14, March 2004
Dakota Community Church
The Essentials
The Essential Characteristics of Conquerors
WEEK FOUR: FOCUS
Introduction:
The bride was very nervous. It was right before the wedding and she wasn’t sure she could even walk down aisle. So her father gave her some words of wisdom. He said to her.
“There are only three things you need to focus on. If you focus on these three things, you’ll be fine.
The first is walking down the aisle. Just focus on walking down the aisle of the church. I know it’s rather long, but just concentrate on that. Don’t get caught up with those on either side of the aisle. Just focus on getting to the end of the aisle.
Next, focus on the altar. It is your destination today. Make your way down the aisle to the altar. There you will stand before God with the man you love and will make vows to God and him. Focus on the altar –for the altar represents the love God has for you in Jesus Christ.
Lastly, focus on the hymn just before signing of the Register. In poetry and song, the hymn embodies God’s love for you in Christ, your love for your husband and his love for you.
So, to help you not be so nervous, focus on those three things.
Walking down the AISLE,
Standing before the ALTAR and
Listening to the HYMN.
The bride was very thankful to her Dad for his words of advice.
The family and friends gathered watched as she walked down the aisle. They saw the look of calm on her face.
But as she passed them, they began to chuckle quietly. For along with the look of calm, she was mumbling three words over and over again to help calm her nerves.
“Aisle, Altar, Hymn… Aisle, Altar, Hymn… Aisle, Altar, Hymn.”
Enforcing the Spiritual Victory you have received takes determined long-term focus.
You cannot be hit and miss on this.
What can we do to get and stay focused?
1. Take the time to focus.
Don’t allow busyness to rule over business.
- Set aside and jealously guard a focus time.
- This will of course be your devotional time.
- Try using a journal.
Daniel 6: 10
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
- Even though his life was on the line Daniel jealously guarded his focus time.
- My need to get alone to pray and the family response when I don’t.
Illustration:
Have you ever wondered why a pigeon walks so funny? According to an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press, a pigeon walks the way it does so it can see where it’s going. Because it can’t adjust its focus as it moves, the pigeon actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. This is the way it walks: head forward, stop head back, and stop. Don’t laugh -- that’s how it goes!
In our spiritual walk with the Lord we have the same problem as the pigeon. We have a hard time seeing while we’re moving. We also need to stop between steps -- to refocus on where we are in relation to the World and the will of God. That’s not to say we have to stop and pray and meditate about every little decision in life. But certainly our walk with the Lord needs to have built into it a pattern of "stops," which enable us to see more clearly before moving on.
Joshua1: 1-9
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-all the Hittite country-to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
- God actually commands Joshua to focus on the Word day and night in order to prosper and succeed.
- To meditate day and night will require time and possibly even memorization.
- How important is your quiet time?
- Is it only if time permits?
- Is it higher on the scale of importance than TV or computer time?
- Maybe that explains the results you are getting.
So number 1 is - Take the time to focus.
2. Identify your distractions.
1Kings 11: 1-10
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.
This distraction, this fascination cost Solomon his divine inheritance, his destiny.
What are the principle distractions in your life?
Song of Solomon 2:14-15
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
KJV:
- … The little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
What little foxes are destroying your fruitfulness?
- Popular culture. TV, Books, Computer games, Movies, VLT’s
- Fruitless friendships.
- Over working.
- Working Out at the gym.
- Seemingly harmless hobby, cars, woodwork.
These are not wrong in themselves unless you let them consume your life and time.
Illustration:
- Sniper Camp - U.S. News And World Report carried this story. The U.S. Marines conduct a secret sniper program in Quantico, Virginia. The school admits 25 men for an eight-week course of sixteen-hour days. Very few pass. To graduate, each goes on a mock mission into a well-defined area where instructors search for the sniper. If they can find him, they can fail him.
To get in range of the target, a sniper may move forward at a rate of one inch per hour. He may sit for days absolutely still, despite cold, rain, insect bites and fear. No one gets out without singleness of heart. (April 21, 1986)
The truth is that we expect that kind of intensity and focus from these guys, from doctors, Olympic champions, and concert pianists. But God expects it from us. God deserves singleness of heart and focus, because He is God and because He has loved us with such an intense and sacrificial love.
3. Write it down.
Habakkuk 2: 2-3 (Amp.)
2And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.
3For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.
Illustration:
An 80-year-old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them. When they arrived at the doctor’s, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory. After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.
Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?"
He replies, "To the kitchen."
She asks, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"
He replies, "Sure."
She then asks him, "Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?"
He says, "No, I can remember that."
She then says, "Well I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you’ll forget that."
He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."
She replies, "Well I also would like whip cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down."
With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don’t need to write that down I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes he returns from the kitchen and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs.
She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "I knew you were going to mess it up - You forgot my toast."
Exodus 31: 18
18 When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
What kind of Husband or wife do you want to be?
- Write it down.
- I love Kathy as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it.
What kind of parent do you want to be?
- Write it down.
- I do not provoke my children to wrath instead I bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
What kind of financial steward do you want to be?
- Write it down.
- I have given therefore it is given unto me…
Don’t just write it on some scrap and lose it, put it in a special place and review it constantly.
Example:
Through wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established.
4. Say it out loud.
Joshua 1: 8
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Romans 4: 17
17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Mark 11: 22-24
22So Jesus answered and said to them "Have faith in God. 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Joel 3:10
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!"
Luke 8: 49-56
49While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don’t bother the teacher any more."
50Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."
51When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep."
53They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" 55Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
The girl was dead but Jesus said she wasn’t dead!
Did He lie? Of course not - He spoke the higher truth.
We have a built in response to our own voices. Everything stops and focuses on what we are saying.
Romans 10: 8-10
8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
- Your words have power.
- Focusing power.
If you want to overcome focus by;
- Taking time
- Identifying distractions
- Writing it down
- Saying it out loud
Closing Illustration:
When Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Night Watch, was restored and returned to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, the curators performed a simple, yet remarkable experiment. They asked visitors to submit questions about the painting. The curators then prepared answers to over 50 questions, ranking the questions according to popularity.
Some of these questions focused on issues which curators usually don’t like to include:
How much does the painting cost? Has this painting ever been forged? Are there mistakes in the painting? Other questions focused on traditional artistic issues: Why did Rembrandt paint the subject? Who were the people in the painting? What techniques did Rembrandt pioneer in the particular work?
In a room next to the gallery which held the painting, the curators papered the walls with these questions (and answers). Visitors had to pass through this room before entering the gallery.
The curious outcome was that the average length of time people spent viewing the painting increased from six minutes to over half an hour. Visitors alternated between reading questions and answers and examining the painting. They said that the questions encouraged them to look longer, to look closer, and to remember more. The questions helped them create richer ideas about the painting and to see the painting in new ways.
