Welcome to City Reach Cumberland's weekly podcast. We hope this message blesses you for more information about us You can check us out on the web at cityreachcomberland.com There we go. Now we're working. It's setting there that did not even mistakes are wasted.
That's what God does exactly Remember the artists that used to be on TV I believe it's him was Ross or something like that. He'd make a mistake and he'd say all we're just gonna put a happy little tree That's what that's what he takes your mistake and makes a tree a life. Am I one? There we go.
Now. I don't have to hold it much better My wife identifies it all the time anytime I hold something you can see my my she just shakes him I could vulsing So it's a pleasure to be here. I don't want to thank the worship team You guys did an amazing job last night and I can we give them surprise? So I know your fingers have to be hurting Kim.
I don't know how you're still speaking I mean she was she's hanging out to God like it's just amazing to see her be able to get up here this morning and do it again Luke 15 it tells us that God and angels rejoice for just a single salvation that they celebrate it and I think we should too and last night we have one of our new members of the men's hope home Alex He decided to give his life to God. Yeah It's definitely worth praise and to watch just the transformation in one single week that God has done in his life already I brought him out of drug addiction and and brought him through the withdrawal and put a smile on his face He walked up. He walked up yesterday and I told him said who are you you're like you're a brand new guy. It's amazing So I can stop shaking here.
We might get through this So one of the things that I want to talk to you guys today about is your path in life and I want you guys as you sit today and you hear this message Don't think about the person sitting next to you Don't cure a virus by know somebody that needed to hear that once you think about your own path that you're taking in life Just concentrate on self and God today and where he's taking you to Before we get into message, let's go ahead pray over top of this word ask for God's annoying morning Father God we thank you for this morning We thank you for this word that you've given got to ask that you bless this I ask that you you let it be received by the hearts and minds of the men and women that sit here men and women that are online God allow this to be all of you none of me Use me today as your vessel to speak to the ones that need to hear this Father God We thank you for the church that you've given us and we thank you for the heart. You're so gracious to share with us Your name would pray All right, so like I said we're concentrating on your path today And that's it exactly what I've been telling you with this message and the first scripture that we're gonna look at is Hebrews 12 1 As I was praying over top this this week and I was reading and I came across this scripture God allowed me to see something that I've never really seen before now that may be due to the fact that have like a sixth-grade education and Punctuation and that wasn't really in my strong suit But God showed this to me and I want you guys to see it too the scripture reads 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 and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us Like I said, we're gonna break this down and look at the punctuation because there's places where God wants you to pause and think about What was just said before you go into the next so the Bible has this entitled is just one scripture But I see multiple scriptures inside of this one the first part of it's therefore and it pauses with the with the comma And it wants you to think of the the previous chapter and what it's what it's talking about with the previous chapter is the The crowd of witnesses is proclaiming is the the saints and the people of life of faith before you the ones that are constantly watching over you But it then says since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith I don't think that that the crowd of witnesses is just the saints themselves And I got to thinking about that and at first I was like alright It's my my other Christian brothers and sisters so it's not though It's not just limited to the person to the right and the left of you right now When you leave here today the guy that's walking down the street across the way there He's a witness to you when you get home the wife that's sitting beside you the children that are playing on floor are a witness to you But also tomorrow when you go to work Debbie that's in the cubicle next to you. She's a witness also Anybody in the market the grocery stores anybody should come in contact with and then on Wednesday when you're driving your car and You're paying more attention to your cell phone at the stoplight than you are the stoplight It changes green Joe behind your beefs is worn what life of faith are you showing in that moment? Are you flipping the bird out the window or are you are you praising?
Give me going home with your day? Thank you for letting me know the light from green. So I ask you Who are your witnesses and what life of faith are you displaying when you're everyday life? Are you only displaying your life of faith in your Sunday best here this morning?
Or are you displaying your life of faith on Thursday when the work week was tough and the kids are driving you nuts and the bills are due? Next part of the scripture says let us strip off every weight that slows us down Let us strip off every weight that slows us down now. We're not talking about sin yet So I don't want you to get these too confused There's things in your life that are slowing you down that aren't really bad for you But but they are for myself. It was my past.
I shoved it in this bag I tethered it to my ankle and I was dragging it along with me. It's not a sin to think about my past But what it was doing it was a weight that was slowing me down from concentrating on my life of faith I was paying more attention to that than I was the path that God was traveling me on now So for you, what is it? What is your weight? One of the biggest ones I found is Facebook Facebook is not a sin unless you let it be But here's the thing you're paying more attention to Joe Smo's comment than what you are to what God says about you You're allowing it to make you angry which then is a sin because you're not supposed to have anger So what weight is slowing you down?
Is it the girlfriend that you're paying more attention to than you are to God? Is it is it the extra work hours that you're taking one that really God wanted you to be home with your family instead of working? 60 hours a week What weight is slowing you down? The next pause point is at the period it says especially the sin that so easily trips us up I've highlighted the sin Because of the fact it doesn't say the point of graphics in the lusts in the thievery sin the lying sin the foul mouth sin sin is sin Sin is sin.
No sin is greater than any other now There is one that's unforgivable, but that doesn't make it more than another sin It doesn't make it more than cursing at your brothers or or being vulgar with your children or lusting over the woman at the store It's still sin So what sin is it in your life that is tripping you up? It told us to to strip these things off and we need to take them off and lay them down I used to run races. I ran up quite a few five case One of the things that I would do when I was preparing for the race was I wanted the lightest shoes possible I took things out of my pockets I wouldn't wear no more extra clothing than what I had to because it was a weight that slowed me down on my race time So I would strip it off and I would lay it down and leave it there while I ran the race that was set before me I took that path So I asked you again what weight is slowing you down what sin is tripping you up Next part of this says and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us endurance Gain your strength from God to run the race that he has set before you Now I've learned that there's there's two paths really in life. There's the self will self ambition self desire self self self path And then there's God path Self path is like running through the Amazon jungle as fast as you can in a in a thick part You got a machete and you're trying to chop everything out of your way.
You can't you can't run God says though. I will go before you. I will prepare away for you. He's already cleared your path for you So accept that path Now as your as your begins will run on God's path and and you begin to take that there's some things that I believe we need to look at When we take God's path it's not always exactly as we see it and we're gonna look at this In Exodus with the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and it says this is Exodus 13 17 is where it begins When pharaoh finally let the people go God did not lead them along the main road that runs through palace nine territory Even though that was the shortest route to the promise land God said if the people are faced with a battle they might change their minds and return to Egypt So God led them and around about way through the wilderness towards the Red Sea Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle Now hold on it says they left ready for a battle But previous to that it says if they are faced with a battle they might change their mind and return to the bondage That they will once in So what are you doing when your own God's path?
Are you truly taking the left some rights when he tells you to or are you grabbing that self will and trying to take the shortcut? Because sometimes you can see your promise land You can see what God is trying to do in your life You can see where he's taking you to but you want to take yourself will and take the shortcut because it looks easier But what happens when you do that You end up with a battle that you were never designed to be in You end up in a place where God never wanted you to be now if he goes before you and prepares the way He knows where you need the term he knows where you need to take the bridge instead of the low road So nobody says that it's gonna it's gonna be the easiest but it will be easier than the self will pass So as God's preparing us one of the things that he tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience Your path is still here on earth You still have all the lustful things and all the things of the world that everybody else has And God is faithful He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand when you are tempted He will show you a way out so that you can endure Endurance endure God wants you to be able to endure your path But you must be willing to take the road that he has designed for you Not the road for the person next to you Not not the not not a pastor's word. Okay. We're just here to work here to teach you yes And guide you but sometimes you have to realize it's your path that you're walking What is God's to you?
Back to Exodus it says it once again, I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will chase after you I have planned this in order to display my glory through So once you start taking God's path you start going left. What he wants you to you You want to go right? You've gotten past the battles that that were there And you look back because you just you just want to take a glimpse of all that you've came through to get to where God has you What do you see that weight and that? That was tripping you up that you stripped off miles ago high tailing it towards you See we're using pharaoh as the weights and the sins and stuff that were slowing you down And he's chasing after you just like he chased after the Israelites that sin and that weight is going to come for you What do you do though when you see this coming?
As as pharaoh approached the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them They cried out to the Lord What are you doing when you see that stuff coming back for you? Are you doing the thing of well there it is again? I guess I guess it was God's purpose for me to have that stuff in my life God designed this end up to be a part of me. No, no, he didn't He allowed it to start coming after you to see your faithfulness to see what you were going to do for him Are you gonna pick it back up or are you gonna say God help me help me take this fight this battle?
And we talked about other people showing it to you. So here's what happens with it. There's realites They look to Moses and Moses but Moses is X is 14 13 But Moses told the people don't be afraid just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again So is he correct or is he wrong? But he gave them he gave them good instructions.
It sounded it sounded beautiful Just like when somebody's trying to guide your path for you. It's gonna sound good. It's going to look attractive But you're not supposed to stand still What is God telling? There's most a little side ball and uh, God talks to him.
He says in X is 14 Then the Lord said to Moses why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving Why are you listening to somebody who may have Pretty nice looking with a bow on top of a present for you and not listening to God If you took it to God yourself and you cried out to him God help me What's God instructing you to do? Not not the husband not the wife not the not the pastor or the brother in the home or whatever Are you listening to God? Because when you start listening to God, I'll show you what happens with it X is 14 16 pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground So they they they listen to God And uh, you know Moses does what he's told and they get to walk through on dry ground What happens preceding that?
Sure. You know the story Pharaoh's hard is still harden the sin and the thing you laid down are still chasing after you But the walls of water are the red sea crush you crush pharaoh. Excuse me So I want to tell you today I want to tell you today When you're standing in front of your red sea when you're standing with your sin and your your weight chasing you down Your Moses is already there Your Moses 2000 years ago raised a cross up and took the right hand of God and lifted it up on top of that cross and said walk through the sea Are you trusting it though? Are you seeing it?
Or do you see nothing but the weight of the sin in that? Are you scared of the walls of the water? Are you scared at well, there used to be water there I'm probably gonna see no you're not because God has made you a faithful promise That when when you come to me I will protect you I have forgiven you what God says That weight that sin that's coming God has already taken care of it for you God has already Blood that's the walls of water that crushed the pharaoh is the blood that came out of Jesus So I want to ask you guys again today What is the sin? What is the weight that is burdening you and holding you down?
What is it you need to strip off? um What? Weight and what sin are burdened and with that weight sin Are you willing To walk through the sea on dry ground and allow the blood of Christ to wash over top of the pharaoh in your life The weight and sin that was there on top of you As you're sitting there thinking about yourself as I asked you to do There's something I tell to the men's homes all the time It doesn't matter what you say to me. It doesn't matter what answer you give to the pastor or the home director What matters is are you honest with yourself?
Are you honest with God? And I'm here to tell you that if you've never chosen Path of life The the god's path of life not the self will pass. There's no better day than right now. So for a claim I'm gonna stop packing if these bushes over here and I'm gonna walk over here to this nice little path that's already cleared out for me so If you're someone who's sitting here today And you have a weight that's on your shoulders where your past is tethered to your ankle and you were dragging it along I'm here to tell you we got a big old hatchet up here that'll chop that string It'll cut it right off If it's a sin that's in your life Allow the blood of Jesus today to crush it in the red sea If I ask you guys to to join together and anyone who may need prayer anyone who may need help chopping that weight off We are here for you We are we are here to help guide you but I tell you again Don't listen to what I say all the time Listen to Jesus listen to God the one that you're crying out to So if we go into this music, I just ask that you guys you know you raise your hands and you ask God What's my sin?
What's my weight? What is it that you want me to strip off? And God help me with that. I promise to run the race with endurance that you have set before me I will to deal with my my enemies the battles for God not my own But I'm willing to work for it I'm willing to do the walking down the path that you have called me to do Thank you guys these alters are open to you and we're here for you Love you guys have a blessed week And just remember your crowd of goodness today as you walk out