Thursday, March 27, 2014

*Give up! Just give up! Give up your guilt for His grace!*

If we could somehow step on a scale today that measured the weight of our spiritual baggage, some of us would break the machine. So many people are groaning under the strain of the baggage in their spirits. That weight is called guilt. We all have it to some degree, and some are in the super heavyweight division. Your guilt is like a cancer eating you up on the inside, unless you do something about it. Some of you have become numb to the pain and energy your guilt causes you, and you have gotten used to dragging your stuff around, into every relationship, every challenge to try something new, and every chance to move forward with your life. Guilt holds you down, and guilt holds you back. It’s kind of like wearing ankle weights at first, you’re aware of the extra weight, but after awhile, you forget that you’re wearing them, even though it slows you down. You just get used to the new normal. I'm sure there's a lot of guilt from those reading this.  I just know that to be true because we’re all human, and we all have done stuff to make us guilty. 
 
Well, here's some good news..........Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1 (NIV) 

Webster’s dictionary says this about condemnation....... it means “to declare guilty, to inflict a penalty upon, to doom, to declare unfit for use.” The Word of God says NO condemnation for those who are in Jesus, who have trusted Him to remove their sin and guilt.

Any time you read the word therefore, you should ask yourself,  What’s it there for?  the first seven chapters of Romans lays it all out.......holy God, sinful man, coming wrath, perfect Savior, Jesus Christ crucified and risen, made right by faith, made holy by faith. Then Paul says in view of all that he sums up the message of God’s love....... Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That’s the essence of who Jesus is and what He did. That’s the foundational message of God’s love to the world. This is the good news we have. This is what we share, with everyone. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
 How does that sound? I bet that sounds really good to those of us who are ridden with guilt. 

     How do you get past your guilt from your past?
1. Stop beating yourself up
You know what they say..... guilt is the gift that keeps on giving. We keep guilting ourselves, and we make ourselves feel lousy. We condemn ourselves, and criticize and berate ourselves and say, "I shouldn’t have done that!" And we condemn and condemn ourselves. We even try to pay for our own guilt, but it just doesn’t work.... it backfires. 

Psalm 38:4   For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 
  
There are a lot of forms of self-punishment. Illness is one.....you can make yourself sick. Depression can be a form of self-inflicted punishment. You wallow in your pity until you can’t get out. Maybe this is you.....you setting ourselves up for failure, because you feel this is your just reward. 
You say........ I don’t deserve to succeed. That’s saying, I’m guilty, therefore I’ll fail.  
 The ultimate form of self-punishment is suicide. Suicide is now the number one killer of college students and the number two killer of high school students. Why? Because people feel condemned even at that young age.

We have to begin by seeing that we can be our own worst enemy. Beating yourself up doesn’t fix your pain. It just reopens the wound. Through Christ, we can find the relief we’re looking for. We don’t need to beat ourselves up. Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross so you could stop nailing yourself to a cross. Jesus Christ was crucified so you could stop crucifying yourself. Ask God to help you stop hurting yourself.


2. Stop letting others beat you down
Is there one person or several in your life that is keeping you stuck in your guilt? If you have someone like that in your life, you won’t have to look far to find that person. It’ll be someone close......chances are it’s a parent, a sibling, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a spouse or ex-spouse.
You have the authority and the ability to end the misery. The may never change what they say or do to you, but you can change how you respond to them. Determine today that you will not let anyone steal what rightfully belongs to God which is the determination of your value. Only God can say what you’re worth, because He is your Creator, and He says you are His own. 

God gave His best because you are worth it, regardless what anyone says. Who are they in comparison to the Almighty God? Don’t give anyone permission to determine your worth. God demonstrated how much you are worth. He died on the cross for you. How dare anyone devalue you! 
You can decide to let other’s attacks roll right off of you. Tell yourself, That won’t work on me any more. I will not give them the ability to do what only God can do. I will not let them make me feel I am inferior. Ask God to give you a strong mind and spirit to withstand people who attack you. Ask God to give you a new response.

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Guilt and blame will try to shame, but Christ declares I’m worthy.

Maybe you’re thinking, I wish I could believe that. I feel so unworthy. I know what I’ve done.

3. Stop resisting God’s love for you
Guilt only serves one good purpose, and that is to drive us to repentance. After that, nothing else good can come of it. Instead of letting your guilt drive you away from God in embarrassment and shame, let it do what it is supposed to do: drive you to the embrace of a loving God who wants more than anything else to free you from your sin, your shame, and your painful memories.

John 3:16-17  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

It’s not about what you’ve done....it’s about what God’s done. He’s made the first move, and He waits for you to respond to His love. He knows who you are and He still loves you......that’s the amazing grace we sing about! No one deserves to be declared not guilty! We deserve to be declared guilty, but instead, there is no condemnation. Stop resisting His love for you. Stop feeling like you can’t go to Him because of your shame. What are you thinking, that you’re going to surprise Him with the dark secrets of your life?

Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

You have no chance of being declared “not guilty” in God’s eyes unless you are in Christ. You will never be able to get rid of your guilt unless you are in Christ. You will never be able to stop beating yourself up unless you are in Christ. You will never be able to stop letting others beat you down unless you are in Christ.

“Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Your life is free and clear from every thing....everything once you trust Jesus Christ to be your Forgiver and Savior.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!  (message bible)

That’s far better than living with the old guilt. So where are you? In Christ, or outside Christ? Free from condemnation, or under condemnation? You don’t have to stay under condemnation. Christ is the Way.  Christ is the Truth. Christ is the Life.

Where do you need to start today? Maybe you need to stop resisting God’s love.  Give up! Just give up!  Give up your guilt for His grace! 
Say, Jesus, I need you to take away my sin and replace it with your grace. Forgive me and heal me, even for eternity.nMaybe you need to ask God’s help to stop beating yourself up.  He’s already forgiven you, why can’t you? Maybe you need to ask God for the strength to stop letting someone beat you down. Ask God for a new vision of who He created you to be.

"Don't Let Anything Hinder You Here"

Galatians 5:1-7 
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 

Ye did run well......you were keeping to the course, you were making steady progress.
You were putting forth a reasonable amount of effort.........
Paul is saying, At one time you had taken this to be your lifes work, your goal, your ambition, That which was worthy of your best efforts.

Gal 5:7
who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

HINDER, "to cut into" was used of "impeding" persons by breaking up the road, or by placing an obstacle sharply in the path; hence, metaphorically, of "detaining" a person unnecessarily, 
For the Galatians, it was the Judaizers, who were trying to persuade them to go back to the works of the law, or the flesh, they were mixing law works with grace. 
The danger of this is, that when one believes his righteousness with God is attained by his works, he is fallen from Grace, which brought salvation apart from any works of the flesh.

Worldly enticements Hindered the escape of Lot’s wife
 Gen.19:26  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Worldly possessions Hindered the rich young man from discipleship....
Mt.19: 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 
22  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.


Natural earthly concerns robbed martha of the presence of Jesus.
Luke 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou care that my sister hath left me to serve you alone? bid her therefore that she help me
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
*****Cumbered means to........
to drag all around, i.e. (figuratively) to distract (with care): 
be driven about mentally, (b) to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing

Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Weights, as well as sins, hinders our progress....
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
*****Weight, meaning........ a mass (as bending or bulging by its load), i.e. burden (hindrance): whatever is prominent, a protuberance, a bulk, a mass; 
hence, a burden, a weight, an encumbrance
  There're many of us who are not necessarily carrying around a load of sin, but we are trying to run this race with all the excess weight! 
We are still going in the right direction but we are letting those weights hinder us! 
Paul realizes something here and he relays it to us in the scripture **there is other things beside sin that slows us down.......
         LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT THAT'S HINDERING YOU!!!!! 
When we are slowed down by the weights that hinder us.........It takes us longer to see -THE WILL OF GOD 
                      FULFILL OUR CALLING 
                      FIND PEACE AND JOY OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!  
  WEIGHTS CAUSES US TO BE HINDERED!!!!!

Ye did run well, who or what hath hindered you?  What have you allowed to break your stride? What or who have you allowed to come between you and the lord,? What has caused you to feel as though you no longer need to give 100% 
What weights are you tolerating in your life? What excesses of the flesh have you given your permission to?
What unchristian feelings or attitudes have you given place to and allowed to harbor in your heart?
(Pride) (anger) (resentment) (self pity) (indifference) lukewarmness?

Sometimes storms come into our lives, not always as it were from the devil to destroy us, some storms are allowed by God to save us, to deliver us from the things that are holding us back, and breaking our stride, and distracting us from the goal.

Acts 27:18-19 Paul the apostle is In the midst of a Great storm.
18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. (The furniture, the utensils).

The bible says everything that can be shaken will be shaken and only those things ........ Sometimes it takes a storm to show us what is unnecessary in our lives, sometimes the things that we are the most proud of are the first things to go in the middle of the storm.

Sometimes we need to lighten the ship......sometimes we allow our hearts to pick up excess baggage and we need to lighten the ship but it’s not until we feel that it is a matter of life or death that we actually take the initiative and get rid of it. 

Sometimes the storm comes to reveal the enemies of your destiny.
If you feel like you are going through a storm, it may be time to lighten the ship.
Who hath hindered you?
What has hindered you?
There are things in this life that at times slow us down, and some of these things we have no control over.

But there are other things that hinder our progress in God that are things that we simply allow and we must choose to lay them aside and get back to running this race with a 100% commitment. 


Satan is credited with many things in the bible. He is an accuser, a murder, a liar, a sifter and yes..... He is also a Hinderer. I want to show several ways that Satan hinders us.......But remember..... we should not let anything hinder us here!!

I. Satan Uses SIN to Hinder US.
2.Satan Uses STORMS to Hinder US.
3. Satan Uses SICKNESS to Hinder US.
4. Satan Uses SASTISFACTION to Hinder US.
5. Satan Uses STRIFE to Hinder US.
6. Satan Uses SPORTS to Hinder US.
7. Satan Uses SHOPPING to Hinder US.
8. Satan Uses SELFISHNESS to Hinder US.
9. Satan Uses SEPARATION to Hinder US.

  It may be that the most tragic words on the unbeliever’s tomb will be.....I would’ve accepted Christ, but Satan hindered me.

LAY ASIDE THE WEIGHTS THAT HINDER YOU!!! 
 WILL THIS BE YOUR NIGHT TO GET RID OF THE WEIGHTS THAT ARE HINDERING YOU??? 

GOD IS READY TO LIGHTEN YOUR SHIP BY THROWING AWAY THINGS THAT ARE HINDERING YOU!!! 

WILL YOU ALLOW HIM TONIGHT????