Sermon Central
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Don't Quit Now
Contributed by Dan Cormie on Feb 26, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: The dog days of summer are coming and with them the desire to take a little break, but will you take a vacation from God?
Have you been lazy in your carrying out of a spiritual directive? Our God is worthy of a people who are passionate about living for Him.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Have you been faithfully serving God and waiting expectantly for an answer to prayer?
Have you been seeking God in prayer and the word?
Have you been working in the ministry, loving and serving God’s people?
Are you tired and on the verge of throwing in the towel?
Don’t quit now! Stir up the gift of God that is in you!
1. Dream the dream again.
At times everyone gets worn down, but as children of the living God we have got to remember one thing: Our future is so bright we need to wear shades!
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
What has got you exhausted?
Are you battling the bulge? I encourage you to join the gym again.
Are you trying to upgrade your education? Dig deep and study and get that diploma. You can do it!
Are you paying off debt and trying to get free from that bondage? Don’t reward yourself with a little break and a spending spree, keep going, knuckle down and get yourself free!
Are you trying to get off welfare but not finding work? Get out there again and work eight hour days finding a job until you can start to look in the mirror again with a little bit of self-respect!
Your dream is not a fantasy; with God you can do it!
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
In God the possibilities are endless, so don’t quit now! Instead:
2. Lay aside the weights.
At this point I went and grabbed a bunch of rope and weights and draped them over my shoulders.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Now if you saw me with all this junk tied around my neck and asked what was up, what would you think of my intelligence if I told you I was on my way to run a marathon? Crazy right?
But that is exactly how many of us approach this Christian race that is set before us.
If you are running to win you must lose the baggage!
Bad habits, sinful indulgences, negative attitudes, bitterness, excuses, unbelief, the enemy wants to keep us all tied up and guess what; sin is an entanglement.
Lay it aside!
Right now it’s going through your mind, you know what you need to drop, so instead of quitting under the load, lay aside those weights and get back in the race.
When you are exhausted and you feel like quitting, it is time to dream the dream again, it is time to lay aside the entangling weights, and it is time to:
3. Formulate a plan for new growth.
Even in the natural realm growth does not just happen, feeding is required.
What have you been feeding yourself to foster spiritual growth?
If your plan is to hear one sermon a week, I challenge you to eat one meal a week and see how that goes. You need on purpose planning.
