Participants:
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000685S
|
00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:06 Sermon #B685 - Lose Some Weight 00:20 Dr. Byrd: I want to get right in the word of God today and so if you have your Bibles, 00:23 I invite you to take them and turn with me to the book of Hebrews. 00:27 Hebrews chapter twelve and we are going to verses one and two, just two verses today. 00:32 Hebrews 12:1-2, and I am going to read from the King James Version of the Bible. 00:37 Hebrews 12:1-2, the word of God says, 00:42 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 00:47 let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so doth easily beset us, 00:54 and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. 00:59 Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith; 01:03 who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, 01:09 and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God." 01:14 Today, our message is simply entitled "Lose Some Weight." Lose Some Weight. 01:19 God, right now, at this moment, in this space, in this time, 01:26 we need you and we want you and God we ask that you would move by your Holy Ghost right now. 01:32 There are people over the internet airwaves, 01:35 television airwaves that need to hear a word from you so speak Lord right now. 01:40 Speak for your servants here at hiding behind your cross, forgive me of my sins, 01:44 and may this word go forward, we pray this day and we promise we will give you the praise, 01:49 the honor, and the glory so take these lips of clay and may your people not see me, 01:56 may they hear me, but may they see Jesus. May they hear Jesus and may they never be the same again. 02:02 It is in his name we pray, begging for forgiveness of sin, let everyone say Amen and Amen. 02:09 Lose Some Weight. For the past six months, 02:15 many of us have been cooped up in our homes unable to go outside like normal. 02:22 We have been sheltered in place and because we do not smoke, drink, or two, we have been eating, 02:29 eating, and still eating. Many people are now on what I call a seafood diet if they see it, 02:37 they eat it. Are you hearing what I am saying? 02:39 In fact, we have been eating so much that I was reading this week in a Web MD poll 02:45 where it said that adults in the United States have gained an average of eight pounds 02:51 since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to weight loss product 02:56 and service provider Nutrisystem, 76% of Americans have gained up to sixteen pounds 03:06 from the mid-march COVID-19 quarantines. 03:11 Life in lockdown has created the perfect setup for putting on pounds. 03:19 In fact, two new terms have made their way to our vocabulary. 03:24 The quarantine fifteen or the COVID-19 which simply means you must have gained fifteen pounds 03:33 during quarantine or nineteen pounds during COVID. But long before the coronavirus pandemic hit, 03:42 the need to lose weight was always at the forefront of our lives resulting in hundreds of us 03:49 spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars trying to lose weight. 03:55 Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, the South Beach Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, LA Fitness, 04:07 the YMCA, Gold's Gym, that tread mill, the stationary bicycle. You name it, we have done it. 04:18 Now before we had smart TVs and Netflix and Hulu and YouTube, people would buy aerobic 04:26 and exercise videos only for many of them to end up sitting in front of the television watching 04:34 somebody else work out on tape while they ate ice cream and potato chips talking about, "I am tired. 04:42 I am worn out. I will do this tomorrow." And what happens is, tomorrow becomes next week. 04:48 Next week becomes next month. Next month becomes next year. 04:53 But I am here to tell somebody, stop eating all that ice cream, lose some weight. 04:59 Stop eating all those potato chips, lose some weight. Stop eating all that fried chicken, 05:05 that is right, fried chicken because every one of you is not a vegetarian. 05:09 Fried chicken or vegetarian, fried chicken, and french fries lose some weight. 05:14 Stop eating all that chocolate cake, that red velvet cake, that carrot cake, that pound cake, 05:21 that apple pie, that sweet potato pie, that key lime pie, that pecan pie, lose some weight. 05:29 Stop drinking all those sodas, lose some weight 05:33 and I am here to tell that person who is out there trying to lose some weight, 05:36 let me encourage you right now. Losing weight is a challenge. It is rough but it is not impossible. 05:43 I need you to be encouraged today because, in the name of Jesus Christ, 05:47 I am a witness that you can lose some weight. But allow me now to shift 05:52 and move from the physical and let us now move to the spiritual. 05:56 And let me remind somebody today that you need to lose weight not just in the physical 06:02 but you need to lose some weight in the spiritual 06:05 because of the truth be told if we seeing the devil today, 06:09 too many of us are carrying around excess spiritual weight 06:13 in our lives that is causing us to be spiritually out of shape. 06:18 What am I talking about? Too many of us have demonic diets filled with carnal calories that 06:23 are affecting every area of our lives. But if you are going to be what God has called you to be, 06:28 you better lose some weight. More specifically you better understand that you are going to 06:33 have to let some things go in your life. You are going to have to let some people go in your life. 06:38 You have got to rid yourself of the unwanted baggage in your life 06:42 and you have got to declare I need to lose some weight. 06:46 Now, when we look at our text, the writer of Hebrews is talking about running a race. 06:51 And anyone who has ever run a race knows that you got to watch your weight 06:55 because excess weight can hinder your progress in a race. 06:59 Are you hearing what I am saying? The text says in Hebrews 12:1, 07:05 "Wherefore seeing we are also compared about with so great a cloud of witnesses. 07:11 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us 07:16 and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." That is Hebrews 12:1. 07:21 The writer begins in Hebrews of telling us that we have a great cloud of witnesses. 07:27 We have great deal of examples, a great number of pioneers who blazed the trail 07:33 before us who can show us through their experience how we ought to run this race. 07:39 Now, remember our text is found in Hebrews twelve which means then that Hebrews eleven comes 07:45 before Hebrews twelve. Are you hearing what I am saying? 07:48 In Hebrews eleven, we have the Great Hall of Faith. In Hebrews eleven it says, "Multiple people, 07:55 multiple times by faith this happened, by faith that happened 08:01 and it shares the testimonies of those who had great faith." 08:06 Now you need to understand that these people were human just like you and me. 08:11 I mean we are sitting up here whining because somebody does not like you. 08:16 Crying because somebody is talking about you. But I can hear brother Job saying, 08:22 "Can you please come down and sit at my table 08:25 and let me tell you what going through is really all about. I lost everything I had. 08:31 I lost everything. My health went bad. My wife started tripping, she told me to curse God and die. 08:38 My children died. My cattle died, my stocks crash." And if I can say the Lord giveth 08:45 and the Lord taketh away but blessed be the name of the Lord. If I can say that in all my days, 08:50 I will wait till my change comes. What are you whining about? What are you crying about? 08:56 If you have got the faith, I am here to tell you God has got the power. 09:00 Hebrews eleven starts out by saying faith is. Those two words, faith is. 09:07 They are powerful because the Bible does not say faith was. 09:10 The Bible does not say faith was going to be. The Bible does not say faith will be. 09:15 The Bible says faith is. I wish I had somebody in his church. 09:18 If you are going to then run this race, if you are going to lose some weight, 09:23 your faith has to be right now. I wish I had a witness in this place. Every day I wake up, 09:28 I have got to understand that faith is. When I go to sleep, faith is. When I wake up, faith is. 09:35 When I kiss my wife and my kids goodbye in the morning, faith is. When I start my car, faith is. 09:41 When I drive to the church, faith is. When I pray for the sick, faith is. 09:46 When I have sickness in my own body, faith is. When I pay my bills, faith is. It is all about faith. 09:53 You have got to believe that while you are running this race. 09:55 If God said he is going to do something, you better believe that God is going to do it. 09:59 By faith, I believe that God's word will not return unto Him void 10:02 but it will accomplish just what it sets out to do. By faith, you can be delivered. 10:07 By faith, you can be healed. By faith, you can be set free. By faith, you can be debt-free. 10:14 By faith, if he breaks your heart, you can find somebody else. By faith, if she breaks your heart, 10:20 you can still make it. By faith, if they lay you off, God will still make a way somehow. 10:25 And by faith, if they talk about that God will keep you. 10:29 By faith, it does not make a difference what your situation looks like because we walk by faith, 10:33 not by sight. In God I put my trust, all my battles he will fight. 10:38 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, 10:40 the evidence of things not seen so every day I wake up in the morning. 10:44 I wake up and my faith is which means I wake up in anticipation. 10:50 I sit on the edge of my seat knowing that something is getting ready to happen in my life. 10:56 But the text continues after the text begins and tells us we have a cloud of witnesses, 11:01 the text Hebrews 12:1 continues, and says, 11:04 "Let us lay aside every weight and the sins that have so easily beset us." 11:11 Now with the writer is talking about now is weight elimination. Notice, now, in the text, 11:16 the text is not saying every weight. The text says rather every weight. 11:22 The text does not say one weight. The text is not even saying a few weights. 11:28 The text does not say some weights but the text says every weight. 11:33 You see it is not just one thing that is weighing you down. 11:36 It is a whole lot of stuff that is weighing you down and with these weights, 11:39 you can run like God needs you to run. You can not carry around all this weight and be effective. 11:43 Let me tell you something. 11:45 You see many of us. 11:47 We would have already achieved some of our goals in life if we did not have all this just to 11:52 weighing us down. Just stuff in excess. 11:55 Just stuff we know we do not need in our lives weigh in us down 11:59 and the longer you try to run ignoring the reality, 12:03 the more you going to get frustrated but you got to let it go. Can I be real today? 12:08 You can not keep going through life holding on to stuff that somebody did to you ten years ago. 12:12 You got to let that stuff go. You got to lose that weight. 12:17 You can not still hold a grudge against somebody for fifteen years. 12:20 They are going on with their lives and you still struggling with the weight, 12:23 you got to lose some weight. Some of you right now, you can not let go of your ex 12:28 and that is why you can not move on to your next because you still hold it onto that weight. 12:32 You can not keep holding on to trifling people 12:35 and negative folk that you have got in your life that every time you call them, 12:39 they just weigh you down. Every time you get off the phone with him, 12:44 they just weigh you down you just feel heavy. Every time you see him coming you saying to your spirit, 12:49 oh, no here they come. Here they come I feel a weight coming on me. 12:54 Why are you doing that to yourself? 12:56 Why are you still hanging around folk that drains your spirits with all their negativity? 13:02 Folk that saps out all of your energy. Folk that sucks the very life out of you. 13:07 When you are walking around with something heavy, Jesus is in that. 13:12 What do you need to do? You need to lose some weight. Shake off the hindrances. 13:17 Shake off that stuff that is holding you back. The writer of Hebrews says, 13:20 "If he is writers took all those things that will slow them down 13:23 because they did not want to have any hindrances in the race." So that means any weights, 13:27 any burdens, any loads, you got to let him go. It could not hold on the baggage. 13:33 It could not hold on to weights, you got to let him go. If you look at runners today, 13:39 we often look at runners when they are running in the Olympics. 13:41 When you look at runners today, most of them only wear a shirt, a pair of shorts, 13:46 and a pair of shoes. The shirts, shorts, 13:48 and shoes are specifically made so that their light and nature, 13:51 and they would not hold the runner down. 13:53 You will never see a runner run with weights around his legs or his ankles. 13:57 They will never run with the extra load 14:00 because they know they will never win which means any impediment that is going to hinder you 14:05 in your running, you better take them off. Get rid of any sinful thoughts, 14:08 any sinful action, any sinful habit, any sinful relationship, you better lose some weight. 14:14 Fear, lose some weight. Lust, lose some weight. Envy, lose some weight. 14:19 Jealousy, lose some weight. 14:21 Pride, lose some weight. add- iction, lose some weight. Habits that are bad, lose some weight. 14:28 Gossip, lose some weight. Get rid of those things that will hold you back. 14:33 Whatever that you have that is holding you down, get rid of it. 14:37 The Bible says, "Lay aside every weight." The Bible says, 14:41 "Lay aside those sins that so easily beset us. 14:46 Let me tell you something. The race that we are into gets God's kingdom is not a sprint, 14:51 it is a marathon. And marathons require endurance. Endurance requires discipline. 14:58 The same discipline that it took to get some things out of your life is the same discipline that 15:02 it is going to take for you to be patient. Now, let me be clear. 15:05 Unless you have had gastric bypass surgery or the lap band procedure. Nobody loses weight overnight. 15:18 Now, you can believe all this stuff people talk about oh I did this 15:20 and I lose a hundred pounds in a week. That is not true. You do not lose weight overnight. 15:27 You have to work at it. It is not going to happen in a second. 15:32 If somebody hearing what I am saying, it is going to take a minute. You have to exercise. 15:39 You have to drink water. You have to diet. You have to stay off sweets. No garbage in. 15:46 No junk food. No fattening food. You have to endure. You have to be disciplined. 15:52 You have to be patient. You have to work at it until some of that stuff falls off. 15:58 Now, there are some people who would like you to think that they lost weight overnight. 16:02 Like you to believe they lost weight overnight 16:04 that they would want to make you believe it was all abracadabra that they 16:09 had some special anointing or something. But I am here to tell somebody that this thing is race. 16:13 This thing is a journey. This thing is day to day. 16:18 Let me throw this in, do not let church folk fool you just because they talk and look spiritual. 16:24 Do not let folk make you think that they are deeper than you are or 16:27 that they have got a first-class ticket into heaven or they have got an insurance policy 16:31 that guarantees them their salvation. 16:34 Let me tell you, he only difference between you 16:36 and them is they can cover up their stuff better than you. But they have got the same struggles, 16:42 the same issues, the same drama, the same weight that you have got in the name of Jesus. 16:48 This thing is a process, it is day to day. It is sanctification. 16:54 God's imparted righteousness and you have got to endure which means you are going to cry sometimes. 16:59 You are going to hurt sometimes. You are going to be alone sometimes. 17:03 You are going to be talked about sometimes. You are going to be criticized sometimes. 17:06 You are going to be lied on sometimes. You are going to be up late in the midnight hour 17:12 but I am here to tell somebody late in the midnight hour. God is going to turn that thing around. 17:17 He is going to work it out in your favor. This race requires endurance. 17:22 This race requires patience. You have got to be in this thing for the long haul. 17:26 You have got to make up in your mind that regardless of what I go through I am not going 17:31 anywhere until I get the promises of God, and the promises of God are yes and amen. 17:36 I am here to tell somebody the race is not given to the swift or to the strong 17:41 but to the one who endures to the end. You have got to keep on running. 17:45 You have got to run through the tears. You have got to run through the fears. 17:49 You have got to run to the store. You got to run through the rain. 17:52 You have got to run through sickness. You have got to run through pain. 17:56 You got to run when friends walk out on you. You got to run until you debt free. 18:02 You got to run until you get what you came for. You have got to say, 18:06 "I am going to stay in this race until I receive what God told me. 18:09 I am going to receive because what God has for me, it is for me." 18:13 How am I gonna get it? I am down now to my final point. 18:16 Hebrews 12:2, it says, "I have got to look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of my faith; 18:23 who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, he despised the shame, 18:29 but right now he is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God." 18:33 In Greek, the word author here signifies captain or leader which means Jesus is my captain. 18:39 Jesus is the captain of my ship. 18:42 Jesus is my leader but the reference here in the text seems to be the judge in the games whose 18:48 business it was to admit the contenders and to give the prize to the conqueror. 18:52 Jesus is here in this text and he represents my presiding officer. 18:59 He admits the contenders and he gives the prize to the winners. 19:04 Jesus is the judge under whom and by whose permission and direction. 19:09 According to the rules of the heavenly race we are permitted to enter the race, 19:14 commence the race, and he is the finisher by awarding 19:18 and giving the prize which consummates the runners at the end of the race. 19:22 Are you hearing what I am saying? As a runner, I have watched the cloud of witnesses. 19:27 As a runner, I have watched the examples. As a runner, I have watched the pioneers. 19:33 I see those who have gone before me. I have to lay aside the weights. I am now running the race. 19:40 I have got patients. I have got endurance but now it is time for me to look to Jesus, 19:46 the author, and the finisher of my faith. Because if I look at you, I will get discouraged. 19:51 If I look at myself, I will get disillusioned. If I look at other folks, I will get disheartened. 19:56 But when I look at Jesus, I get delighted. When I look at Jesus, I get excited. 20:03 When I look at Jesus, I get energized. When I look at Jesus, my soul gets on fire. 20:09 It is like Jeremiah said, "It is like fire. Shut up in my bones." 20:14 Let me tell you something, I am about to take my seat but keep your eyes on Jesus. 20:19 Not your husband, not your wife, not your son, not your daughter, not your roommates, 20:24 not a co-worker, not a friend, not church folk, keep your eyes on Jesus. 20:31 I do not know about you but somebody right now I speak under the authority of the Holy Ghost. 20:35 I am looking at Jesus. I am walking and talking with my mind and my eyes stayed on Jesus. 20:42 Peter messed up that day on the Sea of Galilee. He took his eyes off of Jesus. 20:48 All he had to do was keep his eyes on Jesus 20:50 and that is a let us know when you take your eyes off Jesus you are going to fall. 20:55 When you take your eyes off Jesus you are going to fail. When you take your eyes off Jesus, 21:01 trouble is going to come but keep your eye on Jesus. 21:05 Because the Bible says not only is he the author but the Bible says he is the finisher. 21:11 Oh, I feel like stopping but I feel like my soul is getting happy. 21:14 So many people start off in life pursuing their goals, but they never achieve them. 21:20 But when I look at Jesus, I recognize that Jesus started something in me. 21:26 Jesus started something in Carlton Byrd and the same God that started that thing in me will 21:33 perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So whatever Jesus has started in you, 21:38 no devil in hell can stop what Jesus has for you. In other words, God does not start anything, 21:45 he can finish. God's not like us. God is not a god of incomplete projects. 21:51 Can I preach like I want? Can I preach like I feel it? Excuse my southern slang 21:56 but God ain't fitting to do nothing. God ain't fitting to get around to do nothing 22:01 because God already started it. God already finished it. I feel my help coming right now. 22:06 God is tired of all these folks starting stuff and they never finish. 22:09 And the reason why you never finish friends of mine, it is because you got too much weight, 22:14 too much drama, too much stuff, too many issues. But when you lay aside these weights, 22:20 when you lay aside these sins, the race gets a whole lot easier. 22:25 When you start getting a little lighter, you start running a little faster. 22:29 God is getting ready to take somebody in the name of Jesus. 22:33 God is getting ready to take you to another level but you got to let the fat go. 22:38 You got to let negative folk go. You got to let negative situations go. 22:43 And when you run, you got to runs. And when you run, you are run giving him glory. 22:47 Run giving him honor. Run giving him praise. 22:50 You will be walking down the street clapping your hands, people look at you like you are crazy. 22:54 Why are you doing that? You say I am running but I am giving him glory. I am giving him honor. 22:58 I am running but I am giving him praise when I think of the goodness of Jesus 23:02 and all he is done for me, my soul cries out. Hallelujah. Thank God for saving me. 23:08 I am trying to quit but my soul is getting happy right now. 23:11 I want to tell you one last thing that there is one thing that every 23:15 person who has ever lose weight, there is one testimony they always have. 23:19 They always walk around with two pictures. The before picture and the after picture. 23:28 Somebody knows what I am talking about. Before I was this, but now I am this. 23:37 Now, I know I am in the church building by myself. 23:41 I mean, I know we got the pastors in here and every now and then the Holy Ghost gets on them 23:45 and they shout a little bit. I know we got the media team here 23:48 and they can not really lift their hands and bless God 23:50 because they have got a hold on to the camera. I know we are in the church building 23:54 but I believe that if you were here today, I tell you to tell somebody. 23:59 If you only knew what I used to be, you understand my praise right now. 24:05 If you only knew the weight I used to have on me, 24:08 you will understand why I praise him like I do right now, why I clap my hands, 24:13 why I stamped my feet, why I lift my hands, and bless him. 24:17 You see somebody before you used to get drunk on liquor but now you are drunk on the Holy Ghost. 24:24 Before somebody used to get high on that stuff but now your high on the Holy Ghost. 24:30 Before you used to be in love with Leroy, you used to be in love with Shirley 24:34 but now you have discovered there is not a friend like the lowly Jesus. 24:39 So look at me now before and the after me, I have lose this weight. I have shed a few pounds. 24:49 The clothes I used to wear do not fit anymore. 24:52 My old friends do not recognize me anymore. I have got a new walk. I have got a new talk. 24:59 I have got a new attitude. I am thinner. I am lighter. I am moving to the next level, 25:08 I am losing weight. Folk, I used to hang out with ten, twenty, thirty years ago, 25:13 they do not understand me. Now, I am moving to another level. I have got to lose some weight. 25:17 In the name of Jesus, learn to let some things go. In the name of Jesus, learn to let people go. 25:25 You have seen the pioneers before you. You see the cloud of witnesses before you. 25:34 You have seen the evidence. But lay aside the weights. Lay aside the sins that are clinging to you. 25:46 Separate yourself from them. And you got to run. And you got to endure. 25:55 And you run and you endure with patience and in this race, 26:00 you have got to keep your eyes on Jesus, the author 26:07 and the finisher of your faith who endured the cross for you, who endured shame for you, 26:21 who is now seated at the right hand of the Father pleading your case, lose some weight. 26:36 How I lose it? Asked the Savior to help you. Comfort, strengthen and he will keep you. 26:45 He is willing to aid you and he will carry you through, lose some weight. 27:03 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 27:08 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 27:12 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 27:15 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 27:27 [END] 27:33 GONE BOOK PROMO 27:34 Dr. Byrd: Pain, loss, trama, 27:43 in life we experience these things. 27:46 My wife and I have a story, 27:49 we have a testimony of how we lost 27:53 our first born daughter in a horrific car accident. 28:00 We have this new sharing book, its en-titled “Gone.” 28:05 And, in it I want to share with you 28:09 how God has helped me, 28:12 how God has helped my wife, how God has helped us, 28:16 as we had to endure the fact that our first born daughter is gone. 28:25 www.breathoflife.tv 28:30 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. |
Revised 2020-09-17