MESSAGES
Demands of Commitment-Part III
From Egypt to the Promised Land
Overcoming Obstacles part - II
Overcoming Obstacles Part -III
Receiving the Promises of God -I
Receiving the Promises of God - II
Reformation: Going Beyond the Obvious
Well Done is Better Than Well Said
When the Church is Gone - Part II
When the Church is Gone - Part III
When the Church is Gone - Part IV
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STAY FOCUSED MATTHEW 14:22-33 This is a familiar passage of scripture to probably everyone in here. No doubt if you have been going to church for any reasonable length of time you have heard several messages preached from this passage. Recognizing this I wanted to find another passage that could be the focus of this morning’s message, but this is where the Lord brought me. Before I get to the meat of what I would like to say today, there are a few things from this passage that I want to point out. First of all, before Jesus in started walking on the water, the boat was already being tossed about on the sea. Verse 24 says the boat was tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. When Peter saw Jesus He wasn’t walking on a calm sea. The sea did not get mean when Peter got out of the boat. It was already wild and crazy. So it took some faith on Peter’s part to even request to come out on the sea and then to actually step out of the boat. Though Peter requested to come out on the sea, stepping out of the boat was not an easy thing to do.
As Christians, we asked God to save us.
We asked and continue to ask Him to change us into whom
and what He would have us to be.
We continues to ask him to lead
us and direct us. But we often find conflict in what we are asking
and what we feel that we are able to do.
Yes I want Jesus to save me and to change me. Yes I want to follow God and be directed by
him as I walk through life. But
though we have taken the first step to come to him, continuing
to walk with him often gets hard.
We are like Peter on a violent sea.
But you know,
Peter had everything he needed to be successful walking on the
sea right there with him. He
had Jesus, the master of all creation.
He had a word from the Lord, saying come.
So He knew the will of God.
He had God’s power being demonstrated right in front
of him, and he had the required faith to step out of the boat
and walk. Yet Peter failed. He forgot one thing. He forgot to stay focused. So our title this morning is STAY FOCUSED. As we walk
through life as I said earlier, we are like Peter trying to walk
on an angry sea. But as
Christians God has provided for us all that we need to be successful
in this Christian walk. II PETER 1:3-4
These verses say that God has by Jesus and through our
knowledge of Him given us all things that we need to live godly
in this world. He has given to us great and precious promises
so that we might escape the corrupt and sinful ways of this world. Though not listed here these promises include
peace, grace, mercy, righteousness and even His divine nature
through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Eph. 4:11-13 says that He has given us leaders to help
us grow up in the faith. Finally
He has given us His Word which is the will of God for mankind
and offers us a personal relationship with Him so that we can
know His will for us as individuals. We have all that we need to live holy, righteous,
successful Christian lives. To
see this life manifested in us, we need to Stay Focused. For if we will not stay focused, we like Peter
will begin to sink as the cares of this world and the storms of
life rage around us. We
must focus. How do you spell focus? F – Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
HEBREWS 12:1-2
The end of chapter 11 of Hebrews talks about the troubles
that were faced by the Old Testament Saints and the tortures of
the early Christians. In other words it talks about the trial that
must be faced by Christians as we walk through life. But others have successfully made it through.
Verse 2 of chapter 12 encourages us as we go through to
look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; the one who
is the beginning and the end to our faith. Jesus is our key to success. He can tell us how to do it. He has done it himself and therefore is qualified
to direct us. We must fix our eyes on him. Look to him for strength for instruction, for
deliverance, for assurance, for assistance, for life. HEBREWS 4:14-16
Because Jesus has walked this earth
in human flesh He understands the trials that we go through.
He knows our weaknesses and how we must battle constantly
to overcome those weaknesses. He knows how we feel; our physical pains, our
emotional distress, our mental anguish, our hurts, our disappointments,
and our troubles. And because
he knows and understands these, we can come to him knowing that
he will understand and in coming we can find grace, mercy and
help in our time of need. We must be like the Psalmist who said (I will
lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth; Ps.
121:1-2). In focusing we must Fix Our Eyes on Jesus. O – Obey At All Cost HEBREWS 5:9
Jesus is the savior of all those who will obey him.
Obedience is essential to a successful Christian life. And it is not that we must obey just when it
is convenient and easy to do.
We must obey even when it causes us to suffer.
Verse 8 said that Jesus learned obedience through the things
that he suffered. We must
obey even when it is hard. But
many times we think that going to God and saying it is too hard
excuses us from having to obey. But the fact that something is hard for us to
do does not excuse us from doing it. LUKE 22:41-44
Facing the cross was not an easy task for Jesus and though
He could have chosen not to do it, He knew that it was the will
of God. He had permission
not to go if he did not want to, but he wanted to please God more
than he wanted to please himself. His death was a sacrifice He offered to God.
We try to give God only that which is convenient and easy.
Do you not know that the things which we must struggle
most to do, are more valuable to God? PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8
Even recognizing who He was, Jesus being the son of God
and by very nature God also, submitted himself and became obedient,
even unto death. The cost of obedience for Jesus was death.
But staying focused on his goal demanded that he obey at
all cost. We to, if we
are to be successful Christians, must set ourselves on Obeying
At All Cost. C – Continue to Move
Forward in Faith
No matter what is going on around us we must continue to
move forward with God. Most of us know the story of Job and how every
thing that he had got wiped out including his family. But what did Job say? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;
Job NUMBERS 13:26-30
When it was time for the Children of Israel to go into
the Promised Land they sent out spies to search the land.
Joshua and Caleb came back and said it is a great land
flowing with milk and honey, with huge grapes oh and by the way
there are a few big people over there, but we can beat them.
Let’s go get our land. They were ready to move forward with God.
They recognized the power, strength and authority given
to them by God and were ready to walk forward with God leading
them into the Promised Land. When
we are walking in the will of God, He promises to go before us
and prepare the way for us. He
does not promise that the way will be easy, but as He directed
the Children of Israel and went with them, so will He do for us.
But the Children of Israel would not go.
In fact in verse 4 of chapter 14 they said “Let’s
make us a captain or an idol god and go back to U – Understand That
There Will Be Obstacles NUMBERS 14:31-33
These people were shocked by the obstacles standing in
there way. They were so shocked that they decided to run
away. Peter back in Matthew
was so shocked by the wind and the angry sea that he became immobile
and could not move. We
must understand that there will always be obstacles placed in
our way to attempt to hinder us from doing the will of God.
These obstacles can come in a host of forms.
I Peter 5:8-9 Says our enemy is like a roaring lion walking
about seeking someone to catch in a trap and destroy.
He will put obstacles in our way.
Friends, family members, church folks can all be hindrances.
Boy friends and girl friends, children, husbands and wives
can all be hindrances. Jobs and careers, alcohol, drugs, sex, money
or the love thereof, sickness, entertainment, etc can all be hindrances. We must know that there will be hindrances,
understand the types of hindrances that the enemy will try to
use in our lives and be prepared not to lose focus when they surface. Understand that there will be obstacles
but don’t panic, turn and run and don’t become immobile. S
-- Set Your Heart on Seeking God When
turning the kingdom over to Solomon, David told him “Now
set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; 1 Chron.
COLOSSIANS
3:1-3 As Christians we are to fall in love
with heavenly things. Set
your heart on heavenly things.
Make your hearts desire to be the things of God.
Don’t be drawn in by the things of this world.
Stretch to reach God. Stretch
your heart. Stretch your
mind. Stretch your desires. Reach for God. He promises to be reaching back for you. When we seek him with a whole heart He promises
that we will find him. MATTHEW 14:22-33
In this passage Peter began to sink because he lost his
focus. He did not fix his eyes on Jesus. He did not determine to obey at all cost the
command to come. He did
not continue to move forward in faith.
He did not understand that there would be obstacles and
thus rather than be prepared for them, he panicked.
Finally he did not stretch out towards Jesus. Peter did
not focus and thus he found himself sinking. MATTHEW 14:31
But Jesus recognizing Peter’s
state reached out for him and lifted him back to safety. We don’t always do our part but thank God
that Jesus steps in when we fall short.
He is our high priest who knows our weaknesses. Though we exercised our right to choose to be
Christians, we do not always get it right.
But when we loose our focus, Jesus steps in to lift us
up and bring us back to safety and there he says to us again –
STAY FOCUSED. |