Valley Grove Assembly of God
May 4, 2014
Dr. Marilyn S. Murphree
Who Hindered You?
Several years ago I knew a woman named Julia who said, “My life is EXACTLY the way I want it.” She was a retired school teacher who was about 85 years old. This surprised me to hear her say this because most of us have SOMETHING in our lives that could be changed or improved, but she very matter of factly said, “I have my life EXACTLY as I want it.” In reading today’s scripture, I wondered if this is how the Galatians felt about their life? Everything was exactly in place.
Paul was speaking to BELIEVERS here when he said, “Aye did run well—who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth” (Galatians 5:7). Another place he called them FOOLISH Galatians. He said, “Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently (clearly) set forth, crucified among you?”
He told them, “you were doing great but someone or something has gotten you off track. The Message Bible says, “You were running SUPERBLY.” In their case teachers were coming back teaching the old legalistic ways to them, and they were losing their freedom which Christ had brought them into by faith. They were being brought once again into slavery to rules and regulations. Maybe they thought that their life was exactly like they wanted it to be even though they had lost their focus—Jesus. Paul was trying to get their attention here. Who had hindered them after they had been doing so well?
We also live at a time in history where we are surrounded by many people and things that try to get us off track in our walk with the Lord. The media bombards us all he time with a variety of ideas that attempt to lead us off course and often, we, like the Galatians, fall for it and don’t at the time realize what is happening. Down the road a ways we wonder, “What has happened? “I’m not serving the Lord faithfully like I used to be. We need to evaluate where we stand with the Lord so that if we have let anything lure us off course, we can get refocused and back on the path again.
Sometimes we think that if we don’t commit some BIG sin like being addicted to drugs, we are doing OK; but things that hinder do not have to be any BIG sin—little things that distract you will hinder your walk with the Lord. As little as 5 minutes running late will keep you out of church another Sunday. Allowing people to define your schedule will keep you from priorities. Letting family and grandchildren to keep you so OCCUPIED that you don’t have time for church will cause you to be robbed of God’s blessings. Scripture identifies such things as “the CARES of life.” Matthew 13:22 says, “The CARES of this world…choke the word…’ The cares could be anything that draws you away from what God has in mind for you.
My aunt used to say, “I can’t go to church because I have to stay home and cook dinner.’
My dad said, “The people down at that church all are hypocrites.” I remember saying, “Do you think Mom and I are hypocrites
and he never answered.
A friend said, “Once I get over this accident, “I’ll be in church.’
That was probably over 20 years ago and she is not there yet.
God was counting on King Saul to be a king who stayed focused, but he didn’t/t. Samuel said, “The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart” (I Samuel 8:14). Did God ever find such a person? Psalm 89:20 says that He did. This person was not PERFECT, but he was what God was looking for. Psalm 89:20—“I have found David MY SERVANT—with my holy oil I have anointed him.” David’s heart was right before God in WANT”ING to do God’s will. Sometimes he missed the mark BIG TIME and had to go back to Square One and start again, but David as a person that God could count on. Are you a person God can count on? Am I a person that God can count on because we genuinely WANT to. Psalm 40:8 David said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yes, thy law is within my heart.”
Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.”(John 4:34).
1. DECISION: We have to make a DECISION to do the will of God or else we will let people and things hinder us and we will never finish the work he has called us to do. We may not FEEL LIKE IT.
Jesus desired TO DO THE WILL OF God in spite of the fact that sometimes it was hard to do. He may have not felt
like it. When HE FACED THE CROSS He said, “Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but thine be done” (Luke 22:420.
How could Jesus do this? How can we? Jesus had made a total decision to fulfill his mission and then he took the commitment one day at a time. He tells us not to be overwhelmed by the whole load but to take up our cross DAILY to follow Him. Some people will say, “Oh, she has such a heavy cross to bear. She has a terrible disease and this is her cross to hear. Don’t know if she can do it or not.’ What is your cross? Could be different things. It could be something so simple as being inconvenient for you to do when you would rather do something else. You say, “Lord this is not a good time. Can you catch me later and I’ll be glad to do it.”
Today is a day when people are inclined to do just what they want to do and will back it up with enough excuses as to why they don’t want to do it.
When you start to invite people to church, you will be amazed all of the lame excuses people give you. Some told me, “I am not going to go back to church because I wore my old shoes and this woman looked me up and down and looked at my shoes.” The other day I invited someone to our church and she named a woman who she said goes there and said, “She is BIG in your church but she is a hypocrite. She goes to bars. I won’t come to church because of her.’
Paul said, “Ye did run well, Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth/’
It has been said that an excuse is the skin of a lie. Why do we manufacture so many lame excuses when we simply don’t want to do things?
You might say, “Well how can I stay focused when so many things try to hinder me and steer me off the path?
Back when I was growing up in the Assembly of God church a verse I memorized in children’s church was Psalm 119:105, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). If you have a light on your path, you are not going to stumble and fall.
In addition to making a DCISION to do what God want me to do and delighting in it like David did, the WORD of God keeps me on track but it has to be more than a casual thought once in awhile. “Thy Word have I hid IN my heart—not just a passing thought now and then.
I put the Word in my heart so that it is already there when the HOLY Spirit wants to bring it to the surface. It is already there and brings salvation, encouragement, healing, or whatever we need. The Word is described as a LAMP and a LIGHT on our pathway. We don’t have to stumble or fall.
One of my therapist said, “I might let you stumble, but I won’t let you fall.” Well, I didn’t want to stumble or fall either one. Proverbs 3:23 says, “then thou shalt walk in thy way SAFLY, and thy foot shall not stumble.’ He is talking here of walking in the wisdom of the Word. Keeping your eyes FOCUSED on the Word.
Say, “Lord I am not planning to STUMBLE OR fall because your light is shining on my path and I am not walking in darkness like the world in uncertainty and confusion.
Once we have made a DECISION to go God’s way and put in the WORD to keep us focused, we can depend on the HOLY Spirit to bring it to our mind when we need just the right word. In 2012 when I had colon cancer surgery, there was one verse that came to mind, and I didn’t e en know where it was located. I just had a fragment of it, but I LOCATED THE REST OF IT IN psalm 118:17. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”
We need the right scripture at times and it may be just ONE VERASE that speaks to our situation.
Some people say that the Holy Spirit is just a force, but scripture says, “When he the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
If the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something, are you quick to do it? There is a saying that says, “Delayed obedience is disobedience." Are we quick to say, “Here I am Lord, send me. Or “I delight to do thy will O GOD.
Can God count on you? Are you a faithful person?—dependable with what God has asked you to do whether it is little or a lot?
If the Lord can’t count on you time after time, what is hindering you? Selfishness, lack of commitment, busyness, people…
When you repeatedly put off God, your heart gets calloused.
CONCLUSION: Does it matter if we are faithful Christians or not? Scripture gives us the answer.
“Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life. not. 2:10
“Well done thou good and faithful servant…enter into the joys of the Lord” (Matt.25:31”.
Well, there we have it. Paul in Galatians 5:1 said, “Stand Fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set you freed. Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
