Galatians, and we're in chapter 6, though we keep reverting back to chapter 5 and going back and backtracking and catching up again and going a little bit further. In Galatians 5 and 6, what we find is the practical side of what the Apostle Paul is writing and encouraging and exhorting the churches of Galatia to put into practice in their life. And the practical side in chapters 5 and 6 is as deep as the doctrinal side in chapters 1 through 4. And what we find, let me just explain that very briefly to you and give you an example. If you look in chapter 5 and verse 14, the Word of God tells us, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, I ask you very simply, how many of you love your neighbor as yourself? You think about it. How do you love yourself? How do you know you love yourself? Well, you bathe, at least most of you do, and we're thankful for that. You feed yourself. You know what? You take care of the problems that are in your life. You try to make things more comfortable in your life for yourself. And you provide. You know, there are things you do. But how many of you do that for your neighbor? Now, who is your neighbor? All you've got to do is look around and you see your neighbors. How many of you are as concerned for your neighbors as you are for yourself? You know, boy, there's many a day we go by and we don't even think about our neighbors if they've got food to eat, if they are hurting, or if they're in pain, or if they have the proper provisions. There's times we just simply don't think about that. So what we have is a standard that is set that can only be fulfilled by Christ dwelling within us. As we read that verse of Scripture, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. James put it a little bit different when he said in chapter 2 and down in verse 8, he says, if you fulfill the royal law, Here is the royal law according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. So it says more than once, more than once in the Word of God, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is only possible when we look at verse 16 in chapter 5, and the Word of God tells us to walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The only way you can love your neighbor as yourself is if you're walking by the Spirit. You must be walking by the Spirit of God, which is equivalent to being filled with the Spirit, which is equivalent to letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, speaking to yourselves and singing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's the only way we can walk by the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit, I believe one must be sealed by the Spirit first. And to be sealed by the Spirit, the only way you can be sealed by the Spirit is putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And once you turn from your sin, you trust Christ, the Word of God says we're sealed until the day of redemption. That means we are secure. The Spirit of God is with us no matter where we go, no matter what we do. We're not always walking by the Spirit, are we? Can't you tell sometimes in your life, every one of our lives here, there's none of us so spiritual that we're always walking by the Spirit. There are times we're walking by the flesh and trying to fulfill the desires of the flesh. This Sunday, this Sunday morning, you might be walking by the Spirit, but next Sunday morning, you know what? You might be out of whack not walking by the Spirit. You might be ready to whack somebody because you're so out of the Spirit. But you know what? We fluctuate continually through life. But here this is a command that we are to be walking by the Spirit. Now, that's what we ought to be striving for is to walk by the Spirit. As we do that, and it's only possible, if we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, seeking to be obedient unto the Word of Christ, and seeking to yield to the Spirit of God, that's when we walk by the Spirit. Then how that is shown forth, how we see people walking by the Spirit, we find it put in practical everyday living in chapter 6 in verses 1 through 5. Now, we covered verse 1 last week, and we looked at that, and the Word of God says, Brethren, The Apostle Paul embraces these believers as his brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know what? There is no more enduring term than calling someone a brother or a sister. You know what? When I call you brother, it's an endearing term. It means I love you. Now, don't get offended by that. It means I care for you as I do my brother, as I do my sister. And you know what? I believe it's an even deeper term than just a family. You know what? I've got a family. Mom and Dad's here. I'm thankful for that. Missing my brother and sister. But you know what? I've got other brothers and sisters. You remember what Jesus said as He was teaching one time? And there were people that were waiting to talk to Him. And it says over in Matthew chapter 11, They said to Jesus, Behold, your mother and your brother stand without desiring to speak with you. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." You know what? There is a deeper relationship in the family of God with spiritual brothers and sisters than we have with our own family. The blood of Jesus Christ is thicker than just the family blood. Some of you all know what I'm talking about here. Because what we have, we have, those of us who have trusted in Christ, we have a relationship that will last for all eternity. If you have brothers and sisters of the flesh and they have not trusted Christ, you know what? You don't have a relationship that's going to last for all eternity. So here what Paul does, he embraces them by calling them brethren. Brethren. He says, if any of you be overtaken in a fault, if there's any above you, among you, that are overtaken in a fault, You which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness." What Paul is saying, that some are going to be overtaken by sin. And they're going to be caught overtaken by sin. Now, there are some people who say, well, not me. That ain't going to be me. Listen to what the Word of God says once again in James chapter 3. In James chapter 3 and verse 2, the Word of God says, For in many things we offend all. You hear what the Word of God is saying? Every one of you, including me, we're going to offend. We're going to offend, we're going to stumble, we're going to sin. That's just inevitable because we're still in this flesh. And because of that, the Word of God says, if anyone is overtaken in a fault, then you which are spiritual, you're to seek to destroy them. Now, for those who do not believe they can be overtaken in a fault, the Word of God says this over in 1 John 1, and down in verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us, or to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. Imagine that, calling God a liar. by saying, you don't sin. And you know what? There's people, I've met people that will just soon be calling God a liar. They wouldn't come out and say that, but they would say they don't sin. But you know what they're saying? They're calling God a liar. The truth ain't in them. Now here, the Word of God tells us in chapter 6 and verse 1, if you catch someone in a sin, if you catch someone who has stumbled and sin has overtaken them, the Word of God says those that are spiritual. In other words, let me say, if you're not walking by the Spirit and you catch a brother or sister in sin, you better not be confronting them. Because you know what? You can cause more damage, you can cause good. But it talks about those who are spiritual, those who are walking by the Spirit. Now, how do I know if I'm walking by the Spirit? How do you know if you're walking by the Spirit? How many of y'all believe you're walking by the Spirit this morning? How many of y'all can tell if you're walking by the Spirit? I want you to notice here, back up just a little bit, here's how you can know if you're walking by the Spirit. In verse 22 in chapter 5, the Word of God says, the fruit of the Spirit. is love, joy, peace. Now, do you have love, agape love, self-sacrificing love, seeking the good of others? I'm not talking about a worldly-type love, a love to where you can get something for yourself. I'm talking about a God-type love. How many of you have joy? Or how many of you don't have joy? If you don't have joy, let me tell you something, you're not walking by the Spirit. The Word of God says we have peace in long-suffering. How many of y'all short-tempered? You guys short-tempered, you better watch out. You're not walking by the Spirit. Now here we can tell how we're walking by the Spirit and how we're not walking by the Spirit. How we're walking in the flesh or how we're walking by the Spirit. So therefore we need to understand if we are walking by the Spirit or if we're not. And if we're walking by the Spirit, then and only then can God use us in such a way to where we can minister to other people who are in sin or who have fallen by the wayside. But, Notice what it says once again in verse 1, and this is all review. In the latter part of that it says, consider yourself. You'd better be looking at yourself if you're about to try to help somebody else out, because let me tell you something, each and every one of us are susceptible to sin. Each and every one of us are susceptible to being tempted. Now, you think you can live above temptation? Let me tell you something, it won't take but a moment for God to prove you wrong. You better consider yourself, you better keep an eye on yourself, or you are going to be falling into sin. Now, the Word of God goes on to say, and it gives another little illustration. Notice what it says here. Verse 1, it talks about somebody who is stumbling into sin, and how we're to help to restore them, put them back in place like they should be, and walking with the Lord. But in verse 2, the Word of God gives another command. And here what it says, it says, "...bear ye one another's burdens." And so fulfilled the law of Christ. We are commanded as brothers and sisters in Christ to bear one another's burdens. Now, let me ask you, how does God want you to use your life? Have you ever wondered, I wonder what God's purpose for me is? I wonder what God wants me to do? You know what, here is one key verse what God wants you to do. God is calling you to lighten other people's burdens. I like that little song, Brighten the Corner Where You Are. I get to singing, I get my words mixed up, lighten the corner where you are. You know what? We need to lighten the load of other people. And what do we mean by that? We're talking about a burden. We're talking about something that's heavy, something that's overbearing, and that's something that is inevitable in life. It's going to happen. You're going to have burdens. You already know if you live long enough, you've got burdens. And you've experienced burdens. And so sometimes, let me give you some examples of burdens, sometimes you have sickness. And you know what? We've mentioned quite a few as far as in prayer requests. They've got sickness and got problems. Some people have financial problems that's a heavy burden and it's overbearing. Some people have Addictions. Boy, we've encountered people with that. There are crises in life. Some people facing death. Are we willing to bear the burden with them? Think of Tim who's recently passed away. There's no family other than church family that he had. When we come to the point of passing from this life, let me ask you, are you willing to help someone else out to bear the burden? Are you ready to get up under the weight to help ease the burden as they're going through it? You know what, this can only happen if we're walking by the Spirit once again. These are heavy burdens. You remember what Jesus said back in John chapter 16 and down in verse 33? In John 16 and verse 33, Jesus said, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. You're going to have some deep problems at times. You're going to have heavy pressure on you at times. Unbearable pressure. Jesus said, Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. Now, there is no doubt, as a child of God, you have learned, I pray you have learned, when you've got a big burden, the first place you go to is to the Lord. Take your burdens to the Lord. The song goes, leave them there. Take your burdens to the Lord, leave them there. But you know what? We're also to bear one another's burdens. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you as a brother and sister, if I've got a burden, I believe you help me bear it. And that's true of one another here. In other words, we're not self-sufficient, is what the Word of God is teaching us here. We are interdependent upon one another. Let me give you a good example of that. There are recently some widows in our church. We're to help bear the burden with them. You know what? They go through very difficult times, and we're to help support, to gird up under. You know what? When you have a major burden and you isolate yourself, you become weaker. If you're going through depression and you don't want to be around anybody, let me tell you something, you're going to be weaker spiritually. If you're going through temptation, same principle, if you're going through temptation and you isolate yourself, you are going to be weaker spiritually more times than not. Because let me ask you something, when you come to church and you come to worship the Lord and you're around brothers and sisters in Christ, You don't have that temptation as much, do you? You see the spiritual strength that we give to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ? The temptation is not as strong when we're in fellowship with the saints of God. Now, you know what? If you stayed home and stayed in bed and everybody else in your family went to church, you know what? You're more apt to be tempted. You're more apt to fall into depression. You're more apt to have all kinds of problems. But you notice the spiritual strength we get when we're fellowshipping one with another. It's so important to have a good, godly fellowship, a healthy fellowship one with another because we edify one another. We encourage one another in the faith. And this is so vital as we go through life. Listen what the Apostle Paul said in chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians. In the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul was going through a very difficult time. He says in verse 5, For when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest." Can you imagine not getting any rest at all? Some of y'all have had restless nights. Some of y'all have had restless days or periods of time. Here Paul, back in that day and time when he was restless, he couldn't get any rest. You can imagine there was a big burden upon him. He says, "...were troubled on every side." In other words, everywhere they looked, they were being attacked by Jewish people. by people who didn't want to hear the gospel, trying to shut them up. He says, without were fightings, and within were fears. You know what? Their lives were in danger. Nevertheless, God, that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us by how? The coming of Titus. Notice how God worked in Paul's situation in that particular area. There's fightings without, there's fears within, possibility of losing our lives. We're pressed beyond measure. And what does God do? How does God comfort Paul? He comforts him by sending Titus. You know what? God uses you to comfort one another. God uses me to comfort you. God uses us like He used Titus. Isn't that an encouragement to know the love of God can be flowing through you into somebody else's life to comfort them? Now, here is a call for us that we need to be more like Titus, don't we? We need to be seeking to be a Titus. There are times we need a Titus to come in our life and comfort us and to help bear the burden. But let me tell you something, that's not what we need to be seeking. We need to be seeking how we can be a Titus. How can we help bear another's burden? You know what? It is mind-boggling when you think about it, when you know. that you are being used of God, and that God's love is flowing through your life into someone else's life, just like Titus. If you know that, wouldn't that encourage you? Man, it encourages me to know that God is actively working in my life into someone else's life. Because here's what happens when we do that. The Word of God says we're fulfilling the law of Christ. You remember what Jesus said over in John chapter 13? In John the 13th chapter, down in verse 34, the Word of God says this, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Now, listen to what it says as Jesus speaks once again in John chapter 15 and verse 12. Jesus said this, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Now, we've got to love on the level that Christ has loved us. Brother Anthony preached on that last Sunday night, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2. We're to love as Christ loved us. How has Christ loved you? He's loved you when you're unlovable. And you know what? We need to love one another when we see the unlovableness in one another. Not just when somebody is lovable. We need to love them when they're unlovable. That's how Christ has loved us. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 14, once again, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You know how we love our neighbor as ourself? By bearing their burdens. It might be, as in chapter 6 and verse 1 says, when they stumble into sin, we come alongside them and help them bear their burden and get them back on the right track, walking by the Spirit. It might be. that they've got some crisis they're going through, some terrible tragedy they might be experiencing, some sickness they might be experiencing. We come alongside them and help bear the burden. And you know what? It might be just something simply letting them know that you care for them and that you love them and that you're praying for them. Brother Roger Cruz texted me Friday and told me something about I forgot. He mentioned something, and I responded very simply back like this. I said, I'm praying that God will give you traveling mercies. He didn't mention his trip in that text. And he responded back like this. He says, Now I know for sure you're praying for me. You know what? It encouraged him to know I'm praying for him. And he responded back once again, I love you, brother. You know what? It's encouraging. We encourage one another. Let me encourage you to encourage one another. Let me encourage you to be a Titus, to bear one another's burdens. I want you to notice the Word of God says in verse 3, There's a little conjunction which actually connects verse 3 with verse 2. Conjunction. You remember, I remember when I was little hearing that song. What, how does it go? Junction, junction, what's your function? This function is to join the junction. It's junctioning together. What's the function? It says, 4. If a man think himself to be something, you ever known anybody like that? Somebody who thought they were a somebody? And they thought, boy, the world revolves around them. Let me give you an example of that. I read a story, it's been quite a while ago, I read it again recently, Muhammad Ali from up there in Louisville. Do you remember how he was big mouth? He was, he was, I'm the greatest, I'm the greatest. I read the story, I don't know if it's true or not, but he was on an airplane one time. and he wouldn't put his seatbelt on. And the steward is giving him a hard time. You need to put your seatbelt on. He says, well, I'm the greatest. I'm Muhammad Ali. Superman don't need no seatbelt. The steward has said, well, Superman don't need no airplane, so you sit down and put your seatbelt on. Here, I want you to notice, Paul is talking about pride. If somebody thinks they're somebody when they're actually nothing, When they're actually nothing, he deceives himself. Those people who are boastful, who think they have got it all together and think they are really somebody, you know what? They're really nobody and they're only tricking themselves. People who might attain fame, power, whatever it might be, they're really nothing in the sight of God. And they're only deceiving themselves by being pompous. How does this relate to what Paul is saying, bearing one another's burdens? Let me tell you something. If there's one thing that will stifle the love of God, it's the pride of man. You know what? God's love will not float in you and through you into the lives of others if you're proud and conceited and want to exalt self. God's not going to use your life to His glory. in the sense of reaching out and helping others. Some think that they're above helping other people. They are way above that type of person. You know what? I might go to church more than them. Or I might not do that kind of thing, so I can't go there. I can't try to help them. You remember the Galatians had a performance mentality. They had to do. They had to do. They were thinking. They had to do to add to their salvation. Hear what Paul's saying. You've got to humble yourself. You've got to be little. Think about how little you are. You know what? We're just a speck of dust on this universe. Yet God loves us. But, Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. If you get to the point you think you're somebody, You better back up and reevaluate because that's a fleshly attitude. In verse 3, it's what we're reading here. You're not walking by the Spirit if you think you're a somebody. And then the apostle Paul says in verse 4, but, another junction, junction, what's your function? But let every man prove his own worth. In other words, that word prove means to examine. It means to test it, whether you're really walking by the Spirit, test it, comparing it to the law of Christ. Are you loving your neighbor as yourself? Are you loving as Christ loved? A selfless, a sacrificing love, are you loving others that way? Examine or test your work. Don't compare yourself to somebody else. You know, once you start comparing yourself to somebody else, that's where pride comes in once again. Paul says, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. Pride compares with other people. You ever notice that? Look what I've done. Look how many good things I've done compared to this other person. Or, I've done this and I've done that. I didn't do this, I didn't do that. Well, who are you comparing yourself to? You know what? If you want a right comparison, compare yourself to Christ. And you will see how you really are nothing. Because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We need a humble attitude. And then verse 5 says, well, verse 5 says it looks like a contradiction. Because here, what we just looked at in verse 2, we're to bear one another's burdens. We're to help carry the load of other people. But then in verse 5 it says, for every man shall bear his own burden. Doesn't that sound like a contradiction? You're to bear one another's burdens, but every man's supposed to carry his own burden. Well, if everybody is going to carry his own burden, how are you supposed to carry somebody else's burden? Nobody else is supposed to carry my burden if I'm supposed to carry my own burden. Doesn't it sound like a contradiction? It is not a contradiction. Let me tell you very simply, the word burden in verse 2 is a Greek word that's a little bit different than the word burden in verse 5. The word burden in verse 2 is talking about a heavy burden, something major that's happening in somebody's life that is about to crush them and devastate them. That's when we come alongside and we help them bear that burden. When we read about the burden in verse 5, what we see there is talking about like an assigned load. Such as a ship has cargo. It's got the right amount of cargo. They don't put it under and don't put it out of whack. It's got the set amount of cargo. Or it's like a soldier with a backpack. He's got exactly what he needs in his backpack. It's the assigned amount that he's got. In other words, this load is not overbearing. It is the assigned portion that you have in life. In other words, as we go through life, we're going to have difficulties, we're going to have problems, but you know what? Some of them are not overbearing where somebody's got to come up and help you carry that load. There are times we need someone to help us carry the load, but there are times when they're just everyday loads, if you know what I mean. And so everything in your life is not a crisis. Now, I know some people that everything in their life is a crisis. You know what I'm talking about. Everything is a heavy burden and everybody needs to help me on everything I'm doing. But don't get them mixed up. Discern what is a heavy load and what is a light load. We can sin either way. We can think everything's a heavy load or we can think everything's a light load. And we think everything's a light load and I can take care of it by myself. You know, we don't have other people coming alongside and we get crushed under the weight. So there needs to be some discerning there. Closing out this passage of Scripture, what we want to look at this morning is verse 6. Now, verse 6 is a verse that I've texted out this past week. And when I texted it out, it kind of convicted me a little bit after I texted it out because I thought some people might misinterpret what I'm saying here. Now, how many of y'all got this text and probably took it the wrong way? Look at verse 6. The Word of God says, as the Apostle Paul is moving along, he says, let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Now, when I first shared that, I thought, you know what? I'm sharing the Word. I'm teaching the Word of God. I'm preaching the Word of God, proclaiming, encouraging one another in the Word of God. And therefore, what others ought to do, they ought to communicate, that word communicate simply means koinonia, fellowship. They ought to fellowship unto Him that teaches, that would be me in that particular sense. It says, in all good things. Now, what is it saying there? Does that mean you've got to pay the preacher? I don't believe Paul's pulling that out of thin air and putting it there. I don't think that's what it's talking about specifically. You, when I share with you the good things of God's Word, And as you are, if you're under a burden and I'm sharing and I'm helping bear that burden, what you do is you fellowship back with me the good things that God has blessed you with in life. What might that be? You know what I remember in times past, quite a few, it's not as often now, but quite a few would call me in the middle of the week or text me in the middle of the week, something that they saw in God's Word that they hadn't seen before and they were very encouraged with it. or sharing something that they've heard from a message and, you know what, they fellowship with me that which God opened their eyes to and it was a blessing to them. And you know what, when I hear how you've been blessed by the Word and you share that back with me, that's fellowship. Now, let me ask you something. Do you think your pastor's encouraged to hear how God is working in your life and how God has opened up truth in your life and how it's blessed your heart? Let me tell you something that blesses my soul. Now, if I don't hear nothing, I'm kind of wondering if anybody's getting anything, or if I need to go back to grade school and start studying again. Here, the one who is taught shares our fellowships, the blessings that they are learning or receiving. This past week, my dad and Brother Wayne outside, and it was kind of an odd situation. They were working, and I'm just watching them work, because we love work, don't we, Brother Wayne? We like to watch. And as we're there, one of them said a verse of Scripture, and my dad shouted out, don't that shock you? And he said another verse of Scripture, and boy, I popped in another verse of Scripture, and it was kind of like, boy, it was just like feeding off each other the Word of God, and it was like, Wow! You know, it's unusual at times when you hear something like that, but it's so uplifting. It's so encouraging when we fellowship one with another and bless one another with the Word of God. That might involve, as it says in verse 1, coming alongside someone that's overtaken in a fault. It might mean having to stoop down or someone's living in terrible sin and trying to reach out and help them back into the fellowship with Christ. It might involve someone who is heavily burdened, as we looked at in verses 2 through 5. But what Paul is talking about is walking by the Spirit. walking by the Spirit, not fulfilling the love of the flesh, therefore the fruit of the Spirit is being produced in you, and the love of Christ is flowing in your life, through your life, into other people's lives, being effectively used for the glory of God." The love of Christ flowing through you. Boy, I like the sound of that. Don't you wish, wherever you work, whatever you're doing, in your walk in life, Christ's love is continually flowing through your life into the lives of others? May that be our heart's desire. May we desire that others might see Christ in us, and they might be affected by the love of Christ that's within us. That they might see something different about us. and desire Christ who is in us. May God make us effectual witnesses for His honor and glory. Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, oftentimes we vacillate back and forth, walking by the Spirit, being tempted by the flesh, the struggle is there in our daily lives, but Lord, it's our heart's desire to walk by the Spirit, that we might not fulfill the desires of the flesh. So, Lord, we ask that You would effectually work in our hearts and lives, that we might bring glory to You as we walk by the Spirit being used in the lives of others, whether it's a brother or sister who has fallen by the wayside, or whether it's a brother or sister who is crushed by the weight of events that are happening in their life. Lord, help us to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill your royal law. Lord, help us to be more sensitive to where people are in life, more sympathetic, more compassionate, and reaching out in love. Lord, if there are some here today that know not You as Lord and Savior, not surrendered their lives, not yielded their lives to You, we ask that You convict them and that you'd work in their heart and draw them to yourself, to bring honor and glory to your name throughout all the days of their lives. Work a work whereby you are glorified, your name is magnified, and people love your word. As Lydia softly plays a hymn of invitation,