Our preaching theme for this year is Dare to be Different and it is a theme that will cause each of us to examine ourselves.
God has told us we need to be different. If we truly want to follow God in the way He wants us to follow Him, then we must be different in the way we speak, the way we think and the way we act from many people in the world today.
Today I want to encourage you to Dare To Fix Your Focus on God. Over thousands of years, God inspired men to record and write what we now know as the Bible. God revealed Himself to them and God was revealed to others in their lives as they followed Him and focused their lives on Him.
In the Bible, God has commanded us to keep our focus fixed upon Him, on His will and purpose for our lives.
For us to really honour God, we need to follow His direction in every aspect of our lives.
It’s not about our opinion or preferences, if we are disciples of Jesus then we must follow all of God’s commandments, precepts and ways.
At times that will mean that we are very different from some of the people around us.
Honouring God, following Him, keeping God at the centre of our lives, requires us to keep our focus on Him.
God, His Word and His commandments must be the centre of our attention. We must both love and obey our Lord. Listen to these words from Deuteronomy chapter 11:
Love the Lord your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always... love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul... Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them... Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds... Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up... carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him and to hold fast to Him... See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods... be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.
(Deuteronomy 11:1,13,16,18,19,22,26-28)
God commands His people to keep their focus fixed on Him, Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds, another translation says commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine.
Is the focus of your heart and mind fixed on God?
Do you seek His will in prayer?
Do you seek His will in the word of God?
Do you express your love for Him in the way you are obedient to His requirements, decrees, laws and commands?
We may fall short, if we are honest, all of us fall short, but that does not mean we should not try.
Listen to the advice of Proverbs 4:24-27, “Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
Wise words, true words, we must walk in a different direction from many in this world.
We are commanded to walk the right path, to fix our gaze on following God’s ways, not sidetracked by the distractions of the world. We must stand firm in our faith, instead of wandering onto the broad way of destruction we must follow the narrow way, the pathway to Heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
This is a reminder to dare to keep looking through the eyes of faith to God, to dare to focus on the things of heaven. The things of this world will pass, but the eternal things of God will never fade or pass away. We must fix our focus on God, we must fix our focus on Christ.
The writer of the book of Hebrews put it like this in Hebrews 3:1, “brothers and sisters who belong to God and share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we declare to be God’s messenger and high priest.”
Perhaps controlling our thoughts is the hardest battle we ever fight.
The devil will seek to distract our thoughts from God, he will seek to bring confusion and cloud your mind, the enemy will seek to divert us from the purpose and plan of God.The devil is a liar, he will try to convince you that a lie is the truth, he will seek to discourage you, delude you, derail you. The enemy has no control other than what you allow him to have. Rebuke him and he will flee, he is an already defeated foe.
Keep your thoughts fixed on Jesus, He will guard your heart and your mind. Fix your thoughts on Jesus, do not dwell on the negative things of this world, focus on who you are in Christ.
If you are in Christ, if you have repented and turned from your sin, then you are saved and the devil has no dominion over you.
Focus on the fact that God has already completed His work of salvation to save you from your sin.
Jesus has already come to rescue you.
Jesus came to call us to Him, and everyone who responds to His call is saved.
Jesus has died to redeem you.
Jesus has risen from the grave triumphant over sin and death.
Jesus has ascended to Heaven to prepare a place for you to spend eternity with Him.
One day Jesus will return and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, by repenting and turning to Him we are forgiven, we are free from the burden of our sin, we are saved.
Fix your thoughts on Jesus, Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
There nothing better to fix our eyes upon than Jesus, there is no one better to fix our eyes upon than Jesus.
Fix your focus on Jesus.
Fix your focus on the holy life that He lived.
Fix your eyes on His sacrifice on the cross for your sin.
Fix your eyes on His resurrection.
Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Lover of your soul.
Fix your eyes on Jesus to be saved, healed, delivered and set free.
Fix your eyes on Jesus in your time of need.
Fix your eyes on Jesus at all times.
Friends we must dare to fix the focus of our hearts, our minds, our gaze, our thoughts and our eyes constantly upon God and His word. We must fix our focus on His kingdom, His direction, most of all we must fix our eyes on Jesus and never take them off Him.
We must fix our focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
He is the cause of our faith.
He is the reason for our faith.
In our natural, carnal, sinful nature we are lost without Him.
But by grace, through faith, He calls us to Him.
His grace empowers faith within us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus we are in a restored relationship with God the Father.
Because Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, Father God, the omnipotent, omnipresent, creator of all things, calls you a child of God.
Our faith is in Jesus, focussed on Him, fixed in Him.
Our faith is through Him and by The Holy Spirit, His spirit is alive in us.
Christ is our Lord!
He is our blessing!
He is our salvation!
His love and grace, empowers our faith.
We have believed in Him and we are saved, we have the promise of eternal life.
We must not grow weary or lose heart, His working in us will maintain us, keep us, strengthen us, we will persevere, we will finish the race because Christ is with us.
Keep your heart and mind focused on Him.
Friends, The Communion table helps us to remember what He endured, His trials, His suffering, His sacrifice on the Cross. He endured the pain and punishment that is rightfully ours.
Jesus came to save a lost and dying world entrapped and enslaved by the curse of sin.
Jesus came to save us from the curse of sin.
Jesus came to show God’s grace and compassion to a lost world.
Jesus spoke of the good news and preached the kingdom of God was at hand.
His miracles demonstrated the love of God to those in need.
His focus was to bring salvation to the lost.
Jesus brought focus to Father God who sent His son to die and pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus went to the cross, not for His sin, He paid the price for your sin, my sin, He paid the price with His own blood for the salvation of all who trust in Him.
In good times and bad times, we must fix our focus on Jesus.
When we face circumstances and situation, when we face hardship or trials, when we grow weary, the Communion Table helps us to remember what Jesus suffered and endured for us.
He suffered and endured so that we could obtain mercy.
What are our present problems and trials compared to His agonies?
What are our present trials compared to the eternity we will spend with Him?
We are human. We have emotions.
We can feel weighed down by the burden of our problems and struggles.
Doubt can creep into our hearts and our thoughts.
Doubt can drag us away from God, but faith lifts us up. Faith gives us perfect peace.
Listen to this wonderful truth about God found in Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
With our focus fixed on God, we will not faint, we will not falter, we will not wander, we will stand firm, we will have peace, knowing we are under the care of our wise and gracious Father.
Fix your focus on your loving God.
We must fix our eyes on Jesus.
We must fix our eyes on the love and mercy of God. We must be rooted and grounded in Him.
Nothing can separate us from Him.
Nothing can separate us from the covenant and promises of God.
The covenant and the promises delivered in the blood of Jesus are secure, powerful, firm and certain.
Dare to depend on the faithfulness of God to work and move in your life.
Dare to depend on Jesus your Saviour and Lord, rely on His righteousness for our justification and atonement.
It is only Christ who gives us a clear picture of God. In Christ, we are able to see God and know Him for who He is. We must focus our eyes, our attention, our desires, our wants, our needs, our everything on Jesus.
God has promised He will supply all your needs, bear all your sorrows, and comfort all your burdens. As I draw to a close, listen to this old hymn:
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Saviour,
And life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conqu’rors we are!
His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Focus your gaze, focus your eyes, focus your life upon Jesus.
Set aside everything that could distract your heart, your mind or your eyes, and focus on God.
Dare to fix your focus on God, Fix your Focus on Jesus and trust Him.
Audio for this sermon is available at: https://sermons.estuaryelim.church/20190210_aam_dean_courtier(fixyourfocus).mp3
