'Don't be Weighed Down'--Shawn McBride

 

Tuesday morning’s main session started with the Momentum choir singing “I’m counting on God”. These students practice every morning to be ready to help lead worship during the sessions.

Dave Rank introduced Dr. Larry Tomei, Associate Provost of Academic Affairs for Robert Morris University. Dr. Tomei welcomed students to Robert Morris University.

Encouraging students to get excited about We Care Pittsburgh, Larry Everett likened the service they will be doing to the “handprint” of God.

Steve Fee and his band again, took the stage to lead passionate worship.

Jeff Bogue introduced Jonathan Heron to share his heart. Jonathan has been speaking to teens and young adults since 2000 at two of the fastest-growing churches in the country.

Jonathan asked the question “How many of you have ever been in love?” Jonathan followed with the story of his first love in high school and a date they shared to a movie. He tied his story into the theme of the conference from 1 Thessalonians, “For we LOVE you so much.” Jonathan told students that the love their youth workers have for you is much more than the love he had in the movie theater for his first date.

John McCollum, Director of Asia’s Hope took the platform next. (http://www.asiashope.org/momentum) John talked about the orphanages Momentum was able to build out of the offerings given last year. John interviewed Je’Rod Cherry who sold his Super Bowl ring to help purchase an orphanage. Mike Gatliffe and Marissa Schramm talked about the experience they had visiting the orphanages this summer.

Two students led in Bible reading and prayer before Steve Fee led in worship songs.

Shawn McBride took the stage again to address the conference. Shawn told his favorite fictional story of a girl who lost a race because she was distracted by candy. The story illustrates someone who is focused and determined to win the race until the distractions come along.

Shawn went to Hebrews 12 where the writer says, “Let us throw off every weight that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us…Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...” Sometimes there are weights that hinder us, pointed out Shawn. “You will never be able to share your life if you are weighed down and entangled by sin.”

By pointing out that weights aren’t necessarily sin, but something that slows you down, Shawn encouraged the conference to look at how they spend their time. He confessed that he used to have a weight in his life called ESPN. The more he would spend time in the morning finding out what happened in sports, the less time he spent time with God in the morning. So Shawn made some adjustments to spend time with God first.

Weights sap energy, but sin entangles, pointed out Shawn. He took a student, Jordon, from the crowd and tied him with a rope. He then asked Jordon to pick up a Bible and get into God’s Word. Jordon tried, but couldn’t. “He can’t even pick up the Bible because there are some things in his life that have him bound,” said Shawn.

Shawn asked Jordon to get on his knees to pray. Struggling, Jordon made it to his knees. Shawn emphasized that Jordon can barely get down on his knees to pray. The Bible says that if there is sin in our lives, it will hinder our prayers. Shawn also mentioned that Jordon won’t be able to effectively share Christ with others either.

The solution, Shawn told the conference, is for “You to become more like Christ” by putting Christ in the center of your life.

Asking everyone in the room to get down on their knees, Shawn encouraged the conference to get rid of everything that is entangling.