"Building a Church Through Outreach"
A Road Already Traveled
ELCOG 2/3/08
Text: Acts 9:3-6
This morning I want to preach a message that God laid in my spirit, a message to encourage you to keep walking. Whatever you do, don’t stop now.
Matt. 10:22
22And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
In your walk with Christ you will cross many obstacles and have many mountains to climb, but you can never stop the race. You can never give up. You must be willing to endure. I know that at times it seems like the pressures are too hard to bear and that your mind and spirit can not handle the hardships, but the familiar scriptures come to mind…
1 Cor. 10:13
13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
God is going to bring you over. He will be just as faithful to you during your hard times as he is during your good times. He is just as real when you can’t feel him than when you do feel him.
Heb. 13:8
8Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
He was God on your mountain top and he is God in your valley. He was God during your sickness as well as in your healing. He was God when you were rich and now that you are poor. Give Him praise. He is still God!
Now let’s get into this message. The devil wants you to forget that you have had a Damascus road experience and wants you to forget that you have met with Jesus. Let me explain.
Several of you have seen the light on the Damascus road. You have ran into Jesus and experienced his glory and His power, but now the devil has placed some obstacles in your life and he is whispering in your ear that you have lost your hope and that you have misplaced your joy. He has you believing that you have never really felt God’s power. He is trying to convince you that the light you saw was not real, that the power you felt must have been some emotional outbreak and that you really have nothing at all. Can I remind you of something that you need tell the devil?
John 10:10
10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:11
11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Tell the devil that God has already warned me about you. You have come to destroy my life, but I no longer serve you… I serve the God that came that I might have life and that I have life more abundantly!
John 8:44
44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The devil is the father of lies and when he speaks you should not listen. He has no credit. He has no accountability. Why do you listen to the father of lies? He can not speak the truth. You need to know that he is trying to convince you that you have never been down this road, but you know that this is a road already traveled. You know that you have already walked down this road, and that you have experienced his power. He should not be able to convince you that what you have experienced is not real.
He will try to send people to you that will make you believe that you have been brain washed into believing that what you experienced on the road isn’t true, but I know in whom I have believed!
2 Tim. 1:12
12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2 Tim. 1:13
13Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Tim. 1:14
14That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
Have you ever missed placed your keys or your wallet? You know that it isn’t really lost; you just can’t seem to find it. So you re-trace your steps. You know that the keys were real. You know that your wallet was real. You know that your sun glasses are real, but you just can’t find them. So you re-trace your steps down a road already traveled.
The Devil is saying, "It’s not real and you have never really experienced anything of value" But as you retrace your steps you know that this is a road already traveled. It begins to feel familiar to you. It begins to burn in your spirit again. Maybe it’s been awhile since you have been down the Damascus road and it feels like you have never experienced God’s power, but the more you travel this road, you begin to remember. The faces seem familiar. The smiles begin to become more comforting. You know that this is a road already travel. The devil wanted you to think that you have never been here. He wanted you to think that you never had joy or that you never had peace or power, but as you travel this road again, you remember. You remember that He is real. You remember that His power is right and righteous. And as you travel this road you begin to find the things that the devil has try to hide from you. You thought your sun glasses were lost, but you have traveled this road before. You thought that you would never find your keys, but then you remember, because this is a road already traveled. He wants to hide your joy, but since you have been here before, he can’t stop you. This is something that you know is real. This is something that you know is true. This is something that you know you have experienced.
Maybe the devil could have convinced you it wasn’t true if you had just heard about it, but you experienced it. The devil can never take away your experience! This is a road already traveled!
He will never be able to take away what God has given you. Some of you need to retrace your steps today.
You think your joy is gone… retrace your steps.
You think your peace is gone…retrace your steps.
The devil is a liar!
You have already been there and done that. You have the t-shirt to prove it. There is no need to tell you that healing is not real because you have been healed. There is no need for someone to convince you that the Holy Ghost is not real because you have already experience his power. You have already traveled that road and you are not going back. You have already come out of Egypt and you are not going back. You have already had the Damascus experience and no one is telling you to go back. I have already traveled this road and I refuse to let the devil take anything from me!
Are you depressed today? Retrace your steps. Looking for Joy? Retrace your steps. God still has it. You know what its like. Let God restore you today!