I Gotta Get This Weight Off Me

0:23 everybody is dealing with something be patient with people be kind to people you don't know the weight that's on people's back you don't know the pressure that's on their head you don't know the strain that is on their heart may is a mental health awareness month and I'm praying for your peace this month that God will transform you by the renewing of your mind I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus the older you get the more you don't take your sanity for granted Come on, you had a whole lot of reasons to lose it.

1:19 I got any former crash outs in the room that know you, at the drop of a dime, you would have lost it all, but God kept it together. I'm weighted today by your word that I've been carrying all week to get to you. And I really believe by faith that this is going to be a transformative word for your life and for the people who are sitting next to you. If you'll join me in Hebrews chapter 12, we welcome those of you who are worshiping with us from around the world.

1:56 Hebrews chapter 12. I'm going to start and end in verse one. He bush 12 verse number one. Let's read it together with uplifted voices. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about we're so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. I want us to read it again with a little bit more vigor and vitality. Come on to everybody. Wherefore, So great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. and the sin which does so easily beset us.

2:58 And let us find the nations for grace that is set in for us. Bless the Lord. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Wherefore, seeing we are encompassed, we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every way. And the sin which so does easily beset us. Let's run with patience because there's a race that is before us. I want to preach today and given the sensitivity of the subject, I'm not going to have you turn to your neighbor. I want to preach today using as a subject, I got to get this weight off me.

3:48 Don't look at your neighbor, just look straight ahead. Somebody just shout out loud. I got to get this weight off for me. It looks like a lot of us have had a long winter's hibernation. that in turn messed up our plans to have a summer body. I don't want you to think for a moment that you are alone. Sadly, the National Institute of Health has reported that as of 2024, as of 2024, blacks were 28% more likely to be obese.

4:55 nearly 50% of us in this sanctuary, 50% who are listening to me online, 50% of us are out of shape. Our women and our children are in the hazardous zone.

5:16 Our forks have become the knives in our backs. Dr. Vincent Felitti, who is the chief of preventative medicine for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, ran one of the largest obesity treatment programs in the country. His work turned, took a wild turn when he coached a black woman who lost 105 pounds, but gained it all back in a matter of weeks. Befuddled, Dr. Felitti asked her why. I need you to lean in. I need you to hear this. She confided in Dr. Felitti. She confided in him that she had been sexually abused as a child and weight kept her safe. She believed it made her invisible and unattractive.

6:31 She used obesity to create a barrier between her body and the world that hurt her. losing the weight hear this losing the weight removed her weapon of protection and the fear that remained was unbearable i want you to hear this for those of you who are taking notes it's gonna mess you up the weight came back because the weight was never the problem. The weight was the solution. The doctor began asking every patient in his program one question medicine never asked, one question the church never asked, one question your family never asked, because our go-to question always is, what's wrong with you?

7:36 When the real question that we have to ask is what happened to you? not why you eating so much, not why you consuming so many drugs, not why are you drunk all the time. The question that we have got to ask is what happened to you?

8:00 People are quick to think something is wrong with you, but they never consider what happened to you. reports has come back that many young children in gaza no longer speak after witnessing an attempted genocide right before their eyes they've lost the power of words they have no clue how it is that they're going to get them to start talking again because how do you coach PTSD out of an eight-year-old? The people who are sitting around you today are reclined in the chair of comfortability. They're reclined in the couch of self-righteousness.

8:55 They're reclined in judgment because the people who are sitting around you have no clue what it's like to have to fight off a relative trying to get in your bed in the middle of the night. They don't have a reference to waking up with a parent who has schizophrenia. Their worldview doesn't include substance abuse being abnormal.

9:23 You can't identify what it feels like being dropped off at your grandmother's with no idea when you're going to be picked back up again. Having the shame of skipping school because you don't have adequate shoes. Trying to figure out how do you hide the fact that you get free lunch. People have no idea what made you. The bricks that were thrown at you, you've used to build a house. the Center for Disease Control studied 17,000. I need you to hear this. The Center for Disease Control studied 17,000 adults measuring 10 categories of adverse childhood experience. It's called ACE, adverse childhood experience.

10:20 adverse childhood experience is in 10 categories. I want you to write these down. Physical, emotional, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, household violence, household substance abuse, household mental illness, parental separation, or the incarceration of a household member. That when you deal with adverse childhood experiences, adverse childhood experiences are logged into these 10 categories. It's so important. I want to give it to you again. physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, household violence, household substance abuse, household mental illness, parental separation, incarceration of a household member. If you've had to deal with one of these 10 things, I need you to buckle up and lean in because the findings unearthed stunningly.

11:37 You're not going to believe it, but I got to give it to you that two-thirds of obese participants have experienced at least one of these categories. One in eight obese people have experienced four. the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and adult outcomes is dose dependency. The more the experiences, the worse the outcome. But you're here today because it's getting ready to turn around. it's getting ready to shift.

12:22 You've been so judgmental that you have not been compassionate. That people who have had to deal with at least four adverse childhood experiences, I need you to hear this. If you've had to deal with at least four adverse childhood experiences, you are seven times more likely to be an alcoholic. If you've dealt with four of those adverse childhood experiences I just named, you are ten times more likely to use drugs. If you have done, hear this, if you have dealt with two or more of adverse childhood experiences, you are twice as likely to have heart disease. You are twelve times more likely to attempt suicide. So yes, it's easy for you to roll your eyes and look your nose down on people because I'm talking about obesity.

13:23 But it is that same line of trauma that speaks to people who smoke. Speaks to people who are promiscuous. It speaks to people who are dealing and contending with chronic depression and anxiety. but I stand today to announce over your soul and your