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

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

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

right now. Like

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

to explain it other than, like, I care

about the word of God, and I care about

you guys, and I care about standing

before the Lord and having to give an account for words

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

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

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

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

know what not to listen to if he died tonight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

read the word. I, got a lot of Bible

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

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

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

Friday, y'all. Therefore, since

we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight and

sin which clings so closely, and let us

run with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of

our faith, who for the joy that was set before

him endured the cross, despising the

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

of God. Oh, Jesus,

help me tonight, and help us

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

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

transform us radically more into the image of your son.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

question released into the atmosphere, then

you begin to self destruct and self reflect

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

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

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

Okay? It is okay to be in progress.

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

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

was reminded this week of a teaching that Barbie did by

arrows in the hands of the master archer.

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

drawn back. Are you hearing me? K?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

back, she reminded me this week, the farther that

arrow flies. Isn't that amazing? So sometimes

the setback is by design. We just walked through the

greatest story, ever told about the story of Joseph,

and every position in his life felt like a

setback. Did it not? He's like,

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

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

kill you. Right? And he come out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

so his season of being held back, the

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

sometimes be encouraged to be in progress.

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

and complain and cry about your

plight and your situation. Okay? Because

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

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

gonna look at some of those tonight.

So the question of what's

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

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

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

ask those type of questions because we are trying to When

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

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

like I wanna be holy like you were holy, not

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

my righteousness in myself within my own

body or within my own mind. But I wanna

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

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

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

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

you believe? Do you believe?

Do you believe? So chapter

12 begins with a powerful directive

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

It says this. Therefore, since

we, you and me,

are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

Let us also lay aside every

weight and sin, which

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

it. He says, which so easily entangles us.

Whoo. What a phrase. The weight and sin that

easily entangles us. Let us lay it

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

us. Isn't it interesting that the Holy

Spirit chose to delineate weight

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

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

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

talk about sin tonight in your life because sin needs to

be dealt with. Got

real quiet on that one. Start talking about

sin instead of a shortcoming, a habit, a

struggle. We love that one. Struggling, bro.

I probably said it this week. I got

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

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

Don't tag me. I'm

struggling, bro. Both the

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

Because they hinder our walk. There

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

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

as detrimental to our walk. The Holy Spirit

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

lay them both aside because you can be walking

with the Lord with a load of unforgiveness on your back

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

holding me back? God, I'm

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

back like a weight. You've

got fear that rises up in your heart or insecurity,

complacency, or this deep anger that if anybody

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

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

what? You know

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

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

around that type of person, it's

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

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

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

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

on them?

Contentment. Contentment can be a wait.

Failure can be a wait. And we're told

to lay these aside. The Lord

says, lay them aside, and

he gives us the reason. The answer is

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

whole chapter with therefore. Because I'm

like, what for? Right? Imagine

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

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

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

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

there was before that. You hearing me? It in

order to understand what because this is the conclusion.

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

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

aside. Go back eleven

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

And all these, another mysterious sentence. Like,

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

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

going back. And all these,

who? Though commended through their faith, did not

receive what was promised since God had

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

made perfect. All who was committed for

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

I got a correct grammatical sentence And

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

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

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

currently, faith is the assurance of things hoped

for, the evidence or conviction of things

not seen. Faith is the assurance

of what we are hoping for and is the tangible

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

I know that I know that I know that I know

of things that are unseen. You walked by faith the

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

didn't poison the food?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

faith. Then we

read on. Says, by faith,

Abel offered to God a more acceptable

sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended

as righteous, God commending him by accepting his

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

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

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

him. Now before he was taken, he was commended

as having pleased God.

Then in seven and eight. Now by faith,

Noah, being warned by God concerning events

as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed

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

boat? Can

you can you trust God

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

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

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

By faith, Sarah herself received power to

conceive even when she was past the age since she

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

and you are way past baby having age.

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

I feel so bad now. I should probably close.

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

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

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

it's out there.

By faith. By faith. Abraham,

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

promises was in the act of offering up his only

son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your

offspring be named. He considered the

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

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

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

back. What? What?

What kind of faith is that?

By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of

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

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

mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions

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

place, take me with you and bury

me in the same cave you buried my fathers in.

And he believed that they would do it. By

faith, Moses listen to this. I'm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of

God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of

sin. Period. Have you made a

decision to be mistreated with the people of God or have

you made a decision to embrace the passing

fleeting pleasures of sin? This verse tells us sin is

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

It doesn't give you life. He can

he considered the reproach of Christ greater

wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was

looking to the reward.

Come on, Moses.

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

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

Passover, sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer

of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the

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

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

walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for

seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute

did not perish with those who were being disobedient because

she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And

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

tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of

David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith

conquered kingdoms, enforced justice,

obtained promises, stopped the mouths of

lions, quenched the power of fire,

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

became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were

tortured, refusing to accept release so that they

might rise again to a better life.

Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and

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

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

This way. They were killed with the

sword. They went about in skins of sheep and

goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of

whom the world was not worthy.

These are unnamed people who suffer for the kingdom,

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

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

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

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

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

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

until we're all there together.

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

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

witnesses. The how is by looking unto Jesus.

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

looking unto Jesus, the author and

perfecter of our faith for the joy that was set before

him endured the cross, despising its shame,

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

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

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

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

It's unbelief. We

just read story after story of people who live

lives of incredible faith. The

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

Now it manifests itself in different ways. It's

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

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

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

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

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

didn't see the and time would

I wish I had the writer got so fired up telling

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

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

time. I'm just gonna tell you about

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

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

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

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

You don't believe. It's unbelief.

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

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

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

grow.

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

on Sundays.

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

at my dad or any of the other guy. I

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

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

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

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

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

still good? What about them three Hebrew boys?

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

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

don't go by Belshazzar, then

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

and Mishael. K? Bring it back.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

bow because we believe we believe that god

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

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

expected? Can you see?

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

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

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

heart towards God because your mom died.

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

we're hard against God. And then

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

still God. I

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

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

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

for the year. I did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

whether it's 2% or 20%, or

200%. There is some level of unbelief in your

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

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

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

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

sawn in two? Though he slay me.

Many of us have no problem believing for somebody else.

I ain't got no problem agreeing with Barbie,

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

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

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

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

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

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

back in your flesh. Right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

for you?

In Mark chapter nine, we read a

story about a little boy

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

explaining the situation to Jesus. They're explaining

what's happening to Jesus, and and this is

his response. He calls them a faithless generation.

It sounds like a rebuke, but it it is a

rebuke. A faithless

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

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

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

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

do. And then Jesus asked the father

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

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

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

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

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

I mean, I guess you can. Is

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

believe me? Do you believe? I'm just

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

that I can do this? And the

guy says, I guess.

And Jesus tells him in '23, if you

can, if I can, all

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

response from this dad whose boy has been afflicted

his whole life. He says,

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

believe help my unbelief. I do

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

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

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

Will you really see my situation? Do you

really hear my prayers? Do you really see my

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

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

to anyone who believes. It's not

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

the ways that unbelief manifests itself in our lives.

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

reflect, and I want you to ask this question.

Do you believe?

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

the Lord, I believe. Help

my unbelief.

Let's worship, church.