Fierce Focus - Eight Months Later - REFOCUS

But that's next week.

But for today, kind of my assignment today is at the beginning of this year, God gave us a word as a church.

And that word was this year for us was going to be a year of fierce focus.

And we started off the year, and we we told you it's not a year of casual focus, it's not a year of just, you know, kind of when I get around to it, focus, or it's not a year of convenient focus.

It is a year of fierce focus.

And even gave you a definition of what we mean when we say fierce focus.

We said it's a year of intense, unwavering concentration, where you boldly direct all of your attention, your energy, and discipline toward what matters the most.

We said it is a passionate refusal to be distracted, and the persistence to pursue long-term purpose over short-term comfort and the commitment, watch this, to stay locked in until the assignment is done.

And so we started off the year, and I told you, God has given us as a church, it's our mandate to live this year with our lives in a fierce focus.

And now we're eight months into the year, getting ready to cross the threshold into the ninth month of the year.

And we got to go back and ask ourselves this question right here: Am I still focused?

I mean, I know how the year started, I know what your February looked like, and I saw your post on social media back in January, and I saw you telling everybody I'm fiercely focused this year, and I know I had some conversations with some of you.

Things that the enemy tried to bring your way.

You're like, don't even try it, I'm not going there.

But the question now is as we get to the eighth month and now rolling into the ninth month of the year, am I still focused?

Because I've come to realize something, and it's this it is easier to get focused than it is to stay focused.

Come on, you know that's true.

I mean, every every year when December rolls around, you get you're getting ready to cross to the new year, you start writing out your goals and your resolutions, and these are things I'm gonna do, and you know, I'm gonna read the whole Bible this year.

Then you get over there, and when they start naming all them doggone bigats and bigats, and come on, anybody else than bagats and take you out, boy.

You know, you decide I got a new budget this year.

I'm gonna be disciplining my finances this year.

I ain't I'm not spending it.

And then that Amazon demon start coming.

You make a commitment to, you know, I'm gonna do better with my relationships this year, and I'm gonna treat people the right way, and I'm gonna forgive people that have hurt me, or or this is this is good when you got that diet that you started at the beginning of the year.

Come on, I'm just I'm just gonna eat partially all year long.

I'm a partial.

It's easy at the beginning of the year to make commitments to start, but the question becomes am I still on the journey that I started?

Because it's something that happens by the time you get around to August after the summer months, after our routines have been broken a little bit.

August does something.

August reveals whether January was just inspiration or whether it was really transformation.

You know, by the time, you know, you can we can we can play it off a little bit in January because we can ride the wave in January.

February, we can still stay a little pumped up, but by the time we get to August, August answers the question: was this just inspiration, just hype, just excitement, just something I do to start every year off?

Or is this a year that's really different where it's gonna finish as a year of transformation?

See, understand this.

Starting focused is good.

Staying focused is better.

But watch this.

Finishing focus is the real goal.

It's great to start focused, it's even better to stay focused throughout the year.

But I'm saying the goal is to make sure by the time we get to December, we end up finishing this year off focus.

That means even if you slipped a little bit, dipped a little bit, drifted a little bit, you can still come back around to still end this year on focus, like God said.

And see, here's what I need to understand.

There's two things that God told us, two reasons I should say, why he told us to make sure we stay focused this year.

I'm trying to see if you remember this.

The first one he said is because he's got some really, really amazing things in store for our lives.

Thank you for the seven of you that remember that.

Let me say it again.

The reason why he told us to stay focused this year, don't get distracted, is because he's got some things he's planning.

He's got some things that are in store.

And I want to tell you, I believe God has dropped in my heart the word for our church for next year.

And all I can say is you want to be focused so you can be in position for what God's getting ready to do in your life heading into next year.

I need you to get a little bit more excited.

I need you to remind yourself that whatever you got right now is not God's best for your life.

God still has better in store.

Come on, he has more in store.

He can still multiply and increase if he created the whole earth in six days.

You better believe he can change your entire life before this year wraps up.

So what he said is, I need you to stay focused because I'm trying to get something to you, and I can't afford for you to miss out on it.

But then he also said, I need you to stay focused because the enemy of your soul, the the devil, the liar, the accuser of the brethren, is trying to set some traps and some potholes, trying to wreck what I'm doing in your life.

He's trying to bring havoc and wreak destruction.

And this is what God said, I want you to miss out on all of his foolishness.

And God told us to start this year off.

The way to do that is to make sure we stay fiercely focused.

So here it is.

God hasn't changed his mind about us, but what has changed in you?

What has changed in you?

What have you allowed to creep back into your life?

What has come back and grabbed your attention that should not have your attention?

What have you picked back up that you laid down earlier?

What relationship door have you cracked open that should have stayed slammed shut?

What habit has slowly returned back that should have been left alone?

What discipline have you relaxed?

Here's a good one.

What boundary have you moved?

What did you say you were done with in January that has somehow made a comeback by August?

See, listen to this.

Most destructive things don't destroy our focus overnight, they creep in one compromise at a time.

We don't just, you know, go from doing the right thing to them, man, how'd I mess my life up?

It's one little compromise.

Come on.

We said this it's a slow fade.

It's not an on-off button, it's a slow fade.

And without realizing, we can start to drift, we can start to fade, we can start to compromise, we can start to move the boundary until we look up and we don't even realize, like a car that is out of alignment, we start drifting as we go down the street and don't even realize it.

And so what we what we gave you was a verse at the beginning of the year in Proverbs chapter four that says this it said, Look straight ahead and do what?

Come on, I can't hear you and do what?

Come on, say it with your chest, and do what?

Fix your eyes on what lies where before you.

That means none of the stuff in the past is worth looking back at.

That means that old boyfriend ain't worth talking to.

You've been there, you did that.

You have the t-shirt to prove it.

He said, fix your eyes on what lies before you.

Mark out a straight path for your feet.

Then watch this.

He says, stay on the safe path and don't get what?

Come on, don't get what?

Sidetrack, turn to your neighbor and say, hello, friend.

You're sitting in the right section today.

I have a word of the Lord for you.

Don't get sidetracked.

Come on, say amen, somebody.

Turn to the other neighbor on the other side, say hello, second choice.

I need you to know God has a plan for your life, but he needs your cooperation.

Here's your word.

Don't get sidetracked.

Come on, if that's your declaration, then give God some praise in this place, man.

Come on, do better than that.

Give God some praise.

Don't get sidetracked.

Now I can hear somebody saying, Pastor, it would have been great had you preached this message in April.

I was kicking buttons January, February.

I rolled into Easter like a beast.

But even if April rolled around and April got you a little bit off track, or July rolled around and the summertime kind of got you out of your habits.

Here, I'm trying to say this.

Even if you've drifted from your focus a little bit, the reason why God has me putting this message here before we move on is because this is your word right here.

Time to refocus.

It's not time for you to feel condemned, not time for you to drop your head.

Thank God for what you did the first four months of the year.

And even if you drift a little bit, this is God's word to say, hey, hey, hey, I know you've drifted a little bit, but now you still got the balance of this year, and it's time to refocus.

Now, how do we refocus?

Number one, refocus requires a reassessment.

In order for me to refocus, I gotta stop and reassess where I am.

Every now and then we gotta stop moving, slow down long enough to ask ourselves the question, where am I for real?

I don't mean where do I want you to think I am, and I don't mean where my posting that I am.

Every now and then we gotta slow down, look ourselves in the spiritual mirror, and get honest with ourselves.

Where am I for real?

Because one of the worst, and I won't say one of, I'll say the worst thing you can do, the worst deception of all is self-deception.

There's one thing if I'm deceiving you, I'm trying to trick you, trying to make you think I'm somebody that I'm not.

It is a whole horrible worst thing when I'm looking in the mirror and I've actually convinced myself that I'm somebody that I'm really not.

So in order for me to get off of that deception train, I gotta have a moment where I actually slow down and I reassess and ask myself the question, where am I for real?

Lamentation says it this way in Lamentations 3, verse 40.

Lamentations 3:40

He said, Instead, let us test and examine what?

Come on, let us test and examine what?

Let us test and examine our ways.

What do we do after that?

Then let us turn back to the Lord.

Notice the progression, the order.

Before I can ever turn back to the Lord, I gotta stop and I gotta examine myself.

I gotta test and examine myself.

And notice he said, test and examine our ways.

He didn't say test and examine your neighbor's ways.

How many of some of us are really good at examining everybody else's ways?

Some of you sitting here right now thinking, oh, did so-and-so need to hear this message.

I hope they're watching online.

No, no, no, no, sweetheart.

This message is for you, baby girl.

You you need this too.

Come on, we all need this.

This is not for somebody else.

This is not the time to start thinking through your mind who else needs to examine themselves.

The fact that God has given all of us, including me, this message, what he's saying is slow down long enough.

Don't assume you got it together.

And actually go back and ask him, Lord, would you search my heart?

Would you show me what I may not see?

Let me test and examine my ways.

The Bible says it another way, this way.

It says, judge ourselves so we don't have to end up being judged.

Anybody glad that God is merciful?

Come on, if you're glad he's merciful, would you lift one hand?

Come on, if you've needed his mercy recently, would you lift the other hand?

If you know that had it not been for the Lord on my side, see the Bible gives us space, and I want you to hear this because this is for somebody sitting here right now who needs to take this heeding, this warning, judge ourselves.

See, God is merciful, he knows that we're human beings, he knows that every now and then we can be prone to slip up, mess up.

And so he gives us space, watch this, to judge ourselves so we don't have to end up being judged in public.

He'll give us space to course correct, to realize, hang on, I'm allowing myself to drift in some areas I should not be in.

And he gives us space to correct it ourselves so we don't have to end up being judged.

Listen to this quote.

We can never correct what we're not willing to confront.

I can't correct it if I won't get honest and confront it.

If I won't get honest about the conversation I'm having in my DMs that I shouldn't be having, that is starting off innocent, but I'm I'm allowing myself to communicate and I'm and I'm looking too forward to seeing what that person has said back.

If I won't confront, if I won't acknowledge it, confront it, I can never correct it.

Come on, say amen, somebody.

Now at the beginning of this year, if you remember, we gave you 10 specific areas that I believe the Lord wanted us to focus in on, to be fiercely focused in.

And I want to go back and ask you to do a little checkup and ask you this question right here.

How's your faith working out?

Because the Lord said, I want you to be fiercely focused in faith.

Here's a question I have for you.

Are you still believing God for big things or have disappointments made you now get cautious?

Are you still believing that God can do miracles?

Are you still believing, come on that?

Are you still believing that God can heal that illness?

Or have you gotten resigned that well, the doctor said it's incurable, so I'm just gonna accept this for the rest of my days?

How is your faith walk?

Are you still fierce?

Come on, somebody, are you still fiercely focused that we serve the God who didn't used to do miracles?

He still does miracles today.

Come on, we serve a God who split open the Red Sea when his kids needed it.

We serve a God who rained down manna from heaven, he knows how to pay off your mortgage.

Where is your faith walk?

He said, Be fiercely focused on faith, trusting him beyond what you can see.

Here's a question I have for you.

How are you doing with that purity thing this year?

Are you still keeping good borders, good boundaries, watching what you watch, paying attention to what you're listening to?

How are you doing with that purity thing?

Did you close doors in January that you've allowed to get cracked back open a little bit now?

How's your prayer life?

Are you still praying consistently?

Is it still a part of your habit, your daily routine, or have you gotten back over to the place where you're just praying for emergencies and when you find yourself in trouble?

How's the word operating in your life?

Are you still come on?

Are you still living the word out?

Come on, are you kind?

I'm glad you're at church, but are you when you when you hear the word at church, are you asking God, Lord, show me what I need to adjust out of this message?

Or are you just writing all these good notes and putting all these good you know comments in your phone and and and gathering all this information, but not asking God, the Lord, help me actually walk this out?

It's a dangerous thing to come to church and hear it, but don't do it.

How's the word operating in your life?

Here's another one.

How are you done with that assignment God gave you?

We talked last week about being faithful.

Are you still are you still on your post the way God told you to be at the beginning of this year?

Did you pick up and start serving like you and God talked about in January?

Or has there been one reason after another where you keep kicking the can and pushing it back?

Come on, say amen, somebody.

Have you started leading that small group that you and God talked about?

Or have you got so much clutter that has come in your life that you keep taking the thing God said to do and pushing it further and further out with this?

Watch this, eventually I'm gonna get to it.

No, no.

This is not a year of eventual focus, it's fierce focus.

How are you doing with that assignment?

How are you doing with your habits?

Did the discipline survive the enthusiasm?

How about this?

How you doing with your health?

You still watching what you eat?

Still drinking your water?

Still walking?

I saw I saw them post you was doing about all the miles.

You was walking.

You still walking?

I ain't seen no post lady.

You still walking?

You still walking you still working on your health, or are you just deciding I'm just gonna be fat?

I'm fat.

Whatever.

God loves fat too.

I mean, my mama was fat.

I'm just gonna have you just thrown up your hands and just going not work.

Come on, somebody.

How you doing with your relationships?

God said, be fiercely focused on healthy relationships this year.

That means he didn't give any exception.

He didn't say healthy relationships as long as they're not your family.

Some of the people, watch this, some of the people we have to put, some of the greatest distance between us and them is some family members that have become toxic to us.

How are you doing with those healthy relationships?

Have any unhealthy people regained access to your life?

Have somebody put you on a guilt trip and now you've started allowing them to manipulate you again and control you again?

Come on, tell your neighbor, this is a bad time for you to get quiet.

How about this?

How are you doing with your finances?

Fiercely focused on our finances.

Are you still operating and fully committed to God's economic plan for your life?

How about this?

Are you still being led by the Holy Spirit?

Are you still asking Him to direct your steps and show you which way to go?

Or have you got back into routine and mundane and just being led by emotions and how I feel?

Are are you still asking God, Lord, is it's you know, show me which grocery store I should go to this today on the way home?

Are you just going to the one you always go to, parking where you always park?

Are you asking when you're when your teenager comes and asks you, Mom, can't or dad, can I go to this party?

Or are you stopping to check your spirit to ask Holy Spirit to give you direction?

Or are you afraid that if you tell them no this time, they're not gonna like you, they're gonna be mad at you, they're gonna close themselves up in their room.

I said, Are you being led by come on, somebody?

Are you are you still determined that I'm gonna be fiercely focused and let Holy Spirit teach me, guide me, direct me?

Or have you defaulted back to something else in your arena telling you what to do?

See, here's the thing we got to understand.

Sometimes we can think we're in one place, but when we test and examine ourselves, we can sometimes find out we're actually in a different place.

Now, I I saw in the news a story this week that the Duval County School Board has put these cameras on the school buses.

Some of you may have seen the story, and and uh when school buses stop and that little stop sign arm comes out, you got a lot of cars just blow right through it, man.

And they've been doing it for years.

They've been doing stories on it, but they now put these cameras on there, and the cameras see when the cars zoom past and they can take a picture and a video.

And uh in these first couple weeks of school, they have written 4,000 tickets at about 250 bucks per ticket.

I did the math, that's about a million dollars in tickets.

And I hate to tell you, but your pastor is one of the 4,000 that has contributed.

I wish I had a different lesson, but now let me get let me get some clarity because I am somebody, I am, I'm staunch when it comes to school zones.

I I I I always slow down school zones.

I'm the guy that honks at other people that are still going too fast.

And I always stop at the school bus stops when the arm comes out.

And when when I got to, because they don't even tell you, they just send it in the mail.

You open the mail.

When I got that's okay, the devil is a liar.

Oh no, you didn't.

I promise you, I ain't run through no school bus area.

That ain't me.

I I and I got I got judges on speed dial, I got the sheriff on speed dial, I got city council.

I'm about to call everybody.

Then they had this little thing that said, take, you know, scan right here, little QR code, scan right here.

And I scanned it, and the devil, there was my car.

And it wasn't just a picture, because you know, a picture, it could have been AI, it was a video.

But now let me give some context.

So what had happened is is this the bus stopped and the little arm came out, and I was right there, like the first car, and I stopped perfectly.

And I had just come from uh the 21 Days of Prayer, had just left the building and headed home, and I'm stopped right there, like I'm supposed to.

And while I'm sitting there, I'm the emergency contact for a particular loved one, and I got a message, they had just been in a car accident.

So while I'm sitting there, I call them and find out where they are, and they tell me where they are, and it's a pretty significant accident.

And so what happened is while I'm sitting there, the light up in front of me turns green and the traffic in front of me takes off.

And without realizing, I was distracted.

And I started rolling and roll right with the traffic.

Thank God no kids or anything were were around.

Point I'm making to you is I would have been willing to argue you to the grave.

That I did not violate it.

But once I looked at the video evidence, I realized I did violate it.

How many times do we think I'm still fiercely focused?

I'm still doing what the Lord told me to do until we look to heaven and we get the video evidence that the boundaries have been moving a little bit.

Until heaven rolls back the tape and shows us that you're communicating with somebody that I told you to stop talking to.

See, sometimes we can think we're in one spot until we look at the heavenly evidence and find out.

If I ask God to examine me, he'll show me some things I might not want to look at on my own.

Give me a good amen, somebody.

So if we're gonna refocus, it requires a reassessment, but then watch this.

It also requires a removal.

It's not enough for me to see it and then do nothing about it.

Hebrews 12, 1 says, Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

How we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Notice before we're told to run our race, first thing he tells us to do is we gotta strip first.

Strip off all the weights, but he also says, strip off all the sin that easily sets us off or easily trips us up.

And easy to understand this because what he's really teaching us is that everything that's slowing us down or stopping us from progressing isn't always a sin.

Sometimes it's a weight, sometimes it's just something that has become heavy.

Listen, listen to this.

If it keeps pulling you away from what matters the most, then it has become too expensive for you to keep it.

Man, that's good.

See, sometimes we give ourselves a pat on the back.

I got rid of the sin, I ain't doing this anymore.

But we got to also go back and look at are there things, are there people, are there situations in my life that is keeping me from the thing that matters the most to me?

Are there little things in my life that have become a little mini idol?

Something that, you know, I gotta I got to do this, and it's taking me away from what God has really assigned for me to do.

See, some of us keep asking ourselves the wrong question.

This is what we keep asking.

We keep asking, is there anything wrong with this?

You know what that's really saying is, Lord, I want to get as close to the line as I can.

Is this okay if I do this?

You know what question we should be asking if we're gonna be fiercely focused?

Does this help me get where God told me to go?

Come on, you still out there or you going home already?

Let's not ask the question, is there anything wrong with this?

If I'm asking, is there anything wrong with this?

Probably in my heart I know there's something wrong with this.

The question I should be asking, Lord, Lord, is this is this is this situation, is this job, is this person helping me get to where you told me to go, or is it hindering me from getting there?

Is it slowing me down?

Say this out loud.

Say, I don't just need freedom from sin, I also need freedom from the weights too.

Say it again.

Say, I don't just need freedom from sin, I also need freedom from the weights too.

Come on, if you believe God for that, give him a shouting of praise.

Come on, you can do better than that.

I'm not settling for the bare minimum, God.

Take me all the way, Lord.

And I love this.

The Bible, in Hebrews, it says, the Bible tells us to strip off every weight.

Notice that the Bible doesn't tell us to pray, asking God to take it away.

I remember years ago, that's a proud we're praying.

Lord, Lord, take take this away from me.

Some of you have been praying that too.

Lord, take the taste of this weed out of my mouth, Lord.

That day he closer home, then Lord, take this desire away from me.

He didn't tell us to pray asking him to take it.

He said for us to lay it down.

You know what that means?

That means you got control of this.

If any man is in Christ, hear me out, he's a new creation.

You know what it means to be a new creation?

It means you've been set free from the slave market of sin.

It means that watches, before you ever got saved, it was your nature to sin.

That's why we why that's why we don't tell unsaved people you need to stop doing this, you need to stop fornicating, stop living with them, stop doing this, stop doing this, so you can get saved.

We don't tell people that.

You know why?

Because before you come to Jesus Christ, it is your nature to do those things that we now look back on and go, man, I'm so glad God freed me from that.

So you don't tell, just like I I love to fish, you don't lean over the boat and clean the fish before they get into the boat.

No, you catch the fish, then you clean the fish.

See, God, God doesn't ask us to fix ourselves, change ourselves so we can come to him.

That's why I tell folks all the time, whatever you got going on in your life, bring it with you.

Come on, you don't you don't have to stop anything to come to Christ.

Come to him just like you are, however, jacked up you think you are.

Bring that right along with you and surrender your life to Jesus first.

Once you do, he'll change you on the inside.

And then if you plug into a good teaching church, then God will take you by the hand and help you stop any other habits he wants you to stop.

Come on, that's good.

But now here's the other side.

Once you do say yes to Jesus Christ, now you've you've been set free from sin.

I'm trying to help you, you've been set free from sin.

There is nothing that the devil can bring you.

There's no addiction, there's no habit, there's no temptation that you do not have the power to overcome.

You have authority and dominion over whatever the devil can bring our way.

Which is why God doesn't tell us pray, ask him to take it.

He tells us rise up with your authority.

Pray and ask God for the strength and the courage to lay aside the thing.

That's why you got to understand, ladies and gentlemen, that you can walk free from anything.

There's no cocaine, come on, that has to have a dominion over you.

There's no sexual appetite, there's no sexual desire, there's no pill, no alcohol.

Listen, there is nothing the devil can bring your way.

There's no nicotine that you cannot break free from.

I am telling you today, you can decide today.

I am no longer going back to that.

You got the power to walk free from it.

There's a place for counseling, there's a place for 12-step programs.

What I'm trying to tell you is on the inside of you, if any man be in Christ, you got the power, man, to break free.

Come on, that's liberate.

For the person that thought I'm gonna have to struggle with this in private for the rest of my life.

I am telling you, you can break free.

But it does take a decision.

So a lot of times, what a lot of times we we we want to be free from the effects of what we are doing while still enjoying the pleasure that comes along with it.

We have to just make up our mind.

You know what?

I love God more than I love whatever that is.

That's why, you know, once once you get saved, you're no longer a sinner.

You never hear us say from this stage, we're all sinners saved by grace.

I know you hear that in certain places.

You'll never hear that here.

We don't believe that.

We believe we used to be sinners, and God's amazing grace has saved us.

Oh man, I wish somebody would help me out.

I can hear your mind.

Are you trying to say since you got saved, you've never sinned?

I didn't say that.

Come on, just because I have sinned doesn't make me a sinner.

We moved into our new house four years ago.

I painted the wall, don't make me a painter.

I don't practice the art of painting.

It's not what I do on a regular basis.

So I'm not a painter.

Even if I have missed the mark, that is not who I am.

You come on, if you're born again, can you hear me?

I don't I whatever you did yesterday, whatever may have happened this morning before you got to church, you are still not a sinner.

The accuser of the brethren wants to make you think you are a sinner.

He wants you to resign that this is who I am.

I'm telling you, that's not who you are.

That's why we don't preach to you like a bunch of sinners.

You don't hear me every week telling you all the stuff you need to stop doing this, you need to stop doing that.

I'm not preaching you like you're a bunch of sinners.

I'm preaching to you, helping you understand who you really are in Christ Jesus.

Because I am convinced once you get a revelation of who you really are, you'll look back and say, that no longer has any place in my life.

You rise up to a place, realizing your righteous place in Christ Jesus.

When you know you've been made righteous in Christ Jesus, then you know the beggarly elements of this demonic world have no place in my life.

And I'm going to stop giving it room to have dominion in my life.

You ought to praise God for that victory.

Here's the thing we got to understand.

What we tolerate in one season can end up becoming a distraction that sabotages our next season.

I'm believing in you.

That's not going to be the case for you.

Here's the third thing we got to understand.

Refocus requires saying no again.

I know you said no before, but refocus requires saying no again.

Understand this.

You have far more, if you're in Christ, you have far more power and authority than the devil does.

You do.

And if you're new here, you may have never heard that before.

You have more authority than the devil.

That's why the Bible says, submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee not from God, he'll flee from you.

That's why you don't hear us talking of doing a whole bunch of singing about what the devil is doing.

The devil surely is busy.

I don't like care what the devil is doing.

Let's talk about what God is doing, man.

When I was in high school, I grew up in a good Baptist church.

One of my friends grew up in a particular Pentecostal denomination.

And I remember going to church with them one time, and it blew my mind.

They sang this, they used to sing this song.

I beat the devil running, and I'm so glad.

I beat the devil running, and I'm so glad.

I beat the devil running, and I'm so glad.

The world can't do me no harm.

I beat the devil running.

And I was like, You beat the devil running?

Like y'all's in a 40-yard dash, and I'm not in a race with the devil.

No, I'm commanding him, get behind me, Satan.

I'm command, I'm I'm commanding him, not in my own name, but in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Take your hands off of my kids, off my family.

What am I trying to say?

If you're in Christ, you have more authority than the devil.

But I do need you to understand this.

Listen to this, listen to this.

He's the most, even though you have more authority than him, he's the most subtle, most patient, and most persistent enemy you will ever encounter.

Understand this.

The devil plays chess, not checkers.

And he will keep coming back with the same temptation, hoping to finally catch you on a day when your spiritual guard is down.

He doesn't have more authority than you, but he's been around a long time.

He's been studying the ways of mankind a long time.

He's even watched, been studying your family line for a long time.

Which means he knows the things that have worked on the Brown family line before.

He knows what has worked on the Jackson family line before.

He knows what your uncles have fallen prey to, what your great granddaddy kept a secret that nobody else knew about.

So what he tries to do is come back with the same thing that has worked before, and he'll keep poking and prodding to see if this day your guard is down.

See, can he get back in there?

Which is why we have to have an understanding.

I can't afford to have my guard down.

I can't afford to lax my grip because I've been doing well in this area for a while.

There's a guy over in the Old Testament, he wasn't a prophet, he wasn't a king.

He was he was a lay person by the name of Nehemiah.

And Nehemiah got an assignment from God that he became fiercely focused about.

The Lord told him to go back and rebuild the torn-down walls of Jerusalem.

He took his assignment seriously.

He gets up, he's building the wall of Jerusalem.

And almost immediately when he starts to build the wall of Jerusalem, the enemy sends these three guys.

One of his name is Sanbalat, one's name is Tobiah, and the third guy's name is Geshem.

And they show up and they begin relentlessly trying to get him off the wall or off of his assignment.

And they they literally use every trick in the book.

They try to ridicule him, they start talking bad about him, thinking maybe they can stir up his emotions, get him down off of his assignment.

They start criticizing him, they start threatening him, they start flat out lying on him, telling lies and see if that's gonna be enough to get him off of his assignment.

They start trying to intimidate him, they start doing everything they can to distract him.

And when they repeatedly invited him to come down off the wall to come and have a conversation with them, Nehemiah finally got to the place he realized, you know what?

This is the devil.

This is a distraction.

And he says one of the most classic lines that I think every one of us in here needs to make this a part of your vocabulary this year.

He says this in Nehemiah 6.3.

He says, Look, guys, I'm engaged in a great work.

So I can't come down.

Then he says this, why should I stop working to come and meet with you?

You know, if you ever got to the place where you start recognizing what you're doing is a great work, see when you're on an assignment from God, you're serving God, you're taking care of your family, that's a great work.

And some of you need to go back and grab that same spirit to near my head.

No, I can't come down.

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

I'm not coming back to that old dead relationship.

I'm not coming back to that old gossiping way we used to do things.

I'm not coming back to that old addiction.

Come on, somebody, I'm not coming back to all that drama we used to deal with.

I'm not coming back to that old mindset.

I'm not drifting back to that old lifestyle that I broke free from.

Come on, somebody.

I'm not gonna spend my energy fighting all these battles and defending myself.

You know why?

Because I'm engaged in a great work.

Come on, I have finally found my sweet spot with God, and I'm not about to let you distract me and pull me down off this wall.

Every yes to your assignment requires a no to something else that's competing with your assignment.

I've been a year, man, and I already knew the enemy's gonna come at me with a bunch of distractions this year.

You know why?

Because God said it's a year of fierce focus.

He comes for the word's sake.

Enemy's been trying everything he could to distract me this year, man.

And I'm happy to tell you, I've been kicking butt, man.

You be proud of me, man.

I've been like somebody in Star Wars.

Enemy been trying to come at me with all kinds of crap.

I've been and because he hasn't been able to get me distracted, hear me out.

His next tactic is he's been trying to use people close to me.

Trying to use family members, trying to use business relationships, trying to use things that he knows would hurt that have hurt in the past.

Thinking he can pull the hurt card and I'm gonna come over here and come down off the wall to deal with him.

I'm here to tell you, if you've been staying focused, pay attention that the enemy is gonna try to use people that matter to you.

And just like it was with Jesus, sometimes even the people that matter, you have to commend them to God because I don't have time to deal with your foolishness right now.

God is working on something.

I still love you, I'm still praying for you, but I'm gonna let you work this out with Jesus.

Give you all space to work this out.

I'm gonna stay on this wall and keep doing what God has called me to do.

Here's the last point I want you to get.

Focus also requires remembering what's actually at stake.

I think sometimes if we could see the end result of what happens when we get off track, when we lose focus, we'd be so much more motivated.

Because sometimes the enemy just wants to dangle in front of us how much fun this is going to be.

Why does the enemy work so hard to distract us?

Because he knows the power of what happens if we finish well.

There's more riding on our focus than what we realize.

There's a verse over here in Deuteronomy 30, verse 19.

Deuteronomy 30:19

I love this.

It says, Today I have given you the choice.

Somebody shout the choice.

Someone say it again, say the choice.

He said, I've given you the choice between life and death.

I've given you the choice between having blessings in your life or curses.

He said, Now I'm calling heaven and earth to turn on the recorder up there and witness the choice that you make all that you would choose life.

Why, God?

So that you and your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids could live in the blessing.

So what he's trying to get them to understand is, hey, hey, hey, this is not just about your decision.

Every decision you make is either opening the door for generational curses down the line, or slamming that door shut and giving birth to generational blessings.

I don't know about you.

I don't want my grandkids to struggle with something I was not courageous enough to put an end to.

I'm convinced some of the stuff we've had to battle, it didn't just show up because of us.

It was a great-granddaddy or great-grandmama.

Descended long time ago, lost that battle because they tried to deal with it in private, didn't want anybody to know.

And it stayed in that family line.

But as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord.

And I need to make sure I understand that my focus affects all the people that come after me.

It affects my kids, it affects my marriage, it affects my ministry, it affects my staff.

There are people, watch this, that are their lives are hanging in the balance, waiting on your yes to remain a yes.

When I was a Michigan State University student, a mechanical engineering student, working for General Motors, had this great future planned out, but I left all of that to go to Bible school because God was tugging at my heart.

All kinds of folks told me I was crazy.

Who leaves a job like this?

How you gonna walk away from Michigan State in this?

But I knew what God was saying.

I watched this my yes at 21 had me ready when I graduated at 23 so I could come on staff.

So that three years later, when it was time to launch out and start this church, I'd be in the right place at the right time.

I don't know.

I mean, maybe I'm being presumptive, but I tend to think my yes has blessed somebody else's life around here.

That's easy to see that with Bishop Davis, but I'm telling you today, your yes is gonna bless somebody else.

Your focus.

You staying true, keeping those doors shut.

Somebody else's life is gonna be blessed because you love them enough to stay focused.

Or here it is, get refocused if you find yourself off track.

Give God a shout and praise.

Lift your hands in here, Father.

We ask you.

Come on, lift them up, Father.

We ask you today.

Examine our hearts, test us, prove us.

Show us if there's any way in us that does not agree with your purpose and your will for our lives.

Lord, help us to see if we've gotten off track.

Show us the videotape of our spiritual life.

Help us to see, Lord, what we need to course correct.

Father, one thing we can tell you is we love you with all of our heart.

Anything that has gotten in the way simply because we haven't paid attention and we make a decision today, if we've lost focus, we will refocus and we'll serve you and honor you with all of our heart for the rest of our days.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, give him praise.

Come on, give him praise.

Give us a few minutes, we're a little bit over our time, but the most important thing I've said all day is right here.

If you're in this place right now and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to pray for you.

I'm not going to embarrass you.

I'm not going to ask you to come up here to the front of the church.

That's not what we do here.

But at some point in our lives, we've got to get off of this wrong thinking where we think that my being good is enough to have a relationship with God.

Can I tell you, all it takes is one sin, one mistake, one bad decision, and we would all deserve to go to hell.

But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Jesus so that he could live and die, be crucified unjustly, so God could raise him from the dead.

And when he came out of that grave, God made salvation possible for every one of us.

And here's the key to salvation.

God didn't ask you to write out a list of all the stuff you promised to stop doing.

He asked you to do one thing: take your life out of your hands and fully commit to follow Jesus.

Surrender your heart, surrender your life to him, let him take you right where you are, change you on the inside, and start a brand new life.

So I want to ask you to do something.

You can be seated here in the front.

If you're here today and you do not know Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, listen to me.

I want to ask you here in just a moment, when I'm asking everybody to bow their heads, when we do, there's a little card in the seat pocket in front of you that says, say yes to Jesus.

If you are ready to say yes to Jesus, when we bow our heads, would you grab that card and hang on to it?

In a moment, I'm gonna count to three when I get to three.

If you're ready to say yes to Jesus, would you lift that card as high as you can in the air?

That's your way of saying, pray for me, Pastor.

Include me in this prayer, Pastor.

I'm not gonna embarrass you, I'm not gonna ask you to stand back up, I'm not gonna ask you to come forward, but I'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer right there at your seat.

It'll change your life forever if you really mean this with all your heart.

So in just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to reach out and grab that card.

Go ahead and bow your heads all over the room.

If you're ready to say yes, would you grab that card?

Hang on to it.

I'm getting ready to count to three.

When I get to three, I'm gonna ask you to shoot that card up as high as you can.

Do it as fast as you can so the devil won't have time to talk you out of it.

This moment right here, you'll mark this moment as a day God turned it all around for you.

If you're on the front row and just lift your hand in the air if you want to surrender to Jesus, and our team will put a card in your hand.

I'm gonna count to three.

Lift that card up as soon as I do.

Here we go.

One, two, three, lift it up, lift it up, lift it up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I see cards all over the room going up.

Come on, anybody else?

Lift it up.

If on the inside of you something is telling you that you need to get in on this prayer, that's the Holy Spirit.

Go ahead and say yes to him and just lift that card up in the air.

Come on, lift it up.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, all over the room.

All over the room.

In the overflow room, you can lift that card up.

If you're online, you can jump in the chat and just tell them I'm saying yes to Jesus.

Every one of you that raised that card, I want you to whisper this prayer.

Say, Dear God in heaven, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for sending him to die in my place.

Thank you for raising him from the dead.

I believe he's alive right now.

So, Jesus, come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender my life to you for the rest of my days.

And according to the Bible, I am right now born again.

Amen.

Come on, put your hands together, impact church.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's going to take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month.

And you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen, sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still going to watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking us out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app, it's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.