The Discipline Of Focus

What has your attention right now? Because your focus often determines your direction.

In this episode, we explore how distractions can pull us away from God's purpose and how biblical figures like David, Peter, and Joshua's generation reveal the power of keeping our eyes on God. We also unpack practical habits that help us stay committed when challenges and temptations arise.

If you're feeling distracted, discouraged, or stuck, this conversation will help you refocus, stay resilient, and keep moving forward in faith.

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Transcript

Eyes Forward With Proverbs 4

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Let me just start with this scripture, something which is written dear to my heart. That's what I want to share today. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 25 onwards. And I'm reading from the amplified version. Look at this verse carefully. It says, Let your eyes look directly ahead. Good number of you, you're watching your mobiles or the Bibles or the screen. Let your eyes look directly ahead. Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Consider well and watch carefully the path of your feet, and all your ways will be steadfast and sure. Some other versions would say that, you know, man, like consider the course of your life or where you want to end, concentrate on that and start walking towards it. Meaning, man, have a target in your life, have a goal in your life. Please understand what you want to become, where you want to go in your go in your life. Concentrate on that, then you will succeed in your in your ways. Meaning, if you do not have a goal in your life, if you don't know what to become, where you want to end up in your life, most likely you will fail in your life. Most likely you will never feel success in your life. You'll be confused with your with your life. You know, when I was in school, I mean some of my friends knew very well, you know, what they wanted to become in life. They really mean they would say, This is what I want to do, this is what I want to do. But they were, I also had a category of friends who had absolutely no idea. They are like, you know, take life as it comes. And a good number of them failed in their examinations. Why? Because they never had any focus in their lives. And we normally we used to call those people our people who joined the Air Force. Meaning wherever the air would take them, they would go that way. Yeah. Meaning they never had anything, they never ended up as anything. Nothing good came out of there. Nothing good came out of their life. Why? Because they were distracted, you know. I think like the teenage years and all you know are teenagers, right? They are easily distracted people. Like even nowadays, like the early 20s are also like that. I mean, they're easily distracted, you know, and they'll keep on changing their dreams every now and then. One day they will say, I want to become a doctor. Immediately they will say, I want to become a business person. Then they say, engineer, say, man, what do you want to become, man? We have people, groups of people like that, distracted, always getting distracted. You know, 2006,

How Distraction Derails A Life

SPEAKER_00 3:00

I remember, somewhere around the November, December time, that's when uh that's uh during those days we we thought of starting a church and we wanted to name it Pearl City Church, which eventually ended up as a Hope Unlimited Church. So 2006 was the preparation time, December time, there was a small Australian brand that uh we invited. It's called the Planet Shakers. And Shilpakal A Vedeka is where our venue was. That's where we announced that in March we are going to start the March we are going to start the church. And uh for that, the publicity for that mean interestingly, near this police line. So let's say that Rasulpura Circle, there used to be a huge LED screen and Jubilee's checkpost, also there used to be a huge LED, LED screen, and with all that motion pictures and all. So we paid for that and we got that place. So every day for some time we used to place that ad telling that you know there's a huge concert happening at Chilpagala Vedaka. Planet Shaker band is going to play and all. And uh one week or two weeks after when we started airing that, no, we are just one of the many. Most of the time they were like movie trailers that were coming on that screen and all. The high court issued an order telling all of them are banned and they should be removed immediately. Why? Why because most of the, especially two-wheelers, people who were supposed to go straight were looking at the screen and they were hitting people right in front of right in front of them. Too many accidents happening just because of those screens. And the government decides, now let's remove off all of them. Now I think you know, with a lot of restrictions, those things are coming back. Now, what was the problem there? They were not able to concentrate. The people who were driving, they were not able to concentrate. Why? Because there was a distraction. There was a distraction. Something looked very attractive immediately, there, faces turned there, and they forgot that they were on the road. Let me give you a few Bible illustrations and then we will move on. In the book of Numbers, chapter 13, it talks about Moses who sends the 12 spies to spy on the land of Canaan. And all of them came back and all of them give the right report about their land, about the land of Canaan. They say it is extremely fertile, extremely fruitful, it produces a lot of crops. But then when Joshua and Caleb said, let's go and take over this land, the report suddenly changes, telling, no, we cannot take over this land. You know, God already promised them that, you know, you will go and conquer that land. But then the ten spies, their focus was not on their guard. For the two or three months that they spent over there, their focus was on how big the people, the inhabitants of the land were. So they looked at their enemy so strong, and they forgot their God who was the strongest. They got distracted. If their focus was still on the God who destroyed Egypt, which is more powerful, they would have easily taken care of Jericho. Jericho would have been nothing. But then the focus was not on God, the focus was on how big the giants were and how small the Israelites looked compared to them. The next illustration. Something similar. For few months there was this one giant that was threatening the people of Israel. He would come every day, he would mock the people of Israel, he would make fun of the Israelites, and he would challenge them, telling, get your best warrior. And whoever wins, that group is going to win. Suddenly, into that group, the Israelites were scared because Goliath is nine feet tall. He is a giant. Suddenly, a shepherd teenage David would walk into that camp. Why? Because his dad told him, Go give some food to your brothers. So he carries that food, and the first thing that David says is, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who stands against or like who defies the armies of the living God? And all the military men, they're like, What are you talking about, David? What was the problem over there? For an extended period of time,

When Focus Shifts Fear Grows

SPEAKER_00 8:05

the Israelites heard taunting. Compare that with David. David was taking his heart and praising God. He was in the presence of the Lord. So when he faced the giant, he would say, Who the hell is he? What does he think he is? That he stands against the armies of the living God. What's the problem? The army is focused on the giant. David is focused on his God. Another illustration. Matthew chapter 14. This thing talks about Jesus Christ. And his, let's say, one of his favorite disciples, Peter. I kind of identify myself with Peter a lot. He's like super faith or super fear. So they were on the boat, and there was a storm. And when the storm was there, everybody was scared. And who comes walking on the water? Jesus comes walking on the water. And uh when Jesus was there, you know, I mean, it's okay, it was still a storm. And these people were the disciples of Jesus, they were very close to Jesus, but they were still in a storm. It happens, right? We can be disciples of Jesus, we can be very close to Jesus, but we will still face storms in our life. And when Jesus was there, Peter has this great faith. All the other disciples thought, okay, Jesus, you walk on your water, we will sit in the boat. That is enough for us. But Peter says, God, if you command, I will also come to you walking on the water. Jesus said, Come. So he got out of water and he actually starts walking on the water. He's obeying whatever Jesus said. And he was going towards Jesus until he saw the waves, the wind, and the thunder. Then what happened? He starts. Was Peter obeying Jesus? Yes. Was Peter walking on the water? In the sense, was he experiencing a miracle? Yes. Is Jesus in front of him? Yes. Was he coming closer to Jesus? Yes. But again, in that whole nice, beautiful process, he also started sinking. Why? Because his focus shifted. As long as he was focused on Jesus, everything went on well. Once the waves and the wind started threatening him, he started to. It happens in our life also, right? We can be focused on Jesus. We can be coming closer to Jesus, experiencing a miracle in our life. But just some wave or some thunder, boop, we go down. Happens often in our often in our lives. Today I want to talk about focus. I want to talk about a purpose. You know, by this time, you know, good number of us are in our age where we have figured out where we have to head in our, where we have to head in our life or what is the purpose of our life. For some of you just wrote your intermediate degree examinations, you're still figuring it out. You know, God, what should I do with my what should I do with my life? Yes, like, you know, mean if you do not have a purpose, if you do not have a focus, if you don't have an aim or a goal in your life, mean they say you're like a dead wood in a stream of waters. What do we mean by that? Deadwood in a stream of water is you take a piece of dry wood, throw it in the stream of waters, it will go wherever the stream will take it, right? Wherever the stream flows, the deadwood just goes along with, goes along with that. And I have never heard of a stream which goes upstream. All streams go down. You your life trajectory will go, will go down if you do not have a goal or if you do not have a purpose in your purpose in your life. But if you have a purpose or a dream, you will be like a fish which will go against the against the stream, and you will achieve something good in your good in your life. Let me read a few quotes of uh some great people who spoke about focus and then we will look into the scripture. Alexander Graham Bell, he's the one who patented the tele telegram and telephone, actually, yeah, telephone, and he made a comment like this. He said the sun's rays do not burn until they are brought to a bought bought to a focus. You know, it is 38, 39 degrees right now, and you can walk out and all, you will feel the heat, but you will not really get burnt. But you take a magnifying gas, put a glass, you put a paper, if you focus it enough, that thing will burn. That's the power of a focus. If you focus the sun rays, they will burn. The next one, George Lucas, he's the one who started the Indiana Jones franchise and also the Star Wars franchise. If you see movies, unlikely, you know, your Christian people don't really watch all this, right? Okay. He said something like this. He said, your focus determines your reality. Whatever you focus on, that is most probably what you will become in your become in your life. The next one is like is from Bruce Lee. The old people know it, the new people will be like, you will also know, yeah. Yeah. Bruce Lee, he said, a successful warrior is an average man with a laser-like, laser-like focus. So if you think you're nobody, if you think you're an average person, just focus on one thing. If you just focus on one task in your hand, maybe it is writing or music or one thing, anything, even if you're not an expert. If you just keep focusing on that, you will be an expert in that, and forget being average, you will become an excellent person in an excellent person in that

Purpose Turns Drift Into Direction

SPEAKER_00 14:20

area. That's focus. If you think you're good for nothing, average person, just focus on one thing and you will really become something in your something in your life. The fourth quote, I took it from Steve Jobs, he's the co-founder of the Apple Incorporated, and he says, focus means saying no to a hundred other good ideas that they are. Meaning, when you say that you're focusing, that means that you're ignoring a hundred other good things, possible good things. Why? Because those good things don't matter to you because you know where you're heading in your life. If you're focused on something, you will ignore everything, but go towards what you want to achieve in your achieve in your life. That's focus. And these are men who achieved something or the other in their other in their lives. Let me read this scripture portion and then we will uh go a little more deeper. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. Now this talks about the focus that Jesus had and the focus that you and I also need to have. It says, we must focus on on Jesus. Okay? So Christian people, all of us, we attending the church, believers, we must focus. Our focus should be on. Everybody okay with that? Our focus should be on Jesus, the source and the goal of our goal of our faith. Now, what did Jesus do? He endured death on the cross. So he went through a painful death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it bought him. Two things that Jesus did. He endured, ignored. The two things that Jesus did. Now let's understand this. So Jesus had a focus or Jesus had a goal. Let's say that goal is somewhere over there. The goal, the Bible is telling the goal is your salvation, our salvation. So the joy of that salvation was somewhere over there, but from here till there was a cross, meaning pain and suffering, and along with the cross came disgrace. That's the obstacle that Jesus had in front of him. Because if Jesus had to save all of us, two obstacles the pain and the suffering on the cross, and the disgrace that came along with the that kind of a death. So what did Jesus do? He embraced that suffering, disregarded the disgrace. He embraced the suffering. But then he ignored the disgrace. You've already seen what does the disgrace mean? Somebody dying on the cross is considered as a curse. They falsely accused him, they spat on him, they mocked him, made him carry the cross, and when he was on the cross, they stripped him naked, and even on the cross, they made fun of Jesus Christ. He ignored all of those, all of those things, and as a consequence, then he received the highest position in in heaven. He received his reward. You know, for anything that you and I uh want to achieve in our life, there will be suffering to it. Right? Okay, just live your life, you'll understand. Anything you want to become in your life, if like you know, you're like, oh, I'm not married, I want to get married and all, man, even that you will find suffering. See anything, anything you want to achieve in your life, you will have to go through pain, you will have to go through through suffering. The day when you make a choice to go through all of them is the day when you will be successful in your successful in your life. You know, I mean, one thing I have figured out is uh mean uh recently I've been studying a lot of philosophy and all. I think I'm losing a lot of head just because of that. Too much of philosophy, you tend to kind of, you know, it heats up your brain. So I've been studying, and uh, this one thing I was studying recently last week, it's something called as the cognitive bias. I mean, it has a lot many things under it, but simple way of telling is our brains are tuned in such a way that if there's a problem, we will look for the easiest and the immediate solution. Whatever is close to us, whatever is easily accessible, that's the solution that we that we take that might not be the right solution. Let's say for a clever student, a clever student might be the easiest way to get through the examination is he's clever enough, smart enough to put all the chits where nobody will be able to find. And he might succeed and pass the examination also. Was he clever? In a way, he's clever. But did he do the right way? No, no, no, he just did it the wrong way. Just because the solution is easy, the solution is very convenient, doesn't mean it's just the, it doesn't mean it's the right way. But they say, I mean, that's a cognitive bias. We tend to, I mean, it's like take shortcuts. Even when the shortcut is a wrong way of wrong way to achieve it. You know, I mean, let me give another example for this. You know, I mean, they say, I mean, Copernicus is the one who said uh the heliocentric universe, meaning the sun is in the center and all the planets are roaming around the. And during that time, the church people came against him. And the church fathers and all, these people would say, God appointed me, God speaks to me. Whatever they say is as if God only speaks to them.

Fix Your Eyes On Jesus

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And they called Copernicus, and you know, they had a big session. They are telling, you know, when you stand on the ground, do you see the sun moving or the earth? They said sun is only moving. And in the night, is the moon moving or the earth moving? Moon is only moving. Are the stars moving or the so that means earth is only stationary, everything is revolving around the. That's what they said. And this fellow, they tortured him so much he had to give a written apology. Only years later they found out, found out that you know what he said was right. The church people in this case got it wrong. Just because that is what you observe doesn't mean it is, doesn't mean it is right. You know, another thing that I have also found out is something called time inconsistency. That's very much prevalent among us. What does time inconsistency mean? It says that the human brain has a dated bias towards the here and now, choosing short-term gratification over long-term commitments. We are biased. What we want to enjoy everything now, and uh long-term gratification or long-term gain is what we ignore. We like to enjoy whatever we can enjoy right now. They say that's that's that's actually a big problem. Think about our teenagers. You know, I mean, I'm speaking to some of the teenagers. I said, some people I asked them, when do you have your examination? Some people said next week. And when I sat with them, all they're discussing is IPL. I said, Good luck, man. Good luck, God. What will happen to yeah, like you know, if tomorrow if you have an examination, if Instagram is the only thing that you are doing, God help you. That short-term gratification will not help you in the long term, will not really help you, mean will not come to any help at that time. You will just regret it at that time. If you just focusing on what I should, what I should have. You know the story of Isav and Jacob, short-term gratification, just for a curry, he gave off his birthright. You find example of example like that in the in the word of in the word of God. Marcus Aurelius, I told you, I'm reading a lot of philosophy. Marcus Aurelius is one one person that I read actually, I read quite a bit about uh uh about his works. He wrote a book called as The Meditations. And I kind of really like that book. And he says something like this. He said, it never ceases to amaze me that we all love ourselves more than other people, right? We all love ourselves more than other people, right? Everybody who's silent is agreeing with me. We all love, every morning you look at the mirror and say, Wow! It never ceases to amaze me that we all love ourselves more than the other people, but we care more about their opinion than our own. If somebody looks at you in a little weird way, it's like, what is he thinking about me? What is he thinking about me? Why is he even giving that look? Other people give their judgments based on their fear and their and their greed. That's what human beings are. But then through the years, you know what I figured out is that if I know that I love God, and if I know that God loves me, whether you love me or you don't love me, that's your problem. If I know I like God and God likes me, if you like me or you don't like me, I don't care, man. God loves me and that's enough for enough for me. If you don't love me, that's your problem. If you love me, good for you. Okay, so let's look at four ways we can continue in our life, continue being focused on our God. Because one thing I'm guaranteing you here in this church is that all of us will go through bad times. Yay. All of us will go through hard times. You can be a Christian, you can be spirit-filled, you can be speaking in tongues, you can be doing miracles, whatever you want to do, but we will go through hard times. You know, one of the duties of the church is not to tell you God will bless you, God will bless you, God will bless you. It is also a duty of the church to prepare you for the hard times that we are going to face in our face in our life. And I'm telling you, we will go through hard times. And when we go through hard times, at least these four things will help us to stay constant through our journey. It will help us not to waver in our spiritual life, but to stay on course and achieve the purpose and the goal that God has for that God has for us. Point number one, never give up. An attitude of never giving up. I like this word, never give up. It is there in the Bible throughout. Read the gospel according to Mark. It shows Jesus as a suffering servant, suffering, suffering, suffering, all the time suffering Jesus Christ. But then in that gospel, it is written in such a way telling, no matter how many problems Jesus faced, he never gave up. Till the time he achieved his mission on the cross.

Shortcuts And The Here And Now

SPEAKER_00 25:50

That's the Jesus that the Gospel of Mark presents. He is a God who never really, never really gives up. 29th October 1941. That's when the Second World War was just starting and it was getting intense. During these times, the Axis power, or let's say the Nazi Germany, was very strong. England comparatively was very weak. And Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of England. He led that country through the war. And he knows his country is weak. He is rallying support, increasing the morale of the people. So he goes through, goes through a school, the Harrow School. And there, for some reason, he gives the shortest sermon he ever gave in his life. But then people say that's the most powerful sermon that he also ever gave. One of the powerful at least sermons that he ever gave in his life. Short because it was not more than a few words. Some people will say 14 words or 20 words, but somewhere around that. And the sermon went something like this. He said, This is the lesson. Never given, never given, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never given except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force, never yield to the apparent overwhelming might of the enemy, and he sat down. He's the Prime Minister who led his country through victory. And what was his attitude? Is the attitude of never give up. Never give up, never give up. No matter what, never give up. You know, if you know you're standing on what is right, never give up. If you know you're taking a stand on the word of the Lord and for the things of the Lord, never, never give up in your life. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. You know, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, and the Corinthian church is not a not a decent church. You will read from 1 Corinthians itself, there is sexual perversion in the church, misconduct, adultery, fornication, and these people receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even that they are not using properly. Even they are abusing the gifts left, right, and center. So Paul has to write telling man, God is a God of order. Don't use the gifts of the spirit in this particular, this particular way. So he addresses, and part of the way he addresses a group of people like that is in this way. He said, This is why we never give up. Our spirits are being renewed every day. Our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on the unseen. Basically, he's telling, fix your eyes on the spiritual things, on the heavenly things rather than on the earthly things. What is he trying to say? He's telling that, you know, as a child of God, you will go through problems, man. You will face hard times in your life, you will go through struggles in your life. There'll be times too painful for you to maneuver in your life. But then don't fix your hearts on that. Why? Because our present troubles are small and they won't last for a for a long time. Nah nah, they are not permanent, they will go away. They will go away. But what is going to be permanent is for they produce an immeasurably great glory that will last for. If you go through a bad time and still hold on to Jesus, still hold on to the values of the scripture, God will reward us. God will honor us on that day. Remember the title or the way Jesus Christ calls those who overcame, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few. Now I will give you in charge over many. Well done, good and faithful servant. When we go through a hard time, that's when our faith will get tested. The second one, I like this one. It says, This too shall pass. Oftentimes, when I go through a problem, I have this attitude, this too shall shall pass. Now it's a Persian saying, and in Persia they came up with the story. The story might not be real, but the story is something like this. It it says that the Sultan of that land went to Solomon because Solomon was known for his wisdom. And then they asked Solomon, that person asked Solomon, Solomon, give me a word that will be relevant for good times as well as bad times. A word that is relevant when we are very happy and when we are very sad also. What is that one advice that you can give which is for both of these people? And then Solomon thought through it and he said, This too shall shall pass. So what does that mean? If every if somebody is extremely happy, go and tell them this too shall pass, meaning you will not laugh for a long time, man. But then it's a little disappointing, right? But then he said, when somebody is going through a bad time, you can go to that person and again you can tell that person, this too shall pass. That's good, right? So if you're facing a bad time in your life, speak to yourself and say, This too shall pass. Why? Because you know the typical Eastern, even the Indian people think like this. For us, everything happens in season. We believe in seasons. Right now, it is May, mid-May, it is 37 or 38 or 39 degrees right now. One o'clock or two o'clock, it will by the time the service finishes, it will be 40 or 41. Good luck with that. And but then if you are struggling with this, wait, just wait for three more weeks. Then after three weeks, you will get the monsoon, the rains will come. And two weeks into the rains, you will get fed up of the water, also, right? And after that, don't worry, wait for another two months or so, then the winter comes. And if you're fed up out of the cold, again, just wait for some more months, summer will come, come again. Why? Because seasons have to change. Seasons have to change. The same thing applies in our spiritual lives also. Good times will come, but good times will not last. Just because you have enough blast, just because you're making a lot of money, nice position, nice status, and all, don't think it is going to last forever. So don't grow those two horns. You know, sometimes, you know, if we are really kind of in a good position, we act as if we are like on the top of the world. We don't need anybody arrogant in the way we speak. We kind of think everybody is below us and all. Ah, don't think like that, man. Why? Because when the season changes, you will be bought down. So when you are in a position of influence, influence people, do good in such a way that when you go through a bad time, everybody whom you helped will come to your rescue. Will come and help you. And when you're going through a bad time, don't give up. Don't give in to that pressure, don't just abandon, run away, don't succumb to that defeat. Why? Because bad times also will go away. Bad times also will not stay for a stay for a long time. Marcus Aurelius, I told him, he's a they say Rome has five great emperors, he's the last of them. And if you've seen Gladiator One, you mean he's the first king who was killed in that. I mean, unfortunately, you don't see that many movies, but that's okay. Yeah, Gladiator One, that's where you find uh this emperor. And he wrote, he's also a philosopher, he wrote a book called as The Meditations. And why did I start studying about him? Why? Because during the pandemic, I was just studying about how humans dealt with the pandemics before. And Marcus Aurelius is a great man. He led his whole empire through a pandemic, I mean through a plague rather. It was called the Antonine Plague. Five million people were already dead in his empire. And when people came and asked, how should we deal with this? He made a statement like this. Let me read it for you. He said, We experience the same pattern of life over and over again. History has taught us that this pattern never chattern of life never changes as long as we live. Everything is momentary, nothing is truly novel. What seems to be uncomfortable and scary now will be old and familiar tomorrow. In other words, what he's telling is, man, this pandemic is not new to us. Before this many pandemics came, after this many pandemics also will come. But he says, humanity will continue. It might take a toll on us, but it will not entirely destroy us. The empire, people in that empire, were so strengthened because of these words, they successfully faced that plague and they came out of that, came out of that plague. What problem you go through right now will not be the only problem in your life. Again, I'm not scaring you, but that's the reality of life. If you overcome one problem in your rise right now, there is another problem that is waiting for you in the future. But that shouldn't scare you. Because you are growing, your problems ain't growing. You are growing in your life. You know, they say that, you know, when they wanted to conquer Mount Everest, I think it was Edmund Hillary who went to, when he climbed Mount Everest, and he would go to that mountain or that picture of that mountain, and he failed before trying to climb. But he would look at that mountain and he says, Mountain Everest, I am growing in my experience, I am growing in my strength, but you are not growing. And one day he conquered, one day he conquered it. You know, the thing with this is when you keep facing problems in your life, there is a strength that you will develop in your life. The next one. God is building our building our character. No matter what experience you go through in your life, God is using it to build our build our character. You know, they take Joseph, they sell him as a slave into Egypt. For years together, Joseph suffers in Egypt. He was faithful to Potiphar, falsely accused, thrown into the prison, struggle, struggle, struggle. And after years, when his brothers come to him, Joseph was in a position of power, and his brothers were escaping a famine. His dad and his brothers, they were escaping. If Joseph does not come to their rescue, they will die. When they come in front of Joseph, believe me, if I am in place of Joseph, I'll be like, okay, now I'll tell you. But Joseph, you know what he said? Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, he says,

Four Anchors For Hard Times

SPEAKER_00 37:30

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome so that many people would be kept, would be kept alive. Meaning telling, you people planned something bad. But then God is turning it into something? Something good. You know, there is this one song that we often sing in our church which says, What the he takes what the enemy meant for evil and he turns it for for good. That's who my God is. So sometimes your siblings, sometimes your friends, or sometimes your colleagues, office, politics, that way, this way, they might do something to you just to pull you down, just to make sure that you never rise up in your life. But hold on to Jesus because the place they try to pull you down is the same place where God is going to exalt you. Is the same place where God is going to lift you up, and the same person who pointed their finger and said that, you know, pull him down will be uh will be like you know, they'll stand in order, what happened to this? Why did the story change? That's who my God is. He takes what the enemy meant for evil and he turns it for for good. That's who my who my God is. Romans chapter 5 reads like this: it says, and not only this, but let's exult in our sufferings, in the sense let's rejoice in our suffering, in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardships produce patient endurance, and endurance produces proven character or spiritual maturity. Because the more we struggle in our life, the more character we will develop in our life. You know, the most healthiest soldiers are the soldiers who are at the border because they are constantly on the vigil, constantly ready for any battle. Or else let's think about like, you know, for us, you know, I don't really see that many people who go to the gym over here, but like at least if you go to a gym, you're not like a not really a bodybuilder. But else, like, you know, I've seen bodybuilders, they are like this, they can't even put their hands together. I mean, I mean, and how do you build do bodybuilding? You go to the gym and you pull those weights, right? You lift up those weights, you put pressure on the muscle, and that's how the muscle becomes more stronger. The more you put your put pressure on the muscle, the more stronger it becomes. Oftentimes in the gym, I find the sticker telling no pain. But none of you go man, no pain, no gain. Meaning, if you want to gain something, you will have to go through the pain of getting it, getting it in your life. Same principle in our phys in our spiritual life. God will make you make us go through hard times, and every hard time there's a lesson for us to learn. You are wise when you learn lessons from that and implement in your life. For every struggle that we go through, there's no need to creep and cry and telling, God, why am I going through? I think a better way to deal with it is, God, what are you teaching me through this? What are you, where are you taking me through these hard times? How do you want me to behave during this time? It will make us more, it will make us more wiser. All of us will go through hard times in our life, whether we like it or not. Listen to this. You know, I told you all of us will go through a hard time, but when we will go through hard times up is up to us. What timing we will go through our hard times is a decision we need to make. Let's take, like, you know, a young boy who's studying and he has to prepare for his examination. For that, he has to sit down late nights and study, do those assignments, do those projects and all, and then, like, you know, I mean, that's hard time for young people, right? I mean, the attention span is so small right now and too many distractions. But then, if he puts in that effort, when he becomes sold, he will be comfortable. Because of the effort that he's putting in, he will get a good job, he will have good savings, and when he is old, he can live off those savings. So he is not living a comfortable life at this at the very beginning, doing all the hard work so that the later part of his life he lives a happy life. But then the opposite is also true. When a boy is young, he can sit down, sleep. For some of us, when we open our book, we sleep, right? Some of us, like, you know, if you are if it's insomnia, you read the Bible. And somehow God cures that insomnia when I reap reading the Bible. No, no, no, no. Like, you know, if you relax, close your eyes, be lazy, kind of waste away your life, when you are old, you will struggle. You will struggle in your life. When all the others are having a good life, you might not be having a good life. All of us will go through hard times. When we go through hard times, it's up to us. Think about this. If you put in the effort right now, if you struggle right now, your later part of your life will be much better. Or if you relax right now, the later part of your life will be terrible. The last one. When we go through our hard times, please remember this. Fix your eyes on, fix your eyes on Jesus, fix your eyes on God. Believe me, where you spend your time and your resources will determine your focus. And your focus will determine your priority, and your priorities will determine your destiny. If you're spending too much time on X, Y, Z, on bikes or whatever, that is your focus, man. That will become your destiny. If you're focusing on whatever it is, where you spend your time and your resources, your money on, that will be your focus in your so decide where you want to spend your time on. Decide what you want to spend your resources on. That will ultimately lead you to your destiny. You know, when I was in Sunday school, uh I learned this song. My Sunday school teacher taught me. Me, this song, and and it kind of really helps me because when we start focusing on Jesus, somehow the focus on the worldly things will go down, and the song is something like turn your eyes upon Jesus. Anybody turn your eyes upon none of you know, okay, upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of the world will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and glory and grace. Meaning there are always two things that will be present in our life, just that one of those two things will always be big in our life. We will have problems in our life, we will also have God in our life. And one of these things, either our problems will be big in our life, or either God will be big in our life. Who on what will be big in our life is a decision we have to make. Whatever you focus on, that will be big in our life. If you focus on your problems, your problems will be big. If you focus on God, God will be big. So turn your eyes on Jesus and the things of this world will go strangely, strangely dim. Focus on Jesus and your problems will become little smaller and smaller and smaller. You focus on your problems, then God will start shrinking in your shrinking in your life. It depends on what choice we make in our, we make in our life. Let me just close with these two verses. Paul writes to the Colossian church. The Colossian church is going through a lot of problem. In fact, read Colossians very carefully. You will find that they are going through a lot of witchcraft. Just that Paul is writing to tell that you know God overcame all these principalities and dominions and powers. But part of the solution he gave gives to the church, which is terrified of evil forces, he says, We are praying for you that you will be filled with this mighty, glorious strength, so that you can keep on going no matter what happens, always full of the joy of the joy of the Lord. What is the solution that Paul gives to a church that is suffering? He says, Keep on going, keep on going, never really give up in your life. The same apostle Paul writes to Timothy, he was the pastor of the church at Ephesus right now, and he tells to Timothy, he says, we can only keep on going after all by the power of

Closing Prayer And Commitment

SPEAKER_00 46:45

God who first saved us. What is Paul trying to say? Telling, man, problems will come in our life. Hard situations will come in our life. There will be governments that will persecute, there will be people around us that we will that they will persecute, there will be situations around us that will not be conducive, that will not be okay, but keep on going, don't lose your faith, don't get discouraged. Four things we have seen, he says, never give up, never give up in your life. Jesus never gave up. Why should I also give up? And also understand that no matter what bad situation you face, that too shall pass. That too shall just go away. Believe me, only the things of God are permanent. Everything pertaining to this earth, our problems, our rumors, the politics, everything they play, the positions that we hold, everything is power, I mean temporary. They will just go away. Even the money, the property we earn will one day just go away. When we do the will of the Lord, that thing will last for, that thing will last forever. The joy that we receive in staying faithful to the Lord, the joy will continue for, continue forever. Fix your eyes on, fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. Come let us stand in the presence of the Lord today. I think it's time for us to make a commitment to our God. Telling God, I want to stay focused on you, oh God. And if you are getting distracted in your life, distracted because of X, Y, Z reason, say God, I don't want to get distracted, oh Lord. That's not me. I want to focus on you. I want to concentrate on you, oh Lord. And I am telling you, why get scared of the problems that you're going through? Because that problem itself is temporary. That problem itself will not last for a long time. Even if you don't do anything, that problem will die out. Focus, fix your eyes on Jesus because ultimately he will come to our rescue.