What's Holding You Back?
Luke 9:57-62
As I was doing some research for this morning’s message I ran across a few statistics I thought I would just throw out to you this morning, plus this is a good lead in for the title of the message. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration one person dies in a fatal crash every 13 minutes; 114 people die every day; 40,000 people die every year. Seventy-five percent of all serious motor vehicle accidents occur within 25 miles of a person’s home. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, raising seat belt usage rates by 5 percent would save 40 lives every year. Raising the rate by 10 percent would save 82 lives. Between May 24 and June 6 of this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ran a safety campaign called “Click It or Ticket.” The Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office called their part of the campaign “What’s Holding You Back?” And this morning I would like to ask you the same question “What’s Holding You Back?” What is keeping you from serving the Lord, what is keeping you from having a closer walk with God, what is it that is keeping you from turning your life over to Him, what is keeping you from being what He wants you to be? This morning I am going to address some things that hold us back.
I have found that lately when I preach I am preaching also at myself so I am going to go ahead and get to stepping on my own toes now instead of waiting till latter. When God first called me to preach I made up all kinds of excuses and I let me hold myself back. The first thing that holds us back is ourselves. It is so easy to put “self” first before God. God should always be first on our list of priorities our will should be to do His will. Some people get so hung up on the issue of Gods will and they think that it is something that they have to do when it should be something they want to do. God is a gentleman He does not force Himself on someone He created us with free will and we can choose to serve Him or not. I choose to make His will my will. So is there something that you don’t want to hand over to God right now is there something in your own life that is holding you back keeping you from being where God wants you to be or who God wants you to be?
The second thing that holds us back is others. There are many different “others” that can hold us back I am only going to address a few of them right now. I think that most people would agree that peer pressure is probably the main source of influence when we are talking about others. I used to be worried what other people would think of me if they knew I was a Christian. I found encouragement in Matthew 10:22 it reads “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Then after reading Luke 9:26 I realized that I should not be ashamed to be a Christian and that I should not hide who I am. Luke 9:26 reads “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” We should not let what other people think of us get in our way. Our friends, family, and coworkers can also hold us back. Our relationship with other people should not come before our relationship with God. What is holding you back from having a closer walk with God?
The third thing that holds us back is our feelings. This topic is kind of a loaded one and I am not going to go in to great detail with it or we could be here awhile. If we are not careful our feelings can really hold us back. Our walk with God should be one of faith and not of feelings. Our emotions can try to control us but our faith can keep them in check. Fear is a powerful and sometime crippling emotion that we have to deal with. When I was a child I was afraid of almost everything I think. The dark, fog, noises at night, being alone, heights, ghosts, aliens, and just about anything else there could be to be afraid of. Since I have been a Christian I have realized that some of those things I was afraid of did not even exist and that there was no reason for me to feel that way. As I matured as a Christian I found the best way for me to overcome fear was with John 16:33 it reads, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This verse got me through many bad and sometime scary situations. Another feeling that can hold us back is reluctance or being unwilling to do the things that God wants us to do. When people begin to lack motivation that is a very sad and scary situation to be in. I know I speak from experience. By all rights I should be on a diet right now but for some reason I lack any and all motivation to actually do it. I can name off several reasons why I should be and they are actually really good reason but I just can’t get myself motivated to do it. Whenever there is a lack of motivation to do anything it can be really hard to get it back. It is sad to churches that have people come and sit through worship like it is their duty and then not be willing to serve in any capacity whatsoever. We should be willing to serve God because we want to not because we feel like we have to. When we start doing things because we feel like we have to they become a duty and no longer do we enjoy it. In the interest of time I am only going to look at one more feeling. I believe that this feeling actually ties together all of our previous topics. The feeling of being comfortable or content can hold us back and keep us from being what God wants us to be. Most of us would never think that being content would be bad or that being comfortable would be a problem. When we get comfortable with the way things are and become unwilling to change it becomes very difficult to accomplish anything, I would go as far to say that comfort can kill almost all motivation except the motivation to stay comfortable. Lets return to my example of my lack of motivation to diet. I have become comfortable with the fact that I am overweight and thus I have not motivation to change. Please pray for me that I will no longer be content with my weight. It has been said that when the pain of change is less than the pain to not change, then change will occur. One last point I want to make on being content is that of concern for the lost. There are people that out there that with out Jesus they will suffer an eternity in hell and never know what it means to have peace in their lives. I don’t know why or how but it seems that more and more Christians today are becoming content actually down right comfortable knowing that their friends and family are going to hell unless then know Jesus. I can remember when this alter used to be lined on Sunday mornings with people crying out to God for their lost friends and family hoping that they would turn to Jesus before it was too late. I am just as guilty as the next guy for not being as concerned as I used to be but I want to stand here today and tell you that I have a burden on my heart for my friends that do not know Jesus.
I want to review three things that can hold us back. Others, our feelings, and ourselves can all hold us back from becoming what God would have us to be. If there is something in our lives that holds us back it will fit into one of these categories or maybe even all three like my example of being content. I began this morning talking about why we should buckle up. Now I am going to finish by asking you to unbuckle. We should be wearing our seatbelts and removing our spiritual restraints. So let me ask, “What’s Holding You Back?”
As I was doing some research for this morning’s message I ran across a few statistics I thought I would just throw out to you this morning, plus this is a good lead in for the title of the message. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration one person dies in a fatal crash every 13 minutes; 114 people die every day; 40,000 people die every year. Seventy-five percent of all serious motor vehicle accidents occur within 25 miles of a person’s home. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, raising seat belt usage rates by 5 percent would save 40 lives every year. Raising the rate by 10 percent would save 82 lives. Between May 24 and June 6 of this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ran a safety campaign called “Click It or Ticket.” The Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office called their part of the campaign “What’s Holding You Back?” And this morning I would like to ask you the same question “What’s Holding You Back?” What is keeping you from serving the Lord, what is keeping you from having a closer walk with God, what is it that is keeping you from turning your life over to Him, what is keeping you from being what He wants you to be? This morning I am going to address some things that hold us back.
I have found that lately when I preach I am preaching also at myself so I am going to go ahead and get to stepping on my own toes now instead of waiting till latter. When God first called me to preach I made up all kinds of excuses and I let me hold myself back. The first thing that holds us back is ourselves. It is so easy to put “self” first before God. God should always be first on our list of priorities our will should be to do His will. Some people get so hung up on the issue of Gods will and they think that it is something that they have to do when it should be something they want to do. God is a gentleman He does not force Himself on someone He created us with free will and we can choose to serve Him or not. I choose to make His will my will. So is there something that you don’t want to hand over to God right now is there something in your own life that is holding you back keeping you from being where God wants you to be or who God wants you to be?
The second thing that holds us back is others. There are many different “others” that can hold us back I am only going to address a few of them right now. I think that most people would agree that peer pressure is probably the main source of influence when we are talking about others. I used to be worried what other people would think of me if they knew I was a Christian. I found encouragement in Matthew 10:22 it reads “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Then after reading Luke 9:26 I realized that I should not be ashamed to be a Christian and that I should not hide who I am. Luke 9:26 reads “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” We should not let what other people think of us get in our way. Our friends, family, and coworkers can also hold us back. Our relationship with other people should not come before our relationship with God. What is holding you back from having a closer walk with God?
The third thing that holds us back is our feelings. This topic is kind of a loaded one and I am not going to go in to great detail with it or we could be here awhile. If we are not careful our feelings can really hold us back. Our walk with God should be one of faith and not of feelings. Our emotions can try to control us but our faith can keep them in check. Fear is a powerful and sometime crippling emotion that we have to deal with. When I was a child I was afraid of almost everything I think. The dark, fog, noises at night, being alone, heights, ghosts, aliens, and just about anything else there could be to be afraid of. Since I have been a Christian I have realized that some of those things I was afraid of did not even exist and that there was no reason for me to feel that way. As I matured as a Christian I found the best way for me to overcome fear was with John 16:33 it reads, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This verse got me through many bad and sometime scary situations. Another feeling that can hold us back is reluctance or being unwilling to do the things that God wants us to do. When people begin to lack motivation that is a very sad and scary situation to be in. I know I speak from experience. By all rights I should be on a diet right now but for some reason I lack any and all motivation to actually do it. I can name off several reasons why I should be and they are actually really good reason but I just can’t get myself motivated to do it. Whenever there is a lack of motivation to do anything it can be really hard to get it back. It is sad to churches that have people come and sit through worship like it is their duty and then not be willing to serve in any capacity whatsoever. We should be willing to serve God because we want to not because we feel like we have to. When we start doing things because we feel like we have to they become a duty and no longer do we enjoy it. In the interest of time I am only going to look at one more feeling. I believe that this feeling actually ties together all of our previous topics. The feeling of being comfortable or content can hold us back and keep us from being what God wants us to be. Most of us would never think that being content would be bad or that being comfortable would be a problem. When we get comfortable with the way things are and become unwilling to change it becomes very difficult to accomplish anything, I would go as far to say that comfort can kill almost all motivation except the motivation to stay comfortable. Lets return to my example of my lack of motivation to diet. I have become comfortable with the fact that I am overweight and thus I have not motivation to change. Please pray for me that I will no longer be content with my weight. It has been said that when the pain of change is less than the pain to not change, then change will occur. One last point I want to make on being content is that of concern for the lost. There are people that out there that with out Jesus they will suffer an eternity in hell and never know what it means to have peace in their lives. I don’t know why or how but it seems that more and more Christians today are becoming content actually down right comfortable knowing that their friends and family are going to hell unless then know Jesus. I can remember when this alter used to be lined on Sunday mornings with people crying out to God for their lost friends and family hoping that they would turn to Jesus before it was too late. I am just as guilty as the next guy for not being as concerned as I used to be but I want to stand here today and tell you that I have a burden on my heart for my friends that do not know Jesus.
I want to review three things that can hold us back. Others, our feelings, and ourselves can all hold us back from becoming what God would have us to be. If there is something in our lives that holds us back it will fit into one of these categories or maybe even all three like my example of being content. I began this morning talking about why we should buckle up. Now I am going to finish by asking you to unbuckle. We should be wearing our seatbelts and removing our spiritual restraints. So let me ask, “What’s Holding You Back?”
posted by Jason at 3:00 AM
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