How To Shift Your Focus By Faith

Everybody say, shift happens.

When he does it. I want to walk you through it.

He picks up in verse eighteen, and the Bible is

put in these verses for us, But originally there weren't

like verses breaking up the different letters.

It was just there so we can find it. But

sometimes it jumps in in a weird place.

And I think that happens in verse eighteen because Paul

says verse eighteen, but what does it matter? And that's

a phrase that you should use as well.

What does it matter? What does it matter? Y'all pray

for me that I would.

Get better at that because I take little things really seriously.

So he holly laughed when I made that. That's a

good sign. And he says, you know, what matters?

The important thing, the priority is that in every way,

whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. That's

what matters to me. And so everything that serves that

purpose is fine with me, whether I like it or not.

In the moment, that's what matters to me. What matters

to you?

What matters to you, Because what matters to you will

determine the direction that you point your life in. What

matters to you, that's your destination. So Paul says, what

matters to me is that Christ has preached, and that's happening.

So you know, whatever they're saying about me, that's fine.

For the important thing is that in every way, whether

from false motives or true, Christ is preached. Because of this,

I rejoice. Now, this next phrase to me should be

a different verse. They put it right in the same verse.

But when Paul makes this next statement, he goes into

a completely different mode.

He goes in a different zone.

And what I want to show you is the next

skill that Paul teaches us. And this is not the

skill of interpretation. This is the skill come on, say

it when you got it anticipation, because like we'll a

fortune up in here today trying to buy a vow.

Figure out what I'm writing on this court.

He shifts and he says, now that I've given you

my interpretation of what has happened, let me give you

my anticipation of what.

Say it of what happened. And on one level, Paul says,

I don't know.

They might kill me, I might live. I'm not sure

about that part. But I want you to notice the

frame of mind and the state of consciousness that Paul

engages over these ten verses, starting with eighteen B where

I read to you, where he said yes and I

will continue to rejoice.

He uses the word will. He's shifting.

Now, I've spent enough time talking to you about what happened.

That's over. Can't control it, can't do anything about it. Okay,

I've acknowledged it, I've interpreted it.

That's that.

Now I'm moving forward. Now I want to tell you

what will happen. And I want us to do an exercise, okay,

on every campus.

So this is for those of you at Butler High.

School, Matthew's campus, temporarily homeless. This is for our uptown location.

This is for Weddington, This is for University City, This

is for Lake Norman. This is even for those in Raleigh,

North Carolina, and Toronto, Canada who had record attendance last weekend.

I want all of you, whether you're good at math

or not, I want you to count with me the

number of times that the word will is used in

these ten verses that start in verse eighteen. There's the

first one. You already got it, so put your hand up.

Is one, he said, I will continue to rejoice. Count

out loud. That's next verse. I know he's confident about this,

that through your prayers and God's provision of the spirit

of Jesus Christ, what has happened to.

Me will turn out for my deliverance.

I eagerly expect and hope that I in no way

be as shame, but have sufficient courage so that now

as always Christ be exalted in my body, whether by

life or by death. I don't know what, but I

know why. And so for me to live as Christ

and to die is gain. If I'm to go on

living in the body, this mean fruitful labor for me.

Yet what shall I choose? I do not know.

I'm torn between the two. I desired apartment be with Christ.

When I put up with anything anymore, be luck Betterfies

than Heaven. Much more necessary that I remain in the

body for you. The midst of this, I know that

I remain, and I continue with all of you for

your progress. Maybe sometimes our life is meant to be

more about somebody else's progress in our own.

Come on, let's keep counting.

And I just wanted to point that out because I

was talking about progress and I wanted you to know

sometimes it's not all about you, so that through my

being with you again, you're boasting in Christ. Jesus abound

on account of me. Whatever happens, what has happened, whatever happens,

conduct yourself in a minne word of gospel Christ, and

one that come see you want to hear about you

my absence, I will know that you stand firm in

one spirit. Now only about three of you counted with

me through the whole time. But if you counted ten,

you counted right, ten verses and ten times. He doesn't

say has, He says will. He doesn't say maybe. He

says will why because he has an eager expectation. Did

you see it in verse twenty? And this is what

we need? Okay, he said, I eagerly expect and hope.

How many are enjoying the Bible lesson today? He said,

I eagerly twenty expect and hope.

I eagerly expect and hope.

I was interested to learn Jody Jennings that in Greek

eagerly expect and hope.

Are not verbs, but they're nouns.

And they're joined together by the word kai in Greek

means and, and they have within them the idea. And

this is where I really need you to focus, because

I flunk Greek in college, and then I took it

again in seminary and I passed with a C plus.

And I'm only telling you that for full disclosure to

let you know that I don't typically walk around my

house quoting Greek. But when I saw this in the text,

it was worth bringing out because when Paul says I

eagerly expect, he uses a word here's what's crazy, that

has never been used before.

He made up his own word to describe.

The kind of hope that you have to have to

survive in a situation where there seems to be no

way out. Paul said, this is the kind of hope

that there is no vocabulary for. So Paul had to

take three words and put them together to make a

new word to describe the kind of hope that can

make you look at your kid on drugs and your

husband acting crazy, and your money low and your emotions erect,

and say I still have an expectation and I still

have a hope. And so he looks through his vocabulary

he goes, I can't even I can't even think.

Of how to tell you how I feel about it

right now. I can't.

There's no word, So I'm gonna I'm gonna make one

up and uh and he makes up this word, and

I'm gonna give it to you right now, and you're

gonna use it this week. The word in Greek is

it's made up of three words. H come on, let's

say it together on the ground, count of three, one

two three.

All right, we're gonna need some remedial classes.

Appo carra, dokia, appo carra, dokia, apacara, apacara, donkia, come on,

apocar kidd.

Opo.

It means to turn away with concentration, ignoring other interests.

That's the prefix.

You know, Paul is good because I could preach a

whole sermon just on his prefix Apo.

He said, I'm in a situation right now when.

If I look to my left, I see prison walls.

If I look to my right, I see prison walls.

If I look to my feet, I see a prisoner's chains.

So I gotta turn my head intentionally from what's over

here and what's over here. Everybody said, Apo, sometimes you

got to turn your head.

From what's here and what's here and what's here.

And so we said, I turn my head on purpose,

ignoring what.

I could be focused on. Apo apo apo apakarra Karra

means head. It doesn't require explanation. It literally means head.

Apacara Pacara Dokia a company that was originally founded in

Sweden that sells ready to assemble home furniture and appliances

and accessories Dokia. Dokia originally means I'm trying man to

stretch forward.

So when you put it together, you get this meaning.

And I'm gonna teach this to you and we are

gonna break it out on whatever situation comes up in

your life this week that tries to break your focus

or steal your faith. You need a little bit of

apocara Dokia, which means stretching the head forward.

You missed it. I'm coming to this side.

He said, I'm in a prison cell right now and

I can't move.

I wish I was a better preacher.

If I was a better preacher, you'd get excited about

apple caraa Dokia because he said, I can't move my feet,

I can't move my body, but I'm stretching my head

forward toward.

The future, and so I will.

Rejoice because I'm stretching my head forward. Would you touch

three people, tell him stretch your head.

Stretch your head. See, here's the.

Problem with a lot of people, a lot of people.

We have our heads so far up our past.

That we.

That we can't see that we can't see our future.

But God brought you to church today. That gets your.

Head out your past and give you a little apple

Kara Dokia. Faith and ignor expectation. I'm stretching my head

toward what's next. I'm not stuck in what was, I'm

not worried about what's non people. I'm stretching my head

toward Monday. I'm stretching my head toward next year. I'm

stretching my head toward retirement. I'm stretching my head toward fullness.

I'm stretching my head toward healing. I'm stretching my head

toward my mission. Let's practice. Jump up on your feet.

This is a series called functional faith. Shove your neighbor,

tell them stretch your head. If you're gonna be fit,

you gotta stretch. If you're gonna have faith, you gotta stretch.

If you don't stretch, you might break. So let's stretch.

Come on, let's stretch.

Our hand strings First of all, I know how to

stretch my hand strings.

I know how to stretch my hand strings.

That's about as far down as I'm willing to go

in this tight suit to demonstrated to.

You bad things, man, bad things. But I know how

to stretch my handstrings. I know how to stretch my back.

I know how to I know how to stretch my body.

But nobody teaches us how to stretch our head. Appercoradokia,

stretch your head, Appercrudokia. There is a brighter day, Appercrudokia.

It does make a difference. Appercrudokia. God is working in

my situation. Come on, say it, Appercrudokia. Tell the devil

what you got. Tell them devil, I got that, Appercoradokia.

And the next time you run up on me with discouragement,

you need to know.

I'm turning my head, I'm stretching my neck. Can apper Cardoki,

the devil, he come on, this is better than Brazilian

jiu jitsu. This is better than taekwondo. This is gonna

teach you how to stick your neck out.

And I got good news for you.

Paul said, it doesn't matter if they kill me or

they let me live because this is not a situational interpretation.

This is not a situational anticipation. I feel like preaching this.

I'm done teaching now. I'm in full of preaching mode.

On the count of three, when I say three, I

want you to start with your head to the right.

You're of the right. And when I say.

Three, I want you to turn your head. And this

symbolic of all of the distractions that aren't going to

distract you this week, and all of the cynicism that

you're not even going to pay any attention to this week.

I want you to turn your head. I want you

to give them an APPO. On three, this is your APO.

What two? Three? Turn it? You missed it?

One quick enough? Turn your head to the left. Come on,

we got a practice. I am your spiritual trainer. I'm

trying to teach you what to do when life gets

stuck and I'm not here for you. And you look

into the right and you look into the left on

the cou I want you to jerk your head forward

and give yourself whiplacks. One, two, three, APO, do it again.

Head to the right.

You're looking at that person trying to see what they

think of you looking at that situation, trying to see.

How it's gonna turn out well.

On the counter, three, we got some apo for the devil.

On the counter three turn your head, shout oppo one

two three.

That's the first step. Now we need the donkia, everybody

say dokyo.

Now we need that thing where you stretch your neck

like a giraffe, where you look forward to your future

and smile at it, where you look forward to problems

and difficulties and say, I got something for you called

the spirit of God for me to live as Christ

and to guy is gained. What's Paul saying. He's saying,

either way this turns out, I'm coming out ahead.

You missed it, he said.

I don't know what's gonna happen next, but I'm headed

in the right direction. Somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody shout,

somebody shout, somebody shout, somebody's shout somehow. I'm not there yet,

but I'm headed in the right correction. I got my

focus on, I got my brave on, I got my

courage home, I got my whole pong, I got my

faith on.

Get your hands out your pocket. And when I.

Say three I want you to stretch your neck towards

your future.

What two three?

Stress you missed it?

Let's do it on every campus.

Come on the counter three, stretch your head. I p

Carl Tokyo and tell the devil I'm coming toward my future.

In think what two three? Again? What? Two three?

What?

Two three?

I pull? What?

Two three?

What?

Two three? Don't you what? Two three?

Fo? What?

Two three? You got it? You got it?

You got it, you got.

It, you got it, you got it. Lad like you

got it, shouts.

Like you got it, rejoice like you got God. Well,

God tell you to chice.

Sorry to me, I feel cud about it.

To live this thrice denying guy, and I'm coming out ahead.

Yeah? Why two three? Whoa two three? This your new

cadence this week.

You're not going into this week like thinking about what

happened when you were thirteen. I got some for regret.

It's called Applecara. Donkia turn my head from that. If

I think about that too long, I get depressed. If

I think about that too long, I start bitter. If

I look over here, I might get jealous. If I

look over there, I might get discouraged. So I gotta

stretch my head toward my future.

In faith, I will, I will, I will.

Go.

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