Laying Aside Every Weight In Christian Life

And where we are going because of these kinds of things I want our church. We're a new church. I know that we have a I don't know 65 70 year history here in pinchell creek Um But creekside has a three-year history And and I want this church To to be a church that pursues holiness Yes, I said that and I mean it I want us to be a church that pursues holiness Because I believe as we have learned that that is the very command of god to all of us as believers As individuals and as individuals coming together as a body of believers We are commanded to be holy For I am holy remember that we tore it all apart We have been told to walk worthy if you'll remember the weights the balance That that to walk worthy means to to weigh the same weight as to weigh the same as And we've been told to walk worthy of the gospel May your life the way that you walk the way that you live the way that you talk the way that you think May may it be worthy may it weigh the same as the gospel May you walk worthy of the lord the word of god says may you walk worthy of the calling And we talked about that calling We've been called To this holiness God we established that last year that god is holy. He is so other there is none like him There is nothing like him his holiness. We can't even comprehend or describe And yet we are commanded to be like him If we are going to live that kind of way, then we must we as god's children Must have a godly attitude towards Anything that is opposite of holiness which we call sin We have to have a godly attitude towards sin And anything that would prevent us from moving forward In that life of holiness You remember the picture that we had up here often that picture of our walk with god I think I have it. I almost totally forgot that I had my computer up here Give me a second You can tell that was unscripted You remember the picture that we've drawn Mel added some things in there was so good And But this is the picture of the life that we have been called to the yellow line we've experienced this crisis of belief And and we have been called to this and if we're going to live in that yellow line Accomplishing the purpose of god which is to make us like christ Then we as god's children must have a sensitivity to sin We must have a godly attitude towards sin And i'm afraid As we experienced this week. I am so afraid that we have written off What god has called wrong and made it right? We have written off the little things Because it doesn't affect anybody and really nobody knows about it and we write off the little things like jealousy and gossip Malice and anger dirty jokes Dirty talk We've wrote those off because well They're not so offensive. Everybody does it and you hear it everywhere We got to remember one of the things that we talked about it was was sin. We have to realize that sin is offensive to god Even as a believer So we have to have a godly attitude towards sin We looked at psalm 51 the last time I was together with you. We looked at psalm 51 And we determined these six things from psalm 51 In terms of how we see An attitude our attitude towards sin First of all, we said that we must believe in his mercy and forgiveness Yes Yes, you're going to mess up david messed up You're going to mess up i'm going to mess up I don't want to mess up and i'm hoping that the messing up is less and less as I move along on my yellow line That I am maturing to the point that I am less and less tempted and drawn away by my own fleshly desires so that That sin is birthed in me. I I don't want to be there But i'm i'm going to be there and when I do I must believe in the mercy and the forgiveness of god And that's what david said as he cried out to god have mercy upon me. Oh god according to your loving kindness According to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out Completely get rid of my transgressions wash me thoroughly From my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. The second thing that we learned was that we must confess our sin Look what david says for I acknowledge my transgression And my sin is always before me He confessed You've heard me say this Confession is not coming into a little room and telling everybody or somebody what you've done Confession is simply agreeing with god that he is right and I am wrong And name the wrong That's what david says The third thing is he says recognize That your sin is offensive to god And this is where I think that we That we have lost it That we have become insensitive That the the little things that we do is not so offensive to god it doesn't Well, so I lied So I lusted So I cheated What does that matter to god I know we don't say those kind of words, but that's the attitude in which we commit them We have to recognize that sin all sin Not little sins Are okay big sins are bad all sin All of our sin no matter what it is It's offensive to god against you and you only have I sinned david says and done this thing in your sight fourthly You do not desire sacrifice or else. I would give it You do not delight and burn offering the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart These oh god, you will not despise We must when we have sin As it is revealed by the holy spirit in our lives. No matter how small or how big We must respond to that And come to god with a broken spirit and a broken heart because we have offended god Not listen Not because i'm paying the price for it oftentimes are turning And repenting or saying i'm sorry is because we are being punished or Or the consequence of consequences the natural consequences of our sin Has come and I don't like it you do drugs You get addicted Well, I don't like what it's doing to me But I don't want to turn from it You cheat on your wife or your husband the trust in the family in the in the relationship is gone Those are consequences of your sin. You don't turn because of the consequence you turn because Of the sin and you turn because it is offensive to god Fifthly look what he says created me a clean heart. Oh god And renew a steadfast spirit in me Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit And then I will teach transgressors their ways and sinners shall be converted to you You know what you need to do When you fail when you find yourself in sin in a place of repentance Ask god for a renewed heart for holiness And I I'm worried that if we don't do something like if we're we don't have that part of our prayer life That we are going to easily forget That we are to be moving towards holiness So we need to ask god god Renew my heart Put a steadfast spirit inside of me renew my heart clean me up god I want a renewed heart for your holiness and then lastly Praise him And lead others to see it Help others to be able to see the beauty and the power of the forgiveness of god and the loveliness of holiness Help them to see it. Then I will teach transgressors their ways and sinners shall be converted to you Took a lot longer than that than I wanted to but Psalm 51 teaches us these lessons I think I put them in the bulletin in your notes. I would encourage you to take them with you placed on the refrigerator Begin to work on the dullness that you have towards your sin I speak to myself read hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 In this attitude towards sin. What do we do with the sin? That we have in our lives Let's read together hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 therefore We're going to find out why the therefore is there Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside Every weight I want you to notice the words The power of the words that the holy spirit uses In these were in this in these verses the power of the words lay aside every weight There's two distinctions here Two things that we are to lay aside First of all, he says to lay aside every every you notice that word every underline it every weight and There's your and and the sin Which so easily ensnares us interesting here ensnares and surrounded In the first part are the same word Sin was so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance Let us run with perseverance. Let us run with patience the race That is set before us Let us run with perseverance The race that is marked out for us Looking unto jesus The author of our faith the author and finisher of our faith Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross? despising the shame And sat down At the right hand of the throne of the throne of god. God. May you bless the reading of your word? We are in a race The writer of hebrews here says that you and I are in a race It's referred to a race oftentimes several times in scripture galatians chapter 5 and verse 7 paul says You ran. Well, who has hindered you? James chapter 1 and verse 12 says that you will receive the crown of life The prize Listen to first corinthians chapter 9 verse 25 to 27 Everyone who competes In the games exercises self-control in all things They do then do it to receive a perishable reef but we an imperishable therefore I run in such a way As not without aim I box in such a way As not beating the air But I discipline my body And make it my slave So that after I have preached to others I myself may not be disqualified. Do you see? the desire of paul in that And this desire for holiness even in his own life as the preacher Look what he says I I run in such a way But not without an aim in other words I know the course And I know where it's headed to and I know what it's for and i'm running with that purpose in mind I don't box as someone who boxes the air. Have you ever seen those guys that fight? and and they Just swinging and hitting the air Used to fight like that I can remember a fight when I was in eighth grade. It was like that I don't know if we ever hit anybody Oh my goodness, I can't like my brain goes crazy. I've got to tell you this story It was in we were in alaska back when I was in alaska um We were in alaska on a mission trip and I was one night late one night. I was I was studying For the sermon on sunday and there was a party going on It was a little village 160 native people and there was a party going on The community hall was right below the old log building church And there was a fight And it was right On the entrance to the church And and it was between a man an older man and a and a teenage boy And I don't know what came over me I'm, i'm not a big dude and i'm I didn't know how to fight But there was something came over me and I walked out that door And they were flailing like that, I mean it was And I don't know if anybody hit but I walked out that door and walked right between them And I never never took a punch in all of that never took a punch god the protection of god I don't know. They're just really bad fighters. I don't know which one it was, but I walked in that's That kind of fight is not what paul's talking about Paul's talking about I box and when I box I box with a purpose i'm going to knock you out Not beating there, but I discipline my body and make it my slave There's a discipline in this holiness that we're talking about. Do you agree? That if we're going to pursue holiness, it's not just a work of the holy spirit Although we couldn't do it if there wasn't the work of the holy spirit It's not just the work of this holy spirit. It's not this jesus magic pill that makes me holy There is something that we you and I participate as you know that we've talked about over and over again the work Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why are you so fat? We have to be involved in the work and paul says I discipline my body and I make it my slave So that after I have preached to others in other words He's saying I want to stand before the people that I preach with integrity And I want you to know that your your pastor wants to do that And I invite you And encourage you If you see something in me that is ungodly and unchrist-like, please Come and talk to me. Don't be afraid to talk to me Second timothy chapter four verse seven says I have fought a good fight paul at the end of his life Says I have fought a good fight I have finished the race And I have kept the faith See you and I have a course Laid out. That's what it says. Look look at it And let us run with endurance the race That is set before us Let us run the course that is marked out for us You have a race that you are running that you are called to run and folks I want you to know that this is a lifelong race From the moment you become a believer until the moment that you die are raptured away Then you are in this race It is a lifelong race You ought to be running to round the turn of maturity in jesus christ Conformed to the image of christ, which is the purpose of god for you Should round the turn of sharing christ Of being an evangelist doing the work of an evangelist We have a finish line We have a course that's laid out before us. That's your maturity back to the picture That's your maturity in christ. That's your course To become christ-like And you have a finish line that is eternal life with christ that is that permanent glorification Someday it will be over come quickly lord. Jesus We are called to run a race We are not called to tiptoe through the tulips We are called to run a race and a race Takes work If you're going to win a race It's going to take commitment believer It takes a commitment A commitment to the purposes of god a commitment to the word of god It takes commitment And i'm afraid that we have forgotten what commitment is it gets hard and we don't like it anymore It gets uncomfortable the circumstances are not what we want them and therefore We don't want to be committed anymore if there are times of doubt in your life, yes I bet you if I asked for a raising of the hands if there's been a time where you wondered Whether you had just a tinge of doubt i'm not saying you were ready to quit and walk away But you had some tinge of doubt in your faith I bet you every hand in here would go up I remember Three years into our ministry I know i've told the story before but I remember three years into our ministry. I was done We were in we had no friends we had nobody We were completely alone And boy, man, what a difficult ministry we had trying to break into a place that Was different And it was difficult And my commitment waned And after suffering for two or three weeks Going into my office and getting down on my knees and opening up the psalms and reading the psalms out loud to god Praying the psalms of repentance out loud to god because I thought That there was some kind of a sin that I had committed to make me feel this way I didn't know what it was and I begged god to show me Never knew it wasn't It wasn't sin It was just difficulty of life And a circumstance that god brought me in and it was in that moment that I said I sat down on the couch one evening and I began to weep and I told dana I said We're going home We're gonna sell the house going home And she laughed at me She said donnie coulter is not a quitter And I said today I became a quitter I quit I'm done commitment You know, there was a phone call that night Oh god, so good, isn't he? There was a phone call from some people down in colorado that we'd made friends with and she had some encouragement from scripture in a book She says to me. I don't know why I need to call you. She didn't know anything about what was going on I don't know why I need to call you and tell you this but Here it is Here it is Those words three months later, did you hear what I said? Three months later Those words exploded in my life But for even three more months I had to experience the silence of god But I got up every morning because of what what she said and what the word of god said I could get up every morning and say God I live today in expectation commitment It takes commitment. It takes perseverance and sometimes we don't like our circumstances to what our circumstances do to us And we say to ourselves we think that that well if my circumstances were different If if I just had a different wife If I just had a different husband If I just went to a different church If I just had a different job if I just drove a newer car if I just had a newer house a bigger house And we could go on and on and on But we think that if our circumstances were different Then well If Everything could be better And so we go about changing the easy things We go about trying to find a new car and a new job and a new house We do those things but yet this life Is a race And you are called to be a runner in the race And to run in this race, it's going to take hard work It's going to take preparation And as we'll see next week it's going to take laying aside anything That will hinder you from that race both the weights And the sin that would hinder you not your circumstances Our circumstances we have to look at our circumstances like this that it's our circumstances are allowed by god And I could I could name two immediate reasons why our circumstances are allowed by god. Number one would be because of discipline That we are in the midst of discipline because we have not Held on to a proper view of sin And so we have pursued self and sin And god now says as my child. I cannot let you get away with it And so he brings circumstances in our lives for discipline But I also believe That maybe it's not about discipline, but it could be about just your growth God is allowing certain circumstances in your life or even brings certain circumstances into your life to help you to grow difficulties difficult circumstances Sickness relational turmoil turbulence at work Family frustrations financial Difficult Afraid many of us all of us are heading there God allows those to come into our lives so that our faith might grow Not so that we can find a different course to run You follow me You have a course for your life that is laid out In your circumstances are exactly what they need to be And until we learn Listen to me Until we learn to rise above the circumstances We are not really running the race Will you with me rise above the circumstances of your life? I want to do that And see that I have been called to run the race with perseverance With patience with endurance I must run this race No matter my circumstances I must run the race And to run the race We have to lay aside some things and next week we'll talk about Some of the things that were to lay aside Because we are to lay aside both every weight No exception clause there every weight And the sin Much debate over what he means when he writes the sin We'll see if we can't dig into it Are you running your race with endurance? Are you committed to this race towards christlikeness? Are you committed to holiness? Are you Are we? include myself Are we committed? to run A race that's the course That's been laid out for us. Is it not? To become like christ the maturity of the believer the sanctification of the believer That's our course And our ultimate goal Is the prize of the high calling in christ jesus And we pursue that Are you pursuing that with full commitment? Have you entered the race? Are you? Those who sit on the outside Coming to the race course every week and watching those who run christ is calling you into the race Oh He would love for you to make that crisis a belief in your life a reality He would love for you to hear your name called And respond to him. Yes Yes Yes, I believe Would you hear the spirit? Today as he speaks father Thank you for your word I just love it Thank you for its power to convict us To challenge us and I pray that it's done its work today Thank you for your mercy and forgiveness Thank you for your grace That abounds so much more than our sin I pray that we would not take advantage of the grace that you have given to us But you would help us lord on this course On this race that we are running. I pray that you would help us lord to do Everything we can to be committed with all of our hearts To reach the finish line to win On the finish line. I pray for those who are discouraged right now Whose commitment is waning I pray that you would help them Help them lord to be encouraged That they are not Called to do this on their own As we'll see next week we have we have the witness Of the heroes of the faith I pray that you would encourage them Help them father To find their way back to a commitment to holiness Sin has ravaged their life again And I pray that you would help them to turn Turn to the one who Saved them And calls them his child turn Lord, I pray for the one who has never experienced you as savior who doesn't know the saving power of jesus Who has not experienced the cleansing of the blood the power of the blood? I pray god. May you not let them leave this room today or their living room at home I pray that they would not be able to leave Not be able to stand up without the the holy conviction of the spirit on their lives driving them to a revelation of jesus christ in the glorious gospel Lord for them. I pray that The lord make us a church who pursues holiness Set us apart. That's what it means set us apart set us apart from the normal from the status quo May we be holy May we be other we pray This I ask in jesus name amen If you uh need to talk I will make myself available. We have the prayer room down here and if you need to to to speak to me You would like to become a believer God's been speaking to you Then please see me or if you have something in your life that you need to be speaking to someone about Then I would encourage you to do that come and see me up here at the front