Focus Forward Pastor Les

In this weeks sermon, Pastor Les encourages everyone to focus forward. We know that life brings so many obstacles trials, tribulations, and challenges, but we also need to remember that the devil is out to distract us. In this sermon are three key tools that we can use to stay focused forward.

Transcript

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Guys, you may be seated. Amen. We thank the Lord for his goodness. He's amazing. He's faithful. Let me get my my extra eyes. Oh, and I got news. I got pretty cool news that only probably Pastor. Only probably Pastor Less will care about. The Knicks won the NBA finals last night. And let's give it up for Vincent one more time. My man. Always blessing Pastor with his with his water. Yes, I had to say that. The Knicks won last night. I am super excited. I stood up, I watched the whole game. So I'm a little tired, but God is good. Amen. You know what I noticed? I noticed something very interesting in life. And I'm sure you guys are gonna agree. I noticed that distractions are everywhere. They're everywhere. Don't matter where you turn, don't matter where you go, a distraction is always going to show up. You know why? Because we're living in times where paying attention means nothing. Doesn't mean anything to pay attention. We know we have to pay attention, but do we do it? Not all the time. And my reason for saying that is because what? We're always distracted. We're always distracted. It doesn't matter what level you are in this walk. That doesn't matter. Distraction will come and hit you. Distraction will happen in your life. Now, what do we do when this happens? We'll get into that. One thing I need you to remember that every day something is fighting for your attention. There's something in our lives that every single day it fights for our attention. It wants to grab our attention. Right? It fights for it. And you feel the tug. It's annoying because you don't want to give that thing attention. But you're so accustomed to living in it. That you're like, well, every time I pay attention to you, I guess I feel okay for the moment. And I want to feel good momentarily, so I'm gonna go and pay attention to you now. And then we wake up. And you know what happens when we wake up? We realize, what did I just do? Why did I just do this? Why did I just say this? Why am I going to through this and all of this? You start to think all this negativity. Social media wants our attention. Now I'm not talking against social media, because I use it. We all here use it, and it can be used to bless others around the world as long as you use it correctly. But it does grab our attention. Because I know pastor's not the only one guilty of this, but tell me when is the first thing what's the first thing you do when you wake up sometimes? You go through your social media. Right? Not all of us, but some people do. First thing you do when you grab that, you wake up, open your eyes, you still got crust all in your eyes. Maybe some people do, some people don't. But you grab your phone and then you go straight to social media. Because you know you posted something yesterday. You want to see how many likes it got. You want to see if somebody's paying attention. You want to see if what you posted yesterday blessed somebody. But that's really twisted. Because that's grabbing our attention so much that that's the first thing we do. Our problems want to grab our attention. Now, problems is something that we cannot avoid. Amen. We can't avoid problems. Problems come, but you know what else happens? Problems go. And if you believe that when a problem hits your life, know that that problem has an exit. It's not gonna stay there, it's not gonna stay festering in your life. That problem has an exit because everything that starts has to finish. But problems grab our attention. Our fears want to grab our attention too. That one is strong. And when that fear comes upon you, you're now focused on that fear and the feeling that that gives you. Which means what? Now you're paying attention to the fear. So even fear grabs your attention. And the last one, you know what else grabs your attention? That we don't like to say it, but we know it does? Our flesh. Our flesh grabs our attention. Yes, it does. Our flesh knows exactly what to say, what to whisper, what to tell you, in order to grab your attention and get you to be off focus. This shows us what? This shows us that everything wants our what? Undivided attention. Undivided attention. Now, undivided attention means, look, look what it means: concentrating on a person, task, or a conversation completely. That's what undivided attention means. And then it then also says, without dividing your focus or allowing any distractions, without dividing your focus or allowing any other distractions. Now, isn't it funny that a distraction wants you to avoid from being distracted? That's crazy. A distraction, a distraction wants you to avoid from being distracted of the distraction. I know that sounds a little off, but I hope you're following me. I want, for example, I want Pastor Les to be distracted, so I'm gonna distract him with this. And I'm gonna distract him so much that I want him to stay in that distraction. I don't want him to focus on another distraction. I'm gonna turn up the heat so bad that he's gonna look at this one and focus on that one and that one only. Look at what undivided is. Undivided means not separated into parts, but whole. Together. Not separated, but whole. Paying attention to one thing and that one thing only. That's what we have to do. But distractions do that to us too. So while we know that we have to focus on one thing and one thing only, a distraction comes and we use that same method. Except we know that what just came to us is bad. We know that what just came to us we shouldn't really pay attention to, but we do because we are operating under our system. A system that we know that the moment something comes to our lives, we feel like we got to pay attention to it. And in reality, we really don't. You know what? A lot of the stuff that we go through, we go through because we've started in distraction. It started with distraction. You were focused, you were good, you was walking right. Then you wake up two months later, and you ain't even who you were. Something along the line happened and you can't even realize it. So then you know what you try to do? You try to trace it back to see where this started. Where was it that I started losing my focus? Where was it? You start to look back, and you know what? Nine times out of ten, I'm gonna tell you the truth, you ain't gonna find it. You're not gonna find it. You know why? Because we get lost in the distraction. And we give the distraction our undivided attention. So the devil wants you to pay attention to what he created to distract you. That's his goal. Distractions come from the enemy, guys. You know what? A lot of people say you can't look at everything spiritually, but a lot of things you can. And not only you can, a lot of things you have to. You have to look at it as spiritual attacks. So when you're distracted, know that the enemy is using that to try to make you sway. Gonna get into it a little more later. Now, sorry I lost my place. Okay. The devil understands one thing. The devil understands one thing that a lot of believers don't. Ready for this? I think you gotta get this. He understands that whatever has your attention will influence your direction. Whatever, oh my God, this is why he distracts. Because if he could get you to pay attention to his distraction, now that distraction alters your direction. So when you were walking good, you walking right, you got distracted, like I said earlier, you wake up, you realize you don't even know how you got there, is because you've been living in distraction. You've been walking in the distraction that the enemy caused to try to get you to sway. And the enemy knows that if he could distract your focus, he can disrupt your growth. If he could distract your focus, he will disrupt your growth. Everything he does is to try to keep you where you are. That's it. All mental attacks, everything that we go through as human beings, it's just to keep us exactly where we are. He it does not benefit him for you to know the power you have in Christ. Did you know that? It doesn't benefit him. He knows how strong you are, but you have no idea. So he uses everything that he can, especially everything that we like, against us to keep us stuck, to keep us bound. That is how the enemy operates. Look at what the word disrupt means. Disrupt means to interrupt unity. God. When I read that, I was like, oh man, I could stay there, but I'm not. Yo, it says to disrupt unity or to disrupt a function of a system. That's what disrupt means. The Holy Spirit has developed a system. You guys know that. The Holy Spirit has developed a system, it has its own system. This system always functions. This is why when we go through things, we're we're to go to who? To the Holy Spirit, we're sealed with. Right? Because he knows exactly how to what? How to navigate us through these issues, how to navigate us through all the crap we just walked into. Because we're constantly walking into mess, and I know the Holy Spirit be like, here he goes again. He did not learn the last time I talked to him. Here he goes again, here she goes again. You know what's great about the Holy Spirit? That it doesn't get tired. The Holy Spirit ain't like us. Because I could tell my son a thousand times, bro, don't do this. By the fifth time, I already quit. I don't want to tell him no more. I don't want to tell him no more. But thank God the Holy Spirit ain't like me. Thank God the Holy Spirit's not like us. The Holy Spirit is persistent, and he will always be there to try to dig you out of the mess you just created. So it has a system, right? The Holy Spirit has a system on how we function. But the devil sees that system and starts to develop his own tactics to disrupt God's system. So he'll start to develop tactics. He's analyzing, he's looking. Okay, Vincent likes this. He's focused on God, but I know what he likes, and I'm gonna bring him what he likes so strong that he's not gonna focus on God. Because the system that the Holy Spirit had always works, it always works, but the enemies doesn't. This is why he used tactics. He can't use a system, he can't use a system against a believer because the the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have an automatic system of God inside of us, but what he can do is distract you with his tactics. He builds little formulas. Okay, I'm gonna make him look here. I'm gonna, you know, tempt him over here, tempt him over there. That's all he can do. That's all he can do. One thing I want to tell you the devil will only disrupt what's effective. That's the only thing he'll disrupt. The devil will disrupt whatever he sees that's working. Whatever he sees that works, that's what the devil will disrupt. Amen. He will only disrupt what works, guys. That's it. We gotta stop declaring that we are defeated in difficult times. Got to. That's easy to do, right? It's easy. Oh man, I feel so defeated. It's easy to say, but you know why we say it? Because in that moment, we believe it. Right? We believe, let's be real. We believe the the problem we're going through so strong, we believe that it's the end. Ain't that crazy? Oh, how am I? I don't know if you ever asked God this. How are you gonna get me out of this one? You ever asked God that? This one is crazier than the last one. I don't see a way out. I've done that. I know your power was strong with that one, but this is crazy right here. Can you do this? You ever asked him that? Can you really do this? Can you really get me out of this one? This is bad. Can you really help me? Knowing that he can, but what happened? We're distracted on the pain. We're distracted to what's in front of us, and that becomes our focus. So we lose our focus. Right? But the truth is this some believers are not defeated because they lack power. No. They're defeated because they lack focus. Listen, I'm gonna say it again. A lot of believers are defeated because they feel like they lack power, but that's not what it is. It's that they lack focus. This walk takes a lot of focus. It takes a lot of dedication, it takes a lot of submitting, it takes a lot of surrendering. And when you do all of those, that's when you start to gain the focus you're supposed to have to walk this walk of faith. Because this is a blind walk. I wish I knew how I'm gonna be in a year. I wish I knew. I would what? Yo, think about this. If we knew how we would be next year, you know what we would do? We will plan accordingly. We will plan accordingly, and you know what that shows? We will not put God in our plans. Tell me the truth. You will not, bro. You don't even gotta say it. I'm gonna say it for you. You will not put God in your plans if you were the one who could plan your um future accordingly. By knowing what's going on, you wouldn't include God. You would probably say it like, and then I'll pray. Yeah, right. No, you won't. No, you won't. Let's be real. No, you won't. You might throw some lines up for the Lord here and there, but if you're the one devising your plan, you will not include God in it. But I love God's plan. I love it. I love it because I don't know what it is. That's crazy. But it took me years to say that and believe what I just said. The reason some people can't hear God, clearly, is because other voices are competing for their attention. We have a lot of voices around us, and I don't when I say voices, I don't want you to think about um friends, even though that is one of the cases. You got other believers that'll tell you, hey man, uh God told me to tell you, but it don't sit right in your spirit. It's like it doesn't feel right. That's the discernment kicking and letting you know no, that wasn't me. Don't get distracted because that was not me. You can't look, do not receive everything somebody tells you. God already swayed me. Don't receive everything somebody tells you. I'm gonna tell you why. I don't care how spiritual they look, and can I be real? Even if it's me, who even if it's me, and I come to you and I say, the Lord told me to tell you what I want you to do, discern. Pray about it. Don't expect me, Pastor Luce, or any other leader in this church, to give you something from the Lord and you take it 100%. No, you got the same Lord inside of you. You go to that same Lord and you say, Lord, you you spoke to me, I want to know if this was you. Because what that does, oh my God. If I'm in my flesh that day, then I'm being used to distract you. And if that person that you trust is spiritual enough that you get that word from him and you trust it, that person can be used by the enemy to distract you. So pay attention and discern who's talking to you. Don't receive everything. No. It says, but in everything pray. Don't it say that? But in everything pray. See, he man, God, you be wild. Okay. So I asked you today, guys. We were talking about voices and all these people you're competing for people's voices. I asked you today, what voice is the one you're hearing besides God? Voices come in objects. There are things out there that we look at that immediately grabs our attention. So they don't only come in people, they come in so many different things. So I'm asking you today, what voice are you hearing besides God? Now, why did you say besides God, Pastor? Because, like they do in cartoons, you got the angel and the devil on one side. You're gonna hear good and bad, which one is God and which one is the enemy. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit to discern that so you wouldn't get distracted. He sealed you with the Holy Spirit when you got saved to protect you from distraction. The problem is that we think we can do our own decisions, and we operate in our own will instead of in the system that he created through the Holy Spirit. So now we make our own decisions, we get lost, and now we're distracted inside a hole. That's not He's He gave you the comforter, the helper to help you through these times of need, including these times of distraction. Today, God is calling us to move our focus from the temporary and place it in the eternal. We should focus on our eternal focus, our eternal destination. That's what should be our focus at all times. Because whatever you focus on the longest becomes the strongest influence in your life. I know a lot of believers, excuse me, I know a lot of believers that got distracted and focused on a word that they received from God and then now they backslid. So was that God? No, that wasn't God, and I still currently talk to one. He said, No, I'm doing what God told me. I said, What do you mean you're doing what God told you? Yo, you ain't even congregating, you ain't in your word. You could talk a good about the word, but that's all from things you've learned before. Where is your growth? You're not growing, bro. A lot of people don't like me because I be telling them the truth. They don't. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, they ain't. A lot of people be like, nah, I ain't talking to him. Yeah, don't talk to me. Because I'm gonna give it to you. Don't talk to me. I'm gonna give you the truth. Especially when the Lord tells me to do it. So because whatever you focus on the longest becomes the strongest influence. Let's go to the first Bible verse of the day. In the book of Colossians, chapter 3, verse 2. And I'm gonna try to get through this quick, guys. It says, thank you, brother. It says, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Set your minds on things above. Interesting. The verse starts off with the word set. And the word set means put, lay or stand something in a specific place or position. That's what set means. Now let's give you some context. You gotta understand what was happening in the church of Kalasia at this time. Because this is Paul writing to the church of Kalasia, right? He's writing to them. You gotta understand what was happening. Who were the Calatians? They were the Church of Calasia was located in the city of Kalasia, right? The believers were genuine Christians who loved Jesus, but check this out, dangerous teachings were beginning to creep into that church. I'm just giving you some context real quick so you understand. Some in the church were still living like their old selves. So what was going on? By the time Paul reaches chapter three, right, of the book of Colossians, he shifts from a doctrine to lifestyle. So now he's not doctrinizing or extorting. He started chapter one and two like that. Chapter three, now it's like, okay, let me operate you in your lifestyle. Now let's talk about how you're living. Because this is not how I remember leaving this church. Let's talk about how you're living now. You guys are allowing these teachings to come in and come out. This is not the foundation that I helped build for here. No, this is not it. You know what that proves? They were distracted. Distracted by wrongful teachings. I tell you today, again, don't listen to everybody. Because it can be a distraction. This is a church. Aren't we the body? Aren't we the walking church here on this earth? Then this can apply to us too. We gotta understand that we can't just receive everything. But these people were receiving everything they were being taught. Ain't it crazy? All Paul had to do was step away, and the distraction started. He stepped away and went to go do other things, Thomas, but then Kalasia was like, What? Oh, I never heard it like that. Distraction. Distraction immediately. Paul had heard about some of their behavior. He wanted to bring their attention back to God's purpose. So he wasn't condemning them, he was correcting their focus because he saw they were out of focus. So wherever our focus drifts to, oh, I like this. You know what follows? Our direction. It's because now we're being directed by the distraction. We're gonna follow that distraction. This is how they were. They were confused. I can't even imagine that, bro. It's crazy. And this happened, you know why this happens a lot nowadays? It happens a lot to fresh believers, right? A believer gets told the gospel and they believe it a certain way. I'm gonna use myself as an example. I was doctrinized by the church. I was not taught by the church. Oh my god, that's good. There's a difference, a huge difference. I was doctrinized by the church system, but I was never taught by the kingdom of God. Never. So when I grew up, I thought that the way church was was through the doctrine that was man-made. There was a lot of man-made doctrine that I was living by, and then I always saw, like, how come I'm not getting stronger in the spirit? They tell me to pray, and I'm praying, but nothing is happening. Because I was confused by the teachings. Wrongful teachings. Did they do this on purpose? No, no. I know that now. They didn't do this on purpose. They taught what they thought was right. But when I got in the word, I saw that it was wrong. Then the verse says this: it says, set your mind. When you set something, you intentionally place it where you want it and where it needs to be. So he's telling you, set, set your mind. So now you're being intentional. Okay, let me set my mind here. We're talking about the mind. Set my mind here. Paul tells them to set their minds. In other words, place their thoughts on things from above. Focus on things from above. Don't focus on what you're being distracted in. I see that this is not even what I bring to this church. You guys are all over the place. Let me bring you back up to speed. But that's what happens when you're inside a doctrine and you're systematically built to go by a man-made doctrine. When we intentionally place something somewhere, it becomes easier what? To focus on it. Why? Because we know where it is. We know where we left it. If we set our minds to things above, it's easier to focus above because every time we think of where we set our mind, I set it for Christ. I'm going to keep looking for Christ. That's simple. If we set our things for things of above, we know exactly where our mind is. We don't gotta be swayed and distracted by so many different doctrines and so many different teachings and then so many different lies. Lies. Okay? So many different lies. The problem isn't always that people can't find God. You ever heard people, I can't find God? Yo, I want God, but I can't find him. That's not the problem. Sometimes they just simply place their minds somewhere else. That's really what the issue is. So it's not that you can't find God in your life, it's that you put your mind elsewhere. You didn't do what Paul told Kalasia to do. He said, set your mind on things above. And you if you haven't put your mind on things above, then that's when I could tell you, okay, I agree when you say I can't find God. It's there. I can't find God. Why? Well, I don't know. Well, the I don't know shows me you ain't focused. The I don't know shows me that you're not, you're, you're in, you're living in distraction. So I got a few questions I want to ask you. I want you to think about. How do you find your mind to be today? Think about it to yourself. How do you find your mind to be? Where have you set your mind? Where's your mind living? What are you focused on? Because I could play pastor up here. But what about when I'm alone? Can I play pastor when I'm alone? I can. But where's my mind though? Where does my mind go? Sometimes my mind goes to places that y'all don't even want to know. But I don't go with it. I don't go with it. I attack it and I stop it right there. And I say, no, my mind is set on things above. My mind is not, my mind is set on things of the Lord. And I know what you want to do is distract me, devil, but I'm not gonna allow you to distract me. I'm instead, instead of living in your distraction, I'm gonna show you that I operate in the power of the Holy Spirit I'm sealed with. And that you could do whatever you want, but you're not gonna get me out of focus. Why? Because I'm determined to make that happen. Are you determined to fight for your focus? You want to stay focused on God, then you gotta fight for that. Why you gotta fight for it? Because you're gonna keep getting attacked by the enemy. This is not once. Can I tell you something? Attacks of the enemy don't come by seasons, they come by seconds. Every second. Every second you are being attacked to be distracted. So it don't come by seasons. Trials and tribulations do come by seasons. Yes, they do. The Bible teaches us that firmly. But distractions, that's every second. Every second. So every second, you gotta find yourself and put yourself back on focus. Focus on things above, man. Let's go to the second Bible verse. So before I go to that, I'm gonna end with these three points I'm gonna make. Okay. I got three ways on how to stay focused on God. First is seek God's kingdom first. Book of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33. It says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added to you. Now, let's dive into this. That shows us what? That we have to prioritize God's kingdom. That has to be the first thing we do. Because it says, seek first the kingdom of God. So you're the first thing you need to seek is God. The kingdom of God. That's the you got to prioritize what you're seeking. Because we could seek for many things at once. Right? It's true. I could seek for this church to grow just like I could seek for this church to close. At the same time, you can do that because our minds are that powerful, especially when you're distracted. But it says to prioritize it, right? Prioritize his righteousness. We already know what righteousness is. That's being standing right before a holy God. Okay? Prioritize his will over yours. Stop trying to make your will and include God in your will. Like God, this is what I want to do. Thank you for blessing this. No. No. You prioritize what his will for your life is, and you move towards what his will for your life is, not what you want. You don't get, you're not, yo, look, don't be trying to include God in your plans. Don't do that. I've done that thousands of times. Don't do that. You always end in ruin, you end distracted. Because you're trying to include God into what you feel you need to do for him. Who said who said that's the way it is? That's not the way it is. We're in his will. The Bible tells us we are in his will. We're to walk in his will, not ours. And when I mean ours, not mine and God's, but his only. Right? His only. When God becomes first, everything else, you know what happens to everything else? When you prioritize God and the kingdom of God first, when you make him first, everything else in your life, you know what it does? It got no other choice but to fall in its place. When you seek God first, everything else that you're trying to seek falls into the order it's supposed to. Because you're prioritizing your relationship with God the Father. And that's what you have to do. That's the first step. The second step, renewing your mind. And that's the next Bible verse. And the book of Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. And everybody should know this by now because I really touch this one a lot. If you pay attention to my sermons, I touch this one a lot. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I'm going to stop there. That's all I want to read from there. That shows us that transformation starts in your mind. Change, true change starts in your mind. Your life changes when your thinking changes. So your life will change when you start thinking different. And you know what else that shows us? That wherever your mind is, that's where your life is going to go. Wherever your mind wants to sit and fester, that's where your life is going to go. If you're constantly thinking about sin, your life is going to stay in sin. Because your mind has to be transformed by the renewing of the word of God. So if you want to stop being so distracted, apply this one too. Not only seek God first, but renew your mind. Renew your mind. And when you renew your mind with the word of God, you know what you're doing? You're operating in God's will for your life. Because it is his will that we know the power that we possess being believers. But it ain't the enemy's will for you to know that. It's not. It can't be. It can't be. God's word replaces worldly thinking with kingdom thinking. That's what God's word does. So it replaces how we think, how we want to operate with the way the word of God says we should. And when you fester in God's word, when you live and soak up every word of the word of God, that's what happens. Your mind transforms him to one that's kingdom-minded, not fleshly, not carnal, not your mind. Your mind don't count here. Sorry to say. In this walk, your mind doesn't count here. In this walk, your desires don't count here. In this walk, nothing matters but God's will. And then when you prioritize that, everything else follows and falls into the place. And the third last thing is you gotta meditate in God's word. Gotta meditate in God's word. The book of Psalms, next verse, chapter 1, verse 2. Look at what he look at what David said. It said, but his delight is the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. There you go. Meditation. Meditation is so important, man. Meditation is more than just reading, it's more than just thinking. It's deeper than that. Meditation is very deep. Meditation is allowing God's word to settle in your heart. So if I decide to believe you know what I do, guys? I live by Bible verses. I live by Bible verses. I'm gonna explain real quick. My favorite Bible verse of all time is Matthew 6.33. One of them. I have a lot. But that one, because it says it gave me, it gave me direction when I was lost. See God first.

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Whoa.

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Okay, so put you first? Yes. I said that's all I needed to know. But be but but when you're doctrinized, when you're taught incorrectly, that's not what you operate in. You operate in what people tell you, and that leads you to be completely distracted and out of focus. So when I found that verse out, I said, Oh, that's me, that's me. I'ma live by that word. So that's why, and living by the word, the Bible verses that I pick, I meditate on them, bro. On the daily. On the daily, I'm reminding myself of what verses I live by. Why? Because I've renewed my mind to stay focused. I've renewed my spirit to stay focused on what the word of God says, how I should live, how I should walk. So I wouldn't be distracted and I could fight these distractions. Meditate, absorb, live. Make that word yours. Live by that scripture. And when you decide to live by that scripture, you know what you're doing? You're believing in that scripture. In your word, that's how I'm gonna succeed. I'm gonna be walking in your will, not mine. Look, there comes a time in your life where you gotta know I'm not walking in God's will. This is crazy. All of this that's happening don't make no sense. How am I serving God and I'm lost? Have you ever felt that way? How am I serving the Lord and I'm lost? I don't get it. It's because you're in distraction. Simple as that. Your focus is not where it's supposed to be. It's not where it's supposed to be. Because if it was, half of the stuff that you're going through, you wouldn't even, you wouldn't even see the time of day of that stuff, bro. Now I'm not saying that things are not gonna arise, because as evangelist Johnson always says, life be life. Life be life, and life will hit you because it wants to hit you. Things will come because it wants to come. That's just the way it is. But you serve and are sealed with a God that will keep you in check as long as you prioritize him to be your number one source. Then when these things, when these things, excuse me, come, you're no longer looking for the answer. You're walking in the answer. You're walking in it. You ain't looking for it no more. Now, God, but what do I do? No, I know what to do. Right here. It wants me to go left. I'm gonna keep going right. Left looks good because I can escape what I feel is about to happen. I feel like this is gonna hurt if I keep going this way. So if I look left, I see an easier route. No, stay here. Stay here. This is God's will for your life. And God will use what's here to glorify Himself in your life, and you're gonna be brand new. So understand that when things come to our lives, it's to refine you, to make you brand new, to make you stronger, but it's never to destroy you, especially not when the Lord is allowing it. It's never to destroy you, it's only to make you stronger. And let's focus. And with this, I close, guys. I need you guys to remember this church. Where your focus goes, your life will follow. Where your focus goes, your life will follow. They'll take your focus, and now it's like, oh well, I guess I guess I gotta go. You submit immediately to it. You don't even know it, but then you start walking in that distraction. So remember, where your focus goes, your life follows. If your focus is on fear, fear will lead you. If your focus is on problems, then problems will dominate your thinking, completely control you. If your focus is on people, people will determine your peace. So people, oh my gosh, your peace will be in people's hands if you're expecting peace to come from people around you. So if they're in a bad mood, you're in a bad you that ever happened? That ever happened to y'all? My God. If they're in a bad mood, now you're in a bad mood. Bro, I'm gonna talk about me and my wife. Even though she ain't here, but she know this is true. She works from home and I come from work. I had a good day. Same this day I had a good day at work. Hey, babe, I look at her face, bro. Immediately I have to what? Adjust. So now I'm like, alright. The girls was here all day. And the little one, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. She don't know no other word but mommy. And that's eight hours. She's been eight hours going through that. Here I come. I'm in a good mood. I'm silly. I'm a very silly guy. Those who know me know I'm very silly. I always joke around, especially with my wife. So now I'm trying to joke around with her. I see her. I'm like, okay, well, I can't do that. Scratch that off the list. And you have to adjust, right? You have to adjust. But have you ever been so mad that it changes the person's next to you mood? And that's you know what? You know why that happens? Because when you focus on another person's feelings, you start to live in that feeling because your focus has shifted. Instead of being someone who will come in there and try to change that atmosphere because you don't want to be confrontational, now you live in the atmosphere that was created when you walked in that room. If your focus is on people, that's where it's gonna be. But if your focus is on Christ, Christ will direct your path. You won't get lost. The enemy doesn't always need to destroy you. Yo, listen to this, bro. When he gave me, I'm not, oh no, I can't wait to release this. Did you know that the enemy doesn't always need to destroy you? He doesn't need to do that. You make it so easy for him. We make it so easy for the enemy to destroy us. He doesn't have to look at Maribel and say, Today, all the demons I've ever created were attacking Maribel and only Maribel in this world. He doesn't need to do that. You know, we make it easier for him, man. Sometimes all he needs is to distract you. So he doesn't need to devise a plan. If he could distract you, then that opens the room for him to devise a plan. But he gotta distract you first. He gotta take you off your wheel. He has to take you off your track. He has to. He has to. And the moment he sees you're like, wait, what? Oh, there I go. Thank you. Hi, I'm distraction, and I'm here to destroy you. I'm here to eliminate you. I'm here to detain you. I'm here to keep you stuck. And who did that? We did. Not him. We did. We did. Because a distracted believer becomes a weakened believer. And when you're not distracted, you're operating in the power of the Holy Spirit you're sealed with. But when you are, that's when you're weak. Because you're not operating in God's will and the Holy Spirit you're sealed with. But today, God is calling us to what? To focus forward. Focus forward. Don't focus backward. You already passed it. There's no need for you to look back. No need. Don't focus down. Because if you focus down, you're focusing on the devil's playground. Don't do that. But focus upward. Your focus has to be upward. Set on things from above, says the word. That's where we set our focus above. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Fix your eyes on his promises that the word gives us. Fix your mind on things above, because when your focus is in heaven, your life starts reflecting heaven. If your focus is in heaven, then your life looks heavenly. Because this is a personal walk. It's a personal walk. MJ, you have your way of talking to God. Just you and him. If I sit next to MJ, I could only mimic what MJ does to get close to God. But I can't live it. She lives that. She lives in the power of that. There's power in what she does, there's power in what Thomas does. Gave you on I, all of us, there's power in what we do when we connect and focus with our relationship with God, not with someone else's. So you cannot depend on Pastor Lesson's walk for you to be okay. No. No. Focus on your walk. Amen. And when your mind is set on God, no distraction from earth can pull you away from your purpose in the Lord. No distraction. Because it's focused in the correct place. So please focus forward, guys. Amen. I need y'all to focus forward. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep moving towards his purpose for your life and keep growing in faith. One last thing. And never lose sight of the direction that God is taking you. Stay the course. It's gonna benefit you. I know right now it sucks. I know you're confused, and I know you're probably like, I just don't get it. That means you're living in distraction. If you're saying things like that, let me let you know as your pastor, you're distracted. It's okay to know it, but now that you know that you're distracted, what you gotta do? Set your eyes. Set your heart on things above and seek God and his kingdom first, and everything else will fall into place. So stop worrying about your family member that ain't saved. Stop worrying about everybody else in your life for everybody you need to worry about, because that's me. I worry about everybody else in Norfolk, New Jersey but me. Sometimes I worry so much about them that I lose touch with myself. Why? Because they're not in my position. And this is why I wrote this sermon. It got birthed the other day from that, from knowing as I'm praying, the Holy Spirit revealed to me, why are you focused on them? I said, Well, I just want he said, No, what about you? I said, I gotta focus, I gotta keep going forward. Focus forward. I said, okay. And I started writing the sermon. That's what that's how this happened. So just focus forward, guys. Don't get distracted, don't stay in your distraction. You have the tool to get out, and that's the Holy Spirit. Amen.