What is your Focus | Pr Gloria Paul

You're listening to a message to go from at church. We hope this message

will light up your day. Today's title as I was just praying and preparing

for a message this morning. The title of today's message is what is your

focus? All right? If you can turn to the person next to you

and ask them what is your focus? Right? What is your focus?

Um? You know, when we think about a focus, we can be

seated at the same place, or we can be at the same location but

have a very different focus. You know, we can see the same thing,

um, but yet focus in a very different way. Right. And

our faith isn't a product or what we see, but it is a product

or what we focus on. That is what faith is. You know.

Sometimes we use our physical eyes or what our human nature, you know,

what we look at, what we comprehend. It's what we focus in that

season, in that situation that builds our faith, man um. And so

I'm just going to go to the Book of Numbers this morning, okay,

to just help us understand what it means to have a focus, Okay,

a focus where it means that you're focusing on what God wants us to um.

You know, and I believe all of us. Know that the team

that we have this year is heaven rules. Right. It means that we

move and and you know, grow as believers in a way where um,

you know, we please God. Um. You know, sometimes we get

so caught up with the earth, you know, the earthly things distractions,

um. And sometimes these distractions can be not bad things, Okay, they

can be things that we're just caught up being busy priorities, right, Um.

But as children of God, there's just so much more for us,

um. You know if you want to look at the heavenly and what God

wants us to look at. And so we're gonna look at this story from

the Book of Numbers, chapter thirteen. Gave you have your Bibles, you

can turn with me, and I'm reading from the n LT version, right.

So to just give you a bit of contextum to this book, Um,

right number the Book of Numbers here. Um. It's the journey that

the Istraelites were going on, you know, after after God um set them

free from the Egyptians. Um. And so they were in this journey and

Moses was their leader, okay, and so um there was again that wrestle

that the Israelites had, you know, where after even experiencing God, Um,

they still had that disappointments or they still had their frustration, and time

of the time they kept going back to or why are we suffering? You

know, after going through all that God has given and blasphem. So there

was this wrestle that the Istraelites were going through. So as you read this

book m or this chapter, chapter thirteen, this is where the Lord tells

Moses to send twelve spies um to actually look out in this specific land so

that they can actually conquer that place. Okay, And they all came back

with a different report. And the interesting thing is that we can see how

they all were the same place, but yet there were two of them who

came from very came with a different report compared to the other ten. Okay,

So let's just read a couple of scriptures here and then we'll go and

see what we can understand from this. So I'm bringing from numbers thirteen,

verse one. Okay, it says the Lord now say to Moses, sent

out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I'm giving to the

Istraelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes. So Moses

did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal

leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran, Okay.

So this was what the Lord commanded to Moses. And then when we read

on a couple of scriptures below, you'll see that their names and these are

the names of the twelve tribes. Right then, moving on towards seventeen,

Moses gave the men these instructions, as you send them out to explore the

land. Go not through the negif into the hill country. See what the

land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or

weak, few or many. See what kind of land they live in.

Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls or are they unprotected

like open camps. Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees?

Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see. So

this was the instruction that Moses gave to the twelve tribes. Okay. So

then as we read on a couple of scriptures in that same chapter, you'll

see that it's a journey that these twelve tribes when and the things that they

saw. Right. And then you look at worse twenty five, Gay,

hope you'hall following through. Yeah, Worse twenty five is when you know day

they came back with the report of what they saw. Okay. So chapter

thirteen, verse twenty five, it says after exploring the land for forty days,

So they were away for forty days, the men returned to Moses,

Aaron and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran.

They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit

they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses. Okay,

So this is what they mentioned to Moses. We entered the land you

sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country, a land

flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

So they were, you know, just mentioning how did it look like in

the physical right, it's a land with milk and honey. Then it goes

on saying in verse twenty nine, but the people living there are powerful,

and their time mounds are large, and forty five we even saw giants there,

the descendants of Anak, the amalo Kites leave in the Negif and the

Hittites Jebu Sides and Amorrhides leave in the hill country. The Cannonites leave along

the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley. So they came

in with a good report to say, okay, this land, it's beautiful,

it's bountiful. And then again they went and with a wood. But

okay, they're also very powerful. They're very big, you know, they're

so great. And we see a different respawn here in the next scripture.

Right, But Caleb tried to quiet the people. So if we had to

quiet the people, you can imagine that there was not just one person speaking.

It was few, right, they were all maybe taking turns to kind

of talk about how was the land, giving the report, or maybe even

just trying to describe how big the people were. So he had to quiet

them down, and he says, let let's go at once to take the

land. He said, we can certainly conquer it, right, we can

certainly conquer it. And if you can notice, and if you've been following

through, you'll see that's a shift of respond here. There's a group of

them, the ten men who came with h they're bountiful, it's a wonderful

land. But there was also that fear of but they're big, because the

idea of getting into this land was also you know, gaining some clarity or

whether can they actually conquer this land? And so if that is what they

observe, then indirectly what you're saying is that, um, I think we

can't do this. It's just too scary. They're too big, they're giants.

But Caleb said a completely different respond, right. The thing is that

they were at the same place, they went together, they received the same

instruction from the same leader, Moses, and they were given the same task,

but yet they had a very different respond. The ten men had a

different respond Caleb and Joshua had a very different respond. So what we can

see here is that, you know, the difference is that, you know,

they had a different focus. The similarity was that they were at the

same place, they saw the same thing, right, And I believe that

one of the reasons why they could respond in such a way was because it

was the focus, the focus that they had. What was the focus for

Caleb and Joshua. And as I was just preparing this message, I'm reminded

of how sometimes we can be caught up in different seasons of our lives.

We can either be in the same church, you know, we can be

in the same location, but yet we see things very differently because of our

attention, because of where are we focusing our eyes to its? And that

changes everything. I mean, from what we see from this passage. It

changed the way they responded, right, because Caleb and Joshua responded in a

confid with confidence and they see it, we can certainly conquer it. Um,

though they would have seen the same huge guys. M though they would

have seen how powerful they are. But yet there was something about Caleb that

got him to respond and say, we can certainly conquer. Right, we

can certainly conquer. And I believe that different God is speaking to different ones

this morning. You know, we can be in seasons of our lives where

it can be tough. You know, it may seem like it's just so

hard to cross that huddle or to get through that season. But who's by

your side? Right? What are we focusing on? I think that's the

key, Um, that God is reminding us. And you know, in

the Book of Collisions, chapter tw Tree was two, Paul reminds us here

of how we should set our minds. Okay. And to just give you

a bit of a context to this scripture, Paul was speaking to the people

when there was a lot of chaos in the church at that point. False

prophets were coming up. You know, people were arguing and fighting in the

church, right, and so Paul had to come to a place of saying,

guys, what is your focus? Okay, what are we supposed to

do? Okay? I'm going to read to you two versions here, you

know, just to build on the clarity. So in the amplified version of

the Bible, okay, it says, here, set your mind and keep

focus habitually on the things above, heavenly things, not things that are on

the earth which have temporal value. For you die to this world, and

your new real life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who

is our life, appear us, then you also will appear with Him in

glory. Right. And so it says you're setting our minds keeping focus on

the things above. And I believe Caleb responded in such a way because he

knew who who is God is. He knew and he remembered that encounter that

he had with God. Again, I love. How the message version puts

it enough for this such him scripture. Okay, it says, so if

you're serious, all right, if you're serious about leaving this new Resurrection life

with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.

Don't shuffle along. How many of us are shuffling around along? Eyes to

the ground, absorb with the things right in front of you. But look

up, right, look up, be allied to what is going on around

Christ. That's where the action is. See things from his perspective, See

things from his perspective. That's very powerful because that's where the action is,

you know, um, seeing things the way God wants us to see.

Right. And so I'm gonna just share with you a couple of pointers here

to help us understand and maybe even reflect in our own personal lives as well.

Very self focused or how can we set our focus? Right? Um?

You know, with how God wants us to as well. And and

but just before that, you know the meaning of focus, um, You

know it comes with the different words here. In fact, in Hebrew it

means when you concentrate energy towards something um or in fact, it's a central

point right um. Focused points the call. But ultimately, if you look

at this word focus, it's an action. Um. It requires you to

do something, Yeah, it's It requires you to change a habit, or

shift your thoughts, or even change the way we speak and declare right or

even the people that we speak to. It is an action, okay.

So I pray that as we dive into into the word this morning, let's

take those actions okay, and immediately allow God to transform us. Amen.

So the first point here on focus is focus on your thoughts, all right,

Focus on your thoughts. What do you think about and choose to think

about. We should not allow our minds to be shaped by the present world,

but by God's world. Our mindsets need to change, you know.

In fact, sometimes there are certain values or habits that we might need to

get rid of to adopt, you know, what God wants us to because

you know, there's only that much that our minds can take on. If

you're going to keep the old ways and expect God to still feel in what

is the focus, then it's going to be all all over the place.

So there must be a point of life where we can actually let go of

the past, you know, or choose what's important and allow the word of

God to transform our minds? Right, so how do we do that?

In Philippines for eight, it reminds us here on our thoughts, Okay,

Philippines for eight, it says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true,

whatever things are normal, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,

whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there

is any virtue, and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things,

the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me. These

do and the God of Peace will be with you. And so that is

what the scripture reminds us about how our thoughts should be. If you want

to talk about focusing on our thoughts, what are the things that we should

be paying attention to? It says, true, are we holding on to

the truth and we know the truth is the word of God? Or are

we holding on to the lines of the enemy? Right, it's either this

or that, it's not the in between. Right, So the truth whatever,

that's normal? Or just are we doing what's right? Are we speaking

up when we need to? You know, good, lovely and of good

report. And when we look at the scripture in the Book of Numbers,

earlier you would have seen how Caleb and Joshua they could respond in such a

way because their thoughts were so focused. They were focused on the truth,

They were focused on what God did for them to deliver them from the Egyptians,

and so they could actually still stand and testify. We can conquer because

God did it for us. So do we remember those truths or do we

forget things that God has done for us? It's a very human thing that

sometimes we tend to to forget very quickly, especially if we don't take time

to remember, we don't take time to talk about it. And this there's

something about us where we sometimes focus on the negative very frequently. There can

be so many good but they're just one negative can pull us down. But

why not we feel our thoughts with what is good, what is noble,

and what is just right? And so Joshua and Caleb they remembered God and

they had a relationship with God a man. So yeah, yeah, a

couple of reflective questions. Okay, I always believe that the word of God

is practical, you know, it's men for us to do something, to

take an action and to live it out, you know, And it's something

that we need to do even just be active about right if you want to

see God work. So when we talk about thoughts, right, um,

filling our minds with thoughts that is of God. What kind of information or

materials do you read daily? Because whatever you put it into your mind is

how you're going to respond, right. I mean if you think about Caleb,

he couldn't have responded in such a way if his thoughts were not of

what God did or what God is capable he promises. Right. So in

a daily basis, Monday to Saturday or even Sunday. Um, what do

we often read? You know? What do we choose to listen to all

the time? Do you remember Scripture versus? You know, if there's one

fine day when we don't have our Bibles with us, U, can you

steal say that the Word of God said this and hold on to it because

when we go through tough times, these are the things that will come back.

Right. Um. You know when you're going through a tough time,

you just remember the Word of God tells me is given given me a spirit

of fear, but our sound mind. Um. So meaning he gives me

a sound mind. I do should not be living in fear? Should not

be living in discouragement because He's with me. Right, So the script scriptures

that you deposit into your mind, it's going to be very helpful when we

go through tough times. Right. Do you even remember encounters that you have

with God, testimonies that you encounter with God, because those are the stories

that's going to hold us on during tough times, you know, to just

remind us that he can do it. Again, My God is able,

right, My God is able. You know some of us enjoy journaling,

then do that. Or if you're good with songs, then write songs with

the testimonies that God has given you, or even art, draw art,

whatever means it could be just to help you remember the encounter that you have

with God. Remembering helps you to stay focused. Amen. So it is

what you deposit into your mind that would influence your thoughts, right, It

is what you deposit into your mind that would influence your thoughts. So that's

the first pointer about focus our thoughts. And the thing about our thoughts is

that the enemy tries to always mess up with our thoughts first before anything else.

And when he has his foot foot stool on our thoughts, ceremony has

taken that space, then it's very easy for us to just not move,

to give up, or physically just feeling not good, right. UM.

And so it's the mind that we have to God so well, and it's

only the word of God that can help us stay on God, stay focused

in men. Hope you're catching something church, right, UM. And so

just to even share with you about UM, you know, focusing on thoughts.

I mean, this is a testimony that I encountered this year. UM.

And so you know, I've been teaching for some years now, and

one of the desires that I have is to actually um to to to provide

support for teachers, Okay, because I always believe that UM, as an

educator, you play a very big part in the classroom and the lives of

students, you know, and if a teacher is not feeling well or not

right their minds, then the classroom is is not wouldn't do too well.

So UM. And so this passion came by during the pandemic, um,

you know, when everything else was just knew, right, And so I

started off a project and then started you know, having conversations with teachers.

UM. And then when when life got back to normal, you know,

and went back to school, and that their desire kept um burning. UM.

But I knew that I wanted to do something more, um, you

know, for teachers, and so it was just in my heart. I

used to have conversations about it, and UM I wanted to also, um

maybe take up a course or learn you know about about I mean supporting educators.

UM. But the thing is, we don't have much of it,

um in Malaysia, at least from from what I've read or you know,

found out. And so there's this course, UM that I came across.

It's called instructional coaching. Okay, and coaching is something that is quite well

known and um, but instructional coaching is for educators, UM, where you

guide um an educator, UM, not just in this in the sense of

how they teach, but as a person as well. UM. And so

I was just doing some reading and I came across this website and this institute

was in America, UM, and so they had a couple of courses and

so UM, you know, it just took a lot of boldness for me

to to writing an email to this institute. And UM, there's sort of

things in my thoughts as well. So you know, just again to UM

to give a bit of contacts on this is that when I had conversations with

with friends or teachers even about this, UM, it seemed to be an

idea that was UM not taken so well. Okay, where I had you

know, people saying that are you sure it can work UM talking about Malaysian

you know, contacts or it's going to be very difficult to get through you

know, those kind of thoughts. And that was that part of me was

thinking, UM, I'm not sure if this is going to really work out.

But deep down I knew that that was a desire that I had,

UM, and so I just get it courage. I wrote an email to

this institute one fine day and I asked them, you know, well this

is my passion to help teachers and UM, you know, do you have

any available support, UM, you know, for for anything in within Asia

or even Malaysia. And so then UM one of them replied the next day

and they said, oh, we don't have anything started yet in in Asia

or even in Malaysia. UM, but we UM, we see the passion

you have and you want to help you with a scholarship for this course.

Right. And so when I read that. I was wondering it was a

spam or did I really correctly because it was just the next day the email

came in, um, And so I went through the court. It was

the US timing. You know, it was midnight. Um. I went

through that that. Um. It was not easy to do stay awake,

you know. But I just completed the costs about a week ago. And

you know, when I think about this testimony, I'm reminded that, you

know, sometimes when God puts something into your heart, a dream or a

desire, and when you trust him in that, he opens doors in the

ways that you don't even see it coming. Like in my case, it

was something that smiles away, right, Um, something that was not quite

familiar at least in my context, you know, or my surrounding. But

yet, if when God wants to pursue wants you to pursue it, he

opens doors for you, right, He opens doors for you. And from

the time I took up the course, I've had favor with people around me,

be trainers, you know, fellow educators who are saying that, hey,

I think we can start off something even in Malaysia to support teachers.

Right and more and more, I feel that passion and desire keeps growing.

Right, And so what I'm telling from this testimony is that your mind matters,

you know, if we if we, I mean, if I just

get room for my thoughts to be disappointed, you know, thinking that there's

just no way of me growing in this field because it's just new or just

caught up with the negative that I've heard from people around. I wouldn't have

been able to pursue this or that dream might have not come alife as well.

Right, So what are those dreams and desires that God has put in

your hearts. It doesn't seem impossible, does it seem too big for you?

But if you still feel that it's truly something that God has called you

to do, bring it to him. Bring it to him. Do not

let fear take over. Do not let the voices of men to navigate your

life. Right, Because God is the navigator of your life. He is

in control of every step that you take. It meant right. So um,

focusing on our thoughts, right, focusing on our thoughts. The second

thing to help us focus is to think about what do we focus to listen?

To focus on what you listen to? Because when we read the scripture

from the Book of Numbers. The rest of the disciples focused on the giants,

the big man in that land that they went to, but Cayleb focused

on what he heard of, which is God and what God is able.

Right, I mean Caleb was aware of the giants, I'm sure. I

mean, he's not being ignorant. Okay, this is not about being just

you know, blindly going and being ignorant of all the entire situations that are

happening around. But he saw it. But yet his focus was different because

he chose to listen to something else. I mean, if you think about

it, the majority had a very different report, and he could have so

easily just suit with the majority and caught up with the fear right, and

they could have said, yes, I think we can't do this. The

focus could be completely different. But yet it is amazing how the two of

them stood strong and say we can still conquer, we can still do this.

And that's because they focused on what they listen to. Right, They

focus on what they listen to. But the problem is, sometimes often we

tend to pollute our minds with the wrong things. When I say wrong things,

is sometimes too many noises around you know, and we leave in a

time, in an age where there's just so many things that we're listening to,

right when you just switch on your phone and you go into social media,

so many opinions, so many thoughts, and sometimes it's very difficult to

come to your own opinion as well, because everyone has a say on something,

everyone has a suggestion, a thought. So then whose opinion would matter

in times like that? Right? And you know in Romans ten seventeen it

says, so then face it comes by hearing, and hearing by the word

of God, right, hearing by the word of God. And did you

know that when we speak about listening, listening itself is an art, right?

How many of you believe that you're a good listeners? Okay? And

it's not the easiest to be a listener, right, because when we listen

to someone, we're having a conversation with someone, we get so caught up

being judgmental, our thoughts running, or we're not fully present physically maybe there,

but emotionally it's a very different thing. But when we say listen,

focus on listening, how are we listening to the voice of God? Because

God can be speaking to us anytime, be speaking to you right now speaking

to you. You know, when you're alone, when you're in troubles.

But during those times, are you caught up with a situation or do you

give room to listen to God right, to listen to his voice? So

my question for you this morning is are you allowing the word of God to

speak into your life? Right? Are you allowing the word of God to

speak into your life? When we read a portion of scripture in the Bible,

how do we read it? Do we read it okay, just one

passage and then we go to the next, or do we take time to

meditate on it? Do we take time to ask God, God, what

is it that you're showing me or speaking to me in this season of my

life? Right? So are we allowing that? And who are the people

that are speaking into our lives? If you can think of the first five

closest people to you, who are they and are they and what are the

things that are they speaking into you? Because that matters. Right. We

are social beings. We move around with people, being at workplace, be

at church wherever. But the people that are closest to you, what are

the conversations that we have with them? Are they feeding on on the thoughts

of negativity or are they the ones who are pursuing you to the things of

God, right, who are saying, Hey, I know it's tough.

Life is tough, but let's do this together. Let's pray together. Let's

believe that God is able. You know. Do you have a circle of

friends as such or are they or is it like when you walk into a

conversation and you just come back even feeling more tired. Right, let's think

about it, because you need people who can speak life. God uses people,

right, God uses different ones in our lives, you know, to

just even encourage us to do life, to encourage us. I mean,

that's why we have homes, That's why we have discipleship. Right. We

believe in all this because we're not meant to leave our lives alone, you

know. And so if you are not in a relationship where you can speak

life to someone, you know, to a bread or to a sister,

then it's good to just even reach out to any of our leaders us and

say that, hey, I want some connection, you know, I want

to build myself as an individual. Right. And so, yes, God

speaks to the word. God speaks to his people as well, and what

comes from their mouth matters, you know, because it is should be edifying,

right, if it's supposed to grow, help us grow, right,

So, don't let the noises of the world to keep you from listening to

the voice of God. Right. The noises of the world can be a

lot, this can be all sorts of noises, but don't allow that to

keep you away from listening to God. And sometimes that physical action matters,

either switching off our phones or being in a place where maybe it's a little

bit more quieter and God speaks to us, right, God speaks to us.

So just to even recognize this thing about focusing on what we listen to,

you know, we can observe how Jesus and his apostles lived in the

Bible, I mean maybe the Gospels. You know, we can see how

what occupied your time as they journey together with Jesus, the disciples and Jesus.

Right, what do they do with your time? You know? What

were some of their priorities? Right? What mattered to them? And how

did they even relate to the things of the world. You know, because

what you do on a daily basis would determine what you will focus on.

Because if our mind is just so caught up with other priorities. Like I

said, these could also be good things, you know, things that tend

to take up so much of our time. But yet is God being part

of it? You know? Are you communicating with God? Are you giving

room for God to intervene and say, hey, why didn't you do it

this way instead? Right? So, what are our priorities? And a

very good example here is Jesus himself. You know, some of you might

have known the story about how Jesus was tempted. Okay, Jesus himself was

tempted, right, what more is we can go through such temptation and this

would happen right after Jesus fostered for forty days. And it's just so powerful

to see the respawn that he gave to the enemy when he had a conversation

with him. Okay, And we can see this in the book of Luke,

all right, Luke chapter four, verse one to thirteen onwards. So

it says, yea, then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit written from

the Jordan River. He was led by the spirit in the wilderness where he

was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus added nothing that time and

became very hungry. Then the devil said to him, if you are the

son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread. But

Jesus told him no. The scriptures say people do not leave by bread alone.

So if you think about this first respond here there was two voices that

Jesus hurt when was the enemy and this enemy was trying to, you know,

even talk about the power. Okay, you're God right, you can

change stone to break. But he was very focused. He could have just

so caught up with what the enemies said, but he went back to the

scriptures by saying that men shall not leave by bread alone. So what he

listened to affected the way he respond right, influenced the way he responded.

So there's the first point, the first part of the conversation. And then

again the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the

world. In a moment of time, I gave you the glory of these

kingdoms and authority over them. The devils said, because they are mine to

give to anyone I please. Then Jesus replied again, the scriptures say you

must worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. Right, you

must worship the Lord your God. And again, can you see the focus

of Jesus again the voice of the enemy was there, But yet he went

back to the scripture and he responded with the word of God. And then

the last time again the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point

of the temple and said, if you are the son of God, jump

off, for the scriptures say he will order his angels to protect and guard

you, and they will hold you up with their hands, so you won't

even hurt your food on a stone. And Jesus responded saying, the scriptures

also say you must not test the Lord your God. Right, you shall

not test the Lord your God. And do you know that the enemy knows

scriptures as well. He made no better than his and he can mass our

minds with such things as well. And that is how we approached Eve as

well, if you read the book of Genesis. But Jesus knew how to

discern what was the voice of the enemy and the voice of God what God's

wor it says. So there are two voices that we battle in this world

that we're living in, especially as believers, as sons and daughters of Christ.

One is the voice of God and the second is the voice of the

enemy. So are we able then to discern which is which? If you

want to hear a voice this month, this afternoon, what would tell you

that this is from God or this is from the enemy? Are we where

are we with our faith our walk with God that we can confidently say it?

Yes, I can discern because I've experienced God. I know Him as

my personal Lord and Savior. I don't need someone else to tell it to

me. But I can feel it myself. I can say it for myself

because God lives in me. He's alive in me, and I can experience

it. Man. I think it's a good check in for all of us

church. And we're living in an age. Like I said, there are

just a lot of voices around us. There's so many teaching around us.

You know, you just go to YouTube or any of our social media.

There's so many preachers, right, And I mean, yes, there's so

many great preachers out there as well. But let's not just rely on what's

out there. But can we take ownership of our faith? Can we do

our devotion and being contented by reading the Word and saying, yes, God

spoke to me. You know, I remember Passer Cannon giving this called one

day said, imagine going for a buffet on a Sunday and not eating the

rest of the days. Right, So meaning Monday to Saturday you don't eat,

and then Sunday you go for a full buffet. What's going to happen

to our body? Right? And sometimes as Christians, we tend to come

to church in such a way, you know, how is our journey in

the rest of the days. Do we just expect receiving on that Sunday and

allow? Okay, this Sunday message is going to just carry me true for

the rest of the week, right, But it has to be a daily

encounter. If you feel God today, feel him again tomorrow, in fact,

feel even more. His presence is all over as long as we believe

in Him, as long as we welcome him, you know. So let's

let's let us make that a personal desire, saying, God, I want

to encounter you. I want to be able to discern that I will not

fall to the lies of the enemy, but I would know what the word

of God tells. Right. And the next time you hear a voice that

tries to pull you down. That is not from God. Right. God's

word is there to lift you up. He's not there to um, you

know, make us feel down or to even um tempt us. God doesn't

tempt his children. He might test us, okay, to to help us

be in a place of believing recognizing his love, but he doesn't tempt his

children. Um. So we've got to be in a place to grow in

murturity when it comes to our faith and our relationship with God. Amen.

Right, okay, So um, that is about how we need to focus

on what we choose to listen to right now. The third point here is

focus on what you speak our words. Are we aware of what we speak

or even declare? You know? The difference between the spies and Joshua and

Caleb here was that the rest chose to speak words of fear. Right.

They were so caught up with the physical. You know, it's so big,

so huge. I cannot do this with my own strength. That was

their focus. But for Joshua and Caleb, they focused on God's promises.

They focused on what God has told them to do because in fact, God

was the one who told them to go to this land, right, meaning

God was with them, and they remembered that they remembered the encounter that they

had. We got the faith right, the faith that they had with him.

And so that is when we see the scriptures in chapter fourteen of the

Book a Book of Numbers. Here, chapter fourteen, verse eight, the

Kate says, and they spoke to all the congregations. So this was after

all that chaos that the ten Men was and the Istraelites were in fear,

and they're saying, no, we cannot do this. And so that's when

they rose up and they say it here and they spoke to all the congregation

of the children of Israel, saying the land we pass through to spy out

is an exceedingly good land, and if the Lord delights in us, then

he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land

which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord,

nor fear the people of the land, for they are our break their protection

as departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear

right. And this is what Joshua and Caleb declared, right. Caleb's typically

declare saying that the Lord delights in us. And if you look at If

you just pay attention to this part of scripture, you'll notice that they say

things like, okay, and if the Lord is pleased with us, he

will bring us safely where they were in a place of surrender at the same

time, a place of boldness. And it must be God. You know.

Sometimes boldness can also mean where we rely on our own ability. But

when we speak about boldness and confidence in God, it means that you're also

surrendering to what God wants to do. And that's exactly how Caleb responded,

Because if God is with us, he will enable this to happen. Right,

And this is what they declare compared to the rest of the men.

Okay, they say, do not fear. God is with us. So

what do we speak? What do we declare not just to others, but

even in our lives. You know, sometimes we can be so kind to

those around us, but we can be hard on ourselves. Right, and

um, what are those words that they speak to ourselves? Do we declare

the word of God? Do we declare what's good? Is it edifying?

Right? Because what you say reflects what you believe in? Right, what

you say reflects what you believe in. If you're saying that God is able.

It means you believe that God is able. If you say that God

will supply all my needs, meaning you believe that God provides. Right.

You have tasted, you have seen that God is good. You have at

an encounter with God. And now you can say boldly that God is able.

And you know, when we look at Caleb and Joshua, they could

say say say that so boldly because they experienced God. They believed that God

is able. Amen. So um. You know in even in Um fifteen

four it says gentle words are a tree of life. A deceitful tongue crushes

the spirit. And in fact, the Book of James, if you have

the time, read that book, it talks a lot about our tongue,

how powerful the tongue is, how powerful the words we speak would go far

right? And so how are we using it? Is it bringing life or

is it bringing death? In fact, that's a portion of Scripture as well

that says only speak when it's necessary. If you have nothing good to say,

then don't say it right, So our words a man look sixty five

it says a good person produces good things from the treasure of a good heart,

and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

What you say flows from what is in your heart. So what are

we putting into our hearts? That is what is going to come out from

our mouths? Right? I mean, I have this student, um in

my class. You know, every sentence he says, he's just filled with

words that are not too good for the year, okay, while gel words

you know. And and it became so disturbing when um, a few of

his friends started to say, hey, can you not speak like that?

Okay? And this is among the appears you know. As I was sitting

at the friend and I have been noticing it for a while, And so

I had a conversation with him once and I say, hey, making your

friends feeling very uncomfortable, can you be a bit more cautious with your words?

Um? And so so event back, and and a few weeks passed

by. UM, I was just noticing this boy. Um. His speech

was very different, Um. Not much of the words used okay, Um,

but he was he was a very talkative student as well, and he

kept talking. But I didn't quite see the choice, I mean, the

choice of words were better. UM. So then I called him and had

a conversation and I said, um, hey, um, do you notice

something about yourself? And I said, yeah, you know my friends are

no longer you know, try to you know, get me to change the

way I speak. You know, you're spelling that. And then so I

asked him, so what do you do differently that your words are different?

Now? It took some time to think about it, and he said,

I think I just thought before I spoke. Okay, I took some time

to think before I said those words. And this is coming from a seventeen

year boy, you know. And so then I said, well, then

you made that, you took that step, right. So that's the thing

about our words. If you are just a little bit more intentional, right,

Um, if you're just taking a few seconds to think about the words

that we want to say, it makes a whole big difference instead of regretting

it later. Right, So we can do that if only we want to.

Yeah, so our words are powerful. So let's be people that declass

the truth. Right, Let's be a churlren of God who, when majority

says something else, we choose to say the word of God. Because when

God is on our side, he would we win? Right, We don't

have to worry about there's so many people who's the other side. There's so

many people who are thinking the other way around negative. Don't worry about that.

Again, you're focus, right, Are you focused on God or the

other side? Amen? So if you're seated here this afternoon and you're saying,

well, all this thought seems to be good, right, At the

same time, it's not easy, you know, living in this in my

environment or what I'm going through this season of my life, and we talk

about thoughts, what we listen, what we declare. I just want to

end with this tree thoughts here to help us apply the word of God.

Right. And if you're here saying, yes, I want to stay focused.

I want to change on what I focus on so that I can truly

experience what God has for me. The first thing is to first ask God

to change our hearts, because, like we read the scripture just now,

everything comes from the abundance of our hearts, you know. And so if

you're here and you're saying, I just don't know how to start, ask

God to change our hearts, right, Because when our change, our hearts

are change. We say things that are idifying. It affects our actions and

in fact, it helps us to move in compassion, you know, is

a guilt. At six twenty six, he says, I will give you

a new heart and put on a new spirit within you. I will take

the heart of soul and out of your flesh and give you a heart of

flesh right. And God can do that. He can change things around.

He can change our heart. And that that is what David said. God

searched my heart. And sometimes there are things in our lives to where it

has been long past and we may not remember that. That is someone that

I need to forgive, you know, but every time I speak about this

person, I get emotional, I get affected. Well, then ask God

to remove that tone. That's what Paul says. The scriptures to remove that

tone, the little tone that seems to keep bringing pain. Right and God

can remove that. It can give us a new heart so that we are

more focused. Right, so search our hearts. The second point here is

to plan moments with God, to have conversations with him. I think we

have to come to a place of being able to recognize God, you know,

to enjoy his presence, you know, to not just see our prayer

time or fate as just a ritual. You know, sometimes we can get

so caught up with that, you know, where we just okay, set

this time, we pray and then that's it about How about the rest of

the day. Are we continuously meditating on the word of God? Are we

continuously conversing with Him? Right? The things that we think about our decisions

do we involve him? You know? And so just to start off,

have those moments with God, enjoy his presence. Steal your heart. The

Word of God says, be steal and know that I am God. So

if you want to know who God is, steal your heart. Come to

that place or saying God, I just want to experience you. I want

to enjoy the fullness of your presence. Amen. Insom's hundred and nineteen,

it says, direct my steps by your word, and let no iniquity have

dominion over me. And if you're here this afternoon and you're saying I want

direction, go back to the word of God. Ask God. He directs

our steps. In fact, he takes us true step by step right.

That is the God be served and the last thing to do, or to

at least remember as we choose to focus on the things of God. Is

that no matter how big the giant is ahead of us, our foundation for

believing in God will succeed. Right, will succeed. Just as how we

read the passage, there was the majority of them who thought otherwise, the

majority of them who saw something else. They focused on something else that seemed

to be understandable. Right, because things were big, they were giants,

they were great. It seems so difficult in the physical. But yet,

when God is on your side, when your foundation is founded in God,

no matter how big the giant is, no matter how big the obstacle is.

Right, no matter how big that situation it is for you to face,

or that illness that you're battling with, with God, you are able.

A man with God, you are able. So the question for us

to ask is what foundation is your faith built on? Right? What foundation

is your faith built on? Because if our foundation is just built on our

own knowledge, if our foundation is just built on my experiences, what I

know of men people around me, it's going to be quite hard for us

to get through those giants in life. But if my foundation is founded on

the word of God, his promises, my encounter with Him, nothing seems

to be impossible, right, because with God he is able a man.

Right. Um, just gonna end with this scripture and we're going to go

into a time of worship as we you knows, as the word we've heard

about focus, just giving us the space, you know, again our Christian

walk. You know, being a believer is a very personal relationship, you

know, it is something that we've got to believe, We've got to desire

to experience God. Right, And so taking that time to say God,

I want more of you, I want to focus on you, right,

and God works in us. So in John sixteen twenty three it says these

things have spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world.

You'll have tribulation, but be of good share. How I have overcame

the world. Jesus overcame the world for us. He has done it all

for us on the cross. Right. We just took the communion this morning,

this afternoon, and the communion is always is a reminder of the Covenant

of what Jesus did for us, and what he has done cannot be undone.

In fact, there's no big battles that can overcome or can take over

that powerful act of God sending his one and on his son for us.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church,

please visit X Church the RG. We are also active on Facebook and

Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to be a good week,

a hit for you. God bless