“Eyes on the Prize” | Sunday AM | Pastor David K. Caruthers

Original Broadcast of Sunday Morning 11 AM Worship, 03/15/2026

Speaker: Pastor David K. Caruthers

Message Title: "Eyes on the Prize" 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Colossians chapter 3, I want to read verse 1 and 2. Colossians 3, 1 and 2. The word of the Lord said, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God, and set your affections on the things above, not on the things of the earth. And today I want to preach to you for a few minutes eyes on the prize. Lord, we thank you for your presence and power that we have felt already in this house. We thank you for ministering to our hearts and lives. We pray, God, that you would continue to speak to us through your word and that every person here and online would be blessed by your word today and receive it into their hearts. We thank you in Jesus' name. We pray. Everybody say in Jesus' name, Amen. Turn around and smile at somebody before you're seated, maybe shake somebody's hand, tell them it's good to see them. We're glad you're here. Glad you're here. Thank you so much. All you online, thank you for being with us. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Somebody made that, some of you made that really quick and uh just took me very literally. You just looked at two people around you and sat down. Others are going beyond that. Thank you. Thank you for all your prayers for uh Sister Brainolet and also for Brother Scott. Uh thank you for praying for them. God's hand rest upon them, both of them struggling with health issues. I know that you're aware of that. I just want to say thank you for praying. Um they are uh both home at least for a period of time here. So uh just continue praying for them. Thank you so much for doing that. We went on a trip with our grandkids, and uh that kind of played into what I can introduce today. And uh I was driving my wife's car, which uh which I like, but it's a new car and it's got all kinds of stuff on it to help you drive, which I don't like. I feel like I need to get older cars, not newer, if they're gonna if they're gonna drive for me. I just don't want them to drive for me. Maybe it's a man thing, I don't know. Uh but uh perhaps. Anyway, uh driving the car, but uh but it reminded me again because uh she put uh she put everything in GPS where we're going, we're going on this trip, it's taking me this way. There are a couple options, and then in the middle of the drive, GPS wants to adjust the tr the route, you know, to something else. It's like what route? What are we adjusting? I don't know, what are we doing? And I feel very lost, you know, about what's going on. I need my map, you know. I need I need to see a map, I need to see where I'm going. Am I going the right direction? How much do I trust this thing? Is this a quicker route? I don't know. I don't know if it is or not, but yesterday it did take us down a back road. I got to come into uh into San Antonio down a road that I've never been that far out on. I've been on that road, but not that far out. Uh coming into San Antonio's because it took me off to the side. I don't know. It just reminded me, you know, of having GPS. It's supposed to be keeping track of where we're going and adjusting things as we go along if we needed to, and and leading us down the path. And and uh I I'm not quite to this level of having needing a compass, although I do look to see, you know, north, south, east, west kind of thing. Uh but sometimes I really uh I really wish I had a map so I could kind of get the idea, get the perspective, get the direction, and kind of feel like I know where I'm going. And uh and it's just the way, it's just the way I am because I'm old, I guess. I saw something the other day the kids were watching, and it said, you know, some person got on there and they pulled out a map and said, I got this map when I came here, except I can't read the map. I thought, no wonder you're 22 years old, no wonder you can't read the map. You know, you you you need GPS to guide you around in this little space you're in because that's what you're used to. It's good to know where you're going. Colossians chapter 3 tells us that we need to keep our eyes on where we're going. It says if you're risen with Christ, because it's just been talking about being baptized, dying to Christ, rising again with Christ, that new life that begins. If you've been born again, you should be seeking those things which are above. You should be looking at those things which are. That should be our focus, to focus on those things which are above. And the second verse that I read to you said, set your affections, your desire, your direction, your longing on those things above, not on the things of earth. So in case you didn't get it the first time, it's sort of repeated and applied it to our lives. To focus on what God has provided, focus on Jesus, focus on what He has for you. Let your eyes be fixed on the prize. Let your eyes be fixed on the prize of heaven, the hope that you've been waiting for. Do you have a hope that's beyond this life? Amen. We have a hope beyond this life. And I think it's true, as the Apostle Paul said, of course it's true because it's scripture, but it's also very uh uh relevant to our lives, that if we have hope in this life only, we would be of all men or all people most miserable. If this was the end of it, if this was all of it, there wouldn't be a lot to look forward to. I finish this, I die, and it's over with. But that's not the truth. The truth is that there is something greater, there is something more, and that something more is what we're supposed to be looking to, of fixing our eyes on, fixing our attention on, to know where we're going. Philippians chapter 3, very common verse of scripture you're very familiar with. Paul said, I account not myself to apprehend it, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And of course, the Apostle Paul is comparing that sort of to the race, uh looking to the finish line, pressing towards that place that we're headed, going in that direction. But it works for all of our lives. Whatever we focus on, whatever we look at, whatever our eyes are fixed on is the direction we tend to go. And I've said that a hundred times in a hundred different ways, but I still think it's an important and critical concept for us to keep in mind. Wherever our eyes are fixed is the direction we tend to go. It's the direction we tend to move in that direction. We tend to go in that direction, we tend to think in that perspective, we tend to see things through that lens. And so Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto us to seek the kingdom first. And I I don't think that's just talking about first in line in sequential order, but I think it's first in the sense of primary, most importantly, most significantly. Seek the kingdom first, seek the kingdom most importantly. Seek after God. Get your eyes be fixed on the things of God, on the things of heaven, on the place that He has prepared to seek, to desire, to strive, to reach for. And when we do that, our interest, our attitudes, our ambitions, the whole of our outlook on life, all that we are, begins to point in that direction. Our perspective of life begins to point in that direction. We live in a life because we're humans, but also because the world we live in, where our eyes get distracted all the time, our our focus gets distracted all the time with things. It's always troublesome there. It's always a problem there. I'll go back to the car. I wasn't planning on using the car for all this, but anyway, it just kind of popped in my brain while I was up here. I'll go back to the car. My wife's car drives itself. Every once in a while, it'd tell me I needed a coffee break. My wife says because I was swerving all over the road. I think it's because I drove safer than the than the car was trying to drive me. And it didn't like that. Because it likes to get on the left hand part of the lane, and I like to be on the right hand part of the lane, so I'm constantly pulling against it. So it told me I needed a coffee break. I told her I thought that they owned stock and coffee. We have to constantly make adjustments. We have to constantly adjust so that we keep our eyes on the prize. And so when we get distracted, it's very easy to make little changes and get our focus in different directions and not really see and not really understand the difference it's making. You know, the thing about it is when that when that space vehicle takes off, then constantly, from the moment it takes off, whatever kind it's it, whatever kind it is, space shuttles, uh all kinds of space flight, all that, and even on your airplane that you that you get on and fly, it's constantly recalibrating. Where am I going and am I going in the right direction? Because just a small variation. Just a small variation. Years ago, when a flight, uh a domestic flight, was shot down over going over Russia, the problem was not Russia, and the problem was what didn't really have anything to do with military. The problem was when they took off, they were still making manual adjustments and they didn't get it just right. And since they were flying over the ocean, uh, they they by the time they got on that side of the of the world, over that continent, they were off more than they thought they were because it was only a small amount, like one and a half percent off uh uh in their calculations. But by the time they got that far, they were completely off path. And of course, they were mistaken for a uh uh for an aggressive plane flying over or something happening. And so uh and so when you think about it, it's just part of life that we constantly adjust to where we're headed. We constantly adjust to where we're headed. You're gonna get out here on 1604, and there's gonna be some kind of traffic, some kind of bypass, some kind of turn you weren't expecting because they're doing construction. Tell my wife, it's funny. Yesterday I came and and one when I we left our house, went over to 1604, one sign said 1604 west this way, and the other sign said 1604 that west that way. It's like if you were new here, that would be very confusing. You wouldn't know which way to go because you know they're in the middle of construction and they have the leftover construction sign sitting there. And it's giving contrasting, uh contradicting directions. You have to adjust, you have to adapt, and that's why our eyes need to be fixed on heaven, our eyes need to be fixed on Jesus. Our eyes need to be focused because there's constant adjustments taking place on our path. We don't walk near as straight as we think we do. We have to have the end in mind, we have to have the heavenly view in mind, we have to have the focus in mind. But things come, you know, trouble comes into our lives, confuses our minds, and and and stirs our hearts, and and you know, uh, it's humanity. A few days and full of troubles. It's just part of humanity that we have troubles, that we have difficulties, that we have challenges, that we have sickness, that we have problems in our life. It's just part of humanity. So we all have some trouble. Now, even the most pessimistic of you could have said amen right there. Because we all have troubles. We all have challenges, we all have difficulties, we all experience those things. Nobody goes through life without any trouble. And sometimes trouble distracts us, it gets our eyes off of God. Sometimes it's a like a cloud between us and God, and we can't quite see the direction we need to go. The trouble begins to stir in our hearts, and the view of heaven, the view of God, the view of what our eyes is supposed to be fixed on somehow gets clouded out by all of those things that are around us and all the troubles that we may be experiencing in our lives. But I want to tell you something. It doesn't matter how dark the cloud is, the sky is blue above it. Doesn't matter how big the cloud is, the sky is blue above it. Doesn't matter how much rain it brings and how much thunder it rolls and how much lightning that strikes, there's blue skies above it. Because God is always in control. And even when your life is filled with trouble, God hasn't abandoned you, God hasn't left you. Above that trouble is still the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And you may not be able to see him with your eyes, but you can see him in your heart of faith, knowing that God is still with me, he hasn't abandoned me, he hasn't left me alone. I know that through this cloud, there's still a God that loves me, there's still a God that embraces me and helps me. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. But it can distract us sometimes. And sometimes fear distracts us. You know, that's one of the challenges of fear, is that it has a tendency to consume our minds. I tell people all the time: if you want to overcome fear, don't rebuke fear. Because rebuking fear just means you're focused on it even more. And the more you focus on it, the more it grows. So instead of rebuking it, turn your heart to God and start worshiping God. Look at something else. Look at something else. If you're filled with fear, don't look at what's making you fearful. Lift your eyes to God and focus your attention on God. Remember that God has given you an eternal reward. He has prepared a place for you, he has a heaven prepared for you. This world is not my home. And I know that God will keep me, that God will help me, that God will be with me, that God will strengthen me by his power and grace. Matthew chapter 17, verse 20, Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say to you, if you had faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence yonder, and it shall be removed. And nothing shall be impossible unto you. Nothing. Amen. It's not because nothing's impossible to you personally, it's because nothing's impossible to God. Nothing's impossible for his power. Nothing's impossible for his grace and glory to minister in our lives. First John chapter 4, verse 4 says, You are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So don't let that distract you. Lift your eyes to the prize today. Lift your eyes to heaven today. Lift your eyes to Jesus today. Sometimes our challenge is we can we can uh start trusting in ourselves. We can start looking to our own means. And we do. I mean, it's just common nature. I'm just like you. I start thinking of all the things I could do, should do, scheming something, I can make it happen this way or I can turn it that way, and if it only I had this and that. You know, it's our human nature to try to figure out some kind of solution, to try to figure out some kind of path, some kind of way forward. But but if we could lift our eyes to God, if we could trust in God, if we could trust in his word, trust in his power. Psalm 20 and verse 7 says, Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. We will remember the name, the power, the authority of the Lord our God. We won't trust in our own means, but we will trust in God. You still need some human means, you still need some human abilities, you still need some human things, but it's never gonna be enough. Just go ahead and accept it. Just go ahead and accept it today. You're never gonna be enough to do everything you want to do. You're never gonna be enough to overcome every obstacle by yourself. Accept that today. Don't be afraid of that today. Accept that. Jesus is with you, his power is with you. Nothing's impossible with him, so nothing's impossible in what he can do for you. So trust in God. There's always a step of faith, there's always a place that faith has to be exercised. There's always a way that God works in our life through faith, but we have to trust in him. And of course, we live in this busy, buzzing, tumultuous world. And so it can be very distracting. Sometimes it's just responsibilities in life. Sometimes we can get so busy doing the things of life, just going through the needs of life. We all have responsibilities, isn't that right? We all have responsibilities. We all have, I mean, maybe the youngest child in here doesn't have a responsibility much, but we all, especially as adults, we all have responsibilities. You you never get to the place where you don't have any. There's always going to be responsibilities, always going to be things to take care of. There's always going to be things you need to get done. There's always going to be work that needs to be accomplished, it's always going to be there. You're not going to live without that. The key is to try to keep your eyes focused on God and not all of that. Not be overwhelmed with that. If I start thinking about all the impossible situations that I'm facing or may be facing or could be facing, I can't sleep at night. I need to put my trust in God. I need to put my confidence in God and not let this life and this world overtake us. And all the things buzzing around in the world. There are so many distractions, so much stuff going on that's grabbing for your attention. All of the internet and the media and everything, and even shopping on Amazon. Uh-oh. That seems like a pastoral blunder to Miss to mention Amazon. That's like saying shopping at H E B. That would be bad to say. Whatever it is, it's just stuff grabbing your eyes, grabbing your attention, uh, calling your name, calling out to you, distracting you, turning your attention away from God. And it's not that you intend to, it's just, it's just the nature of life, and it's the nature, all these, all of these electronic things you have that make your life so much better and so much easier, so much simpler, all these electronic things around trying to take all of your attention. You know, now your refrigerator needs to be connected to the internet so it can tell you stuff. Your dishwasher needs to be connected to the internet. Your uh I mean, everything you have needs to be connected to the internet. Because it's gonna make everything simple. No, it's gonna take your attention, it's gonna take your time, it's gonna call for you to do something. You know, stuff you never worried about. Some filter, some suggestion. It's like it's like life is filled. You know how it is on your phone where you get all these texts or emails or whatever you get, I don't know, text, emails, social media posts with all these notifications constantly popping up. I don't know how kids, I mean, we always recommend people parents take their kids' uh phones out of their rooms at night. We always recommend that because the kids are st are are bothered by all of those notifications and they can't afford to miss a notification from a student, a friend, or somebody else, and so they'll go through every you know 10,000 notifications to find that one, and so they don't sleep at night, but it applies to adults too. I mean, yeah, you just have to turn it off. It's too bad some real notifications that we might need to get lost and buried in some of that, but but it's lost in the noise of everything. Our lives are filled with noise. Noise all the time, noise all the time. And what I'm saying today is lift your eyes to the prize, lift your eyes to the kingdom of God, lift your eyes to Jesus, lift your eyes away from those distractions. You're gonna have to do it on purpose, you're gonna have to do it intentionally, you're gonna have to turn it off on purpose. It's gonna automatically jump up. You're gonna have to take charge of it. You're gonna have to step in and say, you know what? I'm gonna lift my eyes to Jesus. I'm not gonna watch the pseudo-news all day long while they tell me how bad everything and everyone is. I'm gonna lift my eyes to Jesus, and I'm gonna lift my heart to Jesus. I'm gonna focus on him, and I'm gonna follow after his plan and purpose for my life. Even a blessing can be, even a blessing can be a distraction to us at times. There's a story about Martin Luther, so this means it's old. He said to one of his students, I'll give you a new horse and carriage if you can pray the Lord's Prayer and concentrate on every phrase without losing your train of thought. And so the young man thought, that's no problem, I can do that. And so he began to pray the Lord's Prayer. When he got to the end, he said, All I could think about was that horse and carriage. The whole time. And that's Of how it is sometimes with us. All I can think about is this pressing need on my mind. All I can think about is this blessing you've given me that I want. All I can think about is this resolution to a problem that I'm asking you for. Even the blessing I'm praying for sometimes distracts me from the God of heaven. Even the need I'm praying for, even the thing I'm I'm focused on, is keeping me from hearing God's voice. So because I'm so focused on that instead of on Him. You should pray for your needs. I'm not saying don't pray for your needs. You should pray for what you need. But the need can overwhelm the relationship with Jesus if you're not careful. That can become the driving force of all your prayer. It's God, I need this need to be met. I need this need to be met. I need this need to be met. And Jesus said, I need you to pay attention to me and have a relationship with me. And let me touch your life all around, not just where you're asking for. Let me minister your life all around. Lift your eyes off of the thing you're calling for that would be a blessing to you. But you're holding on to that. It's blocking the relationship because you're seeing everything through that. Doing a little pastoring now. Not quite so many amens. But you know how it is, right? You know how it is. I got a list of needs, God, I've got to get to this list. I mean, we have we have prayer at 10 minutes, you know, and we have all these lists, and everybody's trying to get to all the names on the list, and you know, some people are really, I mean, they're really I mean, they're they're really going fast because sometimes there's a lot of names, and they're really going fast, mentioning every need. That's admirable to try to do that. It's admirable to try to do that. Thank God he already knows what the needs are. Thank God he had already recognized what the needs are. So it's not dependent on me saying each one. But if we get the God of heaven's attention with worship, praise and honor and adoration, we got our eyes fixed on him. Then even if we can't name the need, even if we can't name it for the moment, even if we can't even recall it for the moment, God can still touch and heal and deliver and set free and do the miraculous, whatever he wants to do, he can still do that. The point is, we have our eyes, our attention on heaven. We have our eyes on God, we have our focus on him. So when we come in here and moments like today, come into the house of the Lord, we start worshiping God, it's the same even in the church service. It's the same even in the church service. We see something at the front. Somebody, you know, somebody on the stage, you know, does something. They're just singing. They don't even know. But something caught your attention, and your your brain is going off somewhere. Some of you are already thinking about lunch. You're thinking, when's the pastor going to get done? It's it's 12 something. It's just human nature. I'm not slapping you around for it. It's just human nature. It's what we are. We we live with all these distractions, and we have to intentionally lift our eyes to the prize, lift our eyes on the kingdom of God, lift our eyes on what God wants to do in our lives, the relationship he wants to have with us, the strength, the grace, the power he wants to show to us, the work that he wants to do in our lives. Lord, we want to lift our eyes to that. Yes, we have all these other things that would take our attention, and we some of them we have to make room for, we have to make time for, we have to do, but God help us to get our eyes on you and our focus on you and let your work be done in our lives. Let your spirit minister to us. Sometimes it's whether they're Christians or not, but oftentimes when they're they are Christians. Mostly they don't really care about who's winning the football season. Mostly they don't care who's gonna play that important game or who's gonna win something or something else that we might normally be curious about. Mostly don't care about a lot of things going on in the world. They just they're standing on the brink of their lives. And they're very focused. Very focused on what the next few minutes and then eternity is for them. It narrows things down a bit. No, a whole lot. It narrows the focus down a whole lot. We don't have to be at a point of death for that to happen in our lives. We can fix our eyes on God. Fix our eyes on Him, focus on Him. Would you stand with me? Colossians 3, I want to read it again. If you've been being risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. And set your affection on things, not uh things above, not on the things of earth. If we are really, if we are really buried with him in baptism, if we are really born again of the water and the spirit, something should be constantly drawing our attention to heaven and to Jesus. Something should constantly be calling for us, for our eyes to be fixed on Jesus. The prize, listen folks, the prize is not pearly gates, streets of gold, walls of jasper. The prize is seeing Jesus. The prize is not mansions and crowns and all of that. The prize is seeing Jesus. That's the prize. Lord, help us lift our eyes to you because you're our purpose, our goal, our reason. You're the reason we come to church and worship you. Yeah, we like to see our friends, that's important. We like to support and encourage one another. That's all good, but Lord, most importantly, first is your kingdom. Set our eyes on him. So when we come in here, we start worshiping God before you know it. We're not thinking about anything else. We're not even really thinking about whether they're singing the song well or they're not, or whether they're playing the music well or it's not, or whether whether we can sing on key or not. We're not really thinking about any of that. What we're thinking about is Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I worship you. Something happens when our eyes are fixed on Jesus. When our eyes are focused on Jesus, something refreshing, renewing, something opens, something, a path between us and God so He can work in our lives. Something miraculous happens and we shut out everything else and lift our eyes. I wish you would just do that for a moment. Maybe, maybe you can close your literal eyes so you can look through spiritual eyes and lift your heart and hands to God and say, God, we want to lift our eyes to you. Whatever's been distracting, whatever has been turning your side, whatever's been getting your attention, whatever's been calling you to something else. Set it down for a moment. Set it down for a few minutes this morning. Let's just lift our eyes to Jesus. He is the prize of heaven. He is the one we want to see. He is our hope, our salvation. Would you just lift your eyes to him right now?

unknown 29:49

Come on, let's just