FOCUS // DEATH BY DISTRACTION: PART 1 // PASTOR MIKE McCLURE, JR.

the ability to focus can make or break your success in life in fact scientists consider the ability to establish mental focus as an important predictor of a person's future success can we argue that the same way tired people need rest distracted people need focus [Music] i want to start today's conversation with an antidote or a funny story that i believe can set the tone for this current uh series of conversations we're about to have centered around focus a lady went to a pet store and her dream was to have a parent who could speak back to her as a little girl she would always dream that i'm going to have a pair instead of saying polly want a cracker i'll be able to be i have a best friend and someone to answer my phone and a good party trick so she walked into the store and purchased this parrot and she went home and night one the parrot never spoke she came back the second day i was like hey i purchased this pair they won't speak do you have a swing parrot's like swing she said oh i didn't get a swing she installs the swing and on day two still no conversation she brings the parrot back and says hey steal nuts i tell you what put some nice leaves some nice greenery in there make it feel at home make them comfortable still the next night nothing she came back the last time and said okay what do i have to do i said i tell you what have you been speaking to the parent she said i haven't i just been waiting on them to talk go home let them hear your voice have conversations talk she did that but sadly that parrot died she brought the parrot back to the pet store and said owner i want my money back this parrot is dead the owner looked at her and literally said did the parrot ever speak she said yes one time said what did the parents say do they have any food at that store she was so focused on getting what she wanted from the parent wow she missed that the parrot had needs wow i'ma say that again she was so focused on what she desired from the parrot she missed the fact that the parrot had needs wow i want to set the groundwork right now and suggest to many of you that the same way tired people need rest yes distracted people need focus is that critical talk about that man man listen when you brought that up i couldn't help but think how many times in my life i've gotten home at the end of the day and hadn't accomplished any other thing anything that i had my mind set on before i left the house let's stop i need somebody to go in the comments right now and say you're talking to me yes i woke up that morning and i'm a workout yes sir i'm gonna eat right how many times yes have you said i'm gonna eat right now i'm gonna get a salad get to work everybody go to get barbecued and say you know what i'm gonna do it tomorrow talk about that listen i'm telling you i think that too many times we think that the goals that we set are going to accomplish themselves when truth be told you just said it so beautifully the same way tired people need rest distracted people need focus distraction is a natural occurrence see too many times people think that because you got distracted that means that means that you're doing something wrong so distractions are natural naturally yeah something's going to happen that is going to compete for your attention that's good i believe that our primary issue is not that we aren't smart enough yes not that we aren't connected enough not that we aren't educated enough but rather we aren't focused enough yes sir and listen to your pastor right now distractions are dangerous yes sir yes oh talk about that what can distractions do they can derail our dreams um distractions here's the most critical thing i found in my own life yeah i'm just going to be transparent here that distractions move me from being prepared to becoming a procrastinator uh like we got to stop see pastor mike why are you starting a year like this every year yes for the last 11 years i've started preaching yes sir i said as a family we're about to have a series of conversations you're going to sit here pastor darius will sit here yes i may get leslie and tiffany lady because i really want to examine in our devotionals and in our walk with christ how to maximize our focus you say a distraction yes can take you from preparation to procrastinate procrastination watch night i said something that was cold yes sir i said preparation is with anticipation and confidence yes sir put that in your notes somebody put that in the comments right now that's good preparation is anticipation and confidence it means i'm waiting and prepared for it but i'm confident that it's coming yes so if if preparation is anticipation and confidence yes then procrastination is anticipation and arrogance arrogance that's good arrogance talk about arrogance foreign you're really contrasting confidence and arrogance confidence has to do with my ability and what god can do through me arrogance is my belief in what i can do on my own say that again that's rich say it again confidence that again is my belief in what god can do through me yeah arrogance is when i have belief in what i can do i can do all things yes through christ yes which strengthens me yes arrogance replaces god uh arrogance replaces god's will for your ability that's good talk about that that's so good i think so many of us uh are in danger of of getting off on the wrong foot not accomplishing because here's what we do all right and i'm gonna find somebody this is what we do every year you say this is gonna be my year that's right i'm gonna lose weight this year i'm gonna save this amount of money this year and if you're only relying on your ability it'll never happen in order to reach these goals uh to to accomplish the things that we want to accomplish we're gonna have to tap into another power that is not our own but reliance on god arrogance is subtle yes arrogance is a subtle sickness that cannot be self-diagnosed you can't see it on yourself arrogance is a subtle sickness that cannot be self-diagnosed arrogance makes subtle comments that it may let me say better arrogance makes subtle comments that immature ignorant people praise stuff like i got a plan you you take you take you put i in everything you put eyes yes and everything can i define arrogance come on arrogance is i want to define procrastination yes sir procrastination is the foolish assumption i love that that you'll have another chance yes see when you don't when you get distracted and you move from preparation to procrastination oh wow it is the foolish assumptions that i'll have another chance can i jump in there because i think the problem with that is is that we'll assume that god will give us a chance to do tomorrow what he already gave us the opportunity to do today say that again say that let's assume that god will give us an opportunity to do tomorrow what he already gave us a chance to do today i see this beautifully when i deal with my daughter i said well ava uh i thought you're supposed to clean your room when i left the house this morning i told you to clean your room i was expecting it to be clean when i came home well daddy i'm gonna do it tomorrow yeah well what happened well i started playing and then mama went to the store in other words i got distracted i got distracted and i started doing something else and now because you're my daddy and you love me and you give me toys and you support me you give me blessings i'm going to assume that you'll give me another opportunity to do tomorrow what you had already told me to do today i feel the first praise break of 2021 i need somebody to type in the comments i'm not missing my moment yes i am not missing my mom i'm gonna do it now refuse to be pro uh to be distracted in a negative sense yes sir and to teen and lean over on procrastination this is your season to do it now but here's why i want to be a little bit more um seasoned in my approach to our messages and this topic today because somebody listening to me when they hear us say i gotta do it now yes sir they're gonna prematurely step outside the will of god because you can't make it your time when it's not your time that's good somebody's gonna try to start a business next week yes knowing they haven't prepared yes it's like a chef uh if i'm gonna cook some good ribs i feel like preaching right there if i'm gonna cook some good meat some good ribs yes sir i don't wake up that morning for the most part a good chef yeah and say i'm cooking ribs today yes a good chef gonna let it marinate win the day before the day before you cold-blooded the cheese before yes they gonna have that meat marinated to where the juices can get on the inside see see anybody can go and season the top yeah but to really get the most out of the meat you got to let what's meant on the outside creep and seep into the inside you just said and i'm trying to submit to somebody right now stop foolishly assuming because the thief comes that's what the bible says yes to steal yes sir kill yes sir and destroy absolutely what does he want to do i've said this once and i say again he wants to steal time yes kill vision yes sir destroy faith let's say that together steal time kill vision destroy faith talk about that i think that's good pastor mike and you're really blessing me because the enemy wants to destroy you but he'll settle for distracting you say that again the enemy wants to destroy you but he'll settle for distracting you right because he knows that eventually a distracted person will destroy themselves jesus i can think of movements in my life when the enemy couldn't get to me but he did present another option a counterfeit and because i accepted the distraction it eventually led me to destroy myself if the devil can't kill you yes he'll distract he'll distract you and if he distracts you he know you'll kill you i don't think you heard what i just said this is cold blooded because so many places in my life are you listening to us so many places and so many moments in my life i was headed for greatness and got distracted yes i want to talk about this man because uh we were talking before we started and you brought something up that messed me up we both love uh ancient movies yes sir gladiators yes sir braveheart troy that's the 300. yes and you talked about a a weapon they would use to kill their enemies what was it called so so back in the the medieval times the ancient uh ancient times back in europe france other places um they would they would take a person who's guilty of a crime uh and they would tie each limb to four horses i i think oh drake yeah dre that if you go to um if you go to braveheart yes you can see william wallace absolutely so they would tie each limb to a horse and then they would whip each horse and make them all go in different directions east north south and west they called it distraction so they would tie your arms yes and legs to a horse yes and tell the horses go in different different directions and it will pull your limbs off pull your limbs and they called it distraction distraction is when there's parts of me that are all going in different directions jesus say that again distraction is when parts of me are all going in different directions distraction is when on sunday your mind is in church yes but on monday your body is in the world wow on tuesday it says how many of us have lost too much going in different directions that's so good because what's important is is that direction is more important than speed right direction is more important so many times we want to talk about how fast we're getting somewhere one truth be told we need to make sure that we're all headed in the right direction i think that's what makes what we're doing together so different is that that we take time here and there to say you know what let's make sure we're all headed in the right direction yeah i'll pick up the phone say hey pmj this is what i'm tripping i just want to make sure that matches absolutely what we're trying to do absolutely because what good is going somewhere fast if i'm going in the wrong you know what's crazy and i'm so glad we're talking we're talking about focus and being distracted yeah i need a moment of transparency uh from my family right now a strong moment of transparency if you've ever been guilty of negative distractions or just losing your weight yes just type me in the comments right now let's be very transparent because somebody sitting at home may be feeling like it's something wrong with me i want to say this distractions are natural yes but distraction if distractions are natural then focus is a type of discipline absolutely did you catch that if distractions are natural that's so good then focus are a type of difference see did you catch that yes when i said d the first thing you did was look at d because a natural response yes to something you see is to move so i want to say this we can almost liken in some ways because not all distractions are negative yeah and in some ways we can liken distraction to sin i believe sin is a legitimate response to an illegitimate need hmm well i want to say that better yeah sin is an illegitimate responsibility legitimate need to a legitimate need that's good i want to submit you that a distraction sometimes can be an illegitimate response yes to a legitimate name can i jump in because here's something that we talked about before i think that we've got to really look at this difference between distractions and interruptions come on uh i think about jesus uh he has a conversation with jerius yes and he says i'm gonna come with you to your house you got a daughter who's sick she's dying i'm gonna raise her back to life i'm gonna make sure that she's healed right and in the middle of that he gets interrupted not distracted by the woman with the issue of blood he's presented with another opportunity to work a miracle while he's on the way to do something else right and i think so many times we've got to be able to discern in life where may where where there's a distraction and then maybe where there's interruption because i believe interruptions when they're mishandled turn into distractions they can morph into destruction they can morph into distractions i believe i believe interruptions deal with my assignment and uh interruptions deal with my assignments yes sir and distractions deal with my attractions wow that's good so i am interrupted when it's something tied to my assignment yes sir jesus says no this isn't a distraction yes because this is why i'm here yes sir i'm gonna be late on purpose yes because i know i'm a razor from the yes sir but the problem is not the see the problem is when you veer off of your assignment veer see this is cold blooded we were literally preparing and recording today and somebody need prayer we stop what we're doing yes we pray yes that's a part of my assignment in the midst of recording we stopped we brought balloons in and a cupcake in for leslie it's her birthday she is a part of my assignment yes sir saying happy birthday to her and let her know we love her i've been doing that for the last 11 years every time right before watch night we go somewhere for her birthday it's a pandemic we couldn't do it that's not a distraction yeah that was a purposeful interruption catch this now but me being on my phone scrolling through twitter and instagram that's a distraction and then all of a sudden we talking about lebron while dre ready to record that's a distraction why because it has nothing to do with my assignment and everything to do with my attraction i love that some of y'all dating your distractions jesus some of y'all are dating dating a distraction this is why you ain't got the degree yet wow you were headed to graduated in three ouch and got a distraction fell in love with a distraction a stick distraction wow a six foot two distraction yes a lot of you right now can't even lose the weight you want to lose because i get distracted that's good i fussed that lady the other day i said if you know i'm trying to get myself together why just what she did why would you get the vanilla oreos and not just put them in the cabinet she has a glass jar now on right there but they're stacked perfectly talking about they for the kids forget them kids it's for me i can't handle the distractions so what did i do i moved the jar oh man and put it in the closet it's some stuff in your life come on man you gonna have to move you gotta move because your growth is not determined yes by what god moves yes your growth is determined by what you choose to move somebody's doubt no distractions good listen you you give me you got to match my autism you're getting me talking to this let's go come on because you just taught me the difference between surrender and sacrifice when i surrender something that means i give it to god when i sacrifice something that means i kill it first and too many times we keep getting distracted because you won't kill it if you know this is something that you're prone to fall into sometimes you got to kill that thing you're telling people out of tight kill it kill it 10 people out of time it's time for me to kill it you know what's crazy it's the equivalent it is the equivalent of somebody i love this who has outgrown clothes yeah so they don't kill it yeah give it away or get it out the house yeah they put it in the back of the closet saying when i lose weight or when i do something i'll wear it i'll wet this again and never end up wearing it now it's taking up space because whatever you don't kill can call you i'm in the wrong church oh wow whatever you don't kill can i call you that's good whatever you and the problem is i want to look at that um bilaterally or by fold whatever you don't kill can call you yes sir and too many of us are guilty of killing the right thing and it called out wow adam yes has two sons yes they have to present god a sacrifice an offering come on man cain's sacrifice isn't good enough that's good he kills his brother abel well and god says what the blood cried out of what you killed yes cried out that's so good many of you right now are feeling frustrated overwhelmed dealing with anxiety dealing with a lot of things and i discovered a lot of the places in my life where i was frustrated yes the blood cried out that's so good that's so good focused and i want to submit to somebody listening to me today because i want to develop i want you to answer this question please hear me tuscaloosa birmingham all of you from around the country wherever you're watching from please hear my heart if you want to be better say better yes sir if you want to grow type growth if you want to be healthy say i want to be healthy we said at the beginning of this year it is not a happy new year by the way healthy new year when i get to you just shout i receive that healthy financially yes healthy emotionally healthy cognitively mentally spiritually hear me when i say all of that but if i'm going to develop here's a good quote it is difficult to develop yes sir when you're distracted that's so good can i give an example come on all right so i've been working out i've been working out at home with the boys right so we got a treadmill okay we got the little push part machine we got we got some dumbbells so xander and um and mason comes downstairs with me all the time all right so i tell xander and mason we're working out so what i do is and it's a shameless plug i'll go on youtube or something and find some um low-impact 30-minute workouts all right so i i do i look at the man on the screen i do what he does so you know what i'm saying or you can hit wes up at grind time and he'll do some virtual workouts for you mikey we'll get some virtual workouts for you so i'm trying to get it in here's my problem with my boys they get to distract distractions all right but i'm gonna show you something that's gonna mess everybody up come on i'm telling mason it's your turn mason in the mirror looking at his six-pack i'm telling zanda it's your turn he too busy doing dance moves because we got music playing yeah ah he doing all these dance moves all right so i hit both of them in the chats boom boom stay focused you can't be distracted all right all right so then all of a sudden i look up and i'm on the phone they get it from their daddy wow a lot of our distractions are generational distractions they're so good i don't think you caught what i just said mama stopped at a certain point yes daddy stopped at a certain point and a lot of times we are frustrated with our seeds because they resemble our failures they're so good it's hard to develop yes when you're distracted that's so good talk about that when you said you said a word earlier veered that really stood out to me because it gives me this word picture of somebody driving in a car and and and when you veer that means that car yeah you you're supposed to be in one lane but then something happens that veers so much so do i we were studying we started talking about uh the four types of a distracted driver tell them about that i think this is so good so the cdc uh put together this study where they found that up to nine people per day die in car accidents that are caused by distracted drivers thirty five hundred a year thirty five hundred people because they were distracted which equals nine people per day die in an accident that was caused by destructive driving i want to go into the four types you didn't say that right okay nine people a day yes sir 3 500 a year yes sir die yes why because of a distracted drug why why help me why help me because they didn't stay focused that's good see and that's what we got to talk about we always talked about how the devil has the same trick to change the language yes if we're not careful oh wow so many people are going to log off today talking about distractions yes when the key is yes focus the answer to distractions is focus i think that's so good because when you think about this um what's interesting is is is that i can be the one distracted but it'll harm you if we're all on the road traveling the same place i can lose focus but my loss of focus can impact your life negatively come on come on which means here's the other side of that which means that if i maintain my focus there's benefits that another person gets because i was able to stay focused on a distracted driver can hit a focus driver yes a distracted driver can harm a focus driver which stresses the criticality of getting distracted people out your life it ain't even enough for me to be jesus i need people around me everything connected to me in 2021 come on if you're not focused you got to get from around me i need you to tag three people in your life yes who y'all already had to conversation this year we focused this this year we're giving you 30 seconds let's go tag somebody and say we focus this year everybody no james yes sir no fluff no nothing that's outside of the will of god i'm trying to be everything that god has called me to be why you ain't came around this year i'm focused why you don't call me no more i'm focused why you don't come to the party i'm focused why i need somebody to shout i am focused it ain't that you don't look to see when you get focused come on man don't even look the same yeah but you get focused places that even excited distraction is what made you attractive and again distraction is what made them attractive i don't even like that you don't even offer me what i wanted to do not even what i thought you were caught my eye but then broke my heart jesus because i lost my mind that's good focus oh my you got to say that again caught my eye yes broke my heart when i realized the only problem was i lost my mama this is my season to stay what focus first one of 2021 yeah i love it man so let's talk about this there are four types you talk about these four types yes sir so the four types of attraction distract the driver number one is someone who is visually distracted okay visually distracted that i start while i'm driving i become visually distracted right so i'm supposed to have my eyes on where i'm going uh you know we learned in driver's ed they're supposed to have two wheel two hands on the steering wheel you're supposed to be focused but when i'm visually distracted that means i start looking at something other than the road i'm sorry man i'm still i'm trying to move forward and i know we're supposed to be a conversation this ain't a sermon but everything you take talking to me about shout outs yes you said whenever i'm driving i need to keep my hands at ten and two yes this is why i said lift up your hands when you worship come on a lot of times i lose my focus when i'm not in the posture of worship that's good when i'm not in a posture of admiration he said watch this now and this is cold blooded which just said visual which means put this on the screen i'm looking at something other than the road the road yes talk about the difference between a gaze and a glance so when i gaze at something that means it has my full attention wow right come on when i glance at something that means i i noticed it i noticed okay cool i see that and then i got back focused right think about david david uh is is on on the rooftop that's good and he's looking out uh over the roof and he sees bathsheba bathing he sees bathsheba bathing on her roof right and instead of glancing he gazes and see the problem with that particular story is there's nothing wrong with david looking because he's a man yes but like mike dr michael eric dyson said he allowed his loins to trap his logic mm-hmm did you catch that so he allowed his loins to draft trap his logic his problem number one he should have been at battle yes distracted yes he's out of place he's in the wrong place what did he do he gazed yes and i think about driving this is cold-blooded he's i'm thinking about driving if i'm gonna get over i gotta yeah i gotta look you got to i got a glance yes then move absolutely i don't gaze and move yes a lot of us are crashing because we're gazing and moving jesus christ ain't nothing wrong i want to say this to somebody dreaming in 2021 go get a glance at the new house absolutely yes sir yes sir i want to say this to somebody with faith go get a glance at the new job that's good go to the car dealership go get a glance at the new car it's good go ahead and put your list of what you want out of motivation get a glance that's motivation sir the problem is glancing is motivation yes gazing is obsession that's so good did you catch that last glance it's motivation let me see it so i can get motivated and get back focused but gazing is an obsession you talked about how david his eyes got him caught in something he shouldn't have been in his eyes cost him his son now this is what's critical i think about lot's wife how god says i want you to leave this place and don't look back yes sir that's critical right he says don't look back and what's the first thing lot's wife does she looks like she looks back and she turns into what they pull us off we might need to ask people why you so salty and it might be because they're distracted that's so good see saltiness is always tied to distracting yes see you are when people look at you and get salty it's because they're distracted by something they shouldn't even been focused on so good if they were to focus on the glory of god on your life yes and not trying to mimic the oil on your life they probably would have been salty i'm not talking to anybody you're talking i want to i want to talk to a hundred people and i need you to put in the chat don't look back yes because some of you we are only what two days yes sir two three days with three days and too many of you have already peeked back into 2020. that's good i want to make a prophetic declaration or a powerful declaration if 2021 ain't no better yes then 2020 yeah i will be if don't nothing change in 2021 and 2021 look just like 2020. i'm gonna be better i'm gonna be better that's good if if corona in 2021 i'm gonna be different i'm gonna be there if the election is still crazy in 2021 i'm gonna be better that's good if racism is social and justifies still presence it's gonna be better i'm still gonna be better why because i'm focused on what god is called and assigned me to focus psalms 121 it says i will lift up my eyes yes sir yes sir to the heels where does my health come from and we talked about you can't be distracted by the heel that's good on the heel they were practicing astrology looking at signs witchcraft magicians david is asking a question that's not a period no i will look to the hills from what cometh my help that's not a period look at the bible kings james that is a question mark he says no i won't be distracted by what they doing on the mountain no my focus that's good it's above the hill i'm not distracted by what y'all posting no i'm not distracted because y'all got engaged now i gotta rush and get engaged to keep up with you i glanced at it glance at your engagement and stay focused on my singleness cause i want to be happy not just connected that's so good it's a whole lot of people what their ring ain't a symbol of marriage as a symbol abundance wow am i talking to somebody right there it's a lot of people married and miserable because they got excited or distracted by a wedding day but never focused on a merry life that's so good that's something i'm talking if y'all to receive that you're distracted mark 8 25 then again he said that i will lay hands on his eyes and he looked intently and was restored and began to see everything clearly that's so good this brother he says what do you see now because i don't know what jumped off in your life yeah but something blurred your vision yeah or has you distract distract it talk about that man i think that's that's good pastor what i want from 2021 is for god to touch my eyes oh i received that if god could do anything for me in the first quarter of 2021 this year i need him to touch my eyes because too many times in 2020 i got caught up looking at this headline watching this story watching this post and i convinced myself because of what i allowed myself to gaze at thank you guys that 2020 was a terrible year yes there were some bad moments but if we be honest it gave us opportunity to focus it gave us opportunity to recalibrate it gave us opportunity to spend more time with our families but if we look at the wrong thing then we'll grasp the wrong thing see what i look at many times what i look at many times determine what i get out of a season right and so many times we look at the wrong thing and so we get the wrong thing but what i'm asking god to do for me in 2021 is touch my eyes i want my eyes to be disciplined thank you in 2021. i need somebody to just touch put in the comments touch my eyes yes i want to take a 60-second worship break right there because that touch because the text says there it says he saw everything clear yes you saw everything there is too much at risk in your life in 2021 for you not to be able to see things clearly come on you need to see people clearly you need to see opportunities clearly i cannot afford to think that something is a god-given opportunity when truth be told it's a distraction in disguise i need god to touch my eyes so i can see clearly somebody type c clearly yes sir this is oh my god it's touching my spirit man because every time i don't get a new oh thank you god i don't get a i don't get a new textbook yes you know one of the difficulties about being a pastor is that i don't get a new book to teach you i have to find a way every year to tell the same story a different way yes sir and for the first time in ever looking at mark chapter 8 verse 25 the thing that stands out to me is everything wow he said he was able to see everything everything and and where i am in my life partial vision has got me here but clear vision is going to keep me here wow i'ma say that partial vision i was able to see okay this song is gonna be special but i didn't see how i was gonna do everything i need god to touch my eyes because there is too much on the line for partial visions right somebody ought to type everything yes god let me see the vision for my business and my home yes let me see the vision for my children and my mind yes god i speak by faith that everybody watching me right now we'll see clear everything jesus name oh my god first distraction is visual yes sir somebody say focus focus the first distraction the enemy to our focus is visual yeah it is things that catch our eye yes sir things that catch our eye number two is auditory talk about that define that when when i'm distracted by something auditory um that means i'm hearing something that's not related to driving right that means there was a a loud noise somewhere yeah that caught my attention and i think that's good because who or what you listen to can either focus you or distract you say that again that's why the bible says stuff like faith comes by hearing and hearing by the way i hear about the word of god because who or what i'm listening to can either focus me or distract me i remember we were talking about uh seek week last year right and one thing that i learned during seek week is is that it's important for me when i'm fasting to not listen to a lot of stuff um it's a lot of stuff i can't listen to because i can be doing one thing that focuses me but then hearing something else that distracts me that's crazy is that not crazy like trying to study with music playing now i'm trying to study and and then i'll end up and i know i'm doing the right thing i'm i'm in my word i'm fasting why do i still feel distracted because i'm listening to something that's spiritual which means what good is it for you to be on every every devotion on every sunday service every tuesday night bible study but you're still surrounding yourself with negative people what does it mean to come out of your closet and walk into your shade room jesus oh wow like jesus you got to make your mind up come on this is why during seek i'm glad you said that during seek week i told my wife and this is strong yeah i said baby i love you but i need your permission to stay at the church for seven nights seven days she said why i said i want to be so in tune with god i said i love you that's good and i love my babies but they are a healthy distraction that's good that's good i i couldn't come home and daddy daddy daddy daddy they snapped me out yeah see they're a healthy distraction god gave them to me see i i you said auditory i began to think about how many people can't drive without music mm-hmm how many wrecks happened trying to change the radio yes talk about hearing what is the importance of hearing i remember you taught me this years ago i never forget it that the ear is the birth canal to your spirit oh say that again the ear is the birth canal to your spirit yes and if i don't drive down the street you got your song player right hey i got to turn that up that's my jail right and just that moment i'm ready i got one already just that moment of hearing something can rob you of your ability to focus i got something come on man cut you off right here i'm riding down 280 the other day and i'm rocking my album like i listen to it in a long time so i'm listening to look at me now she's getting this plug that's my fate one of my favorite songs yes sir i got look at me now on 50. i mean i'm in that joint ride all right all of a sudden i look up the police and the ambulances behind me flashing lights the moment i press mute i heard the sirens wow i wonder what was coming behind you jesus that had you been focused or enjoying what you wanted to hear at a disciplined rate yes you would have heard the warning that's so good how many warnings you miss cause you weren't focused because when you see when you see the police when you see when you see the ambulance behind you that means you're supposed to do what get over get over jesus something's coming get over that can hit you if you don't get out the way get over it but if you're distracted by something that you're hearing you can't get over ambulance or somebody's in the back who needs to get the healing but because you distracted you you're pulling up their breakthrough i'm going to say this and 10 of y'all can take i have you want to do me a favor and go and get over it get out the way you blocking somebody else's come on man go get over it's people who want to be close to you who could benefit from you but there's too many people around you you don't even want to be around you they just scared they're going to miss something do me a favor go get over i need you to get over it get over th this is fast this is a fast lane you got to get over go ahead and get over this is why proverbs 28 and 9 says if anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction even their prayers are detestable that's so good if you turn a deaf ear to my instructions if i am giving you instructions and you won't listen your prayers are detestable now watch verse nine i'm gonna give it out the message version god has no use for the prayers of the people who won't listen to him jesus do i need to read that again you just convicted me god has no use for the prayers of the people who won't listen to him let me free you let me make that simple let me i'll bring that from my tent from antiquity to modernity build a bridge of contemporarization from the original audience to now make it simple as can be if you won't listen to what comes from heaven out of your ears he's saying keep what's coming out your mouth wow if you won't open your ear then don't open your mouth that's so good the problem with the 21st century christian is we got an open mouth closed and a closed come on man can't not be a available or a prophet and start preaching and now you need to follow it now you need to be heard now you need a platform i need you to do me a favor close your mouth yeah open your ear so you can become that's good he said heed the instructions yes now this is what's critical somebody shout focus focus somebody type focus good man focus is so um critical to the development of a believer yeah the development of an entrepreneur yes the development of a spouse yes the development of an athlete yeah the bridge between amateur and professional yes it's focused focused wow yep that's good he get paid yes what he get paid yes cuz he stayed focused that's all he does she got a scholarship yes cause she stayed focused good she got the promotion cause she stayed focused she got what she needed he became who he is because he stayed focused don't want my crown but can't handle mine how many people are jealous of what somebody else has when truth be told you weren't willing to be as focused as i was come on you wouldn't show as much attention to it as it was you wouldn't spend the long nights working the way i did and you want what i have but you are not willing to put in the work or should i say the focus that i put into it you don't know what's crazy one of those crazy come on man you wanna know what's crazy help me a lot of the people who aren't winning are way more gifted and more talented yeah than the people who are being seen that's good what's the difference yeah focus focus i love that man focus that's good so the first distraction was audio i'm sorry was this visual yes sir my eyes yes sir yes sir second thing was auditory uh what i'm listening to yes sir third thing is manual talk about that manual manual is when i touch something other than the steering wheel if if i'm driving where do my hands need to be on the steering wheel you want to know something that's crazy i'm a child i want to push you right here okay did you take driver's ed in high school yes sir all right so in driver's head uh i was in the driver's seat it was a coach lunkford shout out to coach lunch at minor high school within the passenger seat right yes sir he taught me we already talked about keep your hands that way ten and two ten and two yes sir ten and two i can ask you a question okay when the pastor i'm sorry when my my covering i'm sorry the instructor was in the car mm-hmm at all times you did what 10-2 yeah but the moment you thought you had it what's the first thing you do pick up my phone put one hand yeah talk about the importance or the or i'm getting overwhelmed talk about the danger of mistaking spiritual growth for spiritual knowledge that's so good that's so good man because i think spiritual knowledge is i know what to do yeah spiritual growth is i'm applying what i absolutely i was just getting ready to say that i think it's application come on i think it's application it's one thing to know something it's another thing to be able to apply it right god is interested in us knowing the right thing so we can do the right thing right knowing is half the battle you've got to then turn around and do and too many times like you just said um we get the knowledge and then we get relaxed get relaxed i know what i'm doing i know what i'm doing i know what i'm doing you don't know what's crazy you know it's crazy and and i've always shared my testimony with your church uh i try my best to keep pornography out of my life yes sir i don't i'm a man number one a straight man yes sir number two literally and i missed from the bottom of my heart uh i learned i learned dangerously i was so innocent when i went to college yeah i'm a preacher's kid i went to my first party my 12th grade year yeah that's the first time i've ever been to a party i get to college i pledge cap alpha psi as a freshman they are showing me things i had never seen i'm walking in the frat house and stuff they got pornography planned wow this is the first time i'm really seeing alcohol and drugs and different things and i never forget how it played the impact on my mind to this day at certain stuff i just don't want to see that's so good you gotta say just certain stuff i just try to stay clear of because i'm understanding okay all right mike that can be an area of weakness for you i had a child out of wedlock you know there's some things in my life that that that molded me into becoming who i am so i can't play with places of weakness that's good and see the problem with so many people who have spiritual knowledge yeah and um and and and portray spiritual maturity is that they think they can play with distractions and bounce back that's good did you catch what i just said it is almost like an addict who think he can go to a dope house but i'm strong enough not to smoke that's good even if you make it out and don't smoke why put yourself back in that through the emotional spiritual mental torment turmoil of having to be strong could i say something come on why too many times especially as african-americans we put ourselves in positions when we have to be strong in seasons we never had to be strong again that's good i i shouldn't have to so many of our black women have had to be strong in ways well you know i played her or i broke her heart or uh i did this to her but she might ride or die cause she stuck with me that ain't a badger honor yeah you should have never put her through that in the first place now the fact that she's strong enough to stay with you shouldn't just be celebrated it should be on talk about talk about it said touch so you're driving and now you're distracted if i'm not mistaken first thessalonians 4 11 says and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life you should mind your own business and work with your hands just as we told you he said to to to mind yeah your own business yes and work with your what your own hands talk about that that's so good i think uh i think one thing we got to realize is is that the fruit of an undisciplined head is an undisciplined hand come on say that again the fruit of an undisciplined head is an undisciplined hand yeah i think it's so good i think when you realize that when my mind ain't disciplined eventually my hands won't be either jesus right think about how many times you were driving in the car and you picked up your phone right texting while driving right and because now your hands are doing two different things when truth be told they were only supposed to be doing one you wanna know what's crazy you don't know it's crazy and this is messing me up man that and i pray if you're being blessed say y'all preaching to me you got to say something hit a heart share this is so critical this entire month we're going to have a series of conversations that i believe are going to be thought-provoking life-changing leading to what's your transformation i want to talk about this because my first car uh a pickup truck uh steering wheel radio station my second car a mazda626 you couldn't tell me nothing all white black tent i would drive it i put a cd player in when i got out the car i took the face of the city with me because that's how we did it back in the day put it in your pocket all right my suburban is different than both of them i want you to catch this the car they gave a kid was standard the car i chose as a man uh has luxuries to it wow and i'm saying it's because the temp the the radio and a lot of the controls in my car are on the steering wheel wow i want to i want to talk about this ten are y'all gonna catch me jesus from the steering wheel i can turn the volume down from the steering wheel i can change the radio station from the steering wheel i can answer the phone that's good but i still for some reason out of years of happening with the volume who else do this now right there at my thumb i still lean over because my learned behavior is now a fully equipped distraction that's good that's so good oh my god talk about that man i love that i think that i think that many of us make the mistake jesus of thinking that what we learned in a past season we make the mistake of thinking we don't have to unlearn in this season what we learned in a past season say that again so you got this new car that's fully loaded the manufacturer jesus the manufacturer knew in order to keep him focused i need to put everything right there where he can see it yeah right but because you've learned that all i got to do is reach over that learned behavior keeps kicking in time and time again even though you've got everything right there where you can see it and one thing i'm praying for god praying for god to do for me in 2021 is to unlearn unhealthy habits i believe you said something it triggered something in my mind um we should we should run from compound learning yeah to canceling learning um and i'm gonna make that make sense i'm learning something all right so we learned a bad habit yeah learned how to do it right yeah but we never cancel the bad habit we just stack what we learn you want to know what shortcuts are learned habits that were never properly shortcuts are the combination of bad and good habits wow i know the answer that's good but i don't like working the problem that's good i've learned a back door through the process that's good to get to the ultimate reward which is the answer that's so good and sadly a shortcut can become a distraction that's so good oh my god man this is why if you remember this in numbers i believe it's four uh around verse 15 the ark of the covenant god destructs them yes whatever you do this hands yes don't touch the ark of the covenant or you will what yeah you'll die you'll die yeah and the ark of the covenant begins to fall yes and what do they do reach out and grab it and those men do what they die they die now here's what's critical they were doing a good thing but disobeying an instruction wow because everything that good that's good ain't god that's so cool a lot of you gonna get in trouble this year and the reason a lot of us are broke is because you helping them is good not when you sacrificed your tithe wow so you so what you did was a good thing yeah but you just broke a bad instruction that's so good you you you you going to church with mom it's a good thing mama wanted me to come to church with her god bless you but i can't miss my word no see because a lot of times just because i'm doing something good i'm going to say this because i have to do a lot of funerals and when i do these funerals a lot of times shameless plug or i just want to pay homage to our deacon deacon graham cobb who was buried on yesterday and i love him from the bottom of my heart one of the best deacons we had worked in a media department uh quiet but one of the funniest men you'll ever meet i love him he will forever be remembered we have to make sure we name something and do something in his honor every year to honor him and his family uh i was so grateful we don't have to lie yeah at his funeral yeah we don't have to make stuff up yeah at his funeral that's good but i've stood at some funerals where i literally had to say some good stuff yeah but i'm not sure that good stuff got him or her into heaven this is critical this is why psalms 105 says do not touch my anointed ones and do my prophets no harm talk about that don't touch it don't touch it that that's that's the whole word that's the whole word don't touch that it's too many seasons in my life when i look back and realize i touched the wrong thing oh my god and because i touched it i paid a price come on right and so oh wow it's fun touching it but it's never fun paying the price come here adam don't touch that don't touch that don't touch that yeah and he got distracted by another distracted driver yes because distracted people just distracted people i saw where you was going with that distracted distracted people distract people distract people touch not my anointing i want to pause and parenthetically digress because one of the one of the greatest crimes that people don't even realize they are aborting their destiny and mismanaging their blessing is because you get distracted by judging the gifted oh wow so you sit there and see a sister praying or see a man preaching but then you know something about him yeah and the first thing you do watch this you didn't just put your mouth on them yeah you touched it yeah touch not my anointing touch leave that alone i need 10 people to realize i'm too focused to even care about what you're doing who you sleeping with where you going i need 10 of y'all to just type in the comments don't touch that yeah no i tell you what go m c hammer can't touch this that's this can't touch this i don't care what people call me all the time and say different things like hey this person is doing so did you know hey that's their business yes now if i see where it's uh cancerous to what god is trying to do in their life i'm gonna get involved if i'm because i'm also understanding somebody say focus focus i'm also understanding that one of the greatest crimes i have committed as a spiritual father and a pastor is i've labeled people's son who just wanted to be member wow jesus i've tried to force relationships that weren't natural yeah and i found myself i was on the phone one of my spiritual sons he said you know you don't get in my business enough and i repented i said man i've done that with so many people who lashed out at me that i didn't really know who i should focus on yeah see because distracted people will make you gun shy and now you can't even focus that's what you need to focus oh wow i love that am i talking to anybody let's go through these again number one is what visual visual yes where are my eyes yes sir number two auditory auditory what am i listening to absolutely number three manual manual what am i touching then number four cognitive cognitive yes sir what am i thinking about yes sir romans 12 2 says and do not be conformed to this world yes sir but be ye transformed by the renewing of your what mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable keeping your mind on the road or this journey called life is just as important as keeping your eyes on the road distraction can be defined as thinking about something unrelated to what you're doing that's so good distraction is a type of focus yes sir and you said something in the pre-show uh when we were preparing for this today you said you don't lose focus talk about that you don't lose focus you misplace it i want you to put that in the comments you don't lose focus you misplace it misplace yes sir focus man we're gonna have a strong month absolutely we're about to have a strong month and a half dealing with focus i don't want you to miss a devotion yes sir i don't want you to miss a sunday i don't want you to miss a tuesday i don't want you to miss a recap don't miss some of the e-courses that are coming what we're about to be doing at our church right now because what you're believing god for will require focus yes sir i want to do something right now and our altar call will be open in the next five minutes there will be a link at the bottom of your screen where you can pray because i really want you to get prayer for your focus absolutely i'm going to pray for your focus yes sir because i cannot be honest come on because we've lived this thing called life there are some built-in distractions that come with who we are yes did you catch that there are some glitches to our focus yeah and i want to pray right now for those of you who so desperately want to win this year yes sir so desperately want to so desperately want to be a better person how many of you right now can say pastor i want to be better so bad but every year i just fall short or certain things knock me off my course right now in the name of jesus yes god i pray for focus i pray god that you begin to reveal to me the areas of my weaknesses yes too many of my friends aren't friends based off of my strength they are friends i found in my weakness and whenever i befriend weak friends they keep me weak because if we don't have anything to relate to yes they feel like the relationship is growing so i pray right now for focus yes guard my eyes guard my ears guard my mouth guard my hands guard my mind so i can be all that god has called me to be it's in jesus name listen my family i need you focused on what god is doing in your life i want you to be the best christian start right this year i want you to say pastor you're talking to me this year i'm praying more than i never prayed i'm tithing i'm giving i'm upping my devotional life i'm i'm checking my attitude yes you wanna know what i want to be healthy conversation for us this year i'm sorry i apologize yeah because you're going to have those natural distractions you might pop off but you know what i apologize about that yes i'm attempting to be better it was socrates who said the unexamined life is not worth living which means the light your life is the sum total of your decisions and your choices now as for me and my house as for me and our church yes as for me and my circle i choose to be focused yes sir man i pray you got something out of this do me a favor we want you to give your life to christ if you know this year you need to rededicate your life or this is your first time watching you need a good church home you want to literally get connected to people you can feel i want to say pastor mike when y'all preach i hear you man you ain't just shouting at me you ain't yes i can stand flat-footed i'm attempting to do something that we don't see in the black contest yes sir and that's gifted men working together gifted men and women working together uh coming together so people can be blessed if that's you do me a favor pull your phone out text home h-o-m-e home to 2-8-9-5-0 what better day to give your life to christ yeah than on the first person day of the year of a new year a sort of first fruit yes sir of the rest of this year i love you guys so much the the doors of the church the altar call is open there's the link in the bottom of your comments right there we're praying for you don't miss devotion in the morning we'll be talking about focus and this tuesday we'll be sitting right here with part two of this series of conversations we're in now called focus i love you this is a blessed week free from distractions free from foolishness you're going to see your best results because you're choosing to stay focused i love you we'll see you next week peace

Channel: Rock City TV

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Id: 8eNFYaGzY-s

Length: 54min 38sec (3278 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021