Alright, I’m ready to preach the word of God. I’m in part three of a series called «Keep Running.» So we are, Zion music, can I get my theme music, please? No, he’s going to hit that at church. Did you all? Alright, I’m going back to Hebrews chapter 12. If you have a Bible, electronic version or physical copy, and you are physically able to stand up without harm to yourself, please join me in standing as I read. I’m just going to read one verse out of Hebrews chapter 12 that I want to focus on today, and that is verse 1, where our attention will be centered. It says in the New Living Translation, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1: «Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight.» Everybody say «weight"—that slows us down. You may be seated.
I want to talk about the weight that slows us down today. I brought a prop with me today; this is a weight vest. What is funny about this weight vest is that all morning the leaders have been carrying this bag, but I noticed as the day went on, they started rolling it out because, although it may not look heavy, this thing is 60 pounds. I know we have marathon runners in our church, and you’re going to hear from one in a moment, but you might be able to run a marathon, but you won’t be able to do it with that on. The reason I feel compelled to bring this message to you today is that some people are actually living with this kind of weight on them, and it doesn’t show up on the scale because it’s emotional, but it’s still heavy. It’s still heavy. I want to talk about this kind of weight that wears us down, that makes us tired—whether it’s grief, guilt, shame, or the inability to forgive someone. We are all carrying something inside us that’s wearing us down, and it slows us down.
Now, before I dive into that content, I want to start by reviewing where we’ve been. We began part one of this series by looking at verse 1, highlighting five key points. The first thing we talked about is the importance of spiritual role models, heroes, or heroines—people mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. There are 16 role models that the people in Hebrews chapter 12 are told to look at for inspiration. All of us can learn from those who are further along in their faith than we are; we need spiritual examples to help guide us.
Then we discussed hindrances or weights that slow us down. One of the weights we talked about was wasting time. Time can become a weight because it’s a perishable commodity. If we don’t use it wisely, sometimes it’s not that we are doing something sinful with our time; it could just be engaging in activities that are not necessarily immoral, like scrolling all day on social media or watching too much television. The race is made up of two things: our walk with God and our work for God. That’s the race; our lives are meant to be about walking with God—knowing Him and making Him known, living for Him, having an intimate relationship with Him, and doing the work He placed us on this Earth to do. There are so many distractions that take our time away from these two important aspects, and when we spend too much time on something uninspiring, it becomes a hindrance that slows us down.
I’m going to talk about a different weight today. The third thing we discussed was the hurdle the writer of Hebrews calls «the sin that so easily trips us up.» Look at someone next to you and say, «Stop tripping!» There is a sin that we all have that easily trips us up. For some of us, it’s our mouth. How many people have a cursing problem, even since you’ve known Jesus? It may not be often, but when you’re in traffic, it can come out. One of your kids can trigger it! When you have a sin that easily trips you up, he says first of all, call it a sin. Don’t try to label it something else so you’ll feel more comfortable doing it—that just keeps you stuck in it. Call it what God calls it, which is sin.
One way to overcome this hurdle of sin in our lives is to manage our schedules in such a way that we don’t give ourselves a lot of time to engage in the sin. You know, sometimes sin takes time, and it can even be scheduled. If you have a work life that requires you to travel, and you have business to attend to on a Thursday morning, don’t go there on Tuesday. Now you’ve created a 48-hour window to sin. Go there on Thursday and don’t stay until Saturday; you’re just opening the door for distractions.
