Sermon Central
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Enduring With Jesus Series
Contributed by E. True Neilson on Dec 16, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus!
SIMPLY JESUS
ENDURING WITH JESUS
INTRODUCTION
-Have you ever had that life changing moment when you decided to get in shape?
-Some of you are thinking, “I’ve never been in shape…but I’ve heard about that from a friend.”
-If getting in shape is the goal, you’re going to run into a painful reality that is called “exercise.”
-Many people give up exercising shortly after they start exercising
-If you decide to get in shape you will have to do your first workout. And you’ll learn a lot about yourself in that first workout
-When you have your first workout you’ll discover all the extra weight you’ve been carrying around…it jiggles.
-You’ll discover what kind of cardio condition you’re in when you’re…gasping for breath.
-Exercising even reveals the kind of food you eat; junk food tastes good but does not fuel your body properly.
-And yet many people have quit exercising in favor of ice cream.
-You’ll also find out about mental toughness in exercise
-Because if you want to go from couch potato to being in shape; it’s going to hurt. You’re going to want to quit.
-You’ll have to force yourself mentally to keep going.
-To be in shape…it will take discipline in your schedule, discipline your diet, discipline w/your body, and in your mental toughness.
-And, unless you’re one of those ROBOTS who are completely self-motivated, you will probably need some encouragement.
-Hebrews chapter 12 is a passage that encourages us to stay in shape. But it’s aimed at our spiritual condition, not our physical.
-Heb 11 records a whole list of people that made it. Faith in tact!
-As we read about those people of exceptional faith we sometimes wonder…how do we do that?
-How do we endure with Jesus to the end of our lives?
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
-If we are going to endure to the end w/Jesus the 1st thing to do…
1. GET RID OF DEAD WEIGHT , DISTRACTIONS, AND SIN.
-All those things weigh us down and make it hard for us to keep move forward.
-Many people here want to be stronger Christians.
-But you find yourself feeling discouraged, dissatisfied, and generally disappointed about your life in the faith.
-Every time someone asks you about your walk with God you say, “needs improvement”, “could be better”, “I need to get serious”
- “What’s holding you back?”
-Hebrews 12:1 says names the usual suspect that slows us down and tripping us up.
-Some of what slows us down is dead weight…baggage.
-You had a bad church experience so now you’re down on church.
-You tried reading your Bible and gave it up because it was hard.
-You were on the right track but got offended by another Christian and you got bitter and you quit.
-That stuff happens to everyone! Get rid of that baggage!
-If it hasn’t happened yet it will…just wait.
-If it hasn’t happened recently…give it time!
-We can’t get weighed down by the drama.
-That stuff just slows us down. It holding us down…and keeps us from being who God has called us to be.
-So strip off that dead weight and keep moving forward.
-Notice that another big culprits that slows us down…is sin.
-Sin is to the Christian life like, donuts are to exercise.
-Sin counteracts all that God is trying to do with us.
-Some of you have tried to get serious about your faith for years…but you haven’t succeeded because there is sin in your life that you refused to deal with.
-It may be addictive things like alcohol, pornography, drugs.
-You may have to go through Celebrate Recovery to kick that sin!
-It might be that you’re living in a relationship outside of marriage
-It may be anger, bitterness, jealousy, laziness, unforgiveness or a million others things. We all struggle with sin.
-It doesn’t really matter what sin you deal with…sin slows us down. It keeps us from being what God has called us to be.
-So our author suggests a fairly simply remedy for sin. Get rid of it.
-Stop making excuses. Stop blaming others. Stop kidding yourself.
-If your smart phone it tempting you, get a dumb phone.
-If you’re drinking to get through your troubles, dump out the
bottles out and be here on Monday night at 6:30.
-If you’re gossiping with your girlfriends, or yelling at your wife, or disobeying your parents, or blowing your paycheck at casino…
when you discover sin in your life get rid of it.
-Sin keeps you stuck in sin. God has a better plan for your life!
