Radically Focused - Touré Roberts

hey family welcome to the official youtube page of one i'm excited that you're here this message is getting ready to bless your life i want you to stay connected to the incredible things that are happening in this movement so don't forget to subscribe and turn on your notifications and if you want to partner with us and some of the great things that we're doing all over the world you can give as well now it's time to get into this word i love you god bless you let's stay connected hallelujah well god bless you family i'm excited to dig into week two in our series called the evidence of god we had a tremendous time last week and we're getting so so much feedback from all around the world about how god met them in that moment and how god is touching them with that word and some of the things that we talked about and and so i'm going to give a little bit of recap before we get into where we're going today as it relates to this series and the main thing that we took away from last week as it relates to the evidence of god is that we learned that we discovered that we are the evidence of god and we talked about how being filled with the holy spirit is what has the primary has the primary function of causing us to be the evidence of god when we looked at acts chapter 1 and verse 8 and when jesus said and you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses we know that that that word really speaks to evidence and ultimately if you really study it out he's saying that that when this power comes upon you and when this power fills you you're going to be witnesses unto me you're going to be my evidence in the earth you're not just going to be someone that talks about me you're not going to be just someone who argues about my existence but there's going to be something about your life something about what you put on display something about your power something about your conviction that will be evidence of my existence and we talked about that and we talked about how to leverage the resource of the holy spirit and we talked about two things that we must do in order to leverage the access that we have to the holy spirit so that we can be evidence and we talked about time in his presence and we talked about prayer if you were not here last week or you didn't listen to the podcast or you weren't connected you need to go back and get that message because we're going to be building over the next several weeks insight wisdom and strategy and edification so that we can truly be the evidence of god i believe with all of my heart that we're moving into a time where you're not gonna we're not gonna prove god's existence because we're good at arguing we're not gonna prove god's existence because we are so eloquent in our speech we're going to walk in something we're going to talk in something we're going to move in something that's so powerful that literally we will be the evidence of god and so again if you missed last week i want you to go back and get last week because there was just so much in it uh ground laying foundational things were in it and and i want you to be a part of that and so we are coming to understand that there will be certain things in the believer's life that will be put on display that will make god evident they're going to be certain things and we're going to talk about some of those things we're going to talk about several of those things over the next uh several weeks that need to be on display in the believer's life and again we'll talk about that but there is one thing that needs to be on display that is critical and this one thing is what i want to introduce you to today because if i don't get you to see this and to understand this early on and if we don't master this particular thing then we're going to be at a great disadvantage and our ability to be effective evidence is going to be greatly diminished and so i want to get into this thing now i want you to turn the second timothy the second chapter and we're gonna read the first four verses and and ii timothy i was praying actually before i even got this this series in my spirit i was praying and the lord gave me this passage there was something that stood out in his passage that i think resonated deeply in and the fact that it's come back up now to be the anchor passage of scripture in our series i believe is something that god really really wants us to understand and so i'm going to read these first four verses in fact wherever you are you might want to read them together maybe in your home or in your car wherever you are in your house church and your your small group i just want let's read these words together i like for the word of god to feel the atmosphere of god it's just a beautiful thing when that takes place and so let's read it together you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men and women and children anybody that's faithful who will be able to teach others also you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of jesus christ no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier today this this trait that i believe god wants to have believers have on display and it's what i'm going to be talking about today in this next installment of our our the evidence of god series is radical focus i believe that the believer who is going to be evidence of god is going to need to have radical focus especially during these times let's pray father thank you so much for your word hallelujah thank you for this moment to to learn to grow to understand to receive impartation to be equipped to be edified to be blessed to be touched thank you for this moment we could be anywhere listening to anything or watching anything but you ordered our steps right here right now to this moment that we might eat and be made full thank you lord i thank you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation and insight knowledge and prophecy and all the use of the gifts so that your sons and daughters who you love so much can be blessed richly we thank you bring all of your resources to this moment so that we all might be touched in ways that transcend what we can create in our own strength and ability we love you we invite you sit on this message lord in jesus name amen amen amen amen thank you lord people that are successful at anything are focused people you you can't be successful without being unusual focused if you look at anybody that has done great things and and particularly those who continue to do great things you'll find this trait about them they are extremely and unusually focused and what we have to understand about focus is that focus is not a standalone trait in and of itself it's not a stand-alone trade in other words focus is the byproduct of two things discipline and self-control right so so in order to have focus it's one of those things in order to have focus you have to have those other two things you have to have discipline and you have to have self-control in order to be focused there is a word that was translated self-control several places in the bible particularly in galatians 5 and 22 where it talks about the fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit is also part of the evidence of god i think we'll probably get into that later on the series but one of the fruit of the spirit is this thing called self-control it's a word that was translated self-control but if you look at that word and you break that word down it's deeper than just self-control it helps to unpack what that means it literally means inner dominion so the per so the person who is going to be focused is not focused simply because they're focused they're focused because they have mastered discipline and inner dominion and so and so to be focused is to acknowledge that there are many things going on around me see it's not that focused people don't know or cannot see or cannot perceive all those things that are going on around them no no they recognize that there is a ton of things going on around them but they employ discipline and inner dominion so that they can stay in their lane and even the lane that's going to lead them to the fulfillment of their mission does that make sense so i'm not when you just say focus you also are saying if you're truly focused when you say i'm focused what you're really saying is i have discipline and i have self-control because i recognize that there are a whole lot of things around me but if i'm going to be everything that god has called me to be and if i'm going to realize my mission and my mandate then i am going to have to lay hold on a vision so that i can stay in the lane that will produce everything that god has called me to produce are you tracking with me just put in the feed i've got a lane i've got a lane i've got a lane say it if you're in the room say i've got a lane i've got a lane i've got a lane i'm not going to get there randomly i've got i've got a lane i've got a lane in motors like if you know me you know i ride motorcycles i love i i i just love motorcycles and and in motorcycling where your eyes go mean means everything where your eyes go a motorcycle means everything because there's a general understanding in biking that the bike will go where you look seriously that's why you have to pay attention to when you're riding the motorcycle you have to pay attention to where you look you know if you look and are afraid of going off a cliff and you start looking at the cliff guess where you're gonna go you're gonna you're gonna go off the cliff so so the key is to always look where you want to go not where you do not want to go and i think even for me like like riding motorcycles made me a better everything i'm more focused now because because you have to be you can't play around motorcycle you gotta you got to focus now the mature writer knows how to activate their peripheral vision also to create what is called a wide view or a wider view right but but it's in your peripheral so so you you and you all can do it too this is not enough you didn't know you signed up for motorcycle school but when you mature you are still focused on the main thing but you activate your peripheral vision so that you can be aware of any particular threats or hazards or what have you but but your main focus your your predominant focus is on where you're going can i teach today can we talk a little bit and so focus if you're taking notes this is a wonderful thing to write down focus is not the absence of distraction it is the navigation that avoids it let me say it again focus is not the absence of distraction it is the navigation that avoids it you're going to be distracted in this life oh god i feel it there's so many things every single day that are designed to distract you to pull you out of your lane and watch this and not all distractions are bad things the worst and the most dangerous type of distraction is a good distraction you know the good thing versus the god thing anybody ever had a good distraction it wasn't bad watch this it just wasn't purpose are you tracking with me and so in our text paul is writing some things to his young protege timothy and we're going to unpack that can we do that real quick can we oh can i teach today by the way can i be a good teacher i want to be a good teacher right and so in our text back in in second timothy second chapter in verse one paul starts off this this thing by saying you therefore my son he's talking to timothy he says you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus now a lot of times we'll just we'll look past these salutations but what he is saying is really a powerful thing he's saying ultimately if you're going to be strong in something i need you to be strong in grace oh god i feel it if you're going to be focused on something if you're going to give your attention to something if you're going to give your life to something watch this you need to be very particular about where you watch this give your strength and get your strength and i want you to give your strength and get your strength from the grace of god and the graces in one places in jesus now what do i mean by grace pt break this thing down for me grace for me and biblically grace is the place of divine enablement oh god grace and favor in the old testament were used interchangeably in the place of grace i can do all things through christ who strengthens me in the in the place of grace i have victory in the place of grace all of the promises of god that are there are yes and amen in the place of grace i have authority in the place of grace everything that i set my hand to prospers the the place of grace is what david writes about in psalm 1 when he says and you shall be a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaves will not wither and whatever he does shall prosper so he's talking about this realm i feel the spirit of god he's saying listen if you're going to do this thing and do this thing well paul at the time is in jail he is running out of time and he's trying to impart wisdom and insight into his young protege timothy and he's telling you i'm gonna tell you where to spend your time i'm gonna tell you what to focus on be strong in the grace of god look for the grace pursue the grace it's all about the grace i want to move on but i feel like i need to stay here for a minute it's all about the grace have you found the grace that's assigned to your life watch this you don't have grace in every place you don't have grace in everybody you can have success in a place but not grace you want to be where the grace is grace is where the favor is grace is where you're going to bear fruit grace is where you're going to be fruitful and so so he's writing he's writing and he's saying he's saying he's saying be strong son be strong in the grace and then he tells us where the grace is he says the grace is in christ jesus that's why i've been telling you to pray more and i've been encouraging to spend more time in the presence of the lord and and i've been encouraging us as a community to to worship more and to have more intimacy with jesus because this is how we strengthen ourselves in grace i need grace hallelujah i need grace and grace is not cheap hallelujah i i need power for my situation i i need wisdom i i need god to do something for me that that i can't do in my strength that my education won't get me i i need god to do something in my life that my relationships can't do i i need the grace of god i feel i just i'm not talking about grace but i feel something on this grace you are trying to figure out how it's going to happen and i hear god saying by grace by grace and so if it's going to happen by grace i need to get aligned with the grace i need to get a line with the grace and and and it's in christ and and and and so can we keep going a little bit and so so he tells them he starts this thing off by saying my son be strong in the grace but here is where the focus and the self-control come in and this is the verse that i really want us to focus on because it's all about focus it's hidden in verse 4. it says no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he might please him who enlisted him as a soldier there's a lot there he says no one engaged in warfare watch this entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he might please him that enlisted him so all of us have been enlisted you know i was thinking and i i was praying about something i think some things went wrong in the church over the past several years or so ago and uh and this is not a knock on anybody i promise it isn't it's just an observation and i think time will will tell will corroborate or or correct the thought that i have about where the church made a mistake and i think about how the church and i shouldn't say the church some in the church got really heavily into politics uh i mean really heavy into politics i mean they preached politics and they the sermons on politics they just it just almost like the message of god became the message of politics and they got really involved and although those who took that route gain brownie points amongst themselves i believe that the church lost some credibility and some influence in the world as a result of it i really do in the earth because we got entangled with the affairs of this life there's a difference between being concerned being active and voting and those are there's different things doing that and being entangled entangled is a different thing it's a different thing in fact let's look at those words that word entangled if you say that word entangled it literally means to be intertwined and even has the idea of being braided you have you know not that i know how to breathe you know well i got little girls i've done some braided they they weren't proud of it but i but but i did it but it has to do with bringing these strands together into one strand and that's what paul's talking about here paul is saying that that no one who's going to do this thing right is going to get entangled with the affairs is how king james translate with the affairs it's like that word affairs is a very interesting word you know what that word means the literal translation that word that was translated affairs means transactions and i can't think of anything more transactional than politics politics is grossly transactional you scratch my back i'll scratch yours you vote for me i'll do this you do this i'll put this law into effect and so at the end of the day one of the things that that jumped out at me as i read that and it was a warning to me and that warning was no one who's been called to do with what i've called you to do can entangle himself with the affairs of this life because you're gonna need to please me are you tracking with me and so i just wanted to run that alongside again that's not a knock on anybody i love everybody and everybody has to do what they feel like they're called to do but i think that this message is important because i think that we lost ground and we've got to get that ground back by being the evidence as i mentioned last week we're not going to be the evidence because of politics we're not going to be the evidence because we can argue so good that we are masters at apologetics at the end of the day people want something real and we are already functioning to a certain degree from a disadvantage because sadly we became this political thing or at least in the eyes of the people that need the gospel the most are you tracking with me that was a little digression let me bring you right back to where we're going and so we're talking about focus and i'll tell you right now focus is expensive it's very expensive that's why it says you got to pay attention because it's expensive but what is more expensive and more costly to your purpose and your destiny is distraction so what i want to do is i want to give you a three-step workout program today three-step workout program that is going to strengthen your insides so that you can a have inner dominion be be strong in the grace and see to live out a radically focused life can we do that i'll give you three things get your notebook out we can three things and then we're gonna be done in about four hours we're gonna wrap this message up and we're gonna pray okay so the first thing that i want you to do we're talking about being radically focused right we cannot be entangled with the affairs of this life and let me tell you something there's a lot of things that i'm concerned about and i'll just tell you right now straight out if i built a ministry around all the things that i'm concerned about and all the things that i want to support i would have about a hundred ministries and would not fulfill my calling and my purpose so there's a difference between concern and being entangled i i can be concerned and send some money i can be concerned and add it to my prayer life i can be concerned and make moves but i cannot entangle myself because i just sense that we're moving into a time where where the church if she isn't careful she's going to be distracted arguing and i never saw jesus arguing i saw him doing see when you are you just do you don't have to argue you just move in what you're called to move it's almost like the person who's arguing is trying to prove themselves well when you are evidence you don't have to prove anything all you have to do is show up and your evidence will prove who you are so three things really quickly let's go three things the first thing we have to do in order to be radically focused and this is so important is we have to deliver ourselves from obsessing over what other people think let me say it again if you're going to be god's soldier you're going to have to be immediately delivered from obsessing what other people think about you or what you do right i i posted something on social media recently and it was a quote that said your mission in life is not to be liked it's to be you it's to be who you are are you tracking with me your purpose is not to please people it's to please as the text says the one who called you oh god see that's why you got to be whole to serve god because when you are whole you don't need anything you can post something online and you're not sitting back waiting to see how many people like it hello somebody we have to get delivered from this this need for somebody to approve of me what i've learned about people is that most people are late to your party anyway oh god i feel it see it it is after you have obeyed god and you have walked with god and the fruit shows up that people say i always knew she was special oh i've been rocking with her since 1947. no most people are late to the party because what you're doing when you're being you is you are working on your evidence because you are evidence i feel this for somebody obedience to god will ultimately make you evidence so why are you trying to prove yourself to somebody before you have done the thing that you need to do to become evidence just keep at it well pastor nobody's supporting me just keep at it well pastor nobody believes in me just keep at it of people are talking about me and calling me crazy just keep at it why because you are on your way to becoming evidence and when you are evidence you don't have to prove nothing your life will prove it are you tracking with me get delivered right now let me tell you something if noah was concerned about people liking him or what people thought we wouldn't be redeemed today because noah was a whole part of that process get delivered i want to set somebody free today i believe that there's something that god has given to you that is so wonderful that is so amazing that has so never been seen before that the only way that you're going to be able to birth that thing is if you cut out the noise if you shut out the naysayers and just do that thing who am i talking to today do that thing do that thing it's going to make you evident oh god i don't want to get my testimony because i got to keep going through this but i'm telling you i didn't realize when god called me to ministry that he was going to make me evidence i'll be honest with you there were only a few people that believed in me because i didn't have the right stuff i didn't have the background i didn't have i didn't grow up with spiritual you know with all these great you know bishops and my family and all that kind of stuff that's that's new i didn't have any of that i didn't even grow up in church i didn't i didn't know how to hoop we talked about this before out in my culture you got a hoop you can't just talk like this you gotta you gotta tune up or you didn't preach in fact sometimes in some cases the people won't even wake up in church until the organ starts going i didn't have nothing none of that no background nothing and i'll be honest with you thank god i had some people that believed in me but i have many people that scoffed when i had five people in a room on easter easter that's when everybody comes to church they're like this ain't going nowhere for two years and i'm anointed i'm preaching i'm doing my thing i'm working hard i'm a businessman so i'm working hard you know it was excellent on its level two years hardly any people two years the church grew to a whopping 30 people on easter two years of weekend and week out my background was marketing i was doing promotions i had listen i put a lot of money in it all that stuff 30 people on easter including me and my family dogs i mean you could count everything birds if you bird just flew in the parking lot you're counting you too but what i didn't realize family is that god was making me evidence he said just stay obedient i feel i don't know this is not even where i'm going i don't know who this is for just stay obedient and mostly be delivered be delivered from obsessing over what people watch this most people are always late to your party oh god i feel it always late and you can't be mad at them because they they have to try to be on time to their own but you got to you've got to you've got to know that god is making you evidence and do that you have to deliver yourself from obsessing over what other people think are you tracking with me number two this is important are we are we good can i talk to you like this can i can we just have this conversation number two you have to learn to love patience learn to love patience patience is your friend one of the things that i've learned is that most battles are one with the weapon of patience most battles are one with the weapon of patience i was reading an article about um a businessman that i i'm i'm growing rather fond of his name is byron allen he's a he's a media mogul a believer and we had him at the international leadership summit last year but uh one of the entertainment trades did a story on him and uh and eddie murphy he and adam murphy eddie murphy he and eddie murphy are friends and eddie murphy gave uh some commentary about him and he talked about how patient byron allen is and i guess they're they're into chess and uh and eddie murphy says i'm a much better chess player than byron allen but byron always wins and the reason why byron wins is he takes a whole lot of time in between moves like like just a ridiculous amount of time in between moves and eddie would get mad and frustrated because it was taking so long and by him being frustrated it took him out of his game and he would ultimately lose because that patience was a weapon that that patience see see the scripture says it says it right there it says endure hardship if you study scripture that word endurance is in there a lot there are places where it says endure to the end because the person who endures is the person who win are you tracking with me learn to love patience it's not going to happen like this it's not gonna happen overnight you gotta endure some stuff in order to be focused in order to be radically focused you gotta take a hit and yet stay focused i thought about i was sharing with sarah the other night i thought about presidents and when you're the president of anything but particularly president the president of a country like united states man like when you get up out of the bed in the morning the haters are talking i mean think about this anything that you do is going to be questioned anything if you brush your teeth if you take they take bring the camera in and you brush it oh no he's not supposed to brush it like that he's supposed to brush it from bottom to top and see and all of a sudden there's going to be and i thought about this for a second i thought about this in order to be a president you have to take so much you have to not care what people say because can you imagine i mean you just shut down if you care about what people say you wouldn't be able to do your job but then you have to take a lot i feel this you have to go through a lot some of you there's somebody watching right now and you think that life is unfair and you think that you have gotten an unfair amount of trouble in your life an unfair amount of difficulty and i understand how you can get to that place and i understand why you may feel that way but i also want to remind you of something you're still here which means that although you have suffered much you're present you're still standing could it be that you're being qualified by what you've gone through and there is a victory on the other side of your endurance now you gotta love patience you gotta love patience because i i've learned i've learned i'm telling you that the older i get the more the years pass the more i realize that the winner endures i feel it there's some people who have come and gone i want to speak to that person there's some people who have had who have fought lesser battles than what you fought and aren't here anymore and i believe that you're being qualified and i believe that your life is going to be evidence watch this you supernaturally prevailed so number one we cannot over obsess over what people think number two we have to learn to love patience and number three keep the primary mission and the steps to achieve them at the forefront always in other words i can't be radically focused if every day i start over with what i'm going to focus on because they're going to be things waiting for before you even get out of the bed they're going to be a myriad of things waiting to take your focus oh god i feel it i mean do you know it's it's seriously like that if you don't tell yourself in the morning who you are and what you're about watch this and what the steps are to get you to accomplish the thing that you've been called to before you get out of the bed if you don't have a vision life will give you for and you'll be divided and so keep the primary mission and steps to achieve them right in front of you stare at them every day do you have what i like to call you've heard me talk about it before but do you have a divine mirror that has who you are and your mission on it that you look at every day every single day pop that journal out pop that white board out go stand at it stare at it and remind yourself before anybody else has an opportunity to influence your passions for the day remind yourself of who you are and where you're going point blank period i'm talking about being radically i'm not talking about being focused i'm talking about being radically focused and you know who was radically focused jesus jesus jesus is the epitome of what it means to be the evidence that makes god evident and radically focused i i'm just thinking about jesus i just let's just look at some of his most notable statements that prove this radical focus how about this i must be about my father's business we see his radical focus beginning when he is 12 years old and and there are all sorts of things going on and he's like no no no i'm focused i must be about my father's business what else he also said in another place when they said jesus everybody's looking for you you're healing people everybody's looking for you jesus says let us go into the next town he is focused when all the people came around and all the people were praising him and all the people wanted to connect with him at the moment where most of us would pause for a second and say really they like me let me go over there and sign some autographs let me let me go no he's like boom let us go on to the next town if you look at jesus's phrases you will see his radical focus there's another place that shows his radical focus focus now he was a little difficult he was kind of tough with this one but it was kind of powerful remember when he was saying i got to go to the cross i got to do that and peter was like you won't do it and jesus was like get behind me satan that's focus he called the dude satan you don't get no more focus than that he's like i love you but if you stand in the way of my mission if you stand in a way of my vision you stand away i am you are an enemy to get behind me i'm calling you satan today that's focus calling one of his boys satan right another place he says when he's struggling in the garden and he wants to give up and he has an opportunity to give up in the garden right and he asks he asked god father if he would let this cup pass for me right and he was the son of god he could have made a decision but then something kicks in and he says nevertheless not my will be done but sure will be done he is radically focused and then from there he goes to the cross and he endures everything everything between that moment and the cross and he endures on the cross up until the moment that he says it is finished he was radically focused and if you and i are going to be the evidence that makes god evident we're going to have to be really radically focused too radically focused not worrying about what other people think it's nice to be liked it's wonderful to be liked it's wonderful to be loved it's wonderful all that's great but it's not the mission of your life and if you look at people who did great things all the liking and the loving came later it it's gonna be in your commitment to the instructions of god and you're patiently waiting for it to come to pass that is going to put you in the place where you don't have to worry about being like the love people are going to love you because you've become evidence you owe it to the people around you to do what god has called you to do you owe it to the people to be focused to lay hold of it i just i'm trying to disturb somebody today to lay hold of it to say i'm not going to let go of this dream i'm not going to let go of this vision that you gave me god until i see it produce the fruit that you promised and i'm going to be radically focused see i think that that's what's happening right now is some of you are getting recharged some of you have set some things down some things that that god gave you assignments that god gave you that if you follow them through you won't have to make god evid evident your life will and i hear god saying grab hold of it again suspend your need to be encouraged and supported by man let that go get fall in love with patience is going to take time get and develop inner dominion see that's why it takes time watch this it takes time to master you mastering you is the hard part and the beautiful thing and even peter's life shows us i'm going to close peter's life shows that it takes time to be you peter's life was like this i mean he was up he was down he had faith he didn't have faith he's you know cutting off ears putting ears back oh jesus put the air back on he's doing this i'll never leave i won't and he's running he's cussing he's jumping in the water naked he's doing all these things but guess what when it was all said and done peter started the church god could build something on him and i think that god wants to build something on you and maybe you've gotten a little shaky for whatever reason maybe you've gotten shaky because it's taken too long maybe you've gotten shaky because you haven't gotten the support that you need maybe you have been shaken by distraction maybe it's been temptation maybe it's it's the cares of this world and you look up and and you're entangled because you're emotionally involved in things that it's fine to be concerned but but you took your concern and your concern graduated grew up and became entanglement and i hear god saying i want to free you [Music] i got saying i want to deliver you i hear god saying that i want to put you back into a place where the vision is clear so that you can be radically focused on it and when we are radically focused our radical focus on god is going to make god evident i am i'm big on worship i personally for many years in our movement raised up worship leaders because i recognize the importance of of worship not only personal worship but but worship and those who lead worship and one of the things that a good worship leader will do is that worship leader will make god evident and you know how that worship leader makes god evident have you ever you've been in a service before and man the worship team is doing their thing and and as they're singing your faith is rising up and as they're singing you know you just feel something even through the screen when they're singing wow you just feel god and you know why you feel god one of the main reasons why you feel god it's not even because of your worship at the moment it's not even because of your focus at the moment it's because of that worship leader's focus on god they are so a good worship leader a sold-out worship leader is so connected to god watch this they're not even performing for you they ain't even talking to you when they're singing they're talking to god and it's their focus on god on an invisible god their radical focus to the extent that they are open that they're worshiping that they're surrendered that they're sold out and somehow their focus their worship their radical praise connects with you and you begin to worship and focus on the god that they're focused on i think that that people when we are radically focused on god and his mandate and his mission i think that people are going to see our focus and they're going to see our worship and they're going to see god i think that when we worship people see god i've had people let's see i'm saying i've had people come to church who don't know god who i mean self-proclaimed atheists and they come in here and there's something about the worship the conviction and the teaching and the preaching there's something about that that makes god evident that's your life if you're wishy-washy for a lack of better terms if you're you're not grounded if you're easily swayed it's going to be difficult for people to believe that god is real because god if i'm not real then how can they believe god is real but if i'm real if i'm consistent if i'm radically focused they're going to see god i want to pray with you i want to pray with you we've got weeks and weeks and weeks of this teaching my assignment for today is to get you to a place of focus they're going to be a lot of things that will attempt to pull you away and i think that it is extremely critical for you to decide what is your battle and what isn't straight out right up front the most one of the most important things that we can know in this time is what is our battle and what is not our battle you got to know it because you got to be focused that scripture says that that no man engaged in warfare entangles himself i got to recognize that that i'm in a war and i'm after something and there is a prize and i got to stay focused on it and i want to pray for you because the church even as we have made even as we made the mistake in my estimation could be wrong this is up for debate that's fine right but in my opinion we lost ground where we got heavily political we got so political that we stood in the capital praying after we stormed it hurt officers bruised and battered people you know desecrated the capital and had the nerve to be in there praying that doesn't represent the church and there are many people who were political that that completely disagree with that i'm not saying that's everybody but i'm saying we can't be entangled with the affairs of this life that we might that we might please the one who called us there gonna be a lot of things that pull at you they're gonna be a lot of things that that you don't like they're gonna be a lot of things that that you want to change and do your part where you are but keep keep moving stay focused stay after what god has given you to do it's enough and somehow some way god has a way of taking the purpose that you have committed to him that he's shown you he has a way of taking that and doing more with the evidence that you become than what you could have done if you would have abandoned that to chase a cause that was not your purpose i want to pray for you i'm done i want to pray for you now there's a couple of things that i want to pray about first of all if you're watching this right now and you don't know god you you just you don't know the lord but you feel something touching you i talked about jesus and i talked about his passion and his focus and what's crazy is that all it wasn't even for him all of it was for us that's just insane to go through everything that he went through not for his own pleasure but to get us to be free like him and to become everything that god has created him to be that's love if you're under the sound of my voice right now and and you say i've been around church but and i really feel like i need to open myself up to god i need to i need to i need to stop running i need i need to surrender maybe that's your word maybe that's what what you sense maybe that's what you feel i need to i need to i need to surrender to god if that's you i just want you to put it right there in the feed or if you're listening to this podcast or you're you're watching online just just tell god if you don't have a feed to put it in just tell god i surrender i surrender put in the feed just i surrender god wants to to make you evident there's there's there's grace for your life there's a there's a place of grace everything that you're you're pursuing in your own wisdom and your own strength and your own understanding i hear god saying that and more is in your place of grace that more so if that's you i just want you to say lord i surrender i surrender i surrender if you know the lord and and and you've strayed and and and and i just i'm gonna say it the way i hear it and you have become something that is not what you expected that that's the best way to put it i'm talking to somebody but you've become something that you didn't set out to become you become something that you that you you you you just don't even know you drifted and became something and god says i got you just like peter peter had his ups and downs and he went all over the place believing and then doubting and then being fearful and then going back and then going forward and all that kind of stuff and yet god still used peter mightily mightily i don't that few have been used in a more greater capacity than peter so what i'm saying is there's grace destiny isn't always this straight line sometimes it's it's a little bit of down a little bit up a little bit of back a little bit of forward but there comes a moment where we make a decision and we respond to a grace encounter upon our hearts and we just say yes and so if that's you i want you to put i'm coming home in the feed just but i'm coming home i'm coming home i'm coming home i'm coming home i'm coming home and i want to pray not only for you but i want to pray for your focus i want to i want you to be like that motorcycle rider and all you're looking at is where you're going you're not looking at where you've been you're not overly concerned with what's happening in the peripheral of course you're you know you're alert so that if there are threats and dangers you can you can respond to them but your primary predominant focus is on where you're going [Music] and i want to pray that god releases that that that god heals some anxiety too it's difficult to focus because your mind is all over the place and and you might have to help god out by removing some of the distractions the inundation with notifications and emails and text messages and social media notifications you might have to help god in this season by eliminating removing those things getting back to your disciplines last week we talked about time and his presence in prayer this week we're talking about radical focus being intentional having discipline and self-control inner dominion so that you can stay locked in i want to pray for you father i thank you god for all who have responded to this altar call who have responded to this invitation all who have been a part of this conversation i thank you for each of them i thank you for what you're doing in their life hallelujah yeah i thank you god for the plans that you have for them now god some have said yes to you for the first time thank you god for the work that you're doing in their heart and for the life that you're bringing them into some had drifted and gone astray and now they're they're coming back home hallelujah they're coming back home so that they can get back into position and experience the restoration that will make them evidence that make you evident thank you god and thank you god even as you were so good to peter and although he had ups and downs highs and lows made massive mistakes in the long run he caused him to be what you saw when you named him rock and he looked nothing like a rock in fact he looked like great instability but you called him stability even before it was manifest and i thank you god that there's some under the sound of my voice right now that you're getting ready to stabilize once and for all and that's when destiny will begin i thank you god seal this word in the hearts and the minds of your sons and daughters who are here in this place and we pray these things in jesus name amen amen

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

Views: 21,686

Rating: 4.9409285 out of 5

Keywords: TPH, The Potters House, TPH LA, The Potters House LA, One LA, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tphla, LA Churches, One Church, onela, Sarah Jakes, Pastor Touré, TPH Denver, Bishop Jakes, one.online, one

Id: z_JemqjeypM

Length: 57min 20sec (3440 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021