This morning, we

continue our new message series entitled, "Took On" as we journey

together to the cross and on through to the resurrection of Jesus!

Through this series,

we're looking back to the prophetic word fulfilled by Jesus found in Isaiah

53.  Here, we find a list of life burdens

that Jesus took on Himself.  Jesus took

on these burdens so that we can live life in freedom from them!

Isaiah 53:4-6 (NCV)

4 But he took our

suffering on him

    and felt our pain for us.

We saw his suffering

    and thought God was punishing him.

5 But he was wounded

for the wrong we did;

    he was crushed for the evil we did.

The punishment,

which made us well, was given to him,

    and we are healed because of his wounds.

6 We all have

wandered away like sheep;

    each of us has gone his own way.

But the Lord has put

on him the punishment

    for all the evil we have done.

So far, we've been

encouraged to know that through the cross, Jesus took on the physical burdens

of our sickness and disease and the mental and emotional burdens of our pain

and suffering.  Today, we're learning

from a simple verse that has an incredible impact on our lives.

Have you ever spent

the day with someone, talked for hours and hours, and when somebody asks you

what the two of you talked about, you can summarize it in just a few

words?  Perhaps you've read a huge book

about a very complex subject and when you finished it, you could explain that

subject in just a couple of sentences?

Some people seem to

have a gift for going on and on and on and complicating something very

simple.  In your conversations with them,

they have the need to explain every little detail about everything.  It doesn't matter if that detail is important

to the story or not, they are going to let you know about it. 

They weave a huge

tapestry of a simple point, thread by thread, and pull them all together in the

end.  In fact, if you don't listen very

closely, you could miss the main point all together.  They are telling you a story about the

doctor's diagnosis, but you may think they were telling you a story about the

weird guy in the waiting room!

Some people also

have a gift for going on and on and on with no point at all.  :-)

Then you have people

on the complete opposite side of this spectrum. 

They are quiet and simple people that share just a few words and yet you

find yourself thinking for days about what they said.  They said a simple phrase with a few words

and you find yourself building your whole life philosophy around them.

In this prophetic

word of Isaiah in verse 5, we find such a statement.  He uses just a few, simple words.  However, the profound revelation of those

words are tremendous!  Isaiah,

prophesying about Jesus, said:

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

…he was pierced for

our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that

brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

Depending on the

translation of the Bible which you are reading from, you'll find a variety of