Matthew Trexler | REFOCUS | May 15, 2022
Hebrews 12:1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hewbrews 12:1 NIV let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
Two Areas of Things to Throw Off
1. Everything that Hinders
2. Sin that Easily Entangles
Three Hindrances We Deal with Today
Part One: “Unhindered by Anxiety”
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
In his book, “Anxiety Free” the average child today exhibits the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950’s. – Robert Leahy
- Transfer the Weight
Three Hindrances We Deal with Today
Part Two: “Unchained from Religion”
Hebrews 3:3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
“Don’t trade the freedom in Christ for the weight of religion. Jesus is better than religion.”
Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Galatians 2:19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
- Trade your shackles for shoes.
“You find real freedom and rest and joy when you quit worrying about others acceptance and just rest in God’s.”
Three Hindrances We Deal with Today
Part Three: “Untangled from Unbelief”
Hebrews 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Psalm 32:3-4 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
The Question for You is….
Do you believe it?