full

That One Thing Holding You Back

Are fears and doubts holding you back from God's promises? Sometimes the "what" isn't the problem—it's the "who." Dive into overcoming unbelief today!

--

We often ask ourselves what is holding us back in our spiritual journey. In this message, Pastor Justin suggests it may not be about a "what," but rather a "who"—specifically, ourselves succumbing to unbelief. He the experiences of biblical figures like Joseph and Moses to illustrate how setbacks can prepare us for a greater purpose.

Our doubts and fears may manifest as unbelief, hindering our growth. You’re invited to reassess not just what you believe, but who you believe holds the truth. By focusing on Jesus, the perfecter of our faith, we find courage to let go of doubts and to run the race set before us. Listen to gain clarity and strengthen your faith.

Prayer Targets

Please join us in prayer for:

  • A hunger for the Word.
  • Tears for the sost.
  • Testimonies to share.

We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.

Additional Resources

Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
  • Sundays, 10:30 AM
  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

About Springhouse

If you’re looking for a church in Smyrna, TN that is focused on Loving Big, Living Truth, and Healthy Family, we’d love to connect with you. We offer a lively children's ministry, strong middle school and youth programs, and exceptional ministries for men and women of all ages. We partner with missionaries in the US and abroad, Isaiah 117 House, local retirement communities, and others for our outreach efforts.

Additionally, we are home to Springhouse Theatre, an award-winning theatre in the Nashville area. We support the Nashville theatre community and serve thousands of patrons annually. We aim to broaden our impact on culture through the arts and by building new relationships.

CCLI License 2070006

Transcript
Speaker:

Thank you, sir. This is, like it's

Speaker:

Friday night. Right? I have to keep reminding myself this is not

Speaker:

Sunday morning. This is Friday night. I am so nervous

Speaker:

right now. Like

Speaker:

like, if you know me, you're like, Justin doesn't get nervous. And I'm like,

Speaker:

I am so nervous. And it's Tammy Sweeney's fault. I promise

Speaker:

you. Because Tammy Sweeney, the first time I was gonna

Speaker:

ever speak on this stage, it was not even anything like I say it wasn't

Speaker:

anything. I mean, it wasn't a message. It was like, I'm gonna, like, invite

Speaker:

somebody for a cookout or do a tithe message or something. And

Speaker:

I was like, I'm so nervous. And she said, I pray you never lose that.

Speaker:

And I swear, look. And it has been like a decade

Speaker:

and I'll be in the back going, oh, God. Like, oh, God. What is happening

Speaker:

right now? And I'm so I'm like the most extroverted

Speaker:

extrovert, and I'm back there in a panic every time. I don't know how

Speaker:

to explain it other than, like, I care

Speaker:

about the word of God, and I care about

Speaker:

you guys, and I care about standing

Speaker:

before the Lord and having to give an account for words

Speaker:

that I spoke on his behalf. That's a kind of

Speaker:

a big deal to me. Right? So it's no wonder why I'm back there

Speaker:

like, please don't let me die. Please don't let me die. Please don't let me

Speaker:

die. Be one of those moments like, yeah, well, you

Speaker:

know what not to listen to if he died tonight.

Speaker:

It'd be easy. You might you wouldn't have to do much weighing. You would be

Speaker:

like, nope. Got it. We're good. Moving on.

Speaker:

I'm just being honest. That's where I'm at right now. It's Friday night. Okay? And

Speaker:

we're here at church at this conference. This is amazing. You guys have

Speaker:

committed to this. You've given up your time. You've, you've

Speaker:

been set apart for this time, and I believe that God does have a word

Speaker:

for us tonight. And so I'm honored to share. Do we stand

Speaker:

and read? Is it is it it's Friday? Let's stand, and let's

Speaker:

read the word. I, got a lot of Bible

Speaker:

tonight. You know, I feel like it's better than what I bring. So we're just

Speaker:

gonna start with two verses now, and then you'll get to sit down as we

Speaker:

read the rest. So if you could oh, I have it. Here we go. It's

Speaker:

Friday, y'all. Therefore, since

Speaker:

we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Speaker:

let us also lay aside every weight and

Speaker:

sin which clings so closely, and let us

Speaker:

run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Speaker:

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of

Speaker:

our faith, who for the joy that was set before

Speaker:

him endured the cross, despising the

Speaker:

shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne

Speaker:

of God. Oh, Jesus,

Speaker:

help me tonight, and help us

Speaker:

to hear clearly from you. We've come and gathered

Speaker:

in this place to hear your word, and I pray that it would

Speaker:

transform us radically more into the image of your son.

Speaker:

Father, we love you. May your anointing rest on me tonight. In Christ's

Speaker:

name, amen and amen. You can be seated, guys.

Speaker:

Have you ever said to yourself something along the lines of,

Speaker:

man, I'm just not where I wanna be in my walk?

Speaker:

Have you ever done some self evaluation and been like, man, I'm

Speaker:

making progress, but I feel like there's more, or I

Speaker:

feel like I'm in a season where I'm just spinning my

Speaker:

wheels, like I'm not making much progress. Right? And

Speaker:

if you're anything like me, once you have that

Speaker:

question released into the atmosphere, then

Speaker:

you begin to self destruct and self reflect

Speaker:

on all of the ways that you're probably not meeting up or making

Speaker:

the mark. And I do wanna start by giving, an encouragement or

Speaker:

hope to you guys that it is okay to be in progress.

Speaker:

Okay? It is okay to be in progress.

Speaker:

In fact, sometimes it is not a what it's holding

Speaker:

you back, it is who is holding you back, and it's the archer himself. I

Speaker:

was reminded this week of a teaching that Barbie did by

Speaker:

arrows in the hands of the master archer.

Speaker:

And in order for the arrow to fly, it has to first be

Speaker:

drawn back. Are you hearing me? K?

Speaker:

It has to be drawn back. And sometimes we feel like we're

Speaker:

being held back and like we're not making much progress. God, I'm

Speaker:

doing all the right things. I'm I'm praying all the prayers. I'm

Speaker:

fasting. I'm I'm making the checklist items. I'm

Speaker:

doing all the Christian things. I've confessed all known sin and I

Speaker:

still feel like I'm being held back. But just like pastor Barbie

Speaker:

said, remember the arrow is closest to the master's

Speaker:

ear when it is drawn back. And the further it's drawn

Speaker:

back, she reminded me this week, the farther that

Speaker:

arrow flies. Isn't that amazing? So sometimes

Speaker:

the setback is by design. We just walked through the

Speaker:

greatest story, ever told about the story of Joseph,

Speaker:

and every position in his life felt like a

Speaker:

setback. Did it not? He's like,

Speaker:

man, I'm doing great. God's given me dreams and visions.

Speaker:

I'm gonna tell all my bros. And they're like, we hate you. We're going to

Speaker:

kill you. Right? And he come out

Speaker:

flexing his coat. He was like, look at what dad got for me. And I

Speaker:

was like, we hate you. Right? And we're going to kill you. And then

Speaker:

the one brother felt bad. He was like, we can't kill him. Right? Let's

Speaker:

sell him. Like, that's it. He no. Help him.

Speaker:

Help him. Right? You know what I'm saying? He was like, we can profit off

Speaker:

of this, but and then I my conscience is cleared. So and then and then

Speaker:

he goes and he sold, and he's in Potiphar's house. Right? And

Speaker:

then and then it gets worse for him even there. Right?

Speaker:

And then he's in prison, and then he's like, hey, I'll interpret this dream. Remember

Speaker:

me when you get out. And the guy was like, if you've ever been to

Speaker:

jail, they don't remember you when you get out. Put

Speaker:

some money on my books. And like, I got you. I got you. And they

Speaker:

don't they're not. They're not. Y'all were friends in jail.

Speaker:

K? That's it. You were friends in jail. You got out. You might see him

Speaker:

at a gas station, but, hey, man. Thanks for putting $20 on my

Speaker:

account, bud. Right? No. Because y'all were friends in

Speaker:

jail. It got worse for him. Right? But then he finally gets

Speaker:

out, and then and then we find that even in the

Speaker:

reconciliation with his brothers, Joseph said, hey. What you meant for

Speaker:

evil, God meant for good. You see what I'm saying? And

Speaker:

so his season of being held back, the

Speaker:

things holding him back wasn't necessarily a what, it was a who. So

Speaker:

sometimes be encouraged to be in progress.

Speaker:

Okay? That doesn't give you permission to wallow,

Speaker:

and complain and cry about your

Speaker:

plight and your situation. Okay? Because

Speaker:

there are stories of people in here who had it way worse

Speaker:

and didn't complain about it, and they were in progress. And we're

Speaker:

gonna look at some of those tonight.

Speaker:

So the question of what's

Speaker:

holding me back, God? Or why is this happening in

Speaker:

my life? Or I I just wish I was further along. Those questions are

Speaker:

not inherently wrong. I don't feel like it's wrong for us to

Speaker:

ask those type of questions because we are trying to When

Speaker:

we ask that question from a genuine place, what we're really trying to say is,

Speaker:

God, I wanna keep growing. I wanna keep working. I wanna I feel

Speaker:

like I wanna be holy like you were holy, not

Speaker:

perfect. I don't wanna be perfect because then I find

Speaker:

my righteousness in myself within my own

Speaker:

body or within my own mind. But I wanna

Speaker:

strive to be like you, Jesus. It's a good question. I feel like it's the

Speaker:

wrong question. I feel like it's the wrong question or not necessarily the

Speaker:

wrong question. Maybe it's not the right way to ask it.

Speaker:

So here's what I wanna propose to you tonight. Do

Speaker:

you believe? Do you believe?

Speaker:

Do you believe? So chapter

Speaker:

12 begins with a powerful directive

Speaker:

and some very interesting phrases. Look at this twelve one.

Speaker:

It says this. Therefore, since

Speaker:

we, you and me,

Speaker:

are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Speaker:

Let us also lay aside every

Speaker:

weight and sin, which

Speaker:

clings so closely. I really love the way the King James puts

Speaker:

it. He says, which so easily entangles us.

Speaker:

Whoo. What a phrase. The weight and sin that

Speaker:

easily entangles us. Let us lay it

Speaker:

aside and run with perseverance the race that is marked out for

Speaker:

us. Isn't it interesting that the Holy

Speaker:

Spirit chose to delineate weight

Speaker:

and sin? Have you ever looked at that? He said,

Speaker:

here's what I want you to do. I want you to lay aside the weight

Speaker:

and the sin. They're two different things. I'm not gonna

Speaker:

talk about sin tonight in your life because sin needs to

Speaker:

be dealt with. Got

Speaker:

real quiet on that one. Start talking about

Speaker:

sin instead of a shortcoming, a habit, a

Speaker:

struggle. We love that one. Struggling, bro.

Speaker:

I probably said it this week. I got

Speaker:

buddies in the back fact checking me on text message. Like, here you go. Screenshot

Speaker:

this. Screenshot that. Post it on your Facebook, not mine.

Speaker:

Don't tag me. I'm

Speaker:

struggling, bro. Both the

Speaker:

weight and the sin are to be laying aside. Why?

Speaker:

Because they hinder our walk. There

Speaker:

are things in our in our life that are holding us back and

Speaker:

weighing us down that are not sin, and yet they are just

Speaker:

as detrimental to our walk. The Holy Spirit

Speaker:

knew this and knows that, and that's why he said, you have to

Speaker:

lay them both aside because you can be walking

Speaker:

with the Lord with a load of unforgiveness on your back

Speaker:

and thinking you're making progress and wonder, what's

Speaker:

holding me back? God, I'm

Speaker:

not walking in sin, but you've got unforgiveness strapped to your

Speaker:

back like a weight. You've

Speaker:

got fear that rises up in your heart or insecurity,

Speaker:

complacency, or this deep anger that if anybody

Speaker:

micro crosses the line. Like, you're just wait, knock this pen

Speaker:

off my shoulder. You know what I'm saying? Like,

Speaker:

what? You know

Speaker:

what I'm saying? That's a wait. Nobody wants to live like that.

Speaker:

We're just always on edge ready to explode. And if you're

Speaker:

around that type of person, it's

Speaker:

misery because you're not free because you don't know

Speaker:

when the next time they're gonna lose it. Could it be

Speaker:

in the parking lot of church? Could it be at the grocery store?

Speaker:

Could it be at home when nobody's around to hear you blowing up

Speaker:

on them?

Speaker:

Contentment. Contentment can be a wait.

Speaker:

Failure can be a wait. And we're told

Speaker:

to lay these aside. The Lord

Speaker:

says, lay them aside, and

Speaker:

he gives us the reason. The answer is

Speaker:

therefore. When I read this passage, I'm like, you can't start a

Speaker:

whole chapter with therefore. Because I'm

Speaker:

like, what for? Right? Imagine

Speaker:

look. Somebody just sends you by verse twelve one. This is

Speaker:

the start. And you're like, what does that mean? Therefore.

Speaker:

Right? Like, what are we talking about? How do I know? Whenever you

Speaker:

run into that English word therefore, that means you need to go back to what

Speaker:

there was before that. You hearing me? It in

Speaker:

order to understand what because this is the conclusion.

Speaker:

He's saying there are things that you need to understand so that when you

Speaker:

get here, you can recognize the weight and how to lay it

Speaker:

aside. Go back eleven

Speaker:

thirty nine through 40. Do I have it? Boom.

Speaker:

And all these, another mysterious sentence. Like,

Speaker:

I'm reading the Bible the wrong direction. I started in twelve and I'm

Speaker:

like, I don't know where I'm at now. Like, I keep

Speaker:

going back. And all these,

Speaker:

who? Though commended through their faith, did not

Speaker:

receive what was promised since God had

Speaker:

provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be

Speaker:

made perfect. All who was committed for

Speaker:

their faith? I was like, I gotta figure this out. So I flipped back until

Speaker:

I got a correct grammatical sentence And

Speaker:

I had to go all the way back to the beginning of chapter 11. I

Speaker:

went the wrong way. See, I don't even know which way I'm going anymore.

Speaker:

And this is what it says in eleven one. Now,

Speaker:

currently, faith is the assurance of things hoped

Speaker:

for, the evidence or conviction of things

Speaker:

not seen. Faith is the assurance

Speaker:

of what we are hoping for and is the tangible

Speaker:

substance, the evidence, the conviction, that deep I know that

Speaker:

I know that I know that I know that I know

Speaker:

of things that are unseen. You walked by faith the

Speaker:

whole night. When y'all went into there, how did you know that we

Speaker:

didn't poison the food?

Speaker:

How did we didn't, by the way, but how did

Speaker:

you know how did you know? How did you know?

Speaker:

By faith, you trust it. Right? You're like, this is it's a church

Speaker:

that I go to. Surely, there's not arsenic in the fajitas.

Speaker:

Right? That's laugh all you want, that's

Speaker:

faith. You sat down. You didn't think nothing about that chair

Speaker:

holding you up, did you? You just sat down.

Speaker:

Some of you sat down ten minutes early, but you sat down in

Speaker:

faith. Then we

Speaker:

read on. Says, by faith,

Speaker:

Abel offered to God a more acceptable

Speaker:

sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended

Speaker:

as righteous, God commending him by accepting his

Speaker:

gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still

Speaker:

speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not

Speaker:

see death, and he was not found because God had taken

Speaker:

him. Now before he was taken, he was commended

Speaker:

as having pleased God.

Speaker:

Then in seven and eight. Now by faith,

Speaker:

Noah, being warned by God concerning events

Speaker:

as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed

Speaker:

an art for the saving of his household? Build a boat. What's a

Speaker:

boat? Can

Speaker:

you can you trust God

Speaker:

when what he's asking you to do doesn't make sense?

Speaker:

Does it make sense when you can't logically put all the pieces

Speaker:

together and figure out how you're gonna do it?

Speaker:

By faith, Sarah herself received power to

Speaker:

conceive even when she was past the age since she

Speaker:

considered him faithful who had promised. You're gonna have a baby,

Speaker:

and you are way past baby having age.

Speaker:

I didn't mean for my eyes to fall on you.

Speaker:

I feel so bad now. I should probably close.

Speaker:

You're not way past baby making stage. Okay?

Speaker:

Jesus help me, God. She's pregnant. Yeah. I know. I just blew it up. I'm

Speaker:

sorry. It was on Facebook. It was on Facebook. If you put it on Facebook,

Speaker:

it's out there.

Speaker:

By faith. By faith. Abraham,

Speaker:

when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the

Speaker:

promises was in the act of offering up his only

Speaker:

son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your

Speaker:

offspring be named. He considered the

Speaker:

Jacob and Esau. Abraham was willing to go through with what God had asked him,

Speaker:

because Abraham was willing to go through with what God had asked

Speaker:

him because he said, even if I do kill him, God, you can bring him

Speaker:

back. What? What?

Speaker:

What kind of faith is that?

Speaker:

By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of

Speaker:

the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his

Speaker:

staff. By faith, Joseph at the end of his life made

Speaker:

mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions

Speaker:

concerning his bones. He said, when y'all leave this

Speaker:

place, take me with you and bury

Speaker:

me in the same cave you buried my fathers in.

Speaker:

And he believed that they would do it. By

Speaker:

faith, Moses listen to this. I'm

Speaker:

just reading the Bible. I'm not even preaching. Like, this is the Bible. I was

Speaker:

sharing I shared this with my wife, two days ago. I was like, babe,

Speaker:

listen to this. And she didn't know I was reading Bible verse.

Speaker:

And, she said, yeah. But how do they know that that's

Speaker:

what really he was thinking? I said, it's in the Bible.

Speaker:

And she was folding laundry. She was like, well, okay. Then then alright.

Speaker:

I swear. I swear. I was like, babe, look. I'm reading right out of the

Speaker:

Bible. And she was like, well, then keep reading.

Speaker:

Look at this. By faith, Moses, when he was

Speaker:

grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's

Speaker:

daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of

Speaker:

God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of

Speaker:

sin. Period. Have you made a

Speaker:

decision to be mistreated with the people of God or have

Speaker:

you made a decision to embrace the passing

Speaker:

fleeting pleasures of sin? This verse tells us sin is

Speaker:

pleasurable, but it's fleeting. It's not sustainable.

Speaker:

It doesn't give you life. He can

Speaker:

he considered the reproach of Christ greater

Speaker:

wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was

Speaker:

looking to the reward.

Speaker:

Come on, Moses.

Speaker:

By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for

Speaker:

he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the

Speaker:

Passover, sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer

Speaker:

of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the

Speaker:

people cross the Red Sea is on dry land, but the Egyptians when

Speaker:

they attempted to do so were drowned. By faith, the

Speaker:

walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for

Speaker:

seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute

Speaker:

did not perish with those who were being disobedient because

Speaker:

she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And

Speaker:

what more shall I say? For time would fail me to

Speaker:

tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of

Speaker:

David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith

Speaker:

conquered kingdoms, enforced justice,

Speaker:

obtained promises, stopped the mouths of

Speaker:

lions, quenched the power of fire,

Speaker:

escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness,

Speaker:

became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Speaker:

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were

Speaker:

tortured, refusing to accept release so that they

Speaker:

might rise again to a better life.

Speaker:

Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and

Speaker:

imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. And

Speaker:

when I tell you they were sawn in two, not this way.

Speaker:

This way. They were killed with the

Speaker:

sword. They went about in skins of sheep and

Speaker:

goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of

Speaker:

whom the world was not worthy.

Speaker:

These are unnamed people who suffer for the kingdom,

Speaker:

and the writer of Hebrews says the world was not worthy of them.

Speaker:

Wandering about in deserts, mountains, in dens, and caves of the

Speaker:

earth, And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what

Speaker:

was promised. Since God had provided something better for us, that

Speaker:

apart from us, they should not be made perfect. Basically,

Speaker:

he's saying, they won't receive the full recompense for the reward

Speaker:

until we're all there together.

Speaker:

The what that we're supposed to do is lay aside the weight and the sin.

Speaker:

The why is because we're surrounded by such a great cloud of

Speaker:

witnesses. The how is by looking unto Jesus.

Speaker:

The way that you lay aside the weight and sin is by

Speaker:

looking unto Jesus, the author and

Speaker:

perfecter of our faith for the joy that was set before

Speaker:

him endured the cross, despising its shame,

Speaker:

and he sat down at the right hand of the father. So I'm gonna ask

Speaker:

you again, what's holding you back? What's holding me back?

Speaker:

What's holding us back? And I'm gonna tell you guys, it's

Speaker:

the same thing that's holding every one of us back.

Speaker:

It's unbelief. We

Speaker:

just read story after story of people who live

Speaker:

lives of incredible faith. The

Speaker:

one thing that's holding us all back is unbelief.

Speaker:

Now it manifests itself in different ways. It's

Speaker:

not fear. It's unbelief. Fear says, I'm

Speaker:

afraid I'll fail or that you won't catch me.

Speaker:

You don't really believe that he is who he said he is.

Speaker:

You don't believe that he's gonna catch you if you fall, and you don't believe

Speaker:

that it's okay if you do fall. Some of them

Speaker:

didn't see the and time would

Speaker:

I wish I had the writer got so fired up telling

Speaker:

stories, and he was like, I wish I had time. He must have been on

Speaker:

a Sunday. Look. He was like, it's 07:44. I wish I had

Speaker:

time. I'm just gonna tell you about

Speaker:

the type of people they were. It's not anger.

Speaker:

It's unbelief. Anger says my way is better.

Speaker:

My way is better. It's not complacency. Complacency

Speaker:

says if I step out I might fail, so why not stay where I'm at?

Speaker:

You don't believe. It's unbelief.

Speaker:

It's not insecurity. Insecurity says, I believe what the world

Speaker:

says, not what you say, lord. It's not contentment. Contentment

Speaker:

says, I'm good with god. We have an understanding. I don't need to

Speaker:

grow.

Speaker:

Me and God are good. We gotta He knows that I like this tree stand

Speaker:

on Sundays.

Speaker:

So he did it now or whatever. Fill in the blank. That's not a shot

Speaker:

at my dad or any of the other guy. I

Speaker:

swear I've never Listen, I I promise dad, listen. He just bought a

Speaker:

brand new convertible. Dad, it's not about you. It's not

Speaker:

failure, it's unbelief. Failure says I've screwed up so many times, why should I

Speaker:

try again? And here's the thing, guys.

Speaker:

What if he doesn't come through in the way you expected him to? Is he

Speaker:

still good? What about them three Hebrew boys?

Speaker:

Right? Y'all like to call him Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

Speaker:

but I refuse to call them by their slave names. If Daniel

Speaker:

don't go by Belshazzar, then

Speaker:

then we are gonna I'm bringing back justice for Hananiah, Azariah,

Speaker:

and Mishael. K? Bring it back.

Speaker:

No. That It's either Belshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and

Speaker:

Abednego, or it's Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and

Speaker:

Mishael. You can't have both. I'm bucking. I'm

Speaker:

bucking. It's in there. K? And let let me just say a

Speaker:

disclaimer. I may have mixed up who is who, but those

Speaker:

so so Shadrach may not be Hannah. I gotta look at that. Just

Speaker:

disclaimer. Don't be like, man, that's not who they is. That's their names.

Speaker:

Go look it up. But look what they said. They said,

Speaker:

listen, they're gonna throw you in the fire. They're gonna throw you in this furnace.

Speaker:

And they said, throw us in it. We're still not gonna

Speaker:

bow because we believe we believe that god

Speaker:

can rescue us. And even if he does not, He's still

Speaker:

good. What about when He doesn't answer that prayer in the way you've been

Speaker:

expected? Can you see?

Speaker:

Unbelief is what's holding us back. We either don't believe He

Speaker:

can do it, or He will do it, or if He doesn't do it, then

Speaker:

He's still good. And some of us have gotten a hard

Speaker:

heart towards God because your mom died.

Speaker:

The baby died. The cancer didn't get healed. Now

Speaker:

we're hard against God. And then

Speaker:

we blame him because we feel like we're being held back and say, God, I'm

Speaker:

not holding you back. You're holding yourself back because you don't believe I am

Speaker:

who I said I am. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Speaker:

Abraham, son of promise. Isaac, son of promise. Jacob's a trickster.

Speaker:

He didn't say to God of Abraham, Isaac, Israel. He said, yeah, yeah, yeah. When

Speaker:

you were still pulling tricks, I was still that same God. When you were

Speaker:

still playing games around here, I was still good and I'm

Speaker:

still God. I

Speaker:

sat up here on Christmas and cried about a pardon. It wasn't gonna

Speaker:

happen. Right? Sat up here and cried, God, it's not

Speaker:

gonna happen, guys. I got thirty thirty minutes before the governor goes home

Speaker:

for the year. I did.

Speaker:

I was crying. I was like and y'all watched me come to to

Speaker:

Jesus in real time. Y'all literally could see it happen. He was like, he's

Speaker:

okay with it. I had to get to a place where I was okay with

Speaker:

it. Because I knew, because I talked to the governor personally, and he

Speaker:

said, I only do it in December. I'm like, it's the twenty first,

Speaker:

and Christmas is the twenty fifth. He is not sticking around.

Speaker:

But I had committed in my heart that even if it don't happen, He's still

Speaker:

good. If I gotta wait another year, another ten years if it don't happen. I've

Speaker:

been set free. I've been set free. I don't need I don't

Speaker:

need man's approval because I've been approved by God.

Speaker:

Do you believe? If you can really believe that, you're not holding you back.

Speaker:

Nothing's holding you back. We have a tendency to go, well,

Speaker:

is it this? Is it that? Is that? It's all some level of unbelief,

Speaker:

whether it's 2% or 20%, or

Speaker:

200%. There is some level of unbelief in your

Speaker:

heart that is holding you back in a situation or an area for

Speaker:

believing that God is who He says He is and He can do what He

Speaker:

said He's gonna do, and that even if He doesn't, He's still good.

Speaker:

What about when you when you're hiding in a cave or you're

Speaker:

sawn in two? Though he slay me.

Speaker:

Many of us have no problem believing for somebody else.

Speaker:

I ain't got no problem agreeing with Barbie,

Speaker:

but I don't believe that God will do it for me. You look at the

Speaker:

powerful testimonies, the exotic testimonies. I coined that phrase,

Speaker:

by the way, just just so y'all know.

Speaker:

Had to turn it around, make it by me at some point. Right?

Speaker:

Ain't that what we do anytime we get out? You

Speaker:

can be walking right there. It don't take but one slip step, and you're right

Speaker:

back in your flesh. Right?

Speaker:

Do I believe that He's enough? Do I believe the Word's enough? Do I believe

Speaker:

I can just get up here and read Scriptures to you, and that's enough to

Speaker:

feed you? I gotta add a whole bunch of things to entertain

Speaker:

you, and tickle your ears, and make you be like, Justin's so smart. That's such

Speaker:

a great word. I laugh so much. I feel so good. Or can I give

Speaker:

you the word of God? It'd be enough. Can it be enough

Speaker:

for you?

Speaker:

In Mark chapter nine, we read a

Speaker:

story about a little boy

Speaker:

with unclean spirit or a demon in him, and they're

Speaker:

explaining the situation to Jesus. They're explaining

Speaker:

what's happening to Jesus, and and this is

Speaker:

his response. He calls them a faithless generation.

Speaker:

It sounds like a rebuke, but it it is a

Speaker:

rebuke. A faithless

Speaker:

generation. They're like, Jesus, this this boy, he's been this way his whole

Speaker:

life. He said how long am I to be with you? How am I

Speaker:

long Bring him bring him to me. You don't

Speaker:

believe? Bring him to me because I believe because I know what my father can

Speaker:

do. And then Jesus asked the father

Speaker:

how long this condition has afflicted the boy. And if he believes

Speaker:

that Jesus can help and the guy I love, it's such a human response to

Speaker:

God's like, I guess, like, come back and read it. It's mark chapter nine. The

Speaker:

guy was like, Jesus, like, do you think I can do this?

Speaker:

Do you do you believe that I can do this? And the guy says,

Speaker:

I mean, I guess you can. Is

Speaker:

that is that our our interaction when we come to the Lord? When

Speaker:

God says, do you, do you believe I can do this, Kevin? Do you believe

Speaker:

that I can do this miracle in your life? Do you believe that I see

Speaker:

this small prayer request you're asking for? Do you believe that I hear this

Speaker:

prayer for your daughters? Do you believe that I see the tears

Speaker:

that you saw in this altar when it's a Saturday night and nobody's in

Speaker:

here, but you praying over the word trying to say, is this what

Speaker:

you have for your people, God? Because I care so much. I wanna honor you

Speaker:

and I wanna give the people that you've entrusted me to. He says, Kevin, do

Speaker:

you believe that I hear you? Do you believe that I see?

Speaker:

And the guy says, I guess. And then what we do sometimes,

Speaker:

God's like, do you do you think I see you, Cole? Do you

Speaker:

believe me? Do you believe? I'm just

Speaker:

asking, I'm not asking you anything else, but do you believe

Speaker:

that I can do this? And the

Speaker:

guy says, I guess.

Speaker:

And Jesus tells him in '23, if you

Speaker:

can, if I can, all

Speaker:

things are possible for the one who believes. And I love this

Speaker:

response from this dad whose boy has been afflicted

Speaker:

his whole life. He says,

Speaker:

immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, I

Speaker:

believe help my unbelief. I do

Speaker:

believe God, God, but there's a part of me that's got unbelief.

Speaker:

At the end of the day, I know there's a part of me that says,

Speaker:

yeah, but but will you really come through for me?

Speaker:

Will you really see my situation? Do you

Speaker:

really hear my prayers? Do you really see my

Speaker:

fears and my insecurity and the complacency that's going on in

Speaker:

life? And and he's saying, yes. All things are possible

Speaker:

to anyone who believes. It's not

Speaker:

fear. It's not insecurity. It's not complacency. Those are

Speaker:

the ways that unbelief manifests itself in our lives.

Speaker:

So as we enter in this time of worship, I want you to

Speaker:

reflect, and I want you to ask this question.

Speaker:

Do you believe?

Speaker:

And then I want this response. If it's true and genuine, then say to

Speaker:

the Lord, I believe. Help

Speaker:

my unbelief.

Speaker:

Let's worship, church.