Roadblocks Series

Roadblocks

PPT 1 (Series Theme) Very encouraging messages the next 4 Sundays, you want to be here.

This week roadblocks, then detours - Joseph, Elisha, Moses, David, everyone has had detours to deal with. Then a message on, "then the fight started." - A message about how the stress of the race can stress you out, and how to successfully deal with it, especially in marriage and interpersonal relationships. Then we will have a message about the 12th man - the help from the crowd that can put you over the top. We will look at some of the heroes of the faith, and draw inspiration and encouragement from their lives.

PPT 2 (Picture of a blocked road) Today road blocks: How others can slow you down, and how when we help them, we are also helping ourselves

PPT 3 (Scripture)

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

You will notice the plural is used 5x’s in this passage of scripture. Often the scriptures talk about our individual race, but it is clear that God is trying to communicate to us in this passage that we race as a team.

Let us run, we are going to talk about the us of running this amazing race.

"Be careful how you treat people on the way up, they are the same ones you will meet on the way down." (Bro. Jenkins) In other words if you are mean to people as you advance in your company, or whatever, if you ever get demoted those people you were mean to may wind up as your supervisor, so be careful how you treat them. Life in many ways is like a relay, and you can win your individual lap, but your team can still lose the race.

In the book of James the church is rebuked because they were giving preferential seating to the wealthy, and I have thought that never applied to us or our church, but then the Lord just expanded my understanding of that portion of scripture. It was speaking of a literal action, but it also speaks to a broader principle, not simply of giving preference to some, but deals with the much larger question of how we deal with the people we see as of no importance to our lives. How we deal with the people we see as a drain or a negative. God will judge us in part, on how we deal with them. The truth is, there was probably a time in your life that you were a drain on others. Think about it.

I want to use an example from the TV show amazing race to help with our understanding of the need for the team concept in the church and life.

In the TV show amazing race, a roadblock is where the participants come to a situation where only one of them can complete a task, but the whole team cannot move forward until that task is completed.

So it is in our Christian walk, sometimes we have to wait on others to advance so the whole team can advance. This is most evident in the marriage relationship, if one is saved and the other isn’t, it will complicate your spiritual journey.

As pastor I can’t be happy with a small percentage of our church being zealous for the Lord, sometimes to go forward or get to the next level we need a move of God that is across a broad spectrum of our church.

Sometimes God’s plans are on hold while we catch up as a group to where we need to be.

PPT 4 (Scripture and image of hornet)

Ex 23:27 "I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.

Ex 23:28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

Ex 23:29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.

Ex 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

Until you become increased in v. 30 has to do with numerical increase, but it is also true that sometimes we need to be increased in other areas before we can get our inheritance.

Increase Personally:

Increase our biblical knowledge base

Work on our anger issues

Stop being ruled by fear

Our Experience in God must grow