camp sacrifice. The infamous Donner Party set
out for California in 1846 with about 20 wagons
with numerous possessions. After taking the untested
Hastings Cut -Off in Utah, which promised a shortcut
but provided much longer and much more difficult.
The group lost time, they lost many of their
animals. And on the Great Lake Salt Desert, And
later in the Sierra Nevada mountains, they had
to get rid of nearly all of their possessions
except for the bare essentials. Many wagons and
valuable supplies were left behind as the harsh
winter descended. This was not necessarily a
sentimental choice, but it was a desperate necessity.
Even well intentions. pioneers who wanted to
bring bulky or large household items found that
they could not transport them all the way west.
Many immigrants sold or abandoned items like
furniture or larger tools and surplus goods at
trailheads and early waypoints because covered
wagons only offered about 80 square feet of storage
and they could only bring the bare essentials
and if they were gonna have any hope. of traversing
the rugged mountains during the brutal winter
months, then they would have to lay some of these
things aside. On the Mormon trail, particularly
in the Willie and Martin Handcart Company in
1856, the immigrants pulled their entire possessions
and hand -pulled carts. But because the carts
couldn't carry heavy loads and winter many times
came earlier than what they thought it would,
many families had to discard supplies and heavy
coats or bedding to lighten the burden in an
attempt to keep forging ahead. During these trips,
overpacking was common, but often it had to be
reversed as reality began to set in quickly.
An entry in one of the pioneers diaries reads
like this. He said, we took our crackers out
of the barrels and put them in sacks to save
weight. Perkins listed 300 pounds of supplies
that we were leaving behind, selling it all for
$5 to a ferryman. We shall have to do without
most of the little comforts and luxuries on which
we thought were so necessary. Another traveler
wrote, we had two wagons loaded with provisions.
Everything in that line was brought that we could
think of. We even took a cooking stove which
never had a fire in it and was destined to never
have one. As we discarded it in the desert. Certainly
no family ever started across the plane with
more provisions, and yet we reached California
almost destitute and nearly out of clothing.
Archaeological and narrative records confirm
that these jettisoned good piles became so common
that fellow travelers could navigate the route
west simply by following the string of old dumps
just by sight, one by one down the trail. One
interesting discovery came after a massive avalanche
on a high mountain pass. After the snow started
to thaw in the warmth of the lower altitude,
the remains of an old upright piano began to
appear amongst the snow and the ice and the rubble
and rocks. Somewhere high on the mountain pass,
somebody was faced with the decision is carrying
the weight of what seems so valuable. to me carrying
the weight of what seems of so much worth in
my life this important or am I just gonna have
to leave it behind? Someone on their way to their
new life, a new beginning, a new frontier had
decided that there were some things that were
just not worth carrying anymore. In the beginning,
those things seemed so important. When they started
out, those things seemed so precious to them
and then they thought that they could make it
to their destination while carrying the weight
of everything that they deemed valuable or maybe
even profitable. But finally, they had to decide
to just let some things go. My prayer today is
that somewhere along the rows of these pews or
maybe in a few minutes up in this altar or possibly
in the next few days in the secrecy of a prayer
closet, there will be another upright avalanche
and those that are making their way to a new
frontier in God, those that have set out to a
higher calling, those that are in search of a
destination of purpose and of power. and a new
place of anointing will begin to realize that
there are going to be some things that I'm carrying
that seem so important to me right now. They're
gonna keep me from reaching my goal. They're
gonna delay me or they're gonna distract me from
arriving at the destination that God has intended
for me. Mark 8, verse 36 says, what does it profit
a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?
It's a rhetorical question from Jesus, meaning
that gaining all earthly treasures and power
and fame is worth it if it cost a person their
eternal life or their spiritual connection with
God. No amount of wealth, no amount of fame or
pleasure or power is worth falling short of that
new frontier in him. No hobby, no relationship,
whatever it is that you're carrying, you better
lay it down today or you'll never reach the goal
that God has placed in front of you. Hebrews
12 and one says, wherefore, seeing that we are
also compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and
the sin which does so easily beset us and let
us run with patience the race that is set before
us. The opening of Hebrews chapter 12. is pointing
back to the previous chapter, Hebrews 11, a chapter
listing the Old Testament figures who lived by
faith, who endured hardships and persecution
and yet contending and continuing in the faith.
This great crowd of witnesses refers to the countless
faithful individuals like Abel, like Abraham
and Sarah and all the others who by their lives
testify to the power and the reality of faith
and they encourage believers to persevere in
this Christian race. The Greek word here for
witnesses can also be translated into testifiers.
Those that have gone before would testify that
the promise is worth the price I've come to tell
somebody today Just like these these lists of
the heroes of the faith that that the promise
that God has intended For our lives is worth
the price that we're gonna have to pay so keep
pressing it and keep pushing Don't stop short
of the goal I appreciate the remarks that Brother
Mike McBride made at the very onset of this service.
He said, we're in a new year. We're at a new
time. For whatever reason, I guess it just makes
sense. It's the year starting new, so we make
those resolutions. We decide now's a good time
to make a new start, and that's cool, and it
makes sense. I mean, why do it in October? I
don't know. So we got this. this new year ahead
of us. And the whole world decides, okay, I'm
gonna make a change. I'm gonna go for it. I'm
gonna jumpstart things. And you know, God didn't
intend for you to just sit still. I've come to
tell somebody today, God did not intend for you
to just stay where you are. But God called you
to run. God called you to move forward. He's
called you to reach a higher destination. Can
somebody say amen? I said, God is calling somebody
to step into a new anointing. Can somebody say
amen? God is calling somebody to step into a
new ministry. God didn't call for you to just
stay put, stay where you're at. We're in a moment
at the turn of the new year that is pivotal to
our personal progress. And it is pivotal to the
advancement of even this church. as a whole,
this church's spiritual influence in our city
and around the world. But Hebrews tells us something
crucial. It says, you cannot travel effectively
if you're carrying too much. Hear me today, Paul
doesn't simply assert that we should lay aside
sin only, but he says, lay aside every weight
and sin. We know it, but I... I feel like God
is wanting to remind us today that not everything
that weighs us down is sinful, but everything
that weighs you down will eventually slow you
down and strain you and stop you from being what
God has called you to be. I didn't come to beat
anybody up today but I've come to try to encourage
you. I didn't come to just preach to the sinner,
but I've come to preach to somebody and let you
know that you're not stuck where you are because
you don't love God enough. God's trying to remind
us today that we're stuck where we are because
we're just carrying too much. One particular
theme that we find repeated throughout the Bible
is that before God elevates, he separates. You
find it over and over in the scripture. In Genesis
chapter 12, verse one, God tells Abraham, get
thee out of thy country and away from thy kindred
and out of your father's house. He said, you
need to separate. I'm gonna elevate you. I've
got something for you. I've got something greater.
I've got a destination for you. If you keep reading,
you find out and you see what God is doing, but
before it happens, he says, you need to get out
from where you are if I'm gonna do something
with you. God couldn't take Abraham into the
promise while Abraham was sitting in the familiar.
Can I tell somebody today that you can't carry
your old life into your new calling? Oh, you're
not hearing me. I said, you can't carry the old
things of your life to that place that God has
wanted to bring you. There is something new on
the horizon for heaven view. There is something
new on the horizon for every individual that
is in this place today. Or maybe you're watching
online and I've come to tell you in the Holy
Ghost that you can't carry your old life into
your new calling. In Genesis chapter 19, God
sent angels to pull a lot out of Sodom before
judgment fell. Why? Because God won't bless what
he's about to burn. Some places, some habits,
some relationships, some influences, they must
be left behind, not because God is cruel, but
because God is protective. And he knows if I'm
gonna burn those things up if I'm gonna unroot
some of those things Then I want to give you
a chance to separate them because I'm protective
of you And I don't want you to be destroyed and
if I'm gonna burn these things up, then I need
you to separate yourself If I'm gonna purge sin
and I'm gonna purge destruction and I'm gonna
purge what's gonna destroy you then I need you
to step away God tells us you gotta leave some
of those things behind because they're gonna
destroy you. Some things are just too heavy to
carry where he's taking us. There's gonna have
to be some idols in our lives. They're gonna
have to be broken down. Pastors begun a series
in our midweek Bible study. Wednesday nights,
if you missed it, go back and listen. I urge
you, do everything you gotta do to be here Wednesday
night to hear it. God's propelling us, God is
launching us to a new place. It's obvious that
the Holy Ghost is trying to get our attention.
God's trying to warn us that these idols that
we're trying to travel with, they're just too
heavy. You can't take them with you. They're
not gonna fit in that wagon of anointing. There's
no place for them in that wagon of ministry and
calling. In Judges chapter six, before Gideon
fought Midian, God told him, throw down the altar
of Baal and cut down the grove that's by it.
Gideon wanted victory, but God said, first, you
need to tear down what competes with me. It may
not always be sin. It just might be in competition
with the Spirit of God. It may not always just
be some kind of, some crazy sin, but it just
might be a weight that is competing for our attention.
It's competing for our time. And God is saying,
I'm trying to do something in you. I'm trying
to anoint you. I'm trying to bless you. I'm trying
to elevate you. And he said, I need some time
with you. I need you to focus on me, but we're
so focused on this other stuff. Not always sin.
It's not always some major issue. It could just
be a distraction. God tells Gideon, I want you
to remove what is competing with me. Some people
want deliverance, but they still have alters
to these idols in their heart. Some wanna break
through, but they won't break down what God hates.
And you've gotta know today that before you have
a breakthrough, you're gonna have to have a breakdown.
I've come to preach to somebody today and say
God is showing you some things that he wants
you to break down in your life. God is showing
you some things that he wants you to separate
from in your life because he's calling you to
greater things. He's calling you to a higher
place than you are at right now. He's calling
you to a mighty anointing. He's wanting you to
step into great ministry and he's saying you
gotta break some stuff down if I'm gonna get
you where I want you to go. I wish somebody would.
I worship him right now. God says, I've got anointing
for you. But we look around and we just don't
have room in our wagons for the mic for anointing.
God, I don't have any room in my wagon for ministry.
I don't have any room in my wagon for this calling.
God said, you better break some things down.
You better break some things down. In 2 Kings
18, three and four, it tells us that Hezekiah
removed the high places and he broke the images
and he cut down the groves. 2 Kings chapter 23,
we see that Josiah didn't just preach against
idols. I said, he didn't just say, well, I believe
it. I believe what the prophet said. Pastor,
I'm in full agreement. But then we don't empty
anything out of our wagon. But we find that in
chapter 23, he didn't just take them down, but
he crushed them. He burned them and he ground
them to powder. You know, the Bible calls some
of these idols weights and sin, but sometimes
we call them relationships. The Bible kind of
puts it in this category of weight and sin, but
sometimes we call it promotions, opportunities.
You can call it whatever you want, but weight
is weight and sin is sin. You know, I can call
myself big bone. I can say, well, I'm a little
husky, but weight is weight and sin is sin. and
you can call it anything you want, but God is
saying it's time that you empty some of these
things out of your wagon because you're gonna
be left behind and you're gonna die on this mountain
pass and you're never gonna get to the place
that I've called you to be. Come on, I'm talking
to every seasoned saint and I'm talking to every
vile sinner that may be a step foot in this place
Today it may be the first time you ever came
into a church service And I don't care what level
you're at God isn't calling us all to the same
level, but he's saying wherever you are I'm trying
to take you up whatever level you're at I'm trying
to push you to the next level and there's gonna
be some things that you're just gonna have to
lay down You can dress it up. You can clean it
up. You can make it sound good But revival doesn't
happen when sin is renamed revival happens when
sin is removed God doesn't want us to decorate
our sin. He wants us to destroy our sin Hebrews
12 one makes a clear distinction weights are
the things that slow you down and sin is the
stuff that traps you. Some of you aren't in bondage
today. You're just overloaded. These pioneers
on the trail had to abandon furniture, trunks,
even family heirlooms, not because those items
were evil. It was just because they were too
heavy. They were just too heavy. Some of us are
carrying offences, regrets, relationships, identities,
habits, mindsets. None of this fits in where
God's trying to take you. None of this fits in
the wagon that God's trying to fill with anointing
and burden and calling. Let me tell you something.
I've been there before. And you know, God, he
kind of keeps me in a, in a place where he deals
with me pretty regular. I wish this was just
a one and done, but unfortunately, I'm too thick
-headed to realize it, and I lay stuff down,
but then I pick other stuff back up. I'm a little
bit of a hoarder. You know, I'm just picking
stuff up all the time, and God say, no, I want
you to lay that down. I say, but God, look how
nice this is. I could use this. Like my father
had a garage full of stuff that. that he never
touched, but every bit of it was important. Every
piece of cardboard, every one of those 490 screwdrivers
that were all the same size, every one of them
were gonna have a purpose. You know, sometimes
I do that in my walk with God. And God said,
no, you need to lay it down. I said, well, God,
what is this hurting? This isn't a sin. Who is
this hurting? And God said, you just don't have
room for this where I'm wanting to take you.
You're just not gonna be able to carry this and
carry the burden that I'm gonna place on your
life for a specific calling and for a specific
whatever it is. You plug it in, whatever shoe
fits, you put it on today. You know, some of
you, some of you are struggling because there's
things that you don't wanna let go and you've
convinced yourself that it's okay because you're
right. You've convinced yourself that that you
can bear this weight because you're right and
I've been there before I Have literally almost
lost out on my calling because I was absolutely
Sure That I was right and they were wrong and
I wasn't willing to lay it down because I was
convinced I'm right And God said, you better
lay it down. I said, but God, lay it down, I'm
right. God, I'm right, they're wrong. And God
began to show me that the reason why that it
was destroying me is not because, now be careful,
hear me, hear me today. There's one of these
weights that it destroys us not because we want
so much for everybody to know that I'm right.
It was because I wanted everybody to know that
they were wrong And God said you better lay that
down Because I can't use it. That's too much
of a weight. That's too much of a burden It's
it's a waste of space and it's a waste of time
even though you may be right You're not willing
to let it go and you're carrying this weight
and you're carrying this bitterness and you're
carrying this anger and you're carrying this
frustration you plug in the blank whatever it
is you're carrying it and you have convinced
yourself that this is so valuable to your identity
and this is so valuable to your future and this
is so valuable to what is happening in your life
right now and God is saying there's no room for
it and you'll never make it if you keep carrying
this So lay it down, lay it down. It's time to
lay some things down today. Let me say this.
One of the heaviest things that you can carry
is yesterday. Your yesterdays will weigh you
down like hardly anything else. That's why Paul
wrote to those believers in Philippians, forget
the things that are behind. and press toward
the mark. Why? Because yesterday is heavy. Yesterday
will keep you from tomorrow. Yesterday will keep
you from the future. He said, forget the things
that are behind and push toward the place of
promise and persist until you obtain the prize.
In fact, Jesus took it so seriously that he said
in Mark 9 43, if your hand offends you, cut it
off. Well, preacher, that's pretty heavy duty.
I'm just reading the Bible. The Bible's pretty
heavy duty. He said, if it offends you, if it's
keeping you from being saved, if it's keeping
you from being used, if it's keeping you from
being anointed, if it's keeping you from progressing,
then cut it off. Lay it down, lay it aside. Because
it's better to lose what slows you than to lose
where you're going. Hear me today, heaven view.
It's better to lose what you deem so valuable
in your life and trade it in for what God deems
valuable in his kingdom and accomplish everything
that he's called you to accomplish and achieve
the ministries and the callings that he has called
for to place on your life. The musicians would
come and stand with me. I'm gonna hurry to a
close. The saints in the early church made this
kind of bold declaration. In Acts 19, 19, we
find the people in Ephesus, it says they burned
the books of magic and sorcery as a public and
a radical demonstration of their new faith in
Jesus, showing that they renounced their sinful
past. They didn't sell them. They didn't keep
them, but they burned them. Because many times
revival requires removal. Revival requires removal.
First we must remove the weight and the sin.
Then we've got to remove ourselves from that
place and move forward. Paul didn't say that
it was enough to just set aside every weight
and sin. It wasn't enough to just lay it down.
He said lay it down and run. After you set it
aside, run. Do you know how many times I've laid
things at this altar? Do you know how many times
I've laid the same exact thing at this altar?
Do you know how many times brother mark that
I have laid the same things down in a prayer
room the same thing Then I pick it up again I
Put it down then I pick it up and a couple weeks
later God begins to Condemn some of those things
I begin to feel convicted again and I get in
a red -hot service or I get in a powerful prayer
meeting and I come back and say, I'm putting
it down, God, I'm laying it down at your feet,
God. Then things cool off a little bit, I pick
it back up again. And then I lay them down and
then I pick them up. And then pastor preaches
about distractions and priorities and I lay them
down and then a few days later, a few weeks later,
a few months later, I pick them up again. We
find Paul saying it in Philippians 13, 14. He
said, first I leave the things of yesterday behind.
He said, and then I press. I'm telling somebody
today, it's not enough to just lay it down, but
then you've got to press forward. You've got
to move on. You've got to move forward. You've
got to progress under the power of the Holy Ghost.
Forget the things that are behind and then press
Lay down weight and sin and then run It's time
we start leaving piles of discarded weights and
sins behind us But it's also time for us to press
forward to move forward I'm urging somebody today.
I'm urging somebody today. This isn't just about
making our lives difficult This isn't a sermon
just about sacrifice. I'll preach about that
another Sunday, but that's not what I'm talking
about today. I'm talking about reaching the goal
that God has set before us. It's not enough to
stay where we're at. Because if you stay by that
pile of discarded goods, if you sit by that pile
of distractions, you'll just pick it right back
up again. And so God is calling us at the beginning
of this new year to push forward. Don't just
lay it down, but push forward. Don't just set
it aside. Don't just forget about it, but run
into his presence. Let's leave a trail of weights
and sins. So those that are following behind
us can follow it. They can find their way to
a new frontier of blessing, a new place of power,
a new place of anointing. Let today be the day
that someone has the realization that they're
never gonna get their old life over that mountain.
Never gonna get those old habits over that hill.
Never gonna get those old idols and those old
hangups and those old weights. to that place
of anointing, that place of power, that place
of strength that God is calling us to. The Bible
says in Acts chapter two, verse 38, you need
to repent of your sins, be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the mission of those sins
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Repentance is laying down that weight and sin.
It literally means to turn around. to turn away,
to have a complete change of direction. And baptism
is having those sins washed away like that upright
avalanche. And then he promised that he would
fill you with the Holy Ghost. Is there anybody
here today that is ready to lay something down?
Is there anybody here today that is ready to
put some things aside and move forward in this
new year, move forward into anointing, move forward
into power, move forward into calling? This altar
isn't a place of shame today, but it's a place
of freedom. It's a it's a launching pad So why
don't you come as they begin to sing as they
begin to play come in and lay down some weights
Come in come and tear down some idols come and
release the past so that you can experience your
future in him But then don't stop there So once
you lay it down don't stop there but but begin
to run begin to run and to His presence, begin
to run towards His anointing, begin to run toward
His power. Let's run with power of the Holy Ghost
until we're so far from those burdens that will
never pick them up again. Come on, let's lay
them down. And then let's press. Let's repent.