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When the Lord asked Cain, Where is your brother? Cain responded, Am I my brother's keeper? In this sermon entitled, Am I my sister's keeper? Donnie Teo asks if before God we are really responsible for one another, or if we are only responsible for ourselves and our own actions. Let's receive the word together.

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So today's sharing is taken from Genesis 4, verse 1 to 9. And then the focus first is on verse 9 that is saying that then the Lord said to Cain, Where is your Abel, your brother? And he said, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? Yeah, so once relationship has broken, started with Adam and Eve, now that relationship also broken between Cain and Abel. And our relationship as well, even among us as brothers and sisters, you know, has broken. And we also affected by that. Yeah, so as a result of that fall, man is divided within. He is no longer able in his natural uh self to offer himself wholly to God. And you can see from Cain's offering to God, Cain giving God what is legitimate. You know, okay, I just give an offering, for example, serial offering of the ground, but not his best compared to his brother Abel. He gave the firstborn and the fat portion. Yeah, so man has become the object of hate and murder, and in this case, Abel was the object of hate and Cain committed the murder. Yeah, so so what does this imply? What Cain's replies imply to us, what is actually saying here. So are we brothers and sisters keeper? Are we one another's keeper? And especially on this special uh you know, Mother's Day, when I think around the world, even us among us, how we really need to keep each other intact, right? Keep each other in communication and in accountability. Yeah, so yes, in some sense, you know, we are we are not each other's keeper. So every one of us must bear our own responsibility of our action before God. It is impossible for us to save our obligation to God and any other obligation of life to other people. You know, no matter how our parents or people or circumstances lead us, we will have to stand on our own feet and answer for ourselves. You know, so where as an eldest uh siblings, as an eldest child in my family, uh my parents will always remind me that I have to look after my brothers. I have three brothers, yeah, and and I have to look after them, and if they are ill-behaved, it becomes my responsibility. I can't, you know. And but yeah, but I think it's it's true because anyway we are influenced each other, you know, and unknowingly I project that to my daughter. So sometimes, you know, I will ask Gloria if anything happened to Keller or say, what are you doing? You know, you should give good example to your brother, you know. Like, you know, like a song uh Macon Trainer, I am your mother. You listen to me. Are you listening to that song? Suddenly that song came out this uh last evening when I was preparing this. Yeah, I think all of us will need to listen to our mother because we are mothers, right? Yeah, so the second part is that in greater degree, in greater sense, yes, we are each other keepers. We are our sisters and brothers keepers. Okay, sounds like the sermon ended here already because you know already, right? The answer, right? So we ought to regard ourselves in this light. However, we often wrap ourselves up in hard-heartedness and say, uh, it's not my concern how others are doing, you know. So we just say, I shouldn't care. You know, I shouldn't keepo, you know, that's the word, right? And try to pick my nose and give myself trouble. Yeah, but Thomas Merton in his book, you know, the book uh No Man is an island, and it's very tragic how he actually died. You want to Google it, but later he actually electrocuted, you know, when he was in the in uh in Thailand having retreat. Okay, anyway, he's sharing on that book saying that it is therefore a supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. And John Stott also mentioned that the command to bear one another's burden is based on the idea that we all have burdens and that God doesn't want us to carry them alone. So to be each other's keeper, we have to pursue that relationship. Okay? Being connected and not in isolation. We need to be committed and willing to be accountable and vulnerable to one another. So I just met a friend last Thursday. See, I didn't share with her that I'm going to share this Sunday, but suddenly he mentioned about being vulnerable. And he said that when we are vulnerable, we are giving permission for others to be vulnerable too. And others begin to see that, hey, no, we are in the same boat, and there is nothing strange about what I'm going through right now. And we can seal all this together, or we can suddenly, aha, I've been there before. Hey, this is some encouragement for you. So we begin to be able to have empathy, feeling for others, and so that you know, relationship continue to move on and going on. Amen? Okay, can you poke one another? Are you sleeping? Yeah, okay. So, but with this broken world that we are in and that is happening around us, we are scared, we are skeptical, you know, and we are even afraid to be real, and it is indeed easier said than done. Ah, yeah, you know, maybe I'm preaching today. It's easy to say, I will keep you brothers, I keep you sisters, but you know, when you come into practice, it is really take your time, take your energy, and so on and so forth. But you know what? God, in his great love and mercy, is able to restore us and give us the power both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So I want to tell you a story that happened 10 years ago, 10, 11 years ago, when I had Gloria and she was a few days old, you know, and I started to experience this some kind of low mood. When suddenly when Dana came back from church, I would just drop my head on his shoulder and I cry. I don't know why. And that kind of feeling uh is happened from 6 a.m. and at 9 p.m. Can you imagine? So as if you are diving into a deep blue sea and you can see, you write up, wow, I can see the light, but I cannot see the surface, you know. That kind of feeling, I need to breathe. I saw the light. I'm coming up, I'm coming up, but I'm not there yet. You know, so that's happened for four months, brothers and sisters. And one day I was just tucking my heart to I should call somebody. Yeah. So at that time I was working in church, so I called my figure's wife at seven o'clock. She was on her way to work. Then that's become a habit, you know, that's become my lifeline. So every time seven o'clock, I call her and talk over the phone. And by the day, I just tell her why I call you because I feel this way. I don't know what to do. You know, so what do you think I should do? Oh, okay. Then he alerts the other sisters in the church, and she came down to my house and she began to pray for me. In that prayer, he said that Danny, because me and Daniel are married for three years before we had Gloria, and that three years is uh wild years, you know. We are mixing with the youth, we always have a movie marathon every Sunday. So we come back from church, two o'clock to six o'clock nap, six o'clock, wake up, we go down, meet the other youth to eat, cha cha downstairs, you know, and then after that, we watch movies, we do any fun thing on every Saturday. Mission trip, we go to Thailand, even we go to the borders between Thailand and Myanmar, you know, and we all like, you know, like live for myself, you know, that kind of coming home. I was having a privilege to stay with my mother-in-law. We have our uh helper that helped to wash my clothes, clean the house. So it's literally such a great time on my own. And then suddenly Gloria born. And I cannot just chang her in the corner and I can do my own things, right? So I have this kind of situation where I feel, oh, you know, I cannot do anything like this. I like before, you know. And then when this sister prayed for me, he began to see, Danny, your mission is for your child now. And I begin to realize, yeah, this is the life that the Lord give me. So I try to, you know, accept that. And every day, you know, I try to know that it is not a coincidence. She is such a joy, right? The blessing of the Lord will never add sorrow into it. Yeah, so that's really indeed a joy to me to have Gloria born into our family. And then after that, not only that, you know, then uh my fikah told me, come back to work quickly, join the leader's retreat, whatever uh event in the church, just join, you know. So I bring Gloria, or sometimes I have a preference to leave Gloria with my mother-in-law, so I come to church. And then there's the sister also comes and hey, you anything, uh? Let's go and meet at uh, you know, Yakun. Like talk of a coffee. Or that time cannot drink coffee because still breastfeed, so we drink tea, you know. So you see, from one call, then the whole church I sense that time I was serving in the youth, so I not really know all the uh the ladies in the church, but they just pop up coming up to me, you know, and they told me, pray and the Lord will go into, you know, deliver you, so on and so forth. And fast forward now I'm here. You know, I at that time I'm not understanding why I had I was in that kind of situation. But I know and I know that that's for his good pleasure and purpose and will. So now I'm walking through with new moms around me, and I'm I just there, you know, I just sit down in front of these new moms, and you just pour out to me, you know. Then I say, wow, I've been there before, man. I know how it feels. You know, so brothers and sisters, you might not know why. Maybe right now you're experiencing things that you might not understand, but the Lord is always bringing about goodness in our every situation, amen? And he's going to use that for his glory. So now, let's take a look at the Galatian, the one that Regina read for us, Galatians 6, verse 2 to 5. But we're going to chunk our attention on the first five, two, and five. Bear one another's burden, so fulfill the law, and then for each will have to bear his own load. Okay, so when I prepare this, I ask Daniel to help me because when I had my grade one, two, and three, I'm very good. I'm very good in returning my lesson to my lecturer. So, so when when when I see this, you know, Daniel, I think you you uh you you have the part why I'm not so good in this, because at that time I'm still courting with Daniel. We are in a Bible school. And I don't know why. My Greek exam is always on Friday, and we always have a long talk over the phone on Thursday night, and ended up quarrel. You know, so every Thursday night we have this phone call and ended up quarreling that I cannot study. You know, so my Greek wasn't very good in my grid two and three, but at least grid one was was better because you know, still still very foundation kind of level. But anyway, okay, let's take a look, bear one another burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ. So the word bear here is pastacete. Pastacete is a presence imperative active verb, all right? So it is to carry, to bear away, to pick up, to remove, to support. All right? And then the word burdens, alright, is a noun, accusative, neutral, plural. Okay, I should put the S, okay, burdens, correct? So the Greek word for burden is bara, you know, is used to imply something unreasonable, extremely heavy, or otherwise too much for one person to carry that burdens, that hardship, that weight, difficult duty, oppressive suffering, toil, so on and so forth. So, in other words, if now in our midst there are in this present time among us carrying on such an overwhelming burden, we should step in and to help one another. Alright? So let's go back, let's go up, not go back, yeah, go up to the to the first five now. So first five says, for each will have to bear his own load. Bear here is pasta say, you know, it's a verb future indicative active. So it's like in the future, we are still need to carry our load, our burden, right? So the the verb bear here is to lift. So literally lifting up or figuratively lifting up. And the load is par, is a poor tion, poor tion, all right? I think this one we won't have a Tesla. We only have a memory first in May. Okay, but I think it's good to know, right? So that we know the difference between these two verse. So it means a burden, the freight of a ship or cargo, or if you can, well, yeah. In Singapore we have an S, right? So every N S man will carry their own backpack, right? Uh so that's that's the load that each person has to carry. You know, it is to just to describe things that you need to do every day, a daily toil. All right? Yeah, so so what's the what's the how to describe these two differences here? So the burdens and the load are two different Greek words. One is barre, and the other one is portion. Barre is to imply something unreasonable, extremely heavy, like we explained on the previous slide, that someone has to carry. And load is refers to burden of ad of daily toils, the word that describes everyday things that we have to do. And then these two verse, two verbs, bara and portion, is a different tense. One bare is a present tense, and portio is a future tense. And we have the e jung there, one another and his own. So Galatian two talk about loving one another by helping each other out presently, and first five talk about individual responsibility or accountable, you know, burden or load that he has to carry. So no one else is responsible for that person. Yeah, so this two verse was connected with to fulfill the law of Christ. So what is actually God's law, God's commandments, you know. So in John 13, verse 34 to 35, say, a new commandments I give to you that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So if we put others ahead of ourselves, this requires putting to death our own ambition. And it is very much work of God, because in Philippians 2, verse 13 says it is God who works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So the law of Christ is fulfilled by living in self-sacrificing community. So burdens is also referring to any kind of burden that we are facing right now, maybe financial, physical, spiritual. We are to live in self-sacrificing community. Amen. Are you there? Are you with me? So a lot of things, right? But how, at the end of the day, how to do it? You know, and we cannot manufacture it, you know. Even if you want to help out of your own strength, you will not be able to sustain until very long. And we sound like, you know, I'm doing good, but actually you are doing nothing. Because when you do, you sound of like I just doing it for the sake of doing. Yeah. So that is why we need Holy Spirit. He is the only power that will bring about the will and the work that rise from within. So I have an extra note from Holy Spirit now. We know that Jesus has rise again, right? And then in Indonesia we have this ascension day. You know, usually we will go out for ibadah padang. It's a filled, open field uh service. And as if we are looking up for Jesus to take us up to heaven, and then he will be giving us the Holy Spirit, right? Yeah, so it's very much into that season now and we are waiting for the Holy Spirit. So in John 16, verse 8, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. So in this verse, we see the threefold ministry of the Holy Spirit that is to convict the world. He will reprove, reprove it or show it to be wrong. So the Holy Spirit will convict our hearts for what is wrong and what is right. Okay, so Jesus went on in in John 16, verse 9 to 11. He says that concerning sins, because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. So the world is a sinful place, I'm sorry to say. Yeah. And one of the Holy Spirit tasks is to convict the world of its sin. So, brothers and sisters, there is no amount of preaching. Maybe you are thinking about what are you going to eat for lunch later, you know, how to bring moms. I haven't booked any place to bring moms for Mother's Day meal, so on and so forth. So, and then after that, there is no amount of pleading and pointing out our fingers for someone to be able to convict. So, I have no persuasive word for you today if you don't have open hearts to the Holy Spirit to receive his word today. So, what I wanted to say is that Holy Spirit, it is Holy Spirit's job to convict our hearts about righteousness, about sin, and about judgment. And the most basic sin that which the world is guilty is what, you know, is unbelief. The conflicting power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world because the world, some of us have not yet believed in Christ. So once the person opens up and say with their mouth, they confess from their heart they believe that Jesus is Christ, then the other sins, the Lord will so-called taken care of. Yeah, so Holy Spirit will lead us, John 16, verse 13, that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide you into the whole truth. And we as believers, we have Holy Spirit in us. Can you tell yourself, I have Holy Spirit in me. I have Holy Spirit in me. Amen. So one day I have another story to tell. Are you still awake? So one day I was in that period when I had that postnatal syndrome, because you know, such a not it's Gen Z, right? But I was a millennial kid. So we have a lot of information from the books, but too bad, not a lot of bookstores are closing. Thank God for Kino Kun. But we have so overwhelmed information from the internet, from YouTube, now we have Instagram, we have Facebook, so on and so forth. And I hooked into this book called Gina Ford, if you know, is a UK nurse lady, like the nanny, like that. And I was so into it because I want to put my baby into the routine, you know, seven to seven sleep. But every single thing that I done for her all failed. Go to the train. So I have to like time the tummy time, I have to measure the milk, I have to measure her nave, so on and so forth. But all go to the train. It's not working at all because even I can't put Gloria down to sleep. So he's sleeping most of the time on my arms. So one day I cannot take care already, lah. So I pray. So when I pray, I saw this vision of myself holding the large books that I have read and whatever it is, you know. And I tell the Lord, Lord, I cannot do it anymore. I return it back to you. I give it to you, this amount of knowledge that I have. And what I say at the end of my prayer was, Lord, help me. Help me one day at a time. Holy Spirit, help me. I don't know what to do. So I guess because of that moment with the Lord, I felt that my depression is lifted up. I no longer have an expectation of what's to happen next, you know. But I was just leaning to the Holy Spirit. Was it easy? No. Because I would like to tend to like, you know, go back to that book and want to read. But I believe that, but that regular kind of asking the Lord, when I open up my eyes, Lord help me today. You know, and He is ready to help you. So I want to encourage you with Ephesians 5, verse 18, saying that be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's also imperative presence, be filled. So every day, yes, we have the Holy Spirit in us, but every new day, ask the Lord, fill me afresh, Lord. Fill me afresh. You don't need to be a mom to need that. All of us in every walk of life, we need the Lord to fill us. Amen. We need the Lord and we need to make the action to ask the Lord and to allow Him to work in us. Yeah, so I believe I'm much younger for some of you, and I believe you all have stories. If if we have time, maybe from that corner to that corner, everybody stand up and share how the Holy Spirit has led all of us. Amen? So this is the time for us, you know, to celebrate Mother's Day, not because I deserve it, you know. I've been making coffee for you this morning. Nobody making coffee for me. My husband buy coffee for me. So it's like I deserve it because the whole year I've been working very hard, you know. So you have to celebrate me. Is that true? Oh yeah, who is going to get hurt if today nobody brings you out? But I guess cannot, right? Yeah. Because I believe, brothers and sisters, when we are celebrating Mother's Day, not become commercialized everywhere in the radio, on a TV, on the internet, saying, like, you know, let's celebrate Mother's Day, celebrate Mother's Day. Yeah, but I guess I'm not trying to advocate that students uh celebrate Mother's Day because it's I think it's good. I think it's a good thing to celebrate Mother's Day, like in Exodus 20, verse 21. Honor your father and mother, that your day may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. So let's celebrate Mother's Day, but let's switch our attention to what? You know, to know that I'm survived today. It is because of God's goodness and of God's mercy and favor upon us. If you are a mother like me, do you ever feel that the Lord tried to speak to you through your children? Yeah? B we are so soft fused, you know, little bit. Why we start to sout, okay, Mila. I start to shout, I start to correct things, even sometimes I'm very feeling very sorry that, you know, sometimes I put expectation on my children that they have to be to behave this way and that way. And before God, you know. So one day, I have an extra story now. I think you're still with me, right? That day was Caleb. We just moved to our new house at that time, 10 years ago, and there's a lot of dust in the house, and Caleb was always cough every night. Sleep well, uh, nine o'clock, ten o'clock. Jeff midnight, he started to cough, cough fit, you know, and then vomit. It's almost a week. And it's terrified me. And then, if anything happened to him, it's always giving me some uh anxious, like panic attack. I don't know whether it's panic, but it's feeling very helpless. So one day I sit down in the sofa and suddenly the Lord told me, Who is Caleb? I I didn't hear the Lord audibly, but it's in my spirit that the Lord tried to tell me that who is the Lord? I reply, Yours Lord. If he is mine, why you are worried about his life? Because he's coughing. I need to know, you know, mom likes to take control. If he is not well, we know what to what to give to our children, right? What medication to offer so that to ease the suffering, right? But the Lord seems to my attention to know that I call you as my steward of your children, and I still the Lord offer his life. Yeah, so that's give me a lot of release in my heart. Not that after that I don't do anything, lah, but to know that the Lord is in control of his life. Even if he is sick or well, the Lord is always with him. I shouldn't be worried, but like the Philippians say that do not be worried about anything, but in everything, you know, make known to God your worries with thanksgiving and praise to him. So, so I believe that that being a mom, being a dad is always a spiritual spiritual journey for our children, right? And when we don't know what to do, we always know where to go. We might not know the future, but we know who holds the future. Amen. Yeah, so today, once again, as a one body of Christ, so we now already know that we are we. We are, you are my brother's keeper. Can you tell one another, husband and wife, you are my brother's keeper, you are my sister keeper. We know that already because this is God's commandments. Because when we're doing this, people will know. When we are walking outside, people will know that we are his disciple. Some of us thinking that I have to go evangelism, yes, they are calling for that. But some of us, we just live our life, it's already made known to the world that, hey, you are God's children. God is your God. Why are you so loving to one another? And they begin to want to know who it who is this God, and they want to follow God. Amen. Okay. So we know all this thing doesn't mean go huntam. Okay, what's your burden? I want to carry. Yeah. So we don't hunt them. This way, just now we say we need the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit will give you the tuck in your heart, the sensitivity for others' need. Yeah, so this is why once again, Philippians says that efficient states that be filled with the Holy Spirit. So that when you go out to work, when you stay at home like me, I go to market, I try to put my antenna high and to see what are the needs, Lord, that you want me to do today. So when you are retirees, you are not working, or maybe you are working, you are want to climb up your ladder of your career. Let's pause and ask, Lord, what you want me to do with my life. Amen. So these are the things that the Lord desire us to do this morning. And as we continue to look to the Lord, as we continue to wait upon him, let our hearts be encouraged, let our hearts be encouraged that the Lord is indeed among us. For those who have not known Jesus for the first time in your life, open your heart. The Holy Spirit will come and configure your heart, and you will begin to know who Jesus is. I would like to give you some verses as an encouragement as we embark on being each other keepers. You know, you can see over there. For we are called for freedom, brothers slash sisters. Not only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Okay, I Christian already, I can do whatever I like. Anyway, God bless me, all right? But true love, serve one another. And second one, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Let brotherly love continue.

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