Get rid of your baggage!
- The road of faith is a race you have to finish
- The race you’ve started, you have to finish.
- This race can be very difficult for you, if you take un-necessary burdens with you.
1THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
- Maybe your race is difficult because you are carrying extra baggage.
- To take part in the Olympic Games, it takes 4 years of intense preparation. Take the 100m race as an example. They get ready for the race and being un-disciplined and negligent causes that athlete to be disqualified because of starting the race to early.
- Let us look at David as an example:
- At a very young age his life’s race started. It started when God sent Samuel to his father to anoint him as the future King of Israel.
- At the age of 16 his race began. God started preparing him to run his race free of burdens.
- A few challenges of David:
- Saul the king of Isreal faild God and his anioting is been taken awy from him. So God sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s son’s as future King
- Samuel is introduced by Jesse to his 7 sons. The eight child, David, wasn’t there, because he had to look after the sheep. Jesse thought his jounges son was not that inporten to be there .
- When they had come,he looked on Eliab the eldest son and said surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him. But Lord said to Samuel it is not him.Then Samuel ask Jesse is there a son that are not here.
- So God doesn’t look at the outer, but the inner.
- After Samuel anointed him, his father sent him back to look after the sheep.
- David’s race just started as a young man, when his first challenge came his way whether he will have faith in God or not.
- A lion captured a lamb that he was watching over, but David killed the lion. Then a bear tried the same thing and he killed the bear.
- He believed he was the future King of Israel, and he said he won’t carry the burden of resentment and humility.
- Saul had a demon tormenting him and ask is there a person that can play the harp and thy brod David in.
- Then his father sent him to take 16 kg of food to his brothers and to hear how they are doing.
- His brothers immediately attacked him, belittled him and insulted him.
- Then David heard how the whole army of Israel were challenged by the Philistine, Goliath.
- This young man refused to take the insult of his brothers upon him when they said he must go home, because he is still wet behind the ears and need to stay at home.
- But David was focussed on his race.
- And David steps forward and tells the Philistines who are they to take on the God of Israel?
- But yet again they called him and said rather put on the armour. In other words the want to put a burden on him, but he said no, he will fight with the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The burden we sometimes carry that we or other people place upon us causes us not to run the race of faith, with perseverance.
- The success of your race all depends on the baggage you carry with you.
- What baggage are you carrying aroundwith you?