Doing more for the Gospel
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Introduction
Introduction
Dismiss children
Great week last week. Thankful for those that came out and enjoyed celebrating the resurrection with us.
We are jumping back into our gospel story series.
Today we are in the book of Hebrews 12
Life and ministry come in seasons. God knew that, I believe it’s apart of His grand design. He built seasons into creation. Here in new England we get to experience all 4 of them. We also get to feel all 4 of them.
The Winter Blues are a real thing. The budding hope of the summer to come with spring. The enjoyable, relaxing, and bright happiness often associated with summer, the slow down and “ending of an era” with fall.
Going through life without understanding these seasons will lead to frustrations, going through life knowing them leads to satisfaction.
Without an understanding these seasons you will find yourself trying to live the same way you do in summer as you do in winter.
Can you imagine going without a snowblower when 3 ft comes down? All because you don’t accept what is happening...
Seasons of life are the same. God knows where you are at in life. God has a great plan for your life. I don’t believe God calls you to live in winter while trying to work like its summer.
Through each season we have to understand what God has for us and how we are to accomplish it, in this season.
How do we do that? How do accomplish something for God when that season of winter comes? How do we realize our potential in Christ in all seasons?
Today we are going to explore this and more as we read jut 3 verses but talk about a whole chapter.
Let’s Dive in
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,
Hebrews 12:1
Exegete:
Ok, one verse..what could possible come out of one verse…SOO MUCH
The first word packs so much into it I could preach off of it. Why?
The word wherefore is interchangeable with the word therefore and points back to chapter 11.
Chapter 11 of Hebrews is known as the Hall of faith. In that chapter there mentions of men and women that were used greatly by God in the Old Testament.
From Abel in Genesis all the way through the prophets, the list is full of great works done through ordinary people.
People like Abraham. Abraham was man God called out from a polytheistic religion that gave his life over to him, made many mistakes, and still bears the title “Father of the nation of ISrael”
then there were people like Moses, who being poor of speech, had no confidence in himself, and a murderer, God took and lead the peopel out of bondage in Israel. He was used to write the first 5 books of scripture.
last but not least you have women like Rahab. Rahab was a harlot, a lady of the night if you will, and she is mentioned in this halll of faith becuase of her faith during the battle of Jericho to hide the spies and lie to her countryman. This lead to the Israelites having a tactical advantage on top of their God advantage and Rahab and her family were spared in the destruction.
Each person that is listed in the hall of faith have events in their life that were miraculous.
However, the people that are listed in the hall of faith also fall into the following categories:
Liar
Manipulative
Little Faith
Murderer
Harlot
They Gave God excuses
Prideful
full of lust
The bible then goes on to say in
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:35-38
All of these people, used by God to do great things.
Illustrate:
I saw a quote about God being in the recycling business last week. I did a little research into that and this is what I found.
Recycling takes something and destroys it to make something new. Upcycling takes waste and creates something from it in its current state.
God doesn’t destroy you and turn you into something else. He take you as you are and repurposes you and your life.
He takes the alcoholic and turns him into a preacher: Billy Sunday
He takes the drug addict and turns them into a parent
He takes the gangster and turns them into a missionary
He takes the troubled teenager and turns them into a Christian leader
How could God upcycle your life if you gave it over to Him?
Argue
Many Christians can say “I’ve given my heart and life to Christ” yet they show no fruit. Nothing has changed.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James 2:18
If we have faith we will have works. Not may…but Will have works.
Paul writes and compares the works of the flesh to the works of the spirit or the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:19-21
I’m not going to break those down but I encourage you to look those up in the Greek language for a better understanding. Ultimately what I’ld like you to see here is that the works of the flesh “manifest” meaning they are the external acts that are living for the flesh. They are symptoms of the problem. The problem isn’t fornication outside of marriage, the problem is the heart of the man or woman that would do that.
Contrast these against the works of the Spirit
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:22-24
Fruit is again not the source, it is the product.
Apply:
The product of the people in Chapter 11 is not because of who they were, it is because of Christ in them. It is because of their willingness to yield to Him and let Him work.
They were no different than you and I. The one thing that may be different, is their willingness. Their willingness to submit to the Lord. Their willingness to be different. Their willingness to be looked at weird, mocked, tortured, and even killed for their faith.
God can use you to do great things. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that proves this. That phraseology there just means we have the example of those who have gone before us.
I. You can know that God will use you, because He used them
I. You can know that God will use you, because He used them
Why wouldn’t God take your life and transform it into a God honoring and Christ glorifying life? Whatever excuse you have I bet we can find the same one with a person in scripture or something worse.
Dive into verse 1 a litter deeper with me
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,
Heb 12:1
Exegete:
We have these witnesses that went before us living lives that glorified the Lord and submitted tot Him. Paul admonishes Christians today to do the same.
Notice the illustration of laying aside every weight AND the sin.
Sports were a big thing in greek culture. It’s believed Paul was a fan of watching sporting events based on his use of sports related illustrations.
Here the author of Hebrews is making reference to the weights runners would use to train with and easily identifying how you can be used by God just like the believers of old.
Illustrate:
Let me get X volunteers. teens and kids
Need weights with labels
Jump x high…run down auditoirum for time
Put weights on kids and teens ask to run or walk or jump.
What’s holding you down? What’s slowing you down?
What happens when you take that off?
Argue:
The argument here is often “well the Bible does say I can’t...”
The bible doesn’t say I can’t have 1 drink. The bible doesn’t say I have to give up an extra couple horus on sunday to serve and be apart of Bible Study. The Bible doesn’t say I have to be faithful to church on Sunday and Wednesdays. I mean, if something else comes up…I have to do that right?
My kid has sports, the family invited us over, everyone there will be doing it, I don’t want them to think I’m weird…I don’t want them to think I don’t like them.
We have come to the place in society where friendship and relationship has dwindled down to “you think like me and agree with what I say so we can be friends.”
That’s a little off topic, sorry.
Peter said we are a royal priesthood, a peculiar generation. We are called to be different. We are called to have different priorities, different motivations. We are not called to be monks never interacting with society. We are however supposed to represent Jesus to the world.
Not being willing to set aside the weights that keep us from representing Christ in our homes, our church, our community, and in our relationships with other people is saying that Christ’s death was enough to provide you life after death but not enough to give Him this life you have now.
Apply:
Christians, these weights, these things that are distracting you from running the race Christ has before are not things that will kill you, make you lose your salvation, end your marriage, or anything like that. They are distractions that will hurt your walk with God, with your family, and with your friends.
God used the men and women of Old to do great things.
God is using people today to do great things.
Will God use you to do great things?
II. The only person keeping God from empowering your life is you
II. The only person keeping God from empowering your life is you
You have to drop the weight. You have to run the race. If you go on in this chapter you will see the writer discussing God’s discipline and our discipline. We have to yield to His discipline and our discipline. We have to commit to spend time with Him, to folllow HIm, and to live for Him regardless of how we feel.
Too many are waiting to feel like forgiving someone beforre they forgive them. Emotion follows action.
Repeat that…Emotion, Follows Action.
Everytime. Don’t feel like being a blessing to someone, go bless someone and see how you feel.
God used people then, God uses people now. They accomplished great things in their lives. NO matter the season they were able to do mighty works for God.
How? We have already said it wasn’t becuase of who they were…how?
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Hebrews 12:2-3
Exegete:
There it is. There is how we do great things for God. We set the weights down and look to Jesus.
That might not be the best way to say it.
We are able to set the weights down when we focus on Jesus. When we have vision, not a vision, but faith in what God will do because of Jesus.
We are saveed because of Jesus’ death burial and resurrection. We have his example to look to.
NOtice that verse “the JOY that was set before him” he endured the cross.
The Joy? What was the Joy? We are. You and I.
It was the impact of what was going to happen because of the sacrifice that He went forward. Fleshly speaking. Again, we understand Jesus to be 100% man and 100% God. Therefore when I make a statement like that I am speaking to his humanity and not his deity.
Verse 7 lays it out plainly how he faced the contradiction of sinners. The contradiction of those that He came to die for hating him.
Illustrate:
Have you ever tried to help someone that doesn’t want your help? ever tried to witness to someone that doesn’t want to hear it? Ever desired to forgive someone that doesn’t want forgiveness?
Hows that feel? That hurts. That can be frustrating, it can be heartbreaking, and it can be very difficult to go through.
In those moments, it’s very easy to give up on that person. The alcoholic that doesn’t want to hear about the need to stop drinking. The drug addict that told me “If you don’t love me with a pipe in my hand, you can’t love me at all” Again, misunderstood love for agreement.
Jesus came and died knowing the derision and mocking He would face then. He died knowing the way you and I would treat Him. The neglect we would give to our Savior daily. The fear of man we would have even though He said “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
He came to die for you regardless of whether you wanted Him to or not. He did it because you needed Him to. We needed Him to.
Apply:
Being used of God takes faith in Jesus Christ and knowing He is the “Finisher of our faith”
When you live by faith you may not see exactly how things will turn out in your job, in your home, in your relationships, but you can know that following the Lord by faith comes with an expected end.
I can’t tell you it will be glamorous, what I can tell you is it will be worth it. You want to have an impact on people? Live for God, Serve Others, and Preach the Gospel to make an impact.
It wasn’t about who Abraham, Moses, or anyeone else was…it wasn’t about Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, or Charles Spurgeon. These people were able to live lives that are glorifying to God because of the Savior that died for them
III. He who is within us is how we do everything
III. He who is within us is how we do everything
When we are saved the Holy Spirit of god indwells each of us. He who is whtin us is greater than he that is within the World.
You can do all things through Christ. Not physically speaking…don’t go try and lift a car misquoting that verse and send me a medical bill.
You cacn forgive because of Christ. You can witness becuase of christ, you can love because of Christ.
Time of Response
Time of Response
