, my beloved. The water is salty. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.

You will never reach contentment. And this is the deception of the old serpent, Satan the snake. He's deceiving you, saying, come on, you can do it.

Come on, a little bit more. Come on, push yourself. You can achieve.

You can be greater. You can be stronger. But that is a lie.

You're chasing a mirage. It's not water. Give it up.

Give it up. Thank God for what you have. See, what happens? When I go and buy a house that is beyond my budget, when I go and buy a car that is beyond my capacity, when I go and do things that are outside of my reach, what happens now? The debt is beyond the limit.

I'll start doing one, two, three jobs, running like a chook without a head. As a father, as a husband, where is your wife? Where are your children? And before you know it, I've aged. I've been running 20s to provide, but I'm becoming older.

I can't keep on running. I can't keep on chasing the mirage because one day, sooner or later, I will collapse because the sun in the desert is treacherous. It is fatal.

Satan is that sun in the desert. He will burn you out and he will drop you on the wayside between living and dead. I got older.

I didn't even enjoy my kids. They grew and I didn't even know how, when, what happened. And now, my daughter is as a stranger.

My son is getting married. I didn't even enjoy a moment with my son, with my daughter because I was too busy paying the debts. What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world but at the end loses himself? What does it benefit a man to live in a mansion but has no life, no family, no time to enjoy? You may look at an expensive mansion from outside and say, oh, how lucky they are.

Even though the word lucky doesn't exist in the Christian index but I'm going along with you guys. You know, how lucky they are. This is a worldly talk.

How lucky, how, or we say how blessed. Who says? You're saying it. You're looking from outside.

Go inside this mansion and sit five minutes with the people of this mansion. You will see them, the most miserable people on the face of this planet because peace, happiness, joy, success, prosperity, you know, and enlightenment only God gives, no one else. When you have God, even if you live in a little hut, you're the happiest and the richest person on earth when Christ is your Lord, your King, your Savior, the rock of salvation.

Amen. I went to the Philippines back in 2015 and they took us to this remote place where cars can't get to, there are no roads to it. They are absolutely off the radar.

So we got in this little scooter and little box, I was squashed in it and bumping and my head was hitting that roof which was like, you know, crushing me down. Finally we get to this place after half an hour of bumpy ride. And then we get to this place, it's in the middle of nowhere.

People are living in a little hut made out of, I don't know what, some rusted material. It was like a little tiny one one whole family came out of this little circle. I wouldn't say would be maybe two meters in diameter or three meters in diameter.

Wouldn't be more than that. Just a little box, circle, whole family lived there. It's a room, it's a kitchen, it's bathroom, it's everything.

And there was a couple of huts there. They came expecting the good looking bishop all the way from Sydney, Australia. And I arrived there and my heart got broken.

But look how rich these people are in God. They put food on the table. I'll call it a table.

But they put food and there was bottles of Pepsi. The priest who was accompanying me said, Father, they can't afford what you see on the table. They did it for you.

And one of the food was a cooked chicken. I'm vegetarian. I don't eat meat.

And I said to the father, but I don't eat meat. He said, you know what, bishop? I said, what? He said, this was the only chicken they had. They slain it, cooked it for you.

And he said, they don't have the money. So they must have borrowed from here, there to buy you a bottle of Pepsi. How could I eat? How could I drink anymore? I'll be stuck here.

Can't. But then I stopped and I thought for a moment, they put me to shame these people with their faith in the Lord. They put me to shame.

So do you think faith is about, I stand here and I preach? Oh, look at him. Or do you think I sing a song or I write a book or I do something? No, you need to live Christ. You need to live Christ.

They have nothing, but they have God. Smile on their faces. So content.

Let me see what we would do if we would not live there all our life, but spend one hour of our life there. Then we'll see what kind of Christians we are and what kind of a substance we're made out of. My beloveds, you need to live the Lord.

It's not about my canon law and your canon law and my dogma and your dogma. Go on, eat dolma. Like, honestly, when are we going to grow up and live the Lord? Till now we're attacking one another as Christians and the world is laughing at us and the world is doing whatever it wants and we are asleep because they asked the Lord Jesus, Lord, didn't you sow the good seed? Where did this bad seed come from, the tares? He said, while people were asleep, the enemy planted it.

While the church leaders went to sleep because they're asleep, arguing with one another, fighting against each other and excommunicating one another. They're too busy with their canon laws and their ecclesiastical orders and the likes and the enemies laughing and coming and planting the tares in the midst of the good seed which the Son of Man planted, who is Christ the King. When are we going to wake up? When? Ants rely on God, who is Christ Jesus.

Rock badgers make Christ your home, the rock of salvation. Locusts trust in the Lord, not on yourself or in yourself. And spiders, thank God for what He has given you and cling on it.

Do not be envious of what your next door neighbor has, what God gave you. Be grateful and thankful and then see what God will do for you. Amen.

All right. And I feel good. Very good.

Nobody singing? That's all right. I'll sing. And I will always love you.

That's C minor or B flat. But B flat suspended or augmented. See, I know all the chords.

I'm not just a face. You know what I mean? There you go. You know, don't ever complicate things and don't ever be a show-off as a Christian.

Don't go and force Christ in people's throats. And I'll say hello to you and I'll laugh with you and I'll make a joke, but inside of me, I'm talking to my Lord. You don't need to know.

And I don't need to tell you. I'll be sitting with you and having the good old chinwag and having that beautiful bush tuck, I made pie, mate, and the prawns on the barbie, but I'm still talking with my Lord. I'm in a birthday party and everybody's laughing and everybody's talking and everybody's singing and dancing, but I am dancing with the Lord.

I'm in the church and hundreds and thousands and millions of people watching and listening, but I am listening. I'm listening to the Lord. It's the Lord, no one else.

Because one day, this truth, the Lord will reveal to all. It was all along about Him. Nothing else, no one else.

It was all about Him. Blessed is the soul that glorifies Him for what goes around comes around. What you plant, you will harvest.

You glorify the Lord, He will glorify you. You remember Him, He will remember you. You honor Him, He will honor you.

You sacrifice for Him, He will sacrifice. He's already done it. He's already done it.