Fully Focused :: By Holly Spate

Published on: October 8, 2021 by RR7

There are too many distractions, too many diversions, too much compromise.
There are so many broken souls and shattered lives, so many wandering.
There are, quite simply, too many walking in a daze… confused and entirely lost.

The world has a cruel way of breaking us down. The rush of the clock, the enticing, tempting elements that pull our attention away, getting us off task and off track. Too many things vying for our time and, so many, a waste of our time.

We each have the same 24 hours in a day, yet our lack of focus, our need for entertainment or attention, our bad habits, our own insecurities, our running after the world’s version of success and happiness, draws us away from what’s most important and toward things of much less significance.

Our attention toward worldly things gets us off track and puts us further away from the straight and narrow road we’re called to walk… every time.

If we’re not diligent, if we’re not careful, we quickly sink. It can happen fast, and before we know it, we find ourselves walking from the straight and narrow road to the road the world walks… the wide road Christians are called to avoid.

It can be so easy to get off track… so easy to put our focus on the wrong things… so easy to compromise. Yet, we’re called as children of Christ to be in the world but not of the world.

I can say with complete honesty that I have fallen into this trap many, many times in my life. I forget what my focus should be on, where my main priority should be. I think we all struggle to some extent with focusing on what truly matters. We may focus 70-80% (many times way less), but when it comes to our faith and our relationship with our heavenly Father, we are called to focus 100%. We are called to include our Father in everything… every aspect of our lives and to constantly practice putting Him first.

I have failed so many times in this pursuit, but I keep pressing on as Paul encourages us to do in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

God is to be in the driver’s seat. We’re to be the passengers. Our focus needs to be on the driver… the One who knows the way… the One who holds the map, the One who will get us safely to our destination. He created us and knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. We’re to trust Him and let Him take the driver’s seat, not just today but every day of our lives… till we take our final breath.

When are we going to learn this lesson? When are we going to decide to be completely reliant on Him? When are we going to surrender our will for His will? When are we going to put our worldly toys away and build our life around things that really matter?

Matthew 6:19 reminds us: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.”

Most days we are soft… we don’t put on our spiritual armor… we don’t put Christ front and center. We allow our flesh to take over and lack discipline. So many days are wasted. We so often have it wrong; we should be running from the things of this world, yet we’re still running after the things of this world.

We’re called to be set apart and to shine. Matthew 5:16 confirms this: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Our Father is pretty clear when it comes to our allegiance:

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

The scriptures go on to say…

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

I may be wrong, but I think part of the problem — beyond us being lazy in our flesh, distracted easily, and allowing our pride to take control — is that we have never really been taught to be in complete awe and reverence of our Father, the Creator of all.

We need to truly grasp our minds around these truths:
We are NOTHING without Him.
We have NOTHING without Him.
He took our nothing and gave us everything… His everything.

Stop and think about that. He gave YOU His everything.

You are you because of Him.
You are here because of Him.
You are breathing because of Him.
Your heart is beating because of Him.
Your talents, gifts, abilities, opportunities are all because of Him.

You have nothing without Him, but everything with Him.

John 15:5 resonates this truth: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Did you catch that truth? With Jesus, you have everything; apart from Him, you can do nothing… nothing!

Remember He created You! Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Psalm 139:14 goes on to say, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

I believe one of the secrets to living a centered life is to put Christ at the center. It’s also to have a healthy respect which causes us to be in awe and complete reverence of our Savior.

It’s realizing we are fragile in and of ourselves. We are helpless in and of ourselves. We are lost in and of ourselves. The prospect of hope is dark in and of ourselves. We are as dust… nothing, in and of ourselves.

BUT (I love this) we are redeemed, saved, forgiven, and have a beautiful eternity ahead because of Christ. The Creator of all creation came down and rescued us. We all need His rescuing. We all need His salvation, forgiveness, mercy. We all… all of us need Him. We need the Savior! He created us, calls us, redeems us and rescues us!

He desires and is worthy of our complete focus. We should be fully focused on Him. We should be fully surrendered to Him. We should choose each day to walk the straight and narrow with Him in the driver’s seat… leading the way and leaving the things of this world behind.

Let the following verses be beautiful reminders of God’s love for YOU. Spend time thinking about how wonderful He is and how He deserves your awe, reverence, and praise. And, as you live your day-to-day life, never forget to go about each day fully focused on the Savior. Blessings to You!

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28).

“Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5).

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

“But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7).

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11).

spate.holly@gmail.com

1 Thessalonians Lesson 4: Tribulation and Faith :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: October 8, 2021 by RR7

Chapter 3: 1-5

“Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, ² and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith,³ that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. ⁴For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. ⁵ For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.”

Thanks for the responses and emails concerning the last lesson. Wow, it is encouraging to know that people actually read them, and it makes you think enough to write to me.

We continue to see the dangerous growth of socialism and communism in North America. These two philosophies hate Christianity because we are free thinkers, and with the Holy Spirit in us, it is difficult to fool us.

Sadly, as we can see from the last elections, both in the US about a year ago and the Canadian elections a week or so ago, many Christians are blinded and do not have their lives grounded in the Bible. There is no way that these evil, corrupt, and lying leaders could have been elected without the help of many ill-informed or simply rebellious Christians. I recall one young preacher fellow telling myself and others that he was voting for President Biden after much prayer and thinking. Wow! So, God led him to vote for a man who murders babies by the millions. No, God did not. But we hear this over and over.

Last week we explored Paul’s conversation about the persecution that he was suffering at the hands of his own countrymen. In particular, a lot of the Jews hated Paul, they hated the truth, and many of the pagans hated him as well. As more and more people got saved, they had less and less business.

False doctrine and false gods are big business, even today. Right now, right here in Canada, we have at least the Alberta government that is actively trying to shut down one pastor. They have arrested him 3 times, and they seem to target him. But make no mistake; as socialism grows here in Canada, the governmental hatred for Bible-believing Christians will grow at the same rate. Like the Soviet Union, there will be a state-sponsored religion. Even the Anti-Christ will have a religion and a false prophet. The masses need someone or something to believe in, someone or something that transcends themselves.

Before we get into the lesson, let me ask you a question. What if the vaccine mandates are a test run to see who the resistant will be in the event of the Mark of the Anti-Christ? We see hundreds of nurses and doctors who would rather resign or be fired than take a vaccine. What do they know? As well, we are being told that the remaining nurses and doctors are being asked to sign NDA agreements. They are not allowed to talk about what they are seeing. This is not the mark of a free society.

What we do see is that a lot of people will take the vaccine so as to have their lives back; they are not thinking about the long-term effects of this vaccine. They are not making rational decisions; they have been couped up for 20+ months, and the authorities are promising them freedom and a return to ‘normal’ if they get the vaccine. But this is not going to be the case. Governments never give back power once they take it. They will want more and more control of our lives.

Paul left, verses 1

Even the great Apostle Paul got to the point that he could no longer bear the hardships that were being dished out. He left and sent Timothy back. It could be and most likely was that his presence, as the noted missionary, caused pain for the church there in Thessalonica. He was more of a hindrance than a help, as the enemies came for him and caused trouble for the whole group. Timothy was certainly a capable leader and minister, but his presence was not a cause for trouble.

All too often, our spiritual foes think they can stop the movement by cutting off the leaders. They killed Jesus, and that sparked a revival in Jerusalem. They killed Stephen, and that sparked the export of the Gospel to all of Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia Minor. Over and over again, every time one of our enemies attacks, they end up making the Gospel bigger, stronger, and spread far and wide. The Gospel was bigger than Paul. It is bigger than any of us. Timothy was just as capable as Paul to teach and to lead.

This is very, very important for us to know. We preachers, we older preachers, need to prepare young men to take our place when we go. We need to be diligent in mentoring and disciplining these young men to make sure that the Gospel moves ahead when we are gone, no matter the case. We all leave, whether by persecution, death, or a U-Haul. Have we done our best to prepare the next generation to carry the torch? In regard to freedom, I think it was Ronald Reagan that said that losing freedom is only one generation away. It is important to prepare the next generation for the Gospel and freedom. Sadly, those who take freedom for granted are prone to lose it, and it takes a long, long time to get it back.

Timothy Came verses 2-3

Timothy came and did an awesome job. All too often, we all want to be like Paul, the famed Apostle. But there was a faithfulness in Timothy that was priceless. He had been nurtured and prepared by his grandmother and mother with the Word of God, and one day it was his turn to lead. His turn to take this church in Thessalonica that was being persecuted and help to steady her, help ground her in the faith. Remember, Paul was actually here just a short time, a few weeks or a few months at most. It was Timothy who did the grunt work; it was Timothy who stepped into Paul’s big shoes and filled them.

God always has someone to fill the empty shoes; He prepares them and sharpens them for his use; He gets the glory as they do the good work. We should be excited that God is not done; He is still calling men to do the job. Oh, that we would tell the young men that there is no greater calling than the service of the eternal Kingdom! Tell them that fame on earth is temporary, but to be famous with God is eternal. Tell them that the efforts for the Kingdom are eternal. Pray that these young men will find wives that want to make the trip in the ministry with them and that will pray for and support them. Oh, for more Timothies in our day!

Their faith Grew, verse 5

This is what happens when we put God first, no matter what happens. This is what happens when the right spiritual leaders point the people to Jesus and Jesus alone. This is what happens when the Bible and the proper teaching of it are the center and foundation of a local church. Persecution grows the faith of the saved and often weeds out the pretenders.

When we understand that serving the Lord may cost us our lives, it makes us have to make serious choices about serving Jesus. I could not imagine almost 40 years ago, when I landed here from Barbados, that one day serving Jesus may be illegal in Canada. It is not yet, but it is certainly moving that way. The Lord’s churches are the bastions of freedom. We are all about freedom: the freedom to choose, the freedom to forge your future, and to deal with the consequences of those choices. One of the most repeated phrases in the Bible is ‘choose you.’ When God created man in ‘His Image,’ He gave man the freedom of choice and the consequences of that freedom.

We can see that we are getting closer and closer to the end, and that will bring more and more pain for the Lord’s churches. As we get closer and closer, we will see more and more deception, more and more people who claim to work for God but obviously work for the devil himself. These very people will be the ones to pursue us. Remember, the religious leaders killed Jesus, and they killed Stephen. The only hope we have is that we will grow in our faith in these troubles and that we will be more and more secure in Jesus, more and more secure in His Word, more grounded in His promises, and more determined to live faithfully, no matter what. Lord, increase our faith.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

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