Enduring With Jesus Series

SIMPLY JESUS

ENDURING WITH JESUS

HEBREWS 12:1-13

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!