Who Cut In On You? | Courteney Bence

0:32 And if you have your Bibles, can you turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter five? And I want us to start reading in verse 10. I'm sorry, verse seven. You were running a good race. Everybody say, who cut in on you? That was pitiful. Are y'all good? Okay, who cut in on you?

1:02 To keep you from obeying the truth. Y'all don't have to keep repeating the whole thing. That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. the one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. You are running a good race. Paul, more than any other author in the Bible, he refers to our following, our Christ's relationship with Jesus as we're Christians. He continually, through his teachings and through his writings, refers to it as a race, as a marathon. And he says, keep running the good race, run. And, and, you know, I don't really understand this because I'm not a runner. It's not my thing.

1:59 I like more violent forms of working out like boxing or weightlifting. Is anybody here? I don't, I've hear there's a thing called a runner's high, never experienced it, probably never will. But I hear that's a thing. And I'm proud of you. If you've experienced that, good for you. not my thing. But I do, I do want to run my race on the spiritual realm well. And what's happening here is he's acknowledging that the churches in Galatia were running their race well. He says, you know, you were consistently in church. Maybe you were running your race while you were leading that small group. You were doing what I've called you to do. You, the fruit of your time with me was evident in your life, you were loving people, you were giving, you weren't bitter, you weren't angry, you were openly giving what you had received, who cut in on you and stopped you? That love began to dwindle, that passion began to fade, and that blazing fire that was once there becomes just a flicker, who cut in on you to stop you from obeying the truth. Some translations say this, who hindered you, who held you back, grabbed onto the back of your shirt and jerked you off course.

3:27 Some translations believe that the wording here describes the breaking up of the road in front of them. Who broke up the road in front of you as you were on your way, running your race, worshiping Jesus, lifting your hands, doing what you knew you were supposed to do and called and fulfilled, but life, and sometimes people always have a way of cutting in on us and pushing us off course. The Greek word here means koptou, the word hindrance, and it means to strike, to apply a sudden forceful blow in order to either arrest something moving or cut off something attached. It describes a brutal interference with an item's natural course of action. Who cut in on you?

4:20 What cut in on you? Was it a diagnosis? Was it the violent blow of cancer? Was it the cutting and heartbreaking blow of an infertility diagnosis? Was it that heartbreaking blow and cutting in on of a divorce? of a mistake or a failure that you made where you cut in on you? the devastating cutting of what feels like the silence of God in our greatest moments of need. I don't know your exact circumstance or situation, but I have good news today. I will say it like Paul said it, but I am convinced today that you will take no other view. This kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. And so if you came in here confused, if you came in here knocked off your path, if you came in here sitting on the side of the road, beaten down and broke down, I have good news to tell you today.

5:27 I am persuaded and I am convinced that you will take no other view, that you will get back on course and continue to run your way swell. Whoever is throwing you into confusion. And we know that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities of darkness. The Bible is clear that God is not the author of confusion, that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, that he is the father of all lies.

5:58 That's what's throwing you off course is a little bit of yeast has gotten in, a little bit of the lie of the enemy, a little bit of doubt, a little bit of uncertainty, a little bit of confusion, and it works its way through the entire batch of dough. but I am convinced you will take no other view. This does not come from the one who calls you. The Bible gives us examples over and over and over again. And I can't help but in this context of this scripture to think about Peter in the Bible. The Bible says that he was a fisherman and Jesus came by and he wasn't a very good fisherman, might I add. Jesus came by and he called him and he said, come be my disciple and I'll make you fishers of men. And Peter got out of the boat and he followed this radical man named Jesus for three years.

6:55 He watched lame legs be healed. He watched blind eyes be opened. He watched miracle after miracle. He watched Lazarus. He was there. This is not a story he was told. He was physically there when Lazarus came out of his grave. After being dead for days, he saw the miracles. He saw demons cower. And God said to him, Jesus said to him, who do you say that I am? His name was Simon. And Peter said, I say that you're the son of God. And when he did that, Jesus then put a call on his life. He said, your name will no longer be Simon. It will be Peter. And you shall be the rock that I build my church upon. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. His call was then placed on Peter's life, but then comes the last supper and the death and crucifixion of Jesus.

7:53 Jesus tells Peter, you're going to betray me three times tonight before the rooster crows. You will deny me. You will disown me, some versions of the Bible say. He had become close with Jesus Three years. Peter says, I would rather die than disown you. I'll die with you before I disown you. But even after being warned and you can sit in church services like this or like we have every week and being told about the stickiness of sin that so easily ensnares us. But just like Peter, he still went that night and the book of John tells us over a campfire three times, he disowned Jesus. In his moment of need he denied him. He turned his back on him. And what does Peter do? The Bible says that Peter goes back to what God called him out of.

8:51 He tried to go back to being a fisherman. But I've got good news. In Romans 11 the Bible says the call of God is irrevocable. It cannot be removed. It cannot be displaced. It cannot be taken from you. The message version of the Bible says this, God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty, never canceled, never rescinded. In fact, a lot of you feel like you've made so many mistakes. And at one point you were running a good race. You were steady. You had your runners high. You were going, you were serving, you were believing God, but maybe you cut in on you. You thought that you disqualified yourself because you made a mistake, because you had been set free from that addiction, but you had a relapse. And now you're a failure, but your failure is not final.

9:50 Your problem is not the source of your purpose. Today, God's calling on you is irrevocable. And who he calls, he qualifies. Some of you feel like you've disqualified yourself from the call of God on your life, but I've got news and it's great news and it will take a weight off your shoulders. You can't disqualify what you never qualified in the first place. It is only by the blood of Jesus that we are saved. It is only by the blood of Jesus that we are redeemed. That's the whole point of this book. It's not about our filthy rags. It's not about our works and what we do. It is not about you trying to force a seat at the table. He's purchased your seat at the table and he's saving it for you. God will make a way when there's no way. I can promise you that.

10:43 The Bible tells us that Peter went back to fishing. He had cut in on himself. He had disqualified himself. But then he sees Jesus post-resurrection. He sees Jesus risen from the grave like he told them over and over he would do. The Bible says that he jumps out of a boat because he's so desperate to get to the shore and I can't help but imagine the pain and the mental battle that he was struggling in this moment. The last time he would have gotten out of a boat to move towards Jesus would have been when he walked on water, but now he's failed. Now he's disqualified himself. Now he's gone back. He's not a disciple. He's a fisherman. He's not a success. He's a failure.

11:37 But the Bible says that he jumped out of the boat and went running towards his Jesus. And what was Jesus doing? The Bible tells us in Isaiah that he shall be called wonderful counselor. He cares about our mental health. He cares about our therapy and being there. He is the wonderful counselor. And our kind Jesus is sitting on the shore. And what is he doing when Peter jumps out of the boat and he's soaked and he's frantic and he's running to Jesus. He falls down on the beach and does Jesus berate him or put him down or tell him, I told you so? No, he reinstates him over a fire. You can't tell me that God is not in the business of redemptive and reparative therapy.

12:32 He's over a fire. Jesus is making a fire, making him some food. Peter gets there. Can you imagine what a failure he must've felt like? And he looks at Jesus over the same fire that probably would've brought PTSD flashbacks of the moments that he denied Christ when he needed him most. And Jesus simply says this, do you love me? Do you love me? Three times, do you love me? And the wonderful counselor says, then feed my sheep. My calling is irrevocable. It cannot be removed. And I don't care who's cut in on you. What I've called you to do is according to my purpose and my plan for your life. And nothing can trump that. Nothing can stop that. I'm convinced today that maybe you're in this room and you feel like a failure, but I'm here to convince you, you will take no other view.

13:31 God has called you. He has not thrown you out. He's not finished with you yet. There's redemption. There's freedom. There's salvation. If you've fallen off track, then get back up. Lace your tennis shoes on and get ready to go because we've got a race to run. and it doesn't have to look pretty and you don't have to be a great runner. You can be heaving sometimes, but you've got to keep running. You've got to keep moving. You've got to keep pressing towards the prize. That's what he's called us to do. I'm convinced today that you'll take no other view. I think about a woman named Naomi in the Bible. We read in the book of Ruth that Naomi and her husband, her husband had two sons. And in a short amount of time, she lost her husband and she lost her two sons.

14:26 She was left with nothing, except for a daughter-in-law who wouldn't leave her side. The Bible says that her and Ruth went back to Bethlehem, the place that she was from. And Ruth 1 and 20 says this, don't call me Naomi, she told them, call me Mara. because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me. The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me. Given her current circumstances, Naomi thinks bitter. That's what Mara means is bitter.

15:09 Mama, you got this. We have all been there. Amen. These kids be driving us crazy sometimes. We're just trying to get some Jesus, you know? What if a baby's cutting in on us, you know? Making you half lose your Christian. I'm off my notes. I gotta stay here. Thank you, Jesus. Given Naomi's current circumstances, Naomi, her name means pleasant. She said, don't call me pleasant, call me bitter. That's what Mara means in Hebrew.

15:49 She was mad at God. Naomi attributed the loss of her husband and sons to God. The word she uses in Hebrew to describe God here means to bring calamity. It's often used when someone accuses God of unjustly doing harm. Like Job, Naomi felt that God had become her enemy. However, just as with Job, Naomi's tragedy was part of a larger series of events that would result in God's blessing. Because we see in chapter four that the women said to Naomi, blessed be Yahweh who today did not leave you without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be for you a restorer of life and a sustainer in your old age. Maybe you came in here today and like Naomi, life has gone from pleasant to bitter.

16:46 The bitterness of life has cut in on you and made you believe that God is against you, that he's not for you, that he is the author of the confusion that's taking place, that he is the author of that diagnosis that you can't just seem to get over. But I'm here to tell you that you will take no other view, that Naomi may be in the pain of what she was facing and seeing. She felt God was against her, but she knew by the end of the story that El Shaddai, God Almighty, had her, that Jehovah Jireh would always provide every single one of her needs, that Jehovah Shammah is the God who is here. He's with us and he sees us. He's a present help in time of trouble. I think about in our own family, the day after Easter, this mountaintop moment for us, my uncle Gene went missing, had dementia and got in the car and left. And as a family, we all showed up to search through the mountains to look for him.

17:57 And for nine days, we had not one lead. We had silence. We had what looked like the cutting in of life. This is a godly man. We are a family that serves the Lord, that's given everything. And we have no answers. We have nothing. My Aunt Margaret has been married to my Uncle Gene for 58 years.

18:24 And just in a moment, no goodbye, nothing, he's gone. how do you not let those moments cut in on you? I think I learned quite a lesson from my family this week is when you don't know what to do, when life cuts in on you, we cling to the everlasting arms of Jesus. And we stood a week ago today out here as we were rolling his casket because thank you, Jesus, we were able to find his body. He's gone on to be with the Lord. He's in heaven worshiping his Jesus. And when they told my Aunt Margaret, she wept, but then she started speaking in tongues and thanking God for his faithfulness, for his goodness, and for his stability and sovereignty of who he is.

19:17 She stood out here before we rolled the casket in and she said, today, we are not going to sit here and grieve and be depressed and be sad. We're gonna join in with what Gene is doing in heaven and all those who have gone before him and we're gonna worship Jesus because he's worthy to be praised in spite of our present circumstances. He's still a good God. He's still for us. His goodness and his mercy is still chasing after us all the days of our life. And I watched as she sat down here with arms lifted high as four sons, my uncle sat down here with their arms lifted high worshiping Jesus. I said, one of the sons said, we'll never get a goodbye with our dad, but thank you, Jesus, for a hello that's coming soon. And when life's disappointment and bitterness and despite the circumstances that you're facing, when life cuts in on you, when unexpected flipping of your world comes in, when the accident happens and that loved one is gone and you never saw it coming when that cancer diagnosis is a death sentence and you've never saw it coming, that can cut in on you.

20:34 But I am certain today that you will take no other view. I'm confident that you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living today. And when we begin to not know what else to do, when we're in our down and out season, that is when you lift up your hands and you say, I exalt thee. I don't know what else to do other than to say this. I don't get it. I don't see it. I don't understand. But I know my way maker is here. I know my healer is here. I know the God who sees me has his eye on me today. I don't know your circumstance, but he does. He sees you. He's with you. I am convinced you will take no other view. The Bible tells us about a woman named Hannah and maybe you're here today and Mother's Day has cut in on you.

21:27 Maybe you find yourself in the place of Hannah in the Bible. First Samuel tells us that she was barren and she desired more than anything to have children and her rival, Penina, kept provoking her. She would say, you're worthless. See, you don't have children. You can't do it. You're not, you don't have any value. your husband only keeps you here because he has to, and you can't even do what we're supposed to be put on this earth to do. You can't have it. She would provoke her, the Bible says. And Penina continued to berate and antagonize her. And the Bible says that she was covered with shame, that she was in agony, and she wept bitterly.

22:11 But Hannah, being cut in on, did something that we have no understanding understanding that any other woman in the Old Testament did this. The Bible says in verse 9, Hannah got up and she went directly to the temple of God and to the altar. And she was bringing her heartache and her pain and her disappointment to the altar. Eli was there, the prophet. She ignored him because she said, I don't need some kind of filter to get to my God. I need an altar. I need a place where he can minister like only he can. I don't need a preacher. I don't need a teacher. I don't even need a worship song. And what she did was she began to pray and cry and weep. The Bible tells us something so beautiful. Well, not this part, but after this, Eli thought she was drunk. Yeah.

23:05 Maybe you're in this room today. I'm just kidding. The Bible says her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. God seeks those tears which are shed not for display but in doubt those tears that trickle down secretly in closets and not in sight of any person silently, noiselessly when you've lost baby after baby after baby when you don't have any words left to say because all you have are tears, those tears shed in anguish and in sorrow, those are for God alone.

23:49 Those were Hannah's tears. Her tears alone uttered a cry more clear than any shout. And because of this, the Bible says, God opened her womb and the hard rock became a fruitful field. God hears the cry of your tears. Running your race doesn't always look pretty, but I can tell you there's an altar and we run to the house of God in times of trouble. Our unanswered prayers might go unanswered, but when we don't have answers, he always gives more of himself because he's a God who dwells in deep darkness, according to Exodus. He's a God who is near to the brokenhearted. He's a God who binds up, picks up those who are broken inside.

24:39 And I am convinced that it's time for some barren women to sing out, to praise the risen King who is your healer, who is your sustainer. And if the prayer is never answered, he is still good. He is still with you. He still has a divine purpose for your life. Not for one second have you been overlooked. The Bible tells us about Joseph. Joseph didn't have a circumstance cut in on him. Well, he had several circumstances, but he had actual people who cut in on him. Those people were his family. The Bible says in Genesis 37, for they hated him, his brothers. They couldn't speak a kind word to him.

25:34 They devised a plan to kill him. They threw him in a pit. They ended up selling him into slavery. Maybe your family didn't sell you into physical slavery, but maybe they cut in on you with substance abuse or physical abuse as a child. Maybe that abuse, that molestation, that rape took place and it altered the direction. It threw you off course and created confusion in your mind. But I'm convinced today that you'll take no other view. That he's the God in the pit and he's the God in the mountain. That he's the God in freedom and he's the God when we're enslaved to. He's good. He's faithful to bring everything together. Everything, everything.

26:28 This is not a book that's not full of real life. He sees what we all face. Maybe your father cut in on you. God still has a plan. Maybe your mother was the opposite of everything that we're celebrating today because she never got healing from her own trauma and own issues that she dealt with as a child. and maybe instead of her building you up, she broke you. I'm here today to tell you he's a father to the fatherless and a mother to the motherless, that he's never forsaken you, that he's never taken his eye off of you. He will supply and sustain every need that you have.

27:10 You don't have to have had a good mother in order to be a good mother. You can start now. You can break those chains now in the name of Jesus. Some of you are in this room today and you've never heard I love you by a father or a mother. This is not from the one who calls you. You are lovable. You are loved. You are enough. You are good, not because of anything that you do, but because of everything that he's done. And the more you learn and lean into that, the freer you become, knowing that he is our kinsman redeemer, that he sustains us, that he heals us, that he saves us, that he atones for every single fourth shortcoming and situation in our life. He's a good God and he loves you. If you don't hear anything else I say today, he loves you.

28:05 It doesn't matter if your mama or your daddy didn't, he loves you. Joseph had every reason to be bitter and be angry. Then he goes into Potiphar's house after he's sold into slavery and he's lied and accused of doing something that he didn't do and he's thrown into prison. He spends at least two years in prison but God held onto him in that pit that his brothers threw him in. He held onto God in the place that he was sold into slavery. He held onto God when he was thrown into prison on false accusations. He held on to God and God showed him grace and delivered him and promoted him to the second highest place in all of Egypt.

28:49 Genesis 41, 51 says, Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh and said, it's because God has made me forget all my trouble. Woo, that's a good God. forget all my trouble and all my father's household and then joseph who had been cut in on in every way said you know what i'm not going to just stop with my firstborn son my second born son i'm also going to declare the goodness of god in his name he said i'm going to name him and it will be because god has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering god can make you fruitful in suffering and forgetful in trouble. Because of Joseph was able to continue, he ran his race well. Genesis 50 says, don't be afraid. He's talking to his brothers after his father's dead.

29:48 He was able, you got to go read it. The story of Joseph is beautiful. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Who cut in on you? Who broke up the road in front of you? Was it you?

30:12 Was it a family member? Was it an uncle? Was it a mother? Was it a father? Was it the disappointment and the pain of life? No cutting device, no heartbreak, no trauma, no abuse, no words spoken against you or over you, no diagnosis, no mistake, no failure, no grief, no bitterness can separate you from the love of God. Notice the enemy is assignment. He will always try to deflect and distract, but he can't deny.

30:48 He truly can't stop you. He can only deflect you. Someone in this room today is deflected, but you're not destroyed. Who cut in on you? Who hindered you? Who is keeping you from your true course of obedience? Some of you are here today and you're off course. You've been knocked off course by the pain of life. God brought you here knowing that everything that's happened in your life and everyone who cut in on you. Hebrews 12 says it like this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us.

31:36 The sin that so easily a little bit of yeast entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race marked for us, fixing our eyes not on the problem, not on the trauma, not on the pain, not on the diagnosis, but fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. For the joy that was set before him, the cross, he endured, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him. I wanna invite you today to consider him. there's some prodigals in this room and you've had life cut in on you or you've fallen away and at one point you were believing and you were running your race well.

32:34 Who cut in on you? I'm convinced you'll take no other view. In fact, I prophesy it over everyone in this room, over everyone under the sound of my voice today that you will take no other view other than the view of the one who has called you. And he says, you are chosen, you are mine, nothing can deny me from you. My blood speaks a better word over everything about you, your mistakes, your diagnosis, that divorce, any and everything that could cut in on you. Consider him who endured such oppression from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. He endured the cross. He was cut on so that we could never be cut out. He endured the cross to get us back on course. Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us with our eyes fixed on Jesus.