TOPIC: Laying Aside Every Weight”

Read: Hebrews 11:32-40; 12:1-2(NKJV)

32. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also [of] David and Samuel and the prophets:
33. who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34. quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35. Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented —
38. of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, [in] dens and caves of the earth.
39. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
40. God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
41. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us,] and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
42. looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

STUDY

Many of the witnesses referred to in verse 1 of Hebrews 12 are listed in Chapter 11. Many more are listed in one or more of the 66 Books of the Bible. A lot more are listed in the “Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rev. 20:12-15). Are you in the updated version of that list? One characteristic of these witnesses is that they lived and died by faith. A key aspect of living by faith is to “lay aside every weight” or sin which easily entangles us.

What are the habits or lifestyles that could constitute “weights” in your life? Are they similar to those indicated in Song of Songs 2:15; Judges 16:1, 4; Proverbs 20:1; Titus 1:12? Mention others common in our environment. In Matthew 13:22, we see that “cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” are “weights” that can “choke the word of God” and make the Christian unfruitful. Can you identify other “weights” that are hindering you from “running the race set before us?” (Heb. 12:1; Matt. 13:22).

We can “lay aside these weights” by letting Christ into our hearts (Rev. 3:20). When we do this, we then receive a new birth and power to live for Him (2 Cor. 5:17; John 1:12; Col. 3:16).

PRAYER: Turn Psalm 139 23:24 into a heartfelt prayer.

The Anglican Communion is the fourth-largest Christian denomination. Founded in 1867 in London, England, the communion currently has 85 million members within the Church of England and other national and regional churches in full communion.